ESSAYS, 
 &c.
 
 WARRINGTON : 
 PRINTED BY j. CRO\VTJII;K, BRIJKSK-STREET
 
 ESSAYS 
 
 ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS 
 
 OF 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 
 
 AND 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. JAMES TOWNLEY, D. D. 
 
 LONDON: 
 LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN. 
 
 1R24.
 
 
 ' 

 
 Stack 
 
 Annex 
 
 5 
 034 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 THE following Essays were most of them 
 originally written for different periodical pub- 
 lications, in which they appeared, and obtained 
 some degree of public approbation. On col- 
 lecting them for re-publication the author has 
 endeavoured to improve them, and in some 
 instances entirely re-written them. He has 
 also added some others on topics which he 
 considered interesting. 
 
 In presenting this volume to the Public, 
 the writer has again to claim that candour 
 and indulgence with which he has been so 
 generously favoured on former occasions. 
 Occupied, almost incessantly, in ministerial 
 duties, he can only gain fragments of time 
 for literary pursuits, and has consequently 
 but little opportunity to polish his sentences, 
 
 2000055
 
 or present the result of his researches in 
 laboured and elegant language. His aim has 
 been to communicate information with con- 
 ciseness and perspicuity ; and if he have suc- 
 ceeded, he is confident the unadorned style 
 in which it is conveyed will not prevent the 
 meed of approbation. 
 
 The last Essay is upon a subject to which 
 the writer is desirous of directing the attention 
 of students in Ecclesiastical History, as one of 
 considerable importance to missionary and 
 ministerial exertions, but which has never 
 been adequately investigated. If the views 
 there suggested be correct, every extension of 
 the Christian cause must be permanent in its 
 influence, and serve to hasten the desirable 
 period of universal righteousness, when " the 
 earth shall be filled with the knowledge of 
 the glory of the LORD as the waters cover 
 the sea."
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 Page. 
 
 I. On the Ancient Zabii, or Ante-Mosaic Idolaters - 1 
 
 rll. On the Onolatria, or Worship of the Ass - - - 23 
 
 x III. On the Character of Mary Magdalene - - - - 33 
 
 IV. On the Ancient Christian Vigil iae ----- 43 
 
 V. On the Sortes Sanctorum of the Ancient Christians 63 
 
 VI, On the Ancient Christian Agapa; ----- 83 
 
 VII. On the use of the terms "ICHTHUS" and "PISCI- 
 
 CCLI" by the Ancient Christians ----- 101 
 
 VIII. On the Congregation and College de Propaganda 
 Fide ; or celebrated Catholic Missionary Insti- 
 tution -------------111 
 
 \\. On the Prohibitory and Expurgatory Indexes of 
 
 the Romish Church 133 
 
 \. On the Progressive Diffusion of the Gospel - - 153
 
 ESSAYS, &c. 
 
 I. 
 
 ON THE ANCIENT ZABII, OR ANTE-MOSAIC 
 IDOLATERS. 
 
 THE ZABII, or ZABIANS, were a sect of Idolaters 
 who flourished in the early ages of the world, 
 considerable in their numbers, and extensive 
 in their influence. MAIMONIDES, whom SCALIGER 
 designates as " the most learned and acute of all 
 the Jewish writers," assures us in his celebrated 
 Moreh Nebochim, or " Instructer of those who 
 are Perplexed," that a very principal object in 
 the ceremonial institutions of MOSES, was, the 
 eradication of their idolatrous principles and 
 practices ; and has supported his position by an 
 excellent exposition of the grounds and reasons 
 of the Mosaic Laws. The learned SPENCER, in 
 his work De Lcgibus ffebrteorum, has adopted
 
 2 ON THE ANCIENT ZABII, 
 
 a similar principle; and in the same treatise 
 maintains, with considerable learning 1 , the more 
 disputable opinion, that many of the rites and 
 ceremonies enjoined by tire Jewish Legislator 
 were derived from the rites practised by the 
 Egyptians, and other heathen nations. This 
 latter conjecture, first noticed by MAIMONIDES, 
 subsequently defended by SIR JOHN MARSHAM 
 in his Chronicon, and by SPENCER in his before- 
 mentioned treatise, and countenanced by Bishop 
 WARBURTON in his Divine Legation, has been 
 ably combated by WITSIUS in his JEgyptlaca, a 
 work replete with solid and extensive erudition, 
 and by DR. WOODWARD in his valuable Discourse 
 on the Wisdom of the Ancient Egyptians. 
 
 When the Zabian Idolaters are thus regarded 
 as connected with the Mosaic Institutions, they 
 become a serious and interesting subject of 
 inquiry ; and every attempt to collect the scat- 
 tered rays of information concerning them, and 
 to converge them to a point, will probably be 
 received with candour. We shall, therefore, 
 offer some remarks on their NAME, their ORIGIN, 
 and the COUNTRY they inhabit, their OPINIONS, 
 their IDOLATROUS and SUPERSTITIOUS PRACTICES, 
 and their PRESENT DESCENDANTS. 
 
 I. NAME. The denomination of Zalii, given 
 to these Idolaters, appeal's to have been derived 
 from the Hebrew joy, Tzaba, a host ; with refer- 
 ence to the aDU?n Noy, or Host of Heaven, 
 which they worshipped ; though others have 
 derived it from the Arabic Tsaba, to apostatise,
 
 OR ANTE-MOSAIC IDOLATERS. 3 
 
 to turn from one religion to another ; or from 
 a 'ox, or the Arabic Tsabin, Chaldeans or inha- 
 bitants of the East. (Vide POCOCKII Specimen. 
 Hist. Arab. p. 139; SPENCER, De Leglbus Heb. 
 lib. ii. c. 1. sect. 1 ; HYDE, Veterum Persarum 
 Hist. c. 3, p. 84 ; CASTELLI Lex. Hept. sub voc. 
 way, et mx.) 
 
 II. ORIGIN AND COUNTRY. LACTANTIUS, in 
 his book De Origlne Erroris, considers HAM, 
 the son of NOAH, as the first seceder from the 
 true' religion after the Flood ; and supposes 
 Egypt, which was peopled by his descendants, to 
 have been the country in which Zabaism, or the 
 worship of the Stars, first prevailed: "At ille 
 (sc. Cham) profugus, in ejus terrae parte consedit, 
 quoe mmc Arabia nominatur: eaque terra de 
 nomine suo Chanaan dicta est; et posteri ejus 
 Chanancei. Hcec fuit prima gens, quse Deum 
 ignoravit; quoniam princeps ejus et couditor 
 cultum Dei a patre non accepit, maledictus ab 
 eo: itaque ignorantiam divinitatis minoribus suis 
 reliquit. Ab hac gente proximi quique populi, 
 
 multitudine increscente, fluxerunt, Sed 
 
 omnium primi, qui ^Sgyptum occupaverunt, 
 coelestia suspicere, atque adorare cceperunt." 
 "But he (HAM) fled, and settled in that part of 
 the earth which is now called Arabia, on which 
 account this country was called Canaan, and his 
 descendants Canaanites. This was the earliest 
 nation ignorant of GOD, its founder and chief 
 not having received the true worship (cultum) 
 of GOD from his father, by whom he had been
 
 ON THE ANCIENT ZABII, 
 
 cursed. From the increase of this people origin- 
 ated the surrounding 1 nations. But they who 
 inhabited Egypt were the first of all others to 
 observe the heavenly bodies, and to worship 
 them." (LACTANTII Opera, lib. ii. p. 103, Edit. 
 Cantab. 1685.) It is worthy of remark, that 
 one of the grandsons of HAM was named SEBA, 
 from whom it is probable Arabia Felix was 
 formerly called SABJGA. The predatory excur- 
 sions of the Sabeans are also noticed by the 
 Author of the book of JOB. (i. 15.) 
 
 That the worship of the Heavenly Bodies 
 prevailed in the East, at a very early periou, is 
 certain from the words of JOB, who thus excul- 
 pates himself from the charge of idolatry : " If 
 I beheld the Sun when it shined, or the Moon 
 walking in brightness, and my heart hath been 
 secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my 
 hand ; this also were an iniquity to be punished 
 by the judge : for I should have denied the GOD 
 that is above." (Job xxxi. 26 28.) MAIMO- 
 NIDES, (in Moreh Nebochim, P. 3, c. 29,) ex- 
 pressly affirms that ABRAHAM was educated in 
 the faith of the Zabii, " ABRAHAM Patrera nos- 
 trum educatum esse in fide Zabeeorum." He 
 maintains the same opinion also in his book De 
 Idololatria, ^ 6. " In Ur Chaldeeorum submer- 
 sus erat inter fatuos idololatras. Pater autem,' 
 ac mater ejus, omnisque populus, idola colebant, 
 et ille una cum iis." " In Ur of the Chaldees 
 he had been surrounded by silly idolaters. His 
 father and mother, and all the people, worshipped
 
 OR ANTE-MOSAIC IDOLATERS. 5 
 
 idols, and he with them." It would appear, 
 therefore, that the idolatrous opinions of the 
 Zabii originated with the posterity of HAM, at 
 a very early period after the Flood, in Egypt or 
 Chaldea; but spread so rapidly and extensively, 
 that in a very short time nearly the whole of 
 the descendants of NOAH were infected with 
 their pestiferious sentiments and practices : "Quse 
 Gens (sc. Zabaisfcc) totum Terrarum orbem 
 impleverat." " This people (i. e. the Zabii) had 
 filled the whole world." (MAIMON. Mor. Neb.) 
 III. OPINIONS. 
 
 1. Their first and principal adoration was 
 directed to the Host of Heaven, or the Stars. 
 " Statuerunt, Nullum esse DEUM prater Stellas ;" 
 are the words of MAIMONIDES, who adds, 
 "expresse dicimt Stellas Divinas, (vel, Deos 
 mhwruni Gentium) et Solem esse DEUM MAG- 
 NUM. Ita dicunt quoque reliquos quinque Pla- 
 netas esse Deos, sed duo Luminaria esse Majores. 
 Invenies quoque, illos clare dicere, Solem regere 
 Mundum superiorem et inferiorem." " They 
 expressly say that the Stars are divinities, or 
 inferior deities, and that the Sun is the GREAT 
 GOD. That the other five planets are gods, 
 but that the two luminaries, the Sun and the 
 Moon, are gods of a superior order. It will 
 also be found, that they clearly assert, that the 
 Sun governs tha higher and lower world.'* 
 (MAIMON. Mor. Neb. P. ,3, c. 29.) 
 
 2. They were Jgnicolw, or Worshippers of 
 Fire. The city of Ur, in Ghaldea, seems to ha\ ;
 
 6 ON THE ANCIENT ZABII, 
 
 had its name from the inhabitants being devoted 
 to the worship of fire. (Vide Vossn Not. in 
 Maimon. De Idololat. 8, and MENASSEH BEN 
 ISRAEL in Genes. Quaest. XL.) MAIMONIDES also 
 calls them " Cultores Ignis" worshippers of 
 fire. Mor. Neb. P. 3. c. 37. (See likewise 
 SELDEN, De DUs Syris, Syntag. II. c. 8, p. 321 ; 
 and MAIMON. Mor. Neb. P. 3, c. 30.) 
 
 3. They dedicated images to the Sun and the 
 other Celestial Orbs, supposing that, by a formal 
 consecration of them to those luminaries, a divine 
 virtue was infused into them, by which they 
 acquired the faculty of understanding, and the 
 power of conferring prophecy and other gifts 
 upon their worshippers. These images were 
 formed of various metals, according to the par- 
 ticular Star to which any of them was dedicated. 
 They also regarded certain trees as being ap- 
 propriated to particular Stars, and, when idola- 
 trously dedicated, as being possessed of very 
 singular virtues. "Porro, secundum sententias 
 illas Zabiorum erexerunt Stellis Imagines, et 
 Soli quidem Imagines aureas, Lunae vero argen- 
 teas, atque ita Metalla et Climata Terras inter 
 
 Stellas partiti sunt. Deinde Sacella sedi- 
 
 ficaverunt, Imaginesque in illis collocarunt, 
 arbitrantes vires Stellarum influere in illas 
 Imagines, casque Intelligendi virtutem habere, 
 Hominibus Prophetiae donum largiri, ac denique, 
 quae ipsis utilia ac salutaria sunt, indicare. Ita 
 dicunt de Arboribus quse sunt ex portione Stella- 
 rum illarum : cum Arbor quoedam Stellae alicui
 
 OR ANTE -MOSAIC IDOLATERS. 7 
 
 dedicating nomini ejus plantatur, et hoc vel illo 
 pacto colitur, quod virtutes spirituales Stella? in 
 Arborem illam infundantur, ita ut secundum 
 modum Prophetiee cum Hominibus, ut prophe- 
 tent, loquattir, et in Somnis etiam illos alloqua- 
 tur." "Moreover, according- to these opinions 
 of the Zabii, they erected images to the Stars ; 
 to the Sun, statues of gold; and to the Moon, 
 images of silver; and, in like manner, they 
 assigned the various metals and the climates of 
 the earth to the different Stars. Afterwards 
 they built small temples, and placed images in 
 them, supposing the virtues of the Stars to be 
 imparted to the images, which thereby acquired 
 the faculty of intelligence, and power to confer 
 the gift of prophecy on men, and to discover 
 things salutary and useful. They say also of the 
 trees which belong to these Stars, that when a 
 tree is dedicated to any Star, plan ted in its name, 
 and worshipped in this or that particular mode, 
 that the spiritual virtues of the Star are infused 
 into the tree, so that it speaks prophetically with 
 men, that they may prophesy, and also converses 
 with them in dreams." (MAIMON. Mor. Neb. P. 
 3, c. 29.) 
 
 4. From these opinions sprang the adoption 
 of Astrology by them, in all its varied forms, 
 " Quod si perlegeris omnes illos Libros, quorum 
 mentionem apud te feci, patebit quod Astrologia 
 vel Magia merit opus Zabiorum, Casdseorum et 
 Clialdaeorum ; frequentior tamen inter ^Egyptios 
 et Cananseos." "When you have read all those
 
 8 ON THE ANCIENT ZABII, 
 
 books of which I have spoken, it will be manifest, 
 that astrology or magic was practised by the Zabii, 
 Chasdoei, and Chaldeans, and still more frequently 
 by the Egyptians and Canaanites." (MAIMON. 
 Mor. Neb. P. 3, c. 37. SELDEN, De Diis Syris, 
 Syntag. I. c. 2, P. 103 ; Lugd. Bat. 1629.) 
 
 5. They maintained the doctrine of the Eternity 
 of the World. " Ideo omnes Zabaistcc credide- 
 nmt Antiquitatem Mundi, quia Cceli juxta illos 
 sunt DEUS." " All the Zabii believe in the eternity 
 of the world ; for, according to them, the Heavens 
 are GOD." (MAIMON. Mor. Neb. P. 3. c. 29.) 
 The Zabian authors relate, that ABRAHAM was 
 banished out of Chaldea, for opposing their sen- 
 timents, after having forsaken idolatry ; and in 
 particular, for asserting, that there was another 
 Creator besides the Sun. (Vide MAIMON. Mor. 
 Neb. P. 3, c. 29, et De Idololat. c. 1, 6, 7, 8 ; 
 HYDE, Vet. Pers. Relig. Hist. c. 2, pp. 68, 72, 
 Oxon. 1760; MENASSEH BEN-ISRAEL, Conciliator, 
 in Genes. Quest. XL; and STANLEY'S Hist, of 
 Philosophy, P. 18, p. 797.) 
 
 6. Holding the eternity of the world, they 
 easily became Pre-Adamites, affirming that ADAM 
 was not the first man. They also fabled con- 
 cerning him, that he was the Apostle of the 
 Moon, and the author of several works on hus- 
 bandry. Of NOAH, they taught, that he was an 
 husbandman, and was imprisoned for dissenting 
 from their opinions. They add, that SETH was 
 another of those who forsook the worship of 
 the Moon. " Insuper existimarunt, Adamum
 
 OR ANTE-MOSAIC IDOJATERS. 9 
 
 primum fuisse virum ex viro et foemina, sicut 
 reliqui homines, progenitum. Sed tamen mag- 
 nis laudibus ipsum evexerunt : dixenint ilium 
 fuisse Apostolum Lunae, vocasse Homines ad 
 cultum Lunse, et Libros composuisse de Cultura 
 Terree. Sic de NOAH dicuut Zabaistae, quod 
 fuerit Agricola, neque ipsi cultus Imaginum 
 placuerit. Inde invenies, omnes Zabios vitupe- 
 rare Noam, et dicere, qudd nullas coluerit 
 Imagines. Item, quod in judicium vocatus, car- 
 cerique inclusus fuerit, eo quod DEUM Opt. Max. 
 coluerit : et alia. SCHETHUM existemant disces- 
 sisse a sententia patris sui Adami in cultu Lunse." 
 " They were, moreover, of opinion, that the first 
 ADAM was a man, born of parents like other men, 
 Nevertheless, they greatly praised and extolled 
 him, and said, that he was the Apostle of the 
 Moon, had taught men to worship that luminary, 
 and had composed books on agriculture. The 
 Zabii also affirmed, that NOAH was a husband- 
 man, and was displeased with the worship of 
 images. Hence you will find, that all the Zabii 
 blame him, and say, that he would not worship 
 images ; and also, that being called into judg- 
 ment, he was imprisoned for worshipping the 
 MOST HIGH GOD. They likewise hold, that SETH 
 dissented from the opinions of his father, with 
 respect to the worship of the Moon." (MAIMON, 
 Mor. Neb. P. 3, c. 29.) 
 
 7. They held agriculture in the highest esti- 
 mation, regarding it as intimately connected 
 with the worship of the heavenly bodies. On 
 c
 
 10 Oft THE ASClrfNT ZAWI, 
 
 this actottitt, 'ii Was deemed criminal, by the 
 major part of them, to slay or feed Ofron cattle. 
 " Catusa, propter qiram Idololatrse magnifaciunt 
 Boves et Armenta, est, quod magnam utilitatem 
 prsebent in Agricultural ita ut dixerint, Kon 
 esse permissum ilia mactare, quia magnse virtutes 
 et commoda ex illis ad Homines redeant ab Astris 
 propter Agriculturam." " The reason why the 
 Idolaters so highly value oxen and large cattle, 
 is because of the great use they are of in agricul- 
 ture ; insomuch that they say, they are forbidden 
 to slay them, since, through them, men derive 
 great benefits and advantages from the Stars, by 
 way of agriculture." (MAIMON. Mor. Neb. P. 3, 
 c. 30.) Goats were also reputed to be sacred 
 animals, because the Demons whom they wor- 
 shipped were said to appear in the woods and 
 deserts in the forms of goats, or satyrs. " Ad 
 hunc modum ex Zabiis quidam mertmt, qui dse- 
 mones colebant, et existimabant, quod formani 
 HiRCORUMhabeant ; undeetiam dsemonesSEiRiM, 
 
 h. e. Hircos appellabant." " Ex erroribus 
 
 enim illis antiquis rait et hoc, quod dsemones in 
 desertis habitent, loquantur et apparcant, in 
 urbibus vero et locis habitatis nequaquani con- 
 spiciantur." "Some of the Zabii worshipped 
 Demons, and believed that they had the form of 
 goats, whence they called Demons Seirhn, that 
 is goats." " From these errors arose the opinion, 
 maintained both anciently and at present, that 
 Demons dwell, and appear and converse in 
 desert places, but are never seen in cities or places
 
 OR ANTE-MOSAJC IDOLATERS. 11 
 
 that are inhabited." (MAIMON. Mor. N.eb. P. 3, 
 c. 46.) Vide SELDEN, D<e Dlls Syris, Proleg. ,c. 
 3, p. 38.) 
 
 IV. IDOLATROUS AND SUPERSTITIOUS PRACTICES. 
 
 1 . Some were dangerous, as the sacrifices of 
 Lions, Tigers, and other wild beasts. " Offere- 
 bant Leoues, ursos,Tygros,aliasqueferasbestias." 
 (MAIMON. Mor. Neb. P. 3, c. 46.) 
 
 2. Certain of their rites were cruel, as the 
 passing of their children through the fire; 
 branding themselves also with fire ; and, if 
 credit may be attached to the relation of MAHUMED 
 BEN ISAAC, slaying and eating a new-born infant 
 annually in the fifth month. "Ita notum est in 
 genere ex natura hominum, quod nihil seque 
 ti meant et horreant, ac facultatum et Hberorum 
 suorum amissionem. Ideo publieanmt et spar- 
 serunt cultores ignis, omnes ej us liberos moci- 
 tnros, qui filium aut filiam suam per ignem non 
 truduxerit. Proinde nullum dubium est, quin 
 unnsquisque magna diligentia propemrit ad faci- 
 endum illud, turn ob magnam erga liberos suos 
 clementiam, et timorem de illis amittendis, &c." 
 < It is well known that nothing is more feared 
 and dreaded by mankind than the loss of their 
 faculties and of their children. The worshippers 
 of Fire, therefore, publicly declared and circulated, 
 that all the children would die belonging to those 
 persons who did not cause their sons and daughters 
 to pass through the fire." (MAIMON. Mor. AW/. 
 P. 3. c. 37.) STANLEY (Hist, of Philosophy, 
 P. 19, c. 1.) quotes a MS. of MAHUMED BEN
 
 12 ON THE ANCIENT ZABII, 
 
 ISAAC, as cited by HOTTINGER, which thus speaks 
 of Zabian worship: "In the fifth month, which, 
 as the Syrians, they call Ab, they press new wine 
 to their gods, and give it several names : this 
 they do the first eight days. They likewise kill 
 a new-born infant to their gods, which they beat 
 all to pieces; then they take the flesh, and mix 
 it with rye-meal, saffron, ears of corn, mace, and 
 little cakes like figs ; they bake this in anew oven, 
 and give it to the people of the congregation of 
 SAMMAEL," (by which name the Talmudists 
 understand the Devil,) " all the year long ; no 
 woman eats of this, nor servant, nor son of a 
 bond-woman, nor man that is possessed or mad." 
 3. Some of their practices were loathsome and 
 disgustful ; such as eating blood, believing it to 
 be the food of Demons ; &c. " Hi mactantes 
 bestiam aliquam, sanguinem ejus accipiebant, 
 et in vase vel fossula aliqua colligebant, carnem 
 vero mactatam circa ilium sanguinem in circulo 
 sedentes comedebant; imaginantes sibi, in hoc 
 opere, ipsis earnem comedentibus, dsemones 
 ilium sanguinem comedere, et hunc ipsorum esse 
 cibum, hocque medio amicitiam, fraternitatem et 
 farniliaritatem inter ipsos contrahi, quia omnes 
 in una mensa edunt, et uno consessu accumbunt : 
 praeterea opinabuntur, daemones in somnio sibi 
 comparere, futura indicare, plurimumque pro- 
 desse." "They slew a beast and caught the 
 blood, which they poured into a vessel, or small 
 hole in the ground, and then sitting in a circle 
 round the blood, ate the flesh, imagining that,
 
 OR ANTE-MOSAIC IDOLATERS. 13 
 
 by this action, the Demons drank the blood as 
 their food, whilst they themselves were eating 
 the flesh, and that friendship, fraternity and 
 familiarity, were thereby contracted with them, 
 because they had eaten at the same table, and 
 reclined on the same seat; besides which they 
 also believed, that Demons appeared to them in 
 their sleep, revealing and discovering many 
 things." (M AIMON, Mor. Neb. P. 3. c. 46.) 
 
 4. Others were frivolous and tedious; as, 
 offering bats and mice to the Sun ; various and 
 frequent ablations, lustrations, &c. &c. "Sou 
 (DEO suomajori) obtulerint septem vespertiliones, 
 septem mures, et septem reptilia alia, cum certis 
 quibusdam rebus." " Labores magnas habuerunt 
 Zabsei circa pollutiones." " To the Sun (their 
 greatest God) they offered seven bats, seven mice, 
 and seven other reptiles, with certain other 
 things : " The Zabii have many oppressive cere- 
 monies respecting pollutions." (MAIMON. Mor. 
 Neb. P. 3, c. 29, 37, 47.) 
 
 5. Some of them were obscene and beastly, as 
 the rites practised on engrafting a tree, or to 
 obtain rain. (MAIMON. Mor. Neb. P. 3, c. 37.) 
 
 6. Many of the rites were magical. These 
 MAIMOMDES divides into three kinds. " Prima 
 species est illorum, quse versatur circa plantas, 
 animal ia, et metalla. Secunda consistit in cir- 
 cumscriptione et determinatione temporis, quo 
 opera ilia sunt facienda. Tertia consistit in gesti- 
 bus et actionibus hmnanis,ut saltatione, manuum 
 complosione, clamore, risu, cubatione vel prona
 
 14 , ON THE ANCIENT ZAJJII, 
 
 expansione super terrain, rei alicujus combustionc, 
 fund accensione, quoruiidum verbornm denique, 
 sive mtelligibiliuni, sive BOH intelligibilium prola- 
 
 tione Sunt autem qusedam, quse non 
 
 nisi his universis pernciuntur." "The first is 
 that which respects plants, animals and metals. 
 The second consists in the limitation and deter- 
 mination of the times in which certain works 
 ought to be performed. The third consists in 
 human gestures and .actions, as leaping, clapping 
 the hands, shouting, laughing, lying down, or 
 stretching at full length upon the ground, burn- 
 ing 'particular things, raising a smoke, and lastly 
 repeating certain intelligible or unintelligible 
 words. Some things cannot be compleated, 
 without the use of all these rites." (Mor. Neb. 
 P. 3, 37.) 
 
 V. PRESENT DESCENDANTS. It is generally 
 acknowledged that some traces of Zabianism 
 are still to be found both among the HINDOOS 
 and CHINESE in the East, and the MEXICANS 
 and other nations in the South. See the elegant 
 Dissertations on "Indian Antiquities" by tlu 
 REV. T. MAURICE, vols. ii. and iii., and the 
 learned work of J)R. LELAND on the " slduantuste 
 and Necessity of the Christian Revelation" vol. 
 i. part 1, ch. 3. But those who may be con- 
 sidered as the most direct descendants from 
 these ancient idolaters are the GUEBRES or 
 PARSERS of Persia, and the SABIANS of Arabia. 
 
 The GUEBRES, or PARSEES, who inhabit Persia, 
 and. are -scattered through various parts of Hin-
 
 OB ANTE-MOSAIC IDOLATEBS. 15 
 
 dostan are the acknowledged worshippers of 
 
 Fire, or the Supreme Deity under that symbol. 
 
 " QiKxl Persae olim fuerint Sabaitce seu Sabci, 
 
 fidem facit IBN PHACREDDIN ANGJOU Persa in libro 
 
 Pharhangh Gjihanghiri dePersis SHEMI prooep- 
 
 tibus loquens in Procemio suo, Illorum religio 
 
 time fuit Subaismus: at tandem facti sunt magi, 
 
 et cedificarunt cedes ignium. "Et in eundem 
 
 sensum auctor libri Miigjizat Pharsi, p. 224, de 
 
 Parsarum seris nepotibus refert, Per see antique 
 
 temporc erant de religions Sabaitarum stellas 
 
 colentes, risque ad tempus GushtaspJUiiLohrasp. 
 
 Tune enim eorum religionem reformavit Zoro- 
 
 astres" "That the Persians were formerly 
 
 Sabians or Zabii, is rendered probable by Ibn 
 
 Phacreddin slngjou, a Persian, who, in his book 
 
 Pkarbangh Gjlhunghiri, treating of the Persians 
 
 descended from SHEM, says in the Prefece, 
 
 Their religion, at that time, icas Zabianism ; 
 
 hut at length tliey became Magi, and built Jire- 
 
 temples. And the author of the book Mugjizat 
 
 Pharsi, adopts the same opinion: In ancient 
 
 times, the Persians were of the Zabian religion, 
 
 iL-oi\shipping the Stars, until the time of GUSH- 
 
 TASP, son of LOHRASP. For then ZOROASTER 
 
 reformed their religion." (HYDE, Vet. Pers. 
 
 Rel'tg. Hist. c. 3, pp. 4, 85.) 
 
 The modern SABIANS, who inhabit the count ly 
 round about Mount Libanus, believe the unity 
 of GOD, but "pay an adoration to the Stars or 
 the angels and intelligences which they suppose
 
 16 ON THE ANCIENT ZABII, 
 
 reside in them, and govern the world under the 
 Supreme Deity." They are obliged to pray three 
 times a day, and they fast three times a year. 
 They offer many sacrifices, but eat no part of 
 them; and abstain from beans, garlick, and 
 some other pulse and vegetables. " They greatly 
 respect the Temple of Mecca and the Pyramids 
 of Egypt, fancying these last to be the sepul- 
 chres'of SETH, and of ENOCH and SABI, his two 
 sons, whom they look on as the first propagators 
 of their religion. At these structures, they sacri- 
 fice a cock and a black calf, and offer up incense." 
 Their principal pilgrimage, however, is to Haran, 
 the supposed birth-place of ABRAHAM. Such is 
 the account of this sect, given by SALE, D'HER- 
 BELOT, and HYDE. (Vide SALE'S Koran, Prelim. 
 Disc. sect. 1 ; D'HERBELOT, Bibliotheque Orien- 
 tate, p. 714, Edit. Maestrecht, 1776; HYDE, 
 Vet. Pers. Rellg. Hist. c. 5.) 
 
 The MENDAI JEHAI or MENDAI IJAHI, some- 
 times called the Christians of ST. JOHN, are 
 usually considered as Sabians ; but from some 
 of their practices, as baptism, &c., we are in- 
 clined to consider them as a distinct sect, who 
 have been confounded with the Sabians, from the 
 unequivocal use of the Arabic term Tsala, some- 
 times applied to those who adored the Host of 
 Heaven, and sometimes used as a general term 
 for all those who dissent from the doctrines of 
 MOHAMMED. Future and intelligent travellers 
 must, however, decide the point. (VideFABRicu
 
 OR ANTE -MOSAIC IDOLATERS. 1? 
 
 JAIX Evangelll, c. 5, p. 119 ; c. 37, p. 636; and 
 MOSHEIM'S Commentaries on the Affairs of 
 Christians, &c. 3 translated by R. S. VIDAL, vol. i. 
 p. 78, note.) 
 
 A curious account of an Idol, supposed to be 
 a Zabian one, is given in a letter from W. BOG- 
 DANI, ESQ., to MAURICE JOHNSON, ESQ., preserved 
 in NICHOLS'S Illustrations of the Literary History 
 of the Eighteenth Century : vol. iii. 567, 568. 
 Loud. 1818. 8vo.; from which the following 
 extract is presented to the reader: 
 
 ' ' Tower of London, 
 " Dear Sir, " September 15, 1733. 
 
 " I have sent you a draft of an Idol, sent by 
 a gentleman at Venice, to his friend, an apothe- 
 cary, in Princes-street, Stocksmarket. The 
 Venetian had it from Egypt, by way of Turkey. 
 It is of the exact size of the draft, and carved 
 in alabaster, but now grown of a reddish brown 
 colour. The two drawings are the two sides of 
 one statue, back to back, and have but one pair 
 of legs and arms to both. The Venetians esteem 
 it to be a Dio Adamo, or God Adam, saying^ 
 that the Jews have a tradition, that ADAM when 
 first created was thus with EVE at his back ; 
 but that GOD, finding that not a proper position 
 for a man and his wife, cut them asunder. 1 
 
 (1) STBIIKMN, in his work on the Traditions of the Jews, 
 ol serves th.it, in Bcrachoth, a Talmud-Treatise, it is said, 
 " that (iou formed AD.\M with a double visage." The pas- 
 D
 
 18 ON THE ANCIENT ZABII, 
 
 Whatever the Jews' opinion of ADAM may be, I 
 do not esteem this to be their Dio Adamo. 
 Others call it a Janus, but I think with little 
 reason. The characters are very fair and exact 
 in the draft. I have shown these inscriptions 
 to several linguists, who are at a loss to read 
 them; some say they are the antient Persian, 
 others the antietit Chaldaic ; but from the great 
 affinity with the Arabic, I esteem them to be 
 that antient character, though I am not versed 
 in that language any more than by sight. SIR 
 HANS SLOANE esteems them to be an Egyptian 
 Abraxas. 2 If I may be allowed a conjecture 
 
 sage runs thus : "RABBI JEREMY, son of ELJESER, says, 
 GOD created the First Man with two faces ; as we read, 
 Thou hast fashioned me behind and before.'' (Ps. cxxxix. 5.) 
 Which words RABBI SOLOMON explains thus : " He made 
 him with two faces, one before and the other behind ; and 
 cut him in two parts ; and out of one part he made EVE." 
 In a treatise entitled Eruvin, we read, that ADAM " had a 
 double face, from the words, Thou hast fashioned me 
 behind and before." On these words, SOLOMON writes thus : 
 " He divided him into two parts ; for on the one side he was 
 a Male, and on the other a Female." In Bereschith ralba, 
 in the eighth Parasha, we read these words : " RABBI 
 SAMUEL, son of NACIIMAXS, said, " In the same hour wherein 
 GOD created Man, he made him with two faces, and sawing 
 him asunder, made the hack part to each of them, one on 
 this side, the other on that." J. P. STEIIEJ.IX'S Rabbinical 
 Literature : or the Traditions of the Jews, #c. Vol. I. pp. 
 15, 16. Lend. 1748, 8vo. Ed. 
 
 (2) The term Abraxas, applied to the Sxipreme Lord or 
 Governor of the Heavens, by BASILIDES, an Alexandrian 
 philosopher and metaphysical theorist of the second century,
 
 OR ANTE-MOSAIC IDOLATERS. 19 
 
 this may perhaps be an Idol adored by the Zabii, 
 mentioned by SPENCER, in his book, " De Legt- 
 bus Hebrceorntn" lib. ii. whom he thinks with 
 SCAUGER to be a sect of Chaldeans, Egyptians, 
 Nabatsei, Chanancei, Syri, &c., and whose super- 
 stition had infected most of the Eastern nations, 
 and quotes from SnARESTAN, 3 " Zabii coeli 
 exercitum et sydera eolebant, tanquam numina, 
 mentibusque divinis animata ;" 4 and in another 
 place he says, " Chaldseortim veteruna religio 
 circa Solem, hunam, Sydera, Tellurem, forsan 
 et eorum Symbola, versabatur." 5 Now this 
 
 was also given to certain gems, en which were engraved 
 various Bgures of Egyptian invention, intended to serve as 
 amulets or charms. See MOSHEIM'S Commentaries on the 
 Affairs of the Christians, be. translated by R. S. VSDAL, ESQ., 
 Vol. II, pp. 225232. note (q.) Lond. 1813, 8vo. A 
 scurious and elaborate account of the gems called Abraxas, 
 accompanied with plates, is given in MONTFAUCON'S Antiquity 
 Explained, translated by D. HUMPHREYS, Vol. II. p. 2. B. 3. 
 .Lond. 1721, fel. Ed. 
 
 (3) SPENCER certainly quotes from SIIARESTAN, an Arabian 
 author, a passage respecting the derivation of the name ap- 
 propriated to the idolaters, of whom he is speaking ; but 
 the words given here are SPENCER'S own. The learned 
 reader who wishes to pursue the subject and see more at 
 large the opinions of the Arabian writers, will do well to 
 consult POCOCKE'S Specimen Historic Arahum, and especially 
 the very learned Notes which are appended. Ed. 
 
 (4) " The Zabii worshipped the Host of Heaven and the 
 Stars, as Deities animated with Divine minds." 
 
 (5) " The objects of the religious worship of the ancient 
 Chaldeans were the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Earth, and perhaps 
 the symbols of these things."
 
 20 
 
 Idol has on its breast the representation of the 
 Sun, Moon, and Stars, which are doubtless placed 
 there by religious superstition. The same SPEN- 
 CER, lib. ii. c. 4. De Lege Paschatis, " Superest 
 jam, ut preecipua pensi mei demngar parte, et 
 Leges eas singulatim exequar, quas DEUS, ad 
 seculi superstionem coercendam, et Zabiorum 
 ceremonias abolendas dedit." 6 And sect. 1, of 
 the same chapter, " Hoc itaque remedio usus 
 est DEUS, ne superstitionis ejusdem scabies Israe- 
 litas ureret ; Agnum ilium masculum quern 
 ^Egyptii inter numina sua prsecipua coluerunt, 
 solenniter mactari, et sedium postes agni san- 
 guine aspergi jussit : nam inde facile cognasce- 
 rent Israelite, arieti nihil inesse divinitatis, et, 
 animal illud contumeliose tractando, se non 
 minus ab yEgypti superstitione quain servitute 
 recessuros, indicarent. 7 This Idol being thus 
 cloathed with the lamb's skin confirms me some- 
 
 (6) " It now remains for me to fulfil the principal part of 
 my task, and to go over, one by one, the laws which GOD 
 established to repress the superstition of the age, and to abolish 
 the ceremonies of the Zabii." 
 
 (7) " To save the Israelites from the contagion of that super- 
 stition, GOD employed the following remedy : He ordered 
 that the male lamb, which the Egyptians worshipped as one 
 of their principal deities, should be solemnly sacrificed, and 
 that the doors of the temple should be sprinkled with its 
 blood, because the Jews would thence easily perceive that 
 the ram had nothing in it of a Divine nature ; and by treating 
 the animal so roughly they would show their determination 
 to be free from the superstition of Egypt as well as from its 
 servitude."
 
 OR ANTE-MOSAIC IDOLATERS. 21 
 
 tiling more in this conjecture,, unless it may be 
 objected as improper to represent about this 
 Idol the flayed skin of a beast held by the devotees 
 iu such professed veneration. 
 
 " W. BOGDANI." 
 
 The learned BRUCKER, in his Historia Critica 
 Philosophic^, has attempted to prove that the 
 Zabii were of more modern date than is usually 
 ascribed to them; and supposes them to have 
 appeared only a short time before the birth of 
 MOHAMMED, and their system of opinions to have 
 been an heterogeneous mass, compounded of 
 Judaism, Magianisrn, and Christianity. His 
 arguments, however, are formed from consider- 
 ing the remains of this people and their super- 
 stitions at too recent a period of their existence, 
 to allow them force, in opposition to the united 
 testimony of the Arabian writers, who uniformly 
 contend for their early Chaldaic origin, however 
 they may differ in minor points relative to their 
 opinions or practices. Nor can we agree with 
 him that we ought to discard the Arabian 
 authors, because the Greek and Roman writers 
 are silent respecting the ancient Zabii, since this 
 mode of reasoning would equally apply to many 
 other statements of indubitable authority, and 
 might partially be applied to Christianity itself; 
 whilst on the contrary the strange relations of 
 HERODOTUS respecting the Arabians, in B, III. 
 of his History are sufficient to show, that even 
 the Greek Historians may mislead. On the
 
 22 ON THE ANCIENT ZABII. 
 
 whole, therefore, we conclude that the ZABII 
 were among- the most early idolaters ; that many 
 of the Mosaic precepts were designed to counter- 
 act their influence ; and that although the Arab 
 impostor MOHAMMED endeavoured to reclaim his 
 countrymen from their idolatries by introducing 
 a system contrived to gain the sensual and ambi- 
 tious of all parties, a few adhered to their former 
 superstitions, who gradually seceding from some 
 opinions and practices and adopting others from 
 their Heathen, Christian, and Mohammedan 
 neighbours, gave rise to the modern Zabians, 
 by whatever name they are designated, and occa- 
 sioned them to differ almost totally from the 
 ancient Zabii against whom certain parts of the 
 Mosaic Ritual were directed. (ENFIELD'S History 
 of Philosophy, Vol. I. B. i. chap. 6. BERGIER, 
 Dictionnaire de Theologie, Tom. VII. art, SABA- 
 ISME.)
 
 II. 
 
 ON THE ONOLATRIA, OR WORSHIP OF THE ASS j 
 
 (Calumniously ascribed to the Jews and Primitive Christians). 
 
 THE celebrated Latin historian, TACITUS, in 
 lib.v. of his History, after attempting to account 
 for the exodus of the Jews out of Egypt, and 
 their deliverance from perishing by thirst in the 
 desert, by folio wing a company of wild asses, adds, 
 " Effigiem anirnalis, quo monstrante errorem 
 sitimquedepulerant,penetrali sacra vere." "They 
 therefore consecrated the image of the beast, by 
 whose guidance they had been delivered from 
 perplexity and thirst." 
 
 The calumnious report which he thus adopted, 
 he himself does not appear to have believed, for 
 in the same book, he affirms, " yEgyptii pleraque 
 animalia effigiesque compositas venerantur Judsei 
 mente sola, unumque numen intelligunt. Igitur 
 nulla simulacra urbibus suis, nedum templis 
 sunt." "The Egyptians worship almost all kinds 
 of animals, and images formed by art. The Jews 
 adore but one God, without any visible resem-
 
 24 ON THE ONOLATKIA, 
 
 blance. They therefore have no images either 
 in their cities or temples." Wherefore then did 
 he , retail an unfounded calumny? Doubtless 
 to depreciate a people, whom he, and his nation 
 hated on account of the peculiar and exclusive 
 nature of their religion. Nor was he singular 
 in this aspersion, for APION, before him, had 
 urged it against them j 1 and had asserted that 
 when ANTIOCHUS prophaned and plundered the 
 tvimple he found in it the image of an ass's head, 
 made of gold, of very great value. DIODORUS 
 SiuuLUs 2 relates a similar story, but says it 
 wws a stone statue which was found in the tem- 
 ple, and represented a man, with a long beard, 
 riiling upon an ass, who was supposed to be 
 MOSES. DAMOCRITUS S also charges the Jews, 
 not only with the worship of the golden ass's 
 head, but with offering to it human sacrifices; 
 for, says he, eveiy seventh year the Jews seize 
 some stranger, whom they tear in pieces, and 
 offer as a sacrifice to the ass's head : and PLU- 
 TARCH^ gravely supports the belief of the asinine 
 worship by observing, that as the Jews worshipped 
 avi iss that showed them the way to a fountain 
 cf water when they were ready to perish with 
 
 (1.1 Joseph, contra Apion, 
 
 (<2) Lib. xxxiv. Eclog. I. p. 901. -See Turner's Calumnies 
 upon the Primitive Christians accounted for. Chap. iv. p. 106. 
 L>nd. 172?. 8vo. 
 
 (3) Suicl. Lex. subvoc. 
 
 (4) Sympos. 4. cap. 5.
 
 OR WORSHIP OF THE ASS 5 
 
 thirst in the wilderness, so they worship a hog-, 
 as being the inventor of ploughing and sowing. 
 To discover the origin of these odious charges 
 is difficult, as is sufficiently evidenced by the 
 diversity of opinions among the learned. TER- 
 TULLIAN mentions an infamous gladiator, who 
 exhibited a picture with this inscription " ONO- 
 CHOETES, the God of the Christians," representing 
 a monster, with the ears of an ass, a hoof on one 
 foot, a book in another, and clothed with a gown, 
 a circumstance, which some have conjectured 
 affords a plausible account of the origin of the 
 calumny urged against the Christians. Others 
 are of opinion that, the first occasion for this 
 vile reflection upon the Christian worship was 
 given by the Gnostic heretics, some of whom 
 worshipped a fictitious angel or demon, under 
 the form of an ass. The heretics called Ophiani, 
 from worshipping a Serpent, had their seven 
 heavens, according to the Gnostic scheme, over 
 which they supposed so many angels or intelli- 
 gences presided, and that in the seventh, Onoel, 
 or Thartharaoth presided, under the similitude 
 of an ass ; but other heretics called the governor 
 of the seventh heaven Salaoth, to which some of 
 them attributed the likeness of an ass, and 
 others that of a hog ; and some represented 
 certain of these governors as having the head of 
 an 
 
 (5) Origen contra Celsum, 1. vi. pp. 295297 j Reeves' s 
 B
 
 Zt> ON THE ONOLATRfA, 
 
 LE FEVRE conjectures that the schismatic tem- 
 ple erected in the province of Heliopolis, in Egypt, 
 being called 'OwoD vdo$ (Oniou naos) and 'Oi/jcTov 
 (Onieion;} the surrounding Pagans invented the 
 fable, that the ass"Ovof, (Onos,) was worshipped 
 there. RELAND7 contends, that the vase which 
 contained the manna laid up in the ark, was of 
 the kind termed *Ovou$ (Onous,) and that from 
 the similarity of this word to *Qvo$ (Onos,) arose 
 the belief of the Asinine worship of the Jews. 
 The author of the work Laus Asinis believes 
 that Quoavog (Ouranos) was sometimes abbrevi- 
 ated and written O<jvo$ (Ounos,) and that the 
 heathens, either from ignorance or malice, read 
 it, *Ovo$ (Onos). THYSIUSS supposes that as the 
 ass was appropriated to BACCHUS, and the Pagans 
 maintained, from the institution of the Feast of 
 Tabernacles, &c. that the Jews were worshippers 
 of the drunken god ; the report might be cir- 
 culated that they worshipped the ass itself. 
 DiLHERRUs 10 supposes that the calumny arose 
 from the misunderstanding of Genesis xxxiv. 24, 
 where the words O'C'n DN may be rendered 
 
 Apologies, Vol. i. p. 239 ; Turner's Calumnies upon the 
 Primitive Christians, pp. 9790. Lond. 1727- 8vo. 
 
 (6) Jurieu Hist, des Dogmes, P. 4. Chap. 4. 
 
 (7) Saurin, Discours Historiques, &c. Tom. 2} Disc. 1, 
 p. ISO, 8vo. 
 
 (S) Bochart. Ilieroz. Lib. ii, Cap. 18, T. 1. 
 (9) A. Thysn Exercitationes Miscellaneae, apud Crenii 
 Fascic, T. 4. Exercit, 9. 
 
 (10) Dilherri Farrago, apud Crenii Fascic. T- 8. Cap. 12.
 
 OR WORSHIP OP THE ASS. 27 
 
 accordingly as they are differently pointed, either 
 Mules, or Waters. JURIEU U thinks that the 
 most probable opinion is, that the Pagans mis- 
 took one of the faces of the Cherubim, parti- 
 cularly that of the ox, for that of an ass : whilst 
 the modest and profoundly learned BOCHART IZ 
 is of opinion that the report arose from the 
 frequent use, in the Hebrew Scriptures, of the 
 words mn >D (Pi Jehovah) which, when pro- 
 nounced Pi JaOj are in sound similar to the 
 Coptic IIIEQ an ass; and that on this circum- 
 stance APION founded the calumny. 
 
 Among so many discordant, but well defended 
 opinions, it is not easy to decide which ought to 
 be preferred. Instead of adopting any one to 
 the exclusion of the rest, I would rather suppose 
 that the report was raised and gained strength 
 by the combined influence of most or all of 
 these causes ; to which may be added another 
 from the language of the Prophetic Scriptures. 
 I particularly allude to the memorable prophecy 
 of ZECHARIAH, chap. ix. ver. 9 : " Rejoice 
 greatly, O daughter of Zion ; shout O daughter 
 of Jerusalem : behold, thy King cometh unto 
 thee ; he is just, and having salvation, lowly 
 and riding upon an ass, and upon a coalt 
 the foal of an ass" This prophecy was one 
 which the Jews regarded with peculiar attention, 
 referring it to the Messiah, and frequently 
 
 (11) Juried Hist, des Dogmes, P. 4, ch. iv. p. 748. 
 O2) Borhart. Hieroz. Lib. ii. cap. IS, Tom. I.
 
 duelling upon the circumstance of his riding 
 
 upon an ass, as a proof of his humility. We 
 
 therefore find the Talmudists endeavouring to 
 
 reconcile, what they considered as a discordancy 
 
 in their Scriptures ; for in Sanhed, cap. xi. 
 
 fol. 98, it is said, 13 " Rabbi JOSUEM films LEVI 
 
 objecit, scriptum est de Messia : Dan. cap. vii. 
 
 ver. 13. c Et ecce cum nubibus coeli, sicut 
 
 films hominis venit.' At Zachar. cap. ix. ver. 9, 
 
 de eodem scriptum est, ' Pauper et insidens 
 
 asino.' Resp. Si Israelite digni sunt, veniet 
 
 cum nubibus coeli; si non sunt digni, veniet 
 
 pauper, et asino insidens." " RABBI JOSHUA son 
 
 of LEVI objects, that it is written concerning the 
 
 Messiah: Dan. vii. 13. ' Behold one like the 
 
 Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven.' 
 
 But in Zachariah, ix. 9, it is written, of the same 
 
 person, ' Poor and riding upon an ass.' Ans. 
 
 If the Israelites be worthy, he will come ' with 
 
 the clouds of heaven ;' but if they be not 
 
 worthy, he will come ' poor and riding upon an 
 
 ass.'" The Rabbins have also fabled,^ that Me 
 
 ass upon which the Messiah will ride, will be 
 
 one with a thousand excellencies, and the same 
 
 upon which ABRAHAM and the Prophets formerly 
 
 rode. From this frequent writing and speaking 
 
 of the ass, the heathens were probably confirmed 
 
 (13) Bochart. Hieroz. Lib. ii. cap. 27. 
 
 (14) Buxtorf Lex Talmud, sub. voce ~)N3. Relandi Dis- 
 sert. MisceU. Pars Altera. Dissert, ix. p. 288, sub voce Tin.
 
 OR WORSHIP OF THE ASS 29 
 
 in the foolish supposition, that the stupid 
 animal was worshipped by the Jews. 
 
 It is also worthy of notice, as a curious fact, that 
 although the Egyptians reproached the Jews with 
 worshipping 1 the ass, they themselves were in the 
 same condemnation, for the ass was the symbol 
 of Typhon, or the Evil Principle deified, and in 
 celebrating- their religious rites in the months 
 Payni and Phaophi, which answer to our June 
 and October, they baked cakes, on which the 
 image of an ass bound was represented. SCALIGER 
 (Emend. Tempor) even pretends, that TOD, the 
 name given by PHAROAH to JOSEPH, was no other, 
 than that of the month Payni, when the symbol 
 of the ass was offered up as a sacrifice ; and SIR 
 WILLIAM DRUMMOND, thinks it not unlikely, 
 that in order to humiliate the Hebrews during 
 their servitude in Egypt, and to pervert their 
 minds from the true religion, the Egyptians 
 compelled them to observe these idolatrous 
 practices. 15 If these conjectures be admitted, 
 they afford a plausible reason for supposing that 
 among the Jews who were liberated from Egyp- 
 tian bondage, there were some who retained an 
 attachment to these rites, and occasionally 
 practised them; and from whom others learned 
 them, and gave occasion, in times of genei .1 
 defection, to the belief that the ass was an 
 object of idolatrous devotion. 
 
 (15) Classical Journal, No. VII. Sep. 181 1, p. 69.
 
 ON THE ONOLATRIA, 
 
 When Christianity began to be preached, the 
 slander raised at first against the Jews was 
 readily transferred to the Christians by the 
 opponents of the Gospel, who not unfrequently 
 regarded the Jews and Christians as one body. 
 GRONOvius 16 indeed, conceives that this calumny 
 as urged against the Christians might originate 
 in having their houses ornamented with paint- 
 ings of CHRIST'S entry into Jerusalem;* and 
 LORD HAILES affirms, 17 that we are " indebted to 
 CELSUS for the discovery of the origin of a tale, 
 at which TERTULLIAN could only guess, and 
 which was unknown to MINUCIUS." I confess, 
 however, I see nothing in the paintings of 
 CHRIST'S entry into Jerusalem, or in the fanciful 
 scheme of CELSUS, of Seven Celestial Intelli- 
 gences, worshipped by the Christians, of which 
 the seventh bore the countenance of an ass, that 
 can justify the belief of either of them being the 
 cause of the detestable accusation against the 
 followers of CHRIST. But it is well known that 
 the Christians and Jews were often confounded 
 with each other by their pagan adversaries. 
 
 (16) Mimic. Felix, cum, not. var. Davisii, p. 5G, P. ?. 
 
 * The ancient Christiaus not only ornamented their houses 
 with paintings of CHRIST'S triumphal entry into Jerusalem, 
 but frequently caused it to be sculptured on their most mag- 
 nificent Sarcophagi. ARINGHIUS, (in his Roma Sv.'<'.?rr(mett, 
 Tom. I. pp. <295, 620. Rome, 1681, fol.) has given plates of 
 these representations. 
 
 (IT) Dalrymple's Octavius, p. 143, note.
 
 OR WORSHIP OF THE ASS. 31 
 
 18 when speaking of the reign of 
 CLAUDIUS, says, " Judseos impulsore Ckresto 
 assidue tumultuantes Roma expulit." " He ex- 
 pelled the Jews from Rome, because they became 
 riotous through the instigations of Chrestus." 
 Chrestus being thus spelt for Christus, from the 
 Greeks sometimes spelling the word with a 
 dipthong 19 X$ =io-TO : agreeably to the words of 
 LACTANTius, 20 " Quidam Christum, immutata 
 litera, soliti sunt dicere Chrestum" " Some per- 
 sons by changing a letter are accustomed to say 
 Ckrest instead of CHRIST." Dio also, in the life 
 of DOMITIAN, speaking of ACILIUS GLABRIO, a 
 man of Consular dignity, says he was accused of 
 Atheism., and put to death for turning to the 
 Jewish religion ; which as BARONIUS observes, 
 (An. 94, n. 1,) must mean the Christian religion, 
 for which he was a martyr. 21 SPARTIAN also 
 informs us, (in Caracal, c. 1,) that CARACALLA'S 
 play-fellow was of the Jewish religion ; though 
 it is certain he was a Christian, since TERTULLIAN 
 (ad. Scapul. c. 4,) assures us that CARACALLA 
 was nursed by a Christian, " Lacte Christiano 
 educatus." 22 The Jews and Christians being 
 
 (18) Sueton, Claud, c. 25. 
 f 19) Aug. de Civit. Dei. 
 
 (20) Lactant. De vera Sapientia, c. 7. et Hottingeri 
 Eccles. Hist. T. I. c. 1. 3, p. 37- 
 
 (21) Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church, 
 Vol. I. 10, p. 11, 8vo. 
 
 (22) Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church, p. 12.
 
 3*2 ON THE ONOLATHIA, &C. 
 
 thus considered by their enemies, as professors 
 of the same religion, nothing less could be 
 expected than that what was urged to depreciate 
 the one would be equally urged to injure the 
 the other, and both be exposed to the same 
 calumnies and misrepresentations.
 
 III. 
 
 ON THE CHARACTER OF MARY MAGDALENE. 
 
 VARIOUS have been the opinions formed respect- 
 ing the woman mentioned in Luke vii. 37, 38 ; 
 of whom the Evangelist says, " Behold, a woman 
 in the city, which was a sinner, when she 
 knew that JESUS sat at meat in the Pharisee's 
 house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, 
 and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and 
 began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe 
 them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his 
 feet, and anointed them with the ointment." 
 The best founded opinion seems to be that she 
 was the same as MARY MAGDALENE, out of 
 whom our blessed LORD cast "seven devils." 
 Luke viii. 2. The establishment, or disproval 
 of this idenity, I leave to those critics who 
 have treated professedly upon the subject.* 
 
 * See CALMBT'S Dissertation " sur let trois Maries," in 
 his " Commentaire Literale, &c.," or in his " Dissertations 
 qui peuvent servir de Prolegomenes," &c., T. iii. p. 437. 
 DR. A. CLARKE'S Commentary on Matt. xxvi. 7. &c. &c. 
 
 T
 
 .'J 1 ON THE CHARACTER OF 
 
 But since it has been supposed, by a most 
 illogical train of reasoning, that because MARY 
 MAGDALENE had suffered from being possessed 
 by seven demons, that she must have been a 
 notorious prostitute, and that similar depravity 
 is intended to be marked by the term sinner, a 
 few remarks will be offered, 
 
 I. On the origin of the obloquy cast upon the 
 character of MARY MAGDALENE. And, II. On 
 the application of the term "sinner" to the 
 woman mentioned by LUKE. 
 
 I. That the opinion entertained of the vicious 
 conduct of MARY MAGDALENE originated with 
 the Jews, is at least highly probable. Urged 
 by their hatred to Christianity, they have, at 
 different periods adopted a practice similar to 
 that of VOLTAIRE in Le Taureau Blanc, and 
 other infidjl publications, in which attempts are 
 made to render the Sacred Volume the object of 
 contempt and ridicule, by associating ludicrous 
 and profane representations with the facts re- 
 corded in the Holy Scriptures. Of this procedure 
 by the Jews, there needs no other proof than 
 that afforded by the " n& mVin Toldoth Yeshu" 
 in which many of the facts related by the 
 Evangelists, are associated with the most obscene 
 and detestable falsehoods, as may be seen on a 
 slight inspection of the work, published with a 
 Latin translation and a -learned .refutation, in 
 WAGENSEIL'S Tela Ignea Satunae ; or an abridged
 
 MARY MAGDALENE. 35 . 
 
 view of it given by the REV. J. KINGHORN, of 
 Norwich, in a sermon, intitled, The Miracles 
 of JESUS not performed fry the Power of the 
 SHEM-HAMPHORASH, preached at the Jews' Chapel, 
 London, in 181 1. 
 
 In the instance under consideration, the preva- 
 lent opinion is probable derived from a Talmudi- 
 cal figment, in which the equivoque of the word 
 N^-no, (Afagdftla) forms tlie ground-work of the 
 tale. I quote the translation of DR. LIGHTFOOT. 
 (fforks, vol. ii. p. 270.) "There are some who 
 find a fly in their cup, and take it out, and will 
 not drink: such was PAPUS BEN JUDA*--, who 
 locked the door upon his wife, and went out." 
 Where the Glossers say thus: " PAPUS BEN JUDAS 
 was the husband won thim QHD (Miriam Mag- 
 diila inishla] of MARY, the plaiter of women's 
 hair ; and when he went out of his house into 
 the street he locked his door upon his wife, that 
 she might not speak with any body; which, 
 indeed, he ought not to have done ; and hence 
 sprang ;i difference between them, and she broke 
 out into adulteries." See ALPHESIUS on Gittim. 
 
 She is also said to have been the mother of 
 BEN SATDA, who was ' hanged on the passover- 
 eve." On which DR. L. remarks, " As they 
 contumeliously reflect upon the LORD JESUS, 
 under the name of BEN SATDA, so there is a 
 shrewd suspicion that under the name of N^iio 
 O")'Q (Mury MagduLi,} they also cast reproach 
 upon MARY MAGDALENE-," tf'nJQ (Mugdala,}
 
 3$ ON THE CHARACTER OF 
 
 signifying both a town on the lake of Genesareth, 
 and a plaiter or curler of hair. 
 
 II. As to the term " sinnei*" made use of by 
 ST. LUKE, there can be no hesitation in ac- 
 knowledging that the Greek word a^aprw^og 
 (amartolos,) the term adopted by the Evangelist, 
 generally means a sinner, in the common ac- 
 ceptation of the word, though without marking 
 any extraordinary turpitude, so as to justify the 
 opinion entertained of this woman's former de- 
 pravity and prostitution. The same word is 
 also sometimes used both in the New Testament 
 and in the Septuagint or Greek Version of the 
 Old Testament, to signify a Gentile or Heathen, 
 as is allowed by the learned lexicographer 
 SCHLEUSNER, who, notwithstanding his leaning to 
 the common opinion, gives the following as his 
 definition of Aju.ap ro>Xo : Pagamis, gentilis, ido- 
 lorum cultor, " A Pagan, a Gentile, a Wor- 
 shipper of Idols" And in proof of this definition 
 refers to Exodus, xxxii. 31, 35, and I Kings, 
 xiv. 16; where acts of idolatry are emphatically 
 distinguished by the term rtNion, (chattuah) or 
 sin ; to Matt. xxvi. 45 ; o wot; avbzmTrou TTOLOCH.- 
 Sidora* 6ig %=?pa$ rmv a t u,pra)Xjy, " the Son of 
 Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners;'" 
 compared with the parallel passage, Luke xviii. 
 32 ; TrapaooS^o-erai roig eQvza-iv, " he shall be 
 delivered unto the Gentiles ;" Luke vi. 3'2, 33, 
 compared with Matt. v. 47 ; also Mark xiv. 41 ; 
 Luke xxiv. 7j and Galatians ii. 15; where 01 e
 
 MARY MAtiDALENE. 37 
 
 j, " sinners of the Gentiles," are 
 opposed TOI$ $v<rsi Iot>oaio<, to " Jews by 
 nature: thus also 1 Samuel xv. 18, d'fcon, "the 
 sinners," explained by adding " the Amaltkites," 
 who were idolaters. 
 
 The prejudices of the Jews in behalf of their 
 own nation are well known. Regarding them- 
 selves as the exclusive favourites of JEHOVAH, 
 they considered all others as " unclean," treated 
 them with contempt, and pronounced them 
 " sinners," and their touch " defiling." In the 
 vocabulary of the Jew, " heathen" and " sinner" 
 were synonimous terms ; and hence it is more 
 than probable that the woman who anointed 
 our LORD'S feet had been a heathen, and not a 
 prostitute, and that it was her former heathenism 
 which occasioned the reasoning of SIMON : 
 " This man, if he were a Prophet, would have 
 known who and what manner of woman this is 
 that touc/teth him, for she is a sinner" v. 39. 
 This opinion is confirmed by remarking that her 
 conduct is more clearly elucidated by an appeal 
 to Gentile, than to Jewish customs. The most 
 classical and interesting illustration of this nar- 
 rative that I have met with, is in a scarce and 
 valuable French work, Explications de plnsieurs 
 tejrtes dijficiles de CEcriture ; pur le R. P. 
 Dom. * * * Reitgleux Benedictin de la 
 Congregation de Saint Ma/tr. Paris, 1730. 4to. 
 with plates. The following extract will, at 
 least, be deemed curious, even by those who do 
 not accord witli the writer in his views of the 
 term Ana0TAo, " sinner."
 
 38 ON .THE CHARACTER OF 
 
 After endeavouring to establish, by various 
 proofs, and with a considerable display of learned 
 research, that " the word A'Xa^acrpov (alabastron) 
 made use of by the Sacred Writer, was not in- 
 tended to express the material of which the 
 vessel was made, which contained the odoriferous 
 unguent, but simply the vessel itself abstractedly 
 considered," he proceeds to observe that, " the 
 most that can be said of this vessel as remark- 
 able is, that it probably was one of those which 
 the gayer females were curious and eager to 
 possess, and by way of distinction bore the name 
 of Papluun Alabasters. 1 
 
 "The effusion of the perfume on the feet of 
 our DIVINE REDEEMER is a trait in the character 
 of this woman marking a noble and generous 
 disposition. It was an excess of magnificence 
 never displayed but at great feasts, and then 
 only at the dessert or close of the festivity, as we 
 learn not merely from the passage of the Gospel 
 we are explaining, but from many other authors, 2 
 particularly the description of the Feast of Tri- 
 malcion, by PETRONIUS. S " Towards the conclu- 
 sion of the repast," says he, " young slaves, with 
 unheard of luxury, brought odoriferous unguents 
 in a silver dish, and with them perfumed the 
 feet of those who were reclined at table. 
 
 (1) Anthol. lib. i. c. 10. epig. 2. 
 
 (2) Vide Athenae. lib. xiii. et alibi. Plaut. mil. glor. act. 
 iii. sc. 2. v. 11. 
 
 ,(3) Petron. c. 7'O,
 
 MARY MAGDALENE. 
 
 " RHODIGINUS had not attended to this pas- 
 sage wh-'n he ii*si.>rtecl without foundation, that 
 perfumes were never useil for guests, except at 
 the dessert. 4 It is certain, that in this he was 
 mistaken, as he wa* also in supposing that there 
 were various kinds of essences for the fret different 
 from those made use of to perfume the other 
 parts of the body. ATHENAEUS S enters into a 
 long detail on this subject, and mentions parti- 
 cularly those of Baccharis and VJegallius, the 
 Oil of Egi/pf, and the Essence of Marjoram, 
 with others, which it would be tedious to enu- 
 merate. 
 
 " The generous female of whom we are speak- 
 ing would, doubtless, procure the most exquisite 
 and precious, for no motives could be more noble 
 or more pious than those from which she acted. 
 To discover these we need only to remark the 
 solicitude with which she wiped the feet of JESUS 
 CHRIST with the hairs of her head. 
 
 "llerjirst view was to manifest that JESUS 
 CHRIST was the only object of her love. In fact, 
 we find, that the ancients accounted it one of the 
 most illustrious proofs of affection to wipe away 
 the tears of those whom they most tenderly 
 loved, with the hair of their head. APULEIUS 
 remarks this of CUPID, with reference to PSYCHE. 6 
 TRIMALCION brought up many beautiful slaves, 
 
 (4) Lib. xxvii. c. 24. p. 1049, et seq. 
 
 (5) Ubi supra. 
 
 (6) Metam. lib. iv. p. '15*2, edit. Delph.
 
 * ! ON THE CHARACTER OF 
 
 who tiditrished their hair expressly for the pur- 
 pose of wiping his hands with it. 7 A freed-man 
 of the same TRIMALCION, when sounding his own 
 praise, boasts, in PETRONIUS, of having purchased 
 the liberty of the wife who had been given to 
 him whilst a slave, that no one might have the 
 honour of wiping his hands upon her hair. 8 
 Finally, in ARISTOPHANES, CLEON raised to the 
 government of Athens, is represented, as en- 
 deavouring to preserve his post, which others 
 were vigorously endeavouring to obtain, by 
 condescending to the meanest flattery, in assur- 
 ing the Athenians, that when they blew their 
 nose they might wipe their hands 9 on the hair 
 of his head, 10 and he would willingly suffer 
 it. 
 
 " The second object of this female " sinner" 
 was publicly to acknowledge the Divinity of 
 the SAVIOUR, and obtain mercy from him. In 
 proof of this truth, we allege the constant and 
 invariable custom, practised by the women in 
 times of public calamity of running to the tem- 
 ples with dishevelled locks, and sweeping them 
 with their hair. Thus the Roman ladies to stay 
 the plague which was devastating the city of 
 R nne, remained prostrate in the temples, and 
 
 (7 | Petron. c. $7, sub. fin. 
 
 (8) Idem. c. Ivii, p. 2H4, edit. Burman. 
 
 (9) Neither translators nor scholiasts appear to have un- 
 derstood this passage. 
 
 (10) Aristpph. equit. f>. 343.
 
 MARY MA6UALBNE. 4l 
 
 swept them with their hair. 11 And in a similar 
 manner also PSYCHE to touch the heart of CERES 
 who was incensed against her, falls weeping at the 
 feet of the goddess, and sweeps her footsteps as 
 she treads. 12 The men are often influenced by 
 women, and it is observable, that on many 
 critical occasions they had no other resource to 
 render their gods propitious, than by sweeping 
 the temples with their hair and beard. 13 This 
 crowd of examples and authorities invincibly 
 establishes, we conceive, the motives here attri- 
 buted to the " woman who was a sinner." 
 
 If it be objected, that ST. JOHN, ch. xi. 2, 
 says of MARY, the sister of LAZARUS, " It was 
 that MARY which anointed the LORD with oint- 
 ment, and wiped his feet with her hair ; " and 
 that the application of the term ctfjf.apraj'hos 
 (sinner,) as signifying a " Gentile or Heathen," 
 must therefore be altogether irrelevant ; it is re- 
 plied, that similarity of action does not neces- 
 sarily imply identity of person, and that a com- 
 parison of Luke vii. 36 50, with John xii. I 9, 
 will be sufficient to convince the attentive 
 reader, that there must have been two distinct 
 occasions on which the feat of our LORD were 
 anointed, on the former of them by the woman 
 
 (11) Livi Dec. 1. lib. iii. 
 
 (12) Apul. Metam. lib. vi. p. 174, et lib. xi. p. 18f'. 
 edit. Delph. Vide Ovid Trist. 1. i. elog. 3. 
 
 (13 ) Sil. Italic, lib. xii. Vide Barth. Statii. Theb. ix. \ 
 375. 
 
 fi
 
 42 ON THE CHARACTER OF MARY MAGDALENE. 
 
 termed a sinner ; on the latter by the sister of 
 LAZARUS. Besides, if the term " sinner" as an 
 epithet denoting atrocious criminality were ap- 
 plied to MARY of Bethany, it would ill accord 
 with her general character, or with the friend- 
 ship shown to LAZARUS and his sisters by our 
 LORD and his disciples, and the sympathy mani- 
 fested by many of the Jews to MARTHA and 
 ?!ARY, on the death of their brother, John xi . 31 . 
 
 Qn the whole, therefore, I conclude, that it 
 is probable that the woman mentioned by ST. 
 LUKE, and called in the English translation " a 
 sinner" had formerly been a heathen, but whe- 
 ther subsequently a proselyte to Judaism or 
 not, is uncertain ; and that having been brought 
 to the knowledge of Christian truths, and having 
 found mercy from the REDEEMER, she pressed into 
 SIMON'S house, and gave the strongest proofs of 
 her gratitude and veneration, by anointing the 
 SAVIOUR'S feet, bedewing them with her tears, and 
 wiping them with the hairs of her head: that by 
 u, \vilful and malicious misrepresentation, the 
 Jews confounded MARY MAGDALENE with MARY 
 the mother of JESUS, and represented her as an 
 infamous character : and that from the blasphe- 
 mous calumny of the Jews, a stigma of infamy 
 has been affixed to the name of MARY MAGDA- 
 LENE, and caused her to be regarded in the false 
 light of a penitent prostitute.
 
 IV. 
 
 ON THE ANCIENT CHRISTIAN VIG1LLE. 
 
 THE early Christian VIGILS were variously deno- 
 minated ; by the Latins they were called Figilice, 
 Pervigilia, and Pernoctationes, and by the 
 Greeks Havvvxiosg, (Pannuchides,) terms imply- 
 ing 1 nocturnal watchings, or religious services 
 performed during the night. Thus CHRYSOSTOM, 
 (Horn. 4, de verbis Esaice} says, " Go into the 
 church, and there see the poor continuing from 
 midnight to the break of day: go and see the 
 holy pernoctations (IIavvux<oa^,) joining night 
 and day together : behold the people of CHRIST, 
 fearing neither by night nor by day the tyranny 
 of sleep, or the necessities of poverty;" and 
 again, (Horn. 59, In Marty res) " Ye have 
 turned the night into day by keeping your holy 
 stations all the night." 1 
 
 (1) See Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church, 
 Vol. V. B. 13, ch. ix, pp. "289, 294. Loml. 1719, 8vo,
 
 44 ON THE CHRISTIAN VIGILI/E. 
 
 They originated in times of persecution. For 
 Christianity being opposed by both Jews and 
 Pagans, the Christians were obliged to perform 
 their devotions in the most retired and secret 
 manner, in order to avoid discovery and inter- 
 ruption, or imprisonment and death. They 
 generally assembled in the night for religious 
 purposes, and frequently chose the Catacombs,* 
 or Cemeteries of the Christians, as the places 
 of meeting most secluded from public observa- 
 tion ; hence their enemies designated them as 
 " Latebrosa et lucifugax patio, a people lurk- 
 ing in caverns and shunning the light." 2 In 
 more recent times similar persecutions have pro- 
 duced similar precautions. In 1468, an edict 
 was issued against the United Brethren in 
 Bohemia., by which they were declared outlaws, 
 
 * *' The Catacombs are the ancient cemeteries of the Chris- 
 tians. They are dug on all sides of the city (of Rome,) in a 
 very regular manner, and the bodies of the dead are arranged 
 in them, in seperate caverns, on each hand, the caverns being 
 shut up with brick or mortar. Those near Naples and 
 Nola are spacious, and cut in stony ground. The Roman 
 Catacombs are narrow and dark, and, except those of St. 
 Sebastian and St. Agnes, too low for strangers to visit with 
 any satisfaction, or for persons to walk in, without often 
 crawling with great difficulty ; and the ground (which is too 
 soft a mould to support large caverns like those of Naples,) 
 is in many places fallen in. These caverns about Rome are 
 so numerous, and of such extent, (each shooting into several 
 branches,) that they may be called a city under ground." 
 BVTLEB'S Lives of ihc Saints-, Vol. X. p. 304, note. 
 
 (Q) MIHUO. Fc-licis Octariws, <,. 8.
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN VIGILIJE. 45 
 
 and an injunction laid upon the states of each 
 district to seize and punish them at pleasure. 
 Their bishop was imprisoned till the death of 
 the king: and the " surviving brethren saw them- 
 selves," says their historian, " under the necessity 
 of keeping close, retreating into the thickest 
 woods, and (to escape being detected even then) 
 of hiding by day in the holes and clefts of the 
 rocks. To prevent their being discovered by the 
 smoke, they made no fire, but by night, at which 
 they read their bibles, and prayed. When it 
 had snowed hard, and they were forced to go 
 out through the deep snow in quest of their 
 support, they went one behind the other, and the 
 last dragged a brush after him in order to fill 
 tip and hide the track. From these caves and 
 pits they got afterwards the name of Jummci, or 
 Gtae&fftAetmer, (in German,) that is, persons who 
 dwelt in caves." 3 
 
 The Nocturnal Assemblies for Divine worship 
 thus commenced during persecution, were conti- 
 nued in times of peace, but restricted chiefly to the 
 nights preceding the LORD'S day, or the principal 
 festivals, particularly Easter and Christmas, 
 though afterwards extended to the eves of (he 
 days on which th'jy commemorated the deaths 
 of the Martyrs. 
 
 The Vigil, or Watch-night, was generally 
 
 (3) Cvjinz History of the Brethren, I'. II. p. ; 
 !?*..
 
 46 ON THE CHRISTIAN V1MLI.11. 
 
 proceeded by fasting; and the night itself spent in 
 reading the Scriptures, in religious discourses and 
 prayer, and in singing Psalms. BASIL, in one of his 
 Epistles, (Ep. 63, ad Xeoccvsari.) has given a 
 description of the celebration of the f'igilue, in 
 defence of the practices of his own church against 
 some who charged it with innovation. " The cu i- 
 toms," says he, " which now prevail among us, 
 are consonant and agreeable to all the churches 
 of GOD. For with us tha people rising early 
 whilst it is night, come to the House of Prayer, 
 and there with much labour, and affliction, and 
 contrition, and tears, make confession of their 
 sins to GOD. When this is done, they rise from 
 prayers, and dispose themselves to psalmody: 
 sometimes dividing themselves into two parts, 
 they answer one another in singing. After this 
 they again permit one alone to begin the psalm, 
 and the rest join at the close of every verse ; and 
 thus with this variety of psalmody they cany on 
 the night, intermingling prayers with their 
 psalms. At last when the day begins to break 
 forth, they all in common, as with one mouth 
 and heart, offer up to GOD the Psalm of Con- 
 fession,* every one making the words of this 
 Psalm to be the expression of his own repen- 
 tance." 4 
 
 * Psalm LI. was called by the ancient Christians the 
 Pnalin of Confession. 
 
 (A) Bin^ham's Antiquities of the Christian Church, Vol. 
 V. 1>. 13. Ch. X. sect. \iu. p. 33-t. See also Eusel. L'cc/
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN VIGILLE. 
 
 47 
 
 The Churches were on these occasions some- 
 times brilliantly lighted, and the concourse of 
 persons who attended was unusually great. 
 PRUDENTIUS, a Christian Poet of the fourth cen- 
 tury, describing the martyrdom of ST. LAURENCE, 
 introduces the heathen judge, telling him, " that 
 he had heard how they sacrificed in silver, and 
 had the wax lights set in gold for the use of 
 their night assemblies." 5 EUSEBIUS states, that 
 after CONSTANTINE the Great had obtained the 
 Empire, he not only countenanced the practice, 
 but also attended the devotions : " Every day," 
 says he, " at stated hours, he shut himself up 
 within the inmost rooms of his Imperial Palace, 
 where he conversed alone with GOD ; and falling 
 upon his knees, made his request in humble sup- 
 plication, that he might obtain those things of 
 which he stood in need. But on the days of 
 the salutary festival, he raised the vigour of his 
 religious exercises and meditations, and with his 
 utmost strength of body and mind performed the 
 office of a prelate or pontiff; and with cheerful- 
 ness and diligence, he himself led on all persons 
 to the celebration of the feast. The Sacred 
 Vigil he turned into the brightness of the day, 
 pillars of wax of a vast height being lighted up 
 all over the city by those persons to whom the 
 
 Hist. lib. ii. c. 17 : and Bergier, Diet, de Theologie. Tom. 
 vii. art. Vigile. 
 
 (5) Ringham, ut flip.
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 affair was given in charge. Torches likewise 
 were kindled, which enlightened all places, so 
 that this mystic Vigil was rendered brighter 
 than the most glorious day. As soon as the 
 day-light appeared, in imitation of our SAVIOUR'S 
 beneficence,* he reached out a bountiful hand to 
 all nations, provinces, and people, and bestowed 
 on all persons the richest sorts of gifts." The 
 remarks of VALESIUS on this celebration of the 
 Vigil by CONSTANTINE, still further illustrate the 
 subject. His words are, " The Christians in the 
 Vigil of the Feast of Easter lighted a great 
 number of wax tapers, which having been done 
 by them within the church only, CONSTANTINE 
 gave orders that without the church also tapers 
 should every where be lighted, in honour of so 
 great a festival : and whereas lights were usually 
 kindled in the night in great cities, CONSTANTINE 
 would have far more and larger torches lighted 
 up on that night, to the end that he might in- 
 duce the minds of the heathen to a veneration of 
 the Christian Religion. Thus GREGORY NAZIAN- 
 ZEN says, (Or at. 2 de Pascha] that then the 
 lights were usually kindled both in private and 
 public, so that by reason of the multitude of 
 
 * This passage refers particularly to the alms which 
 COXSTANTIXE used to bestow annually at Easter, in memory 
 of the benefits conferred upon mankind at that period by 
 JESUS CHRIST ; a custom practised by the ancient Christians 
 in general. 
 
 \
 
 t)N THE CHRIS-HAN VIUILIJE. 4$ 
 
 lights, lighted up by persons of all ages and 
 degrees, the night was rendered transcendantly 
 bright." 6 
 
 SOCRATES SCHOLASTICUS, another early eccle- 
 siastical historian, relates an occurrence during 
 the reign of the Emperor ARCADIUS, which illus- 
 trates the mode of celebrating the f^igilice at 
 that period, and strongly marks the hatred 
 which subsisted between the Arians and the 
 orthodox Christians. The Arians not being 
 allowed to have Churches within the walls of 
 Constantinople, assembled under the piazzas in 
 the city, and sang hymns during the whole of 
 the night, and then withdrew, singing as they 
 went to their meeting-places without the gates. 
 CHRYSOSTOM, the Archbishop, fearing lest the 
 more ignorant among the people should be enticed 
 from the church by this practice, appointed per- 
 sons of his communion to engage in similar 
 services ; and to add to the pomp and splendor 
 of the nocturnal psalmody, invented silver 
 crosses on which wax-tapers were carried. The 
 expense of these was borne by the Empress, who 
 also appointed BRISON, one of her eunuchs, as 
 the instructor of the singers. This conduct so 
 enraged the Arians, who were exceedingly nu- 
 merous, that seizing an opportunity during the 
 celebration of these Vigils to make a violent at- 
 tack upon the adherents to the orthodox faith, 
 
 ((>) Euseb. Et-cles. Hist. lib. ii. c. ]/ : et Yalei in luce. 
 Ji
 
 50 ON THE CHRISTIAN VIGILLE. 
 
 an engagement ensued, in which the eunuch^ 
 BRISON, was wounded, and some on both sides 
 slain. The Emperor in consequence of this 
 affray, forbad tlie Arians to sing their hymns 
 any more in the same public manner through 
 the streets. 7 
 
 The rigilhe were attended by persons of all 
 ages, and both sexes. JEROM, writing to L.ETA, 
 a Roman lady, respecting the education of her 
 daughter, advises her to bring her up in a regular 
 attendance on the nocturnal devotions, in com- 
 pany with herself, twit not to suffer her to quit 
 her side. And CHRYSOSTOM commends widows 
 and virgins for frequenting the church, night 
 and day, and singing psalms in these assem- 
 blies. 8 
 
 Private I'tgilice, or spending considerable 
 part of the night by individuals in devotional 
 exercises in the churches, were also frequent in 
 the early ages of Christianity, especially on oc- 
 casions of distress and difficulty. ALEXANDER, 
 bishop of Constantinople, in the fourth century, 
 alarmed by the exertions of the Arians, and dread- 
 ing the prevalence of their doctrines, "made GOD 
 his refuge," says the historian, " and having shut 
 himself up alone in the church called Irene, 
 went to the altar, and there falling on the 
 
 (7) Socrates, Hist. F.ctles. lib. vi. c. 8. 
 
 (8) Bingh.im's Antiquities of the Christian Church, Vol. V. 
 13, c '.), 10. j)j>. 29$*-a
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN VIGILLE. 51 
 
 ground under the holy table, poured forth his 
 prayers, with tears. This he continued to do 
 for many nights and days together. Moreover, 
 he asked of GOD, and received ; for his petition 
 was this, that if ARIUS'S opinion were true, he 
 might not see the day appointed for the discus- 
 sion of it, but if the faith which he himself pro- 
 fessed were true, that ARIUS (as the author of 
 all these mischiefs,) might suffer condign punish- 
 ment for his impiety." This appeal we are as- 
 sured was speedily followed by the sudden and 
 awful death of Anius. 9 
 
 THEODORET, in like manner, relates of THEO- 
 DOSIUS, the Emperor, that previous to his en- 
 gaging in battle with EUGENIUS the tyrant, he 
 spent the whole night in an oratory which hap- 
 pened to be in the place where he had pitched 
 his camp. 10 Our own great ALFRED also used to 
 rise secretly before day, and hastening to the 
 church, prostrate himself before GOD in prayer: 
 and CHRYSOSTOM says, (Com. in Ps. cxxxiii,) " Men 
 ought to come to the sanctuary in the night, and 
 pour out their prayers there." )2 
 
 About the close of the fourth, or the beginning 
 *>f the fifth century, VIGILANTIUS, a priest of 
 Barcelona, opposed the celeb ration of the 
 
 ([)) Socrates, Eccles. Hist. lib. i. c. 37, 38. 
 (10) Bingham, Vol. III. pt, ii. n. 3, ch. x, p. 286*. 
 I'll) Spelmau's Life of .Elfred the Great. B. iii p. 207. 
 Oxford. 1709. Kvo 
 
 <1'2) Binghaiii, Vol. V. p. 333.
 
 62 fN THE CHRISTIAN VICILLE. 
 
 as being the cause of irregular and immoral 
 actions. JEROM replied to him with his ac- 
 customed seventy, and vindicated the practice 
 by adducing, 1. The words of the Psalmist: 
 "At midnight will I rise to give thanks unto 
 THEE because of thy righteous judgements :" Ps. 
 cxix. 62. 2. The example of JESUS, who " con- 
 tinued all night in prayer to GOD :" Luke vi. 12. 
 
 3. The reproof of CHRIST to his disciples, when 
 finding them asleep, he said, " What, could ye 
 not watch with me one hour ? " Luke xxvi. 40. 
 
 4. The conduct of the Apostles and first believers, 
 " many" of whom " were gathered together pray- 
 ing" on the night of PETER'S miraculous deliver- 
 ance from prison, Acts xii. 12 : and of PAUL and 
 SILAS, who "at midnight, prayed and sang praises 
 unto GOD." Acts xvi. 25. 5. The example and 
 exhortations of ST. PAUL, who approved himself 
 as the Minister of CHRIST " in watchings, in 
 fastings," 2 Cor. vi. 5 ; xi. 27 ; and frequently 
 exhorted the Christians to " watchfulness." 
 And, on the subject of the disorders arising- from 
 the Figilice, JEROM further remarked, that every 
 institution might be abused, and therefore what 
 was excellent in itself ought not on thut ac- 
 count to be abandoned. 13 Other Christian fathers 
 have also spoken in commendatory terms of 
 these Vigils, and defended them. AMBROSE, 
 (Serm. 19, Ps. cxviii. 147,) referring to the 
 
 (13) Brgier, Tom. *. art. J'igilr.
 
 *N THE CHRISTIAN VIGILIjE. $3 
 
 example of the REDEEMER, observes, " The 
 LORD JESUS continued all night in prayer, not 
 that he wanted the help of prayer, but to set 
 thee an example to copy after. He continued 
 all night in prayer for thee, that thou mightest 
 learn after what manner to pray for thyself." 
 LANCTANTIUS speaking of the awful events 
 immediately preceding the final judgement, says, 
 " This is the night, which from the advent of our 
 GOD and KING, is celebrated by us in the Per- 
 rigi'l or night-watch." CHRYSOSTOM compares 
 these nocturnal devotions to the incessant an- 
 thems of the angelic choirs : " By these con- 
 tinued and perfect night stations, you imitate' 
 says he, " the stations of the angelic choi , 
 whilst you offer up psalmody and hymnody 
 without ceasing to your CREATOR. O the won- 
 derful gifts of CHRIST! The armies of angels 
 sing glory to GOD above, and on earth men 
 keeping their choral stations in the church, sing 
 the same doxology after their example. The 
 Cherubim above ciy aloud, " Holy, Holy, Holy,'' 
 in the trisagion* hymn ; and the congregation of 
 men on earth below send up the same, and so a 
 common general assembly is made of the in- 
 habitants of heaven and earth together. Their 
 thanksgiving is one and the same, their exulta- 
 tion the same, their choral station the very 
 
 * So called from the \vonl "Holy" 1 ein^ thrice re T
 
 54 ON THE CHRISTIAN VIGILI.E. 
 
 same." JEROM likewise, beside the reasons ad- 
 vanced in favor of the l^igiliee, in answer to 
 VIGILANTIUS, has interpreted the term "Watcher" 
 in Dan. iv. 13, as "signifying the angels who 
 always watch, and are ready to obey the com- 
 mands of GOD ; " and adds, " whence we al so, 
 by our frequent pernoctations or night-watches, 
 imitate the office of angels." 14 
 
 Superstition gradually pervading the Christian 
 church, extended the keeping of Vigils to religions 
 services for the dead, and to military orders. 
 In 1241, by a charter of fraternity, betwixt the 
 monks of St. Martins-in-the-fields and the reli- 
 gious of the monastery of Fare or Fars, the 
 monks were enjoined to give immediate notice of 
 the death of any of the fraternity, that the Noctur- 
 nal Offices or Vigils might be performed, and 
 Mass celebrated in the morning ; and in 1306, 
 when the PRINCE of WALES, (afterwards EDWARD 
 II.) received the order of a Knight of the Bath,* 
 he kept his Vigils all night, with the other candi- 
 dates, in the Church of Westminster, by order of 
 his father, agreeably to ordinances prescribed 
 for that order, which described, that " after the 
 Esquire had been in the bath, and habited in the 
 dress of a hermit, he should be led into the 
 
 (14) Bingham, Vol. V. B. 13. ch. ix, pp. 29O, 293, 294, 
 Lacttuitiua, De Vita Beata, lib. vii. 19. Cantab. 
 
 * This ancient Military Order appears to have derived it 
 jj-ime from the knights being obliged to go into a Lath l>e- 
 foiv they were suffered to hold their Vigils.
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN VIG1LLS1. 55 
 
 chapel, and spend the night in prayer to JESUS 
 CHRIST, and the VIRGIN MARY, for grace to re- 
 ceive this high temporal honour to their glory 
 and praise, and that of the church and order of 
 chivalry." 15 
 
 A similar principle connected the history of 
 the Lake-Wake, or watching with the dead, and 
 that of the Country Wakes with the Vigllice. 
 The term Lake-wake is derived from the Anglo- 
 Saxon lie, or lice, a corpse, and waecce, a wake. 
 It is used in this sense by CHAUCER in his 
 "Knight's Tale:" 
 
 " The Liche-wuke was yhold all that night long^ : " 
 
 And in the Canons of the old Councils, it is said, 
 " Psalms are wont to be sung, not only when 
 the corpse is conducted to church, but that the 
 ancients watched on the night before the burial, 
 and spent the Vigil in singing psalms. In 1343, 
 JOHN DE STRATFORD, archbishop of Canterbury, 
 in conjunction with the bishop of his diocese, 
 published certain "Constitutions," in the tenth 
 of which it is said, " It is a devout custom of 
 the faithful to observe night-watches, in behalf 
 of the dead before their burial ; and to do it 
 sometimes in private houses, to the intent that 
 the faithful there meeting together and watching 
 might devoutly intercede for them with GOD;" 
 
 (I.")) Dti Cange, Glossar, sub. voc. I'lgilite et Milttt.
 
 56 ON THE CHRISTIAN VIGILl^J. 
 
 according to the sentiments entertained by the 
 superstitious of that period. 
 
 The Country Wafas originated in the celebra- 
 tion of anniversary festivals, in honour of the 
 patron-saints of parochial churches. BORLASE, 
 in his Account of Cornwall, tell^ us, that, " The 
 parish feasts instituted in commemoration of the 
 dedication of parochial churches were highly 
 esteemed among the primitive Christians, and 
 originally kept on the Saint's day, to whose 
 memory the church was dedicated. On the eve 
 of this day prayers were said, and hymns were 
 sung all night in the church, and from these 
 watchmgs the festivals were styled Wakes; which 
 name still continues in many parts of England, 
 though the Vigils have been long abolished." 
 From Vigils being kept on the night before the 
 principal festivals, the day preceding the festival 
 gradually obtained the name of the f-'igll of the 
 Feast, as of Christmas, &c. ; and was also fre- 
 quently called the^t'e. The religious services of 
 those davs were also denominated the ffiffilsoftbe 
 
 v O 
 
 respective festivals. An old manuscript legend 
 of ST. JOHN the BAPTIST, quoted in DUSDALE'S 
 Warwickshire, gives the following account of 
 the origin of these terms: "Ye shall under- 
 stand and know how the Evyns were first found 
 in old time. In the beginning of holi Churche, it 
 was so that the pepul cam to the Chirche with 
 candellys brennyng, and wold wake and coorne 
 with light toward to the Chirche in their devocions ; 
 and after they fell to lecherie and songs^ daunces,
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN VIGILI^E. 57 
 
 harping, piping, and also to glotony and shine, 
 and so turned the Holinesse to Cursydness : 
 whefore holy Faders ordeined the pepul to leve 
 that leaking in Englishe, and it is called Evyii, 
 for at Evyn they were wont to come to Chirche." 
 Some have also supposed that these ancient 
 Wakes gave rise to our present Fairs, for great 
 numbers of persons attending at those times, 
 luavkers and pedlars were induced to bring their 
 petty wares for sale, till nt length the larger 
 dealers or merchants came and set up stalls and 
 booths in the church yards, from which they 
 were afterwards removed on account of the riots 
 and disturbances which too frequently occured. 
 In Archbishop THORSEBY'S " Constitutions," in 
 1363, is the following injunction : " We firmly 
 forbid any one to keep a market in the churches, 
 the porches, and cemeteries thereunto belonging, 
 or other holy places of our diocese, on the LORD'S 
 day, or other festivals, or to presume to traffic 
 or hold any secular pleas therein." A similar 
 "Constitution" had been published before, in 
 1268, at a Council held in London, by OTHA- 
 BON, the Pope's Legate. 16 
 
 The suppression of irregularity and disorder in 
 the celebration of the Vigilice, and the preven- 
 tion of those evils which appeared occasionally to 
 
 (16) Brand's Observations on Popular Antiquitiei, Ch. II. 
 pp. 11, 29 ; and Append, p. 399. Lond. 1810. 8vo. Johnson's 
 Canons, &c. Vol. II. A. 1343, 1363, 1268. Lond. 1720. Kvo. 
 I
 
 58 ON THE CHRISTIAN VICILIvE. 
 
 result from them, was repeatedly attempted by 
 the highest ecclesiastical authorities, sometimes 
 by prudential injunctions, and at others by the 
 severest denunciation against those who should 
 prostitute these religious institutions to purposes 
 of immorality and vice. About the year 300, 
 the Council of ELIBERIS or ELVIRA, in Spain, 
 " forbad women to keep Vigils in cemeteries, 
 because that under pretence of prayer, wicked- 
 ness was often secretly committed :" and in 578, 
 the Council of Auxerre prohibited the Vigils from 
 being held any where but in the churches." A 
 Synod held at Worcester in 1240, forbad all 
 watchings for the dead, except for purposes of 
 devotion, and classed those among the profane 
 and ungodly who assembled on those occasions 
 with any other design. In the " Constitutions" 
 of Archbishop THORSEBY, issued at York, in 1363, 
 improper conduct during the Vigils of the saints is 
 threatened with suspension and excommunication. 
 Similar canons will be found in the Constitutions 
 of CARDINAL MENDOZA, and in the Council of 
 Toledo in Spain, in the sixteenth century. 17 But 
 every effort to banish the improprieties connected 
 with the ytgilice, especially whilst connected with 
 prayer for the dead, and worship of the saints, 
 
 (17) Bingham, Vol. VII. B. 16, ch. xi. p. 497 ; Bergier 
 Diet, de Theologie, Tom. viii. art. J'igile ; Johnson's Canons, 
 A. MCCCLXIII j Du Cange, Glossar. sub. voc. Pervigilia et 
 1'igiluf.
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN VIGILLE. 59 
 
 proved so fruitless that the Roman Catholics re- 
 strained them almost wholly to monastic and 
 
 w 
 
 clerical performance, and the Protestant churches 
 at the reformation almost entirely relinquished 
 them, merely retaining- the term Vigil as ap- 
 plicable to the days preceding certain festi- 
 vals. 
 
 In the Greek Church they are still retained, 
 but are practised with fewer superstitions than 
 they were formerly in the Romish Churches. 
 SMITH in his Account of the Greek Churches, 
 says, " The Priests and Deacons, and other de- 
 vout persons, observe the Vigils preceding the 
 great festivals, spending the whole night in prayer, 
 and reading the history of the Gospel, or the 
 proper lessons for the solemnity, without any 
 interruption ; taking their turns, and relieving 
 one another when tired, and so keeping up the 
 "Ispobiaxovia, (Hierodiakonia) or sacred ministra- 
 tion;" and adds, respecting Easter Eve, in 
 particular, " At three of the clock, in the after- 
 noon, when their vespers begin, the devout peo- 
 ple flock to church. Some continue there all 
 night, and cany with them bread, dates, and 
 figs, and the like, to make use of upon any oc- 
 casion of any fainting fit. Toward break of 
 day they sing the hymn which begins, " Glory 
 in the highest" After which the Patriarch 
 begins that excellent hymn, the quire imme- 
 diately follow : Xei$TO 'aveTT,. (x. r. A.) " CHRIST 
 7,y risen from the dead, having by his death 
 trampled upon death, and given life to those who
 
 60 ON THE CHRISTIAN VIGILLE. 
 
 icere in their graves : " which they repeat twelve 
 times together." 18 
 
 The only Protestant denomination of Chris- 
 tians, who regularly celebrate the Fig'tlice among 
 them, so far as we know, are the fyesleyan 
 Methodists, by whom they are called Watch- 
 Nights. They are chiefly held on the last night 
 of the year. The services are commenced by a 
 sermon delivered by one of their ministers ; after 
 which, prayers and exhortations, and singing of 
 hymns are continued till midnight, when the 
 congregation is dismissed after a prayer suited 
 to the lapse of the old and the commencement 
 of the new year. Watch-Nights similarly con- 
 ducted, but concluded at an earlier hour are also 
 held once in every quarter of a year, in most of 
 their larger societies. The institution of them, 
 among the Methodists, appears to have been 
 rather accidental than intentional. The vener- 
 able Founder of this society relates their com- 
 mencement in the following terms in his Plain 
 Account of the Methodists : " About this time" 
 (i. e. of the formation of his Societies) " I was in- 
 formed," says he, " that several persons in 
 Kingswood frequently met together at the 
 School, and (when they could spare the time) 
 spent the greater part of the night in prayer, and 
 praise, and tlmnksgiving. Some advised mr i 
 put an end to this ; but upon weighing the tkipg 
 __ , . .; . : ; ; 
 
 Smith'* Account of the Greek 'Church, j>p. -Q~, i * 
 Luiul. 1C8O. 8vo.
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN VIGILI^. b 
 
 thoroughly, and comparing it with the practice 
 of the ancient Christians, I could see no cans; ) 
 to forbid it : rather I believed it might be mado 
 of more general use. So I sent them word, I 
 designed to watch with them, on the Friday 
 nearest the full moon, that we might have ligh ; ; 
 thither and back again. I gave public notice 
 of this the Sunday before, and withal, that I in- 
 tended to preach ; desiring they, and they only , 
 would meet there who could do it without pre- 
 judice to their business or families. On Friday, 
 abundance of people came. I began preaching 
 between eight and nine, and we continued till ii 
 little beyond the noon of night, singing, praying, 
 and praising GOD. 
 
 " This we have continued to do once a month* 
 ever since, in Bristol, London, and Newcastle, 
 as well as Kingswood ; and exceedingly great 
 are the blessings we have found therein. It ha,s 
 generally been an extremely solemn season 
 when the word of GOD sunk deep into the 
 hearts, even of those who till then knew him not. 
 If it be said, " This was only owing to the 
 novelty of the thing, (the circumstance which 
 still draws such multitudes together at those 
 seasons) or perhaps to the awful silence of the 
 night," I am not careful to answer in this mat- 
 ter. Be it so : however, the impression then 
 in;ide on nuinv souls has suver - MI 
 
 * The W.itc !i Niiihts \\ITC ;it first kept iKoijlMv; InT 
 i ,:-,. art's U:ss frMjuo .tlv.-- i
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN VIGILI^E. 
 
 Now, allowing that GOD did make use either of 
 the novelty, or any other indifferent circum- 
 stance, in order to bring 1 sinners to repentance, 
 yet they are brought j and herein let us rejoice 
 together. 
 
 " Now, may I not put the case farther yet ? If 
 I can probably conjecture, that either by the 
 novelty of this ancient custom, or by any other 
 indifferent circumstance, it is in my power to 
 " save a soul from death, and hide a multitude 
 of sins," am I clear before GOD if I do not ? 
 If I do not snatch that brand out of the burn- 
 ing?" 
 
 In his Journals, he adds respecting the first 
 celebration of them in London : " Friday, April 
 9, 1742, we had the first watch night in Lon- 
 don." * * * " We have often found a peculiar 
 blessing at these seasons. There is generally a 
 deep awe upon the congregation, perhaps in some 
 measure owing to the silence of the night ; parti- 
 cularly in singing the hymn with which we com- 
 monly conclude : 
 
 ' Hearken to the solemn voice ! 
 
 The awful midnight cry ! 
 Waiting souls, rejoice, rejoice, 
 
 Arid feel the Bridegroom nigh.'" 1 ^ 
 
 (19) Wesley's Works, Vol. II. p 140 ; Vol. VI. p. 289. 
 Load. lyOD, IblO.
 
 V. 
 
 ON THE SORTES SANCTORUM OF THE ANCIENT 
 CHRISTIANS. 
 
 THE SORTES SANCTORUM, or SORTES SACRJE, LOTS 
 OTF THE SAINTS, or SACRED LOTS, were a species of 
 divination practised in the earlier ages of Chris- 
 tianity, and consisted in casually opening the 
 Sacred Scriptures, and from the words which 
 first presented themselves, deducing the future 
 lot of the inquirer. They were evidently derived 
 from the Sortes Homericce, and Sortes J/'irgi- 
 liance* of the Pagans, but accommodated to 
 their own circumstances by the Christians, who 
 being " mingled among the heathen, learned 
 their works. Ps. cvi. 35. 
 
 Complete copies of the Old and New Testa- 
 ments being rarely met with, prior to the inven- 
 
 * The Sortes If om erica, and Sortes Virgiliance, or Homeric 
 and Virgilian Lots were so called from the poems of HOMER 
 and VinciL being used as the means of divining the fate of 
 he consulter; the first verse which struck the eye on opening 
 the volume being considered as oracular.
 
 ()4 ON THE SORTES SANCTORl M 
 
 lion of printing, the PSALMS, or the PROPHETS, or 
 I lie FOUR GOSPELS, were the parts of Holy Writ 
 principally made use of in these divinatory con- 
 Miltations, which were sometimes accompanied 
 with various ceremonies, and conducted with 
 great solemnity, especially on public occasions. 
 Thus the Emperor HERACLIUS, in the war against 
 the Persians, being at a loss whether to advance, 
 or to retreat, commanded a public fast for three 
 days, which being terminated, he applied to the 
 Gospels, and opened upon a text which he re- 
 garded as an oracular intimation to winter in 
 Albania. GREGORY OF TOURS also relates, that 
 MEROVAEUS, being desirous of obtaining the 
 kingdom of Chilperic his father, consulted a 
 ibmale fortune-teller, who promised him the 
 ] >ossessioii of the royal estates; but, to prevent 
 exception, and to try the truth of her prognostica- 
 tions, lie caused the PSALTER, the BOOK OF KINGS, 
 j-.nd the FOUR GOSPELS, to be laid upon the shrine 
 (. St. Martin, aud after fasting and solemn 
 prayer, opened upon passages which not only 
 destroyed his former hopes, but seemed to pre- 
 dict the unfortunate events which afterwards 
 
 befel him. 
 
 The President RENAULT, in his Chronological 
 
 Abridgment of the History of France, A. D. 506, 
 says, " This abuse was introduced by the sisper- 
 
 (\) Gatakcr, Of the Nature and Use of Lots, ch. x. p. 343. 
 2d Ed. Loul. 1627-
 
 OF THE ANCIENT CHRISTIANS. 65 
 
 stition of the people, and afterwards gained 
 ground by the ignorance of the bishops, since 
 there were prayers at that time read in the 
 churches for this very purpose. This appears 
 evident from PITHOU'S Collection of Canons, 
 containing some formulae under the title of The 
 Lot of the Apostles, which M. PITHOU, the elder, 
 found at the end of the canons of the Apostles, 
 in the Abbey of Marmoustier." 
 
 AUGUSTIN, in an epistle to JANUARIUS, expresses 
 his disapprobation of the Sortes Sanctorum, yet 
 acknowledges that he prefers the use of them to 
 other modes of divination frequently practised. 
 " Although it is desirable," says he, tf that per- 
 sons should divine by Lots taken from the pages 
 of the Gospels, rather than run to consult demons, 
 nevertheless I am displeased even with that 
 practice, since it diverts the Oracles of GOD, 
 which speak of another life, to secular affairs, 
 and the vanity of this world." 2 
 
 GREGORY, bishop of Tours, in the sixth cen- 
 tury, adopted the practice, and sanctioned it by 
 his own example. In his History of the French, 
 1. v. c. 49, he relates the following anecdote of 
 himself: " LEUDASTUS, Count of Tours, who 
 sought to ruin me in the esteem of the queen 
 FREDEGONDA, being come to Tours with evil 
 intentions towards me, I w r as alarmed at the 
 
 (2) Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church, Vol. vii. 
 B. 16. C. 5. p. 279 ; Memoires de 1' Academic dee Inscrip- 
 tions, T. xix. p. 292. 
 K
 
 66 ON THE SORTES SANCTORUM 
 
 danger which threatened me, and therefore re- 
 tired considerably depressed into my oratory. I 
 there took up the book of Psalms, to see whether 
 on opening the volume, I should meet with any 
 thing from which I might derive consolation, 
 which I did exceedingly from this verse which 
 accidentally presented itself: ' He led them safely, 
 so that they feared not : but the sea overwhelmed 
 their enemies.'" Ps. Ixxviii. 53. " In fact," adds 
 he, "LEUDASTUS dared not to undertake any 
 thing against me." The Count set out from 
 Tours the same day, and the vessel in which he 
 sailed being wrecked, he only escaped being 
 drowned by his skill in swimming. 3 
 
 Sometimes the persons who were desirous of 
 prying into futurity, or ascertaining the will 
 of GOD under peculiar circumstances, entered 
 the churches, after solemn preparation, during 
 the celebration of divine service, and regarded 
 the first sentence they heard as the decision of 
 heaven. The before-mentioned prelate notices 
 an interesting occurrence in the life of CONSORTIA, 
 daughter of EUCHERIUS, who died bishop of 
 Lyons in 529, illustrative of a somewhat similar 
 method of obtaining an oracular decision in 
 difficult cases. CONSORTIA having chosen a 
 religious life, determined to take the veil, but 
 
 (3) Memoires de 1'Academie des Inscriptions : Recherches 
 Historiques sur Ics Sorts appeles, Sorlcs Sanctorum, par M. 
 VAbh du Resnel. Tom. xix. p. W2. Paris, 1~53. Jto.
 
 OF THE ANCIENT CHRISTIANS. 67 
 
 being addressed by a young man of rank and 
 influence, who was desirous of marrying her, 
 found herself placed in a critical situation, 
 knowing that if she refused the offer of marriage 
 she should incur the displeasure of his friends, 
 and create a violent opposition to herself and 
 family. In this dilemma she requested to be 
 allowed seven days to consider of the proposal. 
 These she spent in fasting and prayer. When 
 the time she had fixed had elapsed, the young 
 man, accompanied by the most illustrious matrons 
 of the count 17, came to receive her answer. 
 " I cannot either accept or refuse you as my 
 husband," said she to him, " all is in the hands 
 of GOD ; but, if you are willing, we will go to 
 the church and have mass said, and afterwards 
 we will lay the Gospels on the altar, and after 
 having offered a prayer together, we will open 
 the book and learn the will of GOD from the 
 passage which first presents itself to us." The 
 proposition appearing reasonable was accepted, 
 and the preliminary ceremonies being performed, 
 COXSORTIA opened the volume and read, "He 
 that loveth father or mother more than me, is 
 not worthy of me." Matt. x. 37. Penetrated with 
 joy, she told the young man, she could not be 
 his spouse, but must go and dedicate herself to 
 GOD, according to her former resolution. 4 
 
 In the year 507, CLOVIS, King of the Franks 
 
 (4) Memoires de 1' Academic des Inscriptions : T. xix 
 p. <295.
 
 68 ON THE SORTES SANCTORUM 
 
 marching from Paris against the Goths, con- 
 sulted the shrine of St. Martin, as he passed 
 throngli the diocese of Tours, and was instructed 
 to remark the words of the Psalm, which should 
 happen to be chaunted at the precise moment 
 of entering the church. The words expressed 
 the valour and victory of the champions of 
 heaven, which being applied by CLOVIS to him- 
 self and his army, were regarded as prognosti- 
 cating the victory which he afterwards obtained. 5 
 Another sovereign of France, Louis XL. called 
 also ST. Louis, whose virtues and superstitions 
 have received their lull meed of praise from his 
 panegyrists, is said on one occasion to have 
 granted pardon to a criminal, but to have re- 
 voked the pardon on reading these words in the 
 Psalter: "Blessed are they that keep judgment, 
 and he that doeth righteousness at all times." 
 Ps. cvi. 3. 6 The Greek emperor, ANDRONICUS 
 the elder, notwithstanding his other defects, 
 acted more becoming the spirit of the Gospel, 
 when, instead of condemning his nephew the 
 despot CONSTANTINE, who had been seized and 
 imprisoned on an accusation of conspiracy, he 
 forgave him on finding it written in the Psalms, 
 " When the ALMIGHTY scattered kings in it, it 
 was white as snow in Salmon."' 
 
 (5) Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 
 Vol. VI. ch. xxxviii. p. 333. Lond. 1807. 8vo. 
 
 (6) Bergier, Diet. Theologique, T. vii. Sorts des Saints. 
 
 (7) Meraoires de V Academic des Inscriptions, T. xix. p. 
 396.
 
 OF THE ANCIENT CHRISTIANS. 69 
 
 The Sortes Sanctorum were also made use of 
 to decide the election of bishops, especially in 
 doubtful cases arising- from the opposition in the 
 suffrages given by the clergy and people. They 
 were also subsequently adopted in the choice of 
 Abbots, and the reception of Canons. In these 
 elections, scrolls, or billets, with the names of 
 the candidates written upon them, were placed 
 upon the altar,, and after the performance of cer- 
 tain ceremonies, a child, or other impartial per- 
 son drew one of them, and the candidate thus 
 chosen was raised to the office for which he was 
 proposed, if, on opening the Scriptures, the pas- 
 sage which first occurred appeared favourable to 
 the election. This practice, we are told by the 
 ABBE DU RESNEL, was continued in the cathedral 
 of Boulogne, and at Ypres and St. Omer, with 
 some slight variations, so late as the year 1744, 
 notwithstanding several attempts to suppress it. 8 
 
 These superstitious practices, although so 
 generally prevalent, received the severest cen- 
 sures of ecclesiastical authority. The Council 
 of Vannes held in the year 465, after stating that 
 the Catholic Religion had sustained injury by 
 some, both of the clergy and laity, practising 
 augury, and professing divination by the Sortes 
 Sanctorum, or a casual inspection of the Scrip- 
 
 (8) Memoires dc 1* Academic des Inscriptions, T, xix p. 
 303. See also the " Illustrations of Biblical Literature," 
 Vol. I. pp. 115 1 18, by the Author of the present Volume ; 
 and Bergier, " Diet. Theologique, art. Sorts de Saints."
 
 70 ON THE SORTES SANCTORUM 
 
 tures, decreed, that "Whatever clergyman or 
 layman should be detected in consulting- them, 
 or teaching the practice of them, should be ex- 
 communicated." 9 This censure was repeated at 
 the Council of Agde, in 506. In the year 511, 
 the same modes of divination were forbidden by 
 the Council of Orleans ; and in 578, the Council 
 of Auxerre, decreed, that " None should have 
 recourse to sorcerers or augury, or consult di- 
 viners by magical characters, (caragios,^) or 
 lots, whether those called Sortes Sanctorum, or 
 such as were made of wood or bread, but that 
 every one, whatever he did, should do all in the 
 
 (9) Labbei S. S. Concilia, T. iv. p. 1057. 
 
 -f Caracus, Carajus, Caragius, or Charagius, was a term 
 applied to those who performed their divinations by means of 
 musical Characters, or figures, from which the word is de- 
 rived, as are also the monastic terms Churaxare, or Ca- 
 raxare, to write. The magical figures themselves were also 
 denominated Character es. Vide Du Cange, Glossar. sub. 
 voc. Caracus, S; Character es Mattel. T. ii. Venet. 1737- fol. 
 Spelmanni Glossar. sub. voc. Cliaraxare. 
 
 It is probable that the old English term Charact or Cha- 
 recie, which seems to have meant charms in the form of in- 
 scriptions, is"derived from the same source. Thus Dugdale's 
 Oiig. Jurid. p. 81. 
 
 " That he use ne hide ne charme, ne charecte." 
 So Gower, De Confessione dmantis, B. i. 
 
 " With his Carrecte would him enchaunt." 
 
 (See Brand's Observations on Popular Antiquities, re- 
 vised by Henry Ellis, F. R. S. Sec. S. A. &c. Voi, II. p. 613. 
 Ixmd. 1813. 4to.
 
 OF THE ANCIENT CHRISTIANS. 71 
 
 name of the LORD." IQ The fourth Council of 
 Toledo, held in 633, forbad " the consulting of 
 lots by clergymen under pain of excommuni- 
 cation ;" and a capitulary of CHARLEMAGNE, 
 framed in 789, and since inserted in the Romish 
 Penitential, strongly inhibits " divination by the 
 Psalms or Gospels, or by any other means." 11 
 
 Amongst the Ecclesiastical laws of CANUTE, 
 framed in 1018, is the following: "We strictly 
 forbid all heathenism, or that men worship idols, 
 or heathen gods, the sun, the moon, the fire, or 
 the rivers, fountains, or stones, or any kind of 
 trees ; or to practise witchcraft, or to contrive 
 any private murder, either by lots,* or firebrands, 
 or to do any thing by such like jngglings." 
 Canons also of a simiLir nature received the 
 sanction of Archbishop LANFRANC, in 1075, and 
 of Archbishop COPJBOYL, in 1126, in the Councils 
 convened by them respectively in London. 12 
 
 Other canons against Sortilege and Divination 
 of various kinds will be found to have been pub-, 
 lished during successive ages, beside those which 
 have been noted ; but although they served occa- 
 sionally to check the bias in favour of supersti- 
 tious and unlawful attempts to pry into futurity, 
 
 (10| Labbei S. S. Concilia, T. v. p, 9 ; & Bergier, ut sup. 
 
 (11) Ibid. T. vii p. 939. 
 
 * This was what was properly called Sorcery, in Latin Sor- 
 t Helium. 
 
 (12) V.'ilkin's, Concil. Mag. Brit. Vol. I. pp. 306, 363, 
 408 5 Johnson's Collection ot' Ecclesiastical Laws, &c. A. 
 1018, 107-i, 1 i'2<;.
 
 72 ON THE SORTES SANCTORUM 
 
 they never proved wholly successful, so that, 
 through every age, and even to the present en- 
 lightened period, the desire after forbidden know- 
 ledge has more or less prevailed, 
 
 The following curious occurrence in the life of 
 our King CHARLES I., has been related as a singular 
 instance of the use of the Sortes Virgilianae by that 
 monarch. The King being at Oxford, went, ac- 
 companied by Lord Viscount FALKLAND, to seethe 
 public library, where they were shown, among 
 other books, a Virgil, finely printed and exquisitely 
 bound. Lord FALKLAND, to divert the King, pro- 
 posed that he should make a trial of his fortune by 
 the Sortes VirgUlanw. The King opening the 
 book, the passage which presented itself, proved to 
 be part of DIDO'S imprecation against 
 
 " At bello audacis populi vexatus et annis, 
 Finibus extorris, &c ................. " 
 
 y. L. iv. 1. 615, &c. 
 
 " Yet let a race untamed,, and haughty foes, 
 His peaceful entrance with dire arms oppose ; 
 Oppress'd with numbers in th' unequal field, 
 His men discourag'd, and himself expell'd ; 
 Let him for succour sue from place to place, 
 Torn from his subjects and his son's embrace : 
 First let him see his friends in battle slain, 
 And their untimely fate lament in vain ; 
 And when, at length, the cruel war shall cease, 
 On hard conditions may he buy his peace. 
 Nor let him then enjoy supreme command, 
 But fall untimely by some hostile hand, 
 And lie unbury'd on the barren sand." 
 
 DRYDEX. 
 
 I
 
 OF THE ANCIENT CHRISTIANS. 73 
 
 The ill-fated CHARLES seeming concerned at this 
 accident, LORD FALKLAND proposed to try his 
 own fortune, hoping he might fall upon some 
 passage that could have no relation to his case, 
 and thus divert the King's thoughts from any 
 impression the other might make upon him : 
 but the place he opened upon was still more 
 suited to his destiny, being the following ex- 
 pressions of EVANDER upon the untimely death 
 of his son PALLAS : 
 
 " Non haec, o Palla, dederas promissa parent! : 
 Cautius ut saevo velles te credere Marti, 
 Ilaud ignarus eraru," &c. 
 
 xEx. xi. 1. 15<2, &c. 
 
 " O PALLAS ! tliou hast failed thy plighted word ! 
 To fight with caution, not to tempt the sword, 
 I warn'd thee, but in vain ; for well I knew 
 What perils youthful ardour would pursue : 
 That boiling blood would carry thee too far ; 
 Young as thou wert in dangers, raw to war ! 
 O curst essay of arras, disastrous doom, 
 Prelude of bloody fields, and fights to come ! 
 Hard elements of inauspicious war, 
 Vain vows to heaven, and unavailing care ! " 
 
 DRYDEX. 
 
 Lord FALKLAND was slain in the battle of New- 
 bury, in 1644, and the unfortunate CHARLES was 
 beheaded in 1649.* 
 
 * AUBRY in a manuscript treatise on the " Remains of 
 Gentilism," relates this story differently. He says, " In 
 L
 
 74 ON THE SORTES SANCTORUM 
 
 The learned Secretary of the Antiquarian 
 Society, in his greatly enlarged and improved 
 edition of BRAND'S " Observations on Popular 
 Antiquities" has displayed considerable research 
 on the subjects of omens and divinations, and 
 observes that GAULE, in his " Mag-astrormancer 
 posed and puzzled" enumerates no fewer than 
 jifty-tliree different kinds of divination. "Divi- 
 nations differ," he remarks, " from omens in this, 
 that the Omen is an indication of something 
 that is to come to pass, as it were by accident, 
 without his seeking for it : whereas Divination 
 is the obtaining the knowledge of something 
 future, by some endeavour of his own, or by 
 means which he designedly makes use of for that 
 end." In the curious instances which he has 
 given of persons employing the Sortes Sanctorum, 
 or Divination by the Bible, some of which, must 
 be acknowledged to discover more of sincere, 
 
 December, 1648, King CHARLES, I., being in great trouble, 
 and prisoner at Carisbrooke, or to be brought to London to 
 his tryal, CHARLES, Prince of Wales, being then in Paris, and 
 in profound sorrow for his father, MR. ABRAHAM COWLEY 
 went to wayte on him. His Highnesse asked him whether 
 he would play at cards, to divert his sad thoughts. MR. 
 COWLEY replied, he did not care to play at cards ; but if his 
 Highness pleased they would use Sortes I'irgUidna; : (Mr. C. 
 alwa\s had a Virgil in his pocket:) the Prince liked the pro- 
 posal, and pricked a pin in the fourth Book of the .Enied. 
 The Prince understood not Latin well, and desired MR.. 
 COWLEY to translate the verses ; which he did admirably 
 well." (See Brand's Popular Antiquities, by H. Ellis, F. R. S. 
 &-. Vol. ii. pp. f><25 G'27.)
 
 OP THE ANCIENT CHRISTIANS. 75 
 
 though perhaps mistaken piety, than of wanton 
 presumption. The two following are of this kind. 
 "It appears, (says he) from Lord BERKELEY'S 
 ( Historical Applications^' 8vo. Lond. 1670, p. 90, 
 that the good Earl being sick, and under some 
 dejection of spirit, had recourse to the then pre- 
 vailing superstition. His words are ; ( I being 
 sick, and under some dejection of spirit, opening 
 my Bible, to see what place I could first light 
 upon which might administer comfort to me, 
 casually I fixed upon the sixth of Hosea; the 
 three first verses are these ; ' Come, and let 
 us return unto the LORD : for he hath torn, and 
 he will heal us: he hath smitten, and he will 
 bind us up. After two days will he receive us : 
 in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall 
 live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we 
 follow on to know the LORD : his going forth 
 is prepared as the morning ; and he shall come 
 unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain 
 unto the earth.' I am willing to decline super- 
 stition upon all occasions, yet think myself 
 obliged to make this use of such a providential 
 place of Scripture ; first, by hearty repenting me 
 of my sins past : secondly, by sincere reformation 
 for the time to come.'" Again, "In 'Mount 
 Tabor J pp. 1 99, 200, we read : As I was to 
 passe through the roome where my little grand- 
 childe was set by her grandmother, to read her 
 morning's chapter, the 9th of Matthew's Gospell, 
 just as I came in she was uttering these won Is 
 in the second verse : ' JESTS said to the sieke of
 
 76 ON THE SORTES SANCTORUM 
 
 the palsie, Sonne, be of good comfort, thy sinnes 
 are forgiven thee ! ' which words sorting so fitly 
 with my case, whose left side is taken with that 
 kind of disease, I stood at a stand at the uttering 
 of them, and could not but conceive some joy 
 and comfort in those blessed words, though by 
 the childe's reading, as if the LORD by her had 
 spoken them to myselfe, a paralytick and a 
 
 sinner, as that sickeman was. '" I3 
 
 But whatever opinion may be formed of such 
 acts as the preceding, every one, who seriously 
 reflects upon the subject, must condemn those 
 irreverent and low modes of divination or fortune- 
 telling by the Bible, which in opposition to its 
 condemnation of all such arts, have been prac- 
 tised, and in some instances, still are practised 
 by those who profess to venerate its holy and 
 sublime doctrines. In the "Dialogue of Dives 
 and Pauper" printed by RICHARD PVNSON, 1493, 
 fol. among superstitious practices then in use, we 
 find the following censured : ' Or use any 
 charmes in gadering of herbes, or hangyng of 
 scrowes (scrolls) aboute man or woman, orchilde, 
 or beest, for any sicknesse, with any Scripture, 
 or figures and C'arectes,* but if it be Pater Nos- 
 
 (13) Brand's Observations on Popular Antiquities, fyy 
 Ellis, pp. 6<27, fi c 28. 
 
 * " Carectes." See p. 70, preceding' ; to which we may 
 add, that Lodge, in his " Incarnate Devils," 4to. Lond. 1596, 
 speaking of Curiosity, says ; " If you long to know this 
 Slave, you shall never take him without a Book of Characters 
 IB his bosorae. Bring him but a table of lead with Crosses,
 
 OF THE ANCIENT CHRISTIANS. 77 
 
 ter, Ave, or the Crede, or holy words of the 
 Gospel, or of Holy Wryt, for devocion nat for 
 Curious tie, and only with the Tokene of the Holy 
 Crosse." And in the " Defensative against the 
 Poyson of supposed Prophecies" 4to. Lond. 1583, 
 we read : " One of the Reysters which served 
 under the Frenche Admirall, at the Siege of 
 Poictiers, was founde after he was dead, to have 
 about his necke a pursse of Taffata, and within 
 the same a piece of parchment full of characters 
 in Hebrew ; beside many cyrcles, semicircles, 
 tryanglcs, &c., with sundrie shorte cuttes and 
 shreddings of the Psalmes, <DEUS misereatur 
 nostri, et benedicat nobis : God be merciful unto 
 its and bless us. 1 Ps.lxvii. 1. f Angelis suis man- 
 davit de te, ut custodian! te in omnibus viis 
 tuis : He shall give his angels charge over 
 tJiee to keep tJiee in all thy icays.' Ps. xci. 11. 
 ' Super Apisdem et Basiliscum ambulabis : 
 Tli ou shalt tread upon the lion and adder 
 Ps. xci. 13. As if the prophecies which properly 
 belong to CHRISTE might be wrested to the 
 safeguard and defence of every private man." 
 
 In another old work, having as its title, 
 " The Burnyngeof St. P aide's Church in London, 
 1561, and the 4th day of June, by Lyghtnynge, 
 at three of the clocke, at after noone, &c.," 
 8vo. Lond. 1563, the writer exclaims, " What 
 
 (and ADOXAI, or ELOHIM, [Lonn, or GOD] written in it) he 
 thinks it will heal the Ague." Brand's Observations, byH. 
 Ellis, Vol II. p. 614.
 
 78 ON THE SORTES SANCTORUM 
 
 wicked blindenes is than, to thinke that wearing 
 prayers written in rolles about with theym, as S. 
 John's Gospell, the length of our Lord, the 
 measure of our Lady, or other like, thei shall die 
 no suddain death, not be hanged, or if he be 
 hanged he shall not die. There is to manye 
 suche, though ye laugh and beleve it not, and 
 not hard to shewe them with a wet finger." The 
 author then observes, that our devotion ought 
 to "stand in depe sighes and groninges, with a 
 full consideration of our miserable state and 
 Goddes majestye, in the hearte and not in ynke 
 or paper : not in hangyng written scrolles about 
 the necke, but lamentynge unfeignedly our synnes 
 from the hart." 14 
 
 Another species of Bibliomancy to which the 
 Sortes Sanctorum may have given rise, is that 
 by the Bible and Key. REGINALD SCOT, in his 
 Discovery, p. 286, tell us, that " Popish priests, 
 as the Chaldeans used the divination by sive 
 and sheers for the detection of theft, do practice 
 with a Psalter and Key fastened upon Psalm 
 xlix. * to discover a theif ; and when the names 
 of the suspected persons are orderly put into the 
 pipe of the Key, at the reading of these words of 
 
 (14) Brand's Observations, Vol II. p. 214. 
 
 * The Psalm which contains the passage here cited is in 
 Psalm LI. of the Latin Vulgate, and also of the Dou'ay 
 translation, from which I have given the passage ; but in the 
 English Protestant versions it is the Lth., the Romanists 
 placing the ninth and tenth Psalms together as one.
 
 OF THE ANCIENT CHRISTIANS. 79 
 
 the Psalm, " If thou didst see a theefe thou didst 
 ran with him," the book will wagg and fall out 
 of the fingers of them that hold it, and he whose 
 name remaineth in the Key must be the thief." 
 In the " Athenian Oracle" Vol. I. p. 425, this 
 mode of divination is described somewhat differ- 
 ently : " A Bible, having a Key fastened in the 
 middle, and being held between two forefingers 
 of two persons, will turn round after some words 
 are said, as if one desires to find out a Thief, a 
 certain verse taken out of a psalm is to be re- 
 peated, and those who are suspected, nominated, 
 and if they are guilty, the Book and Key will 
 turn, else not." 15 * 
 
 (15) See Brand's Observations, Vol. II. p. 641. 
 
 * This mode of discovering theft, &c. is still practised in 
 some parts of England, as appears from the following note 
 with which the writer has been favoured by an intelligent 
 friend. 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " The case of Bibliomancy which I men- 
 tioned to you as having come under my notice, several times, 
 in the city of Norwich, is as follows : If a person have lost 
 any thing, and wishes to try the Bible and Key, a good sized 
 Key is placed in the Bible, on the sixth verse of the eigthth 
 chapter of SOLOMON'S SONG, beginning, " Set me as a seal 
 upon thine heart, &c." The Bible being then tied tightly 
 round with a cord, the handle of the Key standing out ; and 
 the bow being placed lengthwise on the fore- fingers, the per- 
 son on whose fingers it is balanced is to think of the person 
 \vhom he suspects, whilst he repeats the fixth and seventh 
 e.5 of the i-h.-ijitzr oa which thf key is fixed, when, if hi- 1)
 
 80 ON THE SORTES SANCTORUM 
 
 Bibliomancy, or divination by the Bible, was 
 also practised among the Jews, among whom 
 the Bath-Kol (brp-nn) was not very dissimilar 
 to the Sortes Sanctorum of the Christians. The 
 mode of practising it was by appealing to the 
 first words accidentally heard from any one 
 speaking or reading. The following is an in- 
 stance taken from the Talmud. Rabbi JOCHA- 
 NAN and Rabbi SIMEON BEN LACHISH desiring to 
 see the face of Rabbi SAMUEL, a Babylonish 
 doctor, " Let us follow," said they, " the hear- 
 ing of the Bath-Kol." Travelling, therefore, 
 near a school, they heard the voice of a boy 
 reading these words out of the First Book of 
 SAMUEL, " And SAMUEL died." They observed 
 this, and inferred from hence that their friend 
 SAMUEL was dead ; and so they found it, for 
 SAMUEL, of Babylon, was then dead." 1G 
 
 A species of divination, similar to the Sortes 
 Virgiliance or Sortes Sanctorum, is in use among 
 the Mohammedans in the East. Sir WILLIAM 
 JONES in his Trade sur la Pocsie Orieutale, 
 speaking of his selections from the Odes of the 
 
 right in his suspicion, the key will turn off his fingers, but if 
 not, it will remain still. I have seen it turn off the fingers, 
 even when not held by a person interested in the issue." 
 
 " I am, &c. 
 "J. C." 
 
 (16) Basnage's History of the Jews, B. iii. p. 1C5. fol. 
 Lewis's Antiquities of the Hebrew Republic. Vol. I. p. 198,
 
 OF THE ANCIENT CHRISTIANS. 81 
 
 celebrated HAFIZ, observes, " Comme il etoit 
 difficile, &c." "As it was difficult to knov: 
 which to clioose from the excellent collection of 
 the Odes of HAFIZ, I have taken them by chance, 
 in imitation of the Orientals, who in order to 
 decide on the least as well as the most important 
 occasions, open a book casually, and consider 
 what first presents itself to the eye as the decision 
 of the lot. We may judge of the confidence 
 placed by them in this kind of divination, by 
 remarking, that in the History of NADIR SHAH, 
 two instances arc related, in which this Prince 
 determined upon two famous sieges, by two 
 verses of this same poet. 17 
 
 In a word, it is astonishing how the simple 
 use of the Lot in cases of extraordinary diffi- 
 culty, has been ramified by an absurd supersti- 
 tion and impious curiosity into almost innumer- 
 able species of divination, extending their in- 
 fluence to all ranks and professions of men, 
 whether barbarous or civilized, Pagan or Chris- 
 tian, and subjecting the mind to the decisions 
 of men of artful and designing character, from 
 the Roman auger to the meanest soothsayer, 
 and from the moon-struck astrologer to the 
 Gypsey fortune-teller. For the Pagans, indeed, 
 it might be offered as apology, that, " sitting in 
 darkness and the valley of the shadow of 
 death," they eagerly listened to every pretender 
 
 (17) Works, Vol. V. p. 463. 
 M
 
 82 ON THE SORTES SANCTORUM 
 
 to knowledge who daringly boasted of being 
 able to throw a ray of light athwart the gloom 
 in which they were involved ; but Christians 
 favoured with the light of revelation, have no 
 such apology to offer, since the word of GOD is 
 given to be " as a lump unto their feet, and a 
 light unto their path," to point out the way of 
 duty with infallible precision, and by exhibiting 
 the eternal recompenses of obedience, to en- 
 courage the humble believer to perseverance 
 "in well doing."
 
 VI. 
 
 ON THE ANCIENT CHRISTIAN AGAP^E. 
 
 THE AGAP^: (Love-Feasts, or Feasts of Charity} 
 of the primitive Christians, were frugal and 
 friendly repasts, provided at the expense of the 
 richer members of the church, and affording the 
 rich and poor opportunity of eating together at 
 the same table. They are noticed by ST. JUDE, 
 who severely censures some who behaved im- 
 properly on such occasions : " These," says he, 
 " are spots in your Feasts of Charity," (Aycwra^) 
 Epist. v. 12 ; and in allusion to similar characters, 
 ST. PETER, (2Epist.ch.ii.v. 13,) remarks, "Spots 
 they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with 
 their own deceivings, (aTrarajc,) while they feast 
 with you ; " where it is probable the term airaraug, 
 "deceivings," oughttobeaya7ra< "Love-Feasts," 
 or " Feasts of Charity," a correction supported 
 by the Alexandrian and Vatican MSS., two of 
 the oldest extant, by several of the early versions, 
 and by the Fathers. 
 
 The object of their institution was the 
 promotion of fraternal affection and charity.
 
 84 ON THE CHRISTIAN AGAP^E. 
 
 CHRYSOSTOM (Horn. 21,) says, " From this law 
 and custom," (i. e. of the first Christians having 
 all things in common) " arose another admirable 
 custom in the churches : for when all the faithful 
 met together, and heard the sermon and prayers, 
 and received the communion, they did not im- 
 mediately return home upon the breaking up of 
 the assembly, but the rich and wealthy brought 
 meat and food from their own houses, and 
 called the poor, and made a common table, a 
 common dinner, a common banquet in the 
 Church ; and so from this fellowship in eating, 
 and the reverence of the place, they were all 
 strictly united in charity one with another, and 
 much pleasure and profit arose thence to them 
 all ; for the poor were comforted, and the rich 
 reaped the fruits of their benevolence, both from 
 those whom they fed, and from GOD." AUGUSTIN, 
 (contra Faust um. Manich. l.xx. c. xx.) observes, 
 " 1 E do not borrow our Love-Feasts from the 
 saci oes of tiie Gentiles, but to observe the 
 sacrifice of mercy, of which GOD has said, ' I 
 will have mercy and not sacrifice ; * for our Love- 
 Feasts feed the poor with fruits or flesh." 
 THEOPHYLACT also remarks, " The rich brought 
 the food, and invited and fed the poor."' 1 
 
 A notable testimony has been offered to the 
 general charity of the ancient Christians, and to. 
 
 (1) See Haliett's Notes on Several Texts of Scripture, 
 $l. III. p. 251.
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN AGAP2E. 85 
 
 their benevolence at their Love-Feasts, or Feasts 
 of Charity, by JULIAN, the Apostate, who thus 
 writes to ARSACIUS, a Gentile pontiff, to excite 
 the priests of the gods to liberality: "That 
 Hellenism* does not yet succeed as we wish is 
 owing to its professors. The gifts of the gods 
 are indeed great and splendid, and far superior 
 to all our hopes, to all our wishes. For, not 
 long ago no one dared to hope for such and so 
 great a change in so short a time. But why 
 should we be satisfied with this, and not rather 
 attend to the means by which this impiety (so 
 he terms Christianity) has increased, namely, 
 humanity to strangers, care in burying the dead, 
 and pretended sanctity of life ? All these, I 
 think, should be really practised by us. * * * 
 Erect hospitals in every city, that strangers may 
 partake our benevolence ; and not only those of 
 our religion, but if they are indigent, others 
 also. * * * For when none of the Jews beg, and 
 the impious Galileans (Christians) relieve both 
 their poor andours, it is shameful that ours should 
 be destitute of our assistance." 2 In another dis- 
 course, addressed likewise to a pontiff, JULIAN 
 thus endeavours to excite the priests of the gods 
 to liberality: "The impious Galileans having 
 
 * Hellenism is Heathenism, or Gentilism : and Heathens 
 nre called Hellenes, ami Hellenists by our Ecclesiastical histo- 
 rians, Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, especially in tht'ir 
 History of Julian's reign. 
 
 (3) Epistles of Julian. Ep. XLIX,
 
 86 ON THE CHRISTIAN AGAP.E. 
 
 observed that our priests neglected the poor, set 
 about relieving them : and as they who design 
 to kidnap children, in order to sell them, allure 
 them by giving them cakes, so these have thrown 
 the true worshippers into atheism,* by first 
 winning them over with charity, hospitality, 
 and the services of tables,-f- for they have many 
 names for these kinds of works, which they 
 practise in abundance." 3 
 
 The most circumstantial account of the man- 
 ner in which the ancient Agapce were celebrated, 
 is given byTERTULLiAN, in his "Apology" written 
 in the second century: " Our Supper," says he, 
 " which you accuse of luxury, shews its reason 
 in its very name, for it is called Ayacnj (Agape,} 
 that is, Love. Whatever charge we are at, it is 
 gain to be at expense upon the account of piety. 
 
 * Christianity was accounted Atheism by the Heathens, 
 because it forbad the worship of their gods, and maintained 
 the unity and spirituality of the Godhead. 
 
 t In Julian's Greek, the words are, AyoHrij xai UCTO- 
 -oop^Tjf xc*i $iaxovia$ rpax&s^cuv. By the first of these 
 Aya7rr y (Agapes,) I apprehend Julian means the Agapct, or 
 Love-Feasts. By the second YTTOOO;^ (Ypodoclies) he means, 
 that hospitable reception, which the first preachers of the 
 Gospel met with from their converts. Luke xix. 6 ; Acts 
 xvii. 7. By the third expression Aiaxov<aj rpct&rs^wv 
 ( Diakonias trapezon) is undoubtedly meant, the daily adminis- 
 tration, or relief of the poor, mentioned in Acts vi. 2. (See 
 Salisbury's Notes on " Bullett's History of the establishment 
 of Christianity," p. 282.) 
 
 (3) Fragment of a Discourse of Julian, in Bullett's Hist, 
 p. 37.
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN AGAP^B. 87 
 
 For we therewith relieve and refresh the poor. 
 There is nothing vile or immodest committed in 
 it. For we do not sit down before we have first 
 offered up prayer to GOD. We eat only to 
 satisfy hunger, and drink only so much as be- 
 comes modest persons. We fill ourselves in 
 such a manner, as that we remember still that 
 we are to worship GOD by night. We discourse 
 as in the presence of GOD, knowing that he hears 
 us. Then, after water to wash our hands, and 
 lights brought in, every one is moved to sing 
 some hymn to GOD, either out of Scripture, or, 
 as he is able, of his own composing, and by this 
 we judge whether he has observed the rules of 
 temperance in drinking. Prayer again concludes 
 our feast ; and thence we depart, not to fight 
 and quarrel ; not to run about and abuse all we 
 meet ; not to give up ourselves to lascivious 
 pastime ; but to pursue the same care of modesty 
 and chastity, as men that have fed at a supper 
 of philosophy and discipline, rather than a cor- 
 poreal feast." 4 IGNATIUS, in his Epistle to the 
 Church of Smyrna, in the first century, affords 
 us the additional information, " That it was not 
 lawful to baptize, or celebrate the Love-Feasts, 
 without the bishop, or minister." (Epist. ad. 
 Smyrna, . 7.) LUCIAN, the Epicurean, has 
 also a passage which seems to refer to the Agapce. 
 
 (4) Apolog. c. 39, quoted in Bingham's Antiquities, &c., 
 Vol. VI. p. 846.
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 He tells us, that when PEREGRINUS, a Christian, 
 was in prison, " You might have seen, early in 
 the morning, old women, some widows, and 
 orphans, waiting at the prison. Their presi- 
 dents bribed the guards, and lodged in the prison 
 with him. Afterward (i. e. in the evening) various 
 suppers, (i. e. suppers consisting of various 
 dishes, and various kinds of meat, brought 
 thither by various persons of the company) were 
 brought in, and they held their sacred conversa- 
 tions Cispoi Xoyoi)-, or their sacred discourses were 
 delivered." 3 PLINY likewise in his celebrated 
 Epistle to TRAJAN, mentions the " Cibus pro- 
 miscuous et innoxius," " Common and harmless 
 meal" of the Christians, which they ate together 
 after the celebration of the EUCHARIST. 
 
 The AgaptK were at first celebrated indifferently 
 in churches or in private houses. It is said of 
 the Apostles, (Acts ii. 46,) that " they continued 
 daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking 
 bread from house to house, did eat their meat 
 with gladness and singleness of heart : " a pas- 
 sage which has generally been applied to the 
 celebration of the Agapce. Compare also 1 Cor. 
 xi. 20 and 22, with xvi. 19, and Philem. v. 2. 
 DILHERRUS, however, supposes that the Eucharist 
 and Agapse were celebrated together in the 
 churches, until disorders creeping in, ST. PAUL 
 forbad them to be celebrated at the same time, 
 
 (5) HaUett'sTsotes on Several Texts. Vol; III. p. 245-
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN AGAP^E. 89 
 
 and restricted the Agapge to private houses. 6 
 But if this were actually the case, neither the 
 removal of the Agapce from the churches, nor 
 the seperation of them from the LORD'S Supper 
 continued long : but it may be doubted whether 
 DILHERRUS be correct, and whether the Apostle's 
 words (1 Cor. xi. 20 and 22) were intended to 
 convey any thing 1 more than a severe condemna- 
 tion of the conduct of certain disorderly persons 
 who had associated themselves with the Corin- 
 thian believers. 
 
 The celebration of the Eucharist, or LORD'S 
 Supper, frequently accompanied the Agapce for 
 several centuries, and at an early period of the 
 Christian cera almost invariably. Sometimes 
 the Agapee preceded the Eucharist, as seems 
 intimated in the language of ST. PAUL to the 
 Corinthians already cited, probably in imita- 
 tion of the conduct of our LORD, who in- 
 stituted the ordinance of the Eucharist after 
 eating the passover with his disciples. At 
 other times the Eucharist preceded the Agapce, 
 that all occasion of scandal might be prevented 
 in the reception of the LORD'S Supper, and the 
 minds of the communicants be prepared for en- 
 joying the social repast with cheerfulness and 
 sobriety. 7 
 
 or Feasts of Charity, were also cele- 
 
 (6) Dilherri Farrago, apud Crenii Fascic. 8vo. p. 44. 
 
 (7) Bergier, Diet. Theologique, art. Agapes. Vol. I. p. 67. 
 
 N
 
 90 ON THE CHRISTIAN AGAPJE, 
 
 brated at the Marriages of the Christians, at 
 their Funerals, and in commemoration of the 
 Martyrs ; and were sometimes held in the 
 houses of the more wealthy; at others, in the 
 churches ; and in times of persecution, like all 
 other public Christian assemblies, in the sub- 
 terranean cemeteries or burial-places. 8 ARIN- 
 GHIUS, in his laborious work, entitled, " Roma 
 Subterranea" has given several representations 
 of the celebration of these Agapae, from various 
 Sarcophagi and other monumental sculptures 
 discovered at Rome. From these, it appears 
 that the Triclinia or Tables, made use of on 
 these occasions were of different forms, some of 
 them being square, others lunar or semicircular, 
 and others in the form of the Greek slgrna. 
 At one of the latter form, five persons appear 
 reclining, whilst a youth is carrying to them 
 a cup which he bears in his hands. Over 
 the heads of two of the guests are inscrip- 
 tions intended to express the words of the indi- 
 viduals respectively over which they are placed. 
 On one we read, IRENE DA CALDA : " Irene, 
 give me some hot water:"* over the other 
 
 (8) Baron. Annal. An. 57, Tom. I. Antwerp. 1589. fol. 
 Aringhii Roma Subterranea, T. 11. pp. 600, 601, 688. 
 Romse. 1681. fol. 
 
 * Hot Water was accoxmted a luxury by the ancients, and 
 houses were appropriated to the sale of it, denominated 
 Thermopolia, similar to our coffee-houses or taverns. The 
 estimation in "which it was held as a beverage was such, that 
 none but the lowest of the slaves would be debarred from it,
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN AGAPxE. Dl 
 
 " AGAPE MISCE MI," "Agape, mix for me."* 
 Near the inside or concave part of the Tri- 
 clinium, another small round table is placed, 
 on which appear knives, cakes, a cup or goblet, 
 
 and even these indulged in it whenever they could escape the 
 vigilance of their masters. Philo remarks that the Essenes 
 on those days on which they did not allow themselves wine, 
 permitted the aged to drink hot water, some of the others to 
 take tepid or warm water, and obliged the rest of the commu- 
 nity to drink cold water. We may judge of the pleasure which 
 drinking hot water was supposed to afford, by the fact, that 
 Caligula condemned to death the keeper of a Thermopolium 
 at Rome, for having sold it as usual during a time of general 
 mourning for the Emperor's sister Drusilla, when all places 
 of public entertainment*bnd pleasure had been closed by the 
 imperial order. 
 
 On the other hand, cold water was so universally decried, 
 that it was employed to designate a slanderer, who in all his 
 conversation insinuates something disadvantageous to the 
 character of another ; a figure drawn from the practice of 
 some of the venders of hot water, who sometimes mixed cold 
 water with the hot, rendering it tepid or lukewarm. This 
 contemptuous opinion entertained of cold water, beautifully 
 heightens the force of the language of JESUS CHRIST, when 
 he says, " Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these 
 little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, 
 verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." 
 Matt. x. 4'4. Intimating that the most trivial service done to 
 the Christian for the sake of the Redeemer, shall neither be 
 forgotten, nor unrewarded. (Du. Cange, Glossar. sub. voc. 
 Caldus: Explications de plusieurs textes difficiles de 1'Ecriture, 
 par. le. R. P. Dom. * * * pp 439, 440. Paris, 173O. 4to. 
 Aringhii Roma Subterranea, T. ii. p. 608.) 
 
 * The ancients frequently mixed wine and honey with their 
 hot water, at feasts. (Explications, &c. ut supra )
 
 92 QN THE CHRISTIAN AGAPJE. 
 
 and a dish with a small animal entire, apparently 
 dressed for the supper. 
 
 Another Triclinium or Table, of which a repre- 
 sentation is given by ARINGHIUS, (and which is 
 accurately copied on a reduced scale in figure 1. 
 of the plate prefixed to the present work,) is of 
 a square form, covered with a table-cloth. Three 
 persons, one of them a female, appear at the 
 table ; one of the men is relieving a pilgrim, to 
 whom he holds out a bowl, probably containing 
 some refreshment ; the other man, who has the 
 appearance of being old, is addressing a youth 
 who is coming towards him, with a vessel in his 
 hands ; whilst the female who occupies the 
 middle seat, is apparently employed in preparing 
 food in a large (probably) earthen vessel. 9 
 
 The Avapce, in general, were considered as so 
 conducive to Christian union and harmony, that 
 the neglect of them was deemed deserving of 
 censure, hence the Council of Gangra, in the 
 fourth century decreed, that " If any one de- 
 spised those who from faith made Agapae, (or 
 Love-Feasts,) and for the honour of the LORD 
 invited the brethren to them, and would not 
 accept the invitation, he should for his contempt 
 be anathematized;" 10 but, as is evident from 
 this canon itself, the minds of men differing on 
 the subject, and irregularities creeping in, it was 
 
 (9) Aringhii Roma Subterranea, T. ii. pp. 119, 123, 185. 
 
 (10) Justelli Codex Canonum- Concil. Gangrensis, Can. 
 
 69. Parisiis. 1610.
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN AGAP^I. 93 
 
 judged prudent, in many places, to banish the 
 Agapce from the churches, and restrict them to 
 private houses. The Council of Laodicea, held 
 in 364, declared that " The Agapa ought not to 
 be celebrated in the LORD'S houses, or Churches; 
 and that no one ought to eat, or prepare tables 
 in the House of GOD ;" u and the third Council 
 of Carthage, about the close of the same century, 
 enjoined, " That no bishops or clergymen should 
 feast in the church, unless on a journey, in case 
 of necessity, when they might take some refresh- 
 ment there ; and the people should be restrained 
 from such feastings, as much as possible." 12 
 ST. AMBROSE abolished all feasting in the Church 
 of Milan ; and ST. AUGUSTIN opposed it with all 
 the energy of his influence in the following cen- 
 tury. In France it was condemned by the 
 second Council of Orleans, in 541 ; and the 
 Councils of Auferne and Trullo forbad it in the 
 seventh century. 
 
 After the Agapce were banished from the 
 churches, they continued to be held in private 
 houses for several centuries, as may be con- 
 jectured, at least, from the Summaries of the 
 Canons, by PHOCIUS, in the ninth, and ARSENIUS 
 in the thirteenth centuries. It is also probable 
 that the Waldenses and Albigenses of the twelfth 
 and thirteenth centuries, continued the celebra- 
 tion of them, in the vallies of Piedmont, since the 
 
 (11) Justelli. Codex Canonum : Concil. Laod. Can. 13"2. 
 Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church.
 
 94 ON THE CHRISTIAN AGAP.E. 
 
 same calumnies were vented against them, as 
 against the Primitive Christians, and to which 
 these institutions are supposed to have afforded 
 countenance.* 
 
 The beneficence and charity exhibited by the 
 Christians in their Ago pee, led to the adoption 
 of the word as a general term for acts of benevo- 
 lence to the poor, and the word Agape became 
 equivalent to those of Charity and Almsgiving, 
 and in a Sacramentary of GREGORY the Great is 
 a Prayer to be used at the Agape of the Poor. 
 For the same reason the term was sometimes 
 used as a title of honour, similar to that of " Your 
 Excellency," or " Your Honour." 
 
 VERSTEGAN, in a similar way derives the 
 English titles " LORD and " LADY " from their 
 ancient hospitality: "Ifynd," says he, "that 
 our anceters used for $C0r&, the name of itafotfl, 
 which, as it should seem, from some aspiration in 
 the pronouncing, they wrote ^laforfo, and 
 fttrtf. Afterward it grew to bee written 
 and, by receauing lyke abridgement, as other our 
 ancient appellations have donne, it is inonesillable 
 become Lord. Our anceters were wont to call 
 bread by the name of !)laf- Now was it vsual, in 
 long foregoing ages, that such as were endued M r ith 
 great welth and meanes above others, were chiefly 
 
 * Compare Allix's " Reflections on the Churches of Peid- 
 niont," Chap. XXVI, with the Apologies of Minucius Felix, 
 Tertuliian, &c.
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN AGAP2E. 95 
 
 renowened (especially in these northern regions) 
 for their hows-keeping, and good hospitallitie, 
 and therefore were they particularly honored 
 with the name and tytle of 3$laforfo, which is as 
 much to say, as, An afoorder of laf, that is, A 
 bread-g'mer. fiatlp was anciently written fj^If af- 
 or aeaHJiait from whence it came to be 
 and lastly ila&rg. ?^Iaf and $?lraf signify 
 one thing, which is $5tf alf, dian is as much to say 
 as serue, and so is Urattrtatt* A bread-seruer." 13 
 Learned men have offered various conjectures 
 on the Origin of the Agapce. The MANICHEAN 
 FAUSTUS accused the Christians of borrowing 
 them from the sacrifices of the Pagans, but 
 AUGUSTIN repelled the accusation with becoming 
 indignation, " We do not turn their Sacrifices 
 into Agapce (or Love-Feasts) for our Agapce 
 feed the poor." CHRYSOSTOM H andTnEOPHYLACT 15 
 appear to have dated the commencement of 
 these feasts from the community of goods main- 
 tained by the first Christians. Later writers have 
 thought the origin of them discoverable in the 
 <J>HEIAITIA and STSSITIA of the Greeks, or 
 the CHARISTIA of the Romans, 16 but the two 
 former were rather political than religious in- 
 stitutions ; and the latter were restricted to rela- 
 
 (13) Restitution of decayed Intelligence, pp. 316318. 
 
 (14) In 1 Cor. HomiL 27. initio. 
 
 (15) In 1 Cor. xi. 17. 
 
 (16) Suiceri Thesaurus, Tom. I. p. 25. Edit. Amstel. 1682. 
 Fabricii Bibliog. Antiq. c. 10. 9. et. c, 11. 25.
 
 96 ON THE CHRISflAN AGAP^E, 
 
 tions as guests, and to the settling 1 of differences 
 as their object. 17 LIGHTFOOT supposes, " those 
 AGAP^E were when strangers were hospitably en- 
 tertained in each church, and that at the cost of 
 the church ; and, that this laudable custom was 
 derived from the synagogues of the Jews, there 
 being a certain hospital, either near or joyning to 
 the synagogue, wherein travellers and pilgrims 
 were received and entertained at the common 
 cost of the synagogue." 18 He also thinks that 
 GAIUS, (Rom. xvi. 13,) was governor of such an 
 hospital. 
 
 But though these opinions have been learnedly 
 and plausibly defended, I cannot but think it 
 more rational to suppose that the Agapie origi- 
 nated in the well known symbolical rites of 
 friendship and affection, in use amongst the 
 ancients, especially in the East. 
 
 R. ISAAC ABRABANEL, as quoted by CtiDWORTH, 19 
 says, 
 
 own* TTJN \rhw by nnb a^iNmi; Dn:o inaa rvn 
 
 L e. " It was an ancient custom amongst them, 
 that they which did eat bread together upon the 
 same table, should be accounted ever afterward 
 as entire brethren." JAMBI.ICHUS also has noticed 
 
 (17) Valerius Max. lib. 2. c. 1. 8. 
 
 (18) Ldghtfoot's Works, Vol. II. p. 775. on 1 Cor. xi. 21. 
 
 (19) Cuchvorthorithe "True Notion of the LORD'S Supper/' 
 Chap vi. p. 81.
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN AGAPJE. 97 
 
 this symbolical rite as the mark of friendship. 20 
 CELSUS too, in his attempt to invalidate Christi- 
 anity from the incredibility of the treachery of 
 JUDAS, has proved the sacredness of this custom, 
 as the pledge of attachment and affection. 21 
 HOMER also has expressed the utmost detestation 
 of the violator of this rite of inviolable friendship. 
 
 "That lawless wretch, that man of brutal strength, 
 Deaf to Heaven's voice, the social rite transgress'd. " 
 
 POPE'S Homer's Odyssey. B. xxi. 
 
 From the sacred nature of the friendships 
 confirmed by eating and drinking together, arose 
 the form of marriage among the Romans termed 
 CONFARREATIO, of which the Halicarnassian 
 Dionysius has observed, that marriages thus 
 contracted, implied indissoluble friendship, and 
 could never be dissolved. 22 A custom some 
 what similar exists at present in the Greek 
 Church. " After the Epistle and Gospel, and 
 several prayers are read, the new-married couple 
 drink out of the same cup, which the priest had 
 blest, in sign and token of love, agreement, and 
 joy, and as a pledge of their mutual conversa- 
 tion, and of their right to one another's estates 
 and fortunes." 23 It is probable that some such 
 
 (20) De Vita Pythag. p. 89 in Whitby on 1 Cor. x. 17. 
 
 (21) Origencont.Cels.lib.ii.c.S. p 74. Edit. Cantab. 1677. 
 
 (22) Dion. Halic. 1. ii. in Taylor's Summary of Roman 
 Law, p. 133. 
 
 (23) Smith's Account of the Greek Church, p. 190. Lond. 
 16SO. 8vo.
 
 98 ON THE CHRISTIAN AGAP^E. 
 
 custom was the origin of the distribution of 
 Bride-cake in England. 
 
 The celebrated D'HERBELOT, in his Bibliotheque 
 Orientale, has repeatedly noticed the strictness of 
 those friendships which are formed in the East, by 
 eating and drinking together. " The ceremony 
 of presenting bread and salt is practised in the 
 East, (he observes,) as a mark of friendship, alli- 
 ance, and hospitality. The Arabs have a prac- 
 tice peculiar to themselves of presenting drink 
 to those who distrust them, in order to convince 
 them of their fidelity." 24 And, a noted modern 
 traveller, speaking of the Druzes, says, " I have 
 often seen the lowest peasants give the last morsel 
 of bread they had in their houses, to the hungry 
 traveller. When they have once contracted 
 with their guest the sacred engagement of bread 
 and salt, no subsequent event can make them 
 violate it." 25 
 
 Christianity is the religion of benevolence, 
 and its great author has frequently urged the 
 cultivation of brotherly affection. " A new 
 commandment I give unto you, that ye love one 
 another." " By this shall all men know that ye 
 are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." 
 " This is my commandment, that ye love one 
 another, as I have loved you." Nothing, there- 
 fore, could be more congenial with the spirit of 
 the religion they professed, than the frequent 
 
 ( C 24) Voyezles noms Gelaleddin, llarmozan, et Salaheddin. 
 (25) Volney. Trav. Vol. II. p, 7G.
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN AGAPJE. 99 
 
 celebration of the Agapce, or feasts of charity, 
 by the Primitive Christians, whose brotherly 
 affection and charity were proverbial. 
 
 An interesting account of the celebration of 
 the Agapce, by the Hindoo-Syrian Christians on 
 the coast of Malabar, lias lately been afforded us 
 by DR. CLAUDIUT BUCHANAN : " At certain sea- 
 sons, the Agapce, or love-feasts, are celebrated, 
 as in primitive times. On such occasions, they 
 prepare delicious cakes, called Appam, made of 
 bananas, honey, and rice-flouer. The people 
 assemble in the church-yard, and, arranging 
 themselves in rows, each spreads before him a 
 plaintain-leaf. When this is done, the clergy- 
 man, standing in the church-door, pronounces 
 the benediction ; and the overseers of the church, 
 walking through between the rows, gives to each 
 his portion." " It is certainly an affecting scene, 
 and capable of elevating the heart, to behold six 
 or seven thousand persons, of both sexes, and of 
 all ages, assembled, and receiving together, with 
 the utmost reverence and devotion, their Appam, 
 the pledge of mutual union and love." 26 
 
 In modern times, the Moravians and Metho- 
 dists, are the only Christians in the West, who, 
 so far as we know, have adopted the primitive 
 custom of celebrating Agapcc or Love-Feasts. 
 The Moravians, in the "Constitution" laid be- 
 fore the Theological Order at Wirtcmberg, in 
 
 (26) " Memoir of the Expediency of an Ecclesiastical 
 Establishment for British India," p. 72, n.
 
 100 ON THE CHRISTIAN AGAP^E. 
 
 the year 1733, says, " For the further stirring up 
 the gift which is in us, sometimes we have public, 
 sometimes private Love-Feasts, at which we take 
 a moderate refreshment, with gladness and 
 singleness of heart ; and the voice of praise and 
 thanksgiving." At these assemblies their usual 
 refreshment is Tea; and the accounts of the 
 success of their missionaries, in various parts of 
 the world are then read ; &c. 
 
 Love-Feasts are also enumerated by the Me- 
 thodists among those social meetings which are 
 peculiarly calculated to increase piety and zeal, 
 mutual affection, and active liberality. They 
 merely take bread and water, instead of a re- 
 past, and are thus guarded against the possibility 
 of the corruptions of former ages. The time is 
 spent in Christian discourse, principally in refer- 
 ence to their personal experience of the great and 
 essential doctrines of the Gospel. A collection 
 for the poor of the society is seldom or never 
 omitted ; and the assembly is always commenced 
 and concluded with singing and prayer, under 
 the direction of the minister who presides,
 
 VII. 
 
 ON THE USE OF THE TERMS "IX0YS" AND 
 "PISCiCULI" BY THE ANCIENT CHRISTIANS. 
 
 THE terms IX0TS (Ichthus,) ajish, and PISCI- 
 cvi,Jiske$, were, at an early period of the Chris- 
 tian sera, adopted as symbolical words, suited 
 to the views and practices of the orthodox mem- 
 bers of the primitive churches. By the former, 
 the Greeks designated the SAVIOUR of the world; 
 and by the latter, the Latins distinguished the 
 persons who had received the ordinance of Bap- 
 tism. 
 
 The term IX0Y2; was formed from the initial 
 letters of the Greek words Ir^o-ou^ X^TOS, 0eot5 
 Yios, SCOTTJP, "JESUS CHRIST, the SON of GOD, 
 our SAVIOUR," expressing the dignity and office 
 of the REDEEMER, who in his person is the " SON 
 of GOD," the " Brightness of his FATHER'S glory, 
 and the express image of his person ; " and in 
 his official character the " SAVIOUR of all men, 
 specially of them that believe," having " made
 
 102 "lXer$" AND " PISCICULI." 
 
 reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in an 
 everlasting righteousness." 1 
 
 AUGUSTIN in his celebrated work De Civitate 
 Dei, Lib. xviii. c. xxiii, has preserved a curious 
 Greek Acrostic, extracted from the Sibylline* 
 
 (1) Mamachii Orig. et Antiq. Christianamm, T. I. lib. i. 
 c. i. G. pp. 55, 56. Romae, 1749, 4to. 
 
 * The SIBYLS were certain women among- the ancient Hea- 
 thens, said to have been endued with a prophetic spirit, and 
 to have delivered predictions, generally written on leaves, and 
 in Greek verses, respecting the fate of kingdoms and states. 
 The number of them is unknown 5 but the most general opi- 
 nion is, that there were ten of them, the eldest of whom being 
 named SIBYLLA, occasioned all of them t.> be called Silyls. 
 The most noted were the Persian and Cumean, thus designated 
 from the places of their residence. Their oracles or predic- 
 tions were held in the highest estimation by the Pagans, and 
 collections of them being made, they were laid up in the 
 Capitol at Home, guarded with the greatest care, and only 
 consulted on extraordinary occasions. When the Capitol was 
 burnt during the troubles of Sylla, the Sibylline oracles laid up 
 in it were burned with it. To repair the loss, commissioners were 
 appointed to collect whatever verses could be found, that had 
 been delivered by the Sibyls. The number of pretended ora- 
 cles thus collected was so great, that Augustus, and after him 
 Tiberius, caused them to be examined, and many of them to 
 be destroyed. Among these oracular writings, were several 
 which foretold the advent of the Messiah, and the greatness 
 and glory of his kingdom, as is evident from the fourth 
 Eclogue of Virgil, as well as from other heathen composi- 
 tiqns. 
 
 A collect'on was also made in the second century of the 
 Christian sera, of such of these Sibylline verses as could be 
 procured, and divided into eight books, and since printed, 
 for the first time in 1515, and frequently afterwards, with 
 aniple commentaries, Of the spuriousness of inriny of the
 
 "IX0YS" AND PISCICULI." 103 
 
 Writing's, in which the letters of the Greek words 
 from whence the symbolical term IxQus has been 
 formed, are the acrostical ones of the prophetic 
 verses. An old English translation, retaining 
 the antiquated orthography, is here presented to 
 the reader, referring him for the Greek to the 
 work itself. 
 
 In signe of Domes-day, the whole earth shall sweate 
 Euer to reigne, a King in heau'nly se'ite, 
 Shall come to judge all flesh. The faithfull, and 
 Unfaithfull too, before this Go shall stand, 
 Seeing him high with Saints, in Time's last end. 
 
 Corporeall shall hee sit j and thence, extend 
 
 His doorne on soules. The earth shall quite lie wast, 
 
 Ruin'd o're-growne with thornes, and men shall cast 
 
 Idolls away, and treasure. Searching fire 
 
 Shall burne the ground, and thence it shall inquire, 
 
 Through seas, and skie, and breake Hells blackest gates. 
 
 So shall free lights salute the blessed states 
 Of Saints ; the guilty lasting flames shall burne. 
 No act so hid, but then to light shall turne ; 
 Nor brest so close, but GOD shall open wide. 
 Each where shall cries be heard, and noyse beside 
 
 Of gnashing teeth. The Sunne shalltfrorn the skie 
 Flie forth ; and starres no more mooue orderly. 
 
 Great Heauen shall be dissolv'd, the Moone depriu'd, 
 Of all her light); places at height arriv'd 
 Deprestj and vallies raised to their seate: 
 
 prodictions, no doubt can be entertained, but as many of 
 them were confidently appealed to by the early Christians in 
 their disputes with the Heathens, it is probable, that some of 
 them existed prior to the coming of CHRIST. (See Prideaux's 
 Connections, Vol. IV. p. ii. u. ix. An. 13 ; and Bcrgier, Diet. 
 T/ifo. T. vii. pub voc. Sibylles.)
 
 104 "IX0TS" AND "PISCICULI." 
 
 There shall be nought to mortalls, high or great. 
 Hills shall lye leuell with the plaines ; the sea 
 Endure no hurthen; and the earth, as they, 
 
 Shall perish cleft with lightning : every spring 
 And river burne. The fatall Trumpe shall ring 
 Vnto the world, from heauen, a di small blast 
 Including plagues to come for ill deedes past. 
 Old Chaos, through the cleft masse, shall bee scene, 
 Unto this Barre shall all earths' Kings conueene : 
 Riuers of fire and Brimstone flowing from heau'n. 
 
 The Latin term PISCICULI was considered as 
 symbolical of the 'inward and spiritual grace' 
 of Regeneration, of which Baptism was ' the out- 
 ward and visible sign,' and therefore was used 
 for those Christians who had received the bap- 
 tismal rite, and had experienced the grace ' sig- 
 nified.' TERTULLIAN, (De Baptismo, c. 1,) ob- 
 serves, that Christians c swim in water as Fishes, 
 after the example of their Fish, CHRIST JESUS ; 
 and can only be saved by continuing in the 
 water;' and OPTATUS (Cont. Par men, lib. iii,) 
 says, that ' he is a Pish who has been with prayer 
 immersed in water in Baptism ; ' and adds, that 
 from the term Piscis, a fish, applied to the 
 Christians, the baptismal fonts were called Pis- 
 cina, Fishpools. 2 
 
 Venerable BEDE, who lived in the eighth cen- 
 tury, in his Commentary on Job, 1. i. c. 12, applies 
 the term Pisces, Jishes t to Christians, but offers 
 other reasons for adopting it : " By fishes are 
 
 (2y Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church, Vol. I. 
 ch. i. p. 3.
 
 "IX0TS" AND "PISCICULI." 
 
 to be understood," says he, " those who imme- 
 diately pass from the font of Baptism to the 
 LORD ; " and in another place, (in Luc. 1. 3, 
 c. 11,) he remarks, "By Piscis, or ajisk, is 
 meant Faith in Him who is invisible, either be- 
 cause of the water of Baptism, or because fishes 
 are caught in places out of sight. 3 
 
 EUCHERIUS, a Christian writer of the fifth 
 century, presents a still different reason for this 
 peculiar use of the word ; for, " As fishes," says 
 he, " are not injured by the violence of winds or 
 waves, so the Christian is preserved, in the ex- 
 ercise of faith, as it is said, ' In the world ye 
 shall hirv-e tribulation, but in me ye shall have 
 peace.'" 4 
 
 Several of the reasons here adduced for the 
 use of these symbolical terms, must be allowed 
 to be fanciful, though certainly agreeable to the 
 practice of many ancient Christian writers^ 
 whose fondness for allegorical and figurative ex- 
 positions, even of Scripture itself, characterized 
 the writings of several of the most eminent com- 
 mentators, as the voluminous and elaborate 
 works of ORIGIN, and others, sufficiently demon- 
 strate. A more plausible reason for the adop-p 
 tion of these symbolical terms, will be found in 
 the figurative language of the Holy Scriptures, 
 and the application of similar terms by our 
 
 (3) Aringhii Roma vSubterranea., T. ii. 1. 6. c. 38, pp. 61 y, 
 6V 
 
 (4) Ibid. 
 P
 
 106 "IX0Y5" AND "PISCICULI." 
 
 LORD. In the prophecy of EZEKIEL, the out- 
 pouring of the Holy Spirit under the Gospel, and 
 the success attendant upon the ministry of it, are 
 compared to a mighty river, and the salutary 
 effect of it upon the fishes of the sea. " It shall 
 come to pass that every thing that liveth, 
 which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall 
 come, shall live ; and there shall be a very great 
 multitude of fish, because these waters shall 
 come thither : for they shall be healed ; and every 
 thing shall live whither the river cometh," 
 Ezek. xlvii. 9 ; and JESUS when he called SI- 
 MON, and ANDREW his brother, to follow him, 
 said to them, " Follow me, and I will make you 
 fishers of men," Matt. iv. 19 ; in allusion to 
 which, the papal documents are to this day said 
 to be " given under the fisherman's seal ; " the 
 Pope professing himself to be the successor of 
 PETER in office and authority. 
 
 From the use of symbolical terms, the transi- 
 tion was easy to the adoption of symbolical re- 
 presentations, and it therefore soon became com- 
 mon for the Christians to have the letters of the 
 word IX0YS, or the figures of Fishes, sculptured 
 on their monuments for the dead, struck on 
 their medals, engraved on their rings and seals, 
 and even formed on the articles of domestic use. 
 
 ARINGHIUS, in his laborious work, entitled, 
 Roma Subterranea, (in 2 vols. folio,) has given 
 several representations of sepulchral sculptures, 
 in which the fish, forms a prominent figure. 
 Qne of these, accurately copied on a reduced
 
 "IX0Y5" AND "PISCICULI." 107 
 
 scale, will be found in the plate prefixed to this 
 volume, fig. 2. It was taken from a marble 
 sarcophagus, found in the Vatican at Rome, and 
 represents JESUS CHRIST as the " Good Shepherd," 
 with the lost sheep upon his shoulders ; on 
 either hand appears a sheep looking up to him, 
 apparently with affection and attention ; on the 
 right is the figure of a fish ; and on the left an 
 anchor, symbolical of hope : the whole forming 
 an interesting group, and probably intended to 
 intimate that JESUS CHRIST is the only SAVIOUR 
 of mankind, thai; he " seeks and saves the lost," 
 that " his sheep hear his voice and follow him," 
 that in order to be a true Christian, a man must 
 be " born again of water and of the Spirit," and, 
 that it is by becoming true Christians, that we 
 obtain a "sure and certain hope," of Eternal life ; 
 and hence Christians were sometimes called 
 "Piscis Filii," " Sons of the Fish," by the an- 
 cients. 5 
 
 In some cases the word IX0TC was cut upon 
 the Sarcophagi, or sepulchral urns, to distinguish 
 the sepulchres of the Christians from those of the 
 Pagans, especially in the public cemeteries, 
 where their tombs were not sufficiently marked 
 by any other distinction. On these occasions, 
 the Greek letter N was usually placed after the 
 word, as the abbreviation of N/xcT, he co?iquered, 
 to shew that it was intended as the symbol of 
 
 (5) Aringhii Rom. Subter. T. i. p. 320. Romas, 1681, fol. 
 Mavnachii Orig. et. Antiq. Christianarum, ut sup.
 
 106 " IX6T2" AND " I'ISCICULI." 
 
 JESUS CHRIST, who had " led captivity captive," 
 " abolished death, and brought life and immor- 
 tality to light by the Gospel." 6 
 
 At other times, one of the letters of the word 
 IX0TC was placed at the commencement of 
 each line of the monumental inscription, or epi- 
 taph, giving the appearance of an acrostical com- 
 position, where it was neither poetical nor acros- 
 tical, and where the Greek letters which were 
 prefixed formed no part of the words inscribed. 
 Instances of this are to be found both in the 
 Roma Subtwrauea of Aringhius, and the Origl- 
 num et Antiquitatum Christian arum of Mama- 
 chins, from some of which we derive decisive 
 evidence of the ages of the persons interred, 
 being frequently calculated not from the day of 
 their natural birth, but of their baptism or public 
 avowal of Christianity, some being mentioned as 
 only a few days old at the time of their decease.- 
 
 The ancient Christians also exhibited similar 
 symbols on their jewels, and domestic articles. 
 Representations of some of these are engraved in 
 the plate prefixed to this work. Fig. 3 is taken 
 from an annular cameo in the Victorine Museum 
 at Rome: 8 in the centre, is an ornamented 
 Anchor, indicating hope ; on each side is the 
 figure of a Fish, symbolical of Christians ; over 
 the anchor is the word IHCOTC, JESUS, and 
 
 (6) Nummus jSSreus Explicatus, Pars. ii. c.xvii. pp. 91, 92. 
 Mammachii Orig. et Antiq. ut sup. Romse, 1737, 4to. 
 
 (7) Nummus . ; F.reus, ut sup. 
 (S) Ibid. Pars. II. c. xix. p. 105.
 
 AND "PISCICULI." 109 
 
 underneath XPEICTOC, CHRIST ; the whole 
 of which seems to be an enigmatical representa- 
 tion, intended to intimate, that through JESUS 
 CHRIST as our only SAVIOUR, and by the experi- 
 ence of Regeneration, we may have Hope. Fig. 
 4 is from an engraved Opal, in the same collec- 
 tion : on one side is engraved the term IX0TC, 
 a Fish, and on the reverse an Anchor; connecting 
 again the idea of Hope with that of JESUS 
 CHRIST, as the SAVIOUR of men. 9 Fig. 5 is an 
 ancient Lamp, copied from a representation given 
 by ARINGHIUS : 10 on the top or upper-side two 
 fishes are moulded, or cut upon it ; and on the 
 handle is this monogram of CHRIST 
 
 formed from the two first letters of the wore! 
 XPI2TOS, CHRISTOS.* 
 
 (9) Nummus ^Ereus, p. 92. 
 
 (10) Aringhii Roma Subterranea, T. ii. p. 620. 
 
 * This Monogram or abbreviation was in use prior to the 
 Christian sera, and appears to have been adopted either to express 
 the regal office from the Greek word XP lf to anoint; or 
 the disposition of the mind from vpjro meek, gentle; or 
 else to hare been regarded as the symbol of peace, or used 
 as the abbreviation of the names of certain Grecian prefects, as 
 Chrysanthus, Chrysodorus, &c. 
 
 The early Christians transferred the monogram to the 
 SAVIOUR, and held it in veneration as the abbreviation of his 
 name, and expressive of his regal and mediatorial offices, as 
 the " Anointed of the Father," and " Head overall things to 
 his church, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." Hence, 
 it was placed in their churches, used as the signatures of their
 
 110 "IX0T2" AND "PISCICUU." 
 
 The representation of a Fish was likewise made 
 use of to ornament their more valuable manu- 
 scripts, and MONTFAUCON, in his Palceographia, 
 has given the fac-simile of a Greek manuscript of 
 certain of CHRYSOSTOM'S works, written about the 
 ninth century, in which the figure of a Fish, is 
 substituted for the first letter. 10 
 
 bishops, impressed upon their coins, embossed upon their 
 vessels, engraved upon their seals, exhibited on their stan- 
 dards, sculptured on their tombs, and at length, worn by the 
 superstitious as an amulet or charm, to preserve them from 
 injury. 
 
 This Monogram also, with the addition of the inscription 
 EN TOYT& NIKA, BY THIS CONQUER, formed the 
 famous Labarum, or royal standard of Constantine the Great ; 
 adopted, according to some writers, from an appearance of it 
 in the heavens, by which the Emperor had been induced to 
 embrace Christianity. The same Emperor appointed it the 
 insignia of the military order of the Labari, instituted for 
 the defence of the Christian religion ; it was also assumed and 
 borne on a white cross, by a similar order in Spain, instituted 
 in 1217, or 1239, for the extirpation of heretics, and called 
 The Brethren of the Militia of St. Dominic. In the early ages, 
 the orthodox Christians placed the same monogram betwixt 
 the A Alpha, and Q Omega, the first and last letters of the 
 Greek alphabet, in allusion to the words of JESUS CHRIST in 
 Apocalypse, " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the 
 ending, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the 
 ALMIGHTY ; " (Rev. i. 8,) intending thereby to f vow their 
 belief of the Godhead of CHRIST, in opposition to the senti- 
 ments of their Arian antagonists. (Menkenius, De Mono- 
 grammate, Lipsic, 1(596, 4io. passim. 
 
 (10) Montfaucon, Pulaog. Grace. Lib. IV. c. ii. p. 27*2. 
 fig.l.
 
 VIII. 
 
 ON THE CONGREGATION AND COLLEGE DE PRO- 
 
 PAGANDA FIDE ; OR CELEBRATED CATHOLIC 
 
 MISSIONARY INSTITUTION. 
 
 THE Missions of the Roman Catholics have been 
 numerous and extensive; and almost every part 
 of the world has been visited by their missionaries 
 at one period or another. Magnificent institu- 
 tions, proportioned to the magnitude of the ob- 
 ject to be attained, have been founded for the 
 education of persons designed to propogate the 
 Catholic faith to the ends of the earth; to which 
 wealth and science have most liberally contri- 
 buted their aid ; whilst societies of zealous and 
 self-denying men have been formed, for the ex- 
 press purpose of devoting themselves to the most 
 arduous labours for the prosperity of the church, 
 under the direction of the Pope. Of these socie- 
 ties and institutions, none have been more cele- 
 brated than the ORDER of JESUITS, and the CON- 
 GREGATION and COLLEGE DE PROPAGANDA FIDK.
 
 112 CONGREGATION DE ^PROPAGANDA FIDE. 
 
 The ORDER OF JESUITS, or SOCIETY OF JESUS, 
 was instituted by IGNATIUS LOYOLA, a descendant 
 of a noble family of Spain, and was approved by 
 the bull* of Pope PAUL III., in 1540. XAVIER, 
 one of the first associates of the order, and the 
 companion and friend of LOYOLA, has immortal- 
 ized his name by his labours and sufferings in the 
 East. The vows, taken by the members of the 
 Society, bind them to go on whatever missions 
 the Pope enjoins, and if it be his pleasure, at their 
 own expense. The whole of the fraternity is 
 placed under a General, whose orders are to be 
 implicitly obeyed, and who is subject only to his 
 Holiness. The occupations of the order, when 
 not employed on missions, are chiefly of a literary 
 or scientific nature. From their education and 
 habits, the members have frequently been con- 
 sidered as peculiar suited to high political situa- 
 tions, and chosen as the confidants and coun- 
 sellors of Catholic princes. By these means the 
 influence of the order became so great, that at 
 length several of the sovereigns of Europe re- 
 solved upon its destruction, and by their autho- 
 rity, obtained a bull for its dissolution, from 
 POPS CLEMENT XIV., in 1773. It has, however, 
 
 * The term lull from the Latin bulla or seal is chiefly ap- 
 plied to the rescripts, edicts, or letters of the Pope. The bull 
 properly speaking, signifies the seal appended to the letter or 
 edict, which in the papal edicts is usually of lead, and when 
 the letter is respecting ;i mutter of justice, U hung by a hempen 
 cord, but if of grace or favour, by a silken thread.
 
 CONGREGATION DE PROPAGANDA FIDE. 113 
 
 been re-established since by POPE Pius VII., in 
 in 181 4. 1 The principal foreign Missions under- 
 taken by this order have been in the East and in 
 South America. In these and other stations 
 their success is said, by their historians, to have 
 been unusually great, and tens of thousands are 
 enumerated as proselytes to the Catholic faith. 
 It is, however, to be lamented, that in too many 
 instances there appears to have been an un- 
 warrantable compromise of principle, and an 
 almost total indifference to religious discipline. 2 
 The Congregation for tlie Propagation of the 
 Faith (De Propaganda Fide,) forms one of the 
 fifteen Congregations of Cardinals, instituted for 
 direction and control of Catholic affairs, both 
 temporal and spiritual, under the supreme 
 government of the Pope, of which, the four prin- 
 cipal are, 1. The Congregation of Rites, which 
 regulates the ceremonies of the Church : 2. The 
 Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, for the 
 direction of the Episcopal dignitaries, and regular 
 clergy: 3. The Congregation of the Holy Office 
 or Inquisition, for the detection and prevention 
 of heresy ; and 4. The Congregation de Propa- 
 ganda Fide. 
 
 It was established June 22, 1622, by Pope 
 
 (1) Butler's Lives of the Saints, Vol. VII. July 31: 
 Memoirs of the Society of Jesus, passim. Liverpool, 1823. 
 
 (<2) Memoirs of the Society of Jesus, ut sup. History of 
 the Jesuits, Vol. I. pp. 312 315. Vol. II. pp. 107, ISO. 
 Lond. 181(5. fivo.
 
 114 CONGREGATION DE PROPAGANDA FIDE. 
 
 GREGORY XV., by the advice of Father NARNI, 
 his Confessor, to take cognizance of all busi- 
 ness relative to the propagation of the Catholic 
 Religion, throughout the world ; referring the 
 most weighty matters to the decision of the 
 Pontiff, but deciding in all other cases according 
 to their judgment : to superintend all Missions 
 designed to preach and teach the Gospel, and 
 the doctrines of the Church of Rome : and to 
 appoint and change the Ministers necessary for 
 that purpose. The Congregation consisted of 
 thirteen cardinals, two priests, one monk, and 
 a secretary. The persons associated with the 
 cardinals on the first appointment of the institu- 
 tion, were JOHN BAPTIST VIVES, Referendary and 
 Domestic Prelate to URBAN VIII. ; JOHN BAPTIST 
 AGUCCHIUS, Secretary to the Pope, and Notary 
 of the Apostolical See ; DOMINIC A JESU MARIA, 
 a monk of the order of Barefooted Carmelites, 
 Professor and Vicar-General ; and FRANCIS IN- 
 GOLUS, who was chosen Secretary. The members 
 of the Congregation were enjoined to meet thrice 
 in each month, once in the presence of his Holiness, 
 to lay their resolutions before him, and twice in the 
 palace of the senior cardinal. GREGORY XV. as- 
 signed for their maintenance the emoluments 
 arising from the Anelli Cardlnalttii, gave them a 
 palace, worth 10,000 crowns, and presented them 
 with a capital of 15,000 crowns. 3 Besides the 
 
 (3) Cherubini Magnum Eullariun, T. iii. pp. 421424. 
 Historic des Orders Monastiques, T. VIII. c. xii. pp. 77 81.
 
 CONGREGATION DE PROPAGANDA FIDE. 115 
 
 sums mentioned by URB. CERRI, HELTOT (Hist, 
 des Ordres Monastiques) says, "that Cardinal 
 GALLIO, who died in 1683, was one of the prin- 
 cipal benefactors, and bequeathed considerable 
 sums,, to be employed according to the exigencies 
 of the institution ;" and adds, that " theexpences 
 of the Seminary, for the support of Apostolic 
 Missionaries, amounted annually (when he wrote) 
 to nearly 50,000 Roman crowns." 
 
 GREGORY XV. dying in 1623, CARDINAL BAR- 
 BERINI was elected to the papal dignity, and as- 
 sumed the name of URBAN VIII. On his advance- 
 ment to the pontifical chair, he vigorously pro- 
 moted the interests of the institution commenced 
 by his predecessor, chose many from the different 
 religious orders to be employed as missionaries 
 on foreign stations, conferred various privileges 
 upon the Congregation, and greatly augmented 
 the riches and possessions of the establishment. 
 Other munificent and wealthy persons, stimulated 
 by these examples, and by a conviction of the 
 vast importance of this undertaking to the 
 Catholic cause, granted or bequeathed property 
 to a veiy great amount, to be applied to the 
 purposes of the institution, including the Church 
 
 Paris, 1719. 4to; Bergier, Diet. Theol. T. ii. art. Congrega- 
 tion ; T. v. art. Missions Etrangeres ; Fabricii Salutaris Lux 
 Evangelii, Cap. xxxiii. p. 56'6 ; Urban Cerri's Account of 
 the State of the Roman Catholick Religion, throughout the 
 World ; translated by Sir. R. Steele ; pp. 17G, 177. Loud, 
 17*24. l^mo. Mosheim's Ecclesiastical Hist., by Dr. Mae- 
 laine, Vol. V. pp. 1, 2.
 
 116 CONGREGATION DE PROPAGANDA FIDE. 
 
 and College, soon afterwards erected. URBAN 
 CERRI, in his State of the Roman Catholic Reli- 
 gion, presented to INNOCENT XV., who died in 
 1689, has given the following notices of several 
 of these benefactions ; and of the expenditure of 
 the establishment at that period. 
 
 Crowns. 
 
 Cardinal St. Onufrio, or Onuphrius 207,000 
 
 Cardinal Cornaro 34,50O 
 
 Cardinal de Galamina 57,40O 
 
 Cardinal Capponi , 8,OOO 
 
 Cardinal Giustiniani 12,500 
 
 Cardinal Ubaldini 40,OOO 
 
 Monsignor Vives 42,000 
 
 John Savanier 64,OOO 
 
 Beside smaller inheritances, legacies, alms, and 
 certain sums from unknown persons, presented 
 by DOMINIC A JESU MARIA, constituting in the 
 whole a capital of about 615,000 crowns, in 
 addition to 100,000 crowns, expended in erect- 
 ing the Church and College, producing an annual 
 income of about 24,000 crowns. " This income,'* 
 says the same writer, speaking of the time when 
 he presented his statement, "with some other 
 revenues, arising from some few houses and 
 rents, is collected by an officer, who has the 
 title of Agent, and is obliged to carry it imme- 
 diately into the Monte della Pieta* from whence 
 
 * This is a kind of Bank established at Rome, for lending 
 money on pledges, at a small interest, generally not more 
 than 2 per cent, and originally designed as a check upon the 
 usurious oppressions of Pawn-brokers. Ei>.
 
 CONGREGATION DE PROPAGANDA FIDE. 117 
 
 it cannot be fetched, without an order from the 
 Congregation, subscribed by the Cardinal Pre- 
 fect, the Secretary, and the Accomptant. There 
 is a public office kept, wherein are carefully re- 
 gistered all the expences, and orders issued out 
 by virtue of the decrees of the Congregation ; so 
 that no part of the money can be misapplied : 
 and when the accounts are balanced, which is 
 done every year, they are put into the hands of 
 all the cardinals, and examined in a particular 
 Congregation, called, dello stato temporale" 1 
 
 The necessity of instituting a College or Semi- 
 nary, for the persons intended to be sent on 
 foreign missions, was soon perceived by the more 
 intelligent and active members of the Congrega- 
 tion de Propaganda Fide, especially by JOHN 
 BAPTIST VIVES,* of Valencia, in Spain, Referen- 
 dary and Domestic Prelate of Pope URBAN VIII., 
 and Resident at the court of Rome, from the 
 Infanta ISABELLA, of Austria, Governess of the 
 Netherlands, who nobly offered all his ample 
 possessions, and beautiful palace, for the support 
 and education of ten young men, of any nation, 
 who might be deemed eligible by the pontiff. 
 The advantages of such an establishment, was fore- 
 
 (4) Urban Cerri's State of the Roman Catholic Religion., 
 pp. 176179. 
 
 (*) He is thus called by Cherubini in Bullar Roman, T. 
 iii. p. 422 ; but Helyot, Hist, des Ordres Monastiques, calls 
 him VIRES ; and Mosheim, Eccles. Hist. Vol. V. p. 3, writes the 
 name VILES, and blames Urb. Cerri for calling him VIVES.
 
 118 CONGREGATION DE PROPAGANDA FUJE. 
 
 seen by URBAN VIII., who applauded the zeal of 
 VIRES, and accepted his munificent proposal. 
 The project was, therefore, soon afterwards ac- 
 complished, by instituting the Apostolic College 
 or Seminary, for the Propagation of the Faith, 
 (De Propaganda Fide) and confirming 1 the erec- 
 tion of it by a bull, dated August 1, 1027, on 
 which account it is sometimes called Urban '.v 
 College. The institution was taken under the 
 immediate protection of the holy see, and the 
 Pope granted it all the privileges and immuni- 
 ties enjoyed by the German, English, and Greek 
 Colleges, and by the general schools of Rome ; 
 and appointed three canons of the three patri 
 archal churches of St. Peter, St. John de Lateran, 
 and St. Mary Major, for its government. In 
 1637, Cardinal ANTHONY BARBERINI, (called also 
 Cardinal ST. ONUPHRIUS,) Librarian of the Vati- 
 can and Grand Penetentiary, the brother of UR- 
 BAN VIII., greatly augmented the revenues of the 
 College, and founded twelve scholarships, with 
 power to increase them to eighteen, for young 
 scholars, between fifteen and twenty-one years of 
 age, to be taught the Latin and Italian languages, 
 being natives of the East, viz., Georgians, Per- 
 sians, Nestorians, Jacobites, Melchites, and Copts; 
 to which were added Armenians, in case of a 
 vacancy. In 1G38, or 1(539, the same Cardinal 
 founded thirteen other scholarships, for seven 
 Ethiopians, or Abyssimans, and six Hindoos, or 
 Brahmins ; the vacancies to be filled up with 
 Armenians, preferring those from Russia or
 
 CONGREGATION DE PROPAGANDA FIDE,. 119 
 
 Poland, and successively those from Constan- 
 tinople, Tartary, Georgia, Armenia, or Persia. 
 These two foundations were united to the College 
 in 1641, and several regulations made relative to 
 the age, time, and election of the candidates, and 
 the administration of the whole transferred from 
 the Canons of the patriarchal churches, to the 
 Congregation de Propaganda Fide, But, because 
 it has always been difficult to obtain young men 
 of the nations before-mentioned, the Congrega- 
 tion has frequently disposed of those places pro 
 tempore in favour of others, with the consent of 
 the house of the Barberini. The College is 
 governed, with the superintendency of the Secre- 
 tary, by a Rector, who is a secular priest. The 
 Rector's accounts are brought every four months 
 to the cardinal, called Mensario, whose business 
 it is, not only to give him a receipt, but also to 
 visit the College, and to see whether the students 
 are well governed. The Fathers of the Missions 
 are their spiritual directors ; and come every day, 
 gratuitously, to hear their confessions, and to 
 make them perform several pious exercises. Able 
 professors in the languages and sciences, divinity, 
 philosophy, and other branches of learning, are 
 supported by the institution, and the students are 
 annually examined as to the improvement they 
 have made in their studies. When the students 
 have finished their education, they are employed 
 either as missionaries, or as bishops, or vicars- 
 apostolic, in foreign parts, according to the exi-
 
 120 CONGREGATION DE PROPAGANDA FIDE. 
 
 gency of the occasion, and the abilities of the 
 persons educated. 5 
 
 On the first erection of the College, the students 
 were permitted to enter at pleasure into the orders 
 of St. Anthony, or St. Basil; but, the permission 
 was withdrawn by Pope ALEXANDER VII., and 
 the following oath prescribed by him in 1660, to 
 be taken by all the students on entering the 
 College. 
 
 "I. A. B. son of C. D. of the diocese of C. having a perfect 
 knowledge of the institutes of this seminary, or college, and of 
 its laws and constitutions, embrace them according to the ex- 
 planation given of them by the Superiors, submit myself to 
 them, and promise to obey them . I also promise and swear, that 
 whilst I remain in the college, and when I leave it, whether 
 I have finished my studies, or have not finished them, I will 
 enter into no religious order, society, or congregation, without 
 the permission of the holy Apostolic See, or of the Congrega- 
 tion df Propaganda Fide; and that I will make no profession 
 in any of them, without the same permission. Moreover, I 
 promise and swear, that, whenever it shall please the Congre- 
 gation I will embrace the ecclesiastical state j that I will re- 
 ceive holy orders ; and even the priesthood. I also vow and 
 swear, that whether I become a member of a religious order, 
 or remain in the secular state, I will render an account to the 
 Congregation, every year, if I remain in Europe, and every 
 two years if I depart out of Europe, of my state and occu- 
 pations, and of the place where I shall be. I, moreover, 
 vow arid swear, that, at the first order I receive from the 
 Congregation de Propaganda Fide, I will return, without de- 
 
 (5) Hist, des Ordres Monastiques, ut sup. Urb. Cerri's 
 Account of the State of the Roman Catholic Religion, p. 180. 
 Fabricii Salutaris Lux Evang. nt sup.
 
 CONGREGATION DE PROPAGANDA FIDE. 121 
 
 lay, to my native country, where I will employ my cares and 
 labours for the salvation of souls ; which I will also do, if 
 Avith the permission of the holy See, I enter into any religious 
 society, or order, and make my profession therein. Finally, 
 I vow and swear, that, I know the force of this oath, and its 
 obligations, and that I will observe it according to the decla- 
 rations made by the Congregation de Propaganda Fide, con- 
 firmed by Apostolic Brief, of July 20th, 1660. So help me 
 GOD, and his holy Gospels." 
 
 This oath was enjoined, by the same Pope, to 
 be taken by the students or scholars of all semi- 
 naries, or Apostolic Colleges, established by 
 Catholics, throughout the world. 6 
 
 In the palace of the Congregation there is a 
 room of large dimensions, which is their Printing 
 Office, furnished with characters in most lan- 
 guages, with able correctors and printers conti- 
 nually employed in works for the propagation of 
 the Catholic religion. The Society is said to 
 have printed in. forty -eight languages., within the 
 first fifty years of its institution. 7 Among the 
 works printed within this period were Dictiona- 
 rium Malaico-Latimim, et Latino-Malaicum, or 
 Malay Lexicon, by DAYID H^EX, 1631, 4to.; 
 Artem Grammatlcam LinguecJapomcce, or Japa- 
 nese Grammar, byDiDACusCoLLAous, 1631, 4to. ; 
 Grammaticam Arabicam, or Arabic Grammar, 
 by THOMAS OBICJNUS, 1631, 8vo.; Dictionarhim 
 Anameticum, or Lexicon of the Anam language, 
 
 (6) Hist, des Ordres Monastiques, T. viii, P. vi. p 80. 
 
 (7) Yeates's Indian Church History, p. *20 1, note. Load, 
 1818. Svo. 
 
 R
 
 DE PROPAGANDA FIDE. 
 
 spoken in Cochin-china and Tonkin, by ALEX- 
 ANDER DE RHODES, 1651 ; Prodromus Copti- 
 cus, or Introduction to the Coptic tongue, by 
 ATHANASIUS KIKCHER, 1636 ; InstitutionesLinguce 
 Arabics, or Institutes of the Arabic language, 
 by P. GUADAGXOLUS, 1642, fol. ; Grammatlca 
 Persica, or Persian Grammar, by IGNATIUS A 
 JESU, 1661, 4to. ; Gcorglance. sen Ibericce, Tur- 
 cicce, atque Arabics Linguae Institutiones, or 
 Institutes of the Georgian, Turkish, and Arabic 
 languages, byFn\Nciscus MARIA MAGGIUS, 1643, 
 fol. Since the publication of these works, the 
 Propaganda press has printed numerous Lexi- 
 cons, Grammars, Catechisms, (chiefly BEL- 
 LARMIN'S.) and similar compositions, in many 
 Oriental and Western languages, particularly 
 brief Introductions to the Arabic, Armenian, 
 Burman, Ethiopic, in both the Geez and 
 Amliarie dialects, Hindoostance, Telinga, Thi- 
 betan, Persic, Syro-Chaldaic, and Hebrew; 
 Grammars,- Vocabularies, or Lexicons of the 
 Arabic, Turkish, Armenian, Coptic, Curd, San- 
 , Hebrew, Italian and other languages. 
 i- works considered necessary for the preser- 
 ! and propagation of the Roman Catholic 
 arc 1 continually issued from- the same press, 
 raid are distributed gratis to the bishops, mis- 
 sionaries, and others, that they may be dispersed 
 all over the world. It must, nevertheless, be 
 regretted, that " it does not fall .within the 
 province of the Congregation de Propaganda to 
 give translations or editions of the Holy Scrip-
 
 CONGREGATION DE PROPAGANDA J10B- 123 
 
 toes," and consequently, that in the course of 
 about 200 years, they have only published at this 
 press, one edition of the entire Arabic Bible, 
 completed, after forty-six years spent in trans- 
 lating 1 , revising, and printing, in 1671, in 3 vols. 
 folio ; and o;?r? edition of the Four Gospels, in 
 Hebrew, by J. J. BAPTISTA, 1668, folio.* Several 
 
 (*) For this information I am indebted to a learned Italian 
 correspondent, resident at Rome, through the medium of a 
 reverend gentleman of high character, lately deceased. 
 
 A complete list of all the works, printed at the press of the 
 Propaganda, from its establishment to the present time, is a 
 desideratum in literature. Fabricius (Salutaris Lux Evangelii, 
 c. xxxiii. p. 568,) refers to Dorotheus Ascianus sive Matthias 
 Zimmermanus De Montibus Pietalis Romanensibus, Lipsiae, 
 1670. 4to., for a catalogue of books, printed at the press, or 
 at the expense of the Congregation de Propaganda Fide, from 
 its institution to the year 1639. This very rare work I \\a\\- 
 been able to procure, but from the following analysis of it by 
 the correspondent already mentioned, it appears to h 
 written in opposition to the Church of Rome. " It has been 
 a little difficult," he observes, " but at last I have succeeded 
 in finding the work De Montibus Pietutis. The title of it 
 follows : 'Dorothei Asciani SS, Theol. Dr. Monies Pietatis 
 Romanenses historice, canonice, theologice detecti. Pre- 
 mittitur Justus Tractatus gerendarum Roman. Eccles. Sub- 
 jungitur liiga Scriptorum Pontificiorum, Xicolai Baviara 
 Augustiniani Mantes liupietatis, &c. Opuseulum omnium 
 facultatum, et curiosioris literaturae studiosis leetu-jucundum 
 et utile, cum Indicibus necessarii?. Lipsiae. MCI,XX.' Though 
 the title of the work suffices to give an idea of its contents, 
 yet I give you a list of the various articles, into which it is 
 divided: these articles are called metaphorically Mervi. 
 Nervus. Imo. Prcsumptio Papaiis. 'Jus. Cuuiculi. 3ius. Yio- 
 lentia. 4us. Licentia. 5us. Congregationes tidei causa, Gus.
 
 124 CONGREGATION DE PROPAGANDA FIDET. 
 
 other works were ready for the press, when the 
 troubles occasioned by the French Revolution 
 prevented their being printed; the institution 
 being reduced almost to a state of anihilation, 
 and the whole of their printing- matrices taken 
 to Paris. These have since been restored, and 
 the Congregation de Propaganda Fide have re- 
 sumed their functions. 8 
 
 All the writings and letters that come to the 
 Congregation de Propaganda Fide, and also 
 copies of those which they write, and of their 
 decrees and resolutions, are registered and care- 
 fully preserved ; but such is the number and 
 variety of them, that notwithstanding the indexes 
 and repertories, and the diligence of the officers 
 engaged in this department, it is not without 
 the greatest difficulty, that the accounts of the 
 old transactions can be obtained ; a defect which 
 has sometimes occasioned decrees to be passed 
 directly opposed to former ones. 9 
 
 The framing of Rules or Constitutions for several 
 of the Seminaries or Colleges, founded for the 
 education of young men, intended to be employed 
 as missionaries, principally in their native coun- 
 tries, has at different times been committed to 
 the Congregation de Propaganda Fide; among 
 
 Superstiones. "us. Sanctitas affectata. Sus. Opes et divithc. 
 After this you will be able to form an idea of the work " 
 
 (8) Yeates's Indian Church History, ut sup. 
 
 (9) Urb. Cerri's Account of the Roman Catholic Religion, 
 p. 18'2.
 
 CONGREGATION DK PROPAGANDA FIDE. 125 
 
 which, are enumerated, the College of Fulda in 
 Germany, first established by Pope GREGORY 
 XIII., and afterwards re-established by Pope 
 URBAN VIII. for thirty students, to be employed 
 in Germany, and the northern parts of Europe ; 
 the College of Prague in Bohemia, founded for 
 forty students, by Pope GREGORY XIII. ; the Illy- 
 r'tan College at Loretto, founded by URBAN VIII. ; 
 and the College of Vienna, instituted by URBAN 
 VIII.; or rather renewed by him after it had 
 fallen into decay. 10 
 
 During the late troubles in France and Italy 
 the operations of this Society were necessarily 
 interrupted, but on the restoration of monarchy 
 in France, and of tranquility in Italy, they have 
 re-commenced their labours with considerable 
 vigour, but without the exercise of that candour 
 and desire for the circulation of the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures, which, we conceive, should always charac- 
 terize a church, founded on the basis of Divine 
 Faith. Edicts or bulls, sanctioned by the late 
 Pope Pius VII. have, at different times, been 
 issued and circulated in Ireland, the Austrian 
 dominions, and the East, against the Methodists, 
 Bible Societies, and several charitable institu- 
 tions for the education of the poor. 
 
 A complete history of the Congregation de 
 Propaganda Fide, and of its missionary and 
 literary exertions, though highly desirable, has 
 
 (10) Cherubini Mag. Bullar. T. IV. pp. 117, 119, 122, 123, 
 1*4, 126, 155, 156.
 
 126 CONGREGATION DE PROPAGANDA FIDE. 
 
 never yet been presented to the public. URBAN 
 CERRI'S, and HELYOT'S accounts of it, being 
 defective in both the literary and missionary 
 history, besides having- been written more than 
 a century ago. Such a history we are encour- 
 aged to expect from the erudite pen of the Ab- 
 bate CANCELLIERI, who, we are happy to learn, 
 has prepared one for the press, in 3 vols., and 
 has only been waiting for means and opportunity 
 to print it. 
 
 The Institution next in importance to the 
 College de Propaganda Fide, for the support 
 and establishment of the Catholic Foreign Mis- 
 sions, is the Seminary or College of Paris, which 
 is in strict union with the Congregation at 
 Rome. It owes its origin to the exertions of 
 Father ALEXANDER DE RHODES, a celebrated 
 Catholic missionary, a Jesuit, and a native of 
 Avignon, who had been deputed by the churches 
 of Tonkin, Cochin-china, and China, to visit 
 Europe, in 1653, in order to solicit the Pope to 
 send out Bishops to those kingdoms, to strengthen 
 the Catholic converts against the violence of per- 
 secution, and to confer priestly orders upon some 
 of the most qualified among them, as the only 
 way of establishing, maintaining, and propaga- 
 ting the Christian religion in those distant and 
 pagan countries. The death of INNOCENT X., 
 and other occurrences, prevented the accomplish- 
 ment of the design till the assumption of the 
 pontificate of ALEXANDER VII., who in 1658 
 deputed three bishops in quality of Vicars-Apos-
 
 CONGREGATION Dfi PROPAGANDA FIDE. 127 
 
 tolic, to govern the churches, in that distant 
 part of the East. These bishops were selected 
 from among those of the clergy, who had offered 
 themselves for the mission ; viz. M. PALLU, con- 
 secrated Bishop of Heliopolis, by Cardinal AN- 
 THONY BARBERINI, chief of the Congregation de 
 Propaganda Fide; M. DE LA MOTHE LAMBERT, 
 consecrated at Paris, under the title of Bishop 
 of Berita ; and M. COTELENDI, consecrated at 
 Aix-in Province, under the title of Bishop of 
 Meteliopolis. 
 
 The Bishop of Berita set out for the East, 
 with two missionaries, in 1660; the Bishop 
 of Meteliopolis followed in 1661, with two 
 others ; and the Bishop of Heliopolis, in 1662, 
 accompanied by six other missionaries, who 
 were followed by fourteen others. The prin- 
 cipal design of the mission being to prepare 
 and ordain native priests, they established, at 
 different times, three Seminaries, one in Tonkin, 
 another in Cochin-china, and a third in Siam. 
 These are said to have proved so advantageous 
 to the Catholic Religion, that in Tonkin alone, 
 notwithstanding the persecution which raged 
 there against them, they baptized in two years 
 more than 20,000 persons, ordained nine native 
 priests, and in a short time established five com- 
 munities of unmarried females and widows, 
 whose principal employments were to engage in 
 constant and united prayer and humiliation 
 before GOD, for the conversion of the infidels in 
 the thr^e Vlcarmts, especially in Tonkin ; to in.
 
 128 CONGREGATION DE PROPAGANDA FIDE. 
 
 struct young females, pagans, as well as Chris- 
 tians, in whatever was necessary to be known by 
 persons of their own sex ; to assist the female 
 sick, whether believers or idolaters, that by this 
 exercise of charity they might have opportunity 
 to instruct them in the concerns of eternal salva- 
 tion ; and finally, to watch over infants, and if 
 sick and in danger of dying before baptism, to 
 inform the administrator or catechist, and in 
 case of their absence to baptize them themselves. 
 But notwithstanding these successes, the French 
 bishops, and their missionaries found so many 
 difficulties to encounter, that they saw it neces- 
 sary to have no more missionaries sent to them, 
 but such as had given proof of their vocation to 
 the work, by previous preparation. They there- 
 fore requested their correspondents in France, 
 to procure the establishment of a Seminary for 
 the special purpose of preparing those who should 
 follow them, for the exercise of their functions in 
 those kingdoms. This desire was fulfilled, and 
 the foundation of the College or Seminary for 
 Foreign, Missions laid at Paris in 1663, princi- 
 pally by the active exertions of F. BERNARD 
 DE SAINT THERESA, titular Bishop of Babylon ; 
 and since then greatly enlarged by the liber- 
 ality of the King, and clergy, and nobility. In 
 this institution great care is said to be taken to 
 examine the character of all those who present 
 themselves to be employed on these missions ; 
 and who, after being instructed in every thing 
 necessary for such a ministry, are permitted to
 
 CONGREGATION DE PROPAGANDA FIDE. 129 
 
 exercise themselves in their holy calling, in differ- 
 ent parts of France, that by these means they 
 may be prepared for their important and arduous 
 charge. The particular affairs of the Missions 
 and Missionaries are managed by a well-ordered 
 office in the College ; but the spiritual concerns 
 iire under the direction of the Congregation de 
 Propaganda Fide. The Missionaries from this 
 institution are chiefly sent to the kingdoms of 
 Siam, Tonkin, and Cochin-china. 11 
 
 In addition to these extensive establishments, 
 the ABBE BERGIER enumerates eighty other 
 Seminaries of inferior note, but founded for the 
 same object in the different kingdoms of Europe; 
 and adds, that in 1707, Pope CLEMENT XL or- 
 dered the superiors of the principal religious or- 
 ders to appoint a certain number of the members 
 of their respective institutions, to prepare them- 
 selves for becoming missionaries, in case of need, 
 in different parts of the world. To these injunc- 
 tions many of them attended with the most 
 laudable zeal, especially the Barefooted-Carmel- 
 ites, and the Capuchins. 12 
 
 Of the extent of the Roman Catholic Foreign 
 Missions, and of the success which is supposed 
 to have attended them, a general idea may be 
 formed from the following statements of M. DE 
 
 (11) Hist, des Ordrcs Monastiques, T. VIII. P. vi. pp. 84, 
 SO ; Urb. Cerri's State of the Roman Catholic Religion, 
 p. 99 ; Bergier Diet. Theologique, T. V. Missions Etrangeres. 
 
 (It) Bergier, Diet. Theologique, T. V. ut sup.
 
 130 CONGREGATION DE PROPAGANDA FIDE. 
 
 PAG is, and the author of the " Memoirs of t lie- 
 Society of Jesus." The former, in his " Voyages 
 round the World" terminated in 1776, attests 
 the success of the Franciscan missionaries in 
 America, and the excellent conduct of their con- 
 verts; and observes, that the Catholic religion has 
 made considerable progress in Syria, at Damas- 
 cus, and South West of the mountains, and ex- 
 tended to the Copts in Egypt: " I myself have 
 seen," says he, " the sufferings and labours of the 
 missionaries in Turkey, Persia, and the Indies. 
 In the kingdoms of Pegu, Si am, Camboya, Cochin- 
 china, and even in China, the success of the 
 missions is admirable. In America and Asia, 
 Spain alone has made more Christians than it 
 has subjects in Europe." 13 The latter, in his 
 " Memoirs," states that in Paraguay in South 
 America, "three hundred thousand Indian sa- 
 vages were reclaimed from barbarism and vice ; " 
 that " Father CLAVER spent forty-four years in 
 procuring spiritual and temporal comfort for the 
 negro-slaves at Carthagena, and in the adjoining 
 country;" that "in 1715, the number of the 
 (Catholic) Christians in China, amounted to 
 three hundred thousand," that " they possessed 
 300 churches," and that " between the years 
 1581 and 1681, 126 European Jesuits were em- 
 ployed in the missions in China." The same 
 writer further remarks, that " there is not a 
 
 (13) Bergier, Diet. Theol. ut sup.
 
 CONGREGATION DE PROPAGANDA FIDE. 131 
 
 missioner on the coasts of Malabar, Travancore, 
 and of the Fishery, who has less than 3 or 4,000 
 Christians under his charge, and some have 10 or 
 12,000. In the Pentados, south of Mariane, 
 there are 77,000 Christians under forty-one 
 missioners of the Society," (of Jesus or Jesuits ;) 
 "and at Tonquin there are 200,000." 14 M. 
 ANQUETIL DU PERRON, likewise in his " Voyage 
 to India,''' reckons 200,000 Christians on the 
 coast of Malabar alone, of which great numbers 
 are Roman Catholics. 15 
 
 There is, however, reason to believe that these 
 accounts are exaggerated ; and that many of the 
 supposed converts were merely so in name, bap- 
 tism being often administered to them without 
 sufficient previous instruction. The ABBE J. A. 
 DUBOIS, who spent thirty- two years as a Catholic 
 missionary, and has lately published " Letters on 
 the State of Christianity in India" (Lond. 1823, 
 8vo.,) to prove the conversion of Hindoos to be 
 impracticable, says, (pp. 63, 125,) that although 
 he familiarly conversed with the Hindoo con- 
 verts, and lived among them as their spiritual 
 guide for twenty-five years, he would hardly 
 dare to affirm that he had any where met a sin- 
 cere and undisguised Christian ; and even de- 
 clares, " I have now under my religious control 
 between 7,000 and 8,000 persons ; and I should 
 
 (14) Memoirs of the Society of Jesus, pp. 1012. 
 
 (15) Bergier, ut sup.
 
 132 CONGREGATION DE PROPAGANDA FIDE. 
 
 be very much perplexed indeed, were I, among 
 so large a number, desired to point out four indi- 
 viduals capable of understanding the meaning of 
 the Bible, and to whom the reading of the naked 
 text of the Holy Scriptures would prove of the 
 least utility." Other details, equally unfavour- 
 able to the Catholic missions, might easily be 
 selected from the information furnished by writers 
 of their own communion ; but as the object of 
 the present Essay, is merely to afford a historical 
 sketch of the principal institutions for foreign 
 missions belonging to the Church of Rome, 
 and not to discuss the prudence of the measures 
 which have been adopted, we shall quit the 
 subject with observing, that whatever may be 
 thought of the doctrines of the Catholic Church, 
 or of the mode of proselyting practised in its 
 missions, we cannot but admire the zeal, self- 
 denial, and perseverance of many of the missi- 
 onaries, who have devoted themselves to the 
 propagation of its principles and discipline; and 
 applaud the profound learning of the Professors 
 of the College de Propaganda; an institution 
 whose members, when GUSTAVUS, King of Sweden 
 visited Rome in the year 1783, presented him 
 with an eulogium in verse, written in forty-six 
 different languages; and from which the English 
 Government was furnished with the Chinese in- 
 terpreters, who accompanied Lord MACARTNEY 
 in his embassv to Pekin.
 
 IX. 
 
 ON THE PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY 
 INDEXES OF THE ROMISH CHURCH. 
 
 THE Latin word INDEX, generally appropriated 
 to a table of the most important particulars con- 
 tained in any work, is used by the Church of 
 Rome to designate the Catalogues or Lists of 
 books prohibited by ecclesiastical authority, on 
 account of the heretical opinions supposed to be 
 contained in them, or maintained by the writers 
 or editors of them, and compiled, latterly, by a 
 congregation established at Rome, called the 
 Congregation of the Index. 
 
 The Catalogue or List of Books absolutely pro- 
 hibited is simply called the INDEX, or INDEX LI- 
 
 BRORUM PROHIBITORUM, INDEX OF PROHIBITED 
 
 BOOKS ; but when the List or Catalogue is of 
 books allowed to be read after correction or 
 alteration, agreeably to the orders of the papal 
 authorities, it is termed INDEX EXPURGATORIUS, 
 or EXPURGATORY INDEX ; and in the later Indexes, 
 the words donee corrigantttr, until corrected,
 
 134 PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY INDEXES. 
 
 are subjoined to certain works, to render a sepa- 
 rate expurgatory Index unnecessary, i 
 
 The propriety of discountenancing and even 
 of suppressing by legal authority such works as 
 are of a blasphemous or immoral nature, must 
 be acknowledged by every well-wisher to man- 
 kind, whatever may be his views of the right of 
 private judgement or of free discussion, since 
 whatever would destroy moral influence must be 
 destructive of social happiness. The chief danger 
 to be apprehended from such restrictions, is the 
 possibility of their preventing a general diffusion 
 of truth, by a discretionary power to censure or 
 condemn being committed to certain privileged 
 bodies of men, or to individuals of rank and 
 office, without the right of appeal or redress. 
 Happily for Britain, the trial by jury serves as 
 the palladium of her liberty, and equally guards 
 society against the licentiousness of depravity 
 and the tyranny of oppression ; but the his- 
 torical details of this Essay will prove incontro- 
 vertibly that other ages have not possessed, and 
 other countries do not yet possess,]equal privileges 
 and protection. 
 
 Prior to the Christian sera, the suppression 
 and destruction of works deemed inimical to the 
 welfare of the state or contrary to the religion 
 established by law, was frequently practised by 
 
 (1) Peignot. Dictionnaire des Livres ccndamnes au feu, 
 T. i. p. 253, 254. Paris, 1816, Svo.
 
 PROHIBITORY AND EXPUKGATORY INDEXES., 135 
 
 different governments and persons exercising legis- 
 lative authority. At Athens, the writings of the 
 sceptical philosopher PROTAGORAS were prohibited, 
 and all the copies of them that could be collected 
 were burnt by the public crier. At Rome, the 
 books of NUMA POMPILIUS, the celebrated Roman 
 legislator and sovereign, which had been found 
 in his grave, were condemned by the Senate to the 
 flames, because they were contrary to the religion 
 which he had introduced ; and when ANTIOCHUS 
 EPIPHANES profaned the temple, and put many of 
 the Jews to the most cruel tortures and deaths, 
 he seized the Jewish books and copies of the 
 Law, and caused them to be burnt. 2 
 
 On the promulgation of the Gospel, the Pagan 
 emperors, and their representatives in different 
 provinces of the Roman Empire, pursued similar 
 measures by collecting and burning, or destroying 
 in other ways the writings of the Christians, es- 
 pecially their transcripts of the Holy Scriptures. 
 This practice unfortunately remained when the 
 Emperors established Christianity as the religion 
 of the state, and the works regarded as contain- 
 ing heterodox doctrines were strictly forbidden 
 and frequently committed to the flames. In after 
 ages, the same system was pursued not only by 
 temporal, but also by ecclesiastical authorities. 
 
 
 
 (2) Beckmann's History of Inventions, Book-Censors, 
 Vol. III. pp. 1OO 104. Lond. 1797, Svo.j Peignot, Diet. 
 des Livres condamnes au feu, T. i. pp. 245253 j Maccab. 
 Chap. I. v. :>G.
 
 136 PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY INDEXES. 
 
 Thus the writings of ARIUS were condemned and 
 ordered to be burnt at the Council of Nice, held 
 in 325 ; and CONSTANTINE threatened with the 
 punishment of death those who should conceal 
 them. In 431, the clergy assembled at the 
 Council of Ephesus, requested the Emperor 
 THEODOSIUS II. to forbid the works of NESTORIUS 
 to be read, or heard, or retained, and to com- 
 mand them to be burnt ; a desire with which 
 the Emperor complied, notwithstanding the 
 favour NESTORIUS had formerly enjoyed, and the 
 zeal which he had displayed against the Arians. 
 The writings of EUTYCHES shared the like fate 
 at the Council of Chalcedon, in 451. In the 
 fifth Council of Constantinople, among other 
 works censured and prohibited were those of 
 SEVERUS ; and all who possessed them were 
 strictly enjoined to burn them, and forbidden to 
 copy them, under penalty of the transcriber 
 being punished by the amputation of his hand ; 
 arid in the sixth Council of Constantinople, 
 called also the Council of Trulio, held in 680, 
 681, the books of SERGIUS the Patriarch of Con- 
 stantinople, and those which contained his opi- 
 nions, were subjected to a similar destruction. 
 The second Council of Nice, in 787, ordered all 
 works written against the worship of images, 
 and all heretical works to be delivered up to the 
 bishop of Constantinople ; and decreed, that if 
 any bishop, priest, or deacon, should be found to 
 have concealed them, he should be degraded 
 from his office ; or if any layman or monk, he
 
 PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY INDEXES. 137 
 
 should be excommunicated. Other Councils 
 pursued similar measures for the suppression of 
 heresy and error, but with various success, the 
 irritation produced by violent opposition not 
 unfrequently increasing the efforts of the perse- 
 cuted party, and giving publicity to opinions 
 which would otherwise have been but little 
 known. 3 
 
 About the same period the Mohammedans 
 actuated by inhibitory and exclusive principles, 
 destroyed the celebrated Library of Alexandria, 
 and justified their conduct by reasons equally 
 cogent. This library had been founded by 
 PTOLOMY SOTER, about the year 290 before the 
 Christian oera ; and greatly augmented by 
 PTOLOMY PHILADELPHIA, who is said to have left 
 in it at his death 100,000 volumes, including, 
 among others of inestimable value, the Greek 
 version of tlie Jewish Scriptures, designated the 
 Septuag'mt. The successors of PTOLOMY con- 
 tinued to extend the library, so that at length 
 the Museum in the Bruchion, or original depo- 
 sitory, and its supplemental collection in the 
 Serapeum, consisted of 700,000 volumes. Dur- 
 
 (3) Wagenselii Tela Ignea Satanae, Prsefat. pp. 710. 
 Altdorf. Noric. 1681, 4to. ; Schelhornii Amoenitates Litera- 
 riae, T. vii. Dissert, de Libris Combustis, 4. pp. 8487 ; 
 Cuyckii Panegyricae Omtiones, Panegyr. 3. De Vitandis el e 
 Repub. proscribendis libris perniciosis, p. 107. Lovanii, 1596, 
 12mo. ; Lahoei Sacro-sanctae Concilia, T. vii. p. 908. Paris, 
 16; 1, lol. ; Eeckmann, ut sup.; Peignot, ut sup. 
 T
 
 138 PROHIBITORY AND EXPUROATORY INDEXES. 
 
 ing the first Alexandrine war the library of the 
 Bruchion was destroyed by accident; but the 
 library in the Serapeum being preserved, it was 
 so greatly enlarged by subsequent donations 
 that it surpassed the former libraries both in 
 the number and value of the books. At length 
 it was utterly destroyed by the Saracens in the 
 year 642, by the orders of the Caliph Omar, 
 under the following circumstances. Alexandria 
 being taken by the ]\lohammedans, their Ge- 
 neral, AMROU, formed an intimacy with a 
 Christian philosopher of the name of JOHN, who 
 from his laborious studies had obtained the sur- 
 name of Philoponus. One day the philosopher, 
 addressing the Arab chief, said to him, "You 
 have visited all the public repositories of Alex- 
 andria, and sealed up every thing found in them. 
 With respect to whatever may be useful to you 
 I say nothing ; but some things which will be of 
 no service to you, may be suitable for us." AM- 
 ROU enquired, "What is it you want?" He 
 answered, " The philosophical works contained 
 in the royal library." "This is a request," re- 
 plied AMROU, "on which I cannot decide. I 
 dare not grant without first obtaining the con- 
 sent of OMAR EBNO'LCHATTAB, the Commander 
 of the Faithful." He therefore wrote to the 
 Caliph, who returned for answer, " If the books 
 about which thou hast written, contain what 
 agrees with the Book of GOD, (or the Koran,) 
 they are useless, the Book of GOD containing 
 what is sufficient without them ; but if thev
 
 PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY INDEXES. 139 
 
 include what is contrary to it, there can be no 
 need of them; order them therefore to be burnt." 
 In consequence of these orders, AMROU ordered 
 the library to be distributed among* the baths of 
 the city, and of which there are said to have 
 been 4,000 ; and such was the immense number 
 of books destroyed, that they served for fuel for 
 the baths for six months ! 4 Among* them were 
 probably different versions of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, ORIGKN T 'S Ilexaplu, Commentaries^ &c. ; ' 
 At another time, as many books as would have 
 loaded 200 camels, were ordered to be thrown 
 into the river at Damascus ; and to this day the 
 works of Christian writers are considered by the 
 Mohammedans as profane.'' 
 
 Christian princes, and the highest ecclesiastical 
 
 (4) Abul-Pharajii (Greg.) Hist. Dynastiarum. vers. Pocock. 
 p. 114 Oxon. 1663. 4to. ; Pocockii Specimen Hist. Arab, 
 p. 165. Oxon. 1650. 4to.; Home's Introduction to the Study 
 of Bibliography, Vol. I, pp. 611. Lond. 1814. 8vo. ; 
 Gibbon in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. ix. 
 p. 44O, has attempted to disprove this account, chiefly from 
 the silence of Eutychius and Elmacin, two Egyptian annalists ; 
 but as has 'been well observed, "The positive evidence of an 
 historian of such unquestionable credit as Abulpharagius, 
 cannot be set aside by an argument merely negative ;" and his 
 other references are foreign from the purpose. See Enfield's 
 History of Philosophy, Vol. II. p. 227- note ; Peignot ut sup. 
 also says, that Gibbon's opinion has been completely refuted 
 byM. Langles, in the Magasin Encyclopedique, An. 5. T. II, 
 No. xi. p. 384. 
 
 (5) Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 
 Vol. ix. p. 442. note. 
 
 (6) Schelhornii Amenitat. Litter. De Hbris combsutis, 
 T. vii. p. 91. note.
 
 140 PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY INDEXES. 
 
 dignitaries not only countenanced, but frequently 
 promoted similar inhibitory and destructive de- 
 ccees. Thus in the ninth century, when the 
 newly converted Bulgarians proposed a number 
 of questions relative to their conduct, to Pope 
 NICHOLAS I., he replied to two of them, that, 
 " they should do no violence to the Pagans, but 
 conduct themselves as became Christians ;" and 
 as to the profane books which they had received 
 from the Saracens, " they ought not to be re- 
 tained, because Evil Communications corrupt 
 good manners, (I Cor. xv.J but rather be thrown 
 into the fire, as pernicious and blasphemous 
 writings." 7 In the year 1001, OLAUS, King of 
 Sweden, assembled the nobles and chief persons 
 of his kingdom to consult, together on the best 
 means of establishing Christianity more fully 
 among his subjects, when it was decided that the 
 Roman letters should be substituted for the Ru- 
 nic, which had hitherto been in use ; and that 
 all books relating to the idolatries which were 
 practised should be consigned to the flames. By 
 these decisions the greater part of the works 
 which contained the history and antiquities of 
 the nation were unfortunately destroyed. 8 
 
 The commencement of the Inquisition in 1208, 
 formed a new sera in the history of proscription 
 and intolerance. The Albigenses in Narbonnese 
 Gaul were the first victims of this dreadful tri- 
 bunal, established for the detection and extirpation 
 
 (7) Labbei S. S, Concilia, T. v.i. p. 548. 
 
 (8) Peignot, Diet, des livres condamnes au feu, T. i. p. 250.
 
 PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY INDEXES. 141 
 
 of heresy. ARNAULD, Abbot of Citeaux, was the 
 Jirst Inquisitor, appointed by INNOCENT III. 
 DOMINIC, the founder of the order of Domini- 
 cans, and several other monks were associated 
 with him. A crusade was preached against the 
 unfortunate Albigenses, and " millions of persons 
 perished/' says LLORENTE, "amidst the most 
 cruel tortures." The acts of the Council of 
 Verona, held in 1184, by which the bishops of 
 Lornbardy were enjoined diligently to search for 
 heretics, and deliver those who remained obsti- 
 nate to the civil magistrate to receive corporal 
 punishment, is considered by FLEURY (Hist. 
 Eccles.} as the origin of the Inquisition. This 
 formidable tribunal was adopted by the Count of 
 Tholouse, in 1229 ; and confided to the Domini- 
 cans by Pope GREGORY IX., in 1233. INNOCENT 
 IV. extended it to all Italy, except Naples. 
 Spain was entirely subjected to it in 1481, under 
 FERDINAND and ISABELLA. Portugal adopted it 
 under King JOHN III., in 1556. Pope PAUL III. 
 had formed the Congregation of the Inquisition 
 nt Rome in 1541, under the title of the Congre- 
 gation of the Holy Office, composed of several 
 cardinals, besides various officers, in which the 
 Pope always presides. The Spaniards carried 
 the Inquisition with them to South America; 
 and the Portuguese established it at an early 
 period in their dominions in India? 
 
 (9.) Bergicr, Diet. Theologique, T. iv.
 
 142 PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY INDEXES. 
 
 This establishment of the Inquisition soon in- 
 duced systematical endeavours to suppress and 
 destroy all writings deemed heretical, or calcu- 
 lated to promote what the Papal hierarchy called 
 heresy ; among which were frequently classed 
 vernacular and other versions of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures! The inquisitorial Council of Tholouse, 
 held under the auspices of this tribunal, in 1229, 
 prohibited the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue ; 
 and as this was the first canon publicly forbid- 
 ding the WORD of GOD ; it is here presented to 
 the reader : 
 
 "WE also forbid the laity to possess any of 
 the books of the OLD or NEW TESTAMENT ; ex- 
 cept, perhaps, some one out of devotion wishes to 
 have the Psalter or Breviary, for the Divine 
 offices, or the Hours of the Blessed Virgin. 
 Put we strictly forbid them having any of the^e 
 books translated into the vulgar tongue." 10 
 
 The year following (1230,) Pope GREGORY IX. 
 ordered the writings of the Jews, and especially 
 the Talmudical volumes to be committed to the 
 flames ; in which he was imitated in 1244, by 
 INNOCENT IV., who prohibited all Jewish books, 
 and ordered them to be destroyed, and in parti- 
 cular specified the Talmuds of Jerusalem and 
 
 Llorante, Hist. Crit. de 1'Inquisition d'Espagne, T. iv. ch. 
 xhii, p. "274. 
 
 1 1O) Labbei S. S. Concilia. T. II. P. i. p. 430. For other 
 special prohibitions of the Scriptures, in various countries, 
 see " Illustrations of Biblical Literature," 3 vols. passim.
 
 PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY INDEXES. 143 
 
 Babykm,* assigning as his reasons that they con- 
 tained not only the most horrid blasphemies 
 against JESUS CHRIST, but also many precepts 
 and decisions contrary to the laws of nations. 11 
 
 In 1359, BARTHOLOMEW JANOVESIO having pre- 
 dicted the coming of Antichrist, he was arrested 
 by order of the Inquisitor of Arragon, and all 
 his writings ordered to be delivered up and 
 burnt: and in 1434, HENRY of ARRAGON, marquis 
 of Villena, being suspected of necromancy on 
 account of his learning and acquirements, JOHN 
 II. King of Castile, commanded his books to be 
 sought for after his decease and burnt. This 
 injunction was, however, but partially executed, 
 as part of the library escaped the general destruc- 
 tion. Towards the close of the same century 
 THOMAS DE TORQUEMADA, first Inquisitor General 
 of Spain, displayed the most furious zeal against 
 heretical writings and the maintainers of heretical 
 
 * The Talmud is a Commentary on the Mishneh. There 
 are two principal Talmnds, one written by the Jews of Jeru- 
 salem, about A. D. 30O, called the Jerusalem Talmud; and that 
 by the Jews of Babylon, about A. D. 500, called the Babylonish 
 Talmud. 
 
 The Mishneh or text upon which the Talmuds are written, 
 is the Oral Law or Traditions of the Elders said by the Rab- 
 bins to hnve been delivered by GOD to Most;s as the Commen- 
 tary or Interpretation of the Written Law, and by him delivered 
 orally, or by word of mouth, to AARON and his sons, and by 
 them to the Seventy Elders, constituting the Great San- 
 hedrim. 
 
 (11) Wagenselii Tela Ignea Satanae. Praefat. p. 10.
 
 144 PROHIBITORY AND EXPLRGATORY INDEXES. 
 
 opinions ; for he not only ordered a considerable 
 number of Hebrew Bibles to be burnt, in 1490, 
 and more than 6,000 volumes afterwards at an 
 Auto-da-fe* at Salamanca but during eighteen 
 years of his inquisitorial ministry caused ten 
 thousand two hundred and twenty persons to 
 perish hi the Jlames, besides many thousands 
 who were condemned to infamy, or perpetual 
 imprisonment and confiscation of goods, exclusive 
 of those who having escaped or being dead were 
 burnt in effigy. 12 
 
 The violent character of TORQUEMADA lessens 
 the surprize that is felt at his cruelties and pro- 
 scriptions ; but it is impossible to learn without 
 astonishment that the enlightened Cardinal 
 XIMENES, whose Complutenslan Polyglott Bible 
 has rendered his memory dear to every Biblical 
 scholar, should so far have entered into the 
 measures of the bigotted men as to collect 5,000 
 volumes belonging to the Mohammedan Moors 
 and commit them to the flames, regardless of 
 their exquisite illuminations, superb bindings, or 
 valuable contents ; by this means destroying in 
 
 * An Auto-da-fe, or Act of Faith, is said to be held, when 
 on an appointed day, "obstinate heretics" are conducted in 
 solemn procession to public execution, attended by the officers 
 of the Inquisition, and those who have abjured heresy, &c.; 
 and are burnt alive in the presence of the Sovereign, or the 
 Supreme Judge. 
 
 (12) Llorente Hist. Crit. de 1'Inquisition d'Espagne, T. i. 
 pp. 83, 92, 279, 230.
 
 PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY INDEXES. 145 
 
 all probability the works of some of the most 
 celebrated Arabic or Mohammedan writers. Nor 
 was the conduct of the Emperor of Germany, 
 MAXIMILIAN I. more tolerant, in issuing an edict 
 in 1510, commanding all Hebrew books, except 
 the BIBLE, to be burnt, as containing blasphemies 
 and dangerous errors. 13 
 
 The Invention of Printing about the middle 
 of the 15th century caused the rapid multipli- 
 cation of books, and induced a diligent attention 
 in the Papal hierarchy to prevent, if possible, 
 the circulation of any that might prove injurious 
 to the interests of the Church of Rome. They 
 were, therefore, soon afterwards subjected to ex- 
 amination, and printers, printing-offices, and 
 publishers, placed under the inspection of official 
 characters, appointed sometimes by the civil 
 government, and at others by the Universities, 
 or Ecclesiastical Dignitaries, or the Inquisitors. 
 The first instances of books printed with Impri- 
 maturs, or official permissions, are two printed at 
 Cologne, and sanctioned by the University in 
 1479, (one of them a Bible,) and another at 
 Heidelberg, in 1480, authorized by the Patriarch 
 of Venice, &c. The oldest mandate that is 
 known for appointing a Book-Censor is one 
 issued by BERTHOLD, Archbishop of Mentz, in 
 
 (13) Peignot, Diet, des Livres condamnes au feu, T. i, 
 pp. 250, 25) ; See also on the same subject, the Dissertations 
 in Schelhorn's Am&nifaies Literarue, T. vii. pp. 75, 395 ; 
 T. viii. pp. 33S. 4GO j T. ix. pp 651, 752. 
 T
 
 146 PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY INDEXES. 
 
 the year 1486, forbidding persons to trans- 
 late any books out of the Latin, Greek, or other 
 languages into the Vulgar Tongue, or when 
 translated, to sell or dispose of them unless ad- 
 mitted to be sold by certain doctors and masters 
 of the University of Erfurt. In 1501, Pope 
 ALEXANDER VI. published a bull prohibiting any 
 books to be printed without the approbation of 
 the Archbishops of Cologne, Mentz, Triers, and 
 Magdeburg, or their vicars-general, or officials 
 in spirituals in those respective provinces. 14 The 
 year following, FERDINAND and ISABELLA, Sover- 
 eigns of Spain, published a royal prdinance 
 charging the Presidents of the Chancellaries of 
 Valladolid and Ciudad-Real, and the Arch- 
 bishops of Toledo, Seville, and Grenada, and the 
 Bishops of Burgos, Salamanca, and Zamora, with 
 every thing relative to the examination, censure, 
 impression, importation, and sale of books. 15 In 
 the Council of Lateran, held under LEO X. in 
 1515, it was decreed, that no book should be 
 printed at Rome, nor in other cities and dioceses, 
 unless, if at Rome it had been examined by the 
 Vicar of his Holiness and the Master of the 
 Palace ; or if elsewhere, by the Bishop of the 
 diocese, or a doctor appointed by him, and had 
 
 (14) Beckmann's History of Inventions, Vol. iii p. 99, 
 115, Bo ok- Censors. 
 
 (15) Llorente. Hist. Crit. de 1'Inquisition d'Espagne, 
 T. i. p. 282.
 
 PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY INDEXES. 147 
 
 received the signature, under pain of excommu- 
 nication and burning of the books. 16 
 
 The promulgation aud progress of the doctrines 
 of the Great Reformer, LUTHER, early in the 
 sixteenth century, increased the determination 
 <jf the powerful adherents to Popery to suppress 
 and destroy all books tinctured withLutheranism 
 or maintaining any of the peculiar opinions of 
 the reformed churches. The Pope, therefore, 
 on the 21st of March, 1521, wrote to the Go- 
 vernors of the Provinces of Castile, recom- 
 mending them to prevent the introduction of 
 LUTHER'S writings into that kingdom ; and Car- 
 dinal ADRIAN, in quality of Inquisitor-General, 
 addressed an order on the 7th of April in the 
 same year to the particular inquisitors, to seize 
 all works of this kind that should be introduced; 
 and repeated the order in 1523, and at the same 
 time charged the prefect of Guipuscoa to fur- 
 nish the officers of the Inquisition all the assist- 
 ance necessary to carry it into execution. These 
 orders were followed by successive injunctions 
 from the Supreme Council of the Inquisition, in 
 1530 and 1531, and by Cardinal MANRIQUE in 
 1535, addressed to the inquisitors, urging them 
 to examine the public libraries for works of Ca- 
 tholics corrupted by the Lutherans, by appending 
 notes to them, or works published by the Re- 
 formers under false names, and all others written 
 
 (16) DictionnairePortatif desConciles, p. 2SO. Paris, 1764, 
 #vo. ; Beckmann's History of Inventions, Vol. iii, p. 115,
 
 148 PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY INDEXES. 
 
 by them ; and to add a special article to the annual 
 edict of Denunciations obliging- all Catholics to 
 denounce to the Inquisition all persons who 
 should read any of them, or keep them in their 
 houses. 17 
 
 The emperor CHARLES V. enjoined the Univer- 
 sity of Louvain, to form a Lint or Catalogue of 
 books regarded as dangerous, and obtained in 
 1539 a bull from the Pope approving the mea- 
 sure. The doctors of Louvain having com- 
 pleted their labours, the INDEX was published in 
 1546, through all the states of Flanders, and 
 six years after the same prince prohibited, under 
 pain of death, the reading of the writings of 
 LUTHER. A similar List or Index of interdicted 
 works had been printed at Venice, three years 
 before, in 1543 ; and another was published in 
 Italy in 1549. In this latter year the Inquisitor- 
 General of Spain added some new works to the 
 list of those already prohibited ; and in 1550, 
 the doctors of the University of Louvain com- 
 pleted a revision of the Index they had published, 
 which was sent by the Emperor to the Inquisitor- 
 General, and printed by the order of the Council 
 of the Inquisition at Louvain in the same year 
 in 4to. 18 Other Indexes were published by the 
 Faculty of Theology at Paris in 1551, and at 
 Rome, Cologne, &c. &c. of which bibliographical 
 
 (17) Llorente, Hist. Crit. de I'lnquisition, d'Espagne, T. i 
 pp. 457459. 
 
 (18) Llorentc, nt .svp.
 
 PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY INDEXES. 149 
 
 notices may be found in PEIGNOT'S Dlctionnaire 
 des Livres condamnes an feu, T. i. p. 256 266. 
 These inquisitorial Indexes assumed their most 
 systematic form in the Council of Trent, in which 
 a committee or deputation were appointed to 
 compile an Index of works to be prohibited. 
 This was afterwards approved by Pope Pius IV. 
 in 1564, and certain General Rules relative to 
 prohibited books drawn up and sanctioned by 
 Papal authority. These Rules are prefixed to 
 the different Indexes which have been published 
 since that period.* The Index was divided into 
 three classes, arranged alphabetically : ihejlrst 
 contained the list of those authors who were 
 either considered as heretics or suspected of 
 heresy, and therefore all works published by 
 them were condemned or ordered to be cor^ 
 rected : the second included a catalogue of books, 
 described by their titles, which were suspected 
 of containing false doctrine, and therefore, either 
 wholly condemned, or ordered to be corrected ; 
 the third specified those anonymous works which 
 were either absolutely condemned, or deemed 
 needful to be corrected. Considerable additions 
 were afterwards made to the list of condemned 
 books, and books to be expurgated or corrected 
 by different Popes, and also by the various in- 
 quisitorial authorities ; and the Rules of the Index 
 modified or enlarged by explanations and ad- 
 
 * A translation of these Rules will he found in the author's 
 " Illustration ofliiblu.-ul Literature," Vol. II. pp. 478- 485.
 
 150 PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY INDEXES. 
 
 ditions, particularly by BENEDICT XIV. The 
 following is an instance of the additions to the 
 Rules or modifications of them. 
 
 ADDITION TO RULE IV. 
 
 " Any versions of the Bible in the vulgar tongue 
 are permitted, that are approved by the Holy 
 See, or published with notes taken from the 
 Fathers of the Church, or from learned and 
 Catholic writers." (Decree of the Congregation 
 of the Index. June 13M, 1757. ly ) 
 
 Pope SIXTUS V. who obtained the tiara or papal 
 crown in 1585, instituted a Cong-regation at 
 Rome for the examination of the Index, called the 
 Congregation of the Index. This forms a branch 
 qf the Inquisition, and is sometimes included in 
 the Congregation of the Holy Office or Inqui- 
 sition. 20 It is a curious circumstance that SIXTUS 
 V. having published an Italian Bible, and pre- 
 fixed to it a bull recommending and pointing out 
 the advantage of reading it, Cardinal QUIROGA 
 and the Council of the Inquisition in Spain, im- 
 mediately after the Pope's decease, condemned 
 it as well as the Spanish Bibles of CASSIODORUS 
 DE REYNA, and others. 2 * 
 
 (19) Benedict XIV. Index, Lib. Prohib. p vi. Roma, 
 I ?58, Svo. 
 
 (20) Letis's Life of Sextus the V. Dublin, 1766, Svo.j 
 Walch's History of the Popes, p. 274. Lond. 1759, Svo. j 
 Bergier, Diet. Theol. T. ii. Congregations des Cardmaux,^. 275. 
 
 (21) Llorente, T. iii. p IS. This testimony may also serve
 
 PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY INDEXES. 151 
 
 Many of the early Indexes were both prohibi- 
 tory and expurgatory, and some of them conse- 
 quently very voluminous: that of D. ANTONIO 
 A SOTOMAYOR, Inquisitor-General of Spain, now 
 before me, printed at Madrid, 1667, forms a large 
 volume in folio, containing with the additions 
 upwards of 1300 pages; and STOCKDALE, in his 
 History of the Inquisition, p. 366, says the 
 Spanish Index was afterwards increased to " tiro 
 enormous volumes." 
 
 To aid the reader in forming an idea of these 
 prohibitory compilations, the following brief no- 
 tices of some of them in the writer's own posses- 
 sion may not be unacceptable. 
 
 The Index Erpurgatorius, compiled by ARIAS 
 MONTANUS, the learnt-d editor of the Antwerp 
 Poly glut t, was formed by order of PHILIP II. of 
 Spain, the husband of our Queen MARY. It bears 
 date 1571. Among the works to be corrected 
 are those of Erasmus, Reuchlin, Seb. Munster, 
 J. Faber Stapulensis, &c. &c. The works of 
 B. ARIAS MONTANUS himself were afterwards 
 placed in the Index published at Rome and Ma- 
 drid. The Index compiled by ARIAS MONTANUS, is 
 sometimes called the Index of tJie Duke of ALBA : 
 it is extremely rare and was re-printed with a 
 Latin Preface by F. JUNIUS, a Protestant, in 
 1599. The reprint is a small volume in 12mo. 
 
 to prove the existence of the Italian Bible of Sixtus V. which 
 has been questioned by Lc Long and others. See Illustration* 
 of Biblical Literature, Vol. iii. p 14, and Peignot, Diet. de 
 Livret conrf'imnct an f. u, T. i. p. 36.
 
 152 PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY INDEXES. 
 
 The Spanish Index Librorum Prohibitorum et 
 Expurgandorum novissimiis, printed by order of 
 the Inquisitor General, D. F. ANT. A SOTOMAYOR, 
 at Madrid, 1667, fol. is divided into three Classes 
 according to the mode adopted at the Council 
 of Trent. The 1st Class, or that which enume- 
 rates the names of heretical authors or works 
 suspected of heresy, contains a list of 2821 au- 
 thors or works, with a Supplemental addition of 
 39. Among the authors whose works are con- 
 demned are Lord Bacon, John Fox, John Knox, 
 Luther, Melancthon, Cranmer, Erpenius, Tycho 
 Brahe, Sleidan, Buxtorf, Wiclif, Selden, Drusius, 
 Scapula, Piscator, Frobenius, Calvin, Arminius, 
 &c. &c. &c. In the 2d Class 'are included all 
 editions of SEBASTIAN CASTALIO'S translation of 
 the Bible, and all Bibles with Annotations by 
 anonymous authors ; beside seven other editions of 
 Bibles. In the 3d Class, about 160 editions of 
 the Bible and 14 editions of the New Testa- 
 ment, are noted to be corrected ; almost all of 
 them in Latin, vernacular translations being al- 
 together prohibited. This Index was re-printed 
 by the Protestants with the Preface of BENEDICT 
 TURRETIN. To this edition, the Indexes of the 
 Council of Trent, as published by CLEMENT VIII. 
 in 1695, and of ALEXANDER VII. are subjoined, 
 with copies of the Decrees of the Inquisition and 
 Congregation of the Index to the year 1664, the 
 date of the Index published by ALEXANDER VII. 
 In this latter Index we find Walton's Polyglott, 
 Stephens' Greek Thesaurus, Buxtorf s Hebrew, 
 and Scapula's Greek Lexicons, &c. &c.
 
 PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY INDEXES. 153 
 
 The Index Lilrorum Prohibitorum of BENEDICT 
 \IV. printed at Rome, 1758, 8vo. is ornamented 
 with an engraved title page, executed by GIOAN 
 FABRI, representing the burning of the hooks 
 mentioned Acts xix. 19, with the verse, as aa 
 explanation underneath. Two Appendixes are 
 added, bringing down the list of prohibited books 
 to 1770. Among the proscribed names, we find 
 Walton, Locke, Tillotson, Cave, Bull, Beveridge, 
 Barclay, Allix, Whitby, &c. &c. editions qf 
 ike New Testament, in (ierman, French, Italian, 
 and Latin, and an English Bible arid Com- 
 nwntary. 
 
 The latest Indexes before me are, one published 
 by order of Pius VI. at Rome, 1787, 8vo., and 
 another printed at Rome at the Apostolic press, 
 by order of Pius VII. in 1806, 8vo. The works 
 condemned are similar to those in the Index of 
 BKNKDICT XIV. with some additions. 
 
 After this sketch of the Prohibitory Indexes 
 the reader will not be surprised to learn, that 
 when they first began to be compiled they were 
 kept from the public view with the utmost caution, 
 and only suffered to be in the possession of certain 
 official characters. Thus to the Index drawn up 
 by ARIAS MONTANUS in 1571, a decree was pre- 
 fixed by the Duke of ALVA, forbidding " any one 
 to print it except the King's printer, or privately 
 or publicly sell it, or even to have it in posses- 
 sion except official persons." Even to the pre- 
 sent time they are not, in general, easy to be 
 obtained.
 
 154 PROHIBITORY AXD EXPURGATORY INDEXES. 
 
 Such have been and still are the endeavours 
 exercised by the Papal hierarchy not only to 
 suppress the dissemination of vicious and 
 immoral works, but to prevent the free cir- 
 culation of the Holy Scriptures, and to proscribe 
 all writings not harmonizing with the peculiar 
 and exclusive sentiments of the Church of Rome. 
 These efforts may check the progress but never 
 can prevent the ultimate triumph of religious 
 truth, it " is great and will prevail," whatever 
 obstacles may be opposed to it ; for " when reli- 
 gion is maintained only by force and by pro- 
 scription, it cannot appear otherwise than hateful 
 to all who do not reflect how inconsistent such 
 means are with its true spirit ;" whilst on the 
 contrary the exercise of the mild and gentle 
 spirit of Christianity will attract and overcome 
 the very men, who if rudely treated, would have 
 despised its precepts and rejected its sanctions. 
 "Now abideth Faith, Hope, Charity, these 
 three; but the greatest of these is CHARITY." 
 1 Cor. xiii. 13.
 
 X. 
 
 ON THE PROGRESSIVE DIFFUSION OF THE 
 GOSPEL. 
 
 TUB universal diffusion of Divine Truth, is an 
 event which every pious mind must ardently 
 desire, and which the prophecies of the holy 
 scriptures clearly predict. Prior to the advent 
 of the Messiah, the knowledge of the true GOD 
 was restricted almost entirely to the Jews, to 
 whom were committed the sacred oracles ; but 
 when the fulness of time was come, and the SA- 
 VIOUR of the world had " appeared, to put away 
 sin by the sacrifice of himself," the (Jospel, the 
 glad tidings of redemption, was commanded to 
 he proclaimed to every nation, and kindred, and 
 people, and tongue : " Go ye into all the world," 
 said JESUS to his apostles, "and preach the gospel 
 to every creature." This gracious command 
 apostolic benevolence endeavoured to accomplish, 
 and the extensive travels, and unparallelled labours 
 of these holy men, bespeak the zeal, and ardour,
 
 DIFFUSION OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 and power, and grace, with which they were 
 endued from on high. Their successors entered 
 into th^ir labours, and when they steadily fol- 
 lowed their example, were successful: for the 
 great Head of the church had promised to be 
 with his ministers to the latest period, for " Lo !" 
 said he, " I am with you even to the end of the 
 world." 
 
 But, unhappily, all who have been " called 
 Israel have not been of Israel/* and the Chris- 
 tian church has experienced revolutions and 
 vicissitudes, various in their causes, and extensive 
 in their influence. At some periods, worldly 
 splendour has surrounded certain parts of the 
 Christian church ; and at others the gloom df 
 ignorance and superstition, and persecution, ha* 
 enveloped numbers of its nominal members. 
 
 It is not, however, easy to ascertain whether 
 true Christianity has been gradually extending 
 its benign influence in the world ever since itsferst 
 promulgation, at some periods secretly and unos- 
 tentatiously, at others openly and triumphantly ; cvr 
 whether it has not sometimes been so overpowered 
 by corruption and persecution that its influence 
 has amazingly fluctuated, so that at one time 
 the real possessors of religion have been nu- 
 merous and powerful, and at a subsequent period 
 few and feeble, and the light of truth nearly ex- 
 tinct. The latter is the opinion most generally 
 -maintained ; but a serious investigation of the 
 "question may perhaps induce us to hesitate in 
 adopting it, and load us to consider the former
 
 DIFFUSION OF THE GOSPEL. 157 
 
 a* possible, and even probable, and not without 
 strong arguments in its favour. 
 
 In attempting a vindication of the progressive 
 influence of Christianity, the writer inuat solicit 
 the candour of his readers on a subject seldom, 
 if ever, previously before the public ; and he 
 deems it necessary to premise, that vital Christi- 
 anity, and not any particular mode of it, is the 
 object of his inquiry; he will, therefore, consider 
 himself at liberty to regard its existence as im- 
 portant, whether discovered among societies and 
 churches supported by the state, or unprotected 
 by political authority; whether among societies 
 pronounced orthodox, or calumniated as heretical. 
 Pure experimental and practical religion, where- 
 fcrer found, will be designated as the Christianity 
 lie seeks. He is not, however, so sanguine as to 
 suppose that his hypothesis can be established 
 beyond contradiction j he is too well aware of 
 the difficulty of obtaining direct evidence on the 
 xnbject to expect to do more than render it 
 probable to the understanding of the unbiassed 
 reader. 
 
 The difficulty of obtaining complete evidence 
 on the progress and extent of the dissemination 
 of gospel truth, is great beyond what is generally 
 supposed, whilst that very difficulty renders every 
 document of more importance, and of more de- 
 cisive weight in the scale of inquiry. Most of 
 the ecclesiastical histories, written prior to the 
 Reformation, are eitbtT partial or defective, or 
 both. Nearly the whole of those with which we
 
 158 DIFFUSION OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 are acquainted, were written by members oi' inc 
 Romish or Greek churches, who consequently 
 extol and defend their own respective commu- 
 nions, and endeavour to sink into disrepute and 
 contempt, all who differ from them ; in many in- 
 stances this is remarkably the case, and no pains 
 are spared to vilify and misrepresent those who 
 oppose them, or do not submit to their authority. 
 Few, if any, of these histories detail the spread 
 of vital godliness among mankind, Hence they 
 are rather records of disputes, speculations, 
 and worldly occurrences, than histories of the 
 progress of true religion, and its influence upon 
 the heart and conduct ; they must, therefore, 
 be necessarily defective in enabling us to esti- 
 mate how far the Word of God ran and was 
 glorified. 
 
 The paucity of any thing like historical record 
 derived from the churches which differed from 
 those at Rome and Constantinople forms a 
 serious obstacle to the full discussion of a subject 
 like the present. Of this defect in our ecclesias- 
 tical histories, the Paulician and Nestoriait. 
 churches are remarkable instances. Of the Pati- 
 licians who rose in the seventh century and 
 spread through the East, especially in Armenia, 
 for several ages, we have scarcely any information 
 but what is afforded by the writings of their op- 
 ponents PHOTIUS and PKTRUS SICULUS ; and of 
 the writings of the latter we have merely a bald 
 Latin translation preserved in the Maxima Bib- 
 liotheca Patrum, Tom, xvi., the Greek original
 
 DIFFUSION OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 having perished during a lapse of ages; and yet 
 so numerous was this sect, that the Empress 
 THEODORA is said to have destroyed of them a 
 hundred thousand by gibbet, fire, or sword. The 
 best account in English of this people, will be 
 found in GIBBON'S Decline and Fall of the Roman 
 Empire, Vol. X., or MILNE R'S History of the 
 "Church of Christ, Vol. III. Of the Nestorians, 
 the Catholic writer ASSEMAN, in his Bibliotheca 
 Orientalis, and the Protestant writers LA CROZK 
 in his Histoire dn Christianisme des Indes, and 
 MOSHEIM in his Histoi*iaTartarorumEcclesiasfica t 
 furnish much important information ; but a more 
 detailed history of this extensive body of Chris- 
 tians, and especially of their missions is still 
 highly desirable, as every one will perceive who" 
 glances over the following sketch of them by 
 the elegant but sceptical historian of the Roman 
 Empire : " In the 6th century, according to the 
 report of a Nestorian traveller, Christianity was 
 successfully preached to the Bactrians, the 
 Huns, the Persians, the Indians, the Persar- 
 rnenians, the Medes, and the Klamites. The 
 Barbaric churches, from the gulf of Persia to 
 the Caspian sea, were almost infinite ; and their 
 recent faith was conspicuous in the number and 
 sanctity of their monks and martyrs. The 
 pepper coast of Malabar, and the isles of the 
 ocean, Socotora and Ceylon, were peopled with 
 an increasing multitude of Christians, and the 
 bishops and clergy of those sequestered regions
 
 160 DIFFUSION OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 derived their ordination from the Catholic* of 
 Babylon. In a subsequent age the missionaries 
 of Balch and Samarcand pursued without fear 
 the footsteps of the roving Tartar, and insinuated 
 themselves into the camps of the valleys of 
 Imaus and the banks of the Selinga. In their 
 progress by sea and land, the Nestorians entered 
 China by the port of Canton, and the norther it 
 residence of Sigan. Under the reign of thu 
 ealiphs, the Nestorian church was diffused from 
 China to Jerusalem and Cyprus ; and their 
 numbers with those of the Jacobites, were com- 
 puted to surpass the Greek and Latin commit 
 iiions." ^(Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 
 vol. viii. pp. 338 349.) In the 9th century an 
 embassy was sent to the Nestorians in India, 
 ealled the Christians of St. Thomas,, by the En- 
 glish King ALFRED. 
 
 In some cases this deficiency in ecclesiastical 
 historians may have arisen from a want of access 
 to the archives or original documents of parti- 
 eular churches; and in others from the peculiar 
 circumstances of the churches themselves, for, 
 being persecuted by those possessed of secular 
 authority, many societies retired from public 
 observation, and were too disadvantageous^ cir- 
 cumstanced to collect, arrange, transcribe, and 
 defend, authentic documents relative to their 
 
 * The Nestorian primates were called Catholics from their 
 universal oversight of the bishops and clergy. E.
 
 DIFFUSION OF THE GOSPEL. 161 
 
 origin, progress, and history ; for worldly gran- 
 deur and extensive power form no proof of an 
 equal influence of piety and grace. 
 
 This want of historical proof has been greatly 
 increased also by the nefarious policy of the Ro- 
 mish, if not the Greek church, in destroying or 
 altering the records of other churches, as in the 
 case of the church of Malabar, by Archbishop 
 ALEXIS ; and prohibiting the reading or use of 
 such works as were supposed to be favourable 
 to any party deemed heterodox or inimical, even 
 if written by Roman Catholic writers, of which 
 the decrees of the Inquisition and the Indices 
 Librorum Prohibitorum, &c. are sufficient proofs. 
 
 These facts render it probable, that, had we 
 complete histories of the churches differing from 
 the views of the Romish and Greek hierarchies, 
 we should find the most interesting details of the 
 progress of the gospel, and its blessed effects in 
 the world ; especially, as the representations of 
 their enemies themselves occasionally furnish 
 facts highly creditable to their practice and 
 piety. 
 
 RKINERIUS, an Inquisitor in the 13th century, 
 acknowledges that he heard aWaldensian peasant 
 recite the book of JOB by heart, and that there 
 were others among them who could perfectly 
 repeat the whole of the New Testament: and 
 the celebrated THUANUS, a Roman Catholic, in 
 the 1 7th century, describes the Waldeuses inha- 
 biting one of the Valleys in Dauphiny, as poor, 
 
 but content ; and adds, " One thing is astonish- 
 x
 
 OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 rag, that persons externally so savage and nide, 
 should have so much moral cultivation. They 
 can all read and write. They understand French 
 so far as is needful for the understanding of the 
 Bible, and ttoe singing of psalms. You ca 
 scarcely find a hoy among them who cannot give 
 yon an intelligible account of the faith whicfo 
 they profess." EGBERT, a monk, says of thf 
 Cathari, or Puritans of the 13th century, that Ire 
 had often disputed with them : *' They are 
 armed," says he, * with all the passages of 
 Scripture, which rn any degree favour their 
 views." And /NEAS SVL vi us, afterwards Pope 
 Pius II. speaking of the Bohemians or Taborites, 
 in the 15th century, observes, " That it was a 
 
 * 7 
 
 ^hame to the Italian priests, that many of them 
 had never read the whole of the New Testament, 
 whilst scarcely a woman could be found among 
 the Bohemians who could not answer any ques- 
 tions respecting cither the Old or New Testa- 
 ment :" and let any unprejudiced person only 
 Tend MILNE R'S History #/ the Church of Christ ; 
 CRANZ'S History of the Brethren; HUGHES'S 
 Hoiw Britannica*, Vol. II. and JONES'S His- 
 tory of the ffcildenses, and he will meet with 
 sufficient evidence to convince him, that many 
 of those societies of Christians who were at dif- 
 ferent periods condemned by the Church of 
 Home, were far from being tlc characters de- 
 picted by their adversaries. 
 
 From this view, we venture to assume tlie 
 position, that if we possessed true and complete
 
 DIFFUSION OTf THE GOSPEL. 163 
 
 histories of the Christians, deemed heterodox by 
 ebarches possessing" greater splendour and steulao? 
 power, we should probably finci, that wliea, re&- 
 gion was at a low ebb aiiMMig those who- had 
 formerly been aeatotv* in itfs cause it was e*- 
 t ending its gracious rofhieaee ainuug 
 of less note and worldly \**m$. 
 
 It is pretty certain thftt the HOLY 
 favour the opinion that the diffusion of Diviue 
 Truth has been progressive, and will continue 
 to be so until the whole world be evangelized. 
 In the Old Tesfameat, the progress of the 
 is co.mpati'ed to the MQMMMM9 j' light* ov to 
 sun gradually advancing to meridian 
 theujglii oijgcured occasionally by intervening 
 clouds ; ISAIAH lx. 1-^3 ; xlix. 6 : - to. the grott$k 
 tfherbatwd plants, spring-ing 1 forth and budding 
 and bearing seed, though cheeked by unkiiwUy 
 wids and storms ; ISAIAH Ixi. 11 ; lv. 10, 11 ; 
 t* the gradual enlargement of colonies by |h$ 
 mereaae of population, sometimes collecting 
 themselves into compact bodies in towns ajad 
 Uies, and at othev times extending themselves 
 to distant places; ISAIAH liv. 1 3 : to the course 
 ef a river widening as it rolls along, fertilizing 
 the country through which it flows, and at length 
 pouring its tide into the ocean ; EZEKIEL xlvii. 
 1 -12, compared with ZECHARIAH xiv. 8: and 
 to the continued and triumphant conquests of a 
 victorious prince, the advancement of the 
 MESSIAH'S kingdom and the extension of the 
 Gospel being correspondent with cacl) other;
 
 164 DIFFUSION OF THE GOSPK^. 
 
 ISAIAH ix. 7 ; xlvii. 4. In the NEW TESTAMENT, 
 the Gospel is parabolized by the grain of mus- 
 tard-seed, small in its commencement, but vege- 
 tating and growing to a tree sufficient for the 
 fowls to lodge in the branches of it ; MATTHEW 
 xiii. 31 : and, to leaven which secretly vet surelv 
 
 J * 
 
 continues to leaven the meal in which it is placed 
 till the whole be leavened; MATTHEW xiii. 33. 
 
 The principal objections urged against the 
 writer's view of the progress of the Gospel, are : 
 
 1. The number of Christian converts during 
 the early ages of Christianity. 
 
 2. The supposed extermination of the Christian 
 Religion, by DIOCLESIAN. 
 
 3. The rapid and extensive spread of Moham- 
 medism in the seventh century: and, 
 
 4. The depressed and corrupted state of Chris- 
 tianity during the middle ages. 
 
 To thejirst of these objections, it is replied, 
 that great allowances must be made for the 
 hyperbolical and declamatory styles adopted by 
 most of the early Christian writers, and for the 
 association of modern ideas with ancient terms : 
 thus the countries composing the dominions of 
 the Emperors of Rome were designated as " the 
 World," notwithstanding there were other govern- 
 ments of vast extent and immense popula- 
 tion. Societies of Christians were denominated 
 " Churches," though so inconsiderable as to as- 
 semble in the houses of private individuals ; and 
 every pastor, however small his flock, was digni- 
 fied with the title of " Bishop."
 
 DIFFUSION OP THE GOSPEL. 1(55' 
 
 ORIGEN, whose extraordinary exertions for 
 the spread of the Gospel by his Biblical labours 
 entitle him to peculiar credit, acknowledges in 
 his reply to CELSUS, that compared with the 
 whole population of the Roman empire the Chris- 
 tians in the third century formed but "a very 
 small number of persons/' 1 
 
 On the second objection, it may be sufficient 
 to remark, that the monuments said to be dis- 
 covered in Spain, bearing inscriptions which 
 testified that they had been erected in memory 
 of the extirpation of Christianity by DIOCLESIAN, 
 rather marked the hope of the persecutors of the 
 Christians, than expressed a well established 
 fact ; for although it is probable that many who 
 were Christians only in profession would aposta- 
 tize during the storm raised by Pagan cruelty; 
 and that others would retire as much as possible 
 from public observation, still it is certain that the 
 defalcation, even in the Roman empire, could not 
 have been what some have supposed, otherwise 
 the circumstances under which CONSTANTINE as- 
 sumed the purple, and the support which is said 
 
 (1) Origen contra Celsum, 1. viii. p. 3<24. On this subject 
 the reader may find some very important remarks in Gibbon's 
 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. ii. ch xv. pp. 
 
 ;,58 3*O. The Jive secondary causes of the progress of 
 
 the Gospel adduced by this historian, have been acutely 
 examined and their fallacy completely detected by Lord 
 Hailes in his Inquiry into the sccotniary cause* which Mr. 
 l/i/n has assigned, &;c.
 
 166 DIFFUSION OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 to have been afforded him by the Christians, 
 would be destitute of all probability. 2 
 
 With respect to the third objection it is 
 answered, that the defection in the Christian 
 church by the Arabian imposture was more in 
 appearance than in reality, for among the causes 
 of the progress of the Mohammedan faith roust 
 be numbered " the bitter disseutions and cruel 
 animosities that reigned among the Christian 
 sects, -dissentions that filled a great part of the 
 East with carnage, assassination, and Mich de- 
 testable enormities, as rendered the very name 
 of Christianity odious to naan-y." 3 SALE, the 
 learned translator of the Koran, observes, 
 that " the Christian world had so destroyed 
 that peace, love, and charity from among them, 
 which the Gospel was given to promote ; and 
 instead thereof, continually provoked each other 
 to that malice, rancour, and every evil work, 
 that they had lost the whole substance of religion, 
 while they eagerly contended for their own imagi- 
 nations concerning it." 4 
 
 The List objection, is allowed to have consi- 
 derable weight as it regards particular churches 
 or denominations of Christians ; but certainly it 
 does not apply to Christianity in general, since 
 
 (2) See J. E. J. Walchii Christianorum sub Diocletiano in 
 Hispania persequutio, Jenae, 1751, 12rno. for a learned defence 
 of these monuments. 
 
 (3) Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii. p. 16. 
 
 (4) Sale's Koran, vol. i. Prelim. Disc. sect. ii. p. 43. Loml 
 1801, 8vo.
 
 DIFFUSION OF THE GOSPEL, 167 
 
 it will be found that whilst religion decayed 
 in some places and among some societies, it 
 flourished and increased in others. It is also 
 certain, that many of the churches deemed 
 heretical, and vilified and misrepresented, by the 
 writers of the Greek and Romish communions, 
 possessed a spirit of true piety and devotion; 
 and that sume of them, at least, were of great 
 extent, and embraced within their respective 
 pales, vast number of Christian converts, as the 
 Syrian church in India, the Paulicians, who 
 flourished in the ninth and several succeeding 
 centuries ; the early British churches, prior to 
 the mission of AUGUSTINE ; the Waldenses of the 
 13th and succeeding centuries; the Lollards of 
 England ; the Hugonots of France ; the Hussites 
 of Bohemia, &c. &c. 
 
 It is likewise deserving of remark, that at the 
 worst periods of corruption in the church of 
 Rome, there were those who nobly endeavoured 
 to stem the torrent, and who boldly inveighed 
 against the manners of the age, among whom 
 may be enumerated, Venerable BEDE in the 
 eighth, CLAUDE of Turin in the ninth, BERNARD 
 in the twelfth, GROSSETESTE in the thirteenth, and 
 WICLIF in the fourteenth centuries; to whom may 
 doubtless be added a cloud of witnesses, who, 
 scattered, unobstrnsive, and obscure, were en- 
 deavouring quietly to serve GOD in simplicity 
 and godly sincerity, " prized and loved by him 
 alone." 
 
 On a subject so interesting as that of the dif-
 
 168 DIFFUSION OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 fusion of evangelical truth, full and indubitable 
 evidence would be cheering; but from some of 
 the preceding remarks it will be seen, that almost 
 insuperable obstacles have been thrown in the 
 way of complete historical demonstration. Still, 
 if the evidence discovered be sufficient to pre- 
 ponderate the mind, it will be pleasing to con- 
 template the gospel like the path of the just 
 
 " SHINING MORE AND MORE UNTO THE PERFECT 
 
 DAY." PROVERBS iv. 18. 
 
 Crovrther, Printer, Warrington.
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 16, line 27, for unequivocal read equivocal. 
 
 36> 26j . . spapTw^wv read a/xap TO>XcuV. 
 
 45^ ig, . . brush read branch. 
 
 74 ' t 19) . . some of which, read are some which. ^ 
 
 ~ 8 ' j n no te* I 2, for Psalm LI. read PsaZot XLIX. 
 
 9 5 ' 97 .. LADY and lastly LADY read 
 
 and
 
 168 DIFFUSION OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 fusion of evangelical truth, full and indubitable 
 evidence would be cheering 1 ; but from some of 
 the preceding remarks it will be seen, that almost 
 insuperable obstacles have been thrown in the 
 way of complete historical demonstration. Still, 
 if the evidence discovered be sufficient to pre- 
 
 Crowther, Printer, Warrinjftoii.
 
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