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"Thou shalt not steal." This law || first used to denote the systems requires justice, truth, and faith- or rather the heterogeneous fables" fulness, in all our dealings with of those poets and philosophers men; to owe no man any thing, who wrote of the genealogy and but to give to all their dues; exploits of the gods of Greece. to be true to all engagements, Hence Orpheus, Museus, Hesiod, promises, and contracts; and to &c., were called Theologians; and be faithful in whatever is com-the same epithet was given to Plamitted to our care and trust. It to, on account of his sublime speforbids all unjust ways of in- culations on the same subject. It creasing our own and hurting was afterwards adopted by the our neighbour's substance by using earliest writers of the Christian false balances and measures; by church, who styled the author of over-reaching and circumventing the Apocalypse, by way of emi in trade and commerce; by tak-nence, ó ooyos, the divine. As ing away by force or fraud the the various branches of theology goods, persons, and properties of are considered in their places in men; by borrowing, and not pay- this work, they need not be ining again; by oppression, extor-sisted on here. The theological tion, and unlawful usury. It may student will find the following include in it also, what is very sel- books on the subject, of utility: dom called by this name, i. e. Grotius de Veritate Religionis the robbing of ourselves and fami- Christiana; Stilling fleet's Origines lies, by neglecting our callings, or Sacra; Turretine's Institutio Theoimprudent management thereof; logia Elenctica; Butler's Analogy; lending larger sums of money than Picteti Theologia Christiana; Stapour circumstances will bear, when feri Institutiones Theologia; Witthere is no prospect of payment; sius on the Covenants; Usher, Bosby being profuse and excessive in ton, Watson, Gill, and Ridgley's our expences; indulging unlawful Divinity; Doddridge's Lectures; pleasures, and thereby reducing Brotun's Compendium of Natural our families to poverty; or even, and Revealed Religion; and Rys on the other hand, by laying up an's Effect of Religion on Mana great deal for the time to come, kind. See also articles CHRISwhile our families are left to starve, TIANITY, RELIGION, REVELAor reduced to the greatest incon- TION, SCRIPTures. venience and distress.

THEODOSIANS. See AN

GELITES.

THEOLOGY signifies that science which treats of the being and attributes of God, his relations to us, the dispensations of his provi dence, his will with respect to our actions, and his purposes with respect to our end. The word was

THEOPASCHITES, a denomination, in the fifth century, who held that Christ had but one nature, which was the divine, and consequently that this divine nature suffered.

THEOPHILANTHROPISTS, a sect of deists, who, in September 1796, published at Paris a sort of catechism or directory for social

obey them with affection, comfort their old age. Fathers and mothers, instruct your children.Fifth inscription. Wives, regard your husbands, the chiefs of your houses. Husbands, love your wives, and render yourselves reciprocally happy.

worship, under the title of Mahuel des Theanthrophiles. This religious breviary found favour, the congregation became numerous; and in the second edition of their Manual they assumed the less harsh denomination of Theophilanthropists, i. e. lovers of God and man. According to them, From the concluding part of the temple the most worthy of the the Manual of the TheophilanDivinity is the universe. Aban-thropists, we may learn somedoned sometimes under the vault thing more of their sentiments. of heaven to the contemplation of " If any one ask you," say they, the beauties of nature, they ren- "what is the origin of your relider its Author the homage of ado- gion and of your worship, you ration and of gratitude. They ne- can answer him thus: Open the vertheless have temples erected by most ancient books which are the hands of men, in which it is known, seek there what was the more commodious for them to as- religion, what the worship, of semble, to hear lessons concerning the first human beings of which his wisdom. Certain moral in-history has preserved the rememscriptions; a simple altar, on brance. There you will see that which they deposite, as a sign of gratitude for the benefits of the Creator, such flowers or fruits as the seasons afford; a tribune for the lectures and discourses, form the whole of the ornaments of their temples.

The first inscription, placed above the altar, recals to remembrance the two religious dogmas which are the foundation of their

moral.

First inscription. We believe in the existence of God, in the immortality of the soul.-Second inscription. Worship God, cherish your kind, render yourselves useful to your country.-Third inscription. Good is every thing which tends to the preservation or the perfection of man. Evil is every thing which tends to destroy or deteriorate him. Fourth inscription. Children, honour your fathers and mothers;"

their religion was what we now call natural religion, because it has for its principle even the Author of nature. It is he that has engraven it in the heart of the first human beings, in ours, in that of all the inhabitants of the earth: this religion, which consists in worshipping God and cherishing our kind, is what we express by one single word, that of Theophilanthropy. Thus our religion is that of our first parents; it is yours; it is ours; it is the universal religion. As to our worship, it is also that of our first fathers. See even in the most ancient writings that the exterior signs by which they rendered their homage to the Creator were of great simplicity. They dressed for him an altar of earth; they offered him, in sign of their gratitude and of their submission, some of the productions which they held of his liberal hand.

success can be built.

THEOSOPHISTS, a sect who pretend to derive all their knowledge from divine illumination. They boast that, by means of this celestial light, they are not only ad

of God, and of all divine truth, but have access to the most sublime secrets of nature. They ascribe it to the singular manifestation of Divine benevolence that they are able to make such a use of the element of fire in the chemical art as enables them to discover the essential principles of bodies, and to disclose stupendous

The fathers exhorted their chil- our actions, and the only basis on dren to virtue; they all encou-which our hopes and prospects of raged one another, under the auspices of the Divinity, to the accomplishment of their duties. This simple worship the sages of all nations have not ceased to profess, and they have transmitted it down to us without interruption.mitted to the intimate knowledge "If they yet ask you of whom you hold your mission, answer, we hold it of God himself, who, in giving us two arms to aid our kind, has also given us intelligence to mutually enlighten us, and the love of good, to bring us together to virtue; of God, who has given experience and wisdom to the aged to guide the young, and authority to fathers to conduct their chil-mysteries in the physical world. dren. To this class, it is said, belonged "If they are not struck with the Paracelsus, R. Fludd, Van Helforce of these reasons, do not far-mont, Peter Poiret, and the Rother discuss the subject, and do sicrusians. not engage yourself in controver- THERAPEUTE, so called sies, which tend to diminish the from the extraordinary purity of love of our neighbours. Our their religious worship, were a Jewprinciples are the Eternal Truth; ish sect, who, with a kind of relithey will subsist, whatever indivi-gious frenzy, placed their whole feduals may support or attack them, licity in the contemplation of the and the efforts of the wicked will Divine nature. Detaching themnot even prevail against them.selves wholly from secular affairs, Rest firmly attached to them, without attacking or defending any religious system; and remember, that similar discussions have never produced good, and that they have often tinged the earth with the blood of men. Let us lay aside systems, and apply ourselves to doing good: it is the only road to happiness." So much for the divinity of the Theophilanthropists; a system entirely defective, because it wants the true foundation, the word of God; the grand rule of all

they transferred their property to their relations or friends, and withdrew into solitary places, where they devoted themselves to a holy life. The principal society of this kind was formed near Alexandria, where they lived, not far from each other, in separate cottages, each of which had its own sacred apartment, to which the inhabitant retired for the purposes of devotion. After their morning prayers, they spent the day in studying the law and the prophets,

continued till morning, when the assembly, after a morning prayer, in which their faces were directed towards the rising sun, was broken up. So abstemious were these ascetics, that they commonly ate nothing before the setting sun, and often fasted two or three days. They abstained from wine,andtheir ordinary food was bread and herbs.

endeavouring, by the help of the commentaries of their ancestors, to discover some allegorical meaning in every part. Besides this, they entertained themselves with composing sacred hymns in various kinds of metre. Six days of the week were, in this manner, passed in solitude. On the seventh day they met, clothed in a decent habit, in a public assem- Much dispute has arisen among bly; where, taking their places the learned concerning this sect. according to their age, they sat Some have imagined them to have with the right hand between the been Judaizing Gentiles; but Phibreast and the chin, and the left lo supposes them to be Jews, by at the side. Then some one of speaking of them as a branch of the elders, stepping forth into the the sect of Essenes, and expressly middle of the assembly,discoursed, classes them among the followers with a grave countenance and a of Moses. Others have maincalm tone of voice, on the doc- tained, that the Therapeuta were trines of the sect; the audience, an Alexandrian sect of Jewish in the mean time, remaining in converts to the Christian faith, perfect silence, and occasionally who devoted themselves to a moexpressing their attention and ap-nastic life. But this is impossible; probation by a nod. The chapel where they met was divided into two apartments; one for the men, and the other for the women. So strict a regard was paid to silence in these assemblies, that no one was permitted to whisper, nor even to breathe aloud; but when the discourse was finished, if the question which had been proposed for solution had been treated to the satisfaction of the audience, they expressed their approbation by a murmur of applause. Then the speaker, rising, sung a hymn of praise to God; in the last verse of which the whole assembly joined. On great festivals, the meeting was closed with a vigil, in which sacred music was perform ed, accompanied with solemn dancing; and these vigils were

for Philo, who wrote before Christianity appeared in Egypt, speaks of this as an established sect. From comparing Philo's account of this sect with the state of philosophy in the country where it flourished, it seems likely that the Therapeute were a body of Jewish fanatics, who suffered themselves to be drawn aside from the simplicity of their ancient religion by the example of the Egyptians and Pythagoreans. How long this sect continued is uncertain; but it is not improbable that, after the appearance of Christianity in Egypt, it soon became extinct.

THOUGHT, an image of any thing formed in the mind; sentiment, reflection, opinion, design. As the thoughts are the prime movers of the conduct; as in the

p. 239.

TIARA, the name of the pope's triple crown. The tiara and keys are the badges of the papal dignity; the tiara of his civil rank, and the keys of his jurisdiction; for as soon as the pope is dead,

sight of the Divine Being they || Thoughts. See his Works, vol. iii, bear the character of good or evil; and as they are therefore cognizable at his tribunal, the moral regulation of them is of the greatest importance. It is of consequence to enquire what thoughts ought to be rejected, and what to be indulged. Those of an evil na-his arms are represented with the ture which ought to be banished are, tiara alone, without the keys. The 1. Fretful and discontented ancient tiara was a round high cap. thoughts.-2. Anxious and ap- John XXIII first encompassed it prehensive thoughts.-3. Angry with a crown. Boniface VIII adand wrathful thoughts.-4. Ma-ded a second crown; and Benedict lignant and revengeful thoughts. XII a third.

TIME,a mode of duration marked by certain periods, chiefly by the motion and revolution of the sun. The general idea which time gives in every thing to which it is applied is that of limited duration. Thus we cannot say of the Deity that he exists in time, because eternity, which he inhabits, is ab

5. Such as are folly, trifling, and unreasonable.-6. Wild and extravagant, vain and, fantastical. -7. Romantic and chimerical. -8. Impure and lascivious.-9. Gloomy and melancholy.-10. Hasty and volatile.-11. Profane and blasphemous. The thoughts we ought to indulge, are those which give the mind a rational or re-solutely uniform, neither admitligious pleasure; tend to improve ting limitation nor succession. the understanding; raise the affec- Time is said to be redeemed or tions to divine objects; to promote improved when it is properly filled the welfare of our fellow creatures, up or employed in the conscienand withal the Divine glory. To tious discharge of all the duties bring the mind into a habit of think-which devolve upon us, as it reing as we ought to think, there spects the Divine Being, ourselves, should be a constant dependance and our fellow creatures. on and imploring of divine grace; may be said to be lost when it is an increasing acquaintance with not devoted to some good, useful, the sacred scriptures; an improve- or at least some innocent purment of every opportunity of pose; or when opportunities of serious conversation; a constant improvement, business, or devoobservance of the works of God in tion, are neglected. Time is creation, providence and grace; wasted by excessive sleep, unneand, lastly, a deep sense of the rea-cessary recreations, indolent halities of an eternal world as re- bits, useless visits, idle reading, vealed in the word of God. Ma- vain conversation, and all those son on Self-knowledge; Watts on actions which have no good end the Mind; Goodwin's Vanity of in them. We ought to improve

Time

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