The crime of profaning sacred things, or things devoted to God. The ancient church distinguished several sorts of sacrilege.
The first was the diverting things appropriated to sacred purposes to ther uses.
2. Robbing the graves, or defacing and spoiling the monuments of the dead.
3. Those were considered as sacrilegious persons who delivered up their Bibles and the sacred utensils of the church to the Pagans, in the time of the Dioclesian persecution.
4. Profaning the sacraments, churches, altars, &c.
5. Molesting or hindering a clergyman in the performance of his office.
6. Depriving men of the use of the Scriptures or the sacraments, particularly the cup in the eucharist. The Romish casuists acknowledge all these but the last.
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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