Is that assent which we give to a proposition
advanced by another, the truth of which we do not immediately perceive from our
own reason and experience; or it is a judgment or assent of the mind, the
motive whereof is not any intrinsic evidence, but the authority or testimony of
some other who reveals or relates it. The Greek word, translated faith, comes
from the verb, to persuade; the nature of faith being a persuasion and assent
of the mind, arising from testimony or evidence.
1. Divine faith, is that founded on the authority
of God, or it is that assent which we give to what is revealed by God. The
objects of this, therefore, are matters of revelation. 1 John v. 9.
2. Human faith, is that whereby we believe what
is told us by men. The objects hereof are matters of human testimony or
evidence.
3. Historical faith, is that whereby we assent to
the truths of revelation as a kind of certain and infallible record, James ii.
17, or to any fact recorded in history.
4. The faith of miracles, is the persuasion a
person has of his being able, by the divine power, to effect a miracle on
another, Matt. xvii. 20. 1 Cor. xiii. 2. or another on himself, Acts xiv. 9.
This obtained chiefly in the time of Christ and his apostles.
5. A temporary faith, is an assent to evangelical
truths, as both interesting and desirable, but not farther than they are
accompanied with temporal advantages; and which is lost when such advantages
diminish or are removed, Matt. xi. 24. Luke viii. 13.
6. Faith in respect to futurity, is a moral
principle, implying such a conviction of the reality and importance of a future
state, as is sufficient to regulate the temper and conduct.
7. Faith in Christ, or saving faith is that
principle wrought in the heart by the Divine Spirit, whereby we are persuaded
that Christ is the Messiah; and possess such a desire and expectation of the
blessings he has promised in his Gospel, as engages the mind to fix its
dependence on him, and subject itself to him in all the ways of holy obedience,
and relying solely on his grace for everlasting life. These are the ideas which
are generally annexed to the definition of saving faith; but, accurately
speaking, faith is an act of the understanding, giving credit to the testimony
of the Gospel; and desire, expectation, confidence, &c. are rather the
effects of it, than faith itself, though inseparably connected with it. Much
has been said as to the order or place in which faith stands in the Christian
system, some placing it before, others after repentance. Perhaps the following
remarks on the subject may be considered as consistent with truth and
Scripture: 1. Regeneration is the work of God enlightening the mind, and
changing the heart, and in order of time precedes faith.--2. Faith is the consequence
of regeneration, and implies the perception of an object. It discerns the evil
of sin, the holiness of God, gives credence to the testimony of God in his
word, and seems to precede repentance, since we cannot repent of that of which
we have no clear perception, or no concern about.--3. Repentance is an
after-thought, or sorrowing for sin, the evil nature of which faith perceives,
and which immediately follows faith.--4. Conversion is a turning from sin,
which faith sees, and repentance sorrows for, and seems to follow, and to be
the end of all the rest.
As to the properties or adjuncts of faith, we may
observe, 1. That it is the first and principal grace: it stands first in order,
and takes the precedence of other graces, Mark xvi. 16. Heb. xi. 6.--2. It is
every way precious and valuable, 1 Pet. ii. 1.--3. It is called in Scripture,
one faith; for though there are several sorts of faith, there is but one
special or saving faith, Eph. iv. 5.--4. It is also denominated common faith;
common to all the regenerate, Tit. i. 4.--5. It is true, real, and unfeigned,
Acts viii. 37. Rom. x. 10.--6. It cannot be finally lost as to the grace of it,
Phil. i. 6. Luke xxii. 32.--7. It is progressive, Luke xvii.5. 2 Thess. i.
3.--8. It appropriates and realizes, or, as the apostle says, is the substance
of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, Heb. xi. 1.
The evidence or effects of faith, are, 1. Love to
Christ, 1 Pet. i. 8. Gal. v. 6.--2. Confidence, Eph. iii. 12.--3. Joy, Rom. v.
11. Phil. i. 25.--4. Prayer, Heb. iv. 16.--5. Attention to his ordinances, and
profit by them, Heb. iv. 2.--6. Zeal in the promotion of his glory, 1 Cor. xv.
58. Gal. vi. 9.--7. Holiness of heart and life, Matt. vii. 20. 1 John ii. 3.
Acts xv. 9. James ii. 18,20, 22. See articles ASSURANCE and JUSTIFICATION, IN
THIS WORK; and Polhill on Precious Faith; Lambert's Sermons, ser. 13. 14,
&c.; Scott's Nature and Warrant of Faith; Romaine's Life, Walk, and Triumph
of Faith; Rotherham's Ess. on Faith; Dove's Letters on Faith; A. Hall. on the
Faith and Influence of the Gospel; Goodwin's Works, vol. iv.
See ARTICLE.
See CONFESSION.
See IMPLICIT FAITH.
See FIDELITY.
See PASTOR.
Is that perfection of his nature whereby he
infallibly fulfils his designs, or performs his word. It appears, says Dr.
Gill, in the performance of what he has said with respect to the world in
general, that it shall not be destroyed by a flood, as it once was, and for a
token of it, has set his bow in the clouds; that the ordinances of heaven
should keep their due course, which they have done for almost 6000 years
exactly and punctually; that all his creatures should be supported and provided
for, and the elements all made subservient to that end, which we find do so
according to his sovereign pleasure, Gen. ix. Isa. liv. 9. Ps. clxv. Deut. xi.
14,15. 2 Pet. iii.
2. It appears in the fulfillment of what he has
said with respect to Christ. Whoever will take the pains to compare the
predictions of the birth, poverty, life, sufferings, death, resurrection, and
ascension of Christ, with the accomplishment of the same, will find a striking
demonstration of the faithfulness of God.
3. It appears in the performance of the promises
which he has made to his people. In respect to temporal blessings, 1 Tim. iv.
8. Psal. lxxxiv. 11. Is. xxxiii. 16.--2. To spiritual, 1 Cor. i. 9. In
supporting them in temptation, 1 Corinth. x. 13. Encouraging them under
persecution, 1 Pet. iv. 12,13. Isa. xli. 10. Sanctifying afflictions, Heb. xii.
4 to 12. Directing them in difficulties, 1 Thess. v. 24. Enabling them to
persevere, Jer. xxxi. 40. Bringing them to glory, 1 John ii. 25.
4. It appears in the fulfilling of his
threatenings. The curse came upon Adam according as it was threatened. He
fulfilled his threatening to the old world in destroying it. He declared that
the Israelites should be subject to his awful displeasure, if they walked not
in his ways; it was accordingly fulfilled, Deut. xxviii. See IMMUTABILITY.
The loss of those perfections and that happiness
which his Maker bestowed on him at his creation, through transgression of a
positive command, given for the trial of man's obedience, and as a token of his
holding every thing of God, as lord paramount of the creation, with the use of
every thing in it, exclusive of the fruit of one tree. This positive law he
broke by eating the forbidden fruit; first the woman, then the man: and thus
the condition or law of the covenant being broken, the covenant itself was
broken. The woman was enticed by an evil genius, under the semblance of a
serpent, as appears from its reasoning the woman into the transgression of the
law, of which a brute beast is incapable. Hence the evil genius is called a
murderer and a liar from the beginning, John viii. 44. Rom. v. 12, the old
serpent, Rev. xii. 9. xx. 2. Moses relates this history, from what appeared
externally to sense; both, therefore, are to be conjoined, the serpent as the
instrument, and the devil as the primary cause. Man suffered himself to be
seduced by perverse and confused notions of good and evil, prompted by a desire
of a greater degree of perfection, and swayed by his sensual appetite, in
contradiction to his reason, Gen. iii. 6. And thus it appears possible, how,
notwithstanding the divine image with which man is adorned, he might fall; for
though included in it knowledge, it did not exclude from it confused notions,
which are those arising from sense and imagination, especially when off our
guard and inattentive, blindly following the present impression. From this one
sin arose another, and then another, from the connection of causes and effects,
till this repetition brought on a habit of sin, consequently a state of moral
slavery; called by divines a death in sin, a spiritual death, a defect of power
to act according to the law, and from the motive of the divine perfections, as
death in general is such a defect of power of action; and this defect or
inability, with all its consequences, man entailed on his posterity, remaining
upon them, till one greater man remove this, and reinstate them in all they
forfeited in Adam.
In the fall of man we may observe, 1. The
greatest infidelity.--2. Prodigious pride.--3. Horrid ingratitude.--4. Visible
contempt of God's majesty and justice.--5. Unaccountable folly.--6. A cruelty
to himself and to all his posterity. Infidels, however, have treated the
account of the fall and its effects, with contempt, and considered the whole as
absurd; but their objections to the manner have been ably answered by a variety
of authors; and as to the effects, one would hardly think any body could deny.
For, that man is a fallen creature, is evident, if we consider his misery as an
inhabitant of the natural world; the disorders of the globe we inhabit, and the
dreadful scourges with which it is visited; the deplorable and shocking circumstances
of our birth; the painful and dangerous travail of women; our natural
uncleanliness, helplessness, ignorance, and nakedness; the gross darkness in
which we naturally are, both with respect to God and a future state; the
general rebellion of the brute creation against us; the various poisons that
lurk in the animal, vegetable, and mineral world, ready to destroy us: the
heavy curse of toil and sweat to which we are liable; the innumerable
calamities of life, and the pangs of death. Again, it is evident, if we
consider him as a citizen of the moral world; his commission of sin; his
omission of duty; the triumph of sensual appetites over his intellectual
faculties; the corruption of the powers that constitute a good head, the
understanding, imagination, memory, and reason; the depravity of the powers
which form a good heart, the will, conscience, and affections; his manifest
alienation from God; his amazing disregard even of his nearest relatives; his
unaccountable unconcern about himself; his detestable tempers; the general
our-breaking of human corruption in all individuals; the universal overflowing
of it in all nations. Some striking proofs of this depravity may be seen in the
general propensity of mankind to vain, irrational, or cruel diversions; in the
universality of the most ridiculous, impious, inhuman, and diabolical sins; in
the aggravating circumstances attending the display of this corruption; in the
many ineffectual endeavours to stem its torrent, in the obstinate resistance it
makes to divine grace in the unconverted; the amazing struggles of good men
with it; the testimony of the heathens concerning it; and the preposterous
conceit which the unconverted have of their own goodness. Dict. of the Bible;
Fletcher's Appeal to Matters of Fact; Berry Street Lectures, vol. i.180,189;
South's Sermons,vol. i. 124, 150; Bates's Harmony of Div. Att. P. 98; Boston's
Four-fold State, part i.
Untruth, deceit. See LYING.
See MESSIAH.
Persons who assist in apprehending such as are accused, and carrying them to prison. They are assistants to the inquisitor, and called familiars, because they belong to his family. In some provinces of Italy they are call cross bearers; and in others the scholars of St. Peter the martyr; and wear a cross before them on the outside garment. They are properly bailiffs of the inquisition: and the vile office is esteemed so honourable, that noblemen in the kingdom of Portugal have been ambitious of belonging to it. Nor is this surprising, when it is considered that Innocent III. granted very large indulgencies and privileges to those familiars; and that the same plenary indulgence is granted by the pope to every single exercise of this office, as was granted by the Laternan council to those who succoured the Holy Land. When several persons are to be taken up at the same time, these familiars are commanded to order matters that they may know nothing of one another's being apprehended; and it is related, that a father and his three sons and three daughters, who lived together in the same house, were carried prisoners to the inquisition without knowing any thing of one another's being there till seven years afterwards, when they that were alive were released by an act of faith. See art. ACT OF FAITH.
See PRAYER.
or FAMILISTS. See LOVE.
Wild enthusiasts, visionary persons, who pretend to revelation and inspiration. The ancients called those fanatici who passed their times in temples (fana;) and being often seized with a kind of enthusiasm, as if inspired by the Divinity, showed wild and antic gestures, cutting and slashing their arms with knives, shaking the head, &c. Hence the word was applied among us to the Anabaptists, Quakers, &c. at their first rise, and is now an epithet given to modern prophets, enthusiasts, &c.; and we believe unjustly to those who possess a considerable degree of zeal and fervency of devotion.
A sect of Socinians, so called from Stanislaus Farnovius, who separated from the other Unitarians in the year 1568. He asserted that Christ had been engendered or produced out of nothing by the Supreme Being, before the creation of this terrestrial globe, and warned his disciples against paying religious worship to the Divine Spirit. This sect did not last long; for having lost their chief, who died in 1615, it was scattered, and reduced to nothing.
Abstinence from food, more particularly that abstinence which is
used on a religious account.
The Jews had every year a stated and solemn fast
on the 1-th day of the month Tisri, which generally answered to the close of
our September. This solemnity was a day of strict rest and fasting to the
Israelites. Many of them spent the day before in prayer, and such like
penitential exercises. On the day itself, at least in later times, they made a
tenfold confession of their sins, and were careful to end all their mutual
broils. See Lev. xvi. Numb. xxix. 7, 12. Lev xxiii. 23,32. Individuals also
fasted on any extraordinary distress. Thus David fasted during the sickness of
his adulterous child, 2 Sam. xii. 21. Ahab, when he was threatened with ruin, 1
Kings xii. 27. Daniel, when he understood that the Jewish captivity drew to an
end, 9th and 10th chapters of Nehemiah, Joshua, &c.
However light some think of religious fasting, it
seems it has been practised by most nations from the remotest antiquity. The
Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Assyrians, had their fasts as well as the Jews.
Porphyry affirms that the Egyptians, before their stated sacrifices, always
fasted a great many days; sometimes for six weeks. The Greeks observed their
fasts much in the same manner. At Rome, kings and emperors fasted themselves.
Numa Pompilius, Julius Czsar, Augustus, Vespasian, and others, we are told, had
their stated fast days; and Julian the apostate was so exact in this
observation, that he outdid the priests themselves. The Pythagoreans frequently
fasted rigidly for a long time; and Pythagoras, their master, continued his
fast, it is said, for forty days together. The Brachmans, and the Chinese, have
also their stated fasts.
Every one knows how much fasting has been
considered as an important rite in the church of Rome, and the extremes they
have run into in this respect. See article ABSTINENCE. The church of England
also has particular seasons for fasting, especially that of Lent, which is to
be observed as a time of humiliation before Easter, the general festival of our
Saviour's resurrection. Fast days are also appointed by the legislature upon
any extraordinary occasions of calamity, war, &c. See art. ROGATION, LENT.
Religious fasting consists, 1. "In
abstinence from every animal indulgence, and from food, as far as health and
circumstances will admit.--2. In the humble confession of our sins to God, with
contrition or sorrow for them.--3. An earnest deprecation of god's displeasure,
and humble supplication that he would avert his judgments.--4. An intercession
with God for such spiritual and temporal blessings upon ourselves and others
which are needful." It does not appear that our Saviour instituted any
particular fast, but lift it optional. Any state of calamity and sorrow,
however, naturally suggests this. The propriety of it may appear, 1. From many
examples recorded in Scripture.--2. By plain and undeniable inferences from
Scripture, Matt. vii. 16.--3. From divine commands given on some occasions,
though there are no commands which prescribe it as a constant duty.--4. It may
be argued from its utility. The end or uses of it are these.--1. A natural
expression of our sorrow.--2. A help to devotional exercises.--3. Keeping the
body in subjection.--4. May be rendered subservient to charity. How far or how
long a person should abstain from food, depends on circumstances. The great end
to be kept in view is, humiliation for, and abstinence from sin. "If,"
says Marshall, "abstinence divert our minds, by reason of a gnawing
appetite, then you had better eat sparingly, as Daniel in his greatest
fast," Dan. x. 2,3. They, however, who in times of public distress, when
the judgments of God are in the earth, and when his providence seems to call
for humiliation, will not relinquish any of their sensual enjoyments, nor deny
themselves in the least, cannot be justified; since good men in all ages, more
or less, have humbled themselves on such occasions; and reason as well as
Scripture evidently prove it to be our duty, Matt. ix. 15. 1 Cor. vii. 5.
Bennet's Christ. Orat. vol. ii. p. 18, 25; Tillotson's Sermons, ser. 39;
Simpson's Essay on Feasting; Marshall on Sanc. p. 273, 274.
(fatum) denotes an inevitable necessity depending upon a superior cause. The word is formed a fando, "from speaking," and primarily implies the same with effatum, vis. a word or decree pronounced by God, or a fixed sentence whereby the Deity has prescribed the order of things, and allotted to every person what shall befal him. The Greeks called it as it were a chain or necessary series of things indissolubly linked together. It is also used to express a certain unavoidable designation of things, by which all agents, both necessary and voluntary, are swayed and directed to their ends. Fate is divided into physical and divine. 1. Physical fate is an order and series of natural causes, appropriated to their effects; as, that fire warms; bodies communicate motion to each other, &c." and the effects of it are all the events and phenomena of nature.--2. Divine fate is what is more usually called providence. See PROVIDENCE, NECESSITY.
A term applied to ancient authors who have
preserved in their writings traditions of the church. Thus St. Chrysostom, St.
Basil, &c. are called Greek fathers, and St. Augustine and St. Ambrose,
Latin fathers. No author who wrote later than the twelfth century is dignified
with the title of father.
Some suppose that the study of the fathers is
barren and unimproving; that though there are some excellent things
interspersed in their writings, yet the instruction to be derived from them
will hardly repay the toil of breaking up the ground; that a life-time would
hardly suffice to read them with care, and digest them completely. Others have
such an high opinion of the fathers, as to be almost afraid of interpreting
Scripture against their decision. The suppose, that as some of them were
companions, disciples, or successively followers of the apostles, it is highly
probable that they must have been well informed, that their sentiments must be
strongly illustrative of the doctrines of the New Testament; and that as controversies
have increased, and dogma received since their time, they must be much less
entangled with decisions merely human than more recent commentators. Perhaps it
is best to steer between these two opinions. If a person have ability,
inclination, and opportunity to wade through them, let him: but if not,
referring to them occasionally may suffice. One caution, however, is necessary,
which is this; that though the judgment of antiquity in some disputable points
certainly may be useful, yet we ought never to put them on the same footing as
the Scriptures. In many cases they may be considered as competent witnesses;
but we must not confide in their verdict as judges. Jortin's Works, vol. vii.
chap. 2; Kett's Serm. at Brampton Lec. ser. 1; Warburton's Julian; Simpson's
Strictures on Religious Opinions, latter end; Daille's Use of the Fathers, p.
167; Law's Theory; Dr. Clarke's View of the Succession of Sacred Literature, p.
312.
A slight defect or crime which subjects a person to blame, but not to punishment; a deviation from, or transgression of a rule in some trifling circumstance.
See GRACE.
Is that uneasiness of mind which arises from an
apprehension of danger, attended with a desire of avoiding it.
"Fear," says Dr. Watts, "shows itself by paleness of the cheeks,
sinking of the spirits, trembling of the limbs, thoughts, agonies of nature,
and fainting. Many a person has died with fear. Sometimes it rouses all nature
to exert itself in speedy flight, or other methods to avoid the approaching
evil: sudden terror has performed some almost incredibles of this kind."
Fear is of different kinds: 1. There is an
idolatrous and superstitious fear, which is called a fear of daemons, which the
city of Athens was greatly addicted to. "I perceive," says the
apostle Paul, "that in all things ye are too superstitious," or given
to the fear and worship of false deities.--2. There is an external fear of God,
an outward show and profession of it, which is taught by the precepts of men:
as in the men of Samaria, who pretended to fear the Lord, as the priest
instructed them, and yet served their own gods; and such an external fear of
God, Job's friends supposed was all that he had, and that even he had cast that
off.--3. There is an hypocritical fear, when men make a profession of religion;
but only serve him for some sinister end and selfish view, which Satan
insinuated was Job's case. "Doth Job fear God for nought?" Job i.
9.--4. There is a servile fear, which they possess who serve God from fear of
punishment, and not from love to him.--5. There is a filial fear, such as that
of a son to his father. Fear is sinful when--1. It proceeds from unbelief or
distrust of God. 2. When it ascribes more to the creature than is due; or when
we fear our enemies without considering they are under God. 3. When we fear
that in God that is not in him, or that he will break his promise, &c. 4.
When our fear is immoderate, so as to distract us in duty. See next article.
Is that holy disposition or gracious habit formed in the soul by the Holy Spirit, whereby we are inclined to obey all God's commands; and evidences itself, 1. By a dread of his displeasure.--2. Desire of his favour.--3. Regard for his excellencies.--4. Submission to his will.--5. Gratitude for his benefits.--6. Sincerity in his worship.--7. Conscientious obedience to his commands, Prov. viii. 13. Job xxviii. 28. Bates's Works, page 913; Gill's Body of Divinity, vol. iii. book i.
See DEATH.
See DOUBTS.
In a religious sense is a ceremony of feasting
and thanksgiving.
The principal feasts of the Jews were the feasts
of trumpets, of expiation, of tabernacles, or the dedication, of the passover,
of Pentecost, and that of purification. Feasts, and the ceremonies thereof,
have made great part of the religion of almost all nations and sects; hence the
Greeks, the Romans, Mahometans, and Christians, have not been without them.
Feasts, among us, are either immoveable or
moveable. Immoveable feasts are those constantly celebrated on the same day of
the year. The principal of these are Christmas-day, Circumcision, Epiphany,
Candlemas or Purification; Lady-day, or the annunciation, called also the
incarnation and conception; All Saints and All Souls; besides the days of the
several apostles, as St. Thomas, St. Paul. Moveable feasts are those which are
not confined to the same day of the year. Of these the principal is Easter,
which gives law to all the rest, all of them following and keeping their proper
distances from it. Such are Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Ash Wednesday,
Sexagesima, Ascension-day, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday.
Besides these feasts, which are general, and
enjoined by the church, there are others focal and occasional, enjoined by the
magistrate, or voluntarily set on foot by the people; such are the days of
thanksgiving for delivery from war, plagues, &c.; such also are the vigils
or wakes in commemoration of the dedication of particular churches.
The prodigious increase of feast-days in the
Christian church, commenced towards the close of the fourth century, occasioned
by the discovery that was made of the remains of martyrs, and other holy men,
for the commemoration of whom they were established. These, instead of being
set apart for pious exercises, were abused in indolence, voluptuousness, and
criminal practices. Many of them were instituted on a pagan model, and
perverted to similar purposes. See HOLY DAY.
This was a festival in the Romish church, and was celebrated at Beauvais. They chose a young woman, the handsomest in the town; made her ride on an ass richly harnessed, and placed in her arms a pretty infant. In this state, followed by the bishop and clergy, she marched in procession from the cathedral to the church of St. Stephen; entered into the sanctuary, placed herself near the altar, and then celebrated mass; not forgetting to explain the fine qualities of the animal, and exhorting him to make a devout genuflection, with a variety of other fooleries.
Are those sensations or emotions of the mind produced by the views we have of religion. While some enthusiasts boast of, depend on, and talk much of their feelings, there are others who are led to discard the term, and almost to abandon the idea of religious feeling; but it is evident, that however many have been misguided and deceived by their feelings, yet there is no such thing as religion without this. For instance; religion consists in contrition, repentance, and devotion: now, what is contrition but a feeling of sorrow for sin? what is devotion but a feeling of love to God and his ways? Who can separate the idea of feeling from any of these acts? The fact is this; religious feelings, like every thing else, have run into the opposite evil of lukewarmness, and been content with a system without feeling its energy. See AFFECTION, ENTHUSIASM, EXPERIENCE.
Joint interest, or the having one common stock. The
fellowship of the saints is twofold: 1. With God, 1 John i. 3. 1 Cor. i. 9. 1
Cor. xiii. 14.--2. With one another, 1 John i. 7.
Fellowship with God, consists in knowledge of his
will, Job xxii. 21. John xvii. 3. Agreement, Amos iii. 2. Strength of
affection, Rom. viii. 38,39. Enjoyment of his presence, Ps. iv. 6. Conformity
to his image, 1 John ii. 6. 1 John i. 6.
Fellowship of the saints, may be considered as a
fellowship of duties, Rom. xii. 6. 1 Cor. xii. 1. 1 Thess. v. 17,18. James v.
16. Of ordinances, Heb. x. 24. Acts ii. 46. Of graces, love, joy, &c. Heb.
x. 24. Mal. iii. 16. 2 Cor. viii. 4. Of interest spiritual and sometimes
temporal, Rom. xii. 4, 13. Heb. xiii. 16. Of sufferings, Rom. xv. 1,2. Gal. vi.
1,2. Rom. xii. 15. Of eternal glory, Rev. vii. 9. See COMMUNION.
Faithfulness, or the conscientious discharge of those duties of a religious, personal, and relative nature, which we are bound to perform. See an excellent sermon on the subject in Dr. Erskine's Sermons, vol. ii. p. 304.
Were a sect of enthusiasts, in the time of Cromwell, who expected the sudden appearance of Christ to establish on earth a new monarchy or kingdom. In consequence of this illusion, some of them aimed at the subversion of all human government. In ancient history we read of four great monarchies, the Assyrian, Persian, Grecian, and the Roman; and these men, believing that this new spiritual kingdom of Christ was to be the fifth, came to bear the name by which they were called. Their leader was Thomas Venner, a wine cooper, who, in his little conventicle in Coleman-street, warmed his admirers with passionate expectations of a fifth universal monarchy, under the personal reign of King Jesus upon earth, and that the saints were to take the kingdom to themselves. To introduce this imaginary kingdom, they marched out of their meeting-house, towards St. Paul's church-yard, on Sunday, Jan. 6th, 1660 to the number of about fifty men, well armed, and with a resolution to subvert the present government, or to die in the attempt. They published a declaration of the design of their rising, and placed sentinels at proper places. The lord mayor sent the trained bands to disperse them, whom they quickly routed, but in the evening retired to Cane Wood, between Highgate and Hampstead. On Wednesday morning they returned and dispersed a party of the king's soldiers in Thread-needle-street. In Wood-street they repelled the trained bands, and some of the horse guards; but Venner himself was knocked down, and some of his company slain; from hence the remainder retreated to Cripplegate, and took possession of a house, which they threatened to defend with a desperate resolution; but nobody appearing to countenance their frenzy, they surrendered after they had lost about half their number. Venner, and one of his officers, were hanged before their meeting house door in Colemanstreet, Jan. 19th; and a few days after nine more were executed in divers parts of the city.
Is the affectionate attachment of children to their parents, including in it love, reverence, obedience, and relief. Justly has it been observed, that these great duties are prompted equally by nature and by gratitude independent of the injunctions of religion; for where shall we find the person who hath received from any one benefits so great, or so many, as children from their parents? And it may be truly said that if persons are undutiful to their parents, they seldom prove good to any other relation. See article CHILDREN.
See SON OF GOD.
See THEOSOPHISTS.
Among the Hebrews, were oblations of part of the fruits of the
harvest, offered to God as an acknowledgment of his sovereign dominion. There
was another sort of first fruits which was paid to God. When bread was kneaded
in a family, a portion of it was set apart, and given to the priest or Levite
who dwelt in the place. If there were no priest or Levite there, it was cast
into the oven, and consumed by the fire. These offerings made a considerable
part of the revenues of the priesthood, Lev. xxiii. Ex. xxii. 29. Chron xxiii.
19. Numb. xv. 19,20.
The first fruits of the Spirit, are such
communications of his grace on earth, as fully assure us of the full enjoyment
of God in heaven, Rom. viii. 23. Christ is called the first fruits of them that
slept; for as the first fruits were earnests to the Jews of the succeeding
harvest, so Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection, or the earnest of a
future resurrection; that as he rose, so shall believers also rise to happiness
and life. 1 Cor. xv. 20.
First fruits are mentioned in ancient writers as
one part of the church revenue.
First fruits, in the church of England, are the
profits of every spiritual benefice for the first year, according to the
valuation thereof in the king's book.
Are the five doctrines controverted between the Arminians and Calvinists. See CALVINISTS.
The followers of Matthias Flacius Illlyricus, who flourished in the sixteenth century. He taught that original sin is the very substance of human nature; and that the fall of man was an event which extinguished in the human mind every virtuous tendency, every noble faculty, and left nothing behind it but universal darkness and corruption.
See WHIPPERS.
A servile and fawning behaviour, attended with servile compliances and obsequiousness, in order to gain a person's favour.
Or FLANDRIANS, a sect of rigid Anabaptists, who acquired this name in the sixteenth century, because most of them were natives of Flanders, by way of distinction from the Waterlandians. See WATERLANDIANS.
According to Mr. Locke, consists in the drawing of false conclusions from just principles, by which it is distinguished from madness, which draws just conclusions from false principles. But this seems too confined a definition. Folly, in its most general acceptation, denotes a weakness of intellect or apprehension, or some partial absurdity in sentiment or conduct. See EVIL, SIN.
One who has not the use of reason or judgment. In Scriptures, wicked persons are often called fools, or foolish, because such act contrary to reason, trust to their own hearts, violate the laws of God, and prefer things vile, trifling, and temporal, to such as are important, divine, and eternal.
Such kind of conversation, as includes folly, and can no ways be profitable and interesting, Eph. v. 4. Facetiousness, indeed, is allowable, when it ministers to harmless divertisement, and delight to conversation; when it is used for the purpose of exposing things which are base and vile; when it has for its aim the reformation of others; when used by way of defence under unjust reproach. But all such kind of speaking as includes profane jesting, loose, wanton, scurrilous, injurious, unseasonable, vain-glorious talk, is strictly forbidden. See Barrow's excellent Sermon on this subject in his Works, vol. i. ser. 14.
Is the act of patiently enduring provocation or offence. The following may be considered as the most powerful incentives to the exercise of this disposition:--1. The consideration that we ourselves often stand in need of it from others, Gal. vi. 1.--2. The express command of Scripture, Eph. iv. 2. Col. iii. 13.--3. The filicity of this disposition. It is sure to bring happiness at last, while resentment only increases our own misery.--4. That it is one of the strongest evidences we can give of the reality of our religion, John xiii. 35.--5. The beautiful example of Christ, Heb. xii. 3. 1 Pet. ii. 21-23.
See PATIENCE OF GOD.
Is his foresight or knowledge of every thing
that is to come to pass, Acts ii. 23. This foreknowledge, says Charnock, was
from eternity. Seeing he knows things possible in his power, and things future
in his will, if his power and resolves were from eternity, his knowledge must
be so too; or else we must make him ignorant of his own power, and ignorant of
his own will from eternity, and consequently not from eternity blessed and
perfect. His knowledge of possible things must run parallel with his will. If
he willed from eternity, he knew from eternity what he willed; but that he did
will from eternity we must grant, unless we would render his changeable, and
conceive him to be made in time of not willing, willing. The knowledge God hath
in time was always one and the same, because his understanding is his proper
essence, as perfect as his essence, and of an immutable nature.
"To deny this is, (says Saurin,) to degrade
the Almighty; for what, pray, is a God who created beings, and who could not
foresee what would result from their existence? A God, who formed spirits
united to bodies by certain laws, and who did not know how to combine these
laws so as to foresee the effects they would produce? A God forced to suspend
his judgment? A God who every day learns something new, and who doth not know
to-day what will happen to-morrow? A God who cannot tell whether peace will be
concluded or war continue to ravage the world; whether peace will be received
in a certain kingdom, or whether it will be banished; whether the right heir
will succeed to the crown, or whether the crown will be set on the head of an
usurper? For according to the different determinations of the wills of men, of
king, or people, the prince will make peace, or declare war; religion will be
banished or admitted; the tyrant or the lawful king will occupy the throne: for
if God cannot foresee how the volitions of men will be determined, he cannot
foresee any of these events. What is this but to degrade God from his Deity,
and to make the most perfect of all intelligences a being involved in darkness
and uncertainty like ourselves?" See OMNISCIENCE.
The pardon of any offence committed against us. This is a virtue which our Lord expressly inculcates, not as extending to our friends only, but to our enemies. "Ye have heard," saith he, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy; but I say unto you, love your enemies," &c. "This," says an ingenious writer, "was a lesson so new, and utterly unknown till taught by his doctrines and enforced by his example, that the wisest moralists of the wisest nations and ages represented the desire of revenge as a mark of a noble mind; but how much more magnanimous, how much more beneficial to mankind, is forgiveness! It is more magnanimous, because every generous and exalted disposition of the human mind is requisite to the practice of it; and it is the most beneficial, because it puts an end to an eternal succession of injuries and retaliation." Let us, therefore, learn to cherish this noble disposition; let the bitterest enemy we have be softened by its effects; let us consider also how friendly it is to our own happiness, and how much it prevents the unhappiness of others. "The feuds and animosities, in families, and between neighbours, which disturb the intercourse of human life, and collectively compose half the misery of it, have their foundation in the want of a forgiving temper, and can never cease but by the exercise of this virtue on one side, or on both." Paley's Mor. Phil. vol. i. p. 271; Soame Jenyns's Int. Evid. p. 67,68; Clarke's Sermons, ser. 2. vol. x; Tillotson's Ser. vol. viii. p. 254.
See PARDON, MERCY.
One who places too much dependence on outward ceremonies of religion, or who is more tenacious of the form of religion than the power of it.
See PRAYER.
Whoredom, or the act of incontinency between single persons; for if either of the parties be married, it is adultery. While the Scriptures give no sanction to those austerities which have been imposed on men under the idea of religion, so on the other hand, they give no liberty for the indulgence of any propensity that would either militate against our own interest or that of others. It is in vain to argue the innocency of fornication from the natural passions implanted in us, sense "marriage is honourable in all," and wisely appointed for the prevention of those evils which would otherwise ensue; and, besides the existence of any natural propensity in us, is no proof that it is to be gratified without any restriction. That fornication is both unlawful and unreasonable, may be easily inferred, if we consider, 1. That our Saviour expressly declares this to be a crime, Mark vii. 21-23.--2. That the Scriptures declare that fornicators cannot inherit the kingdom of God, 1 Cor. vi. 9. Heb. xii. 16. Gal. v. 19-22.--3. Fornication sinks into a mere brutal commerce, a gratification which was designed to be the cement of a sacred, generous, and tender friendship.--4. It leaves the maintenance and education of children as to the father at least, utterly unsecured.--5. It strongly tempts the guilty mother to guard herself from infamy by methods of procuring abortion, which not only destroys the child, but often the mother.--6. It disqualifies the deluded creatures to be either good wives, or mothers, in any future marriage, ruining that modesty which is the guardian of nuptial happiness.--7. It absolutely disqualifies a man for the best satisfactions; those of truth, and generous friendship.--8. It often perpetuates a disease which may be accounted one of the sorest maladies of human nature, and the effects of which are said to visit the constitution of even distant generations.
Is a virtue or quality of the mind generally
considered the same with courage; though, in a more accurate sense, they seem
to be distinguishable. Courage resists danger, fortitude supports pain. Courage
may be a virtue or vice, according to the circumstances; fortitude is always a
virtue: we speak of desperate courage, but not of desperate fortitude. A
contempt of neglect of danger may be called courage; but fortitude is the
virtue of a rational and considerate mind, and is founded in a sense of honour,
and a regard to duty.
Christian fortitude may be defined that state of
mind which arises from truth and confidence in God; enables us to stand
collected and undisturbed in the time of difficulty and danger; and is at an
equal distance from rashness on the one hand, and pusillanimity on the other.
Fortitude takes different names, according as it acts in opposition to
different evils; but some of those names are applied with considerable
latitude. With respect to danger in general, fortitude has been called
intrepidity; with respect to the dangers of war, valour; with respect to pain
of body, or distress of mind, patience; with respect to labour, activity; with
respect to injury, forbearance; with respect to our condition in general,
magnanimity.
Christian fortitude is necessary to vigilance,
patience, self-denial, and perseverance; and is requisite under affliction,
temptation, persecution, desertion, and death. The noble cause in which the
Christian is engaged; the glorious Master whom he serves; the provision that is
made for his security; the illustrious examples set before him; the approbation
of a good conscience; and the grand prospect he has in view, are all powerful
motives to the exercise of this grace. Watts's Ser. ser. 31. Evan's Ser. ser. 19.
vol. i. Steele's Christian Hero; Mason's Ser. vol. i. ser. v.
A name which, among the ancients, seemed to have denoted a principle of fortuity, whereby things came to pass without being necessitated thereto; but what and whence that principle is, they do not seem to have ever precisely thought. It does not appear that the antiquity of the word is very high. It is acknowledged, on all hands, that word, from whence the Romans took their fortuna, was a term invented long after the times of Hesiod and Homer, in whose writings it no where occurs. The philosophical sense of the word coincides with what is vulgarly called chance. It is difficult to ascertain what it denotes in the minds of those who now use the word. It has been justly observed, that they who would substitute the name of providence in lieu of that of fortune, cannot give any tolerable sense to half the phrases wherein the word occurs.
This word is used to denote any state of mind a
man may be in; and, in a religious sense, is often connected with the word
feeling, or used synonymously with it. See FEELING.
"If our frames are comfortable," says
one, "we may make them the matter of our praise, but not of our pride; we
may make them our pleasure, but not our portion; we may make them the matter of
our encouragement, but not the ground of our security. Are our frames dark and
uncomfortable? they should humble us, but not discourage us; they should
quicken us, but not obstruct us in our application for necessary and suitable
grace; they should make us see our own emptiness, but not make us suspect the
fulness of Christ; they should make us see our own unworthiness, but not make
us suspect the willingness of Christ; they should make us see our own weakness,
but not cause us to suspect the strength of Christ; they should make us suspect
our own hearts, but not the firmness and freeness of the promises."
A religious order founded by St. Francis in the year 1209. Francis was the son of a merchant of Assisi, in the province of Umbria, who, having led a dissolute life, was reclaimed by a fit of sickness, and afterwards fell into an extravagant devotion that looked less like religion than alienation of mind. Soon after this, viz. in the year 1208, hearing the passage repeated in which Christ addresses his apostles, Provide neither gold nor silver, &c. Matt. x. 9,10. he was led to consider a voluntary and absolute poverty as the essence of the Gospel, and to prescribe this poverty as a sacred rule both to himself and to the few that followed him. This new society, which appeared to Innocent III. extremely adapted to the present state of the church, and proper to restore its declining credit, was solemnly approved and confirmed by Honoprius IIi. in 1223, and had made a considerable progress before the death of its founder in 1226. Francis, through an excessive humility, would not suffer the monks of his order to be called fratres, i.e. brethren or friars; but fraterculi, i.e. little brethren, or friars minor, by which denomination they have been generally since distinguished. The Franciscans and Dominicans were zealous and active friends to the papal hierarchy, and in return were distinguished by peculiar privileges and honourable employments. The Franciscans, in particular, were invested with the treasure of ample and extensive indulgences, the distribution of which was committed to them by the popes as a mean of subsistence, and a rich indemnification for their voluntary poverty. In consequence of this grant, the rule of the founder, which absolutely prohibited both personal and collective property so that neither the individual nor the community were to possess either fund, revenue, or any worldly goods, was considered as too strict and severe, and dispensed with soon after his death. In 1231, Gregory IX. published an interpretation of this rule, mitigating its rigour; which was farther confirmed by Innocent IV. in 1245, and by Alexander Iv. in 1247. These milder operations were zealously opposed by a branch of the Franciscans, called the spiritual; and their complaints were regarded by Nicholas III. who, in 1279 published a famous constitution, confirming the rule of St. Francis, and containing an elaborate explication of the maxims he recommended, and the duties he prescribed. In 1287, Matthew, of Aqua Sparta, being elected general of the order, discouraged the ancient discipline of the Franciscans, and indulged his monks in abandoning even the appearance of poverty; and this conduct inflamed the indignation of the spiritual or austere Franciscans; so that, from the year 1290, seditions and schisms arose in an order that had been so famous for its pretended disinterestedness and humility. Such was the enthusiastic frenzy of the Franciscans, that they impiously maintained that the founder of their order was a second Christ, in all respects similar to the first, and that their institution and discipline were the true Gospel of Jesus. Accordingly Albizi, a Franciscan, of Pisa, published a book in 1383, with the applause of his order, entitled the Book of the Conformities of St. Francis with Jesus Christ. In the beginning of this century the whole Franciscan order was divided into two parties; the one embracing the severe discipline and absolute poverty of St. Francis, and were called spirituals; and the other, who insisted on mitigating, the austere injunctions of their founder, were denominated brethren of the community. These wore long, loose, and good habits, with large hoods; the former were clad in a strait, coarse, and short dress, pretending that this dress was enjoined by St. Francis, and that no power on earth had a right to alter it. Neither the moderation of Clement V. nor the violence of John XXII. could appease the tumult occasioned by these two parties: however, their rage subsided from the year 1329. In 1368 these two parties were formed into two large bodies, comprehending the whole Franciscan order, viz. the conventual brethren, and the brethren of the observance, or observation, from whom sprang the Capuchins and Recollects. The general opinion is, that the Franciscans came into England in the year 1224, and had their first house at Canterbury, and their second at London; but there is no certain account of their being here till king Henry VII. built two or three houses for them. At the dissolution of the monasteries, the conventual Franciscans had about fifty-five houses, which were under seven custodies or wardenships, viz. those of London, Worcester, York, Cambridge, Bristol, Newcastle, and Oxford.
In the Roman Catholic countries, signifies a society for the improvement of devotion. Of these there are several sorts, as, 1. The fraternity of the Rosary, founded by St. Dominic. It is divided into two branches, called the common rosary, and the perpetual rosary; the former of whom are obliged to confess and communicate every first Sunday in the month, and the latter to repeat the rosary continually.--2. The fraternity of the Scapulary, whom it is pretended, according to the Sabbatine bull of pope John XXII. the Blessed Virgin has promised to deliver out of hell the first Sunday after their death.--3. The fraternity of St. Francis's girdle are clothed with a sack of a grey colour, which they tie with a cord; and in processions walk barefooted, carrying in their hands a wooden cross.--4. That of St. Austin's leather girdle comprehends a great many devotees. Italy, Spain, and Portugal, are the countries where are seen the greatest number of these fraternities, some of which assume the name of arch-fraternity. Pope Clement VII. instituted the arch-fraternity of charity, which distributes bread every Sunday among the poor, and gives portions to forty poor girls on the feast of St. Jerome, their patron. The fraternity of death buries such dead as are abandoned by their relations, and causes masses to be celebrated for them.
An enthusiastic sect of Franciscans, which arose
in Italy, and particularly in the marquisate of Ancona, about the year 1294.
The word is an Italian diminutive, signifying fraterculi, or "little
brothers," and was here used as a term of derision, as they were most of
them apostate monks, whom the Italians call fratelli or fratricelli. For this
reason, the term fratricelli, as a nick-name, was given to many other sects, as
the Catharists, the Waldenses, &c. however different in their opinions and
their conduct. But this denomination, applied to the austere part of the
Franciscans, was considered as honourable. See FRANCISCANS.
The founders of this sect were P. Maurato and P.
de Fossombroni, who, having obtained of Pope Celestin V. a permission to live
in solitude after the manner of hermits, and to observe the rule of St. Francis
in all its rigour, several idle vagabond monks joined them, who, living after
their own fancies, and making all perfection to consist in poverty, were soon
condemned by pope Boniface VIII. and his successor, and the inquisitors ordered
to proceed against them as heretics: which commission they executed with their
usual barbarity. Upon this, retiring into Sicily, Peter John Oliva de Seriguan
had no sooner published his comment on the Apocalypse, than they adopted his
tenets. They held the Romish church to be Babylon, and proposed to establish
another far more perfect one: they maintained that the rule of St. Francis was
the evangelical rule observed by Jesus Christ and his apostles. They foretold
the reformation of the church, and the restoration of the true Gospel of
Christ, by the genuine followers of St. Francis; and declared their assent to
almost all the doctrines which were published under the name of the abbot
Joachim, in the "Introduction to the Everlasting Gospel," a book
published in 1250, and explained by one of the spiritual friars, whose name was
Gerhard. Among other errors inculcated in this book, it is pretended that St.
Francis was the angel mentioned in Rev. xiv. 6., and had promulgated to the
world the true and everlasting Gospel; that the Gospel of Christ was to be
abrogated in 1260, and to give place to this new and everlasting Gospel, which
was to be substituted in its room; and that to be substituted in its room; and
that the ministers of this great reformation were to be humble and barefooted
friars, destitute of all worldly employments. Some say, they even elected a
pope of their church; at least they appointed a general with superiors, and
built monasteries, &c. Besides the opinions of Oliva, they held that the
sacraments of the church were invalid, because those who administered them had
no longer any power or jurisdiction. They were condemned again by pope John
XXII. in consequence of whose cruelty they regarded him as the true antichrist;
but several of them, returning into Germany, were sheltered by Lewis, duke of
Bavaria, the emperor.
There are authentic records, from which it
appears, that no less than 2000 persons were burnt by the inquisition, from the
year 1318 to the time of Innocent VI. for their inflexible attachment to the
order of St. Francis. The severities against them were again revived, towards
the close of the fifteenth century, by pope Nicholas V. and his successors.
However, all the persecutions which this sect endured were not sufficient to
extinguish it; for it subsisted until the times of the reformation in Germany,
when its remaining votaries adopted the cause and embraced the doctrine and
discipline of Luther.
See PIOUS FRAUDS.
Is the power of following one's inclination, or whatever the soul does, with the full bent of preference and desire. Many and long have been the disputes on this subject; not that man has been denied to be a free agent; but the dispute has been in what it consists. See articles LIBERTY and WILL. A distinction is made by writers between free agency, and what is called the Arminian notion of free will. The one consists merely in the power of following our prevailing inclination; the other in a supposed power of acting contrary to it, or at least of changing it. The one predicates freedom of the man; the other, of a faculty in man; which Mr. Locke, though an anti-necessarian, explodes as an absurdity. The one goes merely to render us accountable beings; the other arrogantly claims a part, yea, the very turning point of salvation. According to the latter, we need only certain helps or assistances, granted to men in common, to enable us to choose the path of life; but, according to the former, our hearts being by nature wholly depraved, we need an almighty and invincible Power to renew them. See NECESSITY.
An appellation given to those persons who deny revelation or the Christian religion. One of the most admirable and pointed addresses to free thinkers, any where to be met with may be found in the dedication to Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses. See also an admirable paper in the Guardian, No. 70; and article DEISTS.
See CHURCH GALLICAN.
They first appeared in Dauphiny and Vivarais. In
the year 1688, five or six hundred Protestants of both sexes gave themselves
out to be prophets, and inspired of the Holy Ghost. They soon became so
numerous, that there were many thousands of them inspired. They were people of
all ages and sexes without distinction, though the greatest part of them were
boys and girls from six or seven to twenty-five years of age. They had strange
fits, which came upon them with tremblings and faintings as in a swoon, which
made them stretch out their arms and legs, and stagger several times before
they dropped down. They struck themselves with their hands, they fell on their
backs, shut their eyes, and heaved with their breasts. They remained a while in
trances, and, coming out of them with twitchings, uttered all which came in
their mouths. They said they saw the heaven open, the angels, paradise, and
hell. Those who were just on the point of receiving the spirit of prophecy,
dropped down not only in the assemblies, crying out mercy, but in the fields,
and in their own houses. The least of their assemblies made up four or five
hundred, and some of them amounted to even three or four thousand persons. When
the prophets had for a while been under agitations of body, they began to
prophesy. The burden of their prophecies was, Amend your lives; repent ye: the
end of all things draws nigh! The hills rebounded with their loud cries for
mercy, and imprecations against the priests, the church, the pope, and against
the anti-christian dominion, with predictions of the approaching fall of
popery. All they said at these times was heard and received with reverence and
awe.
In the year 1706, three or four of these prophets
came over into England, and brought their prophetic spirit along with them,
which discovered itself in the same ways and manners, by ecstacies, and
agitations, and inspirations under them, as it had done in France; and they
propagated the like spirit to others, so that before the year was out there
were two or three hundred of these prophets in and about London, of both sexes,
of all ages; men, women, and children: and they had delivered under inspiration
four or five hundred prophetic warnings.
The great things they pretended by their spirit
was, to give warning of the near approach of the kingdom of God, the happy
times of the church, the millennium state. Their message was (and they were to
proclaim it as heralds to the Jews, and every nation under heaven, beginning at
England,) that the grand jubilee, the acceptable year of the Lord, the
accomplishment of those numerous Scriptures concerning the new heaven and the
new earth, the kingdom of the Messiah, the marriage of the Lamb, the first
resurrection, or the new Jerusalem descending from above, were now even at the
door; that this great operation was to be wrought on the part of man by
spiritual arms only, proceeding from the mouths of those who should by
inspiration, or the mighty gift of the Spirit, be sent forth in great numbers
to labour in the vineyard; that this mission of his servants should be witnessed
to by signs and wonders from heaven, by a deluge of judgments on the wicked
universally throughout the world, as famine, pestilence, earthquakes, &c.
that the exterminating angels shall root out the tares, and there shall remain
upon earth only good corn; and the works of men being thrown down, there shall
be but one Lord, one faith, one heart, one voice among mankind. They declared
that all the great things they spoke of would be manifest over the whole earth
within the term of three years.
These prophets also pretended to the gift of
languages, of discerning the secrets of the heart, the gift of ministration of
the same spirit to others by the laying on of the hands, and the gift of
healing. To prove they were really inspired by the Holy Ghost, they alleged the
complete joy and satisfaction they experienced, the spirit of prayer which was
poured forth upon them, and the answer of their prayer by God.
(brother,) A term common to the monks of all orders. In a more peculiar sense, it is restrained to such monks as are not priests: for those in orders are usually dignified with the appellation of father.
A mutual attachment subsisting between two persons, and arising not merely from the general principle of benevolence, from emotions of gratitude for favours received, from views of interest, nor from instinctive affection or animal passion; but from an opinion entertained by each of them that the other is adorned with some amiable or respectable qualities. Various have been the opinions respecting friendship. Some have asserted that there is no such thing in the world; others have excluded it from the list of Christian virtues; while others, believing the possibility of its existence, suppose that it is very rare. To the two former remarks we may reply, that there is every reason to believe that there has been, and is such a thing as friendship. The Scriptures present us both with examples of, and precepts concerning it. David and Jonathan, Paul and Timothy, our Lord and Lazarus, as well as John, are striking instances of friendship. Solomon exhorts us in language so energetic, as at once shews it to be our duty to cultivate it. "Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not." "Make sure of thy friend, for faithful are the wounds of a friend," &c. The genius and injunctions of the Christian religion seem also to inculcate this virtue; for it not only commands universal benevolence to men, but promotes the strongest love and friendship between those whose minds are enlightened by divine grace, and who behold in each other the image of their Divine Master. As friendship, however, is not enjoyed by every one, and as the want of it rises often from ourselves, we shall here subjoin, from an eminent writer, a few remarks by way of advice respecting it. 1. We must not expect perfection in any with whom we contract fellowship.--2. We must not be hurt by differences of opinion arising in intercourse with our friends.--3. It is material to the preservation of friendship, that openness of temper and obliging manners on both hands be cultivated.--4. We must not listen rashly to evil reports against our friends.--5. We must not desert our friends in danger or distress. Blair's Ser. ser. 17. vol. iv. Bp. Porteus's Ser. vol. i. ser. 15. W. Melmoth's Translation of Cicero's Laelius, in a Note.
Society of. See QUAKERS.
Is the keeping due bounds in expenses; it is the happy mean between parsimony on the one hand, and prodigality on the other. The example of Christ, John vi. 12. the injunctions of God's word, Luke xv. 1. Prov. xviii. 9. the evil effects of inattention to it, Luke xi. 1,13. the peace and comfort which arise from it, together with the good which it enables us to do to others, should operate as motives to excite us to the practice of it. Wood's Ser. on Frugality, 1795; Robinson's Mor. Ex. ex. 3. Ridgley's Body of Div. 546, 3d edition.
Ceremonies accompanying the interment or burial
of any person.
The first people who seemed to have paid any
attention to their dead were the Egyptians. They took great care in embalming
their bodies and building proper repositories for them. This gave birth to
those wonders of the world, the Egyptian pyramids. On the death of any person
among them, the parents and friends put on mournful habits, and abstained from
all banquets and entertainments. This mourning lasted from forty to seventy
days, during which time they embalmed the body. Before the dead were allowed to
be deposited in the tomb, they underwent a solemn judgment. If any one stepped
forth, accused them, and proved that the deceased had led an evil life, the
judges pronounced sentence, and the body was precluded from burial. Even their
sovereigns underwent this judicature; and Diodorus Siculus asserts, that many
kings had been deprived of the honours of burial, and that the terrors of such
a fate had a salutary influence on the virtue of their kings.
The funeral rites among the Hebrews were solemn
and magnificent. The relations and friends rent their clothes; and it was usual
to bend the dead person's thumb into the hand, and fasten it in that posture
with a string, because the thumb then having the figure of the name of God,
they thought the devil would not approach it. They made a funeral oration at
the grave, after which they prayed; then turning the fear of the deceased
towards heaven, they said, "Go in peace."
The Greeks used to put a piece of money in the
mouth of the deceased, which was thought to be the fare over the infernal
river: they abstained from banquets; tore, cut, or shaved their hair: sometimes
throwing themselves on the ground, and rolling in the dust; beating their
breasts, and even tearing their flesh with their nails.
The funeral rites among the Romans were very
numerous.--They kept the deceased seven days, and washed him every day with hot
water, and sometimes with oil, if possibly he might be revived, in case he were
only in a slumber; and every now and then his friends, meeting, made a horrible
shout with the same view: but if they found he did not revive, he was dressed
and embalmed with a performance of a variety of singular ceremonies, and at
last brought to the funeral pile, and burnt: after which his ashes were
gathered, inclosed in an urn, and deposited in the sepulchre or tomb.
The ancient Christians testified their abhorrence
of the pagan custom of burning their dead, and always deposited the body entire
in the ground; and it was usual to bestow the honour of embalming upon the
martyrs, at least , if not upon others. They prepared the body for burial by
washing it with water, and dressing it in a funeral attire. This was performed
by near relations, or persons of such dignity as the circumstances of the
deceased required. Psalmody, or singing of psalms, was the great ceremony used
in all funeral processions among the ancient Christians.
In the Romish church, when a person is dead, they
wash the body, and put a crucifix in his hand. At the feet stands a vessel of
holy water, and a sprinkler, that they who come in may sprinkle both themselves
and the deceased. In the mean time some priest stands by the corpse, and prays
for the deceased till it is laid in the earth. In the funeral procession the
exorcist walks first, carrying the holy water; next the cross bearer;
afterwards the rest of the clergy; and, last of all, the officiating priest.
They all sing the miserere, and some other psalms; and at the end of each psalm
a requiem. It is said, that the faces of deceased laymen must be turned towards
the altar when they are placed in the church, and those of the clergy towards
the people. The corpse is placed in the church, surrounded with lighted tapers.
After the office for the dead, mass is said; then the officiating priest
sprinkles the corpse thrice with holy water, and as often throws incense on it.
The body being laid in the grave, the friends and the relations of the deceased
sprinkle the grave with holy water.
The funeral ceremonies of the Greek church are
much the same with those of the Latin. It needs only to be observed, that,
after the funeral service, they kiss the crucifix, and salute the mouth and
forehead of the deceased; after which, each of the company eats a bit of bread,
and drinks a glass of wine in the church, wishing the soul a good repose, and
the afflicted family all consolations. Bingham's Antiqu. b. 2. Enc. Brit.:
Buxtorf's Synag. p. 502.
A term made us of in relation to the existence
of the soul after death. That there is such a state of existence, we have every
reason to believe; "for if we suppose," says a good writer, "the
events of this life to have no reference to another, the whole state of man
becomes not only inexplicable, but contradictory and inconsistent. The powers
of the inferior animals are perfectly suited to their station. They know
nothing higher than their present condition. In gratifying their appetites,
they fulfil their destiny, and pass away.--Man, alone, comes forth to act a
part which carries no meaning, and tends to no end. Endowed with capacities
which extend far beyond his present sphere, fitted by his rational nature for
running the race of immortality, he is stopped short in the very entrance of
his course. He squanders his activity on pursuits which he discerns to be vain.
He languishes for knowledge which is placed beyond his reach. He thirsts after
a happiness which he is doomed never to enjoy. He sees and laments the
disasters of his state, and yet, upon this supposition, can find nothing to
remedy them. Has the eternal God any pleasure in sporting himself with such a
scene of misery and folly as this life (if it had no connection with another)
must exhibit to his eye? Did he call into existence this magnificent universe,
adorn it with so much beauty and splendour, and surround it with those glorious
luminaries which we behold in the heavens, only that some generations of mortal
men might arise to behold these wonders, and then disappear for ever? How
unsuitable in this case were the habitation to the wretched inhabitant! How
inconsistent the commencement of his being, and the mighty preparation of his
powers and faculties, with his despicable end! How contradictory, in fine, were
every thing which concerns the state of man, to the wisdom and perfections of
his Maker!"
But that there is such a state is clear from many
passages of the New Testament, John v. 24. Acts vii. 9. Rom. viii. 10,11. 2
Cor. v. 1,2. Phil. i. 21. 1 Thess. iv 14. 1 Thess. v. 10. Luke xvi. 22. &c.
But, though these texts prove the point, yet some have doubted whether there be
any where in the Old Testament any reference to a future state at all. The
case, it is said, appears to be this: the Mosaic covenant contained no promises
directly relating to a future state; probably, as Dr. Warburton asserts, and
argues at large, because Moses was secure of an equal providence, and therefore
needed not subsidiary sanctions taken from a future state, without the belief
of which the doctrine of an universal providence cannot ordinarily be
vindicated, nor the general sanctions of religion secured. But, in opposition
to this sentiment, as Doddridge observes, "it is evident that good men,
even before Moses, were animated by views of a future state, Heb. xi. 13,16, as
he himself plainly was, 24 to 26 verse; and that the promises of heavenly
felicity were contained even in the covenant made with Abraham, which the
Mosaic could not disannul. Succeeding providences also confirmed the natural
arguments in its favour, as every remarkable interposition would do: and when
general promises were made to the obedient, and an equal providence relating to
the nation established on national conformity to the Mosaic institution, and
not merely to the general precepts of virtue; as such an equal providence would
necessarily involve many of the best men in national ruin, at a time when, by
preserving their integrity in the midst of general apostase, their virtue was
most conspicuous; such good men, in such a state, would have vast additional
reasons for expecting future rewards, beyond what could arise from principles
common to the rest of mankind; so that we cannot wonder that we find in the
writings of the prophets many strong expressions of such an expectation,
particularly Ten. xlix. 18. Ps. xvi. 9 to 11. Ps. xvii. last ver. Ps. lxxiii.
17,27. Eccl. iii. 15,16 &c. Eccl. vii. 12,15. Is. iii. 10,11. Ezek. xviii.
19,21. Job xix. 23,37. Dan. xii. 2. Is. xxxv. 8. Is. xxvi. 19. The same thing
may also be inferred from the particular promises made to Daniel, Dan. xii. 13.
to Zerubbabel, Hag. ii. 23, and to Joshua, the high priest, Zech. iii. 7. as
well as from those historical facts recorded in the Old Testament of the murder
of Abel, the translation of Enoch and Elijah, the death of Moses, and the story
of the witch of Endor, and from what is said of the appearance of angels to,
and their converse with good men." See articles INTERMEDIATE STATE,
RESURRECTION, and SOUL; also Doddridge's Lectures, lect. 216; Warburton's
Divine Legation of Moses, vol. ii. p. 553-568; De. Addington's Dissertations on
the Religious Knowledge of the ancient Jews and Patriarchs, containing an
enquiry into the evidences of their belief and expectation of a future state;
Blair's Sermons, ser. 15. vol. i.; Robinson's Claude, vol. i. p. 132; W.
Jones's Works, vol. vi. ere. 12; Logan's Sermons, vol. ii. p. 413.