by the Saracens. Again, a great Eclipfe of the Sun, and ftars were feen, Aug. 2, 1133, when there was a fchism in the church occafioned by two Popes at once, cum multis aliis; not to mention those which falling nearer our own times are yet in remembrance of the aged. I fay, whoever confiders these things, and pondering upon the antecedents and confequences, will give them their due weight; he muft, if found reafon holds the balance, acknowledge that the plain evidence of times paft will, in the fcale of equity, overturn all that ridicule or modern fcepticism can put in against it. Wifely therefore admitting (as none but a fool will contradict plain facts) that the Eclipfes of the cœleftial luminaries are foreboders of calamities and mutations in fome part or other of this terreftrial globe, let us proceed to fome general judgment upon the hirft of the Eclipfes for the prefent year.

Thefts, murder, piracies, with other mischiefs of the like nature, if Cardan's judgment may be depended upon, are like to enfue; and to the valuable remains of that great and learned man (after having confidered the face of the heavens, and the fituation of the planets, at the time of the greatest obfcuration) I referred for advice. I expect divers difagreements, and fome other calamities, but thefe I may touch upon in my contemplations upon the four quarters of the year. However as effects are ever proportionable to their caufes, give me leave to obferve that this being a partial Eclipfe, the calamities above mentioned will be far from being total. Let the contemplation notwithstanding of thefe figns in the heavens put us in mind of that aweful and tremendous day of the Lord, when the fun fhall be darkened, and the moon shall not give ber light, the ftars fhall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens fhall be shaken: and may this confideration have its due effect upon our lives and actions.

HA

AVING been informed by feveral of the moft fenfible of my readers, that a fketch of the hiftory of the different profeffions in Chriftianity, which heretics and fcifmatics have from time to time intruded into the Chriftian world, even from the earliest ages, would be very acceptable, especially to the junior part of my readers; that my last observations were well received, and that a continuation

nuation of fuch remarks would not only amufe their fancies but improve their knowledge; and while it took them off from the vain novels and idle romances which too much abound in the prefent age, and which while they inflame the paffions, full often corrupt the morals of unexperienced minds; it will, it is much to be hoped, give them a taste for a true knowledge of things, by reading none but ufeful history, the different manners of different ftates in the various parts of the terraqueous globe, whether in times prefent, or ages paft; their laws and cuftoms, religious and civil, and to gather from thence a chronological account of the most material tranfactions which have at different times been upon the carpet of this great theatre, or collect the moft ftriking facts, is fo much fuperior to the trash of our prefent novelifts, that it is impoffible to form a comparison. I therefore with pleasure acquiefce with the request of my friends, but confine myself to that part of Ecclefiaftical Hiftory which treats of herefies and fchifms, which have from time to time difturbed the Chriftian church; and I am the further prompted to this as I am well affured that feveral of my honeft country readers are only acquainted with the names of certain fees, and would gladly have fome knowledge of their rife and principles.

The first heretic we read of in Scripture was Simon Magus, who offered money to be endowed with the power of working miracles. Of him the ancient writers agree that he propagated his notions up and down, giving out himself to be the Meffiah and the Eternal God, that he gathered together numbers of difciples and fent them into divers provinces, where they perverted many profeffing Chrillanity from the faith, by teaching them the moft horrid blafphemies.

About the middle of the fecond century fprung up an infamous fect, who ftiled themfelves ADAMITES, from imitating Adam's nakedness before the fall; their founder was one Prodicus, a difciple of Laprocrates. They fuppofed themselves to be as innocent as was Adam before the fall, the confequence of which delufion was a belief that clothing was abfolutely needlefs, and the fexes therefore met together quite naked in all their public affemblies, looking upon themfelves, when divefted of their garments,

garments, as the image of God, feeing in that ftate male and female created he them. Of thefe heretics St. Epiphanius fays, they met together to fatiate their most beastly lufts; and Clemens Alexandrinus reports, that when the candles were put out they fell to the most promifcuous copulation. It appears that thefe heretics became obnoxious to the civil power, and were presently crushed. The fame herefy however revived in Flanders in the fifteenth century, under one Picard, a native thereof, who retired with his followers to the mountains of Bohemia, who were all at laft feized at Amfterdam,

ARIANISM is an opinion which has long spread itself through the Chriftian world. Arius was a presbyter of the church of Alexandria, a man of abilities, and much given to difputing on controverted points. He had, as history informs us, fet himfelf up as candidate for the bifhopric of Alexandria, but loft his election. Alexander, who had fucceeded to the election of bishop in oppofition to Arius, preached much upon the doctrine of the Trinity, affirming that there was but one fubftance in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, and that these three persons were but one. Arius having taken a fchool taught his difciples that a time had been when the Son was not created; that he was like the angels, liable to commit fin; that being united to human flesh he supplied the place of a human foul, and confequently was fubject to pains, and all forts of fufferings, in the fame manner as men.

Alexander having ineffectually ufed all poffible means to reclaim him from thefe tenets, he and his followers, at a council of one hundred bishops of Egypt and Lybia, were degraded from their orders, and excommunicated out of the church.

Afterwards, when Conftantine the Great called the first general council of Nice, at which were prefent three hundred and eighteen bishops, befides a vaft concourse of other church officers, and among the bishops feveral from Britain; Arius when fummoned to appear before this council boldly fupported his opinion: the fentence of excom, munication pronounced by Alexander however was confirmed, and a decree from the Emperor excluded both him and his followers from all places whether civil or ecclesiaftic, and fentenced them to perpetual banishment,

In the space of about three years after we however find that all the Arian bishops were reftored to their fees, and Arius himself likewife recalled, who being permitted to wait upon the Emperor, he prefented a confeffion of his faith, fo artfully compiled that Conftantine was reconciled. This fo enraged Athanafius, who was then advanced to the bishopric of Alexandria, that he refused to admit either him or his followers; but the Arians having many friends at court, Athanafius was fent into banish ment. The church of Alexandria however refused still to admit Arius.

He notwithstanding applied once more to the Emperor, and prefented a fecond confeffion drawn up in fuch terms that Conftantine was fatisfied, and ordered Alexander, Bishop of Conftantinople, to admit him into his church the next day; but the night before Arius died. Whether his bowels gushed out, as his enemies report, while he was eafing nature; or whether he was murdered by fome of the orthodox party, as his followers have advanced; or whether by being fpent with fatigue, as others have wrote, we will not determine. His tenets however did not die with him, but were countenanced by many of the Emperors after the death of Conftantine. Difputes ftill ran high amongst the Orthodox and the Arians, nor did the recalling of Athanafius from his banishment abate the violence of a perfecuting fpirit; but they went on excommunicating and anathematizing each other. The Orthodox teaching that the Trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity ought to be worshiped, and making this the ftandard of the Catholic faith; while the Arians held that there was one God, the Father of all, that the Son (however highly exalted) was a created being, and the Bleffed Spirit was a ray or emanation of the Great and Holy One who inhabits eternity.

After the feventh century we hear little of this herefy which now feemed to lie dormant till the time of the Reformation, when Michael Servetus, a Spanish phyfician, revived it, and was burnt alive at Geneva for his profeffion.

If Arius thought proper to propagate his opinions, others of his followers took the fame privilege; and not only fo, but wherein their opinions varied from his, thought they

had

had as great a right to diffent from him, as he had to diffent from those who ftiled themselves the Orthodox church. Among these were the Semi Arians, who differed a little in fentiment concerning the doctrine of the Trinity, by using more moderate modes and expreffions than he in the heat of his argument had done; and maintaining that Chrift was not of the fame fubftance with the Father, but of a fubftance like him. Eudoxus, Bishop of Conftantinople, made fome refinement upon Arius's doctrine, and became the head of a party called Eudoxians.

The Eunomeans were another branch of the Arian herefy, founded by Eunomius, Bishop of Cyzicus, who oppofed the Orthodox with great feverity, and became the head of a party who differed in very few points from the original Arians, only they re-baptized all who entered into their community.

Eufebius, a man of great reputation for learning, was a zealous oppofer of the Orthodox; this was about the year 326, and was the head of a fect called the Eufebians. This man was fome time Bishop of Nicomedia, and afterwards of Conftantinople. At the inftigation of the Catholic Bifhops he was banished, but by the intereft of the Arians recalled. He was the declared enemy of Athanafius, who oppofed the Arians with more virulence than any other of the Chriftian fathers. He prevailed upon Conftantine's fon, Conftantius, to patronife the Arians, and in the year 341 a council affembled at Antioch by the Emperor's order, which declared the Arian herefy to be the established religion of the empire.

Macedonius, Bishop of Conftantinople, was the inventor of another fect of Arians. This man not only denied the divinity of Chrift, but alfo exclaimed heavily against all thofe who worshiped the Holy Ghoft, whom he faid to be a created being, dependant on the will of the Almighty in the fame manner as men. His herefy for fome time prevailed greatly in the Christian church.

The laft I fhall mention is Pholinus, Bishop of Sirmich, who went fo far as not only to deny the divinity of Chrift, butt alfo to declare that God himself was not immenfe. Him the Arians themfelves difcarded, and he was excommunicated in a council held at Milan in the year 346. Of other fects of note we will treat (God willing) in our next.

WE