TEM 744 kind of regimen into which every man may put himself without interruption to business, expense of money, or loss of time. Physic, for the most part, is nothing else but the substitute of exercise or temperance." In order to obtain and practise this virtue, we should consider it, 1. As a divine command, Phil. iv. 5; Luke xxi. 34; Prov. xxiii., 1-3.-2. As conducive to health.-3. As advantageous to the powers of the mind.-4. As a defence against injustice, lust, imprudence, detraction, poverty, &c.-And, lastly, the example of Christ should be a most powerful stimulus to it. See INTEMPERANCE, SOBRIETY. TEMPLARS, TEMPLERS, OF KNIGHTS OF THE TEMPLE, a religious order instituted at Jerusalem, in the beginning of the twelfth century, for the defence of the holy sepulchre, and the protection of Christian pilgrims. They were first called The Poor of the Holy City, and afterwards assumed the appellation of Templars, because their house was near the temple. The order was founded by Baldwin II., then King of Jerusalem, with the concurrence of the pope; and the principal articles of their rule were, that they should hear the holy office throughout every day; or that, when their military duties should prevent this, they should supply it by a certain number of paternosters; that they should abstain from flesh four days in the week, and on Fridays from eggs and milk meats; that each knight might have three horses and one squire, and that they should neither hunt nor fowl. After the ruin of Jerusalem, about 1186, they spread themselves through Germany and other countries of Europe, to which they were invited by the liberality of the Christians. In the year 1228, this order acquired stability by being confirmed in the Council of Troyes, and subjected to a rule of discipline drawn up by St. Bernard. In every nation they had a particular governor, called Master of the Temple, or of the militia of the temple. Their grand master had his residence at Paris. The order of Templars flourished for some time, and acquired, by the valour of its knights, immense riches, and an eminent degree of military renown; but, as their prosperity increased, their vices were multiplied, and their arrogance, luxury, and cruelty, rose at last to such a great height, that their privileges were revoked, and their order suppressed with the most terrible circumstances of infamy and severity. TEMPLE, a public building erected for the purpose of religious worship. TEMPORAL, a term often used for secular, as a distinction from spiritual or ecclesiastical; likewise for any thing belonging to time in contrast with eternity. TEMPORALITIES OF BISHOPS are the revenues, lands, tenements, and lay fees, belonging to bishops, as they are barons and lords of parliament. TEM commit sin by offering some seeming advanTEMPTATION, the enticement of a person to tage. There are four things, says one, in temptation: 1. Deception; 2. Infection; 3. Seduction; 4. Perdition. The sources of temptation are, Satan, the world, and the flesh. We are exposed to them in every state, in every place, and in every time of life. They may be wisely permitted to show us our weakness, to try our faith, to promote our humility, and to teach us to place our dependence on a superior Power; yet we must not run into them, but watch and pray; avoid sinful comstancy of Christ, and the awful consequences pany; consider the love, sufferings, and conof falling a victim to them. The following rules have been laid down, by which we may in some measure know when a temptation comes from Satan.-1. When the temptation is unnatural, or contrary to the general bias or temper of our minds.-2. When it is opposite to the present frame of the mind.-3. When the temptation itself is irrational; being contrary to whatever we could imagine our own minds would suggest to us.-4. When a temptation is detested in its first rising and appearance.-5. Lastly, when it is violent. See SATAN. Brooks, Owen, Gilpin, Capel, and Gillespie on Temptation; South's Seven Sermons on Temptation, in the 6th vol. of his Sermons; Pike and Hayward's Cases of Conscience; and Bishop Porteus's Sermons, vol. i., ser. 3 and 4. of Christ, of which we read in the 4th chap. TEMPTATION OF CHRIST. The temptation of Matthew, has been the subject of much infidel ridicule; and some ingenious writers, to avoid the difficulties of a literal interpretation, have reduced the whole to vision and allegory. But perhaps this has increased rather than removed those difficulties. Is it not best always to adhere as closely as possible to the language of inspiration, without glozing it with fancies of our own? And after all, what is there so inconsistent with reason in this account? That, when our Lord retired to the interior part of the wilderness, the enemy of mankind should assume a disguise, (whether human or angelic is not important,) and present the most plausible temptation to our Redeemer, under these trying circumstances, is perfectly consistent with the malevolence of his character; but how far he was permitted to exert his power in forming them, is not neis, why was Satan suffered thus to insult the cessary to be inquired. The grand objection suffer his state of retirement to be thus disSon of God? Wherefore did the Redeemer turbed with the malicious suggestions of the fiend? May it not be answered that herein. sion and humiliation.-2. He hereby proved 1. He gave an instance of his own condescenhis power over the tempter.-3. He set an example of firmness and virtue to his followers. And, 4. He here affords consolation to TES 745 his suffering people, by showing not only that he himself was tempted, but is able to succour those who are tempted, Heb. ii. 13; iv. 15. Farmer on Christ's Temptations; Edwards's History of Redemption, note 334; Henry, Gill, and Macknight in loc. TERAPHIM, a word in the Hebrew language which has much exercised the ingenuity of the critics. It is commonly interpreted idols. It would be useless here to trouble the reader with the numerous conjectures which have been formed respecting its meaning. Perhaps the best way to determine it would be to examine and compare all the passages in which it occurs, and to consult the ancient transla tions. TERMINISTIC CONTROVERSY, a controvery carried on between Professors Ittig and Rechenberg, at Leipsic, towards the end of the seventeenth century, respecting the questionWhether God has fixed a terminus gratiæ, or determinate period in the life of an individual within which he may repent, and find favour with his Maker; but after the expiration of which neither of the two is possible. Rechen-, berg adopted the affirmative, and those who coincided in his opinion were called Terminists. Ittig, on the contrary, maintained that access was to be had to the grace of God at all times, and that the day of grace extended through the whole of life. TEST ACT. See ACT, TEST. TESTAMENT, NEW. The religious institution of Jesus Christ, says Dr. Campbell, is frequently denominated Kaivý diaľýkŋ, which is almost always rendered the New Testament; yet the word dialŋŋ by itself, is geIt is the Greek nerally translated covenant. word, whereby the Seventy have uniformly translated the Hebrew word Berith, which our translators have invariably translated covenant. That the Hebrew term corresponds much better to the English word covenant than to testament, there can be no question; yet the word dianen in classical use is more frequently rendered Testament. The proper Greek word for covenant is avvenen, which is not found in the New Testament, and occurs only thrice in the Septuagint, where it is never employed for rendering the word Berith. The term New is added to distinguish it from the Old Covenant, that is, the dispensation of Moses. The two covenants are always in Scripture the two dispensations; that under Moses is the old, that under the Messiah is the new. In the latitude wherein the term is used in holy writ, the command under the sanction of death, which God gave to Adam, may, with sufficient propriety, be termed a Covenant; but it is never so called in Scripture; and when mention is made of the two covenants, the old and the new, or the first and the second, there appears to be no reference to any thing that related to Adam. In all such places, Moses and Jesus are contrasted,-the Jewish 1 economy and the Christian: Mount Sinai, These terms, from signifying the two dis- TESTAMENT, OLD. See BIBLE, SCRIPTURE. THANKFULNESS. See GRATITUDE, and the next article. THANKSGIVING, that part of divine worship wherein we acknowledge benefits received. "It implies," says Dr. Barrow, (vol. i. ser. 8 and 9,) "1. A right apprehension of the benefits conferred. 2. A faithful retention of bene3. A due esteem and valuation fits in the memory, and frequent reflections upon them. of benefits. 4. A reception of those benefits with a willing mind, a vehement affection. 5. Due acknowledgment of our obligations. 6. Endeavours of real compensation; or, as it respects the Divine Being, a willingness to serve and exalt him. 7. Esteem, veneration, and love of the benefactor." The blessings 1. Temfor which we should be thankful are, poral; such as health, food, raiment, rest, &c. 2. Spiritual; such as the Bible, ordinances, the gospel and its blessings; as free grace, adoption, pardon, justification, calling, &c. 3. Eternal, or the enjoyment of God in a fuAlso for all that is past, what we ture state. now enjoy, and what is promised; for private and public, for ordinary and extraordinary ble sings; for prosperity, and even adversity, so far as rendered subservient to our good. The excellency of this duty appears, if we consider, 1. Its antiquity: it existed in Paradise before Adam fell, and therefore prior to the graces of faith, repentance, &c. 2. Its sphere of operation; being far beyond many other graces which are confined to time and place. 3. Its felicity; some duties are painful; as repentance, conflict with sin, &c.; but this is a source of sublime pleasure. 4. Its reasonableness. And, 5. Its perpetuity. This will be in exercise for ever, when other graces will not be necessary, as faith, repentance, &c. The obligation to this duty arises, 1. From the relation we stand in to God. 2. The divine command. 3. The promises God hath made. 4. The example of all good men. 5. Our unworthiness of the blessings we And, 6. The prospect of eternal receive. glory. THAUMATURGIST, a worker of wonders, or miracles, from the Greek, 9avμa, a wonder, and pyor, a work. THEFT, the taking away the property of or science of God and divine things,) signifies another without his knowledge or consent. that science which treats of the being and atThis is not only a sin against our neighbour, tributes of God, his relations to us, the dispenbut a direct violation of that part of the deca-sations of his providence, his will with respect logue which says, "Thou shalt not steal." to our actions, and his purposes with respect This law requires justice, truth, and faithful- to our end. The word was first used to denote ness in all our dealings with men; to owe no the systems, or rather the heterogeneous fables, man any thing, but to give to all their dues; of those poets and philosophers who wrote of to be true to all engagements, promises, and the genealogy and exploits of the gods of contracts; and to be faithful in whatever is Greece. Hence Orpheus, Musæus, Hesiod, committed to our care and trust. It forbids &c. were called theologians; and the same all unjust ways of increasing our own and epithet was given to Plato, on account of his hurting our neighbour's substance by using sublime speculations on the same subject. It false balances and measures; by over-reach- was afterwards adopted by the earliest writers ing and circumventing in trade and commerce; of the Christian church, who styled the author by taking away by force or fraud the goods, of the Apocalypse by way of eminence. persons, and properties of men; by borrow-toXoyog, the divine. As the various subing and not paying again; by oppression, jects of theology are considered in their places extortion, and unlawful usury. It may in this work, they need not be insisted on include in it also, what is very seldom called here. by this name, i. e. the robbing of ourselves and families, by neglecting our callings, or imprudent management hereof; lending larger sums of money than our circumstances will bear, when there is no prospect of payment; by being profuse and excessive in our expenses; indulging unlawful pleasures. and thereby reducing our families to poverty; or even, on the other hand, by laying up a great deal for the time to come, while our families are left to starve, or reduced to the greatest inconvenience and distress. THEODICY, Gr. Otodikaia, a word used to denote the justification of the divine character and ways. It is principally concerned with the existence of physical and moral evil, especially the latter, the origin of which has furnished a problem which has never been, and, in all likelihood, never will be solved in the present state of things. Leibnitz wrote an essay, entitled "De Theodicée," in which he enters at considerable length into the subject of optimism, which has, since his day, occupied the attention both of German, English, and American metaphysicians. THEODOSIANS, a numerous sect of Russian dissenters, who are very zealous in their opposition to the church, calling it the receptacle of all the heresies that ever troubled the peace of true believers, and loudly affirming that the priests only preach up anti-Christ under the name of Jesus, and that genuine Christianity is no longer to be found in the national church. They are strict observers of the sabbath, particularly attentive to justice in their dealings, especially as it regards weights and measures, observant of unity, and careful never to appeal to unbelievers for a decision of their differences. They differ but little from the Pomorians, which see; only they purify by prayer whatever they purchase in the markets of unbelievers, and omit to write the superscription over the image of the cross. THEOLOGY, (from Otoc, God, and Aoyoc doctrine, i. e. Xoyog Epi Otov, the doctrine THEOLOGY, DOGMATIC, that part of divinity which treats of its doctrines or principles, and is thus to be viewed as distinct from, if not in opposition to, practical or moral theology. It is also used in the sense of a relation of the opinions of theologians respecting certain doctrines. THEOLOGY, ELENCHTIC, (YXOS, refutation, 2 Tim. iii. 18,) the same as polemic theology, which see. It is also called by some theologia antithetica. THEOLOGY, NATURAL, the science which treats of the being, attributes, and will of God, as evincible from the various phenomena of created objects. It is a science of great simplicity, and a vast multiplicity of obvious and decisive evidences are every where found for its illustration. The great book of the universe lies open to all mankind; and he who cannot read in it the existence, and, to a certain extent, the character of its Author, will probably derive but little benefit from the labour of any commentator: their instructions may elucidate a few dark passages, and exalt our admiration of many that we already perceive to be beautiful: but the bulk of the volume is legible without assistance; and much as we may find out by study and meditation, it will still be as nothing in comparison with what is forced upon our apprehension. No thinking man can doubt that there are marks of design in the universe; and any enumeration of the instances in which this design is manifest, appears, at first sight, to be both unnecessary and impossible. A single example seems altogether as conclusive as a thousand; and he that cannot discover any traces of contrivance in the formation of an eye, will probably retain his atheism at the end of a whole system of physiology. The ancient sceptics seem to have had nothing to set up against a designing Deity. but the obscure omnipotency of chance, and the experimental combinations of a chaos of restless atoms. The task of the theistic phi-, losophers was, therefore, abundantly easy in those days; and though their physical science was by no means very correct or extensive, they seem to have performed it in a bold and satisfactory manner. They appealed at once to the order and symmetry of nature, and to the regularity and magnificence of the grand structure of the universe. The great phenomena of the heavens, in particular, appear to have arrested their attention; and the magnitude and uniformity of planetary movements seem to have afforded a sufficient proof of divine power and intelligence. In this broad and general way did the theists of antiquity propose their evidence of the divine mind, finding it easier, and probably thinking it more magnificent, and better suited to the dignity of the Deity, that the proofs of his existence should be derived from the great and sublime parts of his creation, than from the petty contrivances of animal or vegetable organization. In the mean time physical science was making slow but continual advances; and curious inquirers were able to penetrate into the more immediate causes of many of the appearances of nature. Elated with these discoveries, which ought to have increased their veneration for the Supreme Contriver of the whole, they immediately fancied they had found out the great secret of nature; and ascribing imaginary qualities and energies to different classes of bodies, they dethroned the Deity by the agency of secondary causes, and erected a system of materialism in his stead. It was in those circumstances that certain false opinions as to the opposition of religion and philosophy originated. Those whose dispositions inclined them to devout contemplation, were accustomed to look upon the wonders of nature in the gross, to consider them as environed with a certain awful mystery, and to discountenance every attempt to pry into their origin, as a presumptuous and profane interference with the councils of Omnipotence. Inquisitive naturalists, on the other hand, were apt to forget the lawgiver in their zealous admiration of the law; and mocking at the pious horror of the ignorant, considered the mighty fabric of the universe as little better than a piece of mechanical juggling, that could only command our admiration while the cause of its movements was concealed. This, however, was an error that was soon rectified by the progress of those very speculations by which it had apparently been produced. When men began to reason more correctly upon the appearances of nature, they soon learned to perceive that the minute texture of animal and vegetable bodies contained more wonderful indications of contrivance and design than the great masses of astronomy; and that, from the greater complication of their parts, and our more intimate experience of their uses, they were infinitely better fitted to attest the adaptation of means to ends than the remoter wonders of the heavens. Boyle and Newton carried this principle of philosophical piety along with them into all their speculations. The microscopical observers caught the same spirit. Ray and Derham successively digested all the physics of their day into a system of natural theology. A late editor of Derham has inserted most of the modern discoveries; and in the recent popular works of Paley and Chalmers, the science has been presented in the most interesting and instructive forms. THEOLOGY, POLEMIC, that branch of the science which treats of the disputed points in a critical manner, taking up the different or erroneous views that have been advanced respecting them, and refuting these views, either by logical arguments, or by an exposure of them by a true critical exposition of such texts of Scripture as bear upon the controverted subjects. The phrase was first used by Friedman Beckmann, a Jena theologian of the seventeenth century, who wrote a book under the title of Theologia Polemica. THEOLOGY, POSITIVE, that mode of treating divinity, which consists in an exclusive appeal to the testimonies of the fathers, the decrees or canons of councils, &c. which, being considered as determining the sense of the church on any disputed points, render the doctrines thus determined, fixed and certain THEOLOGY, SCHOLASTIC, is that part or species of divinity which clears and discusses questions by reason and argument; in which sense it stands, in some measure, opposed to positive divinity, which is founded on the authority of fathers, councils, &c. The school divinity is now fallen into contempt, and is scarcely regarded anywhere but in some of the universities, where they are still, by their charters, obliged to teach it. THEOLOGY, SYSTEMATIC, such a methodically arranged form of the great truths and precepts of religion, as enables the student to contemplate them in their natural connexion, and thus to perceive both the mutual dependence of the parts, and the symmetry of the whole. Arrangement, every one acknowledges, is a very considerable help both to the understanding and the memory; and the more simple and natural the arrangement is, the greater is the assistance which we derive from it. There are, indeed, few arts or sciences which may not be digested into different methods; and each method may have advantages peculiar to itself; yet, in general, it may be affirmed that that arrangement will answer best, upon the whole, in which the order of nature is most strictly adhered to, and wherein nothing is taught previously which presupposes the knowledge of what is to be explained afterwards. It is no objection either against holy writ on the one hand, or against the systematic study of it on the other, that there is no such digest of the doctrines and precepts of our religion exhibited in the Bible. It is no objection against holy writ, because to one who considers attentively the whole plan of providence regarding the redemption and final restoration of man, it will be evident that, in order to the perfecting of the whole, the parts must have been unveiled successively and by degrees, as the scheme advanced towards its completion. And if the doctrines to be believed, and the duties to be practised, are delivered there with sufficient clearness, we have no reason to complain: nor is it for us to prescribe rules to Infinite Wisdom. On the other hand, it is no objection against this study, or the attempt to reduce the articles of our religion into a systematic form, that they are not thus methodically digested in the Bible. Holy writ is given us, that it may be used by us for our spiritual instruction and improvement; reason is given us to enable us to make the proper use of both the temporal and the spiritual benefits which God hath seen meet to bestow. The conduct of the beneficent Father of the universe is entirely analogous in both. He confers liberally the material, or means of enjoyment; he gives the capacity of using them; at the same time he requires the exertion of that capacity, that so the advantages he has bestowed may be turned by us to the best account. We are then at liberty, nay, it is our duty, to arrange the doctrine of holy writ in such a way, as may prove most useful in assisting us, both to understand and to retain it. It would be in vain to look for much of systematic theology in the fathers or earlier writers of the Christian Church. They lived too near the times of the apostles to feel the necessity or importance of this kind of writing: nor were their circumstances at all favourable to it. Most of them were incapable of any thing profound; the body of the people were of the same description; and both teachers and taught were so much conversant with a state of suffering, as to have scarcely either time or inclination for any thing but what bore immediately on the practice or the consolations of the gospel. Origen and Cyril of Jerusalem, were the first among the Greeks who did any thing in this way. The former, in his work, Tepi apxov-or Four Books concerning Principles, while he gives some information, astounds us with allegories and absurdities; the latter, in his "Catechetical Discourses," which were written in his youth, conveys some useful instruction in a less objectionable manner. Augustine, in his Enchiridion, or Treatise on Faith, Hope, and Charity, presents a kind of system, while, in some of his other writings, he discusses many of those questions which at a future period were reduced into more regular form, and occasioned interminable disputes. It was in the middle ages that scholastic theology combined into regular system the principles and duties of religion; but unfortunately it presented the subject in a shape, not only opposed to sound philosophy, and repugnant to all correct taste, but calculated to do the most serious injury to religion. The works of Abelard, Lombard, Aquinas, and other angelic or seraphic doctors of the dark ages, afford proofs of no inconsiderable talent, especially in dialectics; but unhappily it was employed rather to bewilder the mind than to aid the discovery of truth. The metaphysics of Plato, the logic of Aristotle, and the corrupt theology of the Church of Rome, were amalgamated into one crude, incoherent mass of unintelligible dogmas, which was honoured with the title of the orthodox faith, and the slightest departure from which was deemed a pernicious heresy. To these succeeded the Roman casuists, who occupied themselves not so much with the metaphysics of doctrine as with metaphysics of practice. See CASUIST. Their works are storehouses of logical subtleties, and magazines of moral combustibles, sufficient to distract and destroy the universe. This style of writing in the department of systematic and casuistic theology among the Romanists, gave place to a simpler and more practical mode of treating such subjects, under the denomination of "Common places" among the reformers. Disgusted with the metaphysical absurdities and logomachies of the schoolmen, Melancthon, Luther, and others, produced compendiums, or brief systems of religion, in which, arranged under various heads, the principal articles of Christian faith and duty were plainly stated. The confessions of the reformed churches necessarily assumed a systematic form, and expositions or commentaries on them brought the doctrines and duties of religion in regular digests before the people of every country in which they were adopted. In most of these produc tions, while both occupy one book, the credenda and the agenda are always treated distinctly. In systematic theology the institutions of Calvin, though not the first in order of time, carried off the palm from all its predecessors, and has not yet been surpassed by any competitor. Diversity of opinion may exist respecting some of the positions of the Genevese reformer, and even among those who hold his general views of Christian doctrine, there may not be an entire concurrence in every sentiment or expression; but while profound piety, masculine energy of mind, acuteness and strength of argument, perspicuity of statement, and purity of language, continue to be respected among men, the Christian Institutes of John Calvin will secure for their author immortal honour. |