IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) Cf^ ^. ^ 1.0 I.I 1125 PH. ^ Hr MS 1 2-0 WE U 11.6 — 6" VQ 9 '/,. Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historicjl MIcroreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notas/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Initituta has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the raproduotion, or which may significantly change tht usual method of filming, are checked below. L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a M possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-6tre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger una modification dans la mithode normale de filmage sont indiquis ci-dessous. D D D D D D D D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur r~| Covers damaged/ Couverture endommag^e Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurie et/ou peiliculAe Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes gAographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) Colourad plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ ReliA avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ Lareliure serrie peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intirieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ tl se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouties lort d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mala, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont pas M filmies. r~1 Coloured pages/ D i/ D D D D Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommagies Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaurdes et/ou pelliculdas Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages ddcolories, tachetdes ou piqu6es I I Pages detached/ Pages d6tach6es Showthrough/ Transparence r~~] Showthrough/ Quality of print varies/ Qualiti indgaie de I'impression Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du matdriel supplementaire Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totaiement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6t^ film^es i nouveau de facon d obtenir la meilleure image possible. Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppl^mentaires; Wrinkled pages may film slightly out of focus. This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est film^ au taux de reduction indiqu6 ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X s/ 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X hi The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: National Library of Canada L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grAce A la ginirositA de: BibliothAque nationale du Canada The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition at de la netteti de I'exempialre film6, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprim^e sont filmis en commenpant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la derniire page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film6s en commenpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la derniire page qui comporte une telle empreinte. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol ^*> (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparaftra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols — ► signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre film6s d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est fiimd d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 S 6 \\v ■4 . jIkIb^ ^ [\ '-'. L*. Ti w p •^'c-J' * ! •^ .■*. ' ■ 1 1 , 1 '; '\ ,( \\ ! ;■ 1 ; 1 i 'h ■'■i E^iiHlm^ the J*r ailing Keligion aiul PttpiLlatioii girni ami PopulalM»»> of llie lV«t«ful Kinpirt-.i \\v ^;Nl^>ni!« nnil SiateM! Also thi- Vriiioivai Miwirionnry Statiwnn Tlmmjflinul the (flolil ^mmm LQUIky.fi lEs^' "^^j^^^s. '4WL: 0: : m ^ 1'l Ji lih« froTiiiling Mi*ligi(in tuid Pif)ntlatioii of Oip IVcufut KiKph-f,* Miv j^dan:^ 1IH> • t^'m - *' 110 tttrxiM"' 1^ * . > 4 r i' ^jfe mi '*' ;>»« l^- n^mm,^' 111 KiBpirc.) Kill ,vi;dijiu}i ninl Siateei AM the friiielval lfiiiv*oniiTy Stttti 8ta^tionH TUrun^out the Glolbe. 1842 < «fr» THK.-'w. ^ (sm^m •■•■ ■ ■ ■Mpr'^ a» J '\ c. c. c. i illlll "'.'■r.ri'llMlIiL llilllliliiiiillllliliiiiilililiiliis^ lf»ll¥!iii!!!ii!l!llil!l!ilillllilM ■m v-i!isi!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii li I ^mmI iIIIuIjLIB Un I . It U .h Hiflibuiln I iilillilililiilliilK '^Tijiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiiiijiif ii«i!;i'!ii!i»ii'iif!ii!f!iiiiiii;ffi^ ^i:li;i««; illiiiillil»illi!i„ fwm 1 m mm&m^ jik^^i^^^Aii^i^. lilll|iBlil ^ A i:''i:<:'i!'il."l'HDiill!inii jliliiilllSlliiiiili:^' :lliilin!IH»llillh:iililiii:;!ll!j.:lil {liiililiiiilililil m >:i1llllll:i!a AB IJIl ■-/ ^ (Ql JIA IJi^ EAiliiliivg tlie Progress of Clirifltiaiiity from die birdi of oiu' Saviour lo thti rreseul lime. ViMished bi\ \yVmWrif\i. Sumiirr, Uni'tt'ord. Coiuurttrnlf H f ^ y li. ,T, 900,000 , 4) A 00,000 f^ ';''■•■•' . '^N-^: ; -+^ ^ '\ "\. 1 '-:"-:i: mt^ ;?#- iS"? ,*^.' -TBiTnfaa i^tm 10 80 MAH O MET. P A GA .V. I Ji Ji H 11*17- ^ illliillillit M^''\ %^mf^.x.f,;s^^ |!*llii|lllilllll'iHiiil!i li::PJi!|!i!iii!ii!a/ii::,"'i"li;!i ▲ B lik ^!iMmim)s^Mm. 'i^^u4ik' ill I iniiinii; illlg ^^'^ J^ (OlfiL^lElf KAilMiiiig Jlie Progress of Chriatiajiity fi-oni the birih of oiir Savioui- 10 the Pi-osi- rahlisked by H,ni-«lerlrtk Sumiirr, Unrlfoid. ftmturtfrttd i Saviour lo the Pr»>««Mil lime. if. >** * 4 ,' f -. i 4< Vj«. « J "'l t ;< •.*;» h u SS i t ■i 5 5 a* i u nCTORIAL AND BESCRirTIVE VIEW or ALL RELIGIONS; EMDRACINO THE FORMS OF WORSHIP, PRACTISED BY THE SEVERAL NATIONS OF TIIF, KNOWN VVOnUD FROM THE EARLIEST RECORDS TO THE PHEMENT TIME. TO WHICH \» AnnCD A BniKP VIEW OF MINOR SECTS ; ON THE Basis of the Celebrated and Hplendid Work of Bernard Picnrti Xllnatntad by SaTentf •three Engnvlngi. HISTORY OF THE JEWS AND LIFE OF MAHOMMEQ. By rev. CHARLES A. GOODRICH, A. M.Vj ACOOMTANIED BT A MAP OF THE WORLD AND OHART, EXniBITINa THK PROOBBSS OF THE 008FEL THE LAST EIQHTEEN CENTTRIKS. THB HBLI0I0N8 OF THB SEVERAL NATIONS ON THE GLOBE, WITH THEIR POPULATION, EXTENT, AND MI88I0NART STATIONS. 4^ 5. E o • By J. OLNEY, A. M. TORONTO, C. W.: PUBLISHED BY L. D. ELLIS. 1849. I, •''^. < ••^^ . '•4K^ iA« f^- i "*f 1 " 4 ^ \>- \ - PREFACE. '- ':,:■■. f- In the Prospectus of the present volume, it was announced that it would have for its basis a work published in Europe some time since, commonly known by the title of " Picart's Religious Ceremonies and Customs ;" and so denominated from the circumstance, that this distinguished artist prepared embellishments for the work, consisting of more than fiv* hundred copper-plate engravings, which, for elegance of design, and for felicity of execution, have rarely, if ever, been excelled. The work was originally composed in French, and was comprised in six volumes folio. Its celebrity obtained for it an English translation, in the same number of volumes ; and within a few years the whole has been abridged in a large quarto volume, by Colin Mackenzie, Esq. This abridgement has been chiefly used by the Editor in preparing the present volume ; but the embellishments have been taken from the English folio translation, and the abridgement generally compared with it Although the principal part of the volume has been derived from the foregoing work ; yet important additions and alter* ations have been made. These have resulted from a desire to conform the work to the present state of Nations and Tribes, in respect to several of which our knowledge has been greatly enlarged and corrected, since the work of Picart PRBFACX. s was compiled. It will be seen, that besides that portion of the volume, which is occupied by the ' Introduction and the History of the Jews, (for which articles the Editor is indebted to a distinguished literary friend, and which he thinks will be found greatly to enhance the interest and value of the Volume,) new articles have been prepared in respect to the Hindoos, and most of the Protestant Communities; while important corrections and additions have been made illustra- ting the ceremonies and customs of the Mahometans — Indian and African Tribes, &c. The brief article on the South Sea Islands is chiefly derived from the popular work, " Polyne- sian Researches," by Ellis. It was the original plan of the Editor to embrace within the volume proposed, an account of the religion of some nations and tribes, which he has felt himself obliged, in the sequel, to omit, that he might avoid a common and just ob- jection to abridgements, viz. that in the multiplicity of subjects treated of the interest of circumstance and detail is lost. To the student of anatomy, a skeleton may be an object of pleas- ant contemplation; but to secure the interests of the casual observer, it must have the usual accompaniments of the living man. The " Dictionary of Minor Sects," which it was in- tended should embrace a large number, has been necessarily confined to a " Brief View" of such only as may be deemed most important. The belief is entertained that the volume will be found to be replete with interest and instruction, growing out of the subjects upon which it treats. The reader will have pre sented to him a picture of the religious world. He will per- ceive upon that picture many dark, and distressing shades ; — he will see in what varied and unhallowed forms, mankind havs worshipped the common Parent of all ; he will be led to contemplate the delusions practised upon millions, by the cunning and craft of imposture ; the unholy devotion de* ♦.> PKKFACE. 6 manded of other millions, by air intolerant hierarchy ; and the debasing superstitions and cruel abominations inculcated upon still more millions of the human family, by an earth- born system of idolatry. From the pain of dwelling upon these darker shades, he will find relief, by turning his eye upon some bright spots in the picture. There are, blessed be Grod, some such spots, the original darkness of which has been in a measure removed, by the shedding down of light from on high. And, although that heavenly light is in a degree obscured by the variety and contrariety of opinions, which still prevail among christian communities ; yet the reader will find it pleasant to reflect that the difl!erences, which now divide them, are gradually diminishing. A day is coming, when, in respect to essential truths, and, perhaps, in respect to those which are less important, there will prevai. a delightful harmony among the professed followers of a once crucified Redeemer. Nay, more than this, the voice of prophecy has predicted a still more glorious triumph of the Son of God. Into the dark corners of the earth, the light of the Gospel will ultimately penetrate, and the habitations of cruelty will become the dwelling places of righteousness. Even at this present time, the Christian Church is gathering in the first fruits of this golden age. The anti-christian ystems and the idolatrous superstitions of the world are apidly approaching their-fall. What, if the Jew still clings .0 the dreams of a Messiah Ben David — what, if the Mussul- man still pays his devotions at the tomb of the prophet — what, if the Hindoo yet points to a future avatar of Vishnoo, th« preserver, the tidings of a crucified Redeemer are spreading through every portion of the globe. " Idolatry has been overthrown in the islands of the Pacific; and in India, that massive, gorgeous, venerable superstition, which has with- stood not only the decay of time, but the sword of Mahomett zealously protected, patronized, an() endowed by a Christian 6 rRIFACK. government, has been undermined, and a breach has been made in the outworks. The Bramin has been converted, and the still prouder Moslem, and the unimpassioned Chinese, the degraded negro, and the wild Cafier, and the brutish Hottentot" These are antepasts of better days. Yet how much re- mains to be done before the warfare of Zion shall be accom* plished !— before that period shall arrive, when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Qod I Let the reader in- quire, ^while he hails that day as certain in its advent, wnat ho may do to accelerate its arrival 'i^ .-,.... .. ■*> »T- t^ T •• •■ ■• ft •: u^. :^ V ! CONTENTS. Introddction. ....... Page PART I. History and Religious Ceremonies of the Jews. • 2) CHAPTER I. History OF THE Jews. - - - - - - -21 " ; ' CHAPTER II. Relioiocs Customs and Ceremonies of the Jews. - 53 Sec. 1. Fundamental Doctrines. .... 53 Sec. 2. Customs and Laws of the Ancient Jews. - 59 Sec. 3. Religious Rites. ------ 72 Sec. 4. Eeclesiastical Discipline — Worship— Festi- vals, &c. ------ 81 PART II. History and IVeligious Customs of the Mahometans. 97 CHAPTER I. Life op Mahomet. -------97 CHAPTER IL Reugious Tenets, Ceremonies, and Customs of thb Mahometans. ------- 123 PART III. Religious Tenets, Ceremonies, and Customs of the Greek and Roman Catholic Churches. - - 159 CHAPTER I. Greek Church. - - --,- - - - 159 Sec. 1. Greek Church Proper. ----- 159 •Sec. 2. Religious Principles and Customs of the Russian Greek Church. - - - - 197 Sec. 3. Other Branches of the Greek Church. - - 220 Sec. 1. Georgian and Mingrelian Churches. - ^ 220 Sec. 2. Nestorian Churches. ----- 224 Sec. 3. Christians of St. Thomas. - - - - 228 Sec. 4. Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Jacobites. ------ 231 Sec. 5. Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Copts. 233 Sec. 6. Doctrines and Customs of the Abyssinian or Ethiopians. --.-.. 235 Sec. 7. Religious Tenets and Customs of the Ar- minians. - - • - - 241 I* 8 CONTENTS. CHAPTER 11. Rsuoioos Tenets, Customs, Ceremonies, &c. of the Roman Catbouc Church. .... 247 See. 1. Tenets, Customs, &c. .... 247 Sec. 2. Sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church. 361 Sec. 3. Holy Orders of the Roman Catholic Church. 377 Sec. 4. Hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. 391 PART IV. Reuoious Customs and Cedemonies of Protestant Communities. ....... 402 Sec. 1. Lutherans. - - - - . . - 403 Sec. 2. Church of England. 416 Sec. 3. Kirk of Scotland. 42U Sec. 4. English and American Presbyterians. - 434 Sec. 5. Cahrinists. 436 Sec. 6. Arminians. ------. 445 Sec. 7. CoD^egationalists. ..... 448 Sec. 8. Baptists. -*--... 460 Sec. 9. Methodists. 465 Sec. 10. Q,uaker8. ^. . 476 PART V. Reuoious Ceremonies and Customs of Pagan Nations and Tribes. Sec. 1. Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Chinese. 487 Sec. 2. Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Japanese. ...... 512 Sec. 3. Religious Tenets, Ceremonies, and Customs of the Thibetians and Tartars. - - 535 Sec. 4. Religious Doctrines, Ceremonies, and Cus- toms of the Hindoos. .... 545 See. 5. Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Laplanders. .-..-- 557 Sec. 6. Religious Ceremonies and Customs of Indian Tribes. - - - - - - - 560 Sec. 7. Religious Ceremonies and Customs of Afri- can Tribes. ...... 566 Sec. % Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Polynesians. ...--. 570 *i - A Brief View of Minor Sects. ... 573 •'■,' - ' - ^ i\ ^ f I k ■, INTRODUCTION. It is a fact which we learn from history, that religion ot some kind has existed, in every period of time, and among all nations. It can be traced up to the in&ncy of the »,«-,— * world, and among the &thers of the human race, aomekind has The earliest account that has reached us, which always exist- is that of our sacred scriptures, informs us of its ^' existence even before the origin of nations, while as yet the in- habitants of the globe were one entire community. Some few notices appear in that book, of the religious rites of the antediluvian world; as the offerings of Cain and Abel, the practice of prayer, or the profession of reli- gion; mention is also made of the pious cha- iJj^JJJJJid^' racter of the descendants of Seth \ the brief, but touching, story of Enoch's £iith is given ; and the fiimily of Noah is particularly introduced in connexion with the religion of this period. After the origin of nations, consequent on the dispersion at Babel, we learn something from the Bible, of the fate of divine institutions, among the separate ]^rtions of man- .^ i, kind, so fiir as these are brought into view in the ^ of'nJ^io,J^" sacred narrative. In confirmation of the Bible, the earliest fabulous accounts, as they are called, all refer to some kind of religion promulgated by the founders of nations, and held and practised by the lattei Profiine history abounds in representations of this nature, and we learn from its padres, how the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, and other ancient nations, were committed to the observation of certain religious rites and ceremonies. Their notions and tenets also on this subject have been occasionally transmitted to us, and although these, in most instances, are extremely vague and absurd, they evidently betray a common origin. Thus the universality of religion of some sort, in the earliest ages, is a matter of his- tory: and the same impartial guide introduces Through us to an acquaintance with the varying creeds, every Hfi forms, and observances of nations since, whether since, in their rude or civilized condition. All seem to have obeyed 10 INTRODUCTION. that law of the human mind, which bids it to seek reposo in some sort of religion. Our knowledge of the diflerent communities of men at the present time, which, by means of improvements in navigation, and facilities in travelling, is nearly universal. And ac the confirms the same important truth. Scarcely a present time. ^^.^^^ however unenlightened, is found, but that possesses a kind of religious faith. Perhaps, strictly sj)eaking, no one is found without the notion of God, and an invisible or /uture world ; for although some two or three savage com- munities may have been reported by travellers to be thus des- titute, there is reason to believe that further inquiry would show the fact to be otherwise. On the whole, it rnay be safely asserted to be a condition of mankind, which is essentially universal. If the representations above made are correct, religion may be supposed lo be, in some sense, natural to the human species. Hence reli- '^^^^ ^^ °^^ inference which must readily suggest gionisinsome itself to every reflecting mind. It could not ra- sense natural tionally be accounted for, that in every period of to man. the world, and among all nations and tribes of men, some notion of God and human accountableness, and certain modes of worship should prevail, without referring re- ligion to a settled law or principle of our common nature. A want surely exists in the human mind, which can be supplied only by some kind of religion. It is a confirmation of the This is con- ^''®^ ^^^^ taken, that a survey of man as a ra- firmed by a tional creature of God, must lead us to believe moral survey that, in some sense, religion is natural to hiip. of man. •« Whoever," says a writer, " seriously reflects on the powers and capacities of the human mind, regarding them as the work of him that doeth nothing in vain, and comparing them with those of the inferior creatures, will readily perceive that man alone was created to be religious. Of all the inh?- bitants of this earth, none else are capable of attaining any knowledge of their Creator, or of rendering him any worship or praise. Man alone possesses the capacity of distinguishing between truth and falsehood ; between moral good and evil ; and of receiving instruction in social and relative duties, with the obligation under which he lies to perform them, and the advantages of doing it. He alone is capable of being governed by a law, and of being influenced by the proposal of rewards and punishments ; of acting as vmder the eye of an invisible Observer, and with reference to the future season of retri- bution." INTRVOVOTION. u i-i But althouffh religion may be said to be thus natural to t. i. It does not follow that the riffht thing will always be chosen. The want before spoken of is a general want, ^^^ ^^^ ri^ht and it may seem to be satisfied, though it should religion is not not be in reality, with any and with every form always cho- of religion. We say with every form of reli- s^"* gion ; for one people at least, viz. the Athenians, always im* ported the deities and superstitions of every nation with whom they became acquainted, and engrafted them on their own creed. The tendencies of nature to some system of faith and worship, are not a specific and unerring direction to any one system in particular. If they were such a direction, a perfect uniformity would have existed in the theology of all nations. But this we now have occasion to remark is not the case. Notwithstanding religion, in the above respect, is natural to man, a great diversity of religious opinions has ^^ ^^^ ^ prevailed in the world, and different forms and great variety ceremonies have been and still arc observed, of religions m The religious notions and practices of mankind *^® world, early diverged from one another — ^the sons of men were soon distinguished from the sons of God, the impious from the holy — and, notwithstanding the purgation of the world by a flood, and the subsequent re-establishment of one common faith, no sooner did the earth begin to be peopled again, than a diversity of religions took place, each nation and tribe em- bracing some peculiarity of its own. Such has been the fact, throu^ all the intervening periods of history, to the present day. Each distinct portion of the human family, especially its larger divisions, has had its separate religious dogmas and practices, ranging from pure theism to the grossest idolatry. At the present time, there are at least four general forms, or de- partments of religious belief among mankind : viz. the Christian, the Jewish, the Mahometan, and the Pagan, which, for the most part, are subdivided into many others. In regard to Paganism, it may be remarked, that it is as various as the separate portions of people that constitute the Gentile world. The causes of this diversity cannot but form an interesting subject of inquiry. The inquisitive mind of man very natu- rally desires to know, how the same being, with jj j^ jmerest- the same essential wants, should have fallen upon ino- to know religions so unlike, and often, so opposed to one the causes of another. What is there in the circumstances ^^^ diversity, of human nature, that can afford a clue to this surprising fact 1. Does the variance spoken of arise merely from chance 18 INTRODVOVION. We are not believers in this phantom, as furnishinff a solution It does not of any phenomenon. We do not think that it spring from is the cause of any thing in existence, much less chance. jo we suppose that it can account for the variety and difierence in the religion of mankind. If accident ope* rated here, it might indeed give a diversit^^ to this propensity of nature, or, it might give to it a uniformity. It were just as likely to effect the one as the other, only it would not be apt to produce a uniformity in ^'ariety. It would be infinitely un- apt to do this. Yet such seems to be literally the case in the religions of the human species. They uniformly differ from one another, and most of them essentially from tne truth. It concerns those who believe in chance as the cause of any thing, or the cause' of such a moral phenomenon, to make out the proof There seems to us to be something extremely absurd in referring to contingency merely, as the cause of ?n efiect, when, by the nature of the word, it neither is, nor can be known as such a cause. 2. Does the above diversity arise from circumstances fo- reign or external to the mind, such as time, location, climate, NorfVomez- or country? It is not unnatural to suppose that temalcircum- such circumstances might modify, in a small de- stances, gree, the religions of mankind ; but they could not well produce such essential and irreconcilable differences as prevail. Religions exist in perfect diversity '^r contrariety in situations where we might suppose they woula be the same, or nearly the same, so far as the operation of these extraneous causes is concerned. At the same period, in the same climate, under the same government, among a people speaking the same language, there are found often the most dissimilar religions, creeds, and practices. What one class esteems as divine, an- other abhors as sacrilegious. Where there is little diversity in other respects, such as the features of nature, the form ot government, or the civil habits, there is often a wide differ- ence in religion. A Mahometan, whether in Asia or Africa, invokes the impostor, and his credulity flourishes equally well, on the table-lands of the one, as amid the deserts of the other. A Jew is found the same all the world over, and, in religion, owns no communion with his Christian neighbours. Creeds are believed and ceremonies are observed, both of the most opposite kinds, under the same physical and social cir- cumstances. 3. Does again the diversity spoken of, proceed from any necessary tendencies of the human mind to difference or op- position? It would be more than could be expected from INTRODVCTION. human nature as we now find it, that mankind Norflrcmanjr should think and act exactly alike on this subject. necesBitj in On no subject, is there a perfect coincidence of the mind for views and practices. On this account, some dif- difference, ferences are to be looked for, at least, as mankind are at pre* sent sil^ited. But in most things, especially those of a prac- tical nature, those differences need not be essential. They are not so nercssnry as that mankind cannot act together, and realize the important ends of civil society. Certain advan- tages as to information, seem to bring most men into a reason- able measure of conformity to one another. It cannot be tliought, therefore, that there is any more necessity in the mind itself for diversity in religion, than there is as to the other great interests of life. The mind is not changed in its attri- butes, when it acts in respect to religion. And the diversity is not, in fact, to be traced to such a source. There is no irreversible fate here. Besides, we can hardly suppose from the nature of the case itself, that there could be a necessary tendency in the mind to difference or opposition in the affair of religion, or the intercourse of the soul with Qod. None could seriously maintain that in such a concern, he would have made mankind with any invincible tendency to differ- ence, or with so strong a tendency, as that it would be next to miraculous that they should agree. On so vital a subject, he certainly would be apt to give them freedom of choice, either to agree or disagree. He would be most unapt to bind them to the dire necessity only of disagreeing. 4. Does the diversity in question spring from the want of a divine revelation ? As believers in such a revelation, we must answer in the negative. Abundant proof could i^orfrom the be presented, were it necessary, that mankind want of a re- are m possession of a revelation from God. That relation, revelation is found in the Bible ; but we shall here take for granted the authenticity and divine authority of that sacred book. Its claims to be considered as containing the revealed will of God have been too often admitted, to be denied at this day — a day when its prophecies are so amply ful- filling, and its effects on the henrt and life, wherever received, are so decidedly excellent. Varying human faiths are not then owing to the want of a divine revelation — a revelation di- recting all men how they should believe, feel, and act in re- spect to God and invisible realities. Such is the nature of the revelation which is given to us in the Bible. Its truths are clearly announced ; the object, mode, and obligations of reli- gious worship, are distinctly pointed out. The only true reli- . 2 14 lltTRODUOTIOIf. gion, in its difTerent dispensations, is communicated to us in lull and satisiactory details. Had Ood left men without the light of his word, it might be expected that they would wander in darkness. If he had not informed them respecting the only divine system of religion, a reason might be found m that cir* cumstonce, for the almost endless diversity which exists in creeds, ond in the objects and modes of worship. But, now, this cannot bo the cause of that diversity, since a divine revela- tion is possessed, given to mankind in the first ages of the world, continued for a long period by tradition, and at length commit- ted to writing, as its portions were completed from time to time. 5. Passing by the aforenamed, as inadequate causes of the variety of religious professions among men, is not the projjer explanation tor be found in the radical depravity But it arises ^{ ^]^Q human heart ? Is not ihnt the true cause ? dwlraviiy"*" '' seems to us that it can be resolved into no other. Of the depravity of the human heart wo are not permitted to doubt, in view of the decisions of the Bi- ble, and the results of observation. But existing and reigning in all men by nature, it would readily dispose them to a diver- sity of religious views and practices, or rather to irreligion under various names. It would readily dispose them to de- part from the true belief, and to cast of! the restraints of the divine authority. They would be prone to invent many schemes and devices with a view to appease on upbraiding conscience, and to gratify that ceaseless love of novelty, which characterizes the human mind. E.xcept in those in whom the eflects of depravity are counteracted by divine grace, there would exist a continual propensity to depart from God and his institutions — to lose sight of religious truth, and become in- volved in gross darkness and superstition. In such a state, the mind is prepared for every absurdity. " Nations ignorant of Ctod, contrive A wooden one. ' Hence have H*^"<^^ arose the altars and demons of heathen arisen the abo- antiquity, their extravagant fictions, and abomi- minations of nable orgies. Hence we find among the Babylo- heathen wor- nians and Arabians, the adoration of the heavenly ^"'P" bodies, the earliest form of idolatry ; among the Canaanites and Syrians, the worship of Baal, Tammuz, Ma- gog and Astarte; among the Phoenicians, the immolation of children to Moloch; among the Egyptians, divine honours be- stowed on animals, birds, insects, leeks, and onions ; among the Persians, religious reverence offered to fire ; and among of be- mg INTRODVOTIOM. || the polished Greeks, the recognition in their system of &ith, of tnirty thousand gods. Hence, moreover, we find at the pre- sent time among most pagan tribes, the deadliest superstitions, the most cruel and bloody rites, and the most shocking licen- tiousness anu vice practised under the name of religion. From the darkened views and evil feelings inspired by the depraved heart, proceed all those fatal mistakes about God, the way of acceptance with him, and the realities of the future world : all those departures from a consistent belief and worship, wnich distinguish every nation, and every portion of the world, ex- cept where the Bible is strictly received as the rule of life. So obvious is it that the depravity of the heart has dictated the various false religions that prevail in the world, that even the infirmities remaining in pious persons have given rise to minor differences among the evan- ^^^^ even"of gelical sects of Christians. Every wrong and good men have perverted feeling of the heart is likely to engen- occasioned der a degree of deviation from the truth. Hence smaller differ- those unhappy.though not fatal separations which *'**^®'' take place among persons who, on the whole, adhere to the same great fundamental principles. Christian integrity secures a substantial, though not literal, agreement in tlie truths and observances of religion. If that integrity were perfect in this world, or more nearly perfect than it now is, there might lite- rally be but one creed, and one mode of worship. An acquaintance with these different systems of religion, while it is calculated to furnish no small entertainment, will convey several highly important reflections to the reader. We should not, and cannot well The diversity contemplate such a scene, without learning some teaches some useful lessons from it, especially as it is connect- important les- ed with glorious purposes, which God evidently sons, intends to subserve. 1. A view of these religions, will present to us a melan* choly account of the apostacy of the human species. It will evince the nature and the effects of that apostacy, pjgsents a and thus confirm the scriptural narrative on the melancholy subject. It will exemplify the great fact of hu- account orihe man de^feneracy in a form and manner calculated apostc^'. to convmcc every candid reader, that original, deep, c^nd wide spread corruption, in which the fall of man consists, appears in dark lines, m the history of the vsirious religions which man- kind have embraced. Indeed, the most disgusting exhibitions of man's apostacy are found in many of the religions which he has contrived, with a view to supersede the religion derived ."^ H nrTROPVOTioir. from heaven. The awful consequences of the apostacy will here be presented in a medium, in which they will appear in ''their undisguised, most hateful character. The lust, impu-"l rity, pride, ambition, revenge, malignity, rebellion, unbelief, selfishness, in which this primitive defection is manifested, con- _ stitute the leading features uf those superstitions, to which wnillions in every age have bowed. ^ 2. A view of these religions, so far as they are departures from the truth, will furnish a sad detail of the extent and pow^er Shows the °^ Satan's empire in the world. Mankind having extent and apostatized from God, have, in every nation, and power of Sa- in every period of time, been successively brought tan's empire, under the dominion of Satan. They have been subject to his influence, obeyed his laws, and in their religious rites, often directly paid him homage. In fine, they have been his slaves, and he has claimed them as his property. The wickedness, in which he delights, they have, in innumerable instances, practised. We may form some idea of the extent and power of Satan's empire, ttom the fact, that a!l the nations of antiquity, except the Israelites, were idolaters by profession, and even the latter were practically idolaters, at times. That system of religion was called Polytheism, as acknowledging a plurality of gods, who, according to the poet, were no other than the chiefs of the fallen spirits, that ■:, "durst fix ^ Their seats long afler, next the seat of God, Their altars by his altar, gods adored, f Among the nalioiis round." All these nations worshipped divinities or devils bj various representations, called idols. Forsakins^ the service of the only living and true God, they paid that homage which is due to him, to those beings that are infinitely unlike him in cha- racter. 3. A view of the absurd religions which mankind have embraced, shows the necessity of a divine revelation — that re- Evinces the ""^cl^tio^ with which the nations are favoured in necessity of a the Holy Scriptures. This exhibits to us the divine reveJa- true system of religion, and is the umpire to tion. which appeal must ever be made on this subject. " To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." The necessity of a divine revelation is apparent amidst diverse and opposing fiiiths, since nothing but such a revelation could lia- ble men to know the truth. They would be lost in an endless abvrinth of conjectures. Reason alone could not be appealed ■>*:- INTRODUCTION. n to with a view to determine what it right and what is wrong in human belief But a revelation from God, properly an* thenticated, as it must be, would prove an unerring guide. It would direct mankind to itself, and throw a clear light over all the field of moral and religious truth. Without such a revelation, so fiir as man on earth is concerned, it would be to him an endless scene of darkness, doubt, and perplexity. 4. A knowledge of the opposing religious systems among mankind, will evince the necessity not only of a divine reve- lation, but also of the direct influences of the Eyincgg ^j^. Supreme Agent, in causing mankind to harmo- necessityofdi- nize in their views. As it is apparent that their rect divine in- disagreement, on points so vital, proceeds from Auence in or- depraviiy of heart ; it would seem that light alone harmon^"*^* is not sufficient to produce union, though it is important as an auxiliary or means to this result. That wrong stale of the heart must be rectified — that depravity must be subdued, and this cannot be done except by the Spirit of God. He only can directly influence the spirit that is in man, and form it to truth and to rectitude. His operations, by removing the grounds of opposition and error, will restore narmony of views, as a natural consequence. Accordingly, divine influ- ences are promised, and have been imparted, in a degree, hi- therto to the children of men. Hence is found that measure of agreement, on all essential points, which characterizes all evangelical Christians, or those who submit to the Bible, in its plain and simple communications. A view, then, of the va- rious religions of the world, will show the necessity of direct divine operations, in producing a uniformity of opinions on the subject of religion. 5. An account of the clashing and absurd religions that have controlled such numbers of mankind, will impart an ex- alted idea of the mercy of God, in the promul- Manifests the gation of Christianity. As the only true reli- divine mercy gion — ^the great centre of divine communica- inthepromul- tions — ^the point where all the rays of revelation f^'^?1.°* . meet, (the Jewish system being only preparatory '" "^ ^* to it, though very important in that view,) it will manifest Grod's benevolent desire to guide and influence mankind aright, in respect both to their present and future welfare. When we learn the spirit and the requirements of Christianity ; when we become acquainted with its practical tendencies ; how it prepares men in the temper of their minds, not only for a bet> ter world, but to enjoy greater happiness in thisj how it ele- vates their understanding and improves their social condition, 2» 18 INTRODUCTION. we cannot but be impressed with a sense of the divine mercy, m the invaluable gift. Indeed, no finite mind can fully con* ceive the importance of tne gospel, as the instrument in God's hand of effecting the salvation of souls. But we might enter- tain something like an adequate conception, of the temporal blessings conferred by this system on a f Ulen race. There has been, however, even among those who have largely par* ticipated in these blessings, a remarkable failure duly to ap* preciate the benignant influence of Christianity in this world. Very incorrect ideas on this subject are entertamed among the mass of mankind, in Christian lands. The error, however, is inexcusable. We believe the time is coming, when a very different, and much higher, estimate of the gospel will be formed, in its effects not only on the spiritual, but on the tem- poral and social condition of man. It will be felt how much we are indebted to it, for all the real blessings we enjoy in this life. 6. A consideration of the kind we speak of, will furnish Christisms with a power&l incentive to unite in diffusing a Affords a knowledge of Christianity. Judging from their strong incen- own experience of its power, they can but view live for uni- this religion as the only corrective of a false faith Ch^*t* ^P't***^ *nd a wicked practice, and such indeed is the fact. ris aiu y. j^ ^^ ^j^^ ^^j^. yeligion wuich, by a moral influ- ence, can displace others. It acknowledges no true religion except its own, and never tolerates any other. Indeed, in its principles, it is hostile to every other religion, and makes a war of extermination against all superstition, idolatry, false worship, unbelief, and vice. In early times, it extinguished the religion of pagan Rome, because it would have no com- petitor, because it would own no associate. And it has since extended itself, only by displacing other religions, through a moral influence. The peaceful exertions of its friends and subjects, have been the msans of its triumphs hitherto, and will doubtless continue so to be, if those triumphs are con- tinued. Christians reading the sad story of the debasing su- perstitions and idolatries that still spread over the world, must feel powerfully prompted to unite their energies in the wide and universal dissemination of their religion. And it is a pleasing reflection, constituting the great encouragement of their labours, that the divine light of Christianity will one day dispel all the deep moral darkness which still covers a large portion of the earth. That darkness will vanish, as &8t as the Sun of righteousness shall arise upon the world, with healing in his wings. .if INTRODUCTIOir. 19 Finally ; it is delightful to go forward in our contemplations to the time when there shall be one religion among men, and but one. That time is destined to arrive. The voice of prophecy has declared it. " In the last . '^.'u5*i,^,'^ "* days, the mountain of the Lord's house shall be religion, established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it." And he who founded this religion, said in the days of his hu- manity, " And other sheep I have which are not of this fold : them also I must bring, an'^. they shall hear my voice ; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." After all the con- flicting views of mankind on the subject of religion ; after all the diversified forms of error, there shall come a period of blessed unanimity, and of the universal prevalence of the truth. There will be but one religion, and that one, the glo- rious gospel of our salvation. It is not, however, to be inferred that there may not be dif- ferent evangelical denominations of Christians ; since we are by no means permitted to believe, that there will ever be sin- less perfection on earth. The existence of these denomina- tions, all " holding the head" — the same great distinguishing principles, and exercising a mutual liberality of feeling in re- spect to the less important parts of the system, is not in- consistent with unanimity in the sense here understood. In this case, one religion may be said to prevail, and only one, throughout the earth, and among all nations. It will be one in its essential peculiar features, and one in the spirit and in the practices which will characterize the human family. In aifl^rent sections, in different divisions, supposing that all are not to coalesce in one particular denomination, will the church universal move on, in her bright career, each harmonizing essentially with the other, and all conspiring to advance the common object of the believer's high calling in Christ Jesus. Si liK 1 '■» ' nil i; ;i;], *« ,|i.|, ^ :-^^-^/, ■ 1 F- 1 ' .i*.^.;«| JI^-W «p™|" ^^Mi mi^lh^^''- The adoration of the Pope before the grand altar of y| St. Peter, p. 42. ' ^-^m ^ -', '■.■ i.. ;> ' |,,- " W'(m^ /iiii '«# 1 ' '-' -A^^l -All- -. The Communion, p. 253. ir a: i o i. '.'iV J*«^ PART I. HISTORY AND RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES OF THE JEWS. !'W> CHAPTER I. of M - ^. . HISTORY OF THE JEWS. An account of the religion of the Jews, may, with great propriety, be preceded by a succinct history of that people. A recent interesting historian* has pronounced them, without reference to their religious belief, as " among the most re- markable people in the annals of mankind.'' Contemplated in connexion with their religion, and as a means of under- standing it more fully, their history claims our .p^j^ history attention, more than that of any other nation. It of the Jews instructs us in a different manner from that of peculiarly in- any other, because it brings directly into view Btructive. the divine dealings with them. The Jews, in the early periods of their history, are known under the more general name of Hebrews or Israelites, who constituted a community of which the Jews, as they were afterwards aenominated, were only a Their name, part. The origin of their name, and the circumstances of their separation from the associated tribes, will appear in the course of our narrative. This distinguished race, commonly called the people of God, was derived from Descended Abraham, lineally descended in the tenth gene- from Abra- ration from Shem, the eldest son of Noah. His h""*- calling of God, which took place 1921 years B. C. is a re- markable event in history, and deserves a brief notice. In obedience to the command of God, Abraham, who was a son of Terah, the head of a pastoral family, left Ur in Chal- dea, his native country, and dwelt with his father Abraham, in Haran. Ur was a district to the north east called out of of that region, which lies above the confluence Chaldea. of the Tigris and Euphrates, and became afterwards the seat of the great Babylonian monarchy. Haran was a city situ- ated in the north west part of Mesopotamia. The former place, from the signification of the name, was supposed to be particularly infected with idolatry, and hence the reason of > , - - ^Rev.H.H. Milman. » 22 HISTORY OF THE JEWS. tlie command, connected with the purpose of God to make Abraham the fiither of a great and peculiar nation. By the Into Canaan **™® command, after Terah's death, he went into the land of Canaan, which Qod promised to his posterity. Thep were to be included within tne bounda- ries of that country. The divine design, in thus setting apart one family from the rest of mankind, was to preserve the true religion in thu God's desisn world, the existence of which became endan- herein, was to gered by the prevalence of polytheism, and to preserve the prepare the way for the great work of redemp- true rcligioij, jjqjj j,y jgsus Christ. God promised to protect, bless, and multiply his posterity in an extraordi- nary manner, and made the significant and cheering declara- tion, applicable to the Saviour, who, according to the flesh, descended in the line of Abraham, that in his seed all the fa- milies of the earth should be blessed. Abraham having acquired a name by his wealth and piety, and having passed through various scenes of prosperity and Leaves Isaac trial, died at an advanced age, leavmg behind him as the child of several sons, of whom only Isaac was the child promise. ^f promise. Ishmael, by Haga/, the maid of Abraham's wife, became the progenitor of a distinct tribe or nation. The Arabs, to this day, claim to be descended from the son of Hagar. Two sens were the progeny of Isaac, viz. The sons of Esau and Jacob, the former of whom sold his Isaac areEsau birth-right to Jacob, who also, by artifice, obtain- and Jacob. gd his father's blessing. Esau was the ancestor of the Edomites or Idumeans. In the line of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, were the Israelites descended. His twelve sons gave the names to the twelve tribes, o( which the nation was com- posed. Jacob closed an eventful life, 1689 years in makmg a prophetic declaration of the future state of his descendants, and the period of the coming of the Messiah. He had previously been brought out of Canaan into Egypt, by means of his son Joseph, whom his brethren through envy and malice sold into that country. "The different occtirrences by which Joseph became minis- ter to the kmg of Egypt, speak the immediate interposition of divine providence, which was preparing for the accomplish- ment of the promises made to the patriarch Abraham. Of these occurrences, which carry on the history of the Hebrew& for a period, the following summary is given. , Joseph, who was much loved by his fiither, and hated by his The Israelites descended in the line of Ja- cob. B. C. HISTORY OF THE IWB. 23 > make By the e went lised to Ijounda- Tom the I in tha ! endan- and to redemp- protect, xtraordi- declara- the flesh, ill the fa- ind piety, erity and jhind him the child 5 maid of :t tribe or ided from ;saac, viz. sold his ;e, obtain- ancestor )b, whose Israelites names to was com- • 1689 years Ire state of \. Messiah. to Egypt, through le minis- position of [complish- Iham. Of Hebrew* [ted by his orethren, upon a certain occasion, which was presented, fell into the power of the latter, who sought to slay him. This horrid design, however, being pro- . Occurrences videntially prevented, they availed themselves of l" *"^ "^® **^ the opportunity of selling him to a company of ^ Ishmaelite slave merchants, who carried him into Egypt, where he was bought by Potiphar, an officer of the court. Here, at length, he was wrongfully thrown into prison, by a false accusation of Potiphar's wife ; but being proved to be an interpreter of dreams, he was released from his confinejnent, and introduced to the notice of Pharaoh, the Egyptian king, who, on a certain occasion, wanted his services in this capa* city. His success in interpreting the king's dreams, and his subsequent conduct, procured for him the highest distinction ; and he became the administrator of the government. During the famine which he had predicted in interpreting those dreams, and which reached the land of Canaan, all his bre- thren, except Benjamin, came to him, to buy corn. Joseph knew them, although they did not know him ; and by an m- nocent contrivance, having brought them into Egypt the second time, with their brother Benjamin, he declared to them thatihe was Joseph, whom they had persecuted and sold. Their sur- prise, mortification, and terror, were at first overwhelming ; but their distressing apprehensions were, in due time, alleviated by his assurances of pardon and kindness ; and inviting his father and the whole family into Egypt, he allot- ted them a portion of the territory. Here he protected them, and under his auspices they be- came flourishing and happy. Joseph continued to rule over Egypt afler the death of Jacob, who had sojourned in that country seventeen years. His own decease, which occurred 1635 years B. C, left the Israelites without a protector. In less than forty years from this event, they found a cruel tyrant and oppressor in „. _ .. another king who knew not Joseph. This oppressed in king perceiving that the Hebrews had become Egypt, numerous and mighty, resolved to enfeeble them ; and therefore condemned them to slavery, and ordered that every new-born son among them should be cast into the river. The object in view was defeated ; for the people in- creased in an unexampled manner. The history of the Israelites now assumed a very marked character. Oppressed by the Egyptian monarch, they crie4 unto God for deliverance, and a divine deliverance they expe* rienced. Moseis, a Hebrew b birth, whose life was preserved 2 The family of Jacob or Israel invited into Egypt. 24 HISTORY OF THE JEWB. Delivered from their bondage in that land. mura< deliverance. wilderness. in an extraordinary manner, notwithstanding the edict of the king, was selected as the instrument of saving l)is country- men. He was in due time called to his work, and after a se« ries of miracles, which he performed by the divine assistance, he led the people out from before Pharaoh, into the region bordering on the promised land. The consequence to many of the Egyptians, was their destruction ; for Pharaoh and his army pur- suing the Israelites through the Red Sea, were overwhelmed with its waters. The people were no sooner delivered from the Egyptians, than they murmured against Moses, on account of the want ot food ; to satisfy them God sent first a great quan- Aer thefr ^^'.V °^ quails, and the next morning, manna, which fell regularly every day except on Sabbath days, during the time in which they remained in the Again, the people murmured for water, and Mo- ses, by the Lord's command, caused a supply to issue from a rock. At this juncture the Amalekites attacked Israel, and were defeated by Joshua, who afterwards became their leader. They receive "^"^ people soon after arrived at Mount Sinai, the law at Si- fro^i which God gave them his law. During, nai. however, the absence of Moses in the mount, they were guilty of an act of idolatry, in conse- quence of which three thousand of them Avere put to death. In the course of the second year after the retreat from Egypt, Moses numbered the children of Israel, from twenty y^ears old and upwards, and there were found numberKhe ^^^ hundred and three thousand five hundred 2d. year after a^d fifty men, able to go to war, besides the Le- their retreat, vites. About this time, twelve men were sent to spy the land of Canaan, who, with the ex- ception of Joshua and Caleb, reported unfavourably ; a cir- cumstance which caused the people to murmur. Upon this offence, God condemned all those who were twenty years and upwards when they came out of Egypt, to die in the wilder- ness, except Joshua and Caleb. As a punishment for their Thev wander '"'^^'^"'^^' *^® Israelites began to travel in the 40vear3inthe wilderness, 1489 years B. C. At this juncture, wilderness. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, revolting against Moses, were swallowed by the earth with two hundred and fifty of their associates. After wandering in the wilderness forty years, and frequently rebelling against God, this people were conducted by the hand of Moses in si^rht of W .*'; HISTORY OF THE JEWS. of the untry- sr a se* stance. )h, into i. The IS, was ny pur- a, were yptians, want ol at quan- a, which ith days, ;d in the and Mo- e from a rael, and ir leader, nt Sinai, During, le mount, in conse- •e put to n ■eat from twenty ,re found hundred the Le- •ere sent the ex- pon this tf-ears and e wilder- for their ;1 in the juncture, y SIg htof Canaan, when he died, without entering it him- j^Qg^, ^ied self His death occurred on M^unt Nebo. in the ©n mount Ne- land of Moab, after he ha' -ist taken a view of bo. the promised resting place of Israel. The successor of Moses was Joshua, who has the honour of having conducted the people at last into Canaan. Having led them to the banks of the Jordan, whose joaj^a con- waters divided to afibrd them a passage, he ducted the Is- brought them safely over it, into their fair inhe- raelites into ritance. He conquered thirty-one cities in the Canaan, course of six years. The people, though they had been highly favoured, were perpetually inclined to forsake the worship of Jehovah, and to pollute themseivres with the abominations of the heathen, who dwelt among and around them. For these sins, they were repeatedly brought into bondage and consequent distress. With a view to their deliverance at such times, . certain leaders, called Judges, were divinely ap- up fof^them pointed, who directed the people, with some in- termission, during the space of three hundred and fifty years. Occasions arose in Avhich these leaders performed the most meritorious services. They defeated the enemies of their country, and contributed much to establish the nation in its possessions. The people paid a high respect to these offi- cers, and also to the priests, but they acknowledged no other king than God. As this state of things, so long continued, became irksome to (he Israelites, and they desired a king, so as to be like the nations around them, a king was granted to them, but with the expressed disapprobation of their great spiritual Ruler. Saul, the son of Kisn, was the first king of Israel. .jij|j^ commu- Having been privately anointed by Samuel, he nity of the Is- was afterwards publicly proclaimed, 1079 years raelites be- B. C. The nomination of Saul took place by «>'n«i a mo- divine instruction, but may be admired on the ""'^ ^* plainest principles of human policy. He was , ?*"' ^^ fi"t selected from a tribe which could not well be an **"ff "^ '"**'• object of jealousy, like the great rival tribes of Judah aiid Ephraim, and he belonged to a part of the country which was most exposed to enemies, and which of course lelt most interested in repelling them. Besides, nature had marked him out for no common man. He possessed a tall and stri- king person — an eminent distinction in the East — and he proved himself, at times, capable of lofty aims. His reign was prosperous at first ; he ^ined important victories over S 26 HISTORY or THE JEWR. Perishes mis- erably. David sue ceeds Saul. his enemies, particularlv the Ammonites, Philistines, and Amalekites ; but his evil propensities at length obtaining the mastery over him, he spent the last part of his life in a most unhappy manner, and met with signal disasters and ill suc- cess in the management of his kingdom. He perished miserably. Being at war with the Philistines, his army was routed, three of his sons were slain, and he himself having received a wound, and fearing to fall into the hands of his enemies, took a sword and fell upon it. He was succeeded by David, who had been previously anointed king. This prince reigned at first only over the tribe of Judah; but after the death of Ishbo- sheth, a son of Saul, who had assumed the government of the tribes, he reigned over the whole of Israel. He spent a very active and perilous life, and among the people whom he conquered were the Philis- tines, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Syrians. By his wise and vigorous administration he raised his people to the highest pitch of national prosperity and happiness. He had, towards the latter part of his reign, some domestic troubles, and was in danger from an insurrection of his subjects, a por- tion of whom had attached themselves to his ambitious son Absalom ; but he lived to see his enemies destroyed, and he „. left a rich and flourishing realm to his successor. Uis c aracter. j)j^yjj^ though he greatly erred in one or two instances, was a man of distinguished talents, bravery, and piety. As a composer of sacred poetry for the use of the church, he will be remembered and admired to the end rf the world. The wise and rich Solomon was his son and successor. From the accession of this prince to the throne of the Israel- Solomon king ites, a period of profound peace and prosperity of Israel. was enjoyed by that people throughout his reign. The most important undertaking of Solomon was the build- ing and dedication of the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem. This temple was completed in seven years. It was a most Builds the magnificent, sumptuous, and costly edifice. The temple. value of the materials, and the perfection of the workmanship, rank it among the most celebrated structures of antiquity. It was not very large, being little more than ninety feet in length, thirty in breadth, and forly-five in heie^ht ; but was finely proportioned, and, together with a grand porch, was splendidly ornamented. As soon as Solomon had finished this noble structure, he HISTORY OF THE JKW8. t7 », and ing the a most ill suc- icrished listinesi, 18 were wound, took a Bviously )ver the f Ishbo- ned the )ver the ous life, e Philis- By his le to the He had, troubles, ts, a por- tious son , and he uccessor. e or two rery, and 36 of the end rf uccessor. le Israel- rosperity jis reign, le build- rusalem. a most ce. The m of the ictures of in ninety ht; but , porch, cture, he ■0 employed his artificers upon three other buildings, two for himself, and a third for Pharaoh's daughter. He was occupied almost thirteen years in erecting gtnictures ' them ; so that he finished three famous edifices, with all their costly furniture, utensils, and ornaments, within the space of twenty years. To supply all these, and his other vast expenses, he built a navy upon the coast of _ the Red sea, and put it under the care of some his weSth. expert Tyrian sailors, who, with his owr men, went with it to Ophir, which was probably situated on some part of the eastern coast of Africa, and in about three years Drought back an immense weight of gold and silver, besides several kinds of precious stones, spices, ebony, and other rarities. Besides tnese, there was the traffic of the Mediter- ranean, carried on through the Tyrian merchant.s, and the inland commerce of Egypt, Arabia, and Assyria, all of which were highly important. From these various sources it was, that the precious metals, and all other valuable commodities, were in such abundance, that, in the figurative language of the sacred historian, *' silver was in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees as sycamores." Betides the works already mentioned, Solomon built some fortresses in Lebanon, probably to secure a free communica- tion between his kingdom and that of Syria. He g ... .. built two cities, as stations, to protect his inland cities of Tod- commerce; these were Tadmor and Baalath, the morand Baal- one the celebrated Palmyra, and the other Baal- »^h' bee. These, and many others, which time forbid us to par- ticularize, were the works by which his peaceful reign was distinguished. No wars occurred, except in the instajice of bringing under his yoke the remainder of the Canaanites, and making them tributary, Solomon exceeded in wisdom all who w^ent before him ; but in his old age he took many wives and concubines out of the idolatrous nations around him, who cor- His character, rupted his heart. The Lord, therefore, declared by the prophet Abijah, that he would divide the kingdom after his death, and give ten tribes to Jeroboam, one of his domestics. As an immediate punishment cf his eflfeminacy and idolatry, the Lord stirred up certain adversaries against him ; and taough the principal evil threatened against Israel, was not to occur in his day, yet he had the mortification of knowing that it would be inflicted under the administration of his son, and that hi.s own conduct was the procuring cause. We cannot but think that he repented of his awful defection S8 HISTORY or THK JIWN. r-^ ■> i- .i i from duty, though nothing is recorded in the Bible on this •ubject: and it is certain that all ought to be profited by the memorials which he has left of his wisdom, and by his sound religious maxims. He died after a reign of forty years, and with him expired the glory and the power of the Hebrew monarchy. Kehoboam, the son of Solomon, began to reign over the Israelites 975 years B. C. Having refused to lighten the Rehoboam yoke his father had imposed on his subjects, ten luccecds Solo- tribes revolted, and followed Jeroboam, as had mon. been denounced by the prophet. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin alone remained faithful to Rehoboam. The national Thus the national union was dissolved, and union dissolv- the Hebrew kingdom never recovered this fatal ed. blow. From this time Judah and Israel are separate kingdoms. Although Rehoboam, at first, thought of having recourse to arms to compel, if possible, the revolted portion of his people to submission, he thought better of the subject, and turned his attention wholly to the fortifying of his own dominions. The kingdom of the Ten Tribes, or the Israelites, was governed by a succession of vicious and idolatrous monarchs; Jeroboam king and wars and feuds, treachery and murder, of the Ten marked their history in a shocking manner. Tribes. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, of the tribe oi Ephraim, was their first king. It is emphatically said of him in scripture, that he made Israel to sin. To prevent his sub- jects from going to Jerusalem to sacrifice, which place he feared miofht become again the centre of the na- tional union, he set up two golden calves, the one in Bethel and the other in IJ)an, which the people worshipped. Concerning these calves it has been observed, that they were not, strictly speaking, idols, but were speciously contrived as symbolical representations, probably preserving some resemblance to the cherubim, of which the ox was one of the four constituent parts. Still, they were set up in no less flagrant violation of the law, than if* they had been the deities of Egypt, to which they bore a great likeness. For this conduct God declared that his whole house should Defeated in be cut ofl^ In a conflict with Abijah, the king war by the of Judah, Jeroboam was totally defeated, with king of Judah. t^g loss of five hundred thousand men. The disaster preyed on his mind, and he never after recovered his power or enterprise. He was succeeded by Nadab, his son, who had for his Causes Israel to sinf HISTORY or THE JEWS. 20 ■uecMSors Baasha, Elah, and Zimri. The wickedncsa of these kings is the most remarkable circumstance g^yeral other in their reigns. Zimri enjoyed the crown only wicked kinn seven days. The beautirul city Tirzuh, in which iuccmlMNl- he was besieged by Omri, bemg taken, he burnt ^''i Bn»»ha, himself to death in his palace. Omri then occu- * ' pied the throne ;he built Samaria, or transferred the royal rc- (lence to that place, which thenceforth became the capital of his kingdom, and was so lon^ the hated rival of Jerusalem. The apostacy of the ten tribes, and the wickedness of their kings, did not reach their height till the accession of Ahab. the son of Omri, B. C. 919. This prince mar- Ahab king of ried Jezebel, the fierce and cruel daughter of the Israel, ifing of Sidon. Under her influence, the Sido- nian worship of Baal, the sun, was introduced ; EstabhaKes his temples were openly built and consecrated; ^ °^^' and this cruel and persecuting idolatry threatened to exter- minate the ancient religion. The prophets were put to death, hundred only having escaped by lying concealed in a one cave ; yet these intrepid defenders of the God of rpj,^ prophets their fathers still arose to remonstrate against remonstrate these impious innovations; till, at length, Elijah, against the the greatest of the whole, took up the contest, Ah'b*'"d'j ** and defied and triumphed over the cruelty, both gbel his wife, of the king and his blood-thirsty consort. They each perished miserably; their death happening by God'a avenging on them the blood of Naboth, whom they had killed, because he refused, as the law of Moses enjoinea him, to sell them the fee of the inheritance of his father. Ahab was slain in battle by a random shot, as had been foretold by Micaiah the prophet ; Jezebel perished at Jehu's command, by being precipitated from a window according to the prophecies of Elijah. Ahaziah, Jehoram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Jehoash, were the successors, in turn, of Ahab ; but they heard and saw, uncon- cerned, the miracles of Elijah and Elisha, whom . God made use of in endeavours to bring the c"^dedb"Ar*^ Israelites to repentance. It is unnecessary to ziah, Jehoram notice each of these kings in the separate acts of Jehu, &c. their reigns. Of Jehu it may be observed, that he kin^ofasimi was a captain under Jehoram, was anointed king '^'^•^"""c*^'"- by the prophet Elisha ; and though a wicked man, was the in- strument of executing the Lord's vengeance upon his impious contemporaries. He killed Jehoram and the seventy sons of Ahab ; and after havhig sluin all the priests of Baal, he de' 3* 80 HISTORY OF THE JF.W8. A state of an- archy follows, stroyed the images, and the house of their god. Concerning Jfhoash it must be remarked, that he was successful as a war- rior. He defeated Benhadad, king of Syria, in three battles. In a war against Amaziah, king of Judah, he took him prison- er, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, plundered the temple and the king's palace, and carried away the spoil to Samaria. The kingdom of Israel now began to recover its strength, after having been brought low, under its latter kings, by the Israel recovers power of Syria. Jeroboam II. an able prince, had its strength succeeded Jehoash, B. C. 822, and pursuing his under Jerobo- father's successes, re-established the whole fron- "™" tier, from Hamath to the Dead sea ; even Damas- cus, the Syrian capital, surrendered to his forces. But the kingdom which was to remain in the line of Jehu to the fourth generation, at the death of Jeroboam, fell into a frightful state of anarchy. At length, after eleven years of tumult, his son Zachariah obtained the sceptre, but was speedily put to death by Shallum ; Shallum, in his turn, by Menahem ; Menahem, a sangui- andother"suc- ^^^ prince, reigned ten years, during which ceed. ^^6 fatal power of the great Assyrian empire was rapidly advancing to universal conquest. Pul, the monarch who ruled at Nineveh, was now pushing his victories over Syria, and began to threaten the independ- ence of Israel. Menahem only delayed the final servitude, by submission and tribute, which he wrung from his people by heavy exactions. This prince was succeeded by his son, Pekahiah, who, in ten years after, was put to death by a new usurper, Pekah, the son of Remaliah. Tne dissensions between Israel and Judah, which had all along existed, now arose to a great height. Pe- ^^'w''* if-**'^ ^^^ ^^^ *^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ '^^ powerful king of the oTisrael '"^ ^®" tribes. In conjunction with Rezin, king ol Syria, he made war against Judah. In one of the engagements, Judah lost one hundred and twenty thou- sand men, and many more were carried into captivity. These latter, however, were soon restored to their homes. The king- dom of Israel was now fast hastening to its end. Pekah was assassinated; another period of anarchy lasted for several years, till at length the sceptre fell into the feeble hands ol Hoshea, who uad instigated the murder of Pekah. A new and still more ambitious monarch, Shalmaneser, now wielded the power of Assyria. Hoshea attempted to avert the final subjugation of his kingdom by the payment of a tribute, but beingdetectedin asecret correspondence withthe king of Egypt, HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 81 had all :. Pe- of the Its not known what became of the ten tribes of whom the most were car- ried away. called So, the Assyrian marched into the king- The king- dom, besieged Samaria, which after an obstinate ^^^Hr^to"*!^ resistance of three years, surrendered, and thus Assyrian terminated for ever the independent kingdom of power and ex- Israel, ists no more. Pul and Tiglath Pileser had already swept away a great part of the population from Syria, and the Transjordanic tribes : and Shalmaneser, after the capture of Samaria, carried off vast numbers of the remaining tribes to a mountainous re- gion between Assyria and Media. From this period, history loses sight of the ten tribes as a distinct people. A few re- mained in their native country, and became intermixed with strangers. The descendants of these mingled races were afterwards known by the name of Samaritans. What became of those who were carried away, is a matter of conjecture to this day. Some suppose that they were totally lost and absorbed in the nations among whom they settled. The learned Prideaux is of this opinion. Others find reason to believe that they still exist in some unknown and inaccessible regions, where they await the final restoration of the twelve tribes to their native land. Others even trace the Jewish features, language, and religion, in different tribes, such as the Afghans of India, or, with still more improbabi- lity, the aborigines of America. To return to the period when the nation of Israel was sepa- rated into two great communities, we have to observe, that Rehoboam, whose sceptre was confined to the Rchoboam tribes of Judah and Benjamin, had scarce conti- king of Judah nued three years in the service of the true God, fell into idola- before he fell into the idolatry of the border- *T' ing nations. For this enormity, God stirred up a potent ad- versary against him, Shishak, kmg of Egypt, who took many of his fenced cities, and plundered the treasures of the tem- ple and palace of Solomon. Concerning the kings of Judah after this time, it may be re- marked in general, that several of them were good and pious men, and adhered to the worship of Jehovah. Others of them imitated the profligate kings of j'^j*J***'''Iji^ Israel. The people whom they governed, and j"^*^ ^ who have survived to the present time, are called Jews, in distinction from Israelites, the name once applied to the whole twelve tribes. The successor of Rehoboam was Abijah, who assumeathe government B. C. 958, and reigned three year& His reign 2* sa HISTORY or THE JEWS. was signalized by his victory over Jeroboam, as Abijah the aijgady related. Asa, his son, next ascended the SSStoam °^ throne, who proved to be a prudent and religi- ous prince. The first ten years of his reign were blessed with peace. At the expiration of that time, he saw his kingdom attacked by a prodigious number of Cushites, with Zerah, the Ethiopian, at their head. Asa, relying on the God of armies, repelled them with success. He th^'c "f te *" pursued the wise policy of establishing the nation- '■ al religion in all its splendour and influence, and he had the pleasure of seeing multitudes flock to him from several of the revolted tribes, whom his zeal drew away from the king of Israel. After a reign of forty-one years, Asa was succeeded, B. C. 918, by his son, Jehoshaphat. This prince is honourably spo- ken of in scripture, for his piety and justice. In • •'J^^°^''"P**"^ the third year of his reign, he sent some of the ''* principal officers of his court, with a competent number of priests and Levites, with copies of the Pentateuch, to instruct his people, throughout his kingdom, in the true re- ligion. At the same time, he fortified all the considerable places of the land, and put garrisons in them, as well as in those which his father had taken from the kings of Israel. The nation ^^^ kingdom was in a high state of prosperity : is prospered, both the Philistines and Arabs, were reduced to Jehoram the necessity of paying tribute. Jehoshaphat was and Ahaziah succeeded by his son Jehoram, and his grandson kings. Ahaziah, who had for his successor the princess Athaliah, in whose reign the affairs of Judah altered for the worse. Jehoram having married Athaliah, daughter of AhaB, seduced into the idolatry of that wicked family, which was drew upon him the vengeance of heaven. Jehoram and Ahaziah, with the greater part of the royal family, were slain about the same time with those of Israel, by Jehu, who ima- gined them to be friends and allies of the house of Ahab. TliekingJom Athaliah showed herself a worthy descendant of suffers under that wicked stock, and the most bloody scenes dc- Athahah. gjgj jjjg f^jy^i pajace of Jerusalem. She seized the vacant throne, massacred all the seed royal, excepting one child, Joash, who was secreted in the temple by his father's sister, the wife of the high priest. Athaliah maintained her oppressive government for six years, during which the temple was plundered, and the worship of Baal established. She met with a deserved fate. Joash succeeded Athaliah. He reigned with justice, as lon^; • • I HISTORY OF THK IkWS. Falls by a conspiracy. Azariel hi* successor. as Jehoiada the high priest lived. After his death having &Ilen into idolatry, Zechariah, th« son of Jehoiada, re- joash suc- proved him for this sin, and u'as stoned by the ceeded Atha- king's order. God then raised against him the ''"*'• king of Syria, who plundered Jerusalem. His own servants also conspired against him, and slew him in his bed, in the fortieth year of his reign. The first act of Ama- ziah, the son and successor of Joash, was to do „-^^^^^a justice on the murderers of his father ; but with with success, merciful conformity to the law, unusual in such times, he did not involve the children in the treason of their fathers. This prince was prospered in the early part of his reign, but his success in war filled his heart with pride and vanity. His subjects having become disaflfected towards him, he fell a victim to a conspiracy within the walls of his palace : he fled to Lacnish, but was slain there. His son Azariah, or Uzziah, assumed the royal power, 809, B. C, and commenced a long, religious, and therefore prosperous reign of fifty- one years. He made successful wars against the Philistines, and Arabians. Intoxicated, however, with prosperity, he went uf-T the temple to burn incense upon the altar, and the Lord t ick him with leprosy for his presumption. Jotham took the reins of government, during the life-time of , ^ . . his father Uzziah, and proved to be a wise and •'°"**"" '""^• pious prince. The son and successor of Jotham was Ahaz, whose impie- ties made his reign peculiarly unfortunate and inglorious. He was scarcely seated on his throne, when his kingdom was in- vaded by the joint forces of Pekah, king of Israel, and Rezin, king of Syria. In his extremity, he had recourse to the king of Assyria, whose assistance he purchased with all the gold and silver he could find in the temple and city, and with the promise of a yearly tribute. Delivered by the assistance of Tiglath-pileser from his enemies, he forgot his danger, and instead of adoring Jehovah, shut up his temple, j^y^^^^ ggj^. whilst he reared others in every corner of Jeru- tablished the salem, and throughout the land offered sacrifices Syrian wor- to the Syrian gods. In this manner he finished ®"'P' his impious reign, and was succeeded by his son, Hezekiah. The first act of the new king was to restore all Hezekiah re- the branches of the worship of God, which were formed the na- cntirely neglected, in the former reign. While *'°"* thus employed, he was blessed with success equal to his piety. Finding himself strong enough to assert his independence, he 34 HISTORY OF THE JEWS. refused to pay the tribute which the Assyrians had exacted from his predecessor, and taking the field against the Phi- listines, his arms were attended with such success, that in a short time, he regained all that had been lost during the un- fortunate reign of Ahaz. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, upon the refusal of Hezekiah to comply with the stipulation of Ahaz, invaded his country with a large army. They had just returned from Ethiopia, flushed with victory, and bieothing destruction against the whole kingdom ; but Hezekiah trusted Is delivered in God, and thus wa% released from danger. Be- from Sennach- fore Sennacherib had committed any act of hos- erib. tility against Judah, the best part of his army was smitten by an angel in one night. This dreadful judg- ment alarmed the proud Assyrian monarch, and caused him to retire, with the utmost confusion, into his capital, where he was soon aifter assassinated by his two sons. Hezekiah died in peace in the twenty-ninth year of his reign. He was succeeded by his son Manasseh, a king to whose crimes and irreligion, the Jews mainly attribute the dreadful Manasseh evils, which shortly after consigned them to ruin succeeds He- and slavery. Abandoned of God, for a time, he zekiah. ^yas allowed to fall into the hands of Esar-had- don, the new sovereign of Assyria. In the dungeons of Ba- bylon he learned wisdom and piety. Upon his sincere re- pentance, he was permitted to regain not only his liberty, but his kingdom. His son Amon, who succeeded, following the early career of his father, fell a victim to a conspiracy among his own officers. His successor, Josiah, proved Josiah comes *° ^^ O"® °^ *^® "^^^^ P'°"^ °f ^'^ *^® princes of to the throne Judah, and quite reformed the Jewish nation, a and reforms circumstance, which, for a time, suspended the the people. judgments of heaven against that people. He reigned thirty-one years in profound peace. He afterwards engaged in battle with the king of Egypt, in the valley of Megiddo, where he received a wound, which occasioned his death. The Egyptian king, Avho was Pharaoh Necho, on his re- turn to Egypt, took Jehoahaz, a son of Josiah, prisoner, whom the people had elected king of Judah, and placing his elder Jehoiakim brother on the throne, whose name he changed king, and does from Eiiakim into Jehoiakim, compelled him to wickedly. pj^y ^ hundred talents of silver, and one talent of gold, as an acknowledgment of vassalage. Jehoiakim, al- though warned by the writings of several prophets, to conduct himself uprightly, added every wickedness which invention ■i"ft m \ IIIflTORY OF THE JEWS. M could suggest, to the horrible abominations of his ancestors. At last God gave him and his city into the hands Nebuchad- of Nebuchadnezzar, who was just returned from nezzur took the conquest of Egypt. This event happened in Jerusalem, the fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign. Jerusalem was pillaged, and all the most beautiful youths of the palace were sent captives ' to Babylon. Jehoiakim was at iirst put into bonds, and intended to be sent away also, but upon his submission and promise to pay a yearly tribute, the victor left him as a kind of viceroy over his kingdom. But, whilst Nebuchadnezzar was employed in other conquests, the king of J udah renounced his subjection, and refused to pay the tribute. The Assyrian monarch, exas- perated at this conduct, sent an army into Judea, which laid waste the whole kingdom. This army carried away three thousand and twenty prisoners, took and murdered the king, and dragged his carcass out o( the city gates, where they left it unburied. His son Jehoiachin was made king ; but not gaining the approbation of the king of Babylon, was, after a reign of three months, with his wives, mother, and the chief jehoiachin is officers of the realm, led captive to Babylon by king, and c«r- Nebuchadnezzar, who placed on the throne he ['^ '"*o Baby- nineteenth and last king of Judah, Zedekiah, ano- ther son of Josiah. But this prince, contrary to advice of the the prophet Jeremiah, rebelling against his liene- Zedekiah the factor, was, in the eleventh year of his reign, con- last king of quered by the king of Babylon. The king, in Judali. an attempt to break through the besieging forces, was seized, his children slain before his The people face, his eyes put out, and thus the last of the carried away royal house of David, blind and childless, was remarned led away into a foreign prison. Jerusalem was captivity destroyed, the temple demolished, and the peo- years, pie were carried captive to Babylon, where they continued seventy years, in fulfilment of prophecy. From the books of Ezekiel and Daniel, we learn what the captives endured on their way to Babylon ; and it seems from the event, that the influence of adversity was very favourable on numbers of this people. It brought them to repentance, and engaged them in the worship and ordinances of their reli- gion. Having remained in captivity during the appointed period, they were permitted by Cyrus, the Per- d . ...^ k sian kinff, who had conquered Babylon, to re- CyroV turn to their native land, 536 years B. C. This * was accomplished under the direction of Zerubbabel and Joshua. and in 70 \ 86 HISTORY or THE JEW«. their leaders. They soon began the rebuilding of the temple, but their enemies prevented them from making any progress. Several years afterwards, they commenced the Rebuild the ^qj j^ anew, and completed it in the space of four **"*^ years, 516 B. C. Upon this event they cele- brated the first passover. The Jews, in their dependent state, continued to enjoy a degree of prosperity under the sovereigns of Persia, after the time of Cyrus. His successors, down to the era of Alexander, had, in general, treated them with much kindness. Darius, son of Cyrus, favoured the Jews during his long reign. Xerxes Favored by confirmed their privileges. Under Artaxerxes, the successors they were still more favoured through the in flu- of Cyrus. ence of his queen, Esther, a Jewess. From this prince, who is styled in scripture Ahasuerus, Ezra, a man ot priestly descent, obtained very liberal presents among the Jews remaining in Babylonia, to be applied to the service of the tem- ple, and authority to re-establish the government according to the divine constitution, 480 B. C. Several years afterwards, under the same prince, Nehemiah, his cup-bearer, obtained The walls leave to go to Jerusalem, and rebuild its walls, of Jerusalem He and Joiada, the high priest, reformed many rebuilt. abuses respecting tithes, the observation of the sabbath, and the marrying of strange wives. The Jewish people being again settled by Nehemiah, were governed by their high priests, and the council of the elders called the Sanhedrin. Under Alexander the Great they con- tinued to enjoy these immunities and privileges, and he even exempted them from paying tribute every seventh year. His death proVed a calamity to the Jews. From this time, 323 Judea inva- B. C, Judea was successively invaded and sub- ded by the dued by the Egyptians and Syrians, and f.he in- Egyptians,&c. habitants were reduced to bondage. Under the priesthood of Onias I., Ptolemy, governor of Egypt, taking advantage of the circumstance that the Jews would not fight on the sabbath, captured Jerusalem on that day, and carried off 100,000 persons, whom, however, he afterwards treated kindly. When Eleazar was high priest, he sent to Ptolemy Phila- delphus six men of every tribe to translate the sacred scrip- tures into Greek. This translation is the celebrated one called the Septuagint, 277 B. C. In 170 B. C, Jason, the brother of the high priest, on false reports of the death of Antiochus Epiphanes, who at this time held the Jews in subjection, raised great disturbances in Je- rusalem, with R T'iew fo secure the high priesthood. Antic- HISTORY or THE JEWS. 87 chus, irritated by the frequent revolts of the Antiochua Jews, marched to Jerusalem, slew 80,000 peo- ^ho held th'o pie, took 40,000 captives, and then entered the Jews in sub- temple, and plundered the treasures. This prince J*?''°"'. P""" havmg commanded the Jews to observe the rites ^^\\^q^^ *" "^ of the heathen, and to eat of the sacrifices, some of the more conscientious among them chose rather to suffer death, among whom were a mother and her seven sons, who expired in dreadful tortures. The same year the king's commissioner, who had been intrusted with this iniquitous business, was kiim b^ ' itthias and his five sons, who there- upon fled into tJ viiu. 'ss. This was the "v? encement of that noble resistance v.iiich was made against the Syrian power, under the Maccabees, and which eventuated in the in- aependence of the nation. Judas MaccabsBus, the bravest of the sons of Matthias, hav- ing been chosen by the Jews for their prince and governor, made war against Antiochus, and defeated seve- ^. ral of his generals. The monarch hearing of bees^resisTthe the defeat of his troops in Judea, took an oath Syrian power that he would destroy the whole nation. As he hastened to Jerusalem, he fell from his chariot, and died mise- rably. In a battle with a general of one of his successors, Judas was killed. He was succeeded by his brother, Jona- than, who, after many signal services rendered to his country, was basely murdered by Tryphon, an officer of the young Antiochus, who aspired at the same time to the crown of Sy- ria. Jonathan was succeeded by Simon his brother, who sub- dued the cities of Gaza and Joppa, and cleared Judea of many of the Syrians. He was murdered in the midst of his con- quests by his son-in-law, Ptolemy Physcon. John Hycanus, son of Simon Maccabeus, uniting in his person the offices of high priest and generalissimo of the army, subdued the enemies of his country, ceas- John Hyr- ed to pay homage to the kings of" Syria, firmly canus liberates established his government, and is celebrated for "'^ country, his many valuable qualities. He not only delivered his na- tion from the oppression of Syria, but he made somo con- quests both in Arabia and Phoenicia, turned his victorious arms against the Samaritans, and subdued Idumea. At the time of his death he had raised the Jewish nation to a very considera- ble degree of wealth, prosperity, and happiness. He reigned twenty-eight years. His sons assumed the title, as well as the power of kings ; and the high-priesthood remained in his family, though not in the person of the monarch. His de- :.vM 88 HISTORY or THE JBW8. a successor. His son Aris- ■cendants ore distinguished in the history of the Jewish nation by the appellation of the Asmonean dynasty, which continued bout 120 years. His son Aristobulus was his immediate This prince caused himself to be crowned king of Judan, and was the first who assumed that title tobulus, ^the after the Babylonish captivity. It is recorded first that was that he caused his brother Antiffonus to be killed called king af- ©n suspicion of disloyalty ] that his mother, claim- tenhecaptivi- - ^ ^-^^^^ ^^ ^j^^ sovereignty by virtue of the ^" wUl of Hyrcanus, was Iwirbarously starved to death ; that his other brothers were kept in close confinement. He was fortunate in war: but his successes were soon inter- rupted by sickness ; and tne deep remorse he felt on account of the treatment of his mother, produced a vomiting of blood, which speedily closed his wicked life and reign. Alexander JannsDUS, brother to the late king, succeeded ; he considerably extended the kingdom of Judea, by the conquest Alexander of all Iturea and some parts of Syria ; but the .iniinsBus his mau)^ services which he rendered his country successor. yfere quite overlooked, in consequence of his cruelty to his subjects. Although he left two sons, he was Alexandra immediately succeeded by his wife, Alexandra, and others sue- who gave the throne to his eldest son, named ceed him. Hyrcanus, a very weak and indolent prince. His younger brother, Aristobulus, at first disturbed his suc- cession ; but he was finally established on his throne by Pom- pey, who carried Aristobulus and his family captives to Rome. Alexander, one of the sons of Aristobulus, escaping from that city, disturbed the peace of Judea, until he was surprised and slain by the Scipios, two captains under Pompey. Antigonus, a son of Alexander, assisted by the Parthians, dethroned Hyr- canus, and cut off his ea's ; but this cruelty was revenged, Antigonus being soon after slain by Mark Antony. His brother, Aristobulus, who was retained^ prisoner with the Par- thians, returned to Palestine, where he lived contented under the government of Herod, who had been nominated cs the successor of Antigonus by the Romans. Herod I. was an Ascalonite, and was surnamed the Qreat. Created king of Judea (37 B. C.) by Antony, he was after- Herod I.reigns. wards confirmed in the regal possession by Au- gustus. His reign was splendid, but distinguish- ed by a singular degree of profligacy. Some time after his His wicked- estdblishment on the throne, in order to please ness. Maiiamne, the daughter of Hyrcanus, whom he had married, he appointed her brother, Aristobulus, high-priest; m BISTORT OF THE JEWI. ?a Ui perceiving that he was much beloved bv the Jews, he caused him to be drowned while bathing. After the battle of Aciium, he went to Rhodes to meet Augustus, between whom there existed a peculiar friendship. Upon his return, he con- demned to death his wife, Mqriamne, and her mother, Alex- andra. From this hour his life was a continual scene of misery and ferocity. At the instigation of his third son, he sentenced to death Aiiotobulus and Alexander, his children by Mariamne, and the next year Antipater himself experienced the same fate. In his reign, the sceptre being, as prophesied, departed from Judah, Jesus Christ was born, according to the vulgar era, A. M. 4004, but really four years - ^ Ch " t sooner. His birth greatly troubled Herod and jg jj^J!^' the principal Jews, who became apprehensive of new wars. After ascertaining the place of his nativity, Herod determined on his death, and supposed he had effected it ; but, by the providence of God, the cnild was removed out of his reach. By this time, Judea was fast sinking into a Roman pro- vince, and Herod, instead of being head of the Hebrew reli- giou.s public, became more and more on a level with the other vassal kings of Rome. He died of a most loathsome and pain- ful disease, or complication of diseases, which we are author- ized to believe was the direct judgment of God upon him, for • his enormous wickedness. Herod was succeeded by his eldest son, Archelaus, who had the title of king, but possessed only a tetrarchy, or fourth part of the kingdom of Judea. The rest of the country was divided into three more tetrarchies, ■'^'^^''^t which were those of Galilee and Petraea, that of rodlhe great.* Iturea, and that of Abilene. Archelaus govern* ed with great injustice and cruelty, and on this account M-as condemned, after a solemn hearing before Augustus. He was banished to Vienne, in Gaul, his estates confiscated, and Judea reduced in form to a Roman province, judea redu- His successor in the government of this country ced to a Ro- was Herod II., named Antipas, who ^married """ province, his brother Philip's wife. This was the inces- Herod Ami- tuous marriage, on account of which John the P«s reigns. Baptist reproved Herod, as mentioned in the New Testament. It was in the time of this Herod, that our Saviour's crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, occurred. Herod II. enjoyed only the tetrarchy of Galilee and Perea. He was succeeded by Herod Agrippa, the son of Aristobulus, grandson Herod Agrip- of Herod the Great. Caligula, the Roman em- pa on the peror, invested him with the tetrarchy of his ^'^'o^*- 40 aiSTORY or TUX JBW8. uncle Philip, and conferred on him the title of king. The other tetrarchies fell to his possession shortly afterwards. It was this Herod vrho caused the apostle James to be martyred, the apostle Peter to be imprisoned, ahd was himself smitten by an angel and devoured by worms. His son, Affrippa Minor, succeeded, and was the last king of the Jews. He, of course, received his title and authority from the Roman emperors. Suspicion attached to him of having lived in incest with his sister Berenice : in other respects, he bore a good character, being equitable m his administration, of a generous disposition, and paymg a strict attention to the externals of religion. It was> before this Agrippathat Paul pleaded in defence of the gospel. All things, however, tended to a rupture between the Ro- mins, and the Jews, their subjects. From the time of Herod Agrippa, Judea had been the theatre of many cruelties, rapines, and oppressions, arising from contentions between the Jewish priests ; the robberies of numerous bands of banditti, which in- fested the country ; but more than all, from the rapacious and flagitious conduct of the Roman governors. The last of these governors was Gessius Florus, whom history represents as a monster of crueky and wickedness, and whom the Jews re- garded rather as a bloody executioner, sent to torture, than as a magistrate to govern them. During the government of Felix, his predecessor, a dispute arising between the Jews and The Jews Syrians, about the city of Cesarea, their respec- arm against tive claims were referred to the Emperor Nc»"o, the Romans, qx Rome. The decision being made in favour of the Syrians, the Jews immediately took arms to avenge their cause. Florus, regarding the growing insurrection with in- human pleasure, took only inefficient means to quell it. In this state of things, Nero gave orders to Vespasian, his gene- Vespasian ral, to march into Judaa with a powerful army, marches Accordingly, accompanied by his son Titus, at agaiust them, th^, hg^d of 60,000 well disciplined troops, he fjassed into Galilee, the conquest of which country was not ong after achieved. While Vespasian was thus spreading the victories of the Roman arms, and was preparing more effectually to curb the still unbroken spirit of the Jews, the intelligence of his election to the imperial throne, induced him to depart for Rome ; but he left the best of his troops with his son, ordering him to besiege Jerusalem, and utterly to de- stroy It. Titus pro- secutes tlie en- terprise. Titus prosecuted the enterprise with diligence, and bssieging the city, he took it within a few months, after the most obstinate resistance of HI8TORV or THB JXWS. 41 which history perhaps gives an account. Twice during the siego he oflercu them very favourable terms, but they were so infatuated, that they not only refused his offers, but insulted his mp?senger, Flavius Josephus, in the most wanton and virulent manner. After this conduct, there remained no more mercy for the Jews. Titus caused the hands of those who had voluntarily sought shelter in the Roman camp, to be cut otT, and sent them back to the city, and others he crucified in the eight of their countrymen. Famine, in the mean time, was performing its dreadful work within the walls; and pestilence. Its attendant, raged beyond control. Thousands died daily, and were carried out of the gates to be buried at the public expense; until, being unable to hurry the wretched victims to the grave so fast as they fell, they nlled whole houses with them, and shut them up. When Titus entered the city, he gave it up to be plundered by the soldiers, and most of the inhabitants were put to the sword. In pursuance , . of this general order, the city was destroyed to j, destroyed, its foundations, and even the ruins of the temple were demolished. Josephus says, that the number of the pri- soners taken during the whole time of the wa*-, was ninety- seven thousand, and^he number killed in the city during the same period, amounted to one million. The Jews, who re- mained in the country, now paid tribute to the Romans, and were entirely subject to their laws. After this event, Jerusalem was partially rebuilt, and in 118 A. C. the inhabitants again attempted to rebel, but were speedily overcome. Adrian, the emperor, in- j . .. censed at the conduct of this stubborn people, re- rebuilt!* ' ^ solved to level the city with the earth, »hat is to say, those new buildings which had been erected by the Jews, and to sow salt in the ground, on which the place had stood. Thus was fulfilled a prophecy of our Saviour, who foretold, that neither in the city, nor in the temple, should one stone be left upon another. This, therefore, may be called the final destruction of Jerusalem, which took place forty-seven years after that efTected by Titus. Adrian, however, saw fit, from some cause, to build the city over anew, to which he gave the name iElia Capitolina. It was a short-lived change, for when the Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, visited the city, she found it in a forlorn and ruinous state. The national existence of the Jews, may be TneJcwsex- consldered as having terminated with the destruc- ** no more as tion of Jerusalem by Titus. They were no longer are*"^ scattered one people, or in a situation to preserve their in- over the earth. 4» -v/ 19 RISTORV or THI JKWI. ■titutioni as a body. Though numbers remained in their natire land, yet vast multitudes were dispersed over the face of the earth, on which they have ever since been wanderers, The reader of the Bible will see in these events a remarkable fulfilment of the predictions of the ancient prophets, and of our Saviour ; and he will also learn the evil and danger of despising divine admonitions, and abusing religious privileges. When we meet with one of the descendants of Abraham, (and in what place are they not to be met with ?) we see a miracle — a living confirmation of the divine veracity — a proof that the Bible is true, and nn indubitable testimony that tnere is a God who judgeth in the earth. It is not our design, neither is it compatible with the brevi- ty of this sketch, to trace continuously the history of the Jews, In the history in their wide dispersions, or in the various coun- of the Jews, it tries in which they have existed, since the great remains only g^g^j above recorded. All the purpose that re- to descrioe . ^ . , . J^ ^i • v • • their condi- "Jains to be answered, in regard to this division tion in more of our subject, is to furnish the reader with a modern times, brief account of the condition of this remarkable people, in later times, chiefly within the last and present cen- turies. Their residences and numbers, as recently ascertained, will also be given. Abating the circumstance, that the state of most nations has ameliorated since the era of their dispersion, it will be naturally inferred, that such as their condition now is, such it has substantially been for centuries. They have, in Thev hav "^^^^ instances, reaped the fruits of the common im- ■uifered less provement; and those persecutions to which they from persecu- are known to have been exposed, in past ages, tion than for- have, in some measure at least, ceased with the spi- '"*"y* rit which gave birth to these and other instances of bigoted and revengeful feelings. Still it is not to be denied, that the Jews, from certain peculiarities in their character and manner of life, seem likely to be the last people, who, through- out the world, will enjoy the happiness of perfect equality in rights and privileges, with the rest of their fellow-men. The Jews, though widely scattered over the earth, and con- stituting a portion of almost every nation, present the singular phenomenon of a people subsisting for ages, without their civil and religious policy, and thus surviving even their poli- The Jews ^^^^^ existence. Unlike other conquered nations, have survived they have never mingled with their conquerors, their political ana lost their separate name and character, but existence. jjjgy invariably constitute a distinct people in every country in which they live. This fact enables us to HISTORY OF THE JKWt. of ' the in mo* dern Rgei. point out their present state with a degree of accuracy, and aflfords a strong reason for doinv it : since, doubtless, import* ant designs are to be answered by tne providence of Ood in preserving this people in so extraordinary a manner. In our brief Hccouiit of their more modern history, wc have to remark, that at the begfinnin^ of the eighteentn century, Polaud, and the adiacent provmces, had, for some time, been the head-quarters of the Jews. Poland the In that kingdom they formed the only middle Jhe hewl^ quar- order between the nobles and the serfs. Almost every branch of traffic was in their hands. They were the corn merchants, shop-keepers, inn-keepers ; in some towns they formed tne gr ater part of the population, in some villages almost the whole. In the west of £urope, in the mean time, those great changes wore slowly preparing, which, before the close of the centur\', were to disorganize the whole frame-work of society. Thent/ opinions not merely altered the political condition of the Jews, OS well as that of almost all orders of men; but they pene- trated into the very sanctuary of Judaism, and threatened to shake the dominion of the rabbins, as they had that of sir Christian priesthood, to its basis. The Jews were hate ' as the religious ancestors of the Christians, and it became the accustomed mode of warfare to wound Christianity through the sides of Judaism. The legislation of Frederick tns Great, almost, as it were, throws us back into the middle ages. In 1750 appeared an edict for the general reguloMon of the Jews in the Prussian dominions. It limited the num- ber of the Jews in the kingdom, divided them into those who held an ordinary, or an extraordinary protection from the crown. The ordinary protection descended to rpj^^ j^^^ one child, the extraordinary was limited to the in Prussia sub* life of the bearer. Foreign Jews were prohibited jcctedtomany from settling in Prussia; exceptions were ' taxes and dis- tained only at an exorbitant price. Widw, j who married foreign Jews must leave the kingdom. The protected Jews wer& liable to enormous and especial burdens They paid, besides the common taxes jf the kingdom, for their patent of protection, for every election of an elder in their community, and for every marriage. But though thus heavily taxed, they were excluded from all civil functions, and from many of the mc^t profitable branches of trade, from agriculture, from breweries and distilleries, from manufac- tures, from inn-keeping, from victualling, from physic and mrgery. 44 HISTORY OF THK JEWS. *. Nor in more enlightened countries was the public mind prepared for any essential innovations in the relative condition of the Jews. In England, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, their cause was brought forward under the unpopular auspices of Toland the Freethinker. In 1 753 a more import- ant measure was attempted, A bill was introduced into par- liament for the naturalization of all Jews who had resided In England three years in the kingdom, without being absent in the ° 18th more than three months at a time. It excluded century, laws them from all civil offices, but in other respects at one time bestowed all the privileges of British subjects. !our thJ^Jews The bill passed both houses, and received the were soon royal assent. But the old jealousies only slum- abolished, bered, they were not extinguished. So much clamour was raised by various classes of the people, that the ministry, and the houses of the parliament, found it necessary to repeal the obnoxious statutes. Tlieir state ^^ Italy, till the French revolution, the Jews more eligible enjoyed their quiet freedom. In Rome they in Jtaly, till were confined to their Ghetto, and still con- the French re- strained to listen to periodical sermons. In the vo ution, maritime towns they continued to prosper. In Germany, among the first measures which Joseph II., when he ascended the throne in 1 780, saw fit to adopt, was a plan for the amelioration of the condition of the Jews. In Vienna, they had been barely tolerated since their expulsion by Leopold the First. After a period they were permitted to return. Under Maria Theresa the Jews were suffered to reside in Vienna, and enjoyed a certain sort of protection. In the othe; provinces of the empire they had lived unmolested, unless, perhaps, by some vexatious local regulations, or popu- lar commotions in the different cities. Joseph II. published his edict of toleration, by which he opened to the Jews the In Germa- schools, and the universities of the empire, and ny tliey were gave them the privilege of taking degrees as tolerated by doctors in medicine, philosophy, and the civil Joseph II. Jaw. He conferred upon them other important privileges, which it is not necessary here to name. Still, though they were governed by the same laws with the Chris- tians, they were liable to a toleration tax, and certain othe* contributions. That terrible epoch, the Revolution, found some Jews in France : after their final expulsion, a few Portuguese fugitives had been permitted to take up their abode in Bourdeaux and Bayonne. There were a certain number in the old papal HISTORY OF THE JRWS. 45 dominions in Avignon. The conquest of the city of Metz, and afterwards of Alsace, included some considerable communities under the dominion of France. The Jews of this latter pro- vince presented a remarkable petition in 1780 to the king in ' council. They complained of great oppressions, particularly of a capitation tax, which, in addition to the royal patent of protection, the lords of the soil exacted, for the right of resi- dence within their domains, from which not even the aged, nor infirm, nor children, nor even the Rabbins j^ prance and officers of the synagogue, were exempt. The their gricvan- appeal to the equity of Louis XVI. was not in ces were re- vain— the capitation tax was abolished in 1784 ; ^y ^L^^Jf^P"* ,, and in 1788, a commission was appointed to de- xvi vise means f / remodelling, on principles of jus- ^ tice, all laws relating to the Jews. This plan, however, was \nticipated or set aside by the revolutionary tribunals, who .vere more rapid in their movements, than the cautious justice of the sovereign. In 1790, this class of people, who had watched their opportunity, sent in a petition, claiming equal rights as citizens. The measure was not passed under the without considerable discussion ; but Mirabeau revolution and Rabaut St.Etienne declared themselves their they were ac- advocates, and the Jews were recognized as free Knowledgedns citizens of the great republic. In the year 1806, Napoleon summoned a grand Sanhedrin of the Jews to assemble at Paris. We are more inclined to look for motives of policy in the acts of this ex- j^ jgQg jj^, traordinary man, than of vanity or philanthropy ; poleon sum- nor does it seem unlikely, that in this singular moned a San- transaction, he contemplated remotely, if not im- h^""'"- mediately, both commercial and military objects. He might hope to turn to his own advantage, by a cheap sacrifice to the national vanity, the wide extended and rapid correspondence of the Jews throughout the world, which notoriously outstrip- ped his own couriers, and the secret ramifications of their trade, which not only commanded the supply of the precious metals, but much of the internal traffic of Europe, and probably made great inroads on the continental system. T^yeiyg qygg. It must, however, be acknowledged, that the tions submit- twelve questions submitted to the Sanhedrin seem ted to the San- to refer to the Jews strictly as subjects and citi- hedrin, with zens of the empire. Thev were, briefly, as fol- "'* ^"«*«"' lows: — I. Is polygamy allowed among the Jews ? II. Is di- vorce recognised by the Jewish Law ? III. Can Jews inter- marry with Christians? IV. Will the French people bo n ^ HISTORY OF THE JEWS. esteemed by the Jews as strangers or as brethren ? V. In what relation, according to the Jewish Law, would the Jews stand towards the French? VI. Do Jews born in France consider it their native country ? Are they bound to obey the laws and customs of the land? VII. Who elect the Rabbins? VIII. What are the legal powers of the Rabbins ? IX. Is the election and authority of the Rabbins grounded on law or custom ? X. Is there any kind of business in which Jews may not be engaged ? XI. Is usury to their brethren forbid- den by the Law ? XII. Is it permitted or forbidden, to prac- tice usury with strangers ? The answers of the deputies were clear and precise : as they throw much light on the opinions of the more enlightened Jews, they are subjoined, with as much conciseness as possible, though we suspect, that they are not universally recognised as the authoritative sentence of the na- tion. I. Polygamy is forbidden, according to a decree of the Synod of Worms, in 1030. II. Divorce is allowed, but in this respect the Jews recognise the authority of the civil law of the land in which they live. III. Intermarriages with Christians are not forbidden, though difficulties arise from the different forms of marriage, IV. The Jews of France recognise in the fullest sense the French people as their brethren. V. The relation of the Jew to the Frenchman is the same as of Jew to Jew. .The only distinction is in their religion. VI. The Jews acknowledged France as their country when oppressed, — how much more must they when admitted to civil rights ? VII. The election of the Rabbins is neither defined nor uni- form. It usually rests with the heads of each family in the community. VIII. The Rabbins have no judicial power; the Sanhedrin is the only legal tribunal. The Jews of France and Italy being subject to the equal laws of the land, whatever power they might otherwise exercise is annulled. IX. The election and powers of the Rabbins rest solely on usage. X. All business is permitted to the Jews. The Talmud enjoins that every Jew be taught some trade. XI. XII. The Mosaic institute forbids unlawful interest; but this was the law of an agricultural people. The Talmud allows interest lo be taken from brethren and strangers ; it forbids usury. The laws of France relating to the Jews have remained unaltered : in Italy, excepting in the Tuscan dominions, they have become again subject to the ancient regu- The condition lations. In Germany, some hostility is vet lurk- of the Jew^s • • .1 1 r i- . "^ 1. i- improving in '"§" *" "^® popular leelmg, not so much from re- Qennany at ligious animosity, as from commercial jealousy, HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 47 I? V. In the Jews in France to obey the J Rabbins? ? IX. Is on law or hich Jews iren forbid- en, to prac- puties were iie opinions Ith as much liey are not 3 of the na- ecree of the 1, but in this I law of the I Christians he diflerent gnise in the 1. V. The as of Jew to VI. The I oppressed, ivil rights? ed nor uni- mily in the jpower; the of France whatever IX. The on usage, le Talmud XI. XII. ; but this md allows it forbids remained lions, they nent regu- is yet lurk- Ih from re- jealousy, I in the great trading towns, Hamburgh, Bremen, present, parti- Lubeck, and particularly Frankfort, where they ""'"4^ >n are still liable to an oppressive tax for the right of residence. Nor did the ancient nobility behold, without Bentiments of animosity, their proud patrimonial estates, falling, during the great political changes, into the hands of the more f>rosperous Israelites. Nevertheless, their condition, both po- itical and intellectual, has been rapidly improving. Before the fall of Napoleon, besides many of the smaller states, the grand duke of Baden, in 1809, the king of Prussia, in 1812, the duke of Mecklen burgh Schwerin, in 1812, the king of Ba- varia, in 1813, issued ordinances admitting the Jews to civil rights, exempting them from particular imposts, and opening to them all trades and professions. The act for the federative constitution of Germany, passed at the congress of Vienna, in 1815, pledges the diet to turn its attention to the amelioration of the civil state of the Jews throughout the empire. The king of Prussia had, before this, given security that he would nobly redeem his pledge ; he had long paid great attention to the encouragement of education among the Jews: and in his rapidly improving dominions, the Jews are said to be by no means the last in the career of advancement. Nor has his benevolence been wasted on an ungrateful race : they are re- ported to be attached with patriotic zeal to their native land ; many Jews are stated to have fallen in the Prussian ranks at Waterloo. The policy of the Russian government seems to have been to endeavour to overthrow the Rabbinical authority, and to re- lieve the crowded Polish provinces by transfer- They are re- ring the Jews to less densely peopled parts of strained in their dominions, where it was hoped they might ^."ssia. be induced or compelled to become an agricultural race. A ukase of the Emperor Alexander, in 1803-4, prohibited the practice of small trades to the Jews of Poland, and proposed to transport numbers of them to agricultural settlements. He transferred likewise the management of the revenue of the communities from the Rabbins, who were accused of malver- sation, to the elders. A recent decree of the Emperor Nicho- las appears to be aimed partly at the Rabbins, who are to be immediately excluded by the police from any town they may enter, and at the petty traffickers, who are entirely prohibited in the Russian dominions ; though the higher order of mer- chants, such as bill-brokers and contractors, arc admitted, on receiving an express permission from government: artisans and handicraftsmen are encouraged, though they are subj^t 3 48 HISTORY OF THE JEW& to ricorous police regulations, and must be attachea to some guild or fraternity. They cannot move without a passport. It only remains to give the best estimate we can afibrd of the number of the Jews now dispersed throughout the four quarters of the world. Such statements must of Numbers of necessity be extremely loose and imperfect. Even the Jews in ^^ Europe it would be difficult to approximate Ifthe woff closely to the truth; how much more so in Afri- ca and Asia, where our data depend on no sta- tistic returns, and where the habits of the people are probably less stationary. It is calculated that there exist between four and five mil- lions* of this people, descended in a direct line from, and main- taining the same laws with, their forefathers, who, above 3,000 years ago, retreated from Egypt under the guidance of their mspired lawgiver. In Africa, we know little more of their numbers than that they are found along the whole coast, from Morocco to Egypt ; they travel with the caravans into the interior, nor is there probably a region undiscovered by Christian enterprise, which has not been visited by tlie Jewish trafficker. In Morocco they are said to be held in low estimation, and treated with great indignity by the Moors. In Egypt, 150 families alone inhabit that great city, Alex- andria, which has so oflen flowed with torrents of Jewish blood, and where, in the splendid days of the Macedonian city, their still recruited wealth excited the rapacious jealousy of the hostile populace or oppressive go .'crnment. In Cairo, the number of Jews is stated at 2,000, including, it should seem, sixty Karaite families. The Falishas, or Jewish tribe named by Bruce, inhabit the borders of Abyssinia ; and it is probable that in that singular kingdom, many Jews either dwell or make their periodical visits, f In Asia, the Jews still most likely might be found in con- siderable numbers on the verge of the continent ; in China, where we are not aware that their communities have ceased to exist ; and on the coast of Malabar, in Cochin, where two distinct races, called black and white Jews, were visited by Dr. * A statement has just been published in this country, from the Weimar Geographical Ephemeries, which gives the whole number of Jews at lit- tle more than three millions. We should conceive the Asiatic, and per- haps the Russian, stated too low ; but we subjoin their numbers. t In the Weimar statement, the Jews of Africa stand as follows: Mo- rocco and Fez, 300,000; Tunis, 130,000; Algiers, 30,000; Qabes or Uttbesh, 30,000 J Tripoli, 12,000; Egypt, V2,m. Total, 504,00a ..■l-.T. HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 49 ja to some [)asspoTt n afford of It the four tts must of feet. Even }proximate so in Afri- on no sta- ■e probably ad five mil- i, and main- ibove 3,000 ice of their ■s than that to Egypt; lor is there prise, which In Morocco reated with t city, Alex- 3 of Jewish ■donian city, i jealousy of i, including, 'alishas, or |f Abyssinia; many Jews )und in con- ,, in China, 1 have ceased where two [sited by Dr. I the Weimar [of Jews at lu- natic, andper- mbers. [follows: Mo- Gabes or l504,00a Buchanan. The traditions of the latter averred that they liad found their way to that region after the fall of Jerusalem, but the date they assigned for their migration singularly coincided with that of a persecution in Persia, about A. C. 508, from whence, most likely, they found th*?ir way to India. The origin of the black Jews is more obscure ; it is not impossible that they may have been converts of the more civilized whites, or, more probably, are descendants of black slaves. The Ma- labar Jew^ were about 1,000 ; they possessed a copy of the Old Testament. Many are found in other parts of the East Indies. In Bokhara reside 2,000 families of Jews; in Balkh, 150. In Persia, they have deeply partaken of the desolation which has fallen on the fair provinces of that land ; their numbers were variously stated to Mr. Woolff at 2,974 and 3,590 fami- lies. 'Their chief communities are at Shiraz and Ispahan, Kashaan and Yazd. They are subject to the heaviest exac- tions, and to the capricious despotism of the governors. " I have travelled far," said a Jew to Mr. Woolff; " the Jews are everywhere princes, in comparison with those in the land of Persia. Heavy is our captivity, heavy is our burthen, heavy is our slavery ; anxiously we wait for redemption." In Mesopotamia and Assyria, the ancient seats of the Baby- lonian Jews are still occupied by 5,270 families, exclusive of those in Bagdad and Bassora. The latter are described as a fine race, both in form and intellect ; in the provinces they are broken in mind and body by the heavy exactions of the pashas, and by long ages of sluggish ignorance. At Bagdad the ancient title of Prince of the Captivity, so long, according to the accounts of the Jews, entirely suppressed, was borne by an ancient Jew named Isaac. He paid dear for his honour • he was suddenly summoned to Constantinople and impri- soned. At Damascus there are seven synagogues and four colleges. In Arabia, whether not entirely expelled by Mahomet, or having returned to their ancient dwellings in later periods, the Beni-Khaibr still retain their Jewish descent and faith. In Yemen reside 2,658 families, 18,000 souls. In Palestine, of late years, their numbers have greatly in* creased ; it is said, but we are inclined to doubt the numbers, that 1 0,000 inhabit Safet and Jerusalem. They are partly Karaites : some very pathetic hymns of this interesting Israel- itjsh race have been published in the Journals of Mr. Woolff, which must have a singularly affecting sound when heard 5 J k I f MA HISTORY OF THE JEWR. from children of Israel, bewailing, upon the very ruins of Je- rusalem, the fallen city, and the suffering people.* la the Turkish dominions, not including the Barbary States, the Israelites are calculated at 800,000. In Asia Minor they are numerous, in general unenlightened, rapacious, war- red on, and at war with mankind. Itt Constantinople, they are described as the most fierce and fanatical race which inhabit the city. Hated by and hating the Greeks with the unmitigated animosity of ages, ^ey lend themselves to every atrocity for which the government may demand unrelenting executioners. They were employed in the barbarous murder and maltreatment of the body of the Patriarch ; on the other hand, the old rumors of their crucify- ing Christian children are stiH revived : the body of a youth was found pierced with many wounds ; the murder was, with one voice, charged upon the Jews. Their numbers are stated at 40,000. At Adrianople reside 800 families, with thirteen syna* gogues. In Salonichi, 30,000 possess thirty synagogues; and in this city, the ancient Thessalonica, the most learned of the Eastern Rabbins are reported to teach in their schools, with great dili- gence, the old Talmudic learning. In the Crimea, the Karaites still possess their wild and pic turesque mountain fortress, so beautifully described by Dr. Clarke, with its cemetery reposing under its ancient and peace- ful grove, and the simple manners of its industrious and blameless people, who are proverbial elsewhere, as in this set- tlement, for their honesty. Their numbers amount to about 1,200. In the Russian Asiatic dominions, about Caucasus and in Georgia, their numbers are considerable. In Georgia some of them are serfs attached to the soil ; some, among the wild tribes about Caucasus, are bold and marauding horsemen like their Tartar compatriots. But the ancient kingdom of Poland, with the adjacent pro- vinces of Moravia, Moldavia, and Wallachia, is still the great seat of the modern Jewish population. Three millions have been stated to exist in these regions ; but probably this is a great exaggeration. In Poland, they form the intermediate class between the haughty nobles and the miserable agricul- • Asia:— Asiatic Turkey, 330,000; Arabias, 200,000; Hindostan, 100,000: China, 60,000; Turkistan, 40,000; Proviuce of Iran, 35,000 ; Russia in Asia, 3,000. Total 738,000.— Weimar Statement. V4 'uins of Je- B Barbary \.sia Minor cious, war- : fierce and hating the 4ihey lend irnent may nployed in ody of the sir crucify- of a youth : was, with i are stated teen syna* and in this he Eastern i great dili- Id and pic sd by Dr. and peace- rious and in this set- to about ms and in rgia some the wild eriien like acent pro- the great ions have this is a ermediate agricul- lindostan, n, 35,000; msTORv or the iswt. m tural villains of that kingdom.* The rapid increase of their population, beyond all possible maintenance by trade, embar- rasses the government. They cannot ascend or descend; they may not become possessors, they are averse to becoming cultivators of the soil ; they swarm in all the towns. In some districts, as in Volhynia, they are described by Bisrhop James as a fine race, with the lively, expressive eye of the Jew, and forms, though not robust, active and well-proportioned. Of late years, much attention, under the sanction of the govern- ment, has been paid to their education, and a great institution established for tnis purpdfee at Warsaw. The number of Jews in the Austrian dominions is estima- ted, including Gallicia, at 650,000. In the Prussian domi- nions at 135,000. In the rest of Germany, 138,000. The emperor of Austria has afforded to Europe the novel sight of a Jew created a baron, and invested with a patent of nobility. In Denmark and Sweden the Jews are in considerable numbers; those resident in Copenhagen were stated in 1819 at 1,491. They enjoy freedom of trade and the protection of the government. The Netherlands contain 80,000. In France, now deprived of the German and Italian pro- vinces of the empire, the Israelites are reckoned at about 40 or 50,000. In Spain, the iron edict of Ferdinand and Isabella still ex* eludes the Israelite. At the extremity of the land, in Gibraltar, 3 or 4,000 are found under the equitable protection of Great Britain. In Portugal they have been tolerated since the time of the late king, John VI., who remunerated their services in introducing Lrge cargoes of corn during a famine, by the recognition of their right to inhabit Lisbon.f In Italy their numbers are considerable. It is said that many have taken refuge in Tuscany from the sterner govern- ment of Sardinia ; where, under the French dominion, among a Jewish population of 5,543, there were 182 landed proprie- * A Jewish free corps served under Kosciusko during the insurrection in Poland. t Europe : — In Russia and Poland, 608,800; Austria, 453,524; Euro- pean Turkey, 3-21,000; States of the German Confederation, 138,000; Prussia, 134,000; Netherlands, 80,000; France, 60,000; Italy, 36,000; Great Britain, 1^,000; Cracow, 7,300; Ionian Isles, 7,000 ; Denmark, 6,000; Switzerland, 1,970; Sweden, 450. Total number of Jews m Europe, 1,918,053; or a proportion of a 113th part of the populatioi^ calculated ut 227 millions. — Weimar Statement. m 5S HISTORY or TUB JKWS. I: ton, 402 children attended the public schools : 7.000 is given as their number in the Austrian territories in Italy. In Great Britain, the number of Jews is variously stated from 12 to 25,000. They are entitled to every privilege of British subjects, except certain corporate offices and seatj in parliament, from which they are excluded by the recenl act, which requires an oath to be taken on the fiiitn of a Ci\ri.>lian. In the city of London they are prevented by municipal "egula- tionij from taking out their freedom; a restriction which sub- jects them to great occasional embarrassment uiid vexation, as no one can legally follow a retail*trade without having pre* viously gone through this ceremony. In America the Jews are calculated at about 6,000 ; the few in the former dominions of Spain and Portugal, are de- scendants of those who, under the assumed name of Chris- tians, fled from the inquisition ; in Surinam a prosperous com- munity is settled under the protection of the Dutch ; they were originally established at Cayenne : there are some in Jamaica. In the United States, their principal settlements are at N«nv- York, Philadelphia, and Charleston.* Such, accordmg to the best authorities to which we have access, is the number and distribution of the children of Israel ; they are still found in every quarter of the world, under every climate, in every region, under every form of government, wearing the indelible national stamp on their features, united by the close moral affinity of habits and feelings, and, at least, the mass of the community, treasuring in their hearts the same reliance on their national privileges, the same trust in the pro- mises of their God, the same consci ..ious attachment to the institutions of their Others. '•■.■.'•■••, <-•• * America:— North America, 5,000; Netherlanduih Colonies SCO; DemeraraandEssequibo, 200. Total, 5,700. Ntw-HoUaad, 50.— WamarSUUenunt. VUNDAMENTAI. D0CTRINK8. J '!■■■ j • (' J i' f CHAPTER IL Three clas- ses of Cus- toms among the modern Jews. RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES OF THE JEWS. The religious customs of the Jews of modern times are not all of ex|ual authority ; neither are they observed by all alike ; for this reason they arc divided into three classes. The first contains the injunctions of the written law, viz. those included in the Pentateuch, or five first books of Moses. The second class relates to the oral law, or that which was delivered by word of mouth. It comprehends those comments which the rabbins and doctors made in their days upon the Pentateuch, and an infinite variety of ordinances. These were collected into one large volume, called the Talmud. The third class includes such things as custom has sanctioned in difierent times and places, or which have been lately introduced among them. These are properly termed customs. Of these three classes, the first and second are received by all Jews, where- soever dispersed ; but in regard to the third, they differ greatly from each other, because sojourning in various parts of the world, many of them have adopted the names, and fallen into the manners of the nations among whom they dwell. In this respect, the greatest difference lies between the Eastern Ger- man, and Italian Jews. ' ' .-. SECT. I. FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES. We shall here transcribe the thirteen articles of the Jewish creed, which contain all that they believe, according to what rabbi Moses, or Maimonides, the Egyptian, has a »" l ( said of it, in his commentaries on the Misna, in belief.' *' ** the discourse Sanedrin, Chap. Helec ; which the Jews have received without any opposition, and from which they are never permitted to swerve. •I. I believe with a strong and lively faith, that there is one God, the Creator of all things, and first principle of all beings, who is self-sufficient and independent, and without whom no created being can subsist. II. I believe, &c. that God is one, and indivisible ; but of an unity peculiar to himself alone: — that he has been, is, and shall forever be, the only Grod, blessed for evermore. III. I believe, &c. that God is an incorporeal being ; he 5* 54 FVNDAMKNTAL D0CTB1M18. hat no bodily quality of any kind whatever, which either ia possible, or can any ways be imagined. IV. I believe, &c. that (Jod is eternal, and all beings, ex- cept himself, had once a beginning; for God is the beginning and end of all things. ^,. ^ v- r j. • V. I believe, &c. that none but God is the object of divme adoration ; and no created being ought to be worshipped as a mediator or intercessor. VI. I believe, &c. that whatever is written in the books of the prophets is true ; for there have been, and still may be, prophets qualified to receive the inspirations of the Supreme ^eing. VI f I believe, &c. in the truth of the prophecies of our master Moses, (peace be with him,) for Moses was a prophet superior to all others : and God Almighty honoured him with a peculiar gift ofpropnecy which was never granted to any of the rest. VIII. I believe, &c. that the law left by Moses (peace be with him) was the pure dictate of God himself; and conse- quently, the explication of those commandments, which were handed down by tradition, came entirely from the mouth of Grod, who delivered it to our master Moses, as we have it at the present day. lA. I believe, &c. that this law is unchangeable, and that God will never give another ; nor can there be the least addi- tion to, or diminution from it. X. I believe, &c. that God perfectly knows the most secret thoughts, and governs all the actions of mankind. XL I believe, &c. that God will reward those who observe this law, and will severely punish such as are guilty of the least violation of it. Eternal life is the best and greatest re- ward, and damnation of the soul the most severe punishment. XII. I believe, &c. that a Messiah shall come, more deserv- ing than all the kings that have ever lived. Although he thinks proper to delay his coming, no one ought on that ac- count to question the truth of it, or set an appointed time for it, much less produce scripture for the proof of it; since Is- rael will never have any king to rule over it, but one that shall be of the line of David and Solomon. XIII. I believe, &c. that God will raise the dead, and though I know not when, yet it will be when he sees most con- venient. — Hallowed be his name for ever and ever. Amen. There are other articles besides these fundamental ones, which, though not universally received, are not absolutely re* jected. .. i^ %: Taled, p. 56. A Jew dressed for worship, p. 55.7. most secret Phylacteries worn during prayer, p. 55. r ^ri I.-' • ... >: r,.. .i.t., ix^ i »■ .-^ ' .X ../ rVNDAMBNTAL DOOTRINBI. 55 The Jews go to prayers three times every day in their syna* gogues, and when they enter, they bow towards the Hrchal, or Ark, reoeating some verses from the Psalms, Prayeri and in an humble tone. The first four hours aAer thank* giv- sun-rise, are appointed for the morninff service, >"8*- which is called Sciacrid : the secondservice is in the atler- noon, and called Mincha: the third, at the close of the even- ing, which they call Harvid. But in several places, on such days as are not festivals, the afternoon and evening prayers, for convenience sake, are said together, at sun-set. The prayers which they use at present may be called a supplement to their ancient sacrifkee; and for this reason they have given the title or name of small temples to their synagogues. And as two sacrifices were oflered every day in tne temple of Jerusalem, one in the morning, and the other in the evening, so they have morning and evening service in their synagogues, to correspond with those two sacrifices. Besides these, there was another sacrifkj offered up on holi- days, for ^he solemnity of the festival; and for this reason they add a new prayer on feast-days, called Musapu, that is, addition. They must not eat, drink, or do any kind of thing, or salute even a friend, till they have been at morning prayers : — they are obliged, however, to wash their hands before they enter the synagogue. At their first entrance into the synagogue, having put on a devout and humble demeanour, they cover themselves with a white embroidered linen cloth, of an obknig p. . g figure, called the Taled, and then pronounce yj^g the benediction contained in Numbers, chapter X. " Blessed be thou," &c. Some Jews only cover their heads with the Taled, but others bring it close about their necks, that no object may divert their thoughts, and that their atten- tion to the prayers may in no ways be interrupted. In the next place they put on the armlets and fore-head- pieces, called Tephilim, or Phylacteries ; — meaning that which is worn during the time of prayer. The Tephilim are made as follows : — ^they take two slips of parchment, and write on them with great accuracy, and witn ink made for that particular purpose, these four passages, in square letters, from Exodus, chapter xiii. 1-3, 6-6, 8-10, 11-13, These two slips of parchment are rolled up together, and wrapped in a piece of black calf's skin : — after which the lat- ter is fixed upon a thick square piece of the same skin, leaving 56 FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES. a slip thereof fastened to it, of about a finger's breadth, and nearly a cubit and a half long. One of these Tephilim is placed on the bending of the left arm; and after they have made a small knot in the slip, they wind it round the arm in a spiral line, till the end thereof reaches the end of the middle finger : as for the Head Tephila, they write the four passages before men- tioned, upon four distinct pieces of vellum, which, when stitched together, make a square : upon this they write the letter Scin, and over it they put a square piece of hard calf's skin, as thick as the other, from which proceed two slips of the same length and breadth as the former. They put this square piece upon the middle of their forehead. The slips going round their heads, form a knot, behind, in the shape of the letter Daleth, and then hang down before, upon the breast. The forehead-pieces are usually put on in the morning only, with the Taled. Some, indeed, wear them at their noon prayers too ; but there are very few who wear even the Taled at those prayers, excepting the Reader. David Levi sayi, that " all Jews, every morning, during the reading of the Shema, and whilst saying the nineteen prayers, must have on the Phylacteries ; because it is a sign of their acknowledging the Almighty to be the Creator of all things, and that he has power to do as he pleases. On the sabbath and other festivals, we do not put on the Phylacteries, because the due observation of these days is a sufficient sign of itself, as expressed in Exodus, chapter xxxi. verse 12." God is said to enter the Synagogue as soon as the door is opened, and when ten are assembled together, and each of them thirteen years and a day old, at least, (for otherwise those prayers cannot be sung after a solemn manner,) then he is said to be in the midst of them, and the Chazan, or Reader, goes up to the table, or altar, or stands before the Ark, and begins to sing prayers aloud, in which the rest of the congregation join, but in a softer and less audible voice. The form and mode of prayer is not uniform amongst the Jewish nations. The Germans sing in a louder tone than the rest. The Eastern and Spanish Jews sing much after the same manner as the Turks ; and the Italians soft and slow. Their prayers are longer or shorter, according as the days are, or are not, festival. In this particular, too, the several nations differ greatly. The Jews, in their prayers, rely on two things, viz. on the mercy and goodness of God, and on the innocence and piety of their forefathers. For which reason, they mention Abra- ham, Isaac, Jacob, and some others, both natriarchs and pro- rVNDAMBMTAL DOCTRINES. 67 phets. " Do thou, O God," say they, " vouchsafe to hea/ us, and grant us such and such a favour, through the merits of all those just and hoi * men who have sprung up in every ge- neration among the Israelites." In regard to their posture during divine service, they are to stand without leanln^f ns much as possibly they can : their heads arc to be covered, and their bodies girt with a belt, to separate the heart from the lower parts, which are impure. Their hands and faces are to be carefully washed, before they presume to enter into the synagogue. They must not touch any thing whilst they are at their prayers which is foul and nasty, and their minds must be prepared, at least an hour, for their prayers, before they repeat them. The person who prays must turn towards Jerusalem, join his feet straight, lay his hands on his heart, and fix his eyes on the ground. He must avoid gaping, spitting, blowing his nose, with the utmost precaution. They may pray aloud, when at home, for the edification and improvement of their servants and family ; but at the synagogue it is sufficient to say their prayers as soflly as they please, if they do but move their lips; for it is re- quisite that the congregation should be well satisfied that they do pray. When they depart from the synagogue, they must never turn their backs upon the Hechal, which contains the sacred books of the law. They must go out slowly, in conformity to those words in Job, the 14th chapter, and 16th verse, " Thou hast counted my steps." They must refrain likewise from casting their eyes upon any beautiful objects that may raise their inordinate affections. Whenever they pass thg gate of the synagogue, they are obliged to put np an ejaculatory prayer. Even when upon a journey, let a Jew be ever so far from the place where he set out, he must say a prayer with hisi face turned that way, and repeat some passages out of the scriptures which relate to travellers. The rabbis have divided the five books of Moses into forty eight ov fifty-two lessons, called Parasciod, or divisions ; and one of them is read every week in their synagogues : The Penta- sothat in the compass of a year, whether it consists teuch. of twelve or thirteen months, they read the whole book through. On Mondays and Thursdays, after havingsaid their penitential prayers, they take the Sefar Toka, or book of the law, out of the Ark before meniioned, and whilst that verse of the 34th Psalm, " praise the Lord with me," &c. and some others, 56 FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES. are repeating, they place it on the desk ; where being opened and unrolled, they desire three persons to read the beginning of the Parascia, Avhich means section or chapter, in the some place with them. And the whole congregation repeat some words of it, which are preceded and followed with a blessing. After this, the Reader gives them his benediction, and they all promise either to bestow something on the poor, or to contri- bute towards the necessities of the synagogue. Then the Sefar Tora is held up wide open, and the Reader, showing the writing thereof, says to the congregation, according to Deuteronomy, chapter iv. verse 44, " This is the law which Moses set before," &c. The Levantine Jews perform this ceremony first of all. After this declaration, the book is rolled up and covered, and then shut up in the ark. Besides this, no day must pass without reading some portion of the law at home. This manner of reading the five books of Moses m the synagogue, and inviting a greater or smaller number of the congregation to read it with them, was ordered by Esdras, and is observed on all fasts and festivals. As some men, out of a zeal for religion, are fond of being employed in certain ceremonies, such as taking the book out of the ark, and laying it up again, &c. &c. that indulgence is generally granted to such as are most generous and free of their money. Whatever is so collected, is distributed either amongst the poor, or employed towards furnishing the neces- saries of the synagogue. An epitome of the tenets, ordinances, and traditions of all the rabbis up to the time of Rabbi Juda, about 120 years af- ter the destruction of Jerusalem, called the raor^'^^^^d ^^^^'"'^> ^^^^^ divided into six parts; the first treats of agriculture ; the second of festivals ; the third of marriages, and every thing relating to women ; the fourth of law-suits, and of the disputes which arise from loss or interest, and of all manner of civil affairs ; the fifth, of sacrifices; and the sixth, of things clean and unclean. This being very concise occasioned various disputes ; a circum- stance which prompted two rabbis of Babylon, to the compi- lation of all the interpretations, controversies, and additions which had been written upon the Mishna, together with other supplementary matter. Thus they placed the Mishna as the text, and the rest as an exposition ; the whole forming the book called the Talmud Babeli, the Talmud of Babylon, or Ghemara, which signifies the book of perfection. CUBTOMii AND LAWS. 59 SEC. II.- :USTOMS AND LAWS OF THE ANCIENT JEWS. Soon after the Jews, or the children of Israel, ^ . were delivered from Egvptian slavery, Moses, laws'ofthe^- their leader, delivered them a body of laws, cientjews. which he declared to them he received from God, whom he had conversed with, face to face, on Mount Sinai. These laws consisted of precepts which related both to the worship of God, and their duty to each other: but such was their attachment to their former customs and reli- gion, that while Moses was absent, in procuring the divine law, the people made a golden calf, which they danced round, and worshipped as the true God. This was done in imita- tion of what they had seen in Egjrpt. The most distinguishing of all the Jewish ceremonies, be fore their reception of the Mosaic law, was that of circumci- sion. This, from the time of Abraham, was al- Circumci- ways performed on the eighth day after the sion birth of the child, in order to distinguish them from the sur- rounding tribes, who made it a fixed rule to circumcise their children in the thirteenth year. By the Mosaic law, the seventh day of the week was to be kept sacred; but this was no more than the revival of an ancient institution, as appears from Genesis, c. 2. ^abbaili. Sacrifices were enjoined, and a distinction was made between clean and unclean animals. This distinction seems to have been rather political than religious; for had swine's flesh been eaten in the wilderness, or even in the land of Canaan, it might have been prejudicial to their health. Another reason has been assigned for this prohibition; namely, to make a distinction between them and c.U father na- tions in the universe. At the celebration of their grand solemnities xnc. sacrifices, persons were to bring the victim to the priest, wIjO iaid his hand upon its head, and then read over to thy Qa'rifice congregation aloud, all the sins which the ; • r- ties confessed. The victim was then slain, und when all the blood was extracted from the body, the lat was burned to ashes, and the other parts remained the property of the priests. During the time the children of Israel remained in the wilderness, they had no temple, because they had no fi.xed place of residence ; but, to supply that deficiency, Moses and Aaron made an Ark or Tabernacle, which was carried by the Levites from place to place. 60 CUSTOMS AND LAWS Of all the ceremonies imposed on the Jews, none serves more to point out the notion of an atonement for sin, than that of the " Scape-Goat." This ceremony was performed once in every year, and in the following manner : — The goat was taken to the Tabernacle, and, in the hearing of all the people, the priest read a list of the sins which had been confessed. The people acknowledged their guilt. Then taking the scroll, the priest fixed it upon the goat, which was immediately conducted to the wilderness, and never more heard of. This being over, the messengers returned, and then the people received absolution. The law delivered by Moses to the Jews, contained not only directions for the man- ner in which sacrifices were to be oflfered, and indeed the whole service, first of the tabernacle, and then of the temple ; but likewise a system of moral precepts. The distinctions of persons, according to the different ranks in life, were pointed out. Women were not permitted to wear the same habit as the men. Young persons were commanded to stand up in a reverent manner before the aged, and to treat them with every mark of respect. The same justice was to be done to stran- gers as to free-born subjects. No stranger was to be chosen icing over them ; for, as they were surrounded by heathen nations, a stranger, having the civil power in his hands, might have led them into idolatry. They were commanded not to abhor, nor treat with contempt, the Edomites ; because they were the descendants of Esau, the elder brother of Jacob : nor were they to treat the Egyptians with cruelty. Slavery was permitted by the law of Moses, but slaves or bond-men were not to be treated with cruelty ; and the reason assigned was, that the children of Israel had themselves been slaves in the land of Eg'ypt. Every widow and orphan were to be considered as objects of compassion ; and those who treated them with cruelty wore to be considered as objects ot the Divine displeasure. Nay, it was further threatened m this law, that those who oppressed the widow and the father- less, should die an ignommious death ; that their widows should be exposed to want, and their children subjected to hardships. The duty of charity was strongly inculcated by the Mosaic economy ; for whatever was left of the fruits of the earth in the field, they were not to go back to gather ; it was for the poor and needy : the slaves were to enjoy it, and so were the widows and fatherless. The tribe of Levi, to whom the priest* hood was confined by law, were not to have any local inhe* ritance, but they were to dwell in the presence of their bre^ :M Sefar Tora, or Book of the Law, p. 58. ives or reason ts been |n were ie who lects ot led in Ifather- ^idows ited to [osaic rth in tr the re the jriest- [ inho' Jewish Ceremony of walking seven limes round the dead, p. 79. 'K •'•**w- OF THB ANCIENT JEWS. 61 thren, and one-tenth part of the fruits of tuc earth was to be set aside for their subsistence. These Levites, however, were commanded to relieve the widow and the fatherless. In every city, town, or village, some of the most respect- able of the inhabitants, or elders of the people, were to be ap- pointed judges ; and in the administration of justice, they were strictly commanded to act impartially. No respect was to be paid to the characters or rank of persons ; and j . a dreauful curse was pronounced against such " ^'* as should take bribes. These judges sat in the gates of the cities ; which practice still prevails in many of the eastern nations. The origin of this custom is of great antiquity; but the end and design of it has never been properly accounted for, which is the more surprising, because the custom itself is very emblematical and expressive. There was, however, an appeal from these inferior courts, whether relating to matters of a civil or a criminal nature. And this appeal was very solemn : the party who thought himself injured, entered his appeal before the supreme judge or the king, who called to his assistance the wnole body of priests and Levites ; and the majority of votes determined the affair. If cither of the contending parties refused to abide by the final decision, he was condemned to suffer death ; for not to acknowledge such a solemn judgment, was to deny the au- thority of God himself, who had delegated his authority to the judges, priests, and Levites. The person who spoke disrespectfully of a judge, was con- •sidered as a blasphemer ; and if^ he was found guilty by the evidence of two or three witnesses, then he was to be put to death ; for to revile a judge was to revile God, he being consi- dered as his representative on earth. The Jewish slavery was two-fold, and arose from a variety of circumstances. When men were reduced to poverty, it was in the power of theif creditors to sell them : but they were not U, be 'reated as strangers ; they avery. were to be treated in the same manner as we do hired ser- vants ; and when the year of jubilee took place, they, and their wives, with their children, were to be set at liberty, and they were to return to the possessions of their ancestors. These persons who were purchased, or in other words, taken into a state of se; itude, were not to be sold by their masters, nor were they to be treated with any sort of severity. When a servant was discharged, his master was to give him as much con?, wine, oil, and other necessaries, as he and his wife and children could carry homo to their houses. 6 0t gUMTVU* AND LAWS {p 4h» jntmrchal age, the power of masters over their ser* juaols was unlimited, for they had a right to put them to death whenever they pleased ; but after the children of Israel had returned from Egypt, this potver was confined within proper bounds. Such as engaged for a limited time were to have leave to go out at the expiration of it ; and if a man was married when he entered into servitude, his wife and children were to be set at liberty ; but if his master gave him a wife, both she and the children were to remain the property of the master. This circumstance, however, seldom toolc place, for the law had provided a remedy. It frequently happened, that when the term of servitude ex- pired, the servant having no prospect of procuring a subsist- ence, and, at the same time, unwilling to part with his wife and children, told his master that he would serve him during the remainder of his life. In such cases, the ma ster took him before the elders, or judges, and in their pres nee, an awl was bored through his ear, and fixed to a post in the gate of the city ; signifying that he and his wife and children were to serve the master till death. It was the same with women servants, who were bound by the same obligations. With respect to strangers, they were, at all times, permitted to redeem themselves, and this was to be done in an equitable manner before the judges. All t^ie arrears due to them were to be paid, and if the time of their servitude was not expired, then they were to make a proper deduction, so that the master should not receive the least injury. When a master struck his servant, and the wound proved mortal, so that the servant died within a day or two, then the crime was to be considered as capital, and the master was to suffer death for it ; but if he lived beyond that time, then the master was to be discharged, because the slave was his pro- perty. When a master struck out the eye or the tooth of his servant, then he was obliged to let him go free ; because, in such an instance, the master exceeded the bounds prescribed by the law. It was in the power of parents to sell their daughters ; a practice which has been followed in the eastern nations from the most early ages. When a master seduced father^"^ °^ a female slave, he was not permitted to sell her, because he had not acted towards her consist- ently with the nature of moral obligation. If the master betrothed the young woman to his son, she was to be treated as a free-born subject ; but if the young man took another or THK ANCIENT iEW8. 66 r their ser* em to death Israel had bin proper ire to have L man was id children lim a wife, erty of the I place, for rvitude ex- r a subsist- h his wife im during laster took es- nee, an n the gate I children ! bound by hey were, his was to All t^ie e of their a proper the least id proved then the r was to then the his pro- th of his cause, in rescribed hters; a )ns from seduced sell her, consist- master f treated another wife, then he was to deliver up every thing belonging to the slave, and she was to be free to act in what manner she pleased. It is singular, that when a slave ran away from his master, he was not to be reclaimed by him, but was to remain with the person where he chose to settle. The power that fathers had over their children was great, [fa son refused to obey his fiither or mother, or treated them with indignity, they were to chastise him ; and if no reforma tion took place in his conduct, then he was to be taken before the elders, or judges of the city, who, upon hearing such evi dence as served to prove his guilt, he was delivered over to the common executioners, who immediately stoned him to death. None of the children of Israel were permitted to sell their daughters as common prostitutes, because purity was enjoined by the Mosaic law. It was the custom of the 8ur> rounding nations to boil kids in the milk of their dam ; but by the Mosaic law this was forbidden as an unnatural prac- tice ; so that it was utterly prohibited for any person to seethe a kid in its mother's milk. Many of the Heathen nations lived in an incestuous man- ner; but this practice was not tolerated under the law of Moses. The degrees of consanguinity were so strictly attended to, that no persoit was to break Laws respcc- through them ; and a table of those degrees has '"^ marriage, always been affixed to the English translation of the Bible. A man was not to marry two sisters, lest it should create family dissensions. If a man died without having children, and if he had a brother alive unmarried, then the bachelor was to espouse the widow ; that by descendants the name of the family might be kept up; but tne first-born child was to succeed to the name and estate of the first husband. As nothing was more odious among the Jews, than for men or women to live unmarried, so if the brother-in-law refused to marry the sister-in-law, to preserve the name of his family, the widow was to go before the judges in the gate of the city, and there exhibit her complaint. This being done, the bro- ther-in-law was called before the judges, and examined con- cerning the nature of his objections ; and when it was found that he absolutely refused to marry the woman, then she was called in, and the refusal intimated to her ; the judges then were to tell her to act according as the law of Moses directed ; and she, stooping down, unloosened the shoe from off his right foot, and, spitting in his face, declared her abhorrence of the man who refused to perpetuate the name of his famdy, and the * CUSTOMS AND LAWS name of his brother ; and from that time forward h( was called, " The man whose shoe was loosed in Israel.'^ A woman was not to marry into any tribe but that to which her father belonged: this seems to have been done to keep up th) grand distinctions among the twelve tribes, esprciujiy that of Judah ; from whom the Messiah was to be descended. Ho'jps permitted a man to put away his wife, and both par- lies were allowed to marry again. But if a husband divorced his wife, and she married a second husband, who afterwards died, thin the first husband was not to take the worn n again. This was done to discourage divorces. Every man was exempted lom going to war, and from all public business, during the firtt year of his marriage ; and the reason was, that there might rot be too many young widows or fatherless children among them. The law of Moses allowed a man to make a vow, and to give for the service of the taber- nacle any part of his goods or money, but so as not to injure his family. It is evident, from several passages in the Old Testament, that women were permitted to make vows, on condition ol obtaining the consent of their fathers and husbands. If the fathers or husbands were present when the vow was made, and did not object to it, then the woman was bound to the per- formance. On the other hand, if either the father or husband objected to the vow, then it could not stand good, and the priests w-ie commanded to see that it was not performed. But sull widows, and such women as had been divorced, and livtii single, were obliged to perform their vows, otherwise they were to be treated as persons guilty of sacrilege. In military affairs, the law of Moses was well calculated to promote the interests of the commonweahh, and altogether suitable to the genius, times, and circumstances Military ^f jj^^ people. Every family was obliged to re- . turn to the chiefs of the tribes a list of all the males upwards of twenty years of age, fit to carry arms. When tne return was made, the males of each tribe were called together, and the following questions were asked them, one by one : " Has any man built a house, and has not had time to dedicate it? Has any man planted a vineyard, and not yet eaten of the fruit of it ? Has any man betrothed a wife, and not yet married her? Is any man fearful or faint-hearted to go against the enemy ? Then let all those return home, and attend to their domestic duties." According to the Jewish law, when they attacked a city they were to offer terms of peace to the inhabitants, upon con* 3 forward h( was in Israel." le but that to which en done io k*>ep up ibes, esprciuiiy that be descended, wife, and both par- Ei husband divorced [id, who afterwards 3 the woDi 1 a^ain. war, and from all 1 marriage ; and the any young widows ,w of Moses allowed service of the taber- : so as not to injure the Old Testament, iws, on condition ot I husbands. If the the vow was made, as bound to the per- le father or husband tand good, and the was not performed. been divorced, and eir vows, otherwise of sacrilege. vas well calculated alth, and altogether and circumstances r was obliged to re- bes a list of all the fit to carry arms. of each tribe were s were asked them, 36, and has not had a vineyard, and not etrothed a wife, and 1 or faint-hearted to e return home, and ley attacked a city abitants, upon Con- or THE ANCIENT JEWS. 00 dition of surrendering themselves up prisoners of war, and subn.iiting to the will of the conqueror; which was, that they should pay a certain tribute. But if the citi;«ens refused to accept of the proffered terms, then the place was to be attacked, and if taken, all the males were to be put to the sword. The women and children were to be sold as slaves ; the cattle, and nil the goods were to hb tp.ken and distributed equally among the soldiers, after whijh the city was to be reduced to ashes. They were permitted to eat the fruits of the trees which they found in the land of an enemy; and the trees were to be cut down in order to raise bulwarks agaii e next city which they should have occasion to besiege All the lands taken by conquest were to ''vidf d by lot among the soldiers, but each was to have his .' according to the rank he bore in the army. The Levit, had their share, although, being obliged to attend the service uf the tabernacle, they were exempted from every duty of a civil or militiry nature. Th's exemption was appointed to exist throughout all generations: although we meet Avith many deviations from it in the latter times of their history, particu- larly after they returned from the Babylonish captivity. Ii a man died without leaving a son, then the inheritance was to pass to his daughter ; and if there was no daughter, then it was to go to the brothers ; and if there were no brethren, then it was to ascend upwards to the brothers of the grandfather, and to all tlie collateral branches, according to their consanguinity. As polygamy was permitted among the Jews, great care was taken that no abuses should happen, in consequence of partiality in favour of the children of the second or third wife, in preference to those of the first. It was ordered, „ . that although the first wife should be despised, or even hated by her husband, yet her first-born son should succeed to the inheritance ; and the judges were under the most solemn o ligations to see this part of the law properly executed. Provision, however, was made for the rest of the children, and amongst them the personal estate was divided Avithout any partial respect; but if there was no personal estate, then two thirds of the real estate were given to the first-born, and the third divided equally among the rest. The Jews were permitted to lend money upon Laws rela- usury, to strangers, but not to any of their own ting to proper- brethren, nor were they to sleep one night with ^y- their brother's pledge. If an estate was mortgaged, the person who held it was obliged to restore it at the end of seven years, upon conditior« 6* IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 If "- » 1.1 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 1111.25 III 1.4 i 1.6 ^ ^h ^^ ^A oy^ ^ ''^ ># '^' 7: >^ 'w '/ Photographic Sdences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^^^ : t ;;,■■ Hd orsTom AWD laws df r^efviilg th^ mbhey he had advanced, hut he '^iii^^ Oiideir the same obligation to strancers. And if a man bor- rowed a beast of his neighbour, and an accident happened to it, so that it received an injury, then he was to make good the loss, unless the owner happened to be present. If a man dielivered anything to another to keep, and it was ■lolen, the thief, if ibund, was to pay double ; but if the thief was not found, then the person to whom it was intrusted, was to be brought before the judges, to declare upon oath, whether he had injured his neighbour by making away with his goods, or having bf>en privy to any transaction of that nature. The oath of the suspected j erson was to be supported by such evi- dence as he could produce ; and that was to be opposed by what the prosecutor could advance The matter having been heard with calmness, the judges wdre to consider* on it in a deliberate manner; and if it ap- peared that the accused person was innocent, then he was acauitted ; but, if through his own neglect the goods were stolen, then he was to return double to the owner. If there was no evidence produced by the prson accused, nor any to support the accusation, then the judges were to decide, accord- ing to their own wisdom and discretion. Among the Jews, there were several things exempted from being pigged; amongst which were millstones; for such things were necessary towards preserving the lives of men, because wheat would have been of little use unU -^ ground into flour. When a pledge was deposited, the person who advanced the money was not to go into the debtor's house to demand it, but he was to stand without the door until it was brought to him. This was ordered to prevent &imUy dis- putes, and to keep peace among a body of people who were commanded to live together as brethren. The clothes of widows were not to be taken in pledge, and the same degree of humanity was to extend to strangers, to the fiitherless, asd to the slaves. Great regard was paid to the standard weights and measures; so that, in their common- dealings, justice should be equally distributed. Every sale, or bargain, relating to the conveyance of estates, was of a conditional nature; and if any of the descendants or relations of those who assigned it away, produced the money advanced for it, at the end of forty-nine years, then it was to lie restored ; for the possession of it during that time, was consi- dered as an ample recompense to the purchaser. On such occasions; ftumpets were to be sounded in all the tOWhs and villages, that the people might have^ proper notice I- OF THE ANCIENT 1EW8. 67 |>thes of degree 38, and weights justice [estates, lantsor ] money iJtol>e consi- all the notice (hat the jubilee was approaching. Then, during the fiftieth year, all servants or slaves were to be set at liberty ; and an opportunity was oflered for persons to redeem such estates as had been sold In the redemption of estates, an account was ta« ken before the judges, concerning the nature of the improved rent, during the time they had been in the possession of the pur- chaser, and the overplus was delivered up, either to the per- son who sold them, or to his relations who made the claim. All houses in walled cities, namely, such as were fortified, could be redeemed within the compass of one year, but they could never be redeemed afterwards, not even in the year of jubilee ; because the person in po.ssession was under obligation to lay down his life in support of its rights and privileges. It was different with respect to the villages which were not Availed round, because they were considered as part of the country at large, so that they were permitted to be redeemed in the year of jubilee. However, the houses of the Levites were not to be sold without redemption, whether they were in cities or villages. When servants were hired by the day, they were to receive their wages before sun-set; and the reason assigned for it was, that because the poor man wanted his hire, hunger, and the regard he had for his wife and children, would make him un- willing to return home. By the Mosaic law, the ox, who contributed towards culti- vating the fruits of the earth, and who assisted in treading out the corn, was not muzzled, but suffered to eat as much as he could, while he was employed. Covetoueness was forbidden by the Mosaic law. Ckttle being stolen and disposed of, so as to be irrecoverable, the thief, on conviction, was to make a five-fold restitution ; but if the cattle were found alive with him, then he was to restore them and pay double. Every person was empowered to kill a housebreaker, if he was found in the fact during the night ; but if in the day, then he was either to make restitution, or to be sold for a slave. In walking through a vineyard, every stranger was per- mitted to pull what fruit he chose to eat, but he was not to carry any away. It was the same with respect to fields of corn, where every man was permitted to pull as much as he could cat, but he was not to put in a sickle, or cut down as much as one of the stalks. It was ordained in their law, that nuisances, by which men's lives or properties could be injured, should be removed ; or if an accident happened in consequence of neglect, a proper re- compense was to be made to the loser. Thus, if a man Ma 4 _ AND LAWS 08 OVSTOMS pit uncovered, and his neighbour's beast fell into it, and was killed, or in any way disabled, then the person guilty of the neglect was to make up the loss. In the same manner, if any man killed the beas*. of his neighbour, he was either to restore another equal in value, or pay the price. All those who found cattle wandering astray, were to take them to their own folds, and keep them till they were claimeil by the owners. It was the same with respect to every thing lost, for whoever found it, and did not embrace the first oppor- tunity of restoring it, was considered as a thief, and punished as such. If fire happened through negligence, the person who neg- lected to take proper care, was to make restitution to the in- jured person ; and the same was to be done where a man suffered his beast to eat the corn in the field of his neighbour. If a man or woman happened to be killed by an ox, then the ox was to be stoned to death,. and his fiesh was not to be eaten ; but if sufficient evidence appeared to the judges, that the ox was a vicious animal, accustomed to push at every person who came in his way, and the owner did not take proper mea- sures to restrain him, then the ox was to be stoned, and the owner was to be put to death. It was, however, permitted for the owner of the ox to redeem his own life, by paying a cer- tain sum of money to the widow or children of the deceased. When an ox killed a slave, his owner was to pay to the master of the slave thirty shekels of silver ; and if it happened that one ox hurt or killed another, the live ox was to be sold along with the dead one, and the money equally divided be- tween the proprietors. Murder Wilful murder was to be punished with death • for thus it was written in the Mosaic law : — "And if he smite himAvith an instrument of iron (so that he die) he is a murderer : the murderer shall surely be put to death. And if he smite him with throwing a stone, (where- with he may die,) and he die, he is a murderer." In the same manner, if he smote him with an instrument of wood, so that he died, he was a murderer; but still no crime could be called murder, unless there was malice in the offending party. In all such cases, the nearest of kin had a right to put the mur- derer to death with his own har. ^'^■ The difference between n' r and manslaughter was pointed out, and a straight line distinction drawn. Thus, if there had been no malice- between the contending parties, and it happened that one of them killed the other suddenly, then the aggressor was to flee to the city of refuge, where h© OF THE ANCIENT JEWS. m and was ilty of the ler, if any to restore sre to take re claimevl very thing first oppor- i punished 1 who neg- [i to the in- lere a man neighhour. )X, then the to be eaten ; that the ox very person proper mea- led, and the lermitted for aying a cer- he deceased. ( pay to the . it happened as to be sold divided be- with death • law : — (so that he [ly be put to lone, (where- in the same /ood, so that luld be called party. In )ut the mur- luorhter was iwn. Thus, ling parties, ;r suddenly, i-e, where he ^ras kept in a state of safety, until the judges had inquired into Jie affair. This was done in a very solemn manner, and what is remarkable, the evidence was delivered in the hearing of all those who lived in the district where the afiair happened. When a solemn inquiry was made, and it was found that the aggressor entertained malice against the deceased, then he was delivered up to the avenger of blood to be put to death. But if it was found that no malice had existed between the parties, then the judges were to see the offender safely con> ducted to the city of refuge, where he was to remain as an in- habitant, till the death of the high-priest. During that time, if he ventured to go out of the city of refuge, the avenger of blood had a right to put him to death ; but when the high- priest died, he was restored to the peaceable enjoyment of his temporal possessions. When It happened that a pregnant woman was injured, so as to occasion her miscarrying, then the husband was to de- mand a fine from the offending party, and the judges were to determine how much was equitable. It was common in the eastern countries to steal children, and sell them to be brought up as slaves ; but the law of Moses absolutely prohibited this practice, and the offender was to be put to death. In some cases, offenders were permitted to take shelter on the horns of the altar, the place to which the victim was bound ; but if he was a murderer, and found guilty by the judges, then the executioners had a right to drag him from the altar and put him to death. As the Jewish state was that of a theocracy, so every viola- tion of the law, delivered by Moses, was punished as high treason to God. The people were to be consi- High Troa- dered as guilty of high treason, when they wor- son. shipped any of the idols in the heathen nations. It was high treason likewise, to set up an image of God. In particular, they were strictly commanded not to worship Ae sun, moon, or stars. What the English law calls misprision of treason, was punished capitally among the Jews. — Thus, if one man saw another go to worship in a heathen temple, and did not reveal it to the judges, then he was to be put to death; for, to colkcca/ trea- son, was considered as approving of it. In all cases, the traitor was punished by sto- How pun- ning', and the witnesses were obliged to perform >shed. the execution. Nay, so strict was the law with respect to trea- son, that if one person advised another to idolatry, then the per- son advised had a right to kill him. If all the inhabitants 10 CVSTOMS AND LAWf ' ; of a city became idolaters, then that city was to be razed to the ground, the people were all to be put to death, and the place was to remain a heap of ruins for ever. It frequently happened, that impostors rose up, under the character of prophets ; but if such enticed the people to com- mit idolatry, then they w«;re to be stoned to death ; nor were their highest pretensions to inspiration to screen them from punishment. All those who pretended to be wizards, who had familiar spirits, and who could reveal the knowledge of future events, were considered as traitors, and were put to death. Every one, whether male or female, who spoke irreverently of the name of God, was also to be put to death. If a man and woman were taken in the act of adultery, both were to be stoned to death ; and the same punishment was in- flicted on the man who seduced a betrothed virgin, previous to her marriage ; the virgin herself was to die along with the seducer ; but this was only done when the crime was commit- ted in a city, for when it happened in the fields, then the man alone was to suffer, because it was presumed he had ravished her. When the punishment was such as permitted a power in the judge to order a criminal to be scourged, then he was to command him to lie down in open court, and forty stripes were to be given him, but he was not to exceed that number ; but according to the practice, they seldom exceeded the number of thirty-nine. If more than forty stripes had been inflicted on the ofi*ending party, he would have been ccgasidcred as infa- mous ever after, and by only inflicting thirty-nine, it was done from motives of humanity, lest the party should be in danger of losing his life. If a man lay with a woman who was a slave and betrothed, the woman was to be scourged, and the man was to oflfer a ram as a trespass-ofl'eriug ; neither of them were to be put to death, because the woman was not free. Bastards were not permitted to enjoy the same privileges as those who were born m wedlock ; am, that incontinency might be discouraged as much as possible, this prohibition was to extend even to the tenth generation. This order or statute, however, did not prohibit bastards from worshipping either in the tabernacle or temple ; for they were treated in the same manner as the heathens who re- nounced idolatry; namely, as proselytes who worshipped God without the veil of the temple. In many civil respects, likewise, they were not considered as members of the Jewish community. OF THE ANCIF.KT JEWS. Tl That no injury should be done to young women, it was or* dcred, that if a man lay with a virgin who was not betrothed, then he was to pay to her father fifty shekels of silver as part of the composition for the injury, and at the same time he was obliged to marry her, nor could he, on any account whatever, obtam a divorce from her ; because in the act of seduction he had first set her a bad example. With respect to a witness giving evidence in a court of justice, the law of Moses provided against perjury. It was absolutely necessary, that tnere should be either p . two or three witnesses to prove the truth of every "jUT- criminal accusation, because two individuals can swear to a single fact. In case a man, who appeared as a witness against an accused person, should have been suspected of delivering false evidence, then both parties were to appear in the taberna- cle before the judges and the priests, and they were to consider of the matter in the most deliberate manner. If it appeared to the judges, that the witness had perjured himself, then they were to order that the same punisnment should be inflicted upon him, as would have been inflicted upon the accused person, had he been legally convicted. The practice of making witnesses the executioners of the criminal, had something in it remarkably solemn ; for a man may swear falsely in a court of justice, from interested or si- nister motives, but if he has the least spark of conscience re- maining, he must shudder at the thoughts of becoming the executioner of the man, who, by his evidence, was illegally condemned. Retaliation made a great part of the Jewish law : thus, he who put out the eye of another, was to have his own put out ; he who struck out the tooth of another, was to have his own tooth struck out ; he who disabled another, was himself to be disabled ; and, whoever burnt down the house of his neigh- bour, was to have his own house reduced to ashes. To what has already been advanced, we may add, that all punishments among the Jews, were considered as ade- quate to the crimes with which the offending prisoners were charged. If a man was found guilty of a capital offence, and con- demned to be hanged, his body was not to remain after sun-set on the tree; but (says the Mosaic law) " Thou shalt bury him that day, that thy land be not defiled : for he that is hanged i accursed of God." cewise, lunity. n RILIOIOVI RITIi. IKO. III. — RKLI0I0U8 RITEI. Every Jew is under an indispcnaable obligation to marry, the time appointed for it by their rubbis being at eighteen years of age; and he who li VIS single till he is twenty, is Marriage, reckoned to live in the actual commission of a known sin. This in grounded on the duty of procreation, in obe- dience to that command which God gave to Adam and Eve, as related in the 1st chapter of Qencsis, " Be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth." On the other hand, as a single man is often subject to commit fornication, they think it a duty in- cumbent on him to marry, and remove the temptation. There are several pssages in the Old Testament which might be adduced to justify a plurality of wives ; and the Eastern Jews frequently practise it ; but the Germans do not allow it at all ; nor do tno Italians approve, though they some- times comply with it, when after many years of cohabitation, they have had no issue by a first wife. — The laws of the greater part of Europe, arw, however, quite averse to poly- gamy. They are allowed to marry their nieces, that is, their bro- ther's or sister's daughters, and likewise their first cousins ; but a nephew must not intermarry with his aunt, that the law of nature may not be reversed : for when the uncle marries his niece, the same person rcmoins as the head, who was so before ; but when the nephew marries his aunt, he becomes, as it were, her head, ana she must pay homage to him ; by which means the law is reversed. The other degrees of con- sanguinity which are forbidden, may be seen in the 18th chap- ter of Leviticus. Some are very cautious how they marry a woman who has buried two or more husbands ; branding her with the igno- minious title of a husband-killer : but this is not prohibited, and is less to be understood of a man, who may have had two or more wives. A widow, or a woman divorced from her husband, cannot marry again, till ninety days after the death of the one, or se- paration of the other, that it may thereby be certainly known whether the first husband is father of the child, which may afterwards be born. If a man dies, and leaves behind him an infant that sucks, the widow cannot marry again till the child be two years old; the rabbis having limited tnat time, for the better maintenance and education of the orphan. RELIGIOUS RITES. 73 The Jews often marry their children very young, though the marriage is not consummated till they are of a proper age] therefore, when a child who is under ten years of age, (whe- ther her father be alive or dead,) becomes a widow, and after- wards marries with the consent of her mother, or brothers, a man whom she does not approve of, she may have a divorce at any time, till she attains the age of twelve years and one day, at which period she is deemed a woman. If she declares, that she will not have such a man, it is sufficient. And when she has taken two witnesses to set down her refusal in writing, she may obtain a divorce, and marry again with whom she pleases. When the Jews have settled the terms of accommodation, the marriage articles are signed by the husband, and the rela- tions of the wife; after which the former pays Betrothings a formal visit to the latter, and, before witnesses, »"«* weddings takes her by the hand, saying, " Be thou my spouse." In some countries the bridegroom presents the bride with a ring at the same time, and then marries her. But this is not the usual {)ractice in England, Italy, or Germany. They are often so- emnly engaged for six or twelve months, and sometimes two years, according to the convenience of the parties, or the agreement made between them ; during which time the young lover pays frequent visits to his mistress, and spends his time in her company with the utmost familiarity, but with a strict regard to decency and good manners. In a part of the marriage articles, the bridegroom covenants to give nis wife, by way of jointure, the sum of fifty crowns; all his eflfects, even to his cloak, being engaged for the due performance of this agreement. The sum is moderate, to render the marriage of poor maidens easy. — But the wife must deliver into her husband's hands, all the eftfects which she may afterwards inherit. When the marriage-day is appointed, (which is usually at the time the moon changes, and in case the bride be a maid, on a Wednesday or Friday, but if a widow, on a Thursday,) the bride, if she be free from her terms, goes the first night into a bath, in the presence of other women, and there washes herself But if she be not free from her terms, all carnal con- versation with her is prohibited, till she can wash. How- ever, the nuptial solemnities are seldom delayed upon that ac- count. The eight days which precede the marriage, are usually grand-days ; the betrothed couple and their friends giving a loose to pleasure, laugh, sing, dance, and cast away caro. 74 KILIOIOVS RITXS. Some insist that tho young couplo should fast on the vied- ding-day, till tho blessing be over. On the wedding-day, the bride and bridegroom dress in all the grandeur and magnificence their circumstances will admit of, and the bride is conducted in pomp to the house intended for the celebration of the nuptials, by several married women and maidens, who are her friends and acquaintance. She i« first bare-headed, and her hair all loose, and in disorder. Afler this, she is seated between two venerable matrons, and her friends flock round about her, comb her head, curl her huir, dress her, and put on her veil : for virgin modesty forbids her to look her intended husband in the face. — In this she imitates the chaste Rebecca, who covered her face when Isaac cast his eyes upon her. At Venice, the bride wears a sort of wig, or bundle of curls, called fevonrites, which the Jews call Bb- NKTES ; in imitation of those which God himself, according to the rabbis, adorned Eve's head with, when he married her to Adam. For the solemnization of the marriage, the lovers who aro betrothed, meet at an hour appointed for that purpose, in a kind of state-room. The bridegroom is conducted thither by the bridemen, friends, &c. and the bride by her train : — the whole company crying out, " Blessed he ike man that fjmeih " They now sit on a nuptial throne, under a canopy, whilst a select band of music plays before them ; or whilst cnildren, as is the custom in some places, move in solemn order round them, having torches in their hands, and singing some appro- priate epithaiamium. All those who are of their synagogue being assembled, (that is, ten men at least ; else the marriage is null and void,) a Taled is put upon the heads of the bride- groom and bride ; it has the tufts hanging down at the cor- ners, in imitation of Boaz, who threw the skirts of his robe over Ruth. In many cases, a velvet canopy, supported by four poles, is held over the bride and bridegroom. After this, the rabbis of the place, or the reader of the synagogue, or some near relation, takes a glass, or any other vessel filled with wine, and, having blessed God "/or the creation of man and teoman, and the institution of matrimony" says as fol- lows : " Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God ! king of the uni- verse, the creator of the fruit of the vine. Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God ! king of the universe, Avho hath sanctified us with his commandments, and hath forbid us fornication, and hath prohibited unto us the betrothed, but hath allowed unto us those that are married unto us, by the means of the canopy, and the wcdding-rmg : blessed art thou, O Lord ! aBLIOIOVS HITIl. fi (he sanctiAer of hii people Israel, by the meant of the cairapj, and wedlock." Then the bridegroom and bride drink of the wine. The bride now walks three times round the bridegroom, and he does the same twice rowid her. This ceremony is said to be grounded on Jeremiah, chapter xxxi. verse 22, " A woman shall compass a man," &c. Then the bridegroom, putting a ring upon the finger of his bride, who stands on his right hand, before two or more credible witnesses, who are com* monly rabbis, says, " Thou art my wife, according to the cere- monies of Moses and Israel." In Qermanv. the guests throw some grains of corn at them, and say at the same time, " In- crease and multipl3r." — After this, the marriage articles are read, wherein the bridegroom acknowledges the receipt of the consideration money, the obligation he is under to make his wife a jointure, and to maintain, honour, and cherish her, and live peaceably with her all the days of his life. For the due performance of all the articles above-mentioned, he gives a duplicate to his wife's relations. After this, more wine is brought in a new vessel, and having sung six more benedic- tions, the bride and bridegroom drink a second time, and the residue of the wine is thrown upon the ground, as a declara- tion of their joy. Every thing being mystical with the Jews, it is to be observed, that if the bride be a maid, the glass is narrow ; but if she be a widow, a wide mouthed g(H)let is used. The glass or vessel being empty, the bridegroom throws it on the ground, and breaks it to pieces. This cere- mony is performed, they say, that their mirth may grive them an idea of death, who dashes them to pieces like brittle glass, and teaches them not to be proud or self-conceited. Others say, that the breaking of the glass indicates the impossibility of the marriage ties being dissolved ; — the sig^iification being, that when the atoms of the glass shall be re-united, the bride and bridegroom may separate; but, not till then. In the mean time, all persons present cry out, Mazal tov. "ilfaytl prove propitious^^ and then withdraw. In the evening they make a grand entertainment for their friends and relations ; and in some places, all the guests who were invited present the bride witn a piece of plate ; some before, and some after supper is over. Then follow the seven benedictions before mentioned, and after this they all rise from table. Fowls of some kind are always a part of the wcddin|f-8up- per. The first dish presented to the bride is a hen with an egg, and after she has been served, the guests help themselves 4* 76 RBLIOIOVS RlTlt. to the remainder. The hen is emblematical, and denotes tho future fruitfuiness of the bride. On the sabbath-day morning, after the consummation of their marriage, the bridep;room and the bride so to the syna- gogue together. Tho bride is attended by all the women that were present at the wedding. At the lessons of the Penta- teuch, the bridegroom is oesired to read : he then promises to give liberally to the poor, and all who come with him fol- low his example. When prayers are over the men wait on the bridegroom home, and tne women on the bride ; after which they part, with abundance of courtesy and complaisance. The briuegroom, in some places, lives, during the nrst week, with his wife's relations, where he amuses himself, and entertains his friends and acquaintance. These are the general practices in oil Jewish weddings, though there are some little variations observed, according to the various countries in which they live. If the wife dies, and has no issue, they are obliged to net according to the customs of the country they live in, which vary almost in every nation. Among the Jews, the father lies under an indispensable obligation to have his son circumcised on the eighth day, in Circumcision, obedience to the command in the 17th chapter of Genesis, 10th- 14th verses. This cannot be done till the expiration of the eight days ; but in case the child be sick or infirm, it may be deferred till he is perfectly recovered Anciently, by the fulfilment of this rite, it was consecrated to the service of Qod. This, no doubt, was then the principal end of circumcision, but there do not appear to have been want- ing other subsidiary objects. Were it necessary, we might demonstrate both by quotations from the ancients, and reasons drawn from the nature of the member on which circumcision is performed, that this operation is really conducive to cleanli- ness and health among those who practise it in southern cli- mates. It was a preventive of the disease called the anthrax or carbuncle. It nas also been considered as having a benefi- cial tendency in increasing the population in such a climate us that of Palestine. g. . , The Jews look upon it as a very laudable death."*" **" action, and a bounden duty, to visit the sick, and ' ' to assist them in the time of their distress. When any one is apprehensive that his life is in danger, he sends for about ten persons, more or less, as he thinks conve- nient; one of whom, at least, must be a rabbi. Then, in a solenm manner, he repeats the general alphabetical confession, RBLIOIOVH RITBS. n and utters a prayer, in which he " humbly begs of Qod, if it bo his blessed will, to restore him to his former state of health ;" or, if this may not bo grunted, he then recommends his soul to him, and prays that his death may be accepted as an expia- tion for his sins. If his conscience is overcnarffed with any sin, or if ho has any secret which ho would reveal, he declares it to the rabbi. After nil this he bogs pardon of Qod, and of all such as hr has at any time offended, and forgives, likewise, all such as have offended him, and even his most inveterate enemies. In case he has any children, or domestics, he calls them to his bedside and gives them his benediction ; and if his own father or mother bo present, he receives their bless* ing. If he has an inclination to make his will, and to dispose of his worldly estate, he has free liberty to execute it in such a manner as ho thinks most convenient There are some who take care to have a public prayer put up for them in the synagogue, and change their names, as an indication of their change of life; and, as it is said, to cheat the devil. At such times, they promise and bestow their charily on the synagogues, as well as on the poor. When the person who is ill is in- danger of death, or just expiring, thev never leave him alone, but watch with him day and night. They salute him, and take their last farewell, just at the moment when the soul is separating from the body. To be present at the separation of the soul from the body, especially if the person be a learned or pious man, in their opinion, is not only a laudable, but a meritorious action. The person who is present when the sick man gives up the ghost, accordin;^ to ancient custom, tears some part of his o.wn garments. This rent is generally made on the right side of the forepart of the clothes, and must be the eighth of a yard in length. When they mourn for a father or mother, all the clothes must be rent on the right side; whereas the left side of the outward gar- ment, only, is torn, if it be for a distant relation. The rent is always from top to bottom; whereas that of the ancient priests was formerly from bottom to top. In Holland the Jews make it on the top, near the buttons, and at the expiration of seven or eight days have it sewn up again. In some parts of Ger- many the Jewish women, who lose their husbands, usually tear their head-dress. It is said, that if the widow intends to marry again, she is only to pretend to do it; for if she actually tears them, it is a certain sign that she intends to remain a widow. There are some who, at such a time, will throw into the street all the water which they have in the house, or can find 7* r« RELIGIOUS RITES. in the neighbourhood. This, which is accounted an ancient custom, is intended to denote that somebody lies dead not far from the place. As soon as any one is dead, his eyes and Funer . niouth are closed, his body is laid upon the ground in a sheet, his lace is covered, and a lighted taper is se^. by his head. A pair of linen drawers is immediately provided, and some women are sent for to sew them ; who, for the most part, per- form this friendly office out of charity and good will. After this the corpse is thoroughly washed with warm water, in which camomile and dried roses have been boiled. In the next place, a shirt and drawers are put on, and over them some put a kind of surplice of fine linen, a taled, or square cloak, and a white cap on the head. They now bend his thumb close to the palm of the hand, and tie it with the strings of his Taled; for he ^oes to the other world with his veil on. The thumb thus bent, stands in the form of Shaddai, which is one of God's attributes ; this is the reason which the Jews give for a custom, that secures the body from the devil's clutches. The deceased, in all other respects, has his hand open as a testimony that he relinquishes all his worldly goods. The washing of the body is intended to denote that the deceased purified himself from the pollutions of this life by a S'-jcere repentance, and was ready and pre- pared to receive a better from the hands of the Almighty. Buxtorf says, that they burn wine, and put an egg in it, and therewith anoint the head of the corpse. Some perform this unction at their own houses, and others at the house of the living; that is, the Hebrew dialect, the church-yard. He adds, that after this ablution all the apertures of the body are stopped up. When dressed, he is laid on his back in a coffin made on purpose, with one linen cloth under, and another over him. If the party deceased be a person of considerable note, his coffin is made in some places with a pointed top ; and if a rabbi, a considerable number of books is laid upon it. Then the coffin is covered with black, and a small bag of earth is deposited under the head of the defunct. The coffin is now nailed up, and conveyed to a grave as near the place as possi- ble where the family of the deceased are interred. All the people now crowd round about it ; and since the attendance on a corpse, and the conveyance of it to the grave, is looked upon as a very meritorious action, they all carry it upon their shoulders by turns, some part of the way. In some RKLI0I0V8 RITES. 79 pre- Ice the ] grave, irry it some places the mourners follow the corpse with lighted flambeaux m their hands, singing some melancholy anthem as they march along. In others, this ceremony is omitted ; the rela- tions, however, who are in mourning, accompany the corpse in tears to the grave. In this solemn manner, the dead are carried to the burial- place, which is most commonly a. iield set apart for that pur- pose, called Beth Hachaim, or " House of the living ;" the dead being looked upon as living, on account of their immor- tal souls. When the deceased is laid in his grave, if he has been a person of any extraordinary merit, there is generally a proper person present, who makes his funeral oration. As soon as this eulogium is over, they repeat the prayer called UiDDuc Addin, " the justice of the judgment " which begins with these words of Deuteronomy, chapter xxxii. verse 4, " He is the rock, his work is perfect ; for all his ways are judgment," &c. In some countries, when a coffin is brought within a short space of the gra ve, or before it is taken out of the house, ten men go in a solemn manner seven times round it, repeating a prayer for his soul ; this is the practice in Holland : but in other parts this ceremony is not observed. The nearest rela- tion now rends some part of his garments, and then the corpse is put into the grave, and covered with earth ; each friend throwing a handful or spadeful in, till the grave is filled up. The coffin must be so placed in the grave, as not to touch another coffin. The Jews account it a sin, either in man or woman, to tear their flesh, or their hair, on this melancholy occasion, either when they weep over the deceased, or at any time afterwards ; for, in Deuteronomy chapter xiv., it is written, " Ye shall not cut yourselves," &c. But as soon as the coflin is conveyed out of the house for sepulture, a brick, or broken pot, is thrown out after it, to denote that all sorrow is driven away. Those who, during the life-time of the deceased, neglected to be re- conciled with him, must touch his great toe, and beg his par- don, in order that the deceased may not accuse them at God's tribunal, on the day of the resurrection. At their departure from the grave, every one tears up two or three handfuls of grass, and throws it behind him, repeating, at the same time, these words of the 72d Psalm, verse 6, " They of the city shall flourish like the grass of the earth." This they do by way of acknowledgment of the resurrection. Then they wash their hands, sit down, and rise again, nine times successively, repeating the 91st Psalm, "HethatdweU> «0 RELIGIOUS RITES. eth in the secret place of the Most High." Afler this, they re- turn to their respective places of abode. When the nearest relations of the party deceased are returned home from the burial, be they father, mother, child, husband, wife, brother, or sister, they directly seat them- Mourning-. selves on the ground; and having pulled off their shoes, refresh themselves with 4}read, wine, and hard eggs, which are placed before them ; according as it is written in the 3 1st chapter of Proverbs, verse 6. " Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine to those that be heavy of heart," &c. He whose usual place it is to crave a blessing on their meals, now introduces appropriate words of consolation. In the Levant, and in several other places, the friends of the deceased send in provisions for ten days suc- cessively, morning and night, to some of the nearest relatives, for the entertainment of such guests as they think proper to invite ; and on a day appointed, they themselves partake of the feast, and condole with them. When the dead body is conveyed from the house, his cover- let is folded double, his blankets are rolled up, and laid upon a mat ; afterwards, a lamp is lighted up at the bed's head, which burns for a week without intermission. Such as are related to the deceased, reside in the house for ten days together, and during all that time sit and eat upon the ground, except on the sabbath day, on which they go with a select company of their friends and acquaintance to the syna- gogue, where they are more generally-condoled with, than at any other place. During these ten days, they are not allowed to do any manner of business : neither can the husband lie with his wife. Ten persons, at least, go every night and morning to pray with them under their confinement. Some add to their devotions on this solemn occasion, the 49th Psalm, " Hear this all ye people," &c., and afterwards pray for the soul of their deceased friend. The Jews dress themselves in such mourningas is the fashion of the country in which they live, there being no divine direc- tion relating thereunto. For full thirty days, the mourner is not permitted to bathe, perfume, or shave his beard. Indeed, tattered clothes, sprinkled with ashes, and a general slovenly appearance, point out the mourning Jew, during this period. After the expiration of the ten days, they leave the house, and go to the synagogue, where several of them order lamps to be lighted on each side of the Hechal, or Ark, procure prayers to be said, and offer charitable contributions for the toul of the deceased. This ceremony is repeated at the close •T,- RELIGIOUS RITES. * 1^ of each month, and likewise of the year : and if the person who is dead he a rabbi, or a man of worth and distinction, they make his Esped upon those days; that is, a funeral harangue in commendation of his virtues. A son goes daily to the synagogue, morning and night, and there repeats the prayer called Cadish, that is, Holy, for the soul of his mother or father, for eleven months succes- sively ; in order to deliver him from purgatory ; and some of them fast annually on the day of the death of their respective relatives. In some places, they set a monument over the grave, and carve the name of the deceased upon it ; also the day, month, and year of his decease, and a line or two, by way of enco- mium. — Some Jews go, from time to time, to the tombs of their acquaintances and relatives, to say their prayers. They seldom mourn for such as are suicides, or who die under excommunication. So far, indeed, are they from re- gretting the loss of thei.., that they set a stone over the coffin, to signify that they ought to be stoned to death, if they had had their deserts. for SECT. IV. ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE WORSHIP FES- .;r>^ . - -- TIVALS, AC. , r ;/; The Sanhedrin, the supreme judicial authority formerly existing among the Jews, was instituted in the time of the Maccabees, (some ascribe to it an earlier origin,) ^,.55. and was composed of seventy-two members. The j^^ Sanhe- high priest generally sustained the office of pre- ' ' " ' sident in this tribunal. The next officers in authority were the first and second vice-presidents. The members who were admitted to a seat in the Sanhedrin were as follows : 1. Chief priests, who are often mentioned in the New Testament and in Josephus, as if they were many in number. They consist- ed partly of priests who had previously exercised the high- priesthood, and partly of the heads of the twenty-four classes of priests, who were called, in an honorary way, high, or chief priests. 2. Ellers, that is to say, the princes of the tribes, and the heads of family associations. 3. The Scribes, or learned men. Not all the scribes and elders were members, but only those who were chosen or nominated by the proper authority. The Talmudists assert that this tribunal had secretaries and apparitors, and the very nature of the case forbids us to doubt the truth of the assertion. The place of their sitting, however, ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, *C. is a question on which there is more difierence of opinion. The Talmudists state that it was in the temple, but Josephus mentions the place of assembling, and also the archives, as being not far from the temple, on Mount Zion. But in the trial of Jesus, it appears they were assembled, and that very hastily, in the palace of the high-priest. When they met, they took their seats in such a way as to form a semicircle, and the presidents and two vice-presidents occupied the centre. At each end was a secretary ; one re- gistered the votes of acquittal — the other of condemnation. The proper period of sitting was all the time between the morning and evening service. The Sanhedrin was the great court of judicature : it judged of all capital offences against the law: it had the power of in- flicting punishment by scourging and by death. Its power had been limited in the lime of Christ, by the interference of the Romans, and the Consistory itself terminated its functions upon the destruction of Jerusalem. They were never able to re-establish themselves since, — nor is anything related of them in the history of our own times, except the council which the Jews held in Hungary in the 17th century, and the con- vocation held at Paris, under the auspices of Napoleon in 1806. The worship of the sjmagogue, with its appendant school or law court, where lectures were given, and knotty points of the The worship law debated, became the great bond of national of the syna- union, and has continued, though the monarchical 80S"*- centre of unity in Tiberias disappeared in a few centuries, to hold together the scattered nation in the closest uniformity. The worship of tho synagogue is extremely sim- ple. Wherever ten Jews were found, there a synagogue ought to be formed. The Divine Presence, the invisible Slie- chinah, descends not but where ten are met together ; if fewer, the Divine Visitant was supposed to say, " Wherefore come I, and no one is here ?" It was a custom, therefore, in some of the more numerous communities, to appoint ten " men of lei- sure," whose business it was to form a congregation.* The buildings were plain ; in their days of freedom it was thought right that the house of prayer to God, from its situation or its form, should overtop the common dwellings of man ; but in their days of humiliation, in strange countries, the lowly syna. gogue, the type of their condition, was content to lurk undis. • Such seems to be the solution of a question on which learned volumes have been written. sim- >k ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, ftC. 83 ] lumes turbed iu less conspicuous situations. Even in Palestine the synagogues must have been small, for Jerusalem was said to contain 460 or 480 ; the foreign Jews, from the c.flferent quar- ters of the world, seem each to have had their separate build- ing, where they communicated in prayer with their neighbours and kindred. Such were the synagogues of the Alexandri- ans, the Cyrenians, and others. Besides the regular syna- gogues, which were roofed, in some places they had chapels or oratories, open to the air, chiefly perhaps where their wor- ship was not so secure of protection from the authorities ; these were usually in retired and picturesque situations, in groves, or on the sea shore. In the distribution of the sy«a- gogue, some remote resemblance to the fallen Temple was kept up. The entrance was from the east ; in the centre stood an elevated tribune or rostrum, in the place of the great altar, where they only permitted sacrifice, and if from an humble and contrite heart, doubtless most acceptable to their Almighty Father, prayer was constantly offered, and the book of the Law was read. At the west end stood a chest, in which the book was laid up, making the place, as it were, the humble Holy of Holies, though now no longer separated by a veil, nor protected by the Cherubim and Mercy Seat. Particular seats, usually galleries, were railed off for the women. The chief religious functionary in the synagogue was call- ed the angel, or bishop. He ascended the tribune, repeated or chanted the prayers, his head during the ceremony being co- vered with a veil. He called the reader from his place, opened the book before him, pointed out the passage, and over-looked him, that he read correctly. The readers, who were three in number on the ordinary days, seven on the morning of the sabbath, five on festivals, were selected from the body of the people. The Law of course was read, and the prayers like- v/ise repeated, in the Hebrew language. The days of public service in the synagogue were the Sabbath, the second and fifth days of the week, Monday and Thursday, There was an officer in the synagogues out of Palestine, and probably even within its borders, called an interpreter, who translated the Law into the vernacular tongue, usually Greek in the first case, or Syro-Chaldaic in the latter. Besides the bishop, there were three elders, or rulers of the synagogue, who likewise formed a court or consistory for the judgment of all offences. They had the power of inflicting punishment by scourging : from Origen's account, the Patriarch of Tiberias had assumed .he power of life and death. But the great control over the public mind lay in the awful sentence of excommunication. Q4 BCCLKSIA8T1CAL DIdCIPLINB, %C. The anathema of the synagogue cut off the offender from the Israel of God ; he became an outcast of society. At present, the Jews select for the site of their synagogues some eminences, in those cities where the exercise of Judaism is allowed. The fabric must be higher than the (common houses, for they say, " The house of our God must be magni- ficent." The Jews are obliged religiously to observe the re- spect due to the synagogue, and to forbear talking of business there, or even thinking on any worldly advantages. They must likewise avoid sleeping there ; and looking round about, &c. They must continue in a modest posture, and not suffer themselves to run into any indecency. The title or denomination of rabbi is very ancient ; for in the Jewish scriptures, both the words rabbi and rabbom Rabbis and are to be found, which are synonymous terms, doctors. The Pharisees of old assumed this title to them- selves, with abundance of pride and arrogance, pretending to be the sole masters and doctors of the people ; and they carried this pretension to such a pitch, as to make the law subject to their traditions. Jesus Christ very severely reprimanded them for this their insolent deportment. The rabbis, besides the privilege of preaching, and instruct- ing their pupils, have that of binding and loosing, that is, of determining whether a thing be forbidden or allow^ed. When this power is conferred upon them, they have the five books of Moses, and a key, put into their hands. They create new doctors, and ordain them by imposition of hands, as Moses, just before his death, laid his hands on Joshua, his successor, and gave him his benediction ; but they limit and restrain their power as they see most convenient : one being confined to in- terpret the law, or such questions only as relate thereunto ; and another to judge of controversies arising upon those questions. At present, according to Buxtorf, the rabbis are elected with very little ceremony. He who is to ordain the new rabbi, publishes aloud to all the congregation, either on the sabbath, or some other solemn festival, that such a one de- serves to be admitted amongst the rabbis, for his religious education, sound learning, and knowledge of the Oral Law ; and exhorts the people to own and reverence him as such, de- nouncing excommunication against all those who neglect his admonitions. He then gives the candidate the certificate of his merit and ability, as a Doctor, or Hacham ; and the cere- mony is often concluded with an elegant entertainment given to the old rabbis, and to the rest of his friends and acquaintance. The Hacham Rau, who are generally much respected, de- ECCLESIASTICAL DI81I?UNE, AC. 86 del his of ere- iven nee. de- termine all manner of debates ; settle what things are lawful, and unlawful; and pass judgment upon religious and civil affairs. These men perform all nuptial ceremonies, and issue out divorces. They preach the practice of virtue and integrity, they interpret the laws, when qualified, and are the principals of the academies. They have the uppermost seats in the sy- nagogues and assemblies ; and have a power to punish the dis- obedient, and to excommunicate them when they are obstinate, or perverse. The privileges of this office are, to be free from all taxes and impositions. If a rabbi has any goods, he has a right to sell them first, and before all others, that the time he spends in negotiating his affairs, may be no impediment to his studies ; his business is the first, likewise, to be despatched in all pro- ceedings at law ; and he is allowed to sit upon the bench with the judges, &c. Some of these privileges, however, are abolished; the Jews having, at present, no sovereign au- thority. There is no festival which the Jews have so great a vene- ration for, as the sabbath day ; because they say it was insti- tuted immediately after the creation of the world, and is mentioned in various places, and at sun- ™"® sabbath, dry times, in their sacred writings ; particularly in the deca- logue, wherein the performance of the least thing upon that day is forbidden, and a general' rest from all labours is com- manded. They must not either kindle fire, nor extingniish it, upon- this day, in compliance with what is written in the 35th chap- ter of Exodus, verse 3. " Ye shall kindle no fire through- out your habitations upon the sabbath day." Nay, they are not allowed to touch it ; not even to stir it up. They are not suffered even to light up or extinguish a lamp; they may em- ploy, however, any servant that is not a Jew, to kmdle their fire ; if they do not, they either dispose it so that it lights of itself, or else they sit in the cold. — This the Jews do, even in Russia, or any other cold country. They dress no meat upon the sabbath ; neither are they al- lowed to taste any thing that has been dressed, or that grew, or was gathered on that day. They are not allowed to carry any burden on that day ; so that they wear no more clothes than what is absolutely neces- sary to cover them. Their exactness extends even to the garb of their women, childien, and servants, and to the loading of their beasts. They are forbidden on this day to talk of any vvorldly af- u 86 ■OOLBIIAITIOAL DIIOIPLINK, 4C. fun] to make any bargnin with respect to buying and selling; or, to give pr take any thing by way of payment. Neither must they handle or touch any of the tools of their trade, or any other things, the use whereof is prohibited on the sabbath day. They are not allowed to walk above a mile, that is to say, two thousand cubits, out of ony market town or village. But they can walk as long os they please on the sabbath day, provided they go not out of the suburbs of the town wherein they live. They always regard the suburbs as a part of the town; and when they have u mind to go out of town upon this day, thoy invariably measure the distance allowed for walking, from the end of the suburb. They never engage in any work on the Friday, but what they can accomplish with ease before the evening ; and what- ever is necessary (or the sabbath, is propared beforehand. About an hour before sunset, they take the provision which is intended for the next day, and deposit it in a warm place ; af- ter which all manner oi work is over. In some towns, a man is appointed on purpose, to give notice about half an hour be- fore the sabbath begins, that every one may cease from their labours in convenient and due time. The Jewish sabbath begins half an hour before sunset ; and, conseouently, from that instant, all prohibitions are strict- ly observed. For this reason, the women, even the most ne- cessitous, are obliged, previously, to light up a lamp, which has seven lights, emblematical of the seven days of the week. This lamp burns the greatest part of the night. In order to begin tne sabbuth well, many of them put on clean linen, wash their hands and face, and go to the syna- gogue, where they say the 92d Psnlm, " It is a good thin^ to give thanks to the Lord," &c. with their common prayers. They also thank God, that by his separation of them from the rest of mankind, he has reserved and chosen their nation from all others, as his only favourites. To these prayers and thanksgivings, they add a commemoration of the sabbath, in these words, from the 2d of Genesis, " Thus the heavens were finished, &c. — And God blessed the seventh day," &c. They go directly homo from the synogoguc, and their usual salutation to each other afterwards, is, " a good sabbath to you," and not "good night," or "good morrow." Moreover, the fathers bless their children, and the doctors their pupils, on that day ; others add to these benedictions, several portions of their sacred writings, in commemoration of the sabbath ; MrOLXIIAITIOAL D18CIPLINK, *e. ,'eek. some before meat, and some aAer, according to the custom of the place where they sojourn. When the whole family is seated at supper, the master of the house holds a glass of wine in his hand, and pronounces these words, out of the 2d of Genesis, " Thus the heavens were finished," &c. He then returns Qod thanks for having instituted and appointed the strict observance of the sabbath, and blesses the wine ; he now drinks some part of it himself, looking steadfastly on the sabbath lamps, and then gives a small quantity to such as sit at the table with him. A^er this, he repeats the 23d Psalm, " The Lord is my shepherd," &c. Then, he blesses the bread, holding it up on high with both his hands, whilst he pronounces the name of the Lord. He now distributes it all round, and the family eat and amuse themselves that evening and the next day as agreeably as they can. Supper being over, they wash their hands, and some Jews, afler they have eaten, repeat the 104th Psalm, "Bless the Lord, Omy soul," &c. They preach sometimes in the forenoon, and sometimes in the afternoon, in their synagogues, or other places appointed for divine worship, and take their text from the Pentateuch, out of the lessons for the day. They preach in the vulgar tongue, and in their sermons they recommend virtue, and dis- courage vice, illustrating their notions with passages from the Pentateuch, and from their most celebrated rabbis. These quotations are always delivered in the Hebrew language. In the evening they go to the synagogue again, and join the remembrance of the sabbath with their common prayers ; and three persons read out of the Pentateuch the beginning of the section for the week following. — They have likewise a commemoration of the dead, and sometimes a crayer for them on the sabbath, after which, those who can afiord it, are very charitable and beneficent to the poor. They usually make three meals in the twenty-four hours of the sabbath ; the first is on the Friday, after evening ser- vice ; the other two on the day following. The cloth is never removed during the whole time. As soon as night comes on, and they can discover three stars in the heavens, of any considerable magnitude, the sabbath is over, and they are allowed to go to work ; because the evening prayer, which they rather delay than hastep, is then begun. To the usual prayer, for the evening, they add a remem- brance of the sabbath, which is distinguished from the other days of the week ; also the 91st Psalm, " He that dwelleth in 88 ■OOLKSIASTIOAL DliCIPLINX, AC. •i The moon. new the secret place of the Most High," &c. To this, several por- tions of their scripture, and several benedictions and good wishes, are likewise added. As before observed, they make the sabbath last as lon(^ as they can, by prolonging their hymns and prayers ; since it is a received opmion amongst them, that the souls of the damned, as well as those in purgatory, endure no torments upon that '^- ■ , • ■ ^^ :- V^ ... .''■^«V __ 1 m m 1 ■ ''ill 1 .. - , •1 ')':'--.. V , ^ Repast during the Feast of Tabernacles, p. 02. i ^ < . fc til B S( ai cl le lo re vc •'>.:». A da til ini in; ar be in G( an the sai an BCOLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, ftC. 91 each penitent is alphabetically digested, each sin having its proper letter, so as to be recollected with the greatest ease. The external signs of godly sorrow, at once conspicuous in a repentant Jew, who condemns himself before God, by a long account of his transgressions, is certainly very remarkable. These signs are dirty tattered clothes, mourning, or shrouds ; a melancholy and dejected countenance, a long beard ; down* cast eyes, made languid by penance, and disposed to weeping; a holy eagerness determining the penitent to press through the crowd of devotees, and be foremost in the synagogue ; and so perfect a distraction as to deprive him of the use of his senses, whilst he is running over the alphabet of his sins. In short, he appears to have just strength enough to support his body during the meditation of the soul. This lasts three hours at least ; after which they go home to bed. Some, in- deed, stay all night long, and all the next day, in the syna- gogue, saying their prayers and repeating psalms. In the mean time, the women light up candles and lamps at home, and according as the light bums, prognosticate good or evil fortune. It ought to be remarked, that those who have led a scanda- lous and dissolute life, are not only admitted, but invited, into the congregation, on the first evening of the festival. Two Rabbis, who stand on each side of the chaunter, perform this solemn invitation, and declare to the congregation, " That they allowed to pray with the wicked." — After which, the are chaunter opens the Hechal, and sings a prayer of moderate length, which the congregation repeat after him, but not so loud as to be heard. This cancels all rash vows, oaths, and resolutions, of the preceding year, in case they were made voluntarily, without any compulsion. The next morning, such as went home, repair again by day-break to the synagogue, dressed as before, and there stay till night, standing all the time, saying their prayers without intermission, repeating psalms and confessions, and beseech- ing God to pardon allttoir transgressions. In the course of the service, various portions of scripture are read, particularly part of Leviticus, chapter xxvi., Num- bers, chapter xxix., and Isaiah, chapter Ivii. They mention in their prayers the additional sacrifice of the day, and entreat God to build their sanctuary, to gather their dispersions among the Gentiles, and conduct them to Jerusalem, where they may offer the sacrifice of atonement, agreeably to the Mp- saic law. In the afternoon service, besides portion? of thp law and prophets, the greatest part of the bpok of Jonah is read. 92 ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, AC. Some Jews prepare their tents for the Feast of Tubernaclr -, immediately after the Expiation, On the fifteenth day of the same month, Tisri, is the Feaot of Tents, Tabernacles, or Booths ; which is called Succoth, The feast of '" commemoration of their encampment in the Tabernacles, wilderness, when they departed out of Egypt ; and under which they were preserved as a nation for forty years together, in the midst of frightful and barren deserts. In the 23d chapter of Leviticus, it is written, " In the 15th day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast to the Lord seven days ; on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth dny shall be a sabbath. And ye shall take yon on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook ; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord, your God, seven days. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths : that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt." Every one therefore makes a booth, or tent, in some place near his house, which he covers with leaves, and adorns in the best manner that he can. The rabbis have been very punctual as to the fashion and nature of these booths, as well as their dimensions. No tent must be more than twenty cubits high, nor less than ten spans. Such as are rich adorn them with tapestry, over which they hang boughs of trees laden with fruit, as oranges, lemons, and grapes. These tents must be neither set up under a house nor tree. They eat and drink in these tents, and some lie all night in them ; or at least spend in them so much time of the night and day, as they used to pass at home, during the eight days that the f^.s- tival lasts. It continues nine days in reality, although the law institu- ted and commanded seven ; but ancient custom has added one ; and another day was ordained over and above for the solemn assembly, in Numbers, chapter xxix. verse 35. The two first, and the two last days of this festival, like those of the Pass- over, are very solenin ; but the other five are not so strictly observed. This festival of Tents, or Tabernacles, begins at home, with some particular benedictions, and is succeeded by a supper. Private devotion now succeeds the public ; and the father of the family never begins to consecrate the festival, till he has been first at prayers in the .synagogue till night. They leave •' >-V!j;fJif?ji-.-ir-» -i — .-? -gy.if .gr — IliafiSHBHWHLI . lIMHiJJ ...j[PM. 111! • 1 r — r^ssii .'" 11 i, L • --??^ii \, II ■ ill 12 ii 1 l^— — -^ ■ i ■III n 'i S 1,1 1 ''■ ' *j "^^^'^St-'^ - ■- yp ^ ^ ?' ^ M ^ /^ .^^=:^^^ ^^^-LVSi^ " ~ ^— =^ . ^^ Search for Leaven, p. 94. 1. Sabbath Lamp. 2. Unleavened Bread. 3. Ram's Horn, p. 86. 6. 'U. ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, *C. 93 their tents at the end of the eighth day, as soon as night draws on. On the 14th of the month Adar, which is our March, or Fehruary, the feast of Purim is observed, in commemoration of Esther, who upon that dajr, preserved the peo- ^j^^ ^^^^ ^f pie of Israel from a total extirpation by the con- Chances, spiracy of Haman, who was hanged, with all his children. This feast was called Purim, because it was writ- ten in the 9th chapter of Esther, " Therefore they called those days Purim," &c. ; the word signifying Lots or Chances ; for Haman, their enemy, had cast lots to destroy them on those two days. The first only, however, is strictly and solemnly observed. They fast on the eve, but during these two days they may traffic, or do any manner of work ; yet, on the first day, though under no obligation, they voluntarily abstain from both. On the first night, they go to the synagogue, where, after their ordinary prayers, they commemorate their happy deli- verance from that fatal conspiracy, and the Chazan reads and explains the whole book of Esther, which is written on vel- lum, and rolled up like the Pentateuch. They also call it Meghilla, or volume. The Chazan, or Reader, is allowed to sit at this lesson, whereas he must stand while he reads the law. After he has unrolled the volume, he pronounces three prayers, and returns thanks to Almighty God, for calling them together to share this ceremony; and for delivering them out of the merciless hands of Haman. He then reads the history of Haman and Esther. The Jews observe similar ceremonies in the service of the next morning, and read on this day out of the Pentateuch, the 17th chapter of Exodus, verse 8, "Then came Amalek," &c. They have, likewise, particular prayers and blessings for this happy occasion. On this feast they bestow public alms upon the poor, and all relations and friends visit and send each other presents of such things as are good to eat. Scholars make presents to their tutors ; masters to their servants ; and persons of distinc- tion to their inferiors. In short, the whole day is spent in cheerfulness and gayety, as it is written in the 9th chapter of Esther, " That they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor," &c. When the year consists of two Adars, the Jews call the 14th day of the first Adar, the little Purim ; but it is merely nominal for none of the above ceremonies are observed thereon. #■ #1 B00LXSIA8TICAL DISCIPLINE, 4bO. The 15th day of the month Nisan, which of- T^ feast of jg„ answers to our April, is the first day of the Passover, which is called Pesach, or the pas- sage over, in commemoration of the departure of the Jews from Egypt. It continues a whole week | but such as live out of Jerusalem, and its territories, make it hold eight days, accord- ing to the ancient custom, when the new moon, by the San- hbdrin's order, was proclaimed, without any computation. I'iiis festival is ordained in the 12th chapter of Exodus, and in several other parts of the Bible. The sabbath, which precedes the Passover, is called the Grand Sabbath ; on which day the rabbis preach a sermon on the Paschal Lamb. The two first and two last days of the Passover, are solemn festivals, on which no person is permitted either to work, nor do any manner of business ; nay, they keep them as strictly as the sabbath; only that they make a fire, dress their meat, and carry what things they want from place to place. On the four middle days they are only obliged to refrain from work, but are permitted to touch money. Ehiring these eight days they must neither eat, nor have, any leavened bread, or any leaven in their houses, nor even in their custody; so that they eat none but unleavened bread all that time, according to Exodus, chapter xii. verses 15, 16, 17. This bread they call Azyma. In order to obey this precept as punctually as possible, the master takes a wax candle, and searches the house over with the utmost care, to clear it of every thing that is fermented, prying into every comer, and even into all the trunks and cupboards. He now beseeches God to make up the defects of his search, " that all the leavened bread which is in the house, may become like the dust of the earth, and be reduced to nothing." When the house is well scoured, they white- wash it, and supply it with new table and kitchen furniture, or with such as is reserved for the service of this day only. li they have been used before, and are of metal, they must be first heated in a forge, and newly polished before they can be used ; because nothing which has touched leavened bread may be made use of during those eight days. About eleven o'clock on the next day, they burn a bit of bread, to give notice, that the prohibition against leavened bread is then begun ; and this ceremony is attended with a particular declaration, that the head of the family has no leaven in his custody ; that if he has, it is tinknown to him, and that he hath done to the utmost of his power to prevent it. ECCLESIAfiXlCAL DISCIPLINE, AC. f» rhey go to prayers m the evening ; and at their return home, the master, with his family and other domestics, after washing their hands, sit down to a table which is duly pre- pared for their entertainment in the day time, and set off with all the elegance and grandeur that the circumstances of each porson will admit of Instead of the ceremony which was formerly observed, in conformity to the 12th chapter of Exo- dus, viz. " To eat the lamb with unleavened bread, and bitter heil)s," &c. they have some small pieces of lamb, or kid, dres- si^d with unleavened bread. Sometimes they have a plate cover- ed, in which there are three mysterious cakes, one for the high ^riest, one for the Levites, and a third for the people ; also the Made-bone of a shoulder of Iamb, or, at least, some part of it. 'J'he Portuguese Jews have the bone on the table during the whole eight days of the Passover. When the shoulder is j-erved up whole, at this ceremony, they have a hard egg with if. To this they add a dish representing the bricks which their ancestors were formerly forced to make in Egypt. This n)ent i.s a thick paste, composed of apples, almonds, nuts, figs, &c. which they dress in wine, and season with cinnamon, broke only into pieces, to represent the straw that they made use of in the making of their bricks. In another dish, they have celery, lettuce, chervil, cresses, wild succory, and pars- ley. These are their biiter herbs. A cruet full of vinegar, and another of oil, are set on the table near the sallad. The Jews make a great difference between the ancient and modern way of celebrating the Passover. Formerly, they used to eat the lamb roasted whole ; but ever since their sacri- fices have been abolished, which could be offered no where but at Jerusalem, they roast one part of it, and boil another; nay, sometimes cut it in pieces, which is enough to prevent its being sacrificed. The want of their sacrifices, likewise, obli- ges them, at present, to suppress several hymns, which relate to the Paschal lamb ; and their dispersion obliges them, also, to beg of God to re-establish Jerusalem, tue temple, and its sacrifices, and to deliver them at this day, as he formerly did their forefathers, from the tyranny of the Egyptians. The modern Jews conclude their meal with the unleavened bread, but in former times they ended it with the lamb ; and they now omit girding their loins, taking a staff in their hands, and pull- ing off their shoes when they eat the lamb ; all which was practised under the ancient law : but they take care, however, to preserve that humility and attention which are due to thit religious ceremony. They decline their heads all the time they are eating: and such Jews as are eminent for their piety, 5* 90 ICOLKSIAITIOAL DMOIPLINI, hC. put nothing into their mouthi, without meditating on the se- reral mysteries with the utmost respect and veneration. From the day after the PasiTover to the thirty-third day fol* lowing, they spend their time in tt kind of mourning ; they neither marry, nor dress themselves in any new clothes, nei- ther do they cut their hair, nor show any demonstrations of public joy ; because, at that time, that is, from the day after the Passover until the thirty-third day after, there was once a great mortality amongst the pupils of Rabbi Hachiba, who was one of their most celebrated doctors. After the death of some thousands, the sickness ceased on the thirty-third day of the Homer. This day is therefore kept with general rejoicings, and puts an end to all appearance of sorrow or concern. The Jews call the nfty days which intervene between the Passover and the feast of Pentecost, Homer-days. On the Pentecost. fiftieth doy of the Homer, which is the sixth of SivAN, is celebrated the festival Shavvoth, or of Weeks ; which is so named, because it is kept at the end of the seven weeks, which they compute from the Passover. At present, it is observed for two days together. These two days are observed almost ns strictly as the Passo- ver holidays ; for no work is allowed to. be done upon them, \ neither can the Jews transact any business, nor, in short, do any thing more than on the sabbath : excepting that they are allowed to kindle their fire, dress their victuals, and carry whatever they want from place to place. At the feast of Pentecost, five persons read the sacrifice of the day, and likewise the history of Ruth, because frequent mention is made there of the harvest. At this time they re- gale themselves with all sorts of dainties made of milk, which, in their opinion, is a symbol of the law, both on account of its sweetness and its whiteness ; and as the Jews take a pride in having, as far as possible, the most express and lively images of the most remarkable circumstances that occurred at the birth of their religion, they never forgot to serve up at table on this day, a cake made moderately thick, which they coll the Cake of Sinai. This is to remind them of Mount Sinai, on which God gave them the law. The Jews formerly called Pentecost the feast of the Har- vest, and day of First Fruits, because the first of their corn and fruit yvas at that time offered in the temple, which was the close of this solemnity : but this can never be in Europe, harvest falling always much later than Whitsuntide. It might, how- ever, bear this name in the land of Canaan, Arabia, and in the neighbourhood of the Red Sea. Eating the Passover by the Portuguese Jews, p. 95. iHi ■ ^E,IL ^i JlUS^fd yr^ 3ijiol Inner Court of the Temple of Mecca, p. 124. ***v — ,^ - "J^^^S^i applied emphatically to Mahomet's flight fiom Hetoa, $ Mecca to Medina. Mufti. — The principal head of the Mahometan religion, and the re- solver of all doubtful points of the law. — An office of great dig- nity in the Turkish empire. Imam. — A kind of priest attached to the mosques, whose duty it is oc- casionally to expound a passage of the Koran. They, at the same time, usually follow some more lucrative employment. Moollah. — The Moollahs form what is called the Ulema, or body of doctors, in theology and jurisprudence, who are entrusted with the guardianship of the laws of the empire, and from whose number the Mufti is chosen. Emir. — Lineal descendants of the Prophet himself, distinguished by wearing turbans of deep sea-green, th>> »olour peculiar to all the race of Mahomet. They have special immunities on the scoreof their descent, and one of them carries the gi'een standard of the Prophet when the Grand Seignior appears in any public solemnity. Pasha. — The title given to the provincial governors. A Pasha is to a province or pashalic, what the Sultan is to the empire, except that the judicial power is in the hands of the cadis, the provin- cial magistrates. The tails of a Pasha are the standards which he is allowed to carry ; one of three tails is one of three standards, which number gives the power of life and death. Reis Effendi. — This officer may be termed the High Chancellor of the Ottoman empire. He is at the head of a class of attorneys which at this time contains the best informed men of the nation. Seraouo. — This word is derived fron Serai, a term of Persian origin, signifying A palace. It is therefore improperfy used as synony- mous with Harem,, the apartments of the women. The Seraglio iii, in strictness of cpeech^ the place where the court of the Grand 9* . \ V 108 LIFE OF MAHOMET. •• The Moslem writers," says the author already quoted, "in order to represent the birth of their pretended prophet as Prodigies said equally marvellous with that of Moses or of to have attend- Christ, the ancient messengers of God who pre- ed this event, ^eded him, have reported a tissue of astonishing frodigies said to have occurred in connexion with that event, f the reader will receive their statements with the same im- plicit faith with which they seem to be delivered, he must acknowledge, that at the moment when the favoured infi>nt was ushered into the world, a flood of light burst forth with him and illuminated every part of Syria ; that the waters of the Lake Sawa wjre entirely dried up, so that a city was built upon its bottom ; that an earthquake threw down four- teen towers of the king of Persia's palace ; that the sacred fire of the Persians was extinguished, and all the evil spirits which had inhabited the moon and stars were expelled together from their celestial abodes, nor could they ever after animate idols or deliver oracles on earth. The child also, if we may trust to the same authorities, discovered the most wonderful presa- ges. He was no sooner born than he fell prostrate, in a pos- ture of humble adoration, praying devoutly to his Creator, and' saying, ' God is great ! There is no God but God, and I am his prophet 1' By these and many other supernatural signs, equally astounding, is the prophet's nativity said to have been marked." At the early age of two years, Mahomet lost his father, and four years after his mother. Being now a dependant orphan, Mahomet giv- he was received into the family of his grandfather, en in charge under whose guardianship he continued two to his uncle, years, when the venerable Abdol Motalleb him- self was called to give up the ghost. On his dying bed, he summoned Abu Taleb, the eldest of his sons, whom he is said Seignior is held ; but it so happens that at Constantinople this building includes the imperial Harem within its walls Crescent. — The national ensign of the Turks, surmounting the domes and minarets attached to their mosques, as the Cross does the churches of the Roman Catholics in Christian countries. This peculiar and un i versal use of the C rescent i s said to have owed its origin to the fact, that at the time of Mahomet's flight from Mecca to Medina the moon was new. Hence the half moon is commemorative of that event. Sublime Porte. — This title, which is frequently applied to the court, cabinet, or executive department of the Ottoman empire, is de- rived, as the words import, from a lofty arched gateway of splendid construction, forming the principal entrance to the Se- raglio or palace. It is a phrase equivalent to "Court of St. - :.. James," " Court of St. Cloud," &c. LIFE OF MAHOMET. 103 pie this domes 1)69 the This If edits from ^oon is court, |, is de- ray of llhe Se- 1 of St. i to have addressed as follows : '* My dearest, best beloved son, to thy charge I leave Mahomet, the son of thine own brother strictly recommended, whose natural father the Lord hath been pleased to take to himself, with the intent that this dear child should become ours by adoption ; and much dearer ought he to be unto us than merely an adopted son. Receive him, therefore, at my dying hands, with the same sincere love anil tender bowels with which I deliver him to thy care. Honour, love, and cherish him as much, or even more, than if he had sprung from thine own loins ; for all the honour thou showest unto him shall be trebled unto thee. Be more than ordina- rily careful in thy treatment towards him, for it will be repaid thee with interest. Give him the preference before thine own children, for he exceedelh them and all mankind in excellency and perfection. Take notice, that whensoever he calleth upon thee, thou answer him not as an infant, as his tender age may require, but as thou wouldst reply to the most aged and vene- rable person when he askeththee any question. Sit not down to thy repasts of any sort soever, either alone or in company, till thy worthy nephew Mahomet is seated at the table before thee ; neither do thou ever offer to taste of any kind of viands, or even to stretch forth thine hand towards the same, until he hath tasted thereof If thou observest these my injunctions, thy goods shall always increase, and in nowise be dimi- nished."* Abu Taleb having received the above solemn charge, took the young prophet under his care, and instructed him in the business oi a merchant. When he was about twelve or thirteen years of age, in order to per- ^ „e"chant." feet him in his employment, Abu Taleb took him with him into Syria, whither he found himself obliged to go on commercial affairs. Arriving at Bosra, an ancient city of Syria Damacena, he visited a monastery, where he found a Nestorian monk, named Felix, and surnamed Boheira, who treated them with great marks of distinction, and owned him as God's apostle. Another monk, called by the Christians, Sergius, entered into a confederacy with Boheira to propa- gate the new fanaticism, and lent a helping hand in composing the Koran. On Mahomet's first approach to Boheira, the monk observed, or said he observed, a sort of luminous or transparent cloud round his head, which preserved him from the heat of the solar rays ; also, that the dry trees under which he sat were every where instantly covered with green jeaves, * Morgan's Mahometanism Explained, vol. i. p. 50. y>- 104 Ll^B OF MAHOMST. which served him for a shade — all certain signs that the pro phetic dignity resided in him. He likewise discovered the seal of prophecy impressed between his shoulders, whilst he kissed the hinaer part of his garment. Turning one day to the uncle, Abu Taleb, he said, " Depart with this child, and take great care that he does not rail into the hands of the Jews ; for your nephew will one day become a very extraor- dinary person ; he will perform great things by the appoint- ment of God." Abu Taleb hereupon immediately returned to Mecca, and gave an account to the Koreish of the discove- ries that had been made. In the mean time, Mahomet, as he advanced towards the years of puberty, grew extremely popular. He was the most handsome and the best made man of all the Arabs of his time ; and he was not only famed for his beauty, but he like- vise surpassed all his contemporaries in sagacity and good sense, so much so, indeed, as to acquire the name of Al-Amin, or the Faithful. This is the favourable portrait given us of him, at the age of fourteen, by some of the Moslem historians. Mahomet made his first campaign when he was about twenty years of age, under his uncle Abu Taleb, who com- manded the Koreish against the tribes Kenan and Hawazan. Of the cause of this war no traditionary account is on record ; but, as it was carried on with great violence through the course of the four sacred months, it was termed the " impious war." During these months it was held unlawful to Avage war ; the Arabs then taking off the heads of their spears, and ceasing from incursions and other hostilities. However, the Koreish were victorious in this war, which could not fail of rendering the people of their tribe still more devoted to Abu Taleb and the young Mahomet. Mahomet continued in the employment of his uncle until he had attained his twenty-fiflh year. About that time died Enters the °"® °^ *^^ chief men of the city, leaving a widow service of Ca-,of the name of Cadijah; who, requiring a fac dijah, whom tor to manage her stock, Mahomet entered he marries. j^gj service, and traded for her some years, to Damascus and other places. In this service Mahomet conducted himself with so much propriety, that he not only merited the respect, but actually won the affections of his mistress, who was twelve years older than himself, he being then only twenty-eight years of age. Cadijah having married him, he became suddenly exalted to an equality with some of the richest men of the city. Whether this unlocked for elevation had inspired Mahomet LIFE OF MAHOMET. lOS to with an extraordinary ambition, or whatever other motive prompted him, he soon began to manifest symptoms of wish- ing to appear a man of no common character, and as one divinely commissioned to reform the world by the introduc- tion of a new system of religion, which should embrace whatever was excellent in the Pagan morality, and the Jewish and Christian dispensations. His commercial transactions in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, having brought him acquainted with the numerous Christian? ana Jews residing in those countries, he soon discovered that the task of creating a new religion would not be very difficult. He proceeded, how- ever, with much caution and care ; and it was not till he had attained his thirty-eighth year, that he retired juam from the business of the world, repairing daily to thecaveoflle- a certain <:ave in the vicinity of Mecca, called ra, where he the cave of Hera, for the ostensible purpose of ''{^^"I'y^ Jl'' spending his time in fasting, prayer, and medi- P ' ^-^-^^ tation. Having, at length, matured his plan, he opened the subject of the supernatural visions, with which he had been favoured in the cave, to his wife Cadijah. At first she Discloses ii treated his visions as the dreams of a disturbed to Cadijah imagination, or as the delusions of the devil. Ma- "wlxo becomes hornet, however, persisted in assuring her of the "« convert, reality of these communications, and rising still higher in his demands upon her credulity, at length repeated a passage which he affirmed to be a part of a divine revelation, recently conveyed to him by the ministry of the angel Gabriel. The memorable night on which this visit was made by the hea- venly messenger is called the "night of Al Kaar," or the night of the divine decree, and is greatly celebrated, as it was ^.he same night on which the entire Koran descended from ;he seventh to the lowest heaven, to be thence revealed by Ga- briel in successive portions as occasion might require. The Koran has a whole chapter devoted to the commemoration of this event, entitled Al Kadr. It is as follows : " In the name of the most merciful God. Verily, we sent down the Koran in the night of Al Kadr. And what shall make thee understand how excellent the night of Al Kadr is? This night is better than a thousand months. Therein do the angels de- scend, and the spirit Gabriel also, by the permission of their Lord, with his decrees concerning every matter. It is peace until the rising of the morn."* On this favoured night, be- « I • Koran, eh. xcvii. 106 LIFE OF MAHOMET. tween the 23d and 24th of Ramadan, according to the pro- phet, the angel appeared to him, in glonous forrq, to commu- nicate the happy tidings of his mission. The light issuing from his body, if the apostle-elect may be believed, was too dazzling for mortal eyes to behold ; he fainted under the splen^ dour ; nor was it till Gabriel had assumed a human form, that he could venture to approach or look upon him. The angel then cried aloud, " O, Mahomet, thou art the apostle OF God, and I am the anoel Gabriel!" "Read!" con- tinued the angel ; the prophet declared that he was unable to read. " Read !" Grabnel again exclaimed, " read, in the name of thy Lord, who hath created all things ; who hath created man of congealed blood. Read, by thy most beneficent Lord, who hath taught the use of the pen ; who teacheth man that which he knoweth not."* The prophet, who professed hither- to to have been illiterate, then read the joyful tidings respect- ing his ministry on earth, when the angel, havmg accom- plished his mission, majestically ascended to heaven, and dis- appeared from his view. When the story of this surprising interview with a celestial visitant was related to Cadijah in connexion with the passage repeated, her unbelief as tradition avers, was w^holly overcome, and not only so, but she was wrought by it into a kind of ecstasy, declaring, " By him ir whose hands her soul was, that she trusted her husband would indeed one day become the prophet of his nation." In the height of her joy, she immediately imparted what she had heard to one Waraka, her cousin, who is supposed by some to have been in the secret, and who, being a Christian, had learned to write in the Hebrew character, and was tolerably well ver- sed in the Tewish and Christian Scriptures, He unhesitatingly assented to her opinion respecting the divine designation of her husband, and even affirmed, that Mahomet was no other than the great prophet foretold by Moses, the son of Amram. This belief that both the prophet and his spurious religion were subjects of inspired prediction in the Old Testament scriptures, is studiously inculcated in the Koran. " Thy Lord is the mighty, the merciful. This book is certainly a revela- tion from the Lord of all creatures, which the faithful spirit (Gabriel) hath caused to descend upon thy heart, that thou mightest be a preacher to thy people in the perspicuous A ra- 'bic tongue ; and it is borne witness to in the scriptures of ior- mer ages. Was it not a sign unto them that the wise men among the children of Israel knew it ?"t • Koran ch. xcviii. + Ch. xxiii LIFK OP MAHOMET. 107 Having made a convert of his wife, his next object was to gain other proselytes. Among the first, who Gains other gave in his adhesion to the prophet, was his ser- proselytes; but vant Zeid Ebn Hareth,whom he rewarded for his af fi"t with belief and attachment, by granting him his free- °''"<^""y' dom. Ali, the son of Abu Taleb, Mahomet's cousin, was his next convert, but the impetuous youth, disregarding the other two as persons of comparatively little note, used to style him- self the first of believers. His fourth and most important con- vert was Abubeker, a powerful citizen of Mecca, by whose influence a number of persons possessed of rank and authori- ty were induced to proress the religion of Islam. These were Othman, Zobair, Saad, Abdorrahmcn, and Abu Obeidah, who afterwards became the principal leaders in his armies, and his main instruments in the eistablishment both of his imposture and of his empire. Four years were spent in the arduous task of winning over these nine individuals to the faith, some of whom were the principal men of the city, and who composed the whole party of his proselytes previously to his beginning to proclaim his mission in public. He was now forty-four years of age. Hitherto the efforts of MaVomet had been confined to the conversion of a few individuals; but now the time having come for spreading his doctrines abroad, he di- „ , . , . ijAi'i i_^' J. Proclaims his rected Ah to prepare a generous entertamment, doctrines to his to which the sons and descendants of Abdol Mo- family, friends, talleb were invited. These having assembled, the prophet- arose and addressed them as fol- lows : — " I know no man in the whole peninsu- la of the Arabs who can propose any thing more excellent to his relations than what 1 now do to you ; I offer you happiness both in this life and in that which is to come ; God Almighty hath commanded me to call you unto him ; who therefore among you will be my vizier (assistant) and will be- come my brother and vicegerent?" General astonishment kept the assembly silent; none oflfered to accept the proffered office, till the fiery Ali burst forth, and declared that he would be the brother and assistant of the prophet. " I," said he, " O prophet of God, will be thy vizier ; I myself will beat out the teeth, pull out the ey js, rip open the bellies, and cut off the legs, of all those who shall dare to oppose thee." The prophet caught the young proselyte in his arms, exclaiming, " This is my brother, my deputy, my successor ; show yourselves obedient unto him." At this apparently extravagant com- mand, the whole company burst into laughter, telling Abu and connex- ions, who turn them in to ri- dicule. 109 LIfK 0? MAHOMKT. Taleb that he mu«t now pay obedience and submissioa to hi? own son I As words were multiplied, surprise began to givo way to indignation, the serious pretensions of the prophet were seriously resented, and in the issue the assembly broke up in confusion, affording the ardent apostle but slender prospects of success amonpf his kinsmen. Notwithstanding his above ill success with his tribe, he was so far from being discouraged, that he continued to preach to Preaches in ^^ people, whd Still heard him with some pa- publie to the tience, till he came to upbraid them with the citizens of idolatry, obstinacy, and perverseness, not only Mecca. ^f themselves, but of their fathers. This so highly provoked them, that they openly declared themselves his enemies, some few onlv excepted, wno were converted to Mahometanism. Nor could he have escaped their resentment, had he not been protected by Abu Taleb, his uncle, who was very active in his fiivour. However, the chief of the Koreish, and even many of his own relations, warmly solicited him to desert his nephew; but all their endeavours proving inefiectual, they at lengtn threatened Abu Taleb with an open rupture, if he did not prevail on Mahomet to desist. Abu Taleb was so fir moved at this threat, that he earnestly dissuade i his ne- phew from pursuing the aflTair any further ; representing the Sfreat danger he and his friends must otherwise run; but Ma- homet was not to be intimidated, telling his uncle plainly, " that if they set the sun against him on his ri^ht hand, and the moon on his lofc, he would not relinquish his enterprise." Abu Taleb, therefore, finding him so firmly resolved to ;(ro- ceed, used no further arguments, but promised to stand by him against all his enemies : so that notwithstanding the peo- £le of his tribe came to a determination to expel both him and is followers, he found a powerful support in his uncle against all their machinations. In the eighth vear of his pretended mission, his party growing formidable at Mecca, the city passed a decree, by Isobligedtore- which they forbade any more to join themselves tire from Mec- with him. This, however, did not much affect ca; but returns, him, while his uncle Abu Taleb lived to protect him : but he dving two years after, and the government of the city then falling into the hands of his enemies, a fresh opposition was renewed against him, and a stop soon put to the further progress of his designs at Mecca. Mano- nret, therefore, seeing all his hopes in a manner crushed here, he^an to thing of settling elsewhere; and as his uncle Abbas lived for the most ptirt at Tayif, a town sixty miles dis< LIFE OF MAHOMET. 109 ^ro- id by peo- and raitist les dis- tant from Mecca, towards the east, and was a man of power and interest, ho took a journey thither, under his protection, in order to propagate his imposture there "^ut, after a month's stay, finding himself unable to gain even one proselyte, he retued to Mecca, with a resolution to wait for such further advantages as time and opportunity might ofier. His wife Cadijah being now dead, after living with him two and twenty years, he took two other wives m her stead, Ayesha, the daughter of Abubeker, and Lewda, the daughter of Zama ; adding a while after to them a third, named Haphsa, the daughter of Omar ; and by thus making himself son-in-law to three of the principal men of his party, he strengthened his interest considerably. Ayesha is said to have been then only six years old ; on which account the completion of that marriage was deferred, though not for many years, the eastern women being very early marriageable. In the twelfth year of his mission is placed the mesra, that is, his famous night-journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and thence to heaven ; of which he tells us, in the Makes a fa- seventeenth chapter of the Koran : for ^e peo- mous ni^ht, pie calling on him for miracles to prove his mis- -jJL"™®^ j "* sion, and finding himself unable, or being un- aaiem* in com- willing, to feign any, to solve the matter, he pany with the invented this story of his journey to heaven, angel Gabriel, The story, as related in the Koran, and believed f^J ^iKJir'" by the Mahometants, is this : At night, as he lay in his bed with his best beloved Avife Ayesha, he heard a knocking at his door ; upon which, arising, he found there the angel Grabriel, with seventy pair of wings, expanded from his sides, whiter than snow, and clearer than crystal, and the beast Alborak standing by him ; which, they say, is the beast on which the prophets used to ride, when they were carried from one place to another, upon the execution of any divine com- ma na. Mahomet describes it to be a beast as white as milk, and of a mixed nature, between an ass and a mule, and also of a size between both ; but of such extraordinary swiftness as to equal even lightning itself As soon as Mahomet appeared' at the door, the angel Gabriel kindly embraced him, saluted him in the name of Qod, and told him, that he was sent to bring him unto God into heaven : where he should see strange mysteries, which were not lawful to be seen by any other man. He prayed him then tQ gpt upon Alborak ; but the beast having lain idle and unemployed from the time of Christ to Mahomet, was grown so mettle- some and skittish, that he would not stand still for Mahomet 6 ^%. 110 LIFE OF MAHOMBT to mount him, till at length he was forced to bribe him to it, by promising him a place in Paradise. When he was firmly seated on him, the angel Gabriel led the way with the bridle of the beast in his hand, and carried the prophet from Mecca to Jerusalem in the twinkling of an eye. On his coming thither, all the departed prophets and saints appeared at the gate of the temple to salute him ; and thence attending him into the chief oratory, desired him to pray for them, and then withdrew. After this, Mahomet went out of the temple with the angel Gabriel, and found a ladder of light ready fixed for them, which they immediately ascended, leaving Alborak tied to a rock till their return. On their arrival at the first heaven, the angel knocked at the gate; and informing the porter who he was, and that he had brought Mahomet, the friend of God, he wns immediately admitted. This first heaven, he tells us, was all of pure sil- ver ; from whence he saw the stars hanging from it by chains of gold, each as big as mount Noho, near Mecca, in Arabia On his entrance he met a decrcpid old man, who it seems was our first father Adam ; and, as he advanced, he saw a multi- tude of angels in all banner of shapes ; in the shape of birds, beasts, and men. We must not forget to observe, that Adam had the piety immediately to embrace the prophet, giving God thanks for so great a son ; and then recommended himself to his prayers. From this first heaven, he tells us, that he as- cended into the second, which was at the distance of five hun- dred years' journey above it : and this he makes to be the distance of every one of the seven heavens, each above the other. Here the gates being opened to him as before, at his entrance he met Noah, who, rejoicing much at the sight ol him, recommended himself to his prayers. This heaven was all of pure gold, and there were twice as many angels in it as in the former ; for he tells us that the number of angels in every heaven increased as he advanced. From this second heaven he ascended into the third, which was made of precious stenes, where he met Abraham, who also recommended him- self to his prayers ; Joseph, the son of Jacob, did the same in the fourth heaven, which was all of emerald ; Moses in the fifth, which was all of adamant ; and John the Baptist in the sixth, which was all of carbuncle : whence he ascended into the seventh, which was all of divine light, and here he found Jesus Christ. However, it is observed, that here he alters his style ; for he does not say that Jesus Christ recommended himself to his prayers, but that he recommended himself t,q the prayefs of Jesus Christ. LIFE OF MAHOMET. Ill The angel Qabriel, having brought him thus fitr, told him thai he was not permitted to attend him any further ; and therefore directed him to ascend the rest of the way to the throne of God by himself This he performed with great difficulty, passing through rough and dangerous places, till he came where he heard a voice, saying unto him, " O Mahomet, salute thy Creator ;" whence ascending higher, he came into a place where he saw a vast expansion of light, so exceed- ingly bright, that his eyes could not bear it. This, it seems, was the habitation of the Almighty, where his th/one was E laced ; on the right side of which, he says, Qod's name and is own were written in these Arabic words : '* La ellah ellal- lah Mahomet reful oUah ;" that is, " There is no God but God, and Mahomet is his prophet," which is at this day the creed of the Mahometans. Being approached to the di- vine presence, he tells us, that God entered into a familiar converse with him, revealed to him many hidden mysteries, made him understand the whole of his law, gave him many things in charge concerning his instructing men in the know- ledge of it ; and, in conclusion, bestowed on him several pri- vileges above the rest of mankind. He then returned, and found the angel Gabriel waiting for him in the place where he left him. Th angel led him back along the seven hea- vens, through which he had brought him ; and set him again upon the beast Alborak, which stood tied to the rock near Je- rusalem. Then he conducted him back to Mecca, in the same manner as he brought him thence ; and all this within the space of the tenth part of one night. On his relating this story to the people the next morning afler he pretended the thing to have happened, it was received by them with a general outcry ; and the impos- The story ture was never in a greater danger of being to- not credited by tally blasted, than by this ridiculous fable. ^But, Ih' ^ p^SpheS how ridiculous soever the story may appear, religion in Mahomet had a further design in it, than barely danger, telling such a miraculous adventure of himself to the people. Hitherto he had only given them the Koran, which was his written law ; and had pretended to be nothing more than bare- ly the messenger of God, in publishing it, as it was delivered to him by the angel Gabriel. But now, learning from his friend Abdallah, that the Jews, besides the written law dictated by God himself, had also another law, called the oral law, given with it, as they pretend, to Moses himself, while in the mount ; and understanding that this law, which had its whole foundation in the sayings and dictates of Moses, was in as *• 113 LIFB or MAHOMIT. S'eat veneration with them as the other ; he had a mind for e future to advance his authority to the same pitch, and to make all his sayings and dictates pass for oracles among the Mussulman, as those which were pretended to proceed from Moses did among the Jews ; and for this end chiefly it was; that he invented this story of his journey to heaven. The story, however, whatever advantages he might and did gain by it when his religion became more firmly established, was deemed at first so grossly ridiculous, thot it mS'^*"* *° occasioned the revolt of many of his disciples, '"*■ and made his stay at Mecca no longer practica- ble. But what he lost at Mecca he gained at Medina, then called Yathreb, a city lying 270 miles north-west from Mec- ca ; which was inhabited, tiie one part by Jews, and the other by heretical Christians. These two parties did not agree at all ; and feuds and factions rose at length so high among them, that one party, exasperated against the other, went over to Mahomet. Thus we are told, that in the thirteenth year of his mission, there came to him from thence seventy-three men and two women. Twelve of these he retained awhile with him at Mecca, to instruct them in his new religion ; then sent them back to Yathreb, as his twelve apostles, there to propa- gate it in that town. In this they laboured abundantly, and with such success, that, in a short time, they drew over the greatest part of the inhabitants; of which Mahomet receiving an account, resolved to go thither immediately, finding it un- safe to continue any longer at, Mecca. On the 12th day of the month which the Arabs call the Former Rabia, that is, on the 24th of our September, he came The Hejira to Yathreb, and was received with great acclama- or Era of tions by the party which called him thither. Ho faQ***'' ^' ^' ^""^^ lodged in the ^ouse of Chalid Abu Job, one of the chief men of the party, till he had buili a house for himself This he immediately undertook, and erected a mosque at the same time for the exercise of his re- ligion ; and having thus settled himself in this town, he con- tinued there ever after, to the time of his death. From this flight of Mahomet, the Hejira, which is the aera of the Ma« hometans, begins its computation: Hejira, in the Arabic lan- guage, signifymg flight. It was first appointed by Omar, the third emperor of the Saracens, and takes its beginning from the 16th of July, in the year 622. Indeed the day that Ma- homet lefl Mecca was on the first of the Former Rabia ; and he came to Medina on the 12th of the same month, that is, on the 24th of our September; but the Hejira begins two months lire or mamomit. 118 lefore, from the first of Moharram : for that being the hnt uionth of the Arabian year, Omar would make no alteration as to that, but anticipated the computation fifty-nine days, that he miijfht commence his tcra from the beginnmg of that year, in which the flight of the impostor happened, from which it took its name.* From the time Mahomet entered Medina, he found himself in reality a monarch, at the head of an army devoted to his person, obedient to his will, and blind believers in his holy office. Finding himself in a condi- j^' "**°^ tion not only to defend himself against the insults of his enemies, but even to attack them, he began to send out piirties to make reprisals on the Koreish. One of these, con- sisting of no more than nine men, intercepted and plundered a caravan belonging to that tribe. This small advantap^e ani- mated the Moslems, and induced the Prophet to think he should gain as much reputation by his arms as by his revela- tions ; but what mostly established his affairs at this juncture, and was the foundation on which he built all his succeeding greatness, was the gaining of the battle of Beder, a well on the confines of Arabia, which was fought in the second year of the Hejira, and is so famous in the Mahometan history. This victory was an invincible proof to the Arabians of the truth of Mahometanism. Having been informed by his spies, that the Koreish had a large quantity of valuable merchandise, carried on the backs of 1000 camels, coming from Syria, and escorted only by thirty or forty men, he resolved to advance at the head of a small detachment of his troops, to intercept it But Abu Sofian, the conductor of the c^rSvan, having notice of his designs and motions, immediately despatched a courier to Mecca, requesting his countrymen to send him speedy suc- cours, upon which all the principal men of the city marched to defend the caravan with a body of 950 men. Manomet had no sooner received advice of this, than he drew together all his forces, which amounted to no more than 313 men, with which he advanced against the enemy. In the mean time, he took care to leave a proper garrison in Medina, to defend it in case of any disaster. Before the beginning of the battle, feigning himself in a trance, he pretended that God had pro- mised him certain victory. After which, throwing a handful of dust towards the enemy, he said, May the faces of them be confounded ! and then, exhorting his men to behave valiantly, he commanded them to fall upon the Koreish. They charged ■4 is, on Months » Nightingale's " All Religions." 10« 114 LIFE OF MAHOMET. them with such bravery, that they soon put them to flight, having killed seventy of the principal of them on the spot, and taken as many prisoners, with the loss of only fourteen men In imitation of Moses, Mahomet sat in a tent, and prayed for those that fought, for Gabriel would not permit him to engage. The Prophet pretends in the Koran, that not he, but God, by the ministry of his angel, threw the gravel towards the unbe- lievers ; that the Moslem troops seemed to the infidels to be twice as numerous as themselves, which greatly discouraged them ; and that God had sent down to their assistance first 1000, and afterwards 3000 angels, led by Gabriel, mounted on his horse Haizum ; and, according to the Koran, these celes- tial auxiliaries did all the execution, though Mahomet's troops eould not perceive them. The battle was fought on a Friday, and on the 17th of the month Ramadan. At the commencement of the second year of the Hejira, Mahomet altered the Kebla for his disciples, or the part of the world to which the Mahometans are to turn ters the Kebfa' ^^^^^ ^^'^^'^ ^" prayer. At first, Mahomet declared it to be perfectly mdifferent ; afterwards, when he fled to Medina, he directed his followers to turn towards the temple of Jerusalem, (probably, to ingratiate himself with the Je.vs,) which continued to be their Kebla, for seventeen or eighteen months ; but, either finding the Jews too intractable, or despairing otherwise to gain the Pagan Arabs, who could not forget their respect to the temple of Mecca, he ordered that prayers, for the future, should be towards the east ; that is, to- wards the Caaba, or temple of Mecca. This change occa- sioned many to faft from him, taking offence at his inconstancy. Again, he ordered that the Faithful should be called to pray- ers with a loud voice from the top of the Mosques, whereas before he was, out of policy, inclined to the Jewish horn, and had actually made use of rattles, as Christians did. He like- wise ordained the grand fast of Ramadan, in which month the Koran came from heaven, and made several regulations about alms, things lawful and unlawful, policy, &c. ; all which were either inspired or confirmed by miracles. It does not belong to the plan of this work to give an ac- count of the military expeditions, by which, in successive years, the prophet succeeded in establishing his religion in al- most every part of his own country. One or two expeditions, however, are too important in the Prophet's history to be passed over without notice, In the sixth year of the Hejira, with fourteen hundred men, he undertook a pilgrimage to the holy temple of Mecca. But • »■ LIFE OF MAHOMET. 110 the inhabitants of that city, being jealous of his Concludes a intentions, despatched a messenger to the Pro- treaty with the phet, while he haUed several days at Hodeibiya, Meccans for saying, that if he entered the city, it must be at ^*" ^^'^^^ the point of the sword. Upon this, the Prophet summoned his men to attack the city ; but, before this could be effected, the Meccans sent an ambassador to him to confer upon terms of peace. Finding it to be for their mutual advantage to enter into a treaty, one was formed, which stipulated that the Pro* phet and his followers should have free access to the city and temple, after one year, whenever they pleased, during the space of ten years, provided they came unarmed, as befitted pilgrims, and remained not more than three days at a time. During the same year the Prophet led his army against Chaibar, a city inhabited by Arab Jews, who offering him a manly resistance, he laid siege to the place and A^jj^jjg chai- carried it by storm. A great miracle is here bar, a city of said to have been performed by Ali, surnamed Arab Jews, " The Lion of God." A ponderous gate, which where he is eight men afterwards tried in vain to lift from PO'^o"^- the ground, was torn by him from its hinges, and used as a buckler during the assault! Mahomet, on entering the town, took up his quarters at the house of Hareth, one of the princi- pal inhabitants, and here met with a reception which eventu- ally cost him his life. Zeinab, the daughter of Hareth, while preparing a meal for the conqueror and his attendants, in- serted a quantity of poison into a shoulder of mutton which was served up at the table. Bashar, a companion of Maho- met, had scarcely began to eat of it, before he was seized with convulsions, and died upon the spot. Mahomet, by spitting out the greatest part of what he had taken into his mouth, es- caped immediate death, but the effects of the fatal drug had entered his system, and, resisting every effort of medicine to expel or counteract it, in somewhat more than three years af- terward it brought him to his end. If, as the reporters of Mahomet's miracles affirm, the shoulder of mutton informed the Prophe' of its being poisoned, it is certain the intelligence came too late. The seeds of death were henceforth effectually sown in his constitution ; and his own decline ever after kept pace with his growing power. When Zeinab was asked, how she had dared to perpetrate a deed of such unparalleled enormity, she is said to have answered, " that she was deter- mined to make trial of his powers as a Prophet : if he were a true Prophet," said she, " he would know that the moat wa« 116 LIFE OF MAHOMET. poisoned ; if not, it would be a favour to the world to rid it of auch a tyrant." It is not agreed among the Mahometan wri- ters what was the punishment inflicted upon this second Jael, or whether she suffered any. Some affirm that she was par- doned ; others, that she was put to death.* In the seventh year of the Hejira, the year stipulated in the before-mentioned treaty, being elapsed, Mahomet and his followers made the Al-Kadha, or his visit of consummation or accomplishment, and pilgrimage of Mecca. At the dis- tance of six miles from that town, they all took an oath to per- form religiously all the ceremonies and rites prescribed in that visit. Being come nearer, they lefl their arms and bag- gage, and entered the holy city in triumph, devoutly kissed and embraced the black stone of the Caaba, and went seven times round the temple. They performed the three first rounds by Tunning, jumping, and snaking their shoulders, to show their vigour after the fatigue of the journey ; the other four, by walking gravely, not to over-tire themselves, and this custom is kept up to this day. Then prayer was proclaimed, and the prophet, mounted on a camel, ran seven times between two hills, on which were to be seen, at that time, two idols of the Koreish. The Mussulmen were shocked at it ; but their scruples were quieted by a passage of the Koran sent from heaven, in which God declared that those two hills were a memorial of him, and that the pilgrims who should visit them ought not to be looked upon as guilty of any sin. This same custom is still in use amongst the Arabians, who pretend that it is as ancient as their patriarch Ishmael, and look upon it as part of the religious worship practised by Abraham. The whole concluded with a sacrifice of seventy camels, and the Mussulmen shaved themselves. The following year, Mahomet, accusing the Meccans of a violation of the treaty, summoned an army of ten thousand men, with a design to make himself master of the city. As he advanced towards it, he found all in consternation, increased his army with those who daily flocked to him ; and by force, threats, or persuasion, he brought over to his party many proseljrtes of note, who were likely to procure the conversion of others. Then he attacked the Koreish, not like an apostle, out as a conqueror, and gave the signal, saying, " This is a day of slaughter, in which, if requisite, the most sacred placo of refuge may be violated." His orders were obeyed ; they entered Mecca sword in hand, and killed all the Koreishites * Bush's Life of Mahomet. c o tl P t m hi b( V£ -a tOi LIFE OF MAHOMET. 117 )f a land As ised they could find ; but Mahomet pretended this barbarous exe- cution was made against his intentions. The apostle made his public entry next morning at sunrise, repeating aloud, with an affected humility, the chapter of the Koran called Victory, which came down from heaven at Ho- daiba ; he went directly to the Caaba, and without alighting from his camel, devoutly performed the seven rounds, and touched the blcick stone with his staff; then he dismounted, went in, and pulled down all the statues, amongst others, that of Ibrahim or Abraham, in the hands of which were the arrows or rods used by Arabian idolaters in their divinations by casting lots. On entering, he often repeated the words, God is great, &c. ; and turning to every side of the temple, he said prayers with various inclinations of the body, and fixed the Kehla ; the 360 idols which were round the Caaba, and that which was on the top, underwent, according to Arabian writers, the same fate in a wonderful manner ; Mahomet only touched them with his cane, saying. Truth is come, let false- hood disappear, lying is mere vanity, and down they fell He then went in and preached in a pulpit, made for that pur- pose, whi''h the Khalifs, who succeeded him, used likewise. The sei'en ^c!7nds were now repeated, after which he went to the well c ',-Zem, made a stop at Ibrahim's footstep, drank large drau i . ;y/ the sacred water, and washed himself; the Mussulmen then followed his example. This well had been long reputed to have the virtues of restoring health, of strength- ening the memory, and of blotting out sin. Mahomet ' dw made a speech to the inhabitants of Mecca, on the favour which God bestowed upon them, by his means, in freeing them from idolatry ; he also let them know that they were become his slaves, but he restored to them that liberty, which by the right of conquest they had lost. Many wonders and heavenly oracles are said to have ac- companied this ceremony ; the apostle disposed of the several offices of the temple, renewed the oath to the believers, and they mutually took an oath to bind themselves to him. In the tenth year of the Hejira, Mahomet made his famous pilgrimage to Mecca, called the pilgrimage of Valediction. He was attended, on this occasion, by 90,000 . men, or, as some say, 114,000, or, as others will ofvalJiction.* have it, a still greater number. Nor is this to be wondered at, when it is considered that the people came in vast crowds from all parts of Arabia, of which he was now absolute master, to accompany him in this peregrination. He took all his wives, enclosed m their pavilions on the backs of 6* .'¥ 118 LIFE or MAHOMET. camels, with him ; together with an infinite number of camels, intended for victims, which were crowned with garlands and ribands. It is well known, that the pilgrimage to Mecca is looked upon by the Mussulmen to be of such importance, that whoever IS able to undertake it, and does not perform it once, at least, in his lifetime, is reputed an infidel. This custom v/as complied with long before Mahomet, and the Arabians say it is as an- cient as the patriarchial age. Mahomet had visited the Caaba twice before, as we have related, but in this year he vowed and performed it in a most magnificent manner. During the journey he often said prayers with the usual reverences. He entered the holy city at the same place as when he took it, and the religious ceremonies were the same, in respect to go- ing seven times round the Caaba and kissing the black stone twice. From a neighbouring hill he noAV pronounced this form of the profession of the unity of God : — God is great ; there is no God but he only; he has no companion; the power of governing belongs to him ; praise be given to him alone ; he is powerful above all ; he only is strong. The sun being nearly setting, he instructed the people, jind taught them the rites to be observed in the pilgrimage, and stood till the close of the day. He then said vespers, or evening prayers, lay on the ground, slept till the break of day, and said morning prayers a few minutes before the rising of the sun. He now ran through the valley of Mohasser to that of Mina, in which are pebble stones ; he took up seven of them, and threw them one by one against Satan, repeating each time the said form of unity. At the place of sacrifice he made a discourse, to let the people know the ceremonies of it. He then killed with his own hands, and offered sixty-three camels; that is, as many as he was years old. Ali killed thirty-seven to make up the hundred. Then these words, which are the ratification of the Koran, were heard from heaven: — Wo be this day to those who have denied your religion. I have this day brought it to its perfection, and have fulfilled my grace upon you. It is my good will ajid pleasure, that Islamism be henceforth your re- ligion. The Mussulmen doctors say, that the word religion comprehends all the decisions, statutes, and precepts of the law ; and that, since that time, no positive nor negative com- mand has come down from heaven. This being completed, Mahornet shaved his head, the right side first, then the left, threw away the hair, of which Khaled, one of his officers, tied part to his turban, and was powerfully helped by this precious relic in all the battles in which he was afterwards ■Ai a, 1(1 ed er in led an- »ba I'cd the He <. it, go- lone this eat; ■)wer )we ; eing I the close ly on rning [ now hich them form se, to with many the of the those t it to is my ur re- ligion of the ; com- pleted, e left, cers, ly this Irwards LIFE OF MAHOMET. 119 'P engaged. The whole conrlnded with a holy repast, in which they ate what remained of the sacrificed camels ; the prophet then said a prayer, drank some Zem-Zem water, and once more made the seven rounds. Within a mile of Mecca is mount Araa, a place much respected by the Mussulmen ; be- cause, according to their tradition, Adam and Eve, after their sin, were condemned to a separation for one hundred and twenty years, which having expired, they met by God's ap- f>ointment on the toj) of this hill, and complied with the so ong interrupted conjugal duty. In memory of which, the place is dedicated to penance and retirement ; of both which duties Mahomet acquitted himself, prayed for his own sins,, and for those of his followers, and recommended the same acts of devotion in the Koran. We are now come to the last period of Mahomet's life ; the last embassy he received was from the Arabians of Yemen, in the month of Moharram, the eleventh year of the Hejira; an^' the last expedition .vhich he ordered, was in the following montl of Safar. Two days after he fell into a sickness, accompanied by a most violent pain in the head ; these were occ{isioned by the poison which he had taken, three years before, at Chaibar ; and which poison, at certain intervals, had greatly dir^ordered him, ever since the reduction of that place. Having now called his wives together, he entertained them, chiefly the most beloved of them, and his daughter Fatima, with such dis- courses as showed his fanatical enthusiasm, or which were the result of the senseless fancies of a brain distempered by the violence of the fever. But to be able to speak more sensibly to his followers, he ordered seven large skins, or measures full of cold water, to be thrown upon him, in order to recall his wandering spirits. Then, being carried to the mosque and set in the pulpit, he recited aloud the before-mentioned form of unity ; begged God's pardon ; proflfered to make a public reparation for all the injuries he might have done to any body ; and actually paid to a particular person the princi- pal and interest of a small sum of money which he pretended was due to him ; saying at the same time. It is much more easy to bear shame in this world than in the next. He then said the prayers for noon ; and likewise prayed for the dead, according to the agreement and covimunion which subsist be- tween the living and the dead. These and other devout ac- tions he performed as long as he had any strength left. We shall only mention the Mahometan fables concerning Gabriel's being often sent by God to inquire how the prophet did, his introduction of Azrael, the angel of death, to the 120 LIFE OF MAHOMET. apostle just before his dissolution, having first obtained liis leave,* and the pious discourses of all three. Gabriel assured him he could not take his life without his express permission : nay, he gave him, as they tell us, his option of life or death ; which the Moslem doctors look upon as one of the most sin- gular and illustrious prerogatives of the prophet. Whereupon Mahomet, continue these authors, having chosen death, and desired the aforesaid angel, Azrael, to execute his office, he was immediately thrown into agonies, that terminated with his life. Thus Mahomet died at noon, on a Monday, the twelfth oi" the month, called Rabbi the First, in the eleventh year of the Hejira ; being about sixty-three years old. His- torians take notice that he was born on a Monday ; began his apostolical functions on a Monday; fled from Mecca on a Mon- day ; made his entry into Medina on a Monday ; took Mecca on a Monday ; and at last died on a Monday. His death was thought so extraordinary, that it was called an assumption. Some said, He is not dead, he is only taken up into heaven, like Jesus in an ecstacy. Others said, He is gone to his Lord, as Moses, who left his people for forty days and came again. Their disputes ran high respecting his death ; but Abu-Beker, who succeeded him, put an end to those quarrels by giving a final sentence, that Mahomet was dead, like all other apostles and prophets who had gone before him. This decision being unanimously received, his body was washed and perfumed, especially those parts which touched the ground at the adoration paid to God, viz. the feet, the hands, the knees, and the forehead. The ablution called Wodhu, was also per- formed on the face, the arms, the palms of the hands, and soles of the feet. Lastly, the whole body was embalmed by Ali, whom Mahomet had ordered to do it ; and those who helped him were hoodwinked, because the prophet had foretold that blindness would be the fate of any other person, who should see him naked. Strange wonders and sweet odours accompanied this ceremony * at least so say the Mussulmen writers. Ali dipped some cloths in the water, with which he had been washed; they imbibed the virtues of it, and Ali, who kept them and wore them, became a partaker of those virtues. Prayers were now said for him and his family by all the faithful in order. Gagnier asserts, that his body was not hung up in an iron chest, as is generally reported. In relation to the place where the prophet's remains were to be deposited, there happened some disputes among his follow- ers. The Mohajerins insisted upon his being buried at Mecca, the place of his nativity ; and the Antars, at Medina, ' x. LIFE OF MAHOMET. 121 , the place of his residence during the last ten years of his life Others were for transporting him to Jerusalem, and erecting a monument for him there amongst the sepulchres of the pro- phets. But his successor, Abu-Beker, decided the whole anair at once, by declaring that a prophet ought to be interred in the )lace where he died ; and that he had heard Mahomet, in his ifetime, own himself to be of this opinion. Whereupon the )ody was buried in a grave dug under the bed on which he died, in the apartment of Ayesha, his best beloved wife, at Medina, where it remains to this di>y, in a magnificent build- ing, covered with a cupola, and adjoining to the east side of tlie great temple, which is '^uilt '" he midst of the city. The sorrow and dolef ;oi..., its of the Mussulm' this •V vei occasion were no douot vei^ j^reat; but we shall uuiit the enthusiastic description of them given by Arabian histo- rians, to give the true character of this prophet. As to his person and outward appearance, he was of a middle stature, neither endowed with extraordinary beauty, nor in any way deformed. The Arabians, indeed, assert, that the prophetic light, which descended lineally from Adam to him, made his face as bright as the sun. Nor must we omit what they say of his spittle, viz. that it was so sweet, and of so good a taste, that children might have been fed with it. A wen which he had between his shoulders, and which disappeared at his death, was, they say, the seal ofpropheci/ ; to which they add, that flies and other insects were never troublesome to him, and that, consequently, his skin was always soft and shining. Those authors are likewise as extravagant in their description of his mind. We may easily believe, however, that he was far more ingenious than others of his countrymen, upon whom he prevailed by his subtle devices, natural eloquence, and re- markable aflfability: the latter quality was, however, some- times assumed, not without a mixture of severity. He affected likewise to be thought a great lover of justice and truth. He was so liberal to the poor as to be called their father, never refused to give alms to them, and maintained constantly forty at his own charge. It is said, too, that though he was master of an immense estate, yet he often had nothing left but what was absolutely necessary .'or the support of his family. He was very sparing in his (Met, and ate only some dates, and drank nothing but water for several months of the year. The Arabians, likewise, say of him, that he took his meals stand- ing, or in an uneasy situation, with his servant ; made his own shoes, his clothes ; swept the house, and even prepared the victuals for his men ! So far the austerity of his life seemed 11 ;:A.f 193 LIFE or MAHOMET. to imitate the severity of tho anchorets and solitaries of Egypt, and the neighbourhood of Arabia. This mortification was no doubt practised in order to duzzle the common people, and inspire them with the highest opinion of, and veneration for, his sanctity. But with all these hardships, he indulged himself in a seraglio of twenty-one, and oven twenty-five wives ; women, it seems, to use his own expression, rejoiced his sight, and raised his fervour at his praytrs. Five of his wives died before him ; from six he was divorced, and ten remained in a state of widowhood ailer the prophet's death. Mahomet had four sons and four daughters by his first wife, and none by any of his other wives or concubines, except Mary, the Copt. All his sons died in their infancy. Such was the life, such the death, and such the character of Ma- homet. That the desire of satisfying his sensuality was one 3f the principal motives of his undertaking, seems indisputa- bly clear, from the great number of wives and concubines he maintained, as well as from the wicked and unjustifiable me- thods he was obliged to make use of, in order to obtain pos- session of some of them. Before the death of Mahomet, he had become master of all Arabia; hod extended his conquest to the borders of the Greek and Persian empires ; had rendered his „.^«™!!--°.T'''"" name formidable to those once mighty kingdoms: conquests. , ■ . , , . ■ . ■ i.® • 'i. i had tried his arms agamst the disciphned troops of the former, and defeated them in a desperate encounter at Muta. His throne was now firmly established ; and an im- pulse given to the Arabian nations, which induced them to invade, and enabled them to conquer, a large portion of the globe. India, Persia, tho Greek empire, the whole of Asia Minor, Egypt, Burbary, and Spain, were eventually reduced by their victorious arms. Mahomet himself did not indeed live to see such mighty conquests achieved, but he commen- ced the train which resulted in this wide-spread dominion ; and before his death, had established over the whole of Ara- bia, and some parts of Asia, the religion which he had devised REL10I008 TENET0, hC. 128 CHAPTER II. lELIOIOUS TENETS CEREMONIES, AND CUSTOMS OF THE MAHOMETANS.. All Mussulmen look upon the pilgrimage to pilgrimage the tomb of Mahomet, as one of the chief duties to tho tomb of of their religion. The Arabian doctors say that Mahomet. Mahomet enjoined it, and it is well known that superstition lays a great stress on such ceremonies. Whoever undertakes to perform it, must often, even upon the road, turn himself to- wards Medina to pray ; as soon as he sees the tops of the trees about the town, he ought to renew his devotion, and re- peat without intermission the appointed form of prayers, to beg of God that this visit to the holy sanctuary of the prophet may be acceptable, and may deliver him from hell. Before he en- ters the city, he is enjoined to wash himself, to use perfumes, put on his best apparel, and to give alms. Having entered, he says a prayer, and another when he comes into the mosque ; this latter is for Mahomet and his family. The pilgrim then goes towards the tomb, stays some time at the place where the Prophet prayed, and also at some other places, accordingly as his devotion suggests to him. Being at last arrived near the holy place, he first prostrates himself on the ground, pays his adoration to God, gives him thanks i^r having conducted him safely thither ; then standing up, with his fac0 turned towards Mecca, he prays for the prophet and his two successors, Abu- Beker and Omar; he does not, whilst praying, even lean against the wall which encloses the monument, as that would be considered indecent, and a profanation. Gagnier says, that *• The pilgrim looks on the ground, and there fixing his eyes, salutes the Prophet, with the utmost veneration and re- spect ; at the same time withdrawing his thoughts and affec- tions from all worldly concerns, as becomes one who is in the presence of God and his apostle," &c. On the Friday follow- ing, he goes to a burying-ground, called Al-Baki, where seve ral of the companions of Mahomet lie interred, and visits the tombs of the chief ladies and others of his family, servants, and successors ; as well as of Fatima, his daughter, Ibrahim, his son, and the Mussulmen martyrs, &c. Then, he washes him- self in, and drinks some of the water of the well called Aris, into which the prophet had spitten ; and performs several v>Tostrations at other mosques, oratories, and Avells in Medina, 124 RELIGIOVS TENETS, AC. &c. Mahomet himself said, that nnf prayer in his own mosque is better than a thousand any where else ; and that he would - .crcede for all those who die at Medina. The Cauba is a stone edifice in the temple of Mecca, which has been revered with superior sanctity by the Arabians, The Caaba ^fom the remotest antiquity ; and to which eve* or Temple of ry Mahometan is required by the Koran to di- Mccca. rect himself in prayer. Among the variety of fabulous traditions which have been propagated by the followers of Mahomet, concerning the origin of this building, we find it asserted, thnt its existence is coeval with our first parents, and that it was built by Adam, after his expulsion from Paradise, from a representation of the celestial temple, which the Almighty let down from heaven in curtains of light, and placed in Mecca, perpendicular under the ori- ginal. To this the patriarch was commanded to turn his face when he prayed, and to compass it by way of devotion, as the angels did the heavenly one. After the destruction of this temple by the deluge, it was rebuilt by Abraham and his son Ishmael on the same spot, and after the same model, accord- ing to directions, which they received by revelation ; and since that time, it has continued to be the object of veneration to Ish- mael's descendants. Whatever discredit we may give to these, and other ravings of the Moslem impostor concerning the Caaba, its high antiquity cannot be disputed ; and the most probable account is, that it was built and used for religious purposes, by some of the early patriarchs ; and after the in- troduction of idols, it came to be appropriated to the reception of the Pagan divinities. Diodorus Siculus, in his description of the coast of the Red Sea, mentions this temple as being, in his time, held in great veneration by all the Arabians ; and Pocoke informs us, that the linen or silken veil, with which it is covered, was first oflfered by a pious king of the Hamyar- ites, seven hundred years before the time of Mahomet. It had been frequently repaired, and was rebuilt a few years after the birth of this prophet, by the tribe of Koreiah, who had acquired the possession of it either by fraud or violence from the Khozaites. The Caaba then contained three hundred and sixty images of men, lions, eagles, &c., the objects of idolatrous worship, which were all destroyed by Mahomet, after the ta- king of Mecca, when it was purified and adorned, and conse- crated to the service of Islam. It received s^everal reparations after his death, and was rebuilt by i>ne of his successors, with some alterations, in the form in which it now stands. As no European is permitted to visit Mecca, the only or TUK MAHOMBTA>f& 125 the ired the and ous ta- nse- ions vith mly knowledge we have of the present appearance of the Caaba, is derived /rem the description and draughts of the Mahometans, who indeed spealc of it in terms of high admiration. It would nppear, however, even from their designs, that it is an awk- ward and shapeless building. It consists of a sort of square lower, 24 cubits by 23, and 27 high, covered on the top with rich black damask, bordered with an embroidery ot gold, which was formerly renewed every year by the Mahometnn Caliphs, afterwards by the Sultans of Egypt, and which is now annually provided by the Ottoman Porte. The floor is raised six feet from the ground; and a door and window admit the light. Its double roof is supported by three octu- gonal pillars of aloes wood, between which are suspended several silver lamps ; and the gutters on the top are made of pure gold. At a small distance from this tower, on the eajl side, is the station of Abraham, where is a stone upon which the patriarch is supposed to have stood when he built the Caaba, and which, they pretend, still bears the traces of his footsteps. It is inclosed in an iron chest ; and here the sect of Al Shafei meet for religious purposes. On the north of the Caaba is the white stone within a semicircular enclosure, 50 cubits long, which is said to be the sepulchre of Ishmael, md which receives the rain-water that falls from the Caaba by a golden spout. This stone is of considerable antiquity, and was even held in great veneration by the Pagan Arabs. To- wards the southeast is the well Zem Zem, remarkable for the excellence and medicinal quality of its waters, as well as its miraculous origin. It is affirmed to be the same spring which, miraculously bursting out of the ground, supplied Ishmael and his mother Hagar, when overcome with thirst in the wilder- ness of Beersheba ; and is celebrated by the Mahometans not only for curing many bodily diseases, but also, if taken copi- ously, for healing all spiritual disorders, and procuring an ab- solute remission of sins. The well is protected by a dome or cupola, and its water is drank with much devotion by the pilgrims, and conveyed in bottles to the most distant quarters of the Mahometan dominions. But the most singular relic, and which is regarded with extreme veneration, is the famous bla-ck stone, which the Mahometans pretend was one of the precious stones of Paradise, and was brought down from heaven by the angel Gabriel. According to the received tra- dition, derived from Mahomet himself, it was originally of such a bright white colour as to dazzle the eyes at the dis- tance of four days journey, but that it wept so long and so abundantly for the sins of mankind, that it became at length 11* "W 126 RBLIOI0U8 TENETi, 4C opaque, and at last absolutely black. When the Carmathians took Mecca, thev pillaged the Caaba, and carried oflfthe black stone in triumph to their capital. The Meccans made every effort to recover it, both by entreaties and the offer of 5000 pieces of gold, but without effect. The Carmathians, however, after having kept it 22 years, sent it back of their own accord. It is now set in silver, and fixed in the south east corner of the Caaba, looking towards Basra, about three feet and a halt from the ground. It is called by the Mahometans " the right hand of God," and is kissed by the pilgrims with great devotion. The Caaba is almost surrounded with a circulor enclosure of pillars, connected at the top by bars of silver, and towards the bottom by a low balustraue. Without this enclosure, on the south, north, and west, arc three oratories, where three ol the Mahometan sects assemble to perform their devotion. The whole is enclosed at a considerable distance by a square colon- nade, or great piazza, covered with small cupolas, and consist- ing of 448 pillars, from which hang numerous lamps, and 38 gates ; and from each corner rises a minaret or steeple, adorned with a gilded spire ond crescent. This enclosure was built by the Caliph Omar, to prevent the court of the Caaba from being encroached upon by private buildings. It was at first merely a low wall, out has since been raised by the liberality of succeeding princes to its present magniffcent state. The whole structure of the Caaba is in a peculiar manner styled Al Masjad Al Haram, " the sacred or inviolable place ;" which appellation, however, is sometimes extended to the whole ter- ritory of Mecca. According to the command of Mahomet, every Mussulman must, once in his life, visit the Caaba, and perform the custo- mary acts of devotion in the sacred places. But could the prophet have foreseen into what distant regions his religion was to be introduced by the arms of his followers, he would soon have perceived the absurdity of such an injunction. Few in comparison with the immense numbers who have embraced the doctrines of Islam, can be supposed able to discharge this duty ; and we may presume, that it is only such as are more than ordinarily devout that are ever induced to visit the Caaba from religious motives. Many pilgrims, however, resort to the city of Mecca, but commercial ideas mingle with those of devotion, and the arcades of the temple are often filled with the richest merchandise from every quarter of the world. This duty may be discharged by proxy, but the pilgrim, in this character, can act only for one person at one time ; and to pre- I '#'* or THE MAHOMITANf. lar ( vent all itapostiiru, ho must carry back with him a certificate from tlic Imuin of Mecca, of his havingr actually performed all . pointea I in the nuinu uf his principal* till' devotional exercises or ceremonies appointea by the law, In connexion with the foregoing account of the temple of Mecca, we shall here give an account of the pilgrimage to Mecca, which, as stated above, Mahomet enjoin- ed upon all his faithful followers to perform at ^^ McS'.""^'" least once in his life. As soon as the devotees arrive at the consecrated district of Mecca, they perform a general ablution with water and sand ; repeat a prayer, after stripping off their garments : and put on the sacred habit of colourless woollen cloth, witn sandals, which only defend the soles of their feet. They arc now devoted to spiritual medi- tation, and must not even remove any vermm from their bodiei After reaching the city of Mecca, they encircle the Cauba Se- ven times, like their pagan predecessors ; repeat certain prayers ; drink copiously of tne well Zem Zem; and kiss with all their ardour the sacred black stone. On the Hrst and second of the three days, (the period for which the Caaba is open every six weeks,) the men and women ofTer their devotions alternately ; and on the last day the sheriff of Mecca, the chiefs of the tribes, and the illustrious strangers present in the city, proceed to wash and sweep the temple. The foul water is caught and drunk by the muhitude: the besoms of palm-leaves are trea- sured up as precious relics ; and the black cloth which sur- rounds the door and bottom of the building, is cut off and di- vided among the pilgrims. The next part of the duty is to visit the mountain of Arafal, for the offering up of various prayers at certain times and places; and thence to Mina, where every individual must cast a few small stones (always an uneven number) at the devil's house there, to show their detestation of the owner. A sacrifice is finally made of a goat, camel, or cow, in commemoration of Abraham's willing- ness to offer up his son ; and after spending three days in this valley, the pilgrims return to Mecca previous to their d^j : rt- ure to their respective countries. As they are all allows J io trade on this pilgrimage, the holy city is crowded, on these occasions, \i ith such merchandise of every country as is most easy of carriage, and best adapted for sale; and, iii former times, the fair of Mecca was accounted the greate?* on the face of the earth. The word Koran comes from the Hebrew word cara, to ♦ New Edinburgh Encyp. Art. Caaba. * '»!tf' 128 BBLIMOVf TENETS, 4k«. P read ; Al signifies the, and koran, reading ; so the Jews caH Al Bible Miera. Other Arabian doctors say it f^ran* °' " derived from eaara, to gather ; because having been given by portions, it was afterwards put into ine. The Mahometans have as great a veneration for the Koran as Christians profess for the Bible. Both these words equally signify tht Book, by way of preference to any other ; that is, the Book of Books. One hundred and fourteen chapters, some longer, some shorter, make up the whole book ; these are called by the French sarates, from the Arabic word sua, in the nlural, sowar, which signifies order, or a series, or a file; and answers to what the Jews call seder, of which they reckon fifty-three in the Pentateuch. Each chapter of the Koran has a particular denomination, taken from the subject of which it treats, or from some person mentioned in it ; but more frequently from the fi -st word, which those who have put it in order, huve thought worthy of notice, though it occurs' sometimes only towrd the end of the chapter. The Koran is also divided into sixty equal parts, each of which is sub-divided into four, in imitation of the Jews. " These sixty portions," says Herbelot, " are a kind of public service performed in the mosques, on various occasions, by persons hired for that purpose."* The Mussulmen know no bounds to the praises which they bestow upon this book : — it is written with the greatest elegance of style, in the purest Arabic dialect used by the Koreish, but intermixed now and then with other dialects. This was not an effect of neglect, nor of a lazy disposition, but in order to give the discourse a greater and more lively strength of ex- pression, or to make it more harmonious. Indeed, all those who are versed in the Arabic language, unanimously agree, that the Koran cannot be the production of an idle and lazy author. Although it be written in prose, the energy and har- mony of its style must have cost the writer greater labour and industry, and raises the work to the sublime character oi poetry : yet the difficulty of finding out certain witty turns, of ten interrupts the thread of the discourse, and, consequently, renders it obscure, which has obliged Mahomet r.ot to be con- cise and short, but to use frequent repetitions. His figures are bold in the oriental taste, his expression strong and pithy; the turn of his phrases, in imitation of the prophets of the Old Testament, is full of interruptions ; and it appears throughout the whole, that all the art and eloquence of which Mahomet was master, have been employed in the most proper places. The OF THE MAHOMETANS. I» the mention of Qod, and the description of his attributes, are always lofty and majestic: oracles are pronounced with a raised and elevated style, proportioned to the dignity of the subject. In short, the Arabians are so charmed with the beau* ties o( the Koran, that in all their writings they endeavour to copy this perfect original ; and without a competent knowledge of this one book, all others become unintelligible. It is a remark of Sir William Jones that the Koran shines with a borrowed light, since most of its beauties are taken from our Scriptures. Of the truth of this remark every reader would be satisfied who should com* pare the two. He would find for example many of the historical details of the Christian scripture in the Koran ; such as the creation of the world, the fall of Adam, the deluge, the deliverance of Noah and his family in the ark, .ae call of Abraham, the stories of Isaac and Ishmael, &c. &c. At the same time he would find these subjf ts interspersed with extravagant fables, and mon- strous perversions of truth. He would also perceive that the Koran is indebted to the Scriptures for not a few of its senti- ments, but that their very imagery and phraseology have in hundreds of instances been adopted. The following may serve as an example of the correspondence to which we have alluded : — The Koran greatly in- debted to the Christian Scriptures. BIBLE. Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them; otherwise ye have no reward of your Fa- ther which is in heaven. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders, and signs which God did by him. Thou shalt give life for life, tooth for tooth, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. But their minds were blind- ed : for until this day remain- eth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the KORAN. Make not your alms of none effect, by reproaching or mischief; as he that layetb out what he hath, to appear unto men to give alms. We gave unto Jesus, the son of Mary, manifest signs, and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit. We have therein command* ed them that they should give life for life, ancf eye for eye, and nose for nose, and ear for ear, and tooth for tooth, and that wounds should be punish- ed by retaliation. There is of them who hearkeneth unto thee when thou readest the Koran ; but we have cast veils over their 130 RRLIOIOUS TENETS, AC. \% BIBLE. Old Testament. But even un- to this day when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see and be- lieve thee % In the beginning God crea- ted the heaven and the earth. And God said. Let there be light, and there was light. And when he (Moses) was full forty years old, it came in- to his heart to visit his bre- thren, the children of Israel. And in tho latter time of their kingdom, when the trans- gressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sen- tences, shall stand up. • I will open my mouth in pa- rables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundationof the world. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. For behold, I created new heavens and a new earth. We look for new heavens and a new earth. I will cause you to come up out of your graves. And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. KORAN. hearts, that they should not understand it, and deafness in their ears. > The infidels say. Unless some sign be sent down unto him from his Lord, we will not believe. It is he who hath created the heavens and the earth:. And whenever he sayeth unto a thing. Be, it is. I have already dwelt among you to the age of forty years before I received it (the Ko- ran.) Do ye therefore not understand ? According to thy dream shall thy Lord choose thee and teach thee the interpreta- tion of dark sayings. We taught him the inter- pretation of dark sayings, but the greater part of men do not understand. O Lord, thou hast given me a part of the kingdom, and hast taught me the inter- pretation of dark sayings. And his will be the king- dom on the day whereon the trumpet shall be sounded. The day will come when the earth shall be changed in- to another earth, and the hea- vens into other heavens ; and men shall come forth from their graves to appear before the only, the mighty God. That God may reward every soul according to what it shall have deserved. OF THE MAHOMETANS. 13. As to the true origin of the Koran, a difference of opinion has existed among writers. The majority however have agreed in supposing that in the construction of . the Koran, Mahomet was indebted to the assist- Koral!" ' ance of one or more accomplices. That this opinion prevailed in the time of the prophet is certain, since in the Koran it is said, " We also know that they say, Verily a certain man teacheth him to compose the Koran." " And the unbelievers say. This Koran is no other than a forgery, which he hath contrived : and other people have assisted him therein: but they utter an unjust thing and a fiilsehood." But notwithstanding this emphatic denial on the part of the prophet of assistance, writers have still believed that he had a.\f]. especially from a Nestorian monk named Sergius, supposed to be the same person as the Boheira, with whom he became acquainted at an early period of his life at Bosra, in Syria. Still, however, it must be admitted, that there is no certain evidence in the case, and it will probably remain an unsolved problem to the end of time what was the precise ori- gin of this remarkable book, although in respect to its human and uninspired composition there exists not a doubt. The articles of faith which every good Mussulman is bound to believe and receive with Mahometan an entire assurance are thirteen in number, of ^^th!^*'**" ° which the first and principal is as follows : To believe from the heart, to confess with the tongue, and with a voluntary and steadfast mind to affirm, that there is but one only God, Lord and Governor of the uni- verse, who produced all things from nothing, in g„^ * **'^^" whom there is neither image nor resemblance, who never bfegot any person whatsoever, as he himself was begotten by none ; who, as he never was a son, so he never hath been a father. It is this Lord and Sovereign Arbiter of all things whom we Mussulmans are boUnd to serve and adore ; 80 that none among us may deviate from this article, but every one must imprint it deeply m his heart ; for it is unquestionable. We must believe from our hearts and confess with our mouths that the Most High God, after having revealed h>m- self to mankind by his ancient prophets, sent us at length his Elected, the blessed Mahomet, with . ^"'P^**^^- the sacred and divine law, which through his Kwan. grace he had created, the which is contained in the venerable Koran, that hath been from him remitted unto us. By this holy law it is that God hath abolished all the preceding ones, and hath withdrawn from their doubts and * 13!1 RELIGIOUS TEMETb, fto. ■ errors all nations and people, in order to guide them to a firm and lasting state of happiness Wherefore we are obliged exactly to follow the precepts, rites, and ceremonies thereof, and to abandon every other sect or religion whatsoever, whe- ther instituted before or since this final revelation. By this article we are distinguished and separated from all sorts of idolatry, lying rhapsodies, and false prophecies, and from all those sects, societies, and religions different from ours, which are either erroneous, abrogated, or exaggerated, void of faith, and without truth. We must firmly believe and hold as a certainty, that, ex- cept God himself, who always was and always shan be, every thing shall one day be annihilated, and that the and ™predSS- *"8^®^ °^ ^®^*^ ®^"" **^® *° himself the souls of nation. * mortals destined to a total and universal extinc- tion,* by the command of God, our powerful Lord and Master, who was able and hath vouchsafed to pro- duce out of nbthing, and in fine to set in form this universal world, with all things therein contained, both good and evil, sweet and bitter ; and hath been pleased to appomt two angels, the one on the right, and the other on the left, to register the actions of every one of us, as well the good as the bad, to the end that judicial cognizance may be taken thereof, and sen- tence pronounced thereupon, at the great day of judgment. It is therefore necessary to believe predestination : but it is not permitted to discourse thereof to any whomsoever, till afler being perfectly well versed in the study of our written law, viz. the Koran, and of our Sonnah, which is our oral law. Seeing then all things are to have an end, let us do good works, and deport ourselves so that we may live for ever. We must truly and firmly believe and hold as certain and assured, the interrogation oi the sepulchre, which will after The interro- death be administered to every one of us by two gation in the angels upon these four important questions : — grave. 1 . Who was our Lord and our God ? 2. Who was our prophet ? 3. Which was our religion ? 4. On what side was our Keblah ? He who shall be in a condition to make answer, that God was his only Lord, and Mahomet his prophet, shall find a great illumination in his tomb, and shall himself rest in glory. But he who shall not make a proper answer to these questions, shall be involved in darkness until the day of judgment. • Notwithstanding this annihilation, it is taught in the Koran that ali intelligent creatures will be reproduced again at the resurrection. OF THE MAHOMETANS. 13» Lat •!< We must heartily believe and hold as certain, that not only shall all things one day perish and be annihilated, viz. angels, men, and devils, but likewise this shall come to pass at the end of the world, when the angel dissolution"" Israfil shall blow the trumpet in such sort, that except the sovereign God none of the universal creation shall remain alive immediately after the dreadful noise, which shall cause the mountains to tremble, the earth to sink, and the sea to be changed to the colour of blood. In this total extinction, the last who shall die will be Azarael, the angel of death ; and the power of the Most High God will be evidently mani- fested. We are obliged cordially to believe, and to hold for certain, that the first before all others whom God shall revive in hea- ven shall be the angel of death ; and that he will at that time recall all the souls in general, „suiTection"" and reunite them to the respective bodies to which each belonged; some of which shall be destined to glory, and others to torment. But, upon earth, the first whom God will raise shall be our blessed prophet Mahomet. As for the earth itself, it shall open on all sides, and shall be changed in a moment ; and by God's command fire shall be kindled in every part thereof, which shall be extended to its utmost extremities. God will then prepare a vast plain, per- fectly level, and of sufficient extent to contain all creatures summoned to give an account of their past conduct. May this solemn, definite, and irrevocable judgment awaken us from our security; for to nothing that hath been created shall favour be showed. Every soul shall be judged there by the same rule, and without exception of persons. We must believe from our hearts, and hold for certain, that there shall be a day of judgment, whereon God shall ordain all nations to appear in a place appointed for „,. , this great trial, of sufficient vastness that His juZJUent ^ Majesty may there be evident in splendour. It ^ is in this magnificent and spacious station that the universal assembly of all creatures shall be made, about the middle of the day, and in the brightness of noon : and then it is, that Qcconipanied by his prophet, (Mahomet,) aqd in the presence of all mankind, God shall with justice and equity judge all the nations of the earth in general, and every person in par- ticular. To this eflfect, every one of us shall have a book or catalogue of our actions delivered to us ; that of the good in such wise that ^t shall be received and held in the right hand; that of the wicked, so that it shall be received and held in the 7 ■;i*" 134 RELiaiOUS TENETS, 4kC. Mahomet'0 intercession. left hand. As to the duration of that day, it shall be as lonf as the continuance of the present ac;e. This shall be a day of sighs and griefs, a day of tribulation and anguish, when the cup of sorrow and misery must be drunk up, even the very dregs thereof But this is what shall be particularly ex- perienced by the ungodly and the perverse ; every thing shall present to them ideas of sorrow and affliction. To them every thing shall become aloes and bitterness. They shall not obtain one moment of repose. They shall behold nothing that is agreeable, nor hear one voice that shall delight them : their eyes shall see nothing but the torments of hell ; their ears shall hear nothing but the cries and bowlings of devils; and their terrified imaginations shall represent unto them nothing but spectres and tortures. We are bound to believe, and hold as certain, that our venerable prophet Mahomet shall with success intercede for his people at the great day of e.vamination. This will be the first intercession ; but at the second, God will be entirely relented, and all the faith- ful Mussulmans shall be transported into a state of glory, while not one excuse or supplication in behalf of other na- tions shall be accepted. As to the greatness of pain which those among us are to undergo, who ha\'e been offenders by transgressing the precepts of the Koran, it is known to God alone, as there is none but Him who exactly knoweth how long the same is to continue, whether its duration shall be more or less than that of the examinatfon or judgment. But to us it belongeth to shorten its continuance by good works, by our charity, and by all the endeavours we are capable of We must sincerely believe, and hold as a certainty, that wo must every one of us give up our accounts before God, con- The future ceming the good and evil we have transacted in compensation this world. All who have been followers of at the last Mahomet shall be before all others summoned judgment. jq jjjjg examination, because they it will be who shall bear witness against all other strange nations. It shall come to pass on that day, that God will take away out of the balance of him who has slandered his brother some of the good works, and put them unto that of him who hath been slandered ; and if the slanderer is found to have no good works, he will then deduct from the punishment of the slan- dered, to include them in the list of those of the slanderer, insomuch that his great justice will be fully manifest. At least, then, that Ave may not run the hazard of this terrible com- V^.' OF TII£ MAHOMSTANS. 136 we rood blan- jrer. At fcom* pf^nsation, let us not think of wronging others, or of dimin* ishing their substance, their honour, or their good name. We must believe from the heart, and confess with the mouth, that all our actions, good and bad, shall one day be weighed in the balance, the one against the other. Of the Ba- insomuch that those whose good works outweigh lance, and of their bad shall enter into Paradise ; and that, on Pwgatory. the contrary, they whose bad works shall outweigh their good, shall be condemned to the flames of hell. And for those whose scales shall be equally poised, because the good they have done is equivalent to the evil, they shall be detained in a station situate in the middle, between paradise and hell, where consideration will be made both of their merits and of their demerits, since besides their being confined in that place, they shall have no punishment inflicted on them, nor shall they enjoy any part of the glory ordained for the beatified righteous. It is true, that all those among that number who are Mussul- mans shall beat length released from their captivity, and shall be introduced into Paradise at the second intercession of our b'essed prophet Mahomet, whose great compassion will be s.gnalized ny his engaging, in order to our redemption, to supplicate the power and the mercy of the Most High, as well as his justice, already satisfied by the long captivity of the criminals. Wherefore, let us from henceforward weigh our good works, to the end that we may assiduously strive to increase their weight, and that they may have the advantage over the bad. We are obliged to believe from our hearts, and to hold as issured, that all mankind in the world must pass one day over the Sharp-edged Bridge, whose length shall be .pj^^ Sharp- equal to that of this world, whose breadth shall edged Bridge, not exceed that of one single thread of a spi- and the una der's web, and whos«i height shall be proper- voidable pas- tionable to its extent. The righteous shall pass sage thereof, over it swifter than a flash of lightning ; but the impious and the ungodly shall not, in as much time as the present age shall endure, be able to surmount the difficulties thereof, and that through the want of good works. For which reason, tiiey shall fall and precipitate themselves into hell-fire, in com- pany with the infidels and blasphemers, with those of little faith and bad conscience, who have done few deeds of charity, because they were void of virtue. There shall be some among the good, notwithstanding, whose passage shall be lighter and swifter than that of many others, who shall therein meet with temptations and obstructions fi-om every precept 186 RBLIOIOVI TINCTI, 4C. *■ which they shall have ill-obierved in this life. Good God I how dreadful to our sight will this formidable bridge appear I What virtue, what secret grace from the Most High, shall we not need to be enabled to pass over it? We are to believe, and to hold for a certainty, that God did create a Paradise, which he prepared for the blessed, from Parodise among the number of the faithful, by which are meant the followers of the true religion, and of cur holy prophet Mahomet ; whore with him thev shall be placed in perpetual light, and in the enjoyment of heavenly delights ; for ever beautiful in the vigour of their age, and brighter than the sun ; and whore thev shall be found worthy to contemplate and adore the face of tne Most High God. As for those who shall be detained in the tortures of hell, to wit, the sinners and transgressors, who have nevertheless believed in one only God, they shall be released at the second inter- cession of the prophet, by whom they shall immediately be washed in the sacred laver, from whence being come forth whiter than snow, and more refulgent than the sun, they shall, with the rest of the blessed, behold themselves seated in para- dise, there to enjoy all tho glory they can desire. This is what shall befall the body composed of clay : and what then shall be the state of our souls f To the wiiich it shall be granted eternally to behold tho light and brightness of the divine majesty. Let us then endeavour to do works of such a character, that we may have no cause to fear hell-fire. Let us, I say, chiefly apply ourselves to good works, let us not re- fuse to exert our utmost strength m the exact observation thereof, and of the fast of our venerable month of Ramadan, and of the prayers and ceremonies which are ordained ; and let us not defraud the poor of a tenth of all our goo'^s. We must sincerely Delieve, and hold for certain, .uat there is a hell prepared for the unrighteous, the refractory trans* nell grossors of the divine law, accursed of God for their evil works, and for whom it would have been better had they never have been bom, and to have never seen the light of day. It is for such as those that a place of torment is appointed, or rather a Are which burneth without touching them, a fire of ice and north winds, where there shall be nothing but snakes and serpents, with other venomous and ravenous creatures, which shall bite them without de- stroying them, and shall cause them to feel grievous pains. That place shall be the abode of the impious and of the devils, where these shall, with all sorts of cruelty and rage, inces- santly torture those t and lest the sense of their pain should £ s q n tt OF THE MAHOMKTAN8. 187 cause them to relent, a new skin shall continually succeed in the stead of that which has been burned or mortified. It is for us Mussulmans to conceive and entertain a just horror of this detestable place ; such reflections are the duty of all God's servants. As for those others who have declared war against our religion, they shall one day feel the torments of hell. Let us all dread this punishment and these frightful terrors. Let us confirm our faith by the sentiments of our hearts, and by the confession of our tongues, and let us engrave it in the bot- tom of our souls. It belongs to this place to give some account Mahometan of the Mahometan Liturgy. The following ab- Liturgy, stract is from the Turkish Catechism. The religion of the Ishlamites contains six chief princi- ples. The first is the confession of the true God, and consists in believing that there is but one true and eternal God, and that Mahomet is his apostle. The second is the regular practice of ablution and purifi- cation. The third is a regular observation of the prayers, as pre- scribed. The fourth is giving alms. The fiflh is the fast of the month of Ramadan. The sixth is the pilgrimage of Mecca, from which no Mus sulman can be dispensed, if able to perform it. As to the purifications which are prescribed, Ablutions, seven different sorts of water may be used iu them : viz. rain-water, sea, river, well, spring, snow, and hail- water. There are three sorts of ablutions and purifications. The first, which is called Gasl, is a kind of immersion. The second, named Wodou, concerns particularly the hands and feet. The third is made with earth or gravel, instead of water. Three rules are to be observed in this ablution of the body. First, those who do it must resolve to please God. . , , . „ Secondly, all the dirt of the body must be washed edGAsu off. Tnirdly, the water must touch the whole skin, and all the hair of the body. The Sonna, which is the Oral Law of the Mahometans, re- quires five things more. First, that the usual form " In the name of God," &c. be recited. Second, that we should wash the palms of our hands before the jugs be emptied into the washing place. Third, that before the prayers, some expia- 12* 138 EBLIOIOUfl TCNETS, AC. tion lustration should be made with peculiar ceremonies. Fourth, that to take off all dirt, the skin snould be rubbed with the hand. Fifth, thut all this be continued to the end of the ablution. . . . • Purification Six things are to be considered in this kind of called Wo- puriiloation. 1. It must be performed with an in- **°"- tention to please God. 2. Tlie whole face is to be washed. 3. The hands nnd arms up to the elbow. 4. Some parts of the head are to be rubbed. 5. The feet and heels are to be made clean. 6. The ceremonies prescribed must be ex- actly complied with. Besides which, the ten institutions of the Sonna must be followed. 1. The form " In the name of God," &c. must be used. 2. The palms of the hands washed before the jups be emptied into the washing place, 3. The face cleaned. 4 Some of the water drawn up the nostrils. 5. The whole head and ears rubbed. 6. Thick and long beards must be parted, to be better cleaned. 7. The toes washed one after the other, each singly. 8. The right hand and foot to be washed before the left. 9. All these things must be repeated thrice. 10. There must be no intermission in this performance. Purification Four rules are prescribed in this purification, with Earth or 1. It must be performed with an intention to Gravel. please God. 2. The face ought to be well rub- bed. 3. The same is to be done to the hands and arms, and elbows, and to the feet. 4. The said order must be exactly kept. Add to this the precepts of the Sonna. 1. The form in the name of God, &c. must be recited, 2. The right hand must be rubbed before the left, and so of the feet. 3. There must be no intermission in this rite. I, Thirteen rules are prescribed concerning prayers. 1. The intention, 2, The greatness of the names of God, 3. The Prayers formoftheunityofGod, Go levied by a capitation at the end of the fast of Ramadan,) the first and best principle ought to be the intention of giving this or that alms as a debt which wu are obliged to pay. The chief fast of the Mahometans is that of Kamadan. Af- ter it, is kept the feast of the Great Beiram. The little Bei- ram is kept on the tenth of the month Dilhazja, '■ in memory of Abraham's sncrifice. I. Three things are reouired in the person who fasts, to make it acceptable to Goa. 1. He must be a Mussulman. 2. At an age of ripeness ; fourteen in men, twelve in women. 3. In their right senses. II. The conditions of the fast are five. 1. An intention of the heart to please God. 2. To eat nothing in the day, from sunrise to sunset. 3. To drink nothing of any sort. 4. To have no commerce with women, not even by kisses. 5. Not to throw up what has been eaten, which supposes both that the stomach is good, and that no excess is committed, or at least nothing taken which may give a disgust. In performing this devout ceremony, five things are com- manded by Divine institution. 1. The intention and religious p.. . ^ vow of going to Mecca. 2. Spending a day on of Melca!""^° Mount Arafat, which is done on the ninth day of the month. 3. Shaving the head in the Val- ley of Mina. They throw seven stones one after the other in the Valley of Mina, after which the men (not the women) of- fer sheep, goats, oxen, or camels, in sacrifice ; then shave and pare their nails. The hair and parings are buried in that valley. 4. To go seven times round the Caaba. 5. To run seven times between Safa and Merva, two holy places, one hundred and eighty cubits distant from each other. At first they walk slow, then run faster between two pillars ; then walk again, looking on all sides as if seeking something lost. This is to represent the anxiety of Hagar, when she endea- voured to find water in the desert for her son Ishmael. All these cerer/ionies were in use long before Mahomet, who made them an essential part of his religion, both in order to draw in the superstitious inhabitants, and to make this law seem vene rable for its antiquity. We shall now enter upon the manners and customs of civi^ life, or which have some relation to the religion of MahomeL Precepts, Du- ^^ must in the first place take notice, that the Koran contains some negative precepts, concern- ing such things which become evil or scandalous only by the abuse of them. Such as tlie forbid- ties iKc juined by Koran. en- the If. All !| or THE MAHOMBTAKI. 141 ding of wine, and other intoxicntinff liquors, which seemi en- forced in several passages of ihe Koran ; for instance, in the lecond chapter, in which Mahomet says expressly, " that the sin committed by drinking wine, is much greater than the ad* vantage reaped from the use of it; and in the fifth chapter, he reckons wine amongst the "abominations which are the works of Satan." Some have pretended that the excess only is for* bidden, but the general opinion is, that it is not lawful to drink any of those liquors, and that whoever drinks even the small- est quantity commits a sin. Those who have performed the pilgrimage of Mecca are the most scrupulous in this point, and will neither drink any wine nor make it, buy nor sell it, nor the implements to make it, in order to live by the profits of such a traffic. Yet all the Mahometans are not so exact in observing this law ; and when reproached with the breach of it by Christians, they have recourse to recrimination, and up- braid us with our violation of the Gospel precepts. Some Mussulmen have doubted whether cofiee be not com* prehended under the general denomination of intoxicating li- quors ; because, they soy, it disturbs the imagination of those who use it. It is, however, undoubted, that cofiee, though now universally allowed in Mahometan countries, has been here- tofore forbidden, and is now used by mere toleration, not by religious permission ; nevertheless, very few abstain from the use of it. The scrupulous Mahometans are still more averse from tobacco, both because it has the same effect as wine and brandy, and also on account of a pretended prophecy of Ma- homet, that " in the latter days some shal call themselves Mussulmen, without being really such, who will suck in throuffh a pipe, and blow out the smoke of a plant called to- bacco. This qualification of false brethren could not but render tobacco odious to scrupulous people; yet the constant practice is to introduce cofiee and tolxicco, without which no entertainment is thought completely polite in the east ; and the Persians in particular say, that tobacco is to coiTee, what salt is to meat. The same rigorists condemn also the use of opium, or heng, or treacle, although nothing be more common. The Koran does not mention tobacco, nor opium, nor heng, but as they produce the same effects as wine, they are apt to cause quar- rels, neglect of duty, several irregularities, and shameful dis- orders; all these reasons pro^e the necessity of abstaining from all such liquors or drugs. Upon the same account, the Jews from whom, and from the ancient Arabians, the Maei, la the Christians, Mahomet has borrowed many of his reli* 7* 142 RELIGIOUS TENETS, kt. \ fifious precepts, did not allow the priests to drink wine when they were to officiate in their turn. The second and fifth chapters of the Koran forbid also gamjes of hazard, under the general denomination oi Al Mai- Games of *^^^' which Strictly means the art of divination by Hazard for- arrows. We must observe that this kind of witch- bidden, crafl is very like Rhabdomancy, that is, the art of divination by rods, and is mentioned in the Prophecy of Ezekiel, chap. 21, verse 26, which is an evident proof that both the Arabians and their neighbours undertook no affair of moment without consulting their arrows. Mahomet forbade all these customs, with an intent, as he said, to take away all superstition ; but others have been substituted for them. The Mahometans were likewise prohibited, under the name of superstition, to remove all occasions of quarrels and cheat- ing, which generally accompany games of hazard. However, in this instance, the civil law enforces the authority of Maho- met and of the Koran, insomuch that games of hazard are in disrepute, and the testimony of those who are addicted to them, is of no force in courts of justice ; at least it is pretended, that su^h witnesses may be rejected. The majority of the Mahometan doctors allow the game ol chess, as depending wholly upon industry and skill ; but they forbid playing too lung at it, or for money, or Chess al- laying wagers about it, or at the hours appointed lowed. ^Qj. player. These restrictions are observed more exactly by the Turks, than by the Persians or Moguls. Some are of opinion, that Mahomet forbids chess under the name of images, because amongst the Arabians, as with us, most of the pieces represent men,» elephants, horses, camels, &c. ; others think that Mahomet put that restraint only upon the pawns, which in Turkey are made quite plain. The Ma- hometans, however, generally abstain from gaming more easily than from wine, and chiefly in Persia, where drunken- ness prevails as much as in some European countries. This subject naturally leads us to give an account of the di- versions and exercises used by the Mahometans : but we shall Puppet-shows, only mention those which have some relation to Jugglers, &c. religion, according to the good or bad use made allowed. of them, or which even are admitted as a part ol their religious ceremonies. Amongst these are puppet-shows, with which the Turks entertain their guests in private after their meals, notwithstanding Mahomet's prohibition of images. This diversion is publicly exhibited in the Ramadan when the hour of fasting is past; for then they allow themselves as OF THE MAHOMETANS. 148 as much sensual pleasure as the Christians do in the Carnival, or the Heathens during the solemnity of their Saturnalia, the two last days of which were & <^nt in puppet-shows. They have also jugglers, quacks, and public dancers of both sexes, called tchinguis ; and althougn the Turks, Per- sians, and Moguls, look upon dancers by profession as people of loose lives and morals, yet it must be owned, that those disorders are not always the consequence of dancing, and several nations have made use of it in their religious worship. Nothing, therefore, but the abuse has rendered dancing con- temptible amongst the Mahometans, who nevertheless admit it in their religion, as appears by the turnings of their der- vises, which the majority of travellers represent as a solemn act of worship performed every Tuesday and Friday. The superior of these dervise^s preaches a sermon on some text of the Koran, which is followed by some prayers out of the same book, sung by all of them together ; then, having made a low bow to the superior, they begin to dance, or turn about, whilst some play on the flute, or other instruments. This ceremony was invented by one Mewlana, whom the dervises honour «s a great saint : and we are assured by Ricault, that this man, whom he calls Mevelava, by a miracle, turned fourteen days together without resting or taking any nourishment, whilst another dervise, named Hamze, his companion, played on the flutt ; after which he fell into an ecstasy, and received won- derfiil revelations, and was very instrumental in founding the order of dervises. The flute is, they think, a sacred instru- ment of music, sanctified by Jacob and other holy shepherds of the Old Testament, who made use of it ; yet the rigorists condemn both the dance and instruments of music, as contrary to religion. As to the distinction of meats, we shall only add, that the Koran in several places forbids blood, and the flesh of beasts, which have been either offered to idols, or which have died naturally ;^ and some Mussulmen are so cautious in that point, that unless the butcher pronounces the prayer BismilVah, or " In the name of God," &c. whilst he kills any beast, they do not think it lawful to eat of it. Usury is also condemned in the second chapter of the Koran, and ranked amongst the most enormous sins. Ma- homet does not allow it, as the Jews do, even to" ij rv con- wards infidels. Yet there are some Mussulmen, demiwd; who are usurers and extortioners, and give what interpretation they think fit, in order to elude the pre-» cepts of the Koran, as too many Christians do with respect to 144 RELIGIOUS TENETS, AC. the Gospel. Then same chapter which forbids usury, enjoins mercy a'i.d forbearance with a debtor who is not able to pay, without depriving himself of the necessary means for the sub sistence of himself and family ; in which case, Mahomet or- ders his followers not to begin any prosecutions for such debts, but to reckon them as an alms given to the debtor. He may have borrowed this from the law of Moses and of Christ, and the dictates of humanity may also have inspired him to make that law, both to avoid merciless and extortionate law- suits, and to prevent his subjects from being ruined. Thus we see the Romans, who lived before the Gospel, and were but little, if at all, acquainted with the law of Moses, had such an abhorrence of usury, that they obliged usurers to restore four times as much as they had thus unjustly gained ; whereas thieves were only condemned to pay d6uble what they had stolen. Prudence and equity convinced them, that a usurer was more pernicious to society than a thief! The same sentiments of humanity, and the common good of society, prompted Mahomet to abolish the barbarous custom o^the Koreishites and other Arabians, of burying girls alive ; which they pretended was in order to prevent the shame which they might ^ause to their parents by an evil conduct, and the slavery and miseries to which they were exposed. Moreover, they had no regard for women, but upon account of propagation and pleasure, and looked on their birth as a m^'sfortune, their death a happiness ; therefore, when a woman was in labour, she was led to a grave, and if delivered of a female child, it was thrown in and buried. The ceremony of marriage is in high esteem amongst the Mahometans ; yet it is not celebrated in the presence of the j^ . ^ priests, nor is it considered an act of religion, ceremonies. ^^ ^'^i^^ ^^^ Jew." and Christians, and formerly with the Romans and Grecians. The Cadi, or civil judge, gives it a sanction ; "as to an act purely relating to society, which is not valid without his presence. The hus- band acknowledges that he has obliged himself to marry such a woman, to give her such a dowry, and to dispose of her at pleasure in case of divorce." The woman is not present at this acknowledgment ; but the father, or some of the relations, assist at it ; which being done, the husband takes possession of his wife, who is brought to him veiled under a canopy, ac- companied by friends, relations, slaves, and music. Ricault says, that " wives are not jealous of concubines, if they be not deprived of the right which they claim, and the law gives them, to be admitted once a Aveek to their husbandrf ^HHI^^^^^^^B^^ |p^P|||||^-^:-^^.^.^^^^g PI^HH^ri ^^^k^hB^^H ^I^^^^^^^^B^^H^Ei^Fy '^S Procession of a Turkish Wedding, p. 145. Turkish Funeral, p. 162. OF THE MAHOMETANS. 145 beds. On failure of this, they may demand it on the Thurs- dnjr night of the following week, and even go to law with their husbands if they do not grant it. If any be so bashful as to neglect this public way of obtaining justice, they en- deavour to find out some other way of recompensing them- selves for their loss." Tht majority of travellers affirm, that the Turks have a kind of half-marriage, called Cabin ; which consists in taking a wife for a time limited. This agreement is made before the judge, who, in the presence of the contracting parties, writes it down, and the stipulated sum of money is paid to the wo- man Avhen the time is elapsed. The Mahometans are allowed to make use of their female slaves ; and here we must take notice, first, that Mussulmen may marry women of any religion, the tenets of which are written ; and secondly, that all the children, whether by wives or slaves, equally inherit their father's property, if by will or otherwise the father has declared them free; in default of which, the children of a slave still lemain slaves to the eldest son of the family. Thevenot says, " That the Turks never marry their rela- tions, unless they are more distant than eight generations, and that the Mahometan women study to embellish themselves by all the arts in use amongst our European ladies; false hair, paint, rich clothes, often to the ruin of their husbands and families. The Koran inveighs strongly against adultery, and orders that a husband, who accuses his wife of that crime, and does not prove it, shall be bastinadoed. When there are no proofs nor witnesses, the husband s'vears five times, that what he al- leges is true, and to the last oath adds a curse, wishing he may be cursed by God and men if he lies : on the other side, the woman is beli 'ved, if she also swears five times, and adds to the last oath a prayer, desiring God to destroy her, if her husband speaks truth. However, if the adultery be fully proved, the husband has her life in his power, and if revenge- ful, puts her in a sack full of stones, and drowns her. But then, Tournefort adds, that "they are so cautious in their amours, that few die in the water ; and if the husband spares their lives, they are happier than before, because she is obliged to marry her gallant, who, if a Christian, must em- brace Mahometanism or die." As to the adulterer, he is often condemned to ride an ass, with his face towards the tail, which he holds as a bridle. He is crowned with tripe and guts, and has a neckcloth of the same, and at last is bastinadoed upon the reins and the soles of his feet. 13 146 RELIGIOUS TENETS, AC. Wo must not omit the curious particularities related by Ricauit, when the princesses of the Ottoman empire are mar- ried to some great and powerful man ; this pretended honour is the effect of the jealousy which the emperors of Turkey conceive of their power, and is generally the forerunner of their ruin. " When the Grand Seignior is apprehensive of the great power of a bashaw, he makes him marry one of his sisters, or relations, under pretence of conferring upon him a greater honour ; but instead of being greater, he becomes the most abject slave to the pride and tyranny of a woman, who treats him like a footman : yet he dares not refuse, nor seem to undervalue this token of his master's favour : he must re- sol ve to devote himself wholly to her, and renounce all his otiicr wives or slaves, who might lay claim to any part of his I< •?: if he has already an amiable wife, and children by her, \v'ii< engages his most tender affection, he is obliged to turn her cut of his house, and also every other person, who might be d^'spleasing to this Sultana, although unknown to him. If, before the wedding, she sends to ask of him money, jewels, or si-: : 'Mrs, he must send them to her with an expression of p]castt:e and thanks; this is called AgLiruc. He is moreover obliged to settle upon her what dowry the match-makers are pleased to appoint. This doVvry or cabin being stipulated before a judge, he is led by a black eunuch to the Sultana's chamber, to give her thanks. When he enters the room, she draws her dagger, and haughtily demands, who made him so bold as to approach her ? He answers with a profound re- spect, and shows to her the Emmery Padschah, or the Grand Seignior's order for the wedding. She then rises, receives him with mildness, and allows him to entertain her with more familiarity ; then a eunuch takes his slippers, and places them at the door, as a token of his meeting with a kind reception, A few minutes after, the Bashaw makes a low bow down to the ground, and drawing back, makes a speech, totestifc- how happy he thinks himself for the honour she intends to conajr upon him. This being over, he stands silent in a humble posture, with his hands across his breast, till ? b =? ord ts him to bring her some water. He obeys readily, and '\ leelnkg, presents to her a water- cup prepared for that ceremony she raises a red ?il embroider- ed with gold and silver flow; i s, which covered her face, and irinks : her women immediately bring in a low table on which are set two roasted pigeons, and some candied sugar on a plate, or 41 plate of sweetmeats. The gallant desires her to eat, which she refuses till he has made her some rich present. This calms her anger, overcomes her modesty ; she sits down OF THE MAHOMETANS. 1 17 to the table, griciously receives from his hand the leg of a pigeon, and having eaten some, put» into his .louth a picco of sugar, then rises, and goes back to her place : all the com- pany withdraw, and leave the newly married couple alone for the space of an hour, that he may freely converse with her. Then his friends come with instruments of music playing: ; they invite him to come to the ante-chamber, where he spends the night with them in drinking and diversion : the Sultana dees the same in her room with her ladies. At last, the princess being tired, goes at break of day to lie down in a bed exqui- sitely rich, well perfumed, and every way fit for the ceremony. A eunuch gives notice to her husband by a sign, and intro- duces him without noise into the bed-chamber. He puts off his upper garments, kneels for some time at the feet of the bed, then, growing bolder, raises softly the covering, softly touches and kisses the feet of the princess, and slides into her arms. In the morning, his friends come again to conduct him to the bath, and his spouse presents him with all the linen requisite in that place. After this, they live move familiarly within doors ; but in public, she is more reserved, and shows her superiority. She wears a changiar or dagger by her side, and requires of him so many presents, that sooner or later she empties his coffers." Mahomet, in order to hinder his followers from putting their wives away too often, expressly forbids the taking of them again, after a third repudiation, unless they have Dvoroes been married and repudiated by another man. This, they say, has had so good an effect, that very few Ma- hometans are divorced from their wives, and the number of those who take them again is still less. The third divorce is called Ouch-talac ; which Bespier ex- plains three, or the third separation ; of which the Turks have three different sorts made before the Cadi, and registered by him. By the first, the husband and wife are parted from bed and board ; she receiving from him a maintenance. The se- cond is a total separation /f body and goods ; the husband must then give her the stipulated dowry; after which, she has no claim to his person nor goods, and may marry another, ihreo lunar months after the divorce, for fear she should be with child ; in which case, she cannot marry, and may even remain in her husband's house, and be maintained at his cost till she be delivered. The h-talac is the most solemn divorce, but not practised by the Persians. The women do not enjoy the same privilegeof parting with heir husbands, unless for want of necessaries, as rice, coffee, > >Wi»' i48 RSLIOIOVf TENBTS, AC. wood, money to go to the bagnio, flax to spin their clothes, which the law supposes they are industrious enough to make. Children come next under our consideration, as being the fruits of matrimony. They^ become members of Mahomet- anism by circumcision, which they derive from the Tshmael ites, who, as well as the Jews, are descended from Abraham, to whom Qod gave a particular command for the performancs of it. The Turks do not circumcise their children till they are full seven years old, and when they are beyond that age, the]^ da it when they think fit. Charain assures us, that the Persians perform this ceremony when the boys are five or six years old ; but the Mahometan doctors say, it should be done accord- ing to the rules, at thirteen, because Ishmael was circumcised at that age ; or at nine, because children begin then to dis- cern good from evil. However, this is not performed in the same manner as bv the Jews ; it is done by a surgeon, not by a priest : God ordained it as a sign or seal of the justice ob- tamed by faith. Theday of circumcision is orday of joy for all the relations of the child. He is carried on horseback, with kettle-drums and tabors sounding, dressed in his best attire, followed by his school companions, who pronounce aloud some passages of the Koran. Being brought home, he is directed to repeat the Erofession of faith, " There is no other Qod but God," &c., olding up one finger, and then he is circumcised. When a grown-up person embraces Mahometanism, he is led on horseback, carrying in his left hand a dart, with the point turned towards his heart, to testify that he will rather suffer himself to be pierced through the heart, than renounce his new religion; but Tournefort soys, they only make their new converts lift up a finger, probably out of contempt for those persons who leave the religion in which they were brought up. Boys have a name given them on the day of their circum- cision, but this custom is also subject to some variations. Tournefort says, the father gives what name he pleases to his child as soon as it is born, holding him in his arms, and lifting him up to offer it to God ; after which, he puts salt into his mouth, and gives him a name with a blessing. Superstition creeps in ; for in Persia, 8i'V(?ral names taken out of the Koran are huddled together, one of which, drawn by an infant, is given to the child. Some Mahometans do not look upon circumcision as an in dispensable act of religion, nor is it necessary to salvation; IS OF THK MAROlllTAlfl. I« whilst others think that this ceremony confers inward fiiith, and that God will not hear the prayers of an uncircumcised man. Some Mussulmen are of opinion that the circumcision of the father has an influence on his children, and that it con- tributes to their salvation. We shall conclude this subject with a few remarks on the birth and education of children. When the children of princes and great lords are born, the moment of their birth is kept very secret, in order to avoid all charms and witchcraft, and to prevent astrologers from casting their nativity, and foretell- inpf sinister events. The Mahometans, like other nations, ad- mit of adopted children ; and it is very common amongst the Turks. The manner of doing it, is to make the adopted per- son put on, and go through the shirt of the person who adopts him. This adoption is called Akhrat. Next to the chief points of religion, beauty and strength of body are in the greatest estimation with Mussulmen, who are persuaded a de- formed body can but cover a base soul. The Indians even pretend that such bodies are prisons, into which souls are cast for great crimes committed in a former life. The mourning for the dead begins with such loud cries and lamentations made by the women, that the death soon becomes published to the most distant neighbours. The custom of making loud cries and noisy lamenta- jemonfes ^^ tions for departed friends, of rolling in the dust, or covering one's self with ashes, &c. is very ancient in the east ; nor is it much altered amongst the modern inhabitants of those countries. Thevenot informs us, that these Turkish women give over crying when there are no witnesses of their tears, being hired for that purpose, which lasts several days, and is renewed at the end of the year. Previously to the burial, the corpse is washed and shaved, frankincense is burnt about it, to expel the devil and other evil spirits, which, as the Mahometans and several other nations believe, rove about the dead, no less than about the living. This ceremony being over, the body is put into a buriiil-dress without a seam, that it may, as they pretend, kneel with less difficulty, when it is to be examined in the grave. The coffin is covered with a pall, preceded by imans, who pray, and followed by the relations and friends of the deceased, with the women who lament and shed tears. At the grave the corpse is taken out of the coffin, and put into the ground. The women stay there to cry. The diflerence betwixt the graves of the Turks and of the Christians in those countries, consists in a board, which the 13* 180 RBLIOIOirS TENETS, AC. Turks put over the corpse slanting, so that one end of it touches the bottom of the grave, and the other leans against the top of the grave. But neither the Turks nor the C5nristians of the cast bury their dead in coffins. Moreover, the Turks place » stone at the head of the corpse, lor the convenience of the an- gels who are to examine the deceased. This civility which is paid to tl.em wi'l, as the Mahometans superstitiously be- lieve, make! tl p;n tncre indulgent. The palls are different, and the tombs variously adorned, according to the condition and state of life of the deceased, sol diors or churchmen, rich or poor. The burying-places of the Mahometans are by tlie high-road, "in order," as Thevenot says, "to put travellers in mind to offer thir prayers to God for the dead, and to obtain his blessing." For which reason, those who build a bridge, or some other public fabric, from an act of charity, are likewise buried in or near them. The large stones which are erected in the church-yards are so numerous, that a town might be bir with them. After the funeral, the relations and friends of the deceased come ceveral days suc- cessively to pray on his tomb, beseeching God to rescue him from the torments inflicted by the black angels; and calling the dereast'd by his name, tney say to him. Fear not, but answer them bravely. On the Friday following, victuals and drink are brought to the grave, of which, whoever passes by may freely partak<: " The Persian Mahc n.^tans have a strange notion, that the angel who presides at the birth of children, mixes some earth with the matt •r of which they are made, and introduces it into the mother' ? womb, at the instant of the conception ; whence they conclude, that every one must endeavour to die in the same place from which the angel took that earth. They have a more rational custom grounded on principles of humanity, which is, that whoever meets a funeral must accompany the corpse, and even help to carry it, if their help be wanted. The same Persians have retained in their mournings the old ceremony of tearing their clothes to testify their grief; and what is much more commendable, they give alms during seven days. But, for the satisfaction of our readers, we shall present them with an abstract of the account, which Chardin gives of the customs of the Persian Mahometans, from the death of the sick person, to the end of the mourning for him. " At the first signs of an approaching death, small lamps are lighted on the terrace or flat roof of the house ; this puts the neighbours and passengers in mind to pray for the sick person. Mollas. or priests, are sent for ; they preach repent or THK MAHOMBTAMS. 151 ance to him, mentioning all the sins of which he may have been guilty. He answers tube, that is, / repent, to each sin that is mentioned ; and when he has lost his speech, the Ko- ran is read by his bed-side, till he gives up the ghost. This is soon notified to the whole neighbourhood by excessive out- cries and lamentations. The relations and c^^er friends rend their clothes from the neck to the girdle, teai off their hair, scratch their faces, strike their breasts, and manifest everv sign of sorrow and despair ; but the women exceed all bounds of moderation in their grief, not without a mixture of long complaints, tender and moving speeches, addressed t' de- ceased. "The cazy or judge, is now acquainted with ^eaili. They inform his porter. Such a one is dead ; hv ;rs, Map your head be sound ; and then goes to the jud;^ j get from him a sealed piece of paper, by which he gives permis- sion to have the body washed. The permission co^ts nothing, but the porter who delivers it has some perquisite, greater or smaller according to the rank and abilities oi those who desire it. This paper is carried to the mordichour, or body-washer, which is an ofHce, he alone, or those whom he appoints, can perform, in order that the number of the dead may be known, and the particular distemper of which they died. The said mordichour sends men to wash the corpses of men, and women to wash the corpses of women. The washer tales oft' the clothes irom the corpse, they being his perquisites, for no one can touch a dead person without being defiled, and he carries it to the washing-place. There are such places in every town, situated in a retired and covered part of it. Ispa- han, for instance, being divided into two parts, has two mordi- chours ; and amongst other washing-places, there is a very large one in a back court of the old Mosque, twenty steps un- der ground. This is 'one only to the poor, for the rich are washed at home in a lasin covered with a tent, lest any one should see the corpse. When it is washed, all the openings arc stopped up closely with cotton, to keep in the foul humours, which might defile it. " This being over, the body is put into a new linen cloth, on which, those who can afford it, cause some passages oif their holy books to be written. Some contain the Youchen, a book concerning the attributes of God, to the number of a thou- sand and one ; which odd reckoning is to show the infinite perfections of God, which are not to be comprehended by a thousand ideas, more than by one. The linen about the corpse of Saroutaky, a eunuch grand vizier, who was murdered in u IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // ^O06QW 4*^ ^u/^ ait. ^^^ 0^ 1.0 I.I UiW2A |2.5 1^ HJA IL25 11.4 11.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. U580 (716) 872-4503 ' im RBLIOIOUS TENETS, 40. ;di6 reign of Abas II., contained the whole Koran wriUem with holy earth steeped in water and gum. They call holy earth, that of those places of Arabia which the Mahometans look upon as consecrated by the bodies of the saints who died there. " In this condition, the corpse is placed in a remote part of the house, and if it is to be carried to some distant burying- place, they put it in a wooden coffin, filled with salt, lime, an J perfumes, to preserve it. No other embalming is used in the East. They do not take out the bowels, a practice apparently to them uncleanly and wicked. Persia being a hot, dry country, the bodies are soon put into their coffins, otherwise it would not be possible to accomplish it, because they swell immoderately in eight or ten hours. The funerals are not accompanied in the East with much pomp. A molla comes with the coffin of the next mosque, an ill-contrived, rough, un- hewn, and ill-jointed box, made up of three boards, with a cover which turns by a peg ; the corpse is put into it, and if the deceased were poor, carried off without any further cere- mony ; only the bearers go with it, very fast and almost run- ning, and pronouncing slowly the words Alia, Alia I that is, God, God. " At the funeral of a person of quality, or one who is rich, the ensigns or banners of the mosque are carried before the corpse : they are long pikes of different sorts ; some have at the end a hand of brass or copper, which is called the hand of Ali ; others a half-moon ; others the names of Mahomet, of his daughters, and of his twelve first lawful successors, done in cyphers; the latter are called Tcharde Massoum, that is, the fourteen pure and holy ones. More poles are still carried, at the top of which are put some brass or iron plates, three fingers broad, and three or four feet long, but so thin that the least motion makes them bend ; to them are tied long slips of taffety, which hang down to the ground These banners are follow- ed by five or six led horses, with the arms and turban of the deceased : next to them comes the Sirpare, or the Koran, di- vided into thirty guisve or parts, written in large characters, each letter being an inch in size. The chief mosques have a similar one ; thirty talebelme, or students, carry each one part, and read it, so that the whole is read over, before the body be put into the grave. At the burial of a woman, the tcharchor dour, that is, a pall, supported on four long sticks, is placed over the coffin. This is the greatest funeral pomp, which the friends and relations cannot exceed, unless by an addition of each sort of standards, &c. " The neighbours or servants of the deceased carry the OF THE MAHOMBTANf. 118 low- the n, di- eters, ave a part, y be rchor aced hthe on of corpse, no bearers being appointed to perform that last duty ; but the Mahometan law teaches its followers to grant their as- sistance. and carry the coffin at least ten steps. Persons of note alight when they meet a funeral, comply with that pious custom, and then remount and proceed on tneir journey. They do not bury any one in their mosques, because though the corpse be purified, yet whatever it touches, or the place in which it is put, is looked upon as defiled. " In small towns, the burying places are on the road-side, without the gates, as a moral instruction to the living : but in great towns, which are situate in a dry air, several church- yards are to be seen. The graves are smaller in Persia than in other countries, only two feet broad, six in length, and four in depth. On that side of them w^hich is towards Mecca, they dig a slanting vault, which is as long and broad as the iirst grave ; they thrust the corpse into it without a coffin, the &ce towards Mecca, and place two tiles to cover the head from the earth, when the grave is filled up. If the deceased were rich, or a warrior, his turban, sword, bow, and quiver full of arrows, are set by him, and the vauh is plastered up with tiles. The Sahieds, who pretend to be the descendants of Mahomet, have no earth thrown upon them, their grave is covered only with a stone or brick, or that sort of hard brown marble which is common in Persia. " Stones are erected at the end of each tomb, with a turban, if it be a man's grave ; but plain, if a woman's. These tomb- stones ought not to exceed the height of four feet ; commonly they are but two feet high : the inscription on them does not declare the name nor praises of the deceased, it only contains some passages of the Kotan. The common people begin to visit the grave at the end of eight or ten days ; the women particularly never fail : the church-yards are full of them, morning and evening, and on some particular festivals ; they bring their children with them, and lament the loss of their friends with tears and cries, beating their breasts, tearing their hair, scratching their faces, repeating the several dialogues and long discourses which they heretofore held with the de- ceased : every now and then saying, Rouh, Rouh, sovl, spirit, whither are you gone ? Why do you not animate this body f And you, corpse, what occasion had you to die f Did you want gold, silver, clothes, pleasures, or tender treatment T They are then comforted, and led away by their friends: sometimes they leave behind them cakes, miits, sweetmeats, as an offering to the angels, guardians of the grave, to engage Ihem to be fiivourable to the deceased. -'%. 164 RELIOIOUS-TBNETS, *C. i i "People of quality generally order their corpse to be buried near some great saint of their sect. They are seldom carried to Mecca or Medina, they being at too great a distance; but either to Negef, a town in the country, called Kerbela, where Ali. the grand saint of Persia, lies interred ; or to Metched, near the grave of Imam Reza, or to Com near Fatime, (both were descendants of Ali,) or to Ardevil, near Gheik Sephy, at the distance of two or three month's journey. Whilst they prepare themselves for this long voyage, the coffin is put in some great mosque, \< here vaults are made for that purpose, which are walled up to keep the body from being seen ; and they do not take it out, till every thing be ready to carry it ofT The Persians fancy that corpses, under those circumstances, suffer no aheration ; for, they say, before they putrify, they must give an account to the angels, who stay at the grave to examine them. The funeral convoy never goes through a town ; this, as they think, would be a bad omen ; the dead must go out, but not come in, is a common saying amongst the Persians. " The mourning lasts forty days at most ; it does not consist in wearing black clothes, (that colour is looked upon in the east as the devil's colour, and a hellish dress,) but in loud cries and lamentations, in sitting without motion, half-clad with a brown gown or one of a pale colour ; in fasting for eight days, as if they were resolved to live no longer. Other friends send or come themselves to comfort the mourners. O^ the ninth day, the men go to the bagnio, have their head and beard shaved, put on new clothes, return their visits, and the mourn- ing ceases abroad ; but at home the cries are renewed now and then, twice or thrice a week? chiefly at the hour of the deatL These cries diminish gradually till the fortieth day ; afler which, no further mention is made of the deceased. The women are not so easily comforted, for the state of widowhood is generally for life in the east. " The motives of consolation alleged in Persia on the death of friends and relations are rational, and grounded on solid philosophy. They compare this life to a caravan, or a com- pany of travellers ; all come at last to the caravansary or inn ; yet so'ne arrive sooner, some later." F ^ is kept holy by Mahometans, as the Saturday is by the « i, and Sunday by the Christians ; either upon account Festivals. °^ *^® entry of Mahomet into Medina, or because Qod completed the creation on that day, or rather out of policy ; this being the day on which the ancient Ara- oians held their public and solemn meetings. Whatever may OF THE MAHOMETANS. 155 ed ed )Ut ' jre ed. oth . ',al iiey t in ose, o and off. kces, they /e to gha dead )ngst msist n the cries vitha days, I send ninth beard liourn- now )f the day, The rhood 1 death solid com- |r inn ; is by :count acause (rather It Ara- Ir may have been the cause of the sanctification of that day, it is cer- tain that Mahomet always kept it holy ; for, as Abulpharage observes, the real motive of establishing festivals was m order, by public assemblies, to render the people more united, and to have some rest from their labours. The Mahometans are, however, very profuse in their praises on that day, which they call the " chief and most excellent of all days," for on it, it is supposed, that the last judgment will take place. Their months are twelve, alternately of thirty and twenty- nine days, in all 354. According to which computation, their year is eleven days shorter than ours ; which mconvenience IS remedied by adding a month at proper periods. We shall here observe, that by the most exact computation, the Maho- metan Hejira began July the 16th, in the year of Christ 622. The names of the months are, 1. Moharram. 2. Saphar. 3. Rabia the First. 4. A Second Rabia. 5. Sjumada the First. 6. A Second Sjumada. 7. Resjeb. 8. Siaban. 9. Rha- madan. 10. Sjewal. 11. Dulkadha. 12. Dsulkassja, or Dulhaggia. Four of them, viz. Moharram, Resjeb, Dulkadha, and Dul- haggia, were looked upon as sacred by the ancient Arabians. No war nor hostility was lawful, if begun or carried on in these months ; and the majority of the Arabian tribes observed this law so punctually, that even the murderer of their father or brother was not to be punished, nor any violence offered to him at that time. Dulhaggia was sanctified by the Pilgrimage o^ Mecca, Dulkadha as a preparation to it, and Moharram as coming from it ; Resjeb was held still in greater veneration, being kept as a fast by the Arabian idolaters, who, on the con- trary, spent the month Rhamadan in debauchery and drunk- enness. Mahomet seems to approve of this institution of the sacred months in his Koran, in which he blames those Ara- bians who, being tired with living so long without robbing, deferred of their own authority, the sanctification of Moharram to the month following. To defeat the artful proceedings of these men, he enforces the keeping of the said three months, except in case of a war against infidels. The first Feast of which we shall take notice is the Moon, of the month Sjewal, because the Bairam celebrated in that month has some affinity with our new year, by p^^^ ^ ^j^^ the good wishes and congratulations then in use moon, with the Mahometans. This Bairam follows the Rhamadan fast, as Easter does that of Lent, and the Mus- sulmen begin it by a solemn and general reconciliation, as our Easter is remarkable by the Paschal Communion. They 8 156 RKLIOIOUS TENETS, ftC. i ;^> have two Bairams, the greater one, which wo are now de* scribing, and the less, which takes place seventy days after« wards, viz. on the 10th of Dulhaggia. The latter is called the Feast of Sacrifices, on account of the victims offered during the pilgrimage of Mecca. The Bairam is published, at the first sight of the moon of Sjewal, or, if the wealher be so cloudy thai the moon cannot be seen, as expected, the feast begins on the following day ; for in that case, they suppose the moon is changed. Amongst the numerous diversions then in use, seats are set in the streets, and contrived in such a manner that those who sit in them may swing in the air, accordingly as they are pushed faster or slower. These seats are adorned with seve- ral festoons. They have also wheels, on which people are alternately at the top, middle, and bottom. The nig-nt betwixt the 4th and 5th day of Resjeb is solemnized, on account of the Rhamadan Fast, though it happens two whole months after- wards. The night from the 26th to the 27th of the second Rabia is sacred, because Mahomet went then to heaven upon the Borak, in the same manner as the birth of the Prophet nas occasioned the keeping holy the night of the eleventh to the twelfth of Rabia the First The Rhamadan is, according to travellers, a mixture of devotion and debauchery. It begins with a kind of carnival, which Thevenot, who was an eye- witness, describes in the following words: — "The 12th of_ June, 1657, was the Turk's carnival, or beginning of their fast. It is called Laylet el Kouvat, that is, the Night of Pow- er, because the Mahometans believe that the Koran then came down from heaven. Afler sunset, lamps are lighted in all the streets, chiefly in that called Bazaar, a long, bruad, and strait street, through which the procession marches. Ropes are hung every ten steps, to which are tied iron hoops and bas- kets, each holding several lamps, thirty at the least. All thest being in a direct line, furnish a fine prospect, and give a great light. Besides these several figures, the towers or minarett of the mosques are likewise illuminated. An infinite numbei of people crowd the streets, and with the Santons, &c., who make part of the ceremony, repair to the Cadilesguer, who in- forms them whether the Ramesan is to be kept that evening. Being informed that the moon has been seen, and that this is the night appointed for the solemnity, about two hours in the night, the Santons on foot, and armed with clubs, begin the march, each of them holding a taper in his hand, accompani- ed with other men carrying cresset-lights. They dance, sing, bawl, and howl ; in the midst of them Scheik-el-Arsat, that is, •the Prince of the Cornutos,' rides upon a mule; as he passes a ofl wi| is Uf IHB MAROMSTANS. 15t de. ler- lled ring the fudy s on an is seats those y arc seve- ie are jtwixt of the after- (econd i upon let nas to the ling to begins in eye- 12th of. )f their fPow- ■n came all the d strait pes are nd bas- 1 thest a greaJ ninaretJ numbei - , who who in* ivening. Ht this is >s in the sgin the ompani- ce, sing, that is, |e passes ic. them, the people make loud acclamations. AAer him seireral men come upon camels, with drums, kettle-drums, &e., followed by others in masquerade-dress, on foot, carrying cresset-lights, or long poles, at the end of which are large iron hoops filled with squibs and fireworks, which are thrown amongst the mob. Next to these, the men of the beys proceed on horse- back with their hand-guns, &c., and the procession is closed by other Santons, who celebrate by their songs the beginning of Ramesan. The whole assembly is composed of scoundrels met together, yet it is on the whole comical and diverting." Their &st continues the whole moon, and whilst it lasts, eat- ing, drinking, even smoking, and putting any thing into their mouths, is absolutely forbidden from sunrise to sunset ; but in recompense, they are allowed, during the whole of the night, to eat and drink whatever they please without any restraint, with the exception of wine. Formerly, the law punished those who were convicted of drinking wine, by pouring melted lead into their throats. The Persians have three feasts peculiar to themselves, viz the next day after their Lent, the sacrifice of Abraham, and the martyrdom of the children of their great Persian prophet Ali. To these religious festivals, a fourth Peasu. must be added, which is a civil ceremony, at the beginping of the new year, and usually lasts three days ; but at court it is kept eight days successively. On the first day of the month Zilaje, (Dulhaggia,) at the moment of the sun's entering into Aries, this festival is proclaimed. It is called the Royal or Imperial New Year, to distinguish it from the real new year, which the Persians begin on the day of Ma- homet's flight from Mecca. Chardin gives a full account of this feast, but we shall merely notice, that it had grown into disuse for many years, but was re-established from a principle of policy or superstition, or from the interested views of some astronomers, who were very powerful at court, and who pre- tended that the beginning of a solar year was a better omen than that of a lunar year, especially considering that the first ten days of it, and of the month Moharram, are days of mourn- ing, in memory of the tnartyrdom of Ali's children. This last mentioned solemnity is better known by the name of Hussein, or Hossein's Feast. He was son of Ali and of Fatima, daughter to Mahomet, and was killed in . ^ a battle, which he lost, disputing for the dignity „ Hussien' of Khalif. Hassein, his brother, lost his lire with him. The death of these Mahometan prophets, or heroes, is still mourned for, where some are seen half naked, and U 1^9 RKLIOIOUS TKNBTB, AC. daubed over with blood, in memory of their tragical end ; others black their faces and loll out their tongue, with convul* sive motions of the body and rolling their eyes, because these two brothers, as the Persian legend relates, suffered so much by drought that they became black, and their tongues came out of their mouths. In the intervals of those pious contortions, they call aloud with all their might, Hussein I Hassein! Hasstin I Hussein 1 The present state and extent of the Mahometan religion is most amply delineated by Mr. Mills, in the. last chapter of his excellent book ; in which he traces it through Present jj^g extensive regions of Tartary ; the vast em- * **** pire of China ; the various districts of Hindoos- tan; from the southernmost point of which this religion is traced through the eastern islands ; along the coasts of the Malayan peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, the Manillas, and the Celebezean islands. The little isle of Goram, one of the Spice islands, (between Ceram and Papua,) is the eastern boundary of the Mahometan world. The sword of the Mahometans has for ages ceased to alarm the world, and the fire of their fanaticism has been spent ; but their religion has suffered no visible diminution of followers: for although the Christians have triumphed over the Moors in Spain, and checked the advancement of Islamism in Siberia, yet, in the middle and lower Asia, and also in Africa, the pro- fessors of the Moslem's creed have gradually increased. It is impossible to estimate, with any approach to accuracy, the number either of Mussulmen or of Christians ; but, consider- ing for a moment the subject of religion in a geographical sense, it may be generally remarked, that as Christianity has unlimited influence in Europe, so Islamism is the dominant religion in Asia ; and that,'as the Christian faith has consider- able weight in America, Mahometanism has its proportionate sway in Africa. ORKBK CHVROH PROPER. PART III. RELIGIOUS TENETS, CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF THE GREEK AND ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCHES. CHAPTER I.— GREEK CHURCH. SEC. I. — GREEK CHURCH PROPER. The Gr'^ck Church may be considered, in regard to its an- tiquity, as coeval with the Roman or Latin church, and for the first eight centuries, the two churches were Qree^ church assimilated, not only in regard to the peculiar coeval with doctrines of their faith, but also to their acknow- the Latin ledgment of the supremacy of the Roman pontiff ^''"fc**' The schism of these two cnurches is a most memorable epoch in ecclesiastical history, as it forms the most distinguishing picture of the two religions at the present day. The mem* bers of the Greek or eastern church, as contra-distinguished to the Roman or western church, are to be found in various parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and are again subdivided into three distmct classes. 1st. Those who agree on all points of worship and doctrine, with the patriarch of Constantino- pie, and reject the supremacy of the Roman pontiff 2d. Those who adopt the doctrines and ceremonies of the Greek church, and are entirely independent of the patriarch of Con- stantinople : and, 3d. those wno are still subject to the see of Rome, though not conforming in all points to the worship of that church. The Greek church is considered as a separation from the Latin. In the middle of the ninth century, the controversy relating to the procession of the Holy Ghost (which had been started in the sixth century) be- Rise and Be- came a point of great importance, on account of paration of. the jealousy and ambition which at that time were blended with it. Photius, the patriarch of Jerusalem, having been advanced to that see in the room of Ignatius, whom he procured to be deposed, was solemnly excommunicated by Pope Nicholas, in a council held at Rome, and his ordi- nation declared null and void. The Greek emperor resented ORBBK OVROH PROPBB. thia conduct of the pope, who defended himself with great spirit and resolution. Photius, in his turn, convened what he called an oecumenical council, in which he pronounced sentence of excommunication and deposition against the pope, and ^ot it subscribed by twenty-one bishops and others, amount* ing m number to a thousand. This occasioned a wide breach between the sees of Rome and Constantinople. However, the death of the Emperor Michael, and the deposition of Photius, subsequent thereupon, seem to havia restored peace ; for the em- peror Basil held a council at Constantinople, m the year 869, in which entire satisfaction was given to pope Adrian ; but the schism was only smothered and suppressed for a while. The Greek church had several complaints a^inst the Latin ; par- iicularlv it was thought a great hardship for the Greeks to subscribe to the definition of a council according to the Roman form, prescribed by the pope, since it made the church of Con- stantinople depencuint on tnat of Rome, and set the pope above an cBcuinenical council ; but, above all, the pride and naughti' ness of the Roman court gave the Greeks a great distaste ; and as their deportment seemed to insult his Imperial Majes- ty, it entirely alienated the affections of the Emperor Basil. Towards the middle of the eleventh century, Michael Ceru- larius, patriarch of Constantinople, opposed the LAtins with respect to their making use of unleavened bread in the eucha- rist, their observation of the sabbath, and fasting on Saturdays, charging them with living in communion with the Jews. To this Pope Leo IX. replied ; and, in his apology for the Latins, declaimed very warmly against the raise doctrine of the Greeks, and interposed, at the same time, the authority of his see. He likewise, by his legates, excommunicated the patri- arch in the church of Santa Sophia, which gave the last shock to the reconciliation attempted a long time afler, but to no purpose ; for from that time the hatred of the Greeks to the Latins, and of the Latins to the Greeks, became insuper- able, insomuch that they have continued ever since separated from each other's communion.* As the numerous sects which are now subsisting in the Levant are of Greek origin, and as their principles and cere- State of the monies, except in some few particular points, are Greek church, nearly the same, it will be necessary to treat on the religion of the Greeks (properly so called) before we de- scend to the different branches that have issued from it. The Greek Church, which is now dependant on the patri- • Back's Theolog. Die. Art. Greek Chmch. ORBIK ORUROH PROPKIi. tei patri- arch of Conatantinople, was not formerly so extensive as it has been since the emperors of the East thought proper to lessen or reduce the other patriarchates, in order to aggrandize that of Constantinople ; a task which they accomplished with the greater ease, as they were much more powerful than the emperors of the West, and had little or no regard to the con- sent of the patriarchs in order to create new bishoprics, or to confer new titles and privileges. Whereas, in tne western churchy the popes, by slow degrees, made themselves the sole arbiters in all ecclesiastical concerns ; insomuch that princes themselves at length became obliged to have recourse to them, and were subservient to their directions on every momentous occasion. There are several catalogues or lists, now extant, of the churches which are dependant on that of Constantinople ; but as most of them are very ancient, and $lo not sufficiently illus' trate the vast extent of which that church at present ooasts, we shall not quote any of them in this place; but merely state, that the number of metropolitans amounts to upwards of one hundred bishoprics. The Greek churches at present deserve not even the name of the shadow of what they were in their former flourishing state, when they were so remarkably distinguished for the learned and worthy pastors who presided over them ; but now nothing but wretchedness, ignorance, and poverty, are visible amongst them. " I have seen churches," says Ricaut, " which were more like caverns or sepulchres than places set apart for divine worship ; the tops thereof being almost level with the ground. They are erected after this humble manner for fear they should be suspected, if they raised them any considerable height, of an evil intention to rival the Turkish mosques." It is, indeed, very surprising, that in the abject state to which the Greeks at present are reduced, the Christian religion should maintain the least footing amongst them. Their no- tions of Christianity are principally confined to the traditions of their forefathers and their own received customs ; and, among other things, they are much addicted to external acts of piety and devotion, such as the observance of fasts, festi- vals, and penances : they revere and dread the censures of their clergy ; and are bigoted slaves to their religious customs, which have been irrefutably proved to be absurd and ridicu- lous; and yet it must be acknowledged, that although these errors reflect a considerable degree of scandal and reproach upon the holy religion they profess, they nevertheless prevent it from being entirely lost and abolished amongst them. A. fire 14* 16a OREKK CHURCH rROPKK. which lies for a time concealed under a heap of embers, may revive and burn again as briffht as ever : and the same hope may be conceived of truth, when obscured by the dark clouds of Ignorance and error. Tenetoofthe I. They rebaptize all those Latins who are ad« Oreek church, mittcd into their communion. II. They do not baptizo their children till they are three, four, five, six, ton, and even sometimes eighteen years of age. III. They exclude Confirmation and Extreme Unction out of the Seven Sacraments. IV. They deny there is any such place as Purgatory, not- withstanding they pray for the dead. V. They do not absolutely acknowledcfe the Pope's supre- macy, nor that of the Church of Rome, which they look upon as fallen from her supremacy, because, as a Greek schismatic historian expresses himself, she had abandoned the doctrine$ of her fathers. VI. They deny, by consequence, that the Church of Rome is the true Catholic mother Church. They even prefer their own to that of Rome, and on Holy Thursday excommunicate the Pope and all the Latin prelates as heretics and schisma- tics, praying that all those who ofTer up unleavened bread in the celebration of the Sacrament, may be covered with con- fusion. VII. They deny that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son. VIII. They refuse to worship the Host consecrated by Latin priests with unleavened bread, according to the ancient custom of the Church of Rome, confirmed by the Council of Florence. They likewise wash the altars on which the Latins have celebrated mass; and will not suffer a Latin priest to officiate at their altars, pretending that the sacrifice ought to be performed with leavened bread. IX. They assert, that the usual form of words, wherein the Consecration, according to the Latins, wholly consists, is not sufficient to change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, without the use of some additional prayers and benedictions of the fathers. X. They insist that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper ought to be administered in both kinds to infants, even before they are capable of distinguishing this spiritual food from any other ; because it is a divine institution. For which rea- son they give the Sacrament to infants immediately afler bap- tism, and look upon the Latins as heretics for not observing the same custom. \ -^' ORBEK CHVKCII PROPBt. 168 ipper Defore I from rea- bap- rving XL They hold, that the laity are under an indiipennble obligation, by the law of Qod, to receive the Communion in both kinds, and look on the Latins as heretics, who maintain the contrary. XII. They assert, that no members of the Church, when they have attained to years of discretion, ought to be compelled to receive the Communion every Easter ; but should have free liberty to act according to the dictates of their own conscience. XIII. They show no respect, no religious homage, nor veneration for the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, even at the celobrat' m of their own priests ; and use no lighted tapers when thev i. Iministor it to the sick. Moreover, they keep it in a little bacf or box, without any farther ceremony than ii.xing it to the wall, where they light up lamps before their images. XIV. They are of opinion that such Hosts as are conse- crated on Holy Thursday, are much more efficacious than those consecrated at other times. XV. They maintain that the Sacrament of Matrimony is a union which may be dissolved. For w}ii:h reason, they charge the Church of Rome with being guilty of an error, in asserting that the bonds of marriage can never be broken, even in case of adultery, and that no person upon any provo- cation whatsoever can lawfully marry af/ain. But the Greeks preach up a wholly different doctrine, and practise it daily. XVI. They condemn all fourth marriages. XVII. They refuse to celebrate the solemnities instituted by the church and the primitive Fathers, in honour of the virgin Mary and the Apostles ; and, independently of their different manner of celebrating them, they wholly neglect and despise the observance of several Saints' -days which are of ancient institution. They reject likewise the reli^ous use of graven images and statues, although they admit of pic- tures in their churches. XVIII. They insist that the canon of the mass of the La* tins ought to be abolished, as being full of errors. XIX They deny that usury is a mortal sin. XX They deny that the subdeaconry is at present a holy order. XXI. Of all the general councils that have been held in the Catholic Church by the popes at different times, they pay no regard to any afler the sixth, and reject not only the seventh, which was the second held at Nice, for the express purpose of condemning those who rejected the use of images in tneir divine worship, but all those which have succeeded iti by which they refuse to submit to any of their institutions. 164 OREEK CHURCH FROrSR. XXII. Thejrdenv auricular confession to be a divine precept, and pretend it is onljr a positive injunction of the Church. XaIII. They ii^sist that the confession of the laity ought to be free and voluntary ; for which reason thev are not com* polled to confess themselves annually, nor are they excommu- nicated for the neglect of it. XXIV. They insist that in confession there is no divine law which enjoms the acknowledgment of every individual sin, or a discovery of all the circumstances that attend it, which alter its nature and property. XXV. They administer the sacrament to their laity both in sickness and in health, though they have never applied themselves to their confessors ; and the reason of which is, that they are persuaded all confessions should be free and vo- luntar}% and that a li\ely faith is all the preparation that is re- quisite for the worthy receiving of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. XXVI. They look down with an eye of disdain on the Latins for their observance of the vigils before the nativity of our Blessed Saviour, and the festivals of the Virgin Mary and the Apostles, as well as for their fasting in Ember-week. They even affect to eat meat more plentifully at those times than at any other, to testify their contempt of the Latin cus> toms. They prohibit likewise all fasting on Saturdays, that preceding Easter only excepted. XXVII. They condemn the Latins as heretics, for eating such things as nave been strangled, and such other meats as are prohibited in the Old Testament. XXVIII. They deny that simple fornication is a mortal sin. XXIX They insist that it is lawful to deceive an enemy, and that it is no sin to injure and oppress him. XXX. They are of opinion, that in order to be saved, there is no necessity to make restitution of such goods as have been stolen or fraudulently obtained. XXXI. To conclude : they hold that such as have been admitted into holy orders may become laymen at pleasure. From whence it plainly appears, that they do not allow the character of the priesthood to be indelible. To which it may be added, that they approve of the marriage of their priests, Erovided they enter into that state before their admission into oly orders, though they are never indulged in that respect aAer their ordination. The Patriarch of Constantinople assumes the honourable title of Universal or (Ecmnenical Patriarch. As he pur- GREEK CHURCH PROPER. m lemy, been sure. |w the may Iriests, into aspect irable pur- chases his commission of the Grand Seignior, it p • . may be easily supposed that he makes a tyran- ConstStinV*' nical and simoniacal use of a privilege which he pie. holds himself by simony. The Patriarch and bishops are always single men ; but the priests are indulged in marriage before ordination ; and this custom, which is gene- rally practised all over the Levant, is very ancient. Should a priest happen to marrv after ordination, he can officiate no longer as prisci, whicn is conformable to the ii^junctions of the council ot Neocesarea; the marriage, however, is not looked upon as invalid ; whereas in the Latin Church, such marriages are pronounced void and of no efiect, because the priesthood is looked upon as a lawful bar, or impediment. Their Pappas, or secular priests, not having any settled and competent livings, are obliged to subsist by simoniacal prac- tices. " The clergy," says Ricaut, "are almost compelled to sell those divine mysteries which p ?*^°^ *" are entrusted to their care. No one, therefore, "** can procure absolution, be admitted to confession, have his children baptised, be married or divorced, or obtain an excom- munication against his adversary, or the communion in time of sickness, without first paying down a valuable considera- tion. The priests make the best market they can, and fix a price on their spiritual commodities in proportion to the devo- tion or abilities of their respective customers;" added to which, they are so avaricious and rigid with their parishioners, that they will scarcely part with a single drop of holy water with- out being paid for it beforehand. The Greek Church has no established fund for the mainte- nance of their clergy; they subsist therefore by the levying of some certain duties, and by the charity and. benevolence of well-disposed Christians. Each parish is obliged to maintain its own curate. Every houseiis assessed at a certain annual sum, which must be paid in money or effects. Each diocese is likewise taxed for the more honourable support of its bishop, &c. ; but the avarice and illegal practices of the collectors countenance and encourage the petty shifts and evasions which are daily practised to elude them. Regarding the charity of the people, it is so very cold and languid, that it seems ahnost a sufficient plea for the simoniacal practices of the clergy. A monastic life is held in great veneration among Monastic the Greeks ; and although there are monks of life held in different orders among them, yet all of them gJ^^ venem- owe their origin to St. Basil, who was the sole ****"• founder of the monastic state. 166 OBE£K CHITRCH PROPER. The two principal are styled the Grand and Angelical Habit, and tne Lesser Habit. Those belonging to the former . . . are persons of worth and distinction, and who oider*"*'^ prefer to lead a more righteous life than the rest. Monks of the Lesser Habit are inferior persons, who do not pretend to lead such sanctified lives. The latter live uncontrolled, and are left to their own discretion; for which reason, before they take up the habit, they deposite a certain sum of money for a cell, or small apartment, and other accommodations, belonging to the convent. The procurator or steward indeed supplies them with bread and wme, in the same manner as the rest, but in every other respect they pro- vide for themselves ; and being thus free from all the incum- brances of a convent, each one pursues his own particular afiairs. There is a third order, who are known and distinguished by the name of Anchorets ; and though they do not choose to. An horets w°^^» ^°^ *° perform the other duties of the con- vent, they are still very desirous of passing their lives in solitude and retirement. I'hey purchase, therefore, a cell, or a little commodious apartment exterior to the convent, with a small spot of ground contiguous to it, sufficient to maia- tain them; and they never attend the convent but on solemn festivals, on which days they assist at the celebration of divine service. As soon as their public devotions are over, they re turn to their cells, and spend their time in the pursuit of their customary avocations, without being confined to any set time for their prayers, or other acts of private devotion. There are some of these anchorets, however, who retire altogether from the convent with the license and approbation of their abbot, in order to live still more retired, and to apply themselves more closely to prayer and contemplation. Having no grounds nor vineyards of their own to improve, the convent sends them, once at least, if not twice a month, a stated allowance. Those, however, who decline being dependant on, or pensioners to the abbot, rent some small vineyards situate near their cells, and maintain themselves out of the profits and product of them. Some live upon figs, some upon cherries, and others upon such wholesome fruits of a similar nature, which they can most commodiously procure. Some sow beans in their proper sea- son ; and others earn their bread by transcribing books or manuscripts. Besides these monks, there are likewise nuns, who form themselves into communities. They are confined in convents* and live subject to the rule of St. Basil. They are in no degree inferior to the monks, wita Nun*. GREEK CHURCH PROPER 167 respect to their abstemious course of life, their penances, fiuts, j)rayer8, and other acts of devotion, which are in general prac- tised by recluses. These nuns in general wear the same habit, which is black, with a woollen gown of the same colour. Their arms and hands are covered to their very finger's ends. Their heads are all shaved close; and each of them has a separate resi- dence, with a comnodious room above and below. Those who are in good circumstances are allowed to keep a servant, and sometimes they entertain young ladies in their society, and train them up in the practice of piety. After the customary duties are over, their leisure hours are advantageously spen^ in all manner of curious needlework. The fasts of the Greeks are quite different from those of the Latins ; for those of the latter are festival days when com- .pared with the former ; inasmuch as they not only abstain from eating the flesh of animals, Pasts, and their produce, such as butter and cheese; but they eat no manner of fish, and content themselves with fruits and herbs, to which they put a drop or two of oil ; allow- ing themselves but a very small quantity of wine. The monks are still more rigorous ; for they never taste a drop of wine nor oil, except on Saturdays and Sundays. The Greek monks, according to Angelus, are obliged to fast three days, that is, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, ' in every week. On which days, about two m the afternoott: . they go to prayers ; after that, they take some small iefre8h'--(^. ment, which principally consists of a few beans, with a li^tk^ broth, without either oil or butter, or some other relished rooi^J with a small quantity of vinegar. In the evening, they re- sume their prayers ; when service is over, they seat themselves round about the church, and the procurator distributes to, each man a slice of bread and a glass of water. This indulgence, however, is shown only to the junior monks ; the seniors have no share in this distribution. After a short interval they re- turn to their public devotions, which last about half an hour, , and sometimes an hour. On going out of the church, they pass in review before their superior, or principal, who stands at the church-door, and ask his blessing, which he gives to each of them in the following terms, God be propitious to thee, my son ! After this benediction, each retires to his own cell, without speaking a single word upon any occasion. By their rule they are enjoined, after this, to spend a whole hour on their knees in private prayer. This exercise of devotion is followed by a very short repose ; for about midnight, or soon tea OREBK CHURCH PROPBR. after, they rise again, and attend their public prayers, which are not over till break of day j at which time every one with- draws to his particular avocations, till some short interval be* fore dinner; which is spent again at church in public devo- tions. As soon as dinner is served, the monks beg their abbot or superior's blessing, who stands at the upper end of the table. If any monk has had the misfortune to oversleep himself, and comes too late to church in the morning, as a penance for his indolence and neglect he is ordered to stand at the lower end of the table, and there repeat over and over with an audible voice, but with a humble and contrite heart, these words. Have com- passion, OLord, on thy unworthy servant, according to thy infi- nite goodnest and mercy ! till the monks are risen from table, and are ready to go away. Then the penitent prostrates himself with his foce to the very ground, imploring forgiveness in this humble posture, and crying out, Oh ! holy fathers, pray for me, who am a poor sinful sluggard ! whereupon they with one voice reply, God forgive you, my brother ! After which they all de^rt, except the poor penitent, who stays behind and dines by hmiself : none are exempted from this penance, from the highest to the lowest. The Moscovites, however, having neither wine nor oil, are indulged in eating flesh. They abstain from eating flesh, butter, and cheese, on Wednesdays and Fridays, but have the free use of fish. The Greeks and other eastern nations cen- sure the Latins very severely for fasting on Saturdays ; since that day, in their opinion, is a festival, as well as Sunday ; and this they endeavour to prove from their ancient canons, and the practice of the primitive Christians. In short, with re- spect to ceremonies, it may be said in general, that they ob- serve a much greater number than any other Christian coun- try whatsoever. The veneration which they pay to images is boundless and extravagant. Upon a solemn iestival they plant the imafe of the saint to whom that day is devoted, in the centre of me church; which statue, or picture, is always an historical representation of some remarkable transaction which they then commemorate : as for instance, the nativity, ■ or resurrection of our Blessed Saviour : at which time every devotee then present salutes the image; and this religious adoration is not performed by falling down on their knees, Erostration, or any other particular gesticulations of the body ; ut by barely kissing the image. If it happens to be a repre- sentation of our Blessed Lord, they kiss his feet, if of the vir- gin Mary, they salute her hands ; and if it be only the image ORBEK CHURCH PROPEK. 160 / of some memorab)") saint, they approach him with more &mi< liority, and kiss his cheek. The supreme head of the Greek church is the Patriarch of Constantinople, whom they style the 13th Apostle ; and whose usual title, when he subscribes any letter, or mis- u ^ <• i, sivo, is •' by the mercy of God, Archbishop of q,Sc churdh! Constantinople, the New Rome and (Ecumenical Patriarch" The right of electing him is vested in the twelve bishops who reside nearest that fiimous capital ; but the right of confirming the election, and of enabling the new chosen patriarch to exercise his spiritual functions, belongs only to the Turkish emperor. A patriarch of Constantinople formerly paid but ten thou- sand crowns for his instalment, but sul)sequently the price was advanced to twenty-five thousand. Even fifty and sixty thousand have been given by diflferent patriarchs. Independ- ently of this charge, which is so exceedingly heavy, the minis- ters of state often exact other fees, so very enormous, that the patriarch becomes always encumbered with debts, and is forced to study incessantly new ways and means tcsatisfy the avarice of his creditors If he once proves deficient in his pay- ments, he is presently deposed. And these may be considered as the genuine causes of those revolutions, which so frequently occur in the Greek Church, and which tend to support the tyrannical power of the Turks in the election of the clergy. The revenues of the Patriarch of Constantinople are very precarious, and increase or decrease in value according to the degree of oppression which he suffers from the Revenues Turks, or to the character which he himself bears, of being a virtuous or a dishonest man. The following are the sources from which his revenues arise. As soon as the patriarch is elected, he disposes of the vacant bishoprics and other benefices, to the best purchaser, and independently of the advarWge of these sales, each bishopric, benefice, living, and convent within his jurisdiction, is assessed at a certain annual sum. Every priest in Constantinople pays him, annu- ally, a crown. The bishops, following the laudable example of their patriarch, exact the utmost from those persons whom they admit into holy orders; and the priests, again, obtain a supply for their pecuniary necessities by the sale of the blessed Sacraments to the people. They likewise make them pay for their holy water, their consecrated bread, and the very seats in their churches. Several bishoprics are assessed after the rate of a thousand crowns per annum, and the cor^^ents in proportion. There are about one hundred and fifty bishops 15 170 OKKEK CHURCH PROPER. and archbishops who are dependant on the patriarch, and he receives a fee from every one, whom he ordains in Constanti- nople, whether he be priest or deacon ; and those who are constituted bishops, or archbishops, make him a present in firoportion to their quality. For every marriage that is so* emnizcd in Constantinople, or within the jurisdiction thereof, he has a crown. This perquisite at one time amounted to a 'very considerable sum, on account of the vast number of Greeks who settled in Constantinople. The fee upon a se- cond marriage is doubled, and for the third and last, he re- ceives a triple gratuity, no fourth marriage being allowed, ac- cording to the tenets of the Greek church. One of the principal branches of the patriarch's revenues arises from particular patrimonies, or estates of inheritance. In case a priest dies without issue, the patriarch has a just claim to all his eflfects, as the spiritual father and common heir of the clergy ; and those Greeks who die possessed of very large estates generally remember the patriarch in their wills, and leave him either lands, houses, or ready money. Once in three years he collects a penny per head of every parishioner in his patriarchate; to which are added the contributions raised for him during Lent in the churches of Constantino- Ele and Gtalata. Finally, the Czar of Muscovy himself makes im a very handsome present as a mark of his peculiar friend- ship and respect ; and, on the other hand, the Greeks testify an extraordinary regard for the Russian nation, on account of some particular prophecies, which intimate that the Russians will one day deliver the Greeks from the tyranny and op- pression of the Turks. After the Patriarch of Constantinople, the richest is that of Jerusalem, on account of the large sums of money arising from his profits by consecrated fires. The Pa- triarch of Antioch is the poorest of them all. That of Alexandria is very powerful, with respect to the ecclesiastical government, and he makes himself formi- dable by the execution of his penal laws. He assumes the grand title of Judge of the whole World, as well as that of Pope. But what distinguishes him in a particular manner from the Patriarch of Constantinople is, the advantage which he enjoys of being less exposed to the avarice and resentments ^ of the Turks. His election is carried on without those arti- fices and intrigues, which are practised in that of the for- mer, and the votes of the electors are much more free. As to the revenues of the archbishops and bishops, they consist, in like manner, in the moneys arising from their re- Other Patri archs. OBEEK CHURCH PROriR. 171 all. ipect rmi- the of iner hich lents- arti- for- Bpective ordinations. They have a fee of a crown « upon all marriages; and every house in their thoScie?-* particular diocess supplies them with a cer- gy. tain quantity of corn, fruits, wine, and oil. The priests live on the revenues of the churches, or on the voluntary bounty and benevolence of their parishioners, and their public collections on solemn festivals. Every time a priest says mass, either on a holyday or Sunday, each house pays him two-thirds of a farthing, una, as a grateful acknow- ledgment, the priest on his part is obliged, before the sacrifice is offered up, to say a prayer, and beg of God to bless each of his bene&ctors for this small gratuity. It is, however, a custom amongst the Greeks to enjoy themselves, and to have an elegant entertainment on all solemn festivals, at which the priests always attend and give their blessing, as soon as the first course comes upon the table. This short religious ser- vice entitles them to some bread, meat, wine, and a small sum of money. As their whole maintenance, however, depends upon the good circumstances and liberality of their parish- ioners, their income is very uncertain and precarious, which naturally tends to make them avaricious and anxious in mind, abject and submissive in their behaviour, and lukewarm in their devotion. If any religious services be required of them, whether it be absolution, confession, baptism, marriage, di- vorce, excommunication, or administration of the sacraments to the sick, the price of each individual service must be first settled and adjusted. The priests make the best bargain they possibly can, always proportioning their fees to the zeal and circumstances of the devotees, with whom they hold this re- ligious commerce. The patriarch is elected by the archbishops and bishops, by a majority of votes; but this formality carries with it no weight nor importance, without the consent and ap- probation of the Grand Seignior. Before the the pSclI! election begins, it is customary to address the Grand Vizier for his license and permission to proceed upon it; and this minister summons the archbishops, and hi- quires of them, whether they be fully determined to proceed to the election of a new patriarch. He repeats the ques- tion a second time, and grants his consent together with the baratz. His highness then presents the patriarch with a white horse, a black capuch, a crosier, and an embroidered caftan. In this ceremony, the Turk retains the ancient cus- tom of the Grecian emperors. After this, the patriarch, at- tended by a long train of Turkish ofGcers, his own clcrgy» re- 172 ORBVE CHVXOH PROPER. and a great concourse of people, repair? to his patriarchal see with all imaginable pomp and solemnity. The principal archbishop*, and the remainder of the clergy, with wax-tapers in their hands, receive him at the church-door ; and the bishop of Heraclea, as chief archbishop, haying a right to consecrate him, being dressed in his pontifical robes, takes the patriarch by the hand, and conducts him to the throne. Previously to this ceremony, however, he makes a short harangue to the people, and informs them, that such a person has been elected patriarch by the general sufirage of the archbishopa and bish- ops, accordmg to the canons of the church, and then invites the patriarch to take possession of the important trust reposed in nim, who with gravity professes to decline it, as not consider- ing himself worthy of so great an honour: however, as it is conferred upon him by the will of Heaven, he submits at last to the decisions of the clergy. This ceremony being accom* plished, he receives the cross, the mitre, and the other ponti- fical ornaments, from the hands of the archbishop of Heraclea. He seats himself on his throne ; and the bishops, inferior cler- gy, and the populace, pay him the usual compliments, ex- claiming, Ad multos annos Domine. The celebration of the mass, with the usual ceremonies observed on solemn festivals, immediately succeed, and close the ceremony. According to ancient custom, the patriarch, bishops, and other dignified clergy, ought to have none but monks for Order of as- ^^^^^ ministers, and no secular assistants. Before siBtants. ^e conquest of Constantinople they were eccle- siastics, but at pre&ent they are all seculars, four only excepted ; and this arrangement augments, on the one hand, the revenues of the patriarch ; and, on the other, grati- fies the ambition of the seculars. The following are the se- veral officers, ranged in their proper order, in regard to their respective functions, both ecclesiastical and civil. At the patriarch's right hand stands his grand oeconomist, or high steward, whose peculiar province it is to collect the revenues, and discharge the necessary disbursements of the patriarchate. He delivers in his accounts twice a year, and assists at the patriarchal tribunal, whenever the court sits. When a bishop dies, he likewise superintends the affairs of the vacant see, and has the first vote in every new election. The grand sacellarius, or high-master of the chapel, assists the patriarch in the administration of all his judicial affairs, and in the regular performance of the several ceremonies en- joined by the Church. It is a part of his office, likewise, to present all candidates to be ordained, and not only the mo- osKiK CHVRGH pmorii. m nastoriea of the monks, but the convents of the nuns, are sub* ject to his inspection. The high treasurer, who is keeper of the sacred vessels and pontifical ornaments belonging to the church, stands at the door of the vestry, in which they are always deposited, and not only delivers out the proper habiliments to tne offi- ciating prelate, but takes care tnat every article be regularly placed upon the altar. When any bishopric is vacant, it is nis province likewise to take care of the revenues belonging to it. The grand official takes cognizance of all aflfairs relating to benefices, and the impediments which obstruct marriages : he likewise introduces all those priests who come to receive the Sacrament on solemn festivals. The grand logothetes, or high chancellor. He is the speaker, has the patriarch's signet in his custody, and seals all his letters. The grand referendary despatches all the patriarch's or^ ders, is his deputy to persons of distinction, and is one of the ecclesiastical judges. He was distinguished by the title of the palatine in the time of the Greek emperors. The grand prothonotary sits directly opposite to the Pa- triarch, to transcribe and deliver out all his briefs, manda- muses, orders and decrees. It is his province also to examme twice a year all the professors of the canon law. All contracts, and last wills or testaments are under his inspection. Finally, he attends the patriarch in the sanctuary, and brings him water to wash his hands during the celebrat^ua o' divine ser- vice. All the above-named officers, as well as thotj who follow, though their office be inferior, still preserve their ancient dig- nity, and stand at the patriarch's right hand at all public solemnities. The thuroferary, or incense-bearer, independently of the duty implied in his name, covers the consecrated vessels, or implements, with a veil, during the anthem to the sacred Tri- nity, and assists the celebrant in putting on his sacerdotal vestments. The next officer is employed in noting down the votes oi the bishops, and receiving petitions and remonstrances. The protecdice, or advocate, determines all petty causes, and his court is held in the church porch. The hieromnemon is in- trusted with the care of the ritual, which is called contacium, and other church books. It is his province likewise to con- secrate any new church in the bishop's absence, and to ordain 15* 174 # OKKBK OHUKOR PROFIll. the readers. There is another officer who takes care of the supergenual of the patriarch, and one who has the title of doctor. On the left hand of the patriarch attend the protopapas, or high priest, the deutereuon, or second visiter, the prefect of the churches, the ecdices, or lateral judges, the e..arch, the two domestics, the two laosynactes, the two deans, the proto- psaltes, or chief singer, the deputy, the grand archdeacon and the secondary deacon. The protopapas, whose dignity is en- tirely ecclesiastical, administers the Holy Sacrament to the patriarch at all high and solemn masses, and receives it from him. He is the head ecclesiastical dignitary, not only with respect to his peculiar privileges, hut to his right and title to precedence. The deutereuon, when the protopapas happens to be absent, officiates in his stead. The visiter, amongst several other prerogatives belonging to his office, enjoys the privilege of examining into all ecclesiastical de- bates, and all impediments in matrimonial cases. The sacred oil, and what the Greeks call the antimensium, which is a portable altar, are intrusted to the sole direction and manage- ment of the prefect, or superintendent. He has the honour to erect the cross on such spot of ground as is marked out, and set apart for a new church, when the patriarch cannot per- form this ceremony himself! The exarch revises all causes in which sentence has been already passed. The domestics, as also the two deans, who sit above the deacons, are ranged on each side of the protopsaltcs, or master of the choir, and sing with him. The laosynactes assemble the deacons and people together. The deputy introduces strangers into the presence of the patriarch, and clears the way to and from his audience. He may be styled with propriety the master of the ceremonies. Those who stand on the left hand of the pa- triarch are the catechist, who instructs and prepares all those persons for the 3acrament of Baptism, who renounce their heretical tenets, and desire to be admitted into the pale of the Church. The periodeutes goes likewise from one place to another, to instruct those that are intended to be baptized : the prefect, or master of the ceremonies, an office distinct from that of the deputy, assigns every person his proper place. The protosyncellus is, properly speaking, inspector-general of the patriarch himself He has a right and title to an apart- ment in his palace, and resides there at night with several other syncelli, who are under his direction. His apartment joins the patriarch's, and, in fine, he is not only the pa- triiirch's vicar and assistant, but his ghostly father. **:- "'^' ORBBK OIIVRCII PROPER. If9 The service of the Greeks consists of nine parts; viz. th** nocturns, or night service, the morning service, or matins, the laudes, prime, tierce, sexte, none, vespers, and _^ . ^ . complin. After the nocturnal, they sing the turgy^&J. trisagium, or Holy Ood, Holy and Omnipotent, Holy and Eternal ; and repeat the Gloria Patri three times successively, &c. ; and at all the hours perform the same ser- vice. The Greeks have four distinct liturgies ; the fiist is that of St. James, which has met with a universal reception through' out the Greek Church. As this particular service is very long, and requires five hours at least for the celebration of it, it is read but once a-year, that is, on the 23d of October, which is St. James's Day. The second is that of St. Basil. This Father distinctly perceived, that the unmerciful length of St. James's liturgy tired the people, and damped their devotion: and therefore determined to abridge it. The liturgy of Basil, is read every Sunday in Lent, Palm Sunday excepted ; on Holy Saturday, on the vigils or eves of Christmas, the Epi- phany, and the festival of St Basil. The third liturgy is that of St. Chrysostom ; who ascertained that the liturgy of St. Basil, though an abridgment, was still too tedious, and that he did not make sufficient allowance for the weakness and frailty of the faithful, who are unable to support a close atten- tion to the duties of religion for several consecutive hours. St. Chrysostom, therefore, made a new reduction of this litur- gy, or rather extracted the most essential parts from St. Basil's abridgment, and inserted them in his own. This liturgy of St. Chrysostom is used during the whole year, except on the days above particularly specified. The fourth, which is that of St. Gregory, is called the preconsecrated liturgy, because it always follows that of St. Chrysostom or St. Basil. The last liturgy of St. Gregory is no more than a collection of prayers peculiarly adapted to inspire both the priest and the people with that ardent zeal and devotion which are requisite for the Lord's Supper. During divine service the Greeks observe several distinct postures, which are considered as actually essential, and of the greatest moment in the performance of their religious du- ties ; in general, when they pray, they stand upright, and turn their faces to the east ; but they may lean, or even, sit down to rest themselves, when they find it convenient. The laity sit, whilst the priest reads his exhortation to them ; but stand, when they pray to God or sing an anthem. On reaching their respective places they uncover their heads, and make ITB OlIBK ORUROR FROPEB. tht tiffn of the crofs, by joining the three first fingers of their right hand, by which it is implied, that there ore three persons in the sacred Gt)dhead. In this sign of the cross, the three fin- gers placed on the forehead denote, that the three persons in the sacred QodhcAd reside in the kingdom of heaven : when brought below the breast, thejr point out four srent mysteries at once, vii. Christ's incarnation, crucifixion, burial, and descent into hell. When placed on the right shoulder, they imply that Jesus Christ being risen, sits at the right hand of God. In short, as the left shoulder is a type, or figure of the reproba- tion of the wicked, the Greek devotee, by placing his three fingers there, bees of God, that he may not m reckoned amonest the number of those abandoned wretches ; but be de- livered from the power of the devil. The whole devotion of the Greeks is comprised in the sign of the cross, and the collection of prayerd, commonly called the Horologiun, which are much tne same as the Hours of the Latint. By this Horolo^ium, U is manifest that they pray to the saints and the Virgin Mary. The latter is therein called the mother of Ood, the Queen of the Universe, and the Glory of the Orthodox. In one rarticular prayer of the noc- turnal service they implore the Blessed Virgm to frustrate the counsels of the ungodly, to fight for their rightful sove- reign, and intercede for the peace and tranquillity of the whole world, &c. It is remarkable, that their women, in some certain cases, are not allowed to enter their churches ; but are obliged to stand at the door, as if their breath were infectious, and they never presume either to approach the communion table, or kiss their images. The Greeks celebrate mass, which consists of a round of ceremonies, somewhat similar to those of the Catholic mass. Mata. "^^^ '^''^y* '^^ ^'®" *^ ^^^ clergy, however, among the Greeks, trfke the sacrament in both kinds, and receive from the hands of the priest the consecrated bread and wine in the same spoon, which the Greeks call Labis. The laity receive the sacrament standing at jthe door of the sanctuary ; the men first, and then the women. Those who presume to partake of this holy banquet must stand in a modest and reverential posture ; their eyes must be fixed on the ground, their head bowed down, as persons in the act of adoration, and their arms must be laid across. The Greeks follow the example of the Catholics, carry the communidn to the sick, but with less pomp or grandeur, it being contained in a little box, enclosed in a bag which the priest bears under 1^1 ORKIK OlIVRON PROPKR. 17V , \ hiiarni. Thii is a small parcel or portion of th« blessed bread, which they also carry to those whose business confines thorn at home. The bishop of Vabres says, that they take a small portion of consecrated bread, about an inch square, cut in tli»; form ol u cross and sprinkled with a little blood, (that iti, transubstantiated wine,) and administer it to the sick, aAer having moistened it with n little water, or a Uttle wine, and this is their viaticum which they give to sick and dying persons. It is a custom amongst the Greeks, when the foundation of any church is to be laid, for the patriarch or bishop, dressell in all his pontifical robes, to repair to the place, churcliet. and to bless it in the following manner. He thu* rifles or incenses every individual part of the whole founda* tion; durinsf which ceremony, the clergy sing anthems in honour to the particular saint to whom the church is to be devoted. As soon as ho arrives at the place appointed for the high altar, he savs a prayer, in which he begs that the Lord would be pleosea to bless and prosper the intended edifice. Afler that, the bishop who consecrates it takes a stone, makes a cross with it, and lays it on the foundation, saying, The Lord hath laid the foundation of this house ; it shall never be sha- Jcen. This omce properly belongs to the bishop, or such other person as the patriarch shall think fit to nominate or appoint ; as well as another office which the Greeks call Stauropegium, i. e. the consecration or dedication of the church. A wooden cross is erected behind the communion-table, and in order the better to certify and assure the feithful, that this cross will be able to dispel and keep the infernal powers at a distance, a particular prayer is repeated, in whicjn the miraculous rod of Moses is said to be an antecedent type of that of our Lord Je- sus Christ ; as the cross at the consecration is its subsequent figure or representation. When the Greeks lay the foundation of any edifice, the priest blesses both the work and the workmen ; and as soon as the priest has retired, the following ceremony is observed: the labourers kill a cock or a sheep, and bury the blood of it under the foundation-stone, they being of opinion, that there is a kind of magic or charm in this ceremony, of singular service and importance to the building. This ceremony is called Thusia, that is, sacrifice. There is, however, a still more remarkable ceremony preva- lent amongst the Greeks, and which may be adduced as a strong proof of the gross superstition in which they are un- happily immersed. When they entertain any resentment \ • t GREEK CHURCH PROPER. against a particular person, in order to satisfy their malice and revenge, they take an exact measure of the height and circum- ference of his body. This measure they carry to one of the workmen employed in laying the foundation of an edifice, who, for a small gratuity, buries it under one of the first stones. They flatter themselves, that their enemy will die soon after, or languish and fall away by degrees, in the same manner as this secret instrument of their revenge perishes and decays. The churches of Constantinople are generally built in the form of the Greek cross, that is, an equilateral square. The choir always fronts the east. Some ancient churches, which are still extant, have two naves, either sharp roofed, or vaulted; and their steeples, which are not of the least service, there being no bells in them, are erected in the middle of the two roofs. The Greeks are prohibited by the Turks from making use of bells, alleging, that the sound of them interrupts and disturbs the repose of departed souls. The Greeks have four solemn feasts, or Lents. The first commences on the 15th of November, or forty days before Christmas. The second is our Lent, which im- Fasts and mediately precedes Easter, which they keep es iva s. according to the old style, the Eastern Christians not having admitted the Gregorian Reformation of the Ca- lendar. Their third is distinguished by the title of the Fast of the Holy Apostles, which they observe upon the suppo- sition, that the apostles then prepared themselves by prayer and iksting for the promulgation of the Gospel. This fast commences the week after Whit-Sunday, and continues till the festival of St. Peter and St. Paul. The number of days therefore comprised in this Lent is not settled nor determined; but consists of more or less, according as Whit-Sunday falls sooner or later. Their fourth fast commences the first of August, and lasts only until the 15th. It is by this fast, that they prepare themselves for the celebration of the festival, called, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. This fast is observed so strictly, that the Greek monks are not allowed to touch one drop of oil during the continuance of it ; and it is looked upon as a duty incumbent on all persons in general, except on the sixth of August, which is the festival of the Transfiguration, at which time they are indulged in the eat- ing both of oil and fish ; but on the following day they are obliged to observe the same rules of abstinence as were before prescribed to them. The Greeks testify a peculiar veneration for the Blessed Virgin ; and the expressions which they make use of in the GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 179 prayers particularly addressed to her, are excessively extra- vagant, and border strongly upon the ridiculous. It is the custom of the most zealous devotees to dedicate to her after their meals a small piece of bread, which they cut in a triangular form, and, after thurification, elevate it to her honour. To these four general fasts must be added, that of the 28th of August, in commemoration of the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist. They prepare themselves by a fourteen days fast for the festival, of the Exaltation of the Cross ; during which time the monks preach, and endeavour to affect the peo- ple with a long and pathetic history of our Saviour's Passion : few, however, excepting the monks, observe the latter fast ; they being the persons who peculiarly devote themselves to ex- ercises of devotion, and the mortification of the flesh ; accord- ingly, they not only abstain from all flesh, butter, cheese, and milk ; but from all fish that have either shells, fins, or blood. They are allowed, however, to eat any kind of fish, during that Lent which begins the 15th of November ; as well as on their ordinary fast-days of Wednesdays and Fridays ; which days are in general fast-days throughout the year, except a few particular ones, and amongst the rest, those m the eleventh week before Easter, which they call Artzeburst, which, in the Armenian language, signifies messenger ; and the cause of this exception is at once curious and entertaining. A fa- vourite dog, that served in the capacity of carrier or mes- senger to some particular heretics, having died, they imme- diately accused the orthodox with being the contrivers and promoters of his death ; and in commemoration of the good ser- vices of the dog, and as a public testimony of their unfeigned sorrow at his untimely end, the heretics set apart two days of this eleventh week to be observed as a fast. These two days were Wednesday and Friday, and the orthodox were absolved by the Greek church from fasting on those two days, lest they should act in conformity to an erroneous practice, esta- blished by the heretics. The Greeks likewise abstain from all kind of meats on Whitsun-Monday ; on which day the people repair to church early in the morning, in order to pray to God for that communication of the Holy Ghost, which he formerly conferred on the blessed apostles. On the 25th of March, which is the festival of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, they are allowed to eat what fish they please, notwithstanding tnis holy day falls in Lent. They are permitted likewise to eat meat from Christmas till the Epiphany, or Festival of the Three Kings, not excluding 8 ■r^; 180 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. Wednesdays and Fridays, which, amongst the Greeks, are accounted fast days throughout the whole year. The Greeks select Wednesday, because Judas on .that day took the nine pieces of silver to betray his Master ; and Friday, on account of Christ's Passion, Lent with the Greeks commences on a Monday, and their strict observance of all their fasts can only be equalled by their superstition. They look upon those persons, who, Avith- out an absolute necessity, violate the laws of abstinence, and, consequently, the constitutions of their church, to be as infamous and as criminal, in all respects, as those who are guilty of theft or adultery. They entertain such an ex- alted and extravagant idea of these fasts, that they imagine Christianity cannot possibly subsist without them, and they hesitate not to suspect the sincerity of those professors who presume to neglect or infringe the strict observance of them. This partial and more than common regard for fasts, induces the Eastern nations to believe that the Protestant Churches are all heterodox, as they observe no days of penance ; to which may be added their total want of a profound veneration for the sign of the cross. The Greeks are so superstitious and extravagant in the observance of their fasts, that they will not admit of any cases of sufficient urgency to justify the grant of any dispensations ; and the patriarch himself, according to their ideas, cannot authorize nor empower any person to eat meat, when the church has enjoined the contrary. They think it their duty rather to let a sick man die, than restore him to health, if they could, by such an abominable prescription as a mess of broth ; it is true, nevertheless, that a father confessor will sometimes, when he entertains a particular love and respect for a person that is indisposed, order and advise him to eat meat, and pro- mise him his absolution from the sin, upon his coming to confession. Upon a general computation, there are only about one hundred and thirty days in the year on which meat \ii allowed ; and neither old nor young, sick nor weak, are excused from the strict observance of all their fasts. In regard to their feasts, Easter is accounted by the Greek church the most solemn festival in the year. It is customary for them at this time, upon meeting with their friends, to greet them with this formal salutation, Jesus Christ is risen from the dead ; to which the person accosted replies. He is risen indeed ; at the same time, they kiss each other three times, once on each cheek, and once upon their lips, and then part This ceremony is observed on Good Friday, Easter- GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 181 Greek tomary nds, to riser* He is three nd then Easter- s t Sunday, and the three subsequent days ; and every week till % Whitsuntide. According to some historians, two priests on Good Friday, in order to commemorate the sacred sepulchre, carry in procession at night upon their shoulders, the picture or re- presentation of a tomb, in which the crucified Jesus, painted on a board, is deposited. On Easter Sunday, this sepulchre is carried out of the church, and exposed to the public view ; when the priest begins to sing, Jesus Christ is risen from the dead ; he has triumphed over death, and given life to all such as were laid in their graves. After which, it is carried back to the church, and there thurified or incensed, and the service is continued. The priest and the congregation repeat almost every moment this form of words, Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. In the next place, the celebrant, or officiating priest, makes three signs of the cross, kisses the Gospel, and the image of Jesus Christ. Then the picture is turned on the other side, on which Jesus Christ is represented as rising out of his sepulchre. The priest kisses it, and in a more elevated strain pronounces the same form, Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. The whole congregation embrace arid make their peace with each other, and in their transports of joy at the sight of this rough sketch of the resurrection, fire their pistols, which frequently singe the hair and beards of the reverend Pappas. The ceremony concludes with the benediction pro- nounced by the officiating priest. The women observe much the same ceremony amongst themselves, in that part of the church which is appropriated to their peculiar service, with the exception of the firing of the pistols. On Holy Thursday, some of the most zealous bishops wash the feet of twelve priests, and the following is a description of this solemnity. Twelve of the most venerable priests attend the archbishop to church, where he is dressed in a purple robe. As soon as one part of the service is concluded, he enters into the sanctuary, divests himself of his purple vestment, and puts on another of much greater pomp and splendour. The ' Eriests, who in this ceremony represent ilie twelve apostles, ave each of them a robe of a different colour. The eldest and most venerable father is selected to personate St. Peter, and takes the first place on the right hand. One of them, who is obliged to have a red beard, in order to render the ceremony more lively and natural, has the misfortuneto supply the place of Judas. All these priests being thus regularly placed, the prelate goes out to change his habiliments, and returns with a napkin tied round his waist, and a basin of water in his hand to wash the feet of these twelve apostles. 16 182 GREEK OHVROH PROPER. He who personates St. Peter, refuses at first the honour in^ tended him, saying, Master, thou shall never wash my feet. But the prelate answers him, Unless I wash thee, thou shall have no part in me. Upon which, the priest makes no further resistance, but permits him to wash his feet. When the prelate comes to the unhappy representative of Judas, he makes a kind of pause, as if to give him time to recollect himself, but at last washes his feet also ; and the ceremony closes with several anthems. On the 2d of September, the monks alone celebrate the fes- tival of St. John the Baptist, whom they have dignified with the character of temperate and abstemious, as setting the first glorious example of fasting. The 26th is consecrated in commemoration of St. John the Evangelist, of whom it is a received notion amongst the Greeks, that he was snatched up to heaven like Enoch and Elias. According to Christopher Angelus, there are six-and-thirty solemn festivals in the Greek calendar, twelve of which are devoted to the honour and service of the Lord Jesus, and the Blessed Virgin ; the remaining twenty-four are appropriat<;d to St. John the Baptist, the Apostles, and the Holy Martyrs. The first sacrament of the Greek Church is that of bap- tism, and the Greeks take care to bring their children as soon „ . as they are eight days old, to the church door. *P >' • This religious custom is very ancient amongst them, and may be regarded as an imitation, or subsequent figure, of the presentation of Jesus Christ in the temple of Je- rusalem. If an infant, however, be in any apparent danger of death, he is baptized immediately, for fear he should die in darkness, or as they express it, out of the light. The priest goes to the church door, in order to receive the infant, and to give him his benediction, as St. Simon formerly did to our blessed Saviour. At the same time he marks him with the sign of the cross on his forehead, his mouth, and his breast. These are the preliminary ceremonies to the sacrament of Baptism, and are styled, putting the seal upon an infant. The initial ceremony is followed by a prayer rep^ed by the priest; afler which he takes the infant and raises nim in his arms, either before the church door, or the image of the bless- ed Virgin, making several signs of the cross upon him. This baptism is performed by a threefold immersion ; but before he administers this sacrament, the priest breathes three times on'the in&nt, which is looked upon as an exorcism, and deliverance from the power and malice of the devil ; afterwards he plunges him three times all over in the baptismal font, and at eacii ORERK CHURCH PROPER. 183 he Tthe nee iges ach immersion names one of the three personages of the sacred Trinity. The relations, who bring • the child to be baptized, take care to have the baptismal water warmed, throwing into it a collection of the most odoriferous flowers ; and whilst the water is warming the priest sanctifies it by a prayer, breathes upon it, and then pours oil into it, and, with the same oil, anoints the infant in the form of a cross. The oil is a symbol or fispure of man's reconciliation with his Maker, and this unction is performed by the priest upon the child's forehead and breast, all round about his ears, and upon his loins, du- ring which he pronounces the following forms of words, in anointing the forehead. The servant of the Lord is anointed; in anointmg his breast, For the cure of his soul and body ; and at the unction of his cars he adds, that the faith may be received by hearing. After the last prayer in the office of baptism, the mfant is confirmed by the priest, who, on applying the chrism, in the form of a cross, to the forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, breast, hands, and feet of the infant, says. Behold the seal of the gift of the Holy Ghost. Seven days after baptism, the infant is brought to church in order to be washed. The priest, pronouncing the prayers directed in their ritual, not only washes the infant's shirt, but cleans his body with a new sponge, or a linen cloth prepared for that purpose, and dismisses him with the following words. Thou, art now baptised, surrounded vnth a celestial light, for' tijied with the Sacrament of Confirmation, and sanctified and iBashed in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Excommunication excludes the offender from the pale of the Church ; deprives him of all communion with the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; cuts him off from all communion with the three hundred and eighteen fathers of the first council of Nice, and with the saints; con- signs him over to the devil and the traitor Judas; and, in short, condemns his body to remain after death as hard as a flint or a piece of steel, unless he humbles himself, and makes atone- ment for his sins by a sincere repentance. The whole form of excommunication abounds with the most direful impreca- tions ; and if it does not absolutely deprive the delinquent of the enjoyment of the four elements, it calls down more curses on his head than are requisite to render that enjoyment insup- portable. It even prohibits his interment after his decease j and the awful apprehension of such appalling misfortunes contributes very much, beyond all doubt, towards imprintinsron Excommu- nication. 184 ORIBK CHUSCH ritOPER. the minds of the Greeks a lively sense of their duty ; to which may be added, their belief respecting those excommunicated persons, who die in impenitence, that their bodies will never dissolve nor moulder away, until such excommunication be taken ofT The devil, according to a received notion amongst the Greeks, enters into their lifeless corses, and makes them subservient to his wayward will and pleasure. The particular ceremonies and preliminaries of the mar- riage rites of the Greeks are as singular and remarkable as ^ those of other countries, and we shall, in the first arriage. pj^gg^ describe those which may, with propriety, be termed religious. In the office of matrimony there is a Erayer for the bride, who is to be muffled up either in a veil, or a ood. Those who are inclined to be jomed together in the bands of wedlock, make their applications to the priest as soon as mass is over for the solemnization of their nuptials. The bridegroom stands on the right hand, and the bride on the lefl. Two rings, one gold, the other silver, are deposited near to each other on the right side of the communion tabic, the latter pointing to the right hand, and the former to the left. The priest who performs the ceremony, makes several crosses upon the bride and bridegroom; puts lighted wax-tapers in their hands, thurifies, or incenses them, in the form of a cross, and accompanies them to the temple. The choir and the deacon pray alternately that the bridegroom and the bride may pros- per in all their undertakings, and be blessed with a numeious, and hopeful issue. When these prayers are over, the priest gives the gold ring to the bridegroom, and the silver one to his spouse, saying three times successively, I join (or I tie) N. and N. these servants of the Almighty here present, in the Name of the Father, &c. Having pronounced this form ot words, he makes the sign of the cross with the rings over their heads, before he puts them on the proper finger of the right hand. Then iii»e paranymph, or brideman, exchanges these two rings and the priest reads a long prayer, in which the virtue and dignity of the nuptial ring are typically compared to Josephs ring, and that of Daniel, and of Thamar. While the bride and bridegroom are crowned, the same priest accompanies the ceremony with several benedictions, and other emphatical prayers, which being completed, the bridegroom and his spouse enter the church with their wax- tapers lighted in their hands ; tlK' |. iest marches in procession before them, with his incense-pot, singing, as he proceeds, the 128th Psalm, which consists of a promise to the faithful Jew» of a prosperous and fruitful marriage. At the close of every GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 185 vrayers beinc^ concluded, the priest places the crown on the bridegroom's head, saying, This man, the servant of the Lord, is crowned, in order to be married to this woman, &c. After which, he crowns the bride, and repeats the same form, which is followed by a triple benediction, the proper lessons, and prayers. The priest, in the next place, presents the bridegroom and the bride with a goblet, or large glass, full of wine, ready blest for that purpose ; after which, he lakes offtheir crowns. Another prayer, accompanied with a proper benediction, and several compliments paid to the newly mar- ried couple, conclude the solemnity. The observance of the following particular customs is looked upon amongst the Greeks as an indispensable obliga- tion, and, in short, a fundamental article of their religion. If a priest, after the decease of his first wife, marries again, he forfeits his title to the priesthood, and is looked upon as a lay- man. If a layman marries a fourth wife, he is excluded from all communion with the Church. When a man has buried his third wife, there is no medium for him ; he must either continue a lay-widower, or enter himself a member of some convent. The general reason assigned for this severe pro- hibition, is, that fourth marriages are absolute polygamy. The Greeks do not entertain the same idea of three subsequent marriages, because, by a most refined subterfuge and evasion, which is scarcely intelligible, they insist that polygamy consists of two copulatives, and that three marriages consist but of one plurality, and a unity. A much better reason for it is, however, assigned by Ricaut, which is, that this custom of the modern Greeks is grounded on the rigour of the ancient church, which checked and censured (in all probability too austerely) all those who indulged themselves in any sensual enjoyments. Some of the primitive fathers were so strict, as not to make allowance for the natural constitution of man and the climate in which he lived, nor would they admit of any other circumstance, as a sufficient plea for indulgence. The following are some preliminary marriage-ceremonies, observed by the Greeks at Athens. The young virgins never stir out of their houses before their wedding-day, and their gallants make love by proxy, or a third person, who has free access to them, and is some relation or particular acquaintance, in whose fidelity and friendship they can properly confide. The lover does not therefore so much as see his intended brid<» IG* 186 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. till the day appointed for the solemnization of their nuptials. On that day, the hride is handed about in public for a long time, moving in a very slow and solemn pace. The proces- sion between the church and the bridegroom's house occupies at least two hours, and is preceded by a select band of haut- boys, tabors, and other musical instruments. During this ce- remony and the procession, the young virgins carry a large crown on their heads, composed of filigree work, decked with costly pearls, which is so cumbrous and troublesome, that they are obliged to walk as upright as an arrow. This public wedding would be looked upon with an eye of contempt if the parties were not painted, or rather daubed, over in a very rude and inelegant manner. A striking difference exists between the Greeks and the Latins, in regard to the manner of administering the extreme unction, and there are several ceremonies which don!^^™*' ' b^^o"? peculiarly to the two unctions of the Greeks. The archbishop, or, in his absence, the bishop, consecrates, on Wednesday in holy week, the oil of unction for the whole year; and on Maundy-Thursday, the patriarch, or bishop, administers the unction publicly to all the faithful. The prelate is anointed first by the (Economist, after which he himself anoints the whole congregation. The other circumstances relating to the unction and ex- treme unction of the Greeks, which are peculiar to themselves, are, that the priest, after he has dipped his cotton, which is fastened to the end of a stick, into the sacred oils, anoints the penitent, or the sick person, in the form of a cross, upon the forehead, chin, cheeks, the upper side, and palms of the hands. After which he pronounces a short prayer. The seven assisting priests anoint all the sick persons, one after another. The principal lays the gospel upon his head, v. iiilst the others lay their hands upon him. The difl^erences which have been observed between the unction of the Latins and that of the Greeks, consist in, that by the laws of the Latin Church one person alone may administer the Sacrament of extrcvie unction; whereas tho administration of it, in the opinion of the Greeks, is irregular unless three at least assist at the celebration of it. By the Latin ritual, the bishop only has authority to consecrate the oil ; but the Grecian priests, as well as their prelates, are invested with that power. Independently of the parts of the body of their sick, which are differently anointed, it is cus- tomary with the Greeks to anoint their houses also, and to imprint upon them at the same time several sign? of the cross s tl tl C( tc GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 187 'he fttT iiilst the are the cus- to ross On the decease of any person, the w^'ile family appear like 80 rnany actors at the representation « t deep tragedy ; all are in tears, and at the same time utter forth the most dismal groans. The body of the deceased, lemnuSs. whether male or female, is dressed in its best appa- rel, and aderwards extended upon a bier, witn one wax taper at the head, and another at the feet. The wife, if the husband be the object of their sorrow, the children, servants, relations, and acquaintance, enter the apartment in which the deceased is thus laid out, with their clothes rent, tearing their hair, beat- ing their breast, and disfiguring their faces with their nails. When the body of the deceased is completely dressed, and decently extended on the bier, for the regular performance of his last obsequies, and the hour is arrived for his interment, the crucifix is carried in procession at the head of the funeral train. The priests and deacons who accompany them, reci- ting the prayers appointed by the church, burn incense, and * implore the EHvine Majesty to receive the soul of the deceased into his heavenly mansions. The wife follows his dear re- mains, drowned in a flood of tears, and so disconsolate that, if we might form a judgment from her tears, and the excess of her cries and lamentations, one would imagine she would in- stantly set her soul at liberty to fly after, and overtake her husband's. There are some women, however, to be met with, who have no taste for these extravagant testimonies of their grief and anguish, and yet their mourning is not less solemn than that of their neighbours. It is rather singular that the Greeks have women who are mourners by profession, who weep in the widow's stead for a certain sum •, and by frequent practice of their art, can represent to the life all the violent emotions and gesticulations that naturally result from the most pungent and unfeigned sorrow. *. As soon as the funeral service is over, they kiss the crucifix, and afterwards salute the mouth and forehead of the deceased. After that, each of them eats a small of bit of bread, and drinks a glass of wine in the church, wishing the soul of the deceased a good repose, and the afflicted family all the conso- lation they can wish for. A widow who has lost her hus- band, a child who has lost his father or mother, in short all persons who are in deep mourning, dress no victuals at their own houses. The friends and relations of the deceased send them in provisions for the first eight days ; at the end of which (they pay the disconsolate family a charitable visit, in order to condole with, and comfort them under their unhappy loss, and to wait on them to the church, where prayers are read for the 188 OREKK CHURCH PROPER. repose of the soul of the deceased. The men again eat and drink in the church, whilst the women renew their cries anil iamentations. But those who can afTord to hire professed mourners, never undergo this second fatigue, but substitute proper persons in their stead, to weep over their husbands' tombs three days after their interment ; at which time prayers are always read for the repose of his soul. After the ninth day, masses and prayers are again read upon the same occa- sion, which are repeated at the expiration of forty days ; as also, at the close of six months, and on the last day of the year. After the ceremony is concluded, they make their friends a present of some corn, boiled rice, wme, and some sweetmeats. This custom, which is generally called by the Greeks, Ta Spcrna, is looked upon by them as very ancient. They renew it with increased solemnity and devotion, on the Friday immediately preceding their Lent, that before Christ- mas, on Good Friday, and the Friday before Whitsuntide; which days the Greek Church havt devoted to the service of the dead, not only of those who ha'e departed this life ac- cording to the common course of nature, but those likewise who have unfortunately met with a sudden and untimely death. There is no mass said for the dead on the days of their in- terment ; but forty are said in every parish on the following day, at seven-pence per mass. As soon as they arrive in the church, the priests red aloud the service for the dead, whilst a young clerk repeats ^ome particular Psalms of David at the foot of the bier. When the service is concluded, twelve loaves, and as many bottles of wine are, distributed amongst the poor at the church door. Every priest has ten gazettas, or Vene- tian pence, and the bishop who accompanies the corpse, three half crowns. The grand vicar, treasurer, and keeper of the archives, wW are next to the prelate in point of dignity, have three crowns, or a double fee. After this distribution, one of the priests lays a large piece of broken pot upon the breast of the deceased, on which a cross, and the usual characters I. N. B. T., being the initials of four Greek Avords, signifying Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, are engraved with the point of a penknife, or some other tool or instrument proper for that occasion. After that they withdraw and take their leave of the deceased. The relations kiss the lips; and this is looked upon as a duty so very imperative, that the neglect of it cannot be dispensed Avith, although the person died of the most infec- tious uistemper. Nine days afterwards, the colyva, is sent to church ; which I OREEK CHURCH PKOPtR. W according to the Greeks, ia a large dish of boiled whra ar- nished with blanched almonds, raisins, pomegranates, ^*- ne, and strewed round with sweet basil, and other odoti/' "^ herbs. The middle of the dish is raised in a pyramidicai form, adorned at top with a large bunch of Venetian artificial flowers ; large lumps of sugar, or dried sweetmeats, are ranged, like Maltese crosses, all round the borders ; and this is what the Greeks call the oblation of the colyva, which is established amongst them, in order that the true believer may commemorate the resurrection of the dead, according to those words of our blessed Saviour, recorded in St. John. — Except a grain of wheal fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone : but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. It must be ac- knowledged that true piety and devotion have contributed very much towards the establishment of this kind of ccrremony; but it must be also allowed, that by a kind of fatality, which too frequently attends the most pious institutions, this, as well as other ceremonies of a similar nature, has degenerated into su- perstition. It is worthy of remark that this ceremony of the Grecian colyva, which is peculiar to their funeral solemnities, their ninth day's devotion, their quarantains, their anniversa- ries, and the days appointed for the commemoration of their dead, is also observed on their most solemn festivals. The comfitSr or sweetmeats, and other fruits, are added merely to render their boiled wheat a little more palatable. The sexton, or grave-digger, carries this dish of colyva upon his head, preceded bjr an attendant with two large flambeaux made of wood and gilt, embellished with several rows of larg^i ribands, and edged with lace, six inches deep. This grave-digger is followed by three other attendants, or waiters, one with two large bottles of wine in his hands, another loaded with two baskets full of fruits, and the third carrying a Turkish carpet, which is to be spread over the tomb of the deceased, and made use of as a table-cloth for their colyva, and their funeral enter- tainment. The priest reads the service of the dead, during the time that this customary oblation is carried to church, and he is af- terwards complimented with a large proportion of it : wine is abundantly served to every person of tolerable credit or re- pute, and the remainder is distributed amongst the poor. As soon as the oblation is carried out of doors, the hired mourn- ers repeat their hideous outcrys, the same as on the day of the interment, and the relations, friends, and acquaintance, like- wise express their sorrow by a thousand ridiculous grimaces. The whole recompense which the hired mourners receive for 100 ORBEK CHURCH rROFBR. their flood of tears, is five loavcM, two quarta of wine, half u cheese, a quarter of mutton, and fifteen pence in money. The relations are obliged, consistently with tne custom of some par* ticular places, to pay several visits to the tomb of the deceased, to weep over it, and, as an incontestable testimony of their un< feigned sorrow, they never change their clothes during the time of their mournmg; the husbands never shave themselves, and the widows suflTer themselves to bo overrun with vermin. In some particular islands, the natives mourn constantly at home, and the widowers and widows never go to church, nor frequent the sacraments, whilst they are in mourning. The bishops and priests are sometimes obliged to compel them to attend church, under pain of excommunication, of which the Greeks have a more awful apprehension than of fire and sword The idea which the Greeks entertain of purgatory, is very dark and confused, and in general they leave the decision of eternal salvation or condemnation to the day of judgment. They are at a loss to fix and determine the place where the souls of the deceased reside till the final day of resurrection, and in this state of incertitude, they never omit to pray for them, hoping that God, of his infinite goodness, will incline his ear to their supplications. The first, or lowest order of their priesthood is the lecturer, whose peculiar province is to read the sacred scriptures to the Order and people on solemn festivals', from this station he Ordination of IS gradually advanced, first to be a chorister or their Priests, chanter, then subdeacon, whose office it is at mass to sing the epistle ; and then he is ordained deacon, and sings the gospel. The last order is that of the priests, who are either seculars, or regulars. According to the orders in the pontifical, when a person is to be ordained a priest, two deacons accompany him to the xaered doors, and there deliver him into the hands of the Eriests. The protopapas, and he who is next in dignity to im, lead him three times round the altar, singing the hymn of the martyrs. The candidate for the priesthood then kneels down, and the ordinant makes three times over his head the sign of the cros.s, repeats the prayers adapted to that particular occasion, and lays his hands upon him. In one of the prayers in particular, the ordinant enumerates the principal mnctions of a priest ; viz. those of sacrificing, preacning the gospel, and administering the sacrament of baptism, &c. These prayers being concluded, he orders the new priest to rise, and puts the band of the horary, which hung down OntSR CUVRCB PlOrER. 101 behind, over his right shoulder. He then presents him with the epitracheliuin, or the stole; und the phclonium, or the surplicu; the choir singing during the whole of the time this ceremony is performing. A dcocon afterwords pronounces the following exhortation, Let us love one another. Then tho Patriarch kisses tho ahar; and each priest approaches the Rucred table, in regular order, according to his rank and digni* ty, and not only kisses it, but also the patriarch's hand, which lies upon it, and then his cheek. The priests fialute each other, ond the deacons follow their exomplc. The priests wear a white woollen fillet behind their hats or caps, which hangs down upon their shoulders, and is called " peristera," that is to say, a dove ; and is looked upon as nn emblem or figure of the innocence and purity of tne priest- hood. The bishop moves this dove from any priest under his jurisdiction, who is proved guilty of any enormous ofl^ence , and the majority of them are so notoriously vicious, that very few can boast of wearing this badge of innocence for any long period of time. At the ordination of a bishop, the priests delivt r him into the hands of two prelates, who oblige him to make a formai procession round the altar, as in the preceding ordinations. After these preliminary ceremonies, the chartophylax, or archivist, delivers the contacium, which is n small collection of degrees, forms, &c. relating to the election of a bishop, to the patriarch, who takes it in his left hand, and lays his right on»tne candidate for the bishopric, in order to read the form of his election ; after this lesson, he opens the book of the gospels, and lays it on the head of the candidate, all the assist- ing bishops laying their hands on the book at the same time: all these ceremonies are accompani'jd with several prayers which are suitable to the solemn occasion. The prayers being over, the ordinant takes the book from the head of the bishop elect, and having deposited it on the altar, presents him with the pallium: this ceremony is ac- companied with singing and with holy kisses. The Greeks are, in general, an ignorant and superstitious people. Amongst their superstitious customs, the Superstitious following may be included as some of the most Customs, e.xtraordinary : — They attach a particular sanct',^ to some fountains, which they look upon as miraculous »vaters, especially when they are devoted to the service of any celebrated saint. This su- perstitious iioiion appears to be a true copy of a pagan ori ginal. iffil GREEK CUVRCH PROPER. They think it a duty incumbent upon them to refrain from blood, and all meats that have been strangled ; but notwith- standing this scruple of conscience, they are not very nice in regard to the kina of provisions which are set before them. If they be strict, however, in the observance of this custom, they are in that respect very nearly allied to the Jews. They call the Nile the Monarch of the Floods; and are of opinion, that the overflowing of this river is a peculiar bless- ing, and an indulgence of the Almighty to Egypt, on account of our Saviour and the blessed Virgin having been sheltered and protected in that country from the persecutions of Herod. Their art of physic, which is generally practised by empi- rics and ignorant pretenders, is accompanied by innumerable superstitions. The following may be adduced as a striking instance of the extent of their medical knowledge. When their patients' heads are so very much disordered as to cause delirium, they use the same means for their recovery as with a demoniac, or one possessed with the devil. The physician in this case ceases to prescribe for him ; but his friends make an immediate application to an exorcist ; that is, to one of their papas, who approaches the patient's bed-side, and not only reads several prayers over him, but sprinkles him with holy water. He pours likewise a plentiful quantity of it into the bed in which the patient lies, and, in short, sprinkles the room all over. The exorcisms ensue, and the papas in the most solemn manner, expel the imaginary demons. Conceit efl!ects a cure which was supposed to be beyond the skill of the most able physician. The Greeks are extremely fond of visiting their churches and chapels, especially such as are on precipices, and places very difficult of access ; and, indeed, the principal part of their devotion consists in voluntary fatigues, which is, in their eyes, a kind of mortification of the flesh. On their first arri- val at the church or chapel, they repeatedly cross themselves, and make a thousand genuflexions and profound bows. They kiss the image which is erected in it, and present it with three or four grains of the choicest frankincense ; recommending themselves to the protection of the blessed Virgin, or to the saint whom the image represents ; but in case the saint does not incline his ear, and hearken to their vows, they soon make him sensible of their resentment. One of the greatest frauds engendered by superstition, is the urn of Amorgos, which is looked upon as the oracle of the Archipelago. It has this in common with the ancient oracles of Greece, that it is indebted to the artifice and roguery of the GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 193 priests for the fame of its predictions. This urn, which stands near a chapel consecrated to St. George, fills and disembogues itself several times in the course of a day, and sometimes with- in so small a period as half an hour, which is looked upon as a miracle, and ascribed to the prevailing influence and power of St. George. This is the very same St. George, who, at Scyros, flies at and seizes upon those impious persons who neglect to perform their vows. His image, according to tra- ditionary report, lays violent hands on the delinquents, jumps upon their shoulders, and gives them many severe blows on the head and back, till they have discharged the duty incum- bent on them. They see him sailing in the air, and frisking about from one place to another, till at last he settles upon the back of a blind monk, who carries him he knows not whither. Those who consult the urn of Amorgos before they engage in any affair of the last importance, are sure to prove unsuccess- ful if, upon their first approach, they find the water lower than ordinary. Father Richard assures us, that the islanders annually, at Easter, consult this urn of Amorgos, which, from its fulness or emptiness, presages a plentiful or a bad harvest. There is a very particular custom observed in the island of Andros, the origin of which, however, has hitherto baffled the most rigid inquiry. At the procession on the festival of Cor- pus Christi, the bishop of the Romish Church, who carries the body of our blessed Saviour, tramples under foot all the Christians, of whatever sect they may be, who lie prostrate before liim in the streets. The same custom is observed at Naxos, and the missionary who relates the story adds, that such as have any sick persons in their family, bring them out, in order to lie in the way of the blessed Sacrament ; and the more they are trodden, the nearer they approach to convales- cence. The inhabitants of some parts of the island of Chios, are of opinion that a corpse, which is not corrupted in forty days, is transformed into a familiar spirit, or hobgoblin, which is very troublesome and impertinent, knocks at people's doors, and even calls them distinctly by their names. If any person presumes to answer to his call, they think he will most assu- redly die in two or three days at furthest. At Nicaria, near Samos, the inhabitants, who are all swim- mers, will not marry their daughters to any but such young fellows who can dive eight fathoms deep at least. They are obliged to produce a certificate of their diving ability, and when a papa, or some substantial islander, is determined to dispose of his daughter in marriage, he appoints a day, when 17 194 eREEK CHURCH PROrER. the best swimmer is to bear away the prize. As soon as the candidates are all stripped naked, the young lady makes her personal appearance, and in they jump. He who continues longest under water is the fortunate bridegroom. The Greeks of the Holy Land assert, and firmly believe it to be a real fact, that the birds which fly round about Jerusa- lem, never sing during passion week ; but stand motionless and confounded almost all the time, testifying a sympathetic sorrow and compassion for the suflferings of our Saviour. The sacred fire of the Greeks is a ceremony more super- stitious than religious, a whimsical, merry custom, which is very justly a stumbling block and rock of oflence to several serious Mahometans, instilling into their minds a most con- temptible idea of the eastern Christians. In short, it is nothing but a piece of priestcraft, to cheat the too credulous pilgrims out of their money, by making them believe that, on Easter- eve, a fire descends from Heaven into the sacred sepulchre. The Turks are no strangers to this pious fraud, but connive at it, because it is very advantageous to them ; and the patri- archs on their part declare that they could never pay their taxes, nor their tributes, if this stratagem, however unbecoming the practice of a Christian, should be discovered and exposed. Thevenot has given us the following description of this religious farce. " About eight in the morning the Greeks extinguish all their lamps, and those in the sacred sepulchre. Then they run about starmg like persons distracted, bawling and making a hide- ous howling, without any regard or reverence to the sacred place. Every time they passed the holy sepulchre, they cried out, Eleysqn! that is, 'Have mercy upon us!* It was very di- verting to see them afterwards jump upon one another's backs, kicking one another's shins, and flogging each other on the shoulders with knotted cords. A whole crowd of them got together, ai^d taking up some of their comrades in their arms, ran for some time with them round the sepulchre, until at last they threw them down in the dirt, and laughed till they hal- looed again at their own unlucky gambols. Those, on the other hand, who had thus been made the laughing stocks of the crowd, ran in their turn after the others, in order to be equally mischievous, and to revenge themselves for the afirort which they had received ; in short, they all acted like a set of idle fools and merry-andrevvs. Every now and then they would lift up their eyes to Heaven, ana hold up their wax-ta- pers, with outstretched arms, as if they implored the Almighty to send down his celestial fire to light them. After this folly and extravagance had continued till about three o'clock in the GREEK CHUROH PROPER. I9B the evening, two archbishops, and two Greek bishops, dressed in their patriarchal robes and coifs, marched out of the choir, attendfed by the clergy, and began their procession round the sepulchre : the Armenians likewise attended, with their clergy, followed by the Coptan bishop. After they had taken three solemn tours around the sepulchre, a Greek bishop came out of the Chapel of the Angel, which is at the entrance of the sepulchre, and informed the individual ivho personated the Patriarch of Jerusalem, that the sacred are had descended from heaven. He then entered the Holy Sepulchre with a large bundle of wax-tapers in each hand, and after nim the prelate, who represented the Armenian Pa- iriarch, and the bishop of the Copti. Some short time after- wards, the Greek archbishop came out in a very whimsical posture, marching with his eyes cast upon the ground, and both his hands full of lighted wax-tapers. As soon as he ap- peared, the mob crowded upon one another's shoulders, each pressed forwards, kicking one, and boxing another, to reach the prelate, for the purpose of lighting his taper by that which he neid in his hand ; because that fire which comes imme- diately from his, is looked upon to be the purest and most holy. In the mean time the Janizaries, who were the guards of the sepulchre, dealt their blows indiscrimi- nately about them, to make room for the archbishop, who used his utmost endeavours to get clear of the crowd. At last he came to a stone altar, which stood before the door of the choir, and opposite that of the holy sepulchre. Im- mediately the populace flocked round about him for some of his sacred fire ; but those who had lighted their tapers, in their en- deavours to retreat, were overpowered by others, who very de- voutly struck them with their fists, and took away the fire that had cost them so much labour and fatigue to procure : in short the gravest of them all threw down and trampled their neighbours under foot, to get close to the prelate. At last, the Greek archbishop withdrew, and the Armenian bishop re- tired to the church of the Armenians, and the Coptan bishop to that of the Copti. In the mean time, the Turks, who kept the door of the holy sepulchre, permitted none to enter but those who paid for lighting their wax tapers at the lamps of that sanctuary, as those lamps are the first that are touched by the sacred fire. In a few minutes after, the church was illuminated with above two thousand branches of blazing torches, Avhilst the numerous congregation, hootmg like madmen, began to repeat their former frolics. A man, with a drum at his back, ran with all imaginable speed round 196 eilEEK CHVnCH PROPER. the sacred aepulchre, and another ran after him, and drummed upon it with two sticks ; when he was tired, a third supplied his place. Devotion, or rather custom, enjoins the Greeks not to eat nor drink that day, till they have received the sacred fire." Some ascribe the origin of this superstition to a real mira- cle, which they pretend was formerly wrought in the presence of the whole congregation on Easter-eve, in the church be- longing to the holy sepulchre. The Almighty sent do',vn celestial flame into this divine monument, which kindled or lighted again all the lamps, which by the orders of the Church are extinguished in passion week, and thereby indulged them with new fire. Every one was an eye-witness of the descent of this new flame from heaven, which darted from one place to another, and kindled every lamp and taper that was extin- guished. It is added also, that the Almighty, being provoked at the irregularities and disorders of the Christian Crusades, refused to work this miracle one Easter-eve, when they were assembled together in the most solemn manner, to be spectators of the descent of his celestial fire ; but that at last, he vouchsafed to have mercy on them, and incline his ear to their fervent prayers, and repeated supplications. The descent of this holy fire continued for seven hundred and fifty years after the time of St. Jerome ; but since that period, it has, owing to some reason not easily defined, been wholly discon- tinued : the most probable conjecture is, that the whole fraud was discovered, and an end was consequently put to the enact- ment of this religious farce. This ceremony of the sacred fire, which is so whimsical and extravagant, and so unbecoming the practice of a Christ- ian, has introduced another superstitious custom very conform- able to its romantic original. In this same church of the Holy Sepulchre, there are some men and women, who have several pieces of linen cloth lying uefore them, which they mark from one end to the other with a cross, made by the tapers kindled at the sacred fire. Thus marked, they serve for the shrouds or winding sheets of these good devotees, and are reserved for that solemn purpose, as the most sacred relics. Amongst the superstitious customs of the Greeks, may be included the marks, which the pilgrims imprint upon their arms, and which they take care to produce as a certificate of their pilgrimage to Jerusalem. These marks are made with some particular wooden moulds, filled with charcoal-dust, and afterwards pressed hard upon the arm. As soon as the part is thus stamped, it is pricked with an instrument full of needles; It is then bound up, and a scurf or scab generally rises upon pe< Ri of I or,| th(j to suil •BccK cHvxcH pkopbr: i9r the place, which falls ofl' again in about two or three daya ; but the blue impression remains ever after. There is a stone still to be seen not far from Bethlehem, which is perfectly white, and which colovr we are told is owing to the extraordinary virtue of the Blessed Virgin's milk. The Greeks assure us, that this stone will infallibly fill a woman's breast with milk ; and even the Turks them- selves, and the Arabians, are so strongly rivctted to the same belief, that they oblige their wives, who have sucking infants at their breasts, to take a little of the powder of this stone infused in water, in order that the above-mentioned desirable effect may be produced. Mount Sinai, Mount Horeb, the frontiers of the Holy Land, the Holy Land itself, in short, all the countries from the Red Sea to Jerusalem, are, as it were, so many sources which have immemorially supplied the Greeks with fictions, and their bigots with superstition. Upon Mount Horeb the Greeks pretend to show the place in which the prophet Jeremiah concealed the tables of the law, and a particular stone, on which are several Hebrew characters, carved by the prophet himself According to this idea, they pay to this stone a superstitious homage, which consists of a number of prayers and innumerable signs of the cross, per- formed with the utmost hurry and precipitation, and conse- quently with very little zeal or devotion. The Greeks ascribe to the waters of Jordan, and almost all the fountains of the Holy Land, the supernatural virtue of healing several distempers. The plant generally known by the name of the Rose of Jericho, is in their opinion a sure defence against thunder and lightning, and a speedy relief for a woman in the time of her travail. A certain traveller, Morison, assures us, with an extraordinary air of piety and devotion, that this last quality is owing to the Blessed Virgin, of whom that vegetable is the figure or representation. SEC. II. RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES AND CUSTOMS OF THF RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. It is impossible perhaps to settle with any certainty at what period, or by whom, Christianity was first introduced into Russia. What we learn with most appearance Tntroduction of probability is, that the Grand Duchess Olga, pfChristianity or, as her name is pronounced, Olha, grandmo- ^^^° Russia, thorto Wladimir, was the first person of distinction converted to Christianity in Ruissin, about the year 955, and that she as- sumed the 'liimH of Helena,, at hiT conversion ; under which 198 RUSSIAN GREEK CIIVRCH. name she still stands as a saint in the Russian calendar. Me* thodius, and Cyril the philosopher, travelled from Greece iitn Moravia, about the year 900, to plant the gospel ; where they translated the service of the church, or some parts of it, from the Greek into the Sclavonian language, the common language, at that time, of Moravia and Russia ; and thus it is thought that this princess imbibed the first principles of Christianity. And, being herself fully persuaded of its truth, she was very earnest with her son, the Grand Duke Sviatoslav, to embrace it also ; but this, from political motives, he declined to do. In the course, however, of a few years, Christianity is said to have made considerable progress in that nation. It is fully ascertained that, about the end of the tenth century, the Christian religion was introduced into Russia, chiefly through their connexion with Greece ; and coming from this quarter, it was very natural that the doctrine and discipline of the church of Constantinople, should become at first the pat- tern of the church of Russia, which it still continues to follow in the greatest part of its offices. Hence likewise the patriarch of Constantinople formerly enjoyed the privilege of a spiritual supremacy over the Russians, to whom he sent a Metropoli- tan whenever a vacancy happened. Little occurred in the ecclesiastical history of Russia, except perhaps thi? rise of the sect of the Raskolniki, which excited considerable tumults and commotions in that kingdom, till Peter the Great ascended the throne of Russia; who, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, made some remarkable changes in the form and administration both of its civil and ecclesiastical government. This great prince made no change in the articles of faith received among his countrymen, which contain the doctrine of the Greek church ; but he took the utmost pains to have this doctrine explained in a manner conformable to the dictates of right reason, and the spirit of the gospel ; and he used the most effectual methods to destroy, on the one hand, the influ- ence of that hideous superstition that sat brooding over the whole nation ; and, on the other, to dispel the ignorance of the clergy, which was incredible, and that of the people, which would have surpassed it, had that been possible. To crown these noble attempts, he extinguished the spirit of persecution, and renewed and confirmed to Christians, of all denominations, liberty of conscience, and the privilege of performing divine Avorship in the manner prescribed by their respective liturgies and institutions. This liberty, however, was modified in such a manner, as to restrain and defeat any ^ RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 199 attempts that might be made by the Jesuits and other members of the church of Rome, to promote the interests of Popery in Russia, or to extend the jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff be- yond the chapels of that communion that were tolerated by law; and particular charge was given to the council, to which belonged the cognizance of ecclesiastical affairs, to use their utmost care and vigilance to prevent the propagation of Romish tenets among the people. All this caution had, no doubt, arisen from the repeated efllbrts of the designing pontic's of Rome and their missionaries to extend the papal empire over the Greek churches, under the pretence of uniting the two communions ; and, with this view, a \;egotiation was entered into in 1580, under John Basilides, Grand Duke of Russia, who seems to have had political ends to answer in pretending to favour this union. But, although the professed object oif this negotiation failed, the ministry of Possevin, the learned and artful Jesuit, who was charged with the mission on the part of the Roman pontiff, was not without fruit among the Russians, especially among those residing in the Polish dominions. . .' Proposals for uniting the two communions have been made by different popes, as Honorius III., Gregory IX., Innocent IV., Gregory XIII., and last of all, by the Academy of Sor- bonne in 1718; but the Russian sovereigns and the nation have always remained firm and true to their religion : at the same time, all religions, without exception, are tolerated in Russia. In the year 1581, in the reign of Czar John Vasilievitz, Pope Gregory XIII., proposed to that sovereign that the Lutheran clergy should be banished from Russia; but he was answered, that in that country all nations have a free exercise of their religions ; and now in Russia there are Lutherans, Calvinists, Hernhutters, Armenians, Jews, Mahometans, Pagans, Hindoos, &c. &c. Roman Catholics are to be met with in almost every government, particularly in those conquered from the Polish dominions : their clergy are governed by their own rulers, and are totally independent of the Russian ecclesiastical juris- diction. Peter likewise introduced a considerable change into the manner of governing the church. The splendid dignity of patriarch, which approached too near the lustre and preroga- tives of majesty, not to be offensive to the emperor and burden- some to the people, was suppressed, in 1721, by this spirited monarch, who declared himself (and thus became, like the British monarch) head of the national church. The functions of this high and important office were entrust- 800 nVSSIAM OREKX CUVBCH. ed with a council assembled at St. Petersburg, which was called the Holy Synod ; and one of the archbishops, the most distinguished by his integrity and prudence, was appointed as president of it. The other orders of the clergy continued in their respective rank and ofHces ; but both their revenues and their authority were considerably diminished. It was resolved at first, in this general reformation, to abolish all monasteries and convents, as prejudicial to the public, and unfriendly to population ; but this resolution was not put in execution ; on the contrary, the emperor himself, erected a magnificent monastery in honour of Alexander Newsky, whom the Russians place in the list of their heroes and saints.* In her dpctrines, the Russian Church agrees with the Greek Church ; like her, she receives the seven sacraments or mys- Doctrincs Series ; allows no statues or graven images, but admits pictures and invocation of saints. During the celebration of the mass, the laity, not excepting the prince himself, are obliged cither to dtand or to kneel, and be uncovered ; and to observe the same position Divine Ser- during the performance of all the other parts of divine service. Bergius, in his State of the Russian Church, assures us, however, that " The ancient Russians always pray either standing, or prostrate upon the ground ; carefully avoiding the posture of kneeling, for fear they should be thought to imitate those soldiers who mocked the Lord Jesus Christ." The Grand Duke, who sat on the throne in the time of Olearius, always prostrated himself to the ground when he attended public worship. For this reason there arc no stools nor benches made use of in the Russian churches, except when there happens to be a homily read, or a sermon preached. No dogs are suffered to enter the church door ; and every thing which has the least tendency to inter- rupt their devotions is prohibited. None but those who offi ciate at the altar are admitted into the sanctuary. The Czar, however, is allowed to enter it at the ceremony of his corona- tion, and when he receives the communion ; some others of the laity, who are persons of distinction, are likewise admitted into it, provided they take care to keep at a great distance from the altar. The Russian mass is always performed in the ancient Scla- vonian language ; and a great part of it is said in a low voice. Like the Greeks, the Russians bow down before the host, and AH Religions. RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 201 adore it. From the preface of the mass to the communion, the doors of the sanctuary are shut, and a curtoin is drawn before it, w^^Vh covers tlie altar : in Easter-week, however, the sanctua*^ aoors are always open, even during mass. To the other ceremonies observed at the communion, in conformity with those of the Greeks, we must add, according to Olearius, that the Muscovites administer the sacrament to those who are deprived of their reason, by Couching their lips only with the bread dipped in the wine ; that tliey are not allowed to give the communion to a woman who lies in, in the room where she was brought to bed ; — those who have taken a false oath before a court of judicature, or have been guilty of any noto- rious crime, cannot receive this sacrament of the Eucharist, till they are at the point of death ; and that it is customary to give those who are sick, some water or some brandy, in which seve- ral of their sacred relics have been first infused, before they give them the communion. Their Bible is translated into the Sclavonian language from the Greek Septuagint ; but they never suffer it to be carried into church, for fear of profaning it by the several immodest pas- sages that are to be met with in the Old Testament. It is the New Testament only, and some particular patssages extracted from the Psalms and the Prophets, which are read in their churches ; they are, however, allowed to read the whole scrip- tures at home in private. In Father Le Brun's Collection of Liturgies, we find the contents of a small Muscovite ritual, in which directions are laid down for the observance of the following customs : 1. Se- veral prayers to be read on the day that a woman is deli- vered of a male-infant. 2. On the eighth day after the birth of such infant, being the day on which he is to receive his name. 3. On the fortieth day after her lying-in. 4. For a woman that has miscarried. 5. At an exorcism. 6. At a reconcilia- tion in Church. 7. On a divorce. 8. When the communion is to be administered to the sick. 9. Prayers to Jesus Christ, and the Blessed Virgin, for a true believer at the point of death. 10. The order or method to be observed at the burial of such persons who die during the festival of Easter, or in Holy week. 1 1. For a priest after his decease. 12. For the burial of an infant. 13. Prayers for a blessing on the pro- visions made for Easter ; for their cheese and eggs ; for their first fruits, and those who offer them ; for the consecration of a house, and the entering into possession of it ; for sinking a well, and the purification of it when any filth has fallen into it. 14. Prayers for those who have eaten any unclean meats. 202 RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 15. Prayers for the purification of nn unclean vessel. 16. For all sorts of grain ; for seed-time, &c. It is presumed that the foregoing will be sufficient to give the reader a tolerable idea of the several customs which are observed by the Russians on particular occasions, and the observance of which is especially enjoined by their ritual. One peculiar custom, however, we cannot omit ; viz. that, when they take possession of a house, they consecrate it at tho same time with salt. Cornelius le Brun, in his Travels to Muscovy, gives us the following account of the consecration of the Czar's palace, in 1702. " The floor was strewed all over with hay, and on the right hand a table was placed, garnished out with abundance of large and little loaves ; over some of them was thrown a handful of salt, and a silver salt-cellar, full of salt, set upon others." This custom of consecrating with salt, which is attended by all friends and relatives, is repeated for several days together, and is an emblem or token of that prosperity and success which they wish may attend them, and of their friendly hope that they may never afterwards want any of the necessaries of life. When they quit their habita- tions, they leave some hay and bread upon the floor, which are symbols of those blessings which they wish may attend those who take the house after their departure. The constitution of the Russian monks, their fasts, and their profound ignorance, are much the same as those of the Greek monks. Peter the Great was the first who attempted to lay a duty, or tax, upon the convents ; he commanded that no persons should be admitted into them but those who were fifty years of age, or upwards, he having observed that a considerable num- ber of able young fellows were shut up in them, and thereby rendered useless to the state. The Russians have a peculiar regard for relics, images, and pictures of saints ; — for the invocation of saints, the cru- cifix, and the sign of the cross ; for an infinite number of inclinations, genuflexions, and pros- trations, not only before those objects which are adorable, but those likewise which demand only a common reverence and esteem ; and also for numberless processions and pilgrimages. The cathedral church at Moscow is in possession of the garment of Jesus Christ, and a picture of the Blessed Virgin, drawn by St. Luke ! The Russians look upon this picture, as the palladium of their state. Other churches boast of being possessed of the bodies of several Russian saints ; and thirty-six gold and silver shrines, fiill of very valuable relics, are to be seen in the church of the Relics, Ima- ges, &c. RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 203 IS in ;ture of :is look Other several fiill of of the Annunciation. These shrines, or boxes, are said to contain, amongst other things, some of the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ ; one of tl^e hands of St. Mark, and some of the bones of the prophet Daniel, &c. Their images or pictures, which are generally painted in oil upon wood, must bo made by some Muscovite, and are sold, or, according to their prevaricating phraseolocy, ex- changed or bartered for a certain sum of money. To sell them is looked upon as a sin : but in the time of Olearius, the patriarch would pot suffer any foreigners to have them in their houses for fear they should profane them. This erecaution was carried to so high a pitch, that a Dutchman aving purchased a house that was built with stone, the Russian who sold it scraped the wall on which the picture of a saint had been painted, and carried the rubbish off the pre- mises. Every Russian, whether his condition be high or low, has his own titular saint, to whom he ofTers up his morning and evening prayers, and whom he neglects not to consult on all occasions of a doubtful or hazardous nature. In the shops at St. Petersburg, an image of this titular saint is always placed in a conspicuous position, and you cannot possibly pay a higher compliment to a Russian than in entcrmg his snop to make your obeisance to his favourite saint. A Russian shop keeper is a notorious cheat, but if you have paid a becoming respect to his saint, it is supposed that you are immediately admitted into his good graces, and although the majority of the saints were themselves the most consummate cheats and impostors, yet it is believed that they do not sanction similar practices in others. For this reason, a familiar nod or a polite bow to a Russian image becomes, in many instances, a posi- tive act of good policy, for you thereby stand a good chance of escaping from the cheating and exorbitant demands of the Russian trader. The walls of their churches are all covered with pictures, which are not only representations of Jesus Christ, and th*» Blessed Virgin, but of St. Nicholas, and several other saints, whom the Russians have made choice of for their patrons and pjotectors. In all their houses, a picture of some favourite saint is hung near one of the windows, with a wax-taper be- fore it : several are likewise hung up in the streets, as objects of public devotion; but the majority of the latter, according to Carlisle, are secured in glass-cases, and exposed to public view, either on the city gates or the church-doors ; or they are suaoended on some cross-road; If a Russian be in the greateH 10 II 204 RUIIIAN ORCCK CHURCH. haite, he muat pay his respects to the pictures of these saints : not in a transient, careless manner, but he must stop a minute or two, to put up a short ejaculation ; standing bare-heudecl, making half-a-dozen profound bows, and as many crosses. The first thing that must be done, when any one enters o Russian's apartment, is to take notice of the picture of his saint, making the sign of the cross, at the same time repeating the Hospodi, {Lord have mercy upon us,) and bowing before it ; after that he pays his compliments to the master of the house. Amongst the poorer sort, with whom the pictures of their saints are generally situated in some dark hole or cor- ner, without any wax-taper, or the least outward appearnnco of distinction or respect ; the devout Russian, for fear he should be in any woy deficient in the discharge of his duty, never fails to ask where the God is, that is to sny, the picture of the saint. This religious respect is grounded on that divinity, which the Russians ascribe to their images, and on the num- berless miracles which they believe to have been wrought by them. However, this supernatural power does not hinder these images from falling to decoy : and in such cases they inter them in their church-yards, or in their gardens : some- times indeed they put them, with much en re and reverence, into some rapid stream, that the current may carry them away ; for to throw them in woulil be looked upon as an act of disrespect. The invocation of saints constitutes a considerable part of the religious worship of the Russians ; but greater demonstra- tions of respect are shown to St. Nicholas than to any of the rest. It is customary, in Russia, to mention God and the Czar at the same time, when they have any affair of importance to transact : thus, they frequently say, God is powerful as well as the Czar. With God and the Czar's permission. But they often substitute St. Nicholas in the room of Providence; as for instance, when any one nsks them how long they in- tend to be on a journey, they will answer, as long as St. Nicholas shall think convenient. Their devotees go in pil- grimage, for the most part, to those places where their saints have especially distinguished themselves. The Czars them- selves are not excused or exempted from these religious pere- grinations ; at least they were performed by the predecessors of Peter the Great. A number of ceremonies and superstitious customs among the Russians, nearly equals that of the Romish Church. A Benediction ^®^^ ^^ these we shall notice ; and first xre will of Waters. describe a singular festival which the Russians RUSSIAN OnRRK CHURCH. 305 call the Benediction of the Waters. This solemnity is cel«* brated at the bes[innin^ of tho year at Pptcrsburjf, in the follow* ing manner: on the river Neva, upon the ice, which is then strong in thot country, there is erected for this ceremony, a kind of temple of wood, usuolly of an octagonal figure, painted and richly gilt, having the inside decorated with various sacred pictures, representing the baptism of our Saviour, his transfigu- ration, and some other parts of his life, and on the top a picture of St. John the Baptist. This is called the Jordan, which name used to signify the baptistry or font, or any basin in which holy water is consecrated. There the attention of the spectators is drawn to a large emblem of the Holy Ghost, ap- pearing to descend from heaven, a decoration common to al- most all Greek churches, in which a veristerion, or dove, as a symbol of the Holy Ghost, is usually suspended from four small columns which support a canopy o\ er the Ho/p Table. The Jordan is surrounded by a temporary hedge of the boughs of fir-trees ; and, in the middle of the sanctuary or chancel is a square space, where the broken ice leaves a communication with the water running below, and the rest is ornamented with rich tapestry. Around this temple a kind of gallery is erected, and a platform of boards, covered with red cloth, is laid for the procession to go upon, guarded also by a fence of boughs. The gallery communicates with one of the windows of the imperial palace, at which the emperor and his family come out to attend the ceremony, which begins as soon as the liturgy is finished in the chapel of the imperial palace, and the regi- ments of guards have taken post on the river. Then, ot the sound of the bells, and of the ortillery of the fortress, the clerks, the deacons, the priests, the archimandrites, and the bishops, dressed in their richest robes, carrying in their hands lighted tapers, the censer, the Gospel, and the sacred pictures and ban- ners, proceed from the chapel to the Jordan, singing the hymns appointed in the office, and followed by the emperor, the grand duke, the senators, and the whole court. When arrived at the place where the ice is broken, the arch- bishop of Moscow, or other officiating bishop, descends, by means of a ladder, to the side of the water. There he reads the prayers appointed in the office, — dips his cross three times, and ends the ceremony by an exhortation appropriate to it ; and the waters are then thought to be blessea. As soon as the service is finished, the artillery and soldiers fire ; after which the prelate sprinkles the water on the company around him, and on the colours of all the regiments that happen to 1)6 ut Petersburg, which are planted round the Jordan. H« 18 206 I RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. Lent. then retires, when the people crowd towards the hole, and drink of the waters with a holy avidity. " Notwithstanding the cold, the mothers plunge their infants, and the o-id men their heads into them. Everjr body makes it a duty to carry away some for the purification of their houses, and curing certain distempers, against which the good Russians pretend this holy water is a powerful specific." No peopl*» observe Lent with more scrupulous and excessive rigour than the Russians. Travelling the road from Petersburg to Moscow, says Dr. Clarke, in his travels, if at any time, in poor cottages, where the peasants appear- ed starving, I offered them a part of our dinner, they would shudder at the sight of it, and cast it to the dogs ; dashing out of their children's hands, as an abomination, any food given to them ; and removing every particle that might be left, en- tirely from their sight. In arinking tea with a Cossack, he not only refused to have milk in his cup, but would not use a spoon that had been in the tea offered him with milk, ahhough wiped carefully in a napkin, until it had passed through scalding water. The same privation prevails among the higher ranks ; but, in proportion as this rigour has been observed, so much the more excessive is the degree of gluttony and relaxation, when the inxportant intelligence that " Christ is risen^^ has issued from the mouth of the archbishop. During Easter, they run into every kind of excess, rolling about drunk the whole week; as if rioting, debauchery, extrava- gance, gambling, drinking, and fornication, were as much a religious observance, as starving had been before ; and that the same superstition which kept them fasting during Lent, had afterwards instigated them to the most beastly excesses. Even their religious customs are perfectly adapted to their climate and manners. Nothing can be contrived with more ingenious policy to suit the habits of the Russians. When Lent fasting begins, their stock of frozen provisions is either exhausted, or unfit for use; and the interval which takes place allows sufficient time for procuring, killing, and storing, the fresh provisions of the spring. The night before the famous ceremony of the resurrection, all the markets and shops of Moscow, are seen filled with flesh, butter, eggs, poultry, pigs, und every kind of viand. The crowd of purchasers is immense. You hardly meet a foot passenger who has not his hands, nay his arms, filled with provisions ; or a single droski that is not ready to break down beneath their weight. The first ceremony which took place, previous to all this feasting, was that of the Paque f.euries, or Palm Sunday. On RUSSIAN GREEK CIIVRCR. 207 the eve of this day, all the inhabitants of Moscow resort, in carriages, on horseback, or on foot, to the Kremlin, for the purchase of palm-branches, to place before their bopfhs, and to decorate the sacred pictures in the streets, or elsewhere. It is one of the gayest promenades of the year. The governor, attended by the maitre de police, the commandant, and a train of nobility, go in procession mounted on fine horses. The rtreets are lined by spectators ; and cavalry are stationed on each side, to preserve order. Arriving in the Kremlin, a vast assembly, bearing artificial bouquets and boughs, are seen moving here and there, forming the novel and striking specta- cle of a gay and moving forest. The boughs consist of arti- ficial flowers, with fruit. Beautiful representations of oranges and lemons in wax are sold for a few copeeks* each, and oner a proof of the surprising ingenuity of this people in the arts of imitation. Upon this occasion, every person who visits the Kremlin, and would be thought a true Christian, purchases one or more of the boughs, called Palm-branches; and in returning, the streets are crowded with droskis, and all kinds of vehicles, filled with devotees, Ijolding in their hands one or more palm-branches, according to the degree of their piety, or the number of boghs in their houses. The description often given of the splendour of the equi- pages in Moscow, but ill agrees with their appearance during Lent. A stranger, who arrives, with his head full of notions of Asiatic pomp, and eastern magnificence, would be sur- prised to find narrow streets, execrably paved, covered by mud or dust; wretched looking houses on each side; car- riages, drawn it is true, by six horses, but such cattle ! blind, lame, old, out of condition, of all sizes and all colours, con- nected by rotten ropes and old cords, full of knots and splices: on the leaders and on the box, figures that seem to have escaped from the galleys; behind, a lousy, ragged lackey, or perhaps two, with countenances exciting more pity than deri- sion; and the carriage itself like the worst of the night- coaches in London. But this external wretchedness, as far IS it concerns the equipages of the nobles, admits of some explanation. The fact is, that a dirty, tattered livery, a rotten harness, bad horses, and a shabby vehicle, constitute one part of the privation of the season. On Easter Monday the most gaudy but fantastic buffoonery of splendour fills every street in the city. The emperor, it is true, in his high considera- tion for the welfare and happiness of his subjects, deemed it • The cofsek liquals m value an English halfijenn^ 208 RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. expedient to adapt the appearance to the reality of their wretchedness: and in restraining the excessive extravagance of the people of Moscow, evinced more wisdom, than the world have given him credit for possessing. The second grand ceremony of this season takes place on Thursday before Easter at noon, when the archbishop washes the feet of the apostles. This we also witnessed. The priests appeared in their most gorgeous apparel. Twelve monks, designed to represent the twelve apostles, were placed in a semicircle before the archbishop. The ceremony is performed in the cathedral, which is crowded with spectators. Tht archbishop, performing all and much more than is related of our Saviour in the thirteenth chapter of St. John, takes off his robes, girds up his loins with a towel, and proceeds to wash the feet of them all, until he comes to the representative of Peter, who rises; and the same interlocution takes place be- tween him and the archbishop, which is said to have taken place between our Saviour and that apostle. The third, and most magnificent ceremony of all, is cele- brated two hours after midnight, in the morning of Easte* Sunday. It is called the ceremony of the resurrection, an.' certainly exceeded every thing of the kind celebrated at Rom or any where else. I have not seen so splendid a sight in any Roman Catholic country ; not even that of the benediction by the pope during the holy week. At midnight the great bell of the cathedral tolled. Itr vibrations seemed the rolling of distant thunder; and they were instantly accompanied by the noise of all the bells in Moscow. Every inhabitant was stirring, and the rattling of carriages in the streets was greater than at noonday. The whole city was in a blaze ; for lights were seen in all the windows, and innumerable torches in the streets. The tower of the cathedral was illuminated from its foundation to its cross. The same ceremony takes place in all the churches; and, what is truly surprising, considering their number, it is said they are all equally crowded. We hastened to the cathedral, which was filled with a prodigious. assembly of all ranks and sexes, bearing lighted wax tapers, to be atterwards heaped as vows on the different shrines. The walls, ceilings, and every part of this building, is covered by the pictures of saints and martyrs. In the mo- ment of our arrival the doors were shut; ana on the outside appeared Plato, the archbishop, preceded by banners and torches and followed by all his train of priests with crucifixes and censers, who were making three thaes, in procession, i nUSSIAN GKEEK CHURCH. 209 the tour of the cathedral ; chaunting with loud voices, and glittering in sumptuous vestments, covered by gold, silver, and precious stones. The snow had not melted so rapidly in the Kremlin as in the streets of the city ; and this magnificent procession was therefore constrained to move upon planks over the deep mud which surrounded the cathedral. After completing the third circuit, they all halted opposite the great doors, which were shut ; and the archbishop, with a censer, scattered incense against the doors, and over the priests. Suddenly those doors were opened, and the effect was beyond description great. The immense throng of spectators within, bearing innumerable tapers, formed two lines, through which the archbishop entered, advancing with his train to a throne near the centre. The profusion of lights in all parts of the cathedral, and, among others, of the enormous chandalicr which hung from the centre, the richness of the dresses, and .he yastness of the assembly, filled us with astonishment Having joined the suite of the archbishop, we accompanied the procession, and passed even to the throne, on which the police officers permitted us to stand, among the priests, near an embroidered stool of satin, placed for the archbishop. The loud chorus, which burst forth at the entrance to the church, continued as the procession moved towards the throne, and after the archbishop had taken his seat; when my attention was, for a moment, called off^ by seeing one of the Russians earnestly crossing himself with his right hand, while his lelt was employed in picking my companion's pocket of his handkerchief Soon after, the archbishop descended, and went all round the cathedral; first offering incense to the priests, and then to the people, as he passed along. When he had returned to his seat, the priests, two by two, performed the same ceremony ; beginning with the archbishop, who rose and made obeisance with a lighted taper in his hand. From the moment the church doors were opened, the spectators had continued bow- ing their heads, and crossing themselves; insomuch that some of the people seemed really exhausted, by the constant motion of the head and hands. I had now leisure to examine the dresses and figures of the priests, which were certainly the most striking I ever saw. Their long dark hair, without powder, fell down in ringlets, or strait and thick, far over their rich robes and shoulders. Their dark thick beards also, entirely covered their breasts. On the heads of the archbishop and bishops were high caps, covered with gems, and adorned by miniature paintings set in 18* V ' V" 210 RUSSIAN ORKEK CHURCH. jewels, of the crucifixion, the virgin, and the saints. TheiT robes of various coloured satin, were of the most costly em- broidery, and even on these were miniature pictures set with precious stones. Such, according to the consecrated legend of ancient days, was the appearance of the high-priests of old, Aaron and his sons, holy men standing by the temple of the congregation in fine raiments, the workmanship of "Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah." It is said there is a convent in Moscow where the women are entirely employed in working dresses for the priests. After two hours had been spent in various ceremonies, thu archbishop advanced, holding forth a cross, which all the people crowded to embrace, squeezing each other nearly to suffocation. As soon, however, as their eagerness had been somewhat satisfied, he retired to the sacristy; where putting on a plain purple robe, he again advanced, exclaiming three times, in a very loud voice: Christ is risen ! The most remarkable part of the solemnity now followed. The archbishop, descending into the body of the church, con- cluded the whole ceremony by crawling round the pavement on his hands and knees, kissing the consecrated pictures, whether on the pillars, the walls, the altars, or the tombs ; the priests and all the people imitating his example. Sepul- chres were opened, and the mummied bodies of incorruptible saints exhibited, all of which underwent the same general kissing. Thus was Easter proclaimed; and riot and debauchery instantly broke loose. The inn in which we lodged became a pandemonium. Drinking, dancing, and singing, continued through the night and day. But, in the midst of all these excesses, quarrels hardly ever took place. The wild rude riot of a Russian populace is full of humanity. Few disputes are heard ; no blows are given ; no lives endangered, but by drinking. No meetings take place of any kind, without repeating the expressions of peace and joy, Ckristos voscress ! Christ is risen ! to which the answer is always the same, Vo isiiney voscress ! He is risen indeed 1 On Easter Monday begins the presentation of the paschal eggs : lovers to their mistresses, relatives to each other, ser- vants to their masters, all bring ornamented eggs. Every oflering, at this season, is called a paschal agg. The mean- est pauper in the street, presenting an egg, and repeating the words Ckristos voscress, may demand a salute, even of the empress. All business is laid aside: the upper ranks are RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 211 engaged in visiting, balls, dinners, suppers, and masquerades ; while boors fill the air with their songs, or roll drunk about the streets. Servants appear in new and tawdry liveries ; and carriages in the most sumptuous parade.* The form of baptism amongst the Russians is so singular that we must give a particular description of it. As soon as an infant comes into the world, the parents Baptism, send immediately for a priest to purify i^im. This puriflcation extends to all those who are present at the ceremony. They baptise their infants, according to Olea- rius, as soon as they are born ; but accoiding to other histo- rians, those who are in good circumstances are not so strict, but defer the ceremony for some time. The godfathers and godmothers of the first child must stand sureties for all the other children in that family, however great may be the number. After entering the church, these godfathers deliver nine wax tapers into the hands of the priest, who illu- mines them all, and sticks them in the form of a cross about the font or vessel in Avhich the infant is to be baptized. The priest then thurifies tJie godfathers, and consecrates the water ; and after that he and the godllithers go thrice in procession round it. The clerk, who marches in the front, carries the picture of St. John. After this, they all arrange themselves in such a manner that their backs are turned towards the font, as a testimony, says Olearius, of their aversion to the three questions which the priest proposes to the godfathers ; that is to say, 1st, " Whether the child renounces the deviH 2dly, Whether he abjures his angels? and, 3dly, Whether he abhors and detests their impious works ?" — At each question, the godfathers answer yes, and spit upon the ground. The exorcism follows, which is performed out of the church, lest the devil, as he comes out of the infant, should pollute or pro- fane it. After the exorcism is over, the priest cuts some hair off the child's head in the form of a cross, and puts it into a book, or wraps it up in wax, and deposits it in some particular place belonging to the church appropriated for that purpose. The baptism which ensues is performed by a triple immersion, as wc have before observed with respect to the Greeks. The priest having now put a grain of salt into the infant's mouth, anoints him several times in the form of a cross, which may properly enough be called his confirmation ; and as he puts on him a clean shirt, he says, Thou art noio as clean as this shirt, * Clarke's Travels. 10* 213 RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. and purtfiedfrom the stain of original sin. To conclude this ceremony, a little gold or silver cross, or one of inferior value, according as the circumstances of the parent will best admit o^ is hung about the infant's neck, which is the badge or token of his baptism. He must wear this not only as long as he lives, but carry it with him to his grave. To this cross must be added some saint, appointed by the priest to be his guardian and protector, the picture of whom he delivers into the god> fathers' hands, and m express terms charges them to instruct the child in what manner he may pay a peculiar respect and veneration to his patron saint. After the baptism is over, the priest salutes the infant and his sponsors. It is to be observed, that all matrimonial alliances between godfathers and the children for whom they are thus solemnly engaged, are prohibited amongst the Russians ; also, that the water in the font or cistern is changed every new baptism ; because they are of opinion that it is defiled or tainted with the original sin of those who were previously baptized in it. Those who become proselytes to the Russian religion, are baptized in some rapid stream, or some adjacent river, in which they are plunged three times successively ; and if it happens in the winter-season, there is a hole broken in the ice for the performance of that ordinance. If, however, the person should be of too weak a constitution to undergo such a violent initiation, a barrel full of water is poured over his head three times successively, After the baptism is over, the priest takes the infant newly baptized, and with his head makes a cross upon the churcH- door, at which he knocks three times with a hammer ; each stroke must be so loud that those who were eye witnesses of the baptism shall hear the sound of it, for otherwise they do not look upon the infant as duly baptized. In the evening of their wedding-day, the bridegroom, ac- companied by a numerous train of his nearest relations and Marriage acquaintance, proceeds to wait on his mistress ; the priest who is to solemnize their nuptials riding on horseback before them. After the congratulations, and other compliments, customary on such joyful occasions in all countries, the company sit down to table. " But notwithstand- ing there are three elegant dishes instantly served up," sayj Olearius, " no one takes the freedom to taste of them." At the upper end of the table is a vacant seat intended for the bride- groom. Whilst he is in earnest discourse with the bride's relations, some young gentleman takes possession of his chair, and does not resign it without some valuable consideration. RUSSIAN OREKK CHURCH. 213 , As soon as the bridegroom has thus redeemed his seat, the bride is introduced into the room, dressed as gaily as possible, but covered with a veil. A curtain of crimson tafieta, sup- ported by two young gentlemen, now parts the lovers, and prevents them from stealing any amorous glances from each others' eyes. In the next place, the bride's Suacha, or agent, wreathes her hair, and after she has turned up her tresses, puts a crown upon her head, which is either of gold or silver gilt, and lined with silk, and of greater or less value, in pro- tion to the quality or f 'rrum$tances of the person for whom i( 'ntended. The oth ' :aacha is employed in setting the bridegroom off to the best advantage. During this interval, some women that are present, sing a number of little merry catches to divert them ; whilst the bridemaids strew hops up- on the heads of the company. Two lads, after ihis, brmg in a large cheese, and several rolls or little loaves, in a hand basket, with curious sable tassels to it. Two of the bride's attendants bring in another cheese, and the same quantity of bread, upon her particular account. All these provisions, after the priest has blessed them, are carried to the church. At last, there is a large silver basin set upon the table, full of small remnants of satin and taffeta, with several small square pieces of silver, hops, barley, and oats, all mingled together. The Suacha, after she has put the bride's veil over her face again, takes several handfiils of this medley out of the basin, and strews it over the heads of all the company. The next ceremony is the exchange of their re- spective rings, which is performed by the parents of the new married couple. The Suacha now conducts the bride to church, and the bridegroom follows with the priest, who, for the most part, indulges himself in drinking to that excess, that he is obliged to have two attendants to support him, not only whilst he rides on horseback to the church, but all the time he is there performing the matrimonial service. One part of the pavement of the church, where the ceremony is performed, is covered with crimson taffeta, and another piece of the same silk is spread over it, Avhere the bride and ' »ide- groom are appointed to stand. The priest, before he enters upon his office, demands their oblations, Avhich consist in fish, pastry, &c. Then he gives them his benediction, and holds over their heads the pictures of those saints, who were made choice of to be their patrons. After which, taking the right hand of the bridegroom and the left of the bride within his own hands, he asks them three times, " Whether they sincere- ly consent to, and approve of their marriage, and whether they 214 RCSSIAN OHEBK OIIVRCII. will love each other for the future as is their boundcn duty so to do?" When they have answered Yes, all the company in general take hands, and join in a solemn dance, whilst the priest sings the 128th Psalm (according to the Hebrew com- putation) in which almost all the blessings that attend the married state are enumerated. The priest, as soon as the Psalm is finished, puts a garland of rue upon their heads ; but if the man be a widower, or the woman a widow, then he lays it upon their shoulders. The blessing attendant on this cere- mony begins with these words, Increase and multiply ; and concludes with that other solemn direction, which the Russian;^ never understand in a rigorous sense. Whom God hath jomcd, let no man put asunder. As soon as this form of words is pronounced, all the company light their wax tapers, and one of them presents the priest with a glass of wine, which he drinks, and the newly-married couple pledge him. This is done thrice, and then the bride and bridegroom dash their glasses down upon the floor, and tread the pieces under tiieii- feet, denouncing several maledictions on all those, who sliu]) hereafter endeavour to set them at variance. At the sanu? time several women strew linseed and hemp-seed upon their heads. After this ceremony is over, the usual congratulations ary repeated, with such other demonstrations of gayety and re- joicing as generally accompany the nuptial rites in other countries. We must not omit one circumstance, however, which is merry and innocent enough: the women befon- mentioned take fost hold of the bride's gown, in order to com- pel her, as it were, to forsake her husband; but the hikl:- usually maintains so strong a hold of him, that all their en- deavours prove ineffectual. Their nuptial ceremonies thus for concluded, the bride goes home in a Russian car or sledge, attended by six flambeaux, and the bridegroom on horseback. The company come after them. As soon as they are all within doors, the bridegroom sits down at the table with his friends ; but the women conduct the bride to her bed-chamber, and put her to bed. Afterwards some young gentlemen wait on the bridegroom with their wax tapers in their hands, and conduct him to his lady's apart- ment. As soon as they arc within the chamber, they deposit their lights upon the hogsheads that surround the nuptial bed. The bride, wrapped up in her nightgown, now jumps out ol bed, approaches her husband with much respect, and makes him a very submissive and respectful obeisance. This is the first moment, according to Oleurius, that the husband has any t RU88IAN GREEK CHURCH. 215 opportunity of seeing his wife unveiled. They then sit down to table, and sup together. Amongst other dishes, there is a roast fowl set before them, which the husband tears to pieces, throwing that part which he holds in his hands, whether it be the leg or the wing, over his shoulder, and eating the remain- der. Here the ceremony ends. The spectators now withdraw, and the newly-married couple go to bed, after crossing themselves, and addressing a short prayer to the pictures of their patron saints. An old domestic servant stands sentinel at the cnamber-door, whilst some of the company who are more superstitious than the rest, spend the interval in using enchantments for a happy consummation of this love adventure. The following days are spent in all imaginable demonstrations of joy and rejoicing. The men in- dulge themselves in drinking to excess, whilst the husband carouses with his friends, and drowns his senses in intoxica- ting liquors. The Russian funeral solemnities are as remarkable in all respects as their nuptial ceremonies. As soon as a sick person has expired, they send for the relations and friends of the deceased, who place themselves about the . Funeral So- corpse, and weep over it if they can. There are *''""'*'^^' women likewise who attend as mourners, and ask the de- cea.«!Pd " What was the cause of his death ? Were his cir- cumstances narrow and perplexed ? Did he want either the necessaries or conveniences of life ?" &c. The relatives of the deceased now make the priest a present of some strong beer, brandy, and metheglin, that he may pray for the repose of the soul of the deceased. In the next place, the corpse is well washed, dressed in clean linen, or wrapped in a shroud, and shod with Russia leather, and put into a coffin, the arms being laid over the stomach, in the form of a cros^. The Russians make their coffins of the trunks of hollowed trees, and cover them with cloth, or at least with the great coat of the deceased. The corpse is not carried, however, to church, till it has been kept eight or ten days at home, if the season or circumstances of the deceased will admit of such a delay ; for it is a received opinion, that the longer they stay in this world, the better reception they will meet with in tne next. The priest thurifies the corpse, and sprinkles it with holy water, till the very day of it." interment. The funeral procession is ranged or disposed in the fol- lowing manner. A priest marches in the front, carrying the image of the particular saint who was made choice of as pa- tron of the deceased at the time he was baptized. Four young ■•^- 216 RVSlllAN ORKEK CHURCH. ▼irgins, who are the nearest relations to the deceased, and the chief mourners, follow him ; or, for want of such female friends, the same number of women are hired to attend, and to perform that melancholy office. After them comes the corpse, carried on the shoulders of six bearers. If the party deceased be a monk or a nun, the brothers or sisters of the convent to which they belonged perform this last friendly office for them. Seve- ral friends march on either side of the corpse, thurifying it, and singing as they go along, to drive away the evil spirits, and to prevent them from hovering round about it. The relations and friends bring up the rear, each having a wax taper in his hand. As soon as they are arrived at the grave, the coffin is uncovered, and the image of the deceased's fiivourite saint is laid over him, whilst the priest repeats some prayers suitable to the solemn occasion, or reads some particular passages out of the liturgy. After that, the relations and friends bid their last sad adieu, either by saluting the deceased himself or the coffin in which he is interred. The priest, in the next place, comes close to his side, and puts his passport or certificate in- to his hand, which is signed by the archbishop, and likewise by his fiither confessor, who sell it at a dearer or cheaper rate, according to the circumstances or quality of those who pur- chase it. This billet is a testimonial of the virtue and good actions of the deceased, or at least, of his sincere repentance of all his sins. When a person at the point of expinng is so happy as to have the benediction of his priest, and after his de- cease, his passport in his hand, his immediate reception into heaven is, in their opinion, infallibly secured. The priest always recommends the deceased to the favour and protection of St. Nicholas. To conclude, the coffin i.s nailed up and let down into the grave, the face of the deceased being turned to- wards the east. The friends and relations now take their last farewell in unfeigned tears, or at least, in seeming sorrow and concern, which are expressed by mourners who are hired for that purpose. The Russians frequently distribute money and pi visions amongst the poor who hover round the grave ; but it is a very common custom, amongst them, according to Olearius, " ic drown their sorrow and ajffliction in metheglin, and in bra?*' dp ;" and it too often happens that they get drunk on those occasions, ill commemoration of their deceased friends. During their mourning, which continues forty days, they make three funeral entertainments, that is to say, on the third, the ninth, and the twentieth day after the interment. A priest, who is contracted with for that purpose, must spend some time RUSMIAN ORREK CHURCH. 217 in prayer for the consolation nnd repose of the soul of the de- ceased every night and morning, for forty days successively in a tent, ^vhich is erected on that occasion over the grave of the deceased. They commemorate their dead likewise once a year ; this ceremony consists principally in mourning over their tombs, and in taking care that tney be duly performed with incense by some of their mercenary priests, who, besides the fee or gratuity which they receive for their incense, (or more properly the small quantity of wax with which they thurify the tombs,) make an advantage likewise of the various provisions which are frequently brought to such places, or of the alms which are left ther?, and intended by the donors for the relief and maintenance of the poor ; for the Russian no- bility and gentry hope to atone, by their charitable donations, for their manifold and inhuman acts of oppression. We shall add in this place an interesting account of the burial of Prince Qalitzin, m Moscow, taken from Dr. Clarke's Travels, who was an eye witness of the ceremony. Burial of This ceremony was performed in a small church Prince Galit- near the Mareschal bridge. The body was laid ""*• in a superb crimson cofun, richly embossed with silver, and placed beneath the dome of the church. On a throne, raised nt the head of the coffin, stood the archbishop, who read the service. On each side were ranged th) inferior clergVi clothed, as usual, in the most costly robes, bearing in their hands wax tapers, and burning incense. The cereiaoiiy began at ten in the morning. Having obtained admission to the church, we placed ourselves among the spectators, immediately behind his grace. The chanting had a soL'mn and sublime effect. It seemed as if choristers were placed in the upper part of the dome, which, perhaps, was really the case. The words uttered were only a constant repetition of " Lord have mercy upon usT Or, in Russian, " Ghospodi pomilui /" When the archbishop turned to give his benediction to all the people, he observed us, and added in Latin, " Pas vobiscum .'" to the astonishment of the Russians ; who not comprehending the new words introduced into the service, muttered among them- selves. Incense was then offered to the pictures and to the people ; and that ceremony ended, the archbishop read aloud a declaration, purporting that the deceased died in the true faith ; that he had repented of his errors, and that his sins were absolved. Then turning to us, as the paper was placed in the coffin, he said again in Latin : " This is what all you' foreigners call the passport; and you relate, in books of travels, that we believe no soul can go to heaven without it. 19 918 RUSSIAN OREKK CHURCH. Nuw I wish you to understand what it rooUy is ; and to ox . plain to your countrymen upon my authority, ttiat it is nothing more than a declaration, or certificate, concerning the death of the deceased." Then laughing, he added, " I suppose you commit all this to paper ; and one day I shall see an engrav- ing of this ceremony, with an old archbishop giving a pass- port to St. Peter." The lid of the coffin being now removed, the body of the prince was exposed to view ; ond all the relatives, servants, slaves, and other attendants, began their loud lamentations, us is the custom among the Russians; and each person, walkin serable state of ignorance, superstition, and wretchedness. The Holy Scriptures are but little known among them ; but the British and Foreign Bible Society has, within a few years, directed considerable attention to their necessities ; and has circulated nearly ^vo hundred thousand copies of th Bible, for their use, in their several languages. Sec. 1. — Georgian and Mingrelian Churches. Georgia and Mingrelia are two countries of Asia. The former of which lies between the Black and Caspian seas ; Situation of and the latter between Circassia on the north, Georgia and and Gurie] on the south. The former was the an- Mingrelia. ggj^t Iberia, the latter in part the ancient Colchis. The inhabitants of both these countries are sunk in poverty, ignorance, and semi-barbarism. Yet an interest attaches to them on account of their religion, -which was once more flourishing than at present. They are a branch of the Greek Church. These two people are said to profess the same faith, with this diflerence, however, that the Mingrelians residing in the mountains and woods are more vicious and depraved in morals than the Georgians. Each of these nations has a pontifl* at their head, whom they call Catholicos, or the Catholic — who is obliged to pay Their Pon- ^ certain tribute to the Patriarch of Constanti- tiffs. nople — but is, in every other respect, inde- pendent of any foreign jurisdiction. They have bishops and priests, who are not only ignorant, but exceedingly dissolute and corrupt. Some of their bishops are able neither to read or write, and in order to discharge their duty learn to say mass by heart ; which, however, they are never inclined to do without being very well paid for their trouble. The priests are allowed not only to marry, according to the rustom of the Greek Church, before ordmation, but many THE GREEK CHURCH. 281 enter into second marriages at the expense only . . of a dispensation from the bishop, which Their Pnests. amounts to about a pistole. In short, they may marry a third or fourth time upon paying double fees for every new indul* gence. The patriarch, likewise, never ordains a bishop without being first paid the sum of five hundred crowns. When any person is very much indisposed amongst them, he sends for a priest, who attends him rather in the capacity of a physician, than as a father-confessor; for he never mentions one word of confession to his patient. Turning over the leaves of a particular book, which lie carries about him for that purpose, with an extraordinary display of fictitious gravity and circumspection, he pretends to find therein the real cause of the distemper, which he usually ascribes to the high displeasure of some of their images ; for it is a received notion amongst them, that their images are capable of gratifying their resentments on those who have oflended them. The cause of the disorder being thus decidedly ascertained, the priestly physician enjoins his patient to make atonement for his sins by some acceptable oblation to the incensed image ; that is to say, some valuable present in money or effects, which he always takes care to apply to his own private advantage. In regard to tneir baptismal ceremonies, as soon as an infant is born, the papas, or priest, makes the sign of the cross on his forehead, and eight days afterwards » .• • anoints him with the Myrone, that is, their con- ceremonies, secrated oil ; but he never baptizes him till two years after ; and the following form is observed. The child is brought to the church, and presented to the papas, who imme- diately asks his name, and lights a little wax taper ; after which he reads a long lesson, and repeats several prayers suitable to the occasion. After that, the godfather undresses the infant, and plunges him naked into a kind of font or bathing vessel, full of lukewarm water, mixed with walnut-oilj and washes his body all over, the papas taking no share in this part of the ceremony, nor pronouncing a single syllable during the whole of the time. After this general ablution, hov/ever, he advances tow^ards the water-vessel, and gives the Myrone to the godfather, to anoint the infant. The god- father accordingly anoints his forehead, nose, eyes, ears, breast, navel, knees, soles of the feet, heels, hams, loins, shoulders, and the crown of his head. After this ceremony is over, he plunges him again into the font, or water-vessel, and «ScTa him a bit of blessed bread to eat, and a small portion of sacred wine to drink. If the child swallows them, it is looked unos S22 OTHER BRANCHES OF I! Nuptial ce remonies. as a happy omen. In conclusion, the godfather returns the infant to its mother, saying three times, " You delivered him into my hands a Jew, and I return him to you a Christian" We shall now proceed to the nuptial ceremonies of the Georgians, which are, in fact, nothing more than a mere con- tract, by way of bargain and sale. The parents bring their daughters to market, and agree with the purchasers for a particular sum, which is greater or smaller, according to the value of the living com- modities. A female who has never been married commands a much higher price than a widow, and a virgin in her bloom more than an antiquated maid. As soon as the purcI:aL^e- money is raised and ready, the father of the bridegroom gives an entertainment, at which the son attends with his cash in hand, and deposits it on the table before he offers to sit down : at the same time, the relations of the bride provide an equiva- lent, which is generally as near the value of his money as possible, consisting of all manner of necessary household goods, cattle, clothes, slaves, &c. This custom appears to be very ancient, and after the entertainment is over, the bride re- pairs to the bridegroom's house, attended by her relations, friends, and acquaintance. The procession is enlivened by a concert of instrumental music ; the contractors going before, to inform the family, that the newly-married couple will arrive soon at home. These messengers, on their first arrival, are presented with bread, wine, and meat; without offering to enter the house, however, they take the flagon of wine, and pour it lavishly round about it. This libation is consecrated by their hearty wishes for the health, prosperity, and peace of the newly-married couple. After this, they return to the bride, and conduct her home to her husband's apartment, in which the other relations and friends are all assembled. In the middle of the room a carpet is spread upon the floor ; and a catcher of wine, with a kettle full of dough, called Gom, which they make their bread with, are set upon it. Soon after her entrance, the bride kicks down the pitcher, and scatters the paste with both her hands all over the room. We are at a loss to determine the mystical design of this practice, unless it be emblematical of the plenty and fruitfulness of the mar- riage-state. The ceremony is attended with the usual pastimes and demonstrations of joy, which are customary on such pub- lic occasions. The essential part of the nuptial mystery, however, is not solemnized here, but in a private apartment, for fear the sor- eerers ihould cast a spell upon the newly married couple. 1 ..„ THE GREEK CHURCH. The bridegroom and his bride stand with their godfather be- fore a priest, who reads over the marriage words by the light of a wax taper ; and two garlands of flowers, either natural or artificial, are set close to each other on an adjoining table, with tufls of various colours ; a tavaiole, that is, a veil ; a glass of wine, a piece of bread, and a needle and thread. The god- father now throws a veil over the bridegroom's head, and, whilst the priest is reading the ceremony, sews the garments of the bride and bridegroom together. This godfather like- wise puts crowns upon their heads, and changes them three or four times successively, according to the tenor of the prayers repeated on the occasion. After this, he takes the glass and the pieces of bread into his hands, and gives the bridegroom one bit, and the bride another ; this he repeats three times, and then eats the seventh himself, He now gives them the glass three times a-piece, and then drinks the remainder, which concludes the ceremony. The veil made use of on this occasion, is the emblem or image of the nuptial bed, and the thread, with which the bride- groom and bride are sewed together, the symbol of the con- jugal knot ; but as the Georgians and Mingrelians are addict- ed to divorce and to discard their wives, and as they are fre- quently guilty of fornication and polygamy, the fragility of the thread is looked upon as a lively representation of the pre- carious and uncertain duration of this happy union. The bread and wine denote their community, or having things in common together. The godfather eats and drinks the re- mains, to intimate that he has contracted a kind of relation- ship with them, and that he ought to be an impartial judge, or to be the arbitrator, in any controversies that may afterwards arise between them. The mourning of the Mingrelians, according to the accounts of several travellers, is like that of persons in the very depth of despair, and consists not only in weeping, or rather howling, in honour of their dead, but also in shaving their beards and eyebrows. More- over, when a wife loses her husband, or some other near rela- tion, she rends her clothes, strips herself naked to the waist, tears her hair, scarifies her body, and scratches her face all over. The men likewise behave nearly in the same manner, and are more or less violent, as necesbity, inclination, or the circum- stances of their mourning prompt them. This continues forty days, with a gradual diminution of their sorrow, as that term draws near to its expisation. On the ten first days, the relations and intimate friends and Funeral Ce- remonies. 9d4 OTHER BRANCHES Of acquaintance meet constantly to weep over the deceased. Their cries and bowlings, their transports of sorrow, and their silence and serenity of mind, alternately succeed each other. On the last day they inter the corpse, on which occasion the catholicos puts upon the breasts of those who die in the faith, a letter or petition, in which he humbly beseeches St. Peter to open the gate of heaven for them, ana to admit of their en- trance. This ceremony is sometimes performed even before they put them in their shrouds. On the fortieth day of their mourning, the Greorgians have a funeral entertainment for the relations, friends, and acquaintance of the deceased, at which the men sit at one table, and the women at another. The bishop now reads a mass for the dead, and takes, for his fee or gratuity, every thing that was allotted to the service of the de- ceased. Sec. 2. — Nestorian Churches. There are several sects of Christians in the Levant, who are known and distinguished by the name of Chaldeans or P . Syrians : but the most considerable part of them are those who pass under the denomination of Nestorians, and in reality revere Nestorius, who was Patri- arch of Constantinople in the beginning of the fifth century, by invoking him in their prayers. The occasion of the fatal controversy in which Nestorius involved the church, was furnished by Anastasius, who was honoured with his friendship. This presbyter, in a public discourse, delivered in 424, de- claimed warmly against the title of Mother of God, which was then frequently attributed to the Virgin Mary in the contro- versy with the Arians, giving it as his opinion, that the Holy Virgin was rather to be called Mother of Christ, since the Deity can neither be born nor die, and, of consequence, the son of man alone could derive his birth from an earthly parent. Nestorius applauded those sentiments, and explained and de- fended them in several discourses. In opposition to him, Eutyches, an abbot at Constantinople, declared that these natures were so united in Christ, as to form but one nature, that of the Incarnate word. It was an age when men were fast losing sight of the Gospel, and con- tending about modes and forms ;. and these opposite opinions threw the whole eastern world ittto bitter contention, and gave rise to that great division, which continues to this day among the miserable remnant of the Eastern churches. The follow- THE GREEK CHURCH. 225 en of the former; are called Nestorians; the latter, Monophy* sites. The Nestorians early became the chief propagators of the Gospel in the East. They enjoyed the patronage of the Per- sian monarch Pherazes, by whom their opponents were ex- pelled from his kingdom, and their patriarch was established at Seleucia. They established a school at Nisibis under Bar- sumas, a disciple of Nestorius, from whence proceeded, in the fifth and sixth centuries, a band of missionaries, who spread abroad their tenets, through Egypt, Syria, Arabia, India, Tar- tary and China. In the twelfth century, they won over to their faith the prince of Tartary, who was baptized John ; and be- cause he exercised the omce of presbyter, was, with his suc- cessors, called Prester John. They made converts also of the Christians on the coast of Malabar, who, it is supposed, re- ceived the Christian faith from the Syrian Mar Thomas, in the fourth or fifth century. They formed, at one time, an immense body ; but dwindled away before the Saracen power, and the exasperated heathen priests and jealous Chinese emperors. They acknowledged but one patriarch until 1551, who resided first at Bagdad, and afterwards at Mousul. But at this period, the Papists suc- ceeded in dividing them, and a new patriarch was consecra- ted by Pope Julius III. and established oyer the adherents to the pope, in the city of Ormus. The great patriarch at Mousul, called Elias, has continued, however, to be acknowledged to this day, by the greater part of the Nestorians, who are scat- tered over Asia. Throughout this long period, they have maintained consi- derable purity of doctrine and worship, and kept free from the ridiculous ceremonies of the Greek and Latin churches. Of their present numberi and religious character, ve know but little. Probably they are very ignorant, debased, and cor- rupt.* We shall now proceed to such religious customs among the Nestorians, as may be more properly thought an essential part of this history. Before the sixth century, ^ -. . . the patriarch of the Nestorians was dignified clergy, and distinguished by the title of Catholic, which he has retained ever since. His clergy, as well as those of the Greeks in Constantinople, consist of married and monastic priests. The latter, in Syria and Mesopotamia, are dressed in black, with a capuche, or hood, which covers the crown of I ' * Marsh's Ecc. History. 226 OTHER BRANCHES OF their head like a calot, and hangs down upon the shoulders like a veil. Over this they wear a turban, the cap and the linen cloth of which are of a deep blue. The patriarch and the bishops are not distinguished from the priests by any particu- lar dress, but by their pastoral staff and a cross, which they carry in their hands, and hold out for the devotees to kiss. The head of the former is made either like a crutch, or a croiser. The vestments of their married priests are all black likewise, or at least dark gray ; but instead of wearing a ca- puche upon their heads, they have a round cap with a large button upon the top of it. Besides the regular monastic priests, there are several con- vents in Mesopotamia, the monks of which are not priests, but style themsel'-es monks of the order of St. Anthony. The habit of :hese Nestorian monks is an open black cassock, which is girt round them with a leathern surcingle, and a gown over it, the sleeves of which are very large. They wear no capuche, but a purple turban instead of it. At mid- night, morning, and evening, they repeat the church service, but spend the remainder of the day in tilling the! grounds. The churches belonging to the Nestorians are divided by balustrades, or rails ; and one part of them is always allotted for the peculiar service of the women. The font Churches, jg erected on the south side. When they say their prayers, and pay their adoration to the Supreme Being, they always turn their faces towards the east. Before the en- trance into these churches, there is, generally, a large court, with a very small door. This court was originally the place appointed for the reception of penitents, and was made use of as a bar to the pro&ne, in order to prevent them hearing and seeing the different proceeding's and ceremonies of the Christ- ian assemblies. Independently of the fasts, which are generally observed by the Christians of the Greek Church, the Nestorians keep one in particular, which continues three days ; it is called the Fast of Nineveh, because they therein imitate the repenting Ninevites, who did penance for their sins for three days after the preaching of the prophet Jonas. This fast is the introduction to their Lent. The Christians of Syria and Mesopotamia have added to their calendar one festival in commemoration of the penitent thief, which is not observed by the Roman Catholic Church ; It is called by them Lass-al-jemin, that is, the Thief on the right hand. This falls upon the octave of Easter. The bathing of the Syrian Christians in the river Jordan Fast of Nin eveh. THE GREEK CHURCH. 237 must be reckoned amongst their religious customs, but the ceremony itself is very idle and ridiculous. These people, however, practise it as an act of Bathinl*°"' devotion, and Christians of all denominations, as Greeks, Nestorians, Cojrts, &c, wash themselves naked in tha river, with great solemnity, in commemoration of Jesus Christ and his baptism. In this instance, they concern themselves as little in regard to the difference of the sexes, as of the sects: for men and women jump promiscuously into the river, ana plunge down to the bottom. Some of the most zealous devotees dip their handkerchiefs in the sacred stream ; others carry a quantity of the water away with them in bottles ; and the very dirt, sand, and grass that grows upon the banks, are all looked upon as sacred relics. The nuptial ceremonies of the Syrians are very singular and remarkable. The bridegroom is conducted to the house of the bride on horseback, between two drawn .. . . swords, which are carried by two men, one before ceremon^. and the other behind him. The relations, friends, and acquaintance of the bride receive him with their flambeaux lighted, and music preceding them, accompanied with songs, acclamations, and other testimonies of general joy. On the wedding-night the bridegroom gives his spouse an uncourteous kick, and commands her to pull off his shoes, as a token of her submission and obedience. When a Christian dies at Bagdad, the neighbours assemble, in order to perform his funeral obsequies. At their return from the place of interment, a handsome coUa- puneral tion is always prepared for their refreshment at obsequies, the house of the deceased, where every one is welcome without distinction, inasmuch, that sometimes a hun^ dred and fifty, or more, appear at these funeral entertainments. The next day, the company meet in order to pray together over the grave of the deceased, which is likewise repeated on the third day; when there is another public entertainnjent pro- vided for them, and in general the same welcome is given to all as before. These ceremonies are repeated on the seventh day, the fifteenth, the thirtieth, and the fortieth, after the de- cease. At Damas, the Christian women sing and weep over thejf dead. Thevenot saw a con}:pi^ny of these female mourners, accompanied by two men with lighted candles in their hand^, howling over the dead, and beating their breasts to expresv their sorpow. Every now and then they madp ^ halt ; then fell intq a ring, and snapping their fingers, as if they were play- 11 fi»8 UTHSR BUANOHCS Or ing with castanets, danced and sung to the sound, tvhilst others kept time in hideous howlings. The ceremony concluded with mutual testimonies of respect ; after which they departed, dancing and snapping their fingers as before. Nearly the same ceremonies are observed at Kama on similar occasions. Father Le Brun says, " that they weep for about half an hour over the grave of their deceased friends; then rise and fall into a ring, as if they were going to dance to the brawls." — Two of them after this quit the ring, and planting themselves in the middle, there make a thousand grimaces, howling and clapping their hands. After this frightful noise, they sit down to drown their sorrow in tears. All tut female mourners that Le Brun saw, relieved each other. Those who had finished went homo, and others supplied their place. When these women stood up, in order to form themselves into a ring, they covered their heads with a black veil. fc ■ . Sec. 3. — Christians of St. Thomas. With regard to the origin of the Christians of St. Thomas, who inhabit the coast of Malabar and Travancore, there exists ^ .^. much difference of opinion. The Portuguese, " ' who first opened the navigation of India, in the fifteenth century, and found them seated there for ages, assert that St. Thomas, the apostle, preached the gospel in Indid ; and that these are the descendants of his proselytes. The Christians of St. Thomas declare themselves descend- ants of one Mar Thomas or Thomas Cana, an Armenian merchant, who settled at Congranor. Mar the^S'hrrs" n^ Th^^as married two wives, and had issue by of St.Thomas. eaci.. The children by the former were heirs to all his effects and lands, which were situate in the southern part of the kingdom of Congranor ; and those of the latter, who was a negro-slave converted to the Christian faith, inherited the settlement of which their father died pos- sessed in the North. In process of time, his descendants be- came very numerous, and constituted two considerable branches, which were never united nor allied to each other. The issue of his first wife, from whom the nobility are descended, look down with disdain on the Christians of the other branch, and carry their aversion lo so high a pitch, as to separate them- selves from their communion, and to contemn the ministry of their priests. Mar Thomas, whom these Christians look upon as their common parent, flourished, according to the ge- neral notion, in the tenth century ; but M. la Croza thinks TUB GREEK CHURCH. 229 Dr. Bu- chnnan's ac- count. that he lived in the sixth. These Christians enjoyed so many valuable privileges under the sovereigns of the country, and grew so powerful, that they at length elected kings out of their own nation and religion. They continued in this state of in* dependence till the death of one of their sovereigns, who leav< ing no heir to the throne, they adopted a young idolatrous Prince who was his neighbour, and appointed him to be his successor. The Rev. Dr. Buchanan, vice-provost of the college of Fort- William, who visited these Christians in 1806, and counts fifty-five churches in Malayala* denies that they are Nestorians, and observes that their doctrines " are contained in a very few arti- cles, and are not at variance in essentials with the doctrines of the church of England. They are usually denominated Jacobita,^ but they diflfer in ceremonial from the church of that name in Syria, and indeed from any exist- ing chnrch in the world. Their proper designation, and that which is sanctioned by their own use, is Syrian Christiant or The Syrian Church of Malayala." Yet the Doctor re- marks, that they acknowledge " the Patriarch of Antioch," and that they are connected with certain churches in Mesopo- i'amia and Syria, 215 in number, and labouring under circum- stances of discouragement and distress : but he does not say whether it is to the Greek or the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch that they are subject.:^ In respect to their religious ceremonies they observe at Easter a Kind of public collation, which bears some affinity with the -4^ap« of the primitive Christians. This . feast or entertainment consists generally of no- gu^'mg'*"** thing but a few herbs, fruits, and rice: and is made in the fore-court before the churcn-porch. The priests at those times have a double, and the bishop a tripl ortion of what is provided. To these Agapa, we must add another ceremony, called by the Christians of St. Thomas, their Cas- TURE, which is said to be an emblem, or symbol, of brotherly love. During the time they are in the church, they take hold * Malayala comprehends the mountains and the whole region with- in them, from Cape Cormortn to Cape lUi. Whereas the province of Malabar commonly so called, contains only the northern districts, not in^ clud ing the country of Travaneore. t Their Liturey, Dr. B. tells us, is derived from that of the early church of Antioch, called " Liiurgia Jaeobi Apostoli." — And, according to Mr. Gibbon, " the Jacobites themselves had rather deduce their name and pedigree from St. James the Apostle." t All Religions. ao uo OTHBK BmAMOMBf Or / of the hand* of one of their most ancient Cacam ares, ot priests, and in that posture receive his benediction. These Christians have huly water placed at their church* doors, with which they make the sign of the cross, repeating at the same time a prayer in commemoration of Nestoriut. It it merely a little common water, mixed with a small quantity of mould, taken out of the road through which St. Thomas had travelled. In case they have no such mould, they throw a few grains of frankincense into it. We have before oh* served, that they have not only crosses, but pictures or repre- sentations of them, hung up in their churches; and the priests likewise carry a cruci^x in procession, obliging the devotees who assist to salute it. This act of devotion has been em- braced even by the Pagans. There are also crosses erected not only in their streets and high roads, but in the most soli- tary places. They are erected on a pedestal, in which there is a hole or cavity, large enough to contain a burning lamp; and the Indians frequently contribute towards the oil that is spent to support these lamps. The use of bells is prohibited amongst those Chaldeans who live under the authority and jurisdiction of the Indians : because the sound of those instruments, in their opinion, is of- fensive and incommodious to their idols : the ancient pagans were no strangers to this idle notion. It is a common practice among the Indian Christians, out of devotion, to lie all night in their churches ; and the same custom was frequently observed by the ancient idolaters. The posture of these Indians, when they say their prayers, is pros- tration with their fiices to the ground. A description of their dances maybe properly enough intro- duced in this place. The men dance by themselves, and the maidens and married women also by themselves, with all imaginable modesty and decorum. Before they begin, they not only make the sign of the cross, but sing the Lord's Prayer, with a hymn in commemoration of St. Thomas. The In- dians, likewise, amongst whom these Christians live, moke dancing a part of their divine worship; and it is well known that it was a principal ornament, and an essential act of devo- tion, at the festivals of the ancient pagans. With regard to their songs, the subject of them is always either the virtues of their saints, or the heroic actions of their ancestors. TUB oRiii ommeit. Ml of General ac- count. Stc. 4. — Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Jaeobitet. Were we to include under the denomination of Jacobites, oil the MoNOPHYsiTEs of the Levant, that is, all thoae who arc charged with the heresy of acknowledging but one nature in Jesus Christ, it must be ac- knowledged that their sect would be very exten- sive ; for then we must reckon the Armenians, Cophti, and the Abyssinians, amongst the number. But there are very few who can strictly aim justly be termed Jacobites, and they, for the most part, reside in Syria and Mesopotamia. There are not above 40 or 45,000 families of their persuasion ; and even they themselves are divided in point of principle ; some of them being reconciled to the Church of Rome, and others con- tinuing in a state of separation. The latter have two patri- archs, who generally act in direct opposition to each other: one of them resides at Caremit, and the other at Derzapha* ram ; independently of whom, there is another patriarch at- tached to the Church of Rome, who resides at Aleppo, and is dependant on, and absolutely under the jurisdiction of the court of Rome. As to the articles of their belief, the Monopkysites, in gene- ral, (whether Armenians, Cophti, or Abyssinians,) maintain the doctrine of Dioscorus, with respect to the unity of the nature and person of Jesus Christ, l^o*'"""' and to that degree of exactness, that, in order the more clearly to express their belief they make the sign of the cross, accord- vng to Brerewood, with one finger only, whereas the other Easterns make use of two ; for this reason, they are looked upon and treated as heretics, though in reality there is no other difference but in point of terms between them and the divines of the Latin Church. This is readily acknowledged by the most learned men amongst them at this very day; and is evi- dent from the conferences which Father Christopher Roderie, the pope's legate in Egypt, hud with the Cophti, on the sub- ject of reconciliation between the two churches. They in- genuously confessed, that the only reason of their making use of such terms, was purely to testify their abhorrence and de- testation of the Nestorians; for that, in reality, they were of the same opinion with the Latin Church, and freely owned the two natures of Jesus Christ. They further insisted that the mystery of the Incarnation was more clearly explained by their asserting the unity of ChrisCs nature ; because there u V OTHBB BlAi* i CI OT but one Jisvs Chriit, who is ho .>. Cod and man. On the contrary, the Latins speak of these two natures as if they were severed from one another, and did not constitute one real whole. It is in this sense, likewise, that Dioscorus, who softened some of the harsh terms which were made use of by £uty> ches, declared his opinion that Jesus Christ was a com* pound of two natures ; although he was not in himself two distinct natures, " which," say^s Father Simon, "appears an orthodox notion." for they will not acknowledge that there were two distinct natures m Jesus Christ, for fear of estab- lishing two Christs. The whole of this mighty disagree- ment arises, however, from the difTerent construction which each party puts on those two terms, nature and person. To which may be added, the ambition of not swerving in the least from a position once laid down, and which was the principal reason why Eutyches maintained his opinion with so much obstinacy : from which it appears, that the terms he uses ought not to be understood in their mo^t strict and rigorous sense ; but be construed and restrained to that idea, which he enter- tained of admitting but one Christ, and consequently but one nature, after the union of the two natures, the divine and hu- man, in such a manner as is incomprehensible to our weak understandings. In regard to all other points, relating either to the faith or ceremonies of the Jacobites, the accounts which Brerewood Ceremonies ^*' given us of them are not always strictly ' just For instance, they neither deny a state of purgatory, nor reject prayers for the dead, as he perempto- rily asserts upon the authority of Thomas the Jesuit ; but their notions, in those particulars, are the same as those of the Greeks, and other oriental nations. Neither is it true that they consecrate the sacrament with unleavened bread ; the Ar- menians, and, according to Alvares, the Ethiopians, only ex- cepted ; for the true Jacobites, of whom we are speaking, make use of leavened bread. Gregory XIII. who purposed to found a college at Rome for the Jacobites, there being one antece- dently erected for the encouragement of the Maronites, would no doubt have indulged them, as well as the Greeks, with the administration of the sacrament with leavened bread ; but in regard to confession, the assertion that it is not practised amongst them is likewise a gross mistake; for as it is not looked upon by them as of divine institution, it is consequently very much neglected. Brerewood says that they confess their sins to God alone, and not to a priest, except tipon some ex* I ■,a J THE ORBEK CHURCH. inordinary occasion. His assertion, however, about circum* cision, must be false, unless he means to refer to a few amongst the Cophti and the Abyssiniana ; and even they look on it rather as an ancient custom than a religious ceremony. A ^reat distinction ought however to be made between the Jacobites, when the Cophti, Abyssinians, and Armenians, are included under that denomination, #nd those who are strictly nnd properly to called; for though they are all followers of that St. James, from whom they derive their title ; yet they do not all observe the same ceremonies. James was ttie disciple of Severus, Patriarch of Antioch, in the sixth century. He is revered as a saint by the Jacobites, as well as Dioscorus, who was his contemporary. Abrahamus Ecchellensis insists that the Jacobites, as well as the Latins, acknowledge that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son ; but Father Si- mon says that " he is very much mistaken in this particular, as well as in several others relating to the customs and tenets of the Eastern Christians." Before baptism the Jacobites imprint the sign of the cross, not only on the arm, but on the face of the infant to be bapti- zed. It is likewise a received notion amongst them, that the souls of the righteous reside on earth till the day of judgment, waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ; also, that the angels consist of two substances, fire and light. The Jacobites, who are scattered throughout Syria and the parts adjacent, are computed to amount to more than fifty thousand families. There is a quotation in Brerewood, in which the number was then said to be advanced to a hundred and sixty thousand. Sec. 5. — Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Copts. The Copts, according to Scaliger and Father Simon, derive their name from Coptos, once a celebrated town of Egypt, and the metropolis of Thebaid; but Volney and _ . others are of opinion, that the name Copts is eoun ""* **" only an abbreviation of the Greek word Ai- gouptios, an Egyptian. The Copts have a patriarch, whose jurisdiction extends over both Egypts, Nubia, and Abyssinia, who resides at Cairo, but who takes his title from Alexan- dria. He has under him eleven or twelve bishops, besides the abuna, or bishop of the Abyssinians, whom he appoints and consecrates. The rest of the clergy, whether secular or regular, are composed of the orders of St. Anthony, St. Paul, 20* 234 OTHER BRANCIIE< OF Ritfts and Ceremonies. and St. Macarins, who have each their monasteries. Their arch-priests are next in degree to bishops, and their deacons are said to be numerous; and they often confer the order of deacon even on children. Next to the patriarch is the bishop or titular patriarch of Jerusalem, who also resides at Cairo, because there are only few Copts at Jerusalem ; he is, in re- ality, little more than bishop of Cairo, except that he goes to Jerusalem every Easter, and visits some other places in Pa- lestine, within his own jurisdiction. To him belongs the go- vernment of the Coptic church, during the vacancy of the patriarchal see. The ecclesiastics are said to be in general of the lowest rank of the people ; and hence that great degree of ignorance which prevails among them. They have seven sacraments ; baptism, the eucharist, con- firmation, ordination, faith, fasting, and prayer. They admit only three oecumenical councils ; those of Nice, Constantinople, and Ephesus. They observe four Lents, as do the Greeks and most Eastern Christians ; but it is said, by Brerewood and Ross, that they do not keep the Lord's day. There are three Coptic liturgies ; one attributed to St. Basil, another to St. Gregory, and the third to St. Cyril. These are translated into Arabic for the use of the clergy and the people. The Copts are fond of rites and ceremonies. During the time of service, they are always in motion. In particular, the officiating priest is in continual motion, incensing the saints, pictures, books, &c. every mo- ment. They have many monasteries, in which the monks bury themselves from society in remote solitudes. Their nun- neries are properly hospitals; and few enter them, except wi- dows reduced to beggary. During the first three ages of the church, no country exhibited more sincere or greater Clirist- ian piety than Egypt, and the north of Africa in general. At present, however, little more than the mere shadow of Christi- anity can be seen in Egypt ; and, in point of numbers, not more than fifty thousand Christians in all can be found in this country. There are not more than three Christian churchos at Cairo. In respect to this people, we shall only add a brief account of their nuptial ceremonies, which, however, do not essentially ,• 1 P difl'er from those practised by the Greeks. Af- remonie's *" *®' midnight service, or, as the Romans would express it, after matins, the bridegroom in the first place, and then the bride, were conducted from their own apartments to church, accompanied by a long train of attend- ants with wax-tapers, and other lights. During the proces THE GREEK CHURCH. 235 sion several hymns were sung in the Coptic language, and the performers beat time, or accompanied the vocal with in- strumental music, by striking little wooden hammers upon small ebony rulers. The bridegroom was conducted into the inner choir of the church, and the bride to the place appointed for the women. Then the priests and the people began seve- ral prayers, interspersed with hymns, within the choir. This ceremony was very long. At the conclusion, the priest who solemnized the nuptials went up to the bridegroom, and read three or four prayers, making tne sign of the cross both at the beginning and at the conclusion of each prayer. After that, he made him sit down upon the ground, with his face towards the Heikel. The priest who stood behind him held a silver cross over his head, and in that posture continued praying. Whilst this ceremony was performing in the inner choir, the sacristan had placed a form or bench at the door of the outer choir, for the bride to sit on with one of her relations. The priest having finished in the inner choir what the Copts call the Prayer of the Conjugal Knot, the other priest, wno solemnized the nuptials, dressed the bridegroom in an alb, tied it with a surcingle about his waist, and threw a white napkin over his head. The bridegroom thus equipped was conducted to his spouse. The priest then made him sit down by her side, and laid the napkin, which before covered the bride- groom's head, over them both. After this, he anointed each of them on the forehead, and above the wrist. To conclude the ceremony, he read over to them, after their hands were joined, an exhortation, which principally turned on the duties incumbent on all those who enter into tne holy state of matri- mony. Then followed sundry prayers ; and after them the mass, at which the bridegroom and the bride received the blessed sacrament, and then departed. Sec. 6. — Doctrines and Customs of the Abyssinians or Ethiopians. Having treated of the religion of the Copts, and as there is little or no difference between them and the Abyssinians, in point of principle, we shall say ^^^^^^^ **^ but little on that topic. The country known to the ancients by the name of Ethiopia, is now called Abyssinia, and the natives thereof are distin- guished by the name of Abyssinians. They are subservient only to the power and authority of one bishop, who is the me- tropolitan, or archbishop of all Ethiopia,' and is dignified and 236 OTHER BRANCHES OF distinguished by the title of Abuna, that is to say, Our Father. This bishop is sent by the Patriarch of Alexandria to preside ever them, and his place of residence is at Cairo ; so that they resemble the Copts in all their ecclesiastical concerns, except in some few ceremonies which are peculiar to themselves. They have likewise a language of their own, which they call the Chaldaic, because they are of opinion that it was originally spoken in Chaldea, though very different from the vulgar Chaldaic. For this reason, it is likewise called the Ethiopic tongue, and they always make use of it in their liturgies, and other religious offices. Such as are versed in the Hebrew language may easily attain a competent knowledge of the Ethiopic, because there are many words which are the same in both languages : they have characters, however, peculiar to themselves ; and in the Hebrew language the points which suppljwkhe place of vowels, are never joined to the consonants ; whilst on the other hand, in the Ethiopic language, there is no consonant, but what at the same time includes its own vowel. The Abyssinians are dependent on the Patriarch of Alex- andria, who makes choice of, constitutes, and appoints that p . , J. person to be Metropolitan of Abyssinia whom he Abyssinia. thinks most able to fill the office, which ability is generally estimated according to the extent of the douceur which he is enabled to give. It is for this reason, that the Abyssinian priests mention in their prayers the Patri- arch of Alexandria before their own metropolitan ; who, after his election, is always accountable to that patriarch for his conduct, and the due administration of his office. This metro- politan must not be a native of Abyssinia, neither has he power to constitute or establish any other metropolitans ; so that, although he has the honour to be called their patriarch, he has neither the authority nor the power belongings to that august character. He alone, however, issues out dispensa- tions, and is possessed of very considerable revenues, which pay very little, if any, duty or contribution to the government. There are both canons or prebendaries, and monks, in Abyssinia, and amonj^st the latter there are two sorts of hermits. The canons are allowed to marry. Orders of ^nd their canonships frequently descend to their "®^' children : this custom is the more remarkable, for there is no other religion, except that of the Jews, which can produce any instances of hereditary succession to any ecclesiastical dignities. The komos, or hegumene, is reputed the first dignitary, or principal person in the order of priest- THK GREEK CHURCH. 237 1 hood, after the archbishops and bishops, both by the Copts and the Abyssinians. Their monks never marry. Of these there are two kinds ; one, that have a General, and form a regnilar body; the other, who live under one common rule, but their convents are independent of each other. These monks are men of credit and reputation, and are frequently intrusted with the most important affairs of state. None but the priests and deacons have any right to enter into the sanctuary where the altar stands; the emperor himself is denied that privilege, unless he has been before admitted into holy orders; for this reason their monarchs are frequently ordained, and take either deacon's or priest's orders on the day of their corona- tion. The Ethiopian princes insist, that they are descendants of Solomon by the Glueen of Sheba ; and this royal extraction, whether true or false, is supported by several Origin, historical testimonies, interspersed with a thou- sand extravagant fictions. But if this really be so, it readily accounts for that Judaism which is so universally blended with the Christianity of this empire, and which seems to be originally derived from this royal race of the Abyssinian monarchs. Indeed the Abyssinians are so confirmed, beyond all contradiction, in thi? belief, that their monarchs assume the title of Kings of Israel. The people are divided into tribes, as were the ancient Hebrews, and they preserve many Jewish names ; indeed, their very singers boast that they are descend- ants from the ancient Scribes. We shall next notice some of their rites and ceremonies ", and first, in respect to baptism: the mother neing dressed with great neatness and •Icency, attends Avith her _. . infant in her anns ai t'lt? church-door. There ceremonies, the priest who oflic atPR, pronounces several long prayers for a blessing on them both, beginning with those peculiarly appvopriatfd to the mother. Afterwards, he conducts them 'to the chunb, and anoints the infant six several times v^itll the oil consecrated for their exorcisms. These first unctions are accompanied with thirty-six others, administered with galilsBum, each on a distinct part of the infant's body. After this, he blesses the font, pouring con- secrated oil into it twice, and making, each time, three differ- ent signs of the cross with meiron, all which ceremonies are accompanied v/ith several long prayers. As soon as the benediction of the font is over, he plunges the infant into it three times successively. At the first, he dips one third part of the infant's body into the water, sr.ying, / vaptize thee in the 838 OTHER BRANCHES OF name of the Father; he then dips him lower, about two thirds, adding, / baptize thee in the name of the Son ; at the third operation, he plunges him all over, saying, / baptize thee in the name of the Holy Ghost. The Sacraments of Confirmation, and of the Blessed Eucharist, are administered after this Baptism, which is solemnized before mass ; and the Communion is administered to the infant towards the end. The confirmation of the Copts consists in severiil long prayers, and repeating he unctions on the infant, the same as _ - after baptism. The priests among the Abyssini- ■ ans, perform their unction with chrism, in the form of a crosa, upon the forehead of the baptized infant, saying. May this be the unction of the grace of the Holy Ghost ; Amen. When he anoints the infant's nose and lips, he says. This is the pledge of the kingdom of heaven. At the application of the ointment to his ears, he uses this form. The sacred unction of our Lord Jesus Christ : in anointing the arms, knees, and legs, / anoint thee, says he, with this sacred unction, in the name of the Father, d-c. To conclude, the priest repeats a prayer over the infants that have been baptized, and afterwards confirmed, in the form of a h nediction, puts crowns upon their heads, and then gives them the commu- nion. When the Abyssinians celebrate the eucharist, the sacra- mental bread is prepared in a convenient place, contiguous to Eucharist. ^^^ church, but no woman is permitted to touch the flour from which it is made. The bread is brought from the vestry to the altar by proper officers, who go in solemn procession before it, with crosses, censers, and little bells. During the celebration of mass, a curtain is drawn, to conceal what is done at the altar from the eyes of the congre- gation. They administer the communion in both kinds ; but with these restrictions, according to Father Ic Brun ; — that in the Ethiopian, as well as in all other Eastern churches, the cele- brant gives the blood, or wine, in the chalice to none but the priests ; he administers it to the deacons in a small spoon ; and the laity receive only some particles of the body, dipped in the blood ; the king excepted, who receives the communion in both kinds. The Abyssinian churches are all situated directly from west to east, that the people when they pray may turn their faces Churches, eastward. The altar stands by itself; within the sanctuary, under a kind of dome, supported by four pilasters; and is called by the Ethiopians, their ark; THE GREEK Cni'RCH. 239 m in the form or figure of it being, acccrding to their tradition, the same as that of the Jews : which they pretend is actually in existence, and is to be seen at this very time in the Church of Axuma. There are two curtains before the sanctuary, with Uttle bells at the bottom of them, on which account nobody can go in nor come out, without making them ring. As the con- gregation always stand during the performance of divine ser- vice, they have no seats in their churches ; they are allowed, however, to rest themselves upon supporters or crutches, a great number of which are provided for that purpose, and de- posited on the outside of the churches. The people always go into the church barefooted ; and for that reason the pave- ment is covered with tapestry. No person presumes to talk, blow his nose, nor so much as to turn his head aside, whilst at church. The men are separated from the women, and the latter are placed as far distant as possible from the sanctuary. They have lamps burning in their churches even in the day- time, and they frequently illumine a great number of wax- tapers. They are very strict and severe in the observance of their fasts. During their Lent, they eat but once a day, and that after sunset. On Wednesdays and Fridays they „ sit down to table at three o'clock ; and, in order not to be in the least mistaken in point of time, they measure their shadows, which, when they are just seven feet in length is the critical minute. The Abyssinian priests are so precise, that they defer the celebration of the mass till the evening, upon a fast-day, for fear of transgressing the injunction of fasting, by receiving even the elements. They do not think themselves obliged, however, to fast, till they have children of a marriageable age ; but as the heat of the ciimate soon brings the natives to maturity, there are but very few at twenty-five who are exempt from that penance. Among the Abyssinians, the particular person for whose spiritual comfort this benediction of the lamp is pronounced, is obliged according to the directiou of the Benediction ritual, if his strength will permit him, to draw of the Lamb, near to the celebrant, who places him in a con- venient seat, with his face towards the east. The priests then holds the Book of the Gospels and a cross over his head, and lay their hands upon him. The senior priest then reads the prayers appointed for that particular occasion ; after which they raise the sick person up, give him a blessing with the Book of the Gospels, and rehearse the Lord's prayer, the Creed, &c. Then they raise the eross above his heaa, and at I 240 OTHER BRANCHES OF ' !i!i the same time pronounce the general absolution over him which is inserted in their liturgy. If time will permit, there are several other prayers added, and a formal procession is made all round the church, with the sacred lamp, and several lighted wax tapers, to beg of Qod that he would graciously vouchsafe to heal the person for whom their prayers are desired. If the patient happens to be so far indisposed as to be incapable of approaching ttie altar himself, some friend is substituted in his room. When the procession is jver, the priests perform the usual unctions upon the sick person, and afterwards a single unction upon one another. A writer gives the following description of one of their weddings, at which he was personally present. I'he bride- . groom and the bride attended at the church- mon^es" *^"^ ^°°'^' where a kind of nuptial-bed, or couch, was erected for that purpose. The abuna, or patriarch seated them both upon it, and then went in pro- cession round them with the cross and censer. After that he laid his hands upon their heads, and said. As yt this day become 'ic flesh, ye must bt both of one heart and one will. Aftei a short harangue, suitable to the foregoing words, he pro- ceeded to the celebration of the mass. The newly-married couple attended, and, after it was over, he pronounced the nuptial benediction. Gaia has furnished us with some other ceremonies observed oy them in their nuptials, amongst which the following are the most remarkable. " The celebrant, after he has cut a lock of hair from the heads of the bridegroom and the bride, and dipped them into wine mingled with honey, exchanges the locks, and places that which belonged to the former on the head of the latter, and so vice versa, in the very same place from whence they were taken, sprinkling them at the same time with holy water. After this ceremony is over, the newly-married rouple, attended by their friends, go home, and never stir abroad for a month. When the bride goes out, she wnars a black veil over her face, which she ntver turns up till aft^'.r the expiration of six months, except she proves with child." We have before taken particular notice of the nup- tial crowns, amongst the ceremonies of the Greeks ; and among the Abyssinians, these crowns are put upon the heads of the newly-married couple, and they wear them for the first eight days ; after which, the priest who put them on, takes them off again, with much formality, and pronounces several prayers. Each monastery has two churches, one for the men and the . choir is divided noiu the place allotted for the men by rails about six feet high. The sanctuary is five or six sti'[).s higher than the choir. In the centre of the sanc- tuary stands the altar, which is small and insulated, in order that the priest may thurify and go round it. The majority of the churches have a dome with several windows in it, to give light to the sanctuary. There are no seats in that part of the church, because both the celebrant and his assistants are obliged to atand all the time of divine service in that holy place. According to the directions, however, in their liturgy, the priest is ordered to sit down during the lesson out of the prophets, and the epistle, and then, in case the celebrant should be a bishop, or a priest well stricken in years, he is indulged with a chair. Generally, there are small rails between the two stair-cases leading from the sanctuary to the choir ; and those who serve at the altar are allowed to lean against or rest themselves upon them. The vestry stands on tf.e left side of the s;mctuary on entering the church ; and on the right side opposite to it, there is, in all great churches, another ves- try, which is made use of as a treasury. There is but one al tar generally in each church. The choir is the place peculiarly appropriated to the service of the clergy ; and the laity are never admitted into that division. There is no seat but the bishop's, which is erected on the left-hand side of the door ; but when there are several bishops present, there are stools brought for them, and set on each side of the episcopal chair* — the others either stand all the time of divine service, or sit cross-logged on the ground, according to the custom of the country. The choristers have neither stool nor desk, but when the lessons are to be read there is a folding desk brought out, and set in the centre, which is covered with an embroi- derad veil. Neither is there any fixed pulpit erected for the preacher ; but when there is a sermon, a moveable pulpit is generally placed at the door of the choir : the patriarch, how- ever, preaches in the sanctuary. As to the third and fourth divisions of the church, there is nothing worthy of notice in THE GREEK CHURCH. 245 ciiher of them Such churches as are poor have their pave- ments covered with matting, but those which are rich with fine carpets ; and to prevent the people from soiling them, a sufficient number of spitting-pots are provided. A similar reason may be assigned for pulling off their shoes at the church-door. In those cities where the Armenian merchants carry on u great trade, the churches are embellished with beautiful pic- tures and rich tapestry; particularly the sanctuary, which, a» all times when there i^ no celebration of the mass, is conceal sacred vetisels and vestments le are ed by a fine curtain equally grand and '" ■arnificcnt; and whilst the Greeks have only two insignificau priest to read mass, ' with illuminations ii, 'i, , scarcely sufficient to enable the rmer-ian churches are surrounded an abundance. The altar is uncovered at uU times when there is no divine service; but always covered during the celebration of their mass. The altars are but small and without relics : formerly the cross, and the book of the gospels only, were placed upon them. The Armenians, in imitation of the Latins, have for many years past placed their candlesticks there, and very frequently a great number of them ; and fill up the steps with crosses. A number of lamps are always burning during the celebration of mass ; and one particularly in the centre of the sanctuary, which is never extmguished. The faithful oflfer wax-tapers to be burnt in mass-time. According to Father Monier, two masses are very seldom said in one day at the same church, or if there should, there is but one at each altar. Nothing but high mass is celebrated amongst them, and that at break of day, except on the vigil of the Epiphany and Eas- ter-eve, when it is celebrated in the evening. Children generally leave the choice of the person whom they pre to marry, as well as the settlement of the mar- riage articles, to their parents or nearest relations. Their marriages, according to Tournefort, are the result of the mother's choice, who very seldom advises with any persons upon the subject except her husband ; and even tliat deference is paid with no small reluctance. After the terms of accommodation are settled and adjusted, the mother of the young man pays a visit to the young lady, accompanied by a priest and two venerable matrons, and presents her with a ring, as the first tacit pro- mise of her intended husband. He generally makes his ap- pearance at the same time, with all the seriousness he is able to assume, or perhaps with all tl. . perplexity of one who has 21* Nuptial Cer- emonies, iSi- o^y^r,^^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) LO 11.25 1^ |2.8 |2.5 ■so "^* mHB »- ^ WUl- 1.8 U IIIIII.6 yl '-^r ^^•."^V ;;< ^a^ ■ A>: V '^J ^ ^ '/ Photographic Sdences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14S80 (716)872-4503 c^ Cv %> OTBltt BftANOUES OW not the liberty to make his own choice. Touraefort assures us, that this serious deportment is carried to such a pitch, that at the first interview even a smile would be looked upon as indecent, and even the young virgin at that time conceals either her charms or defects, under an impenetrable veil. The priest who attends on this occasion, is always treated with a glass of good liquor. The Armenians never publish the bans of matri;.iony, as is customary with other Christian churches. The evenmg before the wedding, the bridegroom and the bride send each other some presents. On the wedding-day, there is a procession on horseback, and the bridegroom rides in the front, from his mistress's house, having on his head a gold or silver network, or a flesh-coloured gauze veil, according to his •quality. This network hangs dovm to his waist. In his right hand he holds one end of a girdle, whilst the bride, who fol lows him on horseback, covered with a white veil, which reaches down to her horse's legs, has hold of the other. Two attendants walk on each side of her horse, and hold the reins. The bride is sometimes conducted to church between two matrons, and the bridegroom walks on foot accompanied by a friend, who carries his sabre. The relations and friends, (generally young men and maids,) either on horseback or on foot, accompany them to church with great order and decorum in the procession, having Avax- tapers in therr hands, and a band of music marching before them. They alight at the church-door, and the bridegroom and bride walk up to the very steps of the sanctuary, still hold- ing the ends of the girdle in their hands. They there stand side by side, and the priest having put the Bible upon their heads, pronounces the sacramental form ; he then performs the ceremony of the ring, and says mass. The nuptial benedic- tion is expressed in the following terms. Bless, O Lord! this marriage toith thy everlasting benediction ; grant that this man and this woman may live in the constant practice of faiths hope, and charily ; endow them with sobriety ; inspire them with holy thoughts, and secure their bed from all manner of pollution, ifc. When an infiint dies under nine years of acfe, the father, or his nearest relation, provides prayers to Almighty God, eight days successively, for the soul of the de- «£?I\-- **'" ceased ; end during all that time pays the ex- penses of the priest to whose care that act jf de- votion is intrusted. On the ninth day the solemn service for tiie soul is performed. Those who are pious and in goodcir cumstancos have a particular day «(^t apart for the commemc MimiwMiMiiH TBK CIRSBK CHVRGH, ^lUf ratxm of their relati(HU, and for the due celebration of all die requisite offices. Father Monier assures us also, that it is a received custom amongst them to visit the monuments of the dead upon Easter Monday; at which time the men sigh and groan, hut the women actually howl ; and this they call the visible testimonies of their sorrow and concern. These sighs and groans of the men, and these bowlings of the women, however, are soon over ; and a more agreeable scene imme< diately succeeds; they all withdraw under the refreshing shade of some luxuriant tree, where an elegant entertainment erases the idea of affliction : sorrow is now drowned in li- quors, and the diversions of the afternoon are altogether as extravagant and excessive as their morning lamentations. n CHAPTER II. REUOIOUS TENETS. CUSTOMS, CEREMONIES, Ac. OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. ^SEC. I. — TENETS, CUSTOMS, SlC. The Roman Catholics hold all the fundamental tenets of the Christian religion. They worship one God in three persons ; viz. the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost : and they maintain that they are to put their ,h^'JJ*" " confidence t» God alone, through the merits of his incarnate Son, who teas crucified and rose from the dead for our justification. They receive with the same certainty, all the other articles of the Apostles' creed. The Protestants do not differ with them in relation to the fundamentals of this belief; but affirm that the Catholics have made a great num- ber of additions, some of which are repugnant to the Apostles' creed, and tend very much to weaken the fundamental tenets. They further affirm that the Roman Catholics are too indul- gent in their toleration of an. infinite number of customs, which deviate from the spirit of Christianity. The following is a summary of the tenets held by the Ro- man Catholic church, according to Mr. Bos- Tenets of the suet's Exposition of the Catholic Catechism, Roman Caiho- and which on good authority is allegea to be "**• conformable to the decrees of the famous council of Trent ' i\ ^ iSiB ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. ** To begin," says he, " with the adoration which is due to Odd, the Catholic Church teaches, that it principally consists -_ .. in believing that he is the Creator and Lord of all of Ood. ^^ things ; ana that it is the duty of Catholics to ad* here to him with all the facuhies of their souls, through faith, hope, and charity, as being the sole object that can make them happy by the communication of that sove- reign good, which is himself. " This internal adoration which they render unto God in spirit and in truth, is attended with its external signs, of which sacrifice is the principal, and can be offered to God alone ; because sacrifice was ordained to make a public and solemn acknowledgment of God's sovereignty over us, and of our absolute dependance upon him. "The same Church teaches, that all religious worship ought to terminate in God, as its necessary th^'^BressS"^ ®"^' ^^^ that if the veneration which is paid Virgin. ^^ ^^^ Blessed Virgin and the saints may be termed religious, it is because it relates of neces- sity to God. " The Catholic Church, in telling us that it is beneficial to pray to the saints, teaches us to pray to them in that spirit of charity, and according to that order of brotherly love, which inclines us to request the assistance of our brethren living upon earth ; and the cate- chism of the Council of Trent concludes from this doctrine, that if the quality of Mediatoi, which the Holy Scriptures at- tribute to Jesus Christ, received the least prejudice from the in- tercession of the saints who dwell with God, it would receive no less an injury from the mediation of the faithful, who live with us upon earth. " This catechism demonstrates the great difference there is between the manner of imploring God's aid. and assistance, and that of the saints : for it expressly declares, that the Ca- tholics pray to God either to bestow on them some blessing, or to deliver them from some misfortune ; but since the saints are more acceptable in • sight than they are, they beg oj them to be their advoc jnly, and to procure for them such things as they want, h or which reason, the Catholics make use of two forms of prayer widely different from each other, for when they make their applications to God himself, they say, ' Have mercy on vs, hear vh V But when they ad- dress themselves to the saints, they only say, *■ Pray fob us !' By which we are to understand, that in whatever terms those prayers which are directed to the saints are conceived, the in Veneration of Saints. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHVROB. 249 tention of the Church and of her faithful servants always re> duces them to that form." Considering, however, that this honour, which the Catho- lic Church pays to the saints, principally appears before their images and sacred relics, it will be proper to ex- Reverence plain the belief of the Church in both these par- for images and ticulars. Sacred Relics. In regard to images, the Catholics are expressly forbidden by the Council of Trent, to believe there is any virtue in them of so heavenly a nature as to prove an inducement to pay di- vine adoration to them : and they are enjoined to ask no fa- vours of them, to put no trust nor confidence in them, but to reverence them only in honour of the originals which they re- present. The respect which is paid to relics, in imitation of the primi- tive Church, must be understood in the same manner. They look upon the bodies of the saints as having been victims of- fered up to God by martyrdom or penance, without in any way diminishing that duty and respect which they owe to God himself, &c. As to the point of justification, they believe That their sins are freely remitted by the divine mercy, for the sake of J^svb Christ; and that they are freely justified, be- cause neither faith nor good works, which pre- Justification cede their justification, can merit that favour. As to the merit of good works, the Catholic Church, teaches, that eternal life ought to be proposed to the children of God, both as a grace mercifully promised them by the Sanctifyin? means and mercies of our Lord Jesvs Christ, grace opposed and as a reward faithfully bestowed on them for *° |^ ^^J^^ their good works and merits, in consequence of '^ ™® ^* ' that promise. These are the express terms of the Council of Trent. But that the pride of mankind should not flatter itself with the idea of a presumptuous merit, the same Council teaches, that the whole worth and value of Christian works arise from a sanctifying grace, which is freely granted us in the name of Jesus Christ; and is the result of that constant influence which this divine Head has upon his members. The Catholics openly declare, that they cannot be accepta- ble to God, but in and through Jestts Christ ; nor do they apprehend how any other sense can be imputed g-i»„,-on to their belief They place all the hopes of their througk Jesus salvation so perfectly in him alone, that they dai- Christ only, ly direct the following petition to God in the sacrifice : Vouchsufe, O God ! to grant unto us sinners, thy i ■* \ J^ 850 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. servants, v>ko trust in ik* multitude of thy mercies, some shar$ and society with thy blessed apostles and martyrs, into the number of whom we beseech thee to receive us, having no re- gard to our own merit ; but pardoning us through thy grace in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. The Catholics, without exception, teach that Issus Christ only, who was both Qod and man, was able, by the infinite dignity of his person, to ofier up a sufficient satis* Nature of the fection to God for our sins ; out having^ made atonemen . ^^ abundant recompense for them, he had power to apply that infinite satis&ction to us in two several ways ; either by an absolute remission, without the least reserve of any penalty ; or by exchanging a greater for a less, that is to say, an eternal for a temporal punishment. As the first is the most perfect and conformable to his divine goodness, he makes use of that, first of alK in the sacrament of baptism; and they believe, that he uses the second in the forgiveness which he grants to those who, after baptism, relapse into sin, he being in some measure compelled thereto, through the in- gratitude of those who have abused his first favours; for which reason they are to sufl'er some temporal punishment, though the eternal be taken off. In order to satisfy the duties imposed upon them by their religion, the Catholics are subject to certain penances, which ought to be performed on their parts with repent- induK&rSs *"*^® *"^ humiliation ; and it is the necessity of ° ' these works of expiation, which obliged the pri- mitive Church to inflict those punishments upon penitents, that are termed canonical. When the Church, therefore, imposes those painful and la- borious penances upon sinners, ana they undergo them with patience and humility, it is called satisfaction ; and w^hen the Church shows any regard either to the ardent devotion of the . penitents, or to other good works which she prescribes, and remits any part of the punishment due to them, it is termed indulgence. The Council of Trent proposes nothing more relating to mdulgences, than that the Church had the power of granting them from Jesus Chr>.st, and that the practice of them is wholesome ; which custom, that Council adds, ought still be preserved, though with moderation, lest ecclesiastical disci- pline should be weakened by too great a toleration: from whence it is manifest, that the articles of indulgences only re- gard discipline. It is the belief of the Catholics, that thos(f who depart this ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 251 this life in peace and charity, and are, notwithstanding, subject to those temporal punishments which divine jus- p tice has reserved for them, must suffer them in *^"8»"T- the other world; and for that reason the whole Christian Church in the earliest ages, offered up both prayers, alms, and sacrifices for the faithful who have died in peace, and in the communion of the Church, with a lively hope and expectation of their being relieved by those acts of devotion. This is what the Council of Trent proposes that the Catholics should believe with respect to souls confined in purgatory, without determining either the nature of their punishments, or several other things of the like kind ; in regard to which that holy Council exacts considerable precaution, and particularly con- demns those who say any thing that is uncertain and preca- rious. The sacraments of the New Testament are not only sacred tokens of grace, or seals by which it is confirmed to thpm, but they are also instruments of the Holy Ghost, _. which apply and confer it on them by virtue of Sacramentr" the words pronounced, and the outward action performed, on their behalf, provided they do not prevent the effects of it by their own evil dispositions. When God annexes so high a prerogative to external signs, which in their nature bear no proportion to such excellent ef- fects, he plainly signifies that, independently of all that the Catholics can do inwardly through their good inclinations, a special operation of the Holy Ghost, and a particular applica- tion of the merits of our blessed Saviour, represented to us by the sacraments, must still intervene to sanctify them. This doctrine, therefore, cannot be rejected without offering an in- . dignity to the merit of Jesus Christ ; and to the influence of the divine power in their regeneration. They acknowledge seven signs or sacraments, ordained by Jesus Christ as the ordinary means by which the new man is sanctified and made perfect. Their divine institution ap- pears from the sacred Scriptures, either by the express words of Jesus Christ himself, or by grace, which is accordingly annexed to them, and necessarily denotea an order from God. As infants cannot supply the defects of baptism, by acts of faith, hope, and charity, or by any vow hereafier to receive that sacrament, the Catholics believe, that if they Baptism, do not actually receive it, they are in no wise partakers of the grace of redemption ; and so dying in the guilt of Adam, have no share at all in Jesus Christ. The Catholics say that imposition of hands, practised by 12 ^ i262 BOXAN CATHOLIC CUVRCM. the blened apostles for the confirmation of the faithful against ConfirmAtion. persecutions, having its chief eflect in the inter* nal descent of the Holy Ghost, and the infusion of his gracious gifts, ought not to have been rejected by their adversaries on prbtence that the Holy Qhost does not at present descend visioly upon them. Indeed, all Christian Churches, from the time of the apostles, have religiously pre* served that practice, making use likewise of the sacred oint- ment in baptism, to show the virtue of that sacrament by a more express representation of the unction of the Holy Qhost. They believe that it was the will of Jesus Christ, that those who have submitted themselves to the authority of the Confession Church by baptism, and have afterwards viola- and absolu- ted the laws of the Gospel, shall be subject to the tion. decision of the same Church in the tribunal of penance, at which it exercises the full power granted to it of absolution and remission of sins. The terms of the commission which is given to the ministers of the Church to forgive sins, are so general, that it would be presumptuous to reduce it only to public sins ; and as, when they pronounce absolution in the name of Jesus Christ, they only observe the express terms of that commission, so the sen- tence is looked upon as passed by Jesus Christ himself, in whose name they are appointed judges. He is the invisible hiffh priest, who absolves the penitent inwardly, whilst the priest performs the same office externally. The Holy Ghost having annexed to extreme unction, an express promise of remission of sins, and the relief of the sick, nothing more can be required to make this sa- cred ceremony a real sacrament. It is to be ob- served, however, that the sick person, according JD the doctrine of the Council of Trent, receives more conso- lation and relief in soul than in body ; and as spiritual benefit is ever the principal object of the new law, it is that which the Catholics chiefly expect from this holy unction, in case they are duly prepared for it ; whereas corporeal relief in sickneso is only granted unto them with respect to their eternal salva- tion, according to the secret designs of Divine Providence, and the different degrees of preparation and faith, which are to be met with in the faithful. Upon considering that Jesus Christ has given a new turn to the holy state of marriage, {see Matthew, chap. xix. v. 5,) Motrltnonv ^Y '''^^^"cing it to the constant and indissoluble ^" union of two persons only ; and likevnse reflect- Extreme inction. r 1^ ROMAN OATHOLIG OHUROB. S5t ■ J- ing (hat this inseparable union is a mark or token of his eternal union with his church, it will be very easy to compre- hend that the marriage of the faithful is attended by the Holy Qhost and the grace of God. The imposition of hands, which the Catholic spiritual minis- ters receive at their ordination, being attended^ according to their belief) with so immediate an influence from the Holy Ghost, {seel Timothy, chap. iv. and 2 hJX"**""**' Tim. chap, i.) and with so perfect an infusion of grace, ought to be reckoned also among the number of sacra- ments. The real presence of the body and blood of Jesvs Christ in the sacrament of the Eucaarist, is firmly established by the words of the institution, which the Catholics un- .pj^^ -. . derstand in th^ literal sense ; for they maintain rist. that there is not any thing in the words which Jesus Christ makes use of in the institution of this mystery, that induces them to take them figuratively ; and this reason is sufRcient, in their opinion, to determine them in favour of the former. The ceremony of the Eucharist may be considered as one of the fundamental pillars of the Catholic religion, and we shall therefore give the exposition of it, as laid down by the Romish ritual. " It is evident," say the Catholics, "that these words of our Saviour, Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you, show us, that as the ancient Jews were not only united in spirit at the sacriGce of the victims which were offered up for them, but were also partakers of the flesh which was sacrificed, and which was also a sign to them of the share they had in that oblation ; so Jesus Christ having offered up himself a sacrifice for us, it was his pleasure the' we should in reality partake of the flesh of that adorable victim-. ; in order that the actual communication of it mitfht be a lasang testi- mony to each of us in particular, that he had not only assumed his body, but made a sacrifice of it for us." " Thus the eating of the body, and drinking the blood of the Son of God, is as real at the holy communion, as grace, expiation of sins, and participation of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, is actual and efllectual under the new covenant. " As he was willing, however, to try our fiiith in this mys- tery, and free us at the same time from the horror of eating his flesh, and drinking his bj^od, under their proper species, it v'ds necessary for hin^ to give them to us disguised under a species of another nature ; and if these considerations induced him to let us eat the flesh of our sacrifice, in a manner differ- 22 x: 9M ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. ent from the Jews, yet he was not for that reason obliged to subtract any thing from its reality and substance. " It appears, therefore, that for the accomplishment of the ancient types, and in order to put us in the actual possession of the sacrifice that was offered up for our sins, it was the in- tention of Jesus Christ to give us in reality his body and blood, and this does not admit of any denial. We can never agree that those words should be received only in a figurative sense, because the Son of.God, who was so careful to explain every- thing to his apostles which he taught them under parables and figures, said nothing of that kind to explain this matter ; and it is thence evident that he left these words in their nat- ural signification. It is as easy for the Son of God to cause his body to be in the Eucharist, by saying, This is my body, as to cure a woman of her disease by saying, Woman, be thou free from thine infirmity ; or to preserve a young man's life by saying to his fatner. Thy son livelh ; or, in short, to pardon the sins of him who was sick of the palsy, by saying to him, Thy sins are forgiven thee." Having thus laid down the tenets of the Church relating to those words of Jesus Christ, This is my body, the following is the opinion of the Catholics concerning those which he add- ed to them. This do in remembrance of me. "It is evident," they say, " that it was the design of the Son of God to oblige us thereby to commemorate the death which he suffered for our salvation ; and St. Paul concludes from this passage, that we exhibit the death of the Lord in that mystery. Now we must not persuade ourselves that this commemoration of our Lord's death excludes the real presence of his body ; on the contrary, if we reflect on what we have just explained, it will evidently appear, that this remembrance is grounded upon the real presence ; for as the Jews, at the eating of their peace- offerings, remembered they had been sacrificed for them ; so likewise, when we eat the flesh of Jesus Christ, our victim, we ought to remember that he died for us. It is the same flesh, therefore, eaten by the faithful, which not only revives in us the memory of his being offered up for us, but confirms us in the truth of it ; and from being able to say that this sol- emn confirmation which Jesus Christ enjoins us to make, ex- cludes the real presence of his flesh, we find, on the contrary, that this affectionate remembrance of him, required of us at the holy table, as being ofTere^^p for us, is grounded upon that same flesh being really taken there ; since, in reality, we cannot possibly forget that he gave his body as a sacrifice for 4M, when we see that he still gives us daily che same to om." ' * KOMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 961 On this head the Catholics say, " As it was not meet and proper that our senses should perceive any thing in this mys- tery of faith, 80 neither was it convenient that any _ . thing should be changed, with regard to them, Z?on *"' m the bread and wine of the Eucharist. Upon which account, as we perceive the same species, and feel the same eflects as before, in that sacrament, we ought not to be in any way surprised, if sometimes, and in some sense, it should go under the same denomination. Yet our faith acknow- ledges no other substances on this occasion, than that which is meant by those very words ; that is to say, the very body and blood of Christ, into which the bread and wine are changed ; and this is what we call Transubstantiation." " It is to be observed, that there are two actions in this mys- terious sacrament, really distinct, though relative to each other. The one is the consecration of the bread and wine, which are thereby changed into the body and blood ; and the other is the manducation, whereby we are made partakers of that heaven- ly food." " Thus, the Son of God is set on the sacred table, by virtue of those words, clothed in the signs which represent his death ; and this is wrought by the consecration. This religious ac- tion, moreover, carries with it an acknowledgment of the di- vine sovereignty, inasmuch as Jesvs Christ, who is actually present, renews and perpetuates the memory of his obedience, even to his dying on the cross ; for which reason nothing can be wanting to make it a true sacrifice." "When we consider what Jesvs Christ performs in this mystery, and that we sec him, through &ith, actually present on the holy table under these signs of death, we unite our- selves to him in this condition ; we present him to God as our only oblation, and our only propitiator through his blood, pro- testing that we have nothing to offer up to him, but Jesvs Christ and the infinite merit of his death. We consecrate all our prayers through that divine sacrifice, and when we oflfer up Jesvs Christ to God, we are at the same time instructed, to offer up ourselves as living sacrifices to the Divine Majes- ty, in and through him." •• The Church being instituted by God to be the guardian of the scriptures and of tradition, from her it is Authority of that we receive the canonical writings. the Church. " Being thus inseparably united to the sacred authority of the Church by means of the scriptures, which we receive from her; so from her likewise we do receive our tradition, and by means thereof are taught the true sense of the 8criptuie& #■ M6 ROMAM CATHOLIC CBVmCB. Whence it comet to mm, that the Church profeswe to teach nothing aa coming nom herself, nor to invent any new doe* trine, but only follows and declares divine Revelation by the inward direction of the Holy Ghost, graciously given to her for her guide and instructor. " The dissension which arose, relating to the ceremonies of the law, in the Apostle's time, demonstrates that the Holy Qhost makes the Church his interpreter; and their acts have taught all ages to come, by the manner of deciding that con- troversy, the authority by which all dissensions of that kind are to be concluded. So that, whenever there shall arise any disputes, which may create a division among the faithful, the Church shall always interpose her authority ; and her bishops being assembled, shall say after the Apostles, Jl seemed good to the Holy Ohost, and to us ; and when she hath once sptHcen, her children shall be taught not to make new inquiries into the articles she hath resolved, but humbly to submit to her de- cisions. In complying herewith, we snail imitate St. Paul and Silas, who delivered that first decree of the Apostles to the faithful, and who, far from suffering them to re-examine what had been determined w\ton, went from toicn to town, and charged them to keep the institutions of the Apostles. ** This is the manner in which the children of God sub- mit to the decision of the Church, believing they hear the oracles of the Holy Ghost from her mouth ; for which reason in the creed, after we have repeated, / believe in the Holy Ghost, we immediately after add, the holy Catholic Church. By which article we oblige ourselves to acknowledge a perpetual and infallible truth in the universal Church, since that very Church, in which we believe at all times, would cease so to be, should she cease to teach that truth which God was pleased to reveal. Whoever, therefore, suspects that the Uhurch makes an ill use of her authority, to establish the spirit of untruth, has no faith in him by whom the Church is governed." Acrording to the Catechism of the Council of Trent, the Roman Catholic Church is one, visible, holy, and catholic, or universal, established by the hand of God, on a of the^ope!'''^ *°^'^ basis, who has bestowed on it the power of opening the gates of heaven to all true be- lievers, and shutting them to all heretics and infidels. It likewise has the power of pardoning and absolving sins, and excommunicating all those who are disobedient. This church is both triumphant and militant. The former portion ii the illustrious society of those blessed spirits and saints, wha -*' ROMAN CATHOLIC CHVROn. »57 Saving triumphed over the world, thefieth, and the devil, m* I'oy everlatting happinete in peace and tecurity. The latter 18 the congregation of all true believers upon earth, who are constantly obliged, during their whole lives, to resist the world, the flesh, and the devil. Jesus Christ is the immediate governor of that part of the church which is triumphant in the heavens ; but, as the church militant rcc|uircd a visible head or director, ho has substituted one in his room, who is ac- counted by all Catholics, as the solei and sovereign depositary of the faith, and perpetual director of the belief of all true Christians. This visible head is called the pope ; but the Catholics are divided in their notions with regard to his power : some con- sidering; him to be inferior to a general council. --^ .. The pope takes place of all Christian princes, to^n*^ Era- as the vicar of Jesus Christ here upon earth, perors. The emperors, who, in former times, were the first princes in the Christian world, went to Rome to receive the imperial diadem from the hands of his holiness, and thoro solemnly promised and bound themselves by the Trinity, by the wood of the cross, and by the relics of tne saints, to exalt and support the church and its head to the utmost of their power. The emperors, before their entrance into the city ot Kome, took the oath ; the form of which the ceremonial of the Roman church has preserved and transmitted to us. At length, after the church and its head had perfectly secured their own rights and privileges, the emperor was admitted ; upon which occasion the clergy went out to meet him in their ceremonial habits, and tendered him the cross to kiss. His holiness, sitting on a throne, received him before the first por- tico of the Church of the Apostles. There his imperial mojesty uncovered himself, and knelt down as soon as he sow the pope, who styled himself the Vicar of Jusus Christ. After- wards he approached him gradually, with one knee always upon the ground ; and, lastly, he kissed the feet of his holiness in a very devout manner, as a testimony of his respect to the Saviour of the World. But before his imperial majesty could be crowned, he was obliged to take a new oath, in which no- thing was omitted that could establish the pope's prerogative, and the security of the church's domains. After the corona- tion there wns a solemn procession, in which his imperial ma- 1'esty appeared, for the first time, with his crown on his head, lis sceptre in one hand, and a globe in the other ; but as he went out of the basilica, he put all his regalia into the hands of one of his officers, in order to hold the stirrup, whilst the 22* 968 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. Accounted the vicegerent Gkxl. pope mounted his horse; he even took the hndle, and for some time led the horse of the servant of the servants o/Jssus Christ ; who, to testify his humility, pretended he could not admit of so extraordinary a submission : nor did he consenr till after several compliments on both sides, to receive, for the sake of Jesus Christ, the honour which his imnerid majesty conferred upon him. We may here observe, that after the emperoY had taken thr oath to his holiness, he was usually clothed in the amice anc surplice. The canons of St. Peter did him the honour to admit him as a brother, and to look on him as a subject of the pope, to whom all preferments belonging to the hierarchy of the church are subject. Whenever it pleased his holiness to be carried on his servant's shoulders, the emperor was to be one of the assistants : he was to pour out water to wash the hands of his holiness before he sat down to table, and to give hiiv his first plate, &c. The Holy Fatl^er, being, in the opinion of the Roman Ca- tholics, far above all kings, is accounted the vicegerent of God, and regent of the universe. Under this denomination he divided the new world between Spain and Portugal ; he has a right to St. Paul's sword, and with it to give apostolical chastise* ment to those who despise or disregard his decisions relating tc the Christian faith. He never rises from his pontifical throne, nor uncovers himself to any person whomsoever; nor does he ever condescend to honour any one with a .salute, by the least inclination of his head. To his imperial majcst\, indeed, he rises a little on his admittance to the kiss of peace, after he has paid his respects to the pope's feet. His holiness, however, sometimes salutes those princes who have the honour of an audience of him, with a slight inclination of his head ; but then he is not in his pontifical robes ; and, although he may condescend to be courteous and complaisant, yet he is under no obligation to adopt that mode of conduct. The pope's nuncio and legates take place of the ambassadors of all crowned heads. An cecumenical council is an assembly which represents the whole body of the universal church. The name of coun- (Ecunieni- ^^^ ^^ given likewise to provincial and national eal council. assemblies of the clergy, who, at such times, however, represent only a part of the church. (Ecumenical councils are composed of ecclesiastical deputies from the sovereign powers of Christendom, who represent their respective nations, and also of other prelaws, doctors, &c ■ ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. S59 vf particular churches, all assembled in a free place, where, without constraint, they may apply themselves to the reform* ation not only of manners and of doctrine, but also to the re* gulation and establishment of church discipline, &c. Thus assembled, they have authority to censure bishops, cardinals, and even his holiness himself, if his conduct be blame-tvorthy : they also possess power to depose any of them, when the gooa of religion requires it. In short, they form an assembly, which, by its superiority, being able to check the unjust pro* ceedings of popes, by subjecting them to the church m points of faith, and declaring them schismatics and heretics whenever they deviate from it, has more than once proved fatal to the See of Rome. The assemblies of Pisa, of Constance, and Bale, are incontestable instances of the truth of this assertion. In regard to the ceremonies observed at the calling of a council, as there has not been one since that of Trent, we shall describe them as they are found in Father Ceremonies Paul's History of that council, who assures us, observed at that there was not less debate nor less embarrass- the calling of ment in settling the rank and precedency of the * "^ounci'' bishops, than if they had been convened to arrange affairs of the last importance to the state, &c. The fathers of the coun- cil also insisted upon having the assembly-room hung with tapestry, without which, they were apprehensive that the council might be deemed a body of tradesmen and mechanics. Pope Paul III. issued out one bull for calling the council, and a second for opening it ; both of which were read and regis- tered the first session. After a fast of three days, the legateis and bishops, dressed in their pontifical robes, accompanied by their divines, the clergy uf Trent, and all the people, went in solemn procession to the cathedral, where the first legate sung the mass of the Holy Ghost. Then the legates, in the pope's name, made an harangue, in which, after speaking of the occa- sion of that august assembly, they exhorted the fathers to lay aside all passion and prejudice, to judge righteously, to have no other view Jbut the glory of God, and the good of the Church. After this exhortation they all knelt down, prayed awhile to themselves, and then the president recited the prayer which begins with Adsumus Domine, Sancte Spiriius. By this comprehensive and devout prayer, immediate aid is asked of the Holy Ghost, that he would please to guide and direct the council, to inspire the fathers with just judgments, to ba* nish the spirit of disorder and discord far from them, and not to suffer them through ignorance to fell into error, or to be biassed by iMribes, or to be surprised by outward appearances BOIIAII CATHOLIC CBUECB. \. The litanies were now sung, the deacon then read ihe gospel. Si peecaverit f rater tuus ; and after this the Fen* Creator was likewise sung, and then the fathers seated themselves ac- cording to their respective ranks. The president having read the decree with an audible voice, and asked them if it was their pleasure to order and direct that the General and Holy Council of Trent should be opened to the glory of God, &c. each of the fathers, in his turn, answered Placet ; the legates first, then the bishops, and the rest of the fathers ; of the whole of which the notaries drew up a public act. Lastly, the Te Deum was sung, and the legates returned home after the first session, the cross being carried before them, and attended by the fathers, who had laid aside their pontifical habits. The ceremonies were almost the same at all the other sessions. In case the pope appears in person at the council, he and the fa- thers of the council, with the clergy of the city, go in proces- sion to the hall of the assembly in their pontifical robes. The pope, at the opening of the first session, sings the mass of the Holy Ghost ; after which the cardinals, and the fathers of the council, clothed in their robes of ceremony, salute his holi- ness in their turns. High mass is seldom sung at the other sessions. His holiness for the most part hears a private n?.ass, and afterwards goes to the council in his scarlet cope, and with the mitre on his head ; where, before the altar, ne makes an harangue to the assembly, and then goes to his throne ; the cardinals after that put on his sandals, and quam dilecta, a verse of one of the psalms is recited. The pope's throne must be erected at the upper end of the assembly-room, and due care must be taken that there be two seats on the right and left side of the throne for the deacon's assistants. If the emperor appears in person at the council, he is to be seated next the pope, and at his right hand, but to be so situated as to acknowledge the superiority of his holi- ness; for the emperor's seat reaches no higher than the pope's footstool, and even this honour is reserved only for his imperial majesty, for there is but very little difference between the seats of kings and those of cardinals. In this hall, or as- sembly-room, there must be an altar for mass, with a cross upon It, also the Eucharist, and the relics of the saints. The Roman ceremonial exhibits the order and rank of those who have a deliberative vote in council : — 1. The pope, as head of the Christian Church. 2. The col- lege of cardinals. 3. The patriarchs. 4. The primates. 5. The archbishops. Q. The bishops. 7. The abbots. 8. The generals of religious Order and nidc of mem- bers of a coan- dL ^ ^>» ROMAN CATHOLIC CHVRCH. mi orders. These, properly speakinff, compose the council - the doctors, divines, &c. making their appearance only to assist or direct the fathers by their learning and their advice. Four cardinals of several orders, who are the dean, or first cardinal-bishop, the first cardinal-priest, the first cardinal-dea- con, and the cardinal eamerUngo, or chamber- ceremonies lain, conjointly share the administration of affairs observed at the during the vacancy of the Holy See and the election of a holding of the conclave. The tnree former are P^P^- intrusted with the administration of justice, and all affairs re- lating to civil government. The latter breaks the seal of the church, called the fisherman's ring, in the presence of three cardinals; and the vice-chancellor breaks open the seal of the chancery, in the presence of the chief officers who belong to that court. The impression of the fisherman's ring is St. Peter holding a line with a bait to it in the water, and is made use of for those briefs which are sealed with red wax. The seal for bulls has the figure of St. Peter and St. Paul, with a cross on one side, and a bust with the name of the reigning pope on the other: when a pope dies, the bust and name are defaced, without damaging the rest of the seal ; this last is jnly used for bulls sealed with lead. The camerlengo now orders money to be coined in his own name, with the device of the vacant see, which is that of two keys in the form of a cross, under the flag of the church ; with this motto, Sede va- canle. Policy exerts all her arts, and sets every spring in motion, at the election of a pope; nor do the electors always wait for the death of the present chief or head of the Church, to begin those cabals and intrigues which are proper for advancing him whom they esteem a fit person to succeed to the pontifictu throne ; and although the college invariably and unanimously invoke the assistance and aid of the Holy Ghost, to direct them in the choice of a Vicar of Jesus Christ, yet their emi- nences use all the precautions imaginable to prevent him from being in any way concerned in the election. The cardinals are obliged to enter the conclave ten days after the death of the pope; but before that time they hear the Mass of the Holy Ghost in the Gregorian Chapel, and some bishop makes a Latin harangue, exhorting them to make choice of a person who is worthy to fill the chair of the prince of the apostles. After this, their eminences march in procession to the con- clave, two by two, according to their rank, attended by the Swiss Guardfs and a vast crowd of people, the chorus all the while singing the ^^Yeni Creator." Being arrived at the con- 262 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. clave, they take possession of their cells by lot, after whic'i they all go to the Paulin Chapel, where the bulls for the elec* tion of tne pope are read, and the dean of the sacred college exhorts the assembly to act in conformity to them. When this is over, the cardinals are allowed to go nome to dine, but must return to the conclave before three at night : at which time the master of the ceremonies acquaints them tnat they ought not to shut themselves up, unless they are determined to continue there as long as the conclave shall last, consistently with the order and direction of the bulls, in which it is regulated that those who go out shall not be permitted to return. The go- vernor and marshal of the conclave now post their soldiers in such order and in such places as they judge most requisite for the safety of the election. The ambassadors of princes, and all those who have any interest in the election of a future pope, are allowed to continue in the conclave for the first twenty- four hours. When the clock strikes three the master of the ceremonies rings a bell, after which all, except the electors, retire: the doors are then shut, the conclave is walled up, and guards are posted at all the avenues. The cardinal-dean, and cardinal-camerlengo, now visit the conclave, to see if it be well shut, and an act thereof is drawn up by an apostolical notary. None but the cardinals, and tv/o conclavists for each, (one in ecclesiastic, and the other a soldier,) remain in the conclave. Those cardinals who are princes, or who are old, or infirm, ire sometimes allowed three. The other persons appointed *br the service of the conclave are the sacristan, the under-sa- iristan, a secretary, an under-secretary, a confessor, who is always a Jesuit, two physicians, a surgeon, two barbers, an ipothecary, and their apprentices, five masters of the ceremo- nies, a bricklayer, a carpenter, and sixteen porters or valets, for hard labour. Though the ofilice of a conclavist be incommodious and un- easy, yet on account of its privileges it is very much sought after ; for a conclavist is sometimes the secret agent of the ministers of crowned heads. Every officer, however, of the conclave, takes an oath not to reveal any of its secrets. He must be shut up in a little corner of his master's cell, and do every menial office for him. He must fetch his victuals and drink, which the cardinal's officers give him from with- out twice ever3r day, through an inlet that communicates to his cell ; he waits on his master at table ; keeps every thing very clean ; and when he has done, serves himself According to the order of Innocent HI., there are three several methods of electing a pope, viz. by scrutiny, compro' ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. S88 miae, and inspiration. The election by scru' tiny, which is the only way that has been used ^'*'*'?",* for a long while, contains all the formality that -Jg "Zi appears most essential for making the election canonical. Still it is no more than a mere ceremony, as the several factions of the cardinals have united beforehand in the choice of the person. This harmony is brought about by the most refined and delicate strokes of policy, and for the most part comes on after their eminences have found out, by seve- ral scrutinies, the disposition of the sacred college. Then, if the votes for any of the candidates come near th< number re- quired, it is a very common practice for the other factions to fall off and coalesce with the others, and thereby contribute to the pope's election, fearing to draw on them his hatred by a fruitless and unseasonable opposition. The scrutiny consists in collecting and examining votes, given in by printed billets, which the cardinals put into a chalice that stands on the altar of the chapel, at which they have met to choose the pope. These Election by billets are prepared by the masters of the cere- scrutiny, monies, who put them into two golden basins, placed at each end of a long table, which stands on the side of the high altar. Each of these billets is a span or palm long, and half a span broad, and are divided into eight equal prts, by parallel lines taking up the whole length of each billet, as well on the inside as the out ; that is, the reverse of the billet when rolled up On the first space, rolled inward, these two words, " Ego Cardinalis" stand at a small distance from each other to make room for the proper name. The second is a blank, in which the cardinal writes his surname and titles. The third has two O's at each end, for the cardi- nal's seal, which is generally made on purpose; for he never uses his coat of arms on this occasion. The fourth is filled up with " Eligo" &c. The fifth is for the surname and titles of the cardinal proposed to be pope. The sixth is as the third. The seventh continues a blank, and the eighth is filled up with a motto, which the cardinal, whose name the billet bears, makes choice of out of the sacred scriptures. The reverse of each billet is divided likewise into eight equal parts, and almost all of them are filled up with flourishes, that the writing on the other side may not appear through. Before the scrutiny begins, little bills, having the names of all the cardinals on them, are put into a bag, with an intent to draw thence three scrutineers, three overseers of the sick, and threo revisors. -, ■ > Ml ROMAN CATHOLIC CIIVRCH. ■'"# The cardinals use all the art imaginable to disguise their hands. They write what we have just mentioned on the scru- tiny billets; or, if they have not skill enough to conceal their hands, they make use of an unknown hand, that it may not be known for whom they vote. These billets are wrapped up with all possible dexterity and address, that it may be a secret to whom they belong ; after which they close them in their hands and take their places ; and then the scrutiny be* gins in the following manner. Each cardinal takes the billet, thus written and folded up, between the thumb and the fore- finger of his right hand, and holding it up to the view of the other members of the sacred college, carries it to the high altar, kneeling down upon the first step, where he repeats an ejacu- latory prayer. He then goes up to the altar, and takes the oath aloud ; after Hvhich he puts his billet upon the patten which covers the chalice, and from thence slides it into the chalice ; he then returns to his place. This office is perform- ed by the overseers of the sick for those cardinals who are in- disposed. They present the scrutiny billets to such cardinals, together with a box in the form of an urn, with a very small hole in it, at which the sick man puts in his billet. The bil- let cannot be got out again but by opening the box, which is carried to the chapel, opened before all the cardinals present, and then the billet is put into the chalice in the manner already described. Before the scrutiny begins, the sacristan, who is always an Augustine friar, says the mass of the Holy Ghost. The scruti- neers then stand near the great altar, to mix and open the billets in the chalice, and to see that the scrutiny proceeds in due form. The last scrutineer takes these billets one after another, and first showing them to the cardinals, puts them into another chalice. If there be a greater or less number of billets than there are cardinals, the scrutineer burns all he finds in the two chalices, and each cardinal makes a new one, till the scrutiny comes right. When the billets are equal to the num- ber of cardinals, the scrutiny is published in the following manner. The heads of the three orders of cardinals go up to the high altar, take the chalice in which the billets are put, carry it to the table before-mentioned, and then retire, and the three scrutineers come and seat themselves at the table, with their fiices towards the cardinals. The first scrutineer turns the chalice upside down upon the table, opens each billet in the place where the vote is written, and looks upon the name of the cardinal who is therein voted for; and still, as he opens them, he puts them into the hands of the second ■.! ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 265 scrutineer, who looks likewise on the name, and gives it to the third, who reads the name aloud. Meanwhile, the cardi- nals mark each name upon a sheet of paper, on which all their names are printed. Those who are named set down also the votes given them, to see if they have a sufficient number to be elected. This number must be at least two thirds. The last scrutineer files all these billets, that none jf them may be lost, and the file is kept in view till he has put it into a chalice set apart for that purpose. When the scrutiny is over, the billets are again told over, and three revisors exa- mine them. They are burned when the election has been approved as canonical. If the votes do not rise to a sufficient number, billets are taken in order to choose the pope by way of accessus ; and there is scarcely ever a scrutiny with- out this accessus. The accessus is intended to correct the scrutiny. In this, they give their votes by other billets, on which is written, " Accedo Domino" &c. when they join their vote to another's ; or, " Accedo Nemini" when they adhere to their first vote. The accessus is performed in the same man- ner as the scrutiny, only they do not take tlic oath again. The scrutineers examine the billets of the accessus, as they did those of the scrutiny, and the cardinals, after the same manner, set down the votes which are gained thereby to any of the candidates. After the revisors have very accurately examined the votes of the accessus, and find the election to be perfectly canonical, they send for three apostolical notaries into the chapel where the election was made, who, upon inspecting the billets and other pieces which the scrutineers and revisors lay before them, draw up a memorandum of the election. All the cardi- nals who have assisted at the conclave, sign and seal this record ; afler which, the scrutineers burn all the billets, both of the scrutiny and the accessus, in presence of all the cardinals. The pope is elected by compromise, when the cardinals, disagreeing in their choice, engage by mutual compromise to refer the election to some particular cardinals of probity, and to acknowledge him whom they Election by shall nominate as duly elected, by virtue of the g^^. ^^ ""^* power given to them for that purpose. The election by way of inspiration is in some measure riotous and tumultuary. A select number of cardinals of different Mictions, who nave determined to put every thing to the last push, begin to cry out, " such a one is pope," as it were by 23 366 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. /Ot I \.«' %<"! > ' iniipiration. Adoration is the same as inspiration, which tr«^ when two thirds of the conclave, heing agreed in the person, go in a body and adore and acknowledge the pope they np* prove o( as head of the church. The elections by way of compromise, inspiration, and adoration, but seldom happen. The scrutinjf and aceessus are the methods' generally ob* served. As soon as the pope is elected, it is customary for his domestics and the populace to plunder his cell in the con- clave, and the palace in which he resided. As soon as the po^ is elected, the cardinals who are the heads of their respective orders, ask the consent of his holi- ness, and the name which he is determined to oaid'^*tT'*the o'*"™®' *" ***** alteration of his state. This al- Pope elect. * teratibn of his name is perhaps the most singular act which takes place m the election of the su- preme pontiff! Sergius the Fourth, who was before called " Os Porci," that is, Swine^s face, was the first pope who thought proper to change his name on his exaltation to the pontificate ; and this custom has been invariably followed by his successors. The elected pontiflf's new appellation being made known, the fisherman's ring is immediately given him. After which, the masters of the ceremonies draw up a formal instrument of his declaration, and deliver in a duplicate of it to the college. The two first cardinal-deacons then conduct the new pope behind the altar, where, with the assistance of the masters of the ceremonies end the sacristan, (who is always an Augustine monk,) they take ofi" his cardinal's habit to put on the pontifical, which is a white tafleta cassoc ; a linen rochet : a camail, and a cap, both of red satin ; with shoes made of rea cloth embroidered with gold, and a golden cross on the upper part. Thus pompously dressed, the pope is carried on his chair before the altar of the chapel appomted for the election, and there the cardinal-dean, first, and after him, the remainder of the cardinals, adore his holiness I'pon their knees, kissing his foot, and his right hand ; after which the holy father takes them up, and gives them the salute of peace on the right cheek. After this, the first cardinal-deacon, preceded by the master of the ceremonies, who carries the cross, and by a choii of musicians who sing the anthem, Eeee sacerdos magnus, 4*c- — Behold the high priest so acceptable to God, and so just — goes to the great lodge of St. Peter, where the master mason takes care to have the door opened, that the cardinal may pass into the balcony, to acquaint the people with the pope's elec- tion, crying with an audible voice, Annuntio vobis gaudium ROMAN CATHOLIC CHUKCR. 267 ton magnum, habemus papam, ^e. — / bring you glad tidings, we have a pope, ^c. Then one of the large cmverins of St. Peter's is discharged, to give the governor of the castle of St. Angelo notice to discharge all his artillery: all the bells of the city begin to ring at tne same time, and the air resounds with the cneerful sound of drums, trumpets, and kettle drums. During the roar of the artillery, the sound of the bells, and the melody both of vocal and instrumental music, the Romans incessantly break out into solemn vows and loud acclama* tions for tne new pope. The same day, about two hours be- fore night, the pope, having his cope and his mitre on, is carried and set upon tne altar of Sixtus's chapel, where the cardinals, in their purple copes, come, and a second time adore the new pontiff, who is seated upon the relics of the altar stone. This adoration is celebrated in the same manner as the former, the musicians all the time singing anthems suitable to the solemn occasion. In the meantime, the inclosures of the conclave are broken, or taken down, and the cardinals, preceded by music, descend into the middle of St. Peter's church. The pope follows them, carried in his pontifical chair under a red canopy embellished with gold fringe. His bearers now seat him on the great altar of St. Peter, where the cardinals pay their adoration to him a third time, and the foreign ambassadors afler them, before a prodigious number of spectators, with whom this spacious church is generally crowded to the utmost extent of the very porch. Te Deum is then sung, and the cardinal-dean, who is on the epistle side, reads the verses and prayers, appointed for that purpose in the Roman ceremonial. Afler this, his holi- ness is set down on the highest step of the altar. A cardinal- dean takes off his mitre, and then he solemnly blesses the peo- ple. His pontificalia are then taken off, and twelve chair- men, in long scarlet cloaks hanging down to the ground, place him in his chair, and convey him on their shoulders into his apartment. Stephen H. is said to be the first pope who was carried on men's shoulders afler his election: but, as we know that the illustrious men of Rome were carried on litters by their slaves, we may conclude that this custom is merely a remnant of the habits of the ancient Romans. In regard to the kissing of the feet of his holiness, it is doubtless a very ancient custom. Baronius gives an instance of it in the year 204, and it appears that after that time, the £mperor Justin I., Pepin, king of France, Frederic Barbarossa, and others, all kissed the pope's feet. The time, however, 8tt8 ■OM^N CATHOLIC CIll'RCII. when this custom became constantly practised is not exactly known ; although we may justly suspect, that it was only the game mark of respect which was formerly paid to the ancient Roman emperors, who were, at the same time, the supreme pontiffs of the reliffion of the Romans, and the sovereigns of the state. Though tnis ceremony be considered, in the opinion of the vulgar, as an instance of the veneration and esteem which Christians entertain for the pope, it will appear upon the whole, that it is to Jesus Christ alone. For we nre to observe, that the pope's slipper has a cross upon it, which is the emblem of Christ crucified. The successors of St. Pttei have invariably ordered that their sandals should have this cross on the upper-leothers: so that it is not the feet of liis holiness, but the cross of Jesus ChriIst crucified, that is l|O QJIVIIVif. ]ir«90f howt for saying m&tina la the night; hut lauds, which ore now, ai it were, incorporate^ into matins, were formerly Said at hreak of day. Both these oflices heing called, with* out distinction matins, are now siiid towards the close of the night. The hour of saying prime, is directly after sun-rise, for which reason it is called prime, because the ancients be- gttfi their day at that time, and divided it into twelve hours, which 'were unequal, as the davs were Icmger or shorter; and by the same rule tierce is fixed at the third hour of the day, and answers to nine o'clock at the i^quinoxes ; seitte at the Bhih, which is always noon ; none, at the ninth hour, or about three o'clock in the afternoon ; vesperSv towards the evening ; and complin, after sun^set. Due care is generally taken that these services are all carefully performed et. or very near, the appointed times here specified. During Lent, however, vespers are said before dinner, on account of those who cannot keep fast according to the pre- scription of the Church, till the usual hour of vespers. In winter, that is, from All-Saints to Easter, vespers are sung at two o'clock, and the rest of the year at three. After vespers. the curates or vicars ought to catechize youths, unless it has been already done at mass, after the prone, or sermon- The evening prayer follows. Not only those ecclesiastics who ^re in holy orders, but every nun and friar likewise, who has entered into solemn vows, and all who hold benefices, are under an obligation to Serform this service ; insomuch, that whoever neglects this uty is reckoned to be guilty of a mortal sin, and is consider- ed liable to restore the revenues of his benefice. The Catholics look upon the sacrifice of the mass as the most acceptable of all adorations, and the most effectual of all ^ prayers. The Church not only prays herself at Ceremonies f^. "^ -c u- l ^l • ^^ ^ ■ ^ ^ -j of U)e mMs. ^his sacrifice, which the priest oners up to God in the most solemn and majestic manner ; but Jesus Christ also, by the sacrifice of his own body, is said to ofier up to his Father the most perfect adoration that can pos- sibly be paid to him, since it is offered by a God. In short, it is Jesus Christ, who alone, and always, acts in this sacrifice. The priest is but his minister, his instrument, his terrestrial organ ; it is Christ who leads and directs him, and makes the action of the priest effectual, who offers him as propit'hf!on foi the sins of men ; however corrupt, therefore, the pi:-?! aiay be in his morals, it is held that the sacrifice is equally salutary to the church, a tenet which redounds considerably to the im* iD»eulate character of the holy RomAn Catholic Church. ■1 1 with* f the i-riWi tabe- :;and i day, at the about ming ; in that lar, the ner, on \e pre- rs. In 3ung al rcspera, I it has I. The ers, but solemn ation to cts this onsider- ks as the alofall lerself at to Go'd ier; but said to can pos- [n short, -acrifice. Irrestrial \ke3 the ^^fon foi iiiayb* kutarjr to [the iro* Ich. . ' « :* Priest at the Epistle. The Introite, p. 277. Kyrie Eleyson. Dominus vobiscum, p. 278. -.* ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 277 278. The holy-water is made on Sundays, before high mass, uuer which follows a procession. The faithful (for by this term the Catholics generally distinguish themselves) ought to be present at mass with a conscience avoid of offence ; and in order to show them the necessity of such internal purity, they are sprink- led with a water sanctified for that purpose by a solemn bene- diction. The procession is a preparation of the hearts of the congregation, for the holy sacrifice of the mass ; and the priest and clerg^r make this preparation by their spiritual hymns and the elevation of the cross, which is carried before the clergy, whilst they move in a solemn manner round the church, or the places adjacent to it. The mass consists of two principal parts, viz. the first from the beginning to the offering, which was formerly called the Mass of the Catechumens ; and the second, from the offering to the conclusion, called the Mass of the Faithful. Every person, without any distinction, was required to be present at It, till the offering; oecause, in this first part, the lessons from scripture, and the preaching of the Gospel, were included, from which none were to be excluded. But after the sermon, none were permitted to have a share in the sacrifice, but those of the faithful who were duly qualified to partake of it ; the catechumens were ordered to depart, and the penitents were not only shut out and kept from the communion, but even from the sight of the mysteries; for which reason the deacon cried out, Holy things are for srich as are holy ; let the profane de- part hence ! The various actions of the priest at mass may be included under thirty-five distinct heads ; and devotion has discovered in all his actions a complete allegory of the pas- sion of Jesus Christ. These several actions are briefly as follows: — 1. The priest goes to mass, the altar, in allusion to our Lord s relreat with his apostles to the Garden of Olives. 2. Before he begins mass, he says a preparatory prayer. The priest is then to lock on himself as one abandoned of God, and driven out of Paradise for the sin of Adam. 3. The priest makes confes- sion for himself, and for the people, in which it is required that he be free from mortal and from venial sin. 4. The priest kisses the altar, as a token of our reconciliation with God, and our Lord's being betrayed by a kiss. 5. The priest goes to the epistle side of the altar, and thurifies or perfumes it. Jesus Christ is now supposed to be taken and bound. 6. The In- iroite, said or sung, i. e. a psalm or hymn, applicable to the circumstance of our Lord's being carried befpre Caiaphas the 24 Actions the priest of at 876 ftOMAM CATHOLIC OIIVP.CH. high-priest. 7. The priest «ays the Kyrie EUxseii, which signines, Lord have mercy upon us, three times, in allusion to Peter's denying our Lord thrice. 8. The priest, turning towards the altar, says, Dominus vobiscum, i. e. The Lord be with you ; the people return this salutation, cum Spirilu tuo, and with thy Spirit, Jesus Christ looking at Peter. 9. The fricst reads the epistle relating to Jesus being accused before •ilate. 10. The priest bowing before the altar, says Munda cor, i. e. cleanse our hearts The gradual is sung. This psalm is varied according as it is the time of Lent or not. The devotion is now directed to our Saviour's bein^ accused be- fore Herod, and making no reply. 11. The priest reads the gospel wherein Jesus Christ is sent from Herod to Pilate. The gospel is carried from the right side of the altar to the left, to denote the tender of the gospel to the Qentiles, after re- fusal by the Jews. 12. Tho priest uncovers the chalice, hereby to represent our Lord was stripped in ordej to be scourged. 13. The oblation to the host, the creed is suLg by the congregation. The priest then kisses the altar, then tho priest oflers up the host, which is to represent or import the scourcfing of Jesus Christ, which was introductory to his other sufTermgs. 14. The priest elevates the chalice, then covers it. Here Jesus being crowned with thorns is supposed to be figured to the mind, showing that he was going to be elevated of the Paeans a victim ; and it is well known the victims \T,. were crowned before they were sacrificet, ;o their idols. The priest washes his fingers, as Pilate washed his hands, and declares Jesus innocent, blesses the bread and the wine, blesses the frankincense, and perfumes the bread and wine, praying that the smell of this sacrifice may be more accept- able to him than the smoke of victims. 16. The priest turn- ing to the people, says, Coremus Fratres, i. e. let us pray. He then bows himself to the altar, addresses himself to thir Trinity, and prays in a very low voice. This is one of the secretums of the mass, and the imagination of the devout Christian is to find out the conformity between this and Christ beinw clothed with a purple robe : but we shall be cautious of adding more on this head, that we may not lose ourselves in the boundless ocean of allusions. 17. The priest says the preface at the close of the Secretum. This part of the mass is m affinity to Jesus Christ being crucified. The priest uses a Erayer to God the Father, which is followed by the Sanclus, oly, holy, holy is the Lord, &c. which the people sing. 18. The priest joining his hands prays for the faithful that are living. This is said to be in allusion to Jesus Christ bearing ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. J79 the cross to die upon, that we might live. 19. The priest covers with a cloth the host and chalice, St. Veronica onering her handkerchief to Jesus Christ. 20. The priest makes the ' sign of the cross upon the host and chalice, to signify that Jesus Christ is nailed to the cross. 21. The priest adores the host before elevated, and then he raises it up, m the best man- ner to represent our Saviour lifted up upon the cross. Ho re- peats the Lord's prayer, with his arms extended, that his body might represent the figure of a cross, which is the ensign of Christianity. 22. The priest likewise consecrates the chalice, and elevates it, to represent the blood of Jesus Christ shed upon the cross. 23. The priest says the Memento for the faithful that are in purgatorv. This prayer is in allusion to that which our Lord made lor his enemies ; but this allusion would be forced and unnatural, unless the devotees looked upon themselves a.s his enemies. 24. The priest then raises his voice, smiting his breast, begs God's blessing on himself nnd congregation, for the sake of such saints as he enumerates, and implores the divine Majesty for a place in paradise, to imitate the thief upon the cross. 25. The priest elevates the host and cup, and says the per omnia, then the Lord's prayer. The sign of the cross, which he makes on the host, the cha- lice, and the altar, is to represent to God that bleeding sacri- fice which his Son offered up to him of himself; then the de- vout Christian becomes the child of God, and all this is an allusion to the Virgin Mary's being bid to look on St. John as her son. 26. After the Lord's prayer the priest says a private one to G^od, to procure his peace by the mediation of the Virgin Mary and the saints, then puts the sacred host upon the paten, and breaks it, to represent Jesus Christ giving up the ghost. 27. The priest puts a little bit of the host into the chalice. The true Cnristian is now with an eye of faith to behold Jesus Christ descending into Limbo, i. e. hell. 28. Then the priest says, and the people sing, Agnus Dei, &c. thrice over, and the priest smites his breast. This action is , an allusion to those who, having seen our Lord's sufferings, returned home smiting their breasts. 29. After the Agnus Dei is sung, the priest says a private prayer for the peace of the church. He then kisses the altar, and the instrument of peace called the paxis, which being received at his hands by the deacon, it is handed about to the people to be kissed, and passed from each other with these words, peace be with you ; and whilst the paxis is kissing, the priest prepares himself for the communion by two other prayers, when he adores the host, and then says, with a low voice, / ^ciU eat of the celestial ^ 13* ROMAN CATIIOtIC CHVRCII. bread ; and smiting his breast, says, / am not xcorihy that thou shouldest enter into my house, three times, after eotiiig of the bread. He uncovers the chalice, repeating verse i. of the 1 1 jth psalm, according to the Vulgate. When the priest has received the communion, he adniinisters it to the people. The application of these ceremonies is to the death and burial ot Jesus Christ, and his descent into hell. 30. After this, the piiest putting the wine into the chalice, in order to take what Is railed the ablution, repeats a short prayer; then he causes uine and water to be poured out for tne second ablution, ac- companied with another short prayer, and then salutes the congregation. These ablutions allegorical ly represent the washing and embalming the body of Jesus Christ, Ac. 31. The priest sings the post communion or prayer for a good effect of the sacrament then received, expressed hy the glorious resurrection of the regenerate Christians, and is to be looked upon as the representation of our Lord's resurrection. 32. I'he priest, turning to the people, says, Dominus vobiscum, salutes the congregation, as the ambassador of Christ, with the message of peace. 33. The priest reads the beginning of St. John's gospel, and particularly of Jesus's appearing to his nother and disciples, and uses some short prayers.- 34. The takes the cross, and afler he and the deacon have laid aside their mani- ples, all of them proceed to the place where the Chapelle Ar- dente, or representation is erected, in the same order as if to the interment of the corpse. The incense-bearer, and he who carries the boly-water, walk first ; the sub-deacon follows, be- tween the two light-bea rera, with the cross ; after them come the choir, with yellow tapers in their hands. The person who officiates, with the deacon on his left-hand, walks last, and no one except himself is covered, unless they go out of the church, and then all are covered alike. Being arrived at the Chapelle Ardente, where the celebrant ROMAN CATHOLIC CBVVCH. 28r is to give absolution to the deceased, the incense-bearer, and the acolyte who is the holy-water-bearer, place themselves in that part of the chapel which fronts the altar, but somewhat inclining to the epistle-side, and behind the person who offi- ciates, who has the deacon on his right hand. The sub-dea- con who carries the cross, and two light-bearers, stand at the other end, at the head of the corpse, a little towards the gos- pel-side. When they are all placed, the person who officiates uncovers himself, and, taking the ritual out of the deacon'^ hands, begins the absolution of the deceased by a prayer, the first words of which are, Non intres in judicium, ifc. Enter not into judgment, ^c. We shall omit some of the responses that come afterwards, such as the Libera nos, Domine, ifc. to come to the benediction of the incense, after which the cele- brant waXks round the representation, sprinkling it with holy- water, perfuming it on both sides, and making many bows and genuflections. When he has performed the great ^^ ork of absolution, he says the Pater, and thereupon turns to the cross, repeating several verses and prayers which are inserted in the rituals. Lastly, he makes the sign of the cross on tie representation, and says ihcRequiem for the deceased, to which the choir answer, Requiescat in Pace, — Let him rest in peace. After the absolution, the celebrant and his attendants return in the same order as they came. About the beginning of the fourth century, great attention began to be paid to the cross, on account of St. Helena's good fortune, who was the mother of the Emperor Constantine the Great. She is said to have found the true cross m her voyage to the Holy Land. The son, who was as religious as his mother, painted the cross on his standards ; or rather ordered them to be made in that form. It is reported, however, that the cross was not intro- duced into churches till the beginning of the fifth century, not- withstanding it had appeared upon the coins, colours, shields, helmets, and crowns of the emperors, long before that time. The sixth Universal Council, held at Constantinople, about the close of the seventh century, decreed that Jesus Christ should be pr> inted in a human form upon the cross, in order to represent in the most lively manner imaginable, to all Christians, the death and passion of our blessed Saviour ; but emblematic figures of him had been in use for many preceding ages. Christ was firequently delineated in the form of a lamb, at :he foot of the cross, and the Holy Ghost in that of a dove. Sometimes a crown was set over the cross, to intimate to the frithful, that the crown of everlasting glory would be the re- She is said to have found ^J\heTroMl** SS8 itbtik'n cktnbi.it ciivfcoR. tntrd 6f thdr inifl^tings fbt the cross of Cttlikst. A Miig likeviris^ was tometitnes painted at the foot of thiis sacred wood, because that beast, oeing an enemy to serpents, is the symbol of Chiiist, who is the enemy of the devil. But all these emblematical figures were laid aside, at the sight of Je* flvs Christ represented on the cross in the human form, by a decree of the sixth (Ecumenical Council. This was the ori- gin of crucifixes. The cross which Christ suffered on, as some have afHrm- ed, was made of oak. This was fortunately found by St. He- lena, together with the inscription written over it. Pope Ser- gius, about the year 600, found another large piece of the cross, which is carefully preserved at Rome; and in 1492, the inscription was found again in a church that was repair- ing in the same city. It was said to have been concealed in a wall, and the troubles of the times had occasioned it to lie there forgotten. Upon this occasion. Pope Alexander VI. issued a bull, promising a yearly pardon of their sins to all such devout Christians, who should annually, on the last Sun- day in January, visit the church where that inscription had been discovered. A large part of the same inscription upon the cross was likewise to be seen at Thoulouse, amongst the Benedictine monks, until the close of the eighteenth century. It was publicly exposed twice a year, viz. the third of May and the fourteenth of September ; and at such times it was steeped in a certain quantity of water, which was afterwards given to the sick, whose faith led them to believe that they derived a great benefit from it. In order to reconcile this relic with that at Rome, the same arguments must be made use ol as a certain monk does with respect to the nails of the cross. Two of those nails which fastened our Saviour to the cross. were found in the time of Constantine, who adorned his hel- met and horse's bridle with them. Rome, Milan, and Treves, boast of having one of those nails in their possession : that at Rome is to be seen in the Church of the Holy Cross of Jeru- salem, and is annually exposed to the veneration of the peo- ple ; that at Milan has equal respect paid to it, and as there is some reason to believe this to be the same with Constantine's, it is very happily applied to one of the prophecies of the Pro- phet Zacharias, viz. chap. xiv. verse 20. That of Treves is not quite so much regarded ; but, however, it deserves no less the adoration of the devout. These are the three remarkable hails which pierced Christ's hands and feet. The others, to which it has been thought proper to ascribe the melancholy honour of having been instrumental to our Saviour's sufler- RPNAN CATBOLIC CHURCH. »w ing«, lire either thoae which have been rubbed a^inst tjoi^ former, in order to receiv* .j same divine and roiracul09a qualities : or they are only little parts of the true and genuine ones, like that, for instance, at Aix-la-Chapelle, which is the point only of that shown at Rome ; or they are only such as nave fastened the various pieces of the cross together. Some of them are likewise supposed to be nails of crosses to which several holy martyrs were formerly fixed; and as martyrs are the members of Christ, there is some authority for main- taining them to be the nails of our Saviour's cross. Pope In- nocent VI. in 1353, appointed a festival for these sacred nails. In regard to the genuineness of the cross found by St. He- lena, we suspect some difficulty would present itself in esta- blishing that important point, for there are a great number of Catholic churches which boast of being in possession of the genuine cross, and consequently declare St. Helena to be an impostor. It is, however, of no great moment, since the false and the true crosses possess the same power of performing the most extraordinary miracles. This is, however, positively denied by the true believers in the St. Helena cross ; and in order to substantiate this faith, they affirm that she was puz- zled how to distinguish our Saviour's cross firom two others which she found near it ; viz. the crosses of the two thieves ; but St. Ma^arius, however, very kindly and opportunely step- ped in to solve the important problem : he directed the people to join with him in prayer, and begged of God that he wou d vouchsafe to discover to him which was the true cross : apd God heard him. A woman at the point of death was brought to the crosses of the two thieves, and made to touch them one after another, but to no manner of purpose : after this, she was brought to our Saviour's, and was immediately conscious that her distemper was removed ; whereas, till that time, the most artful medicines had proved IneflTectual. The cross of the good thief was long after found, and car- ried to Rome. It is at the Church of the Holy Cross of Je- rusalem Loretto is &mous for the image of our Lady. There is likewise a miraculous image made by St. Luke, Celebrated in the Borough of Cirolo, on the road to that crucifijies. city. The Santissimo Crocefisso in the Church of St. Dominic the Great, at Naples, is composed of wood; nor does the coarseness of the stuff in the least diminish its value ; th? gratitude it showed to St. Thomas Aquinas, by thanking hiniu in an eloquent speech, for his beautiful and instructive wri- 25 290 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. tings, no doubt redoubles the zeal of all those devout Christians who visit the chapel. The Santo Volto at Lucca is made of cypress, and dressed in a very pompous vestment ; its shoes are silver, covered with plates of ffold ; and its head is adorned with a crown, set all round with jewels. It is said that Nicodemus was the artifi- cer who made it ; but it is the general belief, that the face is the only part for which we are indebted to the said Nico- demus; nor ought this belief to be questioned, except by those stubborn, stiflf-necked heretics, who presume to impugn the veracity of the following narrative. The bold underta- king having drawn down certain angels from heaven, out of curiosity, to see how Nicodemus could accomplish so im- portant a task, they were soon tired with the slow progress which he made ; and, being moved with compassion for a man, whose zeal had prompted him to undertake a more than human work, they, in a truly angelic manner, gave it the fin- ishing stroke themselves; and on that account the crucifix took the name of Santo Volto. How this wonderful en* .ifix came to Lucca we acknowledge ourselves at a loss to de- termine. At first it was carried, or rather went of itself, and took up its abode at St. Fredianus's Church ; but either finding itself there too much confined, or having particular reasons for removing its quarters, it fled to the cathedral of Lucca, and remained suspended in the air, until an altar was erected for it, on the spot where it was found. This charitable crucifix, one day, according to Curtius, was determined to bestow one of its shoes upon a poor man, who begged its charitable assist- ance. This gifl was made known, the shoe was redeemed, and the poor man had the value of it given him in gold. The crucifix at Loretto is famous for divers miracles. The angels transported it with the Santa Casa from Palestine to Italy. A crucifix of St. Mary Transpontina at Rome, fre- quently conversed in the most fiimiliar manner with St. Peter and St. Paul. The sacred crucifix at Trent is remarkable for the appro- bation which it gave to the decrees of the council held in that city in the sixteenth century. In the church of the Beguine nuns at Ghent, there is a crucifix with its mouth always open. One of the Beguines, aflfronted at being excluded from a party of pleasure, which had been made one day in the carnival, complained to the crucifix of it, which, at the same time that it exhorted her not to disturb herself, nor to be vexed at the disappointment, invi- ted her to be its wedded bride, and she died the next day 1 < ROMAN CATHOLIC CHVRCH. 201 Ever since that time, the crucifix has remained with its mouth open I We must not omit the crucifix at Bavaria, which was die- covered by a staff that was hunted by some dogs. The staj/ showed it to the huntsmen with his foot, and never attempted to make his escape, till he had discovered the crucifix to them. This miracle happened in the reign of Charlemagne, and gave the name to the Convent of Pollingen, the first syllable of which seems to express the barking uf dogs. A fair wns established at Pollingen, by which means the crucifix, convent, and church, which St. Boniface erected there, soon crew fa- mous, and drew upon Pollingen the jealousy of Weilnaum, a email adjacent village. They procured the fair to be removed thither, which slackened the devotion of the Bavarians, and soon occasioned the crucifix to be forgotten ; but it soon re- venged itself, by becoming an incendiary, and laying the little town of Weilnaum in ashes. Notwithstanding this public calamity, that town could not agree to part with the treasure which It had so unjustly obtained ; but a second fire, which once more destroyed it, obliged the unhappy town to restore what it had so sacrilegiously usurped. In a church at Cologne there is a crucifix, the head of which is covered with a peruke. The date of this head-dress is not known, but all that can be said of it is, that it cannot be of any long standing, since the use of perukes is pretty modern. This peruke is very marvellous, for the hair is never diminishea, although the devotees who visit it, never take their leave without carrying away one or two locks of it. We shall not enter into the history of an infinite number of crucifixes, dispersed over various parts of the Catholic coun- tries, some of which have shed tears, others sweated blood, and others again have discovered sacrileges, and struck the male- factors either blind or lame. Some have even restored life to the dead, and others health to the diseased, and all have dis- tinguished themselves by some miraculous event. Neither shall we mention any domestic crucifixes, since their favours seldom reach farther than the families which they protect; we cannot, however, in justice to the latter, omit to mention the crucifix which obliged F. Bencius with several nocturnal vi- sits, and at last made him determine to assume the Jesuit's habit. From the adoration of wooden crosses, the Catholics pro> ceed to that of metal objects, amongst which bells maintain a very exalted rank, at the same time that they Custom of are invested with qualifications, of which, for having bellt some particular reason, the Protestant bells arc '" churchei. 202 Boxcar CJVTIIOLIC CIIURCII. wholly destitute. \mon;?sl other iucomparablfl properties of the Roman Catholic bi'Ils, they ure said to represent the duration of the Gospel, whose glorious sound has been carried through- out the whole earth. They likewise represent the Church encouraging the faithful to praise the Lord, and the pastors of the Qospel preaching the word of God. They have besideg several other mysterious significations, which ure to be met with in the rituals. And, as a further proof of the miraculoua power of the Catholic bells, it is stated, that in a church at Rome there was formerly preserved a part of the sound of the bells of Jerusalem. The ceremony of blessing bells is by the people called christening them, because the name of some of the saints is ascribed to them, by virtue of whose invocation of SlCr'*"*"* ***^y *'"® presented to God, in order that they may obtain his favour and protection. The ben- ediction devotes them to God's service, that he may confer on them the power, not of basely striking the ear, but of touching the heart oy the influence of the Holy Ghost. When they are thus blessed and rimg out, they contribute very much towards the priests' success in exorcisms, &c. It is the bishops peculiar province to perform this ceremony, which consists chiefly in washing the oell inwardly and out- wardly with salt and water, and anointing it with oil. It is afterwards in a manner baptized with holy chrism, upon which it is consecrated in the name of the sacred Trinity ; and the saint who stands its godfather is then nominated. The bell thus christened or consecrated is then perfumed. Pope John XIII. was the flrst who baptized bells, by giving his own name lo that of St. John de Lateran in 965. As the consecration of bells represents, according to the rituals, the consecration of pastors, so the inward and outward ablution, succeeded by the anointing with oil, denotes the sanctification of their baptism ; the seven unctions in the form of a cross, show thai pastors should excel all other Christians in the graces of the Holy Ohost, and possess the fulness thereof, typified by the seven gifts; the anointing the mside with the chrism signifies a complete fulness of the Holy Ghost, with which the bishop finds himself endowed by his ordination. The perfuming in- cludes mysteries of no less importance. As the smoke of the perfumes arises in the bell, and fills it, so a pastor who is adorned with the fulness of God's spirit, receives the perfume of the solemn vows and supplications of the faithful. Durant, in his treatise De Ritibus, says, that " The metal of a beU denotes the strength of the preacher's understanding, # 8 of the uratiou uough- Churoh kstors of besides I be met ■aculous lurch at kiofthe e called saints is I vocation hat they The ben- :onfer on touching I they are J towards eremony, r and out- oil. It is K)n which and the The bell by giving . As the ituals, the ablution, ctification foss, show graces of led by the 1 signifies \e bishop uming in- oke of the who is perfume jr ■le metal of rstanding, Benediction of Bells, p. 202. Consecration of an Image, p. 293. 14 *■-■ ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 298 •.■'-•» and the clapper his tongue. The stroke of the clapper, the censure of tne latter acainst immorality and profaneness ; the part that holds the clapper signifies the moderation of the tongue. The wood on which the bell hangs represents the wood of the cross; the pieces to which the >;fbod is fixed, the oracles of the prophets. The cramp-iron, fixing the bell to the wood, expresses the preacher's attachment to the cross of Christ. The bell-rope likewise includes considerable mys- teries ; the three cords, for instance, of which it is made, are the three senses of the scripture, viz. the historical, the moral, and the allegorical : they are likewise emblematical of the three persons of the Holy Trinity. Images were early introduced into churches, and were de« signed to heighten tne devotion of the people by such objects as strike the senses. God is painted in churches like a venerable old man, he having styled him- ^f imiSr**" self the " Ancient of Days ;" the Son is repre- ' sented likewise as a man, he having put on a human form ; and the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove, the hieroglyphic of simplicity and integrity. The angels are painted as young boys, with wings on their shoulders ; their character and in- dustry, as the ministers of God, being described by nothing more aptly than the youth of man, and the agility of birds. Jesus Christ was formerly represented in the form of a Iamb, with one foot before the ciross ; and sometimes as a shepherd with a lamb on his shoulders. The manner of painting the Holy Ghost like a dove is very ancient ; and even the Eucha- rist was formerly kept in a box, made in the^shape of that bird. There are few Christians, who are strangers to the pre- tended miracles and wondrous efTects of the images of the Catholic Saints. We shall give the reader some Miracles instances. The image of Jesus Christ, which wrought by an impious wretch had stabbed with his dagger, *™*g«8' on feeling the blow, laid its hand upojilhe wound : this image is famous at Naples. But that of " Our Lady," now at Rome, in the Pauline Chapel, made by St. Luke, the celebrated painter and evangelist, is no less remarkable. It is reported that the angels have frequently sung the litanies round her. The image of St. Catharine of Sienna has often driven away devils, and wrought several other extraordinary miracles. Our Lady of Lucca, being treated in a very insolent manner by a soldier, who threw stones at her, and had nearly broken the headof the young Jesus, whom she heW '-. 5\er rigut arm, placed the chilff in a moment on her left ! and the child liked . > . 25* 'TO 294 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. : ! that situation so well, that since that accident, h« hat never changed it I It would be tedious here, to give the history of several other miraculous images, there being entire books written upon the subject, to which we must refer the curious reader. By thb sacred or holy shrouds is meant that in which the body of the Redeemer was wrapped in the sepulchre, while the soul descended into hell to triumph over death and the grave. There are two celebrated shrouds in The holy Europe, that of Bezancon, and that of Turin. 8 rou 8. Both of these were brought from Palestine in the time of the Crusades, about the beginning of the twelfth century. The shroud of Bezancon is &mous for the miracles it has wrought. It has even raised the dead; and this resurrection, which happened in the fourteenth century, con- Bezancon °^ siderably mcreased its reputation. The Church of St. Stephen, where this sacred relic was once kept, was soon found too small. The vast crowd of devotees, who flocked in from all quarters to see it, obliged them to erect a wooden theatre before the church, and afterwards n stone one, from whence it is exposed to public view twice a year, viz. on Easter-day, and on the Sunday after Ascension. Chifflet, in his Dissertation, has preserved the memory of the miracles, which were performed by this relic. It has several times cured desperate distempers, restored the blind to sight, put a stop to the plague ; nay, the very images of this holy relic have \mought miraculous cures. The holy shroud of Turin falls nothing short of the other ; this likewise was brought from Jerusalem, and we are in- Shroud of fornfied hy Chifflet, that, after two or three times Turin. changing its situation, it fixed itself at last ut Tu- rin, in the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, which is within the cathedral. This relic is noted equally with the other for its surprising miracles. In 1534, its very presence only, delivered some that were possessed of devils ; and if the father of a certain child, who saw his son drowning, had not invoked its aid and assistance, the youth would have been in- evitably lost. It is exposed to public view on the fourth of v May, being its festival, which was instituted by Julius II. in 1506. According to Chifflet, the shroud was then at Cham- berg. The plague which raged in Italy, in 1578, was the cause of its being brought to Turin. Duke Emanuel Phili- bert, who had it translated, promised to restore it to the people of Chamberg ; but neither he, nor his successors, ever pe:- nOMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 295 netet )Ty of books irious ;h the while iid the uds in Tuiin. »tine in twelfth s it has •rection, ry, con- Church ms once levotees, i to erect 3 a stone . a year, scension. ,ry of the ^s several to sight, this holy he other ; are in- kree times ast at Tu- which is with the presence and if the had not e been in- fourth of lius II. in at Cham- 8, was the uel Phili- the people , ever pe:- formed that promise ; and the Savoyards complain, that their country has been exposed to great calamities ever since it has been removed. The mule which carried the sacred relic, and would not stir one step beyond the gate of Chamberg, is a manifest proof of the right which the inhabitants possess to such an mvaluable property. Pope Julius established a so- ciety in honour of this sacred relic, to comply with the devo- tion of Duke Charles and Claude his mother. He added indulgences for those who visited its chapel and paid their de- votion there on stated days. Besides these two shrouds, there is one deposited in the church of St. Cornelius at Compeigne. There are three others at Rome ; one at Milan ; one at Lisbon ; and one at Aix-la-Chapelle : most of them are known by the name of Veronica. There are likewise two others in the latter city ; one called the holy garment in which Joseph of Arimathea wrapped the body of Our Blessed Saviour, when he put him into the sepulchre; the other, which they particularly call the Holy Handkerchief, is that with which the face of Christ WAS covered, and which St. Peter found in a separate place ^ tm the other vestments, as an infallible testimony that Christ was risen. No layman is permitted to make use of any Sacred ves- sacred utensils whatsoever. It is the privilege sels, &c be- of the clergy alone to handle them ; this custom longing to the is borrowed from the Jews. ***"• The Chalice must be made either of gold or silver : in the infancy of the Church, the chalices were all wood ; but in process of time they were made of glass or marble, .j.|j^ chalice, and at last of silver or gold. The bishop is obliged to consecrate the chalices, as well as the patens, both within and without. Small chalices, generally, are nine inches in height, and large ones eleven or twelve. The Paten must be made of the same metal as the chalice, and the use of it is to hold the consecrated host ; it must like- wise be answerable to the size of the chalice, ,«. Paten that is, about six or eight inches in diameter. The Pix, in which the Holy Sacrament is deposited, must be, at least, of silver, gilt within, and its foot must be half ^ span high. The height of the cup must be pro- iji|,g pj,, portioned to its breadth, and the bottom must have a gentle rising, in order fhe more cpmmodiously to take out the wafers when there are but few in it, and to cleanse it when there is occasion. The wafers are not to lie above eiffht days fit moi|t in the pijr, without the latter being cleansed, lest 896 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. they should happen to grow mouidy. A veil in the form of a tent made of a rich white stuff, with a fringe round it, must cover this precious repository of the wafers. There must likewise he a hox to carry the communion to the sick, made of silver, gilt within, and it must be put into a white silk purse, and hung about the neck, in such places as are difficult of access. The box and pix must be blessed. — There must be another box for large wafers which are round, and ra- ther larger than the others ; and this may be made of silver, tin, pasteboard, &c. lined with white taffeta within, and adorn- ed with some rich silk without : a round leaden plate, covered with taffeta, must be put into the box, that the wafers may be always ready. These wafers must neither be kept in too dry, nor too moist a place. Such as are too stale must never be made use of The (Sh» for exposing the Holy Sacrament must be made of silver : the foot of the smallest must be a span in height. _. - This sun must have two crystals, one third of a ® ""' span diameter, or more, that a large wafer may the more commodiously be put between ; and this must be set in a little half-moon made of silver, and gilt. One of the crystals must be fastened to the sun by a small chain, like the case of a watch : there must be a cross, likewise over the sun. The Thurible may be made of silver or pewter, but there should be four chains to it. Two thuribles are used in pro- The Thuri- cessions of the Holy Sacrament, but at no other We. times. The navet must be of the same metal with the thurible. Germanus of Constantinople says, that the thurible repre- sents the human nature of Christ. The burning of the'per- fume is his divine nature ; the perfume itself, the Holy Ghost; the incense is the emblem of penance, of preaching the gospel, and of the prayers of the faithful. It also represents the vir- tues and good works of the saints. The thurible, according to St. Austin, is likewise the image of Christ's body. St. Am- brose very gravely observes, that an angel appears at this ce- remony. The Incense which is made use of at church, must be of an odoriferous smell, and be a little broken before it is put in- to the navet, but not reduced to powder. The Holy-toater-pot ought to be made of silver, pewter, or tin ; the sprinkler of the same, or else of wood, with hog's The Holy, hristles or wolfs hair twisted round about it ; water*pot. and at the end of it there must be ft hollow ROMAN CATHOLIC CH'JRCH. 297 (lofa must on to into a as are There nd ra- silver, adorn- overed nay be 00 dry, ver be e made height, ird of a fer may St be set i of the like the ver the at there i in pro- no other le metal > repre- the'per- y Ghost; e gospel, 5 the vir- ^ccording St. Am- it this ce- ist be of is put in- (ewter, or ith hog's about it; A hollow 4ii^' The Peace- Utensil. knob with holes, in which a small sponge is enclosed. There must be two vessels of pewter, delf, or earthenware, » for washing the corporals, pales, purificatories, and chalices. En the place where the wafers are made, there must be another pewter or earthenware vessel, to be appropriated to this use, and no other. The Peace-utensil must be made of gold, silver, or em- broidery, with some pious imajpfe of the crucifix, or other mys- tery upon it. It must be half a span high, not quite an inch broad, and end in a semicircle at top. There must be a small handle to hold it by to which a veil must be fastened, of the colour of the service of the day, to wipe it with. The Corporals must be made of fine white linen ; not too thin, nor stitched, and without lace ; but if there be any lace, it must be very narrow, and not more than two fingers broad at the projecting edge. In that part ralT '^ where the priest most commonly kisses the altar, a small cross must be placed, and made of white silk, or thread in this form •!«. The corporals must be folded in such a manner, that all the ends may be in the inside, and not seen. The use of corporals is said to have been appointed by Pope Eusebius, or bjr Sylvester I. This represents the sheet in which our Saviour's body was wrapped after his death, and for that reason can be made of nothing but linen. The Pales must be made o/ the same linen as the corpo- rals, and lined with stiffening pasteboard. Upon these there must be neither embroidery, cross, nor image, nor any lace round them ; but four small tassels '^^ Pales, only at the four corners to hold them by. They must be blessed with the corporals, and no person under a sub-deacon may presume to touch them. The Purificaiories are made of linen, and are two spans in length ; they are folded three eateries, times double, and there must be a small cross of blue thread in the middle of them. The outside of the Purses for the corporals is made of the same kind of stufif as the other diieorations, but rj^^M Purses, the inside is lined with fine white linen, with a strong pasteboard between. These purses are about a span wide, are fastened by a button and loop, and have a cross em- broidered on the outside, of about three quarters of a span in ength. The Veil of the chalice is made of silk, and of the saine -4%: S96 ftOMAN CATHOLIC CHOKCH: Th« Veil of ^^^'^^^ ^ ^^^ ^^^^ °^ ^^^ decorations ; it is thret tiMChalioe. spans square, and has no cross, or any other figure whatever. ' ' i * In those churches in which the solemn service is perform- ed, the sub-deacon must have veils of ten spans long, and as wide as the silk, of four colours, viz. white, red, green, and purple, wherewith to hold up the paten at high mass. Black veils are never made use of, not even at masses for the dead, nor even on Gk>od Friday. They must be made therefore of white silk, and be edged with lace. Alei^s Ritual adds, " that in the most celebrated churches, there must be another white veil of the same size, but more costly, to throw over the shoul- ders of the celebrant, when he carries the host in procession ; and in the parish-church, there must be a canopy likewise of white silk, for the holy viaticum, when it is earned to the sick, of five or six spans long, and four wide, or rather more. The vallance, with the fringe, must be a span and a half deep, and both must be made of white silk. It must be carried with two poles of five or six spans long, which are covered with the same silk as the canopy, if they are neither painted noi gilt." He who carries the Holy Sacrament to the sick, is in- ferior to him who carries it in procession. There must be veils, likewise, or covers, to the crosses and images in passion-week, which must be made of camlet, or some other stuff of purple colour, but without any figure, image, cross, or other implements of the passion. In every parish-church there ought to be a standard, about nine or ten spans high, and six long, of a colour suitable to its patron ; and in the middle of it the patron must be repre- sented in embroidery. This standard must be of satin, da- mask, taffeta, or camlet, lined with linen, or a light stuff, and have a silk border and a fringe all round it. The pole of it must be about three yards long. The pope performs the ceremony of baptizing and giving his benediction to the Agnus DeHs in the first year of his pon- tificate ; and repeats it on every seventh year. dicrioS orthe "r**^^? Agnuses are a sort of pastils, made of Agnus Dei. wax, m the form of an oval medal, upon which Jesus Christ, is represented under the appear- ance of a lamb, holding a cross ; for which reason they are called Agnuses. The wax was formerly provided by one of the gentlemen of his holiness's chamber, who held his ofiSce from the master or chamberlain of the sacred palace. Those who were desirous to have any Agnuses, laid some wax upon the altar of St Peter; and an apostolic sub-deacon fetched it RdMAN CATHOLIC CRClten. m . \ \ thdnee, and carried it to an apartment in the pontiff's palac(*. The sub-deacon, and his colleagues, assisted oy some of th# tcolytes, moulded the wax, and with great devotion and neat- ness, mude it up into Agnuses, according to the directions of the Roman ceremonial. These sacred pastils are now provi- ded at the expense of the apostolic chamoer. The wax, which is the ground- work or substance of them, is melted in a quan- tity of sacred oil and chrism of the preceding year. When the materials are completely prepared, the Agnuses are pre- sented to »> r flf in one, or more '^"''is, ind he gives them his l^ dicr On Easter-Tuesday, the sacristan performs the benediction over the water used for baptizing the Agnuses ; and the next day, as soon as the pontifical mass is ended, his holiness, dressed in his amict, his albe, his stole of white damask with a silver lace, and having a mitre of cloth of gold upon his head, consecrates the water, which was blessed by the sacristan jn the preceding day. This water is put into a large silver basif ; the consecration consists of the usual blessings, to which the holy father adds a prayer to Almighty God that he would vouchsafe to sanctify those things which wash away the sins of mankind, &c. afler which, he takes some balm, and pours it into the water, adding thereto the holy chrism, which he likewise pours into it, in the form of a cross. He offers up several prayers to God during the performance of this ceremony ; then he turns to the Agnuses, blesses and in- censes them, imploring God to shower down upon them all the virtues generally ascribed to them. A second and third prayer follow ; after which, his holiness, seated in an easy chair, prepared purposely for him, having a napkin girt about him, and his mitre on, takes the Agnuses, which the gentle- men of the chamber present him in silver gilt basins, one afler another, and throws them into the holy water. The cardinals, in their fine linen albes, take them out the next moment, with a spoon made use of for no other purpose. Their eminences aflerwards lay them on a table covered with a clean white cloth, and there wipe them with a napkin, which they likewise wear in the form of an apron, and the assistant prelates range them upon the table, where they are left till they are thoroughly dry. Afler this baptism is over, the holy father rises, and in a prayer addresses himself to the Holy Ghost, beseeching him to bless them ; and then makes his ap- plication to Jesus Christ : afler this, they are put into tne Dasins again, and his holiness invites all the cardinals who have assisted him in this office, to dine with him. This work 14' 800 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHVRCH. ii resumed on the Thursday foUnwing, and continued till the Friday, when they are all blessed. This ceremony is per- formed in the presence of several ambassadors, and a multitude of strangers, whom curiosity brings thither to be spectators. On the following Saturday, being the dav on which the Ag- nuttt are distributed, a chapel is held, and mass is sung by a cardinal priest, at which his holiness assists in his pontificali- bus. As soon as the Agnus Dei is sung, an apostolic sub- deacon, dressed in his robes, with a cross-bearer, two wax-taper- bearers, and the thuriferary before him, goes to the pontiff's sacristan, and takes from him a basin full of the Agnus Dei's, lately blessed, and wrapped up in party-coloured China cotton. The sub-deacon is followed by a clerk of the ceremonies, and two chaplains in their surplices. When these arrive at the door of the chapel, they all kneel, and the sub-deacon, with an audible voice, sings these words in Latin. " Holy father, these are the new lambs, who have sung their hallelujahs to ?ou. They drank not long ago at the fountain o{ holy water. 'hey are now very much enlightened. — Praisa the Lord 1" To which the music in the choir answers, " God be praised : hallelujah I" — After this, the sub-deacon rises, and walks for- wards. As soon as he gets to the entrance of the balustrade in the chapel, he repeats the words just before-mentioned. When he approaches the pontifical throne, he repeats them c third time, and prostrates himself at the feet of his holiness, who receives him sitting, with his mitre on. When the cross enters, however, he and the whole congregation rise ; but the holy father sits down again immediately, though the sub-dea- con remains kneeling at his feet, whilst he distributes the Ag- nuses in the following manner. Two auditors take a fine white napkin, and present it to two cardinal-deacons assistants, who lay it in a decent manner on the knees of his holiness ; and the two former hold the two ends of the napkin, whilst the sacred college partake of the holy father's munificence. Their eminences, after their usual testimonies of respect and veneration, present their mi- tres, with the horns downwards, to his holiness, who puts as many Agnuses as he thinks proper into them. Formerly, he bestowed no more than three to each of the sacred college, two to the other prelaies, and one to the clergy, &c. Their eminences, in return, kiss his holiness's hand and knee. After they and the clergy have received their share, several ambas- sadors, and other persons of distinction, come forward with white napkins, {o partake in their turn, but not so liberally, cf these spiritual bencfifs. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 801 The distribution thus made, the pope washes his handi, the sacred college unrobe, the celebrant returns to the altar, mass concludes with a double hallelujah, and his holiness be- stows his benediction on his children, with a great many in- dulgences, which are published by the celebrant. The popes, as we find by the Roman Ceremonial, had formerly a basin full of Agnuses brought to the table after dinner, which they distributed among the apostolic court. All the Agnus Dei'x which remain out of the prodigious number that have been blessed, are left in the prelate's cus- tody, who is master of the pope's wardrobe ; and he distributes them every day at certain hours among the pilgrims, and other foreigners, who go and ask for them. By one of the constitutions of Pope Gregory the thirteenth, made in 1572, all those who were not in holy orders were forbidden to touch these Agnus DeVs, unless on some emergent occasion ; and, as a still farther precaution, all laymen were directed to have them set in glass, or crystal ; and that those who had the means of wrapping them up in some rich embroidery should 80 order it, that the Agnus might appear on one side as in a reliquary. Painting them was likewise prohibited by the same constitution, upon pain of excommunication; the whiteness of the wax, in which these figures in relievo were formed, being esteemed by Pope Gregory more suitable than any other co- lour whatsoever, to represent the immaculate Lamb of God ; which are the words made use of by all the popes, from Gre- gory the thirteenth to this day, in speaking of the miraculous efilects of Agnuses. Before the person to be canonized is registered amongst the number of the saints, his holiness holds four consistories. The two first are private, the third public, and the fourth between both. In the first, he causes tion Jf °hi"' the petition of those, who demand to have their sainto. saint universally acknowledged as such in the Catholic Churcn, to be examined by three auditors of the rota, and directs the cardinals to revise all the instruments relating thereunto. In the second, the cardinals make their report The third, being held in public, the cardinals pay their ado- ration to his Holiness *, after which, one of the consistorial advocates makes the eulogium of the person who is to be proclaimed a saint, and gives a long and particular account of the life and miracles of this faithful servant of God. The fourth consistory is held in the ducal hall, where his ho- liness assists in his plain mitre and pluvial ; at which no ado- ration is paid to him. Patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, prn- toa «OMAN CATHOLIC OHVRCH. thonotaries, and auditors of the rota, are admitted at this con* •istory, and the train bearers perform their office dressed in Eurple ; but after the extra, every body goes out but the pre- ites before-mentioned. This consistory is held for taking the votes of those prelates who are for and against the canoni- lation, and, as soon as it is resolved upon by a plurality of voices, the pope intimates the day appointed for the ceremony. On the canonization-day, the pope officiates in white, and the cardinals are dressed in the same colour. Sit. Peter's church is hung with rich tapestry, upon which appears the arms of his holiness, or of that prince or state which requires the canonization, embroidered with gold and silver, and the church is most pompously illuminated. Canonization is attended with immense expense to those princes who are desirous of the glory of procurmg it for some favourite Christian. Beatification is in some measure the forerunner of it ; for beatitude naturally leads to sanctity, and to a supposition, that he that is accounted blessed here below, ought to be acknowledged as such in heaven. The surprising virtues which were discovered in the relics of saints, for the cure of those who were diseased, and for the salvation of men's souls, gave birth to their translation. It was likewise the received opinion, that the bodies of the saints were able to draw down the blessings of heaven on cities and states ; accordingly, nations put themselves under their pro- tection. The numberless miracles which are related in the legends, as well ancient as modern, con/inced the populace that the protection of saints was a circumstance of the last im- portance. Their images were erected in their churches, and their names included in their litanies. To that time, canoni- zations were made by a tacit-consent of the clergy, without the least formality ; but the use of registers, known by the name of Diptics, had obtained long before that, in which were set down the names of martyrs, and those who died in a reputa- tion for holiness, after having distinguished themselves by a virtuous life. There is no instance of a solemn canonization, before that of St. Sibert, whom Pope Leo III. canonized about the beginning of the ninth century; though some attribute the first solemn canonization to Pope Adrian, and others arc of opinion that St. Ulric, who was cunonizei by Pope John XIV. or XV. in 993, was the first saint canonized in form; and some again ascribe the glory of this institution to Pope Alexander III. A magnificent theatre is always erected in St. Peter's church, for the ceremony of canonization. On the day the BOMAIt eATIOLIO cuvhou. k MrAmony ia to b« performed, the entrance to the theatra is lined by the Swiss guards, who are likewise posted at the doors of the basilica; a detachment of the horse-guards is drawn up in St. Peter's square, another of the cuirassiers in that of the Vatican, and a third in all the streets through which the procession pitsaes. These guards, together with thos^ which are posted in the other quarters of Rome, and the gar* rison of St. Angi lo, make a general discharge of their artil- lery, when the signal is given that the ceremony is begun, and all the bells in the city are rung at the same time. TV Deum likewise is sung to instrumental music, Sec. The following is ,\ description of the honour* which Popo Clement XI. paid, in 1712, to those saints who were publicly acknowledgea by h'n holiness as the medinturs of all Christ- ians with Jfsvs Christ. All the avenues of St. Peter's were lined with troops on the twenty-second of May, and the whole force was scarcely suf- ficient to withstand the impetuous movements of the vast con- course of people, of all ages and sexes, whom devotion and curiosity had brought thither to see the ce'emony. This pro- digious concoMrse of all ranks and degrees flocked from every part of Rome to St. Peter's by break of day ; whilst the clergy, Doth secular and regular, according to the order issued to them, assembled at the Vatican. The cardinal-deacons then robed the pope in his proper ornaments ; after which his holi- ness set out for Sixtus s cnapel, with the cross before, and the clergy behind him. As soon as he arrived there, he made the sign of the cross over his devout retinue, took off his triple crown, and kneeling down, prayed before the altar. After- wards he gave out the hymn, which begins with these words, Ave Maria Stella, &c. and then kneeled down again, till the music of the chapel had concluded. The holy father now arose, put on his mitre, returned to his chair, and there received from Cardinal Albani, who was his nephew, and petitioner for the canonization, two large painted tapers, and a small one, with the arms of his holiness and the images of the candi- date saints upon them. His eminence, at presenting them, kissed the hand and knee of the pontiff One of these large tapers was, by the directions of his holiness, given to the con- stable Colonna, in order to carry it in the procession before him, and to hold it in his hand during the ceremony of canoni- zation. The other was not disposed of, there being no person present of suitable quality to walk abreast with the constable on this solemn occasion. The small taper was given to the cup-bearer, first chamberlain to his holiness, but a general dis> 304 ROMAN CATHOLIC CnVRCN. tribution of tapers was first made amonpf the clerffy, each of them being distinguished according to his rank and dignity- It is related of St. Raymond of Pennaforte, that, after havmg long censured the dissolute deportment of a king of Spain, Power ofthe without being able to wean him from his crimi- modern nal engagements, he determined to leave him to Minis. his own wicked inclinations, and to embark for Barcelona. But his majesty having charged all persons not to take him on board, St. mymonu revived the miracle of our Saviour's walking upon the water ; he threw his cloak into the sea, and taking his staff in his hand, em- barked in this new kind of boat, and arrived safe in Catalonia. The very gate ofthe convent to which he belonged, opened of itself at the saint's approach. St. Peter of Nola, who styled himself an unprofitable ser- vant, — that off-scouring of the earth, and mere nothing, — had very frequent and familiar discourses with Qod and the Blessed Virgin. The apostle St. Peter one day honoured him with a visit, in the same posture in which he was cruci- fied, that is, with his heels upwards. St. Francis silenced the swallows who interrupted him in his sermon, so that they stood still and mute with awe and wonder, whilst he expounded the truths ofthe gospel. St. Anthony of Padua likewise, being unable to gain the at- tention of the heretics, desired them to go to the sea-side, in order to convince them of the tractable disposition of the fishes, which immediately left their streams to hearken to his preach- ing, and stood erect on their tails, enraptured with his pious discourses. St. Francis of Paula was endowed with a supernatural strength. He carried away, without any assistance, a prodi- gious large rock, which obstructed the foundation of the dor- mitory of a monastery which he was building. He likewise hung up in the air a piece of rock, which broke from a moun- tain, and threatened to demplish his new edifice, and to dash in pieces a great number of his workmen. He afterwards supported it with his staff, and lefl it for a long time in that position, exposed to public view, to the edification of a multi- tude of people, who resorted thither in crowds to see such a miracle. This rock was afterwards made use of in finishing his new monastery. Manna has been often seen to fall on St. Agnes of Monte Pulciano in the form of a cross. The blessed Virgin appear- ed to her on one of the festivals of the Assumption, with the child Jesus in her arms, whom she permitted to embrace, and mOMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 8M Monte ce, and fftu to her breast. At her departure, she left the saint a erotic v>h%ek the child Jeius wore about his neck. We shall tak« noticA of (he rose that appeared in the middle ofwinter, in a little dish which this female saint served up to two hermits ; but w« cannot forbear mentioning the advances, in point of complaia* ance, which she made after her decease to St. Cathermc of Sienna, who went to pay her a visit at her sepulchre : whilst the living saint was stooping down to kiss the feet of the dead one, the latter, through an excess of humility, lifted up her foot, and touched the other's lips. St. Bonaventure, the celebrated author of the " Psalter of our Lady," which was printed in 1605, not being able to taki* the sacrament in the usual way. through a "iolent indisposi- tion in his stomach, had the holy pyx placeil upon his breast, and the sacred wafer instantly penetrated that way into his very bowels, in order to become the life of his soul. St. Ignatius, who was given over by the physiciafs, was visited by St. Peter, who by a touch with his hands wrought on him a miraculous cure. After that, the blessed Virgin pair' him a visit, and made him a present at the same time of a ce lestial ointment, called the "Balm of Chastity." V"' "n he was upon his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he determine! (o visit the Mount of Olives, and Christ himself condescended to be his guide. He cured persons afflicted with the falling sick- ness, cast the devils out of such as were possessed, and reco- vered several by permitting them to touch the hem of his gar* ment. To conclude, the number of miracles which are said to be wrought by him, amount to two hundred, or therebix>uts. St. Clare was in such esteem with God, that without the least difficulty she obtained whatever she asked. From her very infancy, there appeared in her surprising signs of her future sanctity: instead of playing like other children, she did no- thing but pray, fast, and give alms, in her early years. All the saints indeed, as appears by their lives, \ "p begun with these general practices of devotion ; but froin '.v very infancy St. Clare went farther, and wore a hair-cloth to mortify the flesh, and to put a stop to all irregular passions. She was very sel- dom alone in the heat of her pious r ercises. A very beauti- ful child, with two radiant wings, flew into her lap one day, and clasping her with them, curressed her with many fond en- dearments. At another time, although she was indisposed, and unable to go to mains, yet she heard distinctly the office, which was sung at a church some considerable distance from the monastery, and what is most surprising, she teas so happy as to see the young child Jesus lying in his manger. In her 26* IkOMAK CAtttOtte CHVIIOH. dying moments, Jesvs was seen near her, accompanied by •everal virgins crowned with flowers. One of them in par- ticular, who wore a close crown more radiant than the mm, drew near and embraced her ; the rest spread a carpet of inestimar ble value over her body. The daughters of this holy mother, especially the nuns of the Ave Maria, inherited her austeri- ties and virtues, though they did not attain the gift of miracles. St. Barbara, accompanied by two angels, gave the commu- nion to the little blessed Stanislaus Kostca, who lay danger- ously ill in a femily who were heretics, and would not permit the holy sacrament to come into their house. He held many conversations with the Virgin Mary, " his lady, his mistress, and his good mother ;" and a great number of miracles were wrought by his mediation after his death. When he died, the Virgin Mary, accompanied by several other blessed virgins, came to conduct him to heaven. Devils quiUed the bodies they had been tormenting at the very name of Stanislaus. He re- stored OS many persons to life as he was years old, though he lived to the age of nineteen, and this extraordinary miracle was thought so easy for him to perform, that it grew into a proverb in Poland: "Let us go," said the people, "to the blessed Stan- islaus, who raises the dead." The application of this young saint's image, cured a young Jesuit of fourteen years of age at Lima, in the year 1673, but upon this condition, that he should say a Pater Noster, and an Ave Maria, every day of his life, in honour of the little Polish saint ; and that, on the eve of his festival, he should live upon bread and water, and once per- form the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius, to the honour and glory of his blessed son Stanislaus. All such as were afflicted with palpitations, swellings, broken limbs, sore-eyes, fevers, &c. were confidently assured that a little wine in which one of the saint's bones had been steeped, was an infallible remedy for such distempers and accidents. St. Roche, the patron and protector of such as are infected with the plague, distinguished himself by several remarkable cures. The dog that is usually painted lying by him charita- b.y fed the saint, at a time when the pestilence was outrageous. The blessed St. Clare of Montefalco had the figure of Christ upon the cross, and all the instruments of his passion, engra- ved upon her heart. Her repeated declarations of this miracle to the nuns of her convent, made them curious to see if it were true, and after her death they divided her h^rt, and were con- vinced of the truth of her assertion. St. Bridget raised ten persons, that were dead, to life. St. Theresa appeared, after her death, (which was occasioned by ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 8or engra- miracle it were ere con- ife. St. jncd by an excess of divine love,) to several persons, to inform them of the high degree c^ glory to which she was exalted. We shall omit her wondrcrj.s visions, and the love-wound made in her heart by a seraph, with a golden arrow pointed with red hot steel. St. Didacus cured several diseased persons, with the oil of a lamp which burnt before an image of " Our Lady." One day, having no provisions, on a journey he was making with one of his companions to his convent, he prayed to God to support them in their distress, and instantly they found a table spread before them upon the grass, and the entertainment, " though not elegant, was very wholesome and refreshing I" St. ^verius raised several to life during his mission in the East r lies. Being in the neighbourhood of Amboyna, he* calmed a raging tempest by plunging his crucifix into the sea. In the eagerness of tne action, his crucifix slipped out of his hand, but an officious fish miraculously restored it to him in a moment, and on giving it, took care to hold it upright, to de- note the triumph of the cross over the infidels ! St. Thomas a Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, was amply rewarded for the violent death he suffered, by the numerous miracles he wrought afterwards, and which, ii we may believe father Giry, he still continues to perform : no sooner was this saint buried, than he declared himself the physician of a mul- titude of sick persons. It is very remarkable, that the saints of the latter ages go far beyond those of the apostles' days in raising the dead to life. The blessed St. Rosa was under five years old when she consecrated herself to God. Father Oliva observes, in his eu« logium on this saint, that mankind had an infinite loss in God's not creating Rosa in the terrestrial paradise instead of Eve ! — Her ambition to sufiler made her ingenious in searching out the means of mortifying herself. This pious maid would fre- quently rub her cheeks and eyes with the bark and po'.vder of Indian pepper, to prevent her from going to balU, or appear- ing in company : for the sharpness of the peoper made her face all bloated and full of ulcers. Rosa had fhe glory, more- over, of finding out fresh methods of mortification every day, and of reproaching nature perpetually with the enormous crime of having made her so handsome. It is certain, that nothing is so shocking and insupportable to saints of a mystical con- stitution, as corporeal beauty, which they relinquish to the devil, together with all other sensual enjoyments. The blessed Rosa, like Jesvs Christ, multipliid loaves, and she miraculously replenished an empty-vessel to comfort ||M>OTPMOT«*< mffmmvm^'fmffni •W* •wii 808 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. her mother, who was sick, with celestial honey. Her voca- tion, or call, has no parallel instance in the history of the saints. As she was passing hy the church ^f St. Dominic, for whom she ever had a particular esteem, she found herself inspired to go in, and pay her last respects to the image of Our Lady of the Rosary. No sooner was she on her knees, than she re- mained immoveahle, and nailed, as it were, to the ground. Astonished at so extraordinary a prodigy, she promised the hlessed Virgin to hecome a nun of the third order of St. Domi- nic ; and, as soon as she had finished her prayer, she, without the least difficulty, accomplished that in a moment, which she had not been able to do in several hours before with great and repeated efibrts. Rosa, at her commencing a new life, thought it a duty in- cumbent upon her to invent new austerities. She tied a great chain thrice round her waist ; and having put a padlock upon it, she threw the key into a well. She long bore with patience the pains which this chain gave her, but at length was obliged to seek relief, and, human means failing, she made her appli- cations to the Blessed Virgin, who immediately opened the lock. The blessed Rosa thinking her lodgings at her mo* ther's too commodious, determined to build herself a sorry hut at the end of the garden. She was soon attacked by a whole army of gnats ; and as they interrupted her contemplations, she thought proper to make a truce with them upon the follow- ing conditions : — The gnats were allowed to shelter them- selves in the cell during excessive heat or cold ; and they stipulated on their side never to incommode her more, and even to withdraw, whenever she found them in any way of- fensive. We cannot forbear observing, that the largest trees in the garden, when Rosa passed by them to her cell, bent down their branches, and their trunks also, as a testimony of their profound veneration. The Church calls the holy Virgin in her litanies, the Mo- ther of God, the dueen of Angels, the Refuge of Sinners, the Mother of Mercy, the Gate of Heaven, the SThi'siess^ My«*>*= ^°^^' *^^ Virgin of Virgins, &c. There Viro-in. is no title of honour, which some divines of the Church, and particularly modern ones, have not bestowed on the Virgin Mary. Havmg robbed paganism of every thing that was most magnificent and glaring, to bestow it on the mother of Jesus Christ, they have continued to in- vent such splendid names, as even the most fruitful imagina- tion of the poets was never capable of devising. The heresies against her, insensibly produced an excess of reverence and ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 309 devotion to her. In the earliest ages of the Church, she was caLcd dueen of Angels, and Mother of God ; afterwards the controversies which arose on her account, made her advocates advance every thing they could think of to make her cons'i- derable against heretics. She has been looked upon as the disposer and depositary of God's favours, the Treasurer and even Queen of Heaven, the Spring and Fountain of salvation and life, the Gate of Paradise, the Mother of Light, and In- tercessor between God and Man ; the Hope of Mankind, and the Ocean of the Deity. Some authors have styled her " God- dess;" and Father Salazar, about the end of the sixteenth century, declared her the Accomplishment of the Trinity. The Psalter, and indeed the whole Bible, had been applied ?o her long before that declaration ; and it has been proved both by miracles and apparitions, that the blessed Virgin appea.ses the wrath of Christ against sinners; and that she has the power of absolving, binding, and loosening. Whoever hopes to draw down the blessings of the Virgin upon him, must salute her every day both at his going out and cominj; in. The legends have transmitted to us several remarkable instances of the advantages arising from the Ave Maria; not to mention the thousand days' indulgences grant- ed by several popes, particularly Leo X. and Paul V., to all those who shall repeat it at the hour of the Angelus. Christ- ians, however, are not so exact in the practice of this sort of devotion as to imitate St. Marguerite of Hungary, who said an Ave kneeling, before every image of the Virgin which she met with on her way ; nor St. Catherine of Sienna, who re- peated as many Aves as she went up steps to her house. Fasting on Saturday, in honour of the Virgin Mary, is still looked upon, in Catholic countries, as a treasure of indulgences and delights, and as an excellent preservative agaiir>st eternal damnation. The greatest part of the holy and immacv.late Virgin! s hair has been preserved ; and, as to her milk, the good Catho* lies tell us that not one drop of it was eve: lost; ^ ., ^ , innumerable relics having been made of it im- Bjessed Vir- mediately after our Saviour's nativity. A por- gin. tion of it is to be seen in different parts of Christ- endom ; and that church or monastery which is in possession of such an invaluable relic, con riders itself as peculiarly blessed Our lady's wedding-ring is pressrved with the ut- most respect at Perouse; the fate and miracles of which are all described in a book published in the beginning of the se* venleenth century, entitled, De Annulo Pronubo Deijtara Vir* 310 KOMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. S?-' •A ? ^fiM, autore J. Bapt. Lauro. Colon. 1626. The Blessed Virgin's clothes are to be seen at Rome, and several other E laces; her shifts at Chartres and Aix-la-Chapelle* one of er handkerchiefs at Treves; her girdles at our Lady of Montserrat at Prato, &c. one of her combs at Rome, another at Bezancon ; her shoes at our Lady of Puy and St. Flour ; and one of her slippers in Brittany. The measure of her foot is in the custody of the Spaniards. To conclude, it is not to be questioned, but that all the various pieces of her goods, kitchen-furniture, toilette, and implements of household, have been carefully preserved; her gloves, head-clothes, veils, bed, chair, and the stones on which she washed our Lord's swad- dling-clothes ; her candles, the oil for her lamp, and all her earthen-ware, are still exposed to public view. It is true, in- deed, that these things were lost for several ages; but the monks have had the good fortune to find them one after an- other. No relic of her sacred body has been left upon earth ; it having been taken up to heaven in its perfect form, without injury or mutilation. The jubilee, as to its origin, is half Jewish, half pagan. That joyful season procured liberty among the Jews to those Th J bl who were slaves; an acquittance from their debts to those who were poor, and the recovery of their effects to those who, through necessity, had been obliged to pawn them. The ground itself was not cultivated during the year of the Jewish jubilee. The pope, by the Catholic •jubilee, of which the former was but a type, grants the like pri- vileges to Christians. It is a year of rest to them ; for his ho- liness absolves them from sin, relieves the spiritual poverty of the penitent, by opening the treasures of the divine mercy to him, remits his aebts, and restores him to the possession of his celestial effects. Pope Boniface VIII. upon his institution of the grand Ju- bilee, expressly declared by his Bull, that " Those who should visit the basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul in the year 130U, and every hundred years aflerwards, afler a free confession and sincere repentance of their sins, should obtain a full re* mission, together with several indulgences, as extensive as it was possible to grant them to repenting sinners." " It does not appear," says M. Turtin, "that his holiness had any regard to the Jubilee of the Jews, since he not only declined the name of jubilee, but on the contrary, doubled the time prescribed to them." But with Clement VI. the case was different. This pope called that institution " the Jubilee," and ordeted it to be celebrated every fifly years. mOMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 811 Several Roman Catholic writers are of opinion, that the ju* bilee of the Christians bears a very near affinity to the secu- lar fames of the ancient Romans. Clement VI. ordered the jubilee to be celebrated twice in a hundred years. Urban VI. reduced the term to thirty-three years. Boniface IX. solemnii^ed it nine years aAer ; and in process of time, a bull of Sixtus IV. established it once in twenty-five years. His predecessor Paul II. had before fixed it by a decree of the year 1470, to the same time. Sixtus IV. however celebrated a jubilee in 1475, and Alexander VI. not contented with the solemnization of it in 1498, revived it in 1500. The decrees of Paul II. and Sixtus IV., however, do not hinder the popes from declaring a universal jubilee on their exaltation to the pontificate, as well as on some other extra- ordinary occasions. The holy gates, however, are never open- ed but for the twenty-fifth year's jubilee, which, if we may be allowed the expression, brings with it a universal indulgence ; for " the hearts of the faithful are comforted thereby, and joy entereth into the house of the Lord." The jubilee grants to those confessors who are approved by their superiors, a power to absolve in all reserved cases, also from all censures, and the greater excommunication ; ,to annul all suspensions relating both to benefices and ecclesiastical of- fices, and to take oflT interdicts. It permits them likewise to alter vows, in case they have no relation to religion or to chas- tity ; or that they are not of the nature of those which en- gage to perform certain pilgrimages, such as those to Rome, Jerusalem, and St. James of Galicia. When his holiness has appointed the Jubilee, he gives no- tice of it,' by his apostolic letters, to all the prelates through- out Christendom ; and these cause it to be published in their respective dioceses, with proper exhortations, in order that the faithful may put themselves into a condition of obtaining those advantages which attend it. The intentions of the holy father are explained ; those churches which are to be visited are no- minated ; certain acts of devotion, which are always attended with proper indulgences, are prescribed ; and proper litanies, and prayers peculiar to the solemn occasion of the jubilee, and to the subject which procures it, are caused to be printed. No society, no religious order, must absent itself from the proces- sions which are ordered for celebrating this act of devotion. The people, with their magistrates, and the rest of their supe- riors, are invited to attend it with all the modesty required by an act of religion. On those days which are set apart mt 312 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. fasting aQd repentance, the bishop and his clergy are enjoined to appear overwhelmed with sorrow, and filled with sentiments of humiliation. They are to pray with heart and mouth to the Almighty, and to offer him the fruits of a sincere contri- tion, which consists in the renunciation of all those engage- ments by which men are in general devoted to the world, and in a strong resolution to instruct the people by their own pious example. The pope notifies the universal jubilee, by a bull which he causes to be published the preceding year, on Ascension-day, at the time of his giving the solemn benediction. An aposto- lical sub-deacon begins the publication, in the presence of the whole Court of Rome, reading z bull in Latin ; and after him, another sub-deacon reads it with an audible voice to the peo- ple in Italian. As soon as he had finished, the pope's twelve trumpets in ordinary begin to sound, and immediately after them, twelve huntsmen sound their silver horns, by way of concert, at the same time that the whole of the artillery of the castle of St. Angelo are discharged. On the fourth Sunday in Adyent, the apostolical sub-deacons publis|i the bull for the jubilee a second time, and on the three days which immediately precede Christmas-day, the bells throughout the whole city proclaim the solemnity, which is to commence the next day. On the twenty -fourth day of December, of the holy year, all the secular and regular clergy assemble together at the apostolic palace, and thence march in procession to St. Peter's at the Vatican. When the clergy come into the great square before St. Peter's, they find the doors of the church shut, and all the entrances of the portico lined with guards, to hin- der the mob from getting in. The pope, the cardinals, and bishops, dressed in their white damask robes, having their mitres on, now meet in Sixtus's Chapel, at which place his holiness signs the Ve/ii Creator, with a lighted taper in his hand. All the cardinals, having each of them likewise a ta- per in their hands, come out, according to their respective rank, and repair to the Swiss portico, where the holy father nomi- nates three of them as his legates a latere, to go and open the gates of St. John de Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul without the walls. Their eminences having received the or- ders of his holiness on their knees, repair to the appointed churches, preceded by trumpets, hautboys, and a troop of men, half in warlike, and half in religious armour. Their march begins as soon as the pope has opened the holy gate at St. PWer's m. -* >ined nents th to ontri- l, and pious ich he n-day, iposto- of the r him, le peo- twelve y after way of r of the leacons le three le bells ch is to [ ~ Pope knocking at the Sacred Gate, p. 313. y y®*^' at the Peter's t square lul, and to hin- als, and ig their lace his r in his ase a ta- ive rank, er nomi- open the St. Paul d the or- ppointed p of men, sir march rate at St. Absolution of Pilgrims by touching them jyith a rod, p aOMAN CATHOLIC CHVIIOH. ais ess The chief of the Roman soldiery has the charge of this ho ly fl^te, which is always opened hy his holiness himself unU the infirmities of affe, or some other particular indisposition renders him incapable ; in which case, the cardinal-dean offi- ciates for him. The Vicar of Jbscs Christ, being seated on a throne, which is raised before the great gate, and in the middle of the creat portico of St. Peter's, restB ti,^|JJ^ "' himself for a short tune there ; after which the Gate.**^ prince of the throne presents him with a golden hammer, which the holy father takes into his right hand : then rising from his throne, he goes and knocks at the sacrea gate. The sacred gates are representations of God's grace. The passage of the pilgrims through them denotes the Christian's passage from the state of sin tc i hat of grace. All those who perform the duties appointed >>} his holmess, in the four Ba- silicas at Rome, must pass through these holy gates. It is likewise pretended, that the opening of these gates represents the opening of the Church unto all men, provided they go to it after a sincere conversion. The holy father opens the gate, which signifies his having the key of the celestial treasures. The three blows upon the gate represent the three quarters' of the world, Europe, Africa, and Asia, to which his holiness of- fers the treasures which are in his disposal ; or it may be said, that the three strokes with the hammer are an excellent repre- sentation of that joy, which the jubilee gives to the faithful in heaven, on earth, and in purgatory. The pope is followed by his clergy with tapers in their hands, and, knocking thrice against the gate, says with e": audible voice, Aperite mihi portas jusiitia, — Open unto me these gaie» of jiislice ; to which the choir add, " This is the gate of the eternal, the just shall enter therein," &c. In the mean time, the head masons break down the wall which closes up the sacred gate, and the rubbish of it is distributed amongst the devotees, who pick it up with all imaginable zeal and eager- ness, in order to rank it amongst their precious relics. This wall is erected on purpose, in such a manner as to hold but very slightly by its four sides. The stones are not festened with cement, on which account, as soon as the holy father knocks at the sacred gate, it falls without any resistance. When the wall is demolished, the penitentiaries of St Pe- ter take their brooms, clear the gate, and sweep the bricks and the lime that remain, out of the passage. The mouldings, ai well as other decorations rouna the gate, are now washed with holy water. When this operation is over, his hojinoM 314 ROMAN CATHOLIC -CHURCH. Shutting; the Sacred Gate. of descends from his throne, and beffins this anthem, " Hmr. die$ quam fecit Dominus, — Thi$ i$ the day vshich the Lord hath made, Jtfc. which the choir repeats after him. Being arrived at the sacred gate, the holy father repeats several prayers, takes the cross, kneels down before the gate, begins the Te Deum, rises up, and passes through it, still singing as he goes along. His clergy follow him. Every body now hurries into the church, either to witness the magnificent ceremony, or to as- sist at the vespers in the pope's chapel. After vespers, the cardinals pull off their white robes, put on their red copes, attend his noliness to the door of his apartment, and then with- draw. On Christmas-day, after the mass of the day, the holy fiither goes to the benediction-pew, and blesses the raithful by way of jubilee. The jubilee having lasted a year, concludes with shutting up the sacred gates, which is done on Christmas-Eve, twelve months after they were first opened. On that day the pope, his cardinals, the clergy, and the persons of the highest distinction in the court of Rome, go to St. Peter's in their robes of state. Vespers are said; after which the clergy, having lighted tapers in their hands, offer their obeisance to the holy face, which is known by the name of Veronica. Then his holi- ness sings an anthem, which begins with these words, Cum jucumditate exhibitis, — Ye shall go out with joy. As soon as it is begun, every one uses the utmost expedition to get through the holy gate. The holy father, when every body has gone through it, goes up to it, and turning towards it, says, Adjutorium, ^'c . — Our help, ^c. together with some other prayers, in which he blesses the stones and mortar which are intended to shut the gate, which the jubilee had opened. The pope himself lays the first stone, under which several medals are concealed, which serve to transmit the memory of this pious ceremony to future times. The holy father having laid, the stone, washes his hands, and returns to his throne; then Salvum fac populum, — Lord save thy people, 6rc. is sung. In the mean time, the masons complete the walling up of the gate, in the midst oi" which they set a copper cross, whilst his holiness repea^■^ some par- ticular prayers, which he continues till the breach is perfectly repaired. The benediction given by the Vicar of Jesus Christ from the pew (v hich thence takes its name of the Benediction Pew) to the faithful, assembled to receive it, con- cludes this piece of devotion. The cardinals and clergy then ^hrow off their robes of state, return with the pope to hi« ROMAN CATlilOLIO CHCROH. •18 r, diet hath rrived , takes Veutn, along, lie the r to as* !TS, the cope«, sn with- ;he holy hful by shutting 5, twelve On that and the I court of of state, f lighted loly face, his holi- irds, Cum 1 As soon on to get irery body owards it, vith some id mortar jhilee had der which insmit the [lis hands, \^m,—Lord tie masons 01 which some par- s perfectly of Jesus lame of the live it, con- Bergy then kope to hi» apartment, and his holinesf entertains them with an elegant •upper. Indulgences are the surest touchstones, of which his holi< ness can make use, to try the faith of true believers ; for a great number of devotees imagine that they infallibly « . . secure the attainment of Paradise. The origin " " is^nc»». of indulgences is hinted at in a passage of St. Cyprian ; but the release from torments was not known by the name of indul* gence, till a long time after. It was common enough howe* ver, in the seventh and eighth centun^ s. Pope Sergius, in the year 884, gave three indulgences of forty days each, to those who should visit the church of St. Martin on the Hills, on the festival peculiarly devoted to the service of that saint. Indulgences were originally no more than the softening of pains, imposed upon sinners condemned to penance, which in the primitive ages of Christianity were very severe. The Church had regard to the infirmities of penitents, who could not undergo the rigour of them ; but they were at the same time to discover a real contrition, and with a perfect sincerity endeavor to purify themselves from their crimes, according to their strength. A relaxation from ecclesiastical pains gradu- ally introduced into devotion certain practices, seemingly difficult, but yet much easier than spiritual worship; and nothing gave a greater scope to the abuse t>f indulgences than the commutation of pains into pecuniary fines, which were greatly advantageous to the priests, and showed them the way of selling the remission of sins. St. Bernard, whilst preach- ing up the indulgences of Pope Eugenius III., at once in- flamea the hearts of the believers of his age, with a spirit of war and contrition, and showed them that the atonement of their crimes, and the remission of their torments, were annexed to those crosses and swords, wherewith he persuaded them to arm themselves e gainst the infidels. St. Bridget declares, in her Revelations, that in a vision which she had of the Lord Jfsvs Christ, he informed her, •* That the most infallible way to atone fqr all her sins, was to procure indulgences ; that, with respect to himself, whenever he was inclined to treat any soul with tenderness and afTection, he would advise it to reside constantly at Rome, there being no place in the world where so many indulgences could be procured. Indeed, there is no city more commodious than Rome, for devotees who would turn their piety towards this object ; for its basilicas have indulgences for every day in the year ; and on festivals they are redoubled. Indulgences were at one time granted for all kinds of sins ••MAN CATHOLIC OMVEOM. r I wmi eriaM, IIm prioM of which w«re rated, and the remiuion often Mt up to auction. A malefactor in Italy might, for nmetf livru, compound for a crime, for which, on the ither aide of the Aipa, he would be hanged or burnt The applica* tion for indulgeacet Mraa either by the payment of ready -money, or by laying, or causing to be laid, certain maiiei ; by aniitinff at certain offices, and certain processions ; by con* fessing ana receiving the Eucharist ; by alms-giving, or wear- ing particular habits, crosses, chaplets, crowns, beads, &c. Pope Leo X having undertakmg to complete the magnifi- cent edifice of the Basilica of St. Peter, according to the example of Pope Julius, had recourse to indulgences, which he every where published ; and all those who should contri- bute wfaiat was demanded of them towards the erection of St. Peter's, were permitted to eat eggs and cheese in Lent, and to make choice of their own confessor. In order to come into possession of ready money, the sums arising from these induU gences, were farmed out to the highest bidders, who, not only K>r the purpose of reimbursing, but likewise of enriching themselves, chose such preachers of indulgences, and collect- ors, as they thought most proper. These were well paid to induce the people, in order to procure pardon, to contribute whatever such covetous and sacrilegious wretches insisted upon. Some of these preachers of indulgences raised the price and value of them to such an exorbitant pitch, as to induce the people to imagine that they were secure of salvation, and of deliverinff souls out of purgatory, as soon as they had paid the money demanded for tne Tetters, testifying they had pro- cured the indulgence. The clerks of the farmers, likewise, who had purcmised the profits of these indulgences, were seen daily in the taverns and brothels, carousing, and spend- ing part of that money in all manner of licentiousness, which tiie poor insisted was barbarously extorted from them. We shall now treat of beads, chaplets, rosaries, and other accessaries to devotion. The historians of the Crusade wars . say that Peter the Hermit first taught the soldiers ■trum"^' '5 to count their prayers by the chaplet; the use ^y. of which soon grew very common. But Fa- ther Qiry p^ives some instances of prayers being ■aid by tale or computation, long before the invention of the chaplet ; and Ryckle, in his life of Oertrude, gives us an ac- count of a rosary which this saint made use of at her devo- tions, in the seventh century. Saint Dominic, the founder of the order which bears his name, and of the holy office of the Inquisition, greatly advanced the credit of this instrument of "at Fa- I being of the an ac- j devo- Inder of .of the [ment of Scapulary and Rosary, p. 817. 318. Manner of carrying the Host when the Popo travelsj p. 357. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 817 devotion, by declaring, that the blessed Virgin had brought him one i* '^m heaven, after a miraculous manner, composed of a certaiki number of beads, which he called the rosary. It is still looked upon as one of the most valuable exercises of devotion by a great number of Catholics ; with regard to the chaplet, it is not to be questioned but that it came from the Mahometans. Peter the Hermit borrowed it from them, in fiivour of those soldiers of the Holy Wars, who were not able to read, nor to make use of a prayer-book. These and other instruments, or assistants to devotion, were the foundation of four considerable societies. That of the ro- sary owes its birth to the rosary of St. Dominic. „ The rosary is a large chapret, consisting of one ^" hundred and fifty beads, which make so many Aves. Every ten beads, divided by one something larger, make a Pater. The fifteen large beads are the symbols of fiileen mysteries, which are so many lively images, as it were, in which are to be discerned the intentions of " the Eternal Father in the temporal birth of his son, the casualities that befel him in hi& in&ncy, and not only in tV>os private and unknown part of his life; but also in the gl.nous and immortal part of it." The common chaplets contain only fifty Ave Marias and five Pa- ternosters. Before the person begins to repeat his rosary, he must take it, and cross himself. He must in the next place repeat the apostles' creed, to put himself into a proper disposi- tion for prayer ; after which, he must say a Pater and three Aves, on account of Uie three relation which the Blessed Vir- gin bears to the three Persons in the sacred Trinity. After these preliminaries, he passes on to the fineen large beads, containing ten courses. The Christian devotee must observe to admit himself into the mysteries of each ten courses, by a prayer, which is to be found m those books which treat of the method of devotion with the rosary. The fifteen mys- teries are divided into three classes : the first includes the five mysteries oijoy ; the five next are those of sorrow, as turning upon our Saviour's Passion; and the five last, those oi glory^ as being destined to his resurrection, ascension, &c. , After the rosary, the brethren who have the honour to bear the name of it, must say the litanies and prayers for those who are afflicted in mind, body, or estate, &c. They must lift up their hearts to the Virgin, who is the Queen of the Rosary, Em- press of Jleaten and Earth, High Treasurer of the Spirituai Finances and Celestial Riches: and as the true believers ought not only to pray for each other, but likewise for an in- crease of the worship of which they make profession ; the 27* 318 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. brethren and sisters of the rosary must never omit this last ar- ticle, but use their utmost endeavours to make proselytes to the faith of St. Dominic. The legendaries of the order of St. Dominic, and several others, assure us, that the society was appointed by an order from the Blessed Virgin, when St. Dominic was labouring to reduce the Albigenses, and extirpate heretics. After the saint's decease, the devotion of the rosary was totally neglected ; but Alanus de Rupe, in 1460, or thereabouts, revived it with great improvements, and for fifteen years together, used liis utmost endeavours to procure devotees to it. The society is divided into two branches, one of the common, and the other of the perpetual rosary : the former are obliged every weelc. to say the fifteen divisions of ten beads each, to confess, and receive the Sacrament every first Sunday in the month ; and moreover, to appear at all the processions of the society. The faithful of the latter are under very strong obligations. The first duty incumbent on them is, to repeat the rosary without intermission ; that is, there is always some one of them who is actually saluting the Blessed Virgin in the name of the whole society. The solemnity of the rosary is celebrated on the first Sun- day in October. This festival is owing to the piety of Pope Gregory XIII. Several popes have confirmed the way of praying with the rosary by their bulls, and granted to those who shall devoutly repeat it, all suitable indulgences, not only plenary, but particular. The devotion of the scapulary is, in every respect, as exact as that which we have already described. After divers prtiy- trs, and pious solicitations, the Blessed Virgin Scapulary. gfa^jg^ j^g scapulary to Simon Stoch, comman- der of the Carmelites, in the same century, and much about the same time that she gave the rosary to St. Dominic. She assured the devotee of her protection, promised to be propi- tious to all those who should join in the devotion of the sca- pulary, and to look upon them as her children. She also engaged to save all those, who at the hour of death should be found provided with so precious a batuge. The scapulary of the Carmelites is a small woollen garment, of a dark orown, or tawny colour, which goes over the sto- mach, back, and shoulders. It consists likewise of two small pieces of cloth, three or four inches square, tied together with two ribands. This is what the brethren of the Order of the Scapulary wear. The devotees of the scapulary celebrate the sixteenth of Ju- ROMAN CATHOLIC CHVKCH. 319 irgin of Ju- iy as their festiTal, which day is likewise dereted to the serriee of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. There is nothing which flatters the heart of man more than what is called good works, since they are k>oked on by him as a formal contract, or, as it were, a trace between « ,• • his passions and the duties of his religion. A p^daUons. certain satirist has observed, "That a devotee re- fuses to pay his debts, though ho says his prayers ; that he plunders his neighbour, though he gives the tenth to the poor ; that he ruins honest families, whilst he is building hos- pitals ; in short, that religion, with the devotee, is the counter- poise of justice." The clergy have always taken advantage of this vanity and self-love, under the specious pretence of showing Christians the road to heaven ; but, above all, they have nttempted to pave the way to it by foundations, which began in the fourth or fifth century, but the mode of which was not entirely established till the sixth. Nothing v. as at that time to be seen, but people of all ages, sexes, and condi- tions, renouncing their worldly possessions for the endowment of churches and convents. New practices of humility sprang up on all sides ; for the devotees grew dissatisfied with vigils, which to them appeared too weak. The priests and monks had visions, which enabled them to enter mto an immediate correspondence with the saints of Paradise. Measures of a more strong and strenuous kind were taken against the devil, who then began to grow formidable. Several crosses were dug up, and relics were found, which till that time had neither been known nor heard of; even some nf the mouths of hell, and two or three of the doors of purgatoi y. vere likewise dis- covered. The maps of the monks pveci. ely poiuted out their height and depth. Nor was this discov .ry the least valuable and important of the age; a prodigioj- number of souls got out of purgator5% and some of the H^nnn^d escaptJ out of hell. Those who had any regard fov ♦ ieir relations immediately took care of them, and new methods were in consequence in- vented, for alleviating the sorrows of those deceased persons who had their friends to appear for them. Masses were multiplied, and one sacrifice being now insuf- ficient, a necessity arose not only for ten, twenty, or thirty, but sometimes for thirty thousand. The sovereigns of the Church created new patrons. Altars and churches were founded without number. Swarms ot monks and friars over- spread the face of the Avhole earth; and this, they esserted, was all the work of God. Habitations were assigned and revenues appointed them, which were very largely augmented 15* 820 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. by the benefiictions of pious individuals. We may easily con> reive, that convents increased with devotion, and that those virho had devoted their patrimonies to the service of the Church, found no other refuge than that of the cassoc or the veil ; in short, a strong persuasion at that time prevailed, that God could not be served with decorum and propriety but by priests and friars ; and nothing, indeed, was to be seen but cassocs, cowls, tonsures, crowns, vows of « ontinence and chastity; voluntary divorces between husband and wife, upon a motive of piety, and with the intent to retire from the world, that they might pray to God at their ease in the society of monks and hermits. Independently of the foundations of churches, convents, and masses, others were instituted for exposing or carrying the holy sacrament in procession, on those days which are not set apart by the Church for such a purpose; also, for making some particular day more famous than it originaLy was, ac- cording to the institution of the Church. Such is the fovnda- lion on which the holy sacrament is exposed on the festival of the patron of a parish, or on the festival-day of the saint who've name any person bears, or for whom he has a peculiar re- spect and veneration. There are likewise other foundations, for offices and prayers in honour of the saints, at such times as their devotees nave received any extraordinary mercies and favours from them. The faithful, throughout all the ages of the Church, have paid great veneration to the relics of saints, and are said fre- quently to have received great advantages from them. Ignorant devotees imagine that they need only to be devout to some particular relics, to carry them about with them, or to frequent places where they are deposited, in order to die free from sin. The antiquity of the respect for relics has been attempted to be proved from the translation of Joseph's bones, when the Jews went out of Egypt. It is certain that under the Old Testament, it v/as thought, as it is now, that whatever has touched the body of a saint acquires extraordinary virtues. This was the opinion of the primitive Christians, and in« stances of it are to be met with in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles ; from whence we may infer, that the real body of any saint is capable of producing much more miracu- lous effects. In process of time the consequences of this notion of virtue and holiness were carried to a greater extent. Some pretended, that it was necessary to collect all those things which had been made use of by the saints, to dig up Relics of saints. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 32 1 ikeir bodies, and to search after their bones and ashes. Then, temples, chapels, and aUars, were devoted to their service. The very angels concerned themselves in this important affair, for they are said to have collected the bones of St Catharine, anu buried them upon Mount Sinai. Translations of the relics from one place to ajnother, began to be made in the fourth century with extraordinary solemnity, and the use of shrines for relics began at the same time. The church always took care to have the shrines in which relics were deposited, solemnly blessed. The purport of the prayer was, that God would grant his protection to those who reverenced the merits of the saints, and embraced their relics with humility, in order that these faithful supplicants might be guarded fi-on» the power of Satan, from thunder, plague, infectious air, wild beasts, and the malicious devices of wicked men. Oaths were often taken on the relics of the saints ; and the oath of the Ling of the Romans on the blood of St. Stephen at Aix-la-Chapelle, upon his coronation-day, is an instance of this religious custom. The faithful, who visit relics out of devotion, must touch the sacred limbs of the saints with more than common faith. There is a stated time for the public exposition of them to the devout. The relics of the church of Notre Dame at Aix-la- Chapelle, arc exposed once in seven years with proclamations, one of which we shall here transcribe, that the reader may have a more adequate idea of the ceremony. It is as follows : — " The head and right arm of St Cornelius are to be ex- posed ; by whose mediation may the Lori> Jesus preserve you from the falling-sickness, and after this life bestow on you the kingdom of Heaven. Amen. Paternoster. Ave Maria. Credo." The blood of martyrs is preserved in various parts of Christ- endom, Italy and Rome, in particular, are grown famous for the vast quantity that is found in them ; nor is this to be wondered at, considering the perse- f^iicg**^" ^^^ cutions of the primitive Christians under the Roman emperors. The earth at Rome is said to be stained with the blood of the feithful. His h< liness makes pregqnts of some of this sacred earth to foreigners, thereby endeaviar- ing to gratify those good Christians, who come to Rome upon a religious motive, and are unwilling to return home without some salutary testimonial of their travels. As to the miraculous manner in which the blood of mar- 322 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. ^ it u 3rn, according to report, has been seen to melt and run, the evout flatter themselves that G^ has been pleased to give this satisfaction to all pious persons for their consolation, and as a reward of tlieir virtue. There are now at the present day, several liquefactions of this nature, particularly in Italy. On the festival of St. Eustaoe, that saint's blood is seen to boil at Rome. The blood of St. John the Baptist does as much, if not more, at Naples ; and extends to three diflferent churches. It puts itself in this violent ferment in honour of Jesus Christ, and seemingly endeavours once more to proclaim the coming of our blessed Saviour. At Naples too, St. Bartholomew's blood is in aS' great a heat as that of St. John the Baptist ; and so likewise is the blood of St. Stephen, which never fails run- ning on the day on which the finding of his body is com- memorated. On the eighteenth of September is celebrated the ceremony of exposing the head and blood of St. Januarius, patron of the city of Naples, to public view. A solemn procession is made likewise in honour of the Saint, at which the Martyr's head and blood are carr^ -d in all imaginable pomp and grand- eur. It is so contrived, that these two relics meet together, and as soon as they are within reach of each other, the blood is seen to liquefy, to boil, and to rise to the very rim of the glass, in which it is kept. This miracle is wrought every year, never deceiving the expectations of the people, who are always ready to attest the truth of it. The liquefaction of St. Vitus's blood, is to be seen in one of the abbies of the diocese of Tarentum ; and that of the blood of St. Pantaleon, St. Ursula, St. Laurence, and others, in the several monasteries and chmrche* throughout Italy. In 1672, Rome raised a recruit of relics from the catacombs of four hundred and twenty-eight saints, most of them anony- mous and unknown ; which, however, afforded abundance of new relics. Other recruits of the same sort had been made before that time. In regar'? to thr manner of distinguishing the relics dug out of the catai mhs lo be genuine, — ^the apostolic chamber hires diggers to 'vorkin thecataco ibs or subterraneous places, in which sac:* i bodies, as they are called at Rome, are com- monly found. This holy employment is carried on in spring and winter. As soon as the sepulchres are opened, an apos- tolic commissary examines the marks whereby the bodies of martyrs are to be known. If there be only the name of Christ (thus *^) over these sepulchres, or a single cross, a dove, a crown, an olive branch, without a palm-branch, or ROHAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 323 h« ive ent 3oil tj.if ties. . IST, ling Bw's and run- ;oni- nony atron ission rtyr's rrand- r, and ood is glass, year, lO are oneot bload in the combs anony- ance of made lug out hires Ices, in corn- spring apos- jdies of ime of :ro8S, a inch, or without a vase of wood, or other vessel, in which the blood of the martyrs was usually put, they are looked upon merely as 80 many Christian sepulcnres, and in such a case are never opened. The vessel for holding blood is, in a particular manner, an evident sign of martyrdom, and consequently of holiness. When the necessary tokens here mentioned, have been observed, they proceed to open the tombs with all the precaution which so religious an operation requires. As the bou'es are dug up, they are put mto little cases, which are afterwards corded up, and sealed with the grand vicar's seal ; and then the diggers carry them into the cham- bers appropriated for relics. The bones are laid upon tables at some distance one from the other, in order that, as they dry, the air may restore them in some measure to their primi- tive hardness. After this, the cardinal-vicar and the chief sa- cristan of his holiness, expose these relics to the veneration of the faithful, distributing them as they see proper, and arming them with the necessary attestations: relics of the larger size are bestowed on none but crowned heads, and persons of the first distinction in the church. The custom of wearing holy relics by way of devotion, or in order to be preserved against casuahies, diseases, calamities, &c. is very ancient in the church ; since St. Gregory Nys- sens takes particular notice of a small piece of Avood of the true cross, which his sister wore on her finger in a ring. It is to St. Helena, however, that relics owe the beginning of their high reputation ; and yet the cross was at that time the only relic really in fashion. That devout princess fore- seeing, that the finding of the cross would infjame the devo- tion of all Christians, took but a part of it away with her, and left the remainder at Jerusalem to be an object of the pilgrim's devotion. This sacred wood would, by degrees, have been all lost, on account of the constant distributions which were made of it to devotees ; but St. Paulinus assures us, that in his time it remained in the same condition : that the faithful were ta- king away some of it without intermission, but yet they always found it whole and entire. In process of time, relics of all sorts were worn, but more particularly about the neck and on the breast. St. rharles Borromeo wore about his neck a tooth of St. Satina. Gregory XII. wore one of St. Catharine of Sienna. Some ages before that, St. Dunstan having broke hi.*, cane upon the devil, who appeared to him in the form of a bear, had another made mucn stronger, in which he set a tooth of the apostle St. Andrew. "He m.' tQ4 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. Relics were formerly carried in military expeditionfl, and thia Mraa an establishedcustom in the time of Theodosius the Great. The knight-templara, and soldiers in the crusades, carried them a long time after in their expeditions against the enemy of the Christian name. Christian kings, when they . went to war, armed themselves with St. Martin's cope, and caused the shrines of saints to be carried at th? head of their armies. Du Val de Cernay, the monk, assures us, that, on a dangerous expedition, a l)ody of priests and friars, having the cross before them, and lieing supported by relics, after singing the Veni Creator, which ^vas their signal, advanced against the Albigenses; and that, at the third repetition of a particular verse of the hvmn, the rebels of the church fled from the field of battle I Nor did the Bishop of Cominges show less bravery and resolution; for, n< twithstanding the small number of the faithful who were facin. above one hun- dred thousand Albigenses, he armed himself with the wood of the cross, and, getting upon an eminence therewith, blessed the soldiers of the Catholic army, who becoming thereby enliven- ed and inspired, defeated the king of Arragon and his whole army. Catholic devotion ordains that recourse shall be had to holy relics in case of any public calamity. The blood of St. Ja- nuarius, set before the flames of Mount Vesuvius, has never fliiled to extinguish them. The miracles wrought by St. Ge- nevieve, whenever it has been thought proper to carry her in procession, are well known at Paris; and if we may credit the devotees at Rheims, St. Remi's handkerchief has had no less virtue, at those times when it has been found requisite to pro- duce it, in order to allay or remove public calamities. At Venice, a leg of St Laurence extinguishes fires. In a church of that city, holy water, of great virtue, is made with the bone of St. Liberalis. In Sicily, St. Agatha's veil, carried in procession by the clergy of Catanea, puts a stop to the de- luges of fire of Mount Gibel ; and a piece of cotton rubbed against this veil, has the same efifect. The Carthusians at Cologne have the hem of Christ's gar- ment, which the woman afflicted with the loss of blood touched, in order to be cured. The ladies of that place send wine to the Carthusians, to have the relic steeped in it, and drink of it upon any emergent occasion. Festivals are holidays, or are certain day* which the Ca- tholic Church has set apart for the peculiar service of God, in _ ,. , commemoration of some mystery, or in honour or some samt. and I the Bides, It the they , and their , on a aving after anced n of a h fled ninges tig the le hun- vood of ised the inliven- } whole I to holy F St. Ja- s never St. Ge- y her in redit the I no less to pro- In a ide with carried [o the de- rubbed [st's gar- [ touched, wine to [rink of it the Ca- j)f God, in [n honour ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 325 In the Catholic Church there are moveable feasts, double feasts, half-double, and single : but the chief difTerence between the several classes, is the greater or less solemnity which is used in them. The churches are embellished, and the altars adorned, according to the solemnity of the day ; and to the rank which each saint holds in the church. On solemn double feasts, the bishop, and even the pope himself, performs divine service in ., nvered, "that false Christian-men were lower than the Jews, and more tor- mented." Macarius seems, by the Golden Legend, to have been much annoyed by the devil. In a nine days' journey through a de- sert, at the end of every mile he set up a reed in the earth, to mark his track against he returned ; but the devil pulled then* all up, made a bundle of them, and placed them at Macarius's head, while he lay asleep ; so that the saint with great diffi- culty found his Avay home again. This Macarius is the identical saint who so opportunely as- sisted St. Helena in the discovery of the genuine cross, anc for that one act he certainly deserves to be ranked amongst the most renowned worthies of the Roman Calendar. This day is devoted in Paris to the feast of St. Geneviev » virgin patroness of that city. The legendary writers inform us, that we cannot pay too great homage to this _ . saint, for the wonders she has performed for up- gj Qene^evc. wards of twelve centuries; indeed, the angels returi jd thanks to heaven for the birth of this blessed virgin. Father Giry, in the Lives of the Saints, assures us, that the blessed spirits kept "an extraordinary festival at her birth, and that all heaven was filled with joy." St. Germanus of Auxerre asserted the same to the inhabitants of Nanterre, the first time he saw St. Genevieve, who was born in their city. In the height of her piety, she was seized with so violent a fit of sick- ness that she was thought to be dead, but in the midst of the torments which her bodfy suffered, " she was ravished in spirit among the angels, where she saw unutterable glories." The Golden Legend relates, that by the Holy Ghost she showed many people their secret thous^hts, and tha. from fif teen years to fifty she fasted every day except Sunday ant IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) '^^y % 1.0 I.I 11.25 iill 12.5 no 1^ I u, m 12.2 ^ 1^ 12.0 II iiiiim U Hi 1.6 %. / Photographic Sciences Corporation iV v k*^' a>' <^ ^. >. ^v o^ 73 WEST MAIN STRUT WEBSTER, N.Y. 14SI0 (716) S77-4i03 7a s \ ^38 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. Thursday, when she ate beans, and barley bread of three weeks old. A woman once stole St. Genevieve's shoes, but as soon as she got home she lost her sight for the theft, and remained blind, till, having restored thu shoes, St. Grenevieve restored the woman's sight Desiring the liberation of certain prisoners condemned to death at Paris, she went thither and found the city gates were shut against her, but they opened without any other key than her own presence. She prayed over twelve men in that city possessed with devils, till the men were suspended in the air, and the devils were expelled. A child of four years old fell into a pit and was killed ; St. Genevieve only covered her with her mantle, and prayed over her, and the child came to life, and was baptized at Easter. On a voyage to Spain, she arrived al a port " where, as of custom, ships were wont to perish." Her own vessel was likely to strike on a tree in the water, which seems to have caused the wrecks ; she commanded the tree to be cut down, and began to pray ; when lo I just as the tree began to &11, " two wild heads, gray and horrible, issued thereout, which stank so sore, that the pec^/ie that were there were envenomed by the space of two hours, and never after perished ship there ; thanks be to God and this holy saint.'' At Meaux, a master not forgiving his servant his faults, though St. Genevieve prayed him, she prayed against him. He was immediately seized with a hot ague ; " on the morrow he came to the holy virgin, running with open mouth like a German bear, his tongue hanging out like a boar, and requi- ring pardon." She then blessed him, the fever left him, and the servant was pardoned. A girl going by with a bottle, St. Genevieve called to her, and asked what she carried ? she answered, oil, which she had bought; but St. Genevieve see- ing the devil sitting on the bottle, blew upon it, and the bottle broke, but the saint blessed the oil, and caused her to bear it home safely notwithstanding. The Golden Legend says, that the people who saw this, marvelled that the saint could see the devil, and were greatly edified. Her holiness now shone with greater lustre than ever in the eyes of the Parisians. " She penetrated into the most inward recesses of their con- sciences, spent all her time in prayer, and shed so great an abundance of tears, that the floor of her chamber was quite wet with them. Though she had led a life of extraordinary penance, she nevertheless lived to a very advanced age. A great number of miracles were wrought at her tomb, and would undoubtedly have been wrought to the end of the world, had her relics been still there ; now they are wrought only a& \ three 68, but ft, and levieve med to , s were ly than lat city the air, old fell er with ! to life, arrived perish." 3 water, ided the St as the ?, issued !Te there ver after saint." is faults, Qst him. morrow ih like a id requi- lim, and lottle, St. led? she eve see- he bottle bear it lays, that ould see w shone arisians. leir con- 3[reat an ras quite ordinary )rob, and le world, It only al ROMAN CATHOLIC CHVSO^. 99 her shrine Her shrine of fold and silver, covered with vf- cious stones, the presents of kings and queens, and with a clui* ter of diamonds on the top, presentee by the intriguing Mary de Medicis, was, on calamitous occasions, carried about Pans in procession, accompanied by shrines equally miraculous, and by the canons of St. Genevieve, walking barefoot. This day is sacred to the memory of St. Simeon Stylites, who astonished all Christendom by his personal mortifica- tions. Simeon went into the monastery of He- liodorus, where the monks ate but once a day ; 0^*0"*"^ *'**' but our saint carried this abstinence to such a stylitnir"^ pitch, as to eat only once a week. Heliodorus required Simeon to be more private in his mortifications : with this view, judging the rou^h rope of the well, made of twisted palm-tree leaves, a proper instrument of penance, Simeon tied It close about his naked body, where it remained unknown both to the community and his superior, till such time as it having ate into his fiesh, what he nad privately done was dis* covered by the effluvia proceeding firom the wound. It took three days to disengage the saint's clothes, and the incisions of the physician, to cut the cord out of his body, were attended with such anguish and pain, that he lay for some time as dead. After this he determined to pass tne whole forty days of Lent in total abstinence, and retired to a hermitage tot that purpose. -Bassus, an abbot, left with him ten loaves and water, and coming to visit him at the end of the forty days, found both loaves and water untouched, and the saint stretch- ed on the ground without signs of life. Bassus dipped a sponge in water, moistened his lips, gave him the Eucnarist, and Simeon, by degrees, swallowed a few lettuce-leaves and other herbs. He passed twenty-six Lents in the same manner. Inr the first part of a Lent, he prayed standing ; .growing weaker, he prayed sitting; and towards the end, being almost exhausted, he prayed lying on the ground. At the end of three years he left his hermitage for the top of a mountain, made an inclosure of loose stones, without a roof, and having resolved to live exposed to the inclemencies of the weather, he fixed his resolution by fastening his right leg to a rock with a great iron chain. Multitudes thronged to the mountain to receive his benediction, and many of the sick recovered their health ; but as some were not satisfied unless they touched him in his inclosure, and Simeon desired retirement from the daily concourse, he projected a new and unprecedented manner of life. He erected a pillar six cubits high, (each cubit being 28* IIOMAII CJLTHDLTO CMVROH. tighUbn inches,) and dwelt on it four years ; on a second, of tiroive cubits high, he lived three years ; on a third, of twenty- two cubits hi^h, ten years ; and, on a fourth, of forty cubits, or sixty feet high, which the people built for him, he spent the last twenty years of his life. He was imitated in this folly by several other fanatics ; but none of them had the perseverance, or hardness of constitution, to earn any de&free of immortality to be compared with that of Simeon. This, however, occa* sioned them to be called stylites, from the Greek word stplos, a pillar. Simeon's pillar did not exceed three feet in diameter at the top, so that he could not lie extended on it ; he had no seat with him ; he only stooped or leaned to take a little rest, and bowed his body in prayer so often, that a certain person who counted these positions, found that he made one thousand two hundred and forty-four reverences in one day ; which, if he began at four o'clock in the morning, and finished at eight o'clock at night, gives a bow to every three quarters of a mi- nute ; besides which he exhorted the people twice a-day. His garments were the skins of beasts, tie wore an iron collar round his neck, and had a horrible ulcer in his foot. During his forty days' abstinence throughout Lent, he tied himself to a pole. He treated himself as the outcast of the world, and the worst of sinners ; worked miracles ; delivered prophecies ; had the sacrament delivered to him on the pillar, and died bowing upon it, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, after having lived upon pillars for seven and thirty years! — His corpse was carried to Antioch, attended by the bishops and the whole country, and worked miracles on its way. Without mentioning several of the miracles in the Golden Legend, which ar^s not fit to be related, it may be observed that it is there said of him, that after his residence on the pil- lars, one of his thighs rotted a whole year, during which time he stood on one leg only! Near Simeon's pillar was the dwelling of a dragon, so very venomous that nothing grew near his cave. This dragon met with an accident ; he had a stake in his eye, and coming all blind to the saint's pillar, and placing his eye upon it for three days, without doing harm to any one, Simeon ordered earth and water to be placed on the dragon's eye, which being do ^ut came the stake, a cubit in length ; when the people . (his miracle, they glorified God, and ran away for fear of the dragon, which arose and adored for two hours, and returned to his cave ! A woman swallowed a little serpent, which tormented her for many years, till she came to Simeon, who causing earth "MSd water to be lud on her mouth, the little seipent came out icond, of ftwenty- y cubits, spent the folly by iverance, nortality er, occa* rd stylos, diameter ! had no ittle rest, n person thousand which, if 1 at eight I of a mi- lay. His )n collar During limself to orld, and tphecies ; and died Br having is corpse he whole ; Golden observed I the pil- lich time was the ng grew he had a illar, and harm to !d on the e, a cubit glorified rose and nted her ng earth :ame out ROMAN CATHOLIC CHVEGK. 9M fi>ur feet «ad a half long. It is affirmed, that when Suaeov died, Antlumy smelt a precious odour proceeding firoiif Ilia body ; that birds, men, and beasts cried ; that an angel came down in a cloud ; that the Patriarch of Antioch taking Si- meon's beard to ^t among his relics, his hand withered, and remained so until a multitude of prayers were said for him, and it was healed ; and that more miracles were worked at and after Simeon's sepulture, than he had wrought during the whole of his life I On the day of the feast of thia saint, the pope, cardinals, princes, and even private gentlemen, send their horses and their mules to be blessed by him ; the saddles January 17th. and harnesses of these beasts are also carried St. Anthonv to him. They bless and sprinkle the beasts *^-.^*'"*"'' and their equipage, in the name, and for the o» Monks, sake of the saint, upon consideration for a certain sum, viz. two paoli for each beast. Another ceremony in which St. Anthony is applied to, is that of exorcising, conjuring, and delivering up to the devil, mice, locusts, or grasshoppers, and all other noxious animals. According to St. Athanasius, Anthony was bom in 251, at Coma, near Heraclea in Egypt, and in that neighbourhood commenced the life of a hermit : he was continually assailed by the devil. His only food was bread with a little salt, he drank nothing but water, never ate before sun-set, sometimes only once in two or four days, and lay on a rush mat or on the bare floor. For further solitude he left Coma, and hid himself in an old sepulchre, till, in 285, he withdrew into the deserts of the mountains, from whence, in 305, he descended and founded his first monastery. His under garment was sackloth, with a white sheepskin coat and girdle. He was taught to apply himself to manual labour by an angel, who appeared, platting mats of palm-tree leaves. Athanasius in- forms us that Anthony always prayed whilst he was at work; and that he detested the Arians; that he would not speak to a heretic unless to exhort him to the true faith ; and that he drove all such from his mountain, calling them venomous ser- pents. He was very anxious that after his decease, he should not be embalmed, and being one hundred and fifty years old, he died in 356, having bequeathed one of his sheepkins, with the coat in which he lay, to his biographer. St. Athanasius is very particular in his account of St. An- thony's warfare with the infernal powers. He says that hostilities commenced when the saint first determined on hermitizing; " in short, the devil raised a great deal of duit iss KOHAH CATHOLIC CUVKCH.' in hu thought^ lo that by bemuddinsr and disorderinff intellects, he might make St. Anthony let go his design. hii , ^o His design." In his first conflict with the devil he was victorious, ahhough Satan appeared to him in an alluring shape. — Next he came in the form of a black boy, and was again defeated. After that, Anthony ^ot into a tomb, and shut down the top, but the devil found him out, and with a great company of other devils, so beat and bruised him, that in the morning he was discovered, by the person who brought his bread, lying like a dead man on the ground; whereupon he took him up and carried him to the town church, where many of his friends sat by him until midnight. Anthony then coining to himselC and seeing all asleep, caused the person who brought him thither to carry him back privately, and again got into the tomb, shutting down the tomb-top as before. Upon this, the devils being very much exasperated, one night made a noise so dreadful, that the walls shook. They transformed them- selves into the shapes of all sorts of beasts, lions, bears, leop- ards, bulls, serpents, asps, scorpions and wolves ; every one of which moved and actea agreeably to the creatures which they represented ; the lion roaring and seeming to make towards him, the bull to butt, the serpent to creep, and the wolf to run at him, and so in short all the rest ; so tnat Anthony was tor- tured and mangled by them so grievously that his bodily pain was greater than before. But he taunted them, and the devils gnashed their teeth. This continued till the roof of his cell opened, a beam of light shot down, the devils became speech- less, Anthony's pain ceased, and the roof closed again. At one time, the devil laid the semblance of a large piece of plate in his wavi but Anthony, perceiving the devil in the dish, chid it, and the plate' disappeared. At another time he saw a quantity of real pold on the ground, and to show the devil " that he did not value money, he leaped over it as a man in a fright over a fire." Having secluded himself in an empty castle, some of his acquaintance came oAen to see him, but in vain; he would not let them enter, and they remained whole days and nights listening to a tumultuous rout of devils bawling and wailing within. He lived in that state for twenty years, never seeing or being seen by any one, till his friends broke open the door, and the spectators were in amazement to see his body, thai had been so belaboured by devils, in the same shape in which it was before his retirement. By way of a caution to others, he related the practices of the devils, and how they appeared. He said that, " to scare us, they will represent themselves so \ ROMAN CATHOLIC CHVKCH: tall as to touch the ceiling, and proportionably broad ; they often pretend to sing psalms and cite the scriptures, and some* times while we are reading they echo what we read ; some- times they stamp, sometimes they laugh, and sometimes they hiss ; but when one regards them not, then they weep and lament as Tanquished. Once, when they came threatening and surrounding me like soldiers, accoutred and horsed, and again when they filled the place with wild beasts and creepinc' things, I sung Psalm xix. 8, and they were presently routed. Another time, when they appeared with a light in the dark, and said, " We are come, Anthony, to lend thee our light," I prayed, shutting my eyes, because I disdained to behold their light, and presently their liffht was put out. After this they came and hissed and danced; but as I prayed, and lay along singing, they presently began to wail and weep as though they were spent. Once there came a devil very tall in appearance, that dared to say, "What wuuldst thou have me bestow upon thee?" but I spat upon him and endeavoured to beat him, and, great as he was, he disappeared with the rest of the devils. Once one of them knocked at the door of my cell, and when I opened it I saw a tall figure, and when I asked him, " Who art thou ?" he answered, " I am Satan ; Why do the monks blame and curse me ? I have no longer a place or a city, and now the de- sert is filled with monks ; let them not curse one to no purpose." I said to him, " Thou art a liar," &c. and he disappeared. Much more than this he is related to have said by his biographer, who afiirms that " having been prevailed upon to go into a vessel and pray with the monks, he, and he only, perceived a wretched and terrible stink ; the company said there was some salt fish in the vessel, but he perceived ano- ther kind of scent, and while he was speaking, a young man that had a devil, and who had entered before them and hid himself, cried out, and the devil was rebuked by St. Anthony and came out of him, and then they all knew that it was the devil that stunk." — " Wonderful as these things are, there are stranger beings yet ; for once as he was going to pray, he was in a rapture, and (which is a paradox) as soon as he stood up, he saw himself without himself, as it were in the air, and some bitter and terrible beings standing by him in the air too. but the angels, his guardians, withstood them." " He had also another particular favour, for as he was sit- ting on the mount in a praying posture, and perhaps gravelled with some doubt relating to himself, in the night-time, one called to him, and said, ' Anthony, orise, go forth and look t' m ipifAN C4T«o^IO 0«m«pi|. fQ he went om «nd caw a certain terrible defojnned personage, itanding and reaching to the clouds, and winged creatures, and him stretching out his hands; and some onhem he jaw were stopped by him, and others were flyinff beyond him; whereupon the tall one gnashed his teeth, ana Anthony per- ceived that it was the enemy of souls, who seizes on those who are accountable to him, but cannot reach those who are not persuadable by him." — His biographer declares that the devils fled at his word, as &st as from a whip. The Rev. Alban Butler says, " there is extant a sermon of St. Anthony's, wherein he extols the efRcacy of the sign of the cross for chasing the devil, and lays down rules for the discernment of spirits." There is reason to believe that he could not read ; St. Austin thinks that he did not know the alphabet. He wore his habit to his dying day, neither wash- ing the dirt ofl* his body, nor so much as his feet, unless they were wet by chance when he waded through water on a journey. The Jesuit Ribadeneria affirms, that "all the world relented and bemoaned his death, for afterwards there fell no \ rain from heaven for three years." Though two centuries elapsed before Anthony's bones were looked ror, his grave was not only discovered, but his body was found in the customary preservation. It was brought to Europe through a miracle. One Joceline, who had negJected a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, was, therefore, sorely wounded in oattle, and carried for dead into a chapel dedicated to St. Anthony. When he began to revive, a multitude of devils appeared to drag him to hell, and one devil cast a halter about his neck to strangle him, wherefore St. Anthony appear- ed ; the devils flew irom him of course, and he commanded Joceline to perform his pilgrimage, and to convey his body from the East ; whereupon Joceline obeyed and carried it to France. The saint's beard afterwards was shown at Cologne, with a part of his hand, and another piece of him was shown at Tournay ; two of his relics were at Antwerp ; a church dedicated to him at Rome was ftimous for his sackcloth, and part of his palm coat ; the other part oif it was exhibited at Vienna, and the rest of his body was multiplied about, that there were limb-bones enough for the remains of half a dozen uncanonized persons. St Anthony's fire is an inflammatory disease, which, in the eleventh century, raged violently in various parts. According lo the legend, the intercession of St. Anthony was prayed for, when it miraculously ceased ; and therefore, from that time, the complaint has been called St. Anthony's fire. ■OMAN OATMOUO OMVEOH. id it to in the >xding ed for, time. Mareh St. Dtrid lat. Si. Dirid, or in Wolih, Dewid. the pfttron of Waleo, \n» •on of Xantui, prince of Cardiganshire, and hia birth was pro* Ehsiiod thirty years before it happened : he was rought up a priest, became an ascetic in the Isle of Wight, afterwards preached to the Bri- tons, founded twelve monasteries, ate only bread and vegeta- bles, and 4lrank milk and water. A synod being call^ at Brevy, in Oardimnsbire, A. D. 610, in order to suppress the heresv of Pelagius, " St. David confuted and silenced the in- fernal monster by his learning, eloquence, and miracles." After the synod, St Dubritius. archbishop of Caerleon, re- signed his see to 8t, David, which see is now called St. Da- vid's. He died In 644, St. Kentigem Suw his soul borne by angels to heaven ; his body was in the church of St. Andrew. In 068, his relics were translated to Qlastonbury. One of the miracles alleged of St. David, by Creasy, is, that at tho anti'Pelagian synod he restored a child to life, ordered it to spread a napkin under his feet, and made an oration ; that a snow-white dove descended from heaven and sat on his shoulders ; and that the ground whereon he stood, rose under him till it became a hilC^on the top of which hill a church was afterwards built, which remains to this day." He assem- bled a nrovincial synod to confirm the decrees of Brevy ; and wrote tne proceedinffs of both synods for preservation in his own church, and to be sent to other churches of the province ; but they were lost by age, negligence, and incursions of pi- rates, who almost every summer came in long boats from the Orkneys, and wasted tne coast of Cambria. He invited St. Kined to this synod, who answered that he had grown crooked, distorted, and too weak for the journey ; whereupon ensued * a double miracle," for ** St. Kined having been restored to health and itraightneis by the prayers of St. David, by hi& own prayers he was reduced agam to his former infirmity and crookedness." After this svnod, he journeyed to the monas- tery of Qlastonbury, which ne had built and consecrated, with intent to repair it, and eonspcrated it again ; whereupon our Lord appearing to him in his sleep, and forbidding him to profane tne sacred ceremony before performed, he, in testimo- ny, with his ftnger pierced a hole in the bishop's hand, which remained open to the view of all men till the end of the next day's mass," Before his death " the angel of the Lord ap- peared to him, and said to him, prepare thyself," Agai^: *' When the horr of his departure was come, our Lord Jbsus Christ vouchsafed his presence, to the in^nite consolation of our holy father, who at the sjght of him exulted." More to la ^,l tt6 mOMAM OAOMLIC OSVSCB. the iunepurpoM n aU«^ by the Catholic wciten nspactmf him,— «ueh aa, that at hu death, " being anociated to a troop of angelf, he with them mounted up to hcaTen," and that the event was known " by an angel divulging it." According to Porter, St. David waa uncle to the &mous prince Arthur, or, strictly speaking. Half uncle, if St David'a illegitimacy be authentic. The aame author relates of him, that on his way from buildinjj the church of Glastonbury he went to Bath, cured an infection of the waters, and by his prayers and bendiction gave.them the perpetual heat they still retain. On the same authority, St. David's posthumous virtue, in the reign of King Stephen, occasioned the brook above the church* yard of St. David s church to run wine, by miracle : the well near it, called Pisteldewy or the Conduit of David, sent forth milk instead of water. Also, a boy, that endeavoured to take pigeons from a nest in St. David's church at Lhannons, had nis fingers miraculously fastened to the stone, till by his friends' watching, fasting, and praying before the altar three days and nights, the stone fell from, his hand. " Manie thou* sands of other miracles have been wrought by the meritts of this holy man, which for brevitie's sdke we omitt. I only desire all true hearted Welshmen allwaiesto honour this their great patrone and protector, and supplicate the Divine Good* ness to reduce his sometime beloved countrey out of the blind* ness of Protestaneie, groveling in which it fanguisheth. Not only in Wales, but all England over, is most famous in the memorie of St. David. But in these our unhappie dales the greatest part of his solemnitie consisteth in wearing of a greene leeke, and it is a sufficient theme for a zealouR Welshman to ground a quarrell against him, that doeth not honour his capp with the like ornament that day." The feast of this saint is celebrated in the church of Miner* March 7th. ^B> where the cardinals assist solemnly at mass ; 8t. Thomas and in St. Barbara's feast of the booksellers, who Aquinas. have taken St. Thomas Aquinas for their patron. It is related in the Golden Legend, that a man who was thought to be starved to death, and by a rope cast about his neck, was drawn to the top of a tower, and thrown down from thence, when he came to the ground rose up upon his feet, and gave the following account to those who woiidered at his being alive, since he had continued so long without suste- nance, and how it was possible for him to be preserved in his &11 ; he assured them, that St. Barbara preserved him in all his dangers, and in his fall from the tower sustained him widi ^er holy hands. \ KOMAW OAraOllO OMOKOM. M7 the was lit his from feet, at his suste- in his in all with it is alio related, that St Barbara'a fcther, who waa a hea- then, and had ahut her up in a tower for fear of beinff aedveed, ahe being a very great beauty, perceiving by her diaeourses that ahe waa a Christian, drew oat his sword in great indig- nation, with deoign to kill her ; but upon her prayers to God, a ffreat stone opening itself, received her into its cavity, and roiled with her to a aumntain full of eaves, where she thought to have hid herselC but was discovered by a shepherd, who was punished for it in a miraculous manner ; he himself being changed into a marble atatue, and all his sheep into locusts, others say beetles ; which, as a perpetual accusation of the crime, continually hover about her grave. It is recorded by Surius, that in 1 448, at a town called Gor- cum in Holland, one Henry Knoch, by an accident of the candle's fiilling into the straw, had his house set on fire in the night, and he himself hardly escaped in his shirt, which began to burn in two places; but remembering he had left some money in the house, he resolved to return to it, in order to save It ; but before he eould come to the place where it lay, the house fell upon his naked body: wneir apprehending present death, he was more tormentea,, because ne had not been prepared against the terrors of death by the sacraments of the church, and in this distress he betook himself to St. Barbara for the remedy of his soul, by addressing himself to her in prayer. The sain^ being thus invoked, immediately presented herself before him, under such a shape as she is usually represented in churches. With her garments she quickly quenched the globes of fire, and with her white hand brought him through the straw-roof, and setting him in a safe place, told him that his life would be prolonged till the next morning, &c., sayine which, she vanished away. All was performed as she had said, though Henry was so burnt, that scarcely any flesh was left on his bones unconsumed, and what remained of him was as black as a negro, his eyes, heart, and tongue excepted, which remained untouched. This day is sacred, likewise, to the memory of ^t. Paul the Anchorite. — He was a man of profound ignorance. Butler says he was named " the simple." He journeyed eight days into the desert to become a disciple of St. Anthony, who told him he was too old, and bade him return home, mind his busi' ness, and say his prayers ; he shut the door upon him. ^ Paul fosted and prayed before the door till Anthony opened it, and out of compassion made a monk of him. One day after he had diligently worked at making mats and hurdles, and prayed without intermission, St Anthony bid him undo his work, and 29 t88 mOHAM CATHOLIC CHVKCH. do it all over affain, which he did, without asking for a morMi of bread, though he had been seven dayi without eating; this was to try PauPs obedience. Another day when some monkf came to Anthony for advice, he bid Paul ipill a veseel of honey and gather it up without any dust ; this was another trial of his obedience. At other times he ordered him to draw water a whole day and pour it out again ; to nnake baskets and pull them to pieces ; to sew and unsew garments, and the like: these were other trials of his obedience. When An- thony had thus exercised him, he placed him in a cell three miles from his own, proposed him as a model of obedience to his disciples, sent sick persons to him, end others possessed with the devil, whom he could not cure himself The feast of St. Gregory, sumamed the Great, is held in St. Peter's, where his body is deposited. He was prsetor of March 13(h. Rome in 574, under the Emperor Justin ; next Bt. Gregory year he became a monk, and by fasting and study th« Pope. became so weak, that he swooned if he did not frequently eat. What gavo him the greatest affliction was, his not being able to fast on Easter-eve; a day on which, says St. John the Deacon, every one, not even excepting little child- ren, are used to fiist ; whereupon, by praying that he might be enabled to fast, he not only fiisted, but nvert the English. He died on the 25th of January, 604. His devotion to the church was constant ; he was learned, enterprising, sincere, and credulous; and, for the times wherein he lived, rhariuible and merciful. He was the author of the church-singing, called the Qrefforian chant. Many miracles are related of St. Gregory ; as, that goinff to bless a church in honour of St. Agnes, which had been used by the Arians, he caused the relics to be placed on the altar, whereon a hog went grunting out of the church with a fear- ful noise ; whence it was averred, that the devil, who had been served in it by the heretic Arians, was driven out by the re- lics. Sometimes the lamps were miraculously lighted. One day a bright cloud descended on the altar, with a heavenly odour, so that from reverence no one dared to enter the church. At another time, when Gregory was transubstantiating the wafers, a woman laughed ; he asked her why she laughed? to which at length she answered, "because you call the bread which I made with my own hands the booy of our Lord ;'' whereupon he prayed, and the consecrated bread appeared flesh to every one present ; and the woman was converted, and the rest were confirmed. At another time, some ambassadors coming to Rome for re- lics, Gregory took a linen cloth which had been applied to the body of a saint, and inclosing it in a box, ^ve it to them. While on their journey home, they were curious to see the contents of the box ; and finding nothing within it but the cloth, returned to St. Gregory complaining that he had de- ceived them. On this, he took the cloth, laid it on the altar, prayed, pricked it with a knife, the cloth shed blood, and the astonished ambassadors reverently took back the box. Another time, one who had been excommunicated by St. Gregory for having put away his lawful wife, bargained with certain sorcerers and witches for revenee; who, when the holy pope rode through the city, sent the devil into his horse, and maae him caper, so that he could not be held ; then, with the sign of the cross, the pope cast out the devil ; and the witches, by miracle becoming blind, were converted, and St. Gregory baptized them ; yet he would not restore their sight, lest they should read their magical books again ; but he main< tained them out of the church-rents. 840 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. A&pt his death there was a famine in Rome, and the peo- pie heing fiilsely persuaded that St. Gregory had wasted the chuzeh property, gathered his writings to burn them ; where- fore Peter the Deacon, who had been intimate with Gregory, affirmed, that he had often seen the Holy Ghost in form of a dove upon St. Ciregory's head whilst he was writing, and that it would be an insuj9erable affront to burn those books, which had been written by his inspiration ; and to assure them of this, he offered to confirm it by oath, but stipulated, that if he died immediately after he had taken the oath, that they should be- lieve that he had told them the truth : this being assented to, he took the oath, and thereupon died, and the people believed ; and " hence," says Rabadineira, " the painters came to repre- sent St. Gregory with a dove at his car, to signify that the Holy Ghost inspired and dictated what he wrola." It is also related of St. Greffory, that, when he fled from Rome to avoid the dignity of popcoom, and Iny hidden, a bright pil- lar of fire descending from heaven, glittered above bis head, and angels appeared descending and ascending by the same fiery pillar upon him; wherefore, he was miraculously be- trayed. Lent is said to be an imitation of the listing of Jesus Christ. It must be of ffreat antiquity, since it is cited by several ancient fathers. In the primitive church the Christians Ember wAks. ^^^ "°^ always last during the precise term of forty days ; for we have examples of Lent-seasons that were of shorter continuance, and of others that lasted longer. It was sometimes usual to begin Lent at Septuagesi- ma, other times at Sexagesima, and often at Quinquagesima. With some, it held six weeks, with others seven, and some again began it but three weeks before Easter. It was kept very strictly, for thev used to abstain not only from w ine, flesh, meats, and all kinds of luxury, but to fast till the evening. Lastly, all persons were prohibited from marrying during Lent, which custom is observed to this day. The fast of the ember weeks was borrowed originally from the Jews ; for they bear a relation to four fasts which the Jews denominated from the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months. The ember weeks are observed in March, June, September, and December. The humiliation of the ember weeks con- sists in three days strict fasting in each season of the year. By this fast, the faithful are taught that the four parts of the year are to be equally consecrated to God. Some pretend that these &sts were established as early as the first century of the church, but thai they M-erc not absolutely binding ; on ■■ . I tl 1. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 841 Ceremony ot giving the Ashes. the contrary, that a person mi^ht transgress them without scan- dal or offence. It is even said, that this coldness and indiflfer- ence were not suppressed but in process of time by councils. Others say, that the ember weeks were not instituted till the year 460, by Pope St. Leo. Moreover, that Pope Gelasius coinmandcd that priests and deacons should be ordained in those seasons. As it was customary in the apostolic age, for fasting and public prayer to precede their ordinations, it was but reasonable that the present ember weeks should be dis- tinguished by the same pious exercises, and that the faithful .should employ fasting and prayer " to implore such officers of God as might be worthy to serve his church." The ceremony of giving ashes is one of the ancient methods of expressing sorrow, of which mention is often made in the Old Testament. It is also a type of the public penance used among christians anciently, during which the penitent was cut off from all commu- nication with the rest of the faithful, and stood at the church-door, covered with sackcloth and ashes. The ashes that are made use of on Ash- Wednesday must be made from the branches of olive, or some other trees thuf have been blessed the foregoing year on Palm Sunday. The sacristan, or vestry-keeper, gets these ashes ready and lays them in a small vessel on the altar, on the epistle-side ; after which the officiating priest blesses them, for which purpose the wax-tapers on the altar are lighted. The officiating priest, his clerks, and his acolytes, put on ornaments suitable to the solemnity of the ceremony ; during which the choir chant none. or the nmth hour ; after Avhich, the officiating priest, preceded by the incense-bearer, and other assistants, goes up to the altar, kisses it, and says a prayer with his face a little turned towads the ashes. He afterwards makes the sign of the cross upon the ashes, and incenses them. The incensing being ended, the priest, having on one side of him the deacon carrying the ashes, and his sub-deacon on the other, goes forward towards the middle of the altar, and turns round to the congregation. Then the chief of the clergy in whose church the ceremony of giving the ashes is performed, goes up to the altar, and lays the ashes on the head of the officiating priest in the form of a cross, repeating these words. Memento homo quia pulvis es, ^c; i. e. Remember man that thou art dust, ^c. After the priest has received the ashes, he gives them to his assistants, to all the clergy then present, and at last to the whole congregation. The women as well as the men, receive the ashes on their fore* heads. — • :. ■"- 842 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. A bishop, with his mitre off, receives the ashes sitting, from the officiatmg canon ; after which the prelate, putting on his mitre, and having a white cloth before him, gives the ashes to the officiating canon, who stoops before him. It is the bishop's province to give the ashes to a churchman of superior dignity, such as an archbishop or patriarch. Princes, ambassadors, and other persons of distinction, receive the ashes after the canons. The canons and the superior clergy incline their bodies when they receive them, but all the inferior clergy and the laity take them kneeling. The pope receives them from the officiating cardinal, who does not repeat the Memento, ^c. to him ; but the cardinal stoops a little when he takes them from the pope. If an emperor were to assist at this ceremony of humiliation, he must take them after all the cardinals ; for the princes of the church are superior to all temporal ones. Pope Urban V. sent, on the fourth Sunday in Lent of the year 1366, a golden rose, to Joan, queen of Sicily, and made Blesstnsthe ^ decree, by which it was ordained, that the Golden Rose, popes should consecrate one at that season every year. This golden rose is enriched with pre- cious stones, and is often sent by the pope to princesses, or to some church, as a mark of his peculiar afiection. His holi- ness blesses the rose in the room in which the ornaments are kept, immediately before he goes to hear mass in his own chapel. This blessing is performed with frankincense, holy water, balm, and musk, mixed together. The benediction being ended, the pope goes out of the room, and one of his privy chamberlains carries the rose before him, and lays it on a candlestick. Then a cardinal-deacon presents it to his holiness) who, taking it in his left hand, walks on to the cha- pel, and with his right hand blesses the faithful who line the way. After this, the rose is returned to the cardinal-deacon, and he gives it to a clerk of the chamber, who lays it on the altar. Mass being ended, his holiness gives the rose to whom- soever he thinks proper. We must not omit that the Sunday of the golden rose is called Latare, from a lesson which is read on that day, beginning at verse 10, of the 66th chapter of Isaiah, and that the sacred college come into the chapei clothed in cassocks of the colour of dried roses. The rose is remarkable for three qualities, which are to be applied to the faithftil of the Church, viz. for itr colour, its fra- grance, and taste. The substance of the golden rose, the musk and the balm with which it is blessed, are so many emblems of the divine, the spiritual, and human nature of Jesus Christ. On Palm-Sunday, palms are prepared at the Pope's Chapel ; I ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 848 ' his and when these cannot be procured, olive-branches are soine> times used, adorned with the leaves of the palm- . tree, tied up neatly in the shape of a cross: these of pSITbuiiI palm, or olive-branches, are about five feet in day. length. The Pope then goes in procession to the chapel ; and when the prayers and ceremonies which are used in all other benedictions are ended, his holiness sprinkles and incenses the branches. After their conse- cration, the chief cardinal-bishop presents two of the largest of them to his holiness, who sfives them to two persons of dis- tinction, who, according to the Roman ceremonial, must stand on each side of the pope, with the branches in their hands. The above-mentioned cardinal then presents him a third branch, less than the former ; this the pope gives to a cham- berlain, and presents the rest to the cardinals, prelates, ambas- sadors, and noblemen, who assist at the ceremony. The branches, which the cardinal-bishop offers to his holi- ness, are beautifully adorned with flowers, and must be kissed by those to whom they are presented. When the chief cardi- nal-bishop receives them, he has the honour to kiss the hand and knee of his holiness ; the rest of the cardinals also kiss hi.s knee, but the clergy of an inferior order only kiss his foot. The ceremony concludes with distributing the branches among the people; and during the service of the Passion, all the con- gregation hold their branches in their hands. On Palm-Sunday, the altars, likewise, are adorned with palm or olive-branches. The branches, designed to be dis- tributed, are laid upon a table near the altar, and remain there covered with a white cloth, till the time of blessing them. One remarkable custom practised on Palm-Sunday, and which is still observed in several parts of Christendom, is the settin? a prisoner at liberty ; upon which occasion the bishop and clergy go in procession: the ceremony of this delivery is considered by the Catholics as a type of their spiritual free- dom. This ceremony is borrowed from the Jews, who used anciently lO set a prisoner at liberty on the day of their pass- over, in commemoration of their deliverance from the Egyp- tian bondage. Afler the palms are distributed, the procession begins by the deacon presenting the officiating priest with one of the branches, which he kisses, as also the priest's hand : this being done, the sub-deacon takes the cross, and takes his station be- tween the two incense-bearers, at the entrance of the sanctua- ry or chancel. Immediately afier, the deacon, having knelt down, and turned himself towards the people, repeats tothenii 16* Hi ROMAN CATHOLIC CHlKt II. ProeedumuM in pace, i. e. Lei us go in peace ; and the pro* cession is then performed round the church. When it is naded, mass is said. During the singing of the passion, the several members of the congregation hold their branches in their hands, not excepting the officiating priest and the ministers of the altar ; none being excepted but the deacons, who repeat the service of the passions, and the acolytes, and their attend- ants. After mass is ended, every member of the congregation carries home his branch which has been blessed; and, accord- ing to the rituals, a branch thus blessed, is a preservative from several diseases, and an instrument of innumerable blessings. After various preliminary ceremonies, the procession sets out, each person with his taper in his hand, in such order TheProccs- ^^^ ^^ youngest walks first, and the oldest last, sion of the The superior clergy walk immediately after the Host to the Se- priest, who marches under a canopy, and car- pulchre. y^gg jjjg jj^gj Being come to the sepulchre, the youngest place themselves near the cross, which is set opposite to the grave, and the oldest place themselves be- hind them : this being done, they all fttll down on their knees, the incense and cross-bearers excepted ; and the choir sings and repeats the anthem Tamtum ergo sacramentum, till the conclusion of the ceremony. The priest now incenses the host, and a deacon takes it up and holds 'it in his hands, till such time as the priest kneels down before it. This being done, the deacon puts it again in the tabernacle, where the priest incenses it thrice ; after which, the deacon locks up the tabernacle, and gives the key of it to the master of the cere- monies. At the return of the procession, all the tapers are )ut out, with the exception of those of the acolytes, who walk )efore the cross-bearers. The officiating priest now puts ofT lis white vestments, and puts on purple ones, in order to say the office of the vespers ; nis attendants do the same ; and after the vespers are ended they uncover the altars in the following manner : — The officiating priest takes from the high altar its cover- ings, its Pallia, and other ornaments ; but does not take off the cross and its lights. They even take away the little ta- ble, on which the church plate, the carpets, and flowers, usual- ly stand ; and they likewise uncover the pulpit and the church- walls ; the covering of which the sacristan carries into the vestry. The cross is now covered with a black or purple- coloured veil; the tabernacle is veiled in the same manner, i^nd is left open, being the house of the living Grod, who has abaented himself from it for some time. The cross must now ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 345 over- ce off e ta* isual- urch- • the rple- nner. has now be placed before the tabernacle. In order to solemnize the euBsion oC our Saviour, a black canopy is then set over the gh altar, and the walls of the church are hung with the same colour. The whole of this mournful ceremony is ush- ered in by certain anthems. It is stated that the uncovering of the altars represents the ignominious manner in which Jesus Christ was stripped of his garments. After the ceremonies above-mentioned are ended, the pope is carried to the gallery, where the bull in Ccena Domini is read; by which his holiness excommunicates, in a solemn manner, all heretics and unrepenting sinners ; after which he gives his blessing to all the people there assembled. During the publication of the bull in Cana Domini, which is given out from the gallery of the blessing, the pope is then clothed in a red chasuble, and a stole of the same colour ; and stands in a kind of high pulpit, the better to be seen by the people The sub-deacon, who stands at the left hand of his holmess, reads the bull, which is in Latin ; and the- deacon, who stands at his right, reads the same to them in Italian. In the mean time the candles are lighted, and each of them takes one in his hand. When the excommunication is pronounced, the pope and cardinals put out their candles, and throw them among the crowd, after which the black cloth that covered the pulpit is taken away. Two cardinal-deacons' assistants now publish the plenary indulgence, one in Latin, the other in Italian. After this his holiness washes the feet of. twelve priests in the ducal hall, and entertains them at dinner in another apart- ment, himself waiting upon them ; and (-^resents to each of them two mtdals, the one of gold, the oth . r of silver, as also an apostolical garment, made of white ser^'e. This ceremony is considered typical of Jesus Ceremony Christ washing the feet of his disciples, and is of washing the held in high veneration by the rigid Ron;an Cath- feet of the olic. A modern writer thus describes the cere- P"""** . ' inonv The pope and cardinals having come into the ducal hall, the cardinal-deacons assistants clothe his holiness with his pur- ple stole, his red cope, and plain mitre. Their eminences are clothed in purple copes. His holiness having put three spoon- fulls of odoriferous spices into the thurible, gives his blessing to the cardinal-deacon, who is to sing the gospel, which be- gins Ante diem, festum Paschx ; after this, one of the aposto- lical sub-deacons gives the pope a book of the New Testament \ 846 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. to kiss ; and the cardinal-deacon incenses him thrice ; imme- diately after which, a chorus of musicians sing the 34th verse of the 13th chapter of St. John, in which are these words, Mandatum normn do vobis : " A new commandment I give unto you." As sopn as the pope hears these words sung, he takes off his cope, and putting on a white apron, washes the feet of thir- teen poor priests, bemg strangers, who sit on a high form or bench, clothed in white camelot, with a kind of capoueh or cape, that reaches down to the middle of their arms. This, at the pope's court, is called an apostolical garment. The afore-mentioned priests have their right legs bare, and these are well washed over with soap and water, before they are present- ed to the pope to wash. When ho has done, the treasurer, by his oroer, gives to each of them two medals, one of gold, the other of sUver, weighing an ounce each. The major-do- mo now presents a napkin to the dean of the cardinal college, or one pf the most ancient bishops of the apostolic college, who dries their feet. Afterwards, the pope returns to his seat, takes off his apron, washes his hands m water, which a lay- man of the highest quality, then present, pours out to him, and afterwards wipes them w^ich a napkin, which is presented to him bjr the chief cardinal bishop. This being done, the pope again puts on his cope and mitre, and sings the Lord's prayer, and several others in Latin ; after which he goes into the vestry, where he leaves his pontifical vestments, and with- draws to his apartment, accompanied by the cardinals. The above ceremony is performed nearly after the same manner in the rest of the churches in Rome, as well as in other places, by the bishops and curates of parishes. The place where the ceremony is performed, must be adorned and perfumed with flowers and odoriferous herbs ; and there must be at least one table in form of an altar, neatly covered. The cross must be veiled with white, to denote that purity of which the ceremony of washing the feet is a type ; and as every thing must have an allusion to that ceremony, the rituals observe, that the candles which are lighted at this solemn act must be made of the whitest wax. The credence tables, and the ba- sins into which the water is poured, must also be adorned with flowers. The thirteen priests, whose feet have been washed by the pope, and who are on that day called apostles, are an hour af- terwards carried into a beautiful apartment in the Vatican, in which the thirteen priests are entertained with a most splendid dinner. They are no sooner seated, than the pope comes in, m^Kmmmm^a^^mm^^^ti^mtmt^^mmi^^^^m^^m^iam^^m^m^^^m^t^^^m^m^^i^rmm^i Adoration on Good Friday, p. 347. Procession of the Holy Oils, p. 347. I f I \ ti c e w n hi A t IS of th pr to ho El ce th< G< nu pr ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. U7 and preients to each of them the first dish, and afterwards pours out to each the first glass of wine ; during which he discourses to them with great familiarity, and grants them se- veral privileges. When the popi* has withdrawn, his preacher in ordinary be- S'ns a sermon In the above-mentioned apartment, while the irteen priests are sitting at dinner, in lieu of the spiritual lec- ture usual at meals in all ecclesiastical societies. The preach- er who ofllciates on this occasion, is the same that generally preaches once a week before the pope in his chamber during Lent and Advent. On this occasion the pope sits in a gallery, unseen by any person, and the cardinals sit round it, clothed in purple copes, as in the consistory. The ceremony ends with a sumptuous entertainment, which his holiness gives to the cardinals ; and the whole is heightened with a fine con- cert of music. It is thus that Rome beholds annually renew- ed the imago of the Lord's Supper with his apostles. At Romu, the Holy Oils are blessed on holy Thursday, at which time those of the preceding year are burnt. The cere- mony is performed with great solemnity, after gj^ ^j^^ ^^ having first reconciled the penitentsto the Church, uie OUs. After nones, or the ninth hour, the ofiiciatin^ priest clothes himself in white, and puts on his sandals, &c. The canons, the several ministers of the altar, seven deacons, seven sub-deacons, and twelve priests, are likewise clothed in white, and all walk in procession to the altar. Omitting the various genuflexions, prayers, and anthems, which follow the procession, we shall only observe, that the ofidciating priest blesses, consecrates, and exorcises, three sorts of oil. He first performs the ceremony on that of the infirm, or on that which IS used in extreme unction, exorcisms, &c. ; afterwards on that of the chrism; and, lastly, on that oif the catechumens; and the whole is closed with a salutation, which the ofiiciating priest and the ministers who assist at the consecration make to these sanctified oils, saying, Ave sanctum oleum,— Hail, holy oil, 6fC, After this, the new-made oils are carried in Erocession into the sacristy, where the officiating priest washes is hands, then lings mass, and ^ives the blessing. Good Friday ii distinguished in various pla- q^^ -pxi- ces by certimoriies of great splendour, of which day. the following may serve as examples : At Courtray, there is a commemorative procession, on Good-Friday, of our Saviour to Mount Calvary. The city magistrates give five and twenty livres to a poor man, who re- preiwiti the luflfering Saviour ; and the monks assure him of I 848 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHUSUH. certain saWation, in case he happen to die under the blowM that are given him in this ceremony. The procemion first assembles in the parish-church, and the mock saviour is brought into the sacristy, where he is clothed with a purple robe, his loins girded with a thick rope, and his head crowned with thorns ; after which he is made to walk bare*foot, with a kind of pack-saddle bound around his neck. On each side of this collar, six ropes are put, which are to be fastened to a wooden cross of ^e&t weight, which the voluntary martyr has now laid upon his shoulders ; and thus equipped, he rambles up and down the whole city. Six Capuchms, who walk at his right hand, draw the six ropes which are fixed on that side of the pack-saddle; and the other six are drawn by as many Recollets, or Franciscans ; so that the poor fellow is so dragged and hauled by the twelve friars, that he is continually stum- bling, and is almost pulled to pieces. This poor mock saviour would have a terrible ordeal to go through, were it not for a sham Simon the Cyrenian, who, very luckily, comes just in time to free him from his torments. The poor wretch, before he gets into the church is half killed ; however, notwithstand- ing the kicks and bufietings which the people and the mimic Jews bestow upon him, he is so thoroughly persuaded of the merits of his suflTerings, and that they will procure him an eternity of bliss, that he bears all his torments yithout the least murmur or complaint. The procession at Brussels, in which the crucifixion of our Saviour is represented, is no less extraordinary in its circum- p stances. Both the city and the court endeavour at Bn^ls?'* ^^ ^° honour to this solemnity ; and it is perform- ed in the church of the Austin-friars, at the foot of the altar. The persons who form the procession assemble in St. Gudila's, the cathedral church, by eight in the morning, and the brotherhood of Mercy come thither in their proper habits, bare-footed, and their faces masked; some walking with drums covered with black cloth. After the brotherhood, a great number of prisoners come forward, each of whom drags after him an iron cannon ball, chained to his foot ; next come several Austin friars, dressed in Jewish habits, in the midst of whom is a man, who is always a criminal, (but par- doned for the part he then acts,) bound and fettered, crowned with thorns, and dressed in a purple robe. Then several trumpets come forward, and after them the prebends, the priests, and a multitude of people. In this equipage they all crowd into the church, where the concourse is generally so great, that the multitudes are obliged to stand without ROMAN OATHOLIO ORVROR. 849 In the church a large scaffold is erected, and a crosf, twenty feet in height, is set upon it : the person who repre* sent* the crucified Saviour, ascends this scaffold, and is follow* ed by those who represent the Jews, with hammers, nails, and ropes in their hands. The Brotherhood of Mercy crowd round the scaffold, and the ladies have high seats prepared for them ; the common people standing below in the pit. The mock Jews now strip the pretended Christ of his ornaments, lay him along the scaffold, and cast dice for his garments ; which being done, they strip him to his shirt. Lastly, he is fixed on the cross, by tying his hands and feet with leathern thongs which are nailed to the cross ; and the better to imi- tate our Saviour's sufferings, they put little bladders, filled with blood, under the thongs, wnicn being pierced by the nails, the blood is seen to trickle from his hands and feet ! This is the very pathos of this pious fiirce ; for at the sight of the blood, the hearts of the people are moved, and the most devout beat their breasts, while the monks sing anthems suit able to the occasion. At Venice, on Good-Friday, the holy sacrament is carried ii procession, about nine or ten at niffht, with the utmost solemnity It is laid in a coffin, covered with black velvet, and ^^ Venice, in this manner is carried round the square of St. Mark. St. Didier informs us, " That there cannot be a finer sight than this square then affords. Two large flambeaux of white wax are set at each window of the palace Delia Prpcuratia, which goes round the square. This double range of flambeaux, and thone which are set over the church gate, are to light the several processions of the fraternities, and the neighbouring parishes, who go into the square. Here the penitents appeal m masquerade, and beat themselves till the blood follows the blows. For this purpose they have scourges made of a grea. number of little sharp cords, which they hold with both theii hands, and dipped in a pot filled with vinegar. They strike themselves on the back with so much order, and in such ex- act cadence, that they must necessarily have studied the art very much, to be so very expert in it. Here follows the order which is observed in this procession. There are three or four hundred men, all of them holding thick torches of white wax, six feet long, and weighing at least twelve or fifteen pounds each. These walk two and two, with a like number of persons, each holding a lantern, and walking between the torches in such a manner, that the spectator sees alternately a flambeau and a lantern. They are all clothed in black or white serge, according to their fraternities, having 30 . ROMAN OATHOLIO CHURCH. R Urffe cowl, two feet in length, and terminating in a point, which hangs down on their backs.. Their lanterns are very large, and are fixed to the end of sticks ; each has several ta* pers in it, which gives a great light, the lanterns being made of very clear slass. As there are a great number of glass houses in and about Venice, some of them are made in a very odd shape, and are so heavy, that one man is hardly able to carry them. Some are made in the shape of stars, or like suns, with a great number of rays darting from them, and are six feet in diameter. The glasses are fixed in with pieces ol iron and lead, gilt : others are made in the shape of roses, ful) and half moons, comets, pyramids, crosses, globes, eagles with extended wings, Ac. In the midst of these flnmbeaux anii lanterns the standard is placed, and oAerwards I'c cross, with a crucifix four feet high, covered \vith crapo; and a nosegay at the foot of it, as broad as a half bushel. The several fm- ternities strive to rival each other in the singularity and beauty of their flowers, as well as in the form they give to their nose* gays. The Batluti walk before the cross, scourging them- selves by starts, and wulkino; backwards, having their eyes always fixed on the crucified Saviour. Afler the cross the re- lics follow, carried on litters covered with flowers and tapers. On both sides of the cross, several persons walk with long flambeaux in their hands, and large silver candlesticks, with several candles in them, fixed on a long pole. Afterwards, a chorus of voice^ is heard, and the clergy follow ; then come the guardian, the deputy -guardian, and all the brethren of the fraternity, each having a torch in his hand. The ceremony of the adoration of the cross is also perform- ed on Good-Friaay. After nones, the ofilciatinn; priest goes . up to the altar, preceded by the acolytes, without of thVcroM. tapers, and the rest of the ministers of the altar: they first kneel before it, and bow to the cross, a duty at all times necessary, but particularly on this day. Im- mediately aAer the ofliciating priest and nis ministers have repeated on their knees certain prayers in a low tone, the acolytes cover the table of the altar, and lay the mass-book on a black cushion, on the epistle-side. This done, the master of the ceremonies makes a signal to the ofliciating priest and his ministers to rise up; then the acolytes take away the cushions that were knelt upon, and the black cloth, while the choir and the congregation say their prayers upon their knees. The minister >wio is to ofliciate now goes up to the altar, kisses it as usual, and afterwards either repeats, or sings with a low voice, the several lessons of the day, which his minis* NONAN CATM»kl<- CHUHOH* Ml tort repeat aAt>r him. Prnyerd being I'nded, the officiating priest goea to the epittle-sido, the deacon takes the croas, whic% 18 veiled, from the altar, and presents it to th** officiating priest, who after he has uncovered th* top of the cron, elevates it with both hands, at the same time singing these words, — Ecee lignum crucu, — Bthold the wood of iht crost. Then all the congregation rise up with their heads bare, and the ministers of the altar sing as follows : In quo $alus mundi pependit, — On which the Saviour of the world wa» extendeil Tne choir answers ; Vtnitt et adoremut, — Let U9 come and adore. Here, every one fiills upon his knees, the officiating priest excepted. A moment after, they all rise up ; the officia- :ing priest uncovers the right arm of the crucifix, and the head of Jesua ; shows it, elevates it, and says, Ecce lignum, ^c. but louder than before. Lastly, he goes up towards the middle of the altar, turns towards the congregation, and with a very loud voice repeats the same words, at the same time elevating thu crucifix, and showing it quite uncovered The acolytes now spread a purple piece of cloth, or carpet, in the midst of the chancel, and before the steps of the altar A purple cushion, and a silken veil embroidered with gold, are laia upon the altar. The officiating priest carries the cross thither, and kneeling down, lays it on tne cushion, and hows to it. Preceded by nis ministers, who attend upon hitn at thia august ceremony, ne now returns to his place, where he puts off his sandals and his mitre. He afterwards advances to- wards the cross, in the midst of his ministers, who are like- wise without shoes or sandals ; kneels down thrice, repeats thrice a short prayer, and at last kisses the holy wood, which the ministers do likewise. After this, having bowed to the cross, they all return and put on their sandals. The rest of the dignitaries of the church, each in his rank, now perform the same ceremony, and also the people. In those countries where the women do not sit with the men, m priest having a black stole over his surplice, goes and pre- sents them the crucifix to kiss and adore. The same ceremonies are performed at the pope's .chapel. After his holiness has kissed the crucifix, he makes an oner- ing of twenty-five ducats of gold at least, which he puts into a vessel of the same metal, laid near the left arm of the cru- cifix. After the cardinals, emperors, and kings go and wor- ship the cross. The ceremony of the adoration being ended, the deacon 8a« lutes the cross, elevates it, and in this posture carries it to the altar, wbetH he places it, observing to bow the knee b<(fore il. 852 lOMAN CATHOLIC CHVROH. As he walks along, the officiating priest stands up while it passes before him ; but the rest of the ministers of the altar remain upon their knees. The ceremonies on Easter eve are at St. John's de Lateran ; where, after the blessing of the fire and water, the catechu- Easter Eve. "*®"' ^^° °^® °^ ■?*• *"® baptized in the Bap- Hsterium of Constantino ; the Pope assists so- lemnly at the office in the Apostolical chapel, and a cardinal priest sings mass. On Easter-eve, the ornaments of the churches and altars are changed; the black, with which the latter were covered, is taken off, and white put on ; the tabernacle is also uncover- ed, and covered with white, but so, that the purple still ap- pears on the outward side, till the Litanies are ended. In like manner, after that part of the service has been celebrated, a carpet, or some rich covering, is laid on the steps of the altar, and the images are unveiled. Then six large tapers are got , ready for solemn mass, and likewise all the lights which are to burn before the altar. On the gospel-side of the altar, a great candlestick is place'', which must be made in the shape of an angel, if possible, and very neatly wrought. In this candlestick, the paschal candle is fixed; it must be mada of the whitest wax, and weigh about eight or ten pound||^five holes are made in it, in the shape of a cross, to be filled with five grains of frankincense, gilt over, and made in the shape of a pine-apple. To conclude, some edifying subject is painted on the taper, such as the patron of the place, or any otner saint. As every thing must correspond with the solemnity of the day, the ritual ordains, that the reed with which the tapers are lighted, shall also be gilt and adorn- ed with flowers. The three small candles which are fixed to the top of the reed, represent the Trinity in Unity, and must therefore join together at the basis, i. e. at the end which touches the reed. It is ordained by the rituals, that baptism is not to be admin- istered for a week before Eastereve, unless a child's life be in danger. On this eve is likewise performed the ceremony of blessing the new fire. The church being strewed with flowers, at the ninth hour the old fire is put out, and at the same time an acolyte must light the new one on the outside of the church. The officiating priest, dressed in his sacerdotal vestments, and attended by the ministers of the altar and the clergy, now viralks out of the church in procession, and goes to the place where thd blessing of the fire is to be performed. The noly ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. S68 hour must , now t ilace oly water-pot is carried thither in great pomp, as also the frankiu' cense, the sub-deacon's purple maniple, and the mass-book. The sub-deacon walks smgfy with the cross, and is followed by the clergy. When every one has taken his place, the officiating priest uncovers himself, and pronounces these words: Dominus vobiscum, — The Lord be with you, S^c. as usual. Fie afterwards repeats the prayer, Deus qui filium tuum, ^c, in the midst of which he makes the sign of the cross over the fire ; he likewise blesses the five grains of frankincense, which are put on a plate, which an acolyte holds lifled up to his breast. In the mean time, the thuriferary puts some coals, after being blessed, into the thurible, into which the officiating priest throws some frankincense and blesses it ; then the dea- con gives him the sprinkler, kissing it at the same time. The officiating priest then sprinkles thrice with .holy water, the fire whicn he had just before blessed, and as he is sprinkling, says these words, Asperges me Domine. He incenses the sacred fire thrice, in the manner above-mentioned. Then one of the acolytes, or a sacristan, takes a small candle, and lights it at the new fire. Having gone in procession to the place where the ceremony was performed, they return from it in the same order ; but the deacon first puts off his purple ornaments, and puts on Avhitc, whereas the sub-deacon takes a purple maniple. The only particular circumstance in the procession is, that the deacon walks in it with the above-mentioned reed in his hand, and the sub-deacon has a small candle shut up in a lantern. The procession having arrived at the church-door, makes a halt, when the deacon kisses the reed, and the acolyte lights one of the candles fixed upon the reed with that which is in the lantern. Then they all fall upon their knees, and the deacon elevates the reed, and sings the anthem, which begins as fol- lows; Lumen Christi, ^c. i. e. The light of Christ. He lights a second candle in the middle of the Church, with the same solemnity ; and the third is lighted on the steps of the altar. There they must perform certain acts of devotion, or rather ceremonies, one of which is The Blessing of the Paschal Candk. The deacon having asked the officiating priest's blessing, goes to the desk, on which he lays the mass book, and incenses it thrice, but neither signs himself nor tho mass-book with the sign of the cross. The rest of the minis- ters range themselves round the mass-book in the manner following : — The cross-bearer stands with the cross turned towards the officiating priest ; the thuriferary is at the dea- con'? right hand ; the other acolyte, who has the reed in his 30* 994 AOM AM CATHOLIC CHVmCH. band, and he who beam the five grains of incense, are at his left. When the deacon begins to sing the lesson called the Praeonium, which begins Exultet, ^c. the officiating priest and his ministers uncover themselves; and in the midst of their chanting, at these words, Curvat Imperia, he puts the five grains of incense in the form of a cross, into the taper. Afterwards, at certain words, Rutilans ignis accendit, A-e. adapted to the mysteries of the ceremony, he lights the paschal taper ; and whilst he is chanting, an acolyte lights all the rest of the candles with the new fire. This ceremony being ended, the deacon returns to the sa- cristy, where he puts off his white ornaments, and resumes the purple stole and the maniple of the same colour. After the blessing of the tapers, follow the lessons called Prophecies ; and after them a verse is sung by the choristers, called Traclus. Singing of the prayers concludes this ceremony. It is considered that the blessing of the pascnal candle is of great antiquity in the Church, and that Pope Zozimus in the beginning of the fifth century, commanded that one should If lighted in every parish. This candle must remain on the gospel-side from Easter-eve to Ascension-day. The officiating priest and his ministers now go in proces- sion to bless the baptismal font ; the cross and taper-bearers go on one side of it, and the minister who offi- Blessing of ciatcs Stands opposite to them, in such a manner Uie Baptismal jj^j^j jjjg ^^^^ stands between him and the cross. °" ^' The other ecclesiastics range themselves on each side; an acolyte stands at a little distance behind the officia- ting priest, at his right hand, holding a napkin to wipe his hands, and a thuriferary stands next in order to him. The minister who officiates then uncovers himself, and falls on his knees, with all the others, the cross and taper-bearers excepted. After an anthem is sung suitable to the solemnity, he rises up, and turning towards the font, pronounces the blessing, making the sign of the cross that way. He after- wards exorcises the water, makes a cross in it with his hands, and pours some out of the vessel towards the four cardinal points of the horizon. This done, he wipes his hands with the napkin given him by the acolyte, and repeats a prayer, at the conclusion of which he blows thrice on the water, and in three different places, always observing to do it crossways. He also plunges a taper thrice into the same water, observing to sink it deeper the second time than the first, and the third more than the second, saying at each immersion the following words ; Descendat in hanc plenitudinem fontis virtus Spiritus (f ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 85A ind falls ■bearers jlemnity, ices the [e after- hands, ■cardinal I with lyer, at [, and in )S9ways. (Serving the third )llowing \Spiritus Sancti, i. e. May the Spirit of the Holy Ghost detund inio this water. The assistants now sprinkle the people with a little of this water, and they also send a priest or a sacristan to sprinkle the houses therewith. After this ceremony, the officiating minister perfumes the font thrice with frankincense ; after which he talces the oil of the catechumens, and pours it on the water cross'ways, and does the same with the chrisma. Being poured into the water in equal proportions, and always cross-ways, he afterwards mixes them with his right hand, in order that they may be diffused equally over every part of the font. The font being blessed, the celebrant goes and receives the catechumens at the church-gate ; and clothes himself in whit<*, to perform the ceremony of their baptism. The litanies are now sung, and a solemn mass and vespers are said. Whilst the litanies are chanting, the host, which till now was hidden, is taken out and brought to the altar ; all the tapers are then lighted, the altar is covered with several ornaments, the images are unveiled, and the seat of the ofRci* ating priest is covered. The latter, together with his priests, now resume their white ornaments, and prepare themselves for the celebration of a solemn mass. When the officiating minister begins the Gloria in Excelsis, all the bells fall a ring* ing ; for which purpose a signal is given from the cathedral. This procession is singularly imposing, but a minute ac- count of it will altogether exceed the limits of this work. Among others, the procession includes bishops, _ . archbishops, consecrated patriarchs, ambassadors, ^f the^Ble'ied cardinals, &c. &c. The pope, who comes next Sacrament, after the ambassadors, is carried in a vehicle, in which he seems to be on his knees, though he is really seated. He has on a rich cope, and over it a pall made of cloth of sil- ver, which covers his shoulders and arms like a scarf Be- fore him is set a wooden stool gilt, with a cushion of red crimson velvet, embroidered with gold lace ; on which is laid the expositor, in which the Host is contained, which he bears with his own hands. The canopy over the pope's head is carried by the patri- archs, archbishops, and bishops, at their first setting out from St. Peter's ; and afterwards, at their setting out from the Por- tico of the Vatican, by the prime nobility of the neighbouring nation.s, such as the Florentines and the Siennese, who relieve one another till the procession is almost ended ; when the Ro- man conservators, and the prior of the captains of the several districts, take it and carry it into church. 356 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. ii The Swiss, who go on each side of the Pope, are cased in iron from head to foot, each man carrying a great two-handed sword unsheathed in his hand. After this guard of cuiras- siers, the prelates advance in their several ranks, viz. the apostolical prothonotaries, the auditors, the clerks of the cham- ber, the generals of the orders, the referendaries, or officers in chancery, of the signature of grants, and of justice ; and, lastly, the several companies of light-horse, four in rank, and the horses covered with very rich trappings. These close the march. Sometimes his holiness walks on foot in this procession, in order to set an example of greater respect and veneration for the holy sacrament, which he carries in his hands. Urban VIII., and some other popes, formerly carried it on horseback. When the consecrated Host is not carried by his holiness, the dean of the sacred college, or the eldest cardinal, bears it instead of him, but is on foot. And on these occasions, the princes and ambassadors do not assist at it. The procession generally lasts about four hours, although it has not above a mile to go ; but then they walk with the utmost gravity, and extremely slow. While the procession continues, the Castle of St. Angelo makes a triple discharge of all its artillery. The first salvo is made when his holiness goes out of (he chapel Paulina, and takes in his hand the ex- positor, in which the Host is contained. The great culverine of St. Peter's is then fired off to give the signal. The second salvo is made when the pope goes out from the portico of the great square, before the Apostolical Palace; and the third when he enters into that of St. James. The pope's guards are all under arms during the procession, and two of the light- horse are posted, with their lances couched, at the corner of every street through which the procession passes, to preserve order. During the procession of the Blessed Sacrament, the bells of the cathedral, and of the other churches before which it passes, are rung. The streets must be swept, and strewed w:th flowers and green leaves, and the outsides of the houses and churches must be hung with tapestry. In some parts of Italy, triumphal arches are raised, adorned with emblems and mottoes, in honour of the blessed sacrament. The custom of .aying carpets in the streets through which the procession is to miss, was observed by the ancient Romans on these occasions. They likewise had repository altars, as is now the custom, erected in the streets, for their processions to make a halt at. The officiating priest consecrates two large hosts, one of which is to be used in the procession. Mass being ended, the J ROMAN CATHOLIC CHVRCH. S57 tRj^rs are distributed, and a sulnleacon, clothed in yestmontk suitable tn the festival, comes out of the sacristy, preceded by two incense-bearers in surplices, with the thurible in one hand and the navicula in the other. The two incense-bearers join the sub-deacon, and stand by him on the outside of the chancel of the altar, till the march begins. Six clerks in surplices, with lighted torches in their hands, now range themselves on each side of the foot of the altar; and those who arc to carry the canopy set themselves at the entrance of the chancel. The last Gospel being read, the officiating priest makes his genuflexions, having the deacon and sub-deacon on each side of him, and afterwards goes to the epistle side ; then descends to the bottom of the steps, takes off his maniple and chasuble, and puts on a white cope. The deacon and sub-deacon also put off their maniples, and then they all three go and make a genuflexion on both knees, bending their bodies very low in the middle of the last step of the altar, where they continue a little time in prayer ; after which the deacon rises up, and makes another genuflexion ; and this is in order to uncover the expositor, and place it on the corporal, or piece of fine linen used at mass. Here foUovirs a third genuflexion ; and then he comes back, and stands near the officiating priest, who rises up, and withdraws a little towards the gospel-side ; and after having thrice put incense intd each thurible, he falls down upon his knees, with the deacon, who is at his right- hand, and the sub-deacon at the left. The former gives the thurible to the officiating priest, who incenses the blessed sa- crament thrice, making a low bow both before and after. This triple incensing being over, the sub-deacon spreads the veil over the shoulders of the officiating priest, while the deacon goes up to the altar, takes the expositor from thence, which he gives to the officiating priest, and afterwards covers his hands with the extrem-ties of the veil that lies over his should- ers ; after whi:h, the officiating priest, having the pix, or ex- positor, in his hands, turns about to the right, and his minis- ters after him when they all three continue on one of the steps of the altar, ti.l such time as the whole procession has wheel- ed off, and they begin the Pange Lingua. As the cross is carried before the pope whenever he appears in public at Rome, so the host goes before him when he is upon a journey ; for the sovereign pontiffs have f^^^„ ^f appropriated to themselves, alone, the privilege carrying Oie of naving the host carried before them whenever Host before they travel. Several instances of the host going the Pope on a before the pope are recorded, but nothing can JO"™«y- 17 1 858 KOMAN CATHOUC CHURCH. enter into comparison with the pomp with which it was car* ried into Ferrara, in 1598, when Clement YIII. went to take possession of that city nAer the death of Alphonso of Este. The host was carried in procession out of Rome, in a mag* nificent tabernacle, which was carried by eight canons of tHe Vatican upon a kind of litter, and under a magnificent canopy embroidered with gold, silk, &c. The brotherhood of the Blessed Sacrament, with each a torch in his hand, walked be- fore the host. The religious orders, the musicians of St. Peter's chapel, and the clergy, with our Saviour's cross car- ried before them, followed the brotherhood. Afterwards, the Host appeared under the canopy, carried by eight of the private chamberlains of his holiness, and guarded by a body of Swiss, and other soldiers. After the host, his holiness appeared, with a torch in hand ; and next to him the sacred college, the prelates, and the Roman nobility, all of them holding tapers in their hands ; and followed by a body of troops. In this man- ner, the host was transported out of Rome. \ It was carried to Ferrara, on the back of a beautiful horse, which was adorned with the most gaudy trappings. His holi- ness, before he began the march, bent his knee before the host, and did not rise up till it was out of sight. The mules em- ployed to carry the baggage, and the lacqueys of his holiness, carrying his arms, marched at the head ; these were re- inforced by several companies of soldiers, with their trumpets sounding as they marched. After this, eight led horses came forward, and they were followed by the domestics of the car- dinals and prelates, all of them on horseback. Next came two couriers belonging to the Apostolic See, the band of music of the pope's chapel, two esquires, two mace- bearers, followed by the master of the ceremonies, and the two clerks of the pontifical chapel. Each of the latter carried a lantern, fixed at the end of a lance, in order to light the host, which followed immediately after. Two of the grooms of his holiness held the reins of the horse on which he rode, and the host was guarded by a body of armed Swiss. Afterwards came the sacristan, with his white staflf in his hand, the badge of his office, and followed by a great number of Roman prelates. After these, another band of musicians, and a company of lacqueys belonging to the baggage, appeared, and five hun- dred horsemen, in very magnificent habits, divided lil:ev^'?'-e into companies. The barber, tailor, and shoemaker of his holiness, joined in the procession, according to their rank. Four chamberlains followed them, carrying four pontifical I 8 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 889 caps, made of purple, at the eno cf four pikes. All the no- bility of Rome ana of Ferrara assisted also in this procession, dressed in a very sumptuous manner, and aAer these came the acolytes, the chiefs of the apostolical chamber, the auditors of the rota, the sub-deacons, the orators, the bishop of Ferrara with his clergry, his holiness's key-bearers, his chief master of the ceremonies, his cross-bearer, twenty clerks of the cathedral of Ferrara, each having a lighted torcn in his hand. The host, when the procession departed from Rome, and during the whole journey, w^as carried along with the bag- gage ; but at the entrance into Ferrara it was placed in the centre of the procession. — The pope's chief-treasurer had bags fixed on each side of his saddle, out of which he threw money to the people. After the treasurer, came thirty youths of the highest quality in Ferrara, walking on foot, bare-headed, dressed in cloth of silver, with little black cloaks, embroidered with silk, and caps in their hands, enriched with golden roses, pearls, and precious stones. After this shining troop, came Pope Clement himself, clothed in a robe of very rich silk, and having on his head a crown enriched with jewels of immense value. He was carried on the shoulders of eight tall lac- queys, clothed in long scarlet robes, under a canopy of the finest crimson velvet, embroidered with gold, surrounded with a double range of guards very richly dressed, and followed by his Swiss, and an auditor of the rota, who carried his triple crown after him, having on each side of him the great cham- berlain and the chief butler. A great number of coaches and horsemen followed. During the whole march, the faithful sung anthems and motets, repeated prayers, made signs of the cross, and gave and received blessings. In a w^ord, they practised all the ex- terior tokens of devotion. They marched very slowly, and the clergy both secular and regular, iii all the places through which the procession passed in the night-time, advanced to meet them, with a body of the militia at their head. After the clergy came the magistrates and other persons of distinction ; and at the entrance into the ciiy, the trumpets sounded, and the air echoed with spiritual songs, whilst the people crowded from all parts to come and adore the Host. People of the highest rank, at the same time, strove who should first present his holiness with the canopy. On Christmas-eve, before the office of the ensuing festival begins, the sovereign pontiff annually blesses a gold-hilied sword, inlaid with precious stones, wrought in the form of a dove ; vith the scabbard and belt enriched in like manner, and 860 SOMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. BlMsinr of * ^'^^^ **' ^*®** ^^ '^^ P***"*' ®f '*• This hat of the sword i" made of purplo-coloured silk, furred with er- and of the Du- mine and surrounded with a hat-band, made in cal hat fixed on the form of a crown adorned with jewels, the its point. ^^ gj^j sword are both sent by his holiness to some potentate, for whom he has a peculiar afTection, or to a great general, who may have merited such a distinction for his bravery, exerted against the enemies of Christianity. His holiness performs the ceremony of blessing them, clothed with the albe, the amict, and the stole, before he puts on the red cope, which he wears at the office of Christmas-night. A clerk of the chamber presents to him the sword, and the hat fixed on the point of it : and after having pronounced the bless- ing, he sprinkles ana incenses them both with holy-water. This being done, the pope goes to his chapel, preceded by the same clerk of the chamber, who walks with the sword and the hat before the pontifical cross. If the person for whom these presents are designed happens to be at Rome, he must receive them from the pope's own hand, observing to kiss both that and his foot. His holiness declares to him that the sword denotes the power of our Saviour, and the victory which he has gained over the devil. Whilst the sword is girding on, his holiness addresses the person so honoured as follows: — "By this sword we declare you the defender of the Holy Apostolical See, and of the pontifical sovereignty; the protector of the Holy See against the enemies of the faith, and the bulwark of the Church. May your arm, W the vir- tue of this sword, triumph over the enemies of the Holy See, and of the name of Christ Jesus : may the Holy Ghost, represented by the dove, descend on your head, and protect you against those for whom God prepares his judgments, be- fore the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and the Holy See Apostolic," &c. Such is the formula appointed by Sixtus IV. for this ceremony. Sometimes the person to whom the pope presents the conse- crated sword is invited to read one of tne lessons of the office; in which case, .^ clerk of the chamber girds him with the sword over the surplice, clothes him with a white chasuble, and puts the hat upon his head. After this, the master of the ceremonies conducts him to the steps of the throne of his holiness, where he bows to the altar, and then to the pope ; and afier having returned the consecrated hat to the master of the oeremonies, he draws the consecrated sword out of the scabbard, touches the ground with the point of it, waves it thrice aloft, and after having brought it back gently over the lefl arm, puts , #■• ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 861 it again into the icabbard. This ceremony being concluded he gooi to the desk, and sings the fifth lesson of the office, having flrst received the pope's blessing. When the sinffing il Aniihed, he goes and kisses the feet of his holiness ; which done, hii sacerdotal vestments are taken off*, and the hat is again Axed on the point of the sword, which a gentleman holds with the point upwards till the office is ended. If the person for whom the sword is consecrated, should not be pre- sent at Rome, or is not able to read, the Romish ceremonial ordains that a clerk of the chamber must put on the surplice, and sing at the desk in his stead ; and that afterwards (if pre- sent) both of them shall ao and kiss the feet of his holiness. Th@ person to whom the sword has been presented, is then conducted bnck to his house in pomp, by the nobility of the court of Rome. The sword is carried before him, held aloft, with the hat fixed on the point of it. SRC. n.— SAORAMKNTS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. The Seven Sacraments. Tub Roman Catholic Church acknowledges seven sacra- ments, which number, according to the catechism of the Council of Trent, is established by the scriptures, by the tradition of the fathers, and the authority of councils. These sacraments are accompanied with several solemn and public ceremonies, with which the Church has thought fit to heighten them, notwithstanding they are not an essential part of them, since they can subsist without them ; however, they say that it would be a sin to omit thetn, unless in cases of necessity. Hence it is that the Council of Trent has pro- nounced anathema against those who say that the ministers of the sacraments may, without sin, despise, or omit, at pleasure, the several ceremonies received in the Church. " We are as- sured," siiys the Cathechism of the Council of Trent, "that those ceremonies give us a more strict idea of, and, as it were, set before our eyes the eflfects which result from these sacra- ments, and imprint the sanctity which attends them more strongly on the minds of the faithful. They raise the minds of such as observe them religiously, to the contemplation of the most exalted things." In a word, we are assured that th^ excite and increase in us a true faith and spirit of charity. Tha sacrament of baptism is defined by the church as one instituted by Jesus Christ, in order to wash away original sin, and all those actual ones which we may have (tommittcd ; to communicate to mankind the spi- 31 Baptuih. i^?" mt ROMAN OATHOIiIO CHVRCR. ritml rogeneration and the grace of Jesus Christ ; and to unite them as the living members to their head. The most essential part of the ceremony of baptism in tho Catholic church is as follows : — At the church*door the priest first asks the godfather and godmother what child they present to the church? whether or no they are its true godfather and godmother ? If they be resolved to live and die in the true Catholic and Apostolic faith 1 And what name they intend to give it? All profane names, as those of the heathens and their gods, must be rejected ; nevertheless, tho.iie of Hercules, Han* nibal, Achilles, Urania, Diana, &c. are common enough. A Catholic priest is authorized to change the name of a child who had been baptized Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, by a Pro- testant minister. After the usual questions have been asked, the priest makes an exhortation to the godfather and godmo- ther, with regard to the devotion which ought to accompany the whole performance. The exhortation being endetf, the priest continues the ceremony, and calling the child by the name that is to be given it, asks it as follows ; What dost thov, demand of the church f To which the godfather answers, Faith. The priest adds. What is the fruit of faith ? The godfather answers. Eternal life. The priest continues ; If you are desirous of obtaining eternal life, keep God's com- mandments : Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, ^c. After which he breathes three tim;? upon the child's face, but must observe not to let the child breathe upon him ; and at the same time says. Come out of this child, thou evil spirit, and make room for the Holy Ghost. This being done, with the thumb of his right hand he makes a cross on the child's forehead, and afterwards another on its breast, pronouncing these words ; Receive the sign of the cross on thy forehead, and in thine heart, ^c. Whereupon he takes off his cap, repeats a short prayer, and laying his hand gently on the child's head, prays for him a second time. This second prayer being ended, the priest blesses the salt in case it was not blessed before ; which being done, he takes a little of it, puts it into the child's mouth, pronouncing these words ; Receive the salt of wisdom. He then repeats a third prayer; after which he puts on his cap, and exorcises the Frince of Darkness, commanding him to come forth out of him who is going to be baptized, &c. At the end of the ex- orcism, he again makes the sign of the cross on the child's forehead, lays his hand on its head, and repeats another prayer. After this fourth prayer, the priest lays the end of the stole ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 368 upon the child, and taking hold of his swaddling clothes bjr one corner, he brings it into the church ; the godfather and SKlmother enter at the same time, and repeat with the priest e Apostle's Creed and the Lord's Prayer as they advance towards the font, which having reached, the priest exorcises the devil once again, and after the exorcism takes the saliva from his mouth, with the thumb of his right hand ; with this he rubs the child's ears and nostrils, ana as he touches his right ear, repeats a Hebrew word, which signifies Do thou open; the same which Jesvs Christ said to the man who born deaf and dumb. Lastly, the assistants pull ofT its was swaddling clothes, or at least strip it below the shoulders ; du- ring which the priest prepares the holy oils, &c.- The godfather now takes the child, ready stripped, and holds it directly over the font : the godmother then takes it by the feet, or the middle ; boto observing to turn it towards the east : the priest now asks the child, " Whether he re- nounces the devil nnd all hift works, tho pomps," &c. The ffodfather answers in the affirmative. This renunciation used formerly to be made on the outside of the church. The priest then anoints the child between the shoulders, in the form of a cross, and after that, lays aside his purple stole, and puts ou a white one ; when the child is again questioned with respect to his belief, to which the godfather makes suitable answers in his name. These preliminaries being ended, the priest takes some of the baptismal water, which he pours thrice on the child's head in the form of a cross, and as he pours it, says, ** I baptize," &c. taking care to mention one of the persons in the Trinity every time he pours it on. This being done, he anoints the top of the chila's head with the chrisma, in form of a cross, lays a piece of white linen upon its head, to re- ftresent the white garment mentioned in Scripture, and puts a ighted taper into the child's hand, or rather into that of the godfather. Such are the ceremonies of baptism, which the priest concludes with an exhortation ; but if the child's life be in danger, these ceremonies are omitted, upon condition that they shall be observed in case he recovers his health ; but if he has all the symptoms of death upon him, the midwife bap- tizes the child without delay. Adult persons must, if possible, be baptized by the bishop himself; and the most proper time for this ceremony is Eas- ter, or Whitsun-eve, which are the days appointed for baptism by the ancient church. The minister who baptizes, and the candidate for baptism, must both be fasting ; but, there is but very little difference between the ceremony of the baptism of 804 ROMAN CATHOLIC OHVROH. catechumens, and that of children. The priest signs the cat* echumen several times with the sign of the cross; first on the forehead, which implies that ho must take upon himself the cross of Christ; on the ears, in order that he may open them to the divine precepts of the gospel j on the eyes, that he may see the light of God ; on the nostrils, that he may smell the fragrant odour of Christ ; on the mouth, that he may utter the words of life ; on the breast, that he may believe ; on the naked shoulders, to the end that he may bear the yoke of the Lord. These signs of the cross are concluded by three more, which thepriest makes over the whole person of the catechumen. The candidates for confirmation must be fasting, and con- sequently receive this sacrament in the morning, because it Confirmation, was at that time of the day the Holy Ghost de- scended on the apostles. The bishop, before h^ begins the confirmation, proceeds to his private devotions, washes his hands, and puts on the white vestments ; after which, he turns himaolf aoout to the candidates, who etand in the same order as at baptism, viz. the boys on the right, and the girls on the left. He next repeats a prayer ; which being done, he sits down, and the candidates kneel before him. If the candidates for confirmation are very numerous, the bishop stands up, and the candidates stand on the steps of the chan- cel of the altar ; each being supported under the arm by their godfathers. The bishop now asks the name of each candi- date, and has them registered, after which, he dips the thumb of his right hand into the chrisma, and therewith makes the sign of the cross upon their foreheads ; at the same time giving a gentle blow on the cheek to the person confirmed, and say- ing " Peace be with you." Immediately after, the forehead of the person confirmed is bound with a slip of linen about the breadth of two fingers ; and the bishop days to him, " 1 confirm you by the chrisnia of calvation, in the name of the Father," &c. The ceremony ends with the blessing of the persons confirmed, which is done by the bishop, who makes the sign of the cross upon them. The priest is the sole minister empowered to consecrate the Host, and the rest of the ministers of the church are allowed only to prepare the things necessary for this sa- crament ; he also has thn privilege of communi* eating under both kinds, that is, of eating the bread and drinking the wine ; whereas, the laity communicate only under one, viz. the bread ; and it is said that this custom was introduced in order to prevent certain accidents, which degraded the dignity of the sacrament. One of these was, The Eucha riat ! f '''M^^^^' '^i ^V .4 ^ The Viaticum, p. 305. Baptism in the Roman Catholic Church, p. 302. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 365 U f the overgrown whiskers and beards of some who received it, which, as they sometimes reached into the cup in which tlio blood of Jesvs Christ wa« contained, might by that means make some good Christians sick at the stoanach J Every Catholic ought to communicate at Christmas, Ea«> ter, Whitsuntide, and Twelfth-tide; but every good one should, besides the seasons above-mentioned, receive the sacrament on Corpus Christi-day, All-Saints, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, the festival of his patron, and the anniversary of his baptism. They ought to receive, fasting; and be dressed in such a manner as best suits the Christian simplicity. The priests who present themselves to the communion, re- ceive the sacrament immediately after the deacon and sub- deacon, before any other person; and these must have a white stole over the surplkre. The ministers who serve at the altar, communicate in the habits of their respective orders ; but the acolytes and other clerks receive the Eucharist in their sur- plices. After this, the officiating priest goes down to the rails, in order to administer the sacrament to the laitj'; observing to begin with the person who stands first on the epistle-side. He makes the sign of the cross with the host on the person that is to receive, observing not to take his hand away till such time as the host is entirely in the mouth of the person receiv- ing. We shall not take notice of the prayers, or other par- ticulars, mentioned in the rituals. If, in administering the host, or consecrated wafer, the smallest bit of it should happen to fell on the ground, it mu^ be taken up in the most respectful manner, and the place on which it fell must be covered, for fear of treading upon the least particle of it : they must afterwards scrape the floor, and throw the shavings into the sacristy, and wasn the place verv clean : if it should happen to fall upon the napkin, or the veil, &c. such part of h must be washed, and the water thrown into the sacristy ; if it fall on the vestments of the officiating priest, the part must be observed, and afterwards washed. The Messed sacrament is administered «■ a Viaticum, or provision for a journey, to those whose life is in danger. The sick person must recdve it fasting, jMrovided he .p}^^ Viati- can do so with safety ; and, if he be not able to cum. swallow the whole wafer, a piece of it may be ^iven him, and i^er wards some liquid ; but the host must no* be dipped in any liquid beforehand, on pretence that the sici; {)erson will be tne beMer able to swallow it In case the sick person throws up the wafer, and that the particles of it plainly appear, they must be put into >> clean 31* •1. 86b ROMAN CATHOLIC CHORCH. vessel,- and carried to the church, and there deposited in some holy and decent place, " till such time as they are corrupted, after which they shall be cast into the Sacrartum, or Pisctna; but if the pieces are not to be distinguished, what he has vomited up must be wiped with pieces of tow, and these must afterwards be burnt, and the ashes thrown into the Sacrary." The priest must take care not to give those the viaticum who are troubled with a continual coughing, or are not able to swallow or consume the host, for fear of any acci- dent unsuitable to the dignity of the sacrament. Whenever the viaticum is to be carried to any place, care must be taken to make the chamber in which the sick person lies, very clean ; and also all those parts of the house through which the host is to pass ; and they should likewise be strewed with flowers and ocbriferous herbs. The host must be laid on a table very neatly covered, on which two candlesticks, with two lighted tapers in them, shall be set ; also a drinking glass ; a vessel full of wine or water to purify or wash the fingers, and a white cloth to lay before the sick person. In case the viaticum be carried in public, as is the custom in Ro- man Catholic countries, the rector gives notice to his parish- ioners by ringing a bell, to prepare them.selves to accompany the blessed sacrament with tapers and torches ; to support the canopy, or give some other exterior marks of their devotion and respect. Being assembled, the priest washes his hands, as is usual in the celebration of the divine mysteries, and of such ceremonies as are performed by him in blessings, conse- crations, &c. He then puts on the surplice, the stole, the chasuble, and goes up to the altar, accompanied or followed by other priests or clerks. Here he falls upon his knees, re- peats a private prayer; and afterwards rising up, puts a white scarf about his neck, spreads the corporal on the altar, opens the tabernacle, kneels aown a second time at taking out the ciborium or pix, which he lays upo.i the corporal ; kneels a third time when he has opened it ; and after having viewed the host, covers it with its little oval lid, and takes it in both his hands, which are folded in the ends of the scarf, that is about his neck. He then goes under the canopy, and a clerk, with a lighted lantern in his hand, walks foremost ; and two other clerks, the one holding the holy water, the corporals, and the purificatories ; and the other the ritual and a little bell, march immediately after him. Next come those who carry the torches ; and lastly the priest walking under the canopy, and carrying the host raised as high as his breast. If the priest carry the viaticum to a considerable distance, the host t t c t r « I t e i] 8 h f< tl \\ \\ u ai ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 807 must be put in a little silver box or pix, enclosed in a stuflT purse, and hung about his neck. The priest, on coming into the sick man's apartment, bidf peace to the house, and goes to^vard8 the table, on which he spreads the corporal, in order to set the pix, or ciborlum, upon it This being done, he, and every person present, worship the host ; he then sprinkles the sick person, and also the room : during which anthems are sun? and prayers are repeated suitable to the occasion. After this, he opens the ciborium, takes out a consecrated wafer with the thumb and fore-finger of his right-hand, observing to hold it a little aloft over the top of the ciborium, which he holds in his left hand, and turn* ing about, adi'ances towards the sick man, in order to adminis* ter the sacrament to him. The communion being ended, the priest places the ciborium upon the table, observing to make a genunexion at the same time ; and afterwards rubs his finger and thumb, with which betook up the host, upon the brim of the ciborium, so that if any little piece of the wafer should happen to stick to it, he may shake it into it. He afterwards shuts the ciborium, and covers it with a little veil, kneeling at the same time ; then he washes the finger and thumb, which touched the host, with wine and water, presented him by those of the house. This act of devotion concludes with prayers and exhorta* tions. If any consecrated wafers be left in the pix, or ciborium, the priest, after having blessed the sick person, returns to the church, attended by the same persons who accompanied him to the sick man's house. Being come into the church, he pro- nounces the indulgences granted by the sovereign pontifTs and the bishop of the diocese, and gives them his blessing ; but in case there are no iQore wafers in the pix, the priest re* turns without any formality, after having repeated the prayers used after the communion of the sick. If the sick person be just expiring, the priest omits all the prayers, &c. and in giving him the viaticum, repeats two or three words only. When the viaticum is given to a priest, he ought to have a surplice on, and over it a white stole, disposed crosswise ovtr his breast. If a priest be obliged to carry the viaticum to any person in- fected with the plague, he must go within nine or ten paces of the house, taking care to stand in such a manner that the wind may be* at his back. He now incloses the consecrated wafer between two common ones ; and after having wrapped up the whole in a sheet of white paper, lays it on the ground at a reasonable distance from the place infected, and covers it 968 ROHAN CATHOLIC CKVRCR. with a stone, in order to secure it from the wind and min. This being done, the priest draws back, and the sick person or his attendant, comes and takes up the wafers, being instruct- ed by the priest, which is the consecrated Host The priest then says the prayers, and performs the ceremonies, which are usually repeated, both before and after the communion. The like precaution is observed in giving extreme unction to persons infected with the plapfue. They take a long wand or rod, at the end of which a piece of tow or cotton, dipped in the holy oil, is fixed, with which the skk person is anointed , once, and with the usual words. After this, they run the end of the wand and the cotton into a fire purposely prepared in a chafing-dish. The bishops have power to absolve sinners, throughout the whole extent of their dioceses, and rectors in their parishes. Gonftwion ^-^^' priests and monks must have an express and Penance, approbation from the bishop, before they are al- lowed to hear confession. However, there are certain cases reserved to the pope, the bishops, and their peni- tentiaries. Fasting, pravers, alms, abstinence from such pleasures and things as we cniefly delight in, are the general conditions of penance. There are others of a more particular kind; as, to repeat a certain number of Ave-Maria s, Pater-Nosters, and Credos ; to knee^ or salute the host a stated number of times ; to give one'8-«elf a certain number of stripes ; to wear a hair shirt, or a girdle made of horse-hair, &c. next to the skin. It would be endless, however, to enter into a farther detail of such particulars. Those who cannot hit upon austerities severe enough for their purpose, will meet with sufficient instructions in the Lives of the Saints, and the Qolden Lep^end. The confessor must have a surplice over his cassock, wi^h a purple stole, and square cap ; he must hear confession in the church, and at that part of it which is the most distant from the high altar, i. e. at the bottom of the nave, being the most expos^ to the view of the people, in the confessional, or con- fessionMshair, which is the tribunal of penance. The confes- sional must be open before, and have one or two lattice-win- dows in it Opposite to the penitent is placed an image (^thc crucifix, or some mystery of the passion. Confession must be nude in the day-time, and, if possible, when there are people in the church. As soon as the penitent is come up to the con- fessional, he must make the sign of the cross, and ask the confessor's blessing. The confessor must then be seated, his body upright, his to Reconciliation of a Heretic, p. 369. Excommunication with unlighted tapers, p. 368. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 8W cap on his head, his face covered, and his ear stooped towards the penitent. The penitent should be generally kneeling, and his or her hands clasped. Women and young maidens must not come to confession with their breasts bare, or their arms uncovered. Confession being ended, the confessor uncovers himself, in order to absolve the penitent; and, accordingly, he recom- mends him to the divine mercy, stretches out his right hand towards him, begging God to remit his sins; after which he puts on his square cap, gives him the absolution in the name of Christ Jesus, and adds, holding his right hand always lifted up towards the penitent, that he absolves him, by Christ's authority, in the name of th^ Father, i i m.wnit.w i " j ip \ 1,' [ I'li 1 - ',.2:t."- Blessing of the Nuptial' Bed, p. 377. ■t' Marriage in the Roman Catholic Church, p. 376. • *-■' ROMAN CATHOLIC CBURCH. vdi^* 877 foot of the altar, and the married couple make what oblation ihey think proper ; the husband first, and the wife afterwards. The priest likewise repeats some prayers, and the ceremony mds with an exhortation to the married couple. The subject 9f this exhortation is on the duties of the conjugal life, the «nd and design of marriage, reciprocal love, &c. ; after which lie sprinkles them with holy water. Young people are not to inhabit under the same roof, or be in company together, ex> cept in the presence of their parents, ur relations, till such lime as they have received the blessing of the church ; but when this is over, they are at liberty to consummate the mar- riage, which would be criminal, if done without the formalities established by the church. The married couple must now desire the priest to bless the marriage-bed ; and among the other blessings, which are asked by the mediation of the priest when he blesses the mar- riage-bed, one is, that those who are to lie in it, may increase and multiply. The holy water completes the sanctification of the nuptial-bed. SEC. III. — HOLY ORDERS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. There are seven orders in the Catholic TheSevenor- Church, viz. the sacristan or door-keeper, the dersintheCa- reader, the exorcist, the acolyte, the sub-deacon, tholic Church, the deacon, and the priest. The employment of the door-keeper, called sacristan, is to open and shut the church-doors, and also to take care that the bells be rung in due time ; that of the reader, to read aloud the lessons and prophecies which are sung at matins and mass ; that of the exorcist, to cast out devils from the bodies of persons pos- sessed ; that of the acolyte, to bring in the tapers to light them, to take care to put fire into the thurible, and frankincense into the navicula, to prepare the Avine and water for the sacrifice, and to attend upon the sub-deacon, the deacon, and the priest. The duty of the priest is to offer up the sacrifice of the mass, to administer the sacraments, (those of confirmation and orders excepted,) to preach the word of God, to bless the people, and to watch over the souls committed to his charge. Church-benefices or livings, being the appurtenances of holy orders and the ecclesiastical state, can belong to those only who have been ordained, cr who have received Benefices and the tonsure. Ecclesiastical dignities are of much Dignities of more ancient date than benefices, the latter taking the Church, their rise from the latter ages of the Church. iko; %m 32* tra KOMAN CATHOLIC CHV&CU. A person must be full fourteen years of age before he can be entitled to possess a benefice, and must have received the tonsure beforehand. All incumbents, especially those who have a cure of souls, are obliged to residence ; but they fre^ qnently leave that duty to their curates. However, by the uws of the Church they are forbidden to receive any of the jfruits of their benefices, auring the time they may have been absent from them. Bishops are considered as the fathers and pastors of the fiiithful, and the successors of the Apostles ; by virtue of which . , superiority they are allowed the chief places in •ndelect^^of *^® choir, in chapters, and processions. As suc- Btshops. cessors to the Apostles, they claim respect and homage from the laity ; and as fathers and pas- tors, they are obliged to preach God's holy word to the faith- ful. This was the custom in the primitive Church ; and there can be no prescription on this head, since, in the consecration of bishops, they are commanded to preach the Gospel to those over whom they are appointed pastors. The ceremonial enjoins that bishops shall be clothed in Eurple, though the regular bishops may continue to wear the abit of their order. During Lent and Advent tKey must be in. black, and always clothed in their sutane ; but they are al- lowed to wear short clothes when on a journey. The pope only has the right of electing bishops. This is a prerogative, which the partisans of the Court of Rome carry to a very great height, and to the prejudice of kings and other sovereign princes. Nevertheless, some of these have reserved to themselves the right of nominating to bishoprics; after which, the pope sends his approbation and the bulls to the new bishop. Wnen a person hears that the pope has raised him to the episcopal dignity, he must enlarge his shaven crown, and dress hmiself in purple. If he be in Rome, he must go and salute his holiness, and receive the rochet from him. Three months after being confirmed in his election, he is consecrated in a solemn manner. The archbishops are superior to bishops, and are distin- guished by the pallium or pall, which the pope sends them. Anciently some bishops were honoured with the Archbuhops. piijunj, probably because of their high quality. The bishop of Bamberg in Germany, and those of Lucca and Pftvk in Italy, enjoy the same privilege at this time. If die person nominated to an archbishop's see be at Scone, the chief cardinal-deacon performs the ceremony of putting i » in a The Confiteor. Priest kisses the altar, p. 277. V ( Priest before the altar. Priest begins Mass, p. 277. \\ KOMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 879 the pall on hit shoulden, although it was formerly done by the pope. After mass, the officiating prelate, clothed in his pontiflcat vestments, receives the oath of the archbishop elect; who ii clothed in similar pomp, the gloves and mitre except- ed. The officiating prelate then rises up, and putting the pall upon the shoulders of the archbishop elect, says these words to him : " To the glory of Ood, of the Blessed Virgin, of the Apoitlei St. Peter and St. Paul, of our Lord the Pope, and of the holy Church of Rome, &c. receive this pall, which is ta* ken from the bodv of St. Peter, and in which the plenitude or perfaction of the mnction of pontiff, or patriarch, or archbishop, IS found ; make use of it on certain days, noted in the privi- leges which are granted to you by the holy Apostolic See, in the name of the Father," &c. The archbishop is to wear the pal! in the solemnities of the mass, and on high festivals, at the consecration of a church, at ordinations, at the consecra> tlon of a bishop, and at giving the veil to nuns. The pope nlone has the privilege of always wearing the pall. After the archbishop has received the pall, he goes up to the nltar, and blesses the people. The pall consists of certain pieces of white woollen stuflT, three fingers in breadth, and is embroidered with red crosses. Before it be given to the arch- bishop, either at Home or elsewhere, by proxy, it must be left for one whole night on the altar of St. Peter and St. Paul. The use of the pall is rather ancient in the church, and some footsteps of that ornament are to be found among the Romans. The officers, who served at feasts and sacrifices, used to wear on the left'ihoulder a pretty broad piece of woollen-siufT, with plaltl or folds hanging' down from it. This was the badge of their ministerial function ; and after it had been consecrated to the uie of the Christian Church, it received an additional lacred character by being anointed. The pall being made of wool, and worn on the bishop's shoulders, is said to be the emblem of the lost sheep, which the shepherd lays on his ihoulderi, and brings back into the sheepfold. Every particular pall serves for the use of that archbishop only, to whom it was Rrst given ; neither can he make any use of it, in case he be translated from one archbishopric to another, nor leave it to his successors. When an archbishop diet, hii pall is buried with him, and if he be buried in his own diocese, it is laid upon his shoulders; but if out of it, un- der his head. An archbishop, who has been translated to several sees, has all his palls buried with him ; that of his last archiepiscopal see being laid upon his shoulders, and the rest under nis head. 18* 880 ROMAN CATHOLIC CIIVRCH. Masters of the CenmoniM. I ' The nrincipal functions of the master of the curemoniefl are to tane care that all those who have lately taken orders, observe the ceremonies and practices of the Church, and that every thing be done in the choir conformably to discipline. He must like- wise reflate the order and march in all processions, assist at all pontifical ceremonies, such as solemn masses, the entry and consecration of bishops, synods, the visitation of a diocese, &c. The master of the ceremonies must be in holy orders, and his vestments are of a purple colour ; but he must be clothed in a surplice when in the choir, and at the divine offices of the church. On high festivals, he carries a wand, which is generally of a purple colour. The prebends, or canons, are considered the senators of the Church. When a person is promoted to a prebend, he must be presented in a very ceremonious manner Prebends and ^Q jj^j. chapter, who assemble in the cathedral to receive him. He is presented by a deputy of the chapter, accompanied by the bishop's notary and some witnesses. This deputy conducts the person elected to the altar, which the latter kisses thrice ; after which, he goes and takes his scat in the choir, and stays there some tune, durinp^ which the deputy gives the chapter an account of his promotion; and aflerwaras ne goes and takes him into the choir, and presenting him to the chapter, desires them to re- ceive him as one of their brethren. The prebend elect then makes his confession of faith aloud, and swears to observe the ordinances of the Church, and of our Holy Fother the Pope. Being thus solemnly installed, he is empowered to assist at the chapter, and to chant the office in the choir, &c. The arch-deacon is superior to deacons and sub-deacons ; his office is to examine the candidates for holy orders, and to Arch-deacon P"^^^*^"* *^^™ '^ '^^ bishop ; and by virtue of this office, the arch-deacon is superior to a priest, notwithstanding that the order itself is inferior to that of the priesthood. The arch-priest is superior to other priests. In the absence of his bishop, he celebrates the solemn masses. It is he who, . on Ash-Wednesday, leads the penitents out of Arch Priest, jj^g church, puts ashes on their heads, and pre- sents them to the bishop on Holy Thursday. Pescara assures us, that the office of Prothotiotary was instituted by Saint Clement, and that at that time, rrothonota- ^^^ ^^^^^ ^j^^ p^^^^ g^ Antherus and St. Ju- lius I. their office was to write the acts of the Crowning the Nuns, p. 802. I Anathema against False Nuns, p. 882. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHU|(CH. 881 martyrs, and to look after the church-registers, ^. This office being of so great antiquity, greatly heightens the prerogatives of the pope. Prothonotaries are dignified with the title of prelates at Rome, and are empowered to create doctors, and to make bastards legitimate. The word Abbot, which is originally Hebrew, or Syriac, signifies father. An abbot is a prelate inferior to a bishop : he is the Lord's vicar over his monks, their fa- ther, and the mystkal spouse of his convent; Abbou. which is said to be an epitome of the church of God. But it must be observed, that we are here speaking of regular abbots. When an abbess elect is to be blessed, she fi si takes the oath of fidelity to her ordinary, and to the church over which she presides ; then the prelate who receives her, j^^^^^ ffivcs her his blessing. After having laid both his hands on her head, he gives her the rule ; ana if she be not already a nun, blesses the white veil, and puts it on her head, in such a manner as to let it hang down over her breast ond shoulders. The rest of the ceremony has nothing p"*'ti- cular in it ; it consists only of kissing the pix, and inti jda cing the newly elected abbess among the nuns. Nuns or abbesses never receive the veil but on solemn days, such as Sundays or high festivals. In general, young women ought not to be allowed to take the veil till five-and- twenty, nor till after they have passed the strictest examina- tion, and particularly till it has been strongly inculcatt 1 to them, that they must live in a state of virginity, during the re- mainder of their days ; a vow that may indeed be sincere in . the warmth of devotion, or from the enect of pique ; but the execution thereof depending upon innumerable circumstances, it is exposed to many dreadful temptations, even in the most strict retirement. At the profession of a nun, the habit, the '- *' and the ring of the candidate, are all carried to the altar, and she herself, % dressed in magnificent apparel, and accompanied by her near- i*' est relations, is conducted to the bishop. Two venerable ma- trons are her bride-women, when the bniiop says mass. After the gradual is over, the candidate oi candidates for the veil, attended by the same persons as before, and with their foces covered, enter the church, and present themselves before the bishop : but before this be done, the arch-priest chants an an- them, the subject of which is. That they ought to have their lamps lighted, because the bridegroom is coming to meet them ; and while he is singing, they light their lamps. The arch> priest now presents them to the bishop, Avho calls them thrice 382 ROMAN CATHOLIC CIIVRCH. ' 1 in a kind of chanting tone ; and they answer him in the samo manner. The first time they advance to the entrance of the choir, the second to the midcfle, and the third to the chancel of the altar ; they kneel down before the bishop, with their faces to the ground, and afterwards rise up, singing this verse. Re- ceive me, O Lord I according to thy holy word. Being como before the prelate, and on their knees, they attend to the ex* hortation he makes them concerning the duties of a religious life. After this, thev kiss his hand, and then lie prostrate be- fore him while the choir chants the litanies. Then the bishop, having the crosier in his left band, completes the benediction. After they have risen, he blesses the new habits, which denote the contempt of the world, and the humzHty of their hearts. A sprinkle of holy water concludes the conse:*ration, and then the candidates go and put on their religious habits. The veil, the rinff, and the crowns, are blessed after the same manner. All these benedictions being ended, they pre- sent themselves in the habit of nuns before the bishop, and sing the following words on their knees, Ancilla Christi sum, &c. i. e. / am the handmaid or servant of Christ, &c. " In this posture the^ receive the veil, and afterwards the ring ; on de- livering which the bishop declares he marries them to Jesus Christ. And lastly, the crown of virginity is given, to which they are called by the chanting of the anthem, Veni sponsa Christi, &c. "dome, O spouse of Christ, and receive the crown." In the first ages of the Church, it was usual to set a crov.n on the heads of those who died virgins, which custom is still observed in several parts of Christendom. Being thus crowned, an anathema is denounced against all who shall at- tempt to turn them from God, by endeavouring to make them break their vow in what manner soever, or on those who shall seize upon any part of their wealth. After the offertory, they present lighted tapers to the bishop, who afterwards gives them the communion ; and as it is the custom in several convents for the nuns to read the office and canonical hours, the bishop gives the breviary to those who are taken into such convents. These ceremonies being ended, the prelate gives them up to the conduct of the abbess, saying to her, Take care to preserve, pure and spotless, these young women, whom God has conse- crated to himself, &c. The custom of giving the veil to nuns is of great antiquity, and was practised before the age of St. Ambrose and Pope Uberius, as is manifest from the writers of the second and third century. The cardmals are senators of the Church, and counsellors Cardinals. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. of the successors of St. Peter. There are now three orders of cardinals, viz; bishops, priests, and deacons : six of these are bishops, fifty are priests, and four- teen deacons. Sixtus V. fixed the number of cardinals to seventy, in order to imitate the ancient Sanhedrim of the Jews, which was composed of seventy elders, and it is this as- sembly which is now called the Sacred College. When his holiness makes a promotion of cardinals, he gives them the title of priest, or deacon, as he thinks proper, they afterwards arrive at episcopacy by right of superiority, or by assuming the title of those who die ; and because all cardinals are equal Sy their dignity, they take place according to the date of their promotion, and the quality of their title. As cardinals, with regard to spirituals, govern the Church of Rome in all parts of the Christian world, subjects of the dif- ferent nations of it are allowed to tispire to this dignity, ac- cording to the decisions of the Council of Trent. For this reason the popes often create those persons cardinals, who are nominated by crowned heads ; who, it is presumed, propose the most eminent among their subjects for that purpose. For- merly the pope, in promoting cardinals, used to advise with the ancient ones ; but now he creates them without consulting any person. Those cardinals who are in greatest credit with the reign- ing pope, have certain kingdoms, states, republics, and reli- gious orders, under their protection. They have _ the privilege of conferring the four orders called ofCarffna'la. minor, viz. that of door-keeper, reader, exorcist, and acolyte, on their domestics, and on other persons. They are exempt from the reversion of their church-lands and effects to the Apostolical Chamber, as is customary in Italy, and may bequeath ecclesiastical wealth in the same man- ner as patrimonial. They have likewise some other very considerable privileges ; such as a power of resigning their pensions, by particular grants from popes; to be exempt from the examination of bishops, when they are put into Sees; to be believed in a court of justice upon their bare words, without being obliged to take an oath; and their single testimony is equal to that of two witnesses. They are considered as citizens of whatever city the pope resides in, and do not pay any taxes. They grant a hundred days in- dulgence to whomsoever they please, and acknowledge no one but the pope for their judge or superior, particularly in criminal matters ; for as to civil causes, they are always heard before the auditors of the Apostolic Chamber. \ 8M EOICAM CATHOLIC CHVltCH. They have several other prerogatives ; such as that of wear- ing purple habits, a mantle royal with a train six ells long, a red nat, and an episcopal mitre, though they be no more than priests, deacons, or clerks. Cardinals wore only the common vestment of priests, which was like a monastic habit, till the time of Innocent IV. The red hat was given them in 1243, in the Council of Lyons. Innocent IV. was desirous of gain- ing their friendship by this honourable badge, and to win them over to his interest, on account of the difference he had with the Emperor. Under Boni&ce IX. they were clothed in scarlet, and even in purple, and their robes were the same then as at present. According to other writers, they were not clothed in scarlet till the pontificate of Paul II. Others prd- tend that their robes were of that colour as early as Innocent III. and others again, that they wore the purple under Stephen IV. Paul II. distinguished them by the embroidered silk mitre, and the red cope and cap, red housings for their mules, and gilt stirrups. Gregory XIV. granted the red cap to the regulars, but ordered that their vestments should be of the colour of their order, and that they should have no rochet, nor wear a cloth cassoc. Urban VIII. in order to add fresh splen- dour to the cardinalate, ordered that the title of Eminence should be given to them. When a cardinal goes to Rome to receive his hat from the pope, a variety of ceremonies are performed, which our limits will not allow us to notice. When the pope, by special favour, is pleased to send the hat to an absent cardinal, the following ceremonies are ob- Cereraonies served : — In the first place it is to be observed, observed at the that whenever any person out of Italy is created creation of a cardinal, he is not permitted to put on the scarlet Cardinal. vestments lintil his holiness has sent him his hat : but he is nevertheless allowed to assume the title of cardinal. The hat is carried by an honorary chamberlain, together with a brief directed to the nuncio, or to the sovereign, or bishop, of the place w'.ere the cardinal elect resides. As soon as the latter hears of the approach of the chamberlain who brings the hat, he sends his household to jneet him, with as many of his friends as he can collect together for that purpose, to do him the greater honour ; and they all make their entry to- gether in cavalcade, if allowed by the custom of the place. In this procession, the pope's chamberlain holds the red hat alofl on the mace, in order that it may be seen by all the spectators. The pope's envoy, nnd the prelate who is to perform the I I c ] V c c *'. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 885 0- :e. lat le he ceremony, afterwards meet on a Sunday, or on some high festi* val, at the newly-elected cardinal's house, with their domestics, and as many friends as they can collect, and go in cavalcade to the principal church of the place in the followinff order. The march is opened by drums and trumpets ; then come the livery servants. The soldiers upon ffuard, in case thoro be any, or the inhabitants of the town under arms, march be* fore the gentlemen, and afterwards the pope's chamberlain appears in a purple habit, holding the red hat aloft, and unco- vered. Immediately after follows the newly-elected cardinal, with his cope on, his capucbe on his head, and over all a black hat. On the right hand the prelate marches who is to perform the ceremony, and on his left some other person of quality : such as the king, prince, or chief nobleman of the place ; nnd behind him the coaches of the cardinal, and of all such persons as are proud of doing him honour, with a great troin. When this ceremony is performed in any place where a king or prince resides, their guards always attend on the newly-elected cardinal. When the cavalcade is come to the church, mass is sung in it, and it is usual for the king or prince of the place, and like- wise the chief lords and ladies of the court, to bo present ut it. Mass being ended, the prelate who is to perform the cerem'>ny puts on his cope and mitre ; then, being seated on o sort o! nc, which stands on the steps of the altar, with his back ;ned to it, the person who brought the hat lays it on the altar, and presents the pope's brief to the prelate, who gives it to his secretary, and the latter reads it with an audible voice, so as to be heard by the whole congregation. Imme- diately after, the prelate makes an oration in praise of the newly-elected carainal, and at the conclusion declares, that he is ready to deliver the hat to him, according to the order of his holiness. Then the cardinal-elect advances towards the altar, and kneeling down, takes the same oath before the prelato which the newly-created cardinals take at Rome before the pope. Then the prelate arises from his seat, and taking off his mitre, snys some prayers over the new cardinal, whose head is co- vered with the capuche; aftgr which the prelate puts his hat on, and at the same time repeats a prayer out of the Roman Pontifical. He afterwards gives him tho kiss of pence, upon which the Te Deum and some prayers are sung, which con- clude the ceremony. The newly-created cardinal returns in cavalcade, with the red hat on his head. . The newly-elected cardinal is obliged to make the legate, 33 I S96 ROMAR cATnoLic cnvRcn. or measenffer, a present of one hundred ducats at least ; th^s being the fixed sum ; but it amounts frequently to one, three, five thousand, and sometimes more ducats. The hat is usually handed to the ofiiciating prelate by the pope's nuncio ; but m case there be no such personage present, this office is perform- ed by the emperor, kmg, archbishop, duke, or other highest person in authority. When a cardinal dies, he is immediately embalmed, and the following night is carried into the church where his obsequies are to be solemnized. One of the largest churches of Cardinals '^^ generally made use of for this purpose, in order that the greater concourse of people may assem- ble in it. The inside is hung throughout with black velvet, and adorned with escutcheons, on which the arms of the deceased are represented ; and a great number of white tapers are lighted up on both sides of the nave. In the middle of the church a very high and large bed of state is set, covered with black brocade, with two pillows of the same colour, both which being put one above other, are laid under the head of the deceased cardinal, whose corpse lies in the middle of the bed, in such a manner that his feet point towards the great gate, and his head towards the high altar. The corpse of the deceased cardinal is clothed in pontifical vestments, viz. the mitre ; the cope, if he were a bishop ; the chasuble, if a priest ; and the tunic, if a deacon. The six mas- ters of the ceremonies assist in this church, clothed in cassocs of purple serge, and all the pope's couriers in long robes of the same colour, with silver maces in their hands. There are likewise two of the deceased's tall lacqueys, each holding a wand, on which are fixed purple taffety streamers with the arms of the deceased cardinal ; with these they continually fan his face, in order to keep off the flies. On the morrow, after vespers, the religious mendicants meet together in a chapel of the same church, where they sing the matins of the dead, each order repeating alternately a Noctur- num, and the pope's music the Lauds. In the mean time the cardinals arrive clothed in purple, and at their coming into the church they put on a cope of the same colour. They then advance towards the high altavi where the host is kept, and there oflfer up their prayers, and adore it upon their knees. They afterwards go, one after another, to the feet of the de- ceased, and repeat the Pater Noster, ^c. to which they add ertain verses out of the Scripture, and the ^x&ytr, Absolve^ ^c. rom t^e ofiice of tha dead. TiTelates .ture of ■ justice k them- judges. use, and ure, and mited as asedi^ut 3 bestows as a step ments of e he can the cardi- prefect of o.licers to titution of date must inhabitant rs of ago, iture with same benefice, he is at Hbeiiy to bestow it on whomsoever of them he thinks proper, provided he has the requisite qualifica* tions. The datary has a yearly salary of two thousand crowns, exclusive of the immense perquisites which he re- ceives from those who address him for any benefice. A Dominican friar, of the order commonly called the Preaching Brothers, is always Master of tke Pope^s Palace, ever since the founder, who was canonized by the name of St. Dominic, was raised to that The Major dignity by Honorius III. in 1216. He preaches JJj^o ^^^^^ once a month in the public chapel of the palace, of the Pope's or appoints one of his brethren to perform the household, service for him. He has a seat in the pope's chapel, next to the deacon, or most ancient auditor of the rota. He has no fixed salary, because, by the statutes of his order, he is not allowed to have any money which he can call his oWh ; but he is allowed a table at court with his companions and servants, and a coach is kept for him. He is the judge in ordinary of all printers, engravers, and booksellers, who are not permitted to publish or sell any work without his permission being first obtained. All books that come to Rome are examined by him, or his officers, who con- fiscate all that are prohibited by the index of the Council ol Trent. The other chief officers that reside in the pontifical palace, and near the person of his holiness, are the major-domo, or master of the household, which officers, in the courts of other princes, are called high-stewards. The pope's master of the household superintends all the domestics of the apostolical palace ; but his holiness employs the chief steward of the hospital of the Literate Orphans, to furnish him with provi- sions, and the hospital has proper fees allowed to it. There are always two gentlemen near the pope's persoq, who have the title of masters of the chamber. The chief cup-bearer, who is called coppeiro, presents the glass to his holiness, with a salver which he holds before him, and kneels both knees, when the pope drinks. The officer whose on busmess it is to see the dishes brought in order to the pope's table, is called in Italian scalco. The carver, who cuts up the meat before the sovereign pontiff, the chief harbinger who regulates the apartments of the pope's household, and all the other officers above-mentioned, are prelates, who wear purple vestments, and have each two deputies to officiate in their absence. There are likewise several privy chamberlains, all prelatel^ 8M ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. who are clothed in long purple cassocs with sleeves trailing to the ground, but have no cloak. Among these, eight are declared partakers, and divide among themselves whatever presents are made them ; and of these the pope chooses one to be his privy-treasurer, whose business it is to distribute such alms as his holiness bestows privately. Another of these privy-chamberlains is appointed master oj the wardrobe. He is entrusted with all the plate, whether of gold or silver ; all the jewels and shrines for relics, as also the Agnus Deis, which he distributes daily to pilgrims and strangers at a certain hour. The papers physician in ordinary is also a privy chamberlain, but not the other two, who are physicians of his household. The fixed pension of each privy-chamberlain amounts to a thousand crowns annually; and the partakers hdise at least double that sum arising from the presents made at the crea- tion and death of every cardinal. The chamberlain who dis- tributes the Agnus Deis receives more than all the rest, par- ticularly when any extraordinary solemnity induces foreigners to visit Rome ; such as the years of the jubilee, an embassy, a holy canonization that makes a great noise, or any famous miracle. In such cases he has several thousand crowns given him for the little consecrated images of wax. The pope's privy chaplains have the same salary as the chamberlains. They assist in saying the office of the brevia- ry, and wait upon him at mass, when he celebrates it in pri- vate. One of these carries the cross before his holiness when he goes abroad, and in case he goes on foot another of them supports his tram. When the pope assists at solemn mass, and in processions, his chaplains carry the mitres and triple crowns enriched with precious stones, which they display in a very pompous man- ner, holding them aloft with both their hands to show them to the people as his holiness walks along. There are also chap- lains belonging to the guards and grooms, who say mass every morning in the guard-room, &c. these are called common chaplains ; their yearly salary amounts to no more than fifty crowns, but then they are paid besides for whatever masses they celebrate. Tne pope's assistants and valets de chavihre have five hun- dred crowns a year, and several other very considerable pro- fits ; not to mention that as they have a more free access to his holiness than the rest of his domestics, they never fail of benf- fices. niere are likewise honorary chamberlains, who are pre- ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. m are pre- lates of the first quality, among whom the pope ffenorally makes choice of a Frenchman, a German, and a Spaniard. The chamberlains of the Bpussole, are so many uaners, be- cause they always keep a guard at his holiness's chamber* door. The chamberlams without the walls are so called, be- cause they follow the pope without the Vatican, and attend upon him in all his public cavalcades, with the chamberlain's esquires, clothed in red cloth, and covered with a large cope of the same colour furred with ermine. Each of these do duty in the apostolical palace, and have their distinct office ; but the honorary chamberlains never mount guard, nor appear in the pope's ante-chamber but when they please. These arc gene- rally employed by the pope to carry the red cap or hat, to any newly-eleoted cardinals, who are not in Rome at the time of their being raised to that dignity. The pope has a master of the household and scalco, in tho Vatican as well as on Monte Cavallo; and another carvur, whose office it is to prepare the banquet, whi','h he gives to the cardinals on certain extraordinary occasions, and on solemn, festivals ; another scalco and carver for the ambassadors, and other distinguished foreigners, whom the pope entertains in a splendid manner ; and another, who prepares tho dinner given to the thirteen poor pilgrims, serves up the first dish ot their table, and treats them in a magnificent manner every day, in imitation of Pope Clement VIIL, who restored this custom, firs' introduced by Gregory the Great. These officers are clolned in purple. The pope always makes choice of a nativ.' jf Rome for the master of his stables. This officer beais tie name of cavila- rizzo. The harbingers above-mentioned, ass'.g i the apartments to the pope's household, and have depu*' hprlingers rid their assistants, who are entrusted with ti:-, hangings, ornaments, and other furniture of the pontifical palace. Tlioy arc like- wise employed to adorn the apartments when either con8i."3tory, signature of favour, or congregation is held. There are likewise footmen, called grooms, who keep guard in the halls of the pope's palace, and are very numerous, be- cause the pope bestows this place on all those who \i'oro his grooms when he was cardinal; and moreover, ho lil'ewise gives those places to all the chiefs of the groonis that are in the service of the cardinals and ambassadors, who arc pvcsent at Rome at the time of his creation. Their clothing is a rod, flowered satin ; and whenever they go out, they have a blu© cloth cloak and a sword, the hilt of which is of silver gilu 308 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. m The pope has twelve officers, who have each a red wand, and twelve others, who carry silver maces, and walk hefore him in a ceremonial habit, every time he appears in public with his mitre and cope on. When the consistory is held, they guard the door, and wait upon liis holiness when he is enter- ing or departing. These twenty-four posts are all purchased for six hundred crowns each, and produce about fifty annually. The pope's sacristan, who takes the title of prefect, is al- ways a friar of the order of the hermits of St. Austin. This Prefect of P'®^^*^* ^ entrusted with all the ornaments, gold the Pope's Sa- ^^^ silver vessels, crosses, cups, thuribles, shrines cristy. for enclosing relics, and other valuable things be- longing to his hnliness's sacristy. It is he that prepares the host, and inspprts the bread and wine, when the pope celebrates mass pontifically, or in i rivate. Whenever his holiness assists solemnly at mass, his sacristan places himself among the assisting bishops, above the dean, or the senior auditors of the rota; and observes to take off or put on the pope's mitre, as oflen as he is required by the rubric of the Roman Pontifical. He distributes the relics, and signs the memorials of those indulgences, which pilgrims desire for themselves and rela- tions. We shall make two remarks on this head: — First, that indulgences are never granted to any pilgrims but to those who are actually upon a journey, and appear personally before the pope's sacristan. Secondly, with regard to those indulgences which persons who go to Rome desire for their relations, they are not to be granted to them but when they are in their expiring moments ; i. e. the pope grants by briefs, addressed to certaiii persons, for whose names blanks are left, a power of making choice ot what confessor they shall think proper, when at the point of death ; and to be absolved by him from all sins in general, and all reserved cases, of what nature soever ; with a full power to this confessor, of remitting to the person to whom this brief is given, all the punishments which God might otherwise have inflicted on him for his sins, whether in this life or after his death, in hell or in purgatory. Formerly, the chancellor superintended the pope's library ; but in latter ages it is an office apart, yielding twelve hun- , - . dred crowns in gold annually, to the possessor, brorian.' *' "^^^ P°P® never bestows it on any person under the dignity of a cardinal, who assumes the title of librarian of the Vatican, tie has two sub-librarians, the fir."»t of whom is generally one of the pope's domestic prelates, J ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 399 and has six hundred crowns a year, with an allowance of bread and wine for tl.«5 wljole year. The second has four hun- dred crowns, and the tame provision as the former. These three places are always filled by persons of great learning, who, to the knowledge of other tongues, add the Oriental languages in pjarticular. The librarian has the di- rection of a noble printing-house, where nothing is printed without his permission. It abounds with types of all the known tongues in which the learned are conversant. His holiness has six masters of the ceremonies, two of whom are called assistants, ad the other four supernumeraries. The two assistants receive of every newly-cre- jyiagtej of the ated cardinal 224 crovros of gold, and of the Cercmoniea. heirs of those who die, 100 crowns ; which sums they equally share. Their employments bring them in alto- gether about 1000 crowns yearly, besides a table in the Vati- can. All the chamberlains have an equal authority to regu- late pontifical functions, to acquaint the cardinals with their duty, and to issue orders to all persons belonging to the court. They all have admission into the conclave, and likewise in the congregation of rites, but one only goes to the ceremonial congregation. Whenever the pope sends any cardinal a la- tere out of Rome, he deputes one of the supernumerary mas- ters of the ceremonies to attend upon him. They are clothed in purple cassocs, with black buttons and facings, and sleeves trailing on the ground ; in the papal chapel they wear a red cassoc as the rest of the cardinals, and rochets like the prelates. The Ruota is one of the most august tribunals or Rome, and is composed of twelve prebtes, one of whom must be a Gertuan, another a Frenchman, and two Span- iards. Each of the sovereigns of these three na- tions names a prelate, who bears the name of his crown. The other eight are Italians, three of whom must be Romans, one Bolognese, a Ferraran, a Milanese, a Vene- tian, and a Tuscan. Each auditor has four notaries or regis- trars, and the senior auditor performs the function of presi- dent. They meet in the apostolical palace every Monday and Fri- day, except during vacations ; but when the pope resides in the palace of Mount duirinal, the assemblies are held in the chancery. They take cognizance of all such suits in the territory of the church as are brought in by way of appeal, and also of matters beneficiary and patrimonial. This tribunal does not judge a cause at once, but pronounces as many sentences, 19* Tribunal of the Ruota. 4jOO rokan catholic chvscr. called decisions, as there are points contested in a suit. After tbiese sentences ave ^iven, the party may get his cause revised again by the pope himself, at the signature of &Tour, which is a kind of civil petition. The place of these auditors produces but 1000 crowns yearly to each, and they receive no fees ; but then they are generally created cardinals by way of reward for the pains they have taken. This council has the direction of all the pope's demesnes, the finances of which consist in what is called the revenues ,-,. . of the Apostolic Chamber. It consists of the tolicCham^r' cardinal great chamberlain, who is at the head of it ; of the governor of the ruota, w^ho is the vice-chamberlain ; of a treasurer-general, an auditor, a presi- dent, an advocate-general, a solicitor-general, a commissary, and twelve clerks of the chamber ; of whom four art, first the prefect of the plenty of grain ; a second the prelect of provi- sions, and such like commodities ; the third the prefect of the prisons ; and the fourth the prefect of the streets. The re- maining eight are deputed to take cognizance of various causes, each privately in his chamber. Formerly the pope used to depute six clerks of his house- hold for the direction of his revenues, from which those who have the management of them receive their names. Sixtus V. ordered that their employments should be purchased, and increased their number to twelve. They meet every Monday and Friday in the pope's palace, and their jurisdiction extends to all things relating to the pope's demesnes. Each clerk of the chamber takes immediate cognizance of all causes that are sent up from the Apostolical Chamber by appeal. None of the places of clerk of the chamber are pur- chased for less than 80,000 crowns, nor yield less than 8000 crowns annually. The posts cc treasurer-general, and audi- tor of the Apostolical Chamber, are purchased for similar sums, and produce similar revenues. The temt'cral c;r '.ninions of tne pope are at present confined to a territory south of the riv-pr Po, in Italy, containing not snore than fiftet u thousand square miles, and two millions and five hundred thousand inhabitants. The ecclesiastical subjects of the pope are vari- ously estimated from eighty to one hundred and twenty millions, who are scattered over the whole world. The countries which are considered entirely papal, are the pope's dominions in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and South Ame- rica ; France, Austria, Poland, Belgium, Ireland, and Canada, almost entirely. Switzerland has seven hundred thousand j Present sta'c of the Roman Catholic Church. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 401 e and two England more than half a million. Others are found in Rua* sia, Sweden, Denmark, the West India Islands, and the United States. As a temporal prince, the political power of the pope is now regarded with absolute contempt by all the European go* vernments ; but it is still supported by them as a matter of policy. France, more particularly, appears almost ready to throw oflf entirely the trammels of the papal yoke ; for, as the Ca- tholic priesthood has been found uniformly to give its support to an arbitrary form of government, and to neglect the instruc- tion of the people, the Bourbon dynasty has been overthrown by the revolution of 1830, and the Romish Church cut off from being the established religion, and free toleration granted. Still, as the Roman Catholic is the professed religion of the majority in the French nation, its clergy at present continue to receive their usual salaries from the new government. So grossly have the French been deluded with the popish cere- monies and superstitions, that the more intelligent have be- come infidels. Such, indeed, is the case throughout the Ro- man Catholic countries, and especially in Italy; the people therefore are ill-prepared, at present, to embrace the pure Christianity of the New Testament, of which, indeed, they are almost universally ignorant. Nevertheless, the vigorous ef- forts of some devoted servants of Christ at Paris, with several agents from the Methodist, Continental, London, and Baptist Missionary Societies in England, and especially with the re- vival of religion among the Protestants of the south of France, all contributing to the circulation of the scriptures, and the diffusion of divine knowledge, will, we trust, be blessed of God, to produce an evangelical reformation in that great country. Education being vigorously promoted through numy parts of Germany, and the holy scriptures being extensively circu- lated, popery will not be able much longer to retain its hold on the millions in Austria and Hungary. Even the Italian states, and Rome itselfj have received many copies of the blessed word of God ; and it is believed, that not a few Catho- lics, and some of the priests, are sincerely studying the scrip- tures of truth for their internal salvation. Knowledge, by the British sy«em of education, is increasing in South America; and, with it, the holy scriptures are circulated among the su- perstitious Catholics. In British India and the east, the Roman Catholic Church has an establishment of three archbishops and seventeen bish- ops, with many priests, 34* besides Romish missionaries: bu ^' '^'i Wll^ 402 ROMAN CATHOLIC OHVRCR. scriptural knowledge, as we have seen is advancing in those populous regions of the earth. Canada has the Roman Catholic system for the established religion ; and efforts are being made to extend the influence of ponery in the United States of America, particularly in the wonaerous valley of the Mississippi ; but its antidote is provi* ded in the Bible. Ireland is chiefly popish ; and in that injured, degraded, and distracted country, there are nearly five thousand Roman Ca- tholic priests. But scriptural light and knowledge are ad- vancing among the people, notwithstanding their prejudices against the Protestants. England, at the commencenient of this century, it is said, had not quite fifty Roman Catholic chapels ; now it has about four hundred and fifty : but this cannot be matter f wonder, when we consider the amazing increase of its population ; the influx of Irish ; and the ignorance of multitudes of the lower classes concernmg the essentials of religion as taught in the New Testament. But a scriptural education of the people with the diligent and faithful preaching of the Gospel, will bo the effectual means of subverting every false system of reli- S'on, and of converting the ignorant millions of mankiad to e saving knowledge of God in Christ Jesus. PART IV RELIGIOUS C]USTOMS AND CEREMONIES OF PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. Under the head of Protestant Communities it is proposed for the sake of convenience, to treat of the principal denomi nations which, whether strict or lax, orthodox, or otherwise, deny the supremacy of the Pope of Rome, and the discipline of that church ; a(»>pting, for their profession of faith, articles in their estimation more scriptural, and ceremonies and modes of worship, varying according to their views of the require- ments of the gospel. LVTHERANS. 403 ^ SEC. I. — LVTHERANH. Origin. The Lutherans derive their name from Martin Luther, a celebrated reformer, who, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, opposed the church or Rome with great zeal and success. The system of faith embraced by the Lutherans, was drawn up by Luther and Melancthon, and presented to the Emperor Charles V., in 1530, at the diet of Au- gusta, or Augsburg, and hence called the Au^s- Faith! tun or Augsburg Confession. It is divided mto two parts, of which the former, containing twenty-one articles, was designed to represent, with truth and perspicuitjr, the religious opinions of the reformers; and the /a/^er, containing ■oven articles, is employed in pointing out and confuting the seven capital errors which occasioned their separation from the church of Rome : these were, communion in one kind, the forced celibacy of the clergy, private masses, auricular confes- sion, legendary traditions, monastic vows, and the excessive power of the church. From the time of I^^er to the pre- sent day, no change has been introduced int^|he doctrine and discipline received in this church. The d|itliod, however, of illustrating, enforcing, and defending the doctrines of Chris- tianity, has undergone several changes in the Lutheran church ; and, though the confessions continue the same, yet some of the doctrmes which were warmly maintained by Luther, have been of late wholly abandoned by his followers. The Lutherans are far from allowing that good works are in any wise meritorious with regard to salvation. They ac- knowledge, generally, that Christ died for all who were par- takers of Adam's transgression ; but that those only who should believe in him, and persevere in that faith to their lives end, should be saved. The foreknowledge of God from all eternity of this faith is made by them the basis, or foundation, of the election or predestination of the faithful. They view election in the very same light as they do justification. If the instrumental cause of the latter be faith, God's foreknow- ledge of that faith of the faithful is their election. As to fjree- wilT, the Lutherans deny its power before the conversion of a linner, and maintain, that none are converted but by the pre- vailing elHcacy of grace alone. The Lutherans acknowl^ge but two sacraments, that is to say, baptism, and the Lorus supper. They deny transubstantiation, the mass, the eleva- tion and adoration of the host, the ceremonies, and all that ex- 404 rnOTESTANT COMMUNlTIBt. ternal worship, which the church of Rome observes, with respect to the body and blood of Jesus Christ; lut they be- lieve, that the real presence of the humanity of Jesus Christ i» with, in, and under the elements of breaa and wine in the holy communion, and maintain in vindication of their ubiqui- ty, that all the perfections of Christ's divinity were communi- cated to his humanity. They reject the adoiii m of saints and relics. Although it be our boundcn duty, ihcy say, to imitate the saints, and s( t them before our eyes, as great ex- amples, yet we ought not to invoke them, nor imagine that there are any latent virtues in their relics, &c. They con- demn all acts of penance and human expiations, such as solemn vows, pilgrimages, nine days' devotions, macerations, and other orks of supererogation, that is to say, such morti- fications, ae, by the laws of Chnstianity, are no ways imposed upon us, &c. They reject all distinction of meats, and the observance of Lent, all monastic vows and convents, the celi- bacy of the clergy, and the performance of divine service in im unknown tongue; and, in short, all the ceremonies prac- tised in the Romish church. Their paptors, with their several congregations, either meet at the p.^rsonage, or at some convenient place near the church intended to be consecrated, and afterwards march fion of'^th'tr *" procession two and two, once at least, and i-iiufches sometimes thrice, all round it, singing certain di- vine hymns or canticles all the way. As soon as this previous act of devotion is over, they enter the church, where the service is opened with singing again ; after which some portion of the sacred scriptures is read to them, and a sermon preached on the solemnity of the day. If the income or revenue of the church will admit of it, or the congregation are able and willing to defray the expense, the superintendent of their metropolis is requested to assist at the ceremony, to give his benediction to the church, and consecrate it with some proper discourse of his own composing, which favour is ac- knowledged, not only by a handsome gratuity, but an elegant entertainment. Two divines are generally appointed for the purpose of or- dination, who not only inquire into the real merit, and natural _. . qualifications of the candidates, such for instance, isters.*"^ "**"" ^^ ^ proper stature, a musical voice, health, and strength, but also into their knowledge of the learned languages, their abilities to nrgxie, on both sides, all controversial questions. They inqti>re likewise into the reli- gious principles, and particular tend?, of the respective candi- ..»;■•■: of or- latural stance, ih, and of the des, all he reli- candi- LUTHERANS. HB dates. It is highly requisite and just that they shouM be sound and orthodox, that is to say, be in all respects conformable to the doctrines which they are intended to maintain and teaeh, and which the church they are to serve professes ; and that they should be fixed and unalterable during their establish- ment in that sacred function. After such due inquiries having a c preach t^fore his exa- )wn choosing. Upon urch may be offered pline, he is obliged, of any oonp^regation, ana the opinion of the been made, the candidate is ordered miners on some particular text of i the report of his oeing duly qualif him ; nowever, according to the Sa before he is absolutely declared mi- to preach several times before thi , people must afterwards be consulted, and their approbation and consent procured. The day of ordination being fixed, the candidate repairs to the church, where he is to be ordained in the presence of se- veral ministers, ecclesiastical judges, and a nu- merous congregation of the faithful. He there Ordination makes a confession of his faith, either before, or of ministers, some time during the sermon. In the prayer after the sermon, the candidate is particularly taken notice of, r.nd prayed for by name. As soon as the minister withdraws from the pulpit, the veni spiritus sancte is immediately sung, and during the performance the superintendent, who is pri- mate of the Lutheran clergy, repairs to the altar, accompanied by six colleagues, or coadjutors, and followed by the candidate, who falls down on his knees before him. Here the superin- tendent, addressing himself to his six colleagues, having first communicated the candidate's request, invites them to join with lim in prayer on his behalf; in the next place he reads the formulary of election, which is accompanied with an- other prayer ; and after that, directs his discourse to his six coadjutors, saying, " Dearly beloved brethren in our Lord Je- sus, I exhort you to lay your hands on this candidate, who presents himself here before us in order to be admitted a mi- • nister of the church of God, according to the ancient apostqK-' cal institution, and to concur with me in investing him with that sacred office." After this formal address, he lays his hands directly on the head of the candidate, and says to him. Sis maneasque consecratus Deo, which literally construed is. Be thou, and so remain to be, devoted to the service of God. The six colleagues repeat, after the superintendei.ts, the ce- remony of imposition of hands, and make use of the same form of words : after which, the superintendent addressee him- .^elf to the person thus ordained, in the terms following: "Being .J^>, -"- -irtfr: ^:-v IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 !f Ki nss ^^ Hi Si 12.2 1.1 l.-^l^ ^ lim 1 1.25 jl 1.4 1.6 M.II ^ ^ - W 1 71 7] *^ 7 '%vw^ a Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WE31 MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80 (716) 872-4503 .^° > #■ V-. 406 rSOTESTANT COMMUNITIES. Mode of wor- ship. assembled here with the aid and assistance of the Holy Qhost, we have made our humble supplications to God for you, and hope that he will vouchsafe to hear our prayers. Wherefore, I ordain, confirm, and establish you, in the name of the Lord, pastor and spiritual instructer of the saints belonging to the church, &c. ; govern it in the fear of the Lord, and have a Avatchful eye over it, as a faithful shepherd over his flock," &c These words are, properly speaking, the very essence of ordination. The superintendent, after he has pronounced this exhortation, withdraws from the altar, and the stated min- ister of the place approaches it, dressed in his sacerdotal vest- ments, to read the communion service, and to consecrate the bread and wine, which he administers to the new pastor, who receives it upon his knees. Some few hymns, or canticles, and the usual benediction, conclude the ceremony. At their first entrance into the church, both men and women put up an ejaculatory prayer, the former holding their hats and the latter their fans before their feces. The same ceremony is observed as soon as divine service is over. The prayer generally made use of on these occasions, is the Lord's Prayer. When the con- gregation of the fiiithful are met in order to apply themselves to any exercise of devotion, whether it be preaching, or read- ing the scriptures only, or praying, it is always introduced by the singing of some psalms or spiritual hymns suitable to the occasion. They have two sermons at least every Sunday, especially if it be a solemn festival, that is to say, one in the moTning and another in the afternoon. There is a catechetical lecture besides, at which their probationers are always exai>"jned. Their burials are frequently put oflflikewise till Sunday, for the benefit of a prayer, or at least a funeral sermon, which the Lutherans always preach upon the decease of any of their members, whether young or old, rich or poor. Their texts are very seldom taken out of those books which the Lu- therans and the Protestants call apocryphal. The last thing which we shall take notice of in relation to their sermons, is, that of their circular predications, which is the term they make use of to distinguish those sermons, which their pastors are obliged to preach at particular times in the metropolitan church in presence of the superintendent, in order that he himself may form a just judgment of their method, and the progress they make in the ministerial office ; also that he may examine their principles, and prevent them deviating from the orthodox fiiith. LUTHXRAMS. 407 ►ecially oTning ecture irjned. for the ch the f their ir texts le Lu- thing ins, is, they lastoTs ilitan he id the lat he iiating After the sermon, the service concludes with some select prayers or supplications to Abnighty God, thanksgivings, and publications. In the first, all sick persons, all women labouring of child, or in child-bed, all that travel bv land or bv water, all persons any way afflicted or distressed in mind, body, or estate, are recommended to God as proper objects of his sue- eour, comfort, and assistance. In Denmark, all those who are drawing near to the time appointed for the consummation of their marriage, are likewise recommended to God in the prayers of the cliurch. In their thanksgivings, those parti- cular persons who had received great mercies, desire to return their grateful acknowledgments to Almighty God for the same. In their publications, timely notice was given of such matters as particularly related to the church ; that is to say, of some extraordinary acts of devotion, such as the observance of an ensuing solemn festival, or fast, or the like, &c. In some places, the public orders of the civil magistrate are read in the pulpit. The Lutherans retain the use of the altar for the celebration of the Holy Communion. They likewise make use of lighted tapers in their churches, of incense, and a crucifix on the altar, of the sign of the cross, and of images, &c. Several of their doctors acknowledge, that such materials add a luslre and ma- jesty to divine worship, and fix at the same time the attention of the people. The Lutherans retain the observance of several solemn festivals after their reformation. They keep three solemn days of festivity at Christmas. In some Lu- Festivals theran countries, the people go to church on the night of the nativity of our blessed Saviour with lighted can- dles, or wax tapers in their hands, and the faithful, who meet in the church, spend the whole night there in singing, and saying their prayers, by the light of them. Sometimes they bum such a large quantity of incense, that the smoke of it ascends in the form of a whirlwind, and their devotees may ftroperly enough be said to be wrapt up in it. It is customary ikewise in Germany to give entertainments at such times to friends and relations, and to send presents to each other, espe- cially to the young people, whom they amuse with very idle and romantic stories, telling them, that our blessed Saviour descends from heaven on the night of his nativity, and brings with him all kind of playthings. They have three holidays at Easter, and three at Whitsun- tide, as well as those before mentioned at Christmas. These festivals have nothing peculiar in them, with respect to the 40B PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. ceremonies observed at those times ; but with regard to some particular superstitions, they are remarkable enough : as for instance, that of the Paschal water, which is looked on as a sovereign remedy for sore eyes, and very serviceable in uniting broken limbs. This Paschal water is nothing more than common river water, taken up on Easter-day before the rising of the sun. They have another superstitious notion with re- spect to their horses : they imagine, that the swimming them in the river on Easter-day before the sun rises, preserves them from lameness. The other festivals observed by the Lutherans, are New- Year's day, or the Circumcision, a festival not near so ancient as the four above-mentioned ; the festival of the Three Kings, or otherwise, the Epiphany ; the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, or Candlemas, and Lady-day, or the Annunciation. There is no public work, nor service devoted to the Blessed Virgin, nor are there any processions, or other ceremonies, which are observed by the Roman Catholics on the two latter festivals. The festival of the Sacred Trinity is solemnized on the Sunday after Whit-Sunday ; that of St. John Baptist on the 24th of June, and that of the Visitation of the Blessed Vir- gin on the 2d of July, as it is by the Roman Catholics. To conclude, the festival of St. Michael the Archangel, or rather the ceremonies observed by the Lutherans on that day, are the remains only of an ancient custom, which has been preserved amongst them, although somewhat extraordinary, as the mem- bers of their communion retain no manner of veneration for angels. In 1523, Luther drew up a formulary of the mass and com- munion, for the particular service of the church of Wirtem- Liturgy. burg. Without attempting to particularize the various parts of it, it may be observed, that all the churches where Lutheranism prevailed, were obliged en- tirely to conform to it. However, those orders were never punctually obeyed. Some Lutheran countries have one ritual and some another; there is a difference, likewise, in their liturgies; though as to tV fundamental articles, th'ty all agree. On the Sunday whe'" communion is to be administered, the minister, immediately ^fter the sermon, prays to Almighty God for all those in particular who purpose to Comnianion. ygggjyg j|,g jjQ|y communion. There is no form of prayer, however, for that purpose, but the minister is at free liberty to say what he thinks most suitable to that solemn oc casion. After the sermon likewise they sing a psalm, or some «faort hymn or hymns adapted to that particular act of devo* LVTHEIIANS. 409 tion. Whilst they are singing, those of the congregation who are duly prepared for the receiving of the sacrament, advance towards the altar, and fall dow^n on their knees ; at least so many of them as can with convenience approach it at once. As soon as the hymn is over, the minister says. Let us pray ; and sings at the same time the Lord's Prayer : and when the congregation have said Amen, he sings the words of the insti- tution of the Lord's Supper. In some places the whole con- gregation sing, with an audible voice, both the prayer and the words of the institution along with the minister, which is a manifest error, since the voice of the whole church, in general, drowns that of the celebrant, or officiating pastor. They have another custom, which is not, however, looked on as absolutely essential, and that is, to make the sign of the cross on the host, at the time of pronouncing these words. This is my body, and another on the cup, when those other words are repeated, viz. This is my blood, <^c. Though these signs, after all, are only made in commemoration of the cross of Christ, which neither add nor diminish, yet, it has been observed, that should the minister neglect those signs, some feeble-minded persons would be offended at such omission, and imagine that the sacrament would thereby lose its sacred force and virtue. It is not only this sign of the cross made on the elements of bread and wine, that the populace lay such a stress upon as a fundamental arti- cle ; but they very seldom cut a loaf, which has not the sign of a cross first made upon it with a knife. In several parts of Saxony, and indeed in some of their principal cities, when the minister consecrates the elements, he rings a little bell twice, in a very solemn manner ; and in most Lutheran churches, the pastor, before he administers the sacrament, puts on his surplice, and over that a vestment with several crosses fastened on it, which, however, ought not to be confounded with the stole, worn by the Roman Catholic priests, as there is no manner of resemblance between them. In some places, the pastor, after he has read the gospel at the altar, throws the vestment before-mentioned over his hea|^ and lays it on the table. After the creed is sung, he goes%ilo the pul- Eit, and preaches in his surplice. After the siE^iii -is ovor, e returns to the altar, and resumes his vestmdri^^ We shall reckon amongst the number of tife ceremonies etill preserved amongst them, that of making use of wafers mstead of bread at the communion, on each of which there is the figure or impression of a crucifix. When the communi- cant has received, he &Us down on his knees before the altar in order to return God thanks for his spiritual refreshment : in 4. 410 rROTBSTANT OOMSVNITIB& ! t several places it is customary to congratulate each other on that joyful occasion. Two clerks, or two youn^ choristers, who attend at the altar, generally hold a white linen napkin befi>re the communicants, lest either through the carelessness of the pastor, who administers the communion, or the communi* cant himself, some part of the host should accidently hW upon the ground, or any part of the wine be spilt. As soon as the communion is over, the pastor sings a verse or two of some psalm suitable to the occasion, with an Hallelujah, to which the choir answers with another. The pastor afterwards continues to read some general thanksgivings, and the congregation, joining with the choir, answer, Amen. The Lutherans never administer the sacrament to infants; but it is customary amongst them to carry it to those who are sick, or on a death bed ; and this is the method Communion observed by them on those particular occasions, to the Sick. Ij^ gQ^jg places they make a kind of altar of the table which stands in the sick person's room, that is to say, they cover it with a piece of tapestry, or clean linen cloth, and set two lighted candles, or wax-tapers, upon it, and a crucifix between them with a paten and chalice, or utensils, or vessels appropriated to the like service. According to the discipline of^ the Lutherans, the communion ought to be ad- ministered in the presence of some of the party's relations and domestics ; but if the communicant should happen to have no such friends nor servants near him, then some neighbours ought to be invited to be witnesses to the celebration of it. The relations or friends of the sick person, are permitted, if they think proper, to partake with him of that holy ordinance, and for that purpose, they must have notice on the previous night, or some few hours at least, that they may be duly pre- Sared to join in that solemn act of devotion : the Lutherans not only carry this their private communion to those who are sick or dying, but to those persons likewise who are far advanced in years, and incapable of attending the public wor- ship. To these persons, the minister, who gives the com- munion to them, makes a serious exhortation, which may with propriety be called a domestic sermon, adapted to such private or domestic communion. Confession is looked on as highly necessary and expedient in all places where Lulheranism prevails. And in the short _ . . Lutheran catechism, there are several forms of Con ession. confession for the peculiar assistance and direction of those who have not capacity sufficient of themselves to reflect and contemplate as they ought on the nature of their sins ; such. LUTHERAN!. 411 for example, are those forms of confession principally intended for the spiritual improvement of masters and servants. In the in* troduction to these formularies, there is a discourse by way of dialogue between the penitent and the minister who takes his confession, beginning with the following address : Reverend and dear Sir, I humbly beseech you to take my confession, and for the love of Qod to pronounce the pardon and remission of my sins. If the penitent be not conscious to himself of his being guilty of any of the sins particularly specified in the formularies, he must mention such others as his conscience shall at that time accuse him of If he can think of none, which is morally im- possible, let him, says the catechism, mention no one in par- ticular, but receive the pardon and remission of his sins, on ma- king a general confession only. The same catechism informs us, that the confessor asks the penitent the following question, which beyond all doubt is introduced between the confession, and the absolution : Do not you firmly believe, that this abso- lution pronounced by me is an absolution from God himself? After the penitent has answered in the affirmative, the minister adds. Amen, or, So be it. In Denmark and Sweden, their form of excommunication is accompanied with very severe penance. The Danish ritual informs us, that the party excommunicated, when he first appears at church, is turned out with communica-** disgrace by the clerk of the parish, in the pre- tion. sence of the whole congregation. However, if the excommunication be of any long continuance, he is not ex- cluded from the privilege of attending public worship, and joining with the congregation in their sermons, and other acts of devotion ; but he is obliged to sit in a place appointed, and at some distance from them : and when the minister comes down from the pulpit, the clerk before-mentioned, who admits him, conveys him out of the church again. In regard to the Swedes, their form of excommunication is equally rigid and severe. Their discipline disclaims, in the same manner as that of all the other states in which Lutheranism prevails, every thing which has the least appearance of civil punish- ment. For according to the doctrine of the Lutherans in general, no minister ought to confound ecclesiastical penalties, that is to say, the exclusion of any of their members out of the congregation, and their prohibition, or withholding from them the holy communion, with those punishments, which none but the civil magistrates ought to inflict. The Lutherans baptize their children within a day or two after their birth. 4n case the infiint should prove too weak to 4lt PEOTBSTAMT COMMON ITIE8. Baptiam ^ carried to church, they baptize him at home, '^^' «t which ceremony one or two godfiuhers mint always attend. The exorcism is a ceremony still practised in some countries. Where the infant is in apparent danger of death, a layman and a midwife together may baptize it. By the ecclesiastical law of Saxony, a midwife is not permitted to baptize a dying child, till after she has found out some man to assist her. In&nts who are illegitimate, are not baptized in Denmark at the same time as those who are bora in wedlock. When a bastard is baptized, there is no oblation made on the altar. As to foundlings, their birth being only precarious and ' uncertain, they are baptized at church as other children ; and although, when they are taken up, there be a billet, or note, to in* timate that they have been baptized, yet, they are always bapti- zed again, because a testimony of that nature is deemed at best but dubious. Where the infant is not in apparent danger of death, they never baptize it till it be entirely weaned from the mother's breast. To conclude, they never baptize adult fools, nor lunatics, at least, till they are restored to tne free exercise of their rational faculties, and are capable of being instructed in the principles of the Christian religion. In Sweden, a fa- ther is under no obligation to attend at the baptism of his child, at least, he is not always required to be present. All le* gitimate children are baptized before divine service begins, but bastards after it is over. There are baptismal fonts in some of the Luthemn church- es, but not in all of them in general. In several of the Sa.\on churches, an angel, with a basin in his hand, descends from the ceiling by a private pulley, or some other secret spring, and presents the basin to the minister who is to baptize th« child. In other places, a table is brought out of the vestry and placed before the altar with a basin upon it. After the preliminary questions, which are merely formal, the minister makes a discourse, by way of exhortation. After which, he exorcises the devil in the form following : Get thee hence, thou unclean spirit, and make room for the Holy Ghost. The minister, at the same time, makes the sign of the cross upon the infant, saying unto him. Receive the sign of the cross, &c. and laying his hand upon him, reads the prayers, and repeats the exorcism. At the very instant the child is baptized, the minister asks the sureties for him. If he re- nounces the devil and all his works, and if he believes in God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, &c. After that, he baptizes him by a triple aspersion, in honour of the Sacred Trinity. The whole ceremony concludes with a prayer of he re- LVTHKRANf. 413 thanlughring, a benediction on the child, and an ejthortation to the niretiei. As to the form of confirmation observed by the Lutherans, a virgin of twelve years of age, or a youth of fourteen, is deemed duly qualified to receive the Lordi s Sup- ^ « pr, provided they have had a liberal education. ^°"*""*"°"- The first time of their admission to the holy communion i^ either at Easter or Michaelmaa Their pious intention is published three weeks before from the pulpit, and they are ac- cordinffly instructed, and examined twice a week during that interval, by way of preparation. Their ministers explain to them the duties incumbent on a communicant, and the spiritual benefits and advantages arising from the participation of that blessed sacrament, in short, they make their confession on Easter-Monday, and receive the communion the day following, sometimes in private, and sometimes in public, with the whole congregation. Such young communicants range themselves in the form of a semi-circle, by degrees, as they rise from the altar. After that act of devotion, the minister reads a prayer, and then addressing himself to the whole congregation, ac- quaints them, that those youths are ready, with an audible voice, to render a satisfactory account of the grounds and principles of the religion which they profess. He examines them accordingly ; and after they have fully answered all his queries, he spends some time in a suitable exhortation : the congregation sing a hymn, and then the ceremony concludes with a proper collect, and the general benediction. The Lutheran discipline, with respect to matrimony, is ex ceedingly uniform and regular. Luther composed a formu lary at first for that ordinance, from which there Marr"a«»« ce- has been afterwards no very material deviation, remoniesr It begins with their bans, and in order to the consummation of a marriage, where there is no lawi <;.: impe- diment, the parties present themselves at church beforo their pastor, who asks the bridegroom whether they be mutually agreed to enter that holy state, and thereupon they join their right hands, and make an exchange of their respective rings. Then the pastor proceeds in the words, or to the purport fol- lowing. A and B being desirous to enter into the holy state of matrimony before all this congregation here present, I do hereby declare them man and wife, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, &c. After that, he reads, or pm^iounces extempore at the altar, several texts of scripture, whicu are serious exhortations to those who are marriea, and the whole ceremony concludes with a prayer for the blessing 35* 414 PROTKITANT COMNUNITIBt. . of Qod on their futurn endeavours. This ia he form, aeeoTd* ing to Luther's directlOI^ and which is still observed to this day, so br as relates to the jurisdiction of the church in that particubr. In Saxonv, the mechanics, and those who may be called the inferior tradesmen, go to church to be married, attended bv a long train of their friends and acquointance, with a band of musicians before them. The same custom is observed, mure or less, in several other places ; and a ffreat degree of caprice and extravagance is every where blended with their nuptial ceremonies. In some of the northern provinces, as soon as the proper inquiries have been made witn respect to the bride groom, the fiither brings his daughter with an air of gravity to her suitor, saying to him at the same time, " I give you my daughter, that she may reverence and obey you, that she may be your wedded wife, that she may lie with you, be the keeper of your keys, and be put into possession of one third of your money and efiects." In several states of Germany, notwith* standmg it is customary for the parents of the new-married couple to defray the whole charges of their nuptials, yet all the guests who are invited thereto make presents to the bride, which for the most part are so valuable that the bride's rela- tions are so &r from being at any expense, that they are con- siderable gainers in the end. Whenever the married couple have lived in that state for twenty-five years together, their nuptials (at least as to the ex- ternal form) are revived ; which second marriage is called their silver nuptials. If the parties have cohabited for fifty years, they then solemnize their golden nuptials. In the ce- lebration both of the one and the other, the same gayety and amusements are observed as those at their first marriage. Persons of distinction, and those who are very rich, give me- dals to their friends at the celebration of the suver and golden nuptials. Their burials are always attended with singular testimo- nies of true piety and devotion ; and sometimes likewise with extraordinary pomp and magnificence. More- over, it is customary amongst them to make a funeral oration over the deceased without dis- tinction, be the party rich or poor, of the hig^st or the mean- est extraction. After the sermon is over an abstract of the life of the deceased is read in public. High encomiums are given of all those who have distinguished themselves by their exem- plary piety ; and if any of them have led loose and profligate lives, they never fail to publish the misdemeanors of the dead, Funeral cere- monies. eeord- tothit in thai lodthe id by a Mind of I, mure caprice nuptial Boon as B bride- avity to you my be may 5 keeper of your notwith- •married , yet all tie bride, ie's rela- are con* I state for o the ex- called for fifty n the ce- yety and larriage. Sive me- golden testimo* rise with More- make a out dis- lie mean- Lf the life Ire given bit cxem- krofligate the dead, LVTHIRANS. 415 IS for the benefit and amendment of their surviving friends and relations. It is customary, likewise, to make funeral proces- sions, and accompany the corpse to the ffrave singinff all the time some select hymns, or dirges, suitable to the solemn oc- casion. In some places, the principal magistrates, and other persons of respectability in the city, are invited to those pro- cessions, especially if the deceased were a person of distinc- tion ; and those who accompany the corpse to the grave, re- ceive an acknowledgment in proportion to their quality and degree. On the day appointed for the interment of the corpse, the relations, friends, and acquaintance of the deceased, meet at his house. One or more Lutheran pastors resort likewise to the same place attended by a train or young scholars, sometimes greater and sometimes less, with their masters at the head of them. These youth, in the first place, sing two or three hymns or dirges before the door of the deceased ; after which they march in the front of the procession ; having a large crucifix, or at least a cross carried before them. An inferior clerk, or some young scholar appointed for that purpose, marches close by the side of the corpse with a small cross, which is afterwards fixed in that part of the church-yard, where the body was interred. The relations and friends of the deceased follow the corpse ; the men first and the women after them. During the procession, the bells are ffenenlly tolled, out of respect and complaisance to the deceased, and se- veral hymns ana other dirges are sung as they march along. It is customary likewise, to open the coffin at the grave, and to take a last farewell, a last melancholy view of their depart- ed friend, and afterwards to nail his coffin up, singing at the same time a short hymn suitable to the occasion. After which the minister reads a proper collect, and pronounces the bene- diction. In the next plane, the procession enters the church, where there is generally a funeral sermon, either out of re- spect to the deceased, ut the request of his friends, or by his own immediate direction. As soon as the corpse is let down into the grave, the minis- ter throws a small quantity of earth upon it three times suc- cessively : at the first he says. Of the dust of the ground wast thou born : at the second. To dust shalt thou return : and at the third. Out of the dust shalt thou rise again. After that, the bearers fill up the grave. The funeral oration is pronounced immediately after the interment, if the relations be willing to defray the expense of it, or if the deceased have left any le- gacy or devise in his will for that purpose. 20 ;i| 416 PEOTItTANT COMMVNITIft* •10. II. — OHVRCH or KHOLAKD/ Tub church of England dates its origin from the time of the Reformation, when Henry Vlli. shook oflf the popis's authority, and took upon himself the title of Origin. .. ffgf^^ of the Church:' as he had been pre- viously dignified by his holiness with that of *' Defender of the Faith. The last of these titles, which are hereditary in the Crown of England, was obtained as a reward for a book the king had written on the Seven Sacraments against Luther's book, " Of the Captivity of Babylon." The first title was an assumed one ; but soon obtained legal sanction by the consent of the nation at large ; taken up because the pope refused to sanction Henry's divorce from Clueen Catherine, his affections having been transferred to Anne Boleyn. The Archbishop of Canterbury, who took upon himself toannuj the former marriage, was solemnly condemned by the pope ; and Henry, out of revenge, annulled his connexion with, and threw off his obedience to, the papal see. He became supreme head of the church himself, and ne may be said to have been the founder of the church of England. Its principles, how- ever, are grounded on those of the Reformation, having, in many respects, a resemblance to the Lutheran tenets and practice. The religious tenets or doctrines of this church are to be found in the book of Homilies, consisting of short moral and Doctrines doctrinal discuurses, and in the Thirty-Nine Ar- ticles, which, with the three Creeds and Cate- chism, are inserted in the Book of Common Prayer. Con- cerning some of the doctrines professed by the church of England, her members are not agreed : u very ffreat majority of tne clergy insisting upon it that the church is not cal- vinistic, in regard to the doctrine of predestination, irre- sistible grace, and the final perseverance of the saints; whilst a very respectable and increasing portion of the clergy and laity maintain, with great confidence, that the 17th article roundly and plainly asserts the great and important doctrine of predestination, as taught by Calvin and the first reformers. The warm, not to say acrimonious, disputes which this difference of construction put upon the articles has occa- sioned, have tended to increase the number of dissenters. • For a brief notice of the Epiicopnl Church in the United StatM, ser the coneluiion of thi« seetion GHVRGH or BNOLANO. 417 L> ol rof pre- iroj y in book aiiist first )nby poptf erine. The lul the d ; and li, and ipreme re been B, bow- ing, in Bts and re to be iral and ine At- d Cate- Con- iurch of lajorilV Inot cal- |>n, irre- i; whilst frgy and article I doctrine kformers. Uch this us occa- Utb. IsutM, ter Two archbithopa are at the head of the Engliih hiemrchy, (hoae of Canterbu ry a nd of Yor k both sty le themael vet primatet ; and in order to reconcile the difference, it was decided, that the archbishop of Canterbury should be called li«h Hie- „ -- , and aa such oi) the day of his coronation, he puts on a surplice, a stole, and a dalmatic. When a bishopric becomes vacant, the canons of the cathedral give notice of it to the king, and desire his leave to choose another. His majesty, at the same time that he sends the conge d'elire, recommends the indivi- dual whom it is his will they should elect; and then the dean and chapter choose the person so named. The bishop so chosen is consecrated, installed, renders homage to the king, takes the oath, and pays the first fruits. The other preroga* tives which the king enjoys, as head of the church, are, to make ordinances respecting ceremonies and exterior rites, with the advice of the ecclesiastical commissioners, or of the metropolitan; to call or proroffue the convocation; and to enact the decrees of synods into Taws. But all this still leaves him in the state and condition of a lay head, and the profes- sion of faith says, that the supreme governing of all the states of the kingdom, whether ecclesiastical or spiritual, in all causes whatever, belongs to him, yet so that he is not invested with a power to preach the word of God, or administer the sacra- ments. The bishop is superior to a priest, and a priest to a deacon. The essential office of a deacon is to see that the wants of the poor be supplied, to assist the priest (or minister) onlination of at the communion service, to bless those who Deacons, present themselves to be married, to baptize, to bury the dead, to preach, and to read to the people the holy scriptures, or the homilies. Their ordination consists first in n sermon or exhortation preached to them, which beinff con- cluded, the archdeacon, or whoever officiates in his stead, pre- sents them to the bishop, who inquires of the said archdeacon, whether he has examined them ond found them deserving ; he then directs his speech to the congregation present, both to know if there be any existing impediment to the election, and to recommend the candidates to the prayers of the congrega- tion. After some prayers and litanies, the third chapter of St. Paul's first epistle to Timothy, from v. 8 to the end of that chapter, is read to the deacons, or chapter vi. of the Acts of the Apostles, from v. 2 to 8. Then they take the oath of supre- ,'* AtS^ PROTtt«tilfNt bonitffii^i%9. i maey, waA imooffat beveiral questions put to them, the bishop asks> them, whe^er they have in them an interior call from the Holy Ohbst lea8e thee to illuminate all bishops, &c. the following prayer is in- serted : That it may please thee to bless this our orother elect- ed, and to send thy grace upon him, that he may duly execute the office whereunto he is called, to the edifying of thy church, &c. The people answer, We beseech thee to hear us, &c. The litany enos with a prayer, after which the archbishop, .sitting in his chair, says to him that is to be oonaecratoa, " Brother, forasmuch as the holv scripture and the ancient 420 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. = canons command, that we should not be hasty in laying on hands, and admitting any person to government in the church of Christ, which he nas purchased with no less price than the effusion of his own blood ; before I admit you to this adminis* tration, I will examine you," &c. The question ends with a prayer, which is followed by the hymn of the Holy Ghost, or the veni creator, said or sung, at the end of which, the arch< bishop says another long prayer. Then the archbishop and bishops present, lay their hands upon the head of the elected bishop, the archbishop saying : Receive the Holy Ghost ; and remember that thou stir up the grace of God' which is given thee by this imposition of our hands, &c. Still keep- mg one hand on the head of the bishop elect, with the other he delivers him the Bible, saying. Give heed unto reading, exhortation, and doctrine, think upon the things contained in this book, &c. Be to the flock of Christ a shepherd, not a wolf; hold up the weak ; be so merciful ; so minister disci- pline, &c. Then the archbishop and the new bishops, with others, receive the communion : and the whole ceremony con- cludes with a prayer by way of collect to desire Almighty God to pour down his blessing on the new bishop. English bishops have their own vicars, and officials, in each diocess ; but the officials are more known in England by the name of chancellors. These are the true and chief officials, but there are some commissioners who are often mis- taken for them. Their archdeacons, who in ancient times were only the first among deacons, are now in the English churclv above priests. Bishops are called reverend, arch- bishops most reverend, archdeacons venerable: common priests have no title bestowed upon them. The archdeacon's chiei function is to visit the diocess by procuration in default of the bishop or vicar, at least once in three years. The chief ornament, by which churchmen are distinguished from the laity, is the surplice : the minsters of the church of England are to put it on Avheneverthey administer any sacra- ment, and on several oth'°r occasions, the particulars of which we need not mention. Bishops, deans, canons in cathedral churches, wear a cope besides the surplice, and are to put it on at the communion service, administration of sacraments, or any other religious function, which is to be performed with solemnity. No one can be made a deacon before twenty-three, nor a priest before twenty-four, nor a bishop before thirty. Some pastors, either priests or ministers, have the title of rectors, as belonging to such churches, which at the Reformation, were CHURCH or ENGLAND. 481 Divine Ser- vice. independent of any monastery. Others are only vicars, but for life. Lastly, some are barely curates, without any bene- fice, and receive their scanty salary from the rectors or bishops. The convocation of the clergy is a kind of parliament, the archbishops and bishops are the upper house; the lower is composed of the infenor clergy, viz. twenty-six deans, sixty archdeacons, five hundred andf seventy-six canons, besides curates and deacons. They meet upon the concerns of the church, tithes, raising taxes, ecclesiastical laws, which must afterwards be approved by the king and parliament. They hold likewise national synods, which keep an exact correspon- dence in all their deliberations, and make no absolute defini- tion, but with a unanimous consent. The customs established in the performance of divine ser- vice, and appointed by the English liturgy, are ; that all prices and deacons are required to say daily the morn- ing and evening prayers. The order of both is the same. They begin with several passa- ges of scripture, whicn the minister says aloud. These passages are followed by an exhortation to prepare for the general confession of sins, which is said kneeling, by the mi- nister and the whole congregation : this ceremony is as ancient as St. Basil, and was not then peculiar to his diocess, but uni- versally practised in the whole church. The absolution is pro- nounced by the priest standing, the people still kneeling ; for receiving forgiveness requires a humble posture, but forgiving shows authority. The church of England uses three different forms of absolution, one in the morning and evening prayer, another at the visitation of the sick, and a third at the com- munion service. After the absolution, the priest and congre- gation, all kneeling, say the Lord's prayer, which is followed by some responses, a psalm, some lessons out of the Old Tes- tament, as set down m the calendar at the beginning of the liturgy, the singing or reciting the Te Deum or Benedicite omnia ; another lesson out of the New Testament, a hymn, or a psalm : the creed said or sung, to which the people stand ; the Lord's prayer a second time ; several responses, three col- lects, a prayer for the king and queen, another for the royal family, a third for the clergy, St. Chrysostom's prayer, and the blessing. The rubric says, that the minister must stand when he reads the lessons, and turn himself towards the con- gregation, that he may be heard the better: this is very ra- tional, for those lessons, the decalogue, &c. are an instruction^ to the people: but when he addresses himself to God by 36 482 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. prayer, by saying or singing a psalm, or by confession, he must then turn from the people and look towards the upper 1^ of the chancel, which is the chief and most reverential part of ^e church. Hymns and psalms are sung or said in a standing posture, as an evident token that the hearts of the people are raised to Qod with joy : the same situation is kept at the singing or saying the creed, to show how ready they are to make an open profession of their faith, to give an ac> count of it, to justify and defend it. Betwixt the creed and the Lord's prayer repeated a second time, the priest says. The Lord be with you.. The people answer. And with your spirit. We shall not trouble our readers with the various expositions of the oremus, the short litany, and the responses : but we cannot omit, that the collects are said to bd so named because the priest said them when the whole assembly was met, or because the devotion of all the faithful w^as collected or joined to ofier that prayer to God, or because the priest unites several petitions into one, or lastly, because it is a collection of several short sentences of scripture. The prayers, collects, and lessons, often vary, on some days, as Christmas, Epiphany, &c. The Athanasian creed is said or sung instead of that of the apostles or of Nice. Sunday morn* ing, Wednesday, and Friday, the long litany is said or sung. Particular prayers are said likewise on special occasions, as for rain, for hit weather, for a time of famme, or great dearth, for success in war, against popular commotions, epidemic or contagious distempers ; every day also in ember weeks, for those who are to be ordained, for the parliament whilst it sits ; which prayers are all either to obtain mercy from God, or to give him thanks for favours received. Sunday is a day which all Christians keep with great solemnity ; but none more than the English ; the gravity, de- cency, regularity, and outward devotion, which are apparent throughout the kingdom on that day, are worthy of commend- ation. The communion is one of the principal sacraments of the church of England, for which purpose the altar, for this name 18 often given by the members of the church ol Administra- England to the communion table, ought to have a clean white linen cloth upon it, and to stand in the body of the church, or in the chancel, where morning and evening prayers are appointed to be said. At all other times the said table is covered with a silk carpet, and set in a decent place altar-wise. The priest, standing at the north side of the table, says the Lord's prayer, with a collect. tion of Sacra- ments. CHURCH OF ENOtAMD. 428 or for to de- rent bnd- the [me ol ive in ?re ill I set Ithe pet, then ruhearses distinctly the ten commandments, after each, ihe people kneeling, say, " Lord have mercy on us, and incline our hearts to keep this law." This is followed by a collect for the king, which the priest says standing ; the collect of the day, the epistle, and ffospel, at which last the people stand, as they do likewise at the sinsing or reciting the Nicene or Constantinopolitan creed, which is done immediately after the gospel. , Tnen the curate declares unto the people what ho- lydays and fasting days are in the week following to be observed ; and, if occasion be, publishes the bans of matri- mony, reads briefs, citations, and excommuni' ations, and nothmg is proclaimed or published in the church during the time of divine service but by the minister; nor by him, any thing but what is prescribed in the rules, or enjomed by the king, or by the ordinary of the place. Then follows the sermon, which being ended, alms are taken for the poor, or other purposes ; this is followed by prayers and exhortations, after which the priest stands up before the table, and having so ordered the bread and wine that he may with the more readiness and decency break the bread before the people, and take the cup into his hands, says the prayer of consecration, which begins the third part of the communion service ; the wording of it is very remarkable, and runs thus : " Hear us, O merciful Father, and grant that we, receiving these thy creatures of bread and wine, according to Jesus Christ's holy institution, in remembrance of his death and passion, may be partakers of his most blessed body and blood, who in the samenighf that he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, take, eat, this is my body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me. Likewise after supper, ne took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying. Drink ye all of this, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you, for the remission of sins. Do this as oft as ye shall drink it in remembrance of me." The priest first receives the communion in both kinds himself, then proceeds to deliver the same to the bishops, priests, and deacons (if any be present;) and after that, to the people also in order into their hands, all meekly kneeling. They receive it in their hands, because the custom of re- ceiving it in their mouths from the priest's hand, savours tor much of transubstantiation. The priest says a prayer when he gives the bread, and another when the cup is 20* given to any one. If the consa- ■*- 424 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. I i I crated bread or wine be exhausted before all have commu* nicated, the priest is to consecrate more. If, on the contrary, there remains any when all have communicated, the minister returns to the Lord's table, and reverently places upon it what remains of the consecrated elements, covering the same with a clean linen cloth. Here begins the fourth and last part of the communion service. The Lord's prayer is said by the minister, the people repeating after him every petition ; then follows another form of thanksgiving, after which, "Glory to be to Qod on high," a hymn to which antiquity has given the appellation of angelical. The whole service is concluded, by the priest, (or bishop, if he be present,) dismissing the con- gregation with a blessing. The rubric says, that it is most convenient baptism should not be administered, but upon Sundays, and other holydays, |. . when the greatest number of people are assem- ap ism, ^j^j . ^^ ^^gjj ^^^ ^^^^ jj^g congregation there present may testify the receiving of them that be newly bap- tized into the number of Christ's church ; as also because m the baptism of infants, every man present may be put in remem- brance of his own profession made to God in his baptism, or that made for them by their godfathers or godmothers. Neverthe- less (if necessity so require) children may be baptized on any other day. Every male child must have two godfathers and one godmother ; and every female one godfather and two god- mothers ; who, with the children, must be ready at the font immediately after the last lesson of the morning, or evening" prayer. The priest coming to the font, which is then tr ,e filled with pure water, and standing there, asks the usual question, exhorts the people to pray, says two prayers for the child, reads a gospel, (Mark x. 13, and following,) explains it, gives God thanks, tells the godfathers and godmothers their duty, receives their renouncing the devil, and repeats with them the profession of faith; after which, and a few more prayers, he takes the child into his hands, desires the god- fathers and godmothers to name the child ; and then naming it after them, he sprinkles it with the water, saying, N. I bap- tize thee, &c. The ceremony ends with the minister's signing the child with the cross, saying the Lord's prayer, giving thanks to God, and a second charge to the godfathers and godmothers. As to the ministration of baptism to those who are of riper years, and able to answer for themselves ; first, they are ex- amined whether they be sufficiently instructed in the princi- ples of the Christian religion; then, they are exhorted to pre- CUUKCII OF KNOLAND. 425 mintt- itrary, inister t what e with part of by the i; then ;iory to von the icluded, the con- 1 should olydays, e assem- )n there wly bap- jcause in n remem- m, or that Neverthe- yd on any thers and i two god- t the font r evenin? hen tr .e the usual :rs for the xplains it, hers their )eats with few more } the god- in naming N. I bap- ,'s signing er, giving ithers and Ire of riper ley are ex- Ithe princi- ked to pre- pare themselves with prayers and fiistings for the receiving of this holv sacrament. If they be found fit, the godfethers and (pdmothers present them at the font on the day, and at the time appointed. The ^odfothers and godmothers are not to answer, as they did in infant baptism, for the persons christ- ened, in quality of their spiritual Others or mothers ; they rather are present as witnesses only. The priest directs his discourse and exhortations to the persona baptized, prays for them, and with them ; they themselves renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of this worid, with all covetous desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the ^esh. They make their profession of faith ; after which, and some few prayers said by the minister, he takes each person to be baptized by the right hand, and placing him conveniently by the font, he dips him in the water, or pours water upon him, saying, N. I baptize thee, &c. Then he receives them into the church, signs them with the cross, gives thanks to God, and ends with a short exhortation, first to the godfathers and fifodmothers, then to the person baptized ; recommending it to him to be confirmed by the bishop so soon after his bap- tism as conveniently may be, that so he may be admitted to the holy communion. In the church of England, as amongst Catholics, the bishops are sole ministers of the religious ceremony of confirmation. The short catechism, which every person is to confirmation learn before he is brought to be confirmed by the bishop, is to be seen in the book of common prayer. The church of England orders, that, for the instruction of the faithful beginners, •• The curate of every parish shall diligently upon Sundays and holydays, after the second les- son at evening prayer, openlv in the church instruct and ex- amine so many children of his parish sent unto him, in the catechism. All fathers, mothers, masters, or mistresses, shall cause their children, servants, and apprentices, who have not learned their catechism, to come to the church at the time appointed, and obediently to hear, and be ordered by the curate, until such time as they have learned all that is ap- pointed for them to learn. The children who are sufiiciently Instructed, shall be brought to the bishop, and every one shall have a godfather or a godmother, as a witness of their con- firmation. All being placed and standing in order before the bishop, he or some other minister appointed by him shall read what is called, the preface of Confirmation, which briefly ex- plains the nature and end of it ; then he makes them renew and confirm the promises which were made for them by their 36* 436 PROTBITAMT COMIIVNITIES. god&then and godmothera at baptism, and prays for them, thai they may reoeiTe the gifts of the Holy Ghost ; then all of them kneeliDjg in order before the bishop, he lays his hand upon the head of every one severally, says another prayer, the Lord's grayer, and two collects, and dismisses them by giving his lessing. According to the ritual of the church of England, the bans of all those who are to be married, must be published in the -. . church three several Sundays or holydays, in the Marriage, ^j^^ ^ divine service, immediately before the sentence of the ofiRsrtory. The form of asking is too well known to require being set down. If the persons who are to be married dwell in divers parishes, the bans must be asked in both parishes ; and the curate of the one parish shall not solemnize matrimony, without a certificate of^ the bans being thrice asked from the curate of the other parish. At the day and time appointed for the solemnization of matrimony, the persons to be married shall come into the body of the church, with their friends and neighbours, and there standing together, the man on the right hand, and the woman on the left, the priest reads an exhortation on the duty, condition, and chastity of a married state ; then another particularly directed to the persons who are to be married. At which day of inarriage, if any man do allege or declare anjr impediment, why they may not be coupled together in matrimony, by Gh>d's law, or the laws of the realm, and will be bound, and sufficient sureties with him, to the parties, or else put in a caution (to the full value of such charges, as tiie persons to be married do hereby sustain) to prove his allegation : then the solemnization must be deferred until such time as tne truth be tried. If no impe- diment be alleeed, then the curate asks their mutual consent ; which being oeclared, they give their troth to each other, taking alternately each other by the right hand, and saying, " I, N. take thee N. to be my wedded wife, (or husband,) to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness md in health, to love and to cherish (the wife says to love, cherish, and obey) till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance, and thereto I plignt thee my troth." Then they again loose their hands, and the man shall give unto the woman a ring, laying the same upon the book, with the accustomed dues to tne priest and clerk. And the priest takin? the ring, shall deliver it unto the man to put upon the fourth finger of the woman's left hand, and the man, taught by the priest, shall say, " With this img I thee wed, with my body I thee worship," &c. Both '^nroh of England Marriage, p. 426 \! ^ -3 ^^^- -— ^- ~r^ -:-^ 1 ■■9 1 ^ Church of England Funeral, p. 428. Barial of th« CHVROH or KNOLAMV. 4tf kneel down, the minister says a prayer, joins theiif hands to* gether, and adds a blessing ; then going to the Lord's table, say or sing a psalm, which being ended, the man and the woman kneeling before the Lord's tabic, the priest standing at the table, says a litany, followed by some prayers, and an instruction concerning the duties of man and wife, and so con* eludes. Only the rubric adds, that it is convenient the new-mar* ried persons should receive the holy communion at the time of their marriage, or at the first opportunity after their marriage. The last religious ceremony of the English liturgy is the burial of the dead. In the order for that service, it is noted, first, " That it is not for any that die unbaptized, or excommunicated, or have laid violent hands n^' upon themselves." The priest and clerk, meet* inff the corpse at the entrance of the church-yard, and goinc before it either into the church or towards the grave, say, " I am the resurrection and the life," &c. (John, chap. xi. ver. 25.) with some other sentences of scripture. In the church some suitable psalms are read or sung, with a lesson adapted to that ceremony. When they are come to the grave, and are pre- paring everv thing to put the body into the earth, the priest and his cleric say or sing, " Man that is born of a woman, &c. Earth is then cast upon the body* and some prayers are said, in one of which Qod is desired to grant " that we, with all those that are departed in the true faith, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in glory." As soon as any one has breathed his last, the minister of the EBirish, and those who have in charge to visit dead bodies, must ave notice given them ; this was ordered to be done immediately after the great plague which YmaiSa^ raged in London in the year 1 665, that it might be found out if any distemper proved contagious, and proper precau- tions taken to prevent its spreading. This visit is commonly performed by two women ; the clerk of the parish receives their attestation, and an abstract of it is printed every week, by which the public are informed how many died in the week, of what distemper, or by what accident. An act of parlia- ment, made for the encouragement of the woollen manufac- tory, ordains that all corpses shall be buried in flannel, without any allowance for linen, but the flannel may be as fine as they think fit. Those shrouds are either bespoken or bought ready made, and most linen drapers have some by them of all sizes and prices. The corpse being washed very clean, and tnaved if it oe that of a man, they put on it a flannel shirt, the tleeves of which are ruffled and plaited, with another tufted ] . ece of 428 mOTBITANT COMMUNIflEt. the tame stuff which corera the opening of the shirt upon the breast. The ahirt must bo above half a foot longer than the corpse when extended at full length, that the feet of the decea> sed may be put into it as in a bag, which when performed it is tied with woollen, so as to look nice a tuft. They add to this a cap, with a large chin-cloth tied to the cap, a cravat and gloves, all woollen. Some put a large quantity of oran at the bottom. Oi the coffin. Instead of a cap the women have head-clothes with a forehead-cloth. Some coffins are exceedingly fine. When the corpse is in it, they make a second visit, to see whether it be all in nonnel, and no linen or even thread, except woollen, employ- ed about it. The bod^ lies so three or lour dayo, and all that time is allowed to provide mourning and prepare for the funeral. The palls are provided by the undertakers ; some of black velvet, some of black cloth, oorderod either with white satin, or linen, or taiiety, about a foot long. It is so large, that it covers not only the coffin, but likewise the men who carry it upon their shoulders, and still hangs low enough to be sumiorted by the pall-bearers, either men or women, according to tne sex of the person who is to be buried, and they have gloves, hat-bands, and sometimes scarfs, black or white, given them. When every thinff is ready, two men, called mutes, go first, and they are immemately fotlowed by the corpse and pall-bearers ; the chief mourners and other persons invited, two and two, close the procession. Generally they ffo into the church, in the midale of which, the body being placed upon two tressels, the :iervice for the dead appointed for that occasion is said. If the body be not buried in the churc h, they carry it to the church-yard belonging to it, and put it into the ground before the whole com- pany, who seldom depart till the earth be again thrown in. In respect to the Episcopal Church in the United States, it may be briefly stated m this place, that in her rites and ceremo- nies she copies those of the mother church in Episcopal England, with those necessary variations, which arise from a different form of civil government, under which its members live, &c. The Eng- lish common prayer book is adopted, with the omission of the Athanasian creed, and some other alterations, to conform it to the peculiar state of the church. Subscription to the ar tides is not re(|uired by candidates for holy orders. The num ber of bishops is fifteen ; the number of their clergymen is esti mated at five thousand and ninety-six ; and their churches a' nine hundred and twenty-two. The episcopal establishment ir the United States has no archb';hops, nor lord bishops, archdea cons, deans, prebends, canons, n.ir vicars. The bishops are elect Church in the United States. rm It |e ar Inum esti kcs a* pntir idea ;lect VTRK OV SCOTLAND. ed by th« conveiuion of the dioceM. Their biihopt hare no epkcopal palacet, but dwell in their own hired houNi; nor epiaeopal revenuei. being pojitora of congreffationt, ai are the other clergy, and, like them, supported by the eontributioni of thoM who eiqoy their in.'fructions. When they travel through their diocesa, the churches they visit pay their eipensea. The bishops have no patronage, nor can they, by individual au> thoritv, appoint or remove any minister. No person has the gift or " parish" or " living ;" it depends on the choice of the people. Some churches leave the appointment of the minister to the vestrymen, who are annually selected by the pew hold* era ; others select him by the ballot of the whole congregation. It is entirely left to the clergymen who shall be admitted to the ordinances : but their discipline varies in the different states. This church is governed by a general convention, which sits once in three years, divided into an upper and lower house ; the former is composed of the bishops of the different states, and the latter of a portion of the cler^ and laity from the several diocesses. All motions may originate in eitner house ; although the concurrence of the majority of both must be ob- tained before they pass into a law. SEC. III. — KIRK OF SCOTLAND.* The conversion of the Scots to the Christian faith began through the ministry of Paladius, about the year 430, and from the first establishment of Christianity in that country till the Reformation in the reign of Mary, inddem"* mother of James I. and of Mary I. of England, their church government was episcopacy ; but the Presbyte- rian discipline was not finally established in Scotland until the reign of King William and Mary, A. D. 1689, when episcopacy was totally abolished. The Westminster Confes- sion of Faith was then received as the standard of the national creed ; which all ministers, and principals and professors in universities, are obliged to subscribe as the confession of their faith, before receiving induction into office. The church of Scotland is remarkable for its uncommon simplicity of worship ; it possesses no liturgy, no altar, no in- strumental music, no surplice, no fixed canon- Worship.— ical vestment of any kind. It condemns the Ministerial worship paid to ;saints, and it observes no fes- P*'«ty, dec • The word Kirk is of Saxon origin, and signifies Church ; or, ac- cording to others, it is a contraction of the Qreek word, meaning the HouMofGod. .s* ^^•*.-,/>. iii4. 430 PROTESTANT C0MMUNITIK8. tival days. Its ministers enjoy a parity of rank and of authority ; it enforces that all ministers, being ambassadors of Christ, arc equal in commission ; that there is no order in the church as established by the Saviour, superior to presbyters; and that bishopiand presbyter, though difierent words, are of the same import. It acknowledges no earthly head : its judicatories are quite distinct from, and independent of) any civil judicatory ; insomuch, indeed, that the decisions oi the one are often con- trary to those of the other, yet both remain unaffected and un- altered When, for example, a clergyman has been present- ed to a parish by a patron, and induction and ordination have followed on that presentation, if afterwards it be found that the patron, who had given the presentation, has not that right, and that it belongs to another, the clergyman may be ejected as to all the temporalities of the office ; but quoad sacra, he may continue minister of the parish, and exercise all the sacred functions : and though a new presentee may obtain a right to the civil endowments of the benefice, he can perform none ot the sacred duties, while the other chooses to avail himself o: this privilege. There are four ecclesiastical judicatories, — ^namely, the Kirk Session, the Presbytery, the Synod, and the General Assembly, from each of which there is a power of appeai Indicatories. ^^ jj^^ ^^j^g^ . ^^^ jj^^ decision of the General As- sembly is supreme. The lowest court is the Kirk Session, which is composed oi the minister of the parish, who is the moderator or president of it, and a number of the most grave and re- Kirk Session, gpectable laymen, members of the congregation. Their number varies in different parishes, five or six being about the average number; and their services are entirely gratuitous. They are something like church wardens in Eng- land, only they have a spiritual jurisdiction, as it is a part of their duty to visit the sick, &c. The Kirk Session takes cog- nizance of cases of scandal, such as fornication, sabbath break- inw, profane swearing. It also manages the funds of the poor, a duty in which it formerly was assisted by deacons, a class o." men inferior to elders, as they had no spiritual jurisdiction, but not being found necessary, they are consequently disused. The Presbytery, which is the court next in dignity, is com- posed of the ministers of a certain district, with an elder from p , each parish. The number of presbyteries is res y cry. ggyenty-eight. Their chief duty consists in the management of such matters as concern the church within heir respecjve bounds. But they may originate any matter, KIRK OF SCOTLAND. 481 and bring it under the view of the Synod cr General Assem- bly. They have also the superintendence of education, within their bounds, such as the induction of teachers, and the exami nation of schools. The Synod is the next intermediate court. There are fifteen synods, each consisting of the clergymen of a certain num- ber of presbyteries, with elders, as in presby- teries. Presbyte ries meet generally once a-montn ; Synod. 8ynod.s twice a-year, though some remote synods, such as that of Argyle, only once. The General Assembly is the last and supreme court, and meets yearly in the month of May, in Edinburgh, and con- tinues its sitting for twelve days. The king presides by his representative, who is always a sembrv ' nobleman, and is denominated the Lord High Commissioner. The General Assembly is a representative court, consisting of 200 members, representing presbyteries, and 156 elders representing burghs or presbyteries, and five ministers or elders representing universities, — making alto- gether 36 1 members. They choose a moderator or president, out of their own number, distinct from the Royal Commis- sioner, the duty of the latter consisting merely in convening and dissolving the court, and in forming the medium of com- munication between it and the throne. The moderator is now always a clergyman, though previously to 1688 laymen sometimes held that office. The duties of the Scotch clergy are numerous and labo- rious. They officiate regularly in the public worship of God; and, in general, they must so through this duty ^ . , . *• a A I 1-1 r4U Duties of the twice every Sunday, (exclusively of other occa- gco^cj, clergy. sional appearances,) delivering every Sunday a lecture, and a sermon, with prayers. It is also expected, throughout Scotland, that the prayers and discourses shall be of the minioier's own composition ; and the prayers, in all cases, and the discourses in most instances, are delivered v/ith- out the use of papers. They are expected to perform the al- ternate duties of examining their people from the scriptures and catechisms of the church, and of visiting them from house to house, with prayers and exhortations. This is done com- monly once in the year, being omitted only in those cases in which the ministers deem it impracticable, or not acceptable, or at least not necessary. — The charge of the poor devolves, in a very particular manner, on the clergy and in them also is vested the superintendence of all schools within their bounds. Baptism in this church is practised by nonr but ministers, J S2 PRQTB8T;^)NT C01^||IVNIT»«. -^^ who do it by sprinkling ; and whether performed K *»•!*>"»• iii private or in public, it is almost always pre- ceded by a sermon. The Lord's Supper is not administered so frequently in Scotland as in some other places. Some time before this takes -., a place, it is announced from the pulpit. The week jLow I sup- j^gfQ^g^ j|jg ijjyjj sessions meets, and draws up a ' list of all the communicants in the parish, ac- cording to the minister's examination-book, and the testimony of the elders and deacons. According to this list, tickets are delivered to each communicant, if desired, and the ministers and elders also give tickets to strangers who bring sufficient testimonials. None are allowed to communicate without such tickets, which are produced at the table. Those who never received, are instructed by the minister, and by themselves, in the nature of the sacraments, and taught what is the proper preparation thereunto. The Wednesday or Thursday before there is a solenm fiist, and on the Saturiuy there are two pre- paratory sermons. On Sunday morning, after singing and prayer as usual, the minister of the parish preaches a suitable sermon ; and when the ordinary worship is ended, he in the name of Jesus Christ forbids the unworthy to approach, and invites the penitent to come and receive the sacrament Then he goes into the body of the church, where one or two tables, according to its width, are placed, reaching from one end to the other, covered with a wnite linen cloth, and seats on both sides for the communicants. The minister places himself at the end or middle of the table. After a short discourse, he reads the institution, and blesses the elements ; then he breaks the bread, and distributes it and the wine to those that are next him, who transmit them to their neighbours; the elders and deacons attending to serve, and see that the whole is perform- ed with decency and order. Whilst these communicate, the minister discourses on the nature of the sacrament; and the whole is concluded with singing and prayer. The minis- ter then returns to the pulpit, and preaches a sermon. The morning-service ended, the congregation are dismissed for an hour ; after which the usual afternoon worship is performed. On the Monday morning, theris is public worship with two sermons ; and these, properly speaking, close the communion- service. No private communions are allowed in Scotland. Marriage is solemnized nearly after the manner of the church of England, with the exception of the ring, which is Marrian. ^©emed a great relic of " popery." By the laws ^^ of Scotland, the marriage-knot may be tied with- KIRK / -•• ■■ ■> •; '. f. i :-t:-!"2- OF SCOTLAND. fl ler performed t always pre- freqaently in fore this takes it. The week 1 draws up a be parish, ac- the testimony st, tickets are the ministers ing sufficient without such le who never hemselves, in is the proper ursday Derore are two pre- singing and lies a suitable led, he in the ipproach, and tnent Then >r two tables, m one end to seats on both es himself at discourse, he en he breaks that are next le elders and is perform- lunicate, the ament ; and The minis- rmon. The lissed for an performed, ip with two communion- Scotland, iner of the ig, which IS By the laws )e tied with- out any ceremony of a religious nature : a simple promise m the presence of witnesses, or a known previous co-habitation», being sufficient to bind the obligation. That inost ridiculous, often immoral, and almost always injurious practice, of mar- rying at Gretna-Green, is still in use, where a blacksmith performs the ceremony according to the rites of the church I , The Funeral ceremony is performed in total silence. The corpse is carried to the grave and there interred without a word being spoken on the occasion. Dr. Evans, in his usual liberal strain, gives the following account of the Seceders. " Dissenters from the kirk, or church of Scotland, call them- selves Seceders ; for, ns the term Dissenter comes from the Latin word dissentio, to differ, so the appellation ^^ Seceder is derived from another Latin word, seec' do, to separate or to withdraw from any body of men with which we may have been united. The secession arose from various circumstances, which were conceived to be great de- fections from the established church of Scotland. The Sece- ders are rigid Calvinists, rather austere in their manners, and severe in their discipline. Through a difference as to civil matters, they are broken down into Burghers and Anti- burghers. Of these two classes the latter are the most con- tined in their sentiments, and associate therefore the least with any other body of Christians. The Seceders originated under two brothers, Ralph and Ebenezer Erskine, of Sterling, about the year 1730. It is worthy of observation, that the Rev. George White£eld, in one of his visits to Scotland, was solemnly reprobated by the Seceders, because he refused to confine his itinerant labours wholly to them. The reasoft assigned for this monopolization was, that they were exclusively God's people ! Mr. Whitefield smartly replied, that they had, there- fore, the less need of his services, for his aim was to turn sin- ners from the error and wickedness of their ways, by preach- ing among them glad tidings of great joy I " The Burgess' oath, concerning which the Seceders differed, is administered in several of the royal boroughs of Scotland, and runs thus : ' I protest before God and your lordships, that I profess and allow with my heart the true relimon presently professed within this realm, and authorized by the laws there- of; I shall abide thereat and defend the same to iny life's end, renouncing the Roman religion called papistry.' The Messrs. Erskine and others maintained thera was no iticonsistency in Seceders taking this oath, because the established religion was still the true r^igion, in spite of the &uhs attaching to it, and 87 ^1 i'i Ih K- r: 484 rROTXSTAMT COMMVNITIKS. hence were called Burghers. Messrs. Moncriefij and others, thought the swearing to the religion as professed and autho* rized was approving the corruptions, therefore the oath was inconsistent and not to be taken ; hence anti-burghers. The kirk of Scotland, both parties say, still perseveres in a course of defection from her professed principles, and there- fore the secession continues, and is increasing to the present day. (See an Historical account of the Rise and Progress of the Secession, by the late Rev. John Brown, of Haddington.) The Seceders are strict Presbyterians, having their respective associate synods, and are to be found not only in Scotland, but also in Ireland and in the United States of America. Both classes have had amongst them ministers of considerable learn- ing and piety. " There is also a species of Dissenters from the church of Scotland called Relief, whose only difference from the Kirk is, the choosing of their own pastors. They arose in 1752, and are respectable as to numbers and ability. (See a Com* pendious View of the Religious System maintained by the Synod of Relief, by P. Hutchinson; and also Historical Sketches of the Relief Church, &c. by J. Smith.) The Relief are Calvinists as well as Presbyterians, but liberal in their views, admitting to their communion pious Christians of every denomination. They revere the union of faith and charity."* SBC. IV. ENGLISH AND AMERICA:* PRESBYTERIANS. ^ The appellation Presbyterian is in England appropriated to a large denomination of dissenters, who have no attachment J.. . to the Scotch mode of church government, any in" 'chaftwier- ^^^^ ^^^^ to episcopacy amongst us, and there- isttcs of the fore to this body of Christians the term Presby- English Pres- terian in its original sense is improperly applied, bytenans. This misapplication has occasioned many wrong notions, and should be rectified. English Presbyterians, as they are called, adopt nearly the same mode of church govern- ment with the Independents. Their chief difference from the Independents is, that they are less attached to Calvinism, and consequently admit a greater latitude of religious sentiment. It may be added, that their mode of admitting members into communion differs from that commonly practised among the Presbyterians. Dr. Doddr;<:c;e in his " Lectures" has this paragraph on the • See Dr. Evans's Sketches. PRK8BVTERIANS. 435 ind othern, and autho> i oath was lers. The eres in a and there- he present 'rogress of iddington.) respective otland, but ica. Both able learn- church of 1 the Kirk le in 1752, iee a Com- led by the Historical The Relief ral in their [IS of every charity."* RIANS. ipropriated ittachment iment, any and there- in Presby- y applied, iny wrong terians, as :h govern- from the inism, and sentiment, [ibers into imong the iph on the subject : " Those who hold every pastor to be as a bishop or overseer of his own congregation, so that no other person or body of men have by divine institution a power to exercise any superior or pastoral office in it, may, properljr speaking, be called (so far at least^ congregational ; and it is by a vulgar mistake that any such are called Presbyterians : for the Pres- byterian disciphne is exercised by synods and assemblies, sub- ordinate to each other, and all of them subject to the authority of what is commonly called a General Assembly." The Presbyterian Church in the United States was origi- nally made up of emigrants from Scotland and the north of Ireland. They settled principally in Pennsylva- . nia, West Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. In Presbytcrfans. 1704, the first Presbyterian judicatory in the United States was constituted under the name of the " Presby- tery of Philadelphia." In 1716 the members of this commu- nity had so much increased, chiefly, however, by emigration from Europe, that they distributed themselves into four Pres- byteries, bearin|f the names of Philadelphia, Newcastle, Snow Hill, and Long Island, and erected a synod under the name of the " Synod of Philadelphia." But the body was far from proving harmonious, by reason of the different views enter- tained on the subject of the discipline of the churches. The controversies in this connexion continued to increase until 1758, when all difficuhies were healed, from which time har- mony, with some few exceptions, has prevailed, and their cause rapidly gains strength. In 1789, the first General Assembly, which is now the high- est judicatory of the Presbyterian church in the United States, .vas convened at Philadelphia, which has con- tinned to be the place of its annual meeting to ggmbly'* the present time. Great prosperity has attended the cause of Presbyterian ism in the United States. Within a few years, however, differences have, to some extent, prevailed among the ministers of this connexion ; but as among so able and pious a body of men, the principles of the gospel are justly expected to exert their legitimate influence, it can sub- serve no benefit to record the grounds of a dissension, w^hich it is hoped will be only temporary. The advocates of Pres- byterianism reside chiefly in the middle, southern, and western states. The clergy attached to the order, are an able, enlight- ened, evangelical, and pious body, and their labours have been signally blessed. The number of synods in 1832, was twenty* * Evans's Sketches. Doctrines. 43b PROTESTANT COMMUNlTIESi one ; that of presbyteries, one hundred and ten: the clergy are estimated at one thousand nine hundred and thirty-five ; the churches under the care of the general assembly, are two thousand two hundred and eighty-one, comprising' more than two hundred and seventeen thousand three hundred and forty- eight members. The doctrines of the Presbyterian church of the United States are Calvinistic, as may be seen in the confession of &ith as revised by the General Assembly at their session in Philadelphia, in 1821; thou|[h the clergy, when composing instructions either for their res- pective parishes, or the public at large, are no more fettered by the confession, than are the clergy of the church of England by the thirty-nine articles. In respect to their religious services, it is necessarjy only to say, that in Great Britain, Ireland, and America, they have laid aside the use of certain forms of prayer, and RcHgioas ugg extemporary prayer in the worship of God. Hervjces. rpj^^ ^^ jj^-^j, ^^^ Episcopalians in this, that while the latter kneel in time of prayer, the former stand ; and in singing the praise of God they all sit, while all Epis- copalians stand. SBC. V. CALVINISTS. Calvinists are those professing Christians, who adopt, without a strict uniformity however, the doctrine and disci- . - pline of the scriptures, as explained by Calvin, colled.' ^ °°* ^°^^ Calvin was born at Noyon, in France, in the year 1509. In early life, he applied him- self to the study of the civil law, and becomiug impressed with the importance of religion, and the necessity of a reform- ation in respect to errors prevalent at that time, especially in the Church of Rome, he devoted himself to divinity, and, at length, became professor of divinity, in the year 1536. The general doctrines taught by the Calvinists of the pre- sent day, are embraced by such a multiplicity of sects, going under that and other names, that a summary only can be given of them in this chapter. At first, the name of Calvinists Avas given to those who em- bnif^ed not merely the doctrine, but the church-government and,,di^^line established at Geneva, where Calvin was : minister and professor of divinity, and was futen^ed to dis> tinguish them from the Lutherans. But since the meeting of the synod of Dort, this appellation has been applied the clergy Ihirty-five ; ly, are two more than [ and forty- .t ;he United nfession of ibly at their ihough the their res- fettered by f England iry only to they have }rayer, and ip of Qod. in this, that ner stand ; e all Epis- rho adopt, and disci- by Calvin. France, in ied him- impressed a reform- especially inity, and, 536. the pre- cts, going r can be who em- vernment vln was ed to dis- meeting applied '^■i"'. U^^ CALVINISTS. ' "' " 487 chiefly to those who embrace his leading views of the gospel, and is intended to distinguish them from the Arminians. The leading principles of Calvin were the same as those of Augustin. The prmcipal doctrines, by which those called Calvinists are distinguished from the Arminians, are reduced to five articles, which, from their being the chief points dis- cussed at the synod of Dort, have since been denominated tkt five points. These are predestination, particular re- demption, total depravity, effectual calling, and the certain per- severance of the saints. 1. The Calvinists maintain, that God hath chosen unto eternal glory a certain number of the fallen race of Adam in Christ, before the foundation of the world, according to his immutable purpose, and of his free grace and love, without the least foresight of faith, good works, or any conditions per- formed by the creature ; and that he was pleased to pass by, and ordain to dishonour and wrath, the rest of mankind, for their sins, to the praise of his vindictive justice. A few passages usually adduced in support of the above doctrine may with propriety be introduced m this place : — Ac- cording as ne hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So, then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Thou wilt say, then, why doth he yet find fault ; for who hath resisted his will? Nay, but O man ! who art thou that repliest against God 1 Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus ? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour? Hath Qod cast away his people whom he foreknew 1 Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias '' Even so at this present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. A.nd if by grace, then it is no more of works. What then ? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest are blinded. Whom he did predestinate, them he also called. We give thanks to God always for you brethren, beloved of the Lord, becaujie God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Eph. i. 4- Rom. ix. 15—22 ; xi. 1—5 ; viii. 29, 30. 2 Thes. ii. 13. Acts xii. The Calvinists, however do not consider predestination a« 21 4S8 PROTESTANT COMHUMlTlEt. aflecting the agency or accountablenes* of the creature, or a« being to him any rule of conduct. On the contrary, they suppose him to act as freely, and to be as much the proper subject of calls, warnings, exhortations, promises, and threat- enings, as if no decree existed. 2. They maintain, that though the death of Christ be n most perfect sacrifice, and satisfaction for sins, of infinite value, and abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world ; and though on this grouna 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, from eternity, were elected to salvation, and given to him by the Father. The following pssages among others are alleged in proof of the above doctrme : — Thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast fiven him. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. lay down my life for the sheep. He died not for that nation only, but that he might gather together in one the children oj God that are scattered abroad. He gave himself for us, thai he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto him- self a peculiar people, zealous of good icorks. He loved the church, and gave himself for it. that he might sanctify and eleanse it, and present it to himself, &c. And they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. John xvii. 2 ; x. 11, 15 ; xi. 52. Tit. ii. 14. Eph. v. 25—27. Rev. v. 9. 3. The Calvinists maintain, that mankind are totally de- praved, in consequence of the fall of the first man, the sin of whom, as their public head, involved the corruption of all his posterity ; and that this 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 in that which is to come. This is supported as follows : — By one man sin entered into the world, and-death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. By one man's disobedience many were made sinners. I was born in sin and shapen in iniquity. God saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every imagination of his heart was only evil conti- nually. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did ■eek God. Every one of them is gone back ; they are alto- gether become filthy ; there is norie that doeth good, no, not i? OALTINISTS. 439 I, or M r. they proper threat- it be a e value, whole reached of God, xciously ly, were in proof over all hou ha si he sheep. lat nation ildren oj f us, tha^ wnto him- loved the ictify and y sang a slain, and idred, and , 15; xi. otally de- the sin oi of all his lole soul, nng truly ih in this tered into ; all men, Qce many iniquity, the earth, vil conti- lildren of I, that did are alto- Id, no, not one. And you hath he quickened who wore dead - ires- ptuiet and $ins. Wherein in time past y« walked accu.^ing to the course of this world, among whom also toe all had our conversation in times past, in the lust of our fiesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind ; and were by nature the children of wrath even as others. Rom. v. 12 — 19. Ps. li. 5. Gen. vi. 5. Ps. liii. 2, 3. Rom. iii. Eph. ii. 1—3. 4. The Calvinists maintain, that all whom God hath pre- destinated unto life, he ia pleased, in his appointed time, enect- ually 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. They admit that the Holy Spirit, as calling men by the ministry of the gospel, may be resisted, and that where this ia the case, the fault is not in the gospel, nor in Christ offered by the gospel, nor in God calling by the gospel, and also confer- ring various gifts upon them, but in those who are called. Yet, they contend, that when men are converted, it is not to be ascribed to themselves, as though by their own free-will they made themselves to differ, but merely to him who de- livers them from the power of darkness, and translates thoni into the kingdom of his dear Son, and whose regenerating in- fluence is certain and efficacious. The following passages are supposed to support this doctrme : Whom he did predestinate, them ne also called ; and whom he called, them he also glorified. That ye may know what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Not of works lest any man should boast. For we are his work- manship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. God, that commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, &c. I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them hearts of flesh. Rom. viii. 29. Eph. i. 19, 20: ii. 9, 10. 2 Cor. iv. 6. Ezek. xxxvi. 26. 5. Lastly, the Calvinists maintain, that those whom God has effectually called and sanctified by his spirit, shall never finally fall from a state of grace. Tney admit that true be- lievers may fall partially, and would fall totally and finally, unless it were for the mercy and faithfulness of God, who keepeth the feet of his saints ; that he who bestoweth the grace of perseverance, bestoweth it by means of reading and hearing the word, of meditations, exhortations, threatenings, and pro^ miscs; but that none of these things imply the possibility of a believer's falling from a state of justification. 440 PROTBSTAICT OOMMUNITIBf. Among other passages, the following are ur^ed in proof o the preceding sentiments : — I will put my feor m their hearts, and they shall riot departfrom me. He that believeth and is- baptized, shall be saved. The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. This is the Father's will, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing. This is life eternal, to know thee, the only true Qod, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Who- soever is bom of Qod doth not commit sin, because he is born of God. They went out from us, but they were not of us ; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us ; but they went out, that they might be manifest that they were not all of us. Now unto him that is able to keep ifou from falling, and to present you faultless before the pre- sence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise Ood our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Jer. xxxii. 40. Mark xvi 16. John iv. 14 ; vi. 39 ; xvii. 3. 1 John iii. 9 : ii. 19. Jude, '44, 25. Calvinists, those who strictly adhere to the opinions of Calvin, reject all ceremonies ; smce the shadows, nu they say, _. . are all passed away, the observance of them mation'of 'oe- ought now to be laid aside amongst Christians, remonies. They, moreover, reject all subordination in the conduct of their ecclesiastical affairs, by decla- ring, that all the true pastors, wheresoever situated, have the same authority, and an equal power, u^ider one Head, that is to say, their Lord and master Jesus Christ. As to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, the confession explains their notion in the following terms. For the better maintenance and support of that spiritual life, which is peculiar to the saints, God has sent them down from heaven the bread of life, that is to say, his son Jesus Christ, who keeps up and maintains the spiritual life of his peculiar people, bein^ eaten by them, that is to say, administered and received with faith and understanding. Christ, in order to re| resent to us that spiritual and heavenly bread, has instituted and appointed earthly and visible food for our use, which is the sacrament of his precious body and blood. And in order to convince us, that as we truly and really take, and hold that blessed sacrament in our hands, and put it aflerwards into our mouths, by virtue whereof our natu- ral lives are supported ; so likewise w^e really and truly, by &ith (which is both the hands and mouths of our souls) receive the true and real body and blood of Christ in our souls, for our spiritual subsistence, Sk. In another place is introduced the following passage. We do not come short of the point, in proof o hearts, I and is- im shall ng life, iven me hee, the Who- se he is •e not 0/ jntinued ifest that > to keep I the pre- cise God irer, both 6. John 4,25. nions of they say, of them hristians. )n in the by decla- have the that is to jacrament lOtion in support God has |is to say, i spiritual is to say, [standing, [heavenly i food for )ody and truly and inds, and lour natu- ] truly, by ;) receive isouls, for itroduced point, in CALVIN ISTS. 441 •aying, that what is therein eaten, is the proper and natuml body of Christ, and what is drank is his proper blood, but the mode or manner in which we eat it, is not in our mouths, but rather in our hearts by faith. Besides, notwithstanding the sacraments are united to the thing signified : yet they are not at all times so received by all Christians m general. The wicked and unworthy communicant receives the sacrament to his condemnation, but docs not really and truly receive it. The true Calvinistic churches are governed by several consistories, that is to say, the whole body (the pastors, elders, and deacons) of a church. The ministers are q always the presidents of these consistories. For- merly there were not only national but provincial synods held in France. Their classis, otherwise called conferences, were subordinate to and dependent on the latter. Those classis were particular assemblies of part of the churches belonging to a province, which met sometimes half-yearly, and sometimes quarterly upon emergent occasions. At these classis or con- ferences, one or two ministers with an elder belonging to each church met, in order to settle and adjust such matters as the consistory had lefl undecided; but in case they could not agree, the affairs in debate were referred to the provincial synod, or to the national synod, in cases of moment and im- portance. From this short account it is evident, that the au- thoritjr of those classis was always subordinate to the synods, as their consistories were to the classis. The power of their consistories extended no farther than to an ecclesiastical cen- sure, that is to say, to a friendly admonition with respect to any irregularities or abuses, which might possibly have crept into some particular churches, and of some misdemeanors of which the members might possibly be found guilty. The laws of the United Provinces w^ith respect to their classis are somewhat different from those of the French churches. They order, that their classis shall sit, and adjust those affairs which the synod had leA unsettled, or some others, which accidentally intervened between the convention of the two synods ; such, for instance, as that of the call of a candidate to the ministry. The synod has the sole right and privilege to constitute and appoint those classis ; at least no affairs, however emergent, can justify the convention of them without their express orders. Moreover, the synodal church, that is to say, that particular church which is empowered to send deputies to the synod, has a right and privilege to write circular letters to five or six other churches, particularly those which are situate in the parts ad- jacent, in order to procure, by a plurality of votes, a license or 442 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIKI. fwrmiMioii to convene a class. Such notice in writing aa «ft>reeaid must be sent to those churches fifteen days before luch intended convention of a class ; and each cnurch is oblignd with a re always .fter that, it ccountable he several ervice. leir elders [leir names con^rega- r their con- Sunday, in y are duly 'ho form of [li reeled to ral. That yer. The iscipline of ing jointly g care that (ublic wor- [anors, and je pastors, leir duty to [deacons, to .inistration istress, and jments from [doxy in the )ly w con- cluded, that the office of those lay-ministers of the church it very difficult to be duly and fiiithuilly discharged. The office of their deacons is to distribute the charities of well-disposed persons amongst their poor; to visit, and take care of them ; to ini| rove the little stock allotted for their support and main- tenance to the best advantage, and to take care that such bene- factions be not abused. Another branch of the duty of these lay-ministers of the Protestant churches is, to go to the seve- ral -houses of their respective congregations, eacn of them at- tended by an elder, to acauaint them whh the time appointed for the administration of tne Lord's Supper ; this custom, how- ever, is not universal, any more than tnat other, of distributing from liouse to house small leaden tickets to such of their seve- ral congregations as are duly qualified to receive the holy communion. Their deacons are elected and installed much after the same manner as their elders. Neither of these offi- ces are for life. In the United Provinces, the ministry, or ac- cording to the Walloon term, the office of an elder and deacon subsists but two years ; after which they resijr and others supply their place. The discipline of the Protestant churches ordered and directed, that a too frequent change of elders and deacons should be avoided, as being very disadvantageous to the church. The simplicity, of those ceremonies which are observed hy the Protestants m the celebration of their two sacraments will not admit of a long description. The baptism of g an infant is preceded by tne reading of a formu- lary, or office of baptism, and a prayer; after which the minister, addressing himself to the godfathers and godmothers, asks them in direct terms whether they assent to wnat the dignity of a sa- crament requires of a true Christian, and which is unfortunately reduced, in almost all communities, to nothing more than a mere ceremony. According to the Protestants, the sacrament of baptism ought always to be administered in public, that is to say, according to the terms made use of in the discipline of the Protestant churches in France, in ecclesiastical assemblies, where there is a church duly prepared, and set in order for that purpose. If an exception to the general rule be admitted, it is only when the saints reside amongst inf uels, or when any imminent danger, or actual persecution, obstructs their as- sembling together, or some other emergent occasion of the like nature. This rule is for the most part observed in all the Pro- testant churches. The Lord's Supper, or holy communion, bears a very near affinity, in all respects, to that form or solemnity observed by 444 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. • T.««iv snnn... ^^^ Protcstaiits in France. Several deacons and UM n supper ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^.^j^.^ ^^^j^ ^^^^^^ ^^^j^^ ^j^^^^ ^j^^ sacrament of the Lord's Supper is administered : the elders to tdce care that a due decorum be preserved, suitable to the dignity of that mysterious ceremony ; the deacons to cut the bread in small pieces, which the minister distributes amongst the communicants, and to fill the cup, which he likewise ad- ministers to them after the same manner. In some other pla- ces, as at Geneva, and in Switzerland, they do not seat them- selves round a table, in which particular some pretend the primitive Protestants endeavoured to imitate the last supper which our blessed Lord ate with his apostles. They there present themselves before two ministers: one administer to the communicants the mystical and emblematic piece of bread, the other the cup, or a common glass, with a small quantity of wine in it. In case the communicant has a natural aver- sion to wine, the discipline of the churches in France indul- ges the communicant, and orders the bread only to be admi- nistered to him. In order to be duly qualified for receiving the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, the party must have attained to the years of discretion. In some countries they publish the names of their young catechumens. Before they presume to approach the Lord's table, they must at least be ex- amined before the consistory. There is a peculiar form for the administration of the holy communion, which begins with a discourse on the institution, the nature of it, and the duties incumbent on all those who partake of the blessed sacrament. After that introductory discourse, the communicants repair to the place where they are to receive the Lord's Supper, the men first, and the women afterwards ; and during the celebra- tion of the sacrament, the reader, who at the same time is like- wise the principal chorister, reads alternately several chapters out of the sacred scriptures, and sings several psalms. This chanter is always a layman, sometimes a mechanic, and at most but a school-master. At Geneva, and several other pla- ces where the Protestant religion prevails, those who are can- didates for the ministry, execute that office. The communion service concludes with a prayer, and an exhortation sometimes longer and sometimes shorter, as a minister thinks most con- venient, together with the anthem of St. Simeon. The solemn observance of the Lord's Day consists in three sermons regularly preached every Sunday by three several Service on ™in>sters. Before the sermon begins, the chant- Lord's Day. er before-mentioned reads • some portion of the sacred scriptures, and sings two or three psalms. ARMINIANS. 446 After that, the minister mounts the pulpit, sets another psalm, and then delivers a prayer of his ovni composing. As soon as he has done, he opens his Bible, and reads the text which he proposes to explain and improve. The 8er< mon having lasted an hour, and sometimes much longer, the minister who delivered it, makes another extempore prayer; but before he begins, recommends all those who are any ways afflicted in mind, body, or estate, Ac. to the prayers of the whole congregation. That being ended, another psalm is sung, and men the minister dismisses his audience with a general benediction. three everal chant- of the salms. SEC. VI. ARMINIANS. Arminianism, strictly speaking, is that system of religious doctrine, which was taught by Arminius, professor of divinity in the university of Leyden, who was born in Ondewater, in Holland, in the year 1560. He ""S»n- originally embraced the doctrines of Calvin, but being request- ed by Martin Lydius, professor of Franeker, to reply to a work on predestination, which presented that doctrine in an unscriptural view, as was supposed by Lydius, and other Cal- vinists, Arminius became a convert to the doctrine he had undertaken to refute, and even carried it farther than those by whom it had been maintained. He condemned the notion of absolute decrees, and particular election, as unscriptural, irra- tional, and dangerous ; and held, that Christ died, not for a se- lect number, but for all men without exception ; and that none have been chosen to eternal life, except those who Gbd fore- saw would believe and obey the gospel. This change in the sentiments of Arminius, wHich took place in 1591, gave great offence, as might have been expected, to the followers of Cal- vin, who regarded him not merely as a broacher of erroneous opinions, but as an apostate from that system, in which he had been strictly educated, and which he was bound, by many con- siderations, to defend. Arminius died in 1609. During the century which followed that event, disputes ran very high in Holland between the Cal- vinists and the Arminians. On each side talents and learning were displayed ; but some called in 8ies*wUh^*the the interference of the civil power; and thus Calvinists. terminated a controversy, which for some years had agitated the religious world. For this purpose the &mous synod of Dort was held, 1618, Vhere the Arminians were scandalously treated. Mosheim is of opinion, that even 446 PROTEST A.NT COMMUNITIES. before the meeting of the synod, it was agreed upon, that, op account of their religious opinions, they shoula be deemed enemies of their country, and accordingly be exposed tp every species of persecution. A curious narrative of its proceedings may be seen in the series of letters written by the ever me- morable John Hales, who was present on the occasion. This synod was succeeded by a severe persecutio.'i of the Armini- ans. The respectable Bamevelt lost his 1 ead on a scaflbld, and the learned Qrotius, condemned to perpetual imprison- ment, escaped from his cell, and took refuge m France. The storm some time after abated ; and Episcopius, an Arminian minister, opened a seminary in Amsterdam, which produced able divines, and excellent scholars. After the synod of Dort, Arminianism made great progress among the reformed, in various parts of the continent, as well as in the United Provinces. Many of the pro- ProgTMs af. testants in France imbibed it, from conviction of of Dort '^* '"^"^^ ' ^"^ more w^ere constrained to pay re- spect to it, from a seasonable complaisance to the catholics, who were extremely indignant at the synod ; which complaisance gave way in process of time to better motives. In Bremen, Brandenburg, and other churches of Germany, it soon acquired an extensive and permanent footing. And even in Geneva, where Calvinism had flourished so long and so exclusively, it took up its residence, and in the course of a few years prevailed so much, that the Qenevese might also be do- minated an Arminian church. In England, too, Arminianism was important at an early period ; and, being taken under the protection of sovereign power, and made the condition of civil and ecclesiastical pre- ferment, it was embraced more speedily, and more generally, than it would probably have been, had it enjoyed no such ad- vantages. James I., who had sent deputies to the synod of Dort, to assist in condemninfif them, became at length, for po- litical reasons, their most .■:ealous friend and supporter. Under his successor, Charles I., overy method was employed, and every efibrt made, by the celebrated Archbishop Laud, to strengthen and promote their cause ; and in spite of all the stre- nuous opposition they met with from the Puritans ; in spite of the opprobrious epithets with which their system was loaded ; in spite of the speeches made again.st it in parliament, and the pamphlets written against it throughout the nation ; in spite of the ignominious death which Laud and his sovereign suffer- ed, — the exertions of that able and tyrannical prelate, in be- half of Arminianism, were in a great measure successful. It ARNINIAN8 447 languished during the usurpation of Cromwell, but revived again with fresh vigour at the restoration ; when every thing hostile to Calvinistic or Puritanical principles became feshion- able and gainful. Ever since that period, it has continued to flourish. From England, Arminianism travelled into Scotland, where, however, it made no great impression for a long series of years, having to contend with a strong and rooted attachment to the doctrine and discipline of Geneva, and being generally united with episcopacy, of which the Scottish nation has been always and utterly abhorrent. Since the middle of the last century it has been rapidly gaining ground, particularly among that class of the higher ranks in which there is still left a serious and practical belief of the truth of Christianity. Of the clergy, a few venture to preach it openly in some of its most corrupted forms. There are a great many, too, who so far acquiesce in it, as never to meddle with the doctrines of election and reprobation, in their public or private ministra- tiotis, some from a decided disbelief of them, and others, from a mere conviction of their inexpediency. Arminianism has for many years prevailed to some extent in the United States. The Wesleyan Methodists are considered to have adopted the distinguishing doctrines of- Arminianism, as have also a few among the Congrogationalists, and probably more among the Episcopalians. The distinguishing tenets of the Arminians may be said to consist chiefly in the diflerent light in which they view the subjects of the five points, or in the different ex- planation which they give to them, and are com- prised in the five following articles ; Predestination, Univer- sal Redemption, the Corruption of Huma7i Nature, Conver- sion, and Perseverance. I. With respect to Xhe first, they maintained, — "That God, from all eternity, determined to bestow salvation on those whom he foresaw would persevere unto the end in their faith in Jesus Christ, and to inflict everlasting punishments on those who should continue in their unbelief, and resist to the end his divine assistance; — so that election was conditional, and reprobation, in like manner, the result of foreseen infidelity and persevering wickedness." II. On the second point they taught, — " That Jesus Christ, by his sufferings and death, made an atonement for the sins of all mankind in general, and of every individual in particular ; that, however, none but those who believe in him, can be par- takers of their divine benefit" 448 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. III. On the third article they held,—" That true faith can- not proceed from the exercise of our natural feculties and pow- ers, nor from the force and ojperation of free-will ; since mani in consequence of his natural corruption, is incapable cither of thinking or doing any sfood thing ; and that, therefore, it is necessary to his conversion and salvation, that he be regene- rated, and renewed by the operation of the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God through Jesus Christ." IV. On the fourth, they believe, — " That divine grace, or the energy of the Holy Ghost, begins and perfects everything that can be called good in man, and consequently all good works are to be attributed to God alone ; — that, nevertheless, this grace is ofiered to all, and does not force men to act against their inclinations, but maybe resisted and rendered incfiectual by the perverse will of the impenitent sinner." V. On the fifth, they hold,—" That God gives to the truly faithful who are regenerated by his grace, the means of preser- ving themselves in this stale;" and though the first Armi- nians entertained some doubts respecting the closing part of this article, their followers uniformly maintain, " that the rege- nerate may lose true justifying faith, fall from a state of grace, and die in their sins." It appears, therefore, that the followers of Arminius believe that God, having an equal regard for all his creatures, sent his Son to die for the sins, not of the elect only, but of the whole world ; that no mortal is rendered finally unhappy by an eternal and invincible decree, but that the misery of those who perish arises from themselves ; and that, in this present imperfect state, believers, if not peculiarly vigilant, may, through the force of temptation, and the influence of Satan, fall from grace, and sink into final perdition. SEC. VII. CONGUEGATIONALISTS. The Congregaliona lists are a sect of Protestants, so called, from their maintaining that each congregation of Christians, which meets in one place for public worship. Definition of is a complete church, formed by the free con- aUstf."^*^'**"' ^^^^ ?"^ mutual agreement of the members, adopting its own rules of procedure, and subject to no control from other churches. They originated from a portion of the English establish- ment, who desired a purer church, and resolved, at all hazards, to enjoy the rights of conscience. From this circumstance they were stigmatized with the Orisin. CONORKOATIONALISTS. 449 ablish- |at all From lith the general name of Puritans, and under that appellation have een known in the historv of succeeding times. The Congre- gationalists of New England are descendants of this people. The Puritans were not distinguished as a body till the time of Queen Elizabeth; but being composed at first of differ* ent ranks, characters, opinions, and intentions, History be- they soon divided into a variety of sects. They fore their re were all, however, united in hostility to the esta- moval to Ame- blished church, as it had been moaelled by the "*'"• queen. Among those sects the Brownists were for a time conspicuous; but being intolerant in their sentiments, ana their leader, Robert Brown, after their retirement into the Netherlands, having forsaken them, and returned to the esta- blishment, they declined. The immediate fathers of the New England Gongregationalists, though they embraced some of the early tenets of Brown, particularly in respect to church government, and though they belonged to the same general class of dissenters, were nevertheless men of a different and better spirit. Their principles and their order were moulded chiefly by one of their first pastors, Mr. John Robinson, an accomplished, inoffensive man, considerably learned, and ex- emplary in piety. In their native land, however, they were not long permitted to live in peace. The spirit of persecution arose, and flying before it, Mr. Robinson and his people re- solved to take refuge in Holland, at that time an asylum for the oppressed. It was, however, difficult to escape ; and many and great were their perils, before they could even reach that country. There was a general prohibition of emigration, they were narrowly watched by the ecclesiastical authorities, and several times when they were about to embark, and once when they had already embarked, they were betrayed by the seamen, into the hands of their enemies. When at length they suc- ceeded and arrived in Holland, they first established themselves at Amsterdam, but the following year they removed to Leyden. In this latter place they resided for twelve years, blessed with peace and prosperity. They observed the rules of their com- munion with entire fidelity, and as they were joined by numbers from England, became eventually a large and powerful church. Desirable, however, as their present condition was, it pro- mised to be prosperous only for the present. They were in a confined condition, surrounded by evil examples . in the community among whom they lived; the vaiand'theob^ fathers of the church were one after another jects in view, called away by death; and fears were enter- tained that theit young men would be corrupted, and swerve 38* «. 450 PROTESTANT COMKVNITIES. from the faith. On these accounts they were desirous of re- moving to America. Accordingly, having at length settled the question of removal, a portion of the church under the charge of their elder, William Brewster, embarked for the New World, on the 6th of September, 1620. They had pre- viously obtained leave of the Virginia company to begm a settlement at the mouth of the Hudson river. In their passage they suffered much from the elements, while their hopes were greatly disappointed by the treachery of their captain, who, through the mfluence of bribery, instead of taking them to their place of destination, landed them on the rock at Ply- mouth, on the 22d of December. The family of Mr. Robin- son, after his death, which happened before he could be prepared to leave, together with the rest of his flock, at length joined their brethren in America. This was the commencement of New England, and to the personal character of these men, is to be traced, with isbyters that all f, were e primi- id, prin- 10 could nd who le. In- g^land at confined ninister- hes was it consti- ifications uided by I the pas- ion is an setting lying on n gland, solemn of God. hands but if elders, ils, were ent and ive light ear testi- i morals, ht to be 1, unless ted, that necticut settling ing all )n juridical acts was, in the church, when properly organized ; and they denied all external or foreign power of presbyteries, synods, general cour" ^ or assemblies. Hence they were termed congregational churches. To show their manner of covenanting, we will take an ex- ample from the churches of New Haven, Milford, and Guil- ford, in Connecticut. These were formed first j^„ example by the choice of seven persons, from among the of their man- brethren, who were termed the pillars. A con- "«' of «ove- fession of faith was drawn up to which they all """^'"S- assented, as preparatory to their covenanting together in church estate. They then entered into covenant, first with God, to be hi» people in Christ, and then with each other, to walk together m the strict and conscientious practice of all Christian duties, and in the enjoyment of all the ordinances and privileges of a church of Christ. The confessions of faith con- tained a summary of Christian doclrine, and were strictly Calvinistic. The covenants were full, solemn, and expressive, importing, that they avouched the Lord Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to be their sovereign Lord and supreme Good ; and that they gave themselves up to him, through Jesus Christ, in the way and on the terms of the covenant of grace. They covenanted with each other to uphold the divine worship and ordinances, in the churches of which they were members ; to watch over each other as brethren ; to bear testi- mony against all sin ; and to teach all under their care to fear and serve the Lord. The other brethren joined themselves to the seven pillars, by making the same profession of faith, and covenanting in the same manner. The members, previously to their covenanting with each other, gave one another satis- faction with respect to their repentance, faith, and purposes of holy living. Many of the clergy, who first came into the country, had good estates, and assisted their poor brethren and parishioners in their straits in making new settlements. The ^ ^ ^ people were then far more dependent on their ^^^ clergy, ministers than they have been since. The pro- portion of learned men was much less then, than at the present time. The clergy possessed a very great proportion of the literature of the colony. They were the principal instructers of the young gentlemen, who were liberally educated, before they commenced members of college, and they assisted them in their studies afterwards. They instructed and furnished others for public usefulness, who nad not a public education. They had given a striking evidence of their mtegrity and self 454 motmtANT COlflMVNlTIKS. denial, in 6ihi#niting into this rouffh and distant country, for the sake of religion, and were faithful and abundant in their labours. By their example, counsels, exhortations, and money, they assisted and encouraged the people. Besides, the people, who came into the country with them, had a high relish for the word and ordinances. They were exiles and fellow suf- ferers in a strange land. All these circumstances combined to give them on uncommon influence over their hearers of all ranks and characters. For many years they were consulted by the legislature, in all affairs of importance, civil or reli- gious. They were appointed committees, with the governors and magistrates, to advise, make draughts, and assist them in the most delicate and interesting concerns of the common- wealth. Amidst many causes of prosperity, in the Congregational churches of New England of the first ages, there was occa- sionally a source of inquietude and evil. Such Covenant*^ was the controversy in respect to what has been called the half-way covenant. It arose about the year 1650 in the church at Hartford, Connecticv', respect- ing church membership. It soon extended to other churches, until at length the whole of New England became more or less agitated. The subject of the controversy, was the propri- ety of admitting into the church, any persons not outwardly vicious, upon merely a public assent to the cardinal truths of the Qospel, without allowing them to partake of the Lord's Supper. The object of this partial membership was, that pa- rents might procure baptism for their children. The contro- versy brought the ministers of religion together at Boston, in 1657, in a synod, for the purpose of discussing and settling it. This body gave its sanction to what has been so significantly called " the half-way practice," and, strange to say, judged it proper to admit persons into the church, on the conditions above mentioned. The principal reason which governed the deci- sion of the synod, was, tnat as the children in the provinces were mostly growing up in an unsanctified state, some mea- sure must be taken to diffuse more widely the privilege of baptism, or the church itself, now fast diminishing, would, in their view, soon become extinct. They accordingly recom- mended this unscriptural plan ; for the children thus baptized were considered as actual members of the church, and if irre- proachable in their external deportment, were admitted at a certain age, to the communion table. The decision of the synod was fitr from being characterized by unanimity. The t)oint was keenly debated before the body, nor did the discus- rOIfORteOATIOWALIHtk. 455 Present state of the churches. Bioh oefase for more than a century afterwardt ; and of the churches some acceded to the recommendation of the »yn6d, and others refused compliance. This difference of practice ceased not to be a source of contention, till within a few years past. The practice and the controversy are now happily done awQv. The present state of the Congregational churches is, in gene- ral, highly flourishing and happy. Except the Unitarian de- fection which exists in Massachusetts, particu- larly in Boston and its vicinity, Congregational- ism, for the last thirty years, has regained a por- tion of its early purity and power. Its ministry is character- ized by zeal, learninc^, and efficiency. The means of acquir- ing biblical and theological science have been multiplied, and are now extensively enjoyed. With the fecilities enjoyed for obtaining a theological education, on the part of those who arc designed for the ministry, are combined other means designed to advance the interests of the Congregational churches, and the general prevalence of morality and piety among the peo- ple. Among those means are infant schools, sabbath schools, bible classes, temperance associations, and domestic mission- a. 7 societies. The great objects of benevolence, in relation to other sections of the United States and other countries, are also extensively patronized among the Congregationalists of New England. Above all, a vast increase has been received by their churches in consequence of revivals of religion, which have been enjoyed ever since the commencement of the present century. In respect to the ordination and settlement of ministers in Congregational churches, we have briefly to state, that the mode of procedure is as follows. After the can- Manner of didate has preached to the congregation for a calling and longer or shorter time, as the case may be, if he wtling minis- proves acceptable to theni, he is called by a vote **"• of the church to become its pastor. In the same manner he subsequently receives a call from the congregation as such, or from the ecclesiastical society, consisting both of the members of the church and of others who are not church-members, to become their minister, with the offer of a salary, as his sup- port. After the candidate accepts the invitation, the day is ap- pointed, by mutual agreement, for his induction into office, and at the same time a council of pastors, tisually in the im- mediate vicinity, is selected to carry the proposed measure into effect This council commonly assembles on the day prtee* ding thM of the installation or ordinatiota ; exAittitie&th^ tatiAi- 406 PROTESTANT OOMMUNITIKS. date, and approves or rejects him, accordinff as in their view he is qualified or otherwise for the proposed office. If he he approved, the solemnity takes place according to the appoint- ment, at an hour fixed on by the council, the various parts of the service having been previously assigned to the omciating pastors. In the matter of discipline among Congregational churches, the rule of procedure in all cases of personal injury, and in Discipline. *^^ ordinary cases of more ^neral or public of* fence is held to be that which is pointed out by Christ in Matt, xviii. 15-17. 1. The first thing to be done in the treatment of such a case, is private expostulation with thu oflfender. "Qo and tell him his fault between thee and him alone." This you are to do, in just this way, in regard to every oflence which deserves to be noticed at all. It is a too common practice with church-members, when they disagree, to neglect this simple measure— the dictate of common sense and christian feeling, no less than of the Saviour — till the difficuhy has been fermenting and brewing a long time ; till each has shown the other, in many ways, how much he dis- likes and distrusts him ; and perhaps till their mutual alien- ation has become a matter of general notoriety, not only in the church, but among all their worldly neighbours and ac- quaintance. Then when the difficulty has grown old and stubborn, one of the parties begins what he calls a course of discipline with the other, and goes to him, not with the design or hope of efTecting a reconciliation at once, but only to tell him with a bitter mind all his grievances, and to get the matter in a way to be prosecuted before the church. I say then, re> member this distinctly, If thy brother trespass against thee, go at once, like a brother, and in the spirit of a brother, to win him back to the exercise of kind feelings toward yourself Tell him just what it is which has wounded you ; hear his explanation ; make every concession which you would make if you and he were in dying circumstances ; be resolved that by your kindness, and gentleness, and meekness, you will heap coals of fire on his head, to melt but not to consume, to purify but not to destroy. If the offence is too small to be treated so formally, it is too small to be mentioned to a third person ; nay, it is too small to be remembered to his disadvan- tage. Do this then, if you do any thing. Do this, and per- haps thou wilt gain thy brother. 2. The next step, if the former fails, is expostulation, with the assistance of one or two brethren. " If he will not hear thee, then toke with thee one or two more." It was a princi- OONORBOATIONALIITI. m pie of Jewuh law, that no man should be condemned but by the concurrent testimony of two or three witnesses. " On the word of two witnesses, or on the word of three witnesses, shall the matter rest." Deut. xix. 15. This seems to have been a proverb among the Jews in the time of our Saviour. Christ Quotes it accordingly in one of his public discourses, where he says, " My judgment is true ; for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. It is written in your law, thu! the testimony of two men is true." (John viii. 16, 17.) So in this instance he quotes it — the very words of the law — in a popular and proverbial sense. Take with you one or two more, that your expostulation with the offender may be confirmed by their concurrence and authority ; and that, if you should be constrained to carry the matter farther, your complaint may be sustained by them, as well as by youiself Here is a second trial of the man's spirit, a second opportunity for a reconciliation. Though the former effort &iled, there is, hope that this may be successful. When you came alone, perhaps he heard you with some prejudice affainst you, per- naps your manner was not sufficiently conciliating, perhaps your words were not fitly chosen. But now you have se- lected one or two of the brethren whom you consider most likely to have a favourable influence over him ; and in their company you go to him, determined not to give him up, and earnestly bent on effecting a reconciliation. These brethren act as mediators between you and him, and as moderators of your debates. They hear his explanations, if he offers any ; they hear his defence, if he defends himself. They show you perhaps some error on your part; they lead you perhaps to new concessions. They ply him with new arguments, or set the former arguments in a new light. Perhaps he yields ; if so, how blessed is the victory. Peace is restored. Thou hast gained thy brother. 3. If he is still unyielding, there remains another effort. " If he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church." In ]»ringing the matter before the church, still use the advice and assistance of those brethren who have already assisted Let that which is alleged against the offending brother ou. prmci- be distinctly defined. Show, in your complaint, (which ought of course to be in writing,) what specific offences the accused has committed against you, so that he may know, and the church may know, what it is which you are to prove, and against which he must defend himself. Let your complaint be put into the hands of the elders, that they may advise you of any mistake wh.'ch you may have committed, or of any 39 458 PROTESTANT COMMVNITIES. thing which jrou may have left undone. And if, 9«:en at this stage, a reconciliation can be effected, by thoiy mediation, or in any other way, so much the better ; the great point is se- cured ; thou hast gained thy brother. But if the necessity remains, let it come before the church; and let the church use their united endeavours to heal the difficulty. Perhaps the offender may now be won over to a new spirit. Let the trial be made. Let him bo admonished and pleaded with by the assembled brotherhood, speaking through their elders. Try it diligently and thoroughly. Perhaps he may be gained. 4. But if all is in vain, then comes the last resort. " If he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican." He is no longer to be reckoned among the faithful. He has shown that he has not the spirit of Christ, and is none of his ; and what remains but that he be regarded and treated accordingly. The church is to exclude him from its fellowship.* Among the Congregationalists, the Lord's Supper is observ- ed in that simple and plain form, which is indicated by the Th L d' ^P°^*^*^ *" ^^® latter part of the 1 1th chapter of Supper. °' ' ^'^ first epistle to the Corinthians. Only those who have made a public profession of religion, having before the congregation assented to the articles of faith held by the church, and owned its covenant, are considered as entitled to a seat at the sacramental table. To such, after the consecrationof the elements of bread and wine, by the prayers of the officiating minister, are these elements administered, by the hands of the deacons of the church. Among the Congregationalists, the rite of baptism is adminis- tered only to professed believers and to their children. Since Baptism. *^® "half-way practice" has ceased, the child- ren of a household are recognised as having a right to the seal of the covenant only through the faith of their parents, or of one of them, except where they are of suitable a"^e to profess religion, on their own account. When the ordinance is administered, it is almost always by sprinkling or affusion. In some cases when it has been wished by the adult applicant, plunging has been adopted, after the mnnner of the Baptists. The marriage ceremony among the Congregationalists is performed in a very simple and decent manner. After the Marrioffcs publication of bans, in conformity to the civil * ■ statute, the parties commonly invite their minis* • Bacon'a Church Mnnuiil. C0NORE0ATION4LISTS. 459 m at this i»Uon, or int is se- necessity e church Perhaps Let the i with by ir elders, le gained. " If he a heathen ed among ! spirit of that he be to exclude is observ- ted by the chapter of )nly those f religion, lea of faith nsidered as J, after the le prayers listered, by 3n adminis- Since the child- as having the faith they are a account. Iways by en wished after the onalists is After the the civil leir minis* ter to the house of the parents of the lady, where their friends and acquaintance are assembled, and there, in presence of the company, take upon them the marriage vow from the lips of the minister, according to the particular form which he pleases to adopt. This form is always concise, expressive, and proper. The whole transaction is consecrated by prayers, commonly one before the administration of the covenant and another afttrit. Their funerals are conducted after the model of simplicity and directness by which all their other religious „ . ceremonies are distinguished. At the time of ^^"^ ^' interment, the minister of the parish by invitation, attends either at the house of the deceased, or at the church, where he meets the relatives and neighbours, and offers prayer suited to the occasion, after which the corpse is carried away, at- tended by the mourners and such of the assembly as choose, to the public burying-ground, where it is consigned to the grave. In some places it is customary for the officiating cler- gyman to make a short address to the people, either before or after the body is interred. A late writer holds the following language as to the dis- tinctive principles of Congregationalism. 1, Congregational- ism is distinguished from all sorts of prelacy. Distinctive Roman, Oriental, English, and Wesleyan, by principles of the principle that all Christ's servants in the Congregation- work of the gospel, are equal in rank. alism. 2. It is distinguished from Episcopacy and Presbyterian- ism, by the principle that the only organized church is a par- ticular church, a congregation of believers statedly meeting in one place. A provincial or national church, including many particular churches, and governed by general officers, has no place in the Congregational system. 3. It is distinguished from the forementioned systems, by the principle that all church power resides in the church, and not in church officers ; and resides in each particular church directly and originally, by virtue of the express or implied compact of its members, and not traditionally, or by virtue of any authority derived by succession from some higher body, ecclesiastical or clerical. 4. It is distinguished from strict Independency, by the principle of the communion of churches. 5. it is distinguished from the system of the Baptist churches, by the principle of the right of believing parents to dedicate their infant children to God in baptism ; by the prin- ciplc that in the ceremony of baptism it is not material how 460 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. much water is used, or whether the water is applied to the person or the person to the water ; and by the principle of open communion with all who make a credible profession of being Christ's disciples. As to the diflference between the Congregational System and the Presbyterian, two points may be stated more distinctly. 1. A Congregational cnurch, like a Presbyterian church, may have its ruling elders ; but while the Presbyterian sys- tem makes the elders accountable, not to the church, but to some " superior judicature," Congregationalism permits no- thing to be done in the name of the church, without the dis- tinct consent of the brotherhood. 2. A Congregational church may hold communion and in- tercourse with sister churches by means of such bodies as presbyteries and synods ; but, while Presbyterianism regards these bodies as "judicatures," "courts of the Lord Jesus Christ," having authority to decide all controversies judicially, and to •• send down" their injunctions to the churches,— Con- gregationalism must needs regard them only as meetings for intercourse and communion, as councils to advise and per- suade in matters of common interest, and as means of keeping up a common feeling among the neighbouring and the distant members of the great union. Congregationalism acknow- ledges no power over the churches but the power of light and LovB. SEC. VIII. BAPTISTS. The members of this denomination are distinguished from all other professing Christians, by their opinions respecting How distin- *^® ordinance of Christian Baptism. • Conceiv- guished from ing that positive institutions cannot be esta- other denomi- blished by analogical reasoning, but depend on nations. tjjg ^ij] ^f (\^q Saviour, revealed in express precepts, and that apostolical example illustrative of this is the rule of duty, they differ from their Christian brethren with regard both to the subjects and the mode of baptism. With respect to the subjects, from the command which Christ gave after his resurrection, and in which baptism is Subiects mentioned as consequent to faith in the gospel, they conceive them to be those, and those only, who believe what the apostles were then enjoined to preach. With respect to the mode, they affirm, that, instead of sprink • Bacon's Church Manual. -'•""^■f BAPTISTS, ^^f^i'-'i I to the iciple of ission of System stinctly. church, ian sys- ti, but to mits no- the dis- n and in- )odies as 1 regards rd Jesus udicially, js,— Con- itings for and per- F keeping he distant acknow- Of LIGHT 461 the jhed from es pectin g Uonceiv- be esta- iepend on expresi of this is hren with nd which )aptism is le gospel, hose only, preach. fsprink ling or pouring, the person ought to be immersed m water, referring to the primitive practice, and oh- ^ . serving that the baptizer as well as the baptized * having gone down into the water, the latter is baptized in it, and both come up out of it. They say, that John baptized in the Jordan, and that Jesus, after being baptized, came up out of it. Believers are said also to be '' buried with Christ by baptism into death, wherein also they are risen with him ; and the Baptists insist, that this is a doctrinal allusion incom- patible with any other mode. But they say, that their views of this institution are much more confirmed, and may be better understood, by studying its nature and import. They consider it as an impressive emblem of that, by which their sins are remitted or washed away, and of that on account of which the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey the Messiah. In other words, they view Christian baptism as a figurative representation of that which the gospel of Jesus is in testimony. To this the mind of the baptized is therefore naturally led, while spectators are to consider him as professing his faith in the gospel, and his subjection to the Redeemer. The Baptists, therefore, would iv, that none ought to be baptized, except those who seem to believe this gospel; and that immersion is not properly a mode of baptism, but baptism itself. Thus the English and most foreign Baptists consider a personal profession of faith, and an immersion in water, as essential to baptism. The profession of faith is generally made before the congregation, at- a church-meeting. On these occasions some have a creed, to which they expect the candi- date to assent, and to give a circumstantial account of his con- version ; but others require only a profession of his faith as a Christian. The former generally consider baptism as an or- dinance, which initiates persons into a particular church; and they say that, without breach of Christian liberty, they have a right to expect an agreement in articles of faith m their own societies. The latter think, that baptism initiates merely into a profession of the Christian religion, and therefore say, that they have no right to require an assent to their creed from such as do not intend to join their communion ; and in support of their opinion, they quote the baptism of the eunuch in the eighth chapter of the* Acts of the Aposjtles. The Baptists are divided into the General, who are Armi- iiians, and the Particular, who are Calvinists. Some of both classes allpw mixed communipn, by which is urj- rp^^^ Clatset. derstood, that those who have not been baptized 22 468 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. %y immenion on the professiou of their &ith, (but ia their in- &ncy, which they themselves deem valid,) may sit down at the Lord's table along with those who have wen thus bap- tized. This has given rise to much controversy on the subject. Some of both classes of Baptists are, at the same time. Sab- iatarians, and, with the Jews, observe the seventh day of the week as the sabbath. This has been adopted by them, from a persuasion that all the ten commandments are in their nature strictly moral, and that the observance of the seventh day was never abrogated or repealed by oar Saviour or his apostles. In church-government the Baptists differ little from the In- dependents, except that, in some of their rhurches^ the Bap- tists have three distinct orders of ministers, who are separately ordained, and to the highest of whom they give the name of messengers^ to the second that of elders, and to the third that af deacoM. With respect to excommtinication, they seem closely to follow our Saviour's directions in the eighteenth chapter of St Matthew's gospel, which they apply to difier- «Dces between individuals ; and if any man be guilty of scan- dalous immorality, they exclude him from the brotherhood or fellowship of the church. Like the other Protestant dis- senters, the Baptists receive the Lord's Supper sitting at a common table, and giving the elements one to another. The Baptists in Great Britain, Ireland, Holland, Germany, the United States of America, Upper Canada, &c. are divided, as has been already observed, into two distinct classes, or so- cieties, the Particular or Calvinistic, and the General or Ar- minian Baptists. The former are said to be much more nu- merous than the latter. The father of the General Baptists was a Mr. Smith, who was at first a clergyman of the Church of England ; but re- signing his living, he went over to Holland, where his Bap- tist-principles were warmly opposed by Messrs. Ainsworth and Robinson, of whom the former was pastor of the Brown- ists, or Independents, at Amsterdam, and the latter of those at Leyden. As Mr. Smith did not think that any one at the time was duly qualified to administer the ordinance of baptism, he baptized himself, and hence was denominated a re-baptist He afterwards adapted the Arminian doctrines; and, in 161 1, the General Baptists published a Confession of Faith, which diverges much further from Calvinism than those who are now called Arminians would approve. A considerable num- ber of th«m have embraced Unitarianism. On this account, saveial of their ministers and churches, who disapprove oi those principles, have, within the last fifty years, formed them- : / \»h in- )wn at iis bap- subject. le. Sab- ^ of the n, from r nature lay waa sstles. . the In- heBap- parately name of jird that By seem ghteenth 10 difiet- ' of scan- therhood stant dis- ;ing at a er. jetmany, p divided, ies, or se- al or Ar- rnore nu- lith, who ; but re- his Bap- inswoTth Brown- f those at ne at the baptism, e-baptist , in 1611. h, which who are ble num- account, prove oi ed ihem- BAPTISTS. -'■'-'' ^ 463 selves into a distinct connexion, caLed The New Atsociation. The churches, in this union, keep up a friendly acquaintance, in some outward things, with those from whom they have se- parated ; but in things more essential, and, particularly, as to the changing of ministers, and the admission of members, they disclaim any connexion. Dr. Evans, from the late Mr. Robinson's History of Bap tism, has given the following animated account of this practice of adult miptism : — '* Not many years ago, at Whittlesford, seven miles from Cambridge, for- ^^^j^ •^" ty-eigfat persons were baptized in that ford of the river from which tne village takes its name. At ten o'clock of a very fine morning in May, about 1500 peoi)Ie of different ranks assembled together. At half-past ten in the forenoon, the late Dr. Andrew Gifford, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, sub-librarian of the British Mu- seum, and teacher of a Baptist congregation in Eagle-street, London, ascended a moveable pulpit in a large open court- yard, near the river, and adjoining tr the house of tne lord of the manor. Round him stood the congregation ; people on horseback, in coaches, and in carts, formed the outside semi- circle ; many other persons sitting in the rooms of the houses, the sashes lieing open ; all were uncovered, and there was a profound silence. The doctor first gave out a hymn, which the congregation sung. Then he prayed. Prayer ended, he took out a New Testament, and read his text — / indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. He observed, that the force of the preposition had escaped the notice of the translators, and that the true reading was — I indeed baptize or dip you in water at or upon repentance ; which sense he confirmed by the forty-first verse of the twelfth chapter of Matthew, and other passages. Then he spoke, as most Baptists do on these occa- sions, concerning the nature, subject^ mode, and end of this ordinance. He closed, by contrasting the doctrine of infiint- sprinkling with that of believers' baptism, which being a pan of Christian obedience, was supported by divine promises, on the accomplishmen: of which all good men might depend. After sermon he read another hymn and prayed, and then came down. Then the candidates for baptism retired, to pre- pare themselves. "About half an hour after, the administrator, who that day was a nephew of the doctor's, and admirably qualified for the work, in a loi^ black gown of fine baize, without a hat, w|th a small New Testament in his hand, caine down to the rivi^ side, accompanied by several Baptist-ministers and deacons of 464 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. their churches, and the persons to be baptized. The men came first, two and two, without hats, and dressed as usual, ex- cept that, instead of coats, each had on a long white baize gown, tied round the waist with a sash. Such as had no hair, wore white cotton or linen caps. The women followed the men, two and two, all dressed neat, clean, and plain, and their ffowns white linen or dimity. It was said, the garments had knobs of lead at bottom, to make them sink. Each had a long silk cloak hanging loosely over her shoulders, a broad riband tied over her gown beneath the breast, and a hat on her head. They all ranged themselves around the adminis- trator at the water-side. A great number of spectators stood on the banks of the river, on both sides ; some had climbed and sat on the trees, many sat on horseback and in carriages, and all behaved with a decent seriousness, which did honour to the good sense and the good manners of the assembly, as well as to the free constitution of this country. First, the ad- ministrator read a hymn, which the people sung. Then he read that portion of scripture which is read in the Greek chut ah on the same occasion, the history of the baptism of the eunuch, beginning at the 23d verse, and ending with the 39th. About ten minutes he stood expounding the verses, and then taking one of the men by the b tnd, he led him into the water, saying, as he went, ' See her,, is water, what doth hinder ? If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest be baptized.^ When he came to a sufficient depth, he stopped, and with the utmost composure placing himself on the len hand of the man, his face being towards the man's shoulder, he put his right hand between his shoulders behind, gathering into it a little of the gown for hold ; the fingers of the left hand he thrusted into the sash before, and the man putting his thumbs into that hand, he locked all together, by closing his hand. Then he deliberately said, ' / baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost :' and while he uttered these words, standing wide, he gently leaned him backward and dipped him once. As soon as he had raised him, a person in a boat festened there for the purpose, took hold of the man's hand, wiped his face with a napkin, and led him a few steps to another attendant, who then gave his arm, walked with him to the house, and assisted him to dress. There were many such in waiting, who, like the primitive susceptors, assisted during the whole service. The rest of the men followed the first, and were baptized in like manner. After them the women were baptized. A female friend took off* at the water- side the hat and cloak. A deacon of the church led one to the T! METHODISTS. ndministrator and another from him; and a woman at the water-side took each as she came out of the river, and con- ducted her to the apartment in the house, where they dressed themselves. When all were baptized, the administrator com- mg up out of the river, and standing at the side, gave a short exhortation on the honour and the pleasure of obedience to divine commands, and then, with the usual benediction, dis- missed the assembly. About half an hour after, the men new- ly-baptizH, ^" ig dressed themselves, went from their room into a ' -^e .. 'in the house, whf" .ey were presently joined by the Wumen, who came from their apartments to the same place. Then they sent a messenger to the adminis- trator, who was dressing in his apartment, to inform him they waited for him. He presently came, and first prayed for a few minutes, and then closed the whole by a short discourse on the blessings of civil and religious liberty, the sufficiency of scripture, the pleasures of a good conscience, the impor tance of a holy life, and the prospect of a blessed immortality. This they call a public baptism." A more private baptism, adds Dr. Evans, takes place after a similar manner in baptisteries, which are in or near the places of worship: thus every convenience is aflbrded for the purpose. This, indeed, is now the most common way of ad- ministering the ordinance among the Baptists, either with the attendance of friends, or in the presence of the congregation. Such is baptism by immersion ; and thus conducted, it must be pronounced significant in its nature, and impressive in its tendency. to the SEC. IX. METHODISTS. Methodist, as the distinctive appellation of a religious com- munity, is now universally understood as designating the fol- lowers of the famous Mr. John Wesley. In No- origin, vember, 1729, Mr. Wesley, being then a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, Mr. Charles Wesley his brother, Mr. Morgan, Commoner of Christ Church, and Mr. Kirkman of Merton College, set apart some evenings for reading the original scriptures and prayer. Sometime after they were joined by Mr. Ingham of Queen's College, Mr. Broughton of Exeter, and Mr. James Hervey; and, in 1735, by the cele- brated Mr. George >Yhitefield. Thev soon began to leave oc- casionally the more private fellowship meeting, to. visit the prisoners in the castle, and the sick poor in the town. They also instituted a fund for the relief of the poor, to support which 466 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. Ihcy aluridff«d all superfluities, and even many of the comforts of life. Their private meetings became more and more of a rdigious character. They observed the fiists of the ancient church every Wednesday and Friday, and commimicated once a week. " We were now," says Mr. Wesley, "fifteen in num- ber, all of one heart and of one mind." Their strict deport- ment soon attracted the attention of the college censors and students, who branded them with many opprobrious epithets, such as Sacraraentarians, the Godly Club, and afterwards Methodists. Whatever eflect obloquy might have upon some of the mem- bers of this select class, Mr. John Wesley, as well as his bro- ther, and several others, remained unshaken. He puzzled his opponents with questions concerning the reasonableness of his conduct. He did more ; he confounded them by a uniform regularity of life, and an astonishing proficiency m his studies. Mr. Morgan, one of the most active members, was soon after this removed by death: occasioned, according to the repre- sentation of enemies, by ftisting and excessive austerities. His character was drawn by Mr. Samuel Wesley, junior, in a poetic tribute to his memory, under this text, from the book of Wisdom, " We foob accounted his life madness." In the spring of 1735, Mr. John Wesley was called to attend his dying fiither, who desired him to present to Queen Caroline, a book he had just finished. Soon after his return to Oxford, he went to London on this account, where he was strongly solicited by Dr. Burton, one of the trustees for the new colony at Georgia, to go there to preach to the Indians. At first, he peremptorily refused. He particularly mentioned the grief it would occasion to bis widowed mother. The case being re- ferred to her, she is said to have made this reply: Had I twenty sons, I should rejoice that they were all so employed, though I should never see them more. His way appeared now plain; and he made arrangements for this enterprise. On Tuesday, October i4th, 1735, he set off from London for Gravesend, accompanied by Mr. Ingham, Mr. Delamotte, and his brother Charles, to embark for Georgia. There were six and twenty Germans on board, members of the Moravian church, with whose Christian deportment Mr. Wesley was much struck, and immediately set himself to learn the German language, in order to converse with them. The Moravian Bishop and two others of his society, began to learn English. He now began to preach extempore, which he afterwards made his constant practice during his life, and yet he wrote much. METHODISTS. 467 The piety and devotion which Mr. Wesley and hia compir nions manifested during the voyage was highly commendable, and indicated a becoming impression of the importance of their undertaking; but, owing to some disagreeable circunistancci, Mr. John Wesley returned to England, without having made much progress in the proposed oUect, and was aucceiNled by his valued friend Mr. George Whitefield, who arrived at Sa- vannah 'tn the 7th May, 1738, and was received by Mr. Dela- motte and many of Mr. Wesley's hearers. It may be proper to notice the success which attended Mr. Whitefield't labours in this quarter of the globe. He laboured with great zeal, and was honoured to be useful. He returned to Engkmd in the close of the same year to receive priest's orders. On his re- turn to America in 1739, he landed at Philadelf^ia, and im- mediately began his spiritual labours, which he continued as he passed through the colonies of Virginia, Maryland, and North and South Carolina, being attended by considerable audiences. Upon his arrival at Savannah, he found the co- lony almost deserted, which moved him to carry into effect his scheme of building an orphan-house, which he had the happiness to see completed through his exertions, and the libe- ral donations of his friends. Upon his third visit to the west- ern continent, he took a voyage to the Bermuda Islands, where his ministry was ouocessfully attended, and some contributions made for his orphan-house at Savannah. Upon his sixth voyage to Georgia, he received the thanks of the governor and principal people for the advantage which the colony had derived from his benevolent exertions, a circumstance which tends greatly to vindicate the character of this singular man, from the very unjust reproach of avarice which was frequently thrown upon him. In 1769, he made his seventh and last voyage to America; but, although his labours were so exten- sive, he formed no separate congregation. In the intervals ol his visits to America, he frequently made tours to Scotland and Ireland, where he attracted numerous assemblies, and always made a powerful impression by his eloquence; but having differed in doctrinal sentiment from Mr Wesley, and never having formed the idea of a separate association of itinerants and of members, he can scarcely be considered as the head of any party. On the other hand, Mr. Wesley is considered the father of the Methodists. On his return to England, he was invited to preach in several churches, but the concourse of peopte who followed him was so great, that the churches in general were shut against him. His converts at length began to form them- 468 PROTEATANT COMMUNITIES. selyes into a little society, which has proved the germ of a re ligious community more extended perhaps than almost any otner, and surprismgly adapted by means of its regulations to increase and endure.* In respect to the principal doctrines of the Methodists, it may be observed, that they maintain the total fall of man in jj . Adam, and his utter inability to recover himself, octnnes. ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ towards his recovery, " without the grace of God preventing him, that he may have a good will, and working with him, when he has that good will. ' 2. They are sometimes called Arminians, and hold general redemption. They assert " that Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man." This grace they call free, as extending itaeU freelj/ to all. 3. They hold Justification by Faith. " Justification," says Mr. Wesley, " sometimes means our acquittal at the last day. But this is altogether out of the present question ; for that jus- tification whereof our articles and homilies speak, signifies present forgiveness, pardon of sins, and consequently accept- ance with God, who therein declares his righteousness, or jus- tice and mercy, by or for the remission of the sins that are past, saying, 1 will be merciful to thy unrighteousness, and thine iniquities I will remember no more. I believe the con- dition of this is faith, (Rom. iv. 5, &c.) I mean, not only, that without faith we cannot be justified ; but, also, that as soon as any one has true faith, in that moment he is justified. Faith, in general, is a divine supernatural evidence, or conviction, of tnings not seen, not discoverable by our bodily senses, as being either past, future, or spiritual. Justifying faith implies, not only a divine evidence, or conviction, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, but a sure trust and confidence that Christ died for my sins ; that he loved me, and f^ave himself for me. And the moment a penitent sinner be- ieves this, God pardons and absolves him." Mr. Wesley, speaking of the witness of the spirit, says, " The testimony of the spirit is an inward impression on the soul, whereby the Spirit of God directly witnesses to my spirit, that I am a child of God ; that Jesus Christ hath loved me, and given himself for me ; that all my sins are blotted out, and I, even I, am recon liled to God. The manner how the divine testimony is manifested to the heart, I do not take upon me to explain. But the fact we know, namely, that the Spirit of God does give a believer such a testimony of his adoption, • New Eldinburgh Enc. Art. Methodi»t«. METHODISTS 460 >d that while it is present tc the soul, he can no more douU the reality of his sonship, than he can doubt the shining of the sun, while he stands in the full blaze of his beams." 4. The Methodists maintain, that, by virtue of the bloo<^ of Jesus Christ, and the operations of the" Holy Spirit, it is their privilege to arrive at th«t maturity in grace, and participation of the divine nature, which excludes sin from the heart, and fills it \f ith perfect love to Gk>d and man. This they denomi- nate Christian perfectioti* A number of societies, united together, form whpt is called a circuit. A circuit generally includes a large market-town, and the circumjacent villages, to the extent of . . ten or fifteen miles. To one circuit, two or three, *""' '* and sometimes four, preachers are appointed, one of whom is styled the superintendent; and this is tne sphere of their labour for at least one year, but generally not more than two years. Once a quarter, the preachers meet all the classes, and speak personally to each member. Those who have walked oraerly the preceding quarter then receive a ticket. These tickets are in some respects analogous to the tesserae of the ancients, and answer all the purposes of the commendatory letters spoken of by the apostle. Their chief use is to prevent imposture. Af- ter the visitation of the cla