These terms, from signifying the two dispensations, came soon to denote the books wherein they were written, the sacred writings of the Jews being called the Old Testament; and the writings superadded by the apostles and evangelists, the New Testament. An example of the use of the former application we have in 2 Cor. iii. 14. "Until this day remaineth the veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament." See Dr. Campbell's Pract. Disser. part 3. To make the ordinance of the Lord s THANKFULNESS. See GRATI- The term New is added to distinguish it from the Old Covenant, that is, the dispensation of Moses. The two covenants are always in Scripture the two dispensations: that under Moses is the old, that under the Messiah is the new. In the latitude wherein the term is used in holy writ, the command under the sanction of death, which God gave to Adam, may, with sufficient propriety, be termed a Covenant; but it is never so called in Scripture; and when mention is made of the two covenants, the old and the new, or the first and the second, there appears to be no reference to any thing that related to Adam. In all such places, Moses and Jesus are THANKSGIVING, that part of dicontrasted, the Jewish economy, and vine worship wherein we acknowledge the Christian: mount Sinai, in Arabia, benefits received. "It implies," says where the law was promulgated; and || Dr. Barrow, (vol. i. ser. 8 and 9.) "1. A mount Sion in Jerusalem, where the right apprehension of the benefits conGospel was first published. ferred. 2. A faithful retention of benefits in the memory, and frequent reflections upon them.-3. A due esteem and valuation of benefits.-4. A reception of those benefits with a willing mind, a vehement affection.—5. Due acknowledgment of our obligations.-6. Endeavours of real compensation; or, as it respects the Divine Being, a willingness to serve and exalt him.-7. Esteem, veneration, and love of the benefactor." The blessings for which we should be thankful are, 1. Temporal; such as health, food, raiment, rest, &c.-2. Spiritual; such TEST ACT, is the statute 25 Car. as the Bible, ordinances, the Gospel and II. cap. 2, which directs all officers, its blessings; as free grace, adoption, civil and military, to take the oaths, and pardon,, justification, calling, &c.-3. make the declaration against transub- Eternal, or the enjoyment of God in a stantiation, in the Court of King's Bench future state.-Also for all that is past, or chancery, the next term, or at the what we now enjoy, and what is pronext quarter sessions, or (by subsequent mised: for private and public, for ordistatutes) within six months after their nary, and extraordinary blessings; for admission; and also within the same prosperity, and even adversity, so far as time to receive the sacrament of the rendered subservient to our good. The Lord's supper, according to the usage of excellency of this duty appears, if we the church of England, in some public consider, 1. Its antiquity: it existed in church, immediately after divine ser- Paradise before Adam fell, and therevice or sermon, and to deliver into court fore prior to the graces of faith, rea certificate thereof, signed by the mi-pentance, &c.-2. Its sphere of operanister and church-warden: and also totion: being far beyond many other graces prove the same by two credible wit- which are confined to time and place. nesses, upon forfeiture of five hundred pounds, and disability to hold the said office. The avowed object of this act was, to exclude from places of trust all members of the church of Rome; and hence the Dissenters of that age, if they did not support the bill when passing through the two houses of parliament, gave it no opposition. For this part of their conduct they have been often censured with severity, as having betrayed their rights from resentment to their enemies. -3. Its felicity; some duties are painful; as repentance, conflict with sin, &c. but this is a source of sublime pleasure.-4. Its reasonableness.—And, 5. Its perpetuity. This will be in exercise for ever, when other graces will not be necessary, as faith, repentance, &c. The obligation to this duty arises, 1. From the relation we stand in to God. -2. The divine command.-3. The promises God hath made.-4. The example of all good men.-5. Our unworthiness of the blessings we re ceive. And, 6. The prospect of eternal || ling fleet's Origines Sacræ; Turre glory. tine's Institutio Theologia Elencticæ; Butler's Analogy; Picteti Theologia Christiana; Stapferi Institutiones Theologiæ; Witsius on the Covenants; Usher, Boston, Watson, Gill, and Ridgley's Divinity; Doddridge's Lectures; Brown's Compendium of Natural and Revealed Religion; and Ryan's Effects of Religion on Mankind. See also articles CHRISTIANITY, RELIGION, REVELATION, SCRIPTURES. THEOPASCHITES, a denomination in the fifth century, who held that Christ had but one nature, which was the divine, and consequently that this THEOPHILANTHROPISTS, a THEFT, the taking away the property of another without his knowledge or consent. This is not only a sin against our neighbour, but a direct violation of that part of the decalogue, which says, "Thou shalt not steal." This law requires justice, truth, and faithfulness in all our dealings with men; to owe no man any thing, but to give to all their dues; to be true to all engagements, promises, and contracts; and to be faithful in whatever is committed to our care and trust. It forbids all unjust ways of increasing our own and hurting our neighbour's sub-divine nature suffered. stance by using false balances and measures; by over-reaching and circum- sect of deists, who, in September 1796, venting in trade and commerce; by published at Paris a sort of catechism or taking away by force or fraud the goods, directory for social worship, under the persons, and properties of men; by bor- title of Manuel des Theanthrophiles. rowing and not paying again; by op- This religious breviary found favour; pression, extortion, and unlawful usury. the congregation became numerous It may include in it also, what is very and in the second edition of their Manual seldom called by this name, i. e. the they assumed the less harsh denominarobbing of ourselves and families, by tion of Theophilanthropists, i. e. lovers neglecting our callings, or imprudent of God and man.-According to them, management thereof; lending larger the temple the most worthy of the Disums of money than our circumstances vinity is the universe. Abandoned will bear, when there is no prospect of sometimes under the vault of heaven to payment; by being profuse and exces- the contemplation of the beauties of nasive in our expenses; indulging unlaw-ture, they render its Author the homage ful pleasures, and thereby reducing our families to poverty; or even, on the other hand, by laying up a great deal for the time to come, while our families are left to starve, or reduced to the greatest inconvenience and distress. THEODOSIANS. See ANGELITES. THEOLOGY signifies that science which treats of the being and attributes of God, his relations to us, the dispensations of his providence, his will with respect to our actions, and his purposes with respect to our end. The word was first used to denote the systems, or rather the heterogeneous fables, of those poets and philosophers who wrote of the genealogy and exploits of the gods of Greece. Hence Orpheus, Museus, Hesiod, &c. were called theologians; and the same epithet was given to Plato, on account of his, sublime speculations on the same subject. It was afterwards adopted by the earliest writers of the Christian Church, who styled the author of the Apocalypse, by way of eminence, o Boloyos, the divine. As the various branches of theology are considered in their places in this work, they need not be insisted on here. The theological student will find the following books on the subject of utility; Grotius de Veritate Religionis Christiana; Stil of adoration and gratitude. They nevertheless have temples erected by the hands of men, in which it is more commodious for them to assemble, to hear lessons concerning his wisdom. Certain moral inscriptions; a simple altar, on which they deposit, as a sign of gratitude for the benefits of the Creator, such flowers or fruits as the season afford; a tribune for the lectures and discourses, form the whole of the ornaments of their temples. The first inscription, placed above the altar, recalls to remembrance the two religious dogmas which are the foundation of their moral. First inscription. We believe in the existence of God, in the immortality of the soul.-Second inscription. Worship God, cherish your kind, render yourselves useful to your country.-Third inscription. Good is every thing which tends to the preservation or the perfection of man. Evil is every thing which tends to destroy or deteriorate him.Fourth inscription. Children, honour your fathers and mothers; obey them with affection, comfort their old age. Fathers and mothers, instruct your children.-Fifth inscription. Wives, regard your husbands, the chiefs of your houses. Husbands, love your wives, and render yourselves reciprocally || milar discussions have never produced happy. good, and that they have often tinged the earth with the blood of men. Let us lay aside systems, and apply ourselves to doing good: it is the only road to happiness.' So much for the divinity of the Theophilanthropists: a system entirely defective, because it wants the true foundation,--the word of God; the grand rule of all our actions, and the only basis on which our hopes and prospects of success can be built. THEOSOPHISTS, a sect who pretend to derive all their knowledge from divine illumination. They boast that, by means of this celestial light, they are not only admitted to the intimate knowledge of God, and of all divine truth, but have access to the most sublime secrets of nature. They ascribe it to the singular manifestation of divine benevolence, that they are able to make such a use of the element of fire in the chemical art, as enables them to discover the essential principles of bodies, and to disclose stupendous mysteries in the physical world. To this class, it is said, belonged Paracelsus, R. Fludd, Van Helmont, Peter Poiret, and the Rosicrusians. From the concluding part of the Manuel of the Theophilanthropists, we may learn something more of their sentiments. "If any one ask you," say they, "what is the origin of your religion and of your worship, you can answer him thus: Open the most ancient books which are known, seek there what was the religion, what the worship of the first human beings of which history has preserved the remembrance. There you will see that their religion was what we now call natural religion, because it has for its principle even the Author of nature. It is he that has engraven it in the heart of the first human beings, in ours, in that of all the inhabitants of the earth; this religion, which consists in worshipping God and cherishing our kind, is what we express by one single word, that of Theophilanthropy. Thus our religion is that of our first parents; it is yours; it is ours; it is the universal religion. As to our worship, it is also that of our first fathers. See even in the most ancient writings, that the exterior signs by which they rendered their homage to the Creator, were of great simplicity. They dressed for him THERAPEUTÆ, so called from the an altar of earth; they offered him, in extraordinary purity of their religious sign of their gratitude and of their sub- worship, were a Jewish sect, who, with mission, some of the productions which a kind of religious frenzy, placed their they held of his liberal hand. The fa- whole felicity in the contemplation of the thers exhorted their children to virtue; divine nature. Detaching themselves they all encouraged one another, under wholly from secular affairs, they transthe auspices of the Divinity, to the ac-ferred their property to their relations complishment of their duties. This simple worship, the sages of all nations have not ceased to profess, and they have transmitted it down to us without interruption. “If they yet ask you of whom you hold your mission, answer, we hold it of God himself, who, in giving us two arms to aid our kind, has also given us intelligence to mutually enlighten us, and the love of good to bring us together to virtue; of God, who has given experience and wisdom to the aged to guide the young, and authority to fathers to onduct their children. "If they are not struck with the force of these reasons, do not farther discuss the subject, and do not engage yourself in controversies, which tend to diminish the love of our neighbours. Our principles are the Eternal Truth; they will subsist, whatever individuals may support or attack them, and the efforts of the wicked will not even prevail against them. Rest firmly attached to them, without attacking or defending any religious system; and remember, that si or friends, and withdrew into solitary places, where they devoted themselves to a holy life. The principal society of this kind was formed near Alexandria, where they lived, not far from each other, in separate cottages, each of which had its own sacred apartment, to which the inhabitants retired for the purposes of devotion. After their morning prayers, they spent the day in studying the law and the prophets, endeavouring, by the help of the commentaries of their ancestors, to discover some allegorical meaning in every part. Besides this, they entertained themselves with composing sacred hymns in various kinds of metre. Six days of the week were, in this manner, passed in solitude. On the seventh day they met, clothed in a decent habit, in a public assembly; where taking their places according to their age, they sat with the right hand between the breast and the chin, and the left at the side. Then some one of the elders, stepping forth into the middle of the assembly, discoursed with a grave countenance and a calm tone of voice, as they are therefore cognizable at his tribunal; the moral regulation of them is of the greatest importance. It is of consequence to inquire what thoughts ought to be rejected and what to be indulged. Those of an evil nature, which on the doctrines of the sect; the audience, in the mean time, remaining in perfect silence, and occasionally expressing their attention and approbation by a nod. The chapel where they met was divided into two apartments, one for the men, and the other for the wo-ought to be bunished, are, 1. Fretful and men. So strict a regard was paid to si- discontented thoughts.-2. Anxious and lence in these assemblies, that no one apprehensive thoughts.-3. Angry and was permitted to whisper, nor even to wrathful thoughts.-4. Malignant and breathe aloud; but when the discourse revengeful thoughts.-5. Such as are was finished, if the question which had foolish, trifling, and unreasonable.-6. been proposed for solution had been Wild and extravagant, vain and fantastreated to the satisfaction of the audi- tical.-7. Romantic and chimerical.-8. ence, they expressed their approbation Impure and lascivious.-9. Gloomy and by a murmur of applause. Then the melancholy.-10. Hasty and volatile.speaker, rising, sung a hymn of praise 11. Profane and blasphemous. The to God; in the last verse of which the thoughts we ought to indulge, are those whole assembly joined. On great fes- which give the mind a rational or retivals, the meeting was closed with a ligious pleasure; tend to improve the vigil, in which sacred music was per-understanding; raise the affections to formed, accompanied with solemn dan-divine objects; to promote the welfare cing; and these vigils were continued till of our fellow creatures, and withal the morning, when the assembly, after a divine glory. To bring the mind into morning prayer, in which their faces a habit of thinking as we ought to think, were directed towards the rising sun, there should by a constant dependence was broken up. So abstemious were on and imploring of divine grace; an these ascetics, that they commonly ate increasing acquaintance with the sacred nothing before the setting sun, and often Scriptures; and improvement of every fasted two or three days. They abstain- opportunity of serious conversation; a ed from wine, and their ordinary food constant observance of the works of was bread and herbs. God in creation, providence, and grace; and, lastly, a deep sense of the realities of an eternal world as revealed in the word of God. Mason on Self-knowledge; Watts on the Mind; Goodwin's Vanity of Thoughts. See his Works, vol. iii. p. 232. Much dispute has arisen among the learned concerning this sect. Some have imagined them to have been Judaizing Gentiles; but Philo supposes them to be Jews, by speaking of them as a branch of the sect of Essenes, and expressly classes them among the followers of Moses. Others have maintained, that the Therapeute were an Alexandrian sect of Jewish converts to the Christian faith, who devoted themselves to a monastic life. But this is impossible; for Philo, who wrote before Christianity appeared in Egypt, speaks of this as an established sect. From comparing Philo's account of this sect with the state of philosophy in the country where it flourished, it seems likely that the Therapeuta were a body of Jewish fanatics, who suffered themselves to be drawn aside from the simplicity of their ancient religion by the example of the Egyptians and Pythagoreans. How long this sect continued is uncertain; but it is not improbable that, after the appearance of Christianity in Egypt, it soon became extinct. THOUGHT, an image of any thing formed in the mind; sentiment, reflection, opinion, design. As the thoughts are the prime movers of the conduct; as in the sight of the Divine Being, they bear the character of good or evil; and TIARA, the name of the pope's triple crown. The tiara and keys are the badges of the papal dignity, the tiara of his civil rank, and the keys of his jurisdiction; for as soon as the pope is dead, his arms are represented with the tiara alone, without the keys. The ancient tiara was a round high cap. John XIII. first encompassed it with a crown. Boniface VIII. added a second crown; and Benedict XII. a third. TIME, mode of duration marked by certain periods, chiefly by the motion and revolution of the sun. The general idea which time gives in every thing to which it is applied, is that of limited duration. Thus we cannot say of the Deity that he exists in time, because eternity, which he inhabits, is absolutely uniform, neither admitting limi tation nor succession. Time is said to be redeemed or improved when it is properly filled up, or employed in the conscientious discharge of all the duties which devolve upon us, as it respects the Divine Being, ourselves, and our fellow-creatures. Time may be said to be lost when it is not de- || that every person so offending, shall for voted to some good, useful, or at least || feit for every such offence twelve pence; some innocent purpose; or when op- nor the statute made in the 3d year of portunities of improvement, business, or the late King James, intituled "An act devotion, are neglected. Time is wasted for the better discovering and repressby excessive sleep, unnecessary recrca- ing Popish Recusants;" nor that other tions, indolent habits, useless visits, idle statute, intituled "An act to prevent reading, vain conversation, and all those and avoid dangers which may grow by actions which have no good end in Popish Recusants;" nor any other law them. We ought to improve the time, or statute of this realm made against when we consider, 1. That it is short. Papists or Popish Recusants, shall be -2. Swift.-3. Irrecoverable.-4. Un- construed to extend to any person or certain.-5. That it is a talent com- persons dissenting from the Church of mitted to our trust.-And, 6. That the England, that shall take the oaths (of improvement of it is advantageous and allegiance and supremacy) and shall interesting in every respect. See make and subscribe the declaration Shower on Time and Eternity; Fox on (against Popery ;) which oaths and deTime; J. Edwards's Posthumous Ser- claration the justices of the peace at the mons, ser. 24, 25, 26; Hale's Contem- general sessions of the peace for the flations, p. 211; Hervey's Medita- county, or place where such persons tions; Young's Night Thoughts; shall live, are hereby required to adBlair's Grave. minister to such persons as shall offer themselves to make and subscribe the same, and thereof to keep a register; and likewise, none of the persons aforesaid shall give or pay, as any fee or reward, to any officer belonging to the court, above the sum of sixpence, for his entry of his taking the said oaths, &c. nor above the further sum of sixpence for any certificate of the same. TOLERATION, in matters of religion, is either civil or ecclesiastical. Civil toleration is an impunity, and safely granted by the state to every sect that does not maintain doctrines inconsistent with the public peace. Ecclesiastical toleration is the allowance which the church grants to its members to differ in certain opinions not reputed essential. See Dr. Owen, Locke, and Dr. Sect. IV. That every person that Furneaux, on Toleration; Milton's Ci- shall take the said oaths and make and vil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes; subscribe the declaration aforesaid, Hints on Toleration, by Philagathar-shall not be liable to any pains, penalches; Reflexions Philosophiques et Politiques sur la Tolerance Religieuse, par J. P. De N***. ties, or forfeitures, mentioned in an act made in the 35th of the late Queen Elizabeth, nor in an act made in the 22d of Charles the Second, intituled "An act to prevent and suppress Seditious Conventicles;" nor shall any of the said persons be prosecuted in any ecclesiastical court for their nonconforming to the Church of England. The preamble states, "That forasmuch as some ease to scrupulous conSect. V. Provided that if any assemsciences, in the exercise of religion, may bly of persons, dissenting from the be an effectual means to unite their Church of England, shall be held in any Majestics' Protestant Subjects in in-place for religious worship with the terest and affection," it enacts as follows: viz. laws. doors locked, barred, or bolted, during any time of such meeting together, such Sect. II. That neither the statute persons shall not receive any benefit made in the 23d of Elizabeth, intituled from this law, but be liable to all the An act to retain the Queen's Ma-pains and penalties of all the aforesaid jesty's Subjects in their due obedience;" nor the statute made in the 20th year of the said Queen, "for the more speedy and due execution of certain branches of the former act;" nor that clause of a statute made in the 1st year of the said Queen, intituled "An act for the Uniformity of Common Prayer," &c. whereby all persons are required to resort to their parish church or chapel, upon pain of punishment by the censures of the church; and also upon pain Sect. VI. Provided that nothing herein contained shall be construed to exempt any of the persons aforesaid from paying of tithes, or other parochial duties; nor from any prosecution in any ecclesiastical court or else. where, for the same. Sect. VII. That if any person dissenting, &c. as aforesaid, shall hereafter be chosen high constable, or petit constable, church-warden, overseer of |