were principally honored with this efficacy, was the CENT. XVIII abbé Paris, a man of a respectable family, whose natural character was dark and melancholy; whose superstition was excessive beyond all credibility; and who, by an austere abstinence from bodily nourishment, and the exercise of other inhuman branches of penitential discipline, was the voluntary cause of his own death. To the miracles which were said to be wrought at the tomb of this fanatic, the Jansenists added a great variety of visions and revelations, to which they audaciously attributed a divine origin; for several members of the community, and more especially those who resided at Paris, pretended to be filled with the Holy Ghost; and, in consequence of this prerogative, delivered instructions, predictions, and exhortations, which, though frequently extravagant, and almost always insipid, yet moved the passions, and attracted the admiration, of the ignorant multitude. The prudence, however, of the court of France, put a stop to these fanatical tumults and false miracles; and, in the situation in which things are at present, the Jansenists have nothing left but their genius and their pens to maintain their cause k

XIII. We can say very little of the Greek and The state of Eastern churches. The profound ignorance in

The imposture, that reigned in these pretended miracles, has been detected and exposed by various authors, but by none with more acuteness, perspicuity, and penetration, than by the ingenious Dr. Douglas, in his excellent treatise on miracles, entitled the Criterion, published in 1754.

k Things are greatly changed since the learned author. wrote this paragraph. The storm of just resentment that has arisen against the Jesuits, and has been attended with the extinction of their order in Portugal, France, and in all the Spanish dominions, has disarmed the most formidable adversaries of Jansenism, and must consequently be considered as an event highly favorable to the Jansenists *.

In consequence of the French revolution, more important changes have taken place since the translator wrote the last note. EDIT.

the Eastern

church.

CENT. XVII. Which they live, and the despotic yoke under which they groan, prevent their forming any plans to extend their limits, or making any attempts to change their state. The Russians, who, in the reign of Peter the Great, assumed a less savage and barbarous aspect than they had before that memorable period, have in this century given some grounds to hope that they may one day be reckoned among the civilised nations. There are, nevertheless, immense multitudes of that rugged people, who are still attached to the brutish superstition and discipline of their ancestors; and there are many in whom the barbarous spirit of persecution still so far prevails, that, were it in their power, they would cut off the Protestants, and all other sects that differ from them, by fire and sword. This appears evident from a variety of circumstances, and more especially from the book which Stephen Javorski has composed against heretics of all denominations.

The Greek Christians are said to be treated at present by their haughty masters with more clemency and indulgence than in former times. The Nestorians and Monophysites in Asia and Africa persevere in their refusal to enter into the communion of the Romish church, notwithstanding the earnest intreaties and alluring offers that have been made from time to time by the pope's legates, to conquer their inflexible constancy. The pontiffs have frequently attempted to renew, by another sacred expedition, their former connexions with Abyssinia; but they have not yet been able to find out a method of escaping the vigilance of that court, which still persists in its abhorrence of popery. Nor is it at all probable that the ambassy, which is now preparing at Rome for the Abyssinian emperor, will be attended with success'. The Monophysites propagate their doctrine in Asia with zeal and assiduity, and, not long ago, gained over to their

'See the Continuation.

IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

17

communion a part of the Nestorians who inhabit CENT. XVIII. the coasts of India.

Lutheran

XIV. The Lutheran church, which dates its The external foundation from the year 1517, and the confession state of the of Augsburg from 1530, celebrated in peace and church. prosperity the secular return of those memorable periods in the years 1717 and 1730. It received, some years ago, a considerable accession to the number of its members by the emigration of those protestants, who abandoned the territory of Saltzburg, and the town of Berchtolsgaden, in order to breathe a free air, and to enjoy unmolested the exercise of their religion. One body of these emigrants settled in Prussia, another in Holland; and many of them transplanted themselves and their families to America, and other distant regions. This circumstance contributed greatly to propagate the doctrine, and extend the reputation of the Lutheran church, which thus formed several congregations of no small note in Asia and America. The state of Lutheranism at home has not been so prosperous, since we learn both from public transactions, and also from the complaints of its professors and patrons, that, in several parts of Germany, this church has been injuriously oppressed, and unjustly deprived of some of its privileges and advantages, by the votaries of Rome.

XV. It has been scarcely possible to introduce Its internal any change into the doctrine and discipline of that state. church, because the ancient confessions and rules that were drawn up to point out the tenets that were to be believed, and the rites and ceremonies that were to be performed, still remain in their full authority, and are considered as the sacred guardians of the Lutheran faith and worship. The method, however, of illustrating, enforcing, and defending the doctrines of Christianity, has undergone several changes. About the commencement of this century, an artless simplicity was generally observed by the Lutheran ministers, and all philosophical terms and

CENT. XVIII. abstract reasonings were relinquished, as more adapted to obscure than to illustrate the truths of the Gospel. But, in process of time, a very different way of thinking began to take place; and several learned men entertained a notion that the doctrines of Christianity could not maintain their ground, if they were not supported by the aids of philosophy, and exhibited and proved in geometrical order.

Intestine enemies.

The adepts in jurisprudence, who undertook, in the last century, the revision and correction of the ecclesiastical code that is in force among the Lutherans, carried on their undertaking with great assiduity and spirit; and our church-government would at this day bear another aspect, if the ruling powers had judged it expedient to listen to their counsels and representations. We see, indeed, evident proofs that the directions of these great men, relating to the external form of ecclesiastical government, discipline, and worship, are highly respected; and that their ideas, even of doctrine, have been more or less adopted by many. Hence it is not surprising, that warm disputes have arisen between them and the rulers of the church concerning several points. The Lutheran doctors are apprehensive that, if the sentiments of some of these reformers should take place, religion would become entirely subservient to the purposes of civil policy, and be converted into a mere state-machine; and this apprehension is not peculiar to the clergy, but is also entertained by some persons of piety and candor, even among the civilians.

XVI. The liberty of thinking, speaking, and writing, concerning religious matters, which began to prevail in the last century, was, in this, confirmed and augmented; and it extended so far as to encourage both infidels and fanatics to pour forth among the multitude, without restraint, all the crudities of their enthusiasm and extravagance. Accordingly we have seen, and still see, numbers of fanatics and

innovators start up, and, under the influence ofCENT. XVIII. enthusiasm or of a disordered brain, divulge their crude fancies and dreams among the people, by which they either delude many from the communion of the established church, or at least occasion contests and divisions of the most disagreeable kind. We mentioned formerly several of these disturbers of the tranquillity of the church, to whom we may now add the notorious names of Tennhart, Gichtel, Uberfeld, Rosenbach, Bredel, Seiz, Roemeling, and many others, who either imagined that they were divinely inspired, or, from a persuasion of their superior capacity and knowlege, set up for reformers of the doctrine and discipline of the church. Many writers drew their pens against this presumptuous and fanatical tribe, though the greatest part of those who composed it were really below the notice of men of character, and were rather worthy of contempt than of opposition. And, indeed, it was not so much the force of reason and argument, as the experience of their ill success, that convinced these fanatics of their folly, and induced them to desist from their chimerical projects. Their attempts could not stand the trial of time and common sense; and therefore, after having made a transitory noise, they fell into oblivion. Such is the common and deserved fate of almost all the fanatic ringleaders of the deluded populace; they suddenly start up, and make a figure for a while; but, in general, they ruin their own cause by their imprudence or obstinacy, by their austerity or perverseness, by their licentious conduct or their intestine divisions.

hutters.

XVII. Many place in this fanatical class the HerrenBrethren of Herrenhut, who were first formed into a religious community in the village so named, in Lusatia, by the famous count Zinzendorff, and afterwards grew so numerous that their emigrants were spread abroad in almost all the countries of Europe, formed settlements in the Indies, and even penetrated to the remotest parts of the globe. They