11. Frequently, and violently, in this century, was the important debate of Christ's divinity agitated-a controversy prolific of deplorable consequences. The APOLLINARIANS maintained, "that the man Christ was not endowed with a human, soul; but that the Divine nature was its substitute, and performed its functions.”

12. The NESTORIANS asserted, "that in the Saviour of mankind there were two persons, of which one was divine, and the other human." EUTICHUS, to avoid these extremes, invented another mode of explication, "and denied the existence of the human nature of Christ; and taught, that in him there was but one nature, which he termed the incarnate word, and thereby abrogated the whole human nature of Christ entirely."

13. At the fourth general council, held at Chalcedon, it was agreed upon, "that in Christ two distinct natures were united in one person, and that without any change, or mixture, or confusion.” Neither of these definitions was generally satisfactory: the tumult of opinion, instead of being allayed, was considerably increased by attempts at explaining what has remained inexplicable to the present day.

14. Happy for the serious, humble follower of the blessed Jesus, that the word of life, the Scripture of truth, has been preserved by an invincible Providence for his perusal. This he will find to be a light to his feet, and a lamp to his path; and fally adequate to all the purposes of Divine information, on every article essential to his present and future felicity. There he beholds one, whom the Scriptures style the MIGHTY GOD, engage in the great work of human redemption; hears him with his dying breath declaring the accomplishment of its glorious design; and, whilst he credits the Divine testimony of his person and work, he is pre. served from wandering in the endless labyrinth of vain philosophy.

15. Ever tenacious of the Divine warrant of his faith, he considers it as his highest wisdom, and finds it the only certain mode of securing the peace of his own mind, to embrace the simple record which God has given of his Son. Thus he finds his mind unshaken amidst the wars of controversy; and holding the mys

tery of the faith in a pure conscience, he lives, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, even his Saviour Jesus Christ.

STATE OF CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH AND
SEVENTH CENTURY.

IN the sixth century the ambition of the Roman Pontiff distinguished itself in a violent struggle for absolute supremacy with JOHN, surnamed the Foster Bishop of Constantinople. Long had the man of sin, in the persons of the Bishops of Rome, aimed at every possible degree of accession to his impious domination. In the language of the Apostle, "hitherto there had been one who would let ;" which was none other than the Roman eivil power, exercised by the emperors.

2. When it was taken out of the way, which happened in the fifth century, by the fall of the Western Empire, then an opportunity offered itself by which ecelesiastieal tyranny made gigantic strides towards a maturity of diabolical despotism over the lives and consciences of millions of the human race; a despotism which has been the disgrace of human nature, the scourge of maukind, and the greatest insult that ever Christianity sustained.

3. Good men, of every name, must rejoice that its destruction is laid in the purpose of the Most High. Babylon is to fall, never to rise again. Its dismember

ment has already been beheld; and, doubtless, the hearts of the friends and subjects of the Lord Jesus beat high with the anticipation of that important period, when its final and total overthrow shall be accomplished.

4. In the year 584 the emperor JUSTINIAN gave supreme power to the beast, by declaring him, “ Head of all the Churches. The judge of all others, himself to be judged by none." In the east his pretensions were disregarded, and his authority rejected; but in the west his nefarious design too well succeeded. Wicked and servile priests, in the impiety of their hearts, were

urged on to illustrate the prediction of the Apostle, 2 Thess. ii. 4.

5. ENNODIUS, Bishop of Ticinum, in a fulsome pane. gyric, asserted that the Bishop of Rome was constituted judge in the place of God. Frequently this lordly supremacy was disputed and resisted; and surrounding princes exercised their regal authority independent of The ghostly dominion of the Roman Pontiff: Yet the foundation of his Antichristian greatness was now so effectually laid, that in future periods the astonished world beheld princes, and kings, and emperors amenable to his tribunal, expressing the most servile subjection to his authority, and performing the most degrading acts of rigorous humiliation at his command.

6. The growth of superstition gave vigour to the corruptions of the clergy. A rapacious priesthood availed itself of the ignorance of the people, and fattened upon the spoil. Luxury and its attendant vices distinguished their characters, nor was even external decency maintained by those, who, like the wife of Cesar, ought not so much as to be suspected. Imperial edicts and the decrees of councils were issued in vain; nothing could restrain the gross immoralities of the ministers of religion.

7. The fecundity of the Monkish system abundantly evinced itself. Like frogs, or unclean reptiles, they were every where seen crawling over the face of the earth. The new order, established by BENEDICT, of Nursia, poured forth incalculable hordes. In the lan guage of an eminent historian," they multiplied so prodigiously in the east, that whole armies might have been raised out of the monastic order without any sensible diminution of that enormous body."

8. By the accumulation of immense wealth, wrung from the simplicity of the people, an unbounded indul gence in luxury and sloth prevailed. By the influence of luxury and sloth they were easily subjugated to corruptions of the most flagrant kind. Imperial edifices, as the places of their abode, every where reared their heads; and the most fertile parts of the country were always chosen as the situation of these nurseries of unlimited profligacy.

9. With splendid and ostentatious pageantry the mother of harlots amused her children, the more easily to seduce their minds from the truth, and to divert their attention from an investigation of her high and arrogant claims. Gregory the Great exerted the influence of his authority, and the powers of his eloquence, in the substitution of a gaudy superstition for that wisdom that cometh from above; by the glare of which the eyes of his infatuated vassals were dazzled, and the establishment of his surreptitious dominion facilitated.

10. Christian festivals, instituted after the mode of Pagan feasts, were sanctioned by pontifical authority, and, with criminal avidity, adopted by the silly multitude. Every where the pristine beauty of Christianity was either totally defaced, or monstrously deformed. Clouds of thick darkness overspread the whole intellectual horizon. Those monuments of ancient erudition, which had escaped the ruthless rage of barbarous invaders, were either destroyed by the pernicious zeal of superstition, or neglected by illiberal ignorance; so that from the beginning of the seventh to the eleventh century was a period eminently distinguished by the term of the dark ages.

11. Ignorance, ever friendly to the hostile purposes of designing men, prepared the mind for the reception of every doctrine however impious, and the countenance of every ceremony however puerile. The foundation of a lost sinner's hope was totally subverted; and the character of a good Christian substantiated by the performance of numberless trifling ceremonies, and submission to the rapacions requisitions of mercenary priests.

12. In the language of a saint of these times, the mode of obtaining eternal redemption is thus exhibited: "Redeem your souls while the remedy is within your reach" which remedy is thus specified: "Bring your oblations and tithes to the Church. Bring candles to illuminate the Church. Humbly intreat the patronage of the saints; which things if ye do, ye may with boldness appear at the bar of God, and lay claim to your eternal salvation with this plea, Give, O Lord! unto us, because we have given unto thee.”

13. Various controversies about vain words, on incomprehensible articles, were frequently and violently agiiated. Councils were formed, the rulers of the Church convened, the jargon of debate ardently kept up. Plain things were forgotten in the hours of altercation ; rancour fostered in the human mind; the subject of dispute was made darker by an attempt at elucidation; and the strongest generally triumphed. As the balance of power preponderated, persecution prevailed. Hence Arians became victims to the rage of Niceans, and Niceans alternately victims to the rage of Arians.

14. Thus pure and undefiled Christianity, such as that transmitted to the world by the mouth of Him who spake as man never spake, which he sealed with his blood, and confirmed by the testimony and death of Apostles, lay languishing upon the ground with symptoms of approaching dissolution. This eventful period seemed like a solemn pause in the gracious purpose of the Almighty. It was as if he had forgotten to be gracious, or as if, upon account of the affronts cast upon the dignity of his eternal Majesty, he would visit the earth no more.

15. The serious mind, that is capable of contemplating the nature of his designs through the medium of history, will find encouragement, in the darkest season, yet to hope in his mercy. He will there see, that He who ruleth over men, in the prosecution of his all-wise designs, has at times covered himself with a cloud, from which he has again broke forth with all the effulgence of that God who, at sundry times, and in divers manners, has proved himself mindful of his covenant. Let Israel therefore trust in the Lord.

MOHAMMEDISM.

"THE fifth Angel," saith John, "sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven upon earth, and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit," Rev. ix. 1.

2. The most eminent expositors of Scripture agree in the application of this terrible prophecy to the grand impostor, MOHAMMED. A name of such considerable magnitude, in consequence of its connexion with the