Or MESSALIANS, a sect which sprung up about the year 361, in the reign of the emperor Constantinus, who maintained that men have two souls, a celestial and a diabolical; and that the latter is driven out by prayer. From those words of our Lord, "Labour not for the meat that perisheth, " it is said, that they concluded they ought not to do any work to bet their bread. We may suppose, says Dr. Jortin, that this sect did not last long; that these sluggards were soon starved out of the world; or, rather, that cold and hunger sharpened their wits, and taught them to be better interpreters of Scripture.
Despite a stated reliance on the plain meaning of the Bible and the dictates of common sense, Buck's Theological Dictionary, first published in London in 1802, seeks to provide a textual basis for the evangelical community. By combining brief essays on orthodox belief and practice with historical entries on various denominations, Buck provided an interpretive lens that allowed antebellum Protestants to see Christianity's almost two millennia as their own history.Wikipedia
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