Epicureans.
The disciples of Epicurus, who flourished about A. M. 3700. This sect maintained that the world was formed not by God, nor with any design, but by the fortuitous concourse of atoms. They denied that God governs the world, or in the least condescends to interfere with creatures below; they denied the immortality of the soul, and the existence of angels; they maintained that happiness consisted in pleasure; but some of them placed this pleasure in the tranquillity and joy of the mind, arising from the practice of moral virtue, and which is thought by some to have been the true principle of [pg 245] Epicurus: others understood him in the gross sense, and placed all their happiness in corporeal pleasure. When Paul was at Athens, he had conferences with the Epicurean philosophers. (Acts 17:18) The word Epicurean is used, at present, for an indolent, effeminate, and voluptuous person, who only consults his private and particular pleasure.
Skeptics.
The word Skeptic properly signifies considerative and inquisitive, or one who is always weighing reasons on one side or the other, without ever deciding between them. The word is applied to an ancient sect of philosophers founded by Pyrrho, who denied the real existence of all qualities in bodies, except those which are essential to primary atoms, and referred every thing else to the perceptions of the mind produced by external objects; in other words, to appearance and opinion. In modern times, the word has been applied to Deists, or those who doubt of the truth and authenticity of the sacred Scriptures.
Wickliffites.
The followers of the famous John Wickliffe, called “the first reformer,” who was born in Yorkshire, in the year 1324. He attacked the jurisdiction of the pope and the bishops. He was for this twice summoned to a council at Lambeth, to give an account of his doctrines, but, being countenanced by the duke of Lancaster, was both times dismissed without condemnation. Wickliffe, therefore, continued to spread his new principles, as usual, adding to them doctrines still more alarming; by which he drew after him a great number of [pg 246] disciples. Upon this, William Courtney, archbishop of Canterbury, called another council in 1382, which condemned 24 propositions of Wickliffe and his disciples, and obtained a declaration of Richard II. against all who should preach them; but while these proceedings were agitating, Wickliffe died at Lutterworth, leaving many works behind him for the establishment of his doctrines. He was buried in his own church, at Lutterworth, in Leicestershire, where his bones were suffered to rest in peace till the year 1428, when, by an order from the pope, they were taken up and burnt. Wickliffe was doubtless a very extraordinary man, considering the times in which he lived. He discovered the absurdities and impositions of the church of Rome, and had the honesty and resolution to promulgate his opinions, which a little more support would probably have enabled him to establish: they were evidently the foundation of the subsequent reformation.