The history of Gregory of Neocesarea, after his conversion, is full of legends of visions, revelations, and wonders, which were attributed to him, and which obtained for him the title of "Thaumaturgus,' "The worker of miracles." The ancient authors, in whose works the history of Gregory is recorded, must bear the blame of aiding and abetting in "the efforts to corrupt" the pure and simple truth in Jesus. Gregory of Neocesarea died, perhaps, A.D. 270. 19.-Arnobius was a native of Sicca, in Africa, where he taught Rhetoric with great reputation and success. He wrote against heathenism in favour of Christianty. It has been remarked as singular that Arnobius does not make any reference to the writings of the Old or the New Testament. He disputed with the heathen who did not acknowledge the authority of Holy Scripture. A reference to the sacred writings must, in such case, be avoided. Arnobius died, probably, about A.D. 325.

20.-Lactantius.-Lucius Coelius (or Cæcilius) Lactantius Firmianus. Neither is the time nor is the place of his birth known. He attended the lectures of Arnobius, at Sicca, and the conclusion has been that he was a native of Africa. He remained many years in Nicomedia, teaching Rhetoric. The emConstantine entrusted him with the education of peror his son Crispus. It is probable that he did not long survive that unfortunate prince, who was put to death by his own father's orders, A.D. 336.

Lactantius composed a treatise entitled "An Introduction to True Religion, or Christian Institutions, in Seven Books,' "Institutionum Divinarum Libri Septem," which he designed as a more complete and accurate defence of the Christian religion than those already put forth by Tertullian and Cyprian. This work was completed about A.D. 320.

The attacks made upon Christianity during Lactantius' residence in Nicomedia were the means of inducing him to write his treatise. The Latin style of Lactantius is distinguished from that of other early ecclesiastical writers by its superior clearness and elegance; and it has obtained for him the honourable appellation of the Christian Cicero.

Juvencus, a Christian Latin Poet, was contemporary with Lactantius. Caius Vettius Aquilinus Juvencus, a Spaniard, detailed the history of the Gospels in four books of Latin Hexameter, "Historia Evangelica Libri Quatuor." This poem consists chiefly of a simple versification of the narratives recorded by the Evangelists.

21.-Eusebius of Caesarea. He was born in Palestine about A.D. 270. He was ordained Presbyter at Cæsarea, in which city he made the aquaintance of, and formed an intimate frendship with, the celebrated Martyr Pamphilus. He valued this frendship so highly, that he was fond of being called by way of distinction "the friend of Pamphilus," "Eusebius Pamphili." His attention was constant to Pamphilus whilst in prison. He assisted him in the composition of his defence of Origen. Some fragments of this work remain. Pamphilus suffered martyrdom. sibeus was cast into prison in Egypt. He was liber

Eu

ated so easily, that a charge arose against him of having obtained his liberty by offering sacrifice to idols.

A.D. 315.-Eusebius was elected Bishop of Cæsarea. Paulinus, Bishop of Tyre, consecrated a magnifi cent church in that city. Many Bishops were present. Amongst them was Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea.

A.D. 319.-Eusebius was chosen Bishop of Antioch He declined the honour because the regulations of the church did not admit of a Bishop's translation from one see to another. He was highly esteemed by the Emperor Constantine. He flattered Constantine. This was contrary to the simplicity of christian character. He undertook, in his great work, a history and chronology, entitled Chronicon (TaνTodane wOTO pia), to describe the origin and progress of all nations from the beginning of the world to the time of Constantine. This work has perished.

His work called The Evangelical Preparation, or Preparation for the demonstration of the Truth of the Gospel (Προπαρασκευὴ εὐαγγελική, Οr, ευαγγελικής αποδείξεωσ προπαρασκευή), is comprised in fteen books. The first six books contain the author's arguments against heathenism. The latter nine contain the author's reasons for establishing the superior claims of Christianity.

He wrote other works in favour of Christianity. He wrote the Ecclesiastical History in ten books; a History of the Martyrs in Palestine; a History of the Life of Constantine; a kind of Harmony of the four Gospels; and many other treatises. He continued bishop of Cæsarea till his death, A.D. 340.

Apostolical Constitutions and Canons.-In the early ages of the Church it was a prevailing opinion that Clement of Rome committed to writing from the mouths of the Apostles certain directions for the Church, and that this writing assumed the form of Apostolical Constitutions and Canons. Apostolical Constitutions - Διαταγαν, οι, Διαταξεισ των αποτ Toλ@v, Constitutiones Apostolicæ. Apostolical Canons-Kavóveo аTоσтоλоkоt, Canones Apostolorum. The authority thus claimed has been disproved. They were chiefly compiled in the second and third centuries; the greater part of them must be assigned to a period before the first Nicene Council,

A.D. 325.

1. The Constitutions are comprised in eight books. In these the apostles are frequently introduced as speakers. These books contain rules and regulations concerning the duties of Christians in general, the constitution of the church, the offices and duties of ministers, and the celebration of divine worship. The tone of morality which rurs through them is severe and ascetie (aokew-to exercise). They contain a complete liturgy or form of worship for Christian Churches, and a description of ecclesiastical ceremonies and the prayers to be used at their celebration. The conclusion must be that the books of the Constitutions are not the productions of the apostolic age.

2. The Canons relate chiefly to various particulars

of Ecclesiastical polity and Christian worship, having their regulations for the most part sanctioned by the threatening of deposition and excommunication against offenders. In the Canon, or list of sacred books of the New Testament, given in the Book of the Canons, the Revelation of St. John is omitted, and the Apostolical Canons are inserted. See Riddle's Christian Antiquities.

1. Pliny the Younger, Governor of Pontus and Bithynia, A.D. 110 or 111, consults the Emperor Trajan on the manner of treating persons who professed the Christian religion.

2. Lucian of Samosǎta, a town of Syria near to the Euphrates, died A.D. 180, in his ninetieth year. Some of the Moderns have asserted that he was torn to pieces by dogs (dogs are the scavengers in Eastern cities) for his impiety; particularly for ridiculing the Christian religion.

3. Celsus, an Epicurean Philosopher in the second century, wrote a treatise against the Christians. To this Celsus, Lucian dedicated one of his compositions. There was a physician of this name, Celsus, in the reign of Tiberius, A.D. 37, who wrote eight books on Medicine, in elegant Latin. Celsus the Philosopher wrote a century later than Celsus the Physician. He gives important information respecting the doctrine of the Christians in his day. He affords his readers no light on the subject of the customs and observances of the Christians.

4. Julian the Apostate refers to the charitable institutions of the Christians, to their ecclesiastical discipline, and to their education of the young. Julian was born at Constantinople, A.D. 381. Died of a wound received at Ctesiphon, A.D. 393, aged 32 years. He sought in vain to re-establish Paganism. Ctesiphon, a large village of Assyria, on the banks of the Tigris, where the kings of Parthia generally resided in winter, on account of the mildness of the climate.

1. Gregory of Nyssa (Nyssēnus).-Born A.D. 330. Died A.D. 400 or 396. Nyssa, a town of Ethiopia at the South of Egypt. According to others, a town of Arabia. Gregory was Bishop of Nyssa. He was the author of the Nicene Creed. The date contradicts it. He made a new draft of the Nicene Creed. This is correct.

2. Gregory of Nazianzus, whence he was named Nazianzēnus, and was also surnamed the Divine. He was Bishop of Constantinople. He resigned his Bishopric because his appointment was disputed. His writings rival those of the celebrated orators of Greece in eloquence, sublimity, and variety.

Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa obtained much renown among the theologians and disputants of the fourth century; and their works shew that they were not unworthy of being held in estimation. But after ages would have prized them higher, if they had been less attached to Origenism, and more free from the false eloquence of the Sophists.-Mosheim, Vol. I.

Nazianzus, or Nazianzen, was a town of Cappadocia. Gregory Nazianzēnus died A.D. 389.

GENERAL COUNCILS.

General Councils were summoned by the reigning Emperors. The first eight General Councils were summoned by the sole authority of the Emperors. Eight Eastern Councils and ten Western Councils, in all eighteen General Councils, are considered as the correct number given by Dr. Grier in his book on the General Councils.

I. EIGHT EASTERN COUNCILS.

1. Nice, convened by the Emperor Constantine the Great, A.D. 325.

2. Constantinople, convened by the Emperor Theodosius, A.D. 381.

3. Ephesus, convened by the Emperor Theodasius,

A.D. 431.

4. Chalcedon, convened by the Emperor Marcian,

A.D. 451.

5. Constantinople, convened by the Emperor Justinian, A.D. 556.

6. Constantinople, convened by the Emperor Constantine IV., A.D. 681.

7. Nice the second, convened by the Empress Irene, A.D. 787.

8. Constantinople, convened by the Emperor Basilius, A.D. 870.

II. TEN WESTERN COUNCILS.

1. The First Council of Lateran, convened by Pope Calixtus, A.D. 1123.

2. The Second Lateran Council, convened by Pope Innocent II., A.D. 1139.

3. The Third Lateran Council, convened by Pope Alexander III., A.D. 1179.

4. The Fourth Lateran Council, convened by Pope Innocent III., A.D. 1215.

5. The First Council of Lyons, convened by Pope Innocent IV., A.D. 1245.

6. The Second Council of Lyons, convened by Pope Gregory X., A.D. 1274.

7. The Council of Vienne, convened by Pope Clement V., A.D. 1311.

8. The Council of Florence, convened by Pope Eugenius IV., A.D. 1439.

9. The Fifth Lateran Council, convened by Pope Julius II., A.D. 1512.

10. The Council of Trent-sought for, prevented, and defeated for twenty-two years-was, at length, convened by Paul III., A.D. 1545 to A.D. 1563, 18 years.

Father Paul describes the Council of Trent thus :--"The lawyers who attended knew little of religion; whilst the divines were of less than ordinary sufficiency."

Vargas, Fiscal, i.e. Exchequer-Minister to Charles V., remarks, "that of the hundred fathers there assembled, twenty were incapable of understanding such matters; and, though otherwise good men, they were unlearned. But, if learned in other faculties, their knowledge of divinity was at second hand."-Grier, Gen. Con.

Trent, Trientum, a town of Austria, Tyrol, 105 m. N.E. Milan, beautifully situated in a valley surrounded by hills-1. i. c. bank-Adige. It is well built in the Italian style. Population, 15,000.

I.

the

Two centuries and a half intervened between last Eastern General Council, A.D. 870, and the first Western General Council, A.D. 1120. The ignorance and dissoluteness of the sacred orders, and the awful vicissitudes which both the Eastern Church and the Western had undergone, caused the deplorable state of Christianity during this interval. Learning and Philosophy declined. They sank as Christianity went down. Cardinal Baronius thus expresses his opinion upon the state of the Church in this age, and of the age itself: "Sæculum, quod boni sterilitate ferreum, mali que exundantis deformitate plumbeum, atque inopia Scriptorum, appellari consueuit obscurum." The age has been accustomed to be called iron from its sterility of good, leaden from its deformity of overflowing evil, and obscure from its want of writers, A.D. 900.

Cæsar Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI., four centuries afterwards, filled up the measure of the iniquities of the dark ages by his atrocities and debaucheries.

II.—The institutions of this tenth century or tenth age of the church were full of errors in doctrine; in fact, were established customs of heathenism.

1. The canonization of saints. 2. The baptism of bells. 3. The celibacy of the clergy. 4. The worship of relics. 5. Visions, apparations, ordeal by fire, and other vain superstitions defiled the Church. "The Rosary and Crown were instituted in this age in honour of the Virgin Mary. The Rosary consisted of fifteen repetitions of the Lord's Prayer, and one hundred and fifty Ave Marias. The Crown consisted of seven repetitions of the Lord's Prayer and seventy Ave Marias.

The Western Councils were composed of Western Bishops solely. During the pontificate of Innocent III. "The order of the Cross," "the Dominican order," and "the Franciscan order," were established.

The Dominicans were called preachers. Their founder was Dominick. He was employed as a preacher in company with other missionaries in the South of France. The name of preachers was, therefore, given to his followers. When argument failed they inflicted punishment. This practice acquired for them the title of "Inquistors.' Their practice was the origin of the "Inquisition.'

"Siculi non invenere tyranni

Majus tormentum."-Hor. Epis. bk. i. 2, 58-59. "The Sicilian tyrants have not invented a greater torment." The word invidiâ has been very ingeniously omitted by Dr. Grier. Horace meant that the Sicilian tyrants, expert in the invention and in the practice of tyranny, had not invented a greater means of torture than that which envy invented in the breast of him who was its slave. The Dominicans failed to reduce the Albigenses to the Roman yoke. Innocent III. instituted "the order of the Cross," and

commissioned the brethren to convert the Albigenses by "extermination."

The Mendicant Friars of this period produced the 'Evangelium Eternum." They blasphemously pronounced this book to be "better and more perfect than the Gospel of Christ." "Evangelio Christi perfectius, melius, dignius fore Evangelium Eternum, sive Evange lium Spiritus S." Quo adveniente evacuabitur Evangelium Christi. They intended that their Eternal Gospel, or their Gospel of the Holy Spirit, should cause the evacuation or complete expulsion of the Gospel of Christ.

III.-The thirteenth century was fruitful of Synods. The Synod of Toulouse, held A.D. 1229, deserves to be spoken of with detestation, on account of its rigorous decrees against heretics and against princes who did not extirpate heretics from their dominions. It took upon itself to regulate the reading of the Scriptures. This was a fit model for the Roman Church to follow. Du Pin declares, in the way of apology or defence, that the perversion of Scripture at that time in France was very great. The decree, "Prohibimus etiam ne libros Veteris Testamenti aut Novi, Laici permittantur habere: nisi forte Psalterium vel Breviarium pro divinis officiis, aut horas beatæ Mariæ: sed ne premissos libros habeant in vulgari_translatos, arctissime inhibemus." Labb. Concil. Tolos., vol. xi. paros. i., p. 43). "We also forbid that Laics (laymen) be permitted to have books of the Old Testament or New, unless by chance the Psaltery or Breviary for divine offices, or the hours of the blessed Mary; but we most strictly prohibit their having the books before stated translated in the vulgar tongue."

Roger Bacon, Matthew Paris, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, called the angelic doctor, and St. Dominic, infamous for his institution of the Inquisition, were the lights of literature in the thirteenth century.

IV.-The fourteenth century is remarkable for the ministry of Wickliffe, "the Morning Star of the Reformation," and for the genius and learning of John Duns Scotus, of Petrarch, and of others.

V.-The fifteenth century is remarkable for the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, the end or result of the Crusades, and for the invention of printing.

1. The Synod of Pisa (Pisa, Tuscany, 44 m. W. Florence, Italy, famous for its sloping tower, 168 feet in height) gave hope of reformation. Benedict XIII. and Gregory XII. solemly swore that they would severally relinquish their claims to the Papal chair, if it appeared advisable and conducive to the interests of the Church.

Ecclesiastical assemblies abounded in the fifteenth century. The importance of ecclesiastical assemblies at Pisa, Constance, Basil, Florence, Ferrara, would be sufficient to give character to the fifteenth century.

Benedict XIII. and Gregory XII. were publicly accused, by the Synod of Pisa, of violation of their oaths, declaring them guilty of heresy, schism, and

contumacy. The Synod thus laid the grounds of the deposition of these Pontiffs. Benedict and Gregory, supported by the reigning emperors, protested against the authority of the Synod. The Council of Constance proceeded as if the Council of Pisa had never existed. The decrees of the Council of Pisa were thus nullified. The evil caused to the Church was great. The schism prevailed during a period of fifty

years.

2. The Council of Constance (A.D. 1414).-The Emperor Sigismund, the King of France, and other monarchs, felt that the rivalship for the Papal throne suggested the necessity for assembling a General Council.

Pope John XXIII. thought that the sovereigns would support his cause. He was the successor of Alexander V. He appointed a Council to meet at Constance, a city of the Grand Duchy of Baden, giving a special promise that he would submit to it's judgment, whether his rivals did so or not. The decision of the Council was adverse to the three rivals. The Council declared that a General Council was superior to the sovereign Pontiff. Three opinions exist in the Roman Church on this subject:1st. The Pope alone is supreme and infallible. 2nd. A General Council alone is supreme and infallible.

3rd. The General Council, with the Pope, are supreme and infallible.

The Ultramontanes, that is, the Italians, held the first opinion. John Huss, the unfortunate Bohemian, and Jerome of Prague (the capital of Bohemia), in succession suffered at the stake by order of this Council. They went, says the historian, Æneas Sylvius, "to the stake as if it were to a banquet:" "Ambo constante animo, nec non et quasi ad epulas invítati ad incendium properârunt: nullam emittentes vocem quæ miserì animi posset facere indicium. Ubi ardere cœperunt hymnum cecinere quem vix flammæ etfragor ignis intercipere potuit." "Both with constant mind, and as if invited to a banquet, hastened to the conflagration, emitting no voice which could make discovery of a wretched mind. When they began to be on fire, they sang a hymn, which scarcely the flames and the crackling of the fires was able to intercept."

The ashes of Huss were cast into the Rhine. Perhaps the Council treated the ashes of Jerome as they had treated the ashes of Huss. They ordered the bones of Wickliffe to be disinterred and thrown into the river of Lutterworth. The agents of the Council in England punctually executed the command.

Huss had a safe conduct, and should have been allowed to return to his home in safety. Jerome had not the same security. This cannot justify the conduct of the Council in the case of Jerome. The Council of Constance must be regarded by successive generations as infamous for its murder of Huss, and of Jerome of Prague, and for it's violation of the grave and of the bones of Wickliffe.

VI.-The Council of Basil (A.D. 1431).-This

Council should have assembled in Pavia, in Austrian Italy. A plague in Pavia prevented this arrangement from being completed. Martin V. assembled a Council at Scienne (Scièna, a town in Tuscany). Martin succeeded in having the Council transferred to Basil (Switzerland). This was the only transaction in which Martin was engaged before his death, in relation to the Council. Eugenius IV. succeeded Martin V. and inherited his feelings and opinions. Their policy was to retard the question of Reformation, and to introduce the subject of a union of the Eastern and Western Churches. The Council of Basil was again dissolved. Another Council was convened at Ferrara, a city of Italy, in the Papal States. Eugenius found a pretext for removing the Council to Florence, the capital of Tuscany. Fever had broken out in Ferrara: it was dangerous to remain there. Florence would be less expensive than Ferrara to the members of the Council. Such were the reasons for the removal of the Council.

Eneas Sylvius was amongst the literary characters of the fifteenth century. As secretary of the Council of Basil, he was the boast of literature. But as if he had changed his nature with his name, he disgraced it as Pius II. In his character as Pope he published a retractation (A.D. 1463) of his defence of the Council of Basil-shamelessly declaring that, "as Eneas Sylvius, he was a damnable heretic; but, as Pius II., he was an orthodox Pontiff."

Besides Æneas Sylvius, other men of letters have obtained distinction in the fifteenth century: as Gerson, Thomas a-Kempis, Cardinal Ximenes, the first translator of the Hebrew Old Testament into Latin, and compiler of the Polyglot Bible, A.D. 1502, entitled the Complutensian edition, Platina, and Nicholas de Clemangis, Lorenzo de Medici. Mr. Roscoe has written his life.

Savonarolo preached at Florence against indulgences and the vices of the Papal Court, as Luther afterwards preached in Saxony. The same writer who has recorded the fame of Lorenzo has consigned to merited infamy the persecutors of. Savonarolo. The Florentines dragged Savonarolo to the pile at the command of the Ecclesiastical Assembly appointed by the infamous Alexander VI. to sit in judgment upon Savonarolo. They burned him amidst cries of "Long live Pope Borgia." They collected his ashes as the people had formerly done in the case of Huss, of Jerome of Prague, and of Wickliffe. They threw the ashes of Savonarolo into the river Arno.-Grier, Gen. Coun.

Liturgy means work for the people, comprising all the services. Litany means earnest supplication, and is applied to one service only. It is read in the middle of Cathedrals, "between the porch and the altar." Joel ii. 17.

I. The design of the public worship of Almighty God is stated in the address which the minister is directed to read at the commencement of morning Prayer and evening Prayer. One or more texts from Holy Scripture are appointed to be read as giving authority to the address. It is to be regretted that this part of the Liturgy is not understood by many who are constant attendants upon the services in our Churches. The first subject brought before every one of the worshippers is the sinful nature of all mankind, and of one's self in particular. The second subject is the necessity for confession of sins to God. The third is the willingness of our Heavenly Father to forgive the sins which are confessed and forsaken. Wherefore, let us beseech Him to grant to us true repen tance and His Holy Spirit, that those things may please Him which we do at this present; and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy, so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." In private devotion the same subjects should be present to the mind of the worshipper. “God pardoneth and absolveth all them who truly repent and unfeignedly believe his Holy Gospel." Upon this declaration of Gospel truth must rest the faith, the hope, the happiness of all who worship God in sincerity and in truth, in either public or private devotion. The address states the purpose of our assembling and meeting together in the house of God. We meet

1. "To render thanks for the great benefits which we have received at the hands of God."

IV. Prayer.

This part of the Liturgy precedes the Lord's Prayer, was composed by Martin Bucer, and was introduced into the second book of King Edward VI. The first book of King Edward VI. commenced with the Lord's Prayer. Martin Bucer rejoiced to think that he had secured to the people of England the preaching of the Gospel before they engaged in prayer.

II.-Morning Prayer, the Litany, and the Communion Services were, for some time, read separately, and at distinct and different hours. Afterwards they were read at one time in the day, and the custom has continued. This custom necessarily prolongs the service. It may be desirable to have morning