are ever ready to imitate what they see their parents engaged in. Their childish folly was encouraged by the monks and schoolmasters, and thousands of these innocents were conducted from the houses of their parents, on the superstitious interpretation of these words: "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou perfected praise." Their base conductors sold a part of them to the Turks, and the rest perished miserably.-Hume's Hist. of England, vol. i. p. 292, &c.; and vol. ii. p. 280; Enc. Brit.; and Mosheim's Ecc. Hist.

CRYPTO-CALVINISTS, a name given, some time after the Reformation, to the favourers of Calvinism in Saxony, Denmark, Sweden, &c., on account of their secret attachment to the Genevan doctrine and discipline.

CULDEES, the members of a very ancient religious fraternity, whose principal seat was the Island of Iona, or Icolumkil, one of the western islands of Scotland, but whose laborious missionary exertions were extended over considerable portions of Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland, and in whose constitution we discover a simplicity of views and habits which necessarily lead us to associate them with the men of more primitive times. They owe their establishment to Columba, a native of Ireland, who, after proceeding to Scotland, and succeeding in the conversion of the northern Picts to Christianity, landed at Hii, or Iona, in the year 563, and received the island from the king of that people for the purpose of founding a monastery. Here he erected a seminary, in which he taught his disciples the Holy Scriptures, to the study of which he was himself devotedly attached; and when they were duly prepared, he sent them forth, with the holy book in their hand, to evangelize the dark and benighted regions which extended in every direction. They held no fellowship with the Church of Rome, and for many centuries maintained their ground against the attempted encroachments of that see. They rejected auricular confession, penance, and absolution; knew nothing of the chrism in baptism, or the rite of confirmation; and opposed the doctrine of the real presence, the worship of saints and angels, and the celibacy of the clergy, and works of supererogation. In the twelfth century their influence began to be overpowered by the force of popish superstition; but they resisted to the very last every effort that was made to incorporate their secluded establishment with the dominant hierarchy.

pear to have been in any respect different from that of presbyter or pastor. These bishops, to how great soever a distance they resided from Iona, were subject to the discipline of the college, with which they kept up a regular correspondence.

It is not known in what precise year the Culdees became extinct, but there is reason to believe, that, in the west of Scotland, they continued to exhibit a testimony on behalf of primitive truth in opposition to the corruption of Rome, till very near the period when the light of the Reformation was introduced into those northern parts of our island.

CURATE, the lowest degree in the Church of England; he who represents the incumbent of a church, parson, or vicar, and officiates in his stead: he is to be licensed and admitted by the bishop of the diocese, or by an ordinary having episcopal jurisdiction; and when a curate hath the approbation of the bishop, he usually appoints the salary too; and in such case, if he be not paid, the curate hath a proper remedy in the ecclesiastical court, by a sequestration of the profits of the benefice; but if the curate be not licensed by the bishop, he is put to his remedy at common law, where he must prove the agreement, &c. A curate, having no fixed estate in his curacy, not being instituted and inducted, may be removed at pleasure by the bishop, or incumbent. But there are perpetual curates as well as temporary, who are appointed where tithes are impropriate, and no vicarage endowed; these are not removable, and the impropriators are obliged to find them; some whereof have certain portions of the tithes settled on them. Curates must subscribe the declaration according to the Act of Uniformity, or are liable to imprisonment. Though the condition of curates be somewhat ameliorated by a late act, it must be confessed that they are still, in many respects, exposed to hardships: their salaries are not equal to many dissenting ministers, who have nothing to depend on but the liberality of their people. Can there be a greater reproach to the dignified ecclesiastics of this country, than the comparatively miserable pittance allowed to curates, who do all the labour?

for the pallia, spolia, benefices, annates, &c. It is a lucrative branch of the papal government, and part of the receipts goes to the apostolic chamber. In former times, the car

dinal grand penitentiary, as president of the penitenzieria, had a very great influence. He still issues all dispensations and absolutions in respect to vows, penances, fasts, &c.; in regard to which the Pope has reserved to himself the dispensing power: also with respect to marriages within the degrees prohibited to Catholics. Besides these authorities, whose powers extend over all Catholic Christendom, there are in Rome several others occupied only with the government of the Roman state; as the Sagra Consulta, or chief criminal court, in which the cardinal secretary of state presides; the signatura di guistizia, a court for civil cases, consisting of twelve prelates, over which the cardinal provveditore, or papal minister of justice, presides, and with which the signatura di grazia concurs; the apostolic chamber in which twelve prelates are employed under the cardinale camerlingo, administering the property of the church and the papal domains, and receiving the revenue which belongs to the Pope as temporal and spiritual sovereign of the Roman state, and also that which he derives from other countries, which stand immediately under him, and are his fiefs. Besides these, there is a number of governors, prefects, procuratori, &c., in the different branches of the administration. The drawing up of bulls, answers, and decrees, which are issued by the Pope himself, or by these authorities, is done by the papal chancery, consisting of a vice-chancellor and twelve abbreviatori, assisted by several hundred secretaries: the breves only are excepted, and are drawn up by a particular cardinal. All these offices are filled by clergymen; and many of them are so lucrative, that considerable sums are paid for them, somewhat in the same manner as commissions are purchased in the English army. At the death of Sixtus V. there existed 4000 venal offices of this kind; but this number has since been diminished, and many abuses have been abolished.

The highest council of the Pope, corresponding in some measure to the privy council of a monarch, is the college of the cardinals, convened whenever the Pope thinks fit. The sessions of this senate, which presides over all the other authorities in Rome, are called consistories. They are of three different kinds. The secret consistory is held generally twice a month, after the Pope has given private audience to every cardinal. In these sessions bishops are elected, pallia granted, ecclesiastical and political affairs of importance transacted, and resolutions adopted on the reports of the congregations delegated by the consistory. Beatifications and canonizations also originate in this body. Different from the secret are the semi-secret consistories, the deliberations of which relate principally to political affairs, and the results of them are communicated to the ambassadors of foreign powers. The public consistories

are seldom held, and are principally ceremonial assemblies in these the Pope receives ambassadors, and makes known important resolutions, canonizations, establishments of orders, &c. According to rule, all cardinals residing in Rome should take part in the consistories; but, in point of fact, no one appears without being specially summoned by the Pope; who, if able to do so, always presides in person, and the cardinal secretary of state (who is minister of the interior and for foreign affairs) is always present, as are likewise the cardinals presidents of the authorities.

7.

At present there are twenty-two congregations of cardinals at Rome: 1. The holy Roman, and general inquisition, or holy office (santo officio.) 2. Visita Apostolica. 3. Consistoriale. 4. Vescovi regolari. 5. De Concilio (Tridentino.) 6. Řesidenza di vescovi. Immunita ecclesiastica. 8. Propaganda. 9. Indici (of prohibited books.) 10. Sagri riti. 11. Ceremoniale. 12. Disciplina regolare (orders of monks.) 13. Indulgenze e sagre reliquie. 14. Esame dei vescovi. 15. Correzioni dei libri della chiesa Orientale. 16. Fabbrica di S. Pietro. 17. Consulta. 18. Buongoverno. 19. Loretto. 20. Hydraulic works and the Pontine marshes. 21. Economica. 22. Extraordinary ecclesiastical affairs. Few, however, of these congregations are fully supplied with officers.

CURSE, the action of wishing any tremendous evil to another. In Scripture language it signifies the just and awful sentence of God's law, condemning sinners to suffer the full punishment of their sin, or the punishment inflicted on account of transgression, Gal. iii. 10.

CURSING AND SWEARING. See SWEARING. CUSTOM, a very comprehensive term, denoting the manners, ceremonies, and fashions of a people, which, having turned into habit, and passed into use, obtain the force of laws. Custom and habit are often confounded. By custom, we mean a frequent reiteration of the same act; and by habit, the effect that custom has on the mind or the body. See HABIT.

"Viewing man," says Lord Kaimes, “as a sensitive being, and perceiving the influence of novelty upon him, would one suspect that custom has an equal influence? and yet our nature is equally susceptible of both; not only in different objects, but frequently in the same. When an object is new, it is enchanting; familiarity renders it indifferent; and custom, after a longer familiarity, makes it again desirable. Human nature, diversified with many and various springs of action, is wonderful, and, indulging the expression, intricately constructed. Custom hath such influence upon many of our feelings, by warping and varying them, that we must attend to its operations, if we would be acquainted with human nature. A walk upon the quarter-deck, though intolerably confined, becomes, however, so agreeable by custom,

that a sailor, in his walk on shore, confines himself commonly within the same bounds. I knew a man who had relinquished the sea for a country life: in the corner of his garden he reared an artificial mount, with a level suramit, resembling, most accurately, a quarter-deck, not only in shape, but in size; and here was his choice walk." Such we find is often the power of custom.

DALEITES, a name sometimes given to a class of Scotch Independents, of whom the late David Dale, Esq. was an elder. They have lately coalesced with the INGHAMITES, which see.

DAMIANISTS, a denomination in the sixth century, so called from Damian, bishop of Alexandria. Their opinions were the same as the ANGELITES, which see.

DAMNATION, condemnation. This word is used to denote the final loss of the soul; but it is not always to be undersood in this sense in the sacred Scripture. Thus it is said in Rom. xiii. 2, "They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation," i. e. condemnation, "from the rulers, who are not a terror to good works, but to the evil." Again in 1 Cor. xi. 29, "He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself;" i. e. condemnation; exposes himself to severe temporal judgments from God, and to the judgment and censure of the wise and good. Again, Rom. xiv. 23, "He that doubteth is damned if he eat;" i. e. is condemned both by his own conscience and the word of God, because he is far from being satisfied that he is right in so doing.

DANCERS, a sect which sprung up about 1373, in Flanders, and places about. It was their custom all of a sudden to fall a dancing, and holding each other's hands, to continue thereat, till being suffocated with the extraordinary violence, they fell down breathless together. During these intervals of vehement agitation they pretended to be favoured with wonderful visions. Like the Whippers, they roved from place to place, begging their victuals, holding their secret assemblies, and treating the priesthood and worship of the church with the utmost contempt. Thus we find, as Dr. Haweis observes, that the French Convulsionists and the Welsh Jumpers have had predecessors of the same stamp. There is nothing new under the sun. Haweis, and Mosheim's Church Hist. Cent. 14.

DATARY, an officer in the Pope's court. He is always a prelate, and sometimes a cardinal, deputed by his holiness to receive such petitions as are presented to him, touching the provision of benefices. By his post the Datary is empowered to grant, without ac

quainting his holiness therewith, all benefices that do not produce upwards of twenty-four. ducats annually; but for such as amount to more, he is obliged to get the provisions signed by the Pope, who admits him to audience every day. If there be several candidates for the same benefice, he has the liberty of bestowing it on which of them he thinks proper, provided he has the requisite qualifications. The Datary has a yearly salary of two thousand crowns, exclusive of the perquisites, which he receives from those who apply to him for any benefice. This officer has a substitute, named the Sub-Datary, who is likewise a prelate, and has a yearly pension of a thousand crowns; but he is not allowed to confer any benefice, without acquainting the Datary therewith. When a person has obtained the Pope's consent for a benefice, the Datary subscribes his petition with an annuit sanctissimus, i. e. "the most holy Father consents to it." The Pope's consent is subscribed in these words: Fiat ut petitur, i. e. "be it according to the petition." After the petition has passed the proper offices, and is registered, it is carried to the Datary, who dates it, and writes these words, Datum Romæ apud, &c., "given at Rome in the pontifical palace," &c. Afterwards the Pope's bull, granting the benefice, is despatched by the Datary, and passes through the hands of more than a thousand persons, belonging to fifteen different offices, who have all their stated fees. The reader may from hence judge how expensive it is to procure the Pope's bull for a benefice, and what large sums go into the office of the Datary, especially when the provisions, issued from thence, are for bishoprics, and other rich benefices.

DAVIDISTS, the adherents of David George, a native of Delft, who, in 1525, began to preach a new doctrine, publishing himself to be the true Messiah; and that he was sent of God to fill heaven, which was quite empty for want of people to deserve it. He is likewise said to have denied the existence of angels good and evil, and to have disbelieved the doctrine of a future judgment. He rejected marriage, with the Adamites; held with Manes, that the soul was not defiled by sin; and laughed at the self-denial so much recom

mended by Jesus Christ. Such were his principal errors. He made his escape from Delft, and retired first into Friesland, and then to Basil, where he changed his name, assuming that of John Bruck, and died in 1556. He left some disciples behind him, to whom he promised that he would rise again at the end of three year. Nor was he altogether a false prophet herein for the magistrates of that city being informed, at the three years' end, of what he had taught, ordered him to be dug up and burnt, together with his writings, by the common hangman.

DEACON, ALαKovog, a servant, a minister. 1. In the New Testament the word is used for any one that ministers in the service of God: bishops or presbyters are also styled deacons; but more particularly and generally it is understood of the secondary order of ministering servants in the church. 1 Cor. iii. 5; Col. i. 23, 25; Phil. i. 1; 1 Tim. iii.

The primitive deacons took care of the secular affairs of the church, received and disbursed monies, kept the church's accounts, and provided every thing necessary for its temporal good. Thus, while the bishop attended to the souls, the deacons attended to the bodies of the people: the pastor to the spiritual, and the deacons the temporal interests of the church. Acts vi.

2. In ecclesiastical polity, the lowest of the different orders of the clergy. In the Roman Catholic church he served at the altar, in the celebration of what are called the holy mysteries. He is also allowed to baptize and preach, with the permission of the bishop. Formerly deacons were allowed to marry, but this was prohibited to them very early; and at present the Pope dispenses with this prohibition only for very important reasons. In such cases they re-enter the condition of laymen. There are eighteen Cardinal-deacons in Rome, who have the charge of the temporal interests and the revenues of the church. A person, to be consecrated deacon, must be twenty-three years of age. In the English church, deacons are also ecclesiastics, who can perform all the offices of a priest, except the consecration of the sacramental elements, and the pronouncing of the absolution. In German protestant churches the assistant ministers are generally called deacons. If there be two assistants, the first of them is called Archdeacon. In the Presbyterian churches, the deacon's office is generally merged in that of ruling elder; but in some it is distinct, and simply embraces the distribution of alms. Among Congregationalists the deacons, besides attending to the temporal concerns of the church, assist the minister with their advice, take the lead at prayer-meetings when he is absent, and preach occasionally to smaller congregations in the contiguous villages.

DEACONESS, a female deacon. It is generally allowed, that in the primitive church

there were deaconesses, i. e. pious women, whose particular business it was to assist in the entertainment and care of the itinerant preachers, visit the sick and imprisoned, instruct female catechumens, and assist at their baptism; then more particularly necessary, from the peculiar customs of those countries, the persecuted state of the church, and the speedier spreading of the gospel. Such a one it is reasonable to think Phebe was, Rom. xvi. 1, who is expressly called diakovov, a deaconess, or stated servant, as Doddridge renders it. They were usually widows, and, to prevent scandal, generally in years, 1 Tim. v. 9. See also Spanheim. Hist. Christ. Secul. 1. p. 554. The apostolic constitutions, as they are called, mention the ordination of a deaconess, and the form of prayer used on that occasion, (lib. viii. ch. 19, 20.) Pliny also, in his celebrated epistle to Trajan (xcvii.) is thought to refer to them, when speaking of two female Christians whom he put to the torture, he says, quæ ministra dicebantur, i. e. "who were called deaconesses." But as the primitive Christians seem to have been led to this practice from the peculiarity of their circumstances, and the Scripture is entirely silent as to any appointment to this supposed office, or any rules about it, it is very justly laid aside, at least as an office.

DEAN, an ecclesiastical dignitary, next under the bishop in cathedral churches, and head of the chapter. The Latin word is decanus, derived from the Greek dɛka, ten, because the dean presides over at least ten canons, or prebendaries. A dean and chapter are the bishop's council, to assist him in the affairs of religion.

DEATH, is generally defined to be the separation of the soul from the body. It is styled, in scripture language, a departure out of this world to another, 2 Tim. iv. 7; a dissolving of the earthly house of this tabernacle, 2 Cor. v. 1; a going the way of all the earth, Josh. xxiii. 14; a returning to the dust, Ecc. xiii. 7; a sleep, John xi. 11. Death may be considered as the effect of sin, Rom. v. 12; yet, as our existence is from God, no man has a right to take away his own life, or the life of another, Gen. ix. 6. Satan is said to have the power of death, Heb. ii. 14; not that he can at his pleasure inflict death on mankind, but as he was the instrument of first bringing death into the world, John viii. 44; and as he may be the executioner of God's wrath on impenitent sinners, when God permits him. Death is but once, Heb. ix. 27; certain, Job xiv. 1, 2; powerful and terrific, called the king of terrors, Job xviii. 14; uncertain as to the time, Prov. xxviii. 1; universal, Gen. v. ; necessary, that God's justice may be displayed, and his mercy manifested: desirable to the righteous, Luke ii. 28-30. The fear of death is a source of uneasiness to the generality, and to a guilty conscience it may indeed be terri