CHURCH port of the ordinances of Gospel worship in their purity and simplicity, Deut. xii. 31, 32. Rom. Av. 6.-3. The impartial exercise of church government and discipline, Heb. xii. 15. Gal. vi. 1. 2 Tim. ii. 24, 26. Tit. iii. 10. 1 Cor. v. James iii. 17.-4. The promotion of holiness in all manner of conversation, Phil. i. 27. ii. 15, 16. 2 Pet. iii. 11. Phil. iv. 8. CHURCH remained in subjection to the pope until the time of Henry VIII. Henry, indeed, in early life, and during the former part of his reign, was a bigoted papist: he burnt the famous Tyndal (who made one of the first and best translations of the New Testament); and wrote in defence of the seven sacraments against Luther, for which the pope gave him the title of "The Defender of the Faith." But, falling out with the pope about his marriage, he took the government of ccclesias tical affairs into his own hand; and, having reformed many abuses, intituled himself supreme head of the church. See REFORMATION. The more particular duties are, 1. Earnest study to keep peace and unity, Eph. iv. 3. Phil. ii. 23. iii. 15, 16.-2. Bearing of one another's burthens, Gal. vi. 1, 2.-3. Earnest endeaCours to prevent each other's stumbling, 1 Cor. x. 2 3. Heb. x. 21, 27. Rom. xiv. 13.--4. Sted- The doctrines of the church of England, fast continuance in the faith and worship of the which are contained in the thirty-nine articles, Gospel, Acts ii. 42.-5. Praying for and sympa- are certainly Calvinistical, though this has been thizing with each other, 1 Sain. xii. 23. Eph. vi. 18. denied by some modern writers, especially by Dr. The advantages are, 1. Peculiar incitements Kipling, in a tract intituled "The Articles of the to holiness, Eccl. iv. 11.-2. There are some Church of England proved not to be Calvipromises applicable to none but those who attend nistic." These articles were founded, for the the ordinances of God, and hold communion with most part, upon a body of articles compiled and the saints, Ps. xcii. 13. Is. xxv. 6. Ps. cxxxii. published in the reign of Edward VI. They 13, 16. xxxvi. 8. Jer. xxxi. 12.-3. Such were first passed in the convocation, and confirmare under the watchful eye and care of their ed by royal authority in 1562. They were afterpastor, Heb. xiii. 7.-1. Subject to the friendly wards ratified anew in the year 1571, and again reproof or kind advice of the saints, 1 Cor. xii. by Charles I. The law requires a subscription to 25-5. Their zeal and love are animated by re- these articles of all persons who are admitted into ciprocal conversation, Mal, iii. 16. Prov. xxvii.holy orders. In the course of the last century 17.-6. They may restore each other if they fall, Eccl. iv. 10. Gal. vi. 1.-7. More easily promote the cause, and spread the Gospel elsewhere. disputes arose among the clergy respecting the propriety of subscribing to any human formulary of religious sentiments. An application for its removal was made to parliament, in 1772, by the petitioning clergy; and received the most public discussion in the house of commons, but was re 3. Church ordinances are, 1. Reading of the Scriptures, Neh. ix. 3. Acts xvii. II. Neh. viii. $4. Luke iv. 16.-2. Preaching and expound ing, 1 Tim. iii. 2. 2 Tim. ii. 21. Eph. iv, 8.jected in the house of lords. Rom. x. 15. Heb. v. 4.-3. Hearing, Is. 1. 1. James i. 21. 1 Pet. ii. 2. 1 Tim. iv. 13.-4. Prayer, Ps. v. 1, 2. xev. 6. cxxi. 1. xxviii, 2. Acts xii. 12. i. 14.-5. Singing of psalms, Ps. xlvii. I to 6. Col. iii. 16. 1 Cor. xiv. 15. Eph. v. 19.Thanksgiving, Ps. 1 14. c. James v. 13. 7. The Lord's Supper, 1 Cor. xi. 23, &c. Acts. IX. 7. Baptism is not properly a church ordinance, since it ought to be administered before a person be alinitted into church fellowship. See BAPTISM, 4. Church officers are those appointed by Christ for preaching the word, and the superintendence of church affairs: such are bishops and deacons, to which some add, elders. See these articles. See Campbell's Lectures on Eccl. His try: Essays on the Church, in the Christian Magazine, vol. i; Turner's Compendium of Social Religion; Glas's Works, vol. i.; Watts's Rational Foundation of a Christian Church; Goodwin's Works, vol. iv.; Fawcett's ConstituLon and Order of a Gospel Church. CHURCH OF ENGLAND, is the church etablished by law in this kingdom. When and by whom Christianity was first induced into Britain cannot perhaps be exactly asrtained. Eusebius, indeed, positively declares that was by the apostles and their disciples. It is al said that numbers of persons professed the Christian faith here about the year 150; and acording to Usher, there was in the year 182 a of learning, to provide the British churches with Foper teachers. Popery, however, was establish in England by Austin the monk; and the erres of it we find every where prevalent, Util Wickliffe was raised up by Divine Providence to-efute them. The church of England | The government of the church of England is episcopal. The king is the supreme head. There are two archbishops, and twenty-four bishops The benefices of the bishops were converted by William the Conqueror into temporal baronies; so that every prelate has a seat and a vote in the house of peers. Dr. Hoadley, however, in a sermon preached from this text-"My kingdom is not of this world," insisted that the clergy had no pretensions to temporal jurisdiction; which gave rise to various publications, termed by way of eminence, the Bangorian Controversy, because Hoadley was then bishop of Bangor. Dr. Wake, archbishop of Canterbury, formed a project of peace and union between the English and Gallican churches, founded upon this condition, that each of the two communities should retain the greatest part of their respective and peculiar doctrines; but this project came to nothing. In the church of England there are deans, archdeacons, rectors, vicars, &c.; for an account of which, sec the respective articles. The church of England has a public form read, called a Liturgy. It was composed in 1547, and has undergone several alterations, the last of which was in 1661. Since that time, several attempts have been made to amend the liturgy, articles, and some other things relating to the internal government, but without effect. There are many excellences in the liturgy; and, in the opinion of the most impartial Grotius (who was no member of this church), "it comes so near the primitive pattern, that none of the reformed churches can compare with it." See LITURGY, The greatest part of the inhabitants of England are professedly members of this church; but, perhaps, very few either of her ministers or members CHURCH strictly adhere to the articles in their true sense. Those who are called methodistic or evangelical preachers in the establishment are allowed to Come the nearest. CHURCH | and thirty thousand, the higher calers of whom enjoyed immense revenues; but the curés, or great body of acting clergy, seldom possessed more than twenty-eight pounds sterling a-year, See Mr. Overton's True Churchman; Bishop and the vicars about half that sum. The clergy, Jewell's Apology for the Church of England; as a body, independent of their tythes, possessed Abp. Potter's Treatise on Church Government; a revenue arising from their property in land Tucker's ditto; Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity; amounting to five millions sterling annually; at Pearson on the Creed; Burnet on the Thirty- the same time they were exempt from taxation nine Articles; Bishop Pretyman's Elements of Before the levelling system had taken place, the Theology; and Mrs. H. More's Hints on forming clergy signified to the commons the instructions the Character of a young Princess, vol. ii. ch. of their constituents, to contribute to the exigen 37. On the subject of the first introduction of cies of the state in equal proportion with the Christianity into Britain, see the 1st vol, of Hen- other citizens. Not contented with this offer, the ry's History of Great Britain. tythes and revenues of the clergy were taken CHURCH, GALLICAN, denotes the ci-de-away: in lieu of which, it was proposed to grant vant church of France under the government of a certain stipend to the different ministers of reits respective bishops and pastors. This church ligion, to be payable by the nation. The posses always enjoyed certain franchises and immunities, sions of the church were then considered as not as grants from the popes, but as derived to national property by a decree of the constituent her from her first original, and which she took assembly. The religious orders, viz. the commu care never to relinquish. These liberties depend- nities of monks and nuns, possessed immense ed upon two maxims: the first, that the pope had landed estates; and, after having abolished the no right to order any thing in which the tempo-orders, the assembly scized the estates for the use ralities and civil rights of the kingdom were concerned; the second, that, notwithstanding the pope's supremacy was admitted in cases purely spiritual, yet, in France, his power was limited by the decrees of ancient councils received in that realm. In the established church the Jansenists were very numerous. The bishoprics and prebends were entirely in the gift of the king; and no other Catholic state except Italy, had so numerous a clergy as France. There were in this kingdom eighteen archbishops, one hundred and eleven bishops, one hundred and sixty-six thousand clergymen, and three thousand four hundred convents, containing two hundred thousand persons devoted to a monastic life. Since the repeal of the edict of Nantz, the Protestants have suffered much from persecution. A solemn law, which did much honour to Louis XVI., late king of France, gave to his non-Roman Catholic subjects, as they were called, all the civil advantages and privileges of their Roman Catholic brethren. The above statement was made previously to the French revolution; great alterations have taken place since that period. And it may be interesting to those who have not the means of fuller information, to give a sketch of the causes which gave rise to those important events. It has been asserted, that about the middle of the last century a conspiracy was formed to overthrow Christianity, without distinction of worship, whether Protestant or Catholic. Voltaire, D'Alembert, Frederic II. king of Prussia, and Diderot, were at the head of this conspiracy. Numerous other adepts and secondary agents were induced to join them. These pretended philosophers used every artifice that impiety could invent, by union and secret correspondence, to attack, to base, and annihilate Christianity. They not only acted in concert, sparing no political or impious art to effect the destruction of the Christian religion, but they were the instigators and conductors of those secondary agents whom they had seduced, and pursued their plan with all the ardour and constancy which denotes the most finished conspirators. The French clergy amounted to one hundred of the nation: the gates of the cloisters were now thrown open. The next step of the assembly was to establish what is called the civil constitu tion of the clergy. This, the Roman Catholics assert, was in direct opposition to their religion But though opposed with energetic eloquence, the decree passed, and was soon after followed by another, obliging the clergy to swear to maintain their civil constitution. Every artifice which cunning, and every menace which cruelty could invent, were used to induce them to take the oath; great numbers, however, refused. One hundred and thirty-eight bishops and archbishops, sixty-eight curates or vicars, were on this account driven from their sees and parishes Three hundred of the priests were massacred in one day in one city. All the other pastors who adhered to their religion were either sacrificed or banished from their country; seeking through a thousand dangers a refuge among foreign nations. A perusal of the horrid massacres of the priests who refused to take the oaths, and the various forms of persecution employed by those who were attached to the Catholic religion, must deeply wound the feelings of humanity. Those readers who are desirous of further information, are referred to Abbé Barruel's History of the Clergy. Some think that there was another cause of the revolution, and which may be traced as far back at least as the revocation of the edict of Nantz in the seventeenth century, when the great body of French Protestants, who were men of principle were either murdered or banished, and the rest in a manner silenced. The effect of this sanguinary measure (say they) must needs be the genenl prevalence of infidelity. Let the religious part of any nation be banished, and a general spread of irreligion must necessarily follow: such were the effects in France. Through the whole of the eighteenth century infidelity has been the fashion, and that not only among the princes and noblesse, but even among the greater part of the bishops and clergy. And as they had united their influence in banishing true religion, and che ishing the monster which succeeded it, so have they been united in sustaining the calamitous effects which that monster has produced. However unprincipled and cruel the French revautionists CHURCHWARDENS have been, and however much the sufferers, as fellow-creatures, are entitled to our pity; yet, considering the event as the just retribution of God, we are constrained to say, "Thou art righteous, O Lord, who art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus: for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them -blood to drink: for they are worthy." The Catholic religion is now again established, but with a toleration of the Protestants, under some restriction.-See the Concordat, or religious establishment of the French Republic, ratified September 10th, 1801. CHURCH, GREEK, or EASTERN, comprehends the churches of all the countries anciently subject to the Greek or Eastern empire, and through which their language was carried; that is, all the space extending from Greece to Mesopotamia and Persia, and thence into Egypt. This church has been divided from the Roman aver since the time of the emperor Phocas. See article GREEK CHURCH. CHURCH, HIGH. See HIGH CHURCH. CHURCH OF IRELAND is the same as the church of England, and is governed by four Archbishops and eighteen bishops. CIRCONCELLIONES parishioners, or of both. Their business is to look to the church, the church-yard, and to observe the behaviour of the parishioners; to levy a shilling forfeiture on all such as do not go to church on Sundays, and to keep persons orderly in church-time, &c. CHURCH-YARD, a piece of ground adjoining to the church, set apart for the interment of the dead. In the church of Rome, church-yards are consecrated with great solemnity. Ifa churchyard which has thus been consecrated shall afterwards be polluted by any indecent action, or profaned by the burial of an infidel, an heretic, an excommunicated or unbaptized person, it must be reconciled; and the ceremony of the reconciliation is performed with the same solemnity as that of the consecration! See CONSECRATION. They CIRCONCELLIONES, a species of fanatics, so called because they were continually rambling round the houses in the country. They took their rise among the Donatists, in the reign of the Emperor Constantine. It is incredible what ravages and cruelties they committed in Africa, through a long series of years. were illiterate, savage peasants, who understood only the Punic language. Intoxicated with a barbarous zeal, they renounced agriculture, proCHURCH, LATIN, or WESTERN, com- fessed continence, and assumed the title of " Vindiprehends all the churches of Italy, Portugal, cators of justice, and protectors of the oppressed." Spain, Africa, the north, and all other countries To accomplish their mission, they enfranchized whither the Romans carried their language. slaves, scoured the roads, forced masters to alight Great Britain, part of the Netherlands of Ger- from their chariots, and run before their slaves, many, and of the north of Europe, have been se- whom they obliged to mount in their place; and parated from it almost ever since the Reformation. discharged debtors, killing the creditors if they CHURCH, (OR CHURCHES,) REFORMED, refused to cancel their bonds. But the chief ob comprehends the whole Protestant Churches injects of their cruelty were the Catholics, and esEurope and America, whether Lutheran, Cal-pecially those who had renounced Donatism. At vinistic, Independent, Quaker, Baptist, or of any other denomination who dissent from the church of Rome. The principal churches in the United States, distinguished by this title, are The Reformed Dutch Church, composed originally of emigrants from Holland, who settled chiefly in the city and state of New York, and in the neighbouring state of New Jersey. Their doctrines are Calvinistic, and their ecclesiastical polity resbyterian, excepting that their highest court of judicature is termed a Synod, and their presbyteries are denominated Classes.See Christian Magazine, vol i. The German Reformed Church, a reforming branch of the Lutherans, the members of which, in this country, are found principally in the states of Pennsylvania and Maryland. Their form of government is essentially presbyterian, but their doctrines, in great measure, Arminian. CHURCH, ROMẨN CATHOLIC, claims the title of being the mother church, and is undoubtedly the most ancient of all the established churches in Christendom, if antiquity be held as a proof of primitive purity. See POPERY. CHURCH, LUTHERAN. See LUTHERANS, CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, established by law in that kingdom, is presbyterian, which las existed (with some interruptions during the reign of the Stuarts) ever since the time of John Knox, when the voice of the people prevailed against the influence of the crown in getting it established. Its doctrines are Calvinistic. See article PRESBYTERIANS, CHURCHWARDENS, officers chosen yearly, either by the consent of the minister, or of the first, they used no swords, because God had forbidden the use of one to Peter; but they were armed with clubs, which they called the clubs of Israel, and which they handled in such a manner as to break a man's bones without killing him immediately, so that he languished a long time, and then died. When they took away a man's life at once, they looked upon it as a favour. They became less scrupulous afterwards, and made use of all sorts of arms. Their shout was Praise be to God. These words in their months were the signal of slaughter, more terrible than the roaring of a lion. They had invented an unheard-of punishment, which was, to cover with lime, diluted with vinegar, the eyes of those unhappy wretches whom they had crushed with blows and covered with wounds, and to abandon them in that condition. Never was a stronger proof what horrors superstition can beget in minds destitute of knowledge and humanity. These brutes, who had made a vow of chastity, gave themselves up to wine, and all sorts of impurities; running about with women and young girls as drunk as themselves, whom they called Sacred virgins, and who often carried proofs of their incontinence. Their chief took the name of chief of the saints. After having glutted themselves with blood, they turned their rage upon themselves, and sought death with the same fury with which they gave it to others. Some scrambled up to the tops of rocks, and cast themselves down headlong in multitudes; others burned themselves, or threw themselve; into the sea. Those who proposed to acquire the title of martyrs, published it long before; upon which CLERGY they were feasted and fattened like oxen for the slaughter: after these preparations, they set out to be destroyed. Sometimes they gave money to those whom they met, and threatened to murder them if they did not make them martyrs. Theodoret gives an account of a stout young man, who, meeting with a troop of these fanatics, consented to kill them, provided he might bind them first; and having by this means put it out of their power to defend themselves, whipped them as long as he was able, and then left them tied in that manner. Their bishops pretended to blame them, but in reality made use of them to intimidate such as might be tempted to forsake their sect; they even honoured them as saints. They were not, however, able to govern these furious monsters; and inore than once found themselves under the necessity of abandoning them, and even of imploring the assistance of the secular power against them. The counts Ursacius and Taurinus were employed to quell them; they destroyed a great number of them, of whom the Donatists made as many martyrs. Ursacius, who was a Catholic, and a religious man, having lost his life in an engagement with the barbarians, the Donatists did not fail to triumph in his death, as an effect of the vengeance of heaven. Africa was the theatre of these bloody scenes during a great part of Constantine's life. CISTERCIANS, a religious order founded by St. Robert, a Benedictine, in the eleventh century. They became so powerful, that they governed almost all Europe both in spirituals and temporals. Cardinal de Vitri, describing their observances, says, they neither wore skins nor shirts, nor ever ate flesh, except in sickness; and abstained from fish, eggs, milk, and cheese: they lay upon straw beds, in tunics and cowls; they rose at midnight to prayers; they spent the day in labour, reading, and prayer: and in all their exercises observed a continual silence. CLEMENCY denotes much the same as mercy. It is most generally used in speaking of the forgiveness exercised by princes. It is the result, indeed, of a disposition which ought to be cultivated by all ranks, though its effects cannot be equally conspicuous. Clemency is not only the privilege, the honour, and the duty of a prince, but it is also his security, and better than all his garrisons, forts, and guards, to preserve himself and his dominions in safety. That prince is truly royal who masters himself, looks upon all injuries as below him, and governs by equity and reason, not by passion or caprice. David, king of Israel, appears in no instance greater, or more amiable, than in sparing the life of his persecutor, Saul, when it was in his power. CLERGY is not always used by the Old Testament writers Sometimes they call all the nation God's lo Deut. xxxii. 9. Ps. lxxviii. 71. xxviii. 9, &c. The New Testament writers adopt this term and apply it to the whole Christian church, 1 Pet. v. 3. Thus it is the church distinguished from the world, and not one part of the church as dis tinguished from another part." The word clergy, however, among us, always refers to ecclesiastics The clergy originally consisted of bishops, priests, and deacons; but in the third century many inferior orders were appointed; such as sub-deacons, acoluthists, readers, &c. The clergy of the church of Rome are divided into regular and secular. The regular consists of those monks or religious who have taken upon them holy or ders of the priesthood in their respective monasteries. The secular clergy are those who are not of any religious order, and have the care and direction of parishes. The Protestant clergy are all secular. For archbishops, bishops, deans, &c. &c. see those articles. The clergy have large privileges allowed thera by our municipal laws, and had formerly much greater, which were abridged at the Reformation, on account of the ill use which the popish clergy had endeavoured to make of them; for the laws having exempted them from almost every personal duty, they attempted a total exemption from every secular tie. The personal exemptions, indeed, for the most part, continue. A clergyman cannot be compelled to serve on a jury, nor to appear at a court leet, which almost every other person is obliged to do; but if a layman be summoned on a jury, and before the trial takes orders, he shall notwithstanding appear, and be sworn. Neither can he be chosen to any temporal office; as bailiff, reeve, constable, or the like, in regard of his own continual attendance on the sacred function. During his attendance on divine service, he is privileged from arrests in civil suits. In cases of felony, also, a clerk in orders shall have the benefit of clergy, without being branded in the hand, and may likewise have it more than once; in both which cases he is distinguished from a layman. Benefit of clergy was a privilege whereby a clergyman claimed to be delivered to his ordinary to purge himself of felony, and which anciently was allowed only to those who were in orders; but, by the statute of 18th Eliz., every man to whom the benefit of clergy is granted, though not in orders, is put to read at the bar, after he is found guilty, and convicted of felony, and so burnt in the hand; and set free for the first time, if the ordinary or deputy standing by do say, Legit ut clericus: otherwise he shall suffer death As the clergy have their privileges, so they have also their disabilities, on account of their spiritual CLERGY (from the Greek word λpos, herit- avocations. Clergymen are incapable of sitting age) in the general sense of the word, as used by in the house of commons; and by statute 2 us, signifies the body of ecclesiastics of the Chris- Henry VIII. c. 13, are not in general allowed to tian church, in contradistinction to the laity; but take any lands or tenements to farm, upon pain strictly speaking, and according to Scripture, it of 101. per month, and total avoidance of the lease; means the church.-"When Joshua," as one ob-nor, upon like pain, to keep any tap-house, or serves, "divided the Holy Land by lot among the Israelites, it pleased God to provide for a thirteenth part of them, called Levites, by assigning them a personal estate equivalent to that provision made by real estate which was allotted to each of the other twelve parts. In conformity to the style of the transaction, the Levites were called God's lot, inheritance, or clergy. This style, however, brewhouse; nor engage in any trade, nor sell anv merchandise, under forfeiture of the treble value; which prohibition is consonant to the canon law. The number of clergy in England and Wales amount, according to the best calculation, to 18,000.-The revenues of the clergy were form erly considerable, but since the Reformation they are comparatively small, at least those of the in CENOBITE COMMENTARY ferior clergy. See the Bishop of Llandaff's | that the latter may be applied to the residence of Valuation of the Church and University Re- a single religious or recluse; whereas the convent tenues; or Core on the Revenues of the Church, implies cœnobites, or numbers of religious living 1797, 2d edition; Burnett's Hist. of his own in common. Fleury speaks of three kinds of Times, conclusion. See article MINISTER. monks in Egypt; anachorets, who live in soli CLERK: 1. A word originally used to denote tude; cenobites, who continue to live in commu a learned man, or man of letters; but now is the nity; and sarabaites, who are a kind of monks cominon appellation by which clergymen distin- errant, that stroll from place to place. He refers guish themselves in signing any deed or instru- the institution of coenobites to the time of the ment-2. Also the person who reads the re- apostles, and makes it a kind of imitation of the sponses of the congregation in the church, or ordinary lives of the faithful at Jerusalem; though gives out the hymns at a meeting. St. Pachomius is ordinarily owned to be the institutor of the cœnobite life, as being the first who gave rule to any community. COCCEIANS, a denomination which arose in the seventeenth century; so called from John Cocceius, professor of divinity in the university COLLECT, a short prayer. In the liturgy of Leyden. He represented the whole history of the church of England, and the mass of the of the Old Testament as a mirror, which held Romanists, it denotes a prayer accommodated to forth an accurate view of the transactions and any particular day, occasion, or the like. In ge events that were to happen in the church under neral, all the prayers in each office are called colthe dispensation of the New Testament, and lects, either because the priest speaks in the name unto the end of the world. He maintained that of the whole assembly, whose sentiments and deby far the greatest part of the ancient prophecies sires he sums up by the word "Oremus," "Let foretold Christ's ministry and mediation, and the us pray," or because those prayers are offered rise, progress, and revolutions of the church, not when the people are assembled together. The only under the figure of persons and transac-popes Gelasius and Gregory are said to have been tions, but in a literal manner, and by the very the first who established collects. Dr. Despence, sense of the words used in these predictions; and of Paris, wrote a treatise on collects, their origin, laid it down as a fundamental rule of interpreta- antiquity, &c. tion, that the words and phrases of Scripture are COLLEGIANS, or COLLEGIANTS, a sect to be understood in every sense of which they formed among the Arminians and Anabaptists are susceptible, or, in other words, that they sig-in Holland, about the beginning of the sevennify in effect every thing that they can possible signify. sents himself, professing his faith in the divinity of the Holy Scriptures, and resolution to live suitably to their precepts and doctrines, without regard to his sect or opinion. They have no particular ministers, but each officiates as he is disposed. They baptize by immersion. teenth century: so called because of their colleges or meetings twice every week, where every Cocceius also taught, that the covenant made one, females excepted, has the same liberty of between God and the Jewish nation, by the mi- expounding the Scripture, praying, &c. They nistry of Moses, was of the same nature as the are said to be all either Arians or Socinians: they new covenant, obtained by the mediation of Jesus never communicate in the college, but meet twice Christ. In consequence of this general principle, a year, from all parts of Holland, at Rhinsbergh, he maintained that the ten commandments were (whence they are also called Rhinsberghers) a promulgated by Moses, not as a rule of obedience, village two miles from Leyden, where they combut as a representation of the covenant of grace-municate together; admitting every one that prethat when the Jews had provoked the Deity by their various transgressions, particularly by the worship of the golden calf, the severe and servile yoke of the ceremonial law was added to the decalogue, as a punishment inflicted on them by the Supreme Being in his righteous displeasure that this yoke, which was painful in itself, be- COMMENTARY, as applied to the Scripcame doubly so on account of its typical signifi- tures, an exposition, book of annotations or recation; since it admonished the Israelites from marks, designed to elucidate the sacred volume day to day of the imperfection and uncertainty by illustrating obscure passages, interpreting amof their state, filled them with anxiety, and was biguous phrases, reconciling apparent contradica perpetual proof that they had merited the right- tions, exhibiting the relation or parallelism of the eous displeasure of God, and could not expect, different parts,-in fine, by furnishing every before the coming of the Messiah, the entire re-facility to the biblical reader towards the attainmission of their iniquities-that indeed good men, ment of the genuine sense of the inspired writeven under the Mosaic dispensation, were imme-ings. It is unquestionable, that there are many diately after death made partakers of everlasting glory; but that they were nevertheless, during the whole course of their lives, far removed from that firm hope and assurance of salvation, which rejoices the faithful under the dispensation of the Gospel-and that their anxiety flowed naturally from this consideration, that their sins, though they remained unpunished, were not pardoned; because Christ had not as yet offered himself up a sacrifice to the Father, to make an entire atonement for them. CENOBITE, one who lives in a convent, or in community under a certain rule; in opposition to a hermit, who lives in solitude. Cassian makes this difference between a convent and a monastery, passages in the sacred Scriptures both difficult and obscure, in consequence of the various times when the different books were written, the diversified topics of which they treat, their allusion to ancient customs, and the languages in which they were originally composed. So far, indeed, as relates to the way of salvation, "he that runs may read;" but there are many important points which, to common and unlettered readers, require explanation, and in which we may profitably avail ourselves of the labours of inquirers who have preceded us, especially of those who have been deeply versed in the original languages, who have collated the different parts, the New Testament and the Old, the prophetic with the |