isters-Labours and Talents-Associations.Baptists. Gene- ral and Particular.-Calvinistic Methodists. High Doctrine- Harmonize with Independents.—Wesleyan Methodists. In- IV. Public Institutions in Britain.—Universities-Dissenting Semi- naries-Baptist, Methodist and London Missionary Societies- British and Foreign Bible Society-Tract and Sunday School Societies-Jews Society-Retrospect V. General State of Religion in America.-Ecclesiastical and Nation- al Character-Presbyterians--Congregationalists--Baptists— AN ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. PRELIMINARY. A View of the World in general, and of the Jewish Nation in particular, at the Time of the Saviour's Birth. SUCH is the connexion between all historical events in general, and between the Revelation of the Old and the Revelation of the New Testament in particular, that in the history of the Christian Church it will be found necessary first to take a succinct view of the state of the world, and of the Jewish Theocracy, at the time of the Messiah's birth. Malachi concludes the Jewish canon of scripture, and sleeps with his fathers; and with him the spirit of prophecy reposes upwards of four hundred years. Its revival commences with those holy women, Elisabeth the mother of John the Baptist, and Mary the mother of Jesus. Zacharias, and Simeon, and Anna, in close succession, feel the same influence, and bear testimony to the same grand event. The fulness of time is at hand, and every thing must conspire to announce the coming of an INCARNATE GOD. From the dedication of the second temple, to the death of the last prophet, not more than one hundred and ten years elapsed, during which period flourished Ezra, Ne B hemiah, and Malachi, from the writings of whom it most evidently appears, that the moral state of the Jews was truly deplorable: the only sin to which they were not addicted, was that of idolatry. If this were the case under such holy and zealous men as Ezra and his colleagues, what might not be expected after their doctrine and example ceased to reprove and instruct. Israel returned from Babylon not as a free and independent people; Cyrus the Persian, it is true, was their deliverer, and under his patronage they proceeded to rebuild their city; but he was their sovereign, and after him, those, into whose hands his kingdom fell. Thus the tribes of Jacob were at the mercy of a foreign power, and in iunumerable instances they felt the tender mercies of such to be cruelty. The Persian government, two hundred and six years after the captivity, was succeeded by the Grecian, under the conquering hand of Alexander the Great, and of course the Jews were then subject to that power; after a few years, by turns, they were oppressed by Egypt and Syria, and at last by Rome, under the yoke of which they groaned when Messiah made his appearance. The sufferings of this people under these calamitous events, not a little mortified their pride, and kept alive their jealousy they had lost their liberty, and they feared the loss of both place and nation. Yet amidst all this they were not left without the hope of remedy. Prophecy had foretold the appearance of a Deliverer strong and mighty. So glorious the event to which these holy oracles pointed, that no language was too strong, no figures were too bold, no colouring too high, to represent the character of MESSIAH THE PRINCE. He was to come with the sword upon his thigh-riding from conquering to conquer-his own arm was to bring salvation, " and his fury to uphold him he was to sit upon the throne of David, and to stretch his sceptre over all nations. These prophecies were received by the Jews, under a persuasion that they would be literally fulfilled in the person and government of their promised Messiab. No idea was entertained that these predictions had a spiritual and divine meaning; consequently, when the Son of Mary made his appearance, and asserted his claim to the kingdom, they rejected him as an impostor, and for sedition and blasphemy put him to death. The writings of the sacred penmen strongly delineate the character of the Israelitish people. You cannot pursue their history to any length, but pride and worldlymindedness, disobedience, and ingratitude, appear to form the most prominent features. But, notwithstandbeing, the unity of their church was in general preserved ; this, doubtless, was owing to the law of Moses, attended with the spirit of prophecy. This law was the standard, and to this bar the prophets maintained a constant apepeal. But no sooner had the spirit of prophecy expired, than three famous sects divided the Jewish church, the PHARISEES, the SADDUCEES, and the ESSENES. The character and sentiments of the two former are fairly given in the New Testament; the latter are fully described by Josephus and Philo, writers quite equal to give a true account of them, from whom it appears that the Essenes were a recluse, superstitious seet, who, withdrawing from the rest of mankind, passed their days in a shew of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body, not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh. By these contending parties, both the doctrine and the discipline of the Jewish church were sadly corrupted and abused. The Pharisees, pretending to a stricter conformity to the law, had, by endless tra ditions, made void the law, and so became a law to themselves, by which they practised upon the people fraud, and violence, and abominable hypocrisy. The Saddu cees avoided all addition to the law, but then they so refined upon the Mosaic testimony, that they refused to admit the immortality of the soul, future rewards and punishments, divine influence, and indeed every thing held dear by the enlightened mind. "While, then, "such darkness, such errors and dissentions, prevailed "among those who assumed the character and authority "of persons distinguished by their superior sanetity and "wisdom, it will not be difficult to imagine how totally "corrupt the religion and morals of the multitude must "have been. They were, accordingly, sunk in the most "deplorable ignorance of God and of divine things, and "had no notion of any other way of rendering them"selves acceptable to the Supreme Being, than by sac"rifices, washings, and the other external rites and cer"emonies of the Mosaic law. Hence proceeded that "dissolution of manners, and that profligate wickedness, "which prevailed among the Jews during Christ's min istry upon earth. And hence the Divine Saviour com"pares that people to a flock of sheep, which wandered "without a shepherd; and their doctors to men who; "though deprived themselves of sight, yet pretended to "shew the way to others." Palestine (or Canaan, as it was originally called) was not wholly possessed by the Jews; on the skirts of it, lying along the coast, many of the old inhabitants remained, such as those of Tyre, Sidon, Syro-Phoenicia. But the most conspicuous and formidable were the Samaritans; these might be considered rather inmates than Matt. xxiii. 13, 33. + Mosheim, vol. 1. page 47. |