220 



CHRISTIANITY CHRISTIANS OF ST THOMAS. 



Hie church, the remains of ancient heresies (see 

 Munichetans, Pauiicians) were introduced into the 

 West, tlirough the increased intercourse of nations, 

 and by the returning crusaders, and new and more li- 

 beral ideas were propagated springing from the 

 philosophical spirit of examination of some school- 

 men ( see AMard, Arnold of Brescia), and the indig- 

 nation excited by the corruptions of the clergy. 

 These kindled an opposition among all the societies 

 and sects against the Roman hierarchy. (See Ca- 

 thari, Albigenses, /f'aldetues.) The foundation and 

 multiplication of ecclesiastical orders (q. v.), particu- 

 larly the Franciscans and Dominicans, for the care of 

 souls and the instruction of the people, wliich had 

 been neglected by the secular priests, did not remedy 

 the evil, because they laboured, in general, more ac- 

 tively to promote the interests of the church and the 

 papacy, than to remove superstition and ignorance ; 

 and bold speculations, wliich would not yield to their 

 persuasion, were still less likely to be extirpated by 

 the power of the inquisition (q. v.), which armed it- 

 self with fire and sword. The great difference of the 

 Christian religion, as it was then taught and practis- 

 ed, from the religion of Jesus Christ, the insufficiency 

 of what the church taught to the religious wants of 

 the human mind and heart, were apparent to many, 

 partly from their knowledge of the spirit of Jesus, 

 derived from the Bible, which was already studied, 

 in secret, by curious readers, in spite of the prohibi- 

 tions of the church, and partly from the bold elo- 

 quence of single teachers and chiefs of sects. Ecclesi- 

 astical orders also desired to pursue their own course 

 (see Knights Templars, Franciscans) ; offended prin- 

 ces forgot the great services of the papal power in 

 promoting the cultivation of nations in the first cen- 

 turies of the middle ages ; and the popes themselves 

 made little effort to reform or conceal the corruption 

 of their court and of the clergy. They even afforded 

 the scandalous spectacle of a schism in the church 

 (see Schism, Popes, and Antipope), which was distract- 

 ed, after 1378, for more than 30 years, by the quar- 

 rels between two candidates, who both asserted their 

 right to the papal chair. This dispute was settled 

 only by the decrees of the council of Constance (1414 

 1418), which were very unfavourable to the papal 

 power. The doctrines of the English Wickliffe (q. v.) 

 had already given rise to a party opposed to the 

 popedom ; and the revolt of the adherents of the Bo- 

 hemian reformer (see Huss, Hussites'), who was burnt 

 at Constance on account of similar doctrines, extort- 

 ed from the council of Bale ( 1 432 43) certain com- 

 pacts, which, being firmly maintained, proved to the 

 friends of a reformation hi the head and members of 

 the church (proposed, but without success, at the 

 council of Bale), what a firm and united opposition 

 to the abuses of the Roman church might be able to 

 effect. We refer the reader to the article Reforma- 

 tion, and the articles relating to it, for a history of 

 the causes, progress, and consequences of this great 

 event But that this great change in the church has 

 revived primitive Christianity in the spirit of its 

 Founder, the most zealous Protestants will not assert, 

 any more than the reflecting Catholic will deny the 

 necessity of such a reform, and the real merits of 

 Protestantism in promoting it. (See Trent, Council 

 of, Roman Catholic Church, and Protestantism.) 



The forms under which Christianity appears, in our 

 days, are very different. The example of the south 

 of Europe proves how easily this religion naturalizes 

 itself, but, also, how much it loses, under the influence 

 of sensuality and an over-active fancy, of the simple 

 grandeur, the moral power and pure spirit of its ori- 

 ginal character. Protestantism removed from the 

 northern nations many of the burdens with which the 



predominance of the earthly nature liad oppressed the 

 spirit of religion. By opening the Bible to all, it 

 aroused the spirit of inquiry, but also gave rise to an 

 immense variety of sects, springing from the differ 

 ent views wliich different men were led to form from 

 the study of the sacred volume. The present moral 

 and political condition of Christian Europe, though 

 affected by so many influences foreign to religion, 

 bears the stamp of a cultivation springing from Chris- 

 tianity, and this iias been impressed upon its colonies 

 in distant lands, among which the United States ot 

 North America alone have advanced to the prhu ij>lr 

 of universal toleration. But if we look among c mi- 

 contemporaries for Christianity as it dwelt and oper- 

 ated in Christ, we shall find it pure in no nation ;m.l 

 in no religious party ; but we perceive its features in 

 the conduct of the enlightened and pious among all 

 nations, who love Christ, and are penetrated with his 

 Spirit. How Christianity will develope itself hi 

 North America, where all sects are tolerated, what 

 will be the result of this immense variety of opinions 

 and creeds, is, as yet, a matter of speculation. The 

 general views of the great body of Protestant seei-. 

 however, have so much in common, that they may 

 still be considered as forming one great family among 

 the principal divisions of the Christian world. W hi- 

 ther this will be true after a considerable time has 

 elapsed, is at least doubtful, as the Unitarians and 

 Trinitarians seem to be taking essentially different 

 directions. 



CHRISTIANS ; the general name of the followers 

 of Christ. See Christianity. 



CHRISTIANS ; the name of a denomination, in 

 the United States, adopted to express their renuncia- 

 tion of all sectarianism. They have become numer- 

 ous in all parts of the country, the number of their 

 churches, in 1827, being estimated at about 1000. 

 Each church is an independent body : they recognize 

 no creed, no authority in matters of doctrine : the 

 Scriptures, wliich every individual must interpret for 

 himself, are their only rule of faith : admission to the 

 church is obtained by a simple profession of belief in 

 Christianity : speculative belief they treat as of little 

 importance, compared with virtue of cliaracter. In 

 New England, they separated principally from the 

 Calvinistic Baptists ; in the Southern States, from the 

 Methodists ; and in the Western, from the Presby- 

 terians. There was, therefore, at first, a great diver- 

 sity of opinion and practice among them, each church 

 retaining some of the peculiarities of the sects from 

 which it seceded. In New England, the churches 

 were established on the principle of close commu- 

 nion, which was soon abandoned. In the South and 

 West, they were Pedobaptists, but have since become 

 Baptists. Nearly all were, at first, Trinitarians ; but 

 the doctrine of the Trinity, and its concomitant doc- 

 trines, are now universally rejected by them. To 

 maintain a connexion between the different churches, 

 one or more conferences are formed hi each state, con- 

 sisting of members delegated from each church. In 

 1827, there were twenty-three of these conferences, 

 wliich again form, by delegation, the. United States 

 General Christian Conference. They have several 

 periodical works (Christian Herald, Portsmouth, New 

 Hampshire; Gospel Luminary, New York; Chris- 

 tian Messenger, Kentucky), but no theological semin- 

 ary, considering that whoever understands the gospel 

 may teach it. They consider Christ as the Son of 

 God, miraculously conceived, whose death was a rati- 

 fication of the new covenant, not a propitiatory sacri- 

 fice ; and the Holy Ghost or Spirit as the power or 

 energy of God, exerted in converting the wicked and 

 strengthening the good. 



CHRISTIANS OF ST THOMAS ; the nami; of a 



