79 

theological claffification; and in this he 
defcribes the Antinomians, as deriving 
their name from evs: againit and vox0s the 
morallaw. This arbitrary introduétion 
-of the word oral, without ‘any warrant 
trom etymological origin, is furely a juit 
fubject of diffatistaétion. 1 may incline 
much to antinoimian opinions, and confider 
the moral laws of chriftianity as the moft 
important and valuable parts of the dif 
penfation. Lee | 
‘The praétice of ecclefiaftical hiftorians 
will as little juttify the infinuation of an 
odious meaning, as the proper fignification 
or the Greek root, . Mofheim obferves 
(vol. i1. p. 160. of Maclaine’s tranflation, 
4th edition) that ‘‘ Johannes Iflebius 
igricola took occalion in 1538, to de- 
claim againft the law (of Moles) main- 
taining that it was neither fit to be pro- 
pofed to the people as a rule of manners, 
aor to be uled in the church as a mean of 
infiruction ; and that the gofpel (of Jefus) 
alone was to be inculeated and. explained 
both in the churches and in theichcols of 
learning. The followers of Agricola were 
called Antinomians, or enemies of the 
law.”” Of this Agricola whole proper 
mame was Kaftenbauer, and who compiled 
a colleGiion of German proverbs, fome ac- 
count may be found in Bayle’s Diftionary : 
his writings, like thofe of Grotius, ex- 
plained away many of the prophetical and 
other fuppofedly iupernatural features of 
the Old Teftament, and tended to concen- 
trate the evidences and promifes of reli- 
gion on a defence of the exclufive autho- 
rity of the New Teftament. Whether 
this has beendone fuccefsfully or no, mo- 
rality at leaft is not indangered by the 
hypothefis ; for the moral tafte of the gof- 
pel-writers is far -more refined, humane, 
and benevolent than that of the compilers 
'_ of the Pentateuch. ” 
The Antinomian feé& is of lateyears 
become very important, efpecially in North 
Germany, in confequence of the biblical 
labours of Herder and Eichhorn. A friend 
who has lately travelled in Holftein, in- 
forms me, that-Antinomiani{m is in fact 
become the eftablifhed religion of the Da- 
nifh church. _ The hierarchic conftitution 
of that church is prefbyterian ; its mini- 
fters have been permitted by the govern- 
ment to concert a revifal of their liturgies 
and other facred books; and. the conful- 
tation has terminated in a filent defertion 
ot the Judaifm hitherto amalgamated with 
chriftianity. From bjble chriftians they 
are become evangelical chriftians. 
Antinomianifm does not interfere with 
any doctrines peculiarly evangelical; nor 
s fh Fa 
Complaint refpedting Antinomianifm. 
[3799- 
is it merely a modern new+fangled &@, 
-an attempted compromife between revela- 
tion and. philofophy, like the {cheme of 
the Polonian brethren or exoteric creed ; 
of which the tafte of Herder, and the learn- 
ing of Eichhorn have obtained the profef- 
fion from the more cultivated and literate 
portion of the Proteftant clergy of Ger- 
many: it has ftrong claims to the charac- 
ter and anthority of a primeval chrif- 
tianity. Between contending feéts, Mr. 
Gibbon will probably be thought a very 
impartial arbiter: he divides (vol. i. p. 
547~) the original church into the Gno& 
tics, or kzowing, and the Ebionites, or 
poorer Chrittians ; into the lettered and un- 
lettered converts: and he thus details the 
‘ tenets.of the Gnoftics, or primitive Anti- 
nomians. k 
<* From the acknowledged truth of the 
Jewith religion, the Ebionites had con- 
cluded, that it could never be abelifhed. 
From its fipposed imperfeétions, the Gnof- 
tics as haftily interred, that it never was 
inftituted by the wifdom of the Deity. 
There are fome objections again the au- 
thority ot Mofes and the Prophets, which 
too readily prefent themfelves to the fcep- 
‘tical mind; though they can only be de- 
rived from our ignorance of remote anti- 
quity, and from eur imeapacity to form 
an adequate judgment of the diyine eco- 
nomy. Thele obje&tions were eagerly em- 
braced, and as petulantly urged, by the 
vain fcience of the Gnoftics. As thofe 
heretics were for the moft part averfe to the 
pleafures of fenfe, they morofely arraigned. 
the polygamy of the patriarchs, the gal- 
lantries of David, and the feraglio of So- 
lomion. The conqueft of the land of Ca- 
naan, and the extirpation of the unfulpec- 
Ing natives, they were at a lofs how to re- 
concile with the common notions of hu- 
manity and juftice. But when they recol- 
lected the fanguinary lit of murders, of 
executions, and of miaflacres, which ftain 
almofi every page of the Jewifh, annals, 
they acknowledged that the barbarians of 
Paieftine had exercifed as much compaftion 
toward their idolatrous enemies, as they 
had ever thewn to their friends or country- 
men. Paffing from the feStaries of the 
law to the law itfelf, they afferted it was 
impoffible that a. religion which ceonfifted 
only of bloody facrifices and trifling cere- 
monies, and whofe rewards, as well’ as pu- 
nifhments, were all of a carnal and tempo- 
ral nature, could infpire the love of virtue 
or reftrain the impetuofity of paffion. The 
Molaic account ef the creation and fall of 
man was treated with profane derifion by 
the Gnoftics, who would not liften with 
patience 
le ali ee i a a 
. 
i. ie ee ee aa 2 
C062). 4 
> - Zw oy 
- 
