HERESY. 
Another difference was, that, the name of the fe& was not 
applied to all the people who adopted the fame opinions, 
but folely to the men of eminence among them, who were 
confidered as the leaders and inftru€tors of the party. This 
is exemplified in the ufe of the appellation Pharifees, which 
was ufed in feripture and: alfo Jofephus, to denote, not 
the followers, but the leaders of the Pharifees. The cafe 
was fomewhat otherwife with regard to the Effenes ; for 
they entered into a folemn engagement, by which they con- 
fined themfeives to a peculiar mode of life, that fecluded 
them from the reft of mankind; and they may therefore be 
coniidered almoft in the fame manner as we do the Bene- 
that the word « feé’’ has always fomething relative in it ; 
and therefore, in different applications, though the general 
import of the term be the fame, it will convey a favourable 
or an unfavourable idea, according to’the particular relation 
it bears. When the word et 
fect, or aclax fe 
If any thing reprehenfible or commendable be fuggefted, it 
is fuggefted, not by the word UbgETbs 
ftrued with it. 
verted world without. So St. Paul’s words to 
- foftom, and 
however, the radical import of the word 
ng to overturn Chrittianity itfelf, or 
oi morality, are by no meatis the object 
gillrate. Others, however, con- 
ndi 
ns 
by the civil ma 
ea RI 
whofe bufinefs it. is to guard againit the pernicious influence 
of overt acts, that difturb the peace and undermine the fe- 
curity and exiltence of the ftate over which he prefides. In- 
eed, what doctrines fhould be adjudged herefy, was left, 
by our old conititution, to the determination of the eccle- 
retic given by Lyndewode (cap. de hz'reticis). extends to the” 
{mallett deviations from the doctrines of holy church: * here- 
ticus eft qui dubitat de fide Catholica, et qui negligit fer 
vare ea, que Romana ecclefia ftatuit, feu fervare decreverat.”” 
Or, asthe ftatute 2 Hen. IV. c. 15. expreffes it in Englifh, 
‘teachers of erroneous opinions, contrary to the faith and 
bleffed determinatiozs of t Very contrar 
civil power fubfervient to their purpofes, by making heref, 
not only a temporal, but evena capital, offence; the Romil 
they. pretended to intercede and pray on behalf of the con- 
victed heretic, “ut citra mortis periculum fententia cirea 
Manichans by the emperors Theodofius and Juftinian (Cod. 
ee er eS ae e 
tit. 5.) ; hence alfo the conttit of . the. emiperor PIS? 
deric, mentioned by Lyndewode, adjudging all perfons, 
without diftinétion, to be t with fi 
claimed and fo fatally exerted by the pope, of sitpone 
even of the kingdoms of refractory princes to more du ok 
fons of the church, . Whilit Chriftianity was thus deformed 
y the demon of perfecution on the continent, It ay 
hkely that our own ifland fhould altogether efcape the tame 
courge. We therefore find among our ancient prec 
; i urendo, 
, thought by fome to be as ancient as the common la 
e 
p himfelf in a provincial fynod, and the deling ih 
_ do as he fhould pleafe w! 
him; fo that the crown had a controul over the {pinitud’ 
power, and might pardon the convict eae 
inft hi ; 
‘ 
i 
3 
