were now made to the tombs of the martyrs, as well as to other places deemed sacred, especially to Jerusalem, where our Lord suffered.

Many superstitious ceremonies were added to baptism, and to the Lord's Supper, which was called the mass or missa, either from the dismission of all, but the members, before the service began, or from the dismission of these when it closed. The bread and wine were elevated, not to be worshipped, but presented to God, and were put into the mouths of the dying as a passport to heaven.

With an appearance of great rigour, there was a general relaxation of real discipline; though tickets were given to persons removing from place to place, to attest that they were members of the Christian church. The places of worship, now erected by Christians, resembled the Jewish temple; having an outer court, which was afterwards converted into a burying-ground; a pronave, or vestibule, where the catechumens stood; the nave, or temple itself, where the faithful assembled, and the choir, called also the Bema, or Tribunal, and, by the Latins, the Presbytery, where the bishop's chair, or throne, held the middle place. There, the sacred supper was spread, in which it was observed that golden vessels were employed by wooden priests; for the days were gone when the church had wooden vessels and golden

pastors. The feast of Epiphany, or the manifestation of Christ, and the fast of Lent, were now introduced.

To the Donatists of the third century there were many successors, who maintained, if we may believe their adversaries, that the church should be composed of none but perfect Christians. It is probable, however, that the Donatists were, at first, faithful witnesses against corruption, though they at last split into parties and fell into error. The Arians, who were the chief disturbers of the church in the fourth century, derived their name from a presbyter of Alexandria, who, being envious of Alexander, elected bishop of that see in 317, maintained that Christ was not equal with the Father, but was created before the world. His followers divided into parties, some being denominated Semi-arians. Against this heresy, the first general council was held at Nice, in Bythinia, where three hundred and eighteen pastors of Christian churches assembled, among whom Constantine presided as sovereign. The assembly decreed that Christ was Homoousios, of the same nature with the Father; and condemned the Arians, who maintained that the Son was Homojousios, or of like nature. Against Macedonius, bishop of Constantinople, who, in 361, denied that the Holy Spirit was a divine person, and against Sabellius, who, merged all the persons in

that of the Father, was held the next general council, at Constantinople, under Theodosius, in 381; where, among a hundred and fifty, there was no one The Sabellians and Macedonians were

from Rome.

condemned.

This was the age of heresies, and of councils, of superstition and of luxury, of external triumph and of spiritual death.

SECT. 2.-The Corruption of the Christian Church.

We may now pass more rapidly over the Christian history. Gregory, called the Great, bishop of Rome, was a powerful writer, who taught the prefection of the inspired Scriptures. Severus Sulpitius wrote in Latin, an ecclesiastical history, as did Socrates, Sozamen and Evagrius, in Greek. The celebrated female, Hypatia, taught philosophy at Alexandria, where she was massacred by party fury.

The supremacy of the bishop of Rome was first acknowledged by Phocas, the murderer of his master Maurice, who, when dying, exclaimed," Thou art righteous, O Lord, and just are thy judgments." The barbarians now began to break up the Roman empire; for, from the year 410 to 550, Rome was taken by Alaric, Genseric, Richomer, and twice by Totila. But Atala, king of the Huns, was the great scourge employed by God to chastise the sins of

those who were called Christians. The Lombards, who favoured Arianism, founded a kingdom in Italy, Clovis, a king of the Francs, or French, having submitted to Christian baptism, it was pretended that holy oil, to anoint him, as a Christian king, was brought from heaven in the bill of a dove. Augustine the monk was sent by Gregory, from Rome, in the year 597, to convert the Anglo-Saxons, though the Britons had embraced Christianity long before.

Monkery and superstition now became rampant. In Syria, enthusiasts set themselves up on pillars, the height of which was gradually increased, till it became dreadful., These pillared saints, who sought to approach heaven in this gross manner, devoted their lives to fasting and prayer, and were almost adored by the ignorant crowd. As Rome ceased to be the seat of the emperor, the bishop became more powerful, and the clergy claimed the right of judging ecclesiastical causes; so that almost every thing was made ecclesiastical, to increase the power of the priests. At this time were introduced what are called litanies, in which the people responded at every sentence, "Lord have mercy upon us." In the eastern churches, the Trisagion, or the cry of the seraphim, Holy, holy, holy, was devised and practised, as of great virtue. Gregory the Great made new regulations for the mass, in which it was pro

hibited to sing Hallelujah, except on the fifty days between Passover and Pentecost. The magnificence of temples was much increased, and that which was built by Justinian at Constantinople, and dedicated to St. Sophia, was so splendid that the emperor exclaimed, "I have outdone thee, Solomon." The sacred places were now made asylums, where even murderers might flee and be safe; while religious processions were, in times of public calamity, supposed to be efficacious means of diverting the judgments of God.

The fifth century was troubled by the rise of the heresy which we have mentioned as introduced by Pelagius, a British monk, who, denying original sin, maintained the power of men to turn to God, and do those works for the foresight of which they were said to be pre-destinated to life. His coadjutors were Celestius and Julian, and his followers abounded, not only in Britain, but in Africa and Palestine. A modification of this doctrine was introduced by John Cassian, a monk, at Marseilles, which gave to the Semi-pelagians, the name of Marsellians. Augustine has been held in honour, as the able defender of the orthodox faith against Pelagianism. But, from this time, what is called the Calvinistic controversy has agitated the church.

Nestorious, bishop of Constantinople, employing