ANTINOMIANS. They derive their name from anti, against, and nomos, law, as being against the moral law; not merely as a covenant of life, but also as a rule of conduct to believers. The Antinomians took their origin from John Agricola, about the year 1538, who taught that the law is no way necessary under the gospel; that good works do not promote our salvation, nor ill ones hinder it. That the sins of the elect are so imputed to Christ, as that though he did not commit them, yet they became actually his transgressions, and ceased to be theirs; that Christ's righteousness is so imputed to the elect, that they ceasing to be sinners, are as righteous as he was. Antinomians also hold, that an elect person is not in a condemned state while an unbeliever, and should he happen to die before God call him to believe, he would not be lost. The following are some of the principal texts from whence these sentiments were defended. 2 Cor. v. 21; Rom. viii. 33; Heb. viii. 12; Rom. viii. 28.

JUMPERS, so called from their practice of jumping during the time allotted for religious worship and instruction. They originated in Wales, about the year 1760. They persuade themselves that they are involuntarily acted upon by some divine impulse; and being intoxicated with this imaginary inspiration, they utter their rapture and their triumph with great wildness and incoherence; with great jesticulation and vociferation; and they ultimately begin to laugh and sing, dance and jump, in all directions, males and females commingled in one general mass, in the mean time calling out, in the hoarsest and coarsest manner possible, gogoniant! gogoniant! glory! glory!

DUNKERS, a denomination which took its rise in the year 1724. It was founded by Conrad Peysal, a German, who, weary of the world, retired to an agreeable solitude, within fifty miles of Philadelphia, for the more free exercise of religious contemplation. Curiosity attracted followers, and his sim ple and engaging manners made proselytes.

Their habit seems peculiar to themselves, consisting of a long tunic, or coat, reaching down to their heels, with a sash, or girdle, round the waist, and a cap, or hood, hanging from the shoulders, like the dress of the Dominican friars. The men do not shave the head or beard. The men and women have sepa rate habitations and distinct governments for the brethren and sisters do not meet together even at their devotions. They live chiefly upon roots and other vegetables; the rules of their society not allowing them flesh, except on particular occasions, when they hold what they call a love-feast; at which time the brethren and sisters dine together in a large apartment, and eat mutton, but no other meat. Dunkers allow of no intercourse between the brethren and sisters, not even by marriage.

The principal tenet of the Dunkers appears to be this: That future happiness is only to be attained by penance and outward mortifications in this life; and that as Jesus Christ by his meritorious sufferings became the Redeemer of mankind in general, so each individual of the human race, by a life of abstinence and restraint, should work out his own salvation. They are charged with holding the doctrine of supererogation: they deny the eternity of future punishments, and believe that the souls of the just are employed to preach the gospel to those who have had no revelation in this life. They suppose the Jewish sabbath, sabbatical year, and year of jubilee, are typical of certain periods after the general judgment, in which the souls of those who are so far humbled as to acknowledge God and Christ, are received to felicity; while those who contiuue obstinate are reserved in torments until the grand period typified by the jubilee arrives, in which all shall be made eventually happy. They also deny the imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity. So that they are Universalists. But they disclaim violence, even in cases of self-defence, and suffer themselves to be defrauded or wronged rather than to go law; on which acCount they have been called the harmless Dunkers.

HOPKINSIANS, or HOPKINTONIANS, So called from the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, D. D. pastor of the first Congregational church at Newport, Rhode-Island. The following is a summary of their distinguishing tenets, with a few of the reasons by which they are supported.

1. That all true holiness consists in disinterested benevolence. The law of God is the standard of all moral rectitude, or holiness. This is reduced into love to God and to our neighbour; and universal good will comprehends all the love to God, our neighbour, and ourselves, required in the divine law, and therefore must be the whole of holy obedience.

2. That all sin consists in selfishness. By this is meant an interested affection, by which a person sets himself up as the supreme, or only object of regard; and nothing is lovely in his view, unless suited to promote his private interest. This selflove is, every degree of it, enmity against God: it is not subject to the law of God, and is the only affection that can oppose it. It is the foundation of all spiritual blindness, and the source of all idolatry and false religion. It is the foundation of all covetousness and sensuality; of all fatehood, injustice, and oppression; as it excites mankind by undue methods to invade the property of others. Self-love produces all the violent passions; envy, wrath, clamour, and evil speaking: and every thing contrary to the divine law, is briefly comprehended in this fruitful source of iniquity, self-love.

3. That there are no promises of regenerating grace made to the actions of the unregenerate. For as far as men act from self-love, they act from a bad end: for those who have no true love to God, really fulfil no duty when they attend on the exter nals of religion.

4. That the impotency of sinners, with respect to believing in Christ, is not natural, but moral: for it is a plain dictate of common sense, that natural impossibility excludes all blame.. But an unwilling mind is universally considered as a crime, and not as an excuse; and it is the very thing wherein our wickedness consists.

5. That, in order to faith in Christ, a sinner must approve in his heart of the divine conduct, even though God should cast him off for ever; which however neither implies love to misery, nor hatred of happiness. For if the law is good, death is due to those who have broken it; and the judge of all the earth cannot but do right. Gen. xviii. 25. It would bring everlasting reproach upon his government to spare us, considered merely as in ourselves. When this is felt in our hearts, and not till then, we shall be prepared to look to the free grace of God, through Christ's redemption.

6. That the infinitely wise and holy God has exerted his omnipotent power, in such a manner as he proposed should be followed with the existence and entrance of moral evil in the system. For it must be admitted on all hands, that God has a perfect knowledge, foresight, and view of all possible existences and events. If that system and scene of operation, in which moral evil should never have existence, was actually preferred in the divine mind, certainly the Deity is infinitely disappointed in the issue of his own operations.

7. That the introduction of sin is, upon the whole, for the general good. For the wisdom and power of the Deity are displayed in carrying on designs of the greatest good: and the existence of moral evil has, undoubtedly, occasioned a more full, perfect, and glorious discovery of the infinite perfections of the divine nature, than could otherwise have been made to the view of creatures.

8. That repentance is before faith in Christ. By this is not intended, that repentance is before a speculative belief of the being and perfections of God and of the person and character of Christ; but only, that true repentance is previous to a saving faith in Christ, in which the believer is united to Christ, and entitled to the benefits of his meditation and atonement. So Christ commanded, Repent ye, and believe the gospel; and Paul preached repentance towards God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Mark i. 15. Acts xx. 21.

9. That, though mengecame sinners by Adam, according to a divine constitution, yet they were, and are accountable for no sins but personal: for, (1.) Adam's act, in eating the forbidden fruit, was not the act of his posterity; therefore, they did not sin at the same time he did. (2.) The sinfulness of that act could not be transferred to them afterwards: because the sin fulness of an act can no more be transferred from one person to another, than an act itself. (3.) Therefore Adam's act, in eat ing the forbidden fruit, was not the cause, but only the occasion

of his posterity's being sinners. Adam sinned, and now God brings his posterity into the world sinners.

10. That though believers are justified through Christ's righteousness, yet his righteousness is not transferred to them. For personal righteousness cannot be transferred from one person to another; nor personal sin, otherwise the sinner would be innocent and Christ the sinner.

The Hopkinsians warmly advocate the doctrine of the divine decrees, that of particular election, total depravity, the special influences of the spirit of God in regeneration, justification by faith alone, the final perseverance of the saints, and the consistency between entire freedom and absolute dependence; and therefore claim, since the world will make distinctions, to be called the Hopkinsian Calvinists.

SHAKERS, or SHAKING QUARERS, a sect which originated in Lancashire, England, with James Wadley, a tailor, and his wife Jane. They pretended to extraordinary visions and new revelations, which however gradually subsided, till a new im petus was given by Anne Lee, who became a distinguished leader of this denomination. She was received and acknowledged by the Shakers as the first mother, or spiritual parent, in the line of the females, and the second heir in the covenant of life, according to the present display of the gospel. In 1774, she, and a number of her followers, set sail from Liverpool for New-York. Being joined by others here, they settled near Albany, where they have spread their opinions, and increased to a considerable number.

The tenets on which the Shakers most dwell, are those of human depravity, and of the miraculous effusion of the Holy Spirit. Their leading practical tenet is the abolition of marriage, or indeed the total separation of the sexes. They assert that the day of judgment is past, and consider their testimony as a new dispensation, which they call Christ's second appearance. They maintain that it is unlawful to take oaths, game, or use compliments to each other. In their worship they practice a regular, solemn, uniform dance, to a regular, solemn hymn, which is sung by the elders, and as regularly conducted as a proper band of music. They practice a community of goods, and hold that nothing short of this union in all things, both spiritual and temporal, can constitute a true church. The government of the Society is vested in a ministry, consisting of male and female.

In the beginning of the year 1780, the Society consisted of only ten or twelve persons, all of whom came from England. At present, the first and largest Society is at New-Lebanon, in the state of New-York, and consists of between 500 and 600 persons. There is also one at Watervliet, near Albany, containing upwards of 200 persons. One at Hancock, in the state of Massachusetts, containing about 300 members. One at Tyring ham, in the same state, containing about 100 members. One

at Enfield, Connecticut, which contains about 200 members. One at Harvard, in the state of Massachusetts, which contains about 200 members. One at Shirley, containing about 150 members. There are, in addition to the above, four distinct Societies in New-Hampshire and Maine, containing upwards of 750 members, and five in the Western States, containing about 1700 members. The number of believers, both in the Eastern and Western States, exceed 4000.

The SANDEMANIANS, or Glassites, so called from Mr. Sandeman, an elder in one of these churches. Their leading sentiments are, 1. That justifying faith is no more than a simple belief of the truth, or the divine testimony passively received. 2. That this divine testimony is in itself sufficient ground of hope, to those who believe it, without any thing wrought in us, or done by us, to give it a particular direction to ourselves.

The principal practices in which they differ from other denominations are as follows: They administer the Lord's supper every Sabbath. They make weekly collections before the Lord's supper, for the support of the poor, &c. In the interval between their morning and afternoon service, they have their love-feasts, of which every one is required to partake. At these love-feasts, and on the admission of a new member, they use the kiss of charity, or the saluting each other with a holy kiss, a duty they believe expressly enjoined-Rom. xvi. 16, and in 1 Cor xvi. 20. They also practice washing each other's feet, for which usage they allege John xiii. 14, 15. They hold to community of goods, so far as that every one is to consider what he hath liable to the calls of the poor and of the church. With excommunicated persons they hold it unlawful either to eat or

drink.

Mr. Sandeman came to New-England and settled a society at Boston, Danbury, &c. He died at Danbury in 1771.

The SOUTHCOTTIANS, or followers of the late Joanna Southcott. This poor woman set forth that she was divinely inspired, and had a commission to announce to the world the speedy reign of Christ upon earth. She even pretended to have been miraculously pregnant of the divine Shiloh; but alas! the poor woman expired before her delivery; and when her body was opened, no appearance of a child could be found.

WILKINSON, Jemima, an American female of some notoriety. She asserted that in 1776, she was taken sick, and actually died, and her soul went to reside in Heaven. Soon after her body was reanimated with the spirit and power of Christ, upon which she set up as a public teacher. She pretended to foretel future events, to discern the secrets of the heart, and to have the power of healing diseases. She acknowledged ne other name but that of Universal Friend.