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ing with this ambitious and cruel woman, a council was held at Nice, which abrogated the decisions of the one I formerly mentioned, expressly sanctioned the worship of images, and denounced anathemas on all those who insisted on the spiritual worship of God, without such interventions.

The Western Churches did not altogether agree with the acts of this council. Charlemagne the Great was crowned by Pope Leo III. Emperor of the Romans, and of the West; but though bound by the ties of policy and gratitude to his predecessor, Adrian, for his assistance in re-establishing the Western Empire, he did not think it necessary to agree with him in all religious matters: his sword had been employed in making converts to Christianity, and he planted the Roman form of faith and worship in the churches which his victories created; but he did not receive the acts of this Nicene council with implicit obedience: their disagreement with the practice of the West, where image-worship was not then established, was one reason of this; and his intimacy with British missionaries, particularly the celebrated Alcuin, probably caused his dislike to this idolatrous homage. The British churches, it is said, ' execrated the second council of Nice,' which established it; and Charlemagne, whose patronage of learning drew round him many of the Irish, who, as I told you, were equally renowned in this ignorant age for divine and human knowledge, was induced to order the Western bishops to ex

amine the decrees of this council, and draw up their opinion on them. The bishops, in the Carolin Books published on this occasion, go a middle way between Scripture and the anti-scriptural Pope. They allow pictures and images to be placed in churches, but they condemn their worship; they acknowledge the supremacy of the Popedom, as derived from St. Peter, but they do not build their faith on the decrees of Popes, in preference to the Word of God. Notwithstanding this opposition made to false worship by the churches that yet retained something of primitive purity, the corruptions of the Roman church grew and were established; the temporal power of the Popes was fixed; and their exorbitant claims to spiritual dominion enabled them to act the tyrant over the minds and consciences of men, and to rule, both temporally and spiritually, with a rod of iron."

66

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CENTURY VIII.

CONTINUED.

THE PAULICIANS-PAULINUS OF AQUILEIA-CLAUDE OF

TURIN,

AMIDST the darkness and superstition of the Catholic Church it is delightful to trace glimpses of light now and then shining, as it were, in darkness that comprehended it not, and bearing witness that our Lord's words were verified, and that the gates of hell had not prevailed against his Church: but that, though few and hidden were its members, it still existed as a scattered and poor people who feared the name of the Lord.

Individuals comprised in the nominal church might bear this character, but it is chiefly to be traced among the sects which arose at different periods, disclaiming the authority and abjuring the errors of the Papal Church. Among these the sect of the Paulicians claims our notice, as the persons holding their principles, though bearing different appellations, were for a long time conspicuous evidences of this truth.

From the circumstance which, by causing a

dissemination of gospel truth, gave rise to this sect, we may have occasion to remark that means apparently small are often employed by God to compass mighty ends; and we may also gather encouragement in holding out to others the word of eternal life.

The appearance of the Paulician sect is dated from A. D. 660, and originated in the following

manner :

When ignorance of divine things, and the absence of learning in general, had so darkened and bound, as in fetters, the minds of men, that it was said it was not fit for a layman to read the Sacred Writings, but for the priest only,—it was so ordered that a passing traveller, one who had been a prisoner among the Mahometans, and was escaping from the land of Syria, was made the instrument of kindling a ray of light that for a long time burned brightly amidst the gloom of Catholic superstition.

This man stopped to refresh himself at the house of a person named Constantine, to whom he presented, in token of gratitude, an invaluable treasure, a New Testament.

Constantine was not dissuaded, by the prevalence of contrary opinions, from reading this Sacred volume: he studied it diligently, and carefully examined its doctrines, and in consequence became convinced that the Church of Rome was not the Church of the Bible.

Constantine did not conceal in his own breast

the change that had been effected in his mind by a perusal of the Scriptures; he soon imparted his ideas to others, and gained many converts. These soon formed a small Christian Church; and as Constantine had directed his attention principally to the writings of St. Paul, it is probable that his followers voluntarily took the title of Paulicians, or followers of Paul.

Constantine himself took the name of Sylvanus, and some of his fellow-teachers were called Titus, Timothy, Tychicus, and such other names as we find mentioned by that Apostle.

It is not to be supposed that a sect appearing thus publicly, and holding doctrines so widely differing from Romanism, could escape notice or persecution. The Paulicians were soon compelled to bear the same opprobrious epithets and unmerited reproaches which had been cast upon their brethren who had gone before them. They were styled Manicheans, from a sect which had appeared long before them, and to which they bore no manner of resemblance. Mr. Gibbon says, "They sincerely condemned the memory and opinions of the Manichean sect.'

The doctrines of Constantine, or as we should now call him, Sylvanus, spread rapidly, and in process of time were widely extended. In Asia Minor the Paulicians particularly abounded, and Pontus and Cappadocia were again the abodes of a purified Christianity.

The Paulician teachers are described by Gibbon

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