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304 CHAP. X. w

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'forms a part of the sacred canon, but which was

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Confiagration of Rome and of the World.

56 Dupin, Bibliotthue Ecclesiastique, tom. i. p. 223. tom- ii_p. 366. and Mosheim, p. 720 5 though the latter osthcselcarncddivines is not altogether candid on this occasion. _

67 In the council of Laodicca. (about the year 360) the Apoca* 'lypse was tacitly excluded from the sacred canon, by the same churches of Asia to whichit is addressed ; and we may learn from the complaint of Sulpicius Severus, that their sentence had been ratified by the greater number of Christians of his time. Fromwbfl causes then is the Apocalypse at present so generally received by the Greek, the Roman, and the Protestant churches? T he following ones may be assigned. I. The Greeks were subdued by the authority of an impostor, who, in the sixth century, affirmed the character of Dibnysius the Areopagite. 2. A just apprehensiosh that the grammarians might become more important than the thcoltr

_gians, 'engmred the Council of Trent to fix the seal os their infalli

bility on all the books of Scripture, contained in the Latin Vulgatein the number of which the Apoealypse was fortunately included(Fra. Paolq, Istoria del Concilio Tridentino, l. ii.) 3. The ad' vantage Os turning those mysterious prophecies against the See Of Rome. isllct'pired the protestants with uncommon veneration form useful an ally. See the ingenious and elegant discourses of the

. present bishop ofLitchsield on that unpromising subject.

WZS

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the authority of tradition and the interpretation of scripture, expected it 'with terror and confidence. as a certain and approaching event; and as his mind was perpetually filled with the solemn idea, he considered every disaster that happened to the empire as an infallible symptom Of an expiring world 69.

The condemnation of the wisest and most virv.tuous of the Pagans, on account of their ignorance or disbelies of the divine truth, seems 10 offend the reason and the humanity of the present age 70. But the primitive church, Whose faith was of a much firmer confistence, delivered over, without hefitation, to eternal torture, tilc far greater part of the human species. A cha

The Pa. gans devoted to eternal punilhment.

" scripture, and tradition, into one magnificent system; in the Cf'

6') On this subject every reader of taste will be entertained with the third part of Burnet's Sacred Theory. He blends philosophh

scription of which, he displays a strength of fancy not inferior 19 that of Milton himself.

7o And yet Whatev'Er may be the language of individuals, it" still the public doctrine of all the Christian churches; nor cum" o'ur own refuse toadmit the conclusions which must be drawn from the viiith and- the xviiith of her Articles. The Jansenists,who his' so diligently studied the works of the fathers, maintain this sent' ment with distinguished zeal, and the learned M. de TillemC-F'never dismisses a virtuous emperor without pronouncing his damn: ation. Zuinglius is perhaps the only leader Of a partywhohl' ever adopted the milder sentiments, and he gave no less offfflffm the Lutherans than to the Catholics. See Bossuet, Hisioire do Variations des Eglises Proteflantes,l ii. c. r'9-zz. bl

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7! Justin and Clemens osAlexandria allow that some of the philosophers were instructed by the Logos; confounding its double signification, of the human reason, and of the Divine Word.

X z 55 XVith

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