SUPRALAPSARIANS SWEARING even this principle, all lenified as it seems, is yet subject to a great number of difficulties; but in this scheme God wills sin to produce the end he proposed in creating the world, and it was neces sary that men should sin: God created them for that. If this be not to make God the author of sin, we must renounce the most distinct and clear ideas. Again; we require them to reconcile this system with many express declarations of Scripture, which inform us that God would have all men to be saved. How doth it agree with such pressing entreaties, such cutting reproofs, such tender expostulations, as God discovers in regard to the unconverted? Matt. xxiii. 37. Lastly, we desire to know, how is it possible to by the grace of the Spirit, and completely save Again; we demand how, according to this them; and which are not to be reckoned as ma- hypothesis, it can be conceived that God is not terially many decrees, but as making one formal the author of sin? In the general scheme of our decree; or they are not to be considered as subor-churches, God only permits men to sin, and it is dinate, but as co-ordinate means, and as making the abuse of liberty that plunges man into misery: up one entire complete medium: for it is not to be supposed that God decreed to create man, that he might permit him to fall, in order to redeem, sanctify, and save him; but he decreed all this that he might glorify his grace, mercy, and justice. And in this way of considering the decrees of God, they think that they sufficiently obviate and remove the slanderous calumny cast upon them with respect to the other branch of predestination, which leaves men in the same state when others are chosen, and that for the glory of God. Which calumny is, that, according to them, God made man to damn him; whereas, according to their real sentiments, God decreed to make man, and made man neither to damn him nor save him, but for his own glory, which end is answered in them some way or other.-conceive a God, who being in the actual enjoy. Again; they argue that the end is first in view before the means, and the decree of the end is, in order of nature, before the decree of the means; and what is first in intention, is last in execution. Now, as the glory of God is last in execution, it must be first in intention, wherefore men must be considered in the decree of the end as not yet created and fallen; since the creation and permission of sin belong to the decree of the means, which in order of nature is after the decree of the end. And they add to this, that if God first decreed to create man, and suffered him to fall, and then out of the fall chose some to grace and glory, he must decree to create man without an end, which is to make God to do what no wise man would; for when a man is about to do any thing, he proposes an end, and then contrives and fixes on ways and means to bring about that end. They think also that this way of conceiving and speaking of these things best expresses the sovereignty of God in them, as declared in the 9th of Romans, where he is said to will such and such things, for no other reason but because he wills them. The opponents of this doctrine consider, however, that it is attended with insuperable difficulties. We demand, say they, an explanation of what they mean by this principle, "God hath made all things for his own glory." If they mean that justice requires a creature to devote himself to the worship and glorifying of his Creator, we grant it; if they mean that the attributes of God are displayed in all his works, we grant this too; but if the proposition be intended to affirm that God had no other view in creating men, so to speak, than his own interest, we deny the proposition, and affirm that God created men for their own happiness, and in order to have subjects upon whom he might bestow favours. We desire to be informed, in the next place, say they, how it can be conceived that a determination to damn millions of men can contribute to the glory of God? We easily conceive, that it is for the glory of divine justice to punish guilty men: but to resolve to damn men without the consideration of sin, to create them that they might sin, to determine that they should sin in order to their destruction, is what seems to us more likely to tarnish the glory of God than to display it. ment of perfect happiness, incomprehensible, and supreme, could determine to add this decree, though useless to his felicity, to create men without number for the purpose of confining them for ever in the chains of darkness, and burning them for ever in unquenchable flames. Gill's Body of Div. vol. i. p. 299; Brine's Works; Saurin's Sermons, vol. v. 336, Eng. trans. SUPREMACY OF THE POPE, a doc trine held by the Roman Catholics, who believe that the bishop of Rome is, under Christ, supreme pastor of the whole church; and, as such, is not only the first bishop in order and dignity, but has also a power and jurisdiction over all Christians. This doctrine is chiefly built upon the supposed primacy of Saint Peter, of whom the bishop of Rome is the pretended successor, a primacy we no where find commanded or countenanced, but absolutely prohibited, in the word of God, Luke xxii. 14, 24; Mark ix. 35. See INFALLIBILITY, PRIMACY, POPE, and POPERY. Dr. Barrow's Treatise on the Pope's Supremacy; Chillingworth's Religion of the Protestants; and Smith's Errors of the Church of Rome. SUPREMACY, OATH OF. See OATH. SUSPICION consists in imagining evil of others without proof. It is sometimes opposed to charity, which thinketh no evil. "A suspicious temper checks in the bud every kind affection : it hardens the heart, and estranges man from man. What friendship can we expect from him who views all our conduct with distrustful eyes, and ascribes every benefit we confer to artifice and stratagem? A candid man is accustomed to view the characters of his neighbours in the most favourable light, and is like one who dwells amidst those beautiful scenes of nature on which the eye rests with pleasure. Whereas the suspicious man, having his imagination filled with all the shocking forms of human falsehood, deceit, and treachery, resembles the traveller in the wilderness, who discerns no objects around him but what are either dreary or terrible; caverns that open, serpents that hiss, and beasts of prey that howl." SWEARING. See OATH. Cursing and Swearing is an offence against God and religion, and a sin of all others the most extravagant and unaccountable, as having no benefit or advantage attending it. It is a con SWEDENBORGIANS SYNOD tempt of God; a violation of his law; a great | vicarious sacrifice; together with the doctrine of breach of good behaviour; and a mark of levity, predestination, unconditional election, justificaweakness, and wickedness. How those who live tion by faith alone, the resurrection of the matein the habitual practice of it can call themselves rial body, &c.; and, in opposition thereto, mainmen of sense, of character, or of decency, I know tains that man is possessed of free-will in spiritual not. By the last statute against this crime, 19 things; that salvation is not attainable without Geo. II. which repeals all former ones, every la- repentance, that is, abstaining from evils, because bourer, sailor, or soldier, profanely cursing or they are sins against God, and living a life of swearing, shall forfeit one shilling; every other charity and faith, according to the commandperson, under the rank of a gentleman, two shil-ments; that man, immediately on his decease, lings; and every gentleman, or person of superior rises again in a spiritual body, which was inclosed rank, five shillings, to the poor of the parish; in his material body; and that in this spiritual and on a second conviction double, and for every body he lives as a man to eternity, either in subsequent offence, treble the sum first forfeited, heaven or in hell, according to the quality of his with all charges of conviction; and, in default of past life. That all those passages in the Scrippayment, shall be sent to the house of correction ture generally supposed to signify the destruction for ten days. of the world by fire, and commonly called the last judgment, must be understood according to the abovementioned science of correspondences, which teaches, that by the end of the world, or consummation of the age, is not signified the destruction of the world, but the destruction or end of the present Christian church, both among Roman Catholics and Protestants, of every description or denomination; and that this last judgment actually took place in the spiritual world in the year 1757; from which æra is dated the second advent of the Lord, and the commencement of a new Christian church, which, they say, is meant by the new heaven and new earth in the Revelation, and the new Jerusalem thence descending. They use a liturgy, and instrumental as well as vocal music, in their public worship. Summary View of Swedenborg's Doctrines; Swedenborg' Works; Dialogues on Swedenborg's Theologi SWEDENBORGIANS, the followers of Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish nobleman, born at Stockholm, in 1689. He appears to have had a good education; for his learning was extensive in almost every branch. He professed himself to be the founder of the New Jerusalem Church, alluding to the New Jerusalem spoken of in the book of the Revelations. He asserts that, in the year 1743, the Lord manifested himself to him by a personal appearance, and at the same time opened his spiritual eyes, so that he was enabled constantly to see and converse with spirits and angels. From that time he began to print and publish various wonderful things, which, he says, were revealed to him, relating to heaven and hell, the state of men after death, the worship of God, the spiritual sense of the Scriptures, the various earths in the universe, and their inhabitants; with many other strange par-cal Writings. ticulars. Swedenborg lived and died in the Lutheran communion, but always professed the highest respect for the church of England. He carried his respect for the person and divinity of Jesus Christ to the highest point of veneration, considering him altogether as "God manifested in the flesh, and as the fulness of the Godhead united to the man Christ Jesus." With respect, therefore, to the sacred Trinity, though he rejected the idea of three distinct persons as destructive of the unity of the Godhead, he admitted three distinct essences, principles, or characters, as existing in it; namely, the divine essence or character, in virtue of which he is called the Father or Creator; the human essence, principle, or character, united to the divine in the person of Jesus Christ, in virtue of which he is called the son and Redeemer; and, lastly, the proceeding essence or principle, in virtue of which he is called the Holy Ghost. He further maintains, that the sacred Scripture contains three distinct senses, called celestial, spiritual, and natural, which are united by correspondences; and that in each sense it is divine truth accommodated respectively to the angels of the three heavens, and also to men on earth. This science of correspondence (it is said) has been lost for some thousands of years, viz. ever since the time of Job, but is now revived by Emanuel Swedenborg, who uses it as a key to the spiritual or internal sense of the sacred Scripture; every page of which, he says, is written by correspondence, that is, by such things in the natural world as correspond unto and signify things in the spiritual world. He denies the doctrine of atonement, or SWEDENBORGIANS IN THE UNITED STATES. This sect, in this country, are organised into a General Convention, which meets annually. The eleventh meeting was held in Boston, in August, 1829. It consists of pastors, or teachers, and lay delegates. From the minutes of this body published in 1829, it appears that the total number of their clergy is 29; and that they have regular societies formed in 28 towns in the United States.-B. SYMBOL, an abstract or compendium; a sign or representation of something moral by the figures or properties of natural things. Hence symbols are of various kinds; as hieroglyphics, types, enigmas, parables, fables, &c. See Dr. Lancaster's Dictionary of Scripture Symbols; and Bicheno's Symbolical Vocabulary in his Signs of the Times; Faber on the Prophecies; W. Jones's Works, vol. iv. let. 11. SYNAGOGUE, a place where the Jews meet to worship God. SYNERGISTS, so called from the Greek vepy, which signifies co-operation. Hence this name was given to those in the sixteenth century who denied that God was the sole agent in the conversion of sinful man, and affirmed that man co-operated with divine grace in the accomplishment of this salutary purpose. SYNOD, a meeting or assembly of ecclesiastical persons to consult on matters of religion. Of these there are four kinds, viz. 1. General, where bishops, &c. meet from all nations. These were first called by the emperors; afterwards by Christian princes; till, in later ages, the pope usurped to himself the greatest share in this business, and by his legates presided in them when called. in Malayala, acknowledging the Patriarch of Antioch. The church was erected by the present bishop, in 1793. See Evang. Måg. for 1807, 2. National, where those of one nation only come VOCATION. SYRIAN CHRISTIANS. The number of Syrian churches is greater than has been supposed. There are, at this time, fifty-five churches The Syrian Christians are not Nestorians. Formerly, indeed, they had bishops of that communion; but the liturgy of the present church is derived from that of the early church of Antioch, called Liturgia Jacobi Apostoli. They are usually denominated Jacobita; but they differ in ceremonial from the church of that name in Syria, and indeed from any existing church in the world. Their proper designation, and that which is sanctioned by their own use, is Syrian Christians, or the Syrian church of Malayala. The doctrines of the Syrian church are contained in a very few articles; and are not at variance, in essentials, with the doctrines of the church of England. TABERNACLE, among the Hebrews, a kind of building, in the form of a tent, set up by the express command of God for the performance of religious worship, sacrifices, &c., Exod. xxvi. xxvii. T. health, vigour of body, and the power of exertion and enduring fatigue-the natural and acquired abilities of the mind, skill in any lawful art or science, and the capacity for close mental application -the gift of speech, and that of speaking with Feast of Tabernacles, a solemn festival of the fluency and propriety, and in a convincing, atHebrews, observed after harvest, on the 15th day tractive, or persuasive manner-wealth, influof the month Tisri, instituted to commemorate ence, or authority-a man's situation in the the goodness of God, who protected the Israel-church, the community, or relative life-and the ites in the wilderness, and made them dwell in various occurrences which make way for him to booths when they came out of Egypt. attempt any thing of a beneficial tendency: these, TABORITES. See BOHEMIAN BRETHREN. and many others that can scarcely be enumeTALAPOINS, or TALOPINS, priests of Si-rated, are talents which the consistent Christian am. They enjoy great privileges, but are enjoined celibacy and austerity of life. They live in monasteries contiguous to the temples; and, what is singular, any one may enter into the priesthood, and, after a certain age, may quit it to marry, and return to society. There are Talapoinesses, too, or nuns, who live in the same convents, but are not admitted till they have passed their fortieth year. The Talapoins educate children, and at every new and full moon explain the precepts of their religion in their temples; and, during the rainy season, they preach from six in the morning till noon, and from one in the afternoon till five in the evening. They dress in a very mean garb, and go bare-headed and barefooted; and no person is admitted among them who is not well skilled in the Baly language. They believe that the universe is eternal, but admit that certain parts of it, as this world, may be destroyed, and again regenerated. They believe in a universal pervading spirit, and in the immortality and transmigration of the soul; but they extend this last doctrine not only to animals, but to vegetables and rocks. They have their good and evil genii, and particular local deities, who preside over forests and rivers, and interfere in all sublunary affairs. TALENT figuratively signifies any gift or opportunity God gives to men for the promotion of his glory." Every thing almost," says Mr. Scott, "that we are, or possess, or meet with, may be considered as a talent; for a good or a bad use may be made of every natural endowment, or providential appointment, or they may remain unoccupied through inactivity and selfishness. Time, will improve to the glory of God, and the benefit of mankind. Nay, this improvement procures an increase of talents, and gives a man an accession of influence, and an accumulating power of doing good; because it tends to establish his reputation for prudence, piety, integrity, sincerity, and disinterested benevolence; it gradually forms him to an habitual readiness to engage in beneficent designs, and to conduct them in a gentle, unobtrusive and unassuming manner: it disposes others to regard him with increasing confidence and affection, and to approach him with satisfaction; and it procures for him the countenance of many persons, whose assistance he can employ in accomplishing his own salutary purposes." TALMUD, a collection of Jewish writings. There are two works which bear this name-the Talmud of Jerusalem, and the Talmud of Babylon. Each of these are composed of two partsthe Mishna, which is the text, and is common to both; and the Gemara, or commentary. The Mishna, which comprehends all the laws, institutions, and rules of life (which, beside the ancient Hebrew Scripture, the Jews thought themselves bound to observe,) was composed, according to the unanimous testimony of the Jews, about the close of the second century. It was the work of rabbi Jehuda (or Juda) Hakkadosh, who was the ornament of the school of Tiberias, and is said to have occupied him forty years.The commentaries and additions which succeeding rabbies made, were collected by rabbi Jochanan Ben Eliezer, some say in the fifth others say in the sixth, and others in the seventh century, under the name of Gemara, that is, Cruelties practised on the Protestants in Scotland, 1543. Four men |