but esteem unanimity to be absolutely necessary, whenever a member, or members differ from the rest, he or they must give up the point, or be excluded. In their families, it is said, there is but little social worship: for conceiving it unlawful to join in prayer with one who is not a brother or sister, and finding no express piecept or precedent in the scriptures for family prayer, that which by other christians is held sacred as a part of moral obligation, is by them very commonly disregarded.*] SATANIANS; so called because they taught that Satan, or the devil, was extremely powerful; that he occasioned infinite mischiefs; and that it was much wiser to respect and adore than to curse him; this being a mean to render him favourable to men, instead of injuring them. The Satanians were a branch of the Messalians, and appeared about the year 390. They pretended they were the only true observers of the gospel. They possessed no goods, lived by begging, and lay together promiscuously, on the pavement of the streets. When any one asked concerning their quality, they would call themselves patriarchs, prophets, angels, and even Jesus Christ.t SATURNIANS, a denomination which arose about the year 115. They derived their name from Saturnius of Antioch, one of the principal Gnostic chiefs. He held the doctrine of two principles, whence proceeded all things; the one a wise and benevolent Deity, and the other matter, a principle essentially evil, and which he supposed under the superintendence of a certain intelligence of a malignant nature. The world and its inhabitants were, according to the system of Saturnius, created by seven angels, which presided over the seven planets. This work was carried on without the knowledge of the benevolent Deity, and in opposition to the will of the material principle. The former, however, beheld it with approbation, and honoured it with several marks of his beneficence. He endowed with rational souls the beings who inhabited this new system, to whom their creators had im [* Glas's Testimony of the King of Martyrs. Sandeman's Letters On Theron and Aspasio, letter ii. Backus's Discourse on Faith and its Influ ence, pp. 7-30. Bellamy's Nature and Glory of the Gospel, London edition see the Notes, pp, 65-125.] t Broughton's Historical Library, vol. i. p. 369. parted nothing more than the animal life: and having divided the world into seven parts, he distributed them among the seven angelic architects, one of whom was the God of the jews, and reserved to himself the supreme empire over all. To these creatures, whom the benevolent principle had endowed with reasonable souls, and with dispositions that led to goodness and virtue, the evil being, to maintain his empire, added another kind, whom be formed of a wicked and malignant character; and hence the difference we see among men. When the creatures of the world fell from their allegiance to the supreme Deity, God sent from heaven into our globe a restorer of order, whose name was Christ. This divine conqueror came, clothed with a corporeal appearance, but not with a real body. He came to destroy the empire of the material principle, and to point out to virtuous souls the way by which they must return to God. This way is beset with difficulties and sufferings; since those souls who propose returning to the supreme Being must abstain from wine, flesh, wedlock, and, in short, from every thing that tends to sensual gratification, or even bodily refreshment.* See Gnostics. SCHEWENKFELDIANS, a denomination in the six. teenth century; so called from one Gasper Schewenkfeldt, a Silesian knight. He differed from Luther in the three following points. The first of these points related to the doctrine concerning the eucharist. Schewenkfeldt inverted the following words of Christ: this is my body; and insisted on their being thus understood: my body is this, i. e. such as this bread, which is broken and consumed; a true and real food, which nourisheth, satisfieth, and delighteth the soul. My blood is this; i. e. such its effects, as the wine which strengthens and refresheth the heart.Secondly: He denied that the external word, which is committed to writing in the holy scriptures, was endowed with the power of healing, illuminating, and renewing the mind: and he ascribed this power to the internal word, which, according to his notion, was Christ himself.-Thirdly: He would not allow Christ's human nature, in its exalted state, to be called a creature, or a created substance; as such a denomination appeared to him infinitely below its Mosheim, vol. i. pp. 176, 177, SECEDERS, a numerous body of Presbyterians in Scotland, who adhere to the doctrine and discipline of their ancestors, and maintain the binding obligation of the Scotch covenant, and of the solemn league and covenant of the three nations. They always have declared that they did not secede from the principles of the church of Scotland as they are represented in her confession of faith, catechisms longer and shorter, directory for worship, and form of presbyterian government; but only from her present judicatories, who, they suppose, are departing from her true principles. A sermon preached by Mr. Ebenezer Erskine, minister of Stirling, at the opening of the synod of Perth and Stirling, gave rise to this party. In this discourse he boldly testified against what he supposed corruptions in the national church; for which freedom the synod voted him censurable, and ordered him to be rebuked at their bar. He and three other ministers protested against this sentence, and appealed to the next assembly. The assembly approved of the proceedings of the synod, and ordered Mr. Erskine to be rebuked at their bar. He refused to submit to the rebuke. Hence he and his brethren were suspended from the ministry, after which they seceded from the national church. They were joined by others: and the ministers and their elders who declared their secession from the national church, did in 1736 constitute themselves into an ecclesiastical court, which they called the Associate Presbytery. In 1745, the seceding ministers were become so numerous, that they were erected into three different presbyteries under one synod. In 1747, through a difference in civil matters, they were divided into burghers and antiburghers. Of these two classes the latter are the most rigid in their sentiments, and associate therefore the least with any other body of christians.§ Those who desire to see a very particular account of * Mosheim, vol. iv. p. 32. The national covenant in Scotland is an engagement which was entered into by all ranks of persons soon after the reformation. The solemn league and covenant is an oath which in 1643 was sworn to by persons of all ranks in the three kingdoms. It was intended to bring about an uniformity in doctrine, discipline, and worship. § Marshal's Catechism. Evan's Sketch, p. 78, this society, may consult the Encyclopædia, vol. xvii. p. 225. SECUNDIANS, a denomination in the second century which derived their name from Secundus, a disciple of Valentine. He maintained the doctrine of two eternal principles; viz. light and darkness, whence arose the good and evil that are observable in the universe.* See Valentinians. SEEKERS, a denomination which arose in the year 1645. They derived their name from their maintaining that the true church, ministry, scripture, and ordinances, were lost, for which they were seeking. They taught that the scriptures were uncertain-that present miracles were necessary to faiththat our ministry is without authority-and that our worship and ordinances are unnecessary, or vain.† SELEUCIANS, disciples of Seleucus, a philosopher of Galatia, who about the year 380 adopted the sentiments of Hermogenes, and those of Audæus. He taught, with the Valentinians, that Jesus Christ assumed a body only in appearance. He also maintained that the world was not made by God, but was co-eternal with him-that the soul was only an animated fire, created by the angels-that Christ does not sit at the right-hand of the Father in a human body; but that he lodged his body in the sun, according to Psal. xix. 4-and that the pleasures of beatitude consisted in corporeal delights. See Hermogenians, Audæans, and Valentinians. SEMBIANI, so called from Sembianus their leader, who condemned all use of wine as evil of itself. He persuaded his followers that wine was a production of Satan and the earth, denied the resurrection of the body, and rejected most of the books of the old testament.§ SEMI-ARIANS, so called because they held the opinions of the Arians in part. For a farther account of their sentiments, see Arians. શ SEMI-PELAGIANS, branch of the Pelagians in the fifth century. The monk Cassian was the leader of this denomination. In order to accommodate the difference between Augustin and Pelagius, he maintained the following doctrines :-(1.) That * Mosheim, vol. i. p. 188. + Calamy's Abridgement of Baxter's History, vol. i. p. 110. Broughton, vol. ii. p. 559. Augustine de Hereses. History of Religion, vol. iv. Broughton, vol. ii. p. 382. God did not dispense his grace to one more than to another, in consequence of predestication, i. e. an eternal and absolute decree; but was willing tó save all men, if they complied with the terms of his gospel.--(2.) That Christ died for all men.-(3.) That the grace purchased by Christ, and necessary to salvation, was offered to all men.-(4.) That man, before he received grace, was capable of faith and holy desires. (5.) That man, born free, was consequently capable of resisting the influences of grace, or complying with its suggestions. The Pelagians, and SemiPelagians differ in this respect: the Pelagians assert that there is no necessity for inward grace; but the Semi-Pelagians maintain that none can advance in virtue without the assistance of divine grace, though they subject this inward grace to the freedom of the will.* See Pelagians. SERVERIANS, a denomination in the second century; so called from Serverus, who taught that the world was made by principalities and powers; that the devil is the son of the great prince of the principalities. They said the serpent that proceeded from * Mosheim, vol. i. p. 426. ↑ Broughton, vol. ij. p. 540. him produced the vine, and therefore abstained from wine. They forbade marriage, and denied the resurrection. They rejected Paul's epistles, the Acts of the Apostles, and the old testament.+ SERVERITES. See An gelites. SERVETIANS, a name which in the sixteenth century distinguished the followers of Michael Servetus, a Spaniard by birth. He taught, that the Deity before the creation of the world, had produced within himself two personal representations, or manners of existence, which were to be the medium of intercourse between him and mortals, and by whom consequently he was to reveal his will, and display his mercy and beneficence to the children of men-that these two representatives were the Word and the holy Ghost-that the former was united to the man Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary by an omnipotent act of the divine will; and that on this account Christ might be properly called God-that the holy Spirit directed the course, and animated the whole system of nature; and more especially produced in the minds of men Stackhouse's Body of Divinity, p. 150. Hearne's Ductor Historicus, vol. ii, p. 101. Augustine de Hereses, |