Nicolaitans

“ Salmon, in his article Nicolaitans, in the Dict. of Christ. Biog., states, as I think, quite correctly, that “there really is no trustworthy evidence of the continuance of a sect so called after the death of the apostle John”; and in this he is in agreement with many modern scholars. An examination of extant accounts of this sect seems to show that nothing more was known of the Nicolaitans by any of the Fathers than what is told in the Apocalypse. ”

“ The rite of circumcision, I say, was binding on all the descendants of Abraham through Isaac for all time even to the end of the world; but the whole law of Moses was binding on the Jewish Christians till the heaven and the earth — that is, the Jewish priesthood and the state — had passed away in the destruction of the temple and city; and the Apostles observed every tittle of the Law.
Ib.
s. vi. p. 460.
The heresy of the Nicolaitans.
Heresy is not a proper term for a plainly anti-Christian sect. Nicolaitans is the literal Greek translation of Balaamites; destroyers of the people. ”

“ To move the “candlestick out of its place” is a threatening of extinction to the particular church unless it repent. Those “who call themselves apostles and they are not”, were probably well known pretenders of the closing part of the first century. The Nicolaitans here condemned, were an early obscure sect concerning which little is known, but who are reputed to have been libertines and seem to have denied the obligation of the moral law. ”

“ Clement of Alexandria, in the passage quoted just below, gives us quite a different account of the character of Nicolas; and as he is a more reliable writer than the ones above quoted, and as his statement explains excellently the appeal of the sect to Nicolas’ authority, without impeaching his character, which certainly his position among the Seven would lead us to expect was good, and good enough to warrant permanence, we feel safe in accepting his account as the true one, and denying that Nicolas himself bore the character which marked the sect of the Nicolaitans ”

“ While the Jesuits in France and in England, where the monarch was adverse to them, not only propounded the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people, but taught that every individual had a right to murder the king if he were disliked by the nation or accursed by the Pope—in Poland, Sweden, and Germany, where the population was adverse and the sovereign friendly to them, they inculcated the contrary [195] doctrine, and did not scruple to enforce it by the most cruel and violent proceedings. ”

“ The Nicolaitanes are the followers of that Nicolas who was one of the seven first ordained to the diaconate by the apostles. [302] They lead lives of unrestrained indulgence. The character of these men is very plainly pointed out in the Apocalypse of John, [when they are represented] as teaching that it is a matter of indifference to practise adultery, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. Wherefore the Word has also spoken of them thus: “But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.” [303]
Chapter XXVII.—Doctrines of Cerdo and Marcion. ”

“ The extirpation of heresy is their principal occupation, the work which renders them meritorious in the eyes of Rome. Deprive the Jesuits of the vocation of annoying, persecuting, or converting heretics, and they become the most insignificant of all corporations, having no end whatever. Every monastic order is distinguished by a peculiar character. Plots and machinations against Protestants, and against all civil and religious freedom, are the characteristics of the Jesuits. ”

“ May God have thee in His holy keeping, child with the forget-me-not eyes. May He give thee a long, happy and useful life, with thy good father and brother, in the new home whither it is my pleasure that you move in the spring. And since, my little maid, thy faith in One above is so strong, and thy vision of the right is so clear, pray sometimes for him who to thee is known only as General Nicolai, but who here, in his own city, is thy friend at Court,—
"NICOLAI 1st, Emperor of all the Russias." ”

“ In Ecclesiastical story, Nicæa will ever be memorable as the site where assembled, in A.D. 325, the grand body of bishops, so well known as the Council of Nice, to condemn the Arian heresy. Our own Church is believed to owe to it its most valuable “Nicene” Creed. Coins of Nicæa abound even as late as the time of Gallienus.
Nicomedeia, as the name implies, the chief residence of the Bithynian kings of the name of Nicomedes, was a large and flourishing city, and, as may be gathered from the letters of Pliny to Trajan, long continued so ”

“ One is amazed when he considers what immense power these congregations must have given the General of the society. His orders, his curses or commendations of a book, of a man, or of a measure, were repeated in the same tone throughout all the world by tens of thousands, who considered it a sin to disbelieve his word, or to disobey his commands. No wonder, then, that the Court of Rome itself was obliged to submit to the ascendancy of the Jesuits, and that the suppression of the order was with difficulty effected by the united efforts of almost all the sovereigns of Europe. ”

“ See the arrogance of the Court of Rome! Behold the almost uninterrupted state of rebellion in which the priests keep the fanatic Papists of Ireland, and be sure that such would not be the case if you had not Jesuits among them. All our life long we have fought for equality of rights, for civil and religious liberty, and we would not preach intolerance now. We should like to see no difference whatever in respect of civil rights and privileges between Roman Catholic laymen and Protestants ”

“ The superstition and bigotry of that part of the peninsula exclusively under the sway of the Jesuits is almost incredible; and the government, conducted on those principles, has reached the highest point of immorality and corruption, and is held up by every honest person, no matter of what party, to the execration and contempt of Europe; while, to leave no doubt as to the influence which predominates there, the Pope, the Jesuits, and the priests, their abettors, represent Ferdinand II. as a model of Christian perfection, and the kingdom of the two Sicilies as the best governed in the world ”

“ A Jesuit, when known, is as little dangerous as a robber who should give you intimation of his intention to steal your property. Should they present themselves boldly and frankly, and say: “Here we are—we, the Jesuits, the most determined adversaries of the Protestant faith, the most strenuous supporters of the Court of Rome. Renounce your religion, burn your Bible, tear your Thirty-nine Articles, and embrace the doctrine of Rome, which is the only true one ”

“ Still more famous—and still more apocryphal, at least in his attendance at Nicæa—is Nicolas, bishop of Myra. Not mentioned by a single ancient historian, he yet figures in the traditional pictures of the council as the foremost figure of all. Type as he is of universal benevolence to sailors, to thieves, to the victims of thieves, to children—known by his broad red face and flowing white hair—the traditions of the East always represent him as standing in the midst of the assembly, and suddenly roused by righteous indignation to assail the heretic Arius with a tremendous box on the ear. ”

“ Perhaps we are not far from the truth when we assert that the Jesuits adopted a more humane and Christian policy, as well for their private purpose, as to set themselves in opposition to other religious communities. Because, it is a remarkable fact in the history of the Church of Rome, that while every other brotherhood has both friends and foes in the other bodies, the Jesuits alone have none but enemies. ”

“ In France and in Navarre the new doctrines found many warm adherents; whilst in Italy itself, at Brescia, Pisa, Florence, nay, even at Rome and at Faenza, there were many who more or less openly embraced the principles of the Reformation. Thus, in a short time, the Roman religion—founded [9] in ancient and deep-rooted prejudices—supported by the two greatest powers in the world, the Pope and the Emperor—defended by all the bishops and priests, who lived luxuriously by it—was overturned throughout a great part of Europe. ”

“ It is true that he did not declare he was a Jesuit; but it is surely possible to be a Catholic without being a Jesuit. It is more than likely that the school was [121] a sort of union seminary, which was striving to arrive at conciliation, for, according to the king, what kept the two sections apart was merely a matter of ecclesiastical usage. Finally, the Confession of Augsburg was not admitted in Sweden as the religion of the State until 1593. Had Nicolai advocated Luther's doctrines either in the pulpit or the professor's chair, he would have been instantaneously expelled from the Society. ”

“ Although, as we have already reported, we were witness of the fact that those who, during the late commotion in Rome, proposed the most energetic and revolutionary measures, were, in the end, discovered to be the agents or the tools of the Jesuits, nevertheless we would not like to affirm that the political murders committed at Sinigallia were due to the perfidious instigation of the priests. We do not like to believe in the reality of such hellish perfidy; yet why had Sinigallia and Ancona the sad preference of seeing their streets stained with fraternal blood? ”

“ Very few people are recorded in history to have fought as we Romans lately did. But I doubt much that we would have so fought even for the same prize—liberty and independence—in the name of prince or king, or any title in Christendom, or, indeed, in any name except that of the republic, and it may be that of an emperor. [363] Joseph, although a Roman Catholic, and anxious to respect the scruples of his mother, Maria Theresa, was a philosopher, meditating already part of those reforms he shortly after effected ”

“ But, it may fairly be asked, are monks, and especially Jesuits, really English citizens, in the strictest sense of the word? Do they recognise Queen Victoria as their legitimate sovereign? Are they prepared to yield a loyal obedience to the laws of the land? To all [v] these questions I answer, No! Even when born in England, they do not consider themselves Englishmen. They claim the privileges which the name confers, but will not accept the obligations it imposes. Their country is Rome; their sovereign the Pope; their laws the commands of their General. England they consider an accursed land ”

“ Thou canst not be long under the yoke of the priests!
But our valour availed us nothing. Left alone, we could stand no longer. Four nations were leagued against us, and not a friendly hand was stretched forth to succour us. England must reproach herself for having left us to contend, unaided and alone, against four Catholic powers, combined together to re-establish the Pope, who is as much her enemy as ours. ”

“ What the great Council of Nicæa had attempted in vain, the Bishops assembled in the presence of Hildebrand accomplished, at his instance, at once, effectually, and for ever. Lamentable indeed were the complaints, bitter the reproaches, of the sufferers. Were the most sacred ties thus to be torn asunder at the ruthless bidding of an Italian priest? Were men to become angels, or were angels to be brought down from heaven to minister among men? Eloquence was never more pathetic, more just, or more unavailing. ”

“ No! in their view, every one who is not a Roman Catholic is an accursed heretic, condemned already, and, if he die in this condition, doomed to everlasting damnation. They are not content to be received to the rights of citizenship on terms of equality—they aspire to domination. What rights and privileges can they reasonably claim from persons towards whom they cherish such sentiments? Surely those Papists who would maintain their religion by persecution and tyranny, ought to be thankful, if they are suffered to live at peace and unmolested, in a Protestant country. ”

“ These infamous and abandoned men accused the Jesuits, the Pope, the Kings of France and Spain, many English noblemen, and some scores of thousands of the English citizens, of a plot so [293] absurd, as to make, in our days, every one ashamed of repeating it. And yet the generality of the common people, and the greater part of the higher classes, at the time believed in its reality. Nothing else was talked of, and all the cares of the government, the activity of the parliament, and the energy of the citizens, were exerted to protect the nation from an imaginary impending ruin. ”

“ He was an Iconoclast, and endeavoured both by artifices and open violence to establish that heresy. His first endeavour, however, was, by crafty suggestions, to gain over the holy patriarch to favour his design of destroying the sacred pictures and images which had resumed their places in the churches and streets, after the second council of Nicæa had sanctioned their use. But S. Nicephorus answered him, "We cannot change the ancient traditions: we respect holy images as we do the cross and the book of the gospels." ”

“ It is not on your majesty’s account that I dread the re-establishment of these formerly self-styled Jesuits, as the late Parliament of Paris called them. What harm, indeed, could they do to a prince whom the Austrians, the Imperialists, the French, and the Swedes united, have been unable to deprive of a single village? But I am alarmed, sire, lest other princes, who have not the same power as you have to make head against all Europe, and who have weeded out this poisonous hemlock [425] from their gardens, should one day take a fancy to come to you and borrow seed to scatter their ground anew. ”