the rains must fall, and the winds must | man lies under an obligation to perform: roar around us; but, sheltering ourselves thus we meet with the agenda of a chrisunder him who is the "covert from the tian, or the duties he ought to perform, tempest," "let us wait with patience till in opposition to the credenda, or the the storms of life shall terminate in an things he is to believe. It is also applied everlasting calm. Blair's Ser. vol. v. to the service or office of the church, ser. 5; Vincent, Case, and Addington, and to church books compiled by public on Affliction; Willison's Afflicted Man's authority, prescribing the order to be Companion. observed; and amounts to the same as ritual, formulary, directory, missal, &c.

AGENT, that which acts: opposed to patient, or that which is acted upon. AGENTS, moral. See MORAL AGENT.

AGNOETA, (from av "to be ignorant of,") a sect which appeared about 370. They called in question the omniscience of God; alleging that he knew things past only by memory, and things future only by an uncertain prescience. There arose another sect of the same name in the sixth century, who followed Themistius, deacon of Alexandria They maintained that Christ was igno rant of certain things, and particularly of the time of the day of judgment. It is supposed they built their hypothesis on that passage in Mark xiii. 32.—“Of that day and that hour knoweth no man; no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." The meaning of which, most probably, is, that this was not known to the Messiah himself in his human nature, or by virtue of his unction, as any part of the mysteries he was to reveal; for, considering him as God, he could not be ignorant of any thing.

AGAPE, or LOVE FEASTS (from ayan, "love,") feasts of charity among the ancient christians, when liberal contributions were made by the rich to the poor. St. Chrysostom gives the following account of this feast, which he derives from the apostolic practice. He says, "The first Christians had all things in common, as we read in the Acts of the apostles; but when that equality of possessions ceased, as it did even in the apostles' time, the Agape or love feast was substituted in the room of it. Upon certain days, after partaking of the Lord's supper, they met at a common feast; the rich bringing provisions, and the poor, who had nothing, being invited." It was always attended with receiving the holy sacrament; but there is some difference between the ancient and modern interpreters, as to the circumstance of time; viz. whether this feast was held before or after the communion. St. Chrysostom is of the latter opinion; the learned Dr. Cave of the former. These love feasts, during the first three centuries, were held in the church without scandal or offence; but in after-times the heathens began to tax them with impurity. This gave occa- AGNUSDEI, in the church of Rome, sion to a reformation of these Agapes. a cake of wax, stamped with the figure The kiss of charity, with which the ce- of a lamb supporting the banner of the remony used to end, was no longer given cross. The name literally signifies between different sexes; and it was ex-"Lamb of God." Those cakes being pressly forbidden to have any beds or couches for the conveniency of those who should be disposed to eat more at their ease. Notwithstanding these precautions, the abuses committed in them became so notorious, that the holding them (in churches at least) was solemnly condemned at the council of Carthage, in the year 397. Attempts have been made of late years, to revive these feasts; but in a different manner from the primitive custom, and, perhaps, with little edification. They are, however, not very general.

consecrated by the pope with great solemnity, and distributed among the people, are supposed to have great virtues They cover them with a piece of stuff cut in the form of a heart, and carry them very devoutly in their processions. The Romish priests and religious derive considerable pecuniary advantage from selling them to some, and presenting them to others.

AGONISTICI, a name given by Donatus to such of his disciples as he sent to fairs, markets, and other public_places, to propagate his doctrine. They AGAPETÆ, a name given to cer- were called Agonistici from the Greek tain virgins and widows, who in the an-av, "combat," because they were sent, cient church associated themselves witli as it were, to fight and subdue the peoand attended on ecclesiastics, out of a ple to their opinions. See DONATIST. motive of piety and charity. See DEA- AGONYCLITÆ, a sect of Christians in the seventh century, who prayAGENDA, among divines and phi-ed always standing, as thinking it unlosophers, signifies the duties which a lawful to kneel,

CONESSES.

AGYNIANI, a sect which appeared about 694. They condemned all use of flesh and marriage as not instituted by God, but introduced at the instigation of the devil.

of Geneva. The Albigenses have been frequently confounded with the Waldenses; from whom it is said they differ in many respects, both as being prior to them in point of time, as having their ALASCANI, a sect of Anti-lutherans origin in a different country, and as being in the sixteenth century, whose distin- charged with divers heresies, particuguished tenet, besides their denying bap-larly Manicheism, from which the Waltism, is said to have been this, that the denses were exempt. See WALDENwords, "This is my body," in the insti- SES. tution of the eucharist, are not to be understood of the bread, but of the whole action or celebration of the supper. ALBANENSES, a denomination which commenced about the year 796. They held with the Gnostics and Manicheans, two principles, the one of good and the other of evil. They denied the divinity, and even the humanity of Jesus Christ, asserting that he was not truly man, did not suffer on the cross, die, rise again, nor really ascend into heaven. They rejected the doctrine of the resurrection, affirmed that the general judgment was past, and that hell torments were no other than the evils we feel and suffer in this life. They denied free will, did not admit original sin, and never administered baptism to infants. They held that a man can give the Holy Spirit of himself, and that it is unlawful for a Christian to take an oath.

ALEXANDRIAN MANUSCRIPT, a famous copy of the Scriptures, in four volumes quarto. It contains the whole bible in Greek, including the Old and New Testament, with the Apocrypha, and some smaller pieces, but not quite complete. It is preserved in the British Museum: it was sent as a present to king Charles I. from Cyrillus Lucaris, patriarch of Constantinople, by Sir Thomas Rowe, ambassador from England to the grand Seignior, about the year 1628. Cyrillus brought it with him from Alexandria, where probably it was written. In a schedule annexed to it, he gives this account:-That it was written, as tradition informed them, by Thecla, a noble Egyptian lady, about 1300 years ago, not long after the council of Nice. But this high antiquity, and the authority of the tradition to which the patriarch refers, have been disputed; nor are the most accurate biblical writers agreed about its age. Grabe thinks that it might have been written before the end of the fourth century; ALBANOIS, a denomination which others are of opinion that it was not sprung up in the eighth century, and re-written till near the end of the fifth newed the greatest part of the Manichean principles. They also maintained that the world was from eternity. See MANICHEANS.

This denomination derived their name from the place where their spiritual ruler resided. See MANICHEANS and CATHERIST.

century, or somewhat later. See Dr. Woide's edition of it.

ALKORAN. "See KORAN.

ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF GOD, is ALBIGENSES, a party of reform- that power or attribute of his nature ers about Toulouse and the Albigeois in whereby he is able to communicate as Languedoc, who sprung up in the twelfth much blessedness to his creatures as he century, and distinguished themselves is pleased to make them capable of reby their opposition to the church of ceiving. As his self-sufficiency is that Rome. They were charged with many whereby he has enough in himself to errors by the monks of those days; but denominate him completely blessed, as from these charges they are generally a God of infinite perfection; so his allacquitted by the Protestants, who con- sufficiency is that by which he hath sider them only as the inventions of the enough in himself to satisfy the most Romish church to blacken their charac-enlarged desires of his creatures, and ter. The Albigenses grew so formida- to make them completely blessed. We ble, that the Catholics agreed upon a practically deny this perfection, when holy league or crusade against them. we are discontented with our present Pope Innocent III. desirous to put a stop condition, and desire more than God has to their progress, stirred up the great allotted for us, Gen. iii. 5. Prov. xix. 3. men of the kingdom to make war upon-2. When we seek blessings of what them. After suffering from their per-kind soever in an indirect way, as though secutors, they dwindled by little and little, till the time of the reformation; when such of them as were left, fell in with the Vaudois, and conformed to the doctrine of Zuinglius, and the disciples

God were not able to bestow them upon us in his own way, or in the use of lawful means, Gen. xxvii. 35.—3. When we use unlawful means to escape imminent dangers, 1 Sam. xxi. 13. Gen. xx. and

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xxvi. 4. When we distrust his provi- I love to all mankind, &c. 4. That giving dence, though we had large experience to the poor is not mentioned in St. Paul's of his appearing for us in various instan- description of charity, 1 Cor. xiii. 5. ces, 1 Sam. xxvii. 1. Ps. lxxviii. 19. 2 That they pay the poor rates; 6. That Chron. xvi. 8. 2 Chron. xiv. 9. 13. Josh. they employ many poor persons; 7. vii. 7. 9.-5. When we doubt of the truth That the poor do not suffer so much as or certain accomplishment of the pro- we imagine; 8. That these people, give mises, Gen. xviii. 12. Ps. lxxvii. 74. Isa. || them what you will, will never be thankxlix. 14.-6. When we decline great ful; 9. That we are liable to be imposed services, though called to them by God, upon; 10. That they should apply to under a pretence of our unfitness for their parishes; 11. That giving money them, Jer. i. 6, 8. encourages idleness; 12. That we have too many objects of charity at home. O the love of money, how fruitful is it in apologies for a contracted mercenary spirit! In giving of alms, however, the following rules should be observed: first, They should be given with justice; only our own, to which we have a just right, should be given. 2. With cheerfulness, Deut. xv. 10. 2 Cor. ix. 7. 3. With simplicity and sincerity, Rom. xii. Matt. vi. 3. 4. With compassion and affection, Isa. lviii. 10. 1 John iii. 17. 5. Seasonably, Gal. vi. 10. Prov. iv. 27. 6. Bountifully, Deut. xviii. 11. 1 Tim. vi. 18. 7. Prudently, according to every one's need, 1 Tim. v. 8. Acts iv. 35. See Dr. Barrow's admirable Sermon on Bounty to the Poor, which took him up three hours and a half in preaching; Saurin's Ser. vol. iv. Eng. Trans. ser. 9. Paley's Mor. Phil. ch. 5. vol. i.

The consideration of this doctrine should lead us, 1. To seek happiness in God alone, and not in human things, Jer. ii. 13.—2. To commit all our wants and trials to him, 1 Sam. xxx. 6. Heb.|| xi. 19. 2 Cor. xii. 8, 9.-3. To be courageous in the midst of danger and opposition, Ps. xxvii. 1.-4. To be satisfied with his dispensations, Rom. viii. 28. 5. To persevere in the path of duty, however difficult, Gen. xvii. 1. Ridgley's Body of Div. ques. 17. Saurin's Ser. ser. 5. vol. i.; Barrow's Works, vol. ii. ser. 11.

ALMARICIANS, a denomination that arose in the thirteenth century. They derived their origin from Almaric, professor of logic and theology at Paris. His adversaries charged him with having taught that every Christian was obliged to believe himself a member of Jesus Christ, and that without this belief none could be saved. His followers asserted that the power of the Father had continued only during the Mosaic dispensation, that of the Son twelve hundred years after his entrance upon earth; and that in the thirteenth century the age of the Holy Spirit commenced, in which the sacraments and all external worship were to be abolished; and that every one was to be saved by the internal operations of the Holy Spirit alone, without any external act of religion.

ALMONER, a person employed by another, in the distribution of charity. In its primitive sense it denoted an officer in religious houses, to whom belonged the management and distribution of the alms of the house.

ALMS, what is given gratuitously for the relief of the poor, and in repairing the churches. That alms-giving is a duty is every way evident from the variety of passages which enjoin it in the sacred scriptures. It is observable, however,|| what a number of excuses are made by those who are not found in the exercise of the duty: 1. That they have nothing to spare; 2. That charity begins at home; 3. That charity does not consist in giving money, but in benevolence,

ALOGIANS, a sect of ancient heretics who denied that Jesus Christ was the Logos, and consequently rejected the Gospel of St. John. The word is compounded of the primitive & and aogos; q. d. without Logos, or word. They made their appearance toward the close of the second century.

ALTAR, a kind of table or raised place whereon the ancient sacrifices were offered. 2. The table, in Christian churches, where the Lord's supper is administered. Altars are, doubtless, of great antiquity; some suppose they were as early as Adam; but there is no mention made of them till after the flood, when Noah built one, and offered burnt offerings on it. The Jews had two altars in and about their temple; 1. The altar of burnt offerings; 2. The altar of incense; some also call the table for shew bread an altar, but improperly, Exod. xx. 24, 25. 1 Kings xviii. 30. Exod. xxv. xxvii. and xxx. Heb. ix.

AMAURITES, the followers of Amauri, a clergyman of Bonne, in the thirteenth century. He acknowledged the divine Three, to whom he attributed the empire of the world. But according to him, religion had three epochas, which bore a similitude to the reign of the three persons in the Trinity. The

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their notions concerning baptism, depended much upon certain ideas which they entertained concerning a perfect church establishment, pure in its members, and free from the institutions of human policy. The most prudent part of them considered it possible, by human industry and vigilance, to purify the church; and seeing the attempts of Luther to be successful, they hoped that the period was arrived in which the church was to be restored to this purity. Others, not satisfied with Luther's plan of reformation, undertook a more perfect plan, or more properly, a visionary enterprise, to found a new church entirely spiritual and divine.

governments, and magistrates of every kind, under the chimerical pretext, that Christ himself was now to take the reins of all government into his hands: but this seditious crowd was routed and dispersed by the elector of Saxony and other princes, and Munzer, their leader, put to death.

made preparations for the defence of the city; invited the Anabaptists in the low countries to assemble at Munster, which they called Mount Sion, that from thence they might reduce all the nations of the earth under their dominion. Matthias was soon cut off by the bishop of Munster's army, and was succeeded by Bockholdt, who was proclaimed by a special designation of heaven, as the pretended king of Sion, and invested with legislative powers like those of Moses. The city of Munster, however, was taken, after a long siege, and Bockholdt was punished with death.

Many of his followers, however, survived, and propagated their opinions through Germany, Switzerland, and Holland. In 1533, a party of them settled at Munster, under two leaders of the names of Matthias and Bockholdt. Having made themselves masters of the city, they deposed the magistrates, confiscated the estates of such as had escaThis sect was soon joined by great ped, and deposited the wealth in a pubnumbers, whose characters and capaci-lic treasury for common use. They ties were very different. Their progress was rapid; for in a very short space of time, their discourses, visions, and predictions, excited great commotions in a great part of Europe. The most pernicious faction of all those which composed this motley multitude, was that which pretended that the founders of this new and perfect church were under a divine impulse, and were armed against all opposition by the power of working miracles. It was this faction, that, in the year 1521, began their fanatical work under the guidance of Munzer, Stubner, Storick, &c. These men taught that, among Christians, who had the precepts of the gospel to direct, and the Spirit of God to guide them, the office of magistracy was not only unnecessary, but an unlawful encroachment on their spiritual liberty; that the distinctions occasioned by birth, rank, or wealth should be abolished; that all Christians, throwing their possessions into one stock, should live together in that state of equality which becomes members of the same family; that, as neither the laws of nature, nor the precepts of the New Testament, had prohibited polygamy, they should use the same liberty as the patriarchs did in this respect.

It must be acknowledged that the true rise of the insurrections of this period ought not to be attributed to religious opinions. The first insurgents groaned under severe oppressions, and took up arms in defence of their civil liberties; and of these commotions the Anabaptists seem rather to have availed themselves, than to have been the prime movers. That a great part were Anabaptists, seems indisputable; at the same time it appears from history, that a great part also were Roman catholics, and a still greater part of those who had scarcely any religious principles at all. Indeed, when we read of the vast numbers that were concerned in these inThey employed, at first, the various surrections, of whom it is reported that arts of persuasion, in order to propa-| 100,000 fell by the sword, it appears gate their doctrines, and related a num-reasonable to conclude that they were ber of visions and revelations, with which not all Anabaptists. they pretended to have been favoured from above: but when they found that this would not avail, and that the ministry of Luther and other reformers was detrimental to their cause, they then madly attempted to propagate their sentiments by force of arms. Munzer and his associates, in the year 1525 put themselves at the head of a numerous army, and declared war against all laws,

It is but justice to observe also, that the Baptists in England and Holland are to be considered in a different light from those above-mentioned: they profess an equal aversion to all principles of rebellion on the one hand, and to enthusiasm on the other. See Robertson's Hist. of Charles V.; Enc. Brit. vol. i. p. 644; and articles BAPTISTS and MENNONITES.