and knowledge. They help to keep up an attention to religious subjects, and a concern about them, which might be apt to die away in the calm, and silence, of universal agreement.

Having now, as we trust, proved all things, let us, in conclusion, ask Divine strength, that we may be able to hold fast that which is good.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

LECTURE V.

1 Cor. xi, 18. —I HEAR THAT THERE BE DIVISIONS AMONG YOU; AND I PARTLY BELIEVE IT.

IF not necessary, it is highly proper, that a Pastor should instruct his people, in the History of the Church of Christ, as it has come down through its various protections and persecutions; and branched out into its many Sects, and deviated into its numerous Heresies; from its origin at Jerusalem, to its present establishment in most parts of the civilized world. With this view, I have with much care abstracted, and condensed, the following Rise and Progress of the Christian Church.

There are two aspects in which Church History presents itself. First, in connexion with the civil and political establishments existing in the world. Second, as a separate and distinct society.

The period of eighteen centuries is usually divided into four great portions. I. From the birth of Christ, to the reign of Constantine, A. D. 325, when Christianity became the religion of the empire. II. From Constantine to Charlemagne, A. D. 755, when the supremacy of the Pope was acknowledged. III. From the acknowledgment of the Pope's supremacy, to the era of the reformation by Luther, about A. D. 1580. IV. From the era of the reformation, to the present time.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

At the time of our Saviour's appearance, a great part of the world was subject to the Roman empire. The people were in servile submission to Augustus Cæsar, who united in his own person the pompous titles of emperor, sovereign, pontiff, censor, tribune, proconsul. At the birth of Christ, the Roman empire enjoyed peace. All those nations subject to the Romans were sunk in abominable superstitions. Every nation had its respective gods.

Two kinds of Philosophy prevailed. One of the Greeks, adopted also by the Romans. The other of the Orientals, or doctrine of the Magi, which had many votaries in different countries, and even among the Jews. The former was simply called philosophy; the latter by the more pompous title of science, or Gnosis. Among those who were against all religion, were the Epicureans and Academics. Among those, who admitted of religion, were the Platonics, Stoics, and Aristotileans; also the Eclectics, who extracted from the various sects what they liked. All the philosophical systems of antiquity, and their patrons, were opposed to Christianity; and deemed it wisdom to conform to the religion of the state. Whether, with the Epicureans, a refined Atheism was maintained, and pleasure was courted for its own sake; or whether, with the Stoics, it was believed that happiness consisted in a repulsive and intractable virtue; whether truth was supposed to be attainable by human endeavours; or all was pronounced to be uncertain, fluctuating, and momentary; all forms were thought equally good in governing the people, and equally destitute of truth. Thus the heathens of Greece and Rome were opposed to any interference in religion, as pernicious to government.

The state of the Jews was not much better than that of other nations. They were governed by Herod, who himself was tributary to the Roman people; and who, though a Jew in outward profession, was a contemnor of all laws human and divine. The Jewish religion was much corrupted among the multitude; and there were two religions at the same time in Palestine, the Jewish, and the Sa

maritan. The vulgar had superstitious notions about invisible powers and magic; which they partly brought from their Babylonish captivity, and partly derived from the neighbouring nations. Religion had not a much better fate among their learned doctors. They had a variety of sects, especially the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, and the Herodians. The Herodians were manpleasers. The Essenes are not mentioned in Scripture, but by Josephus, Philo, and others. They had a branch at Judea, which was divided into theoretical, and practical. They regarded the Pentateuch as a collection of allegorical truths, having a hidden and celestial meaning. They lived in solitude and abstinence. The Sadducees, or disciples of Sadoc, denied the existence of angels or spirits, and the soul's immortality. Yet they admitted the books of Moses; but no other parts of Scripture. Though not many in numbers, they were of great influence in the Sanhedrim; being rich and learned, and under the patronage of the great. The Pharisees were more numerous, and popular among the people. They presided in the schools, were the chief doctors of the law, and interpreters of the prophecies. If the creed of the Sadducees was narrow, the Pharisees were ample believers. They received, not only all the books of the canon, but added their traditionary, or oral law, as of equal value. Many of the Jews were attached to the oriental tenets of philosophy, and to the doctrine of the Cabbala, which was a mixture of Pagan and Jewish religions. External worship was corrupted by human inventions, and heathen rites. Still the Jews were zealously attached to the law of Moses, and erected synagogues in Judea for divine worship. Our Saviour was born about one and a half years before the death of Herod.

EPOCH I. FIRST CENTURY.

Prosperous Events. A few persons were converted during Christ's abode on earth. But the five hundred brethren, who saw him all at once after his resurrection, seem to have made the sum total of his disciples. About

fifty days after Christ's ascension, was the effusion of the Holy Spirit, and gift of tongues, upon his apostles. They, according to Christ's command, preached first to the Jews, and many thousands were converted. They then passed to the Samaritans, of whom great numbers acknowledged the Messiah. The Holy Land was at this time divided into three provinces, Judea, Galilee, and Samaria in the middle. We read of churches established, by the apostles and evangelists, not only in Jerusalem, but in many other places, beside the seven churches of Asia. From Palestine, and the adjacent countries, they carried the gospel to remoter nations. St Mark is allowed to have founded the church at Alexandria, and to have been buried there. But of the particular labours of nine of the apostles, scarcely any thing is recorded.

Calamitous Events. The Christians, at first, being regarded as a sect of the Jews, escaped persecution, under the general toleration which had been extended to the Hebrew people. The distinction, however, between Christianity and Judaism, came in time to be known. The Jews were soon punished by the destruction of Jerusalem, and the temple. The first of the ten Gentile persecutions commenced under Nero, emperor of Rome. He himself set fire to the city, and charged it upon the Christians. Many were crucified, impaled, thrown to wild beasts, and smeared with pitch and burnt for illuminations of the gardens of the emperor. Under Trajan, called a mild and accomplished prince, Christians were whipped till their bones and sinews appeared, their flesh was torn with pincers, or they were tortured in red hot iron chairs. Under other persecutors, one Christian had his flesh cut by pieces from his bones; another was hung up in a basket in the sun for the wasps to eat; and another was sown into a sack, and thrown into the sea. Among other martyrs, and confessors, of the first century, v St Paul, and St Peter; and St John was banished to the isle of Patmos. Ignatius, undaunted, was cast to the lions; and the venerable Polycarp played the man in the fire. Beside these, was the murder of holy Stephen; of James the son of Zebedee; and of James the Just, bishop of Jerusalem; by the Jews.

were