the absolute perfection of his own nature, and his kindness manifested to his creatures. Goodness, says Dr. Gill, is essential to God, without which he would not be God, Exod. xxxiii. 19. xxxiv. 6, 7. Goodness belongs only to God, he is solely good, Matt. xix. 17; and all the goodness found in creatures are only emanations of the divine goodness. He is the chief good; the sum and substance of all felicity, Ps. cxliv. 12, 15, Ixxiii. 25. iv. 6, 7. There is nothing but goodness in God, and nothing but goodness comes from him, 1 John, i. 5. James, i. 13, 14. He is infinitely good; finite minds cannot comprehend his goodness, Rom. xi. 35, 36. He is immutably and unchangeably good, Zeph. iii. 17. The goodness of God is communicative and diffusive, Ps. cxix. 68. xxxiii. 5. With respect to the objects of it, it may be considered as general and special. His general goodness is seen in all his creatures; yea, in the inanimate creation, the sun, the earth, and all his works; and in the government, support, and protection of the world at large, Ps. xxxvi. 6. cxlv. His special goodness relates to angels and saints. To angels, in creating, confirming, and making them what they are. To saints, in election, calling, justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance, and eternal glorification. Gill's Body of Div. v. i. p. 133. 8vo. ed.; Charnock's Works, v. i. p. 574; Paley's Nat. Theol., ch. 26; South's admirable Sermon, on this Subject, vol. viii. ser. 3. Tillotson's Serm., ser. 143-146; Abernethy's Serm., vol. i. No. 2. ter, of St. Andrew, of St. Barnabas, the eternal Gospel, &c. &c. &c.: but they were never received by the Christian church, being evidently fabulous and trifling. See CHRISTIANITY. GOSPEL CALL. See CALLING. GOSPEL A LAW. It has been disputed whether the Gospel consists merely of promises, or whether it can in any sense be called a law. The answer plainly depends upon adjusting the meaning of the words Gosfiel and law: if the Gospel be taken for the declaration God has made to men by Christ, concerning the manner in which he will treat them, and the conduct he expects from them, it is plain that this includes commands, and even threatenings, as well as promises; but to define the Gospel so, as only to express the favourable part of that declaration, is indeed taking the question for granted, and confining the word to a sense much less extensive than it often has in Scripture: compare Rom. ii. 16. 2 Thess. i. 8. 1 Tim. i. 10, 11.; and it is certain, that, if the Gospel be put for all the parts of the dispensation taken in connection one with another, it may well be called, on the whole, a good message. In like manner the question, whether the Gospel be a law or not, is to be determined by the definition of the law and of the Gospel, as above. If law signifies, as it generally does, the discovery of the will of a superior, teaching what he requires of those under his government, with the intimation of his intention of dispensing rewards and punishments, as this rule of their conduct GOSPEL, the revelation of the grace is observed or neglected; in this latiof God to fallen man through a media- tude of expression, it is plain, from the tor. It is taken also for the history of proposition, that the Gospel, taken for the life, actions, death, resurrection, as- the declaration made to men by Christ, cension, and doctrine of Jesus Christ. is a law, as in Scripture it is sometimes The word is Saxon, and of the same called, James, i. 25. Rom. iv. 15. Rom. import with the Latin evangelium,|| viii. 2. But if the law be taken, in the which signifies glad tidings or good greatest rigour of the expression, for news. It is called the Gospel of his such a discovery of the will of God, and Grace, because it flows from his free our duty, as to contain in it no intimalove, Acts, xx. 24. The Gospel of the tion of our obtaining the Divine favour kingilom, as it treats of the kingdoms of otherwise than by a perfect and univergrace and glory. The Gospel of Christ, sal conformity to it, in that sense the because he is the author and subject of Gospel is not a law. See NEONOMIANS. it, Rom. 1. 16. The Gospel of peace Witsius on Cov. vol. iii. ch. 1.; Dodand salvation, as it promotes our pre-dridge's Lectures, lect. 172.; Watts's sent comfort, and leads to eternal glory, Eph. i. 13. vi. 15. The glorious Gospel, GOVERNMENT OF GOD, is the as in it the glorious perfections of Jeho- disposal of his creatures, and all events vah are displayed, 2 Cor. iv. 4. The relative to them, according to his infieverlasting Gospel, as it was designed nite justice, power, and wisdom. His from eternity, is permanent in time, and moral government is his rendering to the effects of it eternal, Rev. xiv. 6. every man according to his actions, conThere are about thirty or forty apocry-sidered as good or evil. See DOMINION phal Gospels; as the Gospel of St. Pe- and SOVEREIGNTY. || Orthodoxy and Charity, essay 2. C c even not neglected by heathens themselves. The English, however, seem to be very deficient in this duty. As to the manner in which it ought to be performed, as Dr. Watts observes, we ought to have a due regard to the occa-ion, and the persons present; the neglect of which hath been attended with indecencies and indiscretions. Some have used themselves to mutter a few words with so low a voice, as though by some secret charm they were to consecrate the food alone, and there was no need of the rest to join with them in the petitions. Others have broke out into so violent a sound, as though they were bound to make a thousand people hear them. Some perform this part of worship with so slight and familiar an air, as though they had no sense of the great God to whom they speak: others have put on an unnatural solemnity, and changed their natural voice into so different and awkward a tone, not without some distortions of countenance, that have tempted strangers to ridicule. GRACE. There are various senses in which this word is used in Scripture; but the general idea of it as it relates to God, is his free favour and love. As it respects men, it implies the happy state of reconciliation and favour with God wherein they stand, and the holy endowments, qualities, or habits of faith, hope, love, &c., which they possess. Divines have distinguished grace into common or general, special or particular. Common grace, if it may be so called, is what all men have; as the light of nature and reason, convictions of conscience, &c., Rom. ii. 4. 1 Tim. iv. 10. Special grace is that which is peculiar to some people only; such as electing, redeeming, justifying, pardoning, adopting, establishing, and sanctifying grace, Rom. viii. 30. This special grace is by some distinguished into imputed and inherent: imputed grace consists in the holiness, obedience, and righteousness of Christ, imputed to us for our justification; inherent grace is what is wrought in the heart by the Spirit of God in regeneration Grace is It is the custom of some to hurry over also said to be irresistible, efficacious, and a single sentence or two, and they have victorious; not but that there are in hu- done, before half the company are preman nature, in the first moments of con-pared to lift up a thought to heaven. viction, some struggles, opposition, or conflict; but by these terms we are to understand, that, in the end, victory declares for the grace of the Gospel. There have been many other distinctions of grace; but as they are of too frivolous a nature, and are now obsolete, they need not a place here. Growth in grace is the progress we make in the divine life. It discovers itself by an increase The general rules of prudence, togeof spiritual light and knowledge; by ther with a due observation of the cusour renouncing self, and depending more tom of the place where we live, would upon Christ; by growing more spiritual correct all these disorders, and teach us in duties; by being more humble, sub- that a few sentences suited to the occamissive, and thankful; by rising superior || sion, spoken with an audible and proper to the corruptions of our nature, and voice, are sufficient for this purpose, esfinding the power of sin more weakened pecially if any strangers are present. in us; by being less attached to the Watts's Works, oct. edit. vol. iv. p 160. world, and possessing more of a hea- Law's Serious Call, p. 60. Seed's Post. venly disposition. M'Laurin's Essays, Ser. p. 174. essay 3. Gill's Body of Div. vol. i. p. 118.; Doddridge's Lect., part. viii. prop. 139.; Pike and Hayward's Cases of Conscience; Saurin on 1 Rom. ix. 26, 27, vol. iv.; Booth's Reign of Grace. GRACE AT MEALS, a short prayer, imploring the divine blessing on food, and expressive of gratitude to God for supplying our necessities. The propriety of this act is evident from the divine command, 1 Thess. v. 18. 1 Cor. x. 31. 1 Tim. iv. 5. From the conduct of Christ, Mark, viii. 6, 7. From reason itself; not to mention that it is a custom practised by most nations, and our And some have been just heard to bespeak a blessing on the church and the king, but seem to have forgot they were asking God to bless their food, or giving thanks for the food they have received. Others, again, make a long prayer, and, among a multitude of other petitions, do not utter one that relates to the table before them. GRATITUDE, is that pleasant affection of the mind which arises from a sense of favours received, and by which the possessor is excited to make all the returns of love and service in his power. "Gratitude," says Mr. Cogan (in his Treatise on the Passions,) "is the powerful re-action of a well-disposed mind, upon whom benevolence has conferred some important good. It is mostly connected with an impressive sense of the amiable disposition of the person by whom the benefit is conferred, and it immediately produces a personal affection towards him. We shall not wonder are, in fact, but one church. It is called the Greek church, in contradistinction to the Latin or Romish church; as also the Eastern, in distinction from the Western church. We shall here present the reader with a view of its rise, tenets, and discipline. at the peculiar strength and energy of this affection, when we consider that it is compounded of love placed upon the good communicated, affection for the donor, and joy at the reception. Thus it has goodness for its object, and the most pleasing, perhaps unexpected, exertions of goodness for its immediate cause. Thankfulness refers to verbal expres-of. The Greek church is considered as sions of gratitude." See THANKFUL NESS. GRAVITY, is that seriousness of mind, united with dignity of behaviour, that commands veneration and respect. See Dr. Watts's admirable Sermon on Gravity, ser. 23. vol. i. 1. Greek church, rise and separation a separation from the Latin. In the middle of the ninth century, the controversy relating to the procession of the Holy Ghost (which had been started in the sixth century) became a point of great importance, on account of the jealousy and ambition which at that time GREATNESS OF GOD, is the in- were blended with it. Photius, the pafinite glory and excellency of all his triarch of Jerusalem, having been ad, perfections. His greatness appears by vanced to that see in the room of Ignathe attributes he possesses, Deut. xxxii. tius, whom he procured to be deposed, 3, 4. the works he hath made, Ps. xix. was solemnly excommunicated by pope 1. by the awful and benign providences Nicholas, in a council held at Rome, he displays, Ps. xcvii. 1, 2. the great ef- and his ordination declared null and fects he produces by his word, Gen. i. || void. The Greek Emperor resented the constant energy he manifests in the this conduct of the pope, who defended existence and support of all his crea- himself with great spirit and resolution. tures, Ps. cxlv. and the everlasting pro- Photius, in his turn, convened what he vision of glory made for his people, 1 called an ecumenical council, in which Thess. iv. 17. This greatness is of him- he pronounced sentence of excommuniself, and not derived, Ps. xxi. 13. it is cation and deposition against the pope, infinite, Ps. cxlv. 3. not diminished by and got it subscribed by twenty-one exertion, but will always remain the bishops and others, amounting in numsame, Mal. iii. 6. The considerations of ber to a thousand. This occasioned a his greatness should excite veneration, wide breach between the sees of Rome Ps. Ixxxix. 7. admiration, Jer. ix. 6, 7. and Constantinople. However, the death humility, Job xlii. 5, 6. dependence, Is. of the emperor Michael, and the depoxxvi. 4. submission, Job i. 22. obedience, sition of Photius, subsequent thereupon, Deut. iv. 39, 40. See ATTRIBUTES, and seem to have restored peace; for the books under that article. emperor Basil held a council at Constantinople in the year 869, in which enentire satisfaction was given to Pope Adrian; but the schism was only sinothered and suppressed a while. The Greek church had several complaints against the Latin; particularly it was thought a great hardship for the Greeks to subscribe to the definition of a council according to the Roman form, prescribed by the pope, since it made the church of Constantinople dependent on that of Rome, and set the pope above an œcumenical council; but, above all, the pride and haughtiness of the Roman court gave the Greeks a great distaste; and as their deportment seemed to insult his imperial majesty, it entirely alienated the affections of the emperor Basil. Towards the middle of the eleventh century, Michael Cerulariùs, patriarch of Constantinople, opposed the Latins, with respect to their making use of unleavened bread in the eucharist, their observation of the sabbath, and fasting on Saturday, charging them with living in communion with the Jews. To GREEK CHURCH, comprehends in its bosom a considerable part of Greece, the Grecian Isles, Wallachia, Moldavia, Egypt, Abyssinia, Nubia, Libya, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Cilicia, and Palestine, which are all under the jurisdiction of the patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. If to these we add the whole of the Russian empire in Europe, great part of Siberia in Asia, Astracan, Casan, and Georgia, it will be evident that the Greek church has a wider extent of territory than the Latin, with all the branches which have sprung from it; and that it is with great impropriety that the church of Rome is called by her members the catholic or universal church. That in these widely distant countries the professors of Christianity are agreed in every minute article of belief, it would be rash to assert; but there is certainly such an agreement among them, with respect both to faith and to discipline, that they mutually hold communion with each other, and this pope Leo IX. replied; and, in his apology for the Latins, declaimed very warmly against the false doctrine of the Greeks, and interposed at the same time, the authority of his see. He likewise, by his legates, excommunicated the patriarch in the church of Santa Sophia, which gave the last shock to the reconciliation attempted a long time after, but to no purpose; for from that time the hatred of the Greeks to the Latins, and of the Latins to the Greeks, became insuperable, insomuch that they have continued ever since separated from each other's communion. II. Greek church, tenets of. The following are some of the chief tenets held by the Greek church:-They disown the authority of the pope, and deny that the church of Rome is the true catholic church. They do not baptize their children till they are three, four, five, six, ten, nay sometimes eighteen years of age: baptism is performed by trine immersion. They insist that the sacrament of the Lord's supper ought to be administered in both kinds, and they give the sacrament to children immediately after baptism. They grant no indulgences, nor do they lay any claim to the character of infallibility, like the church of Rome. They deny that there is any such place as purgatory; notwithstanding they pray for the dead, that God would have mercy on them at the general judgment. They practise the invocation of saints; though, they say, they do not invoke them as deities, but as intercessors with God. They exclude confirmation, extreme unction, and natrimony, cut of the seven sacraments. They deny auricular confession to be a divine precept, and say it is only a positive injunction of the church. They pay no religious homage to the eucharist. They administer the communion in both kinds to the laity, both in sickness and in health, though they have never applied themselves to their confessors; because they are persuaded that a lively faith is all which is requisite for the worthy receiving of the Lord's supper. They maintain that the Holy Ghost proceeds only from the Father, and not from the Son. They believe in predestination. They admit of no images in relief or embossed work, but use paintings and sculptures in copper or silver. They approve of the marriage of priests, provided they enter into that state before their admission into holy orders. They condenin all tourth marriages. They observe a number of holy days, and keep four fasts in the year more solemn than the rest, of which the fast in Lent, before Easter, is the chief. They believe the doctrine of consubstantiation, or the union of the body of Christ with the sacrament bread. III. Greek church, state and discipline of. Since the Greeks became subject to the Turkish yoke, they have sunk into the most deplorable ignorance, in consequence of the slavery and thraldom under which they groan; and their religion is now greatly corrupted. It is, indeed, little better than a heap of ridiculous ceremonies and absurdities. The head of the Greek church is the patriarch of Constantinople, who is chosen by the neighbouring archbishops and metropolitans, and confirmed by the emperor or grand vizier. He is a person of great dignity, being the head and director of the Eastern church. The other patriarchs are those of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria. Mr. Tournefort tells us, that the patriarchates are now generally set to sale, and bestowed upon those who are the highest bidders. The patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops, and bishops, are always chosen from among the caloyers, or Greek monks. The next person to a bishop, among the clergy, is an archimandrite, who is the director of one or more convents, which are cailed mandren; then come the abbot, the arch-priest, the priest, the deacon, the under-deacon, the chanter, and the lecturer. The se cular clergy are subject to no rules, and never rise higher than high-priest. The Greeks have few nunneries, but a great many convents of monks, who are all priests; and (students excepted) obliged to follow some handicraft employment, and lead a very austere life. The Russians adhere to the doctrine and ceremonies of the Greek church, though they are now independent on the patriarch of Constantinople. The Russian church, indeed, may be reckoned the, first, as to extent of empire; yet there is very little of the power of vital religion among them. The Roskolniki, or, as they now call themselves, the Starovertzi, were a sect that separated from the church of Russia, about 1666: they affected extraordinary piety and devotion, a veneration for the letter of the Holy Scriptures, and would not allow a priest to administer baptism who had that day tasted brandy. They harboured many follies and superstitions, and have been greatly persecuted; but, perhaps, there will be found among them" some that shall be counted to the Lord for a generation." Several settlements of German Protestants have been established in the Wolga. The H attendance with what is said of the stated residence of these angels in heaven, and with 11eb. i. 14, where all the angels are represented as ministering to the heirs of salvation: though, as there is great reason to believe the number of heavenly spirits is vastly superior to that of men upon earth, it is not improbable that they may, as it were, relieve each other. and in their turns perform these condescending services to those whom the Lord of Angels has been pleased to redeem with his own blood; but we must confess that our knowledge of the laws and orders of those celestial beings is very limited, and consequently that it is the part of humility to avoid dogmatical determinations on such heads as these." See ANGEL; and Doddridge's Lectures, lec. 212. GUILT, the state of a person justly charged with a crime; a consciousness of having done amiss. See SIN. iii; Reid on the Active Powers, p. 117; Cogan on the Passions, p. 235. HABIT, a power and ability of doing || any thing, acquired by frequent repetition of the same action. It is distin- HÆRETICO COMBURENDO, a guished from custom. Custom respects writ which anciently lay against an hethe action; habit the actor. By custom retic, who, having once been convicted we mean a frequent reiteration of the of heresy by his bishop, and having absame act; and by habit the effect that jured it, afterwards falling into it again, custom has on the mind or body. "Man," or into some other, is thereupon comas one observes," is a bundle of habits.mitted to the secular power. This writ There are habits of industry, attention, is thought by some to be as ancient as vigilance, advertency; of a prompt obe- the common law itself; however, the dience to the judginent occurring, or of conviction of heresy by the common law yielding to the first impulse of passion; was not in any petty ecclesiastical court, of apprehending, methodizing, reason- but before the archbishop himself, in a ing; of vanity, melancholy, fretfulness, provincial synod, and the delinquent was suspicion, covetousness, &c. In a word, delivered up to the king, to do with there is not a quality or function, either him as he pleased; so that the crown of body or mind, which does not feel the had a controul over the spiritual power: influence of this great law of animated but by 2 Henry IV. cap. 15. the diocenature." To cure evil habits we should san alone, without the intervention of a be as early as we can in our application, synod, might convict of heretical tenets; principiis obsta; to cross and mortify || and unless the convict abjured his opithe inclination by a frequent and obstí- nions, or if after abjuration he relapsed, nate practice of the contrary virtue. To the sheriff was bound ex officio, if requiform good habits, we should get our red by the bishop, to commit the unhapminds well stored with knowledge; as-py victim to the flames, without waiting sociate with the wisest and best men; reflect much on the pleasure good habits are productive of; and, above all, supplicate the Divine Being for direction and assistance. Kaimes's Elem. of Crit. ch. xiv. vol. 1; Grove's Mor. Phil. vol. i. p. 143; Paley's Mor. Phil. vol. i. p. 46; Jortin on Bad Habits, ser. 1. vol. for the consent of the crown. This writ remained in force, and was actually executed on two Anabaptists, in the seventh of Elizabeth, and on two Arians in the ninth of James I. Sir Edward Coke was of opinion that this writ did not lie in his time; but it is now formally taken away by statute 29 Car. II. cap. 9. |