"Armeni, that Adam and Eve would never have co"habited, had they continued in their first state, but "also that there would have been no difference of "sex, and that the multiplication of mankind would "have been like that of the angels; thus contradict"ing what is written in Genesis; God created man "in his own image; in his image created he him, "male and female. 6, He asserted that God is not "to be seen in himself, but in his creatures, as the "light is seen in the air. 7, He said that what would

9,

otherwise be mortal sin, would, if done in charity, "be no sin thus promising impunity to sinners. 8, "He affirmed that those ideas which are in the divine "mind, are both capable of being created, and actu"ally are created; when Augustine on the contrary "has declared, that there is nothing in the divine "mind, but what is eternal and incommunicable. "He fancied that the soul of the contemplative, or happy saint would lose itself, as to its own nature, "and return into that ideal existence which it had in "the divine mind. 10, He taught that all creatures, "in the end, would return into God, and be converted "into him; so that they will be one, individually, "with him. "16 As this account is given by his enemies, we must make an allowance in his favor; and it is not an unreasonable conclusion that he only opposed the corruptions and errors of the Church, that he adopted some mystic notions which then prevailed concerning spiritual union with Deity, and that he believed that God would finally become "all in all." With regard to the resurrection, he may have made, like the celebrated Locke, some distinctions which gave his adversaries occasion to charge him with denying it.

Some of the opinions of Amalric, or Amauri, as he is generally called, were condemned by the University of Paris, and likewise by Pope Innocent III. and, just

16. Summa Conciliorum, per M. L. Bail, Tom. i. p. 432.

before his death, the author was compelled to retract them. But he left disciples; and, in A. D. 1209, a council was called at Paris, in which ten priests or students of divinity were condemned to the flames, and four to perpetual imprisonment. At the same time, the name of Amauri, who had died in peace, was anathematized, and his bones were dug up and thrown upon a dunghill.

IX. Salomon, metropolitan bishop of A. D. 1222. Bassorah, on the Euphrates, about seventy miles from its mouth, was a writer of considerable renown among the Nestorians of the East. Some of his works, in the Syriac language, yet remain, though only in manuscript. In one of them, he discusses the question, "Whether the demons and "sinners, who are now in hell, shall at length obtain

mercy, after having suffered their appointed punish"ment, and been purified?" In answer, he quotes the affirmative opinion of Theodorus of Mopsuestia, and of Diodorus of Tarsus, and subscribes to it himself. He also endeavors to show, but it is said inconclusively, that other Nestorian writers taught the same doctrine.*

X. I present to the reader the followA. D. 1230, ing account entire, as it stands in a cathto 1234. olic historian. I add no remarks, because every reflecting person will discover much incongruity between the different parts of the statement; and every one, who is at all acquainted either with the habitual language of the old Romish authors concerning heretics, or with the odious representations that are even now given, in our own country, concerning Universalists, will readily understand the present case:

Among all the sects which started up, during the "thirteenth century, there was none more detestable "than that of the Stadings, which showed itself by

* Assemani Biblioth. Orientalis Tom. iii. Par. i. pp. 323, 324.

"the outrages and cruelties which it exercised, in "Germany, A. D. 1230, against the catholics, and especially against the church-men. Those impious persons honored Lucifer, and inveighed against God "himself, believing that he had unjustly comdemned "that angel to darkness, that one day he would be "re-established, and that they should be saved with "him. Whereupon they taught, that, until that time, "it was not requisite to do any thing which was pleas"ing to God, but quite the contrary. They were per"suaded that the devil appeared in their assemblies. They therein committed infamous things, and utter"ed strange blasphemies. It is said, that after they "had received the eucharist, at Easter, from the hands "of the [catholic] priest, they kept it in their mouths "without swallowing it, in order to throw it away. "Those heretics spread themselves in the bishopric of "Breme, and in the frontiers of Friezland and Saxony; and getting to a head, they massacred the "ecclesiastics and monks, pillaged the churches and "committed a world of disorders. Pope Gregory IX. "excited the bishops and lords of those countries to "make war against them, in order to extirpate that "wicked race. The archbishop of Breme, the duke "of Brabant, and the count of Holland, having raised "forces, marched, in the year 1234, to engage them. They made a vigorous defence, but were at last de"feated and cut to pieces. Six thousand were killed "upon the spot; the rest perished in several ways, "and they were all routed; so that there were but "few left, who were converted and returned to their "obedience the next year. 9917

66

XI. "The sect of the Lollards spread A. D. 1315, "through Germany, and had for their &c. "leader, Walter Lollard, who began to "disperse his errors about the year 1315.

17. Du Pin's Eccl. Hist. Vol. xi, ch. ix. p. 153.

"They despised the sacraments of the [catholic] "church, and derided her ceremonies and her consti❝tutions, observed not the fasts of the church, nor its "abstinences, acknowledged not the intercession of "the [deceased] saints, and believed that the damned "in hell, and the evil angels, should one day be saved. "Trithemius, who recites the errors of these sectaries, "says that Bohemia and Austria were infected with "them; that there were above twenty-four thousand persons in Germany who held these errors; and that "the greater part defended them with obstinacy, even "unto death." 18

XII. In England, Langham, archbishA. .D 1368. op of Canterbury, convened a council, in A. D. 1368, and, with the advice of his divines, gave judgement against thirty propositions which were taught in his province. Among them, "the following opinions were condemned: 1. Every man ought to have the free choice of turning to "God, or from him; and according to this choice he "will be saved or damned. 2. Baptism is not neces"sary to the salvation of infants. 3. No person will "be damned for original sin only. 4. Grace, as it is "commonly explained, is an illusion; and eternal life "may be acquired by the force of nature. 5. Noth"ing can be bad merely because it is forbidden. 6. "The fruit that Adam was forbidden to eat, was for"bidden because it was in itself bad. 7. Man is "necessarily mortal, Jesus Christ included, as well as "other animals. 8. All the damned, even the demons, may be restored and become happy. 9. God "cannot make a reasonable creature impeccable, or "free from a liability to sin. It was an honor to the

age and to the country," says Priestley, "to produce "such sentiments as these; but it was but a sudden

18, Du Pin's Eccl. Hist. Vol. xii. ch. viii. p. 113.

"blaze in the midst of much thick darkness, and, as "far as appears, was soon extinguished.'

" 19

XIII. "In the year 1411, a sect was A. D. 1400,"discovered in Flanders, and more espeto 1412. "cially at Brussels, which owed its origin "to an illiterate man, whose name was "Ægidius Cantor, and to William of Hildenissen, a "Carmelite monk, and whose members were distin"guished by the title of Men of Understanding. "There were many things" says Mosheim, "repre"hensible in the doctrine of this sect, which seemed "to be chiefly derived from the theology of the Mys"tics. For they pretended to be honored with celestial "visions, denied that any could arrive at a perfect "knowledge of the holy Scriptures, without the extra"ordinary succors of a divine illumination; declared "the approach of a new revelation from heaven, more "complete and perfect than the gospel of Christ; "maintained that the resurrection was already accom

plished in the person of Jesus, and that no other "resurrection was to be expected; affirmed that the "inward man was not defiled by the outward actions, "whatever they were; that the pains of hell were to "have an end, and that, not only all mankind, but even the devils themselves, were to return to God, "and be made partakers of eternal felicity. This sect 66 seems to have been a branch of that of The Brethren and Sisters of the Free Spirit; since they "declared that a new dispensation of grace and spir"itual liberty was to be promulgated to mortals by the "Holy Ghost. It must, however, be acknowledged, on the other hand, that their absurdities were mingled with several opinions which showed that they "were not totally void of understanding; for they "maintained, among other things, 1. that Christ alone

19. Priestley's Hist. of the Christian Church, Period xx. Sect. xii. pp. 498, 499. See also Du Pin's Eccl. Hist. Vol. xii. ch. viii. p. 115.