baptize in any other way than by immersion, because I look upon immersion
as the ancient mode; that it best represents the meaning of the original
term employed, and the substantial import of this institution; and because
I should think it right to guard against the spirit of innovation, which,
in positive rites, is always dangerous and progressive; _but I should not
think myself authorized to rebaptize any one who has been sprinkled in
adult age_.”
This class of Baptists are found chiefly in the western and northern parts
of the state of New York. They number between forty and fifty churches and
ministers.
TRANSCENDENTALISTS.
TRANSCENDENT and TRANSCENDENTAL are technical terms in philosophy.
According to their etymology, (from _transcendere_,) they signify that
which goes beyond a certain limit; in philosophy, that which goes beyond,
or transcends, the circle of experience, or of what is perceptible by the
senses. Properly speaking, all philosophy is in this sense transcendental,
because all philosophical investigations rise above the sensual, even if
they start from that which is perceptible by the senses. But philosophical
inquiries are to be distinguished according as they proceed from
experience, or from principles and ideas not derived from that source. The
latter sort are called, in a narrower sense, _pure_, or _transcendental_.
The school of Kant makes a still further distinction: it gives the name of
_transcendental_ to that which does not, indeed, originate from
experience, but yet is connected with it, because it contains the grounds
of the possibility of experience; but the term _transcendent_ it applies
to that which cannot be connected with experience, but transcends the
limit of possible experience and of philosophizing.
As applied in this country, especially when used as a term of reproach,
Transcendentalism would designate a system which builds on feeling, rather
than on reason, and relies more on the imagination than on the judgment.
In the main, however, the Transcendentalists are persons who hold that man
has the power to perceive intuitively truths which transcend the reach of
the senses; but they divide, some taking the unction of Sentimentalism,
and others of Mysticism.
AUGSBURG CONFESSION OF FAITH.
The first Protestant Confession was that presented, in 1530, to the diet
of Augsburg, by the suggestion and under the direction of John, elector of
Saxony. This wise and prudent prince, with the view of having the
principal grounds on which the Protestants had separated from the Romish
communion distinctly submitted to that assembly, intrusted the duty of
preparing a summary of them to the divines of Wittemberg. Nor was that
task a difficult one; for the Reformed doctrines had already been digested
into seventeen articles, which had been proposed at the conferences both
at Sultzbach and Smalcald, as the confession of faith to be adopted by the
Protestant confederates. These, accordingly, were delivered to the elector
by Luther, and served as the basis of the celebrated Augsburg Confession,
written “by the elegant and accurate pen of Melancthon”—a work which has
been admired by many even of its enemies, for its perspicuity, piety, and
erudition. It contains twenty-eight chapters, the leading topics of which
are, the true and essential divinity of Christ; his substitution and
vicarious sacrifice; original sin; human inability; the necessity,
freedom, and efficacy of divine grace; consubstantiation; and particularly
justification by faith, to establish the truth and importance of which was
one of its chief objects. The last seven articles condemn and confute the
Popish tenets of communion in one kind, clerical celibacy, private masses,
auricular confession, legendary traditions, monastic vows, and the
exorbitant power of the church. This Confession is silent on the doctrine
of predestination. This is the universal standard of orthodox doctrine
among those who profess to be Lutherans, in which no authoritative
alteration has ever been made.
ARMENIANS.
The chief point of separation between the Armenians on the one side, and
the Greeks and the Papists on the other, is, that, while the latter
believe in two natures and one person of Christ, the former believe that
the humanity and divinity of Christ were so united as to form but _one
nature_; and hence they are called _Monophysites_, signifying _single
nature_.
Another point on which they are charged with heresy by the Papists is,
that they adhere to the notion that the Spirit proceeds from the Father
only; and in this the Greeks join them, though the Papists say that he
proceeds from the Father and the Son. In other respects, the Greeks and
Armenians have very nearly the same religious opinions, though they differ
somewhat in their forms and modes of worship. For instance, the Greeks
make the sign of the cross with three fingers, in token of their belief in
the doctrine of the Trinity, while the Armenians use two fingers, and the
Jacobites, one.
The Armenians hold to seven sacraments, like the Latins although baptism,
confirmation, and extreme unction, are all performed at the same time; and
the forms of prayer for confirmation and extreme unction are perfectly
intermingled, which leads one to suppose that, in fact, the latter
sacrament does not exist among them, except in name, and that this they
have borrowed from the Papists.
Infants are baptized both by triple immersion and pouring water three
times upon the head; the former being done, as their books assert, in
reference to Christ’s having been three days in the grave, and probably
suggested by the phrase _buried with him in baptism_.
The latter ceremony they derive from the tradition that, when Christ was
baptized, he stood in the midst of Jordan, and John poured water from his
hand three times upon his head. In all their pictures of this scene, such
is the representation of the mode of our Savior’s baptism. Converted Jews,
or Mahometans, though adults, are baptized in the same manner.
The Armenians acknowledge sprinkling as a lawful mode of baptism; for they
receive from other churches those that have merely been sprinkled, without
rebaptizing them.
They believe firmly in transubstantiation, and worship the consecrated
elements as God.
Unleavened bread is used in the sacrament, and the broken pieces of bread
are dipped in undiluted wine, and thus given to the people.
The latter, however, do not handle it, but receive it into their mouths
from the hands of the priest. They suppose it has in itself a sanctifying
and saving power. The Greeks, in this sacrament, use leavened bread, and
wine mixed with water.
The Armenians discard the Popish doctrine of purgatory but yet, most
inconsistently, they pray for the dead.
They hold to confession of sins to the priests, who impose penances and
grant absolution, though without money, and they give no indulgences.
They pray through the mediation of the virgin Mary, and other saints. The
belief that Mary was always a virgin, is a point of very high importance
with them; and they consider the thought of her having given birth to
children after the birth of Christ, as in the highest degree derogatory to
her character, and impious.
They regard baptism and regeneration as the same thing and have no
conception of any spiritual change; and they know little of any other
terms of salvation than penance, the Lord’s supper, fasting, and good
works in general.
The Armenians are strictly Trinitarians in their views, holding firmly to
the supreme divinity of Christ, and the doctrine of atonement for sin;
though their views on the latter subject, as well as in regard to faith
and repentance, are somewhat obscure. They say that Christ died to atone
for original sin, and that actual sin is to be washed away by
penances,—which, in their view, is repentance. Penances are prescribed by
the priests, and sometimes consist in an offering of money to the church,
a pilgrimage, or more commonly in repeating certain prayers, or reading
the whole book of Psalms a specified number of times. Faith in Christ
seems to mean but little more than believing in the mystery of
transubstantiation.—See _Coleman’s Christian Antiquities_.
PRIMITIVE METHODISTS.
This sect forms a party in England, which seceded from the Wesleyans in
1817. They differ from the Wesleyans chiefly in church government, by
admitting lay representation. They are said to increase rapidly. Their
present number is about seventy thousand.
NOVATIANS.
An heretical sect in the early church, which derives its name from
Novatian, an heresiarch of the third century, who was ordained a priest of
the church of Rome, and afterwards got himself clandestinely consecrated
bishop of Rome, by three weak men, upon whom he had imposed, and one of
whom afterwards did penance for his concern in the business. He was never
acknowledged bishop of Rome, but was condemned and excommunicated. He
still, however taught his doctrine, and became the head of the party that
bore his name. He denied, in opposition to the opinion of the church, that
those who had been guilty of idolatry could be again received by the
church.
NESTORIANS.
The branch of the Christian church known by this name is so called from
Nestorius, a patriarch of Constantinople, who was born in Germanica, a
city of Syria, in the latter part of the fourth century. He was educated
and baptized at Antioch, and, soon after his baptism, withdrew to a
monastery in the vicinity of that city. His great reputation for
eloquence, and the regularity of his life, induced the emperor Theodosius
to select him for the see of Constantinople; and he was consecrated bishop
of that church A. D. 429. He became a violent persecutor of heretics; but,
because he favored the doctrine of his friend Anastasius, that “the virgin
Mary cannot with propriety be called the mother of God,” he was
anathematized by Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, who, in his turn, was
anathematized by Nestorius. In the council of Ephesus, A. D. 431, (the
third General Council of the church,) at which Cyril presided, and at
which Nestorius was not present, he was judged and condemned without being
heard, and deprived of his see. He then retired to his monastery, in
Antioch, and was afterwards banished to Petra, in Arabia, and thence to
Oasis, in Egypt, where he died, about A. D. 435 or 439.
The decision of the council of Ephesus caused many difficulties in the
church; and the friends of Nestorius carried his doctrines through all the
Oriental provinces, and established numerous congregations, professing an
invincible opposition to the decrees of the Ephesian council. Nestorianism
spread rapidly over the East, and was embraced by a large number of the
oriental bishops. Barsumas, bishop of Nisibis, labored with great zeal and
activity to procure for the Nestorians a solid and permanent footing in
Persia; and his success was so remarkable that his fame extended
throughout the East. He established a school at Nisibis, which became very
famous, and from which issued those Nestorian doctors who, in that and the
following centuries, spread abroad their tenets through Egypt, Syria,
Arabia, India, Tartary, and China.
The Nestorian church is Episcopal in its government, like all the other
Oriental churches. Its doctrines, also, are, in general, the same with
those of those churches, and they receive and repeat, in their public
worship, the Nicene creed. Their _distinguishing_ doctrines appear to be,
their believing that Mary was not the mother of Jesus Christ, _as God_,
but only _as man_, and that there are, consequently, _two persons_, as
well as _two natures_, in the Son of God. This notion was looked upon in
the earlier ages of the church as a most momentous error; but it has in
later times been considered more as an error of words than of doctrine;
and that the error of Nestorius was in the words he employed to express
his meaning, rather than in the doctrine itself. While the Nestorians
believe that Christ had _two natures_ and _two persons_, they say “that
these natures and persons are so closely and intimately united that they
have but one _aspect_.” “Now, the word _barsopa_, by which they express
this _aspect_, is precisely of the same signification with the Greek word
προσωπον, which signifies _a person_; and hence it is evident that they
attached to the word _aspect_ the same idea that we attach to the word
_person_, and that they understood, by the word _person_, precisely what
we understand by the term _nature_.”
The Nestorians, of all the Christian churches of the East, have been the
most careful and successful in avoiding a multitude of superstitious
opinions and practices, which have infected the Romish and many Eastern
churches.
Our readers are referred to an interesting volume recently published by
Asahel Grant, M. D., in which is contained strong evidence that the
Nestorians and the “Lost Tribes” are one people.
HIGH-CHURCHMEN.
A term first given to the Nonjurors, who refused to acknowledge William
III. as their lawful king, and who had very proud notions of church power;
but it is now commonly used in a more extensive signification, and is
applied to all those who, though far from being Nonjurors, yet form high
conceptions of the authority and jurisdiction of the church.
ANCIENT AMERICAN COVENANT OR CONFESSION OF FAITH.
_Copy of the first Covenant, or Confession of Faith, of the First Church
in Salem, Massachusetts._
The first ordination to the pastoral office, and the first complete
organization and erection of a Protestant church, in North America, took
place in that town, in the year 1629.
The First Covenant, Or Confession Of Faith, Of The First Church In
Salem.
“We covenant with our Lord, and one with another, and we do bind
ourselves, in the presence of God, to walk together in all his
ways, according as he is pleased to reveal himself unto us in his
blessed word of truth; and do explicitly, in the name and fear of
God, profess and protest to walk as followeth, through the power
and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ:—
“We avouch the Lord to be our God, and ourselves to be his people,
in the truth and simplicity of our spirits.
“We give ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, and the word of his
grace, for the teaching, ruling, and sanctifying of us in matters
of worship and conversation, resolving to cleave unto him alone
for life and glory, and to reject all contrary ways, canons, and
constitutions of men, in his worship.
“We promise to walk with our brethren, with all watchfulness and
tenderness, avoiding jealousies and suspicions, backbitings,
censurings, provokings, secret risings of spirit against them;
but, in all offences, to follow the rule of our Lord Jesus, and to
bear and forbear, give and forgive, as he hath taught us.
“In public or private, we will willingly do nothing to the offence
of the church, but will be willing to take advice for ourselves
and ours, as occasion shall be presented.
“We will not, in the congregation, be forward, either to show our
own gifts and parts in speaking or scrupling, or there discover
the weakness or failings of our brethren; but attend an orderly
call thereunto, knowing how much the Lord may be dishonored, and
his gospel, and the profession of it, slighted by our distempers
and weaknesses in public.
“We bind ourselves to study the advancement of the gospel in all
truth and peace, both in regard to those that are within or
without; no way slighting our sister churches, but using their
counsel, as need shall be; not laying a stumbling-block before
any, no, not the Indians, whose good we desire to promote; and so
to converse, as we may avoid the very appearance of evil.
“We do hereby promise to carry ourselves in all lawful obedience
to those that are over us, in church or commonwealth, knowing how
well pleasing it will be to the Lord, that they should have
encouragement in their places, by our not grieving their spirits
through our irregularities.
“We resolve to approve ourselves to the Lord in our particular
callings, shunning idleness, as the bane of any state; nor will we
deal hardly or oppressingly with any, wherein we are the Lord’s
stewards.
“Promising, also, unto our best ability, to teach our children and
servants the knowledge of God, and of his will, that they may
serve him also; and all this, not by any strength of our own, but
by the Lord Christ, whose blood we desire may sprinkle this our
covenant, made in his name”
“The above is a covenant,” says a learned divine, “to which all good
Christians, of every denomination, to the end of time, will be able to
subscribe their names,—written in a style of touching simplicity, which
has seldom been equalled, and containing sentiments which are felt to be
eloquent by every amiable and pious heart,—and should form the bond to
unite the whole church on earth, as they will unite the church of the
redeemed in heaven. This Covenant might well be adopted by all
Congregational and Protestant churches; and it will forever constitute the
glory, perpetuate the fame, and render precious the memory, of FRANCIS
HIGGINSON, the first minister of Salem.”(12)
STATISTICS OF CHURCHES.
Baptists.
The following table, from the Baptist Register of 1842, exhibits the
statistics of the Regular or Associated Baptists in a perspicuous light:—
Churches, Ministers, &c.
States. Churches. Ministers. Baptized. Members.
Maine 261 181 2249 26490
New Hampshire 104 77 1042 9557
Vermont 134 94 784 10950
Massachusetts 209 179 2355 25092
Rhode Island 32 25 348 5196
Connecticut 98 92 559 11266
New York 814 697 7533 82200
New Jersey(13) 55 53 961 6716
Pennsylvania 252 181 2370 20983
Delaware 9 8 326
Maryland 27 18 661 1710
Virginia 477 238 3086 57390
North Carolina 448 193 1543 26169
South Carolina 367 192 1434 34092
Georgia 651 276 1043 44022
Alabama 503 250 908 25084
Mississippi 150 64 615 6050
Louisiana(14) 15 9 288
Arkansas 43 21 105 798
Tennessee 666 444 938 30879
Kentucky 627 300 5842 47325
Ohio 502 284 3594 22333
Indiana 437 229 1794 18198
Illinois 351 250 1227 11408
Missouri 282 161 817 11010
Michigan 130 82 668 6276
Iowa 14 9 10 382
Wisconsin 15 9 58 385
British Provinces 225 125 4414 37127
Total 7898 4741 46958 573702
PUBLICATIONS.—QUARTERLY: _Christian Review_, Boston, Mass.—MONTHLY:
_Missionary Magazine_, Boston, Mass.; _Sabbath School Treasury_, Boston,
Mass.; _Mother’s Monthly Journal_, Utica, N. Y.; _Sabbath School Gleaner_,
Philadelphia, Pa.; _Baptist Memorial_, N. Y.; _Michigan Christian Herald_,
Detroit, Mich.—SEMI-MONTHLY: _The Register_, Montreal, Ca.; _Baptist
Library_, Lexington, N. Y.—WEEKLY: _Zion’s Advocate_, Portland, Me.; _N.
H. Baptist Register_, Concord, N. H.; _Vermont Telegraph_, Brandon, Vt.;
_Vermont Baptist Journal_, Middlebury, Vt.; _Christian Watchman_, Boston,
Mass.; _Christian Reflector_, Boston, Mass.; _Christian Secretary_,
Hartford, Ct.; _N. Y. Baptist Register_, Utica, N. Y.; _Baptist Advocate_,
New York, N. Y.; _Baptist Record_, Philadelphia, Pa.; _Religious Herald_,
Richmond, Va.; _The Truth_, Morristown, Pa.; _Christian Index_, Penfield,
Ga.; _Banner and Pioneer_, Louisville, Ky.; _Cross and Journal_, Columbus,
Ohio; _Christian Messenger_, Halifax, N. S.
Free-Will Baptists.
This denomination of Baptists have in their connection nine hundred and
eighty-one churches, six hundred and forty-seven ordained ministers, one
hundred and seventy-two licensed preachers, forty-seven thousand two
hundred and seventeen communicants, eighty-seven quarterly and fourteen
yearly meetings. Of this number of members, thirty-five thousand two
hundred and eighty-seven reside in New England and New York. They are most
numerous in Maine and New Hampshire.
PUBLICATIONS, &c.—There are two periodicals published by this denomination
at Dover, N. H.: the _Morning Star_, a weekly paper, and the _Sabbath
School Repository_, published monthly; also the _Christian Soldier_,
Providence, R. I., once in two weeks.
The Free-Will Baptists have several benevolent institutions in Maine, and
flourishing seminaries of learning at Parsonsfield, Me., Strafford, N. H.,
Smithfield, R. I., and at Clinton and Varysburgh, N. Y.
These people do not believe in the doctrine of election and reprobation,
as taught by Calvin, and invite to the Lord’s table all evangelical
Christians in good standing in their churches.
Seventh-Day Baptists.
This people have in the United States about forty-eight churches,
thirty-four elders, twenty licentiates, and five thousand communicants.
They reside principally in Rhode Island and New York; but have a few
churches in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, &c. They are divided into three
associations, and meet by delegation annually in general conference. Their
government, however, is Independent. They have a general _Missionary
Society_, a _Society for the Promotion of Christianity among the Jews_, a
_Tract_ and an _Education Society_. Their principal institution of
learning is at DE RUYTER, N. Y., and is in a flourishing state, having
several teachers, and about two hundred scholars. They are close
communionists.
Christian Connection.
This denomination of Christians are found in almost every state in the
Union, and in Canada. In 1841, there were in America forty-one
conferences, five hundred and ninety-one churches, five hundred and
ninety-three ordained preachers, one hundred and eighty-nine unordained
preachers, and about thirty thousand church members.
PUBLICATIONS.—This connection has three religious periodicals, viz. The
_Christian Palladium_, Union Mills, N. Y.; _Christian Journal_, Exeter, N.
H.; and the _Christian Messenger_, Jacksonville, Illinois.
Calvinistic Congregationalists.
So late as the year 1700, eighty years after the landing of the Pilgrims,
there were, in all the New England States then settled, but one Episcopal
church, no Methodist church, and, with the exception of Rhode Island, not
more than half a dozen Baptist churches. At that time, however, there were
one hundred and twenty Congregational churches, composed of emigrants from
Europe and their descendants, and thirty others composed of converted
Indians. The great mass of the descendants of the early settlers of New
England are Congregationalists, maintaining, substantially, the same views
of church order and religious faith which their venerated ancestry
sacrificed home, and country, and life, to maintain and perpetuate.
The present number of Congregational churches in New England is about
fifteen hundred; and in the Middle and Western States there are about
fourteen hundred and fifty; although the mode of church government adopted
by some of them is, in some degree, modified by the “Plan of Union” with
Presbyterians. These churches contain, as nearly as can be ascertained,
about one hundred and ninety-four thousand communicants.
Recently, symptoms of dissatisfaction with the “Plan of Union” have
extensively developed themselves, particularly in New York, Ohio,
Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa; and the probability now is, that
a pure Congregational mode of church government will soon be generally
adopted by the descendants of New-England Congregationalists, who are
scattered over the great West.
These Congregational churches are more particularly denominated _Orthodox_
than any other churches in the United States, and adhere to the doctrines
of Calvin or Hopkins.
PUBLICATIONS.—The Orthodox Congregationalists publish a great number of
periodicals, the principal of which are the _Boston Recorder_, the _New
England Puritan_, Boston, Mass.; the _Christian Mirror_, Portland, Me.;
the _Congregational Journal_, Concord, N. H.; the _Vermont Chronicle_,
Windsor, Vt.; the _Congregational Observer_, Hartford, Ct.; and several in
the Western States, which are sustained partly by Congregationalists and
partly by Presbyterians.
Disciples Of Christ.