candle in their hands. These are followed by the penitents who have narrowly escaped being burnt, who over their black coats have flames painted, with their points turned downwards. Next come the negative and relapsed, who are to be burnt, having flames on their habits pointing upwards. After these come such as profess doctrines contrary to the faith of Rome, who, besides flames pointing upwards, have their picture painted on their breasts, with dogs, serpents, and devils, all openmouthed, about it. Each prisoner is attended with a familiar of the Inquisition and those to be burnt have also a Jesuit on each hand, who are continually preaching to them to abjure. After the prisoners, comes a troop of familiars on horseback; and after them the Inquisitors, and other officers of the court, on mules: last of all, the Inquisitor-general on a white horse, led by two men with black hats and green hatbands. A scaffold is erected big enough for two or three thousand people; at one end of which are the prisoners, at the other the inquisitors. After a sermon made up of encomiums of the Inquisition, and invectives against heretics, a priest ascends a desk near the scaffold, and, having taken the abjuration of the penitents, recites the final sentence of those who are to be put to death, and delivers them to the secular arm, earnestly beseeching at the same time the secular power not to touch their blood, or put their lives in danger!!! The prisoners, being thus in the hands of the civil magistrate, are presently loaded with chains, and carried first to the secular gaol, and from thence, in an hour or two, brought before the civil judge; who, after asking in what religion they intend to die, pronounces sentence on such as declare they die in the communion of the church of Rome, that they shall be first strangled, and then burnt to ashes: or such as die in any other faith, that they be burnt alive. Both are immediately carried to the Ribera, the place of execution, where there are as many stakes set up as there are prisoners to be burnt, with a quantity of dry furze about them. The stakes of the professed, that is, such as persist in the heresy, are about four yards high, having a small board towards the top for the prisoner to be seated on. The negative and relapsed being first strangled and burnt, the professed mount their stakes by a ladder, and the Jesuits, after several repeated exhortations to be reconciled to the church, part with them, telling them that they leave them to the devil, who is standing at their elbow, to receive their souls, and carry them with him to the flames of hell. On this a great shout is raised; and the ery is, "Let the dogs' beards be made!" which is done by thrusting flaming furzes fastened to long poles against their faces, till their faces are burnt to a coal, which is accompanied with the loudest acclamations of joy. At last, fire is set to the furze at the bottom of the stake, over which the professed are chained so high, that the top of the flame seldom reaches higher than the seat they sit on; so that they rather seem roasted than burnt. There cannot be a more lamentable spectacle: the sufferers continually ery out, while they are able, "Pity, for the love of God!" Yet it is beheld by all sexes and ages with transports of joy and satis faction.-O merciful God! is this the benign, humane religion thou hast given to men? Surely not. If such were the genius of Christianity, then it would be no honour to be a Christian. Let us, however, rejoice that the time is coming when the demon of persecution shall be banished out of this our world, and the true spirit of benevolence and candour pervade the universe; when none shall hurt or destroy, but the earth be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea! See INQUISITION. ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 1. An act passed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, establishing the Protestant religion as the religion of England, binding all her subjects to be Protestants, and compelling them to use the liturgy, &c. in such order and form as were prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer, to the exclusion of every other order and form, under the severest penalties. It has been well remarked, that in thus casting off the Popish antichrist of Rome, a legal existence was given to the Protestant antichrist of England. Nothing could be more intolerant, or more hostile to the spirit of Christianity, or the natural rights of mankind. 2. A statute enacted in the reign of Charles II., requiring all ministers of religion in England to declare their unfeigned assent and consent to all and every thing contained in the Book of Common Prayer. This act received the royal assent May 19, 1662, and on Bartholomew day, August 24 following, it took effect in the ejectment from their livings of more than two thousand ministers, who refused to violate their consciences in subscribing to many things which they regarded to be contrary to the word of God. The principal agent in procuring this unrighteous act was Archbishop Sheldon, who carried this, and several other harsh and unjust measures, through the influence of Lord Clarendon. ACTION AND ACTION SERMON, an old Scottish designation of the sermon preached immediately before the administration of the Lord's Supper. ACTS OF THE APOSTLES ( των Αποστόλων), one of the books of the New Testament, written in Greek by Luke, the author of the gospel which bears his name. It is addressed to Theophilus, of whom nothing is known, and is evidently intended as a continuation of the gospel which the author himself calls his "First Book," Acts i. 1. It has been universally received, and is generally allowed to have been written between A.D. 63 and 64, but in what place is doubtful: Jerome says at Rome; Grotius and Lardner think in Greece; Michaelis, in Alexandria. It embraces a period of about thirty years, beginning immediately after the Resurrection, and extending to the second year of Paul's imprisonment at Rome. Very little information is given of any of the Apostles, excepting Paul and Peter; and even the accounts of them are partial and incomplete; it not being the design of Luke to give us the whole of their history. Thus that of Peter terminates with the death of Herod, although that Apostle is considered to have lived and preached twentyfour years longer. The position of the book is generally at the head of the Apostolicon, or before the Epistles; but in some MSS. it is found after the thirteen Paulinic Epistles. The style of this book, which was originally composed in Greek, is purer than that of the other books. ACTS OF PAUL AND THECLA, one of the spurious documents of antiquity, falsely ascribed to the Apostle. It was printed by Dr. Grabe in his Spicilegium, from a Greek MS. in the Bodleian; a translation of it is given by Jones in his work on the Canon; and also in Hone's Apoc. New Testament. It is full of legendary stories. ACTS OF PAUL AND SENECA, another of the apocryphal writings of the New Testament, containing epistles alleged to have passed between the Apostle and Seneca the philosopher. They were published by Sixtus Senensis, and an English translation will be found in Hone. ACTS OF PETER, of similar apocryphal character, and abounding in the most trifling and absurd stories. ACTS OF PILATE, a relation alleged to have been sent by Pilate to the emperor Tiberius, concerning Jesus Christ, his death, resurrection, ascension, and the crimes of which he was convicted before him. It was a custom among the Romans, that the proconsuls and governors of provinces should draw up acts or memoirs of what happened in the course of their government, and send them to the emperor and senate. The acts of Pilate were sent by him to Tiberius, who reported them to the senate; but they were rejected, it is said, by that assembly, because not immediately addressed to them.-Tertullian, Apol. cap. 5, and 20, 21. The genuine acts, if they existed, are now lost, and those that remain are manifestly spurious. See Fabric. Cod. Apoc. New Testament, p. 298, Ap. 972. Pearson, Mosheim, and Lardner, are inclined to think that considerable credit is due to the account given by Justin Martyr and Tertullian of these acts. Dupin and some others consider the whole matter very doubtful. Lardner discusses the subject with his usual impartiality. - Works, 4to., vol. iii. p. 599-606. ACTS OF THE SAINTS (Acta Sanctorum), a name given to all collections of accounts of ancient martyrs and saints, both of the Greek and Roman churches. It is used more particularly as the title of a voluminous work, comprising all those accounts which were commenced at the instigation of the Jesuits, 1643, by John Bolland, a Jesuit of Antwerp, and continued after his death by others of the same order, known by the name of Bollanists (which see), to the year 1794, but not yet finished, though forming not fewer than fifty-three volumes in folio. It is held in high esteem by the members of the Roman communion; but contains a sad mixture of truth and falsehood, superstition and fiction. ADAMIC CONSTITUTION, the dispensation originally established with Adam, as the public head and representative of his posterity, in virtue of which, ADI had he continued obedient, they would have been confirmed in holiness and happiness, but, because he sinned, are involved with him in all the consequences of his rebellion. This constitution is specifically laid as the basis of the Apostle's reasoning, Rom. v. 12-21, and 1 Cor. xv. 22, in which passages the connexion and analogy between the representative characters sustained by Adam and Christ are clearly set forth; in the former for the purpose of illustrating the plan of redemption, and in the latter for the purpose of confirming the doctrine of the future resurrection of believers. It has been common to designate the establishment given to Adam a covenant; and, certainly, considering the latitude in which this term is frequently used in scripture, it may not seem, at first sight, to be improper; but see under the word COVENANT. ADAMITES, a sect that sprang up in the second century. Epiphanius tells us that they were called Adamites from their pretending to be re-established in the state of innocence, such as Adam was at the moment of his creation, whence they ought to imitate him in going naked. They detested marriage; maintaining that the conjugal union would never have taken place upon earth had sin been unknown. This obscure and ridiculous sect did not last long. It was, however, revived with additional absurdities in the twelfth century. About the beginning of the fifteenth century the name was revived, and applied to a sect that spread in Germany and Bohemia, and found also some partizans in Poland, Holland, and England, which arose about the same time with the Hussites, whom they resembled in their hatred of the Roman hierarchy; but the accounts that have been handed down to us respecting the appearing of both sexes naked in their assemblies, and various other outrageous customs, are not to be relied on with any degree of certainty, as they come originally from their enemies, who appear to have given them this ancient heretical appellation in order to hold them up to execration. ADESSENARIANS, a branch of the Sacramentarians; so called from the Latin Adesse, to be present, because they believed the presence of Christ's body in the eucharist, though in a manner different from the Romanists. ADIAPHORISTS, a term given in the sixteenth century to Melancthon and the divines of Wittenberg, who regarded ADMISSION, a term in use amongst ADMISSION-SERMON, the discourse which is preached introductory to the admission of a minister to a new charge. ADMONITION denotes a hint or advice given to another, whereby we reprove him for his fault, or remind him of his duty. Admonition was a part of the discipline much used in the ancient church; it was the first act or step towards the punishment or expulsion of delinquents. In case of private offences it was performed according to the evangelical rule, privately; in case of public offence, openly before the church. If either of these sufficed for the recovery of the fallen person, all further proceedings, in a way of censure ceased; if they did not, recourse was had to excommunication.-Tit. iii. 10; 1 Thess. v. 14; Eph. vi. 4. ADONAI, one of the Hebrew names It is exclusively given to God, and signifying "The Supreme Ruler or Judge. literally "My Lords," in the plural number, as "Adoni" is " My Lord" in the singular. The Jews, who either out of respect or superstition do not pronounce the name of Jehovah, read Adonai instead of it in all the places in which it occurs in the Hebrew Bible. This veneration for the Tetragrammaton is at least as ancient as the time of Josephus, who declares that it was not lawful for him to speak of it. ADONISTS, a party among divines and critics, who maintain that the Hebrew points ordinarily annexed to the consonants of the word Jehovah, are not the natural points belonging to that word, nor express the true pronunciation of it; but are the vowel points belonging to the words Adonai and Elohim, applied to the consonants of the ineffable name Jehovah, to warn the readers, that instead of the word Jehovah, which the Jews were forbid to pronounce, and the true pronunC ciation of which had been long unknown to them, they are always to read Adonai. They are opposed to Jehovists, of whom the principal are Drusius, Capellus, Buxtorf, Alting, and Reland. ADOPTIANISTS, the followers of Felix of Urgil and Flipandus of Toledo, who, towards the end of the eighth century, advanced the notion that Jesus Christ, in his human nature, is the Son of God, not by nature, but by adoption. It was condemned by Charlemagne at the Council of Ratisbon, and again at the Synod of Francfort, 794, and at Rome and Aix-la-Chapelle, 799, as a new modification of the Nestorian heresy. Felix was dismissed from his office; and the whole controversy ceased after the death of Flipandus. ADOPTION, an act whereby any person receives another into his family, owns him for his son, and appoints him his heir. 2. Spiritual adoption is an act of God's free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. 3. Glorious, is that in which the saints being raised from the dead, are at the Last Day solemnly owned to be the children of God, and enter into the full possession of that inheritance provided for them. Rom. viii. 19, 23. Adoption is a word taken from the civil law, and was much in use among the Romans in the Apostles' time, when it was a custom for persons who had no children of their own, and were possessed of an estate, to prevent its being divided or descending to strangers, to make choice of such who were agreeable to them, and beloved by them, whom they took into this political relation of children; obliging them to take their name upon them, and to pay respect to them as though they were their natural parents, and engaging to deal with them as though they had been so; and accordingly to give them a right to their estates as an inheritance. This new relation, founded in a mutual consent, is a bond of affection; and the privilege arising from thence is, that he who is in this sense a father takes care of and provides for the person whom he adopts, as though he were his son by nature; and therefore civilians call it an act of legitimation, imitating nature, or supplying the place of it. It is easy, then, to conceive the propriety of the term as used by the Apostle in reference to this act, though it must be confessed there is some difference between civil and spiritual adoption. Civil adoption was allowed of and provided for the relief and comfort of those who had no children; but in spiritual adoption this reason does not appear. The Almighty was under no obligation to do this; for he had innumerable spirits whom he had created, besides his own Son, who had all the perfections of the divine nature, who was the object of his delight, and who is styled the heir of all things. Heb. i. 3. When men adopt, it is on account of some excellency in the persons who are adopted; thus Pharaoh's daughter adopted Moses because he was exceeding fair, Acts vii. 20, 21; and Mordecai adopted Esther because she was his uncle's daughter, and exceeding fair, Est. ii. 7; but man has nothing in him that merits this divine act. Ezek. xvi. 5. In civil adoption, though the name of a son be given, the nature of a son may not this relation may not necessarily be attended with any change of disposition or temper. But in spiritual adoption we are made partakers of the divine nature, and a temper or disposition given_us becoming the relationship we bear. Jer. iii. 19. Much has been said as to the time of adoption. Some place it before regeneration, because it is supposed that we must be in the family before we can be partakers of the blessings of it. But it is difficult to conceive of one before the other; for although adoption may seem to precede regeneration in order of nature, yet not of time, they may be distinguished, but cannot be separated. "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." John i. 12. There is no adoption, says the great Charnock, without regeneration. 'Adoption," says the same author, "is not a mere relation; the privilege and the image of the sons of God go together. A state of adoption is never without a separation from defilement." 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18. The new name in adoption is never given till the new creature be formed. "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Rom. viii. 14. Yet these are to be distinguished. Regeneration, as a moral act, gives us a likeness to God in our nature; adoption, as a legal act, gives us a right to an inheritance. Regeneration makes us formally his sons, by conveying a principle, 1 Pet. i. 23; adoption makes us relatively his sons, by conveying a power. John i. 12. "By the one, we are instated in the divine affection; by the other, we are partakers of the divine nature." The privileges of adoption are every way great and extensive. 1. It implies great honour. They have God's name put upon them, and are described as "his people, called by his name." 2 Cor. vi. 18. Eph. iii. 15. They are no longer slaves to sin and the world; but, emancipated from its dreadful bondage, are raised to dignity and honour. Gal. iv. 7. 1 John iii. 1, 2. 2. Inexhaustible provision and riches.-They inherit all things. Rev. xxi. 7. All the blessings of a temporal kind that are for their good shall be given them. Psalm lxxxiv. 11. All the blessings of grace are treasured up in Jesus Christ for them. Eph. i. 3. All the blessings of glory shall be enjoyed by them. Col. i. 27. All things are yours, says the apostle, "whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours. 1 Cor. iii. 22. 3. Divine protection." In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and his children shall have a place of refuge." Prov. xiv. 26. As the master of a family is engaged to defend and secure all under his roof, and committed to his care, so Jesus Christ is engaged to protect and defend his people. "They shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings and quiet resting places." Is. xxxii. 18. Heb. i. 14. 4. Unspeakable felicity. They enjoy the most intimate communion with the Father, and with his son Jesus Christ. They have access to his throne at all times, and under all circumstances. They see divine wisdom regulating every affair, and rendering everything subservient to their good. Heb. xii. 6-11. The laws, the liberties, the privileges, the relations, the provisions, and the security of this family, are all sources of happiness; but especially the presence, the approbation, and the goodness of God, as the governor thereof, afford joy unspeakable and full of glory. 1 Pet. i. 8. Prov. iii. 17. Heb. iv. 16. 5. Eternal glory. In some cases civil adoption might be made null and void, as among the Romans, when against the right of the pontifex, and without the degree of the college; but spiritual adoption, as it is divine as to its origin, so it is perpetual as to its duration. The Son abideth in the house for ever." John viii. 35. "The inheritance of the saints is incorruptible, undefiled, and never fadeth away." 1 Pet. i. 4. “Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." 1 John iii. 2. In the present state, we are as children at school; but in heaven we shall be as children at home, where we shall always behold the face of our heavenly Father, for ever celebrating his praises, admiring his perfections, and enjoying his presence. "So shall we be ever with the Lord." 1 Thes. iv. 17. The evidences of adoption are, 1. Renunciation of all former dependencies.When a child is adopted, he relinquishes the object of his past confidence, and submits himself to the will and pleasure of the adopter; so they who are brought into the family of God, will evidence it by giving up every other object, so far as it interferes with the will and glory of their heavenly Father. "Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?" Hos. xiv. 8. "Other lords have had dominion over us; but by Thee only will we make mention of Thy name." Is. xxvi. 13. Matt. xiii. 45, 46. Phil. iii. 8. 2. Affection. This may not always apply to civil adoption, but it always does to spiritual. The children of God feel a regard for him above every other object. His own excellency, his unspeakable goodness to them, his promises of future blessings, are all grounds of the strongest love. "Whom have I in heaven but Thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee." Psalm lxxiii. 25. "Thou art my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in Thee." Lam. iii. 24. Luke vii. 47. Ps. xviii. 1. 3. Access to God with a holy boldness.-They who are children by adoption are supposed to have the same liberty of access as those who are children by nature; so those who are partakers of the blessings of spiritual adoption, will prove it by a reverential yet familiar address to the Father of spirits: they will confess their unworthiness, acknowledge their dependence, and implore the mercy and favour of God. "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Gal. iv. 6. "Through Jesus Christ we have access by one Spirit unto the Father." Eph. ii. 18. "Having such a privilege, they come boldly to the throne of grace, that they may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Heb, |