which the mystery was expressed by an OLD MAN, with three faces and three large beards! The earliest and most virtuous Christians, implicitly following the simply sublime and majestic tenets of the Gospel, satisfied themselves with adoring the Deity, in the humble and devout manner taught by the sacred writings*: It was subsequent depravity, grounded upon a vain pretence of framing mysteries where none existed, that introduced all; those follies and superstitions which have so much bewildered mankind, and by progressive degrees plunged them into doubt and wretchedness.-IMAGES were no sooner introduced into the churches, than they became a fruitful source of error; one public council encouraged their being set up; another ordered their removal: others replaced them after having been taken down; and some repeated their orders for their demolition: thus harassing the people with decisions and counter-decisions, explanations and refutations, until at length idolatry became as completely a characteristic of the Christian, as it had ever been of the Pagan, religion. The IMAGES of SAINTS and MARTYRS led the way, about the end of the fourth century; "Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves, (for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire,) lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female." [Deuteronomy iv. 15 and 16.] "To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?" [Isaiah xl. 18.] that of our SAVIOUR followed soon after; and the attempt to personify THE ALMIGHTY completed the abomination. The first essays at pourtraying Divinity were, however, merely symbolical: our Saviour was generally depicted in the form of a Lamb; and it was not, until the year 707, that his likeness was attempted in the figure of a man. POPE STEPHEN the Third, summoned a synod, when images of GOD were peremptorily ordered by the assembled prelates; these good men, who could not see any sin in the worship of statues, piously confessed, that the "immortal God, whose condition was made worse than that of mortals, merited some consideration." "It is lawful," said they, "to set up statues, &c.; and shall it not then be lawful to set up the image of God?" The first representations of our LORD JESUS, even by the symbolical device of a Lamb, were disgusting to the enlightened pastors of the earliest churches. In the year 389, about which time they appear to have been invented, EPIPHANIUS saw one, and destroyed it with a becoming indignation; an instance of proper feeling, which clearly proves that ignorance, and attendant conceit, did not disgrace the clergy of that early period; nor perhaps ought superstitious abominations, and gross instances of uncultivated intellect, to be imputed to that body, until the middle. of the fifth century; from which time, it is to be lamented, until after the long lapse of seven or eight succeeding ages, bigotry, and a want of literary acquirements, were the prevailing character istics of both the Church and State. In the tenth century, Monarchs, and even many of the ecclesiastical rulers, could not repeat the Apostles Creed; and it is a fact not to be controverted, that the doctrine of the Trinity was discussed at councils, the Bishops composing which could not write their names, and therefore "set their marks, or crosses, to their decisions, which some clerk, paid for the purpose, had previously transcribed." ALFRED the GREAT, complained that, in his time, there was not one PRIEST from the Humber to the Thames who understood the Liturgy in the mother tongue, or who could translate the easiest piece of Latin; and that from the Thames to the Sea they were yet more ignorant.—Even in the Reign of ELIZABETH, some of the CLERGY were so destitute of the qualifications requisite for their holy office, as to call forth public reproach.-[See Injunct. 47 and 53.]-" many of them were made Priests being children, and otherwise so utterly unlearned that they could not read; and therefore that ministers might read to the better understanding of the people, they are all of them charged to read leisurely, plainly, and distinctly: And such as are only mean readers are to peruse over before, once or twice, the Chapters and Homilies"! End of Wol. I. ભા Printed by Nichols, Son, and Bentley, |