Among the Hebrews, a kind of building, in the form of a tent,
set up by the express command of God for the performance of religious worship,
sacrifices, &c. Exod. xxvi. xxvii.
Feast of Tabernacles, a solemn festival of the
Hebrews, observed after harvest, on the 15th day of the month Tisri, instituted
to commemorate the goodness of God, who protected the Israelites in the
wilderness, and made them dwell in booths when they came out of Egypt.
See BOHEMIAN BRETHREN.
Or TALOPINS, priests of Siam. They enjoy great privileges, but are enjoined celibacy and austerity of life. They live in monasteries contiguous to the temples; and, what is singular, any one may enter into the priesthood, and, after a certain age, may quit it to marry, and return to society. There are Talapoinesses, too, or nuns, who live in the same convents, but are not admitted till they have passed their fortieth year. the Talapons educate children, and at every new and full moon explain the precepts of their religion in their temples: and, during the rainy season, they preach from six in the morning till noon, and from one in the afternoon till five in the evening. They dress in a very mean garb, and go bare-headed, and bare-footed; and no person is admitted among them who is not well skilled in the Baly language. They believe that the universe is eternal, but admit that certain parts of it, as this world, may be destroyed, and again regenerated. They believe in a universal pervading spirit, and in the immortality and transmigration of the soul; but they extend this last doctrine not only to animals but to vegetables and rocks. They have their good and evil genii, and particular local deities, who preside over forests and rivers, and interfere in all sublimary affairs.
Figuratively, signifies any gift or opportunity God gives to men for the promotion of his glory. "Every thing almost," says Mr. Scott, "that we are, or possess, or meet with, may be considered as a talent; for a good or a bad use may be made of every natural endowment, or providential appointment, or they may remain unoccupied through inactivity and selfishness. Time, health, vigour of body, and the power of exertion and enduring fatigue--the natural and acquired abilities of the mind, skill in any lawful art or science, and the capacity for close mental application--the gift of speech, and that of speaking with fluency and propriety, and in a convincing, attractive, or persuasive manner--wealth, influence, or authority--a man's situation in the church, the community, or relative life--and the various occurences which make way for him to attempt any thing of a beneficial tendency; these, and many others that can scarcely be enumerated, are talents which the consistent Christian will improve to the glory of God, and the benefit of mankind. Nay, this improvement procures an increase of talents, and gives a man an accession of influence, and an accumulating power of doing good; because it tends to establish his reputation for prudence, piety, integrity, sincerity, and disinterested benevolence: it gradually forms him to an habitual readiness to engage in the beneficent designs, and to conduct them in a gentle, unobstrusive and unassuming manner: it disposes others to regard him with increasing confidence and affection, and to approach him with satisfaction; and it procures for him the countenance of many persons, whose assistance he can employ in accomplishing his own salutary purposes."
A collection of Jewish writings. There are two
works which bear this name--the Talmud of Jerusalem, and the Talmud of Babylon.
Each of these are composed of two parts--the Mishna, which is the text, and is
common to both; and the Gemara, or commentary.
The Mishna, which comprehends all the laws,
institutions, and rules of life (which, besides the ancient Hebrew Scriptures,
the Jews thought themselves bound to observe,) was composed, according to the
unanimous testimony of the Jews, about the close of the second century. It was
the work of rabbi Jehuda (or Juda) Hakkadosh, who was the ornament of the
school of Tiberias, and is said to have occupied him forty years. The
commentaries and additions which succeeding rabbies made, were collected by
rabbi Jochanan Ben Eliezer, some say in the fifth, others in the sixth, and
others in the seventh century, under the name of Gemara, that is, completion,
because it completed the Talmud. A similar addition was made to the Mishna by
the Babylonish doctors in the beginning of the sixth century, according to
Enfield; and in the seventh, according to others.
The Mishna is divided into six parts, of which
every one which is entitled order, is formed of treatises: every treatise is
divided into chapters; and every chapter into mishnas or aphorisms. In the
first part is discussed whatever relates to seeds, fruits, and trees: in the
second, feasts: in the third, women, their duties, their disorders, marriages,
divorces, contracts, and nuptials; in the fourth, are treated the damages or
losses sustained by beasts or men, of things found, deposits, usuries, rents,
farms, partnership in commerce, inheritance, sales and purchases, oaths,
witnesses, arrests, idolatry; and here are named those by whom in oral law was
received and preserved: in the fifth part are noticed what regards sacrifices
and holy things: and the sixth treats on purifications, vessels, furniture,
clothes, houses, leprosy, baths, and numerous other articles:-all this forms
the Mishna.
As the learned reader may wish to obtain some
notion of rabbinical composition and judgment, we shall gratify his curiosity
sufficiently by the following specimen: "Adam's body was made of the earth
of Babylon, his head of the land of Israel, his other members of other parts of
the world. R. Meir thought he was compact of the earth gathered out of the
whole earth: as it is written, thine eyes did see my substance. Now it is
elsewhere written, the eyes of the Lord are over all the earth. R. Aha
expressly marks the twelve hours in which his various parts were formed. His
stature was from one end of the world to the other; and it was for his
transgression that the Creator, laying his hand in anger on him, lessened him;
'for before,' says R. Eleazer, 'with his hand he reached the firmament.' R.
Jehuda thinks his sin was heresy; but R. Isaac thinks that it was nourishing
his foreskin."
The Talmud of Babylon is most valued by the Jews;
and this is the book which they mean to express when they talk of the Talmud in
general. An abridgment of it was made by Maimonides in the 12th century, in
which he rejected some of its greatest absurdities. The Gemara is stuffed with
dreams and chimeras, with many ignorant and impertinent questions, and the
style very coarse. The Mishna is written in a style comparatively pure, and may
be very useful in explaining passages of the New Testament, where the
phraseology is similar. This is, indeed, the only use to which Christians can
apply it: but this renders it valuable.--Lightfoot has judiciously availed
himself of such information as he could derive from it. Some of the popes, with
a barbarous zeal, and a timidity of spirit, for the success of the Christian
religion, which the belief of its divinity can never excuse, ordered great
numbers of the Talmud to be burned. Gregory IX. burned about twenty cart-loads;
and Paul IV. ordered 12,000 copies of the Talmud to be destroyed. See MISCHNA,
the last edition of the Talmud of Babylon, printed at Amsterdam, in 12 vols.
folio: the Talmud of Jerusalem is in one large volume folio.
So called from Tanquelinus, who formed a numerous denomination in Brabant and Antwerp in the twelfth century. He treated with contempt the external worship of God, the sacrament of the Lord's supper, and the rite of baptism, and held clandestine assemblies to propagate his opinions. He declaimed against the vices of the clergy with vehemence and intrepidity.
A name given to the Chaldee paraphrases of the
books of the Old Testament. They are called paraphrases, or expositions,
because they are rather comments and explications than literal translations of
the text. They are written in the Chaldee tongue, which became familiar to the
Jews after the time of their captivity in Babylon, and was more known to them
than the Hebrew itself; so that when the Hebrew text was read in the synagogue,
or in the temple, they generally added to it an explication in the Chaldee
tongue for the service of the people, who had but a very imperfect knowledge of
the Hebrew tongue. It is probable, that even from the time of Ezra, this custom
began: since this learned scribe, reading the law to the people in the temple,
explained it, with the other priests that were with him, to make it understood
by the people, Neh. viii. 7, 9.
But though the custom of making these sorts of
expositions in the Chaldee language, be very ancient among the Hebrews, yet
they have no written paraphrases or Targums before the aera of Onkelos and
Jonathan, who lived about the time of our Saviour. Jonathan is placed about
thirty years before Christ, under the reign of Herod the Great. Onkelos is
something more modern. The Targum of Onkelos is the most of all esteemed, and
copies are to be found in which it is inserted verse for verse with the Hebrew.
It is so short, and so simple, that it cannot be suspected of being corrupted.
This paraphrast wrote only upon the books of Moses; and his style approaches
nearly to the purity of the Chaldee, as it is found in Daniel and Ezra. This
Targum is quoted in the Misna, but was not known either to Eusebius, St. Jerom,
or Origen.
The Targum of Jonathan, son of Uziel, is upon the
greater and lesser prophets. He is much more diffuse than Onkelos, and
especially upon the lesser prophets, where he takes greater liberties, and runs
on in allegories. His style is pure enough, and approaches pretty near to the
Chaldee of Onkelos. It is thought that the Jewish doctors, who lived above
seven hundred years after him, made some additions to him.
The Targum of Joseph the Blind is upon the
Hagiographia. This author is much more modern, and less esteemed, than those we
have now mentioned. He has written upon the Psalms, Job, the Proverbs, the
Canticles, Ecclesiastes, Ruth, and Esther. His style is a very corrupt Chaldee,
with a great mixture of words from foreign languages.
The Targum of Jerusalem is only upon the
Pentateuch; nor is that entire or perfect. There are whole verses wanting,
others transposed, others mutilated; which has made many of opinion that this
is only a fragment of some ancient paraphrase that is now lost. There is no
Targum upon Daniel, or upon the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
These Targums are of great use for the better
understanding not only of the Old Testament, on which they are written, but
also of the New. As to the Old Testament, they serve to vindicate the
genuineness of the present Hebrew text, by proving it to be the same that was
in use when these Targums were made; contrary to the opinion of those who think
the Jews corrupted it after our Saviour's time. They help to explain many words
and phrases in the Hebrew original, and they hand down to us many of the
ancient customs of the Jews. And some of them, with the phraseologies, idioms,
and peculiar forms of speech, which we find in them, do, in many instances,
help as much for the better illustration and better understanding of the New
Testament, as of the Old; the Jerusalem Chaldee dialect, in which they are
written, being the vulgar language of the Jews in our Saviour's time. They also
very much serve the Christian cause against the Jews, by interpreting many of
the prophecies of the Messiah in the Old Testament in the same manner as the
Christians do. Many instances are produced to this purpose by Dr. Prideaux in
his Connexions of the History of the Old and New Testament. These Targums are
published to the best advantage in the second edition of the great Hebrew Bible
set forth as Basil by Buxtorf, the father, anno 1610.
The disposition of the mind, whether natural or acquired. The word is seldom used by good writers without an epithet, as a good or bad temper. Temper must be distinguished from passion. The passions are quick and strong emotions which by degrees subside. Temper is the disposition which remains after these emotions are past, and which forms the habitual propensity of the soul. See Dr. Evans's Practical Discourses on the Christian Temper; and the various articles, LOVE, PATIENCE, HUMILITY, FORTITUDE, &c. in this work.
That virtue which a man is said to possess who
moderates and restrains his sensual appetites. It is often, however, used in a
much more general sense, as synonymous with moderation, and is then applied
indiscriminately to all the passions.
"Temperance," says Addison, "has
those particular advantages above all other means of health, that it may be
practised by all ranks and conditions at any season or in any place. It is a
kind of regimen into which every man may put himself without interruption to
business, expense of money, or loss of time. Physic, for the most part, is
nothing else but the substitute of exercise, or temperance." In order to
obtain and practice this virtue, we should consider it: 1. As a divine command,
Phil. iv. 5. Luke xxi. 34. Prov. xxiii. 1-3.--2. As conductive to health.--3.
As advantageous to the powers of the mind.--4. As a defence against injustice,
lust, imprudence, detraction, poverty, &c.--And, lastly, the example of
Christ should be a most powerful stimulus to it. See INTEMPERANCE, SOBRIETY.
TEMPLERS, or KNIGHTS OF THE TEMPLE, a religious order instituted at Jerusalem, in the beginning of the twelfth century, for the defence of the holy sepulchre, and the protection of Christian pilgrims. They were first called The poor of the Holy City, and afterwards assumed the appellation of Templars, because their house was near the temple. The order was founded by Baldwin II. then king of Jerusalem, with the concurrence of the pope: and the principal articles of their rule were, that they should hear the holy office throughout every day; or that, when their military duties should prevent this, they should supply it by a certain number of paternosters; that they should abstain from flesh four days in the week, and on Fridays from eggs and milk meats; that each knight might have three horses and one squire, and that they should neither hunt nor fowl. After the ruin of Jerusalem, about 1186, they spread themselves through Germany and other countries of Europe, to which they were invited by the liberality of the Christians. In the year 1228 this order acquired stability, by being confirmed in the council or Troyes, and subjected to a rule of discipline drawn up by St. Bernard. In every nation they had a particular governor, called Master of the Temple, or of the militia of the temple. Their grand master had his residence at Paris. The order of Templars flourished for some time, and acquired, by the valour of its knights, immense riches, and an eminent degree of military renown; but, as their prosperity increased, their vices were multiplied, and their arrogance, luxury,and cruelty, rose at last to such a great height, that their privileges were revoked, and their order suppressed with the most terrible circumstances of infamy and severity.
A public building erected for the purpose of religious worship.
A term often used for secular, as a distinction from spiritual or ecclesiastical; likewise for any thing belonging to time in contrast with eternity.
Are the revenues, lands, tenements, and lay fees belonging to bishops, as they are barons and lords of parliament.
The enticement of a person to commit sin by offering some seeming advantage. There are four things, says one, in temptation: 1. Deception.--2. Infection.--3. Seduction.--4. Perdition. The sources of temptation, are Satan, the world, and the flesh. We are exposed to them in every state, in every place, and in every time of life. They may be wisely permitted to show us our weakness, to try our faith, to promote our humility, and to learn us to place our dependence on a superior power: yet we must not run into them, but watch and pray; avoid sinful company: consider the love, sufferings, and constancy of Christ, and the awful consequences of falling a victim to them. The following rules have been laid down, by which we may in some measure know when a temptation comes from Satan.--1. When the temptation is unnatural, or contrary to the general bias or temper of our minds.--2. When it is opposite to the present frame of the mind.--3. When the temptation itself is irrational; being contrary to whatever we could imagine our own minds would suggest to us.--4. When a temptation is detested in its first rising and appearance.--5. Lastly, when it is violent. See SATAN. Brooks, Owen, Gilpin, Capel and Gillespie on Temptation; South's Seven Sermons on Temptation, in the 6th vol. of his Sermons; Pike and Hayward's Cases of Conscience; and Bishop Porteus's Sermons, ser. 3 and 4, vol. i.
The temptation of Christ, of which we read in the 4th chap. of Matthew, has been much the subject of infidel ridicule, and some ingenious writers, to avoid the difficulties of a literal interpretation, have reduced the whole to vision and allegory. But perhaps this has increased rather than removed those difficulties. Is it not best always to adhere as close as possible to the language of inspiration, without glossing it with fancies of our own? And, after all, what is there so inconsistent with reason in this account? That, when our Lord retired to the interior part of the wilderness, the enemy of mankind should assume a disguise (whether human or angelic is not important,) and present the most plausible temptation to our Redeemer, under these trying circumstances, is perfectly consisted with the malevolence of his character; but how far he was permitted to exert his power in forming them, is not necessary to be inquired. The grand objection is, why was Satan suffered thus to insult the Son of God? Wherefore did the Redeemer suffer his state of retirement to be thus disturbed with the malicious suggestions of the fiend? May it not be answered that herein, 1. He gave an instance of his own condescension and humiliation.--2. He hereby proved his power over the tempter.--3. He set an example of firmness and virtue to his followers.--And, 4. He here affords consolation to his suffering people, by showing not only that he himself was tempted, but is able to succour those who are tempted, Heb. ii. 13. Heb. iv. 15. Farmer on Christ's Temptation; Edwards's Hist. of Redemption, note 334. Henry, Gill, and Macknight, in loc.
A word in the Hebrew language which has much exercised the ingenuity of the critics. It is commonly interpreted idols. It would be useless here to trouble the reader with the numerous conjectures which have been formed respecting its meaning. Perhaps the best way to determine it would be to examine and compare all the passages in which it occurs, and to consult the ancient translations.
See BIBLE, SCRIPTURE.
The religious institution of Jesus Christ, says
Mr. Campbell, is frequently denominated and almost always rendered the New
Testament: yet the word by itself, is generally translated covenant. It is the
Greek word, whereby the Seventy have uniformly translated the Hebrew word
Berith, which our translators have invariably translated covenant. That the
Hebrew term corresponds much better to the English word covenant than to
testament, there can be no question; yet the word in classical use is more
frequently rendered Testament. The proper Greek word for covenant is not found
in the New Testament, and occurs only thrice in the Septuagint, where it is
never employed for rendering the word Berith.
the term New is added to distinguish it from the
Old Covenant, that it, the dispensation of Moses. The two covenants are always
in Scripture the two dispensations: that under Moses is the old, that under the
Messiah is the new. In the latitude wherein the term is used in holy writ, the
command under the sanction of death, which God gave to Adam, may, with
sufficient propriety, be termed a Covenant; but it is never so called in
Scripture; and when mention is made of the two covenants, the old and the new,
or the first and the second, there appears to be no reference to any thing that
related to Adam. In all such places, Moses and Jesus are contrasted.--the
Jewish economy, and the Christian: mount Sinai, in Arabia, where the law was
promulgated; and mount Sion in Jerusalem, where the Gospel was first published.
These terms, from signifying the two
dispensations, came soon to denote the books wherein they were written, the
sacred writings of the Jews being called the Old Testament; and the writings
superadded by the apostles and evangelists, the New Testament. An example of
the use of the former application we have in 2 Cor. iii. 14. "Until this
day remaineth the veil untaken away, in the reading of the Old Testament."
See Dr. Campbell's Pract. Disser. part 3.
Is the statute 25 Car. II. cap. 2, which directs
all officers, civil and military, to take the oaths, and make the declaration
against transubstantiation, in the Court of King's Bench or chancery, the next
term, or at the next quarter sessions, or (by subsequent statutes) within six
months after their admission; and also within the same time to receive the
sacrament of the Lord's supper, according to the usage of the church of
England, in some public church, immediately after divine service or sermon, and
to deliver into court a certificate thereof, signed by the minister and
church-warden: and also to prove the same by two credible witnesses, upon
forfeiture of five hundred pounds, and disability to hold the said office. The
avowed object of this act was, to exclude from places of trust all members of
the church of Rome; and hence the Dissenters of that age, if they did not
support the bill when passing through the two houses of parliament, gave it no
opposition. for this part of their conduct they have been often censured with
severity, as having betrayed their rights from resentment to their enemies.
To make the ordinance of the Lord's supper a
qualification of admittance to any office in or under the civil government, is
evidently a profanation of the ordinance itself; not to insist upon the
impropriety of excluding peaceable and loyal subjects from places of trust and
profit, merely on account of their religious opinions. Various tracts have been
written on the subject of a repeal of this act by Priestly, Englefield, Walker,
Wakefield, Bristow, Palmer, and others. On the contrary side, by a great number
of anonymous writers.
See GRATITUDE, and the next article.
That part of divine worship wherein we acknowledge benefits received. "It implies," says Dr. Barrow, (vol. i. ser. 8 and 9.) "1. A right apprehension of the benefits conferred.--2. A faithful retention of benefits in the memory, and frequent reflections upon them.--3. A due esteem and those benefits with a willing mind, a vehement affection.--5. Due acknowledgment of our obligations.--6. Endeavours of real compensation; or, as it respects the Divine Being, a willingness to serve and exalt him.--7. Esteem, veneration, and love of the benefactor." The blessings for which we should be thankful are, 1. Temporal; such as health, food, raiment, rest, &c.--2. Spiritual; such as the Bible, ordinances, the Gospel and its blessings; as free grace adoption, pardon, justification, calling, &c.--3. Eternal, or the enjoyment of God in a future state.--Also for all that is past, what we now enjoy, and what is promised: for private and public, for ordinary, and extraordinary blessings; for prosperity, and even adversity, so far as rendered subservient to our good. The excellency of this duty appears, if we consider, 1. Its antiquity: it existed in Paradise before Adam fell, and therefore prior to the graces of faith, repentance, &c.--2. Its sphere of operation: being far beyond many other graces which are confined to time and place.--3. Its felicity; some duties are painful; as repentance, conflict with sin, &c. but this is a source of sublime pleasure.--4. Its reasonableness.--And, 5. It perpetuity. This will be in exercise for ever, when other graces will not be necessary, as faith, repentance, &c. The obligation to this duty arises, 1. From the relation we stand in to God.--2. The divine command.--3. The promises God hath made.--4. The example of all good men.--5. Our unworthiness of the blessings we receive. And, 6. The prospect of eternal glory.
The taking away the property of another without his knowledge or consent. This is not only a sin against our neighbour, but a direct violation of that part of the decalogue, which says, "Thou shalt not steal." This law requires justice, truth, and faithfulness in all our dealings with men; to owe no man any thing, but to give to all their dues; to be true to all engagements, promises, and contracts; and to be faithful in whatever is committed to our care and trust. It forbids all unjust ways of increasing our own and hurting our neighbour's substance by using false balances and measures; by over-reaching and circumventing in trade and commerce; by taking away by force or fraud the goods, persons, and properties of men; by borrowing and not paying again; by oppression, extortion, and unlawful usury. It may include in it also, what is very seldom called by this name, i. e. the robbing of ourselves and families, by neglecting our callings, or imprudent management thereof; lending larger sums of money than our circumstances will bear, when there is no prospect of payment; by being profuse and excessive in our expenses; indulging unlawful pleasures, and thereby reducing our families to poverty; or even, on the other hand, by laying up a great deal for the time to come, while our families are left to starve, or reduced to the greatest inconvenience and distress.
See ANGELITES.
Signifies that science which treats of the being and attributes of God, his relations to us, the dispensations of his providence, his will with respect to our actions, and his purposes with respect to our end. The word was first used to denote the systems, or rather the heterogeneous fables, of those poets and philosophers who wrote of the genealogy and exploits of the gods of Greece. Hence Orpheus, Museus, Hesiod,&c. were called theologians; and the same epithet was given to Plato, on account of his sublime speculations on the same subject. It was afterwards adopted by the earliest writers of the Christian Church, who styled the author of the Apocalypse, by way of eminence, the divine. As the various branches of theology are considered in their places in this work, they need not be insisted on here. The theological student will find the following books on the subject of utility; Gratius de Veritate Religionis Christianae; Stillingfleet's Origines Sacrae; Turretine's Institutio Theologiae Elencticae; Butler's analogy; Picteti Theologia Christiana; Stupferi Institutiones Theologiae; Witsius on the Covenants; Usher, Boston, Watson, Gill, and Ridgley's Divinity; Doddridge's Lectures; Brown's compendium of Natural and Revealed Religion; and Ryan's Effects of Religion on Mankind. See also articles CHRISTIANITY, RELIGION, REVELATION, SCRIPTURES.
A denomination in the fifth century, who held that Christ had but one nature, which was the divine, and consequently that this divine nature suffered.
A sect of deists, who, in September 1796,
published at Paris a sort of catechism or directory for social worship, under
the title of Manuel des Theanthrophiles. This religious breviary found favour;
the congregation became numerous; and in the second edition of their Manual
they assumed the less harsh denomination of Theophilanthropists, i. e. lovers
of God and man.--According to them, the temple the most worthy of the Divinity
is the universe. Abandoned sometimes under the vault of heaven to the
contemplation of the beauties of nature, they render its Author the homage of
adoration and gratitude. They nevertheless have temples erected by the hands of
men, in which it is more commodious for them to assemble, to hear lessons
concerning his wisdom. Certain moral inscriptions; a simple altar, on which
they deposit, as a sign of gratitude for the benefits of the Creator, such
flowers or fruits as the season afford; a tribune for the lectures and
discourses, form the whole of the ornaments of their temples.
The first inscription, placed above the altar,
recalls to remembrance the two religious dogmas which are the foundation of
their moral.
First inscription. We believe in the existence of
God, in the immortality of the soul.--Second inscription. Worship God, cherish
your kind, render yourselves useful to your country.--Third inscription. Good
is every thing which tends to the preservation or the perfection of man. Evil
is every thing which tends to destroy or deteriorate him.--Fourth inscription.
Children, honour your fathers and mothers; obey them with affection, comfort
their old age. Fathers and mothers, instruct your children.--Fifth inscription.
Wives, regard your husbands, the chiefs of your houses. Husbands, love your
wives, and render yourselves reciprocally happy.
From the concluding part of the Manuel of the
Theophilanthropists, we may learn something more of their sentiments. "If
any one ask you," say they, "what is the origin of your religion and
of your worship, you can answer him thus: Open the most ancient books which are
known, seek there what was the religion, what the worship of the first human
beings of which history has preserved the remembrance. There you will see that
their religion was what we now call natural religion, because it has for its
principle even the Author of nature. It is he that has engraven it in the heart
of the first human beings, in ours, in that of all the inhabitants of the
earth; this religion, which consists in worshipping God and cherishing our
kind, is what we express by one single word, that of Theophilanthrophy. Thus
our religion is that of our first parents; it is yours; it is ours; it is the
universal religion. As to our worship, it is also that of our first fathers.
See even in the most ancient writings, that the exterior signs by which they
rendered their homage to the Creator, were of great simplicity. They dressed
for him an altar of earth; they offered him, in sign of their gratitude and of
their submission, some of the productions which they held of his liberal hand.
The fathers exhorted their children to virtue; they all encouraged one another,
under the auspices of the Divinity, to the accomplishment of their duties. This
simple worship, the sages of all nations have not ceased to profess, and they
have transmitted it down to us without interruption.
"If they yet ask you of whom you hold your
mission, answer, we hold it of God himself, who, in giving us two arms to aid
our kind, has also given us intelligence to mutually enlighten us, and the love
of good to bring us together to virtue; of God, who has given experience and
wisdom to the aged to guide the young, and authority to fathers to conduct
their children.
"If they are not struck with the force of
these reasons, do not farther discuss the subject, and do not engage yourself
in controversies, which tend to diminish the love of our neighbours. Our
principles are the Eternal Truth; they will subsist, whatever individuals may
support or attack them, and the efforts of the wicked will not even prevail
against them. Rest firmly attached to them, without attacking or defending any
religious system; and remember, that similar discussions have never produced
good, and that they have often tinged the earth with the blood of men. Let us
lay aside systems, and apply ourselves to doing good: it is the only road to
happiness." So much for the divinity of the Theophilanthropists: a system
entirely defective, because it wants the true foundation,--the word of God; the
grand rule of all our actions, and the only basis on which our hopes and
prospects of success can be built.
A sect who pretend to derive all their knowledge from divine illumination. They boast that, by means of this celestial light, they are not only admitted to the intimate knowledge of God, and of all divine truth, but have access to the most sublime secrets of nature. They ascribe it to the singular manifestation of divine benevolence, that they are able to make such a use of the element of fire in the chemical art, as enables them to discover the essential principles of bodies, and to disclose stupendous mysteries in the physical world. To this class, it is said, belonged Paracelsus, R. Fludd, Van Helmont, Peter Poiret, and the Rosicrusians.
So called from the extraordinary purity of their
religious worship, were a Jewish sect, who, with a kind of religious frenzy,
placed their whole felicity in the contemplation of the divine nature.
Detaching themselves wholly from secular affairs, they transferred their
property to their relations or friends, and withdrew into solitary places,
where they devoted themselves to a holy life. The principal society of this
kind was formed near Alexandria, where they lived, not far from each other, in
separate cottages, each of which had its own sacred apartment, to which the
inhabitants retired for the purposes of devotion. After their morning prayers,
they spent the day in studying the law and the prophets, endeavouring, by the
help of the commentaries of their ancestors, to discover some allegorical
meaning in every part. Besides this, they entertained themselves with composing
sacred hymns in various kinds of metre. Six days of the week were, in this
manner, passed in solitude. On the seventh day they met, clothed in a decent
habit, in a public assembly; where taking their places according to their age,
they sat with the right hand between the breast and the chin, and the left at
the side. Then some one of the elders, stepping forth into the middle of the
assembly, discoursed with a grave countenance and a calm tone of voice, on the
doctrines of the sect; the audience, in the mean time, remaining in perfect
silence, and occasionally expressing their attention and approbation by a nod.
The chapel where they met was divided into two apartments, one for the men, and
the other for the women. So strict a regard was paid to silence in these
assemblies, that no one was permitted to whisper, nor even to breathe aloud;
but when the discourse was finished, if the question which had been proposed
for solution had been treated to the satisfaction of the audience, they
expressed their approbation by a murmur of applause. Then the speaker, rising,
sung a hymn of praise to God; in the last verse of which the whole assembly
joined. On great festivals, the meeting was closed with a vigil, in which
sacred music was performed, accompanied with solemn dancing; and these vigils
were continued till morning, when the assembly, after a morning prayer, in
which their faces were directed towards the rising sun, was broken up. So
abstemious were these ascetics, that they commonly ate nothing before the
setting sun, and often fasted two or three days. They abstained from wine, and
their ordinary food was bread and herbs.
Much dispute has arisen among the learned
concerning this sect. Some have imagined them to have been Judaizing Gentiles;
but Philo supposes them to be Jews, by speaking of them as a branch of the sect
of Essenes, and expressly classes them among the followers of Moses. Others
have maintained, that the Therapeutae were an Alexandrian sect of Jewish
converts to the Christian faith, who devoted themselves to a monastic life. But
this is impossible; for Philo, who wrote before Christianity appeared in Egypt,
speaks of this as an established sect. From comparing Philo's account of this
sect with the state of philosophy in the country where it flourished, it seems
likely that the Therapeutae were a body of Jewish fanatics, who suffered themselves
to be drawn aside from the simplicity of their ancient religion by the example
of the Egyptians and Pythagoreans. How long this sect continued is uncertain;
but it is not improbable that, after the appearance of Christianity in Egypt,
it soon became extinct.
An image of any thing formed in the mind; sentiment, reflection, opinion, design. As the thoughts are the prime movers of the conduct; as in the sight of the Divine Being, they bear the character of good or evil; and as they are therefore cognizable at his tribunal; the moral regulation of them is of the greatest importance. It is of consequence to inquire what thoughts ought to be rejected and what to be indulged. Those of an evil nature, which ought to be banished, are, 1. Fretful and discontented thoughts.--2. Anxious and apprehensive thoughts.--3. Angry and wrathful thoughts.--4. Malignant and revengeful thoughts.--5. Such as are foolish, trifling, and unreasonable.--6. Wild and extravagant, vain and fantastical.--7. Romantic and chimerical.--8. Impure and lascivious.--9. Gloomy and melancholy.--10. Hasty and volatile.--11. Profane and blasphemous. The thoughts we ought to indulge, are those which give the mind a rational or religious pleasure; tend to improve the understanding; raise the affections to divine objects; to promote the welfare of our fellow creatures, and withal the divine glory. To bring the mind into a habit of thinking as we ought to think, there should by a constant dependence on and imploring of divine grace; an increasing acquaintance with the sacred Scriptures; and improvement of every opportunity of serious conversation; a constant observance of the works of God in creation, providence, and grace; and, lastly, a deep sense of the realities of an eternal world as revealed in the word of God. Mason on Self-knowledge; Watts on the Mind; Goodwin's Vanity of Thoughts. See his Works, vol. iii. p. 232.
The name of the pope's triple crown. The tiara and keys are the badges of the papal dignity, the tiara of his civil rank, and the keys of his jurisdiction; for as soon as the pope is dead, his arms are represented with the tiara alone, without the keys. The ancient tiara was a round high cap. John XIII. first encompassed it with a crown. Boniface Viii. added a second crown; and Benedict XII. a third.
Mode of duration marked by certain periods,
chiefly by the motion and revolution of the sun. The general idea which times
gives in every thing to which it is applied, is that of limited duration. Thus
we cannot say of the Deity that he exists in time, because eternity, which he
inhabits, is absolutely uniform, neither admitting limitation nor succession.
Time is said to be redeemed or improved when it
is properly filled up, or employed in the conscientious discharge of all the
duties which devolve upon us, as it respects the Divine Being, ourselves, and
our fellow-creatures. Time may be said to be lost when it is not devoted to
some good, useful, or at least some innocent purpose; or when opportunities of
improvement, business, or devotion, are neglected. Time is wasted by excessive
sleep, unnecessary recreations, indolent habits, useless visits, idle reading,
vain conversation, and all those actions which have no good end in them. We
ought to improve the time, when we consider, 1. That it is short.--2.
Swift.--3. Irrecoverable.--4. Uncertain.--5. That it is a talent committed to
our trust.--and, 6. That the improvement of it is advantageous and interesting
in every respect. See Shower on Time and Eternity; Fox on Time; J. Edwards's
Posthumous Sermons, ser. 24, 25, 26; Hale's Contemplations, p. 211; Hervey's
Meditations; Young's Night Thoughts; Blair's Grave.
In matters of religion, is either civil or ecclesiastical. Civil toleration is an impunity, and safely granted by the state to every sect that does not maintain doctrines inconsistent with the public peace. Ecclesiastical toleration is the allowance which the church grants to its members to differ in certain opinions not reputed essential. See Dr. Owen, Locke, and Dr. Furneaux, on Toleration; Milton's Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes; Hints on Toleration, by Philagatharches; Reflexions Philosophiques et Politiques sur la Tolerance Religieuse, par J. P. De N***.
An act for exempting their Majesties' Protestant
Subjects, dissenting from the Church of England, from the Penalties of certain
Laws.
The preamble states, "That forasmuch as some
ease to scrupulous consciences, in the exercise of religion, may be an
effectual means to unite their Majesties' Protestant Subjects in interest and
affection," it enacts as follows: viz.
Sect. II. That neither the statute made in the
23d of Elizabeth, intituled.
An act to retain the Queen's Majesty's Subjects
in their due obedience; " nor the statute made in the 20th year of the
said Queen, "for the more speedy and due execution of certain branches of the
former act;" nor that clause of a statute made in the 1st year of the said
Queen, intituled "An act for the Uniformity of common Prayer,"
&c. whereby all persons are required to resort to their parish church or
chapel, upon pain of punishment by the censures of the church; and also upon
pain that every person so offending, shall forfeit for every such offence
twelve pence; nor the statute made in the 3d year of the late King James,
inituled "An act for the better discovering and repressing Popish Recusants;"
nor that other statute, intituled "An act to prevent and avoid dangers
which may grow by Popish Recussants;" nor any other law or statute of this
realm made against Papists or Popish Recusants, shall be construed to extend to
any person or persons dissenting from the Church of England, that shall take
the oaths (of allegiance and supremacy) and shall make and subscribe the
declaration (against Popery;) which oaths and declaration the justices of the
peace at the general sessions of the peace for the county, or place where such
persons shall live, are hereby required to administer to such persons as shall
offer themselves to make and subscribe the same, and thereof to keep a
register; and likewise, none of the persons aforesaid shall give or pay, as any
fee or reward, to any officer belonging to the court, above the sum of
sixpence, for his entry of his taking the said oaths, &c. nor above the
further sum of sixpence of any certificate of the same.
Sect IV. That every person that shall take the
said oaths and make and subscribe the declaration aforesaid, shall not be
liable to any pains, penalties, or forfeitures, mentioned in an act made in the
35th of the late Queen Elizabeth, nor in an act made in the 22d of Charles the
Second, intituled "An act to prevent and suppress Seditious
Conventicles;" nor shall any of the said persons be prosecuted in any
ecclesiastical court for their nonconforming to the Church or England.
Sect. V. Provided that if any assembly of
persons, dissenting from the Church of England, shall be held in any place for
religious worship with the doors locked, barrel, or bolted, during any time of
such meeting together, such persons shall not receive any benefit from this
law, but be liable to all the pains and penalties of all the aforesaid laws.
Sect. VI. Provided that nothing herein contained
shall be construed to exempt any of the persons aforesaid from paying of
tithes, or other parochial duties; nor from any prosecution in any
ecclesiastical court or elsewhere, for the same.
Sect. VII. That if any person dissenting, &c.
as aforesaid, shall hereafter be chosen high constable, or petit constable,
church-warden, oversee of the poor, or any other parochial or ward officer, and
such person shall scruple to take upon him any of the said offices, in regard
of the oaths, or any other matter or thing required by the law to be taken or
done in respect of such office, every such person shall and may execute such
office by a sufficient deputy, that shall comply with the laws on this behalf.
Sect. VIII. That no person dissenting from the
church of England in holy orders, or pretended holy orders, or pretending to
holy orders, nor any preacher or teacher of any congregation of Dissenting
Protestants, that shall make and subscribe the declaration aforsaid, and take
the said oaths at the General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace, to be held for
the county, town, parts, or division where such person lives, which court is
hereby empowered to administer the same, and shall also declare his approbation
of and subscribe the Articles of Religion mentioned in the statute made in the
13th of Q. Elizabeth, except the 34th, 35th, and 36th, and these words in the
20th article; viz. "The church hath power to decree rites or ceremonies,
and authority in controversies of faith,"--shall be liable to any of the
pains or penalties mentioned in former acts.
Sect. X. recites, That some Dissenting
Protestants scruple the baptising of infants; and then proceeds to enact, That
every person in pretended holy orders, &c. &c. that shall subscribe the
aforesaid Articles of Religion, except before excepted, and also except part of
the 27th article touching infant baptism, and shall take the said oaths,
&c. &c. shall enjoy all the privileges, benefits, and advantages which
any other Dissenting Minister might enjoy.
Sect. XI. That every teacher or preacher in holy
orders, or pretended holy orders, that is, a minister, preacher, or teacher of
a congregation, that shall take the oaths herein required, and make and
subscribe the declaration aforesaid, &c. &c. shall be exempted from
serving upon any jury, or from being appointed to bear the office of
churchwarden, overseer of the poor, or any other parochial or ward office, or
other office in any hundred of any shire, city, town, parish, division, or
wapentake.
Sect. XII. That every justice of the peace may,
at any time, require any person that goes to any meeting for exercise of
religion, to make and subscribe the declaration aforesaid, and also to take the
said oaths or declaration of fidelity hereinafter mentioned: in case such
person scruples the taking of an oath, and upon refusal, such justice of the
peace is required to commit such person to prison, and to certify the name of
such person to the next General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace, &c.
Sect. XIII. recites, That there are certain other
Dissenters who scruple the taking of any oath; and then proceeds to enact, That
every such person shall make and subscribe the aforesaid declaration, and also
this declaration of fidelity following; viz. "I, A. B. do sincerely
promise and solemnly declare, before God and the world, that I will be true and
faithful to King William and Queen Mary; and I do solemnly profess and declare,
that I do from my heart abhor, detest, and renounce, as impious and heretical,
that damnable doctrine and position, That princes excommunicated or deprived by
the Pope, or any authority of the see of Rome, may be deposed or murthered by
their subjects, or any other whatsoever; and I do declare, That no foreign
prince, person, prelate, state, or potentiate, hath, or ought to have any
power, jurisdiction, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or
spiritual, within this realm;" and shall subscribe a profession of their
Christian belief in these words: "I, A. B. profess faith in God the
Father, and in Jesus Christ his eternal Son, the true God, and in the Holy
Spirit, one God blessed for evermore; and do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of
the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration:"--which
declarations and subscriptions shall be entered of record at the General
Quarter Sessions, &c. and every such person shall be exempted from all the
pains and penalties of all and every the aforementioned statutes, &c.
Sect. XVI. Provided, That all the laws made and
provided for the frequenting of divine service on the Lord's Day, commonly
called Sunday, shall be still in force, and executed against all persons that
offend against the said laws, except such persons come to some congregation or
assembly of religious worship, allowed or permitted by this act.
Sect. XVII. Provided, That neither this act, nor
any clause, article, or thing herein contained, shall extend, or be construed
to extend, to give any ease, benefit, or advantage to any Papist or Popish
Recusant whatsoever, or any person that shall deny in his preaching or writing
the doctrine of the blessed Trinity, as it is declared in the above-said
Articles of Religion.
Sect. XVIII. Provided, That if any person or
persons do and shall willingly, maliciously, or contemptuously, come into any
cathedral or parish-church, chapel, or other congregation permitted by this
act, and disquiet or disturb the same, or misuse any preacher or teacher, such
person or persons, upon proof thereof before any justice of the peace, by two
or more sufficient witnesses, shall find two sureties, to be bound by
recognizance in the penal sum of 50l. and in default of such sureties, shall be
committed to prison, there to remain till the next General or Quarter Sessions;
and, upon conviction of the said offence at the said General or Quarter
Sessions, shall suffer the pain and penalty of 20l. to the use of the King's
and Queen's Majesties, their heirs and successors.
Sect. XIX. That no congregation or assembly for
religious worship shall be permitted or allowed by this act until the place of
such meeting shall be certified to the Bishop of the diocess, or to the
Archdeacon of that archdeaconry, or to the justices of the peace at the General
or Quarter Sessions of the peace for the county, city, or place in which such
meeting shall be held, and registered in the said Bishop's or Archdeacon's
court respectively, or recorded at the said General or Quarter Sessions; the
register or clerk of the peace whereof respectively is hereby required to
register the same, and to give certificate thereof to such person as shall
demand the same; for which there shall be no greater fee or reward taken than
the sum of sixpence."
Lord Sidmouth has lately attempted to introduce a
bill in the House of Lords, proposing some amendment or explanation of this
famous Act, in order to prevent abuses; but the fact appeared to be the
prevention of Sectarianism by means of itinerant preachers; and to clog the
exertions of those who wish to instruct their neighbours. Vast numbers of
petitions from all parts of the country were presented against the bill; so
that when it was brought forward on May 21, 1811, (after a considerable
discussion,) the question for a second reading was put and negatived without a
division. The bill was therefore thrown out. It is to be hoped that this will
be the last effort ever made to infringe the Act of Toleration.
DUTIES OF THE. "1. To glorify God by magnifying his name.--2. To sing his praises.--3. To declare to others God's goodness.--4. To pray to him for what we want.--5. To make open profession of our subjection to him.--6. To preach his word.--7. To defend the truth.--8. To exhort men to particular duties.--9. To confess our sins to God.--10. To crave the advice of others.--11. To praise that which is good in others.--12. To bear witness to the truth.--13. To defend the cause of the innocent and just.--14. To communicate to others the same good impressions we have received."
GIFT OF. See GIFT OF TONGUES.
Something handed down from one generation to another. Thus the Jews pretended that, besides their written law contained in the Old Testament, Moses had delivered an oral law, which had been conveyed down from father to son; and thus the Roman Catholics are said to value particular doctrines, supposed to have descended from the apostolic times by tradition.
In the ecclesiastical sense of the word, is the
removing of a bishop from one see to another. It is also used for the version
of a book or writing into a different language from that in which it was
written.
In translating the Scriptures, great knowledge
and caution are necessary. Dr. Campbell lays down three fundamental rules for
translating: 1. The translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas
of the original.--2. The style and manner of the original should be
preserved.--3. The translation should have all the ease of original
composition. He observes that the difficulties found in translating the
Scriptures arise, 1. From the singularity of Jewish customs.--2. From the
poverty (as appears) of their native language.--3. From the fewness of the
books extant in it.--4. From the symbolical style of the prophets.--5. From the
excessive influence which a previous acquaintance with translations have
occasioned.--And, 6. From pre-possessions, in what way soever acquired, in
regard to religious tenets.
Notwithstanding these difficulties, however, the
divines employed by King James to translate the Old and New Testaments, have
given us a translation which, with a very few exceptions, can scarcely be
improved. These divines were profoundly skilled in the learning as well as in
the languages of the East; whilst some of those who have presumed to improve
their version, seem not to have possessed a critical knowledge of the Greek
tongue, to have known still less of the Hebrew, and to have been absolute
strangers to the dialect spoken in Judea in the days of our Saviour, as well as
to the manners, customs, and peculiar opinions of the Jewish sects.
"Neither," as one observes, "metaphysical acuteness, nor the
most perfect knowledge of the principles of translation in general, will enable
a man knows not accurately, and therefore cannot give a complete transcript in
the ideas of the original work." See BIBLE; Mr. Tyler's Essay on the
Principles of Translation; and Dr. Campbell's Preliminary Dissertations to his
translation of the Gospels.
The conversion or change of the substance of the bread and wine in the eucharist into the body and blood of Jesus Christ, which the Romish church suppose to be wrought by the consecration of the priest. Nothing can be more contradictory to Scripture, or to common sense, than this doctrine. It must be evident to every one who is not blinded by ignorance and prejudice, that our Lord's words, "This is my body," are mere figurative expressions: besides, such a transubstantiation is so opposite to the testimony of our senses, as completely to undermine the whole proof of all the miracles by which God hath confirmed relation. According to such a transubstantiation, the same body is alive and dead at once, and may be in a million of different places whole and entire at the same instant of time; accidents remain without a substance, and substance without accidents; and that a part of Christ's body is equal to the whole. It is also contrary to the end of the sacrament, which is to represent and commemorate Christ, not to believe that he is corporeally present, 1 Cor. ix. 24, 25. But we need not waste time in attempting to refute a doctrine which by its impious consequences refutes itself. See Smith's Errors of the Church of Rome, dial. 6; A Dialogue between Philalethes and Benevolus; Kidder's Messiah, part iii. p. 80; and Brown's Compendium, p. 613.
Council of, denotes the council assembled by Paul III. in 1545, and continued by twenty-five sessions till the year 1563, under Julius III. and Pius IV. in order to correct, illustrate, and fix with perspicuity, the doctrine of the church, to restore the vigour of its discipline, and to reform the lives of its ministers. The decrees of this council, together with the creed of pope Pius IV. contain a summary of the doctrines of the Roman Catholics. See Mosheim's Church History; The Modern Universal History, vol. 23; Fra. Paolo Sarpi's, and Father Paul's Histories of the Council of Trent.
A society of ministers, with some others, chosen by Cromwell to sit at Whitehall. They were mostly Independents, though some Presbyterians were joined with them. They had power to try all that came for institution and induction; and without their approbation none were admitted. They examined all who were able to come up to London; but if any were unable, or of doubtful qualifications, they referred them to some ministers in the county where they lived. They rejected all those who did not live according to their profession, and placed in their room able serious preachers who lived godly lives, though of different opinions.
Those who believe in the Trinity. See next article, and the 162d Lec. of Doddridge, where the reader will find a statement of the opinions of the ancients on this doctrine, as likewise many of the moslems; such as Baxter, Dr. Clarke, Burnet, Howe, Warterland, Taylor, Pearson, Bull, Wallis, Watts, and Jeremy Taylor.
The union of three in one; generally applied to the ineffable mystery of three persons in one God,--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This doctrine is rejected by many because it is incomprehensible; but, as Mr. Scott observes, if distinct personality, agency, and divine perfections, be in Scripture ascribed to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, no words can more exactly express the doctrine, which must unavoidably be thence inferred, than those commonly used on this subject, viz. that there are three distinct Persons in the Unity of the Godhead. The sacred oracles most assuredly teach us, that the One living and true God is, in some inexplicable manner, Triune, for he is spoken of, as One in some respects, and as Three in others, Gen. i. 26, Gen. ii. 6, 7. Is. xlviii, 16. Is. xxxiv. 16. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. John xiv. 23. Matt. xxviii. 19. 2 Thess. iii. 3. 1 John v. 7. Acts, v. 3, 4. The Trinity of Persons in the Diety consists with the Unity of the Divine Essence; though we pretend not to explain the modus of it, and deem those reprehensible who have attempted it; as the modus in which any being subsists, according to its distinct nature and known properties, is a secret to the most learned naturalists to this present day, and probably will always continue so. But if the most common of God's works, with which we are the most conversant, be in this respect incomprehensible, how can men think that the modus existetendi (or manner of existence) of the infinite Creator can be level to their capacities?--The doctrine of the Trinity is indeed a mystery, but no man hath yet shown that it involves in it a real contradiction. Many have ventured to say, that it ought to be ranked with transubstantiation, as equally absurd. But Archbishop Tillotson has shown, by the most convincing arguments imaginable, that transubstantiation includes, the most palpable contradictions; and that we have the evidence of our eyes, feeling, and taste, that what we receive in the Lord's supper is bread, and not the body of a man; whereas we have the testimony of our eyes alone, that the words "This is my body," are at all in the Scriptures. Now this in intelligible to the meanest capacity: it is fairly made out, and perfectly unanswerable: but who ever attempted thus to prove the doctrine of the Trinity to be self-contradictory? What testimony of our senses, or what demonstrated truth, does it contradict? Yet till this be shown, it is neither fair nor convincing, to exclaim against it as contradictory, absurd, and irrational." See articles JESUS CHRIST and HOLY GHOST; also Owen, Watts, Jones, S. Browne, Fawcett, A. Taylor, J. Scott, Sampson, and Wesley's Pieces on the Subject; Bull's Defensio Fidei Nicaenae; Dr. Allix's Testimonies of the Jewish Church; Display of the Trinity by a Layman; Scott's Essays.
A sect of the sixth century, whose chief was John Ascunage,
a Syrian philosopher, and at the same time a Monophysite. This man imagined in
the Deity three natures or substances absolutely equal in all respects, and
joined together by no common essence; to which opinion his adversaries gave the
name of Tritheism. One of the warmest defenders of this doctrine was John
Philoponus, an Alexandrian philosopher and grammarian of the highest
reputation; and hence he has been considered by many as the author of this
sect, whose members have consequently derived from him the title of
Philoponists.
This sect was divided into two parties, the
Philoponists and the Cononites; the latter of whom were so called from Conon,
bishop of Tarsus, their chief. They agreed in the doctrine of three persons in
the Godhead, and differed only in their manner of explaining what the
Scriptures taught concerning the resurrection of the body. Philoponus
maintained, that the form as well as the matter of all bodies was generated, and
corrupted, and that both, therefore, were to be restored in the resurrection.
Conon held, on the contrary, that the body never lost its form; that its matter
alone was subject to corruption and decay, and was consequently to be restored
when this mortal shall put on immortality.
A scheme set on foot for the purpose of quelling the violence and preventing the frequency of private wars, occasioned by the fierce spirit of the barbarians in the middle ages. In France, a general peace and cessation from hostilities took place A. D. 1032, and continued for seven years, in consequence of the methods which the bishop of Aquataine successfully employed to work upon the superstition of the times. A resolution was formed, that no man should, in time to come, attack or molest his adversaries during the seasons set apart for celebrating the great festivals of the church, or from the evening of Thursday in each week to the morning of Monday in the week ensuing, the intervening days being consecrated as particularly holy; our Lord's passion having happened on one of those days, and his resurrection on another. A change in the dispositions of men so sudden, and which proposed a resolution so unexpected, was considered as miraculous; and the respite from hostilities which followed upon it was called the Truce of God. This cessation from hostilities during three complete days every week, allowed a considerable space for the passions of the antagonists to cool, and for the people to enjoy a respite from the calamities of war, and to take measures for their own security.
Signifies that confidence in, or dependence we place on him. This trust ought to be, 1. Sincere and unreserved, not in idols, in men, in talents, riches, power, in ourselves part, and him part, Prov. iii. 5, 6.--2. Universal; body, soul, circumstances, 1 Peter v. 7.--3. Perpetual, Is. xxvi. 4.--4. With a lively expectation of his blessing, Mic. vii. 7. The encouragement we have to trust in him arises, 1. From his liberality, Rom. viii. 32. Ps. lxxxiv. 11.--2. His ability, James i. 17.--3. His relationship, Ps. ciii. 13.--4. His promise, Isa. xxxii. 16.--5. His conduct in all ages to those who have trusted him, Gen. xlviii. 15, 16. Ps. xxxvii. 25. The happiness of those who trust in him is great, if we consider, 1. Their safety, Ps. cxxv. 1.--2. Their courage, Ps. xxvii. 1.--3. Their peace, Isa. xxvi. 3.--5. Their end, Ps. xxxvii. 37. Job v. 26.
A term used in opposition to falsehood, and applied to propositions which answer or accord to the nature and reality of the thing whereof something is affirmed or denied. Natural or physical truth is said to be the agreement of our sentiments with the nature of things. Moral truth is the conformity of our words and actions to our sentiments. Evangelical or Gospel truth is taken for Christ; the doctrines of the Gospel; substance or reality, in opposition to the shadows and ceremonies of the law, John i. 17. For this truth we ought to be sincere in seeking, zealous in defending, and active in propagating; highly to prize it, constantly to rejoice in it, and uniformly to be obedient to it. See LYING, SINCERITY; Tatham's Scale of Truth; Locke on the Understanding; Beattie on Truth; Dr. Stennet's Sermon on propagating the Truth; Saurin's Sermons, Eng. trans. vol. ii. ser. 1. and 14.
A denomination which appeared about the year 1372, principally in Savoy and Dauphiny. They taught that when a man is arrived at a certain state of perfection, he is freed from all subjection to the divine law. It is said, they often went naked, and they allowed of no prayer to God but mental. They called themselves the fraternity of the poor.
An impression, image, or representation of some model, which is termed the antitype. In this sense we often use the word to denote the prefiguration of the great events of man's redemption by persons or things in the Old Testament. Types are distinguished into, 1. Such as were directly appointed for that end; as the sacrifices.--2. Such as had only a providential ordination to that end; as the story of Jacob and Esau.--And 3. Things that fell out of old, so as to illustrate present things from a similitude between them; as the allegory of Hagar and Sarah. Some distinguish them into real and personal; by the former intending the tabernacles, temples, and religious institutions; and under the latter, including what are called providential and personal types. While we may justly consider the death of Christ, and his resurrection from the dead, as events that are typified in the Old Testament, we should be careful not to consider every thing mentioned in the Hebrew Scripture as a type, for this will expose the whole doctrine of types to ridicule: for instance, what can be a greater burlesque on the Scriptures to suppose, as some have done, that the extraction of Eve from the side of Adam, while he was in a deep sleep, was intended as a type of the Roman soldiers' piercing our Saviour's side while he slept the sleep of death? Such ideas as these, vented sometimes by novices, and sometimes by more aged divines, give a greater proof of the wildness of their fancies than the correctness of their judgments. See Mather and Mc Ewen on the Types; Ridgley's Div. quest. 35.
The tenth part of all fruits, &c. a revenue payable to the clergy. The tythes among the Jews were of three sorts. The first to the Levites, for their maintenance, Numb. xviii. 21-24. The second for the feasts and sacrifices, Deut. xiv. 22; and the third for the poor every third year. Deut. xiv. 28, 29. See Supp. Papers.