The Book of Religions Part 26

DANCERS.

A sect which sprung up, about 1373, in Flanders, and places about. It was their custom all of a sudden to fall a-dancing, and, holding each other's hands, to continue thereat, till, being suffocated with the extraordinary violence, they fell down breathless together. During these intervals of vehement agitation, they pretended to be favored with wonderful visions.

Like the Whippers, they roved from place to place, begging their victuals, holding their secret a.s.semblies, and treating the priesthood and worship of the church with the utmost contempt.

EPICUREANS.

The disciples of Epicurus, who flourished about A. M. 3700. This sect maintained that the world was formed not by G.o.d, nor with any design, but by the fortuitous concourse of atoms. They denied that G.o.d governs the world, or in the least condescends to interfere with creatures below; they denied the immortality of the soul, and the existence of angels; they maintained that happiness consisted in pleasure; but some of them placed this pleasure in the tranquillity and joy of the mind, arising from the practice of moral virtue, and which is thought by some to have been the true principle of Epicurus: others understood him in the gross sense, and placed all their happiness in corporeal pleasure. When Paul was at Athens, he had conferences with the Epicurean philosophers. (Acts 17:18) The word _Epicurean_ is used, at present, for an indolent, effeminate, and voluptuous person, who only consults his private and particular pleasure.

SKEPTICS.

The word _Skeptic_ properly signifies considerative and inquisitive, or one who is always weighing reasons on one side or the other, without ever deciding between them. The word is applied to an ancient sect of philosophers founded by Pyrrho, who denied the real existence of all qualities in bodies, except those which are essential to primary atoms, and referred every thing else to the perceptions of the mind produced by external objects; in other words, to appearance and opinion. In modern times, the word has been applied to Deists, or those who doubt of the truth and authenticity of the sacred Scriptures.

WICKLIFFITES.

The followers of the famous John Wickliffe, called "the first reformer,"

who was born in Yorkshire, in the year 1324. He attacked the jurisdiction of the pope and the bishops. He was for this twice summoned to a council at Lambeth, to give an account of his doctrines, but, being countenanced by the duke of Lancaster, was both times dismissed without condemnation.

Wickliffe, therefore, continued to spread his new principles, as usual, adding to them doctrines still more alarming; by which he drew after him a great number of disciples. Upon this, William Courtney, archbishop of Canterbury, called another council in 1382, which condemned 24 propositions of Wickliffe and his disciples, and obtained a declaration of Richard II. against all who should preach them; but while these proceedings were agitating, Wickliffe died at Lutterworth, leaving many works behind him for the establishment of his doctrines. He was buried in his own church, at Lutterworth, in Leicestershire, where his bones were suffered to rest in peace till the year 1428, when, by an order from the pope, they were taken up and burnt. Wickliffe was doubtless a very extraordinary man, considering the times in which he lived. He discovered the absurdities and impositions of the church of Rome, and had the honesty and resolution to promulgate his opinions, which a little more support would probably have enabled him to establish: they were evidently the foundation of the subsequent reformation.

DIGGERS.

A denomination which sprung up in Germany, in the fifteenth century; so called because they dug their a.s.semblies under ground, in caves and forests. They derided the church, its ministers, and sacraments.

ZUINGLIANS.

A branch of the Reformers, so called from Zuinglius, a noted divine of Switzerland. His chief difference from Luther was concerning the eucharist. He maintained that the bread and wine were only _significations_ of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, whereas Luther believed in _consubstantiation_.

SEEKERS.

A denomination which arose in the year 1645. They derived their name from their maintaining that the true church ministry, Scripture, and ordinances, were lost, for which they were seeking. They taught that the Scriptures were uncertain; that present miracles were necessary to faith; that our ministry is without authority; and that our worship and ordinances are unnecessary or vain.

WILHELMINIANS.

A denomination in the 13th century, so called from Wilhelmina, a Bohemian woman, who resided in the territory of Milan. She persuaded a large number that the Holy Ghost was become incarnate in her person, for the salvation of a great part of mankind. According to her doctrines, none were saved by the blood of Jesus but true and pious Christians, while the Jews, Saracens, and unworthy Christians, were to obtain salvation through the Holy Spirit which dwelt in her, and that, in consequence thereof, all which happened in Christ during his appearance upon earth in the human nature, was to be exactly renewed in her person, or rather in that of the Holy Ghost, which was united to her.

NON-RESISTANTS.

This is a name a.s.sumed by those who believe in the inviolability of human life, and whose motto is, RESIST NOT EVIL,-that is, by the use of carnal weapons or brute force. They cannot properly be called a religious sect, in the common acceptation of that term, and they repudiate the t.i.tle; for they differ very widely among themselves in their religious speculations, and have no forms, ordinances, creed, church, or community. Some of them belong to almost every religious persuasion, while others refuse to be connected with any denomination, and to be called by any sectarian name.

Like the friends of negro emanc.i.p.ation, or of total abstinence from all intoxicating substances, their eyes are fastened upon a common object, and their hearts united together by a common principle; and whatever calls for the violation of that principle, or for the sacrifice of that object, they feel in duty bound to reject.

In the autumn of 1838, an a.s.sociation was formed in Boston, called the "NEW ENGLAND NON-RESISTANCE SOCIETY," the principles of which are comprehensively imbodied in the second article of its const.i.tution, as follows:-

"The members of this society agree in opinion that no man, or body of men, however const.i.tuted, or by whatever name called, have the right to take the life of man as a penalty for transgression; that no one, who professes to have the Spirit of Christ, can consistently sue a man at law for redress of injuries, or thrust any evil-doer into prison, or fill any office in which he would come under obligation to execute penal enactments, or take any part in the military service, or acknowledge allegiance to any human government, or justify any man in fighting in defence of property, liberty, life, or religion; that he cannot engage in or countenance any plot or effort to revolutionize, or change, by physical violence, any government, however corrupt or oppressive; that he will obey 'the powers that be,' except in those cases in which they bid him violate his conscience-and then, rather than to resist, he will meekly submit to the penalty of disobedience; and that, while he will cheerfully endure all things for Christ's sake, without cherishing even the desire to inflict injury upon his persecutors, yet he will be bold and uncompromising for G.o.d, in bearing his testimony against sin, in high places and in low places, until righteousness and peace shall reign in all the earth, and there shall be none to molest or make afraid."

On the same occasion, a DECLARATION OF SENTIMENTS was adopted, in which the views of Non-Resistants are set forth in the following positive and argumentative form:-

"We cannot acknowledge allegiance to any human government; neither can we oppose any such government by a resort to physical force. We recognize but one KING and LAWGIVER, one JUDGE and RULER of mankind. We are bound by the laws of a kingdom which is not of this world; the subjects of which are forbidden to fight; in which MERCY and TRUTH are met together, and RIGHTEOUSNESS and PEACE have kissed each other; which has no state lines, no national part.i.tions, no geographical boundaries; in which there is no distinction of rank, or division of caste, or inequality of s.e.x; the officers of which are PEACE, its exactors RIGHTEOUSNESS, its walls SALVATION, and its gates PRAISE; and which is destined to break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms.

"Our country is the world, our countrymen are all mankind. We love the land of our nativity only as we love all other lands. The interests, rights, liberties of American citizens, are no more dear to us than are those of the whole human race. Hence we can allow no appeal to patriotism, to revenge any national insult or injury. The PRINCE OF PEACE, under whose stainless banner we rally, came not to destroy, but to save, even the worst of enemies. He has left us an example, that we should follow his steps. G.o.d COMMENDETH HIS LOVE TOWARD US, IN THAT, WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US.

"We conceive that, if a nation has no right to defend itself against foreign enemies, or to punish its invaders, no individual possesses that right in his own case. The unit cannot be of greater importance than the aggregate. If one man may take life, to obtain or defend his rights, the same license must necessarily be granted to communities, states, and nations. If _he_ may use a dagger or a pistol, _they_ may employ cannon, bomb-sh.e.l.ls, land and naval forces. The means of self-preservation must be in proportion to the magnitude of interests at stake, and the number of lives exposed to destruction. But if a rapacious and bloodthirsty soldiery, thronging these sh.o.r.es from abroad, with intent to commit rapine and destroy life, may not be resisted by the people or magistracy, then ought no resistance to be offered to domestic troublers of the public peace, or of private security. No obligations can rest upon Americans to regard foreigners as more sacred in their persons than themselves, or to give them a monopoly of wrong-doing with impunity.

"The dogma, that all the governments of the world are approvingly ordained of G.o.d, and that THE POWERS THAT BE, in the United States, in Russia, in Turkey, are in accordance with his will, is not less absurd than impious.

It makes the impartial Author of human freedom and equality unequal and tyrannical. It cannot be affirmed that THE POWERS THAT BE, in any nation, are actuated by the spirit, or guided by the example, of Christ, in the treatment of enemies; therefore they cannot be agreeable to the will of G.o.d; and, therefore, their overthrow, by a spiritual regeneration of their subjects, is inevitable.