An Ecclesiastical History, Ancient and Modern: From the Birth of Christ, to the Beginning of the Present Century : in which the Rise, Progress, and Variations of Church Power, are Considered in Their Connection with the State of Learning and Philosophy, and the Political History of Europe During that Period, Volume 1

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Samuel Etheridge, 1810 - Church and state

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Page 175 - These councils, of which we find not the The authority smallest trace before the middle of this century, «p™m^"£ changed the whole face of the church, and gave it * "" »' a new form; for by them the ancient privileges of the people were considerably diminished, and the power and authority of the bishops greatly augmented.
Page 371 - The first of these maxims was, that it was an act of virtue to deceive and lie, when by that means the interests of the church might be promoted...
Page 208 - CHRISTIANS: the first rise of this denomination is placed under the reign of Adrian. For when this emperor had at length razed Jerusalem, entirely destroyed its very foundations, and enacted laws of the severest kind against the whole body of the Jewish people, the greatest part of the Christians who lived in Palestine, to prevent their being confounded with the Jews, abandoned entirely the Mosaic rites, and chose a bishop, namely, Mark, a foreigner by nation, and an alien from the commonwealth of...
Page 356 - ... acquired. The reins being once let loose to superstition, which knows no bounds, absurd notions and idle ceremonies multiplied every day. Quantities of dust and earth brought from Palestine, and other places remarkable for their supposed sanctity, were handed about as the most powerful remedies against the violence of wicked spirits, and were sold and bought everywhere at enormous prices.
Page 382 - The rites and institutions, by which the Greeks, Romans, and other nations, had formerly testified their religious veneration for fictitious deities, were now adopted, with some slight alterations, by Christian bishops, and employed in the service of the true God.
Page 294 - The auditors were allowed to possess houses, lands, and wealth, to feed on flesh, to enter into the bonds of conjugal tenderness ; but this liberty was granted them with many limitations, and under the strictest conditions of moderation and temperance. The general assembly...
Page 276 - Long before this period, an opinion had prevailed that Christ was to come and reign a thousand years among men, before the entire and final dissolution of this world. This opinion, which had hitherto met with no opposition...
Page 183 - They all attributed a double sense to the words of scripture ; the one obvious and literal, the other hidden and mysterious, which lay concealed, as it were, under the veil of the outward letter.
Page 103 - Three or four presbyters, men of remarkable piety and wisdom, ruled these small congregations in perfect harmony, nor did they stand in need of any president or superior to maintain concord and order, where no dissensions were known. But the number of the presbyters and deacons increasing with that of the churches, and the sacred work of the ministry growing more painful and weighty by a number of additional duties, these new. circumstances required new regulations. It was then judged necessary that...
Page 373 - ... and to the instruction of their people ; and when (to complete the enormity of this horrid detail) multitudes were drawn into the profession of Christianity, not by the power of conviction and argument, but by the prospect of gain and the fear of punishment ; then it was, indeed, no wonder that the church was contaminated with shoals of profligate Christians, and that the virtuous few were, in a manner, oppressed and overwhelmed with the superior numbers of the wicked and licentious.

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