AGNOETE

ALBIGENSES

nature, or by virtue of his unction, as any part of the mysteries he was to reveal; for, considering him as God, he could not be ignorant of any thing. AGNUS DEI, in the church of Rome, a cake of wax, stamped with the figure of a lamb supporting the banner of the cross. The name literally signifies "Lamb of God." These cakes, being consecrated by the pope with great solemnity, and distributed among the people, are supposed to have great virtues. They cover them with a piece of stuff cut in the form of a heart, and carry them very devoutly in their processions. The Romish priests and religious derive considerable pecuniary advantage from selling them to some, and presenting them to others.

AGONISTICI, a name given by Donatus to such of his disciples as he sent to fairs, markets, and other public places, to propagate his doctrine. They were called Agonistici from the Greek ay, "combat," because they were sent, as it were, to fight and subdue the people to their opinions. See DONATIST.

"love") feasts of charity among the ancient Christians, when liberal contributions were made by the rich to the poor. St. Chrysostom gives the following account of this feast, which he derives from the apostolic practice. He says, "The first Christians had all things in common, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles; but when that equality of possessions ceased, as it did even in the apostles' time, the Agape or love-feast was substituted in the room of it. Upon certain days, after partaking of the Lord's Supper, they met at a common feast; the rich bringing provisions, and the poor, who had nothing, being invited." It was always attended with receiving the holy sacrament; but there is some difference between the ancient and modern interpreters as to the circumstance of time; viz. whether this feast was held before or after the communion. St. Chrysostom is of the latter opinion; the learned Dr. Cave of the former. These love-feasts, during the first three centuries, were held in the church without scandal or offence; but in after-times the heathens began to tax them with impurity. This gave occasion to a reformation of these Agape. The kiss of charity, with which the ceremony used to end, was no longer given between different sexes; and it was expressly forbidden to have any beds or couches for the conveniency of those who should be disposed to eat more at their ease. Notwithstanding these pre- ALASCANI, a sect of Anti-lutherans in the cautions, the abuses committed in them became sixteenth century, whose distinguishing tenet, so notorious, that the holding them (in churches besides their denying baptism, is said to have at least) was solemnly condemned at the council been this, that the words, "This is my body," in of Carthage in the year 397. Attempts have been the institution of the eucharist, are not to be ur made, of late years, to revive these feasts: but inderstood of the bread, but of the whole action or a different manner from the primitive custom, and, celebration of the supper. perhaps, with little edification. They are, however, not very general.

AGAPETE, a name given to certain virgins and widows, who in the ancient church associated themselves with and attended on ecclesiastics, out of a motive of piety and charity. See DEACON

ESSES.

AGENDA, among divines and philosophers, signify the duties which a man lies under an obligation to perform: thus we meet with the agenda of a Christian, or the duties he ought to perform, in opposition to the credenda, or things he is to believe. It is also applied to the service or office of the church, and to church books compiled by public authority, prescribing the order to be observed; and amounts to the same as ritual, formulary, directory, missal, &c.

AGENT, that which acts; opposed to patient, or that which is acted upon.

AGENTS, moral. See MORAL Agent. AGNOETÆ, (from αγνόεως "to be ignorant of," a sect which appeared about 370. They called in question the omniscience of God; alleging that he knew things past only by memory, and things future only by an uncertain prescience. There arose another sect of the same name in the sixth century, who followed Themistius, deacon of Alexandria. They maintained that Christ was ignorant of certain things, and particularly of the time of the day of judgment. It is supposed they built their hypothesis on that passage in Mark xiii. 32.-"Of that day and that hour knoweth no man; no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." The meaning of which, most probably, is, that this was not known to the Messiah himself in his human

AGONYCLITÆ, a sect of Christians in the seventh century, who prayed always standing, as thinking it unlawful to kneel.

AGYNIANI, a sect which appeared about 694. They condemned all use of flesh and marriage as not instituted by God, but introduced at the instigation of the devil.

ALBANENSES, a denomination which commenced about the year 796. They held, with the Gnostics and Manicheans, two principles, the one of good, and the other of evil. They denied the divinity and even the humanity of Jesus Christ; asserting that he was not truly man, did not suffer on the cross, die, rise again, nor really ascend into heaven. They rejected the doctrine of the resurrection, affirmed that the general judgment was past, and that hell torments were no other than the evils we feel and suffer in this life. They denied free-will, did not admit original sin, and never administered baptism to infants. They held that a man can give the Holy Spirit of himself, and that it is unlawful for a Christian to take an oath.

This denomination derived their name from the place where their spiritual ruler resided. See MANICHEANS and CATHERIST.

ALBANOIS, a denomination which sprung up in the eighth century, and renewed the greatest part of the Manichean principles. They also maintained that the world was from eternity. See MANICHEANS.

ALBIGENSES, a party of reformers about Toulouse and the Albigeois, in Languedoc, who sprung up in the twelfth century, and distinguished themselves by their opposition to the church of Rome. They were charged with many errors by the monks of those days; but from these charges they are generally acquitted by the Protestants, who consider them only as the inventions of the Romish church to blacken their character. The Albigenses grew so formidable, that the Catholics agreed upon a holy league or crusade against them. Pope Innocent III., desirous to put a

ALMARICIANS

AMAURITES

century the age of the Holy Spirit commenced, in which the sacraments, and all external worships were to be abolished; and that every one was to be saved by the internal operation of the Holy Spirit alone, without any external act of re

stop to their progress, stirred up the great men of
the kingdom to make war upon them. After
suffering from their persecutors, they dwindled
by little and little, till the time of the Reformation;
when such of them as were left, fell in with the
Vaudois, and conformed to the doctrine of Zuin-ligion.
glius, and the disciples of Geneva. The Albi-
genses have been frequently confounded with the
Waldenses; from whom it is said they differ in
many respects, both as being prior to them in
point of time, as having their origin in a different
country, and as being charged with divers here-
sies, particularly Manicheism, from which the
Waldenses were exempt. See WALDENSES.

ALEXANDRIAN MANUSCRIPT, a famous copy of the Scriptures, in four volumes quarto. It contains the whole Bible in Greek, including the Old and New Testament, with the Apocrypha and some smaller pieces, but not quite | complete. It is preserved in the British Museum: it was sent as a present to king Charles I, from Cyrillus Lucaris, patriarch of Constantinople, by Sir Thomas Rowe, ambassador from England to the Grand Seignior, about the year 1628. Cyrillus brought it with him from Alexandria, where probably it was written. In a schedule annexed to it, he gives this account:-That it was written, as tradition informed them, by Thecla, a noble Egyptian lady, about 1300 years ago, not long after the council of Nice. But this high antiquity, and the authority of the tradition to which the patriarch refers, have been disputed; nor are the most accurate biblical writers agreed about its age. Grabe thinks that it might have been written before the end of the fourth century; others are of opinion that it was not written till near the end of the fifth century, or somewhat later. See Dr. Woide's edition of it.

ALEXANDRIAN VERSION, another name for the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament, so called from its having been made at the command of Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, for the use of the great library at Alexandria. See SEPTUAGINT.-B.

ALMONER, a person employed by another, in the distribution of charity. In its primitive sense it denoted an officer in religious houses, to whom belonged the management and distribution of the alms of the house.

ALMS, what is given gratuitously for the relief of the poor, and in repairing the churches. That alms-giving is a duty is every way evident from the variety of passages which enjoin it in the sacred Scriptures. It is observable, however, what a number of excuses are made by those who are not found in the exercise of the duty; 1. That they have nothing to spare; 2. That charity begins at home; 3. That charity does not consist in giving money, but in benevolence, love to all mankind, &c.; 4. That giving to the poor is not mentioned in St. Paul's description of charity, 1 Cor. xiii; 5. That they pay the poorrates; 6. That they employ many poor persons, 7. That the poor do not suffer so much as we imagine; 8. That these people, give them what you will, will never be thankful; 9. That we are liable to be imposed upon; 10. That they should apply to their parishes; 11. That giving money encourages idleness; 12. That we have too many objects of charity at home. O the love of money, how fruitful is it in apologies for a con tracted mercenary spirit! In giving of alms, however, the following rules should be observed; first, They should be given with justice; only our own, to which we have a just right, should be given. 2. With cheerfulness, Deut. xv. 10. 2. Cor. ix. 7. 3. With simplicity and sincerity, Rom. xii. Matt. vi. 3. 4. With compassion and affection, Is. lviii. 10. 1 John iii. 17. 5. Season ably, Gal. vi. 10. Prov. iv. 27. 6. Bountifully Deut. xviii. 11. 1 Tim. vi. 18. 7. Prudently, according to every one's need, 1 Tim. v. 8. Acts iv. 35. See Dr. Barrow's admirable Sermon on Bounty to the Poor, which took him up three hours and a half in preaching; Saurin's Ser vol. iv. Eng. Trans. ser. 9; Paley's Mor. Phi..

ALOGIANS, a sect of ancient heretics who denied that Jesus Christ was the Logos, and con sequently rejected the Gospel of St. John. The word is compounded of the privative and 2070s q. d. without logos, or word. They made their ap pearance toward the close of the second century.

ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF GOD, is that power or attribute of his nature whereby he is able to communicate as much blessedness to his creatures as he is pleased to make them capable of re-ch. 5. vol. i. ceiving. As his self-sufficiency is that whereby he has enough in himself to denominate him completely blessed, as a God of infinite perfection; so his all-sufficiency is that by which he hath enough in himself to satisfy the most enlarged desires of his creatures, and to make them completely blessed. We practically deny this perfection, when we are discontented with our present condition, and desire more than God has allotted for us, Gen. iii. 5. Prov. xix. 3. Ridgley's Body of Div. ques. 17; Saurin's Ser, ser. 5. vol. i.: Barrow's Works, vol. ii. ser. 11.

ALMARICIANS, a denomination that arose in the thirteenth century. They derived their origin from Almaric, professor of logic and the ology at Paris. His adversaries charged him with having taught that every Christian was obliged to believe himself a member of Jesus Christ, and that without this belief none could be saved. His followers asserted that the power of the Father had continued only during the Mosaic dispensation, that of the Son twelve hundred years after his entrance upon earth; and that in the thirteenth

ALTAR, a kind of table or raised structure whereon the ancient sacrifices were offered. 2. The table, in Christian churches, where the Lord's Supper is administered. Altars are, doubtless, of great antiquity; some suppose they were as early as Adam; but there is no mention made of them till after the flood, when Noah built one, and offered burnt-offerings on it. The Jews had two altars in and about their temple; 1. the altar of burnt offerings; 2. the altar of incense: some also call the table for shew-bread an altar, but improperly, Exod. xx. 24, 25. 1 Kings xviii. 30.Exod. xxv, xxvii. and xxx. Heb. ix.

AMAURITES, the followers of Amauri, a clergyman of Bonne, in the thirteenth century. He acknowledged the divine Three, to whom he attributed the empire of the world. But, ac

cording to him, religion had three epochas, which | Amyrault and others his followers, among the bore a similitude to the reign of the three persons reformed in France, towards the middle of the in the Trinity. The reign of God had existed as seventeenth century. This doctrine principally long as the law of Moses. The reign of the Son consisted of the following particulars, viz. that would not always last. A time would come God desires the happiness of all men, and none when the sacraments should cease, and then the are excluded by a divine decree; that none can religion of the Holy Ghost would begin, when obtain salvation without faith in Christ; that men would render a spiritual worship to the Su- God refuses to none the power of believing, preme Being. This reign Amauri thought would though he does not grant to all his assistance succeed to the Christian religion, as the Christian that they may improve this power to saving purhad succeeded to that of Moses. poses; and that they may perish through their own fault. Those who embraced this doctrine were called Universalists, though it is evident they rendered grace universal in words, but partial in reality. See CAMERONITES.

ANAGOGICAL

ANATHEMA

and related a number of visions and revelations, the mind, not only to the knowledge of divine with which they pretended to have been favoured things, but of divine things in the next life. The from above: but, when they found that this word is seldom used, but with regard to the dif would not avail, and that the ministry of Luther ferent senses of the Scripture. The anagogical and other reformers was detrimental to their sense is when the sacred text is explained with cause, they then madly attempted to propagate regard to eternal life, the point which Christians their sentiments by force of arms. Munzer and should have in view; for example, the rest of the his associates, in the year 1525, put themselves at sabbath, in the anagogical sense, signifies the rethe head of a numerous army, and declared war pose of everlasting happiness. against all laws, governments, and magistrates of every kind, under the chimerical pretext, that Christ himself was now to take the reins of all government into his hands: but this seditious crowd was routed and dispersed by the elector of Saxony and other princes, and Munzer, their leader, put to death.

Many of his followers, however, survived, and propagated their opinions through Germany, Switzerland, and Holland. In 1533, a party of them settled at Munster, under two leaders of the names of Matthias and Bockholdt. Having made themselves masters of the city, they deposed the magistrates, confiscated the estates of such as had escaped, and deposited the wealth in a public treasury for common use. They made preparations for the defence of the city; invited the Anabaptists in the Low Countries to assemble at Munster, which they called Mount Sion, that from thence they might reduce all the nations of the earth under their dominion. Matthias was soon cut off by the bishop of Munster's army, and was succeeded by Bockholdt, who was proclaimed by a special designation of heaven, as the pretended king of Sion, and invested with legislative powers like those of Moses. The city of Munster, however, was taken, after a long siege, and Bockholdt punished with death.

ANALOGY OF FAITH, is the proportion that the doctrines of the Gospel bear to each other, or the close connection between the truths of revealed religion, Rom. xii. 6. This is considered as a grand rule for understanding the true sense of Scripture. It is evident that the Almighty doth not act without a design in the system of Christianity, any more than he does in the works of nature. Now this design must be uniform; for as in the system of the universe every part is proportioned to the whole, and made subservient to it, so in the system of the Gospel all the various truths, doctrines, declarations, precepts, and promises, must correspond with and tend to the end designed. For instance, supposing the glory of God in the salvation of man by free grace be the grand design; then, whatever doctrine, assertion, or hypothesis, agree not with this, is to he con sidered as false.-Great care, however, must be taken, in making use of this method, that the inquirer previously understand the whole scheme, and that he harbour not a predilection only for a part; without attention to this, we shall be liable to error. If we come to the Scriptures with any preconceived opinions, and are more desirous to put that sense upon the text which quadrates with our sentiments, rather than the truth, it be comes then the analogy of our faith, rather than that of the whole system. This was the source of the error of the Jews, in our Saviour's time. They searched the Scriptures; but, such were their favourite opinions, that they could not, or would not, discover that the sacred volume testified of Christ. And the reason was evident; for their great rule of interpretation was, what they might call the analogy of faith, i. e. the system of the Pharisean scribes, the doctrine then in vogue, and in the profound veneration of which they had been educated. Perhaps there is hardly any sect but what has inore or less been guilty in this respect. It may, however, be of use to the serious and candid inquirer; for, as some texts may seem to contradict each other, and difficulties present themselves, by keeping the analogy of faith in view, he will the more easily resolve those difficulIt is but justice to observe also, that the Bap-ties, and collect the true sense of the sacred oratists in England and Holland are to be considered in a different light from those above mentioned: they profess an equal aversion to all principles of rebellion on the one hand, and to enthusiasm on the other. See Robertson's Hist. of Charles V.; Enc. Brit. vol. i. p. 644; and articles BAPTISTS and MENNONITES.

It must be acknowledged that the true rise of the insurrections of this period ought not to be attributed to religious opinions. The first insurgents groaned under severe oppressions, and took up arms in defence of their civil liberties; and of these commotions the Anabaptists seem rather to have availed themselves, than to have been the prime movers. That a great part were Anabaptists seems indisputable; at the same time, it appears from history, that a great part also were Roman Catholics, and a still greater part of those who had scarcely any religious principles at all. Indeed, when we read of the vast numbers that were concerned in these insurrections, of whom it is reported that 100,000 fell by the sword, it appears reasonable to conclude that they were not all Anabaptists.

cles. What "the aphorisms of Hippocrates are to a physician, the axioms in geometry to a mathematician, the adjudged cases in law to a counsellor, or the maxims of war to a general, such is the analogy of faith to a Christian." Of the analogy of religion to the constitution and course of nature, we must refer our readers to Bishop Butler's excellent treatise on that subject.

ANACHORETS, or ANCHORITES, a sort of monks in the primitive church, who retired from ANATHEMA, imports whatever is set apart, the society of mankind into some desert, with a separated, or divided; but is most usually meant view to avoid the temptations of the world, and to to express the cutting off of a person from the be more at leisure for prayer, meditation, &c. communion of the faithful. It was practised in Such were Paul, Anthony, and Hilarion, the the primitive church against notorious offenders. first founders of monastic life in Egypt and Pa-Several councils also have pronounced anathelestine. mas against such as they thought corrupted the ANAGOGICAL, signifies mysterious, trans- purity of the faith. Anathema Maranatha, menporting: and is used to express whatever elevatestioned by Paul, (1 Cor. xiv. 22,) imports that he