surely, we say, these truths present a space large enough on which Christians may meet. We may respect the honest convictions of each other as it regards the mode of confessing the faith of Christ, and yet, as we think, unite cordially on the simple principle of the faith itself. At present, indeed, there is a remarkable calm amongst the churches we refer to, on long-controverted questions. Ought not this period of peace to be taken advantage of by the persons whose position enables them to influence the several parties with whom they are connected, to take at least some preliminary steps towards an avowed fellowship of churches? Providence, we find, often affords to his people, in the most critical circumstances, the merciful opportunity of escaping from the snares and dangers which are impending. For aught we know, this is one of those seasons. The times are certainly ominous of mighty changes. The principles now so widely fermenting in general society, in connexion with religion, cannot possibly have an existence but they must produce some great and important results for good or for evil; and most likely the decree of God will turn, not so much on the wild and blinded machinations of men who know him not, as on the part taken by his real church. We refer to the decisions of the Deity as the Governor of the world, and especially of his church, with awe and dread; but with the full persuasion that his broad seal, either in wrath or mercy, must settle our controversies and fix our state. He looks to his true followers; and if we consider the numerous injunctions and warnings of our Saviour and his Apostles, we must be convinced, that love amongst brethren is one of those states of the church which is most pleasing to him, as well as most influential of good amongst men.

It must be perceived by every observant mind, that the two elements, the anti-evangelical and the evangelical, are coming into closer and fiercer collision. The former class are stripping themselves of the forms and formularies of Protestantism, and are approximating nearer and nearer to Popery; Statesmen by a civil process, and Priests by an ecclesiastical one; but the result is the same. The old land-marks are being thrown down; the lines of demarcation are being obliterated; the peculiar truths of the Protestant faith are being merged in the general mass of dogmas found in the pretended Catholic Church; new names are devised, as Anglican-Catholics, as if to prepare the way to merge the national religion in Roman Catholicism; the symbols of a sacerdotal system are being set up as the external embodiment of anti-Protestant principles; and all the appliances of the press, the pulpit, the parochial system, and, as far as the thing can be adventured upon, the Senate, are put in requisition to beat down the Protestant profession. The evangelical churches have a great and onerous task to perform. On them the destinies of this country and of the world must mainly depend. There is a mind, a soul, a heart in every country which fashions its moral as well as political state; and religion forms that spiritual life. If the heart of England become black and callous by the infusion of the errors which are abroad, its external state must agree to this, and the malediction of God resting on the greatest Protestant nation in the world, it will become apostate. Let every Christian and religious society lay this to heart. That which is divine is indestructible, when faithfully held: evangelical truth is thus divine; and if sacredly guarded by good men, it will not only conserve the churches of Christ in their integrity, freedom, life, and power, but will roll back the streams of trial and opposition, now so fiercely assailing them, as the surges of the ocean are repelled by the rock which girds its towering coast. March 25th, 1845.

PHILEMON.

THE EARLY AFRICAN CHURCHES.*

A HISTORY of the early African churches is yet a desideratum in literature. It seems strange that so little interest is felt for a portion of the globe where Christianity achieved some of its first and proudest conquests, and secured many of the noblest testimonies to its truth and power which were supplied in any region where the banner of the cross has been unfurled. The voice of Africa has been for centuries silent amid the Christian communities of the earth, her candlestick removed, her light extinguished; but there was a period, and that for centuries, when Northern Africa occupied no subordinate station in ecclesiastical rank; when, from her episcopal thrones and councils, she issued her decrees in all the dignity of conscious authority, and enforced them with a power which she knew could not be disputed. Twelve centuries of darkness and degradation intervene between that period and the present; and little, save the name of Christian, exists to direct the researches of the historian, or rescue the account which has been transmitted to us of numerous and flourishing churches in that now sterile region, from the suspicion of fable or

romance.

Several parts of Africa, besides Egypt, are referred to in the holy Scrip tures. Ethiopia, or Abyssinia, is frequently mentioned. Its conversion to God is predicted, (Psalm lxviii. 31,) and the prophecy may date its fulfilment from the baptism of the officer under Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, by Philip the Deacon, recorded Acts viii. 27. The Libyans are joined with them in a prophecy of Daniel, (Dan. xi. 43,) and some of the inhabitants of Libya are mentioned as being present at the effusion of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost. (Acts ii. 10.) Here, also, Cyrene is introduced as neighbouring on Libya. Simon, who was compelled to bear our Lord's cross, was a native of this part of Africa. (Matt. xxviii. 32.) Natives of Cyrene are also spoken of, Acts xi. 20; xiii. 1. Alexandria gave birth to Apollos, “an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures ;" (Acts xviii. 24;) and in a ship belonging to this renowned city, Paul sailed into Italy. (Acts xxvii. 6.)

Africa being a province of Rome, it was natural that the Christian religion should be carried thither; and accordingly we find that in the second century it abounded with Christians,† though of the manner in which the Gospel was introduced there, we have no certain account. Eusebius and Jerome allege that St. Mark the Evangelist was the first founder of a congregation at Alexandria, and he is accordingly called the first Bishop of

"Missions in Western Africa, among the Soosoos, Bulloms, &c.: being the first undertaken by the Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East. With an Introduction, containing,-I. A Sketch of Western Africa, with a Description of the principal Tribes inhabiting that Coast; II. A brief History of the Slave-Trade, to the present Day; III. Some Account of the early African Churches; IV. A condensed Survey of all the Missionary Exertions of modern Times, in favour of Africa. By the Rev. Samuel Abraham Walker, A.M., Rector of Gallo, Meath." 8vo. Curry, jun., and Co., Dublin.

+ Eusebius names the Bishops in regular succession from St. Mark; as Annianus, who succeeded the Apostle and Evangelist, in the eighth year of the reign of Nero; Avilius, who succeeded Annianus, in the fourth year of Domitian; after him Cerdon, in the first year of Trajan; then Primus, in the twelfth of Trajan, Marcus, Celadin, Agrippinus, Julian, Clement, &c.

that see. % The Ethiopian eunuch baptized by Philip is said to have preached Christ to his countrymen on his return; but Frumentius is named as the Apostle and first Bishop of the Axumi, or Axumitæ,† as by this name the Abyssinians are called. It happened that he, when a boy, accompanied Meropius, a Syrian philosopher, who desired to explore the country of Abyssinia. Meropius was murdered by the natives; but Frumentius, together with another youth, Edesius, who also accompanied Meropius, were presented to the King, who took them under his patronage. On the King's death, Frumentius was made Prime Minister. He collected a congregation of Christians, for whom he built a church; and some time after, having obtained permission to return home, he related his adventures to Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, with a request that he would send out a faithful Missionary to improve the opportunity afforded for the propagation of the Gospel. After some deliberation Athanasius fixed on Frumentius himself, as the first Bishop of the Abyssinian church, and in that character he returned to the land of his adoption.

That the light of the Gospel had reached the famous city of Carthage, in the latter part of the second century, we are informed by the history of Tertullian, the first Latin writer of the church, whose works have come down to us, and who flourished at that period. He was educated for the law; but afterwards, on his conversion to Christianity, became a Presbyter of the church of Carthage. His history and writings are calculated to disappoint the Christian antiquarian, who expects that the current of Christian doctrine will be found most pure the nearer he approaches its source; for here we have, within two hundred years after our Lord's departure from earth, a distinguished ecclesiastic and religious writer becoming the dupe of a silly, extravagant man, named Montanus, who announced himself as the Paraclete or Comforter promised by Christ to his disciples, and who imposed the grossest superstitions and austerities upon his followers. The writings of Tertullian, which are praised for their eloquence, exhibited little of the clearness of Gospel truth, and little of the freeness of Gospel privileges. He seems generally correct in the fundamental doctrines of the Bible; but in his strictures on Christian practice he is morose and severe; and should we judge of the teaching in the church at Carthage in his day, from his writings, we should consider it little calculated to win souls to Christ. "There was, indeed," says a well-known historian, "such a mixture in the qualities of this man, that it is difficult to fix his real character, and to determine which of the two were predominant, his virtues or his defects. He was endowed with a great genius, but seemed deficient in point of judgment. His piety was warm and vigorous, but at the same time melancholy and austere. His learning was extensive and profound; and yet his credulity and superstition were such as might have been expected from the darkest ignorance: and with respect to his reasonings, they had more of the subtlety that dazzles the imagination, than of the solidity which brings light and conviction to the mind." His name, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, indicates that he was descended

* Gibbon asserts, on the authority of the Donatists, confirmed, he says, by Augustine, that Africa was the last of the Roman provinces that received the Gospel.

+ From Axim, the ancient capital of Abyssinia, said to have been built in the days of Abraham. In the second century it was a flourishing city, but Bruce found

it in ruins.

+ Mosheim.

from illustrious ancestors, and as he acknowledges himself, previous to his conversion, he, like St. Paul, was a deadly persecutor of the disciples of Jesus.

Tertullian wrote an Apology for the Christians, which has been much and justly admired. One or two passages from this work will give pleasure:-"We," he says, meaning the Christians, "pray for the safety of the Emperors to God, even to the true, the living God, whose favour the Emperors themselves prefer to that of others who are called gods. We look up to heaven with outstretched hands, because they are harmless; with naked heads, because we are not ashamed; without a prompter, because we pray from the heart. We earnestly request, for all Emperors, a long life, a secure empire, a safe palace, strong armies, a faithful senate, a well-moralized people, a quiet state of the world, and whatever else they would wish for, either in their public or private capacity. These blessings we cannot solicit from any other than from Him, from whom we know we shall obtain them, because He alone can grant them; and we are they who may expect them of Him, being his servants who worship him alone, and are ready to lose our life in his service. Whilst our hands are thus stretched out in prayer, let your tormenting irons harrow our flesh; let crosses suspend us; let fires consume us; let swords pierce our hearts: a PRAYING CHRISTIAN IS IN A FRAME FOR ENDURING ANYTHING." The practice and the spirit here exhibited are well worthy of imitation.

66

His testimony to the rapid spread of the Gospel in his day is valuable. "Were we disposed," he says, in another place, " to act the part, I will not say, of secret assassins, but of open enemies, should we want forces or numbers? Are we not dispersed through the world? It is true we are but of yesterday, and yet we have filled all your towns, cities, islands, castles, boroughs, councils, camps, courts, palaces, senate, forum. We leave you only your temples." After a few more remarks, he proceeds :"Nothing is more foreign to us than political concerns. The whole world is our republic. We are a body united in one bond of religion, discipline, and hope. We meet in our assemblies as those who are about to storm heaven with the fervour of our devotions; a violence acceptable to God. We assemble also to have recourse to the divine oracles for caution and recollection on all occasions. By the word of God, we nourish our faith, erect our hope, and confirm our confidence; and we strengthen our discipline by repeatedly inculcating precepts, exhortations, corrections." After alluding to the practice recommended by the Apostle, of "contributing to the necessity of saints," he adds, "This very charity of ours has caused us to be noticed by some: 'See,' say they, 'how these Christians love one another.""

It were well if all the writings of Tertullian, and they were numerous, breathed such a spirit as this; but in some of them there is much superstition, bitter asperity, and a slavish reliance on bodily exercises, for acceptance with God: severe to himself, he can find no excuse for the infirmities of others; and, under an unscriptural view of Christian perfection, exacts from professors a discipline and practice foreign to the religion of Jesus, and the least calculated to secure the object in view. Tertullian died about the middle of the third century, having lived, according to Jerome, to a very advanced age.

That Numidia also extensively embraced the religion of the cross, we collect from the fact, that early in the fourth century, the occasion of an election to the see of Carthage, without the presence and sanction of the

Numidian Bishops,—a breach of respect which had never before occurred, -originated the celebrated Donatist schism which, for more than a century, convulsed the church, and embroiled even the state in its insatiable rancour. The Numidian Bishops, to the number of seventy, assembled, and deposed the Prelate who had been elected, and chose another in his stead. Of this schism we shall have occasion to speak presently. It is now alluded to for the purpose of showing how widely the Gospel had been disseminated in the country over which these Prelates presided.

We may here just mention, as a proof that it is not because reconciliation was not offered, that the curse pronounced by Noah abides upon the land of Ham; that for four or five centuries Northern Africa abounded with churches and the sees of Bishops. At the first Council of Alexandria, a.d. 322, assembled to condemn the fatal doctrines of Arius, there were present nearly one hundred Bishops. At the conference between the Donatists and the Catholics, on the 1st of June, 411, the Donatist Bishops amounted to two hundred and seventy-nine, and those of the Catholic party, to two hundred and eighty-six.* At the Council of Carthage, convened in A.D. 417, to oppose Pelagius and Celestius, no fewer than two hundred and fourteen African Prelates assembled; and when Genseric, King of the Vandals, wrested Africa from the Romans, he banished three hundred Bishops, by one act of tyranny, from their sees; and, notwithstanding the removal of so many, Genseric's son and successor, the brutal Huneric, was afterwards able to assemble four hundred and sixty-six orthodox Bishops at Carthage, three hundred and seventy-six of whom were likewise exiled from their flocks. It is true that Gibbon speaks somewhat disparagingly of these Bishops, alleging that they were appointed to the most inconsiderable towns and obscure villages; but we shall be in no danger of imbibing the spirit of this derogatory statement, if we remember that there were also Presbyters and Deacons in the African churches, as we have seen, in the case of Tertullian, who was only a Presbyter of Carthage, and as we shall further see as we proceed; and that, therefore, as each Bishop must have had a number of the inferior Clergy under him, their sees must have been somewhat more considerable than he would insinuate.

While on this subject we shall here quote Dupin, the erudite French historian, who, after having given an account of the African Councils and their acts, says :

"The reflections which may be made on the Councils of Africa, of which we have just now spoken, are these :-First, that there were in Africa a great number of Bishops. Secondly, that the title of Metropolitan in Africa was not, as in other places, affixed to the Bishop of the civil metropolis, but to the antiquity of the bishopric. Thirdly, that the Bishop of Carthage had much authority over all Africa; that he enjoyed great jurisdictions and prerogatives; in a word, that he was, as it were, the Exarch or Patriarch of all Africa. Fourthly, that Synods were very often held in Africa; and they were distinguished into two sorts: one provincial, the other national or general, which were commonly held at Carthage, where the Bishops deputed from the provinces assembled under the authority of

* The Donatists asserted that the entire number of their Bishops was four hundred. The Catholics had one hundred and twenty-one of their Bishops absent on this occasion, besides sixty-four vacant bishoprics. This would make the entire number of African Prelates, in the beginning of the fifth century, eight hundred and seventy-one. Dupin, however, reckons only six hundred and ninety in the most prosperous times.