where the difference is carried so far, ing and character. Never withhold that the parties concerned entirely these proofs of your brotherly love, unbreak up all communion one with ano-less they depart from the doctrines or ther, and go into distinct connections spirit of the Gospel.-2. Discountenance for obtaining the general ends of that the silly reports you may hear, to the inreligious fellowship which they once jury of any of your brethren. Oppose did, but now do not carry on and pursue backbiting and slander to the utmost.with united endeavours, as one church 3. Whenever any brother is sinking in joined in the bonds of individual society; the esteem of his flock through their cawhere this is the case, it is undeniable price, perverseness, or antinomianism, there is something very different from endeavour to hold up his hands and his schism: it is no longer a schism in, but heart in his work 4. Never espouse a separation from, the body. Dr. Camp- the part of the factious schismatics, till bell supposes that the word schism in you have heard your brother's account Scripture does not always signify open of their conduct.-5. In cases of an open separation, but that men may be guilty separation, do not preach for separatists of schism by such an alienation of affec- till it be evident that God is with them. tion from their brethren as violates the Detest the thought of wounding a brointernal union subsisting in the hearts of ther's feelings through the contemptible Christians, though there be no error in influence of a party spirit; for through doctrine, nor separation from commu- this abominable principle, schisms are nion. See 1 Cor. iii. 3, 4. 1 Cor. xii. 24 sure to be multiplied.-6. Let the symp-26. toms of disease in the patients, arouse the benevolent attention of the physicians. Let them check the froward, humble the proud, and warn the unruly; and many a schismatic distemper

The great schism of the West is that which happened in the times of Clement VII. and Urban VI, which divided the church for forty or fifty years, and was at length ended by the election of Mar-will receive timely cure.-7. Let elderly tin V. at the council of Constance.

Gospel Church; Dr. Owen's View of the Nature of Schism; Buck's Sermons, ser. 6. on Divisions.

SCHISM BILL. See conclusion of the article NONCONFORMIST.

ministers and tutors of academies pay The Romanists number thirty-four more attention to these things, in proschisms in their church: they bestow the portion as the disease may prevail; for name English schism on the reforma- much good may be accomplished_by tion of religion in this kingdom. Those their influence." See King on the Priof the church of England apply the mitive Church, p. 152; Hales and Henry term schism to the separation of the on Schism; Dr. Campbell's Prel. Dist. Presbyterians, Independents, Anabap- to the Gospels, part 3; Haweis's Aptists, and Methodists. pendix to the first vol. of his Church "The sin of schism," says the learn-History; Archibald Hall's View of a ed Blackstone, as such, is by no means the object of temporal coercion and punishment. If, through weakness of intellect, through misdirected piety, through perverseness and acerbity of temper, or through a prospect of secular advantage in herding with a party, men quarrel with the ecclesiastical establishment, the civil magistrate has nothing to do with it; unless their tenets and practice are such as threaten ruin or disturbance to the state. All persecution for diversity of opinions, however ridiculous and absurd they may be, is contrary to every principle of sound policy and civil freedom. The names and subordination of the clergy, the posture of devotion, the materials and colour of SCHOOLMEN, a sect of men, in a minister's garment, the joining in a the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth known or unknown form of prayer, and centuries, who framed a new sort of diother matters of the same kind, must vinity, called Scholastic Theology. [See be left to the option of every man's pri- last article.] Their divinity was foundvate judgment.' The following have ed upon, and confirmed by, the philoso been proposed as remedies for schism.phy of Aristotle, and lay, says Dr. Gill, "1. Be disposed to support your breth-in contentions and litigious disputations, ren by all the friendly attentions in your in thorny questions and subtle distincpower, speaking justly of their preach- tions. Their whole scheme was chiefly

SCHOLASTIC DIVINITY, is that part or species of divinity which clears and discusses questions by reason and argument; in which sense it stands, in some measure, opposed to positive divinity, which is founded on the authority of fathers, councils, &c. The school divinity is now fallen into contempt, and is scarcely regarded any where but in some of the universities, where they are still by their charters obliged to teach it.

directed to support Antichristianism; so that by their means Popish darkness was the more increased, and Christian divinity almost banished out of the world.

founder, J. Duns Scotus, a Scottish cordelier, who maintained the immaculate conception of the Virgin, or that she was born, without original sin, in opposition to Thomas Aquinas and the Thomists.

of the army, 2 Chron. xxvi. 11. 2 Kings, xxv. 19.-3. A man of learning, a doctor of the law, 1( nron. xxvii. 32.

SCRIPTURE is a word derived from the Latin scriptura, and in its original sense is of the same import with writing, signifying "any thing written." It is, however, commonly used to denote the writings of the Old and New Testaments, which are called sometimes the Scriptures, sometimes the sacred or ho

"Considering them as to their metaphysical researches," says an anony- SCRIBE. This word has different mous but excellent writer, "they fa- significations in Scripture. 1. A clerk, tigued their readers in the pursuit of or writer, or secretary, 2 Sam. viii. 17 endless abstractions and distinctions;-2. A commissary, or muster-master and their design seems rather to have been accurately to arrange and define the objects of thought than to explore the mental faculties themselves. The nature of particular and universal ideas, time, space, infinity, together with the mode of existence to be ascribed to the Supreme Being, chiefly engaged the attention of the mightiest minds in the middle ages. Acute in the highest degree, and endued with a wonderful patience of thinking, they yet, by a mis-ly taken direction of their powers, wasted themselves in endless logomachies, and displayed more of a teazing subtlety than of philosophical depth. They chose rather to strike into the dark and intricate by-paths of metaphysical science, than to pursue a career of useful discovery; and as their disquisitions were neither adorned by taste, nor reared on a basis of extensive knowledge, they gradually fell into neglect, when juster views in philosophy made their appearance. Still they will remain a mighty monument of the utmost which the mind of man can accomplish in the field of abstraction. If the metaphysician does not find in the schoolmen the materials of his work, he will perceive the study of their writings to be of excellent benefit in sharpening his tools. They will aid his acuteness, though they may fail to enlarge his knowledge."

Some of the most famous were, Damascene, Lanfranc, P. Lombard, Alex. Hales, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and Durandus. Gill's Body of Divinity, Preface; Elective Rev. for Dec. 1805; H. More's Hints to a Young Princess, vol. ii. p. 267, 268.

SCORNER, one who treats any person or thing with contempt. "He deems," says Mr. Scott, "his own understanding equal to the discovery, investigation, and even comprehension, of every subject: he therefore rejects as false whatever he cannot account for, what he finds contrary to his preconceived sentiments, and what is out of the reach of his reason; and, indeed, all that tends to condemn his conduct, or expose his folly."

SCOTISTS, a sect of school divines and philosophers; thus called from their

Scriptures, and sometimes canonical Scriptures. These books are called the Scriptures by way of eminence, as they are the most important of all writings. They are said to be holy or sacred on account of the sacred doctrines which they teach; and they are termed canonical, because, when their number and authenticity were ascertained, their names were inserted in ecclesiastical canons, to distinguish them from other books, which, being of no authority, were kept out of sight, and therefore styled apocryphal. See APOCRYPHA.

Among other arguments for the divine authority of the Scriptures, the following may be considered as worthy of our attention:

"1. The sacred penmen, the prophets and apostles, were holy, excellent men, and would not-artless, illiterate men, and therefore could not, lay the horrible scheme of deluding mankind. The hope of gain did not influence them, for they were self-denying men, that left all to follow a Master who had not where to lay his head; and whose grand initiating maxim was, Except a man forsake all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.—They were so disinterested, that they secured nothing on earth but hunger and nakedness, stocks and prisons, racks and tortures; which, indeed, was all that they could or did expect, in consequence of Christ's express declarations. Neither was a desire of honour the motive of their actions; for their Lord himself was treated with the utmost contempt, and had more than once assured them that they should certainly share the same fate: besides, they were humble men, not above working as mechanics, for a coarse maintenance; and so little desi

tians, as a memorial of Christ's death, and the miracles that accompanied it, some of which are recorded by Phlegon the Trallian, an heathen historian.

rous of human regard, that they exposed to the world the meanness of their birth and occupations, their great ignorance and scandalous falls. Add to this that they were so many, and lived at "5. The Scriptures have not only the such distance of time and place from external sanction of miracles, but the each other, that, had they been impos-eternal stamp of the omniscient God by tors, it would have been impracticable a variety of prophecies, some of which for them to contrive and carry on a for-have already been most exactly congery without being detected. And, as firmed by the event predicted. (See they neither would nor could deceive PROPHECY.) the world, so they either could nor would be deceived themselves; for they were days, months, and years, eye and ear-witnesses of the things which they relate; and, when they had not the fullest evidence of important facts, they insisted upon new proofs, and even upon sensible demonstrations; as, for instance, Thomas, in the matter of our Lord's resurrection, John xx. 25; and to leave us no room to question their sincerity, most of them joyfully sealed the truth of their doctrines with their own blood. Did so many and such marks of veracity ever meet in any other authors?

"2. But even while they lived, they confirmed their testimony by a variety || of miracles wrought in divers places, and for a number of years, sometimes before thousands of their enemies, as the miracles of Christ and his disciples; sometimes before hundreds of thousands, as those of Moses. (See MIRACLE.)

"3. Reason itseif dictates, that nothing but the plainest matter of fact could induce so many thousands of prejudiced and persecuting Jews to embrace the humbling self-denying doctrine of the cross, which they so much despised and abhorred. Nothing but the clearest evidence arising from undoubted truth could make multitudes of lawless, luxu- || rious heathens receive, follow, and transmit to posterity, the doctrine and writings of the apostles; especially at a time when the vanity of their pretensions to miracles and the gift of tongues, could be so easily discovered, had they been impostors; and when the profession of Christianity exposed persons of all ranks to the greatest contempt and most imminent danger.

"6. The scattered, despised people, the Jews, the irreconcileable enemies of the Christians, keep with amazing care the Old Testament, full of the prophetic history of Jesus Christ, and by that means afford the world a striking proof that the New Testament is true; and Christians, in their turn, show that the Old Testament is abundantly confirmed and explained by the New. (See JEWS, § 4.)

"7. To say nothing of the harmony, venerable antiquity, and wonderful preservation of those books, some of which are by far the most ancient in the world; to pass over the inimitable simplicity and true sublimity of their style; the testimony of the fathers and the primitive Christians; they carry with them such characters of truth, as command the respect of every unprejudiced reader.

"They open to us the mystery of the creation; the nature of God, angels, and man; the immortality of the soul; the end for which we were made; the origin and connexion of moral and natural evil; the vanity of this world, and the glory of the next. There we sce inspired shepherds, tradesmen, and fishermen, surpassing as much the greatest philosophers, as these did the herd of mankind, both in meekness of wisdom and sublimity of doctrine.-There we admire the purest morality in the world, agreeable to the dictates of sound reason, confirmed by the witness which God has placed for himself in our breast and exemplified in the lives of men of like passions with ourselves.-There we discover a vein of ecclesiastical history and theological truth consistently running through a collection of sixty-six different books, written by various authors, in different languages, during the space of above 1500 years.-There we

"4. When the authenticity of the miracles was attested by thousands of living witnesses, religious rites were instituted and performed by hundreds of thou-find, as in a deep and pure spring, all the sands, agreeable to Scripture injunctions, genuine drops and streams of spiritual in order to perpetuate that authenticity: knowledge which can possibly be met and these solemn ceremonies have ever with in the largest libraries.-There the since been kept up in all parts of the workings of the human heart are deworld; the Passover by the Jews, in scribed in a manner that demonstrate the remembrance of Moses's miracles in inspiration of the Searcher of hearts. Egypt; and the Eucharist by Chris-There we have a particular account

sulted. This, however, will not always answer.-5. If it do not, consider whether the phrase be any of the writer's peculiarities: if so, it must be inquired what is the acceptation in which he em

of all our spiritual maladies, with their various symptoms, and the method of a certain cure; a cure that has been witnessed by multitudes of martyrs and departed saints, and is now enjoyed by thousands of good men, who would ac-ploys it in other places.-6. If this be not count it an honour to seal the truth of the Scriptures with their own blood.-There you meet with the noblest strains of penitential and joyous devotion, adapted to the dispositions and states of all travellers to Sion.-And there you read those awful threatenings and cheering promises which are daily fulfilled in the consciences of men, to the admiration of believers, and the astonishment of attentive infidels.

sufficient, recourse should be had to the parallel passages, if there be any such, in the other sacred writers.-7. If this throws no light, consult the New Testament and the Septuagint, where the word may be used.-8. If the term be only once used in Scripture, then recur to the ordinary acceptation of the term in classical authors.-9. Sometimes reference may be had to the fathers.10. The ancient versions, as well as mo"8. The wonderful efficacy of the dern scholiasts, annotators, and translaScriptures is another proof that they are tors, may be consulted.-11. The analoof God. When they are faithfully open-gy of faith, and the etymology of the ed by his ministers, and powerfully ap- word, must be used with caution. plied by his Spirit, they wound and Above all, let the reader unite prayer heal, they kill and make alive; they with his endeavours, that his underalarm the careless, direct the lost, sup-standing may be illuminated, and his port the tempted, strengthen the weak, heart impressed with the great truths comfort mourners, and nourish pious which the sacred Scriptures contain. souls.

"As for the objections which are raised against their perspicuity and consistency, those who are both pious and learned, know that they are generally founded on prepossession, and the want of understanding in spiritual things; or on our ignorance of several customs, idioms, and circumstances, which were perfectly known when those books were written. Frequently, also, the immaterial error aríses merely from a wrong punctuation, or a mistake of copiers, printers, or translators; as the daily discoveries of pious critics, and ingenious confessions of unprejudiced enquirers, abundantly prove.'

To understand the Scriptures, says Dr. Campbell, we should, 1. Get acquainted with each writer's style.2. Inquire carefully into the character, the situation, and the office of the writer; the time, the place, the occasion of his writing; and the people for whose immediate use he originally intended his work.-3. Consider the principal scope of the book, and the particulars chiefly observable in the method by which the writer has purposed to execute his design.-4. Where the phrase is obscure, the context must be con

As to the public reading of the Scriptures, it may be remarked, that this is a very laudable and necessary practice. "One circumstance," as a writer observes, "why this should be attended to in congregations is, that numbers of the hearers, in many places, cannot read them themselves, and not a few of them never hear them read in the families where they reside. It is strange that this has not long ago struck every person of the least reflection in all our churches, and especially the ministers, as a most conclusive and irresistible argument for the adoption of this practice.

"It surely would be better to abridge the preaching and singing, and even the prayers, to one half of their length or more, than to neglect the public reading of the Scriptures. Let these things, therefore, be duly considered, together with the following reasons and observations, and let the reader judge and determine the case, or the matter, for himself.

"Remember that God no sooner caused any part of his will, or word, to be written, than he also commanded the same to be read, not only in the family, but also in the congregation, and that even when all Israel were assembled together (the men, women, and children, and even the strangers that were within their gates;) and the end was, that they might hear, and that they might learn, and fear the Lord their God, and observe to do all the words of his law,

Deut. xxxi. 12.

||

"Afterward, when synagogues were Brown's Introduction to his Bible; erected in the land of Israel, that the Dr. Campbell's Preliminary Dissertapeople might every Sabbath meet to tions to his Transl. of the Gospels; worship God, it is well known that the Fletcher's Appeal; Simon's Critical public reading of the Scripture was a History of the Old and New Test.; Osmain part of the service there per-tervald's Arguments of the Books and formed: so much so, that no less than Characters of the Old and New Test., three-fourths of the time was generally Cosins's Scholastic Hist. of the Canon of employed, it seems, in reading and ex- Scrip.; Warden's System of Revealed pounding the Scriptures. Even the Religion; Wells's Geography of the prayers and songs used on those occa- Old and New Test.; The Use of Sasions appear to have been all subser- cred History, especially as illustrating vient to that particular and principal and confirming the Doctrine of Revelaemployment or service, the reading of tion, by Dr. Jamieson; Dick on Inspiration; Blackwell's Sacred Classics; Michael's Introduction to the New Test.; Melmoth's Sublime and Beautiful of the Scriptures; Dwight's Dissertation on the Poetry, History, and Eloquence of the Bible; Edwards on the Authority, Style, and Perfection of Scripture; Stackhouse's History of the Bible; Kennicott's State of the Hebrew Text, Jones on the Figurative Language of Scripture; and books under articles BIBLE, COMMENTARY, CHRISTIANITY, and REVELATION.

the law.

"This work, or practice, of reading the Scripture in the congregation, is warranted, and recommended in the New Testament, as well as in the Old. || As Christians, it is fit and necessary that we should first of all look unto Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith. His example, as well as his precepts, is full of precious and most important instruction; and it is a remarkable circumstance, which ought never to be forgotten, that he began his public ministry, in the synagogue of Nazareth, by reading a portion of Scripture out of the book of the prophet Isaiah; Luke, iv. 15.-19. This alone, one would think, might be deemed quite sufficient to justify the practice among his disciples through all succeeding ages, and even inspire them with zeal for its constant observance.

SECEDERS, a numerous body of Presbyterians in Scotland, who have withdrawn from the communion of the established church.

In 1732, more than forty ministers presented an address to the general assembly, specifying, in a variety of instances, what they considered to be great defections from the established "The apostle Paul, in pointing out to constitution of the church, and craving Timothy his ministerial duties, particu- a redress of these grievances. A petilarly mentions reading, 1 Tim. iv. 13. tion to the same effect, subscribed by Give attendance (says he) to reading, several hundreds of elders and private to exhortation, to doctrine, evidently Christians, was offered at the same distinguishing reading as one of the time; but the assembly refused a hearpublic duties incumbent upon Timothy.ing to both, and enacted, that the elecThere can be no reason for separating these three, as if the former was only a private duty, and the others public ones; the most natural and consistent idea is, that they were all three public duties; and that the reading here spoken of, was no other than the reading of the Scriptures in those Christian assemblies where Timothy was concerned, and which the apostle would have him by no means to neglect. If the public reading of the Scriptures was so necessary and important in those religious assemblies which had Timothy for their minister, how much more must it be in our assemblies, and even in those which enjoy the labours of our most able and eminent ministers!"

On the subject of the Scriptures, we must refer the reader to the articles BIBLE, CANON, INSPIRATION, PROPHECY, and REVELATION. See also

tion of ministers to vacant charges, where an accepted presentation did not take place, should be competent only to a conjunct meeting of elders and heritors, being Protestants. To this act many objections were made by numbers of ministers and private Christians. They asserted that more than thirty to one in every parish were not possessed of landed property, and were, on that account, deprived of what they deemed their natural right to choose their own pastors. It was also said that this act was extremely prejudicial to the honour and interest of the church, as well as to the edification of the people; and, in fine, that it was directly contrary to the appointment of Jesus Christ, and the practice of the apostles, when they filled up the first vacancy in the apostolic college, and appointed the election of deacons and elders in the primitive