1. The word merchant, in its most extended application, signifies, a person who deals in merchandise. This definition, with some exceptions, agrees very well with general usage in this country; although, in England, the term is principally restricted to those dealers who export and import goods on their own account, either in their own or in chartered vessels. In the United States, dealers of this class are denominated importing and exporting merchants; or simply, importers and exporters.
2. Such merchants, both here and in Europe, are distinguished from each other by the kind of goods in which they traffic, or by the foreign country in which they have their chief correspondence; thus, one who deals in tobacco is called a tobacco-merchant; a wholesale dealer in wines is called a wine-merchant; a West India, East India, or Turkey merchant, exports goods to, and imports goods from, those respective countries.
3. The business of merchants, in foreign countries, is usually transacted by agents, called factors, or commission merchants, to whom goods are consigned to be sold, and by whom other articles of merchandise are purchased and returned according to order. Sometimes an agent, called a supercargo, accompanies the vessel; or the captain may act in this capacity. Goods, however, are often obtained by order, without the intervention of an agency of any kind.
4. Almost every sort of foreign merchandise is subject to the imposition of duties by the government of the country in which it is received. These duties are paid at the Custom-House, to persons appointed by the constituted authorities to collect them. As soon as a vessel from abroad has entered the harbor, it is visited by a custom-house officer, called a Tide-Waiter, whose business it is to see that no part of the cargo is removed, until measures have been taken to secure the customs.
5. Goods brought into the country by importers, are frequently sold, in succession, to several merchants of different grades, before they come to the hands of the consumers. Cloths or stuffs of different kinds, for instance, may be first sold by the bale to one merchant, who, in turn, may dispose of them by the package to another, and this last may retail them in small quantities to a greater number of customers.
6. Dealers in a small way, in cities and large towns, are frequently denominated shop-keepers; but those who do an extensive retail business, are usually called merchants or grocers, according as they deal in dry goods or groceries. In cities, the extensive demand for goods enables retailers to confine their attention to particular classes of articles; such as groceries, hardware, crockery, a few kinds of dry goods, or some articles of domestic manufacture; but in other places, where trade is more limited, the merchant is obliged to keep a more general assortment.
7. The general retail merchant is compelled to transact business with a great number of wholesale dealers, to whom he pays cash in hand, or agrees to pay it at some future period, say, in four, six, nine, or twelve months. The people in his vicinity, in turn, purchase his goods on similar conditions, with this difference, that they often substitute for cash agricultural and other productions, which the merchant, at length, turns into ready money.
8. Barter, or the exchange of commodities, prevails to a great extent, in country places, in almost every part of the United States. In such exchanges, the currency of the country is made the standard of reference: for example; a merchant receiving from a customer twenty bushels of wheat, estimated at one dollar per bushel, gives in return twenty dollars' worth of goods, at his marked prices; or, in other words, he gives credit for the wheat, and charges the goods. On the same principle, merchants of the first class often exchange the productions of their own country for those of another.
9. Merchants, or store-keepers, as they are indifferently called in some places, whose location is distant from the seaboard, visit the city in which they deal once or twice a year, for the purpose of laying in their stock of goods; but, in order to keep up their assortment, they sometimes order small lots in the interim. Retailers more conveniently situated, purchase a smaller amount of goods at a time, and replenish their stores more frequently.
10. Commerce, on the principles of barter, or a simple exchange of one commodity for another, must have been practised in the early days of Adam himself; although we have no positive record of the fact; for it cannot be imagined that the arts, which are stated in the Scripture to have flourished long before the flood, could have existed without commercial transactions. The period at which the precious metals began to be employed as a standard of value, or as a medium of commercial intercourse, is not known. They were used for this purpose in the time of Abraham, and probably many centuries before his day.
11. The earliest hint respecting the existence of trade between different nations, is to be found in the book of Genesis, where the transaction regarding the sale of Joseph to the Ishmaelites, or Midianites, is mentioned. These merchants, it appears, were travelling in a caravan to Egypt, then the most cultivated and refined part of the world. Their camels were loaded with balm, myrrh, and spices. The first of these articles was the production of Gilead; the second, of Arabia; and the last was probably from India; as in that country the finer spices are produced. If this were really the case, commerce, in its widest sense, was carried on much earlier than is generally supposed.
12. The fertility of Egypt, and its central position, made it an emporium of commerce; and there it flourished, in an eminent degree, long before it was cultivated in Europe and in Western Asia. For several ages, however, the Egyptians, on account of their superstitious prejudices against the sea, carried on no maritime commerce.
13. The Phœnicians were the first people who used the Mediterranean Sea, as a highway for the transportation of merchandise. Tyre and Sidon were their chief cities; and the latter was called a great, and the former a strong city, even in the time of Joshua, fifteen hundred years before the advent of Christ. These people, in their original association as a nation, possessed but a small territory; and, being surrounded by many powerful nations, they never attempted its enlargement on the land side.
14. The settlement of the Israelites in the "Promised Land," circumscribed their limits to a very small territory, and compelled them to colonize a great number of their inhabitants. The colonies which they formed in the various countries bordering upon the Mediterranean and on the islands, enlarged the boundaries of civilization, and greatly extended their trade.
15. The Phœnicians continued their colonial system for many centuries after the period just mentioned, and even extended it to the Atlantic coasts of Europe. But the most distinguished of all their colonies was the one which founded the city of Carthage, on the northern coast of Africa, about the year 869 before Christ. Elissa, or, as she is otherwise called, Dido, the reputed leader of this colony, makes a conspicuous figure in one of the books of Virgil's Æneid.
16. Carthage, adopting the same system which had so long been pursued by the great cities of Phœnicia, rose, in a few centuries, to wealth and splendor. But, changing, at length, her mercantile for a military character, she ruled her dependent colonies with a rod of despotism. This produced a spirit of resistance on the part of her distant subjects, who applied to Rome for aid to resist her tyranny. The consequence of this application was the three "Punic wars," so renowned in history, and which terminated in the destruction of Carthage, in the year 146 before the Christian era. During the first Punic war, Carthage contained seven hundred thousand inhabitants; but at its destruction, scarcely five thousand were found within its walls.
17. The period of the greatest prosperity of Tyre, may be placed 588 years before Christ, at which time the remarkable prophecies of Ezekiel concerning it were delivered. Soon after this, it was greatly injured by Nebuchadnezzar; and was finally destroyed by Alexander the Great, about the year 332 before Christ.
18. A new channel was opened to commerce by the monarch just mentioned, he having founded a city in Egypt, to which he gave the name of Alexandria. His object seems to have been, to render this city the centre of the commercial world; and its commanding position, at the mouth of the Nile, was well calculated to make it so; since it was easy of access from the west by the Mediterranean, from the east by the Red Sea, and from the central countries of Asia by the Isthmus of Suez.
19. The plans of Alexander were carried out with vigor by Ptolemy, who received Egypt as his portion of the Macedonian empire, after the death of his master; and, by his liberality, he induced great numbers of people to settle in the new metropolis for the purposes of trade. Far south, on the Red Sea, he also founded a city, which he called Berenice, and which he designed as a depôt for the precious commodities brought into his kingdom from India. From this city, goods were transported on camels across the country, to a port on the Nile; and thence they were taken down the river to Alexandria.
20. Ptolemy also kept large fleets both on the Mediterranean and on the Red Sea, for the protection of commerce, and the defence of his dominions; yet, the Egyptians, even under the Ptolemies, never attempted a direct trade to India. They, as the Phœnicians and their own progenitors had done for ages, depended upon the Arabian merchants for the productions of that country.
21. The Greeks, before their subjugation to the Roman power, had paid much attention to nautical affairs; but this had been chiefly for warlike dominion, rather than for commercial purposes. The city of Corinth, however, had become wealthy by the attention of its inhabitants to manufactures and trade; but it was destroyed by the same barbarian people who, about this time, annihilated Carthage. Both of these cities were afterwards favored by Julius Cæsar; but they never regained anything like their former importance.
22. Rome having, at length, obtained the complete dominion of the Mediterranean Sea, and the countries bordering upon it, as well as that of many others more distant, and less easy of access, became the great mart for the sale of merchandise of every description, from all parts of the known world. For the various commodities brought to the city, the Romans paid gold and silver; as they had nothing else to export in return. The money which they had exacted as tribute, or which they had obtained by plunder, was thus returned to the nations from which it had been taken.
23. The subjected provinces continued to pour their choicest productions into Rome, as long as she retained the control of the empire; and thus they contributed to enervate, by the many luxuries they afforded, the power by which they had been subdued. The eternal city, as she is sometimes called, in the days of her extensive dominion, contained about three millions of inhabitants; and, although this immense population was chiefly supplied by importations, the Romans never esteemed the character of a merchant. They despised the peaceful pursuits of industry, whilst they regarded it honorable to attack without provocation, and plunder without remorse, the weaker nations of the earth.
24. In the year 328 of the Christian era, Byzantium was made the seat of government of the Roman empire by Constantine, who, with a view of perpetuating his own name, called his new capital Constantinople. However necessary this removal may have been, to keep in subjugation the eastern provinces, it was fatal to the security of the western division. The rivalry between the two cities produced frequent contests for dominion; and these, together with the general corruption and effeminacy of the people themselves, rendered it impossible to resist the repeated and fierce invasions of the barbarous people from the northern parts of Europe.
25. These invasions commenced in the latter part of the fourth century; and, in less than two hundred years, a great portion of the inhabitants was destroyed, and the whole Western empire was completely subverted. The conquerors were too barbarous to encourage or protect commerce; and, like the arts of peace and civilization generally, it sunk, with few exceptions, amid the general ruin.
26. The empire of Constantinople, or, as it is usually called, the Eastern empire, continued in existence several centuries after the Western empire had been overrun; and commerce continued to flow, for a considerable time, through some of its former channels to the capital. At length, the Indian trade, which had so long been carried on chiefly through Egypt by the Red Sea, was changed to a more northern route, through Persia.
27. Soon after the commencement of the pretended mission of Mohammed, or Mahomet, in 609 of the Christian era, the power of the Arabians, since called Saracens, began to rise. The followers of the Prophet, impelled by religious zeal, and allured by plunder, in less than 150 years extended their dominion almost to the borders of China on the one side, and to the Mediterranean and Atlantic on the other. The trade of the East, of course, fell into their hands; and they continued to enjoy it, until they, in turn, were subdued by the Turks.
28. So great was the prejudice of the Christians against the followers of Mohammed, that, for a long time, it was considered heretical for the former to trade with the latter; but the Saracens having a vast extent of territory, and having control of the Mediterranean and Red Seas, as well as of the Persian Gulf, carried on an extensive trade among themselves.
29. The first European power which rose to commercial eminence, after the destruction of the Western empire, was the republic of Venice. This important city owed its origin to some fugitives, who fled for their lives to a number of small islands in the Adriatic Sea, during the invasion of Italy by the Huns, under Attila, in the year 452.
30. The houses first built by the refugees, were constructed of mud and seagrass; and, so insignificant were they in their appearance, that a writer of that period compares them to a collection of the nests of water-fowls. The number of these islands, on which so splendid a city was afterwards built, was, according to some, seventy-two; but, according to others, ninety, or even one hundred and fifty. For a considerable time, the distinction of rich and poor was not known; for all lived upon the same fish-diet, and in houses of similar form and materials.
31. In less than a century, the inhabitants of these islands had established a regular government; and, in the year 732, we find them venturing beyond the Adriatic into the Mediterranean, even as far as Constantinople, trading in silks, purple draperies, and Indian commodities. In 813, the French commenced trading to Alexandria, and, in a few years, the Venetians followed their example, in despite of the ecclesiastical prohibitions against intercourse with the followers of Mohammed. In the tenth century, Amalfi, Pisa, Genoa, and Florence, began to rival Venice in trade.
32. The crusades, which, for two centuries from the year 1095, engaged so much of the attention of the Christian nations of Europe, greatly promoted the interests of the commercial cities of Italy; as the armies in these expeditions were dependent on them for provisions, and for the means of crossing the sea, which lay between them and the Holy Land. They also gave a new and powerful impulse to commerce in general, by giving the people, in the unrefined parts of Europe, a knowledge of the elegances and luxuries of the East.
33. In the thirteenth century, commerce and manufactures began to command considerable attention in Germany and the adjacent states; but as the seas and rivers were infested with pirates, and the roads with banditti, it became necessary for those engaged in commerce to adopt measures to protect their commodities, while on the way from one place to another. The citizens of Hamburg and Lubeck first united for this purpose; and the advantages of such a union of strength becoming apparent, many other cities soon entered into the confederation.
34. This association was denominated the Hanse, or league, and the cities thus united were called Hanse Towns. Most of the commercial towns in the northern parts of the continent of Europe, at length, became parties to the Hanseatic league. The number of these cities varied, at different periods; but in the days of the greatest prosperity of the association, it amounted to eighty-five.
35. Representatives from the different cities met triennially at Lubeck, where their common treasury and archives were kept. By this assembly, which was called a diet, rules for the regulation of commercial intercourse were made, and other business transacted, which related to the general welfare of the confederation.
36. In the fourteenth century, the league, in all parts of Europe, attained a high degree of political importance, and developed that commercial policy which it had originated, and which has since been adopted by all civilized nations. The objects of the allied cities were now declared to be—to protect their commerce against pillage, to guard and extend their foreign trade, and, as far as possible, to monopolize it, to maintain and extend the privileges obtained from the princes of different nations, and to make rules or laws for the regulation of trade, as well as to establish the necessary tribunals for their due execution. The decisions of their courts were respected by the civil authorities of the countries to which their trade extended.
37. The treasury was chiefly supplied by duties on merchandise; and the great wealth thus acquired enabled the allied cities to obtain commercial privileges from needy princes, for pecuniary accommodations. The league, in defending its commerce, even carried on wars against kingdoms; and, at length, by its wealth and naval power, became mistress of the Northern seas, and rendered the different cities of the confederation in a great measure independent of the sovereigns of the countries in which they were situated.
38. The conduct of the Hanse Towns, at length, excited the jealousies of those sovereigns who had, for a long time, favored their union; and the princes of Europe generally, becoming acquainted with the value of commerce, both as means of enriching their people, and of filling their own coffers, combined against the association. In 1518, the governments of several states commanded all their cities to withdraw from the league, which soon after voluntarily excluded some others. After this the Hanse gradually sunk in importance, and finally ceased to exist in 1630.
39. The trade to the East Indies continued to be carried on through Persia and Egypt, subject to the extortions of the Saracens, and the still severer exactions of the merchants of the Italian cities, until the route to those countries, by the Cape of Good Hope, was discovered.
40. The use of this new pathway of commerce, combined with the discovery of America, caused an entire change in both the political and commercial state of Europe. A strong desire of visiting the remote parts of the world, thus laid open to the people of Europe, immediately arose, not only among the Portuguese and Spaniards, but also among other nations. Colonies were soon planted in the East and in the West; and the whole world may be said to have been inspired with new energy.
41. The Portuguese, being considerably in advance of the other Atlantic nations in the art of navigation, soon gained the entire control of the East India trade, and were thus raised to great eminence, prosperity, and power. Their dominions became extensive in Africa and Asia, and their navy superior to any that had been seen for several ages before.
42. In 1580, or eighty-three years after Vasco de Gama found his way, by the Cape, to Calicut, Portugal was subdued by Philip II., king of Spain. The Spaniards, however, were not enriched by the conquest; since their commercial energy and enterprise had been destroyed, by the vast quantities of the precious metals obtained from their American possessions.
43. In 1579, the people of Holland, with those of six neighboring provinces, being then subject to Spain, united, under the Prince of Orange, for the purpose of regaining their liberties. This produced a sanguinary war, which continued for thirty years, during which time the Dutch wrested from the Spaniards most of their Portuguese possessions in India, and, in addition to this, formed many other settlements in various places from the River Tigris even to Japan. Batavia, on the Island of Java, was made the grand emporium of trade, and the seat of the government of their East India possessions.
44. The prosperity of the United Provinces increased with great rapidity; and, as they were but little interfered with by other nations in their Eastern dominions, they enjoyed, for half a century or more, almost the whole of the trade of the East. Besides this, they shared largely with the rest of the world in almost every other branch of trade. After the year 1660, other nations, by great exertions, succeeded in obtaining considerable shares of the commerce of the East; yet the Dutch still retain valuable possessions there.
45. The chief articles exported from Britain, in ancient times, were tin, lead, copper, iron, wool, and cattle; for which they received in return, gold, silver, and manufactured articles. But the commerce of the British Islands was inconsiderable, when compared with that of many kingdoms on the Continent, until the beginning of the eighteenth century.
46. When Elizabeth ascended the throne of England, in 1558, the circumstances of the nation required an extensive navy for its protection; and the great attention which the queen paid to this means of defence, gave animation to all maritime concerns. Under her patronage, several companies for trading in foreign countries were formed, which, at that time, and for a long period afterwards, were very beneficial to trade in general. In her reign, also, the colonial system of England had its origin, which contributed eventually, more than any thing else, to the commercial prosperity of that nation. Since the reign of this wise and judicious princess, the commerce and manufactures of Great Britain have been, with a few interruptions, steadily advancing; and, in these two particulars, she surpasses every other nation.
47. The United States possess superior local advantages for trade, and embrace a population unsurpassed for enterprise and energy. Since the Revolution, the resources of our country have been rapidly developing. Our exports and imports are already next in amount to those of Great Britain and France and the extensive improvements which have been made by the different states, to facilitate internal intercourse, are increasing with great rapidity.
48. The banking system is very intimately interwoven with commercial affairs in general. Banks are of three kinds, viz., of discount, of deposit, and of circulation. The term bank, in its original application, signified a place of common deposit for money, and where, in commercial transactions, individuals could have the amount, or any part of the amount, of their deposits transferred to each other's accounts.
49. The term bank is derived from the Italian word banco, which signified a kind of bench, or table, on which the Jews were accustomed to place the money which they proposed to lend in the markets of the principal towns. The first bank was established in Venice, about the middle of the twelfth century; the Bank of Genoa, in 1345; the Bank of Amsterdam, in 1607; the Bank of Hamburg, in 1619; the Bank of Rotterdam, in 1635. These were all banks of mere deposit and transfer.
50. Lending-houses may be traced to a very ancient origin. They were, at first, supported by humane persons, with a view of lending money to the poor, on pledges, without interest. Augustus Cæsar appropriated a part of the confiscated effects of criminals to this purpose; and Tiberias, also, advanced a large capital, to be lent for three years, without interest, to those who could give security in lands equal to twice the value of the sum borrowed.
51. In the early ages of Christianity, free gifts were collected and preserved by ecclesiastics, partly to defray the expenses of divine service, and partly to relieve the poor of the church; and the funds thus provided came, at length, to be called montes pietatis—mountains of piety. This appellation was afterwards applied to the loaning-houses, established in modern Italy in imitation of those of antiquity.
52. In course of time, the loaning-houses were permitted by the Roman pontiff to charge a moderate interest on a part of their capital, and, finally, upon the whole of it; still, they retained, for a long period, the original denomination of montes pietatis. The receiving of interest on loans was declared lawful by the Pope, about the middle of the fifteenth century. Soon after this period, all the cities of Italy hastened to establish these institutions; and their example was, at length, followed in other parts of Europe.
53. But long before the Pope had granted this privilege, individuals were in the habit of loaning money at an exorbitant usury. These were principally Jews and merchants from Lombardy; hence, all persons in those countries, who dealt in money, came to be called Lombard merchants. The prohibitions of the Church against receiving interest were eluded, when necessary, by causing it to be paid in advance, by way of present or premium.
54. In the twelfth century, many of the dealers in money were expelled from England, France, and the Netherlands, for usurious practices; and, in order to regain possession of their effects, which they had, in their haste, left in the hands of confidential friends, they adopted the method of writing concise orders or drafts. Hence originated bills of exchange, so convenient in commercial transactions.
55. The Bank of England was established in the year 1694. Hitherto, the banks of deposit, and loaning-houses, were entirely distinct; but, in this institution, these two branches of pecuniary operations were united. It seems, also, that this was the first bank that issued notes, to serve as a medium of circulation, and to supply, in part, the place of gold and silver.
56. In the United States, banking institutions are very numerous. They are all established by companies, incorporated by the legislatures of the different states, or by the congress of the United States. The act which grants the privileges of banking, also fixes the amount of the capital stock, and divides it into equal shares. The holders of the stock choose the officers to transact the business of the corporation.
57. Our banks receive deposits from individual customers, loan money on notes of hand, acceptances, and drafts, issue notes of circulation, and purchase and sell bills of exchange. They are usually authorized, by their charters, to loan three times the amount, and to issue bank-notes to twice the amount, of the capital stock paid in. Few banking companies, however, exercise these privileges to the full extent, lest the bank be embarrassed by too great a demand for specie. As soon as a bank ceases to pay specie for its notes, it is said to be broken, and its operations must cease.
58. The Bank of North America was the first institution of this kind, established in the United States. It was incorporated by Congress, in 1781, at the suggestion of Robert Morris. In 1791, after the union of the states had been effected under the present constitution, the first Bank of the United States was incorporated, with a capital of ten millions of dollars. Most of the states soon followed this example; and, before the beginning of the present century, the whole banking capital amounted to near thirty millions of dollars.
59. The charter of the first Bank of the United States expired, by its own limitation, in 1811; and a new one, with a capital of thirty-five millions of dollars, was established in 1816, which also closed its concerns, as a national bank, in 1836, President Jackson having vetoed the bill for its recharter. In that year the number of banks was 567, and the bank capital $251,875,292. In the year 1840, the number of banks had increased to 722, and their capital to $358,442,692.
1. The Auctioneer is one who disposes of property at public sale to the highest bidder. The sale of property in this manner is regulated, in some particulars, by legislative enactments, which have for their object the prevention of fraud, or the imposition of duties.
2. In Pennsylvania, the present law provides for three classes of auctioneers, each of which is required to pay to the state a specified sum for a license. The first class pays two thousand dollars per annum; the second, one thousand; and the third, two hundred; and, besides this, one and a half per cent. on the amount of all their sales is required to be paid into the treasury of the state. To each class are granted privileges corresponding to the cost of the license.
3. In the state of New-York, the number of auctioneers for the cities, villages, and counties, is limited by law; and all persons who would follow the business are compelled to give security for the faithful execution of its duties. The state requires a duty of one per cent. on all merchandise imported from beyond the Cape of Good Hope, one and a half per cent. on such as may be imported from other foreign countries, and two per cent. on wines and ardent spirits, whether foreign or domestic. The laws and usages regarding sales at auction, in most of the United States, are similar, in their general principles, to those of Pennsylvania or New-York.
4. A great amount of merchandise, both foreign and domestic, in our principal cities, is sold by auction; and the price which staple commodities there command is generally considered a tolerable criterion of their value at the time. It very frequently happens, however, that articles which are not in steady demand, are sold at a great sacrifice. Auctioneers seldom import goods, nor is it usual for them to own the property which they sell.
5. In all cases, before an auction is held, due notice is given to the public. This is usually done by the circulation of a printed hand-bill, by a crier, or by an advertisement in a newspaper; or all three of these modes may be employed to give publicity to one and the same sale.
6. Persons desirous of becoming purchasers at the proposed auction, assemble at the time appointed; and, after the auctioneer has stated the terms of sale, as regards the payment of whatever may be purchased, he offers the property to the persons present, who make their respective bids, he, in the mean time, crying the sum proposed. When no further advance is expected, he knocks down the article to the last bidder.
7. A mode of sale was formerly, and, in some cases is still, practised, in various parts of Europe, called sale by inch of candle. The things for sale are offered in the ordinary manner, as has been described in the preceding paragraph, and, at the same time, a wax-candle, an inch in length, is lighted. The purchasers bid upon each other, until the candle has been all consumed; and the last bidder, when the light goes out, is entitled to the articles or goods in question.
8. Auctioneers, in large cities, hold their sales at regular periods; sometimes, every day or evening. On extensive sales of merchandise, credits of two, three, four, six, or nine months, are commonly given. In such cases, the auctioneer often gives his own obligations for the goods, and receives in return those of the purchasers.
9. This mode of sale is employed in the disposition of property taken by process of law for the payment of debts, in every part of the world, where the influence of European law has extended. It is used in preference to any other; because it is the most ready way of sale, and is moreover the most likely method to secure to the debtor something like the value of his property.
10. Executors and administrators often employ this convenient method of sale, in settling the estates of deceased persons; and they, as well as sheriffs and constables, ex-officio, or by virtue of their office, have a lawful right to act in the capacity of auctioneer, in performing their respective duties; and no tax is required by the state, in such cases.
11. The sale by auction was in use among the Romans, even in the early days of their city. It was first employed in the disposition of spoils taken in war; hence a spear was adopted as a signal of a public sale; and this continued to be the auctioneer's emblem, even after this mode of sale was extended to property in general. The red flag and spear, or rather the handle of that instrument, both emblematical of blood and war, are still employed for the same purpose.
12. Several attempts have been made in the United States, to suppress sales of merchandise by auction; but these endeavors were unsuccessful, since experience had proved this mode of effecting exchanges to be prompt and convenient; and since some of the states had derived considerable revenue from the duties. So long as conflicting interests remain as they are, this mode of sale will be likely to continue.
1. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, during his visit of mercy to the world, chose from among his disciples twelve men, to be his especial agents in establishing his church. These men, in our translation of the New Testament, are denominated apostles. The grand commission which they received was, "Go ye into all the world, and preach my gospel to every creature."
2. The apostles commenced their noble enterprise on that memorable day of Pentecost, which next occurred after the ascension of their Master; and, in the city of his inveterate enemies, soon succeeded in establishing a church of several thousand members. The doctrines of Christianity soon spread to other cities and countries; and, before the close of that century, they were known and embraced, more or less, in every province of the Roman empire.
3. The apostles, however, were not the only agents engaged in spreading and maintaining the doctrines of Christianity; for, in every church, persons were found capable of taking the supervision of the rest, and of exercising the office of the ministry. These were ordained either by the apostles themselves, or by persons authorized by them to perform the ceremony.
4. After the Church had passed through a great variety of persecutions, during a period of nearly three centuries, the Christians became superior in numbers to the pagans in the Roman empire. In the early part of the fourth century, a free toleration in religious matters was declared by Constantine the Great, who took the Church under his especial protection.
5. The Christians of the first and second centuries usually worshipped God in private houses, or in the open air in retired places, chiefly on account of the persecutions to which they were often subjected. It was not until the third century, that they ventured to give greater publicity to their service, by building churches for general accommodation. When the Cross had obtained the ascendency, in the subsequent age, many of the heathen temples were appropriated to Christian purposes; and many splendid churches were erected, especially by Constantine and his successors.
6. In the middle ages, a great number of edifices were erected for the performance of divine worship, which, in loftiness and grandeur, had never been surpassed; and the greater part of these remain to the present day. Some of the most famous churches are, St. Peter's, at Rome; Notre Dame, at Paris; St. Stephen's, at Vienna; the church of Isaac, at St. Petersburg; the minsters at Strasburg and Cologne and St. Paul's, in London.
7. Up to the time of the great change in favor of Christianity, just mentioned, the whole Church had often acted together in matters of common interest, through the medium of general councils; and this practice continued for several centuries afterwards. But the variance and dissensions between the Pope of Rome, and the Patriarch of Constantinople, combined with some other causes, produced, about the close of the ninth century, a total separation of the two great divisions of the Church.
8. At the time of this schism, the whole Christian world had become subject to these two prelates. The part of the Church ruled by the Patriarch, was called the Eastern, or Greek Church; and that part which yielded obedience to the Pope, was denominated the Western, or Latin Church. Many attempts have been since made to reunite these two branches of the Church; but these endeavors have hitherto proved unsuccessful.
9. The conquest of the Roman empire, so often mentioned in the preceding pages, was particularly injurious to the Church, especially that part of it subject to the Roman pontiff; since it nearly extinguished the arts and sciences, and since the barbarous conquerors were received into the Church, before they had attained the proper moral qualifications. From these causes, chiefly, arose the conduct of the Church, in the middle ages, which has been so much censured by all enlightened men, and which has been often unjustly attributed to Christianity herself, rather than to the ignorance and barbarism of the times.
10. In the year 1517, while Leo X. occupied the papal chair, Martin Luther, of Saxony, commenced his well-known opposition to many practices and doctrines in the Church, which he conceived to be departures from the spirit of primitive Christianity. He was soon joined in his opposition by Philip Melancthon, Ulric Zuingle, and finally by John Calvin, as well as by many other distinguished divines of that century, in various parts of Europe.
11. These men, with their followers and abettors, for reasons too obvious to need explanation, received or assumed the appellation of Reformers; and, on account of a solemn protest which they entered against a certain decree which had been issued against them, they also became distinguished by the name of Protestants. The latter term is now applied to all sects, of whatever denomination, in the western division of the Church, that do not acknowledge the authority of the Roman See.
12. The Protestant division of the Church is called by the Roman Catholics, the Western schism, to distinguish it from that of the Greek Church, which is termed the Eastern schism. The Protestants are divided into a great number of sects, or parties; and, although they differ from each other in many of their religious sentiments, they agree in their steady opposition to the Roman Catholics.
13. The ostensible object of the founders of all the churches differing from the Romish communion, has been, to bring back Christianity to the state in which it existed on its first establishment; and to prove their positions in doctrine and church government, they appeal to the Scriptures, and sometimes to the Christian writers of the first four or five centuries. The advocates of the "mother church," on the contrary, contend that, being infallible, she can never have departed from primitive principles, on any point essential to salvation.
14. As to the government of the several churches it is, in most cases, either Episcopal or Presbyterian. In the former case, three orders of clergymen are recognized; viz., bishops, presbyters, and deacons; and these three orders are supposed, by the advocates of episcopacy, to have been ordained by the apostles. This opinion is supported by the circumstance, that these orders are mentioned in the Scriptures; and also by the fact, supposed to be sustained by the primitive fathers, that they were uniformly established early in the second century.
15. It is believed by Episcopalians, that these three orders of ministers were instituted in the Christian Church, in imitation of the Jewish priesthood; the bishop representing the high-priest; the presbyters, the priests; and the deacons, the Levites.
16. On the other hand, the advocates of the Presbyterian form of government, assert, that in the first century of the Church, bishop and presbyter were the same order of ministers, and that the former was nothing more than a presbyter, who presided in Christian assemblies, when met to consult on church affairs.
17. The deacons in the churches that have renounced episcopacy, are not classed among the clergy, but are chosen from among the private members, to manage the temporalities of the congregation, or church, to which they belong, to assist the minister, on some occasions, in religious assemblies, or to take the lead in religious worship in his absence. Under this form of government, therefore, there is recognized but one order of ministers, and every clergyman is denominated presbyter, priest, or elder.
18. The literary and religious qualifications required of candidates for orders have varied in different ages of the Church, according to the existing state of literature and religion; and the requirements in these two particulars are now different, in the several denominations. Nearly all, however, require the profession in the candidate, that he believes he is moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon him the office of the ministry. Some churches require a collegiate education, with two or three years of the study of divinity; but others, only such as is usually obtained in common schools, combined with a tolerable capacity for public speaking.
19. The clergy in the Roman Catholic Church, is of two kinds; the one regular, comprehending all the religious who have taken upon themselves monastic vows; the other secular, comprehending all the ecclesiastics who do not assume these obligations. The latter, however, in common with the former, take a vow of perpetual celibacy.
20. It is the especial duty of clergymen, to preach the gospel, to administer the ordinances, and to enforce the discipline of that branch of the Church to which they belong. They are also expected to administer consolation to persons in distress of mind, arising from the complicated evils of this life, to unite persons by the bonds of matrimony, and, finally, in attending on the burial of the dead, to perform the last ceremony due from man to man.
21. Ministers of the gospel occupy an elevated stand in all Christian communities, both on account of the high tone of moral feeling which they generally possess, and on account of the interest which the people at large feel in the subject of religion. The work of the ministry is emphatically a work of benevolence; and no man can perform it with satisfaction to himself, or with acceptance to the people of his charge, if destitute of love to God and man.
22. In most of the kingdoms of Europe, some one of the several denominations is supported by legal enactments; but, in the United States, every branch of the Church enjoys equal favor, so far as legislation is concerned. In most cases, the institutions of religion are supported by voluntary contributions or subscriptions.
23. The salary received by ministers of the gospel, in the United States, is exceedingly various in the different denominations, and in the same denomination from different congregations. In some instances, they receive nothing for their services, in others, a liberal compensation.
24. It is but justice to this profession to remark, that, taking the ability of its members into account, there is no employment less productive of wealth; and this is so evidently the case, that some denominations distribute, annually, a considerable amount among the widows and orphans of those who have devoted their lives to the ministry.
25. The meagre support which the ministry usually receives, arises, in part, from the opinion too commonly entertained, that this profession ought to be one of benevolence exclusively, and that ministers should, therefore, be contented with a bare subsistence, and look for their reward in the consciousness of doing their duty, and in the prospect of future felicity. This is a very convenient way of paying for the services of faithful servants, and of relieving the consciences of those whose duty it is to give them a liberal support.