can give evidence of their conversion, are guilty, not only of practicing without a thus saith the Lord, but of doing that in the name of the Lord which God has positively forbidden. Prohibitions and instructions like the above are found in a numerous class of texts, but I must close by simply referring you to a few of them. John viii. 33-37: Acts iii. 22-26: Rom. viii. 14, 15: ix. 6-11: Gal. iii. 21-29: v. 1-4: Heb. xii. 18-22: Rev. iii. 12: xxi. 2-10: Mat. xxviii. 1620: Mark xvi. 14-20: Luke xxiv. 45-49.

SECTION III.

HAVING briefly noticed the church of God, and shown the marked difference between it and the Mosaic church, the constitution and covenant of which was the law, by the faith and deeds of which no flesh could be justified; Rom. iii. 20: iv. 5: vii. 7: Gal. ii. 16: iii. 10; we pass to notice the origin of some of the existing denominations. By the persecution at Jerusalem, Acts xi. 19-26, the disciples were scattered, and went every where preaching the word and planting churches. At this time the Roman empire was in its glory, and governed not only Palestine, but a large portion of the world. The Romans were pagans, and their religion was so intimately connected with their government that the progress of the gospel alarmed both their pagan and their political fears. It is probable that the gospel was first preached in the city of Rome, A. D. 34 or 35, and a church formed there soon after this; for Paul in his epistle, Rom. i. 8, A. D. 60, speaks of them as a church generally known. The management of the Jews was committed to Roman governors, therefore Caligula and Claudius suffered them to persecute Christians by the instrumentality of the Jews. But when Nero

came to the throne, A. D. 54, he took the sword into his own hand, and from the time he set fire to the city of Rome and charged it to the Christians, July 10, A. D. 64, to the time he beheaded Paul, A. D. 66, and finally, up to the time of his death, A. D. 68, he contined to imprison and destroy Christians. Here began the pagan persecution. Passing over the conduct of Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian and Titus, in the 14th year of Domitian's reign, A. D. 95, we find him engaged in a merciless persecution, in which the evangelist John was banished to the island of Patmos, where he wrote the Revelation. The short reign of Emperor Nerva was mild, but when Trajan came to the throne, A. D. 98, his edicts drenched the earth. with Christian blood; and Adrian, although petitioned by Quadratus, Aristides and Serenus Granianus, to have mercy on the church, made its condition but little better. During the reign of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Antoninus, i. e. from A. D. 142 to A. D. 180, there were great persecutions in Asia. Here Polycarp, the pastor at Smyrna, suffered martyrdom, A. D. 166. Toward the close of the reign of M. Antoninus, say A. D. 177, the persecution began in France; Lyons, Vienne and other places suffered inhuman tortures and bloodshed. Passing by the reigns of Commodus, Pertinax, Julianus, Niger and Albinus, we find Severus, A. D. 202, waging war with Christians in Africa; and, soon after, Asia, Egypt, and most of the nations in Europe were fields of slaughFrom the death of Severus, A. D. 211, to the reign of Decius, the church had a little rest; but from A. D. 250 to the close of the Dioclesian persecution, A. D. 311, the church was hunted and killed with greater eagerness than the worst of wild beasts. The mischief done in this persecution will only be known at the last Judgment. It consisted in burning the books and writings of the church; in banishing and

ter.

killing, indiscriminately, men, women and children, beyond all account. Godeau, a French writer, says that not less than 17,000 were put to death in one month; and within one year 150,000 were slain in Egypt, besides all that suffered in other places.

Thus the fair churches which had been planted in Palestine, Egypt, Greece, Africa, Italy, France, England, Spain and other places, were scattered by the hand of its enemy. At the death of Constantius, A. D. 306, Constantine became Emperor of the West, and at the death of Maximinus Galerius, A. D. 311, Maxentius became Emperor of the East. An edict was now published which equally tolerated Christianity and paganism. Soon after this a civil war began between the two Emperors, in which Maxentius fell at Rome, A. D. 312, and Constantine became the sole governor of the empire. While he was marching his army from France into Italy, he professed to have seen at mid-day, a luminous cross in the sky, with this inscription on it, "By this conquer." The sight so affected his mind that it resulted in his conversion, and soon after he was master of Rome, he prohibited paganism, and used every laudable means to gather and establish the churches. Having removed the seat of government to Byzantium, and changed its name to Constantinople, he there, as well as elsewhere, opened the churches and closed the pagan temples. He assumed the name of Bishop, and claimed the power of controlling and regulating all the temporalities of the church. From this time Constantine continued to use his property and every power to defend, enlarge, and enrich the church, until he died, May 22, A. D. 337.

His church, having become very rich and fashionable, their pomp and preferments soon drew multitudes of unworthy members into her communion. Her discipline and devotion fled, and in a few years

the church of Rome became dogmatical, insolent, and a mere synagogue of Satan, corrupt in faith, and worse in practice; they not only descended to the level of the ungodly world, but even practiced paganism and Judaism, and heaven-daring sins in their nominal holy Catholic Church.-Milner, Jones, Cave and Moshiem.

While these things existed, many of the most godly members withdrew from them, and established purer churches, or lived alone, as circumstances dictated. During the long and bloody pagan oppression, the spirit of persecution had become interwoven with the very nature of the Romans; but as Christianity had become the religion of the nation, they found no vent for this principle, until a violent quarrel took place between Milchiades, Bishop of Rome, and Coecilianus, Bishop of Carthage. Many ministers and churches took sides in this controversy; and, finally a council was assembled at Arles, in France, in which they condemned the Carthagenians and treated them accordingly. Soon after this another dispute began at Alexandria in Egypt. This was the beginning of the Arian controversy, which finally affected nearly all Christendom. A council was assembled at Nice, A. D. 325, when Arius and his followers were condemned, excluded and anathematized, which resulted in a division of the church at Alexandria, and many others.

From that time, the church of Rome found vent for her peculiar spirit of persecution, and the same spirit which pagan Rome had manifested against Christians, was now exhibited by Christian Rome against, not only Ariaus, but all others who did not fellowship her abominations. Tertullian, who flourished from A. D. 194, to A. D. 220, separated himself from the pollutions of the Romish church at Carthage. And Novatian, a man of great learning and

piety, established a church on apostolic principles, in Rome, A. D. 251, and held no communion with the Judaised and paganised catholics; his followers were called cathari, (i. e. puritans.) This church became large, and not only attracted the persons of the virtuous, but the persecutions and anathemas of the Catholics. Thus divisions multiplied until A. D. 660, when a body of pure Christians arose, whom the Romans nicknamed PAULICANS and afterward MANICHAEANS, &c., and turned upon them as severe a persecution as that of Dioclesian. This barbarous persecution continued until after what is called the reformation. The first pastors or bishops of Rome, lived subject to the government of the empire, and simply officiated as ecclesiastical teachers, as baptist ministers do now. But when Constantine was converted and assumed the name of Bishop, and took the control of the churches in his empire, he appeared something like a Pope, although he laid no claim to the gospel ministry. Sylvester, who was pastor of the church of Rome from A. D. 313 to 335, and those who succeeded him up to A. D. 590, made no pretensions to universal bishopship. A. D. 588 the church at Constantinople had a pastor called John the faster, and Pelagius was pastor at Rome at the same time. Pelagius attempted to exercise some authority over John the faster; and the church at Constantinople, to show a suitable resentment, called a council and declared John UNIVERSAL BISHOP. This exasperated Pelagius and his party, and a dreadful quarrel ensued; but Pelagius soon died, and Gregory the Great succeeded him, A. D. 590. Gregory took not only the place but the spirit of Pelagius. He wrote a letter to Mauricius, Emperor of Constantinople, setting forth the blasphemous wickedness of John's assuming the name of Universal Bishop. Mauricius paid no favorable attention to Gregory's letter, and