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A Fidlapton & Co London & Edinburgh

Sif the NORIU,
SC_OC LIMII
DICTIONARY
ALL BELIGIONS AND
RELIGIOUS SECTS.
Klusteinen Urrms tiesu Crisi
THE
ar
OF
their
BY THE
BEYO JAMES GARDNER M.A.
NAK
W.B.Scott. Pinxit.
R. Young
VOL.I
.
besarron
2. Co konpon a lepingsrca
THE
1
FAITHS OF THE WORLD;
AN ACCOUNT ON ALL
RELIGIONS AND RELIGIOUS SECTS,
TIIEIR
DOCTRINES, RITES, CEREMONIES, AND CUSTOMS.
COMPILED FROM THE LATEST AND BEST AUTHORITIES,
BY
THE REV. JAMES GARDNER, M.D. & A.M.,
AUTHOR OF THE CHRISTIAN CYCLOPÆDIA, ETC.
AND ILLUSTRATED FROM AUTHENTIC AND TRUSTWORTHY AUTHORITIES.
A
54
'
VOLUME I.
.
A-G.
::
A. FULLARTON & Co.
LEITH WALK, EDINBURGH; UNION STREET, GLASGOW ;
AND 73 NEWGATE STREET, LONDON.
EDINBURGH:
FULLARTON AND ALACTAB. PRINTERS, LEITH WALK
PC
gift
Tappan Preste, Asare,
,
2-24-1933
PREFACE.
The main design of the present Work is, as its title indicates, to exhibit an accu-
rate, comprehensive, and impartial view of the “Faiths of the World.” These are in
themselves so numerous, intricate, and often obscure, that fully and satisfactorily to set
forth their peculiar doctrines and principles, as well as their rites, ceremonies and cụs-
toms, has been a task of extreme difficulty, requiring much laborious investigation and
careful discrimination. Still, the tendencies of the present age seemed imperatively to
demand that some attempt should be made to supply what has often been recognized
as one of the felt wants of the day. For more than half-a-century past the attention
of many thoughtful minds has been turned towards the numerous and diversified aspects
in which religion has presented itself among the various nations and tribes of men on
the face of the earth. Various treatises have appeared of late years bearing upon the
subject, and shedding considerable light upon the mythologies of antiquity; while the
reports of travellers and the narratives of missionaries have furnished much new and
important information on the religions of modern times. “The Religion of God," as
was remarked in the Prospectus, “is one, but the Religions of man are many. The
one God-derived religion, Christianity, stands separate and apart as it were from all
the others. It not only is, but on comparison with others is seen to be infinitely supe-
rior to them, and is shown thereby to be alone the product of Divine inspiration.
“Holy men of old, we know, 'spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost;' and the
Revelation thus sent from above is, without doubt, specially adapted to the character,
the condition, and the circumstances of man. All human systems of religion, even the
most degrading that exist upon the earth, are on examination discovered to be founded
to some extent on these religious sentiments and feelings which are inherent in the
constitution of every mind. But far above all these, Christianity rises pre-eminent and
alone; and the exhibition of its peculiarities, as contradistinguished from those of every
other system of religious doctrine which the world has ever seen, forms a most impor-
tant and powerful argument in favour at once of its truth and of its divine origin.
Such a comparison proclaims Christianity to be the religion, the only religion which is
worthy of God and suitable for man. It proclaims at the same time, with equal power
and effect, the utter futility of the infidel maxim,—that all religions are alike.. A false
religion, whether recorded in the Koran of the Mohammedan or the Shastras of the
Brahman, may contain many truths which in themselves are far from unimportant, but
the fact that it is a human instead of a divine, a false instead of a true religion, indelibly
stamps it as unacceptable and unrecognized in the sight of Him who is 'Just and true
in all His ways, as well as 'Holy in all His works.”
It has been the aim of the Author, in the volumes now presented to the public, to
depict the great leading systems of religion-Christianity, Judaism, Mohammedanism,
.)
ii
PREFACE.
and Paganism—not in their main features only, but in their particular and even minute
details. For this purpose the form of a Dictionary was obviously the best pted, as
affording an opportunity, under different articles, of calling the attention of the reader
to prominent points, whether doctrinal or practical, which might happen to be omitted
in a general view of the system. Besides, the whole of the numerous subjects embraced
in the work are thus presented in a more varied and consequently more interesting
light.
In addition to the great religions of the world, the work includes a view of the
numerous religious sects into which the leading systems have from time to time
branched out, and a full explanation of the peculiarities, whether in doctrines or cere-
monies, by which they have been or still are specially characterized. In this important
part of the undertaking it has been the earnest desire of the Author to be scrupulously
accurate, and accordingly no pains have been spared, both by the careful perusal of the
authoritative standards of the different religious denominations as well as by correspon-
dence with leading men connected with each of them, to impart to these volumes a
thoroughly trustworthy character, and thereby secure the confidence of the various
sections of the religious world. The description also of the rites and ceremonies con-
nected with the several forms and modifications of religious sentiment have been drawn
from sources on which the Author feels he can safely and conscientiously rely.
In the preparation of the Engravings by which the “FAITHS” is embellished, the
Publishers have spared neither trouble nor expense to furnish such illustrations as
might most accurately and vividly represent prominent persons or interesting ceremo-
nies referred to in the work. It may be also proper to state, that simultaneously with
the appearance of the present volumes, the Publishers have issued a carefully prepared
Chart exhibiting "A View, from the Earliest to the Present Period, of the Rise, Dura-
tion, and Outward Connexion of the Chief Religious Communities, Denominations,
Sects, &c., Founded on a Full or Partial Acknowledgment of the Holy Bible,” by the
Rev. Joseph William Wyld. This admirable adjunct to the "FAITHS OF THE
WORLD” gives a distinct and correct vidimus of one great department of the subject,
and that to most readers the most interesting department of the whole book.
..
i
THE
FAITHS OF THE WORLD.
thee peace.
AARON'S BLESSING. Among the ancient | fuses a deep soleminity into their minds. The
Hebrews, it was one of the special functions of the Aaronical blessing, which bas in all ages been held
priestly office to bless the people. The form of in such esteem among the Jews, is seldom used in
blessing most commonly in use was that which was the service of Christian churches. In the Protes-
employed by Aaron, who was the first individual in- | tant church of Denmark, however, it is regularly
vested with the office of the high priesthood by pronounced by the officiating minister with great
divine appointment, and who was commanded by solemnity, the people reverently standing, as ordered
Jehovah himself to pronounce upon the Israelites a by the rubric. See BENEDICTION.
solemn benediction in these words : 66 The Lord AARONITES, the priests of the family of Aaron,
bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make his face whose duty it was to attend to the sanctuary. The
shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the Aaronites appear to have been a very numerous
Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give body in the time of David, amounting to no fewer
Num. vi. 24-26. This, which is than three thousand seven hundred men, and having
called Aaron's blessing, was uttered by the Jewish thirteen cities allotted to them out of the tribes of
priests in a standing posture, with their hands lifted Judah and Benjamin.
up, and their faces turned toward the assembly. AB, the eleventh month of the civil, and the fifth
When it was used in the sanctuary, the blessing was of the sacred or ecclesiastical year among the Jews.
pronounced in its entire state, without a pause, the It consists of thirty days, and corresponds to part of
people preserving profound silence; but in the synia- our months of July and August. On the first day
gogues the priest divided it into three parts, making of the month Ab, the Jews observe a fast in memory
a distinct pause at the end of each verse, and the of the death of Aaron; and on the ninth they keep
people saying with a loud voice, Amen. In the a very strict fast, in remembrance of the destruction
sanctuary, also, they pronounced the name Jehovah, of Solomon's temple by Nebuchadnezzar, and also of
which is thrice repeated in this form of blessing, but the destruction of the second temple by the Romans .
in their synagogues they used some other name of under Titus Vespasian, both which events are alleged
God instead of it. The Jews considered it as un- | by Josephus to have happened on the same day of
lawful to add a fourth benediction to the three which the same month.
. The Jews fast on this day for
occur in Aaron's blessing. In the modern syna- still another reason, viz., in memory of the emperor
gogues, they that are of the family of Aaron go up Adrian's edict forbidding them to continue in Judea,
to the steps which lead to the place where the book or even to bewail the destruction of Jerusalem. The
of the law is kept, and lifting up their hands, pro- services of the synagogue on this fast are long, the
nounce the blessing upon the assembly; and they morning service occupying six hours, from six o'clock
still observe the ancient custom which, they say, was till twelve. The book of the Lamentations is read,
not only to lift up and spread their hands, but then with other lessons appropriate to the occasion. All
to join them together by the thumbs and two fore- labour is suspended as on the Sabbath, and a rigid
fingers, dividing the others from them. When the fast is observed from sunset to sunset of the follow-
blessing is pronounced, all the people cover their ing day. This is supposed to be the fast which
faces, under the impression that they would be struck Zechariah calls “the fast of the fifth month.” On
blind if they should look up. The Divine Majesty, the eighteenth day a fast is observed, because the
they imagine, rests upon the hands of the priest evening lamp in the sanctuary went out in the reign
while he is blessing the people; and this impression of Ahaz.-Āb is also the name of the last of the
of the presence of God as in the midst of them, in- summer months in the Syriac calendar. On the first
1.
A
2
ABADIRES—ABBESS.
day of this month commences the fast-extending to | They put their dead into coffins constructed out of
the fifteenth—which is observed by Eastern Chris- the hollowed trunks of trees, and bound round with
tians under the name of the fast of our Lady. The the sprigs or branches of vines. After the perfor-
sixth day is called Tegialla, or glorification, in me- mance of the funeral obsequies, they bring out pro-
mory of our Lord's transfiguration, and the twenty- visions and lay them upon the sepulchres of their
ninth day is kept in memorial of the beheading of deceased friends.
John the Baptist.
ABATA, inaccessible, a word applied to the chan
ABADIRES, a name alleged by Augustine to cel, or altar-part of ancient Christian churches, be-
have been applied to the higher class of Cartha- cause that portion was carefully railed off, and thus
ginian deities, corresponding to the Dië majorum rendered inaccessible to the multitude. Nøne but the
gentium of the Greeks and Romans. In Roman clergy, as Eusebius informs us, were permitted to
mythology, it was the name of a stone which was enter it in time of divine service, hence it was called
worshipped as having been swallowed by Saturn. abata or adyta. But this part of the church has not
ABARIS, a priest of Apollo mentioned by Hero- been equally inaccessible in all ages. In the time
dotus. He came from the country about Caucasus of the Reformation, Bucer complained loudly against
to Greece, while his own country was visited by the the chancel or altar-part being distinguished from the
plague. His prophetic powers, as well as his Scy- rest of the church, as being a practice tending only
thian dress and simplicity of manners, excited no to magnify the priesthood; but the chancel still re-
little interest in Greece. He travelled from place to
mains
in Lutheran and Romish churches as a separate
place, carrying with him an arrow, in honour of portion of the edifice. See CHANCEL.
Apollo, and gave oracles. Toland, in his ‘History ABBA, a word signifying, in the Syriac language,
of the Druids,' concludes that Abaris must have my father. It is often applied in the Sacred Scrip-
been a Druid of the Hebrides, an arrow being part of tures to God. It is a Jewish title of honour given
the usual costume of a Druid. His history appears to certain Rabbis called Tanaites.
.
It was some-
to be entirely mythical ; he is said to have lived times applied also, in the middle ages, to the superior
without earthly food, and to have rode on an arrow of a monastery. In the Syrian, Coptic, and Ethiopic
through the air. Great doubt exists as to the time churches, Abba is a title usually applied to their
when this personage appeared in Greece. Lobeck bishops; while the bishops themselves give the title
supposes it to have been in the fifty-second Olym- only to the bishop or patriarch of Alexandria. Hence
piad, about 570 B.C.
the people were accustomed to style this latter dig-
ABASSINES, a sect of the Greek church, inhab- nitary Baba, or Papa, long before the bishop of
iting an extended and wooded region along the coast Rome received that appellation. It is probable that
of the Black sea. They seem to form a rough va- the word ABBOT (which see) is derived from Abba.
riety of the Circassians, and chiefly support them- ABBE', a term which, used in a monastic sense, is
selves by plunder and piracy. From their isolated equivalent to the word ABBOT (which see).
position they have fallen away from many of the ABBESS, the lady superior or ruler of a convent
doctrines as well as practices of the Eastern Church of nuns, exercising the same authority as that of an
to which they nominally belong. They observe abbot in a monastery. In entering upon her office
several fasts. They believe in the seven sacraments, she is blessed by the bishop according to a regular
holding confession to be one of them; but they nei- form prescribed in the Pontificale Romanum. The
ther confess the number, nor the particular species ceremony is as follows. The bishop comes prepared
of their sins, contenting themselves with crying out with all his pontifical ornaments, and mass is cele-
in general, “I have sinned, I have sinned.” On the brated. The lady abbess elect is present at the
repetition of these words, the offender is absolved in mass, and hears it in her robes.
mass, and hears it in her robes. She appears with
a few words accompanied with some gentle stripes two senior matrons with the scroll of her appoint-
upon the side with an olive twig. In the case of ment in her hand, duly sealed and attested. Kneel-
heinous crimes however, such as homicide, adultery, ing before the bishop, after mass is ended she swears
and theft, they are often severely scourged. The before him the following oath of due allegiance to
Metropolitan sometimes hears confession, when, if the prelate her ordinary :-“I, N., about to be or-
an aggravated offence is acknowledged to have been dained Abbess of the Monastery of N., do promise
committed, he rises up, and, after administering a in the presence of God, and his saints, and this sol-
sharp rebuke, he cries out, “Hast thou done this? emn congregation of Sisters, fidelity and meet sub-
Dost thou not fear God? Go to, let him be scourged jection, obedience, and reverence to my mother, the
thirty or forty times.” Amongst the Abassines mar- Church of N. and to thee N. my Lord, Patriarch (or
riage is contracted by a mutual promise of love and Archbishop, or Bishop) of the said Church, and thy
constancy to each other before proper witnesses. successors, according to the institutes of the sacred
Their funeral rites are ushered in by cries, sighs and Canons, and as the inviolable authority of the Ro-
groans. The relatives lash themselves, and the wo- man Pontiff enjoins. So help me God, and these
men disfigure their faces while the priest says a re- the holy Gospels of God.” It may be observed,
quiem over the deceased and perfumes the corpse. that in this oath the abbess does not swear, as an
:
ABBEY.
3
abbot does, direct dependence upon and submission " Receive full and free power of ruling this monas-
to the Roman See, but simply to the bishop of the tery and congregation, and all that pertains to its in-
diocese, so that all local female disputes and ap- ternal and external, spiritual or temporal affairs.
peals in convents are settled and take end in the Stand fast in justice and holiness, and keep the
diocese where they originate. If the abbess be ex- place appointed thee by God, for God is powerful,
empt from local jurisdiction, the oath which she takes that he may increase in thee his grace." The ab-
is thus framed:“ I, N., of the monastery N., of bess then accepts the homage of the sisters, and
the order of St. N., of the diocese of N., will be from having given and received the kiss of sisterhood,
this time henceforth obedient to the blessed apostle she enters upon her office as ruler of the convent.
Peter, and the holy Roman Church and our Lord, Her authority over the nuns is complete. She is not
Lord N., and his successors canonically instituted, allowed, indeed, to perform the spiritual functions
and to thee for the time being my religious supe- annexed to the priesthood with which the abbot is
rior, according to the rule of our holy father N., usually invested; but there are some instances of
and the constitutions of the foresaid order.". After abbesses who have the privilege of commissioning a
the Litany, the same two prayers are used as in priest to act for them. The time was when abbesses
the blessing of an abbot. Then follows the Pre- claimed a power almost equal to that of the priest-
face in which the bishop says, "O holy Lord, Al- hood, and so boldly did they advance in rank and
mighty Father, eternal God, pour out through our authority, that about A. D. 813 it became neces-
prayers, on this thy servant, the abundant spirit of | sary to repress the pretended right of the abbesses
thy bene+diction.” At this word the bishop lays to consecrate and ordain and perform other sacer-
both his hands stretched out, but without disjoining dotal functions. At the Council of Beconfield in
his fingers, on the head of the abbess elect, saying, Kent, abbesses subscribed their signatures as well as
“ That she who being chosen by thee is this day abbots and other ecclesiastics. This is recorded to
made an abbess by the imposition of our hands, may have been the first instance of such assumption of
continue worthy of thy sancti+fication; and never equality with the priesthood. The nuns were also
after be separated from thy grace as unworthy." Here required at one time to confess to the abbess, but
the bishop removes his hands from the head of the this practice was found to be attended with so many
abbess elect, and again holding them stretched out | inconveniences that it was speedily discontinued.
before his breast, proceeds with the Preface, which is It would appear that at an early period in the eccle-
a long prayer for the bestowment of ascetic virtues, siastical history of Britain, the power of abbesses
ending with these words, “That so serving thee, 0 must have been of an extraordinary kind. Lingard
Lord, through thy bounty, with a clean heart, blame- says, that during the first two centuries after the con-
lessly in all thy commandments, she may come with version of our ancestors, nearly all nunneries were
multiplied usury to the prize of the vocation from on built upon the principle of those attached to Fonte-
high, and with the hundredfold fruit, and the crown vrault, which contained both monks and nuns under
of righteousness, to thy rewards of heavenly trea- the government of an abbess, the men being subject
sures.” The bishop then delivers to the abbess the to the women. The abbey of St. Hilda at Whitby
rule of her order in these words :-“ Receive the was of this kind. In one part was a sisterliood of
rule delivered by the holy fathers to govern and nuns, and in another a confraternity of monks, both
guard the flock committed to thee by God, as God of whom obeyed the authority of the abbess. In
himself shall strengthen thee, and human frailty per- convents of the present day, however, while the
mit. Receive the maternal oversight of the flock of strictest subordination of the sisterhood to their lady
the Lord, and the care of souls; and walking in the superior is uniformly maintained, she herself is en-
precepts of the Divine law, be thou their leader to the tirely under the control and direction of the bishop
heavenly inheritance! our Lord Jesus Christ assist- of the diocese, so that any abuse of her authority in
ing.” At this part of the ceremony the bishop sprinkles the management of the nuns under her care meets
the white veil with holy water if the abbess is not a with an instant check. See Nuns and NUNNERIES.
nun already, and having blessed it, places it on her ABBEY, a society of persons of either sex who
head in such a manner as to hang loosely down over have retired from the world and secluded themselves
her breast and shoulders, saying :-" Receive thou for purposes of devotion and spiritual meditation.
the sacred veil, whereby thou mayest be known to The name Abbey is also applied to the building in
have contemned the world, and truly, and humbly, which such individuals reside. These religious
with the whole endeavour of thy heart, subjected thy- houses, as they are usually called, abound in Roman
self as a wife to Jesus Christ for ever ; who defend Catholic countries, and are each of them subject to
thee from all evil, and bring thee to life eternal.” the authority of an abbot or abbess, who is appointed
Having received the veil, while still on her knees to enforce all the regulations of the institution. The
before the bishop, she presents him with two large wax executive power is vested in the persons placed at
candles lighted, and kisses the episcopal hand. She the head of each convent or of the whole society;
is now enthroned by the bishop in the seat of her the legislative authority resides in the community to
-predecessor, the following charge being given : which the convent belongs. Affairs of moment re-
2
4
ABBEY.
lating to particular convents are determined in con- cient Culdees, by whom they were used, not for pur-
ventual chapters; such as respect the whole order poses of superstition, but as centres whence were
are considered in general congregations. Abbeys in diffused civilization and knowledge over the whole
their first institution were the offspring of Christian surrounding country. The principal abbey belong-
munificence and devotion ; but in the more corrupt ing to the Culdees was built on the island of Iona,
ages of the church numberless evils arose out of these and in addition to that important institution, there
societies. In Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and other were branch establishments at Abernethy, Dunkeld,
countries where the monastic life had its origin, no St. Andrews, Dunblane, Brechin, Dunfermline,
abbeys or monasteries were judged necessary; the Scone, and various other places. Dr. Jamieson
monks lived separate, without being combined into tells us, that the Culdee fraternities were in process
a society or congregated under one roof. It was not of time displaced by Roman Catholics, who planted
till the fourth century that the plan of a regular con- three canons regular of the Augustinians, as - being
fraternity of monks, dwelling together in one monas- nearest to the Culdees in point of discipline and re-
tery, was proposed by Pachomius, a disciple of An- gulation. Colonies of monks were now introduced
thony, an Egyptian monk, and the reputed founder in great numbers from England and the Continent.
of the monastic system. So rapidly did the rage for But of all the kings that have ever reigned in Scot-
the secluded life of a monk spread throughout society, land, David I. was the most active in rearing and
that in Egypt alone, at the death of Pachomius, A. D. endowing abbeys. Under his patronage, and at his
348, there were no fewer than 76,000 males and expense, monastic establishments were planted in
27,000 females who had embraced the monastic life. every district of the country, and richly endowed,
Still, up to the middle of the sixth century monasti- not only with the teinds or tithes of parishes, but
cism had not been reduced to a regular system, also with liberal grants of land from the royal do-
About that period, however, A. D. 529, Benedict of mains. The example of the monarch was followed
Nurcia instituted a new order of monks, and built by many of the nobility. Abbeys were built both
a monastery which still exists at Monte Casino near in the large towns and in the rural districts. So that
Naples. The strictness with which the monks of it is stated that before the Reformation there were in
this order were organized and disciplined came to be all about 260 abbeys or conventual establishments
imitated throughout Europe generally. The number in Scotland. The most important of these were
of monasteries was multiplied, and the great and Dunfermline, Kelso, Arbroath, Kilwinning, Holyrood,
the wealthy lavished their treasures in support of Jedburgh, and Inchaffray, Melrose, Newbattle, Dry-
them, thinking thereby to obtain the benefit of the burgh, Paisley, and Crossraguel. The wealth of
prayers of those who were the inmates of such in- these abbeys was enormous, and the lands belonging
stitutions. Each abbey or monastery usually consisted to them were the richest and most fertile in the
of three principal apartments, the oratory or chapel, whole country. Their superiors ranked with the
where the monks assemble for prayer or public nobles of the land, and very frequently rose to the
worship; the refectory, where they eat their meals highest civil dignities in the kingdom. The wealth
together; and the dormitory or sleeping apartment, of the abbey of St. Andrews alone amounted to
which was generally situated in the upper part of the £10,000 per annum, an enormous income in those
building and divided into separate cells or bed-rooms days.
for each monk. Besides these, the large abbeys At the Reformation many of the most magnificent
usually contained a cloister or central apartment in abbeys and priories in Scotland fell a prey to the
which the monks were wont to meet at particular fury of the multitude, whose hatred of Romanism
hours; the library or chartulary, where the books was intense and bitter. The lands, tithes, and other
and records were deposited; the apartments of the possessions belonging to the abbeys, the Protestant
superior, and other smaller rooms.
ministers sought to appropriate chiefly to educational
Abbeys were early introduced into Britain, and and charitable purposes. Their benevolent and pa-
many of them were richly endowed, and, by the dona- triotic designs, however, were frustrated by the
tions and bequests of the wealthy, became possessed nobles, who, after setting apart a third for the main-
not only of large sums of money but of landed pro- tenance of Protestant ministers, churches, and schools,
perty of great value and extent. The frequency and quietly seized the rest for their own use.
amount of these bequests gave rise to the statutes nobility who had succeeded many of them in obtain-
against gifts in mortmain, which prohibited donations ing the office of commendatory abbots and priors of
to these religious houses. Abbeys were at length the different convents, retained in their own posses-
totally abolished in England by Henry VIII, and sion the property of the monastic orders. Five of
their revenues seized by the crown. There were the richest abbeys in the kingdom, Melrose, Kelso,
190 such religious houses dissolved at that time, thus St. Andrews, Holyrood, and Coldingham, in this
putting the crown in possession of nearly £3,000,000. way fell into the hands of the five illegitimate sons
By this arrangement the abbey-lands became vested of King James V., who had made them commenda-
in the Crown.
tors of these monastic establishments. Others of
In Scotland, the first abbeys belonged to the an- them reverted to the Crown, and were bestowed by
The lay
I
ABBOT.
5
James VI. on his favourites and flatterers, and from in the quality of presbyters. But while such hon-
these sources many of our nobility derive both their ours were in many cases bestowed upon them, the
titles and estates.
abbots were always understood to be strictly subject
On the Continent at the Reformation, the abbeys, to the bishop of the diocese. And yet the ancient
instead of being demolished as too often happened historian Bede informs us, that, in one case at least
in Britain, were turned to pious and charitable uses, among the Culdees, a presbyter abbot ruled a whole
being converted into hospitals for the sick or edu- province, and received the implicit obedience of the
cational establishments for the young.
bishop. And in one of the canons cited by the
Though the suppression of the abbeys, when con- same historian, it is decreed that the bishops who
sidered in a religious and political point of view, could are monks shall not wander from one monastery to
not be other than beneficial, it is not to be denied another without leave of their abbot, but continue
that these institutions while they existed were pro- in that obedience which they promised at the time
ductive of no little good. Literature as well as re- of their conversion. And it cannot be denied, that,
ligion found a refuge there in times of turbulence. | from the fifth century, there were frequent cases
In them were laid up, as in a storehouse, valuable both in the Eastern and Western churches, of monas-
manuscripts and historical records which would teries being entirely exempt from episcopal visita-
otherwise have perished. To them we are indebted tion.
for much important historical information both as At the Reformation in England, when, by order
regards our own and other countries. In the dark of Henry VIII., the monasteries were dissolved,
ages the abbeys were the only seats of learning, there appears to have been a considerable number of
whether of a secular or a religious nature. See Mo- abbots, Bishop Burnet says twenty-eight, who had
NACHISM, MONASTERY.
obtained the dignity of mitred abbots, and who sat
ABBOT, the father or superior of an abbey or and voted in the House of Lords.
monastery, the name being evidently derived from An abbot can scarcely, in strict ecclesiastical lan-
the Syriac word Abba, father. In the Greek church, guage, be said to be ordained, but rather blessed into
they are termed Hegumenoi, presidents and Archi- his office. The benediction is performed by a bishop,
mandrites, rulers of the sheepfolds. At first they with the assistance of two abbots. Both the person
were laymen, and subject to the bishops and ordi- who consecrates, and the candidate for consecration,
nary pastors. At length, however, being many of are obliged previously to fast, and a solemn mass is
them men of learning and talent, they aspired to be said. On the credence table near the altar the monas-
independent of the bishops, and succeeded in obtain-tic habits of the abbot-elect are laid. The abbot-elect
ing the title of lord, with other badges of episcopal now presents himself to the bishop, accompanied by
dignity, particularly the mitre. Hence arose a class the abbots-assistant, and delivers the apostolical
of abbots who were distinguished by the title of letters authorizing his election. The bishop then
mitred abbots, who exercised episcopal authority, blesses the habit in which the abbot is to be dressed,
and were exempt from the jurisdiction of the bishop. praying over it, and sprinkling it with holy water.
Others received the name of crosiered abbots, from If the abbot-elect has not previously been a monk,
bearing the crosier or pastoral staff ; others were he goes through the ceremonies of admission into the
styled cecumenical or universal abbots, in imitation of order. (See MONK.) He then takes the oath of
the patriarch of Constantinople; and others were allegiance to the Papacy, which is succeeded by an
called cardinal abbots, as being superior to all other examination consisting of the following questions
abbots. The only distinction among abbots which proposed, and answers audibly given :
is at present known in Roman Catholic countries, is "1. Wilt thou persevere in thy holy purpose, and
into regular and commendatory, the former taking keep the rule of St. N. and diligently train thy sub-
the vow and wearing the habit of their order; and jects to do the same? Ans. I will.
the latter being seculars, though bound to take “2. Wilt thou refrain from all that is evil, and,
orders when arrived at the proper age.
with God's help, as far as thou art able, change thy
The power of the abbots over the monks among life to all that is good ? Ans. I will.
whom they presided was supreme, and in case of wilful "3. Wilt thou, with God's help, keep chastity,
transgression or disobedience, on the part of any of sobriety, humility, and patience thyself, and teach
the inmates of the convent, they were authorized to thy subjects the same? Ans. I will.
inflict both spiritual and temporal punishments, the “4. Wilt thou keep faithfully the goods of the
one including the censures of the church, suspen- monastery committed to thy charge, and distribute
sion from the privilege of receiving the eucharist, them to the uses of the Church, the brethren, the
and as a last resource, excommunication; the other poor, and the pilgrims (strangers) ? Ans. I will.
including whipping and expulsion from the monas- "5. Wilt thou always devoutly and faithfully ren-
tery.
der in all things faith, subjection, obedience and re-
The abbots were at one period of great repute in verence, to our holy Mother the Church of Rome,
the church. They were often summoned to eccle- to our most holy Lord N. supreme Pontiff and his
siastical councils, and allowed to sit and vote there successors ? Ans. I will."
1
6
ABBUTO-ABELLIO.
An additional oath of submission to the bishop is , bear, or some other wild beast, having a leathern
then administered if necessary. But such oath is girdle about the waist, from which hangs a bag.
not uniformly taken, as some abbots hold directly Some of them have about the middle of their bo-
of the Roman see,, and others of the bishop, and dies a copper-serpent, bestowed upon them by their
under his jurisdiction. Then follows the mass cele- doctors as a mark of learning. Their opinions are
brated by the bishop and the abbot-elect, each apart, of a very dangerous character, totally subversive
after which comes the Preface, in the course of which of all good order in society, holding as they do that
the bishop lays both his hands upon the head of the all actions are indifferent; and that God is served
candidate, thus making him an abbot by the impo- in the haunts of the profligate as much as in the
sition of hands, a ceremony which has been already mosques. They carry in their hands a kind of club,
noticed in the article ABBESS: which see. The which they use as conjurors do their rods. They
rule of his order is next presented to him, after which chiefly employ themselves in wandering about, sell-
the bishop blesses the pastoral staff, and gives it to ing relics, as the hair of Mahomet and other arti-
him saying, “ Receive the staff of the pastoral office cles, calculated to deceive the superstitious and weak-
that the society committed to thee may carry minded.
it before thee, and that, in correcting their faults, ABECEDARIAN HYMNS. In the fourth cen-
thou mayest be mercifully severe, and when angry tury, hymns which received this name were com-
mayest be mindful of mercy." The ring is then posed in imitation of the acrostic poetry of the He-
blessed and presented to him in token of his espou- brews, in which each verse or each part commenced
sal to God, and to holy mother Church. He now with the first and succeeding letters of the alphabet
presents to the bishop, in a kneeling posture, two in their order. Augustine composed a hymn or
large lighted candles, two loaves, and two barrels of psalm of this kind against the Donatists, for the com-
wine, reverently kissing his hand. The communion mon people to learn, and, in imitation of the 119th
having been administered, if he be a mitred abbot, | Psalm, he divided it into so many parts, according
the mitre is blessed and put upon his head, this be- to the order of the letters of the alphabet. Hence
ing according to the Pontifical, the helmet of salva- these psalms were called Abecedarii, each part hav-
tion, representing also the two horns of the two ing its proper letter at the head of it, and the hypo-
Testaments, whose enemies he is preparing to com- psalma, or answer, to be repeated at the end of every
bat. The gloves are now blessed and presented to part of it, not by canonical singers, but by the whole
him, after which he is enthroned in the seat of his body of the congregation, who seem to have had
predecessor, or if the benediction does not take place generally a share in the psalmody of the ancient,
in the monastery, he is placed on the faldstool; he Christian church. See PSALMODY.
receives the pastoral staff in his left hand, and has ABELIANS, or ABELITES, a small and short-
the care of the monastery formally and solemnly lived Christian sect, which is mentioned by Augus-
intrusted to him. The ceremonial closes with the tine as having risen in the diocese of Hippo, in
kiss of peace, and the salutation of the monks now Africa, in the fourth century. They derived their
under his charge. The abbot having thus been in- name from Abel, the son of Adam, who, they alleged,
stalled into his office, goes round with his assistants though married, had lived in a state of continence.
and blesses the people. See MONACHISM—MON- This example they sought to imitate; and, accord-
ingly, it is represented that every man married a
ABBUTO, one of the idols worshipped in Japan. | female child, and every woman a little boy, with
It is noted for curing many inveterate diseases, and whom they lived, and whom they made their heirs,
also for procuring a favourable wind and a quick imagining that in this way they fulfilled rally
passage at sea. To propitiate this god, accordingly, what Paul says (1 Cor. vii. 29), that “they that have
Japanese sailors and passengers generally tie some wives be as though they had none." This sect, enter-
small pieces of coin to sticks, and cast them from taining notions so absurd, could not be expected to
the vessel into the sea by way of an offering to be of long continuance. We are informed, accord-
Abbuto; but his priests contrive to pick up the ingly, that it originated in the reign of the emperor
coins for their own use, while they persuade the Arcadius, and lasted only till the time of Theodosius.
people that the offerings have been accepted by the Some writers have doubted whether such a sect ever
god. Nay, it often happens that the god Abbuto, existed; but even in the present day, sentiments of
dressed up like one of his priests, comes in a boat to a somewhat similar kind are current among :
the
demand this offering, and he remains near the shore Shakers in North America.
till the ship is out of sight of land.
ABELLIO, the name of a heathen divinity, found
ABDALS, a name given to a very peculiar class in inscriptions which were discovered at Comminges,
of men among the Mohammedans, who derive their in France.
in France. Some writers have considered Abellio to
name from being wholly devoted to God. They are be the same as Apollo. The root of the word has
also called Santons, and by Ricault, they are termed been traced by others to Belus, or BAAL (which see),
Calenders or Calenderans. They go bareheaded, a Syrian deity referred to in the Old Testament
and with naked legs, half covered with the skin of a Scriptures.
ASTERY.
>
ABESTA.
7
ABESTA, or AVESTA, the most ancient records prises two opposite worlds ; and this hostility is in-
of the doctrines of the Persian magi. These writings troduced also into the inferior creation, the human
are attributed to Zoroaster, and belong to a very or terrestrial world. Ormuzd had produced the
remote period, which has not yet been settled with germ of this inferior creation ; a germ which con-
exactness and certainty. It is probable that when tained the principle of human, and also of animal
they were composed, or, at least, when the doctrines and vegetable life. This creation in the germ is re-
contained in them were promulgated, the traditional presented by a bull, the symbol of organic force.
truths that constituted the primitive religion had | Ahriman, after having urged his efforts against
been corrupted in Persia by a gross star-worship. heaven, redescended to the earth and wounded the
The object of the doctrine of Zoroaster was to reform mystic bull; but his fruitful death became the source
and purify the worship by recalling it to spiritualisin, of life. From the left shoulder issued his soul, the
that is, by representing the sensible world as the vital and conservative principle of all animals, and
envelop and symbol of the spiritual world. The from his right shoulder proceeded the first man.
Abesta, or, as it is often termed, the Zendavesta,
often termed, the Zendavesta, His blood produced the clean animals, and the
contained two kinds of documents. (1.) The Ven-
(1.) The Ven- wholesome plants sprang from his body. To main-
didad, written in the Zend language, is principally tain the conflict in this sphere of creation, Ahriman
liturgical. But this work contains, in the midst of a formed immediately the unclean animals and noxious
multitude of prayers and ceremonial prescriptions, plants. It may be observed here, that the myth of
some doctrinal notions of a strange description. (2.) the primitive bull envelops the philosophical concep-
The Boundehesch, or that which has been created tion of the unity of the vital principles in all organ-
from the beginning, written in the Pehlvi dialect, ized beings. Ormuzd created a world of good
contains a cosmogony which sheds great light genii
, to oppose whom Ahriman had created a world
upon many portions of the doctrine of the Zend of evil genii; Ormuzd produced an animal and vege-
documents. From this cosmogony proceeds a variety | table creation placed below man in the scale of being,
of notions, relating both to the intercourse of men to oppose whom Ahriman produced a creation of the
with God, and to the intercourse of men with each same order, but corrupt and corrupting. Man, placed
other. The ideas which it contains respecting as- between these two extremes, had alone escaped this
tronomy and agriculture, reflect, under this twofold | antagonism of the creation. Ahriman had not been
celestial and terrestrial relation, the intellectual con- able to find any means of creating a bad man. He
dition of the mysterious band of the Magi, a sacer- had no resource but to slay the primitive man, Kaio-
dotal corporation, which was to Media and Persia morts, who was at once man and woman. From his
what the Brahmins have been to India.
blood sprang, by means of transformations, Meschia
The Abesta contains not so much a system of re- and Meschianee, ancestors of the human race, who
ligion as of philosophy; and yet as it unfolds the were soon seduced by Ahriman, and became wor-
fundamental principles of the ancient Persian re- shippers of the Dews, to whom they offered sacrifice.
ligion, it may be useful to give a rapid sketch of its Hence has arisen a great conflict, which has been
peculiar tenets.
maintained in the human race between Ormuzd and
In the beginning existed Time illimitable. Under | Ahriman. Men pass their lives upon the earth un-
this name the Abesta recognises the primitive unity, der a twofold influence, from the good and the evil
the source of being. The Eternal, or Time without genii, which tends to sanctify or to defile their souls,
bounds, first produced Ormuzd, or, as he is termed and under a twofold contact, with pure and with im-
by the Greeks, Oromasdes, the supremely pure and pure material objects, which produces either purity
good being. He is the Light, and the Creative or defilement of body. Hence the necessity of a
Word. Time without bounds produced also Ahri- double purification, spiritual and corporeal,-a puri-
man, or, according to the Greeks, Arimanes, the | fication wrought by prayers and rites taught by Or-
evil being, the principle of darkness. He is the muzd to Zoroaster. The souls of men who follow
essence hidden in crime, the author of discord and Ahriman will go to dwell with the evil genii in the
anarchy. According to ancient Persian traditions, abyss of darkness; those who follow Ormuzd will be
collected by Sharistani, Ormuzd should be regarded united to him and to the good genii in light and
as properly the spiritual principle, and Ahriman as blessedness. In the end, however, there will be
the genius of matter, which is the shadow of spirits. a universal restoration; Ahriman himself shall be
Dependent originally upon these two principles, the purified, evil shall be subdued, and the antagonism
creation contains in its bosom a radical hostility, a of creation shall disappear.
necessary strife, and the idea of conflict becomes the The Persian conceptions, viewed philosophically,
general formula of the universe. This conflict is re- offer a striking contrast to those of the Hindus. In
presented in the physical world by the succession of the philosophy of the Vedas, the unity of the crea-
day and night, which dispute the empire of Time, tion is the predominating, and in certain respects,
and alternately put each other to flight.
the exclusive idea; the presiding idea, on the other
Thus, according to the Abesta of the ancient Per- hand, of the Abesta, is not only the duplicity, but
sians, the superhuman creation is twofold: it com- the antagonism of creation throughout all its de.
8
ABHASSARA-ABIB.
partments. This antagonism does not, however, con- the Budhists, was the state of this earth before the
stitute dualism in the sense in which it designates creation of the sun and moon. See BUDHISTS.
subsequent developments in the history of philoso- ABHIDHARMMA, the third class of the sacred
phy, that is, dualism as maintaining two co-eternal, books of the Budhists, which are called in Páli, the
necessary and uncreated principles. The principle language in which they are written, Pittakattyan,
of light and the principle of darkness in the Abesta, from pitakan, a basket or chest, and tayo, three, the
both proceed from a primitive unity, Time without text being divided into three great classes. The
bounds. Unity appears at the origin of creation; it | Abhidharmma contain instructions which the Bud-
appears again at the final consummation in the ulti- hists imagine to be addressed to the inhabitants of
mate triumph of good.
the celestial worlds. This is accordingly accounted
The character of the dualism of the philosophy of the highest class of sacred books, and the expounders
the Abesta depends upon the determination of the of it are to be held in the highest honour, for it con-
question, whether Ahriman was born evil by nature, tains pre-eminent truths, as the word itself implies.
or became so by the abuse of liberty. The latter is The books of which it consists are not in the form
the more probable supposition. In the philosophi of sermons, but specify terms and doctrines, with
cal traditions of the Magi, and which probably con- definitions and explanations. It contains seven sec-
tained a transformation of the doctrines of the tions.
Abesta, the principle of darkness, identified with The text of the Abhidharmma contains 96,250
matter, is represented as essentially evil; but in stanzas, and in the commentaries there are 30,000;
order not to attribute the origin of evil to God, the so that in the whole, including text and commentary,
same traditions maintain, that the production of this there are 126,250 stanzas. To show the value in
principle was not contained in the primary will of which this class of the sacred books of the Budhists
the Creator; but that it was solely an inevitable is held, the following legend may suffice. In the
consequence of the creation of good beings, because time of Kásyapa Budha, there were two priests who
darkness necessarily follows light as the shadow fol- lived in a cave, and were accustomed to repeat aloud
lows the substance. Under this figure seems to have the Abhidharmma Pitaka. In the same cave there
been couched the profound idea, that as every created were five hundred white bats, that were filled with
being is necessarily imperfect, the creation neces-joy when they heard the word of the priests, by
sarily contains two principles, the one limiting, the which they afterwards acquired merit, so that they
other limited, and that in this sense the Creator, the afterwards became déwas or divine beings, and in
limiting being, is the principle or author of imperfec- the time of Gótama were born in the world of men.
tion and evil. Whether this was the idea really in- On this absurd legend, Mr. Spence Hardy remarks,
tended to be conveyed is by no means certain ; but, in his 'Eastern Monachism,' “ Now, if these bats,
at all events, the system which we have now un- merely from hearing the sound of the words of the
folded, as contained in the Abesta, gives no slight | Abhidharmma, without understanding them, received
countenance to such a conception. See ZOROAS- so great a reward, it is evident that the reward of
those who both hear and understand them must be
ABHASSARA, a superior celestial world, accord- something beyond computation.”
ing to the Budhist religion. The Sacred Books of About fifty years ago, a class of metaphysicians
that religion teach, that previous to the creation of arose in Ava, called Pararnats, who respected only
the present world, there were several successive the Abhidharmma, and rejected the other books that
systems of worlds which were destroyed by fire. | the Budhists consider as sacred, saying, that they
On the destruction of the former worlds, the beings are only a compilation of fables and allegories. The
that inhabited them, and were in the possession of founder of the sect, Kosan, with about fifty of his
merit, received birth in the celestial world, called followers was put to death by order of the king.
Abhassara ; and when their proper age was expired, A curious prophecy is found in the sacred writ-
or their merit was not such as to preserve them any ings of the Budhists, in which it is declared, that,
longer in a superior world, they again came to in- after 5,000 years shall have elapsed from the time of
habit the earth. It was by the apparitional birth its first promulgation, their system will cease to ex-
they were produced; and their bodies still retained ist; and it is alleged that, as the process of extinc-
many of the attributes of the world from which they tion will be gradual, there are five different epochs
had come, as they had subsisted without food, and or periods of time in the course of which all know-
could soar through the air at will; and the glory ledge of the religion of Budha will pass away from
proceeding from their persons was so great, that the earth. It is in the third of these epochs that
there was no necessity for a sun or a moon. Thus, all means of understanding the profound Abhid-
no change of seasons was known; there was no dif- harmma will be lost. See BUDHISTS.
ference between night and day; and there was no ABIB, the name of the first month in the sacred,
diversity of sex. Throughout many ages did the and the seventh in the civíl year of the Jews. It
primitive inhabitants of the earth thus live, in all was also called at an after period Nisan, and con-
happiness and in mutual peace. Such, according to tained thirty days, answering to part of our March
TER.
ABLUTION
9
1
and April. The sacred year was appointed to com- other vermin. “ Divers washings
are mention-
mence in this month, probably because on the 15th ed by the apostle Paul among other ceremonial
of Abib the Israelites left Egypt. The Passover rites to which the Jews adhered with the greatest
was celebrated on the fourteenth day of this month, tenacity. To illustrate the scrupulousness of the
between the two evenings, or between the hours of Pharisees in the matter of purifications, it is related
three and six o'clock.
of a certain rabbi, who was imprisoned in a dungeon
ABLUTION, the ceremony of washing or bath- with a very scanty allowance of food and water, that
ing the body in water, which has been in all ages one day a part of his allowance of water having been
and in all countries, but particularly in the East, re- accidentally spilled, he chose rather to hazard his
sorted to as conducive in a high degree to health perishing with thirst than to drink what was left and
and comfort. But from the earliest times ablution omit his usual purifications.
has been also practised as a religious ceremony, in- The Mohammedans are very rigorous in the
tended to denote that inward purity which a holy observance of their ablutions. It is regarded by
God requires of all his worshippers. The Egyp- them as a duty of divine obligation to wash first
tians, as we are informed by Herodotus, made use of their mouths and faces, and after that their whole
ablution as a sacred rite from the most remote anti- bodies. According to the injunction of Moham-
quity, especially their priests. It formed a part med in the Koran, this ablution must be per-
also of the religion of the Syrians. The earliest in- formed with a pious intention. In order to cleanse
stance of ablution recorded in Scripture was that of or purify the body, water must be thrown all over it
Aaron and his sons, Lev. viii. 6, who were com- three times successively, commencing at the right
manded to wash their bodies before their investiture shoulder and proceeding to the left, then to the head,
with the sacred robes, and the other ceremonies of and at last to all the other parts of the body. It is
their consecration. The priests, besides, were en- regarded as a commandment of divine institution, to
joined to practise ablution whenever they had con- wash the face and the arms up to the elbows once,
tracted any legal pollution. No such command and to wet one fourth part of the head and the feet
seems to have been given to the people, unless once ; and the Koran enjoins the hands to be washed
they had become legally impure. In the time of our | thrice, the teeth to be cleansed with a particular
blessed Lord, the Jews seem to have been very strict kind of wood, and the mouth to be washed three
in their observance of common ablutions. Thus we times in succession after it, and the nose also thrice
are informed that they would not eat until they had without intermission. After this part of the process
washed their hands; and even their common ves- is ended, the ears must be wet with the remainder of
sels and furniture were subjected to purification as a the water which was made use of for washing the
religious custom. The same custom was observed | head. The right side of the body must be washed
by the Egyptians. The only trace of the practice first, and in washing the hands and feet, the utmost
of ablution which occurs in the Roman liturgy, with care must be taken to begin with the fingers and toes.
the exception of sprinkling with holy water, is the The slightest deviation from the injunctions of the
direction given to the priest to wash his hands as a Koran renders the ablution void as a sacred rite,
part of the sacramental ritual.
and therefore it must be repeated.
The mode of washing the hands among the modern In oriental countries, the heathen almost uni-
Jews, after legal defilement, is peculiar. They first formly observe ablution as a part of their religious
take the basin in the right hand, and then give it to rites. Thus, in India, washing in the Ganges is
the left. When the former is clean, it washes the accounted a sure source of spiritual purification
latter. Among many of them it is regarded as pro- during life, but more especially in the near approach
ductive of some fatal misfortune if the water with of death. On this subject Dr. Duff gives the follow-
which they have washed themselves is spilt, or if ing graphic picture of the veneration in which this
they happen to walk over it, or if the skin is river-god is viewed by the Hindus:—“In the prospect
in any even the smallest degree rubbed off before of dissolution, its waters are fraught with peculiar
their ablution. And such precautions are viewed as efficacy in obliterating the stains of transgression.
necessary, not only in washing the hands, but also | To think intensely on the Ganges at the hour of
the face. Before eating some sorts of food, more death, should the patient be far distant, will not fail
washings were required by the rabbies than for of a due reward : to die in the full view of it, is pro-
others. Before bread was eaten, the hands must be nounced most holy: to die on the margin, in its im-
washed with care, but dry fruits might be eaten with mediate presence, still holier; but to die partly im-
unwashed hands. Many directions were given on mersed in the stream, besmeared with its sacred
these subjects by the Jewish doctors. If a person, mud, and imbibing its purifying waters, holiest of all.
otherwise clean, touched any part of the Scriptures, Yea, such is its transforming efficacy, that if one
he was not allowed to eat till he had washed his perish in it by accident, or in a state of unconscious-
hands. The reason assigned for this was, that pos- ness, he will be happy. And, what is more wonder-
sibly the books, which often had been laid up in ful still, it is affirmed that if a worm, or an insect,
secret places, might have been gnawed by mice or or a grasshopper, or any tree growing by its side, die
10
ABLUTION.
99
in it, it will attain the highest felicity in a future state.' | him so to die for the benefit of his soul.' They then
On the other hand, to die in the house, when within drown his entreaties amid shouts of Hurri bol!
one's power to be conveyed to the river's side, is Hurri bol !' and persevere in filling his mouth with
held the greatest misfortune. But if distance, or any water till he gradually expire; stifled, suffocated,
sudden contingency interpose a barrier, the preserva- murdered, in the name of humanity—in the name of
tion of a single bone, for the purpose of committing religion and that, too, it may be, by his own
it at some future time to the Ganges, is believed to parents ; by his own brothers or sisters ; by his own
contribute essentially to the salvation of the deceased. sons or daughters!”
Hence the origin of many of those heart-rend- The Brahmins account it a great merit to practise
ing scenes that are constantly exhibited along the ablutions, for which they employ either fresh or salt
banks of the Ganges--scenes, from the contempla- water. The latter has, in their opinion, the property
tion of which nature recoils—scenes, at the recital of of cleansing from sin, only with regard to the dis-
which humanity shudders. When sickness is thought tinctions of times and places. Among the rivers of
to be unto death, the patient, willing or unwilling, is fresh water they chiefly prize the Ganges, account-
hurried to the banks of the river. At some ghats, ing its virtue so great, that it has a beneficial effect
there are open porches where the wealthy may find on all such as barely wash themselves in it, without
refuge; or they may seek for partial shelter under a any design of obtaining thereby the remission of their
temporary canopy. But for the great mass of the sins. So highly is the water of this sacred river
people there is no resource. They die, stretched on valued, that it is frequently carried in bottles up the
the muddy bank, often without a mat beneath them, country, for the use of those who are at a distance
exposed to the piercing rays of the sun by day, and from it; and the Brahmins teach the people that the
to the chilling damps and dews of night. Such ex- waters of any river will have the same property,
posure were enough speedily to reduce the healthiest, provided the person using them thinks of the waters
and paralyse the most robust. How then must it of the Ganges, and devoutly utters the prayer, “ O
aggravate the last pangs of nature in a frame ex- Ganges, wash me.
hausted by age or disease! How must it accelerate Among the Hindus it is viewed as far more meri-
the hour of dissolution! Here, you see a wretched torious to wash in a running stream than in stand-
creature writhing in agony, and no means whatever ing water. But in some parts of India—as, for
employed for his recovery or relief. You propose to instance, in Malabar—they use tanks, or reser-
supply some remedy. Your offer is scornfully reject- voirs of water, in which they perform their ablu-
ed. "He was brought here to die,' say those around tions. Before they go into the water, they shake a
him, and live he cannot now.' There, you see some little of it into the air with three fingers of the right
young men roughly carrying a sickly female to the hand, in honour of the Hindu Triad, pronouncing, at
river. You ask, what is to be done with her? The the same time, the following words : “In drawing
reply may be—We are going to give her up to near this water and touching it, I renounce all my
Ganga to purify her soul, that she may go to heaven; sins.” On first entering the water, they divide it
for she is our mother.' Here, you behold a man and with their two hands, and immediately plunge into
woman sitting by the stream, busily engaged in be- it, after which they take water and throw it eight
sprinkling a beloved child with the muddy water, | times into the air for the sake of those eight beings
endeavouring to soothe his dying agonies with the whom they imagine to preside over the universe;
monotonous but plaintive lullaby,— 'Tis blessed to and having done this, they wash their faces three
die by Ganga, my son!'- To die by Ganga is times, invoking the wife of the god Vishnu. They
blessed, my son!' There
you
behold another seated now take water a third time, and throw it towards
up to the middle in water. The leaves of a sacred heaven as an offering to the sun. They then rub
plant are put into his mouth. He is exhorted to re- their hands and feet with ashes of cow-dung, diluted
peat, or if he is unable, his relations repeat in his in a little water, crying out at the same time, “Be
behalf, the names of the principal gods. The mud purified.” After a few more ceremonies of a similar
is spread over the breast and forehead, and thereon kind, they close the ceremony of purification, by
is written the name of his tutelary deity. The at-taking up ashes with three fingers of the right hand,
tendant priests next proceed to the administration of with which they rub their foreheads, their shoulders,
the last fatal rite, by pouring mud and water down and breasts, in honour of Brahma, Vishnu, and
his throat, crying out, “O Mother Ganga, receive his Shiva.
soul!' The dying man may be roused to sensibility The Hindus are very superstitious with re-
by the violence. He may implore his friends to de- gard to eclipses, and redouble their ablutions when
sist, as he does not yet wish to die. His earnest these phenomena occur. Bernier, describing the
supplications, and the rueful expression of his coun- ceremony on one of these occasions, says: “ The
tenance, may stir up your bowels of compassion, and moment these idolaters perceived that the sun began
you may vehemently expostulate with his legalized to be eclipsed, they made a great shout, plunged
murderers in his favour. They coolly reply, 'It is our themselves immediately over head and ears into the
religion : It is our religion. Our shastra recommends water, and standing upright in it, their hands and
ABRAHAMITES.
11
eyes lifted up towards the sun, they muttered out / ABOUDAD, the sacred bull of the ancient Per-
their prayers, took up water every now and then, sians. See BULL-WORSHIP.
and threw it up towards the planet of the day. ABRAHAMITES, a Christian sect which arose
While this was performing, they held down their in the end of the eighth and beginning of the ninth
hands, and made several motions with their arms. centuries, taking their name from Abraham or Ibra-
After this they again repeated their prayers, plunged him their founder. At Antioch, of which he was a
themselves afresh, and continued to do so as long as native, he revived the opinions of the PAULICIANS
the eclipse lasted. They then all of them withdrew, (which see), and succeeded in gaining over to his
having first thrown several pieces of silver a consi- sect a great number of the Syrians. This sect, how-
derable way into the water, and given alms to the ever, was violently opposed by the Patriarch Syria-
Brahmins, who never fail to assist at this devout cus, who seems to have soon extirpated them. The
solemnity." While engaged in these ablutions, the name Abrahamites was also given to a sect of monks
Hindu devotees mutter inarticulately a certain form in the ninth century, who were exterminated by the
of prayer, and during the time, or immediately after, Emperor Theodorus for their idolatry.
they take three separate draughts of the holy water. The Abbé Gregoire, in his 'Histoire des Sectes
Sometimes they say their prayers out of the water; Religieuses,' mentions a modern sect of this name
and in that case they wash a particular spot of as having been discovered in Bohemia in 1782.
ground as near to the length of their own body as They seem to have professed the patriarchal faith,
possible, on which they prostrate themselves with or the religion of Abraham before his circumcision,
their arms and legs extended, and in this attitude though some of them were circumcised as being
they say their prayers. They frequently kiss this
They frequently kiss this Jews by birth; others were Protestants, and a few
little spot of earth thus sanctified by the Ganges, | Roman Catholics. According to a catechism which
thirty times successively, but in this act of devotion is attributed to them they professed to believe in
their right foot is kept strictly immoveable.
God, the immortality of the soul, and a future state
While ablution was practised as a religious rite of rewards and punishments. They denied, however,
by Jewish, Mohammedan, and Heathen religionists, the divine legation of Moses, and recognised no
it seems not to have been altogether unknown among Scriptures but the Decalogue and the Lord's Prayer.
the early Christians. In the atrium, or outer court They rejected baptism, and denied the doctrine of
which led to the interior of the church, there was the Trinity. On being questioned as to the Son of
commonly a fountain or a cistern of water for the God, an Abrahamite said, “I am the Son of God,
people to wash their hands and face before they en- whose Spirit resides in me, and by whom I am in-
tered the church. Eusebius and Chrysostom, both spired.” M. Gregoire admits that the adherents of
of them make frequent allusions to this custom. this sect were simple country people, whose moral
Baronius and some other Romish wiiters try to de- character was in all respects unimpeachable. Though
fend the use of holy water by tracing it to this early the sect was numerous at the time when it was first
practice in the Christian church. It was also cus- brought to light, yet being scattered through differ-
tomary among the primitive Christians for the min- ent villages, they had for a considerable period con-
ister to wash his hands before consecrating the ele- trived to escape public notice. No sooner did the
ments in the Lord's supper. Cyril of Jerusalem existence of such a sect become known, than a keen
speaks of the deacon bringing water to the bishop, persecution arose, and they were compelled to claim
und presbyters standing about the altar to wash the protection of the Emperor Joseph II., who al-
their hands. The origin of this custom is probably lowed them till the 24th March 1783, to adopt any
to be found in the saying of the Psalmist, “I will one of the religions which he saw fit to tolerate -
wash mine hands in innocency, so will I compass the Lutheran, the Reformed, or the Greek church.
thine altar, O Lord." In some of the early churches At the end of the stipulated time they declared their
also the practice existed of washing the feet of those resolution to abide by their peculiar opinions, and
who were baptized. Ambrose of Milan says that were in consequence banished into Hungary, none of
the bishop of that church uniformly adhered to that them being suffered to return unless on the condi-
usage, and pleads for it as sanctioned by the say. tion that they should embrace the Roman Catholic
ing of Christ to Peter, “ Except I wash thy feet thou religion. The Abbé Gregoire alleges also on the
hast no part with me;" and he still further adds,
and he still further adds, authority of a letter from Germany in 1800, that
That this was not done to obtain remission of sins, from the time of their banishment from Bohemia,
for that was already done in baptism, but because the Abrahamites had chiefly resided in the town of
Adam was supplanted by the devil, and the serpent's Pardubitz and its neighbourhood, and that they were
poison was cast upon his feet, therefore men were charged with holding the tenets of the ADAMITES
washed in that part for greater sanctification, that (which see). This accusation, however, arose in all
he might have no power to supplant them any farther. probability from an entire misunderstanding of their
This custom, however, was far from being generally peculiar tenets.
prevalent in the early Christian church. See LUS- An anonymous traveller, in the beginning of the
TRATION-PURIFICATION.
last century, mentions a small sect of this name as
12
ABRAHAM'S SACRIFICE—ABRAXAS.
6
having been found by him in Egypt, holding opi- or gradations of the spiritual world, used the term
nions more approaching to modern Deists than to Abraxas to denote the first of these, or the prince of
Christians. These Abrahamites, he says, acknow- the angels who resided in them. Many modern
ledge no other law but that of nature, which they writers, however, proceeding on the authority of Je-
allege was delivered by God to their ancestor Abra- rome, regard the Abraxas as having been not the
ham. They constantly read Sacred Books, contain- prince of the angels, but the supreme god of the Basi-
ing an account of the creation and early history of lidians. Jerome views the word as identical in mean-
the world, but not the history as given by Moses, ing, as it is in numerical value, with Mithras or the
which they consider as a mere romance, and its au- sun, which the ancient Persians worshipped. This,
thor they look upon as a wise legislator, but not a according to Dr. Lardner, explains why Abraxas is
prophet. They deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, said to be the chief of the 365 heavens, or angels
but acknowledge him to be an eminently holy man. who inhabit them, and rule over the 365 days of the
These Abrahamites reject the rites and observances
year. “For," he adds, “the sun being the fountain
of Christians, and profess to worship one Supreme of light, and the immediate cause of day, may with
Being, and him only, and to love their neighbours as great propriety be said to preside over all the days
themselves. They deny the immortality of the soul, of the year. He may also, in the hieroglyphical
which they look upon as a modern invention. No language, be said to contain in himself the parts of
such sect as that which we have now described, is which the year is composed, and to rule over it.”
mentioned by any other traveller, as far as we can A great number of gems or precious stones still exist,
discover, than the anonymous individual whose ac- scattered throughout various public museums and pri-
count we have sketched. We are not disposed vate collections in Europe, on which, besides other
therefore to put much confidence in the statements figures of Egyptian device, the word Abraxas is en-
of a single nameless person, uncorroborated by other graved.
graved. Learned men almost universally think, that
travellers in Egypt.
these gems originated from Basilides; hence they
ABRAHAM'S SACRIFICE (FEAST OF). It is a are called Gemmce Basilidiano. Lardner, in his
remarkable fact, that neither the Turkish, nor Per- History of the Heretics of the First Two Cen
sian Mohammedans, nor indeed any of the followers turies,' expresses strong doubts whether these gems
of the false prophet, believe that Isaac was the eld- belonged to the Basilidians; and Passeri regards
est son of Abraham, but they allege that he was them as referring to the Egyptian magicians, while,
born long after Ishmael, whose mother Hagar was, with singular inconsistency, he admits that he found
in their view, the lawful wife, and Sarah the concu- on them some traces of the Basilidian heresy.
bine. Ishmael, 'not Isaac, was about to be sacrificed, There can be no doubt that the heathens were ac.
they allege, by the Divine command. In memory customed to use such gems, with or without inscrip-
of this remarkable trial of Abraham's faith, a large tions, as amulets or charms. It is quite possible,
number of people assemble in the most public parts of also, that among the early Christians, many of whom
the cities. In Constantinople the Grand Seignor puts were converts from heathenism, there might be
himself at the head of the multitude, attended by his some who still retained a superstitious regard for
officers of state, and surrounded by his janissaries or these amulets. A charm of this kind for the cure of
guards. A number of eunuchs richly dressed walk ague was used by Quintus Serenus Sammonicus, a
behind him. The whole road from the seraglio to physician, who is supposed by Montfaucon to have
the mosque of Mohammed is lined with immense been a follower of Basilides. The magical word
crowds, and the foreign ambassadors accompany him Abracadabra was to be inscribed on paper, and hav-
to the door of the mosque, but are not allowed to ing been wrapped in linen, was to be hung about the
enter without his permission. After the service has patient's neck; and each day one letter of the word
been gone through, the procession returns in the same was to be taken away. The figure of the charm
order. And this ceremony is repeated once every
repeated once every may be thus represented :
year, in memory of Abraham's carrying Ishmael to
ABRACADABRA
mount Moriah, for they refuse to admit that it was
ABRACADABR
Isaac. The Turks call this festival Behul Bairam,
ABRACADAB
or the Great Feast. The Persians celebrate it the
ABRACADA
next day after their Lent.
ABRACAD
ABRAXAS, a term which has excited no small
ABRACA
discussion among the learned. The ancient Egyp-
ABRAC
tians appear to have used the word to denote the
ABRA
Lord of the Heavens. In the Greek language, cal-
ABR
culating the numerical value of each letter, the en-
AB
tire word is equivalent to 365. Irenæus, followed
A
by Theodoret, alleges, that Basilides of Alexandria, Chrysostom indeed alleges, that long after the
a heretic, who flourished in the second century, | Basilidian heresy was extinct, the Christians at An-
imagining there were 365 heavens, or rather regions | tioch used to bind brass coins of Alexander the
ABSOLUTION.
13
Great about their feet and heads, to keep off or had been subjected to discipline for offences of any
drive away diseases. Montfaucon, in his valuable | kind had gone through the several stages of disci-
and erudite work, “Antiquité Expliquée,' gives a pline appointed for them, they were then admitted
minute account of the Abraxæi, as he terms them, to complete and perfect communion by the great
or Basilidian gems. He arranges them into differ- and last reconciliatory absolution.
and last reconciliatory absolution. This was always
ent classes thus : (1.) Those which have at the top performed, in the case of public penitents, in a sup-
a cock's head, which refers to the sun. Of these plicatory form, by the imposition of hands and
there are thirty-six in number, and only on some of prayer. The same form was observed also in the
them does the word Abraxas occur. (2.) Such as case of private penitents. The form of absolution,
have the head or body of a lion. The inscription as given in the end of St. James's Liturgy, is thus
on these is most commonly Mithras. (3.) Those stated by Bingham, in his Antiquities of the Chris-
which have either the figure of Serapis, or his name tian Church :' “O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the liv-
inscribed upon them. (4.) Those which have figures ing God, thou Shepherd and Lamb, that takest away
of sphinxes, apes, and other animals of that kind. the sins of the world, that forgavest the debt to the
(5.) Those which have representations of human two debtors, and grantedst remission of sins to the
figures, and the name Jao frequently conjoined with sinful woman, and gavest to the sick of the palsy
Sabaoth, Adonai, or Eloai. (6.) Those which have both a cure and pardon of sins; remit, blot out, and
the description of a costly monument, with the word pardon our sins, both voluntary and involuntary,
Abraxas on it. The far greater number of these whatever we have done wittingly or unwittingly, by
classes of gems are obviously heathenish in their | transgression and disobedience, which thy Spirit know-
origin, and it is very improbable that they can ever eth better than we ourselves. And whereinsoever
have been used by any sect professing Christianity. thy servants have erred from thy commandments in
Another classification, however, of these gems has word or deed, as men carrying flesh about them, and
been recently suggested by a learned writer of living in the world, or seduced by the instigations of
an article on the subject in the · Real Encyclopä- | Satan; or whatever curse or peculiar anathema they
die,' now in course of publication in Germany, un- are fallen under, I pray and beseech thy ineffable
der the able editorship of Dr. Herzog. The out- goodness to absolve them with thy word, and remit
lines of this proposed arrangement are as follows:
their curse and anathema according to thy mercy.
(1.) The Abraxas image alone, with single inscrip-O Lord and Master, hear my prayer for thy ser-
tion, or none at all. (2.) The Abraxas with Gnos- vants; thou that forgettest injuries, overlook all
tic powers. (3.) The Abraxas with Jewish powers. their failings, pardon their offences both voluntary
(4.) The Abraxas with Persian powers. (5.) The and involuntary, and deliver them from eternal pun-
Abraxas with Egyptian powers. (6.) The Abraxas ishment. For thou art he that hast commanded us,
with Grecian powers. (7.) The travelling through saying, “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be
the stellar world to the Amenti. (8.) The Tri- bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on
bunal. (9.) The Worship and Consecration. (10.) earth, shall be loosed in heaven :' because thou art
The Astrological group. (11.) The Inscriptions. our God, the God that canst have mercy and save and
This last class may be arranged in three categories, forgive sins; and to thee, with the eternal Father,
or rather sub-classes. 1. Inscriptions without Gnos- and the quickening Spirit, belongs glory now and
tic symbols and images upon stone, iron, lead, or for ever, world without end. Amen." Similar forms
silver plates, in Greek, Latin, Coptic, or other lan- of absolution by prayer are still in use in the Greek
guages. 2. Inscriptions with Gnostic symbols. 3. church. The same form was used also for a long
Inscriptions with images.
period in the Roman Catholic churches, as appears
On à review of the whole subject of this much dis- from the old Latin Missal, published by Illyricus
puted Abraxas, we are strongly inclined to agree and Cardinal Bona, where the form of absolution,
with Beausobre in thinking, that these gems belong under the title of Indulgentia, is as follows: “ He
to heathens, and not to Christian sects of any kind, that forgave the sinful woman all her sins for which
or if such remains of heathen superstition were ever she shed tears, and opened the gate of paradise to
found in the Christian church, they must have been the thief upon a single confession, make you par-
limited to the most unenlightened persons in the takers of his redemption, and absolve you from all
whole Christian community. See BASILIDIANS. the bond of your sins, and heal those infirm mem-
ABSOLUTE RELIGION. See HUMANITY (RE- bers by the medicine of his mercy, and restore them
LIGION OF).
to the body of his holy church by his grace, and
ABSOLUTION, a term which, in an ecclesiastical keep them whole and sound for ever." These forms
sense, is used to denote loosing from sin, or the act are sufficient to show, that for many ages the great
of formally giving remission of sins. The ancient and formal absolution of public penitents at the altar,
Christian church, according to Bingham, reckoned was usually performed by imposition of hands and
up different kinds of absolution ; 1. Sacramental prayer.
absolution; 2. Declaratory absolution ; 3. Precatory The question naturally arises, however, at what
absolution; 4. Judicial absolution. When those who period in the history of the church was the indicative
14
ABSOLUTION.
1
form introduced, “ I absolve thee," instead of the de- | the penitents, which, being done, he takes them by
precatory form, “ May God or Christ absolve thee." the hand and leads them into the church. But in
Morinus, in his work · De Poenitentia,' has satisfac- case they have been excommunicated, he then, be-
torily proved that the indicative form was altogether fore he reunites them to the body of the faithful, sits
unknown until the twelfth or thirteenth century, not down and puts on his cap, when he repeats the
long before the time of Thomas Aquinas, who was miserere, the penitent being at his feet, the congre-
one of the first who wrote in defence of it. Ever gation upon their knees, and the clergy standing.
since, this form of absolution has prevailed in the At every verse of the miserere the priest strikes the
Romish church. In the Rituale Romanum' we are excommunicated penitent on the shoulder with a
told that “when the priest wishes to absolve the little stick, or whip made of cords. The Roman ritual
penitent, having before enjoined upon him and re- and the pontifical ordain, that the penitent who is ab-
ceived from him a salutary penance, he says first, solved in this manner shall be stripped to his shirt
• May the omnipotent God compassionate thee, and, as low as his shoulders. This ceremony, as all the
pardoning all thy sins, bring thee to life eternal. preceding, must be followed by some prayers, and
Amen.' Then, with his right hand elevated towards afterwards the litanies shall be sung, the people be-
the penitent, he says, "The almighty and merciful | ing upon their knees.”
Lord bestows on thee pardon, absolution, and remis- It has sometimes happened that the Pope has
sion of thy sins. Amen.' "Our Lord Jesus Christ been called upon to grant absolution to kings who
absolves thee; and I, by his authority, absolve thee have been excommunicated by the papal court. The
from every bond of excommunication, suspension, and ceremony on such an occasion is performed with
interdict, in so far as I can, and thou needest.' Then great pomp. A pontifical throne, richly adorned,
-I absolve thee from thy sins, in name of the is erected in front of St. Peter's church in Rome.
Father +, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Pope having been carried thither in procession,
Amen."" When the sentence of excommunication takes his seat on the throne with his rod or wand in
is removed by the priest, acting under the authority his hand, in the midst of the apostolical court. One
of his bishop, or even of the Pope, the form is, “Our of the masters of the ceremonies brings a dozen
Lord Jesus Christ absolves thee; and I, by his wands, which he distributes among the twelve assist-
authority, and that of our most holy lord the Pope, ant cardinals. The ambassadors of the excommu-
granted unto me, absolve thee.” The following mi- nicated monarch appear with an air of profound
nute account of the mode in which absolution is humility in the midst of the assembly, and cast
publicly given, according to the Romish ritual, is themselves at the feet of His Holiness, which they
given by Picart in his valuable work on the • Re- are condescendingly allowed to kiss.
This being
ligious Ceremonies of all Nations :' “When the peni- done, one of the ambassadors asks pardon with a
tent has completed the penance enjoined him, he re- loud voice of the church and the Holy See; offers to
turns back to the bishop or his penitentiary, with a make reparation in his master's name, and desires to be
certificate signed by the rector, to prove that he has absolved. Then the fiscal-attorney examines the cre-
fulfilled it; after which they proceed to his reconci- dentials and authoritative letters of these ambassadors;
liation with the church. This reconciliation was a secretary reads them aloud, and the attorney asks
formerly performed on Holy Thursday. But whether them whether they are ready to obey the commands
it happens on this or any other day of public wor- of the Holy See and the church—that is, if they will
ship, the penitent must come to the church-door on promise fealty to the Pope and church, and swear to
the day appointed him for receiving absolution. The submit to their orders and decisions ? Then the
Roman pontifical enjoins that he shall be there upon master of the ceremonies brings the mass-book,
his knees, with an unlighted taper in his hand. But which two cardinal-deacons hold before the Pope,
it was not usual always to excommunicate solemnly who lays his hand on it. The ambassadors lay each
the penitent who appeared in this manner. Be this of them both his hands on the same mass-book, when
as it will, he must be in a plain and ordinary dress, they promise, swear, and oblige themselves by the
without his weapon, if he be a soldier, and bare- holy gospels and the holy crucifix, to observe invio-
headed; in an humble and contrite manner, with a lably the engagement which they take in their mas-
pale and dejected countenance, if he can assume such ter's name, and of which one of the apostolical
Women must be veiled. Immediately be- notaries draws up a solemn instrument. The absolu-
fore the parochial mass, the priest, clothed with his tion is then pronounced, after which the Pope and
albe, or surplice, and the purple stole, shall give the the twelve cardinal-priests sing the miserere, striking
people notice that the penitent or penitents are going each of the ambassadors on the shoulders at the be-
to be reconciled to the church. He then shall ex- ginning of each verse of the psalms. The ceremony
hort the congregation to pray for them, shall fall ends with prayers and the imposition of a penance
prostrate before the altar, and pronounce some proportioned to the fault committed by the absolved
prayers, which are answered by the congregation. monarch. At the close, the cardinals and peniten-
These prayers being ended, the priest goes to the tiaries conduct the ambassadors to the Obedientia,
church-door and makes a pretty long exhortation to with the accustomed ceremonies.
an one.
/
ABSOLUTION.
15
These formalities were observed at the absolution be given ; [and if the deceased has been already in-
of Henry IV. of France. The monarch having ap- terred, a representation of him is placed there on a
proached the gate of the church of St. Denis in bed; this place is called the Castrum doloris (the
Paris where the ceremony was to be performed, the enclosure, or fort of grief ; in French, the chapelle
archbishop of Bourges, who was to preside, took his ardente), and the representation, or reality, is adorned
seat, dressed in his pontifical habit, in a chair covered with branches and illuminated with yellow wax
with white damask, and surrounded by a great num- lights].
ber of prelates and monks. The archbishop asked "Five bishops vested in black pluvials, with the
Henry who he was? to which he replied, “ The king." | ministering attendants, the cross, &c., thurible, in-
“What is your business ? " asked the archbishop. cense, holy water, sprinkler, wax-lights, &c., go in so-
“ I desire,” said the king, “ to be received into the lemn procession to the chapelle ardente. If so many
bosom of the Catholic church.” “Are you desirous bishops are not present, canons or other dignified
of it?” continued the archbishop. “Yes," answered clergy may officiate in their stead. They take their
the king, “I very much desire it.”
much desire it.” The king then respective places round the corpse, or representa-
fell upon his knees, and made his confession of faith. tion, viz., two of the officiators at the shoulders, two
The formulary of this confession of faith was put into at the feet, and he that celebrated the mass, on a
the hands of the prelate that pronounced the absolu- faldstool at the head, and so placed as to have the
tion, who gave the king his ring to kiss, and blessed cross directly before his face. Being thus arranged,
and absolved him from the censures incurred by the as soon as all things are ready, the celebrant rises
heresy he had professed and defended.
from the faldstool, at which they all rise,—and un-
It would appear that absolution was performed on covering his head, says absolutely, the prayer of ab-
some occasions with even greater severity than we solution, beginning 'Enter not into judgment with
have yet mentioned. The penitents have been thy servant, O Lord,' &c.
obliged, in extreme cases, to stand naked before the “ This prayer ended, they all sit again, covering
porch of St. Peter's, while twelve priests beat them their heads, and the singers chant the responsory,
with their wands. And, in cases of rebellion against Come to his succour, ye saints of God; run to meet
the Pope and the church, the penitents have been him, ye angels of the Lord, taking up his soul and
beaten severely for a long time, during the singing presenting it before the face of the Most High.
of several penitential psalms.
V. Christ receive thee, who hath called thee, and let
The Romish ritual contains not only a form of ab- the angels conduct thee into Abraham's bosom. Pre-
solution for the living, but an office also of absolution senting it,' &c.
for the dead. When an excommunicated person dies During this chant, the acolythes minister the
while still unabsolved, an examination is immediately thurible, incense, &c. to the prelate at the right
instituted whether he may have given sufficient evi- shoulder; who blesses and puts on the incense.
dence of contrition, and whether it may be proper to Next, the choir beginning the Kyrie Eleison, they
absolve him, in order that his body may not be de- all rise, uncovering their heads, and the last-named
prived of Christian burial, nor his soul of the public prelate says the Pater Noster secretly, except the
wishes and prayers of the church. In performing two words Pater Noster, which he says in an audi-
this ceremony, the rector puts on a black stole over ble voice. Then he takes the sprinkler and begins
the surplice, and goes in a solemn manner to the to sprinkle the corpse, or representation, going all
place where the corpse lies. He is preceded by his round it, and sprinkling every part of it thrice, bow-
clerks, in surplices, one carrying a wand, another | ing to the other prelates, and making a reverence
holy water, and a third a crucifix. If the body is to the cross as he passes it. Having come round to
not yet buried, he strikes it with his stick at the be- the right shoulder where he began, then he takes
ginning of every verse of the miserere, after which he the thurible, and in like manner censes the object
absolves it, and the body may then be buried in conse- all round, drawing the thurible thrice over every
crated ground. But if the corpse has already been part, bowing and reverencing, &c. as before.
buried in unconsecrated ground, it must be removed Having come round again to his place, he stands
if possible, and struck as before mentioned; and if it and says the Versicles, And lead us not into temp-
cannot be dug up, the rector simply strikes upon the tation. R. But deliver us from evil. V. From the
grave with the wand.
gates of hell.
R. Deliver his soul, O Lord. V. May
But besides the office for the dead, there are in the he rest in peace. R. Amen.
Romish Ritual solemn absolutions to be pronounced “ Then he makes another prayer of absolution for
for popes, cardinals, and other dignitaries, whether the soul. After which, they all sit again, putting
ecclesiastical or civil, or indeed for any one whose on their mitres; and the choir begin another re-
circumstances can afford to procure it. The follow-
sponsory, &c.
ing detailed account of the ceremony is given by Mr. “Now (the purifying apparatus, namely,] the thu-
Foye, in his “Romish Rites, Offices, and Legends :' rible, &c., the holy water-pot, &c., are carried to the
“After mass for the soul of the departed, a place is prelate at the left foot; who in his turn repeats all
fitted up in the church, where the absolutions are to the very same ceremonies foregoing, beginning with
16
ABSOLUTION.
him.
the blessing, &c., of the incense; then the Pater “At the holy communion :
Noster secretly; and then going round twice,-first “ Then shall the priest (or the bishop, being present)
with the same sprinklings, bowings, &c.; next with stand up, and turning himself to the people pro-
the same thurifyings, and then the same versicles, nounce this absolution.
but varying a little the absolving prayer at the end. “ Almighty God our heavenly Father, who of His
“Then thirdly [the instruments of absolution, &c.] great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all
are brought to the prelate at the left shoulder; who them that with hearty repentance and true faith turn
next performs all the same identical absolutions, &c., unto him; have mercy upon you, pardon and deli-
&c. And so it comes fourthly to the turn of the ver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen
prelate at the right foot, who makes his circuitings you in all goodness, and bring you to everlasting
also in the self-same way as those that had preceded life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
“At the visitation of the sick :
6 Then last of all it comes to the turn of him that “Here shall the sick person be moved to make a
had celebrated the mass; and he too makes his ab- special confession of his sins, if he feel his con-
solving rounds, repeating exactly all the same rites, science troubled with any weighty matter. After
words, &c., as the preceding. “It is certain, how- which confession, the priest shall absolve him (if
ever, (adds Picart) that he does not rest immediately he humbly and heartily desire it) after this sort :
after his departure, and that in his journey from this “Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to
world to the next, he must at least pass through pur- His Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent
gatory, though he might prove so fortunate as not and believe in Him, of His great mercy forgive thee
to bait by the way. The dead, however, once tho- thine offences : and by his authority committed to
roughly absolved, should find themselves, one would me,
I absolve thee from all thy sins ; in the name
think, but very little the better for five or six addi- of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
tional absolutions; but, on the other hand, if the Amen."
clergy have more trouble, they find their account in
In the explanation of the form of absolution, as
it.' Picart also adds: “When there is no chapelle laid down in the Book of Common Prayer, divines
ardente, the acolythes lay a black cloth before the of the Church of England have been, and still are,
middle of the altar: the celebrant, who has on each much divided. Bishop Horsley, and other divines
side of him, the incense-bearer, and the holy-water- of the High Church school, claim the power of re-
bearer, turns towards this cloth, and sprinkles and mitting or retaining sin as an essential function of
perfumes the cloth three times successively."" what they call “the Christian priesthood.” This
It is impossible to peruse the account of such ce- doctrine, again, is explicitly, and in the strongest
remonies as these without lamenting that the sim- manner, denied by many Episcopalian writers of
ple rites of the early Church should have been so the highest note. Bishop Burnet, in his · Exposi-
perverted, that it is almost impossible to recognize tion of the Thirty-Nine Articles,' says, “ We except
the true amid so much that is false. Instead, how- to the form of absolution in these words, I absolve
ever, of dwelling longer upon the cumbrous cere- thee. We of this church, who use it only to such
monial of the Romish church, let us turn to the as are thought to be near death, cannot be meant to
simpler arrangements of the Church of England. understand any thing by it but the full peace and par-
The following are the three forms in which absolution don of the church: for if we meant a pardon with
is pronounced, as recorded in the Book of Common relation to God, we ought to use it upon many other
Prayer :
occasions. The pardon that we give in the name
“At Morning and Evening Prayer :
of God is only declaratory of his pardon, or suppli-
“ The absolution or remission of sins, to be pronoun-catory in a prayer to him for pardon.”
ced by the priest alone, standing; the people still The doctrine of sacerdotal absolution is denied by
kneeling.
all Protestant churches, with the exception of the
Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus High Church or Anglo-Catholic party of the Church
Christ, who desireth not the death of a sinner, but of England, who on this point hold what is in reality
rather that he may turn from his wickedness and scarcely disguised Popish doctrine. This party has
live; and hath given power and commandment to for a number of years past been rapidly on the in-
His ministers, to declare and pronounce to His peo- crease in England, and the very circumstance that
ple, being penitent, the absolution and remission of the forms of absolution which occur in the Liturgy
their sins: He pardoneth and absolveth all them that of the Anglican Church, are liable to be understood
truly repent, and unfeignedly believe His holy Gos- in two different and opposite meanings, shows the.
pel. Wherefore let us beseech Him to grant us true necessity of a revision of the Common Prayer Book.
repentance, and his Holy Spirit; that those things | It is astonishing at how early a period absolution
may please Him which we do at this present, and began to be considered as a judicial rather than a
that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and simply declarative act of the clergy. Neander, in
holy; so that at the last we may come to His eter- his General Church History,' remarks, when speak-
nal joy, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
ing on this subject in connection with the early Chris-
66
1
ABSOLUTION-ABSORPTION.
17
tian Church : “All were agreed in distinguishing | disciples and apostles to retain or remit the sins of
those sins into which all Christians might fall through those who fall, from whom also I have received
the remaining sinfulness of their nature, and those power to do the same, pardon thee, my spiritual
which clearly indicated that the transgressor was child, whatsoever sins, voluntary or involuntary, thou
still living under bondage to sin as an abiding condi- hast committed in this present life, now and for
tion; that he was not one of the regenerate; that
ever."
The following copy of a printed form of
he had either never attained to that condition, or absolution, granted to a person who had performed
had again fallen from it-peccata venalia—and pec- a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre, occurs in Mr.
cata mortalia, or ad mortem. These terms they had Jowett's Christian Researches : “Polycarp, by
derived from the First Epistle of St. John. Among the mercy of God, patriarch of the holy city, Jerusa-
sins of the second class they reckoned, besides the lem, and all Palestine: Our holiness, according to
denial of Christianity, deception, theft, incontinence, that grace, gift, and authority of the most holy and
adultery, &c. Now it was the principle of the life-giving Spirit, which was given by our Lord and
milder party, which gradually became the predomi- Saviour Jesus Christ to his holy disciples and apos-
nant one, that the Church was bound to receive every tles for the binding and loosing of the sins of men,
fallen member, into whatever sins he may have fallen as he said unto them, 'Receive ye the Holy Ghost;
to hold out to all, under the condition of sincere whosesoever sins ye remit,' (&c.,) which Divine grace
repentance, the hope of the forgiveness of sin. At has descended in succession from them to us,--holds
least, in the hour of death, absolution and the com- as pardoned our spiritual son, Emanuel, worshipper,
munion should be granted to those who manifested in regard to the sins which through human frailty he
true repentance. The other party would never con- hath committed; and all his failings toward God in
sent to admit again to the fellowship of the Church, word, or deed, or thought, willingly or unwillingly,
such as had violated their baptismal vow by sins of and in all his senses; or if he hath been under any
the latter class. Such persons, said they, have once curse or excommunication of bishop or priest, or of
despised the forgiveness of sin obtained for them by his father or mother, or hath fallen under his own
Christ, and assured to them in baptism. There is anathema, or hath forsworn himself, or hath been
no purpose of divine grace with regard to such which overtaken in any other sins through human frailty,
is revealed to us; hence the Church is in no case he having confessed the same to his spiritual fathers,
warranted to announce to them the forgiveness of and heartily received and earnestly purposed to ful-
sin. If the Church exhorts them also to repentance, fil the injunction prescribed to him by them,—from
yet she can promise nothing to them as to the issue, all these sins, whether of omission or of commission,
since the power bestowed on her to bind and to loose we loose him, and do account him free and pardoned,
has no reference to such. She must leave them to through the Almighty authority and grace of the
the judgment of God. The one party would not most Holy Spirit. And whatsoever through for-
suffer that any limits should be set to the mercy of getfulness he hath left unconfessed, all these also
God towards penitent men; the other would pre-may the merciful God forgive him for His own
serve erect the holiness of God, and feared that, by bounty and goodness' sake through the ministrations
a false confidence in the power of priestly absolution, of our most blessed lady, mother of God, and ever-
men would be encouraged to feel more safe in their virgin Mary, of the holy, glorious, and laudable apos-
sins."
tle James, brother of God, first bishop of Jerusalem,
Absolution varies in different rituals of different and of all the saints. Amen." The individual
churches. In the Russian church it is merely de- who has received such a document as that now cited,
clarative. In a modern Greek Liturgy, the priest has simply to produce it on going to confession,
is instructed to pray, “ God forgive thee;" but he and on having it read over to him anew, he leaves
follows it up with the assurance, “Concerning the the presence of the priest with the assurance that
crimes which thou hast told out to me, have not a this remission of sins, which he has earned by his
single care, but depart in peace." There is also in visit to Palestine, is not only real, as having been
the Greek church a prescribed form of absolution conferred by a patriarch, but is ratified in heaven.
for the dead, which is sometimes, particularly at the ABSORPTION. One of the great leading princi-
request of surviving relatives, put into the hands of ples of Brahmanism or Hinduism, the prevailing
the deceased previous to interment. The form runs form of religion in India, is, that it is the last and
thus: “God forgive thee, my spiritual child, what- highest kind of future after which every good man
ever thou hast committed, voluntary or involuntary, ought to aim, that his soul may be absorbed in the
in the present life;" and sometimes with this addi- essence of Brahm, the supreme spirit—a literal ab-
tion, “ And Ithine unworthy servant, through the sorption which terminates in the total extinction of
power given me to absolve and forgive, do eccle- | individual existence. The soul thus once absorbed
siastically and spiritually absolve and loose thee is not liable to re-appear on earth, and is not subject
from all thy sins." Or, in similar terms, the form to any farther migration. This felicity, therefore, is
is couched in this language, “The Lord Jesus Christ, held to be eternal, not relatively, but absolutely, the
our God, who gave his divine commandment to his soul being liberated from the vicissitudes of mortal
1.
B
18
ABSTINENTS-ABUNA.
life, in any of its forms, during the present existence of the third century. Abstinence in one form or
of the universe, and throughout the myriads of ages another has been generally recognized as a part of
in which Brahm enjoys his dreamless repose. In all ceremonial religions. Thus the Jewish priests
order to secure this highest kind of bliss, there must were required to abstain from the use of wine while
be the perfect abandonment of works of merit alto- engaged in the service of the temple. The NAZA-
gether, whether ordinary or extraordinary. Re- RITES also (which see) were placed under the same
course must be had to austerities, to divine know- restraint while their vow of separation lasted. From
ledge, to pure and intense meditation on the Eter- this principle arose the distinction between clean and
nal Spirit, which leads to perfect abstraction from unclean animals underthe Jewish economy. A special
all that is material, and ultimate absorption into the prohibition was given under the ancient dispensation
object of devout adoration. Those who pursue to abstain from the blood of animals, with the view no
this species of bliss, as the grand object of their life, doubt of preserving before the mind of the Jew
are considered as far superior in moral excellence to the great principle, that “without shedding of blood
the rest of their fellow-men. "Its essential ele- there is no remission,” and pointing forward to the
ment,” as Dr. Duff well remarks, “is not that of blood of Jesus which should cleanse the soul from
activity but quiescence. It consists not in the exer- all sin. Among the primitive Christians, consider-
cise, but rather oblivion of all the faculties. It is able difference of opinion existed as to the duty of
not a keen relish and enjoyment of the great, the adhering to the same abstinence which the Jewish
beautiful, the sublime, but rather a freedom from law prescribed. This disputed point was referred
actual pain and suffering. If such a state be one of to the council of Jerusalem, which was held by the
happiness, it is surely a state not of positive but of apostles, and the conclusion come to was to enjoin
absolutely negative happiness.” The advantages the Christian converts to abstain from blood, from
which writers on this peculiar system of religious things strangled, from fornication and idolatry. Ab-
faith allege as arising from absorption are numerous. stinence from particular meats, on all or on particular
When man, they imagine, has attained to this high occasions, is laid down as a duty enjoined in the
distinction, he is at once freed from all error and all ritual of various churches, and will fall to be consi-
ignorance; from all error, because error is a particu- dered under the article FASTING. Such restrictions
lar affirmation which implies the distinction of be- in meat and drink have been found in all forms of
ings; from all ignorance, because he has become one religion, whether Jewish, Christian, Mohammedan,
with Brahm, in whom is all knowledge. He is free or Pagan.
likewise from all possibility of sinning as well as ABUNA, or ABOUNA, a word equivalent to our
from all sin, because these suppose the distinction Father, the bishop of the Abyssinian church. By a
between right and wrong, which does not exist, and special canon, supposed to have been adopted with
cannot exist, in Brahm. He is freed from all acti- the view of securing a greater measure of learning,
vity, because activity supposes two terms, some- than could be expected to be found in an Abyssi-
thing that acts, and something that is acted nian, this pontiff must be a foreigner. As such,
upon, a duality which is illusory, seeing it is the however, he is usually ignorant of the language;
negative of the unity, the absolute identity of all and in consequence his influence and means of hold-
things. He is freed from all emotion, all desire; ing communication with the people are much cir-
for he knows that he possesses all things. During cumscribed. The Abuna is appointed and conse-
life, the soul of the wise man who has attained to crated to his office by the patriarch of Alexandria,
the knowledge of Brahma continues, indeed, to per- to whom he is subject. Hence he is always chosen
ceive the illusory impressions, as the man who is from one of the Coptic monasteries of Egypt. The
aroused from a dream recollects when awake the im- | Rev. Mr. Jowett says, “It is not without great re-
pressions he received in sleep. But at death the soul | luctance that the Egyptian monks are compelled to
of the sage is freed entirely from the dominion of accept this office: they leave the solitude of their
illusion; he is disenthralled in all respects from monastery in the desert to govern with absolute
every vestige of individuality, from every name, power a turbulent people: they find their immense
from every form; he is blended and lost in Brahm, diocese, for Abyssinia has but one bishop, con-
as the rivers lose their names and their forms when stantly embroiled in civil wars in which their numer-
swallowed up in the ocean. See BRAHM, BRAHMA, ous priests constitute a powerful party. A life of
HINDUISM.
alarms utterly uncongenial to the proper pacific
ABSTINENTS, a name given to the ENCRATITES spirit of a Christian bishop, is his certain lot." The
(which see), a Christian sect which arose towards authority and jurisdiction of the Abuna extends over
the end of the second century, and who probably all monasteries, and the whole clergy, both secular
were so called, because they abstained from flesh and and regular, who are said to be so numerous that
wine, and regarded a life of celibacy, and the renuncia- they form the twentieth part of the whole popula-
tion of all worldly possessions as the distinctive marks | tion. This head of the Abyssinian church has his
of Christian perfection. A sect holding similar opi- residence at Gondar, where he has a handsome
nions appeared in France and Spain about the end | palace, situated close to the patriarchal church,
ABYSSINIAN CHURCH.
19
19
which stands pre-eminent among the numerous He sought the acquaintance of the Roman merchants
churches in the city. At one time his power and visiting those parts, who were Christians; assisted
authority were so extensive, that the king himself them in founding a church, and united with them in
was not acknowledged to be duly established on his the Christian worship of God. Finally, they ob-
throne, until he was first consecrated by the hands tained liberty to return home to their country. Æde-
of the Abuna. Formerly the third part of the pro- sius repaired to Tyre, where he was made a presby-
duce of the provinces was set aside for his support. ter. Here Rufinus became acquainted with him,
His power is only inferior to that of the king, and and learned all the particulars of the story from his
sometimes he has proved sufficiently formidable even own mouth. But Frumentius felt himself called to
to him. The Abuna ordains to the sacred office by a higher work. He felt bound to see to it that the
breathing upon the aspirant, and making the sign of people with whom he had spent the greater part of
the cross over him. When in 1842, after a vacancy
When in 1842, after a vacancy his youth, and from whom he had received so many
in the office of eleven years standing, a new Abuna favours, should be made to share in the highest
at length arrived at Abyssinia, he consecrated for blessing of mankind. He travelled, therefore, to
several successive days a thousand persons daily, Alexandria, where the great Athanasius had recently
who came in caravans from the different parts of the been made bishop, (A. D. 326).
been made bishop, (A. D. 326). Athanasius entered
kingdom. In order to become a priest, one must be at once, with ready sympathy, into the plan of Fru-
able to read Ethiopic, and to sing out of the book mentius. But he found, very justly, that no one
Yared ; above all things he must have a beard, with- could be a more suitable agent for the prosecution of
out which no one can become a priest. The Abuna this work than Frumentius himself; and he conse-
is the highest authority in matters of faith, besides crated him bishop of Auxuma (Axum), the chief city
being often consulted as umpire in state-quarrels. of the Abyssinians, and a famous commercial town.
See next article,
Frumentius returned back to this place, and laboured
ABYSSINIAN CHURCH. The country of there with great success. Legendary stories are
Abyssinia forms the principal part of those territo- current among their priests of the early conversion
ries which the ancients comprised under the name of the Abyssinian people to Judaism, so far back,
of Ethiopia. There is a tradition among the people indeed, as the days of Solomon, from whom they
themselves, that their conversion to Christianity is to allege their king to be descended. Their Abunas or
be attributed to the instructions of the treasurer of bishops, however, trace their origin to Frumentius,
Candace, Queen of Ethiopia, who is mentioned in the son of a Tyrian merchant, who; as we have seen,
the eighth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. The was consecrated bishop of Axuma, the chief city of the
general opinion, however, among the best ecclesias- | Abyssinians, by Athanasius then patriarch of Alexan-
tical historians is, that the Abyssinians did not truly dria. Ever since their ecclesiastical position is well
embrace Christianity before the middle of the fourth expressed in a favourite saying among the people,
century, when a church was organised, which, though “We drink from the well of the patriarch of Alex-
exposed to much corruption from the Heathen and andria." The Abyssinian church seems to have
Mohammedan tribes with whom it is surrounded, preserved its purity until the seventh century, when
nevertheless survives to this day. A detailed ac- in common with the whole Egyptian church, to
count of the providential circumstances attending the which it was so closely linked, it embraced the doc-
origin of this interesting church, is thus given by trine of the Eutychians or MONOPHYSITES (which
Neander. “A learned Greek of Tyre, named Me- see), who held that there is only one nature in
ropius, had, in the reign of the emperor Constantine, Christ, the divine and human nature being under-
undertaken à voyage of scientific discovery. Al- stood as coalescing in one.
ready on the point of returning, he landed on the For many centuries this church remained in ob-
coast of Ethiopia or Abyssinia, to procure fresh scurity, unknown to, and therefore unrecognised by,
water, where he was attacked, robbed, and himself Christians in other parts of the world. At length
and crew murdered, by the warlike natives, who towards the end of the fifteenth century, John II.,
were at that time in a state of hostility with the Ro- king of Portugal, having accidentally learned that a
man empire. Two young men, his companions, Christian church had been found to exist in Abys-
Frumentius and Ædesius, alone were spared, out of sinia, resolved to examine into the state of matters
pity for their tender age. These two youths were in that country, and if possible to bring them under
taken into the service of the prince of the tribe, and subjection to the Roman See. With this view, John
made themselves beloved. Ædesius became his cup- Bermudes was despatched on a mission into Abys-
bearer; Frumentius, who was distinguished for in- sinia. David, the reigning emperor of the country, ,
telligence and sagacity, was appointed his secretary was engaged in hostilities with the Mohammedans,
and accountant. After the death of the prince, the who had wrested from him a part of his empire. In
education of Ærizanes, the young heir, was intrusted these circumstances he was constrained to implore
to them; and Frumentius obtained great influence the aid of both Portugal and Rome, and Bermudes
as administrator of the government. He made use was sent to obtain this favour. The crafty Roman-
of this influence already in behalf of Christianity. | ist, before setting out, had influence enough to get
20
ABYSSINIAN CHURCH.
himself consecrated Abuna or bishop of the Abys- | Apostles' creed the Abyssinian church is totally
sinians. Having been invested with this dignity, he unacquainted. In dispensing baptism, they use
repaired to Rome, and to accomplish the desired the Nicean formula.
the Nicean formula. The Bible is highly prized
subjugation of the Abyssinian church to the Papal by them; but the mode of interpretation which
yoke, Bermudes accepted of a second consecration they adopt is singularly strange and allegorical.
at the hands of the Pope. The assistance asked by They are firm in their adherence to the Mono-
the emperor was readily granted, the Mohammedans physitic doctrine, which they early embraced, and
were expelled, and tranquillity restored to the coun- according to which they allege, that Christ has only
try. In return for the aid thus rendered, the king of one nature, the divine, and that his humanity is not
Portugal demanded, through Bermudes, that the em- even essential to the constitution of his person as
peror should embrace the Roman Catholic religion, Redeemer. They hold the doctrine which is common
and surrender one-third of his dominions under pain to all the Eastern churches, that the Spirit proceeds
of excommunication. The eyes of the emperor were from the Father only, and not from the Father and
now opened to the snare which had been laid for the Son. One portion of the Abyssinian church, par-
him. He forthwith disowned the authority of the ticularly that which is in the province of Tigré,
Pope, declaring him withal to be a heretic, stripped maintain that Christ anointed himself with the Spirit,
Bermudes of his ecclesiastical dignity, threw him into and that the Spirit of God, which was given to him,
prison, and sent to Alexandria for an Abuna to the is simply his divinity. A second opinion taught by a
Abyssinian church, which has ever since maintained different portion of the church is, that there are three
its independence.
births of Christ: 1. The eternal generation of the Son.
Towards the middle of the sixteenth century the 2. The conception and actual production of the nature
Jesuits planted a mission in Abyssinia, which, of Christ. 3. The reception of the Holy Spirit in the
however, was completely unsuccessful. A second womb of Mary. According to their ideas the anoint-
mission was established in the commenceinent of the ing with the Holy Ghost is called a third nature,
following century, which, after twenty years spent in because thereby his humanity is raised to higher
intrigues, wars, and commotions, brought about the honour. This is the prevailing doctrine in Amhara,
formal submission of the Abyssinian church to the and also in Shoa, where it has been adopted on
See of Rome. The triumph of the Jesuits, how- political grounds, and the present king has caused it
ever, was but short-lived. Insurrection followed to be announced by public heralds, that no one, upon
after insurrection. In vain did the emperor by pain of confiscation of goods and exile, should dare
threats and persecution endeavour to enforce the al- to oppose the doctrine of the three births of Christ.
legiance of his people to the Roman pontiff. The Thus the king and people of Schoa have declared
high-minded Abyssinians were determined at all themselves openly opposed on this difficult theolo-
hazards to maintain the independence of their gical dogma to the Abuna in Gondar, who maintains
church. At length, in 1633, the Roman patriarch the views held by the church in Tigré. A new sub-
found himself completely foiled in his attempts to ject of controversy has arisen, bearing also upon the
obtain submission to the Papacy, and despairing of abstruse dogma as to the person of Christ. Aroc, a
ever accomplishing the object of his mission, he priest from Gondar, in order to support the opinion
abandoned Abyssinia.
that there are three births of Christ, taught that the
It would appear from the statements of Mr. soul of Christ had self-consciousness even in the
Bruce, in his Travels in that country, that in the womb, yea, that it prayed and fasted in this state.
middle of the last century, still another fruitless at- The doctrine of the three births is maintained by
tempt had been made to convert the Christians of the king with the utmost sternness, in opposition to
Abyssinia to the Romish faith. Three Franciscan the clamour of multitudes both of priests and people.
friars were sent by the Propaganda, and had reached The most esteemed divine of the Abyssinian church
Gondar, where they succeeded in ingratiating them- has adopted the same opinion. The party denying
selves into the favour of the emperor. Both priests the three births hurl anathemas upon those who
and people now took alarm, and so great was the hold it, and the quarrel has of latè years been in
commotion in consequence, that the emperor was danger of passing into a civil war. . There are sev-
under the necessity of dismissing the Romish friars eral other points of a subordinate kind, connected
from his country altogether. From that time the with the doctrine of the three births, which have also
very name of Rome has been an object of the utmost given rise to no small controversy. For instance,
abhorrence to the Abyssinian Christians.
the question has been discussed whether Christ
The accounts which missionaries have brought as praises the Father in heaven, or whether he stands
to the present state of religion in that country, is far equal to Him, and reigns with Him. The former
from favourable. But it is deeply interesting to alternative has been adopted by the king and his
notice the priņciples and practices of a Christian party. The Virgin Mary has also been the subject
church, which dates its origin from so early a period. of controversy, whether she is the Mother of God,
A few of these may be mentioned.
or only the Mother of Jesus, and as a natural corol-
With the formula which is usually termed the lary from this, whether she is entitled to equal hon-
ABYSSINIAN CHURCH.
21
our with the Son. The party who assert the nega- | priest daily. Confession precedes communion only
tive on this last point, have triumphed over their in the case of adults, who have reached at least the
opponents in Ankobar and Debra Libanos, and are age of twenty-five. Communion is uniformly ad-
called Walawold Maijsat, the adorers of the Sou ministered to children after baptism. Private com-
only, while the other party in Fattyghur are called munion is not permitted. Communicants are not
Masle Wold, equal with the Son.
allowed to spit till sunset after having received the
A third and intermediate opinion in regard to the Lord's Supper. Every person, even the priest, has
person of Christ, and one which has numerous fol- his father confessor, to whom he resorts as often as
lowers in Gojam, is that which views the Holy his conscience troubles him.
Spirit as mediator between the divine and human Besides the secular clergy, there are in the Abys-
natures in Christ.
sinian church monastic clergy, under the Etschega,
Such are the knotty points of controversy which at who is next in rank to the Abuna himself, and may
this moment are threatening to rend in pieces the be considered, in point of theological authority in
Abyssinian church. So keen has the controversy matters of faith, a kind of Abuna. Under him are
waxed between the three disputing parties, that they not only the numerous monasteries of his own order,
refuse to sit together at the sacramental table. but all the others. In every great monastery, under
On many other theological points besides the per- the abbot are ranged the different overseers, among
son of Christ, we find strange confusion of thought whom is the Alaka, or manager of the property.
arnong these Christians who have been so long iso- The business of the Abyssinian monks is the same as
lated from the rest of the Christian world. They it was in Europe during the middle ages; they beg
teach, for instance, a species of purgatory, and, and lounge about idle, while the more conscientious
accordingly, they observe fasts, alms, and prayers, monks perform divine service, read Ethiopian books,
for the benefit of those who have been excommuni- or dispute concerning leading theological questions.
cated on account of great sins, and have died in that They are bound by a vow of celibacy. Their dress
state. According to their notions, such souls re- is mean.
A hood, a dirty cloth, an animal's hide,
main in scheol until they are fit to enter heaven, and a leathern girdle mark out the monk. The
having been reconciled. The archangel Michael is number of the clergy, both secular and regular, in
invoked as the conductor of souls out of scheol into | Abyssinia, is very great. In Shoa alone, they
heaven. The Abyssinians practise circumcision amount to 12,000. In Gondar they are proportion-
upon children of both sexes between the third and ally still more numerous. To a completely furnished
the eighth day after their birth. Baptism is adminis- church there are attached twenty priests and dea-
tered to male children when forty days old, and to cons, one of whom always performs the third part of
females when eighty. The ceremony consists in the service of the week, while the others attend to
prayer, exorcisms, immersions, benedictions, turning their penitents, or to the instruction of poor
children.
the baptized towards the four points of the compass, The secular clergy are allowed to marry once. The
breathing upon him, laying on of hands, and anoint- churches, which are very numerous, are generally
ing with holy oil. A godfather or godmother must built on eminences, and shaded by magnificent trees.
be present as a witness of the baptism. In a case | They are circular in form, low built, with conical
of adult baptism, water is poured over every part of thatched roofs, upon which glitters a cross of brass.
the body.
The ceremony commences with hymns The walls are badly built, whitewashed outside, and
and psalms in honour of the Virgin ; then follow the provided with four doors, turned towards the four
Nicean confession of faith, the Lord's prayer, and the cardinal points. Inside, the walls are covered with
reading of the third chapter of John's gospel. The wretched paintings of Mary, the saints, angels, and
baptismal water is now consecrated by fumigation, the devil. Sculptured figures are not allowed. A
with the words, “Praised be the Father, the Son, court runs all round the building, which is set apart
and the Holy Ghost.” An iron cross is moved three for the laity and the daily morning service. It also
times through the water while these words are re- affords a night's lodging to destitute travellers. The
peated, “ A Holy Father, a Holy Son, and a Holy interior of the church is separated into two divisions,
Spirit. A piece of cotton is then dipped in the one of which is the sanctuary, hung round with relics,
holy oil, and with it the sign of the cross is made and accessible only to the priests and deacons. The
upon the forehead of the person baptized, after which Lord's Supper is celebrated in this portion of the
a cord is bound round the neck. The whole cere- church, but the laity are kept behind an outstretched
mony is closed with the administration of the com- curtain, and females are entirely excluded. In the
munion. Every Abyssinian Christian wears a blue | holy of holies, behind a curtain, stands the tabot, or
silk cord all his life, as a memorial of his baptism, ark of the covenant, in which lies a parchment with
and of his separation from Mohammedanism. The the names of the saints of the church. Within this
ceremony of baptism takes place before the church part of the building only the alaka, and those who
door; the celebration of the Lord's Supper within are consecrated as priests are privileged to enter. The
the church. The Lord's Supper is received in both ark is consecrated with holy oil; but none of the
kinds with leavened bread, which is baked by the | laity, deacons, or persons not Christians, dare touch
22
ABYSSINIAN CHURCH.
it, otherwise both it and the church itself must be must be pronounced by the priest. Whoever has
consecrated anew. Upon the ark depends the sanc- four wives, and has divorced them or survived them,
tity of the church and of the surrounding burying- is excommunicated, unless he shall enter one of the
ground.
orders of monks. That, however, is generally done.
Divine service in the Abyssinian church consists It often happens that a man, without saying a word,
of singing psalms, reading passages from the Scrip- deserts his wife and children and goes into a monas-
tures, and legends of the saints. Prayers are ad- tery. Polygamy is forbidden, but, in defiance of the
dressed to the Virgin and to saints, but Mary in par. law, instances are not uncommon of priests and
ticular is honoured with the highest titles, such as nobles having four wives, besides numerous concu-
Creator of the world. Every beggar utters the bines. It is customary for those who are on their
name of some one of the numerous saints, in order to death-beds to confess to a priest and receive absolu-
excite pity.
tion. The funeral takes place shortly after death
The Abyssinian church observes both the Jewish amid lamentations such as were customary among
and Christian Sabbaths, the latter of which they | the Jews, and also amid numerously attended funeral
term the great Sabbath. They keep no fewer than repasts, at which the priests are present. On these
one hundred and eighty holy days and festivals. One occasions suitable passages are read from the Bible.
of the most prominent of these is Epiphany, on the Crucifixes are carried before the body. The inter-
occasion of which festival, on the 4th of January, ment takes place either in or near the church.
the priesthood go out, carrying the ark of every The Abyssinians explain their adherence to so
church in the city or neighbourhood to a stream, many Jewish customs, by alleging their descent from
where, amid songs and rejoicings, the festival com- the race of Jewish kings. The whole, indeed, of their
mences, and clothes are given to the poor. At mid- sacred ritual, as well as civil customs, is a strange com-
night, by torchlight, the priest steps into the water bination of Jewish, Christian, and Pagan traditions.
and blesses it. Then suddenly the whole crowd of The moral and religious behaviour of the people is
people strip themselves quite naked, and plunge into far from satisfactory. Indifference to religious prin-
the consecrated water to bathe, and, amid shrieks ciple, laxity of morals, and habitual indolence, are
and noises of every kind, the festival terminates. the prevailing features of character in the great body
On the occasion of one of the festivals, thousands of the people. Heathenism has not yet entirely
set out on pilgrimage to Debra Libanos, and fetch given place to Christianity. In the mountains of
dust from the grave of the saint, which they imagine | Ackerban, near Gondar, a tribe of people are to be
can prevent or cure sickness. The Abyssinian found who practise withcraft, and worship the Cac-
church holds fasting in very high estimation, as a tus plant. A Jewish remnant still exist in Abys-
means of salvation. Every Wednesday and Friday, sinia who expect the Messiah, and pray to the an-
and every day on which the communion is observed, gels for his coming. They live in the most ascetic
is a fast on which they must taste only nettles and manner, fasting five times every week, sleeping only
bare bread. To the pious there are properly two upon wooden benches, scourging themselves with
hundred fast days in the year, the great proportion thorns, &c. They join outwardly in all Christian
of which, however, are not kept; and still fewer observances, but are regarded by the people as Jews
would be kept, did not their interment in conse- and sorcerers.
crated ground depend on the strictness of such ob- Amid all the corruption which attaches to the
Much merit is considered as attached to Abyssinian church, the prospects for that country are
the giving of alms to beggars, pilgrims, monks, and evidently brightening. The translation of the Bible
priests, and bestowing presents upon churches and into Amharic, and of a portion of it into the Tigré
monasteries for their building and embellishment. dialect, has conferred a great boon upon the people
Pilgrims are much respected, and the man who has of that interesting country. The Rev. Mr. Jowett
made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem is distinguished has been mainly instrumental in calling the atten-
above all others as being most holy, so that his bene- tion of British Christians to the importance of Abys-
diction is viewed by the man who is fortunate enough sinia as a missionary field. In 1830, the Rev. Samuel
to receive it, as possessed of peculiar value and effi-| Gobat, who had been educated in the Missionary
cacy.
Institution at Basle, was sent along with the Rev.
Much superstition prevails in this church, and Mr. Kugler to conduct a mission in that country.
amulets and charms are in frequent use among the The early death of his colleague in Adowa, and the
people. The ancient Jewish difference between political commotions which prevailed, compelled Mr.
clean and unclean animals is strictly maintained. Gobat to return to Europe. Another reinforcement
Marriage may be celebrated without the consecra- was sent out in 1834; but found themselves unable
tion of the priest, and is therefore easily dissolved. to carry on their missionary labours in the disturbed
This, however, in the case of any man, is permitted state of the country. The Romish church despatched
to happen only four times. Those marriages which a missionary to Abyssinia in 1838, and by means of
are ratified by the parties partaking together of the intrigue and management, the expulsion of the Pro-
Lord's Supper, are considered indissoluble. Divorce | testant missionaries was effected. The Papal party
servances.
ACACIANS-ACADEMICS.
23
were now in high hopes that they would be able to , however, attacked Acacius, who had favoured, and
form a large faction in the Abyssinian church in fa- indeed almost originated the Henoticon, as a be-
vour of Rome. Their hopes, however, were speedily trayer of the truth, and excluded him from church
disappointed, by the appointment to the office of communion. To justify this severe conduct towards
Abuna of a pupil of the English Protestant mission Acacius, who had now many supporters, Felix and
at Cairo, who lost no time in using all his endea- his successors charged Acacius with favouring the
vours to destroy Romish influence in Tigré. A Monophysites. Mosheim, however, alleges, that the
struggle then commenced, which has been carrying real ground of this opposition, on the part of the
on ever since, between the independent Abyssinian Roman pontiffs, was, that Acacius, by his actions,
church and the Papal emissaries, while Protestant though not in words, denied the supremacy of the
missions have been contending with almost insuper-Roman See, and was extremely eager to extend the
able difficulties which, by prayer and perseverance, jurisdiction, and advance the honour of the see of
may, by the Divine blessing, be yet overcome, and Constantinople. “The Greeks,” says Mosheim, “de-
a Christian Church, which has maintained its posi- fended the character and memory of their bishop
tion since the fourth century, may at length shine against the aspersions of the Romans. This con-
forth with a glorious emanation of Christian light test was protracted till the following century, when
and knowledge, scattering the Mohammedan and the pertinacity of the Romans triumphed, and caused
„pagan darkness in which Africa has so long been en- the names of Acacius and Peter Fullo, another leader
shrouded.
of the party, to be struck out of the sacred registers,
ACACIANS, a sect of heretics which arose in the and consigned, as it were, to perpetual infamy."
Christian Church in the fourth century, and are Thus the Acacian sect or party, who not only held
usually classed among the Arian sects. (See ARIAN- firmly by the Nicene creed, in opposition to the doc-
ISM.) They derived their name from Acacius, a trinal errors which had arisen, but also denied plain-
bishop of Cæsarea, whom Jerome ranks among the ly the supremacy of the Roman pontiff
, was brought
most learned commentators on Scripture, and who to a violent end.
held that the Son was like the Father, but only in ACADEMICS, the name usually applied to the
respect of his will. At first he professed himself followers of Plato, the Greek philosopher. They
a Semi-Arian, and afterwards became the found- are generally considered as having derived their
er of the sect of the HOMANS (which see). At name from Academia, a grove in the neighbourhood
length he became an Anomcean or pure Arian, of Athens, favourable to study and philosophic
and ended with signing the Nicene creed. - The thought. The name Academics is commonly given
name of Acacians was also given to a sect of the to three different schools of philosophy—the first,
Eutychians or MONOPHYSITES (which see), in the the middle, and the new Academy, all of them, how-
fifth century. They derived their name from Aca- ever, professing more or less to follow the opinions
cius, bishop of Constantinople. To put an end if of Plato; but the first, as being nearest to his own
possible to the disputes which had so long been car- time, being a more correct reflection of his peculiar
ried on in reference to the Person of Christ, and views. The first and fundamental object in the
which were disturbing the peace of both church and system of this eminent thinker, is the pursuit of that
state, the Emperor Zeno, in A. D. 482, by the advice wisdom which contemplates absolute existence. The
of Acacius, offered to the contending parties that for- material world he regarded as consisting of two
mula of concord which is usually called the Henoti- principles, ideas, and matter, and our impressions of
con. This formula, which was subscribed by the lead-outward objects are the produce of both. The soul
ers of the Monophysite party, was approved by Aca- has ideas within itself, copies of the eternal exem-
cius, as well as the more moderate of both parties. In plars that reside in the Divine mind, and these it
this famous decree, the emperor recognizes the creed remembers the more it sees of their imperfect copies
of the Nicene and Constantinopolitan councils as the without. Hence arises a distinction between the
only established and allowed creed of the church, world which is perceived by sense, and the world
and declares every person an alien from the true which is discerned by intellect. The senses present
church who would introduce any other. This creed, us with imperfect objects ever varying, because ever
he says, was received by that council of Ephesus diverging from the central and eternal types. The
which condemned Nestorius, whom, along with Eu- | intellect, on the other hand, possesses the copies of
tyches, he pronounces to be heretics. He also these types, certain and unchanging like the types
acknowledges the twelve chapters of Cyril of Alex- themselves. The copies reside in the human, the
andria to be sound and orthodox, and declares Mary originals or exemplars in the Divine mind. The
to be the Mother of God, and Jesus Christ to be first existence, according to Plato, is the infinite
possessed of two natures, in the one of which he mind; the second, the Logos, or intellectual world
was of like substance with the Father, and in the of ideas; thirdly, Matter, with its capability, to a
other, of lilce substance with us. This formula certain extent, of receiving the stamp and impres-
of union was calculated to unite the more consi- sion of those ideas; and, lastly, the soul of the
derate of both parties. The Roman pontiff, Felix III., | world, imparted to that world, after it has been fa-
24
ABUBEKER-ACCENSORII.
shioned according to the pattern existing in the all who succeeded him. His right to the succes-
Divine intellect. And as the soul of the world is sion was at first disputed by Ali, the son-in law of
derived from the infinite mind, so are individual the prophet, who, however, at length was compelled
souls in their turn derived from the soul of the to acknowledge his authority. The fierce contest,
world, whether they be the intelligences that guide however, which ensued between the two claimants
the stars, or of beings superior to man that occupy led to a schism which has divided the Mohamme-
the higher regions, or lastly, of man himself. Virtue, dans into two great factions, who entertain towards
in the system of Plato, consists in the highest pos- each other the most implacable hatred to this day.
sible conformity to the Deity. It is fourfold in its The two opposing sects are named the Sonnites and
nature, including wisdom, fortitude, prudence or tem- the Schiites, the former considering Abubeker, Omar,
perance; and justice. These can only be reached and Othman as the legitimate successors of Mo-
by an escape from the senses, and a return to the hammed, and the latter viewing these three ca iphs
Divine life.
as usurpers and intruders. Among the Sonnites or
Plato's philosophy was a system of lofty idealism, followers of Abubeker are to be ranked the Turks,
and from the subordination to which it reduced the Tartars, Arabians, and greater part of the Indian Mo-
senses, it naturally led, among thinkers inferior to hammedans; whereas the Persians and subjects of
Plato himself, to a system of scepticism. Hence the Great Mogul are Schiites or followers of Ali.
Arcesilaus, the founder of the new academy, taught, Hence the deep-rooted antipathy which has long
that nothing whatever could be known with certain- subsisted between the Turks and the Persians. See
ty, that doubt was the region in which man was des- SONNITES—SCHIITES.
tined to live. No such opinion was entertained by ACAFOTH, a peculiar ceremony which is ob-
Plato. On the contrary, he taught, as the leading served by some of the modern Jews on the Continent.
principle of his system, that to find an absolute and When a Jew has died, and the coffin has been nailed
unconditional ground for all that is relative and con- down, ten chosen persons of the chief relatives and
ditional, is the true aim of philosophy.
friends of the deceased, turn seven times round the
In the early ages of Christianity, the academic coffin, offering up, all the while, their prayers to
philosophy was held in very high esteem, so much God for his departed soul.
so that, while Josephus tries to trace the philo- ACATHYSTUS, (Gr.a, not, kathizo, to sit,) a hymn
sophy of Plato to the Bible as its source, several used by the Greek church in honour of the Virgin
of the Christian fathers were of opinion, that the Mary. It receives its name from the circumstance,
phraseology of the inspired writers of the New that it is sung while the congregation are not sitting,
Testament is, in some cases, borrowed from the phi- but standing. The occasion of the composition of this
losophy of Plato. This is generally regarded as hymn is rather curious. In the reign of Heraclius,
particularly the case with the Logos or Word of the city of Constantinople, having been besieged by
the Apostle John, an expression identical with one the Persians, was in danger of falling into the hands of
which occupies a prominent place in the Platonic the enemy, when the patriarch Sergius, carrying in
system. There can be no doubt that whatever may his arms an image of the Virgin, and attended by a
have been the case with the apostles, the specula- great crowd of people, offered up prayers to God in
tions of this profound philosopher affected not a lit- behalf of the city; upon which Heraclius obtained a
tle the current of thought among the early Christian remarkable victory over his enemies.
writers. Nor could it fail to be so, for as Goethe thing is also said to have happened in the time of
remarks, when speaking of Plato, “Every thing he Constantine Pogonatus and Leo Isaurus. Hence a
said had a relation with the good, the beautiful, and hymn to the Virgin was appointed to be sung on
the immutably true.” No philosopher, indeed, whe- every fifth Sunday in Lent.
ther of ancient or of modern times, has more directly ACCA LARENTIA, a mythical woman occur-
and habitually referred all things in creation to the ring in the legends of early Roman history. According
Almighty Creator, and all things in providence to to some accounts she was the wife of the shepherd
an All-Wise Disposer, than the illustrious Plato. Faustulus, and the nurse of Romulus and Remus,
ABUBEKER, (Arabic, The Father of the Virgin,) | after they had been taken from the she-wolf. Others
the immediate successor of Mohammed, and one of his represent her as having lived in the reign of An-
earliest converts, besides being his father-in-law, the cus Martius, who instituted a festival in her honour,
prophet having married his daughter Ayesha. He called the LARENTALIA (which see), at which sacri-
was the faithful friend and associate of Mohammed, fices were offered to the Lares.
and by his wealth and influence he was one of the ACCENSORII, or LIGHTERS, a name sometimes
main instruments in advancing the new faith. Abube- given to the ACOLYTES (which see), in the early
ker was the only companion of Mohammed in his. Latin church, because one of the duties of the office
flight from Mecca. Such was the confidence reposed to which they were ordained was to light the can-
in him by the followers of the prophet, that they | dles of the church. Accordingly, in the canon
elected him his successor, and in this capacity he of ordination laid down by the fourth council of
took the name of Caliph, which has been adopted by Carthage, it is expressly provided, that an acolyth
The same
ACCESSUS-ACERRA.
25
TION,
shall, when ordained, receive a candlestick with a tion: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with
taper in it from the archdeacon, that he may under- | images, he looked in the liver." See DIVINA-
stand that he is appointed to light the candles.
Bingham very properly thinks, that this refers to ACEPHALI, a term applied in Ecclesiastical
nothing more than the lighting of the candles when History to those bishops who were exempt from
the church met for service at the lucernalis oratio, or the discipline and jurisdiction of their ordinary bishop
time of evening prayer. This office has been ex- or patriarch. It was a name particularly given to a
changed in the modern Latin or Roman Catholic sect of the Eutychians or Monophysites, in the fifth
church for that of the ceroferarii, or taper-bearers, century. When Peter Moggus, bishop of Alexan-
whose office is only to walk before the deacons, &c. dria, gave in his adherence to the Henoticon or for-
with lighted tapers in their hands.
mula of concord proposed by the Emperor Zeno,
ACCESSUS, one of the modes which is frequently those who rejected the Henoticon formed themselves
resorted to in electing the Pope of Rome. When the into a new party, which was called that of the Acepha-
cardinals have given their votes, a scrutiny is made li, because they were deprived of their head or leader.
which consists in collecting and examining the votes The date of their appearance is A. D. 482. From the
given in by printed billets, which the cardinals put time of the council of Chalcedon the Eutychians gra-
into a chalice that stands on the altar of the chapel | dually departed from the peculiar views of Eutyches,
where they are met together to choose the Pope. and therefore discarded the name of Eutychians,
If the votes do not rise to a sufficient number, bil- and assumed the more appropriate one of Monophy-
lets are taken in order to choose the Pope by way sites, which indicated their distinguishing tenet, that
of accessus. According to this mode, which is in- the two natures of Christ were so united, as to con-
tended to correct the scrutiny, they give their votes by | stitute but one nature. The whole party, there-
other billets, on which is written accedo Domino, &c., fore, having long renounced Eutyches as their leader,
when they join their vote to that of another; or when a part of them renounced also Peter Moggus,
accedo nemini, when they adhere to their first vote.) they were indeed Acephali, without a head. The
The practice of the accessus seems to be derived from name came at length to be applied to all who re-
the ancient method of voting in the Roman senate. fused to admit the decrees of the council of Chal-
When one senator was of another's opinion, he rose cedon. In the sixth century, the Emperor Justi-
up and went over to his colleague with whom he nian was persuaded by Theodorus of Cæsarea to
agreed. See CARDINAL—POPE.
believe that the Acephali would return to the church,
ACCURSED. See ANATHEMA, CURSE.
provided certain obnoxious writings favourable to the
ACDAH, a name given by the idolatrous Arabs Nestorian heresy were condemned. In A. D. 544,
to a species of arrows, without iron and feathers, accordingly, the emperor published a decree, which is
which were used for purposes of divination. Dr. usually called Justinian's creed, and which professes
Jamieson, in his valuable edition of Paxton's Illus- to define the Catholic faith, as established by the
trations of Scripture,' thus describes the process from first four general councils, those of Nice, Constan-
D'Herbelot: “The ancient idolatrous Arabs used a tinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, and to condemn the
sort of lots, which were called lots by arrows. These opposite errors. Three chapters or subjects were
arrows were without heads or feathers; they were condemned by Justinian: 1st, The person and writ-
three in number; upon one of them was written, ings of Theodorus of Mopsuestia, whom the decree
Command me, Lord;' upon the second,' Forbid, or pronounced a heretic and a Nestorian; 2d, The writ-
prevent, Lord.' The third arrow was blank. When ings of Theodoret, bishop of Cyprus, so far as they
any one wanted to determine on a course of action, | favoured Nestorianism, or opposed Cyril of Alexan-
he went with a present to the diviner (who was dria and his twelve anathemas; 3d, An Epistle said
the chief priest of the temple), who drew one of his to have been written by Ibas, bishop of Edessa, to
arrows from his bag, and if the arrow of command' one Maris, a Persian, which censured Cyril and the
appeared, he immediately set about the affair ; if first council of Ephesus, and favoured the cause of
that of prohibition appeared, he deferred the execu- Nestorius. Much and violent opposition was raised
tion of his enterprise for a whole year: when the to this decree; but Justinian was resolved to per-
blank arrow came out, he was to draw again. The severe, and he again condemned the three chapters
Arabs consulted these arrows in all their affairs, | by a new edict in A. D. 551. The matter was at
particularly their warlike expeditions.” To these last referred to a general council, which assembled
remarks, it may be added, that divination by ar- at Constantinople in A. D. 553, and which is usually
rows was used also by the Arabs in the case of mar- called the fifth general council. Here the creed of
riages, the circumcision of their children, and on Justinian was in substance ratified, but few of the
setting out on a journey. This kind of divination
This kind of divination Western bishops were present, and many of them
is expressly prohibited in the Koran. We find an dissenting from the decrees of the council, carried
allusion to the same practice in Ezek. xxi. 21: "For their opposition so far as to secede from communion
the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the with the Roman pontiff. See MONOPHYSITES.
way, at the head of the two ways, to use divina- ACERRA, a censer used by the ancient Romans,
26
ACESIUS-ACOLYTES.
in their sacred rites, for burning incense. It was also order of monks in 484 opposed Acacius, patriarch of
called thuribulum. See CENSER, SACRIFICE. Constantinople, in his support of the Henoticon, and
ACESIUS, a name given to the Pagan deity in the sixth century they fell themselves into the
Apollo, as being the averter of evil. Under this Nestorian heresy, and were condemned in A. D. 532,
name he was worshipped in Elis, where he had a by the Emperor Justinian and Pope John II. The
splendid temple. See APOLLO.
practice of praying day and night is supposed to have
ACHELOUS, the deity who presided over the been founded on a literal adherence to the apos-
river Achelous, which was accounted one of the tolic admonition, 1st Thess. v. 17, “Pray without
greatest and most ancient rivers of Greece. This ceasing."
was from the earliest times regarded as a great divi- ACOLYTES, or ACOLYTHS, an order of office-
nity throughout Greece, and he was invoked in bearers in the Latin church. Several Romish writers,
prayers, oaths, and sacrifices. Zeus of Dodona usu- particularly Baronius and Bellarmine, assert, that this
ally added to each oracle he gave, the command to and the other minor orders of their clergy were in-
offer sacrifices to Achelous. He was considered to stituted by the apostles. The greater number, how-
be the source of all nourishment.
ever, both of Roman Catholic and Protestant divines,
ACHERON, one of the rivers alleged in the Pa- maintain that they were unknown until the third
gan theology of the Greeks and Romans to run century. Cyprian, in the middle of that century,
through the infernal regions. The idea may have and Cornelius, a cotemporary of Cyprian, mention
arisen from the circumstance, that a river bearing the acolytes expressly by name. They were un-
that name was found in Epirus, a country which the known in the Greek church until the fifth century.
earliest Greeks regarded as the end of the world in the The fourth council of Carthage decrees the form of
west, and thence they considered it as the entrance their ordination, and briefly explains the nature of
into the lower world. Homer describes it as a river their office.
their office. The canon which treats of this subject
of Hades, and Virgil as the principal river of Tar- | is as follows: “When any acolyth is ordained, the
tarus. Late writers use the word Acheron to denote bishop shall inform him how he is to behave himself
the lower world in general.
in his office; and he shall receive a candlestick with
ACHERUSIA, a lake in Epirus, through which a taper in it from the archdeacon, that he may under-
the Acheron flowed, and which was considered as stand that he is appointed to light the candles of the
belonging to the lower regions of the Pagans. Va church. He shall also receive an empty pitcher to
rious other lakes bearing the same name were also furnish wine for the eucharist of the blood of Christ.”
regarded as passing through the shades below, and They were not ordained by imposition of hands, but
among these was one near Memphis in Egypt, to only by the bishop's appointment. Some think that
which the Egyptians used to carry their dead bodies they had another office—to accompany and attend
to be deposited in the sepulchres erected for them. the bishop wherever he went, and that on this ac-
ACHIN, a deity worshipped among the Adighé, count they were called acolyths or followers. The
a race of modern Circassians. He is regarded as the meaning of the word is simply an attendant, or one
god of horned cattle, and is so popular among his who continually waits upon another. Bingham sup-
victims, that the cow offered to him leaves her com- poses that they may have received the name from
panions of her own accord, with the calm desire and their having been obliged to attend at funerals in
intention of being so honourably sacrificed.
company of the canonicce and ascetriæ. They re-
ACHTARIEL, one of the three ministering an- ceived also the name of ACCENSORII (which see), or
gels, alleged by the Rabbinical traditions to be en- lighters. In the church of Rome, in the present
gaged in heaven in weaving or making garlands out day, the office of the acolyte is usually held by mere
of the prayers of the Israelites in the Hebrew tongue.boys, and is properly a menial office. And yet the
ACCEMETAE, an order of monks instituted in acolyte has his ordination, in which the bishop, hav-
the beginning, or as Baronius alleges, towards the ing presented him with an extinguished wax taper
middle of the fifth century, by a person of the name and an empty jar or vase, addresses to him the fol-
of Alexander, under the auspices of Gennadius the lowing admonition : “ Having undertaken, most
patriarch of Constantinople. They were called dear son, the office of an acolyte, consider what you
Acoemetae, or sleepless, because they so regulated undertake. It is the part of the acolyte to carry the
their worship that it was never interrupted by wax bearer, to kindle the lights of the church, to
day or by night, one class of the brethren suc- minister wine and water at the eucharist. Study
ceeding another continually. The piety of these therefore to fulfil your office worthily.
Let
watchers caused them to be held in great veneration, your light so shine before men, that they may see
and many monasteries were built for their use. One your good works, and glorify your Father which is
of these was erected by Studius, a wealthy Roman in heaven,” &c.
in heaven,” &c. The prayers and rubrics for the
nobleman, and from him the monks who inhabited | acolyte occupy together three pages of the Pontifi
that building were called Studites. This Bingham cale Romanum. In Rome, the acolytes are divided
supposes to be the first instance of monks taking into three classes. 1. The palatine, who wait upon
their name from the founder of a monastery. This | the Pope. 2. The stationarii, who serve in the
ACROB-ADAMIC DISPENSATION.
27
church; and, 3. The regionarii
, who attend in vari- | chael, near the gate of Ephraim. Semler conjectures,
ous parts of the city, a sort of beadles.
and not without some probability, that this epistle
ACROB, the superintendent of the angels, accord- was framed by the enemies of Adalbert, and palmed
ing to the religion of the GAURS (which see). upon him for the sake of injuring his reputation.
ACROSTIC, a form of poetical composition among Enough may be gathered from the representations
the Hebrews, composed of twenty-two lines or which Boniface made concerning this remarkable
stanzas according to the number of letters in the man, to convince us that his chief offence consisted
Hebrew alphabet, each line or stanza beginning with | in resisting Papal rule, leading great multitudes, as
each letter in its order. There are twelve hymns of was alleged, to despise the bishops and forsake the
this kind in the Old Testament. The hundred and ancient churches.
nineteenth Psalm is the most remarkable specimen ADAMIC DISPENSATION. The primeval
of it. Augustine in the fifth century wrote Latin form of religion was of course that which existed in
verses of this kind, called ABECEDARII (which see). the days of Adam, the progenitor of the human fa-
ACT OF FAITH. See AUTO DA FE'.
mily. Created in a state of perfect innocence and
AD, the father, according to Mohammedan tradi- | purity, he enjoyed direct and immediate fellowship
tion, of one of the four tribes or nations of the pri- with his God. It is difficult for man in his fallen
mitive or ancient Arabians. He is said to have been state to form an adequate conception of the religion
the son of the scripture Uz, the son of Aram, son of or religious worship of an unfallen creature. The
Shem, son of Noah. At the confusion of tongues, mind, the heart, the whole nature were habitually
Ad went to the southern part of Arabia called Ha- directed towards God. Religion in such a case was
dramaut. When the Arabians speak of any thing strictly spiritual; forms were scarcely necessary.
as having happened very long ago, they make use But scripture conveys to us the impression that God
of the proverbial expression, " This was in the times dealt with Adam not as an individual, but as the re-
of Ad."
presentative and head of that race which was to be
ADAB, whatever Mohammed has done once or descended from him. Perfect obedience to the will
twice, and is on that account lawful to be done by of the Divine Being was demanded of him, not as an
any of his followers.
individual creature merely, responsible for his own
ADAD, a Pagan deity of the ancient Assyrians acts, but as the federal head of an entire race. Life
representing the sun. The name signified in their | in the highest and purest sense, the life of the soul
language one. He was usually painted with beams as well as of the body, life not limited to a few short
shooting downwards towards the earth, thus indi- years only, but stretching throughout the endless
cating that the earth was indebted for its produc- ages of eternity; and what is more, not his own life
tiveness to the genial warmth of the sun's rays. merely, but the life of the whole human race, hung
Some are of opinion, that the true name of this deity suspended on his obedience to the divine will, em-
was Hadad, identical with the Benhadad of scripture, bodied in a single precept, “Do this, and thou shalt
the second of the name, who is said by Josephus to live; transgress, and thou shalt die;" such were the
have been deified after his death. Others suppose terms of the original dispensation or economy under
that Isaiah the prophet refers to this worship of the which Adam was originally placed. Even at the
sun, under the name of Achad, which means in He- very outset of the world's history, man was made to
brew one alone. The wife of Adad was called ADAR-feel his dependence, and to recognise his responsi-
GYRIS (which see).
bility. He was under law, and must render an ac-
ADALBERTINES, a Christian sect which arose count to the Lawgiver. But the law of the loving
in the eighth century, deriving both its origin and Creator was itself an expression of his love. It was
name from Adalbert, a Frenchman, who obtained accompanied both with promises and penalties; pro-
consecration as a bishop against the will of Boniface, mises in case of obedience, and penalties in case of
who, from his zeal in promoting the Papal cause, has disobedience. And these, to man, a sentient crea-
been sometimes termed the apostle of Germany. ture, were exhibited in a sensible form. The tree of
The chief scene of Adalbert's labours was Franconia, life in paradise indicated the promise, and the tree
and from his opposition to many of the doctrines, as of good and evil indicated the condition on which
well as the authority of Rome, he was denounced both the promise and the penalty rested. On this
by Boniface as a public heretic, and blasphemer of subject, Dr. Candlish makes the following apposite
God and the Catholic faith. He was condemned ac- remarks, in his Contributions towards the Exposi-
cordingly by the Roman pontiff Zacharias, at the in- tion of Genesis :' " The tree of life evidently typi-
stigation of Boniface, in a council convened at Rome, fied and represented that eternal life which was the
A. D. 748. He appears to have died in prison. His portion of man at first, and is become in Christ Jesus
followers held him in great veneration. He was ac- his portion again. It is found, accordingly, both in
cused, however, of having fabricated an epistle which the paradise which was lost, and in the paradise
purported to have been written by our Lord Jesus which is regained. For, saith the Spirit to the
Christ, and to have fallen down from heaven at Je- churches, To him that overcometh will I give to eat
rusalem, where it was found by the archangel Mic of the tree of life which is in the midst of the gar-
.
28
ADAMITES—ADDEPHAGIA.
ence.
den;'-the garden, which is become at last a city, | tians, one of the Gnostic sects. Dr. Lardner argues
for the multitude of the redeemed to dwell in. (Rev. very strenuously against the existence of the Adam-
ii. 7. See also Rev. xxii. 2, 14.) By the use of this ites, no ancient writer before Epiphanius having even
tree, man was reminded continually of his depend alluded to such a sect. But if the allegation that
He had no life in himself. He received life Adamites existed in the second century be unfounded,
at every instant anew from Him in whom alone is it is an undeniable fact that in the twelfth century,
life. And of this continual reception of life, his con- a sect of this kind made its appearance, headed by
tinual participation of the tree of life was a standing one Taudamus, who propagated his errors at Ant-
symbol. Again he is reminded of what is his part werp, in the reign of the emperor Henry the Fifth.
in the covenant, of the terms on which he holds the This heretic had a great number of followers. The
favour of his God, which is his life. The fatal tree sect, however, did not last long after his death, but
is to him, even before his fall, in a certain sense the another similar sect appeared under the name of
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is a Turlupins, in Savoy and Dauphiny, where they com-
standing memorial of the reality of the distinction. mitted the most immoral actions in open day.
It suggests the possibility of evil—of disobedience, About the beginning of the fifteenth century, one
—which otherwise, in the absence of all lust, might Picard, a native of Flanders, taught doctrines allied
not occur.
And so it is a test and token of his sub- to those which have been ascribed to the Adamites.
mission to his Maker's will. Hence the fitness of Picard pretended that he was sent into the world as
this expedient, as a trial of his obedience. If he was a new Adam, to re-establish the law of nature. This
to be tried at all, it could scarcely, in paradise, be sect, which held its religious assemblies during the
otherwise than by means of a positive precept. And night, found some partizans in Poland, Holland, and
the more insignificant the matter of that precept was, England. It is said that in 1581 some Adamites
the better was it fitted for being a trial. The less were discovered in Holland. See BEGHARDS—
was the temptation beforehand; the greater, conse- PICARDS.
quently, the sin. Such a tree, then, might well serve ADAM KADMON, the name of a priraitive
the purpose intended. It might seal and ratify his emanation in the cabbalistic philosophy of the Jews,
compliance with the will of God, and his enjoyment which is regarded as at once the image of God and
of the life of God; or, on the other hand, it might the type of man, and from which proceed decreasing
occasion his sin and his death."
stages of emanations called SEPHIROTHS (which see).
How long Adam continued to yield obedience to See CABBALA.
the law of God we are not informed; but in an evil ADAR, the twelfth month of the ecclesiastical
hour he lent a too ready ear to the suggestions of year, and the sixth of the civil year among the He-
the tempter, and having incurred the penalty of dis- | brews. It consists of only twenty-nine days, and cor-
obedience, and fallen under the displeasure of his responds with part of our February and March. On
God, the original Adamic dispensation was brought the third day of Adar the building of the second
to a close. This religion and worship of innocence temple at Jerusalem was finished and dedicated with
gave place to the religion and worship of a fallen great solemnity. A fast in commemoration of the
creature, with whom God must deal, if he deal at death of Moses is celebrated by the Jews on the
all, in another and far different way from that which seventh day of this month. On the thirteenth, they
characterized his early intercourse with man.
celebrate what is called Esther's fast, and on the
ADAMITES, a sect of heretics which sprung up fourteenth they keep the festival of Purim, in me-
in the second century. They derived their name morial of the deliverance of the Jews from the
from a distinguishing tenet which they held,—that cruel designs of Haman. A feast is held on the
since the death of Christ, his followers were as inno- | twenty-fifth, in commemoration of Jehoiachim, king
cent as Adam before the fall. Hence they are said of Judah, who was advanced by Evil-Merodach above
by Epiphanius to have worshipped naked in their other kings that were at his court. As the lunar
assemblies. Their church they called Paradise, the year, which has been followed by the Jews in their
paradise promised by God to the righteous. They calculations, is shorter than the solar by eleven days,
held that clothes are the badges of sin, and therefore and as these days, at the end of three years, amount
ought not to be worn by those that have been deli- to a month, an intercalary month is then inserted,
vered from sin by Christ. They maintained that which they call Veadar, or a second Adar, and which
marriages were unlawful among Christians, because, consists of twenty-nine days.
if Adam, they alleged, had not sinned, there would ADARGYRIS, the wife of the pagan deity ADAD
have been no marriages. The accounts of the an- (which see), and usually represented with rays shoot-
cient writers in regard to this sect are very contra- ing upwards, thus indicating that she who denoted
dictory, and some of the moderns have even gone so the earth, looked for all her fertility and productive-
far as to deny that such a sect ever existed. Both ness to the sun in the heavens.
Epiphanius and Augustine describe this singular sect ADDEPHAGIA, a pagan goddess representing
with great minuteness. They originated from Pro-gluttony. She had a temple in Sicily, in which was
dicus, who seems to have belonged to the Carpocra- a statue of Ceres.
ADDIR-ADIAPHORISTS.
29
TARIANS.
ADDIR, the mighty Father, a name applied to the three divines of acknowledged ability and learning,
true God by the Philistines, because he had visited to prepare a system of doctrine, in which all the
the Egyptians with plagues.
churches, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, might
ADE, an idol of the Hindus represented with concur, until a proper council could be assembled.
four arms.
This document being only intended to serve a tem-
ADELIAH, the name which the followers of ALI porary purpose, received afterwards the name of the
(which see), among the Mohammedans take to them- Interim. Having been carefully drawn up so as to
selves. The word denotes properly in Arabic, the please both parties, it was presented to the diet, and
sect of the Just; but the other Mohammedans call their approbation being given by at least a tacit ac-
them Schiiah, the sect of the Revolted. See SCHIITES. quiescence in its statements, the emperor ordered it
ADEONA, a goddess worshipped by the ancient to be published in the German as well as Latin lan-
Romans, as one of their inferior deities. Augustine guage, and was resolved to enforce the observance of
says that she enabled people to walk; hence she was it as a decree of the empire. The Interim, however,
invoked in going abroad, and in returning home. met with violent opposition from both Protestants
ADESSENARIANS, from adesse, to be present, a and Papists. Principal Robertson, in his History
term applied at the Reformation to the followers of of Charles V.,' thus describes the feelings of both
Luther, who, while they denied the doctrine of tran- parties on its publication:-“ The Protestants con-
substantiation, nevertheless held the literal and real demned it as a system containing the grossest errors
presence of Christ in the elements of the eucharist. of Popery, disguised with so little art, that it could
They received also the name of impanitores. The impose only on the most ignorant, or on those who,
Adessenarians were far from being agreed in refer- | by wilfully shutting their eyes, favoured the deception.
ence to the mode in which the real presence existed; The Papists inveighed against it, as a work in which
some being persuaded that the body of Christ is in some doctrines of the church were impiously given
the bread; others, that it is about the bread; others, up, others meanly concealed, and all of them delivered
that it is with the bread; and others still, that it is in terms calculated rather to deceive the unwary
under the bread. See LUTHERANS-SACRAMEN- than to instruct the ignorant, or to reclaim such as
were enemies to the truth. While the Lutheran
ADHEM, one of the most ancient Mohammedan divines fiercely attacked it on one hand, the
Quietists, who is said to have obtained in one of his general of the Dominicans with no less vehe-
visions the high privilege of having his name written mence impugned it on the other. But at Rome, as
by an angel among those who love God. "Hell," soon as the contents of the Interim came to be known,
he said,
was preferable with the will of God to the indignation of the courtiers and ecclesiastics rose
heaven without it." “I had rather," was a common
on to the greatest height. They exclaimed against the
expression used by him, “I had rather go to hell emperor's profane encroachment on the sacerdotal
doing the will of God than go to heaven disobeying function, in presuming, with the concurrence of an
him.” Such extravagant statements are not unfre-assembly of laymen, to define articles of faith, and to
quently made by Mohammedan mystics by way of regulate modes of worship. They compared this
manifesting their high regard for the Divine Being. | rash deed to that of Uzzah, who with an unhallowed
See MYSTICS.
hand touched the ark of God; or to the bold attempts
ADHHA, a festival among the Mohammedans, of those emperors who had rendered their memory
celebrated on the tenth day of the sacred month detestable, by endeavouring to model the Christian
Dhoulhagiat, or the month of Pilgrimage. The church according to their pleasure. They even af-
Turks call this festival the GREAT BEIRAM, under fected to find out a resemblance between the em-
which article the ceremonies attending its observance peror's conduct and that of Henry VIII., and ex-
will be particularly described.
pressed their fear of his imitating the example of
ADIAPHORISTS, (Gr. adiaphora, indifferent), that apostate, by usurping the title as well as juris-
a name given to Melancthon and his associates, diction belonging to the head of the church. All,
in the sixteenth century, who adhered to the therefore, contended with one voice, that as the
Leipsic interim, in which the principle is laid down foundations of ecclesiastical authority were now
that in things indifferent the will of the em- shaken, and the whole fabric ready to be overturned
peror might be obeyed. This gave rise to the cele- by a new enemy, some powerful method of defence
brated adiaphoristic controversy in regard to what must be provided, and a vigorous resistance must be
constituted matters involved in, or connected with, made, in the beginning, before he grew too formida-
religion, which might be considered indifferent. The ble to be opposed."
circumstances in which this controversy, which agi- Maurice, elector of Saxony, who occupied middle
tated the reformed churches for many years, origi- ground between those who approved and those who
nated, may be briefly stated. Charles V., emperor of rejected the Interim, held several consultations in
Germany, desirous of setting at rest, if possible, the
possible, the 1548 with theologians and others, with the view
religious dissensions by which his country was dis- of ascertaining what course it would be right to pur-
turbed at the time of the Reformation, employed sue. Among the advisers of the elector, the re-
30
ADIAPHORISTS.
1
former Melancthon held a conspicuous place. This | vation, though not as the meritorious ground of jus-
eminent man, influenced probably in part by fear of tification before God, but only as an essential part
the emperor, and in part by a desire to please the of the Christian character. With all this, the In-
elector, decided, that, while the Interim of Charles terim contained a clear and explicit statement of the
could not be wholly and unreservedly admitted, yet vital doctrine, that salvation is wholly by grace,
it might be expedient to receive and approve of it, through faith in the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.
in so far as it concerned matters in religion that | By such a mode of representing the points in dis-
were non-essential or indifferent (in rebus adiaphoris). pute between Protestants and Papists, the Adia-
The document drawn up at this time, containing the phorists hoped to please the emperor, and prevent
opinion of Melancthon and those divines who agreed the cause of the Reformation from being seriously
with him, is commonly called the Leipsic interim, endangered. The motives of Melancthon and his
and contains what its authors regard as indifferent associates were undoubtedly praiseworthy; but the
liturgical matters, which might be admitted to please measure to which they resorted for the accomplish-
the emperor. Among them were the Papal dresses inent of their object was of a very questionable cha-
for priests, the apparel used at mass, the surplice, racter. It is always hazardous to modify our repre-
and several customs evidently indicative of worship sentations of truth with the view of conciliating
paid to the host, such as tolling and ringing of bells opponents. And the consequences were precisely
at the elevation of the host. Besides these, the what might have been expected. Men of firm un-
Adiaphorists included in their interim various points bending principle exposed, with an unsparing hand,
which the faithful followers of Luther could not re- the shallow schemes of a short-sighted expediency.
gard as indifferent, such as the vital doctrine of justi- | Instead of gaining supporters to the Interim of
fication by faith alone, the necessity of good works Charles, the course which Melancthon and his fol-
in order to salvation, the number of the sacraments, lowers had pursued, only increased the number of
extreme unction, the observance of certain feast- its opponents, and the Adiaphoristic controversy,
days appointed by the church, and the supreme au- painful and protracted in itself, became the fruitful
thority of the Roman pontiff. From the publica- parent of other and equally pernicious contests. We
tion of the Leipsic interim dates the commencement refer to the Solifidian, Synergistic, and other disputes,
of the Adiaphoristic controversy, which was protract- which will be noticed under their proper heads.
ed for many years, the party supporting the Interim Among moral writers, in all ages, the question of
being headed by Melancthon, and the party opposing Adiaphora or indifferent actions, has formed a sub-
it by Matthias Flacius.
ject of frequent and earnest discussion. Among
The two great principles involved in this controver- the schoolmen particularly, it was a favourite topic.
sy were, first, Whether the points alleged by the Adia- Abelard taught that “all actions abstractly and exter-
phorists as indifferent actually were so; and second- nally considered are in themselves indifferent ; the
ly, Whether it is lawful, in things which are indiffer- intention only gives them moral worth. Only when
ent and not essential to religion, to succumb to the considered in connection with the intention of the
enemies of the truth. The discussion of these two agent are they capable of moral adjudication. That
questions was carried on for a long period with consi- is the tree which yields either good fruit or bad.":
derable vehemence on both sides. In his anxiety to There is no doubt embodied in this saying an im-
reconcile the great contending parties, Melancthon portant principle, but it requires to its full develop-
had endeavoured to present, in a modified form, some ment the additional idea, that the intention must be
even of those very points which Luther and his fol- pure and clear. “The eye,” as our Lord expressed
lowers had regarded as forming the very vitals of the it, “must be single, if the whole body is to be full of
controversy between them and the papacy. Doc- light.” Thomas Aquinas, also, takes up the subject
trinal articles had been altered and interpolated.of indifferent actions, alleging that nothing is indif-
Against the supremacy of the Pope, Luther had | ferent, because every action is either one correspond-
levelled his most violent attacks; Melancthon, in ing or not corresponding to the order of reason, and
his Interim, allowed the Pope to remain at the head nothing can be conceived as holding a middle place.
of the church, though without conceding to him a 6. Thus,” he says,
” he says, “eating and sleeping are things in
divine right, and without allowing him to be the themselves indifferent; yet both are subservient to
arbiter of faith. Luther had argued keenly against i virtue with those who use the body generally as an
the seven sacraments; Melancthon allowed them to organ of reason.” But without dwelling on purely
remain as religious rites, though not under the name abstract questions, as to the indifference of human
of sacraments, nor regarded as efficacious to salva- actions in themselves, we may remark, that the
tion in the Popish sense. Luther had preached | Adiaphoristic controversy, such as it presented itself
against the mass; Melancthon retained the mass, among the Reformers in Germany in the sixteenth
though representing it as merely a repetition of the century, has again and again broken forth in differ-
Lord's Supper. Justification by faith alone was re- ent parts of the Church of Christ since that period.
garded as the article of a standing or a falling church ; Thus, in the end of the seventeenth century, Spener,
Melancthon set forth good works as essential to sal- in his anxiety to recall Christians in Germany to the
1
ADITES-ADONIA.
31
importance of cultivating the inner life of the be- finished the creation of the world. This sentiment
liever, raised a dispute which lasted for several years, they imagine is contained in these words of Moses,
on the question, whether dancing, playing at cards, “He is a rock, his work is perfect.” According to
attending theatrical representations, and such things, the Cabbalistic writers, the name JEHOVAH forms a
were to be regarded as sinful, or were merely indif- | bond of union to all the splendours, and constitutes
ferent. A controversy of the same kind has more the pillar upon which they all rest. Every letter of
than once been carried on in both Britain and Amer- which it is composed is fraught with mysteries.
ica. All discussions on the lawfulness of rites and They assert that this name includes all things, and
ceremonies, the use of meats, the propriety of ab- that he who pronounces it puts the whole world, and
stinence from the use of alcoholic liquors, the obser- all the creatures and things which comprise the uni-
vance of days, whether for fasts or feasts, may be verse, into his mouth. Hence it ought not to be
classed under the head of topics connected with the pronounced but with great caution, for God himself
Adiaphoristic controversy. See INTERIM.
says,
" Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord
ADI-BUDHA, the one Supreme Intelligence in thy God in vain.” According to the Cabbalists, the
the creed of the Budhists of Nepál, the only school prohibition does not apply to the violation of oaths,
or sect of the followers of Budha which believes in a but the pronouncing of his name, except by the
Supreme Being, either like the AUM (which see) of high priest in the Holy of Holies on the great
the Vaidic period, or the BRAHM (which see) of the day of atonement. They allege that the name
later period of Hindu history. Budhisin is essen- JEHOVAH has a supreme authority over the world,
tially atheistic in its character. It disclaims all and governs all things; and that all the other names
knowledge of the Great Source of all, and teaches and surnames of God, amounting, according to Jew-
without reserve that all things may be seen to come ish reckoning, to seventy, take their station around
into the world according to a law of succession. it like so many officers and soldiers around their
ADITI, in the Hindu mythology, the mother of general. They attribute to each of the letters of
Indra, and of the other great gods, all solar. Mythi-this mysterious name a specific value, and they teach
cally viewed, she seems to be Light abstractly consi- that the highest measure of knowledge and perfec-
dered in its complete unity, in its goodness, and in its tion is to know the whole import of the ineffable
salutary action. These are the three senses of the name of JEHOVAH.
word Aditi. In a special sense, she is the dawn of From all these considerations, wherever the name
day, and the sister of darkness, who ushers in the JEHOVAH occurs in the Old Testament Scriptures,
brightness and the beauty of that glorious orb who the Jews always in reading pronounce Adonai, and
sheds his refulgent radiance over the whole creation. | hence the letters of which the word JEHOVAH
Every morning this grand goddess appears with majes- is composed, are usually in the Hebrew Bibles writ-
ty, attended by her sons, her generous children, who ten with the points belonging to ADONAI or Lord.
rise above the horizon, opening the way to immortal-They contend that the true pronunciation of the
ity, and securing the progress of the travelling star. word, which we render Jehovah, has been lost, and
ADMONITION, the first step of ecclesiastical that whosoever possesses it could reveal secrets or
discipline as laid down by the Apostle Paul, Tit. mysteries. The practice of writing the ineffable
iii. 10, “A man that is an heretic, after the first and name in the manner referred to, seems to have been
second admonition, reject.” In conformity with this peculiar to the later Jews, and to have been un-
rule, the admonition of the offender, in the early known until the Babylonish captivity. Hebrew
Christian Church, was solemnly repeated once or scholars and critics, indeed, have been divided in
twice before proceeding to greater severity.
opinion on the subject, and according as they ranged
ADMONITIONISTS, a class of Puritans in the themselves on one side or the other, have re-
reign of Queen Elizabeth, who received this name ceived the name of Adonists or Jehovists. See
from the “ Admonition to the Parliament," in JEHOVAH.
1571, in which they lay it down as a great principle ADONIA, the heathen mysteries and sacrifices of
on which the Cluistian Church is bound always to Adonis celebrated every year at Byblos in Syria.
act, that nothing is to be received as an article of The Adonia were accompanied with public mourn-
faith, or admitted as an ordinance of the Church, ing, when the people beat themselves, and lamented
which is not laid down in the Word of God.
and celebrated his funeral rites as if he had been
ADONAI, one of the names of the Divine Being dead, though the day following was observed in
frequently employed in the Sacred Scriptures. Ac- honour of his resurrection. The men shaved their
cording to an ancient idea among the Jews, this heads as the Egyptians did at the death of their god
word is substituted for the ineffable name JEHOVAH, Apis; but the women, who would not consent to
which they consider it unlawful to pronounce. They shave their heads, were compelled to prostitute them-
assert that all the names of God proceed from that selves for a day to strangers for hire, and to dedicate
of JEHOVAH, as the branches of a great tree issue their unhallowed gain to Venus. It was absurdly
from the stem. The Jewish Cabbalists teach that alleged, that a river in Syria, called by the name of
God did not assume the name JEHOVAH until he had | Adonis, changed its colour at times, the water be-
32
ADONIS ADOPTIANS.
coming blood-red, and what was regarded as espe- | symbolic character, however, nothing as yet is known.
cially miraculous was, that this change took place The same divinity is represented on one of the walls
during the celebration of the Adonia, that is, in the at Palenque, not in a human, but an animal form.
month of Tammuz or July. As soon as the water Instead of the hawk of Egypt, however, the Toltecans
of the river began to be tinged with blood, the wo- chose as their sacred bird the rainbow-coloured phea-
men commenced their weeping, and when the red sant of Central America, which is perched on the
colour disappeared, the return of Adonis to life was Toltecan cross resembling the Christian, and with
announced, and sorrow was exchanged for joy. This its lower extremity terminating in a heart-formed
is the festival probably alluded to in Ezekiel, and spade. The subject of the sculpture shows the sim-
to which reference is made in the article ADONIS plicity of the worship. Two Toltecan heroes, chiefs
(which see). The Adonia were celebrated not only or priests, stand beside the sacred bird; one of them
at Byblos in Syria, but also at Alexandria in Egypt, supports an infant in his arms, probably for baptism,
Athens in Greece, and other places. The worship which was a rite practised by the votaries of Adonis,
of Adonis, though originating probably in Asia, and at other places there are indications of a similar
spread over almost all the countries bordering on ceremony." No slight confirmation of the supposi-
the Mediterranean.
tion that the principal deity of the Mexicans was
ADONIS, in the fabulous mythology of the Greeks, the Syrian god Adoni-Siris may be drawn from the
was a beautiful young shepherd with whom the god- | circumstance, that the architecture of their temples,
dess Venus became enamoured. In a fit of jealousy, as far as they still remain, is decidedly of Syrian ori-
Mars, who happened to meet him in hunting, killed gin. See TAMMUZ.
him. Lucian says that he was killed by a boar. ADOPTIANS, a sect of heretics which arose in
The goddess was deeply grieved at the death of her Spain towards the close of the eighth century. The
lover, and obtained from Proserpine permission for circumstances in which it originated were these.
him to leave the infernal regions six months in the Felix, bishop of Urgel in Catalonia, was consulted
year. Accordingly, the anniversary of the death of by Elipand, archbishop of Toledo, concerning the
Adonis, which was observed with mourning and sor- sense in which Jesus Christ was to be called the
row, was followed by a season of joy. Ovid relates, Son of God, and whether as a man he ought to be
that Venus produced from his blood the flower called considered as the adopted, or as the natural Son of
Anemone. The story of Adonis became connected the Father. Felix replied, that Jesus Christ, ac-
with that of Osiris in the Egyptian mythology. cording to his human nature, could only be consi-
Osiris was said to have been shut up in a box by dered as the Son of God by adoption, and a nominal
Typhon, and thrown into the Nile, and was found by Son; in the same sense in which believers are called
Isis at Byblos in Syria. Typhon, however, obtained in Scripture, children of God. The title, Son of
possession of the body, cut it into many pieces, and God, he maintained, was only by way of expressing,
scattered them abroad; but Isis succeeded in col- in a particular manner, the choice that God had
lecting them together again, and burying them. We made of Jesus Christ. In proof of this he argued
find a reference to Adonis in the Vulgate version of from Acts x. 38, that Jesus Christ wrought miracles
Ezekiel viii. 14, which represents the prophet as because God was with him, and from 2 Cor. v. 19,
having seen women in the temple weeping for Adonis
, that “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto
which the Hebrew reads Tammuz. The name Adonis himself;" but he added, they do not affirm that
seems to imply the sun, whose departure in autumn Jesus Christ was God. Hence the followers of Fe-
gives occasion to no little sorrow.
lix were called Adoptians or Adoptionists. In the
So strictly connected are the two deities, Adonis opinion of Pope Hadrian, and most of the Latin
and Osiris, the one belonging to Syria, and the other | bishops, the doctrine taught by Felix amounted to a
to Egypt, that there seems to have been a combina- revival of Nestorianism, as dividing Christ into two
tion of the two in the ancient god Adoni-Siris. In persons. Hence Felix was declared guilty of heresy,
the ancient sculptured monuments of Mexico some first in the council of Narbonne, A. D. 788, then at
traces are found of the worship of this twofold deity. Ratisbon in Germany, A. D. 792; also at Frankfort
“Various characteristics,” it has been remarked, " of on the Maine, A. D. 794; afterwards at Rome, A. D.
the worship of Osiris and Adonis are complete in | 799; and, lastly, in the council of Aix-la-Chapelle.
the sculptured tablets of Mexico. A priestess kneels He was banished by Charlemagne to Lyons, where
before the Toltecan god in the attitude of adoration, he died adhering to the last to the heresy which he
and offers him a pot of flowers, not the mint offered had originated.
to Osiris, but the blood-stained hand-plant or manitas, Walch, in his Historia Adoptionorum, thus states
which all the monuments attest was anciently held | the heresy: Christ, as a man, and without regard
sacred throughout Mexico. On the sculptured ta- to the personal union of the two natures, was
blet over the head of the divinity, appear, precisely born a servant of God, though without sin. When
in the Egyptian fashion, the phonetic characters of God at his baptism pronounced him his dear Son, he
his name in an oblong square, which in Egypt was underwent a transition from the condition of a ser-
devoted to the names of gods. Of the phonetic or vant to that of a free person. This transition
ADOPTION.
33
was both his adoption and his regeneration. The as clearly as that which is connected with his glory.
title of God belongs to him, indeed, as a man, but But Felix was scarcely prepared to enter, without
not properly, for he is God only nuncupatively. prejudice, into the whole meaning of the New Testa-
Neander gives a clear philosophical explanation of ment writers. As his opponents wished to force this
the principles which the Adoptionists maintained. doctrine into the form of their theory, by the trans-
“ The idea of adoption in his (Felix) mind, was no- feiring of the opposed predicates, or, as it was after-
thing more than that of a sonship grounded not on wards the fashion to call it, the idiom-communica-
natural descent, but on the special act of the Father's tion, so Felix, on the other side, according to the
free-will. To those who objected that the title of Scriptural view, allowed himself to do violence to his
Filius per adoptionem, son by adoption, is never ap- theory of distinction, forced upon the biblical writers,
plied to the Saviour in the Holy Scriptures, he re- when he says, in the words of Peter: "Thou art
plied, that the fundamental idea was agreeable to Christ, the Son of the living God,' and refers the
Scripture, for that the other corresponding notions predicate Christ to the manhood, in which he was
of like import had actually their foundation in Scrip- anointed, and the predicate Son of the living God, to
ture. All such opinions are in close connection | the Godhead of our Saviour."
with each other; and without them it would be im- After the death of Felix, the first promulgator of
possible to form a conception of the human nature of the Adoptian heresy, his followers gradually disap-
Christ as not springing from the essence of God, but peared. In the middle ages, however, similar doc-
as created by the will of God. He who denies one trines to those of Felix were taught by Folmar, about
of these notions, must, therefore, deny the true A.D. 1160; and Duns Scotus, about A.D. 1300, and
humanity of Christ. The term adoption accordingly Durandus, about 1320, admit the expression Son of
seemed to him especially appropriate, because it is adoption in a certain sense.
clear, from a comparison with human relationships, ADOPTION, the admission of a child into all the
that a person, by natural descent, cannot have two privileges of a family to which he does not naturally
fathers, and yet may have one by natural descent, and belong. Such a custom anciently prevailed in Orien-
another by adoption. And thus Christ in his hu- tal countries. Among the earlier Hebrews, however,
manity might be the son of David by descent, and, it seems to have been altogether unknown. Moses,
according to adoption, the Son of God. Felix sought at least, is silent on the subject in his judicial code.
out all those predicates in the Holy Scriptures, There are two different kinds of adoption referred to
which tended to show the dependent relation of in the sacred writings; the first being that of a
Christ, that he might thereby prove the necessity of brother marrying the widow of his deceased brother,
the distinction which he had introduced as founded in case of his having died without issue; and the
on Scripture. If Christ took upon him the form of second being that of a father who had no sons but a
a servant, the name of a servant belongs to him, not daughter only, and adopted her children. The former
simply on account of the obedience which he freely is alluded to in Deut. xxv. 5, “If brethren dwell to-
rendered as man, but from the natural relation in gether, and one of them die, and have no child, the
which he stands as man, as a creature, to God, in wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a
contrast to that relation in which, as the Son of God, stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her,
according to his nature and essence, and as the Logos, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of
he stands to the Father. Felix describes this oppo- an husband's brother unto her;" and Ruth iv. 5,
sition by the terms, servus conditionalis, servus secun- “ Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of
dum conditionem. Nowhere, he contends, is it said the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth
in the gospel, that the Son of God, but always that the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the
the Son of Man, was given for our sins. He appeals name of the dead upon his inheritance;' the latter,
to what Christ himself says (Luke xviii. 19), in re- in 1 Chron. ii. 21–23, “And afterward Hezron
ference to his humanity, namely, that it was not in went in to the daughter of Machir; the father of
itself good, but that God in it, as everywhere, is the Gilead, whom he married when he was threescore
source of good. So also he quotes what Peter says years old, and she bare him Segub. And Segub be-
of Christ (Acts x. 38), that God was in him; and gat Jair, who had three and twenty cities in the land
what Paul states to the same purpose (2 Cor. v. 19), 1 of Gilead. And he took Geshur, and Aram, with
but not as if the godhead of Christ was to be denied, the towns of Jair, from them, with Kenath, and the
but only that the distinction between the human and towns thereof, even threescore cities : all these be-
the divine natures should be firmly asserted. He longed to the sons of Machir, the father of Gilead.”
contended, that by this manifestation of the pure The ceremony of adoption among the ancient
humanity in Christ, the Son of God was glorified as Romans was effected under the authority of a magis-
Redeemer, while, at the same time, he only assumed trate, before whom, by the legal form called in jure
all this out of mere mercy, and for the salvation of cessio, the child was formally surrendered by his na-
mankind. To represent the doctrine of the Scrip- tural into the hands of his adoptive father. Originally
tures fully and faithfully, we must endeavour to ex- it could only be accomplished by a vote of the peo-
hibit that which concerns the humiliation of Christ ple in public assembly. Under the emperors it re-
I.
C1
34
ADORATION.
quired only an imperial rescript. All the property toward the south looking toward Mecca. The
of an adopted son passed over to the adoptive father, standing position was invariably adopted by the early
who must, by the Roman law, be a person who had church on Sundays, and on the fifty days between
no children, and no reasonable hope of having any. Easter and Pentecost, in memory of our Lord's re-
It was not allowed a woman to adopt, for even her surrection. Prostration on the ground has been fre-
own children were not regarded as legally in her own quently adopted among the Orientals as an expres-
power. In the East the ceremony of adoption is sion of the fervour of their devotion. The ancient
very simple, the parties merely exchanging girdles Romans likewise used to prostrate themselves before
with one another. Among the Mohammedans, the the statues of their gods, and even while yet at a
adopted was made to pass through the shirt of the distance from them. The Turks fall down on their
person adopting him. A custom somewhat analo- faces whenever they hear an Imam pronounce the
gous is found in ancient times. Thus Aaron invested name of God with a loud voice. The ancient Egyp-
his son Eleazar with the priestly garments which he tians were accustomed also to prostrate themselves
himself had worn, in token of his adoption to the before Anubis. The different postures assumed by
office of the high priesthood. Elijah also, when as- the Turks in their devotions are very peculiar. The
cending to heaven, threw his mantle over the shoul- most devout of the modern Jews, in some places,
ders of his successor Elisha.
wrap the veil they wear on their head round their
ADORATION. This word, which is now em- neck during their divine service in the synagogue.
ployed to denote worship in general, is derived from The arrangement of the hands in the act of adora-
a particular mode of expressing homage or worship tion has been often considered as of great importance.
to the deities among the pagans, by lifting the hand Thus, when the ancient heathens addressed their in-
to the mouth (ad, to, os, oris, the mouth), and kissing it. fernal deities, they stretched their hands downwards;
We find an evident allusion to this custom in Job when to the sea-deities, they stretched out their
xxxi. 26—28, “If I beheld the sun when it shined, or hands toward the ocean. The Turks cross their
the moon walking in brightness; and my heart hath hands over their breasts. Christians usually clasp
been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my their hands. Roman Catholics generally make the
hand: this also were an iniquity to be punished by sign of the cross. The Jewish priest, when he con-
the judge ; for I should have denied the God that is fessed the sins of the people, was wont to lay his
above.” This practice of kissing the hand is fre- hands upon the horns of the altar.
quently adopted in the East as a mark of respect and In adoration the pagan idolaters often embraced
submission, after which the hand is put upon the the statues of their gods, weeping and wailing at
head. An Oriental kisses the hand of his superior their feet, tearing their hair, and promising to lead a
and puts it to his forehead. If the superior be of a new life. Sometimes they grasped the knees of their
condescending disposition, he snatches away his idols, put crowns on their heads, and presented be-
hand as soon as the other has touched it; immedi- fore them the choicest fruits and flowers. The an-
ately upon which the inferior puts his own fingers to cient Greeks on some occasions took branches with
his lips and afterwards to his forehead. The ancient wool twisted round them, and touched the knees of
Hebrews were accustomed to take off the shoes the gods to whom they applied in times of distress;
when entering a sacred place to perform an act of and when the suppliant was likely to obtain his ob-
adoration. The Egyptians observed the same custom; ject, he touched with his branch the right hand, and
and the Mohammedans invariably take off the shoes even the chin and cheeks of the god to whom he was
on entering the mosques. Pythagoras enjoined his tendering his prayer. The Roman Catholics to this
disciples to worship the gods barefooted. In Roman day often express their reverence for the images of
Catholic processions the people, but particularly saints by touching them with handkerchiefs or linen
some orders of monks, walk barefooted. The same cloths, and sometimes even kiss them in the ardour
custom is often enjoined by the Romish church, to of their devotion.
be observed by penitents.
The ancients made it a constant practice in wor-
When engaged in adoration, the Jews used ship to turn themselves round, and the practice
various forms-standing, bowing, kneeling, throw- seems to have the express sanction of Pythagoras.
ing themselves upon the ground, and kissing the The precise design of this circular movement is by
hand. The first Christians were accustomed to no means obvious. Some suppose that in doing so
adore standing, or kneeling, with their faces to- the worshipper intended to imitate the circular
wards the east, either because Christ is called the movement of the earth. Plutarch, who also notices
East in the Old Testament, or, perhaps, to show the custom, explains it by alleging, that as all temples
that they expected the coming of Christ from the were built fronting the east, the people at their en-
east. The origin of this custom is traced by some trance turned their backs to the sun, and conse-
to the worship of the sun. The ancient Jews turned quently, in order to face the sun were obliged to
towards the west that they might not copy the make a half-turn to the right; and then, in order to
idolatry of the heathens. They often prayed with place themselves before the deity, they completed
their faces to Jerusalem. The Mohammedans turn the round in offering up their prayer. Whatever
1
ADRAMMELECH-ADVENT.
35
end was intended to be served by it, the actual exist- | To cover the veneration awarded to mere outward
ence of the practice is undoubted. The Romans representations, Romish writers have invented an-
turned to the right and the Gauls to the left. The other distinction, speaking of absolute and relative
Hindus turn to the right in walking round the sta- adoration, the first being given to the true object of
tues of their gods, and at every round are obliged to worship, and the second paid to an object as belong-
prostrate themselves with their faces to the ground. ing to, or representative of, another. In this latter
The ancient Jews, as we learn from the Mischna, sense, the Romanists profess to adore the cross, or
went up on the right side of the altar and came down crucifix, not simply or immediately, but in respect of
on the left. In the custom of turning round, the. Jesus Christ, whom they suppose to be on it. The
Persians had in view the immensity of God, who same excuse, however, is given by the heathen in
comprehends all things in himself. The same cere- defence of the grossest idolatry. It is not the image
mony is still observed in the Mass among Roman or idol simply and absolutely which he professes to
Catholics.
adore, but that great Being whom the image repre-
The custom of salutation has often formed a part sents. The command of God is explicit against
of the ceremony of adoration. From both Cicero | every act of this nature: “Thou shalt not make unto
and Tacitus we learn that it was a not uncommon thee any graven image; thou shalt not bow down
practice to salute the hands and even the very thyself to them nor serve them, for I the Lord thy
mouths of the gods. It was usual also to kiss the God am a jealous God." See IDOLATRY.
feet and knees of the images, and to kiss the doors ADRAMMELECH, one of the gods worshipped
of the temples, the pillars, and posts of the gates. | by the inhabitants of Sepharvaim, a people who set-
The Mohammedans who go on pilgrimage to Mecca, | tled in Samaria, in place of the Israelites who were
kiss the black stone and the four corners of the carried into Assyria. From 2 Kings xvii. 31, we
Kaaba. In the sprinkling of holy water, the Romish learn, that the worshippers of this idol caused their
priest kisses the aspergillum with which the cere- children to pass through the fire in honour of it, as well
mony is performed; and at the procession on Palm- as of another god called ANAMMELECA (which see).
Sunday, the deacon kisses the palm, which he pre- The Babylonian Talmud alleges, that Adrammelech
sents to the priest. Thus kissing has in all ages was represented under the form of a mule, and Kim-
been frequently regarded as a token of adoration. It chi declares it to have been that of a peacock. There
was anciently a mark of idolatrous reverence which is some reason to suppose that this deity was the
was done either by kissing the idol itself, or by kiss- same with Molech, whom the Ammonites worshipped,
ing one's own hand, and then throwing it out towards for Melec, or Molech, signifies a king, and with Adar
the idol. Hence the allusion in Hosea xiii. 2, " And or Adra prefixed the word Adrammelech denotes a
now they sin more and more, and have made them mighty king. Dr. Hyde explains the word to mean
molten images of their silver, and idols according to the king of the flocks, and supposes this god to pre-
their own understanding, all of it the work of the side over cattle. Some conjecture that this idol re-
craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sac- presented Saturn, others the sun.
rifice kiss the calves;” 1 Kings xix. 18," Yet I have ADRANUS, a Pagan divinity worshipped in the
left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which island of Sicily, and particularly at Adranus, situated
have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which in the neighbourhood of Mount Ætna. Ælian as-
hath not kissed him."
serts that a thousand sacred dogs were kept near his
As an act of adoration, dancing has been resorted temple. Some modern critics are of opinion that
to, even in very ancient times. David danced be- this deity is of eastern origin, and has a connection
fore the Lord with holy joy. Idolaters also have with the Persian Adar or fire, confounding him with
been found in all ages to dance round the statues Adrammelech the Assyrian god, and representing
and altars of their gods. Men and women, young him as personifying the Sun or Fire.
and old, bear a part in these dances.
ADRIANÆA, certain temples built by Adrian,
It is admitted on all hands, that whatever may be emperor of Rome, in several towns about A. D. 127.
the form or attitude in which adoration is given, it As these temples contained no statues, nor any marks
belongs as an act of worship to God alone. The of being dedicated to Pagan gods, some have ima-
Roman Catholic divines endeavour to maintain three gined that they were built in honour of Jesus Christ,
different degrees of worship, to all of which the term whom Adrian wished to worship, but was dissuaded
adoration may be applied : 1. Latria, Divine wor- from it, lest the whole country should be thereby led
ship strictly so called, or that which must be given to embrace Christianity.
exclusively to God. 2. Dulia, that homage, respect, ADVENT, a name given to the four Sundays be-
and reverence which may be given to saints and fore Christmas, as being preparatory to the celebra-
angels, as faithful servants of God. 3. Hyperdulia, tion of the advent or coming of Christ in the flesh.
that superior homage which is due to the Virgin These four Sundays, L'Estrange says, are so many
Mary, as,the mother of our Lord. Such distinctions heralds to proclaim the approaching of the Feast.”
are entirely of human origin, and are altogether un- Some writers allege that this observance originated
warranted by any command in the Word of God. with the apostle Peter, but the earliest record of it
:
36
ADVOCATES—ÆACUS.
which exists is about the middle of the fifth century, An advowson donative is where the king, or any one
when Maximus Taurinensis wrote a homily upon it. | by royal license, founds a church or chapel, and or-
Advent is observed in the Roman Catholic church dains that it shall be merely in the gift or disposal
with great solemnity. It is regarded as representing of the patron; subject to his visitation only, and not
the time which preceded the incarnation of Christ, to that of the ordinary. Where there are different
and the hopes which the Old Testament saints en- claimants of the right of advowson, and they make
tertained of his coming to redeem mankind. Hence, | different appointments, the ordinary is not bound to
it is considered as a season calling for an intermix- admit any one of their presentees; and if the six
ture of joy with sorrow. For this reason the Gloria months elapse within which they have a right to
in excelsis is not said in Advent, nor the Te Deum at present, he may himself present jure devoluto, but in
matins. The priests abstain from using the dalmatica, no other case. Where an advowson is mortgaged,
that being a part of dress suited to joyous occasions the mortgager alone shall present when the church
only. Formerly it was a custom to fast in Advent. becomes vacant; and the mortgagee can derive no
During the whole of this season the Pope goes to advantage from the presentation in reduction of his
chapel on foot. In the Ambrosian Office, Advent has debt. If an advowson is sold when the church is
six weeks, and St. Gregory's Sacramentary gives it vacant, it is decided that the grantee is not entitled
only five. The Church of England commences the to the benefit of the next presentation. If, during
annual course of her services from the time of the vacancy of a church, the patron die, his executor
Advent.
or personal representative is entitled to that presen-
ADVOCATES (POPE's). These are important | tation, unless it be a donative benefice, in which case
officers in the apostolical chamber at Rome, one be- the right of donation descends to the heir. But if
ing the legal, and the other the fiscal advocate. Both the incumbent of a church be also seized in fee of
are employed to defend the interests of the cham- the advowson of the same church and die, his heir,
ber, in all courts. There are never more than and not his executors, shall present.
twelve consistorial advocates in Rome. They are ADYTUM, a Greek word signifying, like ABATA
nominated by the Pope, and plead in consistories, (which see), inaccessible, by which is understood the
whether public or private. They supplicate the most retired and secret part of the heathen temples,
Pallium for all newly created archbishops in the se- into which none but the priests were permitted to
cret consistory. They have the privilege of creat- enter. · The adytum of the Greeks and Romans,
ing doctors in the canon as well as civil law, when from which oracles were delivered, corresponded to
assembled in their college Della Sapienza. They the Sanctum sanctorum, or holy of holies of the
wear a long robe of black wool, of which the tail is Jews. In the ancient Christian churches the altar
purple, lined with red silk, and a cape falling down place or sanctuary received also the name of adytum,
between the shoulders of the same colour, and being inaccessible to all but the clergy in the time of
lined with ermine. But their ordinary dress is a divine service. The council of Laodicea has one
cassock lined with black serge, and a cloak trail- canon forbidding women to come within the altar part,
ing on the ground. One of these advocates is rec- and another in more general terms allowing only
tor of the college Della Sapienza; he is to receive sacred persons to communicate there. The practice
all the rents which are appropriated to it, and to on this point seems to have been different at differ-
pay the salaries of the public readers or lecturers, ent times. Thus in the third century, Dionysius of
whose chairs are filled by a congregation of cardi- Alexandria speaks both of men and women commu-
nals, deputed by the Pope for that purpose. The nicating at the altar. And the same privilege was
seven senior consistorial advocates have large sala- allowed to the people of France in the sixth century;
ries, twice as large indeed as the five junior advo- for in the fourth canon of the second council of Tours,
cates, and the fees drawn from those who obtain A. D. 567, it is decreed, that the holy of holies be open
doctorates are very considerable.
for both men and women to pray and communicate
ADVOWSON, the right of patronage to a church in at the time of the oblation; though at other times,
or an ecclesiastical benefice in connection with the when there was any other service without the com-
Church of England. The person possessing the munion, they were not permitted to come within the
right of advowson is called the patron. Advowsons rails of the adytum, which now corresponds to the
are of two kinds; advowsons appendant, and ad-
chancel.
vowsons in gross. The first class are those which ÆACUS, one of the three judges of Hades, ac-
are annexed to a manor or land, and sold along with cording to the Pagan mythology. Plato represents
it; the last class are separated from the land, and him as chiefly judging the shades of Europeans. He
possessed by the owner as a personal right. Advow- is usually represented in works of art as bearing a
sons, besides, receive different names. Thus, where the sceptre, and the keys of Hades. He was the son of
patron has a right to present the person to the bishop Zeus and Ægina, and from this circumstance the
or ordinary, if found qualified, the advowson in such inhabitants of the island of Ægina not only built a
a case is termed presentative. An advowson colla- temple in his honour, but regarded him as their tu-
tive is where the bishop is both patron and ordinary. | telar deity. The truth seems to have been, that he
ÆDES-AER.
37
was an early king of that island, who had been noted was at length employed to signify the being itself.
throughout all Greece for his justice and piety. On Thus the Divine Being was called Æon, and the fa-
this account he was deified after his death, and pro- thers of the ancient Christian church applied the
moted by Pluto to the office of a judge in the infer- term to angels, both good and bad. There has been
nal regions.
considerable discussion among the learned, as to the
ÆDES, a name given by the Romans to unconse- true meaning of the word among the Gnostics in the
crated temples.
early ages of the church. They entertained the no-
ÆDICULA, a small temple or chapel among the tion of an invisible and spiritual world, composed
ancient Romans, called also sacellum.
of entities or virtues proceeding from the Supreme
ÆDITUUS, an officer among the Romans who Being, and succeeding each other at certain inter-
had the charge of the offerings, treasure, and sacred vals of time, so as to form an eternal chain of which
utensils belonging to the temples of the gods. A this world was the terminating link. To the beings
female officer of the same kind, termed Æditua, pre- who formed this eternal chain, the Gnostics assigned
sided over the temples of the goddesses.
certain terms of duration which they called Æons,
ÆGÆUS, a surname of Poseidon, a heathen afterwards distinguishing the beings themselves by
god, derived from the town of Ægæ in Euboea, near this title. Thus Cerinthus, one of the earliest lead-
which he had a magnificent temple upon a hill. ers of a Gnostic sect, taught that in order to destroy
ÆGERIA, or EGERIA, one of the Camenæ, from his corrupted empire, the Supreme Being had com-
whom, according to the fabulous early Roman history, missioned one of his glorious Æons, whose name was
Numa received his instructions as to the forms of Christ, to descend upon earth, who entered, at his
worship which he introduced.
Two places are baptism, into the body of Jesus which was crucified;
pointed out in legendary story as sacred to Ægeria; | but that Christ had not suffered, but ascended into
the one near Aricia, and the other at the Porta heaven. Another Gnostic named Valentinus, a phi-
Capena near Rome. She was regarded as a prophet- losopher of the Platonic school, taught that there
ic divinity, and also as the giver of life. Hence she were thirty gods whom he called Æons, from whom
was invoked by pregnant women.
proceeded the Saviour of the world. He admitted
ÆGIDUCHOS, or ÆGIOCHOS, a surname of that Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, but affirmed
Zeus, from his bearing the ægis with which he in- that he derived nothing from her, having come di-
timidates his enemies.
rectly from God, and only passed through a mortal,
ÆGINÆA, a surname of Artemis, under which | bearing with him the very flesh which he had brought
she was worshipped at Sparta.
from heaven. Basilides, an Egyptian Gnostic, main-
ÆMILIANUS, or ÆMILIUS, a martyr of the fifth tained that the Supreme Being produced from him-
century, who was put to death in the Arian perse- self seven most excellent beings or Æons. From
cution. His memory is celebrated by the Romish two of the Æons, Dynamis and Sophia, or Power and
church on the sixth of December, and by the Greek Wisdom, proceeded the angels of the highest or-
church on the seventh.
der, who again produced other angels somewhat in-
ÆNEAS, the founder of the Roman common- ferior. Other generations of angels succeeded, and
wealth, who was honoured among the gods INDI- other heavens were built, until there were three hun-
GETES (which see).
dred and sixty-five heavens, and as many orders of
ÆOLUS, the Pagan god of the winds, which he angels.
angels. Over all these heavens and angelic orders
is said to have kept shut up in a mountain, and let there presided a prince or lord called ABRAXAS
loose at his pleasure. He was the son of Hippotes
He was the son of Hippotes (which see), a word containing letters which in Greek
and Melanippe. Lipara, or Strongyle, one of the amount to three hundred and sixty-five, the precise
Æolian islands, is supposed by some to have been number of the heavens. The world was constructed
his residence, while others place it in Thrace, and by the inhabitants of the lowest heaven. The angels
others still in the neighbourhood of Rhegium in who created and governed the world gradually be-
Italy.
came corrupt, and sought to efface from the minds
ÆONS (Gr. ages). The word properly signi- of men all idea of the Supreme God, in order that
fies an infinite, or at least indefinite duration, as they themselves might be worshipped. In this state
opposed to a finite or temporary duration. Hence of matters, the Supreme Being looked with compas-
it was used to designate immutable beings who exist sion upon man, and sent down the prince of the
for ever. And as God is the chief of those immu- | Æons, whose name is Nous, and Christ, that he,
table beings, the word Æon was employed to express joining himself to the man Jesus, might save the
his infinite and eternal duration. By an easy tran- world. The God of the Jews perceiving this, or-
sition it came to be attributed to other spiritual and dered his subjects to seize Jesus and put him to
invisible beings; and this was the sense in which it death; but over Christ he had no power. See BA-
was used by Oriental philosophers at the time of SILIDIANS, CERINTHIANS, GNOSTICS, VALENTI-
our Lord's appearance upon earth. Gradually the
term underwent an important change of meaning. AER, a veil used in the Greek church by the offi-
From denoting the duration of a spiritual being, it | ciating priest for covering the patin and the chalice,
1
NIANS.
38
ÆRA-ÆRIANS.
Æras may
during the administration of the holy communion. contained in our present copies of the Hebrew text.”
See Mass.
This curious coincidence refers probably to the post-
ÆRA, the point of time from which the compu- diluvian chronology.
tation of a series of years commences.
After the Jews became subject to the Syro-Mace-
be considered as of four kinds, Christian, Jewish, donian kings, they were obliged to use, in all their
Mohammedan, and Pagan. The æra which is in gen- contracts, the æra of the Seleucidæ, which thus re-
eral use among Christians, is that which is computed ceived the name of the æra of contracts. In the
from the birth of Christ, the precise date of which is books of the Maccabees, the æra of the Seleucidæ is
a subject of no small dispute among chronologers, some called the æra of the kingdom of the Greeks, and the
placing it two, others four, and others five years be- Alexandrian æra. It began from the year when Se-
fore the vulgar æra, which is calculated to corre- leucus Nicanor, one of the successors of Alexander the
spond with the year of the world 4,004. Archbishop | Great, attained the sovereign power, that is, about
Usher, whose opinion has been adopted by many
B. C. 312. This æra continued in general use among
modern chronologers, supposes the birth of Christ to the Orientals, with the exception of the Mohamme-
have happened in the year of the world 4,000, and dans. The Jews had no other epoch until A. D.
of the Julian period 4,714. This æra is that which 1040, when, on their expulsion from Asia by the
is in most general use among Christians. The an- Caliphs, they began to compute from the creation of
cient Jews made use of several æras in their compu- the world, with the occasional use even afterwards of
tations. In the earliest periods they appear to have the æra of the Seleucidæ.
reckoned from the lives of the patriarchs and men of The Mohammedans compute from the æra of the
note. This seems to be indicated in Gen. vii. 11. and | flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina, which
vüïi. 13. Sometimes they reckoned from the deluge, | happened on the 16th of July A. D. 622.
from the dispersion of mankind, from the departure The ancient pagans computed from various æras.
out of Egypt, from the building of the first temple, The first Olympiad began B.c. 776. The taking of
and from their return from the Babylonish capti- Troy happened in the year of the world 2820, and
vity. Their vulgar æra, however, is computed from B.C. 1884. The expedition for the carrying away of
the creation of the world, which corresponds, accord- the Golden Fleece occurred in the year of the world
ing to their reckoning, with the year 953 of the Ju- 2760. The foundation of Rome was laid B.C. 753.
lian period. It is not certain when this æra of the The æra of Nabonassar was in the year of the world
creation was first adopted; one Jewish writer repre- 3257. The æra of Alexander the Great, or his last
senting it as having been introduced subsequent to victory over Darius, was B.C. 330.
the completion of the Babylonian Talmud, and an- ÆRIANS, a sect of heretics which arose in the
other dating it so late as the end of the tenth or the fourth century, in the reign of Constantine the Great,
beginning of the eleventh century.
and during the pontificate of Julius I. It derived
The precise epoch of the creation is one of the its name from Ærius, a native of Pontus, or of the
most difficult questions connected with ancient his- Lesser Armenia, an eloquent man and a friend of the
tory. This difficulty has arisen from the remarkable Semi-Arian Eustathius, who was afterwards, to the
discrepancies between the received Hebrew text, the chagrin of Ærius, raised to the see of Sebaste. The
Samaritan text, and the Greek version of the Septua- two friends had been fellow-monks, and when Eus
gint, in recording the genealogies of the patriarchs, tathius was promoted to the episcopate, he ordained
both antediluvian and postdiluvian. The years from Ærius a priest, and set him over the hospital of
the creation to the deluge, and from the deluge to Pontus. This marked kindness, however, failed al-
the birth of Abraham, are thus variously stated: together in subduing the feelings of envy by which
Ærius was animated. He quarrelled openly with
Septuag.
his bishop, accusing him of avarice and misappro-
To the deluge,
1,656 1,397 2,262
To the birth of Abraham, 352 942 1,132
priation of the funds designed for the poor. Such
feelings towards his ecclesiastical superior obliged
Archbishop Usher's chronology, which is followed him to resign his office and the charge of the hospi-
both in this country and among the most distin- tal. He now became the leader of a sect, and as-
guished Protestant divines of other countries, is sembling a number of followers of both sexes, he
founded on the Hebrew text. This system, how- proclaimed the duty of renouncing all worldly goods,
ever, has been ably controverted by Dr. Hales in and, being driven from the cities, he and they wan-
his · Analysis of Chronology,' which agrees gener- dered about the fields, lodging in the open air or in
ally with the computations of the Septuagint. It caves, exposed to the inclemency of the seasons.
may be remarked, that Josephus differs little from The leading doctrine which he inculcated was that
the Septuagint, and Dr. Marshman, in his · Elements the Scriptures make no distinction between a bishop
of Chinese Grammar,' observes that “The annals of and a presbyter. In support of this tenet, he ad-
China, taken in their utmost extent, synchronize with duced 1 Tim. iv. 14, “ Neglect not the gift that is in
the chronology of Josephus, the Samaritan Penta- | thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the
teuch, and the Septuagint, rather than with that laying on of the hands of the presbytery;” and be-
Heb.
Samar.
AEROMANCY-ÆTIANS.
39
le
sides, he adduced the admitted fact that presbyters to spend one or more nights in his sanctuary, during
as well as bishops baptized, and also consecrated the which certain rules were observed which had been
elements of the Lord's Supper. As his followers in- laid down by the priests. The remedies to be em-
creased, he became bolder in assailing various cor- ployed were generally revealed in a dream. After
ruptions which had crept into the church, and called being healed, it was customary to offer a cock in
for a return to primitive simplicity both in doctrine sacrifice to the god, and a tablet was hung up in the
and practice. In particular, he inveighed against the temple, on which were inscribed the name of the
practice of prayers for the dead, and celebrating the patient, the disease of which he had been healed, and
eucharist as an offering in their behalf. Although other particulars connected with the case. Pausanias
originally a monk, he was opposed to the laws regu- says that Æsculapius was the air; that Hygeia, the
lating fasts, and to the confining of fasts to set times, goddess of health, was his daughter; and that Apollo,
as Wednesday, Friday, the Quadrigesima, and Good or the sun, was his father.
Friday. He complained of all such practices in the ÆSUS (Mighty), a name given in the theology of
Christian church as an attempt to restore Jewish ob- the ancient Druids to the Supreme Being, who was
servances. He objected strongly to the custom then worshipped under the form of an oak. In their re-
prevalent in these parts of Asia, of celebrating the presentation of this divinity, the Druids, with the
passover, as being a confounding of Jewish rites consent of the whole order and neighbourhood, fixed
with Christian. Both Ærius and his party were ex- upon the most beautiful tree they could discover,
posed to severe persecution; but as Mosheim well and having cut off its side branches, they joined two
observes, “ He seems to have reduced religion to its of them to the highest part of the trunk, so that
primitive simplicity; a design which, in itself consi- they were stretched out like the arms of a man.
dered, was laudable, though in the motives and in Near this transverse piece was inscribed the word
the mode of proceeding, there were perhaps so Thau for the name of God; while upon the right aim
things censurable.
was written Æsus, on the left Belenus, and on the
AEROMANCY, a species of divination practised centre of the trunk Theranis. Towards the decline
among the Greeks and Romans, by which future of Druidism, however, when a belief in the unity of
events were foretold from certain appearances or God was lost in polytheism, Æsus is sometimes said
noises in the air. One mode of aeromancy was as
to have been identified with Mars, the god of war,
follows. The person employing it folded his head | though it is also believed that he was adored under
in a cloth, and having placed a bowl filled with another name, in the form of a .naked sword. To
water in the open air, he proposed his question in a him were presented all the spoils of battle; and“ if,
low whispering voice, when, if the water was agitat- says Cæsar, “ they prove victorious, they offer ир
all
ed, they considered that what they had asked was the cattle taken, and set apart the rest of the plun-
answered in the affirmative. See AUGURY-DIVI- der in a place appointed for that purpose ; and it is
common in many provinces to see these monuments
ÆRUSCATORES, a name given to the priests of offerings piled up in consecrated places. Nay, it
of Cybele among the Romans, because they begged rarely happens that any one shows so great a disre-
alms in the public streets. The word came to be gard of religion, as either to conceal the plunder,
applied to fortune-tellers generally, or vagrants, like or pillage the public oblations; and the severest
the modern gypsies.
punishments are inflicted upon such offenders.”
ÆSCULAPIUS, among the pagans, the god of ÆSYMNETES, a surname of Dionysius, which
medicine. He was worshipped over all Greece, the signifies a Lord or Ruler. Under this designation
temples reared to his honour being usually built in he was worshipped at Aroë in Achaia. A festival
healthy places, on hills outside the towns, or near was instituted in his honour.
wells which were thought to have healing qualities, ÆTERNALES. See ETERNALES.
These temples were not only frequented for worship, ÆTHIOPS, the Black, a surname of Zeus, under
but resorted to by the sick in expectation of being which he was worshipped in the island of Chios.
cured. The symbol of Æsculapius is the serpent, ÆTIANS, a branch of the Arian heresy, which
and hence the notion that the worship of this deity arose about the year A.D. 336, during the reign of
is of Egyptian origin, Æsculapius being supposed to Constantius, and in the pontificate of Liberius.
be identical with the serpent Cnuph, worshipped in Ætius, the originator of this sect, was a native of
Egypt, or with the Phoenician Esmun. The proba- Antioch, in Coele-Syria, and has sometimes been
bility is, that though afterwards exalted to the suinamed the Atheist
, from his being supposed to
honours of a deity, Asculapius had been a person deny the God of revelation. In his early youth,
eminent for his medical skill. The principal seat of being in great poverty, he became the slave of a
the worship of Æsculapius in Greece was Epidaurus, vine-dresser's wife, and afterwards he learned the
where he had a temple surrounded with an extensive trade of a goldsmith; but quitting that employment,
grove, within which no person was allowed to die, he applied himself to study, and acquired consider-
and no woman to give birth to a child. The sick able reputation as a theological disputant. On the
who visited the temples of Æsculapius had usually death of his mother in 331, he began to study under
NATION.
40
ÆTNÆUS-AFFLATUS.
næus,
Paulinus II., Arian bishop of Antioch; but having ÆTNÆUS, a name given to many ancient Pa-
given offence to some leading persons by his powers gan deities and mythical beings connected with
of disputation, he was obliged to leave that city for Mount Ætna. This surname was applied to Zeus,
Anazarbus, a city of Cilicia. Here he applied him- to whom there was a festival celebrated, which re-
self to the acquisition of grammar and logic; but ceived the name of Ætnæa ; and also to Hephæs-
having differed with his master on some points of tus, who had his workshop in the mountain, and a
theology, he went to Tarsus, where he studied temple near it. The Cyclops also were termed Æt-
divinity. From this place he returned to Antioch,
his native city, where he studied for a time under ÆTOLE, a surname of Artemis, by which she
Leontius. So daringly impious, however, were his was worshipped at Naupactus, where a temple was
opinions, that he was driven from Antioch, and took erected to her honour.
refuge in Cilicia, and engaged in the practice of the AFGHANS, a people inhabiting Afghanistan, a
medical art, until his former master Leontius was country bordering upon the kingdom of Persia, and
promoted to the see of Antioch A.D. 348, when he situated to the west of China. According to their
was ordained a deacon. His ordination was strongly own traditions, the Afghans are descended from Me-
objected to on the ground of his heretical opinions, lic Talut, that is, from King Saul. Sir William
and Leontius was under the necessity of deposing Jones, in a very interesting paper which appeared
him. After some time he repaired to Alexandria, in the second volume of the Asiatic Researches,
and opposed Athanasius openly, declaring his adher- threw out the conjecture, that this people is a rem-
ence to the Arian party. Besides, however, main- nant of the ten tribes carried off in the captivity.
taining, in common with the Arians, that the Son His words are these : “ We learn from Esdras, that
and the Holy Ghost were entirely dissimilar to the the ten tribes, after a wandering journey, came to a
Father, he taught various other doctrines along with country called Arsareth, where we may suppose they
his disciple Eunomius, which were regarded as en- settled. Now the best Persian historians affirm that
tirely heretical. A section of the Arian party, shocked the Afghans are descended from the Jews; and they
at the irreligion of Ætius, accused him to the em- have among themselves traditions of the same ina-
peror Constantius, urging the necessity of calling a port. It is even asserted that their families are distin-
general council to decide the theological question. guished by the name of Jewish tribes ; though, since
The opponents of Ætius charged him with holding a their conversion to Islamism, they have studiously
difference in substance in the three persons of the concealed their origin. The language they use has a
Trinity. His party were now divided, and he manifest resemblance to the Chaldaic; and a consider-
was abandoned by his friends, who, while they agreed able district under their dominion is called Hazareth,
with him in regarding the Son as a creature, shrunk which might easily have been changed from Arsar-
from the admission of what might have appeared a eth.” The Afghans, it must be allowed, still pre-
plain corollary from this proposition, viz., that he is serve a strong resemblance to the Jews in their cus-
of unlike substance to the Father. Ætius was now toms and ritual observances. Thus they chiefly
exposed to severe persecution, and banished to Am- contract marriages with their own tribes; they ad-
blada in Pisidia. On the death of Constantius, and here to the Levirate law in the brother marrying the
the succession of Julian to the throne, Ætius was re- widow of his deceased brother, whenever the brother
called from exile and invited to court. His ecclesi- has died without issue; divorces are permitted
astical sentence was removed, and he was appointed among them, and a ceremony prevails among one of
bishop at Constantinople, where he eagerly embraced their tribes bearing a marked resemblance to the
the opportunity of spreading his heretical opinions. Feast of Tabernacles. It is a remarkable circum-
This unexpected elevation was followed by various stance, also, and one which more than any other
reverses of fortune, in the course of which he was seems to point out their Jewish origin, that their
twice driven from Constantinople, and at length died language, the Pushtoo, contains a greater number of
in that city A.D. 367, unlamented, save by his friend Hebrew words than any other in India. Mr. El-
and disciple Eunomius, by whom he was buried. phinstone, who doubts, or rather disbelieves, the
In his work De Fide, Ætius maintains the doc- theory of Sir William Jones, as to the Afghans
trine that faith without works is sufficient for salva- being of Jewish origin, alleges, after a careful exam-
tion, and that sin is not imputed to believers,—both ination of their language, that about half the
of them doctrines which, if rightly understood, are in terms, including all those of an abstract import, are
complete accordance with the Word of God. He
to be traced to foreign sources, chiefly the Persian.
denied the necessity of fasting and self-mortification. Although of late years considerable attention has
The idea which prevailed among some of his con- been directed to the customs and language of this in-
temporaries, that he denied the God of revelation, teresting people, a veil of mystery still hangs over
probably arose from the doctrine which he taught in re- the whole subject, and which only the earnest and
gard to the illuminating influence of the Holy Spirit, profound researches of Oriental scholars are likely
and which was more clearly explained by his disciple to remove.
Eunomius. See ANOMIANS-ARIANS-EUNOMIANS. AFFLATUS, a term used by the poets of ancient
AGABUS--AGAPÆ.
41
Rome to indicate the inspiration of some divinity characterized by the utmost decorum and propriety.
which prompted their poetic effusions. Not only, The pastor, deacons, and members having taken their
however, were poets supposed to be under the in- seats around a table which was spread in the church,
fluence of a Divine aflatus, but all who performed and the guests having washed their hands, public
great exploits, or succeeded in any important un- prayer was offered, and during the feast a portion of
dertaking.
Scripture was read, and the presiding elder or pres-
AFRICUS, the south-west wind, an inferior deity byter having proposed questions arising out of the
among the ancient Romans, who were wont to regard passage, they were answered by the persons present.
all the elements as regulated by a superior power. Any encouraging accounts from other churches were
AGABUS (FESTIVAL OF), observed by the Greek then reported, and at the close of the feast a col-
church on the 8th of March, in honour of Agabus the lection was made for the benefit of widows and
prophet, who, they allege, suffered martyrdom at orphans, the poor, prisoners, or any of the brethren
Antioch. He belonged to the primitive Christian who might be in need of pecuniary aid. Tertullian
Church, and was one of the seventy disciples of our relates, that at the close of the supper, “when all
Lord. While Paul and Barnabas were conducting had washed their hands, lights were brought, then
their ministrations at Antioch, this person visited each was invited to sing as he was able, either from
the city, and foretold that Judea was soon to be the Holy Scripture, or from the prompting of his
the scene of a famine. Luke states, Acts xi. 28, that own spirit, a song of praise to God for the common
this dearth took place “in the days of Claudius edification.” From this remark of Tertullian, the
Cæsar.” This famine is mentioned by Josephus, Agapæ must have been observed in the night, pro-
and it seems to have commenced A. D. 44. Taci- bably in times of persecution, from necessity rather
tus and Suetonius refer to a famine which occurred than choice. Neander alleges, that “so long as the
during the same reign; but it was evidently differ- | Agapæ and the Lord's Supper were united together,
ent from that predicted by Agabus, and was limited the celebration of the latter formed no part of the
to Italy.
divine service; but this service was held early in
AGAPÆ, Love-Feasts, or Feasts of Charity the morning, and not till towards evening did the
among the primitive Christians, observed in token church re-assemble at the common love-feast and
of brotherly regard. All members of the church, of for the celebration of the Supper."
every rank and condition, were expected to be pre- These Agapæ, which at first had been marked by
sent at these entertainments. There appears to be Christian simplicity and innocence, and which had
an allusion to the Agapoe in Jude 12, " These are tended to foster and encourage brotherly love among
spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with the faithful adherents of the cross, became in pro-
you, feeding themselves without fear : clouds they cess of time a mere lifeless form no longer animated
are without water, carried about of winds; trees by that amiable spirit of benevolence and kindness
whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, which they were designed originally both to be-
plucked up by the roots ;” and perhaps the same token and to invigorate. Abuses of various kinds
feast is referred to in Acts ii. 46, “ And they, con- crept into them, giving rise to the most unfavoura-
tinuing daily with one accord in the temple, and ble suspicions on the part of the heathen. At length
breaking bread from house to house, did eat their it was found necessary to abolish the Agapæ en-
meat with gladness and singleness of heart;" and tirely. Some commentators have supposed that the
Acts vi. 2, " Then the twelve called the multitude abuses of which Paul complains in the eleventh
of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not rea- chapter of first Corinthians, applied not to the Eu-
son that we should leave the word of God, and serve charist, but to the Agapæ, with which it was ac-
tables."
companied. This opinion, however, does not appear
This feast was celebrated at a very early period to be well-founded. And, indeed, the allegations of
in the history of the Christian Church. Chrysos- the enemies of Christianity as to the evil practices
tom derives it from the practice of the apostles. connected with the love-feasts, were indignantly re-
His words are these, “ The first Christians had all pelled by the early Christian writers. Thus Ter-
things common, as we read in the Acts of the Apos- tullian, in describing them, says, “ Prayer again con-
tles; but when that equality of possessions ceased, cludes our feast, and we depart not to fight and
as it did even in the apostles' time, the Agape or quarrel or to abuse those we meet, but to pursue the
love-feast was substituted in its room. On certain same care of modesty and chastity as men that have
days, after partaking of the Lord's Supper, they met fed at a supper of philosophy of discipline rather
at a common feast, the rich bringing provisions, than a corporeal feast." There can be no doubt,
and the poor, who possessed nothing, being invited.” that although, during the first three centuries, the
This feast was uniformly connected with the Lord's Agapæ were observed without scandal, the calumnies
Supper. At first the Agape seems to have been which arose led at length to the formal prohibition
observed before partaking of the Lord's Supper; but, of them being held in churches, first by the council
at a later period, it followed upon that sacred ordi- of Laodicea, and then by the third council of Car-
nance. Though not a strictly religious feast, it was thage, A. D. 397. Notwithstanding the successive
I.
C 2
42
AGAPETÆMAGNETÆ.
decrees thus issued, the Agapæ still continued to be | Pausanias supposes the whole story of Agdistis to
held in churches. In France, we find it prohibited have been part of a symbolical worship of the
by the second council of Orleans, A. D. 541; and creative powers of nature. Some have supposed
there appears to have been some remains of it in the this being to have been the same with Cybele, who
seventh century, when the council of Trullo was ob- was worshipped at Pessinus under that name.
liged to re-enforce the canon of Laodicea against AGHORI, a Hindu sect professing complete
feasting in the church under pain of excommunication. worldly indifference. The original Aghori worship
A similar feast to that of the Agapæ was observed seems to have been that of DEVI (which see), in
in the ancient Jewish church. On their great fes- some of her terrific forms, and to have required even
tival days they were accustomed to entertain their | human victims for its performance. On the present
family and friends, and also the priests, the poor, and condition of the Aghori, Dr. Horace Wilson makes the
orphans. These feasts were celebrated in the tem- following remarks: “The regular worship of this sect
ple; and the law appointed certain sacrifices and has long since been suppressed, and the early traces
first-fruits, which were to be set apart for this pur- 1 of it now left are presented by a few disgusting
pose, Deut. xiv. 22, 27, 29; xxxvi, 10—12. Esth. wretches, who, whilst they profess to have adopted
ix. 19. In modern times, the practice of feasting its tenets, make them a mere plea for extorting alms.
together has been adopted by some Christian com- In proof of their indifference to worldly objects, they
munities, as, for example, the Wesleyan Methodists, eat and drink whatever is given to them, even ordure
the Moravians, and the Glassites. These entertain- and carrion. They smear their body also with ex-
ments are usually termed LOVE-FEASTS (which see). crement, and carry it about with them in a wooden
AGAPETÆ (Beloved), a name given to young cup, or skull, either to swallow it, if by so doing
women and widows in the early Christian church, they can get a few pice; or to throw it upon the
who attended on ecclesiastics from motives of piety persons, or into the houses of those who refuse to
and charity. To prevent scandal, however, in conse- comply with their demands. They also, for the same
quence of such females residing with unmarried clergy- purpose, inflict gashes on their limbs, that the crime
men, the council of Nice decreed that none of the un-
of blood may rest upon the head of the recusant;
manied clergy, bishop, presbyter, deacon, or any other, and they have a variety of similar disgusting devices
should have any woman that was a stranger, and not to extort money from the timid and credulous Hindu.
one of their kindred, to dwell with them; save only They are, fortunately, not numerous, and are univer-
a mother, a sister, or an aunt, or some such persons sally detested and feared.”
with whom they might live without suspicion. Can- AGLAIA, one of the three graces of the heathen
ons to the same purport were afterwards passed by mythology, called Charites by the Greeks, the daugh-
other councils, all showing that, from the loose state ters of Jupiter and Euronyme. See GRACES.
of morals which, in different ages of the church, pre- AGLIBOLUS, a name anciently given to the
vailed among the clergy, particularly after celibacy sun, which was worshipped as a deity by the ancient
was enforced, it was absolutely necessary to exercise Syrians. Aglibolus and Melek-Belus" were the tu-
the utmost severity of discipline. The second coun- telar gods of that country, and are usually accounted
cil of Arles decreed, that every clergyman, above the the sun and moon.
order of deacons, must be excommunicated who re- AGNES (ST.,) FESTIVAL OF, which occurs in the
tained any woman as a companion, except it be a Romish church on the 21st of January. The Bre-
grandmother, or mother, or sister, or daughter, or viary under that date contains a foolish legend in
niece, or a wife after her conversion. And the coun- reference to this saint. Among the Mingrelians, in
cil of Lerida ordered them to be suspended from connection with the Greek church, the festival of
their office till they should amend their fault, after a St. Agnes is remarkable for the cure of sore eyes.
first or second admonition. It is possible that the AGNI, the mediator of the Ariens of the Indus,
Agapetæ may have held the office of Deaconesses mentioned in the Rig Veda. Agni is properly the
in the church, and may have derived their name fire of the sacrifice, but the divinity is regarded as in
from the part they took in preparing the Agapæ. See the fire. It is by Agni that the pure offering as-
DEACONESSES.
cends to the gods in the smoke of the sacred pile.
AGATHODÆMON (the Good God), a Pagan He is greater than the heavens, and the universe
deity, in honour of whom the Greeks drank a acknowledges him as master; he surpasses all the
cup of unmixed wine at the close of every repast. gods in greatness; he is the universal god, the god
Pausanias, with great probability, conjectures that it of gods, the father of all beings. He is the friend
was a mere epithet of Zeus. A temple was dedi- of man, his king, his prophet, his life, and he is also
cated to the worship of a deity bearing this name, his priest and his intercessor.
on the road between Megalopolis and Mänalus in AGNETÆ (the Ignorant), a sect of Christian here-
Arcadia.
tics which appeared about A. D. 370. They were the
AGDISTIS, a mythical being in the Pagan my- followers of Theophronius, the Cappadocian, who
thology, which, though in human form, was of both called in question the omniscience of the Supreme
It was the offspring of Zeus and the Earth. | Being; alleging that he knew things past only by
1
sexes.
AGNUS DEI.
43
memory, and things future only by a precarious un- The baptism and benediction of the Agnus Dei is
certain prescience. In this, therefore, the Agnce-
In this, therefore, the Agnee regarded as a very solemn and important ceremony
tian heresy approached to the idea of the more mo- of the Romish church. It is performed by the Pope
dern Arminians, holding that the foreknowledge of himself in the first year of his pontificate, and re-
God is not absolute and certain, but depends, in some peated every seventh year thereafter. The wax from
measure, on the free-will of rational creatures.- which the cake is made, was formerly provided by
Another sect, bearing the name of Agnotæ or Nesci- one of the gentlemen of his Holiness's chamber, who
ents, arose in the sixth century, springing out of the held his office from the master or chamberlain of the
Corrupticolæ, who believed the body of Christ to be sacred palace. Those who wished to obtain a num-
corruptible. The originators of the opinions pecu- ber of these precious medals, laid a quantity of wax
liar to this sect, were Themistius, a deacon of Alex- upon St. Peter's altar, and an apostolic sub-deacon
andria, and Theodosius, a bishop of that city, who conveyed it from the altar to an apartment in the
maintained that Christ's divine nature knew all Pope's palace. The sub-deacon and his colleagues,
things; but that some things were concealed from assisted by some of the acolytes, moulded the wax,
his human nature, founding their notion--in which and with great devotion and the utmost care made it
many modern commentators acquiesce--on Mark up into the requisite form according to the directions
xüi. 32, “But of that day, and that hour, knoweth of Romani ceremonial. These sacred cakes were
no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, provided entirely at the expense of the apostolic
neither the Son, but the Father.”
chamber. The wax of which they were formed was
AGNUS DEI (the Lamb of God), a cake of melted in a quantity of sacred oil and chrism of the
virgin wax, mixed with balsam and holy oil, on which preceding year.
preceding year. When the materials were com-
there is stamped the figure of a lamb supporting the pletely prepared, the Agnuses were presented to the
banner of the cross. This medal, prepared and spe- Pope in one or more basins, when he gave them his
cially blessed by the Pope, is supposed by the ad- benediction.
benediction. The wax of which they are made, in
herents of the Church of Rome to possess great vir- addition to the gifts of wax laid upon St. Peter's al-
tues. It is carried covered with a piece of stuff in tar, is taken from the remains of the preceding year's
the form of a heart, in their solemn processions, and Easter wax, and in case of more being wanted, it is
frequently worn about the neck like a charm. The supplied by the apostolic chamber.
practice of blessing the Agnus Dei arose about the The water in which the Agnus is to be baptized
seventh or eighth century. From very early times
From very early times by the Holy Father has been previously thus pre-
it had been customary to make the sign of the cross pared. The sacristan performs the benediction over
on the forehead in baptism. Gradually special im- | it on Easter Tuesday, and the next day, as soon as
portance began to be attached to the mere outward the pontifical mass is ended, his Holiness, dressed in
stamping with the sign of the cross, or anything his amice, his alb, his stole of white damask with
which indicated the death of Christ. And the hea- silver lace, and having a mitre of cloth of gold upon
thens being accustomed to wear amulets 'or charms his head, consecrates the water which was blessed by
round their necks, the practice was at length intro- the sacristan the day before. This water is put into
duced of wearing a piece of wax stamped with the a large silver basin. The consecration consists of
figure of a lamb, Christ being “the Lamb of God the usual blessings, to which the Holy Father adds
who taketh away the sins of the world." No decree a prayer to Almighty God, that he would vouchsafe
of a council has ever recognized the virtue of an to sanctify such things as wash away the sins of
Agnus Dei, but the efficacy of this sacred medal is mankind, after which he takes some balm and pours
strongly and universally believed in the Church of it into the water, adding to it the holy chrism, which
Rome. Pope Urban V. sent to John Palæologus, he likewise pours into it in the form of a cross. He
emperor of the Greeks, an Agnus Dei folded in fine offers up several prayers to God during the per-
paper, on which was recorded a detailed description formance of this ceremony; then he turns to the
in verse, of its peculiar virtues. These verses state
These verses state Agnuses, blesses and incenses them, imploring God
that the Agnus Dei is formed of balm and wax mixed to shower down upon them all the virtues usually
with chrism, and that being consecrated by mystical ascribed to them. A second and third prayer fol-
words, it possesses the power of removing thunder | low; after which his Holiness, seated in a chair pre-
and dispersing storms, of giving to pregnant women pared purposely for him, having a napkin girt about
an easy delivery, of preventing shipwreck, taking him, and his mitre on his head, takes the Agnuses
away sin, repelling the devil, increasing riches, se- one after another as they are presented to him by
curing against fire, and many other wonderful quali- the gentlemen of the chamber, and throws them into
ties. Romanists attach a ligh value to the posses- the holy water, and immediately the cardinals in
sion of an Agnus, and accordingly these medals are their fine linen albs, take them out with a spoon
a source of no small gain to those from whom they used for no other purpose. The cardinals then lay
are purchased. Their importation into England was them on a table covered with a clean white cloth,
forbidden by an express act of Parliament in the and wipe them with a napkin, when the assistant
13th of Queen Elizabeth.
prelates range them upon the table, where they are
44
AGNYA'-SE TRA-AGRICULTURE.
moon.
-
HISTS.
left till they are thoroughly dry. The baptism of tributed, and he distributes them every day at cer-
the Agnuses being ended, the Holy Father rises tain hours to those who apply for them. Pope
from his seat, and in a prayer addresses himself to Gregory XIII., in 1572, forbade all who were not in
the Holy Ghost, beseeching him to bless them, and holy orders to touch the Agnus Dei, unless on very
then to Jesus Christ. The Agnuses are then put special occasions; and as a still greater precaution,
into the basins again. The same process is resumed all laymen were directed to have them set in glass,
on the-Thursday following, and continued till they or crystal, or some transparent substance, and those
are all blessed. This ceremony is performed in the who were able were required to wrap them up in
presence of multitudes of strangers who assemble rich embroidery, so that the Agnus might appear on
from mere idle curiosity to witness the spectacle. one side as in a reliquary. The same pope prohib-
The next ceremony connected with the Agnus Dei ited them also being printed, deeming the white
is its distribution. This takes places on the follow- colour of the wax a suitable emblem of the spotless
ing Saturday, when a chapel is held, and mass sung purity of the Lamb of God.
by a cardinal priest, at which his Holiriess assists in AGNYA'-SE TRA, a class of worlds, according to
his pontifical robes. As soon as the Agnus Dei is the Budhist system of religion. The worshippers of
sung, an apostolic sub-deacon, dressed in his robes, Budh reckon that there are innumerable systems of
with the cross-bearer, two wax-taper-bearers, and worlds ; each system having its own earth, sun, and
the thuriferary before him, goes to the Pope's sacris-
The space to which the light of one sun or
tan, and takes from him a basin full of these Agnuses moon extends, is called a sakwala, and includes an
which have been recently blessed. The sub-deacon earth with its continents, islands, and oceans, as well
is followed by a clerk of the ceremonies, and two as a series of hells and heavens. The sakwala sys-
chaplains in their surplices. When these have tems are divided into three classes, of which the
reached the choir of the church, they all kneel, and Agnyá-sétra denote those systems which receive the
the sub-deacon with an audible voice sings these ordinances of Budha, or to which his authority ex-
words in Latin, “Holy Father, these are the new tends. These systems are a hundred thousand kelas
Lambs who have sung their hallelujahs to you. They in number, each kela being ten millions. See BUD-
drank not long ago at the fountain of holy water.
They are now very much enlightened. Praise the AGON, one of the inferior ministers employed in
Lord.” To which the choir respond, “God be the ancient Roman sacrifices, whose office it was to
praised. Hallelujah.” After this the sub-deacon strike the victim. The name is probably derived
rises and walks forward. As soon as he reaches the from the question which he put to the priest, Agone,
entrance of the railings in the chapel, he repeats the Shall I strike ?
words already mentioned. When he approaches the AGONALIA, Roman festivals instituted by Nu-
pontifical throne, he repeats them a third time, and ma, in honour of Janus. They are said to have been
prostrates himself at the feet of his Holiness, who observed three times every year, in January, June,
receives him sitting with his mitre on. When the and December.
cross enters, however, he and the whole congregation AGONISTICI (Combatants), a 'name assumed
rise; but the holy Father immediately resumes his by a party of Donatists, in North Africa, in the
seat, though the sub-deacon remains kneeling at his fourth century, as being in their own estimation
feet while he distributes the Agnuses.
Christian champions. They are described as having
The ceremony of distribution is performed with despised all labour, wandering about the country
much pomp. Two auditors present two cardinal- among the huts of the peasants, and supporting
deacons' assistants with a fine white napkin, which themselves by begging. On account of their va-
they lay upon the knees of his Holiness. The mem- grant habits they were called by their enemies CIR-
bers of the sacred college then advance with pro- CUMCELLIONES (which see).
found obeisance, and present their mitres with the AGONYCLITÆ (Gr. a, not, gonu, knee, klino, to
horns downwards to the Holy Father, who puts into bend), a class of Christians in the seventh century,
them as many Agnuses as he thinks proper. They who preferred the standing to the kneeling posture
then kiss his Holiness's hand and knee, and retire.
in prayer.
When the clergy have received the supply destined AGRATH, one of the four females to whom the
for them, the ambassadors and other persons of dis- Jewish Rabbis attribute the honour of being the mo-
tinction follow, receiving the precious Agnuses from thers of angels. The other three are Lilith, Eve, and
the Pope's hand. At the close of the ceremony of Naamah. See ANGELS.
istribution, the Holy Father washes his hands, the AGRAULUS, or AGRAULE, a daughter of Ce-
sacred college take off their robes, and the officiat- crops, in honour of whom a temple was built on the
ing priest returns to the altar, when mass concludes Acropolis in Athens, and a festival and mysteries
with a double Hallelujah, and the Pope blesses his were celebrated. Porphyry informs us, that she was
children, giving a great number of indulgences. worshipped also at Cyprus, where human sacrifices
The master of the Pope's wardrobe takes charge were offered to her down to a late period.
of the Agnuses which have been blessed, but not dis- AGRICULTURE (FESTIVAL OF), a solemnity
AGRIONIA-AHABABATH OLAM.
45
6
regularly observed in China. It was instituted by Artemis, observed annually, when five hundred goats
an emperor who flourished about B. C. 180. In every were sacrificed. The origin of this solemnity was as
town throughout the whole empire, when the sun is follows. On one occasion, when the Athenians were
in the middle of Aquarius, one of the chief magis- attacked by the Persians, they vowed to Artemis,
trates, crowned with flowers and surrounded with that if successful they would sacrifice as many goats
musicians, marches in procession out of the eastern to her as they should kill of the enemy. The slaugh-
gate of the city. He is accompanied by a large ter of the Persians, however, was so great that it
crowd carrying torches, streamers, and colours. Va- was impossible to perform their vow in one sacrifice.
rious images are borne along composed of wood and Accordingly, an annual sacrifice of five hundred
pasteboard, embellished with silk and gold, all relat- goats was appointed. Xenophon informs us, in his
ing to agriculture. The streets are hung with tapes- Anabasis,' that the festival was celebrated in his
try, and adorned with triumphal arches. The ma- time.
gistrate advances to the East as if going to meet the AGROTES (husbandman), mentioned by Sancho-
new season, where there appears a figure in the form niatho as having been worshipped in Phoenicia, hav-
of a cow, made of burnt clay, so large that forty men ing a statue erected to him, and a moveable temple
can scarcely carry it; and on the back of the animal carried about by a yoke of oxen.
sits a beautiful living boy, representing the genius AGROUERIS, an ancient deity of the Egyptians
of husbandry, in a careless dress, with one leg bare, mentioned by Plutarch. Some suppose him to have
and the other covered with a kind of buskin. The been identical with Apollo; but Scaliger thinks that
boy constantly lashes the cow as the procession the name must have been applied to ANUBIS (which
moves along. Two peasants, carrying agricultural see). Bishop Cumberland, again, confounds him
implements of various kinds, follow immediately with AGROTES (see preceding article). When the
after. Father Martini explains the whole details of Egyptians added five intercalary days to each year,
this festival as being emblematic. The lashes which they dedicated each of them to a god. The second
the boy inflicts upon the cow, he understands to de- on these occasions was dedicated to Agroueris.
note the constant application which is required for AGYNIANI (Gr. a, not, gune, a woman), a sect
all rural labours; and having one leg bare, and the of Christian heretics, who appeared about A. D.
other covered, is the symbol of haste and diligence, 694, under Pope Sergius I. They renounced the use
which scarcely allow time for dressing before the of animal food, and asserted marriage to have origi-
husbandman repairs to his work. As soon as the nated not from God, but from the devil. This sect
strange procession reaches the emperor's palace, the was very small and of brief duration.
monstrous cow is stripped of her ornaments, and her AGYRTÆ (Gr. agureo, to congregate), a name
belly having been opened, several small cows of the given to priests of the goddess Cybele, who wandered
same materials as the large one are taken out and up and down, attracting crowds of people, by pretend-
distributed by the emperor among the ministers of ing to be suddenly inspired by the goddess, roused
state, to remind them of the care and diligence re- into a divine fury, slashing and cutting themselves
quired in all agricultural matters, that the land may with knives. These strolling impostors generally
yield abundant produce, and the wants of the people carried about with them an image of Cybele, which
may be supplied. The emperor is said also on this they placed upon the back of an ass, and deceived
day to afford an encouragement to the practice of the people by fortune-telling, persuading them to
industry in agricultural operations, by setting before give presents to the goddess, in return for the infor-
them a royal example in his own person.
mation which by her inspiration had been imparted
AGRIONIA, a festival in honour of Dionysus or to them as to their future fate.
Bacchus, observed yearly by the Boeotians. On this AHABABATH OLAM (Heb. Eternal Love), one
occasion the god was supposed to have fled, and the of the blessings which the Jews dispersed over the
women pretended to go in quest of him, but speedily whole Roman empire in our Saviour's time, daily
gave up their search, alleging that he had fled to the recited before the reading of the Shema. It ran
Muses, and was concealed among them. After this thus : “ Thou hast loved us, O Lord our God, with
they feasted and proposed riddles to one another. eternal love; thou hast spared us with great and
The idea involved in this festival probably was, that exceeding patience, our Father and our King, for
the Muses restore to reason a person who has been thy great name's sake, and for our fathers' sake,
maddened by indulgence in wine. See next article. who trusted in thee: to whom thou didst teach the
AGRIONIUS, a surname of Dionysus the god of precepts of life, that they might walk after the sta-
wine, under which he was worshipped at Orcho- tutes of thy good pleasure with a perfect heart.
menus in Bæotia. The word means fierce, indicating be thou merciful unto us, 0 our Father, merciful
the effect of an intemperate use of wine.
Father, that showeth mercy. Have mercy upon us,
AGROTERA (the huntress), a surname of Arte- we beseech thee, and put understanding into our
mis or Diana, to whom a temple was built at Agræ, hearts that we may understand, be wise, hear, learn,
on the Ilissus, and also at Algeira. See next article. teach, keep, do and perform all the words of the
AGROTERÆ, a festival at Athens, in honour of doctrine of thy law in love. And enlighten our eyes
46
AHAD-AHZAB.
64 Our
in thy commandments, and cause our hearts to cleave | he was to bring along with him, in Psal. 1. 3,
to thy law, and unite them to the love and fear of God shall come, and shall not keep silence : a fire
thy name. We will not be ashamed nor confounded shall devour before him, and it shall be very tem-
nor stumble for ever and ever; because we have pestuous round about him." And they think they
trusted in thy holy, great, mighty, and terrible see him also distinctly announced in Isa. xxvii. 5,
name, we will rejoice and be glad in thy salvation, “ In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown
and in thy mercies, O Lord our God: and the mul- of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the resi-
titude of thy mercies shall not forsake us for ever. due of his people;" and Isa. lxii. 3, “ Thou shalt
Selah. And nowmake haste and bring upon us a bless- also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord,
ing and peace from the four corners of the earth; and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God," where
break thou the yoke of the Gentiles from off our the expression, crown of glory,” is rendered in
necks, and bring us upright into our land; for thou Syriac Mahmud. Another passage, which is also
art a God that workest salvation, and hast chosen perverted by them to the same purpose, is to be
us out of every people and language : and thou our found in Deut. xxxii. 2, “ The Lord came from
King hast caused us to cleave to thy great name in Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined
love, to praise thee, and to be united to thee, and forth from Mount Paran.” These three appearances
to love thy name. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who the Mohammedan doctors explain to mean, the Law
hast chosen thy people Israel in love." This prayer, of Moses, the Gospel of Christ, and the Koran of Mo-
from the allusion to the yoke of the Gentiles,” hammed. Thus it is that the claims of the great Pro-
shows the impatience which the Jews felt of the op- phet of Arabia are supported by his followers. See
pression to which they were subjected when under MOHAMMED.
the government of the Romans. The probability is, AHRIMAN, the evil principle among the ancient
that a feeling of this kind led to the adoption of the Persians. They represent a perpetual contest as
prayer, and more especially to the prominence subsisting between Ormuzd, the Prince of Light,
which was given to it in the devotions of the Jews. and Ahriman, the Prince of Darkness. At length,
See SHEMA.
however, Ahriman shall be defeated, and Good shall
AHAD, or ACHAD, a name given to the sun, which triumph over Evil. The Earth shall then resume her
the Syrians worshipped, and also the Israelites when native uniformity; mankind shall be immortal, and
they fell into idolatry. There seems to be an allu- none but the righteous shall inhabit it. The an-
sion to this deity in Isaiah lxvi. 17, which is thus gels were represented as mediators between Ormuzd
rendered by Bishop Lowth : “ They who sanctify and Ahriman, and a peace was concluded between
themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens | the two, on this condition, that the earth should be
after the rites of Ahad; in the midst of those who given over to Ahriman for 7,000 years, and that
eat swine's flesh, and the abominations, and the field afterwards it should be restored to Ormuzd. Those
mouse, together shall they perish, saith Jehovah." who were inhabitants of this world before the peace
AHADITH, the Mohammedan traditions, alleged was agreed upon were destroyed. Our first pa-
to amount in number to 5,266.
rents, as Hyde declares, in his "Treatise on the Re-
AHI; or the serpent mentioned in the Rig-Veda, ligion of the Ancient Persians,' were created in a
as the chief of the Asouras.
supernatural way, and were the first of all living
AHMED, a name by which Mohammed is men- creatures. Mankind were originally no more than
tioned in the Koran. In the sixty-first chapter it is embodied spirits; but Ormuzd resolved to make use
written, “ Jesus, the son of Mary, said, O children of them in his contest with Ahriman, and for that
of Israel, verily, I am the apostle of God sent unto purpose clothed them in flesh. At that time the
you, confirming the law, which was delivered before arrangement was, that the light should never for-
me, and bringing good tidings of an apostle who sake them till they had brought Ahriman and his
shall come after me, and whose name shall be Ah- forces under subjection. After this happy conquest
med." To this prediction put into the mouth of there is to be a resurrection of the body, a separation
Jesus, the Mohammedan writers point as proving the of light from darkness, and a glorious deliverance.
Divine authority of their prophet, and they endeavour Plutarch, in his · Life of Themistocles,' tells us that
to confirm it by quoting the words of Jesus as re- the Persians sometimes addressed prayers to Ahri-
corded in the New Testament, John xvi. 7,“ Never- man; but we have no certain information with what
theless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you particular rites he was worshipped, or where he was
that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will supposed to reside. It is certain, however, that the
not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him un- worshippers held him in detestation ; and when they
to you.” This Paraclete, as the word is in the original, had occasion to write his name they always inverted
and which they transform into Periclete, the illustrious, it, intending thereby to denote that they regarded
they unanimously explain as referring to Moham- him as a malignant being. See ABESTA.
med. Nay, some of their doctors go farther back, AHZAB, the name given to the sixty equal por-
and find a prediction of the appearance of this great tions into which the Mohammedans have divided the
Prophet, and the judgments upon the nations which | Koran, probably in imitation of the Jews, who
AIAM ALMADOULAT-AIUS LOCUTIUS.
47
1
divided the Mishna into the same number of parts. Saturday morning, the heads of the academies and
See KORAN.
the leading Jews repaired to the palace, when the
AIAM ALMADOULAT (the reckoned days), Aichmalotarch, having covered his face with a piece
the first ten days of the month Moharram, or the of silk, put himself at their head, and the company
first month of the Arabian year, in the course of walked in procession to the synagogue. As soon as
which the Koran is believed to have descended from they had arrived, the heads of the academies and the
heaven to be communicated to men. See KORAN. chanters stood around his chair, singing songs of
AIAT (igns or wonders), the verses, or small por- blessing and congratulation.
blessing and congratulation. Then the book of the
tions of unequal length, into which the 114 chapters law was put into his hands, of which he read the first
or large portions of the Koran are divided.
line, and addressed the people with his eyes shut,
AICHMALOTARCH (the prince of the captivity). enlarging upon the liberality that ought to be shown
The Jews assert, but without sufficient evidence, that to the students, which he enforced not only with ar-
a governor, called by this title, ruled the people dur- guments, but by a large donation from his own hand.
ing the captivity at Babylon. But the origin of the In closing the service, the prince blessed the people,
princes of the captivity cannot easily be ascertained. praying for every particular people, that God would
One thing appears to be certain, that such an officer defend it from famine, the pestilence, and the sword.
did not exist before the end of the second or begin- On leaving the synagogue, the prince was conducted
ning of the third century. During the existence of with great pomp to his palace, where he made a
the temple of Jerusalem, the Jews dispersed among sumptuous entertainment for the chief men of the
the eastern nations were accustomed every year nation. This was his last public appearance, unless
either to repair in person, or to send presents to when he went to the academy, and then every one
Jerusalem. The calamities of exile tended to de- rose at his approach, and stood until he desired them
stroy that party spirit which had so long separated to take their seats.
the Jews, Samaritans, and other sects, and accord- During the first period of their power, the Aich-
ingly all agreed in recognizing the high priest at malotarchs resided at a place called Mahazia, but
Jerusalem as the head of the nation. As long their residence was soon removed to Babylon or
therefore as any form of government existed in Ju- Bagdad. There the prince presided over ten courts
dea, there was no necessity for a prince of the cap- of justice. There was also in that great city twenty-
tivity either in the East or the West. No mention eight synagogues, among which was that of the
of an Aichmalotarch occurs in the writings of Jose- prince, supported with pillars of all kinds of colours.
phus, who flourished in the reign of Trajan. Some A tribunal having ten steps was raised before the
authors allege that after the destruction of Jerusa- chest containing the law, upon which was placed a
lem and the dispersion of the Jews, the nation was seat for the prince and his family. The jurisdiction
divided into three classes, each of which chose a of this officer extended over all the Jews who were
chief or prince to preside over them. That portion dispersed in the kingdoms of Assyria, Chaldea, and
which still remained in Palestine were governed, as Parthia. He was invested with the power of con-
formerly, by the president of the sanhedrim. The ferring ordination, and he also received the contribu-
Jews who settled in Egypt elected a patriarch as tions necessary to maintain his own dignity, and to
their head. Those, again, who took up their resi- pay the tribute exacted by the Persian kings. The
dence in Babylon and its neighbourhood, chose a office continued till the eleventh century.
ruler for themselves, to whom they gave the name AIHALA, or AL-ASVAD, a rival prophet to Mo-
of Aichmalotarch, or Prince of the Captivity. hammed in Arabia. He pretended that two angels
The installation of Huna, who was the first elected appeared to him, giving him his commission. His
prince, was conducted with great pomp and ceremony. eloquence and bravery drew great crowds after him;
On that occasion, the heads of the neighbouring aca- but he maintained his position only four months,
demies, with the senators and people, repaired in and was killed a few hours before Mohammed.
crowds to Babylon. The assembly being convened, Aihala and Mosseilama, who also pretended to be a
and Huna having taken his seat upon a throne, the prophet sent from God, were called by the Moham-
head of the academy of Syria approached, and medans, The two Liars.
solemnly warned him not to abuse his authority, at AISLE (from ala, a wing), the lateral divisions of
the same time reminding him, that in consequence a church. The Norman churches were built in the
of the wretched and distracted state to which the form of a cross, with a nave, and two wings or
nation was reduced, he was rather called to a state aisles.
of slavery than elevated to a throne. The Thursday AIUS LOCUTIUS, a deity among the ancient
following, all the heads of the academies attended Romans, whose admission into the number of the
him to the synagogue, where they solemnly laid gods arose from a peculiar circumstance. A short
their hands upon him, amidst the sound of trumpets time before the invasion of the Gauls, as Livy in-
and the acclamation of the multitude. From the forms us, a voice was heard at Rome, in the Via
synagogue he was led in procession to his palace, Nova, during the silence of night, declaring that the
where the people sent him large presents. On the Gauls were at hand. The warning was disregarded,
48
AJZAT-ALABARCH.
+
but no sooner had the Gauls left the city, than the wonderful stories. He was president of the sanhe-
prophetic voice was remembered, and the Romans, in drim when Barchochebas appeared claiming to be
token of their reverence for the unknown speaker, the Messiah. Akiba favoured the designs of that
built a temple to his memory in the Via Nova, as remarkable impostor, and alleging himself to be his
near as possible to the spot where the voice had forerunner, exclaimed to the multitude, “Behold the
been heard.
star that was to come out of Jacob!” These two
AJZAT, the sections into which the Koran is artful and intriguing men took advantage of the
usually divided, each of them twice the AHZAB prejudices which prevailed among the Jews, who ex-
(which see), and subdivided into four parts. These pected the Messiah to appear as a temporal prince
divisions are for the use of the readers in the royal and a mighty conqueror, who should ascend the
mosques and the adjoining chapels, where emperors throne of his father David, and not only deliver
and other great men are buried. See KORAN. them from the tyranny of the Romans, but exalt
AKALS, a name given among the Druses on their nation above all the kingdoms that existed on
Mount Lebanon to ecclesiastics. Three of the the earth. The Jews hold Akiba in the highest re-
Akals preside over and are sheiks among the rest, of pute, alleging him to have been descended from
whom one dwells in the district Arkub, the second Sisera, the general of the army of Jabin, king of
in Tschup el Heite, and the third in Hasbeia. Canaan. In such favour with God do they imagine
The Akals are distinguished from the seculars him to have been, that they say a revelation was
by their white dress, and particularly the white made to him of many points which were concealed
turban, which they wear as a symbol of their from Moses, and that he was intimately acquainted
purity. They have generally good houses on the with the reason of even the minutest details of the
hills. On Thursday evening, which among the law. See BARCHOCHEBAS—MESSIAHS (FALSE).
Orientals is called the night of Friday, they as- ALABANDUS, a hero of Caria, whom the inha-
semble in the house of one or other of their frater- bitants of Alabanda worshipped after his death as
nity, to perform their worship and pray for the the founder of their town.
whole nation: the wives of ecclesiastics may be ALABARCH, a term used to signify the chief of
present, but they do not admit seculars, not even a the Jews in Alexandria, or rather in all Egypt.
sheik or an emir. They despise all employments of That country has in all ages been a frequent resort
honour in the world, believing that on the return of of the Jews. When it was conquered by Alexander
Hakem, the personification of deity, they shall be the Great, he built a great city, calling it Alexandria,
kings, viziers, and pachas. They do not marry the after his own name, and sent a colony of Jews to
daughters of seculars, and they refuse to eat with the form a settlement there, bestowing upon them the
sheiks and emirs of their own nation. Akals eat same privileges as were enjoyed by the Macedonians.
only with Akals, and with the peasants and humble It is related that the Egyptians appeared before that
labourers. They superintend divine worship in the conqueror, and requested that he should order the
chapels, or, as they are called, Khaloue, and they in- Jews to restore to them the gold, the silver, the
struct the children in a kind of catechism. They precious stones, and other articles which they had
are obliged to abstain from swearing and all abusive borrowed from them when they went out of Egypt.
language, and dare not wear any article of gold or The Jews readily consented to the restitution, on
silk in their dress. There are different degrees of condition that the Egyptians rewarded them for their
Akals, and women are also admitted into the order; a four hundred years' service. Alexander perceived
privilege of which, as Burckhardt informs us, many the reasonableness of this request, and decided in
avail themselves, as they are thus exempted from favour of the Jews. In commemoration of this event,
wearing the expensive head-dress and rich silks the Jews still observe an annual feast in the month
fashionable amongst them. It has been calculated of March. When the Jews became numerous in
that the sacred order of Akals numbers about 10,000. Egypt, not contented with worshipping in synagogues,
AKASMUKHIS, a Hindu sect, who hold up their they were desirous to have a temple which might
faces to the sky till the muscles of the back of the rival that of Jerusalem. Philometer, thinking that
neck become contracted, and retain it in that posi- it might induce multitudes of Jews to settle in his
tion. They wear the Jata, and allow the beard and dominions, permitted Onias, their high priest, to
whiskers to grow, smearing the body with ashes. purify a deserted temple, or rather to erect a new
They subsist upon alms.
one, in Lower Egypt. The effect was as Philometer
AKHRAT, a species of adoption permitted among hoped and expected; numbers of disaffected Jews
Mohammedans, and very common among the Turks. left Jerusalem and repaired to Egypt. The Rabbis
The ceremony by which this deed is confirmed, con- of the Holy City, naturally jealous of this rival
sists in the person who is to be adopted putting on temple, inculcated upon their people that God had
and going through the shirt of the person who adopts prohibited their settling out of Judea, unless con-
him. See ADOPTION.
strained by famine or the sword, and in support of this
AKIBA, a famous Rabbi, who lived about A.D. doctrine, they appealed to the words of David,
130, and of whom the Jewish writers relate many They have driven me out this day from abiding in
AL-AIB-ALB.
49
the inheritance of the Lord.” All the attempts of doubtful whether he held a tenet so plainly in oppo-
the Rabbis, however, to check the emigration of the sition to the command of Christ. It is possible that
Jews into Egypt were utterly unsuccessful, and his he may have entertained some scruples as to the
tory records the number and the flourishing state of propriety of, or scriptural warrant for, infant baptism.
the Jews in that country to have been such, that, The peculiar opinions of Lisco must have died with
besides many stately synagogues, they had a stated him, as no trace of the sect is to be found after that
magistrate of their own number, an Alabarch, to period.
judge them according to their own laws. After the ALASTOR, a surname applied to Zeus, as the
final destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, A.D.70, avenger of wicked actions. The name is likewise
multitudes of Jews sought refuge in Egypt, as well employed, especially by tragic writers, to indicate
as in other countries. The vengeance, however, any deity or supernatural spirit who avenges the
which had overtaken them in their own land, pur-
wicked actions which men commit.
sued them to Egypt. The Roman emperor, afraid AL-ASVAD. See AIHALA.
that even there they might become a formidable ALAWAKA, a fierce demon, in the religion of the
body, ordered the temple of Onias to be levelled to Budhists, who dwelt under a banyan-tree, and was ac-
the ground, and although the governor avoided customed to slay all who approached the tree. So
carrying the sentence literally into execution, he powerful is this demon regarded, that they have a
shut up the temple, preventing the Jews from wor- current saying among them, “Were Alawaka to
shipping in it. The dignity of Alabarch seems to throw his weapon into the air, there would be no
have been common in Egypt, as the poet Juvenal rain for twelve years; if
rain for twelve years; if to the earth, no herbage
refers to it in one of his satires.
could grow for twelve months; if to the sea, it would
AL-AIB, the rump-bone. Mohammed teaches in be dried up.
be dried up." No one, they imagine, can withstand
the Koran that a man's body is entirely consumed the weapon of Alawaka. It is accounted one of the
by the earth, excepting only the al-aib, which is des- greatest miracles which Budha performed, that he con-
tined to form the basis of the future edifice of a new quered by kindness this previously uncontrollable de-
body. The renewal of the whole human frame is to mon, and so changed his heart, that he entered the
be effected, according to the prophet's doctrine, by a path Sewán, one of the four paths that lead to the
forty days' rain, which will cover the earth to the cessation of existence (see ANNIHILATION), saying
height of twelve cubits, and cause the bodies to that, from that time he would go from city to city
spring up like plants. The time of the resurrection and from house to house, proclaiming everywhere the
they allow to be a perfect secret, known to God wisdom of Budha and the excellence of his doc-
only; the angel Gabriel himself acknowledging his trines. See BUDHA-BUDHISTS.
ignorance on this point when Mohammed asked him ALB, a white linen garment with sleeves, worn
about it. This notion of Mohammed in reference to by the clergy over the cassock and amice, in the
the al-uib is in all probability borrowed from the Romish church, and also in Episcopal churches
Jews, whose Rabbis entertain similar views as to the generally. Some Popish writers attempt to prove,
mode of the resurrection of the body. See RESUR- but most unsuccessfully, that the apostles wore a
peculiar dress when engaged in divine worship.
ALALCOMENIA, in Pagan mythology, one of Baronius and Bona are very confident in this matter,
the daughters of Ogyges, who, along with her two and the latter is bold enough to allege that the cloak
sisters, were regarded as supernatural beings who which Paul left at Troas was a priestly robe. But it
watched over oaths, and took care that they were is not until the fourth century that we find official
not taken improperly, or without due consideration. vestments used by the clergy. Constantine the em-
The representations of these goddesses consisted of peror is said to have given a rich vestment to Maca-
mere heads, and only the heads of animals were rius, bishop of Jerusalem, to be worn by him when
offered in sacrifice to them.
he celebrated the ordinance of baptism; and the
ALASCANI, a name given to the followers of Arians afterwards accused Cyril of having sold it.
John Lisco or Alasco, a Polish Catholic bishop, Not long after this, we find the enemies of Athan-
uncle to the king of Poland. Having embraced the asius charging him with having laid a tax upon the
principles of the Reformation, Lisco came to Eng- Egyptians to raise a fund for the linen vestments of
land in the reign of Edward VI., and became super-
the church. The first time the alb, or surplice, is
intendent of the first Dutch church in Austin Friars. mentioned, is in the forty-first canon of the fourth
London, with four assistant ministers. In only one council of Carthage, which enacts that the deacon is
point does he seem to have differed from the Reform- to wear the alba when the oblation is made, or the
ed churches in England, and that was in applying lessons are read. At first the alb was loose and
the words of our blessed Lord, “ This is my body," not flowing, but afterwards it was bound with a zone or
to the bread only, but to both the elements, alleging girdle. The notion of such a garment is probably
that the expression covered the whole action or cele- borrowed from the white linen ephod of the ancient
bration of the Supper. Lisco is charged also with Jewish priests. In the Romish churches on the
having denied the necessity of baptism; but it is Continent, the alb differs somewhat from the primi-
RECTION.
.
1.
D
50
ALBANENSES-ALBIGENSES.
tive form. In the Greek churches it is almost iden- derived their name from Albi, a town in Languedoc,
tical with that which is used in the Church of where their supposed errors were first condemned in a
England.
council held A. D. 1176. For several centuries before
ALBANENSES, or ALBANOIS, a sect of Christian there had existed a number of faithful and devoted
heretics, who arose about the year A.D. 796, in the adherents of Bible truth, who had preserved the
reign of the emperor Constantine VI., and the ponti- light of the gospel amid the darkness and ignorance
ficate of Leo III. Their opinions were some of them of the Middle Ages. A goodly chain of Reformers,
of Gnostic and others of Manichean origin. They indeed, can be proved to have lived long before the
believed in two great principles, the one good, the Reformation, and although it has ever been the po-
other evil, the Old Testament being ascribed to the licy of Rome to persecute, even to the death, all who
latter, and the New Testament to the former. They should dare to differ from her, or to resist her power,
believed in the Pythagorean doctrine of the transmi- yet there were witnesses for the truth of God ever
gration of souls. Not only did they deny the and anon springing up, in various parts of Europe,
divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, but they even dis- who counted not their lives dear unto themselves in
believed his humanity, asserting that he was not defending “the faith once delivered to the saints."
really and truly man. They denied the resurrection The Albigenses have been traced back by Mr. Elliot,
of the body, asserted the general judgment to be in his Horæ Apocalypticæ,' to the Paulicians, who
already past, and that the torments of hell were en- had preached the pure gospel of Christ, in the south
dured in this life. They taught that not a single of France, three hundred years before the days of
good man existed in the world before Jesus Christ. Luther. Nay, Dr. Allix, in an able monograph on
They held that there was no virtue or efficacy in the 'Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches
baptism, and that the immoral conduct of the clergy of the Albigenses,' has brought forward a powerful
prevented the sacraments from being attended with mass of evidence to prove that, in the dioceses of
benefit. The doctrine of a community of goods was Narbonne and Aquitain, there had been, even from
also maintained by them, and they asserted that the very early times, a systematic hostility to the grow-
church did not possess the power of excommunica- ing errors of Rome. In that favourite district
tion or of making constitutions. They rejected the the light continued to shịne amid the surrounding
sacrament of the altar and extreme unction; they darkness. Onward even until the beginning of the
held only baptism of adults, and denied the doctrine twelfth century, the Papal authority, which had re-
of original sin. They denied free will, and held the ceived implicit submission from every other part of
eternity of the world. They prohibited marriage; Christendom, was utterly disowned in the country of
they said that usury was lawful, and that no one was the Albigenses. It was not likely that Rome would
obliged to make restitution. They held that man continue to endure with calmness this resistance to
gives the Holy Spirit of himself, and that it is un-
Two legates, Guy and Reinier, were
lawful for a Christian to take an oath. See CATHARI despatched from the Papal see, armed with full au-
_MANICHEANS.
thority to extirpate these heretics; and in fulfilment
ALBATI, a kind of Christian hermits, who came of their commission, the ruthless Papal emissaries
down from the Alps into several provinces of Italy committed multitudes of these unoffending people to
in the year 1399, in the pontificate of Boniface IX. the flames, Still the heresy grew and gathered
They received the name of Albati from the white strength, and Innocent III. found it necessary to
linen garments which they wore; and besides, they adopt more vigorous measures. He proclaimed a
were headed by a priest clothed in white, and carry- crusade against these heretical rebels, sending hosts
ing a crucifix in his hand. The followers of this priest, of priests through all Europe to summon the faith-
who professed a great zeal in the cause of religion, ful to a holy war against the enemies of the church.
increased in numbers so rapidly, that Boniface be- In prosecuting their embassy from country to coun-
came alarmed lest their leader aimed at the popedom; try, the priests roused the people everywhere by the
accordingly, he sent out against them a body of most inflammatory harangues. Archbishop Usher
armed men, who apprehended the priest and put informs us, that they had one favourite text from
him to death. Upon this the whole multitude fled, which they preached, viz. Psal. xciv. 16, “Who will
being dispersed in all directions. Some writers
rise up for me against the evil-doers? or who will
class the Albati among heretics, but they seem stand up for me against the workers of iniquity ?”
rather to have been animated by strong feelings of From this passage they called upon their hearers, if
piety, lamenting their own sins, and those of the they had any zeal for the faith ; if they were touched
times in which they lived. Popish writers speak of with any concern for the glory of God; if they
them as having lived together promiscuously like would reap the benefit of the Papal indulgence, to
beasts; but such calumnies are often raised without come and receive the sign of the cross, and join
the slightest foundation, against the most ardent themselves to the army of the crucified Saviour.
friends of truth and righteousness.
The reigning Count of Toulouse, Raymond VI.,
ALBIGENSES, dissenters from the Church of was still an independent sovereign, and knowing the
Rome in the twelfth century. They appear to have blameless character and unoffending dispositions of
her sway.
ALBIGENSES.
51
the Albigenses, who were his own subjects, he was formerly granted to those who laboured for the de-
most unwilling to join in the war which Rome liverance of the Holy Land. Multitudes from all
had proclaimed against them. The Pope was na- parts of Europe hastened to enrol themselves in this
turally anxious, however, to enlist his services in
new army, persuaded by the priests and monks to
exterminating the obstinate heretics of Languedoc. believe, that, by engaging in this sacred enterprise,
In A. D. 1207, Peter of Castelneau was despatched they would atone for the vices and crimes of a whole
from Rome to demand of Raymond that he should life. And in conducting the warfare not the slight-
join the neighbouring princes in a treaty to destroy est restraint was put upon the soldiers, who were
the Albigenses. The prince gave to the Pope's re- permitted to pillage and massacre at will. One of
quest a prompt and decided refusal, which, of course, the most active and enthusiastic among the monks,
was followed by his immediate excommunication by in rousing the people to go forth on this crusade,
the Papal legate, and the subjection of his country was Arnold Amalric, abbot of Citeaux, who, along
to a solemn interdict. The Holy Father no sooner with numerous ghostly friars, chiefly of the Bernar-
heard what had happened than he wrote with his dine order, summoned a large army into the field, en-
own hand a letter to Count Raymond, confirming couraging them with the assurance, that all who
the excommunication which his legate had pro-should die in this holy expedition would receive a
nounced, and appealing to him in language full of in- plenary absolution of all the sins they had commit-
dignation, “Pestilential man! What pride has seized ted from the day of their birth to that of their death.
your heart, and what is your folly to refuse peace The success of the Papal emissaries alarmed Ray-
with your neighbours, and to brave the Divine laws mond not a little, and anxious if possible to prevent
by protecting the enemies of the faith ? If you what he saw, if carried out, would be a war of exter-
do not fear eternal flames, ought you not to dread mination, he, accompanied by his nephew Roger,
the temporal chastisements which you have merited Count of Beziers, waited upon Arnold, the leader of
by so many crimes ?” The fierce fulminations of the crusade, who received them with an air of haughty
the Vatican frightened Raymond into submission, disdain, declaring that he could do nothing for them,
and, although with the utmost reluctance, he signed and that their only resource, if they would avert the
the treaty for the extermination of the heretics from threatened evils, was to appeal to the Pope. The
his dominions. His adherence to the engagement, young Count of Beziers, seeing that negotiations were
however, was rather nominal than real, and the Pa- utterly fruitless, resolved on prosecuting the war,
pal legate perceiving his unwillingness to proceed and preparing themselves for a valiant defence. Ray-
with activity and zeal in the work of persecution, mond, however, knowing the power and influence
could not conceal his rage; but, breaking out into of Rome, was struck with terror and alarm, and
the most reproachful language against the prince, declared himself ready to make the most humi-
again excommunicated him. Raymond was indig- liating concessions rather than see the war carried
nant at the insolence of Castleneau, and so enraged into his states. This was what Rome desired. Ray-
were his friends also, that the next day, one of them, mond's ambassadors were received by the Pope with
after an angry altercation in words, drew his poniard, the utmost condescension and kindness; his offer of
and struck the legate in the side and killed him. assistance in the war against the heretics was gladly
On hearing of this murder, the Pope was roused welcomed, and to prove his sincerity, he was required
to the most uncontrollable anger. He instantly pub- to surrender seven of his principal castles. If this
lished a bull, addressed to all the counts, and barons, were agreed to, his Holiness engaged to grant Ray-
and knights of the four southern provinces of France, mond not only a full absolution, but a complete re-
in which he imputed the conduct of the Count of storation to favour.
Toulouse to the influence of the Evil One, and de- No sooner had the timorous Count of Toulouse be-
manded that he should be publicly anathematized in come the dupe of the crafty and deceitful Innocent,
all the churches, discharging, at the same time, all than he found himself encompassed with difficulties.
his subjects from allegiance or fidelity, and permit- A very large army, amounting, some say, to 300,000,
ting every Catholic to pursue his person, and to and others to 500,000 men, poured into the rebellious
occupy and retain his territories, especially for the provinces. Learning that this immense mass of
purpose of exterminating heresy.
soldiers was about to attack his states, he was panic-
This bull was immediately followed by others to struck, and more especially as he felt that he had
the same effect, and, in particular, the Pope ad- consented to purchase his absolution from the Papal
dressed a letter to the King of France, Philip Au- see on the most degrading conditions. He was or-
gustus, calling upon him personally to aid in destroy- dered to repair to the church that he miglft receive
ing the wicked heresy of the Albigenses, “to per- the promised absolution from the hands of the
secute them with a strong hand; deprive them of Pope's legate. Before this was granted, however,
their possessions, banish them, and put Roman Ca- he was compelled to swear upon the consecrated
tholics in their room.” That the people might be host, and the relics of the saints, that he would obey
excited to join this crusade against the heretics, the the Pope and the holy Roman church as long as he
same extent of indulgence was promised as had been | lived, that he would pursue the Albigenses with fire
52
ALBIGENSES.
cassone.
and sword, till they were either entirely rooted out but refused. At length Simon de Montfort accepted
or brought into subjection to the Roman see. Hav- the lordships of Beziers and Carcassone, to hold
ing taken this oath at the door of the church, he was them for behalf of the church, and for the extirpa-
ordered by the Legate to strip himself naked, and tion of heresy. In the year 1210, Montfort caused
submit to penance for the murder of Castelneau. In Raymond to be once more excommunicated, and the
vaiu did the Count protest his entire innocence of the unfortunate prince, quailing under the papal thunders,
murder of the monk. The Legate was inexorable; was deeply distressed. The war proceeded with un-
it was necessary that the discipline of the church abated activity, but Raymond was reluctant to take
should be inflicted. On the 18th of June accordingly, any share in the persecution of his subjects and
A. D. 1209, the humiliating spectacle was presented friends. And yet he still strictly, adhered to the
of Count Raymond doing penance in the most humi- observances of the Romish religion, so that while the
liating form. “Having stripped himself naked from sentence of excommunication was resting upon him,
head to foot,” says Bower in his Lives of the Popes, he continued for a long time in prayer at the doors
“ with only a linen cloth around his waist for decen- of the churches which he durst not enter. At length
cy's sake, the Legate threw a priest's stole around on the 10th of November, while still under the ban
his neck, and leading him by it into the church, nine of the church, this unhappy Count was suddenly
times around the pretended martyr's grave, he in- cut off in a tower of the palace of Carcassone. It
flicted chastisement upon the naked shoulders of the was generally reported that he had died from the
prince, with the bundle of rods that he held in his effects of poison, and Innocent III. himself acknow-
hand.” Having thus performed the required pen- ledged that the Count had perished by a violent
ance, Raymond was obliged to renew his oath of death.
obedience to the Pope, and his engagement to ex-
Simon de Montfort had now become the feudal
tirpate heretics, after which he received a plenary | lord of the two fortified towns, the reduction of
absolution.
which cost the crusaders so much trouble. He was
Roger, Count of Beziers, following his uncle's bound by his ecclesiastical tenure to extirpate the
example, applied to the Pope, offering submission, heretics. He therefore continued the campaign,
but being repelled, he made vigorous preparations and took several towns, though not without consi-
for his defence. The two places on which he chiefly derable loss. The greater part of the Albigeois,
calculated as his strongholds were, Beziers and Car- which was the chief seat of the obnoxious doctrines,
The former was attacked by the crusading was in the possession of the Count de Foix, whose
army in three divisions. Overpowered by numbers, name was also Raymond Roger. He resisted the
the citizens yielded, and the crusaders entered the progress of the crusaders under Montfort with consi-
city without opposition or resistance of any kind. | derable bravery and skill, but at length, after losing sev-
An indiscriminate slaughter followed, and out of eral castles, he was obliged to submit. The war was
sixty thousand inhabitants, not one person was
conducted by Montfort with the most savage cruelty.
spared alive. The houses were then pillaged of all Attacking the castle of the Lauragnais and Mener-
that was valuable, and the whole city set on fire and bois, he caused those of the inhabitants who fell into
reduced to ashes. Meanwhile Roger, who had shut his hands to be hanged on gibbets. After assault-
himself up in Carcassone, which was much better for- ing another town successfully, he selected more than
tified than Beziers, prepared to defend that city a hundred of the inhabitants, whose eyes he tore out,
against the assaults of the crusaders. By treachery, and cut off their noses. In the course of this cam-
however, he was betrayed into the hands of the Le-paign, he attacked the castle of Menerbe, situated on
gate, who threw him into prison, where he soon after a steep rock, surrounded by precipices, not far from
died, not without strong suspicions of being poisoned. Narbonne. This place was accounted the strongest
On hearing of the imprisonment of the Count, the in- in the south of France, and Guiard its possessor
habitants of Carcassone lost courage, and though was distinguished for his bravery. In the month of
closely besieged, they contrived in a body to escape June 1210, the crusaders laid siege to the town,
from the city by a subterraneous passage, and dis- and after a brave defence of seven weeks, the in-
persed themselves through different parts of the sur- habitants were compelled to capitulate from want of
rounding country. The crusaders were amazed on water. The crusaders took possession of the castle
entering the city, the following day, to find it utterly on the 22d of July; they entered singing Te Deum,
deserted and solitary. At first they suspected that and preceded by the crucifix and the standards of
there was a stratagem to draw them into an ambus- Montfort. The Albigenses were meanwhile assem-
cade, but finding that in reality the city was without bled, the men in one house, the women in another,
an inhabitant, they exclaimed with joy, “ The Albi- and there on their knees, with hearts resigned to their
genses have fled !"
fate, they prepared themselves by prayer for the
Thus the two principal strongholds of the Albi- worst that could befall them. The abbot of Vaux-
genses, Beziers and Carcassone, were in the power Cernay began to preach to them the doctrines of
of the enemy. The government of the captured ter- Popery, but with one voice they interrupted him,
ritory was offered to several noblemen in succession, exclaiming, “ We will have none of your faith; we
ALBIGENSES.
53
1
have renounced the church of Rome; your labour | the ruthless crusaders in witnessing such spectacles
is in vain, for neither death nor life shall make us as being those of boundless joy.
renounce the opinions we have embraced.” The Intoxicated with the success which had every-
abbot then passed to the apartment where the wo- where attended his progress, Montfort advanced
men were assembled, but he found them equally de- upon the city of Toulouse, in the confident expecta-
termined. Montfort also visited both the women tion that like many other places it would surrender
and the men; he met with a similar reception to that itself into his hands. The Count of Toulouse, how-
of the monk. He had previously caused a prodi- ever, having formed a coalition with several of the
gious pile of dry wood to be made. “ "Be converted Counts of France, who had been suspected of heresy,
to the Catholic faith,” said he,“ or mount this pile." resolved to make a vigorous resistance, and at last,
Not one of the assembled Albigenses wavered for a after several unsuccessful attempts to take the city,
moment. The fire was lighted, and the pile was soon de Montfort was compelled to raise the siege. The
one mass of flames. The undaunted adherents of state of matters was now completely changed.
the truth, committing their souls into the hands of Raymond, instead of acting on the defensive, became
Jesus, threw themselves voluntarily into the flames, the active and energetic assailant; and before a few
to the number of more than one hundred and forty. months had elapsed, he recovered the places which
The next place which the crusaders attacked, was had been seized by the crusaders, and once more be-
a strong castle called Termes. This garrison held came possessor of the greater part of the Albigeois.
out for four months, but at length, in consequence of De Montfort, on the other hand, had so declined in
drought and disease, here also the brave Albigenses power and influence, that he was scarcely able to de-
were overcome. Endeavouring to escape by night, fend himself, notwithstanding the numbers which, at
many of them were detected, pursued, and put to the instigation of the priests, were every day flock-
death. Some were taken prisoners, and by the or- ing to his standard. In a short time, however, Mont-
ders of cruel Montfort were burnt alive. Raymond | fort regained the ascendency which he had lost for a
de Termes, the commander of the fortress, was time, and the Albigenses, driven from the open coun-
thrown into a dungeon, where he endured a wretched try, were compelled to take refuge in the cities of
captivity for many years. These multiplied suc- Toulouse and Montauban. Raymond, feeling his
cesses on the part of the crusaders proved very dis- own weakness, sought the protection of his friend
couraging to the Albigenses, who were driven from Don Pedro, the King of Arragon, on whom he had
their native plains, and compelled to seek refuge strong claims, as both he and his son had married
among the woods and mountains. Multitudes of two sisters of that sovereign. Don Pedro lost no
them were discovered and put to death by the time in appealing to Innocent III. in favour of Ray-
sword, and not a few were committed to the flames. mond, and the Pontiff, unwilling to disregard an ap-
Not contented with the lordships he had already plication coming from a monarch who was the chief
obtained, Montfort's eye was now turned upon the support of the Christian cause in Spain, adopted an
county of Toulouse, which he hoped to add to his entirely altered line of policy. He issued an impera-
present possessions, and thus to raise himself to a tive command, that Arnold the legate and Simon de
level with sovereign princes. Prompted by ambi- Montfort should henceforth stay proceedings in the
tion accordingly, and encouraged by the number and war against the Albigenses. Raymond was now de-
enthusiasm of his forces, as well as by the success clared to be a true son of the church, and taken
which had already attended his arms, he commenced under the powerful protection of the Pope. But
another campaign in the spring of 1211, by a siege this favourable movement of the Holy Father was
of the castle of Cabaret, which was soon taken. merely temporary. In a few short months, on the
Other castles also yielded in rapid succession. The 21st May 1213, he revoked every concession he had
crusaders continued their march until they reached made in favour of Raymond of Toulouse, and con-
Lavaur, a strongly fortified place about five leagues firmed his sentence of excommunication. The war
from the city of Toulouse. After a hard siege they was of course resumed with greater fierceness than
succeeded in taking it. Eighty knights, among ever, the King of Arragon having sent Spanish
whom was Aimery lord of Montreal, were dragged troops across the Pyrenees to aid his brother-in-law
out of the castle and ordered to be hanged. But as in repelling de Montfort, and thus compelling the
soon as Aimery, the stoutest among them, was Pope to agree to favourable terms. On reaching the
hanged, the gallows fell. To prevent delay, Mont- seat of war, Don Pedro with a large army laid siege
fort caused the rest to be immediately massacred. to the town of Muret, about nine miles distant from
The lady of the castle was thrown into a pit, which Toulouse, but de Montfort, with forces greatly infe-
was then filled up with stones. Afterwards all the rior in number, obtained a complete victory over
heretics who could be found in the place, were col- Don Pedro, who, after resisting gallantly to the last,
lected and burned amid the joyful acclamations of was overpowered and slain, while the army of Ray-
the crusaders. The monkish historian, Petrus Val- mond was put to flight.
lensis, in speaking of the cruel tortures to which the The cause of the Albigenses, in consequence of the
Albigenses were subjected, describes the feelings of battle of Muret, had now become desperate. Ray-
54
ALBIGENSES.
mond was stripped of his territories, which were bloodshed against the heretics, multitudes of them
conferred upon his enemy de Montfort; the heretics
de Montfort; the heretics perished by famine or execution, while the rest were
were reduced to a very small number, and the few compelled to pay an enormous ransom to save them-
who survived retired into concealments. For a time, selves from massacre, and their city from the flames.
therefore, the bloody warfare, which had all but ex- Even such treatment as this did not destroy the at-
terminated these daring rebels against Rome's au- tachment of the Toulousians to the cause which they
thority, was brought to an end. In 1215, indeed, had espoused, and in September of the following year,
an attempt was made to revive the crusade against while de Montfort was making war in Valentinois,
the unhappy Albigenses. Louis, the son of Philip Raymond VI. entered his capital, and was received
Augustus, King of France, led a large army into with open arms. Delighted with the enthusiasm of
Languedoc, resolved to earn renown by his zeal his affectionate subjects, he attacked Guy de Mont-
in the destruction of the heretics. The campaign, fort, brother of Simon, at Montolieu, and obtained a
however, was most inglorious. In his march he victory over him. Simon, learning what had hap-
met with not the slightest resistance, but the peace- pened, returned with all haste to Languedoc, and
ful inhabitants were plundered and pillaged by the being joined by Guy his brother, he resolved to car-
merciless soldiers. The conquerors now began to ry Toulouse by storm. Raymond defended the place
quarrel among themselves. Arnold the legate had gallantly, aided by the surrounding knights and
assumed the rich archbishopric of Narbonne, to which counts who had joined his standard. De Montfort's
he pretended the rights of temporal sovereignty brother and nephew fell dangerously wounded, and
were attached; but Simon de Montfort, who took finding the attempt hopeless, he called off his forces.
to himself the title of Duke of Narbonne, felt indig- After the lapse of a few weeks he renewed the as-
nant that a priest should lay claim to that temporal sault, dividing his troops so as to attack the city on
authority which he proudly asserted was all his own. both sides of the river at once; but while engaged in
A hot contention ensued. The people of Narbonne the attempt, he was routed by the Count de Foix,
favoured the archbishop, and de Montfort, therefore, and pursued as far as Muret, where he narrowly
branding them as heretics, entered the city, and took éscaped being drowned in the Garonne. The
possession of it by force of arms. Arnold, exercis- siege was protracted for nine months, during
ing his spiritual authority, laid all the churches of which the Toulousians held out against the enemy
the city under an interdict, as long as his rival should with undaunted bravery. In a luckless moment
remain there; but Simon made light of the sentence. while de Montfort was standing before a wooden
The state of affairs was now such that Ray- tower, which he had taken from the enemy, he was
mond VI. was encouraged to appear once more up- struck down and killed by a large fragment of rock
on the field, and recover if possible the possessions which had been discharged from the city wall. No
which had been wrested from him. The spirit of sooner had the usurper fallen than a shout of tri-
disunion, which had turned the arms of the con- umph was heard from the city, and the Albigensian
queror against one another, and the decree of the army, rushing from the gates, routed the besiegers,
council of Lateran, in 1215, which had prohibited the capturing or destroying their tents and baggage. In
further preaching up of the crusades, rendered it all | vain did Amaury de Montfort, son of Simon, try to
the more likely that, if conducted vigorously, a war, rally the remnant of the army and lead them back
in present circumstances, might restore the fortunes to the siege. The death of their leader had de-
of the oppressed inhabitants of Languedoc. Inspired prived them of courage, and after a month of desul-
by such hopes as these, Raymond VII., son of the tory efforts, in which they were utterly unsuccess-
Count of Toulouse, resolved to raise an army, and ful, the siege was abandoned on the 25th of July,
make a heroic effort to regain the conquered domi- and the besieging army, in a shattered state, retired
nions of his father. Advancing accordingly against to Carcassone.
Beaucaire, the gates were immediately thrown open The death of Simon de Montfort, far from being
before him; and the castle itself, which was defend- favourable to the cause of the Albigenses, led to
ed by a French garrison, yielded to his power. And still deeper calamities than those to which they had
while the son was thus victorious on one side of the hitherto been exposed. Raymond VI. resigned his
province, the father, who had raised forces in Cata- government into the hands of his son Raymond VII.,
lonia and Arragon, rushed down upon the other, and a man of a bolder and more energetic temperament :
made for Toulouse, which was ready to receive him. but Amaury de Montfort, the successor of Simon,
De Montfort was now beset with two antagonists at was not only a determined foe of the heretics,
once; but, after making a truce with the young Ray- but he was powerfully seconded by the power of
mond, he hastened to defend his new capital. Ray- France, with Louis the Dauphin at its head. The
mond VI., feeling that he was unable to encounter French prince was eager to enter upon a crusade
de Montfort in the open field, retreated to the moun- against the Albigenses, and having made application
tains. The Toulousians were now at the mercy of to Pope Honorius III., the successor of Innocent III.,
the cruel conqueror, and being betrayed by Fouquet, he obtained the subsidy of a twentieth upon the
their own bishop, who breathed only slaughter and clergy of France for the expenses of the war. The
ALBIGENSES.
55
ܪ
war.
Dauphin, accordingly, joined by Amaury, took the contemplated, was, however, from some cause or other
field against Raymond Roger, Count of Foix, who postponed. Meanwhile Raymond VII. was apply-
had proved the constant friend of the persecuted ing to the Papal court to make his peace with the
Albigenses. Raymond VII. marched to the support church. The Pope delayed answering his applica-
of his ally, and obtained a signal victory at Basiège | tion from time to time; and when a favourable op-
over two of Amaury's lieutenants. Louis and Amaury | portunity offered, Raymond was informed that the
were meanwhile engaged in besieging Marmaude, and only condition on which it could be granted was,
so successfully, that the place was obliged to capi- that he should renounce his heritage for himself and
tulate. The garrison offered to surrender on con- his heirs for ever. It was not likely that such a
dition of being allowed to depart with their lives proposal would be acceded to. Advantage was taken
and baggage; but Louis would consent to leave accordingly of his refusal to recommence hostilities
them nothing but their bodies. The soldiers hav- against the Albigeois.
against the Albigeois. A crusade was preached
ing accepted this hard condition, came forth to the anew for the suppression of heresy; large subsidies
tent of the Dauphin, who, contrary to the earnest were assigned to Louis from the ecclesiastical re-
exhortation of the Bishop of Saintes, permitted them venues to enable him to carry on the war; and on
to depart uninjured. While this surrender was go- 30th January, 1226, a formal excommunication was
ing forward, Amaury de Montfort entered the town, issued against Raymond VII. of Toulouse, and all
and massacred five thousand men, women, and chil- his adherents, the publication of such a sentence
dren,
being a signal for the commencement of another holy
The crusaders, flushed with victory, proceeded to
Toulouse, which had been a stronghold of the perse- The Albigenses at this critical period were in a
cuted, and of which the cardinal-legate had declared very helpless condition. The kings of Arragon and
that not a man, woman, or child should be spared | England, from whom they might otherwise have ex-
from the slaughter, or one stone left upon another. pected assistance, were themselves afraid to encoun-
Raymond VII. commanded the town, reinforced by | ter the displeasure of the See of Rome. Raymond,
a thousand knights with their armed attendants. therefore, was likely to stand very much alone, while
The siege of this important town commenced on the his enemies were numerous, powerful, and united.
16th June, 1219. Operations were conducted with | Louis, on setting out on this enterprise met with
great skill and energy on both sides, but the besieged almost no opposition. Cities, towns, and castles
were beaten off at all points, and at length Louis offered unconditional submission. He then advanced
abandoned the siege and precipitately retreated. with his powerful army to Avignon, which he be-
Encouraged by success, Raymond VII. followed up sieged for three months, during which—a pestilence
this victory by attacking one stronghold after another, having broken out—twenty thousand soldiers are
until, in March 1221, nothing remained to Amaury said to have fallen by disease and the sword. After
de Montfort of all his father's acquisitions, except a gallant defence, the city capitulated on the 12th
the city of Carcassone. That place also was repeat- September, but on condition that only the legate
edly attacked and driven to extremities; the perse- and the chief lords of the crusaders should be ad-
cuting usurper was obliged to submit on the 14th mitted within the walls.
mitted within the walls. The enemy, however, pro-
January, 1224. Stripped of the territories which ceeding on the well-known and universally admitted
both he and his father had unjustly held, he threw principle in the church of Rome, that no faith is to
himself upon the protection of his ally, now Louis be kept with heretics, took possession of the gates,
VIII., king of France, to whom he conveyed the put to sword the French and Flemish soldiers of the
territorial rights which his house had acquired by the garrison, demolished parts of the walls and battle-
crusades; while Trevencal, son of the late Raymondments, and levied a contribution upon the citizens.
Roger, was reinstated by the Counts of Toulouse and Louis, leaving Avignon, proceeded onwards in his
Foix into all the possessions of which his father had victorious march, carrying devastation and massacre
been unjustly deprived.
and ruin wherever he went. The pestilence had
Louis having now received a nominal right to the thinned the ranks of his army, and as he retreated
Albigeois territories
, determined to signalize his towards Auvergne, the roads were strewed with the
reign by the destruction of the heretics. For this dead and the dying. On arriving at Montpensier,
purpose he applied for the Papal sanction, which he himself was seized with the disease, and fell a
was readily granted, and a new holy war commenced. victim to it on the 3d November, 1226.
No sooner had the Pope, however, given his formal At the death of Louis VIII., his son, who was
permission, than he was obliged to recall it, in conse- but a child, succeeded to the throne of France; and
quence of the remonstrances of Frederic II., who the reins of government, meanwhile, fell into the
was desirous of entering upon a crusade to the Holy hands of Blanche, the mother of the young sovereign.
Land. Louis was greatly disappointed by the revo- Under her administration, the war against the Albi-
cation of the Papal sanction, but nothing remained genses was continued, though in the course of fifteen
save submission to the will of the Holy See. The years' harassing persecution, the heretics themselves
expedition to the Holy Land which Frederic had ) had been almost completely exterminated. In the
56
ALBIGENSES.
was
beginning of the year 1228, Raymond of Toulouse | ing these terms to be applicable in their full intensity
was successful in almost every battle which he of meaning to the Papal system. This in reality
fought with the enemy. The glory of these victories, “the head and front of their offending." But
however, was much sullied by the cruelty with which on examining the evidence adduced in proof of the
he treated the vanquished who fell into his hands. charges which have been laid against them of teach-
Matters were now approaching a crisis. The crusa- ing false or immoral doctrines, we have no hesitation
ders advanced upon Toulouse, and perceiving that in stamping all such charges as utterly groundless.
the siege was likely, as on 'former occasions, to be The Albigenses, indeed, seem to have been nearly
protracted and difficult, they resorted to a plan, sug- identical in doctrines with sects of a much earlier
gested by Fouquet, the bishop of the place, whereby date, who protested loudly against the corruptions,
its ultimate surrender would be secured. All the both in doctrine and practice, which had crept into
vines, the corn, and the fruit-trees were destroyed; the church. We refer to the Cathari, the Petrobrus-
all the houses burned for miles round the city, and sians, the Poor Men of Lyons, the Lombard Wal-
at the end of three months, the inhabitants of the denses, and others, all of whom held the great doc-
town were so discouraged, and the spirit of Raymond trines of the Bible in their original purity. The
their leader so completely broken, that peace was testimony of Evervinus, a zealous adherent of the
sought and obtained on the most humiliating condi- Roman church, in a letter to the celebrated Bernard,
tions. A treaty, which put a final end to the war, abbot of Clairvaux, written in the beginning of the
was signed at Paris on the 12th April, 1229. The twelfth century, is sufficient of itself to refute the
Counts of Toulouse laid aside their authority, and the calumnies which have been so liberally retailed in
southern provinces of France passed into the hands | Popish works in reference to the Albigenses. “There
of the enemy. The great mass of the Albigenses have lately been,” says he, “some heretics discovered
had already been destroyed by persecution and the among us, near Cologne, of whom some have, with
ravages of war, and the few who survived fled into satisfaction, returned again to the church. One that
other lands, to Piedmont, Austria, Bohemia, England, was a bishop among them, and his companions,
and other countries.
openly opposed us, in the assembly of the clergy and
The Papal power having now succeeded in eradi- | laity, the lord archbishop himself being present, with
cating the Albigensian heresy from the provinces many of the nobility, maintaining their heresy from
where it had prevailed for more than three centuries, the words of Christ and his apostles. But, finding
took immediate steps to prevent its reappearance in that they made no impression, they desired that a
that quarter in all time coming. The Inquisition day might be fixed, upon which they might bring
was permanently established there in November along with them men skilful in their faith, promising
1229. The bishops were to depute a priest and two to return to the church, provided their teachers were
or three laymen, who were to be sworn to search unable to answer their opponents; but thât other-
after all heretics and their abettors. The Bible was wise, they would rather die than depart from their
regarded by the Inquisition as the principal source judgment. Upon this declaration, having been ad-
of heresy, and, to prevent its perusal by the people, monished to repent, and three days allowed them for
the council of Toulouse passed the following decree: that purpose, they were seized by the people, in their
---“We prohibit the books of the Old and New Tes- excess of zeal, and committed to the flames! And,
tament to the laity; unless, perhaps, they may desire what is most astonishing, they came to the stake and
to have the Psalter or some Breviary for divine ser- endured the torment not only with patience, but even
vice, or the Hours of the blessed Virgin Mary for with joy. In this case, O holy father, were
I
pre-
devotion; but we expressly forbid their having the sent with you, I should be glad to ask you,
How
other parts of the Bible translated into the vulgar these members of Satan could persist in their heresy
tongue.”
with such constancy and courage as is rarely to be
The Albigenses having shown themselves for so found among the most religious in the faith of
long a period sworn enemies to the usurped ty- | Christ ? ” He then proceeds, “ Their heresy is this:
ranny of the Popes, have been branded by Romish they say that the church (of Christ) is only among
writers as heretics of the deepest dye, holding themselves, because they alone follow the ways of
opinions, not only at variance with those of the church, Christ, and imitate the apostles,—not seeking secu-
but subversive of sound morality and social order. lar gains, possessing no property, following the ex-
They have been misrepresented to an almost incred- ample of Christ, who was himself poor, nor permitted
ible extent, ranked with the ancient Manichees, his disciples to possess anything. Whereas, say
charged with rejecting the Old Testament, and even they to us, “ye join house to house, and field to field,
denying the divinity of the Redeemer. The most seeking the things of this world-yea, even your
flagrant of all their offences, however, and that monks and regular canons possess all these things.'
which brought upon them more than anything else They represent themselves as the poor of Christ's
the charge of heresy, was the fact of their having flock, who have no certain abode, fleeing from one
called the church of Rome A den of thieves, The city to another, like sheep in the midst of wolves
mother of harlots, The whore of Babylon, and assert- enduring persecution with the apostles and martyrs :
!
ALBORAC-ALCIS.
57
though strict in their manner of life-abstemious, | man, for the testimony of his faith, frequent the
laborious, devout, and holy, and seeking only what | church, honour the elders, offer his gift, make his
is needful for bodily subsistence, living as men who confession, receive the sacrament. What more like
are not of the world. But you, they say, lovers a Christian? As to life and manners he circumvents
of the world, have peace with the world, be- no man, overreaches no man, does violence to no man.
cause ye are in it. False apostles, who adul- He fasts much, and eats not the bread of idleness;
terate the word of God, seeking their own things, but works with his hands for his support."
have misled you and your ancestors. Whereas, Such testimony from contemporaries, who were
we and our fathers, having been born and brought themselves acquainted with the men of whom they
up in the apostolic doctrine, have continued in the speak, and who, being devoted Romanists, were not
grace of Christ, and shall continue so to the end. | likely to have any strong prepossessions in favour of
* By their fruits ye shall know them,” saith Christ; heretics, affords incontestable evidence of the high
and our fruits are, walking in the footsteps of Christ. character, both for purity of doctrine and morals,
They affirm that the apostolic dignity is corrupted which they maintained in the age and country in
by engaging itself in secular affairs while it sits in which they lived. “In their lives," says Claude,
St. Peter's chair. They do not hold with the
Romish archbishop of Turin, “ they are perfect, irre-
baptism of infants, alleging that passage of the proachable, and without reproach among men, ad
gospel— He that believeth, and is baptized, shall | dicting themselves with all their might to the service
be saved. They place no confidence in the inter- of God." These are the words of one who, with all
cession of saints; and all things observed in the his admiration of their character, nevertheless, be-
church which have not been established by Christ cause of their resistance to Rome, joined in perse-
himself, or his apostles, they pronounce to be cuting and hunting them to the death. See CATHARI
superstitious. They do not admit of any purgatory -PAULICIANS-WALDENSES.
fire after death, contending, that the souls of men, ALBORAC, the name of the white horse on
as soon as they depart out of the bodies, do enter which Mohammed rode in his journey from Mecca to
into rest or punishment; proving it from the words Jerusalem. In the twelfth year of his mission, as the
of Solomon, "Which way soever the tree falls, prophet informs us in his Koran, he made this jour-
whether to the south or to the north, there it lies; ' ney, and was carried from Jerusalem to the highest
by which means they make void all the prayers and heavens in one night. He was accompanied by the
oblations of the faithful for the deceased.
angel Gabriel, holding the bridle of Alborac, on
“We therefore beseech you, holy father, to em-
which Mohammed was mounted. The Arabian
ploy your care and watchfulness against these mani- authors are not agreed whether this journey was per-
fold mischiefs; and that you would be pleased to formed by Mohammed in his body or in his spirit.
direct your pen against those wild beasts of the The horse Alborac is held in great repute by
roads; not thinking it sufficient to answer us, that the Mohammedan doctors, some of whom teach that
the tower of David, to which we may betake our- Abraham, Ishmael, and several of the prophets made
selves for refuge, is sufficiently fortified with bul- use of this horse ; that having been unemployed from
warks—that a thousand bucklers hang on the walls the time of Jesus Christ to that of Mohammed, he
of it, all shields of mighty men. For we desire, had become restive, and would allow no one to mount
father, for the sake of us simple ones, and who are him unless Gabriel sat behind the rider. Others,
slow of understanding, that you would be pleased, again, affirm that Mohammed had the sole privilege
by your study, to gather all these arms into one of training this horse at first, and that he intends to
place, that they might be the more readily found, and mount him again at the general resurrection. See
more powerful to resist these monsters. I must in- MOHAMMED.
form you also that those of them who have returned ALBUNEA, a prophetic nymph or sybil wor-
to our church, tell us that they had great numbers of shipped in the neighbourhood of Tibur, where a
their persuasion scattered almost everywhere, and grove was consecrated to her, with a well and a
that amongst them were many of our clergy and temple. Lactantius regards her evidently as identi ·
monks. And, as for those who were burnt, they, in cal with the tenth Sybil. Her sortes or oracles were
the defence they made of themselves told us that deposited in the Capitol. A small square temple,
this heresy had been concealed from the time of the dedicated to Albunea, still exists at Tivoli. See Sy-
martyrs; and that it had existed in Greece and other
countries."
ALBUS, a name given by Sidonius Apollinaris to
In regard to the moral character of the Albigenses, the catalogue or roll in which the names of all the
Bernard, though he deemed it his duty to oppose clergy were enrolled at an early period in the history
them as being enemies of the Pope, candidly admits, of the Christian church. See CANON-CANONICI.
“ If you ask them of their faith, nothing can be more ALCIS (Gr. Alkis, The strong), a deity among
Christian like; if you observe their conversation, the Naharvali, an ancient German tribe. A surname
nothing can be more blameless, and what they speak also of Athena, under which she was worshipped in
they make good by their actions. You may see a Macedonia.
BILS.
58
ALCORAN-ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOL.
ALCORAN (Arab. The Koran.) See KORAN. named the Great, king of Macedonia, prompted by ex-
ALDEBARAN, a star in the constellation Taurus, | cessive vanity, aspired to a place among the heathen
being that which is known as the Bull's Eye, and deities. When in Egypt he bribed the priests of the
which, according to Pococke, was one of the heavenly | Egyptian god AMMON (which see), to declare him the
bodies which had its worshippers and a temple among son of Jupiter-Ammon. With the view of obtaining
the ancient Arabians.
this honour he marched at the head of his army
ALDER-TREE, sacred to Pan, the god of the through the sandy desert till he arrived at the tem-
woods, in heathen mythology.
ple, where the most ancient of the priests declared
ALDUS, or ALDEMIUS, the great god of Gaza him the son of Jupiter, assuring him that his celes-
among the ancient Philistines. It signifies a god tial father had destined him for the empire of the
of time without end.
world; and from this time, in all his letters and or-
ALEA, a surname of Athena, under which she ders, he assumed the title of Alexander, the King,
was worshipped at Alea, Mantineia, and Tegea. son of Jupiter-Ammon. After his conquest of Per-
The temple at the last mentioned place was often sia he demanded to have his statue received among
resorted to as an asylum, or place of refuge. The
The the number of the Olympian gods, and placed upon
priestess was always a maiden, who held office only the same altar with them. This arrogant demand
until she had reached the age of puberty.
the Athenians, in a spirit of servility and flattery,
ALECTO. See EUMENIDES.
readily complied with.
ALECTRYOMANCY (Gr. alector, a cock, and ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOL. This expression is
manteia, divination), a species of divination by means usually employed to designate that succession of phi-
of a cock, which was practised among the ancient losophers who, from the third down to the end of the
Greeks. The manner in which it was conducted
was conducted | fifth century of the Christian era, endeavoured to unite
was as follows: The twenty-four letters of the Greek the Oriental philosophy to the Grecian. Attempts of
alphabet having been written in the dust, a grain of a similar kind had been already made by Jewish phi-
wheat or barley was laid upon each of them, and a losophers of Alexandria, more especially by Philo, in
cock magically prepared was let loose among them. the first century, who, having embraced the doctrines
By putting together the letters out of which the of Plato, sought to blend them with Oriental ideas,
cock picked the grains, the secret sought for was especially those of Persia and Egypt. These two
discovered. To give the proceeding a more myste systems of philosophical thinking he sought to har-
rious and magical air, the letters were carefully ar- monise by means of the doctrines of the Old Tes-
ranged in a circle. See DIVINATION.
tament, which he was disposed to interpret in the
ALEMDAR, an officer of some distinction amongst allegorical rather than the literal sense.
the Emirs or descendants of Mohammed. He may chiefly, however, from the Alexandrian School, found-
be called the standard-bearer, as when the Sultan ed in the third century by Plotinus, that a union
appears in public on any solemn occasion, the was effected between Orientalism and Hellenism.
Alemdar carries Mohammed's green standard, on The peculiar mode of thinking introduced by this
which is inscribed, Nazrum-min-Allah, Help from school was of great importance, from its connection
God. See EMIRS.
with the early introduction of the Christian faith,
ALETIDES (Gr. Alao, to wander), ancient sac- and the reciprocal influence which philosophy and
rifices offered by the Athenians to Icarus and religion exercised upon each other. At the period
Erigone his daughter, who went in search of her when this philosophical sect, which has often been
father. Icarus had been slain by the shepherds of termed the Eclectic and Neo-Platonic, arose, the
Attica, on a false suspicion of having poisoned them. world was distracted by two opposing and mutually
Erigone, seeing her father's dead body, hanged her- repulsive forces--the Grecian systems of philosophy
self for grief, and several Athenian maidens who | and the polytheistic worship of Paganism. These
loved her followed her example. In consequence of two it was necessary to unite into one harmonious
this melancholy event, the oracle of Apollo was whole. But Grecian philosophy was divided into
consulted, and solemn sacrifices, called Aletides, hostile systems; polytheistic ritualism into hostile
were ordered to be offered to the shades of Icarus worships. Ammonius Saccas, who lived about the
and Erigone.
end of the second century, and who appears to have
ALEUROMANCY, divination by means of meal been an apostate from the Christian faith, had
or flour, used by the Greeks in ancient times. It opened an eclectic school, of which the principal
was also called Alphitomancy and Crithomancy. See object was to blend together Platonism and Aristo-
ALECTRYOMANCY, DIVINATION.
telianism. The founder, properly speaking, of the
ALEXANDER, a saint and martyr whose me- Neo-Platonic school, was Plotinus, the disciple of
mory is celebrated by the Church of Rome on the 2d Ammonius Saccas. The principal representatives
of June, along with the other martyrs of Lyons and of this school after him were Porphyry, Jamblichus,
Vienne, he having suffered martyrdom on that day, Hierocles, and Proclus.
A. D. 177, under Marcus Aurelius, being devoured by The two leading doctrines of the Alexandrian
wild beasts in the amphitheatre.-ALEXANDER, sur- School, and those which more especially modified
It was
1
ALEXANOR-ALI.
59
one.
the views of Christian writers of that period, were many, and this confounding of consciousness with
the doctrine of the Alexandrian Trinity and that of reality, has given rise to the absurdities and blasphe-
the Emanations. The metaphysical doctrine of the mies which mark the philosophical systems of
Trinity, as taught by this school, is as follows: God Fichté and Schelling. It is curious to observe how
is of a threefold nature, and at the same time but closely in its first principles this system approaches
His essence contains three distinct elements, to that of Hinduism. The first being of the Alexan-
substances, or persons, and these three constitute drians seems to coincide almost entirely with the first
One Being. These three distinct persons or sub-being of the Hindus; and the Triad of the one cor-
stances have also distinct and individual attributes. responds very closely with the Triad of the other.
The first is Unity; the second, Intelligence; and The pernicious consequences of the introduction
the third, the Universal Soul, or the vivifying prin- of this strange blending of light with darkness were
ciple of life and motion. Plotinus opposed this triad soon apparent, in so far as Christianity was con-
to Christian Trinity. Some of the Alexandrians, cerned. Many, deceived by the plausibilities of this
and Proclus in particular, modified this doctrine to human system of thought and opinion, were alienated
harmonize more nearly with the Christian doctrine, from the divine religion of Christ, and even among
of which they felt the superiority. They main-Christians and Christian teachers there were rapidly
tained the primeval unity to have developed itself in apparent, both in their writings and oral instructions,
three decreasing emanations : Being, which pro- in place of the pure and sublime doctrines of the
duced Intelligence ; Intelligence, which produced the gospel, an unseemly mixture of Platonism and Chris-
Soul; and the Soul, which produced all other beings. tianity.
The doctrine of Emanations was intimately con- ALEXANOR, a son of Machaon, and grandson
nected in the Alexandrian system with their notions of Æsculapius, who built a temple in honour of his
as to the doctrine of the Trinity. The human soul sire at Titane, in the territory of Sicyon. He him-
is identified in this philosophy with the Infinite; self, also, was worshipped there, and sacrifices were
and the world and every thing in it is an emanation offered to him after sunset only.
from this great First Cause. The world is, there- ALEXIANS. See CELLITES.
fore, only a great soul giving form to matter, by the ALEXICACUS (Gr. averter of evil), a surname
ideas or souls which it produces. All souls born of given by the Greeks to Zeus, as warding off from mor-
the supreme soul, have descended from the intellec- tals many calamities. The Athenians also worshipped
tual to the lower world. Souls in the intellectual Apollo under this name, because he was believed to
world have no bodies : they are clothed with bo- have stopped the plague which raged at Athens
dies only at their entrance into the intellectual during the Peloponnesian war. This surname was ap-
world. The Alexandrians admitted two souls: the plied besides to Heracles and Neptune.
one derived from the intellectual world is indepen- ALFADIR (All-Father) one of the names given
dent of nature; the other is produced in man by to Odin, the Supreme Deity of the Scandinavians,
the circular motion of the celestial world; it is de- / in their poetical Edda. See ODIN.
pendent in its actions upon the revolutions of the ALFAQUES, or ALFAQUINS, the term generally
stars. Souls, which are emanations from the great used among the Moors to signify their clergy, or
soul, are like it, indivisible, indestructible, imperish- | those who give instruction in the Mohammedan re-
able. Their tendency is to ascend to their primitive ligion.
state, to be absorbed in the Divine essence. Those ALFORCAN (Arab. distinction), a name given by
who have degraded themselves below even the sen- the Mohammedans to the Koran, because, as they ima-
sitive life, will after death be born again to the ve- gine, it distinguishes truth from falsehood, and what
getative life of plants. Those who have lived only is just from what is unjust. Perhaps this name has
a sensitive life will be born again under the form of been applied to the Koran as being a book dis-
animals. Those who have lived a merely human tinct or separate, in their estimation, from every
life will take again a human body. Those only other book. See KORAN.
who have developed in themselves the divine life ALI, the son-in-law, and, in a certain sense, the
will return to God. Virtue consists in simplification successor of Mohammed. At an early age he em-
by more or less perfect union with the Divine na- braced the doctrines of the Prophet, who invested
him in the tenth year of the Hegira with the dig.
The grand error of the Alexandrian school con- nity of a missionary, and giving him a standard
sisted in mistaking the abstraction of the mind for and putting a turban on his head, sent him forth to
the reality of existence. Abstract or absolute ex- Yemen or Arabia Felix. Ali went at the head of
istence was the highest point to which their thoughts three hundred men, defeated the idolaters, and con-
could reach. Next they blended their own con- verted them by the sword. From that time he con-
sciousness with the abstraction they had formed, and tinued to aid Mohammed in the conquest of the
then they regarded their own thoughts as equivalent infidels, and to propagate, both by his eloquence and
to actual being. These are the very errors to be valorous achievements, the doctrines of the Ko-
found at this day pervading the philosophy of Ger- So successful, indeed, was he in his exploits
ture.
ran,
60
ALIENATION-ALILAT.
NITES.
that he received the surname of the “Lion of God, righteousness; others hold him in such veneration,
always victorious.” So high was the esteem in that they may be said to deify him. The more mo-
which the Prophet held Ali, that he gave him his derate among them say, that though he is not a di-
daughter, Fatima, in marriage. Thus Ali was raised vine being, he is the most exalted of human beings.
to high honour. He succeeded to the chief dignity The family of Ali was cursed by a long series of the
of the house of Hashem, and was hereditary guar-Ommiades, who held the caliphate down to Omar,
dian of the city and temple of Mecca. He was pre- the son of Abdalig, who suppressed the malediction.
sent at the death of Mohammed, and, according to Multitudes of the Mussulmans belong to the sect of
his previous instructions, embalmed his body. While Ali wherever Mohammedanism prevails; but par-
the attendants were performing upon the dead body ticularly in Persia, and among the Persian portion
the ablution called WODHU (which see), Ali dipped of the Usbec Tartars. Some of the Indian sovereigns
some cloths in the water with which the body had are of the sect of Ali. The descendants of Ali still
been washed; and these cloths, which had imbibed continue to be distinguished by a green turban. See
the virtue of the water, he kept and wore, thus re- METAWILAH, MOHAMMEDANS, SCHIITES, SON-
ceiving, as he endeavoured to persuade the people,
those remarkable qualities which characterized his ALIENATION. Among the Jews it was under-
father-in-law. It was, no doubt, the intention of stood, that whatever was dedicated to the service of
Mohammed that Ali should succeed him in the go- God could not be alienated from that to any other
vernment; but this wish was not immediately ful- purpose, except in cases of absolute necessity (See
filled, as Abubeker, Omar, and Othman reigned Corean). The same principle was adhered to in the
before himn. At length, however, he was proclaimed early Christian church. The goods or revenues which
caliph, by the chiefs of the tribes and the companions were once given to the church, were always esteemed
of the Prophet, in the year of the Hegira 35, cor- devoted to God, and, therefore, were only to be em-
responding to A. D. 657.
ployed in his service, and not to be alienated to any
The succession of Ali to the caliphate was op- other use, unless some extraordinary case of charity
posed by Ayesha, the widow of Mohammed, who required it. Ambrose melted down the communion-
instigated Telha and Zobeir, two influential chiefs, plate of the church of Milan to redeem some captives,
to raise the standard of rebellion against the new who would have otherwise been doomed to perpetual
caliph. Ali, however, obtained a complete conquest slavery, and when the Arians charged him with having
over the rebel chiefs, and having taken Ayesha pri- alienated sacred things to other than sacred purposes,
soner, treated her with the utmost forbearance, and he wrote a most conclusive defence of his conduct.
sent her back to the tomb of the Prophet.
Acacius, bishop of Amida, did the same for the re-
Although this first outburst of the rebellious spirit demption of seven thousand Persian slaves from the
had been effectually quelled, the right of Ali to the ca- hands of the Roman soldiers. Deogratius, also,
liphate was still disputed, and chiefly in consequence bishop of Carthage, sold the communion-plate to re-
of his own imprudence. He had unhappily signal- deem the Roman soldiers who had been taken pri-
ized the commencement of his reign by the removal soners in war with the Vandals. This was so far
of all governors from their offices. As might have from being regarded as sacrilege or unjust alienation,
been anticipated, a large and powerful faction arose, that the laws against sacrilege excepted this case
who pretended summarily to set aside the claims of alone. Thus the laws of Justinian forbid the selling
Ali, and proclaimed Moawiyah caliph in his room. or pawning the church plate, or vestments, or any
A war between the two opposing factions commenced other gifts, except in case of captivity or famine, to
without delay, and when the armies entered the redeem slaves or relieve the poor, because in such
field together, Ali proposed that the point in dispute cases the lives or souls of men were to be preferred
should be settled by single combat; but Moawiyah before any vessels or vestments whatsoever. The
declined the proposal. Several skirmishes took poverty of the clergy was also a case in which the
place, in which the loss on both sides was considera- goods of the church might be alienated; so that if
ble. The contest for a long time raged between the the annual income of the church would not maintain
two Mohammedan sects or factions, and although them, and there was no other source of provision
both the rival caliphs were assassinated A. D. 660, whatever, in that case the council of Carthage allowed
the two sects are to this day bitterly opposed to each the bishop to alienate or sell certain goods of the
other. The one called the Schiites in Persia, and the church, that a present maintenance for the clergy
Metawilah in Syria, hold the imamship or pontificate might be raised. The alienation of lands for the
of Ali as the heir and rightful successor of Moham- use of convents is called MORTMAIN (which see).
med; and the other, called the Sonnites, including ALILAT (Arab. Halilah, the night). Herodotus
the Turks and Arabs of Syria, maintain the legiti- informs us, that the Arabians anciently worshipped
macy of the first three caliphs, Abubeker, Omar, the moon by this name, as being the queen of night.
and Othman. Some of the followers of Ali believe It has sometimes been alleged, and not without some
that he is still alive, and that he will come at the probability, that the Mohammedans adopted the
end of the world in the clouds, and fill the earth with crescent as their favourite sign from the ancient re-
1
ALIZUTH-ALLEGORISTS.
61
ligion of the Arabians, who worshipped the moon, The Mohammedan scholastic theology is divided
and not from the circumstance that Mohammed fled into four heads. The first treats of the nature and
from Medina to Mecca during the new moon. attributes of God. The second discusses predesti-
ALITTA, a goddess worshipped among the an- nation, iree will, and other kindred subjects. The
cient Arabians, and identical with Mithra, the prin- third contains the questions about faith and its effi-
cipal fire-goddess among the ancient Persians.
cacy, repentance, and other doctrines. The fourth
AL-JAHEDH, the founder of a sect among the inquires into the evidence of history and reason,
Mohammedans, which maintained the Koran to be the nature and force of religious belief, the office
an animated being, sometimes a man, sometimes a and mission of prophets, the duty of the Imams,
beast. This opinion has been sometimes supposed the beauty of virtue, the turpitude of vice, and
to be an allegory, signifying that the Koran becomes other kindred topics. The various disputes which
good or bad according to the true or false exposition have from time to time arisen on all the different
of it, and in this sense the most orthodox Mussul- points of their scholastic theology, have given rise
mans often say, that the Koran has two faces, that of to a large number of different sects and parties,
a man, and that of a beast, meaning thereby the lit- all of whom adhere to the Koran as the stand-
eral and spiritual sense.
ard of their faith. Among these may be enume-
AL-KADHA, a term used by the Mohammedans rated the Ascharians, the Keramians, the Mota-
to denote the visit of consummation or accomplish- zales, the Cadharians, the Nadhamians, the Giaba-
ment, and pilgrimage to Mecca, which Mohammed rians, and the Morgians, all of which will be ex-
and his followers performed in the seventh year of plained under separate articles. There are five prin-
the Hegira. At the distance of six miles from the cipal sects of Mohammedans, which will also be de-
town, they all took an oath to perform religiously all scribed, viz., the Hanafees, the Shafees, the Mali-
the ceremonies and rites prescribed in that visit. kees, the Hambalees, and the Wahabees. There
Leaving their arms and baggage outside, they entered are also two orthodox subdivisions, the Sonnites and
the holy city in triumph, devoutly kissed the black the Schiites. See MOHAMMEDANS.
stone or the Ka'aba, and went seven times round the AL-KITAB (Arab. the book), a name given to the
temple. The three first rounds they made running, | Koran, as the book, by way of eminence, superior to
jumping, and shaking their shoulders, to show that all other books. In the same way we speak of the
they were still vigorous notwithstanding the fatigue sacred scriptures, as the Bible or Book.
of their journey. The other four rounds they ALLAH (Arab. God), the name of the Divine
walked sedately, not to exhaust themselves. This Being, corresponding to the Elohim and Adonai of
custom is kept up to this day. Having finished the Hebrews, and derived from the Arabic verb alah,
their seven rounds, prayer was proclaimed, and the to adore. Mohammed, when asked by the Jews,
Prophet, mounted on a camel, rode seven times be- | idolaters, and Christians, what was the God he wor-
tween two hills, in which were to be seen at that shipped and preached to others, answered: “ Allah,
time two idols of the Koraishites. The Mussulmans the one only God, self-existent, from whom all other
were shocked at the sight, but they were reconciled creatures derive their being, who begets not, nor is
to it by a passage of the Koran, sent from heaven, begotten, and whom nothing resembles in the whole
in which God declared that these two hills were a extent of beings.”
memorial of him, and that the pilgrims who should ALLAT, an idol of the ancient Arabians, before
visit them, should not be looked upon as guilty of the time of Mohammed. It was destroyed by order
any sin. The whole concluded with a sacrifice of of the Prophet, in the ninth year of the Hegira, not-
seventy camels, and the Mussulmans shaved them withstanding the earnest entreaties of the inhabi-
selves. The custom of performing a pilgrimage to tants of Tayef, by whom it was worshipped, that it
Mecca is still in use amongst the Arabs, who allege might be spared for a time. See MOHAMMED.
it to be as ancient as their ancestor Ishmael, and ALLEGORISTS, a class of interpreters of sacred
look upon it as a part of the religious worship prac- scripture, who attach more importance to the spiri-
tised by Abraham. See PILGRIMAGES.
tual than to the literal sense. There can be no doubt
AL-KELAM (Arab. the knowledge of the word), that within certain limits the allegorical sense is to
the scholastic and metaphysical theology of the Mo- be admitted. Thus, in Gal. iv. 24. we are expressly
hammedans. It treats of speculative points, such as told of particular historical facts to which the apos-
the attributes of God, and is full of subtleties in re- tle refers, that they are an allegory, that is, under
ference to abstract notions and terms. This kind of the veil of the literal sense they farther contain a
theology was not much esteemed in the early history spiritual or mystical sense.
We must not for a mo-
of Mohammedanism, till an Arabian began to teach ment suppose, however, that Paul made the facts in
that any doctor who should neglect the Koran or question allegorical, but that he found them so.
the Sonna, that is tradition, to apply himself to The distinction is important, and on this subject
scholastic divinity or controversial wranglings, de-Bishop Marsh makes the following judicious re-
served to be impaled and carried about the town as marks. “ There are two different modes, in which
a terror to others.
Scripture history has been thus allegorized. According
62
ALLEGORISTS.
to one mode, facts and circumstances, especially those admitted the reality of the historical facts, but they
recorded in the Old Testament, have been applied to attached little importance to the plain literal narra-
other facts and circumstances, of which they have tive, and chiefly dwelt upon the spiritual or allego-
been described as representative. According to the rical meaning. Origen, however, was the first of the
other mode, those facts and circumstances have been true allegorists. He went far beyond all who had
described as mere emblems. The former mode is war- preceded him in the principles of Scripture interpre-
ranted by the practice of the sacred writers them- tation which he adopted, denying expressly that
selves; for when facts and circumstances are so ap- many of the incidents recorded in the Old Testament
plied, they are applied as types of those things, to had any foundation in reality. In many cases, to
which the application is made. But the latter mode use his own language, there was not a relation of
of allegorical interpretation has no such authority in histories, but a concoction of mysteries.” Nor did
its favour, though attempts have been made to pro- | he confine this fallacious and absurd mode of inter-
cure such authority. For the same things are then pretation to the Old Testament, but he applied it
described, not as types, or as real facts, but as mere also to Scripture generally. The Latin Fathers
ideal representations, like the immediate representa- were many of them comparatively free from the alle-
tion in allegory. By this mode, therefore, history is gorizing tendency; and yet Augustine, the most
not only treated as allegory, but converted into alle- eminent theologian by far of the Western Church,
gory; or, in other words, history is thus converted is occasionally chargeable with the same vicious
into fable.” The Bishop goes on to vindicate the mode of interpretation. In the ninth century, we
apostle Paul from having in this sense allegorized | find Rabanus Maurus, in a work expressly devoted
Scripture, referring to what he says in Galatians of to the Allegories of Scripture, laying down princi-
Sarah and Hagar, and showing that in the use made ples which decidedly favoured the allegorists. This
of it by the apostle the historical verity of the Old writer was followed by Smaragdus, Haynes, Scotus,
Testament narrative was not destroyed, but pre- Paschasius, Radbert, and many others of the same
served. “In short," he concludes, “ when St. Paul class. These expositors all of them agreed, that be-
allegorized the history of the two sons of Abraham, sides the literal import, there are other meanings of
and compared them with the two covenants, he did the Sacred books; but as to the number of these
nothing more than represent the first as types, the meanings they are not agreed; for some of them
latter as antitypes. Though he treated that portion | hold three senses, others four or five; and one writer,
of the Mosaic history in the same manner as we treat who is not the worst Latin interpreter of the age, in
an allegory, he did not thereby convert it into alle- the view of Mosheim at least, by name Angelome,
gory. In the interpretation, therefore, of the Scrip- a monk of Lisieux, maintains that there are seven
tures, it is essentially necessary that we observe the senses of the Sacred books.
exact boundaries between the notion of an allegory, Amid the darkness of the middle ages, the theo-
and the notion of a type. And it is the more neces- logy of the schoolmen was strongly imbued with the
sary, that some of our own commentators, and among allegorical spirit; but when the Reformation dawned
others even Macknight, misled by the use of the upon the world, the ascription to the Sacred Scrip-
term allegory in our authorized version, have consi- tures of manifold meanings was discarded. Luther
dered it as synonymous with type. An allegory, as declared all such interpretations to be “ trifling and
already observed, is a fictitious narrative; a type is foolish fables," while Calvin had no hesitation in
something real. An allegory is a picture of the ima- stamping the “ licentious system,” as he termed the
gination; a type is a historical fact. It is true, that allegorical, as “ undoubtedly a contrivance of Satan
typical interpretation may, in one sense, be consi- to undermine the authority of Scripture, and to take
dered as a species of allegorical interpretation; that away from the reading of it the true advantage.”
they are so far alike, as being equally an interpreta- The COCCEIAN SCHOOL (which see), in the seven-
tion of things; that they are equally founded on re- teenth century introduced a mode of explaining Scrip-
semblance; that the type corresponds to its anti- ture somewhat allied to the allegorical, and which
type, as the immediate representation in an allegory was adopted also by Witsius and Vitringa, and in
corresponds to its ultimate representation. Yet the Britain by Mather, Keach, and Guild. Many German
quality of the things compared, as well as the pur- theologians of late years have pushed the allegoriz-
port of the comparison, is very different in the two ing tendency so far, that even the plainest historical
And though a type in reference to its anti- narratives of Scripture have been treated as myths
type is called a shadow, while the latter is called the or fables. This has been particularly the case with
substance, yet the use of these terms does not imply Strauss and the other writers of the rationalist
that the former has less historical verity than the school. Olshausen, however, has founded a far more
latter."
satisfactory system, “recognizing no sense besides
In the early history of the Christian Church, both the literal one, but only a deeper-lying sense, bound
the Greek and Latin Fathers, but especially the up with the literal ineaning, by an internal and es-
Greek, were much given to allegorical interpretation sential connection given in and with this; which,
of the Old Testament Scriptures. They no doubt | therefore, must needs present itself whenever the
cases.
ALLELUIA-ALL-HALLOW EVEN.
63
a
subject is considered in a higher point of view, and this time of the year, and as the Jews sent Christ
which is capable of being ascertained by fixed rules.' backwards and forwards to mock and torment him,
This statement, though scarcely expressed with suffi- that is, from Annas to Caiaphas, from Caiaphas to
cient caution, holds out the prospect of a more cor- Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, and from Herod back
rect interpretation of the Divine Word than has for again to Pilate; this ridiculous custom took its rise
a long time prevailed in that country.
from thence, by which we send about from one place
ALLELUIA, or HALLELUJAH (Praise the Lord), | to another such persons as we think proper objects
a Hebrew term which occurs at the beginning and of our ridicule. In the same train of thinking, a
end of a number of the Psalms. It was always sung writer in the 'Gentleman's Magazine,' for July 1783,
by the Jews on days of rejoicing. It is represented conjectures that this custom may have an allusion to
by the apostle John as being employed by the in- the mockery of the Saviour of the world by the
habitants of heaven, Rev. xix. There are some Jews. Another attempt to explain it has been made
Psalms which have been called Alleluiatic Psalms, by referring to the fact that the year formerly began
from having the word Alleluia prefixed to them. in Britain on the 25th of March, which was supposed
This is the case with the cxlth Psalm, and the Psalms to be the Incarnation of our Lord, and the commence-
which follow it to the end. At one period, as we are ment of a new year was always, both among the an-
informed by Augustine, the Hallelujah was used only cient heathens and among modern Christians, held as a
at Easter, and during the fifty days of Pentecost. It great festival. It is to be noted, then, that the 1st
has been forbidden to be used in the time of Lent since of April is the octave of the 25th of March, and the
the eleventh century, and the fourth council of To-close, consequently, of that feast which was both the
ledo prohibited it also on all days of fasting. Jerome festival of the Annunciation and of the New Year.
says, it was used at funerals in his time, and also in Hence it may have become a day of extraordinary
private devotion, and that the ploughmen while en- mirth and festivity.
gaged in the fields sung their Hallelujahs. In the Another curious explanation of this peculiar cus-
second council of Tours, it was appointed to be sung tom, giving it a Jewish origin, has also been sug-
after the Psalms both at matins and vespers. The gested. It is said to have begun from the mistake
monks of Palestine were awoke at their midnight of Noah sending the dove out of the ark before the
watchings by the singing of Hallelujahs.
water had abated on the first day of the Hebrew
ALLENITES, a small sect which arose in Nova month, answering to our month of April; and to
Scotia last century. They were the disciples of perpetuate the memory of this deliverance, it was
Henry Allen, who began to propagate his singular thought proper, whoever forgot so remarkable a cir-
sentiments about 1778, and at his death in 1783, left cumstance, to punish them by sending them upon
a large party who adhered to his doctrines, but hav- some sleeveless errand similar to that ineffectual
ing lost their leader they speedily declined. The message upon which the bird was sent by the pa-
peculiar tenets which Allen and his followers held, triarch.
were that the souls of the whole human race are Colonel Pearce, in the second volume of the Asia-
emanations or rather parts of the one great Spirit; tic Researches,' shows that the general practice of
that they were all present in Eden, and were actually making April-fools, on the first day of that month,
engaged in the first transgression; that our first has been an immemorial custom among the Hindus,
parents while in a state of innocence were pure spi- at a celebrated festival held about the same period
rits, and that the material world was not then cre- in India, which is called the Huli festival. Maurice,
ated; but in consequence of the fall, that mankind in his ‘Indian Antiquities,' says, that the custom
might not sink into utter destruction, this world prevailing, both in England and India, had its origin
was produced and men clothed with material bodies; in the ancient practice of celebrating with festival
and that all the human race will in their turn be in- rites the period of the vernal equinox, or the day
vested with such bodies, and enjoy in' them a state when the new year of Persia anciently began.
of probation for immortal happiness.
ALL-HALLOW EVEN, the vigil of All Saints'
ALL FOOLS' DAY. On the first day of April Day, which is the first of November. Young peo-
a custom prevails, not only in Britain, but on the ple are accustomed both in England and Scotland
Continent, of imposing upon and ridiculing people in to celebrate various superstitious ceremonies on this
a variety of ways. It is very doubtful what is the pre- evening, and to amuse themselves by diving for
cise origin of this absurd custom. In France, the per- apples and burning nuts. It is often found that
son imposed upon on All Fools' Day is called Poisson festivals, which are now held on some alleged Chris-
d'Avril
, an April Fish, which Bellingen, in his · Ety- tian ground, had their origin in some heathen obser-
mology of French Proverbs, published in 1656, thus
Thus it has been alleged that the 1st of
explains. The word Poisson, he contends, is cor- November, which is now celebrated in Romish coun-
rupted through the ignorance of the people from tries, more especially as All Saints' Day, was once a
Passion, and length of time has almost totally de- festival to Pomona, when the stores of summer and
faced the original intention, which was as follows: harvest were opened for the winter. Such practices
that as the passion of our Saviour took place about among the heathen were usually accompanied with
vance.
1
64
ALLOCUTIONS-ALMS.
MON.
divinations and consulting of omens. In Sir John Sin- | friends, and patrons. The circumstances which led
clair's Statistical Account of Scotland, the following to the establishment of this religious festival may be
statement occurs in reference to Callender in Perth- thus briefly stated. Odilo, abbot of Clugny, had
shire. “On All Saints' Eve they set up bonfires in been informed by a Sicilian monk, that when walking
every village. When the bonfire is consumed, the near Mount Etna, he had seen flames issuing from
ashes are carefully collected into the form of a circle. the open door of hell, in which lost souls were suf-
There is a stone put in near the circumference for fering torment for their sins, and that he heard the
every person of the several families in the bonfire; devils uttering loud shrieks and lamentations, be-
and whatever stone is removed out of its place or cause the souls of the condemned had been snatched
injured before the next morning, the person repre- from their grasp by the prayers of the monks of
sented by that stone is devoted or fey, and is sup- | Clugny, who had been incessantly supplicating in
posed not to live twelve months from that day; the behalf of the dead. In consequence of this fabulous
people received the consecrated fire from the Druid story, Odilo appointed the festival of All Souls to be
priests next morning, the virtues of which were sup- observed. At its first institution, it seems to have
posed to continue for a year.” The All-Hallow been limited to the monks of Clugny, but afterwards,
Even fire seems to have been a relic of Druidism. by orders of the Pope, All Souls' Day was enjoined
Among Roman Catholics the lighting of fires on All to be observed throughout all the Latin Churches on
Saints' Night has been suggested as indicating the the 2d of November, as a day of prayer for all souls
ascent of the soul to heaven, or perhaps the lighting departed. Various ceremonies belong to this day.
of souls out of purgatory. It was customary also in In behalf of the dead, persons dressed in black
Papal times to ring bells all the night long. See marched through the cities and towns, each carrying
DRUIDS.
a loud and dismal-toned bell, which they rung in the
ALLOCUTIONS, the name applied by Tertul public thoroughfares, on purpose to exhort the peo-
lian to sermons in the early Christian church. He ple to remember souls in purgatory, and pray for
divides the whole service into these four parts, read- their deliverance. Both in France and Italy the
ing the scriptures, singing the psalms, making allo- people are often found on this day clothed in mourn-
cutions, and offering up prayers. Gregory the Great, ing, and visiting the graves of their deceased friends.
in his writings, calls the sermon Locutio. See SER- The observance of this day, called on the Continent
Jour des Morts, is limited entirely to Roman Catho-
ALL SAINTS' DAY, a festival observed by the lic countries.
Church of Rome on the first of November. In the ALMARICIANS. See AMALRICIANS.
Eastern churches it had been observed from the ALMIGHTY, or ALL-SUFFICIENT (Heb. Shad.
fourth century, on the eighth day after Whitsunday, dai), an epithet of the Divine Being, and one which
and was called the Feast of all the Martyrs. But in is peculiar to Him who created all things out of
the Western churches it had the following origin. nothing; who by his power and grace supports
Pope Boniface IV. who ascended the throne in the what he has created; and whenever he pleases can
year 610, obtained by gift from the Greek Emperor put an end to their being. It is never applied to
Phocas the Pantheon at Rome, and consecrated it angels, or men, or false gods in any manner. Their
to the honour of the Virgin Mary and all the mar- power and sufficiency, if they have any, are wholly
tyrs; as it had before been sacred to all the gods, and derived; nor could they subsist from moment to
particularly to Cybele. On this occasion he ordered moment but by that divine and inexhaustible ful-
the feast of all the Apostles to be kept on the first of ness which produced them from nothing, and can
May, which was afterwards assigned only to Philip with equal ease reduce them to nothing. See GOD.
and James; and the feast of all the Martyrs on the ALMO, the god of a river in the neighbourhood
12th of May. But this last feast being frequented by a of Rome, to whom the augurs prayed. It was in
large concourse of people, Pope Gregory IV. in the the water of the Almo that the statue of the mother
year 834, transferred it to a season of the year when of the gods was washed.
provisions were more easily obtained, that is, to the ALMONER, one employed by another party to
first day of November; and also consecrated it to All distribute alms or charity at his expense. In pri-
Saints. The Church of England celebrates this fes- mitive times it was applied to an officer in religious
tival as a day on which it becomes the church mili- houses to whom were committed the management
tant on earth to hold communion and fellowship and distribution of the alms of the house. This
with the church triumphant in heaven.
office in the Christian church was performed by the
ALL SOULS' DAY, a festival of the Romish deacons. See ALMS.
church, on which prayers are specially offered for the ALMONRY, a room where alms were distributed,
benefit of souls departed. It was established in the generally near to the church or forming a part of it.
year 993. Before that time
Before that time it had been usual on ALMOSHAF (Arab. the volume), one of the
certain days, in many places to pray for souls shut names of the Koran. See KORAN.
up in purgatory; but those prayers were offered by ALMS, what is given gratuitously for the relief
each religious society only for its own members, l of the poor. Almsgiving is a duty which is frequent-
1
and conscientious judgment may approve. On this
ALMS.
65
ly inculcated throughout both the Old and New Testa- glected this important Christian duty. They appear,
ments. Thus Deut. xv. 7–11," If there be among on the contrary, to have abounded in it; but from
you a poor man of one of thy brethren within no other, no higher motive than to be seen of men.
any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy | They were wont to give their alms in the most pub-
God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, lic and ostentatious way; and in exhorting them in
nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother : but thou these words, “Do not sound a trumpet before thee,"
shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt Jesus probably alludes to a custom which prevailed
surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which among men of wealth in eastern countries, of sum ·
he wanteth. Beware that there be not a thought in moning the poor by sound of trumpet to receive
thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the alms on a certain day. From a similar spirit of osten-
year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil tation, the hypocritical Pharisees selected the syna-
against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; | gogues and the streets as the most public places for
and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin the distribution of their alms; and in doing so their
unto thee. Thou shalt surely give him, and thine prevailing desire was to “have glory of men.” Nor
heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto did they lose their reward; men saw, admired, and
him : because that for this thing the Lord thy God applauded. The spirit which Christ inculcates, how-
shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou ever, is of a very different kind : “ When thou doest
puttest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right
cease out of the land; therefore I command thee, hand doeth.” So strong, so all-absorbing ought to
saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy be the Christian's anxiety to glorify his heavenly
brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.” Father, and render all subordinate to this great end,
Lev. xxv. 35–37, “ And if thy brother be waxen that, far from seeking the praise of men in almsgiv-
poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou | ing, he should strive to hide the deed of charity
shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a even from himself, lest, “ being puffed up, he should
sojourner ; that he may live with thee. Take thou fall into the condemnation of the devil." This
no usury of him, or increase : but fear thy God; almost total unconsciousness of his own good deeds
that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt is one of the highest attainments of the Christian.
not give him thy money upon usury nor lend One of the chief characteristics of the apostolic
him thy victuals for increase.” In beautiful ac- church, considered in itself, was the kindness and
cordance with the spirit of such injunctions as charity which prevailed among its members. Many
these, the Israelites were commanded to leave the of the Jews of Palestine, and therefore many of the
"forgotten sheafs in the field in the time of harvest;' earliest Christian converts, were extremely poor.
not to “go over the boughs of the olive tree a sec- Some, in consequence of embracing the new doc-
ond time ;” nor “twice glean the grapes of their trine, were deprived of their usual means of support,
vineyard;" but that what remained after the first and thus thrown upon the charity of their fellow-
gathering should be left for the “stranger, the fa- Christians. In the very first days of the Church,
therless, and the widow.” David declares, Psalm accordingly, we find its wealthier members placing
xli. 1, “Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the their entire possessions at the disposal of the Apos-
Lord will deliver him in time of trouble;” and So- tles. Not that there was any abolition of the rights
lomon to the same purpose says, Prov. xix. 17, “He of property, as the words of Peter to Ananias 'very
that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; clearly show, Acts v. 4, " Whiles it remained, was it
and that which he hath given will he pay him again. not thine own ? and after it was sold, was it not in
And passing to the New Testament, we find our thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this
blessed Redeemer testing the religion of the amiable thing in thine heart ? Thou hast not lied unto men,
young man, who came to him, by the trying com- but unto God." But those who were rich gave up
mand, “Go and sell all that thou hast, and give to what God had given them in the spirit of generous
the poor.” The result showed that the living prin- self-sacrifice, according to the true principle of
ciple of Christianity was wanting : “He went away
Christian communism, which regards property as
sorrowful, for he was very rich.” In the same spirit intrusted to the possessor, not for himself, but for
John the Baptist commanded the multitudes who the good of the whole community--to be distributed
followed him, professing a wish to be baptized by according to such methods as his charitable feeling
him, “He that hath two coats, let him impart to him
that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do subject Dr. Jamieson, in his admirable volume, en-
likewise." Such is the generous spirit of the reli- titled The Manners and Trials of the Primitive
gion of Christ; and, accordingly, an apostle ex- Christians,' thus remarks : “One very remarkable
pressly teaches, 1 John iii. 17, “ But whoso hath way in which this love manifested itself, was in the
this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, care they took of their poorer brethren. Among
and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, them, as in every association of men, the needy and
how dwelleth the love of God in him ?" The Pha- destitute were found. The duty of providing for
risees are not blamed by our Lord as having ne- these was not left to the gratuities of private indivi-
I.
E
66
ALMS.
duals, whose situation gave them opportunities of they belonged were unable to raise the sum demanded
ascertaining, and whose benevolence prompted them for their ransom, they sent deputies to the church that
to relieve, their necessities. It devolved on the was planted in the metropolis of North Africa, and
whole community of believers, who regarded it not no sooner had Cyprian, who was then at the head of
as a burden, but a privilege, to minister to the wants it, heard a statement of the distressing case, than he
of those who bore the image of Christ; and by their commenced a subscription in behalf of the unfortu-
unwearied attentions to the discharge of this labour nate slaves, and never relaxed his indefatigable ef-
of love, they made the light of their liberality and forts, till he had collected a sum equal to eight hun-
benevolence so shine, as to command the admiration dred pounds sterling, which he forwarded to the
even of the cold and selfish heathens around them. Numidian churches, together with a letter full of
As duly as the Sabbath returned, and as soon as they Christian sympathy and tenderness.”
had brought their sacred duties to a close, the lists Almsgiving was accounted, in the early Christian
of the poor, the aged, the widow, and the orphans, Church, so paramount a duty, that, in cases of great or
were produced for consideration; and, as if each had public calamity, fasts were sometimes made that, out
been hastening to bring forth the fruits of faith, and of the savings from their daily expenditure, provi-
to prove the sincerity of that love they had just pro- sion might be made for the poor; and, in cases of
fessed to their Saviour by the abundance of their emergency, the pastors sold or melted the gold and
liberality to his people, they set themselves to the silver plate which had been given to their churches
grateful task, with a zeal and enthusiasm, whose for sacred purposes. Many were in the habit of
fresh and unabated vigour betrayed no symptoms of observing weekly, monthly, or quarterly fasts, that
their having already been engaged in a lengthened they might save money for charitable uses, and
service. The custom was for every one in turn to others set aside a tenth part of their income for the
bring under public notice the case of a brother or sis- poor. “The Christians," as Dr. Jamieson observes,
ter, of whose necessitous circumstances he had any were never without objects, in every form of human
knowledge, and forthwith a donation was ordered out wretchedness, towards whom their benevolence was
of the funds of the church, which the voluntary con-| required. Indeed it is almost incredible to what offi-
tributions of the faithful supplied. No strong or ces the ardour of their Christian spirit led them to
heart-stirring appeals were necessary to reach the
reach the condescend. The females, though all of them were
hidden source of their sympathies, no cold calcula- women moving amid the comforts of domestic life,
tions of prudence regulated the distribution of their and some of them ladies of the highest rank never
public alms ; no fears of doubtful propriety suggested inured to any kind of labour, scrupled not to
delay for the consideration of the claim; no petty perform the meanest and most servile offices, that
jealousies as to the preference of one recommenda- usually devolved on the lowest menial. Not only
tion to another were allowed to freeze the genial did they sit by the bedside of the sick, conversing
current of their charity. By whomsoever the case with and comforting them, but with their own hands
was recommended, or in whatever circumstances the prepared their victuals, and fed them-administered
claim was made, the hand of benevolence had an- cordials and medicine—brought them changes of
swered the call almost before the heart found words clothing--made their beds—dressed the most repul-
to express its sympathy, and with a unanimity sur- sive and putrefying ulcers—exposed themselves to
passed only by their boundless love, they dealt out the contagion of malignant distempers--swaddled
their supplies from the treasury of the church, when the bodies of the dead, and, in short, acted in the
ever there was an object to receive, or a known ne- character at once of the physician, the nurse, and the
cessity to require it. Where the poor in one place ambassador of God. Their purse and their expe-
were numerous, and the brethren were unable from rience were always ready, and the most exhausting
their limited means to afford them adequate support, and dangerous services were freely rendered by these
they applied to some richer church in the neighbour- Christian women.
. In process of time, however, as
hood, and never was it known in those days of active the Christian society extended its limits, and the
benevolence, that the appeal was fruitlessly made, or victims of poverty and sickness became proportion-
coldly received. Though they had poor of their ally more numerous, the voluntary services of the
own to maintain, neighbouring and foreign churches matrons were found inadequate to overtake the im-
were always ready to transmit contributions in aid mense field, and hence, besides the deacons and dea-
of the Christians in distant parts, and many and conesses who, at a very early period of the Church,
splendid are the instances on record of ministers and were appointed to superintend the interests of the
people, on intelligence of any pressing emergency, poor, a new class of office-bearers arose, under the
hastening with their treasures for the relief of those name of Parabolani, whose province it was to visit
whom they had never seen, but with whom they were and wait on the sick in malignant and pestilential
united by the strong ties of the same faith and hopes. diseases. These, whose number became afterwards
Thus when a multitude of Christian men and women very great-Alexandria alone, in the time of Theo-
in Numidia had been taken captive by a horde of neigh- dosius, boasting of six hundred, -took charge of the
bouring barbarians, and when the churches to which sick and the dying, under circumstances in which.
ALMS-BOWL.
67
while it was most desirable they should have every great virtues, viz., almsgiving, affability, promoting
attention paid to them, prudence forbade mothers and the prosperity of others, and loving others as our-
mistresses of families to repair to them, and thus, selves; it is superior to the observance of the pre-
while the heathen allowed their poor and their sick
sick cepts, the path that all the Budhas have trod, a
to pine in wretchedness and to die before their eyes | lineage to which they have all belonged. When the
unpitied and uncared for, there was not in the first gift, the giver, and the receiver are all pure, the re-
ages a solitary individual of the Christian poor, who ward is regarded as proportionately great. The giver
did not enjoy all the comforts of a temporal and spi- must have purity of intention. When he presents
ritual nature that his situation required."
the gift he must think, May it be to me as a hidden
The apostolic plan of collecting every Lord's day treasure, that I may find again greatly increased in a
is still followed in all Christian churches, the contri- future birth. And he must think both before and
bution being made in different modes. In Presby- | after the gift is presented, that he gives to one who is
terian churches the collection is made by voluntary possessed of merit. When any one gives that which
contributions at the church-door on entering the has been procured by his own labour, he will have
church. The order in the English Episcopal church wealth as his reward, but no retinue or attendants.
is, that the alms should be collected at that part of When he gives that which he has received from
the Communion Service which is called the Offer- others, he will have attendants but no wealth. When
tory, while the sentences are reading which follow he gives both kinds, he will have both rewards ; but
the place appointed for the sermon. In early times when he gives neither, he will have neither of the
the poor ranged themselves at the doors of the rewards. The reward for the giving of alms, accord-
churches, and were supplied with alms by the peo- ing to this ancient system of religion, is not merely
ple as they entered. Chrysostom refers to the cus- a benefit that is to be received at some future period;
tom, expressing his warm approval of it. Alms it promotes length of days, personal beauty, agree-
were also more liberally distributed during the sea- able sensations, strength and knowledge; and if the
son of Lent: “For the nearer," says Bingham, giver be born as a man, he will have all these advan-
they approached to the passion and resurrection of tages in an eminent degree. It was expressly de-
Christ, by which all the blessings in the world were clared by Gótama Budha, that "there is no reward,
poured forth among men, the more they thought either in this world or the next, that may not be re-
themselves obliged to show all manner of acts of ceived through almsgiving.” Thus almsgiving has
mercy and kindness toward their brethren."
been converted into a mercenary act, whereby a man
Among the Mohammedans, very great importance earns a reward both here and hereafter,. The same
is attached to the duty of almsgiving. In some cases views are promulgated in connection with the Brah-
alms are entirely voluntary ; but in other cases, the manism of the Hindus.
mode of giving is prescribed by the law. In the To ask alms and live on the charity of their fel-
latter cases, six conditions are required in the giver: lowmen, is reckoned in many systems of religion a
1. He must be a Mussulman, that is, a true believer. merit of a peculiar kind. Thus the fakirs and der-
2. A freeman. 3. Lawful possessor of what he is to vishes of Mohammedan, and the begging friars of
give away. 4. His patrimony must be increased. Popish countries are restricted to a life of poverty,
As riches increase, it is alleged alms should increase relying for their support on the charity of the faith-
at two and a half per cent. Those who have not ful. Christianity recognizes no such practices. It
twenty pieces of gold, or two hundred in silver, or teaches in plain language that if a man will not work
five camels, or thirty oxen, or thirty sheep, are not neither should he eat, and that it is the duty of every
obliged to give alms. 5. He must have been in Christian man to labour, working with his own hands,
possession about a year, or more minutely still, at that he may have to give to him that needeth.
least eleven months, without pawning it. 6. He ALMS-BOWL, a vessel used by the priests of
must not give as alms his working cattle, but one of Budha, for the purpose of receiving the food present-
those which are at grass, because alms are to be out ed in alms by the faithful. It is laid down as a strict
of what is not necessary. The Mohammedans call rule that they must eat no food which is not given
alms Zacat, which signifies increase, because it draws in alms, unless it be water, or some substance used
down God's blessing; and Sadalcat, because they are for the purpose of cleaning the teeth; and, when in
a proof of a man's sincerity in the worship of God. health, the food that a priest eats must be procured
Almsgiving is regarded by them as so pleasing to by his own exertions in carrying the alms-bowl from
God, that caliph Omar Ebn Abdalaziz used to say, house to house in the village or city near which he
“Prayer carries us half-way to God; fasting brings resides. When going to receive alms, his owl is
us to the door of his palace; but alms procure us slung across his shoulder, and is usually covered by
admission.”
the outer robe. It may be made of either iron or
Of all the modes of acquiring merit in the system clay, but of no other material. It must first be re-
of Budhism, that of almsgiving is the principal ; it is ceived by a chapter, and then be officially delivered
the chief of the virtues that are requisite for the at- to the priest whose bowl is found on examination to
tainment of the Budhaship; it is the first of the four l be in the worst condition. No priest is allowed to
..
68
ALMS-CHEST.
procure a new bowl so long as his old one has not | fuls larger than a pigeon's egg, but in small round
been bound with five ligatures to prevent it from balls; he may not fill the mouth, nor put the hand
falling to pieces; and he is not allowed to use an into the mouth when taking food ; nor talk when his
extra bowl more than ten days, without permission mouth is full ; nor allow particles to drop from his
from a chapter.
mouth ; nor swallow his food without being properly
When a priest approaches a house with the alms- masticated; and one mouthful must be swallowed
bowl, he must remain as though unseen ; he may not before another is taken. He may not shake his
hem, nor make any other sign that he is present; hand to free it from the particles that may be at-
and he is not allowed to approach too near the dwell- tached to it, nor may the food be scattered about nor
ing. He must not stretch out his neck like a pea- the tongue put out, nor the lips smacked, nor the
cock, or in any way bend his head that he may at- food sucked up with a noise. He may not lick his
tract the attention of those who give alms; he is not hands, nor the bowl, nor his lips, when he eats. A
allowed even to move the jaw, or lift up the finger vessel of water may not be taken up when the hand
for the same purpose. The proper mode is for the is soiled from eating, and the rinsing of the bowl is
priest to take the alms-bowl in a becoming manner; not to be carelessly thrown away. No priest can
if anything is given he remains to receive it; if not, partake of food unless he be seated.”
he passes on. Budha has said, “The wise priest From the Thibetan works on Budhism, we learn,
never asks for anything; he disdains to beg; it is a according to Mr. Hardy, that the priests of Gotama
proper object for which he carries the alms-bowl; were accustomed to put under ban, or interdict, any
and this is his only mode of solicitation.” The person or family in the following mode. In a public
priest is forbidden to pass by any house when going assembly, after the facts had been investigated, an
with the bowl to receive alms, on account of its alms-bowl was turned with its mouth downwards, it
meanness or inferiority; but he must pass by the being declared by this act that from that time no
house if near it there be any danger, as from dogs. one was to hold communication with the individual
When he visits a village, street, or house, three suc- against whom the fact had been proved. No one
cessive days without receiving anything, he is not was to enter his house, or to sit down there, or to
required to go to the same place again; but if he re- take alms from him, or to give him religious instruc-
ceives only the least particle, it must be regularly tion. After a reconciliation had taken place, the
visited. When he has gone out with the bowl and ban was taken off by the alms-bowl being placed in
not received anything, should he meet a person in its usual position. This act was as significant as the
the road who is carrying food intended for the priest- bell, book, and candle; but much less repulsive in its
hood, he may receive it; but if anything has pre- aspect and associations.
viously been given him, this is forbidden. As he Not only was the alms-bowl carried by the priests,
goes his begging rounds, he is prohibited from utter- it was carried also by the priestesses, or chief female
ing a single word; and when the bowl is sufficiently recluses, who went from door to door in the same
filled, the priest is to return to his dwelling, and eat manner as the priests, receiving the contributions of
the food he has received, of whatever kind it may be. the faithful. The figure of a priest of Budha, as he
Some of the regulations in regard to the use of the is to be seen in all the villages and towns of Ceylon
alms-bowl, as observed by the Budhist priests in that are inhabited by the Singhalese or Kandians, is
Ceylon, are too curious to be omitted. We quote curious and picturesque. He usually walks along
from a very interesting work on Eastern Monachism the road at a measured pace, without taking much
by Mr. Hardy, a Wesleyan missionary, who spent notice of what passes around. He has no covering
many years in Ceylon, and acquired an intimate ac- for the head, and is generally barefooted. In his
quaintance with both the doctrines and practices of right hand he carries a fan, not much unlike the
the Budhists. “The food,” says Mr. Hardy, "given hand-screens that are seen on the mantel-piece of an
in alms to the priest is to be received by him medi- English fireplace, which he holds up before his face
tatively; it is not to be received carelessly, so that when in the presence of women, that the entrance of
in the act of being poured into the alms-bowl some evil thoughts into his mind may be prevented. The
may fall over the sides; the liquor and the solid food alms-bowl is slung from his neck, and is covered by
are to be received together, without being sepa- his robe, except when he is receiving alms. When
rated; and the alms-bowl is not to be piled up above not carrying the bowl, he is usually followed by an
the mouth. The food is also to be eaten medita- | attendant with a book or small bundle. See BUD-
tively, with care, so that it is not scattered about;
without picking and choosing, the particles that come ALMS-CHEST. By the 84th canon of the
first to hand being first to be eaten; the liquor and Church of England, it is appointed that a chest be
the solid food are to be eaten together, not beginning provided and placed in the church to receive the
in the centre and heaping the food up, nor covering offerings for the poor of such persons as might be
the liquor with rice. The priest, unless when sick, disposed to contribute on entering or leaving the
may not ask for rice or curry to eat; he may not look church, at evening service, and on days when there
with envy into the bowl of another; nor eat mouth- is no communion.
HISTS.
ALOA-AL SIRAT.
69
ALOA, a holy day observed by the heathen la- same manner, till all the letters of the alphabet have
bourers of Athens, after they had received the fruits been gone over.
of the earth in honour of Dionysus and Demeter. The artificial mode of writing resorted to in alpha-
ALOGIANS (Gr. a, not, and logos, the Word), betical poems, as has been remarked by Bishop
a Christian sect which arose towards the end of Lowth, " was intended for the assistance of the me-
the second century, according to Epiphanius and mory, and was chiefly employed in subjects of com-
Augustine, who represent them as holding that Je- mon use, as maxims of morality and forms of de-
sus Christ was not God the Logos, but mere man. votion, which were expressed in detached sentences
They are also said to have rejected the Gospel or aphorisms—the forms in which the sages of an-
and Revelation of John. Dr. Lardner confidently cient times delivered their instructions, and which
asserts that this is a fictitious heresy, and there required this more artificial form to unite them, and
never were any Christians who rejected John's so to assist the mind in remembering them."
Gospel and Revelation, and yet received the other AL SAMERI, the name of the person who, the
Gospels, and the other books of the New Testa- Mohammedans allege, framed the golden calf for the
ment. It is no doubt somewhat suspicious, that no worship of the Israelites in the wilderness. They
notice is taken of the Alogians in Irenæus, Eusebius, represent him as a chief among the Israelites, and
or any other ancient writer before Philaster and they believe that some of his descendants inhabit an
Epiphanius. Still the authors who do speak of island bearing his name in the Arabian Gulf. The
them are so respectable and trustworthy, that we fable which they have constructed on the Bible nar-
cannot deny a heresy to have existed which attracted rative of the worship of the golden calf is curious.
such notice that it spread through Asia Minor. The Aaron, they say, ordered Al Sameri to collect all
Alogians appear to have been keen antagonists of the the golden ornaments of the people, and to preserve
MONTANISTS (which see), and to have either denied them till the return of Moses; but Al Sameri being
the continuance of the miraculous gifts which distin- acquainted with the art of melting metals, threw
guished the Apostolic Church, the charismata which them into a furnace to melt them down into one
in their form discovered something of a supernatural mass, and there came out an image of a calf. AI
character; or were not ready to acknowledge the Sameri then took some dust from the footsteps of
prophetic gift as a thing that pertained to the Chris- | the horse which the angel Gabriel rode, as he led
tian economy, but considered it as belonging exclu- the Israelites through the wilderness, and throwing
sively to the Old Testament; and hence they could it into the mouth of the calf, the image immediately
not admit any prophetic book into the canon of the became animated and began to low. According to
New Testament. Hence their rejection of the Apo- Abulfeda, all the Israelites worshipped this idol,
calypse, and in this point they agreed with some of with the exception of twelve thousand, who refused
the earlier Millenarians, who ascribed the authorship | to involve themselves in this guilty. act. See CALF
of that book to Cerinthus.
(GOLDEN).
ALPHABETICAL POEMS.
ALSCHEERA, Sirius or the Dog-star, worshipped
several of which are to be found in the Old Testa- by the Arabians in ancient times.
ment, are characterized by the general peculiarity, AL SIRAT, the sharp-bridge which the Moham-
that each of them consists of twenty-two lines or medans believe to be laid over the middle of hell,
twenty-two stanzas, corresponding to the number of and which must be crossed by all, at the close of the
the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. When the solemn judgment, whether destined for paradise or
hymn or poem consists of twenty-two lines, each line the place of torment. The eleventh article of the
begins with a letter of the alphabet in its order; or Mohammedan profession of faith wholly concerns
if it consists of twenty-two verses or parts, then each Al Sirat, and is as follows: “We must heartily be-
verse or part commences with a letter of the alpha- lieve, and hold it for certain that all mankind must
bet, the letters being in regular succession. This go over the sharp bridge, which is as long as the
metrical arrangement is found in Psalms xxv. xxxiv. earth, no broader than a thread of a spider's web,
xxxvii. cxi. cxix. cxly. Prov. xxxi. Lam. i, ii, iii, iv. and of a height proportioned to its length. The just
There is a curious peculiarity in the construction shall pass it like lightning, but the wicked, for want
of Psal. cxix. It is divided into twenty-two sections, of good works, will be an age in performing that task.
each of which begins with a letter of the alphabet They will fall and precipitate themselves into hell-
like the other alphabetical poems with which it is fire, with blasphemers and infidels, with men of little
usually classed. But each section consists of eight | faith and bad conscience, with those who have not
stanzas of two lines each; and each of these eight | had virtue enough to give alms. Yet some just pei'-
stanzas begins with the same letter which character- sons will go over it quicker than others, who will
izes the section to which it belongs. Thus for ex- now and then be tried upon the commands which
ample, the first section begins with aleph, the first they shall not have duly observed in this life ! How
letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and consists of eight dreadful will this bridge appear to us! What virtue,
stanzas, each of which begins also with aleph; and what inward grace of the Most High will be required
every successive section and stanza begins in the to get over it! How earnestly shall we look for that
These poems,
70
ALTAR.
favour! What desarts, what venomous creatures
|
and to cause their children to pass through the fire
shall we not find on our road! What hunger, to Moloch. On these accounts the Israelites were
drought, and weariness shall we endure! What anx-- commanded by God to destroy all such high places
iety, grief, and pain shall attend those who do not of the heathen idolaters.
think of this dangerous passage! Let us beg of God The altars built by the patriarchs were of stone,
to grant us, with bodily health, the grace not to go rudely built; thus the altar which Jacob reared at
out of this life loaded with debts; for the Arabians Bethel was simply the stone which had served him
often say, and with good reason, that no obstacle is for a pillow. And the earliest stone altars which
so hidden as that which we cannot overcome by any Moses was commanded to raise were to be of unhewn
expedient or artificial contrivance whatever.” The stones : Exod. xx. 25. “And if thou wilt make me
Profession of Faith from which this quotation is an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn
made, though by no means an authoritative docu- stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast
ment, has evidently been written by one thoroughly polluted it."
acquainted with the Mohammedan religion as set Among the heathen, altars were at first formed of
forth in the Koran, and exhibits a very distinct view turf, then of stone, marble, wood, and even sometimes
of the creed of a Mussulman.
of horn, as that of Apollo at Delos. They differed in
ALTAR (Lat. altare or altarium, from altus, high), shape also as well as materials. Some were round,
a place or pile on which sacrifices were offered. some square, and others triangular. All their altars
From the derivation of the word, it is plain that turned towards the East, and stood lower than the
elevated places were originally selected as altars. statue of the god. They were adorned with sculp-
Natural heights, hills and mountains, were the most tures, representing the deity to whom they were
common places of sacrifices, in early ages, as being erected, or the appropriate symbols. Most of the
raised above the earth and nearer to the heavens. ancient Greek altars were of a cubical form. The
On this principle the ancient Greeks and Romans great Roman temples generally contained three al-
erected higher altars, generally of stone, dedicated to tars: the first in the sanctuary at the foot of the
the superior gods, but inferior altars, not of stone, to statue for incense and libations; the second before
the inferior gods, to heroes, and to demi-gods. The the gate of the temple for the sacrifice of victims;
former were called altaria, the latter arc, while altars and the third was a portable one for the offerings
dedicated to the infernal gods were only holes dug and sacred vestments, and vessels to lie upon. When
in the ground, called scrobiculi. Altars seem to the altars were prepared for sacrifice, they were gen-
have been originally constructed in places surrounded | erally decorated with garlands or festoons. Those
with groves and trees, which rendered the situation erected to the manes or shades of the dead, were
shady and cool. Although Cain and Abel must adorned with dark blue fillets and branches of cy-
have erected an altar when they offered a sacrifice press. On the sides of altars among the ancient
after the fall, the first altar to which we find refer- heathens were often sculptured various symbolical
ence made in the Old Testament is that which or ornamental devices, representing the animals of-
was built by Noah after the deluge, Gen. viii. 20, fered to the respective deities, or the different attri-
“And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and butes or emblems of these deities; also the gods to
took of every clean beast, and of every cleap fowl, whom, and the persons by whom, they were erected.
and offered burnt offerings on the altar.” When Sometimes the same altar was dedicated to more
Abraham dwelt at Beersheba in the plains of Mam- than one divinity, and at other times two or even
re, we are informed, Gen. xxi. 33, that "he planted more altars were consecrated on the same spot to
a grove there, and called on the name of the the same deity. When hecatombs were offered, the
Lord, the everlasting God.” At the giving of the number of the altars required to correspond to the
law we find altars ordered to be made by heaping number of the victims.
up a quantity of earth, and covering it with green It was customary among the ancients to swear
turf: Exod. xx. 24. “An altar of earth thou shalt upon the altars on solemn occasions, confirming alli-
make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy ances and treaties of peace. They were also re-
buint-offerings, and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep, garded as places of refuge, and served as an asylum
and thine oxen : in all places where I record and sanctuary for criminals of any kind.
my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless In the Church of Rome, and some also of the Re-
thee.” Such temporary altars were termed by the formed churches, the communion table is called an
ancient heathens arce subito, cespitiæ vel graminec. altar, because on it are placed the appointed memo-
The ashes which remained after the sacrifice was rials of Christ's body and blood. The altars in Chris-
offered were often allowed to lie, and such places as tian churches were originally constructed of wood.
were already consecrated by a previous offering were But in the course of the third or fourth century stone
readily chosen again, a natural altar formed of ashes altars came to be in use, and it was decreed by the
being already formed for the sacrifice. On these council of Paris in 509, that no altar should be built
altars in the open air heathen idolaters were most of any other material than stone. The Eastern or
frequently accustomed to offer up human sacrifices, | Greek churches uniformly adhered to the wooden al-
ALTAR,
71
tars, while the Western churches built them of stone, thy faithful ones, and kindle in them the fire of thy
alleging in vindication of the practice that such altars love.” Then follows a long series of prayers, and
represented Christ the foundation-stone of that spi- crossings, and incensings, more especially crossing
ritual building, the church. At first there was but the front of the altar, which is made with the chrism,
one altar in each church, but the number gradually and attended with a prayer, when the sub-deacons
increased, until in the same church were sometimes rub it with towels used for that and no other purpose;
found in the sixth century twelve or thirteen. The after which the altar-cloths, and vessels, and orna-
altar in Romish churches has several steps leading to ments being hallowed and sprinkled with holy wa-
it, which are often covered with carpet, and adorned ter, the altar is decked while several Antiphons and
with many costly ornaments, according to the season Responsories are chanted. Three times during the
of the year. The consecration of the altar is a regu-chanting does the Pontiff cense the altar atop in the
lar part of the ceremony as laid down in the Pontifi- form of a cross.. Then either he, or a priest by his
cale Romanum, to be observed in the consecration of orders, celebrates mass upon the now consecrated
a church. During the Antiphon and Psalm xlii. the altar, and closes the long protracted service with the
pontiff in mitre dips the thumb of his right hand benediction, and declaring of indulgences for one
in the water which he has blessed, and with that year to every one who has visited the church on
thumb and the said water makes a cross on the cen- that solemn occasion, and forty days' indulgence to
tre of the altar-slab, saying, “ Be this altar hal+lowed every one visiting it on the anniversary of its con-
to the honour of Almighty God, and the glorious Vir- secration.
gin Mary, and all saints, and to the memory of St. N. The Rubric strictly enjoins, that, if more altars
In the name of the Father," &c.
than one are to be consecrated in the same church,
Then with the same water and the same thumb, “the Pontiff must take care to perform the acts and
the priest makes four crosses on the four corners of ceremonies, and in the same words on each altar
the altar, repeating at each cross the same words as successively, as he does on the first altar.” There
he had already spoken when making a cross in the are frequently in Romish churches various altars,
centre of the altar-slab. The first cross he makes the one at which High Mass is said being larger and
in the back corner of the right side ; the second in more highly ornamented than the rest.
the front corner of the left side, transverse to the first; A singular ceremony is performed on the Thursday
the third in the front corner of the right; and the of Holy Week in St. Peter's at Rome. It is the wash-
fourth in the left back corner, transverse to the ing of the high altar with wine. It is thus described
third. The crossing having been completed, then by an eye-witness: “A table is prepared beside the
follows the first prayer over the altar, after which high altar, on which are placed six glass cups, and
the Pontiff begins Psal. 1. in Latin, “ Miserere mei one of silver, filled with wine, also a bason containing
Deus," and during the chant he goes round the altar- seven towels, and another containing seven sponges.
slab seven times with a pause between each circuit, Service is performed in the chapel of the choir, and
and sprinkles both it and the trunk of the altar with after it Aspergilli, or sprinkling brushes, are distri-
the holy water; coming round to where he began, buted to all who are to take part in the ceremony.
there pausing, then starting round again, and so on. They walk in procession to the high altar, having a
till he has done so seven times.
crucifix, and two candles snuffed out, carried before
This, however, is only the commencement of the them, another emblem of the darkness which covered
ceremony, in so far as the altar is concerned. After the earth at the crucifixion..
the consecration and depositing of the sacred relics “On arriving at the altar; a cup is given to each
in the tomb appointed for them, the Pontiff twelve of seven of the canons of St. Peter's, who pour the
different times makes five crosses with the Catechu- contents upon the table of the altar; and then wash
menal oil, and afterwards with the chrism, namely, it with their sprinkling brushes. These seven are
in the centre and four corners of the altar in the followed by a great many other priests of various
same places and same way and order as he had done ranks, chaplains, musicians, &c., who all go through
before with the holy water, repeating at each cross the same process of rubbing the altar with the
the same words. Thus there are sixty additional sprinkling brushes which had been delivered to
crossings. But, in addition to this, the Pontiff hal- them. When this is concluded, the bason with
lows the incense to be burned on the altar, during seven sponges is presented to the seven canons who
which he makes five incense-crosses, each cross con- officiated first, and with them they clean the altar;
sisting of five grains; and over each cross of incense he the bason with seven towels is presented last of all,
lays a cruciform fine candle of the same size with the and with them they dry it. The procession then
incense-cross: then the top of each candle cross is adore the three great relics adored in the ceremo-
so lighted, that both the candles and the incense nial of Good Friday, and after their departure, the
may be consumed together. As soon as all the assistants complete the cleansing and drying of the
crosses are lighted, the Pontiff, putting off his mitre, altar..
and falling on his knees before the altar, begins “The sprinkling brushes used on this occasion
“ Alleluia. Come, Holy Ghost; fill the hearts of are done up in the form of a diadem, in memory of
72
ALTAR.
the crown of thorns, and are much sought after by the blessed Eucharist. The affections of Christian
the people.
people clung to these most solemn assemblies and
“ After the mass of this day, the altars of the most sacred altars; and after they might choose the
churches are all despoiled of their ornaments; the place and manner of their service, they erected altars
altar-pieces and crucifixes are covered, and no bells as much as might be resembling those at which they
are used in the churches until noon of Saturday. In had worshipped in the days of persecution. They
place of bells, they return, during this period, to the chose, therefore, very often, the place on which some
ancient practice of using a wooden mallet, to summon martyr had received his crown; and his tomb being
the faithful to church."
erected on the spot furnished the altar of a Christian
The service of the Tenebrce is performed on Wed- Church. Afterwards, perhaps, a more magnificent
nesday, Thursday, and Friday in Holy Week, at edifice was erected over the same spot, and the tomb
which time neither flowers nor images are allowed of the martyr remained in the crypt, while the altar
to be placed upon the altar; the host is taken was raised immediately over it; access to the crypt
away and carried to some private place, along and its sepulchral monument being still permitted to
with all the lights and ornaments belonging to it. the steps of the faithful. But churches soon multi-
The uncovering of the altar, which takes place on plied beyond the number of martyrs, or at least be-
Holy Thursday, is performed with great solemnity, yond the number of places at which martyrs had
being designed to represent the ignominious manner suffered ; and still a stone altar was raised, and by
in which our Saviour was stripped of his garments. and bye it became customary even to transport the
The officiating priest, who is to perform this cere- relics of saints, and bury them under the altars of
mony, must be dressed in purple. He begins with new churches. Hence arose the custom, at last al-
uncovering the high altar, removing its coverings, most universal, and eventually enjoined by the Church
its Pallia, and other ornaments; but leaves the cross of Rome, of having none but stone altars, enclosing
and its lights still standing. They even take away the relics of the saints. The connexion in the minds of
little table where the church-plate stands, and also the common people between stone altars and the Po-
the carpets and flowers, and likewise uncover the pish doctrine of an actual, carnal, expiatory sacrifice
pulpit and the church walls ; all of which the sa- of the VERY PERSON of our blessed Lord in the Eu-
cristan carries into the vestry. The cross is covered charist, forced our Reformers to substitute a wooden
with a black or purple-coloured veil; the Taberna- for a stone altar : we cannot, however, look with in-
cle is veiled in the same manner, and is left open as difference on those few examples of the original stone
being the house of the living God, who has absented altars still remaining, which witness to us of an al-
himself from it for some time. The cross being most universal custom for several centuries; and it
thus covered with a purple or black veil must be would be indeed sad to see any of them, few as they
placed before the Tabernacle. When the altars have now are, removed."
been uncovered, in order to solemnize the Passion These conjectures of Dr. Hook derive some coun-
of our Lord, a black canopy is set over the high tenance from an observation of Augustine, in his
altar, and the walls of the church are also hung with eulogy upon Cyprian of Carthage. “A table,” he
black. The whole of this ceremony is ushered in says, was erected to God on the spot where his
with solemn anthems.
body was buried, which was called Cyprian's table,
It is to be observed, that while the communion that Christians there might bring their offerings in
tables in the Chriştian churches were originally of prayer where he himself was made an offering to
wood, and such are still used in the Greek church God, and drink the blood of Christ with solemn in-
and in the Church of England, the Romish ritual re- terest where the sainted martyr so freely shed his
gards a stone slab, consecrated by a bishop, as an own blood.” From this and other passages from the
essential part of an altar; so essential, indeed, that Fathers, it appears plain that they were accustomed
no altar was consecrated with the holy chrism unless to celebrate the Lord's Supper over the graves of
it was of stone, and that even a portable altar was martyrs. In the Greek church there is only one altar,
deemed, by some at least, to lose its consecration occupying a fixed position, and consecrated to one
when the stone was removed. The ancient stone religious use. In Popish churches, there are many
altars were marked with five crosses in allusion to altars, occupying the east end of so many chapels
the five wounds of our blessed Lord. The following dedicated to as many saints. At the Reformation,
probably accurate explanation of the origin of stone all the altars except the high altar were justly ordered
altars is given by Dr. Hook, in his Church Dic- to be removed.
tionary :
On a Popish altar may be seen the tabernacle of
“In the earliest ages of the Church, Christians the holy sacrament, and on each side of it tapers of
were obliged to retire to the catacombs, to solemnize white wax, excepting at all offices of the dead, and
the rites of the faith. In these were buried many of during the three last days of Passion week, when
the martyrs; and their tombs presented themselves they are of yellow wax, that being regarded as the
as the most commodious, and what was infinitely more mourning colour for wax lights. A crucifix also
valued, the most sacred spots, on which to consecrate stands on the altar, and a large copy of the Te igitur,
.
}
ALTAR OF BURNT-OFFERING.
73
or canon, a prayer addressed only to the First Per- part of the altar were of wood covered with brass,
son of the Holy Trinity. A small bell stands upon and the interior space was filled with earth upon
the altar, which, besides being rung twice at each which the fire was kindled. The four corners of the
sanctus, is rung thrice when the priest kneels down, altar resembled horns, projecting upwards; and hence
thrice when he elevates the host, and thrice when he we often find in Old Testament Scripture the expres-
sets it down. They have besides a portable altar, or sion horns of the altar. At the four corners were
consecrated stone, with a small cavity in it, in which rings, through which staves were passed for the pur-
are placed the relics of saints and martyrs, and sealed pose of carrying it from place to place. It was
up by the bishop: should the seal break, the altar reached on the south side by ascending a mound of
loses its consecration. The furniture of the altar earth. The uses of the altar of burnt-offering are
consists further of a chalice and paten for the breadthus described in the law of Moses, Lev. vi. 8—13,
and wine; a pyx for holding the holy sacrament; a veil “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Command
in form of a pavilion of rich white stuff to cover the Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the
pyx; a thurible of silver or pewter for the incense; burnt-offering: It is the burnt-offering, because of
a holy water pot of silver, pewter, or tin; and many the burning upon the altar all night until the morn-
other utensils, as corporals, palls, purificatories, &c. ing, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it.
The dust must be swept off the altar every day, and And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and
the carpets must be well dusted by the clerk, at least his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and
once a week. When the clerk, whose business it is take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with
to sweep the pavement of the presbyterium, ap- the burnt-offering on the altar, and he shall put them
proaches the holy sacrament, he must be uncovered. beside the altar. And he shall put off his garments
There must be a balustrade either of iron, marble, or and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes
wood, before every altar to keep the people from without the camp unto a clean place. And the fire
touching it.
upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be
During the three first centuries, the communion | put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every
table appears to have been a plain moveable table, morning, and lay the burnt-offering in order upon it;
covered with a white cloth, and standing, not close and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace-offer-
to the wall of the church, but at such a distance from ings. The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar,
it as to be surrounded by the guests. No doubt, at it shall never go out." The furniture belonging to
an early period, the term altar came to be used to the altar consisted of urns for carrying away the
designate the communion table. Ignatius, Irenæus, ashes, shovels for collecting them, skins for receiving
Origen, and Tertullian use the word in this applica- and sprinkling the blood of the victims, tongs for
tion; though it must be admitted that these and the turning the parts of the victims in the fire; censers
other early writers employ the words table and altar for burning incense, and other instruments of brass.
indiscriminately. Anciently there appears never to The fire on the altar of burnt-offering was considered
have been more than one altar in a church. Thus sacred, and was therefore to be kept constantly
one bishop and one altar in a church is the well-burning. On the altar of burnt-offering the sacri-
known aphorism of Ignatius. To this custom the fices of lambs and bullocks were burnt, especially a
Greek church have uniformly adhered. But to such lamb every morning at the third hour, answering to
an extent has the Latin church departed from the nine o'clock of our time, and a lamb every afternoon,
simplicity of early times, that in St. Peter's church at the ninth hour, answering to three o'clock. It is
at Rome, there are no fewer than twenty-five altars, thought that the altar of burnt-offering, both in the
besides the great or high altar, which is no less than tabernacle and the temple, had the lower part of the
twenty-five feet square, with a cross twenty-five hollow filled up either with earth or stones, in com-
inches long upon it.
pliance with the injunction, Exod. xx. 24, 25. Jose-
ALTAR OF BURNT-OFFERING. From the phus says that the altar used in his time at the
time of Moses till the days of Solomon this altar was temple was of unhewn stone, and that no iron tool
situated in the centre of the outer court of the taber- had been employed in its construction.
nacle : Exod. xl. 29, “And he put the altar of This altar was regarded as an asylum, or place of
burnt-offering by the door of the tabernacle of the protection, to which criminals who were pursued
tent of the congregation, and offered upon it the were accustomed to resort. On this subject Professor
burnt-offering and the meat-offering; as the Lord Bush remarks, in his valuable Notes on Exodus :'
commanded Moses." It was a kind of coffer, three “ This use of the altar as a place of refuge seems to
cubits high, five long, and five broad, made of be intimately connected with the horns by which it
shittim-wood, generally supposed to be either the was distinguished. The culprit who fled to it seized
acacia or the cedar, and the same wood from which hold of its horns, and it was from thence that Joab
the mummy cases have been formed. The lower was dragged and slain. Now the horn was one of
part of the altar rested on four feet, and on their the most indubitable symbols of power, as we learn
sides grates of brass through which the blood from the frequent employment of it in this sense by
of the victim flowed out. The sides of the upper | the sacred writers. In Hab. iii. 4, for instance, it is
74
ALTAR OF INCENSE.
said, 'He had horns coming out of his hand, and and Abihu were consumed by fire from the Lord.
there was the hiding of his power.' The horn of Some of the Jewish writers allege that this fire was
David' is the power and dominion of David ; and extinguished in the days of Manasseh ; but the more
Christ is called a “horn of salvation,' from his being a general opinion among them is, that it continued till
mighty Saviour, invested with royal dignity, and the destruction of the first temple by the Chaldeans,
able to put down with triumph and ease all his ene- after which it was never restored. See BURNT-
mies. It is probably in real, through latent allusion OFFERING-SACRIFICE.
to the horned altar and its pacifying character that ALTAR OF INCENSE. It was situated be-
God says through the prophet, Isa. xxvii. 5, 'let tween the table of shew-bread and the golden candle-
him take hold of my strength, that he may make sticks, towards the veil which enclosed the Holy of
peace with me; and he shall make peace with me;' Holies. This altar was constructed, like the altar of
let him fly to the horns of the mystic Altar, and find burnt-offering already described, of shittim-wood,
security and peace in that reconciled omnipotence of one cubit long, one cubit broad, and two cubits high.
which it was the sign. As the altar, then, is pri- It was ornamented at the four corners, and overlaid
marily an adumbration of Christ in his mediatorial | throughout with leaves of gold; hence it was called
office, the horns may very suitably denote those at- the golden altar. The upper surface was surrounded
tributes of his character which as symbols they are by a border, and on each of the two sides were fas-
adapted and designed to shadow forth. As the tened, at equal distances, two rings, through which
strength of all horned animals, that strength by which were passed two rods of gold, for conveying it from
they defend themselves and their young, is concen- one place to another. Incense was offered on this
trated mainly in their horns, so, in the ascription of altar daily, morning and evening.
horns to Christ, we recognise the symbol of that divine Incense altars appear in the most ancient Egyp-
potency by which he is able to subdue all things to tian paintings, and the Israelites having been required
himself
, and to afford complete protection to his to compound the incense after the art of the apothe-
people. In accordance with this, the visions of the cary or perfumer, it seems to be implied that such an
Apocalypse represent him as “a lamb having seven art was already practised, having been introduced
horns, as the mystic insignia of that irresistible probably from Egypt. We learn from Plutarch, that
power with which he effects the discomfiture of his the Egyptians offered incense to the sun. But this
adversaries, and pushes his spiritual conquests over custom was far from being limited to Egypt; it evi-
the world. This view of the typical import of the dently pervaded all the religions of antiquity, and
altar and its appendages might doubtless be much may possibly have been practised in antediluvian
enlarged, but sufficient has been said to show, that times. The explanation of Maimonides, like many
the same rich significancy, and the same happy adap- other of the Rabbinical comments, falls far short of
tation, pervades this, as reigns through every other the truth, when he says that incense was burnt in
part of the Mosaic ritual."
the Tabernacle to counteract the offensive smell of
The altar of burnt-offering, like the other parts of the sacrifices. The design of the Divine appoint-
the tabernacle and temple, was consecrated with holy ment was of a much higher and holier character.
oil, which being wanting in the second temple, was Incense was a symbol of prayer, as is evident from
considered as detracting from its holiness. But be- various passages of Holy Scripture. Thus Psal.
sides being anointed in common with the rest of the cxli. 2, “ Let my prayer be set forth before thee as
holy places and vessels, this altar was sanctified by a incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the even-
peculiar rite, being sprinkled seven times with the ing sacrifice;" Rev. v. 8, “ And when he had taken
oil, in order to impart a greater sanctity to it; and the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders
it received an additional holiness by an expiatory fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them
sacrifice, by which it became a peculiarly holy place. harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the
No sacrifices offered upon the altar could be accepted prayers of saints ;" Rev. viii. 3, 4, “ And another
by God unless the altar itself was made holy. This
This angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden
expiation was performed by Moses sacrificing a bul- censer; and there was given unto him much in-
lock, and putting some of the blood upon the horns cense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all
of the altar with his finger. When thus consecrated, saints upon the golden altar which was before the
the altar sanctified all that was laid upon it. This throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came
expiatory rite was continued for seven days, but with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before
upon the eighth, fire descended from heaven and con- God out of the angel's hand.” On this view of the
sumed the sacrifice upon the altar. This fire de- subject the golden altar and the incense ascending
scended anew upon the altar in the time of Solomon; from it evidently shadowed forth the intercessory
and it was constantly fed and maintained by the office of Christ in heaven. On this scriptural ex-
priests, day and night, without being allowed to be planation of the symbol, Professor Bush remarks :
extinguished. With this fire all the Jewish sacri- “ As the brazen altar which was placed without the
fices were offered that were made by fire, and for sanctuary typified his sacrifice, which was made on
using other, or, as it is called, strange fire, Nadab earth, so the altar of incense stationed within the
ALTAR-CLOTH—ALTAR-PIECE.
75
sanctuary represented his interceding work above, This is a comparatively modern practice; but in
where he has gone to appear in the presence of God Romish churches, particularly in Roman Catholic
for us, and where his intercession is as sweet-smell countries, paintings of Scripture scenes or incidents,
ing savour. This is to be inferred from the fact that by the most eminent artists, are used as altar pieces.
it occupied a place—directly before the mercy-seat The same custom has crept into some Protestant
—which represented the appropriate sphere of the churches. In the Church of England, for instance,
Saviour's present mediatorial functions. Whatever
Whatever it is no uncommon thing to see paintings hung above
service was performed by the priests within the pre- the altar, although they are not to be found in other
cincts of the Tabernacle had a more special and em- parts of the church. The English Reformers were
phatic reference to Christ's work in heaven; where- violently opposed to the practice, and during the
as their duties in the outer court had more of an reign of Elizabeth a royal proclamation was issued
earthly bearing, representing the oblations which prohibiting the use of either paintings or images in
were made on the part of sinners, and on behalf of churches. The early Christians were entire stran-
sinners, to the holy majesty of Jehovah. As, how- gers to such a custom, which appears, indeed, to be
ever, scarcely any of the objects or rites of the an- unknown during the three first centuries. In the
cient economy had an exclusive typical import, but council of Eliberis in Spain, A. D. 305, it was decreed
combined many in one, so in the present case, no- that pictures ought not to be in churches, lest that
thing forbids us to consider the prayers and devo- | which is worshipped and adored be painted upon the
tions of the saints as also symbolically represented walls. It cannot be denied that towards the close .
by the incense of the golden altar. As a matter of of the fourth century, pictures of saints and martyrs
fact, they do pray below while Christ intercedes began to appear in the churches. Yet even then
above; their prayers mingle with his; and it is do- they were decidedly discountenanced by the Catho-
ing no violence to the symbol to suppose their | lic church, for Augustine says, the church con-
spiritual desires, kindled by the fire of holy love, to demned them as ignorant, and superstitious, and
be significantly set forth by the uprising clouds of in- self-willed persons, and daily endeavoured to correct
cense, which every morning and evening filled the holy them as untoward children.
place of the sanctuary with its grateful perfume.' At first pictures were introduced into churches
No incense was to be burnt upon this altar but simply for the sake of ornament. Accordingly, por-
what was prescribed by God himself. No burnt-traits of living persons, as well as of the dead, had
offering, nor meat-offering, nor drink-offering was to their place in the church. But the superstitious
come upon it ; only once a year the High Priest, practice of paying religious homage to the paintings
upon the great day of atonement, was to go with the on the walls of churches gradually found its way
blood of the sin-offering into the most Holy Place among the people; yet it was never approved till
and sprinkle it before the mercy-seat; then he was the second council of Nice, A. D. 787, passed a de-
directed to come out into the sanctuary, and there cree in favour of it. Gregory the Great, while he
put the blood upon the horns of the altar of incense, defended the use of pictures in churches, as inno-
and sprinkle it with his finger seven times. This cent and useful for instruction of the vulgar, equal--
ordinance plainly intimated, that all the services ly condemns the worshipping and bowing down
performed at the altar of incense were imperfect, before them. The council of Constantinople held
that the altar itself had contracted a degree of impu- A, D. 754, and consisting of three hundred and thir-
rity from the sinfulness of those who ministered ty-eight bishops, chiefly of the Eastern churches,
there, and that even the very odours of the daily in- condemned the practice, and when the second coun-
cense needed to be sweetened and rendered accepta- cil of Nice, as we have seen, approved it, their de-
ble to God, by being mingled with the savour of the crees were rejected by all the Western world, with
blood of sprinkling. See INCENSE.
the exception of the popes of Rome. The council
ALTAR-CLOTH. The communion-table in the of Frankfort in Germany, the council of Paris in
early ages of the church was covered with a plain France, and some other councils in Britain, agreed
linen-cloth. But sometimes the covering was of richer unanimously to condemn them, and for some hun-
materials. Palladius, as we learn from Bingham, dred years after, the worship of images was not re-
speaks of some of the Roman ladies who bequeathed ceived in any of these three nations. Gradually,
their silks to make coverings for the altar. And Theo- however, the practice of introducing pictures into
doret says of Constantine, that he gave a piece of rich churches got a footing even there. Pictures of our
tapestry for the altar of his new-built church of Je- Saviour, Madonnas, and pictures of saints and martyrs
rusalem. Altars in modern times are usually covered became almost universal. The Reformation gave a
in time of divine service with a carpet of silk, or check to the practice, but even at this hour Romish
other material; but in the time of communion, with churches, and even many Anglican churches, attach
a clean linen cloth. In Romish churches on Good great importance to the altar-piece, not so much as
Friday the altar is covered with black cloth in token an ornament, but as an incentive and encouragement
of mourning for the death of the Redeemer.
to the practice of the invocation of saints. See
ALTAR-PIECE, a painting placed over the altar. (IMAGES—INVOCATION.
76
ALTAR-RAILS—AMALRICIANS.
ALTAR-RAILS. The part of the church where | brated dialectician and theologian of Paris, was one
the communion-table or altar stood, in the ancient of the most distinguished representatives of the Pan-
churches, was divided from the rest of the church by theistic system in the Middle Ages. He was a native
rails. Eusebius says the rails were of wood, curi- of Bena, a country town in the province of Chartres.
ously and artificially wrought in the form of net- While engaged in teaching theology at Paris, his fame
work, to make the enclosure inaccessible to the mul- attracted many pupils around him. His opinions were
titude. These the Latins call cancelli, and hence our derived to a great extent from the study of the writ-
English word chancel. According to Synesius, to ings of Aristotle; but the heretical doctrines which
lay hold of the rails is equivalent to taking sanc- he promulgated were not long in calling forth vio-
tuary or refuge at the altar. Altar-rails are almost lent opposition. The University of Paris formally
uniformly found in Episcopal churches in England. condemned them in A. D. 1204. Amalric, however,
ALTAR-SCREEN. The partition between the went personally to Rome, and appealed from the de-
altar and the lady-chapel, seen in large churches. cision of the University to Pope Innocent III., who,
ALTENASOCHITES, a sect of the Moham- in 1207, confirmed the sentence, and, in obedience to
medans, which are also called Munasichites, both his Holiness, the heretic returned to Paris, and re-
names having a reference to their belief in the doc- canted his opinions. The severe treatment he had
trine propounded by Pythagoras as to the transmi- experienced preyed upon his mind, and in 1209 he
gration of souls. See METEMPSYCHOSIS.
died of a broken heart. In the same year, at a
ALUMBRADOS (Spanish, the enlightened). See council held at Paris, his followers were condemned,
ILLUMINATI.
and ten of them publicly burnt before the gate of
ALUZZA, an idol of the ancient Arabians, wor- the city. In spite of the recantation he had made
shipped by the Koraischites, and which Mohammed when alive, the bones of Amalric were disinterred,
destroyed in the eighth year of the Hegira. Some and, having been committed to the flames, his ashes
suppose it to have been a tree, called the Egyptian were scattered to the four winds of heaven.
thorn or acacia, or at least worshipped under that The heretical tenets of Amalric were simply a fol-
form.
lowing out of the Pantheistic system of Scotus Erigena.
ALYSIUS (FESTIVAL OF), observed by the Greek The fundamental principle was, that all things are but
Church on the 16th of January.
one, that is, God; or as it is stated by one of the
AMALEKITES (RELIGION OF THE). The Ama- immediate followers of Amalric, David de Dinant,
lekites were a people of remote antiquity, inhabit-God is the original matter of all things. In him-
ing Arabia Petræa, between the Dead sea and the self invisible, the Almighty Being is beheld only in
Red sea. They are said in Numb. xiii. 29, to “dwell the creatures, as the light is not seen in itself, but in
in the land of the South." They are spoken of so the objects enlightened. Not only the forms of things,
early as the days of Abraham, and, accordingly, it is but also their matter proceeded from God, and would
highly probable that there was a people bearing this all revert back into God. The manifestation of
name long before the time of Amalek, the son of Deity is brought about by incarnation; at different
Eliphaz, and grandson of Esau, from whom they are periods God has manifested himself. The power
generally supposed to have been descended. The Ara- and manifestation of the Father were displayed in
bians have a tradition, that the Amalek here refer- Old Testament times; the power and manifestation
red to was a son of Ham, and grandson of Noah. of the Son in New Testament times onward during
This supposition certainly agrees better than the twelve centuries of that dispensation; and in the
other with the description of them by Balaam, as thirteenth century, when Amalric and his followers
“the first of the nations” in that part of the world. appeared, the power and manifestation of the Holy
In the marginal reading of our larger Bibles, it is Spirit were alleged to take their commencement, in
rendered “ the first of the nations that warred against which time the sacraments and all external worship
Israel." Le Clerc, in his version, calls them “the first were to be abolished. At this point, in this strange
fruits of the nations,” by which in his · Commentary system, the individual believer is represented as pos-
he understands them to have been the most ancient sessing in himself the consciousness that he is the
and powerful nation of those which were descended incarnation of the Spirit, or as Amalric expresses
from Abraham and Lot. If descended from Esau it, that he knows and feels himself to be a member
it is probable that they would be acquainted at an of Christ, just as every believer has already suffered
early period of their history with the religion of with Christ the death of the cross. Thus the out-
Abraham. But at a later period they appear to have ward forms of the earlier dispensation disappear in the
fallen into idolatry, and from their immediate neigh- age of the Holy Spirit. The New Testament loses its
bourhood to Idumea, they were liable to follow the importance; Baptism and the Lord's Supper, as well
same idolatrous practices with that country. We as external rites and ceremonies of every kind, be-
find, accordingly, that while Josephus mentions their come altogether unnecessary. Amalric declared the
idols, the Scriptures speak of them as the idols of Pope to be Antichrist, and the Church of Rome to
Mount Seir. See EDOMITES.
be Babylon. The resurrection of the body he ex-
AMALRICIANS. Amalric of Bena, a cele- | plained spiritually, as a rising again to newness of
AMALTHÆA-AMAWATURA.
77
life by the agency of the Holy Spirit. Heaven was, filled with whatever its possessor might desire.
in his view, simply a perfect knowledge of God, and Hence the origin of the cornucopia, or horn of
hell a perfect knowledge of sin.
plenty, which is so often mentioned in the stories of
The followers of Amalric were men of excellent ancient Greece.
character, but strongly speculative minds. They AMARAPURA, a Budhist sect in Ceylon, which
endured persecution with calmness and fortitude. arose about the commencement of the present cen-
David de Dinant, who composed several works, em- tury. It seems to have originated from Burmah,
bodying the opinions of his master, was compelled and is now considerably extended in its influence, in-
to flee from Paris, to save his life. The council of cluding priests of all castes. The object of this sect
Paris not contented with condemning Amalric, pro- is to bring back the doctrines of Budhism to their
hibited also the reading and expounding of those pristine purity, by disentangling them from caste,
works of Aristotle from which he had drawn his pe- polytheism, and other corruptions. They have made
culiar views. This decree was confirmed by the considerable progress, more especially in Saffragan,
fourth council of Lateran. The doctrines of this which a native writer, quoted by Mr. Hardy, tells
sect were preached openly by William of Aria, a us, "may at present be regarded as the seat of this
goldsmith, who proclaimed the coming of judgment reformation. ' The same writer gives the following
upon a corrupt church, and the evolution of the new distinct statement of the peculiarities of this sect
period of the Holy Ghost that was now at hand. as they at present exhibit themselves in Ceylon.
Bernard, a priest, went so far in his pantheistic “1. They publicly preach against the doctrines of
views, as to allege that it was impossible for the au- Hinduism, and do not invoke the Hindu gods at the
thorities to burn him, since so far as he existed, he recitation of pirit (a mode of exorcism). 2. They
was a part of God himself. The doctrines of the give ordination to all castes, associating with them
Amalricians were successfully confuted by the most indiscriminately, and preach against the secular oc-
distinguished scholastic theologians. Albertus Mag- cupations of the Siamese priests, such as practising
nus and Thomas Aquinas showed, by the most ela- physic and astrology. None of their fraternity are
borate arguments, that the ill-concealed Pantheism allowed to follow such practices on pain of excom-
inculcated both by Amalric and David de Dinant munication. 3. They do not acknowledge the au-
was utterly inconsistent with enlightened views of thority of the royal edicts, that they have anything
the nature of God. See PANTHEISM.
to do with their religion ; neither do they acknow-
AMALTHÆA, one of the SYBILS (which see), ledge the Budhist hierarchy. 4. They do not fol-
whom Lactantius regards as the Cumæan Sibyl, low the observances of the Pasé-Budhas, unless
who is said to have sold to Tarquinius Priscus, king sanctioned by Gótama. They do not, therefore, re-
of Rome, the celebrated Sibylline books containing cite a benediction at the receiving of food or any other
the Roman destinies. The books were nine in num- offering. 5. They do not use two seats nor employ
ber, and for the whole she demanded three hundred two priests when bana (the sacred writings) is read,
pieces of gold as the lowest price at which she would nor quaver the voice, as not being authorised by
part with them. The king refused to purchase them, Budha. 6. They expound and preach the Winaya
and Amalthæa leaving the royal presence, burnt (a portion of the sacred writings) to the laity, whilst
three of the books, and returned, offering to sell the the Siamese read it only to the priests, and then
remaining six at the same price as before. This of- only a few passages, with closed doors. 7. They
fer was also denied, when she again left and burnt perform a ceremony equivalent to confirmation a
three more, demanding the same price for the three number of years after ordination, whilst the Siamese
that were left. Tarquin was so much surprised at perform it immediately after. 8. They lay great
the conduct of the woman, that after consulting with stress on the merits of the pán-pinkama, or feast of
the augurs, he purchased them at the price demand- lamps, which they perform during the whole night,
ed. These precious volumes were said to contain without any kind of preaching or reading; whereas
the future fortunes of the Roman empire, and they the Siamese kindle only a few lamps in the evening
were never consulted but on the occasion of some and repeat bana until the morning. 9. The Amara-
public calamity. See SIBYLLINE BOOKS.
puras differ from the Siamese by having both the
AMALTHEIA, the nurse of the infant Zeus, shoulders covered with a peculiar role of robe under
after his birth in Crete. The name is generally sup- the armpit, and by leaving the eyebrows unshorn.
posed to be derived from the Greek word amelgein, As Pali literature is very assiduously cultivated by
to milk or suckle, Amaltheia being according to the Amarapuras, in order that they may expose the
some traditions the goat which nursed the infant errors and corruptions of their opponents, it is ex-
Jove; for which service she was rewarded by being pected that the breach between the two sects will
placed among the stars. Others suppose her to have become wider as time advances.”
been a daughter of Melissus, king of Crete, who AMATHUSIA, a surname of Aphrodite or Ve-
suckled Jove with goat's milk; and on one occasion nus, which is derived from the town of Amathus in
the young god having broken off one of the horns of Cyprus, where she was anciently worshipped.
the goat, he bestowed upon it the power of being AMAWATURA, a book of legends in Singha-
78
AMBARVALIA-AMEN.
lese, recording chiefly the wondrous deeds of Gota- | Borromeo reformed the order a second time. They
ma Budha. See BUDHA.
follow the rule of St. Austin, and wear a dark red-
AMBARVALIA (from ambiendis arvis, going dish habit.
round the fields), a ceremony performed among the AMBROSIA, the food of the gods, according to
ancient Romans, with the view of procuring from the the ancient heathen poets. Ovid says that the
gods a plentiful harvest. A sacrifice was offered to horses of the sun feed on Ambrosia instead of grass.
Ceres, but before doing so, the victims, consisting of AMBROSIAN LITURGY, a particular office
a sow, a sheep, and a bull, were led amid a vast con- or form of worship used in the church of Milan, and
course of peasants round the corn fields in proces prepared by Ambrose, archbishop of Milan, in the
sion. The amburvalia were sometimes private and fourth century. Originally each church had its par-
managed by the master of a family, and sometimes ticular office, according to which its service was con-
public and performed by priests who were called ducted; and even after the Pope had appointed the
fratres arvale', or field brothers. This festival was Roman Missal, or as some enthusiastic Romanists
held twice in the year, at the end of January say have termed it, “the Liturgy of St. Peter," to be
some, in April say others; and for the second time used in all the Western Churches, the church of
in July. There were different forms of prayer of- Milan sheltered itself under the high authority of St.
fered upon this occasion, two of which are given in Ambrose, and the Ambrosian Ritual accordingly was
Cato de re rustica. A custom somewhat similar, but used in the diocese of Milan down to a recent period,
not accompanied with sacrifice, is found still in vari- if not occasionally still used in its celebrated cathe-
ous parts of both England and Scotland during Ro- dral, instead of the Roinish Ritual. See MISSAL.
gation week (Saxon Gang dagas, days of going or AMBULIA, a surname under which the Spartans
perambulation), that is, on one of the three days / worshipped Athena.
before Holy Thursday, or the Feast of our Lord's AMBULII, a surname applied by the Spartans to
Ascension. See ASCENSION DAY.
the Dioscuri.
AMBASIATOR. See APOCRISARIUS.
AMBULIUS, a surname of Zeus employed by the
AMBO, a kind of platform or eminence in the Spartans.
primitive Christian churches, corresponding to our AMEDIANS (Lat. amantes Deum, loving God, or
reading-desk or pulpit. It was a place made on amati Deo, beloved by God), an order of monks in
purpose for the readers and singers, and such of the Italy, established in A. D. 1400. They wore grey
clergy as ministered in the first service, called missa clothes and wooden shoes, and girt themselves round
catechumenorum. It appears to have derived its the middle with a cord. They had twenty-eight
name from Gr. anabainein, to go up, because it was convents in Italy, but Pope Pius V. united them
reached by ascending a few steps. Cyprian calls it, pul- partly with the Cistercian order, and partly with
pitum and tribunal ecclesice, and explains the use of it that of the Soccolanti or wearers of wooden shoes.
to be a reading-desk, because there the Gospels and AMEN (Heb. truly, so is it, so let it be), a word
Epistles were read to the people. The singers also which is employed at the close of a sentence or state-
seem to have been stationed in it, or perhaps in a sepa- ment to denote acquiescence in the truth of what is
rate ambo; hence the council of Laodicea forbids all asserted, or, in case of prayer, the response of the
others to sing in the church except the canonical worshipper, indicating his cordial approval of the
singers, who went up into the ambo and sung by book. petitions offered, and his earnest desire that they
Here also were read the diptychs, or books of com- may be heard and answered. It is also used at the
memoration, and it was often the place from which conclusion of a doxology: Rom. ix. 5, “Whose are
sermons were preached. All public notices, letters the. fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh
missive, and documents of public interest, were read Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.
from the ambo.
Amen." That the people were wont to subjoin their
AMBROSE ST. (FESTIVAL OF), celebrated by Amen, whether audibly or mentally, to the prayer of
the Greek church on the 7th December. It is one of the minister, appears plain from 1 Cor. xiv. 16,
those festivals, the observance of which is obligatory 6 Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how
on the monks only.
shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned
AMBROSE ST. IN THE WOOD (ORDER, OF). say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he under-
The monks of this order were anciently called Bar- standeth not what thou sayest.” Justin Martyr is the
nabites, but the institution having fallen into a de- first of the fathers who speaks of the use of this response
clining state, was thought to need revival. Accord- on the part of the people. In speaking of the Lord's
ingly, in A.D. 1431, three gentlemen belonging to Supper he says, that at the close of the benediction
Milan re-established the order in a solitary grove, and prayer, the whole assembly respond Amen.
where Bishop Ambrose had been accustomed to Tertullian, however, alleges that none but the faith-
spend much time in contemplation and study. Hence ful were allowed to join in the response. In the
the order afterwards received the name of St. Am- celebration of the Lord's Supper especially, each
brose in the Wood. They used the Ambrosian communicant was required, in receiving both the
Office instead of the Romish ritual. Cardinal Charles | bread and the wine, to utter a loud and hearty Amen;
AMERDAD-AMIDAS.
79
and at the close of the consecration prayer the whole bonnet, and with three beards which meet upon his
assembly gave the same audible response. But this shoulders. Some of the enthusiastic devotees of this
practice was discontinued after the sixth century. god go so far as even to sacrifice their lives to him,
At the administration of baptism, also, the witnesses drowning themselves voluntarily in his presence.
and sponsors uttered this response. In the Greek The manner in which they perform this horrid cere-
church it was customary to repeat the response at mony is as follows: The votary bent on self-destruc-
every clause of the baptismal formula, as well as at tion enters a small boat gilt and adorned with silken
the close; thus, “ In the name of the Father, Amen; streamers, and dances to the sound of several musical
in the name of the Son, Amen; and of the Holy instruments; after which, having tied heavy stones
Ghost, Amen; both now and for ever, world without to his neck, waist, and legs, he plunges into the
end,” to which the people responded " Amen." This water, and sinks to rise no more. On such an oc-
practice is still observed by the Greek church in casion as this, the relatives and acquaintances of the
Russia. The repetitions were given thrice with re- devotee are present along with several priests, and
ference to the three persons in the Trinity. See the whole party exult over the infatuated self-mur-
PRAYER.
derer as being a saint, and having earned eternal
AMENTHUS, the abode of the dead among the happiness by his deed. Others who lack the courage
ancient Egyptians. It was a place of repentance to take the fatal plunge all at once, prevail upon
and amelioration, to prepare them for a better condi- their friends to bore a hole in the keel of the boat,
tion in the next step of transmigration.
that it may sink gradually, the devotee all the while
AMERDAD, the name used to denote, in the singing hymns to Amidas. This voluntary sacrifice
ancient Persian religion, the tutelary genius of the of his life to Amidas is generally preceded by at
vegetable world, and of flocks and herds.
least two days of close converse between the wor-
AMICE, a piece of fine linen of an oblong square shipper and his god.
shape, used as a sacerdotal vestment in the ancient Another sort of martyrdom in honour of Amidas
Christian church. In its earliest form, it simply is sometimes undergone by the Japanese idolaters.
covered the shoulders and neck, but afterwards a They confine themselves within a narrow cavern
hood. was added to it for the purpose of covering built in the form of a sepulchre, in which there is
the priest's head, until he came to the altar, when it scarce room to sit down. This they cause to be en-
was thrown back.
closed with a wall all round about, reserving only a
AMIDAS, one of the two principal deities wor- small hole for the admission of air. Shut up in this
shipped by the inhabitants of Japan. He is the place of close confinement, the devotee calls upon
sovereign lord and absolute governor of paradise, the his god Amidas, until
, exhausted with hunger and
protector of human souls, the father of all those who fatigue, he expires.
are to partake of happiness, and the saviour of all Besides the temples and altars which are erected
who are accounted worthy of eternal life. It is to his honour throughout the whole of Japan,
through his intercession that souls obtain a remission a great number of convents are consecrated to him,
of their sins; and if the priests make intercession to in which monks and nuns reside, who are through
Amidas for the sinner, and the relations and friends life destined to a single state under pain of death.
contribute liberally by their oblations towards the The disciples of Amidas are very numerous, there
efficacy of the prayers of the priests, Amidas has being a large and influential sect wholly devoted to
such influence over Jemma, the stern judge of hell, his worship. Though represented by an idol, they
that the pains of the damned are mitigated; and describe him as an invisible, incorporeal, and immu-
they are sometimes not only released from torment, table substance, distinct from all the elements, exist-
but allowed to return to this world again.
ent before the creation, the fountain and foundation
Amidas is worshipped under a peculiar form. of all good, without beginning and without end. By
The idol is on horseback, the horse having seven him the universe was created, and by him it is con-
heads, and the figure is placed on a stately altar. stantly governed. To him the devotees say their
The head of the idol resembles that of a dog, and in Namanda, which is a short ejaculatory prayer, con-
his hand he holds a gold ring or circle, which he sisting only of three words, which signify “Ever
bites, thereby, as Mr Hurd explains it, pointing out blessed Amidas, have mercy upon us.
This they
that he is eternal. This representation seems to re- either sing or repeat to the tinkling of a little bell,
semble the Egyptian circle which was regarded as an which they make use of to gather round them a
emblenı of time, and the seven heads of the horse on crowd of people. As the frequent repetition of the
which Amidas is mounted, denoting seven thousand Namanda is regarded by the Japanese as highly
years, render it highly probable that this deity is a conducive to the consolation and relief of their
hieroglyphic of the revolution of ages.
In some
friends and relations who are suffering in another
parts of the island he is represented under the figure world, every listener contributes some charitable
of a naked young man, or else resembling a young benefaction to extenuate the torments of their de-
woman in the face, with holes in his ears; in others, ceased friends.
he appears with three heads, each covered with a The sect of devout worshippers of Amidas form a
80
AMIN-AMMON.
1
united and powerful body, manifesting peculiar re- | by these savage monks, to take the general con-
gard for any member of their order. They count it | fessions of their penitents. On the summit of this
their duty to assist one another in time of distress. rock there is a thick iron bar, about three ells in
They bury the dead themselves, or contribute out of length, which projects over the belly of the rock,
their own private stock or the alms which they col- but is so contrived, as to be drawn back again when-
lect, towards the interment of such as are unable, ever 'tis thought convenient. At the end of this
through their necessitous circumstances, to bear the bar hangs a large pair of scales, into one of which
expense. On this point they are so scrupulously these monks put the pilgrim, and in the other a
particular, that when any devotee of wealth and rank counterpoise, which keeps him in equilibrio. After
presents himself for enrolment as a member, the very this, by the help of a spring, they push the scales
first question which is proposed to him is, whether off from the rock, quite over the precipice. Thus,
he is willing to contribute, as far as in him lies, to- hanging in the air, the pilgrim is obliged to make a
wards the interment of any deceased brother. On full and ample confession of all his sins, which must
the answer which he gives to this question his ad- be spoken so distinctly, as to be heard by all the
mission depends. If his reply be in the affirmative, assistants at this ceremony; and he must take parti-
he becomes a member of the sect; if in the negative, cular care not to omit or conceal one single sin; to
he is forthwith rejected. The members of this so- be stedfast in his confession, and not to make the
ciety meet in turn at one another's houses twice a- least variation in his account; for the least diminu-
day, that is, morning and evening, in order to sing tion or concealment, though the misfortune should
the Namanda for the consolation and relief of the prove more the result of fear than any evil intention,
dead, and as a precaution in their own favour when is sufficient to ruin the penitent to all intents and
they also shall be overtaken by death.
purposes; for if these inexorable hermits discern the
Confession and penance are with this sect most least prevarication, he who holds the scales gives the
important duties. The penances to which they are bar a sudden jerk, by which percussion the scale
subjected by their bonzes or priests are sometimes gives way, and the poor penitent is dashed to pieces
of the most extraordinary kind. As an instance, we
at the bottom of the precipice. Such as escape,
quote the following as given by Picart:-
through a sincere confession, proceed farther to pay
" These penitents make it their duty to pass over their tribute of divine adoration to the deity of the
several high and almost inaccessible mountains, into place. After they have gratified their father con-
some of the most solitary deserts, inhabited by an fessor's trouble, they resort to another pagod, where
order of Anchorets, who, though almost void of hu- they complete their devotions, and spend several
manity, commit them to the care and conduct of days in public shows, and other amusements."
such as are more savage than themselves. These In order to gain the favour of Amidas, it is neces-
latter lead them to the brinks of the most tremen- sary, his worshippers say, to lead a virtuous life, and
dous precipices, habituate them to the practice of to do nothing contrary to the five commandments,
abstinence, and the most shocking austerities, which which are, 1. Not to kill anything that has life ; 2.
they are obliged to undergo with patience at any Not to steal ; 3. Not to commit fornication ; 4. Not
rate, since their lives lie at stake; for if the pil- to lie; 5. Not to drink strong liquors. Obedience
grim deviates one step from the directions of his to these precepts will secure inevitably the approval
spiritual guides, they fix him by both his hands to of the supreme being, Amidas, who has power to
the branch of a tree, which stands on the brink of a open heaven for their reception, and even to abridge
precipice, and there leave him hanging, till through the duration of the torments of the wicked. See
faintness he quits his hold of the bough, and drops JAPAN (RELIGION OF).
into it. This is, however, the introduction only to AMIN (Arab. faithful), a name given by the Mo-
the discipline they are to undergo ; for in the sequel, hammedans to the angel Gabriel, as faithfully doing
after an incredible fatigue, and a thousand dangers God's will. They attach a great importance to this
undergone, they arrive at a plain, surrounded with angel, who they believe was employed by God to
lofty mountains, where they spend a whole day and carry the Koran down from heaven, verse by verse,
night with their arms across, and their face declined to Mohammed.
upon their knees. This is another act of penance, AMMON, a god worshipped first among the Ethio-
under which, if they show the least symptoms of pians or Libyans, and afterwards among the Egyp-
pain, or endeavour to shift their uneasy posture, the tians, from whom this deity was adopted also by the
unmerciful hermits, whose province it is to overlook Greeks. By the Egyptians he is termed Amun; by
them, never fail, with some hearty bastinadoes, to the Hebrews, Amon; by the Greeks, Zeus Ammon;
reduce them to their appointed situation. In this and by the Romans, Jupiter Ammon. He was regarded
attitude the pilgrims are to examine their consciences, as the Supreme Divinity. Herodotus tells us, that
recollect the whole catalogue of their sins commit- there was an oracle sacred to Ammon at Meroe, and
ted the year past, in order to confess them. After also at Thebes, the capital of Upper Egypt, which,
this strict examination they march again, till they according to Diodorus Siculus, was called Diospolis
come to a steep rock, which is the place set apart or city of Jupiter, and the prophet Nahum calls it
2
4
AMMONIA-AMMONIANS.
81
Ammon or No-Ammon. This deity had a celebrated Greece, at a very early period, spread rapidly, and
temple in Africa, where he was worshipped under temples in honour of him were built at Thebes, Spar-
the figure of a ram, or of a man with a ram's head. ta, Megalopolis, and Delphi, and many individuals
The temple was erected in a beautiful spot, in the were accustomed to set out from Greece on purpose
midst of the Libyan desert. At this place there was to consult the oracle of Zeus Ammon in Libya.
an oracle which Alexander the Great consulted at AMMONIA, a surname of Hera, under which she
the hazard of his life. The fame of this oracle, how- was worshipped at Elis in Greece.
ever, gradually declined. The ram was sacred to AMMONIANS, the followers of Ammonius Sac-
Ammon, and sometimes he is represented as a hu- cas, who taught in the school at Alexandria to-
man being with simply the horns of a ram. Hence wards the close of the second century. He adopted
he is frequently mentioned, in the ancient writers, the doctrines of the Egyptians concerning the uni-
particularly the poets, with the addition of the epi- verse and the Deity as constituting one great whole;
thet Corniger or horn-bearing. Heathen authors differ the eternity of the world, the nature of souls, the
among themselves as to the reason of the ram being empire of providence, and the government of the
dedicated to Ammon. Herodotus traces it to the world by demons. He strove to combine into one
circumstance, that he appeared in the form of a ram consistent set of opinions the Egyptian and Platonic
to his son Hercules. Servius says that they put | systems of philosophy. The school of Ammonius
the horns of a ram upon his statues, because the embraced those among the Alexandrian Christians
responses of his oracles were twisted or involved like who were desirous to unite the profession of the
a ram's horn. When the sun entered Aries or the gospel with the name and the worldly prestige of
ram, which was the first sign of the zodiac, that is, philosophers; and it rapidly extended itself from
at the vernal equinox, the Egyptians celebrated a Egypt over the whole Roman Empire; but its dis-
feast in honour of Ammon, which was conducted in ciples were soon divided into various sects. The
the most extravagant manner, and from this festi- Ammonians laid the foundation of the sect of phi-
val are said to have been derived the Grecian orgies. | losophers distinguished by the name of New Pla-
The Jewish Rabbis allege, and some Christian wri- | tonists (see PLATONISTS, New), who endeavoured
ters coincide in the opinion, that one reason for the to reconcile the discrepancies between the Aristo-
institution of the Passover was to prevent the Jews telian and Platonic systems. Porphyry, in his
from falling into the idolatrous practices of the work against Christianity, calls Origen a disciple
Egyptians; and, accordingly, it was appointed to be of Ammonius, by way of disparagement. And,
celebrated, or at least the lamb was to be taken, on indeed, there is some reason to believe, that though
the tenth day of the month Abib, being the very born of Christian parents, and educated in a clear
time when the Egyptian festival in honour of Am- knowledge of Christian truth, this philosopher be-
mon was held. Rabbi Abraham Seba, noticing the came afterwards an apostate from the Christian
coincidence in point of time, says, “God commanded | faith. Milner calls him "a Pagan Christian,”
that they should celebrate the religious feast of the who imagined that all religions meant the same
Passover at the full moon, that being the time when thing at bottom. But it has been much debated
the Egyptians were in the height of their jollity, whether he continued through life a professed
and sacrificed to the planet which is called the Ram; Christian or apostatized. Eusebius and Jerome
and in opposition to this, God enjoined them to kill assert the former, while Porphyry alleges the lat-
a young ram for an offering." Hence Tacitus, the ter. Mosheim thinks it probable that he did not
Roman historian, speaks of the Passover as “ the
“the openly renounce Christianity, but endeavoured to
ram slain, as it were, in profanation of Ammon." accommodate himself to the feelings of all parties ;
Ammon has been regarded by many writers as a and, therefore, he was claimed by both Pagans and
deification of Ham, whose posterity peopled Africa, Christians. The grand idea which he seems to have
and whose son, Mizraim, was the founder of the had in view, was to bring all sects and religions into
Egyptian polity and power, the very name of the harmony. By converting paganism into an alle-
country Mitzr being obviously derived from Miz- gory, conveying under its mythology important
raim. It appears, however, very improbable, that | truths; and then, on the other hand, by robbing
Ammon and Ham are identical, the more likely ex-Christianity of all its high and holy peculiarities, he
planation being, that Ammon represents the sun, endeavoured to make the two extremes meet, and
and the feast in his honour being instituted at the to amalgamate Christianity and Paganism into one
entrance of the sun into Aries, the first sign of the system. The consequence was, that some of the
zodiac, seems strongly to confirm this idea. The est enemies of Christianity, for example Julian
worship of this deity did not originate in Egypt, but the apostate, belonged to the school of Ammonius.
in Ethiopia, and to preserve the remembrance of this This new species of philosophy was adopted by Ori-
fact, it was customary on a certain day to carry the gen and other Christians, and immense harm was
image of the god across the Nile into Libya, and thereby done to Christianity. Plain scriptural truth
after remaining there a few days, it was brought began to be wrapt up in obscure philosophic lan-
back. The worship of this god having passed into guage. An unbridled imagination substituted its
I.
F
82
AMMONITES-AMPHIETES.
own wildest vagaries for the Word of the living AMORITES (RELIGION OF THE). The Amorites
God, and the way was thus opened up for the rush- were a people descended from Amor, the fourth
ing in of that flood of erroneous doctrines and use- son of Canaan. They first peopled the country
less ceremonies, which for centuries afterwards threat- west of the Dead sea, and they had also posses-
ened to overwhelm the Church of Christ, and effec- sions east of that sea, from which they had driven
tually to uproot the vine of Jehovah's own plant- the Ammonites and Moabites. The name Amorites
ing. See ALEXANDRIA (SCHOOL OF).
is often used in Scripture to denote the Canaanites in
AMMONITES (RELIGION OF THE). The Am- general. They are described by the prophet Amos
monites were an ancient nation, descended from Am- as being of gigantic stature. It is probable that they
mon, the son of Lot. They inhabited a region form- were early acquainted with the true religion, but
ing a portion of Arabia Petræa, having destroyed the that the worship of idols being introduced from
former inhabitants, who were a gigantic race, called Chaldea and Persia, was embraced by them. Wor-
the Zamzummims. The religion of this people was in shipping at first the sun and moon and the other
all probability pure in its origin, being derived from heavenly bodies, they passed on to other forms of
the instructions of Lot, who was a faithful worship- idolatry, until, not liking to retain the true God in
per of the true God. By degrees, however, they their knowledge, “they changed the glory of the in-
swerved from the worship of the true God into that corruptible God into an image made like to corrupt-
of idols. Their principal deity was MOLOCH (which ible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and
see), in honour of whom they are described in Scrip- creeping things.” Their morals became as corrupt
ture as having "made their children pass through as their doctrines, and, in common with the other
the fire,” an expression which has been differently idolaters of Canaan, they were given over by God
interpreted by Christian and Jewish writers; the into the hands of the Israelites, who were command-
former viewing it as literal, the latter as metaphori-ed, as instruments of vengeance in the hands of the
cal. There was a place near Jerusalem where this Almighty, to smite and utterly destroy them.
horrid rite is said to have been observed. It bore AMPHIARAUS, a remarkable seer or prophet
the name of " the valley of the sons of Hinnom,” among the ancient Greeks, who, having been deified
and is said to have been so called from the shrieks after his death, was worshipped first at Oropus,
of the children sacrificed by their own parents to where he had a temple, and afterwards throughout
the grim idol. It is now called Wadi Jehennam or all Greece. He gave his oracles in dreams, and the
the Valley of Hell.
persons who consulted him having sacrificed a sheep,
AMOR, the god of love and harmony among the stripped off its skin, spread it on the ground, and
ancient Romans. See EROS.
slept upon it, expecting a fulfilment of what they had
AMORAJIM (Heb. commentators), a class of doc- asked from the oracle. Plutarch relates a story of
tors among the modern Jews, who directed their a servant having been despatched in the time of
whole attention to the explanation of the Mishna or Xerxes to consult the oracle of Amphiaraus con-
Book of Traditions, which had been collected and cerning Mardonius. This servant being asleep in the
compiled by Rabbi Judah, commonly called Hakka- | temple, dreamed that an officer of the temple re-
dosh, the Holy. The Jerusalem Talmud had been proached him, and beat him, and at last threw a
prepared as a commentary upon the Mishna, but it stone at him, because he would not go out; and it
was objected to by many Jews as containing only happened afterwards that Mardonius was slain by
the opinion of a small number of doctors. Besides, the lieutenant of the king of Lacedemon, having re-
it was written in a very barbarous dialect, which was ceived a blow on his head by a stone which killed
spoken in Judea, and corrupted by the mixture of him. This coincidence Plutarch notes as a remark-
strange nations. Accordingly, the Amorajim arose, able instance of the predictive power of the oracle.
who began a new exposition of the Traditions. Rab- AMPHIBALUM. See CHASIBLE.
bi Asa or Asha undertook this work, who taught a AMPHICTYONIS, a surname of Demeter, given
school at Sora, near Babylon, where, after he had to her as being worshipped at Anthela, where the
taught forty years, he produced his Commentary Amphictyons of Thermopylæ met, and because sac-
upon Judah's Mishna. He did not live to finish rifices were offered to her at the opening of every
it, but his sons and scholars brought it to comple- meeting.
tion. This is called the Gemara or the Talmud of AMPHIDROMIA, a religious feast of the ancient
Babylon, which is generally preferred to the Talmud | Pagans, solemnized on the fifth day after the birth
of Jerusalem. It is a large and extensive work, of a child, when the midwife and all the attendants
containing the Traditions, the Canons of the Law of ran round the hearth carrying the child, and by
the Jews, and all the Questions relating to the Law. that means entering it, as it were, into the family.
In these two Talmuds, the Jerusalem and the Baby- On that joyful occasion, the parents and friends of
lonian, to the exclusion of the Law and the Pro- the infant gave small presents to the women, and
phets, are contained the whole of the Jewish reli- made a feast for them.
gion, as it is now professed by the Jews. See TAL- AMPHIETES, or AMPHIETERUS, a surname of
MUD-MISHNA.
Dionysus, in whose honour festivals were held
3
AMPHILOCHUS-AMULETS.
83
annually at Athens, and every three years at carried on a controversy for some time with Ams-
Thebes.
dorf on the subject; but finding that both parties
AMPHILOCHUS, a son of AMPHIARAUS (which were proceeding on a misunderstanding of one
see), and, like his father, a prophet or seer among another's real opinions, it was discontinued.
the ancient Greeks. He was worshipped along with AMULETS, charms against mischief, witch-
his father at Oropus. He had an oracle at Mallos
He had an oracle at Mallos craft, or diseases. These seem to have been in
in Cilicia, and Plutarch tells a story of one Thesba- use from very early times. The ear-rings which
cius, who was informed by response from the oracle, Jacob (Gen. xxxv. 2–4) obliged his people to
that he should reform after his death, which, strange deliver up to him were probably used as instru-
to say, happened as had been predicted, for Thesba- ments of superstition, and, accordingly, to put an
cius having been killed, came to life three days after, end to such charms, he buried them under an oak
and became a new man. Pausanias says that the near Shechem.
The frequent allusions in the law
oracle of Amphilochus was more to be credited than also to binding the words of the law as a sign upon
any other. See ORACLES.
their hands, and as frontlets between their eyes,
AMPHITHURA (Gr. folding doors), a name evidently refer to the previous use of talismans and
given by Chrysostom and Evagrius to the veils or amulets, which were worn in the manner here alluded
hangings which in the ancient Christian churches to. Medical practice among the ancient Jews chiefly
divided the chancel from the rest of the church. consisted of the use of amulets. And even still, the
They received this name from their opening in the Jews are a remarkably superstitious people, convert-
middle like folding doors. They were sometimes | ing the whole arrangements of the law, their phylac-
richly adorned with gold. The use of them was teries, their mezuzzoth, their dresses, and whole
partly to hide the altar part of the church from the ceremonies into a system of charms or amulets, in
catechumens and unbelievers, and partly to cover the whose talismanic power they put implicit confidence.
sacrifice of the eucharist in the time of consecration, Some Jews wear an amulet consisting of a small
as we learn from these words of Chrysostom, quoted piece of parchment, with a few cabbalistic words
by Bingham: “ When the sacrifice is brought forth, written upon it by one of their Rabbis. Some have a
when Christ the Lamb of God is offered, when you bulb of garlic hanging about them tied up in a linen
hear this signal given, let us all join in common rag; and others carry a small piece of their passover-
prayer; when you see the veils withdrawn, then cake in their pocket. Many who carry none of these
think you see heaven opened, and the angels de- amulets on their person, never forget to cover their
scending from above." See CHANCEL.
forehead when they are apprehensive of any danger
AMPHITRITE, the wife of Poseidon, in ancient of an evil eye, in consequence of any person looking
Greek mythology, and the goddess of the sea. Ho- at them too steadily for a long time.
mer sometimes uses the word to denote the sea. А. Among all the oriental nations, amulets composed
figure of her is often seen on coins of Syracuse, and of metal, wood, stone, shells, gems, coral, and, in
a colossal statue of her is still to be seen in the Villa short, any thing that a superstitious imagination
Albani.
could invent, have been in use from the earliest ages.
AMPLIAS (FESTIVAL OF). This festival in The ancient Greeks and Romans, also, were much
the Greek calendar is observed on the 31st October, addicted to the use of amulets. Eustathius tells us
in honour of Amplias, who is mentioned Rom. xvi. 8, that the famous goddess Diana, whose image was
as one whom Paul particularly loved.
worshipped at Ephesus, rendered that city notorious,
AMSCHASPANDS, the seven Archangels in the not only for its idolatry, but for the practice of
system of HINDUISM (which see).
magic. “The mysterious symbols," he says, “called
AMSDORFSIANS, the followers of Nicholas Ephesian letters,' were engraved on the crown, the
Amsdorf, a Lutheran divine of the sixteenth century. feet, and the girdle of the goddess. These letters,
He was bishop of Naumburg in Saxony. At the when pronounced, were regarded as a charm, and
commencement of the Reformation in Germany, were directed to be used especially by those who
he attached himself to Luther, accompanying him were in the power of evil spirits. When written,
to the diet of Worms, and was with him when they were carried about as amulets." Curious
the Reformer was seized by the elector of Saxony stories are told of their influence. Cresus is re-
and conducted to Magdeburg. He wrote on lated to have repeated the mystic syllables when on
several theological subjects, and being a strong his funeral pile; and an Ephesian wrestler is said to
supporter of the doctrine of justification by faith have always struggled successfully against an anta-
alone, he was openly charged, like all the other gonist from Miletus, until he lost the scroll, which
SOLIFIDIANS (which see), with a wild and extra- before had been like a talisman. The study of these
vagant Antinomianism. He has been absurdly symbols was an elaborate science, and books, both
represented as maintaining that good works are not numerous and costly, were compiled by its professors.
only unprofitable, but an actual impediment to salva- From the early Christian writers it is plain that
tion. Major, who inclined somewhat to the opinion amulets must have been used to some extent, even
that we are justified on the ground of personal merit
, | by Christians themselves. On this subject Bingham,
6
84
AMULETS.
in his ' Antiquities of the Christian Church,' makes there proposes the example of Job, and Lazarus,
some very judicious remarks as to the origin of this, and the infirm man who had waited at the pool of
practice among the primitive: Christians, and the ex- Bethesda thirty and eight years, who never betook
tent to which it prevailed. We gladly quote the themselves to any diviner, or enchanter, or juggler,
passage, as illustrative of our present subject. or impostor; they tied no amulets. nor plates to their
“Constantine had allowed the heathen, in the bodies, but expected their help only from the Lord,
beginning of his reformation, for some time, not and Lazarus chose rather to die in his sickness and
only to consult their augurs in public, but also to sores, than betray. his religion in any wise, by having
use charms by way of remedy for bodily distem- recourse to those forbidden arts for cure. This he
pers, and to prevent storms of rain and hail from reckons a sort of martyrdom, when men choose
injuring the ripe fruits, as appears from that very rather to die, or suffer their children to die, than
law, where he condemns the other sort of magic, that make use of amulets and charms; for though they
tended to do mischief, to be punished with death. do not sacrifice their bodies with their own hands,
And probably from this indulgence granted to the as Abraham did his son, yet they offer a mental sac-
heathen, many Christians, who brought a tincture of rifice to: God. On the contrary, he says, the use of
heathenism with them into their religion, might take amulets was idolatry, though they that made a gain
occasion to think there was no great harm in such by it offered a thousand philosophical arguments to
charms or enchantments, when the design was only defend it, saying, We only pray to God, and do no-
to do good and not evil. However it was, this is thing.more; and, the old woman that made them
certain in fact, that many Christians were much in- was a Christian and a believer; with other such like
clined to this practice, and therefore made use of excuses. If thou art. a believer, sign thyself with
charms and amulets, which they called periammata the sign of the cross : say, This is my armour, this
and phylacteria, pendants and preservatives to secure my medicament; besides this I know no other.
themselves from danger, and drive away bodily dis- Suppose a physician should come, and, instead of
tempers. These phylacteries, as they called them, medicines belonging to his art should use enchant-
were a sort of amulets made of ribands, with a text ment only; would you call him a physician? No,
of Scripture or some other charm of words written in no wise; because we see not medicines proper to
in them, which they imagined without any natural his calling : so neither are your medicines proper to
means to be effectual remedies or preservatives the calling of a Christian. He adds, That some wo-
against diseases. Therefore the church, to root out men pụt the names of rivers into their charms; and
this superstition out of men's minds, was forced to others, ashes, and soot, and salt, crying out, That the
make severe laws against it. The council of Laodi- child was taken with an evil eye, and a thousand
cea condemns clergymen that pretended to make ridiculous things of the like nature, which exposed
such phylacteries, which were rather to be called Christians to the scorn of the heathen, many of whom
bonds and fetters for their own souls, and orders all were wiser than to hearken to any such fond impos-
such as wore them to be cast out of the church. St. tures. Upon the whole matter he tells them, That if he
Chrysostom often mentions them with some indigna- found any henceforward that made amulets or charms,
tion : upon those words of the Psalmist, 'I will re- or did any other thing belonging to this art, he would
joice in thy salvation,' he says, We ought not simply no longer spare them : meaning, that they should
to desire to be saved, and delivered from evil by any feel the severity of ecclesiastical censure for such
means whatever, but only by God. And this I say offences. In other places he complains of women
upon the account of those who use enchantments in that made phylacteries of the Gospels to hang about
diseases, and seek to relieve their infirmities by other their necks. And the like complaints are made by
impostures. For this is not salvation, but destruc- St. Basil, and Epiphanius. Which shows that this
tion. In another place dissuading Christians from piece of superstition, of trying to cure diseases with-
running to the Jews, who pretended to cure diseases out physic, was deeply rooted in the hearts of many
by such methods, he tells them that Christians are to Christians."
obey Christ, and not to fly to his enemies: though they In Oriental writers there are very frequent men-
pretend to make cures, and promise you a remedy to tion of amulets being worn as ornaments, particu-
invite you to them, choose rather to discover their larly by females. They were often formed of gold
impostures, their enchantments, their amulets, their and silver, and precious stones. Schroeder, in his
witchcraft ; for they pretend to work cures no other curious and elaborate work, De Vestitu Mulierun
way; neither indeed do they work them truly at all, Hebræarum, on the dress of Hebrew females, devotes
God forbid. But I will say one thing further, al- an entire chapter to the amulet as an ornament cus-
though they did work true cures, it were better to tomarily worn by Hebrew women. Lightfoot says
die than to go to the enemies of Christ, and be cured that "there was no people in the whole world that
after that manner. For what profit is it to have more used or were more fond of amulets." The
the body cured with the loss of our soul? What Mishna forbade the use of them on Sabbath, unless
advantage, what comfort shall we get thereby, when prescribed by some approved physician, that is, by a
we must shortly be sent into everlasting fire? He person who knew that at least three persons had
AMYCLÆUS—ANABAPTISTS.
85
been cured by the same means. The religion of al- | serving, therefore, for the article BAPTISTS, the con-
most all heathen nations consists of a mass of super- sideration of the supporters of adult baptism, we
stitions, and accordingly the use of amulets or charms limit the name Anabaptists to the sect which sprung
generally forms an important part of their religious. up in Germany about the time of the Lutheran Re-
ceremonies. In the Roman Catholic religion, the formation. “ Upon any great revolution in religion,”
scapular, the rosary, the use of relics, all may be as Dr. Robertson well remarks in his History of
considered as-coming under the designation of amu- Charles V., "irregularities abound most at that par-
lets, from, the use of which most important advanz- ticular period when men, having thrown off the
tages are expected. Scapulars are generally required; authority of their ancient principles, do not yet fully
to be worn hanging from the neck.. Consecrated comprehend the nature, or feel the obligation of those
medals are also used in the same way. Small por- new tenets which they have embraced. The mind
tions of relics of saints are frequently employed for in that situation, pushing forward with that: boldness
the cure of diseases.
which prompted it to reject established opinions, and
AMYCLÆUS, a surname of Apollo, derived from not guided by a clear knowledge of the system sub-
Amyclæ in Laconia, where he was worshipped, a stituted in their place, disdains all restraint, and runs
colossal statue in his honour having been erected in into wild notions, which often lead to scandalous or
that place.
immoral conduct.” The principle here enunciated
AMYRALDISTS, the followers of Moses Amy- goes far to account for the extravagant opinions
raut, or Amyraldus, a French Protestant divine of which in the days of Luther were broached by. Mun-
the seventeenth century. He studied at Saumur, cer, Storck, and other Anabaptists in Upper Ger-
where he
was chosen Professor of Theology. many, spreading from thence into the Netherlands
Through him an attempt was made by Cardinal and Westphalia.
Richelieu to effect a union of the Protestants and The most remarkable tenet of the Anabaptists,
Romanists. For this purpose a Jesuit named Au- and that which, as we have seen, gave origin to their
debert was commissioned to treat with Amyraut. name, had a reference to the sacrament of baptism,
The Jesuit stated that for the sake of peace the which they alleged ought to be administered to per-
king and his minister were willing to give up the sons who had reached years of understanding, and
invocation of saints and angels, purgatory; and the should be performed not by sprinkling, but by. im-
merit of good works; that they would limit the mersion. Thus they condemned the baptism of in-
power of the Pope; and if the court of Rome would fants, and insisted that all who had been baptized in
consent to it, they would create a patriarch; that the infancy should be baptized anew. Adult baptism by
cup should be allowed to the laity, and that some immersion, however, was far from being the only or
other. changes might be made. Amyraut mentioned even the most important principle maintained by the
the eucharist. The Jesuit said no change in that Anabaptists. They taught doctrines subversive of
was proposed. Amyraut instantly replied that, no- the peace and good order of civil society. Of such
thing can be done. This ended the conference, a dangerous character and tendency undoubtedly
which had lasted for four hours. Amyraut published was the idea which they openly maintained, that to
a work on Predestination and Grace, which occa- Christians who have the precepts of the gospel, and
sioned a keen, controversy between him and some the Spirit: of: God to direct them, the office of the
other divines. The doctrine which he maintained magistracy is altogether unnecessary, and an en-
principally consisted of the following particulars : croachment besides on their spiritual liberty. The
That God desires the happiness of all men, and none power exercised by the civil authorities. was thus in
are excluded by.a divine decree; that none can ob- their view an unwarranted usurpation, and ought to
tain salvation without faith in Christ; that God re- be resisted by every true Christian. In the same
fuses to none the power of believing, though he does spirit of opposition to the wholesome regulations of
not grant to all his assistance that they may improve civil society, the Anabaptists declared that all men
this power to saving purposes ; and that many perish are on an equality, and that the distinctions in rank,
through their own fault. The name of Universalists wealth, and birth, which obtain usually in communi-
was sometimes given to those who embraced these ties, ought to be discountenanced and abolished;
doctrines, though they evidently rendered grace uni- that Christians should throw their possessions into
versal in words only, but partial in reality.
one common stock, and live in a state of complete
ANABAPTISTS (Gr. ana, anew, and baptizo, to equality as members of the same family. But carry-
baptize), a Christian sect which arose in the sixteenth ing still farther their notions of the unbridled free-
century, who maintained that those who have been dom which belongs to Christians under the gospel,
baptized in their infancy ought to be baptized anew. they taught that neither the laws of nature nor the
The word is equivalent to BAPTISTS (which see), the word of God had imposed any restraints upon men
name usually assumed by those who deny the vali- in regard to the number of wives which a man might
dity of infant baptism. That large and respectable marry.
body of Christians, however, reject the appellation of Such opinions were fraught with no small danger
Anabaptists, considering it a term of reproach. Re- | in a social and political aspect, more especially at a
86
ANABAPTISTS.
time and in a country so remarkably under the in- mob without some effort being made for its recovery.
fluence of religious excitement. Nor did the Ana- The bishop of the town accordingly, having collected
baptists content themselves with the maintenance a large army, advanced to besiege it. The attempt,
simply of their peculiar religious tenets; they exerted however, was unsuccessful; Matthias repulsed them
themselves with the utmost energy and zeal to gain with great slaughter. Flushed with victory, he ap-
proselytes to their cause. Two individuals particu- peared next day brandishing a spear, and declaring
larly, John Matthias, a baker of Haerlem, and John that, like Gideon of old, with a handful of men he
Boccold, a journeyman tailor of Leyden, fired with would put to flight a host of the enemies of God.
enthusiastic devotion to the Anabaptist principles, Thirty of his followers accompanied him in this wild
assumed to themselves the leadership of the sect, enterprise, and, as might have been expected, they
and fixing their residence at Munster, an imperial | were cut off to a man. The death of Matthias at
city in Westphalia, they promulgated their doctrines first struck consternation into the minds of his dis-
with such plausibility and power, that they suc- ciples; but his associate, Boccold the tailor, assum-
ceeded in attracting a large number of converts, and ) ing to be invested with the same divine commission,
gathering boldness as they proceeded in their work, and to be possessed of the same prophetic powers,
they took forcible possession of the arsenal and succeeded the deceased prophet in the leadership of
senate-house during the night, and running through the Anabaptist enthusiasts. The war, however,
the streets with drawn swords, they exclaimed, under this new commander, was now simply of a de-
“Repent, and be baptized," alternating this invita- fensive character. Wanting the courage of Mat-
tion with the solemn denunciation, “ Depart, ye un- thias, he excelled him in craft. To gratify his un-
godly.” The senators, nobles, and more peaceable bounded ambition, he resorted to measures of the
citizens, both Protestants and Papists, fled in confu- most discreditable kind. Stripping himself naked, he
sion, leaving the frantic enthusiasts in undisturbed marched through the streets of Munster, proclaiming
possession of the town. Having thus entrenched with a loud voice, “That the kingdom of Sion was at
themselves in Munster, a city of some importance, hand; that whatever was highest on earth should be
they made a pretence of establishing a government, brought low, and whatever was lowest should be ex-
electing senators, and appointing consuls of their alted.” To substantiate his own prediction, he or-
own sect. The mainspring of the whole movement, dered the churches to be levelled with the ground,
however, was the baker Matthias, who, in the style he degraded the senators chosen by Matthias, and
and with the authority of a prophet, issued his com-
reduced the consul to a common hangman, an ar-
mands which it was instant death to disobey. Urged rangement to which the pusillanimous functionary
on by this reckless fanatic, the mob proceeded to tamely submitted. Presuming to exercise the same
pillage the churches, deface their ornaments, and to authority as that which was possessed by Moses the
destroy all books except the Bible. Matthias gave Jewish legislator, he substituted in place of the de-
orders that the property of all who had left the city posed senators, twelve judges according to the num-
should be confiscated, and sold to the inhabitants of ber of the twelve tribes of Israel.
the adjacent country. He commanded his followers John Boccold, or John of Leyden, as he is often
to bring all their silver, gold, and other valuables, termed, had now prepared the people for the crown-
and to lay them at his feet, and depositing in a com- ing act of arrogance which they were about to wit-
mon treasury the property thus accumulated, he ap- ness. Summoning them together, he declared it to
pointed deacons to dispense it for the common ad- be the will of God that he should be king of Sion,
vantage. He arranged that all should eat at a pub- and should sit on the throne of David. From that
lic table, while he himself appointed the dishes of moment he assumed all the state and pomp of royal-
which they were to partake.
ty. Wearing a crown of gold, and clothed in the
The next point to which Matthias directed his at- richest and most sumptuous robes, he appeared in
tention was, the defence of the city from external public with a Bible in one hand, and a sword in the
invasion. For this purpose he collected large maga- other, while a large body-guard surrounded his per-
zines of every kind, constructed fortifications, and son. He coined money stamped with his own image,
trained his followers to arms. He sent emissaries to and demanded homage of the humblest kind from all
the Anabaptists in the Low Countries, inviting them his subjects.
to assemble at Munster, which he dignified with the The upstart monarch was not long in showing
name of Mount Sion, and from that city as a centre- himself in his true character. Giving full sway
point, he proposed that they should set out for the to the basest appetites and passions, he urged upon
subjugation of the whole earth. Meanwhile he ani- the people, through his prophets and teachers, the
mated his people by pretended revelations and pro- lawfulness and even necessity of taking more wives
phecies, rousing their passions, and preparing them to than one, asserting this to be a privilege granted
undertake or suffer anything for the maintenance of by God to his saints. Well knowing that example
their opinions.
is far more powerful in its influence than pre-
It was not to be expected that a city such as Mun- cept, he himself married three wives, one of them
ster should be left long at the mercy of a lawless being the widow of Matthias, a woman of great per-
ANABAPTISTS.
87
sonal attractions. To this number of wives he made pressing the zeal of Hofman, who openly asserted
gradual additions as caprice or passion prompted, himself to be the restorer of Christianity, and the
until they amounted to fourteen. Of these, however, founder of a new kingdom. He is said to have
the widow of his predecessor was alone styled queen, maintained that Christ had only one nature, and
and invested with the honours and dignities of roy- could not be united to a body taken from the Vir-
alty. Polygamy now became fashionable among the gin Mary, because all human flesh was defiled and
Anabaptists of Munster, and it was even deemed accursed.
accursed. The whole work of salvation, in his opi-
criminal to decline availing themselves in this mat- nion, depends entirely and solely on our free-will.
ter of what they considered the liberty which be- He taught, also, that infant-baptism originated from
longed to them as the people of the Most High. the Evil One. Anabaptism, however, can scarcely
Freedom of divorce, the natural attendant on poly- be said to have commenced with Hofman. The
gamy, was introduced. The most revolting excesses real founders of the sect appear to have been Storck,
were now indulged in, and all under the alleged sanc- Stubner, and Munzer. By fasting and other auster-
tion of religion the most spiritual and devout. ities they soon succeeded in establishing to them-
The scandal thrown by Boccold and his followers selves among the people a reputation for pre-emi-
upon the cause of true Christianity, awakened the nent sanctity. Dressed in coarse garments, and with
deepest indignation and sorrow in the breasts of all long beards, they travelled through Germany preach-
thoughtful men, but more especially of the friends | ing their peculiar tenets with an ardour and earnest-
of the Reformation. The first appearance of such ness which attracted many followers. Disowning the
a spirit had called forth the loudest remonstrances legitimacy of temporal authority when exercised over
on the part of Luther, who had even entreated the the saints, they called upon their people to raise the
states of Germany to interpose their authority, and standard of rebellion against all secular princes. The
put a stop to the promulgation of a heresy which result was, that a large, though ill-disciplined army,
was no less injurious to social order than to the was speedily formed, which commenced a war usual-
cause of true religion. No steps, however, had ly called by historians “The Country-Peasants'
hitherto been taken by the civil authorities to repress War."
the outrages of these licentious enthusiasts. But The first step taken by this motley band was to
matters had now assumed a critical aspect. The publish a manifesto consisting of twelve articles, one
Anabaptists were no longer merely a sect of wild of them containing a resolution to obey no princes
enthusiasts ; they were a formidable political com- or magistrates beyond what should appear to them
munity, who had entrenched themselves for fifteen just and reasonable. This rebellion against all civil
months in a fortified city, and bade defiance to the authority was headed by Muntzer, a man of a bold and
whole princes of the empire.
enterprising spirit, aided by Pfeifer, a monk, who
In the spring of 1535, the Bishop of Munster hav- had left his convent and renounced Popery. The
ing been joined by reinforcements from all parts of army commanded by these two leaders was numerous
Germany, regular siege was laid to the city, and an and enthusiastic; but being attacked by a body of
entrance having been effected, rather by stratagem regular troops they were entirely defeated in May
than force, the Anabaptists were overpowered by 1525, and both Muntzer and Pfeifer were taken pri-
numbers, most of them were slain, and the remainder soners and beheaded.
taken prisoners. John of Leyden having been seized, Thus deprived of their leaders the Anabaptists
was loaded with chains, and carried from city to city were scattered throughout different countries, some
as a spectacle to gratify the curiosity of the people, passing into Poland, others into Bohemia and Hun-
who were permitted and encouraged to insult him at gary. Hubmeyer preached the opinions of the sect in
will. The intrepid youth, then only twenty-six Switzerland, and having at an earlier period been ban-
years of age, was taken back to Munster, the scene ished by the same authorities, he retired into Moravia,
of his former grandeur, and there put to death with and was burnt at Vienna in 1527. A branch of the
the most exquisite as well as lingering tortures, Anabaptists was formed in Silesia, chiefly by the
which he endured with astonishing fortitude, while labours of Schwenckfeldt, a Lutheran, who, from
to the last he adhered with the most unflinching some slight peculiarity of opinion, gave rise to a new
firmness to the peculiar tenets of his sect. The death sect, called from him SCHWENCKFELDIANS (which
of Boccold, and the destruction of the great body of see). Hutter, also, who laboured in Moravia, gave
his followers, proved the extinction of the sect of origin to what are called the HUTTERIAN BRETH-
Anabaptists in Germany,
REN (which see). At Delft in Holland, the cause of
The Anabaptists obtained an earlier as well as a the Anabaptists was maintained by David George,
firmer footing in the Low Countries than in any a contemporary of Hofman. He is said to have as-
other country of Europe. Melchior Hofman had sumed the character of the Messiah, and of one sent
preached the doctrines of the sect in 1525, notwith-by God to publish a new adoption of children of the
standing the complaint of Luther that he had taken Most High; he is likewise charged with denying the
upon him to preach without a call. The remon- resurrection and the life to come, with allowing wives
strance of the German Reformer had no effect in re- to be in common, and pretending that sin defiled
88
ANABAPTISTS.
only the body. One writer says, that David George | infallibly be placed on the left hand amongst the
was sentenced to be publicly whipped at Delft, that goats; and, on the contrary, God will acknowledge
his tongue was bored through, and a sentence of his own sheep, and set on the right hand all true
banishment for six years passed upon him. The and faithful Anabaptists.
same author adds, that his doctrines were considered Making allowance for the false colouring which
so shameful and absurd by the other Anabaptists, the enemies of the Anabaptists were liable to im-
that he was excommunicated by them, and forced part to any statement of their doctrines, it may be
to form a separate congregation.
seen from this brief summary, as given by the wri-
The sect of Anabaptists made rapid progress in ters of the time, that, besides the characteristic
Holland and Lower Germany. New branches sprung doctrine of Anabaptism, or the rebaptizing of adults
up in many different places, and with various modi- who had been baptized in infancy, the points on
fications of theological sentiment. A work appeared which this earnest body of Christian men seem to
entitled “The Work of the Establishment,' in which have chiefly insisted, were that the freedom, or
the expectation was held forth, that before the final the liberty wherewith Christ makes his people
judgment Christ would appear in person to reign for free, “involves exemption from the control of the
a time upon the earth, and that his kingdom would civil magistrate; and also that the taking of oaths,
commence with settling the creed of the Anabap- even in a court of law, is unlawful, since Christ him-
tists, who, it was alleged, were the saints destined self has said, “Swear not at all." These two points
to reign with Christ, and for whom the privilege was seem to have formed the leading articles of the creed
reserved of enjoying all the advantages which the of the early Anabaptists, and to have been held in
personal reign of Christ would bring along with it. common by all the various sects into which the
These opinions were readily embraced by multitudes main body was divided. As to a community of
in Holland, Friesland, and other parts of the Low goods, a plurality of wives, lay preaching, and other
Countries. Nor did the spirit of persecution which points laid to the charge of the Anabaptists in gen-
broke forth against them tend in the least to check eral, such tenets seem rather to have belonged to
the progress of the sect. Like the Israelites in peculiar sects of Anabaptists than to be properly
Egypt, the more they were oppressed the more they chargeable to the great body.
grew and multiplied, so that they became a power- The rise of this sect and its rapid diffusion over
ful body, an offshoot of which was transplanted to various countries of the Continent of Europe tended
England, where it flourished for a time. Otto, in not a little to retard the progress of the Reformation
his · Annales Anabaptistici,' enumerates no fewer | in Germany, apt as many of the enemies of Pro-
than seventy-seven different sects, all holding the testantism were to regard the strange notions of the
great principles of the body, but varying in opinion | Anabaptists as the natural consequence of the as-
on minor points.
sumption of the right of private judgment. Luther,
Ecclesiastical writers of the sixteenth century have | Melancthon, Zuingle, and Bullinger exposed the er-
arranged the whole system of Anabaptist doctrine roneous and unscriptural character of many of the new
under seven heads or articles, which they allege were opinions; and yet in spite of all their remonstrances
put forth by the body itself in 1529. They are as the principles of the Lutheran Reformation have been
follows:-
too often identified with the extravagant tenets of
1. A Christian ought not to bear arms, or acknow- the Anabaptists. But the fact is, that the move-
ledge any civil magistrate, because Christ has said, ments and insurrections of the period show that
“The kings of the Gentiles exercise authority over these sectaries were mingled up with a political or
them; but it shall not be so among you.” Magis-
0 among you.” Magis- revolutionary cabal which agitated Europe from one
trates and princes are only to be obeyed when their end of it to the other. There were at that time,
commands are just and rational.
however, Anabaptists of a very different charac-
2. It is not lawful to swear, not even when civil | ter, who, holding the views of their brethren on
magistrates command us to lift up our hands. the subject of baptism, stood entirely aloof from
3. Almighty God does not call any true Chris- those violent insurrectionary movements which
tian to administer justice, or to preserve the public brought so much scandal upon the whole body to
tranquillity.
which they belonged. Among the exceptional classes
4. The chair of Moses is only with the Anabap- of Anabaptists to which we refer, are to be ranked
tists, and no one can be predestinated to eternal life the MENNONITES (which see) of Holland, and the
unless he belongs to that sect.
Anabaptists in France.
5. Hence it follows, by a necessary consequence,
About the middle of the sixteenth century the
that they only have a right to preach the gospel Anabaptists appeared in England, several German
and to instruct mankind.
refugees having found their way to that country
6. All those, therefore, who oppose the progress in consequence of the Peasants' War, a politi-
of Anabaptists, are to be declared reprobates. co-religious insurrection in Germany with which
7. Whoever, then, at the day of final judgment, many of the Anabaptists, in common with others
shall not be found to have professed Anabaptism shall of their countrymen, were undoubtedly connect-
ANABATÆ-ANAGOGIA.
89
ed. The opinions which these refugees propa- This piece of clerical costume is no longer in use in
gated in England are thus noticed by Hooper in a the English Church.
letter to Bullinger, dated June, 1649, “ They pre- ANACALYPTERIA (Gr. anakaluptein, to un-
tend that a man once reconciled with God is ever after cover), festivals among the ancient Greeks held
without sin, and freed from all inordinate desires, on the third day after marriage, when the bride was
nothing remaining in him of the old Adam. If it allowed for the first time to lay aside her veil and
should happen that a regenerate person, who has appear uncovered. On the same day presents were
received the Holy Ghost, should fall into sin, he can also accustomed to be made to the newly-married
never obtain forgiveness. God is, in their opinion, lady, which received the name of Anacalypteria. Be-
subject to a fatal and absolute necessity; besides the fore marriage young females were rarely permitted
will which he has notified to us in the Sacred Scrip- to appear in public, or to converse with the male sex.
tures, he has another by which he is forced to do They wore a veil, also, which was called kalyptron,
necessarily what he does. Some of them think that which was only removed on the occasion now noticed.
the souls of men are not different from the beasts, ANACAMPTERIA (Gr. anakampto, to unbend),
but equally mortal.” It is much to be regretted small buildings which were erected adjacent to an-
that, although there is no evidence that the opinions cient Christian churches, designed to serve as little
subversive of civil order which were so industriously hospitals or inns, where poor persons and travellers
circulated by the Anabaptists on the Continent, were might unbend or relax themselves on their journey.
ever broached in England, yet they were visited with Bingham supposes that they might serve also as
the most bitter persecution, even to the death. And lodgings for such as fled to take sanctuary in the
in the reign of James I., among the persecuted exiles
church.
who fled from England to Holland, were several Ana- ANACEA, a festival of antiquity held at Athens
baptists. The fire of persecution, indeed, was sedu- in honour of the Dioscuri, or Castor and Pollux, who
lously kept alive till 1611, when Legat and Wight- were called Anaces.
man, both of them holding Anabaptist principles, ANACLETERIA, a solemn festival which was
were buint at the stake. It is somewhat remarka- celebrated among the Greeks when their kings or
ble that William Sawtree, the first who suffered for princes came of age and took into their hands the
his religious opinions in England, by being burnt reins of government. On this joyful occasion a pro-
alive, is supposed to have denied infant baptism. clamation was made, and the people hastened to
So that the Anabaptists, or rather Anti-Pædo-Bap- salute their new monarch and to congratulate him
tists, have the honour of claiming both the first on his entrance upon the regal office.
and the last English martyr that perished in the ANACTORON (Gr. anax, a king), a name applied
flames.
by Eusebius to a Christian Church, as being the pa-
The Modern BAPTISTS (which see) rightly re- lace of the Great King. It corresponds to BASILICA
ject the name of Anabaptists. According to their
According to their | (which see).
own principles they are not, in the literal or proper ANADEMA, an ornament of the head with which
sense of the word, Anabaptists or Rebaptizers; and victors were adorned in the sacred games of the an-
yet, according to the principles of all true believers cients.
in Infant Baptism, they are literally and truly Ana- ANADYOMENE (Gr. anaduein, to rise out of),
baptists. For they hold Infant Baptism to be no a name given to APHRODITE (which see), in conse-
valid Christian baptism; and, therefore, to be con- quence of her fabulous origin, as having sprung out
sistent, when they receive into their church one of the foam of the sea. One of the most famous
who had been baptized in infancy, they must give paintings of Apelles is a representation of this an-
him baptism; for he is on their principles an un- cient myth.
baptized person. But, according to the believers in ANA'GAʼMI (an, not, and agami, came), one of the
Infant Baptism, such a person had previously re- four paths, according to Budhism, by which an indi-
ceived a real Christian baptism, and, therefore, to vidual may obtain an entrance into nirwána, or a
baptize him now is to rebaptize him. While, how- cessation of existence. The being that has entered
ever, Baptists, as they term themselves, may be con- this path does not again return to the world of men,
sidered by all consistent Pædo-Baptists as entitled to and hence the name. See BUDHISM.
the name of Anabaptists, such a term ought to be ANAGOGIA, a feast, as Ælian informs us, which
carefully avoided, as seeming to imply that an excel the people of Eryx in Sicily held, because Venus,
lent and highly useful body of Christians, charac- as they alleged, departed from them to go to Libya.
terized by the most peaceable and consistent deport- | The reason assigned for this was, because the pigeons
ment, are to be identified with a turbulent and which abounded in that country disappeared at that
insurrectionary class of men who bore the name of time, and accompanied the goddess, as they thought,
Anabaptists in the sixteenth century. See BAP- in her journey. After ‘nine days they returned,
TISTS-MENNONITES.
when the people celebrated another feast, which they
ANABATÆ, a cope or sacerdotal garment de- termed Catagogia, in honour of the return of the
signed to cover the back and shoulders of a priest. | goddess.
90
ANAITIS-ANATHEMA.
moon.
ANAITIS, an Asiatic deity, anciently worshipped | propriate what the Lord had doomed to be destroyed.
in Armenia, Cappadocia, and other countries. In Hence, also, the sin of Saul (1 Sam. xv. 3) in spar-
counection with the sacred temples which were erect- ing Agag whom the Lord had doomed to utter
ed in her honour, there were sacred lands, and men- ruin.
tion is also made of sacred cows. Among the slaves The word anathema is also used to denote an ex-
who were consecrated to her service, it was customary communication with curses. This was the last and
for the females to prostitute themselves several years heaviest degree of excommunication among the Jews.
before they were married, and in consequence of this It was inflicted when the offender had often refused
they were imagined to acquire a peculiar sanctity, to comply with the sentence of the court, and was
which made it an object of ambition to obtain one of accompanied with corporal punishment, and some-
them in marriage. Anaitis is sometimes confounded times with banishment, and even death. Drusius gives
by the Greek authors with Artemis, and sometimes a form of this excommunication which the Jews allege
with Aphrodite. On the festival in honour of Anai- was used by Ezra and Nehemiah against the Samari-
tis, it was customary for crowds of both sexes to as- tans. The process is said to have been as follows.
semble and intoxicate themselves with wine.
They assembled the whole congregation in the
ANALABUS, which may be translated Scapulary, temple of the Lord, and they brought three hundred
a long tunic without sleeves, worn by superior orders priests, three hundred trumpets, and three hundred
of monks in the Greek church.
books of the law, and the same number of boys.
ANAMMELECH (Heb. ana, melek, oracular | Then they sounded their trumpets, and the Levites,
king). We are informed in 2 Kings xvii. 31, that singing, cursed the Samaritans by all the sorts of ex-
the inhabitants of Sepharvaim, sent from beyond the communication contained in the mystery of the name
Euphrates into Syria, burned their children in Jehovah, and in the Decalogue, and with the curse
honour of Adrammelech and Anammelech. It has of the superior house of judgment, and likewise with
been thought that ADRAMMELECH (which see) re- the curse of the inferior house of judgment, all of
presented the sun, while Anammelech signified the which involved the judicial sentence, that no Israel-
ite should eat the bread of a Samaritan, and that no
ANAPHORA, the oblation among the Coptic Samaritan can be a proselyte in Israel, and that he
churches of Egypt, corresponding to the canon among shall have no part in the resurrection of the dead.
the Latins, when the priest breaks the host into The anathema among the Jews excluded the un-
three pieces, denoting the Trinity, and connects them happy offender from the society and intercourse of
together so skilfully that they do not seem in the his brethren. It was either judiciary or abjuratory.
least to be divided. This ceremony is accompanied By the former, the offender was not only excommu-
with several prayers and other acts of devotion suit-
and other acts of devotion suit- nicated and separated from the faithful, but delivered
able to the solemn occasion.
over, soul and body, to Satan. The abjuratory ana-
ANARGYRES (FESTIVAL OF THE), (Gr. a, not, thema is prescribed to converts, who are obliged to
and arguros, money), celebrated by the Greek church anathematize their former heresy. In the New Tes-
on the 1st November, in honour of two saints named | tament we meet with a very extraordinary and solemn
Cosmus and Damianus, who were brothers, and both form of excommunication, “Let him be anathema
physicians. The Greeks called them Anargyres, be-maranatha," which may be interpreted, " Let him be
cause they practised medicine out of a pure principle accursed at the coming of the Lord.” This was the
of charity, without claiming the smallest recompense. most dreadful imprecation among the Jews, and has
The Greeks mention a miraculous fountain at Athens, been thus paraphrased : “ May he be devoted to the
near a chapel consecrated to these two saints. The greatest of evils, and to the utmost severity of the
fountain never flows but on their festival as soon as divine judgment; may the Lord come quickly to take
the priest has begun to say mass, and in the evening vengeance upon him.”
it is dried up again. Such is the legend by which Among the modern Jews, the anathema, or greater
the honour of these two saints is maintained.
excommunication, which is inflicted for mocking the
ANASTASIUS (FESTIVAL OF ST.), observed by law, or laughing at any of their rites and ceremonies,
the Greek church on the 22d of January.
is of a very severe character. They curse the offend-
ANATHEMA (Gr. that which is set apart). er by heaven and earth; they give him up to the
Among the Jews, anything which was devoted to power of evil angels; they beg that God would de-
destruction must not be redeemed. The beast at stroy him soon, and that he would make all creatures
Sinai that touched the mountain was to be doomed. his enemies. They pray that God would torment
The fields of Gilboa, wet with the blood of Saul and him with every disease, hasten his death, and con-
Jonathan, were devoted (2 Sam. i. 21) by king sign him to utter darkness for ever. No one must
David. Ahab was informed by the Lord (1 Kings presume to approach within six feet of him, and
xx. 42), that Benhadad was doomed. Such were all human assistance is denied him, even if he
the idolatrous Canaanites; such was Jericho also in should be perishing for want of the necessaries of
particular (Josh. vi. 17) with all its spoil, and hence life. They place a stone over his grave to denote
the aggravation of Achan's sin in attempting to ap- that he ought to have been stoned. No relation
ANATHEMA.
91
/
must
go into mourning for him, but they are required one church, sought admission into another. If any
to bless God for taking him out of the world. one travelled without such credentials, he was to be
The final excommunication by anathema was suspected as an excommunicated person, and accord-
practised also in the primitive Christian church ingly treated as one under censure.
A person on
against notorious offenders, who were thereby ex- whom an anathema was pronounced, was not only
pelled from the church, and separated from all com- shut out from the intercourse of the brethren while
munion with her in holy offices. Those who were he lived, but if he died without the sentence being
subjected to this curse were debarred, not only from removed, he was denied the honour and benefit of
the Lord's Supper, but from the prayers and hearing Christian burial. No solemnity of psalms or prayers
the Scriptures read in any assembly of the church. was used at their funeral; nor were they ever to be
From the moment that such a sentence was passed mentioned among the faithful out of the diptychs, or
upon a man, he was looked upon by the brethren as holy books of the church, according to custom, in
an enemy of Christ and a servant of the devil, and the prayers at the altar. But if any one under ana-
his presence was carefully shunned. All were for- thema modestly submitted to the discipline of the
bidden to admit him into their houses, to sit at table church, and was labouring earnestly to obtain a re-
with him, or to show him any of the ordinary civili- admission to the privileges of the church, but was
ties of life. The following form of excommunication, suddenly snatched away by death before he had re-
as pronounced by Synesius upon Andronicus, is ceived absolution, in such a case, the funeral obse-
given by Bingham, and may afford some idea of such quies were allowed to be celebrated with the usual
a sentence in early times.
solemnities of the church.
“Now that the man is no longer to be admonished, It may easily be conceived that subjection to an
but cut off as an incurable member, the church of anathema in the early Christian church, followed as
Ptolemais makes this declaration or injunction to all it was by such painful consequences, must have
her sister churches throughout the world : Let no borne heavily upon the mind of the excommunicated
church of God be open to Andronicus and his accom- man. No wonder that offenders were brought often, in
plices; to Thoas and his accomplices; but let every such circumstances, almost to the brink of despair,
sacred temple and sanctuary be shut against them. and, feeling in all its bitterness the wretchedness of
The devil has no part in paradise; though he privily their forlorn condition, were wont to implore, on any
creep in, he is driven out again. I therefore admo- conditions, however humiliating, to be restored to
nish both private men and magistrates, neither to re- the society of the faithful. Dr. Jamieson, in his
ceive them under their roof nor to their table ; and · Manners and Trials of the Primitive Christians,
priests more especially, that they neither converse draws the following graphic picture of the means
with them living, nor attend their funerals when which the excommunicated were wont to employ in
dead. And if any one despise this church, as being order to obtain the removal of the sentence :-
only a small city, and receive those that are excom- “From day to day they repaired to the cloisters, or
municated by her, as if there was no necessity of ob- the roofless area of the church,—for no nearer were
serving the rules of a poor church; let them know they allowed to approach it,—and there they stood,
that they divide the church by schism which Christ in the most humble and penitent attitude, with
would have to be one. And whoever does so, downcast looks, and tears in their eyes, and smiting
whether he be Levite, presbyter, or bishop, shall be on their breasts; or threw themselves on the ground
ranked in the same class with Andronicus: we will at the feet of the faithful, as they entered to wor-
neither give them the right hand of fellowship, nor ship, begging an interest in their sympathies and
eat at the same table with them; and much less will their prayers,-confessing their sins, and crying out
we communicate in the sacred mysteries with them, that they were as salt which had lost its savour, fit
who choose to have part with Andronicus and Thoas.” only to be trodden under foot. For weeks and
As soon as any person was formally excommuni- months they often continued in this grovelling state,
cated by any church, notice of the event was usually receiving from the passengers nothing but the silent
given to other churches, and sometimes by circular expressions of their pity. Not a word was spoken,
letters to all eminent churches throughout the world, in the way either of encouragement or exhortation;
that all might be warned against admitting the per- for during these humiliating stations at the gate, the
son thus excommunicated to their fellowship. For offenders were considered rather as candidates for
such was the perfect harmony and agreement that penance than as actually penitents. When at last
subsisted among all the churches, that no person ex- they had waited a sufficient length of time in this
communicated in one church could be received in state of affliction, and the silent observers of their
another, unless by the authority of a legal synod, to conduct were satisfied that their outward demonstra-
which there lay a just appeal, and which was allowed tions of sorrow proceeded from a humble and con-
to judge in the case. All deception in such a case trite spirit, the rulers of the church admitted them
was prevented by the practice, which was strictly within the walls, and gave them the privilege of re-
adhered to, of commendatory letters or testimonials maining to hear the reading of the Scriptures and the
being required from every individual who, on leaving
The appointed time for their continuance
sermon.
92
ANATHEMA.
among the hearers being completed, they were ad- many tears, the sin of which he had been guilty, and
vanced to the third order of penitents, whose privi- throwing himself upon the ground, implored the for-
lege it was to wait until that part of the service when giveness of the church for the scandal which he had
the prayers for particular classes were offered up, and brought upon the Christian name, beseeching their
to hear the petitions which the minister, with his intercessory prayers in his behalf. The assembled
hands on their heads, and themselves on their bended congregation then fell down on their knees, along
knees, addressed to God on their behalf, for his mer- with the weeping penitent, and the minister also
cy to pardon and his grace to help them. In due kneeling, laid his hands on the head of the man on
time they were allowed to be present at the celebra- whom had rested the anathema, earnestly supplicated
tion of the communion, and the edifying services that the divine compassion to be extended towards him,
accompanied it; after witnessing which, and offer- and then raising him, placed him among the brethren
ing, at the same time, satisfactory proofs of that at the communion table.
godly sorrow which is unto salvation, the term of All classes of offenders in the early church were
· penance ended.”
subjected with the utmost impartiality to the same dis-
The time during which the anathema rested upon cipline, however severe and degrading. A most re-
an offender varied according to the nature of the markable instance of this kind is recorded in the case
crime, and the state of mind of the criminal. The of the Emperor Theodosius, who flourished about the
usual term was from two to five years. In some year A. D. 370, and who, having been guilty of con-
cases where the sin had been of a very aggravated senting to the massacre of seven thousand people in
kind, and causing much scandal in the church, the the city of Thessalonica, was subjected to anathema
sentence of excommunication extended to ten, twenty, by the church of Milan under the devout and faith-
and even thirty years; and in some cases during the ful Ambrose. The details of this deeply interesting
whole term of life.
event are thus beautifully stated by Dr. Jamieson.
The word anathema occurs frequently in the an- “On the Lord's day, the emperor proceeding to pub-
cient canons, and indeed at the close of each decree lic worship, Ambrose met him at the gates of the
of most of the ecclesiastical councils, the words are church, and peremptorily refused to admit him.
used, “ let him be anathema," that is, separated from This proceeding of Ambrose, extraordinary as it may
the communion of the church, and the favour of appear to us, could not have been surprising nor un-
God, who goes against the tenor of what is there expected to his sovereign, who was well aware that
decreed. And this style has been adopted by the the austere discipline of the times doomed offenders
councils in imitation of the language of the apostle of every description to wait in the area or the porti-
Paul: “If we, or an angel from heaven, preach coes of the church, and beg the forgiveness and the
any other gospel unto you than that which we prayers of the faithful, ere they were permitted to
have preached unto you, let him be anathema.' reach the lowest station of the penitents. Self-love,
Chrysostom seems to have differed in regard to however, or a secret pride in his exalted station,
the anathema from most of the early Christian writ- might perhaps have led Theodosius to hope that the
ers; for he devotes a whole homily to proving ordinary severity of the Church would be relaxed in
that men ought not to anathematize either the his favour,—more especially, as the act imputed to
living or the dead; they may anathematize their him as a crime was justified by many urgent consi-
opinions or actions, but not their persons. And this derations of State policy; and under this delusion,
view of the matter has been adopted by some modern he made for the church, never dreaming, it would
churches, who regard such excommunications as only seem, that whatever demur the minister of Christ
warranted by a direct revelation.
might make, he would never have the boldness to
When any member of the primitive Christian arrest the progress of an emperor in presence of his
church was under a sentence of anathema, he was courtiers, and of the whole congregation. But the
prevented from engaging in the usual amusements, fear of man was never known to have made Ambrose
or enjoying the usual comforts of life. “During the flinch from his duty; and, heedless of every consi-
whole progress of their probation, the penitents ap- deration, but that of fidelity to the cause and the
peared in sackcloth and ashes; the men were obliged honour of his heavenly Master, he planted himself
to cut off their hair, and the women to veil them- on the threshold of the church, and vowed, that nei-
selves in token of sorrow.” After being subjected ther bribes nor menaces would induce him to admit,
for a lengthened period to a humiliating and painful into the temple of the God of peace, a royal crimi-
discipline, provided the offender exhibited unequivo- nal, red with the blood of thousands, who were his
cal symptoms of a penitent frame of mind, on his ex- brethren,-all of them by the ties of a common na-
pressing a wish to be readmitted to church privileges, ture,-many of them by the bonds of a common faith.
arrangements were made for the removal of the sen- Theodosius, thus suddenly put on his self-defence,
tence of excommunication. On an appointed day took refuge in the history of David, who was also a
the penitent appeared in church in a garb of sack sovereign; and who, though he had combined the
cloth, and taking his station in a conspicuous posi- guilt of adultery with that of murder, was yet par-
tion, he solemnly confessed in public, generally with doned and restored to favour by God himself, on the
ANATHEMA. ,
93
confession of his sins. "You have resembled David | have submitted to undergo, a course of public peni-
in his crime,' replied the inflexible Ambrose, 'resem- tence, so humiliating and so painful, if it had not
ble him also in his repentance.' Self-convicted and been the established practice of the Church to let no
abashed, the emperor abandoned all further attempts; offenders escape with impunity.”
and, returning to his palace, during eight months Considerable difference of opinion has existed
continued in a state of excommunication from Chris- among learned men, as to the greater crimes which
tian fellowship, bearing all the ignominy, and stoop- | demanded on the part of the church the infliction of
ing to all the humiliating acts required of those who a solemn anathema, or the greater excommunication.
underwent the discipline of the Church. As the first Augustine mentions, that in his time there were some
annual season of communion approached, the anxiety who limited such sins to three only—adultery, idola-
of the einperor to participate in the holy rite became try, and murder ; but the opinion of this eminent
extreme. Often, in the paroxysms of his grief, did father is, that the great crimes which incurred ana-
he say to the counsellor, who had advised the Dra- thema, were such as were committed against the
conic edict against the Thessalonians, Servants and whole decalogue, or ten commandments, of which
beggars have liberty to join in worship and commu- the apostle says, “They which do such things shall
nion, but to me the church doors, and consequently not inherit the kingdom of God.” Of course, in this
the gates of heaven, are closed; for so the Lord hath remark of Augustine are to be included only gross
decreed, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be violations of the moral law. The great crimes
bound in heaven.' At length it was agreed be- against the first and second commandments were
tween the prince and his favourite, that the latter comprised under the general names of apostacy and
should seek an interview with Ambrose, and endea- irreligion, which comprehended the several species
vour to gain him over to employ a privilege of his of idolatry; blaspheming and denying Christ in times
order,—that of abridging, in certain circumstances, of persecution; using the wicked arts of divination,
the period appointed for the duration of Church dis- | magic, and enchantments; and dishonouring God by
cipline. The eagerness of his royal master could sacrilege and simony, by heresy and schism, and
not wait his return, and, meeting him on his way, he other such profanations and abuses, corruptions and
was greeted with the unwelcome intelligence, that contempts of his true religion and service. All these
the faithful bishop considered it a violation of his were justly reputed great crimes, and usually punished
duty, to remit any part of the just censures of the with the severest ecclesiastical censures. The greater
Church; and that nothing but submission to the sins against the third commandment which incurred
shame and degradation of a public confession of his anathema, were blasphemy, profane swearing, perjury,
sins could accomplish the object which was dearest and breach of vows which have been solemnly made
to the heart of the royal penitent. On an appointed to God. Absence from divine service, voluntarily
day, accordingly, Theodosius appeared in the church and systematically, without sufficient reason, for a
of Milan, clothed in sackcloth; and, acknowledg-lengthened period of time; neglect of the public
ing the heinousness of his offence, the just sentence service of God to follow vain sports and pastimes on
by which he forfeited the communion of the faith- the Sabbath; or separating from the regular meetings
ful, and the profound sorrow he now felt for having of the church, and assembling in private conventicles
authorised so gross an outrage on the laws of heaven, of their own, were esteemed breaches of the fourth
and the rights of humanity, was received, with the commandment of a very aggravated kind. Those
unanimous consent of the whole congregation, once which were regarded as great transgressions against
more into the bosom of Christian society. Nothing the fifth commandment were disobedience to parents
can afford a better test of the simplicity and godly and masters, treason and rebellion against princes,
sincerity of the Christian emperor, than his readi- and contempt of the laws of the church. Heinous
ness to assume, in presence of his people, an atti- violators of the sixth commandment were such as
tude so humiliating. How deep must have been his were guilty of murder, manslaughter, parricide, self-
repentance towards God,-how strong his faith in murder, dismembering the body, causing abortion,
the Lord Jesus Christ,—and how many plausible and similar crimes. Another species of great sins
reasons of personal honour and public expediency which made men liable to the severities of ecclesias-
must he have had to encounter, ere he could bring | tical discipline, were the sins of uncleanness, or
himself, in face of a crowded assembly, to say, as he transgressions of the seventh commandment, such as
entered, “My soul cleaveth unto the dust; quicken fornication, adultery, ravishment, incest, polygamy,
thou according to thy word;' and ere he could and all sorts of unnatural defilement with beasts or
throw himself prostrate on the ground, to implore mankind, and conduct of every kind which led the
the pardon of God and the forgiveness of his fellow- way to such impurities, as rioting and intemperance,
men! And if this extraordinary history affords an writing or reading lascivious books, acting or fre-
illustrious example of genuine repentance, it exhibits, quenting obscene stage plays, allowing or maintain-
in no less memorable a light, the strictness and im- ing harlots, or whatever may be called “making pro-
partiality of primitive discipline. What minister vision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof." The
would have dared to impose,—what prince would anathema was pronounced upon all who openly
me,
94
ANATHEMA. .
ܕ
broke the eighth commandment, by the commission | holy apostles Peter and Paul, we solemnly forbid,
of theft, oppression, usury, perverting of justice, or under the curse of anathema, that any one draw
fraud and deceit in trust and traffic. The ninth com- away these present virgins, or holy nuns, from the
mandment was considered to be violated in an ag- divine service, to which they have devoted them-
gravated manner by false accusation, libelling, in- selves under the banner of chastity; or that any one
forming, calumny and slander, railing and reviling. purloin their goods, or be a hindrance to their pos-
In regard to the tenth commandment, which takes sessing them unmolested. But if any one shall dare
cognizance rather of sinful feelings than of vicious to attempt such a thing, let him be accursed at home
acts, the anathema was incurred by those whose in- and abroad ; accursed in the city, and in the field;
ward risings of envy or covetousness led them to the accursed in waking and sleeping; accursed in eating
commission of open crimes.
and drinking; accursed in walking and sitting; ac-
When clergymen were subjected to censures, if cursed in his flesh and his bones; and, from the sole
they submitted meekly to the discipline of the church, of his foot to the crown of his head, let him have no
and were not refractory or contumacious, the early soundness. Come upon him the malediction, which
church were wont to allow them the benefit of lay | by Moses in the law, the Lord hath laid on the sons
communion ; but if they continued contumacious and of iniquity. Be his name blotted out from the book
stubborn, opposing her first censures, and acting as of the living, and not be written with the righteous.
clergymen in contempt of them, she then proceeded His portion and inheritance be with Cain the fratri-
one degree farther with them, adding to their deposi- cide, with Dathan and Abiram, with Ananias and
tion a formal excommunication, and denying them Sapphira, with Simon the sorcerer, and Judas the
even the communion of laymen. Thus Arius and traitor; and with those who have said to God, De-
many other heresiarchs were anathematised and ex- part from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy
communicated as well as degraded.
ways. Let him perish in the day of judgment, and
The Pontificale Romanum of the Romish church let everlasting fire devour him with the devil and his
describes three kinds of excommunication, of which angels—unless he make restitution, and coine to
the anathema is the highest, and is usually pro- amendment. So be it, so be it.” "
nounced with unlighted candles. In this fearful This formula is the same which, with the neces-
curse, the person excommunicated is threatened with sary alterations to suit the occasion, is used in other
torments, both in this life and that which is to come; cases of sacerdotal cursing. It is well known that a
is delivered up to Satan ; separated from civil society, solemn curse or anathema “ with bell, book, and
and, in a word, completely cast off, both from the candle " against all heretics, is annually pronounced
companionship of the church and of the world. by the Pope at Rome, and by other ecclesiastics in
When the Pope is to fulminate this solemn excom- other places on the Thursday of Passion week, the
munication, he goes up to the high altar with all the day before Good Friday, the anniversary of the Sa-
air of an excommunicator, and accompanied with viour's crucifixion. This is called the Bull in cena
twelve cardinal priests, all of them having lighted Domini, or " at the Supper of the Lord.” The cere-
tapers in their hands; he then sits down on the pon- monies on this occasion are well-fitted to awe the
tifical seat, placed before the high altar, from which spectators. The bull consists of thirty-one sections,
he thunders forth his anathema. Sometimes a dea- describing different classes of excommunicated per-
con, clothed in a black dalmatica, goes up into the sons, as the “ Hussites, Wycliffites, Lutherans,
pulpit, and publishes the anathema with a loud voice; Zuinglians, Calvinists, Huguenots, Anabaptists, Tri-
in the meantime, the bells toll the knell as if for the nitarians, and other apostates from the faith ; and all
dead, the excommunicated person being looked upon other heretics, by whatsoever name they are called,
as dead in regard to the church. After the ana- or of whatever sect they be.” The substance of the
thema has been pronounced, all present cry out with anathema is in these words : “ Excommunicated and
a loud voice, Fiat, or So be it. Then the Pope and accursed may they be, and given body and soul to
cardinals dash their lighted candles upon the ground, the devil. Cursed be they in cities, in towns, in
while the acolytes tread them under their feet. Af- fields, in ways, in paths, in houses, out of houses,
ter this, the sentence of excommunication, and the and all other places, standing, lying, or rising, walk-
name of the person excommunicated, are posted up ing, running, waking, sleeping, eating, drinking, and
in a public place, that no one may have any further whatsoever things they do besides. We separate
communication with him.
them from the threshold, and from all prayers of
As a specimen of the form of anathema author- the church, from the holy mass, from all sacraments,
ized by the Pontificale Romanum, we select that chapels, and altars, from holy bread and holy water,
which is appointed to be pronounced on any from all the merits of God's priests and religious
who may draw away from the divine service those men, from all their pardons, privileges, grants, and
who are under the banner of chastity, that is nuns; immunities, which all the holy fathers, the popes of
and on any one who may purloin their goods, or Rome have granted ; and we give them utterly over
hinder them from possessing their goods in quiet. to the power of the fiend! And let us quench their
“ By the authority of Almighty God, and of his soul, if they be dead this night, in the pains of hell-
+
ANATHEMATA-ANCESTOR-WORSHIP.
95
66 At
CATION.
fire, as this candle is now quenched and put out (and | in the temple as an acknowledgment to Mars, the
then one of them is put out), and let us pray to God god of war, and the emancipated slave hanging up
that, if they be alive, their eyes may be put out, as his chains to the Lares. It is possible that a similar
this candle is put out (another is then extin- idea may have prompted the Philistines to dedicate
guished); and let us pray to God, and to our Lady, their golden emerods as an offering (1 Sam. vi. 4) to
and to St. Peter, and St. Paul, and the holy saints, the God of Israel. In imitation of the same custom
that all the senses of their bodies may fail them, and the Romish churches are often filled with gifts dedi-
that they may have no feeling, as now the light of cated to the Virgin Mary, or to some tutelar saint
this candle is gone (the third is then put out), ex- who has been thought to have conferred upon them
cept they come openly now, and confess their blas-
some signal benefit.
phemy, and by repentance, as in them shall lie, make ANCESTOR-WORSHIP. In many uncivilized
satisfaction unto God, our Lady, St. Peter, and nations and heathen tribes this species of worship
the worshipful company of this cathedral church. has been found to prerail. The spirits of their an-
And as this cross falleth down, so may they, except cestors or progenitors they suppose to have been
they repent and show themselves. (Then the cross deified, probably on account of some benefits they
on which the extinguished lights had been fixed was have conferred. It is often difficult, as in the South
allowed to fall down with a loud noise, and the super- Sea islands, to discover how much of the nature of
stitious multitude shouted with fear)."
divinity they attach to the deified spirits of their an-
The church of England, also, in her canons, autho- cestors; but on the pantheistic principle so prevalent
rizes an anathema to be pronounced on all who say in many nations, they may legitimately regard the
that she is not a true and apostolical church ; on all authors of their existence as constituting a part of
impugners of the public worship of God as establish the divine essence, and worship them as such. In
ed in the Church of England; on all impugners of the worship of ancestors the Chinese are more se-
the rites and ceremonies of the church; on all im- rious than in any other, and are more attached to it
pugners of Episcopacy; on all authors of schism, and than to any other form of idolatry. Father Mar-
on all maintainers of schismatics. The anathema tini, a Jesuit missionary, endeavours to give a more
can only be pronounced by the bishop before the lenient and modified aspect to this practice.
dean and chapter, or twelve other ministers, not in the first establishment of their monarchy," he says,
public, but in the bishop's court. See ExCOMMUNI- " the Chinese erected in commemoration of their
parents and nearest relations some particular edi.
ANATHEMATA, the general name applied in the fices which they called Tutang. In these edifices
ancient Christian church to all kinds of ornaments in there were no manner of idols set up; their laudable
churches, whether in the structure itself, or in the intention being only to demonstrate to the world
vessels and utensils belonging to it. And the reason what reverence and respect ought to be shown to
of the name is obvious, these being set apart from their parents when living by these public testimo-
a common use to God's honour and service. In this nies of their love and gratitude after their decease.'
sense anathemata is used by Luke (xxi. 5) for the It was natural for a Romish priest thus to apolo-
gifts and ornaments of the temple. Accordingly, in gise for what must be admitted by every reflecting
early times, all ornaments belonging to the church, person to be an idolatrous adoration of deceased an-
as well as whatever contributed to the beauty and cestors; but all travellers are unanimous in charg-
splendour of the fabric itself, were reckoned among ing the Chinese with this peculiar form of worship.
the anathemata of the church. But the word is In the house of every wealthy family there is an
sometimes used in a more restricted sense to denote apartment, which they call Hutangi, and which
those gifts particularly which were hung upon pillars, devoted to the peculiar service of their ancestors,
in the church, as memorials of some great mercy where, on a large table set against the wall, and
which men had received from God. Hence Jerome fronted with steps like those which lead up to an
speaks of men's gifts hanging in the church upon altar,
altar, is exposed to view the image of the most dis-
golden cords, or being set in golden sockets or tinguished person among their ancestors, and the
sconces. Being a Latin father, he changes the ana- names of all the men, women, and children of the
themata of the Greeks into donaria. From this cus- family ranged in order on each side, written on small
tom of presenting gifts to churches, there appears to shelves or boards, with their age, quality, profession,
have arisen, about the middle of the fifth century, a and the date of their decease. All the relations
peculiar practice noticed by Theodoret, that when meet together in this hall twice a-year, that is, at
any one obtained the benefit of a signal cure from God spring and autumn. The richest and most liberal
in any member of his body, as his eyes, hands, feet, or in the company set several dishes of meat, rice,
other part, he brought what was called his ectypoma, fruits, perfumes, wine, and wax-tapers on the table,
or figure of that part in silver or gold, to be hung up with the same ceremonies as when they make simi-
in the church to God, as a memorial of his favour. lar presents to governors on their entrance upon
The same custom prevailed among the ancient hea- office, or to mandarins of the first rank upon their
then, the arms of a victorious warrior being hung up birth-days. Those whose circumstances do not ad-
96
ANCESTOR-WORSHIP.
.
.
mit of a particular apartment being appropriated to dressed like doctors on a solemn festival. One of
this ceremony, fix up, in the most convenient place them officiated as priest, two others as deacon and
they can find, the names of their ancestors without sub-deacon, and a third as master of the ceremonies.
any other ceremony whatever.
Several other doctors performed divers other minis-
There is an annual observance also among the terial offices, as that of acolytes, &c. Such as had
Chinese in connection with the worship of ancestors. not taken their doctor's degree, appeared in their
Once a-year, about the beginning of May, the chil- best clothes, all regularly ranged and divided into
dren with their relatives visit the tombs of their divers choirs at the lower end of the temple on each
deceased parents, which are situated generally at side the doors. ... The sacrifice began after the
some distance from the towns, and often on the following manner: as soon as the priest was seated
mountains. On reaching the place of their inter- with his two assistants on each side of him, upon a
ment, the children and friends show the same marks carpet that covered all the middle of the yard, the
of sorrow and respect as at their decease, and, hav- master of the ceremonies ordered, that all the con-
ing arranged wine and other provisions on the tomb, gregation should fall down upon their knees, and
they partake of the entertainment with as much se- prostrate themselves down to the ground; then he
riousness as on a funeral solemnity.
ordered them to rise again, which was accordingly
Not only after, but even before, the interment of done with great decency and order. ... The priest
the dead, a ceremony is gone through, which has in and his attendants approached with abundance
it something of a sacred character. The corpse is of gravity the place of the inscriptions and images of
carried into a spacious hall, and before the coffin is their dead, and perfumed them with frankincense.
placed a table, on which is set a statue of the de- | The master of the ceremonies then ordered to be of-
ceased with his name inscribed upon it; and all fered up the wine of blessing and true happiness. At
round it is decorated with flowers, perfumes, and the same time the attendants gave the wine to the
lighted tapers. The friends and acquaintances, who priest, who took up the chalice with both his hands,
come to condole with the survivors, on entering the elevated it, then set it down again, and emptied it.
apartment, salute the deceased according to the cus- It would be too tedious to relate every minute cir-
tom of the country, that is, they prostrate them- cumstance. The priest and his assistants turned
selves before him, and strike the ground with their their faces towards the congregation. He who offi-
foreheads before the table, placing upon it, in a so- ciated as deacon, pronounced, with an audible voice,
lemn and formal manner, several wax-tapers and per- all the benefits and indulgences which those who
fumes, with which, according to custom, they have were present might expect as the result of their at-
come plentifully provided.
tendance. “Know ye,' says he, 'that all you who have
The most solemn sacrifice, in commemoration of assisted at this solemn sacrifice, may be very well
their ancestors, is celebrated by the Chinese on the assured of receiving some particular favours from
fourteenth of August. Father Moralez was present your deceased ancestors, in return for these grateful
on the occasion of its celebration at one time. The oblations, which you have in this public manner now
ceremony was performed in a temple, over the door made unto them. You shall be honoured and respect-
of which were written these two words, Kia Cheu, ed by all men, live to a good old age, and enjoy all
the Temple of the Forefathers. Six tables had been the blessings which this life can afford.' After this
prepared for the sacrifice, on which were placed declaration they set fire to their whole store of paper-
meats ready dressed, and raw flesh, with fruits, money, and so the sacrifice concluded.” It may be
flowers, and perfumes, which were burnt in little noticed, that the Chinese, before they go into the
chafing dishes. The ceremony is thus minutely de- | temple to sacrifice to their ancestors, fetch three
tailed by the Jesuit who witnessed it.
dreadful groans, as if they were just expiring.
"At the upper end of the temple were the in- The whole order of this worship is laid down in
scriptions of their ancestors artfully disposed, and the Chinese Ritual, with the prayers and supplica-
each in its proper niche. On each side the images of tions which are appointed to be made to their de-
their grandfathers were fastened to the walls. In ceased ancestors. These acts of devotion are, in
the yard there were several carpets spread on the the opinion of the Chinese, the most powerful and
ground, upon which lay large heaps of paper, cut in efficacious which can be performed. On the due
the shape of the coin of their country, which they performance of this kind of religious worship they
imagined would in the other world be converted into ground all their expectations of future happiness.
real money, pass current there, and serve to redeem They flatter themselves that, in virtue of these testi-
the souls of their relations. Besides, in one corner monies of veneration for their ancestors, they their
of the yard, they had erected a large tree, the bot- descendants shall be put in possession of numberless
tom whereof was surrounded with brushwood, or blessings. And the reasons which the Chinese
chips, which were set on fire, and burnt during the themselves assign for the high estimation in which
celebration of the sacrifice, that the souls of their they hold this worship of their ancestors, are quite
dead might be accommodated with sufficient light. in harmony with the creed of a large portion of that
“ The licentiati, who assisted at this sacrifice, were remarkable people. They consider man as com
ANCESTOR-WORSHIP-ANCHORITES.
97
posed of a terrestrial, material substance, which is h s the ancient mode of rewarding those who had done
body, and of an aerial, immaterial substance, which is good while on earth. Hence it is, that we find the
his soul. Upon this principle they believe, that there ancient heathen temples built near the tombs of the
is always some portion of this aerial substance in dead, as if they were nothing more than stately mo-
the images of Confucius, and of their deceased friends numents erected to their memory. What is the
and relations. These images are, accordingly, made whole mythology of the Greeks and Romans, but
hollow, in order that some portion of this aerial sub- in all probability the deification of heroes and men
stance may descend and reside within them, and by of renown. And even the veneration which the
that means be present at the ceremonies observed in early Christians entertained for the martyrs dege-
honour of them. Hence they are called the recep- nerated at length into a superstitious idolatry, which
tacles of souls.
not only besought their intercessory prayers, but
This kind of worship is universal in China. The venerated their relics. Thus has Rome introduced,
emperors sacrifice to their ancestors, and all the peo- and continues to inculcate upon her votaries, a kind
ple, both rich and poor, make their oblations to the of ancestor-worship under the name of Invocation
departed souls of their respective families to the of Saints and Veneration of Relics.
third and fourth generation, but no farther. In their The following extract from Dr. Walsh's account of
prayers to the dead, they thank them most devoutly the Armenians in Constantinople, as given by Mr.
for the manifold blessings received from them, and Conder, in his 'View of all Religions,' shows that an-
implore a continuance of these favours. Besides cestor-worship is not unknown among some so-call-
the public sacrifices we have noticed, they make ed Christian churches, even in our own day : “In the
others in private, but not with such solemnity and Armenian cemetery, which occupies several hundred
pomp. At every new and full moon, also, they acres, on a hill that overlooks the Bosphorus, whole
light up wax-tapers before the pictures or statues of Armenian families, of two or three generations toge-
their dead relatives, burn perfumes in commemora- ther, are often to be seen sitting round the tombs, and
tion of them, provide elegant entertainments for holding visionary communications with their deceased
them, and pay them profound homage. The same friends. According to their belief, the souls of the
practices connected with ancestor-worship are found dead pass into a place called Gayank, which is not a
pervading the whole life of the Chinese. When a purgatory, for they suffer neither pain nor pleasure,
child is about to be born, the mother makes solemn | but retain a perfect consciousness of the past. From
mention of her condition to her ancestors, and this this state they may be delivered by the alms and
prayer is made to them in her behalf, “Such a one prayers of the living, which the pious Armenians
draws near the time of her travail; she is come, o give liberally for their friends. Easter Monday is
glorious spirits ! to lay her dangerous state before the great day on which they assemble for this pur-
you; we humbly beseech you to assist her under pose; but every Sunday, and frequently week days,
the pains of child-bearing, and grant her a happy are devoted to this object. The priest who accom-
delivery.” Two months after the child is bom, the panies them, first proceeds to the tombs, and reads
mother carries it to the pagoda, presents it to her the prayers for the dead, in which he is joined by
ancestors, and returns cordial thanks for its preser- the family. They then separate into groups, or,
vation. At the year's end she goes to her ances- singly sitting down by favourite graves, call its in-
tors again, and begs that, by their assistance, the habitants about them, and, by the help of a strong
child
may increase in stature. At the age of fifteen imagination, really seem to converse with them. This
the youth receives the bonnet or cap, which is a pious and pensive duty being performed to their dead
token of his having entered upon manhood; and friends, they retire to some pleasant spot near the
the Chinese Ritual contains a prayer, which he is place, where provisions had been previously brought,
expected from that period to use, in which he begs and cheerfully enjoy the society of the living. These
his ancestors to protect him, to assist him amid all family visits to the mansions of the departed are a
his difficulties, and to conduct him safe to the years favourite enjoyment of this people. I have fre-
of maturity. A prayer to the same effect is ap- quently,' says Dr. Walsh, joined these groups
with-
pointed to be used by a young woman when she out being considered as an intruder."" See IDOLA-
reaches maturity, and another when she is about to
be married.
ANCHORITES, or ANCHORETS (Gr. anachoreo,
The worship of ancestors is found not only in to separate), a class of monks in early times who se-
China, but in various other countries, though no- parated themselves from the world, retiring from
where else is it so completely reduced to a system. society, and living in private cells in the wilderness.
The Sintoists, a numerous sect in Japan, are also Such were Paul, and Antony, and Hilarian, the first
said to venerate their ancestors. But from very founders of the monastic life in Egypt and Pales-
early times this kind of worship existed in heathen tine. Chrysostom says some of them lived in caves,
nations. Gratitude to those who had been bene- distinguished from the Coenobites, who lived in a fra-
factors while they lived, led to their deification after ternity under a common head. Mosheim describes
death. Both Cicero and Pliny say, that this was the Anchorites as having lived in desert places with
TRY.
2.
G
98
ANCILLÆ DEI–ANEMOTIS.
no kind of shelter, feeding on roots and plants, and equal to the number of the Ancylia intrusted to
having no fixed residence, but lodging wherever their care.
night overtook them, so that visitors might not know ANCYLIA, a feast celebrated at Rome every year
LIA
where to find them.
in the month of March, in honour of the descent
There is an order of monks in the Greek Church from heaven of the sacred shield. The Salii or
who are distinguished by the name of Anchorets. | priests of Mars carried the twelve shields round the
Though unwilling to submit to the labour and re- city. They began the ceremony with sacrifices;
straints required by convent life, they are neverthe- then walked along the streets carrying the bucklers,
less desirous of spending their lives in solitude and and dancing sometimes together, and sometimes se-
retirement. They purchase, therefore, a cell or lit- parately, using many gestures, and striking musically
tle commodious apartment outside a convent, with a one another's bucklers with their rods, singing
small spot of ground contiguous to it sufficient to hymns in honour of Janus, Mars, Juno, and Mi-
maintain them; and they never enter the convent nerva, which were answered by a chorus of girls
but on solemn festival days, when they assist at the dressed like themselves, and called Saliæ. Though
celebration of Divine service. As soon as their the feast and procession were held properly in March,
public devotions are ended, they return to their cells, yet the Ancylia were moved whenever a just war
and spend their time in the ordinary avocations of was declared by order of the Senate against any
life, without being bound to observe any fixed times state or people.
for their devotions. There are some of these An- ANDRASTE, or ADRASTE, a female deity an-
chorets, however, who withdraw from the convent ciently worshipped in Britain, particularly by the
with the permission of their Abbot to live still more Trinobantes in Essex, as the goddess of Victory.
retired, and apply themselves more closely than ever Prisoners taken in war are said to have been sacri-
to prayer and meditation. As they have no land | ficed to her in a grove consecrated to her. Camden
or vineyards of their own to cultivate, the convent throws out the conjecture, that the true name of
sends them once at least, if not twice a-month, a this goddess may have been Anarhaith, an old Bri-
stated allowance. Such of them, however, as de- tish word signifying 'to overcome.'
cline such a dependent mode of living, rent some ANDREW'S DAY (St.), a festival observed on
small vineyards which may be situated in the the 30th of November, in honour of the Apostle
neighbourhood of their cells, and maintain them- | Andrew, brother of Simon Peter. It is celebrated
selves out of the produce. Some live upon figs, on the same day in the Anglican, Romish, and Greek
some upon cherries, and others upon such whole- churches.
some fruits as they may be able to procure. A ANDROGEUS, son of Minos and Pasiphaë, who
few earn a subsistence by transcribing books or is said, after having been killed, to have been re-
manuscripts.
stored to life by Æsculapius. He was worshippe.
ANCILLÆ DEI (Lat. handmaidens of God), a in Attica as a hero ; an altar was erected to him in
name sometimes given to DEACONESSES (which see) the port of Phalerus, and games were celebrated in
in the early Christian Church; and also to Nuns his honour every year in the Cerameicus. It is said
(which see) at a later period.
that he was originally worshipped as the introducer
ANCULI and ANCULÆ, the heathen gods and of agriculture into Attica.
goddesses of slaves in ancient mythology, to whom ANDRONA (Gr. aner, a man), a term used to de-
they prayed amid the oppression which they were note that part of the ancient Christian churches allot-
called to endure.
ted to the male portion of the audience. The rules
ANCYLE (Lat. a buckler), a sacred buckler or of the primitive churches required the separation of
shield which was supposed to have fallen down from the two sexes in the church, and this was generally
heaven in the reign of Numa Pompilius, king of observed. The men occupied the left of the altar on
Rome, while a miraculous voice was heard declaring the south side of the church, and the women the
that the safety and prosperity of Rome depended on right on the north side. They were separated from
this shield being preserved. When this event is said one another by a veil or lattice. In the Eastern
to have happened, the people were not a little com- churches the women and catechumens occupied the
forted amid the sorrow and alarm prevailing in con- galleries above, while the men sat below. In some
sequence of a pestilence which was raging with churches a separate apartment was allotted to wi-
fearful severity. The better to preserve the heaven- dows and virgins. This separation of the sexes is
descended shield, Numa was advised by the goddess still maintained in the Greek churches, and in the
Egeria to make eleven other shields as exactly re-
Jewish synagogues.
sembling it as possible, to prevent the discovery of ANDRONICIANS, followers of Andronicus who
the true one. Eleven others were accordingly made so flourished in the second century, and took a leading
like the divine original that Numa himself could not part in maintaining the doctrine of a peculiar branch
discover the difference. For the preservation of of the Gnostic heretics. See ENCRATITES.
these precious shields, Numa instituted an order of ANEMOTIS (Gr. anemos, the wind), a surname
priests called Salii, consisting of twelve, which was of the Grecian goddess Athena, as the controller of
ANFAL-ANGEL.
99
the winds, under which title she was worshipped, and tering spirits sent forth to minister for them who
had a temple at Mothone in Messenia.
shall be heirs of salvation ?"
ANFAL (Arab. the spoils), the title of a chapter The rabbinical writings of the Jews abound with
in the Koran, which lays down the rules in regard to traditions concerning angels. Some suppose them
the distribution of spoils taken from the enemy. The to have been created on the first, others on the fifth
arrangement of Mohammed on this subject was, that day. The Talmud teaches that there is a daily crea-
the fifth part was to belong to God, to the prophet, tion of angels, who immediately sing an anthem, and
to his relations, to orphans, to the poor, and to pil- | then expire. Some angels are said to be created
grims. Some doubt exists as to the precise mean- from fire, others from water, others from wind; but
ing of this rule. Some think that giving a portion from Psal. xxxiii. 6. Rabbi Jonathan inferred, “ that
to God was only an expression of homage to the there is an angel created by every word that pro-
Divine Being, and that practically the fifth part of ceeds out of the mouth of God.” The Talmud
the booty was to be subdivided into five parts, thus speaks of angels as if they were material beings, as-
excluding God from the parties entitled to the spoil; serting one angel to be taller than another, by as
and that, since the prophet's death, his part is to be many miles as a man would travel in a journey of
applied for the general benefit, or given to the head five hundred years. In the Bereshith Rabba, a Jew-
of the mosque for the place, or added to the other ish work of high authority, angels are said to have
four portions. Others suppose that the rule is to been consulted respecting the creation of man, some
be literally followed by subdividing the fifth part of advising, others remonstrating against it.
the booty into six portions, and that the portions be- The writings of the Rabbis frequently mention,
longing to God and the prophet are to be used in the seventy angels, to whom they say were assigned,
repairing and adorning the temple of Mecca.
by lot, at the time of the building of Babel, the se-
ANGEL (Gr. angelos, a messenger), a spiritual, venty nations into which they allege the Gentiles
immortal, intelligent being, the highest in the order were distributed. While the Gentiles were thus
of created beings. The word angel, properly speak- committed to the guardianship of angels, Israel is re-
ing, is a name, not of nature, but of office, signifying presented as having been placed by a fortunate lot
literally a person sent. Both the Greek and He- under the immediate superintendence of God him-
brew words, which are employed to denote angels, self. On the true nature of these guardian angels of
have in this respect the same meaning. Angels the nations, Jewish writers are divided, some declar-
form the link of connection between God and this ing them to be angels of light, and others demons of
world. That there are such beings is plain from darkness. In addition to the angels who preside
numerous passages of both the Old and New Testa- over large territories, every object in the world, even
ment. And yet a Jewish sect, we are informed; the smallest herb, is considered as having its govern-
existed in the time of our Lord, who affirmed that ing angel, by whose word and laws it is directed.
there was no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit. Every man has also, according to Rabbinical notions,
The Sadducees, to which we now refer, are supposed his guardian angel or mashal who prays for him, and
to have interpreted all the passages in the Jewish imitates in heaven all that the man does upon the
scriptures which speak of angels in a figurative earth. There are three angels who are alleged to
sense; and accordingly they are thought to have re- weave, or make garlands out of the prayers of the
garded angels not as real permanent substances, but Israelites : the first is Achtariel; the second Meta-
spectres which in a short time dissolved into air or tron; and the third Saudalphon. These prayers
disappeared like the colours of a rainbow. Some must be in the Hebrew tongue. The second angel
Socinians, in modern times, believe them to be sim- now mentioned, and whom the Rabbis denominate
ply manifestations of the divine power.
METATRON (which see), is regarded as the most il-
A question has been agitated as to the time when lustrious among the heavenly inhabitants, and in-
angels were created. Moses makes no mention of deed the king of angels. Before the Babylonish
such beings in his account of the creation. But this captivity the Hebrews seem not to have known the
of course is easily explained, by reflecting that the names of any angels; the Talmudists say they
main purpose and design of the history as contained brought the names of angels from Babylon. Tobit,
in the first chapters of the Book of Genesis, is to who is thought to have resided in Nineveh some
give an account of the creation of the visible, not of time before the captivity, mentions the angel Ra-
the invisible universe. One passage plainly speaks phael; Daniel, who lived at Babylon some time after
of them as present at the creation of this world. Tobit, speaks of Michael and Gabriel. In the second
Job xxxviii. 4, 7,“ Where wast thou when I laid the book of Esdras, the name of the angel Uriel occurs.
foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast un- In the New Testament we find only Michael and
derstanding. When the morning stars sang toge- Gabriel.
ther, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” All The existence of such beings as we term angels,
such speculations, however, are very unprofitable, was generally admitted by the ancient heathen, the
and we may well content ourselves with the appeal Greeks calling them demons, and the Romans genië
of an apostle, Heb. i. 14, “ Are they not all minis- or lares. These latter were sometimes confounded
100
ANGEL-WORSHIP.
66 The
with the souls of deceased persons. They were sup- | homage to angels. The only passage which seems
posed to exercise a protecting influence over the in- to sanction such an idea is Gen. xlviii. 16.“ The
terior of every man's household, himself, his family, | Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the
and property, and yet they were not regarded as lads; and let my name be named on them, and the
divinities, but simply as guardian spirits, whose place name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let
was the chimney-piece, and whose altar was the them grow into a multitude in the midst of the
domestic hearth, and where each individual made earth." The Rabbinical glosses upon this passage
offerings of incense to them in his own house. sanction the opinion, that either direct adoration, or
The Christian fathers were somewhat keen in their at least invocation of angels, was practised among the
discussions as to the nature of angels, and they were Israelites. The passage itself, however, affords no
divided in opinion whether these beings were pos- countenance to such an interpretation.
sessed of material bodies, or were only spirits. Some Angel who redeemed,” is clearly the Angel of the
writers have alleged that there is a difference of rank covenant, Jehovah - Jesus, and not any created
among angels; others go so far as to distribute the angel. The Jewish Rabbis, of a modern date,
orders into three hierarchies : first, seraphim, cheru- openly protest that they offer no worship to angels
bim, and thrones; second, dominions, virtues, and of any kind. Their catechism pronounces an ana-
powers; third, principalities, archangels, and angels. thema against all that shall petition for any thing to
The Jews reckon four orders, each headed by an an angel or any other celestial power. Maimonides
archangel, the four rulers being Michael, Gabriel, states it as the sixth article of the Jewish faith that
Uriel, and Raphael. They teach that there is one God alone is to be adored, magnified, celebrated, and
chief angel who presides over the rest, Michael, who praised. The famous Rabbi Kimchi says, that we
wrestled with Jacob, and of whom Daniel says, “ Lo, ought not to invoke the angels or their chiefs, such
Michael one of the chief princes came to help me.' as Gabriel and Michael.
The Jews ascribe many wonderful deeds to this The early Christian churches appear to have dis-
angel, and mistaking the Old Testament appearances owned all creature-worship of any kind, and distinctly
of the Messiah, attribute them to this angel. This and specially angel-worship. Origen, in his answers
is the Metatron to whom we have already alluded. to Celsus, positively denies that either the Jews or
The Mohammedans are firm believers in the Christians gave any religious worship to angels.
existence of angels, whom they regard as refined and He says, “ They are ministering spirits that bring
pure bodies formed of light. They regard them as the gifts of God to us, but there is no command in
having different forms and different functions. Some Scripture to worship or adore them; for all prayers,
stand before God, others bow down; some sit, supplications, intercessions, and giving of thanks,
others lie prostrate in his presence. Some sing are to be sent up to God by the great High Priest,
praises and hymns to the honour of the Almighty, the living Word of God, who is superior to all an-
others give him glory in another manner, or implore gels." He says, “ Allowing what Celsus pleaded to
his mercy to be extended to sinful man. Some keep be true, that the angels were God's heralds and hea-
a register of our actions, some guard us, others sup- venly messengers, yet still the heralds and messen-
port the throne of God. It is not only an indispen- gers were not to be worshipped, but He whose
sable article of faith with a Mohammedan, that he heralds and messengers they were. " The Church of
should believe in the existence of angels, but that he Rome holds it to be a wholesome and proper thing
should love them. After his prayers accordingly, to invocate angels, and they allege that they call
he uniformly salutes the angels, turning to the right upon them simply as friends of God to intercede
and the left, and saying, 'Peace be with you,' or with him on their behalf. The early Christian writers
· Peace and the mercy of God be with you. Who- appear to have anticipated such a defence. Thus
ever hates an angel is in the estimation of Moham- | Ambrose exposes this miserable excuse : “Is any
medans an infidel. They do not believe them to be man so mad, or so unmindful of his salvation, as to
pure spirits, but that their bodies are thin, formed give the king's honour to an officer ; when, if any
of light and perfectly holy, that they neither eat, shall be found merely to propose such a thing, they
drink, nor sleep, that they are without father, mo- shall be justly condemned as guilty of high treason.
ther, difference of sex, or any carnal inclination. And yet these men think themselves not guilty who
The angel Gabriel was a great favourite with give the honour of God's name to a creature, and,
Mohammed, as he pretended to receive all his reve- forsaking the Lord, adore their fellow-servants; as
lations from that heavenly messenger, who was sent though there were anything more than could be re-
from God on purpose to communicate these succes- served to God." Irenæus declares of the church in
sive revelations, which together make up the Koran. his time, that “though she wrought many miracles
This same angel conducted him through the seven for the benefit of men, yet she did nothing by invo-
heavens, and brought him back to earth, leading by cation of angels, but only by prayer to God and the
the bridle his horse Alborac.
Lord Jesus Christ.” And to go still farther back to
ANGEL-WORSHIP. It is difficult precisely to apostolic times, we find Paul warning the Colossian
determine whether the ancient Hebrews paid divine church against this idolatrous custom, which seems,
ANGELS (EVIL).
101
1
even at that early period, to have crept into the accommodated to their tastes. They were them-
Christian church. Col. č. 18, “Let no man beguile selves pure and holy, their understandings were full
you of your reward in a voluntary humility and wor- of light, and their hearts were full of love. Yet by
shipping of angels, intruding into those things which their own voluntary act they sinned. Man fell under
he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly the baleful influence of a tempter, but the angels
mind." And the angel forbade John, when he sinned without a tempter; and hence, while it is
would have worshipped him, in these explicit words, said concerning fallen Adam, God “ drove out the
Rev. xxii. 9, “ Then saith he unto me, See thou do | man,” it is declared concerning the fallen angels that
it not: for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy bre- “they left their own habitation.”
thren the prophets, and of them which keep the say- There has been a considerable difference of opinion
ings of this book; worship God.” What clearer among theologians as to the precise nature of the
evidence ould be abtained than these passages, sin of the evil angels. Some have attributed their
drawn both from Scripture and the fathers, afford, fall to lust, and others to envy; but the most general
that, both in doctrine and practice, the early opinion is that which ascribes it to pride, an opinion
Christian church was opposed to angel worship? founded on the words of an apostle, “Not a novice,
Wherever such a practice existed, whether among lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the con-
heathens or heretics, it was unhesitatingly condemn- demnation of the devil.”
demnation of the devil.” How feelings of pride and
ed. The council of Laodicea pronounced an ana- vain-glory, arose in the minds of perfectly holy beings,
thema upon all who were guilty of this kind of false it is impossible to say. One thing is clear, that no
worship. “ Christians," says the canon, " ought not such feelings could be excited by any object in
to forsake the church of God, and go aside and hold heaven. There the angels “veil their faces and their
conventicles, to invocate or call upon the names of feet with their wings” in token of humble adoration.
angels : which things are forbidden. If any one, The origin of this rebellion against the Most High,
therefore, be found to exercise himself in this private is apparently to be traced to one of this exalted order
idolatry, let him be accursed; because he hath for- of beings, who, entertaining in his heart unhallowed
saken our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and thoughts and feelings, communicated them to others
gone over to idolatry."
of the celestial company, himself becoming the leader
The doctrine of the invocation of angels is regularly of the host ; so that this army of wicked beings
taught in the Church of Rome, and it is professed to spoken of in Scripture as “the devil and his angels.”
be supported by the Word of God. In defence of it, But whatever may have been the commencement
they quote Zech. i. 12, where the “angel of the of the departure of the angels from their original
Lord" intercedes for Jerusalem. This, however,
This, however, purity, the Bible tells us that they sinned, and there-
does not authorize us to pray to angels. And, be- fore they fell from their first estate. The change
sides, the angel here introduced is Jesus Christ, the which thus took place in their moral character must
Angel of the Covenant. Romanists refer also to have been great. Not that they lost that high intellec-
Rev. V.8, where the elders are represented as having | tual power which belonged to their nature as angelic
golden vials “full of prayers, which are the prayers beings, but the very circumstance that this, to a
of saints." The four and twenty elders, however, great extent, was retained, only rendered the change
represent the church on earth; and the prayers in their moral condition all the more fearful. Their
which they offer are their own prayers, not the once spotless holiness for ever departed. They now
prayers of others.
In short, nowhere throughout live and breathe, if we may so speak of spiritual
the sacred volume do we find angel worship com- beings, in an atmosphere of unmingled pollution and
manded or sanctioned, but, on the contrary, posi- sin.
sin. To them evil is good, and good evil. And
tively forbidden, as a species of creature-worship there is one remarkable point of difference, as re-
which, in all circumstances, is idolatry.
gards morality, between them and fallen men. Re-
ANGELS (EVIL). The existence of a higher strained as the fallen family of Adam are in the out-
order of created beings than man, to whom the name goings of their depraved nature by what divines term
of angels is given, cannot possibly be doubted. the common influences of the Spirit, the world is thus
“ The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even prevented from passing into premature destruction.
thousands of angels.” The whole host of angels No such barriers exist, however, in the case of the
seem to have been created in a pure and sinless con- evil angels, Sinful feelings, insatiable desires, ma-
dition; but we are informed concerning some of lignant, ungovernable passions rage within their
them in the Sacred Scripture, that “they kept not bosoms. Hence they are called in Scripture not
their first estate, but left their own habitation." only “evil angels,” but “unclean spirits," “ lying
Once they inhabited the regions of heavenly purity spirits,” and “spiritual wickednesses in high places.
and peace, they dwelt in the presence of the holy A curious subject of inquiry arises, as to the em-
Jehovah, and they were “ministers of his, that did
“ ministers of his, that did ployments in which the evil angels are engaged.
his pleasure.” Nor was this a mere temporary ar- These, as may readily be supposed, are suited to the
rangement on the part of their Creator. Heaven depravity of their nature and the malignity of their
was their own habitation, suited to their nature, and | dispositions. From Scripture it appears that they
102
ANGELS (EVIL).
1
have power over the bodies of men. An instance of had not time to form them with bodies. Others
the exercise of such a power is found in the case of allege that God created them on the same day that
Job, whom Satan was permitted to try by a series of he formed hell as the place of their habitation, being
heavy calamities, terminating in a painful and loath- the second day of creation. But as this sentiment
some disease. In the Gospels, also, there are various would make God the author of evil, Maimonides re-
examples of individuals whose bodies were possessed jected it with abhorrence. Other writers have in
by devils, not one only, but many; and our blessed dulged their imaginations in giving existence to the
Lord, in accordance with the great purpose for which evil angels in a way which shocks all decency,
he had come into the world, “ to destroy the works and carries absurdity upon the very face of the narra-
of the devil,” was frequently engaged in expelling tive. Some allege that these wicked beings fell into
these demons from the bodies of men. But the evil sin soon after the creation of Adam, others in the
angels have also power over the minds of men. We days of Noah. One Rabbi declares that some of
have a melancholy instance of this in the seduction them are made of fire ; others of air; others of water
of our first parents, and indeed this truth is taken for and earth. Other Rabbis assert them to be all com-
granted throughout the whole of the Sacred Scrip- posed of two elements, fire and air. Some of them
tures. The mode in which they operate upon the are described as the offspring of Sammael, who is
human mind is concealed from view; but, though said to be a fallen seraph, the prince of the infernal
hidden, it is not the less real, and all history attests host; others are represented as sprung from other
its reality. The devil was the lying spirit in the demons, from Adam, from Cain, and from other men.
mouth of the false prophets under the Old Testa- The Rabbis have also provided them with mothers
ment economy, and when the seventy disciples re- as well as fathers, and have specified the names of
turned from their mission, and related to their Lord four females to whom they attribute this honour,
the success which they had met with in leading men viz., Lilith, Eve, Naamah, and Agrath.
to renounce idolatry and superstition, Jesus declared, The evil angels are described by the Jewish
“I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” The Rabbis as variously employed; some in simply sub-
various systems of false doctrine which have existed jecting men to petty annoyances without doing them
in the world, have originated in the active and un- much injury; others in polluting streams and foun-
wearied opposition of the devil and his emissaries to tains of water; others as afflicting mankind with
the truth of God. Hence, in the Apocalypse, the sudden and grievous distempers; and others as doing
overthrow of Pagan idolatry is represented as a war various injuries to human beings while asleep. The
between Michael and his angels on the one side, and | Talmud says, “ If the eye had been capable of dis-
the Dragon and his angels on the other. In describ- cerning, no man could subsist on account of the de-
ing the Romish apostacy, also, it is the Dragon, the
There are more of them than of us; they
old Serpent that gives his power unto the beast ; and stand about us as a fence flung up out of ditches
the Man of Sin is said to be (2 Thess. ii. 9, 10) “after about land in a garden. Every Rabbi has a thousand
the working of Satan, with all power and signs, and on his left, and ten thousand on his right side. The
lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of un- thronging and squeezing on a Sabbath in our syna-
righteousness in them that perish; because they re- gogues, where one would think there is room enough,
ceived not the love of the truth that they might be yet each imagines he sits too close to another, is oc-
saved.” To the same agency may be referred all the casioned by them; for they come to hear the ser-
various systems of delusion and imposture by which
Another passage from the same book, which
the minds of men have been ensnared. Hence evil is held in highest estimation among the Jews, informs
angels may well be described as the “rulers of the
us how the evil angels may be rendered visible to the
darkness of this world."
“Let him who wishes to discover them
While thus incessantly employed in inflicting deep take clear ashes and pass them through a sieve at his
moral injury upon this fallen world, these evil angels bedside; and in the morning he will perceive the
are themselves the objects of the heavy displeasure tracings as it were of the feet of cocks. Let him
of God, and “reserved in everlasting chains under who desires to see them take of the secundine of a
darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” Ac- black cat, which is of the first litter of a black cat,
cordingly, we are informed (2 Pet. ii. 4), that “God which was of the first litter of the mother; and hav-
spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them | ing burnt the same in the fire, beat it to powder, and
down to hell, and delivered them into chains of dark- put a little of it in his eyes, and then he will see
ness, to be reserved unto judgment.” And in the them.”
final sentence of wicked men, they are said to be An idea prevailed to a considerable extent among
cast into the place of torment "prepared for the devil the early Christians, that the pagan gods and god-
and his angels."
desses were not the mere suggestions of men's ima-
Various opinions have been entertained among the ginations, but fallen spirits of great power and influ-
Jews concerning the creation of the evil angels. ence. Hence the belief arose that when the worship
Some maintain that God formed them spiritual beings of these deities was brought to an end by the pro-
because the Sabbath rest was approaching, and he gress of the gospel, the evil angels endeavoured to
mons.
11
mon.
human eye.
ANGELS-ANGELS OF THE CHURCHES.
103
recover their lost supremacy by other means. They | ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels
were invested with the attributes of the ancient divi-
do always behold the face of my Father which is in
nities, the legends of the one were transferred to the heaven. Divines, however, in commenting upon
other, and, accordingly, in the middle ages, the evil this verse, have generally agreed that, when Jesus
angels came to occupy a conspicuous position, and to uses the expression “their angels,” he means nothing
play an important part in the absurd speculations of more than that believers enjoy the ministration
the time. Questions in regard to angels, of the most of angels. The apostle assures the Corinthian
foolish kind, were discussed even in the seats of Christians that all things are theirs, “whether Paul,
learning; such as-Whether an angel could pass from or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death,
one point of space to another without passing through or things present, or things to come.” Angels, it is
the intervening space ? or, How many angels could true, are not included in this enumeration, but they
dance upon the point of a needle ? Such idle in- are included in a parallel passage in Rom. viii. 38, 39,
quiries were mingled up with the most strange no- “ For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life,
tions in regard to angels in general, but particularly nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
evil angels. Thus it was alleged that in the case of present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
very aggravated sinners, while the soul was plunged nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us
at once into the place of torment, the body, animated from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
by an evil spirit, still continued to dwell among men, Lord.” We may well say, therefore, of Christians,
and to exhibit a character corresponding to its infer- that angels are theirs, engaged in ministering for
nal nature.
their comfort and protection in the world. But an-
ANGELS (GUARDIAN). The opinion was held other difficulty connected with our Lord's statement,
by the Jews in ancient times, and also by many is to be found in the account which he gives of the
of the Christian fathers, that a guardian angel has position and employment of angels. “Their angels,"
been assigned by God to each individual believer. it is said, “ do always behold the face of my Father
The only passage of Scripture which seems directly which is in heaven;" that is, they are
, “angels of
to countenance this notion is to be found in Acts the presence," angels admitted to the more immediate
xii. 15, where we are informed that when the apostle vision of the divine majesty and glory. The phrase
Peter had been miraculously delivered from prison, “angels of the presence" occurs several times in
he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, Scripture. Thus Isa. Ixiii. 9, “ In all their affliction he
and when he sought admission, a damsel named was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved
Rhoda knew his voice, and ran in, and told how them : in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
Peter stood before the gate. And," it is added, and he bare them, and carried them all the days of
“they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she con- old." “ I am Gabriel," said the angel to Zechariah,
stantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, " that stand in the presence of God.” When Jesus
It is his angel." But the very connection in which says, therefore, concerning believers, that “their an-
these words occur, shows that nothing more can be gels do always behold the face of my Father which
legitimately deduced from them, than that the notion is in heaven," he means to lend additional force to
of guardian angels was a common Jewish opinion. the warning, “ Take heed that ye despise not one of
The Jews go farther, and say that every man has these little ones," by suggesting the consideration
two angels that attend him, the one good, who that believers are protected by the holy angels, who,
affords him protection; the other evil, who scrutinizes while they camp round about God's people on earth,
all his actions. Though the notion of guardian an- are possessed of such power, and wisdom, and holi-
gels assigned to individual believers is nowhere ness, and are so completely authorized by the Lord
sanctioned by the Word of God, we are plainly taught of angels, that they ever behold his Father's face, and
by many passages, that angels are deeply interested wait constantly upon him to know his will, that with
in the condition of the righteous. “Are they not all cordiality they may hasten to do it.
all ministering spirits," asks an apostle, “sent forth ANGELS OF THE CHURCHES. This name
to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" was given to the ministers of the synagogue among
In the book of Psalms it is expressly declared that the Jews. The business of this officer, who was also
“The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them called a bishop of the congregation, was to offer
that fear him, and delivereth them.” And again : prayers for the whole assembly, to which the people
“He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep answered Amen; and to preach, if there were no
thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in other to discharge that office. The reading of the
their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." law was not properly his business; but every Sab-
We find angels sent for the encouragement of Jacob, bath he called out seven of the synagogue, and on
and arrayed in numbers for the protection of Elijah. other days fewer, to perform that duty. The angel
A
passage, however, has sometimes been adduced, stood by the person that read, to correct him if he
which seems, at first sight, to favour the notion of read improperly. He took care also that worship
guardian angels. It is contained in Matt. xviii. 10, was performed without disorder, and with all regu-
"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little | larity. By a name probably borrowed from the
104
ANGEL OF DEATH-ANGELIC BROTHERS.
synagogue, the bishops or pastors of the seven Jews. God himself is represented as saying to him,
churches of Asia Minor are termed in the book of “The world is in thy power except this people. I
Revelation, angels of the churches. It is sometimes have given thee authority to root out the idolaters;
supposed that Paul alludes to this name where he but over this people I have given thee no power.'
says (1 Cor. xi. 10) that women ought to be covered The Rabbis say, that when the angel of death has
in the church because of the angels. Bishops, or killed any man, he washes his sword in the water of
ministers of Christian churches, are often called, by the house, thereby conveying a mortal quality to it;
the earlier writers, angels. It was a doctrine of great hence upon the death of any person, it was custom-
antiquity, that every nation, and kingdom, and pro- ary among the Jews to throw away all the water
vince, and even every individual, had their guardian then in the house. This angel, they say, stands at
angel. The bishops, or pastors, therefore, who were the head of the bed of the dying person holding a
appointed by Christ and his apostles to the ministry naked sword in his hand, at the point of which hang
of the gospel and the service of the saints, were sup- three drops of gall. The sick man perceiving the
posed to bear the same relations in the hierarchy of angel, in great alarm opens his mouth, and immedi-
the church that these tutelary angels bore in the ately the three drops fall in, the first of which occa-
court of heaven.
sions his death, the second makes his body pale and
This term, “ angel of the church” has given rise to livid, and the third disposes it to crumble into dust.
great difference of opinion. Some have imagined that They believe, further, that when a Jew is buried, the
it refers to the guardian angel of each church, and angel of death seats himself upon his grave, and at
others to the door-keeper or messenger of the church. the same time the soul of the deceased returns to his
There are other views, however, which ought not to body, and sets him upon his legs. Then the angel
be omitted, as having been held by divines of learn- | taking an iron chain, one half of which is as cold as
ing and judgment. Among these, we may mention ice, and the other half burning hot, strikes the body
the high episcopal opinion, which regards the "an- with it, and separates all the members; he strikes it
gels" in this case as the bishops, to whom alone were a second time, and beats out all the bones; then he
intrusted the care and regulation of the affairs of the strikes it a third time, and reduces the whole to
churches. The strict Presbyterian interpretation of ashes. After this the good angels re-unite the parts
the phrase in question is, on the contrary, that it means and replace the body in the grave.
the consistory of elders in each congregation, viewed The Mohammedans also believe in the existence of
as one body, and so personified. The ultra-Congre.. a special angel of death. They affirm that a regular
gationalist theory supposes that the word “angel” is examination of each person by two angels takes place
used as a symbolical expression for the whole church. when he is buried to discover his real character.
Another view held on this subject by many Congre- | This is called the examination of the grave.
gationalists is, that when John wrote the Apocalypse, ANGEL OF PEACE. Chrysostom frequently
a plurality of pastors had ceased in the churches ; mentions in his writings, that in the early Christian
that there was now in each of these societies only church, the catechumens were enjoined to pray for
one pastor, and that to him the letter intended for the presence of this angel. Thus in his third homily
his church was addressed, that he might lay it before upon the Colossians, he says, “Every man has his
them, and, as in duty bound, urge its contents on angels attending him, and also the devil very busy
their notice. Still another opinion has been advo- about him. Therefore, we pray, and make our sup-
cated by not a few-—that by the “angel of the plications for the angel of peace.” In his sermon
church” is designated the president of the body of upon the ascension, when speaking of the air being
pastors, through whom the epistle was sent to the filled with good and bad angels, the one always rais-
church, to be by him laid before them. These dif- | ing war and discord in the world, and the other in-
ferent interpretations of this peculiar expression clining men to peace, he tells his audience that they
have been obviously adopted by various parties in might know there were angels of peace, by hearing
accordance with the theories which they have re- the deacons always in the prayers bidding men pray
spectively formed on the subject of church govern- for the angel of peace. This no doubt refers to a
ment.
form of prayer then in use, in which the catechu-
ANGEL OF DEATH. The angel or demon was mens are directed to ask of God the protection of
called by this name, whom the Jewish Rabbis sup- the angel of peace, nat implying any prayer to the
posed to be the agent in conveying men from this angel, but to the Lord of angels, that he would com-
world at death. The execution of the mortal sen- mission his angelic messenger to defend them from
tence on those who die in the land of Israel is as- the assaults of evil spirits, and keep them in perpe-
signed to Gabriel, whom they style an angel of tual and uninterrupted peace.
mercy; and those who die in other countries are ANGEL PEACOCK, a name given to the devil
despatched by the hand of Sammael, the prince of | by the YEZIDIENS or DEVIL-WORSHIPPERS (which
demons. The latter, however, is most frequently see).
styled the angel of death; but several of the Rabbis ANGELIC BROTHERS, an obscure Christian
confidently assert that he has no power over the sect which existed in Holland about the beginning of
ANGELICAL HYMN-ANGLO-CATHOLICS.
105
LIANS.
the eighteenth century. It had its origin from John | trines of the Angelites were a modification of the Sa-
George Gichtel, who died at Amsterdam in 1710. In | bellian heresy, inasmuch as they taught that none of
his doctrines he appears to have imbibed to some'ex- the Three Persons of the Trinity existed of himself,
tent the opinions of the MYSTICS (which see), having and of his own nature; but that there is a common
studied with great care the works of Jacob Behmen; God existing in them all, and that each is God by a
and believing in the possibility of obtaining in this participation of this Deity. They have sometimes
life the perfection which belongs to a higher state of been confounded with the Angelics
, in consequence
being, he called upon his followers to direct their of similarity of name. See DAMIANISTS, SABEL-
efforts towards this great end, enforcing upon them
the duty of being “ like the angels of God, who nei- ANGELUS DOMINI (The Angel of the Lord).
ther marry, nor are given in marriage." Hence the For more than three centuries a practice has pre-
name of Angelic Brothers, besides which, they were vailed in the Roman Catholic Church of commemo-
sometimes called from their founder, GICHTELIANS | rating at morning, noon, and night, the incarnation
or GICHTELLITES (which see).
of Christ, by a short form of prayer called the An-
ANGELICAL HYMN, a hymn of great note in | gelus Domini, from the words with which it begins
the early Christian church, beginning with the words in Latin.
which the angels sung at our Saviour's birth. It ANGERONA, an ancient Pagan goddess, who
was chiefly used in the communion service, as it was supposed to deliver men from anguish and
is still in the Church of England. It was also used alarm. A statue was erected to her in the temple
at morning prayer in private devotion. In the Moz- of Volupia, near the Forum in Rome, with her
arabic Liturgy, it is appointed to be sung in public mouth bound and sealed up. Great difference of
before the lessons on Christmas day. Chrysostom opinion exists among Roman authors as to this deity,
often mentions it in his writings. The author of that some supposing her to relieve from trouble, and
part of it which follows after the chorus of the angels others viewing her as the goddess of silence, and the
is unknown. Some have referred it to Lucian in the protecting divinity of Rome, who, by laying her finger
beginning of the second century, but of this it is im- upon her mouth, enjoined men to beware of divulg-
possible to speak with certainty.
ing the secret and sacred name of Rome.
ANGELICS, a sect known in the Christian ANGERONALIA, a festival in honour of the
church in the second century, and condemned from goddess Angerona, which was celebrated yearly on
the days of the apostles as heretics, because they were the 12th of December, when sacrifices were offered
worshippers of angels. Augustine speaks of them to her in the temple of Volupia at Rome.
by this name. Irenæus seems to insinuate that some ANGITIA, or ANGUITIA, (Lat. Anguis, a ser-
heretics were wont to invocate angels, where he op- pent), a goddess worshipped in ancient times by the
poses to their opinions the practice of the church, Marsians and Marrubians, who lived about the shores
telling them that many miracles were wrought in of the Lake Fucinus. She is said to have taught the
the church, not by invocation of angels, but by prayer people the use of remedies against the poisons of
to God and the Lord Jesus Christ. And Tertullian serpents, and to have derived her name from the
says expressly of the followers of Simon Magus, that power which she possessed of killing serpents by her
they worshipped angels in the exercise of their magi- incantations.
cal art, which idolatry was condemned by the apostle ANGLO-CALVINISTS, a name given by some
Peter in their first founder. To put an end to this writers to the members of the Church of England,
absurd and unscriptural practice, the council of Lao- as agreeing with Calvinists in most points, but dif-
dicea passed a decree, pronouncing an anathema on fering from them only in regard to church govern-
all who should be guilty of praying to angels. In ment, they holding Episcopacy to be scriptural, while
Phrygia and Pisidia, this heresy prevailed for a long most other Calvinists adhere to the Presbyterian
time, and oratories were built to the angel Michael. form.
It was only fitting, therefore, that from Laodicea, the ANGLO-CATHOLICS, the name applied to a
chief city of Phrygia, the voice of the church should party which arose in the Church of England about
be heard condemning a species of worship so plainly 1833, teaching doctrines and asserting principles
opposed to the word of God. See ANGEL-WOR-
See ANGEL-WOR- nearly allied to those maintained by the Romish
Church in contradistinction to the Protestant
ANGELITES, a Christian sect which arose in churches. The commencement of the movement was
the end of the fifth century, in the reign of the em- the publication of a series of Tracts by several cler-
peror Anastasius. It derived its name from Ange- gymen at Oxford, under the name of Tracts for
lium, a place in the city of Alexandria where the the Times.' These were issued at short but irregu-
adherents of this sect held their first meetings. They lar intervals, and the talent with which they were
were known by different names, being called Severites written, as well as the influence and respectability
from Severus, who was the head of the sect; and also of the writers, led to their wide circulation among
Theodosians from Theodosius, one of their number, all classes. Thus the Tractarians, as they were
whom they elected Pope at Alexandria. The doc- sometimes called, rose into importance, and their
SHIP.
106
ANGLO-CATHOLICS.
1
views, though startling at first to many, gradually “ the claim of Scripture to be sole and paramount
found their way among large numbers of the Angli- as a rule of faith," so far defer to tradition as to
can clergy. One of the chief originators of this High adopt rites and ceremonies which they find to
Church movement was Dr. Pusey, Professor of He- have universally prevailed in the Church previous
brew at Oxford, from whom the party are popu- to its separation into different parties, even though
larly named Puseyites. The Tracts in which their no distinct trace of them should be found in the New
peculiar doctrines were promulgated amounted to Testament. They accept the well-known test of
no fewer than ninety, the first having appeared in | Vincentius Lirinensis as that by which they are
1833 and the last in 1841.
willing that their doctrines and ceremonies should
In presenting our readers with a summary of the be tried,"" quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab om-
tenets advanced by the Anglo-Catholics in the Oxford nibus creditum est,” that is, “What has been be-
Tracts, and other publications which from time to lieved in all places, at all times, and by all people.”
time they have set forth, it is only just to state, that And not only do they thus combine Scripture and
they disclaim, in strong language, the identity of tradition in speaking of the rule of faith; but they
their views with those of Romanists. The great hold, in regard to Scripture itself, that the interpre-
aim, which from the beginning they have avowed, is tation of it cannot be left to the private judgment of
to bring back the Church, both in doctrine and prac- each individual. We must be guided, they allege, in
tice, to a complete harmony with Scripture, and the our understanding of Scripture by the traditionary
Ante-Nicene Fathers. In so far as the Church of teaching of the early Church. The relation of this
Rome, or any other church, has deviated from these, tradition to Scripture is thus explained in one of the
they are pronounced corrupt, and need to be re- Oxford Tracts, “ Catholic tradition teaches revealed
formed. Previous to the first Council of Nice, in truth, Scripture proves it; Scripture is the docu-
A. D. 325, the Anglo-Catholics consider the Church ment of faith, tradition the witness of it; the true
to have been comparatively pure, and desiderate the creed is the Catholic interpretation of Scripture, or
removal of all that has been introduced, either into scripturally proved tradition ; Scripture by itself
her creed or ceremonies, subsequent to that period, teaches mediately and proves decisively; tradition by
as unwarranted innovations. If consistent, then the itself proves negatively and teaches positively; Scrip-
numerous additions which the Council of Trent have ture and tradition taken together are the joint rule of
made to the doctrines of the Church, as set forth in faith.”
faith.” And what is the tradition which is thus
the creed of the Council of Nice, ought to be re- made of equal importance with the written Word of
jected. Accordingly, the remark of Froude was the God? It is the apostolical tradition of the early
natural expression of Tractarian principles, had Church, which has nowhere been embodied in the
they adhered to their first and fundamental doc- form of a fixed and authoritative creed, and which,
trine; “I never could be a Romanist; I never could scattered and diffused as it is throughout the writings
think all those things in Pope Pius's creed neces- of the Greek and Latin Fathers, can only be exa-
sary to salvation.” By striving to bring the Church mined by a very limited portion of the human fa-
of England to the Ante-Nicene standard of faith and mily. And these Fathers themselves, in the most
practice, Dr. Pusey and the other leaders of the party explicit terms, refuse to acknowledge the authority
hoped to purify the Church, and to establish it more of any other tradition than that which has been
deeply in the affections of the people. And it is handed down in the writings of the apostles. The
surely a melancholy proof of the weakness of man's Bible itself claims to be a full and perfect revelation
judgment and the perverseness of his heart, that of God's will to man. This claim it puts forth in
eainest, acute, learned men should have reasoned no doubtful language. Thus Psalm xix. 7, “ The
themselves into the adoption of those very Ro- law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the
mish errors which they set out with openly and testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the sim-
avowedly disclaiming. Many of the ablest of the ple;" John v. 39, “Search the scriptures; for in
party have passed from the Church of England. to them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are
the Church of Rome, and not a few of them are now they which testify of me;" Acts xvii. 11, 12,“ These
ministering at her altars.
were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that
But if the doctrines of the Anglo-Catholics are not they received the word with all readiness of mind,
to be regarded as fully Romish, far less are they en- and searched the scriptures daily, whether those
titled to be viewed as fully Protestant. Even as to the things were so.
things were so. Therefore many of them believed;
fundamental point, What is the standard of faith and also of honourable women which were Greeks, and
practice ? they have obviously deviated from strict of men, not a few;" Col. iii. 16, “Let the word of
Protestantism; for while the great and all-important | Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching
principle for which Luther contended against the Ro- and admonishing one another in psalms, and hymns,
mish divines was the sole and exclusive authority of and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts
the Bible as the Church's standard of faith and obe- to the Lord;" 2 Tim. iii. 15, 16, 17, “And that from
dience, the authors of the Tracts,' and all who have a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which
followed in their steps, while in words they assert are able to make thee wise unto salvation through
ANGLO-CATHOLICS.
107
faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is admitted of succession. The office of the apostles
given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doc- was peculiar, extraordinary, and miraculous, and,
trine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in therefore, necessarily temporary. "They were in-
righteousness; that the man of God may be per- spired men, and possessed of the power of working
fect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” If miracles, and these qualities being strictly superna-
the claim thus so strongly and undeniably urged be tural, it was impossible that they could communicate
admitted, then we are shut up to the conclusion, that them to others. And as to the succession of which
it can be known by us without the aid of the autho- Dr. Hook speaks, it is a fiction, not a reality. Peter,
ritative teaching of the Church. To adopt the beau- | Linus, Cletus, Clement : such is the order of the first
tiful figure of Dr. Lindsay Alexander, in speaking bishops of Rome as given in the quotation we
on this subject, in his 'Anglo-Catholicism not Apos- | have just made, and if the Anglo-Catholic divine had
tolical,' “ If an astronomer were to tell us that the gone one step further, he would in all probability
atmosphere is a perfect medium for the transmission have added Anacletus. Is the testimony of the early
of the sun's rays to our organs of vision, and at the Church unanimous on this point ? Far from it. Ter-
same time to assure us that to this perfect medium tullian, and Rufinus, and several others, place Clement
must be added another of stained glass before we next to Peter; Irenæus and Eusebius set Anacletus
could perceive the light, we should conclude at once before Clement; Epiphanius and Optatus place both
either that he was labouring under some strange Anacletus and Cletus before him, while Augustine
hallucination, or that he was attempting to amuse and Damasus make Anacletus, Cletus, and Linus
himself at our expense. Nothing can prevent the all to precede him. Well may Stillingfleet say, in
mind from concluding that that can be no perfect noticing this diversity of opinion in reference to the
medium of illumination to which something needs to very first links of the chain of succession, "How
be added before it can illuminate ; and as little can shall we extricate ourselves out of this labyrinth ?”
that be a perfect vehicle of truth which teaches no- But even were the chain unbroken, in point of per-
thing except to those who have already learned its sons, how shall we secure it being unbroken in point
lessons from another source. It is thus that Scrip- of virtue ? If all that is required in the Romish
ture is depreciated in the estimation of men by this Church to make ordination valid, in the case of every
doctrine of the need of an authoritative interpreter individual link in the chain, were not complied with;
to unfold its meaning. It is thus that men are nay, if in one single case there was a failure, the
brought imperceptibly but surely to think far less of boasted succession becomes an utter nullity. Well
the divinely constructed medium of illumination, may Chillingworth remark, “ that of ten thousand
than of the fragment of coloured glass, without requisites, whereof any one may fail, not one should
which they have been taught to believe that that be wanting, this to me is extremely improbable, and
illumination could not have reached them."
even cousin-german to impossible.” And yet, on
One of the great principles on which the whole this doubtful foundation, the Anglo-Catholics, in
system of Anglo-Catholicism is built, is the doctrine common with the most bigoted Romanists, build an
of apostolical succession, that the commission with arrogant and presumptuous claim, which goes to un-
all its powers and privileges which Christ gave to church all Presbyterian churches and Protestant dis-
his apostles has been conveyed in an unbroken line senters of every kind.
of succession down to the present day. If this be Sacramental efficacy, or the power of the sacra-
true, then the regularly ordained bishops stand in ments in themselves to impart grace, is another pe-
the same position, and hold the same relation to the culiar tenet of the Anglo-Catholic party in the
Church now that the apostles themselves did. “Our Church of England. This doctrine, indeed, is inti-
ordinations,” says Dr. Hook, “ descend in an un- mately connected with those already noticed. God's
broken line from Peter and Paul, the apostles of the grace and our salvation depend, according to this
circumcision and of the Gentiles. These great apos- | theory, on the virtue of the sacraments, and that
tles successively ordained Linus, Cletus, and Cle- virtue itself depends on the apostolical succession of
ment, bishops of Rome; and the apostolical succes- those who administer these sacraments. On these
sion was regularly continued from them to Celestine, points conjunctly viewed, the whole system of An-
Gregory, and Vitalianus, who ordained Patrick, glo-Catholicism is founded. The efficacy of the
bishop of the Irish, and Augustine and Theodore for sacraments, ex opere operato, has ever been a fa-
the English. And from those times an uninter- vourite doctrine of the Romish Church, tending as
rupted series of valid ordinations has carried down it does to exalt the clergy in the estimation of the
the apostolical succession in our churches to the pre- people, by holding them forth as possessed of a mys-
sent day. There is not a bishop, priest, or deacon terious power to communicate effectually the only
among us who may not, if he please, trace his spirit- means of salvation. Thus they come to be regarded
ual descent from Peter or Paul.” These are bold with the deepest reverence, and the sacraments are
assertions, but unfortunately they proceed on an as- converted into a species of magical charms, which
sumption which no Anglo-Catholic can possibly work in some mysterious way altogether indepen-
establish to be well founded,—that the apostolic office dently of the concurrence of the person to whom they
0
108
ANGLO-CATHOLICS.
are administered. Such tenets meet with not the privilege of making the body and blood of Christ.”
slightest countenance from the Word of God. On Not that the Tractarians teach transubstantiation in
the contrary, the whole efficacy of ordinances of the same sense as the Church of Rome. They modify
every kind is attributed in Scripture to the blessing the doctrine in some degree by maintaining that the
of Christ, and the working of his Spirit; for an apos- body of Christ is present not with the material quali-
tle expressly declares 1 Cor. iii. 7, “So then neither ties of a body, or with “bones and sinews,” as the
is he that planteth any thing, neither he that wa- Catechism of the council of Trent teaches, but after a
tereth; but God that giveth the increase.”
transcendental manner, being really and yet only
The Anglo-Catholics openly avow also their belief spiritually present. Such an explanation of the matter
in the Romish doctrine of baptismal regeneration. is simply darkening counsel by words without wis-
Thus in the Tract on Baptism, it is said, “Whoso- dom. And as to the sacrifice of the mass, which in
ever of us has been baptized was thereby incorpo- substance the Anglo-Catholics hold, the question
rated into Christ.” “Our life in Christ begins when naturally arises, How can there be a sacrifice where
we are by baptism made members of Christ, and there is no shedding of blood ? An“unbloody sacri-
children of God.” And again, “Baptism is the fice" is a contradiction in terms. And it is con-
channel through which God bestows justification, trary surely to sound reason that the commemora-
and faith is the quality through which we receive tion of a sacrifice should be considered as the sacri-
it.” In support of their views, the writers of the fice itself. Besides, Scripture gives no uncertain
Oxford Tracts adduce various passages of Scripture, deliverance upon this subject. Heb. x, 12, 26. “But
in which there is undoubtedly declared to be an in- this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins,
timate connection between baptism and regenera- for ever sat down on the right hand of God. For if
tion. But the fallacy which runs through the whole we sin wilfully after that we have received the know-
of the reasonings of the Anglo-Catholics, is a con- ledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice
founding of two different kinds of baptism spoken of for sins.”
-
baptism by the Spirit. The two are not necessarily trines advanced by the Anglo-Catholic party in the
and inseparably connected; nay, the great distinc- Church of England. Their system was not all at
tion which John the Baptist declared to lie between once but gradually developed; and as might have
his baptism and that of Christ, is thus expressed, been expected, the publication of their semi-Popish
“I indeed baptize you with water ; but he will bap- opinions awakened an opposition of no ordinary kind.
tize you with the Holy Ghost.” And the same tes- For upwards of twenty years has the controversy
timony was given by our Lord himself, “ John truly raged, and during that time the public press has
baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with teemed with tracts, pamphlets, reviews, and treatises
the Holy Ghost." It is to be carefully noted then, on both sides of the questions at issue. Meanwhile the
that baptism with water is a mere adjunct and em- Anglo-Catholics have been rapidly growing both in
blem of the all-important baptism with the Holy numbers and in influence. Many, particularly of the
Spirit sent down from heaven; the former being a younger clergy, joined their ranks. These carrying
mere rite, the latter a reality. Nowhere in Scrip- out the principles of the party to their legitimate
ture is the rite spoken of as connected with regener- | conclusions, began to doubt the firmness of the foun-
ation, unless when conjoined with the reality. Thus dation on which their own church rested. They
in John iii. 5. we find our Lord declaring, “ Except made no secret of their preference of Romanism to
a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot the principles of the Reformation. A few ardent
enter into the kingdom of God.” It is by baptism spirits feeling the inconsistency of their position, re-
with the Spirit that we are regenerated, but not by signed their livings and joined the Church of Rome.
the mere ritual and outward washing with water. The The occurrence of several cases of secession opened
latter is an appointed and important ordinance, de- the eyes of multitudes to the real principles and
riving all its importance, however, and all its efficacy character, and undoubted tendency of the Anglo-
from the fact that it is a symbol, a memorial or type Catholic movement. The leaders of the party
of the grand reality contained in the former,
seemed anxious to lay the spirit they themselves
The last doctrine of the Anglo-Catholics to which had raised. With this view, Dr. Pusey, in 1839,
we advert, as classing them with Romanists rather published a Letter to the Bishop of Oxford on the
than with Protestants, is the real presence of Christ Tendency of Romanism,” in which he endeavoured
in the sacrament of the supper, that it is a sacrifice to show that the opinions which he and his friends
offered to God, and that it confers grace upon the had promulgated in the " Tracts,” could not be justly
recipient. The monstrous dogma of transubstantia- regarded as having led to the recent secessions;
tion is taught in the Oxford tracts, without the but that, on the contrary, the Anglo-Catholics were
slightest reserve, and Dr. Pusey goes so far as to engaged rather in opposing ultra-Protestantism than
boast that his is the only church which has the body in supporting Popery. Notwithstanding this dis-
of Christ to give to the people, and one of the tracts claimer, the practical tendency of the system was
speaks of the clergy as “ entrusted with the awful manifest from the increasing number of secessions
1
ANGLO-CATHOLICS.
109
which were ever and anon taking place. Conscien- | from the language in which the letter was couched,
tious young men, who had embraced the views of the strange practices which had been introduced into
the Anglo-Catholics, refused to take orders in the some of the richer congregations of the metropolis
English Church, feeling that the opinions which they were still continued.
were still continued. Several churches in the coun-
had adopted were at variance with the Thirty-nine | try, following the example of these wealthy congre-
Articles. To allay the scruples of such persons, Mr. gations in London, adopted the innovations concern-
John Henry Newman produced the Tract number ing which the Archbishop of the diocese had given
ninety, which was the last of the series, and which no authoritative decision.
caused greater excitement in the public mind thanı In 1847 the controversy assumed a new aspect,
any of its predecessors. In that celebrated Tract, in consequence of the arbitrary conduct of the Bishop
the author laboured to show that with perfect safety of Exeter, who, being a vigorous supporter of Anglo-
to his conscience an Anglo-Catholic might appendCatholic doctrine, refused to institute Mr. Gorham
his name to the Thirty-nine Articles. The perverse to the living of Bramford-Specke, on the ground of
ingenuity of the argument called forth the formal unsoundness in doctrine, because in a protracted exa-
condemnation of the Tract by the University of Ox- mination, chiefly on the subject of baptismal efficacy,
ford, and although Dr. Pusey rushed to the defence he refused to declare his belief in baptismal regener-
of his friend by a published Vindication of the prin- ation. From the decision of the Bishop, Mr. Gor-
ciples of non-natural interpretation, on which the ham appealed to the Court of Arches, but without
argument of the Tract in question proceeded, such success. The Bishop's decision was confirmed, to the
was the feverish excitement produced in the minds triumph of the Anglo-Catholic party, and the distress
of all true friends of the Church of England, that it of the friends of Evangelical truth. An appeal was
was deemed proper to discontinue the issue of the immediately lodged before the judicial committee of
Oxford Tracts from that time. Even this, however, the Privy Council, and at length, after considerable
would not have allayed the ferment had not Mr. delay and deep anxiety, a decision was obtained in
Newman belied his own principle, as to the possi- | February 1850, reversing the decision of the inferior
bility of an Anglo-Catholic conscientiously remain- court. The final result of this long-protracted case
ing in connection with the Church of England, by was felt by the Anglo-Catholics to be a heavy blow
himself abandoning that Church and joining the to their party. Solemn protests against the decision
Church of Rome.
were published by the leaders of the party, and num-
The secession of Mr. Newman, which took place bers who held their principles went over to the Church
in 1845, was quite an era in the history of Anglo- of Rome. In the course of 1850 and 1851, nearly one
Catholicism in England. The tendency of the sys- hundred clergymen of the Church of England exchan-
tem was now beyond a doubt. In the course of a ged the Protestant for the Romish communion, in-
few months, a considerable number of the party re- cluding Archdeacon Manning and Henry Wilberforce,
signed their livings, and quitted the ranks of Pro- a brother of the Bishop of Oxford. Numbers of the .
testantism. Among these were some ministers of laity followed, and before the end of 1852 the num-
standing in the church. Others of the party retained ber of perverts to the Romish church from the Anglo-
their ministerial charges, asserting their right to hold Catholic party amounted to two hundred ministers,
Romish doctrine, and striving to conform in the out- and the same number of laymen. Since that period
ward ceremonial of their service to the requirements occasional secessions have been taking place, and
of the Romish ritual. Old customs which had long ago within the church practices are followed, not secretly,
become obsolete were revived, and practices unknown but openly in many churches, which are rapidly assi-
in
any of the churches of the Reformation were in- milating the service of the Church of England to that
troduced. Mediæval architecture, chiefly under the of the Romish ritual.
skilful direction of Mr. Pugin, became fashionable in Throughout the whole of the Anglo-Catholic con-
the construction and repair of parish churches. troversy, but more especially since the final deci-
Poetry, novels and tales were made the vehicle of sion of the Gorham case, the question has been much
diffusing among the people the principles of Anglo- | agitated as to the right of the civil power to inter-
Catholicism. Only very feeble resistance was made fere, and still more the right of the crown to exercise
by the bishops to the innovations introduced in sev- supreme authority, in things ecclesiastical. Accord-
eral churches. Matters at length assumed so alarm- ingly, various attempts have been made of late years
ing an aspect, that the Archbishop of Canterbury to revive convocation, for the purpose of taking
found it necessary, in 1845, to issue a letter to the synodical action and managing ecclesiastical affairs.
clergy and laity of his province, calling upon them These attempts, however, have been as yet altoge-
to beware of introducing innovations without the ther ineffectual. The supremacy of the Queen in
general acquiescence of the people, and to be on matters ecclesiastical, in so far as regards the Church
their guard against incurring a risk of division by of England, is an acknowledged principle of English
any attempt at change. This cautious interference law. This question has of late been brought into
of the archiepiscopal dignitary was successful to discussion by the Tractarians with considerable keen-
some extent in arresting the tide of innovation, but ness, and Mr. Robert Wilberforce, another brother
110
ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH.
of the Bishop of Oxford, has seceded to the Church | Cornwall, to the Britons, while they themselves par-
of Rome professedly on this very ground, as set titioned the country into different provinces, found-
forth in a recent 'Inquiry into the principles of ing the kingdom of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy.
Church Authority; or reasons for recalling my The invaders brought along with them to the shores
Subscription to the Royal Supremacy.' What of England their barbarous customs and their Pagan
first aroused the attention of some of those indivi- idolatry, " and in every quarter,” to use the language
duals, who now belong to the Anglo-Catholic of D’Aubigné, “temples to Thor rose above the
party, to the question as to the supremacy of the churches in which Jesus Christ had been worship-
Queen in ecclesiastical matters, was the suppres- ped.” A century and a half after this period, Gre-
sion some years ago, by the authority of Parlia- gory the Great, Bishop of Rome, conceived the idea
ment, of several bishoprics in Ireland, in the face of founding a church among the Anglo-Saxons. The
of the solemn protest of the Bishops and Clergy circumstances which led to the formation of this
of the Church of England. Since that time, and still plan are thus detailed by Neander.
“ An impres-
more since the final decision of the Gorham case, sion which he had received in his early years, that
this point has been agitated by the Tractarians with is before he was a bishop, and was still the abbot of
more zeal than prudence. Being both a political a convent in Rome, inspired him with the first wish
and religious question, affecting the very elements to accomplish this object. While walking one day
of the British constitution, and the security of the about the market-place, and noticing the foreign
National Church of England, it is far from desirable merchants offering their wares for sale, his attention
that such a point should be brought under discus- was particularly attracted by the noble appearance
sion. The Anglo-Catholics generally, while they of some youths who, brought from abroad, were
agree with Mr. Wilberforce in disowning the supre- about to be sold as slaves. He inquired respecting
macy of the civil authority in matters of religion, their country, and learnt, to his great affliction, that
feeling that by remaining in the church they are in this people, so favoured by nature, were wholly
reality acknowledging that supremacy, endeavour to destitute of the higher gifts of grace. His resolu-
persuade themselves and others that they maintain tion was immediately taken to visit their land, in
their consistency, by qualifying their acknowledg- order to attempt their conversion ; and this design
ment with the important proviso, “quantum per he would have accomplished had he not been re-
Christi legem licet," " as far as is permitted by the called, when some days on his journey, by the then
law of Christ.” Thus they allege that they give no Bishop of Rome, according to the wish of the Ro-
authority to the prince, except what is consistent man community. But he could not give up the
with the maintenance of all those rights, liberties, thought of this mission, and he seems to have been
jurisdictions, and spiritual powers “which the law of engaged with plans for its accomplishment from the
Christ confers on His church.” It is unfortunate, very commencement of his career as bishop of Rome.
however, for the numerous adherents of this influen- Thus he instructed the presbyter, whom he charged
tial party, that the law of the land makes no such with the administration of the church possessions in
exception, and, therefore, if at any time a collision France, to employ a portion of the money collected
shall take place between the civil and ecclesiastical in that country in the purchase of Anglo-Saxon
authorities, the party must either succumb to the youths, who might be offered for sale. They were
authority of the State, or as their only alternative, to be sent to Rome, accompanied by a priest, who,
abandon their connection with the Church. See in case of mortal sickness, might administer baptism
CONVOCATION, ENGLAND (CHURCH OF).
to the sufferer, and such as arrived at Rome were to
ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. Christianity, it is be placed in convents, and there instructed and
probable, was planted in Britain by missionaries brought up. Gregory probably intended to employ
from the East in the latter part of the second cen- them, when they had become monks, as missionaries
tury. There it continued to exist, and even to flour- among their countrymen.”
ish, amid much opposition and many corruptions. While Gregory was meditating the despatch of a
The English were frequently harassed by invasions mission to the Anglo-Saxons, an occurrence took
from their northern neighbours the Picts and Scots, place which promised to be favourable to his de-
and at length, towards the middle of the fifth cen- sign. Ethelbert, king of Kent, the most powerful
tury, finding themselves unable to resist their old of the petty monarchies composing the heptarchy,
enemies, or to obtain help from the now powerless had married Bertha, a Christian princess of Frank
Romans, they had recourse to the Anglo-Saxons, descent, and who having free permission to prac-
a warlike branch of the great German race. Hen- tise the rites of her own religion, had brought with
gist and Horsa, with their Saxon followers, responded her a bishop named Liuthard. The way being thus
to the invitation, but with the cruel treachery of a evidently paved for the accomplishment of his de-
barbarous nation, they turned their swords against signs, Gregory sent to England, A. D. 596, a Roman
the people they came to assist, made themselves abbot, Augustine, with a numerous train of follow-
masters of the land, leaving only the mountains of ers, including no fewer than forty monks. They
Wales, and the wild moors of Northumberland and / landed in the isle of Thanet in the eastern part of
ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH.
111
Kent, and on learning their arrival and intentions, | chief city of a different kingdom, that of the East-
Ethelbert received them in the open air to avoid Saxons. Through the influence of Ethelbert, how-
magical spells, and stated that he could not, without ever, Christianity found an entrance into that pro-
more deliberation, quit the religion of his country, vince also, and Augustine succeeded in founding an
but that, in the meantime, he would allow them a archbishopric at London. According to the direc-
residence in the town of Canterbury, and give them tions of the Pope, Augustine was to exercise the
permission to use their best endeavours for the con- highest authority, not only in the newly estab-
version of his subjects. They entered the city in lished Anglo-Saxon Church, but also in that of
solemn procession, carrying the picture of Christ and the ancient Britons. In this, however, the see of
a silver cross, and singing the Litanies. Having set Rome was stretching its authority beyond what would
themselves to the discharge of the object of their readily be recognized. The British Church had not
mission, they distinguished themselves by their pray- received Christianity from Rome, but from the East
ers, fastings, and discourses. The result was far be- and, therefore, they had not been accustomed to ac-
yond their most sanguine expectations. They made | knowledge the Roman Church as their mother; but
numerous converts, of whom they baptized ten thou- regarded themselves as occupying an entirely inde-
sand on Christmas day, A. D. 597; and at length pendent position. In some of their ecclesiastical
the king himself was received into the communion of observances, also, they differed from the Church of
the Church of Rome.
Rome. Among these may be mentioned the time of
By the command of the Pope, Augustine pro- keeping the festival of Easter; the form of the ton-
ceeded to France, where he received episcopal con- sure ; and several of the rites practised at baptism.
secration at the hands of the Archbishop of Arles, Augustine, naturally ambitious, wished to bring the
and Gregory being informed of the remarkable suc- Britons also under his spiritual authority; and
cess which had attended his labours among the An- Ethelbert, desirous of effecting a union of the two
glo-Saxons, sent him additional assistants, chiefly churches, arranged a conference between Augustine
monks, with the Abbot Mellitus at their head. and the bishops of the neighbouring British province.
Along with the pallium, the sign of archiepiscopal | The meeting took place, according to an ancient
dignity, Augustine received from Rome a letter of German custom, under an oak, but was altogether
instructions on forming the English prelacy, and, be- ineffectual in subduing the hostility of the Britons
sides a copy of the Holy Scriptures, several eccle- to the Anglo-Saxon as being in subjection to the
siastical vessels, dresses, and ornaments. At the Roman Church.
same time, Gregory despatched an admonitory let- The death of Augustine in A. D. 605 weakened the
ter to Ethelbert, in which he stated, that he had at Anglo-Saxon Church, and the subsequent death of
first intended to insist on the converted monarch King Ethelbert in A. D. 616, proved its almost entire
demolishing every one of the idolatrous temples in extinction. Eadbald, the son and successor of Ethel-
his kingdom; but that, on mature reflection, he bert, returned immediately to the old idolatry, and a
thought that these temples, if well built, should not similar revolution took place in East-Saxony on the
be destroyed; but that being sprinkled with holy death of its monarch. The cause, however, soon
water and furnished with relics, they should be used after revived, and before the end of the seventh cen-
as temples of the living God. In the same manner tury Christianity had extended itself over the whole
he proposed that the people should be allowed a of the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy; though its progress
compensation for the loss of the festivals kept in was frequently interrupted by civil feuds, foreign
honour of their gods; that holydays should be in- invasions, and the repeated and unadvised attempts
stituted in memory of the consecration of churches, of the Anglo-Saxon bishops to make those of Scot-
or of the saints, whose relics they enshrined, and land and Wales acknowledge their primacy, and keep
that on such days the people were to erect green Easter, and baptize according to the ritual of Rome.
arbours around the churches, and there to eat their The government of the Anglo-Saxon Church was,
festive meal, giving thanks to God for these his like that of Rome from which it had its origin, Epis-
temporal blessings.
copal, an archbishop and bishop being the rulers of
The intention of Gregory, in nominating Augus- the Church, though subject to their own national as
tine the first archbishop of the new Anglo-Saxon well as to general councils; and in some instances
Church, was to establish a fully organized hierarchy to the Wittenagemote, and in their temporal con-
in England. London was to be made the chief city cerns, to the king. Under their authority the sub-
of the province, having twelve subordinate bishop- ordinate clergy possessed various powers and pri.
rics. The second metropolitan seat was to be fixed vileges. The chief of the official duties of the
at York, when Christianity should have sufficiently clergy was, that of reading the Scriptures and ex-
spread through the country. Each archbishopric was pounding them for the benefit of the people. The
to be independent of the other, and to be esteemed Anglo-Saxons possessed parts of the Sacred volume
of equal dignity, subject only to the see of Rome. in their vernacular tongue for some centuries; but
Augustine found it impossible literally to follow out the earliest version of which there is any account
the arrangements of the Pope, London being the appears to be a translation of the Four Gospels
112
ANGONCLYTÆ-ANIMALS.
made about A. D. 680, by one Aldred a priest. The | Wittenagemote that St. Michael had greatly befriend-
Psalms were rendered into the ordinary language by ed the Danes in Apulia, a general fast was ordered
Adhelm, first bishop of Sherborne, about A. D. 706, on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before
and the Evangelists by Egbert, bishop of Lindisfarn, his festival. Every man was to go without orna-
who died in A. D. 721. A few years after, the Vener- ments barefoot to church, confession, and with the
able Bede translated the entire Bible ; and nearly two holy relics ; to call inwardly in their heart with all
centuries afterwards King Ælfred executed another diligence to Christ; to fast on bread and water;
version of the Psalms. A Saxon translation of the and to give alms of a hide-penny or penny's worth.
Pentateuch, and some other books of the Old Tes- No work was to be done, the monks in every min-
tament, is also attributed to Ælfric, archbishop of ster were to sing the Psalter and to say mass till
Canterbury, A. D. 995, and in the same century a things become better.''
translation of the Scriptures was executed under the It is generally supposed that the Anglo-Saxon
patronage of Æthelstan.
churches were built in places where the bodies of
In the performance of their religious ceremonies, saints were discovered, consisting at first of small
the Anglo-Saxon priests were to celebrate mass only wooden oratories, thatched with rushes, and some-
in churches and on the altar, excepting in cases of times wholly constructed of woven wands. As the
extreme sickness. Their garments were to be wo- practice of architecture improved, better materials
ven; one was to be present to make responses ; were used, and Firman took the thatched roof from
and mass was to be performed fasting, not more the church of Durham, and covered it with leaden
than thrice in the day, and then with pure bread, plates. Wilfred, archbishop of York, about A. D.
wine, and water for the Eucharist. The sacramen- 709, erected churches of polished stone at Ripon
tal cup was to be of gold or silver, glass or tin, and and Hexham. Organs were introduced into the
not of earth, at least not of wood; the altar was to Anglo-Saxon churches so early as the eighth cen-
be clean and well covered, and no woman was to tury. Ecclesiastical chanting was practised at Can-
approach it during mass. The priest's books ap- terbury by Theodore and Adrian ; after which it was
pear to have been numerous, since Ælfric says they adopted in the other English churches. The Roman
ought at least to have a missal, singing-book, read- mode of singing was brought from Rome in A. D.
ing-book, psalter, hand-book, penitential, and nu- 678, and became a favourite study in the Saxon
meral-book. They were also to sing from sunrise monasteries.
with the nine intervals and nine readings. As might Bells were probably first introduced in the seventh
have been expected from their Roman origin, the century. In the oldest Anglo-Saxon buildings they
Anglo-Saxon Christians used both crucifixes and the were not enclosed in towers, but placed under a
sign of the cross, but they seem not to have held small arch, the ropes passing through holes into the
the doctrine of transubstantiation. It must be ad roof of the church, having hand-rings of brass and
mitted, however, that they retained some of the even of silver. They were originally rung by the
superstitions which belong to Romanism, particu- priests themselves, and afterwards by servants. At
larly an extravagant regard for relics. Even the certain seasons the choirs of the churches were
linen which held relics was adored, and they were strewed with hay, and at others with sand ; on Eas-
considered as amulets from danger on journeys. They ter Sunday with ivy-leaves, and sometimes with
were also worn about the neck, sold at a high price, rushes. The doors were locked till the first hour
and preferred to all other presents.
or prime, and from dinner till vespers; and some of
Penances of various degrees of severity were in- the books in the choir were covered with cloths.
flicted for crimes in the Anglo-Saxon Church. The It is supposed that many undoubted specimens of
heaviest penance consisted in not wearing arms; in Anglo-Saxon churches are still remaining in various
long travelling barefoot, without shelter by night, parts of England.
but continually fasting, watching, and praying; in ANGONCLYTÆ (Gr. a gonu klino, not to bend
not going into a bath; not cutting the hair or nails; the knee), a name given to a Christian sect in the
not eating flesh, or drinking intoxicating liquors; eighth century, who held that it was superstitious
and not entering a church. Long fastings were fre- to bend the knees in prayer, or to prostrate the
quently ordered, but a seven years' fast might be body; and, therefore, they always prayed standing.
performed in three days if 840 persons could be ANIMALS, CLEAN and UNCLEAN. In the Mo-
prevailed upon to join in it. By the laws of Ethel- saic Law a distinction was established between cer-
red, which were enacted in the tenth century, a tain animals which were allowed to be eaten by the
day's fasting might be redeemed for a penny, or Israelites and pronounced clean, and others which
the repetition of two hundred psalms; and a twelve- were forbidden to be eaten, and pronounced un-
month's fasting for thirty shillings, or setting at
clean. The following list of animals which were
liberty a servant of that value. A singular instance accounted unclean by the Hebrews is founded chiefly
of national penance, which occurred about A. D. 1015, on the Vulgate :
is mentioned by Mr. Thomson, in his · Illustrations of I. QUADRUPEDS. The camel, hare, hog, porcu-
British History :' “It having been reported to the pine, or hedge-hog.
ANIMALS (CLEAN AND UNCLEAN).
113
i
1
II. BIRDS. The eagle, ossifrage, sea-eagle, kite, | Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. Ye shall
vulture and its species, raven and its species ; os- not eat any thing that dieth.of itself: thou shalt give
trich, owl, moor-hen, sparrow-hawk, screech-owl, it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may
cormorant, ibis, swan, bittern, porphyrion, heron, eat it ; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien ; for thou
curlew, lapwing.
art an holy people unto the Lord thy God.” It was
III. CREEPING THINGS. The weasel, mouse, highly improbable that they would ever worship
shrew-mouse, mole, cameleon, eft, lizard, crocodile. those animals which they daily fed upon. He per-
It would appear from Gen. vii. 2, that the distinc- mitted them to eat such as were generally worship-
tion between clean and unclean animals was recog-ped by the Egyptians. This established a most
nized long before the giving of the Law, nay, even effectual wall of separation between the Hebrews
before the flood; but the remark of Spencer, in his and that animal-worshipping people. Accordingly,
erudite work, ' De Legibus Hebræorum,' is not, per- when the Hebrews came to dwell in that country, a
haps, without foundation—that Moses, in giving an separate district was assigned them as their place of
account of the Deluge, speaks of clean and unclean residence, this being all the more necessary, as some
animals by way of anticipation. Noah, therefore, of the animals which were eaten by the Hebrews
may have been guided by supernatural inspiration were accounted sacred by the Egyptians; and, there-
in his selection of animals, without the recognition fore, it was unlawful to kill them. On this subject,
of a distinction which was only established at an it has been well remarked by an intelligent Ameri-
after period, and in the full knowledge of which can author, “ This statute, above all others, estab-
Moses writes his history.
lished not only a political and sacred, but a physi-
The question as to the precise object of the ap- cal separation of the Jews from all other people.
pointment of such a distinction has given rise to It made it next to impossible for the one to mix
considerable discussion among the learned. Micha- with the other either in meals, in marriage, or in
elis seems to regard it as founded on the very na- any familiar connexion. Their opposite customs in
ture of the animals themselves, and remarks, " that the article of diet not only precluded a friendly and
in so early an age of the world, we should find a comfortable intimacy, but generated mutual con-
systematic division of quadrupeds so excellent, as tempt and abhorrence. The Jews religiously ab-
never yet, after all the improvements in Natural horred the society, manners, and institutions of the
History, to have become obsolete; but, on the con- Gentiles, because they viewed their own abstinence
trary, to be still considered as useful by the great- from forbidden meats as a token of peculiar sanc-
est masters of the science, cannot but be looked upon tity, and of course regarded other nations, who
as truly wonderful. The learned critic here alludes wanted this sanctity, as vile and detestable. They
obviously to the distinction between the Solidipede considered themselves as secluded by God himself
and the Fissipede animals, and also to the classifica- from the profane world by a peculiar worship, gov-
tion of the Ruminants as a species distinct and sepa- ernment, law, dress, mode of living, and country.
rate from all others. But while some have thus Though this separation from other people, on which
imagined the difference in question to have been the law respecting food was founded, created in the
founded exclusively on physical, others have rested Jews a criminal pride and hatred of the Gentiles ;
it on physiological grounds, supposing that certain yet it forcibly operated as a preservative from hea-
animals were to be eaten simply because they were then idolatry, by precluding all familiarity with idol-
wholesome and suitable, while others were prohibited atrous nations."
because unwholesome and unsuitable. But the Scrip- Another reason of the distinction being established
tures set before us a far higher reason, alleging that between clean and unclean animals was, that the He-
the design was both moral and political, being intended brews being “ a peculiar people” devoted to God,
to preserve the Hebrews a distinct people from the might be reminded of the importance of studying
idolatrous nations. This is plainly stated in Lev. xx. the habitual cultivation of moral purity. Thus they
24–26, “I am the Lord thy God, which have sepa- were taught God's discernment of sin, and the stigma
rated you from other people. Ye shall therefore put he had put upon it. Though there was nothing
difference between clean beasts and unclean, and be- morally different between one beast and another, yet
tween unclean fowls and clean : and ye shall not make if God put this difference between them, they were
your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any bound to regard them in this light; and it was thus
manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, that every beast became to them a remembrancer of
which I have separated from you as unclean. And the law calling upon thern to distinguish between
ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, what was right and what was wrong, what was per-
and have severed you from other people, that ye mitted and what was forbidden. Thus the primary
should be mine.” Agreeably with this, Moses thus use of this arrangement appears to have been to im-
reasons with them, Deut. xiv. 2, 3, 21, “Thou art press the minds of the Israelites with moral distinc-
an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord tions.
hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto him- The ancient Jewish interpreters endeavour to ac-
self, above all the nations that are upon the earth. count for their nation being laid under certain re-
1
1
H 1
114
ANIMAL-WORSHIP.
strictions in regard to food, by declaring that to the sacred animals died, the people went into mourning,
eating of certain animals may be ascribed a specific prepared sumptuous funerals and magnificent tombs
influence upon the moral temperament. But such for them, and showed every token of respect for their
explanations are of a very inferior and subordinate memory.
kind. The great and important origin of the whole Learned men have speculated on the probable
was unfolded to Peter in the remarkable vision re- origin of animal-worship among the Egyptians, and
corded in the tenth chapter of the Acts of the no small difference of opinion has existed on the sub-
Apostles. On relating the vision to the people that ject. The most plausible theory is, that some ana-
were met in the house of Cornelius, Peter said, “Ye logy was supposed to exist between the qualities of
know that it is not lawful for a man that is a Jew to certain animals and those of some of their subordi-
keep company with or come unto one of another na- nate divinities. These animals were consecrated to
tion; but God hath showed me that I should call no the deities whom they were thought to resemble;
man common or unclean ;” or, in other words,“ God and at length they were regarded as the visible em-
hath showed me that a Jew is now at liberty to keep blems of such deities. The great mass of the people,
company with or come unto one of another nation, however, soon forgetting the merely emblematical
which, so long as the distinction between clean and character of the animals, worshipped them directly
unclean beasts was in force, it was not lawful for and exclusively. In a country like Egypt, where
him to do.” The existence and continuance of this hieroglyphics were held in such estimation, the sym-
distinction, then, between clean and unclean animals, bolic animals came naturally to be regarded as repre-
was designed to be a perpetual security against the senting the deities to whom they were consecrated.
familiar intercourse of the Jews with the heathen Thus Jupiter Ammon was represented under the
and idolatrous nations, that the pure worship of the figure of a ram, Apis under that of a cow, Osiris of
true God might be preserved upon the earth, and a bull, Pan of a goat, Thoth or Mercury of an ibis,
there might be a seed to serve Him in every genera-
and Bubastis or Diana of a cat. The animal in
tion.
process of time received the name of its correspond-
ANIMAL-WORSHIP. This species of worship ing deity ; and thus, in the vulgar mind, instead of
seems to have prevailed at a very remote period, being associated with the deity which it represented,
chiefly among the Egyptians. We find the Israel- it was transformed into the ultimate object of wor-
ites in the wilderness worshipping the golden calf. ship. Thus animal-worship in all its grossness would
The general opinion is, that the Hebrews had learned be established among the people. The learned
this kind of idolatry in Egypt. This explanation of author of the article Mythology in the 'Encyclopædia
the matter is given also by the rabbinical writers. Britannica,' attributes the origin of the whole system
Thus, in the “Pirke Elieser,' quoted by Bishop to Thoth, or Mercury Trismegistus, who is said to
Patrick, we are told that “ they said unto Aaron, have been the first that “ discovered the analogy be-
The Egyptians extol their gods; they sing and chant tween the divine affections, influences, appearances,
before them, for they behold them with their eyes. operations, and the corresponding properties, quali-
Make us such gods as theirs are, that we may see ties, and instincts of certain animals.”
them before us. The peculiar form of the idol Plutarch informs us that the Egyptians themselves
which was made on that occasion, renders it in the have traced the origin of animal-worship to a war
highest degree probable that the whole transaction which raged between Typhon and the gods with such
is to be traced to their familiarity with the idol-wor- | severity, that they were obliged to take shelter in
ship of Egypt. That people were in the habit of the bodies of living animals. Others try to find an
paying divine honours to Apis, in the form of an ox explanation of this worship by a reference to the
or bull, and this suggested the idea of the calf. doctrine of metempsychosis, or transmigration of
Various allusions to the animal-worship of the Egyp- souls, alleging that not only souls, but also the
tians as not being unknown to the Hebrews, occur gods themselves, pass through the bodies of beasts ;
throughout the Scriptures. Thus Joshua exhorts and thus these beasts became objects of religious
the people-Joshua xxiv. 14, “Now therefore fear adoration. The opinion has been maintained by
the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth : several writers on mythology, that the Egyptians
and put away the gods which your fathers served on worshipped animals chiefly on account of their utility;
the other side of the flood and in Egypt; and serve hence the ox as venerated for his value in the em-
ye the Lord.” The animals held in veneration in ployments of agriculture, and the dog for his fidelity
Egypt seem to have been very numerous, including to man. But the true origin of the matter is, that
sheep, dogs, cats, storks, apes, birds of prey, wolves, the animals worshipped in Egypt were figures or re-
and all kinds of oxen. Each city and district enter- presentatives of the gods. It is well known that
tained a peculiar reverence for some beast or other, every one of the Pagan deities had his own ani-
in honour of which they built a temple. These ani- mal consecrated to him. Thus the pigeon was
mals were maintained in or near the temples, and had dedicated to Venus; the dragon and the owl to
all manner of luxuries provided for them. Both Minerva ; the peacock to Juno; the eagle to Jupiter;
Diodorus Siculus and Herodotus say, that when the and the cock to Æsculapius. These consecrated
ANIMAL-WORSHIP.
115
t
animals being introduced to the temples, rapidly | worship to the policy of the prince and the craft of the
passed into objects of worship. Herodotus, in speak- priest. We learn from Herodotus, that the number
ing of these animals, remarks: “ The Egyptians look of useful animals in Egypt was too small for the pur-
upon it as a great honour to have the feeding and poses of husbandry and other uses, but that the num-
bringing up of these animals committed to their care; ber of serpents and other noxious animals was so great
every
inhabitant
pays
his vows to them, and thus he as to call for active measures to be taken to extirpate
pays his homage to that god to whom the beast is them. Hence Mosheim supposes that the Egyptian
consecrated.” From this and many other such pas- rulers would discourage, as far as possible, the killing
sages which occur in ancient authors, it is plain that of sheep, goats, cows, or oxen, and would therefore
the more intelligent among the Egyptians did not declare it criminal to kill, or even to injure, such ani-
worship the sacred animals as gods, but only as mals as the ichneumon and the ibis, the former be-
figures or representations of the gods. Hence all | ing the natural enemy of the crocodile, and the latter
authors agree in asserting that the ox, or Apis, was of the serpent. In order to give additional force to
the representation, some say of Serapis, others of the law, there might probably be superadded to it
Osiris ; Lucian is the only author who asserts that the sanctions of religion. Accordingly, the priests
Apis was the great god of the Egyptians, wishing would declare, that certain animals were sacred, hav-
thereby to ridicule the religion of that ancient nation. | ing a divine virtue in them, and, therefore, to kill
So extensively did animal-worship prevail among them would be to incur the anger of the immortal
the ancient Egyptians, that almost every animal gods. Such notions being inculcated upon the peo-
known among them was sacred to one god or an- ple, by the ministers of religion, they would thus be
other. Even the scarabæus or beetle made a consi- led naturally to attach a certain feeling of sacredness
derable figure in their temples. “The cats," says to the animals themselves, and the priests taking
Herodotus, “when dead, are carried to sacred build- advantage of this superstitious feeling, would estab-
ings, and after being embalmed, are buried in the city lish certain ceremonies and sacrifices as suited to
Bubastis.” The worship of the serpent appears to each of these animals, and build temples and shrines
have been at an early period almost universal. in honour of them. Further to support this theory,
Lands were set apart for the support of the sacred Mosheim adduces the fact, that, besides the animals
animals; men and women were employed to feed generally venerated throughout Egypt, each province
and maintain them. If a person killed one of these and city had its own particular animal to which spe-
animals intentionally, he was punished with death. cial honour was paid. He alleges, also, that not a
The murder of a cat, a hawk, or an ibis, whether single noxious animal was ever worshipped by the
designedly or not, so infuriated the people, that the Egyptians until their country had been vanquished
offender was generally put to death on the spot, | by the Persians, Typhon, the enemy of Osiris, and
without waiting for a formal trial.
the representative of the evil principle, not having
The three most elaborate attempts at an ex- been worshipped in the earlier periods of their his-
planation of the origin of animal-worship, have tory. This ingenious writer argues, accordingly,
been those given by Cudworth, Mosheim, and that the worship of serpents, crocodiles, bears, and
Warburton, all of them men remarkable alike for other noxious animals, was never known in Egypt
their learning and ingenuity. The first men- until after the conquest of that country by the Per-
tioned author supposes that the Egyptians held sians, who had been, from the earliest ages, familiar
the Platonic doctrine of ideas existing from eter- with the dualistic theory of a good and evil principle.
nity, and constituting, in one of the persons of Bishop Warburton, on the other hand, enters into
the Godhead, the intelligible and archetypal world. an elaborate argument to prove, that animal-worship
Philo mentions some who regarded every part of had its origin among the Egyptians in the use of
this intelligible system as divine. Hence, when hieroglyphical writing. Even after alphabetical
they worshipped the orb of day, they professed writing had come into general use for civil and ordi-
to worship not the sensible luminary itself, but nary purposes, the learned prelate proves, by a num-
the divine idea or archetype of it; and, accord- ber of quotations from ancient authors, that the
ingly, proceeding on this presumption, Dr. Cud- priests still retained symbolical hieroglyphics as the
worth imagines that the ancient Egyptians, when medium through which to convey theological truth.
they worshipped animals, meant to worship the These hieroglyphics represented animals and vege-
divine and eternal ideas of these animals; but the tables, which were intended to denote certain attri-
great mass of the people were obviously unable to butes of the gods, and the common people, no longer
rise above the outward and sensible object, and regarding them as symbols, began at length to vener-
therefore worshipped the animals and vegetables ate them as emblems of the deities themselves. And
themselves. This theory, however plausible, wants if the figures of animals and vegetables came thus
probability, the doctrine of Plato concerning ideas to be viewed as sacred, it was surely natural to
being unknown for ages after animal-worship was pass, by an easy process, to the veneration of ani-
established in Egypt.
mals and vegetables in themselves. Such are some
Mosheim traces the strange superstition of animal- of the most plausible hypotheses which have been
116
ANIMALES-ANNATES.
devised in modern times to account for the rise of but having become jealous of Lavinia, and warned
animal-worship in Egypt. This species of idolatry, in a dream by the spirit of Dido, she drowned her-
however, was not limited to the land of the Nile. It self in the river Numicius. From that time she was
seems to have passed at a very remote period worshipped as the nymph of that river, under the
from Egypt to India ; and hence we find the name of Perenna. Ovid, in his . Fasti,' speaks of
Hindus venerating the cow and the alligator. So her as having been regarded by some as Luna, by
strong is the feeling of sacredness which the natives others as Themis. The festival in honour of this
of India attach to the latter of these two animals, deity was celebrated in spring, on the 15th of March,
that the Hindu mother rejoices, in throwing her with great joy and merriment.
child into the Ganges, to think that it is sure to be ANNATES, the first year's revenues of an ecclesi-
devoured by one of these holy alligators, and thus | astical benefice in the Church of Rome, which every
obtain an easy passport to eternal happiness. In new incumbent was required to remit to the Pope's
short, in every country where gross idolatry has treasury. It may easily be conceived, that by con-
prevailed, the tendency has ever been not to rest stantly advancing clergymen from poorer to richer
contented with the worship of unseen gods, but to benefices, and prohibiting pluralities, these annates
adore them in “an image made like to corruptible might be made the source of immense income when
man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creep- levied throughout Christendom upon all the number-
ing things."
less officers in the churches and monasteries. It
It is
Among the Greek and Roman nations of antiquity, doubtful what pope originated this ecclesiastical tax,
animals were often consecrated to particular gods, as but it has been often attributed to John XXII.,
among the Egyptians. But in many of the modern whose zeal for the enlargement of the papal revenues
heathen nations animal-worship is found existing in is well known. Annates were abolished by the cele-
the most revolting form. In Japan the ape is wor- brated council of Basil, in the fifteenth century, all
shipped, anda temple erected in its honour. (See APE- the decrees of which council were declared to be
WORSHIP.) In Western Africa patron spirits are sup- null by the council of Florence; and accordingly
posed to inhabit certain animals, and hence they become Romanists are in the habit of excluding the council
sacred. At Fishtown, on the Grain coast, certain of Basil from the list of ecumenical or general
monkeys found in the wood about the grave-yard are councils. The exaction of Annates, or first-fruits,
accounted sacred, because it is thought they are ani- from the clergy in England is supposed by some to
mated by the spirits of their departed friends. At have been first made by Pope Clement, in the reign
Dixcove, on the Gold coast, the crocodile is sacred, of Edward I., but other writers are of opinion that
as it was among the ancient Egyptians. At Papo annates were demanded previous to that period.
and Whidah, on the Slave coast, a certain kind of This tax was a constant source of discord between
snake is sacred. At Calabar and Bonny the shark is the Popes and Catholic countries. At the Reforma-
sacred, and human victims are occasionally offered to tion in England under Henry VIII., an act was pass-
it. At the Gaboon the natives will not eat the par- ed in 1532 abolishing the annates in so far as pay-
rot because it talks, and, as they say, is too much able to the Pope. These amounted in England to a
like man; but in reality, perhaps, because they have large sum annually, £160,000 having been paid to
some suspicion that these birds are inhabited by the Rome since 1510, the second year of Henry's reign.
spirits of their forefathers. “At Cape St. Catherine a As if, however, still to afford an opening for a recon-
certain tiger is also sacred. In Hindostan, not only ciliation with Rome, a condition was annexed to the
the cow, as we have seen, but serpents also are act of parliament, that if the Pope would either abo-
looked upon with peculiar reverence. See IDOLA- lish the payment of annates altogether, or reduce
TRY_PAGANISM-POLYTHEISM.
them to a moderate amount, the king might declare,
ANIMALES, a term of reproach which was given to before next session, whether this act, or any part of
the orthodox among the ancient Christians, by the Ori- | it, should be observed. At length, in 1534, the so-
genians, or followers of Origen, who denied the truth | vereign was declared by parliament to be the supreme
of the resurrection, and asserted that men should head of the English church, as he had been declared
have only aerial and spiritual bodies in the next two years before by the convocation; and annates
world. Hence those who held the general opinions formerly payable to the Pope, were declared to be-
of the early church-that the saints at the resurrec- long henceforth to the crown. This act, however,
tion would rise with the same bodies as at present, was felt to be imperfect, being understood to apply
only altered in quality, not in substance--were called, only to the annates paid for archbishoprics and
among other opprobrious epithets, Animales, as sen- bishoprics; and, accordingly, it was followed up next
sual, carnal in their opinions.
session by a supplementary act, declaring that the
ANNA PERENNA, a female divinity among the annates, or first-fruits of every ecclesiastical living,
ancient Romans. She is mentioned by Virgil in his should be paid to the king. A court was now erected
fourth Æneid as a sister of Dido, queen of Carthage. by parliament for the collection and management of
After her sister's death, Anna fled to Italy, where the annates, which was dissolved by Queen Mary;
she was treated with the utmost kindness by Æneas; | but, under Elizabeth, annates were restored to
1
ANNE-ANNIHILATIONISTS.
117
ance.
the crown, and, for this purpose, they were made expresses himself in these words, “ Fear not them
payable to the exchequer, while a new officer was which kill the body, and after that have no more that
created, called a remembrancer of the first-fruits, they can do; fear him rather who is able to destroy
whose business was to take compositions for the both soul and body in hell.” Here he plainly pro-
same, and to report to the sheriff for prosecution, poses the destruction of the soul, not its endless pain
those who neglected payment.
and misery, as the ultimate object of the divine dis-
In the reign of Queen Anne, the annates were pleasure, and the greatest object of our fear. And
surrendered by the crown for the better support of when he says, “ These shall go away into everlasting
the clergy; and a standing commission was named punishment, but the righteous into life eternal,” it
as governors of what has ever since been called appears evident that by that eternal punishment
Queen Anne's Bounty, for the augmentation of the which is set in opposition to eternal life, is not meant
maintenance of the poor clergy, to whom she gave any kind of life, however miserable, but the same
the first fruits. Every person who has less than £80 which the apostle expresses by "everlasting destruc-
per annum, is understood to have a claim upon this tion from the presence of the Lord and the glory of
fund; and, for its distribution to all cases deemed his power.” This, it is argued, is the eternal death
deserving, quarterly courts of the governors of the which in its full sense and meaning is the wages of
fund are held in December, March, June, and Sep- | sin.
tember. The annates are thus rendered a source of In opposition to the annihilation of the wicked, it
much comfort to many poor, but faithful and zealous, may be remarked, that in Scripture all men are said
ministers of Christ, in connection with the Church to “receive according to the deeds done in the body,
of England. The governors are also authorized to whether they have been good or whether they have
receive contributions in behalf of this benevolent ob- been evil.” This, especially when viewed in the
ject from any who may voluntarily give their pecu- light of other passages, shows that there shall be dif-
niary aid to increase a fund of such manifest import- ferent degrees of punishment, as well as of reward,
in a future state of existence. Punishment, there-
ANNE (FESTIVAL OF ST.), celebrated in the fore, it is plain, cannot consist of annihilation, which
Greek Church on the 25th July.
admits of no degrees.
ANNEMONTA, an inferior deity, adored by the Again, the punishment of wicked men is said in
worshippers of Vishnu the Preserver, the second Scripture to be the same as that of wicked angels.
member of the Hindu Triad. This subordinate Thus Matt, XXV.
Thus Matt. xxv. 41,“Then shall he say also unto them
divinity, who is properly the wind, attends upon on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into
Vishnu, and has a small pagoda erected in honour of everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his an-
him, within that of Vishnu. See HINDUISM. gels." The punishment of wicked angels, however,
ANNIHILATIONISTS, those who believe that consists not in annihilation, but in torment, of which
the final punishment threatened in the gospel to the their present punishment is but a foretaste. They
wicked and impenitent consists not in an eternal ex- “ cast down to hell;" they are “reserved in
istence of misery and torment, but in a total extinction chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great
of being. This doctrine has been held by some writers day." They are said to “believe and tremble;'
of considerable eminence, particularly by the late Dr. they cried to Jesus while on earth, “What have we
John Taylor of Norwich, by the Rev. Mr. J. Bourne to do with thee? art thou come to torment us before
of Birmingham, and by Dr. Price. The same tenet the time ?” evidently implying that torment, not
was maintained by not a few of the ancient Pagans. annihilation, is to be their future and eternal doom.
Several Jewish writers also have held the doctrine of Still farther, "everlasting destruction from the
annihilation. Maimonides, for example, says that presence of God and the glory of his power” cannot
when the wicked die they will be utterly destroyed;' mean annihilation, for that would be no exertion of
David Kimchi, that “their souls will perish with divine power, but the suspension of it; and the
their bodies; ” and Manasseh Ben Israel, that “their second death is said to consist in being “ cast into
torments will not be perpetual.” Dr. Isaac Watts the lake of fire and brimstone," where “their worm
entertained the notion that the children of ungodly dieth not and their fire is not quenched,” where
parents who die in infancy are annihilated.
“there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of
The arguments in favour of the annihilation of the teeth "-expressions, all of which point to an eternal
wicked, are given by Mr. Bourne in his "Sermons.' prolongation of existence, not annihilation.
The substance of these arguments may be thus Strangely in opposition to the doctrines of the
stated. There are many passages of Scripture in Annihilationists, or, as they are more frequently
which the ultimate punishment of wicked men is de-called, the Destructionists, who imagine cessation of
fined in the most precise and intelligible terms, to be existence to be the consummation of the misery re-
an everlasting destruction from the power of God, served for the wicked, is a prominent doctrine of Bud-
which is equally able to destroy as to preserve. So hism, which is the religion of upwards of three hundred
when the Saviour is fortifying the minds of his dis- millions of the human race, that what they call Nir-
ciples against persecution at the hands of man, he wana, or annihilation, is the consummation of happi-
are
1
118
ANNIVERSARIES-ANNUNCIADE.
TIVALS.
ness, reserved for those who have reached the highest | it became necessary to abolish the love feasts alto-
degree of perfection. (See ABSORPTION). The gether. Another abuse, which was productive of
grand end which the Budhist sage aims at, is to the most injurious consequences to the cause of reli-
obtain a final cessation of existence, to be nothing, gion, rose out of these commemorations. It was a
absolutely nothing. So completely do extremes natural and proper thing to hold in high esteem the
meet in the speculations of men.
memory of those holy men who had shed their blood
ANNIVERSARIES. The ancient Greeks, con- in the Redeemer's cause, but the simple services of
vinced by reason and tradition that man was not an- these anniversaries at length degenerated into a
nihilated at death, but that his nobler part was in- superstitious homage paid to the glorified martyrs,
corruptible, celebrated annually the commemoration and even to their bones and relics.
" The degener-
of their departed heroes. Animated by a higher and ate professors of Christianity," as Dr. Jamieson re-
a holier feeling, the early Christians were accustomed marks, “ came to ascribe to them attributes, and to
to hold a festival on the anniversary of the day on dignify them with honours higher than what were
which a martyr had fallen, which, as being the date due to men; these anniversary memorials of the mar-
of his entrance on his eternal state of existence, they tyrs became so many polluted fountains from which
called his birthday. The festival on an anniversary was yearly discharged an increasing torrent of super-
was observed with great rejoicing. The place of stition on the churches." The simple form of the
meeting was the tomb of the martyr, situated in a anniversary was exchanged for the ostentatious cere-
remote and sequestered spot at some distance from the monial of the Festival of the Martyr, and Popery
abodes of men, or, as was frequently the case, in a sub- engrafted upon a solemn Christian service a number
terranean dungeon or catacomb. On the approach of of superstitious and unscriptural rites. See FES-
the anniversary, groups of Christian families assem-
bled to undertake the journey in company, and on ANNUNCIADA, a society founded at Rome in
reaching the sacred spot where the martyr had died 1460 for the marrying of poor maids. Every Lady-
for the cause of Christ, they proceeded to engage in day this institution gives sixty Roman crowns, a suit
divine worship, after which they partook together of of white serge, and a florin for slippers, to more than
the Lord's Supper. A collection was then made for four hundred maids for their portion. The tickets
the poor, and several hymns sung, when the acts of authorizing them to receive the allowance are dis-
the martyr, whose anniversary they were holding, tributed by the Pope, who makes a cavalcade at-
were publicly read, and the whole service was con- tended with his cardinals for the purpose. If any of
cluded by some pastor giving a practical address the maids wish to be nuns, they receive 120 crowns
suited to the occasion. The earliest notice of such each, and are distinguished by a chaplet of flowers
anniversaries occurs in the second century, on the on their head.
martyrdom of Polycarp at Smyrna. The practice ANNUNCIADE, an order of Popish nuns, insti-
gradually became more common, and we find Cy- tuted by Jane, Queen of France, daughter of Louis
prian at length, when in exile, writing to his clergy | XI., and wife of Louis XII. She was under the
to be careful in keeping a record of the days on which spiritual direction of two fathers of the Cordelier
the martyrs suffered, that there might be an anni- | order, who endeavoured to persuade her that the
versary commemoration made of them. And not greatest honour she could render to God was to build
only were the dates, but the minute details of the some convents for nuns of their order, like that of the
martyrdoms, preserved. These were read at the Ave Maria at Paris, founded by her mother, Queen
anniversary of a martyr. The third council of Charlotte of Savoy. But Jane, alleging that she had
Carthage, which forbids all other books to be read in received a special revelation from the Virgin Mary,
church except the canonical Scriptures, mentions the that she must found an entirely new order, different
passions of the martyrs as books that might be read from any that had hitherto existed, her confessors
on their anniversary days of commemoration. Aus- undertook to aid her in the accomplishment of her
tin, Pope Leo, and Gelasius, often mention the read- design, and accordingly they composed a rule for
ing of such histories in the African and Roman the new order, the chief business of which was to
churches. The anniversary sermon became a very honour with a number of beads and rosaries the ten
important part of the service on such occasions. principal virtues or delights of the Virgin Mary.
Specimens of these productions by some of the ablest The first of these delights was when the angel Ga-
of the Christian fathers still exist.
briel announced to her the mystery of the incarna-
It was customary for the primitive Christians at tion, and from this the new order of nuns took their
their anniversaries to celebrate a love-feast (see
The second delight was when she saw her
AGAPÆ), and as the tombs of the martyrs were at a son Jesus brought into the world. The third when
distance from towns, a regular market was frequently the wise men came to worship him. The fourth
held on the spot. For a long time the utmost de- when she found the child Jesus questioning the doc-
corum and even solemnity characterized these an- tors in the temple; and so forth. The order being
nual gatherings; but in course of time scenes of now set on foot, it was necessary to obtain the con-
excess and revelry were occasionally witnessed, and firmation of it by the Court of Rome. This, how-
name.
ANNUNCIATION-ANOINTING.
119
ever, was found to be rather difficult. Alexander purposes of health and cleanliness, as well as from a
VI., the then reigning Pope, declined to grant the regard to religion. They were in the habit of an-
requested confirmation, and it was not until one of ointing the hair, the head, and the beard. Guests
her confessors repaired personally to Rome, that the were. frequently anointed as a proof of hospitality
Pope and the Cardinals yielded. Father Gilbert, and kindness, the oil being either poured over the
for such was the confessor's name, pretended that whole body, or particularly upon the head and feet.
St. Lawrence and St. Francis had appeared to him, Dead bodies were also anointed to preserve them
and strictly charged him, under pain of their severe from corruption. Sacred vessels were anointed as
displeasure, to obtain the confirmation of the rule well as sacred persons. The Jews were accustomed
and order of the ten virtues or delights of the Vir- by this ceremony to consecrate or set apart to their
gin Mary. The device was successful, and the con- office, prophets, priests, and kings, thus emblemati-
firmation was given on the 14th February 1501. Leo cally representing the communication of the gifts
X. renewed the confirmation in 1517. This order
This order and graces of the Spirit. Hence Jesus was called
speedily increased in France, Flanders, and other the Messiah or the Christ, the first in the Hebrew
parts. They wear a grey habit, with a red scapu- language, and the second in Greek, denoting the
lary, and a white cloak, and have for a girdle a cord Anointed. And the Holy Spirit is called an unction
with ten knots in remembrance of the ten delights or anointing, while it is said of all believers, that
of the Virgin Mary. Another order of nuns bearing they “ have an unction or anointing from the Holy
the same name, was founded at Genoa in Italy, by a One."
lady of quality, in the year 1600, and was called the The ceremony of the inauguration of kings among
order of the Annunciade, as making profession of the Hebrews consisted in anointing or pouring oil
honouring particularly the mystery of the incarna- upon the head. It is a maxim among the Jews, that
tion. Their dress differs from the nuns of France, a king must be anointed in the open air, near a foun-
being of a white colour, with a scapulary, and a tain, an idea probably founded on the history of So-
cloak of a blue colour, from which circumstance they lomon, who was brought at his inauguration to Gi-
are called also Celestes. They receive into their or- hon, a fountain or brook near Jerusalem. The Tal-
der both widows and maids, and have a number of mud explains the anointing to be an emblem and
convents in Italy.
good omen of the perpetuity of the kingdom, which
ANNUNCIATION, a festival celebrated in the should resemble in its continuance an ever-flowing
Roman Catholic, Greek, and Anglican churches, in fountain. It is by no means consistent with fact,
commemoration of the announcement made by the however, that the Hebrew kings were all of them
angel Gabriel to Mary, that she should bring forth anointed near fountains. This was not the case with
the Saviour. The Latins absurdly call it the An- | Saul, and although David was anointed three times,
nunciation of Mary. It is observed generally on there is no mention of a fountain in connection with
the 25th of March, which on this account receives the ceremony. The Jews assert that kings were
the name of Lady-day. To avoid interrupting the
To avoid interrupting the always anointed by prophets, and that the unction in
Lent fast, the Spaniards celebrated it on the 18th of such cases must always be with the sacred oil taken
December, and the Armenians on the 5th of Janu- from the tabernacle. The Hebrew doctors believe
ary. It is uncertain when the festival was first in- that the family of David had the privilege of being
stituted, and although it has sometimes been alleged | anointed with the same holy oil with which the high
to have been observed in the time of Athanasius, priest was anointed. It is certain that Solomon was
this is generally doubted. The first mention of it | anointed with oil taken from the tabernacle, but the
appears to be in the 52d canon of the council of Jews allege that there was a difference in the form
Trullo, A. D. 691, where it is spoken of as a festival of anointing between the king and the high priest;
established and known. Bernard calls it, " the root the former being anointed in the form of a crown
of all the festivals,” so that he must have supposed | encircling his head, in token that he was the head of
it to have been recognized in the church much ear- the people, and had the supreme power committed
lier than the end of the seventh century. The Pope to him; the latter being anointed in the form of a
on Lady-day distributes the marriage portions to cross, by one line drawn with the oil running down
poor maids, allowed by the society ANNUNCIADA his forehead, and by another line drawn by the oil
(which see). The 25th of March was anciently de- between his eye-brows. The ceremony of anointing
dicated to the heathen goddess, Cybele, who was was regarded with great veneration.
called the “ Queen of heaven," as the Virgin Mary is The unction of the high priest was performed in a
by the Roman Catholics. In this point, as in many peculiar manner. The oil was poured upon his head,
others, a strong resemblance may be traced between which was bare, and ran down his face upon his
Paganism and Popery.
beard; and he that anointed him drew with his finger
ANOINTING. It was a customary practice the letter X upon his forehead, to distinguish his
among the ancient Hebrews to pour oil upon a per- anointing from that of kings, who were anointed
son in consecrating or setting him apart to an office. in the form of a circle or crown. The Jews allege
The custom was also observed in common life for that the high priest was anointed by the sanhc-
120
ANOINTING OIL-ANSARIANS.
drim, and when the oil failed, he was clothed in the compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall
pontifical garments. If the anointing took place, be an holy anointing oil." With this holy oil was
it was practised daily for seven days, in succes- the tabernacle with its priesthood and its furniture
sion; and if it did not take place, he was clothed to be anointed as the last and crowning act of con-
with the eight vestments of the priesthood every secration. And as every thing to which it was ap-
day, for seven days, and was called “the installed plied became thereby most holy, so a peculiar sanc-
by the garments." Though there was only one tity attached to the anointing oil itself, and it was
high priest at a time, yet he sometimes deputed on peril of death that any oil of the same composi-
his power, and appointed a substitute, particularly tion was made for any other purpose whatever. The
one who accompanied the armies of Israel to the two leading attributes of the anointing oil were its
wars, carrying with him the ephod and breastplate, preciousness and its sanctity. The spices of which
that he might ask counsel of God by the Urim and it was composed were peculiarly rare and odorifer-
Thummim, in all the difficulties which might arise. ous, and the oil with which they were blended was
That this person might be the better fitted to oc- most pure. This was doubtless intended to shadow
cupy the place of the high priest, he was conse- forth the excellency of the gifts of the Holy Spirit,
crated to the office by the holy anointing oil as the whose distinguishing emblem under the old econo-
high priest was; and hence he was called the an- my was oil. The holy oil was commanded to be
ointed for the wars.
kept by the children of Israel throughout their gen-
In the Roman Catholic church the ceremony of erations. And, therefore, it was laid up before the
anointing is used in ordaining candidates for the Lord in the most holy place. And as the original
priest's office. Thus in the course of the ordination copy of the Law was placed there on the right side
service, the candidates successively kneeling one by of the ark of the covenant, so probably the vessel
one before the Pontiff, he anoints with the catechu-containing the holy oil was placed on the other side
menal oil both the hands joined together, of each of it, and there kept till the first temple being de-
one in the form of a cross; he draws with his right stroyed, that also was destroyed with it. But the
thumb, after he has dipped it in the oil, two lines on want of this precious sacred oil in the second tem-
the joined hands : namely, one from the thumb of ple caused a want of sanctity in all things else be-
the right hand to the forefinger of the left hand, and longing to it; for although, on the return of the Jews
another from the thumb of the left hand to the fore- from the Babylonish captivity and the rebuilding of
finger of the right; and then he anoints the palms their temple, they made an ark, an altar of incense,
all over, saying whilst he anoints each one, “ Vouch- a table for shew-bread, a golden candlestick, an altar
safe, O Lord, to consecrate and sanctify these hands of burnt-offerings, and a laver, with the other vessels
through this unction and our benediction. Amen." and utensils belonging to them, yet through want of
This ceremony of anointing as practised in ordina- the holy anointing oil to consecrate them, these all
tion is altogether unsanctioned by antiquity. The wanted that holiness under the second temple which
Greek church has never used it. It is not mentioned they had under the first ; and the high-priest,who offi-
in the fourth council of Carthage, where the rites of ciated in that temple, was consecrated not by oil
ordination as they were then practised are laid down; but by the putting on of his vestments. So that the
nor was it the practice even at Rome itself in the want of this one thing in the second temple de-
time of Nicholas I., who died A. D. 867. He says prived all the rest of its sanctity. And, therefore,
expressly, “ that neither priests nor deacons are an- this holy anointing oil might well be reckoned one
ointed at their ordination in this holy Roman church, of the principal things that were wanting in the
in which by God's appointment we serve; and if our second temple.
memory fails us not, we nowhere read that this was ANOMEANS (Gr. anomoios, unlike), a name
done by the ministers of the New Law.” The prac- given to the pure Arians in the fourth century, in
tice was first adopted in the Gallican church, and contradistinction to the Semi-Arians, because they
thence it spread to Rome. Now it is essential to held the Son of God to be unlike to, or different
ordination in the church of Rome.
from, the Father in essence, whereas the Semi-Arians
ANOINTING OIL. The holy anointing oil to maintained the nature of the Son to be like that of
be used for the consecration of priests, and other re- the Father. The Anomoeans were condemned by
ligious purposes, was appointed by God to be com- the Semi-Arians at the council of Seleucia A. D. 359,
posed of the following ingredients: Exod. xxx. 22– while they, in their turn, condemned the Semi-
25, “ Moreover the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Arians in the councils of Constantinople and An-
Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure tioch, erasing the word like from the formula of
myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon Rimini and Constantinople. See ARIANS—SEMI-
half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, | ARIANS.
and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, ANSARIANS, or ANSAIRYAH, or NASAIRYAH,
and of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel a people inhabiting the range of mountains north of
of the sanctuary, and of oil-olive an hin: and thou Lebanon, between Tripoli and Antioch. They pro-
shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment | fess an absurd mass of doctrines much resembling
ANSARIANS.
121
those of the Druses, and somewhat like the tenets of | where he infected the simple and rustic people with
the Mormonites. The semi-fabulous origin of the sect the same teaching: then departing, he hid himself;
is thus stated by Assemann, translated from the Sy- nor is his place known to this day.
riac: “Whereas many desire to know the origin of The doctrines taught by the sheikhs or doctors of
the Nazaræi, receive the following account from us. the Ansarians, are very strange. They allege that
In A. D. 891, there appeared an old man in the re- God has been incarnate several times, that he has
gion Akula [this is Cupha, a city of Arabia, as Bar- been incarnate not only in Jesus Christ, but also in
Hebræus elsewhere notices] in a village which the Abraham, Moses, and other persons celebrated in the
inhabitants call Nazaria. This old man having the ap- Old Testament. They attribute also the same honour
pearance of a person given to severe fasts, great po- to Mohammed. They imagine that they honour Jesus
verty, and strict devotion, many of the natives of Christ by maintaining that he did not die on the cross
that place followed him; out of whom having chosen as the Christians profess, but that he substituted
twelve, according to the number of the Apostles, another in his place. They likewise say, that Mo-
he commanded them to preach a new doctrine to hammed appointed that another body, in place of
the people. The governor of the place, hearing his own, should be put into the tomb which had
of this, commanded to apprehend him; and, having been prepared for him. They have borrowed from
cast him into a dungeon in his own house, swore Christianity the practice of observing the commu-
that on the following morning he would have him nion, but they celebrate it strangely with wine and
crucified. On the same night, the governor going to a morsel of meat. They admit only men to the
bed, half-intoxicated with wine, placed the key of communion, and observe it in secret. They cele
the dungeon under his pillow; a maid of the house- brate some of the festivals observed among Chris-
hold perceiving this, when he was fast asleep, with tians, such as Christmas, the circumcision, Epiphany,
drew the key ; and, pitying this old man, given to Palm Sunday, Easter, and some of the apostles' and
fasting and prayer, opened the dungeon, set him at saints' days. When they are at their prayers they
liberty, and then restored the key to its former turn their face towards the sun, which has led some
place the governor, going in the morning to the to suppose that they worship the sun.
This charge,
dungeon, and opening it with the same key, and find- however, is not well founded.
ing no person, imagined the culprit to have been The Ansarians believe in the "transmigration of
miraculously removed; and as the maid through fear | souls, but they hold that the soul of a devotee
kept silence as to what she had done, the report belonging to their own sect can enter Paradise
spread abroad that the old man had escaped from after having passed through a small number of bo-
the prison while the doors were shut. A short dies; but the soul of any other person must have
time after, having found two of his disciples in a passed through eighty. The souls of infidels they
distant country, he contrived to persuade them that believe pass through five frightful degrees, and after
he had been delivered by angels from the prison, that they must remain in the world as sheep till the
and conveyed to a desert-place. He then wrote a coming of Fatima. The Ansarians are divided into
book of his religion, and gave it to them with an different sects, of which nothing is known except their
order to promulgate it, and invite men to receive names, viz. Kelbye, Shamsye, and Mokludjye. They
his new doctrines. These doctrines were of the fol- entertain the curious notion that the soul ought to
lowing nature:- I, such an one, commonly believed
amonly believed quit the body of a dying man by the mouth; and
to be the son of Othman, of the town Nazaria, saw they are extremely cautious against any accident
Christ, who is Jesus, who also is the Word, and the which they imagine may prevent it from taking that
Director, and Achmed, the son of Mohammed, the road: for this reason, whenever the government of
son of Hanaphia of the sons of Ali: the same also Latakia or Tripoli condemns an Ansarian to death,
is the angel Gabriel: and he said to me, Thou art his relations offer considerable sums that he may be
the Reader, thou art the Truth. Thou art the camel | impaled instead of being hanged. This shows that
that retainest anger against the Infidels. Thou art they have some idea at least of a future state. It ap-
the heifer bearing the yoke of the Believers. Thou pears that Ansarians are found in Anatolia and at
art the Spirit. Thou art John the son of Zacharias. Constantinople. Dr. Wilson mentions his having
Preach, therefore, to men that they kneel four times found some of them in the villages near the sources
in their prayers ; twice before sunrise, twice after of the Jordan. Burckhardt the traveller informs us
sunset, toward Jerusalem, saying each time these that "some years since a great man of this sect died
three verses, God is sublime above all, God is high.
high in the mountains of Antioch, and the water with which
above all, God is the greatest of all. On the second his corpse had been washed was carefully put into
and sixth festival, let no man do any work ; let them bottles, and sent to Constantinople and Asia Minor."
fast two days every year : let them abstain from the The Ansarians are a mountainous tribe of a some-
Mohammedan ablution : let them not drink strong what lawless character, who have never been brought
drink, but of wine as much they please. Let them into complete subjection. They appear to be a
not eat the flesh of wild beasts. Having delivered branch of the CARMATHIANS (which see), their
these ridiculous doctrines, he went to Palestine, tenets being obviously a mixture of Mohammedan-
I.
H 2
122
ANTAMTAPPES—ANTANG.
ism and Persian mysticism. They call themselves | Eagerly grasped the latter the head by its long dis-
Mumen, and ascribe to Ali divine honours; associat- entangled hair, and placing it in his rambat (a small
ing with him Fatima, Hassan, and Hossein. Nie-oblong basket, exclusively used by males on a jour-
buhr asserts, that they acknowledge twelve Imaums, ney), returned home with his prey the same day,
the last of whom, Mohammed-el-Mehdee, they be- where his mother was waiting for him. The neces-
lieve to have taken up his residence in the sun. sary preparations for the tiwa now were made with-
Maundrell represents them as low in the scale of out loss of time, and when all was ready, within
morality, being a dissipated wine-drinking people. about a month, the guests were invited in great num-
They maintain constant feuds with the Ismaiyilah or bers. But lo! what happened. When the festivity
Ishmaelites, who inhabit the same mountains. They had reached its height, and the kámpong resounded
are sometimes confounded with the ASSASSINS with the song of the Blians (dancing girls), when
(which see)
shot after shot shook the house in which the exult-
ANTAMTAPPES, or the Dark Well, the place ing people were crowded, the songs of the Olo maga
of final punishment into which, according to the In- lian' (the hymn sung by the guide of the soul) rising
dian Brahmins, the wicked are cast, and from which higher and higher, commending the departed soul of
they can never return. There they are lacerated the Tomogong, and that of his slave, the beheaded
with thorns, pecked by mad crows with steel beaks, traveller, to the care of Teinpon-tellon, inflaming and
bitten by dogs, and stung by gnats.
transporting the spirits of the multitude : then sud-
ANTANG, a large bird of prey, revered by the denly, in the twinkling of an eye, Sambila-Tiong was
Dyaks, a people inhabiting the southern coast of the transformed into an Antang, and, fluttering with his
island of Borneo. It is regarded as one of the good long red wings above the heads of the Blians and the
spirits inhabiting the higher regions, which are de- Olo maga lian, reached the open door. Escaping by
scribed as similar in aspect to the terrestrial world. it he soared aloft and gyrating in great wide circles
Mountains, valleys, streams, lakes, &c., are found above the kámpong for some seconds, he then be-
there as well as on this earth, and the dominions of took himself to the solitary shores of the canaus (in-
various spirits are bounded by the different streams land lakes) in the mountains, whence subsequently
and branches of the rivers. The following account his numerous descendants spread themselves not
of this venerated bird is given by the Rev. T. F. | only over that large island, but also over the whole
Beeker, a missionary in the district :
“The ances-
of the Indian Archipelago.
tor, "Tato,' of that respectable family of antangs, is “On this fiction is founded the high veneration in
a certain Sambila-Tiong, or rich son of a Kahaian which the Antang stands among the Dyaks, who
chieftain of ancient times. This Sambila-Tiong is consult him in all important undertakings, and ne er
the first who pursued the practice, so general in lat- set out on a journey without having first assu ed
ter times among the Dyaks, of cutting off heads. themselves of his approbation, which he makes
His mother instigated him to it on the demise of her known to his votaries by his significant flight, for
husband, when she refused to tirru before he had which of course marks of gratitude are shown to
found the head of a man with which to decorate the him, the king of the airy regions, by royal banquets.
feast, whilst the soul of the beheaded was to be given After the conclusions of these entertainments, the
to the deceased chief as a slave to accompany him travellers set out with great composure, and totally
to the leweilian. Sambila-Tiong was obedient to the careless about the things to come, relying on their
command of his mother. One day, at an early hour in patron, who, they are sure, will be constantly near
the morning, he took his lunju and mandan (spear and them. Every one sees in him an old friend and
sword), some boiled rice rolled in pisang leaves, and countryman, who, although elevated to a higher rank,
took his way along a narrow and solitary path to- is always deeply concerned in the fate of his family,
wards the neighbouring mountains. Arrived there and delights in their friendship and confidence. One
he hid himself among the brushwood close to the point, however, is not altogether in accordance with
path, watching eagerly for his prey. After waiting their notion of his benevolence, viz., his fondness for
for some time, a traveller appeared beneath at the chickens, which is so great that he always carries
brook carrying a load on his back. Having passed, with him a great number to his kala tangiran (a lofty
wading the rivulet, he advanced quickly and heed tree). If his visits are too frequent, the people,
lessly towards the spot where Sambila-Tiong was when they see him swooping down from his airy
concealed. The latter moved not, but let the poor castle, place themselves in the doors of their houses,
stranger quietly pass over, and then suddenly throw- and deafen his ears with shrill cries at the utmost
ing himself from behind upon his victim, pierced pitch of their voices. This is all that is deemed ne-
him with his lunju in the side, upon which he strug-cessary; to receive him with a charge of small shot
gling fell forward to the ground.
is a thing which nobody dreams of, probably also
“Defence was impossible ; before the mortally from his being considered 'tago.' Great was the
wounded man had recovered his spirits, the sharp surprise of the peasants when, on one occasion, the
two feet long mandan was through his neck, and writer brought one of their Nabis down from his
the severed head rolled to the feet of the murderer. tangiran with a little small shot, just when he was
ANTEDILUVIANS.
123
ness.
2
}
occupied preparing his fare; “Hau matei kea iä !' | God that he had made man upon the earth."
Often,
(ha, he is dead indeed !) they exclaimed aloud, when doubtless, had righteous men endeavoured to stem
a little Chinese boy dragged him out of the long the rapidly advancing torrent of impiety and wicked-
grass."
Enoch predicted the final destruction of the
ANTEDILUVIANS (RELIGION OF). Little is world at Christ's second coming; and Bochart throws
known of the minute details of the religions of the out the idea, that he predicted the coming deluge by
world before the Flood; but enough has been re- the name which he gave to his son Methuselah,
vealed in Sacred Scripture to enable us to form not which may be interpreted paraphrastically, “when
very vague or inaccurate notions on the subject. he is dead a deluge of waters shall ensue.” This no-
The Antediluvian period extended through 1,656 tion, if well founded, was remarkably fulfilled, as, how-
years, following the Hebrew computation, and yet, ever unlikely to happen when that name was given,
in the course of that long space of time, the want of his life was protracted till within two years of the
a written revelation could not possibly be felt, the Deluge.
Deluge. Noah himself was a preacher of righteous-
life of men being so protracted that Methuselah ness for one hundred and twenty years before that
spent 243 years with Adam, the first father of man- great catastrophe which brought ruin and desolation
kind, and 600 years with Noah, the last of the old
upon a sinful world.
world. The knowledge of the creation, therefore, as The three writers of remote antiquity who have
well as of the fall of man and revelation of the re- professed to give an account of the Antediluvian
medy, was easily transmitted throughout the gener- world, are Berosus, who wrote the history of the
ations from Adam to Noah. The Antediluvians, how- Chaldeans ; Sanchoniatho, who compiled that of the
ever, were favoured with remarkable manifestations Phoenicians; and Manetho, who collected the anti-
of the Divinity. God appeared at that early period quities of Egypt. Berosus professes to narrate
of the world's history, not only to good, but, some- shortly the history of ten kings which reigned in
times at least, even to bad men. It is not improba- | Chaldea before the flood, and these corresponding
ble that, when it is said, Gen. v. 22, “Enoch walked with the number which Moses mentions. Alorus,
with God,” he may have enjoyed extraordinary re- the first, is supposed to be Adam; and Xisuthrus,
velations from Jehovah himself. The institution of the last, to be Noah. Sanchoniatho speaks with
the Sabbath, and the observance of sacrifice, must greater minuteness concerning this obscure period of
have gone far to preserve a knowledge of the true the world's history, and says, that upon the occasion
religion, in the essential features of it, as embodied of great droughts, the people worshipped the sun,
in the promise given to our first parents after the which they called Beelsamen, which in Phoenician
fall, Gen. iii. 15, “And I will put enmity between means the Lord of Heaven. Manetho, in his great
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her anxiety to make the Egyptians appear far more an-
seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise cient than any other nation, gives one of the most
his heel.” The peculiar privileges, however, of the absurd legends that has ever been palmed upon the
Antediluvian world did not restrain them from falling world. He asserts that there were in Egypt thirty
into a state of the deepest depravity and corruption. dynasties of gods, consisting of 113 generations, and
We are expressly informed, Gen. vi. 11, that the old which took up the space of 36,525 years; that when
world was corrupt before God, and by corruption, the this period had expired, there reigned eight demi-
Jewish doctors allege, is always meant, in Scripture gods in the space of 217 years; that after them suc-
language, impurity or idolatry. Great difference of ceeded a race of heroes to the number of fifteen, and
opinion exists on the point, whether the Antedilu- their reign took up 443 years. All this he alleges
vians can be charged with idolatry. Onkelos, Mai- to have been before the flood. The account which
monides, and the greater number of the Rabbinical Manetho here gives is so extravagant, that it ap-
writers, interpret the words relating to the birth of pears to many of the learned to be nothing better
Enos not as we do, “ Then began men to call upon than a fiction. Stackhouse, in his History of the
the name of the Lord;” but “then there was profa- Bible, throws some light upon the subject, by refer-
nation by invoking the name of the Lord,” or as they ring to the fact that the heavenly luminaries were
understand it, “That the most glorious name of the earliest gods of the Egyptians, and by an interest-
God was then given unto creatures." Sanchoniatho, ing coincidence which seems to explain the whole
one of the earliest of profane authors, has given a matter, the duration of the thirty dynasties of gods,
particular account of the sun being worshipped in which he notes as 36,525 years, is the precise extent
the second generation from Adam, and pillars or of what the Egyptians called an entire mundane re-
rude stones in the fifth, and statues and eminent per- volution, that is, when the several heavenly bodies
sons in the ninth. To such speculations, however, come round to the same point from which all their
not the slightest credit is to be attached. It is suf- courses began.
ficient for our present purpose to refer to the un- Some authors have contended that the religion of
doubted fact, that the human family had degenerated the Antediluvian world was exclusively natural,
to such an extent during the period which elapsed be-
founded on the deductions of human reason. No
tween the Creation and the Deluge, that "it repented | doubt the fundamental principles of all religion have
124
ANTELUCAN SERVICE.
been implanted by God in the human breast, and earth. 2. Thou shalt remember to serve the true
therefore the possession of this inheritance from na- God, the Lord of the world, by sanctifying his name
ture might be argued as belonging to the post-dilu- | in the midst of thee. 3. Thou shalt not shed the
vian equally with the antediluvian race. But be- blood of man created after the image of God. 4.
sides the elementary principles to which we refer, Thou shalt not defile thy body, that thou mayest be
mankind before the flood had evidently a positive fruitful and multiply, and with a blessing replenish
religion prescribed by God, and which gave rise to the earth. 5. Thou shalt be content with that which
the religious observances in which they engaged. is thine, and what thou wouldst not have done to
Thus the rite of sacrifice was derived from God thyself, that thou shalt not do to another. 6. Thou
by a particular revelation given to our first pa- shalt do right judgment to every one without respect
rents. That there was some divine warrant and
to persons.
precept for this institution, appears to be intimated The existence of prophets among the Antedilu-
by the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, when vians is evident from the prophecy of Enoch, which
he says, that "by faith Abel offered unto God a Jude records in his epistle. An entire book, enti-
more excellent sacrifice than Cain.” The faith of tled “The Prophecies of Enoch,' has been received
Abel must have had an object on which it rested, into the sacred canon by the Abyssinian church,
and that could only be found in the promise of God which is evidently a spurious work, but founded as
which he believed, that “the seed of the woman to its historical tenor on the Mosaic history of the
should bruise the head of the serpent," and in con- Antediluvians. Specimens of the book were brought
sequence of this belief he offered such a sacrifice for from Abyssinia by Mr. Bruce, and he himself pro-
his sins as God had appointed to be offered, until the nounces it a Gnostic work, containing the age of the
promised seed should come. The law of sacrifices | Emims, Anakims, and Egregores, who were giants,
then, which existed in the antediluvian world, was and descended from the sons of God, when they fell
partly derived from the natural operation of human in love with the daughters of men. The Eastern peo-
reason, and partly from the direct and positive ap- ple have preserved several traditions of no great pro-
pointment of God himself. In so far as the sacri- bability in reference to Enoch. They believe that he
fice was eucharistic, or an expression of thanksgiv- received from God the gift of wisdom and knowledge
ing to God for mercies received, it was an observance in an eminent degree, and that God sent him thirty
of mere natural religion, but in so far as it was ex-
volumes from heaven filled with all the secrets of
piatory and expressive of the principle, that " with- the most mysterious science. Absurd though such
out shedding of blood there is no remission of sins,” traditions are, it is beyond all doubt that Enoch be-
it was certainly instituted by God, and the practice lieved in the promised Messiah, and not only re-
founded on a divine command.
joiced in the prospect of his first coming to save the
That private devotion was observed by our first world, but looked forward with solemn anticipation
parents, and those of their descendants who feared to his second coming to judge the quick and the dead.
God, cannot for a moment be doubted. But the first ANTELUCAN SERVICE (Lat. ante lucem, be-
institution and practice of public worship is gener- fore day-break). In consequence of the severe per-
ally supposed to be found in the expression which is secutions to which the early Christian church was
used in reference to the time of Enos, that then exposed, it came to be necessary, instead of meeting
men began to call upon the name of the Lord,” or publicly on the Lord's day, to hold their assemblies
as the words may be translated," men began to call secretly for divine worship, meeting early in the
themselves by the name of the Lord,” or to assume morning, before day, to avoid the ever watchful eyes
the denomination of “the sons of God,” to distin- of their enemies. Pliny, in his well-known letter to
guish themselves from the profane race of Cain. It Trajan, describes the Christians as meeting together
has often been maintained that the distinction between on a certain day before it was light, and singing a
clean and unclean animals was recognized among hymn to Christ as to their God. But though these
the Antediluvians—a supposition which has been antelucan meetings arose out of necessity at first,
thought to be warranted by the account of the animals the church in after ages thought fit to continue
preserved in the ark. Moses, however, it is possible, them. Chrysostom accordingly commends the widows
in penning the narrative, may have written in language and virgins for frequenting the church night and
drawn from his own knowledge of the distinction, day, and singing psalms in their assemblies. He
without intending thereby to convey the impression says also, that men ought to come to the sanctuary
that such a distinction was known previous to the in the night, and pour out their prayers there. In
deluge.
another place, speaking of the city of Antioch, he
Under the Antediluvian dispensation, the Rabbis says, “Go into the church, and there see the excel-
allege, were given the “six great precepts of Adam," lency of the city. Go into the church, and see the
as they are generally called, and to which a seventh poor continuing there from midnight to the morning
was added by Noah in regard to the eating of blood. light." The fullest and most interesting description
The six precepts are as follows: 1. Thou shalt have of this service as it was observed in the early church,
no other gods but the Maker only of heaven and is that which is given by Basil. It is as follows:
ANTEROS_ANTHESTERIA.
125
Sun.
“The customs which now prevail among us are ANTEROS, a Pagan deity, the son of Mars and
consonant and agreeable to all the churches of God. Venus. The Athenians erected an altar and a sta-
For with us the people rising early, while it is night, tue to this god, who is generally taken as the repre-
come to the house of prayer, and there, with much sentative of mutual and reciprocal love. Originally,
labour and affliction, and contrition and tears, make however, Anteros was opposed to Eros, and contend-
confession of their sins to God. When this is done, ing against him; or rather he is an avenging deity,
they rise from prayer, and dispose themselves to punishing those who do not return the love of others.
psalmody: sometimes dividing themselves into two ANTEVORTA, one of the Camence, or prophetic
parts, they answer one another in singing, or sing nymphs, belonging to the religion of ancient Italy.
alternately; after this again they permit one alone This is sometimes taken for one of the attributes of
to begin the psalm, and the rest join in the close of the Roman goddess Carmenta, indicating her know-
every verse. And thus with this variety of psalmo-ledge of what was to come, just as Postvorta implied
dy they carry on through the night, praying in the her knowledge of what was past.
intervals, or intermingling prayers with their psalms. ANTHEIA (Gr. anthos, a flower), a surname of
At last when the day begins to break forth, they all Hera, as the friend of flowers, under which name she
in
common, as with one mouth and one heart, offer was worshipped at Argos. The same word was em-
up to God the psalm of confession, every one mak- ployed at Gnossus as a surname of Aphrodite.
ing the words of this psalm to be the expression of ANTHELII (Gr. Anti Helios, opposite to the
his repentance.” This last psalm, which is here de- sun), certain gods of antiquity, whose images stood
scribed as
“the psalm of confession," is the fifty- before the doors of houses, and were exposed to the
first Psalm, which is usually spoken of by the an-
cients under this name.
ANTHEM, a hymn, sung in parts alternately.
Basil, in the passage we have now quoted, makes | Anciently all psalms and hymns sung in this man-
no mention of the precise number of psalms sung in ner were termed anthems, but the word is now used
the Antelucan service. This seems to have differed in a restricted sense, being applied to passages of
in different churches; sometimes reaching the num- Scripture set to music adapted to particular occa-
ber of eighteen and twenty. In the Egyptian sions. The Anthem was first introduced in the re-
churches, some were in favour of singing fifty and formed service of the Church of England in the
even sixty psalms at one service, but upon mature reign of Queen Elizabeth, and it is now appointed
consideration of the matter, the number fixed was by the rubric in the daily service in the Prayer Book,
twelve both for their morning and evening service, after the third collect both at morning and evening
interposing a prayer between each psalm, and adding prayer. Socrates, in his Ecclesiastical History, re-
two lessons, one out of the Old Testament, and the presents Ignatius as the originator of anthems among
other out of the New; which was their custom every the Greeks, and Ambrose among the Latins.
day except Saturday and Sunday, when they re- ANTHESPHORIA, a festival celebrated in Sicily
peated them both out of the New Testament, the in ancient times, in honour of the heathen goddess
one out of Paul's epistles, or the Acts of the Apos- Proserpine. The name is derived from two Greek
tles, the other out of the Gospels. The manner of words, anthos a flower, and phero to carry away, be-
singing in the Egyptian churches was also peculiar. cause Proserpine was carried off by Pluto while
Never more than four persons were allowed to re- gathering flowers. The festival was in commemo-
peat the twelve psalms in one assembly, and that by ration of the return of Persephone to her mother
turns, every one singing three in order after one an- in the beginning of spring, and therefore it was a
other. If there were only three, then each sung flower festival, celebrated by gathering flowers, and
four psalms; if there were no more than two, each turning them into garlands. Festivals of the same
sung six psalms.
kind were held in honour of other deities, particu-
The Antelucan service in the primitive churches, larly Hera, on which occasion maidens walked in
though it took place at a very early hour in the procession carrying baskets filled with flowers, whilst
morning, was frequented not by the clergy and a tune called Hierakion was played on the flute.
monks only, but by the people also. This is plainly ANTHESTERIA, a festival celebrated at Athens
stated in the account already quoted from Basil, and in honour of Dionysus or Bacchus, on the 11th, 12th,
Sidonius mentions that Theodoric, king of the Goths, and 13th day of the month Anthesterion, correspond-
was a constant attendant on their services. At ing to the end of our November and beginning of
first they were held only during the night preceding December. It was a season of great rejoicing, and
the Lord's day, but afterwards their observance ex- games of various kinds were carried on during the
tended to all the other days of the week, and the three days of the festival. On the first day, the
service, instead of being protracted through several barrels were tapped, and the wine of the previous
hours, was brought within a very limited compass, year was tasted. On the second day, each man
so as neither to exhaust the strength of the worship- drank out of his own cup or vessel as much as he
pers, nor to interfere with their ordinary worldly pleased, and indulged in all kinds of amusement.
avocations.
On the third day, pots with flowers and seeds were
126
ANTHEUS-ANTHONY'S DAY.
offered to Dionysus and Hermes. The mysteries | tity and miracles, on the 16th of the kalends of
connected with this festival were held by the women February."
alone at night, in a temple which was shut all the St. Anthony is generally considered as having been
year round, except on this occasion.
The cere-
the first who embraced the life of a monk among the
monies were conducted by fourteen priestesses. The early Christians. He was born in Egypt about the
wife of the second archon offered a mysterious sacri- middle of the third century. While yet a young
fice for the welfare of the city; and a secret solem- man, though possessed of a considerable fortune, he
nity took place, during which she was betrothed to distributed the whole among his neighbours and the
the god. The animal offered in sacrifice was a sow, poor, and retired to a place of deep seclusion, re-
and the initiated, who had been admitted only after solved to lead the life of a hermit. In A. D. 285, he
great preparations by purification, were clothed in took up his residence in a decayed castle among the
skins of fawns, and crowned with myrtle garlands. mountains of eastern Egypt, where he spent twenty
ANTHEUS, or ANTHIUS (Gr. anthos, a flower), a years in solitude. He thus acquired the reputation
surname of Dionysus at Athens.
of great sanctity. At length, yielding to the earnest
ANTHOLOGION, a book containing the chief solicitations of his friends, he returned to the world
offices of the Greek church. It contains the offices, | in A. D. 305, attracting crowds of eager admirers by
divided into twelve months, which are sung on the his preaching and miraculous cures. By the glowing
festivals of our Saviour, the Virgin Mary, and other representations which he made of the pleasures and
remarkable saints.
advantages of a life spent away from the snares and
ANTHONY'S DAY (ST.), a festival of the Rom- | temptations of the world, he prevailed upon large
ish church, celebrated on the 17th January. The numbers to embrace a monastic life. For the accom-
Romish Breviary in the lesson for that day, gives | modation of his disciples, accordingly, he established
the following account of the saint: “ Anthony the two monasteries, one in the mountainous district of
Egyptian was born of noble and Christian parents, eastern Egypt, and another near the town of Arsinoe.
of whom, when young, he was deprived. When en- Naturally enthusiastic and ardent, Anthony was de-
tering the church, he heard the gospel, “ If you would sirous of adding to the reputation which he had
be perfect, go and sell all that you have, and give to already acquired as a monk, the additional reputation
the poor. As if these words had been addressed to him, of a martyr. When persecution broke out, therefore,
he felt that he must be obedient to the voice of the Lord against the Christians, A. D. 311, in the reign of the
Christ; therefore, selling all his goods, he distributed emperor Maximian, he anxiously repaired to Alexan-
his money to the poor. Being thus delivered from
Being thus delivered from dria, courting the opposition of government, but
all entanglements, he resolved to cultivate a kind of without avail. He returned to his former seclusion,
celestial life on earth. To attain this, we are told, and so high did his fame rise as a monk, that the
among other means, that he lay on the ground when emperor Constantine invited him to Constantinople.
necessary sleep called him to rest. He so cultivated This invitation he respectfully declined. This
fasting, that he used only salt to his bread, and celebrated monk lived to a very great age, and at
quenched his thirst with water; neither did he re- | length, in the depth of his solitude, he died on the
fresh himself with meat or drink before sunset. 17th January, A. D. 356.
Often, also, he abstained two days from food, and Anthony is regarded in the Roman Catholic church
very often passed the night in prayer. Not content as the patron saint of horses. To account for his
with this, he betook himself to the most desolate obtaining this distinction, a tradition exists, that a
solitude of Egypt, where, daily advancing in Chris- certain king of Egypt, when persecuting the Chris-
tian perfection, he despised the demons, who were tians, was exhorted by this saint to permit God's
the more eager in attacking him, the stronger he was people to live in peace. The king tore the letter in
to resist. He reproached them with imbecility; and pieces, and resolved to make Anthony his next vic-
often stirred up his disciples to fight against the tim. Five days after when riding out, the king's
devil, teaching them by what arms he might be con- horse, which had been up to that time remarkably
quered. · Believe me, brethren,' he said, “Satan tame, threw him to the ground, and then turning
dreads the watchings, prayers, fasts, voluntary po- round, bit and tore his thigh so severely that he
verty, piety, and humility, but especially the glowing died in three days. From this, or some other
love of Christ; paralyzed, he flies before the sign of equally credible legend, Anthony has been made
the most holy cross.' So formidable was he to the the patron saint of horses, and in his honour
demons, that many agitated by them, calling on the the practice is observed at Rome of blessing the
name of Anthony, were delivered; and so great was horses on St. Anthony's day. The scene is a most
his sanctity, that Constantine the Great, and his sons, extraordinary one. On that day the inhabitants of
by letters requested his prayers. After reaching his Rome and its vicinity deck their horses, mules, asses,
105th year, when he had innumerable imitators of and dogs with ribands, and send them to the church
his own institute, having called together the monks, of St. Anthony, which is situated near the church of
and instructed them in the perfect rule of the Chris- Santa Maria Maggiore. A priest is stationed at the
tian life, he departed to heaven, illustrious by sanc- church-door, dressed in full canonicals, with a large
ANTHONY
127
spriukling-brush in his hand, and, as each animal is limited to the 17th of January, but continues for
presented to him, he takes off his skull-cap, mutters eight days, accompanied with a special service in
a few words in Latin, intimating that through the honour of the saint. Mr. Thomson of Banchory, who
merits of the blessed St. Anthony, the animals are to witnessed the ceremony, mentions having seen the
be preserved for the coming year from sickness and Pope's cavalry ride in a body to the church, and re-
death, famine and danger ; then he dips his brush in ceive the blessing upon their horses. As the owner
a huge bucket of holy water that stands by him, and of an animal which has been blessed leaves the pre-
sprinkles them in the name of the Father, and of the sence of the officiating priest, he is presented with a
Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The priest receives a picture of St. Anthony, and a small copper cross.
small fee for sprinkling each animal. "Sometimes ANTHONY (MONKS OF ST.). In the eleventh
the visitor at Rome," says Mr. Dowling, in his · His- and twelfth centuries, a fearful disease raged through-
tory of Romanism,' “ will see a splendid equipage | out several parts of Europe, which was known by
drive up, attended by outriders in elegant livery, to the name of the Sacred or St. Anthony's Fire. This
have the horses thus sprinkled with holy water, all disorder was accompanied with the most painful suf-
the people remaining uncovered till the absurd and ferings, and, besides cutting off great multitudes, left
disgusting ceremony is over. On one occasion, a many to wear out the remainder of their days with
traveller observed a countryman whose beast, having bodies helpless by distortion or incurable lameness.
received the holy water, set off from the church-door As medical assistance was, to a great extent, unsuc-
at a gallop, but had scarcely gone a hundred yards, cessful, recourse was had by some superstitious per-
before the ungainly animal tumbled down with him, sons in the province of Vienne in France, to the
and over its head he rolled into the dust. He soon, relics of St. Anthony the Egyptian, which, having
however, arose, and so did the horse, without either been brought from Constantinople, were imagined to
seeming to have sustained much injury. The priest prove an infallible cure. Among others who attri-
looked on, and, though his blessing had failed, he buted their recovery to the mediation of St. Anthony,
was not out of countenance; while some of the by- was one Gaston, descended from a family of the
standers said, that but for it, the horse and his rider French nobility, who, in gratitude for his own and
might have broken their necks."
his son's restoration to health, founded, A. D. 1095,
This custom is continued yearly at Rome on St. the order of St. Anthony, a monastic institution, the
Anthony's day. Dr. Middleton, in the preface to express object of which was to provide nurses for
his Letter from Rome, gives the following story from persons sick of that painful disorder which had com-
Jerome, as the most probable origin of the practice mitted such extensive ravages throughout Europe.
of blessing the horses. “A citizen of Gaza, a Chris- The principal seat of this order was at La Motte,
tian, who kept a stable of running horses for the where the general of the order was resident. The
Circassian games, was always beaten by his antago- monks followed the so-called rule of Augustine, and
nist, an idolater, the master of the rival stable; for their dress consisted of a cassock, a patience, a plait-
the idolater, by the help of certain chaims and dia- ed cloak, and a black hood. They have a peculiar
bolical imprecations, constantly damped the spirits mark, of a blue colour, on the left side of their
of the Christian's horses, and added courage to his
clothes.
The Christian, therefore, in despair applied No sooner was the order of St. Anthony formed,
himself to St. Hilarian, and implored his assistance; having an object in view so benevolent, and, in the
but the saint was unwilling to enter into an affair so circumstances, called for, than societies of a similar
frivolous and profane, till the Christian urged it as a kind, connected with the order, sprung up in all
necessary defence against these adversaries of God directions. These, under the management of a su-
whose insults were levelled not so much at him as at perior, spent their time in taking care of the sick in
the church of Christ; and his entreaties being hospitals. The ecclesiastics in such societies attend-
seconded by the monks who were present, the saint ed to the religious wants of patients; preached to
ordered his earthen jug, out of which he used to them, gave them the benefit of their pastoral care,
drink, to be filled with water and delivered to the and administered to them the sacraments. The lay-
man, who presently sprinkled his stable, his horses, men undertook to provide for their bodily relief and
his charioteers, his chariot, and the very boundaries comfort, and also to arrange for the decent burial of
of the course with it. Upon this the whole city was the dead, according to the usual forms. Female
in wondrous expectation. The idolaters derided what societies having the same object were also formed.
the Christian was doing, while the Christians took Such institutions could not fail, at their first com-
courage, and assured themselves of victory; till, the mencement, to be attended with much advantage.
signal being given for the race, the Christian's horses They originated in a spirit of charity, and as long as
seemed to fly, while the idolater's were labouring they limited their operations to the benevolent pur-
behind, and left quite out of sight; so that the pose for which they had been formed, they were
pagans themselves were obliged to cry out that their productive of no small benefit. But after a time so-
god Marnas was conquered at last by Christ." cieties of this kind began to be abused, and in the
The ceremony of blessing the animals is not thirteenth century we find Jacob of Vitry, who had
Own.
128
ANTHONY-ANTHROPOMORPHITES.
s
48
described the employment of these monks as a holy as Il santo, the saint, and has a gorgeous temple
martyrdom,” complaining that many who pretended erected in his honour, crowned with not less than
to devote their lives to this nursing of the sick, only eight cupolas, and illuminated day and night by gol-
used it as a cover under which to exact, by various den lamps and silver candlesticks, which burn con-
and deceptive tricks, from the abused sympathies of tinually before his shrine.” The same author informs
Christians, large sums of money, of which but a trif- us that the tablets and bas-reliefs of the church are
ling portion was expended on the objects for which it inscribed with the miracles and great deeds of the
had been bestowed. Pope Innocent II. passed an saint. The tongue of St. Anthony was found, it is
ordinance against such fraudulent collectors of alms said, thirty-two years after his death, in a quite fresh
for spitals. Much did these monks abuse the name state, and is preserved still in a most costly case, in
of their patron saint, selling pictures of St. Anthony his church at Padua. An unbeliever said one day,
to the peasantry, and persuading them that the mere “ If this glass does not break on dashing it against
possession of such a picture in their houses would that stone, I will believe in St. Anthony." He
save them from the plague. Some cardinals and dashed it down and it did not break! The miracle
prelates endeavoured to persuade Pope Paul III. to was so obvious, that he immediately believed. Such
abolish the begging friars of St. Anthony, whom they are the absurd and foolish legends with which the
described as deceiving the simple rustics, and rob- life of this saint is filled, as given by Butler in his
bing them of their money. His Holiness, however, 'Lives of the Saints.
refused to interfere, and the monks of St. Anthony ANTHROPOLATRÆ (Gr. anthropos, latreuo, to
have been allowed to prosecute their mendicant worship man), an odious name given to orthodox
calling
Christians by the Apollinarians, because they main-
ANTHONY (NUNS OF ST.). The high reputation tained that Christ was a perfect man, and had a rea-
which Anthony had obtained in Egypt for sanctity, sonable soul, and a true body of the same nature
led to the formation in that country of a monastic with other men; all which was denied by the APOL-
society for females of the order of St. Anthony, so LINARIANS (which see). Gregory Nazianzen takes
early as A. D. 318, under the direction of an abbess notice of this abuse, and sharply replies to it; tell-
named Syncletica; and also to another of the same ing the Apollinarians that they themselves much
order in Jerusalem, in A. D. 325, under the abbess more deserved the name of flesh-worshippers ; for
Mary. Another society of the same order was insti- if Christ had no human soul, as they alleged, they
tuted in Ethiopia, A. D. 1325, under mother Imata. must necessarily be viewed as worshipping his flesh
The nuns of this order wore on their heads a kind of only.
turban made of striped calico, and on their shoul- ANTHROPOMORPHITES (Gr. anthropos, man,
ders a small cloak of yellow skins of goats. The morphe, shape), a class of men who have appeared at
rest of their dress was either yellow or white. They various periods in the history of the Christian
obtained their livelihood by exacting a small pay- Church, and whose error lies in supposing that the
ment in return for their prayers, and they devoted Divine Being, instead of being purely spiritual and
much of their time to the care of the
poor.
incorporeal, is possessed of a human body, though
ANTHONY (ST.) OF PADUA'S DAY, a festi- perhaps more spiritualized and ethereal in its na-
val in the Romish Church, held on the 13th of June, ture. Such an idea haunts the minds of multi-
in honour of St. Anthony, who is famed for his ser- tudes in every age, arising from the extent to which,
mons and miracles. It is related of him, that when as possessed of material bodies, we are necessarily
the heretics refused to listen to his preaching, he be- under the influence of our outward senses.
took himself to the shore of the Adriatic Sea, and rusing the Sacred Scriptures, we cannot fail to be
there he summoned the fishes, in the name of God, struck with the uniformity with which the subjec-
to listen to his holy word. The fishes immediately tion of our minds to the influence of matter is kept
obeyed the call, and swimming in large shoals to in view. If they speak to us of the Divine Being,
hear the saint, arranged themselves into a most they represent him as possessed of those attributes
orderly and attentive congregation. Anthony, struck and qualities which we ourselves comprehend as be-
with the miracle wrought upon the fishes, addressed ing, in some degree, allied to the characteristics of
them in a regular and lengthened discourse. At the our own nature. Not that God hears, and sees, and
close of his eloquent sermon, the fishes bowed their handles as men do; but to describe the Supreme
heads in token of their humility and devotion, and Being, it is necessary to use such language as shall
moved, their bodies up and down in evident approval convey to us ideas, as nearly as possible corre-
of the discourse of St. Anthony. The legend adds, spondent to the reality. The language expressive
that after many heretics who were present at the of such conceptions can at least be no other than
miracle had been converted by it, the saint gave his analogical, just as we ourselves, in treating of phe-
benediction to the fish and dismissed them. He is nomena purely mental, are nevertheless compelled
recognized and held in great honour as the patron to clothe our thoughts in expressions which, in their
saint of Padua. “He is there known,” says Dr. primary sense, refer to material objects alone. The
Wylie in his 'Pilgrimage from the Alps to the Tiber,'transition from the primary to the metaphorical
In pe-
1
ANTHROPOPATHISTS.
129
meaning of words, is, in most cases, simple and easy, 1 his death, the following exhibition of their views on
and we are in little or no danger, in ordinary case: this subject is given in words which cannot be mis-
of confounding the one with the other. In regard taken: “God himself, who sits enthroned in yonder
to matters spiritual and divine, however, the tran- heavens, is a man like unto one of yourselves, that is
sition is accompanied with no small difficulty, and the great secret. If the vail was rent to-day, and
we run considerable hazard of 'resting contented the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and
with notions which are almost wholly material. Hence upholds all things by his power, if you were to see
Anthropomorphism, or the error of attributing to the him to-day, you would see him in all the person,
Divine Being the materialismi of our own frame- image, and very form as a man; for Adam was creat-
work, belongs not to any particular sect, but rathered in the very fashion and image of God; Adam re-
to a vicious habit of mind which requires to be cor- ceived instruction, walked, talked, and conversed
rected. The first who appears to have openly and with him, as one man talks and communes with an-
avowedly taught the doctrine that God is possessed of other."
“I am going to tell you how
a human body after the image of which man has been God came to be God. God himself, the Father of us
created, was Audæus in the fourth century. This all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ him-
was only one out of a number of erron'eous tenets self did, and I will show it from the Bible. Jesus said,
held by the sect of which he was the origin and as the Father hath power in himself, even so hath
head. See AUDÆANS.
the Son power; to do what? why, what the Father
In the tenth century, this materialistic view of the did, that answer is obvious : in a manner to lay down
Divine nature showed itself in the district of Vicen- his body and take it up again. Jesus, what are you
za in Italy, and was opposed with the utmost vigour going to do ?–To lay down my life as my Father
and success by Ratherius, bishop of Verona. Hav- | did, and take it up again.'
ing been informed that the priests of the see of Vi- And in another work by one of the Brethren, en-
cenza taught anthropomorphic views of God, this titled “The Voice of Warning,' the same doctrine is
excellent and able man took occasion, in one of his plainly taught as the belief of the sect : “We worship
sermons, to expose the error, and to set forth the à God who hath both body and parts; who has eyes,
purely spiritual nature of Deity. This gave great mouth, and ears, and who speaks when, and to whom
offence, and even some of the priests felt as if their he pleases—who is just as good at mechanical inven-
God had been taken away from them since they had tions as at any other business."
been accustomed to view him only under a material ANTHROPOPATHISTS (Gr. anthropos, man,
“ You were stupidly fabricating idols in your pathos, an affection). The class to whom this name
own hearts," replied the faithful prelate," and forget- is applicable differs somewhat from the Anthropo-
ting the immensity of God, were picturing, as it were, morphites, consisting, as it does, not in ascribing to
some great king seated on a golden throne, and the the Divine Being the possession of a human body,
host of angels around, as being winged men, clothed but the same limitations and defects which are found
in white garments, such as you see painted on the cleaving to the human spirit. This notion is appa-
church walls." The strange superstitious notions, rently countenanced by various passages of the Sacred
to which Ratherius here refers, were fostered and Scriptures, in which the feelings and affections of
encouraged, in no small degree, by the paintings of the human being are attributed to God. They speak
God and the angels which everywhere adorned the of God as loving, hating, being angry, jealous, and
churches.
so forth, all of which seem to proceed upon the idea
Once more, Anthropomorphism was taught in the that the Absolute Spirit somewhat resembles the
17th century by Mr. Joseph Hussey of Cambridge. | limited spirit of man. All such passages, while they
This learned divine held the pre-existence of the hu-" are evidently accommodated to our weak capacities,
man soul of Christ, as rather of a spiritual and glo- must be interpreted with certain important condi-
rious body in which he appeared to Adam, Abraham, tions. 1. That we understand them in a way and
and other Old Testament saints; and which he con- manner suitable to the nature and majesty of the
sidered to be “the image of God” in which man was Almighty, refining them from all that imperfection
made. Thus, from the time of Tertullian, who found with which they are debased in the creatures, and so
it impossible to conceive anything to be real which attribute them to the Deity. 2. When human affec-
was not in some way or other corporeal, onwards tions are attributed to Jehovah we must be careful
throughout many centuries, has this materialistic not to interpret them in a manner that shall imply
view of the Divine Being been manifesting itself at the least imperfection in Him; but must thereby
intervals, thus showing how difficult it is for man conceive either a pure act of his will, free from all
to conceive of a purely spiritual being.
perturbations to which men are liable, or else the ef-
One of the grossest forms in which these erroneous fect of such human affections, the antecedent being
conceptions of the nature of the Divine Being appear, | put for the consequent,--that is, one thing being ex-
is the anthropomorphism taught by the Mormons of pressed, while another thing is understood, which is
our own day. Thus, in one of the last sermons which usually its effect, or at least follows it,—a figure of
their great prophet, Joseph Smith, preached before very frequent occurrence in the Sacred Writings.
form.
1.
I
130
ANTI-ADIAPHORISTS-ANTICHRIST.
The influence of the anthropopathic tendency was That Christian baptism is not an external rite, they
seen in the case of Tertullian, in his controversy argue from 1 Peter ü. 21, “ The like figure, where-
with Marcion. Man being created in the image of unto even baptism doth also now save us, (not the
God, this writer argued that he has, in common with putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer
God, all the attributes and agencies pertaining to of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrec-
the essence of spirit,-only with this difference, that tion of Jesus Christ.” This and various other pas-
every thing which in man is imperfect, must be con- sages they allege speak of baptism as a moral and
ceived in God as perfect. “Proceeding on the as- spiritual rite ; and the baptism with water admi-
sumption,” as Neander remarks, " that Christianity nistered by John, the forerunner of Christ, be-
aimed at à transfigured spiritualized anthropopa- longed, as John himself confessed, to an inferior and
thism, growing out of the restoration of God's image decaying dispensation. This opposition to the ad-
in man, he insisted that, instead of transferring every ministration of baptism has not been confined to the
quality to the Divine Being in the same imperfec- “ Friends.” Socinus wrote a tract on the question,
tion in which it was found existing in man, the "Is it allowable in a Christian man to dispense with
endeavours should be rather to transfigure every- water-baptism?” and he determined it in the affir-
thing in man to the true image of God, to make man mative. Without forming regular sects, individuals
truly godlike. He sees in the entire revelation of have often been found to entertain objections to the
God a continual condescension and humanization- administration of baptism as a Christian ordinance;
the end and goal of which is the incarnation of the sometimes on somewhat similar grounds to those of
Son of God." These sentiments were a most effec- the “Friends," that as an outward ceremonial rite it
tual corrective of the views of Marcion, who, in his is inconsistent with the spiritual character of the
anxiety to avoid anthropopathic opinions, ascribed New Testament dispensation ; at other times, on
to God no other attributes than goodness and love. the plea that baptism is a proselyting ordinance, and
The philosophical education of the Alexandrian as such to be applied only to converts to Christian-
Church teachers led them to try to exclude all ma- ity from other religions, and is not therefore appli-
terial anthropopathism from the Christian system of cable to their descendants, whether infant or adult.
faith ; but the danger, in such a case, was, that they | This view of the matter is inferred from the words
should give too subjective a turn to the Divine attri- of our Lord's commission to his disciples, “Go ye
butes, and thus exclude them from the region of and teach,” or disciple "all nations, baptizing them;"
human sympathies. This was, perhaps, the case from the practice of the apostles and first Chris-
with some of the reasonings of Origen. The Gnos- tians, who, so far as can be ascertained, baptized
tics, in their hostility to anthropopathism, deprived none but converts from Judaism or heathenism, and
God of his attribute of justice as incompatible, in their families; and from the dispensation of the or-
their view, with the essential being of an infinitely dinance not forming any part of the pastoral office,
perfect God. The Alexandrians, on the other hand, but being peculiar to apostles and evangelists. The
while they defended the notion of justice against the reply to all this is plain, that, in the time of the
Gnostics as an attribute belonging to the Divine per- apostles, churches could not possibly be formed of
fections, ran into another error, that of merging it any other than proselytes from Judaism or heathen-
in disciplinary love, and thus depriving it of its own ism, and, therefore, no other than adults, at least,
self-subsistence. There is, however, a true, in oppo- could be baptized; but even in the Acts of the Apos-
sition to a false, anthropopathism, an ascription of tles, we find mention made of the families and house-
human affections to God, which is thoroughly scrip- holds of such individuals being baptized, and it is
tural, provided always they be understood in accor- likely that among these were some who must have
dance with the nature and majesty of God, and so as been of such an age as to be incapable of having
not to imply the slightest imperfection in the in-made such a profession of Judaism or heathenism, as
finitely pure and perfect Jehovah.
to entitle them to be considered as proselytes. See
ANTI-ADIAPHORISTS, those who were op- BAPTISTS.
posed to the tenets of the ADIAPHORISTS (which ANTIBURGHER SYNOD.
. See ASSOCIATE
see).
(ANTIBURGHER) SYNOD.
ANTI-BAPTISTS (Gr. anti, against, baptizo, to ANTI-CALVINISTS, a name given to the AR-
baptize). This name is applied not to those who MINIANS (which see), as opposed to the Calvinists
object to any peculiar mode of baptism, but to those or adherents of the doctrines of Calvin.
who object wholly to the administration of the ordi- ANTICHRIST (Gr. against Christ, or instead of
nance. Among these the Society of Friends occupy Christ). This word is used in Scripture to denote
a conspicuous place, who deny the necessity of ex- “the man of sin,” or that grand apostacy from the
ternal ordinances, and resolve the Christianity of the faith which was predicted to occur before the second
New Testament into an entirely spiritual and inward | advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. On this subject
religion. They allege that water-baptism has long the Apostle Paul says, 2 Thess. ii. 1–11, “ Now we
ago been superseded by the baptism of the Holy beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord
Spirit, that “ one baptism” which alone they adinit. | Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto
ANTICHRIST.
131
him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be trou- power, Paul's "Man of sin” and “Mystery of ini-
bled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as quity” is represented as “opposing and exalting it-
from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let self above all that is called God." The same apostle
no man deceive you by any means : for that day gives another description of the Antichrist in 1 Tim.
shall not come, except there come a falling away iv. 1–4, “ Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that
first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
perdition ; who opposeth and exalteth himself above giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of
all that is called God, or that is worshipped ; so devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their con-
that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, show- science seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry,
ing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, | and commanding to abstain from meats, which God
when I was yet with you, I told you these things ? hath created to be received with thanksgiving of
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might them which believe and know the truth. For every
be revealed in his time. For the mystery of ini- creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused,
quity doth already work: only he who now letteth if it be received with thanksgiving." Here, as Dr.
will let, until he be taken out of the way. And Begg remarks, in his 'Handbook of Popery,' “a
then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord number of additional particulars are stated all clearly
shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall applicable to the Popish Church. The latter times'
destroy with the brightness of his coming : even are evidently those of the Gospel ; and it is vain
him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, for the adherents of the Church of Rome to allege
with all power and signs and lying wonders, and that the word some cannot apply to them, inas-
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them much as they are very numerous, for the same word
that perish; because they received not the love of is often used in Scripture to describe nearly a whole
the truth, that they might be saved. And for this people,—as where Paul says, 'some when they heard
cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they did provoke,' although he is speaking of nearly the
should believe a lie.” The Apostle John also ap- whole congregation of Israel. The apostle's de-
pears to have had the same train of events revealed scription embraces not only the lying spirit of Po-
to him, and he was directed to remind the Christian pery, which has always been one of its leading fea-
Church of this great coming enemy under the very tures, its prohibition of marriage, in the case of nuns,
remarkable name of “ the Antichrist.” Thus 1 John monks, and priests—a most remarkable feature of
ii. 18, “ Ye have heard that the Antichrist cometh.” | the system—its commands to abstain from certain
This peculiar term, Mr. Elliott, in his 'Horæ Apo- meats, but, as Mede has proved, in a learned treatise
calypticæ,' regards as a name of new formation, ex- on this passage, its restoration of the demon or hero-
pressly compounded, it might seem, by God's Spirit, worship of the Pagans, in the form of an impious de-
for the occasion, and as if to express some idea votion offered to the Virgin Mary, and the real or
through its etymological force, which no older word supposed saints.”
could so well express, the name ANTICHRIST: even The apostle John clearly describes the same anti-
as if he would appear in some way as a Vice-Christ, christian power in the Apocalypse. Thus Rev. xii.
in the mystic temple or professing Church; and in 1–8, “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and
that character act out the part of Usurper and Ad- saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads
versary against Christ's true Church and Christ him- and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and
self.” . The Antichrist predicted by Paul and John upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the
was obviously the very same enemy of Christ and his beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his
people which Daniel saw in vision long before, in feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the
connection with the Roman Empire, as if he were to mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power,
be the head or chief over it, not indeed in its present, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of
but in some subsequent and divided form. This is his heads as it were wounded to death; and his
quite in accordance with what Paul alleges, that a deadly wound was healed: and all the world won-
certain hindrance required first to be taken out of the dered after the beast. And they worshipped the
way that the Antichrist might be developed—a hin- dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they
drance which has been understood in the Church worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the
from the earliest ages to refer to the Roman Empire beast? who is able to make war with him ? And there
as at that time constituted.
was given unto him a mouth speaking great things
In the time of the Apostle Paul, as he himself in- and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to
forms us, the “mystery” had begun to work—the continue forty and two months. And he opened his
little horn of Daniel had begun to force its way up mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his
among the Roman kingdoms. It was to be a power name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in
partly temporal, taking to some extent the place of heaven. And it was given unto him to make war
the Roman government, and partly spiritual, “ sit- with the saints, and to overcome them: and power
ting in the temple of God." Like Daniel's little was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and
horn, which is said to be a blasphemous and wicked nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall
6
A
132
ANTICHRIST.
worship him, whose names are not written in the its empire, from the “let" long time controlling it
book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the overlooking Roman imperial power, and then,
of the world.” The overthrow of this tremendous by Belisarius' and Narses' conquests, from the subse-
power is afterwards clearly described in the eigh-quent but short-lived “let” of Italian Gothic princes,
teenth chapter of the same book, where we are similarly near and controlling,—considering that the
told that she trafficked in the “souls of men," power of the keys was now believed in the West to
and that “in her was found the blood of pro-attach individually to but one bishop, viz. to St. Pe-
phets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon ter's episcopal successor and representative, (not, as
the earth."
of old supposed to the body of priests or bishops,
The tyrannical power described by Daniel and and that the fact of St. Peter's having visited, and
Paul, and afterwards by John, is both, by ancients and been martyred and buried at Rome, had determined
moderns generally denominated Antichrist, the enemy that representative to be the Roman bishop,—consi-
of Christ, or the Vicar of Christ. The fathers speak dering that, in consequence, the bishop of the now
of Antichrist and the Man of Sin as one and the same revived Imperial city was indicating pretensions, en-
person; and whether from tradition or by inference during evidently as the world itself, to a spiritual
from the statements of Scripture, many of them be- empire over Christendom immeasurably loftier than
lieved that what retarded the revelation of Anti- that of old Pagan Rome, and had not merely accepted
christ was the Pagan Roman empire, but when that and assumed the title of Universal Bishop, given by
empire should be broken in pieces, then he should the Emperor, but accepted and assumed the yet
appear in the Christian church, and rule principally loftier title, distinctively ascribed to him a little
in the Church of Rome. Even Gregory the Great, earlier by the Italian bishops and priesthood in
one of the Popes of Rome, who sat in the pontifical council, of Christ's Vicar, or God's Vicar, on earth,
chair towards the end of the sixth century, confi- -the very characteristic predicated of the Man of
dently affirmed that “whosoever should call himself, Sin by St. Paul, and identical title, only Latinized,
or desired to be called, universal bishop, he is the with St. John's term Antichrist --considering that,
forerunner of Antichrist.” The language is strong besides the priesthood thus taking part to elevate
and significant. And it is not a little remarkable him, the people also of the western part of the apos-
that the immediate successor of Gregory received, in tatizing church acquiesced in it, like Augustine's
A. D. 606, from the Greek Emperor Phocas, the title multiplied “ficti et mali,” to aid in Antichrist's de-
of Universal Bishop. From this date accordingly, velopment,) and specially the kings of the new-
is generally calculated the rise of the Antichristian formed Gothic kingdoms, thus adding power through-
power, which according to Daniel was to continue out the west to his name and office, considering all
1,260 years, thus making the termination of his reign these resemblances, I say, in respect of place, time,
upon the earth fall in the year 4. D. 1866.
titles, station, character, might not the thought have
That the Antichrist is to be understood of the well occurred to the reflecting Christian of the day,
Papal see, Mr. Elliott concludes from the following that the bishops of Rome, regarded in their succes-
rapid induction of particulars. “ As to this Anti-sion and line, might very possibly be the identical
christ,-it seems to me that when regarded in their Antichrist predicted :-he whose incoming was to be
history, character, pretensions, local site, and rela- with lying miracles; he who was to sum up in him-
tion to the too generally apostatized church and self as their head, to use Irenæus' expression, all the
priesthood in Christendom, there was that in the see particulars of the long progressing apostacy; and to
and the bishops of Rome which might well have ap- be in short, as Justin Martyr had called him, the
peared to the reflecting Christian, as wearing to that Man of the Apostacy,' as well as, in St. Paul's lan-
awful phantasm of prophecy a most suspicious like- guage, the Man of Sin?»
ness. Considering that, while the apostacy was pro-
While Protestant writers are all but unanimous
gressing, those bishops had been too uniformly its in regarding Antichrist as denoting Rome Papal,
promoters and inculcators, and that now, when it Romish writers as generally explain it of Rome Pa-
was all but brought to maturity, Pope Gregory had gan. The latter opinion has been ably advocated
most zealously (though not altogether consistently) by Bossuet ; while the Albigenses, Waldenses, and
identified himself and his see with its whole system, the first Reformers strenuously maintained the for-
-alike with its infusions of Judaism and of Hea- mer view. Grotius wrote a learned treatise, with
thenism, its enforced clerical celibacy and its monas- the view of proving that the Antichrist or Man of
ticism, its confessional and its purgatory, its saint, Sin was Caius Caligula, the Roman Emperor. Dr.
relic, and image worship, its pilgrimages, and its ly- Hammond views it as descriptive of Simon Magus
ing miracles, considering that the seat of the episco- and the Gnostics. Some writers apply the prophecy
pate thus heading the Apostacy was Rome, the fated to the unbelieving Jews before the destruction of
seven-hilled city, the seat of the Beast in apocalyptic Jerusalem; others to the Jews who revolted from
prophecy, and the place to which all the Fathers had the Romans; others to Mohammed the prophet of
looked as that of Antichrist's supremacy,—Rome so Arabia ; and others still, chiefly of the Romish
singularly freed, by means of the very wrecking of divines, regard the Antichrist as designed to predict
ANTIDICA-MARIANITES--ANTINOMIANS.
133
1
16
the Protestants who disown. the Pope as the visible ticles of a martyr's remains." This Antimensium
head of the church on earth.
supplies the place of a portable altar. The cere-
ANTIDICA - MARIANITES (Gr. opposed to mony of its consecration is thus performed. In the
Mary), a sect which arose in the fourth century, who first place, they sprinkle it three times, singing the
denied the prevailing Romish doctrine of the time, anthem, Thou shalt wash me with hyssop, &c.,
that Mary was ever-Virgin, and adopting the more which they repeat thrice. The patriarch or his as-
natural interpretation of Mat. i. 25. and xiii. 55, sistant then adds the benediction, after which he
56; contended that she had afterwards: lived in a takes the incense-pot and makes the sign of the
state of honourable matrimony with her husband, cross three times with it upon the Antimensium, the
and: that she had borne other children. Those who
Those who first in the middle, and the other two on each side,
held this opinion were enumerated among the here- and after that sings another anthem. Then follow
tics of the time. They were also called Antima- different thurifications, prayers, and ejaculations.
rians, against Mary, and Helvidians from Helvidius, | The relics are now produced, and the patriarch pours
one of the leaders of the sect, who lived under Theo- the chrism upon them, and deposits them in a shrine
dosius the Great, B..C. 355. Epiphanius says they | which is placed behind the Antimensium. The
were most numerous in. Arabia and the adjacent ceremony concludes with a prayer.
countries
ANTINOMIANS (Gr. anti, nomos, against law), a
ANTIDORON (Gr. one gift instead of another), name which has been applied to those who hold that
a name given by the Greek church to the remainder the law of God has been abrogated by the gospel,
of the consecrated bread after the celebration of the and hence that there is no obligation resting upon
Lord's Supper. The bread which is used in the the believer to maintain good works. The first who
Eucharist is round, but has commonly in the centre seems to have openly inculcated such dangerous
a. square projection called the “Holy Lamb," or the doctrines, was John Agricola, who was at first a dis-
Holy Bread,” on which is a motto or device. The ciple of Luther, but afterwards a violent opponent of
usual stamp consists of letters standing for the words, the great Reformer. The same doctrines, carried
“ Jesus Christ conquers," thus:
even still farther, were taught in England by some
of the Puritans in the time of Cromwell, in the
seventeenth century. They have been revived in
the present day in all their force by the Plymouth
Brethren. The fundamental tenet of the system,
which for convenience is called Antinomian, though
Інс | XC
no such name has ever been adopted by any sect,
NIKA
consists in the denial of the obligation of believers to
obey the precepts of Christ, founded on the idea that
the Redeemer hath obtained for his people exemption
not only from the curse of the law, but from all re-
sponsibility to the law itself. Hence, to use the
language of the Rev. Robert Hall, “So far as they-
When the central portion of the bread in which believers--are concerned, the moral government of
alone the consecration is believed to reside, has been the Deity is annihilated—that they have ceased to be
taken away by the priest, the surrounding and un- accountable creatures. But this involves the total
stamped portion is called ANTIDORON, and is dis- subversion of religion : for what idea can we form
tributed among the people. The Greek church al- of a religion in which all the obligations of piety and
leges that the custom of distributing the blest bread morality are done away; in which nothing is binding
among the congregation derives its origin from the or imperative on the conscience? We may conceive
apostles themselves. They interpret all the texts of a religious code under all the possible gradations
of scripture, in which mention is made of breaking of laxness or severity-of its demanding more or less,
of bread, as so many incontestable proofs of such or of its enforcing its injunctions by penalties more
distribution of consecrated bread. They convey it or less formidable; but to form a conception of a
to the sick and infirm, who may have been unable to system deserving the name of religion which pre-
be present at the communion. It must be eaten scribes no duties whatever, and is enforced by no
fasting, and to ensure this it is often laid aside till sanctions, seems an impossibility."
“ On this ac-
early next morning. They ascribe to it the virtue count," continues Mr. Hall, “ it appears to me im-
of expiating the guilt of all: venial sins. They hold proper to speak of Antinomianism as a religious error;
the Antidoron in great veneration and regard, be- religion, whether true or false, has nothing to do
cause they consider it as an emblem or representa- with it; it is rather to be considered as an attempt
tion of the blessed Virgin.
to substitute a system of subtle and specious impiety
ANTIMENSIUM, the consecrated cloth in the in the room of Christianity. In their own estimation
Greek church which covers the altar.. It must be its disciples are a privileged class, who dwell in a se-
consecrated by a bishop, and have “in its web par- cluded region of unshaken security and lawless liberty,
1
134
ANTINOMIANS.
while the rest of the Christian world are the vassals But while thus justified by faith without deeds of
of legal bondage, toiling in darkness and in chains. | law, it is nevertheless true, that just in virtue of this
Hence, whatever diversity of character they may dis- justification the law of God is the highest object of
play in other respects, a haughty and bitter disdain the believer's regard. “Ohow love I thy law," is the
of every other class of professors is a universal fea- exclamation of the true child of God, “ it is my medi-
ture. Contempt or hatred of the most devout and tation all the day;” and such is the jealousy which
enlightened Christians out of their own pale, seems he feels for the honour of God and of his law, that
one of the most essential elements of their being; his eyes run down with tears because men keep not
nor were the ancient Pharisees ever more notorious that law. The believer is an unwdăried apostle of
for 'trusting in themselves that they were righteous the law. He teaches it by his lips and by his life;
and despising others.
and instead of wishing in the slightest degree to
The attempts which have been made to defend the lower the standard of Jehovah's law, he holds forth
principles of Antinomianism, rest on a number of the fulfilment of it in the obedience and sufferings of
isolated and detached passages of Scripture, wrested Christ, as the most powerful evidence that it is un-
forcibly from the context. The doctrines of free changeably holy, inflexibly just, and inexpressibly
grace are held forth not in their sober and real signi- good. No doubt he has learned that by the deeds of
fication, but in a form the most exaggerated and dis- the law no flesh can be justified, and therefore he re-
torted. The express declaration of Christ himself, joices that he is no longer under the law, but under
"I am not come to destroy the law and the prophets, grace. And yet the very thought of losing sight of
but to fulfil,” is distinctly reversed. Such a doctrine the law of God as still binding on him, he repels
is at utter variance with both reason and Scripture. with the utmost indignation. “Shall we sin because
The law of God is, and must be, of perpetual obliga- we are not under the law but under grace? Do we
tion. It must be eternally and unchangeably bind-make void the law through faith ? God forbid !
ing on every intelligent creature whom God hath Yea, we establish the law." Entertaining such views
made. It asserts, and will ever assert, its claims of the law of God, he enjoys true spiritual peace, for
upon every one, either to obedience or to punish- “ great peace have they who love thy law; nothing
ment with unflinching strictness, and though to the shall offend them.” Such persons “delight in the law
believer it has ceased to be a covenant of works on of God after the inward man," and though they often
the ground of which he can expect to enter into life, feel to their sad experience that they have
a law in
it still remains in all its original integrity as a rule of their members warring against the law of their
life. In no possible way, by no possible means, can minds,” they long for complete deliverance from the
it be relaxed in its obligations or mitigated in its dominion of sin, that they may be holy as God is
demands. As long as the infinitely great, and holy, holy. It is this admiration and love of God's law,
and just God exists, or wields the sceptre of the uni- this growing desire after conformity to its pure and
verse, this law must ever retain its original purity, righteous precepts, which constitutes the very
unsullied as the Lawgiver himself. True, the law essence of religion in the soul. There may be an
hath exhausted its demands upon Christ our surety, appearance of sanctity in the outward demeanour of
and therefore it no longer possesses the power of a man who is nevertheless not a true sincere Chris-
communicating life or death to the believer. They tian; but it is the prevailing influence and power of
who are in Christ are no longer under the law as a God's law in the heart, which entitles a man to the
covenant promising life or threatening death, but appellation of a true child of God.
they are one with him who hath fulfilled the whole The Antinomian endeavours to persuade himself
law, that they might be accepted as righteous in the and others, that in taking upon himself the office of
sight of God, and who hath died for them that Redeemer, Christ hath laid aside the authority of a
they might never perish but might have everlasting legislator. But did not Jesus while on earth urge it
life. The law cannot relax in its demands, either upon his followers as a sure and unvarying test of
of perfect obedience to its precepts, or satisfaction | love to him, that they keep his commandments.
due to the violation of it; but all such demands have And now that he hath ascended on high, it is as a
already been fulfilled by the Christian, not in him- Prince as well as a Saviour ; that he may subdue his
self but in his Surety ; and if the sentence of con people unto himself, making them a willing people
demnation be cancelled against Christ the surety, it in the day of his power. If Jesus died that his peo-
is equally so against his people. The righteousness ple might not perish, is it not equally true that he
of the law is fulfilled in them, and consistently with died to redeem them from all iniquity, to purify unto
the principles of the divine government, no further himself a peculiar people zealous of good works? In
claims can be urged against them. They are com- the New Testament all doctrinal statement is made
plete in Christ, being justified in the sight of God; subservient to the inculcation of a holy obedience.
their persons are accepted and their natures renewed. Antinomians have never formed themselves into a
They are no longer strangers and foreigners, but distinct and separate sect, but their pernicious doc-
fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the household of trines have been embraced by many professing Chris-
God.
tians. The name seems to have originated with
ANTI-PÆDOBAPTISTS ANTI-POPE.
135
Luther, who used it in opposing the doctrines of tius. But Socrates carries it as far back as the time
Agricola? They have also been termed Solifidians, of Ignatius. Whatever be its origin, the practice
because they held that holiness had no connection soon spread through all the churches. Chrysostom
whatever with justifying faith. Antinomian opinions encouraged it in the vigils at Constantinople, in op-
appear to have crept at a very early period into the position to the Arians. Basil speaks of it in his
Christian church, as is quite apparent from the whole time as the received custom of all the East. This
language of the apostle James, in his epistle, when custom of alternate singing was resorted to not only
speaking of the invariable connection of faith and in public, but occasionally also in private. Thus
good works. From that period down to the present Socrates mentions that the emperor Theodosius the
day, the sentiments of the Antinomians have been en- Younger and his sisters were accustomed to sing al-
tertained by numbers in every age of the church. ternate hymns together every morning in the royal
“Şuch doctrine," as Mr. Fuller remarks, " has a be- | palace.
witching influence upon minds of a certain cast. It ANTI-POPE, one who has been elected to the
is a species of religious flattery which feeds their popedom in opposition to, or as the rival of, the ex-
vanity and soothes their selfishness; yet they call it isting Pope of Rome. Rival popes have existed at
the food of their souls. Like intoxicating liquors to different periods in the history of the Romish Church,
à drunkard, its tendency is to destroy; but yet it although that church has always made it her peculiar
seems necessary to their existence; so much so, that boast that she has preserved from apostolic times an
for the sake of it they despise the bread of life.” undivided unity. Geddes gives the history of no
It is lamentable that the pure doctrines of the gospel fewer than twenty-four schisms in the Roman church
should be so perverted, and that the grace of God caused by anti-popes. It may be sufficient for our
should be turned into lasciviousness. To check the purpose to refer to the great Western schism in the
progress of such fatal errors, it is of the utmost im- fourteenth century, originating in rival popes, elected
portance that faithful ministers of Christ should by the French and Italian factions respectively at
preach, not only the privileges of the Christian, but Avignon and Rome. The first of this series of anti-
the precepts of Christ, pointing out the intimate and popes, who took the name of Clement V., passed the
indissoluble connection between faith and holiness, whole nine years of his reign in France, without once
between justification and sanctification, pardon and visiting Rome. Instigated by Philip, the king of
purity, grace in the heart and godliness in the life. France, whose obedient tool he was, Clement re-
" The grace of God which bringeth salvation teacheth voked the bull Unam Sanctam, and other decrees of
us to deny ourselves to all ungodliness and worldly Pope Boniface VIII. against France, created several
lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in French cardinals, and condemned and suppressed the
the present evil world.” If such be the design, the order of the Knights Templar, in a council held at
object, and end of the gospel of the grace of God, Vienne in 1309. The Avignon series of anti-popes
Antinomianism must be no less at variance with the who succeeded Clement, were John XXII., elected
word of God than with the best interests of man. in 1316; Benedict XII., in 1334; Clement VI., in
ANTI-PÆDOBAPTISTS (Gr. anti, paidion, bap- 1342; Innocent VI., in 1352; Urban V., in 1362, who
tizo, against baptism of children), a name given to those returned to Rome in 1367, but, probably at the per-
who deny the validity and Scriptural warrant of infant suasions of the French cardinals, returned to Avig-
baptism. They are most generally known by the non in 1370, where he died; and Gregory XI., who
name of BAPTISTS (which see).
removed his court to Rome in 1374, where he died
ANTIPHONAR, the book which contains the in 1378.
verses, collects, and whatever else is sung in the The death of Gregory was followed, in the first
choir of Episcopal churches.
instance, by the election of an Italian Pope, who
ANTIPHONY (Gr. anti, phone, voice answering took the name of Urban VI., and afterwards the very
to voice), a word used to describe alternate singing same college of cardinals, in the same year, elected
in opposition to symphony, or united singing. Al- another Pope, who assumed the name of Clement VII.,
ternate singing seems to have been practised in and was installed with the customary ceremonies.
the service of the ancient Jewish temple. Many This double election gave rise to the great Western
of the psalms are evidently composed of alternate Schism which divided the church for about 40 years.
verses, and therefore intended for antiphony, or, as It is disputed to this day, and even Popish historians
it was sometimes called, responsoria, the singing by are unable to decide the point, whether Urban or
responsals. Augustine frequently mentions this Clement is to be regarded as the lawful Pope and
mode of singing, and traces its origin in the Western true successor of Peter. Urban remained at Rome;
Church to Ambrose of Milan, who introduced it in Clement went to Avignon in France. The whole
imitation of the Eastern churches. It is difficult to Catholic world were completely divided in their alle-
discover its origin in the East. Theodoret says that giance.
giance. France and Spain, Scotland, Sicily, and
Flavian and Diodorus first brought in the practice of Cyprus acknowledged Clement, while all the rest of
singing David's Psalms alternately, or by antiphony, Europe recognized Urban as the real earthly head
into the church of Antioch in the reign of Constan- of the Church. For forty years the utmost confu-
136
ANTISABBATARIANS--ANTISUPERNATURALISTS.
sion prevailed. Two or three different Popes were an accusation, calls them antistites Dei. The title
reigning at the same time, each of them thundering is given to bishops and presbyters indiscriminately.
out his anathemas against the others,
Hence an argument is sometimes drawn by Pres-
At length it was resolved to put an end to this byterians in favour of both being one and the same
disgraceful schism, by calling a general council in re- order.—This name was also applied to the superior,
ference to the point in dispute. The council, accord- or rather head of the ecclesiastical senate among the
ingly, assembled at Pisa on the 25th of March 1409 Bohemian Brethren before the Reformation. The
but instead of healing the divisions, it gave rise to person chosen to this high and honourable office was
new and still keener contests. Both the rival Popes, usually a man of advanced years, distinguished ta-
Gregory XII. at Rome, and Benedict XII. at Avig- lents, and irreproachable character. He was elected
non, were declared excommunicated, and one pontiff in the most solemn manner, by the free votes of all
was elected in their place, who is known by the name the ministers. He held office for life. Comenius says
of Alexander V. The decrees of this famous coun- there were two of them in Bohemia, two of them in
cil, however, were treated with contempt by the con- Moravia, and always one, but sometimes two, in Po-
demned pontiffs, who continued to enjoy the privi- land. The duty of an Antistes was to examine into
leges, and to exercise the authority of the popedom. the orthodoxy and strict discipline maintained in the
Though deposed, they protested against the proceed Church, to select out of the students those young men
ings of the council of Pisa, and denied to it the who were best qualified for the ministry, to appoint
name and authority of an oecumenical council, each acolytes, deacons, elders, and other office-bearers,
of them calling a council of his own for the purpose to visit his diocese every year, to watch over the
of maintaining his pretensions against all gainsayers. general concerns of the churches, doing his utmost
“Thus was the holy Catholic Church,” says Dowling, to ward off persecution, and to correct any errors
« which boasts so much of its unity, split up into which might have been introduced. In discharging
three contending and hostile factions under three his responsible office, however, the Antistes was
pretended successors of St. Peter, who loaded each bound to consult his colleagues and assistants; and
other with reciprocal calumnies and excommunica- an appeal from his judgment lay to the General Sy-
tions, and even to the present day the problem re- nod. In many respects the office of an Antistes re-
mains undecided which of the three is to be regarded sembled that of a bishop. There was a president or
as the genuine link in the chain of apostolical suc- principal, who was his superior in office, but who had
cession.' This conflict of Popes and Anti-Popes no power to convene the consistory without the con-
was only terminated by the council of Constance in sent and approval of his Brethren, the Antistes. In:
1414, which deposed John XXIII., and also Bene- the ordination of the ministers belonging to the Bo-
dict XIII., the Avignon Pope, while the Italian hemian Brethren, the Antistes laid his hands upon
pontiff, Gregory XII., voluntarily resigned his office, the head of the candidate, and prayed over him, after
thus making way for the unanimous election of Car- which the congregation sung the hymn, “Veni,
dinal Otto de Colonna, in whom, under the name of Spiritus Sancte," “ Come, thou Holy Spirit.” At the
Martin V., terminated this long protracted and dis- close of the service the Brethren gave him the right
graceful schism.
hand of fellowship. The election of an Antistes was
ANTISABBATARIANS, a name applied to those peculiarly solemn. When one of them died, and his
who reject both the Jewish and Christian Sabbaths. office thus became vacant, a General Synod was call-
The chief arguments which they employ to prove ed, and the meeting was opened with a day set apart
the non-obligation of the Sabbath are, that the Jew- for fasting and prayer. After that a sermon was
ish Sabbath was a ceremonial, not a moral institution, preached on the duties of an Antistes, and then they
and was, therefore, entirely abrogated by the com- proceeded to the election, which was conducted by
ing of Christ, and that no other Sabbath having been ballot, and the vacant place filled up by a plurality
instituted by Christ or his apostles, they are bound of votes. The day following, the people were in-
to observe not any particular day, but every day as formed that the election was closed, and the individual
holy unto the Lord. Now, in opposition to this, it upon whom the choice had fallen was called upon to
is enough to notice, that the Sabbath was instituted appear before a public meeting or assembly of the
not as a part of the ceremonial law, but even anterior Church. He was solemnly asked whether he be-
to the fall of man, while Adam was yet in a state of lieved his calling to be from God, and whether he
innocence, and, therefore, obviously intended to sur- was ready to promise, that he would discharge the
vive all the changes which sin might introduce. Thus sacred duties of his office with fidelity and conscien-
the Sabbath was made for man as man, not under tiousness. On returning satisfactory answers to the
peculiar circumstances, but in all circumstances, and questions proposed, the ordination was proceeded
in all situations. See SABBATH-SABBATARIANS. with, as in the case of an ordinary pastor, by prayer
ANTISTES (President), a title given by some and imposition of handş.
of the ancient Christian writers to presbyters in ANTISUPERNATURALISTS, a term used to
the early Church. Hilarius Sardus, speaking of denote those who endeavour to subtract from the
presbyters against whom a bishop is not to receive character of Christ and Christianity all that is mira-
ANTITACTES ANUBIS.
137
culous and supernatural, thus reducing every thing | giver. This eminent thinker has been undoubt-
within the limits of mere human reason, and what is edly the author and the instrumental cause of a great
accordant with the ordinary operations of nature. change, both intellectual and civil, in the Jewish
See RATIONALISTS.
nation. He led the way to a neglect, and, in many
ANTITACTES (Gr. antitaktein, to oppose), a class instances, to an entire disuse of the mass of absurd
of licentious Antinomians, who arose about A. D. and inconsistent traditions forming the Talmud.
170, and who derived their name either from oppo- Since the death of Mendelsohn, which happened in
sing the commands of God, practising the very re- 1785, the Antitalmudists have been every year grow-
verse, or because they opposed one god to another. ing in numbers both on the Continent and in Great
They taught that the good and gracious God created Britain. A sect of the modern Jews, who are to the
all things good. But one of his own offspring re- full extent Antitalmudists, has long existed under
belled against him. This was the Demiurge, the the name of CARAITES (which see). The Rabbinists
god of the Jews, who gave rise to the principle of pretend that the Schism, as they term it, of the Ca-
evil, by which may, perhaps, be meant, as Neander raites, cannot be traced beyond 750 A. D. They
thinks, “ the material body, constituting at once the themselves, on the contrary, maintain, that before the
prison-house and the fountain of all sin to the souls destruction of the first temple, they existed as a dis-
banished from above.” Thus he has brought us into tinct sect under the name of “ The Company of the
a state of enmity with the Father, and we in turn set Son of Judah.” Be this as it may, the Caraites possess
ourselves at enmity with him. To avenge the Father many strange peculiarities, both of doctrine and
on him, we do directly the reverse of what he wills practice, which must ever separate them from the
and commands. Some go so far as to allege, that Antitalmudists or Reformed Jews which have arisen
the Antitactes held the opinion, that sin deserved in more modern times, and whose principle of ad-
reward rather than punishment, and, consequently, herence to Scripture alone may yet, by the Divine
they abandoned themselves to all kinds of vices and blessing, lead to the recognition of Jesus of Nazareth
enormities. They appear to have been a sect of the as the true Messiah of whom Moses in the law and
GNOSTICS (which see).
the prophets did speak. The rejection of the Tal-
ANTI-TALMUDISTS. Among the modern Jews mud is undoubtedly an important step towards the
there is a large class who have cast off their adherence adoption of the Christian system, and may lead, in
to the Talmud or traditions of the Rabbis; some of God's good time, to the grafting of Israel into her
them trying to find a resting-place in the Old Testa- own olive tree, and to her partaking of the root and
ment, but, rejecting the New Testament which alone fatness thereof.
can rightly explain the Old, they are utterly destitute ANTI-TRINITARIANS, the general name of
of any sure footing. Another and a far more numerous all those who deny the doctrine of the Trinity, but
body of the Anti-Talmudists have rejected both the particularly applied to the ARIANs and SOCINIANS
Talmudical traditions and the Old Testament, and (which see). Other sects may also be comprehended
sunk down into avowed infidelity. All who have under this comprehensive term; such as the Sabel
gone thus far, however, are not in exactly the same lians and Samosatenians, who denied the distinctions
position. With many their infidelity is a mere ne- of persons in the Godhead; the Macedonians, who
gation. They have renounced authority, and can denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit; and the
receive nothing without evidence. Still they are Humanitarians, who contended that the Lord Jesus is
open to conviction.
Another and an increasing a man only, like ourselves, fallible and peccable, and
party place themselves in direct and active antago-entitled to no higher honour than that of a good
nism to all systems of belief, which they regard as man, a moral philosopher, and a prophet.
fettering the understanding and unnecessarily re- ANTOSIANDRIANS, a term applied to Melanc-
straining the inclination. On the Continent parti- thon and the other Lutherans who opposed the
cularly, Rabbinism is now a tottering fabric, and a doctrines taught by Osiander, a German divine of
licentious freedom of thought has become prevalent the sixteenth century. It would appear that the
among the Jews, which has led not, in too many cases, chief heresy into which Osiander fell regarded the
to the embracing of Christianity, but to a wide-spread ground of a believer's justification in the sight of
infidelity. It is to the writings of Moses Mendelsohn God, which he attributed not to the mediatorial
that, in a great measure, this change is to be attri- righteousness wrought out by Christ, and imputed
buted. He has infused into the minds of his coun- to the sinner, but to the essential divine righteous-
trymen in Germany a spirit of reckless speculation, ness of the Redeemer, which he failed to perceive
which refuses to yield an implicit submission to the must, from its very nature as a divine attribute, be
Sacred Oracles, once the glory and the guide of their incommunicable. See OSIANDRIANS.
fathers. Rationalism has taken the place of Ju- ANUBIS, an ancient Egyptian deity, usually re-
daism. The writings of Mendelsohn occupy, in the presented in the form of a dog, or of a man with a
estimation of multitudes of Jews in Germany, Po- dog's head. Some writers have alleged the worship
land, and the other continental countries, a higher of this god to be of very great antiquity, and that
place than the writings even of their ancient law- Moses alludes to it in Deut. xxiii. 18, “Thou shalt
138
ANUVRATA-APELLEANS.
not bring the price of a dog into the house of the APATURIA (Gr. apate, deceit), a surname given
Lord.” But nowhere do we find any mention of to Athena by Æthra, daughter of Pittheus king of
Anubis before the time of Augustus, and yet after Troezen. This princess dedicated a temple to Athe-
that period it occurs frequently both in Greek and na Apaturia, in the island of Sphæria, and taught
Roman writers. If we may credit Diodorus Siculus, the maidens of Troezen to dedicate their girdles to
Anubis was the son of Osiris, and was wont to ac- the same goddess on the day of their marriage.--A
company his father on his expeditions, covered with surname also of Aphrodite, derived from the deceit-
the skin of a dog. Hence he was represented as a
ful
way
in which she killed giants, by whom she was
human being with a dog's head. Plutarch explains attacked, delivering them over to Heracles, who had
the figure as a myth, descriptive of the physical concealed himself in a cave for that purpose.—Apa-
character of Egypt, Anubis being the son of the turia was the name of a festival celebrated by the
Nile, which by its inundation fertilizes the most dis- Athenians annually in October. It continued for four
tant parts of the country. The same writer repre- | days, during which young people of both sexes en-
sents Anubis as the horizon, and his being in the gaged in sports and rejoicings of various kinds. The
shape of a dog arises from the circumstance that this first day was dedicated to Bacchus, the second to
animal sees by night as well as by day. The Greeks Jupiter and Pallas, the third was spent in admitting
regarded the Egyptian Anubis as identical with their the young men and women into their tribes; what
own HERMES (which see). The worship of Anu- was done on the fouth day is uncertain.
bis was introduced at Rome towards the close of APELLEANS, or APELLITES, a branch of the
the republic, and during the Empire his worship Gnostics, which derived its name from Apelles, who
was widely disseminated both among the Greeks flourished about A. D. 188. He was a disciple of
and Romans.
Marcion, but differed from his teacher in some points.
ANUVRATA, the first rank of ascetics among Tertullian charges him with immorality, but Rhodon,
the JAINS (which see), a Hindu sect found in con- who was a contemporary and a personal opponent of
siderable numbers, particularly in the south of India. Apelles, speaks in high terms of the purity of his
This degree of asceticism can be attained only by life. The individual to whom he was chiefly in-
him who forsakes his family, entirely cuts off his debted for his heretical opinions, was a woman named
hair, holds always in his hand a bundle of peacock's Philumene, who imagined herself a prophetess, and
feathers and an earthen pot, and wears only clothes whose foolish fancies he thought it worth while to
of a tawny colour.
expound in a work, which he entitled “ Revelations."
ANXUR, an Italian divinity, who derived his The opinions of Apelles which were adopted by his
name from Anxur, a city of the Volsci, where he followers, partook of a similar character with those
had a temple and was worshipped. He is spoken of of Marcion, but modified not a little by his residence
by Virgil as Jupiter Anxur; and on a medal he is for a long period in Alexandria. The Old Testa-
represented as a beardless young man, with a radi- ment, he alleged, came from different authors, partly
ated crown upon his head. In worship, he was as- from the inspirations of the Soter, partly from those
sociated with Feronia, who was regarded as Juno. of the Demiurge, and partly from those of the Evil
AEDE (Gr. Singing), the name among the ancient Spirit, who corrupted the revelations of divine things.
Greeks of one of the fabulous divinities called Muses, Denying, therefore, the entire inspiration of this part
who were regarded by some writers as three in num- of the Sacred Volume, he endeavoured, in a work of
ber,-Mneme, Aæde, and Melete,-though the most great extent bearing the name of “Syllogisms,” to
ancient authors, particularly Homer and Hesiod, point out the contradictions, as he supposed, which
reckon nine. See MUSES.
are to be found in the Old Testament, at the same
APANCHOMENE (Gr. Strangled), a surname of time declaring that he used these ancient Scriptures,
Artemis, derived from a circumstance recorded by gathering from them what is profitable, while he
Pausanias, as having happened at Condylea in Ar- found in them fables wholly destitute of truth. He
cadia, where there was a grove sacred to Artemis believed in one Supreme Eternal God, the author of
Condyleatis. Some boys, it is said, when amusing all existence, while he professed himself utterly un-
themselves threw a cord round the statue of the god-able scientifically to demonstrate how all existence
dess, playfully pretending to strangle Artemis. Some could be traced back to one original principle. He
of the inhabitants of the neighbouring town of Ca- held that the Supreme God had created an inferior
phyæ finding the boys thus employed, stoned them god, whose nature was evil, and who created this
to death. To punish this rash and cruel act of the world. He denied the incarnation of Jesus Christ,
people of Caphyæ, the women of that town, as Pau- in so far as real flesh is concerned, but asserted that
sanias alleges, had premature births, and the chil- he took an elementary body, and conversed on earth
dren born were all of them dead. This continued in appearance only; that in his ascension he left
until the murdered boys were buried, and a yearly behind him that body, making his entrance into hea-
sacrifice to their manes appointed. From that time ven, only in his spirit. He denied the resurrection
Apanchomene was substituted as a surname of Ar- of the human body. Apelles lived to a very ad-
temis for Condyleatis.
vanced age, and in his late years he appears to have
APEMIUS-APHRODITE.
139
lost all taste for controversy, declaring, “ Let every prize. An Indian prince offered the Viceroy of Goa
man stand fast by his faith ; for all that put their seven hundred thousand ducats of gold to redeem
trust in Christ crucified shall attain salvation, if they this sacred tooth, but his proposal was rejected.
only prove their faith by their works." See MAR- Herbert mentions a pagoda at Calicut dedicated to
CIONITES.
an ape.
APEMIUS, a surname of Zeus, under which he APEX, a stitched cap, somewhat resembling a
was worshipped on Mount Parnes in Attica.
helmet, with the addition of a little stick fixed on
APESANTIUS, a surname of Zeus, under which the top, and wound about with white wool, properly
he was worshipped on Mount Apesas near Nemea. belonging to the ancient FLAMEN (which see).--
APE-WORSHIP. Apes, from their resemblance The same word Apex is used by Jerome to express
to the human race, seem even in remote ages to have a small hair-stroke, with which the Jews embellish
been viewed with veneration. The Babylonians, the top of some of the Hebrew characters, placing
and also the Egyptians, are said to have held them
said to have held them it over them in the shape of a crown.
. These they
as sacred. In India, at this day, apes are in many make use of in those books which are read in their
places adored, though not resident in temples. In synagogues and in their MEZUZZIM (which see). It
Western Africa, more especially at Fishtown on the is thought that our blessed Lord referred to these
Grain Coast, as has been already noticed under article | Apices when he said, Mat. v. 18. “ Verily I say
ANIMAL-WORSHIP, certain monkeys found in the unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one
wood about the grave-yard are regarded as sacred, be- tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be
cause it is thought they are animated by the spirits of fulfilled.”
their departed friends. Among various heathen na- APHACITIS, a surname of Aphrodite, derived
tions these animals are viewed with peculiar interest, from the town of Aphace in Coele-Syria, where there
but nowhere more so than in Japan, where they are was a temple consecrated to the goddess which was
actually worshipped, and in that island there is a destroyed by Constantine the Roman Emperor.
large temple dedicated entirely to Ape-worship. APHNEIUS, a surname of Ares, under which he
In the middle stands the statue of an ape erected on was worshipped on Mount Cnesius, near Tegea in
a pedestal which rests upon an altar, large enough Arcadia. This name, giver of food, was derived
not only to contain both, but likewise the oblations from the wonderful circumstance that Ares caused
of the devotees, together with a brass vessel on which his son Aëropus to draw nourishment from the
a bonze or priest beats as on a drum, in order by this breast of his dead mother Aërope.
solemn sound to stir up the devotions of the people, APHRODISIA, several festivals in honour of
and remind them of their religious duties. Under | Aphrodite or Venus, which were celebrated at various
the vaulted roofs and in the walls of the pagoda, places, but particularly at Cyprus. On these occa-
there are numbers of apes of all kinds in various sions mysterious rites were performed to which only
attitudes, and in still deeper niches there are several the initiated were admitted who offered a piece of
pedestals like that on the altar, with their respective money to the goddess.
apes upon them. Opposite to these pedestals there APHRODITE, called Venus among the Romans,
are other apes with the oblations of their devotees was one of the great deities of the ancient mythology,
before them. As some palliation of this strange the goddess of love. She is fabled to have sprung from
species of idolatry, it has been alleged that the the foam of the sea (Gr. aphros). Homer speaks of
Japanese regard the bodies of apes as animated | her as the daughter of Zeus and Dione. She was
by the souls of the grandees and princes of the famed for her beauty and the handsomeness of her
empire.
person. She rendered effective assistance to the
Several Indian nations imagine that an ape is a Trojans in the cou
Trojans in the course of the Trojan war. She was
human being, though in a savage state; others hold represented as being in possession of a girdle, which
that formerly they were men as perfect as them- inspired love for those who wore it. Various flowers,
selves; but that for the punishment of their vices as the myrtle, rose, and poppy, were sacred to her,
God transformed them into such ugly creatures.
and also various birds, as the sparrow, the swan, the
An Ape-god, called Hanuman, is held in great vene- swallow, and the dove. Several surnames were applied
ration in Hindostan, a pompous homage is paid him, to her, all of them derived from places where she was
and the pagodas in which he is worshipped are worshipped, or from peculiar qualities which she was
adorned with the utmost magnificence. When the conceived to possess. Temples were built in honour
Portuguese, in 1554, made a descent upon the island of this goddess in many Grecian cities, such as
of Ceylon, they plundered the temple of the Ape's Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Abydos, but the chief
Tooth, made themselves masters of immense riches, places of her worship were Mount Ida in Troas, and
carried off this precious relic, the object of the reli- | the islands of Cyprus and Cythera. Her votaries
gious worship of the inhabitants of Ceylon, Pegu, brought incense and garlands of flowers, but in some
Malabar, Bengal, and other districts. The shrine in places sacrifices of animals were offered to her. The
which this relic was deposited was covered with worship of this female deity is thought to have had
jewels, and accordingly it was reckoned a valuable | its origin in the East, and Aphrodite has often been
1
140
APHTHARTODOCITES—APIS.
considered as identical with ASTARTE or ASHTO- | leading him to the temple of Osiris. Strabo and
RETH (which see).
Plutarch tell us, that when an animal possessing the
APHTHARTODOCITES (Gr. aphthartos, incor- requisite marks could not be found, they paid adora-
ruptible, and dokeo, to judge), the name given to a tion to a golden image of it, which they set up in
party of the MONOPHYSITES (which see) in the sixth their temples. The living ox, when found, was kept
century, which held, as a necessary consequence from in the temple of Osiris, and worshipped as a repre-
the union of the Deity and humanity in one nature in sentative of that god as long as it lived. In the
Christ, the dogma that the body of Christ, even dur- | temple were two thalami, or bed-chambers, and, ac-
ing his earthly life, was not subjected by any neces- cording as the sacred ox entered the one or the other,
sity of nature to the ordinary affections, infirmities, it was regarded as a lucky or an unlucky omen. Oxen
and wants of our bodily frame, such as hunger, thirst, of a yellow or red colour were sacrificed to this god,
and pain; but that, by a free determination of his more especially on his birth-day, which was cele-
own will, he subjected himself to these things for the brated every year with great pomp and solemnity.
salvation of man. The body of Christ, then, accord- Some authors allege that Apis was permitted to
ing to this view, was not necessarily and naturally live no longer than twenty-five years, and, accord-
corruptible, but derived this quality from the will of ingly, if he had not died before that time, he was
Christ himself. This doctrine was embraced by the killed, and his body was buried in a sacred well, the
emperor Justinian, who, along with many others, place of which was carefully concealed from all ex-
thought that he thereby honoured Christ, by depriving cept the initiated. If, however, he died a natural
him of all human affections. By an imperial edict, ac- death, he was buried in the temple of Serapis at
cordingly, Aphthartodocetism was made a law. Eu- Memphis, and all Egypt was plunged into grief and
tychius, patriarch of Constantinople, had already mourning, which lasted, however, only till another
been posed and banished for contradicting this sacred bull was found, when their mourning was
dogma, and a similar fate was impending over Anas- turned into joy.
turned into joy. Apis was consecrated to the sun
tatius, patriarch of Antioch, while the oriental church and moon. Ælian regards the twenty-nine marks
was about to be involved in the most painful and dis- on the body of the sacred bull as forming a complete
tracting quarrels, when, by the death of the emperor system of astronomy.
in A. D. 565, peace and order were restored.
The worship of the golden calf by the Israelites in
APIS, an ancient deity worshipped by the Egyp- the wilderness is generally supposed to have been
tians under the form of a bull. The soul of Osiris derived from the worship of Apis in Egypt. Accord-
was supposed to have transmigrated into the great ingly it is said of them, Psal. cvi. 20, “ Thus they
bull which was worshipped at Memphis, in Upper changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that
Egypt, under the name of Apis, and at Heliopolis in eateth grass.” They were not so ignorant as to ima-
Lower Egypt, under the name of Mnevis. Osiris gine that the image which they made was really
was the name by which the Egyptians deified God, but they seem to have supposed that the divine
the founder of their country and nation; and the virtue resided in it, and that it was such a sign or
selection of an ox as the animal into which the soul symbol of the Divinity as the Apis was of the
of Osiris was supposed to have passed, is accounted for Egyptian Osiris. The calves which Jeroboam set
by Diodorus Siculus on the ground that the ox was up in Dan and Bethel had probably the same origin.
particularly useful in husbandry. The animal select- | And, accordingly, both Aaron's and Jeroboam's
ed for worship was held in great veneration while calves were made of gold, the same metal with which
alive, and deeply lamented and mourned for when the Egyptians made the statues or images of their
dead. The characters of Apis, or the sacred bull, gods. Aaron, also, we are told, “ fashioned it with
are thus given by Herodotus. “The Apis,” he says, a graving tool after he had made it a molten calf;"
“is the calf of a cow past bearing, but who, accord- that is, he gave it all those particular marks which
ing to the Egyptians, is impregnated by lightning, were the distinguishing characteristics of the Egyp-
whence she has the Apis. The marks which distin- tian Apis. A further resemblance may be traced in
guish it from all others are these : Its body is Exod. xxxii. 5, 6: “And when Aaron saw it, he
black, except one square of white on the forehead; built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclama-
the figure of an eagle on its back; two kinds of hair tion, and said, To-morrow is a feast to the Lord.
on its tail, and a scarabæus or beetle under its tongue.” | And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered
On the announcement being made that an animal burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the
possessing all these marks had been found, some people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to
sacred persons resorted to the place, and built play.” This was precisely what took place in
a house facing the rising sun. In this house Apis Egypt on the appearance of the sacred bull. Sacri-
was kept for four months, being carefully fed with fices were offered in its honour, a feast was cele-
milk; and after this, about the time of the new brated, and mirth and revelry prevailed throughout
moon, he was conveyed in a vessel built for the pur- the land. Following the same practice, Jeroboam
pose, to Memphis. Here a hundred priests and had no sooner constructed his golden calves, than he
crowds of people received him with great rejoicings, proclaimed a feast of rejoicing in honour of the new
0
APOCARITÆ APOCRYPHA.
141
gods. It may be observed, besides, that Jeroboam given them, because they were concealed and not
did not set up his calves in Shechem, the capital of usually read in public; others, that they deserve
his kingdom, but, as the Egyptians worshipped one to be concealed or buried in oblivion. Epiphanius
bull at Memphis and another at Heliopolis, so he set the alleges that they were hid or not deposited in the
one calf in Bethel, the other in Dan, the two extremi- ark of the covenant, by which he probably meant the
ties of his kingdom. The Greeks and Romans seem ark or chest in which the Jewish records were kept
to have sanctioned to some extent the worship of in the ancient temple, no such depositary, if we may
Apis. Several of the Roman emperors visited and credit Josephus, being found in the second temple.
adored the sacred bull. Alexander the Great, also, The writings in question then, according to some
pleased the Egyptians by paying homage to Apis, as authors, may be said to be apocryphal
, or concealed,
well as to their other gods. See Cow-WORSHIP. because they were not contained in the chest in
APOCARITÆ, a srnall Christian sect which arose which the sacred books were carefully deposited.
in the third century, being an offshoot from the The Apocryphal books mentioned in the sixth ar-
MANICHEANS (which see). The peculiar doctrine | ticle of the Church of England as to be read “for
which they held was, that the soul of man partook example of life and instruction of manners,” while
of the substance of divinity, an oriental idea which “it doth not apply to them to establish any doc-
is not unfrequently to be found in a certain class of trine,” are as follows:
heathen systems of religion.
The Third book of Esdras.
APOCRISARIUS (Gr. apokrino, to answer), the The Fourth book of Esdras.
representative at the imperial court of a foreign The book of Tobias.
church or bishop, whose office was to negotiate in all The book of Judith.
ecclesiastical causes in which their principles might be The rest of the book of Esther.
concerned. The institution of this office appears to The book of Wisdom.
have been in the time of the emperor Constantine, Jesus the Son of Sirach.
or not long after, when, the emperors having become Baruch the Prophet.
Christian, foreign churches had more occasion to The Song of the Three Children.
promote their suits at the imperial court than for- The History of Susanna.
merly. Whatever may have been the date of its The History of Bel and the Dragon.
origin, we find the office established by law, in the The Prayer of Manasses.
time of Justinian. From the statements of various The First book of Maccabees.
ecclesiastical writers, it would appear that those who The Second book of Maccabees.
held this office were clergymen. In imitation of the These books appear to have been written by Jews,
apocrisarius in the church, almost every monastery at a somewhat remote period, but there is no autho-
had a similar officer, whose business was not to re- rity, either external or internal, for admitting them
side in the royal city, as in the case of the apocrisarii into the sacred canon. In the early ages of Chris-
already noticed, but to act as proctor for the mo- tianity they were read in some churches, but not in
nastery, or any member of it, when they had occa- all. That they were forbidden to be used in the
sion to give any appearance at law before the bishop church of Jerusalem, is plain from Cyril's catechisms,
under whose jurisdiction they were.
These were
where he directs the catechumens to read no Apocry-
also sometimes of the clergy. In process of time the phal books, but only such books as were read in the
emperors gave the name of Apocrisariż to their own church, specifying all those which are still recognized
ambassadors, and it became the common title of every as canonical, with the exception of the book of Re-
legate whatsoever. The title of Apocrisarius became velation. The council of Laodicea forbids all but
at length appropriated to the Pope's agent or Nuncio, canonical books to be read in the church, mentioning
as he is now called, who, in the days of the Greek | by name the very books recognized at this day, ex-
emperors, resided at Constantinople, to receive the cept the Apocalypse. The author of the Constitu-
Pope's despatches and the emperor's answers. tions, also, mentioning what books should be read in
APOCRYPHA (Gr. apokorupto, to conceal), those the church, takes no notice whatever of the Apocry-
ancient writings which have not been admitted into | pha. Jerome alleges that in some churches they
the canon of Scripture, not being recognized as were read merely as books of piety and moral instruc-
divinely inspired, but rejected as spurious. The tion, but in no sense as canonical, or with a view of
reason of the name apocrypha being applied to such confirming articles of faith.
confirming articles of faith. Ruffinus, presbyter of
writings, is far from being fully ascertained. Augus- | Aquileia, mentions the same as being the practice of
tine alleges that the reason is to be found in the cir- that church. Athanasius also ranks these books, not
cumstance that the origin of the works so called was among the canonical, but among those that might at
unknown to the Fathers of the first ages of the least be read to or by the catechumens. There were
Church. Jerome denotes those writings apocryphal some churches, however, which used these books on
which do not belong to the authors whose names the same footing as the regular canonical Scriptures.
they bear, and which contain dangerous forgeries. Thus the third council of Carthage ordered that no-
Some writers say that the name Apocrypha was thing but the canonical writings should be read in
142
APOCRYPHA.
the church, under the name of the Divine Scriptures, effect, Ecclus. xxxv. 3, “ Alms maketh atonement
among which canonical writings are included by for sins.” The book of Maccabees teaches the Po-
name several Apocryphal books. Augustine, also, in pish practice of praying for the dead, which is no-
his book of Christian doctrine, calls all the apocry- where sanctioned in the Word of God. Thus 2 Macc.
phal books canonical, but he does not allow them so xii. 43, 44, “And when he had made a gathering
great authority as the rest, because they were not throughout the company, to the sum of 2,000 drachms
generally received as such by the churches. In the of silver, he sent it to Jerusalem to offer a sin offer-
Eastern church, the canonical authority of the Apoc-ing, doing therein very well and honestly; for if he
ryphal books was always denied, and also in many of had not hoped that they that were slain should have
the Western churches. Gregory the Great having risen again, it had been superfluous and vain to pray
occasion to quote a text from Maccabees, apologizes for the dead.” The Apocryphal books not only
for making a citation from a book which was not teach erroneous doctrines, but inculcate and com-
canonical, but only published for the edification of mend immoral practices. Thus the Book of Mac-
the church.
cabees (2 Macc. xiv. 41) represents as noble and
By the Council of Trent, however, in the sixteenth virtuous the act of Razis in falling upon his sword,
century, the Apocryphal books were, for the first rather than allow himself to be taken by his ene-
time, placed entirely on a level with the inspired mies. The treacherous assassination of the She-
Scriptures. What could have led to the promulga- chemites, which is strongly condemned in the Bible,
tion of such a decree under the penalty of anathema, is highly commended in Judith ix. 2. Magical incan-
it is difficult to comprehend, unless it may have tations, which the Bible often forbids, are stated in a
arisen from a consciousness, that from no other quar- ridiculous story found in Tobit vi. 1–8, to have
ter could they obtain evidence in proof of their un- been sanctioned and even commanded by God him-
scriptural doctrines and practices. Notwithstanding self. It is unnecessary to do more than refer to
the Tridentine decree, however, the Apocryphal | the silly fable of Bel and the Dragon, the immoral
books can lay no valid claim to inspiration or canoni- tale of Susanna, the absurd story of Judith, and
cal authority. None of them are to be found in the numberless contradictions and follies with which these
Hebrew language, or have ever been recognized by writings everywhere abound.
the Jews. The whole of them are written in Greek, By the rubric of the Church of England, the Apo-
and appear to have been composed by Alexandrian crypha is appointed to be read in the churches; but
Jews, except the Fourth Book of Esdras, which is it may be mentioned that all the books are not read.
in Latin. They bear evident marks of having been Thus the Church excepts both books of Esdras, the
written posterior to the time of Malachi, with whom books of the Maccabees, the rest of the book of
the spirit of prophecy is universally admitted to have | Esther, the Song of the Three Children, and the
ceased. They contain no prophecy, or any other | Prayer of Manasseh. The Puritans were much op-
mark of inspiration, and not one of them claims to posed to the reading of the Apocrypha in churches.
be inspired. Not a single quotation from any one The Reformers, however, made a selection from it
of them was ever made by Christ or his apostles ; for certain holy days, and for the first lessons in Oc-
and both Philo and Josephus, who flourished in the tober and November.
first century of the Christian era, are silent in regard A controversy arose both in England and Scot-
to them. These Apocryphal books are not to be land in 1830, on the subject of the Apocrypha. The
found in the lists of inspired writings drawn up by British and Foreign Bible Society had, for some time
various individuals during the first four centuries of previous, been issuing Bibles containing not merely
the Christian Church. They were never read in the the Canonical, but also the Apocryphal Books, in
Christian Church until the fourth century, and even violation of one of its fundamental conditions, which
then, as we have already seen, on the testimony of expressly declared, that the object of the Society was
Jerome, not as canonical or authoritative, but sim- to circulate the pure Bible without note or comment.
ply for edification. Never, indeed, until the fourth The directors, animated by a desire to extend the
session of the last Council of Trent were these books circulation of the Word of God among Roman Ca-
ranked as canonical or inspired writings. The only tholics in Continental countries, yielded to views of
Apocryphal books omitted in the decree are the expediency in the matter, and thus gave rise to a
prayer of Manasseh and the Third and Fourth Books very keen, and even bitter contention, more espe-
of Esdras.
cially on the north side of the Tweed. For several
When from external we turn to the internal evi-
years the controversy raged, during which the claims
dence furnished by the writings themselves, we can of the Apocrypha were fully discussed, and its un-
have no hesitation in rejecting the Apocrypha as scriptural and uncanonical character clearly exposed.
utterly uncanonical and uninspired. In proof of this Apocryphal or spurious writings have not only
we may refer to some prominent instances in which been classed with the Old Testament, but also with
false and unscriptural doctrines are taught. Thus, the New. Not long after the ascension of Christ,
Ecclus. iii. 3, “ Alms doth deliver from death, and various pretended histories of his life and doctrines,
shall purge away all sins." And, again, to the same full of impositions and fables, were given forth to the
APODIPHO-APOLLINARIANS.
143
world ;
and afterwards several spurious writings ap- man ought to be viewed. The line of argument
peared inscribed with the names of the apostles. A which he pursued is thus beautifully stated by Nean-
number of these apocryphal productions have perished der : “ Two beings persisting in their completeness,
by the lapse of time. Those that still remain have he conceived, could not be united into one whole.
been carefully collected by Fabricius, in his . Codex Out of the union of the perfect human nature with
Apocryphus Novi Testamentis,' 2 vols. 12mo. Ham- the Deity one person never could proceed; and
burg, 1719. These books appear to have been writ- more particularly, the rational soul of the man could
ten by well-meaning persons, not with a design to not be assumed into union with the divine Logos so
injure, but to advance the cause of Christianity. No as to form one person. This was the negative side
church or body of Christians, however, have ever of the doctrine of Apollinaris; but, as to its positive
claimed for them a place in the Sacred canon, or re- side, this was closely connected with his peculiar
garded them as entitled to rank among inspired views of human nature. He supposed, with many
writings.
others of his time, that human nature consisted of
APODIPHO (Gr. apo, from, deipnon, supper), an three parts,—the rational soul, which constitutes the
office recited by the Caloyers or monks of the Greek essence of man's nature; the animal soul, which is
Church every night after supper.
the principle of animal life; and the body, between
APOLLINARES LUDI, games celebrated an- which and the spirit, that soul is the intermediate
nually by the ancient Romans in honour of Apollo. principle. The body, by itself- considered, has no
They were instituted during the second Punic war faculty of desire; but this soul, which is united with
in B. c. 212. The prætor presided at these games, it, is the source and fountain of the desires that
and ten men were appointed to see that the sacrifices struggle against reason. This soul Apollinaris be-
were performed after the manner of the Greeks. For lieved he found described also by the apostle Paul,
a few years the day for the celebration of these in the passage where he speaks of the flesh striving
games was fixed at the discretion of the prætor; but against the spirit. The human, mutable spirit was
U. C. 545, they were appointed to be held regularly too weak to subject to itself this resisting soul;
about the nones of July.
hence the domination of the sinful desires. In order,
APOLLINARIANS, a heretical Christian sect therefore, to the redemption of mankind from the
which arose about the middle of the fourth century, dominion of sin, it was necessary that an immutable
headed by Apollinaris, bishop of Laodicea. This Divine Spirit, the Logos himself, should enter into
distinguished person was one of the ablest and most union with these two parts of human nature. It
learned men of his time, and at first looked upon by does not pertain to the essence of that lower soul,
all, particularly by Epiphanius and Athanasius, as as it does to the essence of the higher soul, that it
one of the great champions of the orthodox faith. should determine itself; but, on the contrary, that it
Such was his zeal, indeed, in behalf of the truth, should be determined and ruled by a higher princi-
that he was excommunicated by the Arian party and ple;" but the human spirit was too weak for this;
driven into exile. He was remarkable for his inti- the end and destination of human nature, therefore,
mate acquaintance with the Scriptures, which he is realized when the Logos, as an immutable Divine
publicly expounded at Antioch, where Jerome be- Spirit, rules over this lower soul, and thus restores
came one of his numerous hearers. He was also a the harmony between the lower and the higher prin-
man of great general learning, and famed as a poet. ciples in man’s nature.”
· The tragedy entitled Christ's Sufferings,' which is By such a train of reasoning as this did Apolli-
to be found among the works of Gregory Nazianzen, naris flatter himself that he had demonstrated how the
is generally attributed to the versatile genius of divine and human natures in Christ must be con-
Apollinaris. The only entire work of his that has ceived to be united into personal unity. In his view
reached our times is a Paraphrase in hexameter verse humanity consisted of three parts, spirit, soul, and
on the Psalms. In consequence of his eminent ta- body. In the case of Christ's humanity, however,
lents and extensive learning, he was raised in A. D. the weak and mutable human spirit gave place to
362 to the bishopric of Laodicea in Syria, the city of an immutable Divine Spirit; and on this account is
his birth, and where he had spent the greater part | Christ the God-man. Apollinaris was partial to
of his life. The most celebrated of his controversial the use of certain expressions which began about
works was one which he wrote in thirty books against this time to become current. 6. God died.”
Porphyry.
was born.” By way of doing honour to Christ, his
In arguing against the Arians, Apollinaris was humanity was, in a manner, lost in his divinity. The
anxious to establish on a firm footing the doctrine of whole being of the Logos was regarded as constitut-
the union of the Divine Logos solely with the hu- ing the animating soul in the human nature of Jesus.
man body, and to refute the theory introduced by By this mode of explanation, Apollinaris imagined
Origen, according to which a human spirit only was that he established the perfect sinlessness of Christ's
represented as the organ of the Divine manifesta - human nature; forgetting all the while that he was
tion. Being a man of a strongly speculative mind, | labouring under the erroneous idea entertained by
he set himself to show how the doctrine of the God- the Manicheans, that sin was an essential quality of
6 God
144
APOLLO-APOPOMPÆ.
human nature. Athanasius wrote an able work in the Etrurians had practised some ceremony similar
1
refutation of his friend Apollinaris, and the contro- to that which was observed among the ancient Ca-
versy was carried on by the publication of several naanites, of passing through the fire. The laurel
works, among which the most prominent, in oppo- was sacred to Apollo. He is said to have resided along
sition to the Apollinarian heresy, was a treatise with the Muses on Mount Parnassus, and to have
manifesting great acuteness and polemic power by taught them the arts of poetry and music. He is
Theodore of Mopsuestia. The doctrine of Apollinaris often represented as a beardless youth of singular
was embraced by many in nearly all the Eastern pro- beauty and elegance, with flowing hair, crowned with
vinces, and, although it was condemned by a coun- laurel, holding a bow and arrows in his right hand,
cil at Alexandria in A. D. 362, and afterwards, in a and a harp in his left. When he appears as the
more formal manner, by a council at Rome in A. D. sun, he rides in a chariot drawn by four horses. The
375, and by another council in A. D. 378, which de- animals used in sacrifice to Apollo were chiefly bulls
posed Apollinaris from his bishopric, the sect still and oxen.
continued in considerable numbers till towards the APOLLONIA, a festival sacred to Apollo at
middle of the fifth century. Apollinaris survived Ægiale, observed annually in honour of the return
his deposition for some years, and in A. D. 392, he of that god with his sister Artemis, after having
died maintaining to the last his peculiar doctrines in been driven to Crete on the conquest of Python. On
regard to the person of Christ. His followers were the day set apart for this festival, seven young men,
also called VITALIANS and DIMOIRITES, (which see). and as many young women, were selected to go, as
APOLLO, one of the principal deities of ancient it were, in search of the god and goddess.
Greece. He is represented by Homer and Hesiod APOLOGY (Gr. apologia, a defence), the term
as the son of Zeus and Leto or Latona, while his used to denote the defences of Christianity which
sister was Artemis or Diana. He is generally sup- were produced in the early ages of the Christian
posed to have been born in the island of Delos. The Church. These apologies were of two different
number seven was sacred to this divinity, and on the forms, and written with two different objects. One
seventh of every month sacrifices were offered to class of them were expositions of Christian doctrine
him, and his festivals celebrated. His name has intended for the use of enlightened pagans generally ;
sometimes been said to be derived from the Greek | the other class were more official in their character,
word apollumi, to destroy, because he was regarded being meant to advocate the cause of the Chris-
as the destroyer of the wicked, and is, therefore, re- tians before emperors, or before the proconsuls or
presented as armed with a bow and arrows. He was presidents of provinces. Not being able to obtain a
imagined to have the power both of sending and re- hearing in person, they were under the necessity of
moving plagues and epidemic diseases. He was the producing their defence in writing. The first Apo-
god of prophecy, and also of music, the protector of logy was presented to the Emperor Adrian, by Quad-
cattle, and the founder of cities. He is said to have ratus, A. D. 126, a fragment of which is preserved
been identical with the sun, and he was undoubtedly by Eusebius; but a second presented to the same
the chief object of worship among the Greeks. Tem- emperor soon after by Aristides, a converted Athe-
ples were reared to him in many places, but the nian philosopher, is lost. The rest of the ancient
principal seat of this god was at Delphi, in Boeotia. Apologists for Christianity were Justin Martyr, Ta-
The Romans, in the early part of their history, seem tian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Melito, Claudius
to have been altogether unacquainted with the wor- Apollinaris, Hippolytus, Clemens Alexandrinus,
ship of Apollo. The first temple built to him at Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Origen, Cyprian, Lac-
Rome was in the year B. C. 430, in order to avert a tantius, and Arnobius. The Apologists come next
plague which had broken out in the city and sur- in order after the Apostolic Fathers, and their wri-
rounding country. A second temple was built to tings, as far as they have been preserved, are pecu-
him in B. C. 350. It was not, however, till the time liarly valuable, as showing the arguments adduced
of Augustus that the Romans actively engaged in by the heathen against Christianity, and the man-
the worship of this god, when after the battle of ner in which these arguments were met by the early
Actium the emperor dedicated the spoils to Apollo, Christian writers.
appointed games in his honour, and built a temple APOMYIUS (Gr. apo, from, muios, a fly), a sur-
to him on the Palatine Hill. The Etrurians wor- name of Zeus at Olympia, as being a driver -a away
shipped Apollo on Mount Soracte, to which Pliny of flies, under which name he was worshipped by the
refers in these words : “Not far from the city of Eleans.
Rome, in the country of the Falisci, there are a few APOPIS, a deity of the ancient Egyptians, a bro-
families who, in an annual sacrifice which is held to ther of the Sun, and mentioned by Plutarch as hav-
a ing made war against
,
APOPOMPÆ
by a perpetual decree of the senate, exempted from offered sacrifices to the gods called Pompaioi, or
serving in the wars, or being burdened with any
or being burdened with any conductors by the way. Who these were is not
duty.” These remarks would seem to imply, that properly ascertained, unless it refers to Mercury,
ing wood without being injured, and are, therefore, APOPOMPA, certain days on which the Greeks
APOSTASY.
145
whose employment it was to conduct the souls of festival before the vernal equinox with the Jews,
deceased persons to the shades below.
was considered as thereby incurring the sentence of
APOSTASY (Gr. apostasis, a departure), a re- deposition. The council of Eliberis forbids Chris-
nunciation or abandonment of our religion, either by tians to have recourse to the Jews for blessing the
an open declaration in words, or by a virtual de fruits of the earth, and that under the penalty of ex-
claration of it by our works. In the early Christian communication. The same council forbids both
Church this sin subjected those who were guilty of clergy and laity to eat with the Jews upon pain of
it to the severest ecclesiastical censures. There being cast out of the communion of the church.
were usually reckoned at that time three different The council of Clermont makes it excommunication
kinds or degrees of Apostasy. Some entirely re- for a Christian to marry a Jew. And the third
nounced the Christian religion, and passed over to council of Orleans prohibits it under the same pen-
the Jews; others mingled a partial observance of alty, together with separation of the parties.
Jewish ceremonies, and a partial adoption of Jewish Another sort of apostates were such as fell away
doctrines with the profession of the Christian faith ; voluntarily into heathenism after they had for some
and others complied with them so far as to join in time made profession of Christianity. The imperial
many of their unlawful practices, though they made laws, at least from the time of Theodosius, denied
no formal profession of an adherence to the Jewish apostates of this kind the common privilege of Ro-
religion. Though the imperial laws allowed those man subjects, depriving them of the power of dispos-
that were original Jews the complete freedom ing of their estates by will. Valentinian the younger,
of their religion, and the enjoyment of many privi- not only denied them the power of making their own
leges for a long time under the reigns of Christian wills, but of receiving any benefit from others by
emperors, yet they strictly prohibited any Christian will: no man might make them his heirs, nor could
going over to them, and exposed all such apostates they succeed to any inheritance. They were pro-
to very heavy penalties. Constantine left it to the hibited from having intercourse with others; their
discretion of the Jews to punish them with death or testimony was not to be taken in a court of law;
any other condign punishment. His son, Constan- they were to be accounted infamous, and of no credit
tius, subjected them to confiscation of goods. And among men. The council of Eliberis denies com-
Valentinian, the younger, deprived them of the munion to the last to all such apostates, because they
power of disposing of their estates by will. In com- doubled their crime, not only in absenting themselves
pliance with these laws of the states, the Church not from church ordinances, but in defiling themselves
only pronounced a solemn anathema against all such with idolatry. Those apostates who only left off
apostates, but prevented them from being recognized attendance on religious assemblies for a long time,
as credible witnesses in any of her courts of judica- but did not fall into idolatry, should they afterwards
ture.
return to the church, might be admitted to commu-
Those apostates also, who sought to form to them- nion after ten years' probation. Cyprian says, that
selves a new religion, by an incongruous mixture of many of his predecessors in Africa denied commu-
the Jewish and the Christian systems, were con- nion to the very last, to all such as were guilty of
demned by the church as heretics, and excluded from the three great crimes, apostasy, adultery, and mur-
her communion; while those who endeavoured to der. Siricius, bishop of Rome, says apostates were
compromise matters by conforming to the Jews in to do penance as long as they lived, and only to have
some of their rites and ceremonial practices, were vis- the grace of reconciliation at the point of death.
ited with church censures corresponding to the extent The ordinary way in which in early times apos-
of their sin. The council of Laodicea forbids Chris- tates to heathenism renounced the Christian faith,
tians to Judaize, by resting on the Sabbath, under was by denying Christ and blaspheming his name.
pain of anathema; it likewise prohibits keeping That this was the common mode of avowing their
Jewish feasts, and accepting festival presents sent apostasy, appears from the demand which the pro-
from them; and also receiving unleavened bread consul made to Polycarp, and the aged Christian's
from them, which is accounted a partaking with reply to it. The proconsul called upon him to re-
them in their impiety. Among the apostolical can- vile Christ, but Polycarp replied, " These eighty-six
ons, there is one which forbids fasting or feasting years I have served Him, and he never did me any
with the Jews, or receiving any of their festival harm; how then can I blaspheme my King and Sa-
presents or unleavened bread, under the penalty of viour!” Justin Martyr says, that when Barchoce-
deposition to a clergyman, and excommunication to bas, the ringleader of the Jewish rebellion under
a layman. According to another of the same can- Adrian, persecuted the Christians, he threatened to
ons, to carry oil to a Jewish synagogue, or set up inflict terrible punishments on all who would not
lights on their festivals, was regarded as a crime deny Christ, and blaspheme his name. All blas-
equally great with the performance of the same ser- phemers of this kind accordingly were punished with
vice for a heathen temple or festival, and both were the highest degree of ecclesiastical censure. All
alike punished with excommunication. A bishop, apostates, who were either in debt, or under prose-
priest, or deacon, also, who celebrated the Easter | cution as criminals, were denied the privilege of tak-
).
K
146
APOSTLE.
ing sanctuary in the church. And by a law of the Apostle and High Priest of our profession. The
Theodosius, the slave of an apostate master who fled apostles were twelve in number, probably that the
from him, and took sanctuary in the church, was Christian church might correspond with the Jewish,
not only to be protected, but to receive his freedom. which was composed of twelve tribes, and to this
Apostasy from Judaism to Christianity is regarded John alludes in his vision of the New Jerusalem,
by the Jews as a sin of the deepest dye, and all who which “had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve
are guilty of it are believed to be excluded from all angels, and the wall of the city had twelve founda-
share of future happiness, unless they repent, and tions, and in them the names of the twelve apostles
return to the bosom of the synagogue. The Rabbis, of the Lamb.”
however, allow such persons no time for considera- The apostles were the first select ministers of
tion or repentance; apostasy is deemed to require Christ, distinguished from all others who should ever
immediate extermination; they pronounce it to be hold office in the church of Christ. And accordingly
the duty of all faithful Israelites not to suffer an the apostle Paul, when in Eph. iv. 11. he enumer-
apostate to die a natural death, but to hurry him ates the various authorized officers in the Christian
away, either by public execution, or private assas- church, places apostles in the very foreground. “He
sination, into those torments which await him in
gave some apostles," and then as different from, and
another state. One of the most common terms of inferior to these, he mentions “prophets, evangelists,
reproach, which the Jews apply to one of their breth- pastors and teachers.” Who then were the men
ren who has embraced Christianity is Meshummad, whom Jesus chose to be his apostles ? We might
which signifies a person ruined and destroyed, and have supposed that for an office so important, so dif-
the imprecation which generally follows is, “Let his ficult, so responsible, he would have selected men of
name and memory be blotted out."
high talents, extensive learning, polished manners,
Among the Mohammedans apostasy is considered distinguished for their wealth and influence in so-
as calling for the instant death of the man who shall ciety. Far different were the men whom Jesus
dare to renounce the faith of Islam. Almost all called to be his faithful messengers ;—humble, plain,
false systems of religion indeed consider the aban- unlettered men, remarkable neither for their natural
donment of their creed and modes of worship as a nor their acquired endowments. What then was the
capital crime.
secret of the marked success which attended the la-
APOSTLE (Gr. apostello, to send), a name given bours of such men ? “The treasure was put in
to the twelve disciples whom Jesus Christ set apart earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power
to be the first preachers of his gospel. Before might clearly appear to be of God, and not of men.”
making the selection of his apostles, our blessed | They were endowed with miraculous gifts, such as
Redeemer had been engaged for a considerable time heaven alone could bestow. “ He gave them power
in the prosecution of his public ministry. He had against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal
laid down, with great clearness and force, the nature all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease.”
and design of that kingdom which he had come to These were the credentials of their mission, clearly
establish upon the earth. The attention of the Jew- showing that they had received power and authority
ish people had been aroused by his discourses and from on high. When they went forth, therefore,
miracles, and matters were now in such a state as into the world, proclaiming the salvation of the gos-
called for the appointment of a number of qualified pel, their testimony was confirmed by “signs and
men, who would not only assist in extending the gos- wonders, and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy
pel while Christ was upon the earth, but would carry Ghost. "
forward the great work after he had gone to the Fa- The names of the twelve apostles are thus given
ther. Jesus, accordingly, resolved to select and send by the Evangelist Matthew:-“ The first, Simon,
forth twelve men from among his followers, to be his who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother ; James
apostles or ambassadors to a guilty world. In pro- the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip,
ceeding to their choice and appointment, Jesus seems and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the pub-
to have felt deeply the solemnity of the work, for lican; James the son of Alpheus, and Lebbeus,
Luke informs us, that on the day previous," he re- whose surname was Thaddeus; Simon the Canaanite,
tired to a mountain to pray, and continued all night and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.” Though
in prayer to God." He did not send them forth im- Matthew records the mission of the apostles, imme-
mediately after they became disciples, nor even im- diately after their nomination to the office, it would
mediately after they were appointed to the apostle- | appear from the other Evangelists, that a consider-
ship, but to fit them all the better for their arduous able period elapsed after their appointment to the
and important work, they continued for some time apostleship before they were sent out to preach the
to enjoy his instructions both in private and public. gospel. With the view of qualifying and preparing
The word apostle signifies one sent, a messenger. them for their great work, Jesus took them under
It is equivalent in meaning to the angel of the special instruction, for Mark tells us, that " he or-
church in the book of Revelation, and Jesus himself dained them that they should be with him.” Having
is styled the Messenger of the Covenant, and also sat for some time at the feet of Jesus, and learned
APOSTLES' CREED.
147
man,
the law at his mouth, the apostles were sent forth, | the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was be-
and in the first instance the extent of their mission trayed took bread." The expressions in both verses
was limited. They were not to go as yet into the are all but identical; and surely, therefore, the ob-
way of the Gentiles, nor to enter into any city of vious mode of interpreting the passage in the fif-
the Samaritans. The personal ministry of Christ, teenth, is by that in the eleventh chapter, where
and the early labours of the apostles, were confined there is evidently no quotation from the creed. In-
to the Jews. And even after the resurrection of stead of receiving his faith from the creed, the
Christ, when the extended commission was given to apostle expressly discountenances every such idea in
the apostles, that repentance and remission of sins Gal. i. 11, 12: “But I certify you, brethren, that
should be preached among all nations, Jesus added, the gospel which was preached of me is not after
beginning at Jerusalem.” By his own direct au-
For I neither received it of man, neither was
thority, without the agency or interposition of any | I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
other, he gives his instructions to the apostles to The next passage adduced by the Tractarians in
whom they are to go, “to the lost sheep of the house | favour of the Apostles' Creed being referred to by the
of Israel ;” in what employment they are to be en- Apostle Paul, is to be found in 2 Tim. i. 13, “Hold
gaged, they are to "preach ;” and what is to be the fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard
subject of their preaching, “ the kingdom of God is of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.”
at hand.” The name of apostle was not confined Now from the construction of these words in the ori-
to the twelve, but is sometimes applied in the New ginal, it is plain that the apostle does not say that
Testament to those who assisted the apostles in their Timothy had heard from him an outline of sound
labours. Thus Barnabas is so called in Acts xiv. 4 words, but that he had heard from him sound words,
and 14, and Epaphroditus in Phil. ii. 25. In the of which he was to hold fast the outline, that is, the
exercise of their office the apostles planted churches leading features. If there was such a form of sound
in various places, and visited and superintended the words, where is it? The form called by us “The
churches they had founded. Many writers, both an- Apostles' Creed," cannot be traced higher than the
cient and modern, allege that all bishops were at first fourth century. And the forms given in the early
called apostles.
writers vary much, both from this and among them-
Among the Jews, at a later period, after the de- selves. Irenæus and Tertullian, both of whom flour-
struction of Jerusalem, there was a class of officers ished in the second century, give creeds or formulæ
who bore the name of apostles. These were envoys of faith, which differ in various respects from one
or legates of the Jewish Patriarch, who passed from another. Had there been such a form as is alleged
one province to another, to regulate in his name the left by the apostles, there can be no doubt that it
differences that arose betwixt private persons or in the would have been referred to by these or some other
synagogues. They had also a commission to levy the of the early writers. But for the first three centuries
impost that was paid annually to the Patriarch, and, and more, there is not the slightest indication given us
besides aiding him with their counsel, they reported that the apostles left such a form. Each person who
the state of the churches. This office was abolished has occasion to give a summary of the chief articles
by the Christian emperors.
of the Christian faith, gives it in different words,
Apostle in the Greek Liturgy is a namie used to and, if more than once, does not himself give always
denote a book containing the Epistles of Paul, printed the same form. Not the slightest reference, besides,
in the order in which they are to be read in churches is made to such a form by the Nicene council, in
in the course of the year.
A. D. 325.
APOSTLES' CREED, a formula or summary of It is not till the close of the fourth century that
the Christian faith, drawn up, according to Ruffinus, ve meet with the report of the Creed having been
by the apostles during their stay at Jerusalem. .composed by the apostles. We do not find even the
Baronius and some other writers conjecture that they name "The Apostles' Creed,” earlier than a letter of
did not compose it till the second year of the reign Ambrose, written about the year A. D. 389. The
of Claudius, shortly before their dispersion. But there first assertion of its having been composed by the
is no evidence that any formal creed whatever was apostles, is found in Ruffinus, who, in his • Exposi-
drawn up by the apostles. Had it been so, we would tion of the Creed,' written about the year A. D. 390,
undoubtedly have found in their writings some notice tells us that it was said to be written by them,
of such a formula having been published by them. though in a subsequent part of the same treatise, he
The modern Tractarians, indeed, adduce a few pas- speaks as if he himself had some doubts on the point.
sages, in which they allege that Paul quotes from the Jerome also speaks of the Creed as having been de-
Creed. The first passage runs thus, “ For I delivered livered by the apostles, and similar language is used
unto you first of all that which also I received, how that respecting it by several writers of the fifth and sixth
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.” centuries. Thus the opinion gained ground that the
Now compare this passage with one just preceding Creed was in reality composed by the apostles.
it, in the eleventh chapter, “ For I have received of What is called “The Apostles' Creed,” attained
the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That its present form not all at once, but gradually. In
2:
148
APOSTOLEUM APOSTOLIC CATHOLIC CHURCH.
1
asm.
com-
were not limited in their communication to the times
its earliest form it consisted simply of a confession
of the Trinity.
Erasmus and Vossius were of of the apostles and their immediate successors, but
were designed to continue throughout every age of
opinion that for more than three centuries the Creed
did not extend further than that. It appears from the church. He argued, also, that the absence of
the early creeds which still exist, that, even in the part these spiritual gifts was solely due to the low state
of the church's faith and holiness. These discourses
relating to the Trinity, the article relating to Christ's
descent into hell formed no part of the primitive attracted great attention, and made a deep impression
summary of the articles of the faith. The first creed upon the minds of many. While they were in the
in which it appears was one published by the Arians course of delivery, a report was spread throughout
at the council of Ariminum, A. D. 359, which had the country that a manifestation of extraordinary
also been previously exhibited by them at the coun- | gifts had taken place at Port-Glasgow, in the West
cil of Sirmium. It is also to be found in the creed of Scotland, and that a pious female named Isabella
of the church of Aquileia, given by Ruffinus towards Campbell had been suddenly and miraculously cured
the close of this century, who, however, also tells us of a severe and lingering illness. The occurrence of
that this addition was not to be found in the creed of such an event at the very time when the minds of
the Roman church, nor in the churches of the East. many members of Mr. Irving's congregation had
This article, therefore, was not introduced into the been thrown by his discourses into a state of great
creed of the Roman and oriental churches, until after excitement, was likely to work upon susceptible
the fourth century. In the article relating to the minds, leading them into extravagance and enthusi-
church, the most ancient creeds, both of the Greek The news from Port-Glasgow was hailed by
and Roman churches, have only the words “holy not a few as a remarkable fulfilment and confirmation
church," the word “ catholic" having been afterwards of Mr. Irving's views. Numbers hurried to the
added by the Greeks. The article of the “ scene to witness these marvellous operations of the
munion of saints,” also, is not to be found in any Spirit, and the “gifted ” in the little community were
creed or baptismal confession of the first four cen- looked upon with veneration and awe. They spoke
turies, nor in many of those of a subsequent date. on some occasions in “an unknown tongue," and
The obvious conclusion from all that has been said though utterly unintelligible and therefore unedify-
is, that the formula which is familiarly known by the ing to those who heard it, still the gift was concluded
name of “The Apostles' Creed,” has no claim what- by not a few to be directly from above. Among the
ever to be regarded as the genuine production of the firmest and most unhesitating believers in these
apostles, but is a composition of a much later date. manifestations, was Mr. Irving himself, who, naturally
It was no part of the public liturgy in the earlier ages anxious that his people should witness such a marked
of the church. Tullo, bishop of Antioch, seems to display of the Spirit's power, invited a highly “gift.
have been the first who introduced the “Creed" into ed” female from Port-Glasgow to visit London, and
the daily service of the Greek church about A. D. exhibit before his congregation the extraordinary
471, and it was not adopted by the church of Con- power she had received. The invitation was complied
stantinople till A. D. 511. The Roman church did with, and the result was that the same gift of speak-
not embody it as a part of their liturgy before A. D, ing in “unknown tongues" came to be enjoyed by
1014. Bishop Burnet gives, as the ground for retain- various members of Mr. Irving's flock, who, first in
ing the “Creed” in the liturgy of the Church of private meetings for prayer, and afterwards in the
England, that the doctrine which it contains is to be public congregation, broke forth into strange utter-
found in the Scriptures. See CREED.
ances, which were readily and without reserve ac-
APOSTOLEUM, the term by which, in the early knowledged, both by the pastor and many of his
ages of Christianity, a church was described which people, as messages sent from God. Some of these
had been built in honour of an apostle. Thus Sozo- revelations were interpreted, and others not, but the
men speaks of the apostoleum of Peter in Rome, and church in Regent Square was now the scene of much
again, of the apostoleum of Peter and Paul at Quer- "prophesying" and " speaking in tongues.” The
cus, in the suburbs of Chalcedon.
prophesying was plain and easily understood by all,
APOSTOLIC, something that relates to the but the “tongues” were generally such as no one
apostles. Thus we speak of the apostolic age, the could possibly comprehend, and the only explanation
apostolic doctrine, traditions, &c.
which could be given of the matter was, that perhaps
APOSTOLIC CATHOLIC CHURCH. This they might be meant as signs simply of the Spirit's
name has been assumed by a body of Christians presence and power. They were regarded, besides,
who have sometimes been termed Irvingites, from by some of the believers in their reality, as sure
the circumstance that their rise as a distinct and prognostications that the end of all things was at
separate communion is to be traced to the Rev. Ed- hand.
ward Irving, an able and pious, though somewhat ec- Mr. Irving, the virtual originator of the body
centric Presbyterian minister in London. Mr. Irving whose history and tenets we are now considering,
delivered, in 1829-30; a series of doctrines on the had been teaching, for some time in Regent Square
extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, which he maintained church, doctrines which were regarded as decidedly
APOSTOLIC CATHOLIC CHURCH.
149
evan-
heretical, particularly in regard to the human nature del of the Jewish tabernacle, “so arranged,” to use
of Christ, which he declared not to be sinless in the their own words, “as to present a definite form cal-
sense in which it is viewed by the great body of culated to give an idea of the true relation and ad-
Christians of all denominations, that is, be held it to justment of the machinery of the universal church.”
be peccable though not peccant. His errors at This was regarded by the body as an important step,
length attracted the attention of the Church of Scot- and it was immediately followed up by the produc-
land, with which both he and his congregation in tion of a “ Testimony” addressed to the rulers of
London: were connected. With the sanction and both church and state. The document, which had
full authority of the General Assembly accordingly, been carefully prepared by the senior apostle from
Mr. Irving was deposed by the Presbytery of An-notes drawn out by each of the members of the apos-
nan from the office of the ministry, and he was thus tolic college, was sent to the archbishop of Canter-
compelled to cease his connection with the Regent bury, most of the bishops, a large number of the
Square church. His adherents and followers there- London clergy, and most of the ministers of the lo-
upon erected for him a new place of worship in New- calities in which churches on the apostolic model had
man Street. The order of “prophets." was regarded | been raised. The other document addressed to the
by them as having been now revived in the church, rulers of the state, which was prepared by a single
and soon after, one of the so-called prophets having apostle, was also in 1836 delivered to the king in
pointed out an individual as an “apostle,” that office person, and afterwards to as many privy counsellors
also was considered to be restored. The ministry as could be found, or would receive it. “In 1837,"
was now held to be fourfold, consisting of apostles, to avail ourselves of an admirable summary of the
prophets, evangelists, and pastors, and that the pro- | operations of the body drawn up in connection with
per mode of ordination was by the imposition of the the publication of the last census in 1851, “a Ca-
apostles' hands on those who had been previously de-tholic Testimony, being a combination of the two
signated by the word of the prophet to the sacred office documents already noticed, was addressed to the
of the ministry. The first ordination, accordingly, in patriarchs, bishops, and sovereigns of Christendom,
connection with the Apostolic Catholic Church took and was subsequently delivered to Cardinal Acton
place on Christmas day 1832, when an angel, or chief for the Pope,—to Prince Metternich for the Emperor
pastor, was ordained over the church at Albury. of Austria—and to various others among the bishops
This individual, who had previously been an and kings of Europe. In 1838 the apostles, in obe-
gelist," was nominated to the apostolic office by the dience to another prophecy, departed for the conti-
word of a prophet, and he was ordained to that office nent, and visited for two years most of the European
by the laying on of the hands of an apostle. After countries, with the object of remarking closely the
Mr. Irving's deposition the “gifted" of his congre- condition of the general Church, and gleaping from
gation had forbidden him to administer the sacra- each portion its peculiar. inheritance of truth. From
ments or perform any priestly function. For some this perambulation they, in 1840, were recalled to
time, therefore, he had ceased to exercise his usual settle some disputes which had arisen in their ab-
duties, as the pastor of a congregation, in obedience sence, with respect to the comparative authority of
to what he viewed as a command from heaven, and the apostles and the council above referred to. The
had confined himself to the work of a preacher or apostles stilled these symptoms of dissension by as-
deacon. In the spring of 1833 this prohibition was serting their supremacy; and the meetings of the
removed by the word of a “prophet,” and he was council were suspended, and have not yet been re-
ordained accordingly as angel of the church in New- vived. These measures led, however, to the seces-
man Street. The “prophetic word” now called for sion of one of the apostles, whose successor has not
the appointment of elders and deacons, the former yet been named. Seven of the remaining eleven, in
being invested with a priestly character. Revela- 1844, again dispersed themselves, in foreign parts, to
tions were also given by the prophets” as to other be again recalled in 1845, in order to determine what
equally necessary parts of church organization. liturgical formalities should be observed. This set-
The church in Newman Street formed the nu- tled, they once more proceeded to their work abroad
cleus as well as the model of the churches which be- the senior apostle, who remained at Albury, hav-
gan to spring up holding the same principles and ing charge of all the London churches (now reduced
adopting the same church arrangements. In 1835 to six).—The principal work of recent years has
the number of “apostles," which had hitherto been been the gradual completion of the ritual of the
limited to five, was completed, other seven having Church. In 1842 a liturgy had been framed, com-
been ordained to make up the full apostolic col bining the excellencies of all preceding liturgies.'
lege. This apostolic band having been set apart to In this a certain portion of the service was allotted
their high office, retired to Albury, where they spent to each of the four ministers already mentioned; the
upwards of a year in the study of the Scriptures and communion (which before had been received by the
in mutual conference. The result of this long pro- people in their seats) was now received by them be-
tracted season of meditation and weighty delibera- fore the altar, kneeling; and the consecrated ele-
tion was, that a council was established on the mo- ments, before their distribution, were offered as an
1
150
APOSTOLIC CLERKS.
oblation before the Lord. Simultaneously, appro- The Apostolic Catholic Church believe in the
priate vestments were prescribed—the alb and girdle, | transubstantiation of the elements in the eucharist
stole and chasuble, for services connected with the into the real body and blood of Christ, and that the
altar, and a surplice and rochette and mosette for ordinance is not only a feast of communion, but also
preaching and other offices. In 1847 considerable of sacrifice and oblation. They hold that the con-
additions to the liturgy were made, and the use of secrated elements should be used not only for pur-
consecrated oil was permitted in visitation of the poses of communion, but for worship, prayer and
sick. In 1850 it was ordered that a certain portion intercession, and hence, that the elements ought
of the consecrated bread and wine should be kept in always to be present on the altar when the church
an appropriate ark or tabernacle placed upon the is engaged in these exercises. In accordance with
altar, to be taken by the angel, at the morning and this view, consecrated bread and wine are kept con-
evening services, and proposed' as a symbol before stantly in a receptacle on the altar, and both ministers
the Lord. The latest ceremonial additions were and people turn towards them, and reverently bow
adopted in 1852, when lights—two on, and seven both on entering and leaving the church.
before, the altar-were prescribed, and incense was In the outward arrangements of their worship, the
commanded to be burnt while prayers were being Apostolic Catholic Church attach much importance
offered.”
to the use of symbolical representations. Thus of
It is only right to state, that in assuming the late two lights have been placed on the altar to in-
name of the Apostolic Catholic Church, the body are dicate the presence of divine light in the institution
not to be understood as claiming an exclusive right of apostle and prophet; seven lights are arranged
to such an appellation. They disclaim the name of before the altar to indicate the divine light commu-
Irvingites, as following no earthly leader. They nicated through the sevenfold eldership; and incense
deny that they are schismatics, or sectaries, or sepa- is burnt during prayer to indicate the ascent of his
ratists of any kind, but that they are members of people's prayers as a sweet perfume before God.
the one church, baptized into Christ, which has ex- They hold the doctrine of development, in so far as
isted from the days of the apostles, and that their ritualism is concerned, and hold out to their people
great mission is to reunite the scattered members of the expectation that as the church advances in the
the one body of Christ. The only standards of faith perfecting of its outward ordinances, new rites and
which they recognize are the Apostles', the Nicene, ceremonies will be proposed through the modern
and the Athanasian Creeds. The distinctive pecu- apostles and prophets. Both in their doctrine and
liarities of their belief are the holding what they con- ritual, this body of Christians approaches nearer
sider an important revived doctrine, that apostles, to Romanism than to any form or denomination of
prophets, evangelists, and pastors are the abiding Protestantism.
ministers of the church in all ages of its history, It is calculated that in England there are some-
designed, along with the power and gifts of the Holy where about thirty congregations belonging to this
Ghost, to prepare Christ's people for his second body, comprising nearly six thousand communicants;
coming; that the church ought to be governed by and the number is said to be on the increase. From
twelve apostles, whose duty and right it is to exer- 1846 to 1851 the members increased by a third ;
cise supreme rule, and that these apostles are to de- while great additions have been made to the body on
rive their appointment not from man, but immedi- the Continent, and in America. There are also con-
ately from God.
gregations in Scotland and Ireland. Conversions
In regard to the organization of their churches, have not been unfrequent from other bodies of Chris-
their congregations are placed under the pastoral tians to this church, and this is all the more to be
rule of angels or bishops, with whom are associated | lamented, as, while it professes to abide by the writ-
priests and deacons. The holy eucharist is cele-| ten Word, it yields itself up to the guidance of pro-
brated and the communion administered every phetic utterances given forth by frail and fallible
Lord's day, and more or less frequently during the .
week, according to the number of priests connected APOSTOLIC CLERKS, a Romish order, insti-
with the congregation. Where the congregation is tuted in the year 1367, by John Colombinus, a noble-
large, there is divine worship in public at the first man of Siena. They were afterwards called Jesuates,
and last hours of the day, which is reckoned after the because they pronounced so very frequently the
Jewish fashion, as beginning at six morning and end- name of Jesus. This order was confirmed by Ur-
ing at six evening, and if the number of ministers be ban V. in A. D. 1368, but it was abolished by Cle-
sufficient, prayers are held daily, at nine and three, ment IX. in the year 1668. Its members followed
the very hours of the morning and evening sacrifice the rule of St. Augustine, but they were not in holy
among the Jews. Besides free-will offerings, the orders, and only gave themselves to prayer, to pious
tenth of their increase, which is to be understood as exercises, and relieving the poor, though themselves
including income of every description, is dedicated to without property. They also prepared medicines,
the Lord, and apportioned among those who are se- and administered them gratuitously among the needy.
parated to the work of the ministry.
But these regulations had been nearly abandoned
men.
APOSTOLIC FATHERS-APOSTOLICAL CONSTITUTIONS.
151
when Clement dissolved the order. They were ob- | allusion to the entire collection by name, occurs in
liged to recite one hundred and sixty-five times the acts of the council of Constantinople, A. D. 394.
every day the Lord's Prayer, and the same number | The canons are eighty-five in number, all of them
of Ave Marias, instead of the canonical office, ab- regarded as genuine in the East, but only fifty of
staining from saying mass. Their habit was white, them in the West. That these canons were not the
over which they wore a dark cloak, a white hood, production of the apostles is plain, from the circum-
and a large leathern girdle with sandals.
stance that they contain several arrangements which
APOSTOLIC FATHERS, an appellation usually never could have been made by the apostles. Their
given to the Christian writers of the first century, antiquity, however, cannot be denied, as they are
Barnabas, Hermas, Clement, Ignatius, and Polycarp. quoted by the council of Nice, A. D.325, under the very
The epistles and other writings of these cotempo- name of Apostolical Canons. The probability is, that
raries of the apostles are still extant, and are justly they were composed at different times
, and at length
valued from their nearness to the source of inspira- collected into one book. The Greek church has
tion. A collection of these writings has been given always held them in high respect, but the Latin
in two volumes, by Cotelerius, and, after him, Le church has viewed them as of more doubtful autho-
Clerc. Archbishop Wake has also published a rity, and Pope Gelasius went the length of pronounc-
translation of the genuine epistles of the apostolic ing them apocryphal, because there are some canons
fathers, and a still better translation has been given among them which seem to favour the views of Cy-
by the Rev. Temple Chevallier, formerly Hulsean prian in reference to the baptism of heretics.
The
lecturer in the university of Cambridge. An excel- so-called apostolical canons have been embodied in
lent critical edition of the Apostolical Fathers, with the Corpus Juris Canonici, or body of canon law, and
notes, indices, &c., was published at Oxford in Greek must be considered as documents of some value, re-
and Latin, in two volumes octavo, by Dr. Jacobson, specting the order and discipline of the church in the
of which a second edition appeared in 1840. « All third century.
these writers of this first age of the church,” says APOSTOLICAL CHAMBER, the treasury of
Mosheim, “possessed little learning, genius, or elo- the Pope or the council to which is intrusted all the
quence; but in their simple and unpolished manner, Pope's demesnes, from which the revenues of the
they express elevated piety. And this is honourable Holy See are derived. It meets in the Pope's palace
rather than reproachful to the Christian cause.
For twice a-week, and consists, besides the Cardinal
that a large part of the human race should have been | Great Chamberlain, of the governor of the Rota, who
converted to Christ by illiterate and untalented men, is the vice-chamberlain, of the treasurer-general, an
shows that the propagation of Christianity must be auditor, a president, who is controller-general, an
ascribed, not to human abilities and eloquence, but advocate-general, a solicitor-general, a commissary,
to a divine power." Neander remarks on this sub- and twelve clerks of the chamber, of whom one is
ject with great force and judgment : “A phenome- the prefect of grain, a second prefect of provisions, a
non, singular in its kind, is the striking difference third prefect of prisons, a fourth prefect of streets,
between the writings of the apostles and the writings while the remaining eight are deputed to take cog-
of the apostolic fathers, who were so nearly their co- nizance of various causes, each privately in his cham-
temporaries. In other cases, transitions are wont to ber. The office of a clerk of the apostolical chamber
be gradual, but in this instance we observe a sudden is purchased at a very high price, it being a very
change. There are here no gentle gradations, but lucrative post, and therefore eagerly contended for.
all at once an abrupt transition from one style of The members of the chamber assemble in the apos-
language to another; a phenomenon which should tolical palace on the eve of St. Peter, to receive the
lead us to acknowledge the fact of a special agency tribute of the several feudatories of the church.
of the Divine Spirit in the souls of the apostles.” APOSTOLICAL CONSTITUTIONS, a collec-
APOSTOLICAL BRIEFS, letters despatched tion, in eight books, of rules and regulations concern-
by the Pope to princes and magistrates on public ing the duties of Christians in general, the constitu-
matters.
tions of the church, the office and duties of ministers,
APOSTOLICAL CANONS, a collection of rules and the celebration of divine worship. The apostles
and regulations for the government of the Christian are frequently introduced in the course of them as
church, supposed by some to have been drawn up by speakers, but the production can scarcely be consi-
the apostles themselves. Early writers attribute dered as of earlier date than the fourth century, Epi-
them to Clement of Rome, who was said to have re- phanius being the first author who speaks of the
ceived them from the mouth of the apostles, and to apostolical constitutions by name. They are supposed,
have committed them to writing for the benefit of the unlike the canons, to have been the work of one
Christian church in future ages. Baronius and Bel- writer, who appears to have belonged to the Eastern
larmine admit only the first fifty of the canons to be or Greek church. The injunctions contained in them
genuine, and reject the rest as apocryphal. Various are often minute and detailed. Thus Christians are
references to the canons are found in the writers of enjoined to assemble twice every day for prayer and
the third and fourth centuries, but the first distinct praise, to observe fasts and festivals, and to keep
152
APOSTOLICAL SEE-APOSTOLICAL VISITATION.
The sion from Christ in the sense in which the apostles
both the Jewish and the Christian Sabbaths.
constitutions are of considerable use in pointing out received it. They are neither inspired nor miracle-
the actual practice of the church, both in discipline working men. They themselves can give us no new
and worship, during the third, fourth, and fifth cen- revelation, neither can they found a church which
has not been already founded, “ being built upon the
turies.
APOSTOLICAL SEE, a title applied in ancient foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
times to every Christian bishop or pastor's see or himself being the chief corner-stone." The natural
district. It was no peculiar title of the bishop of consequence of the arrogant assumption of the Anglo-
Rome, but given to all bishops as deriving their ori- Catholics of the present day is, that they regard all
gin from the apostles. “The Catholic church,” says Protestant dissenters and Presbyterians as excluded
Augustine, “is propagated and diffused over all the from the Catholic church, not having a commission
world by apostolical sees and the succession of bishops from Christ to exercise the ministerial office. “Every
in them.” Sidonius Apollinaris uses the same ex- link in the chain,” says the writer of one of the
pression in speaking of a private French bishop who Tracts for the Times,' "is known, from St. Peter to
sat forty-five years, he says, in his apostolical see. our present metropolitan.” It is remarkable, how-
Roman Catholic writers apply the expression exclu- ever, that the New Testament does not say a single
sively to the Pope.
word about any such regular line of descent, and
APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION. It has been even the Roman bishops themselves did not make
uniformly recognized as a favourite doctrine in the the claim to be descended from Peter, until several
Romish Church, that Christ committed to his centuries after the apostolic age. And it is most
apostles the power of appointing bishops as their unfortunate that the very first link which is alleged
successors ; that in virtue of this delegated authority to connect the whole chain with the apostles is hid
and power, they actually did appoint certain officers, in obscurity and the most perplexing uncertainty.
invested precisely with the same functions which Who was the immediate successor of the apostles in
they themselves exercised, and that these successors the bishopric of Rome? This question has been
of the apostles appointed others in turn to succeed answered in a variety of ways by Christian writers,
them, and that thus the line of descent hath continu- even of the early ages. Some assert, that Clement,
ed unbroken to the present time. This doctrine has others Linus, others Cletus, others Anacletus, was
of late years assumed a peculiar prominence, being the immediate successor of Peter. The next link
dwelt upon with great force by a large and influen- has also given rise to considerable difference of
tial party in the Church of England as a fundamental opinion. Amidst such perplexity and confusion,
tenet of their theology. “Our ordinations," says what confidence can be placed in the pretensions to
Dr. Hook, “ descend in an unbroken line from Peter apostolical succession, whether made by Roman Ca-
and Paul, the apostles of the circumcision and the tholics or Anglo-Catholics? Well, therefore, might
Gentiles;” and again, there is not a bishop, priest, Archbishop Whately remark, in speaking on this
or deacon among us, who may not, if he please, trace subject, “ There is not a minister in all Christendom
his spiritual descent from Peter and Paul.” The er- who is able to trace up, with any approach to cer-
roneous and unscriptural character of this doctrine tainty, his own spiritual pedigree.” And, accord-
might be shown in a variety of ways. Suffice it to ingly, this distinguished prelate goes on to say,
say, that it is altogether inconsistent with the true ultimate consequence must be, that any one who sin-
nature of the apostolic office, which was such as to cerely believes that his claim to the benefits of the
preclude the possibility of successors. Theirs was a gospel covenant depends on his own minister's claim
peculiar office. They had seen Christ face to face, and to the supposed sacramental virtue of true ordination,
had received their commission from himself person- and this, again, on apostolical succession, must be in-
ally. They were endowed with peculiar qualifications, volved, in proportion as he reads, and inquires, and
having been baptized with the Holy Ghost and en- reflects, and reasons on the subject, in the most dis-
dued with power from on high, in virtue of which tressing doubt and perplexity. It is no wonder,
they were enabled to work miracles. That such men therefore, that the advocates of this theory studiously
could have successors, in the sense in which Romish disparage reasoning, deprecate all. exercise of the
and Anglo-Catholic writers use the term, is plainly mind in reflection, decry appeals to evidence, and
impossible. Their privileges, their qualifications, lament that even the power of reading should be im-
their endowments, could never be handed down to parted to the people. It is not without cause that
others who might come after them. They were in- they dread and lament an age of too much light, and
spired men, who possessed the gift of tongues, and wish to involve religion in a solemn and awful gloom!
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." | It is not without cause that, having removed the
The bishops of no church posterior to the days of the Christian's confidence from a rock to base it on sand,
apostles, could lay claim to the possession of qualifi- they forbid all prying curiosity to examine their
cations, or the exercise of authority, which could be foundation.”
considered as essentially apostolic. They never saw APOSTOLICAL VISITATION (THE CONGRE-
the Lord Jesus, nor did they receive their commis- GATION OF THE). The Pope, besides being univer-
6 The
APOSTOLICALS-APOSTOLICI.
153
sal bishop, according to the Romish system, has also from the other orders of monks, do not bind them-
a special spiritual superintendence over the city of selves to their mode of life by any outward and for-
Rome, and, accordingly, he is bound to make the mal vows; they are not bound by any outward rule
pastoral visitation of six bishoprics. But being in- of obedience to a particular class of superiors, but,
vested with the care of all the churches throughout with them all the members are held together by the
the world, and, therefore, unable to pay the requisite free spirit of love; no other bond exists but the
attention to his own immediate diocese, he insti- | inner one of the Holy Spirit. Thus Dolcino set up
tuted this congregation of the Apostolical Visitation, against the legal condition that of gospel liberty.
which nominates commissioners to visit churches | Though the Apostolicals recognized men called of
and monasteries of both sexes, in the city of Rome God as the founders and guides of their society, yet
and surrounding country; and these visitors, on they were not subject to them by an outward vow of
their return, give in a written report to the congre- obedience. The monkish virtue of obedience must
gation, which is authorized to remedy any irregu- wholly cease, according to the principles of the
larities which they may discover within the juris- Apostolicals, who admitted no form of obedience
diction of the patriarchal archbishopric of Rome. The whatever but that of free obedience to God. Dol-
congregation is composed of eight cardinals and a cino, in his letters to the different communities of
number of monks.
the Apostolicals, describes them as brethren mutually
APOSTOLICALS, a Christan sect which sprung subordinate and bound to each other by ties of affec-
up towards the end of the thirteenth century, hav- tion, without the bond of outward obedience. As
ing as their professed object the revival of the Dolcino uniformly opposed the inward power and
apostolical mode of life. Its founder, Gerhard | desecularization of religion, to its externalization and
Sagarellus of Parma, enjoined his followers to conformity to the world in the corrupt church, so he
travel up and down the world like the apostles, undervalued the importance attached to consecrated
clad in white, with their heads bare, their beards places of worship. "A church,' he is reported to
and hair long, and attended by women whom they have said, 'is no better for prayer to God than a
called sisters. They were allowed to possess no stable or a sty. Christ may be worshipped as well,
property, but to live upon the voluntary gifts of the or even better, in groves than in churches.' It is
pious. They were ordered to preach repentance to clear that the above principle and tendency must
the people in public, but in their private meetings have led him to depart in a great many other ways
to announce the downfall of the corrupt church of from the church doctrine than his unsettled life and
Rome, and the rise of a new, purer, and holier prevailing practical bent allowed him liberty to express
church. Sagarellus was burned at the stake A. D. with consciousness; unless it be the fault of the re-
1300. He was succeeded in his office as leader of cords which we follow, that we have but a very im-
the sect by Dolcino of Novara, a man of a bold perfect knowledge of Dolcino's principles in their
and intrepid spirit, who openly denounced Boniface logical coherence.”
VIII., and all the worthless priests and monks of the The Apostolicals continued for a long time to pro-
time, and declared that they would be slain by the pagate their peculiar tenets in France, Germany, and
emperor Frederick III., the son of Peter, king of other countries, down, indeed, to the days of Boni-
Aragon, and that a new and most holy pontiff would face IX. In the year 1402, an apostle named Wil-
be placed over the church. Not contented with liam was burned at Lubeck. See JOACHIMITES.
preaching against the Roman pontiff, Dolcino col- APOSTOLICI, a Christian sect which arose in
lected an armed force, and, being opposed by Ray- the twelfth century, and were violently opposed by
nerius, bishop of Vercelli
, a fierce war ensued, which St. Bernard. They bore this name, as did the Apos-
continued for more than two years. At length, tolicals of the thirteenth century, because they wished
after several battles, Dolcino was taken prisoner, to exemplify the apostolic mode of living. They
and executed at Vercelli A. D. 1307, along with were for the most part rustics and weavers, but they
Margaretha, whom he had chosen as a sister, ac- had numerous supporters drawn from all ranks.
cording to the practice of his sect.
They have generally been regarded by ecclesiastical
The following clear view of the points of difference historians as people of blameless character. But the
between the Apostolicals and the mendicant monks, tenets which they held were in some respects pecu-
whom in some points they resembled, is given by liar. They deemed it unlawful to take an oath.
Neander. “ The mode of life among the Apostolical They allowed their hair and beards to grow long.
brethren differs from that of the mendicant orders of They preferred celibacy to marriage, and called them-
monks in two respects. First, the latt
First, the latter have mo- selves the chaste brethren and sisters. A similar
nasteries, to which they carry what they have gained class of people, who wished to imitate the apostles,
by begging. The Apostolical brethren have no appeared in the neighbourhood of Perigord, in Gui-
houses, and take nothing with them, hoard nothing enne. But these went still farther than those Apos-
up; they live from hand to mouth on the pittance tolici just mentioned. They abhorred images and
bestowed on them at the moment by the charity of the mass, and had priests, monks, and nuns in their
the pious. Secondly, the Apostolicals, in distinction community. Their leader was named Lucius, and
I
154
APOSTOLINS-APOTROPHIA.
among their adherents they could reckon some of the cation or the ceremony by which the ancient pagans
nobility. They held themselves to be the only true converted kings, heroes, and other distinguished men
church. The name Apostolici was also applied to into gods. The Roman emperors, Julius Cæsar and
the sect called APOTACTICS (which see).
Augustus, were deified after their deaths. Eusebius,
APOSTOLINS, a Romish order which claims to Tertullian, and Chrysostom inform us, that the Em-
have originated in the preaching of St. Barnabas at peror Tiberius proposed to the Roman senate the
Milan, and to have been fully established by St. Am- apotheosis of Jesus Christ. From the minute ac-
brose, who was a bishop in the same city. Hence count which Herodian gives of the apotheosis of the
they derived names from both these eminent saints. Emperor Severus, a very lively conception may be
At Ancona and Genoa they were called Apostolini, and formed of the ceremonies observed on such occa-
in Lombardy, on account of their apparent sanctity, sions. “ After the body of the deceased emperor,"
they were called Santarelli. They were at one time he says, “had been burnt with the usual solemnities,
united with the order of St. Ambrose in the Wood. they placed an image of wax exactly resembling him
Their dress was a scapulary sewed together, a leathern on an ivory couch, covered with cloth of gold, at the
girdle of a dark colour, and in winter a narrow cloak entrance to the palace. The senate in mourning sat
of the same colour. The order at length degener- during great part of the day on the left side of the
ated to such an extent that it was dissolved by a bed; the ladies of the highest quality dressed in
a bull of Urban VIII.
white robes being ranged on the right side. This
APOSTOOLIANS, a sect of the Mennonites which lasted seven days; after which the young senators
arose in Holland in the seventeenth century. It and Roman knights bore the bed of state through
derived its name from Samuel Apostool, its leader, the Via Sacra to the Forum; where they set it
who was à minister of the Church of the Flemings down between two amphitheatres filled with the
at Amsterdam. His colleague in the ministry was young men and maidens of the first families in Rome,
Galenus Abrahams de Haan, who became the leader singing hymns in praise of the deceased. After-
of the Galenists. The division in the church took wards the bed was carried out of the city to the
place in 1664. The Apostoolians not only held the Campus Martius, in the middle of which was erected
doctrine generally maintained among the Mennonites a kind of square pavilion, filled with combustible
concerning the divinity of Christ and the fruits of matters, and hung round with cloth of gold. Over
his death, but also believed in the ancient idea of a this edifice were several others, each diminishing
visible and glorious church of Christ upon earth. and growing smaller towards the top. On the second
Hence they admitted to their communion those only of these was placed the bed of state amidst a great
who professed to believe all the points of doctrine quantity of aromatics, perfumes, and odoriferous
which are contained in their public Confession of fruits and herbs ; after which the knights went in
Faith. See MENNONITES.
procession round the pile; several chariots also ran
APOTACTICS (Gr. apotassomai, to abandon), a round it, their drivers being richly dressed and bear-
Christian sect of the second century, who derived | ing the images of the greatest Roman emperors and
their name from professing to abandon or renounce generals. This ceremony being ended, the new em-
the world. They were chiefly found in Cilicia and peror approached the pile, with a torch in his hand;
Pamphylia. They were men of irreproachable char- and set fire to it, the spices and other combustibles
àcter, and chargeable with no heresy, but sought to kindling at once. At the same time they let fly
imitate the apostles by having possessions in com- from the top of the building an eagle which, mount-
mon. Hence, they were also called Apostolics, and ing into the air with a firebrand, was supposed to
may be considered as holding the same opinions as convey the soul of the deceased emperor to heaven ;
those which were afterwards revived in the thirteenth | and from that time forward he was ranked among
century, by the sect which then bore the name of the gods." The apotheoses of emperors are often
APOSTOLICALS (which see).
found represented on medals. In Rome a decree of
APOTELESMATA, little figures and images of the senate was sufficient to raise any man to a place
wax made by magical art among the ancients to re- among the gods; but in Greece such an honour could
ceive the influence of the stars, and used as helps in only be conferred in obedience to the oracle of some
divination. Accordingly, judicial astrology was some- god. Alexander the Great deified Hephæstion in
times called the Apotelesmatical art. Early Chris- consequence of a command from an oracle of Jupiter
tian writers tell us that all divination of this kind Ammon.
was looked upon as idolatry and paganism, as ow- APOTROPÆI (Gr. apotropaioi, averters), certain
ing its original to wicked spirits, and as subjecting deities by whose aid the ancient Greeks believed that
human actions to absolute fate and necessity, thus they could avert calamity of any kind. There were
destroying the freedom of man's will, and making similar gods among the Romans called Dië averrunci.
God the author of sin. For the practice of this art APOTROPHIA (Gr. the expeller), a surname of
Eusebius Emissenus was condemned, as engaging in Aphrodite, under which she was worshipped at
an art unworthy the character of a Christian bishop. Thebes as the expeller of evil desires and inclina-
APOTHEOSIS (Gr. apo, from, theos, a god), deifi- tions from the hearts of men.
1
t
APPARITORS-APSIS.
155
APPARITORS (Lat. appareo, to appear), officers the Bishop of Rome, asserting the independence of
employed to execute the orders of ecclesiastical their own, and all other churches, and denying the
courts in England. Their principal business is to pretended right of hearing appeals claimed by the
attend in court and obey the commands of the pre- | Bishop of Rome; and further exhorting him not to
siding judge, to summon parties to appear, and se- receive into communion persons who had been ex-
cure the attendance of witnesses.
communicated by their own bishops, and not to inter-
APPEAL, a legal term expressing a wish to trans- fere in any way with the privileges of other churches.
fer à cause from one judge to another, or from an This stringent letter from the African churches to
inferior to a superior tribunal. We learn from Deut. Pope Celestine, for both Zosimus and his immediate
xvii. 8, 12, that such appeals were made among the successor, Boniface, had died while the controversy
Jews in cases of very great importance. In Psalms was pending, shows very strikingly that the right
cxxii. 5, it would appear, from the language there of ultimate appeal claimed by the bishops of Rome
employed, that there is an allusion to superior courts was at that period denied by the African churches.
of judicature as having been established in Jerusa- It has also been shown by ecclesiastical historians,
lem in the time of David; but there is no mention that for eight hundred years the Gallican churches
of a supreme tribunal in that city until the days of refused to allow of any appeals from their synods to
Jehoshaphat, 2 Chron. xix. 8—11. Josephus speaks the Pope, and they always ordained their own me-
of a court of last resort as having been instituted tropolitans. The British churches, too, for six hun-
in the age of the Maccabees under Hyrcanus II. In
In | dred years never allowed any appeal to Rome, or
virtue of his rights as a Roman citizen, under the acknowledged any dependence upon the Roman See.
Sempronian law, we find Paul declaring, at the tri- The first who introduced into the English churches
bunal of Festus, “I appeal unto Cæsar.”
the practice of appealing to Rome, was Henry de
In the early ages of the Christian Church, if any Blois, bishop of Winchester, the pope's legate. But
clergyman thought himself aggrieved by the decision though King Stephen yielded on this point, his suc-
of his ecclesiastical superiors, he had liberty to ap-cessor, Henry II., refused to allow appeals beyond
peal either to the metropolitan or a provincial synod, the realm. Appeals to Rome, however, still conti-
which the Nicene council, and many others, appoint nued amid much opposition until the reign of King
to be held once or twice a year for the express pur- Henry VIII., when they were finally abolished at
pose of hearing such appeals. From the metropo- the Reformation. In Presbyterian churches appeals
litans and the provincial synods an appeal lay to the are made from inferior courts, commencing with the
patriarch or exarch of the diocese. This right was kirk-session to superior courts, as presbyteries and
recognized not only by ecclesiastical law, but it synods, until they reach the ultimate court of appeal,
was adopted into the civil law, and confirmed by the General Assembly, or entire body of the Church,
imperial edicts. From the judgment of the patriarchas represented by its ministers and elders, where the
there was no appeal. Gradually, through the am- case finally takes end. Independent churches, how-
bition of the bishop of Rome, that dignitary rose in ever, viewing each congregation as entitled exclu-
influence and authority until he became invested with sively to manage its own affairs, admit of no appeal
the title of prince of the patriarchs. In the fourth cen- to any other body for any purpose beyond mere ad-
tury, we may perceive the gradual rise of that mon-
vice:
strous system of ecclesiastical power and despotism. APPELLANT, one who appeals from an inferior
Thus, by a decree of the council of Sardis, in A. D. to à superior court. The name was particularly
347, it was enacted, “ that in the event of any bishop applied to those pastors of the Gallican Church who
considering himself aggrieved by the sentence of the appealed against the bull Unigenitus issued by Pope
bishops of his province, he might apply to the Bishop Clement in 1713, either to a more enlightened Pope
of Rome, who should write to the bishops in the or to a General Council.
neighbourhood of the province of the aggrieved APPIADES, five pagan deities of antiquity which
bishop, to rehear the cause; and should also, if it were adored under this general name-Venus, Pal-
seemed desirable to do so, send some presbyters of las, Vesta, Concordia, and Pax. The same number
his own church, to assist at the rehearing." This of statues of nymphs have been found near where
decree was not long in leading to great abuse, the Appian well once existed, that is, in the forum
for in the following century, Zosimus, bishop of of Julius Cæsar at Rome. These have been thought
Rome, presumed to restore to communion Apiarius, to be statues of the Appiades.
an African presbyter, who had been deposed for APPROPRIATION, a term used in Canon Law
immorality by an African council. Founding on the for the annexation of an ecclesiastical benefice to the
decree just referred to of the council of Sardis, Zo- proper and perpetual use of a spiritual corporation.
simus sent legates into Africa to the bishops there, The question is still undecided, whether appropria-
demanding a rehearing of the cause of Apiarius. tions were first made by princes or popes; but the
The African bishops, however, refused to acknow- oldest of which we have any account were made by
ledge the authority of the decree of Sardis, and, princes.
after a protracted controversy, sent a final letter to APSIS, a word used evidently in various mcan-
APTEROS—AQUEI.
156
that city.
ings in ancient ecclesiastical writers. Sometimes it | Aquarians at great length in one of his Epistles,
is applied to the cross wings and outer building of tells us it was the custom of the Church to use
the church, and at other times the ambo or reading water mixed with wine. This fact is, indeed, ex-
desk, perhaps from its orbicular form. In one of pressly stated by Justin Martyr and Irenæus ; but
the canons of the third council of Carthage, it is de-Cyprian assigns as the reason, that the water repre-
creed that notorious criminals shall do penance be- sents the people, and the wine represents the blood
fore the apsis: This is understood by some to refer of Christ; and when both are mixed together in the
to the reading-desk, and by others to the porch of cup, then Christ and his people are united. The
the church. The word apsis properly denotes any council of Carthage confirmed this practice; and
arched or spherical building, like the canopy of hea-Gennadius assigns two reasons for it; first, because it
ven, which Jerome speaks of by the name apsis. is according to the example of Christ; and, secondly,
Accordingly, at the upper end of the chancel of because, when our Saviour's side was pierced with
primitive churches, there was generally a semicir- the spear, there issued forth water and blood. One
cular building, which, from the figure and position of of the most plausible reasons for the custom is given
it, is by some authors called apsis, and exedra, and by the author of the Commentaries on Mark, under
conchula bematis. In this part of the church was the name of Jerome, who says, that it is ground-
placed the bishop's throne, with the thrones of his ed on the great truth, that by water, represent-
presbyters on each side of it in a semicircle above ing the cleansing influences of the Holy Spirit, we
the altar. The name apsis was also given to a re- are purged from sin, and by the wine, representing
liquary, or case in which relics were anciently kept, the blood or atonement of Christ, we are redeemed
and which was arched at the top. It was usually from punishment. Suffice it to say in reply to all
placed upon the altar, and was constructed some- that has been alleged, in vindication of mixing water
times of wood, and at other times of gold or silver. with the eucharistic wine, that such a practice has
APTEROS (Gr. the wingless), a surname under not the slightest countenance from the Word of God.
which Nike, the goddess of victory, was worshipped Yet the practice has been revived in our own days
at Athens. The statues of Victory generally had by some churches, particularly in America, on the
wings, but at Athens her statue was represented principles of total abstinence from all spirituous
with none, to denote that victory would never leave liquors, not of mixing water with the sacramental
wine, but of consecrating and administering water
AQUAMINARIUM (Lat. aqua, water), or AMU- alone in the Lord's Supper.
LA, says Montfaucon, was a vase of holy water, AQUEI (Lat. aqua, water), a Christian sect which
placed by the heathens at the entrance of their tem- arose in the second century, who allege that water
ples, that the worshippers might sprinkle themselves. was not created, but was co-eternal with God. They
The same vessel was called by the Greeks perirran- are thought to have derived this notion from Her-
terion. Two of these vases, the one of gold, the mogenes, a celebrated painter at Carthage, against
other of silver, were given by Croesus to the temple whom Tertullian wrote with much bitterness. The
of Apollo at Delphi ; and the custom of sprinkling same notion was promulgated by Thales, the founder
themselves was so necessary a part of their religious of the Ionic school of Greek philosophy, who flour-
offices, that their method of excommunication seems ished B.C. 640, and whose fundamental tenet was,
to have been by prohibiting to offenders the ap- that water was the primary principle of the world.
proach and use of the holy water pot. Virgil, in Plutarch states some of the reasons why Thales en-
his sixth Æneid, alludes to this practice of the pa- tertained this belief, viz., That natural seed, the
gans, and the Jesuit
, La Cerde, in a note upon the principle of all living things, is moist, and, therefore,
passage, candidly admits, that “ hence was derived it is highly probable that moisture is the principle of
the custom of holy Church to provide purifying or all other things; that all kinds of plants are nourished
holy water, at the entrance of the churches.” by moisture, without which they wither and decay;
AQUARIANS (Lat. aqua, water), a Christian and that fire, even the sun and the stars, are nourished
sect in the early ages of the Church, who consecrated and supported by vapours proceeding from water,
water in the Lord's Supper instead of wine, because and consequently the whole world consists of the
they regarded it as unlawful either to eat flesh or same. There has been considerable discussion among
drink wine. Epiphanius calls them Encratites, from the learned, whether this principle of water, accord-
their abstinence ; Augustine, Aquarians, from their ing to the theory of Thales, was a purely passive
use of water in the eucharist; and Theodoret, Hy- principle or agent, or an active and creative one.
droparastato, because they offered water instead of As neither Thales, nor any of his successors in the
wine. Besides these, there was another sect of Aqua- Ionic school, have left any written records of their
rians who did not reject the use of wine as unlawful; doctrines, it must ever be difficult, if not impossible,
for they administered the eucharist in wine at the to ascertain what they really held. The probability,
evening service; but, in their morning service they however, is, that by asserting water to be the first
used water, lest the smell of wine should discover principle from which all things were created, Thales
them to the heathen. Cyprian, who describes the meant nothing more than that the rude materials or
.
AQUILICIANA-ARATEIA.
157
chaos from which creation arose, consisted of a tween the heaven and hell of the Mohammeadns.
humid or watery màss. The Aquei in the second The Koran, in the chapter headed Sourat el Araf,
century, may have derived from the speculations of thus speaks of it: “Between the happy and the
Hermogenes their favourite notion, that the humid | damned there is a veil or separation; and upon the
or watery mass of which chaos originally consisted, Araf there are men, or angels in the shape of men,
was eternal like the Deity himself. They appeared, who know every one that is in that place by the
indeed, like the Gnostics generally, to stumble at the names they bear.' What is called Araf or a veil in
idea of a creation out of nothing, on the ground that this verse, is in another chapter called a strong wall.
if the world had no other cause than the will of God, Hence some of the Mohammedan doctors understand
it must have corresponded to the essence of a perfect the separation to be thin like a veil; while others
and holy Being, and must, therefore, have been a suppose it to be like a strong wall. The men, or
perfect and holy world. This not being the case, the angels in the shape of men, who are said to be on
Grecian doctrine of the Hyle or matter as an evil the Araf, are differently explained by the Moham-
principle, was alleged to constitute an essential and medans. Some allege them to be the patriarchs and
original element in creation. And the watery ele prophets; others the saints and martyrs. Several
ment being in their view essential to the chaos, they of the doctors, however, affirm that the Araf is an
arrived at the same conclusion as Thales and the an- intermediate place, like the Romish purgatory, where
cient Ionic school, not, however, like them on mate- those among the faithful are sent whose good and
rial, but on moral grounds.
bad deeds are so equally balanced that they have
AQUILICIANĂ (Lat. ab aqua elicienda, from not merit enough to carry them to heaven, nor demerit
bringing forth water), heathen festivals celebrated at enough to condemn them to the place of torment.
Rome, during a great drought, with the view of ob- In this intermediate place they can see at a distance
taining rain from the gods.
the glory of heaven, in which, however, to their
AQUILO, the north wind, an inferior deity among great distress, they cannot meanwhile participate ;
the ancient Romans.
but at the last day they shall prostrate themselves
ARA MAXIMA, an altar which stood in front of before the face of God and worship, in consequence
a statue in the temple of Hercules Victor, or Her- of which meritorious act, their good works shall ac-
cules Triumphalis in Rome, on which, when the Ro- quire a complete preponderance over their bad works,
mans had obtained a victory, they were accustomed and, therefore, they shall be admitted into paradise.
to place the tenth of the spoils for distribution among See MOHAMMEDANISM.
the citizens. The Romans used to repair to the Ara ARAFAT (STATION ON). It is laid down as
Maxima, in order to confirm, by a solemn oath, their one of the most important practices to be observed
promises and contracts.
by the Mohammedans, who go on pilgrimage to
ARABICI, or ARABIANS, a small sect which arose Mecca, that on the ninth day of the last month of the
in the third century, deriving their name from the Arabian year, called Dhu' lhaija, the pilgrims must
country (Arabia) where they originated in the reign resort to Mount Arafat, in the vicinity of Mecca, to
of the Roman Emperor Severus. Eusebius is the perform their devotions. On the appointed day, ac-
only writer who gives an account of their peculiar cordingly, after morning prayers, the pilgrims leave
doctrines. They seem to have denied the immortality the valley of Mina, at which they had arrived the
of the soul in a certain sense; but Christian writers day before, and proceed in the greatest confusion
are somewhat divided in opinion as to the real na- and haste to Arafat, where they continue to perform
ture of their heresy. Eusebius says that they de- their devotions till sunset; then they repair to Moz-
scribe the soul as dying and being dissolved with the dalifa, an oratory between Arafat and Mina, where
body, language which contradicts the notion of some they spend the night in prayer and reading the
authors, that they held the soul to be immaterial, Koran. The Mohammedans have a curious tradition
and yet to sleep while the body is in the grave. It connected with Mount Arafat, which renders it sa-
appears far more probable, as others suppose, that cred in their eyes. They believe that Adam and
they were Christian materialists, who regarded the Eve, after they were turned out of Paradise, were
soul as being a part of the body, and, therefore, dy- separated from one another for 120 years, and that at
ing along with it. It is alleged also by Eusebius, last, as they were in search of each other, they met
that a council was held in Arabia, for the full con- on the top of this mountain, and recognized one an-
sideration of the heretical opinions of this sect, and other to their mutual delight and happiness. See
that Origen being sent for from Egypt, so success- MECCA (PILGRIMAGE TO).
fully exposed their errors that they renounced them ARATEIA, two festivals observed every year at
on the spot.
Sicyon, in honour of Aratus, the celebrated general,
ARACANI, priests among a Negro tribe on the who asserted the independence of the Grecian states
West Coast of Africa. Their standard or banner against the dangers with which they were threatened
which they carry in processions is a white scarf, on from Macedonia and Rome. Plutarch, in his life of
which are painted dead men's bones and ears of rice. Aratus, gives an account of the Arateia, which were
ARAF, or ARAFAH, an intermediate place be- | appointed to be held by command of an oracle.
158
ARATI_ARBOROLATRY.
ARATI, a Hindu ceremony which consists in both by the canons of the church and the laws of
placing upon a plate of copper a lamp made of paste the state. Accordingly, no criminal causes were
of rice flour. When it has been supplied with oil allowed to be submitted to the bishops except such
and lighted, the women take hold of the plate with as incurred ecclesiastical censures. Sometimes the
both hands, and raising it as high as the head of the causes brought before them were so numerous, that
person for whom the ceremony is performed, describe they found it necessary to call in the assistance of
a number of circles in the air with the plate and the one of their clergy, a presbyter, or a principal dea-
burning lamp. The intention of the Arati is to con. Accordingly the council of Taragona men-
avert the effect of evil glances, the Hindus be- tions, not only presbyters, but deacons also, who
ing superstitious in the extreme, and more afraid were deputed to hear secular causes. The office of
of evil spirits or demons than of the gods them- arbitrator was sometimes committed by the bishops
selves.
to intelligent and trustworthy laymen, and from this
ARBAIN (Arab. forty), a word applied by the practice the office of lay CHANCELLOR (which see),
Mohammedans to denote the forty traditions. Mo- may have had its origin.
hammed on one occasion promised that whosoever ARBIUS, a surname of Zeus, derived from Mount
should teach the faithful to understand this number Arbius in Crete, where he was worshipped.
of traditions, to instruct them in the way to heaven, ARBOROLATRY (Lat. arbor, a tree, Gr. la-
should be exalted to the highest place in paradise. treia, worship).
treia, worship). Few species of worship have been
The consequence has been, that Mohammedan doc- more common than the worship of trees. Those
tors have collected an immense number of traditions who are acquainted with the mythology of the
in reference to the Mohammedan religion, which in Greeks and of the Romans, know that nearly every
their aggregate form bear the name of Arbain. deity had some particular tree, which he specially
ARBITRATORS (Lat. arbiter, a judge). At an patronized, and that nearly every tree was dedicated
early period in the history of the Chuistian church, to some particular god. Thus the oak was conse-
bishops came to be invested by custom and the laws crated to Jupiter, and the laurel to Apollo. The
of the state, with the office of hearing and deter- ancient inhabitants of Canaan appear to have cher-
mining secular causes submitted to them by their ished a great veneration for the sacred groves in
people. From the natural respect with which the which they were accustomed to worship, and hence
pastors were regarded, they were considered to be the Israelites were commanded by Jehovah to de-
the best arbitrators and the most impartial judges of stroy them. Many passages of Scripture might be
the common disputes which occurred in their neigh- adduced which show these groves to have proved a
bourhood. Ambrose of Milan informs us, that he snare to the chosen people of God. The people of
was often called upon to perform such duties; and Syria, Samos, Athens, Dodona, Arcadia, Germany,
Augustine speaks of being so busily employed in and other places, had their arborescent shrines, and the
hearing and deciding causes, that he could find little gigantic palm tree in the isle of Delos was believed to
time for other business, as not only Christians, but be the favourite production of the goddess Latona.
men of all religious opinions, referred their disputes Among the ancient Scandinavians a temple was some-
to his arbitration. This respected Father endea.. times called Hag, a grove. It is said that holy trees
vours to vindicate the practice, by alleging that the still exist among the northern Finlanders. Trees were
apostle Paul, in prohibiting men to go to law before venerated by the ancient Hessians. An enormous
the unbelievers, was virtually laying an obligation upon oak, called Thor's oak, was cut down by order of
them to go before a Christian tribunal, or in other Winifred the apostle of the Germans. Among the
words, before the pastors of the church, who were ancient Prussians the ground on which the oak
best qualified by their wisdom and integrity to act and the linden stood was holy ground, and called
as arbitrators even in secular causes. This office, Romowe. It was under the oak that the ancient
thus assigned by custom to the bishops or pastors of Druids performed their most sacred rites, worship-
the church, was afterwards confirmed and established ping the Supreme Being whom they termed Æsus
by law, when the Emperors became Christians. (which see), under the form of an oak. Hence the
Eusebius says, in his Life of Constantine, that a law name of Druids, which is evidently derived from
was passed by that Emperor confirming such deci- drus, the Greek word for an oak. This tree was
sion of the bishops in their consistories, and that no also consecrated to Baal, the chief god of the an-
secular judges should have any power to reverse or cient Eastern nations. This superstition extended
disannul them, inasmuch as the priests of God were from the East to the West, the oak being in all
to be preferred before all other judges. By the Jus-
By the Jus- places looked upon as a sacred tree, and chiefly
tinian Code, the arbitration of bishops was restricted amongst the Gauls, of whom Maximus Tyrius says,
to causes purely civil, not criminal, and, besides, it that they worshipped Jupiter under a great oak, and
was decreed that bishops should only have power to without any statue. As an instance of the veneration
judge when both parties agreed by consent to refer in which trees have sometimes been held, we might
their causes to their arbitration. In criminal causes, refer to the high place which the YGGDRASIL
the clergy were prohibited from acting as judges, | (which see), or sacred ash, holds in the Scandinavian
ARCANI DISCIPLINA-ARCHANGEL.
159
?
name.
mythology. Finn Magnusen, in his Mythological | transubstantiation and the worship of the host taking
Lexicon, considers it as the symbol of universal na- the place of those simple and Scriptural views and
ture. In the Budhist religion, the BO-TREE (which practices which characterized the sacramental ordi-
see), is venerated as being the tree under which nance as instituted by our Lord and observed by the
Gotama Budha received the supreme Budhaship, apostolic church.
and its worship is regarded as of very ancient origin. ARCAS, the son of Zeus by Callisto, and ancestor
As the Bo-tree was dedicated to Gotama, the ba- of the Arcadians, from whom they derived their
nian (ficus Indica) was dedicated to his predecessor,
Statues were dedicated to him at Delphi by
and other Budhas had also their appropriate tree. the inhabitants of Tegea.—Arcas was also a surname
The Parsees in Hindostan also worship, among num-
of Hermes.
berless other objects, trees, their trunks, lofty ARCHANGEL (Gr. archo, to rule, angelos, an
branches, and fruit.
angel), one occupying the highest place among the
ARCANI DISCIPLINA (Lat. Discipline of the ANGELS (which see). It has been the subject of
Secret), a term used to describe a practice which considerable difference of opinion among theologians,
early crept into the Christian church, of concealing whether the title archangel is to be understood as
from the knowledge of the catechumens or candi- descriptive of a created angel
, or is simply a designa-
dates for admission into the church, what were tion of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lord or
termed the sacred mysteries. During a certain por- ruler of angels, principalities and powers being made
tion of religious worship, all were allowed indiscrimi- subject unto him. Many expositors of the Apocalypse
nately to attend; and when this ordinary part of the allege, that in Rev. xii. 7, when Michael and his an-
service was closed, and the holy sacrament was about gels are said to have fought with the dragon and his
to be administered, the catechumens and uninitiated angels, by Michael is meant Jesus Christ. And the
of every description were dismissed by one of the same explanation is given of Dan. xii. 1, " And at
deacons, who said, “ Ite missa est," “ Go, the assem- that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince
bly is dismissed." From this custom, the religious which standeth for the children of thy people; and
service which had just been concluded was called there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was
missa catechumenorum, and the sacramental service since there was a nation even to that same time: and
which followed was called the missa fidelium, the at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one
service of the faithful or believers. Hence, as is that shall be found written in the book.” In the
generally supposed, the origin of the word mass, epistle of Jude, Michael is called the Archangel.
being a corruption of missa. Not only were cate- “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with
chumens excluded from the eucharist, but believers the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst
were strictly forbidden to explain the manner in not bring against him a railing accusation, but said,
which the ordinance was administered, to mention
The Lord rebuke thee.” This passage, however,
the words used in the solemnity, or even to describe seems to militate against the supposition that the
the simple elements of which it consisted. The cate archangel was the Son of God, because it represents
chumens were carefully kept in ignorance of all that him, long before his incarnation as under the autho-
regarded the sacred ordinance until they were consi- rity of law, and refraining from the employment of
dered to have reached that stage of advancement reproachful language through reverence for God.
when it was deemed safe to make them acquainted The Jewish Rabbis ascribe many wonderful things
with it. The ministers in their sermons made only to Michael, assigning to him the chief rule and
distant allusions to these mysteries, reserving the full authority among the angels; and they attribute the
unfolding of them for those occasions when the faith- Old Testament appearances of the Messiah to this
ful alone were present. The origin of this studied | angel. They suppose that there are four angels who
reserve on the subject of the higher and more solemn are constantly stationed round the throne of God in
ordinances of the church, is probably to be traced to the heavens, and who never descend to this lower
a natural desire on the part of the early Christians, to world. These are Michael, who stands on the right
accommodate themselves so far to the previous habits | hand of the throne ; Gabriel, on the left; Uriel, be-
of the converts from heathenism who had been ac- fore the throne; and Raphael behind. That the
customed to the observance of rites, such as the archangel is to be distinguished from our Saviour is
Eleusinian mysteries, in which the whole was wrapped plain from 1 Thess. iv. 16: “For the Lord himself
in impenetrable darkness. All nations of antiquity, shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the
indeed, sought to conceal certain parts of their reli- voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God;
gious worship from the eyes of the multitude, in and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” Besides,
order to render them the more venerable. But from Michael, who is called in the epistle of Jude“ the
whatever motives the ceremonies of the early church archangel," is termed in Daniel “ one of the chief
may have been hid from those who were only par- princes," which evidently supposes him to be an an-
tially acquainted with Christian truth, this practice, in gel, and not the Lord of angels. If the latter phrase
so far as the Lord's Supper was concerned, led, in is to be understood as referring to angels, it leads us
process of time, to gross superstition and idolatry; | to think of a hierarchy of angels, a doctrine which
1
.-
160
ARCHARI-ARCHBISHOP.
1
was taught by some of the early Christian writers, | bishop in every province, and in the eighth cen-
more especially by Dionysius the Areopagite, who tury, most of these assumed the title of archbishops.
ranged the angels into three classes, the supreme, The first bishop of any diocese was sometimes styled
the middle, and the last : the supreme comprehend- archbishop, a name which was readily yielded by the
ing cherubim, seraphim, and thrones ; the middle church of Rome, to prevent them from exercising
comprehending dominions, virtues, and powers; and the rights of metropolitans. That church even be-
the last comprehending principalities, archangels, stowed the title upon such as had no diocese under
and angels. Each of these classes is subdivided into their jurisdiction.
three, so that, upon the whole, there are nine orders. The first establishment of archbishoprics in England
Such a classification of the angelic hosts meets with is alleged, on the testimony of Bede, to have been in
not the slightest countenance from the Word of God; the time of Lucius, who is affirmed to have been
although a subordination among the angels appears the first Christian king of England. The legend of
to be obscurely indicated in a few passages. It is Lucius states that the Pagan Flamens of Britain were
remarkable that the word archangel, when employed changed into three Christian archbishops and twenty-
in Scripture, is uniformly used in the singular num- eight bishops, the seats of the archbishops being at
ber. It is difficult to determine with anything ap- York, London, and Caerleon in Glamorganshire, all
proaching to certainty its precise signification. well endowed. Giraldus Cambrensis adds, that in
ARCHARI, the name given to novices in the each of the five Pagan provinces was a metropolitan,
monasteries of the Greek church. See CALOYERS | having twelve suffragans under him. The truth of
--MONASTERIES-NOVICE.
such statements may well be doubted, when we con-
ARCHBISHOP, the chief or metropolitan bishop sider that there is no positive notice of bishops in
in Episcopal churches, who has several suffragans Britain until the council of Arles in Gaul, A. D. 314,
under him. He is chief of the clergy, in a whole at which we find three ecclesiastical dignitaries from
province, whom he is bound carefully to superintend, Britain—Eborus, bishop of York, Restitutus of Lon-
and has authority to censure or deprive them on suf-don, and Adelphius of Colonia Londinensina, what-
ficient grounds. While, however, it is his duty to ever that place may be. The oldest metropolitan
inspect the whole bishops and clergy of his province, see is undoubtedly that of York, which is said to
he exercises episcopal jurisdiction in his own diocese. have been founded by King Lucius about A. D. 180,
On receiving the sovereign's writ, he is empowered but London was considered the principal by the
to summon the bishops and clergy to meet in convo- British churches. This latter was existing, as we
cation. An appeal lies from the bishops of his pro- have seen, A. D. 314, and was intended by Gregory
vince to him as archbishop, and from the consistory I. to have been the metropolitan see of England.
courts to his archiepiscopal court. When any vacancy In the Episcopal establishment of the Anglo-Saxons,
takes place in a bishopric under him, the Episcopal the hierarchy seems to have consisted of an arch-
jurisdiction and rights are vested in him until the see bishop and his bishops, though subject to their own
is again filled up. He is entitled to present by lapse national as well as to general councils; and, in some
to all the ecclesiastical livings within the disposal instances, to the Wittenagemote, and, in their tem-
of his diocesan bishops, if not fil'ed within six poral concerns, to the king. So late as the Norman
months. He is said to be enthroned when instituted invasion, in A. D. 1066, Thomas, archbishop of York,
in the archbishopric; while bishops are said to be contended for precedence with Lanfranc, archbishop
installed.
of Canterbury. The former ecclesiastic maintained
Considerable difference of opinion exists among that York, having been founded by Scottish bishops,
the learned as to the time when the office of arch- was independent of Canterbury, quoting venerable
bishop first arose in the church. Salmasius dates it Bede as his authority ; but the latter pleaded custom,
from the second century; Dr. Cave from the age and thus established his claim when the cause was
immediately succeeding that of the apostles, and Dr. disputed before the king in council.
Usher traces it, as he imagines, to apostolic times. In the Romish Church an archbishop derives his
Some keen Episcopal writers allege that Timothy authority and title directly from the Pope, and in
and Titus were vested with archiepiscopal authority. token of this he receives the pallium or consecrated
Bingham, in his "Ecclesiastical Antiquities,' sup- cloak from Rome, which conveys the plenitude of the
poses that the bishops of larger cities, such as Alex- Pontifical office. No one, though formally elected
andria, Rome, Constantinople, and Antioch, may to the office, has any right to assume the title of arch-
have gained an ascendancy in the fourth and fifth bishop until he has received the pallium ; and it is not
centuries over the bishops and metropolitans of allowed to him before that time to consecrate bishops,
smaller towns, and assumed the name of archbishops | call a council, make the chrism, dedicate churches or
to denote this superiority. The title was first given ordain clergy. If he has been translated from one
to the bishop of Alexandria, and adopted as an offi- archbishopric to another, he must petition for a new
cial title A. D. 431. In course of time, the Jewish pallium, and can exercise no archiepiscopal duties
title of patriarch came to be substituted for that of until it arrives. He can, however, commit such du-
archbishop. The apostolical canons mention a chief | ties to another, provided he has not delayed to peti-
ARCHBISHOPRIC—ARCHDEACON.
161
tion for the pallium. The archbishop-elect cannot by the title of Your Grace, and Most Reverend Fa-
carry the cross before him until he is invested with ther in God. The Archbishop of Canterbury has
the pallium. He cannot wear the pallium except in the precedency of all the other clergy, is the first
his own province, and that, too, not at all times, but peer of England, and, next to the royal family, hav-
only in the churches during the solemnities of mass ing precedence of all dukes and of all officers of
on special feast-days ; not however in processions the crown. It is his privilege by custom to crown the
nor masses for the dead. The pallium cannot be kings and queens of this kingdom. By common law
lent to another, nor left to any one at death ; but he possesses the power of probate of wills and testa-
the archbishop must be buried with it on him. In- ments, and of granting letters of administration. He
nocent III. decreed that, it conveyed the plenitude has also a power to grant licenses and dispensations in
of apostolic power ; and that neither the functions all cases formerly sued for in the court of Rome, and
nor the title of archbishop could be assumed without not repugnant to the law of God. Accordingly he
it; and that, too, even after translation from one pro- issues special licenses to marry, to hold two livings,
vince to another.
&c.; and he exercises the right of conferring de-
The following ceremony of clothing an archbishop- grees. The Archbishop of York possesses the same
elect with the pallium may interest our readers :- rights in his province as the Archbishop of Canter-
“When the pallium is sent from the apostolic see, bury does in his. He has precedence of all dukes
the Pontiff, to whom the delivering of it is commit- not of the royal blood, and of all officers of state ex-
ted, meets in his own church, or in some church of cept the Lord High Chancellor. He has also in
his own diocese or province, the elect, on an ap- certain parts the rights of a count-palatine. He had
pointed day. And there the pallium is spread on formerly jurisdiction over all the bishops of Scot-
the altar, covered with the silk in which it was car- land; but in the year 1470 Pope Sixtus IV. created
ried from Rome. Then solemn mass being cele- the Bishop of St. Andrews, archbishop and metro-
brated, the Pontiff, sitting on a faldstool before the politan of all Scotland. The archbishops of Canter-
altar in his mitre, administers to the elect, kneeling | bury had anciently the primacy not only over all
before him in his pontificals, but unmitred and with- England, but over Ireland also, all the bishops of
out gloves, the oath of fealty to the apostolic see, that country being consecrated by him. He was
prescribed in the apostolic commission.
styled by Pope Urban II. alterius orbis Papa, and
“ After the oath has been sworn, the Pontiff rises the perpetual power of a Papal legate was annexed
in his mitre, takes the pallium from the altar, and to his archbishopric. He had also in former times
puts it over the shoulders of the elect on his knees, some privileges of royalty, such as the power of
saying :
coining money. Cranmer was the last Archbishop
“To the honour of Almighty God, and the blessed of Canterbury who received his appointment directly
Mary ever Virgin, and of the blessed apostles, Peter from Rome, for, in the session of Parliament imme-
and Paul, of our Lord N., Pope N., and the holy diately following his entrance on office, an act was
Roman Church, and also of the Church of N. com- passed, A. D. 1534, providing that bishops elected
mitted to thee; we deliver to thee the pallium taken by their chapters on a royal recommendation should
from the body of the blessed Peter, in the which (pal- be consecrated, and archbishops receive the pall
lium) is the plenitude of the Pontifical office, together without soliciting for the Pope's bulls. All dispen-
with the name and title of patriarch, (or archbishop, sations and licenses hitherto granted by Rome were
as the case may be); which thou mayest use within set aside by another statute, and transferred in all
thy own church on certain days expressly mentioned lawful cases to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Dur-
in the privileges granted by the apostolic see. In ing the time that Episcopacy was the established
the name of the Fa+ther, and the + Son, and the religion of Scotland there were two archbishoprics,
Holy+Ghost. R. Amen.
those of Glasgow and St. Andrews, the latter being
“This done, the Pontiff withdraws to the Gospel | Primate. Ireland has two archbishops and twelve
corner of the altar; and the archbishop [being now | bishops.
so called) rises in the pallium, and ascending to the ARCHBISHOPRIC, the province assigned to an
altar, his cross displayed before him, if in his own archbishop, and within which he exercises archi-
church or other church of his diocese or province, episcopal jurisdiction. See preceding article.
solemnly blesses the people with his head uncovered." ARCHDEACON, an ecclesiastical officer in the
It has been already mentioned, that, in the fourth Church of England and most other Episcopal
century, there were two archbishoprics in England, churches. Baronius and some other Romish wri-
York and London ; and one in Wales, at Caerleon. ters allege, on the authority of Jerome, that this
In the time of the Anglo-Saxons, the archbishopric office existed in the Apostolic Church, Step
of London was transferred to Canterbury, where it martyr being, as they think, an archdeacon, seeing he
has continued ever since. The Archbishop of Can- is mentioned by Luke first in order in the list of the
terbury bears the title of Primate of all England and deacons which he gives in the Acts of the Apostles.
Metropolitan, and the Archbishop of York is called Baronius cites in support of this idea Father Au-
Primate of England. They are commonly addressed gustine, founding on a false quotation from that cele-
I.
L
162
ARCHDEACON.
brated writer, who is made to call Stephen the first | introduced a new class of functionaries, who should be
of deacons, whereas his expression is first of mar- entirely distinct from the archdeacons. These were
tyrs. The precise date of the appointment of arch- called vicarii, vicars and vicar-generals, and also offi-
deacons is obscure. They seem to have had their ciales or officials, who were intrusted with judicial
origin in a practice which early arose in the Church, authority, and adjudicated in the name of the bishop.
that, during Divine service, the bishop or pastor was This measure had the desired effect of reducing the
attended by one of the deacons, who stood by his power of the archdeacon within proper limits. In
side at the altar, and who, from his conspicuous po- the East the office became extinct as early as the
sition, received the name of the first or chief deacon.. eighth century.
But it is not until the fourth century that we find The original office of the archdeacon was to act
archdeacons expressly mentioned as forming a supe- as the bishop's constant attendant and assistant.
rior order of clergy being employed by the bishops | The author of the Apostolic Constitutions calls him
as their vicars or representatives, and intrusted with the deacon that stood by the bishop, and proclaimed
the delegated exercise of their Episcopal authority. | when the communion service began, Let no one ap-
Hence probably originated the practice of appointing proach in wrath against his brother, let no one come
them as permanent vicars or delegates in fixed dis- in hypocrisy. It was his peculiar duty to adminis-
tricts. In the seventh century there seems to have ter the wine to the communicants after the bishop
been only one archdeacon in each diocese ; and the had administered the bread. It was his business to
division of diocèses into several archdeaconries did | arrange the duties of the inferior clergy, and the
not in all likelihood take place until early in the part which each was to take in the services of the
reign of Charlemagne, when we find Heddo, bishop church. He assisted the bishop in administering
of Strasburg, dividing his large diocese into seven the temporal revenues of the church; hence Pauli-
archdeaconries, and appointing the archdeacons as nus terms him the keeper of the chest. The duties
permanent officers, incapable of being removed unless of the archdeacon, however, were not limited to
for canonical offences.
mere secular matters. He was also employed in
The employment of archdeacons led in process of assisting the bishop in the duty of preaching, and in
time to considerable abuse ; the bishops leaving the the ordination of the inferior clergy, and other eccle-
business of their dioceses entirely in the hands of siastical officers. He was invested with the power of
these officers, who began gradually to rise into no censuring the other deacons and the inferior clergy.
small importance, and even, in many cases, to out- It is disputed, however, whether archdeacons had
rival in dignity and influence the bishops themselves. power over presbyters. Salmasius says, that even
Casting aside their subordinate position, they too the arch-presbyter himself in the Roman church was
often acted independently and without the slightest subject to him. At the first creation of the office,
regard to the will of their superiors. At length every the archdeacon was chosen from among the deacons,
archdeacon became an almost absolute ruler in his but in the ninth century they seem to have been,
own district; and such was the influence and power some of them at least, chosen from the order of
attached to the office, that even laymen sought and presbyters. From the effective assistance which
obtained, in many instances, the lucrative post. these functionaries rendered to the bishops, they are
Charlemagne, however, corrected this abuse, passing sometimes called by ancient authors, as well as in
a decree A. D. 805, prohibiting any layman from as- the Decretals, and by the council of Trent, “the
suming the office of an archdeacon. Notwithstand bishop's eye,” and another name of the same de-
ing this check, however, the archdeacons continued scription is said to have been given them, “the
to grow in authority. From the eleventh to the bishop's heart," or corepiscopi.
thirteenth centuries, the bishops were engaged in. In the Church of Rome, the archdeacon is supe-
fruitlessly endeavouring to curtail the grasping am- rior to all the deacons and sub-deacons; his office is
bition of these functionaries, who contrived, by ally- to examine the candidates for holy orders, and to
ing themselves with the secular power, to subject the present them to the bishop, and by virtue of this
bishops to their own control. And their usurpa- office the archdeacon is superior to a priest, although
tion was favoured at Rome as an effectual means of the order itself is inferior to that of the priesthood.
weakening the hands of the bishops, and extending Since the twelfth century he has never held control
the influence of the Romish see. In the thirteenth over the temporal revenues of the church, these be-
century the archbishops succeeded in putting a check ing committed to a cardinal, who bears the title of
upon the immoderate ambition of the archdeacons, Great Chamberlain, assisted by several clerks of
by obtaining a decree in council which prohibited the the chamber.
archdeacon from employing any substitute whatever, In the Church of England, each diocese is divided
or from passing any judicial sentence for grave, into several archdeaconries, over each of which an
offences without the permission of the bishop. But archdeacon presides. He is uniformly chosen from
it was not till A. D. 1250 that a fatal blow was level- the order of priests, and bears the title of Venerable.
led at the now intolerable ambition of these eccle- The bishop of the diocese collates to the office. Some
siastical officers, by a decree of Innocent IV., which of the archdeacons in England are possessed of pecu-
ARCHDEACONRY---ARCHIMAGUS.
163
liar powers, which do not belong to the others. courts are now held in Doctor's Commons. This
Thus the archdeacon of Richmond can claim the court, which existed at all events so far back as the
power of instituting to benefices, and the archdeacon reign of Henry II., was constituted for the purpose
of Cornwall has a jurisdiction to grant probates of of hearing and deciding all appeals from bishops or
wills. These special jurisdictions are founded upon their chancellors, or commissaries, deans and chap-
ancient customs, but still subordinate to the bishop. | ters, archdeacons and others. There is an appeal
The archdeacon in the Church of England has no from this court to the king in chancery. See next
cure of souls, but he has authority to perform minis- article.
terial acts, such as to suspend, excommunicate, ab- ARCHES (DEAN OF), the judge who presides
solve, &c., and, accordingly, by ecclesiastical law, he in the Court of Arches. He has jurisdiction in all
is obliged to residence. He keeps a court, which is ecclesiastical causes, except those which belong to
called the court of the archdeacon, or his commis- the prerogative court. He has also a peculiar juris-
sary, and which he may hold in any place within his diction over thirteen parishes in London, called a
archdeaconry. In that court he determines spiritual deanery, which are exempt from the authority of
causes, not finally however, there being an appeal the bishop of London, and of which the parish of
from his sentence to the bishop of the diocese. St. Mary le Bow is the principal.
There is an officer belonging to this court, called ARCH-FLAMEN. The ancient Britons having
the registrar, whose office concerns the administra- | adopted to some extent the Pagan worship of the
tion of justice.
Romans, gave the name of Flamens to the priests of
ARCHDEACONRY, the district over which the their heathen gods; while the chief of these priests
authority of an archdeacon extends. Of these there were denominated Arch - flamens. Foxe, in his
are a number in every diocese proportioned to its ' Book of Martyrs,' states, that when Christianity
extent. See preceding article.
was first introduced into Britain, towards the end of
ARCH-DRUID, the chief of the order of Druids, the second century, " there were twenty-eight head
who were the priests or ministers of religion among priests whom they called flamines; and three arch-
the ancient Celtæ or Gauls, the Britons and the priests who were called arch-flamines, having the
Germans.' The order in every nation where their oversight of their manners, and as judges over the
religion prevailed, had a chief priest or Arch-Druid, rest. These twenty-eight flamines they turned to
who possessed absolute authority over the rest.twenty-eight bishops, and the three arch-flamines to
There were two in Britain residing in the islands of three archbishops.” This story is founded on a very
Anglesey and Man. Out of the most eminent mem- improbable legend, but at all events the existence of
bers of the order was nominated the Arch-Druid, the flamens and arch-flamens in Britain at an early
especially if one could be found of remarkable learn- period cannot be disputed. See FLAMEN.
ing and sanctity; though when there were several ARCH-FRATERNITIES, those religious orders
candidates of equal merit, an election took place, in the Roman Catholic church which have given
which was sometimes put to the decision of arms. origin to others, or have authority over them. They
The Druids rose to their principal dignity through convey to those which are subject to them their
six different gradations, distinguished by their cos- laws and statutes, their mode of dress, and their
tume. The Arch-Druids constituted the sixth or peculiar privileges.
highest of these orders, and appear to have been ARCHICANTOR, the name of the prior or prin-
completely covered by a long mantle and flowing cipal of a school of sacred music, who was generally
robes, wearing an oaken crown, and carrying a scep- a man of great consideration and influence. These
tre. It was the office of this ecclesiastical function- schools were established as early as the sixth cen-
ary on the occasion of the famous ceremony of cut- tury, and became common in various parts of Europe,
ting the mistletoe, to ascend the oak, clothed in particularly in France and Germany. They were
white, and to cut off the mistletoe with a golden much patronized by Gregory the Great, under whom
sickle, receiving it into a white sagum or cloak laid they obtained great celebrity. From them originated
over his hand. This most august ceremony was the famous Gregorian Chant. The title of the
always performed on the sixth day of the moon. head-officer of these schools at Rome, was Archicantor
See DRUIDS.
Ecclesiæ Romanæ, and his post was highly respect-
ARCHEGETES, a surname of the Pagan god able and lucrative. See MUSIC (SACRED).
Apollo, under which he was worshipped at Naxos in ARCHICAPELLANUS, the arch-chaplain, a
Sicily, and at Megara. It was also a suname of name assigned to the head or chief of those clergy-
another Pagan deity, Asclepius, worshipped in men whom the Frankish princes used to select to
Phocis.
accompany the court, and perform the service of the
ARCHES (COURT OF), the chief, as well as the church. This dignitary, and his body of clergy, by
most ancient, court connected with the archbishopric their constant and close intercourse with the prince,
of Canterbury. It derives its name from St. Mary exercised an important influence upon the affairs of
le Bow (sancta Maria de Arcubrus), the church where the church.
it was formerly held, although this and all spiritual ARCHIMAGUS, the sovereign pontiff of the
164
ARCHIMANDRITE-ARCHON.
Magi amongst the ancient Persians. He was the nearly exterminated by the Persian Mohammedans,
head of the whole religious system. He resided in that they are reduced to a few thousands still found
the principal fire-temple, or sacred place chiefly con- in the province of Kerman, and a few thousands
secrated to the worship of Fire, a building which more, called PARSIS (which see), in Hindostan. The
was held in equal veneration by the Persians, as the Archimagus was called before the time of Zoroaster
temple of Mecca among the Mohammedans, to which Mubad Muboden, which may be rendered in our lan-
every one of that sect thought themselves obliged to guage archbishop, or bishop of bishops; but the great
make a pilgrimage once in their lives. Zoroaster Persian reformer, among other changes which he in-
first settled the grand fire-temple at Balch, between troduced, called the mubadi or bishops, Destures, and
the Persian frontiers and Hindostan, where he him- the sovereign pontiff, Desturi-Destur. The cap which
self, as the Archimagus, had his usual residence. the Archimagus wears is made in a conical form, and
But after the Mohammedans had overrun Persia in falls down on his shoulders, quite covering his ears.
the seventh century, the Archimagus was under the His hair is generally long, and he is enjoined never to
necessity of removing into Kerman, a province in cut it, except when he is mourning for some deceased
Persia, lying on the coast of the Southern ocean to- relation. The cap which the Archimagus formerly
wards India. This temple of the Archimagus, as wore was so contrived as to cover his mouth during
well as the other fire-temples, were endowed with the celebration of divine service before the fire. The
large revenues in lands. When the Archimagus priests of the modern Guebres cover their mouths
approached the consecrated fire, he was washed from with a piece of stuff cut square for that purpose.
head to foot, perfumed, and dressed in a vestment as See FIRE-WORSHIP.
white as snow. He bowed to the ground before the ARCHIMANDRITE (Gr. archo, to rule, mandra,
flaming altar, and then assuming the erect posture, a sheepfold), a name applied anciently to the abbot
he offered up the appointed prayers with bitter sighs or superior of a monastery, as the ruler of what was
and groans. The prayers which he recited were ex- esteemed a sacred fold in the church. These were
tracted from the ABESTA (which see), or Zend- the patres or fathers of monasteries, as they are
Avesta, the Sacred Book of the ancient Persians. termed by Jerome and Augustine. The name is
When engaged in the worship of the sacred fire, he still retained in the same sense in the Greek Church.
held in one hand a book of devotion, and in the other | The bishops in the Russian (Greek) Church are cho-
hand a bunch of small white rods, very slender, and sen from among the Archimandrites. See ABBOT,
about a span in length. He read the prayers in a CALOYER, MONASTERY.
low voice, while the devotees muttered their prayers ARCHIRES, the prelates or first classes of the
prostrate on the ground. At the close of their de- clergy in the Russian (Greek) Church under their gen-
votions, each of the worshippers advancing threw his eral denomination. This name includes the whole
freewill-offerings into the fire, consisting of aromatic episcopal order, who are distinguished by the titles
oils, perfumes, or costly pearls. The poorer classes of metropolitans, archbishops, and bishops, titles,
contented themselves with offering the choicest fruits however, which are not attached to the see as in Eng-
they were able to procure. These offerings were land, but are merely personal distinctions conferred
regarded as the Fire's Feast. The Archimagus is by the sovereign, which give the possessors no ad-
not allowed to touch any secular person whatever; ditional power ; for every bishop is independent in his
but more especially one who is an infidel or a here- own diocese, or dependent only on the synod. The
tic. He is bound to abstain from all superfluity, Archires, as well as the Black Clergy, who are next
whether in dress or food. He must spend the sur- in order to them, are obliged to lead rigid and re-
plus of his income in charity to the poor, and benefi- cluse lives, to abstain from animal food, and they
cent actions of every kind. He must avoid excesses are not permitted to marry. They are generally
of every kind, habituate himself to contemplation, men of character and learning. See RUSSIAN (GREEK)
study the Abesta without intermission, rebuke the CHURCH.
wicked, and fear none but God. He is under the ARCHI-SYNAGOGUS. See RULER OF THE SY-
strictest obligation to keep up the consecrated fire
with the utmost care and circumspection. Darius
ARCHIVUS, a record which was kept in the
Hystaspes, king of Persia, assumed the dignity of early African churches, by which bishops might
Archimagus, and caused it to be inscribed upon his prove the time of their ordination. This was ne-
tomb, that he had been Master of the Magi. Hence it cessary, as the oldest bishop, according to the rules
happened that from that time the kings of Persia were of these churches, was regarded as chief bishop or
looked upon as being of the sacerdotal tribe, and metropolitan. An Archivus or Matricula, as it was
were always initiated into the sacred order of the Magi sometimes called, was kept both in the primate's
before they were inaugurated into the kingly office. church and in the metropolis of the province.
This, however, is no longer the case, as the Persian ARCHON, the name given by Basilides, the Gnos-
monarchs have, since the seventh century, been Mo- tic heretic, to that angel who he imagined was set
hammedans of the sect of Ali, and the GUEBRES over the entire earthly course of the world. This
(which see) or modern fire-worshippers, have been so Archon does not, according to his doctrine, act in
NAGOGUE.
!
ARCHONTES ARCHONTICS.
165
his government of the world independently and ar- in reducing the conflicting elements in the course of
bitrarily; but the whole proceeds ultimately from the world to order, he now beholds a power ade-
the overruling providence of the Supreme God. In quate to overcome every obstacle, and reduce all
reference to the place which the Archon occupies opposites to unity. Basilides, partly from a more
in the Basilidian system, Neander remarks: “ Three | profound insight into the essential character of
factors meet together in the remarkable doctrine of Christianity and of history, partly from those effects
Basilides concerning Providence ;— but the factor of Christianity which were before his own eyes and
from which everything eventually springs, and on which contained the germ of the future, foresees
which everything depends, though through number- what stuff to excite fermentation, and what separa-
less intermediate agents, is the Supreme God him- tion of elements, would be introduced by it into hu-
self. From him comes the law implanted in the manity. He perceives how the recipient minds
nature of all beings, according to which they develop among every people, freed from the might which held
themselves, and which conditions all influences by their consciousness in fetters, redeemed from all
which they are capable of being affected—the law creaturely dependence, and raised to communion with
containing in itself the whole process of the develop their original source, would become united with one
ment of the universe. The Archon does nothing another in a higher unity. All these effects pre-
more than give the impulse to the execution of that sented themselves to his imagination as an impres-
which is already grounded, so far as it concerns thesion made on the Archon at the baptism of Christ.”
inherent law and the implanted power, in the indivi- According to the system of Basilides, the man
đual beings themselves. He works on all in obe- Christ Jesus belonged to the kingdom of the Archon,
dience to this law of nature derived from the Su- needed redemption himself, and could only be made
preme God, and calls forth what is deposited and partaker of it by his union with the heavenly re-
prepared in these laws of nature into action ;-anddeeming Spirit. The Redeemer, in the proper and
in this guiding activity of his he acts simply, though highest sense of the term, was, in the view of
unconscious of it, as an instrument of the Supreme this metaphysical Gnostic, the highest Æon sent
God. Although that which we call Providence,' down by the Supreme God to execute the work of
says Basilides, ' begins to be put in motion by the redemption. This exalted being united himself with
Archon, yet it had been implanted in the nature of the man Jesus at his baptism in the Jordan. See
things at the same time with the origin of that na- BASILIDIANS.
ture, by the God of the universe.'"
ARCHONTES (Gr. rulers), a title frequently ap-
According to the theory of Basilides, the Jews, plied by the Greek writers, particularly Eusebius,
though consecrated to the Supreme God, were prac- Origen, and Chrysostom, to the early bishops, or
tically devoted to the Archon, whom the great mass pastors of the Christian Church. Jamblichus, also,
of them regarded as the Supreme and only God. Only a Platonic philosopher, in the eight orders in which
the spiritual Israel rose above the Archon himself to he ranks the gods, makes the fifth the archontes ma-
the Supreme God revealing himself through the other jores, or greater rulers, those who preside over the
as his unconscious instrument. The Archon reveals, sublunary world and the elements; and the sixth the
under the cover of Judaism, the ideas inspired by archontes minores, or lesser rulers, those who preside
the Supreme God without comprehending them him- over matter.-The name Archontes was also given
self. But that which threw light into the mind of towards the end of the second century to certain
the Archon was the manifestation made from above powers or rulers, which a sect called the ARCHONTICS
through the man Christ Jesus. This, according to (see next article) believed to have been the original
Basilides, was the greatest fact in the history of the creators of the world. These Archontes, seven or
created universe, from which proceeded all succeed- eight in number, they imagined to dwell in so many
ing events down to the consummation of the per- several orbs of the heavens, one above another, with
fectly restored harmony of the universe. The effect orders of angels and ministries under them, and to
which the baptism of Christ and the communication the chief of these they gave the name of Sabaoth.
of the Spirit then made to him, produced upon the ARCHONTICS, a sect which arose in the second
Archon, is thus stated by Neander : “A new light century, as we are informed by Epiphanius and
dawns on the Archon himself. He comes to the Theodoret, and who derived their name from one of
knowledge of a higher God and a higher world the most prominent doctrines which they taught,
above himself. He is redeemed from his confine- that the world was created not by the Supreme
ment. He attains to the consciousness of a superior God, but by an order of beings which they called
power, which rules over all, and which he himself, ARCHONTES (see preceding article), a kind of arch-
without being aware of it, has always been serving. angels, at the head of whom was placed Sabaoth.
He sees himself released from the mighty task of They alleged that baptism ought to be rejected, be-
governing the world, which until now he supposed cause it was administered in the name of Sabaoth,
that he supported alone, and for which his powers and not in the name of the Supreme Jehovah, and,
had not proved adequate. If it had thus far cost accordingly, they refused to dispense either baptism
him so much pains, and he still could not succeed or the eucharist, as merely given by Sabaoth, the
1
166
ARCH-PRESBYTER-AREIOPAGUS.
COMBS.
God of the Jews, and the giver of the law, whom ture, as being generally arch-work. See APSIS,
they distinguished from the Supreme God. They | ATRIUM, Porch.
taught, also, that woman was the workmanship of ARDÆANS, the followers of Ardæus who taught
the devil, and therefore, they that married fulfilled in the fourth century that the Deity was possessed
the work of the devil. This statement of their of a human form. See ANTHROPOPATHY.
views on the subject of marriage is given by Epi- ARDIBEHESHT, in the ancient Persian mytho-
phanius, and his testimony is confirmed by Clemens logy, the genius of ethereal fire. The modern Par-
Alexandrinus, who says, that they regarded mar- SIS (which see) sometimes allege, that the fire which
riage as fornication, and proceeding from the devil. the Vendidad commands the master of a house to
They are also alleged by Augustine to have denied serve is simply this presiding angel.
the resurrection. This sect abounded chiefly in Pa- AREA, a term used to denote in early Christian
lestine and Armenia, and seems to have been a times, the passage leading from the porch or vesti.
branch of the VALENTINIANS (which see), one of | bule to the church. Tertullian calls the vaults or
the Gnostic divisions. See GNOSTICS.
cemeteries underground, which in times of persecu-
ARCH-PRESBYTER, or ARCH-PRIEST, the tion were used as places of Christian worship, by the
chief of the presbyters in the primitive church, an name of arece sepulturarum. See ATRIUM-CATA-
office-bearer who sat next to the bishop, and exer-
cised authority immediately under him. The first AREIA (Gr. the warlike), a surname of Aphrodite,
of the early writers who mentions Arch-Presbyters under which she was worshipped at Sparta ; and also
appears to be Jerome, who speaks of only one as of Athena, under which she was worshipped at
being connected with each church. He was not al- Athens.
ways the senior presbyter of the church, but one AREIOPAGUS (Gr. areios pagos, hill of Mars),
chosen out of the college of presbyters at the plea- a celebrated council which was held at Athens, on a
sure of the bishop. His office was to share with rocky eminence called the hill of Mars, to the west
the bishop in the administration of the duties, and of the town. The origin of this judicial assembly
in his absence to discharge the episcopal office in was evidently of very remote antiquity, being traced
the church. Such was the influence of the Arch- so far back as the time of Cecrops. At all events, it
Presbyters, that they generally succeeded in ob- must have existed before the days of Solon, who is
taining the bishopric when vacant. Gregory Na-
Gregory Na- known to have modified and improved it so far as to
zianzen styles the oldest minister Arch-Presbyter, | be mistaken for its founder. Its members were
and his office corresponds to that of the PROTOPAPAS chiefly taken from noble patrician families in the
(which see), in the Greek Church. The Arch-Pres- earlier history of the council; but Solon introduced
byters gradually increased in authority and impor- a very important change in this point, making the
tance, until from the fifth to the eighth centuries qualification no longer dependent on birth, but on
they had attained the height of their influence, property. The jurisdiction of this court was of
occupying bishoprics as suffragans and vicar-gener- a very extensive character, exercising a general
als. Several branches of administration they held superintendence over the whole conduct and deport-
under their entire control ; they even aspired to an ment of the citizens. One department of their
equality with the bishops, and thus controversies duty was to watch over the sacred olives growing
and contentions frequently arose. At length the about Athens, and to punish those who might injure
bishops, feeling that the Arch-Presbyters had be- or destroy them. All cases of impiety or irreligion
come dangerous rivals, sought to counteract their of any kind, were referred to the Areiopagus; and
growing influence, and, accordingly, favoured the even the introduction of any new and unauthorized
ARCHDEACONS (which see), as a check upon them. forms of worship. Justin Martyr accordingly states,
This first begins to show itself in the fourth council as a tradition of his times, that Plato was prevented
of Carthage, and at last, in the twelfth century, from mentioning the name of Moses as being a teacher
Innocent III. passed a decree rendering them sub- of the doctrine of the unity of the Godhead, through
ject to the authority of the Archdeacon. Some wri- fear of the great Athenian council. It is not at all
ters consider the Arch-Presbyters of the ancient surprising, therefore, that Paul should have been
Church as exercising an office somewhat similar to subjected to examination by the Areiopagus, the
that of the deans in moderni cathedral churches. apostle being, as they imagined, "a setter forth of
ARCULUS, an inferior deity among the ancient strange gods.” He had openly, in the very city of
Romans, who was supposed to protect trunks and Athens itself, opposed the doctrine of a plurality of
cabinets from being broken open. Augustine deities; he had professed to make known to them
speaks of this god as having been opposed to Laver- the true God, of whose nature, and even existence,
na, who was regarded as patronising thieves and rob- they were entirely ignorant; and therefore he might
bers.
well be regarded by the idolatrous and superstitious
ARCUS (Lat. an arch or bow). The porches and Athenians, as introducing new deities, and overturning
gates of ancient Christian churches were sometimes the established religion of the state. The defence of
called by this name, from the mode of their struc- | Paul, however, when sisted before the council, was
!
AREIUS-ARISTOTELIANS.
167
seas.
completely triumphant; and not only was he dis- ARICINA, a surname of ARTEMIS (which see),
missed from their tribunal without further interfer- derived from Aricia, in Latium, where she was wor-
ence on their part, but such was the effect of the shipped.
apostle's arguments and eloquence, that they were ARIMANIUS. See AHRIMAN--ABESTA.
instrumental under God in the conversion of Diony- ARISTÆUS, an ancient heathen deity, wor-
sius, a member of the council.
shipped in various parts of Greece, but particularly
AREIUS, a surname of Zeus.
in the islands of the Ægean, Ionian, and Adriatic
ARENARIA, a name sometimes applied to the He was worshipped as the god who presided
vaults or crypts which formed the ordinary burying- over shepherds and flocks, vines and olives; he
places of the Christians of the first three centuries. taught men to hunt and keep bees.
See CATACOMBS.
ARISTOBULE, a surname of ARTEMIS (which
ARES, the god of war among the ancient Greeks, see) as “the best counsellor," being the appellation
and regarded as one of their most important deities, under which Themistocles built a temple to her at
He was the son of Zeus and Hera, cruel, bloodthirsty, Athens.
and savage in his character, hated by the gods, and ARISTOTELIANS, the disciples or followers of
dreaded by men. His abode was supposed to be Aristotle, a distinguished Grecian philosopher, who
chiefly among the warlike tribes of Thrace, and flourished nearly four hundred years before the Chris-
among the barbarous Scythians. Among the latter tian era. He was the scholar of Plato, and the precep-
people he was worshipped in the form of a sword, to tor of Alexander the Great, who was wont to say of
which not only horses and other cattle were sacri- him that he was under greater obligations to Aristotle
ficed, but also human beings. Ares was not wor- for his valuable instructions than to his own father
shipped very extensively amongst the Greeks, who for his being. Few men have exercised a more pro-
seem to have received this deity from Thrace, and longed and extensive influence over mankind than
the temples dedicated to him were generally built this illustrious philosopher, before whom the intellect
outside the towns. There was a temple to him at of Europe, for more than two thousand years bowed
Athens and several other places of inferior note. in implicit submission.
At Sparta, human sacrifices were offered in his Aristotle was born at Stagira, in Macedonia, in the
honour. He was worshipped by the name of MARS year B. C. 384. In his youth he applied himself to
(which see) among the ancient Romans.
the study of medicine, but having gone to Athens, he
ARETHUSA, one of the Nereids or sea-nymphs studied under Plato, by whose lectures he so profited,
among the ancient Pagans. She was regarded more that his distinguished teacher gave him the appella-
especially as presiding over a well which bore her tion of Mind or Intelligence, and has even been said
name in the island of Ortygia, near Syracuse, in to have been jealous of the rapid advancement of his
Sicily. The same name was also given to one of the pupil. At his death, Plato, to the great mortifica-
HESPERIDES (which see).
tion of Aristotle, left the charge of the academy to
ARETIA (Heb. Aretz, the earth), the name by his nephew, Speusippus. Chagrined and disappoint-
which the ancient Armenians are said by Berosus of ed, the young philosopher left Athens, and set out
Annus Viterbiensis, to have worshipped the wife of to travel in foreign countries. His reputation had
Noah, who, like the earth, may be called the univer- become so great, that Philip, king of Macedon, in-
sal mother from whom the whole post-diluvian world vited him to accept the office of tutor to his son
have descended. Berosus calls her also VESTA Alexander. “I give thanks to God,” wrote the mo-
(which see), because the Romans worshipped that narch, "for having given me a son, and more espe-
goddess as presiding over both earth and fire. cially that he has been born during your life. I ex-
ARETZA. See ARZA.
pect that by your instructions he will become worthy
ARGEI, or ARGEIA, certain places at Rome con- both of you and of me.” Nor was Alexander insen-
secrated by Numa, in memory of some Grecian sible to the honour of having sat at the feet of so
princes buried there. A sacrifice was offered at illustrious a preceptor. “I owe my life to my
these places on the 15th of May every year, to the father,” he was accustomed to say, “but I owe to
names of the deceased Greeks, and images to the my teacher the knowledge of the art of living. If
number of thirty were thrown into the Tiber by the my reign has been glorious, it is wholly due to Aris-
Vestal virgins. These images, which were made of totle." For twelve years this eminent man lec-
rushes, were called Argei.
tured on philosophy in the Lyceum at Athens. Af-
ARGEIA, a surname of HERA (which see), de- ter the death of his patron Alexander, he was ac-
rived from Argos, where she was principally wor- cused of impiety, and subjected to severe persecutions.
shipped.
Dreading the fate of Socrates, he retired to Chalcis,
ARGENNIS, a surname of APHRODITE (which in Euboea, where he died at the age of sixty-three.
see).
His philosophical system may be regarded as
ARGENTINUS, one of the inferior deities of the holding a middle place between the idealism of
ancient Romans, being the god of silver coin, and Plato and the sensualism of Epicurus. In reference
the son of PECUNIA (which see), or money.
to the origin of human knowledge, his celebrated
168
ARISTOTELIANS.
maxim was, that “there is nothing in the intelligence, became versed in this philosophy. The Nestorians
which was not first in sensation,” an aphorism which and Jacobites were also active in diffusing the prin-
continued to hold its place as a universally admitted ciples of the Stagyrite, which enabled them to dis-
truth until the days of Leibnitz, who first discovered | pute with the Greeks all the more readily concerning
the grand exception “except the intelligence itself.” | the person and nature of Christ.
But while Aristotle in this maxim no doubt seems to For a long time the knowledge of the works of
embody a strictly sensational theory, it must also Aristotle was confined among the learned to his dia.
be admitted that he taught the distinction between lectics. At length, however, in the twelfth and thir-
the contingent and the necessary, the relative and teenth centuries, his other writings were more exten-
the absolute; thus endeavouring to steer a middle sively studied. The result was, as we are informed
course between idealism and sensualism. But the by Mosheiin, that not a few discarded the doctrines
fame of this extraordinary man rests not so much commonly held and preached respecting divine pro-
upon his metaphysical as upon his logical system. vidence, the immortality of the soul, the creation of
It is by his dialectical speculations, indeed, that he the world, and other points, and thus became pro-
has powerfully influenced, whether for good or evil, moters of irreligion. These false doctrines they sup-
the minds of his fellowmen. In what are emphati-ported by the authority of Aristotle; and when
cally called the dark ages, the whole sum of human threatened with ecclesiastical censure for their here-
learning, indeed, more especially in schools of theo tical tenets, they adopted the same subterfuge as
logy, was reduced to an acquaintance with the subtle was afterwards adopted by the Aristotelians in the
dialectics of Aristotle. The authority of this prince fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, alleging that a dis-
of philosophers, in fact, was far more frequently ap- tinction was to be drawn between philosophical and
pealed to than the Sacred Scriptures. Questions of theological truth. They maintained, accordingly,
the most trifling nature were raised and discussed that the doctrines which they taught, and to which
with the utmost enthusiasm, until at length the chief | the church objected, were true according to philoso-
merit of a divine was considered as consisting in his phy, though not true according to the Catholic faith.
ability to wrangle and dispute according to the rules In the thirteenth century the Latin Church yielded
of Aristotle. The sole tendency of the dialectics themselves almost exclusively to the authority and
thus held in such high esteem, was to enslave the the principles of Aristotle. For a short time, it is
mind, and convert it into a mere machine. One of true, his works, particularly his metaphysics, fell in-
the great advantages which accrued from the Refor- to discredit, the AMALRICIANS (which see) having
mation was, that it roused men to shake off the yoke been supposed to have derived their errors respecting
of bondage in which they had for centuries been en- God and some other subjects, from the use of these
thralled.
writings. Aristotle, however, was not long in at-
The theology of Aristotle was crude and ill-digest- taining to the highest esteem and reputation; the
ed. He believed in a Supreme Being, but differing Dominicans and Franciscans having embraced his
little from the god of Epicurus, who, wrapped up in philosophy, taught it universally in the schools, and
his own contemplations, took no interest in the affairs illustrated it in their writings. Of these monks,
It is doubted, and not without reason, Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor as he was
whether he believed in the immortality of the human called, one of the greatest luminaries of the age of
soul. It was not to be expected, therefore, that even the Schoolmen, was above all others distinguished
in
ages of the grossest darkness, any use would be for his zeal and activity in the cause of the Aris-
made of the opinions of Aristotle on theological totelian philosophy; and with such success that, in the
points. But in the contests which were so often face of much opposition, Aristotle became the dictator
maintained with the heretical sects which beset the | in philosophy in the Latin church. “Without Aris-
church, his principles of reasoning were found to be totle,” says the historian of the Council of Trent,
of indispensable importance. This was found to be we would have had no system of religious belief.”
particularly the case in the seventh century, when This enthusiastic admiration of the works of the Sta-
theological disputations were so frequently and gyrite, however, was by no means shared by the whole
keenly maintained with the Monophysites, the Nes- of that body. Roger Bacon, a man of the highest re-
torians, and the Monothelites. The dialectics of Aris- putation both for learning and ability, being known
totle were found by all parties to be of invaluable by the name of the Admirable Doctor, resisted this at-
service. In the following century, accordingly, the tempt to estimate the value of the writings of Aristotle
Aristotelian method of reasoning was taught in all beyond their real merit. He was joined by several
the schools, while Plato was banished to the cloisters other able and enlightened men, who were ready to
of the monks. John Damascenus was more especially give the Aristotelian system all its due, but at the same
active in promoting the progress of Aristotelianism. time were anxious to extend the boundaries of human
He published tracts intended to explain and illus- knowledge. This determined opposition to the idol
trate the dogmas of Aristotle, and circulated them of the age only exposed these able men and indepen-
far and wide among the less instructed classes of the dent thinkers to persecution and reproach. They
people, so that multitudes, both in Greece and Syria, were ranked by the ignorant multitude among magi
of men.
ARISTOTELIANS-ARIUS.
169
It was
cians and heretics, and narrowly escaped being com- sophical and theological worlds when Luther ap-
mitted to the flames. In the succeeding century, peared ; and, accordingly, in the university of Paris,
Aristotelian philosophy maintained its ground, and which was accounted the mother and queen of all
in such high esteem was it held, that kings and the rest, not a man could be found competent to dis-
princes ordered the works of Aristotle to be trans- pute with him out of the Scriptures. Many of the
lated into the languages of their people, that greater doctors of theology had never read the Bible; and
numbers might acquire wisdom. The philosophers the only system of learning, with which they were
of the time, however, took greater pleasure in the familiar, was the dialectics of Aristotle.
exercise of their skill in debate, than in the dis- thus quite apparent that, instead of promoting,
covery and defence of the truth; and, as we are the doctrines of the Aristotelian philosophy had
told," they perplexed and obscured the pure and un- proved a hinderance to the progress of knowledge.
adulterated doctrines of reason and religion by their And yet, even after the Reforiners had asserted the
vain subtleties, their useless questions, and their ridi- sacred liberty of human thought, both Romish and
culous distinctions."
Protestant writers seemed to vie with each other in
In Italy, for a long period, Aristotle reigned alone protestations of respect for the Stagyrite. Both fre-
in the schools; but about the time of the council of quently appealed to his authority, and both claimed
Florence, some of the Greeks, particularly the cele- him as their own. At the commencement of the
brated Gemistius Pletho, strongly recommended the seventeenth century, accordingly, the Aristotelians
study of the works of Plato. The consequence was held nearly all the professorial chairs, both in the
that, chiefly through the influence of Cosmo de universities and in the inferior schools, and were
Medicis, two rival schools soon appeared in Italy, violent in their opposition to all who dared to main-
which for a long time contended with the utmost tain that Aristotle should either be corrected or
earnestness and zeal, whether Plato or Aristotle abandoned. At this period arose a party in Europe
held the highest place among philosophers. The who were styled Chemists or Rosicrucians, and who
controversy, however, was not limited to a dis- united the study of religion with the search after
cussion of the respective merits of these two philo- chemical secrets. This sect contended during many
sophers, but the principal point in dispute was, years for pre-eminence with the Aristotelians, until
which of the two systems was most in accordance a new method of philosophy was introduced by Gas-
with the doctrines of Christianity. One of the sendi, followed by Des Cartes. The former of these
warmest supporters of Aristotle, and who professed distinguished men commenced the publication of a
to carry out the principles of his master, openly work in 1624, which he entitled "Exercitations
avowed and taught opinions which subverted the against Aristotle.' The title was sufficient to stir
foundations of all religion, both natural and revealed. up a host of enemies from all quarters, and he was
His opinions were embraced by nearly all the pro- compelled to suppress the last five books of the
fessors of philosophy in the Italian universities. Such Treatise in deference to the all but universal feel-
sentiments soon called down upon them the fulmi- ing of his time. In his writings, Gassendi openly
nations of the Church, and although they took re- set ate nought the metaphysics of the schools; and
fuge in the miserable subterfuge, which we have this, combined with the new system of philosophy
already noticed, that their doctrines were only phi- introduced by Des Cartes, which renounced all sub-
losophically true, while theologically false, the shal- jection to any master or guide, shook to its base the
low defence availed them nothing. Several of them authority of the Aristotelian system, and introduced
were handed over by the Church to the civil power, that spirit of independent inquiry which, carried
which punished their heresy with death.
forward by the efforts of Lord Bacon, succeeded in
The strife which existed between the admirers of emancipating the mind of Europe from the thral-
Plato and those of Aristotle was only temporary; dom of centuries. Thus has the glorious Reforma-
the latter obtained the complete ascendancy, and the tion of the sixteenth century, followed up by the
schools, not in Italy alone, but throughout Europe, independence of all authority in matters of science,
were occupied by ignorant monks, who taught, in- asserted by the philosophy of Des Cartes and the
stead of philosophy, a confused mass of obscure no- method of Bacon, wrought out the entire overthrow
tions, sentences, and divisions, which were compre- of the despotic tyranny of Aristotle, and obtained
hended neither by the teacher nor his pupils. End- for man that uncontrolled freedom of thought and
less discussions were held between the Scotists and opinion, which disowns the despotic authority of any
Thomists, the Realists and Nominalists. The halls human teachers, and yields itself only with implicit
of the universities rang with the most foolish and submission to the infallible teaching of the Almighty.
absurd debates on the most trifling subjects. The ARIUS, the originator of one of the most cele-
study of the Scriptures was now entirely neglected, and brated heretical sects which have ever sprung up in
theologians attempted to defend the most erroneous the Christian Church. He was a native of Libya,
statements by endless quotations from the Fathers, or and educated under Lucian, presbyter of Antioch,
a torrent of dialectical subtleties and quibbles. towards the end of the third century. Having im-
Such was the melancholy state of both the philo- | bibed the peculiar principles of scriptural interpre-
170
ARIUS.
16
tation followed by that school, he laid the basis of the development of the Christian religion than any
his doctrinal system on the free grammatical exposi- other controversy which has ever agitated the church.
tion of the Bible, and being a man of by no means Alexander, who had for some time declined to in-
enlarged views, he fell into the error of attaching terfere in the dispute which had arisen among the
undue importance to particulars, to the neglect of presbyters under his authority, at length took ad-
great general truths. He became a presbyter of the vantage of a theological conference with his clergy
Alexandrian church, and presided over an indepen- to declare distinctly against Arius, who in turn
dent church of that city, called Baucalis. For some charged the bishop with holding the errors of Sa-
time previous to this he had been a deacon of the bellius, and strenuously defended his own opinions.
church of Alexandria, and in consequence of ming- After despatching a circular letter to his clergy on
ling in some religious disputes which had arisen, he the subject, Alexander summoned a second confer-
was excommunicated by Peter, bishop of that church. ence, but to no purpose. The followers of Arius
The see of Alexandria, however, having become va- were rapidly increasing among the clergy and laity
cant by the death of Peter, the new bishop, Achillas, in Egypt, as well as in Syria and Asia Minor; and
not only removed the sentence of excommunication, accordingly, Alexander, finding all attempts to stop
but ordained Arius presbyter A. D. 313. At an the advancing heresy utterly fruitless, convened a.
early period of his life, Arius appears to have be- synod of Egyptian and Libyan bishops, composed of
gun to entertain the most erroneous and unscrip- one hundred members, at which, A. D. 321, Arius
tural notions in reference to the person of Christ. was deposed from his office, and both he and his
Neither on the one hand admitting him to be God, followers were excluded from the communion of the
equal with the Father, nor on the other degrading church. Following up this decision, the bishop of
him to the rank of a mere man, he ascribed to him Alexandria addressed letters to many foreign bishops
the greatest dignity which a being could have next announcing the judgment passed upon Arius, and
to God, without entirely annulling the distinction | calling upon them to hold no fellowship with the
between that being and God. “God created him," heretic.
heretic. Meanwhile Arius was not idle.
He pub-
to use Neander's explanation of the views of Arius, lished a book called " Thalia' in defence of his doc-
or begat him with the intent through him to pro-trines, and to diffuse them all the more widely among
duce all things else; the distance betwixt God and the masses, he wrote a collection of popular songs em-
all other beings is too great to allow of the supposi- bodying his peculiar opinions. Corresponding also
tion that God could have produced them imme- with some of the most eminent bishops of the Eastern
diately. In the first place, therefore, when he de church, he used every argument he could command
termined to produce the entire creation, he begat a to win them over to his side. Nor did he thus ex-
being who is as like to him in perfections as any ert himself without considerable success. Some of
creature can be, for the purpose of producing, by the most influential men in the Eastern church used
the instrumentality of this Being, the whole crea- their endeavours to bring about a compromise be-
tion. The names Son of God, and Logos, were tween Arius and his bishop. At Alexandria the dis.
given to him in order to distinguish him from other pute had waxed so violent, that the Arian party
created beings, inasmuch as, although, like all creat- withdrew from the church, and established separate
ed beings, he owed everything to the will and favour places of worship for themselves, and Arius, finding
of the Creator, he yet enjoyed the nearest relation- the opposition of the orthodox party too strong, fled
ship to Him, inasmuch as the divine reason, wis- from Egypt and took refuge in Palestine. It was
dom, power, all which titles could only be transfer- fortunate for him that some men of great weight and
red to Christ in an improper, metonymical sense, importance in the church had embraced his views.
were yet manifested by him in the most perfect de- This was particularly the case with Eusebius, bishop
of Nicomedia, who received Arius into his own house,
We must by no means entertain the idea that and not only himself avowed Arian views, but used
Arius deliberately framed his doctrinal system all his influence, which was very great, to advance
with the design of depreciating the Saviour. He and propagate them. At length, when matters were
was not conscious of deviating from the older doc- sufficiently ripe, Eusebius succeeded in calling to-
trines of the Eastern church; but, on the contrary, gether a council of Arian bishops, in A. D. 323, in
his intention, so far as regarded the doctrine of the Bithynia, who issued a circular to all the bishops, re-
Trinity, was to defend what he regarded as the doc- questing them to continue to hold ecclesiastical com-
trine of the church against Sabellian and Gnostic munion with Arius notwithstanding his excommuni-
opinions, and to exhibit it in a consistent manner. cation, and to use their influence with Bishop
The peculiar sentiments of Arius, however, having Alexander to accomplish a reconciliation. Every
been promulgated by him in the exercise of his attempt to restore peace, however, was ineffectual.
duties as a presbyter, brought him into collision in The controversy continued to rage with as much,
A. D. 318, with Alexander, the then bishop of Alex- and even greater violence than ever. At length
andria. At this point commenced a controversy matters had reached such a point, that the Roman
which exercised a more permanent influence upon emperor, Constantine, found it necessary personally
gree.
ARIANS.
171
no effect.
to interfere. In A. D. 324, accordingly, he despatched obtained the ascendancy in Syria, and a synod held at
Hosius, bishop of Cordova, with a letter to the Tyre, A. D. 335, deposed Athanasius, while another
Bishop Alexander, and the presbyter Arius in com- synod, held at Jerusalem in the same year, recalled
mon, expressing his displeasure at the unseemly con- the sentence of excommunication against Arius and
troversy which was raging, and calling upon the his friends. The heresiarch, however, found it im-
rival disputants to recognise each other as Chris- possible to maintain his ground at Alexandria, from
tian brethren, although they differed upon a parti- the weight of the influence of Athanasius, who had
cular point of Christian doctrine. Hosius, however, succeeded Alexander in the see of that city. In
adopted the views of Alexander, in opposition to A. D. 336, he set out for Constantinople, where he
those of Arius, and his mission was attended with obtained another interview with the emperor, who
was so much satisfied with the confession of faith
The endeavour of Constantine to bring about har- which Arius again submitted to him, that he issued
mony in the church being totally unsuccessful, he an imperative order to Alexander, bishop of Con-
saw that summary steps must be taken to bring stantinople, to admit him to the communion on the
matters to an issue. He summoned a general coun- following Sabbath. On the appointed day Arius
cil accordingly, A. D. 325, to meet at Nice, in Bithy- walked to church through the streets of Constanti-
nia. At this celebrated ecclesiastical convocation nople, accompanied by Eusebius and other friends.
318 bishops were present, chiefly from the eastern On his way thither he was seized with a sudden ill-
part of the empire, and among them Arius, Alexan- ness, which proved very rapidly fatal, for, according
der, and his friend Athanasius. The emperor him- to the report of Athanasius, he died on that Sabbath
self took an active part in the proceedings of the evening, thus giving rise to a suspicion, on the part
council, which were conducted with considerable of his friends, that he had been poisoned, or rather
warmth on both sides. The most ardent opponent cut off by sorcery, while his enemies regarded this
of Arius was Athanasius, who carried the great ma- sudden and mysterious dispensation as evidently a
jority of the council along with him, and, after a judgment from heaven.
protracted discussion, the council came to the resolu- ARIANS, a heretical sect which arose towards the
tion that the Son of God was begotten, not made, of beginning of the fourth century. It derived its origin
the same substance, and of the same essence with the from ARIUS (see preceding article), a presbyter of
Father. On this occasion was produced the famous Alexandria, who taught that Jesus Christ was a crea-
Nicene creed, which embodied the orthodox views on ture higher than any other created being in the uni-
the person of Christ, which have been held in the verse; but still not, as the orthodox alleged, very
church down to the present day. Both Arius and God. At the Nicene council, summoned by the
his doctrines were publicly condemned in the coun- Roman emperor Constantine, A. D. 325, to discuss
cil, and the sentence was signed by nearly all the the opinions of Arius, a number of tests of orthodoxy
bishops present. Another class of heretics, the ME- were proposed and accepted by the Arian party; at
LETIANS (which see), were condemned at the same length they were requested to give their written
time. The Arians at Alexandria, making common assent to the proposition that the Son was homoou-
cause with the Meletians, continued in a state of in- sios theo, that is, of the same substance with the
surrection notwithstanding the decision of the coun- Father, or, as it is expressed in the Athanasian
cil, and regarded Alexander and Athanasius, from creed, “ very God of very God.” This statement
the active part they had taken in the matter, as their Arius and his followers could not conscientiously
open enemies. The Nicene council, not contenting subscribe, and hence arose his condemnation and
itself with condemning the Arian doctrines, extended banishment. The individual who, above all others,
its hostility to the heresiarch himself, having pro- contributed to the triumph of the orthodox party in
cured his banishment by order of the emperor. the council, was Athanasius, who displayed singu-
Arius remained in exile in Illyricum till A. D. 328, lar zeal and acuteness in defending the doctrine of
when, through the influence of his warm friend, Eu- the unity of essence, and in combating Arianism.
sebius, Constantine was persuaded to recall him from On the holding fast to the Homoousion depended, in
exile, and even, after a time, to admit him to an au- the view of this eminent man, “the whole unity,"
dience, when he laid before the emperor a confes- as Neander expresses it, “of the Christian con-
sion of faith, which was so cautiously expressed, sciousness of God, the completeness of the re-
almost exclusively consisting of passages of Scripture, velation of God in Christ, the reality of the re-
that Constantine was naturally misled, and granted demption which Christ wrought, and of the commu-
Arius permission to return to Alexandria. On reach- nion with God restored to him by man.” Athana-
ing that city, however, A. D. 331, Athanasius refused sius, in fact, felt that to maintain the Arian doctrine
to receive him into the communion of the church. was to destroy the very root and groundwork of the
This, of course, led to new contentions, or rather to a entire Christian life. Entertaining such views of
revival of the old, and the Arians, joined by the Mele- the paramount importance of the question at issue,
tians, broke out into open revolt. The Arian party this excellent man firmly refused, even at the risk
had now, chiefly through the influence of Eusebius, of deposition and banishment, to yield to the com-
172
ARIANS.
mand of the emperor, which enjoined him to admit tell us, that his heresy was a kind of Judaism in doc-
Arius and his friends into communion with the trine. Lucian also, to come nearer the time of Arius,
church. He felt that his duty, as a faithful minister was a presbyter of Antioch, and was excommunicated
of Christ, prevented him from receiving teachers of for holding heretical views on the person of Christ,
false doctrine into church fellowship. In conse- corresponding to those which afterwards received the
quence of his firm adherence to the orthodox views, name of Semi-Arianism. And besides Arius him-
and his determined opposition to both the Arian and self, of thirteen prelates who avowed Arianism at
Meletian schisms, which for many years agitated the council of Nice, no fewer than nine of them be-
Alexandria where his lot was cast, his days were longed to the Syrian patriarchate.
longed to the Syrian patriarchate. During the whole
spent amid incessant attempts, on the part of his period which elapsed from the Nicene council A. D.
enemies, to injure his character and destroy his in- 325, to the death of Constantius A. D. 361, Antioch
fluence. And when at length his opponent, Arius, was the main seat of the heretical, as Alexandria
was suddenly cut off, Athanasius, instead of exulting was of the orthodox party.
over the fall of a heresiarch who had been to him Much also of the spirit which gave rise to the
the source of much trouble and anxiety, remarks, Arian heresy may be traced to the schools of the
in reference to it, “Death is the common lot of Sophists in which its teachers were trained. On this
all men.
We should never triumph over the death subject Dr. Newman, in his able and deeply inter-
of any man, even though he be our enemy; since esting work, entitled - The Arians of the Fourth
no one can know but that before evening the same Century,' thus remarks:
Century,' thus remarks: “Arianism had in fact a
lot may be his own.?
close connexion with the existing Aristotelic school.
It not unfrequently happens that, when the main- This might have been conjectured, even had there
spring of any religious movement is taken away, the been no proof of the fact; adapted, as that philoso-
cause which was so closely identified with his pre- pher's logical system confessedly is, to baffle an ad-
sence is in danger of being rapidly extinguished. It | versary, or at most to detect error, rather than to es-
was not so with the death of Arius. The contest tablish truth. But we have actually reason, in the
to which his speculations had given rise, far from circumstances of its history, for considering it as the
ceasing, was carried forward with unabated activity offshoot of those schools of composition and debate,
and vigour. And the reason of this is plain. Though which acknowledged Aristotle as their principalautho-
Arianism first assumed a proper systematic form in rity, and were conducted by teachers who went by the
the hands of its originator, the germs of the sys- name of Sophists. It was in these schools that the
tem may be traced to a period considerably anterior leaders of the heretical body were educated for the
to his times. Accordingly, we find Alexander, part assigned them in the troubles of the Church.
bishop of Alexandria, in speaking of the heresy of The oratory of Paulus of Samosata is characterized
Arius, asserting it to be “the doctrine of Ebion, of by the distinguishing traits of the scholastic eloquence
Artemas, and of Paulus Samotensis, now lately mak- in the descriptive letter of the council which con-
ing a new insurrection against the religion in the demned him; in which, moreover, he is stigmatised
church.” In this view of the matter, the origin of by the most disgraceful title to which a Sophist was
Arianism is to be found in the Jewish spirit which exposed by the degraded exercise of his profession.
very early began to show itself in the Christian The skill of Arius in the art of disputation is well
Church, both Cerinthus and Ebion believing our known. Asterius was a Sophist by profession.
Saviour to be an Angel-Man, a view quite identical Aetius came from the school of an Aristotelian of
with that which forms the Arian heresy. That Atha- Alexandria. Eunomius, his pupil, who re-constructed
nasius entertained this notion as to the Jewish origin | the Arian system on its primitive basis, at the end
of this important heresy is plain from his own words : of the reign of Constantius, is represented by Ruff-
“We are separate," says he, “from those who nus as 'pre-eminent in dialectic power.' At a later
Judaize, and those who corrupt Christianity with period still, the like disputatious spirit and spurious
Judaism, who, denying the God of God, talk like originality are indirectly ascribed to the heterodox
the Jews concerning one God; not therefore assert- school, in the well-known advice of Sisinnius to Nec-
ing Him to be the only God, because He only is the tarius of Constantinople, when the Emperor Theo-
unbegotten, and He only the Fountain of the Deity; dosius required the latter to renew the controversy
but as one barren and unfruitful, without a Son, with with a view to its final settlement. Well versed in
out a living Word and a true Wisdom.”
theological learning, and aware that cleverness in
In complete harmony with this notion of the Jew-debate was the very life and weapon of heresy, Sisin-
ish origin of the Arian heresy, it may be also con- nius proposed to the Patriarch, to drop the use of
sidered as connected with the theological school of dialectics, and merely challenge his opponents to ut-
Antioch, to which Arius, Eusebius of Nicomedia, and ter a general anathema against all such Ante-Nicene
other leading Arians belonged. Connected with this Fathers as had taught what they themselves now
church we find Paulus of Samosata, who was deposed denounced as false doctrine. On the experiment
in A. D. 272, on the ground of his heretical notions being tried, the heretics would neither consent to be
concerning the person of Christ. Ancient writers | tried by the opinions of the ancients, nor yet dared
ARIANS.
173
}
condemn those whom all the people counted as pro- ousia or essential nature, but attributed to the Son
phets. Upon this,' say the historians who record of God every term of honour and dignity short of
the story, 'the emperor perceived that they rested | homoousios, or being of the same nature with the
their cause on their dialectic skill, and not on the Father. This, however, was simply evading the
testimony of the early Church.'
point in dispute. The difference between the two
It has been often alleged that the mixture of parties in the council was fundamental, the one as-
Platonism with Christianity gave birth to Arianism. serting Christ to be a creature, and the other assert-
It cannot be denied, that in the early church, the ing Him to be very God. The decision of the coun-
doctrines of Plato affected not a little the tone of cil was to adopt a creed, which is known as the Ni-
thinking, as well as of expression, in some minds of cene creed, and which embodies in very explicit
a highly speculative cast. But at the same time, terms the orthodox and Anti-Arian view of the per-
Arius could scarcely be classed among those who son of Christ. It is doubtful whether or not Arius.
were likely to be tinged with the profound philoso- was persuaded to sign this creed at the council, but
phy of the Platonic school. His was more a dialec- at all events he professed to receive it about five
tic than a highly philosophic cast of mind. And years afterwards. The leader of the orthodox party
accordingly the arguments which he advances in fa- in the Nicene council was Athanasius, archdeacon of
vour of his system, are rather drawn from the schools Alexandria, who soon after, on the death of Alexan-
of the Sophists, than from the mystical speculations der, succeeded to the see of that city.
of the followers of Plato.
The Arian controversy was far from being termi-
To Arius must be conceded the honour of giving nated by the death of Arius, its originator. The
origin to the important heresy which bears his name. question was too important to be dependent for its
His contemporary opponents, Alexander and Atha- solution on any single individual. The aspect of
nasius, uniformly attribute Arianism as a system to the contest, however, underwent some change in
him, and to him alone. Sozomen too informs us, consequence of this event. Some of the Semi-Arian
that Arius was the first who introduced into the or middle party, who had been deterred, by their per-
church the doctrine of the creation and non-eternity | sonal interest in favour of Arius, from distinctly con-
of the Son of God. This in brief terms describes demning his peculiar doctrines, now came forward
the whole heresy now under consideration. Its au- openly to declare their renunciation of all connec-
thor setting out from the scriptural designation of tion with his views. In addition to this, another
Christ as the “Son," argued not only the necessary event of great importance occurred soon after-the
inferiority to the Father, which the very idea of death of the Emperor Constantine, which happened
Sonship implied, but also the necessary posteriority in A. D. 337. Constantius, who succeeded to the em-
in point of time to the date of the existence of the pire of the East, interested himself even more than
Father, and what he regarded as a necessary corol- his father in the prevailing controversies. He be-
lary or inference from this last deduction, that there came an ardent and enthusiastic supporter of the
must have been a time when the Son did not exist, Arian or Anti-Nicene party. The discussions which
and he must have been formed from what once was he maintained at court were imitated by all classes ;
not. The whole of this style of argument is obvi- so that, as Socrates expresses it, a war of dialectics
ously fallacious, being founded on a false analogy was carried on in every family, or as Gregory of
between the Sonship of a divine person, and that of Nyssa relates, the Homoousion came to be discussed
a mere creature. Arius forgot that the nature of God in the bakers' shops, at the tables of the money-
must necessarily be a mystery, and that no reason- changers, and even in the market for old clothes.
ing can be legitimate or valid which compares it to Inquire the price of bread,” says Gregory, “you
the nature of any created being. The same error are answered, 'The Father is greater than the Son,
had been fallen into by heretics before his time. To and the Son subordinate to the Father.' Ask if the
reconcile the divine with the human nature, Sabel- bath is ready, and you are answered, “ The Son of
lius denied the distinction of persons in the Godhead. God was created from nothing. While Constan-
With the same view, Paulus of Samosata, and after- tius, who ruled in the East, thus keenly espoused
wards Apollinaris, denied the existence of the Word the cause of the Arians, Constantine the younger,
and the human soul as being together in the person another son of the late Emperor, who had succeeded
of Christ. Arius -fell into both these errors; and to the government of a part of the West, favoured
yet he so far agreed with the Catholic, or orthodox the orthodox or Anti-Arian party. One of the first
party in the church, that he was ready to ascribe to steps which he took after the death of his father,
the So all that is commonly attributed to Al- was to send back Athanasius to Alexandria. The
mighty God, his name, authority, and power; in Eastern and the Western parts of the Empire ap-
short, all but the incommunicable nature or essence. peared now to be completely opposed to each other.
Accordingly, in the council of Nice, the creed which The favour shown by the younger Constantine to the
the Arian party produced, and which had been leader of the Catholic party, was met by the con-
framed by the celebrated ecclesiastical historian firmation of the deposition of Athanasius at an as-
Eusebius of Cæsarea, omitted all reference to the sembly convened at Antioch under the authority of
799
174
ARIANS.
Constantius. It was now feared that a breach would stratagems resorted to are thus described by Nean-
be caused between the two churches of the East and der. “Constantius, purposely, without doubt, sought
of the West. Matters were evidently assuming a to lull Athanasius into security, partly that he might
very serious aspect. The bishops assembled at An- have him more certainly in his power, and partly in
tioch, not contented with pronouncing sentence of order to guard against disturbances among the people
deposition upon Athanasius, appointed also a succes- of Alexandria. When Athanasius first heard of the
sor, who was installed bishop of Alexandria by an plots of his opponents, the emperor, in a brief letter,
armed force, at the instance, and in the name of the promised him perfect safety, and bade him not be
Emperor. In the midst of the tumult which en- alarmed, and not to allow himself to be disturbed in
sued, Athanasius had time to escape. He repaired the quiet administration of his office. When, there..
at first to a place of concealment in the neighbour- fore, the summons requiring him to leave the church
hood of the city. After a short time he repaired to was first sent to him by men who professed to have
Rome, where, at a synod convened' A. D. 342, the full powers from the emperor, he declared, that, as
deposition was set aside, and he was recognised as he had been directed by an imperial writ to remain
a regular bishop.
at Alexandria, he held himself neither bound nor
The contest between the Eastern and Western authorized to abandon the church entrusted to him
churches continued to rage with ever increasing vio- by the Lord, except by a written order coming from
lence for several years. At length, through the in- the emperor himself, or at least in his name. He
fluence of the Roman church, the two Emperors, quietly proceeded, therefore, to discharge his episco-
Constantius and Constans, were prevailed upon to pal duties in the same manner as before. But, while
unite in calling a general council, to meet at Sardica engaged in the church during the night of the 9th
in Illyria, A. D. 347, for the purpose of putting an of February, A. D. 356, amidst a portion of his flock,
end, if possible, to the unseemly disputes which were who were preparing by prayer and song for the pub-
carried forward between the two churches in refer- lic worship, which, according to the Alexandrian
ence to the Arian controversy. At this council the usage, was to be celebrated on Friday morning, the
Eastern church was represented by seventy-six of Dux Syrianus burst suddenly into the church, with
its bishops, while more than three hundred of the a troop of armed men, regardless of all reverence for
Western bishops were present.
The discussions sacred things. Athanasius, amidst the din and
which ensued, instead of healing, only tended to tumult of the brutal soldiery, perfectly retained his
widen the breach. The bishops of the West demanded presence of mind: he endeavoured first to preserve
that Athanasius and his friends should be allowed to
peace among the assembled meinbers of his church,
attend the assembly as regular bishops, and the and to provide for their safety, before he thought of
bishops of the East having refused to concede this his own. He remained quietly on his episcopal
point, a total rupture took place between the two throne, and bade the deacon proceed in the recita-
parties. The Western bishops continued to hold tion of the 136th Psalm, where the words · For His
their sittings at Sardica; the Orientals withdrew to mercy endureth for ever,' were continually sung by
Philippopolis in Thrace, where they renewed their the choir of the church. Meanwhile, however, the
sentence of deposition against Athanasius and his soldiers pressed forward continually nearer to the
friends, and extended it to Julius, bishop of Rome. sanctuary. Monks, clergy, and laity, therefore, bade
The remanent council of Sardica, on the other hand, Athanasius save himself. But not until the greatest
having been abandoned by the Oriental party, pro- part of his flock had departed, did he slip out with
ceeded to confirm the decision of the synod of Rome, those that remained, and escape the hands of the
which had recognised Athanasius as a regular bishop, soldiers who were sent to arrest him. Once more,
notwithstanding his deposition by the council at An- by an armed force, the Alexandrian church were
tioch. The bond of fellowship between the two compelled to submit, and receive as their bishop an
churches was now completely severed. The irrita- altogether unclerical, rude, and passionate man,
tion excited by polemical discussion, became every Georgius of Cappadocia. Every sort of atrocity was
day more violent, and in A. D. 349, Gregory, the committed under the name of religion ; while Atha-
Arian bishop of Alexandria, was assassinated. The nasius, threatened with death, and pursued as far as
anxieties of the Emperor Constantius were now Auxuma in Ethiopia, found refuge among the Egyp-
aroused, and as he was completely under the influence tian monks."
of the Arian party, he was easily persuaded to take The Arian party were now completely in the as-
active steps against Athanasius and his friends. Two cendant throughout the whole Roman empire. The
orthodox bishops were first deposed at the synod of removal, however, of the man, hatred to whom had
Sirmium, and this having been accomplished, the formed a firm bond of connection between theologians
whole energies of the Emperor and the Arian party otherwise divided, was productive of an instant out-
were directed towards the overthrow of Athanasius break of hitherto suppressed animosity. The Arian
himself. The popularity of this eminent theologian, and Semi-Arian parties now ranged themselves
however, was so great at Alexandria that no ordinary against each other; the former headed by Eunomius,
craft was necessary to effect his ruin. The unworthy and the latter by Basil of Ancyra, who possessed
ter had been intrusted by his brother with the gov-
ARIANS.
175
great influence with the Emperor Constantius. The of action, and, as a natural consequence, they assumed
court-party, in their desire to suppress this internal the same relative positions as formerly. This con-
division, which was threatening to rend asunder the tinued under the reign of the emperor Jovián, who,
Arian faction, had influence enough to get a confes- although he adopted the Nicene doctrine, yet counted
sion of faith drawn up to this effect, “Whereas so it his duty never to interfere by his political power
many disturbances have arisen from the distinction in matters which belonged to the church. The same
of the unity of essence, or the likeness of essence, so principle was adopted by his successor Valentinian,
from henceforth nothing shall be taught or preached whose brother Valens was a zealous Arian. The lat-
respecting the essence of the Son of God, because
nothing is to be found on that subject in the holy ernment of the East, and being naturally of a cruel,
Scriptures, and because it is one which surpasses despotic temper, took advantage of his position to per-
the measure of the human faculties." The leaders secute and oppress the orthodox clergy. Exemplary
of the Semi-Arian party saw in this Sirmian creed, so bishops were rudely torn from their flocks, and their
called from its having been framed at Sirmium in places filled with the most worthless individuals. The
Lower Pannonia, an attempt to effect the suppression Semi-Arians being subjected also to the most harsh
of their peculiar doctrines, and to secure the triumph treatment by Valens, naturally made common cause
of the Eunomians. They summoned accordingly a with the orthodox against the Arian party, and their
synod at Ancyra, A. D. 358, in which a long and sympathy in calamity gradually led, on the part of
copious document was drawn up, setting forth their many, to a sympathy in doctrine. The Nicene creed
views as to the resemblance of essence between was adopted as a bond of union, and on the accession
the Father and the Son (Homoiousia), in opposition of Theodosius the Great to the imperial throne, the
to the Nicene creed, as well as to the Eunomian ar- Nicene party was so firmly established, that A. D.
ticles ; at the same time warning the church against | 380, a law was passed that only those who subscribed
the new creed drawn up at Sirmium, in which, by to the Nicene doctrine as to the identity of essence
the suppression of the term ousia, essence, a blow between the Son and the Father should be allowed
was levelled alike at the Homoousia, the same es- to remain in their churches. In November of this
sence, and the Homoiousia, similar essence. This year, Theodosius made his triumphal entry into Con-
complicated quarrel was not long in reaching the stantinople, and finding that the Arian bishop Demo-
ears of the emperor, and he resolved to convene an- philus and his party were in possession of the
other general council with the view of restoring unity churches, while the orthodox bishop was worship-
to the church. By the influence of the court-party, ping with his flock in a private house, he gave De-
this resolution of the emperor was so far modified, mophilus the alternative either to subscribe the Ni-
that two councils were assembled instead of one; an cene creed, or to abandon the churches. The Arian
Eastern council at Seleucia in Isauria, and a West- bishop chose the latter alternative, and his party
ern council at Ariminum (Rimini) in Italy. These were compelled to hold their assemblies at Constanti-
councils met in A.D. 359, and the result was, that nople, outside the city walls, which they continued
the majority of the council at Ariminum declared to do until the sixth century.
their adherence to the Nicene creed, while the ma- Theodosius was resolved to use all his efforts to
jority of the council at Seleucia gave their sanction seal the triumph of the Nicene doctrine, and accord-
to the fourth Antiochian creed. The two decisions ingly he resolved to call a second general council in
were ordered to be laid before the emperor, who con- Constantinople, with the view of accomplishing this
trived personally, and by means of others, so to favourite object, and at the same time inaugurating
work upon both parties, that a creed was at length | Gregory of Nazianzen as bishop of the capital of the
adopted which forbade all propositions respecting the Eastern Roman empire. This latter ceremony was
ousia, the essence, as being unscriptural, and merely performed during the sitting of the council by Mele-
stated in general that the Son of God was like the tius; bishop of Antioch, who, on account of his ad-
Father, as the holy Scriptures taught. This creed vanced age and his authority, had been called to pre-
was confirmed by a council held at Constantinople side over its deliberations. Soon after his arrival in
A. D. 360, and it was at length almost everywhere Constantinople, Meletius died, and in accordance with
adopted.
the wish of the emperor, Gregory was raised to the
By means of this artificial arrangement, and threat- dignity of patriarch. This appointment, however, gave
ening with deposition and exile all who should not such offence to the Egyptian and Western bishops,
assent to it, Constantius succeeded in putting an end that the new dignitary sought, and was allowed to ten-
to all doctrinal disputes. It was not to be expected, der his resignation of the exalted office. The council
however, that such a mode of solving a knotty theo- decided in favour of the Nicene creed, and condemned
logical question would be ultimately effectual. No
No the Arian doctrine. From this period, A. D. 381,
sooner had the life of the emperor Constantius come Arianism ceased to be a heresy maintained by any
to a close, and a pagan emperor been seated on the considerable party within the church, but both in its
throne, than matters took an entirely different direc- grosser and in its milder form it continued to predo-
tion. All parties were now allowed perfect liberty | minate among the rude barbarous nations on the out-
176
ARIANS.
skirts of the Roman empire who had been converted | grants from government for the support of their min-
to Christianity. When the Vandals, in A. D. 430, isters. See ACACIANS, ÆTIANS, EUNOMIANS, PSA-
took possession of North Africa, they raised violent THYRIANS, SEMI-ARIANS.
persecutions from time to time against the adherents ARIVURDIS (children of the sun), a sect found
of the Nicene doctrine.
in Asia, and particularly in Armenia and the adja-
Soon after the Reformation, Arianism began to cent countries, where it had maintained itself from
make its appearance in England, and seems along the olden times
, having sprung from the mixture of the
with kindred heresies to have spread to some extent, Zoroastrian worship of Ormuzd (see ABESTA), with
so that in 1560 an injunction was issued by the a few elements of Christianity. They derived their
archbishops and bishops, to the effect that incorri- name from their worship of the sun. Between A. D.
gible Arians, Pelagians, or Free-will-men, be impri- | 833, and A. D. 854, this sect took a new form and a
soned and kept to hard labour till they repent of new impulse from a person named Sembat, who be-
their errors. Two Arians were punished under the longed to the province of Ararat, and although by
writ De Hæretico comburendo, so late as the reign of birth and education a PAULICIAN (which see), yet
James I.
having entered into some connection with a Persian
We hear little more of the Arian controversy un- physician and astronomer, by name Medschusic,
til the beginning of the last century, when it was was led under his influence to attempt a new com-
revived in England by Whiston, Emlyn, and Dr. bination of Parsiism and Christianity. He settled in
Samuel Clarke. The last mentioned divine was a high a village called Thondrac; hence his sect received
or Semi-Arian, but the two former individuals were low the name of Thondracians. They are said to have
Arians, reducing the rank of the Son of God to that rejected the doctrine of a providence, of a life after
of an angelic being, a creature made out of nothing. death, of the grace of the Holy Spirit, all morality,
Since that time Arianism has been almost entirely and the sacraments of the church, and to have ac-
lost sight of, and those who have inclined to Arian knowledged no law nor restraints of any kind, as-
views of the person of Christ, have generally merged serting that there was no sin and no punishment.
themselves in the Socinian, or as they call them- This account of their doctrines, however, drawn from
selves, the Unitarian party, who degrade the Re- Armenian sources, must be received with consider-
deemer to the level of a mere man.
able suspicion. The Arivurdis were treated with
Arianism, however, has kept its footing in Ireland great harshness, and severely persecuted by the
more firmly than in England. It seems to have ap- clergy, and yet they maintained their ground, and
peared in that country in the reign of George I., and even spread widely in Armenia. To deter others
to have found supporters among the Presbyterian from joining their ranks, many of them were branded
ministers. Between 1705 and 1725, a keen contro- | by their enemies with the image of a fox, as a sign
versy was carried on upon the subject, which at of the heretic who creeps slyly into the Lord's vine-
length terminated in the secession from the Pres-yard, seeking to destroy it. Notwithstanding all
byterian Church of eight ministers holding Arian means used to check the progress of the sect, it con-
principles, who constituted themselves into a sepa- tinued to increase in numbers. “At one time in par-
rate ecclesiastical body, assuming the name of the ticular,” as we learn from Neander, “about A. D.
Presbytery of Antrim. This small secession, how- | 1002, it made the most alarming progress; when, as
ever, did not entirely purify the Presbyterian synod we are told, it was joined by bishop Jacob, spiritual
from the leaven of Arianism, which, on the contrary, head of the province of Harkh. But since Christian-
still continued secretly to spread itself in the course ity in Armenia was extremely corrupted by super-
of last century, until at length attention began to be stition, and a host of ceremonial observances, grow-
called to the serious and alarming fact, that a con- | ing out of the mixture of Christian and Jewish ele-
siderable number of ministers belonging to the Synod ments, which latter abounded to a still greater extent
had imbibed, and were actually teaching, Arian doc- here than in other countries, the question naturally
trine. Inquiries began to be instituted, and it was arises, whether everything which was opposed to
found that no fewer than thirty-seven ministers were these foreign elements, and which, in this opposition,
charged with maintaining the Arian heresy. Of united its strength with that of the Paulicians, though
these, seventeen seceded in a body in 1830, forming proceeding, in other respects, from entirely different
themselves into a distinct synod under the name of principles, was not wrongly attributed by the defend-
the REMONSTRANT SYNOD OF ULSTER (which see). ers of the then dominant church-system, to the in-
The Presbytery of Antrim has since been incorpo- fluence of the Paulician sect. Supposing the case to
rated with this body. The Arien congregations are have been so, it may be conjectured that bishop
chiefly found in the counties of Antrim and Down. Jacob was one of those men, who, by the study of
There are also a few congregations in the south of the sacred Scriptures, and of the older church
Ireland, forming the Synod of Munster, which until teachers, had caught the spirit of reform,-a conjec-
recently were all of them either Arian or Socinian. ture which is certainly corroborated by the fact, that
The Arian as well as orthodox Presbyterians of Ire- two synods were unable to convict him of any heresy.
land receive what is called the Regium Donum, or If, however, he was actually connected with the
ARK OF THE COVENANT.
}
177
Paulicians, it was, assuredly, with those of the better thee.” On this ark rested the Shechinah or sym-
stamp, with those who, in their efforts to bring about bol of the divine presence, manifesting itself in the
a restoration of apostolic simplicity, and in their op- appearance of a cloud, as it were hovering over it.
position to the intermixture of Judaism with Chris- Hence in various passages of sacred Scripture, God
tianity, represented the spirit of Marcion. His is said to dwell between the cherubims, and upon the
fierce opponents themselves acknowledge, that he mercy-seat. And every year on the great day of
was distinguished for the austerity of his life; and his atonement, the high priest, entering into the holy of
priests, who travelled through the land as preachers holies where the ark of the covenant stood, sprink-
of repentance, were men of the same simple and ab- led the blood of the sacrifice on and before the
stenious habits. He and his followers denounced mercy-seat.
the false confidence which was placed in masses, ob- The ark was to the Israelites the token of the pre-
lations, alms, church-prayers, as if it were possible, sence and power of their covenant God. Accordingly,
by these means, to obtain the forgiveness of sins. when they passed over Jordan to enter the promised
His own act alone, said they, can help the individual land, the priests who carried the ark were commanded
who has sinned; a sentiment which could easily be to proceed with it before them, and no sooner did their
misrepresented, and made to signify that they pro- feet touch the brink of the river, than, as we are in-
nounced all other means to be worthless. He formed, Josh. ii. 14, “ the priests that bare the ark
declared himself opposed to the animal sacrifices of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground
practised in the Armenian church. Once, some of in the midst of Jordan; and all the Israelites passed
his followers happened to be present, when animals over on dry ground, until all the people were passed
were offered as an oblation for the dead. Thou clean over Jordan." Having thus been conveyed
poor beast-said one of them the man sinned across the river, the ark continued for some time at
through his whole life, and then died; but what sin Gilgal, whence it was removed to Shiloh. The Is-
hast thou done, that thou must die with him?'raelites valuing highly the presence of this sacred
This bishop met with great success among the clergy, symbol, transferred it to their camp, but in their war
the people, and the nobles, until finally the Catholi- with the Philistines, it fell into the hands of that
cus, or spiritual chief of the Armenian church, idolatrous people, who placed it in the temple of
craftily succeeded in getting possession of his person. their god Dagon, when the latter fell down before it
He first caused him to be branded with the heretical and was broken in pieces. The Philistines having
mark, and then to be carried from place to place, been visited with divine judgments, as the punish-
attended by a common crier, to proclaim him a here- ment for their detaining the ark, they sent it back
tic, and expose him to the public scorn. After this without further delay to the Hebrews. It halted at
he was thrown into a dungeon, from which he man- Bethshemesh, where the people having incurred the
aged to effect his escape, but was finally killed by anger of God for curiously and profanely looking
his enemies." See PARSIS.
into it, fifty thousand of them were struck dead. It
ARK OF THE COVENANT or TESTIMONY, was then lodged at Kirjath-jearim, and afterwards at
a coffer or chest in the ancient Jewish tabernacle and | Nob. David wishing to remove it from Kirjath-
temple. It was three feet, nine inches in length, jearim, resolved to adopt a different mode of convey-
two feet, three inches in breadth, and the same in ance from the usual one—that of carrying it upon
height, and in it were contained, as we are told by the shoulders. He placed it upon a new cart drawn
an apostle, Heb. ix. 4, the golden pot that had by oxen, from which being apparently in danger of
manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of falling, Uzzah put forth his hand to support it,
the covenant. The appointed structure of this sa- when he was struck dead in a moment for his pre-
cred chest is thus described by Moses, Exod. xxv. sumption. This awful judgment so alarmed David,
10—16, “And they shall make an ark of shittim- that he left the ark for three months in the house of
wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length Obed-edom; after which it was removed to his pal-
thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, ace in Jerusalem.
and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou At the building of the temple by Solomon, the
shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without ark was deposited in the most holy place, where it
shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown remained until the times of the last kings of Judah,
of gold round about. And thou shalt cast four rings who having fallen into idolatry, impiously placed
of gold for it, and put them in the four corners their idols in the holy temple itself. The Hebrew
thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, priests, shocked at the profanation, removed the ark,
and two rings in the other side of it. And thou and carried it about from place to place. On the
shalt make staves of shittim-wood, and overlay them accession of good king Josiah to the throne, it was
with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the again returned to its place in the temple. It is
rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be much disputed among the Rabbis what became of
borne with them. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark at the destruction of the temple by Nebu-
the ark: they shall not be taken from it. And thou chadnezzar. If it was carried to Babylon along with
shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give the sacred vessels, at all events it was never brought
I.
M
1
178
ARK OF THE COVENANT-ARK-WORSHIP.
back. Some think that it was concealed by Jere- | derings from place to place. The followers of the
miah, to preserve it from the Chaldeans, and that it Arabian prophet allege, that in addition to the tables
could not be again discovered, nor indeed will ever of stone, the ark of the covenant contained the shoes
be found until the Messiah shall appear and reveal which Moses put off at the burning bush on Horeb,
the place of its concealment. But most of the Rab- the pontifical head-dress which Aaron wore, and a
bis attribute its preservation to king Josiah, alleging piece of wood with which Moses sweetened the wa-
in proof of this notion, 2 Chron, XXXV. 2, 3, “And he ters of Marah.
set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them ARK-WORSHIP. It is interesting to observe
to the service of the house of the Lord; and said how extensively heathen worship is pervaded by ele-
unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were ments which are evidently derived from Old Testa-
holy unto the Lord, Put the holy ark in the house ment history. In all nations of the world have been
which Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, did preserved records and traditions concerning the de-
build: it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: | luge, and the ark in which a remnant of the race was
serve now the Lord your God, and his people Israel." saved from the all but universal destruction. The
The probability is that it was destroyed along with priests of Ammonia had a custom at particular seasons
the temple.
of carrying in procession an ark or boat in which was
The Rabbis allege that the two tables of the law an oracular shrine, held in great veneration; and the
were deposited in the ark, not only those which were Egyptians generally observed a similar custom of car-
entire, but those also which were broken. This rying the deity in an ark. Doctor Pococke found in
opinion they found upon a mistranslation of Deut. x. Upper Egypt three specimens of ancient sculpture in
2, which they render thus: “And I will write on the which this ceremony is exhibited. The ship of Isis,
tables the words that were on the first table, which one of the chief Egyptian gods, seems to have had a
thou brakest and hast put in the arlo." The last reference to the ark. Bryant finds an allusion to
clause is more correctly translated in our version, the ark in the temples called Dracontia, dedicated to
“thou shalt put."
serpent-worship, and also in that of Sesostris, which
The prophet Haggai declares concerning the se- was formed after the model of the ark, in commemo-
cond temple, that it was as nothing in comparison of ration of which it was built and consecrated to Osiris,
the first; and the remark might well be justified, at Theba. The same author finds in the story of the
were it only by the absence from it of the ark of the Argonauts several particulars bearing a distinct re-
covenant, the possession of which was one of the ference to the ark of Noah.
ference to the ark of Noah. In other countries be-
highest privileges of the Jewish worship. Prideaux, sides Egypt an ark or ship was introduced in their
following Lightfoot, asserts that in the second temple mysteries, and often carried about in the seasons of
there was an ark made of the same dimensions and their festivals. The ark, according to the traditions
shape as the first, and put in the same place. This of the Gentile world, was prophetic, and regarded as
is denied by many of the Jewish writers, who tell us a temple or residence of the Deity. Noah and his
that the whole service of the great day of atonement | family, amounting to eight persons, having experi-
was performed in the second temple, not as in the enced such a marked favour at the hands of the Al-
first, before an ark, but before the stone of founda- mighty, came to be held in the highest veneration,
tion, as they call it, on which the ark stood in the and even to be deified. Hence the gods of Egypt,
first temple. It is not unlikely that there may have in the ancient mythology of that country, amounted
been in the second temple, as is found still in all precisely to eight, and the ark was esteemed an em-
Jewish synagogues, an ark or coffer in which is kept blem of the system of the heavens in which these eight
a copy of the Hebrew Scriptures in the form of an gods dwelt. Dionysus or the Indian Bacchus has
ancient roll. This manuscript roll they take out sometimes been identified with the patriarch Noah,
with great solemnity from the ark whenever they and if so, it is not unlikely that the ark was repre-
use it, and return it with equal solemnity when they sented by the cista mystica, or sacred allegorical
have done with it. One great presumption against chest, which was anciently carried in the Dionysiac
the existence of an ark of the covenant in the second processions. Among the antiquities of Herculaneum
temple is the striking fact, that in the representation has been found a series of pictures representing cere-
of the temple furniture which is sculptured on the tri- monies in honour of Bacchus; and it is a circum-
umphal arch of Titus, still to be seen at Rome, there stance well worthy of notice, that in one of these a
is no figure of an ark.
woman is carrying on her shoulder a square box
The Mohammedans allege that the ark was given having a projecting roof, and at the end a door, this
to Adam ready made, and that it was handed down being carried in a commemorative procession. It
from patriarch to patriarch, until the time of Moses ; | is in all probability a sacred thebet or ark, in which
that the portraits of the patriarchs and prophets Bacchus was preserved. And, besides, the ark was
were engraven upon it; that in times of war a esteemed a symbol appropriate to Bacchus; and, in
mighty rushing wind came forth from it, which dis- his processions, idols or other objects belonging to
comfited the enemies of Israel, and hence they car- that deity were included in it. It is a curious fact
ried it about with them as a protection in their wan- in connection with this subject, that as a saint, Noah
ARMENIAN CHURCH.
179
is regarded in the Romish church. like Bacchus While, however, it is difficult to attach implicit
among the ancient Pagans, as presiding over vines credit to this account of the manner in which Chris-
and vineyards. See BACCHUS--DIONYSȚACA. tianity was first introduced into Armenia, it must be
ARMENIAN CHURCH. The great and an- admitted as by no means improbable, that by means
cient kingdom of Armenia occupies the mountainous of Persia, Syria, and other bordering provinces of
region of Western Asia, comprising Turcomania and the Roman empire, the knowledge of Christian truth
part of Persia. Many Armenians claim for their would find its way at an early period into Armenia ;
nation a very remote antiquity, alleging that their and yet its progress would just as likely be much
language is that of Noah unaffected by the confusion retarded by the fanatical spirit of the ancient Per-
of tongues at Babel, and therefore that it is the pri- sian faith. No people have been more tenacious of
mitive language spoken by our first parents in para- their religious creed and practices than the followers
dise. While this claim cannot but be rejected as of Zoroaster. But however determined the resistance
utterly extravagant, the Armenian language in its made to the entrance of Christianity at first, it is an
ancient form dates its origin undoubtedly from a undoubted fact, that early in the fourth century it
very early period. It seems to belong to the Indo- found a firm footing in Armenia through the labours
Germanic family, enriched with many Sanscrit words, of Gregory, the Enlightener, as he is called, and ever
but having no affinity with the Semitic tongues. since it has been the religion of the Armenian peo-
Christianity is said by the Armenian chronicles to ple. This zealous individual, by whom Tiridates the
have been introduced into their country even in Great, with a large number of his subjects were ad-
apostolic times, and the grounds on which they sup- mitted by baptism into the Christian Church, was
port this statement are curious. Eusebius, in his himself an Armenian of royal descent, who, having
· Ecclesiastical History,' mentions a strange story of been brought up in Cæsarea, was there educated in
one Agbarus, king of Edessa in Mesopotamia, having the religion of Jesus. For a time he had endured
sent a letter to our blessed Lord, requesting him to much persecution, and even bodily torture, for re-
come and cure him of a disease under which he was fusing to unite in the idolatrous worship of his coun-
labouring. The historian quotes from the records of trymen. By the blessing of God, however, upon
the church of Edessa a translation of this letter, his persevering exertions, a Christian Church was
along with another, purporting to be a reply from formed in Armenia, over which he himself was or-
Jesus Christ, promising to send one of his disciples dained bishop. Notwithstanding the adoption of
to heal him. Additions were afterwards made to the Christianity by many of the people, the old religion
story, to the effect that Thaddeus, one of the seventy, still maintained its ground in several of the Arme-
was deputed by the apostle Thomas to fulfil the pro- nian provinces. In the beginning of the fifth cen-
mise of the Saviour. Evagrius says that our Lord tury, Miesrob, who had at one time been the royal
not only sent a letter, but also a likeness of himself, secretary, set himself to the wider diffusion of Chris-
as Agbarus had expressed a strong desire to see him. tianity in the countries about the Caspian sea.
That this correspondence was really found in Edessa Hitherto the Syrian version of the Bible had been
there can be little doubt; but the fact that it is not used in Armenia; and, accordingly, it was neces-
mentioned by any ecclesiastical writer before Euse- sary to translate into the vernacular tongue the por-
bius, shows that it must have owed its origin to the tions of Scripture read at public worship. Miesrob,
national vanity of some of the early Christians in however, invented the Armenian alphabet, and in
Armenia. We are not informed that our Saviour | 411 he translated the Bible from the Septuagint into
committed anything to writing, and if he had done the Armenian language. From this time Chris-
so, his first followers would not have been silent on tianity made way in the country in defiance of all
the subject. Agbarus, the hero of this apocryphal the efforts put forth, both by Zoroastrians and Mo-
narrative, is called by Tacitus a king of the Arabs, hammedans, to crush it. The Persian kings were
but in the Armenian chronicles he is ranked among striving continually to extend their dominion in Ar-
the Armenian kings of the dynasty of the Arsacidæ. menia, and wherever they made conquests they per-
This monarch is said to have been converted to secuted the Christians, and sought to restore the old
Christianity simply by hearing of the wonderful religion. The Persian commander and governor,
works of Christ, and to have been baptized by Mihr-Nerseh, about the middle of the fifth century,
Thaddeus after having been cured of his disease issued a proclamation to all the Armenians, declar-
with which he had been afflicted for seven years. ing that all who did not adopt the Zoroastrian faith
By the labours of this apostolic missionary, not the must be under a mental delusion, and deceived by
king only, but great multitudes embraced the faith the Dews or wicked spirits. The Armenian nobles
of the Redeemer. It would appear, however, that thereupon held an assembly in the city of Ardas-
the successors of Agbarus, far from adopting for chad, A. D. 450, and declared their determination to
themselves, or favouring in others the profession of die as martyrs rather than deny the Christian faith.
Christianity, so persecuted and oppressed the Chris- After the Persian king, however, had summoned
tian churches which had been formed, that they al- them to his court, and threatened them with a cruel
most disappeared from the country.
death, they were prevailed upon to yield, and to
180
ARMENIAN CHURCH.
tender their renunciation of the religion of Christ. Christ there is but one nature; his human being
But the attempt, of the Persians to abolish Chris- | absorbed in his Divine nature. By this avowed re-
tianity and restore the Zoroastrian religion, roused jection of the Chalcedonian decrees, the Armenian
the indignation of the great mass of the Armenian Church separated itself from the communion of the
people, and gave rise to a keen religious war. other branches of the Eastern Church, and from
At its first formation, the Armenian Church was that time they have been denominated schismatics
regarded as a branch of the Syrian patriarchate un- and heretics by both the Greek and the Romish
der the primate of the Pontine Cæsarea. It does churches.
not seem to have been tainted by either the Arian This separation of the Armenians from the other
or Nestorian heresies, the Armenian bishops having | Christians was peculiarly favourable to the ambi-
given in their assent to the decrees of the councils tious schemes of the Persians, who, in consequence
of Nice and Ephesus. In the midst, however, of of the insurrection roused in Greater Armenia by
the commotions excited by the persecutions of the the persecutions of the Monophysites, made a more
Persian monarchs, a theological controversy had easy conquest of that country. The Persian ruler,
arisen which threatened to rend asunder the whole Chosroes, availed himself gladly of the isolated posi-
Christian body. The doctrine of Nestorius, which tion of his new Christian subjects to prevent that
he had first promulgated in A. D. 424, was to the intercourse with the Christians of the Roman empire
effect that Christ had not only two natures, but which might have led the Armenians to revolt from
also two persons, or, in other words, that a Divine his authority. With his concurrence accordingly,
person had taken up his abode in a human person. Nierses, the first bishop or Catholicos, as he is called,
In consequence of the wide diffusion of this heresy, of the Armenian Church, held a synod at Shiven, in
a council was summoned to meet at Ephesus in A. D. 536, at which the Monophysite doctrine was
A. D. 431. Over this council Cyril
, bishop of Alex- confirmed, and an anathema pronounced on the
andria, presided; and without much discussion, Nes- council of Chalcedon. This completed the rupture
torius was deposed, and his doctrine condemned. between the Armenian Church and the other lead-
One of the most violent opponents of Nestorius was ing churches both of the East and West.
Eutyches, the superior of a monastery in the neigh- The zealous endeavours of the Persians, not only
bourhood of Constantinople. This man, in his ar- to subjugate the country of Armenia, but to compel
dent anxiety to avoid the error of Nestorius, rushed the people to embrace the religion of Zoroaster,
to the other extreme, and fell into an equally dan- failed, as we have seen, to prevent the establish-
gerous error of an entirely opposite kind. Nesto- ment of a Christian church. But the effect of the
rius had maintained that Christ was possessed of two long-sustained civil wars which were thereby ex-
natures and of two persons; Eutyches maintained, cited, and which were continued till after the death
that, in the constitution of the person of Christ, of Yezdejird in A. D. 457, was to drive a number
the human nature and the Divine are one; the of the Christians from the country, and to lead
humanity being absorbed into the Divinity. This others to compromise matters by the partial adoption
new form of error had equally numerous and ardent of the Zoroastrian faith in combination with their
supporters with the error of Nestorius; and being a Christian creed. This mongrel superstition main-
heresy of the most fatal kind, striking at the root tained itself in Armenia until the middle of the
of some of the vital doctrines of Christianity, as, twelfth century. See ARIVURDIS.
for example, the atonement and the eternal priest- Long and severely have the Armenian Christians
hood of Christ, a council was called at Chalcedon, | been tried. Their country has been the scene of an
in A. D. 451, to prevent if possible its farther diffu- uninterrupted series of desolating wars; and yet,
sion. At that council Eutyches and his erroneous notwithstanding the successive invasions of Seljucks,
tenets were formally condemned. Notwithstanding Mamluks, Ottomans, and Persians, they have adhered
this decision, Eutychianism spread rapidly, and at with unflinching firmness to their ancient faith. In
this day, if we except the Greek Church, the whole the commencement of the seventeenth century,
Ar-
Oriental Christian churches are divided between the menia Proper was robbed of a large proportion of
error of Nestorius and that of Eutyches. The Ar. its inhabitants by the barbarous cruelty of Shah
menian bishops, probably on account of the dis-Abbas, who carried off forcibly thousands of Arme-
turbed state of their country from the persecution of nian families to Persia, where many of their descend-
the Christians by the Persians, had not been pre- ants still remain. No nation, with the exception of
sent at the council of Chalcedon; but no sooner were the Jews, has been more widely dispersed through-
its decrees published than they warmly es. Oused the out the world. . “Their merchants,” says Marsden,
cause of Eutyches. In A. D. 491, in a synod held are found in every European market, in all Asia,
at Vagharshabad, they formally rejected the decrees in India, at Singapore, and in the islands of the
of Chalcedon, and declared their adherence to the Eastern Archipelago.” The numbers of the Arme-
Eutychian doctrine, and at this day the Armenian, nians have been variously estimated. A million are
Jacobite, Coptic, and Abyssinian churches are all supposed to inhabit the Russian provinces of Eriván,
of them Monophysite
, holding the doctrine that in Karabagh, and Tiflis, recently conquered from Per-
.
ARMENIAN CHURCH.
181
sia ; a thousand more in the Turkish provinces of infant, which is done by rubbing a small piece of
Armenia, while half a million may be found in the consecrated bread dipped in wine upon the lips of
different countries of their dispersion. Messrs. Smith the child. The sacrament of confirmation is also per-
and Dwight, in their valuable Missionary Re- formed by the priest at the time of baptism. Thus
searches in Armenia,' rate them at two millions. four of the seven sacraments are administered at
The doctrines of the Armenian Church, in refer- once in the Armenian Church-baptism, confirma-
ence to the person of Christ, are, as we have seen, tion, extreme unction, and the eucharist.
strictly Monophysite, that is, they believe that the In regard to the Lord's Supper, the Armenians
Divine and human natures are amalgamated into believe firmly in transubstantiation, and worship the
one. Another point on which they differ from the consecrated elements as God. Unleavened bread is
Romish and all Protestant churches, but coincide in used in the sacrament, and the broken pieces of
opinion with the Greek Church, regards the Holy bread are dipped in undiluted wine, and thus given
Spirit, who they allege proceeds from the Father to the people; they are not, however, handled by
only, instead of, as the Nicene creed expresses it, the communicants, but put into their mouths by the
ex patre filioque,” from the Father and the Son. hands of the priests. They suppose the consecrated
In other respects the Greeks and the Armenians are elements have in themselves a sanctifying and sav-
generally agreed in their theological views, though ing power. The Greeks, on the other hand, when
they differ, in some particulars, in their forms and dispensing the communion, use leavened bread and
modes of worship. The standard by which they wine diluted with water. After the consecration of
profess to regulate their opinions is the Bible, along the elements among the Armenians, they are for-
with the three first councils, Nice, Constantinople, mally held up, the bishop turning to the congrega-
and Ephesus. Every other council is anathematized tion, and crying, "Holy, holy! let us with holiness
by the Armenian Church. They hold the sacra- taste of the honoured body and blood of our Lord
ments to be seven in number, viz. baptism, confirma- and Saviour Jesus Christ, which, descending from
tion, extreme unction, the communion, marriage, heaven, is divided among us. This is life, hope, re-
ordination, and penance. Baptism is administered surrection, propitiation, and remission of sins.”
among them by a threefold affusion of water by the While these words are being uttered, manifestations
hand of the priest, followed by a trine or threefold im- of the most profound adoration are shown by the
mersion of the whole body, emblematic of the Saviour's congregation, some with their foreheads to the
three days' abode in the grave; but this is not al- ground, others kneeling, with their hands suppliantly
ways considered indispensable. Three drops of the extended, their eyes directed to the adored object,
meirun or holy oil are mixed with the water, accom- and their countenances marked with an aspect of
panied by a prayer for the actual descent of the the most earnest entreaty.” The communion, as in
Holy Spirit into the oil and water, so that it may the Romish church, must be received fasting.
receive the benediction of the Jordan. They com- The Armenians deny their belief in the doctrine
memorate in this rite “the mother of God and eter- of purgatory, at least they never use the word; but,
nal Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist, and all the with strange inconsistency, they offer prayers for
saints, along with the Lord.” They believe that by the dead, believing that the souls of the departed
the sacrament of baptism original sin is taken away, may derive benefit from the prayers of the church.
and that regeneration and adoption are obtained. Auricular confession, as practised amongst the
They acknowledge sprinkling as a lawful mode of Armenians, and the form of absolution used by the
baptism, for they receive from other churches those priest, approach more nearly to the Roman Catholic
that have been sprinkled without rebaptizing them. than to the Greek Church. The form of absolution is
The practice of pouring water three times upon the as follows: “May a compassionate God have mercy
head they derive from the tradition that this was on thee! May He pardon thee all thy confessed and
the mode in which Christ was baptized in the Jor- forgotten sins! And I, by right of my priestly au-
dan. Converts from Judaism and Mohammedanism, thority, and the Divine command, “Whatsoever ye
though adults,' are baptized in the same manner. shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven,' by
The Greeks differ from the Armenians in regard that same word do absolve thee from all connection
to the admission of converts from other churches with thy sins, of thought, of word, and of deed, in
in this respect, that they admit none such, in what the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
ever manner they may have been previously bap- Ghost.” Absolution is given without charge on
tized, without rebaptizing them. After baptism confession to the priest. Penances are imposed, but
the Armenians apply the meirun or chrism to the no indulgences given. Prayers to the Virgin Mary
child in the same manner as extremie unction is and other saints are in habitual use, and much im-
administered among the Roman Catholics-anoint-portance is attached to them. The cross and pic-
ing the forehead, eyes, ears, breast, palms of the tures of the saints are also objects of worship. Some-
hands, and soles of the feet with the consecrated times in the same painting God the Father is repre-
oil in form of a cross. When this process has been sented as an aged, venerable man, the Son appears
gone through they administer the communion to the under the form of a youth, and the Holy Spirit un-
182
ARMENIAN CHURCH.
der the form of a dove, while the Virgin Mary is themselves in rapid succession a number of times,
introduced as an indispensable accompaniment. That while the priests are engaged in chanting the prayers.
the mother of our Lord was aei parthenos, ever Vir- These prostrations are made frequently before a pic-
gin, the Armenians regard as a doctrine of the high- ture of the Virgin or one of the saints. In the more
est importance; and they consider, that the very recently constructed Armenian churches, however,
thought of her bearing other children, after having pictures are excluded. In some of the country
given birth to Christ, cannot be entertained by any churches, instead of prostrating themselves while the
one without his being chargeable with blasphemy prayers are being chanted, they simply kneel, and
and impiety.
remain quietly in that posture till the prayer is
We are informed by Messrs. Smith and Dwight, finished; this being in all probability the ancient
in their · Missionary Researches,' that the Arme- practice in the Armenian churches.
nians have an extreme veneration for the original The seasons for religious worship among the Ar-
cross on which our Saviour was crucified, attributing menians are numerous and protracted, and, of course,
to it powers of intercession with God and of defend- the service is too often gone through in a careless
ing from évil. In the book which contains the and perfunctory manner. The following detailed
daily prayers of the church, the following expres- account as given by Dr. Wilson, will afford the rea-
sions occur, " Through the supplications of the holy der some interesting information on the subject.
cross, the silent intercessor, O merciful Lord! have “The Armenian ritual appoints nine distinct seasons
compassion on the spirits of our dead." "Let us sup for daily worship, and contains the services for them,
plicate from the Lord the great and mighty power of viz., midnight, the hour of Christ's resurrection ;
the holy cross for the benefit of our souls." After a the dawn of day, when he appeared to the two Marys
cross has been consecrated, it may be set up towards at the sepulchre; sunrise, when he appeared to his
the East as an object of worship and prayer. The disciples; three o'clock (reckoning from sunrise),
sign of the cross is in universal use among them, and when he was nailed to the cross ; six o'clock, when
on all occasions, but while the Greek Church make the darkness over all the earth commenced; nine
it with three fingers in honour of the Trinity, the o'clock, when he gave up the ghost; evening, when
Armenian Church make it with two in token of their he was taken from the cross and buried; after the
Monophysite doctrine, that there are two natures in latter, when he descended to hades to deliver the
Christ blended into one, and the JACOBITES (which spirits in prison ; and on going to bed. But never,
see) with one, in commemoration of the Divine unity. except perhaps in the case of some ascetics, are re-
The Armenians believe in baptismal regeneration, ligious services performed so often. All but the
or rather they have no idea of a spiritual change ninth are usually said at twice, viz., at matins and
as either necessary or required, and they know lit- vespers, which are performed daily in every place
tle of any other terms of salvation than penance, the that has a priest ; the former commencing at the
Lord's Supper, fasting, and other good works. In dawn of day, and embracing the first six services,
such circumstances, as may be easily conceived, their and the latter commencing about an hour before sun-
notions of faith and repentance are vague and ob- set, ånd embracing the seventh and eighth. On the
The only idea they have of repentance is, Sabbath, and on some of the principal holidays, in-
that it consists of the faithful discharge of the pen- stead of one, there are frequently two assemblies in
ances imposed by the priest. They allege that the morning.' Mass is as distinct from these ser-
Christ died to atone for original sin, and that actual vices as the communion service in the Church of
sin is to be washed away by penances, which some- England is distinct from morning prayer.
It is
times are prescribed to be performed by the payment generally performed daily. The Psalms of David,
of a sum of money to the church, a pilgrimage, or hymns, and anthems, occupy half of the services;
but,
more commonly the repeating certain prayers, or being in prose, they are not sung but chanted. Most
reading the whole Book of Psalms a specified num- of the lessons are taken from the Bible; but a con-
ber of times.
siderable number belong to the Apocrypha and books
The Armenian churches are opened regularly twice of extravagant legends. The prayers are offered up
every day, morning and evening, for prayers, and in behalf of the dead, as well as of the living; and
mass is performed every day in all the city churches, they are presented with the invocation of the Virgin
though in the country less frequently, according to Mary, John the Baptist, Sarp Stephen, and Sarp
the size of the church and the number of priests Gregorius Loosavorich (St. Gregory the Enlight-
attached to it. The service occupies sometimes six ener), and other saints, as well as of Him who is the
hours and more in its performance. It consists in only mediator between God and man. The mode of
chanting and reading prayers and portions of the conducting divine worship among them is often very
Scriptures, and in responses from the people. The unlike what is to be expected, when that God, who
officiating priest or bishop is richly dressed, as well
richly dressed, as well is a Spirit, is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth.
as the deacons and singers. Small bells are rung The prayers and readings are in the ancient Arme-
and incense is burned. At the ordinary morning nian language, which is little, if at all, understood by
and evening prayers, the people kneel, and cross the common people; and they are generally read
scure.
ARMENIAN CHURCH.
183
both rapidly and indistinctly. In the enclosure more strictly than the Sabbath.
Besides these,
before the altar,' says one who has more frequently there are numerous other feasts and fasts, more nu-
witnessed their devotions than myself, will be two merous even than the days of the year; so that in
or three priests, surrounded by a crowd of boys from some instances several are appointed to be observed
eight to twelve years old, performing prayers; some on one day. Some of the fasts extend over a consi-
swinging a smoking censer, others, taper in hand, derable time, as for instance, forty days before Eas-
reading first from one book and then from another, ter, and six days before Christmas. Besides the oc-
and all changing places and positions according to casional fasts, there are two weekly fasts, the one
rule. The monotonous, inarticulate, sing-song of the on Wednesday and the other on Friday. No fewer
youthful officiators, with voices often discordant, and than 165 days in the year are appointed for fasting.
stretched to their highest pitch, will grate upon your | On these days they are permitted to eat plentifully
ear. You will be surrounded by a barefooted con- of all kinds of vegetable food, except the vegetable
gregation, [this is no matter of reproach, for the oils ; thus their fasting is limited entirely to absti-
shoes are taken off for the same reason that our own nence from animal food.
hats are,] uttering responses without order, and fre- From the scattered condition of the Armenian
quently prostrating themselves and kissing the people, and their subjection to different political gov-
ground, with a sign of the cross at every fall and rise. ernments, their ecclesiastical polity is somewhat mo-
Why so large a portion of the service has been suf- dified. Originally, as we learn from Mr. Dwight,
fered to pass into the hands of boys, is exceedingly whose residence as a missionary in Turkey has given
strange. They fill the four ecclesiastical grades be- him peculiar facilities of acquiring accurate informa-
low the sub-deacon, to which are attached the duties tion, the Armenian church was placed under one head
of clerks, or more commonly are substitutes for their styled Catholicos, who usually held his seat at the im-
occupants, having themselves no rank at all in the perial residence. Subsequently several different Ca-
church. Of the first 158 pages of the Jamakírk, tholicoses were created by parties rising up in differ-
containing the whole of the midnight service, with ent parts of the country, and taking advantage of the
all its variations for feasts, and other special occa- disturbed state of public affairs. At present there
sions, more than 130, consisting of psalms, hymns, are three Catholicoses among the Armenians, one at
&c., are read or chanted by them under the direction | Echmiadzin, one at Aghtamar in Lake Van, and one
of the priests. Of the remaining pages, some half a at Sis, in the ancient province of Cilicia. The high-
dozen belong to the deacons, if there are any, and est of these ecclesiastical rulers is the Catholicos who
the remainder, consisting simply of prayers and les- resides at Echmiadzin, near Erivan, and who has un-
sons from the gospels, are read by the priests. All der his jurisdiction the whole of Turcomania, or Ar-
the service, with few other exceptions than the les- menia Major; but in consequence of that province
sons, and that the priest in the middle of every prayer having fallen under the dominion of Russia, and the
of any length turns round to wave a cross before the Catholicos being since 1828 appointed by the Czar,
people, and say, “ Peace be to all, let us worship the Armenians at Constantinople, with all those in
God,” is performed with the back to the congrega- Turkey in Europe, and in Asia Minor and Armenia
tion. If a boy makes a mistake, he is reproved, or proper, have been ostensibly without any spiritual
even chastised on the spot, though a prayer be inter- head, although there is still a secret connection be-
rupted for the purpose. The people, too, are con- tween them and the Catholicos at Echmiadzin, to
stantly coming and going, or moving about, and often whom several vartabeds have lately gone to be ordain-
engaged in conversation.' This gross irreverence, ed bishops. Ever since the Russians obtained posses-
it is but justice to say, is matter of regret with many
matter of regret with many sion of that part of the country, the Czar has claimed
of the intelligent Armenians with whom I have come the right of appointing, not only the Catholicos, but
in contact. The Sabbath the Armenians regard with even the bishops, so that whenever a bishopric be-
greater strictness, as far as rest is concerned, than comes vacant, the synod of Echmiadzin sends the
most of the other bodies of Eastern Christians; and few names of two or three candidates to St. Petersburg,
of the people altogether neglect attendance at church. from which the emperor selects one to fill the office.
This bespeaks on their part some becoming rever- In consequence, probably, of Gregory the Enlightener
ence for the divine institution. It would doubtless having been ordained at Cesarea, the Armenian Ca-
tend to its better sanctification, were they to curtail tholicos was always consecrated by the primate of
the numerous feast and fast days which they have Cesarea, until A.D.366, when Narses the Great was de-
devised of their own hearts. It is to be lamented clared by the king, nobles, and bishops, sovereign and
that they too often substitute their attendance at independent Catholicos of the nation. For a long time
church for family and private prayer.”
the Catholicos of Sis, in Armenia Minor, was the ac-
As the above quotation alludes to the numerous knowledged head of the Armenian church, but in A. D.
feasts and fasts in the Armenian church, it may be 1441, an assembly of seven hundred of the clergy trans-
remarked that there are fourteen great feast days in ferred the supremacy to the see of Echmiadzin, for no
the course of the year; and on these days all ordi- other reason that has come down to us, than that a
nary labour is suspended, and the day is observed | precious relic, the hand of St. Gregory, was in the pos-
184
ARMENIAN CHURCH.
session of that convent. The removal of the supreme much modified: by the power of the primates, who
authority from the Catholicos of Sis, naturally pro: are chiely bankers, and all of them men of great
duced a feeling of jealousy and dislike between the wealth. The patriarch is really the creature of the
respective occupantss of the two rival sees, which primates, and can do little without their approval.
continued for more than two hundred years, until at He enjoys the title of archbishop, and though he
length; in A.. D.'1651, a written agreement was made cannot ordain, has the appointment of bishops to
between the incumbents of the two sees, in virtue of their sees, for which, such is the corruption prevail-
which the Cilician primate still governs a smalling in the Armenian church, he charges large sums
branch of the Armenian church in full communion of money, while the bishops on their part ordain to
with the rest. He maintains independent jurisdic- the priesthood for money. For a long time past the
tion within his diocese, and is regarded as the most shameless bribery, and deceit, and intrigue,
spiritual head of the Armenian church in Turkey. have prevailed in this otherwise interesting church,
The third Catholicos, resident at Agthamar, in the which throughout many centuries maintained the
island of Lake Van, is of far more recent origin than profession of its faith, and its Christian name; under
either of the other two, having assumed the title and the severest oppression of Pagan and Mohammedan
functions of the office only in the beginning of the conquerors, and amid the strongest worldly induce-
twelfth century. Excommunication followed his as- ments to apostatize.
sumption of the ecclesiastical dignity, a sentence The Armenian church is episcopal in its form of
which was not removed till near the end of the fol-
government. There are nine different grades of
lowing century. Since that time he has continued clergy, all of them set apart to their respective offices
to exercise his office in full communion with the by the laying on of hands. Four of these are below
church, though his ecclesiastical jurisdiction extends the order of deacon, and are called porters, readers,
scarcely beyond the small island in which he resid exorcists, and candle-lighters. After these come in
In addition to the three Catholicoses now spoken regular order the subdeacons, deacons, priests, bishops,
of, there are two patriarchs in the Armenian church, and highest of all, the catholicos. All below the
the one resident, at Constantinople, and the other at bishop are ordained by the bishop, and the bishop
Jerusalem. Both these offices originated with the receives ordination from the catholicos. The catho- :
Mohammedan authorities for their own convenience. licos is ordained by a council of bishops. There is
Neither of them has the power of ordaining bishops, a peculiar order of clergy known among the Armenians
but must send them to Echmiadzin. They them- | by the name of Vartabeds. The difference between
selves, however, hold the rank of bishops ecclesias- this class and the priests may be stated in the fol-
tically, though invested with high political authority lowing particulars : -The priests are married, and in
by the Turks. The Armenian patriarch at Constan- fact no man can be ordained priest unless at the time
tinople possesses the power of imprisoning and of his ordination he is married; the vartabeds never
scourging members of his own flock; and, until re- marry, and have taken upon them the vow of perpe-
cently, as Mr. Dwight informs us, this politico- tual celibacy. The priests always remain priests,
ecclesiastical officer could procure their banishment and can never rise to the rank of bishops; the var-
from the Turkish authorities whenever he pleased. tabeds may become bishops, and in fact all the
The late charter given by the sultan to his subjects bishops are taken from that order, and are bound to
prevents any such abuse, requiring in every case a perpetual celibacy. The priests never preach; the
regular trial before the Turkish courts. The patri- vartabeds are the preachers, strictly speaking, among
arch of Constantinople receives his appointment from the Armenian clergy. The priests live in the midst
the sultan on a nomination from the primates of the of their flocks, and go in and out among them freely;
nation.
the vartabeds live not among the people, but in con-
The Armenian patriarch of Jerusalem was first vents, where there are convents, or where there are
appointed so far back as A. D. 1311, and the office none they live by themselves within the church enclo-
owes its existence to the sultan of Egypt. The first sures. In case the wife of a priest dies, he is not per-
patriarch of Constantinople was appointed by Mo- mitted to marry a second time, and he may then, if he
hammed II., on his capture of that city in A. D. chooses, become a vartabed. There are several differ-
1453. Up to a recent period he was possessed of ent degrees of rank among the vartabeds, each of which
despotic power, being responsible to the sultan for has its own special ordination service. One of these,
the good conduct of his people. A prison exists called by way of distinction, the supreme order of
within his own precincts, over which he has had en- vartabed, is now practically unknown; though ac-
tire control. The heaviest oppressions accordingly cording to the rules of the church it ought to exist.
have been practised, by defeating attempts to pro- The individual who fills this office may be either a
cure the official passports, which are needed to go vartabed or a bishop. If the former, he may be or-
from place to place, or the licenses necessary for oc- dained to it by a bishop; but if the latter, he must
cupying houses or shops, or prosecuting trades, be set apart to this high office by the Catholicos
marrying, burying the dead, &c. The despotic himself. He is considered, by way of eminence, as
power of the patriarchs, however, is practically | an apostolical preacher, and his labours are to be

Picart
T. Brown
OF
Worship according to the Armenian Church.
ICH ,
A. Fallarton & Cº London & Edinburgh
ARMENIAN CHURCH.
185
among the heathen alone. The spirit of missions is ample was followed by the clergy generally. About
dead in the Armenian church, and, therefore, they this time the American Board of Missions came to
have no further employment for such a class of men. 'the resolution of sending missionaries to labour
Amid the numerous errors and corruptions which among the Armenians. The interesting circumstance
have crept into the Armenian church, it has always which first led to this step was, the conversion at
been a favourable circumstance that these have never Beirût of three Armenian ecclesiastics, who forth-
been reduced to a systematic form, and promulgated to with directed their efforts towards the accomplish-
the world by authority of a synod or council, as the ment of a reform in their church. They were not a
errors of the Romish church have been in the decrees little aided in this by the labours of Peshtimaljian, a
of the council of Trent. And besides, the Bible has learned and conscientious individual, who was at the
always been avowedly the only rule or standard of head of a school established within the precincts of
her faith, however she may have.practically exalted the patriarchate.
the patriarchate. He had studied the theology of
the traditions of men and the authority of the church both the Oriental and the Romish churches, and be-
above the Bible. The Scriptures have never been sides, he had been a diligent student of the Word of
forbidden to the people, but on the contrary, the God. To this man, in his official capacity, be-
New Testament has been used in the elementary longed to train the candidates for the priesthood, the
schools.
completion of their studies at this institution being
About the middle of the eighteenth century, a required as a pre-requisite to ordination. The re-
priest of Constantinople, named Debajy Oghlâ, pro- sult was, that until the death of this remarkable per-
tested against the abuses and errors which existed son in 1838, great numbers of priests passed under
in the Armenian church. He wrote a work upon his instructions, and went forth to labour among the
the subject, which, though never printed, was circu- people with their minds thoroughly imbued and
lated widely from hand to hand, and contributed their hearts deeply impressed with evangelical truth.
much towards the reformation which is now in pro- Meanwhile a mission among the Armenians of Tur-
gress. In 1813 the Russian Bible Society published key had been established by the American Board.
an edition of 5,000 copies of the Armenian Bible, But no sooner did the missionaries commence their
and soon after 2,000 copies of the ancient Armenian energetic labours, aided by Sahakyan, a pupil in the
New Testament, while the British and Foreign Bible school of Peshtimaljian, than opposition on the part
Society issued an equally large edition of the New of both the Armenian and the Romish clergy began
Testament in the version of the fifth century. In to arise; and by their secret influence, a school
the report of the latter Society for 1814, it is re- which the missionaries had formed in Constantinople
marked, “ The printing of the Armenian Testament was broken up. An influential jeweller in the city,
has awakened great attention among the Armenians, who belonged to the Armenian church, accused Sa-
particularly in Russia ; and a fervent desire has been hakyan and another young man of heresy, and pre-
manifested on their part to possess that invaluable vailed upon Peshtimaljian to summon them before
treasure.' This was evidently the commencement him for examination. The youths appeared, and the
of an important movement, which was all the more jeweller confidently charged them with violating their
likely to go forward, as it was countenanced by the obligations to the church, and dishonouring God.
Russian Emperor Alexander I., and also by the Catho- They were about to vindicate themselves, but Pesh-
licos of the Armenian church. It was found, in dis- | timaljian took the matter into his own hands, and
tributing the Bibles, that the language in which they proved to the astonished jeweller, both from history
were written was not understood by the mass of the and Scripture, that the Armenian church itself, and
people, and accordingly in 1822 the Russian Society | not the young men, was heretical and idolatrous.
ranslated the New Testament into the Armeno-
The young men were then heard for themselves, and
Turkish, and in the following year a translation ap- aided by Peshtimaljian, they so satisfactorily estab-
peared under the auspices of the British and Foreign lished the truth of the opinions which they held, that
Bible Society in the vulgar Armenian tongue. These the jeweller was convinced of his own errors, and
translations were found to be somewhat imperfect, | those of his church, and from that day openly avowed
but they have since been supplanted by new and im- himself a zealous supporter of evangelical doctrines.
proved translations executed by American mission- One of the greatest hindrances to the progress of
aries. Thus far no opposition was made by the the gospel among the Armenians, has been the per-
Armenian clergy to the free circulation of the Scrip- secuting character of the Armenian patriarchal
tures among their people. In 1823, however, a dif- power at Constantinople. Being not only itself in-
ferent spirit began to be manifested. Messrs. Lewis vested with despotic authority, but having great in-
and Baker, agents of the Bible Society, having ap- fluence with the Turkish authorities, it throws every
plied to the Armenian patriarch of Constantinople obstacle in the way of the missionaries, and endea-
for his sanction to the printing of a version of the vours by all possible means to prevent the people
New Testament in the modern Armenian, which the from embracing Protestant and evangelical princi-
common people understand, that dignitary refused ples.
ples. To discourage all such conversions, Sahakyan
his sanction in the most positive terms, and his ex- was seized and imprisoned for a long period, though
186
ARMENIAN CHURCH.
}
1
a
accused of no other crime than having left the Ar- | ing the candles, and the great veil was drawn in
menian church; and it was not until the sultan in- front of the main altar, and a bull of excision and
terposed in his behalf, that the patriarch, after inany anathema was solemnly read against Priest Ver-
delays, and with great reluctance, sent an order for taness, including all the followers of the modern
his release on the 10th February 1840. By the sectaries.' He was styled by the Patriarch à con-
divine blessing, the American missionaries have been temptible wretch,' who, 'following his carnal lusts,
enabled to prosecute their work among the Arme- had forsaken the Church, and was going about as a
nians with unabated energy and zeal, notwithstanding 'vagabond,'' babbling out errors,' and being an 'oc-
the strenuous opposition of the patriarch and many casion of stumbling to many.' He was said to be a
of the clergy. Nor have they laboured in vain. A traitor, and murderer of Christ, a child of the devil,
most gratifying reformation has been steadily going and an offspring of Antichrist, worse than an infidel
forward in the Armenian community. A marked or a heathen,' for teaching the impieties and seduc-
difference has been observed in the style of preaching, tions of modern sectaries (Protestants).' Where-
not only in the capital, but throughout the country. fore,' says the Patriarch, we expel him, and forbid
Many of the vartabeds declaim loudly against the him as a devil, and a child of the devil, to enter into
errors into which their church has fallen, and preach the company of believers. We cut him off from the
the peculiar doctrines of the gospel with faithfulness priesthood, as an amputated member of the spiritual
and zeal.
body of Christ, and as a branch cut off from the
In 1843, an event occurred in Constantinople vine, which is good for nothing but to be cast into
which awakened the most intense excitement the fire. By this admonitory bull, I therefore com-
throughout the city. A young Armenian, who had | mand and warn my beloved in every city, far and
rashly and without due consideration embraced the near, not to look upon his face—regarding it as the
Mohammedan faith, and afterwards returned to his face of Belial; not to receive him into your holy
former profession, was publicly beheaded in the dwellings; for he is a house-destroying and raven-
streets of Constantinople, in opposition to the re- ing wolf; not to receive his salutation, but as a soul-
monstrances of Sir Stratford Canning, the British destroying and deadly poison ; and to beware, with
minister. The ambassadors of the different Chris- all your households, of the seducing and impious
tian Powers represented at this court, joined Mr. followers of the false doctrine of the modern secta-
Canning in protesting against an act of such flagrant ries (Protestants); and to pray for them to the God
cruelty and injustice, and by their firmness and im- who remembereth not iniquity, if perchance they
portunity they succeeded in obtaining from the sul- may repent and turn from their wicked paths, and
tan a written pledge, that no person who had em- secure the salvation of their souls, through the grace
braced the Mohammedan religion and afterwards of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is blessed
returned to Christianity, should on that account be for ever. Amen.'
put to death. This was a triumph over Mussulman " This bull of excision and anathema was followed
intolerance the most signal and surprising, the first by a violent denunciatory discourse from the Pa-
step towards the introduction of religious liberty into triarch, against all the Protestants in general, and
Turkey, and the precursor, we doubt not, of a glori- | the priest in particular, which called forth many
ous day when the Crescent shall give place to the loud'amens' from the inflamed people.
Cross.
“On the following day the greatest activity pre-
In the autumn of 1844 the prospects of the mis- vailed among the priests, in every part of the city
sionaries, which had for some time been brightening, and suburbs. All moved like the different parts of
were suddenly beclouded by the appointment to the a machine, as if by one impulse, and it was not dif-
patriarchate of Constantinople of Matteos, bishop of ficult to trace the direction from which that impulse
Smyrna, a man whose prevailing principle seemed to
had come.
The resolute Patriarch was determined
be inordinate ambition, and who, seeing that the rul- not to trust merely to the impression made upon the
ing party of his church was opposed to the diffusion of people by the anathema, and his accompanying de-
the Protestant truth, was not long in setting on foot | nunciations on the preceding day. He, therefore,
a persecution of the most severe and unrelenting issued orders to his clergy to see that the temporal
nature. His object was to crush if possible, by coer- penalties threatened in that instrument were imme-
cive measures, the evangelical party. The first indi- diately inflicted to the very letter. The priests
vidual selected to be the subject of this bold experi- went forth simultaneously to their work,—most of
ment was Priest Vertaness, who had been the un- them apparently with good-will
, but some reluc-
wearied promoter of evangelical truth, and had been tantly, their sympathies being with the innocent vic-
already twice banished for his religious principles. tims of oppression, rather than with the oppressor.
The following interesting account of this persecution | The Armenian heads of all the trade corporations in
is given by Mr. Newbold, in his valuable 'Cyclopædia | the city were commanded to withdraw their counte-
of Missions :' " On Sunday, January 25, `after the nance from all Protestants who would not recant,
usual morning services in the patriarchal church The keepers of khans and the owners of houses were
were finished, the house was darkened by extinguish- | ordered to eject all lodgers and tenants who would
1
r
ARMENIAN CHURCH.
187
not comply with this condition. Families were also a son that is such an one, or a brother, or a partner,
visited by the priests, wherever any one lived who in business) and gives him bread, or assists him in
was suspected of heresy, and it was enjoined upon making money, or has intercourse with him as a
them to expel the offending member, or separate friend, or does business with him, let such persons
from it, even though it were a son or daughter, know that they are nourishing a venomous serpent
brother or sister, husband or wife. The Protestant
The Protestant in their houses, which will one day injure them with
brethren were summoned to repair immediately to its deadly poison, and they will lose their souls. Such
the Patriarchate in order publicly to recant and be persons give bread to Judas. Such persons are ene-
come reconciled to the Church. To give force to mies of the holy faith of Christianity, and destroyers
the whole, the threat was issued that all who re- of the holy orthodox Church of the Armenians, and
fused to aid in carrying out these measures against a disgrace to the whole nation. Wherefore, their
the new sectaries,' should themselves be anathe- houses and shops also are accursed ; and whoever
matized.
goes to visit them, we shall learn, and publish them
"A wild spirit of fanaticism now reigned. Before to the Holy Church, by terrible anathemas.
it, all sense of right, all regard to truth and justice, “The spirit of exasperation knew no bounds. One
all bowels of mercies' vanished away. Even the after another, the brethren were summoned before
strong and tender affection subsisting between hus- the Patriarch, or the local ecclesiastical authorities
bands and wives, brothers and sisters, parents and of their particular quarter of the city, and required
children, was, in some instances, exchanged for the to sign a paper of recantation, on penalty of being
cruel and relentless hate of the persecutor. The very 'terribly anathematized,' which involved their being
constancy of the people of God provoked still more deprived of all business and treated as outlaws. The
the wrath of their enemies. Their readiness to suf- first paper presented for their signature was, in sub-
fer joyfully the spoiling of their goods was consi- stance, a confession that under the wicked entice-
dered as a proof that large temporal rewards had been ments of Satan' they had 'separated from the spot-
offered them by the missionaries; and their unwa- less bosom of the Holy Church,' and joined the
vering fidelity to Christ was interpreted into obsti- 'impious sect’ of the Protestants; which now they
nacy. Some on the side of the Church, who at first saw to be nothing else but an invention of arro-
were signally wanting in zeal, in furthering the Pa- gance, a snare of Satan, a sect of confusion, a broad
triarch's violent measures, were stimulated into active road which leadeth to destruction.' Wherefore re-
persecutors, by what appeared to them, in their reli- penting of their impious deeds, they fled for par-
gious indifferentism, as mere stubbornness on the don'to the bosom of the holy and immaculate
part of the Protestants.
Armenian Church,' and confessed that “her faith is
“The leading men in the different trade corpora- spotless, her sacraments divine, her rites of apostolic
tions, showed more resoluteness than any other class, origin, her ritual pious ;' and promised to receive
in attempting to force the evangelical brethren to a whatever this same holy Church receiveth, whether
compliance with the Patriarch's demands; and they it be a matter of faith or ceremony,' and to reject
could urge motives more potent than almost any with anathemas,' 'whatever doctrines she rejects.'
other of a worldly nature. Whatever method of “This first paper not being sufficiently explicit to
coercion was resorted to, whether by priests or peo- suit some of the persecuting party, another was drawn
ple, it was everywhere publicly declared to be by up in the form of a creed, to which all were required to
the express command of the Patriarch Matteos. subscribe, as the only condition of being restored to
During the week after the first anathema was the favour of the Patriarch, that is, to their civil pri-
read, although many were forcibly driven from their vileges. This creed contained substantially all the
houses and shops, and prevented from doing busi- errors of Popery. It acknowledged that good works
ness to support themselves and families, and some justify a man as well as faith; that the Church is in-
were expelled from the paternal roof, and otherwise fallible; that there are seven sacraments; that bap-
afflicted, yet not one was induced to recant. On the tism by water, and private confession to a priest are
following Sabbath, the passions of an ignorant and essential to salvation; that the soul of one dying
superstitious people were still more inflamed by a without full penance for his sins, is after death,
second anathema, which, like the first, was read in purified by the prayers of the Church, by the blood-
all the churches, and accompanied by the most vio- less sacrifice of the mass, and by the alms-giving of
lent denunciations from the Patriarch, the bishops, his friends ; that the bread and wine of communion
and the vartabeds. In this bull it was declared that are the true body and blood of Christ; that Mary.is
not only the cursed nonentity, Vertaness,' ' falsely the mother of God; that 'the holy anointed' mate-
called priest,' was anathematized by the "holy rial crosses are worthy of adoration, as also relics
Church, but likewise “all that were of his senti- and pictures; that the intercession of the saints is
ments. They were together pronounced to be 'ac- acceptable to God; and that the Patriarchs rule the
cursed, and excommunicated, and anathematized by Church as Christ's vicegerents. It also required
God, and by all his saints, and by us,' that is, Mat- those who subscribed it to join in anathematizing all
teos Patriarch. Wherefore,' he says, ' whoever has | who call the worship of the holy cross, and of relics
(6
188
ARMENIAN CHURCH.
and pictures, idolatry, and who reject the ceremonies | dained over the newly formed church; and they lost
of the Church as superstitious.”
no time in giving forth to the world the declara-
The paper of recantation and the new creed were tion of their faith, and their reasons for the step
sent by the Patriarch throughout the country, and they had taken. In the course of the same sum-
the evangelical brethren were summoned before their mer churches were formed on the same basis in
respective ecclesiastical rulers, and called upon to Nicomedia, Adabazar, and Trebizond. The Patriarch
sign it. Those who refused were visited with heavy was indefatigable in devising all possible means of
marks of the Patriarch's displeasure. Nearly forty annoying the body which had thus separated from
individuals in Constantinople had their shops closed, the Armenian church.
and their licenses to trade taken from them, thus be- The position which the Protestants now occupied
ing deprived of the means of earning an honest live- was somewhat anomalous. Separated from the Ar-
lihood. Nearly seventy were obliged to quit their menian community they were not united to any
homes and relatives for Christ's sake. Bakers were other. They thus stood isolated and apart. Govern-
forbidden to supply them with bread, and water-car- ment were resolved to protect them; but the mode
riers with water. For weeks together the Armenian of affording this protection was surrounded with dif-
churches rang from Sabbath to Sabbath with ana- ficulties. According to the municipal regulations of
themas against all who had joined “the new sect. Constantinople, neither marriage, baptism, nor burial
Falsehoods and calumnies of every kind were spread could take place without the cognizance of the civil
against the Protestants. The brethren could not pass authorities, and that, too, through the Patriarch.
along the streets without being insulted and spit upon. And, besides, no man could travel in the country
Under these painful circumstances, letters of sympa- without a passport, and that passport must be ac-
thy, accompanied with ample contributions in money, | companied by the Patriarch's voucher for the man's
poured in from all quarters of the Christian world. honesty. Thus the Armenian Protestants were now
The British ambassador represented the case of the placed in the most difficult circumstances. For more
oppressed and persecuted Armenian converts to the than a year and a half they remained in this state,
Sultan, and by his earnest and persevering exertions bearing with patience the grievances, and even op-
in their behalf, Reschid Pasha, the Minister of pressions to which they were exposed. At length,
Foreign Affairs, gave orders that the Protestants however, they were permitted to bury, to marry,
should be allowed to resume their business, on con- and to obtain a passport for travelling without the
dition that they became sureties for one another. mediation of the Patriarch. They were now under
This arrangement settled the question of religious the direct protection of the Turkish authorities, and
liberty for the Protestants in Turkey. Though open | independent both in spiritual and temporal matters
persecution was thus authoritatively forbidden, the of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and to the great
brethren were still exposed to many secret infringe- joy of the brethren, the Turkish government, chiefly
ments upon their liberty and comfort. The govern- at the instigation of Lord Cowley, who was tempor-
ment, however, were resolved to maintain the princi- arily acting as British ambassador to the Porte,
ples of freedom which they had already avowed; and, issued an imperial decree on the 15th November,
accordingly, a vizirial letter was issued in June 1846, 1847, recognizing native Protestants as constituting
commanding the Pasha of Erzrûm to see that the a separate and independent community in Turkey.
civil rights of the Protestants were duly respected, This important official document contained a clause
so long as they were faithful subjects of the Sultan. expressly securing that “no interference whatever
This was the first imperial document ever issued by should be permitted in their temporal or spiritual
the Turkish government for the protection of its concerns on the part of the patriarchs, monks, or
Protestant subjects.
priests of other sects.” This decree, which was held
The Patriarch Matteos was determined to put by the Armenian Protestant Church in Turkey as
forth his utmost efforts for the suppression of the the Magna Charta of its liberties, was sent to all
Protestant spirit which was now so strong in the the pashas throughout the country; and still further
Armenian church. He issued, accordingly, a new to ensure that the provisions of the decree should be
bull of excommunication and anathema against all carried out fully and impartially, an individual,
who remained firm to their evangelical principles, elected by the new community, was formally recog-
decreeing that it should be publicly read on the same nized by the government as the agent and repre-
day every year in all the Armenian churches through-sentative of the Protestants at the Porte. This was
out the Ottoman empire. This gave the finishing the commencement of a new era for Christianity in
blow to the work of persecution, and by solemnly Turkey and throughout the East. A Protestant
cutting off and castirtg out all Protestants from the Church has been thus established in the dominions
church, he brought about through necessity the or- of the Sultan, formally acknowledged and protected
ganization of the Evangelical Protestant churches in by the Ottoman government.
Turkey. On the 1st day of July 1846 was formed The plans which the patriarch Matteos had formed
the first Evangelical Armenian Church of Constan- for the extirpation of Protestantism from the coun-
tinople. In the following week a pastor was or- try had now signally failed. The hour of retribution
ARMENIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH–ARMILLUS.
189
.
had come. Found guilty of various frauds upon | stantinople and Asia Minor. The following state-
the public treasury, and of acts of injustice incon- ment in regard to them is given by Mr. Holmes,
sistent with patriarchal dignity, the persecuting an American missionary. “The Armenian Catho-
ecclesiastic was removed from office, degraded, and lics in the city are estimated at from 10,000 to
sentenced to banishment. A friendly banker in 13,000 souls. They are found also in Smyrna, An-
Constantinople interposed, and procured his release gora, Tokat, Trebizond, and in small numbers in
from this last part of the punishment, and he was various parts of Armenia. There are perhaps 250
permitted to retire to a private residence on the families at Mardin dependent on their own patriarch,
shores of the Bosphorus.
who resides in a convent on Mount Lebanon; and
The Armenian Protestants have endured much this patriarch governs the Armenian-Catholic popu-
persecution, but their liberties are now secured, not lation of Aleppo and Syria. Their ecclesiastical or-
temporarily, but in all time coming. On the 18th ganization is complete in itself, except that they have
February 1856, the Sultan issued a Hatti-Houmay- a political patriarch appointed from among them-
oun or supreme decree, conferring equal rights, civil selves to represent them at the Porte, while their ec-
and religious, on all the subjects of his empire. This clesiastical patriarch is appointed by the Pope. The
document guarantees the ancient ecclesiastical privi- | great motive of those who join the Papal Armenians,
leges enjoyed by the Greek and Armenian churches. ) is for the sake of the additional protection which
It formally and finally deprives the patriarchs of all they gain as Catholics, on account of the interest
temporal and judicial power, rendering it impossible | taken in them, and the aid afforded the sect by
for them again to persecute. It proclaims the full many of the Catholic ambassadors. The Arme-
equality of all religions in the eye of the law. It nian Catholics have one large church in Galata, and
declares Christians admissible to all state offices. It a church in Orta Koi. There is a parish public
secures to Turkish Christians the right of holding school connected with the church, and there is now
situations of civil jurisdiction, and gives them a right building a college or high school at Pera, in connec-
to military honours.
tion with the monks of the Venice monastery. Quite
ARMENIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. The a number of young men also are pursuing their studies
Armenian church, as we have seen in the preceding in Pera preparatory to becoming priests. Many
article, had separated from the other Christian churches families send their daughters to either the boarding or
of the East by adopting Monophysite doctrines, and the day schools of the 'Sisters of Charity'in Galata.”
rejecting the decrees of the council of Chalcedon, A.D. In Constantinople, the Papal Armenians were calcu-
536. From that time frequent attempts were made | lated in 1828 to amount to 27,000. In consequence,
to effect a union with Rome. In the tenth and however, of the Persian Armenians having taken a
eleventh centuries, in consequence of the threatened part in the war between Russia and Persia, the sul-
invasion of their country by the Saracens, the Arme- tan, dreading that he himself would speedily be in-
nian patriarchs made overtures to the Popes, expect- | volved in a contention with the same Christian
ing that through their interest they might obtain sup- power, banished the whole papal Armenians from the
port from the Western powers. Thus Gregory, the city and its suburbs. They have since been allowed
Armenian patriarch, is said to have sent an embassy to return, and under their own patriarch, they are
to Rome, A. D. 1080, expressing high respect for that recognized as an established Christian sect under the
see, and to have received a favourable answer. In
government of the Porte.
A. D. 1145, another patriarch offered to subject the ARMILLUS, the name given by the Jewish
Armenian church to the Papal power. The pro- Rabbis to the Antichrist, whose appearance, they
posal was taken into consideration, but no effective teach, will be one of the signs of the coming of the
steps were adopted towards the accomplishment of Messiah.
Messiah. They say that at Rome there is a marble
à union until Leo, king of Armenia, wishing his statue in the form of a most beautiful young female,
coronation to be sanctioned by the Pope, for- which was not fashioned by the hands of man, but
mally declared himself, along with the Catholicos, was created by divine power. God will form a
and a large body of the clergy, favourable to an- creature within this statue in the shape of an in-
nexation with Rome, and accordingly succeeded in fant, and at length the statue bursting shall bring
organizing a distinct Armenian branch of the Ro-forth a being in human form, whose name shall be
mish Church. At the council of Adina in A. D. Armillus, who shall be an adversary, and the Gen-
1314, the union was openly declared. The papacy tiles will call him Antichrist. His height and
has ever since made strenuous efforts, by sending breadth will be each twelve cubits; his eyes
, which
zealous missionaries, to increase the number of her will be a span distant from each other, will be hollow
adherents in that country. The Armenian Catholic and red; his hair will be of a golden colour; the
Church, however, has always been a small body. In soles of his feet will be green, and on his head will
Syria they are not numerous, and are ruled by a be two crowns. This gigantic impostor will declare
patriarch who resides in a convent at Mount Leba- himself to the Gentiles as the Messiah, and they will
non, three bishops, and about fifty monks. The believe on him, appointing him their king. He will
Armenian Catholics form a larger body in Con- | offer himself to the Jews in the same capacity, but
190
ARMINIUS.
Nehemiah the son of Chuziel will arise, with thirty | Marburg in 1575. Here he remained 'for several
thousand of the bravest of the sons of Ephraim, and years, busying himself chiefly in the acquisition of
will join battle with Armillus, slaying 200,000 of his knowledge. At length, in 1582, to complete his
forces. The vanquished Antichrist will then gather studies, he was sent to Geneva, where he enjoyed
all his forces in the “valley of decision ” (Joel üi. 14), the high privilege of studying under the distinguished
and will there fight a second time with Israel, when Theodore Beza. Arminius possessed a remarkable
multitudes of the Gentiles will be slain. Few of the taste for abstract speculation, and having imbibed
Israelites will fall in this engagement, but among the doctrines of Ramus, he taught them both in pub-
the dead will be found their leader Nehemiah, whom lic and private, in opposition to those of Aristotle,
the Rabbis call the Lord's Messiah. Armillus will which were the ruling opinions of the time. Such
not be aware of the death of this first Messiah. At was his zeal and activity in inculcating the new phi-
this time all the nations of the world will expel the losophy, that he found himself under the necessity
Israelites out of their provinces, and not suffer them of taking refuge at Basle from the persecution to
to dwell among them any longer. Israel shall ex- ich his philosophical opinions exposed him. At
perience such distress as has never before been Basle he found a more congenial residence, and such
known, and now will be fulfilled the saying of was the reputation which he soon acquired at the uni-
Daniel
, “ And at that time shall Michael stand up, versity in that town, that, though only twenty-two
the great prince which standeth for the children of years of age, he was pressed to accept the degree of
thy people : and there shall be a time of trouble, such doctor in divinity, which, however, he modestly de-
as never was since there was a nation even to that clined. In A. D. 1588 Arminius was ordained minis-
same time: and at that time thy people shall be de- ter at Amsterdam, where he succeeded in gathering
livered, every one that shall be found written in the round him an attached and admiring people. Soon
book.” Immediately all the Israelites will flee into after he had entered upon his ministerial labours, his
desert places, where they will remain for forty-five attention was called to a keen controversy which had
days, during which all the impious Israelites who are arisen in Holland between what were called the Sub-
not worthy to see the redemption will die. Armil- lapsarian and the Supralapsarian Calvinists, on the
lus will then conquer and take possession of Egypt, abstruse subject of the divine decrees. Two of the
after which he will turn his face towards Jerusalem, former class of ministers had published a work on
to lay it waste a second time. At this critical mo- the subject which, from its depth and subtlety, was
ment Michael shall arise and blow a trumpet three attracting no little notice. It was thought necessary
times, and at the first blast shall be revealed Messiah by the opposite party, that no time should be lost in
Ben David and Elijah the prophet, round whom will counteracting the injurious influence of this able
gather the pure Israelites and will enter Jerusalem, treatise. The duty was devolved by universal con-
when the Son of David, going up into the deserted sent upon Arminius. But no sooner had he under-
palace, will there take up his residence. Armillus taken the task and begun to weigh the arguments
learning that there is a king in Israel, will collect the on both sides, than he became convinced of the
forces of all the nations of the world, and will enter truth of those very opinions which he had been soli-
into battle with God's Messiah. Immediately God cited to confute. Not that he adopted in their full
himself will fight with the enemies of his people, and extent the doctrines which have been since taught
rain down fire and brimstone from heaven. Then by Arminians under the shelter of his name. On
shall the impious Armillus perish with his whole the contrary, he continued to the last a firm believer
army, and the saying of Obadiah will come to pass, in the sovereignty of the divine decrees, and the
“The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house effectual operation of divine grace.
On the latter
of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for point he had departed from the Genevan views and
stubble.” Such are the strange views which the adopted the Lutheran doctrine of grace, which
Rabbinists set forth as to the nature and doings of excludes none absolutely from salvation ; while in
the Antichrist, all of them founded on a perverted reference to the divine decrees, he maintained that
exposition of numerous passages in the Old Testa- the objects of the eternal purpose were regarded not
ment Scriptures. See ANTICHRIST.
simply as creatures, but as sinners. So far, however,
ARMINIUS, an eminent divine, who flourished bad Arminius deviated from the views of Calvin, that
in the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the he became an object of suspicion and dislike to many
seventeenth centuries. He was born at Oudewater of his brethren in Holland and elsewhere. And yet,
in Holland, in 1560. While he was yet a child his such was the overwhelming influence of his talents,
father died, and he was kindly taken under the care and learning, and character, that, although he avowed
of a clergyman, who superintended his education, his Sublapsarian sentiments in A. D. 1591, he con-
until he was prepared to enter the university of tinued to labour in Amsterdam with undiminished
Utrecht. During his studies at college, he was de respect and acceptance; and after a ministry of fif-
prived by death of his benevolent protector, but by teen years, such was his reputation as a theologian,
the gracious interposition of Providence, another that he was called to occupy the chair of divinity at
friend was raised up to him, who removed him to | Leyden, in A. D. 1603. His lectures attracted
1
ARMINIANS.
191
crowded audiences, and he became no less popular as 1 synod was then directed to the Five Points, which had
a professor than he had long been as a minister. been set forth by the Arminians as embodying their
In a short time, however, the theological opinions peculiar opinions. These points or articles were
of the new professor began to be canvassed in the taken up in regular order, and the foreign divines
university, and eager controversies were held upon requested to give their opinion upon them, which
the subject both within and without its walls. Mat- | they did in writing. The deputies from the Belgic
ters had now assumed so serious an aspect that the churches then delivered their sentiments. Each
States of the province felt themselves called upon to member of synod rising from his seat, solemnly made
interfere, and meetings for public discussion were oath, that he would determine all points on which he
appointed between Arminius and his opponents. gave his judgment guided by no other authority than
The chief disputant on the strict Calvinist side was the Word of God contained in the holy Scriptures.
Francis Gomar or Gomarus, a Dutch divine of great The proceedings were conducted with the greatest
reputation. These controversies and the anxieties harmony and good order, and while the doctrines
consequent upon them, along with his manifold contained in the Five Arminian points were all but
labours, and the slanders heaped upon him, preyed unanimously condemned, a general Confession was
upon the constitution of Arminius, which had never drawn up in such terms that all the members readily
been robust, and brought on a severe illness, which subscribed it, and this became in consequence the
put an end to his life on the 19th of October, 1609. public Confession of the Belgic churches, which is to
Thus terminated the career of an able and learned this day professedly adhered to by these churches,
man, who, though he fell into error on some points as well as by the offshoots from them which are
of abstract theology, was both beloved by his friends found in various parts of the world, particularly in
and respected by his enemies.
the United States of America, and in the colony of
ARMINIANS, the professed followers of the emi- the Cape of Good Hope.
nent divine whose life has been briefly sketched in After the synod of Dort had closed its sittings, its
the preceding article. After his death the contro- decrees met with a very different reception in different
versy, which had raged in Holland for some years, parts of Holland. In some provinces the condemna-
continued to be carried on with unabated zeal. In tion which it had passed upon the Arminian doc-
1610, the Arminians addressed a petition, which they trines was hailed with unmingled satisfaction, but in
called their Remonstrance, to the States of Holland, several provinces its decisions were indignantly re-
claiming their protection, and calling for their friendly jected. The States-General, however, passed se-
interposition to restore peace to the church and the vere laws against the Arminians, visiting all who
country. The Gomarists, or patrons of Calvinism, refused to submit to the decision of the synod
also presented an address to the same quarter, and with banishment, fines, or imprisonment. The
of similar purport. Hence the Arminians received church deposed them from ecclesiastical offices, and
the name of Remonstrants, and the Calvinists of from the masterships of schools and colleges in the
Counter-Remonstrants. Various efforts were made United Provinces. England went over to the side
to reconcile the contending parties, but in vain. The of the Arminians, chiefly through the influence of
utmost bitterness of spirit was exhibited on both Archbishop Laud, and although the Thirty-nine
sides. At length, finding all other means totally in- Articles of the Church of England are decidedly
effectual, the States-General, by a majority, decided Calvinistic, the doctrines taught in many of her pul-
that a national assembly or synod should be convened pits are at this day of an Arminian character and
to settle the controverted points. Letters of convo- tendency.
cation accordingly were issued, and on the 13th The Five Points which the Arminians tendered
November 1618, the synod assembled at the ancient to the States-General at the Hague in 1611, and
city of Dordrecht or Dort. Its sittings were con- which are usually referred to as embodying their
tinued till the end of April of the following year. creed, are thus stated by Mosheim :-“I. That before
There were present the most celebrated Dutch the foundation of the world, or from eternity, God
divines, and also representatives from the English, decreed to bestow eternal salvation on those who, he
Scotch, and other foreign churches. The Arminians foresaw, would maintain their faith in Christ Jesus
complained loudly of having been treated with injus- | inviolate until death; and on the other hand, to con-
tice. They demanded, that before the synod they and sign over to eternal punishment the unbelieving who
their opponents should be regarded as standing on the resist the invitations of God to the end of their lives.
same footing, but the synod determined almost unani- II. That Jesus Christ by his death made expiation
mously that the Arminians should appear before them for the sins of all and every
for the sins of all and every one of mankind, yet that
as on their defence, to explain their peculiar opinions, none but believers can become partakers of this
as having deviated from the standards of the Belgic divine benefit. III. That no one can of himself, or
church, and from the doctrines of the reformed by the powers of his free will, produce or generate
churches generally. This decision gave mortal offence faith in his own mind; but that man, being by na-
to the Arminian party, who thereupon left the synod ture evil and incompetent (ineptus) both to think and
in a body, and never returned. The attention of the to do good, it is necessary he should be born again
192
ARMINIANS.
and renewed by God for Christ's sake, through Christian prayer and thanksgiving, and with apparent
the Holy Spirit. IV. That this divine grace or facts. For example, if God had equally intended the
energy, which heals the soul of man, commences, salvation of the whole human race, would he not have
advances, and perfects all that can be called truly equally furnished all men, in all ages, with the gos-
good in man; and therefore all the good works [of pel and other means of grace? Can it be said with
men) are ascribable to no one except to God only truth that sufficient grace has been granted to all the
and to his grace, yet that this grace compels no man heathen to bring them to salvation ? And the mere
against his will, though it may be repelled by his possibility of the salvation of some of them, if it
perverse will. V. That those who are united to should be conceded, is not enough. According to
Christ by faith are furnished with sufficient strength the principles of Arminianism, all men should enjoy
to overcome the snares of the devil and the allure- | equal advantages; or at least salvation should not be
ments of sin; but whether they can fall from this so improbable and difficult as it is to a vast majority
state of grace and lose their faith or not, does not of the human family. Various plans of evading this
yet sufficiently appear, and must be ascertained by a difficulty have been resorted to, none of which are
careful examination of the Holy Scriptures." sufficient to render the acknowledged fact consistent
To these Points, however, the more modern Ar- with the doctrine of universal and sufficient grace.
minians can scarcely point as containing a correct The same difficulty is, in part, found to exist as it
exhibition of their creed. Many of them may more relates to the conversion of many who do enjoy the
properly be styled Pelagians, or Semi-Pelagians, or means of grace. If conversion be produced by moral
even Socinians. That these five articles did not suasion, which the sinner has the ability to comply
fully develop the Arminian theory, became soon ap- with or reject, why is it called regeneration, and why
parent, after the synod of Dort, from the Apology is it that often the amiable and moral are not con-
for the Arminians published by their leader Episco- verted, while the profligate, and even the blasphem-
pius, in which he avows Arminianism in its grossest ing infidel, are made the subjects of grace? When
form.
we examine particular cases of Christian experience,
The principal point of difference between the Cal- we cannot easily avoid the conclusion that grace is
vinists and Arminians is to be found in the opposite sovereign and efficacious, and that the stubborn will
replies which they give to the question, Why one of man uniformly resists, until overcome by the
man is saved and another not? The one party al- sweetly constraining power of God.”
leges that it is wholly owing to the all-powerful The maintenance of Arminian doctrines, in oppo-
grace of God, and the other that it is solely depen- sition to those of Augustine, which were agreeable
dent on the free-will of man. This is the great car- to those long after taught by Calvin, formed the
dinal distinction on which the whole controversy great subject of contention between the Jesuits and
may be said to turn. The Arminians hold that the the Jansenists in the end of the seventeenth and the
efficacy of grace depends on the human will; the beginning of the eighteenth centuries, and which for
Calvinists hold, on the other hand, that it is the effi- a time threatened to rend asunder the whole fabric
cacy and controlling power of divine grace, which of Romanism. Only in Holland does there exist a
renders man willing to be saved in the way which special sect of Arminians, formed as such into an
God himself hath appointed. The Arminians main- ecclesiastical body, but there are many individuals,
tain the moral ability of man to embrace the gospel ; | both clerical and lay, in almost every Christian
the Calvinists maintain the moral inability of man to church, who hold and teach Arminian doctrine to
embrace the gospel in consequence of the rooted de- a greater or less extent. In the course of the last
pravity of his nature. The Arminians assert that century, the Arminian controversy was revived by
a man may repent and believe to-day, and yet he | Mr. Wesley, the founder of the Methodist body in
may become to-morrow an unbeliever and impeni- England which bears his name. His works plainly
tent person; the Calvinists assert that a converted show that he was an open and avowed Arminian.
man will persevere and continue in a state of grace The followers of Wesley accordingly profess to hold
to the end. The Arminians teach that election de- the same principles, while those of Whitefield are
pends on the foresight by God of faith and holiness strenuous Calvinists.
in the creature; the Calvinists teach that election is When Episcopacy was introduced into Scotland by
absolute and sovereign. The Arminians believe that the earnest and unremitting exertions of James I.,
Christ died equally for all men, and designed equally the tenets of Arminius began to be imported from
the salvation of all men; the Calvinists believe that England along with what to the people north of the
Christ died specially for his own people, and de- | Tweed was an obnoxious form of church govern-
signed salvation specially for them. The two sys- ment. It was not, however, till the articles of Perth
tems, therefore, the Calvinist and the Arminian, had been ratified in 1621, only three years after Ar-
are diametrically opposed to each other.
minianism had been condemned by the synod of
“The chief difficulty,” says the late Dr. Alexander Dort, that the system was openly adopted by many
of Princeton, “in the Arminian theory is to recon- of the supporters of Laud and the High Church
cile it with the language of Scripture, the nature of party. The young Scottish prelates warmly advocated
ARNOLDISTS.
193
FA
the Arminian principles, and thus only widened all | and evangelical doctrines of the Westminster Con-
the more the breach which already existed between fession. It has ever been a subject of devout thanks-
them and the intelligent Christian people of Scot-giving on the part of the friends of truth in Scotland,
land. The same effect was produced on the teaching that, however far some of the clergy of the Estab-
of many ministers in the Church of Scotland by pre- blished Church may have deviated in their individual
latic influence in the beginning of the eighteenth teaching from sound doctrine, the Standards of the
century. To countenance the progress of Arminian Church are characterized by a strict accordance with
principles, the Rev. Mr. Hamilton of Airth published the pure teaching of God's Word. See METHO-
a catechism on the Covenants of Works and Grace, DISTS (CALVINISTIC), METHODISTS (WESLEYAN).
which led to the passing of an Act by the General ARNOLDISTS, a sect which arose in the twelfth
Assembly of 1710, entitled an Act foi preserving century, deriving its name from its leader, Arnold of
purity of doctrine, the design of which was to dis-Brescia, a young priest, who ventured to declaim
countenance and stigmatize the Calvinistic doctrines against the secularization of the church, and the tem-
of Mr. Hamilton's catechism. Such a movement on poral power of the Pope. This ardent young clergy-
the part of the Supreme Court of the Church showed man was a pupil of the celebrated Abelard, from
to what an extent Arminian doctrine had diffused it- whom he had probably imbibed those spiritual ten-
self at that period among the Scottish clergy. The dencies which led him to long after a pure church,
practice which had existed for a long time, even be- delivered from that worldly-mindedness which char-
fore the Revolution in 1688, of young men from acterized the clergy and monks of his time. He
Scotland studying theology at the universities in diffused his opinions with unwearied diligence, pro-
Holland, exposed them to the imminent danger of claiming the necessity of both a civil and ecclesias-
imbibing Arminian doctrines, which since the days tical revolution. Such principles avowed and pro-
of Arininius himself, have always had many able ad- mulgated in Italy were not likely to be long tolerated.
vocates in that country down to the present time. Arnold and his so-called revolutionary sentiments
The writings of Baxter also, which have been held were condemned by the Lateran council in A. D.
in high estimation on both sides of the Tweed, con- 1139, he himself being banished from Italy by Pope
tributed not a little to the recommendation of Armi- Innocent. II., and forbidden to return without the
nian tenets on the subject of grace, particularly in permission of His Holiness. Thus driven from his
the modified form in which the works of that cele- native country, Arnold went first into France to
brated divine inculcate them. To stem the tide of Abelard, and from him to Guido the papal legate,
Arminianism which was fast flowing in upon the who was not long after elected Pope, under the name
country, various works of great value were produced, of Cælestine II. He was followed, however, and
and among others the popular writings of Boston, tracked out by the abbot Bernard, w persecuted
which have gone far to preserve purity of theological him wherever he could find him, and compelled him
opinion among the great mass of the Scottish people. to escape imprisonment by fleeing to Zurich, where
In 1718, a work entitled “The Marrow of Modern he became a most successful teacher. Presently a
Divinity,' was reprinted with the view of diffusing letter was despatched from the abbot Bernard to the
sound doctrine among the people, and thus to pre- bishop of Constance, warning him to banish Arnold
vent the noxious influence of that Arminianism out of his diocese. After residing about five years
which was so extensively taught by the clergy. The at Zurich, he retuined to Rome, Å. D. 1145, at a time
republication of this valuable work gave rise to a when the citizens of Rome had been long struggling
keen and protracted controversy, both in the Church to restore the ancient Consular government, and to
courts and from the press. The modified Arminian rid themselves of the oppressive domination of a
or Neonomian party, instead of attempting to con- Romish bishop. Arnold threw himself with enthu-
fute the opinions inculcated by their opponents, en- siasm into the political movement, and urged on the
deavoured to make out against both the Marrow and agitation with all his might, under the reigns suc-
the Marrow-men a charge of Antinomianism. This cessively of Eugene III, and Anastasius IV. A
controversy formed one of the series of events which pope ascended the chair of St. Peter under the name
led ere long to the First Secession. (See ASSOCIATE of Hadrian IV., who, resolved to put down the revo-
PRESBYTERY.) Nor did the Church recover herself lutionary spirit which was fast gaining ground in the
even after that important event from her Arminian dominions of the church in Italy, commenced his
tendencies. On the contrary, many of her clergy system of coercion with the excommunication of Ar-
not only avowed Arminianism, but at length Pela- nold, and ordering him into exilé. The citizens ral-
gianism crept in, and even sentiments which were lied round the bold reforming priest. But Hadrian
near akin to gross Socinianism. The fact is, that was determined to maintain his authority, and, there-
towards the end of the eighteenth century, Armi- fore, he took the unprecedented step of laying the
nianism of the most undisguised character was fa- entire city of Rome under an interdict, and com-
shionable among the higher classes in Scotland, and pelled the citizens to withdraw their support from
the Established clergy made no secret of their pre- Arnold. The Reformer was under the necessity there-
ference of these doctrines to the strictly scriptural | fore of quitting Rome, and he went into Campania,
I.
N 1
194
AROT-ARREPHORIA.
where he was received with the utmost kindness, and cal with Apollo, but Scaliger thinks him to be Anu-
treated with the respect due to one whom the people bis. Bishop Cumberland takes him to be Agroueris,
regarded as a man of God. In A. D. 1155, the Em- or Agrotes, a Phoenician rural deity. When the
peror Frederick I. was advancing towards Rome, Egyptians added five intercalary days to their year,
and entered into a negotiation with the Pope in re- each of them was dedicated to a particular god. The
ference to his approaching coronation. The Pope second was consecrated to Aroueris.
took advantage of the occasion to stipulate for the ARPPANA. Among the Budhists it is regarded
surrender of Arnold into his hands. The stipulation as of the utmost importance that any man, but par-
was fulfilled by Frederick, and Arnold, at the insti- ticularly a priest, should have perfect command over
gation of the Holy Father, was strangled, his body his faculties, and keep them in complete restraint.
burned, and the ashes thrown into the Tiber.
This power of entire self-control is termed samadhi.
The only offence of which Arnold had been guilty Of this there are two kinds, the most powerful of
was the unpardonable crime of protesting against the which is the Arppana, which, says Mr. Spence Hardy,
abuses and corruptions of the Church of Rome. He is “like a man who rises from his seat, and walks
had dared to demand that the enormous revenues steadily for the space of a whole day; as when it is
and overgrown temporalities of the church should be received, the mind continues in one even frame, un-
renounced, and given into the hands of the secular disturbed and unshaken.” To attain this calm self-
power, while the clergy should rest contented with possession, it is necessary, according to Budhist
the freewill-offerings of the people, the oblations, principles, that a man should be careful in seven
the firstlings, and the tythes. The corrupt bishops matters : 1. His residence, which must be free from
and priests he declared to be unworthy of the name, that which is disagreeable to him. 2. The road he
and the secularized corporation, which called itself traverses when he goes with his alms-bowl in search
the church, to be no longer the house of God. This of food, which must be within the distance of 750
Reformer, long before the Reformation, does not bows. 3. His conversation, in the course of which
seem to have been charged with holding any doc- he must not speak about the thirty-two things that
trines amounting to heresy. Only one writer, Otto are forbidden to be noticed by the priest; nor must
of Freysingen, ventures to accuse him of denying he say too much even upon subjects that are allowed.
infant baptism; but for this he seems to have no 4. His company, which must only consist of those
better foundation than his own vague unfounded sus- that are seeking samadhi or self-control, or have at-
picions. Had Amold avowed a single doctrinal opi- tained it. 5. His food, which must be of that kind
nion which the church disowned, he would have which is most agreeable to him. 6. The season;
brought down upon himself, at a much earlier period, and in this case also, the time most agreeable to the
the fulminations of the Vatican,
individual should be selected. 7. The position of
The discourses of a young enthusiastic Reformer | the body, which ought to be that which is most plea-
like Amold produced a powerful impression upon sant, whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying
the naturally susceptible minds of the Italian peo- down; and in order that the priest may discover
ple. The religious political excitement threatened this, he must practise each of the positions during
to spread over the whole country. In Rome parti- three days. By attending to all these seven mat-
cularly, the pride of the people was flattered by the ters arppana samadhi will be accomplished; but if
idea of emancipating themselves from the papal | it is not yet received, the ten proprieties must be
yoke, and of re-establishing the ancient republic. more closely attended to, of which one of the most
Even after the death of Arnold, the reforming ideas important is, that the person and ‘robe of the priest
for which he had contended to the last; continued to must be kept clean; for when the hair is long, and
ferment in the popular mind. The very emperor, the body, robe, or alms-bowl dirty, the mind can-
Frederick I., who had given over Arnold to the not be kept pure. See BUDHISTS.
power of his enemies, was the person with whom ARREPHORIA (Gr. arreton, a mystery, and
commenced the hundred years' controversy be- phoreo, to carry), a festival observed among the an-
tween the Popes and the Emperors of the Hohen- cient Greeks. It has been attributed to different
staufen family. Thus had the humble but energetic deities, but most generally to Athena, in honour of
priest of Brescia awakened a spirit of reform in the whom it was celebrated at Athens. Four young
church of the Papacy, which continued to gather girls were chosen every year from the most distin-
strength as time went onward, until, after the lapse of guished families. Two of these superintended the
centuries, it burst forth with irrepressible power in bearing of the peplus to Athena ; while the two
the glorious Reformation of the sixteenth century. others were employed to carry the mysterious and
AROT and MAROT, two angels, who, according sacred vessels of the goddess. These last were de-.
to the Koran, were sent by God to teach men not to tained a whole year in the Acropolis, and when the
commit murder, not to give unrighteous judgment, festival commenced in the month Skirophorion, ves-
and not to drink wine.
sels were put upon their heads by the priestess, the
AROUERIS, an ancient Egyptian deity men- contents of which were unknown. Bearing these ves-
tioned by Plutarch. Some consider him as identi- sels the girls descended to a natural grotto within the
ARRHABONARII-ARSENIANS.
195
district of Aphrodite, where they deposited their sacred man retired to the seclusion of a monastery, and was
vessels, and carried something else of which they succeeded by Germanus, bishop of Adrianople, a
were equally ignorant. The girls wore white robes ready tool of the emperor. A large party, however.
adorned with gold, which were left for the goddess, who were called by the name of Arsenians, still ad
and a peculiar kind of cakes was prepared for them. hered to the deposed patriarch, and refused to
At the close of the ceremony, the girls were dis- acknowledge any other. Germanus at length found
missed, and others chosen in their place. The fes- his position so uncomfortable that he resigned his
tival was sometimes called Hersephoria, from Erse office, which was taken by Joseph, an aged and illi-
or Herse, a daughter of Cecrops, whose worship was terate monk. Palæologus found no difficulty in ob-
intimately connected with that of Athena.
taining the absolution which he had so long sought
ARRHABONARII (Lat. arrhabo, a pledge), a in vain. “In the midst of a large convocation of
Christian sect mentioned by Buck, in his Theologi- | bishops," as Neander relates it, “ the emperor, after
cal Dictionary,' as holding that the bread and wine the celebration of the mass, prostrated himself at the
in the Eucharist is neither the real body and blood | foot of the altar, and declared himself guilty of two
of Christ, nor yet the sign of them, but only the sins, perjury, and depriving the son of his predeces-
pledge of them. When or where this sect existed sor of his eyesight. Then the patriarch first stood
does not appear.
up and gave the emperor, while prostrate on the
ARROWS (DIVINATION BY). See ACDAH. ground, a written certificate of the forgiveness of his
ARSCH, a name given by the Mohammedans to sins, and the bishops, one after the other, in the
the throne of God, which they regard as the empy- order of their rank, read to him this form of absolu-
real heaven, which is the throne of his majesty and tion. The emperor, after partaking of the commu-
glory. Mohammed calls it in the Koran the Arsch nion, departed, joyful, as if the burden had been re-
Adhim, the great throne, by way of excellency. In moved from his conscience, and he were now made
speaking of its creation he says that God placed it sure of the grace of God himself.” The pliant be-
upon the waters, and put forth all his power in its haviour of the new Patriarch only roused the Ar-
production. The Mohammedans, following the tra- senian party to greater indignation, and rendered
ditions, allege that this throne is supported by 8,000 them more violent against the reigning Emperor.
pillars, and that these are ascended by 300,000 stairs, It was a favourite object with Palæologus to at-
and that the space between each of these is 300,000 | tempt the accomplishment of a union between the
years' journey, and that each of these spaces is full Greek and Roman churches. The opportunity for
of angels ranged in battalions; among whom some pushing forward this matter was peculiarly suitable,
are appointed to carry the throne ; and, therefore, Gregory the Tenth having succeeded to the pope-
they are called Hanmelûn al Arsch, and they style | dom, who was well known to be favourable to such
them also Angels next to the Majesty on High. a union. The patriarch Joseph knowing the com-
ARSENIANS, a party which arose in the Greek mon sentiment which prevailed in the Greek church,
church in the thirteenth century, deriving their name offered the most determined resistance to the object
from Arsenius, a pious monk. The circumstances which both the Emperor and the Pope had so much
which originated the party were these. Under the at heart, and even bound himself by an oath to op-
reign of Theodore Lascaris II., Arsenius, who had pose to the last the contemplated union. The Em-
hitherto borne a high character as a monk, was pre- peror, however, was determined to bring the matter
vailed upon to accept the patriarchate of Constantino- to a termination, and sending an embassy with val-
ple; and the emperor having died, left him guardian uable presents to Rome, the work of union was con-
of his son, a child six years old. During the mino- summated at Lyons in A. D. 1274, after the manner
rity, Michael Palæologus took forcible possession of prescribed by the Pope. The opposition to it was
the government. Arsenius consented to crown the violent on the part of a large section of the Greek
usurper only on condition that he bound him-church, and the Emperor found it necessary to resort
self, by a solemn oath, to retain the government no to the most violent measures, which however were
longer than till the majority of John Lascaris. Hav- altogether ineffectual in suppressing the prevailing
ing taken the oath, he refused to be bound by it, discontent. Meanwhile Joseph had resigned his pa-
and to exclude the regular successor the more effec- triarchate in consequence of the union, and was suc-
tually from the throne, he caused him to be deprived ceeded by Beccus, one of its warmest promoters.
of his eyesight. The patriarch, shocked at this Controversies on the disputed points between the
cruel proceeding, excommunicated Palæologus. The two churches, particularly on the procession of the
anathema of the church alarmed the usurper, and he Holy Ghost, began to enter into families, and to
proffered humble submission to the penance which alienate from one another those who had been on
might be required of him, provided only the patriarch terms of the closest intimacy. The feeling of hos-
would grant him absolution. This, however, was tility to the union which had been forced upon the
refused, and the emperor, calling a synod at Con- Greek church became every day stronger, and at
stantinople, had influence enough to procure the re- length, on the death of Michael Palæologus, in 1282,
moral of Arsenius from the patriarchate. The good | and the succession of his son Andronicus, the hatred
196
ARTEMIS-ARTEMISIA.
of the Greeks to the Romish church broke forth | Arsenians, in the first impulse of the moment,
with greater violence than ever. The new Emperor declared themselves ready to acknowledge the pa-
had never been friendly to the union. Joseph was triarch, and to unite again with the rest of the
now regarded as the regular patriarch, and he was church. The Emperor, delighted with the prospect
favoured also by the Emperor, while Beccus retired thus opened up of peace being restored to his dis-
to a monastery. Matters were now entirely changed. tracted church and country, led them, though late
All who had been concerned in bringing about the in the evening, and amid ice and snow, to the pa-
union were regarded as excommunicated, and sub- triarch, who gave them his blessing. In a day or
jected to ecclesiastical penalties. . The walls of the two, however, when the excitement had given way,
churches and the sacred utensils were looked upon the Arsenians returned to their former state of feel-
as polluted, and ceremonies were gone through for ing, and for a long period the treatment which Ar-
their purification. But more especially was the po- senius had experienced kept up a state of disunion
pular indignation directed against Beccus. He was in the Greek church, which time alone succeeded in
held up to scorn as an enemy of the Greek nation healing.
and church, and, after many fruitless attempts to ARTEMIS, one of the great divinities among the
vindicate his character against the aspersions cast ancient Greeks. She was the sister of APOLLO
out against him, he was banished by order of the (which see), and the daughter of Zeus, usually repre-
Emperor to a castle in Bithynia, where, after an im- sented as armed with a bow, quiver, and arrows. At
prisonment of fourteen years, he died A. D. 1298.
. one time she is viewed as destroying men, and at
In the midst of the commotions consequent on the another as healing their diseases. The young, both
death of Palæologus, and the reinstatement of the old of men and animals, were the special objects of her
patriarch Joseph, the party of the Arsenians once care. She was the goddess also of hunting, and
more emerged from obscurity. They were zealous watched over the flocks. She was often worshipped
in their opposition to Joseph and his supporters. along with Apollo, and the laurel was sacred to both.
They wished to have a church by themselves at Con- Among the later Greeks she was regarded as the god-
stantinople, and succeeded in obtaining the church dess of the moon, just as Apollo was considered as the
of All Saints from the Emperor to hold their assem- god of the sun. In different parts of Greece, Artemis
blies. So convinced were they of the justice of appears to have been worshipped under different as-
their cause, that they believed God would decide by pects. Thus in Arcadia, her temples were built near
a miracle in favour of Arsenius as the lawful pa- lakes and rivers, and she was viewed as presiding
triarch. The Emperor, anxious for the peace of over nymphs, being accompanied by twenty of them
the church, yielded so far to their wishes as to order in the chase, and by sixty others in her sportive
that the bones of Jahn of Damascus should be given dances in the forests. In Tauris this goddess was
them for the purpose of a miracle; but, repenting venerated under a harsher aspect, and at an earlier
of the step he had taken, he forbade the trial by an period her worship consisted partly of human sacri-
appeal to the saint, which the Arsenians were con- fices. These are said to have been abolished by
fident would turn out in their favour.
Lycurgus, who substituted at Sparta the scourging
At length, in A. D. 1283, the patriarch Joseph of boys at her altar until it was stained with blood.
died, and Georgias was appointed in his room. The The name which she received at Sparta was Orthia,
Emperor hoped that the Arsenians would now yield. and in some parts of Greece she was called Iphige-
Still
, however, they insisted on their cause being tried neia. At Ephesus Artemis seems to have repre-
by directly appealing to God that he would decide sented the nutritious powers of nature, and, accord-
by a miracle. The Emperor finally granted their ingly, her image in the splendid temple reared to her
request, hoping thereby to secure peace. A great honour, was formed with many breasts. It was made
fire, accordingly, was ordered to be kindled, and a to resemble a mummy with the head turreted or sur-
writing composed by each of the parties, according mounted with a mural crown, and the body, which
to their principles, was to be cast into it, when the tapered almost to a point, was covered with a
party whose writing remained uninjured should be variety of different figures of animals. Among the
held to be right; and if both were consumed the two Romans Artemis was identified with their goddess
parties were to regard it as an intimation from God DIANA (which see), but as Artemis, her worship
that they should make peace with each other. The prevailed throughout all Greece, in Delos, Crete,
Emperor directed that a large vase of silver should Sicily, and the south of Italy, but more especially in
be manufactured for the purpose. This appeal to Arcadia, and the whole of the Peleponnesus. Various
Heaven was fixed for the great Sabbath before animals were sacred to her, particularly the stag,
Easter, which was a day held especially sacred. The boar, and dog. The fir-tree was also sacred to her. In
appointed time arrived, and in presence of a large Sicily a festival was celebrated in her honour called
assembly, the Emperor himself being present, the ARTEMISIA (see next article).
fire was lighted, and the two documents were thrown ARTEMISIA, a festival celebrated at Syracuse in
into it. The result was, as might have been ex- Sicily in honour of Artemis. It lasted three days,
pected, that both were soon burnt to ashes. The during which feasting and amusements of various
ARTEMONITES-ARTICLES (SIX).
197
NIANS.
kinds were incessantly kept up. Festivals bearing which they may be saved if they will. 8. No man is
the same name, and dedicated to the same goddess, able to come to Christ, unless it be given him, and un-
were held in different parts of Greece, and chiefly at less the Father draw him; and all men are not drawn
Delphi, Ephesus, and Cyrene.
by the Father, that they may come to his Son. 9. It
ARTEMONITES, a Christian sect which arose is not in the will or power of every man to be saved."
towards the end of the second century, and continued It is impossible to peruse these articles, without
to propagate themselves in Rome till far into the being struck with the clear, explicit, and unhesitat-
third century. They originated with a person called ing manner in whịch these divines of the Church of
Artemon or Artemas, who appears to have been of a England avow the Calvinistic in opposition to the
thoroughly practical rather than speculative turn of Arminian scheme of doctrine.
mind. He and his followers, accordingly, were more ARTICLES OF PERTH. When James VI. of
attached to the Aristotelian than to the Platonic phi- Scotland ascended the English throne as the succes-
losophy. The heresy with which they are charged sor of Queen Elizabeth, he was desirous of introduc-
is a denial of the divinity of Christ, and the assertion ing Prelacy into Scotland. In the course of his ex-
that he was a mere man, born of a virgin, and su- ertions for this object he issued a royal mandate that
perior to the prophets in consequence of his enjoying the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
a more special influence of the Divine Spirit. They should meet at Perth on the 25th August, 1618.
seem to have considered the agency of the Spirit Careful measures had been previously adopted by
under the New Testament as different from that un- the crafty monarch to secure the attendance of those
der the Old. To support their peculiar tenets, members who were favourable to the movement for
which were so completely at variance with the re- the establishment of Prelacy. The chair was taken
ceived church doctrine, they were accused by their by Spotswood, who had several years before so far
opponents of indulging in a lax and even licentious conformed to the royal wishes as to accept consecra-
criticism of the Scriptures, which they interpreted so tion to the episcopal office. No reasonings were al-
as to favour their Humanitarian notions. See Soci- | lowed, protests were rejected, and the obnoxious
articles, five in number, were hastily put to the vote
ARTICLES. See CREED.
and carried by a majority. These Five Articles were
ARTICLES (LAMBETH), a series of articles drawn --kneeling at the communion, the observance, as holi-
up in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, at Lambeth pal- days, of Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and Pente-
ace, under the superintendence and with the distinct cost, Episcopal confirmation, private baptism, private
approval of Archbishop Whitgift, Bishop Bancroft, communicating. These articles being thus forcibly
Bishop Vaughan, and other eminent dignitaries of carried in the supreme ecclesiastical court, were en-
the Church of England. These articles were framed forced by the court of High Commission, a court
in consequence of a dispute which had arisen at Cam- which had originated with the passing of the Act of
bridge on the subject of predestination, that doctrine Supremacy in the reign of Elizabeth. At the end of
being opposed by some belonging to the university. three years, a parliainent was summoned to meet in
The Lambeth articles, accordingly, containing a dis- Edinburgh, chiefly for the ratification of the five ar-
tinct avowal of that important doctrine, were sent ticles of Perth. In vain did many of the clergy re-
down as soon as completed to Cambridge, with strict monstrate. The parliament, though by only a small
orders that they should be subscribed by all the majority, and without previous deliberation, ratified
scholars of that seat of learning. “1. God hath from the five articles, on Saturday the 4th August, 1621,
eternity predestinated certain persons to life, and thus fulfilling the earnest wishes of the king, in the
hath reprobated certain persons unto death. 2. The introduction of Prelacy into the church of Scotland.
moving or efficient cause of predestination unto life The day on which the articles were passed by parlia-
is not the foresight of faith, or of perseverance, or of ment is one of the most memorable in the history of
good works, or of any thing that is in the persons Scotland, and was long known among its people by
predestinated; but the alone will of God's good the name of “Black Saturday.' See SCOTLAND
pleasure. 3. The predestinated are a pre-determined (CHURCH OF).
and certain number, which can neither be lessened ARTICLES (Six), the usual designation of an act
nor increased. 4. Such as are not predestinated to of parliament in England, which passed both houses,
salvation shall inevitably be condemned on account and obtained the assent of Henry VIII., restoring
of their sins. 5. The true, lively, and justifying Popery in substance after the Reformation had com-
faith, and the Spirit of God justifying, is not extin- menced. The points of which the obnoxious act
guished, doth not utterly fail, doth not vanish away consisted were as follows:—That in the sacrament of
in the elect, either finally or totally. 6. A true be the altar, after the consecration, there remaineth no
liever, that is, one who is endued with justifying substance of bread and wine, but the natural body
faith, is certified by the full assurance of faith that and blood of Christ ; that communion in both kinds
his sins are forgiven, and that he shall be everlast- is not necessary; that priests, according to the law
ingly saved by Christ. 7. Saving grace is not al- of God, may not marry; that vows of chastity ought
lowed, is not imparted, is not granted to all men, by to be observed ; that private masses ought to be con-
198
ARTICLES OF SMALCALD-ARTOTYRITES.
tinued; and that auricular confession is expedient 1 A Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian man,'
and necessary, and ought to be retained in the
which was an improved edition of the former, and
church. Archbishop Cranmer put forth all his ef- was published in 1540 and 1543. The works now
forts to prevent this act from being passed, but all referred to contained a few of the most impor-
was ineffectual. The six articles were adopted, and tant religious forms, such as the Lord's Prayer,
became, for a time, the law of the land.
Ave Maria, creed, ten commandments, a declaration
ARTICLES OF SMALCALD. This name was of the seven sacraments, &c. In 1540 also, a com-
given to a series of articles drawn up by Luther at mittee of bishops and divines was appointed by
Smalcald, on occasion of a meeting of the electors, | Henry VIII. at the petition of the convocation, to
princes, and states. They were written in German, reform the rituals and offices of the church. It was
and in Luther's own forcible and uncompromising not, however, till after the death of Henry, and when
style. Thus they state concerning the mass, that Edward VI. ascended the throne, that any effective
“The Popish mass is the greatest and most horrid steps were taken for producing a series of articles
abomination, as militating directly and violently expressing the belief of the reformed Church of
against these articles; and yet it has become the England. In 1552, however, a document of this
chief and most splendid of all the Popish idolatries." kind was drawn up, probably by Cranmer and Rid-
The articles of Smalcald extend over twenty-eight | ley, and founded upon the AUGSBURG CONFES-
folio pages, besides a preface, and an appended treatise SION (which see). The articles, then published by
on the power and supremacy of the Pope. The first royal authority, amounted to forty-two, which were
part consists of several articles in which the Protestants afterwards repealed in the time of Mary. Soon after
professed to agree with the Papists,—those concern- the accession of Elizabeth, a new act passed, estab-
ing God, the Trinity, and the incarnation, passion, lishing the queen's ecclesiastical supremacy, and re-
and ascension of Christ, in accordance with the pealing all the laws for establishing Popery. At the
Apostles' and the Athanasian creeds. The second suggestion of Archbishop Parker, the articles of
part consists also of four articles of fundamental im- 1552 were revised, and reduced from forty-two to
portance, but in which the Protestants and Papists thirty-nine. The articles of Edward's code which
entirely differ in opinion. These refer to the nature were omitted in the revised version, related to the
and ground of justification, the mass, and saint-wor- resurrection of the dead, the imperishable nature of
ship, ecclesiastical and monkish establishments, and the soul, the Millenarians, and universal salvation.
the claims of the Pope. The third part contains fif- The thirty-nine articles, in their corrected form, re-
teen articles which the Protestants regarded as highly ceived the sanction of both houses of convocation in
important, but to which the Papists attached little 1562, and were subscribed by the prelates and the
value. The subjects are sin, the law, repentance, rest of the clergy. They were published at first in
the gospel, baptism, the sacrament of the altar, the Latin only, and it was not till 1571 that an authentic
power of the keys, confession, excommunication, or- English copy appeared, having been again revised by
dination, celibacy of the clergy, churches, good the convocation, and a few slight changes introduced.
works, monastic vows, and human satisfactions for The articles were now given to the public both in Latin
sin. When the Protestants subscribed these articles, and English, and in the form in which they are in use
Melancthon annexed a reservation to his signature, at present. Queen Elizabeth issued her ratification of
setting forth that he could admit of a Pope provided this solemn embodiment of the church's creed, an
only he would allow the gospel to be preached in act which was renewed by Charles I. in 1628, and
purity, and would give up all pretensions to a divine finally confirmed at the Restoration, in 1662.
right to rule the church, resting his claims solely on The Church of England requires a subscription to
expediency and the consent of the church. In con- these articles ex animo from all those who are ad-
sequence of this dissent from Luther, Melancthon mitted into holy orders or to ecclesiastical benefices.
was requested to draw up an article on the power This subscription, however, is required in England
and supremacy of the Pope. This was done, and alone; in Ireland it is dispensed with. It is impos-
having been approved by the Protestants, was sub- sible to peruse the thirty-nine articles without being
scribed by them. The additional article is, as we struck with their •thoroughly Calvinistic character,
have said, appended to the articles of Smalcald, form- and although many within the pale of the church
ing, as it were, a part of them.
both hold and teach doctrines which are more in ac-
ARTICLES (THIRTY-NINE). Shortly after the cordance with the Arminian than the Calvinistic
Reformation had commenced in England, in the scheme, no countenance or sanction to such teaching
reign of Henry VIII., Archbishop Cranmer induced is to be found in her articles.
the king to permit the publication of two books, em- ARTOTYRITES (Gr. artos, bread, turos, cheese),
bodying the most important points of Reformed doc- a Christian sect which appeared in the second cen-
trine. Both these works were set forth by authority, tury, and who are mentioned by Epiphanius, and
and compiled by a committee from the convocation. after him by Augustine, as deriving their name from
The one was called “The godly and pious institution a strange practice which they observed of offering
of a Christian man,' published in 1537; and the other bread and cheese in the eucharist, founded on the
ARTZEBURST-ASCENSION-DAY.
199
notion that the first oblations that were offered by cient Romans, whose office it was to offer sacrifices
men in the infancy of the world were of the fruits of for the fertility of the fields. They were twelve in
the earth and of sheep. They have been considered number, and are said to have owed their original ap-
as in all probability a branch of the MONTANISTS pointment to Romulus. Their distinctive badge
(which see). They admitted women into the priest- of office was a chaplet of ears of corn fastened round
hood and episcopate, and Epiphanius says of them their heads by a white band. Once a-year they
that it was a common thing to see a body of seven celebrated a three days' festival in honour of Ceres,
girls, dressed in white and each carrying a torch in towards the end of May. Under the Emperors they
her hand, enter the church weeping and bewailing were frequently employed in offering public thanks-
the depravity of human nature.
givings, and also in celebrating the AMBARVALIA
ARTZEBURST (Armenian, a messenger), a name (which see), in honour of Ceres.
given in the Greek church to the Wednesday and ARYA, one of the four paths which, in the reli-
Friday in the eleventh week before Easter, which gion of the Budhists, when entered upon leads either
are not observed as fasts, although these days are so immediately or more remotely to the attainment of
observed in every other week throughout the year. nirwana, or secession of existence. (See ANNIHILA-
The exception is thus accounted for by a Greek au- TION.) He who enters upon the Arya or Aryahut
thor. A favourite dog, which served in the capacity has overcome or destroyed all evil desires, and cleav-
of a messenger or post to some Armenian heretics, ing to existence. He is understood to know the
having died, its owners immediately accused the or- thoughts of any one in any situation whatever. See
thodox Greeks of having caused the animal's death. BUDHISTS.
The Armenians set apart two days of the eleventh ARZA, supposed by some to be a heathen idol,
week before Easter as fast-days, in commemoration referred to in 1st Kings xvi. 9, “ And his servant
of the dog's good services, and as a public testimony Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against
of their unfeigned sorrow for its untimely end. The him, as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in
Greeks, that they might not even seem to conform the house of Arza steward of his house in Tirzah."
to this practice of the Armenian heretics, were ex- The Chaldee Paraphrast thus interprets the pas-
cused by the Greek church from fasting on these sage, “ When he drank himse f drunk in the temple
two days, which were hence called Artzeburst, the of Arza, an idol which stood near the palace in Tir-
Armenian word for messenger. Some historians say zah." The Jewish opinion, however, seems to be
that this practice of the Greek church was in imita- the most probable, which considers Arza to be the
tion of the fast observed by the Ninevites; others chief man of the house, or the steward of the king
again say that it is a commemoration of Adam's of Israel in Tirzah.
punishment and expulsion from Paradise after his ASANYASATTA, an unconscious state of being,
fall.
one of the forms of existence in the Budhist religion.
ARUSPICES (Lat. ab aris inspiciendis, from in- ASAPH, one of the inferior deities among the an-
specting the altars), soothsayers or diviners among cient Arabians.
the ancient Romans. They are supposed to have ASBAMÆUS, a surname of Zeus, viewed as the
come originally from Etruria to Rome, and their patron of those who sacredly adhered to their oaths.
chief duty was understood to be that of ascertaining The title was supposed to be derived from a well in
the will of the gods. Tacitus speaks of a college of Cappadocia, called Asbamæon, the waters of which
Aruspices in the time of the emperors, but the date were agreeable and healthful to those who honourably
of its formation does not appear. Their art, which kept their oaths, but disagreeable and pernicious to
received the name of aruspicina, consisted in inter- those who broke them.
preting the will of the gods from the appearance ASCALAPHUS (Gr. an owl), the son of Ache-
which the entrails of animals exhibited when offered ron, or as he is sometimes termed, the son of Styx,
in sacrifice upon the altars. But they were not who was changed by Ceres into an owl.
limited to this mode of exercising their art; they ASCENSION-DAY, a festival celebrated in com-
were expected to examine all kinds of prodigies or memoration of our Lord's ascension into heaven.
wonderful appearances in nature.. At one time, as It is observed by the Romish, Greek, and English
Cicero informs us in his work · De Divinatione,' the churches, on the second Thursday before Pentecost.
senate appointed that a number of young men from The exact period when this festival first originated
Etruria should be regularly trained expressly to act
has not been ascertained. Some have attempted to.
as Aruspices. In the later periods of the Roman his- trace it back to the days of the apostles, but neither
tory, this superstitious art gradually fell into desue- in the Acts nor the writings of the apostles đo we find
tude, and at length entirely disappeared. Among the least mention of it. The author of the Apostolic
many uncivilized nations in modern times, similar Constitutions is the first who refers to it, stating
soothsayers and diviners are found to exist. See that slaves should rest from their labours on the day
of the ascension. Augustine speaks of this festival
ARVALES FRATRES (Lat. arvum, a field, as of great antiquity, and Chrysostom mentions it
frater, a brother), a college of priests among the an- under the name of our Lord's assumption into hea-
DIVINATION.
200
ASCETERIUM-ASCETICS.
ven. Hospinian, in his work on the Christian Fes- aggressive tendency must needs appear first; and of
tivals, tells us, that in some places the most ridicu- this there might easily come to be an undue predo-
lous ceremonies were observed on ascension-day. minance, while the positive appropriating element,
Thus a practice existed in the dark ages, of repre- without which the problem of Christianity could
senting Christ's ascension in the church, by drawing never be resolved, might retreat out of sight. Hence
up an image of Christ to the roof of the church, and a one-sided ascetic tendency easily introduced itself
then casting down the image of Satan in flames, to re- into the earliest stages, into the first stadium, of the
present his falling as lightning from heaven. It is development of the Christian life, and more particü-
not improbable that the observance of ascension- larly in the case of those who embraced Christianity
day as a sacred festival commenced towards the lat- with their whole soul. Wherever this religion
ter end of the third century; at all events, its exist- | awakened in the first place disgust at the worldly
ence in the fourth century is undoubted. Mosheim pursuits which had previously swallowed up the life,
dates it, however, so late as the seventh century, enkindled the holy flame of love for the divine, of
but on what authority he does not mention. This is aspiration after eternal life, this first movement would
held as an important festival both in the Romish and readily assume an ascetic shape. With this, other
Greek churches. In the former church, on this day, elements might now intermingle, that had formed
after the Gospel has been read, the Paschal candle themselves, independent of Christianity, out of the
is extinguished to denote our Saviour's leaving the previous process of the world's development, and
earth, and ascending to heaven. The altar is adorned which, without the creative influence of Christianity,
with flowers, images, and relics, and the officiating would have taken a much wider sweep, and which
priest and his attendants are dressed in their white could be finally subdued only by the might of this
vestments. The blessing which the Pope pronounces new principle of life. The sprightly, youthful life of
on this day, is one of the three solemn benedictions. the pagan world had passed over at length into the
Anciently it was customary for his Holiness before sense of inward disunion, of schism, and had given
he pronounced the blessing to excommunicate all place to the dualistic and ascetic tendencies coming
heretics and infidels in a solemn manner, but that from the East. Accordingly, Christianity at its first
ceremony is now confined to Holy Thursday. appearance found such tendencies already existing,
ASCETERIUM, a name sometimes given to a and these, which found a point of contact and union
monastery, from the circumstance that every monk in the deep-felt breach, would have pressed onward
ought to be an ascetic. (See next article.)
to à still more extravagant length, if the conscious-
ASCETICS (Gr. ascesis, exercise or discipline), a ness of redemption proceeding from Christianity had
name given to those who retired from the world for not, in proportion as it unfolded itself, deprived them
purposes of mortification and devotion. The spirit more and more of this point of union. But beyond
of asceticism began to appear at an early period in a doubt, this already existing tendency to a miscon-
the Christian church. The devotional feelings of ceived renunciation of the world and of sense, might
many in the primitive ages of the church were warm mix in with the one-sided negative tendency, which,
and enthusiastic; they frequently loved to be alone, as we have seen, would first become prominent in the
and to give themselves up for a season to meditation development of Christian life, and might in this way
and prayer. Such a practice was laudable and right. assume a Christian shape and colouring."
But gradually extravagant notions were formed upon Asceticism, more particularly in the exaggerated
the subject. Retirement and seclusion from the bus-formin which it appeared at a later period under
tle and the business of men came to be regarded as the name of MONACHISM (which see), is an obvious
peculiarly favourable to spiritual religion; and by perversion of a plain and admitted principle of Chris-
an easy transition those who indulged in habits of tianity. That the believer ought to separate himself
separation from the world were viewed as invested from the world, so as to renounce all participation in,
with more than ordinary sanctity. “ Christianity,"
or even sympathy with, its ungodly maxims and man-
it has been well remarked, “ was designed to be the ner's, is an undoubted precept of the Word of God.
world-subjecting principle. It was to take up into “Be not conformed to this world,” says the apostle
itself and appropriate to its own ends all that be- Paul, addressing true Christians,“ but be ye trans-
longs to man,-all that is of the world. But to formed by the renewing of your minds, that ye may
bring this about, it was necessary that it should first prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect
enter into a conflict with what had hitherto been will of God.” This, however, obviously refers to a
the world-subjecting principle,—into a conflict with spiritual, not a literal separation from the world.
sin and the principle of heathenism and every- The scriptural command, however, has in multitudes
thing connected therewith. The clearing away of of instances been grossly perverted.
Imitating the
these hindrances must therefore be the first aim Essenes of the Jewish church, first individuals, and
of Christianity; although indeed this was an ob- then communities of ascetics arose in the Christian
ject that could not be really accomplished without church, who gave themselves up to devotion and
the positive appropriation of the purely human ele- habits of self-denial. The ascetics of the early church
ment. In the development, in time, the negative, have been often confounded with the monks of later
.
ASCETICS.
201
ages, particularly by Roman Catholic writers, who | objects and whatever delights the senses. Both men
to and women imposed these severe restraints on them-
apostolic times. But there were many points of es- selves, with good intentions I suppose, but they set
sential importance in which the early ascetics differed a bad example, and greatly injured the cause of
entirely from the more recent Popish monks. The Christianity. They were denominated Ascetics,
primitive ascetics were men of active habits, who Spoudaioi, Eklektoi, and also both male and fernale
mingled in society, and differed from others chiefly | philosophers, and were distinguished from other
in the high attainments which they had made in Christians, not only by a different appellation, but
spirituality and self-denial. They were indifferently by peculiarities of dress and demeanour. Those of
either of the clergy or laity, and were subject to no this century who embraced this austere mode of life,
particular rules of government, and bound by no lived indeed by themselves, but they did not with-
precepts but those of the gospel. In these and many draw altogether from the society and converse of
other respects they differed entirely from Romish men, but in process of time persons of this descrip-
monks. Hence, as Bingham rightly remarks, tion retired into deserts, and afterwards formed them-
“There were always ascetics in the church, but selves into associations after the manner of the Es--
not always monks, retiring to the deserts and senes and Therapeuta.
mountains, or living in monasteries and cells as in “ The causes of this institution are plain. First, the
after ages." The fact is, that monasticism, properly Christians did not wish to appear inferior to the
so called, dates no earlier than towards the middle of Greeks, the Romans, and the other people, among
the third century, the first real monk being an whom there were many philosophers and sages who
Egyptian Christian called Paul, who fled from the were distinguished from the vulgar by their dress and
fury of the Decian persecution, A. D. 252,-taking their whole mode of life, and who were held in high
refuge in the desert of Thebais, and living there in honour. Now, among these philosophers (as is well
the deepest seclusion for a very long time-ac- known) none were more popular with the Christians
cording to tradition, for ninety years. At an early than the Platonists and Pythagoreans, who it ap-
period Christian writers of standing and weight set pears recommended two modes of living; the one for
themselves to resist the false ascetic tendency. In philosophers who wished to excel others in virtue,
the Shepherd of Hermas, a work of great authority and the other for people engaged in the common af-
in the first centuries of the church, we find many fairs of life. The Platonists prescribed the follow-
remarks which indicate a spirit completely opposed ing rule for philosophers :—The mind of a wise man
to that of asceticism. Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria argues must be withdrawn as far as possible from the con-
with great power against the ascetics, and to correct tagious influence of the body; and as the oppressive
the opinion of those who held that the renunciation load of the body and intercourse with men are most
of all worldly goods was true Christian perfection, adverse to this design, therefore all sensual gratifi-
he wrote a tract on the question, What must be cations are to be avoided; the body is to be sus-
the rich man's character in order that he may be tained or rather mortified with coarse and slender
saved ?' In this small but valuable treatise, he fare; solitude is to be sought for; and the mind is
shows, that in Christianity the disposition of the to be self-collected and absorbed in contemplation,
heart is the essential thing. “A man,” he shrewdly so as to be detached as much as possible from the
remarks, “ may have thrown away his earthly pos- body. Whoever lives in this manner shall in the
sessions, and still retain the desire of them in his present life have converse with God; and when
heart; thus subjecting himself to the double disquie- freed from the load of the body, shall ascend without
tude of having to regret his prodigality, and of feel delay to the celestial mansions, and not need like the
ing himself deprived of the necessaries of life." souls of other men to undergo a purgation. The
The rise of asceticism in the second century, and grounds of this system lay in the peculiar sentiments
the causes which originated it, are thus stated by entertained by this sect of philosophers and by their
Mosheim. “There soon arose a class of persons friends, respecting the soul, demons, matter, and the
who professed to strive after that higher and more universe. And when these sentiments were em-
eminent holiness which common Christians cannot braced by the Christian philosophers, the necessary
attain ; and who resolved to obey the counsels of consequences of them must also be adopted."
Christ in order to enjoy intimate communion with The MONTANISTS (which see), in the end of the
God in this life, and on leaving the body to rise with- second century, inculcated upon their followers the
out impediment or difficulty to the celestial world. observance of various precepts, which were strictly
They supposed many things were forbidden to them,
ere forbidden to them, of an ascetic character. External asceticism generally
which were allowed to other Christians; such as was progressively and increasingly valued; and there
wine, flesh, matrimony, and worldly business. They appeared many ascetics of both sexes, although they
supposed they must emaciate their bodies with watch- were bound by no irrevocable vow. The Alexan-
ing, fasting, toil
, and hunger. They considered it a drian distinction of a higher and a lower virtue,
happiness to retire to desert - places, and by close had a special intluence in recommending asceticism.
meditation to abstract their minds from all external It is true that the renouncing of sensual enjoyments
I.
N 2
202
-
ASCETRIÆ-ASCOLIA.
re-
was only the means for attaining to that higher virtue, on this day God pardoned the Ninevites. The Per-
that is, to that passionless state whereby man is sians and other followers of Ali have an additional
made like to God and united to him ; so that who- reason for the observance of this day, for they be-
ever had reached this point had no more need of that lieve that Hossein, son of Ali, was slain on this day
renunciation of sensual gratification. But afterwards in battle. The commemoration of his death is cele-
the opinion that the higher virtue must manifest itself | brated annually with great mourning and lamenta-
especially in external asceticism, obtained currency tion.
after the example of Origen, in the Christian school ASCITES. See ASCODROGITES.
at Alexandria, as well as among the New Platonists. ASCLEPIEIA, festivals which appear to have
Hitherto the ascetics had lived scattered among been celebrated among the ancient Greeks wherever
other Christians without external distinction ; but temples existed in honour of ÆSCULAPIUS (which
the Decian persecution was the cause of some Egyp- | see), god of medicine. The most celebrated of these
tian Christians fleeing into the desert, and there in festivals, however, was that which was held at Epi-
solitude giving themselves up to an asceticism in the daurus every five years, and at which a contest took
highest degree extravagant. This new asceticism | place among poets and musicians, from which
began to make greater noise when, during Maxi- ceived the name of the sacred contention. A similar
min's persecution, A. D. 311, the hermit Anthony festival is said to have been held at Athens.
appeared in a wild attire at Alexandria. This man ASCLEPIODOTEANS, a small Christian sect
found imitators, and thus asceticism gave rise to an- which arose in the third century, in the reign of the
other and still more extravagant spirit, that of MONA- Roman emperor, Heliogabalus. It derived its name
CHISM (which see).
from Asclepiodotus, who taught, like the modern
ASCETRIÆ, a name frequently applied to con- Socinians, that Jesus Christ was a mere man. Those
secrated virgins in the ancient church. See Nuns. who held this heresy were excommunicated by Vi..
ASCHARIANS, a Mohammedan sect, the disci-banus, bishop of Rome, A. D. 221.
ples of Aschari who died in the beginning of the ASCODROGITES, a Christian sect in the time of
fourth century of the Hegira. They hold that God the Emperor Commodus, towards the second cen-
acts only by general laws, and upon this they ground | tury. They appear to have been a branch of the
the liberty of man, and the merit of good works. But MONTANISTS (which see), and to have held very ex-
being the Creator, he must concur in all the actions travagant notions. They are said to have derived
of men, according to their view of the subject. “Our their name from Gr. askos, a bottle, in consequence
actions," they say, are really and effectually pro- of a strange practice which prevailed among them,
duced by the Creator; but the application of them of bringing into their churches bags or skins filled
to the obeying or disobeying of the law comes from with wine, and designed to represent the new bottles
The opinions of the Ascharians are directly filled with new wine of which Christ speaks. They
opposed to those of the MOTAGALES (which see). are represented also as dancing round these bottles,
ASCHHOR, four of the months which, among the and intoxicating themselves with the wine. They
Mohammedans as well as among the ancient Ara- were also called Ascites, which is derived from the
bians, were regarded as sacred. These months were same word as Ascodrogites. It is very probable that
Moharram, Resjele, Dulkadha, and Dulhaggia. No this sect has been misrepresented, and held forth by
war, no hostile operations could be lawfully begun their enemies in a ridiculous light.
or carried on in these months, and most of the Ara- ASCODRUTES, a Gnostic sect who considered
bian tribes observed this so punctually, that even all religion as consisting simply in knowledge or ab-
the murderer of a father or brother was not to be stract theory, and under pretence of adhering to
punished, or any violence offered to him at that spiritual worship alone, would admit of no external
time. Mohammed seems to approve this institution or corporeal symbols whatever. They asserted, as
of the sacred months in the Koran, in which he Theodoret describes them, that Divine mysteries be-
blames those Arabians, who, being tired of living so ing the images of invisible things were not to be set
long without robbing, deferred the sanctification of forth by visible things; nor incorporeal things repre-
Moharram to the month following. He enforces sented by sensible and corporeal things. Therefore,
the careful observance of the sacred months, except they never baptized any that were of their sect, nor
in the case of a war against the infidels.
celebrated the mystery of the eucharist among them.
ASCHOUR, the tenth day or tenth night of Mo- For they said the knowledge of all things was their
harram which is the first month of the Arabic year. redemption. The MARCOSIANS and VALENTINIANS
The word signifies likewise ten days, or ten nights. (which see), seem to have entertained sinuilar senti-
Mohammed, in the eighty-ninth chapter of the Ko- ments.
ran, introduces God swearing by the ten nights. The ASCOLIA (Gr. askos, a bag), a custom observed
Mohammedans generally fast on this day for three by the Athenians in the celebration of the ANTHES-
reasons : 1. Because the ancient Arabians fasted on TERIA (which see), or festivals in honour of Diony-
this day long before the time of Mohammed. 2. Be- A sacrifice having been offered to the god,
cause on this day Noah left the ark; and 3. Because a bag was formed from the skin and smeared with
us.
sus.
1
ASEN-ASHANTEES.
203
oil, after which attempts were made to dance upon vian ash being the symbol of universal nature, justly
it. The failure of many who tried this feat afforded remarks, that, “in attempting to explain the myth
great amusement to the spectators, and the individual in all its details, he has let his imagination get the
who succeeded' obtained the skin as a prize.
better of his judgment.” Grimm considers the whole
ASEN, or Æsir, the name given to the gods of myth as bearing the stamp of a very high antiquity;
the Scandinavian mythology.
but he confesses that it does not appear to be fully
ASGARD, the abode of the gods among the an- unfolded
cient Scandinavians.
Various writers have exerted their ingenuity in
ASH-TREE. The court of the gods is repre- explaining the myth of the Scandinavian ash. Mone
sented in the Edda of the ancient Scandinavians, as regards it as the emblem of human life. The de-
having been usually held under a great ash-tree, tails of his theory are thus given by Mallet : “Man
and there they distributed justice. This ash is the is born of water, the swan is therefore the infantile
greatest of all trees; its branches cover the surface soul that still swims on the water, but the eagle, the
of the earth ; its top reaches to the highest heaven; mature experienced mind that soars aloft; the hawk
it is supported by three vast roots, one of which ex- perched between the eagle's eyes being internal sen-
tends to the ninth world. An eagle, whose piercing sation. The snakes that gnaw the root of life are
eye discovers all things, perches upon its branches. the vices and the passions; the squirrel, the double-
A squirrel is continually running up and down it to tongued flatterer constantly running between these
bring news; while a parcel of serpents, fastened to passions and the mind (the eagle) which has raised
the trunk, endeavour to destroy him. From under itself above their control. The harts denote the
one of the roots runs a fountain wherein wisdom lies passions of the mind, folly, madness, terror, and dis-
concealed. From a neighbouring spring (the foun- quietude, and therefore feed on the healthy thoughts
tain of past things) three virgins are continually (the green leaves). But as man in his levity remarks
drawing a precious water, with which they water not what enemies threaten his existence, the stem
the ash-tree. This water keeps up the beauty of its rots on the side, and many a one dies ere he attains
foliage, and, after having refreshed its leaves, falls to wisdom, or figuratively before the bird of his soul
back again to the earth, where it forms the dew of the eagle) is seated amidst the perennial verdure of
which the bees make their honey. These three vir- the mundane tree.” Ling supposes that by the ash
gins always keep under the ash; and it is they who was meant to be represented the symbol both of uni-
dispense the days and ages of men. Every man hath versal and human life, and that its three roots were
à destiny appropriated to himself, who determines meant to signify the physical, the intellectual, and
the duration and events of his life. But the three the moral principles. Other writers understand by
destinies of more especial note, are Urd, the past, these roots, matter, organization, and spirit, and the ash
Verdandi, the present, and Skuld, the future. The itself to denote universal primordial vitality. Mallet
third root of the ash is in heaven, and under it is the seems to incline to the opinion that this mythic tree
holy Urder-fount. Here the gods sit in judgment. is the symbol of ever-enduring time, or rather of
Every day they ride up hither on horseback over universal nature ever-varying in its aspects, but sub-
Bifröst, which is called the Æsir Bridge. According sisting throughout eternity. It is a singular coinci-
to Finn Magnusen, this ash-tree is the symbol of dence that Virgil, in speaking of the ash-tree, de-
universal nature. One of the stems, as he calls the scribes it with its outspreading branches as enduring
roots, springs from the central primordial abyss—from for centuries, and represents it as a tree that reaches
the subterranean source of matter, as it might be with its roots as far downwards as it does upwards
termed, runs up through the earth which it supports, with its branches. See YGGDRASIL.
and issuing out of the celestial mountain in the ASHANTEES (RELIGION OF THE). The country
world's centre, called Asgard, Caucasus, Bordj, spreads inhabited by this people forms a powerful kingdom
its branches over the whole universe. These wide- contiguous to the Gold Coast in Western Africa. The
spreading branches are the ethereal or celestial re- entire population of Ashantee, with all its dependen-
gions; their leaves the clouds; their buds or fruits cies, amounts to upwards of four millions. It is not
the stars; the four harts are the four cardinal winds; so much one state as an assemblage of states, all
the eagle is a symbol of the air; the hawk of the paying feudal homage and obedience to the sovereign
and the squirrel signifies hailstones, snow- of Ashantee. Domestic slavery exists throughout
flakes, vaporous agglomerations, and similar atmo- the whole kingdom, and the lives and services of the
spherical phenomenaiAnother stem or root springs slaves are at the entire disposal of their masters.
up in the warm south over the ethereal Urdar-foun- Polygamy prevails to a frightful extent, the king
tain, the swans swimming in which denote the sun being allowed to possess no fewer than 3,333 wives;
The third stem takes its rise in the cold but these princesses are employed in various ser-
and cheerless regions of the north, over the source of vices about the court, and are even required to per .
the ocean, typified by Mimir's well. Mallet, in his form the humblest menial offices. A few only re-
Northern Antiquities,' while he states that he agrees main in the palace, and the rest reside on the king's
in opinion with Finn Magnusen as to the Scandina- | plantations or in the capital, where two streets are
1
ether ;
and moon.
204
ASHANTEES.
wholly occupied by them, and no other person is king sacrificed no fewer than 3,000 victims in honour
allowed to enter that part of the town. The nobles of his mother, who had died just before. The follow-
are allowed to have as many wives as they are able | ing short extract from the Journal of a Wesleyan mis-
to maintain. The husband lives separate from hissionary in 1840, shows the hardened feelings of the
wives, who dwell in houses or sheds contiguous to people in consequence of the prevalence of this hor-
each other, in the form of a square. They cook and rid practice : “To-day another human victim vas
carry food to their husbands, but are not allowed to sacrificed, on account of the death of a person of
eat with him.
rank in the town. As I was going out of the town,
The religion of the Ashantees is very similar to in the cool of the evening, I saw the poor creature
that which prevails over the whole West Coast of lying on the ground. The head was severed from
Africa. At the foundation of it lies the notion of a the body, and lying at a short distance from it; sev-
Supreme Being, whom they term Yankumpon, the eral large turkey-buzzards were feasting on the
Great Friend. They also give him a title which im-wounds, and literally rolling the head in the dust.
plies eternal existence. Their ideas as to the crea- This unfortunate creature appeared to be about
tion of man are curious. They believe on tradition, | eighteen years of age ; a strong, healthy youth, who
that Yankumpon created three white men and three might, în all probability, have lived forty, fifty, or
black, with the same number of women of each even sixty years longer. As I returned into the
colour, and that they were allowed to fix their own town, I saw that they had dragged the body to a
destiny, by choosing either good or evil. The mode short distance, and put it into the ditch, where the
in which they made their choice is as follows: A poor female was thrown the other day. On my con-
box of calabash and a sealed paper were placed on versing with some of the natives concerning the hor-
the ground. The black men, who had the first rible nature of human sacrifices, they said, they
choice, took the box, in which they found only a themselves did not like them, and wished they
piece of gold, some iron, and other metals which they be done away. While the poor creature was lying
did not know how to use. The white men, on the in the public street, many of the people were look-
other hand, chose the sealed paper, which they ing on it with the greatest indifference ; indeed, they
opened, and it taught them every thing. The blacks seem to be so familiar with these awful and bloody
were left in Africa under the care of inferior deities; scenes, that they think no more of them, yea, they
the whites were taken to the sea-shore, and there do not think so much of them as they would of see-
taught to build ships, which conveyed them to other ing a dead sheep, dog, or monkey."
parts of the world. The Ashantée religion is a system At these Customs for the dead, the priests or Fe-
of Polytheism, and besides the recognition of number- tishmen, as they are called, are uniformly present,
less gods, they worship images of them in which, as endeavouring, by various stratagems and impostures,
they imagine, the spiritual beings make their abode. to deceive the people and enhance their own impor-
They believe in a future state of consciousness and tance. FETISH-WORSHIP (which see), indeed, is a
activity into which the soul passes at death. They | peculiarity of the religion of the whole of Western
offer up prayers to their departed friends, who they Africa. The Ashantees indulge in this kind of
believe watch over them, not, however, as guardian idolatry and superstition to a great extent. The
spirits, but as beings who require material food, word Fetish is employed with them as a general
clothing, and other conveniences as they did when term to denote things sacred, being applied both to
on the earth; and they further imagine, that as a vast the deities themselves, and to the rites observed and
number of concubines, slaves, and dependants are the offerings presented. The people daily celebrate
the chief marks of superiority among them here, so this kind of worship, besides having certain fixed
it must be also in a future state. Hence one reason times, which are called Fetish-days. The deities
for the prevalence among the Ashantees of the aw- are consulted by means of oracles; and on particular
ful rite of human sacrifice. They know no higher occasions, when the questions to be determined are
token of regard which they can show to their de- of public importance, human sacrifices are offered
ceased friends than by sacrificing for their sakes a in great numbers. When a victory has been ob-
number of human beings, who they persuađe them- tained over their enemies, it is felt to be a religious
selves will accompany them as attendants in a fu- duty to sacrifice the prisoners of war.
ture world. There are two fixed periods every year; ance of a Fetishman among the Ashantees is thus
called the great and little “Adai Customs," at which described by Mr. Freeman, who laboured among the
these barbarous sacrifices more especially take place. people as a missionary with much success.
We
At the death of a great man, hundreds, and at the quote from his Journal: “Early in the morning, the
death of a king, even thousands of helpless victims Fetish tune was played through the town, to collect
perish. In addition to the murder of human beings the people together for the finishing of the Custom’
on such occasions, there are also, what are called for Corintchie's sister. In the afternoon nearly all the
Custoins for the dead, including music, dancing, and principal persons in the town were dressed in their
drinking to a fearful extent. When Mr. Bowdich gayest attire: a large group of them was collected
was at Coomassie, the capital of the country, the | under the Fetish tree, to see and hear the Fetishman,
The appear-

e
Varione original Authomties
Engraved by A. Thom
ZICH
SO
Rites at Funeral of Ashantee Chief
See Article "Fetishism)
A Hullarlon & CO London &Hidinburgh
ASHES.
205
while he made his orations, and danced to the sound til the even : and it shall be unto the children of Is-
of several drums, which were played by females. rael, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among
The appearance of the Fetishman was very much them, for a statute for ever.” It has been supposed
like that of a clown; his face was bedaubed with by some authors, that the reason of this appoint-
white clay; he had a large iron chain hanging round ment is to be found in the high veneration in which
his neck, which seemed to be worn as a necklace; oxen were held by the Egyptians, and to prevent the
around his legs were tied bunches of Fetish; and he Israelites from imitating the idolaters in their Cow-
held in his hand an immense knife, about fifteen Worship, they were to sacrifice a heifer to make a
inches long, and two and a half inches broad. Some- lustral water with its ashes, which should cleanse
times he danced with many frantic gestures, and at them from their impurities, thus raising in their
other times stood gazing around him with every in- minds an abhorrence to the idolatrous worship of
dication of a vacant mind. While I stood at a dis- that animal.
tance, looking at him, he set out, and ran to a dis- Among the Hindus, ashes from cow-dung are re-
tance of about a hundred yards. Anxious to keep garded as of a very sacred nature, and, accordingly,
him in sight, I walked forward past a small shed they sprinkle their foreheads, their shoulders, and
which would have concealed him from me, and saw breasts with them every morning. These ashes are
him standing with a musket at his shoulder, aiming daily offered to the gods, and the YOGIS (which
at a turkey-buzzard on a tree hard by. Having fired see), generally keep a large stock of them, that they
without hitting his mark, he returned to the tree may be able to supply the devotees, who reward
from whence he started, and began to make a speech them liberally with alms. The Yogis also cover
to the people. It is at these public meetings that their faces and bodies with these ashes, and scatter
these men deliver to the poor deluded people the them over their idols. At the courts of several In-
messages which they pretend they have received dian princes certain persons are employed to present
from the Fetish ; which messages are received by cow-dung ashes, diluted in a little water, and laid upon
the great body of the people as sterling truth.” the leaves of an Indian fig-tree. This ceremony is
Another practice connected with the Fetish among performed publicly and in the morning.
the Ashantees, is the administration of what is called In Oriental countries it is a common sign of mourn-
the trial by oath-draught, which is the drinking of a ing to cover the head, and even the body, with ashes.
poisonous draught as a test of guilt or innocence, in Thus Tamar expressed her sorrow when she had
which it is supposed that the spirit or Fetish goes been defiled by Amnon: “She put ashes on her
down along with the draught, and searches the heart head."
head.” And when Mordecai heard that the Jews
of the accused, and if ît finds him innocent, returns were to be destroyed, “he rent his clothes and
with it as he vomits it up; but if guilty, the Fetish put on sackcloth with ashes.” Our Lord alludes
remains to destroy him.
to the same custom, when he says, Matth. xi. 21,
Since 1841, the Wesleyan Missionary Society have “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Beth-
carried on mission operations among the Ashantees saida! for if the mighty works, which were done in
with great earnestness and encouragement. A mis-
A mis- you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
sion-house and a school have been established at have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”
Coomassie
, which contains a population of nearly Among the early Christians it was no unusual prac-
100,000 persons. The gospel is preached in the tice for penitents, when subjected to the discipline
markets and streets of the city without restraint, and of the church, to stand for whole days and nights
although the number, who have formally abandoned together at the door of the church covered with
heathenism and embraced Christianity, is as yet sackcloth and ashes. In the same way ashes are
śmall
, it is nevertheless a gratifying fact, that ten or used by the Roman Catholics on ASH-WEDNESDAY
twelve hundred people statedly attend Christian (which see), in token of humiliation and sorrow.
worship on the Sabbath.
In the Romish church it is ordered by the Ponti-
ASHES. The most remarkable religious cere- ficale Romanum, that, in the consecration of a church,
mony, in connection with the use of ashes, was that a pot of ashes be provided, with which the floor of
which was observed on the first day of atonement, the building is strewed in two broad lines in the
when the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled upon the un- form of a cross, transversely from angle to angle of
clean, " sanctified,” as an apostle expresses it
, “ to the church, each line about a span in breadth. Then,
the purifying of the flesh." The process of purifi- while the Benedictus is being chanted, the Pontiff
cation on that solemn occasion is thus described in scores with the point of his pastoral staff, on one of the
the Jewish law, Numb. xix. 9, 10, “ And a man that broad lines of ashes, the letters of the Greek alpha-
is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and bet, and on the other the letters of the Latin alphabet.
lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and After various ceremonies have been gone through,
it shall be kept for the congregation of the children the Pontiff thus blesses the ashes with which the
of Israel for a water of separation ; it is a purifica- people are to sprinkle themselves for the redemption
tion for sin. And he that gathereth the ashes of of their sins: “O Almighty, everlasting God, spare
the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean un- the penitent, be propitious to thy suppliants, and
206
ASHIMA-ASHTAROTH.
19
vouchsafe to send thy holy angel from heaven to one of the chief cities of Phænicia. The name by
hal+low and sancti+fy these ashes, that they be which this female deity was known aniong the an-
a healthful (saving) remedy to all humbly invoking cient Greeks and Romans was Astarte, confounded
thy holy name, and accusing themselves of their sometimes with Juno, and at other times with Diana
sins at the bar of conscience ; lamenting their ini- or Venus. Lucian regards her as the Moon, and if
quities in the sight of thy divine clemency, or sup- so, she is probably identical with the heathen god-
pliantly and earnestly importuning thy most gracious dess styled the “Queen of heaven,” in Jer, vii. 18,
compassion, and grant, through the invocation of and xliv. 17, 18, to whom the Hebrews are charged
thy most holy name, that whosoever shall sprinkle with“ making cakes " to be presented as an offering
themselves with these ashes for the redemption at her shrine. The image of Ashtaroth among the
of their sins, may obtain health of body, and pro- Phoenicians was the head of an ox with horns. Por-
tection of soul, through Christ our Lord.” Then phyry said that she was sometimes represented with
having blessed the water, wine, salt, and ashes, a cow's head, the horns of which served at the same
and mingled them together, he stands with his face time as the usual symbol of sovereign power, and as
to the greater altar, and his mitre on his head, a representation of the crescent moon.
The worship
and says, addressing the people, “ Dearest brethren, of Ashtaroth was introduced by Solomon among his
We most humbly beseech God the Father Almighty, | people, and he built a temple to her honour on the
in whose house are many mansions, that he vouch- Mount of Olives; but it was Jezebel principally, the
safe to ble t-ss and keep this his habitation by the daughter of the king of Tyre, who gave encourage-
sprinkling of this mixture of water, wine, salt, and ment to the worship of a goddess in Palestine which
ashes."
she had been accustomed to adore in her native
The Greeks and Romans used to carry home the country; and, accordingly, so far did she succeed in
ashes of their deceased friends from the funeral, and establishing this species of idolatry in the land of
preserve them in urns for some time before they the Hebrews, that she had four hundred idolatrous
were deposited in the ground. Ashes were made priests in her service. Augustine tells us that the
use of anciently by way of punishment among the Carthaginians, who were descended from the Phe-
Persians. An account of it is given in the thirteenthnicians, maintained Astarte to be Juno. Cicero calls
chapter of the second book of Maccabees, to the her the fourth Venus of the Syrians. Milton men-
following effect. A high tower was filled to a certain tions Ashtoreth among the fallen angels in his · Para-
height with ashes, and the criminal being thrown dise Lost:?
headlong into them, they were perpetually turned
with these in troop
Came Ashtoreth, whom the Phoenicians called
round him by a wheel, till he was suffocated by them
Astarte, Queen of Heaven, with crescent horns;
and died.
To whose bright image, nightly by the moon,
ASHIMA, the name of a deity worshipped by the
Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs;
In Sion, also, not unsung, where stood
Hamathites settled in Samaria. This god is referred
Her temple on th' offensive mountain, built
to by name in 2 Kings xvii. 50. Some of the Rab- By that uxorious king, wbose heart, tho' large,
bis allege that Ashima was represented in the shape
Beguiled by fair idolatresses, fell
To idols foul."
of a goat, others in the shape of an ape. The Jews
declare this to be one of those false gods which are The worship of Ashtaroth was put down in Israel
spoken of in Lev. xvii. 7., “ And they shall no more by good king Josiah, as we learn from 2 Kings xxiii.
offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have 13, 14. Her worship is generally classed with that
gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto of BAAL (which see). The usual sacrifice to this
them throughout their generations;" and also in goddess was a kid, and hence it has been conjectured
Deut. xxxii. 17, “They sacrificed unto devils, not to that the reason why Judah promised the harlot a
God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods kid was that she might offer it in sacrifice to Ashta-
that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.” roth. Augustine speaks with horror of the licentious
Maimonides says, that there are some who worship character of her worship as practised among the
devils in the shape of he-goats. Therefore, they call- Carthaginians. Her temple at Aphacon Mount
ed the devils by this name. Jurieu thinks that the
Jurieu thinks that the Lebanon was a scene of the most daring profligacy
word Ashima may be derived from two Hebrew words and wickedness.
signifying “ daily fire,” and may, therefore, denote No deity of antiquity has given rise to more varied
the sun, of which fire is the emblem. And it is well speculation among the learned than Ashtaroth.
known, he remarks, that the sun and the fire were Bishop Cumberland argues in favour of her being Naa-
worshipped in Syria, from which the Hamathites had mah, the sister of Tubal-Cain, the only woman whose
been removed.
birth in Cain's line Moses takes notice of, and the
ASHTAROTH, ASHTORETH, or ASTARTE, a god last person mentioned in that line. Sanchoniatho
dess of the ancient Phoenicians whose worship was tells us that “the Phoenicians say that Astarte is
introduced among the Israelites. She is mentioned Venus,” and in another place, that “ Astarte was the
as goddess of the Zidonians in 1 Kings xi. 5, 33, mother of Cupid.” M. Huet strangely conjectures
2 Kings xxiii. 13; and Zidon, it is well known, was that Ashtaroth was no other than Zipporah, the wife
V
ar
ASH-WEDNESDAY-ASMONEANS
207
nons.
of Moses, who was so called from being a shepherd- | bishop or patriarch. Princes, ambassadors, and other
ess, or the wife of a shepherd. Selden considers her, persons of distinction receive the ashes after the ca-
on the other hand, to be Cybele, the mother of the The canons and the superior clergy incline
gods. Jurieu believes her to be Juno, which is in- their bodies when they receive them, but the inferior
deed the most plausible, she being the queen of the clergy and the laity take them kneeling. The Pope
gods and wife of Jupiter, who is generally regarded receives them from the officiating cardinal, who does
as identical with Baal, whose worship in the Old not repeat the memento to His Holiness, but the car-
Testament is uniformly joined with that of Ash-dinal stoops a little when he takes them from the
taroth.
Pope. If an emperor were to assist at this ceremony
ASH-WEDNESDAY, the first day of Lent, and of humiliation he must take the ashes after all the
specially observed in Romish and Episcopal churches cardinals
, because the princes of the church are re-
generally. Some have alleged that it was customary, garded as superior to all temporal princes.
even in the early ages of the Christian church, for ASIARCHS, the Pagan pontiffs in the Roman
penitents to appear on that day in sackcloth and provinces of Western Asia. They are mentioned in
ashes, and to receive absolution; hence it was called Acts xix. 31, under the appellation of the chief men
dies cinerum, the day of ashes, and caput jejunii, or of Asia." Their office was to preside over the reli-
the beginning of the fast. But the ancient writers, gious rites and the sacred games. They seem to
instead of recording this custom as belonging to Ash- have combined in their office as Asiarchs the magis-
Wednesday, preserve perfect silence on the sub- tracy and the priesthood. They had the charge of
ject. Neither was Ash-Wednesday the first day all sacred buildings, and it was their province to pro-
of Lent in the ancient church. Gregory the Great vide at their own expense for the public games,
appears to have been the first who added' it, which were celebrated in honour of the gods. They
along with other three days, to Lent, to make were chosen every year about the autumnal equinox
the number of fasting-days, which had previously from the most wealthy families, and the same per-
been thirty-six, amount to forty, thus correspond- sons were frequently re-elected. They wore a crown
ing to the number of days on which our blessed of gold, and a toga ornamented with gold and purple.
Lord fasted in the wilderness. The addition, how- Strabo says that the Asiarchs were chosen from the
ever, of Ash-Wednesday and the other three days to inhabitants of Tralles, which was one of the richest
Lent in the Roman church, is sometimes ascribed to cities in Asia Minor. The Asiarchs were ten in num-
Gregory II. in the beginning of the eighth century. | ber, but there was one who presided over the others
During the pontificate of Urban II., in the year A. D. under the name of the chief Asiarch, and who usually
1091, it was enacted in a council held at Benevento, resided at Ephesus. The name Asiarch would seem
that on the Wednesday which was the first day of the to imply that the authority of this officer extended
fast of Lent, the faithful laymen as well as clerks, over the whole of Asia Minor; but, whatever may
women as well as men, should have their heads have been the case at an earlier period, his jurisdic-
tion latterly was limited to a single province. The
his . Lives of the Popes,' “ that is observed to this office continued even under the Christian emperors,
day.” The ashes used at this ceremony must be when the sacred games of the Pagan worship had
made from the branches of the olive or palm that been abolished, and churches substituted for heathen
was “ blessed” on the Palm-Sunday of the previous temples.
year. The priest blesses the ashes by making on ASINARII, or worshippers of an ass, a term of
them the sign of the cross, and perfuming them with reproach applied to the early Christian converts by
incense. This ceremony having been performed, the the Pagans.
ashes are first laid on the head of the officiating ASIUS, a surname of Zeus, derived from the
priest in the form of a cross by another priest, who, town of Asos in Crete, where he was worshipped un-
while thus engaged, utters these words in Latin, der this designation.
"Remember man that thou art dust,” &c. After ASMODEUS, the Jewish name of an evil spirit
the priest has received the ashes himself
, he gives mentioned in the apocryphal book of Tobit.
them in the same manner to his assistants and the ASMONEANS, a title given to the Maccabean
other clergy present, after which the congregation, princes, in consequence of Mattathias, with whom
women as well as men, one after another, approach the line commenced, being descended from Asmo-
the altar, kneel before the priest, and receive the neus, a priest of the course of Joarib. In the reign
mark with the ashes on the forehead.
of Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, a decree was
A bishop receives the ashes in a sitting posture published by that monarch, commanding all the na-
and with his mitre off, from the hands of the officiat- tions subject to his power to abandon their ancient
ing canon, after which the prelate, putting on his religious rites and ceremonies and to conform to the
mitre and having a white cloth before him, gives the religion of their conqueror. This edict was chiefly
ashes to the officiating canon, who stoops before him. directed against the Jews, and, accordingly, the sac-
It is the office of a bishop to give the ashes to a rifices were suspended, the other religious rites dis-
churchman of superior dignity, such as an arch- continued, the image of Jupiter Olympias placed
208
ASMOUG-ASS (FEAST OF THE).
upon the altar of burnt-offerings, the temple dedi- | sembling a brush, used in the Roman Catholic
cated to that heathen deity, to whom all the people Church for sprinkling holy water upon objects which
were commanded to offer sacrifice under penalty of are to be blessed. An instrument of the same kind,
death. Overawed by these threatenings, and sub- generally consisting of a branch of laurel or olive, was
jected to severe persecution, many of the Jews aban- employed in the lustrations of the ancient Pagans.
doned the worship of the true God, and became open The aspergillum in the sacred rites of the Romans,
and avowed idolaters; others, however, remained in- served to sprinkle consecrated water, and among the
flexible, and chose rather to suffer death than to Greeks it was termed chernips. The aspergilla used
apostatize from their ancient faith. In this crisis it on the Thursday of Holy Week in St. Peter's at
pleased God to raise up Mattathias, who, joined by Rome, in the ceremony of washing the high altar with
à multitude of pious Jews, issued from the fast- wine, are of a peculiar shape, being done up in the
nesses to which they had retired, and boldly going form of a diadem, in memory of the crown of thorns,
forth against the enemies of God's people, demolished and are much sought after by the people. See HOLY
the altars of idolatry and re-established the worship | WATER, LUSTRATION, PURIFICATION.
of God. Having thus accomplished a great work, ASPERSION. See LUSTRATION.
Mattathias before his death called to him his five ASPHALIUS, a surname of Poseidon, under
sons, and exhorted them to adhere steadfastly to the which he was worshipped in several towns of Greece.
faith and worship of their fathers' God, and to main- | The Greek word implying “safety" shows that this
tain his cause against all opposition.
deity was worshipped as affording safety to vessels
John, the son of Mattathias, who was surnamed and shipping of all kinds.
Judas Maccabæus, inherited the spirit of his father, ASRAEL, an angel to whom the Mohammedans
and putting himself at the head of a small but valiant believe that the souls of those who depart this life
army of Jews, conquered the large army of Antio- are intrusted.
chus, killing five thousand and putting the rest to ASRAR, the mysteries of the Koran, which are so
flight. While the Syrian monarch was meditating profound, as some of the Mohammedan doctors al-
vengeance, his cruel reign was cut short by his lege, that they who have obtained a knowledge of
death. His son and successor, Antiochus Eupator, them are unable to explain them to others, either by
was a minor when his father died, and the govern- tongue or pen.
ment being intrusted to Lysias, the general who had ASS (FEAST OF THE), a festival celebrated in
before been so signally defeated, he continued the the dark ages, in commemoration of the Virgin
persecution of the Jews with unabated violence. Mary's flight into Egypt, which was supposed to
Judas was as successful in the field as he had been have been made on an ass. This feast was regularly
in the former reign, until at length being overpower- held on the 14th of January every year. The cere-
ed by numbers, he was slain in battle, and his small monies which were performed on the occasion afford
but intrepid band cut to pieces. The brave Jewish a melancholy instance of the extent to which super-
warrior was succeeded in the command by his stition may sometimes be carried. A beautiful young
brother Jonathan, who also obtained such advantages woman was chosen richly attired, and a young infant
over the enemy that they were forced to come to an placed in her arms, to represent the Virgin Mary and
accommodation. From the date of this treaty, B. C. the infant Jesus. She then mounted an ass richly
162, is calculated the commencement of the Asmo- caparisoned, and rode in procession, followed by the
nean dynasty, which lasted till the death of Antigo- bishop and clergy, from the cathedral to the church
nus, B. c. 37, being in all one hundred and twenty- of St. Stephen, where she was placed near the altar,
six years, or as some calculate, from the time of Judas and high mass commenced. Instead, however, of the
Maccabæus, one hundred and twenty- nine years. people responding in the usual manner, they were
During the whole of this long period the Jews were taught to imitate the braying of the ass; and at
engaged in incessant wars, and Palestine was ex- the conclusion of the service the priest, instead of
posed to cruel ravages from the assaults of different the usual words with which he dismissed the people,
nations as well as the incursions of neighbouring brayed three times, and the sounds were thereafter
people, particularly the Arabians. See JEWS. imitated by the people. In the course of the cere-
ASMOUG, the name of an evil spirit among the mony a hymn in praise of the ass was sung by the
magi of ancient Persia, who was represented as giv- priests and people with great vociferation. Edgar,
ing rise to all the wickedness practised in the world. in his able work entitled · Variations of Popery,' tells
The chief employment of this demon was said to be us that “ the worship concluded with a braying-match
to stir up dissensions in families and among neigh- between the clergy and laity in honour of the ass.
bours, as well as to originate wars among nations. The officiating priest turned to the people, and in a
ASOPUS, the name of two river-gods of ancient fine treble voice and with great devotion, brayed
Greece, the one in Achaia in Peloponnesus, and the three times like an ass whose representative he was ;
other in Boeotia.
while the people, imitating his example, in thanking
ASOURAS. See RAKCHASAS.
God, brayed three times in concert. Attempts
ASPERGILLUM, an instrument somewhat re- were made at various times to put an end to this
ASS-WORSHIP_ASSAMESE (RELIGION OF THE).
209
most unseemly exhibition. Bishop Groseteste abol- | following effect. He says that in all probability the
ished it in Lincoln cathedral, where it had been an- golden urn containing the manna which was pre-
nually observed on the feast of the circumcision. served in the sanctuary was taken for the head of an
On the Continent, however, it continued to be cele- ass; and that the omer of manna might be confound-
brated for centuries, and was officially permitted by ed with the Hebrew word hamor, which signifies an
the acts of the chapter of Sens in France, so late as ass; for, according to the Rabbins, upon the prongs
1517. At length, however, it disappeared before the of the golden urn was the head of an animal which
advancing light of the Reformation, towards the end would seem to be that of a young bull, but which
of the sixteenth century.
might be the origin of the calumny that the Jews
ASS-WORSHIP. The Avites, it is said, wor- worshipped an ass's head.
shipped Nibhaz and Tartak as their deities. The ASSABINUS, the name under which the sun was
latter, according to the Hebrews, signifies the ass, worshipped by the Ethiopians. By the Greeks and
a creature often mentioned in the fable and theology Romans he was styled the Ethiopian Jupiter, as be-
of the heathens. Thus we read of the ass of Silenus, ing their supreme God. It is related by Theophras-
and the two asses which enabled Bacchus to pass a tus, who, however, regards the story as fabulous, that
river in his Indian expedition, for which service they cinnamon was offered to this deity, which took fire
were raised to a place among the stars. The Egyp- of itself, and was consumed.
tians also in ancient times took great notice of the ASSAF, an idol of the ancient Arabians, worship-
ass, which was the symbol of Typhon, the evil prin- ped chiefly by the Koraisch tribe.
ciple, but, far from worshipping it, they regarded ASSAMESE (RELIGION OF THE). The country
this animal as an abomination. Plutarch informs us of Assam is situated on the north-western frontier of
that they were accustomed to throw red asses from Burmah, stretching across the plains of the Brahma-
precipices, because Typhon was red-haired and of the putra, from seventy to one hundred miles in breadth
colour of an ass. In short, they looked upon the towards the Himmalayah mountains. It reaches on
ass as an unclean animal. The Jews are accused by the north-east to the borders of China. Assam was
Plutarch of worshipping the ass. Tacitus also re- formerly an independent state, but in 1822 it was
lates that the Jews worshipped the ass, because at incorporated with the empire of Burmah, and in
their coming out of Egypt they were ready to die 1826 it was ceded to the English. The religion of
with thirst in the desert, when they happened to the Assamese seems to be of a somewhat peculiar de-
meet a great company of wild asses which brought scription. In the time of Aurungzebe they had no
them to a fountain. This, the historian alleges, settled faith. About the beginning of the eighteenth
awakened such feelings of gratitude in the mind of century, an attempt was made by the Brahmins of
the Jews, that they consecrated the image of an ass Bengal to introduce their religion into the country,
in the holy place. This fable, obviously absurd, but their success was very partial and limited. They
Tacitus in all probability borrowed from Apion the practise no mode of worship belonging either to
grammarian, who has been confuted in this as well as in heathens or Mohammedans. They have temples
many other points by Josephus. The story which and divinities of their own. It has sometimes been
Apion gives is, that the holy place having been supposed that they were addicted to offering human
opened by Antiochus the Great, there was found a sacrifices, but this is very doubtful, unless perhaps
golden head, resembling the head of an ass. Hence on the death of relatives--a custom which has pre-
the reproach came to be slanderously cast upon the vailed extensively throughout the nations both of
Christians also, that they worshipped an ass, and hence Asia and Africa. The author of the article Assam,
they were called in derision by their enemies Asinarii, in the Encyclopædia Britannica, alleges these sacri-
or Ass-worshippers. Tertullian says, that in the same fices to the manes of the dead to have been practised
spirit of bitter hostility to the Christians, their God among the natives of Assam. He thus minutely
was sometimes represented having the ears of an ass,
describes the process.
On the decease of a rajah
dressed in a long robe, holding a book in his hand, or any distinguished person, a capacious pit was pre-
and with an ass's hoof. On this impious caricature | pared, where not only his own body, but many of
was inscribed, “ The ass-hoofed God of the Chris- his women and attendants, were also buried. Of the
tians.” It is not to be wondered at, that both Jews latter was a torch-bearer, together with a quantity of
and Christians should be exposed to the same slan- oil and lamps, as essential to his comfort in a future
derous and malicious charges, both being viewed by state; some of his most elegant and useful furniture,
the Pagans as almost identical, being both worship- carpets and clothes were in like manner included;
pers of the same living and true God, and both and even elephants, together with gold and silver,
equally opposed to the idolatry of the heathen. formed part of the promiscuous assemblage. A
Learned men have expended much ingenuity in at- strong roof, resting on thick timbers, was then con-
tempting to discover the reason of such an absurd structed over the pit, and the miserable victims not
calumny being brought against Jews and Christians. already slain were left to perish by a lingering
Calmet seems to be of opinion that Le Moine has given death.”
the best explanation of the matter, which is to the A most efficient and energetic mission has been
I.
O
210
ASSASSINS.
At one
established among the Assamese by the American or more probably because they derived their origin
Baptist Union. In 1836, Sadya, about four hundred from Ismail ibn Infar Sadik, the sixth Imam or head
miles north of Ava, was fixed upon, and forthwith of the Mohammedan sect of the SCHIITES (which
occupied as a favourable locality for commencing the see). It was in the time of the Crusades that they
operations of the mission. Schools were established, were chiefly known by the name of Assassins, or
and a printing press having been set up, school books / followers of the “ Old Man of the Mountain.” Mr.
and other useful works were printed and circulated Mills thinks, that the name is a corruption of Hus-
both in the Assamese and Shyan languages. Having sanees, the followers of Hussan; but according to
received an addition to their number in 1837, the Volney, it is derived from the Turkish word Hassas-
missionaries sought to penetrate the northern parts sin, to kill silently and by surprise, being equivalent
of Burmah and Siam, and also the upper provinces to a night robber. Their office was to murder any
of China. The labours of the mission were for a person whom their Scheik commanded.
time interrupted in 1839 by an insurrection among time they occupied a considerable tract of land
the Khamtis, who had roused portions of other tribes among the mountains of Lebanon, extending nearly
to join them in a league against the English. In a from Antioch to Damascus; and from their maraud-
short time, however, the insurrection was quelled, ing and murderous habits they were dreaded by all
and the missionaries having deemed it best to aban- within their reach, and some kings actually paid the
don Sadya, removed the seat of their operations to Scheik of the Assassins a secret pension to secure his
Jaipur. An additional station was established in friendship and their own safety. The first chief of
1841 at Sibsagor, a flourishing post of the East India this tribe was Hassan Ben Sabah, who succeeded in
Company on the Brahmaputra, about three days' bringing his followers into a condition of implicit
journey below Jaipur; and to that place as a more subjection to his commands.
central point the greater part of the mission staff The religion of the Assassins was a strange com-
were soon after transferred. One of the brethren, pound of the Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian, and
however, proceeded to occupy a new station at Now- | Mohammedan creeds, but the distinguishing tenet of
gong, a considerable town in Central Assam, where a the sect was the union of the Deity with their chief,
large mission school was soon opened, which was whose orders were accordingly promptly and unhesi-
productive of great benefit to the natives; and an- tatingly obeyed as coming from heaven. No won-
other removed to Gowahatti, the most important der, therefore, that a fierce people animated by such
town in the province. Thus the whole efforts of a fanatical principle excited terror far and wide. At
the missionaries were concentrated upon the Assamese one time they seem, from whatever motive, to have
population, and at each of the three stations a church professed a wish to become Christians. Their chief
was soon constituted, which has gone on increasing by seat was in Persia, and on Mount Lebanon. They
the addition from time to time of new converts from were attacked by the Mogul Tartars about the mid-
heathenism to Christianity. The missionaries have dle of the thirteenth century, and their power was
given themselves with the most devoted zeal to the so weakened, that in A. D. 1272, they were com-
work of preaching, translating, and teaching. Schools | pletely subdued by the Sultan Bibaris. Von Ham-
have been established, not only at each of the sta- mer represents them in a monograph, devoted to
tions, but in many villages throughout the country. their history, as a military and religious order, sub-
The most important of these useful seminaries is the ject like the Knights Templars to the control and
Orphan Institution at Nowgong, which collects from direction of a grand master. This no doubt refers to
all parts of the country destitute orphans, who are the time of their greatness, when they were objects
trained up to useful occupations, as well as instructed of terror throughout the whole world. Now they
in a knowledge of Christian truth. At the close of are a small and insignificant sect, having their chief
1847, the aggregate number of the converts at the seat in the castle of Masyad, on the mountains west
three mission stations amounted to sixty. In the of Hama. Niebuhr says of them, “ Concerning the
following year an additional reinforcement of mis- religion of the Ishmaelites, I have learnt nothing cer-
sionaries arrived from the United States. The trans- tain. The Mohammedans and the Oriental Chris-
lation of the New Testament was completed and tians relate of them things incredible. The number
printed at Sibsagor in 1849. Since that time it has of the Ishmaelites is not great. They live princi-
passed through several editions, and several books pally at Killis, a town between Shugr and Hama;
of the Old Testament have also been printed, together also in Gebel Kalbil, a mountain not far from Lata-
with a long list of books to be used in the schools. chie, between Aleppo and Antioch. They are called
Both Brahminism and other forms of heathenism Keftun, the name of a village in this country.”. The
are losing their hold upon the popular mind, and the remark of Niebuhr, that little is known of the prin-
impression prevails extensively among the natives ciples of their religion, is still true; very few of their
that Christianity will ultimately prevail.
own people being initiated into the mysteries of their
ASSASSINS, a small tribe or clan in Syria, called faith; and besides, when living among Turks, they
also Isinaiyilah or Ishmaelites, perhaps deriving their assume the character of Mussulmans in order to
name from Ishmael, the son of Abraham, by Hagar, | escape persecution as apostates. See ISMAIYILAH.
ASSEMBLY (GENERAL).
211
ASSEMBLY (GENERAL) OF THE CHURCH OF sence of a nobleman, appointed as Lord High Com-
SCOTLAND, the supreme ecclesiastical court of the missioner, to represent the Sovereign in the supreme
Scottish National Church. It is composed of a court of the National Established Church of the
representative body, amounting to three hundred country. This dignitied functionary is present sim-
and sixty-three ministers and ruling elders, commis- ply without taking any part in the proceedings of
sioned from all parts of Scotland, to meet at least the court. There have been occasions, as in 1638
once a-year for the consideration and decision of all and 1692, when the representative of royalty took it
matters affecting the interests of the church. The upon him to dissolve the Assembly without the con-
first meeting of this body was held at Edinburgh on sent of its members, but notwithstanding the retire-
the 20th December 1560, “to consult upon those ment of the Lord High Commissioner, the court
things which are to forward God's glory, and the continued its sittings, and appointed the day on which
weal of his Kirk in this realme.” It consisted of its next meeting was to be held. It is a striking
forty members only, six of whom were ministers, the fact, that in 1644 and 1645, the meetings of Assem-
rest being leading laymen, who were earnestly de- bly were held without a Royal Commission--and yet
sirous of advancing the Protestant cause, at a time in the latter Assembly, “ the directory for the public
when the country was emerging from Popish dark-worship of God, as drawn up by the Westminster
ness. It is a curious circumstance, that no fewer Assembly, was unanimously approven, established,
than seven Assemblies met without a Moderator. At and ordered to be put in execution throughout the
length, however, it was found that the election of an church.” Although, however, the presence of the .
individual to preside over the deliberations of the representative of royalty is not essential to the en-
meeting would tend to preserve order, and, accord- tire validity of its acts, it is usual at all events, as an
ingly, at the meeting of Assembly, which was held act of courtesy, to hold not a regular meeting, but
in December 1563, Mr. John Willock, Superinten- simply a committee of the whole house, if at any
dent of Glasgow, was chosen to occupy the chair as time the Commissioner has occasion to be absent.
Moderator. As the number of ministers and elders The General Assembly is vested, in virtue of its
increased in the country, the representative system constitution, with a power both judicial and legisla-
was thought of as forming the best constitution for tive in all matters strictly within the range of a spi-
the supreme court. This system accordingly was ritual court. She may not interfere with temporal
first adopted in July 1568, and has continued down matters, or with the civil and patrimonial rights even
to the present day, though it was not till the Revo- of her own ministers, without running the hazard of
lution settlement that the proportions in which pres- a collision with the civil courts of the realm. The
byteries were to send delegates were arranged. They judicial power of the Assembly includes the inflic-
are as follows :—Presbyteries containing twelve par- tion and removal of spiritual censures, and the deci-
ishes or under have the right of delegating as their sion of all matters connected with these, in so far as
representatives to the General Assembly two minis- they are spiritual. But as soon, and in so far, as
ters and one ruling elder; those containing from such spiritual censures affect civil and patrimonial
twelve to eighteen parishes may appoint three minis- rights, the civil courts assert a right to interfere,
ters and one ruling elder; those containing from and quoad civilia even to reverse the sentence. It is
eighteen to twenty-four may commission four minis- at this point that the spiritual independence of the
ters and two elders, and so on in proportion, a col- Established Church is so liable to be invaded. There
legiate charge being considered as consisting of two have occurred instances in the history of the Church
parishes, having separate ministers. In addition to
of Scotland, where a direct assault has been made
the delegates from Presbyteries, the royal burghs upon the rights of the Assembly. Such a case hap-
have also the right of sending each a representative, | pened in 1618, when the FIVE ARTICLES OF PERTH
with the exception of Edinburgh, which nominates (which see) were forcibly thrust upon the court, that
two. Each of the Scottish Universities is also re- the favourite project of King James VI. might be
presented by one of its own members, who may be carried out-the establishment of Prelacy in Scot-
either a clergyman or layman. The Scotch Presby- land. Again, in the memorable Assembly at Glas-
terian chaplaincies in the East Indies have the rightgow in 1638, a forcible attempt was made by the
of sending to the Assembly one minister and one Royal Commissioner to prevent the free acting of
ruling elder. At one time the Scottish churches in the Assembly in abolishing Prelacy in Scotland, and
Holland were also entitled to be represented in the failing to accomplish his object, the haughty digni-
General Assembly. Thus in 1641, the Scottish con- tary left the Court. On another occasion still, in
gregation at Campvere was empowered to send two | 1653, we find the Assembly suppressed by the au-
commissioners to the annual meeting of that vener- thority of Cromwell, Lord Protector of England.
able court. This congregation has not been repre- After a violent and despotic interruption of nearly
sented since 1797 in the Assembly. It still remains, forty years, the Assembly again met after the Revo-
or at least recently did so, on the roll of the house. lution, in 1690. Two years thereafter, William III.
The meetings of the General Assembly, which made an attempt once more to suppress this eccle-
take place annually in May, are graced with the pre- siastical parliament of the National Church of Scot-
i
212
ASSEMBLY (GENERAL).
land, but without success.
The monarch wisely | eumbent upon the General Assembly to keep strictly
dreading the effects of a collision with the ecclesias- within the terms of the compact which she has made
tical powers, changed his plans, and the Assem- with the State, and in virtue of which compact she is
bly was permitted to meet in the full enjoyment of recognized as the Established Church of the land.
its spiritual independence. In 1703, in the reign of ASSEMBLY (GENERAL) OFTIIE FREE CHURCH
Queen Anne, a feeble and abortive attempt was made OF SCOTLAND. This Ecclesiastical Court, which
by the royal representative to interfere with the corresponds in all its functions to the venerable con-
free actings of this court. The union between Eng- vocation described in the preceding article, was
land and Scotland soon after took place, and in con- formed, as the supreme court of a church distinct
nection with the Treaty of Union, the Act of Security from the Established Church of Scotland, on the
was passed, maintaining inviolate in all time the 18th of May, 1843. The Rev. Dr. Welsh, the then
rights, privileges, and liberties of the Church of Scot- Moderator of the National Church, instead of open-
land. From that time, for nearly a century and a ing the A:ssembly as usual, read a solemn Protest to
half, the freedom of the General Assembly was pre- the effect, that, from the recent decisions of the civil
served entire, and no attempts were made by the courts, which decisions had been sanctioned by the
civil power to trench on its spiritual independence. legislature, a free Assembly could not be holden at
At length, however, in 1834, the Assembly com- that time. This Protest had been subscribed by
menced a line of policy in the exercise of her legis- 203 members of Assembly, who, as soon as it had
lative functions, which terminated in a collision be- been read, retired, preceded by the Moderator, to an-
tween the civil and ecclesiastical courts of the other place of meeting, where the First General As-
country, which brought about in 1843 a great sembly of the Free Church of Scotland was constituted.
disruption of the Church, and gave rise to the Dr. Chalmers was chosen as the first Moderator. It
formation of a body entitling themselves the FREE was now necessary that there should be a legal and
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND (which see). The General formal separation from the Establishment. A regular
Assembly of the Church of Scotland then retraced | deed of demission, accordingly, was signed by 474
its steps, and recalled those acts passed both in its ministers and professors, renouncing all the temporal
legislative and judicial capacity, which had been benefits of which they had hitherto been possessed.
declared by the Civil Courts to be illegal and ultra In its entire constitution and legitimate functions
vires. The same year in which the disruption oc- the General Assembly of the Free Church is iden-
curred, and to prevent any further misunderstanding tical with that of the Established Church. It is
on the subject which had given rise to an event so necessary to observe, however, that there is one
serious, the British Parliament passed, what is known grand point of difference between the two Assem-
by the name of the Scotch Benefices Act, being not blies. The one enjoying all the advantages, and
a new law, but a declaratory enactment on the sub- they are not few, which attach to an Established
ject of patronage, to the effect that the presbytery Church, is necessarily restrained within the limits of
of the bounds shall, in case of objections being offered the original compact with the State; while the other,
to a presentee, have regard to the character and num- being stripped of all connection with the State, may
ber of the objectors, as well as the nature of the regulate at will all its arrangements, as may seem
objections, and shall have power to judge whether, best for the glory of God and the good of the Church.
in all the circumstances of the case, it be for edifica- To counterbalance this, however, there is the decided
tion that the settlement shall take place. This Act advantage on the part of the Establishment, that all
is believed by the Church of Scotland to afford suf- the proceedings of the supreme court or General As-
ficient security against the intrusion of a minister sembly carry with them the sanction of law, coun-
upon a reclaiming people.
tenanced and backed by the civil power; whereas the
The General Assembly being the supreme court proceedings of the General Assembly of the Free
of the Church, has power to determine finally, and Church have no such sanction, and can only be bind-
without the right of appeal from its decisions, all ing upon those who, by attaching themselves to the
appeals and references regularly brought before it | Church, declare, by a tacit but fully understood agree-
from inferior judicatories; to review the records of ment, their willingness to obey them. The acts of
the several synods of the church; to decide all con- the one are legally; the acts of the other are conven-
troversies which may arise in the church in regard tionally binding. The one is a corporate body in
to doctrine or discipline; to censure, suspend, or de- the eye of law; the other entirely voluntary. The
pose any of the office-bearers of the church, who one has a locus standi in the courts of law; the other
may be guilty of error in doctrine, or immorality in has none. But, of course, upon men of Christian
life; to originate and carry forward all plans and principle and real integrity, who may happen to be-
schemes, which, in conformity with her standards, | long to either church, the acts of the respective As-
may be for the glory of God, the good of the church, semblies are just as binding and authoritative in the
and the promotion of godliness in the land. In the one case as in the other. They are to them the
exercise of these functions, which belong to her as voice of Christ through his Church, and, in so far as
the supreme court of a Christian church, it is in- they are not opposed to his revealed will in the
ASSEMBLY-(GENERAL).
213
Word, they are promptly and conscientiously obeyed. | 1801, the General Assembly and the General Asso-
See FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.
ciation of Connecticut agreed upon what was called
ASSEMBLY (GENERAL) OF PRESBYTERIAN The plan of union between Presbyterians and Con-
CHURCH OF NORTH AMERICA. The Supreme Court gregationalists in the new settlements. Under this
of the Presbyterian Church in the United States cor- plan, which purports to be a temporary expedient,
responds in almost every particular to the two As- a great number of churches and presbyteries, and
semblies already noticed. In the first stage of the even several synods, were formed, composed partly
history of this now large and influential body of of Presbyterians and partly of Congregationalists.
Christians, the number of its congregations was so Though this plan seems to have operated benefi-
small, that, from 1705 to 1716, there was only one cially for a number of years, yet, as it was extended
presbytery. At the latter date it was found neces- far beyond its original intention, as it gave Congre-
sary, in consequence of the increase of its ministers gationalists, who had never adopted the standards of
and churches, to subdivide the one presbytery into doctrine of the Presbyterian Church, and who were
three presbyteries, who continued to meet as a sy- avowedly opposed to its form of government, as
nod. In 1787, the numbers were so great, that much influence and authority in the government of
instead of one synod, four were formed, and in that the Church as an equal pumber of Presbyterians, it
year a representative General Assembly was consti- naturally gave rise to dissatisfaction as soon as the
tuted, composed of delegates from all the presbyte- facts of the case came to be generally known, and
ries. This last court, which forms the highest ju- as soon as questions of discipline and policy arose,
dicatory of the Church, consists of an equal number in the decision of which the influence of these Con-
of ministers and elders from each presbytery, the gregationalists was sensibly felt.
number of representatives sent being proportioned “ In addition to this source of uneasiness, was that
to the number of ministers and elders which consti- which arose out of diversity of opinion in points of
tute the presbytery. The powers and functions of doctrine. Certain peculiarities of doctrine had be-
the Assembly, which meets annually, are the same come prevalent among the Calvinists of New England,
as those of the Scottish Assemblies, and like them which naturally spread into those portions of the
also the constitution of the Church is guarded by a Presbyterian Church settled by New England men.
Barrier Act, in virtue of which any proposal of great These peculiarities were not regarded, on either side,
importance, or affecting the constitution even re- as sufficient to justify any interruption of ministerial
motely, cannot be passed by the supreme court communion, or to call for the exercise of discipline,
without being first sent down to the presbyteries for but they were sufficient to give rise to the formation
their consideration, and then, if approved by the ma- of two parties, which received the appellations of
jority of the inferior judicatories, it is passed by the Old and New School. Within the last ten or twelve
General Assembly into a law. Nor have the Ameri- years, however, opinions have been advanced by
can Presbyterians been free from internal dissensions some of the New England clergy, which all the Old
any more than the Scotch; and not only so, but School, and a large portion of the New School party
they too have had their Disruption, though on grounds in the Presbyterian Church, considered as involving
essentially different from those which split asunder a virtual denial of the doctrines of original sin, elec-
the National Church of Scotland. The circumstances tion, and efficacious grace, and which were regarded
which led to the separation into the Old School and as inconsistent with ministerial standing in the body.
New School Assemblies of the United States, are Several attempts were made to subject the Presby-
thus stated by the Rev. Dr. Baird of New York, in terian advocates of these opinions to ecclesiastical
a work which he published a few years ago in this discipline. These attempts failed, partly on account
country, under the name of Religion in the United of deficiency of proof, partly from irregularity in the
States of America.' “ Before the commencement of mode of proceeding; and partly, no doubt, from an
the present century, the Presbyterian Church was apprehension, on the part of the New School breth-
in a great measure composed of those European ren, that if the opinions in question were made mat-
Presbyterians and their descendants who were set- ters of discipline, their own peculiarities would not
tled in the middle and southern States. Since the escape censure. Certain it is that the whole of that
year 1800, there has been going on a constant and party united in frustrating the attempts made to set the
very great emigration from the New England States seal of the Church's disapprobation on the doctrines
to the central and western parts of New York, and then in dispute. The failure of these attempts greatly
to the north-western States of the Union. These increased the dissatisfaction of the Old School party,
emigrants had, in general, been accustomed to the and awakened in them serious apprehensions for the
congregational form of church government prevalent doctrinal purity of the Church.
in New England. As they met, however, in their “ To these sources of uneasiness was added the
new locations with many Presbyterians, and as their diversity of opinion as to the best mode of conduct-
ministers generally preferred the Presbyterian form ing certain benevolent operations. The Old School,
of government, they united with them in the forma- as a party, were in favour of the Church, in her ec-
tion of churches and ecclesiastical judicatories. In clesiastical capacity, by means of boards of her
214
ASSEMBLY (WESTMINSTER-ASSIDEANS.
appointment and under her own control, conducting Missionary Society, the Board of Commissioners for
the work of domestic and foreign missions, and the Foreign Missions, and Education Society.
education of candidates for the ministry. The other The division which has thus taken place of the
party, as generally preferred voluntary societies, dis- large and unwieldy body of the Presbyterian Church
connected with church courts, and embracing differ- in America into two separate sections, has been pro-
ent religious denominations for these purposes. It ductive of no small advantage to the cause of reli..
might seem, at first view, that this was a subject on gion in the United States. Both denominations seek
which the members of the Church might differ with- to rival each other in the energetic furtherance of
out inconvenience or collision. But it was soon the gospel both at home and abroad. The largest
found that these societies or boards must indirectly and most influential of the two sections is “the Old
exert a great, if not a controlling influence on the School,” the members of which are found through-
Church. The men who could direct the education out the whole States, from Newbury-port to San
of candidates for the sacred office, and the location Francisco, and its numbers are fast increasing. In
of the hundreds of domestic missionaries, must sooner 1853, the number of their ministers amounted to about
or later give character to the Church. On this ac- 2,139, their churches to 2,879, and their members to
count this question was regarded as one of great 219,263. The General Assembly of “the New
practical importance."
School" was formed, as we have already noticed, by
In this perplexing state of matters, the General the Disruption in 1838, and adopted the name of the
Assembly met in 1837. It was quite evident that a Constitutional Presbyterian Church. Being one half
disruption was imminent. Both parties, indeed, Congregational from the beginning and holding some
were impressed with the idea that such a step was of the doctrines of the Confession of Faith, “only
desirable. The Assembly, therefore, proceeded to for substance," on such subjects as original sin,
the adoption of measures which would at once put | election, and efficacious grace, they are generally
an end to the existing difficulties. They abolished considered as scarcely agreeing with the Westmin-
the plan of union formed in 1801, and decreed that ster Standards. They numbered in 1853, 1,570 mini-
henceforth no Congregationalist church should be sters, 1,626 churches, and 140,452 members. The
represented in any Presbyterian judicatory, and that General Assembly of the Old School” meet an-
no presbytery or synod, which was composed of nually ; but, in 1840, that of the New School" pro-
both Congregationalists and Presbyterians, should be posed to the presbyteries that the meeting of their
recognized as being in connection with the Presby- supreme court should be triennial. The latter As-
terian Church. This act, though passed by the sembly has also greatly diminished the amount of
General Assembly, was resisted by some of the in- its business, by an important arrangement which has
ferior judicatories. The synods and presbyteries been adopted deeply affecting the constitution of a
more especially concerned in the enactment, as be- Presbyterian Church,—that all appeals from the de-
ing composed partly of Presbyterians and partly of cisions of a kirk-session shall not, in the case of lay
Congregationalists, held a meeting at Auburn, in the members, be carried beyond the presbytery, or in
State of New York, at which they came to the reso- the case of ministers, beyond the synod.
lution to disregard the decision of the Assembly, and ASSEMBLY (WESTMINSTER). See WEST-
to act as if the union were still in full force. At MINSTER ASSEMBLY.
the next meeting of Assembly (1838) the delegates ASSESIA, a surname of Athena, derived from the
from these refractory presbyteries presented them- town of Assessus in Ionia, where she had a temple
selves, claiming their right to sit as members. This and was worshipped.
claim not being immediately admitted, though it was ASSIDEANS (Gr. assidaioi, pious), or Chasidim,
not formally refused, they left the house, declaring as they are termed in 1 Macc. vii. 13, a name applied
themselves the true General Assembly. They im- to those brave Jews who joined Mattathias, the
mediately raised an action before the supreme civil | leader of the Maccabees, when contending against
court of Pennsylvania, to have it decided that they the oppression of Antiochus Epiphanes. From these
were the true Assembly of the Presbyterian Church Assideans sprung the sect of the Pharisees towards
of the United States of America. The judge and the latter times of the second temple. They laid
jury decided in their favour; but when it was heard the foundation of that mass of ceremonies and tradi-
before the whole bench the decision was reversed. tions which so completely made void the law of God
Thus the Old School Assembly are left in pos- in the time of our blessed Lord. These command-
session of the name and privileges of the General ments of men, which were at first voluntary, were
Assembly which had been instituted in 1787, and in afterwards converted into written canons, and made
charge of the seminaries and funds which had all binding upon the people. The Assideans were zeal-
along been under their management. They have ous for the honour and maintenance of the temple,
their own boards of missions, domestic and foreign, to which they gave large contributions, and on every
of education and of publication. The New School day, except the great day of atonement, besides the
unite their efforts with the Congregationalists of daily oblation, they sacrificed a lamb, which was
New England in supporting the American Home called the sin-offering of the Assideans. They prac
ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERY.
215
tised great austerities, and the usual oath which they of Kinross. The parties, who thus formed them-
swore was “by the temple," which our Lord re- selves into a court under the name of the Associate
proved in the case of the Pharisees, Matth. xxiii. 16. Presbytery, were Ebenezer Erskine, William Wil-
The opponents of the Assideans were the ZADIKIM son, Alexander Moncrieff, and James Fisher, the
(which see), who denied to tradition all force and au- four Fathers and Founders of the Secession Church
thority of any kind. Josephus makes no mention in Scotland. The circumstances in the state of the
of the Assidean sect, so that, in all probability, they Church and country which gave rise to the forma-
had never been formed into a distinct and separate tion of this new religious body, it may neither be
body from the other Jews until the Pharisees and uninteresting nor unimportant to detail.
Essenes rose out of them.--A Jewish sect bearing The Revolution in 1688 brought a season of com-
the name of Assideans or Chasidim sprung up in Po- parative peace and security to the persecuted Pres-
land about a century ago, and exists at the present byterian Church of Scotland. For thirty years had
day. They have separate synagogues, and their constant attempts been made to force upon her a
own Rabbis. They use the prayer-book of the system of doctrine and ecclesiastical government to
Spanish Jews, which is peculiarly Cabbalistic. They which her people had a rooted abhorrence. The day
reverence the Talmud less, and the Sohar more than of deliverance from the yoke of Prelacy at length
the other Jews, and especially profess to strive after arrived. Presbyterianism was established by the
a perfect union with God as their great object. To Revolution settlement, the Confession of Faith rati-
effect this they spend much time in contemplation; fied, and Prelacy deprived of its peculiar immuni-
and in prayer use the most extraordinary contortions ties. This triumph of Presbyterianism, however,
and gestures, jumping, writhing, and howling, in or- as soon became apparent, was partial, not complete.
der to exalt their mind, and they certainly succeed William succeeded, though not without considerable
in working themselves up into a state little short of resistance, in persuading the Church to admit curates
frenzy. Before their devotions they indulge freely or Episcopalian incumbents into the communion and
in the use of mead, and even of ardent spirits, to ministry of what was avowedly a Presbyterian Es-
promote cheerfulness, as they regard sorrow and tablishment. This strange and unnatural combina-
anxiety to be unfavourable to the enjoyment of union tion in one church of two classes of ministers, so
with God. Their chief means of edification is the completely opposed to one another, as to their views
spending their Sabbath with the Tsaddik. On Fri- both of theological doctrine and church polity, could
day afternoon and evening, before the approach of not fail to lead to a rapid declension in religious
the Jewish Sabbath, waggon-loads of Jews and Jew- feeling and sound principle. "Two parties," as
esses with their children, pour in from all the neigh- Dr. Thomson remarks, in his interesting Sketch of
bourhood from a distance of twenty, thirty, or even the History of the Secession,' “from this time ap-
forty miles. The rich bring presents and their own peared in the Church, the one preaching the doc-
provisions, of which the poor are permitted to par- trines of her Confessions, and discharging with assi-
take. The chief entertainment is on Saturday after- duity the duties of the pastorate; the other latitu-
noon at the meal, which the Jews call the third dinarian in doctrine and earthly in spirit,—the one
meal, during which the Tsaddik says Torah, that is, guarding with anxiety the liberty and independence
he extemporises a sort of moral-mystical-cabbalistic of the Church against the dictation of the civil
cal discourse, which his followers receive as the dic- power; the other seeking the favour of the court and
tates of immediate inspiration. For the benefit of pliant to its wishes."
those who are too far distant to come on the Sat- The Church of Scotland, thus internally divided
urday, the Tsaddik makes journeys through his dis- and weak, became an easy victim of the craft and
trict, when he lodges with some rich member of the crooked policy of designing statesmen. The acces-
sect, and is treated with all the respect due to one who sion of Queen Anne in 1702, and the union between
stands in immediate communication with Deity. He Scotland and England which followed soon after, led
then imposes penances on those whose consciences to various successive encroachments upon the liber-
are burdened with guilt, and dispenses amulets and ties of the Presbyterian church. The abolition of
slips of parchment with cabbalistic sentences writ- the Scottish parliament at the Union, threw the
ten on them, to those who wish exemption from sick church, as an establishment, upon the guardianship
ness and danger, or protection against the assaults of of English statesmen, whose whole feelings and in-
clinations were in favour of Episcopacy. Anne and
ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERY, the name adopted her courtiers were animated by a similar spirit. The
by the first Seceders from the Church of Scotland, Church of Scotland, notwithstanding the Act of Se-
on constituting themselves into a separate Chris- curity by which her liberties and rites were solemnly
tian community, on the 5th December 1733. This promised to be preserved inviolate, was now placed
first organization of a body which has since grown in a critical position. One of the first acts of Queen
into a very large and highly influential section of the Anne on ascending the throne, was to dissolve the
Christian Church in Scotland, took place at Gairney General Assembly, while engaged in deliberating on
Bridge, a small village about three miles southward an act declaring Christ to be sole head of the
evil spirits.
216
ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERY
church. The oath of abjuration and the law of pat- The case was established beyond all doubt, and yet
ronage, both passed in 1712, aimed at the introduc- he was permitted to retain his chair. The very same
tion of an Erastian spirit into the church, which Assembly which thuis openly tolerated heresy, ex-
would gradually assimilate it, as was fondly hoped, pressed their decided disapproval of a plain scriptural
to the Episcopal establishment of England. The truth. A young man when on trials before the
latter of the two measures now adverted to struck presbytery of Auchterarder had taught, in one of his
a heavy blow at the liberty and purity of the discourses, that we must abandon sin in order to come
church. No privilege has ever been more dear to Christ. A doctrine so plainly opposed to the
to the hearts of the Scottish people than the Word of God, called forth a well-merited rebuke
right which, in the best days of the church, they from the faithful ministers in whose hearing it had
have always possessed of voting in the election of been delivered; and, not contented with a mere
ecclesiastical office-bearers. On this point, the 'Se- verbal expression of opinion, they judged it their
cond Book of Discipline' is clear and explicit : duty to embody in their minutes the statement
“ None might be intruded upon any congregation, 66 That it is not sound and orthodox to teach that we
either by the prince or any inferior person, without must forsake sin in order to our coming to Christ,
lawful election, and the assent of the people over and instating us in covenant with God." The matter
whom the person is placed; as the practice of the was brought before the Assembly, and in their deci-
apostolical and primitive kirk and good order craved.” sion, disapproving of the conduct of the presbytery,
The act of 1712 utterly disregarded this right of the they declared also their « abhorrence of the foresaid
people in the election of their ministers, and estab- proposition, as unsound and most detestable as it
lished a tyrannical and high-handed patronage. The stands."
evils which this unfortunate enactment have en- The lenient sentence passed upon Professor Sim-
tailed upon the National Church of Scotland have son, which went no farther than a gentle caution
been numberless. Nor were the statesmen of the against the use of doubtful expressions, excited great
day unaware of the injury they were inflicting upon uneasiness in the minds of many of the faithful
the religion of the land. “ There is no doubt,” says ministers, as well as the pious people of Scotland.
Sir Walter Scott,“ the restoration of the right of lay But the condemnation of the Auchterarder proposi-
patrons in Queen Anne's time was designed to sepa- tion awakened perhaps more intense alarm. The
rate the ministers of the kirk from the people, who church had evidently become to a large extent cor-
cculd not be supposed to be equally attached to, or rupt in doctrine as well as lax in discipline. The
influenced by a minister who held his living by the Arminianism which came in with prelacy had lea-
gift of a great man, as by one who was chosen by vened the great body of her ministers. The circum-
their own free voice, and to render them more depen- stances which led to this lamentable departure from
dent on the nobility and gentry, amongst whom, sound doctrine, are thus concisely stated by Dr.
much more than the common people, the sentiments Hetherington, in his · History of the Church of Scot-
of Jacobitism predominated.” This obnoxious bill land.' « Those who are conversant with modern
had been hastened through all its stages with unusual church history are aware that Arminian tenets were
rapidity. To that single act of the British Parlia- adopted by a large proportion of the English clergy-
ment may be traced all the troubles which have ever
men, very soon after their condemnation by the
come upon the Church of Scotland from that time Synod of Dort. When Prelacy was forced into
down to the present day.
Scotland by the treachery of James I. and the vio-
The church herself, internally weak as she was, lence of his sons, Arminianism came along with it,
made but feeble resistance to this fatal blow struck | in its most glaring aspect; and even after the over-
at her liberty and independence. Her energies were throw of Scottish Prelacy, the evil taint was found
withered, her strength was gone. A few earnest to have diffused itself beyond the direct prelatists,
and zealous men of God within her courts remon- and to have been imbibed by many of the indulged
strated, but their voices were unheeded. The ma- ministers. By them, and by the prelatic incumbents,
jority of her ministers had become worldly, selfish, whom William's pernicious policy induced the Church
and indifferent. Heresy in different forms,-Armi- of Scotland to admit at and after the Revolution, these
nianism, Pelagianism, and even Socinianism-was erroneous notions were still more extensively spread
openly taught in many of her pulpits, and even in throughout the Scottish church, especially among
her divinity halls. Yet so extensively had a corrupt the young ministers. Two other circumstances
and deadening influence spread itself throughout the combined partially to modify and yet aid in the dif-
church, that the inculcation of deadly error, even fusion of erroneous doctrines. For some time pre-
upon the rising ministry of the church, was looked vious to the Revolution, considerable numbers of
upon with toleration, and even some measure of young men went from Scotland to Holland to be
favour. A most melancholy instance of this occurred educated for the ministry, the distracted and op-
in the Assembly of 1717. Professor Simson of pressed state of their own country not permitting
Glasgow was charged with teaching erroneous and them to obtain the necessary instruction at home.
unscriptural doctrines from the chair of theology. | But Holland itself had imbibed many of the tenets
ASSOCIATE PREBYTERY.
217
of Arminius, notwithstanding the counteracting in- | opposed to their theological notions. A contro-
fluence of such mien as Witsius ; and several of the versy now arose (see MARROW CONTROVERSY),
young Scottish students adopted these sentiments, which was carried on for some years with the utmost
and, returning to their native country, attempted to keenness, both on the part of those who favoured,
supersede the strong Calvinistic doctrines which had and of those who disapproved the doctrines of the
hitherto prevailed in Scotland, by the introduction · Marrow.' The subject was introduced into the
of this refined Arminianism. A similar process was General Assembly in 1720, and the first part of
at the same time going on in England among the the “Marrow' was rashly condemned. This deci-
Dissenters. Baxter's writings had gained, as on sion of the supreme court of the Church was deeply
many accounts they justly deserved, great celebrity; lamented by some of her best ministers, and multi-
and many followed his views respecting the doctrine tudes of the most pious of her people. An attempt
of grace, which are deeply tinged with Arminian no- was made in several presbyteries to memorialise the
tions. A controversy arose, which turned chiefly on Assembly with a view to have the decision re-con-
the question, Whether the gospel is a new law, sidered; but the opponents of the · Marrow' were
or constitution, promising salvation upon a certain too strong, and the inferior judicatories refused to
condition ;' some making that condition to be faith, act in the matter. At length a representation was
others making it faith and repentance, to which drawn up by twelve ministers, usually styled 'Mar-
others added sincere though imperfect obedience. row-men,' and laid before the Assembly in May
Those who maintained the affirmative were termed 1721. The object of this representation was to pro-
Neonomians or new-law men; those who opposed cure a repeal of the act anent the Marrow.' The
this theory were by its adherents unjustly termed king's commissioner, however, being indisposed, the
Antinomians. It will easily be seen that the theory Assembly dissolved before the business came on,
of the Neonomians was essentially Arminian, though and it was referred to the commission, which, after
it did not assume an aspect so manifestly unscrip- delaying the matter from one diet to another, at
tural. In this less offensive form it made great pro- length concluded to bring the case before the fol-
gress in Scotland, where, from the causes already | lowing Assembly by an overture, which was pri-
mentioned, too many were predisposed to receive it, vately drawn up, but never read to the representers,
in preference to the sterner tenets of the genuine nor its design made known to them. In 1722, the
Presbyterian Church, whose Standards they had Assembly, having re-considered their act of 1720,
subscribed, but were exceedingly desirous to modify passed a lengthy decision, explaining and confirm-
and soften."
ing the former, and refusing to repeal it.
The friends of true evangelical religion in Scotland The controversy now raged more furiously than
were now fully alive to the actual condition of the before. Numerous pamphlets and tracts appeared on
National Church. It was now plain, that if pu- both sides of the question. Meantime, the conscien-
rity of doctrine was to be restored, the most ener- tious Marrow-men were subjected to much obloquy
getic measures must be adopted to diffuse through- and reproach. Their views as to the connection be-
out the country sound views of divine truth. The tween faith and holiness were greatly misrepresented,
republication of the best works of the old divines, and they were falsely charged with holding the wildest
and their extensive circulation among the people, Antinomian doctrines. All this unjust and cruel
appeared to be one of the readiest and most effec- treatment they bore with Christian resignation, never
tual modes of accomplishing this most desirable ob- rendering railing for railing, but committing their
ject. In prosecution of this plan, accordingly, and cause to Him who judgeth righteously. Several of
in order more fully to illustrate the doctrine of grace them were censured by the inferior judicatories for
which had been partially condemned by the Assem- preaching the doctrines of the Marrow.' Among
bly, in their act with reference to the Auchterarder these Messrs. Ralph and Ebenezer Erskine were
proposition, Mr. Hog of Carnock, one of the most called to account by the synod of Fife, at the in-
godly ministers of the time, republished the first part stance of Principal Haddow of St. Andrews, who
of a valuable old treatise which had appeared first was the leading opponent of the Marrow-men, as
in London about 1646, under the name of the · Mar- they were reproachfully called.
“We became stran-
row of Modern Divinity. The issuing of such a gers," says Boston, “ to our brethren, and as aliens,
book at this critical period was followed by the most and saw that our mothers had borne us men of con-
important consequences. It was extensively read, tention.” " It is a day,” adds Ralph Erskine,
and produced a great sensation among the religious wherein the friends of Christ are openly bantered
public of Scotland. Those who loved a clear faith- and lampooned, and gazed upon as signs and won-
ful exhibition of the peculiar doctrines of the gos- ders, and wherein many sacred truths are publicly
pel, welcomed its appearance, and perused it with defamed and ridiculed."
avidity and interest ; whilst those who had imbibed The Church of Scotland had fallen grievously
the lax views of Divine truth, which had become so from the high position which she was once privi-
fashionable among a certain class, were indignant at leged to occupy as a witness for Christ and his
the publication of a work which was so decidedly | truth. And as time rolled on, a deeper darkness
:
!
1
218
ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERY.
seemed to gather around her. In the Assembly of vacant parishes contrary to the wishes of elders
1726, Professor Simson was charged with not only and people in all corners of the land. Disaffect-
holding his former errors for which he had been so ed heritor's interest themselves everywhere in the
gently reproved, but with maintaining and teaching settlement of parishes, and they introduce such
doctrines subversive of the Divinity of the Lord | ministers as elders and people are averse to. Our
Jesus Christ: but this court of Christ's Church had congregations are thus planted with a set of corrupt
become so regardless of the honour of the Lord that ministers, who are strangers to the power of godli-
bought them, that they contented themselves with ness; and, therefore, neither in their doctrine nor
suspending the Professor in the meantime from his in their walk, is there any savour of Christ among
ecclesiastical functions, sending down the matter to them. Yea, such are becoming the prevailing party
the inferior judicatories for their opinion. At next in the ministry, and too many of these are mockers
Assembly the majority of presbyteries gave it as at the exercises and real experiences of the godly."
their opinion, that he should be forthwith deposed Amid this rapidly advancing progress of defection
from the ministerial office; but notwithstanding this and error in the very bosom of the Church, it is re-
decision, the Assembly merely continued the sus- freshing to find such men as Boston, Wilson, the
pension. On this occasion the venerable Boston of two Erskines, and others, bearing aloft the standard
Ettrick rose in the Assembly, and solemnly en- of truth with unflinching firmness.
Often were
tered his dissent in these words, “I cannot help their voices raised in earnest warning and remon-
thinking, Moderator, that the cause of Jesus Christ, strance against the infatuated course which their
as to the great and essential point of his supreme brethren were following. All was unavailing, and
Deity, has been at the bar of this Assembly re- on the occasion of enjoining a violent settlement in
quiring justice; and as I am shortly to answer at the parish of Hutton, the Assembly of 1730 enacted
his bar for all I do or say, I dare not give my assent that in future no reasons of dissent against the deter-
to the decision of this act. On the contrary, I find minations of church judicatories should be entered
myself obliged to offer a protest against it; and, on record. This was a crowning act of arbitrary
therefore, in my own name, and in the name of all power on the part of the supreme court. Thus de-
that shall adhere to me, and if none here will—for prived of the constitutional right of entering dis-
myself alone I crave leave to enter my protest sents, faithful ministers felt that the last remains of
against the decision of this act.” Such language freedom were taken away.
all too plainly showed, that in the estimation of It had hitherto been the law of the Church, that,
Scotland's wisest and best of ministers, the glory of in the case of a jus devolutum, as it is called, that is,
the Church was now departed, and truth lay“ bleed- when a patron fails to present to a vacant charge
ing in the streets."
in the course of six months after the vacancy oc-
It was not only, however, the melancholy declen- curred, the filling up of the charge fell into the
sion of the Church of Scotland from the acknow- | hands of the presbytery of the bounds. In 1731,
ledged purity of her principles, as laid down in her however, an overture was introduced into the As-
standards, but it was perhaps still more the corrupt- sembly to the effect, that “where patrons might ne-
ness of her administration which led to the first Se- glect or decline to exercise their right of presenta-
cession. When the act restoring patronage was tion, the minister should be chosen by a majority of
passed in 1712, the Assembly resisted it, though not the heritors and elders, if Protestant.” This over-
with the firmness and determination which might ture was sent down to presbyteries for their consi-
have been expected; and knowing the deep-rooted deration in terms of the Barrier act. Meanwhile a
hostility of the people to the whole system of pa- number of godly ministers throughout the Church
tronage, they administered the provisions of the held frequent meetings for prayer and deliberation in
obnoxious act with the utmost caution and pru- the serious and alarming crisis at which matters had
dence. In process of time, however, and alongside now arrived. A representation of grievances and a
of the growing departure from sound doctrine, there petition for redress were prepared, with a view to
crept in by degrees a growing disregard of the its being laid before the following Assembly. This
Christian liberties of the people. The rights of document referred not only to the overture of the
patrons became the all in all, and the rights of con- previous year, but to the grievous errors and defec-
gregations were set at nought. Here and there tions with which, for a number of years past, the
might be found a reclaiming congregation, or a re- church had been chargeable. When the Assembly
fractory presbytery, but in the face of both, mini- met in 1732, the representation and petition of the
sters were violently thrust upon the people at the ministers, as well as a similar paper which had been
point of the bayonet. A few years passed on, and signed by a large body of the people, were refused
in 1731 we find the following testimony borne by to be transmitted by the Committee of Bills, and
a faithful servant of Christ who lived at the time. on the ministers presenting themselves at the bar of
In his Diary, the Rev. Mr. Wilson of Perth re- the Assembly to protest against this denial of their
marks, “Matters look with a very dismal and rights, their protest was refused to be either re-
threatening aspect. Ministers are thrust in upon ceived or recorded. And although a large majority
ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERY.
219
:D
of the presbyteries disapproved of the overture in moned to appear next day to be rebuked. On his
regard to the juis devolutum, it was passed by the failing to appear on the following day, they agreed
Assembly in the face of a standing law of the to call him at their meeting in April, to be rebuked
Church.
and admonished. The synod having met at Stirling,
Such was the melancholy condition of the National in April 1733, resumed consideration of Mr. Er-
Church of Scotland at the rise of the first secession. skine's case, when he was summoned to the bar and
" Truth," as Dr. Thomson well remarks,“ had been formally rebuked by the moderator. He there-
wounded, her pulpits were filled by a hireling clergy, upon read a paper, in presence of the court, adher-
whose voice the sheep did not know, the privileges | ing to his former protest and appeal, at the same
of the people had been tamely yielded up, and the time declaring, that he was not convinced of having
last blow given to them by the hands of their own either said or done any thing incurring censure.
rulers, the constitutional rights of her presbyteries Of the ten ministers who protested against the
had been invaded, and the right of protesting and decision of synod, only three appeared at the As-
petitioning, by which wounded consciences may be sembly; Messrs. William Wilson, Alexander Mon-
relieved, and faithful men seek the removal of pre- crieff, and James Fisher. The three brethren made
vailing evils, had been wrested from them, and all application to be heard at the bar; but were un-
this by a tyrannical Assembly, itself the slave of the accountably refused. On the 14th May the Assem-
secular power.” In such a state of matters, it was bly entered on the consideration of Mr. Erskine's
impossible that conscientious and upriglit men could protest. He appeared at the bar attended by two
keep silence. They felt called to speak out boldly advocates. Several members of synod appeared in
in defence of the truth. Of these one of the most support of the synod's sentence. Parties having
intrepid and fearless men of the day was Ebenezer been heard, the Assembly, after deliberation, ap-
Erskine, an able and devout and devoted minister, proved of the proceedings of the synod, and appointed
who had been recently transferred from Portmoak Mr. Erskine to be rebuked and admonished at their
in Fife to the town of Stirling. Soon after his en- own bar. The moderator thereupon returned the
trance upon his new charge, Mr. Erskine had been thanks of the Assembly to the synod for their care
elected moderator of the synod of Perth and Stir- and diligence in the matter, and, in terms of the
ling. Before retiring from this office, it was his sentence, rebuked and admonished Mr. Erskine
duty to preach at the opening of the synod at Perth, from the chair, To this Mr. Erskine could not sub-
on the 18th October, 1732. Taking advantage of mit in silence, as he was not conscious of having
the opportunity thus opened up to him in the course done any thing to merit rebuke. He also tendered
of Providence, he selected for his text Ps. cxviii. 22, a written protest, signed by himself, to which the
“ The stone which the builders refused, is become three other brethren subscribed an adherence, and
the head-stone of the corner;" and from these words craved that the paper be read and engrossed in the
he laid before his brethren, with the utmost plain-minutes of the Assembly. This request was re-
ness and fidelity, his views of the duty of a Chris- | fused, and he was urged to withdraw his protest ;
tian church, and how far the Church of Scotland had but respectfully declining to do so, he laid the pa-
swerved from her duty as a Church responsible to per on the table of the Assembly, and, accompanied
Christ, as her only Head, and resting on Christ as by the three dissenting brethren, he left the court.
her sole foundation. The fearless exposure which In thus peaceably retiring from the Assembly, the
this discourse contained of the errors and sins of the brethren had no intention whatever of abandoning
times, gave great offence to some of the ministers their connection with the Church; a train of unex-
who heard it. The synod took up the matter and pected circumstances, however, led to a step which
intrusted it to a committee, who were instructed to they themselves were far from contemplating. The
confer with Mr. Erskine, and report. Next day the protest which Mr. Erskine had left upon the table
committee reported, that the conference had been happened to fall upon the ground, and being picked
held, but was unsatisfactory, and they laid on the up by a minister by no means friendly to the cause
table a paper containing what they considered ob- which its writer advocated, he called the special at-
jectionable passages in the discourse, and following tention of the Assembly to the document, reading
them up with the vague general charge, that Mr. it aloud, and appealing to the court whether it was
Erskine had spoken disrespectfully of a large class consistent with their dignity to permit such a do-
of ministers, and of their procedure in church courts. cument to lie unnoticed on their table. The As-
After long and keen discussion carried on for three sembly were indignant at the terms of the protest,
successive days, the synod, by a majority of six, and ordered that the four brethren should be sum-
declared Mr. Erskine worthy of censure. Against moned to appear at the bar on the morrow. The
this decision, Mr. Erskine, and his son-in-law, Mr. next day, in obedience to the summons, the four
James Fisher, minister of Kinclaven, protested and brethren stood at the bar. Without a single ques-
appealed to the General Assembly. In the face of tion being put to them, they were appointed to
this appeal, the synod proceeded to pass a resolu- confer with a committee which had been nominated
tion to the effect, that Mr. Erskine should be sum- to deal with them on the subject of their protest.
220
ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERY.
They retired accordingly for this purpose, and in a same mind as formerly, the commission proceeded,
short time the committee returned, and simply re- by a large majority, to “ loose the relation of the
ported, that“ they (the four brethren) continued fully four ministers to their respective charges, declare
resolved to adhere to their paper and protest." The them no longer ministers of this church, and prohi-
Assembly thereupon resolved, “ That the four breth- bit all ministers of this church from employing them
ren appear before the commission in August next to in any ministerial function.” Thus were the four
express sorrow for their conduct, and retract their brethren cut off from the communion and fellowship
protest ; that in the event of their refusing to sub- of the Established Church of Scotland, which they
mit, the commission is empowered and appointed to dearly loved, and of which they had been bright or-
suspend them from the exercise of their ministry ; ( naments.
naments. The brethren being called, the sentence
and that if they shall then act contrary to the sen- was read in their hearing, when the following pro-
tence of suspension, the commission, at their meet- test was read by them from the bar, and handed to
ing in November, or any subsequent meeting, is in- the clerk for insertion in the records :-
structed to proceed to a higher censure. This harsh
“EDINBURGH, November 16th, 1733.
and high-handed decision was intimated to the “We hereby adhere to the protestation formerly
brethren, who, on commencing to say a few words, entered before this court, both at their last meeting
were forcibly extruded from the house. The sym- in August, and when we appeared first before this
pathy of multitudes of Christian people in Scotland meeting. And further, we do protest in our own
in behalf of these worthy men, who were thus called | name, and in the name of all and every one in our
to suffer for conscience' sake, was now fairly aroused. respective congregations adhering to us, that, notwith-
The table of the commission in August was loaded standing of this sentence passed against us, our pas-
with petitions, memorials, and representations in toral relation shall be held and reputed firm and valid.
their favour from church courts, town-councils, and And likewise we protest, that notwithstanding of
kirk-sessions. These, however, were treated with our being cast out from ministerial communion with
the utmost contempt, and it was not without the the Established Church of Scotland, we still hold
most violent opposition that Mr. Erskine was al- communion with all and every one who desire with
lowed to read an able written defence of himself and us to adhere to the principles of the true Presby-
his brethren, vindicating the course which they had terian covenanted Church of Scotland, in her doc-
taken against the act of Assembly 1732, and assert- trine, worship, government, and discipline, and par-
ing the impossibility of withdrawing their protest ticularly with all who are groaning under the evils,
without violating their consciences. On the ma- and who are affected with the grievances we are
jority of his audience the pleading had no effect. complaining of, and who are, in their several spheres,
The commission "suspended the four brethren from wrestling against the same. But in regard the
the exercise of the ministerial function, and all the prevailing party in this Established Church who
parts thereof." No sooner was the sentence intimated have now cast us out from ministerial fellowship
than the four brethren formally protested against it with them, are carrying on a course of defection from
as null and void, declaring their determination, in our reformed and covenanted principles, and parti-
the strength of their divine Master, to exercise their ticularly are suppressing ministerial freedom and
ministry as heretofore.
faithfulness in testifying against the present back-
At the commission in November, three months slidings of the church, and inflicting censure upon
after the suspension of the four brethren, no fewer ministers for witnessing, by protestations and other-
than seven different synods of the church laid upon wise, against the same: Therefore we do, for these
the table earnest addresses and resolutions in their and many other weighty reasons, to be laid open in
behalf, imploring that the court would exercise cle- due time, protest that we are obliged TO MAKE A
mency and forbearance towards them, and abstain SECESSION FROM THEM, and that we can have no
from proceeding to inflict a higher censure. The
The ministerial communion with them, till they see their
four brethren appeared, and openly avowing their sins and mistakes, and amend them. And in like
continued adherence to their protest, acknow- manner we do protest, that it shall be lawful and
ledged, without reserve, that since the previous warrantable for us to exercise the keys of doctrine,
commission they had exercised all the functions of discipline, and government, according to the Word
the ministry as if no sentence of suspension had been of God and Confession of Faith, and the principles
pronounced. The court then proceeded to consider and constitutions of the covenanted Church of Scot-
what further steps should be taken, and it was only land, as if no such censure had been passed upon us ;
by the casting vote of the Moderator that it was re- upon all which we take instruments. And we here-
solved to inflict a higher censure. Before taking by appeal unto the first free, faithful, and reforming
this serious step, however, a committee was ap- General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
pointed once more to deal with the brethren, with a
(Signed) “ EBENEZER ERSKINE.
view to induce them if possible to a dutiful submis-
6 WILLIAM WILSON.
sion. It was to no purpose ; and the committee
66 ALEXANDER MONCRIEFF.
having reported that the four brethren were of the
" JAMES FISHER."
+
ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERY.
221
The position of the four brethren was novel and yet done was only contemplated as temporary. It
trying. They were cast off from the Church of was possible, they thought, though perhaps scarcely
Scotland, and without any preconcerted plan for probable, that the church might still be led to re-
acting apart from the national judicatories, so that trace its steps, and to adopt such a course as might
their situation was full of uncertainties. After the satisfy those who were aggrieved, and render the
November meeting of commission, they parted continuance of secession unnecessary. The minis-
without taking any step in their new and untried ters, also, who agreed with the four brethren, but
circumstances, only agreeing to meet in a few weeks had not joined them, used their utmost endea-
for consultation. In the course of about three vours to heal the division. The public mind through-
weeks afterwards, they met in a house at Gairney-out Scotland was much agitated on the subject, and
Bridge, and, having spent nearly two days in prayer anxious efforts were made by the inferior judicatories
and conference, they did solemnly, in the name of to send up delegates to the next Assembly, who
the Head of the Church, on the evening of Thurs- might act with greater leniency than had been
day, the 6th of December, 1733, constitute them- shown by the commission and some previous Assem-
selves into a presbytery, which was afterwards blies. The result was, that in the Assembly 1734,
called “ The Associate Presbytery.” Messrz. Ralph the friends of the four brethren mustered strong,
Erskine of Dunfermline, and Thomas Mair of Or- and many, even of the opposite party, were not a
well were present on the important occasion, but little afraid, as well as ashamed, of the storm which
took no part in the deliberations.
they themselves had raised. It was evident that a
But while the four brethren thus formed them- reaction had taken place. The act respecting the
selves into a presbytery, they wisely resolved to ab- planting of vacant churches, and the act which pro-
stain, in the meantime, from all judicial acts, and to hibited the recording of reasons of dissent, were re-
confine themselves at their meetings to prayer, con- pealed; a deed of the commission, erecting a sub-
ference, and mutual exhortation. One step, how- commission to receive the trials and proceed to the
ever, they felt it incumbent to take without delay- ordination of a presentee, while both the parish and
the preparation of a statement of their reasons for the presbytery under whose jurisdiction the parish
separating from the communion of the leading party was situated, opposed the settlement—was reversed;
in the church judicatories. A document of this kind and two acts were passed, the one explanatory of
was accordingly drawn up by Messrs. Wilson and the deed of last Assembly in the case of Mr. Er-
Moncrieff
, under the title of “A Testimony to the skine concerning ministerial freedom ; and the other
doctrine, worship, government, and discipline of the empowering the Synod of Perth and Stirling to
Church of Scotland; or reasons by the four bre- unite the four brethren to the communion of the
thren for their protestation entered before the Com Church, and to restore them to their respective
mission of the General Assembly. A statement of charges.
this nature seemed to be called for, that the true In consequence of this somewhat favourable turn
grounds of the secession might be fully understood. of affairs, the Associate Presbytery held various
Amid the excitement of the stormy period in which meetings to consider what was their duty in present
it occurred, the movement was in danger of being re- circumstances. After frequent anxious deliberations
garded as of a somewhat personal description, arising and earnest prayer for divine guidance, they were
out of the persecution of the four ministers. It was brought most reluctantly to the conclusion that they
right, therefore, that the public should know that the could not conscientiously return on the terms which
causes of the secession had long existed, and had were now proposed. They published a pamphlet
been gathering force, until they reached a crisis in explaining the reasons for taking this step, in which
the expulsion of the protesting brethren.
they admit that, by the repeal of the acts 1730 and
not violent intrusions," as Mr. Wilson, one of them- | 1732, part of the grounds of their secession was re-
selves, described the grounds of the movement; “it moved, but the principal grounds thereof they found
was not the act of 1732, neither was it any other to be still remaining. In the meantime, the four
particular step of defection, considered abstractly brethren, though solicited from many quarters to
and by themselves, upon which the secession was extend their operations, resolved to limit their minis-
stated; but a complex course of defection, both in trations to their own spheres, and to associate
doctrine, government, and discipline, carried on with chiefly for religious exercises. So unwilling were
a high hand by the present judicatories of this they to abandon all hope of returning to the Church,
church, justifying themselves in their procedure, and that before proceeding to act judicially as a presby-
refusing to be reclaimed.”
tery, they waited even till after the Assembly of 1736.
After the constitution of the Associate Presbytery | The first step which they took in this new capacity
and the preparation of the first testimony, the bre- was to emit their Act, Declaration, and Testimony,
thren held several meetings for conference and which bears date at Perth, Dec. 3d, 1736, and
prayer, and looked forward to the Assembly of 1734 which was published in the beginning of the year
with mingled feelings of hope and fear. They had 1737.
no wish for a final separation, and all that they had From this time, the members of the Associate
66 It was
222
ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERY.
ness.
Presbytery felt themselves at liberty to preach be- no steps were taken to depose the ministers of the
yond the bounds of their stated spheres of labour, Associate Presbytery in consequence of this de-
should providence open to them a door of useful- clinature; but the court expressed its conviction,
Wherever they went, they gathered around that they merited deposition, and enjoined the next
them crowds of eager and attentive listeners, and General Assembly to proceed to it, unless the eight
were received by many with the utmost kindness brethren should retract, a step whịch they declared
and cordiality. Applications were made from dif- they scarcely expected them to take. The Assembly
erent quarters to have congregationis formed in of 1740 effected what the previous Assembly had
connection with the body, and to have supply of threatened,-deposing the eight ministers, declaring
sermon, and, as soon as possible, stated ministers them to be no longer ministers of the Church of Scot-
settled among them. To meet this demand for land, and enjoining the civil authorities of their several
more labourers, the presbytery proceeded to elect places to exclude them forthwith from their churches.
one of their number to take the inspection of the The consequence of this decision was, that the se-
youth to be trained up for the holy ministry, and ceding brethren were deprived not of their congre-
Mr. William Wilson of Perth was unanimously gations, for they still adhered to them, but of their
chosen to occupy this high and honourable position. churches and emoluments. Some of them, indeed,
Having thus been appointed Professor of Divinity, were allowed to retain their pulpits until they could
Mr. Wilson performed the duties of his office for be otherwise accommodated. Thus the Rev. Ralph
several years with great ability and acceptance. Erskine of Dunfermline preached in the parish church
The regular aspect which the Secession had now till a new church was built for him by the people
assumed aroused the increased hostility of the na- who adhered to him. Several of the other brethren,
tional judicatories. The four brethren and their adhe- | however, were treated with no such indulgence, but
rents were branded as schismatics, seeking to rend forcibly ejected from their churches in circumstances
and ruin the church. But notwithstanding the ob- peculiarly trying and painful. Some of them were
loquy and reproach and active opposition which for a time subjected to great privations, as well as to
the Secession cause had to endure, it made steady reproach and persecution, but their hearts were sus-
progress. In the course of the year 1737, three ad- tained by the pleasing consciousness that they were
ditional ministers left the church, and joined the suffering in a good cause. Attempts were some-
Associate Presbytery, and in the following year a times made to disturb their meetings when engaged
fourth joined their ranks. The current of corruption, in sacred exercises.
in sacred exercises. Cases occurred in which sites
instead of abating in the Church of Scotland, was for churches were refused, and tenants and depen-
gradually gathering strength. Forced settlements dents were threatened with loss of farms, and situa-
increased in number every year, and reclaiming con- tions of different kinds, if they persisted in adhering
gregations were treated by the supreme court with to the Secession body. The Seceders were even
total disregard of their feelings and opinions. The charged with disloyalty, and it was more than in-
Assembly of 1738 passed an act condemnatory of sinuated that they had given rise to the Porteous
the seceding ministers, and empowered the commis- mob. But the rebellion of 1745 showed the govern-
sion to serve each of them with a libel. In accordance ment that the Scottish Seceders could everywhere
with this act, the commission, which met in March, be counted upon as staunch supporters of the House
1739, served a libel upon each of the eight brethren of Hanover, and determined foes of the Pretender.
of which the Associate Presbytery now consisted, One of the most important documents issued by
charging their secession, their publication of the the Associate Presbytery was an “ Act concerning
Testimony, their administration of Divine ordinances the doctrine of grace,” which, after being carefully
to people in different parts of the country, without prepared and revised, was published in 1742. This
the knowledge or consent of the ministers to whom "act” was intended to set forth the views of the
they belonged, and their licensing one or more to seceding brethren on the great vital doctrines of the
preach the gospel, as high crimes, and citing them gospel, showing that they were in accordance with
to appear before the General Assembly, at its en- those contained in the Marrow,' and which had
suing meeting, to answer for their conduct." In been stamped with the disapproval of the General
the month of May 1739 accordingly, they all ap- Assembly. At the same meeting at which this
peared as a constituted presbytery at the bar of the was passed, the presbytery came to the reso-
Assembly, and setting forth the grounds of their se- lution of “renewing the covenants.” Previous to
cession, disclaimed the Assembly's authority over engaging in this solemn transaction, a committee was
them, maintaining their own independent right, appointed to prepare a bond or covenant, which was
liberty, and determination, in the name of Christ, to to be sworn to and subscribed by all the members ;
watch over the interests of religion in the land, and and as had been usual in covenanting times, it was
to preserve, through Divine aid, the scriptural sim- agreed that there should be prefixed to the bond an
plicity, purity, and order of God's house, in defend acknowledgment of sins. A draught of both of
ing the doctrine, worship, government, and disci- these was presented to the presbytery, and approved
pline of the Church of Scotland. At this Assembly of by all the members present, with the exception of
act”
ASSOCIATE SYNOD-ASSOCIATE, GENERAL (ANTIBURGHER) SYNOD. 223
Mr. Nairn, who, havin adopted the views of the the support of theological students. A mission to
old dissenters on the subject of civil government, the north of Ireland was resolved upon, and an or-
objected to a paragraph contained in the “ acknow- dained minister, along with a probationer, were ap-
ledgment of sins,” in which the presbytery bewail, pointed to labour for several weeks in that quarter.
on the one hand, the sentiments of those who im- The secession of Mr. Nairn from the Associate
pugn the yielding of subjection to the present civil Presbytery was taken up, and it was agreed to
authority of the country in lawful commands; and, serve him with a libel. The meetings of the synod
on the other, the equally dangerous opinion of those during the year 1745 were frequent, meetings being
who inculcate the lawfulness of propagating religion held no fewer than four times in the course of nine
by offensive arms. After various conferences on months, and during the following year they met
the subject, and when Mr. Nairn saw that his bre- three times. Missions occupied much of their at-
thren, so far from acquiescing in his views, were tention not only to the destitute districts of Scot-
resolved that he should either retract his anti- land, but also to various districts of England and
government principles, or be subjected to the cen- Ireland. Two of the brethren were appointed to
sures of the church, he laid on the table of the pres- | preach for several weeks during the summer in
bytery a paper of secession and appeal to the first London, and two were sent on a similar mission to
faithful reforming judicatory, and then withdrew. Belfast and Markethill in the north of Ireland.
This proceeding, on the part of Mr. Nairn, led to The rebellion of 1745 gave the Seceders an op-
the publication of a declaration by the Seceders on portunity of showing their loyalty, and both mini-
the power and province of the civil magistrate. The sters and people were united in taking all means
presbytery solemnly renewed the covenants at Stir- of displaying their attachment to the reigning fa-
ling on the 28th December 1743. (See COVENANT- mily. Corps of volunteers were formed in con-
ERS). The adoption of the same step was enjoined nection with some of the Secession congregations.
upon all their congregations; but, with the excep- Mr. Adam Gib, the minister of the Secession con-
tion of a very few, the Secession congregations dogregation at Edinburgh, particularly signalised him-
not seem to have renewed the covenants until sey- self in his zeal for the royal cause. Three hundred
eral years after the presbytery had enjoined it, and of his people applied to the Lord Provost to be
in fact made it a term of ministerial and Christian allowed to bear arms in defence of the city, and
communion. This latter condition does not seem to were permitted. While the rebels were in posses-
have been ever fully insisted on.
sion of the city, Mr. Gib would not collect his con-
The Associate Presbytery was now becoming a gregation within its walls, but assembled them for
numerous body, ministers being settled over new worship at Dreghorn near Colinton, about three
congregations which were springing up in different miles west of the town. The Glasgow Seceders
quarters of the country. Licentiates, in a number also took arms in defence of the government. The
of instances, were found quitting the Establishment ministers took every opportunity of exhorting the
and joining the Seceders. Congregations in con- people to resist the progress of the rebels, and through-
nection with the presbytery were formed in England out the whole of Scotland none were more remark-
and Ireland. It was now seen to be absolutely ne- able for their warm loyalty in these troublous times
cessary that a new organization should be set up. than the Seceders.
It was resolved accordingly by the Associate Pres- The Secession had not existed long in its more
bytery, that they should constitute into a synod, extended form as a Synod consisting of several pres-
under the name of the Associate Synod, consisting of byteries, when an unhappy discussion arose in re-
three presbyteries, those of Dunfermline, Glasgow, gard to the religious clause of certain burgess-oaths
and Edinburgh. (See next article).
which were required to be taken in some of the
ASSOCIATE SYNOD. In consequence of the towns of Scotland. Some alleged that the oath
great increase which had taken place in the num- could not be taken by any consistent Seceder, while
ber of the Secession congregations, the Associate others contended that it might, and that the ques-
Presbytery (see preceding article) resolved, on the tion should be regarded as a matter of mutual for-
11th October 1744, to constitute themselves into bearance. The controversy raged for some time
a synod consisting of three presbyteries. The with great bitterness on both sides, and at length
whole body consisted at that date of about thirty terminated in 1747, only fifteen years after the date
settled congregations in Scotland alone, and thirteen of the secession, in the separation of the Associate
vacant congregations. The Associate Synod held Synod into two distinct bodies, under the names of
its first eting at Stirling, and was constituted General Associate and Associate Synod, which were
with prayer by Mr. Ebenezer Erskine, after which more generally and popularly known as Antiburghers
Mr. Ralph Erskine was chosen moderator. Various and Burghers. (See next article).
matters were discussed in the synod connected with ASSOCIATE, GENERAL (ANTIBURGHER) SY-
purity of discipline, and the progress of religion. | NOD, the name given to a sect which arose in
It was recommended that a public collection should Scotland out of a division which took place in
be made in all the congregations to raise a fund for | 1747 among the members of the Associate Synod,
me
224
ASSOCIATE, GENERAL (ANTIBURGHER) SYNOD.
or first Seceders from the Established Church of of the discussion, which tended in no slight degree
Scotland. The circumstances which occasioned this to complicate the quarrel, and rouse the parties
early split among the first Seceders were these. A into more violent opposition. The contest was
clause had been introduced by Act of Parliament prolonged from one session of Synod to another, un-
into the oath imposed upon burgesses in the towns til at length a disruption of the Associate Synod took
of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Perth, to the following place, each of the two separate portions claiming to
purport: “Here I protest before God and your lord- be the only lawfully constituted Synod of the Se-
ships, that I profess and allow with my heart the cession Church, while each denied to its rival this
true religion presently professed within this realm exclusive claim.
and authorized by the laws thereof: I shall abide After the Synod had become divided into two se-
thereat, and defend the same to my life's end; re- parate and independent portions, both of them, claim-
nouncing the Roman religion called papistry." The ing to be the original Secession body, retained the
oath embodying this clause was to be taken by every name of “The Associate Synod.” Such a complete
burgess in the three towns mentioned, on being ad- | identity of name, while the parties holding it were
mitted to the municipal privileges which his burgess- in no respect identical, was in danger of leading to
ship involved. The expression in the clause re- considerable confusion, especially in the minds of
garded as objectionable was contained in these words, that large portion of the public who took no interest
“the true religion presently professed within this in ecclesiastical contentions of any kind. Distinc-
realm, and authorized by the laws thereof." The tive designations accordingly drawn from the ma'n
attention of the Synod was first called to the sub- subject of the controversy which had led to the se-
ject by an overture from the presbytery of Stirling, paration came to be used for the sake of distinguish-
which was brought forward in May 1745. A long ing the one party from the other. That party which,
and sharp discussion ensued upon the contested in accordance with the decision of the Synod in
words. One party alleged that any person swearing April, 1746, regarded the obnoxious clause of the
to profess the true religion presently professed, and Burgess Oath as involving every Seceder who took
so forth, was in reality merely making a profession it in a sinful compromise of Secession principles,
of protestantism in opposition to popery ; while an- and a sinful departure from the Secession Testimony,
other party declared their belief that the profession were designated “ Antiburghers;" the other party
of the true religion referred to in the clause, and who resisted the Synod's coming to any decision on
more especially when interpreted by the words the question, or who contended that it should not be
that preceded and followed, implied an adherence to made a term of communion, were designated “Bur-
the Established Church with all its corruptions, ghers."
against which the Secession had publicly testified. The Antiburgher party held their first meeting,
The point of dispute might appear at first sight to be after their separation from the Associate Synod, in
one of minor importance, but, nevertheless, con- the house of Mr. Adam Gib, Edinburgh, one of
scientious men on both sides, who looked at the their number, on the 10th April 1747, when they
matter from two different and opposite points of passed an “Act asserting their constitution and
view, saw, or thought they saw, in the objectionable rights according to previous contendings for the
language of the oath, a principle which could not same."
In this act they formally claimed the law-
possibly be conceded. The one side felt that, by ful authority and power of the Associate Synod as
permitting the use of such an oath by the members wholly in their hands, in consequence of the mate-
of their body who might be in the position of be- rial departure, as they alleged, of the other party
coming burgesses of the three towns mentioned, from the Secession Testimony. At another sede-
they would be virtually departing from their original runt on the same day, they proceeded formally to
Testimony against the corruptions of the Estab pronounce sentence of excommunication upon the
lished Church of Scotland; while the other side, Burgher party to the extent of excluding them from
seeing no such abandonment of their Testimony in the Synod until they shall make open confession of
taking this oath according to its plain and obvious their sin in the matter of the Burgess Oath, and at
import and design, held that it was not their duty another sederunt, on the following week, they for :
to infringe upon the civil privileges of any of their mally excluded the ministers of the same party from
members by refusing to allow them to take the oath “all right and title to any present actual exercise of
when called in the course of Providence to such the keys of the kingdom of heaven, committed by
a step. What therefore might appear to a calm the Lord Jesus to the office-bearers of his house,"
uninterested spectator a trifling and uncalled for and declared them worthy of censure. To secure
contention, was felt by men of high principle on both the continued adherence of their own ministers in
sides, to demand their most strenuous endeavours to all time coming to the disapproval of the religious
maintain their respective opinions. The contest clause of the Burgess Oath, two questions, bearing
was carried on with ability and keenness. Not closely upon the subject, were added to the formula,
limiting themselves to the single point in debate, va- for the purpose of being put to young men before
rious collateral questions were raised in the course receiving license, and to ministers before ordination,
ASSOCIATE, GENERAL (ANTIBURGHER) SYNOD.
225
Thus was the separation of the two parties, after- years after this separation had taken place, no two
wards distinguished by the public as Antiburghers sects in the country were more keenly opposed to
and Burghers, formally and fully accomplished, and one another than the Burgher and Antiburgher Se-
from that period, until their reunion in 1820, the ceders. The storm, however, at length subsided
two Synods held their meetings separately, and into a calm, and after a separation of eighty years,
each exercised a jurisdiction over their own adhe- during which both Synods pursued respectively a
rents entirely independent of the other.
course of active usefulness, they were at length re-
In August 1747, the Antiburgher Synod met at united into one powerful and efficient body.
Edinburgh, and resuming consideration of the case Two remarkable features were conspicuous in the
of their Burgher brethren, whom they had already early history of the General Associate or Anti-
judged to be worthy of censure, they resolved, after burgher Synod, -their marked attention to purity of
mature deliberation, to serve them with a libel; and doctrine and discipline among all who were under
they summoned them to appear at the bar of their their jurisdiction ; and an extent of missionary spirit
Synod in April 1748. None of the ministers sum- which indicated much spiritual life and energy, not
moned having made their appearance, they were de- only in the ministers and elders, but in the great
clared contumacious. The various counts in the libel body of the people. As an instance of this latter
were then taken into consideration, and were all characteristic, it might be stated, that, in the course of
of them found relevant, if proven, to infer censure ; a few years after their separation from the Burgher
and the proof having been proceeded with, they brethren, they sent out to Pennsylvania several or-
were found proven in their material points, and dained ministers and probationers, who, by the
they were accordingly suspended from the exercise blessing of God upon their exertions, were instru-
of their ministry, with certification, that, if they mental in diffusing the light of the gospel in a part of
failed to appear at next meeting of Synod to make the United States of America, which had hitherto been
due acknowledgment for their past misconduct, they in a spiritually desolate and neglected state. They
would be visited with still higher censures. In the despatched also several missionaries to Nova Scotia,
month of August the Synod again met, and deposed thus laying the foundation in that colony of a sec-
their Burgher brethren from the office of the holy |tion of the Secession Church, which has continued
ministry, and suspended them from the enjoyment | its labours with undeviating zeal and success to the
of their privileges as members of the Church, with present time. While thus active in providing for
certification, that, if they failed to appear at next the extension of the gospel in foreign parts, the An-
meeting of Synod and give satisfaction for their past tiburgher Synod gave themselves with at least equal
misconduct, it will then become a matter of serious alacrity to the propagation of the gospel throughout
consideration whether the highest censure of the Scotland and the sister country of Ireland. In the
Church should not be pronounced upon them. In- course of forty years this portion of the Secession
timation of this sentence was appointed to be made body had planted congregations, not only in the cen-
in all the congregations of the ministers thus so- tral districts, but in the northern counties of Scot-
lemnly deposed, and their places declared vacant. land, as well as in the south and west.
At the following meeting of Synod in April 1749, The body being thus enlarged, and its congrega-
the further consideration of the matter was adjourned tions widely scattered, it became necessary at length
till August, and on that month, the business having to form new ecclesiastical arrangements. The dif-
been resumed, Messrs. Ralph Erskine, James Fisher, ferent presbyteries, accordingly, in connection with
and William Hutton were selected from among the the association, were constituted in 1788 into four
rest, on account of special aggravations connected Synods——three in Scotland, and one in Ireland, which
with their case, and the sentence of the greater ex- were to be in subordination to one General Synod.
communication was, with all due formality, passed The first day of the meeting of each Synod was to
against them. The other brethren had a similar be observed as a synodical fast; and all the presby-
sentence passed against them in the month of Feb. teries were appointed to meet in one General Asso-
ruary 1750; and intimation of these censures was ciate Synod at Edinburgh once, or if necessary
appointed to be made within the several congrega- twice, a-year. It was highly creditable to this sec-
tions with which these ministers were connected. tion of the Christian Church that their very first
The division which had thus taken place in the act, after this enlarged ecclesiastical frame-work had
Associate Synod led to much confusion throughout | been constructed, was to draw up a public declara-
the whole of the Associate body. Congregations tion of their sentiments on the subject of the slave
and sessions, and even families, were rent asunder trade, thus strengthening the hands of that small
by it. Long subsisting friendships were broken up; band of philanthropists who had generously resolved
ministers l'esigned their charges; and people adopt- to make a bold attempt to put an end to this infa-
ing different views from their ministers left the con- mous commerce. The subject of foreign missions
gregations with which they had been wont to wor- also engaged much of their attention. Missionaries
ship. The uttermost bitterness and party-feeling were sent to different parts of the United States.
were manifested on both sides ; and for a number of | A presbytery in connection with the body was
I.
P
226
ASSOCIATE, GENERAL (ANTIBURGHER) SYNOD.
1
energy and zeal.
formed in Pennsylvania, and another in Nova Sco- had been secretly but rapidly spreading in that por-
tia. No part of the Christian Church in Scotland tion of the Secession body from which it emanated.
displayed greater activity in the work of gospel dif- Doubts, however, as to the soundness of the tenets
fusion, both at home and abroad, than the Anti- which were beginning to be advanced in reference
burgher Synod. Their whole career for upwards of to the power of the civil magistrate, arose in Mr.
fifty years as a separate Church, was one of unwearied M'Crie's mind a few months after his ordination.
He set himself laboriously and with all earnestness
At length, towards the end of the eighteenth to the study of the subject. And no sooner did he
century, a difference of opinion began to arise in the become convinced that the act 1796 was erroneous
body as to the power of the civil magistrate in eccle- and unscriptural, than he was haunted with feelings
siastical matters. On this point the early Seceders of deep regret, that his own conduct, in common
entertained very strong opinions in favour of what with that of others, had been the exciting cause
is popularly called the Establishment principle. As which led to the passing of this act. This feeling,
time rolled on, and alienation from the actual Estab- | however, humiliating though it was, did not prevent
lished Church of the country became stronger, a him from openly, and without reserve, retracting
modification began to be manifest in the opinions of and disowning the error into which he had fallen.
some at least, on the question of the expediency and Accordingly, in a sermon preached before the Asso-
scriptural authority of National Establishments of ciate Synod in 1800, we find him making a manly
religion. The first public step in the matter was taken confession of his error, and expressing his unfeigned
by Mr. Thomas M'Crie, who, along with a fellow- sorrow that he should have been accessory to the
student, requested to be allowed, in receiving license passing of the act 1796. Not contented with this
from the Associate Presbytery of Kelso in 1795, to public disclaimer of all participation in the views of
sign the formula with a reservation as to the power those who approved this act, he presented at the
of the civil magistrate in matters of religion. Before same meeting of Synod a petition craving that it
the usual questions, therefore, were proposed to the should be reviewed and examined.
two young men, it was, with the permission of the Some years before this time a proposal had been
presbytery, minuted in their records, “ That by their made in the Antiburgher Synod for an enlargement
answers to these questions, they were not to be un- of the Secession Testimony, with a view to bring it
derstood as giving any judgment upon the power of down to the present times, and accommodate it to
the civil magistrate in religious matters, in so far as present circumstances. The Committee appointed in
the same is in dependence before the General As- terms of the proposal, which had come before the
sociate Synod.” In giving this qualified assent, Synod in the form of an overture from the presby-
Mr. M'Crie took a step, the consequences and full tery of Forfar, instead of fulfilling the duty intrusted
bearing of which he did not at the time perceive, to them, by drawing up an Appendix to the Testi-
but which he was not long in deeply regretting. In mony, prepared an entirely new work, entitled
May 1796, the Synod passed an act bearing on this * The Narrative and Testimony.' This document,
point. The act to which we refer states as follows: the draft of which was first produced at a meeting of
“The Synod declare, that as the Confession of the Synod in 1793, differed in many essential parti-
Faith was at first received by the Church of Scotland culars from the original Testimony, but in none
with some exception as to the power of the civil ma- more plainly than in the view which was taken of
gistrate relative to spiritual matters, so the Synod, the grand question as to the power of the civil ma-
for the satisfaction of all who desire to know their gistrate in matters of religion. Resistance was im-
mind on this subject, extend that exception to every- mediately and strenuously made to the adoption of
thing in that Confession which, taken by itself, seems this new document, and it was not until the year
to allow the punishment of good and peaceable sub- 1804, that it met with the approval and sanction of
jects on account of their religious opinions and ob- the General Synod. Several ministers were secretly
servances; that they approve of no other way of dissatisfied with the principles of this new Testimony,
bringing men into the Church, or retaining them in but the number who openly avowed and firmly ad-
it, than such as are spiritual, and were used by the hered to their opposition was very small. Among
apostles and other ministers of the Word in the first those who were most determined in their resistance
ages of the Christian Church ; persuasion, not force; to the Narrative and Testimony' stands the name
the power of the gospel, not the sword of the civil of Dr. M'Crie. In opposing the overture for a new
magistrate."
Testimony, both he and his colleagues contented
At first sight the doctrines thus stated in the act themselves for some years with protesting against
1796 appear to be unobjectionable, but there was the proposed changes. The following quotation
nevertheless involved in the very vagueness of the from one of their papers gives a succinct view of the
language employed in the act, the rudimental origin points in dispute.
of that change in the profession of the Synod which “It appears now too evident not only from the
has since been openly avowed. Before the passing known sentiments and private writings of some mein-
of the act, new-light principles, as they were called, bers, but from the late public deeds and votes of the
ASSOCIATE, GENERAL (ANTIBURGHER) SYNOD.
227
Synod, that they have adopted a different scheme, were to consider themselves as bound to admit all
and have given countenance to what have been usually who declared their preference for the New Testi-
accounted Anabaptistical, Sectarian or Independent mony, and it was stipulated that they “should not
tenets on these heads, which had been formerly re- either from the pulpit or press impugn or oppose our
nounced and solemnly abjured by them; and that principles as stated by the Synod, and that they
they have in so far befriended the principles and should conduct themselves as they had done hitherto,
designs of some modern infidels and politicians, which in attending church courts, and assisting their bre-
tend to make a total separation of civil government | thren on sacramental occasions." These conditions
and religion, as if the interests of the latter in no of course were such as the protesters could not con-
shape pertained to the former, farther than to grant sistently and conscientiously accept. Separation
and secure equal liberty and privileges to all religious seemed inevitable. But the difficulty which chiefly
systems; that hereby they have unduly restricted the perplexed their minds was in reference to their con-
exercise and interfered with the rights of civil gov- | gregations. The great body of the people were not
ernment, have represented all active countenance aware up to this time, that any change had taken
and support to any particular religion, or any sanc- place in the principles of the Synod. The protesters
tion to church-deeds by human laws, as an Erastian had never hitherto published any thing on the sub-
encroachment, a confounding of the temporal and ject, whether from the press or the pulpit, and they
spiritual jurisdiction, and as necessarily involving naturally felt considerable delicacy in stating to
persecution for conscience' sake: while the rights of their congregations the difficult and perplexing situa-
conscience have been so explained as to favour tion in which they now found themselves placed.
anarchy and licentiousness in all matters pertaining Two years had passed away since the Synod had
to religion, in defiance of all restraint by human au- adopted the New Testimony, and the protesters still
thority of any kind. The question is now no longer, continued in full communion with their brethren,
under what limitations, or in what manner may reluctant to break up kindly friendships, and to dis-
magistrates exercise their power circa sacra? but, turb the harmony of their respective congregations.
whether there be any power of this kind competent Their position was quite anomalous, and they felt it
to them ?—The authority itself, in whatever degree, to be so. At the meeting of Synod accordingly, in
or however applied, is at last by the Synod declared May 1806, the protesters, now reduced to four,
to be a nonentity. In consequence, a national reli- Messrs. Bruce, Aitken, Hog, and M‘Crie, took a
gion, national covenants, and national churches, in more decided step, and presented a paper, which
the usual and proper acceptation of the words, are from its tenor virtually dissolved their connection
exploded as an absurdity: all tests which tend to with the Synod. In this paper they say:
make religious distinctions, or which may be used as “That finding no longer access to continue judi-
qualifications for offices of power and trust, supreme cial contendings with the Synod, nor any hopes left
or subordinate, are virtually condemned; and all of their being allowed to retain their former profes-
constitutions and laws that imply the exercise of sion entire, or of enjoying ministerial freedom in co-
such a power, in every Protestant and Christian na- operation with the General Synod and inferior judi-
tion, ought wholly to be abolished. The precepts,catories, as now constituted, according to the terms
examples, predictions and promises in the Old Tes- enacted and the restrictions attempted to be imposed
tament Scriptures, which have hitherto been adduced on protesting ministers last year, they are con-
as warrants for such things, are held to be inappli- strained (though without any prospect of being able
cable, and in this view inconsistent with the nature to maintain a successful opposition, in the present
of the New Testament dispensation ; by which, state of things, to the torrent that is carrying along
countenance has been given to the error which the large body of Seceders throughout the land)
represents the Church of God under the Old Testa- once more to declare and protest, in their own name
ment to have been essentially different from that and in the name of all who may still be disposed to
under the New."
adhere to their former profession and engagements,
At every step in the progress of the discussion that they shall hold themselves free from any obli-
which lasted for several years in reference to the gation to comply with these innovating acts; that
New Testimony, Dr. M‘Crie and his colleagues con- they shall account every attempt by the Synod, or
tinued to tender their protests to the Synod, but any in subjection to it, to compel them to conform-
notwithstanding all their remonstrances, the Synod, ity to the new system and constitution to be unwar-
at its meeting in May 1804, enacted the Narrative rantable; that, in the present state of exclusion into
and Testimony into a term of communion. The which they have been driven by the prevailing party
protesters remained firm, and the Synod, unwilling in Synod, (which they wish may be but temporary
that a rupture should take place, permitted them to and short,) they shall be at liberty to maintain their
retain their peculiar views, and receive into their former testimony and communion as formerly stated,
communion such as “might better understand and with ministers and people, as Providence may give
approve of the former statement of their principles." them opportunity; and that in endeavouring to do
While this liberty was granted them, however, they this, they must consider themselves as possessing a
228
ASSOCIATE (BURGHER) SYNOD.
full right to the exercise of ministerial or judicative During the long period of eighty years, which
powers, according as they may have a call, or may had elapsed since the division had taken place in
think it conducive to the ends of edification to use the Associate Synod, both the Antiburgher and
that right, and that notwithstanding of any censure Burgher parties had been seeking faithfully to
or sentence the Synod may see meet to pass to the fulfil their mission as churches of Christ; the ani-
contrary, on account of the part they have been mosities which at first raged with the most lamen-
obliged to act in this cause."
table fierceness had gradually subsided; the solitary
This paper was received by the Synod without point of distinction, the burgess oath, had lost its
any objections; and from that date the protesters interest and significance; and at length a mutual
felt themselves justified in disowning the authority desire for union arose, and rapidly spread among the
of the General Synod. Mr. M'Crie now made a people, so that to both Synods, numerous petitions
public declaration to his congregation of the circum- were presented praying for a speedy re-union of the
stances which had led to his present painful position. two parties. Preliminary steps were accordingly
This declaration, in opposition to the principles taken, and a basis of union having been agreed upon
avowed by the Synod, brought matters to a crisis. the union was finally accomplished in September
Messrs. M'Crie and Bruce were cited to appear be- 1820, the united body taking the name of the UNITED
fore the Antiburgher Presbytery of Edinburgh, on SECESSION CHURCH (which see). A few ministers
the 22d July 1806. They declined to obey the cita- of the Antiburgher Synod declined to follow their
tion, or to acknowledge the authority of the court; brethren in a step which they.considered as a depar-
and on the 28th August, Messrs. Bruce, Aitken, ture from the principles of the original Secession,
Hog, and M‘Crie, being in Providence convened to- and instead therefore of entering into the union, they
gether at Whitburn on a sacramental occasion, con- formed themselves into a separate body.
stituted themselves into a presbytery, afterwards ASSOCIATE (BURGHER) SYNOD. The con-
designated the “CONSTITUTIONAL ASSOCIATE PRES- troversy in reference to the Burgess oath has been
BYTERY” (which see), maintaining the principles of fully explained in the preceding article—a con-
the Original Secession as contained in the Testimony troversy which, as we have seen, rent asunder the
drawn up in 1736. At this time the Antiburgher Secession church. The section of the body which
Synod were sitting at Glasgow; and on the very falls now to be noticed held the opinion that the
same day on which the Constitutional Presbytery oath in question might be taken by Seceders with a
was constituted, the Synod deposed Mr. Aitken, one safe conscience; while the section noticed in our
of the protesters; and before the Synod closed their last article maintained that the oath was in its very
proceedings, intelligence having reached Glasgow of nature utterly inconsistent with Secession principles.
what had happened at Whitburn, they proceeded The first meeting of the Associate Burgher Synod
without delay to pronounce on Dr. M'Crie also the was held at Stirling on the 16th June 1747, when
solemn sentence of deposition. The two remaining Mr. James Fisher was chosen moderator. One of
protesters were dealt with in a similar way, and Mr. the first subjects to which they directed their atten-
Chalmers, minister at Haddington, having also joined | tion, was the preparation of an explication of the
the Constitutional Presbytery, was deposed by the Assembly's Shorter Catechism, which was executed
Synod soon after. Thus terminated the controversy chiefly by Messrs. Fisher and the two Erskines.
concerning the "Old and New Light" question; and Mr. Moncrieff of Culfargie, the professor of divinity,
the Antiburgher Synod were left to the undisturbed having adhered to the other branch of the Secession,
maintenance of those principles in regard to the au- the students were placed in the meantime under the
thority of the civil magistrate in matters of religion, care of Mr. Ebenezer Erskine at Stirling. The Sy-
which were embodied in their · Narrative and Tes- nod also appointed a day of fasting to be observed
timony. After this small, but not unimportant in all their congregations in consequence of the re-
secession from the Antiburgher Synod, nothing oc- cent unhappy division; and the appointment was
curred in their ecclesiastical history for some years repeated on the following year. Various applica-
worthy of notice, if we except perhaps a long course tions for supply of sermon from different parts of
of proceedings which were carried on against Mr. the country were received and complied with. A
Robert Imrie, minister at Kinkell, for heresy, and deputation was also sent on a preaching tour to the
which at length terminated in his deposition from north of Ireland, where three congregations were
the office of the ministry. The Synod continued already formed in connection with the Synod. In
with the most laudable activity to prosecute the 1749, Mr. Ebenezer Erskine having intimated his
great work which was committed to them as a sec- inability, through the infirmities of age, any longer
tion of the church of Christ—that of advancing the to take charge of the students, Mr. James Fisher
glory of Christ, and promoting the progress of the was elected Professor of Divinity; and he was also
gospel both at home and in foreign countries. They requested to superintend the explication of the
took a lively interest, more especially in the institu- Shorter Catechism, which had been agreed upon
tion of Bible and Missionary societies, which signa- at a former meeting. The first part of this use-
lized the commencement of the present century. ful work, which was much indebted to the pens
ASSOCIATE (BURGHER) SYNOD.
229
of Messrs. Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine, was pub- extended so far that about one hundred and twenty
lished in 1753, and the second part, which was places of worship in connection with the body exist-
chiefly prepared by Mr. Fisher, and published on ed throughout Scotland—awakened alarm in the
his own responsibility, did not appear until seven minds of some of the friends of the Established
years after the first. The work, which is an able Church. They naturally began to dread lest, in
and useful production, is generally known by the course of time, the progress of dissent might prove
name of Fisher's Catechism.'
the ruin of the national establishment; an overture,
The Synod's missionary labours in Ireland were accordingly, which is usually known by the name of
attended with the most encouraging success; and the schism-overture, was laid upon the table of the
so rapidly did the number of congregations in- Assembly, at its meeting on the 31st of May 1765;
crease in that country, that in 17.51, a presbytery was its object being to call the attention of the Assem-
formed, under the name of the “ Associate Presby- bly to the fact, that 120 Seceder meeting-houses
tery of Down.” In the same year an application exist in Scotland, to which more than 100,000
was made from Philadelphia in North America, to persons resort, who were formerly in communion
have a preacher sent to them from the Synod. The with the national church. The prayer of the over-
scarcity of preachers, and the urgent home demands, ture was, that the venerable Assembly would pro-
prevented them from immediately complying with vide such remedies against this schism as in their
this request; and, even although it was renewed the wisdom they might judge proper.. An animated dis-
following year, the Synod were still under the pain cussion ensued on the important subject thus intro-
ful necessity of delaying to accede to it. A matter duced, and a committee was appointed to consider
of melancholy interest was at this time brought the overture and report to next Assembly. The
under their notice. In congregations in Ireland, report was accordingly presented, recommending the
both ministers and people complained of being sub- Assembly to make further inquiry into the actual
jected to great hardship, by being required to swear extent of the Secession, and suggesting that, as the
oaths that were considered ensnaring, and that, too, right of patronage was one of the chief causes of the
in a most objectionable form—by touching and kiss-evil, endeavours should be made to have that griev-
ing the Gospels. They were besides threatened ance remedied. The Assembly, after a long and
with imprisonment in case of their refusal to take animated debate, agreed, without a vote, to pass
the oaths in the manner required. The Synod from the first part of the report, which recommended
promptly took up the case, and agreed that if any of inquiry, and, by a small majority, it was also deter-
the brethren should be imprisoned for conscience mined to reject the proposal made in the report
sake, they would cheerfully contribute toward their to inquire into the abuse of the right of patronage.
support. Two years after, the application was re- Thus the growth of the secession which had excited
newed, and the Synod accordingly commissioned such alarm among the friends of the Establishment,
one of their number to proceed to Ireland, taking was permitted to go forward, and the evils which
with him credentials of the loyalty of the Irish bre- had led to it remained unchecked.
He was authorized to give all necessary Frequent applications were about this time receiv-
pecuniary aid in name of the Synod, and to examine ed by the Burgher Synod from congregations in North
into the state of matters among the Seceders in Ire- | America, urgently pressing ministers to be sent out
land, and report to the Synod.
to them. At length, by appointment of the Synod,
In November 1753, the Synod sanctioned a docu- Mr. Telfar of Bridge of Teith set out on a mission, in
ment which had been under preparation for some 1766, to that country, accompanied by a probationer.
time, and ordered it to be published under the title On reaching the other side of the Atlantic, and after
of Act of the Associate Synod, containing a Nar- | labouring for a few months in Philadelphia and other
rative of the rise, progress, and grounds of their Seces places, Mr. Telfar wrote home to the Synod that a
sion; together with a Declaration of the true scope and union had taken place between the Synod's mission-
design thereof; as also of their Act, Declaration, and aries in that quarter and the Anti-Burgher brethren
Testimony, &c.' The object of this publication was belonging to the Pennsylvanian presbytery, and that
to make the people well acquainted with the grounds the coalescence had been productive of great har-
of the secession; and also to vindicate themselves mony. In 1769, the Synod also despatched a depu-
against misrepresentations on the part of their op- tation to Nova Scotia, from which letters had been
ponents. At the same time it was resolved to pre- received full of complaints of the great spiritual des-
pare an Act concerning the alleged mistakes in the titution which prevailed in that colony. Mr. Cock
Act and Testimony, and other official documents. of Greenock, one of this deputation, was the first
This, however, was not completed for several years, minister in connection with the Associate Synod
and even then it was not published in the form of an who settled in Nova Scotia.
Act, but simply a revised edition of the historical In the course of little more than twenty years
part of the Testimony.
after the separation of the Secession into two bodies,
The rapid progress which the Secession Church the Burgher section had quadrupled the number of
had made since its commencement—the cause having its ministers. The scheme of a fund for the regular
thren.
an
230
ASSOCIATE (BURGHER) SYNOD.
payment of an annuity to the widows of deceased Oath, the utmost harmony had prevailed in the
ministers was adopted by the Synod in May 1777. | Associate (Burgher) Synod. Theirs had been an
In the following year, a “Re-exhibition of the Testi- unvarying course of prosperity and peace. To-
mony' was published, containing all the official do- wards the end of the eighteenth century, however, a
cuments that were acknowledged by this branch of violent controversy arose, which is usually known
the Secession. Participating also in the alarm by the names of “ The Formula-Controversy," and
which prevailed at that time throughout the whole also “ The Old and New Light Controversy.' The
kingdom, in consequence of the repeal of some sta-- discussions which conyulsed this section of the Se-
tutes which had been passed about the time of the cession Church for several years had a reference to
Revolution in 1688 against Popery and Papists, the certain questions in the Formula relating to two
Burgher Synod joined the general movement, and points which have been often and keenly agitated
published a 'Warning' to their people on the sub- at different periods in the ecclesiastical history
ject of Popery. The Secession had for some years of Scotland. The one of these points concerned
been steadily advancing in Ireland. Two presby- the power of the civil magistrate in matters of
teries in connection with the Associate Synod had religion, and the other related to the question
already been formed in that country, and a third was whether the National Covenant sworn and sub-
formed about this time, under the designation of the scribed by our forefathers was binding upon their
presbytery of Derry. In 1779, these three presby- posterity. A vehement controversy, as we have
teries were formed into a synod, which maintained a already seen, on the very same points, had also
brotherly connection with the Associate Synod in raged in the General Associate (Antiburgher)
Scotland; and a deputation was sent to attend the Synod, which, however, led to more decided steps
meeting of the Irish Synod in 1782, which brought than those taken by the Associate Synod. The
back a favourable report concerning the improved former body remodelled the whole of their Testi-
state of affairs among the Seceders in Ireland. This mony, denied to the magistrate all power in matters
same year a movement was made among some of the of religion, and declared that the Solemn League and
Burgher congregations in different parts of Scotland, Covenant enjoined, under civil penalties, matters
towards a union with the brethren of the Anti- that were purely religious, and in so far as it did so,
Burgher Synod. Matters, however, were by no they pronounced it unwarrantable. The latter body,
means ripe for such a step; and, accordingly, though however, instead of remodelling their Testimony,
the Associate Synod received favourably the peti- contented themselves with prefixing to the Formula
tions on the subject which were laid upon the table, of questions proposed to preachers on receiving
no measures were at that time adopted in the mat- license, and to ministers on receiving ordination, a
ter. A few years after, a communication was re- preamble or explanatory statement not requiring an
ceived by the Synod from the Reformed Presbytery, approbation of compulsory measures in religion from
proposing a conference, with a view to unite in any candidate for license or ordination, and in re-
church fellowship. The conference was held, but gard to the Covenants, admitting their obligation on
the result of it was unsatisfactory, the difference of posterity, but giving no deliverance on its nature
opinion between the two bodies being such, that no and kind. The debated points were first introduced
prospect could be entertained of a harmonious agree- into the Synod in May 1795, and continued year
ment. One of the most useful measures adopted by after year to engage the almost exclusive attention
the Synod was the institution of a fund in 1791, for of both the clerical and lay members of the Asso-
assisting weak congregations, for giving support to ciate body. Pamphlets of the most bitter polemical
aged and infirm ministers, for defraying the ex- description were published on both sides. Every
penses connected with the support of the theological successive meeting of Synod, the contention among
seminary, and for other pious and charitable pur- the brethren waxed warmer, and at length in 1799 a
poses. This fund, which has been of incalculable secession from the Associate Synod took place of
benefit to the body, has been regularly supported by those ministers who dissented from, and disapproved
annual congregational collections, and by voluntary of, the preamble to the Formula. These renounced
contributions from individual members of the church. the authority of the Synod, and formed themselves
As the number of ministers connected with the into a separate Church court under the designation
Burgher Synod increased, it was found necessary to of the Associate Presbytery, which was the com-
erect additional presbyteries. While thus flourish- mencement of that section of the Secession fami-
ing at home, assistance continued to be rendered to liarly known by the name of “Old Light” or
the brethren abroad. Both in Nova Scotia and in Original Burghers.” As often happens in such
Pennsylvania the cause made rapid progress, and in secessions, a process was instituted before the Court
the latter country a synod was formed in 1782, un- of Session to have it decided whether a place of
der the name of the “ ASSOCIATE REFORMED SY- worship, in which there was a disruption, belonged
NOD” (which see) of North America.
to the party seceding, or to those adhering to their
For half a century from the disruption of the Se- former connection. In one of the petitions pre-
cession Church by the controversy on the Burgess- | sented to the court, insinuations were thrown out
ASSOCIATE SYNOD OF NORTH AMERICA.
231
tending to bring into discredit the character of the the breach which had long existed between these
Synod for loyalty. So strong were the statements two important and influential Christian communi-
made on this subject, that the bench thought it ties should be healed, and, accordingly, a re-union
right to call the attention of the Lord Advocate to was brought about in 1820, and the designation was
the matter in his official capacity. The Lord Advo- adopted of the “United Secession Church.” (See
cate, accordingly, having made all due inquiry, came SECESSION CHURCH (UNITED).
to the conclusion, that the Synod had been grie- ASSOCIATE SYNOD OF NORTH AMERICA.
vously slandered, and made a public statement to This is one of those Christian communions in America
that effect in his official character before the court. which are usually called “Scottish Secession Church-
Notwithstanding this open vindication of the body es," and which are chiefly composed of Scotch and
by the public prosecutor, a pamphlet appeared re- Irish emigrants. The Associate Church originated
echoing the charge of disloyalty from the pen of the in a petition sent by a number of the inhabitants of
Rev. Dr. Porteous, one of the ministers of the Es- | Pennsylvania to the General Associate (Antibur-
tablished Church in Glasgow. This production, gher) Synod in 1752. The petition was favourably
which excited no small ferment at the time, was entertained, and Mr. Alexander Gellatly, a licen-
ably answered by Mr. James Peddie, one of the Se- tiate, along with Dr. Andrew Arnot, an ordained
cession ministers in Edinburgh. The preamble of minister, sailed for their destination in the summer
the Formula had been much canvassed, and many of the following year. The instructions given to
objections were made to it, as laying the Synod open these two brethren by the Synod, were, that on their
to much misinterpretation as to their real views. It arrival they should constitute themselves into a
was agreed, accordingly, at their meeting in Septem- presbytery, along with two elders, under the title of
ber 1800, to insert in their minutes the following “ The Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania ;' that
statement explanatory of their opinions as to the they should endeavour to form, as soon as possible,
power of the civil magistrate :—“That it is the duty two congregations with distinct elderships ; that
of the Christian magistrate to be a praise to them both sessions should choose representatives for the
that do well, and a terror to evil-doers, such as con- presbytery; and that none should be ordained or
temptuous profaners of the holy name and Sabbath admitted as elders, except such as had perused and
of the Lord, and perjured persons, as disturbers of approved of the standards of the Secession Church,
the peace and good order of society." In the course besides being possessed of the other qualifications
of a few years the brethren, who had separated from required by the Holy Scriptures. Under the Divine
the Synod on the formula question, had increased to blessing the two brethren met with remarkable suc-
fifteen, and they resolved to constitute themselves in- cess in their labours; several congregations were
to a synod under the designation of “The Associate formed, and a presbytery erected in the eastern part
Synod;" but lest they should be confounded with the of Pennsylvania. Accessions were gradually made
community which they had left, they have usually to their numbers by the arrival of other ministers
taken the name of “ THE ORIGINAL BURGHER SY- from Scotland, and when the American revolution-
NOD" (which see). The missionary spirit of the As- ary war broke out there were eight or ten ministers
sociate Synod received a considerable impulse by the in the presbytery. In the course of a few years,
visit to Scotland of Mr. John Mason, minister at New however, several of the brethren joined a new body,
York, and member of the Associate Reformed Church which was formed under the name of the “ Asso-
of America. The destitution of ministerial supply CIATE REFORMED CHURCII,” (which see); so that, in
prevailing among the transatlantic churches engaged 1782, the number of the congregations and ministers
the serious attention of the Synod, and at their in- belonging to the Associate Presbytery was reduced
stance several of their ministers and probationers to two. They continued, however, to persevere amid
agreed to labour in America, and for that purpose all difficulties and discouragements, and by training
accompanied Mr. Mason on his return to that coun- up young men for the ministry, and receiving addi-
try in September 1802. The Synod also, in conse- tional labourers from Scotland, they so succeeded in
quence of the representations which had been made recruiting their strength, that, in 1801, they had
to them, agreed to recognize the Associate Reformed four presbyteries. Their numbers being thus en-
Synod of America as a sister-church, and to main- larged, they formed the “ Associate Synod of North
tain a regular correspondence with the brethren | America:' A number of additional presbyteries
across the Atlantic. This resolution was warmly re- have been formed extending over the middle, south-
sponded to by the American brethren.
ern, and western States. The Synod meets' an-,
As time rolled on the two bodies of Burghers and nually, and is composed of delegates from the pres-
Antiburghers seemed to be gradually approximat- byteries. The Associate Synod of America now
ing. In other countries, where branches of the two consists of 168 ministers, 250 congregations, and
churches existed, as in Nova Scotia and in Ireland, about 18,157 members.
a union was effected without much difficulty. Pro- ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH OF
posals were at length made by both sections of the NORTH AMERICA. This church, which is Amer-
Secession Church in Scotland simultaneously, that | ican in its origin, arose out of an attempt made in
232
ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERY OF IRELAND.
to their choice, and they requested that they might be
1782 to combine the Associate Synod and the Re- Thus reduced in numbers, the church set itself to
formed Presbyterian Synod into one body. The vigorous exertion, and in God's good time a day of
proposal was adopted by a large proportion of the revival came. The seminary was re-established in
ministers of both churches, and although a few still 1829, not at New York, but at Newburgh, and after
continued to adhere to their former connections, the a protracted lawsuit the library was recovered. Since
Associate Reformed Church was organized at Phila- then the denomination has been rapidly enlarging
delphia, 31st October, 1782. This church, which and extending. It now consists of three divisions,
approaches more nearly perhaps to the Presbyte- | the Synod of New York, the General Synod of the
rian churches in Scotland than any other church West, and the Synod of the South. These Synods
in the United States, has made rapid progress, there are quite independent of each other in their action,
being three Synods in connection with it, and two The entire body numbers about 293 ministers, 400
theological seminaries, the one at Newburgh, and congregations, and 33,639 members.
the other at Pittsburgh. In consequence of an emi-
The Associate Reformed Church has for some
nent minister of this body, the late Dr. John M. years past been negotiating a union with the Asso-
Mason of New York, having paid a visit to Scotland ciate Church. Meanwhile the ministers and congre-
in 1801, a close fraternal intercourse was opened up gations connected with the two bodies in the Oregon
between the American Church, and the Associate | territory, united in 1852 under the name of “The
(Burgher) Synod, and several articles of union and United Presbyterian Church in Oregon.” It has
correspondence were agreed to by both churches. long been felt to be most desirable that the Synod of
This interchange of friendly intercourse was main- | New York, and the General Synod of the West, in-
tained for a few years, but gradually became less stead of continuing as separate organizations, should
frequent, until it ceased altogether. All along, coalesce into one body. It has been agreed that the
however, the Antiburgher Synod had opposed them united church will adopt the name of “The United
to the uttermost. So early as 1784, an act was Presbyterian Church in North America."
passed by that Synod expressing disapprobation of ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERY OF IRELAND.
the union, disclaiming all connection with the new The introduction of the Secession church into Ire-
Synod, and declaring the brethren who had joined it, land was almost contemporaneous with its first ap-
to be in a state of apostasy from their reformation pearance in Scotland. The circumstances which led
testimony and their witnessing profession."
to the commencement of the cause in the sister isle
For the first twenty years after the Union, the were singularly providential. The father of the late
Associate Reformed Church grew very rapidly; and Rev. William Jameson of Kilwinning, lived at the
in 1803 the Synod was divided into four subordinate time when the Secession first took place, and
Synods—the Synods of New York, Pennsylvania, warmly espoused its interests. He was a sea-far-
Scioto, and the Carolinas. On Dr. Mason's return ing man; and in the course of his business, had occa-
from Britain, à theological seminary was instituted, of sion to touch at one of the sea-ports in the north of
which he was appointed the head. This prosperity, Ireland. From the well known sympathies of simi-
however, was not destined to continue. Differences lar minds, the religious sailor soon found himself in
arose among the members of the church on the sub- intercourse with some of the religious people in the
ject of communion and the Psalmody, which, after town. At that time, Arminianism seemed to be
agitating the church for several years, resulted in making as much progress among the Presbyterians in
its dismemberment. Dr. Mason published a treatise Ireland, as it was making in Scotland. He reported
entitled, · Plea for Catholic Communion,' which was to his friends in that country the determined stand
objected to by several of his brethren as too latitu- which had been made in the General Assembly in
dinarian, and subversive of the purity and order of Scotland, and the Secession which had, in conse-
the church. A controversy ensued, which was car- quence, taken place. The result of their intercourse
ried on with keenness, and the consequence was,
and of his communications, was an agreement on the
that in 1820 the entire Synod of Scioto withdrew part of the Irish immediately to apply to the Asso-
from the general Synod. The following year the ciate Presbytery to come over and help them. It
Synod of the Carolinas was permitted to erect itself was by this apparently fortuitous occurrence--from
into an independent Synod. In 1822 the General this small and precious seed borne by the winds, that
Synod resolved, by a bare majority, and in opposi- the Secession in Ireland has sprung up and branched
tion to the express will of a majority of its presby- out to its present magnitude. The first application
teries, to unite itself with the General Assembly of was made to the Associate Presbytery at their meeting
the Presbyterian Church of North America, carrying in November 1736. It came from 280 families in
with it the valuable library of the Theological Semi- Lisburn in Ireland. The petitioners complained
nary, which had been collected chiefly by Dr. Ma- that the presbytery within whose bounds they re-
In consequence of these defections, the Synod sided, had intruded upon them a minister contrary
New York became the supreme judicatory of the received into the communion of the Secession, and
Associate Reformed Church in the north,
that a properly qualified person should be sent to
son.
ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERY OF IRELAND.
233
break amongst them the bread of life. To this ap- exertions of the Synod, that in 1751 a presbytery was
plication the presbytery gave an encouraging answer, formed in connection with it, assuming the name of
but having no preachers at the time, it was impos- | the Associate Presbytery of Down, and consisting at
sible for them to accede to the request. In 1742, its first formation of three ministers with their elders.
however, in consequence of a similar application from The brethren of this presbytery conducted themselves
Templepatrick, and some of the adjacent places in with the utmost devotedness and zeal, and, accord-
the county of Antrim, Mr Gavin Beugo, a proba- ingly, in the privy censures instituted by the Asso-
tioner, who had been licensed by the Church of Scot- ciate Synod in 1762, the conduct of the presbytery of
land, but afterwards joined the Secession, was ap- Down met with unqualified approbation, the various
pointed on a mission to Ireland for several months ; questions proposed having been most satisfactorily
and three years later Messrs. John Swanston and answered. At the same time congregations con-
George Murray were sent to preach at Belfast and nected with the Antiburgher Synod were formed in
Markethill, and recommendation was given to the various places, and in 1750 a presbytery was formed
Glasgow Presbytery that they should undertake far- under the name of “The Associate Presbytery of
ther missions to the same district. On the 9th Ireland. From 1755 to 1763 only two additions
July. 1746, Mr. Isaac Patton, another probationer were made to the Associate ministers in Ireland; but
from Scotland, was ordained over the congregation at length 80 rapidly did the Secession make pro-
at Lylehill, Templepatrick. Deputations were fre- gress in Ireland, that in 1779, three presbyteries
quently sent over from the Associate Synod, and in having been already formed in connection with the
the course of their preaching tours in the North of Burgher Synod, a petition was presented to the
Ireland, some of them were imprudent enough to rail Supreme Court in Scotland, by the brethren in Ire-
against the Synod of Ulster, into which it cannot be land, craving that they might be erected into a Sy-
denied Pelagian sentiments had to some extent be- nod for the purposes of government and discipline.
gun to find their way. The indiscriminate censures This petition was favourably entertained by the Scot-
which the Scotch Seceders had thrown out, roused tish brethren, and certain terms were laid down on
the Synod in self-defence to publish “A Serious
• A Serious which fraternal intercourse should be maintained be-
Warning,' addressed to their people, which, while it tween the two Synods. These terms were cordially
condemned Pelagian doctrine as unsound and un- acquiesced in by the brethren in Ireland, and the
scriptural, complained of the conduct of the Seceders Irish Synod held its first meeting at Monaghan on
as disorderly and improper, hinting broadly at the the 20th October 1779. This new judicatory, which
same time that their preaching savoured of Antino-consisted only of twenty ministers, was not subject
mianism. The publication of this “Serious Warning' to the Scottish court of the same name, but was re-
produced a great sensation. The Seceders com- cognised by it as possessed of co-ordinate authority.
plained loudly that it treated them with injustice; In the spring of 1782, Mr. John Thomson, minister
but the weightiest charge which they brought at Kirkintilloch, was sent by the Synod in Scotland
against the document was, that in its very language to attend the meeting of the Irish Synod as a cor-
it was thoroughly heterodox, inasmuch as it spoke of responding member, and the report which he brought
" the necessity of sincere obedience to the moral law back concerning the reception that he met with,
to qualify us for communion with God here, and and the improved state of affairs among the Seceders
eternal life hereafter.” This statement, in a docu- in Ireland, was of a gratifying kind.
ment sanctioned by the Synod, showed all too About this time the proposal for a union between
plainly that sound doctrine was not sufficiently at- the two bodies--Burgher and Antiburgher—of the
tended to by the Irish Presbyterian ministers of the Secession began to be started in Ireland as well as
time. The controversy thus commenced between in Scotland. An overture to this effect was presented
the Seceders and the Synod of Ulster continued for to the Antiburgher Synod at their meeting in May
years. The former charged their opponents with 1784, from the presbytery of Moira and Lisburn in
heresy, ministerial unfaithfulness, and laxity of dis- Ireland, and this overture was accompanied by a
cipline, the latter declared the 'Act and Testimony' petition from the presbytery of Newtonlimavady,
to be absurd, disloyal and intolerant. Public discus- cordially concurring in the same object. The Irish
sions were held between the contending parties. brethren in these documents recommended the Synod
The utmost rancour and animosity were displayed on to adopt, as a preliminary ground of union, “ That
both parties declare their adherence to the whole of
When the Secession in Scotland was split into the Secession Testimony attained to, while they
two parties,—the Burgher and Antiburgher Synods, were united; that is, all that was attained to ante-
_there were three congregations in Ireland who cedent to the meeting of Synod in April 1747."
received regular supply of sermon ; these were Kil- The petition from the presbytery of Newtonlima-
lenney, Ballyroney, and Ballibay. The Burgher Sy- vady included in it a request that the Synod would
nod in 1748, appointed three of the brethren to sanction the presbyteries of Ireland erecting them-
labour in succession each for several weeks among selves into a court, as had been already done by the
the Irish congregations ; and so successful were the Burgher portion of the Secession Church in Ireland.
both sides.
234
ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERY OF IRELAND.
Both proposals, that for union and that for the estab- Regium Donum, he must take the oath of allegiance,
lishment of a Synod, were rejected by the Supreme and an attestation to that effect, signed by two
Court. These decisions, however, were not satisfac- magistrates, must be transmitted to the proper
tory to the Irish brethren; and accordingly, they quarter.
sent up a representation at next meeting, complain- When the provincial Synod of the Antiburghers
ing of what the Synod had done, and craving that in Ireland met at Belfast, on the 4th July 1809, in-
they would review their deed. This second applica- timation was made to them of the new arrangements,
tion was not more successful than the first. The and a discussion arose on the question, Whether the
Synod not only refused to grant their requests, but Bounty could be accepted on the terms proposed ?
expressed disapprobation of their conduct in not This was decided in the negative, chiefly on the ground
resting satisfied with the decisions which had for- that to require an oath of allegiance before a minis-
merly been given. They agreed, however, to express ter was entitled to receive the bounty, amounted to
their sympathy with the brethren in Ireland, and a purchasing of their loyalty, and to arrange the
appointed a committee to correspond with them. In ministers, as was proposed, under different classes,
May 1788, the Antiburgher section of the Secession was inconsistent with presbyterian parity, and was
in Scotland adopted a new ecclesiastical organiza- besides unjust, the smallest sums being paid to the
tion, erecting different Synods in subordination to poorest class, and the largest to the wealthiest class.
one general Synod. In carrying out these new The matter was brought by petition for advice before
arrangements, the four presbyteries in connection the General Associate Synod in Scotland in 1810;
with the body in Ireland were constituted into a and their decision was in favour of the acceptance of
Synod, the first meeting of which was held at Bel- the Regium Donum,—a result which was received
fast on the first Tuesday of the following August. with great dissatisfaction by several of the congre-
The two branches of the Secession in Ireland con- gations in Ireland. At the next meeting of the
tinued to prosecute the work of evangelization with General Synod in 1811, the same question came
unabated energy and success. The congregations again under review. Mr. Bryce, one of the Irish
of both parties gradually increased in number. At brethren, had protested against a decision of the
length a movement was commenced in 1805 to effect Irish Synod agreeing to act upon the advice of the
a union of the two bodies. An aggregate meeting General Synod given in the previous year; and he
was held for this purpose at Lurgan, and certain now brought his protest and appeal before the
propositions were agreed upon as the basis of union. Supreme Court. Several congregations in Ireland
News of this movement having reached Scotland, presented memorials to the Synod on the same occa.
the General Associate Synod took up the matter at sion, objecting to the acceptance by their ministers
their next meeting, and transmitted to their Irish of the Regium Donum. A number of the congre-
brethren their views upon the proposed union. The gations were divided on the point; the Belfast con-
two Irish Synods, however, were unable to come to gregation was nearly equally divided in sentiment,
an agreement as to the terms in which the basis of eighty-eight persons subscribing a memorial to the
union should be expressed, and accordingly the nego Synod, and eighty-six subscribing a protest against
tiation was in the meantime broken off. The Anti- its transmission. Complaints were also made against
burgher provincial Synod in Ireland having failed in Mr. Bryce for disturbing the harmony and peace of
effecting a union with their Burgher brethren, made the congregations by the injudicious steps he had
an application to the General Synod in Scotland to taken, and the internperate language he had used in
be allowed to transact their own business without supporting his views on the disputed question. At
being in immediate subordination to that Court. the same time a petition was presented from a num-
That proposal, however, the General Synod refused ber of persons who had been connected with a
to entertain.
Burgher congregation, stating that they had with-
In 1809 the Secession congregations in Ireland drawn from their former connection in consequence
were thrown into a state of excitement, in conse- of their ministers accepting of the Regium Donum
quence of some alterations made by government in on the terms proposed by government; and request-
the mode of distributing the Regium Donum or ing a supply of sermon from the Antiburgher Synod.
Royal Bounty. For a long period annual grants of All these memorials, petitions, and complaints were
money had been given from the exchequer for the referred by the Synod to a committee, who were ap-
support of Presbyterian ministers in the North of pointed to take the whole subject into consideration,
Ireland. It was now arranged by government, that and to report at å subsequent sederunt. The report
instead of granting a sum to each denomination to of the committee when given in, was carefully re-
be divided among its own ministers, a sum should be vised and unanimously adopted as the deliverance of
given directly from the exchequer to each minister the Synod on the subject. Being of some importance,
according to the number of families in each congre- we give the precise terms of the Synod's decision.
gation, and the stipend which they paid to their “That though the synod do not consider the accept-
minister. It was also laid down under the new ance of the Regium Donum, in all circumstances, as
rules, that before any minister could receive the unlawful, yet they cannot approve of receiving it on
ASSONNA-ASSUMPTION (FESTIVAL OF THE).
235
the term specified in the late grant. But as every selves unable to draw up such a document as was
thing which may be objectionable ought not forth- required; but they unanimously recommended that,
with to be made a term of communion; so the Synod as the Synod had agreed to take as a basis of union
judge that, in present circumstances, the acceptance the “Westminster Confession of Faith,' the 'Larger
or non-acceptance of the Donum ought not to be and Shorter Catechisms,' the ‘Directory for Worship
viewed in this light; and they cannot help express- and form of Presbyterian Church government,' with
ing their disapprobation of the conduct of those who the Original Secession Testimony, they should forth-
have on this account withdrawn from the dispensa- with unite, “ leaving the adaptation to be afterwards
tion of divine ordinances in their respective congre- digested, adopted, and exhibited to the world.” Ar-
gations, and enjoin such persons to return to their ticles of union, accordingly, were drawn up and
duty, and exercise forbearance with their ministers and agreed to on both sides, and the union was accom-
brethren in this matter; and in doing so, no session plished in Cookstown, on July 7, 1818, the united
shall exclude them from church privileges for past body taking the name of the PRESBYTERIAN SY-
irregularities in this affair. As, however, the accept- NOD OF SECEDERS IN IRELAND (which see).
ance of the Donum has proved a stumbling-block to ASSONNA, a work among the Mohammedans
many church members, the synod judge, in order to corresponding to the Jewish Talmud, containing all
remove it, that no presbytery in Ireland ought in the traditions which they are obliged to follow. They
future to grant a moderation, without being satisfied have also annotations on this volume of traditions,
that the sum offered by the congregation is adequate in which they implicitly acquiesce, and distinguish,
to the support of a gospel ministry, according to moreover, obligatory precepts from what are merely
their respective situations, independent of any such good counsels.
aid: And they recommend it to the several congre- ASSUMPTION (FESTIVAL OF THE), a festival
gations already settled, to take immediate steps for observed both by the Romish and Greek churches
the purpose of increasing the stipends of their min- on the 15th of August, in honour of the alleged mira-
isters, that they may, as soon as possible, have no culous ascent of the Virgin Mary into heaven. It
farther occasion for the assistance of government; was first instituted in the seventh century. The
and, when the respective presbyteries shall be satis- great veneration in which the Virgin had before that
fied with the support given, that they shall be bound time begun to be held led to the idea that her depar-
to relinquish all interest in the Regium Donum." ture from the world was likely accompanied with
In addition to this general deliverance on the question some remarkable miracle. The silence of the evan-
under discussion, the Synod decided that Mr. Bryce gelists on the subject of her death favoured this
should make an acknowledgment of the irregularity supposition. The legend, however, on which the
of his conduct, and express sorrow for it; and fur-. festival is founded was only exhibited in its complete
ther, that he should refrain from all such practices, form in the work of Gregory of Tours, De Gloria
and acquiesce in the decision now given respecting Martyrum. This author relates, that when Mary was
the Regium Donum. Mr. Bryce, however, being at the point of death, all the apostles assembled and
refractory, the Synod suspended him from the minis- watched with her. Then Christ appeared with his
try till their next meeting. Disregarding this eccle- angels, and committed her soul to the archangel
siastical censure, Mr. Bryce left the Secession, and Michael; but her body was carried away in a cloud.
became the founder of a small sect in the North of Hence the festival of the Assumption. The story
Ireland, which consists of six or seven ministers, of the miraculous ascent of Our Lady is now be-
united together under the name of “the Associate lieved universally in the Romish Church. The
Presbytery of Ireland.”
Greek Church calls this festival Dormitio Deiparæ,
The middle course adopted by the General Synod the sleeping of the Mother of God; and, in con-
in Scotland was successful in putting an end to the nection with it, they relate the following legend.
excitement which had arisen in the Irish congrega- Three days after the death of the Virgin, the
tions; and they continued to advance in usefulness apostles being assembled together, according to a
and prosperity. For a long time, as we have already custom established among them from the day of our
seen, a union between the two sections of the Seces- Lord's ascension, deposited a piece of bread on a
sion in Ireland had been felt to be very desirable, cushion, to distinguish both the dignity and seat of
and was by many on both sides anxiously longed their Master. While thus met, the room on a sud-
and prayed for. At length, however, the object den was filled with a remarkable light, and the
was accomplished. A joint-committee was appoint- blessed Virgin appeared to them surrounded with
ed in 1817 by the two Secession Synods in that rays of glory, and attended by a numerous host of
country, to make such additions to the original Se- angels. At her entrance, she thus addressed the
cession Testimony as might adapt it to the state of apostles : “God be with you; I will never leave
religion in Ireland, that so it might serve as a basis you nor forsake you.” The apostles, surprised and
of union, and the public testimony of the united transported, replied, “ O ever-blessed Virgin-Mother
body in favour of truth and against error. This of God, grant us thy aid." After that, the blessed
committee held several meetings, but found them- / Virgin vanished out of their sight. The apostles
236
ASSURITANS--ASSYRIANS (RELIGIÓN OF THE ANCIENT).
thereupon cried out, “The Queen is ascended into | tells us of Belus, Ninus, and Semiramis, as sover-
heaven, and there sits on the right hand of her Son." eigns of Nineveh and Babylon in the first period of
In commemoration of this event, the Greeks on this the greatness of the Assyrian empire. Then follows
festival deliver a loaf, three lighted wax tapers, a long list of thirty-six kings, of whose reigns no
some incense and fire, into the hands of the priest, events are recorded. We next reach Sardanapa-
who cuts off the crust of the loaf in the form of a lus, the revolt of the Medes, the tragic end of that
triangle, sets the three wax tapers upon the crust, effeminate emperor, and the fall of the Assyrian em-
and then thurifies and blesses the bread. After- pire. It is not unlikely that the Assytian and
wards he delivers the bread to the youngest per- Egyptian kingdoms arose nearly at the same time.
son present, who distributes it among the whole Both from the Bible and profane history, hostilities
congregation. On the festival of the Assumption, between the two countries must have been frequent ;
the Greek Church also observes the ceremony of and an Egyptian dynasty of kings must have at one
blessing the lands, by virtue of a small bough with time or another ruled over the Assyrian empire.
three leaves upon it, some gum, a little wax, and a This conclusion is amply confirmed by the recent
sprig of the strawberry herb blessed by the priest, researches of Dr. Layard, who has discovered
and planted afterwards in the middle of their grounds. among the ruins of Nineveh various remains evi-
See MARY (VIRGIN).
dently Egyptian in their character. It was not, how..
ASSURITANS, a Christian sect which sprung ever, till the reign of the Pul of Scripture, that the
up in the middle of the fourth century in the reign Assyrian Empire became entirely independent and
of Constantius and pontificate of Liberius. It regained a proud position among the Asiatic king-
seems to have been an off-shoot of the Donatist doms. Sir Isaac Newton, indeed, alleges that Pul
party in Africa. They are said to have held that may be considered as the first conqueror and founder
the Son was inferior to the Father, and the Holy of the empire. From this time for about 150 years,
Ghost to the Son, thus maintaining an essential sub- a succession of powerful Assyrian kings ruled the
ordination among the persons of the Holy Trinity. destinies of Asia, when, at length, by the invasion of
See DONATISTS.
the united forces of the Medes and Babylonians,
ASSYRIANS (RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT).
THE ANCIENT). Nineveh was taken B. C. 606, and utterly destroyed.
This is one of the most ancient kingdoms or empires The discoveries of Dr. Layard have brought to light
in the world. Its original boundaries are probably remains which evidently point to two successive
those assigned by Ptolemy, who represents it as periods of alternate power and desolation, the one
bounded on the north by part of Armenia, from belonging to a remote antiquity, and the other to a
Mount Niphates to Lake Van, on the west by the much later age. The following are the conclusions
Tigris, on the south by Susiana, and on the east by which he draws from his whole researches :
part of Media and the mountains Choatras and Za- “ 1st, That there are buildings in Assyria which so
gros. It corresponded in the opinion of Rosenmül- far differ in their sculptures, in their mythological
ler, with modern Kurdistan, or, perhaps, more cor- and sacred symbols, and in the character and lan-
rectly, the pachalic of Mosul. Considerable differ- guage of their inscriptions, as to lead to the inference
ence of opinion exists as to the founder of this great that there were at least two distinct periods of As-
empire, the words of Gen. x. 11, where the origin of syrian history. We may moreover conclude, that
the Assyrian empire is referred to, admitting of two either the people inhabiting the country at those dis-
translations. Many Hebrew scholars adhere to the tinct periods were of different races, or of different
rendering adopted by the authorized version, “ Out branches of the same race; or that, by intermixture
of that land went forth Asshur and builded Nineveh,” with foreigners, perhaps Egyptians, great changes
which was the capital city of ancient Assyria. Others, had taken place in their language, religion, and cus-
however, including names of great weight, prefer the toms, between the building of the first palace of
rendering adopted on the margin, “ Out of that land | Nimroud and that of the edifices at Khorsabad and
he (Nimrod) went forth unto Asshur or Assyria.” Kouyunjik.
According to this latter reading, the mighty hunter “2d, That the names of the kings on the monu-
is supposed to have laid the foundations of two great ments show a lapse of even some centuries between
empires, the Assyrian and the Babylonian. It is of the foundation of the most ancient and the most re-
little consequence whether the origin of the As- 1 cent of these edifices.
syrian empire be ascribed to Asshur or Nimrod; but “ 3d, That from the symbols introduced into the
it is plain at all events, that the former must have sculptures of the second Assyrian period, and from
given name to the country.
the Egyptian character of the small objects found in
The chronology of the empire seems to have given the earth, above the ruins of the buildings of the
rise to as conflicting opinions among the learned as oldest period, there was a close connection with
its origin ; some attributing its commencement to an Egypt, either by conquest or friendly intercourse,
earlier, and some to a later date. According to the between the times of the erection of the earliest and
Hebrew chronology, the event, so briefly noticed in latest palaces; and that the monuments of Egypt,
Gen. x. 11, took place B. c. 2128. Ancient history the names of kings in certain Egyptian dynasties,
ASSYRIANS (RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT).
237
course,
the ivories from Nimroud, the introduction of several exceeded twelve feet in height, and in the earliest
Assyrian divinities into the Egyptian pantheon, and dalace of Nimroud were generally little more than
other evidence, point to the fourteenth century as nine; whilst the human-headed lions and bulls form-
the probable time of the commencement, and the ing the doorways, vary from ten to sixteen. Even
ninth as the period of the termination of that inter- these colossal figures did not complete the height of
the room, the wall being carried some feet above
66 4th, That the earlier palaces of Nimroud were them. This upper wall was built either of baked
already in ruins, and buried before the foundation of bricks richly coloured, or of sun-dried bricks covered
the later; and that it is probable they may have by a thin coat of plaster, on which were painted
been thus destroyed about the time of the fourteenth various ornaments. It could generally be distin-
Egyptian dynasty.
guished in the ruins. The plaster which had fallen
“5th, That the existence of two distinct dynasties was frequently preserved in the rubbish, and, when
in Assyria, and the foundation about two thousand first found, the colours upon it had lost little of their
years before Christ, of an Assyrian monarchy, may original freshness and brilliancy. It is to these
be inferred from the testimony of the most ancient upper walls that the complete covering up of the
authors, and is in accordance with the evidence of building, and the consequent preservation of the
Scripture, and of Egyptian monuments."
sculptures, may be attributed; for when once the
The excavations already made throw considerable edifice was deserted they fell in, and the unbaked
light upon the ancient religion of Assyria. A great bricks, again becoming earth, encased the whole ruin.
number of sculptured figures have been discovered, The roof was probably formed by beams, supported
which establish animal-worship, either in its gross or entirely by the walls; smaller beams, planks, or
merely symbolic character, to have prevailed in that branches of trees were laid across them, and the
country. As an illustration of this point, we select whole was plastered on the outside with mud. Such
from the valuable work of Layard, entitled · Nineveh are the roofs in modern Arab cities of Assyria. The
and its Remains,' the following graphic account of great narrowness of all the rooms, when compared
an Assyrian palace, which seems to have been at with their length, appears to prove that the As-
once the abode of royalty and the temple of re- syrians had no means of constructing a roof requir-
ligion:
ing other support than that afforded by the side walls.
“It was at first necessary to form an eminence, that The most elaborately ornamented hall at Nimroud,
the building might rise above the plain, and be seen although above one hundred and sixty feet in length,
from afar. This eminence was not hastily made by was only thirty-five feet broad. The same disparity
heaping up earth, but regularly and systematically is apparent in the edifice at Kouyunjik. The pave-
built with sun-dried bricks. Thus a platform, thirty ment of the chambers was formed either of alabaster
or forty feet high, was formed, and upon it they slabs covered with inscriptions recording the name
erected the royal or sacred edifice.
and genealogy of the king, and probably the chief
“The walls of the chambers, from five to fifteen events of his reign; or of kiln-burnt bricks, each
feet thick, were first constructed of sun-dried bricks. also bearing a short inscription.
The alabaster slabs were used as panels. They « The interior of the Assyrian palace must have
were placed upright against the walls, care being first been as magnificent as imposing. I have led the
taken to cut on the back of each an inscription, re- reader through its ruins, and he may judge of the
cording the name, title, and descent of the king un- impression its halls were calculated to make upon
dertaking the work. They were kept in their places the stranger who, in the days of old, entered for the
and held together by iron, copper, or wooden cramps first time the abode of the Assyrian kings. He was
or plugs. The cramps were in the form of double ushered in through the portal guarded by the colos-
dove-tails, and fitted into corresponding grooves in sal lions or bulls of white alabaster. In the first
two adjoining slabs. The corners of the chambers hall he found himself surrounded by the sculptured
were generally formed by one angular stone, and all records of the empire. Battles, sieges, triumphs,
the walls were either at right angles or parallel to the exploits of the chase, the ceremonies of religion,
each other. The slabs having been fixed against were portrayed on the walls, sculptured in alabaster,
the walls, the subjects to be represented upon them and painted in gorgeous colours. Under each pic-
were designed and sculptured, and the inscriptions ture were engraved, in characters filled up with
carved.
bright copper, inscriptions describing the scenes re-
“The principal entrances to the chambers were, it presented. Above the sculptures were painted other
has been seen, formed by gigantic winged bulls, and events—the king, attended by his eunuchs and war-
lions with human heads. The smaller doorways riors, receiving his prisoners, entering into alliances
were guarded by colossal figures of divinities or with other monarchs, or performing some sacred
priests. No remains of doors or gates were disco- duty. These representations were inclosed in col-
vered, nor of hinges; but it is probable that the en- oured borders, of elaborate and elegant design. The
trances were provided with them. The slabs used emblematic tree, winged bulls, and monstrous ani-
as a j anelling to the walls of unbaked brick, rarely mals, were conspicuous among the omaments.
At
238
ASSYRIANS (RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT).
ours,
the upper end of the hall was the colossal figure of of the Egyptians was no doubt introduced at a much
the king in adoration before the supreme deity, or later period, when that people took possession of
receiving from his eunuch the holy cup. He was the Assyrian kingdom. Accordingly, we find Euse-
tended by warriors bearing his arms, and by the bius, in the fourth century, thus describing the pro-
priests, or presiding divinities. His robes, and those gress of idolatry among the Assyrians from Tsa-
of his followers, were adorned with groups of figures, baism and fire-worship to the adoption of the gods
animals, and flowers, all painted with brilliant col- of the Egyptians. “Ur, which signifies fire, was
the idol they worshipped, and as fire will, in general,
“ The stranger trod upon alabaster slabs, each consume every thing thrown into it, so the Assy-
bearing an inscription recording the titles, genea- rians published abroad, that the gods of other na-
logy, and achievements of the great king. Several tions could not stand before theirs. Many experi-
doorways, formed by gigantic winged lions or bulls, ments were tried, and vast numbers of idols were
or by the figures of guardian deities, led into other brought from foreign parts; but they being of wocd,
apartments, which again opened into more distant the all-devouring god Ur or fire, consumed them.
halls. In each were new sculptures. On the walls At last, an Egyptian priest found out the art to
of some were processions of colossal figures-armed destroy the reputation of this mighty idol, which
men and eunuchs following the king, warriors · laden had so long been the terror of distant nations. He
with spoil, leading prisoners or bearing presents and caused the figure of an idol to be made of porous
offerings to the gods. On the walls of others were earth, and the belly of it was filled with water. On
portrayed the winged priests or presiding divinities, each side of the belly holes were made, but filled up
standing before the sacred trees. The ceilings above with wax. This being done, he challenged the god
him were divided into square compartments, painted Ur to oppose his god Canopus, which was accepted
with flowers or with the figures of animals. Some of by the Chaldean priests ; but no sooner did the
were inlaid with ivory, each compartiment being sur- wax, which stopped up the holes in the belly of
rounded by elegant borders and mouldings. The Canopus, begin to melt, than the water burst out and
beams, as well as the sides of the chambers, may drowned the fire.”
have been gilded, or even plated with gold and sil- At one period we find the Assyrians worshipping
ver; and the rarest woods, in which the cedar was ADRAMMELECH and ANAMMELECH (which see) and
conspicuous, were used for the wood-work. Square cruelly causing their children to pass through the
openings in the ceilings of the chambers admitted fire in honour of these deities. These idols are spo-
the light of day. (There were no indications of ken of as belonging to the inhabitants of Sepharvaim
windows found.) A pleasing shadow was thrown at the time when a colony of Assyrians were sent to
over the sculptured walls, and gave a majestic ex- replace those inhabitants of Palestine who had been
pression to the human features of the colossal forms carried captive into Assyria. At a later period in
which guarded the entrances. Through these aper- the history of Assyria, before it was combined with
tures was seen the bright blue of an eastern sky, the Babylonian empire, Nisroch or Ashur, who was
enclosed in a frame on which were painted, in vivid most probably their principal deity, is mentioned
colours, the winged circle, in the midst of elegant as an idol which was worshipped at Nineveh, and
ornaments and the graceful forms of ideal animals. it was in the temple of this idol, perhaps a part
“ These edifices, as it has been shown, were great of the royal palace, that Sennacherib was
national monuments, upon the walls of which were dered by his two sons. Now this deity is said to
represented in sculpture, or inscribed in alphabetic have been represented in the form of an eagle ; and
characters, the chronicles of the empire. He who it is not improbable that this may serve to explain
entered them might thus read the history and learn that part of the description which Dr. Layard gives
the glory and triumphs of the nation. They served, of the principal edifice at Nimroud, where he speaks
at the same time, to bring continually to the remem- of entering “a large chamber surrounded by eagle-
brance of those who assembled within them on fes- headed figures.” The composite form which the
tive occasions, or for the celebration of religious cer- excavated figures are often found to assume, such as
emonies, the deeds of their ancestors, and the power “colossal lions winged and human-headed,” “gigan-
and majesty of their gods."
tic winged figures, some with the heads of eagles,
The worship of the bull, which must from this others entirely human, and carrying mysterious
description have occupied a conspicuous place in the symbols in their hands," points to a period at which
religion of the ancient Assyrians, is obviously of the idolatry was strictly symbolical, each part of the
Egyptian origin, corresponding to the worship of idol being intended to indicate a special quality or
APIS (which see) aud MNEVIS. The sacred bull of attribute of the deity.
attribute of the deity. From its very nature this
the Egyptians has been generally regarded as repre- species of idolatry implies a more advanced period
senting the sun, whose worship was probably the in the history of a nation. In its primitive aspect
original form of Pagan idolatry. The sun, moon, | idolatry is simple, and it is only when men begin to
and other heavenly bodies were probably the first reason more minutely upon the qualities of those
objects of worship in Assyria ; and the bull-worship beings whom they worship that it becomes complex
mul-
ASTERISK-ASTROLOGERS.
239
in its character. Would the idolater give an out- The asterisk is also a veil, on which a star is either
ward sensuous view of the omniscient, all-piercing painted or embroidered. This veil, or this star, sig-
eye of Deity, what more significant emblem could be nifies that the bread which it covers is truly de-
selected than an eagle? Would he represent the scended from heaven. The asterisk, according to
omnipresent ubiquity of his nature, what fitter em- Tournefort and some other authors, is a silver or
blem than to give wings to his idol? Would he pewter cross which the officiating priest puts upon
exhibit power, he selects the lion; or all-producing the patin in which the pieces of bread lie ready for
utility, the ox or bull. A combination of these em- consecration. This cross prevents the veil from
blematic figures may, when dug out of the earth pressing upon the bread. See GREEK CHURCH.
after ages have passed away, appear to the excava- A STRÆA, daughter of Zeus and Themis. She
tors strange anomalous figures, and yet to those who was the goddess of justice, who descended from
worshipped them they exhibited a clear mythical heaven to earth in the golden age, and blessed men
representation of attributes belonging to the Divine by her residence among them; but as soon as that
Being.
age had expired, she abandoned the earth, and was
Sir Henry Rawlinson names twenty other gods, placed among the stars.
whom he identifies with some of the classic deities. ASTRÆUS, a Titan in the ancient Pagan my-
Dr. Layard gives a table of twelve, but observes, thology, who became the father, by Eos, of the
some of them may possibly be identified with the winds, and all the stars of heaven.
divinities of the Greek pantheon, although it is ASTRAGALOMANCY, a species of divination
scarcely wise to hazard conjectures which must ere anciently practised in a temple of Hercules in Achaia.
long be again abandoned.” Besides these, there | It consisted in throwing small pieces with marks
were multitudes of inferior gods, amounting, accord-corresponding to the letters of the alphabet, the ac-
ing to one inscription, to four thousand. In one of cidental arrangement of which formed the answer
the cuneiform inscriptions belonging to the tenth required. See DIVINATION.
century B. C., we find the monarch, whose name ASTRATEIA, a surname of Artemis, by which
Dr. Hincks renders Assaraebaal, and Sir Henry she was worshipped in Laconia.
Rawlinson, Sardanapalus, mentioning incidentally ASTROLOGERS (Gr. astron, a star, logos, a dis-
one of the presiding deities of the Assyrians : “I course), a class of men who profess to foretell future
went to the forests and cut them down, and made events from an examination of the state of the hea-
beams of the wood for Ishtar, mistress of the city of vens and the courses of the stars. This species of
Nineveh, my protectress.” It is difficult even to con- divination appears to have been practised at a very
jecture who this goddess is.
early period in the history of the world. The Chal-
Another peculiarity in the mythology of the an-
deans are said to have been the first who made use
cient Assyrians has been corroborated by the recent
of this art. Thus Cicero says,
- The Chaldeans in-
researches of Layard. An immense egg, they were habiting vast plains, whence they had a full view of
wont to say, had dropped from heaven into the river the heavens on every side, were the first to observe
Euphrates; and on this egg some doves had settled the course of the stars, and the first who taught man-
after it had been rolled by the fishes to the bank. kind the effects which were thought to be owing to
Venus, afterwards called Dea Syria, was produced them. Of their observations they made a science
from this egg. This deity was the Atargatis of whereby they pretended to be able to foretell to
Ascalon, described by Diodorus Siculus as being in every one what was to befall him, and what fate was
the upper part of her body a woman, and in the ordained him from his birth.” So famed did the
lower a fish. It is somewhat remarkable that Lay- Chaldeans become for their pretended skill in astro-
ard, in his recent excavations, has actually discovered logy, that among the Babylonians the words “Chal-
an ancient goddess exactly answering to this descrip- dean" and "
dean” and “astrologer” were regarded as synony-
tion. Colonel Rawlinson, on ethnological grounds, mous, and this learned caste was looked upon with
has come to the conclusion, that the ancient Assy great veneration. The ancient astrologers reckoned
rians under Nimrod were of the Scythic, and not of the sun, moon, and planets as the interpreters of
the Semitic family. The peculiar aspect of their the will of the gods. From their rising, setting,
religion seems to favour this idea. And in all pro- colour, and general aspect, predictions were made as
bability, as the researches into the remains go for- to the coming appearances of nature in the
way
of
ward, this character of their mythology will be tempests, hurricanes
, earthquakes, &c. The planets
brought out more clearly and established on a firmer were viewed as affecting the destinies of men, so
basis.
that from their nature and position information might
ASTARTE. See ASHTAROTH.
be obtained as to the events which should befall a
ASTERISK, the silver star with which, in the man throughout his whole life. Some authors con-
Greek Church, the priest covers the consecrated sider the Egyptians rather than the Chaldeans to
bread, pronouncing at the same time, “The star have given origin to the science or art of astrology,
rested over the place where the child was laid." This It is plain at all events that they practised the art
action is accompanied with some other prayers. from very early times. Herodotus
says,
that
among
240
ASUMAN
the Egyptians every day was under the influence of Church, all connection with such heathenish prac-
some star, and that according to the day on which, tices. Among the primitive Christians a belief or
and the star under which, a man was born, so would practice of astrology was viewed as utterly incon-
be his future life. In Greece astrology was held in sistent with the Christian profession, and as calling
estimation not only by private individuals, but even for the prompt infliction of the highest censures of
by public magistrates. Plutarch informs us that the church. The Apostolical Constitutions, as
the Spartan ephori made regular observation of they are termed, enjoin astrologers to be refused
the heavens every ninth year during the night. baptism unless they promise to renounce their
So firmly were the deductions of astrologers believed profession. The first council of Toledo condem: s
at Athens, that an assembly of the people would be the Priscillianists with anathema for the practice
broken up by a storm of thunder and lightning, or of this art. Sozomen mentions the case of Euse-
the occurrence of any other phenomena in the hea- bius, bishop of Emessa, as having been accused
vens which were accounted unlucky. Even in pri- of following the apotelesmatical art, which was
vate life such natural events were regarded as inti- identical with astrology, and as having been forced
mations of the will of the gods. The same respect to flee from his bishopric on account of it. It
was paid among the Romans to the appearances of was this crime that banished Aquila from the
the heavens, and even the movements of their armies Church. For Epiphanius says, “He was once a
were often regulated by these natural phenomena. Christian ; but being incorrigibly bent upon the
Heathen nations, indeed, both in ancient and in practice of astrology, the Church cast him out; and
modern times, have always held it in high esteem. then he became a Jew, and in revenge set upon a
Lucian devotes an entire treatise to its explanation translation of the Bible to corrupt those texts which
and defence. He attributes the merit of its inven-
had any relation to the coming of Christ.” St.
tion to the Ethiopians, from whom the Egyptians | Austin gives a remarkable case of an astrologer,
received it, and he declares, that of all the nations who, being excommunicated, afterwards became a
that have existed, he never heard of any but the penitent, and on his confession and repentance, was
Arcadians who condemned and rejected it. This received into the Church again, and admitted to lay
author explains the principles on which the predic- communion, but for ever denied all promotion among
tions of astrology proceeded. Thus he informs us, the clergy. Thus it plainly appears, that, in the
that the heavens were divided into several compart- Christian Church from early times, astrologers were
ments, over each of which a particular planet pre- looked upon as engaged in a pagan and idolatrous
sided; that some planets were good, and some evil, practice, and, accordingly, subjected to the severest
while others had no special character of their own, ecclesiastical censure.
but depended for their nature on those planets with The astrological art was regularly taught in the
which they were in conjunction. Such being the schools of the Saracens in Spain and Africa during
arrangements of the heavenly bodies, Lucian adds, the middle ages. Its professors were highly valued,
being himself a firm believer in astrology, “ What being regarded as the philosophers and sages of
soever planet is lord of the house at the time of their day. In the fourteenth century, as Mosheim
any man's nativity, produces in him a complexion, informs us, “ this fallacious science was prosecuted
shape, actions, and dispositions of mind exactly an- even to madness by all orders from the highest to
swerable to its own."
the lowest.” The greatest caution, however, re-
While, however, there were not a few among the quired to be observed by the astrologers of that
ancient Romans who, like Lucian, were prepared to period to avoid impeachment for magic, and to
avow, and even to defend their belief in astrology, escape the hands of the inquisitors. Cases ac-
we find that, under the emperors, laws were fre- tually occurred of individuals being committed to
quently made discountenancing this superstitious the flames by the inquisitors, for no other crime
practice. Tacitus tells us, that, in the reign of Ti- than the practice of astrology or divination by the
berius, there were decrees of the senate made for stars. Nor has this superstition been unknown in
expelling astrologers out of Italy, and he says at the modern nations. We are informed by the French
same time, that they were a prohibited class of men, historians, that, in the time of Catharine of Medicis,
yet, from the tendency of the people to consult astrology was held in such repute that the stars were
them, they were always retained. Suetonius, also, consulted in all matters, even the most insignificant.
mentions that they were twice banished, first in the Even yet in all uncivilized countries such supersti-
reign of Tiberius, and then in that of Vitellius. The tions prevail and are practised by designing persons,
truth is, they were condemned by Roman law, but who thereby delude the ignorant and credulous by
sanctioned and encouraged by Roman practice. pretending to reveal to them their future history.
The introduction of Christianity brought astrology ASUMAN, the name of an angel or genius, who,
into complete discredit, and to such an extent was according to the ancient Magi of Persia, presided
this the case, that no sooner did a soothsayer or over the twenty-seventh day of every solar month
astrologer embrace the religion of Jesus than he | in the Persian year, which is therefore, called by the
hastened to disavow publicly, and in the face of the name of this genius. The Magi believe Asuman to
ASURS—ASYLUM.
241
be the angel of death, which separates the souls of cities of refuge, the temple, and especially the altar
men from their bodies. The Persians likewise give of burnt-offering, possessed the privilege of an
the name of Asuman to heaven.
asylum.
ASURS, an order of beings in the system of the Christian churches became sanctuaries or places of
Budhist religion, who have been compared to the asylum in the time of Constantine, in the beginning
Titans and giants of the Greeks, as in stature they of the fourth century, though no law seems to have
are immensely greater than any other order of been issued on the subject before the days of Theo-
beings.
dosius, who passed a law A. D. 392, regulating some
ASWATHA, the mundane tree of the Hindus, points relating to it. This right of asylum was for-
according to whose mythology the universe is por- mally confirmed by Theodosius II. A. D. 431. The
trayed under the form of a tree, the position of which privilege was limited at first to the altar and internal
is reversed, the branches extending downwards, and part of the church, but afterwards it was extended to
the root upwards. Its branches are called the limbs the nave, then to the outer buildings or precincts of
or organs—the constituent parts of the visible or sen- the church, particularly to the baptisteries; and even
sual world; and its leaves denote the Vedas, which in after ages, as corruption advanced, the graves and
again are the symbols of the universe in its intellectual sepulchres of the dead were resorted to for protec-
character. This tree corresponds to the YGGDRA- tion, not to speak of the statues of the emperors,
SILL (which see), or sacred ash-tree of the ancient crosses, schools, and monasteries. The original in-
Scandinavians, or the GOGARD (which see), or tree tention of the institution of the right of asylum was
of life of the ancient Persians, both of which were not to defeat the ends of justice, but to afford a re-
myths of a very recondite character.
fuge for the innocent, the injured and oppressed; or
ASYLUM (Gr. a, not, and sulao, to draw). In the in doubtful cases, to grant protection until an equi-
states of Greece in ancient times, slaves, debtors, and table hearing could be obtained, for which purpose
criminals enjoyed the privilege of fleeing for refuge the privilege of the asylum extended to thirty days,
to the temples, altars, sacred groves, and statues of but no longer, during which time, if poor, support
the gods. All sacred places, however, were not re- was given from the revenues of the church. The
cognised by the law as affording an asylum and pro- right of protection, however, was not granted to all
tection; some temples or altars only being legally indiscriminately. Several cases were excepted by
privileged in this respect. The temple of Theseus law, as being, on account of the aggravation of their
in Athens was the most noted for possessing the jus guilt, excluded from the asylum of the church. To
asyli, or right of affording protection, and was spe- this class belonged public debtors who had embez-
cially intended for slaves who considered themselves zled the funds of the state; Jews who had pretended
injured by their masters. Several other places in to embrace Christianity with no other view than to
Athens, as for instance, the altar of Zeus agoraios, and avoid paying their lawful debts, or to escape the
the altars of the twelve gods, were also resorted to in punishment due to their crimes; all heretics and
quest of an asylum. Such privileged places were apostates; slaves-who had fled from their masters,
also to be found in different parts of Greece. All and finally robbers, murderers, conspirators, and
sacred places, indeed, whether legally recognised or those guilty of crimes of the deepest dye. These
not, were considered as affording protection to a cer- varied cases of exemption from the jus asyli are found
tain extent, but if not acknowledged by law, the in- in the Theodosian Code. Certain conditions also
dividual who had taken refuge there might be com- were laid down, on the fulfilment of which alone the
pelled to leave the place of refuge by the use of any protection of the church could be enjoyed. These
means except personal violence. In such cases fire were, 1. That they should take refuge in the church
was sometimes used. In course of time the privi- quite unarmed. 2. Without noise or clamour of any
lege of slaves and criminals in the use of sacred kind. 3. That they should not eat or lodge in the
places as asylums began to be much abused, and it church, but in some building outside.
was found necessary in the reign of Tiberius to re- In modern times, particularly in Roman Catholic
strict the privilege to a few cities. Livy speaks of countries, the privilege of sanctuary or asylum in the
the right of asylum as only recognised among the churches has been often perverted in the most dis-
Greeks, and it is no doubt true, that for a long period, graceful manner to shelter criminals of all kinds, and
both during the republic and in the time of the em. thus weaken the hands of the civil magistrate. The
perors, the jus asyli is not mentioned in Roman law. Canon law of Gratian, and the decretals of the Popes,
Even after it was introduced among the Romans, it grant protection to all criminals except housebreakers,
was almost entirely confined to slaves.
highwaymen, and those who commit enormous crimes
The privilege of asylum was known among the in the church itself when seeking an asylum in it.
ancient Hebrews, for whom six cities of refuge were Pope Boniface V. passed a decree sanctioning the use
by Divine comặand set apart, three on each side of of churches as places of asylum, and ordaining that no
the Jordan. The design of this appointment was to person who had taken refuge in a church should be
afford protection to those who accidentally or unin- delivered up. Since the sixteenth century the right
tentionally had slain a man. In addition to these of asylum has been gradually abolished. In some
Q
+
242
ASYNIER-ATHANASIUS.
1
Roman Catholic countries it still exists. Among the in punishment for having involved him in a rash oath
recent ecclesiastical reforms which the King of at the birth of Heracles.
Sardinia has introduced into Piedmont, has been ATERGATIS, an ancient Syrian goddess, wor-
the extirpation of this much abused privilege of shipped at Ascalon, and supposed to be the same as
asylum.
Venus or the Dea Syria. The upper part of her
ASYNIER, the goddesses in Scandinavian mytho- | image represented a woman, the lower part a fish.
logy, who were twelve in number.
Vossius derives the name of this goddess from the
ATA-ENTSIK, a goddess among the Iroquois Hebrew words addir, great, and dag, a fish. Macro-
Indians. She was the Moon, and regarded as the bius regards her as a symbol of the earth, which is
cause of evil.
productive and fruitful, like the female and the fish.
ATAHACON, the name of the Supreme Being A temple to the worship of Atergatis, probably at
among the aboriginal inhabitants of Canada. Others | Ashtaroth-Karnaim, is referred to in 2 Mac. xii. 26.
call him Michabon, but the most general designation Lucian, followed by Diodorus Siculus, considers this
is the Great Hare.
female deity as identical with Derceto, who was
ATALANTE. It is usually considered that in an- worshipped at Ascalon in Phoenicia under the same
cient mythology there are two personages bearing compound representation of a woman and a fish.
this name, one belonging to Arcadia, and the other is evident also on similar grounds, that there must
to Boeotia. Various writers, however, regard them have been some relation between Atergatis and the
as identical. This fabulous female is said to have Dagon of the Old Testament, which was a deity of
been suckled in the wilderness, and when she had the Philistines, of whose country Ascalon was one
arrived at mature age, she slew the centaurs by whom of the five lordships. Pliny says that Atergatis was
she was pursued. Her beauty attracted many suitors, worshipped in the town called Bombyce or Hiera-
but she refused to give her hand to any except the polis, and this statement is confirmed by Strabo,
one who should excel her in the foot-race. Meila- from whom possibly his information was derived.
nion, one of the competitors for the fair prize, won
on ATHANASIUS, the distinguished leader of the
her by a stratagem. He dropped on the race-course orthodox party in the Arian controversy which
three golden apples, which he had received from agitated the Christian church in the fourth century.
Aphrodite, and these so attracted Atalanta, that she He was a native of Alexandria, but it is doubtful in
stopped to pick them up, and admire them; thus she what year he was born, though it is supposed to have
lost the race, and was compelled to marry the suc- been towards the end of the third century, probably
cessful lover, who along with herself, as the ancient about A. D. 296. At at early period of life he gave
fable goes, were metamorphosed into lions, and yoked evidence of high talent, and Alexander, primate of
to the chariot of Cybele. This seems a myth of Eve. Egypt, in whose family he was brought up, directed
ATA-SIL, a name given to the first eight of the his education towards the Christian ministry. Much
ten obligations or sila precepts, which are binding of his time was spent in the study of the Sacred
upon priests in the Budhist religion. The ten obli- | volume, with which he acquired an intimate and
gations forbid 1. The taking of life. 2. The taking minute acquaintance beyond his cotemporaries gen-
of that which is not given. 3. Sexual intercourse. erally. His extensive theological knowledge, as
4. The saying of that which is not true. 5. The well as his fervent piety and zeal, recommended him
use of intoxicating drinks. 6. The eating of solid early to the notice of the Christians of his native
food after mid-day. 7. Attendance upon dancing, city, and the high estimation in which he was held,
singing, music, and masks. 8. The adorning of the appears from the fact that while yet a young man
body with flowers, and the use of perfumes and un- he was chosen a deacon of the church, and was com-
guents. 9. The use of seats or couches above the missioned to attend the famous council of Nice, A. D.
prescribed height. 10. The receiving of gold or 325, where he distinguished himself by the ability
silver. The ata-sil or first eight are repeated on and acuteness with which he confuted the Arians,
póya days or festivals. When taken by a laic, they and defended the orthodox doctrine of the identity of
involve the necessity of living apart from his family. essence in the Father and the Son. He may justly
These obligations are usually taken in presence of be considered indeed as the champion of the Anti-
a priest, but they are sometimes received without
Arian party, not only in the Nicene council, but
the intervention of any priest. The Budhists con- throughout nearly half a century, contributing mainly
sider that there is greater benefit from keeping the by his efforts to establish the triumph of the Homo-
ata-sil during a short period, than there would be ousion doctrine in the Eastern church. The subject
from the possession of the whole systems of worlds in debate was, in his view, not a miere point of ab-
filled with treasures. See BUDHISTS.
stract speculation, but an essentially vital dogma of
ATE, the goddess of mischief among the ancient the Christian faith. He contended for it therefore
Greeks, who urged men to the pursuit of a course of with the utmost earnestness and unwearied perse-
wayward, inconsiderate, and improper conduct. If verance.
we may credit Homer, she was the daughter of The fame of Athanasius as an able and orthodox
Zeus, who banished her from the abodes of the gods divine was now established, and Alexander having
ATHANASIUS.
243
ner.
died A. D. 326, the see of Alexandria was immedi- | gard to the rest, a commission was appointed to
ately conferred upon the successful opponent of proceed to Egypt and investigate matters on the
Arius at the council of Nice. His promotion was spot. From the partial manner in which the mem-
sanctioned by the unanimous and cordial approval of bers of this commission were selected, Athanasius
the Christian people; and the responsible duties of saw clearly that justice was not to be expected at the
his high office he discharged in an exemplary man- hands of a body so constituted, and therefore, he ap-
In the course of a few years, however, trials of pealed directly to the Emperor himself, and set out
no ordinary kind began to surround his path. for Constantinople. Constantine at first refused to
Shortly after the condemnation of the doctrines of give him a hearing, but at length he was prevailed
Arius by the council of Nice, the arch-heretic him-- upon to review the proceedings of the synod at Tyre.
self was banished by Constantine, but having made The enemies of Athanasius followed him to the im-
professions of submitting to the Catholic faith, he perial residence, and so wrought upon the mind of
was recalled by the Emperor. Athanasius was now the Emperor, that he banished the maligned arch-
urged and entreated by the friends of Arius to receive bishop to Gaul.
him again into the communion of the church, but all Thus was the orthodox prelate driven into exile,
applications of this kind were unavailing. The not, in all probability, from a conviction of his guilt,
Emperor at length issued a command to Athanasius, for Constantine declined to fill up the vacant see,
not only to receive Arius, but all his friends also who but to restore quiet to the disturbed church in
wished to resume their connection with the church. Egypt. Shortly after, Arius, the originator of the
The imperial mandate was accompanied with threats great heresy which bears his name, suddenly died,
of instant deposition and banishment in case of dis- and in the year 336 the Emperor Constantine also
obedience. The archbishop respectfully, but firmly died, and his son and successor Constantine II. be-
declined to admit into the church the teachers of ing thoroughly anti-Arian, signalized the commence-
false doctrines; at the same time explaining in a ment of his reign by recalling Athanasius from exile,
letter to the Emperor the grounds of his conscien- and replacing him in his see at Alexandria. The
tious refusal. Constantine was so far satisfied that worthy archbishop was received on his return with
he made no attempts to put his threats in execution, the greatest enthusiasm, both by the clergy and laity.
although it is not improbable that he may have But scarcely had he resumed his duties in his former
formed an unfavourable impression of the faithful sphere, when the Arian party renewed their efforts
orthodox divine.
to disturb his peace, and diminish his usefulness.
The enemies of Athanasius, particularly those of So far did they proceed in their bitter hostility, as
the Meletian sect in Alexandria, were bitterly op- actually to convene a council at Antioch, at which
posed to him, and they lostno opportunity of rais- they superseded Athanasius, and appointed Pistus
ing reports to his disadvantage. Amid all such archbishop in his place. In opposition to this coun-
malicious efforts to injure his reputation, the good cil, another was assembled at Alexandria by Atha-
man was unmoved. Disappointed and angry, they nasius, at which a document was drawn up defending
laid formal complaints against him before the Em- the conduct of the Egyptian primate, and complain-
peror. The most weighty charge was, that he had ing in strong language of the treatment which he
favoured and actually forwarded the schemes of an had experienced at the hands of the Arians. Both
individual in Egypt, who had planned a conspiracy parties sent delegates to Julius, bishop of Rome,
against the imperial government. Such an accusa- who, glad to have his authority acknowledged,
tion could not be lightly passed over, and accord- invited both parties by their delegates to present
ingly Constantine ordered Athanasius, A. D. 332, to their cause before a synod to be assembled under his
appear personally before him at Psammathia, a sub- own presidency. The Oriental church declined to
urb of Nicomedia, where the Emperor was then re- submit the matter in dispute to any synod called and
siding. The archbishop attended, and so success- presided over by the Roman bishop, who was evi-*
fully defended himself against all the charges dently grasping at supreme ecclesiastical power over
preferred against him, that he was triumphantly both the Eastern and the Western churches.
acquitted. His enemies, however, were not long in In the meantime the council assembled at Antioch,
fabricating other grounds of accusation. The Em- perceiving that Pistus, whom they had chosen as
peror, therefore, desirous of restoring peace to the bishop of Alexandria instead of Athanasius, was ut-
church in Alexandria, appointed a synod to be held terly unable to establish his authority in the office
A. D. 335, under the presidency of Eusebius of Cæ. to which he had been appointed, conferred the ap-
sarea, with full powers to investigate the charges pointment upon one Gregory a Cappadocian, a man
laid against Athanasius. From the representations of a violent and headstrong temper. This new pre-
made to him, the Emperor prevented the meeting of late was introduced into his office by an armed force ;
this synod, and ordered another to assemble at Tyre and all who refused to acknowledge him were re-
in the same year. Athanasius appeared accordingly garded as rebels against the authority of the emperor.
before this tribunal
, and succeeded in refuting a part Athanasius being the favourite of the people, many
of the charges preferred by his enemies. With re- of whom looked upon him as their spiritual father,
244
ATHANASIUS.
refused to be concussed by the civil authorities in a against all who favoured him, and the primate him-
matter of this kind. Scenes of disorder and confu- self was compelled to take refuge in the Egyptian
sion were the natural result of this determination on deserts. From this place of retirement he addressed
the part of the emperor to thrust upon the Egyptian a consolatory letter to his sorrowing and persecuted
Christians a bishop, to whom, on religious as well as flock, who were now subjected to more than ordinary
other grounds, they were violently opposed. Athana- | trials, by the appointment, in the room of Athan-
sius escaped, in the midst of a commotion, to a place of asius, of a prelate who violently persecuted the or-
concealment near Alexandria, from which he issued thodox party.
a circular letter to all the bishops, stating his case, At length, A.D. 361, Constantius, the patron of
and showing the injustice of the treatment to which the Arians, expired. Julian, commonly called the
he had been exposed. The bishop of Rome having Apostate, succeeded to the throne, who, to show his
invited him to resort to that city, he repaired utter indifference to the theological question in dis-
thither, and, after residing in Rome for a year pute, ordered the restoration of the bishops whom
and a half, he was recognised by a synod, con: Constantius had banished. This was rendered the
vened in A.D. 342, as a regular bishop, notwithstand- easier in the case of Athanasius, as George the
ing the deposition of the Antiochian council. This Cappadocian had been slain in a tumult raised by the
decision of the council held at Rome was announced heathen population of Alexandria.
Once again,
in a circular letter addressed to the Arian clergy who therefore, was Athanasius reinstated in his office,
had absented themselves from the council, refusing and restored to the affections of his attached people.
to obey the summons of the bishop of Rome. Opposition, however, arose from a different quarter
The Western Church strove to represent all who from that whence it had formerly sprung. It was
opposed Athanasius as Arians; while they, on the not now the Arians but the heathens of Alexandria,
other hand, were equally anxious to vindicate their who resisted the efforts of Athanasius to advance
character from the reproach. Many of them, indeed, the cause of Christian truth. They knew well that
since the death of Arius, had avowed semi-Arian the emperor who now sat upon the throne was ear-
doctrines-a set of principles holding an interme- nestly desirous to abolish Christianity throughout
diate place between Arianism and the Nicene creed. the whole Roman empire, and to establish heathen-
The Western Church, however, held fast by the ism in its place. They lost no time, therefore, in
creed of the council of Nice, and, although no fewer laying their complaints against Athanasius at the
than five creeds had been drawn up by the Eastern feet of Julian, who listened with a favourable ear to
bishops in assemblies convened at Antioch in A.D. all their accusations, and banished the worthy pre-
341 and A.D. 345, not one of them was admitted to be late once more, not now, however, from Alexandria
free from an Arian element. The two emperors, only, but from Egypt itself ; and one Christian writer
Constantius and Constans, were now anxious to heal informs us that Julian had actually given secret orders
the breach which plainly existed between the East- to put an end to the life of this devoted minister of
ern and the Western Churches; and, accordingly, Christ. Athanasius, however, took refuge as before in
they summoned a council to meet at Sardica in Il- the deserts, where he remained for several months, un-
lyria, A.D. 347, to decide the disputed points. The til the death of Julian enabled him to return in safety
Arians insisted, as a preliminary condition of their to his beloved flock in Alexandria. The new em-
attendance, that Athanasius and all his followers
peror, Jovian, was his friend, and held him in high
should be excluded from the council. This, how- esteem, notwithstanding all the attempts made by
ever, was refused, and the Arians retired from the his enemies to prejudice the imperial mind against
assembly. The council then having duly considered him. The life of Jovian, however, was but short;
the matter on both sides, decided in favour of Atha- and although, for three years after the succes-
nasius and the orthodox party, restoring the perse- sion of Valens, Athanasius was permitted to labour
cuted primate of Alexandria, and condemning all who in the work of the ministry in peace and com-
opposed him as enemies to the truth. In the fol-fort, in A.D. 367, by the edict of the emperor, he
lowing year, A.D. 349, Gregory the Cappadocian, was again banished from Alexandria. This exile,
who had been thrust into the office of archbishop, however, was of brief duration ; for in the course of
was murdered at Alexandria, and thus the way was a few months he was recalled by Valens himself, and
opened for the return of Athanasius, who was once permitted, without any further hindrance, to prose-
more received with the utmost enthusiasm. The cute his pastoral labours, until, in A.D. 373, he was
Arian party were now more than ever enraged, and summoned from his work on earth to his rest in
renewed their former charges against the restored heaven. Thus terminated a life of usefulness and of
archbishop with greater urgency than ever. Con- | trial, such as has fallen to the lot of few in this
stans, the friend of Athanasius, was now dead, and world. For forty-six years had he held the high
Constantius was won over by the Arian party. and honourable office of Primate of Alexandria, and
Again, therefore, in two different councils, one at during that time he had laboured and suffered in his
Arles, A.D. 353, and another at Milan, A.D. 355, was Master's cause, with an energy, a devotedness, and
Athanasius condemned. Persecution was directed zeal which have deservedly earned for him a dis-
ATHANASIANS-ATHANASIAN CREED.
245
tinguished name in the annals of the Christian | himself surprised a congregation which had refused
church.
to communicate with him. He brought out some of
ATHANASIANS, the followers of ATHANASIUS the consecrated virgins, and threatened them with
(see preceding article), who, in the fourth century, death by burning, unless they forthwith turned
was the leader of the orthodox party against the Arians. On perceiving their constancy of purpose,
Arians. The difference between the two parties lay | he stripped them of their garments, and beat them so
in this, that the Arians held the homoiousion, or the barbarously on the face, that for some time afterwards
likeness of essence in the Father and the Son, their features could not be distinguished. Of the
while the Athanasians held the homoousion, or the men, forty were scourged; some died of their wounds,
identity of essence in the Father and the Son. This the rest were banished. This is one out of many
latter doctrine was committed, as it were, to the patri- notorious facts, publicly declared at the time, and
arch of Alexandria to defend, and the persecution uncontradicted; and which were not merely the un-
which he endured on account of it, extended beyond authorized excesses of an uneducated Cappadocian,
himself to all who agreed with him in opinion. but recognized by the Arian body as their own, in a
Wherever the power and influence of the Arians state paper from the Imperial Court, and perpetrated
could reach, the Athanasians were subjected to suf- for the maintenance of the peace of the church, and
ferings of the severest description. Four times was of a good understanding among all who agreed in the
Paul, bishop of Constantinople, driven from his authority of the sacred Scriptures.”
church by the intrigues of the Arians.
At length The term ATHANASIANS, however, is not limited
he sealed his adherence to the truth by the endur- to the immediate followers of Athanasius himself,
ance of martyrdom. His successor in the see of but is also applied to all who hold his doctrines, as
Constantinople was a semi-Arian, who punished the they are embodied in what is usually termed the
Athanasians with confiscation of their goods, banish- ATHANASIAN CREED (see next article).
ment, brandings, torture, and death. Women and ATHANASIAN CREED, a formulary or con-
children were forcibly baptized; and when the No- fession of faith which was for a long time supposed
vatians, who held the homoousion, refused to com- to have been drawn up by Athanasius in the fourth
municate with him, they were seized and scourged, century, to vindicate himself against the calumnies
and the sacred elements violently thrust into their of the Arians. Vossius was the first who ventured
mouths. The church at Hadrianople consisted to impugn the generally received notions on the
chiefly of Athanasians, and the sufferings which they subject; alleging that the creed which bears the
underwent in consequence were great. Several of name of Athanasius was not the production of the
the clergy were beheaded, Lucius their bishop twice bishop of Alexandria, but was originally written in
loaded with chains and sent into exile, where he Latin by a Latin author, not earlier probably than
died, while three other bishops of the neighbourhood A. D. 600, and never quoted as the creed of Atha-
were banished by an imperial edict. Throughout nasius before it was so cited by the legates of Pope
the whole course of the lengthened persecution Gregory IX., in A. D. 1233. Archbishop Usher
which was carried on against Athanasius, his fol- denies the correctness of this last assertion of Vos-
lowers everywhere, but especially at Alexandria, sius, and maintains that it was attributed to Atha-
were subjected to constant suffering; and when at nasius at a much earlier period. Quesnel, the French
last he was driven into the wilderness of the The Jansenist, dates the origin of this creed in the fifth
baid, then inhabited by the monastic followers of century, and ascribes it to Virgilius Tapsensis, an
Paul and Anthony, the Athanasians were also in- African divine. The document was acknowledged
volved in the trials of their leader and champion. in France about A. D. 670, and received in Spain
Thirty of them,” says Dr. Newman, in his · Arians and Germany about the same period. There is evi-
of the Fourth Century,' “were banished, ninety dence that it was sung in the churches in England a
were deprived of their churches; and many of the
century earlier.
In some parts of Italy it was
inferior clergy suffered with them. Sickness and known in A. D. 960, and was received at Rome about
death were the ordinary result of such hardships as A. D. 930. The Greek and Oriental churches re-
exile afforded; but direct violence in good measure fuse to acknowledge this symbol, but in Russia, and
superseded a lingering and uncertain vengeance. in several other districts which belong to the Eastern
George, the representative of the Arians, led the Church, it is received, though never read in public.
way in a course of horrors, which he carried through A
very learned Critical History of the Athanasian
all ranks and professions of the Catholic people; creed has been written by Dr. Waterland, in which
and the Jews and heathen of Alexandria, sympathiz- he attempts to prove, that it must have been com-
ing in his brutality, submitted themselves to his posed earlier than the days of Nestorius, and be-
guidance, and enabled him to extend the range of fore the council of Ephesus A. D. 431. The au-
his crimes in every direction. Houses were pil- thor of it he imagines to have been Hilary, bishop
laged, churches were burned, or subjected to the of Arles, a distinguished prelate of the Gallican
most loathsome profanations, and cemeteries were church. Among the various reasons on which Dr.
ransacked. On the week after Whitsuntide, George Waterland founds his opinion, the only one which
246
ATHANASIAN CREED.
has any force, is the fact which he adduces from the | gether, and co-equal. So that in all things, as is
life of Hilary, that an Exposition of the creed had | aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in
been written by that author, and, besides, he alleges Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will
that there is a great resemblance in style between be saved, must thus think of the Trinity. Further-
the Athanasian creed and the rest of the works of more, it is necessary to everlasting salvation, that
the bishop of Arles. These, however, are but slen- he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord
der grounds on which to impute the authorship of Jesus Christ. For the right Faith is, that we be-
the creed to a Gallican bishop.
lieve and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the
The Athanasian creed is found in the Prayer- Son of God, is God and Man; God, of the Substance
Book of the Church of England, and is not only re- of the Father, begotten before the worlds : and Man,
quired to be repeated, but the eighth of the Thirty- / of the Substance of his Mother, born in the world;
Nine Articles, which is subscribed by every minister Perfect God, and perfect man: of a reasonable soul
of that church states, “ The three creeds, Nicene and human flesh subsisting ; Equal to the Father, as
creed, Athanasius's creed, and that which is com- touching his Godhead: and inferior to the Father,
monly called the Apostles' creed, ought thoroughly as touching his Manhood. Who although he be
to be received and believed ; for they may be proved God and Man, yet he is not two, but one Christ ;
by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture.” The One; not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh,
Athanasian creed is as follows: "Whosoever will but by taking of the Manhood into God; One alto-
be saved, before all things it is necessary that gether; not by confusion of Substance, but by unity
he hold the Catholick Faíth. Which Faith except of Person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is
every one do keep whole and undefiled, without one man: so God and Man is one Christ; Who suf-
doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the Catho- fered for our salvation : descended into hell, rose
lick Faith is this : That we worship one God in again the third day from the dead. He ascended
Trinity, and Trinity in Unity: Neither confounding into heaven, he sitteth on the right hand of the Fa-
the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there ther, God Almighty: from whence he shall come
is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming
and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead all men shall rise again with their bodies : and shall
of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is give account for their own works. And they that
all one: the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal. have done good shall go into life everlasting: and
Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is they that have done evil into everlasting fire. This
the Holy Ghost. The Father uncreate, the Son is the Catholick Faith: which except a man believe
uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate. The Fa- faithfully, he cannot be saved. Glory be to the Fa-
ther incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, ther, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it
and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible. The Fa- was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be :
ther eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost world without end. Amen."
eternal. And yet they are not three eternals : but From the whole tenor of this document, it is plain
one eternal. As also there are not three incom- that it has been designed to oppose the Arian and
prehensibles, nor three uncreated : but one uncreated, Sabellian heresies, laying down the catholic or ortho-
and one incomprehensible. So likewise the Father dox doctrine on the person of Christ. The Sabel-
is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy lians considered the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as
Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three Al- one in qerson. This was confounding the persons
mighties: but one Almighty. So the Father is of the Godhead. The Arians considered them as
God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. differing in essence, and thus as three beings. This
And yet they are not three Gods: but one God. So was dividing the substance. Against these two errors
likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the was the creed framed. The orthodox doctrine as
Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three Lords : but laid down in it, is believed by all Trinitarians of
one Lord. For like as we are compelled by the the present day; but exception has sometimes been
Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by taken to the scholastic language in which the doc-
himself to be God and Lord, so are we forbidden by trines are expressed. This creed, indeed, is alto-
the Catholick Religion to say, There be three gether omitted in the Service-Book of the Protestant.
Gods, or three Lords. The Father is made of none: Episcopal Church in America. The chief objections
neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the against it, however, are founded on what are called
Father alone: not made, nor created, but begotten. its damnatory clauses, those in which it denounces
The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son : eternal damnation against those who do not believe
neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceed the Catholic faith as there stated. Many divines of
ing. So there is one Father, not three Fathers : one the Church of England coincide entirely in senti-
Son, not three Sons: one Holy Ghost, not three ment with Dr. Prettyman, in his . Elements of Theo-
Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is afore, or logy, where he says, “We know that different per-
after other: none is greater, or less than another; sons have deduced different and even opposite doc-
But the whole three Persons are co-eternal to- trines from the words of Scripture, and consequently
ATHARID-ATHEISTS.
247
there must be many errors among Christians; but than the denial of the existence of an active princi-
since the gospel nowhere informs us what degree of ple in nature. To deny a personal, living God, has,
error will exclude from eternal happiness, I am ready in the view of many infidels, no title to be regarded
to acknowledge, that, in my judgment, notwithstand- as atheism, provided only a first cause be admitted,
ing the authority of former times, our church would even though that cause should be matter itself.
have acted more wisely, and more consistently with From the altered aspect which the argument
its general principles of mildness and toleration, if of infidels has in more recent times assumed, it
it had not adopted the damnatory clauses of the becomes necessary that atheism, as opposed to
Athanasian creed. Though I firmly believe, that theism, should be more strictly and specifically de-
the doctrines of this creed are all founded in Scrip-fined as the disbelief or denial of the existence,
ture, I cannot but conceive it to be both unneces- providence, and government of a living, personal,
sary and presumptuous to say, that except every and holy God. Dr. James Buchanan, in his able,
one do keep them whole and undefiled, without doubt lucid, and conclusive work, ‘Taith in God, and mo-
he shall perish everlastingly.'” In any human com- dern Atheism compared,' ranges the varieties of
position whatever, it is utterly inconsistent with atheism under four classes. 1. The Aristotelian hy-
that modesty and humility which ought ever 'to pothesis, which asserts the present order of nature,
characterize the productions of Christian men, to or the world as now constituted, to have existed
pronounce anathemas upon those who may differ in from eternity, and that it will never have an end.
sentiment from them, however widely. See CONFES- 2. The Epicurean hypothesis, which asserts the
SION, CREED.
eternal existence of matter and motion, and attri-
ATHARID, the name given to Mercury, one of butes the origin of the world, either with Epicurus,
the planets worshipped by the ancient Arabians. to a fortuitous concourse of atoms, or with some
ATHEISTS (Gr. a, not, theos, God), those who modern writers, to a law of progressive develop-
deny the existence of the Divine Being. However ment. 3. The Stoical system, which affirms the co-
repugnant such a bold and presumptuous negation is existence and co-eternity of God and the world,
to the sentiments and feelings of mankind generally, representing God as the soul of the world superior
atheists have existed probably in every age of the to matter, but neither anterior to it nor independent
world. The existence of practical atheists, who of it, and subject, as matter itself is, to the laws of
live and act as if there were no God, is readily ad- necessity and fate. 4. The Pantheistic hypothesis,
mitted ; but it has not unfrequently been regarded which denies the distinction between God and the
as a point which may well be doubted, whether a world, and affirms that all is God, and God is all.
true speculative atheist has ever existed, or could In this view the universe is God, and God is the
possibly exist. On this point it may be observed, that universe.
there is an explicit and openly avowed atheism, and These four theories or schemes of atheism have,
there is also a constructive or implied atheism; the at various times, attempted to destroy the belief in a
former involving a formal denial of the existence of living personal God, substituting other objects in
God; the latter involving sentiments, which, if not His place, and dethroning Him from the govern-
by the author himself, at all events by others, are ment of the universe. The origin of all the forms
regarded as amounting to the denial of the Divine which atheism has ever assumed, is to be found in
existence, or necessarily leading to it, though they the depravity of the human heart. Man does not
do not formally express it. Of these two species of like to retain God in his knowledge. He loves
atheism, it is the former alone, the explicit and darkness rather than light, because his deeds are
avowed atheism, whose existence has been doubted | evil, and, therefore, he says in his heart, even when
and even denied by many wise and good men, both he dares not utter it with his lips, There is no God.
in ancient and modern times. Lord Bacon, in his But while the ultimate cause of this, and every other
Essay on Atheism,' uses these strong words: “I species of infidelity, is to be traced to the native de-
had rather believe all the fables in the legend, and ceitfulness and desperate wickedness of the heart of
the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this univer- man, there are certain proximate causes of atheism
sal frame is without a mind; and, therefore, God which it is impossible to overlook. On this subject
never wrought miracles to convince atheism, because Dr. Buchanan remarks, “ Among the incidental oc-
his ordinary works convince it.” By this illustrious casions of atheism, we might mention a defective,
thinker atheism was looked upon as “joined and because irreligious education in early life,—the in-
combined with folly and ignorance.'
Dr. Arnold fluence of ungodly example and profane converse,
again more recently declares, “I confess that I believe and the authority of a few great names in literature
conscientious atheism not to exist;" and the French or science which have become associated with the
philosopher, M. Cousin, pronounces atheism to be cause of infidelity; and among the plausible pre-
impossible. Nay, more, some of the most eminent texts for atheism, we might mention the inconsis-
infidel writers, in modern times, loudly proclaim tencies of professed believers, and especially of the
their denial of the existence of true atheism, by clergy,--the divided state of the religious world as
which, however, they evidently mean nothing more indicated by the multiplicity of sects,--the bitter-
248
ATHEISTS.
ness of religious controversy,--the supposed opposi- | its work day nor night. I need not tell you how
tion of the Church to the progress of science, and suspicion took the place of confidence; how every
the extension of civil and religious liberty,--and the thing that is kindly and generous in the human
gross superstitions which have been incorporated | heart withered away, and every thing that is selfish,
with Christianity itself in some of the oldest and and base, and cruel, grew rank and flourishing; how
most powerful states of Europe.” Of all these inci- the tenderest relations of life lost all their sacredness,
dental causes of atheism, the last-mentioned is un- and the heart's blood was often let out by the hand
doubtedly the most powerful; and, accordingly, the which was pledged to offices of friendship; how
boldest and most unblushing atheists have been suicide multiplied its victims by thousands, as if
found in those countries of Europe where papal su- were on a race with the guillotine ; how the last
perstition has most extensively prevailed.
vestige of domestic happiness was blotted out, and
Atheists, however, have never been so far agreed | law, and order, and civilization, were entombed, and
as to constitute themselves into a sect or denomina-
every man trembled at the touch of his fellow-man,
tion like other religionists. This may have partly lest the next moment a dagger should be plunged
arisen from the negative character of their belief; | into his bosom. It was as if the heavens were pour-
but still more, perhaps, from a secret conviction that | ing down torrents of blood; as if the earth were
their principles were scarcely possessed of sufficient heaving forth surges of fire; as if the atmosphere
consistency and coherence to assume the form of a were impregnated with the elements of death, while
creed. Of all the religious sects which have ever the reign of atheism lasted. Other nations saw the
appeared in the history of the world, the strangest smoke of the torment, as it ascended up, and trembled
probably would be a sect of atheists denying the lest upon them also the day of vengeance was about
very God that made them, and professing their be- to open.”
lief in all unbelief. This would be the most mon- “This," as Mr. Hall observes, " was the first at-
strous combination of negative thinkers that it is tempt which has ever been witnessed on an exten-
possible to conceive. In one country, and at one sive scale, to establish the principles of atheism, the
period, we find atheism pervading the masses. We first effort which history has recorded to disannul
refer to the first French Revolution, in the end of and extinguish the belief of all superior powers."
the last century. “In one country,” says the elo- The grand experiment, however, miserably failed.
quent Robert Hall of Leicester, " and that the cen- The popular mind shrunk from the hideous sys-
tre of Christendom, revelation underwent a total tem, when they saw it in full operation, and the
eclipse, while atheism, performing on a darkened very convention which had decreed by public en-
theatre its strange and fearful tragedy, confounded actment that there is no God, was compelled,
the first elements of society, blended every age, with equal formality, to recognise his existence.
rank, and sex, in indiscriminate proscription and Thus brief, though fraught with fearful calamities,
massacre, and convulsed all Europe to its centre; was the reign of atheism in France, at an era of wild
that the imperishable memorial of these events revolutionary frenzy.
might teach the last generations of mankind to con- Atheism being strictly a negative system, its ad-
sider religion as the pillar of society, the safeguard herents wisely limit themselves to bold assertion in-
of nations, the parent of social order, which alone stead of argument. From the very nature of the
has power to curb the fury of the passions, and se- case, it is impossible that they can clearly and con-
cure to every one his rights ; to the laborious the clusively establish their position, that there is no
reward of their industry, to the rich the enjoyment God. On this point, the reasoning of John Foster
of their wealth, to nobles the preservation of their is irresistible. “ The wonder turns on the great pro-
honours, and to princes the stability of their thrones.” cess by which a man could grow to the immense in-
At still greater length Dr. Sprague of America de- telligence that can know that there is no God.
scribes the state of France during the reign of What ages and what lights are requisite for THIS at-
atheism. “ The great jubilee of atheism was the tainment ! This intelligence involves the very
French Revolution. Then her volcanic fires, which attributes of divinity while a God is denied. For,
had been silently accumulating while the world was unless this man is omnipresent, unless he is at this
asleep, broke forth with the fury of a long impri- moment in every place in the universe, he cannot
soned element, and converted a whole country, for a know but there may be in some place manifestations
time, into one burning field of desolation. It was of a deity by which even he would be overpowered.
just when France decreed that she was without a If he does not know absolutely every agent in the
God, and that she would have none; when she in- universe, the one that he does not know
scribed upon her tomb-stones and upon the gates God. If he is not himself the chief agent in the
of her sepulchres, 'Death an eternal sleep;' when universe, and does not know what is so, that which
she caused atheism to ride in triumph in all her high is so may be God. If he is not in absolute posses-
places, and hunted Christianity into the caves and sion of all the propositions that constitute universal
dens of the earth ;-it was just then that her blood truth, the one which he wants may be, that there is
flowed like a river, and the guillotine rested not from a God. If he cannot, with certainty, assign the
ATHEISTS.
249
cause of all that exists, that cause may be a God. atheist, because of the want of proof. But he is to
If he does not know everything that has been blame, if an atheist, because he has shut his eyes.
done in the immeasurable ages that are past, some He is not to blame that the evidence for a God has
things may have been done by a God. Thus, not been seen by him, if no such evidence there were
unless he knows all things, that is, precludes an- within the field of his observation. But he is to
other deity by being one himself, he cannot know blame, if the evidence have not been seen, because
that the Being whose existence he rejects, does not he turned away his attention from it. That the
exist. But he must know that he does not exist, question of a God may lie unresolved in his mind,
else he deserves equal contempt and compassion for all he has to do is to refuse a hearing to the question.
the temerity with which he firmly avows his rejec- | He may abide without the conviction of a God if he
tion, and acts accordingly." This apparently irre- so choose. But this his choice is matter of condem-
fragable argument, the Secularists, as they call nation. To resist God after that he is known, is
themselves, of our day, endeavour most ingeniously criminality towards him; but to be satisfied that he
to obviate and do away with, by taking up quite a should remain unknown, is like criminality towards
different position from that which has been hitherto him. There is a moral perversity of spirit with him
assumed by the atheists of other times. They no who is willing, in the midst of many objects of grati-
longer dogmatically assert that there is no God, fication, that there should not be one object of grati-
admitting with Foster, that this would be to lay tude. It is thus that, even in the ignorance of God,
claim to infinite knowledge; but they content them- there may be a responsibility towards God. The
selves with the assertion, that the evidence alleged Discerner of the heart sees, whether, for the bless.
for the existence of a Supreme Being independent of ings innumerable wherewith he has strewed the path
Nature is insufficient. “The atheist,” say they, "does of every man, he be treated, like the unknown bene-
not labour to demonstrate that there is no God; but factor who was diligently sought, or like the un-
he labours to demonstrate that there is no adequate known benefactor who was never cared for. In
proof of there being one. He does not positively affirm respect, at least of desire after God, the same dis-
that God is not; but he affirms the lack of evidence tinction of character may be observed between one
for the position that God is. Judging from the ten- man and another—whether God be wrapt in mys-
dency and effect of his arguments, an atheist does tery, or stand forth in full development to our world.
not appear positively to refuse that a God may be ; Even though a mantle of deepest obscurity lay over
but he insists that He has not discovered himself, the question of his existence, this would not efface
whether by the utterance of His voice in audible re- the distinction, between the piety on the one hand
velation, or by the impress of His hand upon visible which laboured and aspired after him, and the im-
nature. His verdict on the doctrine of a God is only piety upon the other, which never missed the evi-
that it is not proven; it is not that it is disproven. dence that it did not care for, and so grovelled in the
He is but an atheist : he is not an antitheist.” | midst of its own sensuality and selfishness. The eye
This is precisely the attitude, in regard to the ques- of a heavenly witness is upon all these varieties; and
tion of the Divine existence, which has been assumed thus, whether it be darkness or whether it be dislike
by the modern Secularists, as represented by Mr. Ho- which hath caused a people to be ignorant of God,
lyoake, the ablest and most acute writer belonging to there is with him a clear principle of judgment, that
the party. With apparent modesty, this author re- he can extend even to the outfields of atheism."
fuses to go the length of asserting that there is not, Mr. Holyoake boldly alleges that it is impossible
or even that there may not be a God, but he simply satisfactorily to prove that God is, but happily we
declares that no valid evidence has yet been adduced are so constituted, that it is impossible satisfac-
to prove that God exists. With strange inconsis- torily to prove that God is not. There is an
tency, however, Mr. Holyoake elsewhere dogmati- intellectual instinct or first principle in the mind of
cally affirms, “ Most decidedly I believe that the every man, which compels him to recognise a Great
present order of nature is insufficient to prove the First Cause from which all things had their origin.
existence of an intelligent Creator;" and again, “no This is one of the primary beliefs of man. But, as
imaginable order, no contrivance, however mechani- Dr. Godwin asks in his · Lectures on the Atheistic
cal, precise, or clear, would be sufficient to prove it.” Controversy,' “What has atheism to teach but mere
The author of such statements as these is plainly negations ?---that there is no First Cause, no Creator,
attempting to foreclose all argument for the existence no intention in all the beautiful and beneficial ar-
of a God as impossible. Such presumption is not to rangements of nature; that there is no such thing as
be reasoned with, but to be pitied. Evidence may mind or spirit in the universe ; no God, no angel, no
be adduced of the strongest and the most resistless hereafter for man, no future judgment, no heaven or
character, but no imaginable extent of it will con- hell, no rewards for virtue or punishments for vice
vince this unbeliever. The fearful, overwhelming beyond this life. Its object is, in fact, to teach men
responsibility of such a man's position it is impos- to disbelieve what all ages have believed.”
sible fully to conceive. “Man is not to blame," says There are two modes of conducting the argument
Dr. Chalmers in his Natural Theology, “if an for the Divine existence, in opposition to the
250
ATHENA-ATHOS MOUNT (MONKS OF).
atheists—the a priori and the a posteriori -the one probably derived from the idea imputed to them, of
demonstrating that God necessarily must be, and the imitating the Gnostics or Manicheans, in regarding
other proving that God is. The consideration of the many things as unclean, and therefore not touching
nature and force of these two species of argument them. This sect had its principal seat in the city
for the being of a God, belongs more properly to the of Amorion, in Upper Phrygia, where many Jews
article THEISTS (which see). The Scriptures never resided; and, accordingly, Neander traces its origin to
argue the subject of the existence of the Divine a mixture of Judaism and Christianity-an opinion
Being, but uniformly take it for granted. Thus, in which is so far sanctioned by the practice of the sect
the opening verse of the Bible we are told, “In the in mixing baptism with the observance of all the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” a rites of Judaism except circumcision. It is quite
statement which assumes that God is, and simply an- possible that some remains of the older Judaizing
nounces him as the Creator of the universe. And Christians, against whom the apostle Paul warns the
when the atheist is noticed in the Sacred Volume, | Colossians (ii. 21), may have continued in Phrygia
his creed is stamped with the character of consum- down to the tenth century, when the Byzantine his-
mate folly, and declared to have its origin in the torians speak of them as existing. This sect had
heart rather than the head. “ The fool hath said in the merit of refusing to take any part in the abuses
his heart, there is no God." His moral discern- of the times, especially in image-worship, and in
ment is perverted by sin, and therefore he shuts veneration of the cross, and of the hierarchy of the
his eyes upon the light, and surrenders himself to reigning party.
a state of utter and irremediable darkness.
ATHOCIANS, a Christian sect which arose in the
ATHENA, one of the principal deities of the an- third century, who maintained the mortality of the
cient Greeks. She is said to have sprung from the soul. They are probably the same with the ARA-
head of Zeus in full armour. Herodotus makes her BICI Or ARABIANS (which see).
only the adopted daughter of Zeus, following the ATHOR, or ATHYR, an ancient Egyptian god-
Libyan tradition as to her being born of Poseidon and dess, regarded by the great Etymologicon as the
Tritonis. Various districts of Greece claimed to be Venus of the Egyptians, in whose honour, Strabo
her birthplace. In her character, as she is repre- tells us, a sacred cow was fed at Momemphis.
sented by the ancient writers, there is a combination Athyri is mentioned by Plutarch among the different
of power and wisdom. She presided over states and names of Isis.
their political arrangements. She was the goddess, ATHOS MOUNT (MONKS OF). This mountain
also, of agriculture, and the inventor of various agri- in Greece is situated in Chalcidia, and, froin the
cultural implements, particularly the plough and the number of monasteries which have been built upon its
rake; besides instructing the people in several agri- sides, as well as from its being a frequent resort of
cultural processes.
Athena is also said to have in- devout pilgrims, it long ago received the name of the
vented several musical instruments, as the flute and Holy mountain, which it retains to this day. Before
the trumpet; and various useful arts, more especially the Greek revolution, there were about five thousand
those which are adapted to females. In short, she Greek monks or CALOYERS (which see) resident on
was the goddess of all wisdom, and knowledge, and this mountain. They lead a life of celibacy, and
skill. The Athenians regarded her as the patron of are generally of the order of St. Basil. The number
their state, and to her they believed themselves in- of monasteries amounts to somewhere about twenty,
debted for their celebrated council called AREIOPA- but several of them are in ruins, and only three or
GUS (which see). Both the internal arrangements four are maintained in splendour. All the monas-
and the outward defence of the state were under her teries on Mount Athos derive their support from es-
protection and influence. To her, heroes owe their tates which belong to them in Macedonia, Thessaly,
safety in battle. In the Trojan war she took part and other parts of Greece, and are superintended by
with the Greeks.
persons connected with the order. The whole of
Athena was worshipped throughout all Greece. these superintendents, amounting in number to
In Attica she was viewed as the national goddess 1,200, were suddenly seized by the Turks in 1822,
both of the city and the country. The animals of- and, without any apparent reason, cruelly put to
fered in sacrifice to her were usually bulls, rams, and death. The great mass of the Greek monks of
cows. Among trees, the olive was sacred to her; Mount Athos are quite illiterate, being only required
and among living creatures, the owl, the cock, and to make the sign of the cross, and to perform readily
the serpent. Among the Romans Athena was called the Metanoiai, that is, their prostrations after the re-
Minerva.
cital of some particular psalms, with the Gloria Patri
ATHENÆA, a festival held in honour of Athena at the end of them. Some of these monks are re-
(see previous article) among the ancient Greeks. See quired to repeat their Metanoiai three hundred times
PANATHENEA. .
every twenty-four hours, unless indisposed, and, in
ATHINGANIANS (Gr. a, not, thingo, to touch), this case, a priest must discharge the duty instead of
a Christian sect identified in the Byzantine historians them. The Caloyers of Mount Athos have a steel
with the PAULICIANS (which see). The name is collar with a cross appended to it of about seven or
ATHOUAF-ATONEMENT CONTROVERSY.
251
eight pounds weight. This collar, which is used on that the different forms of objects are brought about.
the admission of a new monk into their order, is al- Even our own perception of outward objects, which
leged to have belonged to St. Athanasius, who lived we generally regard as strictly mental in its charac-
in the ninth century, and who procured the founda- ter, is explained by this system on a strangely mate-
tion of one of their principal converits called Lauron. rialistic hypothesis. All things are said to be con-
The cell of this saint, and the white marble stone on stantly throwing off images of themselves, which
which he was wont to say his prayers, are pointed after assimilating to themselves the surrounding air,
out as curiosities, the stone having a cavity in it of enter the soul by the pores of the sensitive organ.
about four or five inches deep, occasioned, it is said, The eye, for example, to use the illustration of Mr.
by the saint kneeling so frequently upon it. The Lewes, is composed of aqueous humours; and water
residence of monks upon the Holy mountain must sees. But how does water see? It is diaphanous,
have been of great antiquity; it is supposed that it and receives the image of whatever is presented to
was probably selected as a seat for monasteries about it. The very soul itself, according to Democritus,
the reign of Constantine the Great, in the fourth was composed of the finest fire-atoms, and all its
century.
knowledge was derived from actual corporeal contact
ATHOUAF, a name given by the Mohammedans through the impressions made by external objects
to the procession made by pilgrims seven times upon the outward senses. All knowledge was in his
round the Kaaba or black stone, in the Beitullah or view phenomenal, to employ the language of Kant,
temple of Mecca, during the fast of RAMADHAN and hence he regarded all human knowledge as un-
(which see).
certain, being not absolutely, but only relatively
ATHOUS, a surname of Zeus, derived from true. All nature, on the Atomic hypothesis, consists
Mount Athos, on which he had a temple dedicated of a plenum and a vacuum; the plenum consisting of
to his worship.
elementary particles, the infinite number of which
ATLAS, a deity among the ancient Greeks, al- are homogeneous in quality, but heterogeneous in
leged by Hesiod to be a son of Japetus and Clymene. form. As like attracts like, these particles combin.
He is spoken of in Homer's Odyssey as bearing up ing together form real things and beings. Thus all
the pillars both of earth and heaven; which has by idea of a Divine Creator is superseded. The Atomic
some writers been supposed to be a figurative repre- | philosophers of antiquity are to be carefully distin-
sentation, denoting that Atlas was skilled in astro- guished from the Atomic philosophers of our day,
nomy, and first taught that the earth was in the form who teach the law of definite proportions, and thus,
of a globe. He is generally supposed to have been instead of giving countenance to the atheistic doc-
in the north-western part of Africa; hence there is trine, adduce an additional and very powerful argu-
still a range of mountains in that region which bears ment for the existence of a God, drawn from the
laws and collocations of matter.
ATOCHA (OUR LADY OF), a name given to the
ATONEMENT CONTROVERSY. It has been
Virgin Mary, under which she has a chapel dedi- the belief of the Christian world from the earliest
cated to her at Madrid. She is said to perform as ages, that the death of Christ was propitiatory in its
many miracles there as at any other of her chapels. character, or in other words, was designed to be, and
She is represented in the dress of a widow, with a actually was, an atonement for sin, a sacrifice offered
chaplet in her hands, and on festival days she is up to satisfy Divine justice, and reconcile sinners to
crowned with the sun, and decked out with the finest God. In this view, all the great denominations into
garments, adorned with the richest jewels. The which the Christian world has been divided are
chapel is lighted up, according to accounts, with a agreed. We refer to the Eastern and Western
hundred gold and silver lamps. See MARY, VIRGIN. Churches, Romanists and Protestants, Calvinists and
ATOMISTS, a sect of philosophers in ancient Arminians. This generally received doctrine, how-
Greece, who have not without good cause been ever, has been disputed by the Socinians, who deny
ranked as atheists. The originator of the system the divinity of Christ, and, therefore, endeavour to
seems to have been Leucippus; it was carried out, fritter away the doctrine of atonement. Their belief
however, to a more complete systematic form by on this latter point may be thus summarily described.
Democritus. The fundamental principle of the sys- “ The great object of the mission and death of
tem was the eternal existence of matter in the form Christ, was to give the fullest proof of a state of re-
of an infinite number of atoms existing in infinite tribution, in order to supply the strongest motives
space. Anaxagoras, and the earlier school of Atom- to virtue; and the making an express regard to the
ists, had taught also the eternity of matter in the doctrine of a resurrection to immortal life, the prin-
form of atoms, but for the construction of worlds they cipal sanction of the laws of virtue, is an advantage
considered a controlling power to be necessary, which peculiar to Christianity. By this advantage the
was Mind or Intelligence. In the hands of Demo- gospel reforms the world, and the remission of sin is
critus, however, followed by Epicurus, Mind disap- consequent on reformation. For although there are
pears, and Matter alone is considered as really ex- some texts in which the pardon of sin seems to be
isting. It is by indefinite combinations of atoms represented as dispensed in consideration of the suf-
his name.
252
ATONEMENT CONTROVERSY.
ence.
ferings, the merits, the resurrection, the life or the cal priest, and that his sacrifice was a metaphorical
obedience of Christ, we cannot but conclude, upon a sacrifice, and consequently his redemption which he
careful examination, that all those views of it are hath purchased for his people must be only a meta-
partial representations, and that, according to the phorical redemption, that is, no redemption at all.
plain general tenor of Scripture, the pardon of sin is The Swedenborgians regard Christ's sufferings as
in reality always dispensed by the free mercy of having been endured on his own account, not on
God, upon account of man's personal virtue, a peni- ours; and accordingly they refuse to admit the doc-
tent upright heart, and a reformed exemplary life, trine of the imputation of His righteousness. The
without regard to the sufferings or merit of any | modern Universalists affirm that the word atonenient
being whatever.” By such a melancholy perver- in Scripture language simply denotes reconciliation,
sion of the whole Christian scheme, the Socinians and that Christ died merely to convince mankind of
contrive to get quit of the propitiatory character of the immutability of God's universal saving love. It
Christ's death, making it nothing more than an at- is painful to observe the loose views which have been
testation of the truth of His doctrine, and that He promulgated by various theological writers on the
might obtain the power of imparting the forgiveness subject for a century past. Thus Dr. Taylor of Nor-
of sins.
wich, in his writings, alleges, “By the blood of
Between the Socinian and the catholic view of Christ, God discharges us from guilt, because the
the atonement, there lies what has been called the blood of Christ is the most powerful means of free-
Middle scheme, which agrees with the Socinian in ing us from the pollution and the power of sin."
rejecting the atonement, but at the same time admits The propitiatory view of the atonement is thus en-
the orthodox or catholic view, so far as to maintain tirely lost sight of, and its whole efficacy in the sal-
that it hath pleased God to promise forgiveness vation of the soul is reduced to a mere moral influ-
through the mediation of Christ. This opinion is held
And to make it the more obvious that such
by a party, who do not consider Christ as the eternal is his opinion of the modus operandi of the atone-
and consubstantial Son of God, but as the first and ment, he tells us in plain language, that by “the
most glorious of created beings, by whom the world | blood of Christ” is meant “his perfect obedience
was made. Accordingly, they rest the mediation of and goodness.” Dr. Priestley went so far as to
Christ not upon an atonement, but upon His inter- | deny that the doctrine of atonement formed a part
cession. The same objection, it is obvious, lies of the Christian scheme. A class of writers again,
against this theory, as against the Socinian, that it among whom are to be ranked Drs. Price, Whitby,
does not satisfactorily account for the sufferings of and Macknight, while they admit the reality of the
an innocent person. Why did Jesus Christ, though atonement, deny that it had any efficacy in itself to
free according to both theories from all guilt, whether satisfy the demands of Divine justice, but derives all
personal or imputed, endure such sufferings as we its effect from the Divine appointment. According
know he underwent by Divine appointment? This to this hypothesis, God might have saved sinners if
is of itself a testing question, which shows the utter He had so pleased without an atonement, and
insufficiency both of the Socinian and the middle there is no necessary connection between the death
scheme. The truth is, that among all nations, and of Christ and the pardon of the sinner. Thus the
in all ages, the idea of atonement has prevailed, as is bearing of Christ's divinity upon his sacrifice is entirely
clearly manifest from the extent to which sacrifices lost sight of. This theory “imports,” to use the
have been offered, with the express object of propi- | language of Dr. Dick in his 'Lectures on Theology,'
tiating the Divine Being; and these consisting not “ that the mission of Christ was gratuitous in every
of irrational animals merely, but in many instances sense; that without any sufficient reason he was
of human beings. And what principle is more in- | subjected to sorrow and death; that there has been
delibly impressed on every page of the Old Testa- a theatrical display of the severity of Divine justice,
ment than that, “ without shedding of blood there is to persuade us that it is inflexible and inexorable,
no remission of sins.” In the plainest language, be- while it would not have been dishonoured, although
sides, the Scriptures assert the death of Christ to sin had been permitted to pass with impunity; and
have been an atonement for sins. Thus it is said in that the love of God is not so wonderful as we were
words which one would think it is impossible to wont to believe, because its greatest gift might have
misunderstand or mistake, Eph. v. 2, “He gave been withheld without at all hindering our salva-
Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for tion.” The fact that such consequences as these
a sweet-smelling savour;" 1 John ii
. 2, “ He is flow naturally from this theory may well warrant us
the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, in rejecting it, more especially as it derives not the
but also for the sins of the whole world;" Rom. v. slightest support from the sacred writings.
10, “By his death we are reconciled to God;" Rev. The question on the subject of the atonement,
v. 9, "He has redeemed us to God by His blood.” which more than any other has given rise to contro-
These explicit statements, even the Socinian himself versy among divines, regards the extent of its efi-
cannot deny, and he is driven to the strange expe- cacy, whether it reached to all men, or to those only
dient of asserting that Christ was only a metaphori- | who were given to Christ by the Father. The Pela-
ATONEMENT CONTROVERSY.
253
gians and Arminians maintain the former view, I world, however, in these and other places, must not
while Calvinists as strenuously maintain the latter. be understood as denoting all mankind, but the na-
Another party has arisen of late years, who allege tions in general, as distinguished from the Jews.
not only that Christ died for all men, but that in Again, we find in 2 Cor. v. 15, the apparently unlimit-
consequence of his death all men are actually par- ed statement that " Christ died for all," but imme-
doned. The natural inference from such a doctrine diately after the statement is limited by the words,
is, that if all men are pardoned, then all men must “that they who live should not henceforth live unto
be saved, but to prevent such an inference being themselves, but unto Him who died for them and
drawn, it is alleged that no man's pardon will be of rose again;" thus showing that by the word “all”
any avail to him unless he believes that he is par- in the first clause, is meant not all mankind, but all
doned. Such a belief, according to this theory, can- who live through Christ. In the same way all those
not fail to belong to every man, seeing the conclu- expressions, which are apparently unlimited and uni-
sion necessarily follows that each individual man in versal throughout the Bible, must be carefully in-
virtue of being a man is pardoned. To remove this terpreted in connection with other passages, which
obvious difficulty, it is asserted, that we shall not en- bear upon the same subject, keeping always in view
joy the benefit of the pardon unless, in addition to the well-known and admitted rule of interpretation,
our faith, we are sanctified by our faith. Thus our that the universal statement is to be explained by
final salvation is made to depend upon our own holi- the limited, and not the limited by the universal. On
ness, and not exclusively upon the atonement of the two classes of texts to which we refer, Dr.
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Candlish makes the following remarks. 66 There is
The Arminian view of the extent of the atone- this general difference between the two classes of
ment is somewhat different from the theory just ex- texts—those which seem to assert a general, and
plained. It teaches no doubt that Christ died for those which rather point to a restricted and
all, but the ground of this is stated to be, that in limited, reference, in the atoning work of Christ-
consequence of the death of Christ a dispensation of that while the former easily admit of a clear and
grace has been established under which all men are consistent interpretation, such as makes them har-
placed; a new covenant is made with them which | monize with the doctrine which, at first sight, they
promises eternal life to sincere instead of perfect might be supposed to contradict, it is altogether
obedience; and such assistance is afforded to them, otherwise with the latter; it can only be by a pro-
as if rightly improved will enable them to work out cess of distortion—by their being made to suffer
their salvation. This theory in all its parts is de- violence—that they can be so explained away as to
cidedly opposed to the Word of God. From begin- | become even neutral in the controversy. It is re-
ning to end it is a human device to support a favour-markable, accordingly, that the opponents of the
ite notion. The dispensation under which men are Calvinistic view rarely, if ever, apply themselves to
supposed to be placed in consequence of the death the task of showing what fair construction may be
of Christ, is one which substitutes sincere though put, according to their theory, on the texts usually
imperfect, instead of perfect obedience, thus giving cited against them. They think it enough simply
countenance to the absurd principle that the Divine to collect an array of texts which, when uttered in
Being can depart from the strictness and purity of single notes, give a sound similar to that of their own
his holy law, and thus belie the essential holiness of trumpet; and although we undertake to prove, in
his nature. No covenant involving any such erro- every instance, that the sound, even taken alone, is,
neous principle is to be found in the Bible.
at the least, a very uncertain one, and that, when
As to the limited extent of the atonement, the combined and blended with the sounds of other notes
language of the New Testament is explicit. Our in the same bar or cleff, the general result of the har-
Lord himself says, John x. 15, “I lay down my life monized melody is such as to chime in with the strain
for the sheep;" and explaining who his sheep are, which we think we find elsewhere—they are very
he says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know slow in dealing thus with the texts quoted on the
them, and they follow me; I give unto them eternal other side. But it is surely as incumbent upon them
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any to explain how the texts on our side are to be inter-
pluck them out of my hand.” It is plain then from preted consistently with their views, as it is on us
a comparison of these passages, that Christ died for to make a corresponding attempt in regard to the
His people only, whom He terms His sheep, and for texts which they claim as theirs. This, however, it
whom peculiar privileges are reserved. It is ad- would be by no means easy to do. For setting
mitted on all hands, however, that there are pas- aside all partial counsel in this inquiry, and coming
sages in the New Testament which seem at first sight to the passages referred to, not for the purpose of
to convey the impression that Christ died for all. reconciling them with any supposed analogy of the
Thus in John i. 29, it is said, “ Behold the Lamb of faith,' but exclusively bent on looking at each in the
God which taketh away the sins of the world;" and light of its own context or connection, we
Jesus is declared in 1 John ii. 2, to be “the pro- scarcely fail to perceive that the assertion of a
pitiation for the sins of the whole world.” The limited or restricted atonement is by no means in
can
254
ATONEMENT (DAY OF).
them, what that of a universal redemption would leaving the Supreme Ruler and Judge in the free
have been in the other series of passages we have and sovereign exercise of the mercy in which he de-
considered—an excrescence upon the argument in lights, to dispense those blessings, more or less ex-
hand, not in point or to the purpose, but intrusive tensively, according to the good pleasure of his
and embarrassing--embarrassing, we of course mean, will.” This explanation of the matter places elec-
not to the controversialist, but to the critic, in his tion posterior, in point of time, to the atonement,
exegesis or exposition of the particular verses under and assigns to the latter no greater efficacy than the
review. On the contrary, this assertion of limitation | rendering of the salvation of his people possible.
or restriction, as being the characteristic feature of There is no connection here between the Head
Christ's work, is at the very heart of these passages Christ and his members. He had no higher object
-essential to the writer's or the speaker's argument | in his death, according to this theory, than the re-
or reasoning, at the time, and, indeed, essential to moving of all hindrances in the way of the outgoing
what he says having any meaning at all.”
of the Divine mercy, and thus the great work of
But the question still recurs, Is there no sense in man's redemption is robbed of that beauty and con-
which it can be truly alleged that Christ died for sistency in which it is set before us in the Word of
all? or, in other words, Has the world at large reaped God.
no advantage from the sufferings and death of the ATONEMENT (DAY OF), the tenth day of the
Lord Jesus? In reply to this question we would seventh month, called Tisri among the Jews, or the
remark, that there are common as well as special fifth day before the Feast of Tabernacles. This was
henefits of the death of Christ. The common bene- | appointed by God to be a solemn yearly fast, as we
fits are the establishment of a dispensation of long- | find fully explained in Lev. xvi., but particularly ver.
suffering patience and forbearance towards an un- 29—34, " And this shall be a statute for ever unto
godly world, and the introduction of a system of | you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of
means and ordinances along with the common oper- the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no
ations of the Spirit. These belong to all mankind work at all, whether it be one of your own country,
without exception, and the possession of them lays or a stranger that sojourneth among you : for on
the world under the heaviest responsibility. The that day shall the priest make an atonement for you,
special benefits of the death of Christ, however, are to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your
alone of a strictly saving character, and belong to sins before the Lord. It shall be a sabbath of rest
His own believing people. They are His sheep, and unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls by a statute
to them alone He gives eternal life. It is the ne-
for ever.
And the priest, whom he shall anoint,
glect of this distinction between the common and and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the
special benefits of the death of Christ which has priest's office in his father's stead, shall make the
given rise in the minds of some theologians to con- atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even
fused views on the doctrine of the atonement. the holy garments : and he shall make an atone-
Another question, in connection with the atone- ment for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an
ment, has of late years given rise to considerable atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation,
difference of opinion among theological writers both and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement
in Britain and America. The question refers to the for the priests, and for all the people of the con-
design of the atonement, whether it was general or gregation. And this shall be an everlasting sta-
particular. The same point was discussed between
tute unto you, to make an atonement for the chil-
the Arminians and the Calvinists in the beginning of dren of Israel for all their sins once a-year. And
the seventeenth century; but the form in which the he did as the Lord commanded Moses.” On this
question has of late presented itself is somewhat dif- day alone throughout the whole year was the high
ferent, the doctrine of a universal atonement being priest permitted to enter the holy of holies, and
now held along with the doctrine of a particular not without due preparation under pain of death.
election. The question is thus stripped of its gross In the Talmud the day of atonement is styled the
Arminian aspect, and presented under the more mo- “Great Fasting," or sometimes “The Day.” The
dified form of what is termed in America Hopkin- | services of the day commenced with personal pre-
sianism. The theological lectures of Dr. Dwight, paration on the part of the high-priest. Having
which have obtained extensive circulation on both washed himself in water, he put on the holy linen
sides of the Atlantic, have diffused very widely this garments with the mitre. He then led into the
plausible theory of the atonement. The ablest
outer sanctuary a young bullock for a sin-offering,
writer in its defence is undoubtedly the late lamented and a ram for a burnt-offering—both of them sacri-
Dr. Wardlaw, who, in a work published on the sub- fices for himself and his household, including, as some
ject, says, “ According to this scheme the atonement
suppose, the whole body of priests and Levites.
was designed as a vindication, manifestation, or ra- Having thus completed his own personal prepara-
ther display of the righteousness of God, such as to tion, the congregation brought him two kids of the
render forgiveness and salvation consistent with the goats for a sin-offering, and one ram for a sin-offer-
honour of that perfection of the Divine character; ing; and these were to be offered for themselves at
2
ATONEMENT (DAY OF).
255
the door of the tabernacle. The lot was then cast expectation of what is to follow when the smoke of
upon
the two goats to ascertain which of them should the morning lamb has melted into the clouds. They
be sacrificed as an offering to the Lord, and which see the lots cast on the two goats, the priest enter
of them should be let go for a scape-goat into the the sanctuary with his own offering, and return amid
wilderness. After this he took the bullock for a the tremblings of Israel, who all feel that they are
sin-offering, slew it on the altar, and poured out the concerned in his acceptance. They see one goat
blood. Then taking in his hands a portion of the slain and its blood carried in. The scape-goat is
· blood and a censer with burning incense, he passed then led down their trembling ranks, out of the
through the holy place into the holiest of all, and camp; and at length Aaron re-appears to their joy.
sprinkled the blood on the mercy-seat seven times, The murmur of delight now spreads along, like the
to purify it from the pollution which his own sins pleasant rufiling of the water's surface in the breeze
had brought upon it during the preceding year. of summer's evenings. The silver trumpets sound-
Quitting the most holy place, Aaron came forth the evening lamb is offered; Israel feels the favour
and once more stood at the altar, prepared to offer of their God, and return home to rest under his sha-
for the sins of the people. Having slain the peo- dow. O Lord, thou wast angry with me, but thine
ple's sacrifice, confessing their sins over it, he passed anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me.'
again into the holy of holies to sprinkle the blood "How intensely interesting to have seen this day
both upon and before the mercy-seat. With strong kept in Jerusalem! The night before, you would
crying and tears he makes earnest supplication in have seen the city become silent and still, as the
behalf of the people, spreading out their sins before sun set. No lingerers in the market; no traders ;
God, and imploring the Divine forgiveness. Dur- no voice of business. The watchmen that go about
ing this solemn transaction the high-priest was alone the city sing the penitential psalms, reminding them-
in the most holy place. He then purified the selves of their own and the city's secret sins, seen
courts and the altar. The ceremony which followed through the darkness by an all-seeing God; and
was of a peculiar character. The live goat was the Levites from the temple responsively sing as
brought forward, when the high-priest advancing they walk round the courts. As the sun rises over
laid his hands upon the head of the animal, con- the Mount of Olives, none are seen in the streets;
fessing the sins of the people, and laying them as it no smoke rises from any dwelling; no hum of busy
were upon the head of the goat. It now bore the noise ; for no work is done on a holy convocation
sin and the curse of Israel, and this scape-goat was day. The melody of joy and health ascends from
forthwith sent by the hands of a fit person into the the tabernacles of the righteous. But at the hour
wilderness, where it was left to perish unpitied and of morning sacrifice, the city pours out its thousands,
alone, as the sin-bearing substitute of guilty Israel. who move solemnly toward the temple, or repair to
The work of atonement being now completed, the the heights of Zion's towers, or the grassy slopes of
high-priest put off his linen garments, and left them Olivet, that they may witness as well as join in all
in the sanctuary; then having washed himself he the day's devotion. They see the service proceed-
put on his usual dress. The services of the day were they see the scape-goat led away--they see the
concluded by the offering of burnt-offerings for him- priest come out of the holy place; and at this com-
self and the people at the evening sacrifice.
forting sight every head in the vast, vast multitude
The following graphic description of the whole is bowed in solemn thankfulness, and every heart
ceremonial observed on the great day of atonement moves the lips to a burst of joy. The trumpet for
is given by Mr. Bonar, in his Commentary on Le- the evening sacrifice sounds; Olivet re-echoes; the
viticus :' “It had been a wondrous day from the people on its bosom see the city and the altar, and
very first dawn to the last streak of setting sun. weep for very gladness; all know it is the hour for
At the third hour of the morning (nine o'clock) the evening blessing. When the sun set, an angel
every street or way of the camp had been trodden by | might have said to his fellow, 'Look upon Zion, the
a people going up to peculiar service-each moving city of solemnities ! behold, Jerusalem, a quiet ha-
along serious and awe-struck. As many as the bitation !''
courts could contain enter-specially aged men and Such was the great Fast of Expiation appointed
fathers of Israel ; the rest stand in thousands near, by the law of Moses. On this day the high-priest
or sit in groups under green bushes and on little entered four times into the holy of holies, but if he
eminences that overlook the enclosing curtains. Some ventured to enter a fifth time, the Jewish writers as-
are in the attitude of prayer; some are pondering sert that he died for his presumption. He had also
the book of the law; some, like Hannah, move their the privilege on this day alone of pronouncing the
lips, though no word is heard; all are ever and word JEHOVAH, the peculiar name of God, which it
again glancing at the altar, and the array of the was unlawful for any Jew to utter except the high-
courts. Even children sit in wonder, and whisper priest, and that only once in the year, when he en-
their inquiries to their parents. The morning sacri- tered the most holy place on the great day of Atone-
fice is offered; the priest's bullock and ram stand- ment.
ing by, and other victims besides. They wait in Since the destruction of Jerusalem, and in conse-
256
ATRIUM-ATTHAKATHA.
quence of the impossibility of offering the usual | the daily prayers. The Sabbath previous to the day
sacrifices, the Jews still observe the day of ex- of Atonement is called the “ Sabbath of penitence,"
piation, but in a very different way from that in when it is customary for the Rabbi of each syna-
which it was observed by their fathers. The gogue to deliver a discourse on the subject of repen-
men take a white cock and the women a white tance. Before the Fast commences, the Jews endea-
hen. They swing them three times over the vour to settle all their disputes, and thus to be at
priest's head, saying, This cock, or this hen, shall peace with one another. Some purify themselves
be a propitiation for me. Then they kill them, | by ablutions, and others subject themselves to volun-
confessing themselves worthy of death, and cast the tary scourgings. From before sunset on the ninth
entrails upon the roof of the house, that some raven day of the month Tisri, till after sunset on the
or other carnivorous bird may carry both them and | tenth, the strictest fasting must be observed, no kind
their sins into the wilderness. The following minute of food being eaten, and not even a drop of water
account, as observed among the modern Jews in being taken. The synagogue is crowded on that day
some places, though disused in others, is given by by both males and females, many being present who
Mr. Allen, in his work on Modern Judaism:? never attend public worship throughout the whole
Among the Jews in many countries it has been year. The synagogue is splendidly illuminated with
customary, on the ninth day, or vigil of the Fast, wax candles, which continue to burn night and day,
after they return from the morning service of the till the Fast is concluded. The lessons, confessions,
synagogue to their respective habitations, to perform and supplications for the day occupy more than
a ceremony which is evidently designed as a sub- twelve hours without intermission. At the close of
stitute for their ancient sacrifices. The master of the service they sound the cornet to announce that
each house, with a cock in his hands, stands up in the Fast is terminated. The people then leave
the midst of his family, and recites the 10th, 14th, the synagogue firmly convinced that their sins are
17th, and five following verses of the 107th Psalm ; pardoned, and wishing one another a good year.
to which he adds part of the speech of Elihu in the After that, they bless the new moon, and then retire
33d chapter of Job: “If there be a messenger with to their homes to enjoy an abundant repast.
him, an interpreter, one among a thousand to show ATRIUM (Lat., a hall), the name given among
unto man his uprightness: then he is gracious unto the early Christians to the area leading from the
him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the porch to the church. At one period it was the pe-
pit; I have found a ransom.' Then he strikes his culiar privilege of kings and emperors to be buried
head with the cock three times, saying at each in the atrium; and, accordingly, Chrysostom re-
stroke: Let this cock be a commutation for me; marks that the emperor Constantius did his father
let him be substituted in my place; let him be an Constantine a very great honour in assigning to him
atonement for me ; let this cock be put to death ; a burying-place in the porch of a church. This
but let a fortunate life be vouchsafed to me and to practice continued until the sixth century, when this
all Israel.' Having repeated this three times, for privilege was extended to the people generally,
himself, for his family, and for the strangers who are though they were still forbidden, both by civil and
with him, he proceeds to kill the cock, which he ecclesiastical law, from being buried in the interior ,
strangles by compressing the neck with his hand, at of the churches.
the same time reflecting that he himself deserves to ATROPOS (Gr. a, not, trepo, to turn), one of
be strangled. Then he cuts the cock's throat with a the three FATES (which see), by which, according to
knife, reflecting, during this operation, that he him- the ancient heathen mythology, the destiny of man
self deserves to fall by the sword. In the next is determined. The Atropos seems to have been that
place, he dashes the cock on the ground, to signify fate which cannot be avoided, and is generally repre-
that he himself deserves to be stoned. Lastly, he sented with a pair of scales, or a sun-dial, or a cutting
roasts the cock, as an acknowledgment of his own instrument.
deserving to die by fire. The entrails are generally ATTHAKATHA, a commentary on the sacred
thrown upon the roof of the house. The cocks used on books of the Budhists among the Singhalese,
this occasion are, if possible, to be white; but a red which, until recently, was regarded as of equal
one is deemed altogether unfit for the purpose. authority with the text. The text was orally pre-
After this ceremony, they repair to the burial ground, served until the reign of the Singhalese monarch
where they recite confessions and prayers, and dis- Wattagamani, who reigned from B. C. 104 to B. C.
tribute the value of the expiatory cocks in alms to | 76, when it was committed to writing in the
the poor. The cocks are dressed in the afternoon, island of Ceylon. The commentary was written
and eaten before sunset.”
by Budhagosha, at the ancient city of Anurádha-
The Fast of Atonement is more carefully observed pura in Ceylon, A.D. 420. Mr. Hardy, in his . Eas-
by the modern Jews than any other part of their tern Monachism,' thus refers to the Atthakatha.
ritual. The first ten days of the month on which it “When Mahindo, son of the monarch Asoka, intro-
occurs, are called “days of penitence,” on which duced the religion of Budha into Ceylon, he carried
various confessions and supplications are added to thither in his memory the whole of the commen-
ATTINGIANS-AUDÆANS.
257
taries, and translated them into Singhalese. By repentance which is unto life is a sorrow for sin, not
Budhagosha, about A.D. 420, they were again trans- on account of its temporal or even its eternal conse-
lated from Singhalese into Pali; and it is this ver- quences, but as dishonouring to God, leading the
sion alone that is now in existence, the original Pali penitent to exclaim with David, “ Against Thee,
version, and the translation into Singhalese having Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy
alike perished. These commentaries are therefore sight.” Every other species of repentance is unto
more recent than the text; and from the slight op- death, and cannot be accepted in the sight of a holy
portunities I have had of ascertaining their contents, God. See CONTRITION, PENANCE.
I should infer that they abound much more with de- ATUA, the Great Spirit among the New Zea-
tails of miraculous interposition than the Pitakas landers, and whom they dread. They supposed
which they profess to explain. It is said in the Ma- that he caused sickness by coming in the form of a
hawanso, cap. xxvii., that all the théros and achá- lizard, entering the side, and preying on the vitals.
riyos (preceptors) held this compilation in the same Hence they made incantations over the sick, threat-
estimation as the original text.' Not long ago, this ening to kill and eat their deity, or to burn him to a
was also acknowledged by the priesthood of Ceylon ; | cinder if he refused to come out.
but when the manifest errors with which it abounds ATYMNIUS, a son of Zeus and Cassiopeia, who
were brought to their notice, they retreated from this appears to have been worshipped at Cortyn in Crete.
position, and now assert that it is only the express AUDÆANS, or AUDIANS, a Christian sect which
words of Budha that they receive as undoubted arose in the fourth century, deriving its name from
truth. There is a stanza to this effect, that the Audæus or Audius, or in the Syriac from Udo, a na-
words of the priesthood are good; those of the ra- tive of Mesopotamia. He appears to have been a
hats are better ; but those of the all-knowing are man of great piety and conscientiousness, and to
the best of all. We learn from Colebrooke, that it have grieved over the worldliness which prevailed
is a received and well-grounded opinion of the learn- among the ecclesiastics of his time. His frequent
ed in India, that no book is altogether safe from remonstrances on this head exposed him to frequent
changes and interpolations until it has been com- persecution, and at length to excommunication. Thus
mented; but when once a gloss has been published, excluded from the dominant church, he succeeded in
no fabrication could afterwards succeed; because the gathering around him a party who sympathized with
perpetual commentary notices every passage, and in him in his views and feelings, and with whom he
general explains every word.?” This commentary held separate meetings for spiritual edification.
has in more recent times lost much of its importance Finding that the new sect were rising in importance,
in the estimation of the Budhist priests, and they the clergy made application to the civil power, and
generally prefer making direct reference to the text of the Audians were visited with severe penalties,
tho BANA (which see), or sacred books.
which, however, only tended to increase their num-
ATTINGIANS, a Christian sect mentioned by bers, and rouse popular feeling in their favour.
Dr. Hook in his Church Dictionary,' as having Their ranks were now joined by several bishops and
sprung up in the eighth century. They solemnized ecclesiastics of different grades, and Audius had in-
baptism, not with the words of institution, but with fluence enough to get himself ordained as a bishop
the words, “I am the living water;" and in the with spiritual authority over the party. This step
Lord's Supper they added the word “ Take,” to completed their separation from the dominant church,
“Drink ye all of it.'
with whom they not only refused to hold communion,
ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. See. God.
but even to join in prayer. The orthodox bishops
ATTRITION, an imperfect kind of contrition, now complained to the Emperor, who yielded so far
which, according to the council of Trent, “ arises from to their representations as to banish Audius at an
a consideration of the turpitude of sin, or from a fear advanced age into Scythia. The Goths had estab-
of hell and punishment." Again, the 'Abridgment lished themselves in that remote country, and to the
of Christian Doctrine,' a standard work among the conversion of that people to Christianity Audius
Romanist laity, remarks further concerning attrition, zealously directed his efforts. He built monasteries
"If it contain a detestation of sin, and hope of par- among them, ordained bishops, and succeeded in
don, it is so far from being itself wicked, that though bringing not a few from paganism to the intelligent
alone it justify not, yet it prepares the way to justi- adoption of the Christian faith. The Audians are
fication, and disposes us at least remotely towards accused of having deviated in some points from sound
obtaining God's grace in this sacrament.” The doe- views of the truth. Thus they were charged by
trine of the Church of Rome then is, that attrition their opponents, and probably not without cause,
with the absolution of the priest will avail; but if with holding the
with holding the errors of the ANTHROPOMOR-
the priest be not at hand to pronounce absolution PHITES (which see), asserting that God was pos-
over the dying sinner, the attrition of the latter is sessed of a human shape, and that the expression in
vain
, and he must perish. This lowest degree of re-Gen. i. 27, “ God created man in his own image,"
pentance however, this imperfect contrition, meets was to be interpreted literally, as implying that the
with no countenance from the Word of God. The body of man was framed after the shape of the
I.
R
258
AUDIENCE (COURT OF)--AUGSBURG CONFESSION.
Divine Being. Another point on which the Audians the sermon, and were dismissed as soon as it was
differed from the dominant church was in regard to ended. The period of probation to which the audi-
the period at which Easter was to be kept. In this entes were subjected, depended on the different con-
matter they were Quartodecimans, holding that the ditions of the individuals, but the council of Elvira
Easter festival ought to be celebrated on the same decided generally on a period of two years.
day as that on which it was observed by the Jews. AUDITOR, a legal officer of the Apostolical
Thus they returned back to the ancient usage in Chamber at Rome, who is immediate judge in ordi-
this respect, which had been discarded by the coun- nary for the trial of all causes belonging to the ter-
cil of Nice A. D. 325, and they accused that council ritory of the church, when he is appealed to. He
of having otherwise settled the time of the Easter has a right exclusive of any other to distrain the
festival out of flattery to the Emperor Constantine, goods of those who are indebted by bond to the
and so as to make it coincide with the day of his Apostolic chamber. He has the same power jointly
bith. The Audians defended their opinion on the with the officers of the chamber over every thing
subject by appealing to the Apostolical Constitu- that relates to the apostolic letters, all instruments
tions. This sect, which had derived its chief influ- passed authentically, and bare promises made be-
ence from the persecution to which it was subjected, tween man and man. The auditor has also a great
gradually disappeared towards the close of the authority, and the right of prevention in all criminal
fourth century.
cases, and has under him a provost and several ser-
AUDIENCE (Court of). This court, belong- geants. Subordinate to him are two lieutenants
ing to the Archbishop of Canterbury, was de- civil, who are always prelates, and a lieutenant cri-
signed to take cognizance of those causes which the minal, with two judges or assessors. Connected with
archbishop reserved for his own hearing. It was the auditor's office are employed a number of secre-
held at first in the Archbishop's Palace, but it was taries and clerks. This post is very lucrative.
afterwards removed to the consistory palace at St. AUDUMBLA, the sacred cow of the Scandina-
Paul's. The jurisdiction of this cout, however, is vian mythology. It was the grandmother of Odin,
now vested in the Dean of Arches. See ARCHES, and plainly meant the earth.
(DEAN OF). The Archbishop of York has also his AUGSBURG CONFESSION, a Confession of
Court of Audience.
Faith, drawn up in A. D. 1530, by Melancthon, as-
AUDIENTES (Lat. hearing), one of the classes sisted by Luther, and presented in name of the Pro-
of catechumens in the early Christian church. They testant party to the diet held at Augsburg, over
received their name from the circumstance that they which the Emperor Charles V. presided. Some
were admitted to hear senons and the Scriptures popish divines were appointed to examine it, and
read in the church ; but they were not allowed to having produced their objections, a dispute arose
be present at the prayers. Before the prayers of between them and Melancthon, seconded by some of
the church began, immediately after sermon, the | his party. This led to various modifications of the
author of the Apostolical Constitutions says that the Confession, with a view to conciliate the Romanists ;
deacon was to issue the command, Ne quis audien- but all attempts to produce harmony were fruitless.
tium, ne quis infidelium, Let none of the audientes, let The Augsburg Confession consists of twenty-eight
none of the unbelievers be present, and straightway chapters, twenty-one of which are devoted to the
they left the church. The penitents were anciently exhibition of the leading points of Protestant doc-
divided by the church into four classes, called by the trine, and seven to an exposure of the errors and
Latins, flentes, mouiners or weepers, audientes, hear- abuses which had led to their separation from the
ers, substrati, the substrators, and consistentes, the Church of Rome. The Confession was read at a full
CO-standers. Maldonatus divides them into three meeting of the diet, and signed by the Elector of
classes, the audientes, the competentes, and the peni- Saxony, and three other princes of the German
tentes. Suicer, who divides them into only two Empire. John Faber, afterwards Archbishop of
classes, the audientes, and the competentes, says there Vienna, and two other Romish divines, drew up an
is no mention of the order of penitents, called hearers, answer to this document, which led to the produc-
before the time of Novatus; though otherwise a tion by Melancthon in 1531 of his ' Apology for the
place for hearing the Scriptures and sermon was al- | Augsburg Confession.' This Confession has since
lowed in the church for heathens, Jews, heretics, the time of Luther been received as the standard of
schismatics, and the second rank of the catechumens, doctrine in the Lutheran Church down to the pre-
who upon that account were commonly termed hear- sent day. The edition of 1530 is the legitimate for-
ers, long before the name was given to any sort of mulary of faith, a somewhat altered edition having
penitents as a distinct order. After it came to be been published by Melancthon in 1540. A summary
applied to penitents, it was accounted the second of the whole Confession is given by Mosheim in
stage of discipline when they were allowed to enter his Ecclesiastical History. The tenth article asserts
the church. Gregory Thaumaturgus assigns them that the real body and blood of Christ are truly pre-
their station in the narthex, the ante-temple, or low- sent in the eucharist, under the elements of the
est part of the church, where they stood listening to I read and wine, and are distributed and received.
AUGUR--AUGUSTIN.
259
In consequence of this plain assertion of the Lutheran
held in the highest esteem, forming an influential
doctrine of consubstantiation, the Reformed or Zuin- order in the Roman state. For many centuries this
glian party refused to subscribe the Augsburg Con- condition of matters continued, and it was not
fession. Accordingly the imperial cities of Stras- until the reign of the emperor Theodosius that the
burg, Constance, Lindau, and Memmingen, offered a college of augurs was finally abolished.
separate Confession, drawn up by Bucer, called AUGUSTALES, an order of priests instituted
Confessio Tetrapolitana, or the Confession of the by the Emperor Augustus, from whom they derived
Four Cities. The only point on which it substan- their name, and whose duty it was to preside over
tially differed from the Augsburg Confession was the worship paid to the Lares and Penates which
that of the corporeal presence of Christ in the eu- were set up in places where two or more roads met.
charist, for which it substituted a real, yet a spiri- The same name was borne by another order of priests
tual or sacramental presence. This Confession was appointed by Tiberius to manage the worship paid to
presented to the Emperor in Latin and German, but Augustus. They were chosen by lot from the princi-
he refused to allow it to be read in public, though pal persons of Rome, and amounted in number to
he consented to listen to an attempted confutation of twenty-one. Similar priests were appointed to at-
it by popish priests; and then without allowing dis- tend to the worship paid to other emperors who were
cussion, or permitting the recusant cities to have a deified after their death. It would appear that, in
copy of the confutation, he demanded of them sub- the provinces, though not in Rome itself, Augustus
mission to the Church of Rome, which, however, was worshipped during his life. The management
they refused. The four cities continued for a con of the worship was committed to the Sodales Au-
siderable period to adhere to their own Confession, gustales, while the sacrifices and other parts of the
but at length they yielded and subscribed the Augs- worship were performed by the Flamines Augustales.
burg Confession, becoming a part of the Lutheran AUGUSTALIA, games celebrated at Rome, as
church.
well as generally throughout the empire, in honour of
AUGUR, an officer among the ancient Romans Augustus. A festival was instituted after the battle
who performed divination by means of birds. The of Actium to be held every five years, and the birth-
origin of the office is lost amid the obscurity and day of Augustus was set apart as a religious festi-
fable of the earliest period of the Roman common- val. Temples and altars were erected to his honour
wealth. Romulus, the first king, is said to have throughout the provinces, and the Augustalia were
appointed a college of augurs, amounting to three in observed with the utmost punctuality. After hav-
number. To these Numa afterwards added two. ing visited Greece, the day of the return of Augustus
The Ogulnian law, which was passed B. C. 300, in- to Rome, B. C. 19, was held as a sacred festival,
creased the number to nine, five of them being which received the name of Augustalia. The senate,
chosen from the plebs or common people. In the
mon people. In the however, B. c. 11, decreed that the Augustalia should
time of the dictator Sulla they rose to fifteen, a num- be held on the birth-day of the emperor, and these
ber which continued until the reign of Augustus, games continued to be celebrated in various parts
when their number was declared unlimited, and en- of the Roman empire for more than two centuries
tirely at the will of the Emperor. An augur re- after the death of Augustus.
tained his office during life, and was distinguished by AUGUSTIN, the most. eminent of the Latin fa-
wearing a long purple robe reaching to the feet, and thers, an individual whose life and labours form an
thrown over the left shoulder. On solemn occasions important era in the history of the Christian church.
& garland was worn upon the head. According to Mr. Elliot, indeed, in his Horæ Apocalypticæ,'
Dr. Smith, “ the chief duties of augurs were to ob- actually regards Augustin and the Augustinian sys-
serve and report supernatural signs. They were also tem of theological doctrine as predicted in the vision
the repositories of the ceremonial law, and had to of the Sealed ones" in the Book of Revelation.
advise on the expiation of prodigies, and other mat- This truly great man was born at Tagaste, a town in
ters of religious observance. The sources of their Numidia in North Africa, A. D. 354. To his
art were threefold : first, the formulas and traditions parents, but especially to his mother Monica, he was
of the college, which in ancient times met on the indebted for a careful training in the knowledge of
nones of every month ; secondly, the augurales libri
, Christianity from his very earliest days. The reli-
books of the augurs, which were extant even in gious history of the youthful period of his life is
Seneca's time; thirdly, the commentarii augurum, thus briefly given by Neander: “ The incipient germs
commentaries of the augurs, such as those of Messala of his spiritual life were unfolded in the unconscious
and of Appius Clodius Pulcer, which seem to have piety of childhood.
piety of childhood. Whatever treasures of virtue
been distinguished from the former, as the treatises and worth, the life of faith, even of a soul not trained
of learned men from received sacred writings." The i by scientific culture, can bestow, was set before him
augurs were also required to assist magistrates and in the example of his pious mother. The period of
generals in taking the AUSPICES (which see). In childlike, unconscious piety was followed, in his
the earliest ages of Roman history, very great im- case, by the period of self-disunion, inward strife
portance was attached to augury, and augurs were and conflict. For at the age of nineteen, while liv-
1
260
AUGUSTIN.
ing at Carthage, he was turned from the course eager search after truth. For a time he was in dan-
which a pious education had given him, by the dis- ger of falling into absolute scepticism; but from this
sipations and corruptions of that great city. The he was saved by the Christian education of his early
fire of his impetuous nature needed to be purified days. A hot mental conflict now ensued, which is thus
and ennobled by the power of religion : his great graphically described by Neander : “ During this
but wild and ungoverned energies, after having in- inward struggle, the acquaintance which he had
volved him in many a stormy conflict, must first be gained, by means of Latin translations, with works
tamed and regulated by a higher, heavenly might, relating to the Platonic and New-Platonic philoso-
must be sanctified by a higher Spirit, before he could phy, proved of great service to him. He says him-
find peace. ,
As it often happens that a human word, self, that they enkindled in his mind an incredible
of the present or the past, becomes invested with ardour. They addressed themselves to his religious
important meaning for the life of an individual by consciousness. Nothing but a philosophy which
its coincidence with slumbering feelings or ideas, addressed the heart,--a philosophy which coincided
which are thus called forth at once into clear con- with the inward witness of a nature in man akin to
sciousness, so it was with Augustin. A passage the divine,--a philosophy which, at the same time,
which he suddenly came across in the Hortensius of in its later form, contained so much that really or
Cicero, treating of the worth and dignity of philoso- seemingly harmonized with the Christian truths im-
phy, made a strong impression on his mind. The planted in his soul at an early age ;-nothing but
higher wants of his spiritual and moral nature such a philosophy could have possessed such attrac
were in this way at once brought clearly before tions for him in the then tone of his mind. Of great
him. The true and the good at once filled his heart importance to him did the study of this philosophy
with an indescribable longing; he had presented to prove, as a transition-point from scepticism to the
the inmost centre of his soul a supreme good, which clearly developed consciousness of an undeniable
appeared to him the only worthy object of human objective truth ;-as a transition-point to the spirit-
pursuit; while, on the other hand, whatever had, ualization of his thoughts, which had, by means of
until now, occupied and pleased him, appeared but Manicheism, become habituated to sensible images;
as vanity. But the ungodly impulses were still too —as a transition-point from an imaginative, to an
strong in his fiery nature, to allow him to surrender intellectual direction ;-as a transition-point from
himself wholly to the longing which from this mo- Dualism to a consistent Monarchism. He arrived,
ment took possession of his heart, and to withstand in this way, first to a religious idealism, that seized
the charm of the vain objects which he would fain and appropriated to itself Christian elements; and
despise and shun. The conflict now began in his was thus prepared to be led over to the simple faith
soul, which lasted through eleven years of his life.” of the gospel. At first, this Platonic philosophy
While yet young Augustin was seized with a se- was his all; and he sought nothing further. It was
vere and dangerous illness, in the course of which he nothing but the power of that religion implanted
expressed an earnest desire to be admitted into the during the season of childhood in the deepest re-
Christian Church by the ordinance of baptism; but cesses of his soul, which, as he himself avowed, drew
in consequence of his recovery the dispensation of him to the study of those writings which witnessed
the solemn rite was delayed. Before his mind had of it. He argued that, as truth is but one, this re-
reached maturity, and while he was yet a stranger ligion could not be at variance with that highest wis-
to the inward realities of Christian experience, though dom ; that a Paul could not have led such a glorious
no stranger to the outward revelation in the Bible, / life as he was said to have led, had he been wholly
he imbibed the errors of the MANICHEANS (which wanting in that highest wisdom. Accordingly,
see), and was formally admitted a member of the in the outset, he sought in Christianity only for
sect, entering first into the class of auditors who those truths which he had already made himself ac-
received only a partial and imperfect acquaintance quainted with from the Platonic philosophy, but
with its peculiar tenets. Being naturally of an ar- presented in a different form. He conceived of
dent temperament, he could not rest contented with Christ as a prophet, in illumination of mind and ho-
the scanty knowledge which his position as a novice liness of character exalted, beyond all comparison,
allowed him to obtain. It was his earnest desire to above all others ; one who had been sent by God
be received into the class of the elect, and thus to into the world for the purpose of transplanting what,
become acquainted with the mysteries of the sect. | by philosophical investigation, could be known only
After many interviews, however, with Faustus, one to a few, into the general consciousness of mankind,
of the most distinguished Manichean teachers, he by means of an authoritative faith. From this point
could obtain no satisfactory hold even of those doc- of view, he contrived to explain all the Christian
trines which the sect professed to maintain, and doctrines on the principles of his Platonic idealism.
after spending ten years of his life in vain and fruitless He imagined that he understood them, and spoke of
attempts to master the system, he was thrown into them as a master who was certain of his matter. As
a state of complete bewilderment. Renouncing | he afterwards said himself, he wanted that which can
Manicheism, therefore, his mind was directed to an alone give the right understanding of Christianity;
1
AUGUSTIN.
261
and without which, any man will have only the shell | orders, and accordingly, in A. D. 391, he was or-
of Christianity without its kernel—the love which is dained presbyter, and in A. D. 395, bishop of Hippo,
rooted in humility."
near Carthage. The elevation of Augustin to the
The inward conflict through which Augustin thus episcopate took place a short time after the death
passed prepared him all the more for comprehend of the Emperor Theodosius. From this time this
ing the experience of Paul, whose Epistles he began eminent divine assumes a prominent place in the
at this period seriously to study. Christianity now ecclesiastical history of the period, and for thirty-
appeared to him in an entirely new light. He five years he continued, by his writings and his
felt the self-evidencing power of the truth, and preaching, to stamp an indelible impress upon the
this was to him a subjective testimony of its di- age in which he lived, and to influence to no small
vinity. His religious and moral consciousness was extent the theological opinions of multitudes for
now satisfied; his desire of knowledge alone still many ages after he was gathered to his fathers.
sought satisfaction. For a time his notions of The two grand controversies in which, from his
Christianity were mixed up at this period of his ordination to his death, he took an active and con-
spiritual history with the peculiar doctrines of the spicuous part, were those first with the DONATISTS
Platonic philosophy; but from this strange unna- (which see), and then with the PELAGIANS (which
tural combination he was gradually, and, in course see). The first or Donatist controversy, had refer-
of time, wholly rescued.
ence to the important question, "What constitutes
The individual to whom, probably more than any the true church?' a point which has afforded ample
other, Augustin was indebted for clear and scrip- field for discussion in every age, from that of Augus-
tural views of Christian truth, was the excellent tin down to the present. On this subject, the bishop
Ambrose, bishop of Milan, to whose conversation of Hippo may have been not a little influenced in
and preaching he was wont to acknowledge the his views by the notions which had been impressed
deepest obligations. By the instrumentality of this upon his mind in early life, for he had been carefully
eminent prelate, he was brought under serious im- trained in the idea that the way to heaven was only
pressions, and after passing through various fluctua- to be found in the Catholic church. It was not until
tions of thought and feeling, he came to the resolu- after his conversion, at an advanced period, that he ar-
tion of publicly avowing his belief in the Christian rived at right conceptions of the true church, as con-
faith, and having made known his desire to Am-sisting of real spiritual believers. The Donatists
brose, he was baptized at Milan, A. D. 387. This taught that every church which tolerated unworthy
event gave the highest satisfaction to Monica, the members within its bosom was polluted by them, and
mother of Augustin, being the consummation of her ceased to be a true Christian church. They attacked
earnest longings and prayers in behalf of her son. the Catholic Church, therefore, as defective in this
Often had she urged upon him with all a pious mo- respect, and vindicated their own separation from it
ther's solicitude and earnestness, the cordial accep- as warranted, both by reason and the Word of God.
tance of those solemn truths which had proved Augustin, in defending the church against the mis-
through her whole life the solace and comfort of representations of the Donatists, pointed out with
her own soul. She was now ready to exclaim with the the utmost clearness an important distinction which
aged Simeon, “ Lord, now lettest thou thy servant had escaped the notice of both parties in the contro-
depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salva- versy—the distinction between the outward visible
tion.” Nor did she long survive the joyful event, church and the inward invisible church. This impor-
for on her way home to Africa with Augustin after tant point of difference is fully established and
his baptism, she was seized with sudden illness at illustrated in his great work on the City of God,
Ostia, on the banks of the Tiber, where after a few a work which Elliott regards as the very embodi-
days she expired.
ment of the idea of the 144,000 elect sealed ones of
Augustin felt deeply the irreparable loss which he the Apocalyptic vision into a corporate form. The
was thus called to sustain, and instead of prosecuting remarkable treatise to which we now refer, was be-
his journey homeward, he remained a considerable gun in A.D. 413, but not completed before A.D. 426,
time at Rome, spending his time in the preparation of and remains to this day one of the most extraor-
several valuable theological treatises, chiefly directed dinary productions which have ever come from hu-
against the Manichean heresy. His views of Divine
man pen.
truth were now much more correct and scriptural, and Shortly before commencing this celebrated work,
he returned to Carthage, in the best sense of the Augustin was called upon to enter the lists against
expression, an altered man, a new man in Christ another class of heretics, headed by Pelagius, a
Jesus." His valuable writings were readily appre- monk from Britain, who taught the doctrine of
ciated. The eyes of many earnest men were turned the free-will of man, in opposition to the predesti-
towards him, as destined, in all human probability, nating mercy and free grace of God. Pelagius and
to do good service in the cause of truth. At the his friend Celestius appeared at Carthage in A.D. 411,
earnest instigation of the friends of true religion in endeavouring to propagate their peculiar opinions.
his native district, he was prevailed upon to take | Through the influence of Augustin, which was pre-
262
AUGUSTINIANS.
dominant in that quarter, two different councils were we are bound, in the spirit of charity, to wish
called, the one in A. D. 412, and the other in A. D. that all may attain to salvation; so, assuming, in
416, to condemn the doctrines of Pelagius, and at the spirit of charity, that God will use us as his in-
the same time solemnly to recognise the doctrine of struments to convert and bring to salvation these or
God's grace to his true Church. The bishop of those individuals, who at present are living in sin,
Hippo felt that the doctrines assailed by the Pela- we are bound to employ all those means that are in
gians lay at the very foundation of the Christian our power, leaving the result with God.”
system. He set himself, therefore, to discuss the The close of Augustin's life was spent amid tu-
matter with the utmost enthusiasm and zeal. In a mult and bloodshed. The Vandals having poured
letter which he published, addressed to the presbyter down upon the North of Africa, laid siege to Hippo,
Sixtus, afterwards bishop of Rome, he laid down the in A. D. 430. The aged bishop was deeply grieved
doctrines concerning grace and predestination with to witness the scenes of carnage which ensued, and
such unflinching honesty and boldness, that no small he earnestly prayed, that if it were the Lord's will
excitement was produced, as if by such teaching the he might be taken to his heavenly home. The re-
axe were laid at the root of man's responsibility. quest was granted, and in the third month of the
The reply of Augustin, as stated by Neander, affords siege he entered into his eternal rest in the seventy-
a clear explanation of the Augustinian system. “ Ac- sixth year of his age. Thus died one of the bright-
cording to Augustin's doctrine, unconditioned prede- est luminaries which have ever adorned the eccle-
termination is not an arbitrary act of God, whereby siastical firmament. In vigour of intellect, in acute
he bestows everlasting happiness on men while discrimination, in polemic power, he is deservedly
loaded with all manner of sins; but a necessary in- classed as among the foremost of theological writers.
termediate link is the communication of grace. This AUGUSTINIANS, a name sometimes given to
is the source of divine life in those that possess it; those who hold the doctrines of AUGUSTIN (see pre-
and it must reveal itself by an inward impulse, ceding article), particularly on free grace, election,
in the bringing forth of good fruits. But then, even and predestination. The fundamental principle on
here, too, no limits can be fixed, where the divine which the Augustinian system of theology rests, is
agency commences and ceases, and where the human the utter depravity of man's nature, and his total in-
begins and ends ; both proceed inseparably together. | ability of himself either to be good or to do good. In
The human will, taken possession of by divine this state of moral helplessness he is entirely de-
grace, works that which is good with freedom, as a pendent on the influences of Divine grace, with-
transformed and sanctified will; and grace can only out which he could not be delivered from his de-
work through the will, which serves as its organ. | praved nature. In this state of matters, it is plain
Hence Augustin says, 'He who is a child of God, that all that is good in man flows from the free
must feel himself impelled by the Spirit of God to and unmerited grace of God. And on such princi-
do right; and, having done it, he thanks God, who | ples as these the language of the Apostle Paul, in
gave him the power and the pleasure of so doing. Rom. ix., becomes quite clear and intelligible. In
But he who does not what is right, or does it not that chapter the writer evidently supposes neither
from the right temper of love, let him pray God an election of God conditioned on the foreknowledge
that he may have the grace which he has not yet of faith, nor an election conditioned on the foreknow-
obtained.' By reason of the inner connection which ledge of the works growing out of faith; for Paul,
Augustin supposed between the first sin and the in fact, lays stress on the assertion, that God's elec-
sin of all mankind, he maintained that the indivi- tion made a difference before the children were
dual cannot excuse himself on the ground of the born, before they could believe, as well as before
general depravity, and that his sins are none the they could do any thing. " Moreover," to use the
less to be imputed to him as his own fault. Fur- able exposition of the system given by Neander,
thermore, God by his grace is, beyond question, able “the desert of faith does not precede God's mercy;
to operate on the hearts of men, not only without but it presupposes this mercy; and faith itself is
our exhorting, correcting, or reproving them, but one of the gifts of God's grace.
Paul, in Rom.
even without our interceding for them. Beyond ix, 11, certainly does not set the works of man
question, all these second causes could produce the over against faith, as the ground of the calling; but
designed effect on men only under the presupposi- he sets the calling over against works. The ealling
tion of divine grace, which operates through human of God, therefore, is here the first cause. Faith
instrumentality, and without which all human in-
presupposes the calling. But whence comes it, then,
strumentality would avail nothing, and under the that the call by the preaching of the gospel, and by
presupposition that the men, whom we would lead to outward circumstances, which pave the way for this,
salvation, belong to the number of the elect. But comes to some and not to others; and that the same
as God, however, often conveys his grace to men by influences from without, make a different impression
means of such instrumentality; as no certain marks on different men, nay, a different impression on the
are given us in the present life whereby it is possi- same men at different times? The Almighty and
ble to distinguish the elect from the non-elect; as All-wise God, could find, in reference to the differ-
AUGUSTINIANS.
263
ent states of men, those means of influencing them, as the judgment that we are righteous is transferred
which must make an impression on them with in- to us from the actual righteousness of the other re-
ward necessity, so that awakened, drawn, touched, presentative. We are sinners in virtue of one man's
and enlightened, they would follow, without being disobedience, independently of our own personal
conscious of any resistance against the grace operat- sins; and we are righteous in virtue of another's
ing upon their will? We must say, doubtless, man's obedience, independently of our own personal qua-
willing is nothing without the Divine mercy; but in lifications. We do not say but that through Adam
nowise can we say, God's mercy and grace are no- we become personally sinful—inheriting as we do
thing without man's willing; since God would find his corrupt nature; neither do we say but that
means of moulding every human will, in the way through Christ we become personally holy-deriv-
precisely suited to the character of each. On whom- ing out of His fulness the very graces which adorned
soever he actually has mercy, whomsoever he ac- His own character. But as it is at best a tainted
tually chooses, him he calls in the way which is so holiness that we have on this side of death, we must
befitting, that the subject is irresistibly drawn by have something more than it in which to appear be-
him who calls, though he follows with freedoin.' fore God; and the righteousness of Christ reckoned
The Augustinians in their tenets were chiefly op- unto us and rewarded in us is that something. The
posed to the Pelagians; thus, in regard to the free- something which corresponds to this in Adam, is his
dom of the will, while the Pelagians asserted moral guilt reckoned unto us and punished in us—so that
freedom to be a freedom of choice of either good or to complete the analogy, as from him we get the
evil, this notion of human freedom was denied by infusion of his depravity, so from him also do we
the Augustinians, who alleged such a freedom to be get the imputation of his demerit."
utterly incompatible and inconsistent with the total The doctrine of justification, according to the Au-
depravity of man's nature. The disposition of man gustinians, rested not on any thing in man, but on
is naturally towards evil; how then can it choose the the inner connection between Christ and believers.
good ? The same fountain cannot produce sweet The righteousness of Christ is imputed to the be-
water and bitter. “Who can bring a clean thing liever just as the guilt of Adam's first transgression
out of an unclean ? Not one." In the corrupt state is imputed to all men. “As by one man's disobe-
of human nature, then, the Augustinians found an dience the many were made," or constituted in law,
entire opposition to the Pelagian notion of human “sinners; even so by the obedience of one shall
freedom. Hence the necessity of a divine super- the many be made," or constituted in law, "right-
natural life, transforming the nature of man, and eous.” By faith man not only obtains forgiveness
subjecting it to the grace of God.
of sin, but also enters into the fellowship of the
The imputation of Adam's first sin to all his pos- Divine life with the Redeemer; he attains to the
terity, both in the guilt and consequent penalty of grace whereby his soul is healed from the malady of
it, was another distinguishing tenet of the Augusti- sin. He is no longer under the bondage of sin which
nians. They held that it was only the guilt of is unto death, but he is now the servant of right-
Adam's first sin that is imputed to his posterity, and eousness unto holiness. Thus grace is suited in the
not the guilt of his future sins. The grounds of Augustinian system to the different stages through
this imputation are, that Adam was both the natural which the divine life passes in the soul of man. In
root and the federal head or representative of all first attracting the unregenerate man, and producing
his posterity. The universal corruption of human na- in him the earliest motions to goodness, awakening
ture cannot be accounted for unless we admit that all him to a consciousness of his sinful lost condition,
men are involved in the guilt of the first transgres- it receives the name of prevenient or preparing
sion. The doctrine of imputation is clearly taught grace. It now proceeds to create in him a desire
in Scripture; particularly in Rom. v. it is so plainly and inclination towards that which is good, when it
and so repeatedly stated and formally proved, that is called operating grace. The grace which up-
it cannot be denied to be the doctrine of the apostle. holds the divine life amid all the temptations and
In speaking of this mysterious subject, the imputa- trials with which it is beset, is termed co-operating
tion of Adam's first sin, Dr. Chalmers remarks: grace. Hence the Augustinian doctrine of the per-
“As the condemnation of Adam comes to us, even severance of the saints—a doctrine which is clearly
so does the justification by Christ come to us. Now and explicitly taught in the Word of God.
we know that the merit of the Saviour is ascribed to One of the most marked characteristics of the
us-else no atonement for the past, and no renova- Augustinians, as distinguished from the Pelagians
tion of heart or of life that is ever exemplified in this and Semi-Pelagians, was their holding the doctrines
world for the future, will suffice for our acceptance of predestination and unconditional election. They
with God. Even so then must the demerit of Adam taught that God elected or chose, and predestined or
have been ascribed to us. The analogy affirmed in fore-ordained a certain and definite number of indi-
these verses leads irresistibly to this conclusion. viduals to everlasting life. This is the plain doc-
The judgment that we are guilty is transferred to us trine of Scripture. It is said, 2 Tim. ii. 19, “The
from the actual guilt of the one representative-even
Lord knoweth them that are His." He knows both
264
AUGUSTINIAN MONKS.
how many, and who they are. Accordingly, their tions scattered in different places into one order, un-
names are said to be written in the Lamb's Book of | der one general, prescribing to them, as their dress, a
Life. This predestination took place from all eter-long gown with broad sleeves, a fine cloth hood, and
nity. Thus it is declared, Eph. i. 4,“God hath under these black garments other white ones, being
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the bound round the middle with a leathern girdle fas-
world.” And, again, 2 Thess. ï. 13, “ God hath tened with a horn-buckle. This order was con-
from the beginning chosen you to salvation.” The firmed afterwards by several different popes, and
act of election flowed from the sovereign will of increased to such an extent, that they had more
God; and, therefore, in Scripture it is ascribed to than 2,000 religious houses, all of whom professed to
grace to the exclusion of works. Thus Rom. xi. 5, be regulated by the pretended rules of St. Augus-
6, “Even so then at this present time also there is a tin. In process of time the order became corrupt,
remnant according to the election of grace. And if and a reformation was found to be necessary, which
by grace, then is it no more of works : otherwise accordingly was carried into effect, first in Portugal
grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then A. D. 1574, then in Spain, Italy, and France. Cle-
is it no more grace : otherwise work is no more ment VIII. confirmed the reformed order in A. D.
work.” The predestinating purpose of God is im- 1600. This order is one of those which are called
mutable, as it is said, Ps. xxxiii. 11, “The counsel of | Mendicant or Begging Friars. The Reformed Au-
the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart gustinians wear sandals, and are called barefooted,
to all generations." Both the means and the end to distinguish them from the original and unre-
are included in the eternal decree. Accordingly, formed Augustinians.
Accordingly, formed Augustinians. In Paris, they are termed the
God's people are “ chosen to salvation," and they religious of St. Genevieve, that abbey being the
are also said to be “ chosen in Christ." The one is chief of the order. There are also nuns, who are of
as completely fixed from all eternity as the other. the order of Augustinian hermits. The Three Rules
Though the mediation of Christ was not the cause of St. Augustin, which are read to the monks of this
of their election, yet his obedience and death were order in each of their convents every week, contain
the grand means appointed for the execution of that a series of articles framed with a view of minutely
gracious purpose ; and though the Almighty chose regulating the moral conduct and general deport-
no man to glory because of his future faith and ho- ment of the religious. The order of regular canons
liness, yet provision was made in the eternal purpose of St. Augustin was brought into England by Adel-
of God for the faith and sanctification of all his wald, confessor to Henry I., who erected a priory of
chosen, prior to their enjoyment of bliss.
his order at Nostel in Yorkshire, and had influence
The Augustinian system of doctrine was soon after enough to have the church of Carlisle converted into
its publication felt to be completely opposed to that an episcopal see, and given to regular canons in-
of Rome. Accordingly, after the barbarians from the vested with the privilege of choosing their bishop.
North had come down upon the Roman empire, a two- This order was singularly favoured and protected by
fold stream of doctrine was perpetuated in the Church Henry I., who gave them the priory of Dunstable,
visible through the succeeding ages; the one the ri- and by Queen Maud, who erected for them the priory
tualistic ecclesiastical doctrine of the great mass of the of the Holy Trinity in London, the prior of which
Romish church, and the other the Augustinian spi- was always one of the twenty-four aldermen. They
ritual doctrine of saving grace professed by a goodly increased so prodigiously that, besides the noble
band of faithful men, who, though they outwardly priory of Merton which was founded for them by
belonged to the Church of Rome, continued, from Gilbert, an earl of Normanı blood, they had, under
age to age, down to the Reformation, to protest the reign of Edward I., fifty-three priories, as ap-
against Romish error, while they maintained and pears by the catalogue presented to that prince,
taught the Augustinian doctrines of grace. Roman- when he obliged all the monasteries to receive his
ism is mostly Pelagian ; the Reformed churches are protection, and to acknowledge his jurisdiction. At
generally Augustinian.
the Reformation, when the order was suppressed,
AUGUSTINIAN MONKS, a sacred order in the they had thirty-two monasteries.
Church of Rome. The origin of this fraternity has AUGUSTINE'S (ST.) LEATHERN GIRDLE
been actually attempted to be traced as far back as (FRATERNITY OF), a society for the improvement of
to Augustin himself. It has been alleged that when devotion in Roman Catholic countries. It is alleged,
at Milan he entered a monastery, and that on his that the Blessed Virgin wore this girdle on her loins,
return to Africa he carried thither along with him and that the use of it is enjoined by the law of na-
twelve friars, whom he established at Hippo, where ture, the written law, and the law of grace. Under
he held his episcopal seat. It is unnecessary to say, the law of nature it is asserted as probable, that our
that this is at best a mere monkish legend. The first parents wore a leathern girdle ; under the writ-
fact is, that the idea of forming such an order originat- ten law, we are expressly informed that Elijah was
ed with Pope Innocent IV,, but was only carried into girt with a girdle of this kind, and under the law of
execution in A. D. 1256, by his successor, Alexan- grace, that John the Baptist was dressed in the
der IV,, who constituted several eremite congrega-
To such a girdle, therefore, many
same manner.
*
AUGUSTINUS.
265
see.
devotees attach no slight importance, and consider the slightest symptom of its existence begin to mani-
it as a powerful means of exciting devotion.
fest itself, than every effort is straightway put forth
AUGUSTINUS, a work which had no small in- to crush it in the germ. The operation of life, how-
fluence in maintaining the truth of God amid the ever feeble that operation may be, cannot be to-
darkness of Popery in the seventeenth century. It lerated in the midst of the total death which prevails
came from the pen of the celebrated JANSENIUS in the Romish apostacy. Persecution, excommuni-
(which see), who gave name to the well-known cation, extermination, are the weapons by which that
party of the JANSENISTS (which see) in the Romish Church, if Church it can be called, maintains her
Church. Jansenius, bishop of Ypres, had devoted boasted unity. “ She makes a desert, and calls it
twenty years -of his life to the study of the works peace.”
of Augustin. The result of his protracted re- The publication of the 'Augustinus' was felt by
searches into the numerous writings of this cele- the Jesuits to be a fatal blow struck at the influence
brated father was the production of the 'Augusti- which they had long exercised, both in the Church
nus,' a work which brought prominently forward and in the world. There was no time to be lost,
the doctrine of free grace, which for thirteen cen- therefore, in bringing the book if possible into dis-
turies had been carefully concealed from public grace. For this purpose the press was plied with
view. This magnum opus Jansenius lived to finish, redoubled activity. But every production of the Je-
and, on his dying bed, he wrote a letter to Pope suits was instantly answered by a counter-produc-
Urban VIII., laying it at the feet of his Holiness. tion of the Jansenists. Pamphlets on both sides
The letter was suppressed by his executors, and its were printed in great numbers. The controversy
existence would never probably have been known waxed fiercer and hotter every day. At length
had it not fallen long after into the hands of the Father Cornet, a Jesuit of some notoriety at the
great Condé, by whom it was published.
time, came forward with a formal charge of heresy
No sooner had Jansenius expired than the forth- against the 'Augustinus,' which he laid before the
coming work was announced to be in preparation for college of Sorbonne, and also before the apostolic
the press. Two years elapsed before its actual ap- The charge was couched in five propositions,
pearance, during which time the Jesuits were un- which, he alleged, had been extracted from the work
wearied in their endeavours to suppress a publica- of Jansenius. The five propositions drawn up by Cor-
tion from which they dreaded the exposure of their net were as follows:-1. Some commandments of
doctrinal errors, and the consequent destruction of God are impracticable by the righteous, and some-
their influence, Many were the attempts made times even when they attempt obedience, the needed
through the press to prejudice the public mind grace is wanting. 2. No man can resist inward
against the expected 'Augustinus.' All was vain grace in the state of nature. 3. In order to moral
and fruitless. The people were on the tiptoe of ex- accountability it is not necessary to be free from
pectation, and all the more that the Jesuits were so inward necessity, but only from outward constraint.
violent in their condemnation of the book, and not 4. The semi-Pelagians admitted the necessity of an
only of the book, but also of its author, whom, al- | inward prevenient grace in order to every good act,
though they had professed to venerate him while he and even to the reception of faith ; but they were
lived, they now, with strange inconsistency, stigma- herein heretical that they required this grace to be
tized as a heresiarch after his death. At length the such as the will of man can yield to or resist indif-
long-expected work of Jansenius was given to the ferently. 5. It is semi-Pelagian doctrine to say that
public. Hitherto the friends of St. Cyran and the Christ died or shed his blood for all men. These
Port-Royalists generally had openly declared them- propositions, with the craft by which the Jesuits
selves to be the disciples of St. Augustin. Now, have ever been proverbially characterised, are ex-
however, that the · Augustinus' had made its appear- pressed in the most ambiguous and doubtful terms.
ance, the Jesuits used every effort to call away the The plan succeeded to a wish. The charge of heresy
public attention from the antiquity of the opinions was sustained first by the Sorbonne, and afterwards
which it promulgated, and to stamp them as the by Pope Innocent X., who forthwith issued a bull
mere individual sentiments of a man who had but condemning the Augustinus,' and warning the faith-
recently quitted the scene. This was a new heresy, ful against it, as containing dangerous, false, and
they endeavoured to insinuate, first broached by heretical doctrine. In addition to this, an assembly
Jansenius, and accordingly all who held these pecu- of the Gallican clergy was summoned, at which the
liar opinions were nicknamed Jansenists, an appel new heresy was unanimously proscribed. .
lation which, however malignant may have been the The Jesuits had now attained their object, and
spirit which originated it, is no longer a term of without delay a formula was drawn up, embodying
obloquy but of honour. Jansenism is diametrically the five propositions of Father Cornet, and pro-
the opposite of Jesuitism, in doctrine, in spirit, and nouncing them heretical. This formula was, by de-
in its whole nature. It is a struggle after the main- cree, commanded to be signed by all instructors of
tenance of Protestantism within the corrupt and youth as well as candidates for holy orders,--an
apostate Church of the Papacy; and no sooner does arrangement which was purposely designed to en-
266
AULIS-AUSPICES.
trap the Jansenists. In this part of their scheme, Greeks who presided over oaths. She is alleged to
however, the Jesuits were disappointed. The paper have given name to a town in Boeotia.
was readily signed by all who held the condemned AULIS, a name given to familiar spirits among
doctrines, but each added a solemn declaration that the natives of Madagascar. They are airy beings
the five propositions were not to be found in the which are enclosed in little boxes, embellished with
· Augustinus,' and pointed out where the misrepre- a variety of glass trinkets and crocodiles' teeth.
sentation lay. The Jesuits were enraged at being Some of them are made of wood and fashioned like
frustrated in their attempt to ensnare their oppo- a man; and in each box they put a sufficient quan-
nents. They were not to be deterred, however, from tity of powder of some particular roots, mixed with
making still further endeavours in the same direc- fat and honey, which they replenish from time to
tion. They, accordingly, applied for, and obtained time as occasion requires. They wear these Aulis
from the court of Rome another bull confirming the at their girdles, and never venture to take a journey
former, and declaring, further, that the five propo- | by land, or a voyage by sea, without them. They
sitions were not only heretical, but also extracted consult them three or four times a-day, and converse
from Jansenius ; and still more, that the sense in with them freely as if they expected from them some
which they were condemned was the one in which suitable answers; but in case they meet with a dis-
they were stated in his ó Augustinus.' Having pro- appointment, or an answer that thwarts their in-
cured this bull, the bishops, instigated by the Je-clinations, they load them with all the opprobrious
suits, drew up a second formula, couched in these epithets they can think of. The method which they
express words, “ I condemn from my inmost soul, as adopt in consulting these Aulis, is to go to sleep
well as orally, the doctrine of the five propositions after a familiar intercourse with them for two or
which are contained in the work of Cornelius Jan- | three hours, and the purport of the dream, which
senius, a doctrine which is not that of St. Augus- strikes the imagination of the person during his
tine, whose sentiments Jansenius has misinterpreted." slumbers, is looked upon as the reply of the oracle.
This formula was obviously so constructed as to ac- - AUM, or Om, the holy term by which Brahm the
complish the object which its malicious projectors Supreme Being, considered in his unrevealed, abso-
had in view. The Jansenists refused to adhibit lute state, is designated. No Hindu utters it.
their signatures, and thus an excuse was got by the AURÆ, in the mythology of the ancient Ro-
Jesuits for commencing a bitter and relentless per- | mans, the nymphs of the air, light and airy creatures,
secution. In vain did the recusants declare that it sportively flitting about in their aerial element, hap-
was not the heretical character of the five proposi- py themselves, and wishing happiness to man.
tions that they denied, but the allegation that these AURICULAR CONFESSION. See CONFES-
propositions were contained in the work of Janse- SION (AURICULAR).
nius; and this last, being a mere matter of fact, not AURORA, the goddess of the morning in the
a point of doctrine, came even on Romish principles Roman mythology, and called Eos among the Greeks.
within the cognizance of individual judgment. The Hesiod styles her the daughter of Hyperion and
only reply made to this defence was an unbroken | Theia, and Ovid calls her the daughter of Pallas.
series, for a long period, of excommunications, fines, Her employment was to usher in the light of day;
banishments, and imprisonments. The state prisons and hence she is represented by the heathen poets
were thronged. The Bastille was crowded with as rising out of the ocean in a chariot drawn some-
victims of Jesuitical malice and cruelty. The con- times by four, and at other times by only two horses.
vent of Port-Royal, which, under the spiritual direc- In works of art she appears as a winged goddess.
tion of M. de St. Cyran, had become one of the The word aurora is often used poetically to denote
strongholds of Jansenism, was visited with the hea- the morning.
viest indignation of the persecutors. The nuns were AUSPICES (Lat. avis, a bird, and specio, to
dispersed into different convents, where they were look), in its original signification denoted a sign from
closely confined in narrow cells, and deprived even birds, but afterwards became extended so far as to
of the necessary comforts of life, besides being inter- apply to supernatural signs generally. The obser-
dicted the reception of the Lord's Supper. Mother vation of omens, though now justly regarded as a
Angelica and her sister Agnes endeavoured to com- foolish superstition, fo: med a very important part of
fort the sisters under the severe privations to which the religion of the ancient Romans. The singing of
they were exposed, reminding them that they were birds, the direction of their flight, the very motion of
suffering for the cause of Christ. And, indeed, it their wings, was viewed as having a meaning which
was so; for the 'Augustinus,' their adherence to was in some cases capable of being explained by all,
whose doctrines was the source of all their evils, but in others only explicable by the regular autho-
maintained the grand scriptural doctrines of un- rised AUGURS (which see). Auspices were taken
conditional election, total depravity, and a definite on every occasion of importance, whether public or
atonement-tenets opposed to the whole system of private. No expedition was entered upon, no mar-
Römish theology.
riage was celebrated, no magistrates were elected
AULIS, one of the goddesses among the ancient without the observance of this superstitious practice.
AUTOCEPHALI-AUTO DA FE.
267
If a war was about to be undertaken, or even an assem- patriarch of Rome, and for a long time opposed him.
bly of the people to be held, the augurs must pre- In Wales, as well as in Scotland and Ireland, this
viously be called upon to take the auspices. Once independence continued for many centuries. Sozo-
a year, in time of peace, the auspices were taken for men, in his · Ecclesiastical History,' says, there were
the public good. The mode in which this ceremony some bishops, as for instance, the bishop of Tomis
was gone about, it may be interesting briefly to de- in Scythia, who were subject neither to any arch-
tail. At an early hour, generally before break of bishop nor to a patriarch. These were strictly au-
day, the augur went forth to an open place on the tocephali
. The churches in countries lying without
Palatine hill, or perhaps in the capitol, and with the Roman empire at first had no bishops dependent
his head veiled and a rod in his hand, he pointed out on the bishops within the empire, as, for example,
the divisions of the heavens, and solemnly declared the churches in Persia, Parthia, and among the
corresponding divisions upon the earth. This au- Goths; and these did not come under the power of
gural temple, as it was called, was then parcelled Romish patriarchs, until they fell under the civil
out into four parts, east and west, north and south. | power of the Romans. In fact, as Bingham informs
As unruffled calmness in the air was absolutely ne- us, before the setting up of patriarchs all metropo-
cessary to the proper taking of the auspices, the litans were autocephali, ordering the affairs of their
augurs carried lanterns open to the wind. A sacri- own province with their provincial bishops, and be-
fice was offered, at the close of which a set form of ing accountable to no superior but a synod, and that
prayer was repeated, when the signs were expected in case of heresy, or some great crime committed
1.0 appear. On his way home, if the augur came to against religion and the rules of the Church.
a running stream, he again repeated the form of AUTO DA FE' (Span. Act of Faith), the cere-
prayer and purified himself in its waters. This also
mony of putting in execution the sentences pro-
was indispensable to the success of the auspices. nounced on criminals by the tribunals of the Inqui-
Sometimes on a military expedition the auspices sition. It receives the name of an Act of Faith, as
were taken from the feeding of tame birds in a cage. being one of the strongest proofs of zeal for the Ro-
If on throwing them pulse they refused to eat, or ut- man Catholic faith. The term is applied generally
tered a cry, or fluttered with their wings, the sign to the burning of heretics who have been condemned
was unfavourable; but if, on the contrary, they eat | by the Inquisition, and given over to the secular
with avidity, striking the earth quickly and sharply | power to be visited with the punishment of death.
with their bills, the sign was favourable. This last To invest the act with the greater solemnity, the
omen was in some cases obtained by previously cruel sentence is always executed on a Sabbath.
keeping the birds without food for some time. The unhappy individuals, who are doomed to die,
AUSTER, the south wind among the ancients, are led forth in procession to the place of execution.
which more especially the Athenians worshipped as The process is thus described by Mr. Dowling in
a deity, the dispenser of rain and of all heavy his History of Romanism.' "The victims who walk
showers.
in the procession wear the san benito, the coroza,
AUTOCEPHALI (Gr. autos, himself, and ce- the rope around the neck, and carry in their hand a
phale, a head), absolute or independent bishops in yellow wax candle. The san benito is a penitential
the early Christian Church. They were subject to garment or tunic of yellow cloth reaching down to
the authority of no superior. The term was applied the knees, and on it is painted the picture of the
to all those bishops and metropolitans who had the person who wears it, burning in the flames, with
independent controul of their dioceses. According to figures of dragons and devils in the act of fan-
Bingham, the four following classes received this ning the flames. This costume indicates that the
title :-1. All metropolitans anciently. 2. Some me- wearer is to be burnt alive as an incorrigible here-
tropolitans who remained independent after the es- tic. If the person is only to do penance, then the
tablishment of the patriarchal power, such as those of san benito has on it a cross, and no paintings or
Cyprus, Iberia, Armenia, and Britain, before the flames. If an impenitent is converted just before
conversion of the Anglo-Saxons by the monk Au- | being led out, then the san benito is painted with
gustin. 3. Those bishops who acknowledged no the flames downward ; this is called 'fuego resuelto,
subjection to metropolitans, but only to the patriarch and it indicates that the wearer is not to be burnt
of the diocese. 4. Those who were wholly inde- alive, but to have the favour of being strangled be-
pendent of all others, and acknowledged no superior fore the fire is applied to the pile. Formerly these
Whatever. The only proper autocephalous bishop garments were hung up in the churches as eternal
is the Bishop or Pope of Rome, who acknowledges monuments of disgrace to their wearers, and as the
no head upon earth, but considers himself the su- trophies of the Inquisition. The coroza is a paste-
preme authority, and head over all temporal and spi-board cap, three feet high, and ending in a point.
ritual rulers throughout the whole world. The British On it are likewise painted crosses, flames, and
Church long retained its independence. The Arch- devils. In Spanish America it was customary to
bishop of Caerleon had seven bishops under him, but add long twisted tails to the corozas. Some of the
acknowledged no superintendence over it by the victims have gags in their mouths, of which a num-
7
268
AUTOMATIA-AVATARS.
cruel.'»
ber is kept in reserve in case the victims, as they nowhere more tenderly lamented, than amongst the
march along in public, should become outrageous, same people, and even when there is nothing in the
insult the tribunal, or attempt to reveal any secrets. manner of their death that appears inhuman or
“The prisoners who are to be roasted alive have a
See INQUISITION.
Jesuit on each side continually preaching to them to AUTOMATIA, a surname of Tyche or Fortuna,
abjure their heresies, and if any one attempts to offer the goddess of chance, in the ancient Pagan mytho-
one word in defence of the doctrines for which he is logy, to whom Timoleon built a temple, or rather
going to suffer death, his mouth is instantly gagged. sanctuary in his house.
*This I saw done to a prisoner,' says Dr. Geddes, in AUTOS SACRAMENTALES, a kind of trage-
his account of the Inquisition in Portugal, 'pre- dies formerly acted in Spain on the occasion of the
sently after he came out of the gates of the Inquisi- | procession of the holy sacrament. They were per-
tion, upon his having looked up to the sun, which formed in the public streets with torches, though in
he had not seen before for several years, and cried the light of day. The autos continued to be acted
out in a rapture, “How is it possible for people that for an entire month, and closed the devotion of the
behold that glorious body to worship any being but holy sacrament.
him that created it.'
AUXESIA, a surname of Persephone, worshipped
“When the procession arrives at the place where under this designation first at Athens, then at the
a large scaffolding has been erected for their recep- island of Ægina, her statue having been carried
tion, prayers are offered up, strange to tell, at a thither about B. C. 540.
throne of mercy, and a sermon is preached, consist- AVADOUTAS, a special kind of anchorets among
ing of impious praises of the Inquisition, and bitter the Hindu Brahmins, who practise great austerity,
invectives against all heretics; after which a priest abandoning their wives and children, and observe the
ascends a desk, and recites the final sentence. utmost abstinence, denying themselves all the com-
“ If the prisoner, on being asked, says that he will forts, and to a great extent the necessaries of life.
die in the Catholic faith, he has the privilege of be- They renounce all earthly possessions of every kind,
ing strangled first, and then burnt; but if in the and wear only a piece of linen cloth round the mid-
Protestant, or any other faith different from the Ca- dle, being otherwise entirely naked. They rub their
tholic, he must be roasted alive; and, at parting bodies with ashes, and whenever they are hungry,
with them, his ghostly comforters, the Jesuists, tell they go at once into any house, and without speak-
him, that they leave him to the devil, who is ing a single word, they simply hold out their hands,
standing at his elbow to receive his soul and carry and immediately eat whatever is given them. Some
it to the flames of hell, as soon as the spirit leaves of them will not even give themselves the trouble to
his body.' When all is ready, fire is applied to the ask for alms in this manner, but lay themselves
immense pile, and the suffering martyrs, who have down on the bank of some river, where the country
been securely fastened to their stakes, are roasted people, who regard these rivers as sacred, never fail
alive; the living flesh of the lower extremities being to bring them milk and fruits in abundance. Thus
often burnt and crisped by the action of the flames, they contrive to live in a state of indolence, and yet
driven hither and thither by the wind before the to obtain all that is needful for their daily support.
vital parts are touched; and while the poor suf- AVATARS, the metamorphoses or incarnations of
ferers are writhing in inconceivable agony, the joy Vishnu, one of the persons of the Hindu triad. These
of the vast multitude, inflamed by popish bigotry avatars are ten in number, nine of them being already
and cruelty, causes the air to resound with shouts of past, and the last yet to come. The nine past ava-
exultation and delight. Says Dr. Geddes, in a de- tars represent the deity descending in a human
scription of one of these autos da fè, of which he was shape to accomplish certain important events, as in
a horrified spectator : "The victims were chained to the case of the three first; to put an end to blas-
stakes, at the height of about four feet from the pheming vice, to subvert gigantic tyranny, and to
ground. A quantity of furze that lay round the avenge oppressed innocence, as in the five follow-
bottom of the stakes was set on fire ; by a current of ing; and to abolish human sacrifices as in the ninth.
wind it was in some cases prevented from reaching The ten avatars, or births of Vishnu, were, 1. Like
above the lowest extremities of the body. Some a fish; 2. Like a tortoise ; 3. Like a hog; 4. Like
were thus kept in torture for an hour or two, and a lion; 5. Like a dwarf; 6. As Purushu-ram ; 7.
were actually roasted, not burnt to death. This As Ram; 8. As Krishna; 9. As Budh; 10. As Kulkee,
spectacle,' says he, “is beheld by people of both or in the form of a horse. The first six of these
sexes, and all ages, with such transports of joy and took place in the satya-yug or golden age; the others
satisfaction, as are not on any other occasion to be are more recent. The tenth, which is yet to come,
met with. And that the reader may not think that will take place at the end of the kali-yug, or the
this inhuman joy is the effect of a natural cruelty iron age of the world. Besides these ten avatars,
that is in this people's disposition, and not the spirit there are many others mentioned in the puranas,
of their religion, he may rest assured, that all public In short, every hero and every saint is complimented
malefactors, except heretics. have their violent death by Hindu writers as an incarnate deity. See VISHNU.
win
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From a Drawing by Aincrisan Missionaries, (Diet, at' Religion, Knowledge, New York.)
The Ter Avatars or Incarnations of Vishnu.
See Articles vaar Vishnuidi Hunnism.!
A. Kullarlon &CO London & Edinburgh.
AVE-MARIA-AVIGNONISTS,
269
AVE-MARIA (Lat. Hail, Mary), a form of devo- | the payment of a certain sum of money appointed
tion used in the Church of Rome. It consists partly by law. This was not allowed by the Mosaic law.
of the salutation addressed by the angel Gabriel to To provide against the abuses which were liable to
the Virgin Mary, Luke i. 28, and to this is appended arise from such an institution as that of Göelism,
a prayer addressed to the Virgin. The whole runs cities of refuge were provided among the ancient
thus ;-" Hail, Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with Israelites, to which an unintentional man-slayer
thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is might resort to escape the vengeance of the Göel. If,
the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother however, the avenger overtook him before he reached
of God, pray for us sinners, now, and in the hour of a city of refuge and killed him; or if he found him
our death. Amen.” The “ Ave-Maria,” or “Hail, without the limits of his asylum and slew him, he
Mary," occupies a more important place in the Rom- was not liable to punishment. If the accidental
ish rosary than even the “Paternoster” or “Lord's | homicide got into the city of refuge before the
Prayer" itself. Ave-Marias are frequently repeated avenger overtook him, he was safe from his resent-
as penances, satisfactions, and atonements for sin, ment until he had been regularly tried.
In the prayers used by the ancient Christian church, AVERNUS, a lake in Campania, which, according
no Ave-Marias are to be found. The addresses were to the Latin poets, was the entrance to the infernal
all to God, never to the Virgin. Not even Romish regions. Hence the word was often used for the
authors are able to trace its origin higher than the lower world itself. See TARTARUS, HADES.
fifteenth century. Vincentius Ferrerius appears to AVERROISTS, those who held the opinions of
have been the first who used this form of prayer Averroes, an eminent philosopher, who was born at
before his sermons. His example came gradually to Cordova in the twelfth century, and died at Morocco
be imitated, and at length it was adopted into the in A. D. 1198. From the translations and commen-
Breviary along with the Lord's Prayer. Erasmus, taries which he wrote on the works of Aristotle, he
referring to the custom of repeating an Ave-Maria received the name of the Interpreter. His own
before commencing the sermon, says, that their philosophical system was founded on that of the
preachers were wont to invoke the virgin mother in Stagyrite; but in regard to the origin of things, he
the beginning of their discourses, as the heathen adopted the Oriental doctrine of emanations. The
poets used to do their muses.
objection was raised, that his philosophy was incon-
AVENGER OF BLOOD. In Gen. ix. 6, it sistent with the doctrines laid down in the Koran, but
was declared in the most explicit terms immediately to uphold philosophical systems without appearing
after the deluge, “ Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by to destroy theological tenots, he maintained the
man shall his blood be shed.” The execution of principle that a proposition true in theology, may be
this sentence was considered in primitive times, as false in philosophy, and vice versa.
devolving on the brother or other nearest male relative A characteristic feature of the philosophy of Aver-
of the person slain. Such a one was called in Hebrew
roes was that it established a distinction between the
the Göel or Avenger. If the Göel should fail to per- intellect and the soul. By the intellect man knows
form his duty, the responsibility passed to the next universal and eternal truths ; by the soul he is in
relative, who in this case was called the Megöel, or relation with the phenomena of the sensible world.
the nearest relation but one. An institution similar The intellect is active intelligence; the soul is pas-
to that of the Hebrew Avenger of Blood, seems to sive intelligence. The intellect is eternal, incorrup-
have prevailed among the Greeks in the heroic ages, tible; the soul is corruptible and mortal. The union
and also among the Scythian and Teutonic tribes. of the two principles produces thought as it appears
The same practice is still observed among the mo- in man. Theology is truth for the soul; philosophy
dein Arabs. Niebuhr, in his travels among that is truth for the intellect. Thus the Averroists
interesting people, mentions having met with a man made a forcible separation and divorce between rea-
of rank who carried about with him a small lance, son and faith, rousing the theologians of that day to
which he never laid aside even when in the company remonstrate loudly against the sect. The most ob-
of his friends. On asking the reason why the man noxious of their opinions were at length formally
was thus armed at all times, the traveller learned condemned by the last Lateran council under Pope
that several years before, a relative of his had been Leo X., in the commencement of the sixteenth cen-
murdered, and he was bound, therefore, as the near- tury. In the eighth session of that council, it was
est relative, to avenge himself by fighting in single solemnly declared by a decree, that the soul of man
combat with the assassin. Not long after he found is immortal, and that different bodies are not actuated
an opportunity of stabbing his adversary when un- by a portion of the same soul, but that each has a
prepared. The law of the Avenger is sanctioned by soul peculiar to itself.
the Koran, which says,
"O true believers ! the law AVERRUNCI, See APOTROPÆI.
of retaliation is ordained to you for the slain, the free AVIGNONISTS, a sect of Romanists which arose
shall die for the free.” This sacred duty, as it is last century at Avignon in France, reviving the er-
uniformly regarded, is called thár or "blood-revenge.” rors of the Collyridians, who in the fourth century
A commutation is allowed for its performance by | distinguished themselves by an extraordinary devo-
270
AVOIDANCE-AZYMITES.
OVER.
tion to the Virgin Mary. The originators of the AZOTUS, a name applied by the Greeks to
Avignonists were Grabianca, a Polish nobleman, and DAGON (which see), a god worshipped by the Phil-
Pernety, abbé of Burgal, a Benedictine, to whom is istines.
attributed a work, which appeared in 1790, entitled AZRECHAH, the name of a sect which sprung
"The virtues, power, clemency, and glory of Mary, up in the East, headed by Nafê Ben Azrach. They
mother of God.'
refused to acknowledge any superior power on earth,
AVOIDANCE, a term used in the English church whether temporal or spiritual. They became a
to denote a vacancy in a benefice from whatever powerful body under the reign of the Caliphs, de-
cause, when there being no incumbent, the fruits of clared themselves sworn enemies of the Ommiades,
the benefice are in abeyance.
but were at length overpowered and dispersed.
AWICHI, a place of future torment among the AZYMA, the name used by the Jews for unlea-
Budhists.
vened bread, which was commanded to be eaten at
AXIEROS, one of the three Samothracian Ca- the Passover. See BREAD (UNLEAVENED), PASS-
beiri, the most ancient gods of Greece. It is thought
to correspond to Demeter, and in accordance with AZYMITES (Gr. a; not, and zumé, leaven), a
this idea, Bochart says, that the word means in He- term applied by the Greek church to the adherents
brew, The earth is my possession. Fourmont makes of the Latin church in the eleventh century, because
Axieros to be Isaac, the heir of his father Abraham, they used unleavened bread in the eucharist. Many
and in whom his seed was to be called. See CABEIRI.
years of prolonged controversy followed the agitat-
AXINOMANCY (Gr. axine, a hatchet, and man- ing of this question. The Eastern Church seem to
teia, divination), a species of divination practised have had their attention first called to this point by
among the ancient Greeks, in which they foretold their observing the practice of the Armenians, who in
future events by means of an axe or hatchet. Ac- this matter followed, as they still continue to follow,
cording to this method, a hatchet was fixed in equi- the ritual of the Western Church. Michael Cerularius,
poise upon a round stake, and the individual towards A. D. 1051, was the first who charged the Latins with
whom it moved was regarded as the guilty person. deviating in this practice from the early Christian
If suspicion rested upon any persons who were not church, and he even went so far as to deny the validity
present, their names were repeated, and the person of a sacrament in which unleavened bread was used.
at the repetition of whose name the hatchet moved, The contest between the two parties waxed hot, the
was concluded to be guilty of the crime of which he heretical names of Azymites and Prozymites or Fer-
was suspected. Another mode of practising the mentarians being applied by both parties to each other.
favourite art of axinomancy was by laying an agate The Greeks felt themselves called upon to vindicate
stone upon a red-hot hatchet, and carefully watching their practice in employing common bread. Peter,
the direction of its movements.
the patriarch of Antioch, attempted to prove that
AXIOCERSUS AND AXIOCERSA, a god and Christ instituted the eucharist the day before the
goddess belonging to the Samothracian Cabeiri, passover, and could not therefore have used unlea-
supposed to correspond to Hades and Persephone, vened bread. Theophylact, bishop of Achrida, how-
an explanation which agrees with Bochart's expla- ever, who wrote on the subject towards the end of
nation of the words from the Hebrew, Death or de- the eleventh century, not being satisfied with this
solation is my portion. Fourmont explains both explanation, thought it necessary to admit that
these ancient deities as being Ishmael and his wife, Christ, who held with his disciples a proper feast of
because it is said, Gen. xxi. 21, “He dwelt in the the passover, must have used unleavened bread.
wilderness of Paran, and his mother took him a wife But while making this admission, he maintained that
out of the land of Egypt;" agreeing in both points the church was not thereby bound to use unleavened
with the etymological explanation given by Bochart. bread in all future time. This would be to allege
See CABEIRI.
that the example of Christ must be imitated in all
AXIOPENOS, the avenger, a surname of Athena, , the minute details of the ordinance, which has never
under which designation she was worshipped at Sparta. been insisted on by any church. In virtue of their
AXIUS, a Pæonian river-god.
Christian liberty, men are freed from the obligation
AZAZEL, the Hebrew name of the scape-goat to observe uniformity in these matters; and hence
referred to in Lev. xvi. 10, as used on the great day they should no longer consider themselves bound to
of atonement. See SCAPE-GOAT.
use unleavened bread. The Latin or Romish church,
AZAZIL, those angels who, according to the Mo- | however, still adheres to its ancient practice of em-
hammedans, are nearest to the throne of God. See ploying unleavened bread in the eucharist. Bing-
ANGELS.
ham in his Christian Antiquities alleges that the use
AZESIA, a surname of the goddesses DEMETER of wafers and unleavened bread was not known in
and PERSEPHONE (which see).
the church till the eleventh or twelfth centuries.
BAAL.
271
B
BAAL, BEL, or BELUS (Lord or Master), a god | As examples of this, we may refer to Judges ii. 11,
of great antiquity, being the name under which the " And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of
sun was worshipped among the Chaldeans and Phoe- the Lord, and served Baalim ;” and 1 Sam. xii. 10,
nicians, from whom this species of idolatry passed “And they cried unto the Lord, and said, We have
to the Hebrews. This false god is more frequently sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord, and have
mentioned in Sacred Scripture than any other. The served Baalim and Ashtaroth: but now deliver us
Moabites are said to have had what are called high out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve
places of Baal. Thus Num. xxii. 41, “And it came thee.” From these and other passages of the same
to pass on the morrow, that Balak. took Balaam, and kind, it is not improbable that there were either
brought him up into the high places of Baal, that various deities bearing the name of Baal, or various
thence he might see the utmost part of the people.” statues erected in his honour in different places. It
In the history of Gideon the name of this idol fre- is somewhat curious that the Septuagint translators
quently occurs, as for instance, Judges vi. 25, 30, have represented Baal as a goddess as well as a god,
and 31, “ And it came to pass the same night, that construing the word with a feminine article. The
the Lord said unto him, Take thy father's young same construction is used by the Apostle Paul in
bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, Rom. xi. 4, which may be thus literally translated
and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father from the Greek, “I have reserved to myself seven
hath, and cut down the grove that is by it. Then thousand men which have not bowed the knee to the
the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy goddess Baal.”
goddess Baal.” The Hebrew word Baal is mascu-
son, that he may die : because he hath cast down line, but there was a goddess called Baaltis, the one
the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the being the sun and the other the moon.
grove that was by it. And Joash said unto all that This deity appears to have been known under the
stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal ? will ye same name throughout all Asia. He is identical
save him ? he that will plead for him, let him be put with the Bel of the Babylonians frequently men-
to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, tioned in the Old Testament. Thus Isa. xlvi. 1,
let him plead for himself, because one hath cast “Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were
down his altar.” The worship of Baal was preva- upon the beasts and upon the cattle : your carriages
lent among the Jews in the reign of Ahab, chiefly were heavy loaden: they are a burden to the weary
through the influence of his wife Jezebel. In beast;" and Jer. 1. 2, “Declare ye among the na-
1 Kings xviii. we find an interesting account of a tions, and publish, and set up a standard; publish,
trial which was made, whether the God of Elijah or and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is con-
Baal was the true God. No fewer than four hun-founded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols
dred priests of Baal were present on the occasion, are confounded, her images are broken in pieces."
thereby showing to what a melancholy extent the The worship of Baal was introduced from the East
worship of Baal had been diffused among the Is- into the nations of the West. Accordingly, we find
raelites. In ver. 26, 27, 28, a glimpse is afforded us this god among the Gauls bearing the name of Be-
of the manner in which this idolatrous worship was lenus. It is probable, indeed, that the worship of
conducted : " And they took the bullock which was Baal as the sun, and of Baaltis or ASHTAROTH
given them, and they dressed it, and called on the (which see), as the moon, was the earliest form of
name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, idolatry known, as well as the most widely diffused.
O Baal, hear us.
But there was no voice, nor any Baal, in fact, was the riame of the principal deity
that answered. And they leaped upon the altar among the ancient Irish, and on this circumstance
which was made. And it came to pass at noon, General Vallencey grounds an argument in favour
that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud : for of the descent of that people from the Phoenicians.
he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, The ancient Britons also worshipped the sun under
or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, the names of Bel and Belinus. Hence in both Scot-
and must be awaked. And they cried aloud, and land and Ireland, the first day of May, which was
cut themselves after their manner with knives and regarded as a day sacred to the honour of that deity,
lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.” It retains to this day the name of Beltane or Bel's Fire.
may be remarked, that, in various passages, instead From scattered hints which are to be found both
of the singular Baal, we find the plural Baalim. in sacred and profane writers, we may gather a few
272
BAAL-BERITH_BAALTIS.
particulars as to the mode in which the worship of as identical with the Baal of the Phoenicians, but
Baal was usually conducted. High places were al- only bearing among the Shechemites a particular
ways selected for the temples and altars of this deity, surname from the special aspect under which that
and on these a fire was kept continually burning. people worshipped him.
From Jer. xix. 5, we learn that children were sacri- BAAL-BERITH, a person who, among the mo-
ficed to him : “They have built also the high places dern Jews, acts as joint master of ceremonies, along
of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offer- with the operator in the rite of CIRCUMCISION
ings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake (which see), and is bound to see that every thing
it, neither came it into my mind." This cruel prac- be performed with ritual and legal precision. He
tice is nowhere else that we are aware of associated must be a man of piety, probity, and respectability.
with the worship of Baal, and, therefore, we regard | It is his office to carry the child on his knees while
it as not improbable, that the Baal mentioned by the circumciser is performing the operation. In pre-
Jeremiah is the Moloch of the Ammonites. Whe- paration for his duty, he must wash himself all over.
ther this be the case or not, one thing is certain, His office is held superior to that of the circumciser.
that the idolatrous priests of Baal conducted their BAAL-PEOR. He is supposed to have been
religious ceremonies in a frantic and furious manner, the same with Chemosh mentioned in Num. xxi. 29,
leaping, or hopping as it may be rendered, upon the and Jer. xlviii. 7. Solomon built a temple to this
altars, and while the victims were being sacrificed, deity on the mount of Olives, 1 Kings xi. 7. There
dancing round them with wild gesticulations, and cut- were also groves planted and altars erected to his
ting their own bodies with knives and lancets. service on the top of a mountain in Moab, called
The Baal of the Phænicians was their supreme Peor, from which he may have derived his name,
god, and, accordingly, he corresponds to the Zeus or, as is more probable, it may have derived its
of the Greeks, and the Jupiter of the Romans. In name from him. Human sacrifices were offered to
the fragment of Sanchoniathon preserved by Euse- him, and it has been conjectured that they eat of
bius, it is said that this god of the Phoenicians was the victims that were sacrificed. This idea has pro-
called Baalsamin, or the Lord of Heaven; and Au- bably arisen from what is said in Ps. cvi. 28, “ They
gustine, who lived in the neighbourhood of Carthage, joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sa-
a Phoenician colony, declares Jupiter to have been crifices of the dead.” In the Septuagint this deity is
called Baalsamin. The same name occurs also in called Beel-phegor. From the lewdness which was
Plautus. It is a striking circumstance, that through- | practised in his temples, he has been often compared
out the Sacred Writings, Baal is generally classed to Priapus; but both Selden and Dr. Owen are
with Ashtaroth, which, as we have shown under that strongly opposed to any such idea. Some think that
article, was the symbol of the moon. There can be Baal-peor was Saturn, a deity worshipped anciently
little doubt then, that Baal was the sun, the greatest in Arabia. Selden suggests, that he may probably
and first of all the objects of idolatrous worship. be identical with Pluto, and this opinion he grounds
Incense was offered to him, as we find in 2 Kings on the expression “sacrifices of the dead,” which he
xxiii. 5, and bullocks also were sacrificed in his hon- | interprets to mean offerings to the infernal gods.
our,
1 Kings xvii. 26. Gesenius considers Baal as Calmet maintains that he was the same with Adonis.
the planet Jupiter rather than the sun. Several Bishop Cuinberland, however, conjectures that Baal-
critics have thought, that the god Belus of the Chal- peor is the same with Baal-meon, mentioned in
deans and Babylonians was Nimrod their first king; Num. xxxii. 38, and various other passages. The
others that he was Belus the Assyrian, father of bishop argues, that Meon is identical with Menes
Ninus; and others still, a son of Semiramis.
or Mizraim, the first king of Egypt, who, after his
BAAL-BERITH (Heb. Lord of the Covenant), a death, received divine honours under the name of
god of the Shechemites, supposed from his name to Baal-peor, Bacchus, Priapus, Osiris, and Adonis.
have presided over contracts and covenants. It may Jurieu enters into a lengthened argument to establish
be regarded, therefore, as corresponding to the Zeus the fanciful notion that Baal-peor was the patriarch
Orkios of the Greeks, and the Jupiter Fidius of the Noah.
Romans. Some learned men, particularly Bochart, BAALTIS, a name applied by Sanchoniathon,
identify this deity with a goddess called Beroe by one of the earliest writers, whose Fragments have
the Greeks, the daughter of Venus and Adonis, and been preserved by Eusebius, to the Phoenician god-
the patron-goddess of the town of Beritus in Phoe- dess, corresponding to the god Baal. In Pausanias
uicia, to which she had given her name. Others she is called Ammonia, the wife of Ammon. Bishop
conjecture that this idol represented the Cybele of Cumberland supposes her to be Naamah, the sister
the Greeks and Romans. The idolatrous Israelites, of Tubal-Cain, mentioned in Gen. iv. 22, the only
we are informed in Judges vii. 33, made Baal- woman whose birth in Cain's line Moses takes no-
Berith their god. Human sacrifices are thought to tice of, and the last person noticed in that line. If
have been offered to him; and he was generally this hypothesis of the learned prelate be correct,
appealed to as a witness and judge in all matters of then Naamah is the same with Ashteroth or As-
controversy. So that he may probably be regarded | TARTE (which see). In the mythology of ancient
$
BAAL-ZEBUB--BABEK.
273
nations, it is usually found that every god has his plainly that Baal-Zephon is not a god, as the Rabbis
counterpart goddess.
think, but the name of a place. The words are
BAAL-ZEBUB, a god worshipped in ancient these, Exod. xiv. 1, 2, “ And the Lord spake unto
times at Ekron, one of the lordships of the Philis- Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel,
tines, 2 Kings i. 2. In New Testament times he is that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, be-
called the Prince of the Devils or Demons. The tween Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon:
word Baal-Zebub is generally considered as denoting before it shall ye encamp by the sea.” The Rab..
the lord of flies, a name given to this false deity as binical tradition, in reference to this fancied god
the deliverer of the Ekronites from gnats or flies ; | is, that when the destroying angel passed over
and hence he was sometimes represented under the Egypt, all the idols, except Baal-Zephon, were de-
form of a large fly, or of a man with a fly on his molished, and from this circumstance the Egyptians
head or in his hand. We find the oracle of this formed so high an opinion of him, they came in
god consulted in cases of emergency. Thus Aha- crowds to worship him. Moses, they allege, observ-
ziah king of Israel repaired to Baal-Zebub to as- ing the popularity of this god, petitioned Pharaoh,
certain the issue of his disease, 2 Kings i. 2,3. The that he too, along with his Israelitish countrymen,
name is corrupted in Matth. x. 25 into Beelzebul or might be permitted to take a journey to the seat of
the lord of dung, probably in contempt. Some have this idol. Pharaoh complied with the request of
even supposed that the original name Baal-Zebub Moses, but while the Israelites were employed on
was applied to the god in mockery; but such an the shore of the Red Sea picking up precious stones,
idea originates in utter ignorance of the extent to they were overtaken by Pharaoh, who failing to at-
which flies are felt to be an annoyance, more espe-
tack them at the time, they passed the Red Sea,
cially in the East. The fly particularly called zebub, after having sacrificed to the idol Baal-Zephon, and
in Arabic zimb, was so destructive, that idolaters, escaped. Such were the idle tales with which the
who had gods presiding over almost every object in Jewish Rabbis of old were wont to delude their
nature, might well attribute remarkable power and people.
importance to Baal-Zebub, the Lord of Flies. Bruce, BAANITES, a name given to the sect of the
the traveller in Abyssinia, tells us that whenever | PAULICIANS (which see), in the beginning of the
the zebub or zimb appears, as it always does in ninth century, derived from Baanes, one of their
swarms, “all the cattle forsake their food, and run leaders.
wildly about till they die worn out with fatigue, BAAUT, or BOHU (Heb. empty), the goddess of
fright, and hunger.” The supposed deliverer from the earth among the Phoenicians. It probably refers
such a calamity could not fail to be held in high to Gen. i. 2, " the earth was void."
veneration by a superstitious people. This much- BAB, a word signifying father, and used by
honoured divinity has been sometimes regarded as the ancient Persian magi to denote fire, which they
identical with the Egyptian Amenthes and the Ju- considered the father and first principle of all
piter Apomuios of the Greeks. They are all con- things, as Zoroaster taught. The same doctrine was
sidered to be different names for the Lord of the afterwards inculcated by Anaxagoras, a Grecian
Dead, thus being equivalent to the Pluto of the philosopher.
Roman mythology, as he is regarded indeed by Pa- BABA, or PAPA, a title applied by the Eastern
trick, Le Clerc, and Jurieu. Quite an opposite churches to the patriarch of Alexandria, who was
opinion is entertained by some, that being called the the first of the patriarchs that was honoured with
Prince of the Demons by the Jews, he was the this appellation. Baba was also the name of a Mo-
same with Baalsamin, whom the Phoenicians wor- hammedan who, in the seventh century from the
shipped as the Lord of Heaven. The Jews were Hegira, declared himself to be a prophet, and at-
accustomed to consider the gods of idolatrous na- tracted many followers in Turkey. He and his at-
tions as devils or demons, and it was natural, there-tendant Isac preached sword in hand, both to Chris-
fore, that they should view the chief of them, as, tians and Mohammedans, setting forth the brief
instead of Baalsamin the god of heaven, Baalze- profession of faith, There is but one God, and Baba
bul the god of dung, or Baalzebub the god of flies. is his apostle.
BAAL-ZEPHON, an idol which the Jewish Rab- BABA LALIS, a Hindu sect sometimes included
bis allege to have been framed by Pharaoh's magi- among the Vaishnava sects. In reality, however,
cians under certain constellations, and set up near they adore but one god, dispensing with all forms of
the Red Sea to watch the Israelites, and retard then worship, and directing their devotions by rules and
in their journey through the wilderness. The only objects, derived from a medley of Vedanta and Sufi
ground on which this fanciful conjecture is built tenets.
is the name Zephon, which is derived from a He- BABEK, the head of a heretical sect among the
brew word signifying to observe or watch, and Mohammedans, which arose in the beginning of the
hence they suppose him to have been the watchful second century from the Hegira. This man made
or observing god. The language in which it is spo- an open profession of impiety, and embraced no re-
ken of, however, in the Old Testament, shows ligion or sect then known in Asia. He was called
I.
s1
274
BABIA-BABYLONIANS (RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT).
the founder of the merry religion, and it is probable arts and sciences, and the ceremonies of religion.
that he inculcated upon his followers the indulgence Some writers suppose that Oannes was no other than
of gross, sensual pleasures, urging upon them neither the patriarch Noah, who settled in Shinar or Chal-
moderation nor self-restraint.
dea immediately after the deluge.
BABIA, a goddess of the ancient Syrians, who The chief deity of the Babylonians was Bel,
was worshipped under the form of an infant. It was Belus, or BAAL (which see), to whom a most
common amongst them to call their children by its magnificent temple was erected, and who is thought
name, especially such as they wished to dedicate to by some to have been Nimrod, by others Ninus,
the priesthood. Young children are said to have the son of Nimrod, who was the founder of their
been offered up in sacrifice to this idol, while the city and kingdom. The grand temple of Belus
mothers stood by witnessing, without relenting, the is said to have been built on the ruins of the tower
immolation of their helpless offspring.
of Babel. Herodotus declares it to have been one
BABYLONIANS (RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT). of the most splendid temples in the world. The
Babylonia, or Chaldæa, called in the Old Testament learned Dr. Prideaux gives the following account of
Scriptures the land of Shinar,' was a country wa- this magnificent structure :-“The next great work
tered by the Tigris and Euphrates, having Mesopo- of Nebuchadnezzar at Babylon was the temple of
tamia to the north, and the Persian Gulf to the Belus. But that which was most remarkable in it
south; on the west, a part of Arabia Deserta, and was none of his work, but was built many ages be-
on the east the Persian province of Susiana. This fore. It was a wonderful tower that stood in the
once famous region is now a Turkish province, hav- middle of it. At the foundation it was a square of a
ing Bagdad as its principal city. The plain of furlong on each side, that is, half a mile in the whole
which the country consists is everywhere covered compass, and consisted of eight towers, one built
with lofty and extensive artificial mounds, which above over the other. Some following a mistake of
"rise,” says Mr. Ainsworth, “ upon the otherwise the Latin version of Herodotus, wherein the lowest
uniform level; walls, and mud ramparts, and dykes, of these towers is said to be a furlong thick, and a
intersect each other ; elevated masses of friable soil | furlong high, will have each of these towers to have
and pottery are succeeded by low plains, inundated | been a furlong high, which amounts to a mile in the
during the greater part of the year; and the antique whole. But the Greek of Herodotus, which is the
beds of canals are visible in every direction.” Of authentic text of that author, saith no such thing,
late years valuable researches have been made into | but only that it was a furlong long and a furlong
the antiquities, manners, and customs of Babylonia, broad, without mentioning anything of its height at
by Rich, Botta, and Layard.
all. And Strabo, in his description of it, calling it a
The mythology of the ancient Chaldæans, in com- pyramid, because of its decreasing or benching-in at
mon with the other oriental nations, commences every tower, saith of the whole, that it was a furlong
at a period of very remote antiquity, long prior to high, and a furlong on every side. To reckon every
the time of Moses. Berosus, one of the oldest tower a furlong, and the whole a mile high, would
authors extant, whose fragments are preserved by shock any man's belief were the authority of both
Eusebius, gives a detailed account of their cos- these authors for it, much more when there is none
mogony. In the beginning, according to their at all. Taking it only as it is described by Strabo,
view, there was a primitive chaos, which consisted it was prodigious enough; for, according to his dimen-
of nothing but darkness and an abyss of water con- sions only, without adding anything further, it was one
taining monstrous animals. Nature in this original of the wonderfullest works in the world, and much ex-
state was personified under the emblem of a woman ceeding the greatest of the pyramids of Egypt, which
named Omorea. God appeared in the bosom of hath been thought to excel all other works in the
chaos, dividing the body of the primordial woman, world besides. For although it fell short of that
or nature, in order to form out of one half, heaven, pyramid at the basis (where that was a square of 700
out of the other half, earth ; producing the light feet on every side, and this but of 600), yet it far ex-
which destroys the monsters, children of chaos; then ceeded it in the height, the perpendicular measure
of
causing the disorder of the elements represented by the said pyramid being no more than 481 feet,
these monsters to give place to order and regularity; | whereas that of the other was full 600; and, there-
and finally, from his own blood and that of inferior fore, it was higher than that pyramid by 119 feet,
deities mixed with earth, creating the souls of men which is one quarter of the whole. And, therefore,
and animals, which are thus of divine origin, while it was not without reason that Bochart asserts it to
the celestial and terrestrial bodies are formed from have been the very same tower which was there built
the substance of Omorea, or from the material sub- at the confusion of tongues ; for it was prodigious
stance. Such was the strange system on which the enough to answer the Scripture's description of it, and
ancient Babylonians supposed creation to proceed. it is particularly attested by several authors to have
A mythical personage named Oannes, half-fish, half- been all built of bricks and bitumen, as the Scriptures
man, was believed to have first communicated to the
.
Chaldæans the use of letters, the knowledge of the the going up to it was by stairs on the outside round it ;
BACCHUS.
275
from whence it seems most likely that the whole as- bodies. It was only natural, therefore, that the
cent to it was by the benching-in, drawn in a sloping temple erected to the honour of this astronomical
line from the bottom to the top eight times round it, deity should be an edifice of no ordinary splendour
and that this made the appearance of eight towers, and importance.
one above another, in the same manner as we have In addition to Belus, the Babylonians worshipped
the tower of Babel commonly described in pictures, many other gods, a few of whom are referred to in
saving only, that whereas that is usually pictured the sacred writings. Merodach, for example, is thus
round, this was square.
These eight towers being noticed in Jer. 1. 2, “Declare ye among the nations,
as so many stories one above another, were each of and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and con-
them 75 feet high, and in them were many great ceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded,
rooms with arched roofs supported by pilars, all | Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are con-
which were made parts of the temple after the tower founded, her images are broken in pieces.” It is
became consecrated to that idolatrous use. The difficult to ascertain who this deity really was, but
uppermost story of all was that which was most it is not unlikely that he may have been an ancient
sacred, and where their chiefest devotions were per- king of the country, who, as often happened with
formed. Over the whole, on the top of the tower, popular monarchs, was deified after his death. AC-
was an observatory, by the benefit of which it was
cordingly, we find other kings of Babylon named
that the Babylonians advanced their skill in astro- after him, as Merodach-Baladan, Evil-Merodach, and
nomy beyond all other nations. Till the time of others. In 2 Kings xvii. 29 and 30, we find an-
Nebuchadnezzar, the temple of Belus contained no other deity mentioned as having been worshipped
more than this tower only, and the rooms in it served by the Babylonians: “Howbeit every nation made
all the occasions of that idolatrous worship. But he gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the
enlarged it by vast buildings erected round it, in a high places which the Samaritans had made, every
square of two furlongs on every side, and a mile in nation in their cities wherein they dwelt. And the
circumference, which was 1,800 feet more than the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men
-square at the temple of Jerusalem; for that was but of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made
3,000 feet round, whereas this was, according to this Ashima.” This goddess, Succoth-benoth, who was
account, 4,800; and on the outside of all these build- represented as a hen and chickens, had a temple
ings there was a wall enclosing the whole, which erected to her service, as Herodotus records.
may be supposed to have been of equal extent with The priests of the ancient Babylonians, who were
the
square in which it stood, that is, two miles and the most if not the only learned men of their day,
a half in compass, in which were several gates lead- devoted much of their time and attention to the
ing into the temple, all of solid brass ; and the study of astronomy, and what was then a kindred
brazen sea, the brazen pillars, and the other brazen science, astrology. In the book of Daniel, accord-
vessels which were carried to Babylon from the ingly, the words “Chaldean” and “astrologer” are
temple at Jerusalem, seem to have been employed used indiscriminately to denote the same class.
to the making of them. For it is said that Nebu-
said that Nebu- Though their practice of divination was a useless
chadnezzar did put all the sacred vessels which he and unprofitable exercise, their scientific researches
carried from Jerusalem into the house of his god at appear to have been conducted with uncommon
Babylon, that is, into this house or temple of Bel; skill. Such was the extent of their knowledge, in-
for that was the name of the great god of the Baby- deed, in astronomical matters, that when Alexander
lonians."
the Great took possession of Babylon, Callisthenes
This celebrated temple stood till the time of Xer. the philosopher, who accompanied him, found, upon
xes; but that distinguished warrior, on his return searching into the treasures of Babylonian learn-
from his expedition against the Greeks, destroyed it, ing, that the Chaldeans had a series of astronomical
and laid it in ruins, having previously robbed it of observations extending backwards for 1,903 years
the images and sacred utensils, all of which were of from that time; that is, from the 1771st year of the
solid gold. Alexander the Great, on his return from world's creation forwards. With such constant
his Indian expedition, resolved to rebuild the temple contemplation and study of the heavenly bodies in
of Belus, but two months after the undertaking had the early ages, it is scarcely to be wondered at, that
been commenced, it was cut short by his death. when they fell from the knowledge of the true God,
The worship of the heavenly bodies, which was they should have lapsed into the worship of the
probably the first form of idolatry adopted by man, heavenly bodies. This form of idolatry, which is
had its origin probably in Babylonia. Such indeed | usually termed TSABIANISM (which see), thus corn-
was the opinion of Cicero, who assigns as the pro- mencing in Chaldea, spread rapidly over all the
bable cause of it, the level nature of the country, nations of the East.
which afforded a full view of the heavens on every BACCHUS, called originally Dionysus, was, in
side. In perfect harmony with this idea, Belus or the ancient Greek and Roman mythology, the god
Baal has been generally considered as the sun, the of wine. He was the son of Jupiter and Semele.
largest and most conspicuous of all the heavenly | By the Romans he was sometimes called Liber. He
276
BACCHÆBACULARIANS.
his father. As he grew up to manhood, the anger
was said to have been saved from the flames when | disgusting description was practised on these occa-
his mother Semele was destroyed by the fires of sions. So secretly were these disgraceful assemblies
Jupiter, and was sewed up for safety in the thigh of held, that for a long time their existence in Rome
was unknown, at least to the public authorities. In
of Juno pursued him so, that he was driven to mad- the year 186 B. C., the senate were made aware that
ness, and wandered from one land to another. Many such nocturnal meetings were frequented by large
legendary tales are reported of him. Among others numbers in the city, and a decree of the most strin-
may be mentioned his conquest of India ; his trans- gent nature was forthwith passed, authorizing the
forming himself into the shape of a lion to assist the consuls to inquire into their nature, to arrest the
gods in their war against the giants; and his mar- priests and priestesses who presided at them, and
riage with Ariadne, whom he raised to the rank of to prohibit under a heavy penalty any one, not in
a god, and placed his crown among the stars. Bac- Rome only, but throughout all Italy, from being
chus is scarcely referred to in Homer, and it was not initiated in the mysteries of Bacchus, or from meet-
until later times that the worship of this deity rose ing to celebrate them. A rigid investigation was
into importance. He was particularly worshipped accordingly instituted into the whole matter, and
at Thebes, which was regarded as his birth-place. was discovered that the initiated amounted to the
The festivals of Bacchus were celebrated at Athens large number of seven thousand. Great numbers
also with great magnificence, under the name of were apprehended and thrown into prison, while the
DIONYSIA (which see). The goat and the ivy were most criminal among them were put to death. From
sacred to Bacchus, and his worshippers usually this time the celebration of the Bacchanalia was or-
carried thyrsi or blunt spears encircled with ivy. dered to be discontinued, or if celebrated, the per-
Bacchus is usually represented as a young man of mission of the city prætor was to be previously ob-
effeminate beauty, accompanied by Pan, Silenus, and tained, and no more than five persons were allowed
the Satyrs. This deity presided not only over wine to be present. This important decree put a final
and festivities in general, but also over the theatre termination to the Bacchanalia, which were thereby
and the dramatic art. In the earliest times human completely suppressed. A simpler and more harm-
sacrifices were offered to him, but afterwards ani- less festival in honour of Bacchus, however, con-
mals were substituted for men. The animal most tinued to be celebrated annually at Rome, under the
commonly sacrificed to him was a ram.
name of LIBERALIA (which see).
BACCHÆ, or BACCHANTES, priestesses of the BACIS, a name applied to Onuphis, the sacred
god BACCHUS (which see). They were also called bull of the Egyptians, who was worshipped at Her-
Mænades (from Gr. Mainomai, to be mad), in con- monthis, in Lower Egypt, just as APIS (which see),
sequence of the frantic ceremonies in which they in- was worshipped at Memphis.
dulged in their sacred festivals. They wrought BACOTI, a noted witch, which the natives of
themselves up to a high pitch of enthusiasm, when, Tonquin in China consult on the death of any per-
with dishevelled hair, and half naked bodies, and son, with the view of ascertaining whether the soul
their heads crowned with ivy, and a thyrsus or rod of the deceased is happy or miserable.
twined with ivy in their hands, they threw them- BACTASCHITES, a sect of Mohammedan monks
selves into the most ridiculous postures, celebrating among the Turks, who derived their name from
the sacred orgies with the most hideous cries and their founder Bactasch. The religious of this order
furious gesticulations. In this way the Bacchæ pre- wear white caps of different pieces, with turbans of
tended to do honour to their god in the BACCHANA- wool twisted like a rope ; their garments also are
LIA (which see).
white. It is said by Mohammedan writers that
BACCHANAL. The sanctuary or inner temple Bactasch, when dying, cut off one of the sleeves of
of the god Bacchus.
his gown, and put it upon the head of a monk of his
BACCHANALIA, festivals celebrated in honour order, so that one of the ends hung down upon his
of BACCHUS (which see). This deity being wor- shoulders. While performing this act, he said, Ye
shipped among the Greeks under the name DIONY- shall be henceforth Janizaries, or a new soldiery.
sus, his orgies were termed among that people Dio- | Accordingly, the Janizaries wear caps which hang
NYSIA (which see). Among the Romans the Bac- backwards as a sleeve.
chanalia were carried on in secret, and during the BACULARIANS (Lat. baculum, a staff), a party
night, when the votaries of the god of wine charac- of the Anabaptists in the sixteenth century, who
teristically indulged in all kinds of riot and excess. counted it wrong to carry any other than a staff
, on
At the first institution of these festivals, only women the principle that it is sinful to bear arms in defence
were initiated, and the orgies were held during three of their religion. They professed to yield a strict
days in every year. But after a time the period of obedience to the principle laid down by Christ, that
celebration was changed from the day to the night, when smitten on the one cheek, it is our duty to
and the riotous feasts were held during five nights of turn the other also. Like the Society of Friends in
every month. Men were now admitted as well as more recent times, they held war to be unlawful,
women, and licentiousness of the coarsest and most and refused to fight even in self-defence,
BAD-BAIRAM.
277
BAD, an angel or genius, regarded by the Persian BAGE, a term used to denote the mysterious si-
Magi as presiding over the winds. He also super- lence which the Zoroastrians observe as a part of
intends all that happens on the twenty-second day their religion, when they wash or eat, after having re-
of each month of the Persian year.
peated secretly certain words. The followers of
BAD MESSIH, the wind or breath of the Mes- | Pythagoras, also, the Grecian philosopher, were en-
siah. This is the term which the Persians employed joined by their master to observe strict silence.
to express the miraculous power of the Lord Jesus BAGNOLENSIANS, a branch of the sect of the
Christ. They say that by his breath alone he not CATHARI (which see), which arose in the twelfth
only raised the dead, but imparted life to things in- century, deriving its name from Bagnolo, a town of
animate.
Provence, where it first originated. They maintaincd,
BAETYLIA, anointed stones of a conical shape, in opposition to the Manichean doctrine, that there
which are said to have been worshipped by the an- is only one first cause, the Father of Jesus Christ
cient Phoenicians. Sanchoniathon, in his Fragments and the Supreme God, by whom they affirm that
preserved by Eusebius, attributes the origin of the first matter was produced; but they added to
them to Uranus; and this is in harmony with the this, that the evil demon, after his revolt from God,
explanation often given of them, that they are me- digested and separated this matter into the four ele-
teoric stones, which, as coming down from heaven, ments, so that it could be formed into a world. This
are supposed to have been connected with some god or sect also believed that Christ assumed in Mary,
other. The first instance which we find recorded of though not from Mary, a body which was not real,
anointed stones is that of Jacob at Luz, Gen. xxviii. but imaginary. See ALBANENSES.
18, 19, setting up the stone he had rested on for a pil- BAHAMAN, the name of an angel which, accord-
lar, and pouring oil upon it, thus consecrating it to ing to the Persian magi, presided over oxen, sheep,
God, and calling the name of the place Bethel, or the and all other animals which might be tamed.
house of God. One of the ancient Baetylia has BAHIR (Heb. illustrious), a Jewish work al-
already been noticed under the article ABADIRES leged by Buxtorf to be the most ancient of the Rab-
(which see). Eusebius informs us that such stones binical writings.
were believed to be endowed with souls. It is easy BAHMAN, among the ancient Persians, the
to believe, therefore, that they would be held in pe- genius of the rays of light.
culiar veneration. The “standing images” referred BAIRAM. The Mohammedans have two festi-
to as prohibited in Lev. xxvi. 1, are explained by vals which they statedly observe under the name of
various commentators as Baetylia. Such stones of the Great and the Little Bairam. The former is
memorial are frequent in eastern countries at this held on the tenth day of the last month of the Ara-
day. Thus Mr. Morier tells us, “Every here and bic year; the latter closes the fast of the Ramazan.
there I remarked, that my old guide placed a stone This last festival is celebrated, particularly at Con-
on a conspicuous bit of rock, or two stones, one upon stantinople, with great rejoicing, and is reckoned by
another, at the same time uttering some words, the common people their greatest feast. It is
which I learnt were prayers for our safe return. ushered in by the discharge of cannon, the beating of
This explained to me what I had frequently seen be- drums, and the sounding of trumpets. It is somewhat
fore in the East, and particularly on a high road analogous to our own new year, as there is a general
leading to a great town, whence the town is first expression among the people of mutual good wishes,
seen, and where the Eastern traveller sets up his and all the officers of state hasten to the palace to
stone, accompanied by a devout exclamation, as it pay their respects to the sultan. The feast lasts for
were in token of his safe arrival." Vossius alleges three days, during which Constantinople exhibits a
that Jacob's stone was removed to Jerusalem, and spectacle of festive gaiety and mirth of every kind.
there held in great veneration ; and he tells us that On one of the feast days, the sultan proceeds in
when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, A. D. state from the seraglio to one of the mosques. A
70, the Jews were permitted by Titus to go and description of the pageant may interest our readers :
anoint this stone with great lamentation and mourn- “The procession commences with many fine horses,
ing. The Baetyli were supposed to be animated richly caparisoned, led by grooms. Then follow
with a portion of the deity: they were consulted several pashas, all well mounted and attended. Next
on occasions of great and pressing emergencies. comes the Capitaine Pasha (chief of the naval force,
Bochart thinks that the very name is derived from and other members of the council. After them fol-
Bethel, where Jacob first anointed a pillar as a sa- low some of the sultan's horses, attended by grooms
cred memorial.
---splendid animals, of the Turkish and Arab breed;
BAG, an inferior deity worshipped by the an-- hen, surrounded by a large body of military offi-
cient Arabians.
cers on foot, comes the sultan himself, mounted on a
BAGAIR, one of the lesser deities worshipped by noble charger. The sultan and all his suite now
the tribe of Azd among the ancient Arabians. wear common tarbouches, blue surtouts, and loose-
BAGAWA, or BHAGAWAT, the most merito- shaped trousers ; and the only difference between
rious, a name of Budha (which see).
the dress of the monarch and his attendants is a
278
BAIVA-BAMBINO.
ܕ
It was
short military cloak worn by the former, clasped at ceses, or even so much as to communicate in their
the throat with a rich jewel. This procession has churches,
lost much of its former splendour, by the exchange BALARAM, one of the two images which are
of the gorgeous, loose, and graceful Asiatic costume, placed on either side of the Hindu idol JUGGERNATH
for a tight semi-European uniform, a reform com- (which see) in the celebrated temple which stands
menced by the late sultan, but which ill becomes on the sea-coast of Orissa, in the district of Cuttack.
the fat Turks. The sight was much more imposing, On each side of the great idol is another image, one
when the sultan was surrounded by his janissaries, part of which is painted white and the other yellow.
wearing turbans of great height and amplitude, and The first is said to be the image of Shubudra, the
dressed in rich flowing robes ; but the day of the sister of Juggernath, and the other that of Balaram,
turbaned Turk is passed, and the rich Oriental of his brother. The image of Balaram, painted white,
the present time is only distinguished from a Euro- is set up in a few temples independently and alone.
pean by a red scull-cap, called the fez. The Orien- At the worship of Juggernath, and also at that of
tal dress is still, however, retained among the lower | Krishna, a short service is performed in the name of
orders, especially in the interior of the country, Balaram.
and the priesthood also continue to wear the ele- BALDUR, one of the sons of ODIN (which see),
gant robe and turban. On the last day of the Bair- the great god of the ancient Scandinavians, and the
am there was a display of splendid fireworks from goddess Frigga. He was wise and eloquent, the
the seraglio, which surpassed anything of the kind fairest and mildest of the gods. Ensnared by the
to be seen in Europe, this being an art in which the evil deity, Loki, he was killed by the blind god
Asiatics are acknowledged to excel.” The Persians, Hödur, who threw a twig of mistletoe at him, which
who are followers of Ali, observe the Bairam as pierced him through and through. When Baldur
strictly as the other Mohammedans. The festivi- fell, the ÆSIR (which see), were struck speechless
ties on one of these occasions are thus described by with horror, and all were of one mind that this fear-
Mr. Morier, as he witnessed them at Bushire on the ful deed should be avenged, which was accordingly
Persian Gulf: “ The Ramazan was now over. The done, Loki being slain. All the gods mourned for
moon which marks its termination was seen on the Baldur, but though they punished his murderer,
preceding evening just at sunset, when the ships at they had no power to restore him to life.
anchor fired their guns on the occasion; and on the BALKH, in ancient times the holy city of the
morning of our visit the Bairam was announced by Persians, and the centre of their religion.
the discharge of cannon. A large concourse of peo- the seat of their principal Pyræum or fire-temple,
ple, headed by the Peish-namuz, went down to the and the residence of their Archimagus or chief priest.
seaside to pray; and when they had finished their At the conquest of Persia by the Mohammedans,
prayers, more cannon were discharged. Just before
Just before the GUEBRES (which see) removed to the province
we passed through the gates of the town, in return- of Kerman, where they are still found, though re-
ing from our visit, we rode through a crowd of men, duced to a very small number.
women, and children, all in their best clothes, who, BAMAH. See HIGH PLACES.
by merry-making of every kind, were celebrating BAMBINO (Ital. child), a figure of the infant
the feast. Among their sports I discovered some- Saviour in the church of Ara Coeli at Rome, which is
thing like the roundabout of an English fair, except supposed by Romanists to possess the miracu-
that it appeared of much ruder construction. It lous power of healing the sick. It is generally
consisted of two rope seats, suspended in the form called Il Santissimo Bambino, the most holy child,
of a pair of scales, from a large stake fixed in the and is approached with the most devout reverence.
ground. In these were crowded full-grown men, It is a wooden image about eighteen inches long,
who, like boys, enjoyed the continual twirl, in which wrapped in swaddling clothes, so as to cover it
the conductor of the sport, a poor Arab, was labour- | wholly save its head and feet. On its head is a
ing with all his strength to keep the machine." royal crown sparkling with brilliants; and from
BAIVA, one of the principal deities of the Lap- head to foot it is covered with rubies, emeralds, and
landers, generally regarded as the sun or fire. No diamonds. The following description is by an eye-
separate idol is used for the worship of this god, witness : “A monk opened for us the main door,
and, therefore, he is often confounded with their and showed us into a small room, whence we were
great god THOR (which see), the Supreme Being shown by another monk into the wonderful chapel.
who shakes the world with his thunder. See LAP- There were there, kneeling before the altar, three
LANDERS (RELIGION OF).
poor women with a sick child. The priest who
BAKANTIBOI, or VACANTIVI, a name given acted in the affair was going through some ceremony
by some ancient Christian writers to wandering before the altar. Soon he turned to the right, and
clergymen, who, having deserted their own churches, with a solemnity, which, because feigned, was laugh-
would fix in no other, but went roving from placeable, opened a little cradle in which lay the glitter-
to place. By the laws of the Church, the bishops ing doll. He prayed over it; and then, taking it in
were not to permit such to officiate within their dio- his hands as if unworthy to touch it, placed it in
BAMBOO--BANA.
279
an upright position on the altar. Here he prayed / sured,” says another writer, “ that about one or two
over it again. He then took it in his hands, and hundred years ago, it was stolen from the convent of
touched, with its toe, the head of the sick child, and the Ara Celi; but so wonderful an image was, of
crossed it with it. He then put its toe to the lips course, able to choose its own place of residence, and
of the child, which was made to kiss it. And then could not be carried off against its will, and accord-
each of the women, who were all the while upon ingly, about eleven at night, the door bell rang vio-
their knees, kissed its foot. After a little more ce- lently, some of the monks opened the door, and to
remony, Bambino was put back into his beautiful their amazement found that the Bambino had walked
cradle, and the women withdrew. When the cha- back to them barefooted from the place to which it
pel was empty of Italians, we were invited inside by had been conveyed; and in memory of this event
the priest. We were taken up to the cradle. He the feet have ever since been kept uncovered. The
told us of the immense value of the jewels, many of regular fee to the Bambino is one dollar, while that
them the gifts of kings; of the many miracles to the first Roman physicians is half a dollar each
wrought by Bambino ; and pointed to the many sil- visit. One of our domestics, who most firmly be-
ver and gold hearts by which it was surrounded, in lieves in its powers, has seen it applied on many
evidence. He gave us items of its history, which occasions, and generally with success ; when the
were very rich. The cradle lies under a canopy ; cure is to be wrought, the countenance, according
at one end of it is Joseph ; at the other, the Virgin to her account, becomes of the most lovely pink;
Mary; and over it is an image of God the Father !" when not, it remains unchanged or turns pale.”
This little image is supposed to be possessed of most BAMBOO, a plant looked upon as sacred by the
wonderful powers in effecting immediate restora- inhabitants of Japan, who entertain the idea that it
tion to the sick. On application it is conveyed to has a supernatural influence over their destiny. The
the house of the patient in a splendid carriage, at- bamboo is deposited in the armoury of the Emperor
tended by priests in full canonicals. As it passes of Japan, and his subjects look upon that and fire as
along, every head is uncovered, and every knee emblems of his sacred majesty.
bows on the street. This wonderful image is ex- BAMBOO-BRIDGE. The inhabitants of the
posed to public veneration, in a scenic represen- island of Formosa imagine that the souls of wicked
tation of the stable at Bethlehem from the 25th of men are tormented after death, and cast headlong
December to the 26th of January of each year, dur- into a bottomless pit full of mire and dirt; and that
ing which time tens of thousands of people crowd the souls of the virtuous pass with pleasure and
the Ara Coeli and the Capitoline hill to do homage safety over it upon a narrow bamboo-bridge, which
to the Bambino.
leads directly to a gay paradise, where they revel in
The history of this image is curious as affording all kinds of sensual enjoyment. But when the souls
a specimen of the legendary tales of Rome. “It of the wicked attempt to pass along this bridge,
was carved in Jerusalem by a monk of St. Fran- | they fall over on one side of it, and plunge headlong
cis
, from a tree of olive, which grew near to the into the miry abyss. This strange superstitious no-
Mount of Olives. The good monk was in want tion bears a strong resemblance to the AL-SIRAT
of paint, and could find none. By prayer and fast- (which see) of the Mohammedans.
ing he sought paint from heaven. On a certain day BANA, the word, the name given in common
he fell asleep, and lo! when he awoke, the little doll conversation to the Sacred Writings of the Bud-
was perfectly painted, the wood looking just like hists ; the books in which the writings are contained
flesh! The fame of this prodigy spread all over the are called Bana-Pot, and the erection in which the
country, and was the means of the conversion of truth is preached or explained is called the Band-
many infidels.
It was made for Rome, and the Maduwa. Mr. Turnour states, that the Pali ver-
maker embarked with it for Italy. But the ship was sion of the three Pitakas, or collections of the sacred
wrecked; and when all gave up the holy image as books, consists of about 4,500 leaves, which would
lost, lo! the case in which it was suddenly and mira- constitute seven or eight volumes of the ordinary size,
culously appeared at Leghorn! This wonderfully though the various sections are bound up in different
increased its fame and the veneration of the people. forms for the convenience of reference. The praises
Thence it was soon transported to Rome; and when of the Bana are a favourite subject with the na-
first exposed to the devout gaze of believers on the tive authors; and the language in which they express
Capitoline hill, their shouts of joy and their clamor- themselves is of the strongest and most laudatory
ous hallelujahs ascended to the stars ! On a certain description. A few extracts are given by Mr. Spence
occasion, it is said that a devout lady took away Hardy as follows: “ The discourses of Budha are as
with her the pretty doll to her own house ; but, in a divine charm to cure the poison of evil desire; a
a few days, he miraculously returned to his own lit- divine medicine to heal the disease of anger; a
tle chapel
, ringing all the bells of the convents as he lamp in the midst of the darkness of ignorance; a
passed! The bells assembled all the monks, and as fire, like that which burns at the end of a kalpa, to
they pressed into the church, behold, to their infinite destroy the evils of repeated existence; a meridian
joy, Bambino was seated on the altar.” “I was as- sun to dry up the mud of covetousness; a great rain
280
BANDAYA_BANIANS.
to quench the flame of sensuality; a thicket to dom of Christ.' On the first meeting of convoca-
block up the road that leads to the narakas; a shiption, which was held after the discourse appeared,
in which to sail to the opposite shore of the ocean a committee was appointed to examine it, and a
of existence; a collyrium for taking away the eye- strong censure was passed upon it, as tending to
film of heresy; a moon to bring out the night-blow- | subvert all government and discipline in the Church
ing lotus of merit; a succession of trees bearing im- of Christ; to reduce His kingdom to a state of
mortal fruit, placed here and there, by which the anarchy and confusion, to impugn and impeach the
traveller may be enabled to cross the desert of ex- royal supremacy in 'matters ecclesiastical, and the
istence ; a ladder by which to ascend to the déwa- authority of the legislature to enforce obedience
lokas; a straight highway by which to pass to the in matters of religion by severe sanction. Besides
incomparable wisdom; a door of entrance to the this censure pronounced by convocation, formal
eternal city of nirwana; a talismanic tree to give replies to the arguments of Bishop Hoadley were
whatever is requested; a flavour more exquisite than written by Dr. Snape and Dr. Sherlock. The
any other in the three worlds; a treasury of the sovereign, indignant at the bold step which the con-
best things it is possible to obtain ; and a power by vocation had taken in expressing their public dis-
which may be appeased the sorrow of every sentient approbation of a sermon issued by desire of the
being."
king himself, suddenly prorogued the convocation,
The greatest advantages are alleged to accrue and from that period it has never been permitted to
from listening to the Bana, and a similar sentiment assemble for the transaction of business. The con-
prevails over all the East in regard to the benefit troversy thus begun was carried on with great abi-
arising from reading their sacred books. In the lity, and no little acrimony, for several years. One
earliest ages of Budhism, the Bana was in the ver- of the best productions which the controversy called
nacular language, and it may be easily conceived, forth, was · Law's Letters to Hoadley,' which, as it
that great effects might be produced by the recita- attracted much notice at the time of its publication,
tion of it, but its rehearsal has now degenerated into has since been several times reprinted.
an unmeaning form, from which no real, but only an BANIANS, a religious sect in the empire of the
imaginary good can be received. The sacred books Mogul. The word is sometimes used in a general
are literally worshipped, and benefits are expected to and extended sense, to denote the idolaters of India
result from this adoration as from the worship of an as distinguished from the Mohammedans. But in a
intelligent being. The books are usually wrapped in more restricted sense, it is applied to the Vaishya,
cloth, and they are often placed upon a rude altar or that one of the four Hindu castes which includes
near the roadside, that those who pass by may place all productive capitalists, whether pastoral, agricul-
money upon them and obtain merit.
tural, or mercantile. In the Shaster they are called
BANDAYA (Sanskrit, a person entitled to re- Shuddery, and they follow the occupation of mer-
verence), the name given to the priests in Nepaul. chants, or of brokers, who deal or transact for others.
They are divided in that country into four orders ; Two of the eight general precepts of Brahma are
bhikshu, or mendicants; srawaka, or readers; chailaka, considered as peculiarly binding upon them, in con-
or scantily robed; and arhaute or arhata, adepts. sequence of their employment — those, namely,
BANGORIAN CONTROVERSY, a contention which enjoin veracity in their words and dealings,
which arose in England more than a century ago and those which prohibit fraud of any kind in mercan-
out of a sermon preached by Dr. Hoadley, bishop tile transactions. They believe in metempsychosis,
of Bangor, before King George I. at the Royal cha- or the transmigration of souls; and, in consequence
pel, St. James's, London, on Sabbath, March 31, of their firm belief in this notion, they look úpon the
1717. The discourse in which the controversy ori- man as a murderer who wilfully destroys the most
ginated was founded on the saying of our blessed contemptible insect. They have a peculiar venera-
Lord when arraigned before Pilate, “ My kingdom tion for the cow, which they regard as a sacred ani-
is not of this world;" from which the bishop la- mal. The Banians never take an oath but with the
boured to prove, that the kingdom of Christ, and utmost reluctance. Some of them, indeed, will
the sanctions by which it is supported, were of a na- rather lose their cause than make oath, even in a
ture wholly spiritual; that the Church did not, and court of justice. When necessity compels them to
could not, receive any degree of authority under any swear, they lay both their hands in the most solemn
commission derived from man; that the Church of manner on the back of a cow, declaring, May I taste
England and all other national churches were the flesh of this consecrated animal if
, &c. When
merely civil or human institutions established for proselytes are won over to the Banian system, they
the purpose of disseminating the knowledge and be spend six months in preparation as novices, during
lief of Christianity, which the bishop alleged con- which time the Brahmins enjoin them to mix cow's
tained a system of truths not differing from other dung with everything they eat.
dung with everything they eat. The usual quantity
truths, except in their superior weight and import- is about a pound, which is gradually diminished after
This sermon, which was published by royal | the expiry of the first three months. As the cow is
command, was entitled, “The Nature of the King- considered to have something divine in its nature,
ance.
4
BANNS OF MARRIAGE-BAPTISM.
281
nothing, they imagine, can be so well fitted as the such a case, was expected not only to give its sanc-
excrements of this animal to purify both body and tion, but to take care that it was a marriage autho-
soul. A curious ceremony is practised by the Ba- rized by Scripture principles. No such ecclesiastical
nians, that of giving an infant a name when it is ten sanction, indeed, was required to constitute a mar-
days old. For this purpose they borrow a dozen | riage valid in point of law, but it was liable to church
infants from their neighbours, and place them in a cir- censure, and might lead to the infliction of penance,
cular form round a large cloth which is spread upon or even, it might be, to excommunication. This
the ground. The officiating Brahinin puts a certain notice given to the church originally answered the
quantity of rice upon the centre of the cloth, and purpose of a public proclamation in the church. No.
the infant then to be named upon the rice. The at- actual proclamation of banns seems to have been
tendants, who take hold upon the corners of the called for until the twelfth century, when it was re-
cloth raise it from the ground, and shake it forwards quired by the authority of ecclesiastical councils. In
and backwards for a quarter of an hour. Having some countries the banns were published three times;
thus sufficiently shaken the infant and the rice, the in others twice; and in others only once. The word
infant's sister who is present gives it such a name as Banns means, according to Du Cange, a public
she thinks proper. Two months afterwards the in- notice or proclamation. The intentions of marriage
fant is initiated into their religion, that is, they carry were sometimes posted upon the doors or other con-
it to a pagoda, where the Brahmin whose office it is spicuous part of the church; sometimes published
strews over the head of the young child some sandal - at the close of the sermon or before singing. In
wood shavings, a little camphire, cloves, and other England, before any can be canonically married, ex-
spices. When this ceremony is closed, the child is cept by a license from the bishop's court, banns are
constituted a Banian, and a member of the religion directed to be published in the parish church, that is,
which they profess.
public proclamation must be made to the congrega-
Should a Banian quit his mercantile occupation tion concerning the intention of the parties to be
and give himself wholly up to the performance of married. The proclamation of banns must be made
religious duties, even although he still retain his upon three Sundays preceding the solemnization of
caste, he is regarded as a Brahmin of a more devout marriage ; and should the parents or guardians, or
kind. The Banians are the great factors by whom one of them, of either of the parties who shall be
most of the trade of India is managed. They claim under twenty-one years of age, openly and pub-
it as almost a matter of sacred right, that all mer- licly declare, or cause to be declared, his dissent to
cantile arrangements should be conducted through such marriage, such publication of banns shall be
them.
They are found accordingly everywhere void. The law is the same in Scotland and Ireland
throughout Asia, where they are not only merchants as in England, though considerable laxity prevails in
but act as bankers, and give bills of exchange for some quarters in the execution of the law, proclama-
most of the cities in Hindostan. Their mode of | tion of banns being often made thrice on one Sun-
buying and selling is very peculiar, being conducted day instead of three separate Sundays. See MAR-
in profound silence, simply by touching one another's
fingers. The buyer, loosing his pamerin or girdle, BAPTÆ (Gr. bapto, to wash), a name formerly
spreads it upon his knee, when both he and the supposed to belong to the priests of the Thracian
seller with their hands underneath manage the bar- goddess Cotys or Cotytto, and to have been derived
gain by making such signs with their fingers as to from a practice in their festivals of washing in topid
indicate pounds, shillings, and pence, and in this water. Buttmann, however, in his Mythologus, de-
way, without uttering a word, they come to an nies that the name of Baptæ was applied to the
agreement. When the seller takes the buyer's priests referred to. See CoTYS-COTYTTIA.
whole hand, it denotes a thousand, and as many BAPTISM (Gr. bapto, to wash), one of the two
times as he squeezes the hand, indicates the number sacraments of the Christian church, instituted by
of thousands of pagodas or rupees demanded, accord- Christ, its only King and Head. Considerable dif-
ing to the species of money in question. When he ference of opinion has existed among the learned as
takes the five fingers, it denotes five hundred, and, to the precise origin of this institution. Grotius is
when only one, one hundred; half a finger to the fanciful enough to imagine that it dates as far back
second joint denotes fifty, and the small end of the as the deluge, having been appointed as a standing
finger to the first joint, stands for ten. By this memorial of that great event.
memorial of that great event. Without dwelling,
strange process, these industrious and active mer- however, on this notion, which receives not the
chants carry on the most extensive schemes of trade slightest countenance from Scripture, it must be ad-
in
many parts of the East.
mitted that from a remote period, among the Jews,
BANNS OF MARRIAGE. In the primitive as well as among other Oriental nations, divers
Christian church it was a rule that parties who were washings were practised, symbolical of inward puri-
about to be united in marriage should make known fications; some of them being expressly enjoined
their intention to their pastor, that the projected by the law of Moses, and others sanctioned only by
union might receive his approval. The church, in the vain traditions of the elders.
RIAGE.
I.
S 2
282
BAPTISM.
!
7
In connection with the origin of baptism, a ques- | plunges himself all over his body; for it was a rule,
tion has been raised as to the baptism of proselytes that when the law speaks of washing of the flesh, or
by the Jews. That an ordinance in some degree washing of garments, it intends the washing of the
analogous to that of baptism was known to the whole body; so that if but the tip of the finger, or
Jews' previous to the time of our Lord, is highly any of his hair remains unwashed, the man was still
probable from the fact that multitudes of the Phari- in his uncleanness. When he came out of the wai-
sees and Sadducees resorted to the baptism of John. ter, after his baptism, he made a solemn prayer that
And the language in which they addressed the Bap- he might be purified and clean from his Gentile.
tist strongly countenances this supposition. " Why pollution, and become a sound member of the Jews
baptizest thou then," said they, "if thou be not the ish church. A woman, when she was baptized, was-
Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet ?" Another placed by women in the water up to the neck, and
proof that baptism was previously observed by the two disciples of the wise men' instruct her in the
Jews, may be drawn from the conversation between precepts of the law. as she stands. Then she
our Lord and Nicodemus, the ruler being reprehended plunges herself, at which they turn away their,
for his ignorance on the subject of the new birth by eyes, and avoid looking upon her as she comes out:
water and the Spirit: “Art thou a master in Israel, It was necessary that three should be present at the
and knowest not these things?" plainly implying, baptism of a proselyte as witnesses, who took care
that the very position of Nicodemus as a recognized that the ceremony was regularly performed, and
Jewish teacher, fully warranted the expectation that briefly instructed the catechumen in the principles
he should have been acquainted with a baptism with of the religion he was entering upon.
the Spirit, of which the baptism with water was the “By this account of the admission of proselytes it
outward symbol. And the address which Peter gave may be observed, that such as were of age, and bap-
to the foreign Jews, collected from all quarters on tized by the Jews, were first instructed in the prin:
the day of Pentecost, “Repent, and be baptized, ciples of their religion, and the import of what they-
every one of you,"evidently proceeds on the pre- went about; but we are not to conclude from' hence,
sumption that baptism was a ceremony familiar to that children and infants, that were incapable of 'in:
his audience; and, accordingly, without delaying to struction, were not admitted into the church by bap-
make inquiry as to the nature or meaning of the or- tism. It is most certain that they baptized children;
dinance, we are told, that “they that gladly received and generally with their parents; and if their parents
the word were baptized, and the same day there were dead, the conşistory of three took care of their
were added unto them about three thousand souls.” | baptism. If an Israelite, says Maimonides, takes up
We are not left, however, to mere inferential reason- or finds a heathen infant, and baptizes him for a pro-
ing on the point of the Jewish baptism of proselytes. selyte, he becomes a member of the church; but
The ancient Jewish writers explicitly affirm, that children, who were baptized in their infancy, had
every convert to their faith was received by baptism the liberty to retract, which adult persons had not.
into their communion. The Babylonian Talmud, It appears further, that baptism was not administered
indeed, declares that “a person is not a proselyte,
a person is not a proselyte, but by persons of a regular ordination and appoint-
until he be both circumcised and baptized." The ment. A consistory, or Triumvirate, had the power
same doctrine is taught by the Jerusalem Talmud; orderly to execute this office, and not every one that
and in the Mishna, which is the most ancient portion presumed to take it upon him. And witnesses were
of the traditions, having been arranged in the second so necessary for admission into the church by bap-
century, mention is made of a dispute having arisen tism, that though a person were baptized regularly,
on the subject of the baptism of proselytes, between yet if he could not bring evidence of it by the testi-
the two celebrated schools of Shammai and Hillel, mony of witnesses, he was not admitted into the pri-
the point in debate being, whether a proselyte might | vileges of a prošelyte, nor received into the commiu.
eat the passover on the evening in which he was nion of the church.”
baptized.
It has sometimes been doubted whether the infants
Among the Jews there were two kinds of pro- of Jewish proselytes were baptized. But in addition
selytes, the one being called proselytes of the gate, to the testimony of Maimonides, quoted by Mr. Lewis,
the other proselytes of righteousness. The latter we may appeal to the Babylonian Talmud, which
alone were received into the Jewish church by bap-says, “ If with a proselyte, his sons and daughters be
tism. After circumcision had been administered, and made p:oselytes, that which is done by their father
a short-interval was allowed to elapse, the proselyte redounds to their good.” The Mishna speaks of a
was baptized. The mode in which this last cere- proselyte of three years old, which is thus explained
mony was observed, is thus described by Mr. Lewis in the Gemara, “They are accustomed to baptize'ą,
in his,'Hebrew Antiquities :' Being placed in the proselyte in infancy, upon the approval of the coña
water, the Triumviri (or the judicial consistory of sistory, for this is for his good." “They are accus-
three, who had the sole power of admitting to bap- | tomed to baptize," says the Gloss, " if he have not
tism); instruct him in some of the weightier and some a father, and his mother bring him to be proselyted,
of the higher commands of the law; and then he because none is made a proselyte without circumci-

OF
Picart
W. Forrest
A Baptism according to the Greek Church in Russia.
A. Fallarton & Cº London & Edinburgh.
BAPTISM.
283
“ As the pro-
sion and baptism." The Jerusalem Talmud treats not a necessarily effectual means of regeneration.
of the difference of baptizing an infant, which has At the Reformation, this very question as to the
been found, for a slave or for a free man. From such validity of John's baptism, was keenly argued by
authorities as these, the conclusion can scarcely be the Romanists on the one side, and the Reformers
avoided that the Jews were familiar with infant baptism. on the other, and the very first anathema which the
Previous to the institution of Christian baptism by council of Trent pronounced respecting baptism, was
the Lord Jesus Christ, it must also be admitted that directed against the heresy of maintaining the vali-
the ordinance was observed by John the Baptist, his dity of John's baptism.
forerunner. The question has given rise to no small Another question arises in regard to the baptism
discussion among theologians, whether, and if so, in of John. Did he, or did he not, baptize the infants
what respects the baptism of John differed from that of such as waited upon his ministry? No distinct
of Christ? The outward ceremony seems to have information is given us in Scripture on the subject.
been in both cases the same, but in various respects The following judicious remarks of Dr. Halley are
there was a material difference between them. The well worthy of the reader's attention.
points of difference are thus summarily described by mise of the Messiah was made to the whole house
Dr. Dick, “ John baptized his disciples into the faith of Israel, to the natural seed of Abraham in its na-
of the Messiah as to come; we are baptized into the tional character, it would seem probable, that the
faith of him as actually come. The baptism of John whole nation, and not a part only, was entitled to
was evidently designed to serve a temporary pur- receive the sign of his coming. The infants of Israel
pose, in common with all the other parts of his min- had the same interest in the promise of the Messiah
istry; the baptism of Christ is to continue to the end as the adults. When we consider that all other re-
of the world. The one did not properly belong to ligious rites of a national character were, according
the Christian dispensation, but was preparatory to it; to the Jewish law, performed for infants as well as
the other is an ordinance given by our Saviour to for their parents, as for instance the great national
his church, to supply the place of circumcision. distinction of circumcision; this probability is great-
Christian baptism is administered in the name of the ly increased, for why should John for the first time
persons of the Trinity; whereas we have no evidence distinguish parents from children in the religious
that the Divine Persons were explicitly recognized rites of the Jews? Judaism was not then abolished;
in the baptism of John. From these considerations, the principles of Mosaic law flourished with unabat-
it
appears
that the two ordinances differ so much in ed vigour; with its spirit, every new ceremonial
their form, in their design, and in their relation to must have been accordant; but nothing can be ima-
the present dispensation, that they may be regarded gined more anti-Mosaic, more contrary to the spirit
as perfectly distinct, and consequently, that a person or letter of the law, than the separation of parents
who had been baptized by John might have been and children in the new rite of purification. Of Is-
baptized again by an Apostle.” Dr. Halley, in his rael as concerning the flesh, Christ came, and all
able Congregational Lecture on the sacraments, that was represented by the baptism of John, the
dwells particularly on the indiscriminate administra- sign of his coming, concerned the whole house of
tion of this ordinance by John, to all who applied for Israel.
Israel. Why should we restrict the representation
it, and on the fact, which the Doctor alleges was to a part only? Preparatory to the descent of God
borne out by all experience, that the baptism of John on Sinai, Moses purified all the people, not the
produced no moral nor spiritual change upon the adults only. Why should we not suppose that pre-
persons who received it. The Roman Catholics, fol-
The Roman Catholics, fol- paratory to the coming of the Son of God, John
lowed by the Anglo-Catholics, insist upon this last baptized all Judea, and all Jerusalem, and all the
peculiarity of John's baptism, as attaching also to region round about, and not the adults only? I ad-
circumcision, alleging, to use the words of Dr. Pusey, mit we may restrict this general description to
that “it was only a sign, a shadow, a symbol, having adults, if there be good reason for doing so; but what
no sanctifying power, a mere type of baptism.” The good reason can be adduced for any such restriction?
evident design of all such statements, whether made To say it is improbable that infants were included,
by Romanists or Tractarians, in reference both to is a perfectly gratuitous assumption, which, although
circumcision and John's baptism, is to bring out many assumptions as gratuitous have been conceded
baptismal regeneration as belonging exclusively to in this controversy, I trust we are not so foolish as
the ordinance as instituted by Christ. Dr. Halley, to allow without protest. Under a dispensation of
on the other hand, while admitting that regeneration Judaism the religious ordinances were of a national
belonged neither to circumcision nor to John's bap- | character, without reference to age or class, and it is
tism, dexterously converts this very admission into probable that a restriction was, for the first time, in-
an argument against baptismal regeneration, show- troduced into a service which proclaimed to the
ing, as he does with great ability, that the baptism whole house of Israel the speedy accomplishment of
of John was truly and essentially the same with the promise to which every infant was indubitably
Christian baptism, and therefore Christian baptism the heir, and yet, notwithstanding the restriction,
itself at its commencement was only a symbol
, and all are said to have been baptized ?"
234
BAPTISM.
Baptism was not formally instituted as a perpetual | Justin Martyr says, that it was dispensed in the
ordinance in the New Testament church until after presence of the assembly. From the third century
the resurrection of Christ, when he gave the fol- it became one of the secret mysteries of the church,
lowing parting commission to his disciples, Mat. and continued to be so until the fifth century. Dur-
xxviii. 19, 20,“ Go ye therefore, and teach all na- ing that period it was chiefly administered privately
tions, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and in the presence of believers only. It was sometimes
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to necessary, in cases of sickness or apparently ap-
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: proaching death, to baptize at the bed-side of the
and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of convert, in which case it was called clinic baptism,
the world. Amen." These words plainly imply, a mode of celebrating the ordinance which was
that when the apostles went forth at the command | usually regarded as imperfect. It is admitted on all
of Christ to preach the gospel, they were to disciple | hands, that in early times the usual mode of bap-
all nations, and as a symbol or sign of their disciple- tizing was by immersion, the whole body being
ship, they were to baptize them into the name of plunged under water. The wooden structure in
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Nor which the ceremony was performed was divided by a
was this to be a mere temporary ordinance, limitedonly partition into two compartments. The men were
in its duration to the apostolic age; it was appointed waited upon by deacons, the women by deaconesses,
to be a standing ordinance in the Christian church, and the ceremony was gone through in the presence
in the observance of which Christ promised to be of the assembled congregation, from which, how-
with his disciples to the end of the world. Baptism, ever, the baptized were separated by the small build-
accordingly, has continued to be practised by all ing in which the immersion took place.
Christian sects with the exception of the Society of From the great, and in some instances, even su-
Friends (See FRIENDS, SOCIETY OF), or Quakers, perstitious veneration with which baptism was re-
as they are usually called, who regard all outward garded, more especially in the third century, cases
ordinances as inconsistent with the nature of Chris- frequently occurred in which the reception of the
tianity, as being a purely spiritual system of wor- ordinance was delayed to a dying bed, the notiou
ship. In the primitive Christian church this ordi- , being evidently entertained, that the soul would be
nance was regarded with peculiar veneration, not all the better fitted to enter into the purity of hea-
less from a deep impression of its solemnity, and of ven after passing immediately through the cleansing
the great responsibility attached to the reception of water of baptism. No small importance was fre-
it, than in consequence of the long careful prepara- | quently attached to the person by whom, and the
tion necessary for any individual who wished to be place where, the person was baptized. Thus we
baptized. Before receiving this initiatory rite, a man find Augustin boasting, that he had received the or-
was scarcely regarded as entitled to be called a dinance from the hands of the worthy Ambrose,
Christian, but was viewed as little more than a Jew bishop of Milan. Constantine, too, was on his way
or a heathen. To be raised above this degraded to the waters of Jordan for baptism when he was
condition, was naturally an object of ambition, and arrested by death. Some delayed their baptism
eagerly sought after by all who had learned in even until they had reached the age of thirty, under the
the smallest degree to appreciate the privileges of impression that they were thereby following the
the faithful. So high was the estimate entertained example of our blessed Lord. The yearly festivals
of baptism, that it was styled the illuminating ordi- were sometimes preferred as the time of baptism,
nance, the light of the eye, the mark or character of such as Epiphany, Easter or Whitsuntide.
the Lord,
The mode in which the ceremony of baptism was
This solemn rite appears in the early ages of the gone through in the early Christian Church, is thus
Church to have been administered both in public and minutely detailed by Dr. Jamieson, in his interest-
in private, by night and by day. As soon as a ca- ing and instructive work on the Manners of the
techumen had passed through his appointed term of Primitive Christians :' “ The rite of baptism was
probation, he could claim admission into the Church originally administered in a very simple manner-
by baptism, but as the numbers of applicants in the apostles and their contemporaries contenting
creased, particular times were set apart for the admini- themselves with an appropriate prayer, and the sub-
stration of the ordinance, these being generally the sequent application of the element of water. At an
days which preceded the celebration of any of the great early period, however, a variety of ceremonies was
festivals. No precise instructions occur in the early introduced, with the pious, though mistaken view of
fathers as to the mode of dispensing this sacred ritė. conveying a deeper and more solemn impression of
Accordingly, we find it administered in a great va- the ordinance, and affording, by each of them, a sen-
riety of circumstances, in the house, by the river- sible representation of the grand truths and spiritual
side, or on the sea-shore. It was not until a later blessings of which it is significant. The baptismal
period that it was customary to administer the ordi- season having arrived, those catechumens who were
nance in a baptistery or font placed in the entrance ripe for baptism, and who were then called compe-
or porch, and afterwards in the body of the church, tentes, or elect, were brought to the baptistery, at
:
BAPTISM.
285
the entrance of which they stopped, and then mounting come out of the water, was immediately dressed
ing an elevated platform, where they could be seen by some attendants in a pure white garment, which
and heard by the whole congregation of the faith- signified, that having put off his old corrupt nature,
ful, each, with an audible voice, renounced the devil and his former bad principles and practices, he had
and all his works. The manner in which he did become a new man. A very remarkable example
this was by standing with his face towards the
of this ceremony occurs in the history of the cele-
west, and with some bodily gesture, expressive of brated Chrysostom. The conspirators who had
the greatest abhorrence, declaring his resolution to combined to ruin that great and good man in Con-
abandon the service of Satan, and all the sinful stantinople, resolved on striking the first blow on
works and pleasures of which he is the patron and the eve of an annual festival, at the hour when they
the author. This renunciation being thrice re- knew he would be alone in his vestry, preparing for
peated, the candidate elect turned towards the east- his duty to the candidates for baptism. By mis-
the region of natural light, and therefore fit emblem | take, they did not arrive till he had begun the ser-
of the Sun of Righteousness, made three times a vice in the church. Heated with wine, and goaded
solemn promise and engagement to become the ser- on by their malignant passions, they burst into the
vant of Christ, and submit to all his laws. After midst of the assembly, most of whom were young
this he repeated the Creed deliberately, clause by persons, in the act of making the usual profession of
clause, in answer to appropriate questions of the their faith, and some of whom had already entered
minister, as the profession of his faith. It was deemed the waters of the baptistery. The whole congrega-
an indispensable part of the ceremony, that this tion were struck with consternation. The catechu-
confession should be made audibly, and before many mens fled away naked and wounded to the neigh-
witnesses ; and in those rare and unfortunate in- bouring woods, fields, or any places that promised
stances, where the applicants for baptism possessed them shelter from the massacre that was perpetrat-
not the power of oral communication, this duty was | ing in the city. And next morning, as soon as it
performed through the kind offices of a friend, who, | had dawned, an immense meadow was seen covered
testifying their desire to receive the ordinance, acted all over with white-on examining which, it was
as their substitute. In ancient history, an anecdote found to be filled with catechumens, who had been
is told of an African negro slave, who, after having baptized the night before, and who were then, ac-
passed satisfactorily through the state of catechu- cording to custom, dressed in their white garments,
men, and been entered on the lists for baptism, sud- amounting in number to three thousand. Those
denly fell into a violent fever, which deprived him white garments, after being worn a week, were
of the faculty of speech. Having recovered his thrown aside, and deposited in the antechamber of
health, but not the use of his tongue, on the approach the church, where, with the name of the owner in-
of the baptismal season, his master bore public scribed on each, they were carefully preserved as me-
testimony to his principles, and the Christian con- morials of baptism, ready to be produced against them
sistency of his conduct, in consequence of which he in the event of their violating its vows. A memor-
was baptized, along with the class of catechumens able instance of this use of them occurs in the his-
to which he belonged. The profession of faith be- tory of the primitive age. A Carthaginian, who had
ing ended, and a prayer being offered, that as much long been connected with the Christian Church of
of the element of water as should be employed might his native city, at length apostatised, and joining the
be sanctified, and that all who were about to be bap- ranks of its enemies, became one of the most violent
tized might receive, along with the outward sign, persecutors of all who named the name of Christ.
the inward invisible grace, the minister breathed on Through the influence of friends he was elevated to
them, symbolically conveying to them the influences high civil station, the powers of which he prosti-
of the Holy Spirit,-an act which, in later times, tuted to the cruel and bloody purpose of persecuting
was followed by anointing them with oil, to indicate his former friends. Among those who were dragged
that they were ready, like the wrestlers in the an- to his tribunal was a deacon, once an intimate friend
cient games, to fight the fight of faith. The preli- of his own, and who had been present at his baptism.
minary ceremonies were brought to a close by his On being put to the rack, he produced the white
tracing on the foreheads of all the sign of the cross garments of the apostate, and in words that went
can observance which, as we formerly remarked, to the heart of all the bystanders, solemnly declared
was frequently used on the most common as well as that these would testify against his unrighteousness
sacred occasions by the primitive Christians--and at the last day.
to which they attached a purely Christian meaning, “Immediately after the baptism, the new-made
thật of living by faith on the Son of God. All things members, in their snow-white dress, took their place
being prepared, and the person about to be baptized among the body of the faithful, each of whom that
having stripped off his garments, the minister took was near welcomed them as brethren with the kiss
each by the hand, and plunged him thrice under the of peace; and, as being admitted into the family of
water, pronouncing each time the name of the three God, whose adopted children alone are entitled to
persons in the Godhead. The newly baptized hav- | address him as 'Our Father, they were permitted,
286
BAPTISM.
new name.
for the first time, publicly to use the Lord's Prayer,'| not being the baptism instituted by Christ; because
and to partake of the communion.
John the Baptist, comparing his own baptism with
' Besides, at this period they generally assumed a that of our Lord, says, “I baptize you with water,
Many of the names in familiar use but he that cometh after me shall baptize you with
among the heathens being borrowed from those of the the Holy Ghost and with fire." The Manicheans
objects of their worship, the converts to Christianity also refused to baptize their disciples, on the prin-
deemed it becoming and consistent with their new ciple that baptism with water was of no efficacy to
principles, to change their family name for others salvation, and ought therefore to be rejected. The
that had been borne by some distinguished person- early church declined to sanction baptism where any
age in the history of their faith, or that was signifi- other element was used instead of water. Thus
cant of some virtue recommended by it. Hence we Ambrose says that if we take away water, the sacra-
find many in the primitive ages bearing the name of ment of baptism cannot stand.
prophets and apostles, and even of the Christian The precise form of words used by our Lord him-
graces; such as in Greek, Eusebius, Eustachius, self in the institution of baptism, was regarded by
Gregory, Athanasius; and in Latin, Pius, Fidus, the primitive Christian church as indispensable to
Speratius. An example may be given from the the administration of the ordinance. The Apostoli-
interesting history of the Martyrs of Palestine. cal Canons declare every bishop or presbyter who
When the governor,' says the historian, 'had shall presume to deviate from this appointed form to
made trial of their invincible fortitude by tortures in be worthy of deposition. Athanasius also regards
every form, he asked the chief person among them every such baptism as without validity; and the
who he was,' and heard in answer, not a real or same opinion prevailed almost universally in the an-
common name, but that of some one of the prophets. cient church, the only exception, perhaps, being
For it happened that those men, having laid aside Ambrose, who held that baptism in the name of
the name by which, as received by their parents, Christ was both regular and valid, seeing the whole
they were called, as being the appellation of idols, Trinity was involved in it. Some early heretics
had assumed unto themselves other names; and one were bold enough to introduce a new form of words
might have observed them using the names of Elias, in baptism. Thus Menander, a disciple of Simon
or Jeremiah, Samuel, or Daniel ; and thus showing Magus, actually declared that no one could be saved
themselves to be, not in deeds alone, but even in unless he was baptized in his name. The Elcesaites
their very appellations, as “that Jew, who is such baptized in the name of the elements. The Mon-
in wardly,' and as that Israel of God, who is such tanists or Cataphrygians administered the ordinance
really and in sincerity.'"
in the name of the Father, Son, and Montanus, or
It was customary for adults immediately after Priscilla, thus substituting the name of their founder
baptism to partake of the Lord's Supper. This cus- for the Holy Ghost. Another ancient sect of here-
tom gave rise to the practice of administering the tics, instead of "
tics, instead of “ Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,”
eucharist to children at their baptism—a practice used this forin, “I baptize thee into the death of
which prevailed in the Western churches until the Christ.”
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and remains in the At an early period there crept into the African
Eastern churches to this day. It was held by the church a strange practice of baptizing the dead, and
Novatians that apostates, on being re-admitted to to prevent its spread among the people, the third
the church, ought to be re-baptized. Tertullian and council of Carthage issued a solenn warning against
Cyprian contended earnestly against this practice, it. Gregory Nazianzen also refers to the custom as
alleging that the validity of baptisin could not pos- prevailing among some who delayed their baptism in
sibly be annulled. Baptism by heretics was early the hope that they would be baptized after death.
declared null and void. Tertullian classed them Another absurd practice prevailing among some of
with idolaters, and declared their baptism of no efl'ect. the ancient herctics was a kind of vicarious baptism,
Cyprian held the same opinion, and, indeed, the which was, that when any one died without baptism,
African churches generally along with those of Cw- another was baptized instead of him. Chrysostoin
sarea and Alexandria. The churches of Rome and says that this was practised among the Marcionites,
France, however, maintained that baptism in the with some ridiculous ceremonies, which he thus de-
name of the Trinity, even by heretics, was valid. scribes : After any catechumen died, they concealed
The council of Nice proceeded on the same principle. a living man under the bed of the deceased; then,
Among the Gnostics of the early church, there approaching the dead man, they asked him whether
were some, as for example the Marcosians and Va- he would receive baptisın? The dead man of course
lentinians, who rejected water-baptism on the ground made no reply, but the living man under the bed
that men were saved by faith, and needed no out- answered for him, and said that he would be baptized
ward ceremonial whatever. The Archontici also in his stead; and, accordingly, they baptized the
objected to this ordinance, on grounds peculiar to living for the dead. This practice was alleged to be
themselves. The Seleucians and Hermians again, sanctioned by Paul when he asks,“ Why are they
alleged that baptism by water was without validity, | then baptized for the dead ?" Tertullian brings the
1
BAPTISM.
287
same charge against the Marcionites, comparing their | priest is preparing the holy oil. The sponsors then
practice to the heathen lustrations for the dead. hold the child over the font, taking care to turn it
The simple beauty and significance of the ordi- east and west. On this, the priest asks the child
nance of baptism as instituted by the Redeemer may Whether he renounces the devil and all his works?
be regarded as a striking evidence of the truth of the and the godfather having answered in the affirmative,
Christian system. In this view of the matter, it is the priest anoints the child between the shoulders in
deeply interesting to notice the effect of this solemn the form of a cross. Then, taking a portion of the
rite upon the mind of the infidel Bolingbroke. “No consecrated water, he pours part of it three times on
institution,” says he, “can be imagined more simple, the child's head, at each effusion naming one of the
or more void of all those pompous rites and theatri- | persons of the Holy Trinity. Some of these rites
cal representations which abound in the religious were early introduced into the church, but they are
worship of the heathen, than that of baptism in its all of them obviously unwarranted additions to the
origin. Such a confession, not extorted from, but simple ceremony of water-baptism, which Christ
ultroneously given by one of the most noted unbe originally appointed.
lievers of his day, is a strong testimony to the solemn In baptism, most of the Oriental rubrics prescribe
and simple beauty of the baptismal ordinance. It | immersion thrice repeated; while the Western ritual
is painful, however, to observe how widely some favours a thrice-repeated affusion. The Alexandrian
churches have deviated from the original institution church has always followed the Romanist practice in
as appointed by the Saviour. In the church of this respect. The Armenian church unites the two,
Rome, particularly, many corruptions have been en- for they first sprinkle thrice, and then dip thrice.
grafted upon the plain but impressive ordinance The threefold act, to which the Greeks have adhered
which forms the initiatory rite of Christianity. The more invariably than the Latins, accompanies the
present form of administering baptism in that church naming of the three Persons of the Sacred Trinity,
is as follows. When a child is to be baptized, the the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The ad-
parties bringing it wait for the priest at the door of ministration in the Greek church is preceded by
the church. He approaches the parties in his sur- four prayers of exorcism, during the last of which
plice and purple stole, attended by his clerks. He the priest blows on the infant's mouth, forehead and
begins with questioning the godfathers whether they breast, and lays on the evil spirit strong commands
promise in the child's name to live and die in the to depart and not return again; while the sponsor is
true Catholic and Apostolic faith, and what name directed to confirm his renunciation of the devil by
they would give the child. Then follows an exhor- | blowing and spitting upon him. In the Coptic
tation to the sponsors; after which the priest, calling church the exorcism is accompanied by making the
the child by its name, puts to it the following ques- sign of the cross seven and thirty times. It is cus-
tions: What dost thou demand of the church? To tomary in the Eastern churches always to add oil to
which the godfather replies, Eternal life. The priest the water in the font. According to the Constanti-
then declares, If you are desirous of obtaining eter- nopolitan forin, it is poured on thrice in the form of
nal life, keep God's commandments, Thou shalt love a cross; while among the Armenians only three
the Lord thy God, &c. The priest then breathes drops are mixed with the water. The oil is applied
three times in the child's face, saying, Come out of also in the figure of a cross to the child's forehead,
this child, thou evil spirit, and make room for the breast and back, ears, feet and hands, each applica-
Holy Ghóst. Having said this, he makes the sign tion being accompanied with one of the following
of the cross on the forehead and breast of the child, 1 sentences : “Such a one is baptized with the oil of
saying, Receive the sign of the cross on thy forehead gladness; “for the healing of soul and body;"
and in thy heart. Then, uncovering his head, he re- “for the hearing of faith, " " that he may walk in
peats a short prayer; and, laying his hand gently on the way of thy commandments; thy hands have
the child's head, repeats a second prayer, at the close made me and fashioned me." CHRISM (which see),
of which he blesses some salt, and, putting a little of corresponding to the confirmation of the Western
it in the child's mouth, pronounces these words, Re- churches, is practised in the East as a sequel to
ceive the salt of wisdom. This closes the ceremony baptism, and indeed forms a part of the same ser-
at the church door. The priest, followed by the vice. Unlike other Easterns, the Abyssinians repeat
godfathers and godmothers, then proceeds into the baptism every year. Among the STAROVERTSI
church, and, approaching the font, the Apostles' Creed (which see), a sect of dissenters from the Russo-
and the Lord's Prayer are repeated. The priest then Greek church, baptism is only administered towards
exorcises the evil spirit again ; and, taking a little the approach of death, from an idea probably that
of his own spittle, with the thumb of his right hand sins committed after baptism are unpardonable.
rubs it on the child's ears and nostrils, repeating, as Among the DUCHOBORTSI (which see), the most
he touches the right ear, the same words—Ephphatha, noted of the Russian sects, baptism and the Lord's
be thou opened—which our Saviour made use of to Supper are both dispensed with as not consistent, in
the man born deaf and dumb. Lastly, they strip their view, with the spiritual nature of Christianity.
the child below the shoulders, during which time the In the Church of England, the sign of the cross
288
BAPTISM.
"
being made over the child, is a prescribed part of sion; while the root of the word is bapto, which
the ceremony of baptism, which is required to be confessedly means to dip or dye. In connection
invariably observed whenever the ordinance is cele- with this view of the word, we find in Mark vii. 3,
brated. It was proposed at one time by the com- 4, mention made of the washing or baptisms of cups
missioners who prepared the bill of comprehension, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables, which could
to render this part of the ceremony indifferent or only in all probability have been baptized by
non-essential, but the proposal was rejected. The plunging them into water, or in other words, by im-
practice is vindicated by alleging "that it is a mersion.
token that hereafter the person baptized shall not be 2. Another argument in favour of immersion is
ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and drawn from the phrases usually joined with baptizo
manfully to fight under his banners against the in Scripture, which the Baptists consider as clearly
world and the devil: and to continue Christ's faith- showing that it was by dipping or plunging that
ful soldier and servant unto his life's end." All the
All the baptism was originally administered. Thus in Mat.
other Protestant churches in Britain reject this prac- iii. 6, John is said to have baptized “in Jordan,
tice as having no warrant in Scripture. The Epis- that is, standing no doubt in the water, and succes-
copal Church in America either uses or withholds sively dipping his disciples. And in the history of
the sign of the cross at the option of the parents. the Ethiopian eunuch, it is stated, Acts viü. 38, 39.
The Coptic church in Egypt practises the trine " And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and
immersion, and uses warm water and holy oil. They they went down both into the water, both Philip and
are said to administer the eucharist to children after the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they
baptism, and to circumcise children before it. Exor- were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the
cism was in use in some of the Protestant churches Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him
in Europe until a recent period. In the Church of no more : and he went on his way rejoicing." Here,
Sweden, for example, it was not laid aside until 1809; it is confidently alleged, is a plain case of baptism by
and in that church lay baptism is allowed in cases of immersion.
necessity. In the Church of Denmark, exorcism 3. The expression used by the apostle Paul in
and trine aspersion, with the sign of the cross on the two separate passages of his epistles, “ buried with
head and breast, and imposition of hands, are used. Christ in baptism,” is often adduced by the Bap-
Lay baptism also, even though by the hands of fe- | tists, as in their view a strong argument in favour of
males, is held as valid. Among the Dunkers, a immersion, that being considered as the only mode
modern sect in America, the trine immersion is prac- of baptism which can be considered as emblematical
tised with the laying on of hands and prayer while of a burial.
in the water. When they enter the water to receive 4. The practice of the Christian church is trium-
the ordinance, they bow or kneel, and hence in ridi- phantly appealed to by the Baptists as having been
cule they have sometimes been called Tumblers. for many centuries in favour of immersion. By the
In consequence of the importance which some confession of the best ecclesiastical historians this
have attached to the precise form in which the ordi- has been admitted to have been the case. The old-
nance of baptism is dispensed, the question has been est Christian communities, as for example, the Greek
keenly debated, Whether the authorized and scrip- | church, continue the practice to this day.
tural manner of dispensing this sacrament be by im- In reply to these arguments adduced by the im-
mersion or by sprinkling? In noticing the argu- mersionists, those who contend for the validity of
ments on both sides of this disputed point, it is well affüsion or sprinkling in baptism are accustomed to
to observe at the outset, that the affusionists concede maintain:
to the immersionists, that in vindicating the practice (1.) That while bapto undoubtedly means to dip,
of sprinkling, they do not deny the validity of bap- and baptizo to immerse, these are not the only mean-
tism by immersion, but on the contrary, admit that ings of the words ; but on the contrary, passages
this mode was frequently, if not generally, adopted may be pointed out in which they simply denote
in the primitive ages of the Christian church. The washing, without specifying the form, and others in
Baptists, however, who maintain immersion to be which they evidently denote sprinkling. In Mark
the apostolic practice, contend that no person ever vii. 3, we read, that the Pharisees and all the Jews
was or could be really and validly baptized without except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding
immersion:
the tradition of the elders. And when they come
1. The first argument adduced by the Baptists in from the market, except they wash,” or baptize
favour of the exclusive validity of immersion or themselves, “they eat not.” Now it is well known
plunging the body in water is of a purely philolo- that the washing of the hands among Jews was
gical character, being founded on the true meaning performed by pouring water upon them, as appears
of the Greek word baptizo, to baptize. This word, from the express testimony of Scripture, 2 Kings iii
.
they allege, in its true classical signification, denotes 11, “But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a pro-
to immerse, and, accordingly, the substantive de- phet of the Lord, that we may enquire of the Lord
rived from it, baptisma, is properly translated immer- | by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants
BAPTISM.
289
answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Sha- of burial, it may easily be discerned that the apostle
phat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah.” does not draw an analogy between the baptism of
(2.) When it is said that John baptized“ in Jor- believers and their burial with Christ, in the mode
dan," it does not follow that he actually stood in the but in the fact. In baptism their union and partici-
water and dipped his disciples; for the Greek pre- pation with Christ in his death and resurrection
position translated “in,” often signifies “at" or are emblematically represented. They are planted
'nigh to.” Thus John xix. 41, “Now in the place together with him in the likeness of his death, and
where he was crucified there was a garden,' evi- they are planted also with him in the likeness of
dently meaning that the garden was situated not in his resurrection. As he died for sin, they die unto
the identical spot, but in its neighbourhood. Again, sin; as he rose from the dead, they rise with him
in Luke xiii. 4, “ the tower in Siloam," the tower unto newness of life.
was plainly built not in the pool of Siloam, but (4.) But after all, the grand argument, and that to
close by it. But even admitting that John stood in which the Baptists exultingly point, is the practice
the Jordan, it does not follow that he immersed his dis- of the Christian Church. In regard to the baptisms
ciples, because the multitude who flocked to his bap- recorded in the New Testament, Dr. Dick remarks :
tism being very great, he might have chosen such a po- “It is not very credible, that the three thousand
sition to sprinkle or pour the water the more readily converts on the day of Pentecost were dipped.
upon their heads or faces. The case of the Ethiopian There was a pool in Jerusalem, called the pool of
eunuch also, which the Baptists regard as a clear case Siloam; but we do not know whether from its size
of immersion, is not necessarily so.
It is true we
and situation it could have been fit for the purpose.
are told that he and Philip "went down both into Besides the gross indecency of it, it would have been
the water, and he baptized him. And when they a tedious process, if all this multitude had put off
came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord and put on their clothes in public; and it is very
caught away Philip." It is certain that the prepo- inlikely that they were plunged with their garments
sitions here referred to are often rendered as our upon them. When whole families were baptized in
translators have rendered them in this passage ; but their own houses, there is no reason to think that,
it is equally certain that just as frequently are they on every occasion, a sufficient quantity of water
used simply to denote to and from. Thus in John could be found for immersion. We are certain, that
xi. 38, when Jesus came to the sepulchre of Lazarus, in very few of our houses the baptism of immersion
the same Greek preposition is used as when it is could be practised; and the houses of the Jews and
said, that Philip and the eunuch went into the wa- Greeks, we presume, were not better accommodated.
ter; and the propriety of its being translated to in Some men seem to believe that, in the Apostolic
the former case will be apparent, if we reflect that age, every house had a font or bath ; but why they
Jesus did not enter into the tomb of Lazarus, but believe this no man can tell, except that it suits
simply approached to it. Again, in John vi. 23, their hypothesis. The apostles could not adninister
where it is said, that "ships came from Tiberias, baptism by immersion in every place; so that if
the same Greek preposition is used as in the pas- this had been the mode, when they had made con-
sage which describes Philip and the eunuch as com- verts they must have often been under the ne-
ing up out of the water; and yet it cannot for a mo- cessity of leading them away to a pond or river,
ment be supposed that the ships came out of the and, in many regions of the east, must sometimes
city of Tiberias, but simply that they came from it have made long journeys in order to find one. But
as being the point from which they started.
there is not a single fact in the New Testament
(3.) The expression “buried with Christ in bap- which gives countenance to this idea. The narrative
tism," to which the Baptists attach so great importance implies that they baptized converts on the spot, and,
in their argument for immersion, loses its force when consequently, that only a small quantity of water
we reflect that it is obviously figurative, being equi- was necessary, which could be always procured."
valent to that other expression which the apostle There cannot be the shadow of a doubt, but that
uses to denote the same thing, “baptized into the the ordinary mode of baptizing in early times was
death of Christ," or, in other words, through his by immersion, and it appears that, for several cen-
death we have become dead to sin, or are delivered turies, trine immersion was practised, that is, the in
from its power. Besides, any one at all acquainted dividual was dipped three times in the water. Thus
with Eastern customs knows that the burial of Christ Ambrose, in his work on the sacraments, says, “Thou
was not by immersion in the earth, as dead bodies wast asked, Dost thou believe in God the Father
are interred among us, but that his sepulchre was an Almighty? And thou repliedst, I believe and wast
apartment hewn out of a rock, the floor of it being dipped, that is buried. A second demand was made,
on a level with the ground, or depressed only a lit- Dost thou believe in Jesus Christ our Lord and in
tle below the surface. In this apartment his body his cross? Thou answeredst again, I believe and
was deposited, and as one rolled to the door. Bear- wast dipped. Therefore, thou wast buried with
ing in mind these simple circumstances, which are Christ. For he that is buried with Christ rises
familiar to all who know any thing of Oriental modes | again with Christ. A third time the question was
ܕ
1.
T
290
BAPTISM.
1
repeated, Dost thou believe in the Holy Ghost? | baptists maintain, that, in certain circumstances, chil-
And thy answer was, I believe. Then thou wast dren have a right to baptism, while an opposite
dipped a third time, that thy triple confession might party, the Anti-pædobaptists, who call themselves
absolve thee from the various offences of thy former by the name of Baptists, confine the ordinance to
life." This trine immersion was probably intro-
adults only.
duced at an early period, either to represent the In treating of this point, which has been so long
burial of Christ for three days, and his rising again and so keenly agitated, it is right to clear the
on the third day, or more probably to represent the way by remarking, that on all hands it is agreed,
profession of faith in the Holy Trinity, in whose that adults, who have never been baptized in in-
name the believer is baptized. The practice, how fancy, have a right to baptism on professing their
ever, was in course of time abused by the Arian faith and obedience to Christ. This is understood and
party, particularly in the Spanish churches, to de- acknowledged to be implied in the very words of
note three degrees or differences of Divinity in the the commission given to the apostles by our Lord
three Divine persons. To avoid sanctioning so fla- himself, Mark xvi. 15, 16, “ And he said unto them,
grant a heresy, by the advice of Gregory the Great, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to
trine immersion was gradually discontinued in many
every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized
churches in Spain, but retained in others. At shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be
length, the fourth council of Toledo, in A. D. 633, damned.” In the case of adults applying for bap-
decreed that one immersion only should be used in tism, the proper qualification in the sight of God is
baptism, lest if any used three immersions they faith existing and operating in the heart;
and the
might seem to approve the opinion of heretics while proper qualification in the sight of man is a credible
they followed their practice. This seems to have i profession of that faith. On this principle the apos-
set the question at rest. In the Greek Church, how- tles seem uniformly to have acted. Thus, in the
ever, and various Protestant churches, trine immer- case of the Ethiopian eunuch, Philip, when asked
sion is still in use.
the question, "What doth hinder me to be bap-
In cases of emergency, baptism by aspersion was tized ?” replied in words which cannot be mistaken,
allowed at a period of high antiquity. Cyprian es- “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou may-
pecially says, that this was legitimate baptism when est.” On which "the eunuch answered and said,
thus administered to the sick. And generally con-
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
siderations of convenience and health and climate There are some Pædobaptists, however, for exam-
are mentioned among ancient writers as having in- ple Dr. Halley, who contend strongly for the indis-
fluence in regard to the form of administering the criminate dispensation of baptism to all who apply
ordinance. Aspersion did not become general in for it, without regard to their faith, or even profes-
the West until the thirteenth century, though it ap- sion of faith, other than what is implied in the fact
pears to have been introduced somewhat earlier. of their applying for baptism. But the great majo-
But the very fact that persons who had received rity of Pædobaptists reject all such indiscriminate
clinic baptism were not re-baptized, shows plainly use of the ordinance.
that immersion was not considered indispensable. We proceed to detail, in as condensed form as
Dr. Halley proves that in the language of the an- possible, the chief arguments adduced on both sides
cient Church, the word baptism is not used as equi- of this much-contested question.
valent to immersion by the following considerations : The Pædobaptists, deriving their name from pai-
1. Ecclesiastical writers admit Christian baptisms to deion, a child, and baptizo, to baptize, hold that the
have been valid in which there was no immersion. children of believing, covenanting parents ought to
2. They speak of other ablutions as baptisms in be baptized ; and this doctrine they assert on such
which there was no immersion. 3. They apply to grounds as the following:
Christian baptism passages of Scripture which ob- 1. Infant baptism is in complete accordance with
viously exclude immersion. 4. They speak of the the principle on which God has proceeded in his
lustrations of the heathen in which there was no im- dealings with his people in all past ages, the chil-
mersion, as their baptisms or imitations of baptism. dren being uniformly viewed as connected with the
With such proofs as these before us, it is scarcely parents. This was the case, as is well known, in
possible to resist the conclusion, that although the the covenants made with Adam, Noah, Abraham,
practice of immersion was the most generally adopted and David.
in the early Christian Church, baptism by aspersion 2. If infants under the New Testament dispensa-
or sprinkling was never regarded as an unwarranted tion were to be deprived of a privilege which be-
and invalid act.
longed to infants under the Old, a change so im-
A controversy has arisen in the Christian Church portant would have been formally noticed, which it
of far more importance than that which regards is not, and would have given rise to complaints on
merely the mode of baptism. The question to which the part of Jewish converts in the early Christian
we refer is, Who are the proper subjects of the or- Church, and yet no evidence can be found that such
dinance? Those who receive the name of Pædo- | complaints were ever made.
BAPTISM.
291
3. Infants were commanded to be circumcised | brought to Jesus that he might lay his hands on
under the Jewish economy, and baptism being in- them and pray, it is simply said, that "he laid his
stituted in place of circumcision, infants ought hands on them." Not the slightest reference is
plainly to be baptized. The churches under both made to baptism. Is such an omission at all proba-
economies were substantially the same; the cove- ble if infant baptism had been at all sanctioned by
nant in both churches was the same; circumcision our blessed Lord ?
and baptism were both of them signs and seals of 5. Not a single precept exists in the Scriptures
the covenant, and both Scripture and the writings of which commands, or even allows, the baptism of in-
the early Fathers of the Church unite in considering fants. This of itself is sufficient to prove, that
baptism as having come in place of circumcision. whatever else may be said in favour of the prac-
4. It is capable of proof that the infants of Jew- tice, it lacks, at all events, a direct scriptural war-
ish proselytes were baptized, and, therefore, when rant.
baptism was instituted by our Lord, the apostles 6. There is no warrant to suppose that baptism is
must have been familiar with the practice among the substitute for circumcision. On the contrary,
the Jews of baptizing children with their parents. the latter ordinance was administered to every male
Now, in the absence of all prohibition of infant bap- Jew, whatever might be his moral character, simply
tism in the New Testament, and with much to en- in virtue of his being a Jew, while the former ordi-
courage the practice, we are provided in the bap- nance presupposed a belief in Christ as a necessary
tism of the infants of Jewish proselytes with a qualification. Again, the council at Jerusalem abo-
strong indirect, if not a direct, argument in favour | lished circumcision without the most remote hint
of baptizing the children of Christian parents. that any other ordinance was substituted in its room.
5. The practice of infant baptism is supported by 7. No evidence has been discovered that infant
the testimony of the early as well as the later Chris- | baptism was ever practised in the Church during
tian writers. Among the apostolic fathers, as they | the first two centuries. Tertullian is the first who
are called, that is, those who lived nearest to the makes the slightest allusion to it; and even his re-
days of the apostles, we find some declaring, in marks far from certainly refer to mere infants.
plain terms, that they considered baptism to have 8. Infant baptism strikes at the root of the plain
been instituted in room of circumcision. Tertul- scriptural doctrine, that every man is responsible for
lian, in the beginning of the third century, speaks of his own personal actings, and is justified by his own
the practice of infant baptism as a prevailing and
faith.
established custom. Origen also speaks of the Such then are the main arguments for and against
practice, declaring that it had come down from the the practice of the baptism of infants; and on a
days of the apostles. From the third century and point which has given rise to keen protracted dis-
onwards, we find infant baptism very often adverted cussion among writers of ability and learning on
to both in the writings of individuals and in the de- both sides, we content ourselves with a simple
crees of councils.
statement of the line of argument pursued by the
The Baptists, or more properly Anti-Pædobap- Pædobaptists on the one hand, and the Antipædo-
tists, who reject infant baptism, reason thus : baptists on the other, leaving to the reader to form
1. In the commission of our Lord on which rests his own judgment on the merits of the case.
the authority for dispensing Christian baptism, we Great importance has been attached to baptism in
find faith and baptism closely and indissolubly joined every age of the Church, as being the initiatory rite
together, it being declared, “ He that believeth and of admission to the Christian Church. But in early
is baptized shall be saved.” If then faith be neces- times, far from being regarded as essential to salva-
sary as a qualification for baptism, infants are plainly tion, the want of baptism was often considered as
excluded from all right to the ordinance, since they compensated for by martyrdom, by true conversion,
are utterly incapable of faith.
or by a constant partaking of the eucharist in the
2. In those instances of baptism which are re- bosom of the Church. Unbaptized infants, how-
corded in the New Testament the same principle is ever, were regarded as occupying after death a mid-
uniformly recognized and acted upon—that faith is dle state betwixt the glory of the saints and the
essential to baptism ; and, therefore, the argument punishment of the lost. Hence has obviously arisen
as against infant baptism acquires additional force, the limbus infantum of the Romanists, which, like
the terms of the commission on which baptism rests the limbus patrum, is an intermediate state between
its authority being borne out by the uniform prac- heaven and hell. If catechumens died without bap-
tice of the apostles.
tism, they were buried in silence, and no mention
3. Not a single instance of infant baptism occurs was ever after made of them in the prayers of the
in the New Testament. Such an omission is alto- Church. This treatment, of course, was only given
gether unlikely, supposing such a practice to have to those who were guilty of a wilful neglect and
been authorized by Christ, and in use among his contempt of the ordinance.
After the solemn ordinance of baptism had been
4. When little children are said to have been dispensed, in the case either of an adult or an in-
apostles.
292
BAPTISMAL REGENERATION.
fant in token of their admission and incorporation with they had been called, having first bid them in
into the Church, they were received with a kiss of the name of Jesus Christ arise and walk.'"
peace. The white garments which had been given In the 'Oxford Tracts for the Times, and other
them were worn for eight days, and then laid up in writings of the Anglo-Catholics, the term regenera-
the Church. The newly baptized received a little tion is used to denote not that change of heart and
taste of honey and milk to denote their new birth, and character which is the usual meaning assigned to it
that they were now as children adopted into God's | by orthodox divines, but both justification and sanc-
family. Jerome says, that in some of the Western tification, a change of state, and a change of mind.
churches the mixture was made up of milk and wine That the word is employed in this extended sense
instead of honey, in allusion to the passage of the we learn from Dr. Pusey himself, who defines rege-
Apostle Paul, “I have fed you with milk and not neration to be “that act whereby God takes us out
with strong meat," and that passage of the Apostle of our relation to Adam, and makes us actual mem-
Peter, “ As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk bers of his Son, and so his sons as being members
of the word that ye may grow thereby." On be- of his ever-blessed Son." From this and similar
ing baptized, the newly admitted Christian was re- passages which teach the saving efficacy of water-
quired for the first time to repeat the Lord's prayer, baptism, we cannot fail to perceive a strange confu-
in a standing posture, publicly in the church. The sion of thought pervading the whole reasonings of
whole church now joined in receiving their Christian the Oxford divines on the subject of baptism. They
brother or sister with hymns of praise and thanks- quote various passages of Scripture which plainly
giving to God. Some churches added to this the connect salvation with baptism. Thus Mark xvi.
custom of washing the feet of the baptized, which 16, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be
was never adopted by the Roman church, but prac- saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned ;"
tised by that of Milan.
Rom. vi. 4, “ Therefore we are buried with him by
BAPTISMAL REGENERATION. At an early baptism into death : that like as Christ was raised
period in the history of the Christian Church, the up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even
idea seems to have arisen, that the regularly ordained so we also should walk in newness of life;" Gal. iii.
ministers of Christ had the power of conveying remis- | 27, “For as many of you as have been baptized into
sion of sins to men by the administration of baptism. Christ have put on Christ;" Col. ii. 12,
66 Buried
Ancient writers accordingly give baptism the name of with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with
indulgence, or remission of sins, or the sacrament of him through the faith of the operation of God, who
remission. Cyprian asserts, in the most express hath raised him from the dead;" 1 Pet. iii. 21,
language, that “remission of sins is granted to every “ The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also
man in baptism.” The same doctrine is taught by now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the
Ambrose, Chrysostom, and many others. It were flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward
easy to adduce numerous quotations from writers | God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” That
of the first three centuries, in which the direct effi- in some way or another salvation is connected with
cacy of the outward rite of baptism in conveying re- baptism no careful student of the Word of God can
generation and salvation is plainly asserted. This possibly deny; but it ought ever to be borne in
superstitious view of the mere external ordinance ac- mind that baptism in Scripture has a twofold signi-
counts for the anxiety which many Christians, in fication, implying both an outward rite and an in-
these early times, manifested to delay their reception | ward grace, both a visible symbol and an invisible
of baptism till near death. The same doctrine as to grace which is symbolized. Now, it is plainly con-
the regenerating efficacy of baptism has been re- trary to the spiritual character of Christianity to
vived of late years by the Oxford divines, a party make the blessings of salvation entirely and neces-
which has arisen in the Church of England usually sarily dependent on the performance, or rather the
known by the name of ANGLO-CATHOLICS (which reception of an outward ceremony. It was not som
see). In asserting the sacramental efficacy of bap- with circumcision, which holds a corresponding
tism, they maintain that man is saved by receiving place in the Old Testament to that which is occu-
the remission of sins through baptism, upon faith in pied by baptism in the New. Thus we are expressly
Christ Jesus. Thus Dr. Pusey, in his · Tract on told by the Apostle Paul, in reference to Abraham,
Baptism,' says, “To the unconverted the apostles Rom. iv. 11, that “he received the sign of circum-
set forth judgment to come, repentance from dead cision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which
works, remission of sins through baptism, upon faith he had, yet being uncircumcised.” From this state-
in Christ Jesus ; then on conversion followed bap-ment we learn, that, instead of Abraham's justifica-
tism conveying remission of sins, uniting them with tion being dependent upon the external ordinance of
Christ, imparting to them the Spirit; and then those circumcision, it was connected exclusively and en-
baptized they urge to use the power thus imparted tirely with the faith which he had before he had
to them; to them they apply the gospel motives be- received the rite of circumcision. And even in re-
cause they had received the strength of the gospel: gard to baptism itself do we not learn from Acts
they bid them walk worthy of the vocation where- viii. 13, 23, that Simon Magus, even although he
BAPTISTERY.
293
saves us.
had been washed by the hands of an apostle with washing of baptism is a type or symbol of the in-
the waters of baptism, was still in the gall of bit- ward washing of the Spirit. The Apostle Peter,
terness and the bond of iniquity ?" Nor is this true again, expressly says, 1 Pet. iii. 21, that "baptism
of Simon Magus alone. Multitudes have passed doth also now save us ;" but lest any one should
through the external ceremony of water-baptism imagine that he refers to mere outward baptism, he
who have lived to attest, by their unholy conversa- immediately guards against his language being mis-
tion and conduct, that they are utter strangers to understood, by adding, “not the putting away of
the purifying influence of the Spirit of Christ. Such the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good con-
cases prove demonstrably that some other baptism science toward God.” In other words, it is not an
than that which consists in an outward washing with outward but an inward baptisin that regenerates and
water is necessary to the purifying of the flesh and
Baptismal regeneration then, in the
the saving of the soul. The baptism which alone sense in which it was understood by some of the
can save and sanctify a man is the baptism with the early fathers, and in which
early fathers, and in which it is taught by the An-
Holy Ghost. Hence our Lord assures Nicodemus glo-Catholics of the present day, is a doctrine which
that the new birth which is essentially necessary to can claim neither the sanction of reason, nor of the
salvation is not simply a being born of water, but of Word of God. It is founded on one of those half-
water and of the Spirit. The two together are re- truths in which error so often presents itself, an as-
quired to constitute a regenerating baptism, a bap- sertion of the regenerating power of baptism, while
tism which can avail to the salvation of man. A it ignores the grand distinction between the outward
rite performed upon the outward person can only baptism with water, and the inward baptism with
be a symbol; the change produced in the inward the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Let but
man, by the effectual operation of the Holy Spirit, this distinction be acknowledged, and the fallacy on
is not a mere symbol or sign, but a substantial which the whole theory rests is instantly apparent.
reality.
BAPTISTERY, the place in which baptism was
The error, then, of the Anglo-Catholics, in teach- anciently administered. At an early period in the
ing the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, origi- history of the Church, it seems to have been a
nates in confounding ritual with spiritual baptism— building outside the walls of the church. Cyril of
a baptism like that of John with the baptism of Jerusalem describes it as a building by itself, which
Christ. The grand distinction between the two had first its porch or ante-room where the catechu-
baptisms was again and again enforced upon the mens made their renunciation of Satan and their
people by the Baptist himself. “I have baptized confession of faith; and then its inner-room where
you with water, but He will baptize you with the the ceremony of baptism was performed. It would
Holy Ghost.” And Jesus himself spoke to his dis- also appear that, in the building, there were separate
ciples in similar terms: “ John truly baptized you apartments for men and women, the ceremony be-
with water ; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy ing chiefly performed by immersion. About the
Spirit.” When our Lord adverts to the outward sixth century the baptisteries began to be removed
ceremony, he assigns it a subordinate place in con- to the church porch, and thence afterwards into the
nection with salvation. “ He that believeth and is church itself. These baptisteries were usually very
baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not capacious to accommodate the great numbers who
shall be condemned. The great importance is evi- were baptized by immersion at the same time.
dently, in these words assigned to faith or believing, Hence it is said that a council at Constantinople
which is wrought in the soul by the Holy Ghost ; was actually held in the baptistery of the church.
and, accordingly, it is well worthy of notice, that, in In these places, also, the catechumens seem to have
the latter clause of the passage, condemnation is been instructed in the first rudiments of the Chris-
made to turn not on the want of baptism, but en- tian faith. At least Ambrose informs us, that in
tirely and exclusively on the want of faith.
the baptistery the catechumens were taught the
No better proof of the decided superiority held creed. From this custom may have arisen the
forth in Scripture of the inward over the outward name which was sometimes assigned to these apart-
baptism could possibly be adduced than a passage, ments-schools of learning, or the illuminatories of
Tit. iii. 5, which Dr. Pusey quotes in favour of his the church.
own views. The text he thus properly translates, The baptistery has sometimes been confounded
“ according to his mercy he saved us by the washing with the font, both being connected with the bap-
of regeneration and of renewing of the Holy Ghost.” tismal ceremony, but in ancient times the difference
It cannot fail to strike every attentive reader that between the two consisted in this, that the baptis-
the washing which is here said to be the means of tery was the name given to the whole building in
our salvation, is no mere outward washing with wa- which the font stood, and where the whole rite
ter, but an internal washing or purifying which ex- of baptism was performed, whereas the font was
presses the regenerating and renewing work of the only the fountain or pool of water in which the im-
Holy Spirit. And why is this internal cleansing mersion took place. The latter was sometimes
called a washing, but to indicate that the external styled the pool of the baptistery. We have no au-
294
BAPTISTS.
thentic information as to the precise form of the they object to the name as identifying them with a
ancient baptistery. There appears to have been sect which were undoubtedly guilty of the most
only one in a city, and that at the bishop's church. foolish and absurd excesses, and with whose general
Some idea of their size may be formed when we re- opinions and practices, except on the solitary sub-
collect, that, in some places, as for example in An- ject of baptism, no modern denomination of Chris-
tioch, no less than three thousand persons of both tians can be said to have the slightest sympathy.
sexes received baptism in a single night. The laws But it is beyond a doubt, that, in the fifteenth and
both of church and state required that baptism sixteenth centuries, there were multitudes in various
should be administered only in those places where countries on the continent of Europe, who not only
there was a baptistery. At the two great festivals of held Baptist principles, but were persecuted on ac-
Easter and Pentecost, which were the usual seasons count of them. From the continent some of these
for the dispensation of the ordinance, multitudes re- denouncers of infant-baptism passed over into Eng-
sorted to the bishop's church or cathedral for this land, and Bishop Burnet, in his ' History of the Re-
purpose. In process of time baptisteries were set formation, informs us, that in 1547 numbers of
up in country parishes where, in the opinion of the them were found in various parts of the country;
bishop, they were necessary. These gradually in- but, in regard to those of them who held no princi-
creased in number, and at length every church had ples in common with the German Anabaptists, ex-
its own place for baptism, when fonts only were cept the denial of infant-baptism, no severities were
required in consequence of the prevalence of infant used towards them, but several books were written
baptism, and the right of administering the ordi- against them, to which they replied. In the reign
nance being conceded to pastors indiscriminately. of Elizabeth the Baptists greatly increased, but
BAPTISTS, a denomination of Christians who were subjected many of them to imprisonment and
are chiefly characterized by the maintenance of the banishment. Fuller says some of them recanted,
notion that immersion is the only authorized and but two were burnt in Smithfield. The persecution
scriptural mode of dispensing baptism, and that bap- continued under James I., and in this reign Edward
tism can only be lawfully administered to those who | Wightman, the last martyr that was burnt in Eng-
make a personal profession of their faith, and thus land, was a Baptist. It is a remarkable circum-
that infant baptism is contrary to the Word of God, stance, that the first English martyr who died at
and subversive of the true nature and design of the the stake was also a Baptist, so that this sect had
ordinance. The chief arguments on both sides of the honour of both commencing and closing the long
these questions have already been noticed under the line of martyrs, who, for two hundred years, had
article BAPTISM (which see). Our chief object at been called at every little interval to perish in the
present, therefore, is to give a view of the history, flames. Notwithstanding the severe trials to which
doctrines, and discipline of the large and influential they were subjected in consequence of the princi-
sect who claim to themselves, and who usually re- ples which they maintained, the Baptists continued
ceive, the name of Baptists.
to multiply in England, and in 1643 a convention
This body of Christians is wont to trace its im- was held in London, at which they adopted a Con-
mediate descent from the apostles, their sentiments fession of Faith. The Revolution of 1688 brought
and practice, as well as the government of their toleration to the Baptists as well as other Dissent-
churches, being, as they allege, strictly apostolic. From that period to the present they have
Some historians, however, are contented with as- maintained their ground as one of the leading dis-
signing to the sect a much later origin, tracing it senting denominations in England. To this zealous
no farther back than to the time of the Reformation body of Christians has the cause of religion been
in the sixteenth century. It is well known that at that largely indebted during the last half century. Theirs
period there arose in Germany a class of people, who, is the high honour of originating, in 1792, the mis-
while agreeing with Luther and the other Reformers sionary concert for prayer
, and the first successful
in avowing the strongest hostility to the corruptions mission to the heathen in India under Carey, Marsh-
of the Church of Rome, differed from the Protestant man, and Ward. They have missions also in the
on of in- West Indies, in Africa.
In regard
tural and invalid, and, therefore, re-baptizing their fol- church, while the Baptists believe in the existence
lowers even although they had been baptized in their of a universal or catholic church, composed of the
infancy. From this latter custom they received whole body of believers in Christ, in all ages and
the name of ANABAPTISTS (which see). It is only nations, they regard the Christian church, properly
just to the highly respectable sect of modern Baptists, so called, as having been organized by Christ him-
to state that they regard the appellation of Ana- self, and his apostles, and as having been constituted
baptists as altogether inapplicable to them, seeing of such, and such only, as made a credible profession
.
they cannot be charged with baptizing a second of faith in Christ, and repentance toward God. · All
time those whom they cannot consistently admit to others they consider to be constitutionally excluded.
have been ever previously baptized, and, besides, . In practice, the constitution of the Baptist churches,
ers.
fant-baptism, condemning that practice as sunscrip- ent regards to the constitution of the Christian
BAPTISTS (AMERICAN).
295
and their mode of worship, are congregational or sion of Baptists made but slow progress. The path
independent. In 1812, however, an important step of error is downward, and accordingly from Armi-
was taken towards the consolidation of the body in nianism the General Baptists gradually merged into
the formation of what is called the “ Baptist Union,” | Socinianism. About 1770, a party within the body
which holds its meetings annually, and which con- became alarmed at the rapidity with which they
sists of more than a thousand churches, nominally were declining from their original principles. A
connected with one another, and having chiefly in secession accordingly took place, leaving behind
view the promotion of every public object which them only a weak remnant, which has been daily
bears either upon their own denomination in parti- diminishing in numbers.
At the last census in
cular, or the cause of nonconformity in general. 1851, the whole number of the General or Unita-
This Union, which belongs to the Particular Baptist rian Baptist congregations in England and Wales
churches, consisted in 1851 of 1,080 churches. Del- amounted only to 93, while the “ New Connexion"
egates, both clerical and lay, are sent to the annual numbered 182.
conference by such churches as choose to avail them- The PARTICULAR BAPTISTS are so called from
selves of the privilege. A similar yearly assembly, the doctrine of particular redemption, which, as well
called the “ Association," and constituted in the as the other principles of Calvinism, they strenu-
same way as the Union, exists, belonging to the New ously maintain. This is a very large and flourishing
Connexion of General Baptists. It consisted in 1851 section of the Baptist community, which so out-
of 99 representatives, deputed by 53 churches. numbers all the other divisions of the body, as al-
Baptist doctrines seem to have been held by the most wholly to monopolize the name of Baptists.
early British churches, and Augustine, when sent In 1851, their congregations amounted to the num-
over from the Holy See, failed in his endeavours to ber of 1,947 in England and Wales. The com-
persuade them to conform to the practice of the mencement of this body was almost contemporane-
church of Rome. It is probable that these opinions ous with that of the General Baptists, and it is in-
never entirely disappeared from the country, but structive to notice, that while the latter have dwin-
were maintained by many of those reformers who dled to a mere shadow, the former has become a
from time to time arose. The Lollards are said to powerful and highly efficient section of the church
have held similar opinions, and the Baptists claim of Christ. The latter has only one Theological Col-
Wycliffe himself as holding their sentiments. The lege, at Leicester, while the former has no fewer than
body was not however organized in England as a five, at Bristol, Stepney, Bradford, Pontypool, and
separate sect until the commencement of the seven- Haverfordwest. The Particular Baptists are divided
teenth century, the first Baptist church having been among themselves into two parties, the strict and the
formed in London in 1608. John Smith, the first free communionists. The former will not admit any
pastor of that church, seceded from the Church of to receive the Lord's supper who have not been bap-
England, of which he had been a minister. He em- tized according to their method, the latter hold free
braced Arminian doctrines, and his church, accord- communion with Pædobaptists, regarding a difference
ingly, consisted of what are now called General Bap- of opinion and practice on the subject of baptism as
tists. The first Calvinistic or Particular Baptist no bar to fellowship at the table of the Lord.
church was formed in London in 1633, by an off- Another very small section of the Baptist commu-
shoot from an Independent congregation.
nity exists in England, called the Seventh Day Bap-
The Baptists in England are divided into two de- | tists, from the circumstance that the only point on
nominations, which are quite separate and distinct which they differ from their brethren is in maintain-
from one another. They are termed the General ing that the seventh, not the first day of the week
and the Particular Baptists.
should be kept as the Sabbath. The existence of
The GENERAL BAPTISTS receive their name from this sect in England is of somewhat old date, but in
the doctrine of general redemption, which they hold 1851 they are reported as having only two congre-
along with the other tenets of the ARMINIANS gations in England and Wales.
(which see). The only points in which they agree
BAPTISTS (AMERICAN). It is generally sup-
with the Particular Baptists regard the subject of posed that if we include in the number all who agree
baptism, worship, and church discipline. The first in rejecting infant baptism, the Baptists are decid-
minister of this body in England was, as we have edly the largest Christian denomination in the
already noticed, John Smith, who, on resigning his United States. Before such a statement, however,
ministerial charge in connection with the Church of can be admitted to be strictly correct, there must
England, went over to Holland, where the opinions come into the calculation the Calvinistic and Armi-
which he had adopted on the subject of baptism met nian Baptists; the Free Communion and Close Com-
with great opposition. Soon after he had formed munion Baptists; the Mennonites and Tunkers, and
the first *Baptist church in London, he drew up a a section of the latter called the River Brethren; the
statement of the principles of the body, but a regu- Seventh Day Baptists, English and German; the
lar confession of their faith was not published until Disciples of Christ, commonly called Campbellites;
a much later period. The congregations of this divi- the Christians, and a small Baptist party in the
296
BAPTISTS (AMERICAN).
Southern States, called the Hard Shell Baptists. Christ, not only instructing the people more imme.
These all agree in the source of ecclesiastical power diately under his charge, but performing tedious jour-
as being in the church, and not in the church offi- neys to other settlements with the same glorious ob-
cers, and as residing in each particular church jects. He imbibed Baptist principles, and there being
directly and originally by virtue of the express or no minister in New England who had been baptized
implied compact of its members. They agree also by immersion after a profession of faith, Ezekiel Hol-
on the subject of immersion, and a personal profes- | liman, in March 1639, baptized Roger Williams, who
sion of faith as essential to the validity of baptism. | in turn administered the rite to Holliman and ten
If the Regular Baptists alone are taken into account, others. Thus commenced the first Baptist church
they are exceeded in number by the Methodists, but in America, and from that time the cause has
if all who immerse are included, they are a very steadily advanced amid frequent seasons of persecu-
numerous and powerful body.
tion and trial, until, by the most recent reports from
The origin of this sect in America dates almost as the United States, the Regular Baptists have now
far back as the first colonizing of New England by about 12,436 preachers, and 1,208,765 members, be-
the pilgrim fathers. Thus Cotton Mather says, ing far more numerous than in England. They are
“ Many of the first settlers in Massachusetts were perhaps most largely and worthily represented in
Baptists, and as holy, and watchful and fruitful, and New England and the state of New York, and have
heavenly a people as perhaps any in the world." of late years made great exertions for the spread of
The first Baptist church, however, was founded in the Bible, and in the work of missions to the hea-
Providence, Rhode Island, by Roger Williams, in then. They have also lately established several
1639. This remarkable man was educated at Oxford colleges and seminaries, and taken an active part in
at the expense of Sir Edward Coke, the most eminent | the advancement of liberal education. One of their
lawyer of his day. He became a Puritan minister of literary institutions, the university of Rochester, in
the Church of England, and in those times of perse- the state of New York, has lately purchased the
cution and intolerance Roger Williams was driven whole library of the celebrated German ecclesiastical
from England and took refuge in America. There historian, the late Dr. Neander, whom the Baptists
also for some years he was subjected to much oppo- | love and venerate on account of the favourable
sition, in consequence of the peculiar principles terms in which he has spoken of their principles.
which he maintained, setting himself with determined After stating that baptism was in the days of the
boldness against the church membership right of apostles performed by immersion, “ as best adapted
suffrage, against all law compelling attendance at to express that which Christ intended to express by
church, and all taxes for the support of worship. this symbol—the merging of the whole man into a
These principles brought down upon him the ven- new spirit and life," Neander adds: “Since baptism
geance of the court, by which he was sentenced was thus immediately connected with a conscious
to banishment; and a vessel was sent to convey and voluntary accession to the Christian fellowship,
him back to England, but he was not to be and faith and baptism were always united, it is highly
found. Williams, now an exile, a wanderer in a probable that baptism took place only in those cases
savage land, in the cold of winter and on stormy | where both could meet together, and that infant bap-
nights-had not " food, or fire, or company—knew tism was not practised in this age. The lateness of
not what bed or bread did mean, or better shelter the time when the first distinct mention of infant
than a hollow tree.” At length, joined by a few baptism is made, and the long-continued opposition
adherents who generously shared with him his made to it, lead us to infer its non-apostolic origin."
trials and privations, he threw himself upon the Such sentiments as these have rendered the distin-
mercy of Canonicus, an Indian chief, who gave him guished German church historian a great favourite
and his followers a free grant of land between Paw- with the keen supporters of Baptist principles on
tucket and Mashassuck rivers, " that they might sit both sides of the Atlantic.
down in peace and enjoy it for ever.” The new set- In point of doctrine, government, and worship, the
tlers piously named the tract of land on which they Calvinistic Baptists in America—as in England
had, by the mysterious and all-wise arrangements agree in all essential points with the orthodox Con-
of Heaven, found a home Providence. Thus gregationalists. There are also two parties among
Roger Williams, having obtained a footing, acquired them, the close communion, and the open communion
such influence over the Indian tribes by whom he Baptists; the one party debarring from communion
was surrounded, that he became the founder and first all other denominations of Christians, while the other
president of the colony of Rhode Island. He held freely admit them. The Associated Baptists in Ame-
office for many years, and was several times sent as rica meet annually in associations, and stated conven-
ambassador to the court of England.
tions, to promote missions, education, and other bene-
While thus laboriously and faithfully discharging | volent objects. Every three years there is a meeting
the responsible duties of a civil governor in Rhode of the Baptist General Convention of the United
Island, Williams ceased not to exercise the work to States, which was formed at Philadelphia in 1814,
which he had been called of preaching the gospel of and is restricted by its constitution to the promotion
BAPTISTS (AMERICAN).
297
(
of foreign missions. The American Baptist Home passed into Arminian principles and views. The
Mission Society, formed in 1832, is chiefly designed Calvinistic brethren in the body took alarm, and
to supply the spiritual wants of the valley of the one after another disclaimed all connection with him,
Mississippi. They have also a General Tract Society as in their opinion guilty of teaching erroneous doc-
at Philadelphia. They sustain missions in Burmah, trine. Thus disowned by the great mass of the
Siam, Western Africa, and among the American In- Baptist pastors, only a few stood by him, who, hav-
dians. They have six theological institutions in dif- | ing quitted the body, ordained Mr. Randall in March
ferent parts of the states, and the numbers of the 1780; and on the 30th June of that year, he orga-
students are great, there being a large demand for nized in New Durham the first Freewill Baptist
pastors of the Baptist denomination. A portion of church.
the body have for some years been prosecuting with The commencement of this new sect gave rise to
considerable energy and expense a revision of the considerable excitement in the Christian churches of
English version of the Bible, in which, among many | America. Its ministers were animated with burning
other changes, the words baptize and baptism are to zeal, and travelled in every direction, preaching the
be exchanged for the words immerse and immersion. gospel, establishing churches, and settling ministers
« The Rev. Dr. Baird estimates that not above one- over them. Mr. Randall, in his diary, says in one
third of the clergymen of this denomination have a part of it, “I have travelled this year more than
collegiate education. For a more general diffusion twelve hundred miles in the service of truth, and at-
of education, they are now making, probably, efforts tended above three hundred. meetings." In the
unsurpassed in the United States, finding this course of the first twelve years, the cause made the
course most subservient to denominational growth. most rapid and encouraging progress. In 1792, a
Hence,' says the Boston Traveller,' March 31, meeting of pastors was held for the first time in New
1854, "within the last six years, one million five Durham, and continued to be held yearly in different
hundred thousand dollars have been subscribed to places, for transacting the general business of the de-
wards the endowment of Baptist colleges and semi-nomination.
nomination. Gradually the body spread through
naries in this country. The whole number of in- various states, and churches in connection with it
structors connected with them is one hundred and were formed also in Canada. Its progress, however,
fifty-four, students over two thousand five hundred. was somewhat retarded by internal disputes in the
They have graduated over four thousand students in churches on the important point of the divinity of
all, and their libraries contain more than one hundred Christ, several of the churches having imbibed Arian
and twenty thousand volumes.
or Unitarian views, to the great grief of the general
As the large section of American Baptists which body. The result was a small secession, which was
we have now been considering, correspond to the the means of restoring harmony and peace.
Particular Baptists in England, there is another sec- The Freewill Baptist connection having spread
tion of Baptists in America, corresponding to the throughout the country, and the yearly meetings
General Baptists in England, being Arminian in their not being found fully to represent the body, a Gen-
doctrine. They are known, however, among the eral Conference was organized in 1827. It was at
Transatlantic churches by the name of FREEWILL first an annual, then a biennial, and last of all a
BAPTISTS. From the first introduction of Baptist triennial association. Since the institution of the
churches into the United States, there have always General Conference, the Freewill Baptists have been
existed differences of theological sentiment among increasing in numbers, and both through the press
them, some being Calvinistic, and others Arminian in and by the pulpit they have been exerting a rapidly
their views. But though thus divided in opinion on widening influence. About twenty years ago nearly
various doctrinal points of essential importance, both 3,000 General Baptists in North Carolina took
existed together in one ecclesiastical communion the name of Freewill Baptists, but were disowned
until the year 1780, when the first church was form- by the body as being slaveowners. The body has
ed on the Freewill Baptist principles. The founder uniformly maintained an anti-slavery position, in
of the sect as a separate body was Elder Benjamin this forming a complete contrast to the Calvinistic
Randall
, a pious, zealous, and devoted man, who Baptists, some of whose churches in the Southern
had been converted under the preaching of George States include members and pastors who are slave-
Whitefield. Though educated in Pædobaptist prin- holders. As a denomination the Freewill Baptists
ciples, he changed his views on the subject of have no connection whatever with slavery, and such
baptism, and was baptized by immersion in 1776, is their abhorrence of the system, that they refused
uniting himself with the Calvinistic Baptist Church, to receive 12,000 from Kentucky and neighbour-
Soon after he commenced preaching, and his labours hood, who sent a deputation to the General Con-
in this way were abundantly blessed. Crowds waited ference wishing to join the connection. They keep
upon his ministry, souls were awakened, and not a up a friendly correspondence with the General Bap-
few are said to have been savingly converted. In tists in England.
his anxiety to represent the Gospel invitations in Government among the Freewill Baptists is not
their fulness and freeness, Mr. Randall insensibly episcopal nor presbyterian, but congregational, or
298
BAPTISTS (AMERICAN).
residing in the churches. Each elects its own mi- sooner was this little church constituted than a spirit
nister, and exercises discipline over its own members. of fierce persecution arose against it, and John Ro-
Churches are organized and ministers ordained by a gers, one of its members, was sentenced to sit a cer-
council from a Quarterly Meeting; and a minister tain time upon a gallows with a rope about his neck.
as such is subject to the discipline of the Quar- There were many other severities practised upon
terly Meeting to which he belongs, and not to this body in New England, and the result was, that
the church of which he is pastor. Believers are ad- its progress was very much impeded. There are
mitted as members of the church upon baptism, or in the United States, however, at present about sixty
by letter, always by unanimous vote, but may be churches, fifty ordained ministers, and about seven
excluded by vote of two-thirds. Churches hold thousand communicants. They are divided into four
monthly conferences, and report once in three months associations. The Eastern Association includes the
to the Quarterly Meeting by letter and delegates. churches in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Jer-
Quarterly Meetings are composed of several churches, sey. The Central Association includes the churches
and hold their sessions four times a-year, continuing in the State of New York, east of the small lakes.
two and a half days, being employed in supplying The Western Association includes the churches in
destitute churches with preachers, examining candi- the western part of New York and Pennsylvania.
dates for license and similar duties. Yearly Meet- The South-Western Association includes the church-
ings are constituted of several Quarterly Meetings, es in Virginia, Ohio, and all west thereof. They have
while the General Conference is composed of dele- an annual conference, composed of delegates from
gates, most of whom are ministers from all the the Association, and those churches which do not join
Yearly Meetings in the body. This Conference is the Association. They are strictly congregational
held once in three years, its sessions continuing some in their ecclesiastical constitution, each church be-
nine or ten days. Its design is to promote unity, ing an independent body receiving only advice from
scriptural holiness, Bible doctrine, and discipline the Associations and the Conference. The officers
throughout the whole denomination. It proposes of the church are, as among the Congregationalists,
and recommends, but makes no laws.
pastors and deacons. Every church has a clerk,
The Freewill Baptists now extend over the greater whose duty it is to keep a faithful record of all the
part of the United States, Upper and Lower Canada, proceedings of the church, with a record of the
and the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Bruns- names of the members and the date of their baptism.
wick. They have a Foreign Mission and Home The body has a Missionary Society which devotes
Mission Societies, a Sabbath School Union, and an its energies to home objects; a Hebrew Missionary
Education Society. They have various academies, Society to ameliorate the condition of the Jews in
and on the whole are making progress as a Christian the United States, and a Tract Society which cir-
denomination, though they are still but a small body culates tracts chiefly on the peculiar views of the
compared with the orthodox or Calvinistic Baptists. denomination.
The next section of American Baptists, which we A regular creed, embodying the sentiments of the
propose to notice in our present article, is one which Seventh Day Baptists, was adopted by a vote of the
is called SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS, from their ob- General Conference at its meeting in 1833. As a
servance of the seventh instead of the first day of denomination they practise what is termed close
the week for religious purposes. This body traces communion, not associating in church fellowship
its origin to no human founder, but points as the with other bodies of Christians who hold Pædobap-
warrant for its existence as a church to the New tist principles.
Testament. Their sentiments they allege were Between the years 1718 and 1730 a considerable
taught by the apostles, and practised by the early number of Baptists emigrated from Germany to the
Christians. That the Jewish or seventh day Sab- United States. They are commonly called Tunkers
bath was observed for a time along with the first by way of derision, the term being equivalent to
day or Christian Sabbath it is scarcely possible to Dippers ; but they have assumed to themselves the
doubt. But it is difficult, if not impossible, to find a name of BRETHREN, under which article we propose
warrant either in Scripture or in the history of the to describe the principles and practices of the sect.
Church for the substitution of the Jewish in place of Another sect of Baptists called the DUNKERS
the Christian Sabbath. Mosheim, indeed, mentions (which see) was formed in Germany in 1708, and a
a sect as having existed in Lombardy in the twelfth number of them having emigrated to America in
century under the name of Passagenians, who cir- 1719, in consequence of being exposed to persecu-
cumcised their followers and celebrated the Jewish tion in their native country, they formed a church
Sabbath. Seventh Day Baptists seem to have ex- at Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1723, under the
isted at a remote period in Britain, though their pastoral charge of Peter Becker. The churches of
number is now reduced to only two congregations. this denomination rapidly increased in number, and
The earliest Seventh Day Baptist Church in in 1728 adopted the seventh day instead of the first
America was formed at Newport, Rhode Island, in as the day appointed for sacred worship, so that
1681, the first pastor being William Hiscox. No | they are sometimes termed, and indeed they them:
BAPTISTS (SCOTTISH).
299
selves take the name of the German Seventh-Day | tist churches throwing off the favourers of Camp-
Baptists. This denomination will be treated of more bell's opinions. Thus excluded from the communion
at length under their original name of Dunkers. of the Baptists, the Campbellites formed themselves
From the three principal Protestant sects in everywhere into distinct churches under the name of
America, the Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyte- DISCIPLES OF CHRIST, under which name their
rians, arose, in the beginning of the present century, doctrines and practices will be fully stated.
a sect which receives the names of CHRISTIANS or In British America, also, the Baptists are a large
the CHRISTIAN CONNECTION (which see), and which, body. In Nova Scotia alone they amount to 50,000.
as it practises immersion, may be considered a Bap- BAPTISTS (DUTCH). See MENNONITES.
tist denomination, though in various doctrines, par- BAPTISTS (SCOTTISH). This body is of a compa-
ticularly on the subject of the Trinity, they differ ratively recent date, having been not yet a century
wholly from all the other divisions of Baptists, both in existence. No trace can be found of a Baptist
in America and everywhere else.
church in Scotland previous to the latter half of the
In the year 1823, a respectable Baptist, named | last century, excepting one which appears to have
Alexander Campbell, belonging to Bethany, Virgi- been formed out of the soldiers in Cromwell's army,
nia, commenced a periodical called the Christian and which, after existing for a short time, was broken
Baptist,' in which he earnestly pleaded for what he up. The earliest Scottish Baptist church was formed
considered a restoration of the original gospel and in Edinburgh in 1765, under the pastoral care of Mr.
the primitive order of things. The design of the Carmichael, who had been minister of an Antiburgher
writer was to bring back, if possible, the original congregation at Coupar-Angus, but having changed
unity of the Church, and for this purpose he pro- his views on the subject of baptism, and been baptized
posed to dispense with all human creeds, and to take in London, was the founder of the Baptist churches
the Bible alone as the authorized bond of union, or, north of the Tweed. In 1769, Mr. Archibald
to use the language of Thomas Campbell, the father M'Lean was chosen as joint pastor with Mr. Car-
of Alexander, “ Nothing was to be received as a michael, an arrangement which gave no small im-
matter of faith or duty for which there could not pulse to the cause in after years, as Mr. M'Lean
be produced a Thus saith the Lord, either in express rose to high fame as a controversial writer and a
terms, or by approved Scripture precedent.” The theologian. For some time, however, after the first
two Campbells, father and son, had belonged origi- Baptist church had been formed in the metropolis,
nally to the Presbyterian Seceders in the north of the cause made but little progress. In the course of
Ireland, and on reaching America they continued to a few years churches were established in various
attach themselves to a small branch of the same places throughout Scotland, as for instance at Dun-
church. The proposed reformation, however, was dee, Glasgow, Paisley, Perth, Largo, Dunfermline,
rejected by the Seceders as a body, though embraced and in most of the principal towns. In some of the
by some of its members. A declaration and ad- congregations errors of various kinds began to ap-
dress was drawn up and circulated by the Campbells pear, which to some extent marred their prosperity.
and their adherents, and a considerable number of Mr. M‘Lean made an annual tour through various
persons having responded to the appeal, a congrega- parts of England, and as the result of his visits, and
tion was formed, over which the two Campbells those of other zealous friends of the cause, from
were ordained pastors. In the course of a few time to time, churches were formed in connection
months the subject of infant baptism was started, with the Scottish Baptists in several of the large
and after some discussion, which led to a division of towns in England. In 1851 the number of these
the church, the Campbells, and those who agreed congregations in England and Wales amounted to
with them, were immersed on the 12th June 1812. 15, while the number in Scotland amounted to 119.
The small body, now much weakened by the seces- The sentiments of the Scottish Baptists are Cal-
sion which had taken place, resolved to connect vinistic, and they differ from the Particular Baptists
themselves with the Baptist communion. They,
They, in England chiefly by a more rigid imitation of what
accordingly, joined that denomination in the follow they consider apostolic usages. They think that
ing year, guarding themselves, however, by the ex- the primitive order of public worship is clearly laid
press stipulation in writing, “ No terms of union or down in the New Testament, and therefore, they
communion other than the Holy Scriptures should endeavour to follow it out to the utmost of their
be required.” Alexander Campbell, by his talents power. The passage to which they refer is as fol-
and excellent Christian character, rose high in the lows: “And they continued stedfastly in the apos-
estimation of the Christian sect which he had joined, tles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of
and his peculiar views in regard to the rejection of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every
all human creeds began to gain ground, and were soul : and many wonders and signs were done by
at length extensively received among the Baptist the apostles. And all that believed were together,
churches of the western country. A jealousy arose and had all things common ; and sold their posses-
on the part of many who were opposed to the new sions and goods, and parted them to all men, as
views, and at length a schism took place, the Bap- every man had need. And they, continuing daily
300
BARA-BARBARA'S (St.) DAY.
with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread connection with the Particular Baptists in England.
from house to house, did eat their meat with glad. Some of the Scottish Baptist churches differ from
ness and singleness of heart, praising God, and hav- the general body on the subject of the Lord's Sup-
ing favour with all the people. And the Lord added per, considering it as not peculiarly a church ordi-
to the church daily such as should be saved." They nance, nor the administration of it a matter which
require a plurality of elders or pastors in every belongs exclusively to the pastoral office; but that,
church. They administer the Lord's Supper every on the contrary, it is the duty of any two or three
Lord's day, and make contributions for the poor, persons, who may come together to worship God on
according to the apostles' charge to the church of the Lord's day, to engage in celebrating the Lord's
Galatia, every first day of the week. The prayers Supper, though there be not a pastor among them.
and exhortations of the brethren form a part of their The introduction of this principle has led to much
church order under the direction and control of the division in the churches, and the consequence is
,
elders, to whom it exclusively belongs to preside in that the congregations of this denomination are few
conducting the worship, to rule in cases of disci- in number, and the members only a very small num-
pline, and to labour in the word and doctrine, in dis- ber of the church-going population of the country.
tinction from the brethren exhorting one another. BARA, a festival formerly celebrated with much
The elders are all laymen chosen from the brethren. magnificence at Messina in Sicily, and representing
The Scottish Baptists observe the love-feast after the ASSUMPTION (which see) of the Virgin Mary.
the example of the early Christians, and upon cer- Besides being used to denote the festival itself, the
tain occasions they salute one another with a holy word Bara was also employed as the designation of
kiss, and even wash one another's feet when oppor- a huge machine exhibited during the festival. It
tunity offers, as an act of hospitality. They ab- was fifty feet high, and at the top of it was a young
stain from eating blood and things strangled, be- girl of fourteen years of age representing the Virgin,
lieving the decree of the council at Jerusalem to be and who stood upon the hand of an image of Jesus
still binding upon Christians. They require plain-Christ.
ness and simplicity of outward apparel, and teach BARACA (Arab. Benediction), a name applied
that it is a shame for a man to have long hair, how by the Coptic church to the leavened bread used in
ever sanctioned by the fashion. They consider gam- the eucharist before it has been consecrated. See
ing, routs, balls, and attendance on the theatre as COPTIC CHURCH.
unbecoming the sobriety, seriousness, and gravity of BARALLOTS, a heretical sect at Bologna who
the Christian profession.
are said to have had all things in common, even
For a number of years after the first introduction their wives and children.
of Christian principles into Scotland, the churches BARATZ, a document which by way of letters-
holding them were characterized by unbroken har- patent is granted by the Turkish sultan to the
mony of sentiment and feeling. Various circum- Greek patriarchs and bishops, sanctioning them in
stances, however, have unhappily contributed to the exercise of their ecclesiastical functions. The
disturb this most desirable state of matters. Churches Baratz gives them power and authority to appoint
have arisen in various quarters, which, though agree- or to depose the inferior clergy, to grant licenses for
ing with the main body in their views of baptism, marriages, and to issue divorces, to collect the re-
differ from them in other points, which they them- venues belonging to the churches, to receive the
selves consider to be so important as to warrant pious legacies bequeathed to them; in short, to en-
them in maintaining a separate and isolated posi- joy all the privileges, and to perform all the duties
tion. This remark applies to several of those belonging to their high station.
churches in particular which were established by BARBA (ST.), FESTIVAL OF, a festival cele-
Messrs. James and Robert Haldane. These excel-brated by the Greek Church on the 4th of Decem-
lent and devoted men, who were instrumental, in the ber.
end of the last century and beginning of the pre- BARBARA'S (St.) DAY. On the 7th of March
sent, in extensively promoting the cause of Christ in the Romish Church celebrates the festival of St.
Scotland, planted a number of churches on Congre- | Barbara along with that of St. Thomas Aquinas. It
gationalist principles in different parts of the country. is related of the female saint that her father was a
These churches were at first strictly Pædobaptist in heathen, and perceiving from her conversation that
their views, but the Messrs. Haldane having them- she had embraced the Christian faith, he drew his
selves become Baptists, a great number of the churches sword in great indignation, threatening to kill her ;
which they had formed adopted the same opinions but having in this hour of extreme danger prayed to
and practices in regard to baptism, without however God, a large stone opened itself, and received her
joining the original Baptist churches. Thus main- whole body into the cavity, and carried her to a
taining a completely independent position, while mountain full of caves, where she thought to have
they were in reality Baptist churches, the entire Bap- concealed herself, but was discovered by a shepherd.
tist denomination in Scotland assumed a broken and For this act of insolence, the shepherd was punished
divided aspect. A few congregations, besides, are in in the mosi signal manner; for he was changed into
BARBARY (RELIGION OF).
301
Thus we
a marble stone, and all his sheep into locusts, or, as who has incurred the displeasure of the sovereign
others say, into beetles, who annually visit the tomb himself. The criminal is safe as soon as he succeeds
of this saint. Various other strange stories are re- in crossing the threshold of the Marabout's chiosk-
corded of St. Barbara, which it is unnecessary to his dwelling-place in life—his tomb in death-and
relate.
which even then continues to preserve its protecting
BARBARY (RELIGION OF). The states of Bar- sanctity. In the Barbary States, as in all unen-
bary include the whole northern coast of Africa, lightened countries, superstitions of various kinds
with the exception of Egypt. The inhabitants are extensively prevail. The great mass of the people
chiefly zealous and bigoted Mohammedans, more so have a firm belief in the power of an evil eye. Ser-
indeed than the professors of Islam in any other pent charmers are to be found exciting the wonder
country. From their tolbas or spiritual instructors of all observers. They exhibit themselves to the
very little real knowledge is derived. There is no admiring multitude, half-naked, in strange attitudes
connection between the ministers of religion and the and contortions of the body, and with serpents
government as in other Mohammedan countries, nor twined round them, whom they have skilfully de-
is there any corporate body, like the ulema in Tur- prived of their power to injure. Among the inha-
key, to preserve and maintain the doctrine and disci- bitants of the Northern coasts of Africa deceased rela-
pline of the church. The veneration of the people tions are held in great veneration. Every Friday
is almost exclusively bestowed upon a class of per- evening “ the feast of the dead” is held, when the
sons who, by their individual exertions, raise them- people repair to the tombs of their ancestors, who
selves to the character of saints. Nor has this char- are supposed to be present on that evening, and to
acter been attained in consequence of any peculiar share in the festival which is celebrated there.
purity of life, or fidelity in the observance of the BARBATA (Lat. bearded), a surname of Venus
rites of their religion, but by the most extravagant among the Romans. See APHRODITE.
and absurd pretensions to supernatural power, and to BARBE, the name given to a pastor among the
an intercourse with invisible beings. In this way
ancient Waldenses. The number of barbes seems at
the Marabouts, as they are called, have acquired a one period to have been considerable.
remarkable ascendency over the minds of the credu- learn that in the sixteenth century, at a synod held
lous multitude. Throughout the whole north of in the Valdi Clusone, there were on one occasion
Africa, idiots and madmen are uniformly reputed assembled no fewer than one hundred and forty
holy; and many cases have occurred of individuals barbes. These pastors generally added to their
feigning to be deranged in intellect for the purpose other duties the education of the youth at the college
of attracting to themselves the respect and venera- of Angrogna and elsewhere. The number of barbes
tion of the people. The higher class of saints or at present is only fifteen, corresponding to the num-
Marabouts are decidedly the second persons in the ber of parishes. The parochial duties of the minis-
kingdom, if they do not even rival the monarch. ters are very laborious. All the churches are opened
Indeed, the emperors of Morocco have been long ac- for some kind of service four times in the week.
customed, by high pretensions to sanctity, to heighten Divine worship is performed on Sundays; on Mon-
the respect of their subjects. Muley Ismael, we are days and Wednesdays there are catechetical instruc-
told, spent a great part of his time in superstitious tions which begin and end with prayers ; and on
observances, such as might impress the people with Thursdays prayers and a sermon. Dr. Thomson, in
the idea that he was privileged to enjoy direct com · a recent visit to the valleys, had ample opportunities
munication with God and Mohammed, and that he of becoming acquainted with the present state of
was invested with superhuman powers.
Mrs. the Waldenses. In regard to their pastors, he bears
Broughton, in her “Six Years' Residence in Algiers, the following favourable testimony. 6 Few things
mentions having met with one of the most famous of afford more enjoyment to one who visits these Alpine
the Marabouts, who professed so much power, that churches than intercourse with their pastors. They
he had more than once gone to the palace and struck are men who, by their piety and education, may
the Dey. She describes this reputed saint as "a stand comparison with the pastors of any Protestant
little greybearded wild-looking old man, clothed in church in the world. Trained for a course of years
a long robe of splendid gold brocade, with a turban at some of the continental seats of theological learn-
of corresponding magnificence, but put on in a very ing, such as Berlin, Lausanne, Montauban, or Geneva,
He was followed by a black slave they bring back into their parishes, not only that
leading a barrico, with apparently well-filled pan- living piety which they bore from it
, but that en-
A Marabout discharges the duties of a largement of mind and breadth of sympathy which
priest, an averter of evil, and a manufacturer of are usually obtained from foreign study and travel.
talismans and amulets, besides performing many And though they preach less than the ministers of
strange tricks with the view of exciting wonder and our own country, their pastoral toil is unsurpassed.
admiration. He has the privilege of granting sane- The late pastor of the stormy Rodoret, Daniel Buffe,
tuary to any accused person, whether innocent or perished with his whole family, not many years
guilty, and even of affording protection to any one since, from the fall of an avalanche. There is a story
unusual manner.
niers."
م
302
BARCHOCHAB-BARDESANISTS.
inen.
current in the valleys of a pastor who not long since | phet saw. He maintained that he was one of the
swam across the Cluson at midnight, when it had stars of heaven, sent to succour his nation, and to
overflowed its banks, that he might meet, according deliver them from the cruel yoke of the Romans.
to engagement, with a Roman Catholic inquirer, and Secondly, he pretended, as Jerome says, to deceive
teach him the way of life. Let our reader imagine the people by emitting fire and flame from his mouth
one of them setting forth on a winter afternoon from by means of burning tar. Thirdly, he selected a
his humble manse or presbytere, to visit a dying man forerunner with sentiments and dispositions similar
some miles distant on the mountains. With alpen- | to his own, who proved a powerful auxiliary in his
stock in his hand, and clogs on his feet filled with scheme of deception. This forerunner was AKIBA
iron spikes nearly an inch long, he toils upwards (which see), of whom the Jewish writers tell many
through deep gorges, along the margin of icy preci- strange stories. Barchochab and his coadjutor Akiba
pices, sometimes even climbing on his knees from succeeded in rallying around them an army of 200,000
rock to rock in places where a few false steps would The city of Bither was selected as the capital
be destruction, the whole, perhaps, closed by a night of the kingdom of the Messiah, and there the impostor
storm, which makes return impossible, and restrains was anointed king, there he coined money for current
him in the dying man's châlet for days,—and he will circulation, and there he waited to manifest himself as
see in this one among many pictures of a Vaudois the deliverer of the oppressed nation. The troops of
pastor's experiences."
the rebels were far superior to those of the Romans,
BARCHOCHAB (Syr. son of a star), a Jewish and, accordingly, they defeated them in several battles.
inpostor in the reign of the Roman Emperor Ha- Hadrian now saw that vigorous measures must be
drian, who assumed the character of the Messiah, adopted. Julius Severus, therefore, one of the great-
pretending that he was the star of Jacob, foretold by est generals of the age, was sent for from Britain,
Balaam, who was to deliver the Jews and subdue the and with a considerable reinforcement he was de-
Gentiles, or as it is said, “ There shall come a star spatched against the Jews. Perceiving that the
(cocab) out of Jacob, and a sceptre out of Israel.” forces of Barchochab were more numerous than his
Little is known of the previous history of this man. own, the Roman general avoided encountering them
According to report he must have been at one time in a decisive battle, but attacking them in detached
a robber; and his conduct shows that he must have parties, he assaulted their camp, and compelled them
been accustomed to scenes of rapine and bloodshed. to retreat to Bither, which he instantly besieged,
He had energy and valour enough to head the Jews and although it held out for a long time, he succeeded
in a revolt against the Romans, and he endeavoured at length in taking it. This put an end to the war,
to persuade the Christians in Palestine to renounce Barchochab and his associates having fallen, and the
their faith and join in the insurrection. Failing of Jews being thereby so completely discouraged as to
his purpose, he caused those that fell into his hands
submit in a body to the Roman power. Hadrian
to be executed in the most cruel manner. The Jew- was now in quiet possession of Palestine, and the
ish writers assert that there were two impostors of very first step which he took after hostilities had
the name of Barchochab, the grandfather and the ceased, was to issue a decree prohibiting the Jews
grandson. Barchochab I., they allege, was elected from entering Jerusalem. He employed the stones
king of the Jews two years after the ruin of the of the temple to build a theatre, besides erecting
temple, and died at Bither, a city in the vicinity of statues of false gods on the very site of the temple,
Jerusalem, which was the capital of his empire. His and on the spots where Christ had been crucified,
grandson of the same name succeeded him as Bar- and where he had been buried. Jerome also in-
chochab II. The Jews flocking to his standard, ac- forms us, that the Emperor placed the image of a
knowledged him as their Messiah; but Hadrian re- hog over the Bethlehem gate of the city, probably
ceiving intelligence of this insurrection, raised a great to deter the Jews from entering, as they regarded
army, and taking possession of Bither, destroyed a both the gate and the city to be polluted by the
great number of the Jews. They add that the image of that unclean and abhorred animal. See
grandson was slain by his own subjects in the city of MESSIAHS (FALSE).
Bither, because they discovered that he wanted the BARDESANISTS, a sect of Gnostic heretics in
true criterion of the Messiah, which, according to the second century, who derived their name from
them, was to know a man to be guilty by the smell. Bardesanes their leader. He was born at Edessa
Whatever truth there may be in the statement of in Mesopotamia, and signalized himself by his ex-
the Jewish writers, that there were two impostors tensive learning. Eusebius represents him as having
bearing the name of Barchochab, the most remark- been educated in the principles of the Gnostic
able at all events is Coziba, who commenced about teacher, Valentinus, but Epiphanius supposes him
A. D. 130 to give himself out as the Messiah. Having to have been originally brought up in the orthodox
assumed this character, he endeavoured to support it Christian faith, and to have afterwards embraced
by three expedients. First, he took the title of Bar- the doctrines of the VALENTINIANS (which see),
chochab, the son of the star, in order to persuade the which he soon abandoned and founded a school
people that he was the star which Balaam the pro-
of his own.
The opinions of the Bardesanists are
BAR JUCHNE, a fabulous bird described by the
BAR JUCHNE-BARLAAMITES.
303
thus described by Neander : “In perfect conformity BARLAAMITES, a sect of Christian heretics in
with the Valentinian system, Bardesanes recognized, the fourteenth century. They were followers of
in man's nature, something altogether superior to the Barlaam, a native of Calabria in Italy, who became
whole world in which man's temporal consciousness a monk of the order of St. Basil, lived at Constan.
is unfolded—something above its own comprehension tinople, and was a very learned, ambitious and fac-
--the human soul-a germinal principle sown forth tious man. Being born and educated among the
from the Pleroma—whose essence and powers, hav- Latins, he at first agreed with them in opposing the
ing sprung from this loftier region, hence remain hid- Greek church; but afterwards changing sides, he be-
den to itself, until it shall attain to the full conscious- came a most powerful champion among the Greeks
ness and to the full exercise of them in the Pleroma. against the Latin church. While an abbot at Con-
According to the Gnostic system, this could properly stantinople, he made inquiry into the state of the
be true, however, only in respect to the spiritual monks on Mount Athos, and brought a formal com-
natures ; but he must attribute also, according to plaint against the Hesychists there before the pa-
that system, to the psychical natures, a moral freedom, triarch of Constantinople. The cause was tried
superior to the constraint of natural influences, or to before a council A.D. 1314, and the monks were
the constraint of the Hyle. Hence, though, like acquitted, the only charge laid against them being
many of this Gnostic tendency, he busied himself that of mysticism in seeking for tranquillity of mind,
with astrology, he yet combated the theory which and the extinction of all the passions by means
held to any such influence of the stars, as determined of contemplation. The result · was, that not only
with necessity the life and actions of men. (Wher- were the monks declared free from all blame, but
ever they are,' says he of the Christians, 'they are Barlaam their accuser was condemned, upon which
neither conquered by bad laws and customs, nor he quitted Greece and returned to Italy. Not long
constrained by the dominant constellations that pre- after the controversy was renewed by another monk,
sided over their birth, to practise the sin which their Gregory Acindynus, who denied what Palamas had
Master has forbidden. To sickness, however, to maintained, namely, that God dwells in an eternal
poverty, to suffering, to that which is accounted light distinct from his essence, and that this was the
shameful among men, they are subjected. For as light seen by the disciples on Mount Tabor. The
our free man does not allow himself to be forced into dispute now changed its character. It had no longer
servitude, but if forced, resists; so, on the other a reference to the monks on Mount Athos, but to
hand, our phenomenal man, as a man for service, the light on Mount Tabor. Another council was
cannot easily escape subjection. For if we had all held on this point, which terminated in the condem-
power, we should be the All,—and so if we had no nation of Gregory as a follower of Barlaam. There
power, we should be the tools of others, and not our were several subsequent councils which met on this
own. But if God helps, all things are possible, and subject at Constantinople, but the most noted was
nothing can be a hindrance, for nothing can resist that of A. D. 1350, in which the Barlaamites and
his will. And though it may seem to be resisted, their friends were so severely censured, that they
yet this is so, because God is good, and lets every na- gradually ceased to defend themselves, and left
ture retain its own individuality and its own free will.' Palamas victorious. The opinions which were sanc-
In conformity with his system, he sought to trace tioned by this council were, that the energy or ope-
the vestiges of truth among people of every nation. ration of God was distinct from his substance, and
In India he noticed a class of sages who lived in that no one can become a partaker of the divine
habits of rigid asceticism, (the Brahmins, Saniahs) essence or substance itself; but it is possible for
and although in the midst of idolaters, kept them- finite natures to become partakers of this divine light
selves pure from idolatry and worshipped only one or operation. The Barlaamites, on the contrary,
God.” Bardesanes farther taught that Jesus de- denied these positions, and maintained that the divine
scended from the upper regions, clothed not with a operations or attributes do not differ from the divine
real, but with a celestial and aerial body, and taught essence; and that there is no difference in fact, but
mankind to subdue that body of corruption which only in our modes of conceiving them, among all the
they carry about with them in this mortal life ; and things which are said to be in God.
by abstinence, fasting, and contemplation, to disen- In A. D. 1339, Barlaam was sent by the Pope to
gage themselves from the servitude and dominion of Avignon to negociate a union between the Greek
that malignant matter which chained down the soul and Latin churches. Two years after he withdrew
to low and ignoble pursuits. See GNOSTICS. from Constantinople in consequence of a change of
Rabbinical writers. One of the most eminent Rab- of the Latins against the Greeks, and was made
says, that when she extends her wings she causes bishop of Geraci in Naples, where he died about the
a total eclipse of the sun. The Talmud declares year A.D. 1348. The death of their leader, and the
that one of her eggs once fell out of her nest and defeat which they sustained shortly after, in A. D.
broke down three hundred cedars, and inundated sixty 1350, put an end to the discussion which the Bar-
yillages.
laamites had raised, and dispersed the sect.
bis
304
BARNABAS'S DAY-BARTHOLOMITES.
nues.
BARNABAS'S (ST.) DAY, a Romish festival | boats and even large ships being drawn on shore,
celebrated on the 11th of June in honour of Barna- turned keel uppermost, the bodies of the slain depo-
bas, who is so often and so honourably mentioned in sited under them, and stones and earth superimposed,
the Acts of the Apostles.
thus forming what may appropriately be termed
BARNABITES, a Romish order of monks which ship-barrows. A long, square-shaped stone standing
was approved by Clement VII. in 1532, and con- two or three yards out of the ground, and called a
firmed by Paul III. in 1535. They assumed the Bautastein was also frequently erected in memory of
name of Regular Clerks of St. Paul, whom they a fallen warrior. These rude cenotaphs are very
chose for their patron, and whose epistles they read common in Norway and Sweden, but we believe
diligently, but they were commonly called Barnabites, none have yet been found bearing inscriptions."
probably from their devotion to St. Barnabas. This The idea has been started by a learned Danish
fraternity at first renounced all possessions and pro-writer, that the stone weapons found in barrows
perty like the Theatins, living solely upon the gra- were meant to typify the power of the god Thor over
tuitous gifts of the pious; but afterward they deemed the elves and spirits of darkness, and protect the
it expedient to hold property, and have certain reve- dead from their machinations. · This theory, how-
Their principal business was to labour as ever, seems to be more ingenious than well-founded.
preachers for the conversion of sinners. There have It is not unlikely that burying under mounds of
been several learned men belonging to this order, earth, which was practised not only by the Scandi-
and they have several monasteries in France, Italy, navians and Germans, but also by several Slavonic
and Savoy. Their habit is black, and they profess and Celtic tribes, as well as by the ancient Greeks
to give themselves to instruction, catechizing, and and Etruscans, may have been founded on some re-
missionary work.
ligious dogma held at a very remote period by the
BARROWISTS, a name which was sometimes common ancestors of all these nations.
applied to the BROWNISTS (which see), after one of BARSANIANS, a heretical sect which first ap-
their leaders.
peared in the sixth century, and followed the errors
BARROWS, mounds of earth which have in many of the CAINITES (which see). They were also called
countries been raised over the remains of the dead.
Semidulites. They maintained the errors of the GRA
It would appear that this custom of burying the DANAITES (which see), and made their sacrifices
dead under little hills or mounds prevailed among consist in taking wheat flour on the tip of their
many of the ancient inhabitants of Europe. Isidore fingers and carrying it to their mouths. They refused
speaks of it as a general custom. Virgil attributes to sit at meat with other people, and they are said
it to the ancient Romans. Herodotus mentions it as also to have regarded the Holy Ghost as a creature.
being a practice of the Scythians, and from that BARSANUPHITES, a section of the EUTY-
country Odin may have possibly brought it with CHIANS (which see).
him into the north, where it has prevailed for many BARTHOLOMEW'S (ST.) DAY, a festival cele-
centuries. Many monuments of this kind are to be brated by the Church of Rome on the 24th of Au-
found in both England and Scotland. Mr. Blackwell, | gust, in honour of St. Bartholomew, one of the twelve
in his edition of Mallet's Northern Antiquities, thus apostles of our Lord. This day is rendered particu-
describes the barrows of the ancient Scandinavians : | larly memorable in history, by the atrocious mas-
“ Most Scandinavian barrows are either round or sacre of the French Protestants on St. Bartholomew's
oblong, and some of them have rows of upright eve in 1572.
The bloody scene commenced at
stones set round them. Some oblong barrows have | midnight, and continued three days at Paris. Ad-
been found to contain two cinerary stone chests, one miral Coligny, a distinguished Huguenot, was the
at each end, and occasionally one in the middle. first victim. With him five hundred noblemen, and
Round barrows were commonly raised over stone about six thousand other Protestants were butchered
vaults or mortuary chambers in which the dead body in Paris alone. Orders had been despatched to all
was deposited, either buried in sand or laid out on a parts of the empire for a similar massacre of the
flat stone, and sometimes placed in a sitting posture. Protestants everywhere. More than 30,000, some
Barrows of this description have frequently two or say 70,000, perished by the hands of assassins, under
more vaults, and there is generally a passage in the the sanction of Charles IX. and the queen mother.
eastern or southern side, leading to, and on a level | In token of joy for this massacre of the Protestants,
with, the mortuary chambers. Barrows with wooden the Pope ordered a jubilee throughout Christendom.
chambers would appear to be the most recent of all, St. Bartholomew's day is also noted for another
and to have been raised not long before the intro- event of a very melancholy nature, the Act of Non-
duction of Christianity, and are, therefore, likely to conformity having come into operation on that day
offer the most tempting spoil for antiquaries. Bar- in 1660, by which 2,000 ministers of the Church of
rows in considerable numbers were often raised on a England were deprived of their livings.
field of battle, high, stone encircled barrows over the BARTHOLOMITES, a religious order in the
fallen chieftains, and lower mounds over those of Romish Church, founded at Genoa in A. D. 1307. A
their followers. Mention is also frequently made of | few years before, the Sultan of Egypt having gone
BARULES-BASILICÆ.
305
into Armenia had persecuted many of the Chris- longed. Valens was awed by the magnanimity of
tians, but particularly the monks of St. Basil settled the Christian pastor. Often he was on the point of
at Monte-Negro, putting a number of them to death,
death, condemning him to exile, but he did not venture on
and compelling the rest to seek safety in flight. that step. By his moderation and exemplary meek-
Some of these monks found a home in Genoa, where ness, Basil did not a little towards promoting the
a monastery was established. For a time the order union of the Eastern and Western churches, which
flourished, and various convents connected with them had been separated the more widely by the Antio-
were built in different parts of Italy. At length they chian schism. To the last he maintained his mo-
began to degenerate. They changed their habit into nastic habit and ascetic mode of life, which indeed
that of the order of St. Dominic, and laid aside the wore out his constitution, which had never been ro-
rule of St. Basil for that of St. Austin. In the bust. He died on the 1st of January A. D. 379.
course of another century the order had consider- BASILIAN MONKS, religious monks of the or-
ably declined, and in 1650 it was entirely suppressed der of St. Basil. The monks of the Greek church
by Pope Innocent X., and the effects of the monks belong to this order, and have among them three
confiscated.
ranks, those of probationer, proficient, and per-
BARULES, a sect of Christian heretics, who held fect. It is said that, in the various retreats of
that Jesus Christ had only the phantom of a body; Mount Athos alone, there are no less than forty
that souls were created before the world, and that thousand monks and hermits. The Basilian monks
they lived all at one time, with many other absurdi- wear black clothes, plain, and without any ornament,
ties equally gross and impious.
consisting of a long cassock, and a great gown with
BARZAKLI, a term used by the Mohammedans large sleeves. They wear on their - heads a hood
to denote the interval of time between a man's death hanging down upon the shoulders. They wear no
and his resurrection, during which they think men linen, sleep without sheets upon straw, eat no flesh,
neither go to heaven nor hell.
fast very often, and till the ground with their own
BASHARITES, a division of the Mohammedan hands. The order was originated in the fourth cen-
sect called MOTAWEILAH (which see).
tury by Basil the Great, who, having retired into a
BASIL'S (St.) LITURGY, one of the numerous desert in the province of Pontus, founded a monas-
Liturgies or Service-Books used by the Greek tery for the convenience of himself and his numerous
Church. It is very long, and is used upon all the followers, and drew up a series of rules which he
Sundays of Lent, except Palm-Sunday, upon the wished all the monks of his order carefully to ob-
Thursday and Saturday of Passion-Week, upon
The new order soon spread over all the
Christmas-Eve, and the eve of the Epiphany, and up- East, and passed into the West. It has been al-
on St. Basil's-day. This Liturgy was composed by leged by some authors, that Basil lived to see
Basil, commonly called the Great, Bishop of Cæ- 90,000 monks connected with his order in the East
sarea, in Cappadocia. He was born in A. D. 329, alone. This order was introduced in the West in
in that city, of a noble Christian family. He was A. D. 1057, and was reformed in 1569 by Pope
brought up from childhood in a knowledge of the Gregory XIII., who united the Basilian monks of
Christian faith by his parents; but more especially Italy, Spain, and Sicily into one congregation, at
by his grandmother, Macrina, who had been a hearer the head of which was the monastery of St. Saviour
of Gregory Thaumaturgus. Having, according to at Messina. This order is said to have produced 14
the custom of the times, spent several years in a popes, 1,805 bishops, 3,010 abbots, and 11,085 mar-
monastery, he acquired a strong attachment to mo- tyrs, besides an enormous number of confessors and
nastic habits, founded several new monasteries, for It also boasts of several emperors, kings,
which he drew up a code of laws, and has since been and princes who have embraced its rule.
esteemed the patron of Eastern ascetics. Having
BASILIANS. See BOGOMILES.
been raised to the bishopric of his native city, he, BASILICÆ (Gr. Basileus, a king), buildings
along with his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and his among the ancient Romans used as courts of law,
friend Gregory of Nazianzen, was mainly instrumen- or places of merchandise. On the conversion of
tal in procuring the triumph of the Nicene doctrines the Emperor Constantine, many of these public
in the Oriental church. And when the Emperor halls were given for the purpose of holding Chris-
Valens wished to compel Basil to receive Arians tian assemblies for worship. Thus the Basilica
into the fellowship of his church, the worthy bishop were in many cases converted into churches, and
offered a noble resistance to the tyrant's arbitrary the word came in after-ages to be used to denote
demand. He replied that he had nothing to fear ; pos-
churches. Some writers have supposed that the
sessions of which men might deprive him, he had name was given them because they were places
pone except his few books and his cloak. An exile where worship was paid to Him who is King of
was no exile for him, since he knew that the whole the whole earth. A Christian Basilica, as we learn
earth is the Lord's. If torture was threatened, his from Dr. Smith, consisted of four parts : 1. The ves-
feeble body would yield to the first blows, and death tibule of entrance. 2. The nave or centre aisle,
would bring him nearer to his God, after whom he which was divided from the two side aisles by a row
serve.
Duns.
I.
U
306
BASILIDIANS.
of columns on each of its sides. It was in this part word righteousness. Next to moral perfection fol-
of the Basilica that the people assembled for public lows inward tranquillity, peace, which, as Basilides
worship. 3. The ambo, a part of the lower extre- rightly judged, can exist only in connection with
mity of the nave raised above the general level of holiness :—and this peace, which is the characteris-
the door by a flight of steps. 4. The sanctuary, in tic of the divine life, concludes the evolution of life
the centre of which was placed the high altar under within God himself. The number seven was re-
a tabernacle or canopy, at which the priest officiated garded by Basilides, as it was by many theosophists
with his face turned towards the people. Around of this period, as a sacred number; and accordingly
this altar, and in the wings of the sanctuary, were those seven powers, together with the primal ground
seats for the assistant clergy or elders, with an ele. out of which they were evolved, constituted in his
vated chair for the bishop or pastor at the bottom of scheme, the first octave, or root of all existence.
the circle in the centre. The word Basilica, in From this point, the spiritual life proceeded to evolve
modern use, is only applied to those churches, as the itself farther and farther, into numberless gradations
Lateran at Rome, which are distinguished for their of existence, each lower one being ever the impres-
size and magnificence. In Rome there are seven sion, the antitype of the higher."
churches which bear this name, all of them having Thus according to the system of the Basilidians
canons, and enjoying peculiar privileges. See there was a certain successive scale in the creation
CHURCHES.
of things, each link in the chain of beings being
BASILIDIANS, a heretical Christian sect which connected with that which goes before, and with
appeared in the second century. It derived its name that which follows. He held that there were 365
from Basilides of Alexandria, one of the earliest regions or gradations of the spiritual world, corre-
and most distinguished leaders of the Gnostics. He
He sponding to the number of the days of the year.
is said to have spent some time at Antioch, and This truth was expressed by the mystical word
from thence to have passed to Persia, where he dif- ABRAXAS (which see), expressing, according to the
fused Gnostic doctrines. But the principal field in Geeek mode of reckoning by letters of the alphabet,
which he laboured as a teacher of heresy, was Alex- the whole emanation-world as an evolution of the
andria, where he seems to have lived for a number of Divine essence.
years, although, according to Epiphanius, Syria was Basilides taught a dualistic system, in which con-
his native country. He appears to have been a | tradictory principles have been in operation from the
disciple of Menander, but improved upon his doc- beginning. Light, life, soul, goodness, on the one
trines, and laid the foundation of a school of his hand, and darkness, death, matter, evil, on the other,
The system of Basilides has given rise to have extended through the whole progressive course
considerable discussion among the learned. He is of the world, which, by the very constitution of
said by Clement of Alexandria to have made pro- things, is intended to accomplish a process of purifi-
fession of having received from Glaucias, a discip'e cation, separating good from evil, light from dark.
of the Apostle Peter, the esoteric doctrines of that ness, life from death, and soul from matter. The
eminent follower of Christ. No other Christian life of each individual man on earth stands connected,
writer, however, makes the slightest allusion to in the great refining process, with the preceding
Glaucias. At the foundation of the whole scheme series of existences. Each one brings evil with him
of Basilides lay the doctrine of emanations. At the out of some earlier state of existence, and from this
head of the world of emanations stood the Supreme evil he has to purify himself in the present life, thus
God, the origin of life and of all creation. From fitting himself for a better condition in a subsequent
this infinitely exalted being were produced seven state of being. The question has been raised, whe-
most excellent beings called ÆONS (which see). The ther Basilides believed in the transmigration of the
nature of these spiritual powers is thus described by souls of men into brute animals. His own language
Neander: “In order to the production of life—he shows plainly, that he entertained such an idea, and,
conceived—it was necessary that the being who in- indeed, he could scarcely avoid it in developing the
cludes all perfection in himself should unfold himself fundamental principles of his system.
into the several attributes which express the idea of An angel, whom he denominates ARCHON (which
absolute perfection; and in place of abstract notional see), the ruler, was believed, by this speculative Gnos-
attributes, unsuited to the Oriental taste, he substi- tic teacher, to preside over and control the whole
tuted living, self-sribsistent, ever active, hypostatised purifying process of nature and history. An im-
powers: first, the intellectual powers, the spirit, the portant addition was afterwards made to this doctrine
reason, the thinking power, wisdom; next, might, by his son, Isidorus, who taught that to every soul
whereby God executes the purposes of his wisdom; incorporated in a body there was assigned an at-
and, lastly, the moral attributes, independently of tendant angel, to whom is committed the guidance
which God's almighty power is never exerted; namely, of its particular process of purification, and of its
holiness or moral perfection, where the term is to be particular training, and who probably, after its se-
understood according to its Hellenistic and Hebrew paration from the body, was supposed to accompany
meaning,—not in the more restricted sense of our it to its place of destination.
own.
BASSARÆ-BATH-KOL.
307
In regard to the scheme of man's redemption, Ba- BASSARÆ, or BASSARIDES, (from Gr. Bassaris,
silides believed the Redeemer to be merely an Æon, a long robe), a name sometimes given to the Bacchoe
though no doubt the highest Æon sent down by the or Mænads, from the long robe which they wore on
Supreme God to execute the work of Redeemer. This festival occasions.
being united himself with the man Jesus at his BASSAREUS, a surname of Dionysus, or Bac-
baptism in the Jordan, who differed, indeed, from chus, derived from the same source as that which is
other men only in degree, and could scarcely be re- referred to in the preceding article.
garded as impeccable, but as actually himself need- BATALA, a name signifying God the Creator,
ing redemption. The sufferings of Christ, accord applied to the Supreme Being by the Pagan in-
ing to the system of Basilides, had no connection habitants of the Philippine islands.
with the redemption of man; but the sin of each in- BATARA-GOUROU, the god of heaven and of
dividual was expiated by his own personal suffer- justice among the Battas of Sumatra.
ings. Thus the doctrine of justification, as laid BATELNIM, a word used formerly among the
down by the Apostle Paul, was denied, and the sub- Jews to denote persons of full age and free condi-
stitution of Christ, in the room of the guilty, was tion, who had leisure to attend the service of the syna-
entirely set at nought.
gogue. It was a rule that a synagogue was to be erect-
The moral system of the Basilidians has been ed in every place where there were ten Batelnims,
much misrepresented by several ancient writers, who for less than ten did not make a congregation, and
speak of them as sanctioning evil practices of every where a congregation did not exist a synagogue could
kind. Such a view of the doctrines of this sect could not be built. With a smaller number the business
only arise from an entire ignorance of the whole of a synagogue could not be conducted. This ori-
theory. Man, in the view of Basilides, carries with ginated from the notion that God would not hear
in him opposite and contradictory elements from two their prayers if fewer than ten were present. It is
opposite kingdoms. He has a higher and godlike highly probable that this idea may have arisen from
nature, and he has a lower nature, consisting of ele- the declaration of God to Abraham, that if there had
ments foreign to his higher nature. But it is his been ten righteous men found in Sodom and Go-
duty to strive and pray that the lower may be kept morrah, these wicked cities would have been spared.
in complete subjection to the higher nature, and that See SYNAGOGUE.
thus the purifying process may be carried forward, BATHENIANS, a name given to the ASSASSINS
which will prepare man for a better state of being (which see). Herbelot informs us that Bathen sig-
beyond the grave.
nifies the secret knowledge of mysteries, and their
The Basilidians are accused by several writers of meaning.
using incantations, and carrying about with them BATHALA - MEI-CAPAL, which means God
amulets or charms to ward off diseases and calamities the Creator, the principal divinity of a Malay tribe
of every kind.
No doubt, as has been already in the Philippine Islands.
noticed under the article ABRAXAS, there are many BATH-KOL (Heb. Daughter of a Voice). When
a
precious stones and gems, with inscriptions upon the Spirit of God ceased to speak by the mouth of
them, which are extant to this hour, and which the Old Testament prophets, the Jews pretended
are often attributed to the sect of heretics we that the Bath-Kol was substituted for it, or a voice
are now considering. But it is probable that from heaven sometimes accompanied, as they al-
these curious gems are heathenish in their origin, leged, by thunder. It was called the daughter of a
and were never in the possession of any Chris- voice, because it succeeded in place of the oracular
tian sect whatever. “It appears to me,” says Beau- voice delivered from the mercy-seat, when God was
sobre, speaking of these stones, "altogether incredi- consulted by Urim and Thummim. It was, in fact,
ble, that a sect which made profession of Christianity nothing more than a species of divination which they
should have adopted the monsters adored by the invented. The Rabbis alleged that they heard à
Egyptians; or that a man who boasted of deriving secret voice or suggestion speaking to their hearts,
his doctrine from Matthias, and from an interpreter and that by these inward intimations they regulated
of St. Peter, and who received the gospels and the their conduct. Thus they inculcated upon the peo-
epistles of St. Paul, should make images of the Deity, ple that God still spoke to them as he did to their
at a time when Christians had the most excessive fathers. But as the traditional law was subsidiary
aversion to all sorts of images, even the most inno- to the written law, and served many purposes of the
cent.” Irenæus charges the Basilidians with disre- Jewish priests, so the Bath-Kol was subsidiary to tradi-
garding the Old Testament, or, at least, denying it tion. Its assistance was of great advantage to Rabbi
the same authority as the New. For this assertion Hillel and Rabbi Samuel, since it pronounced them
no evidence is adduced sufficiently strong to sub- both, in the presence of all their disciples, worthy to
stantiate a charge so serious. Both Epiphanius receive the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of prophecy is
and Jerome declare, that the Basilidian heresy con- likewise attributed to the Bath-Kol. Thus, by its
tinued till their day, but shortly after it seems to suggestions, Hyrcanus knew of the defeat of An-
have entirely disappeared.
tiochus on the very day that the battle was fought.
308
BATTLE>BAXTERIANS.
The most superstitious feelings and prejudices were demned to forfeit his property and lose his members.
fostered by the Rabbis in connection with this oracle. If on the other hand he slew his accuser, or com-
Thus Simeon and Jochanan being desirous to see pelled him to own himself defeated, or even although
Samuel, who taught at Babylon, had resolved to con- he failed to do either, yet if he could protract the
sult the Bath-Kol about their journey. Accordingly, combat till the stars appeared in the evening, he was
they listened, as they passed by a school, and heard acquitted of the crime, and set at liberty. The trial
a child read these words of Scripture, “ Samuel is by battle, though long in abeyance, was unexpectedly
dead.” Hence they concluded, that their friend at called for, and admitted, in a case of alleged mur-
Babylon must have died, and the fact happening to der, so recently as 1817, and in consequence it was
correspond with their impression, they were con- abolished by Act of Parliament. See ORDEAL.
firmed in their belief of the implicit credit due to BAXTERIANS, those who, in the seventeenth
the information communicated by the oracular voice, century, adopted the opinions of Richard Baxter, an
which they could no longer doubt supplied them eminent Nonconformist divine, who sought by a kind
with secret intimations from heaven. Maimonides of intermediate system to reconcile the differences
explains the Bath-Kol to be “when a man has such between the Arminians and Calvinists. This excel-
a strong imagination, that he believes he hears a lent and truly devout minister of Christ was born at
voice from without himself.” Some of the Jewish Rowton, in Shropshire, on the 12th November 1615.
authors, however, allege that it was a distinctly arti- His mind was early devoted to the study of theology,
culate voice heard from heaven in the midst of thun- and having been educated for the church, he was one
der. The Talmud contains a number of incredible of the ablest and most successful ministers of his
stories on the subject of this voice, which are evi- day. His lot was cast in troublous times, and hav-
dently nothing more than idle Rabbinical tales. ing abandoned the Church of England, he joined the
BATTLE (TRIAL BY), a mode of ordeal or appeal Nonconformists, in connection with whom he labour-
to the judgment of God, which was sometimes re- ed much and suffered deeply, at a period charac-
sorted to in the old Norman courts of this kingdom. terized above every other in English history by
This impious and absurd custom was used for the intolerance and persecution for conscience' sake.
decision of all civil and criminal questions in the Baxter was a peculiarly mild and peace-loving man.
last resort, and when the evidence against an ac- It grieved him, therefore, that sectarian animosity
cused person did not amount to positive proof. In prevailed around him to such an extent. At Kidder-
such a case the accused had it in his power to de- | minster, where he laboured as a pastor for many
mand a trial by battle. Should the prosecutor con- years, he quietly prosecuted his Master's work among
sent, and the case appear to the judges so doubtful a devotedly attached people, until, to their great
as to warrant this mode of ascertaining the guilt or grief, he was compelled by persecution to leave them.
innocence of the party, the trial forthwith proceeded His authorship was most extensive, no fewer than
in the following manner.
The accused presented one hundred and forty-five treatises having come
himself with the book of the Gospels in his right from his pen. The system of opinions which from
hand, and grasping with his left the right hand of himn has been named Baxterianism, may be viewed
the accuser, took an oath in these terms :
« Hear
as a system of moderate or low Calvinism, verging
me, thou whom I hold by the right hand, I am strongly towards Arminianism. Thus Baxter taught
not guilty of the felony with which thou hast that God had elected some to be saved without fore-
charged me. So help me, God and his saints. And sight of antecedent faith ; while others to whom the
this will I defend with my body against thee as this gospel is preached have common grace, if they im-
court shall award." Then exchanging hands and prove which they shall obtain saving grace. He
taking the book in turn, the accuser swore, “Hear maintained with Calvin that the merits of the death
me, thou whom I hold by the hand; thou art per- of Christ are to be applied to believers only; but he
jured, because thou art guilty. So help me, God maintained also with Arminius, that all men are in
and his saints. And this will I prove against thee a state capable of salvation. He held with Calvin
with my body, as this court shall award." The the perseverance of the saints; and yet he held with
court then named a day on which the matter was to Arminius that a man may have saving grace in so
be decided between the two parties by single com- weak a degree as to lose it again. He asserted with
bat. Both appeared on the field at the time ap- Calvin that there are certain fruits of Christ's death
pointed, with the head, legs, and arms bare, bearing which are peculiar to the elect alone, and yet he as-
each of them in his left hand a square target of serted with Arminius that Christ has made a con-
leather, with which to protect his body, and in his ditional deed of gift of these benefits to all mankind,
right hand a wooden stave, one ell in length, and while the elect alone accept and possess them. He
turned at the end. Should the accused party, when keenly contended for predestination, and as keenly
on the spot, decline to fight, or, in the course of the contended against reprobation. Thus, by a number
day, be unable to continue the battle, he was imme- of apparently opposite and contradictory statements,
diately pronounced guilty of the crime charged did Baxter endeavour to reconcile the conflicting
against him, and either summarily hanged, or con- systems of the Calvinists and the Arminians. Dr.
BAZEND-BEATIFICATION.
309
|
VINISTS.
Williams, an able defender of the Baxterian scheme, swearing among the Ostiaks is curious. A bear's
taught that the gospel reveals rather a law to be skin is spread upon the ground, and on it are laid a
obeyed than promises to be believed and blessings to hatchet, a knife, and a piece of bread. The bread is
be accepted. Hence the Baxterians received the presented to the person making oath, and before eat-
name of Neonomians, or advocates of a new law. | ing it, he makes a full statement of all that he knows
They regarded certain qualifications as indispensable about the matter in question, and confirms his state-
to render us capable of being justified by Christ's ment by the following imprecation : “May this bear
righteousness. The same doctrine was taught on tear me to pieces, this bread choke me, this knife be
the continent of Europe by Cameron and Amyraut | my death, and this hatchet sever my head from my
(See AMYRALDISTs), and in America by Dr. Hop-body, if I do not speak the truth.” In doubtful
kins (See HOPKINSIANS). The hypothesis, how- cases they present themselves before an idol, and
ever, which was started by Baxter and supported by pronounce the same oath, with this additional cir-
Williams and others, is now very generally recog- cumstance, that he who takes the oath cuts off a
nized as utterly inadequate to solve the difficulties piece of the idol's nose with his knife, declaring, “ If
of this mysterious subject. See ARMINIANS—CAL- I forswear myself, may this knife cut off my own
nose in the same manner."
BAZEND. See ABESTA.
BEATIFICATION, an act by which, in the Ro-
BEADLE, a church officer. See ACOLYTE. mish Church, the Pope declares a person beatified or
BEADS, much used by the Romanists in devo- blessed. It is the first step towards CANONIZATION
tional exercises, for the purpose of counting their (which see). No person can be beatified until fifty
Ave-Marias and Paternosters. The expression years have elapsed from the time of his death. Ap-
bidding of the beads," is used by Romish priests plication is made, in the first instance, to the Congre-
when charging their hearers to say so many Pater- gation of Rites, whose duty it is to examine any tes-
nosters for a soul departed. The custom of count- timonials which may be produced, attesting the
ing beads in private prayers prevailed from an an- virtues and high Christian character borne by the
cient date among the Hindus, and from them it deceased, and enumerating any miracles which he may
seems to have passed to the Mohammedan dervishes. have performed during his life. This examination is
The Roman Catholics of Spain may have perhaps often protracted for several years, evidence of every
received the practice from the Moors. In this way | kind, for and against the individual, being brought
the custom in all probability was introduced into the forward and carefully weighed.
forward and carefully weighed. Should the Congre-
Romish Church. Bead-strings were much used in gation be satisfied with the good qualifications of the
the thirteenth century, and at that time, as at pre- candidate, the Pope decrees his beatification. The
sent, they consisted of fifteen decades of smaller first mover of the cause must be the bishop of
beads for the Ave Maria, with a larger bead between the diocese to which the candidate belonged. He
each ten for the Pater Noster. It was not, however, must draw up and sign two processes-one declaring
till the fifteenth century that the virtues of the Ro- that the deceased enjoys a reputation for sanctity
sary, or bead-string, came to be so generally believed and miracles; the other, that the decrees of Urban
among Romanists, that this instrument of devotion VIII. have been complied with, which forbid public
was brought into common use. Mosheim states that cultus to be given without leave from the Holy See.
there are tolerably distinct traces of the use of beads, These two processes are forwarded to Rome, but
or praying according to a numerical arrangement, to ten years are allowed to pass before the virtues and
be found in the tenth century. See Rosary. miracles of the candidate are formally examined by
BEAR-WORSHIP. Among the Ostiak Tartars the Congregation. Three different consistories are
in Siberia, the bear is held in great veneration. It held upon each of the two qualifications—the virtues
is sacrificed to their gods as being the most acceptable and the miracles. These consistories are termed
victim they can select. As soon as they have killed | respectively ante - preparatory, preparatory, and
the animal, they strip off its skin, and hang it in general. At the last mentioned the Pope himself is
presence of their idol on a very high tree. They present. Should three-fourths of the Congregation
now pay homage to it, and utter doleful lamentations decide that the candidate possessed virtues in the
over the dead bear, excusing themselves for having heroical degree, as it is described, the cause is decided
put it to death, by attributing the fatal deed to the in favour of the candidate, but the Pope defers pro-
arrow and not to the person that shot it. This part nouncing his decision, requesting those present to
of their worship arises from the idea that the soul join with him in prayer, to implore the light of God
of the bear will take the first opportunity of reveng- upon his deliberations, and some time afterwards the
ing itself upon its murderers. Such is the dread Papal decree is published in reference to the virtues
which they entertain for this formidable animal, that of the candidate. The next point to be considered
in taking their oath of allegiance to the Russian is his miracles, and to these also three meetings are
government to which they are subject, they de- devoted, and a similar delay takes place in pronounc-
clare their wish that if they fail to fulfil their oath, ing the decision. When this is at length published,
they may be devoured by a bear. The mode of a general meeting is held, at which the question is
310
BEATIFIC VISION—BECKET (FESTIVAL OF ST. THOMAS A').
proposed, " Whether, all other things being satisfac- of cardinals in 1333, and, after occupying five en-
torily settled, it be safe to proceed to the beatifica- tire days in reading before them passages from all
tion.” Should this question be decided in the affir- the writers who had handled the subject of the beati-
mative, a day is appointed by the Pope for the fic vision, he protested that he had never intended
beatification of the proposed saint, who then receives to publish a single sentiment in opposition to Scrip-
the title of Beatus, or blessed. The corpse and relics ture, or the orthodox faith, and that if he had done so,
of the future sairit are now exposed to the veneration he expressly revoked his error. This explanation,
of the faithful; his image is crowned with rays, and however plausible, was deemed scarcely satisfactory,
a particular office is set apart for him; but his body and another consistory was appointed for the same
and relics are not carried in procession. Indulgences purpose in the following December. But on the even-
likewise are granted on the day of his beatification. | ing before it met, John, who had already reached the
According to Cardinal Wiseman, “ the chief differ- advanced age of ninety years, was seized with a mortal
ences between beatification and canonization are, illness. Feeling that his end was approaching, he
that the former is generally confined to a particular summoned his cardinals, twenty in number, to meet
diocese, religious order, or province, while the latter in his chamber, and in their presence he read a bull
,
extends to the whole world; the former is permitted containing the following declaration : “We confess
—not merely tolerated--the latter is enjoined to the and believe that souls purified and separated from
faithful.” Some particular orders of monks have as- their bodies are assembled in the kingdom of heaven
sumed to themselves the power of beatification; | in paradise, and behold God and the Divine Essence
thus Octavia Melchiorica was beatified by the Domi- face to face clearly, in as far as is consistent with the
nicans. See SAINTS.
condition of a separated soul. Anything which we
BEATIFIC VISION, the exalted privilege which may have preached, said, or written, contrary to this
believers enjoy of beholding the face of God imme- opinion, we recal and cancel.”
Even this apparent
diately after death. Pope John XXII. was accused retractation, though made amid the solemnities of a
of having denied the immediate admission of the dying bed, was not considered to be sufficiently ex-
saints to this privilege, in some discourses which he plicit, and Pope John XXII. expired under the
had delivered in 1331 and 1332. He appears to general imputation of heresy. This was heavy scan-
have taught that the souls of the faithful in their in- dal to rest upon the church, and John's successor,
termediate state were indeed permitted to behold Benedict XII., hastened in the year following to re-
Christ as a man ; but that the face of God, or the store the previous harmony of the church respecting
divine nature, was veiled from their sight until their the beatific vision, describing it as a question which
reunion with the body on the last day. The publi- John was preparing to decide when he was prevented
cation of this new doctrine by the highest spiritual au- by death. See INTERMEDIATE STATE-HADES-
thority, caused a deep sensation throughout the whole PURGATORY.
Christian world. It was now plain, either that the BEBON, a name given to the ancient Egyptian
hitherto universally received doctrine must be aban- god TYPHON (which see), which, according to Jab-
doned, or that the Pope must be charged with teaching | lonski, imports the latent wind in subterranean ca-
heresy. The alternative seemed to be a painful one;
but no middle course was at all apparent. It was BECKET (FESTIVAL OF ST. THOMAS A'). This
necessary, therefore, that every effort should be put festival is celebrated by the Church of Rome on the
forth to induce John to retract his statements. Robert, 29th of December, in honour of Thomas à Becket,
king of Sicily, and Philip VI. of France, both united Archbishop of Canterbury in the reign of Henry II.
in pressing upon His Holiness the adoption of this of England. Before his elevation to the primacy of
The most learned Dominicans, along with the English Church, he had feigned to be wholly de-
the most influential doctors and divines of Paris, voted to the interests of his royal master; but from
were equally urgent to obtain a retractation. The the moment of his elevation to the see of Canterbury,
doctrine set forth by the Pope was in complete oppo- he changed entirely his whole mode of acting, giving
sition to the views and feelings both of laity and himself up exclusively to the interests of the hier-
clergy. The whole Catholic Church was roused archy. The sovereign had taken steps to secure the
upon the subject, and the unseemly spectacle pre- civil power against the encroachments of the spiritual.
sented itself of the entire church at variance with its Becket, sanctioned by the Pope, refused to yield in
earthly head. The Pope held firm to his opinions this matter what he called the rights of the church.
for some time, being obviously unwilling to make This was the commencement of a fierce and pro-
the humiliating confession that he, whom multitudes tracted controversy between the archbishop and the
regarded as absolutely infallible, had really erred king. Becket fled to France, where he remained
in doctrine and fallen into heresy. At length, how- nearly seven years in exile. At length matters
ever, he began to see that the position in which he seemed to be to a certain extent adjusted, and, in
had placed the church was one of extreme difficulty, A. D. 1170, Becket returned to England. The re-
and, that matters might be once more placed upon a conciliation, however, was only transitory; and, as
safe and proper footing, he summoned a consistory ) the archbishop continued to follow the same course
verns.
course.
BEGHARDS.
311
mass.
as before, he was looked upon, both by the king and Gregory XI., in 1374 and 1377; and, at a subse-
the great mass of the community, as a traitor to his quent period, by Sixtus IV., in 1472, and Julius II.,
king and his country. Four knights considered a in 1506—in so far, at least, as they strictly adhered
hasty remark made by the king on one occasion as to the creed of the church, and gave no encourage-
an invitation to avenge his quarrel with the arch- ment to heretical doctrine. The Beghards were un-
bishop, and the prelate was murdered by them in the married tradesmen — chiefly weavers — who, while
church of St. Benedict, whither he had gone to hear they occupied separate houses, lived together under
Becket, now that he had fallen a victim to a master, took their meals in common, and met daily
his zeal for the hierarchy, was regarded by mul- at a fixed hour for devotional exercises. They wore
titudes as a martyr and a saint. Crowds flocked to a particular dress, of a coarse stuff and dark colour,
his tomb, and miracles were said to be performed and were most assiduous in deeds of charity, visiting
there. The king was deeply affected when he heard and waiting upon the sick, ministering to their
of the archbishop's death. His own rash words had wants, and attending to the burial of the dead.
been the occasion of the fatal deed, and, therefore, This society, however, seems unhappily to have
he hastened to atone for his crime by making a pil- showed early signs of degeneracy and decline. Even
grimage to the tomb of Becket, and there submitting towards the close of the thirteenth century, they
to exercises of penance. The day on which the mur- were charged with certain irregularities and extrava-
der of the archbishop was perpetrated was held from gances. The council held at Bezieres in 1299, com-
that time as a festival in honour of one who was plains that they excited the people by announcing
regarded as a saintly martyr to the cause of God the near approach of the end of the world ; that they
and his church. The memory of Thomas à Becket, introduced new and offensive observances and fasts,
or Thomas of Canterbury, was held in great venera- held unlawful meetings, assembled at night for
tion by the monks. They raised his body with great preaching under pretence that it was not properly
pomp once a-year, and the day on which this cere- for preaching, but for mutual conversation about re-
mony was performed was a general holiday. So ligion. The purity and simplicity of the body were
great, indeed, was the estimation in which he was not a little tarnished by their ranks being joined by
held, that the worship of God was almost entirely the FRATRICELLI (which see), so that from the mid-
supplanted at Canterbury by the devotion paid at dle of the fourteenth century, the two sects are often
his shrine. Henry VIII., however, at the Reforma- mentioned as identical. They had also become in-
tion in England, not only pillaged this rich shrine, termingled in the previous century with another sect
but ordered the saint himself to be tried and con- called the BRETHREN OF THE FREE SPIRIT (which
demned as a traitor, his name to be struck out of the see). The consequence of the commixture of these
calendar, his bones to be burned, and his ashes thrown strange elements with a body which had been honour-
into the air.
ed to do much good was, that the Beghards came to
BEGGING FRIARS. See MENDICANTS. be charged with an aversion to all useful industry,
BEGHARDS, a class of persons who arose, as conjoined with a propensity to mendicancy and idle-
Mosheim supposes, in Italy, and who professed to ness, an intemperate spirit of opposition to the
give themselves up wholly to devotion, and hence church, and a sceptical and more or less pantheistical
their name, which denotes praying brethren, or rather mysticism.
prayer-makers. From Italy, they diffused themselves The aspect which the society assumed in its dege-
throughout Germany, and, in the course of time, nerate state is thus described by Ullmann, in his
spread over nearly all Europe. The term was fre- ? Reformers before the Reformation :
“ Mostly
quently applied as a term of reproach, like the word able-bodied persons in good health, but rude and ig-
Methodist in our own day, to those who displayed a norant, belonging to the lower orders, and peasants
more than ordinary zeal in the cause of religion. It was and mechanics by trade, they abandoned their tem-
not, however, until the thirteenth century, that a re- poral employments, and assuming a peculiar dress,
gular sect appeared in Germany and the Low Coun- with a cowl upon their heads, wandered about the
tries, bearing the appellation of Beghards. The old country, seeking lodging in the houses of the bre-
est establishment of the kind, so far as is known, thren and sisters, holding secret meetings, propagat-
was founded in A. D. 1220 at Louvain. The bre- ing their doctrines, and living an indolent and com-
thren for the most part lived together in separate fortable life. In this manner, in place of being any
houses of their own with the utmost simplicity, sup- longer useful by their industry to the public, they
ported both by charitable donations and the labour became, by their sloth and mendicancy, a common
of their own hands, while they occupied themselves plague; and for that reason are vehemently attacked,
as far as possible in works of Christian benevolence. especially by the excellent Felix Hemmerlein, in seve-
So blameless and useful were their lives that they ral treatises. At the same time, the generality of them
were beloved by the people, protected by princes covertly or openly laboured at the subversion of the
and magistrates, and, after a temporary oppression church. Their unsound and exclusively inward bent
under Clement V. in the year 1311, were even sanc- of mind, and their repudiation of all law, necessarily
tioned by the Popes-by John XXII., in 1318; by brought them into the keenest opposition to the
3
312
BEGUINES.
domineering legalism. They denounced it as corrupt, to be found, during the fourteenth century, at Co-
declared that the time of Antichrist was come, and logne, Strasburg, and various other towns of Ger-
on all hands endeavoured to embroil the people with many. They everywhere proclaimed war against
their spiritual guides. Their own professed object the church, and the church, in its turn, sought their
was to restore the pure primeval state, the divine extermination. In the fifteenth century, we discover
life of freedom, innocence, and nature. The idea them in Italy, where Nicolaus V. violently persecut-
they formed of that state was, that man, being in and ed them; and, in 1449, he committed many of them
of himself one with God, requires only to act in the to the flames for their persevering obstinacy. Suc-
consciousness of this unity, and to follow unrestrained | ceeding pontiffs continued to oppose them, particu-
the divinely implanted impulses and inclinations of larly Paul II., who subjected many of them to im
his nature, in order to be good and godly; that prior prisonment and exile. Still remnants of them sur-
to the fall, he possessed such a consciousness to the vived in Italy and Germany, and various other parts
full, but that it had been disturbed by that event ; of Europe, until, in the Reformation under Luther,
that the law had introduced differences among man- they became mingled up and lost in the Protestant
kind, who originally stood upon a level; but that church. See CATHARI-FRATRICELLI-BOHEMIAN
these ought now to be done away, and the Paradise- BRETHREN-BRETHREN OF THE COMMON LOT.
state of unity and equality again restored. To bring BEGUINES, female societies which arose in the
this about, in defiance of the imposing power of the Netherlands in the eleventh century, partly owing to
church, the only way open to them was by secret the disproportion between the sexes produced by the
societies and clandestine meetings. Accordingly, Crusades. The Beguines rapidly increased in many
they constructed for themselves remote, and often sub- localities. Thus, in 1250, their numbers in Cologne
terraneous habitations, which they called Paradises, amounted to above a thousand. Only females of
and where by night, and especially on the nights good character could be admitted into the society,
of festivals, persons of both sexes used to assemble. and-at least according to an ordinance issued in
On such occasions, one of their apostles came for- 1244 for the archbishopric of Mayence-none under
ward, and taking off his clothes, and exemplifying in forty years of age. They were not subjected to ab-
his own person the state of innocence, delivered a solute monastic seclusion, but still to a state of sepa-
discourse upon the free intercourse of the sexes, which ration. The novice, though she took no oath bind-
the law of marriage, contrary to nature, had sup- ing for life, was required to vow obedience and
planted. The sequel, if we may credit the reports, chastity. The establishments of the Beguines, which
was of a kind which forbids description.”
were called Beguinasia, especially those in the most
There can be little doubt that much of what is important cities, were large and wealthy. In Mech-
here ascribed to the Beghards, may be coloured by lin, where several thousands of them resided, the
the prejudices of the hostile writers of the time. Beguinasium was surrounded by a ring-wall, and re-
One thing, however, is certain, that the writings of sembled a little town.
sembled a little town. Within this enclosure they
Eckart, the philosophical founder of the system of passed a life of the utmost strictness and punctuality.
opinions which they held, contain the most open and At the head of the community was a mistress, elected
avowed pantheism, which could not fail to lead, as by the sisters, and empowered to punish the disobe-
its natural and inevitable consequence, to conduct of dient with inprisonment or stripes, and, in cases of
the most deplorable kind. Each individual believed immorality or obstinate refractoriness, with dismissal.
himself to be united to God, and thus to be one with Their dress consisted of a garment of coarse brown
God; so that what God wills in man is that which material, and a white veil. They took their meals
man has the strongest inclination to do, and to which
at a common table, and assembled daily, at fixed
he inwardly feels himself most forcibly impelled ; hours, for prayer and exhortation. The rest of the day
and hence man requires only to follow the voice was spent in manual labour, and in visiting the poor
within, in order to execute the divine will. Such a and the sick. Each of the sisters had a cell, and there
doctrine was dangerous in the extreme; and, as held was one common sleeping and dining apartment for
by the later Beghards, it is not surprising that, in too all. The household affairs were managed by a sister
many cases, it should have led to entire indifference called from her office, Martha, or, when necessary,
as to the moral character of their actions.
by several; the general affairs by a clerical curator;
posure of their conduct, at length, took place at Co- and the whole was subject to the oversight of the
logne about 1325. A husband, stealing in disguise civil magistrate. The societies of the Beguines
after his wife, who was in league with the Beghards, spread more rapidly, and to a much greater extent,
discovered their Paradise and informed against them. than those of the Beghards. Most of them disap-
Many of them were punished, committed to the peared after the Reformation. There are still, how-
flames, and drowned in the Rhine. Three years be- ever, societies calling themselves Beguines existing
fore, Walter, one of the heads of their party, had in the Netherlands, and who maintain that they de-
been burned to death. In 1329, John XXII. emit- rived their name and their institution from St. Begga,
ted a bull in which the opinions of the Beghards | Duchess of Brabant, in the seventh century, whom
were condemned. Traces of the party, however, are they revere as their patroness, and regard as a kind
An ex-
BEHMENISTS.
313
of tutelary divinity. Those who are unfriendly to Whence there is good and evil in all this temporal
them contend that they derived their origin from world, in all its creatures, animate and inanimate; ;
Lambert le Begue, a priest of Liege, in the twelfth and what is meant by the curse that dwells every
century.
where in it. 6. Of the kingdom of Christ; how it
BEHMENISTS, a sect of mystics which arose in is set in opposition to, and fights and strives against,
Germany in the beginning of the seventeenth cen- the kingdom of hell. 7. How man, through faith in
tury, deriving their name from a German shoemaker Christ, is able to overcome the kingdom of hell, and
named Jacob Behmen, whose religious opinions they triumph over it in the divine power, and thereby
professed to follow. This writer was born in 1575 obtain eternal salvation; also how, through working
at Old Seidenberg, near Gorlitz, in Upper Lusatia. in the hellish quantity or principle, he casts himself
Even in early youth he showed a tendency to a pecu- into perdition. 8. How and why sin and misery,
liarly thoughtful and dreamy tuin of mind. Being wrath and death, shall only reign for a time, till the
accustomed to peruse the Scriptures with great care, - love, the wisdom, and the power of God, shall, in a
he seems to have been much struck with the promise supernatural way, (the mystery of God made man,)
of Jesus, that the Holy Spirit would be given to triumph over sin, misery, and death; and make fallen
those who ask him. Earnestly did he long and pray man rise to the glory of angels, and this material sys-
for the fulfilment of this promise, until at length on tem shake off its curse, and enter into an everlasting
one occasion, when he was twenty-five years of age, union with that heaven from whence it fell.
he was, as he himself expressed it, “surrounded with The year after the publication of the Book of the
a divine light for seven days, and stood in the highest Three Principles, Behmen produced another work en-
contemplation and kingdom of joys." He was fa- titled the Threefold Life of Man.' In this treatise he
voured with a similar vision in the year 1600, when discusses the state of man in this world, showing 1.
by means of an inward illumination he obtained an That he has that immortal spark of life which is com-
insight into the essences, uses, and properties of na- mon to men and devils. 2. That he has a divine life,
taral objects. Ten years after he enjoyed a third being possessed of the light and spirit of God, which
special illumination, in which still farther mysteries makes the essential difference between an angel and a
were revealed to him. It was not, however, till 1612 devil. 3. That he has the life of this external and
that he committed these revelations to writing. visible world. The first and last of these are common
The works of Behmen are pervaded by a spirit of to all men; but the second belongs to the true Chris-
philosophical mysticism, which has gained for him tian alone. Behmen published various other works,
not a few admirers, more especially among his own all of them having as their basis the principles laid
countrymen, while, to the great mass of readers, his down in those already mentioned. He died in the
abstruse speculations convey little or no meaning. | year 1624. He has been termed by some of l.is
The first treatise which he wrote bore the name of admirers the German Theosophist; his speculations
Aurora, but it was seized by the senate of Gorlitz being much directed towards the nature of the Divine
before it had been fully completed. His next pro- Being, and the mode in which He holds communi-
duction, in which he unfolds his mystical views, is cation with men and angels, as well as the mode in
entitled “The Book of the Three Principles,' denot- which they communicate with one another. Much
ing thereby the dark world or hell; the light world or of the confusion which pervades the works of this
heaven; and the external or visible world which we mystic writer, arises from his absurdly attempting to
inhabit. In man, according to Behmen, are the draw analogies between the natural and the spiritual
three gates opening on the three worlds. The con- worlds, endeavouring to make the laws of the former
tents of this treatise may be divided as follows: 1. How applicable to the latter. He held indeed that Divine
all things came from a working will of the holy triune grace operates by the same rules, and follows the
incomprehensible God, manifesting himself as Father, same methods which Divine Providence observes in
Son, and Holy Spirit, through an outward perceptible the natural world; and that the minds of men are
working triune power of fire, light, and spirit, in the purged from their vices and corruptions in the same
kingdom of heaven. 2. How and what angels and men way that metals are purified from their dross.
were in their creation; that they are in and from Followers of Behmen appeared in England in great
God, his real offspring; that their life began in and numbers in the time of the Commonwealth, profess-
from this divine fire, which is the Father of light, ing to hold intimate communication with angels, and
generating a birth of light in their souls ; from both to be themselves waiting for the descent of the Holy
which proceeds the Holy Spirit, or breath of divine Ghost upon them, that they might go forth as hea-
love in the triune creature, as it does in the triune ven-inspired missionaries to enlighten and renovate
Creator. 3. How some angels, and all men, are the churches. They held, what indeed their leader
fallen from God, and their first state of a divine himself taught, that it is impossible to arrive at
triune life in him; what they are in their fallen state, truth by any other means than by direct illumination
and the difference between the fall of angels and that from above. The mystical views of Behmen were
of man. 4. How the earth, stars, and elements were adopted in the last century by William Law, who
created in consequence of the fallen angels. 5. published a translation of his works, and went so far
2
314
BEITULLAH_BELIEVERS.
himself in the communication of similar opinions, built one, called Sorah, which signifies a castle. In
that he may be termed the father of the modern obedience to this command, it was alleged they built
MYSTICS (which see). It is mentioned on the au- the temple at Mecca. The ancient Arabians were
thority of Law, that many autograph extracts from accustomed to adorn this building by inscribing on
Behmen's works were found among the papers of Sir the outside of it the works of their most distinguished
Isaac Newton after his decease; and he even alleges poets, written in letters of gold or silk.
The Mo-
that Newton derived the fundamental principles of hammedans have always covered its walls and roof
his system from Behmen's writings, but that he was with rich brocades of silk and gold, formerly fur-
unwilling to avow it, lest it might expose him to nished by the Caliphs, and afterwards by the gover-
ridicule. The Behmenites have no existence as a nors of Egypt. The mosque or temple has nineteen
sect in the present day; but the nearest approach to gates, and is adorned in its interior with seven mina-
their opinions is to be found probably among the rets irregularly distributed. It is held in the highest
Swedenborgians. See MYSTICS.
veneration, and is honoured with the title Masjad
BEITULLAH (Arab. the house of God), the ap- al Elharem, “the sacred or inviolable temple.” It
pellation given by the Mohammedans to the temple of is affirmed that a foot-print of Abraham is still to be
Mecca, which is particularly remarkable as contain- seen on one of the stones. The Mohammedans, in
ing the KAABA (which see). The temple of Mecca whatever part of the world they are, must turn their
forms a very spacious square, about a quarter of a faces when they say their prayers towards the Bei-
mile in each direction, with a triple or quadruple row tullah at Mecca, which they call Kiblah. See MEC-
of columns. A number of steps lead down into the CA (PILGRIMAGE TO).
interior, in which stands the Kaaba or house of the BEKTASHIES. See BACTASCHITES.
prophet, and with it the black stone brought down BEL, or BELUS. See BAAL.
by the angel Gabriel to form its foundation. To BELATUCADRUS, a deity worshipped by the
kiss this sacred stone, to go round it seven times, ancient Britons, particularly the Brigantes, who in-
reciting appropriate hymns, form the completion of habited Cumberland.
the ceremonies connected with the pilgrimage to BELBOG, the god of justice among the ancient
MECCA (which see). The last ceremonial is ablution Wends of Sclavonia. He was represented as an
in the well of Zemzem, which is supposed to cleanse old man clothed in white, with a bloody counte-
the votary from all sin. A pilgrimage to the station nance, and covered with flies, indicating the stern
at Mount ARAFAT (which see) completes the round and inflexible nature of justice.
of religious observances. In the Koran, Mohammed BELENUS, the same as APOLLO (which see),
says, “We have established a house or temple as a and the tutelar god of the ancient inhabitants of
means whereby men may acquire great merit;” on Aquileia in Italy, of the Gauls, and of the Illyrians.
which a Mohammedan writer has the following para- Tertullian and Herodian mention Belenus or Belis,
phrase, “We have destined the square house, which and Buttmann, in his Mythologus, considers him to be
is the temple of Mecca, to the service of God; that | identical with Abellio, the name of a divinity found
you may have the certain means of acquiring great on inscriptions which were discovered at Comminges
merit, as well by the tiresome journey you shall take in France, and also with the Gallic Apollo of Cæsar's
to arrive at it, as by the religious visit you shall pay Commentaries. Vossius thinks Belenus to be the
to it. We have made it to be a sacred and privi- same with Beel or BAAL (which see).
leged place, in which it is not permitted to kill or BELIAL, a word used in various passages of
molest any person : wherefore, 7 ye faithful, after Scripture, to denote a personification of wickedness
.
you shall have known the dignity and excellence of Thus “sons of Belial,” is an expression employed to
this temple, put up your prayers in it as did Abra- signify wicked persons. The apostle Paul gives the
ham. We commanded both him and his son Ish- name of Belial to Satan. It is said to have been the
mael to purge this house from all the filth and super- name of an idol worshipped among the ancient Si-
stition of the idolaters, that it might be fit for the donians.
stations, processions, adorations, and all other exer- BELIEVERS, a name given to the baptized in
cises of the true servants of God.” Such is the the early Christian church, as distinguished from the
veneration in which the Beitullah is held by the catechumens. They were considered complete Chris-
Mohammedans, that all sorts of criminals are safe tians, and hence they were called enlightened or
within it, and the very sight of its walls from a dis- illuminated. All the mysteries of religion which
tance imparts merit to a man. A tradition existed were concealed from the catechumens were unveiled
among the idolatrous Arabians before the time of to believers. On this account they were also called
Mohammed, that Abraham being prepared to sacri- initiated, and, accordingly, we find Ambrose writing
fice his son Ishmael on one of the mountains of a book for their use under this name. They were
Arabia, was prevented from executing his design by termed perfect Christians, too, as being permitted to
the archangel Gabriel; and that at the same time partake of the holy eucharist, and according to Ter-
Abraham and Ishmael were ordered to build a tem- tullian, they received also the name of favourites of
ple, in the same place where Adam had formerly heaven, because their prayers and intercessions were
BELIEVERS_BELLS.
315
believed to be powerful with God. They enjoyed tables of the altar, prepare the seat for the officiating
several privileges which were denied to the catechu- priest, arrange the benches and cushions in order,
mens. They alone, for example, could sit down at dress the assistant, take care of the censer, and pre-
the Lord's table, as none but the baptized were al- sent the wine and water which are to be made use
lowed to communicate. It was customary, accord-
of in the mass.
ingly, for a deacon, before the sacramental feast be- BELLI, a god worshipped by the natives of the
gan, to proclaim with a loud voice, “Holy things for coast of Guinea in Western Africa, to whom they
holy persons: Ye catechumens, go forth," when the offer the choicest of their fruits.
unbaptized immediately rose and left the church. BELLONA, the goddess of war among the an-
Another privilege which believers alone enjoyed, cient Romans, and said to be derived by that people
was to receive and join with the minister in all the from the Sabines. A temple was erected to her at
prayers of the church, whereas catechumeris could Rome, in the Campus Martius, which was used as a
only be present during part of the service. More place of assembly for the senate on great political
especially the use of the Lord's Prayer was restricted occasions. Before the entrance to the temple stood
to the faithful or believers. And still further, be- a pillar over which a spear was thrown as a sign of
lievers were admitted to be auditors of all discourses the public declaration of war.
preached, and expositions given in the church, even BELLONARII, the priests of BELLONA (which
those which treated of the most abstruse points and see), who were employed in offering sacrifices to her
profound mysteries of the Christian religion, from mingled with a portion of their own blood. Hence
which catechumens were strictly excluded as being the 24th of March, which was the day consecrated
incapable of rightly understanding and profiting by to this goddess, was called the day of blood.
them. See CATECHUMENS.
BELLS. The first mention made of bells is in
BELIEVERS. By the last census in 1851, it Exod. xxviii. 33, 34, where small golden bells, alleged
would appear that there are in England two congre- by some to amount to sixty-six in number, were at-
gations who assume to themselves this general name, tached to the robe of the ephod, which was worn by
from an anxiety to avoid being identified with any the Jewish high priest when ministering in the sanc-
one of the numerous sects into which Christians are tuary, and the purpose which they served is thus ex-
divided, and wishing to be known only as maintain- plained, ver. 35, “ And it shall be upon Aaron to
ing the great principles of Christian truth.
minister : and his sound shall be heard when he goeth
BELL, Book and CANDLE, a form of excommu- in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when he
nication introduced between the seventh and the cometh out, that he die not.” The sound of the
tenth centuries, and only used in extreme cases. numerous bells was thus a signal to the people with-
When the solemn anathema was pronounced, candles out, that it was time for them to engage in
prayer,
were extinguished by dashing them upon the ground while the high priest was offering incense before the
with an imprecation, that the excommunicated per- Lord. From the Jewish practice may have been
son might be in the same manner extinguished or derived the Hindu custom referred to by Maurice in
destroyed by Almighty vengeance. The people were his Indian Antiquities. “One indispensable cere-
summoned to attend this ceremony by the sound of mony,” he tells us, “in the Indian pooja, is the ring-
a bell, and the curses pronounced were read froin a ing of a small bell by the officiating Brahmin. The
book by the officiating priest standing on a balcony. women of the idol or dancing girls of the pagoda have
Hence originated the phrase of cursing by bell, little golden bells fastened to their feet, the soft har-
book and candle.
monious tinkling of which vibrates in unison with
BELL-CLERKS. Attached to the Pope's cha- the exquisite melody of their voices.” The ancient
pel at Rome, there were formerly two functionaries kings of Persia also, who united in their own per-
bearing this name. The reason of their being so sons the regal and sacerdotal office, were accustomed
called is not very obvious, no bells being used in that to have the fringes of their robes adorned with
chapel
. The most probable explanation of the mat- pomegranates and golden bells. It is a curious fact,
ter is, that they derived their name from the duty that no bells are found represented on the Egyptian
being assigned to them of ringing a bell when His monuments. They were used, however, among the
Holiness was on a journey with the holy sacrament. ancient Greeks and Romans for a variety of pur-
While attending the Pope on these occasions, they poses. They were used by watchmen on the walls
must be dressed in red; but at chapel their dress is of the fortified cities.
purple, and they wear surplices. One of these In the early Christian church, no bells were rung
clerks required to be a priest, that he might be qua- to summon the people to public worship. They do
lified for taking the holy sacrament off the horse, not appear to have been in use indeed before the
and carrying it to the altar, when mass was to be seventh century. Considerable variety of sentiment
performed during the journey. These clerks had exists among authors as to the period of their first
the privilege of accompanying the host on horseback introduction. Some ascribe the first use of them to
with lanthorns in their hands. It was their office to Paulinus, bishop of Nola, who lived in the time of
decorate the altar, light up the wax tapers, cover the Jerome. The most probable opinion is that which
316
BELLS (BAPTISM OF).
ascribes the earliest employment of them to Boniface, allowed to be rung in the Roman Catholic churches
bishop of Rome, who succeeded Gregory the Great on Good Friday. It was customary in former days
in A. D. 604. In the seventh and eighth centuries to ring church bells when a person was about to ex-
they were in common use in the churches of France. pire, in order to warn the people to pray for them;
Near the close of the ninth century the church of and from this has probably arisen the passing bell.
St. Sophia at Constantinople was furnished with | It was supposed also that the bells would drive away.
bells, but they have never been held in much favour | the evil spirits who occupied the chamber of the sick
in the East. The Arabs and Turks especially have man, ready to seize his soul at the moment of death.
always been opposed to the use of them. In early The tolling of bells for the dead was first used in
times Christians appear to have been summoned to England before the beginning of the eighth century,
divine service by messengers sent on purpose. In and the custom is still kept up. The canon in the
Egypt a trumpet was blown as among the Jews. rubric of the Church of England in reference to the
The inmates of Eastern convents were called to passing bell is as follows: “When any is passing
prayers by knocking on their cells with a billet of out of this life, a bell shall be tolled, and the minis-
wood. Bingham says, that the Greek Christians ter shall not then slack to do his last duty. And
were summoned to service by an instrument consist- after the party's death, if it so falls out, there shall be
ing of plates of iron full of holes which were held in rung no more but one short peal, and one other before
the hand, and struck with small iron hammers. In the burial, and one other after the burial.” Bells are
many cases they simply strike a board with a wooden rung in Romish countries at seasons of public prayer,
mallet. Bells are prohibited by the Turks from an and when the host is elevated, and carried to the sick
idea that the sound of them disturbs the repose of in processions. They were probably in use in England
departed souls. The Russians, however, are allowed from the period of the first erection of parish
the free use of bells. The following interesting de- churches.
churches. In course of time the campanile or bell-
scription of the great bell of Moscow is given by | tower became a regular part of every ecclesiastical
Dr. Henderson. “ Almost directly opposite to the edifice.
palace stands the immense octagonal belfry, known BELLS (BAPTISM OF). - This custom was quite
by the name of Ivan Veliki, or "John the Great,' in unknown in the primitive Christian church. It is
which are suspended upwards of thirty bells of dif- first mentioned, and with censure, in the Capitulars of
ferent sizes, which are rung in peals on holidays or Charlemagne in the eighth century, and at length
other public occasions. The largest of these, mea- came to be embodied in the Roman Pontifical. The
suring forty feet nine inches in circumference, and design of the ceremony, which must be performed by
weighing 127,836 English pounds, was tolled on a bishop, is to devote the bell to God's service, that
Easter morning; and though we were several versts he
may confer on it the power not merely of striking
distant, the sound was tremendous, and produced a the ear, but of touching the heart by the influence
powerful effect on the nervous system. Large, how- of the Holy Ghost. The details of the ceremony as.
ever, as this bell is, it is merely a substitute for one practised in the Church of Rome are thus given by
still more stupendous, which is interred in the open Picart : “The bell once completed, must, as soon as
area, at a little distance from the belfry. The latter it is convenient, be put into a proper condition for
is indisputably the largest bell in the world; mea- receiving the benediction, that is, it must be hung
suring sixty-seven feet four inches in circumference up, and so commodiously disposed, as to leave room
round the lower part of the barrel, by twenty-two to walk round it, to come at it within and without,
feet five inches and a third in height—the whole to wash it, and give it the holy unctions. There
weight amounting to 443,772 pounds. In the lower must be a seat for the celebrant near the bell, a stool
part is a fracture of seven feet two inches and a half at his left hand for the deacon, and seats on each
in height, which admits of persons entering the ball side for the rest of the clergy; a desk likewise with
when there is no water in it, and surveying the im- the anthem book, or ritual, must be carried to the
mense metal vault overhead. Its value has been es- place appointed for the performance of the ceremony;
timated at £65,681; but this estimate is founded if in the church, a credence is prepared on the epis-
merely on the price of ordinary bell-metal; and the tle side, with a white cloth laid over it, whereon are
real value must be much greater owing to the pro- set the sprinklers, the holy water pot, a salt seller,
fusion of gold and silver which the nobility and other the napkins, a vessel for oil
, that for the chrism,
inhabitants of the city threw into it when casting pastils, incense, myrrh, cotton, a bason and ewer,
It was rung by forty or fifty men, one-half on either and some crumbs of bread : if elsewhere, all those sa-
side . . . A fire breaking out in some adjacent part cred utensils are to be conveyed to the place where
of the Krem'l, it communicated to the wooden build- the ceremony is to be perfoimed, after which they
ing, designed to serve as a belfry, on which the whole proceed to consecrate the bell after the following
of the mountainous mass fell, and sunk to its present manner: the celebrant dressed in his alb, stole, and
situation."
white pluvial, and the deacon robed in the very same
In ancient times the ringing of bells was prohibited colour, walk out of the vestry in procession ; the
in time of mourning, and, accordingly, they are not ) thuriferary marches foremost, and after him two ce-
.
BELTHA-BENARES.
317
roferaries, each with a lighted taper; then the clergy the singing of an anthem, and the repeating of a
two and two, and the celebrant with the deacon on prayer which calls this perfume the dew of the Holy
his left hand brings up the rear. Being arrived at Ghost. The ceremony of fumigation is succeeded
the place, the taper-bearers set down their lights on by blessing the incense, and after a few more cere-
the credence, near which both they and the thuri- monies the celebrant turns to the bell, makes the
ferary stand. The clergy range themselves on each sign of the cross over it with his right hand, which
side, and the celebrant places himself on a seat near closes the whole process of baptizing, consecrating
the bell, and being covered, instructs the people in and perfuming the bell.
the sanctity of the action which he is going to per- BELTHA, believed to be the same as the god-
form, and endeavours as much as possible to awaken dess BAALTIS (which see).
their attention, and thereupon rises to sing the Mise- BEMA (Gr. a tribunal), the inner portion of
rere with the choir, and some other select hymns, | churches in early Christian times. It was also
appointed in the ritual.
called the sanctuary, being an elevated platform ap-
« This done, they all rise, and the celebrant, as propriated to the clergy. Neither laymen nor fe-
well as the rest, uncovers. He exorcises and gives males were permitted to enter it: kings and em-
his benediction to the salt and water, and as he ad- perors were privileged with a seat within this sacred
dresses himself to them, he beseeches God to be good enclosure, and hence it received the name of royal
and gracious to them, and in one particular prayer seat. This portion of the church was a semicircu-
begs, that by the prevailing influence of the holy lar or elliptical recess, with a corresponding arch
water, the bell may acquire the virtue of protecting | overhead, and separated from the pave by a railing
Christians from the wicked devices of Satan, of driv- curiously wrought in the form of net-work or can-
ing away ghosts, of hushing the boisterous winds, celli ; hence the word chancel. Within was the
and raising devotion in the heart, &c. He then throne of the bishop or presiding pastor, with subor-
mingles the salt and water, and crossing them three dinate seats on the right and left for the other clergy.
times, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy The bishop's throne was usually covered with a veil.
Ghost, pronounces these words, 'God be with you.' | The bema or tribunal of the choir must be distin-
In the prayer after this mixture, God is humbly en- guished from the AMBO (which see), or tribunal of
treated to look down with an eye of mercy on these the church, which was situated in the nave. In the
creatures of salt and water, which might almost tempt | bema stood the altar or communion-table, on which
one to imagine them to be the genii or spirits which the elements were placed; and this place being al-
preside over salt and water, like Count Gabalis's lotted to the clergy, they are termed by Gregory
Gnomes and Sylphs, &c. Lastly, The celebrant Nazianzen, the order of the bema or sanctuary. By
takes his sprinkler, dips it into the holy water, and the Greeks it was called the holy, while the altar
begins to wash the bell, which his assistants finish. was termed the holy of holies. Cyprian applies to
After sprinkling, rubbing, and washing it well both the bema the name of the presbytery, probably from
within and without, it is carefully wiped dry with the presbyters sitting there. By wooden rails it was
linen cloths. Psalms are sung during this ablution. separated from the other part of the church, and also
“A vessel which contains what they call oil for by veils or hangings which opened in the middle like
the infirm, is in the next place opened by the dea- folding-doors. The use of these hangings was partly
con, into which the celebrant dips the thumb of his to conceal this part of the church from the view of
right hand, and applies it to the middle of the bell, the catechumens and unbelievers, and partly to cover
with intent to sign it with the cross.
At this ac-
the elements in the time of consecration. The word
tion the deacon raises the celebrant's pluvial on his ( bema, then, sometimes denoted the bishop's chair or
right hand side, which is observed in every thing seat, which stood in a semicircular building at the
that is done to the bell. As soon as the priest or upper end of the chancel; and at other times it im-
bishop has made the sign of the cross, he repeats a plied the whole chancel. Sozomen speaks of the
prayer to much the same effect with all the former, ambo or reading-desk as the readers’ bema. See
after which he wipes those places, on which he has CHANCEL.
made the sign, with cotton. The bell is marked BEMILUCIUS, a god of the ancient Gauls men-
with seven crosses more, made with the same oil, tioned in an inscription found in Burgundy, and re-
as soon as they have sung the twenty-eighth psalm. ferred to by Montfaucon.
Four other crosses made with the holy chrism, set BENAN HASCHA, false divinities worshipped
the seal of benediction, as it were, upon this metal; by the ancient Arabians before the coming of Mo-
at which time the celebrant honours the bell with a hammed, and regarded by them as the companions
kind of baptism, consecrating it in the name of the of God.
sacred Trinity, and nominating the saint who stands BENARES, the most holy city of the Hindus,
godfather, it generally bears his name.'
the ecclesiastical metropolis of India, and the resort
As soon as the entire ceremony of christening or of pilgrims from all quarters. It is situated on the
baptizing the bell has been concluded, it is perfumed north bank of the river Ganges, in the province of
by incense being burned under it, accompanied by Allahabad, and presidency of Bengal. It may be
318
BENDIDEIA-BENEDICT.
moon.
said to form the grand depository of the religion and the roofs and projections of the temple.” Such is
learning of Hindostan. This city is accounted so the state of the most ancient and holy town in India.
sacred that the salvation is secured of all who die BENDIDEIA, a Thracian festival held in honour
within its precincts, and, accordingly, it is a scene of of the goddess Bendis, and celebrated with great
extensive and crowded resort. There are said to be mirth and revelry. From Thrace the Bendideia
8,000 houses in Benares occupied by Brahmins, who were introduced into Athens, where they were an-
live upon the alms and offerings of the pilgrims. nually celebrated on the twentieth day of the Gre-
The city is believed by the Hindus to form no part cian month Thargelion.
of the terrestrial globe, but to rest upon the point of BENDIDEION, the temple erected to the wor-
Shiva's trident; hence they say it can never be af- | ship of Bendis in the Piræus at Athens.
fected by an earthquake. The banks of the river BENDIS, a Thracian goddess representing the
at this place are studded everywhere with shrines
She was sometimes regarded as identical
and temples, and in the city itself domes and minar- with the Grecian Persephone, but more frequently
ets are seen in vast numbers, though as in the case with Artemis. Aristophanes speaks of this divinity
of other modern Hindu structures, not on a scale as the great goddess, and occurring, as this expres-
commensurate with the grandeur of the town and sion does, in his comedy entitled “The Lemnian
surrounding country. The greatest of them was Women,' it is probable that she must have been
levelled to the ground by Aurengzebe, who erected worshipped in the island of Lemnos. (See Ben-
in its stead a mosque which now forms the principal | DIDEIA).
ornament of Benares. The entrance to the mosque BENEDICITE, a hymn used in the early Chris-
at Chunarghur, in the neighbourhood of the city, is tian Church, being the song of the three children in
accounted one of the finest specimens of this kind of the burning furnace. Athanasius directs virgins to
architecture. The following description of the sacred use it in their private devotions. The fourth council
city is given by the writer of the article Benares in of Toledo says, that it was then used in the church
the Encyclopædia Britannica : “ These houses (of the throughout the whole world, and, therefore, orders
Brahmins) are adorned with idols, and send out an to be sung by the clergy of Spain and Gallicia every
unceasing sound from all sorts of discordant instru- Lord's day, and on the festivals of the martyrs, un-
ments; while religious mendicants from the numer- der pain of excommunication. Chrysostom lived
ous Hindu sects, with every conceivable deformity | two hundred years before the date of the council of
which chalk, cow-dung, disease, matted-locks, dis- | Toledo, and even then he testifies that the Benedicite
torted limbs, and disgusting and hideous attitudes of was in use throughout all the churches. This hymn
penance, can show, literally line the principal streets or canticle is still said or sung in the Church of Eng-
on both sides.' Some are seen with their legs or land between the first and second lesson in the Li-
arms distorted by long continuance in one position ; | turgy.
others with their hands clenched until the nails have BENEDICT, a remarkable man, who, in the be-
grown through at the back. A stranger, as he ginning of the sixth century, in the reign of Justi-
passes through the streets, is saluted with the most nian, was the first to give spirit and form to Mona-
pitiful exclamations from those swarms of beggars. chism in the West. He was born in A. D. 480, of
But besides this immense resort to Benares of poor respectable parents, in the province of Nursia in
pilgrims from every part of India, as well as from Italy. In early life he was sent to Rome to be
Thibet and the Burman empire, numerous rich in educated, but the profligacy which prevailed in
dividuals in the decline of life, and almost all the that city, though the very seat of the Popes, so
great men who are disgraced or banished from home affected him with disgust, that he longed to spend
by the political revolutions which have been of late the life of a recluse far from the business and
years so frequent among the Hindoo states, repair the bustle of men. Instead of returning to his
to this holy city to wash away their sins in the sa- parents at the close of a residence in Rome, he
cred waters of the Ganges, or to fill up their time retired to a secluded grotto, about forty miles from
with the gaudy ceremonies of their religion. All Rome, unknown to all, except Romanus, a monk
these devotees give away large sums in indiscrimi- belonging to a neighbouring cloister, who supplied
nate charity, some of them to the annual amount of him with bread, by saving a portion of his own
£8,000 or £9,000; and it is the hope of sharing in daily allowance. As a steep rock lay between
those pious distributions that brings together from the cloister of the monk and the grotto of Bene-
all quarters such a concourse of religious mendicants. | dict, the bread was let down from the top of the
Bulls are reckoned sacred by the Hindu, and being rock by means of a long rope. To the rope was
tame and familiar, they walk lazily up and down | attached a bell, by the sound of which Benedict
the streets, or are seen lying across them, interrupt- might be directed to the spot where the rope was
ing the passage, and are hardly to be roused, as, in let down. After having spent three years in this
compliance with the prejudices of the fanatic popu- grotto, he was accidentally discovered by some shep-
lation, they must be treated in the gentlest manner. herds, who made known the hermit's residence
Monkeys, also held sacred, are seen clinging to all throughout the surrounding country. Benedict be-
BENEDICT.
319
came at once an object of veneration and of eager reminded of the strict obligations of the monastic
curiosity. Multitudes flocked to supply him with rule, and had withstood many trials. Then he was
the necessaries and even the comforts of life. So obliged to place himself under a solemn vow, which
high did his fame become, that he was elected abbot moreover was recorded by himself in writing, that he
of a neighbouring convent. The monks, however, would remain constantly in the cloister, live in all
soon repented of their choice, and finding himself respects according to the rules, and obey the abbot.
utterly unable, without exposing his life to danger, But the rules admonished the abbot to temper the
to carry out the strict rules of discipline which he severity necessary for discipline, by the spirit of
had introduced into the convent, he left the place in love. He was to let mercy prevail over rigid jus-
disgust, and retired again to his secluded grotto. tice, that he might himself find mercy. He should
Benedict now became an object of greater interest love the brethren, while he hated their faults. Where
than ever. Multitudes thronged to him for the pur- he was obliged to punish, he should do it with pru-
pose of training themselves under his guidance to dence, and beware of going to excess. His own fal-
lead a solitary life. Men of wealth and influence at libility should be ever present to his mind, and he
Rome placed their sons under his care to be edu- should remember that the bruised reed ought not
cated and trained to habits of privation and self-de- to be broken. Not that he should give countenance
nial.
At length so many had imbibed the same and encouragement to vice, but that he should en-
principles and habits, that he was enabled to found deavour to extirpate it with prudence and love, just
twelve cloisters, each of them consisting of twelve as he should see it would be salutary for each indi-
monks under a superior. Some he retained under vidual ; and he should strive rather to be loved than to
his own guidance. Having thus succeeded in so far be feared. He should not be restless and over-anxious.
accomplishing the object of his residence in the In no a fair whatever should he be inclined to ex-
district, and being annoyed by the troublesome in- tremes and obstinate. He should not be jealous, nor
terference of Florentius, a neighbouring priest, he too suspicious; since otherwise he never could find
retired, accompanied by a few of his followers, to the peace. In his commands, even where they related
ruins of an ancient castle, situated on a high moun- to worldly employments and labours, he should pro.
tain called Castrum Cassinum, where he laid the ceed with foresight and reflection. He should dis-
foundation of one of the most famous monastic es- criminate and moderate the labours which he im-
tablishments, from which originated afterwards the posed on each individual. He should take for his
rich abbey of Monte Cassino. When Benedict and
When Benedict and pattern the example of prudence presented in the
his friends first settled on the spot, they found a words of the patriarch Jacob, Gen. xxxiii. 13, 'If
grove and temple dedicated to Apollo, in which the men should overdrive them one day, all the flock
peasants made their offerings. Heathenism, how- will die.' With that discretion which is the mother
ever, gave way before the preaching of the monk, of the virtues, he should so order all things as to
and a chapel was erected, consecrated to St. Mar- give full employment to the enterprise of the strong,
tin. The exertions of Benedict in preaching, edu- without discouraging the weak. True, humility was
cating the young, and cultivating the land, were too much confounded with slavish fear, and too much
followed by the most marked success, and such was importance was attached to the outward demeanour.
the respect in which he was held by all classes, that The monk was to let his humility be seen in the
he obtained an influence which was felt even by To- postures of his body; his head should be constantly
tila, king of the Ostro-Goths. The great act, how- bowed down with his eyes directed to the earth, and
ever, of this remarkable man's life, was the produc- he should hourly accuse himself for his sins; he
tion of his far-famed monastic rules, which stamped should ever be in the same state of mind as if he
an entirely new character upon the Monachism of were momently to appear before the dread judgment-
the West. Dr. Neander gives the following remarks seat of God. But all this, however, Benedict repre-
upon the nature and spirit of the rules of Benedict, sented to be only a means of culture, whereby the
which may be quoted, as contrasting strongly with monks were to attain to the highest end of love, that
the lax character of the discipline which had pre- makes men free; respecting the nature of which, he
viously prevailed in monastic institutions :
thus beautifully expresses himself: "When the monk
“Benedict aimed to counteract the licentious life has passed through all these stages of humility, he
of the irregular monks,—who roamed about the coun- will soon attain to that love of God, which, being
try, and spread a corrupting influence both on man- perfect, casteth out fear, and through which he will
ners and on religion-by the introduction of severer begin to practise naturally and from custom, with-
discipline and spirit of order. The abbot should ap- out anxiety or pains, all those rules which he before
pear to the monks as the representative of Christ; observed not without fear. He will no longer act
to his will, every other will should be subjected; all from any fear of hell, but from love to Christ, from
were to follow his direction and guidance uncondi- the energy of right habits, and joy in that which is
tionally, and with entire resignation. No one was good.
received into the number of the monks, until after Thus wisely departing from the rigorous discipline
a year's novitiate, during which he had often been , which had hitherto characterized the monastic or-
320
BENEDICTINES.
ders of the East, Benedict laid no restrictions upon | tion of the abbot. A porter always sat at the gate
his monks as to food or drink, with the exception of which was kept locked day and night, and no stran-
the general inculcation of temperance, and allowed ger was admitted without leave from the abbot, and
them even the use of wine in prescribed quantities. no monk could go out unless he had permission from
To prevent them from being influenced by a sordid the same source. The school for the children of the
love of gain, he enjoined upon them that they should neighbourhood was kept without the walls. The
sell their products of industry at a somewhat lower whole establishment was under an abbot whose
rate than was charged by others. The whole spirit, power was despotic. His under-officers were a prior
indeed, of the monastic arrangements introduced by or deputy, a steward, a superintendent of the sick
Benedict, was well fitted to overcome the prejudices and the hospital, an attendant on visitors, a porter,
which had long been entertained by many against &c., with the necessary assistants, and a number of
Monachism as a system, and to remove from the deans or inspectors over tens, who attended the
life of a monk much of that repulsiveness with which monks at all times. The abbot was elected by the
it had been viewed. The consequence was, that, common suffrage of the brotherhood; and when in-
from the time of Benedict, monastic institutions augurated, he appointed and removed his under-
spread rapidly in the West, as they had for a long officers at pleasure. On great emergencies he sum-
period abounded in the East. The following digest moned the whole brotherhood to meet in councii,
of the rules of Benedict may not be uninteresting to and on more common occasions only the seniors;
the general reader : “According to the rule of Bene- but in either case, after hearing what each one was
dict, the monks were to rise at 2 A. M. in winter pleased to say, the decision rested wholly with him-
(and in summer at such hours as the abbot might | self. For admission to the society a probation
direct), repair to the place of worship for vigils, and twelve months was required, during which the appli-
then spend the remainder of the night in committing cant was fed and clothed, and employed in the
psalms, private meditation, and reading. At sunrise meaner offices of the monks, and closely watched.
they assembled for matins, then spent four hours in At the end of his probation if approved, he took
labour, then two hours in reading, then dined, and solemn and irrevocable vows of perfect chastity, ab-
read in private till half-past two P. M., when they solute poverty, and implicit obedience to his supe-
met again for worship; and afterwards laboured till riors in everything. If he had property he must
their vespers. In their vigils and matins twenty- give it all away, either to his friends or the poor, or
four Psalms were to be chanted each day, so as to the monastery ; and never after must possess the
complete the Psalter every week. Besides their least particle of private property nor claim any per-
social worship, seven hours each day were devoted sonal rights or liberties. For lighter offences a re-
to labour, two at least to private study, one to pri- | primand was to be administered by some under-offi-
vate meditation, and the rest to meals, sleep, and For greater offences, after two admonitions, a
refreshment. The labour was agriculture, garden- | person was debarred his privileges, not allowed to
ing and various mechanical trades, and each one was read in his tuin, or to sit at table, or enjoy his modi-
put to such labour as his superior saw fit; for they cum of comforts. If still refractory, he was expelled
all renounced wholly every species of personal li- the monastery, yet might be restored on repentance."
berty. They ate twice a-day at a common table, Benedict died in the 62d year of his age, A. D. 542.
first about noon, and then at evening. Both the See next article.
quantity and the quality of their food were limited. BENEDICTINES, an order of monks established
To each was allowed one pound of bread per day | by BENEDICT (see preceding article) in Italy, in the
and a small quantity of wine. On the public table commencement of the sixth century. They were
no meat was allowed, but always two kinds of por- regulated by special rules drawn up with great care
ridge. To the sick flesh was allowed. While at by their founder, and one grand peculiarity which
table all conversation was prohibited, and some one distinguished the Benedictines from all the religious
read aloud the whole time. They all served as orders which had previously existed, was, that the
cooks and waiters by turns of a week each. Their monastic vows were rendered irrevocable. The order
clothing was coarse and simple, and regulated at the spread far and wide. Wherever they came they
discretion of the abbot. Each was provided with converted the wilderness into a cultivated country;
two suits, a knife, a needle, and all other necessaries. they pursued the breeding of cattle and the labours
They slept in common dormitories of ten or twenty, of agriculture, wrought with their own hands, drained
in separate beds, without undressing, and had a light morasses, and cleared away forests. Thus various
burning and an inspector sleeping in each dormitory. parts of Europe, but particularly Germany, profited
They were allowed no conversation after they re- much by their labours in the field and in the forest.
tired, nor at any time were they permitted to jest or Literature also benefited not a little by the services
to talk for mere amusement. No one could receive of the Benedictine monks. Some were occupied in
a present of any kind, not even from a parent, nor transcribing the books of the ancients; and hence
have any correspondence with persons without the came the manuscripts which still exist here and
monastery, except by its passing under the inspec- there in the libraries of monasteries. The sciences
cer.
BENEDICTINES.
321
were cultivated nowhere but in their cloisters. No- | which he had formed of the object of a monastic es-
bles were educated within their walls, and from these tablishment. He endeavoured to correct the indolent
monasteries proceeded the most learned men of the habits of the monks, and to accustom to deeds of bene-
times, and those who rose to the highest offices both volence and kindness. . “In a time of severe famine,"
in church and state. The Benedictines were es- says Neander,“he assembled multitudes of the starv..
teemed saints, and their prayers were regarded as ing poor around the monastery. Their haggard looks
particularly efficacious. Only a short time elapsed moved his compassion, and he would fain have helped
from its first institution before this new monastic | them all, but was at a loss where to fund means of sus-
order was in a most flourishing state in all the tenance sufficient for so many. Trusting in God, he
countries of the West. In Gaul it was propagated cheerfully went to work. He first directed so much of
by Maurus; in Sicily and Sardinia by Placidus and the grain in store to be laid aside as would be required
others; in England by Augustine and Mellitus ; in to support the monks until the next harvest, and then
Italy by Gregory the Great, who is said to have all the rest to be daily distributed, by monks appointed
himself belonged at one time to this order. Its for that purpose, among the poor. Also meat and
great and rapid dissemination was wonderful, and milk were dealt out to them daily, and the poor that
used to be ascribed by the Benedictines them- flocked hither from all quarters built themselves huts
selves to the miracles of St. Benedict. Many dif- around the monastery, intending to reside there until
ferent orders, distinguished from each other by the next harvest. Thrice when the store of grain
their dress, their caps, and forms of government, ori- set apart for the poor was found to be exhausted,
ginated from it. The Carthusians, Cistertians, Ca- he allowed a portion to be taken from that reserved
maldulensians and others were only branches grow- for the monks. Such was the influence of his exam-
ing out of the original stock. Hospinian reckons up ple, that every one of the monks spared all he could
twenty-three orders which sprung from this one, and from his own rations of food, and conveyed it se-
enumerates 200 cardinals, 1,600 archbishops, 4,000 cretly to these poor people. At the same time, he
bishops, and 15,700 abbots and men of learning who made the monasteries seats of religious culture and
belonged to this order. In the ninth century all other study, to promote which he collected together a
rules and societies gave way before the universal library in his convent. Among the marks of the
prevalence of the Benedictine orders. No sooner, / genuinely Christian spirit which governed him, we
however, did the monks of St. Benedict become rich may observe that when bondsmen were given to
and luxurious than they began to depart from the the monastery, he declined to receive them, but
principles of their founder. They gave themselves up demanded their manumission." The fame of Bene-
to indolence and every vice. They became involved dict as a reformer soon spread, and the emperor,
in civil affairs and the cabals of courts ; seeking Louis the Pious, placed all the West-Frank mo-
only to advance the authority and power of the Ro- nasteries under his supervision; and at the diet
man pontiffs. For six hundred years, the greater of Aix-la-Chapelle, in A. D. 817, he published a
number of the monastic institutions throughout monastic rule, after the model of the rule of St.
Europe were regulated by the rule of St. Benedict, Benedict, for the regulation of all the monasteries of
until about A. D. 1220, the Dominicans and Francis- the Frank empire. In the work of convent-reforma-
Cans took other rules from their leaders. In the tion he spent the whole of a long life, dying at the
course of this long period, however, monasticism de- age of seventy, having accomplished no unimportant
generated to a melancholy extent. But in the first change in the monachism of his time.
half of the ninth century, a reformer of the monastic The temporary improvements, however, which
life arose, in the person of Benedict of Aniane. He Benedict of Aniane and others from time to time in-
was sprung from a respectable family in Languedoc, troduced into the monastic institutions, were quite
about A. D. 750. He served first in the court of king ineffectual in preventing the progressive decline of
Pepin
, and next in that of his successor Charlemagne. these establishments. Thus a synod at Trosley, in
Disgusted with life at court, he resolved to forsake A. D. 909, laments over the universal decay of mo-
it
, and give himself up to a life of consecration nachism, now fallen into contempt with the laity. The
to God. For a time he hesitated about adopting the Benedictine rule fell into comparative neglect; and,
life of a monk, but a providential escape from danger though nominally recognized as in use, it was little
fixed his determination. In A. D. 774, when diving more than a dead letter. About this time Odo,
into a well to rescue a drowning brother, he was abbot of Cluny, in Burgundy, introduced a reform
near losing his own life; but, having saved his bro- into his own monastery, which was imitated by above
ther and escaped himself
, he resolved thenceforth to 2,000 monasteries, and rendered Cluny so famous,
renounce the world. Immediately on taking the that from time to time monks were elected from it to
Vows of a monk, he devoted himself to the reforma- govern the Church of Rome. In the twelfth century
tion of the degenerate monasticism of his age, accord- there was a keen dispute between the abbot of Mount
ing to the model of the Benedictine rule. Being Cassin and the abbot of Cluny, about the title of
joined by numbers, he founded a monastery at Ani- Abbot of Abbots, which the latter pretended to
ane in Languedoc, corresponding to the high idea claim; but it was settled in a council held at Rome
I.
X
322
BENEDICTUS—BENEFICE.
any
by Pope Paschal XI., in favour of the abbot of Cas- | word benefice was first adopted as an ecclesiastical
sin, as being at the head of a monastery which was terın can scarcely be ascertained. But it does not
the foundation and origin of the whole order. At an appear to have been so used before the tempora-
after period, the abbot of St. Justina at Padua intro- lities of the church came to be divided, being taken
duced so many improvements into his monastery, out of the hands of the bishops and assigned to par-
that the example was followed by many others, and ticular persons. The bishops possessed the church
that of Mount Cassin was united to it A. D. 1504, a revenues till the fourth century, these consisting only
decree having been issued by Pope Julius II., that of alms and voluntary contributions. But when the
the whole order should from that time bear the name church came to be possessed of heritable property,
of the congregation of Mount Cassin, or St. Justina. part of it was assigned for the maintenance of the
In the seventeenth century, the Benedictine order clergy.
clergy. The term benefice is now used in the
began to revert to its original designs, especially in Church of England to denote all church preferments
France; and its literary labours were particularly except bishopries. A parochial benefice must be be-
valuable in the publication of beautiful editions of stowed freely as a provision for the incumbent, who
the Fathers. In the seventeenth and eighteenth only enjoys the fruits of it during his incumbency,
centuries, they had a considerable number of priories without having any inheritance in it. It belongs to
and abbeys in France. They still exist in Italy, the church alone, and no contract concerning it is of
Sicily, Spain, Germany, and Austria, but they are force. In the Romish Church, a person must
far from adhering to the strictness of the Benedictine be fourteen years of age complete before he can be
rule. The monks of this order are easily recognized entitled to a benefice, and must have received the ton-
by their dress. They wear a long black gown, with sure beforehand. By the canon law, the purchase
large wide sleeves, and a capuche or cowl on their of benefices, or Simony, as it is called, is a very hei-
head, ending in a point behind. It was by the in- nous offence, and, as Sir Edward Coke remarks, is
strumentality of monks of this order, that Christianity always accompanied with perjury, as the presentee is
was first introduced into England. They founded bound to take an oath against simoniacal practices.
several monasteries, and the metropolitan church of (See SIMONY.) But besides simony, there are other
Canterbury, as well as all the cathedrals that were improper methods of procuring benefices in the
afterwards erected. The order has produced a vast Church of Rome. (1.) That of confidence, which is,
number of learned men. There are nuns also who according to Alet in his “Ritual,' when one either
follow the order of Benedict, some of them in a more resigns or procures a benefice for some other person,
mitigated form, being allowed to eat flesh three times with design or agreement to give it to a relation, or
a-week, on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays; some other man; or shall suffer some other person
others, in all its rigour, eating no flesh unless abso- to take the fruits thereof, reserving only the title to
lutely necessary. This female order was founded by himself.' (2.) Interested permutation, or exchange of
Scholastica, the sister of St. Benedict, in A. D. 530. one benefice for another from selfish motives. (3.)
The Benedictine nuns of the order of Cluny were Fraudulent permutation, or effecting a change in a
instituted by Odo, abbot of Cluny, about A. D. 940.
fraudulent manner. (4.) Pretended resignation.
A great variety of female societies more or less ac- (5.) Forging instruments in order to secure a bene-
knowledging their connection with the Benedictines, fice. (6.) The foundation of an obit, which Alet ex-
have been formed at different periods. The order of plains to be “A person desiring to procure a benefice
Benedictines has given rise to several others who either for himself or some relation, lays out a sum of
follow the rule of the founder, as, for example, the money, or buys a piece of ground, upon condition to
CAMALDOLITES, the CARTHUSIANS, the CELESTINES, bestow the interest of the money or the revenue of
the SILVESTRIANS, and so forth, all of which will be
all of which will be the land on a person for celebrating a weekly mass;
considered in separate articles.
and giving the name of benefice to this foundation,
BENEDICTION. See BLESSING..
which he calls obit, exchanges it with another person
BENEDICTUS (Lat. Blessed), a hymn appointed for a prebend or cure." Benefices are divided by
in the rubric of the Church of England to be said or the canonists into simple and sacerdotal.
The
sung after the second lesson in the morning service. former implies no other obligation than to read
It is taken from Luke i. 68–72, being part of the prayers, sing, &c., as canons, chaplains, &c. The
song of Zacharias the priest concerning his son John latter is charged with the care of souls, as rectors,
the Baptist, who was then in his infancy.
vicars, &c. The canonists also mention three ways
BENEFICE (Lat. Beneficium). This word, in vacating a benefice, de jure, de facto, and by the sentence
the ancient signification of the Latin term, signified of a judge. A benefice is void de jure, when, in conse-
any kind of gift or grant. It became restricted, quence of crime, the incumbent is disqualified from
however, in its meaning in course of time, so as to holding a benefice, as for example, heresy, simony,
be appropriated to the lands which kings were wont and such like. A benefice is void, both de facto and
to bestow on those who had fought valiantly in the de jure, by the natural death or resignation of the in-
This was the sense which it bore when the cumbent. And, finally, a benefice is void by the
Goths and Lombards reigned in Italy. When the sentence of the judge, when the incumbent is dispos-
of
wars.
BENEFICIARY-BENI-ISRAEL.
323
sessed of it as a punishment for immorality, or any | numbers to amount to 5,225, but the natives allege
crime against the state. Romanists divide benefices there are about 3,000 more.
The Beni-Israel re-
into regular and secular. The former are those semble in countenance the Arabian Jews, though
which are conferred on the regular clergy or monks; they regard the name Jehudi, when applied to them,
the latter those which are conferred on the secular as a term of reproach. They are fairer than the
priests. In the Church of England a distinction is other natives of the same rank, but they somewhat
drawn between dignities and benefices; the former resemble them in dress. They have no shendi like
name being applied to bishoprics, deaneries, arch- the Hindus on the crown of their heads; but they
deaconries and prebends; the latter comprehending preserve a tuft of hair above each of their ears.
all ecclesiastical preferments under those degrees, as Their turbans and shoes are like those of the Hindus,
rectories and vicarages. The great benefices or dig- and their trousers like those of the Mussulmans.
nities are called in the Ronish Church consistorial | Their ornaments are the same as those worn by the
benefices, because they are conferred by the Pope after middle class of natives in the Maratha country.
consulting the consistory of cardinals; but in various They decline to eat with persons belonging to other
Roman Catholic countries the right of appointment to communities, but they do not object to drink from
such benefices is claimed and exercised by the sove- vessels belonging to Christians, Mussulmans, or Hin-
reign. This has been a constant source of conten- dus. They ask a blessing from God both before
tion and heart-burning between the popes of Rome and after their meals in the Hebrew language. Each
and the temporal princes of Romish states. And, of the Beni-Israel, generally speaking, has two names,
for a long time past it has been necessary, in order one derived from a character mentioned in Scripture,
to secure the right of appointment to bishoprics as a and another, which has originated in deference to
power vested in the bishop of Rome, that a concor- Hindu usage. The Hebrew names are first conferred
dat should be agreed upon between the Pope and the —on the occasion of circumcision-and those of a
respective sovereigns of Roman Catholic countries. Hindu origin are given about a month after birth.
But in many cases, to secure other privileges, it has The Beni-Israel all profess to adore Jehovah, the
been necessary for the Pope to surrender the power God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Many of
of nomination to bishoprics into the hands of the them, however, publicly worshipped, till lately, and
temporal authorities. See BISHOP.
some of them at the present time secretly worship, the
BENEFICIARY, a person who is in possession gods of the Hindus, and particularly those who are
of one or more benefices.
supposed to be possessed of a malevolent character ;
BENEFIT OF CLERGY. See CLERGY (BENE- and a few of them practise divination, according to the
FIT OF).
rites of the Hindus. Though they have remained
BEN. EPHRAIM and BEN-DAVID, the names quite distinct from the people among whom they have
of the two Messiahs expected by the modern Jews. been so long scattered, they still realize the prediction
To evade the express predictions of the Old Testa- in Deut. xxviii, 64, “Thou shalt serve other gods
ment prophets concerning the mean condition of the which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even
Messiah, they confidently speak of looking forward wood and stone." All questions of religious discipline
to the appearance of two Messiahs, the one Ben- among this remarkable people are determined in a
Ephraim, whom they grant to be a person of mean meeting of the adult members of the community in
and afflicted condition in this world; and the other, eack village, by their Mukadam, or head man, who
Ben-David, who shall be a powerful and victorious has a kind of magisterial authority, and the Kazi,
prince.
who is the president in religious matters, and the
BENI-ISRAEL, a peculiar class of people found conductor of public worship. In these meetings the
in India, who practise a mixture of Jewish and Hin- Mukadam and Kazi are assisted by four chogale or
du customs.
Their ancestors, they say, came to elders. Any of the people present, however, may
the coasts of India from a country to the northward give their opinion, read their dissent, and even de-
about sixteen hundred years ago. They were in mand a new trial.
number seven men and seven women, who were In the synagogues of the Beni-Israel there is no
saved from a watery grave on the occasion of a ship- Sepher-Torah, or manuscript of the law, as the Jews
wreck which took place near Chaul, about thirty have. They admit, however, the divine authority of
miles to the south-east of Bombay. The place where all the books of the Old Testament. It is only lately
they found a refuge is called Navagaum. As they that they have become familiar with the majority of
were permitted to settle there, and met with consi- the names of the inspired writers; and it was not
derable favour from the native princes, they gra- without hesitation that they consented to acknow-
dually increased in numbers, spreading themselves ledge the latter prophets. From the Arabian Jews
among the villages of the Konkan, particularly they have received the Hebrew Liturgy of the Se-
those near the coast. In that locality, and also in phardim, which they partially use in their religious
Bombay, where they began to settle after it came in- services. The five books of Moses form the standard
to the possession of the English, their descendants of the religious law of the Beni-Israel. The divine
are still to be found. Dr. Wilson calculates their / statutes, however, are but partially regarded. Parch-
1
324
BENI-ISRAEL.
ments, on which are inscribed small passages of and puts it into the hands, first of the bridegroom,
Scripture, are sometimes worn on different parts of and afterwards of the bride, who both drink a little
their bodies. At one time they were partial to of it, as soon as they have been questioned as to
charms, but these have of late been renounced. their willingness to enter into the married relation,
When a birth takes place in any village in which and faithfully to discharge their respective duties.
the Beni-Israel are not very numerous, they almost The marriage covenant, drawn out in the form
all visit the house, and are entertained with sweet- usually observed by the Jews, is then produced and
meats or fruits. Circumcision is performed by the read, and after being signed by the individual in
Kazi on the day appointed by the law of Moses. In whose hand-writing it is, and three other witnesses,
connection with it he pronounces the words, “Bless- it is placed by the bridegroom in the hands of the
ed be thou, O Jehovah our God, the universal King, bride. She holds one end of it while he holds the
who sanctifies us by his commandments, and ordains | other, and declares it to be a legal deed. He then
us concerning circumcision.” He also invokes the folds it and gives it into her possession. She dis-
prophet Elijah and the expected Messiah, using some poses of it by committing it to her father's care.
superstitious ceremonies. The rite is considered as The cup is again tasted; certain passages of the
marking the descent of the Beni-Israel from Abra- Psalms are read; a ring is placed by the bridegroom
ham; but no spiritual meaning is attached to it, ex- on the forefinger of the right hand of the bride ; and
cept by individuals who may have had intercourse the religious part of the ceremonies is declared to be
with Christian missionaries. The ceremony is at- closed. The Kazi blesses the espoused, seated to-
tended by a considerable number of people, who are gether; and they receive offerings principally in
hospitably entertained, and who invoke the health of small sums of money, from their acquaintances.
the child over the simple juice of the grape. The Feasting and rejoicing conclude the labours of the day.
Kazi generally receives from eight annas to two ru- Next evening, the bridegroom and bride leave the
pees for his services. Small presents are sometimes bride's house—the former seated on a horse, and the
given to the infants.
latter in a palanquin--and proceed, amidst the firing
The marriages of the Beni-Israel generally take of squibs and rockets, to the masjid, where they re-
place as early in life as among the Hindus. The ceive a fresh benediction from the Kazi before going
ceremonies of marriage continue for five instead of to the house of the bridegroom, where they dine
seven days as among the ancient Jews; and they are along with their assembled friends. Amusement and
of a somewhat heathenish character. The following feasting continue during the two subsequent days."
account of them is given by Dr. Wilson :—“On the The interments of the Beni-Israel quickly follow
first day, the bridegroom is restrained from going the death. They bury without coffins, in graves of
abroad, is bathed, and gets his hands stained red three or four feet in depth. The head of the corpse
with the leaves of the Mendi (Lawsonia inermis), is placed toward the east.
placed toward the east. They sometimes make
and the front of his turban ornamented with yellow, offerings to the souls of the deceased of rice, milk,
or white paper, cut in the form of the flowers of the
and cocoa-nuts, and sprinkle water mixed with flour
champá (Michelia champaca), while he is visited by at the time of the interment; and they visit the
his relatives, who begin to feast and rejoice. On the grave on the third, fifth, and seventh days after it is
second day, his neighbours, without distinction, are closed, for the purpose of prayer. They have also
invited to participate in the hospitality of his father's an annual ceremony in behalf of the dead, like
house ; while he is required to have his hair dressed, that of the Hindu Shrádh. Their formal mourning
and to array himself in his best apparel and orna- for the dead lasts seven days. A few of them think
ments. He is then mounted on a horse, and con- that there is a purgatory for the reception of souls
veyed, with the usual clang and clatter of the natives, after death.
to the place of worship, where a part of the marriage The Beni-Israel reckon their day, as among the
prayers of the liturgy is read, and a blessing is pro- Jews, from sunset to sunset. They call their months
nounced by the Kazi. From the masjid he is con- also by the Hebrew names. The weekly Sabbath is
veyed in the same way as when moving towards it, in some degree observed by about a third of the
to the house of the bride, where he is received by population. At six in the morning they assemble
her father, and seated among the assembled multi- for worship in the masjid, where they remain for
tude. A dress and ornaments for the bride, as ex- two or three hours, chiefly engaged in reciting prayers
pensive as the circumstances of his family will per- or parts of the Scripture after the Hazzan or reader,
mit, are presented in his name, and by the hands of and practising genuflections. A few of the more
his father, to the bride, who immediately turns them devout of their number may be seen in the masjid
to use. A couch covered with clean cloth is then about mid-day, or about two or three in the after-
produced, and on it the happy pair are seated toge-
The evening service, which commences about
ther. All the visitors stand before them. The six o'clock, is best attended. It lasts for about two
Kazi takes a cup containing the juice of the grape, hours, and is frequently concluded by the persons
which is viewed as a token of the covenant about to present merely touching with their lips the cup of
be entered into, invokes the blessing of God upon it, | blessing.
noon.
BENI-KHAIBIR-BENIN (RELIGION OF).
325
These facts, in reference to the history and habits nation Jew, of which, no doubt, they would have
of this strange people, have been derived from a va- been proud had they merited it; and the distinctive
luable paper read by Dr. Wilson before the Bombay appellation of “Beni-Israel,' which they take for
branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. The interest | themselves; the non-occurrence among them of the
ing question naturally occurs in regard to the Beni. favourite Jewish names Judah and Esther, and the
Israel, Are they Jews or Israelites ? To this ques- predominance of the name Reuben, and other names
tion the Doctor gives the following reply: “ The brief principally connected with the early history of God's
survey which we have now made of the observances highly-favoured people, appear to me to be circum-
of the Beni-Israel might appear to warrant the con- stances strongly corroborative of the opinion that
clusion that they are Jews unconnected with the they are indeed Israelites, a remnant of the poste-
descendants of the Reubenites and Gadites, and the rity of the tribes which were removed from their
half tribe of Manasseh, who were carried captive to homes by the Assyrian kings.”
Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and Nahar-Gozan, (1 BENI-KHAIBIR (Heb. Sons of Keber), supposed
Chron. v. 26), by Pul, king of Assyria, and Tiglath- to be the descendants of the Rechabites to whom
pilneser, king of Assyria, and unconnected also with the promise was given, Jer. xxxv. 19, “ Therefore
the descendants of the ten tribes, who were carried thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel;
captive to the same and neighbouring places, by Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to
Shalmanezer, after the fall of Samaria, in the reign stand before me for ever.” They are said to ob-
of Hoshea (2 Kings xvi. 6); for they commemorate serve their old rules and customs ; they neither sow
events with which it is difficult to see how these nor plant nor build houses, but live in tents, and
exiles could be connected, and some of which occur- often remove from one place to another with their
red posterior to the return of the Jews to their own whole property and families. Dr. Wolff, the Jew-
land from Babylon, to which they were removed by ish missionary, mentions that they believe and ob-
Nebuchadnezzar. It is only at first sight, however, serve the law of Moses by tradition, for they are
that such an inference seems to be authorized. The
not in possession of the written law, and that they
Beni-Israel most readily admit, that to the adoption abstain from wine. See RECHABITES.
of their present practices, they have been led by BENIMBE, the name given to the devil among
the example and precepts of the Arabian and Cochin some tribes on the west coast of Africa. See DE-
Jews, who, from time to time, have come to visit VIL, DEVIL-WORSHIP.
them, or to reside in their neighbourhood. The BENIN (RELIGION OF). The country which bears
very fact that they required to be instructed by the name of Benin is a large tract of coast in Western
foreigners in the most solemn and interesting ordi- Africa extending upwards of two hundred miles, and
nances of their religion, as well as in other customs presenting a succession of broad estuaries, now dis-
universally observed by the Jews throughout the covered to be all branches of the Niger, of which
world, is a presumption that they have been estab- this country forms the delta. It is a country of
lished for many ages in this country, and really be great activity in trading, and of greater importance
long to the long exiled and lost' tribes of Israel. than either Ashantee or Dahomey. The king is
The Jews of Cochin, who say that they came to not only absolute, but a fetish or a god in the eyes
India immediately after the destruction of the second of his subjects; and all offences against him are
temple, or according to their own historical notices, punished in the most cruel and summary manner,
in the 68th year of the Christian era, have all along not only as treason but impiety. It is a crime to
considered themselves distinct from the Beni-Israel believe that he either eats or sleeps, and at his
of Bombay, of whose circumstances they have from death, as we have already shown in the case of the
time immemorial been well aware; and the black Jews king of ASHANTEE (which see), numerous human
of Cochin, descendants of proselytes from among the
victims are sacrificed that they may accompany
him
Hindus and the Jewish families which mixed with to the other world, and wait upon him there. Every
them, informed the late Dr. Claudius Buchanan, year three or four human beings are presented as
when he was making inquiries about the Ten Tribes, votive offerings at the mouth of the river, with the
that it was commonly believed among them that the view of attracting ships and commerce. Though by
great body of the Israelites is to be found in Chal- no means so frequent as among the Ashantees, yet
dea;' but that some few families had migrated into the sacrificing human beings is practised to a consi-
regions more remote, as to Cochin, and Rajapur in derable extent, and the sharks, which are accounted
India. The last mentioned place is the district of sacred, are found to come up in shoals to the river's
country bordering on the Nágotná creek, in which edge almost every day to see if there is a victim pre-
many of the Beni-Israel are even at present settled. pared for them. Fetishism and Devil-Worship are
The want of a MS. Sepher-Torah, or Book of the the leading forms of religion at Benin, as among all
Law, among the Beni-Israel, places them in a situa- the other Pagan tribes in Africa. They do not
tion in which we do not see any congregation of deny the existence of one Supreme Being, but they
Jews throughout the world. The repudiation, to have little idea of his superintending providence, and
this day nearly universal among them, of the desig- seldom call upon him except on great occasions, when
326
BENISH-DAYS-BEREANS.
they repeat his name, which is with thern Canon, inhabitants of Japan. The legend which they re-
three times with a loud voice. They put implicit late, according to Kaempfer, in his ‘History of Ja-
confidence in fetishes or charms, which they wear pan,' is curious. When on earth, it would appear
about their body, or hang from some part of their she bore the name of Bunso, and not having any
houses, and they have also their Fetissero or fetish- children to her husband, she prayed earnestly to the
man, by whose assistance they consult their fetishes gods of the country that she might be favoured with
on all important emergencies. They offer up so- offspring. Her prayer was heard, but in a most mar-
lemn worship to the spirits of the dead, which they vellous way, as she produced no fewer than five
consider as taking a deep interest in all things that hundred eggs. Her alarm was thereupon excited,
happen upon the earth. The presence of some lest from these eggs, if hatched, might come forth
spirits is courted; houses are built for their accom- some monstrous creatures; and, therefore, to pre-
modation, and occasional offerings of food, drink, vent such a catastrophe, she packed the eggs care-
clothing, and furniture are taken to these houses for fully up in a box, and threw them into a river, but
their use.
They place large quantities of cloth, having previously taken the precaution to write upou
beads, knives, pipes, tobacco, and ornaments in the the box the word Fosgoroo. After some time had
coffin, and large articles of furniture around the grave elapsed, an old fisherman happened to find the box
outside, for the use of the dead. Every spirit they floating, and perceiving on opening it that it was
imagine is the guardian of its own relations, and, filled with eggs, he carried the newly-found treasure
accordingly, when any individual, or even the king to his wife, who put the eggs into an oven, and to
himself, is about to engage in any undertaking of the astonishment of the humble pair each of them
importance, he commences it with invoking the produced a male child. The two old people brought
spirits of his ancestors. The spirits, in their view, up all these children, feeding them on rice and mug-
have their residence in the woods, and hence when wort leaves minced small. But when grown up the
a person is in difficulty or danger, he retires to the fisherman and his wife being' unable to provide for
solitary retreats of the forest that he may implore them any longer, they became highway robbers. In
the aid of the souls of deceased friends. They make the course of their wanderings they reached their
offerings to the devil or the evil spirit, to appease mother's house, and being asked their names, they
his wrath, and prevent him from inflicting injury. | told the strange story of their birth. Bunso learn-
They sometimes send messages to their friends in ing on inquiry that the word Fosgoroo was written
another world by one that is about to die. It is a on the box, instantly recognized them as her own
circumstance well worthy of being noticed, that in children, and received them as such. She was after-
Benin, as in all the other parts of Western Africa, / wards taken up into heaven among the gods, where
except the Grain Coast, circumcision is practised; the Japanese believe she still remains attended by
and the neglect of it is a matter of reproach and ri- her five hundred sons. Hurd, in his · Rites, Cere-
dicule. They have also another Jewish custom, monies, and Customs of the whole World,' while re-
that of sprinkling the blood of animals on the door- lating this foolish story, regards it as an allegory
posts of their houses, and upon all the places where designed to teach, that, by persevering industry,
their fetishes are kept. When a native happens to whether in private or public life, we may obtain far
be sick he sends for his fetish-man, who offers up more than we ever anticipated.
a sacrifice on his behalf, of a goat, or some other BEREANS, a small sect of Scottish Dissenters
animal, and sprinkles the family-fetish with the which sprung up in 1773. Its founder was a Mr.
blood of the victim. When he dies, a bullock, tied | Barclay, who, having been licensed as a preacher in
by the forefeet, is brought to be sacrificed at his connection with the Church of Scotland, laboured
funeral, and every visitor is expected to bring some for some years with great acceptance as assistant
present to be put into the coffin or beside it. The minister in the parish of Fettercairn in Kincardine.
female relatives assemble morning and evening for a When the parish became vacant by the death of the
month to mourn for the dead; and at the end of that minister, the people were earnest in their applica-
time they wash themselves, put aside all the badges tion to have Mr. Barclay appointed to the charge.
of mourning, and resum their usual duties.
A presentation, however, was issued in favour of an
BENISH-DAYS, a name given by the modern other to the great disappointment both of the assist-
Egyptians to three days of the week, which are de- ant and the parishioners. Immediately after this Mr.
voted more completely to pleasure than the other Barclay and a number who adhered to him, separated
four, and they are so called, because the benish is theniselves from the National church, and formed
worn more especially on these days, being a gar- a separate sect under the name of Bereans, which
ment of common use, and not of ceremony. The they assumed to themselves as professing to follow
Benish-days are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Satur- the example of the ancient Bereans, who are thus
days, and on these the people consider themselves as favourably mentioned in Acts xvii. 11, “ These were
not bound to be so strict in their religious duties as more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they
on other days.
received the word with all readiness of mind, and
BENSAITEN, the goddess of riches among the searched the scriptures daily, whether those things
BERECYNTHIA-BERENGARIUS.
327
were so.'
The followers of Mr. Barclay accord- This sect holds the principle and adheres to the
ingly set out with the fundamental principle, that practice of Pædobaptism. They partake of the
their system of faith and practice must be built on Lord's supper once a-month in general, but they
the Scriptures alone, to the entire exclusion of all sometimes observe it more, and sometimes less fre-
human authority whatever. The first Berean church quently. They are opposed to the observance of
was formed in Edinburgh in 1773, and soon after all days of fasting and preparation before the com-
another, on the same principles, was formed at Fet- munion, as being mere unwarranted human appoint-
tercairn, where Mr. Barclay had many friends and ments. They dispense with the practice of conse-
admirers. On the doctrines of the Trinity and the crating the elements in the Lord's supper, or the
grand points of the Calvinistic system, as regards water in baptism, alleging that no words of man can
predestination, election, and the atonement, this sect produce any change in either the one or the other.
were completely at one with the Westminster Stan- They object to the use of the word sacrament as
dards. There were some points, however, on which commonly applied to baptism and the Lord's sup-
they differed from all other sects. Thus they re- per. They teach that no one but a real Christian
jected what is usually called natural religion, on the can or ought to pray, and that it is absurd for a be-
ground that to admit it would be to undermine the liever to pray for an interest in Christ, or for any
authority of revealed religion, by rendering it un- other blessings which he ought to be assured he has
necessary and superfluous. This Mr. Barclay al already. To pray for such things they maintain
leged would go to justify the remark of the infidel would be to doubt their possession of them, which
Paine, in his ' Age of Reason,' where he affirms that would be equivalent to doubting the Divine testi-
" there is no occasion for any revelation, or Word of mony.
God, if man can discover his nature and perfections Their church government is neither Presb; terian
from his works alone.” In such a mode of argu- nor Independent in its character, but a mixture of
ment there was obviously considerable confusion of both. The people elect their minister, but minis
thought. It is alleged by no one that the religion ter judges of qualifications, and one minister only is
of nature is so full and complete as to do away with quite competent to confer ordination, which is accom-
the necessity of a written revelation. On the con-
On the con- panied by no laying on of hands. Their members
trary, the information, in regard to spiritual and di- are admitted on a simple profession of their faith,
vine objects, which we have received from nature, and assurance of the truths of the gospel, without
is necessarily scanty and imperfect, and yet it is any inquiry into their previous character; and if
enough to convince us, that in our destitute and after admission they draw back from their profession,
helpless condition, it is far from being unworthy of or act inconsistently with it, they are first admon-
God to make known to us such a revelation as ished, and if that be without effect, they are to be
would satisfy the cravings of our moral constitution, withdrawn from as walking disorderly, and are to be
and relieve us from a state of darkness and doubt. loft to themselves.
A written revelation then, is necessary to man, and The Bereans have always been a very small and
not unworthy of God; hence it has been bestowed. feeble body, consisting only of a few congregations
The Bereans also maintained that faith in Christ in Scotland, one or two in England, and a small
and the assurance of our own personal salvation are number in America. But of late years they have
inseparable or rather identical, since it is expressly dwindled away, and the Census reports in 1851 give
declared in the Word of God, “ He that believeth no returns of the body as existing on either side of
shall be saved.” If then, Mr. Barclay argues, I give the Tweed.
credit to this statement, it were impious to doubt iny BERECYNTHIA, a surname of CYBELE or
own salvation. This was the most dangerous of all RHEA (which see), a goddess among the ancient
the peculiar opinions maintained by the Bereans, as Greeks. This surname is either derived from Mount
it seems to amount to nothing more than that, if a Berecynthus, or from a place in Phrygia where she
man persuades himself that he is a believer, he is in was worshipped. Gregory of Tours mentions that
reality one.
To this the reply of the late Mr. in his time an image of this goddess was worshipped
Archibald M'Lean is sufficiently satisfactory, that in Gaul, the idol being carried in a cart into their
unless Mr. Barclay can produce from the Scriptures fields and vineyards, while the people marched before
a declaration of the remission of his sins, addressed in procession, singing and dancing as they went
to him by name, it is absurd in him to maintain that along. The design of this ceremony was to invoke
he has the assurance of his own personal justification the goddess to preserve the fruits of the earth.
and salvation, through faith in the direct testimony BERENGARIUS, a celebrated church reformer
of the eleventh century. He was a native of Tours,
Another peculiar tenet which was taught by the and received his theological education in one of the
was, that not only the greater part of the pro- most flourishing schools of the time, that of Fulbert
phecies of the Old Testament, but the whole of the at Chartres, where under that wise and devout in-
Psalms, were to be interpreted only as applying to structor he imbibed that warm piety and ardent love
Christ, and not to believers.
of pure scriptural truth, which formed such marked
of God.
Bereans
328
BERENGARIUS.
and prominent features in his religious character. consciousness of his frailty, throws himself entirely
Fulbert was accustomed to close the labours of the on grace, and finds that with his own strength alone
day by taking an evening walk with his pupils in he can do nothing but sin.'"
the garden, speaking to them of their heavenly coun- The theological point, however, which more than
try, and urging upon them, not even to seem to come every other seemed to engage the careful study of
short of it. Even at that early period of his life, Berengarius was the subject of the Lord's Supper.
Berengarius began to display not a little of that in- Sometime between the years 1040 and 1050, he be-
dependence of mind which so remarkably character- gan to combat the doctrine of transubstantiation,
ized him in after life. After quitting the school of which had been so long maintained as the recognized
Fulbert, he spent some time in Tours, his native city, opinion of the church, while he taught with the most
prosecuting and teaching secular learning; after independent freedom that not the true body and the
which he devoted himself wholly to the study of the true blood of Christ were in the Holy Supper, but a
Holy Scriptures and of the ancient Fathers. The symbol of them. In this point he professed himself
high character which he had already gained for learn- to be a follower of John Scotus. Various ecclesias-
ing and solid worth, procured for him the office of tics eagerly took the field against Berengarius. He
superintendent of a cathedral school in the church of remained firm, however, to the belief which he had
Tours, and afterwards the office of archdeacon at avowed, that the presence of Christ in the Supper was
Angers. Scholars flocked to him from all parts of not a carnal and bodily, but a spiritual presence. Tid-
France. It was soon apparent, however, that Be- | ings of this doctrine being openly taught reached Rome,
rengarius held for himself, and was communicating and at a council held there by Pope Leo IX. in 1050,
to his pupils, views both on secular and religious Berengarius, though absent, was condemned as a here-
matters, which differed in no slight degree from the tic. Feeling the injustice of this act, the Pope cited
prevailing sentiments of his day. He had studied him to appear before a council to be held the same
carefully the works of Augustin, and had drunk | year, under his own presidency at Vercelli. Beren-
deeply into the spirit of that admirable man. In garius was resolved to obey the summons, but on
proof of this, we would point the reader to the fol- making application to the king, Henry II. of France,
lowing passage from a letter quoted by Neander, for permission to attend the council, the king taking
addressed by Berengarius to the monks of his district. advantage of the sentence already pronounced upon
“ The hermit is alone in his cell, but sin loiters him at Rome, caused him to be thrown into prison,
about the door with enticing words, and seeks ad- and his goods sequestered. The Pope made no at-
mittance. I am thy beloved-says she—whom thou tempt even to complain of this contempt of his au-
didst court in the world. I was with thee at the thority on the part of the French monarch, nor did
table, slept with thee on thy couch; without me, he delay the council at Vercelli, but allowed matters
thou didst nothing. How darest thou think of for- to take their course. The consequence was, that
saking me? I have followed thy every step; and the doctrine of Scotus which Berengarius held was
dost thou expect to hide away from me in thy cell ? condemned in the council, and the opposite doctrine,
I was with thee in the world, when thou didst eat that of the real bodily presence, was formally ap-
flesh and drink wine; and shall be with thee in the proved.
wilderness, where thou livest only on bread and wa- All the persecutions which the good man had en-
ter. Purple and silk are not the only colours seen dured failed to moderate his zeal for the cause of
in hell—the monk's cowl is also to be found there. God and truth. He longed for the opportunity of
Thou, hermit, hast something of mine. The nature vindicating his opinions before a public council, now
of the flesh, which thou wearest about thee, is my that by the influence of his friends he had been liber-
sister, begotten with me, brought up with me. As ated from prison. The king of France summoned a
long as the flesh is flesh, so long shall I be in thy council to meet at Paris without waiting for the con-
flesh. Dost thou subdue thy flesh by abstinence ? currence of the Pope. Berengarius set out to attend
—thou becomest proud ;- and lol sin is there. it, but having learned on the way that a plot was
Art thou overcome by the flesh, and dost thou formed by his enemies against him, he judged it pru-
yield to lust? Sin is there. Perhaps thou hast dent to absent himself. Nor were his fears ground-
none of the mere human sins, I mean such as pro- | less. The council of Paris not only condemned
ceed from sense; beware then of devilish sins. Berengarius and his friends as heretics, but decreed
Pride is a sin which belongs in common to evil that unless they recanted they should be punished
spirits and to heimits. And he recommends, with death.
as the only sure preservative against it, prayer for Such was the state of matters when Cardinal
divine grace, persevering prayer, which the pure in Hildebrand arrived in France on a mission from the
heart will never suffer to sleep.' 'I exhort you not Pope. A council was held at Tours in 1054, when
to rely on your own strength, like the heretic Julian, Berengarius was allowed calmly to state his opinions,
in the Demetrias ; '-—- then quoting some remarks and to refute the false accusation which many of the
from this letter, he proceeds, 'I think otherwise. ecclesiastics brought against him, of holding that
The Christian contest rests in this, that each, in the only bread and wine, but not the body and blood of
.
BERENGARIUS,
329
Christ, were in the eucharist. He succeeded in ex- God's almighty agency alone can effect." When
plaining to the satisfaction of Hildebrand, that he charged with breaking the oath which he had so-
recognized the bread and wine after consecration as lemnly taken, his reply was completely satisfactory :
the body and blood of Christ. The legate now took “To take an oath which never ought to have been
steps to appease the outcry on the subject, which taken, is to estrange one's self from God; but to re-
had arisen throughout France. Berengarius repeated tract that which one has wrongfully sworn to is to
his confession as to his belief in the real presence of return back to God. Peter once swore that he
Christ in the eucharist, before a council of French knew not Christ. Had he persevered in that wicked
bishops; and when some of them doubted the sin- oath he must have ceased to be an apostle.” Mer-
cerity of his confession, he consented to state on cifully restored from his temporary fall, Berengarius
oath, that he believed from the heart what he had went on with his work, diffusing his opinions ex-
said with his mouth. His opponents not being able tensively throughout France and in other countries
even to conceive of a spiritual presence as being of Europe. No further steps were taken against
equally well entitled to be called real as a bodily pre- him in Rome, if we except a mild exhortation given
sence is, took up the erroneous impression that him by Pope Alexander II., to forsake his sect, and
Berengarius had been induced by fear to recant his give. no further offence to the church. But as he
opinions, and to profess his belief in transubstantia- himself expressed it, he could not deny his real con-
tion. When, therefore, they found him opposing the victions.
doctrine of the church as keenly as he had done Soon after Hildebrand, the friend of Berengarius,
before, they accused him of denying his confession, became Pope under the name of Gregory VII.
perjuring himself, and relapsing into his old error. One of his earliest official acts was to summon a
Hildebrand had hoped to quiet the storm by taking council to be held at Poictiers in France, in the year
the alleged heretic with him to Rome, but this pur- 1076, with the view of settling the controversy
pose was frustrated by the death of Leo. IX. At which had so long raged in that country on the sub-
length, however, in 1059, Berengarius repaired to ject of transubstantiation. Such was the excite-
Rome, designing to lay his case before the then Pope, ment, however, which prevailed in the council, that
Nicholas II. He expected naturally to enjoy the Berengarius had almost fallen a victim to it. Gre-
protection of Hildebrand, but in this he was disap- gory having failed in this attempt to put an end to
pointed. He was cited to appear before an assem- the theological dispute, summoned Berengarius to
bly of 113 bishops. A confession of faith drawn up Rome. Thither accordingly he went, and at an as-
by Cardinal Humbert was laid before him. It was sembly held on All-Saints Day, a confession of faith
so expressed as to cut off all possibility of a spiritual similar to that which he had formerly adopted at
interpretation; being in substance as follows: “ that Tours, was produced by him, to the effect that he
the bread and wine after consecration are not merely believed in the real presence of Christ in the eucha-
a sacrament, but the true body and the true blood of rist, without referring to the true point in debate,
Christ; and that this body is touched and broken by whether it was a spiritual or a bodily presence.
the hands of the priests, and comminuted by the Gregory, as formerly, declared himself satisfied, and
teeth of the faithful, not merely in a sacramental used every expedient to rescue Berengarius from the
manner, but in truth.”
The result was humiliating. power of his opponents. All his attempts were en-
The good man was overcome by the fear of death. tirely vain.
tirely vain. The demand was made, and the Pope
He faltered, and taking the confession of faith in his was unable to resist it, that Berengarius should pub-
hands, he threw himself with it on the ground in licly take oath that he really believed the confes-
token of submission and repentance. He then com- sion which he had made, and as a test of his vera-
mitted his writings to the flames with his own hands. city that he should submit to the ordeal of the hot
This was all that Rome desired, and straightway the iron. The Pope, however, sent him a private inti-
glad news of the recantation of Berengarius was se- mation that the cruel trial proposed would not be
dulously spread through Germany, France, and undergone; and probably to pacify the intolerant
ecclesiastics, he gave orders that a monk in whom
But the triumph of Romanism was short. The he put the utmost confidence should by rigorous
good man had only yielded to the fear of death for a fasting and prayer ascertain the will of the Virgin
moment. He speedily recovered himself, and no Mary on the point. The answer was what the
sooner had he again set foot in France, than he Pope had desired, a complete vindication of Beren-
taught the doctrine of the spiritual presence as garius, declaring his doctrine to be in accordance
as before, and proceeded in the strongest with Scripture, and that it was quite sufficient to
language to denounce the Pope and all his emissaries, say that the bread after consecration was the true
styling the Roman church not an apostolic see, but a body of Christ.
seat of Satan. In reference to his recantation at The opposite faction meanwhile were not idle in
Rome, he said, “Human wickedness could by out- their attempts to frustrate the designs of Gregory.
ward force extort from human weakness a different They contrived to have Berengarius detained at
confession; but a change of conviction is what Rome till the meeting of the synod, which usually
Italy.
keenly
330
BERENGARIANS.
assembles there in the time of Lent. The plot was
and wine in the Lord's Supper are not changed es-
but too successful. Gregory saw that he was sus- sentially and in substance into the body and blood of
pected of favouring the heretic, by indirectly con- Christ. They protested, indeed, against every no-
niving at his heresy, and, being one of the most tion of a bodily presence of Christ in the eucharist,
crafty and unprincipled of men, he hesitated not alleging that Christ, who is the truth, would contra-
to sacrifice his friend in order to turn away suspicion dict himself if the bread and wine which he presup-
from himself; and, accordingly, he ordered that poses to be present were no longer there. And
Berengarius should prostrate himself on the ground then, as to the body of Christ, the peculiar mode of
before the assembled ecclesiastics, confessing that argument which he followed is thus stated by Nean-
hitherto he had erred. Once more the woful spec- der in his usual clear and forcible style; “ Christ's
tacle presented itself of a Christian man who had body is at present glorified in heaven; it can no
shown himself a valiant defender of the truth, sud- longer be subjected to the affections of sense ; it
denly overcome by the force of temptation, throwing can, therefore, neither wholly por in part, be pro-
himself upon the ground and impiously confessing duced anew, nor be properly communicated. It
that he had erred. The enemy exulted no doubt in were an unworthy trifling, could we suppose it true,
their seeming triumph. The Pope declared to the to think that when the Lord's Supper is a million
humbled and disgraced man, the entire satisfaction times distributed, Christ's body descends a million
of the assembly with his recantation, and charged times from heaven, and returns back as often. A
him to dispute no longer with any one on the sub- favourite maxim of Berengar often cited by him,
ject of the eucharist, unless with a view to reclaim was the passage from St. Paul: “Though we have
the erring to the faith of the church.
known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth
Berengarius returned to France with letters of know we him thus no more,' 2 Cor. v. 16. He dwells
protection from Gregory, recommending him to the upon the words in the Acts of the Apostles, that
faithful as a son of the Roman church, whom no one Christ glorified was received up into heaven until
must henceforth molest or call him heretic. He the times of the restitution of all things, Acts iii. 21.
drew up a report of his trial at Rome, referring in Yet Berengar believed it might be said, in a certain,
language of the deepest penitence to his shameful that is as he himself explains, a figurative sense, that
denial of what he knew to be the truth, closing the bread and wine are the body of Christ ; here agree-
melancholy narrative with these touching words, ing with Ratramnus, but with this difference. He
“God of all might, Thou who revealest thine Al- did not understand it in the sense, that the divine
mighty power especially by forgiveness and com- Logos communicated himself through bread and
passion, have mercy on him who acknowledges him- wine, and that the latter in so far became identical
self guilty of so great an impiety; and you also, with, and took the place of, the body of Christ as the
Christian brethren, into whose hands this writing bearer of the manifestation of the Logos in human-
may come, prove your Christian charity ; lend your ity ;-but according to his view it should be under-
sympathy to the tears of my confession; pray for stood thus, that the faithful by means of this exter-
me that these tears may procure me the pity of the nal sign, instituted by Christ for the very purpose,
Almighty." Berengarius no doubt felt that no con- were therein to be reminded, in a lively way, of the
fidence could henceforth be put in him as a public fact, that Christ had given his life for their salvation,
He resolved, therefore, to retire from the and that they, by a believing appropriation of these
world, and to spend the years that might still re- sufferings of Christ which brought salvation, were
main to him on earth in solitude and seclusion. He through the operation of the Divine Spirit, brought
took up his abode therefore in the island of St. into a true, supernatural communion with him, and
Cosmas near Tours, where he died in a very old age had as lively a conviction of his presence among
in the year 1088. What a painful exhibition does them, as if he were bodily present. To this spiritual
this eminent man's life afford of the need for every appropriation of the sufferings of Christ in believing
man to ponder the exhortation, “ Let him that think- remembrance, Berengar referred the passages in the
eth he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” The can- sixth chapter of John. He held, that those pas-
ons of Tours still hold the memory of Berengarius sages contained no reference whatever to the Lord's
in great reverence. On the third day of Easter, an- Supper, and appealed to the fact, that in common life,
nually, they repair to his tomb on the island of St. eating and drinking were often employed figuratively
Cosmas, and there solemnly repeat certain prayers. to express an intellectual appropriation; and that
See next article.
this was especially the case in the New Testament,
BERENGARIANS, a party of Christians in as he shows by apposite examples. Christ does not
France and elsewhere, in the eleventh century, who descend from heaven, but the hearts of the faithful
adopted the opinions of BERENGARIUS (see preced- ascend devotionally to him in heaven. The body of
ing article), on the subject of the eucharist. They Christ is received wholly by the inner man-
-by
strenuously refused to admit the doctrine of tran- the heart, not by the mouth of the faithful. The
substantiation, and boldly asserted, in opposition to true body of Christ is presented on the altar; but
the prevailing opinion of the times, that the bread | in a spiritual manner, for the inner man.
The
man.
BERES.
331
true, the imperishable body of Christ is eaten only dresses himself in his priestly garb, repeating all
by the true members of Christ, in a spiritual manner. the while, with an audible voice, the usual prayers.
The pious receive at one and the same time, in a As soon as he is equipped he spreads a clean linen
visible manner, the external sign (the sacrament), cloth over the altar or communion-table, sets a plate,
and in an invisible manner the reality which is re- which he makes use of as a patin, on the gospel-
presented by the sign; but by the godless the sign side, and a jug on the epistle-side, while he places
only is received."
between them the bread which he intends to conse-
As usually happens with those who run counter crate. He now pours some wine into the chalice,
to the prevailing opinions of the age in which they takes the bread and cuts it into small pieces, put-
live, the Berengarians were charged with sentiments ting them into the patin, over which he places the
which they never held. Thus they were accused of camera, that is, a star made of two semicircles. If
denying miracles, simply because they refused to there happens to be too much bread cut he lays it
acknowledge the lying wonders which were so plen- | aside, covers the patin with one clean linen cloth,
tifully related by the superstitious writers of me- and the wine with another. After that he retires
dieval times; and of denying the veracity of the to one side of the altar, lets his chasible, if he has
Gospel narratives, because they did not assent to the any, fall down behind him, repeats the Paternoster,
interpretation put upon some passages by mother | reads the Epistle, then the Gospel, and having the
church. But while the opponents of transubstan- Missal or Mass-book in his hand, sings the credo in
tiation, in the eleventh century, were all classed un- the middle of the church, with some additional
der the name of Berengarians, they must not be prayers for the offertory. Then returning to the com-
understood as all of them adopting strictly the opi-munion-table, he takes the veil, with which the patin
nions of Berengarius. On the contrary, some of was covered, and throws it over his head, takes the
them deviated so far from his views, as while they patin in his left hand, holding it up to his forehead,
denied the transformation of the bread, to suppose and in his right the chalice, which he rests upon his
that the body of Christ became united with the un bosom. He then advances with a slow and solemn
altered substance of the bread. Others, again, con- step towards the people till he reaches the middle of
tented themselves with objecting to the doctrine, the church, and making a procession all round with
that even unworthy communicants received the the elements of both kinds, he sings a hymn, whilst
body of Christ, being of opinion that such commu- the congregation fall prostrate upon their faces, or
nicants received only bread and wine. Under many make several low and profound obeisances. As soon
different modifications of explanation, transubstan- as the procession is ended, and the priest returned
tiation was rejected by numbers, who, when the pe- to the altar, he puts the chalice and patin in their
culiar name of Berengarians disappeared, continued proper places, takes off the veil which he had thrown
century after century in various parts of Europe, over his head, holds it before the elements, repeats
though still remaining in the bosom of the church, several prayers, and pronounces at last with an
to combat its views on this point. The Reforma- audible voice, and in a chanting tone, the form of
tion, in the sixteenth century, brought matters to a consecration over the bread and wine. With the
crisis, and from that time to the present, the main- star which he had moved over both the patin and
tenance or rejection of the dogma of transubstantia- chalice in the form of a cross, he makes several
tion has formed an important article of distinction be- signs over both elements. With the consecrated
tween the Roman Catholic and the Protestant bread, which he first raises above his head while he
churches. See TRANSUBSTANTIATION.
repeats several prayers, he makes three more signs
BERES, monks of Mingrelia in the Caucasus. of the cross, and then puts it into his mouth and
They are initiated or admitted into the body by hav- eats it. If there be any crumbs remaining in the
ing a calot or leathern cap put upon their head, and patin, he carefully collects them together and eats
from that time henceforth they are bound to ab- them. When he drinks the wine, he holds the cha-
stain from animal food, and to receive their instruc- lice fast with both his hands. All these ceremo-
tion from the other Beres. They read mass in the nies are performed with his face towards the con-
Georgian language. The priest, having his vestments gregation.
gregation. The loaf made use of in the Mass is
wrapped in a leathern wallet or portmanteau, some round, about the weight of an ounce, and composed
wine in a calabash, a small loaf under his arm, and of meal, water, wheat, and wine. The mark put
wax-taper in his hand, begins his oremus near the upon the bread is similar to that of the Greeks
church, where he is to celebrate mass. As soon as
in Constantinople. The Beres very frequently and
he has arrived at the church-door, he lays aside his devoutly fast, and should they omit so important a
baggage, and proceeds to beat the sacred wood, that duty they imagine that the guilt of such a sin can
is, a small piece of board about the length and only be removed by a second baptism. They pro-
breadth of a battledore, with the view of calling a hibit the eating of every kind of flesh. They sup-
congregation together. When the people are met pose that our blessed Lord never tasted animal food
he rings a small bell, lights his wax-taper, and tak- during his whole life, and that he celebrated the
ing up his baggage, enters the church, where he | paschal supper with fish only. The Beres are
I
332
BERESCHITH-BERNARD.
BALA.
usually dressed like laymen, with this difference, single effort, and by one single word, discovered the
that they let their hair and beard grow, and are doctrine of the Trinity. He farther remarks, that
trained
up
from their childhood to abstinence. the Son is first mentioned, because it was He "by
The same name, that of Beres, is also given to whom all things were made.' That the Holy Ghost
Mingrelian nuns of different kinds. Some are young is next mentioned, because it was the Son who sent
women who have renounced marriage; others are him, “If I go not away, he will not come unto you,
servants, who, after the death of their master, be- but if I depart, I will send him unto you.' And
come Beres along with their mistresses; others are that this arrangement harmonises with the practice
widows who never marry again, or, in some cases, of the Christian churches, who celebrate the feasts
divorced wives ; while not a few have embraced the of Passover and Ascension before the Pentecost,
life of a Bere from poverty. All these nuns of and then the feast of the Trinity.”
Mingrelia are dressed in black, and have their heads BERESCHITH, the second part of the Jewish
covered with a black veil. They are not confined | Cabbala, and so called in honour of the first word
in convents, and may quit the religious life without which occurs in the Book of God. This part of the
being chargeable with any breach of vow.
Cabbala includes the study of the material universe,
BERESCHITH (Heb. in the beginning), the name probably because the first words in Genesis are Ber-
given by the Jews to the Book of Genesis, or first eschith bara, ' in the beginning he created. See CAB-
Book of Moses in the Old Testament, because it
opens with this word in Hebrew. Solomon Meir, a BERGELMIR, the primordial giant of the an-
celebrated Cabbalistic Jew, born in 1606, and who cient Scandinavian mythology, who, with his wife,
was consulted as an oracle by the Jews of his time, escaped in a bark when the race of ice and frost
not only in Judea, but throughout the world, hav-giants were drowned in the torrents of blood which
ing been converted to Christianity, and baptized un- flowed from the wounds of the giant YMIR (which
der the name of Prosper, explained the motives of see). Thus was Bergelmir permitted to transmit
his conversion from this single word, Bereschith, in the younger branch of the giant race. See BESLA-
which he discovered all the mysteries of the Chris- BÖR.
tian religion. The process by which he arrived at BERGIMUS, a local deity worshipped at Bres-
this strange conclusion may interest our readers. cia in ancient Italy. Montfaucon gives a statue of
“ This word,” he argued, “Bereschith, in the begin- this god, represented as a young man in a Roman
ning, does not make sense complete. There is dress, with the inscription in Latin, “ Marcus No-
something deficient, which the Cabbalistic doctors nius Senecianus, the son of Marcus, of the tribe
supply; "in the beginning of all things,' or ' in the Fabia, has performed his vow to Bergimus.” Mont-
beginning of creation.' God employed this ellipsis faucon, with great probability, supposes that the sta-
to denote that there was a mystery in these words tue is rather that of Nonius, from its being clothed
that was reserved for the Cabbalists to discover. with a Roman toga. There is also preserved a sta-
First, by dividing this word, we obtain Bar Aschit, tue of a priestess of Bergimus represented as a wo-
which signifies, he placed the Son.' Thus we dis- man stretching out one arm, and lifting up the other.
cover the existence of the Son of God, in the first On the base are inscribed these words in Latin,
word of the Sacred Record. Farther, God calls him « The Camuni erected this statue in honour of Nonia
Bar, which signifies also wheaten grain, because this Macrina, priestess of the god Bergimus."
Son was to be worshipped in the bread of the eu- BERNARD. This eminent nian was born at
charist. To the mind of Prosper, this argument Fontaines in Burgundy in the year 1091. To the
was conclusive. But God has given three names to piety of his mother he owed much of that devo-
wheat, in strict relation to the three states of man. tional spirit by which he was so remarkably charac-
Wheaten bread was called degan, that is taken from terized. Even while a child he exhibited signs of
the garden, because, in the state of innocence, man deep religious feeling. The death of his mother,
was to receive his nourishment from the tree which however, was followed for a time by a declension in
God planted in the earthly paradise. It is also his spiritual vigour and life, which gave place ere
called chitta, a word derived from one signifying sin, long to a complete reaction, and led him to form the
because man was to eat it after the fall. And in the resolution of retiring from the world, and becoming
third place, under the gospel, the Son was to be a monk. The thought of his mother's deep-toned
the bread of life to believers; therefore, it seemed piety often intensely affected him, and on one occa-
good unto him, that the names of bread and Son sion, while on a journey, the recollection so over-
should be confounded, and that both should be whelmed him, that he felt constrained to enter a
equally derived from the first word of the book of church on the road, and there with a flood of tears
Genesis. Farther, by substituting six words, for the he poured out his heart before God, vowing to de-
six letters, Prosper found the Son in the first letter, vote himself from that moment exclusively to his
the Holy Spirit in the second, the Father in the third, service. The influence of his holy zeal was quickly
and in the three remaining letters, the words, the felt by the other members of his family, and by sev-
Trinity is a perfect unity. Hence this Jew, by one eral relatives and acquaintances. In the spirit of
BERSETKERS_BERYLLIANS.
333
the time, therefore, imagining that God was to be of love. Christ the manifestation of the love of
best served by pursuing a monastic life, he en- God was with him the all in all, and a reference to
tered, in 13, the monastery of Citeaux, joining Christ the soul of the Christian life.
with thirty of his companions the strict order of the The purity of Bernard's exhortations did not pre-
Cistertians, which had been formed only a few years vent the most unseemly dissensions arising among
before.
the monks, even during his life. Feelings of jea-
Bernard was a monk all over. He carried ascet- lousy and ill-will grew up between the old order of
icism to great excess, weakening his bodily frame Cluniacensians and the new order of the Cister-
so much that he was afterwards unable completely to tians.
tians. The latter were distinguished by their white
fulfil the duties of his station. He remained at cowls ; the former by their black ones. To allay
Citeaux for only three years; but during that pe- the improper feelings of both parties towards each
riod he earned so high a reputation, that though not other, Bernard composed a tract pointing out the
yet more than twenty-five years of age, he was ap- relation between the two orders. Already in his
pointed abbot of a new monastery, which was found- time had special honour begun to be paid to the
ed at Clairvaux. This was the commencement of Virgin Mary; and more especially under the idea
a new era in the history of monasticism. Men of that she had been conceived without sin. Follow-
all ranks were attracted to the Cistertian order, not- ing out this view, a festival was instituted in hon-
withstanding its noted strictness of discipline; and our of the Immaculate Conception. Such a step
numbers of monasteries sprang up in the deserts roused the holy indignation of the devout Bernard,
after the pattern of Clairvaux. Within the brief and he addressed a remonstrance on the subject to
space of thirty-seven years the number of convents the canonicals of the church at Lyons, who had in-
of this order increased to sixty-seven ; and at his troduced the festival. The keenest controversy,
death, in 1153, Bernard left behind him one hun- however, in which this watchful guardian of the
dred and sixty monasteries, which had been formed truth engaged, was that which he carried on with
in all parts of Europe under his influence. He was Abelard, on what he regarded as the fundamental
consulted alike by sovereigns, princes, and popes. points of the Christian system.
. This was suc-
On various occasions the acceptance of a bishopricceeded by a dispute of a somewhat similar kind with
was urged upon him by some most important cities; a greatly inferior, but still able, opponent, Gilbert
but so devoted was he to the life of a monk, that he de la Poiree, archbishop of Poictiers. The views
declined every such invitation. He prompted all of Bernard on the peculiar doctrines of Christianity
around him to works of benevolence and charity. were remarkably definite and clear. He stands forth
He enforced active industry upon the monks under as one of the first theologians, not only of his own
his care, and instead of requiring that blind submis- day, but of several centuries before and after. He
sive obedience, which has been almost uniformly was strictly Augustinian on most of the principal
demanded as a necessary virtue of a monk, he called doctrines of the Christian system. Whether con-
upon his inferiors in the convent to exercise their sidered, indeed, as a reformer of monasticism, as a
own conscientious judgment on all the commands of divine, or as a Christian man, the abbot of Clairvaux
their superior, urging upon them the apostolic ex- is entitled to occupy a high place among those men
hortation, “ Prove all things; hold fast that which who have left their foot-prints upon the sands of
time.
He hesitated not in his correspondence with BERNARDINES. See CISTERCIANS.
Pope Innocent II. to warn him that the popes had BERSETKERS, the name given to persons in
weakened their authority by nothing more than by Iceland, who were supposed, when in a state of
abusing it. It is somewhat strange that a man of frenzy and excitement, to be supernaturally inspired,
such obvious talent and discretion in many things, so that they could perform extraordinary things,
should have fallen into the idea that God had per- such as passing unharmed between two fires. They
formed miracles by him. And yet it is possible pretended to keep up a familiar intercourse with
that such an impression rnay have arisen from the spirits, and they gave forth their inspired effusions in
extraordinary influence he was conscious of possess- rugged uncouth rhymes. See ICELAND (RELIGION
ing over the minds of men. The miraculous gifts of OF).
Bernard, however, were doubted, if not denied, by a BERYLLIANS, a sect of Christian heretics which
man of great distinction in his day, Abelard, fol- sprung up in the third century. They derived their
lowed by his disciple Berengarius. But the abbot name from their leader Beryllus, bishop of Bostra in
of Clairvaux was animated by too exalted principles Arabia, one of the most learned men of his day. He
to attach much importance to the imaginary pos-
flourished in A. D. 230. He held a modification of
session of miraculous powers. He held in far
the Monarchian doctrine as to the nature of Christ,
higher estimation the virtues and amiable disposi- alleging that the Son of God had no distinct personal
tions of the true Christian. Love he regarded and existence before the birth of Christ, when the divine
recommended to his monks as the soul of all per- nature was communicated as an emanation from the
fection, and hence he received the name of the man Father. The propagation of this doctrine excited a
is good."
334
BESA-BETROTHMENT.
keen controversy in the church, and a synod was the name given by the Jews to those of their
convened on the subject at Bostra, A. D. 244. The schools in which the text only of the law was read.
great Origen, who at that time resided at Cæsarea BETHLEHEMITES, a religious order, distin-
Stratonis in Palestine, having advocated the opposite guished by a red star with five rays on their breast,
doctrine of the Logos, felt himself called upon to en- which they called the star of Bethlehem, being worn
gage in this new controversy. He entered, accord- as a memorial of the star which appeared to the wise
ingly, into dispute with Beryllus, and such was the men of the East, and conducted them to Bethlehem.
success of this distinguished polemic, that the here- Matthew Paris says that they settled in England
tic was convinced of his error. Such is the account in the thirteenth century; but it does not appear
of Eusebius, and we are further informed by Jerome, that they had more than one convent.
that Beryllus addressed a letter of thanks to Origen There is another order of the same name in the
for the instruction he had received from him. None Spanish West Indies, who are habited like Capu-
of the works of Beryllus are now extant.
chins, with this difference, that they wear a leathern
BESA, a god of the ancient Egyptians, mentioned girdle instead of a cord, and, on their right side, an
only by Ammianus Marcellinus, who speaks of an escutcheon representing the nativity of our Saviour.
oracle belonging to him.
The founder of this order was a monk of the name of
BESLA, a giant-woman in the old Scandinavian Peter Betancourt, who was a native of Teneriffe, one
mythology, who was the daughter of Bolthörn, and the of the Canary islands. He was trained from child-
wife of Bör, to whom she bore the three gods, Odin, | hood in all the austerities of monastic life. In the
Vili, and Ve.
year 1650 he sailed for the West Indies, and took up
BETH-DIN (Heb. House of Justice), a tribunal in his residence at Guatemala, where, in the course of a
sacred or religious causes among the Jews. The few years, he assumed the habit of the third order of
Jewish church has always been governed by a pre- St. Francis. Being a man of great benevolence, he
siding Rabbi in the city or town where they may be founded an hospital for the sick poor, to which, at
settled. He generally attaches to himself two other | length, were added a cloister, refectory, and other
Rabbis, and these combined form the Beth-Din. apartments of a convent. Proceeding from one
This tribunal frequently determines also private dis- step to another, his plans were enlarged until a con-
putes between members of the synagogue, and at the gregation of Bethlehemites was formed deriving their
same time they take care that worship is regularly name from the hospital which was dedicated to our
performed
Their power was partly civil, partly Lady of Bethlehem. He died in 1667. The con-
ecclesiastical, and they received the name of Rulers gregation, however, did not disperse on the death of
of the Synagogue, because the chief government was their founder, but received the sanction of the king
vested in them. The Beth-Din had authority to in- of Spain, and the constitutions of the order were ap-
flict corporal punishment, as scourging, but they proved by Pope Clement X. in the year 1673. The
could not condemn to death. See SYNAGOGUE. order was fully organized by Innocent XI. in 1687,
BETH-HAIM (Heb. House of the Living), a who put them under the rule of St. Augustin, and
name given by the modern Jews to a burial-place, authorized them to have a general. There are also
the dead being looked upon as living. The name is nuns of this order, who make a vow of poverty,
supposed to have been invented by the Pharisees as obedience, and hospitality, and who are governed by
a protest against the infidel doctrine of the Saddu-
a superior bearing the title of elder sister.
cees, and a standing declaration of their belief that BETROTHMENT, a mutual engagement between
the immortal soul lived after its separation from the two parties to marry at some future period. Among
body, and that the body shall rise again at the the ancient Jews this not unfrequently took place so
general resurrection.
early as ten years of age or under. The consent of
BETH HAMMIDRAS (Heb. House of Exposi- the parents or relations was first sought, and if this
tion), the name given by the Jews to those of their was obtained, the young man was permitted to make
schools in which the oral law or Rabbinical tradi- a short visit to his proposed wife, and if he was
tions were explained. They believe that they are in pleased with her, a betrothment took place either by
possession of two kinds of laws, both of which, as his giving her a piece of money before witnesses,
they allege, were delivered to Moses on Mount saying,
saying, “Be thou espoused to me according to the
Sinai—the Written Law, which is contained in the law of Moses and of Israel;” or by giving in writing
Old Testament, and the Oral Law, which compre- the same form of words before witnesses, embodying
hends their traditions. From a quotation which Dr. in the document the woman's name.
These ceremo-
Lightfoot makes from a Rabbinical writer, we learn nies were performed under a tent or canopy con-
that there were four hundred and sixty synagogues structed for the purpose, where the young man talk-
in Jerusalem, every one of which had a house of the ed familiarly with his lover, and no person went into
book for the Scripture, or where the Scripture might the tent when they were alone ; but the young
be read, and a house of doctrine for traditions, or man's friends and attendants waited for him with
where traditions might be taught.
lighted torches, and received him with the greatest
BETH HAMMIKRA (Heb. House of Reading), | acclamations of joy.
acclamations of joy. On that occasion, also, he took
BEXERINS—BHADRUATH.
335
a vessel full of wine, drank a small quantity of it, | priest having made the sign of the cross upon the
then threw the vessel upon the ground, and dashed it head of the bridegroom, placed it upon a finger of
in pieces, intimating thereby a community of goods, his right hand, thrice repeating these words : “This
and also their frail and uncertain tenure. The es- servant of the Lord espouses this handmaid of the
pousing or betrothment closed with a feast, to which Lord, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
the relations of both parties were invited. The of the Holy Ghost, both now and for ever, world
young woman now usually returned to the house of without end, Amen." In the same way, and repeat-
her parents, where she remained for ten months, or a ing thrice the same words, he presented the bride with
year, during which she was buşily employed in mak- a silver ring. The groomsman then changed the
ing preparations for the marriage. Nearly the same rings, while the priest in a long prayer expatiated
mode of betrothment is continued among the modern upon the import of the rings; after which the whole
Jews.
ceremony was closed with a prescribed form of prayer.
Among the early Christians, also, the sponsalia, as In many uncivilized countries, betrothments or
they were called, or betrothment, was quite separate contracts of marriage are effected by the parents and
and distinct from the marriage. The mutual con- relatives altogether independently of the parties
tract or agreement which formed the principal part more immediately concerned, and even while they
of the ceremony, was confirmed by certain gifts or are yet in infancy and childhood. In China, this
donations which were considered as the earnests or done by a class of persons who make a regular trade
pledges of marriage. The free consent of the parties of match-making. And, however unsuitable the
was regarded as absolutely necessary to the validity of match may be, when once the agreement is made, it
the whole matter. The pledges were generally given is inviolable. In many cases the parties never see
by the man to the woman, but in some rare cases, each other until the day of their marriage. Instances
by the woman to the man. Along with these es- have been known of betrothed damsels among the
pousal gifts, or as a part of them, it was usual for the Chinese committing suicide to escape union with the
man to give the woman a ring, in further testimony | persons to whom, without their consent, they had
of the contract. Another ceremony used in betroth- been betrothed. When a visitor enters the house,
ment was the solemn kiss, which ratified the mutual the betrothed female must retire into a private apart-
agreement. This was appointed by Constantine to ment. See MARRIAGE.
be an essential part of the contract, so that if it was BEXERINS, Pagan priests among the Mandin-
omitted, then upon the death of either party before goes on the west coast of Africa. They are much
marriage, the whole of the espousal gifts were to be addicted to the study and practice of jugglery, which,
restored to the donor or his heirs at law. This, in indeed, forms a most important part of the religion
fact, was embodied as a standing law in the Justinian of the African tribes generally. The grand Bexerin
code. An additional part of the ceremony of betroth- is, as it were, the sovereign pontiff. He presides
ment, was the settlement of a dowry upon the wo- over all the other priests who profess to teach magi-
man, to which she should be entitled after his death. cal arts to the people. A common practice with
This was done in writing, and in regular legal form. them is to inscribe letters or other marks on small
The whole business of espousals, indeed, was gone pieces of paper, which they carefully wrap up, and
about with the utmost formality. It was done wholly give to their pupils and the people generally, as ef-
in public, before not fewer than ten witnesses, fectual preservatives against diseases and calamities
generally consisting of the friends of each party. of every kind.
The period between the espousals and the marriage BEYWE. See BaiVA.
was limited to two years. Should either party fail BEZPOPOFTSCHINS, one of the two classes of
to fulfil the contract within that period, they were Russian sectaries distinguished by this peculiarity-
bound not only to restore the espousal gifts, but to that they have either no priests at all, or priests
pay a fine for breach of contract. The whole of of their own ordination, in no way connected
these arrangements were much the same as those with the national church. The principal sects of
which were observed among the ancient Romans, Bezpopoftschins are the Duchobortsi, the Pomoryans,
long before the introduction of Christianity.
the Theodosians, the Philipoftschins, the Netovtschins,
In the ancient Greek church, the ceremony of the the Pastershkoe Soglasia, the Novojentzi, the Samo-
espousals or betrothment partook more of an ecclesi- lcretschentsi, the Tschuvstviniks, the Malakanes, the
astical character than that which was observed either Ikonobertsi, and the Seleznevtschini, each of which
among the Jews or the early Christians. The priest, will be considered under its own separate head. See
after crossing himself three times upon the breast, Russo-GREEK CHURCH.
presented the bridal pair, standing in the body of the BHADRUATH (the Lord of Purity), a deity held
house, each of them with a lighted wax candle; and, in great estimation among the Hindus. He is wor-
proceeding to the altar, he offered incense from a shipped at Bhadrinath in the province of Serinaghur,
cruciforin censer, after which the larger collect was where there is a celebrated temple, which is fre-
şung, with the responses and doxologies. Then fol- quented by crowds of Hindu pilgrims. This temple,
lowed the ceremony of presenting the ring. The which is regarded as a place of great sanctity, is
336
BHAGAVAT-BIBLE.
built in the form of a cone, roofed with copper, and nations of Shiva, the third person in the Hindu
having a spire surmounted with a golden ball at the triad.
top. In the inner sanctuary is seated an image of BHAIRAVA, a festival celebrated among the
Bhadruath, being a figure, in human shape, of black Hindus in honour of Bhairav, when, according to
stone, about three feet high, covered with a rich dra- promise, his votaries suspend themselves in the air
pery of gold and silver brocade. It has been calcu- | by hooks passed through the muscles of the back,
lated that not fewer than 50,000 persons resort every and allow themselves to be thus whirled in his
year to this sacred shrine. A silver salver is handed honour round a circle of fifty or sixty feet in circum-
round among the pilgrims, to receive their offerings, ference. See DURGA PUJAH.
which are expected to be liberal. There are also BHAVANI, the mother of the Hindu Triad. Va
several cold and hot springs, each of them having rious accounts are given of her origin, but the most
a sanctifying virtue, which the pilgrims eagerly pur- commonly received version is, that Bhavani, trans-
chase at a considerable price.
ported with joy at the thought of having existence,
BHAGAVAT, one of the names of BRAHM, expressed her delight in skips and leaps, and while
(which see), the supreme being among the Hindus. thus cheerfully engaged, three eggs fell from her
BHAGAVAT-GITA, a philosophical episode of bosom, from which issued the three Dejotas : the
the Mahabharata, a poem in which are celebrated Trimurti or Hindu trinity.
the heroic wars of the Kourous and the Pandous, two BHAWANA, the exercise of meditation enjoined
families belonging to the race of the children of the upon the Budhist priests. At the close of the day,
Moon. The Bhagavat-Gita is regarded as exhibit- or at the dawn, they must seek a place where they
ing the most complete view of ancient oriental mys. will be free from interruption, and with the body in
ticism. It consists of a dialogue between the god a suitable posture, they must meditate on the glory
Krishna and the hero Arjoun. A civil war is sup- of the Budhas, the excellence of the bana or sacred
posed to be raging, and a battle about to begin. The
hero is quite at a loss to which of the parties he BHUTA, the general name by which malevolent
ought to wish success, his feelings of attachment or destructive spirits among the Hindus are distin-
being strong to many individuals in both armies. guished. The word also signifies element, and
Krishna reproves him for his want of decision, and hence they may be supposed to have been worship-
reminds him that his actions ought never to be regu- ped as lords of the elements. The worship of these
lated by a regard to consequences, but that it is a spirits is the only form of religion known in many
man's highest duty to maintain an utter indifference parts of India, and by some writers it is regarded as
to all human feeling. In the Bhagavat-Gita Krishna the most ancient religion of that country long before
is identified with the god Vishnu, and the god Vish- the composition of the Vedas. The victims usually
nu is declared to be the Supreme Deity from whom offered to the Bhậta are buffaloes, hogs, rams, and
all things have issued, and into whom all will be cocks. If rice is offered, it must be tinged with
absorbed. This poem is attributed to the seventh blood; and if flowers, they can only be red or blood-
or eighth century of our era, while the Mahabharata, like. Intoxicating drinks are also used in this de-
to which it pretends to be an episode, must have been mon-worship. This species of idolatry is found
written at least eight hundred years before. Pro- chiefly in desert solitary places, and in the wild re-
fessor Wilson notices the resemblance of the doc- cesses of mountains. M. Dubois, speaking of the
trines of the Bhagavat-Gita to those of some divi- | inhabitants of that long chain of mountains which
sions of the early Christian schools, and hints that extend on the west of the Mysore, says, that “the
the remodelling of the ancient Hindu systems into greater part of the inhabitants practise no other wor-
popular forms, and in particular, the vital importance ship than that of the devil. Every house and each
of faith, were directly influenced by the diffusion of family has its own particular Bhâta, who stands for
the Christian religion. Professor Lassen believes its tutelary god; and to whom daily prayers and
the apostle Thomas really to have visited India, and propitiatory sacrifices are offered, not only to incline
he sees no reason to doubt that Christian churches him to withhold his own machinations, but to defend
were introduced into Southern India within the first them from the evils which the Bhûtas of their neigh-
four or five centuries of our era.
bours or enemies might inflict. In those parts the
The highest state of felicity to which the Bha- image of the demon is everywhere seen, represented
gavat-Gita points, is an eternal absorption in Brahm in a hideous form, and often by a shapeless stone."
(See ABSORPTION), such a state that when the man BHIKSHU, or MENDICANTS, one of the four or-
dies he will never be born again into any form on ders of BANDAYA (which see), or priests in Nepaul.
earth. There is a class of men among the Hindus BIBLE (Gr. Biblos, the Book), the name usually
who devote themselves wholly to preparation for this applied to the Sacred Books of the Christians. They
absorption. These are the YOGIS (which see), who are also called the Scriptures or Writings, the Holy
sit sunk in meditation, with their eyes fixed upon the Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments, the last
point of their nose. See BRAHM-HINDUISM.
designation denoting that they are the Testament
BHAIRAV (the Lord of Terror), one of the incar- or solenın declaration of the will of God to man.
BIBLE.
337
The Books of the Bible are called Canonical Books, | 2 Chron. xvii. 9, a body of Levites and priests sent
because they are in the catalogue of those books out by Jehoshaphat, each with a copy of the Sacred
which are looked upon. as sacred, to which the name Writings in his hands, to go through the cities of Ju-
of Canon is ascribed. In this sense they are op- dah and instruct the people. Besides, every seventh
posed to such books as are called Apocryphal, which year the law was enjoined to be read in public
, a
are either not acknowledged as inspired books, or practice which would tend to secure the preservation
are rejected as spurious and uninspired.
of the Sacred Writings, while the various copies
The Bible consists of two separate and distinct which were made would tend to diffuse the know-
portions, the Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures
, ledge of them. It would appear, however, that,
and the New Testament or Greek Scriptures. The during the reign of one or other of the wicked kings
earlier books of the Old Testament are universally of Judah, the Book of the Law had, from whatever
admitted to be of higher antiquity than any other cause, been removed from its proper place in the
authentic writings which have come down to us. temple, and concealed in some obscure corner of the
Even. Herodotus, the father of Grecian history, lived building until it was unexpectedly discovered in the
long after the time of Moses; and Homer, the most reign of good King Josiah. “ Hilkiah, the priest,"
ancient of Grecian poets, can lay no claim to a re- it is said, " found a Book of the Law of the Lord
moteness of antiquity equal to that of the author of given by Moses ;” in all probability the autograph
the Pentateuch. No doubt Oriental writings have of the Hebrew lawgiver himself. Soon after the
sometimes asserted for themselves an existence long Babylonish captivity ensued, when the original
prior to the writings of the Hebrew lawgiver; but | manuscripts of the Sacred Writings appear to have
such exaggerated statements have long since been been lost, but not before authentic copies were in
set aside as utterly unfounded. The first canonical the hands of many Hebrews.
collection of the Sacred Writings consisted of the The rebuilding of the temple, on the return of the
Pentateuch or Five Books of Moses. We have the Jews from Babylon to their own land, formed an
clearest and the most irrefragable evidence that important era in the history of the Old Testament
the greatest care was taken by the Hebrews to Scriptures. Up to this time no collection had been
preserve this sacred deposit. Thus we are informed made of the separate books into one volume, but the
in Deut. xxxi. 26, that Moses commanded the Le- generally received idea among the Jews is, that
vites to take this book of the Law, and to put it in, Ezra, the great reformer of the Jewish church, was
or rather by, the side of the ark of the covenant. the first, aided perhaps by Nehemiah, who collected,
The two tables of the ten commandments were laid revised, and arranged the whole in the form in which
up within the ark; but the Book of the Law is sup- they now exist. The Jews, accordingly, regard
posed to have been placed in a small coffer, which Ezra as another Moses, the second founder of the
formed an appendage to it. Be this as it may, one Law, and the saying is current among their writers,
thing is certain, that the Book of the Law invaria- that “if the Law had not been given by Moses,
bly went along with the ark of the covenant, which Ezra was worthy by whom it should have been de-
the Hebrews prized as their most precious treasure, clared.” This inspired arranger of the Old Testa-
over which they watched with the most scrupulous ment is said to have made also some other improve-
anxiety. In this situation the autograph, or origi- mențs. The Hebrew language had fallen into com-
nal manuscript of the Pentateuch, and the other Sa- parative disuse among the Jews during their seventy
cred Writings, as from time to time they appeared, years' residence in Babylon; and some have af-
were preserved down to the building of the temple firmed that Ezra first inserted the vowel points in
in the days of Solomon. Previous to that period the the ordinary copies of the Scriptures, with the view
ark of the covenant, with its accompanying valua- of preventing the knowledge of the peculiar struc-
ble manuscripts, though kept with unremitting care, ture and pronunciation of the Hebrew language from
had been without a fixed and permanent place of being lost or corrupted. It is said that he introduced
Now, however, that a large, solid building the use of the Chaldee letters instead of the ancient
was erected, which was wholly dedicated to sacred Samaritan, which had been in use before the capti-
purposes, an opportunity was afforded of assigning vity. The great benefit, however, which Ezra con-
to the Sacred Canon a sure resting place. The ark ferred upon his Jewish countrymen, was the classi-
of the covenant, accordingly, as we learn from fication and arrangement of the sacred books. He
1 Kings viii. 6, was deposited in the most holy place, divided them, it is supposed, into three great sec-
under the wings of the cherubim; and in all proba- tions, the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa
bility it was accompanied thither also by the in- or Holy Writings. The Law contained only the
spired writings, though some allege that they were Pentateuch or first five books of Moses, Genesis,
lodged thenceforth in the treasury.
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
But while the original manuscripts of the Hebrew The Prophets comprehended the principal historical
Scriptures were thus kept in safe deposit in the books, Joshua, Judges
, Samuel, and Kings, called
temple, transcripts of them appear to have been the former prophets, and the strictly prophetical
made for the use of the people. Thus we find in books called the latter prophets, besides being distin-
deposit.
I,
Y
338
BIBLE.
guished into the greater, namely, Isaiah, Jeremiah, | the first three being the most remarkable of the
and Ezekiel, reckoned as three, and the twelve minor | apostolic Fathers, Clement, Polycarp, and Papias,
prophets reckoned as one. The Hagiographa in- while the other three lived in an age immediately
cluded all the remaining books, that is, Psalms, subsequent to that of the apostles, Justin Martyr,
Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamenta- Irenæus, and Origen.
tions, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah. Not only, however, have we the testimony of cre-
This threefold division of the Sacred Books of the dible witnesses to the authenticity of the New Tes-
Old Testament is mentioned by our blessed Lord, tament records, but there is good reason for be.
and also by Josephus the Jewish historian. The | lieving, that the original manuscripts of the gospel
Hebrew Scriptures were anciently divided into sec- history were in existence long after the time of the
tions or lessons, of which there were fifty-four in the writers of them, and thus the correctness of every
law of Moses. The division into chapters is com- transcript might be effectually tried and ascertained.
paratively of recent date; but the division into They were also translated into various languages,
verses is of ancient origin, probably soon after, if and numerous copies of both the originals and the
not during the time of Ezra.
translations were dispersed over the whole civilized
The Jews watched with the most intense and world. A number of the early transcripts are still
even scrupulous anxiety over the Old Testament preserved, and it is pleasing to find an entire agree-
Scriptures, lest they might be corrupted or changed ment between these and the copies of the gospel his-
even in the smallest degree. They noted at the tory which are in ordinary circulation. But, be-
end of each book the exact number of verses and sides, no record on earth has been to such an extent
sections which it contained. It was even calculated the subject of discussion as that which is to be found
how often each letter of the alphabet occurs through- in the New Testament, and none, therefore, has been
out the Hebrew Bible. The very position and size so much the subject of minute, jealous, and watchful
of all the letters in which any peculiarity was ob- attention, both on the part of friends and foes.
servable were carefully recorded. Any variations of The incessant contentions between Christians and un-
readings, or even the inversion of a single letter, did lievers, as well as between opposing sects of Chris-
not pass unnoticed. The middle verse and letter in tians themselves, each of them appealing to the lan-
the several books, the most trifling and seemingly guage of Scripture in support of their opinions,
unimportant peculiarity which could be found, was rendered it next to impossible to effect any, even the
eagerly fixed upon as an additional means of secur- slightest alteration, without its instant detection and
ing the most minute accuracy in the Sacred Writ-
exposure.
ings. The Jews, indeed, held their Sacred Books in But even admitting the perfect authenticity and
the highest veneration, counting it a very heinous integrity of the New Testament records, on what
sin either to add to, or take away, even a single let- grounds are we to establish the credibility of the
ter from them. Hence, although there are slight statements which these authentic writings contain ?
variations in the readings of different copies of the On this point the strongest and most effective ap-
Old Testament, these are evidently unintentional peal must be made to the direct evidences of mira-
errors of transcribers, and in no case do they affect cles and prophecy. “In what way,” asks Paley,
a vital doctrine.
can a revelation be made but by miracles ?” “In
The books of the New Testament are usually ar- none,” he answers, " which we can possibly con-
ranged into three classes, the Historical Books, con- ceive.” But it must ever be borne in mind, that the
sisting of the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apos- proof derived from miracles goes to establish, in the
tles; the Doctrinal Books, including the fourteen first instance, not the truth of any statements what-
Epistles of Paul and the seven Catholic Epistles, so ever, but simply the Divine authority of Him by
called because they were chiefly addressed to the whom the miracles are wrought ; and from the
converted Jews scattered throughout the Roman Divine authority of Christ, we pass, by an almost
empire ; and the Prophetical Books, of which there immediate transition, to the truth of Christianity,
is only one, the Revelation of St. John. The order Had no miracles been performed by our blessed
in which the books are now placed is the most an- Lord, we would have had no proper evidence that
cient, being that adopted by Eusebius in the early He came from God, nor could the Christian scheme
part of the fourth century, and probably by Igna- have asserted any valid claim to a Divine origin.
tius, who lived at the close of the first and during To the gospel, however, no such objection can be
the former half of the second century. In proof of offered. Miracles are alleged to have been wrought;
the authenticity of the evangelical records, Dr. Pa- water was changed into wine; the blind received
ley, in his · Evidences of Christianity,' has appealed their sight; the dumb spoke; the deaf heard; the
to no fewer than seven testimonies of credible wit- lame walked; and the dead were restored to life.
nesses, stretching from the cotemporaries and friends And the principle on which Christ performed these
of the apostles, onward through the three first cen- miracles is obvious from his own declaration, “ The
turies after the Christian era. It is quite sufficient, works that I do in my Father's name they bear wit-
however, to appeal to six of the most prominent, ness of me." The distinction is palpable to the
3.
BIBLE.
339
most uncultivated mind between those events And if such was the conduct of enlightened men in
which are truly miraculous, and that class which regard to what was strictly a question of facts, on
embraces even the most surprising of the ordinary which every individual around them was capable of
phenomena of nature, or the most wonderful disco- deciding, and, therefore, might have disproved them
veries of science; and hence the peculiar value of if it had been possible to do so, to what other con-
miracles as evidences and proofs of a system which clusion can we possibly come than that the gospel
addresses itself to the illiterate as well as to the is true? By the pure force of truth alone it over-
learned.
came the deadliest opposition, and trampling down
In regard to the argument in favour of the New every obstacle, it made its way to the gates of the
Testament narratives drawn from the evidence palace, and even mounted the imperial throne of the
of prophecy, it has been often remarked, as one of mighty Cæsars.
its peculiar advantages, that, being gradual and pro- Another series of proofs of the credibility of the
gressive in its fulfilment, the force of this argument New Testament may be drawn from a careful in-
is every day becoming stronger and more convincing. spection of the book itself. This is what is called
The evidence of prophecy, and that of miracles, are usually the internal evidence. Under this head
to some extent identical; the one being merely a might be noticed the beautiful adaptation of the
miracle of knowledge, while the other is a miracle of truth, whether doctrinal or preceptive, to the nature
power. Various predictions are to be found in the and condition of man, and its accordance with our
New as well as in the Old Testament. The clear- highest and most refined notions of moral excellence,
est and the most important are those which refer to as well as the holy and purifying influence of the
the character, condition, and work of the promised gospel upon the minds and hearts of those who have
Messiah, and those which relate to the subsequent embraced it. The influence of Christianity, how-
fortunes of the Christian Church and of the Jewish ever, is not merely discernible in the life and con-
nation.
versation of an individual, but it is also strikingly
In addition to the evidence in behalf of the cre.. apparent in the beneficial effect which it has exer-
dibility of the records contained in the New Testa- cised over large communities of men. Imperfectly
ment, drawn from miracles and from prophecy, we though the motives and principles of Christianity
may advert to another argument deduced from the have as yet been brought to bear upon the world
rapid propagation of the Christian religion in the generally, it has nevertheless produced a decided
early ages, in spite of the numerous obstacles which improvement in the moral and political condition of
it
was destined to encounter. That the extent of those countries which have hitherto received it.
its diffusion even in the days of the apostles was re-
Their laws, their institutions, their manners, have
markable, is plain from the statement of Paul, that alike experienced the ameliorating effects of the gos-
from Jerusalem round about unto Illyricum, he him- pel of Christ; and though the process of reformation
self had not failed to declare the unsearchable riches in these points may have been tardy, it has still
of Christ. At Jerusalem and Antioch, at Ephesus, been sufficiently marked to render it an argument of
Athens, Corinth, Thessalonica, and even in imperial considerable weight in favour of the truth and divine
Rome, the mistress of the world, churches had been authority of the Christian system.
planted, and the truths of Christianity were openly
While the Bible is divided into two great portions,
promulgated. The remarkable success, however, of the Old and the New Testaments, these together
the first promulgators of Christianity rests not solely form one beautifully connected and consistent sys-
on their own statements, but is fully attested by tem of Divine truth. The books of which the en-
contemporary writers. Had it been possible to ac- tire volume consists, have been written by many
count for the fact by a reference to mere secondary different authors, and at a great variety of different
causes, the acuteness and genius of Gibbon would dates, stretching through an immense period in the
surely have been able to accomplish the task. It is world's history, and yet the theological system which
unnecessary to say, however, that even he has failed, they contain is complete as a whole, and congruous
and all that cold sneering infidelity could effect has in all its parts. This of itself affords a strong proof
utterly failed. The circumstances of the case are suf- that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God.”
ficient to show, that on any other supposition than There are no doubt great diversities of language,
that of its truth the success of the gospel is wholly conception, and style, discernible in the different
unaccountable. In what was probably the most il- books of the Bible; so that the individuality of the
lustrious period of Roman literature, some indivi- sacred writers is quite apparent throughout. Isaiah
duals of high reputation for learning and character is in no danger of being confounded with Daniel,
adopted the tenets of Christianity, and openly pro- nor Paul with John. But this forms no ground of
fessed their belief in them and that too without objection to the Divine inspiration of the Holy
the slightest hope of deriving any worldly advantage Bible. “It is God who speaks to us there," as Pro-
-nay, even under the certain impression that they fessor Gaussen eloquently remarks, “ but it is also
would thereby expose themselves to the ridicule, man;—it is man, but it is also God. Admirable
persecution, and reproach of their fellow countrymen. Word of God! it has been made man in its own
340
BIBLE.
!
way, as the eternal Word was! Yes, God has made The Jews divided the Pentateuch into fifty or
it also come down to us full of grace and truth, fifty-four paraschioth, or larger sections, according
like unto our words in all things, yet without error as the lunar year of the Jews is simple or interca-
and sin! Admirable Word, divine Word, yet lary; one of these sections being read in the syna-
withal full of humanity, much-to-be-loved Word | gogue every Sabbath day. Some of the Jews attri-
of my God! Yes, in order to our understanding bute this division to Moses, and others to Ezra.
it, it had of necessity to be put upon mortal lips, The larger sections were divided into smaller or
that it might relate human things; and, in order to Siderim. Until the persecution of Antiochus Epi-
attract our regard, behoved to invest itself with our phanes the Jews read only the Law; but the reading
modes of thinking, and with all the emotions of our of it being then prohibited, they substituted for it
voice ; for God well knew whereof we are made. fifty-four Haphtoroth or sections from the Prophets.
But we have recognised it as the Word of the Lord, Under the Maccabees the reading of the Law was
mighty, efficacious, sharper than a two-edged sword; renewed, being used as the first, while the reading
and the simplest among us, on hearing it, may say from the Prophets was adopted as the second lesson.
like Cleopas and his friend, Did not our hearts These sections again were divided into Pesukim or
buin within us while it spoke to us?' With what a verses, which have been also ascribed to Ezra. Such
mighty charm do the Scriptures, by this abundance shorter divisions were found to be particularly useful
of humanity, and by all this personality with which after the Babylonish captivity, when the Law was
their divinity is invested, remind us that the Lord of expounded in the Chaldee dialect, which was then
our souls, whose touching voice they are, does him- the vernacular tongue, although it still continued to
self bear a human heart on the throne of God, al- be read in the original Hebrew.
though seated on the highest place, where the angels In its original form the text of the Hebrew Bible
serve him and adore him for ever! It is thus, also, was written continuously without breaks or divisions
that they present to us not only that double charac- into chapters, verses, or even words. A number of
ter of variety and unity which already embellishes ancient manuscripts written in this way, both in the
all the other works of God, as Creator of the hea- Greek and Latin languages, are still extant. The
vens and the earth ; but, further, that mingling of Jews affirm that when God gave the Law to Moses
familiarity and authority, of sympathy and grandeur, on Mount Sinai, it was given in a twofold form, the
of practical details and mysterious majesty, of hu- true reading and the true interpretation, and that
manity and divinity, which is recognisable in all the both these were handed down from generation to
dispensations of the same God, as Redeemer and generation until they were committed to writing.
Shepherd of his Church. It is thus, then, that the The true reading is the subject of the Masora, and
Father of mercies, while speaking in his prophets, the true interpretation the subject of the Mishna
behoved not only to employ their manner as well as and Gemara. The Masorites were the first who di-
their voice, and their style as well as their pen; but, | vided the books and sections of the Hebrew Scrip-
further, often to put in operation their whole facul- tures into verses, noting carefully the number of
ties of thought and feeling. Sometimes, in order to verses in each book and section, and the middle
show us his divine sympathy there, he has deemed verse in each, with other minute particulars of a
it fitting to associate their own recollections, their similar kind.
human convictions, their personal experiences, and It is not unlikely that the early Christians may
their pious emotions, with the words he dictated to have derived from these ancient Jewish divisions
them; sometimes, in order to remind us of his sov- the idea of dividing the New Testament in a similar
ereign intervention, he has preferred dispensing with way. Who first carried out the plan is unknown.
this unessential concurrence of their recollections, It is certain, however, that the New Testament was
affections, and understanding. Such did the Word divided at an early period, probably before the fourth
of God behove to be. Like Immanuel, full of grace century, into two kinds of chapters
, some longer and
and truth; at once in the bosom of God and in the others shorter. These chapters not being sanctioned
heart of man; mighty and sympathizing; heavenly by the church, were by no means uniformly adhered
and of the earth ; sublime and lowly; awful and fa- to. The most important were the Ammonian sections,
miliar; God and man! Accordingly it bears no re- so called from their author, a learned Christian of
semblance to the God of the Rationalists. They, | Alexandria in the third century. In the fourth cen-
after having, like the disciples of Epicurus, banished tury an edition of Paul's Epistles, viewed as one
the Divinity far from man into a third heaven, book, was divided into chapters in one continued se-
would have had the Bible also to have kept itself ries—an arrangement which is still to be found in
there. "Philosophy employs the language of the the Vatican manuscript, and in some others. The
gods,' says the too famous Strauss of Ludwigsburg, Codes Bezæ and other manuscripts were divided into
'while religion makes use of the language of men. lessons in addition to the chapters and sections. It
No doubt she does so; she has recourse to no other; was not until the thirteenth century, however, that
she leaves to the philosophers and to the gods of the chapters now in use were first introduced through-
this world their empyrean and their language." out the Western or Latin church, for the New Tes-
BIBLE.
341
now have.
tament as well as the Old. No Greek manuscripts containing the whole Law. They have no vowel
are known to be extant in which chapters are found, points, and are divided into fifty-three sections; but
prior to the enth century. The invention of without distinction of books, chapters, or verses.
chapters has sometimes been ascribed to Lanfranc, One of these rolls being very ancient, is held in high
archbishop of Canterbury, in the reigns of William estimation.
the Conqueror and William II. Others again at- The celebrated traveller, Dr. Edward Clarke, found
tribute it to Stephen Langton, who was also arch- in the Crimea a number of Karaite Jews, who pos-
bishop of Canterbury, but in the reigns of John and sessed a number of ancient manuscript copies of the
Henry III. The real author of this very useful di- Hebrew Bible. The account which he gives is very
vision was Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro, who flou- interesting. “ The room,” he says, “where we were
rished about the middle of the thirteenth century. entertained, was filled with MSS.; many in the hand-
Having projected a concordance to the Latin Vul- writing of our host; others by that of his children;
gate version, by which any passage might be found, and all in very beautiful Hebrew characters. The
he divided both the Old and New Testament for Karaites deem it an act of piety to copy the Bible
greater convenience into chapters, the same as we once in their lives. All their manuscript copies be-
These chapters he subdivided into gin at the book of Joshua. The Pentateuch is kept
smaller portions, which he distinguished by placing apart; not in manuscript, but in a printed version,
in the margin each of the letters of the alphabet at for the use of schools. They reject the Talmud,
equal distances from each other, according to the every kind of tradition, all Rabbinical writings and
length of the chapters. The same arrangement was opinions, and all marginal interpolations of the text
adopted in the fifteenth century for the Hebrew of Scripture; and govern themselves by the pure
Bible by Rabbi Mordecai Nathan, with this differ- | letter of the law. They pretend to have the text of
ence, that instead of adopting Hugo's marginal let- the Old Testament, in its most genuine state. Be-
ters, he marked every fifth verse with a Hebrew | ing desirous,” Dr. Clarke adds, “to possess one of
numeral. The introduction of verses into the He-their Bibles, the Rabbi permitted us to purchase a
brew Bible was made by Athias, a Jew of Amster- beautiful manuscript copy, written on vellum, about
dam, in the seventeenth century.
400 years old; but having left this volume in the
The first collection of various readings in the MSS. Crimea, to be forwarded by way of Petersburg, it
of the Old Testament, with which we are acquainted, was never afterwards recovered.' The Karaites are
is the Masora, which was probably executed gra- said to have separated from the main body of the
dually, and not all at once; but the precise time at Jews soon after the Babylonish captivity.
which it commenced it is difficult to ascertain. It Dr. Buchanan, in his Christian Researchés in
was written sometimes in rolls separate from the Asia,' describes a visit which he made to a colony
text; at other times at the end of the copy of the of Black Jews in Malabar, and who are supposed to
Scriptures; but in later times, generally on the mar- be a portion of the first dispersion. From that peo-
gin or bottom of the page. About the year 1030, ple he obtained a very valuable manuscript copy of
Aaron Ben Asher, President of the Academy at the Pentateuch, which is now in the library of Cam-
Tiberias, and Jacob Ben Napthtali, President of that bridge University. This manuscript is written on
at Babylon, published each of them a separate edi- goats' skins dyed red. It is about forty-eight feet
tion of the Old Testament Scriptures; and from long, and about twenty-two inches broad. The va-
these two editions issuing from the two great classes riations from the common reading amount to about
of Jews, the Eastern and the Western, the succeed forty, none of them of the slightest importance, or
ing copies of the Scriptures have been generally affecting the meaning in the least degree. Four of
taken. The first attempt to print a Hebrew Bible the readings are peculiar to this copy.
with various readings, from a collation of a few The same veneration and respect which the Jews
manuscripts, was made in 1661. After this several | have in all ages shown to the Old Testament, has
further collations were made at different periods. been manifested by Christians to the New Testa-
But these are scarcely worthy of being mentioned ment. Every trace, however, of the original manu-
in comparison of the laborious work of Dr. Kenni- scripts of the latter disappeared in a remote anti-
cot, the first volume of which appeared in 1776, and quity. This may be accounted for in various ways.
the second in 1780. This was followed by the still in all probability they were formed of very perish-
greater efforts of De Rossi, who collected more MSS. able materials, being chiefly light papyrus rolls, on
and editions in his own private library, than Kenni- which the writing was inscribed with the pencil or
cot had collected in all the great libraries of Europe. calamus, with black ink, and in columns. The
In addition to those collected by Kennicot and De writing itself was in the character called uncial or
Rossi, there are other Hebrew MSS. of great im- large round letters. These uncial manuscripts went
portance. Thus a colony of Jews is said to have on continuously or without separation of the words
settled in China in the first century, probably about they had no interpunctuation; no initial capitals,
73. They possess a number of manuscripts. no accents and breathings. Before the formal com-
In their synagogue they have thirteen rolls, each pletion of the canon toward the end of the fourth
the
year
342
BIBLE.
century, scarcely a single copy had been made which John James Wetstein, which appeared at Amster-
contained the whole New Testament. In subse- dam in 1751-2, in two folio volumes. The first edi-
quent times such copies still continued to be rare, tion of Griesbach was published in 1777, but his
and most of those that did exist also contained the great work was his second edition of the New Tes-
Greek Old Testament. The four Gospels were most tament, which was not finished till 1806. In this
frequently transcribed. The Pauline were copied work Griesbach was not a little indebted to the pre-
more frequently than the Catholic epistles; and these vious labours and suggestions. of Bengel and Semler.
latter generally formed one volume with the Acts of After the death of this distinguished critic, the first
the Apostles, though very often both they and the volume of a third edition was issued by Schulz in
Pauline epistles were bound up along with the Acts. 1827. The work of Griesbach excited no little con-
The Apocalypse was least frequently copied, and by troversy among Biblical critics. His most severe
Athanasius in the fourth century, it was first assigned opponent was Matthai, who having obtained posses-
its place among the canonical books.
sion of more than an hundred manuscripts from
In the first centuries of the Christian era, parch- Moscow, published an edition of the New Testament
ment superseded papyrus. From the fourth to the in twelve volumes in 1782-1788.
Griesbach was
eleventh century, it remained almost exclusively in ably defended against Matthai by Hug and Eich-
use; then cotton paper came to be more frequently horn. The next labourer in the same field was
employed than parchment, and soon after linen paper Augustin Scholz, who published an edition of the
was used. With the use of the papyrus, the em- New Testament, enriched with full prolegomena,
ployment of the roll form also ceased; and instead of the first volume in 1830, and the second and conclud-
it the book form was introduced. The whole num- ing volume in 1836. Besides, there appeared many
ber of New Testament uncial manuscripts of the small editions founded chiefly on Griesbach, the
period, from the fourth to the tenth century, which most widely circulated being those of Knapp and
have come down to us, amounts to forty-one, only | Schott, and at a still later period that of Theile.
three of these embracing the whole New Testament; Carl Lachmann, besides a small stereotype edition
and of these three there is none without considerable containing the bare text, issued a large Greek and
omissions. In regard to the printed text, the first Latin edition, the first volume in 1842, and the sec-
collation of Greek manuscripts of the New Testa- ond in 1850. The most recent authors who have
ment was made by Ximenes, archbishop of Toledo, revised the text of the New Testament are Tischen-
in the year 1514, but it was not published until dorf and Reiche in Germany, and Tregelles in our
1520, when it appeared as a portion of the Complu- own country.
tensian Polyglot. But a few years previous, in 1516, Next in importance to the manuscripts of the
there issued from the press of Frobenius at Basle, Bible, may be ranked the versions. The principal
the first edition of the New Testament in Greek and versions of the Old Testament are the Alexandrian
Latin by the celebrated Erasmus. This was followed or Septuagint translation, in the Greek language;
by other editions by the same learned man, after the Targums, or translations in the Chaldee; the
consulting several Greek manuscripts. Then suc- Syriac version; and the Vulgate, or Latin transla-
ceeded the edition of Colineus, and the valuable tion.
editions of the Parisian printer, Robert Stephens. A The Septuagint translation was executed about
Greek-Latin edition superintended by Stephens in B. C. 277.
Josephus and Philo state that it was
1551, is the first in which the Greek text is divided made at Alexandria under the reign of the second
into verses.
This division, which he had already Ptolemy, commonly called Ptolemy Philadelphus.
three years before introduced into the Vulgate, and Others allege that it was done in the reign of the
which was soon universally received, seems to have first Ptolemy, called Soter. The most complete ac-
been adopted after the example of the Hebrew edi- count of the origin and mode of execution of the
tions of the Old Testament. Next in succession work is given by Josephus, who adopts the account
came the numerous large and small editions of Beza, of Aristeus, one of the persons who was sent by
and after a number of years the Elzevir edition, Ptolemy to Jerusalem on this matter. (See SEPTUA-
which is now in general use under the name of the GINT.) The most celebrated manuscripts of the
Textus receptus, or the received Text. In 1657 ap- Septuagint are the Codex Vaticanus,' and the
peared the London Polyglot, executed by the cele- Codex Alexandrinus,' and from these the late edi-
brated Walton, with the collation of sixteen addi- tions have been printed. Besides the translation of
tional manuscripts. Soon after was published an the Seventy, however, there were several other
edition by Curcellæus with various readings; to Greek translations of the Old Testament Scriptures,
which succeeded the valuable work of Dr. Fell, in all of them made after the Christian era. The best
the preparation of which he had collated forty other known are those by Aquila, a Jew, and by Symma-
manuscripts. Another very important work of the chus and by Theodotion, both said to have been
same kind was the edition by Dr. Mill of Oxford, Ebionite Christians.
which, after the labour of thirty years, was published The Chaldee versions of the Old Testament are
in 1707. This edition was succeeded by that of termed Targums or interpretations. Of these, the
BIBLE.
343
most celebrated are those of Onkelos, and of Jona- The Latin is the oldest of the Western, and the Sy-
than Ben Uzziel. The work of Onkelos is a version riac the oldest of the Eastern versions. Augustine
of the five books of Moses; that of Jonathan is a regarded the old Latin version as the most literal and
version of Joshua, Judges, the two books of Samuel, perspicuous of all the translations of the New Testa-
the two books of Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, ment; and Michaelis, an eminent modern critic, con-
and the twelve minor Prophets. Both of these are sidered the old Syriac version to be the very best
of considerable antiquity. There is also another translation of the Greek Testament he had ever read.
Targum on the law called the Jerusalem Tar- Besides the old Syriac version, which is called Peshito
gum.
or literal, there is another called the new or Philox-
The Syriac version boasts of great antiquity, the enian version, from Philoxenus bishop of Hierapolis,
inhabitants of Syria having been early converted to A. D. 508. This, however, is said to be greatly in-
Christianity, and therefore requiring a version of the ferior to the former.
Old Testament Scriptures in the Syriac tongue. Among the more eminent versions, though of less
Various translations appear to have been made, some remote antiquity than the Latin and Syriac, may be
of them from the Septuagint. The version which is ranked two Egyptian versions, the one called the
most highly esteemed is directly from the Hebrew, Coptic, and the other the Saidic. The former has
and bears evident marks of being very ancient. The been used from time immernorial by the Egyptians,
author of it is supposed to have been a Jewish con- and though from the period of the Saracen conquest
vert, and the date of it to be in the first century. the Arabic has been generally spoken in Egypt, and the
The Syriac version, brought by Dr. Claudius Bucha- Coptic little understood, yet this version is used in the
nan from India, and deposited in the university of public service of the Coptic church in connection with
Cambridge, is preferred by De Rossi to all others. an Arabic translation. The Saidic version is in the
“ This most ancient version," he observes, “ follows dialect of Upper Egypt, or Said, as it is called in
closely the order of the sacred text, and is more pure
Arabic. It once contained all the books of the New
than any other."
Testament, but none of them appears to be now en-
There exists also a version of the books of the tire. In proof of the antiquity of this version, it has
Law made in the Samaritan or Chaldaic Samaritan been observed that there is a work in the British
language, from a copy of the Hebrew Pentateuch in Museum, written in the Saidic dialect by Valentinus
Samaritan characters. It has been conjectured also in the second century, and containing several pas-
that there was a Greek version of the Samaritan sages of the New Testament which exactly agree
Pentateuch.
with the same passages in the Saidic version. There
One of the most important versions, and that are many Arabic translations, but they are supposed
which is held in great esteem in the Romish church, to have been made after the time of Mohammed.
is the Latin version, sometimes called the Italian, There is, however, a very ancient Ethiopic version,
bụt more generally the Vulgate. This seems to sometimes called the Abyssinian.
have existed from an early period for the use of the
Another ancient version of the New Testament is
Latin church; at all events, there were various the Armenian, which is supposed to have been exe-
translations into Latin, that which was called the cuted by Miesrob in the end of the fourth century,
Italian being the most highly valued. Jerome un- divine service having been performed before that
dertook to revise it by desire of Damasus, bishop of time among the Armenians in Greek or Syriac. The
Rome; but finding that the Old Testament had been following account of this version is given by Dr.
translated, not from the Hebrew, but the Greek ver- Claudius Buchanan in his Christian Researches in
sion, he resolved to execute an entirely new transla- Asia :'-_“The Bible was translated into the Arme..
tion directly from the Hebrew original. That this nian language in the fifth century, under very auspi-
new version might be as perfect as possible, Jerome cious circumstances, the history of which has come
passed several years in Judea, and received the as- down to us.
It has been allowed by competent
sistance of several learned Jews who resided at the judges of the language to be a most faithful transla-
school of Tiberias. Since the seventh century, the tion. La Croze calls it "The Queen of versions.'
translation of Jerome has been in general use in This Bible has ever remained in the possession of
the Roman Catholic Church, excepting that of the the Armenian people; and many illustrious instances
book of Psalms, the old version of which is still em- of genuine and enlightened piety occur in their his-
ployed; so that the present Vulgate consists of the tory. The manuscript copies not being sufficient for
new Latin translation of the Old Testament by Je the demand, a council of Armenian bishops assembled
rome, and the old Latin version of the New Testa- in 1662, and resolved to call in aid the art of print-
ment, revised by him. The other Latin version is ing, of which they had heard in Europe. For this
called the Old Vulgate, of which a few manuscripts purpose they applied first to France, but the Catholic
remain and have been printed. It was from this Church refused to print their Bible. At length, it
version that the translation of Wickliffe was made, was printed at Amsterdam in 1666, and afterwards
and Luther derived considerable assistance from it two other editions, in 1668 and 1698. Since that time
in preparing his translation into the German language. ) it has been printed at Venice. One of the editions,
344
BIBLE.
1
which the author has seen, is not inferior, in beauty The persecutions of Mary, the successor of Ilen-
of typography, to the English Bible."
ry VIII., having driven from England several pious
The last of the Eastern versions to which we shall and learned men, they took refuge in Geneva.
advert, are the two Persian versions of the four Gos- Here they prepared a revised translation, first of
pels, which are supposed to be of considerable anti- the New Testament, and afterwards of the whole
quity, the oldest having been made from the Syriac, Bible. Upwards of thirty editions of this version
and the other probably from the Greek. That the were printed betwixt the years 1560 and 1616, and
Christian religion was early introduced into Persia is used to a great extent throughout England. An
plain, from the circumstance that a bishop from that edition, called the Bishop's Bible, was printed in
country sat in the council of Nice A. D. 325. Chry- |1568, under the superintendence of Archbishop Par-
sostom states that the Persians had translated the ker, assisted by a number of learned men. It was
doctrines of the gospel into their own tongue. used in the English churches for forty years, when
Among the versions of the West, one of the most it was superseded by the admirable version which is
ancient, after the Latin, is the Gothic. The transla- still in use as the authorized version of the English
tor of this version was the celebrated Ulphilas, a Bible. The mode in which this valuable translation
bishop of the Meso-Goths, and a member of the was accomplished is thus described by Mr. Richard
council of Constantinople A. D. 349. He is said to Thomson, in his · Illustrations of British History.'
have invented a Gothic alphabet similar to the Greek, “In 1603, James I. commissioned fifty-four of the
and to have translated directly from the Greek. most learned men in the universities to undertake
The four Gospels in Gothic have been preserved in the work; and directed the bishops to inquire for
a well-known manuscript, called the Codex Argenteus, such persons as were skilled in the sacred languages.
from its being written on vellum in letters of silver. or had made the Scriptures their peculiar study.
There have also been lately discovered in the Am- But before this noble labour commenced, seven of
brosian library at Milan, the thirteen epistles of Paul the appointed number were deceased; and the re-
in the Gothic language.
maining forty-seven were divided into six companies,
Very ancient manuscripts of Saxon translations, each of which was to meet at a different place, and to
written between the times of Alfred and Harold, still prepare a different portion of the Scriptures, though
exist. In his Latin preface Ælfric says he has the whole of that portion was to be translated by
translated the Scriptures from the Latin into the or- every person in that company, and the several ver
dinary tongue "for the edification of the simple, who sions compared together. When any one company
know only this speech.” Alfred himself undertook had finished its part, it was to be communicated to
a translation of the Psalms of David, but died before all the rest, that nothing might pass without general
it was finished.
consent; and if, upon review, any objection were
In addition to these might be mentioned the Sla- made, the passage was to be returned for amend-
vonic, German, Italian, and other more modern ver- ment, or, in case of any disagreement, it was to be
sions, including those of almost every European referred at the end of the work to the general com-
country. But it is natural that the reader should mittee, consisting of one principal person from each
expect a somewhat detailed account of the transla- company. The division of the Scriptures between
tions of the Bible into our own language. The Saxon these companies, was as follows.--The first met at
version was used prior to the Norman conquest, but Westminster; it consisted of ten persons, and trans-
after that period, the language of England underwent lated from Genesis to the end of the second book of
so great a change that another translation was found to Kings. The second met at Cambridge, consisted of
be necessary. There are several manuscript English | eight members, and translated from the first book of
versions still extant, which were written so early as the Chronicles to the close of Solomon's Song. The
iddle of the fourteenth century, one in particular, by third met at Oxford, and consisted of eight indivi.
John de Trevisa, who lived in the reign of Richard II., duals, who translated the remainder of the Old Tes-
and finished his translation in the year 1357. Towards tament. The fourth assembled at Cambridge, in-
the end of that century appeared the English trans- cluded seven persons, and translated the Apocryphal
lation by Wycliffe, which was made from the Latin books. The fifth met at Oxford, consisted of eight
version. The first translation, however, of the New members, and translated the four Gospels, the Acts,
Testament from the original Greek was made by and the Revelation; and the sixth met at West-
Tyndale, and published abroad by his friend Miles | minster, and included seven persons, who were ap-
Coverdale, by whose name it is usually designated. pointed to translate the Epistles.
Various editions followed, and it is somewhat remark- “ This translation was commenced in the spring
able that during the reign of Henry VIII., notwith- of 1607, and occupied almost three years, when
standing the obstacles thrown in the way of all such three copies of the whole Scriptures were perfected
undertakings, no fewer than fourteen editions of the at Westminster, Oxford, and Cambridge. The foun-
whole Bible, and eighteen editions of the New Tes- dation of this new version was directed to be the
tament, besides separate portions of Scripture, were Bishops' Bible, though several others of the old
printed.
English translations, as well as those in the conti-
BIBLE CHRISTIANS.
345
nental languages, were also used as auxiliaries. | An 8vo edition was issued in 1819 by the British
When the work was finished, the general committee and Foreign Bible Society.
met at Stationers' Hall, and reviewed and polished No New Testament in the Gaelic language, for the
it; a final revision being given to the whole by Dr. use of the large population of the Scottish High-
Miles Smith, Bishop of Gloucester, who wrote the lands, appeared till 1767.
lands, appeared till 1767. This version was exe-
excellent preface originally attached to this trans- cuted from the original Greek, by the Rev. James
lation, and by Dr. Thomas Bilson, Bishop of Win Stuart, minister of Killin, and revised by Mr. Frazer,
chester. After long expectation and desire of the minister of Alness. Two improved editions of it
kingdom, the new version was published in folio, in were published in the years 1796 and 1813, under
1611; and its excellency is, in every way, such as the superintendence of the author's son, the Rev.
might have been expected from the care with which Dr. Stuart, minister of Luss. The translation of the
it was conducted, and the united labours of so many Old Testament was undertaken by Dr. Stuart and
distinguished men. It is,' says Dr. Gray, ' a most Dr. Smith, minister of Campbeltown; and was
wonderful and incomparable work, equally remark- printed in 1802 at the expense of the Society for
able for the general fidelity of its construction, and Promoting Christian Knowledge. A new edition in
magnificent simplicity of its language.
12mo was published in 1807, under the care of the
It is difficult to ascertain the precise period at Rev. Alexander Stuart, minister of Dingwall, and
which the English Bible was introduced into Scot- besides this, another edition without alterations was
land. An act was passed by the Scottish parliament published by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
in 1543 declaring it to be lawful for the people to The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland,
read the Bible in their native tongue. It is not im- having appointed competent persons to revise the
probable, however, that at that time foreign Bibles whole, passed an act in 1816, declaring it to be the
alone were in use. The first Bible printed in Scot- only authorized version of the Gaelic Bible.
land was that of Geneva. “Then,” says Knox, The New Testament was translated into the Irish
"might have been seen the Bible lying on almost language by Dr. William Daniel, Archbishop of
every gentleman's table. The New Testament was Tuam, in the end of the sixteenth century, and pub-
borne about in many men's hands. The knowledge lished in 1602 by Sir William Usher. A transla-
of God did wonderfully increase; and he gave his tion of the Old Testament was begun and finished
Holy Spirit to simple men in great abundance." by the benevolent and pious Bishop Bedell, whose
A version of the New Testament, translated from exertions in behalf of the Irish-speaking population
the Latin Vulgate, and intended for the special use of the sister island can never be forgotten. This
of Roman Catholics, was published at Rheims in worthy prelate had resolved to publish his transla-
1582; and, in 1609, the Old Testament version at tion at his own expense, but as he was cut off before
Douay. The two versions together go by the name accomplishing his purpose, the work appeared at the
of the Douay Bible, which is almost always accom- sole cost of the distinguished Christian philoso-
panied by notes explaining passages in accordance pher Boyle. Various editions of the Irish Bible
with the peculiar dogmas of Romanism.
have been issued by the British and Foreign Bible
There being a considerable part of the population, Society.
in several quarters of Great Britain and Ireland, who BIBLE CHRISTIANS, a Christian sect in Eng-
speak in languages peculiar to themselves, and are land, sometimes called Bryanites, the original foun-
but imperfectly acquainted with the English tongue, der of the body having been Mr. William O'Bryan,
it was necessary that versions of the Bible should be
a Wesleyan local preacher in Cornwall, who se-
prepared suited to these different localities. It was parated from the Wesleyan Methodists in 1815,
however, not till 1567 that a Welsh New Testa- and began himself to form societies upon the Me-
ment was printed; and even then it was printed in thodist plan. His labours were abundantly suc-
a form so inaccessible to the great body of the peo- cessful, and in the course of a very few years, so
ple, that it was found to be comparatively useless. rapid was the progress of the sect, more especially
About seventy years after another and more conve- throughout the counties of Devonshire and Corn-
nient edition was issued, and in the course of the wall, that, in 1819, there were bordering on thirty
last century various and large editions were printed itinerant preachers. In that year the first Confer-
and circulated in Wales at the expense of the So- ence was held, and the connexion was divided into
ciety for promoting Christian Knowledge, and also twelve circuits. The cause advanced, and became
of the British and Foreign Bible Society.
more flourishing every year, but in 1829 the sect
A translation of the New Testament into the was deprived of its originator, Mr. Bryant having
Manx language, which is spoken in the Isle of Man, left the body.
was commenced by Bishop Wilson in the last cen- In their general arrangements the Bible Christians
tury, and completed by his successor, Bishop Hil- differ very little from the Wesleyan Methodists.
desley, being printed about the year 1760. An They have the same peculiar system of societies,
edition of the whole Bible was printed in 1775, by classes, circuits, local and itinerant preachers. Their
the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. affairs also are regulated by an annual conference,
346
BIBLE SOCIETIES.
The number of languages and dialects in
and they have adopted rules almost identical with large scale was organized in London, bearing the
those of the Wesleyans for the guidance of their name of the “British and Foreign Bible Society."
officers and meetings. The composition of the con- Active measures were instantly adopted to enlist
ference, however, is of a more popular nature than the friends of the Bible, not only in Britain, but
among the followers of Wesley, consisting as it does throughout Europe, in a holy confederacy for the
of equal numbers of ministers and laymen, the for- advancement of the interests of this noble associa-
mer being the whole of the itinerant-ministers, and tion. The example set by London was speedily fol-
the latter representatives sent from the various so- lowed by other cities. At Nuremberg in Germany
cieties. The same popular character is communi- a similar society was set on foot, which in two years
cated also to the inferior meetings. The rules of transferred the seat of its operations to Basle, and
the body sanction and recommend open-air preach-speedily expanded into the “German Bible Society. "
ing. They disapprove of the title “ Reverend” be- Meanwhile the parent Society was growing in
ing applied to their ministers, as being inconsistent vigour and importance.
vigour and importance. In ten years from the for-
with the plainness and simplicity recommended by mation of the “British and Foreign Bible Society,"
Christ to all his followers. Females are allowed to no fewer than eighty-two independent Bible Societies
act as itinerant preachers, but they are prohibited had been formed in Europe, several of them having
from taking any share in the government and dis- | auxiliary associations in connection with them. Five
cipline of the Church.
important branches had been established in Asia,
In doctrine the Bible Christians are at one with four of them auxiliary to the British Society, viz. at
the Arminian Methodists, and their forms of public Calcutta, Colombo, Bombay, and Java; and one at
worship are much the same, except in the case of Astrachan, auxiliary to the Russian Bible Society.
the Lord's Supper, which it is usual for them to Two auxiliary societies had been formed in Africa,
partake of in a sitting posture, as more conformable one in the island of Mauritius and Bourbon con-
to the mode in which it was at first received by the jointly, and one at St. Helena. One hundred and
apostles. Kneeling, however, is not positively for- twenty-nine Bible Societies had been formed on the
bidden should it be more agreeable to the views and American continent, exclusive of one at Quebec and
feelings of any persons to engage in the ordinance one at Pictou, with the “ Nova Scotia Bible Society,"
in that attitude. By the returns of the last census and its auxiliaries throughout the province. Two
in 1851, the number of chapels in England and auxiliaries to the British Society had been estab-
Wales amounted to 452. Their congregations are lished in the West Indies, one at Jamaica, and one
chiefly found in the south-western counties. The at Antigua. During the same period of ten years.
minutes of conference for 1852 represent the num- from its commencement, the British and Foreign
ber of members as 13,862, including both the cir- Bible Society had secured the formation of five hun-
cuits and Home Missionary stations.
dred and fifty-nine auxiliaries within the British do-
BIBLE SOCIETIES, associations formed for the minions at home.
diffusion of the Word of God. A duty so plainly The progress which this great national institution
incumbent on all who believe the Bible to be given has made, and the extent of usefulness to which it
by inspiration of God, and to be able to make men has attained, may be learned from the encouraging
wise unto salvation, to spread it far and wide through- fact, that, at the jubilee which was celebrated on the
out the world, would have led, we might have thought, 8th March 1853, when the Society had reached the
to the formation of Bible Societies at a much earlier fiftieth year of its existence, it was reported by the
period than any to which they can be traced. The secretaries that the association had issued, since its
oldest institution of the kind is “ The Society for commencement, no fewer than 25,402,309 Bibles
Promoting Christian Knowledge,” which was formed and Testaments at the expense of £4,000,000 ster:
in 1699, and which printed the New Testament in ling.
Arabic, the whole Bible in the Manx language, and which it had printed and circulated the Scriptures
four editions in the Welsh, besides many editions in was 148. The number of auxiliary societies directly
English. This efficient Society is still in active connected with the parent Society was 4,257.
operation. An association was formed in London In the United States of America, the first Bible
towards the end of last century for supplying sol- Society which was formed was established at Phila-
diers and sailors with copies of the Scriptures. This delphia in 1808. In the course of a very few years
Society was afterwards remodelled, taking the name similar institutions rapidly spread, so that in 1816,
of the “ Naval and Military Bible Society," which , when the American Bible Society was set on foot,
fully described its highly important though limited there existed upwards of fifty Bible Societies in ac-
sphere of action. A society, under the name of tive operation, of which no fewer than forty-three
the “French Bible Society,” was established in became auxiliaries to the National Society. The
Paris in 1792, but after a feeble existence, main- formation of the great Transatlantic Bible Society
tained with much difficulty for a few years, it was formed a highly important era in the history of Bible
dissolved in 1803. In the following year, on the circulation throughout the world. This event took
7th of March 1804, a national institution on a place on Thursday, 11th May 1816, at a meeting
BIBLICISTS-BIBLIOMANCY.
347
held in New York, at which sixty-one delegates BIBLIOMANCY (Gr. Biblios, the Bible, and
appeared from ten different States of the Union, re- Manteia, Divination), a mode of divination some-
presenting from thirty to forty local societies. From times practised among the early Christians, by open-
the date of its institution to 1st May 1853, this ing the Bible at random, and applying the first pas-
noble institution circulated 9,088,352 copies of the sage that met the eye to the peculiar circumstances
Word of God in many different languages.
of the individual. It was customary among the
Besides the two great societies on both sides of heathens to consult the poets in this way. Homer
the Atlantic, and their numerous auxiliaries, the was chiefly used for this purpose by the ancient
Bible Societies in Continental Europe, in Asia and Greeks, and Virgil by the Romans. At what pre-
Africa, have circulated five or six millions of copies cise period this highly improper use of the Sacred
of the Holy Scriptures in different languages; while Volume was introduced among the Christians does
the American and Foreign Bible Society, during the not appear. Augustine refers to it in the fourth
sixteen years of its existence, has put into circulation century; and some have alleged, that even he him-
more than half a million of copies of the Scriptures self was at one time addicted to the practice, and
in thirty-five different languages, and as many more that his conversion took place while engaged in this
in the English language. The aggregate of all the kind of divination. His own explanation, however,
operations of the different Bible Societies is the pub- is sufficient to dispel such a foolish idea. He says
lication and circulation of nearly 50,000,000 copies that he heard a voice from some unknown quarter
of the Bible, in almost all the languages spoken upon exhorting him to take up the Bible and read; that
earth. Such a result obtained in the course of half he proceeded, accordingly, to open the Word of
a century is a cause of lively gratitude to God, and God, and that the first passage which presented it-
an earnest of what, by God's grace, may be accom- self to his eye was Rom. xiii. 13, 14,“ Let us walk
plished in diffusing the Holy Bible throughout every honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunken-
part of the habitable world, until at length the whole ness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife
earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,
BIANCHI (Ital. White men), a name given to and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the
a section of the FLAGELLANTS (which see) in the lusts thereof." These words he regarded as ad-
fourteenth century, which came down from the Alps dressed to him by God, and in all respects applica-
into Italy, scourging themselves as they went. They ble to his case. Thus by God's good providence he
were received almost everywhere with enthusiasm, was led to enter upon a new life of purity and de-
both by clergy and people. Their leader was put | votedness to the Divine service. Far from favour-
to death in the Papal territory, and the body was ing Bibliomancy at any period of his life, Augus-
dispersed. The prime mover of the penitential pil- tine strongly disapproved of the practice. 66 As for
grimage of the Bianchi was probably Vincentius those," says he, “who divine by lots out of the
Ferrerius, a Spanish Dominican, but their move- gospel, though it be more desirable they should do
ments being strongly disapproved by the council of this than run to ask counsel of devils; yet I am
Constance, he was induced to discontinue them. displeased at this custom, which turns the Divine
BIBLICISTS, the Biblical or ancient theologians, oracles, which speak of things belonging to another
as they were sometimes called, of the twelfth cen- life, to the business of this world, and the vanities
tury, who supported their religious tenets simply by of the present life.”
appealing to the declarations of Holy Scripture, There were two modes in which the early Chris-
along with the opinions of the fathers and the deci- tians practised Bibliomancy. One was done by
sions of councils, but without being guided by mere observing, in the first instance, a course of prayer
human reasoning. This class of theologians was and fasting, longer or shorter, as the case seemed to
called Biblicists in opposition to the philosophical require, at the close of which the individual opened
or scholastic theologians, who were also called the the Psalms, or perhaps the Gospels and Epistles,
Sententiarii. The most distinguished of the Bibli- noting the first passage that occurred, which was
cists were St. Bernard, Peter the Chanter, and regarded as the answer sent expressly from heaven.
Walter of St. Victor; but the philosophical theo- Another way in which this kind of divination was
logians were thought to be more acute and able followed was by repairing to the church on a parti-
in their expositions; and, accordingly, students cular day, and noting the first words of the Psalms
attended their lectures in great numbers, while which the congregation were engaged in singing at
few or no pupils were found in the schools of the his entrance, these being viewed as the solution of
Biblicists. Roger Bacon, in the thirteenth century, his difficulty or answer to his prayer. Such a su-
tells us that “the Batchelor, who lectures on the perstitious custom was altogether unworthy of men
text of Scripture, gives place to the lecturer on the who owned the Christian name, and yet we learn
sentences, who is everywhere preferred and honoured from ecclesiastical writers, that for many centuries
by all.” This state of matters continued generally this absurd and impious practice was found to pre-
to prevail in the theological schools of Europe down vail.
to the time of Luther. See SENTENTIARII.
The nature and influence of Bibliomancy in the
348
BIBLIOMANCY.
reason.
church, during the middle ages, is thus described by " A fourth writer mentions the case of a young
Dr. Jamieson : “There was not a single event, lady, whom, contrary to her own inclinations, her
of any importance in the ordinary course of hu- family had determined to bestow in marriage on a
man life, in reference to which the Scriptures, con- rich and noble suitor. Having delayed her consent
trary to their manifest design, were not appealed as long as she could, and finding it impossible to
to, as a sure and infallible oracle, in all matters escape by ordinary means from a connection so
of secular interest. Gregory of Tours is the ear- odious to her, she at length informed her lover and
liest historian who describes this divination as a her relations that she left the matter in the hands of
prevailing practice in his time; and a circumstance | God, and would cheerfully abide by the result of an
which he mentions, as a critical occasion in his appeal to the Sacred Volume. All parties having
own life, affords him an opportunity of detailing agreed to this, as a pious and commendable proposi-
the religious observances with which, in the ear- | tion, the Bible was opened, and the verse found be-
lier ages, it was gone about. He had long been ing that passage in the Gospel where our Lord said,
the favourite minister of Queen Fredegonda; and · Whosoever loveth his father or mother more than
information had reached him that a dangerous con- me, is not worthy of me,' the lady exclaimed that
spiracy had been formed, at the head of which was the banns were thus forbid by Heaven, and forth-
the Earl of Tours, to hurl him from power, by with devoted herself to a single life, which, at the
lowering him in the eyes of his royal mistress, and, period referred to, was beginning to be held in great
if necessary, taking his life. Overwhelmed with estimation.
apprehension of his danger, he retired in the great- “A fifth historian relates, that the famous hermit,
est despondency to a closet, and took with him the who, having stationed himself on a high pillar, ob-
Psalms of David, in the hope of deriving from it some tained the simname of Stylites, was called in his
direction, or some gleams of hope, in his distressed childhood by the name of Daniel, for the following
circumstances; and great,' he adds, 'was the com-
His parents having brought him to the
fort he found ;' for, having spent some time in parish minister to be baptized, wished the priest to
prayer, he opened the volume, and the first verse give him a name, which that individual declining to
that met his eye, being the 53d of the 78th Psalm, do, it was proposed to ascertain what was the will
- He led them on safely, so that they feared not; of God, and the Scriptures being consequently
but the sea overwhelmed their enemies ;' he re- turned up, the Volume opened at the beginning of
ceived it as a happy omen of his safety, and left his | the book of Daniel, which from that circumstance
chamber with the light heart and elastic step of one became the name of the child.
who had obtained a sure and certain hope of triumph. “Nor was it only in the ordinary events of life that
“ Gregory Nicephoras relates, that the Emperor this practice of divining by the Scriptures was ob-
Andronicus, having thrown into prison his nephew served,—the same appeal was made to the Word of
Constantine, who was convicted of having conspired God, for guidance, on occasion of appointing to the
against the life of his imperial uncle, deliberated highest offices of the Church. Thus, at a contested
long whether he ought to pardon the offender, or to election in Orleans, when party spirit ran high, and
punish him as his crimes deserved, and that he was the inhabitants were greatly divided in their choice
at length determined towards the exercise of mercy of a successor to the vacant see, it was suggested
by an appeal which he made to the Scriptures. On that, in the difficult circumstances of the case, and
turning up the book of Psalms, the first passage he as the likeliest way of restoring harmony and pro-
met with was the 14th verse of the 68th Psalm, curing universal concurrence in the appointment, the
When the Almighty scattered kings in it.' "Per- matter should be left to the decision of the scriptural
suaded,' says the historian, 'by this passage, that lot. The proposition was immediately agreed to;
although men are ignorant of the secret springs of and each candidate being, in turn, requested to try
Providence, and act independently of them, the his fortune by opening the book of Psalms, none of
quarrels and commotions that break out in the king- | them met with any passage that seemed to bear the
doms of the world form a part of the Divine decrees, most distant reference to the occasion, except one,
he resolved thenceforth on reconciliation with the who, reading this verse in the 65th Psalm,— Blessed
rebellious prince.'
is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to ap-
" Another historian informs us, that the Emperor proach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts,
Heraclius, after having obtained a series of signal -was nominated in preference to all the rest, as be-
victories over Cosroes, King of Persia, was at a great | ing manifestly pointed out by this apposite passage
loss to know where he ought to fix his winter quar- to be the choice of Providence. On another occa-
ters, and that having caused a day of extraordinary sion of a similar kind, it is mentioned in the Life of
fasting and prayer to be observed by his whole Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, when that pre-
army, previous to his intended consultation, he so- late was presiding at an election for the see of Ro-
lemnly took up the book of Psalms, in presence of chester, that the successful candidate obtained the
his principal officers, and found a passage which de- appointment in consequence of his turning up this
termined him to winter in Albania.
passage : ‘Bring the best robe, and put it on him.'
BIBRACTE-BIDDING PRAYERS.
349
TION
"Several other instances occur of individuals who, consecration of his predecessor, struck him forcibly,
although their appointment was not objected to, yet, leading him to think of his past conduct. In token
being so unfortunate as to have an unfavourable of his repentance, he built the cathedral church of
omen, were haunted with suspicion of disaster or of Norwich, of which he laid the first stone in A. D.
crime during the rest of their lives. A few cases 1096. His episcopal residence had been at Thet-
may be
mentioned,—one was that of a bishop, who, ford, but he transferred it to Norwich, where it has
at his ordination, unexpectedly turned up that verse, continued down to the present time. See DIVINA-
in the Gospel of Mark, relating to John the Bap-
tist, where it is said, “The king sent an executioner BIBRACTE, a goddess anciently worshipped at
to prison, and beheaded him,'--an omen which óver- Autun, in the province of Burgundy in France. The
whelmed the officiating minister, and led him to ad- ancient name of the city was Bibracte, capital of the
dress the newly-elected bishop as one that was des- | Ædui, and a place of great importance among the
tined to die a premature and violent death. A ancient Romans. An inscription to the goddess Bi-
second was that of a deacon, who, on opening the bracte is mentioned by Montfaucon; but whether
Bible, found the leaf wanting, a circumstance she was a deity separate from the city, or simply
which, among his superstitious countrymen, excited the city deified, it is impossible to say.
a general suspicion of there being some secret cause, BIDDELIANS, the followers of John Biddle, the
some important qualification wanting, that unfitted father of English Socinianism. This individual was
him for the sacred office. And a third was that of born in 1616, at Wotton-under-Edge, and educated
a bishop who, having led a scandalously immoral at Oxford, where he took his degree of a. M. in 1641.
life, was accused by his people, before a council, of A few years after, he published a pamphlet in which
a variety of crimes; which, said his accusers, we are he broached, for the first time, principles subversive
constrained to expose and lay bare before the world, of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. For this offence
in accordance with the augury that was given at his he was seized and committed to prison. An act
ordination, and which was taken from this passage was even passed in 1648, declaring it to be a capital
of the Gospel, 'He left the linen cloth, and fled from offence to publish anything in opposition to the be-
them naked."" Mark xiv. 52.
ing and perfections of God, the deity of the Son and
So prevalent was the practice of Bibliomancy that of the Spirit. This act, however, never came into
various councils of the church found it necessary to operation. Biddle was subjected to severe persecu-
prohibit it in the strongest terms. Thus the coun- tion for his opinions. He was tried for his life in
cil of Vannes, A. D. 465, decreed that " whoever of 1655, but he was rescued by Cromwell from his
the clergy or laity should be detected in the prac- perilous position, and sent into banishment to the
tice of this art, either as consulting or teaching it, Scilly Islands. He soon after recovered his freedom
should be cast out of the communion of the church." for a time, but was again exiled to the same place
The council of Agde, about sixty years after, re- on the Restoration, and died a prisoner there in
peated this canon, which was also passed by the first | 1662. The 'Twofold Catechism' by this noted
council of Orleans about five years thereafter with Socinian caused great excitement both in England
little variation. The practice obtained mostly in the and on the Continent. It was ably answered by va-
West, especially in France, where, for several ages, rious divines of the period, but by none more ably
was customary on the consecration of a new bishop, than by the celebrated Dr. John Owen, in his · Vin-
to consult the Bible concerning him by this mode dicice Evangelicæ.' The views of Biddle, on the
of divination. At the Norman Conquest Bibliomancy person of Christ, are thus given by himself, in a
was introduced into England. At the consecration Confession of Faith concerning the Holy Trinity,'
of William, the second Norman bishop of the dio- which he published in 1648 : “I believe that there
cese of Norwich, the Bible opened at these words, is one chief Son of the Most High God; or spiritual,
Not this man, but Barabbas," from which it was heavenly, and perpetual Lord and King; set over
concluded, that this bishop should not long conti- the Church by God, and second cause of all things
nue, and that a robber should come in his place. pertaining to our salvation; and, consequently, the
William died soon after his consecration, and was intermediate object of our faith and worship; and
succeeded by Herbert de Lozinga, another Norman, that this Son of the Most High God is none but
who was the chief tool in the hands of King William Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity.”
Rufus, in openly selling all ecclesiastical benefices. Biddle thus, like the other Socinians, calls Christ the
This simoniacal trader in church preferments had Son of God, not on account of his nature, but on ac-
purchased the abbey of Winchester and the abbey of count of the Divine sovereignty with which he is
Ramsay for himself. He had also obtained, by the invested as King and Head of the Church. See So-
same unlawful means, the bishopric of Norwich, and
at his consecration the Bible opened at the words BIDDING PRAYERS. It was one part of the
which Christ spake to Judas the betrayer, “ Friend, ofice of the deacon in the primitive Christian church
wherefore art thou come?" These words, taken in to direct the people in the different parts of public
connection with those which had occurred at the worship. For this purpose, certain forms of words
CINIANS:
350
BIFROST-BIRDS (WORSHIP OF).
near.
were used when each part of the service was to com- BIKUNIS, a class of nuns in Japan, who wander
mence. In the Apostolical Constitutions a form of this about with their heads shaved, begging alms. They
sort occurs immediately after the dismission of cate- are in general very profligate in their manners.
chumens and “penitents. It commences with these BILĂL, one of the four officiating priests attached
words, “ Let no one of those that are not allowed come to each mosque among the Malays in Malacca.
As many as are believers let us fall upon our This was the name of the first Muezzin in the time
knees. Let us pray to God through his Christ. Let of Mohammed, and is used by the Malays instead of
us all intensely beseech God through his Christ.” Then MUEZZIN (which see). The duties of the Bilal are
follow several petitions in regular order. Chrysos- | various.
various. He calls to public prayers; he recites also
tom refers to the practice of bidding prayers. It the Talkin, the service for the dead after the corpse
would appear that the deacon, when believers were has been lowered into the grave. When a goat or
alone, all the catechumens having left the church, bullock is sacrificed, he receives two fingers' breadth
commanded all to fall down upon the ground or on
of flesh from the victim's neck.
their knees, and to make particular petitions, for the BILOCATION, the miraculous property which
church and the world generally, for the church in some of the canonized saints of the Church of Rome
the district, and the bishop or pastor, as well as other are said to possess, of appearing in two places at
special petitions, at the close of which the deacon once, or of passing with the velocity of spirits from
pronounced the words, “Let us rise," when all rose one place to another. Thus it is said of Liguori,
up together. In bidding prayers, then, the deacon that “God rewarded his zeal by several prodigies;
invited the people to engage in prayer specially for for one day, a person going to confession at the
all orders of men in the church, and for the whole house where Alphonsus lived, found him there at the
state of the world. There was a bidding prayer very time for beginning the sermon in the church.
after the consecration of the elements in the Lord's After he had finished his confession, he went straight
Supper, which is mentioned in the Apostolical Con- to the church, and found Alphonsus a good way
stitutions. It was to the effect that God would re- advanced in his sermon. He was astonished at this
ceive the gift that was then offered to him, to his circumstance, for at his departure he had left Al-
altar in heaven, as a sweet-smelling savour, by the phonsus hearing the confessions of other persons.
mediation of his Christ. The deacon also after the It was therefore reported that Alphonsus heard
communion called upon the people to return thanks confessions at home at the same time that he was
for the benefits which they had received. After an preaching in the church." This instance of biloca-
exhortation to this effect, he bid them rise up and tion is extracted from a Life of Liguori, translated
commend themselves to God by Christ. At the close by Dr. now Cardinal Wiseman. See SAINTS.
of the whole service he bid the people bow their BINDACHUL, a town near Mirzapur, to the
heads to God in Christ, and receive the benediction.
benediction. north of Bengal in Hindustan, where there is a
The whole of the devotions, in short, of the public temple dedicated to the sanguinary goddess KALI
assemblies of the early Christians were regulated and which see). At this place religious ceremonies are
guided by the deacons of the church. See WOR- constantly performed; and thousands of animals are
SHIP (PUBLIC).
offered in sacrifice. It is chiefly frequented for re-
BIER. See BURIAL.
ligious purposes by the TAUGS (which see), or
BIFROST, the tremulous and oscillating bridge, leagued murderers, who before setting out on their
which, according to the Scandinavian mythology, cruel expeditions, betake themselves to the temple
connected the terrestrial and supernal worlds. This of the goddess, whom they regard as the patroness of
most ingenious structure, by man called the rainbow, murder. They present their prayers and supplica-
formed the thoroughfare of the gods, while its red tions at her shrine, and vow, in the event of success
stripe emitting flames of fire, effectually prevented in her service, a large proportion of the booty,
the frost and mountain-giants from ascending to BIRDS (WORSHIP OF). This species of idolatry
heaven. Not only did the gods descend to the earth may have had its origin in a perversion of the state-
by means of the bifrost, but the disembodied souls ment in Gen. i. 2, that the Spirit of God brooded or
of men returned along the same road to their celes- fluttered over the face of the waters. Accordingly,
tial home. In the Scandinavian creed, as in the a bird is often found to play a conspicuous part
Jewish and Christian, the rainbow was symbolical of in almost all systems of cosmogony. In ancient
the world's safety. When the black giants, the Greece, Zeus the supreme God was changed into a
thunder clouds, threatened to take heaven by storm, swan, to make Leda or dark chaos productive. The
and the flashing, pealing electric bolts had scattered Zeus of India, Brahma, is surnamed Narayana, or he
them to the earth, it was displayed in all who moves upon the waters. Among the Az-
its dazzling prismatic splendour, to the anxious gaze tecs, the eagle is synonymous with their supreme
of mortals, as the signal of victory on the part of the god. The condor was in Peru the symbol of the
Æsir over the Ymir offspring; as the pledge of the Deity. The Scandinavians figured the world by
supremacy of the good over the evil; and as the the ash Yggdrasil, at the top of which was
sure promise of the perpetuity of the universe. Odin, under the form of an eagle. Among the an-
BIRTH-BIRTH-DAT.
351
cient Romans, the eagle was the bird of Jove; | Mr. Allen gives the following detailed account of the
Juno, the queen of the gods, is represented as hav- ceremonies attendant on the delivery of a Jewish
ing been drawn in a chariot by peacocks; to Apollo female. “When a Jewish woman is pregnant, and
were consecrated the hawk and the raven. In the the period of her delivery is at hand, her chamber is
ancient mythology of Egypt we find reference to to be decently prepared and furnished with all things
various sacred birds. The inhabitants of Thebes or necessary for the occasion. The husband, or some
Heliopolis worshipped the eagle, which was probably other Jew of approved character, takes a piece of
regarded as sacred to the sun. The hawk was also chalk, and describes a circle upon each of the walls
regarded by the Egyptians as sacred, and the ibis, a or partitions around the bed, and upon the door both
species of stork, which was regarded as particularly inside and outside : upon each wall or partition, and
useful in destroying all kinds of serpents. Cuvier about the bed, he also inscribes, in Hebrew charac-
has clearly ascertained the species to which the sa- ters, the words Adam, Chava, Chuts, Lilithathat is,
cred ibis belongs. Its colour, he says, is white, with Adam, Eve; Begone, Lilith: by which they signify,
long disconnected plumes on the wings, of a glossy that if the woman be pregnant with a boy, they wish
blackness. In various parts of modern heathendom God to give him a wife like Eve, and not like Lilith;
particular birds are viewed as sacred, for one reason but if of a girl, that she may hereafter be a helpmate
or another, but most generally because they are sup- to her husband, as Eve was to Adam, and not re-
posed to be the receptacles of the spirits of deceased fractory and disobedient, like Lilith. On the inside
relatives. At the Gaboon on the West Coast of of the door are likewise written the names, as is al-
‘Africa, the natives will not eat the parrot because it ) leged, of three angels, which are supposed to defend
talks, and too nearly resembles man. Other tribes the child from the injuries of Lilith ; who is said to
venerate the owl, and others the vulture. But the have been transformed into a female demon, and to
variety of birds which have become objects of wor- take delight in debilitating and destroying young
ship is small compared with the animals which have infants. By these methods the room is believed to
been regarded as sacred.
be sufficiently protected against the intrusion of all
BIRTH. In Eastern countries from the earliest evil spirits. Leo Modena, who wrote at the com-
times, the birth of a child was eagerly looked for by mencement of the seventeenth century, represents
the parents, and among the ancient Hebrews to be the use of anti-demoniacal charms on these occa-
childless was regarded as one of the heaviest cala- | sions, as a vain superstition, not very general at that
mities with which a married female could be visited. time among his brethren in Italy: but Buxtorf, who
Hence Rachel's hasty exclamation, “ Give me chil- wrote about the middle of that century, states it to
dren, or I die," and Hannah's vow recorded in 1 Sam. be commonly practised by the Jews in Germany,
i. 11, “O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on and Addison, towards the end of the same century,
the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, mentions it as a general custom of the Jews in Bar-
and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto | bary. Among the German Jews it still continues."
thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him The Hebrew women were in the habit of nursing
unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall their own children unless prevented by some un-
no razor come upon his head.” From Ezek. xvi. 4. it avoidable necessity; and they made a public feast at
seems to have been the custom to wash the child as the weaning of their children. It is a received doc-
soon as it was born, to rub it with salt, and to wrap trine in the Jewish schools, that if children were
it in swaddling clothes. The period which the cruel born lame, or blind, or defective, it was a punish-
Egyptian monarch chose for the murder of the He- ment inflicted for the sin of their parents, who had
brew male children, as referred to in Exod. i., ap- neglected to discharge some of the legal ordinances,
pears to have been when the infants were put into especially some peculiar rites of cleansing and puri-
the stone troughs for the purpose of being washed. fication.
The birth of a son was regarded in the East as an BIRTH-DAY. Among the ancient Jews the
event of peculiar interest, and servants accordingly birth-day of a son was celebrated as a festival, which
were dispatched to convey the glad tidings, but no was solemnised every succeeding year with renewed
similar joy was manifested on the birth of a daugh- demonstrations of festivity and joy, especially those
ter. The only ceremony attendant upon the latter of sovereign princes, as in the case of Herod, Mat.
event among the modern Jews is, that about six xiv. 6. Every classical scholar will naturally call to
weeks after the birth of a female child, the parents remembrance the birth-day games which were wont
collect a number of young children around the cradle, to be celebrated in honour of the Roman Emperors.
when they lift up the child and announce her name, To the student of the Sacred Volume the birth-day
giving way for a time to mirth and gladness. On feast prepared by Pharaoh for all his servants, as
the birth of a child, the modern Jews put up a mentioned in Gen. xl. 20, will readily occur. Such
prayer to God, that if it be a daughter she may re- feasts have been common from the earliest times.
semble Eve, and obtain a husband similar to Adam; In the early ages of the Christian church, it was
and if it be a son, that he may marry a wife like the frequent custom of believers to speak of death as
Eve, gentle and obedient. In his • Modern Judaism,' a birth, and of their Christian relatives when they
352
BIRTHRIGHT.
of men.
died as then for the first time born, Accordingly | in a peculiar manner the Lord's, dedicated to his ser-
the anniversary of their death was held by the rela- vice. That the price of redemption was peculiarly
tives as a festival sacred to the memory of their paid for the first-born appears clearly, both from the
Christian worth, and the occasion was still further law as laid down in Numb. iii. 45, and also from this
hallowed by the observance of the Lord's Supper. circumstance, that if the first-born died within the
It was usual also in these primitive times to cele- month or thirty days, from which time, as the Jew-
brate festivals in honour of the martyrs who had ish doctors tell us, the redemption money was held
fallen in the cause of Christ, and the time selected to be due, or died even on the thirtieth day, the
for such festivals was their birth-day, as it was sum enjoined by the law was not to be paid, or, if it
termed in the language of the period, that is the day had been previously advanced, was to be returned.
on which their earthly troubles had come to a close, These first-born, or the substitutes which redeemed
and they had entered into eternal rest. This was them, and the first-born of the clean cattle, or the
familiarly spoken of as their birth, or the commence- redemption of the first-born of the unclean cattle and
ment of a new and better life. The place of meet- the first-fruits of their land, were so peculiarly the
ing on those solemn occasions was the tombs of the Lord's, as to be incapable of any other application.
martyrs, which were generally situated in secluded The modern Jews hold that if the first-born of an
and sequestered spots, removed from the busy haunts Israelite be a son, the father is bound to redeem him
Such hallowed places were to the early from the thirtieth day forward. If he redeem him
Christians favourite places of resort. The return of before that time, it is not accounted a redemption ;
the sacred festival, therefore, which summoned them if he omit it after that, he is regarded as guilty of
thither, was eagerly hailed as a joyful occasion ; and neglecting an affirmative precept. The priests and
crowds of Christian pilgrims might be seen at these Levites having been in ancient times exempted from
periods wending their way to some martyr's sepul- this law of redemption, it is in the same way consi-
chre. There the birth-day ANNIVERSARIES (which dered not obligatory on those who are believed to be
see), were observed with the usual formalities of descendants of Aaron. An account of the ceremony
religious worship, and the celebration of the Lord's of redeeming the first-born among the modern Jews
supper. An AGAPE (which see), or love-feast was may interest the reader.
“On the thirty-first day
also partaken of in many cases at the martyrs' after the birth, the father sends for a priest and some
tombs. See CATACOMBS.
friends. The person who acts the part of a priest is
BIRTHRIGHT, the peculiar privileges of the one who is supposed to be a descendant of Aaron.
first-born son.
These among the Jews were three; The father places his little son on a table, and says
a double portion of the paternal inheritance, the right to the priest, “My wife who is an Israelitess, has
to exercise the priestly office, and authority or rule brought me a first-born, but the law assigns him to
over his brethren. he Chaldee Paraphrast says thee.' The priest asks, 'Dost thou therefore surrender
the first of these was given to Joseph, the second to him to me?" The father answers in the affirmative.
Levi, and the third to Judah, in consequence of Reu- The priest then inquires which he would rather have,
ben having forfeited all the privileges of his birth- his first-born, or the five shekels required for his re-
right. It is plain from the case of Esau, who sold demption. The father replies that he prefers his
his birthright, that the first-born was entitled to a son, and, charging the priest to accept the money,
peculiar blessing at the hand of the parent, and also subjoins these benedictions : Blessed art thou, o
that he wore a special robe or dress of some kind or Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast sanc-
another, which marked him out from the rest of the tified us with thy precepts, and commanded us to
family. He sat at table next to his father, and en- perform the redemption of the son. Blessed art
joyed other advantages which gave him a kind of thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who
authority in the family. But the greatest and most hast preserved us alive, sustained us, and brought us
important of all his privileges was that he was con- to enjoy this season.'
secrated to God. Hence the charge of profaneness “The father then produces the value of five she-
brought against Esau by the apostle Paul, inasmuch kels—which, among the German Jews, is regarded as
as he was impiously divesting himself of one of the a ducat, valued at about nine shillings and fourpence
most sacred blessings which attached to his position and the priest asks the mother if she had been de-
as the first-born. The young men of the children of livered of any other child or miscarried. If she an-
Israel whom Moses sent, as we are told in Exod. swers in the negative, the priest takes the money,
xxiv. 5, to offer burut-offerings, and to sacrifice peace- | lays it on the head of the child and says, “This son
offerings unto the Lord, are supposed to be the first- being a first-born, the blessed God hath commanded
born or chiefs of families or tribes, to whom was yielded us to redeem him, as it is said, “And those that are
this solemn office of the primogeniture. This is the to be redeemed, from a month old thou shalt redeem
last act recorded of the patriarchal economy among them, according to thine estimation, for the money
of
the sons of Israel ; for soon after, the first-born were five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which
redeemed from that duty by the substitution of the is twenty gerahs."
is twenty gerahs.” Numb. xviii. 16. While thou
Levites in their stead, who from that time became wast in thy mother's womb, thou wast in the power
BISHOP.
353
an-
of thy Father who is in heaven, and in the power of in the exercise of his ministry while on earth, estab-
thy parents; but now thou art in my power, for I lished a distinction of ranks among the office-bearers
am a priest. But thy father and mother are desirous of the church, the apostles being placed at the head,
to redeem thee, for thou art a sanctified first-born ; | corresponding to the bishops, while the seventy dis-
as it is written, " And the Lord spake unto Moses, ciples answered to the presbyters.
saying, Sanctify unto me all the first-born, whatso- 3. They adduce the instances of Timothy and Ti-
ever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, tus, whom they allege to have been bishops, the one
both of man and beast, it is mine."? Exod. xiii. 2. of Ephesus, and the other of Crete.
He then turns to the father, and says, “I have re- 4. They maintain that by the expression “
ceived these five shekels from thee for the redemp- gels of the churches,” in the book of Revelation, can
tion of this thy son; and behold he is therewith re- be meant no other than bishops.
deemed according to the law of Moses and Israel.' Such are the chief arguments drawn from the Word
“ This ceremony is followed by feasting and jollitý, of God by Episcopalians, in support of the doctrine
in which they are permitted to indulge, even when that bishops are an order distinct from and superior
the day of redemption happens to fall on one of their to the order of presbyters. But an additional and
fasts.
corroborative class of arguments, they assert, is to be
“ It is not permitted to drive a bargain with the found in the teaching and practice of the ancient
priest, or to agree with him for a lower price than Christian church. The office of apostle, it is admit-
the value of five shekels. This would annul the ted, stands by itself, and belonged exclusively to the
rèdemption, and it would require to be done a second twelve chosen and set apart by our Lord himself.
time. The priest is at liberty afterwards to return But in virtue of the authority with which they were
the money
to the father; but it must be as an abso- invested by their divine Master, the apostles nomi-
lute gift, neither preceded nor accompanied by any nated their successors, to whom was given the name
condition.
of bishops. Thus, according to 'Episcopal writers,
“When the father dies before the thirty-first day, the most ancient distinction which occurs is that of
the mother is not bound to redeem her son; but a the superior clergy into the three separate orders of
piece of parchment, or a small plate of silver, is sus- bishops, presbyters, and deacons, such a distinction
pended on the child's neck, with a Hebrew inscrip- being supported, as they allege, by some of the
tion, signifying—A first-born son not redeemed, or A earliest and most trust-worthy writers of the Chris-
son of a priest; to teach him, when he grows up, tian church. Ignatius, for example, in his epistle
that he belongs to the priest, and must redeem him- to the Magnesians, exhorts them to “ do all things
self."
in unity, under the bishop presiding in the place
BISHOP (Gr. Episcopos, an overseer), one who in of God, and the presbyters in the place of the
Episcopalian churches has the oversight of the clergy apostolical senate, and the deacons to whom is com-
of a diocese or district. The origin and true nature mitted the service and ministry of Jesus Christ.”
of this office has given rise to the important contro- Clemens Alexandrinus says that "there are in the
versy which has long been carried on between Epis- church the different degrees or progressions of
copalians and Presbyterians in reference to the go- bishops, presbyters, and deacons, in imitation of the
vernment of the Christian church. The fundamental angelical glory." Origen refers to such a distinction
article of the Episcopalian churches on the matter of ten times in his works. “One that is twice married,”
church government is, that a bishop is superior to a
can neither be made bishop, presbyter, nor
presbyter. The Presbyterian churches, on the other deacon.” According to Tertullian, in his work on
hand, maintain, that all the ministers of the word, all baptism, “ The right of baptizing belongs to the chief
whose office it is to preach and administer the sacra- priest, who is the bishop; and, after him, to presby-
ments, are on a level in respect of office and au- ters and deacons, yet not without the authority of
the bishop, for the honour of the church, in the
I. In support of their views, the Episcopalians are preservation of which consists the church's peace.
accustomed to make their appeal to Scripture, and The first institution of the order of bishops is al-
the doctrine and practice of the ancient Christian leged by Clemens Alexandrinus, followed by Tertul-
lian, to have originated with the apostle John, who,
1. They draw an argument from the constitution when he was settled at Ephesus, went about the
of the Jewish church, in which there were different neighbouring regions ordaining bishops, and setting
orders or degrees. The Levites were appointed to apart such men for the clergy as were signified to him
discharge various subordinate offices connected with by the Holy Ghost. Irenæus declares that there
the tabernacle and the temple; the priests were set were bishops as well as presbyters in the apostles'
apart to offer sacrifices ; and the high priest, while days; and both he and Tertullian allege that the
special duties and privileges were assigned to him, apostles ordained a bishop at Rome. According to.
was superior in rank to the whole ecclesiastical offi- the testimony of many ancient writers, James, the
cers, and exercised authority over them.
brother of our Lord, was the first bishop of Jerusa-
2. They argue that our blessed Lord himself, | lem: Jerome says he was ordained by the apostles
he says,
thority.
church.
1.
z 1
354
BISHOP.
immediately after our Lord's crucifixion. Epipha- | to baptism and the Lord's supper, but also to the
nius calls him the first bishop; Chrysostom says he office of preaching. On the testimony of Jerome,
was made bishop by Christ himself; the author of Chrysostom, and Epiphanius, it is held that the
the Apostolical Constitutions affirms that he was power of ordaining the superior clergy, bishops,
appointed both by Christ and his apostles. On the
On the presbyters, and deacons, was never intrusted into
statement also of the ancient writers, Euodius is said to the hands of presbyters, but performed exclusively
have been ordained by the apostles bishop of Antioch, by bishops. Chrysostom indeed makes this the only
and after him Ignatius; Polycarp, the disciple of point of difference between the two offices. It is
John, to have been made bishop of Smyrna; and also alleged by Episcopalians, that in early times
Papias, bishop of Hierapolis. The ancient writers | bishops always retained to themselves the power of
generally assert that Timothy was ordained bishop of calling presbyters to account, and censuring them if
Ephesus by the apostle Paul, who is also said to
necessary, a power which plainly indicated supe-
have ordained Titus bishop of Crete, and Epaphro- riority in rank and authority.
ditus bishop of Philippi.
II. In replying to these arguments of the Episcopa-
In confirmation of the assertion that bishops have lians, Presbyterians allege in the outset that they
existed from the earliest times as an order distinct must not be understood as denying, but on the con-
from and superior to the order of presbyters, Epis- trary fully admitting the existence of bishops, even
copalian writers are accustomed to refer to the titles in apostolic times, not however, in the sense in
of honour which were wont to be given to bishops which the term bishop is 'used in Episcopalian
in the primitive church. The most ancient of these churches, that is, a dignitary who rules over the
is the title of apostles. Thus Theodoret says ex- clergy of his own diocese, but simply as an overseer
pressly, “The same persons were anciently called or pastor of a flock, a teaching presbyter on a level
promiscuously both bishops and presbyters, whilst in point of rank and authority in the church with
those who are now called bishops were called other presbyters. It is not the existence of presby-
apostles.” At an after period they contented them- ter bishops in the primitive churches that Presby-
selves with the appellation of successors of the terians deny, but only that of diocesan bishops,
apostles. Another title which they received in token men whose only duties are government or discipline,
of respect and the high honour in which they were ordination, and confirmation.
held, was the appellation of princes of the people, or, The arguments of Episcopalians in reference to
as Optatus and Jerome, to distinguish them from the alleged existence in the early Christian church of
secular princes styles them, princes of the church. diocesan bishops, distinct from, and exercising rule
Sometimes they were called presidents or provosts of over presbyters, are met by Presbyterians in some-
the church, chief priests, and princes of the clergy. | what the following manner.
Jerome, indeed, and other writers, frequently use the 1. The argument from the Jewish church as being
title as applied to a bishop, of pontifex maximus or of the nature of a hierarchy, is answered by alleg-
chief priest; a title which, though now assumed as ing that at best the argument amounts to nothing
the sole prerogative of the Bishop of Rome, denoted more than a presumption in favour of the Episcopal
in early times any bishop whatever. In the same view. It may be stated in the following form. In
way, also, we find the title Papa or Pope, Father of the ancient Jewish church a gradation of ranks
the Church, and Father of the Clergy, used as a com- in the ministry existed. It may be inferred, there-
mon title in some ancient writers, of all bishops, and fore, that Jesus Christ, in framing the constitution of
not of the Bishop of Rome exclusively. Nay, they the Christian church, would adopt a similar plan.
are sometimes spoken of under a higher appellation The argument thus sought to be established on a
still, as fathers of fathers, and bishops of bishops; mere unsupported inference, Presbyterians consider
and Gregory Nazianzen styles them patriarchs, as both presumptive and presumptuous : presump-
while Cyprian says that every bishop is vicar or tive, inasmuch as it proceeds on a mere supposition ;
vicegerent of Christ.
and presumptuous, inasmuch as it dares to dictate to
Not only were the bishops in the ancient Chris- the All-Wise himself what course of conduct it be-
tian church superior in title, but also, as Episcopalian hoved him to follow. And, besides, there is so wide
writers argue, superior in office to the presbyters. and marked a difference between the Jewish and the
The bishop, in their view, was the absolute indepen-Christian dispensations, that any analogical argu-
dent minister of the church, while the presbyters ment drawn from the one to the other
neither
were merely his assistants, receiving all their autho- | legitimate nor safe. This argument accordingly is
rity and power from his hands. In proof of this, regarded by some Episcopal writers themselves as
Ignatius is quoted, who says in his Epistle to the quite invalid.
church of Smyrna, “Let no one perform any eccle- 2. In answer to the argument that our Lord him-
siastical office without the bishop;” and the council self while on earth established a distinction among
of Laodicea to the same effect, “ The presbyters the office-bearers of the church, by appointing apos-
shall do nothing without the consent of the bishop." tles corresponding to the bishops, and the seventy
This restriction would seem to have applied not only disciples corresponding to the presbyters, it is argued
BISHOP.
355
by Presbyterians that the analogy has no force, the prove,' says Mr. Newman, 'that Timothy was not, at
seventy having derived their commission directly least as yet, Bishop of Ephesus, or of any other
from Christ, as well as the apostles did, and that, as church.' This view of the subject is well put by
' far as appeared, both their mission and their autho- Dodwell, one of the stoutest champions of Episco-
rity were the same as those of the apostles. But
But pacy. Many arguments prove that the office of
besides, the argument is destroyed by the fact, that Timothy was not fixed, but itinerary. That he had
the Christian church in its fixed constitution did not, been requested to abide still at Ephesus, is testified
and could not, possibly exist till after the resurrec- by the apostle, (1 Tim. i. 3.) He was therefore,
tion of Christ from the dead, that great event being when requested, an itinerary. His work of an evan-
the fundamental article on which its whole doctrine gelist is proof to the same effect, (2 Tim. iv. 5.) His
rested.
journeys so numerous with Saint Paul, and the junc-
3. The argument deduced from the cases of Timo- tion of his name, in common with the apostley in the
thy and Titus, who are alleged to have been both of inscriptions of the epistles to the Thessalonians, fur-
them bishops, the one of Ephesus, and the other of nish similar proofs. In like manner, the same apos-
Crete, is met on the part of Presbyterians by a de- tle commands Titus, and him only, to ordain, in
cided denial of the allegation. The only evidence Crete, elders in every city, (Tit. i. 5.) He
He says that
to be found in Scripture occurs in the postscripts to he had been left to set in order things that were
the Epistles, addressed to them by Paul, which post- wanting. He must have been a companion of Paul
scripts are admitted on all hands to be of no autho- when he was left. And truly other places also teach
rity, having been appended long after the Epistles us that he was a companion of Saint Paul, and no
themselves were written. But not only is evidence more restricted to any certain locality than the apos-
wanting in favour of Timothy and Titus having been tle himself. It is true that Timothy was at Ephe-
invested with the office of diocesan bishops, but all sus, and did important work there. But the same
the evidence which can be adduced from Scripture can be asserted with at least equal truth of his apos-
on the subject goes to refute the idea that they ever tolic superior: "Watch, and remember, that, by the
held any such office. Timothy is called not a space of three years, I ceased not to warn every one
bishop, but an' evangelist, in the Epistles addressed night and day with tears.' When Paul could so
to him, and thus he stood obviously next in rank to speak to the Ephesian elders, why is he not forth-
an apostle, and had like them a general care of the with proclaimed Bishop of Ephesus? In these early
churches. He was appointed to ordain elders, who times, Paul, Timothy, and other fellow-travellers,
are also called bishops, in every city. He was there- were occasionally together in the same place, so that
fore not a bishop, but an archbishop, an office which a single congregation were favoured temporarily with
on all hands is admitted to have had no existence in a whole college of diocesans. But to counterbalance
the apostolical church. Besides, the language of Paul this extraordinary privilege, these clergymen of the
addressed both to Timothy and Titus is completely first order were liable to quit as they had come, in
opposed to the supposition of either the one or the company, and leave a church in the sad situation
other having been the bishop of a fixed diocese. On which Onderdonk ascribes to Ephesus, of having
this subject Dr. King well remarks, in his able work 'no bishop.'
in exposition and defence of Presbyterian church 4. The argument that the "angels of the churches "
government: “It has been often asserted and reso- in the Book of Revelation, can mean nothing else
lutely argued that Timothy was Bishop of Ephesus, but bishops, is answered by declaring it to be an al-
and Titus of Crete. But these assertions and argu- together unwarranted assumption, and even admit-
ments have little plausibility; the simplest reading ting that the expression denotes bishops, it still re-
of the New Testament shows them to be forced in mains to be proved that they were diocesan bishops,
the extreme. 'I besought thee to abide still at as Episcopalians would allege. On the contrary,
Ephesus.' Was it needful or decent to beseech a each of the churches is declared to have had an
bishop to abide in his diocese? If so, the vice of angel" or bishop, and this would seem to favour
clerical absenteeism, as has been often observed, had the Presbyterian rather than the Episcopalian view.
a very early and respectable origin. 'For this cause Presbyterians, however, not contented with re-
left I thee in Crete. Is a bishop in his diocese from pelling the arguments of Episcopalians, build an ar-
being left there? and is he left there for a particular gument based on Scripture in favour of their own
object, and not to fulfil all the duties of his episco- opinions. They allege that it is quite capable of
pate ? The epistles bear that the parties addressed proof from an examination of various passages in the
had been fellow-travellers with Paul, and they are New Testament, that bishop and presbyter are con-
required to make all despatch to rejoin him in his vertible terms. On this subject we may quote the
journeys. In other portions of the New Testament following remarks by Dr. Dick in his · Lectures on
we find them at various places with the apostle, and Theology:' “When Paul was on his way to Jeru-
sharing in all the changefulness of his eventful pil- salem, he stopped at Miletus, from which he sent to
grimage. In the last notice we have of Timothy, Ephesus, and called the elders or presbyters of the
Paul enjoins him to repair to Rome, in words which church. No mention, you will observe, is made of
71
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356
BISHOP
the bishop; but we are at no loss to find the reason. the same individuals in many passages. If this be
It had several bishops, and these were the very pres- the case, then the demand of Episcopalians is rea-
byters whom the Apostle had summoned to meet sonable, that Presbyterians should show how it was
him, for he says to them, “ Take heed to yourselves, that the bishop came in process of time to be sepa-
and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath rate from, and superior to, the other presbyters. On
made you overseers.' Perhaps prejudice or party- | this subject the views of Neander are very plausible.
zeal had some influence in rendering the word over- “ Since the presbyters constituted a deliberative as-
seers, in this instance, because the term, in the ori- sembly, it would of course soon become the practice
ginal, if rendered in the usual way, would not accord for one of their number to preside over the rest.
with the Episcopalian scheme. The Greek word This might be so arranged as to take place by some
episcopous, which, indeed, literally signifies overseers, law of rotation,
law of rotation, so that the presidency would thus
should have been translated bishops here, as it is pass in turn from one to the other. Possibly, in
in other places; but, then, it would have been evi- many places such was the original arrangement. Yet
dent to all, that Paul knew of no distinction between we find no trace, at least in history, of anything of
a bishop and a presbyter, because those who were this kind. But neither, as we have already observed,
first called presbyters, are now called bishops. In do we, on the other hand, meet with any vestige of
his Epistle to Titus, he says to him, 'For this cause a fact which would lead us to infer that the presi-
left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order dency over the presbyterial college was originally
the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in distinguished by a special name. However the case
every city, as I had appointed thee. If any be may have been then, as to this point, what we find
blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful existing in the second century enables us to infer,
children, not accused of riot, or unruly. For a respecting the preceding times, that soon after the
bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God.' It apostolic age the standing office of president of the
would be a waste of time to show, that here the presbytery must have been formed; which president,
bishop and the presbyter are the same person, and as having pre-eminently the oversight over all, was
no man can resist the evidence, however much he designated by the special name of episcopos, and
may be disposed. The presbyter must be blameless, thus distinguished from the other presbyters. Thus
for the bishop must be blameless. There would be the name came at length to be applied exclusively to
no force in this conclusion if a bishop and a presby- this presbyter, while the name presbyter continued
ter were different persons. And hence you perceive at first to be common to all; for the bishops, as pre-
the reason why, in his First Epistle to Timothy; he siding presbyters, had no official character other than
makes no mention at all of presbyters, but speaks that of the presbyters generally.
only of bishops and deacons. It is, that he did not “ The aristocratic constitution will ever find it easy,
consider the two former as different; and conse- by various gradual changes, to pass over to the mo-
quently, in describing the qualifications of the one narchical; and circumstances where the need becomes
class, he describes those of the other. For the same felt of guidance by the energy and authority of an
reason he takes no notice of presbyters, in his Epis- | individual, will have an influence beyond all things
tle to the Philippians, but addresses himself to the else to bring about such a change. It may have
bishops and deacons. He thus furnishes us with a been circumstances of this kind which, near the
new argument against Episcopacy. There were sev- times dividing the first and second centuries, tended
eral bishops in the Church of Philippi; but how to give preponderance to a president of the council
could this be, according to the scheme of our anta- of elders, and to assign him his distinctive title, as
gonists? More bishops than one in a church seem to the general overseer. Already, in the latter part of
them as monstrous as more heads than one upon a the age of St. Paul, we shall see many things dif-
human body. It follows that the bishops of Philippi ferent from what they had been originally; and so it
were plain presbyters, and that such were the only cannot appear strange if other changes came to be
bishops in the apostolic age."
introduced into the constitution of the com
mmunities,
In regard to the arguments drawn by Episcopa- by the altered circumstances of the times immediately
lians from the teaching and practice of the ancient | succeeding those of St. Paul or St. John. " Then
Christian church, Presbyterians readily concede that ensued those strongly marked oppositions and
the Fathers speak of bishops as office-bearers in the schisms, those dangers with which the corruptions
church, and lists of the successive bishops of various engendered by manifold foreign elements threatened
important places are also to be found. Considerable primitive Christianity.
primitive Christianity. It was these dangers that
uncertainty, however, hangs over these lists in con- had called the apostle John to Asia Minor, and in-
sequence of the discrepancies which the statements duced him to make this country the seat of his
of different writers exhibit. But even granting that | labours. Amidst circumstances so embarrassing,
these lists are correct, it still remains to be proved amidst conflicts so severe from within and from with-
that these were diocesan and not presbyter bishops. out-for then came forth the first edict of Trajan
Bishops and presbyters have been shown to be con- against the Christians—the authority of individual
vertible terms in Scripture, applied both of them to men, distinguished for piety, firmness, and activity,
BISHOP
357
would make itself particularly availing, and would be council of Laodicea, A. D. 360, it is still further de-
augmented by a necessity become generally apparent. creed, that“ bishops ought not to be appointed in vil-
Thus the predominant influence of individuals who, lages and rural districts, but periodeutai or visiting
as moderators over the college of presbyters, were presbyters, and that these (bishops) already ap-
denominated bishops, might spring of itself out of the pointed, do nothing without the sanction of the city
circumstances of the times in which the Christian bishop.” It was in the fourth century, according to
communities were multiplied, without any necessity | the historian Du Pin, that “the distinction, distribu-
of supposing an intentional remodelling of the ear- tion and subordination of churches were settled for
lier constitution of the church. In favour of this the most part according to the form of the civil
view is also the manner in which we find the names government. The civil provinces formed the body
i presbyter 'and' bishop'interchanged for each other of an ecclesiastical province. The bishop of the
until far into the second century.”
civil metropolis was looked upon as the first bishop
The valuable writings of Hippolytus, lately pub- of the province. Some rights and prerogatives were
lished by Chevalier Bunsen, show that in his time, assigned, and the care of overseeing the whole pro-
that is, the earlier part of the third century, a town vince was committed to him." Thus gradually and
was synonymous with a diocese, and that a bishop to some extent, at the time imperceptibly, was dio-
was set over every city, and even every small town cesan episcopacy introduced into the Church, and
in which were resident any considerable number of the bishop of a city congregation was converted into
Christians. The towns adjacent to Rome, instead the ruler of an entire province, including all its
of being included in the Roman See, had each its congregations and all its clergy.
own bishop. Nay, even Hippolytus himself, the In regard to the appeal which Episcopalians con-
author of the works to which we refer, was bishop of fidently make to antiquity, it may be remarked,
Portus, which was merely the harbour of Rome, and that Sir Peter King, in his · Inquiry into the consti-
a suburb of Ostia. Diocesan bishops, then, or the tution of the Christian Church,' enters into an ela-
bishops of provinces, must have been introduced at
borate argument with the view of proving from the
a later period, at all events, than the early part of writings of the Fathers, that presbyters had a right
the third century. Its first appearance is generally to preach ; that they baptized; that they adminis-
considered to have been due to the rise of one class tered the eucharist ; that they presided in the con-
of the clergy in authority and influence over the sistories together with the bishops; that they had
l'est. In the early ages, Christianity, as is well power to excommunicate, to restore penitents, and
known, made progress chiefly in cities. As the to confirm ; and, finally, that they had the power of
Christians in the cities increased in numbers and ordination. A few of the quotations from the early
wealth, the city bishops were placed in a new posi- writers which Presbyterians are wont to adduce,
tion. Each of them became the constant moderator may be briefly referred to. Chrysostom, they consi-
of a presbytery, consisting partly of ordained minis- der, is explicit in his testimony. Thus, he plainly
ters; while the country bishop was simply the pas- observes, “ between the bishop and presbyter there
tor of a poor, and perhaps scattered congregation. is little or no difference; and what the apostle had
The city bishops for at least a century before the ascribed to the bishop, the same is also proper to the
time of Constantine had been gradually acquiring an presbyter, since to the presbyter also the care of the
undue influence. The establishment of Christianity, Church is committed." Theodoret, again, remarks,
as the religion of the Roman Empire, gave great ac- with equal decision, “ The apostles call a presbyter
cession to their wealth and power. The great city a bishop, as we showed when we expounded the
bishops were admitted to the confidence of the em- Epistle to the Philippians, which may be also learned
peror. The country gradually sunk in importance from this place ; for, after the precepts proper to
and weight.
The chorepiscopi or itinerant ministers | bishops, he describes the things that are proper to
were the first to have their privileges infringed upon. deacons. But as I said, of old they called the same
Mosheim tells us, in speaking of the fourth century, men both bishops and presbyters." From the works
that “this order was in most places suppressed by of Augustine various passages might be quoted to
the bishops, with a design to extend their own au- the same effect. Let one quotation suffice.
thority, and enlarge the sphere of their power and Apostle Paul proves, that he understood a presbyter
jurisdiction.” The first attack made upon them to be a bishop. When he ordained Timothy a pres-
was in the council of Ancyra, A. D. 314, which de- | byter, he instructs him what kind of a person he
creed that they should not be permitted to ordain ought to create a bishop, for what is a bishop unless
presbyters or deacons. The council of Antioch,
The council of Antioch, the first presbyter, that is the chief priest; in fine,
A. D. 342, goes a step further, and ordains that those he calls his co-priests not otherwise than his co-
in villages or rural districts, or those called chorepis- presbyters.” Jerome, also, whom Erasmus terms
copi, even though they have been ordained by “the prince of divines," says in words which cannot
bishops," must not have the assurance to ordain an be mistaken, “A presbyter is the same as a bishop,
elder or deacon without the bishop in the city to and before there were, by the instigation of the devil,
which they and their district are subject.” In the parties in religion, and it was said among different
66 The
358
BISHOP.
passage, “Our intention, in this remark, is to show
people, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of was utterly unknown in the primitive ages of the
Cephas, the churches were governed by the common Church.
council of presbyters.” And again, in another In the Church of Rome, the pope reserves to him-
self the right of electing bishops, and even in those
that among the ancients presbyters and bishops cases in which sovereign princes claim the power of
were the very same. But that by little and little nominating to bishoprics, the choice must be ap-
the plants of dissensions might be plucked up, the proved and ratified by the pope. There are two
whole concern was devolved upon an individual. kinds of Romish bishops, territorial bishops, and
As the presbyters, therefore, know that they are bishops in partibus infidelium. To understand this
subjected, by the custom of the Church, to him who distinction, it must be borne in mind that Rome
is their president, so let the bishops know that they claimis jurisdiction over the whole earth; and that,
are greater than presbyters more by custom than by in the eye of Rome, the whole human family are
any appointment of the Lord.”
divided into the faithful (fideles), and the infidels
Such are the arguments adduced by the Episco- | (infideles). Wherever a country is nationally Ro-
palians on the one side, and the Presbyterians on man Catholic, the ordinary government of the
the other, as to the keenly contested point, whether Church is established, consisting of archbishops,
or not a bishop was, from apostolic times, an office- bishops, and priests. But where the adherents of
bearer in the Church of Christ, separate and distinct Rome do not form the majority of a country, or
from a presbyter, being an ecclesiastical dignitary of where the government does not recognize popery as
higher rank and authority in the Church.
the religion of the state, that country is ranked
The power exercised by a bishop, in the early among the infidels, and provisional or temporary
ages of the Church, was strictly spiritual, no claim. ecclesiastical arrangement is made in reference to it
.
being arrogated over the persons and the property For its spiritual government, vicars apostolic are ap-
of men.
T'he ancient bishops of Rome themselves pointed, who not being territorial bishops, or bishops
submitted, in all temporal matters, to the authority in ordinary, are merely bishops in partibus infidelium,
of the emperors, and it was not until the time of exercising spiritual authority over the faithful in
Gregory VII. that the power was assumed to depose those parts, but incapable of meeting in lawful sy-
Christian princes. As long, however, as the bishops nod, or of exercising any temporal authority what-
limited themselves solely to spiritual matters, the
influence which they exercised, and the respect in The consecration of a Romish bishop is conducted
which they were held, was such that no Christian with great pomp and ceremony. In the course of
traveller ventured to go to a distance from home it he takes an oath of fidelity to the pope and the
without letters of credence from his own bishop, Catholic Church, and engages to persecute and im-
which formed a ready warrant for his admission into pugn to the utmost of his power all heretics, schis-
any Christian community with which he might wish matics, and rebels against the pope and his succes-
to become connected.
sors. There are some bishops in the Church of
The ancient bishops had the power of framing Rome who are mere titular bishops without any dio-
their own liturgies, provided they kept to the ana- ceses whatever. The pope is regarded in the hier-
logy of faith and sound doctrine; and it was within archy of the Romish Church as universal bishop,
their province to appoint days of fasting to be ob- and all bishops are suffragans of the ARCHBISHOPS
served in their particular churches. They were (which see). Bishop coadjutors are those who are
often appealed to as arbiters in secular causes, and appointed to assist other bishops who may happen
Constantine passed a law to confirm the decisions of to be unable, from age or any other infirmity, to
bishops in such matters, if given in their consistories discharge the duties of their office. These have
(See ARBITRATORS). The outward tokens of respect sometimes the right of succeeding to their principal
shown to Christian bishops, in early times, were by and sometimes not.
bowing the head before them to receive their bless- In the Greek Church the bishops are chosen from
ing, and kissing their hands. Jerome mentions a the regular clergy or Caloyers alone, having usually
most objectionable practice which existed in his been archimandrites or abbots of some monastery.
time, that the people sung hosannahs to their bishops, They are ordained through other bishops. In the
as was done to the Saviour on his triumphal entry Russo-Greek Church every bishop is independent
into Jerusalem. It was required by the ancient in his own diocese, or dependent only upon the sy-
canons, that no clergyman should become a bishop nod. Among the bishops two are called vicar-
until he was at least thirty years of age, that being bishops, the one of Novgorod, the other of Moscow.
the age at which our blessed Lord entered on his These have a jurisdiction in some respects inferior
public ministry. This arrangement, however, in to the rest, as any one may appeal from them to the
course of time, came to be departed from, and has bishop of the diocese, who is called their metro-
often been greatly abused in the Romish Church, politan.
politan. The office of these vicar-bishops is sup-
the office being sometimes conferred on minors, posed to have been the same with that of the
and even young children. Such a state of matters ancient chorepiscopi among the Greeks, but they
ever.
BISHOP
359
are now consecrated prelates with full episcopal func- the bishops of London, York, and Caerleon. In the
tions.
Anglo-Saxon church, the bishops as well as other
In the Lutheran churches on the continent, it is a ecclesiastical dignitaries sat in the Witenagemote or
point of their ecclesiastical law that the Lutheran, or supreme council of the nation, by whom, in the ear-
even Calvinistic sovereigns, possess the jura episco- lier period, they seem to have been appointed, re-
palia, or rights of a bishop over their Lutheran sub- ceiving the confirmation of their dignity from the
jects. But the Lutheran church does not hold the pope; but towards the Norman invasion, both
divine right of Episcopacy; and although Prussia, bishops and abbots derived their promotion from the
for instance, is divided into different dioceses, the king. This was objected to by Gregory VII. about
ministers of each diocese are not under a bishop, but the close of the eleventh century, and the sovereign
as a mere human arrangement, under the inspection then invested them only with their temporalities;
of a clergyman who is called superintendent or in- but in 1215, the great charter of King John con-
spector, and several of these inspectors are under a firmed to all the English monasteries and cathedral
general superintendent, who, again, can do nothing churches the right of electing their prelates. In the
without consulting his consistory. Although the reign of Henry VIII. the election of bishops was
Lutheran churches allow the power of ordination to thus arranged: “ The king, upon the vacancy of the
any clergyman, yet, as a practice, that rite is gene- see, was to send his congé d'elire to the dean and
rally performed by a superintendent.
chapter, or prior and convent, and, in case they de-
In the Church of Sweden, which is Episcopal, the layed the election above twelve days, the crown was
consecration of a bishop is usually performed by the empowered to nominate the person by letters patent.
archbishop ; but it may be performed by any one of And, after the bishop thus elected had taken an oath
the bishops. The badge of the bishop's office is a of fealty to the king, his Majesty, by his letters
golden cross. In ordinations the bishop is assisted patent under the broad seal, signified the election to
by some of the presbyters, and the people add their the archbishop, with orders to confirm it, and conse-
confirmation. Every bishop in Sweden is also a pas- crate the elect. And lastly, if the persons assigned
tor of a congregation ; but, to enable him the better to elect and consecrate deferred the performing of their
to superintend his diocese, he is provided with a respective offices twenty days, they were to incur a
consistory, composed of both clerical and lay mem- præmunire." By a statute of Edward VI., a change
bers, in the meetings of which he himself presides. was made in the manner of electing bishops, the
Every bishop has it in his power to assemble his choice being transferred from the dean and chapters
clergy in annual synod if he pleases. He is bound, to the crown. The alteration made by the statute of
however, to hold visitations throughout his diocese | King Edward is no longer in force. The mode of
for purposes of discipline; to inquire into the state of election is now as follows: On the death of a bishop,
the poor, to promote vaccination, and likewise state the dean and chapter of the cathedral in the vacant
objects. The acts of these visitations are read in the diocese apply for the royal licence to elect a successor;
presence of the people, and then lodged in the ar- the licence is sent to the cathedral; but at the same
chives of the parish for reference in all time coming. time the dean and chapter receive letters missive
The annual revenue of the several Swedish bishops from the crown, mentioning the name of the person
arising from grain, annexed benefices, and other to be elected, and requiring them to proceed forth-
sources, varies from £300 to £1,000 sterling.
with to the election. The consent of the person to
Denmark, including Iceland and its other depen- be elected is then formally obtained, after which let-
dencies, has nine bishops, and one superintendent.. ters certifying the election are sent to the crown;
general, who are all appointed by the king. The the royal assent is asked, and the crown issues letters
bishop of Zealand, whose residence is in Copenhagen, patent to the archbishop of the province requiring
is the proper metropolitan, who alone consecrates him to proceed with the confirmation and consecra-
the others, and is himself consecrated by the bishop tion. The individual thus elected must be fully
of Fyhn and Langland, whose residence is nearest to thirty years of age. The confirmation having been
Copenhagen. The king is anointed by the bishop gone through, the consecration must take place on a
of Zealand, who is permitted to wear the insignia of Sunday or holiday, three bishops at least being pre-
the highest order of knighthood, and being regarded sent at the ceremony, who lay their hands upon the
as the chief dignitary of the church, he is consulted head of the new bishop.
on all ecclesiastical matters. Each bishop is required England and Wales are divided into twenty-eight
to draw up and transmit to the king an annual report | bishoprics or dioceses. The bishops of London, Dur-
in reference to the state of the churches and schools ham, and Winchester, rank immediately after the
of his diocese. Their salaries range from £400 to archbishops, taking precedence of the other bishops,
£1,200 sterling
and having always a seat in the House of Lords.
The earliest account on record of bishops belong. The bishop of Sodor and Man is not a lord of parlia-
ing to the British church, is that, at the council of ment, nor is he appointed by the king; the patron-
Arles in Gaul, A. D. 314, convened by the emperor age of this see is vested in his grace the Duke of
Constantine in the fourth century, there were present | Athol. All the other English prelates, except the
360
BISHOP.
one who was last consecrated, are spiritual peers, and dominions; but in 1638 an Act of Assembly was
take precedence of all temporal barons. The passed putting an end to diocesan Episcopacy, and
bishops are addressed by the title of “ Your Lord- restoring the former constitution of the church by
ships" and “Right Reverend Fathers in God.” Kirk-sessions, Presbyteries, Synods, and General
The first bishop introduced into Scotland appears Assemblies. Charles II. restored the order of
to have been Palladius, who was consecrated a bishop bishops in Scotland in 1661, which, however, con-
by Celestine, bishop of Rome, and was sent into tinued only for a short time, as in 1689, at the Re.
Scotland about A. D. 431. We learn from the Sco- | volution Settlement, an act was passed “abolishing
tichronicon, that before the time of Palladius “the Prelacy, and all superiority of any office in the
Scots had as teachers of the faith and administrators church in this kingdom above presbyters." Thus
of the sacraments only presbyters and monks follow- was the order of diocesan bishops finally abolished in
ing the custom of the primitive church.” Episco- Scotland. From that period the Scottish Episcopal
palian writers allege that Ninian was the first Scot- church, though it has continued to exist, has had
tish bishop. His labours were chiefly confined to bishops which exercise no more than spiritual autho-
Galloway. Attempts were made from an early period rity over their own flocks.
to induce the Scots to adopt the ceremonies and ob- In Ireland bishops seem for a long period to have
servances of the Church of Rome, and to yield im- been simply pastors of single parishes. They were
plicit subjection to the Pope. All however was una- located not only in cities but in villages, and many
vailing. The Venerable Bede declares of the clergy parts of the country. Speaking of their numbers,
in the time of Columba in the sixth century, that“ in | Archbishop Usher remarks, “We read in Nennius
the remote part of the world in which they lived, that at the beginning St. Patrick founded 365
they were unacquainted with the Roman decrees, churches, and ordained 365 bishops, besides 3,000
and only taught their disciples out of the writings of presbyters or elders. In process of time, the number
the evangelists and apostles.” Bishops existed for a of bishops was daily multiplied according to the
long period in Scotland, but they were presbyter- | pleasure of the metropolitan, and that not only so far
bishops, not diocesan bishops. No trace can be found that every church almost had a separate bishop;
of the latter, indeed, before the time of Malcolm III. but that also, in some towns or cities, there were or-
and Alexander I., or rather of David I. That about dained more than one.” The same author states,
this period—the beginning of the twelfth century, that "in 1151, Pope Eugenius, by his legate, John
Episcopacy must have been of recent introduction | Papiron, transmitted four palls into Ireland, whither
into Scotland, is evident; for on Turgot being a pall had never been brought.” Previously to that
elected bishop of St. Andrews in 1109, no one could time, archbishops being unknown in that country,
be found in the kingdom duly qualified to consecrate the bishops had ordained one another. But a change
him; and, accordingly, application was made to Tho- now took place in the constitution of the church in
mas, Archbishop of York, who gladly consented to Ireland. The village bishoprics were converted into
perform the solemn act, and, in consequence of his rural deaneries. Gradually the power of the Roman
having done so, he claimed the Scottish bishops as see over the Irish Church increased. The Refor-
the suffragans of his see. This claim, however, was mation was mainly carried forward in Ireland by
denied by both the king and the clergy. David I., | Archbishop Brown, a native of England, who was
however, subjected the Scottish church to the Roman raised to the see of Dublin in 1535, and from that
See, and her conformity to the Romish church con- time the Church of Ireland sought to form a close
tinued without almost any interruption till the Re- alliance with the Church of England. Accordingly,
formation, though at various periods resistance was after the restoration of Charles II., an Irish convo-
made to the encroachments of the Bishop of Rome. cation adopted the Thirty-nine Articles. At the
At the Reformation in Scotland, when the hier- union of the two countries in 1800, the two churches
archy was shorn of its wealth, which was seized by were united under the title of the United Church of
the nobility, the new order of bishops, who got pos- | England and Ireland. The Church of Ireland con-
session of the sees without the revenue received sists of two archbishops and twelve bishops, each of
the name of tulchan bishops, in allusion co a cus- whom visits every part of his diocese annually, the
tom at that time prevalent in the Highlands, of visitations of archdeacons being there unknown.
placing a calf's skin stuffed with straw, called a The first bishop that ever set foot in America was
tulchan, before cows, to induce them to give their Dr. Samuel Seabury, who was ordained in Aberdeen
milk. These pretended bishops, who were mere by the Scottish Episcopal Church in 1784, for the
tools of the pobility, were compelled to demit their diocese of Connecticut. After the conclusion of the
offices by an act of the General Assembly of the war of independence, an act of Parliament was
Scottish Church, held at Dundee in July 1580. In passed in 1787, authorizing the Archbishop of Can-
1597 bishops were again introduced into the Scottish terbury and the Bishop of London, to consecrate
Church by James VI., who, on his succeeding to the three bishops for the dioceses of Pennsylvania, New
throne of England, directed all his efforts towards the York, and Virginia. Such was the origin of the
establishment of Prelacy in the northern part of his Protestant Episcopal Church in America.
BISMILLAH-BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST.
361
BISHOPRIC. See DIOCESE.
persecutors to manifest to the world that they ab-
BISHOP OF THE SYNAGOGUE. See An- | jured their religion. (See APOSTASY.)
GELS OF THE CHURCHES.
The second sort of blasphemy, which was visited
BISMILLAH, a solemn form of words which with the heaviest censures of the church in early
Mohammed has prefixed to every chapter of the times, was that of those who made a profession of
Koran except the ninth. The form runs thus: “In Christianity, but yet, either by impious doctrines or
the name of the Most Merciful God." A number of profane discourses, uttered blasphemous words against
the Mohammedan doctors, as well as commentators God, derogatory to His majesty and honour. In
of the Koran, believe the Bismillah to be of Divine this sense, various kinds of heretics, as for example,
origin, like the text of the Koran itself, while others Arians and Nestorians, were charged with blasphemy,
are of opinion that the words, however solemn, are Chrysostom classes blasphemers and fornicators to-
the invention of men. See KORAN.
gether, as persons who were to be excluded from the
BIZOCHI. See BEGHARDS.
Lord's table. But not only open and avowed heresy
BLACK CLERGY, the regular clergy of the which dishonoured God or Christ; even the hasty
RUSSO-GREEK CHURCH (which see). From them the utterance of profane blasphemous expressions brought
bishops are chosen. They consist of the Archiman- an individual under the discipline of the church.
drites or heads of monasteries; the Hegumeni, who The civil law also took cognizance of blasphemy as
preside over smaller convents; the Hieromonachi or a heinous crime. In the Code of Justinian it was a
monks who are priests; the Hierodiaconi, or monks capital offence, to be punished with death.
who are deacons; and, finally, the monks. The It has often been questioned whether, consistently
Black clergy follow the rule of St. Basil, and like with religious toleration, blasphemers ought to be
the Greeks observe great austerity.
punished by the civil authorities. But when tve
BLACKFRIARS, a name given, from their reflect upon the true nature of the offence, there can
dress, to the religious order of DOMINICANS (which be little doubt upon the matter. “To plead," as Mr.
see).
Robert Hall well remarks, “ for the liberty of di-
BLASPHEMY, the sin of cursing God, or speak- vulging speculative opinions is one thing, and to
ing slightingly of Him and his attributes. It was a assert the right of uttering blasphemy is another.
capital crime among the ancient Hebrews, being For blasphemy, which is the speaking contumeli-
punished with stoning by the law of Moses, Lev. ously of God, is not a speculative error; it is an
xxiv. 16, “And he that blasphemeth the name of the overt act; a crime which no state should tolerate."
Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the The distinction here referred to is plain, and surely
congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the if any well regulated government feels it to be an
stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he incumbent duty to protect the characters of either
blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to public or private men against aspersion, it is only
death.” The criminal in this case was tried before just and rational that they should restrain men from
the Sanhedrim, and being convicted, he was so- speaking injuriously of the Author of our being, and
lemnly condemned to die. Thereupon he was led the Founder of our faith. The third species of blas-
forth to execution without the camp. Each of the phemy, which was heavily punished in the early
witnesses laid his hand upon the blasphemer's head, church, was one of so great importance as to call for
designed probably to indicate that they acquitted separate consideration. See next article.
themselves of all share in his crime, and said, “ Thy BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST.
blood be on thine own head, which thou hast | This sin has been explained in a great variety of
brought upon thyself by thine own guilt.” The wit- ways. Some have considered it as a lapsing into
nesses having removed their hands, the blasphemer idolatry and apostasy, and denying Christ in the time
was stoned to death by the whole congregation, the of persecution. This was the opinion of Cyprian.
witnesses throwing the first stones.
It is made by Hilary to consist in denying Christ to
In the early Christian church blasphemy incurred be God, thus involving the Arians in this weighty
the highest ecclesiastical censures. This sin was
charge. Origen held that those who had received
distinguished into three kinds, which are noticed by the gifts of the Holy Ghost in baptism, and after-
Bingham in his · Antiquities of the Christian wards run into sin, had committed the unpardonable
Church.' The first of these was the blasphemy of sin. Some again alleged that it consisted in denying
apostates, whom the heathen persecutors obliged not the divinity of the Holy Ghost. Others place this
only to deny, but to curse Christ. Pliny, in giving sin in a perverse and malicious ascription of the
an account to the emperor Trajan of some Christians works of the Holy Spirit to the power of the devil.
who apostatized in the persecution which raged in Augustine makes frequent reference to this crime,
his time, says, “ They all worshipped the Emperor's and he views it as a continual resistance of the mo-
image, and the images of the gods, and also cursed tions and graces of the Holy Spirit, by an invincible
Christ.” The proposal to blaspheme Christ, seems hardness of heart, and final impenitence to the end
indeed to have been the usual way in which the of a man's life. The view which this eminent Chris-
early Christians were called upon by their heathen tian Father entertained on this difficult point, appears
I.
Z 2
362
BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST.
to approach the nearest to the meaning which rises money the power of working miracles.
" Thy
out of a careful comparison of the different passages money perish with thee,” says Peter with holy
in which this heinous sin is specially mentioned by | indignation, “because thou hast thought that the
our blessed Lord. In considering this point sonie- gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou
what more fully, it may be well to bring into one hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart
view the explanation given by Christ, in the three is not right with God."
is not right with God.” But that the sin of Simon
Evangelists, where it is to be found. Mat. xii. 31, Magus did not amount to the unpardonable sin, is
32. “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin plain from the exhortation which Peter gave~"Re-
and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the pent, therefore, of this thy wickedness, and pray God
blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be for- if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven
given unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word thee.”
against the Son of map, it shall be forgiven him: Neither is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost un-
but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it pardonable because of its heinousness and peculiar
shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, aggravation. “For the blood of Christ " is expressly
neither in the world to come.” Luke xii. 10, “And declared to “ cleanse from all sin.”
" All manner of
whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men.
man, it shall be forgiven him : but unto him that But the sin of which Christ speaks is unpardon-
blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be able from its very nature, as being a determined and
forgiven. Mark üi. 28–30, “Verily I say unto final rejection of the pardon which God has offered.
you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, Christ comes, but he is rejected. He prefers his
and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blas- claims in the most open and striking manner, so that
pheme: but he that shall blaspheme against the the understanding is convinced, but the heart remains
Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger | hard as an adamant stone. With a mind to a certain
of eternal damnation : because they said, He hath an extent enlightened, though not savingly, in the know-
unclean spirit.”
ledge of the truth, there is a bitter malicious hatred to
In these passages, Jesus says, that there is one Christ and to his cause. This is not a single sinful
sin which cannot be forgiven. He terms this un- act, but a complicated state of mind and character.
pardonable sin," blasphemy against the Holy Ghost." It is described as blasphemy or evil-speaking against
Taking the expression without reference to the con- the Holy Ghost, because words are the expression of
text, in which it is found, many have assigned to it our thoughts, and feelings, and desires. Let us, then,
significations which are altogether unwarranted by endeavour to discover some of the chief ingredients
the connection in which it occurs. The key to the of the unpardonable sin.
explanation of this mysterious sin, may be discovered, 1. It includes a determined suppression of the con-
we conceive, in the closing observation of Mark, | victions of the mind, and of the workings of conscience.
“Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.” Paul informs us that, though a blasphemer, he ob-
This naturally carries us back to the previous con- tained mercy, because he did it ignorantly and in un-
duct of the Pharisees. Jesus had shortly before belief. Though a well-educated and in many points
cured a man who was possessed of a devil, and was enlightened Jew, yet, so ill instructed was he in the
both blind and dumb. The Pharisees had wit- true spiritual meaning of God's Word, that when en-
nessed the miracle, and were so convinced of its gaged in persecuting the saints of God, he verily ima-
reality, that they never attempted for a moment to gined that he was doing God service. Such, how-
deny it.
But in opposition to the conviction of ever, was not the condition of the Pharisees in the
their understandings, and with the bitterest malig- | time of our Lord. They were not ignorant. They
nity of heart, they attributed the miracle to the waited upon the ministry of Christ with the most
agency of the Prince of Darkness. Such the Re- exemplary diligence. They listened with the most
deemer plainly declared was the unpardonable sin of marked attention to every word that he uttered, and
blaspheming against, or speaking evil of, the Holy they examined with the most jealous scrutiny every
Ghost. It was a direct, malicious, determinate re- miracle that he wrought. None, not even the disciples
jection of the only Saviour. It showed a blinded themselves, had such an extensive outward know-
perversity of mind, and an obstinate hardness of ledge of Christ, and versed as they were both in the
heart, which too plainly proved that they were given Law and the Prophets, they were neither ignorant
over to a reprobate mind, and would finally and for nor unconvinced that Jesus was the very Christ of
ever perish,
God. Hence he declared (John vii. 28) as he taught
This sin then is unpardonable, not because it is in the temple, “ Ye both know me, and ye know
committed against the Holy Ghost, for there are
whence I am.
They knew Christ, but like multi-
many evil thoughts and expressions against the Holy tudes in every age, they knew him not savingly.
Spirit of God, which cannot be said to amount to the Their knowledge reached the mind, and to a certain
sin here spoken of. Thus Simon Magus, the sor- extent awakened the conscience, but the heart was
cerer, was guilty of a very aggravated sin against as hard and unmoved as ever. Nay, they strove to
the Holy Ghost when he offered to purchase with suppress the rising convictions of their minds, and to
1
1
BLESSING.
363
lull the voice of conscience. Hence they were en- many of the outward forms of religion, but they
gaged in a perpetual struggle against the influence of seem never to have entertained the slightest suspi-
the light. The light shone around them with the cion that they were guilty condemned sinners. They
utinost cleainess, and yet they not only prevented were quite at ease, satisfied that all was well with
the entrance of further light, but the very light that them. They said, like the Laodicean Church, “We
was already in them they converted into darkness. are rich and increased in goods, and stand in need of
2. A second ingredient of the unpardonable sin is nothing.” In this state they were quite callous.
determined and obstinate unbelief. It may appear With them all argument was unavailing, all warning
strange that a man should be convinced and yet un- utterly fruitless. They said, without the slightest
believing. In the Scriptural sense of faith, however, hesitation, 'we see,' while all the time they were in
this is not unfrequently the case; for it is not so total darkness; they said, ' we live,' while all the time
much with the mind as with the heart that man be- they were dead in trespasses and sins.
lieveth unto righteousness. · Did the Word of God Such, we conceive, are the chief ingredients of the
reveal nothing more than some abstract notions in unpardonable sin, the blasphemy against the Holy
which we had no personal concern, the conviction of Ghost, a sin which, from its very nature, cannot
the mind would be enough. But the Bible reveals possibly obtain forgiveness in this world or in the
Christ in his person and work as available for the world to come. It cannot be forgiven here, for in
salvation of sinners; and therefore faith is well such a state of mind forgiveness is neither sought
described in the Westminster Assembly's Shorter nor desired. It cannot be forgiven hereafter, for
Catechism, as a receiving of Christ, and resting God's plan of forgiveness has been set at nought,
upon him for salvation. Such a faith implies not and the only Saviour obstinately, and determinedly,
merely a persuasion of the mind, but an embrac- and finally rejected. God is merciful, but he is mer-
ing with the heart. The outward evidence of the ciful in his own appointed way, and if that way be
truth concerning Christ is strong, but the inward disregarded, mercy cannot be obtained.
feeling of the need of Christ is stronger still. The BLESSING, or BENEDICTION, one of the most
Pharisees, however, were determinedly unbeliev- solemn parts of Divine service. In the early ages
ing. They were not, like Paul before his conver- of the world, we find from the Old Testament, that
sion, ignorant and unbelieving, but they were intel- it was usual for private individuals to pronounce so-
ligent, enlightened, and convinced, and yet they lemn blessings on special occasions. The bridal
were obstinate rejectors of Christ. They were un- blessing was given to Rebecca, couched in these
believers in the face of the evidence from without, words, “ Be thou a mother of thousands of millions,
and the convictions from within. They put away and let thy seed possess the gate of those that hate
from them the gospel as an idle tale, and they were them." This afterwards became a solemn form of
given up to believe a lie.
benediction in leading the bride to the bridegroom.
3. A third ingredient in the unpardonable sin is Nuptial benedictions were used both by the Jews,
a rooted malice and enmity against the person, the Greeks, and Romans. It was also customary for the
work, and the cause of Christ. This malignant spirit father of a family, when on his death-bed, to summon
was very conspicuous throughout the whole conduct his children around him, and to give a solemn bless-
of the Pharisees towards our blessed Lord. With ing to each, and on these occasions the prophetic
untiring jealousy, they watched his every word, and power was sometimes imparted from on high. Thus
his every movement, anxious to ensnare him in his Jacob, Gen. xlix., blessed his sons and predicted their
talk, or to find some ground of accusation against future destiny. Moses also, Deut. xxxiii., gave a part-
him. But their malignity knew no bounds, when ing blessing to the children of Israel. Among the
they saw the effect which his miracles produced Jews it was performed by the high priest in a most
upon the people. “ This fellow," they cried, “ doth impressive manner (see AARON'S BLESSING), and it
not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of was listened to by the people with deep religious
the devils.” He is not the Messiah, he is a vile
The members of the synagogue, among the
impostor, in league with the friends of hell. Bitter modern Jews, are required to repeat at least a hun-
words, but feebly expressive of the hatred of their dred benedictions every day, a few of which may
hearts. Had they not feared the multitude, they be given as a specimen of the whole : “ Blessed art
would gladly have embrued their hands in his blood. thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe ! who
But his hour was not yet come, and, therefore, by givest to the cock knowledge to distinguish between
restraining grace alone, were they prevented from day and night. Blessed art thou, O Lord our God,
accomplishing the purpose of their hearts.
King of the universe ! who openest the eyes of the
4. The last ingredient which we notice in the un- blind. Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of
pardonable sin is a total indifference and unconcern the universe! who settest at liberty those who are
about their personal condition. This also was a re- bound. Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of
markable feature in the character of the Pharisees. the universe! who raisest those who are bowed
They were diligent in their outward attendance upon down, Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of
the preaching of Christ, and in the observance of | the universe ! who clothest the naked. Blessed art
ave.
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BLOOD.
thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe! who In the Romish Church the act of blessing is not
hast not made me a heather. Blessed art thou, O | limited to persons, but extends also to inanimate
Lord our God, King of the universe ! who hast not objects. It is enough to pronounce a form of words,
made ine a slave.” For a man.- “ Blessed art thou, and anything whatever is blessed. The act of bene-
O Lord our God, King of the universe! who hast diction, however, differs from the act of consecration,
not made me a woman. For a woman." Blessed
“ Blessed | the latter being accompanied with unction or anoint-
art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe! | ing with oil, while the former has no such cere-
who hast made me according to thy will. Blessed
Blessed mony, but is performed simply by sprinkling holy
art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe! | water, making the sign of the cross, and
pronouncing
who removest sleep from mine eyes and slumber certain prayers. Various forms of benediction are
from mine eye-lids. Blessed art thou, O Lord our laid down in the Roman Pontifical, in the Missal,
God, King of the universe! who hast sanctified us and in the Book of Ecclesiastical Ceremonies.
with thy commandments, and commanded us to wash BLOOD. Immediately after the flood, when for
our hands."
the first time, the use of animal food was allowed
In the early Christian Church, the benediction to man, we find it accompanied with the prohibition,
was pronounced just before the close of the morning Gen. ix. 4, “But flesh with the life thereof, which
service. The deacon called upon the people to bow is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.” According
their heads, and to receive the imposition of hands, to this command, the blood of every animal was to
or the bishop's benediction, which was given in the be poured out before the flesh was eaten, and the
following form of words : "O God, faithful and reason why this was to be done is declared in these
true, that showest mercy to thousands, and ten thou- | words, “ because the blood is the life.” Not that
sands of them that love thee; who art the friend of Moses is laying down a plain physiological fact, that
the humble, and defender of the poor, whose aid all the blood is a vital fluid, though the Jewish doctors
things stand in need of, because all things serve understand it to involve nothing more than a prohibi-
thee: look down upon this thy people who bow | tion against cutting off any limb of a living animal
their heads unto thee, and bless them with thy and eating it while the life or the life-blood is in it.
spiritual benediction; keep them as the apple of the According to this view, the design of this precept
eye; preserve them in piety and righteousness, and given to Noah was to prevent cruelty to animals, and
vouchsafe to bring them to eternal life in Christ give the people a horror at the shedding of blood.
Jesus, thy beloved Son, with whom, unto thee, be A far deeper and more important ground, however,
glory, honour, and adoration, in the Holy Ghost, of the command to pour out the blood of slain ani-
now and for ever, world without end. Amen." mals is found in the command as given in its more
When the bishop had thus pronounced the benedic- enlarged and detailed form in the Mosaic law, Lev.
tion, the deacon dismissed the congregation with xvii. 10–12: “And whatsoever man there be of the
the usual form, “ Depart in peace.” In some cases house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn
the sermon in the primitive churches was prefaced among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will
with a short form of benediction. In the celebration even set my face against that soul that eateth blood,
of the Lord's Supper, also, the bishop gave a bene and will cut him off from among his people. For the
diction to the people immediately after repeating life of the flesh is in the blood : and I have given it
the Lord's Prayer. This was more especially the to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your
case in many of the Western churches. Accord- souls : for it is the blood that maketh an atonement
ingly, the third council of Orleans decreed that all for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of
laymen should stay till they had heard the Lord's Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall
Prayer, and received the bishop's benediction. And any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.”
the council of Toledo censures some priests for com- In this passage the reason alleged for the repetition
municating immediately after the Lord's Prayer with- of the command formerly given to Noah, is not only
out giving the benediction to the people, and orders, that “the blood is the life,” but that “it is the blood
that, for the future, the benediction should follow that maketh atonement for the soul.” It is worthy
the Lord's Prayer, and that after the communion. of notice that the blood is not only prohibited from
In the Apostolical constitutions, after the prayer being eaten, but commanded to be poured upon
the
of the consecration and oblation, the bishop is ap- earth like water. It would seem as if the Israelites
pointed to pronounce this short benediction, “The
were to be taught that not only the blood of animals
peace of God be with you all;" and then, after the offered in sacrifice, but the blood of every animal
deacon has rehearsed à BIDDING PRAYER (which that was slain even for common purposes, must be
see), the bishop again recommends the people to God treated as if it had in it a sacrificial character. On
in another benediction, beseeching God to sanctify this subject Maimonides throws considerable light in
their bodies and souls, and to make them worthy of his remarks upon the manner of killing beasts among
the good things he has set before them. The con- the ancient Israelites. He says that he who killed
stitutions lay down a form of benediction to be pro- the animal prayed to God in these words, “ Blessed
nounced in the ordination of presbyters.
be he who has sanctified us by his commandments and
BLOOD.
365
has given us his ordinances for the killing of beasts." blood shall be imputed unto that man ; he hath shed
He adds also, that the beasts killed for eating were to blood; and that man shall be cut off from among
be slain without the temple, and if they were slain in his people: to the end that the children of Israel
any other place, the carcase was to be buried, not may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the
caten. And besides, a peculiar ceremony was gone open field, even that they may bring them unto the
through by the Jews, in covering the blood after it Lord, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congre-
was poured out. Before they covered it, they prayed gation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace
in these words : “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God offerings unto the Lord. And the priest shall
and Eternal King; who hast sanctified us by thy sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the
commandments, and ordained us to cover the blood." door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn
Maimonides adds, that even when the blood was the fat for a sweet savour unto the Lord.” By this
mixed with water they were obliged to cover it, pro- arrangement the person who killed the animal was
vided it retained the colour of blood. Only the not to collect the blood as the heathens did, who
blood of clean beasts was covered, as these alone poured it into a pit for a feast to their demons, but he
were considered fit to be eaten. The process of co- was to take the blood and sprinkle it upon the altar.
vering was this. He that killed the beast made a And if the Israelites caught any beast or bird in
kind of hillock of dust wherein he poured the blood, hunting, they were commanded “to pour out the
which he afterwards covered with more dust. The blood thereof, and cover it with dust," an obser-
blood might be covered with anything reduced to vance which, as we have seen on the testimony of
powder, as ashes, stones ground down, or lime, but Maimonides, the Jews followed with great ceremony.
not with a piece of solid stone or wood. This cere- The covering it with dust was designed to keep them
mony was to be performed not with the foot, but from offering it to demons as the heathens did, who
with the hand, by means of a knife or some other in- poured it into an open pit or trench that the gods
strument with which the dust was thrown upon the might feast upon it. And if an Israelite killed any
blood.
beast without bringing it to the door of the taber-
In all this there was obviously a meaning which it nacle, he was supposed to have killed it for idola-
is well worth attempting to discover. The grand trous purposes, and, therefore, he was "to be cut off
spiritual design undoubtedly of the prohibition of the from among his people.” And after the chosen peo-
eating of blood, was to preserve upon the minds of ple of God had entered the promised land, he re-
the Israelites the great principle of the divine stricts their sacrifices to one place which He should
economy in regard to a fallen world, “ that without choose; and though he permits them to kill and eat
shedding of blood there is no remission." An im- in all their gates, he lays down the express condition
portant, though no doubt subsidiary, object of the law that they eat not the blood, but pour it upon the
was to prevent idolatry. Now heathen nations were earth, that it might sink into the ground like water.
accustomed to take the blood of animals and pour it | The Jews understood the design of this arrange-
into a hole in the earth for food to their gods. Particu- ment, when, as we have seen from Maimonides, they
larly when they sacrificed to infernal deities, or devils, poured out the blood in covering it, not upon solid
having slain the animal, they frequently drank part stone, but upon soft or powdered earth, which would
of the blood, and poured the rest into a pit, consecrat- readily absorb it.
ing it to the demon in whose honour the sacrifice Maimonides, the Jewish commentator, speaks of
was offered. They then eat the flesh over or round two different kinds of blood, the life-blood, or that
about the blood, which they left for the demon to which is sprinkled upon the altar, and which springs
come and feast upon. Now there was ample provi- forth from the animal with great impetuosity when
sion made in the Mosaic law against the Jews falling it is slain. He that eats of this sort of blood, it is
into this idolatrous practice. Thus, in Lev. xix. 26, alleged, is to be cut off from among his people. But
God prohibits the "eating anything with the blood," the other species of blood, that which issues from
or, as the preposition admits of being rendered," over the wounded animal before it has begun to die, or
the blood,” thus pointing directly at the idolatrous which issues by drops from the body after the ani-
custom we have been describing.
mal is dead, is not reckoned so sacred as the life-
But God not only prohibits the idolatrous prac- blood, and, therefore, the individual who eats of it is
tices of the heathens in so far as blood was concerned; said to deserve only scourging. The Jews hold that
he also laid down a law in reference to the killing of of the seven precepts of Noah, as they are termed,
animals which was quite incompatible with their only the prohibition against eating blood was given
observance of such practices. The law is contained to Noah, the other six having, as they allege, been
in these words, Lev. xvii. 3—6. “What man soever previously given to Adam.
there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, The question has often been started, Whether the
or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out Noachic precept forbidding the eating of blood, and
of the camp, and bringeth it not unto the door of the which was repeated in the Law of Moses, be still
tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering binding upon Christians ? The ground on which
unto the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord; | the affirmative of this is maintained, rests on the
366
BLOOD.
i
decree of the council of Jerusalem, that the Gentiles , is a mixture of Judaism and Christianity, practise
in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia, should “abstain the same abstinence. Both the Romish and the
from things strangled and from blood," as we read in Protestant Churches, however, are agreed in regard-
Acts xv. 29. To understand the full meaning and ing it as no longer obligatory upon Christians to
extent of this apostolic decree, we must bear in mind maintain their adherence to what they consider a tem-
the circunstances in which it was passed. While porary arrangement inade by the apostles under cir-
Paul and Barnabas were engaged in preaching the cumstances peculiar to the time at which the decree
gospel at Antioch, certain Christian converts from was passed. “ This decree,” says Dr. Welsh, “which
Judaism came down from Jerusalem, and taught that was conveyed in a letter by brethren who might ac-
if a Jew embraced Christianity, he was bound at the company it with every necessary explanation, was
same time to be circumcised, and to observe the obviously intended for a transition state of the church,
whole Mosaic Law. The city of Antioch, where when ancient Jewish prejudices and the prevailing
these Judaizing tenets were inculcated, was pecu- customs of heathenism presented a barrier to the
liarly favourable for the diffusion of such opinions; diffusion of Christianity. It was wisely calculated to
for as Josephus informs us, it was the seat of a fa- remove difficulties and objections on the part of the
mous Jewish college, in which were many proselytes Jews; and while it imposed no real burden, and
of the gate, as they were termed. The originators of could lead to no misapprehension on the part of the
the controversy were some of the sect of the Phari- Gentiles, it could scarcely fail to produce a favour-
sees who had become converts to Christianity, while able effect upon heathen converts, by marking a dis-
they still retained many of their former Jewish pre- tinction between them and their former associates,
judices. The question in debate had a reference and drawing them away from the infectious influence
chiefly to proselytes of the gate, who, though they of heathen superstitions and pollutions." Individual
were Gentiles by birth, had renounced heathenism Christians are here and there to be found who have
in so far as idolatry was concerned, and before being some scruples as to the eating of blood, but such cases
allowed to live among Jews, required to be circum- are by no means numerous.
cised. It became therefore a very natural subject of Blood being regarded among the ancient Hebrews
doubt, whether such proselytes could be acknow- as specially sacred, the sprinkling of it in their sac-
ledged as belonging to the Christian church without rifices was considered as belonging to the priests
receiving the Mosaic seal of circumcision. When
When alone. The blood to be sprinkled was put into a
the council at Jerusalem met, therefore, the question vessel used for the purpose, and taken by a priest
came before them in a very peculiar form, and under clothed in his official vestments, who carried it in
a strictly Jewish aspect. It was decided accordingly his right hand. The blood of some victims was
in the way best fitted to obviate the prejudices of the carried into the holy place, as for example those
Jewish against the Gentile converts, and to reconcile sacrificed as sin-offerings for the whole nation, the
them to their admission to the Christian church, on bullock presented for the family of Aaron, and
the same footing precisely as to privileges with that which was offered by the high priest himself.
themselves. Such a decree passed under peculiar The blood of other victims was either sprinkled upon
circumstances, and strictly adapted to these circum- the horns or upon the sides of the great altar that
stances, was recessarily temporary in its nature, and stood without. The mode of sprinkling was as follows.
could only remain in force so long as the Jewish and The priest carrying the blood in his hand ascended the
Gentile converts were not thoroughly amalgamated steps of the altar, and, standing between the east and
into one body, and both of them alike brought under the south, he dipped the forefinger of his right hand
the influence of Christian principle. In this view in the blood, and pressing it with his thumb, he
of the matter, it is plain that in the altered circum- touched with the blood that horn of the altar; then
stances of the Christian Church the decree of Jeru-
in the same way he dipped his finger in blood at each
salem can be no longer binding, the circumstances in horn, till he came to the south-west horn, which was
which it was applicable having long since passed the last that was sprinkled. The blood that re-
away. The early Christian Church, however, for mained at the close of the sprinkling was poured out
several centuries, continued rigidly to abstain from at the bottom of the altar upon the west side, and was
eating blood, and clergymen were ordered to observe conveyed by a subterraneous passage into the valley
the apostolic decree on this subject under pain of de- of Kedron, where it was sold as manure.
gradation. The Apostolical canons are clear upon the The blood of animals used in burnt-offerings, tres-
point, and several decrees of councils were passed pass-offerings, and peace-offerings, was sprinkled
upon the subject. Augustine, however, states that upon the sides of the altar after this manner.
in his time the African church no longer regarded priest, as he stood upon the east side of the altar near
the decree of Jerusalem as of force, and few persons, the north-east corner, was to cast the blood out of
he says, made any scruple of eating blood. The the vessel with such force, as that part of it might
Eastern Church have never ceased to hold it an im- fall upon the east side where he stood, and part of it
perative duty to abstain from things strangled and upon the north side, and on both sides below the red
from blood. The Mohammedans also, whose religion | line that went round about the altar. The same
The
.
BLOOD BAPTISM-BOGOMILES.
-
367
mans.
i
course was followed while the priest stood upon the BOEDROMIUS, a surname of Apollo at Athens,
west side, near the south-west corner, that part of it indicating him to be a helper in distress. Some sup-
might fall upon the west side, and part of it upon the pose that he was so called because he assisted the
south. In this way the Jewish priests imagined that Athenians in their war with the Amazons, who were
they fulfilled the law, which commanded that the defeated on the seventh of the month Boedromion.
blood should be sprinkled round about upon the See next article.
altar.
BOEDROMIA, a festival celebrated at Athens in
The blood of some sacrifices was carried into the honour of Apollo, under the surname of Boedromius.
holy place, and put upon the horns of the golden It was celebrated on the seventh of the Grecian
altar, or the altar of incense. In the case of such month Boedromion. Plutarch attributes the origin
victims, the blood was sprinkled seven times towards of this festival to the success of the Athenians in the
the veil before the most holy place; and then some of war against the Amazons. No account has come
it was put upon each horn of the altar, beginning at down to us as to the manner in which this festival
that between the east and the north, and ending at was observe l, except that sacrifices were offered to
that between the east and the south, being exactly | Artemis.
the opposite of the order observed in sprinkling the BOGS, favourite saints among the Russians. A
horns of the other altar.
figure of some patron saint, stamped on copper, is
The blood of the bullock that was offered for a carried about in the pocket, or fixed in some small
sin-offering upon the Day of Atonement for the fa- chapel in the house. The practice naturally reminds
milŷ of Aaron, and also that of the goat which was us of the Lares and Penates among the ancient Ro.
offered for all Israel, was carried by the high priest
The household bog is usually painted on
into the holy of holies, where it was sprinkled once wood; and, in the houses of men of wealth and rank,
upwards towards the mercy-seat, and seven times it is surrounded with diamonds or precious stones, and
downwards. Then the high priest returned with wax candles or tapers are burned before it. M. Chan-
the blood into the holy place, and sprinkled it in the treau, in his travels in Russia, mentions having seen
same manner towards the veil—that is, once above, in the possession of a member of the directing senate,
and seven times below. The blood of each victim, a cabinet of bogs worth more than a million of
which had been hitherto kept in separate vessels, rubles, amounting to £222,222 4s. sterling. Men
was now mingled together in one, and the high of all classes among the Russians have their bogs,
priest with his finger sprinkled with it the horns of whom they hold in the highest veneration. The
the golden altar, and seven times he poured some of most popular of these patron saints are St. Nicholas,
the blood upon the top of the altar. The remainder St. John the Baptist, St. Sergius, and St. Alexander
of the blood was poured at the bottom of the altar of Newski. In the houses of the poor the bog is some-
burnt-offering on the west side.
times kept in a small and obscure apartment, but the
BLOOD BAPTISM. Any one devoted to mar- moment a Russian enters a house, if the bog does
tyrdom was reckoned, in the early Christian Church, not immediately catch his eye, he enquires where
among the catechumens, martyrdom being regarded it is, and, before saluting any of the inmates of the
as a full substitute for baptism, and therefore termed house, he approaches the bog, and crosses himself
blood-baptism. This notion was derived from va- three times before it, repeating “ Lord have mercy
rious
passages in the Sacred Scriptures. Thus Mark upon me." When it has become decayed and worn
x. 39, “ And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed out, the precious relic is carefully buried in a church-
drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the bap- yard or a garden. Sometimes, indeed, it is put into
tism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized; a rapid stream, that it may be borne away by the
Luke xii. 50, “But I have a baptism to be bap- current.
tized with; and how am I straitened till it be BOGARDINES. See FRANCISCANS.
accomplished !” Martyrdom was esteemed a pass- BOGOMILES (Slav. Bog, God; milvi, show
port for heaven, and therefore it was made a sub- mercy), a sect of Christian heretics which sprung up
stitute for baptism.
in the twelfth century, in the Greek Empire, espe-
BODHI (Singhalese, wisdom), one of the three cially in the region of Philippopolis. They have
principles which influence a Budhist priest. When sometimes been regarded as allied in doctrine to the
under its power he is kind and tractable; he eats older Gnostics, but they make no reference to the
his food slowly and is thoughtful; he avoids much | Æons, nor do they make any allusion to an origi-
sleep, and does not procrastinate; and he reflects on nal evil principle. They were sometimes called
such subjects as impermanency and death.
Phundaites, from the phunda or girdle which they
BODHISAT, a candidate for the Budhaship. See were accustomed to wear. Their system of opinions
BUDHISM.
regarded chiefly the higher order of spirits, at the
BODHISATWA. The incipient state of a head of whom they placed Satanael, whose name
Budha, in the countless phases of being through somewhat resembles Sammael, the angel of death
which he passes previous to receiving the Budha- among the Rabbinical Jews. They represented, ac-
ship.
cording to Euthymius, the Divine Being under the
368
BOGOMILES.
1
figure of an old man, adopting the figure probably so that but few attained to their ultimate destination.
from the expression of the prophet Daniel, “The It was he who represented himself to the Jews as
Ancient of Days." We cannot describe the opinions the supreme God. He employed Moses as his in-
of the Bogomiles more clearly than by adopting the strument; giving him the law, which in fact the
lucid statement of Neander. “Satanael, they re- apostle Paul describes as begetting sin ; he bestowed
garded as the first-born son of the supreme God-in on Moses the power of working miracles. Many
which they agreed with the Euchites, and with one thousands were thus brought to ruin by the tyranny
particular view of the Parsic dualism—who sat at the of Satanael. Then the good God had pity on the
right hand of God, armed with divine power, and higher nature in humanity which had proceeded
holding the second place after him. To each of the from himself and was akin to his own, in that hu-.
higher spirits God had committed a particular depart-manity which had become so estranged from its
ment of administration, while Satanael was placed destination by the crafty plots of Satanael. He
over all, as his universal vicegerent. Thus he was determined to rescue men from the dominion of
tempted to become proud; and, intoxicated with the Satanael, and to deprive the latter of his power,
sense of his power and dignity, was for making him- For this purpose, in the 5500th year after the crea-
self independent of the supreme God, and founding tion of the world, he caused to emanate from him-
an empire of his own. He endeavoured also to lead self a spirit who was called the Son of God, Logos,
away from their allegiance the angels to whom God the archangel Michael, exalted above all the angels
,
had entrusted the management of the different por- the angel of the great council, Isa. ix. 6, who was to
tions of the world; and he succeeded with a part of overthrow the empire of Satanael and occupy his
them. The Bogomiles believed they found Satanael place. This being he sent down into the world in
described in the unjust steward of the parable, and an ethereal body, which resembled an earthly body
they expended much labour in expounding the se only in its outward appearance. He made use of
veral points in the parable in accordance with this Mary simply as a channel of introduction. She
notion. Satanael now called together the angels who found the divine child already in its swaddling-
had apostatized with him, and invited them to join clothes in the manger, without knowing how it came
him in laying the groundwork of a new creation, in- there. Of course, all that was sensible here, was
dependent of the supreme God, a new heaven and a merely in appearance. Satanael, who held Jesus to
new earth; for the Father had not yet deprived him be nothing more than a man, and saw his kingdom
of his divine form, he had not as yet lost the El, but among the Jews drawn into apostacy and endangered
still possessed creative power. He let himself down, by him, plotted his death. But Jesus baffled him;
therefore, with his apostate companions, into chaos, in reality, he could not be affected by any sensuous
and here laid the foundations of this new empire ; sufferings. He who, though supposed to be dead,
with his angels he created man, and gave him a body was exalted above all suffering, appeared on the third
formed out of the earth. To animate this being, he day, in the full vigour of life; when, laying aside the
meant to give him a portion of his own spirit; but veil of his seeming earthly body, he showed himself
he was unable to carry the work to its completion. to Satanael in his true heavenly form. The latter
Therefore he had recourse to the supreme God, be- was forced to acknowledge his supremacy, and being
seeching him to have pity on his own image, and deprived by Christ of his divine power, was obliged to
binding himself to share with him in the possession give up the name El, and remain nothing but Satan.
of man.
He promised that, by the race proceeding Christ then ascended to the right hand of God, to be
from man, the places of those angels should be made the second after him, and to occupy the place of the
good who had fallen from God in heaven. So the ruined Satanael. When Christ was now removed
supreme God took pity on this image, and commu- from the earth, and taken up into heaven, God
nicated to it a portion of his own spirit, and so man caused a second power, the Holy Ghost, to emanate
became a living soul. But now, when Adam and from himself, who took the place of the now risen
Eve, who had been created with him, became ra- and exalted Christ, by lis influences on individual
diant with splendour, in virtue of the divine life souls and the community of the faithful. It
be
that had been communicated to them, Satanael, noticed as a characteristic peculiarity, that the Holy
seized with envy, resolved to defeat the destination Spirit was represented by the Bogomiles under the
of mankind to enter into those vacant places of the form of a beardless youth, doubtless a symbol of his
higher spiritual world. For this purpose he se- all-renovating power. They regarded it as the final
duced Eve, intending by intercourse with her to end of all things, that when Christ and the Holy
bring forth a posterity which should overpower and Ghost should have finished their whole work, all the
extinguish the posterity of Adam. Thus Cain was consequences of the apostasy from God would be re-
begotten, the representative of the evil principle in moved, and the redeemed souls would attain to their
humanity; while Abel, the offspring of Adam and final destination. Then God would receive back
Eve, was the representative of the good principle. into himself those powers which had emanated from
Satanael ruled in the world he had created. He him, and all things would return to their original
had power to lead astray the majority of mankind, unity.”
may
BOIAS.
369
The em-
The Bogomiles rejected baptism with water, hold- Basilius was forthwith conducted to prison, and num-
ing that the only Christian baptism was a baptism of bers of the Bogomiles were arrested, as well as some
the Spirit, to be imparted simply by calling upon the who had no connection with the sect. To separate
Holy Ghost, with the laying on of hands. The mode the innocent from the guilty, the emperor devised
of admission into the sect was very peculiar. The the following plan.
the following plan. He caused the whole of those
candidate for initiation passed through a previous who had been arrested to appear in a public place
course of preparation, which consisted of the confes- before a large assembly, in the centre of which he
sion of sins, fasting, and prayer. He was then in- took his seat on an elevated throne. Two great
troduced into the assembly, when the presiding offi- fires were kindled, the one of them having a cross
cer laid the gospel of John upon his head, and they placed beside it, and the other none.
invoked upon him the Holy Ghost and repeated the peror now declared that all were to be put to
Lord's Prayer. He was then required to lead a life | death, and those who wished to die as believers were
of probation, in the course of which he observed the to pay their homage to the cross. Those who
strictest abstinence, and, if he faithfully passed obeyed this command were dismissed with a simple
through his probationary period, he was again intro- admonition, while those who refused to do homage
duced into the assembly, placed with his face towards to the crucifix were doomed to perpetual imprison-
the east, and the gospel of John again laid upon his ment. Basilius alone perished at the stake in A.D.
head. The whole assembly, men and women, touch- 1119. The death of their leader did not prevent
ed his head with their hands, and sung together a the Bogomiles from actively propagating their opi.
hymn of thanksgiving to God, that the man had nions. They speedily spread themselves through-
proved himself worthy to be admitted as a member out the Greek Empire. The writings of a venerated
of their community.
monk, Constantius Chrysomalos, are said to have
As the Bogomiles refused to admit an outward contributed greatly to the diffusion of these doc-
celebration of baptism, so they seem to have been trines. It was not, however, till after his death
equally opposed to an outward celebration of the that a synod, assembled at Constantinople in A. D.
Lord's Supper. They contended against the wor- 1140, under the Emperor Emmanuel Comnenus,
ship of the Virgin Mary and of saints and images, pronounced condemnation on him and his followers.
refusing also all reverence for a crucifix. Euthy- In the year 1143, two Cappadocian bishops, Cle-
mius alleges that they rejected the historical books mens and Leontius, were deposed as Bogomiles by a
of the Old Testament, but received the Psalms and synod at Constantinople ; about the same time, and
the Prophets, and all the writings of the New Testa- for the same reason, Niphon, a monk, was sentenced
ment. To the gospel of John they seemed to attach to imprisonment. In the tenets which they held,
a peculiar value and importance. They looked upon and the opposition which they manifested to the
the dominant church as an apostate church, ruled by dominant church, the Bogomiles bore considerable
Satanael, while they represented themselves as the resemblance to the CATHARI and the PAULICIANS
true followers of Christ.
(which see).
The Bogomiles had no sooner sprung up in A. D.
BOHEMIAN BRETHREN. See MORAVIANS,
1116, than their tenets were adopted by individuals HUSSITES, TABORITES.
belonging even to the highest classes of society. BOIAS, medico-priests among the native Indians
The Greek emperor Alexius Comnenus hearing how of the Caribbee islands. Each of these Boias has a
rapidly the sect was spreading, resolved to take particular genius, whom they pretend to invoke by
steps to ascertain the real leaders of the movement. humming over certain words, and by smoking to-
For this purpose he caused several members of the bacco. They never call upon this genius or demon,
community to be arrested and put to the torture ; unless in the night, and in a place where there is
and by this cruel stratagem he learned that an old neither fire nor light. The Boias seem to be con-
monk, by name Basilius, was at the head of the jurors or wizards, who possess the secret of destroy-
party. The emperor, accordingly, invited this leader ing their enemies with charms. The old Boias
of the Bogomiles to a private interview at the palace, make their candidates for the priesthood pass through
pretending that he wished to learn the principles of a somewhat severe discipline. The novice is ob-
the sect with the design of joining it. The old man, liged from his infancy to abstain from various kinds
though at first suspicious, at length acceded to the of meat, and even to live upon bread and water in a
request. He repaired to the royal residence, and, little hut, where he is visited by no person except his
while unfolding the principles of the community masters. To effect his purification, incisions are
which he headed, a person was stationed by the em- made in his skin, and tobacco-juice is administered
peror behind a curtain taking notes of the whole con- to him freely. His body is rubbed over with gum,
versation. When sufficient information had been ob- which they afterwards cover with feathers, in order
tained to secure the condemnation of the unwary monk, to make him exact and diligent in consulting the
the curtain was raised, and there stood before him genii, and obeying their orders. They teach him to
an array of clerical dignitaries, ready to pronounce cure the diseased, and to conjure up the spirit.
& sentence likely to suppress the obnoxious sect. When a Boia is summoned in a case of sickness, he
I
2 A
1
370
BONA DEA-BONZES.
immediately orders the fire to be extinguished in the goda, and although they lived in monasteries, they
first instance; then he goes into a corner, where he were wholly dependent for subsistence on public
orders the patient to be brought to him. He now charity. The most recent travellers, however, in-
smokes a leaf of tobacco, and bruises a part of it in form us, that the moderate provision which they pick
his hands, and, snapping his fingers, blows what he up by begging, is quite insufficient for their support,
has rubbed into the air. The odour of this per- and hence, they are under the necessity of working
fume attracts the Chemen or good spirit, and the at some trade for their living. Most of them act as
Boia, approaching his patient, feels, presses, and schoolmasters, and those who are incapable of teach-
handles, several times in succession, the diseased part, ing, wander up and down begging from door to door,
if it be outward, and applying his mouth to the part, the revenues of the pagodas being no longer ade-
he pretends to suck out the diseased matter. Should | quate for their livelihood. M. Huc, in his · L'Em-
the patient fail to obtain the expected relief, the pire Chinois,' informs us, that they are daily dimin-
Boia lays aside his medical character, and assumes ishing in numbers. The manner in which they re-
that of a priest, administering consolation to the cruit their ranks is singular. The Bonze who is at-
afflicted person, and endeavouring to reconcile him tached to a pagoda, purchases for a small sum one of
to a speedy departure from this world.
the children of a poor family. He shaves the boy's
BONA DEA, a Roman divinity, daughter of head, and appoints him his pupil, or rather his at-
Faunus, and an object of worship almost exclusively tendant. The poor child waits upon his master on
to females, to whom she made known her oracles. A all occasions, and at length becomes accustomed to
festival in honour of this goddess was celebrated every the life of a Bonze. In course of time he succeeds
year on the 1st of May, the ceremonies being con- his master, and thus the race of Bonzes is perpe-
ducted wholly by the vestal virgins, and only females, tuated. At one period these priests exercised a
generally of the higher ranks, were permitted to take powerful influence over the people, but this is no
part in them. The house of the consul or prætor, | longer the case, their authority and importance being
where the festival was held, was adorned as a temple completely gone. In the recent insurrection, the re-
with all kinds of flowers except myrtle. The statue volutionary party, as M. Huc tells us, sought to
of the Bona Dea was covered with a garland of vine- render themselves popular by murdering the Bonzes
leaves, and a serpent was twined around its feet. in every district through which they passed.
The solemnities were conducted by night, with A large monastery in which the Bonzes resided
drinking and dancing. The Bona Dea is sometimes was generally connected with each pagoda. These
regarded by Greek writers as the same with HE- monasteries, once so famous, are now almost entirely
CATE or PERSEPHONE (which see).
deserted. M. Huc gives an account of a visit which
BONI HOMINES (Lat. good men), a name some- he paid to one of the most famous of these priestly
times applied to the CATHARI or PAULICIANS residences, that which is situated on the island of
(which see), in the eleventh century.
Pou-tou. More than fifty monasteries, he says, are
BONOSIANS, a Christian sect which arose to- scattered over the sides of the mountains, and in the
wards the end of the fourth century, headed by Bo- valleys, of this beautiful and picturesque island.
nosus, a bishop, probably of Sardica in Illyrium. These large monasteries, however, which were once
They were accused of maintaining that Mary the crowded with Bonzes, are now, as this traveller in-
mother of our Lord did not always remain a virgin, | forms us, “ almost entirely abandoned to legions of
but bore several children after the birth of Jesus. It rats, and to large spiders which weave their webs in
is very doubtful, however, whether Boposus and his peace in the deserted cells.” Over each of the monas-
followers maintained what has sometimes been im- teries a superior is appointed, who is, however, rather
puted to them, that Christ was a mere man, and was an administrator of temporal goods, than a ruler to
the Son of God only by adoption. Yet in the fifth whom all the other Bonzes resident there are bound
and sixth centuries, there were heretics both in to yield obedience. They are usually distinguished
France and Spain, bearing the name of Bonosians, from the laity, not only by the tonsure, but
many
who opposed the doctrine of the Trinity, and of the them by wearing a chaplet about their necks, con-
divinity of Christ. Pope Gregory says, that the sisting of a hundred beads, and, besides, they have
church rejected their baptism, because they did not at the end of their staff a wooden bird. Though
baptize in the name of the three Persons. But the themselves very poor, they are said to be generally
council of Arles, held in the year A. D. 452, by the charitable to others. They assemble the people to
seventeenth canon, commands the Bonosians to be worship by the ringing of some particular bells, and
received into the church by the holy unction, the often also by the sound of trumpets. To become a
imposition of hands, and a confession of faith, it be- | Bonze, any one has only to shave his head and put
ing certain that they baptize in the name of the on a robe with long and wide sleeves, and to give up
Trinity. The Bonosians have sometimes been con- the office he has only to change his dress and let his
founded with the PHOTINIANS (which see).
BONZES, priests in China, Tartary, and Thibet. We learn from M. Huc, that convents of female
Great numbers were formerly attached to each pa- Bonzes are found in considerable numbers in China,
of
hair grow.
BONNET–BOSCI.
371
of the enemy
particularly in the southern provinces. Their cos- reaches the subtile ether of heaven. From it have
tume differs little from that of the male bonzes. descended prophets and lawgivers who imparted to
They have their heads completely shaven; they are mankind the rays of a purer light, and opened to
not confined to their convents, but are often to be them the vista of a brighter hope. In short, it
seen walking in the public thoroughfares.
was the prolific seed-bed and potent centre of the
BONNET, a covering for the head, worn by the religious dogmas and liturgic rites of the ancient
Jewish priests, as appointed in Exod. xxviii. 40. Persians.
According to the Jewish Rabbis, this article of dress BOREAS, the north wind, represented by the an-
was made of a piece of cloth sixteen yards long, and cient Greeks as dwelling in a cave of Mount Hæmus
which covered the head like a helmet or turban. The in Thrace. In the Persian war, the Athenians felt
mitre, however, which was worn only by the high their obligations to Boréas, for destroying the ships
priest, is described by Josephus as a bonnet without
The inhabitants of Megalopolis also
à crown, which did not cover the whole head, but honoured him with a regular festival held every year,
only the middle part of it. The bonnet came lower in memory of the assistance which they received from
down upon the forehead than the mitre, and rose up him in their contests with the Spartans. See next
higher, tapering upwards to a point. Josephus says article.
that the bonnet worn by private priests was com- BOREASMUS, a festival celebrated by the Athe-
posed of many folds of linen cloth sewed together in nians in honour of Boreas, the north wind, which had
the form of a thick woven crown of linen. The scattered the ships of Xerxes in the Persian war.
whole was covered with a piece of linen cloth which BORHAN, the name of God among the Tartars.
descended to the forehead, that the seams might be A Lama of Thibet said to M. Huc, speaking of that
concealed. The same author remarks that the high people, " They prostrate themselves before all that
priest's bonnet was identical with that of the priests, they meet; all is Borhan in their eyes, At every
except that another piece, of a violet colour, covered step they throw themselves on the ground, and lift-
the back part of the head and the temples, and was ing their clasped hands to their forehead, cry out,
surrounded with a triple crown of gold, in which Borhan, Borhan.”
were small buttons of henbane-flowers. This circle BORRELISTS, a sect said to have arisen in Hol-
of flowers was interrupted in the fore part of the land towards the middle of the seventeenth century.
crown by the plate of gold, on which the name of They were the disciples of Adam Borrel, a Dutch
God was engraven. See MITRE.
minister who was well skilled in the Hebrew, Greek,
BOR, the father of the three Scandinavian gods, and Latin languages. His brother was Dutch am-
Odin, Vili, and Ve. His wife was a Joten or giant- bassador at the court of Louis XIV. The Borrelists
woman, whose name was Besla, the daughter of Böl- were somewhat allied in sentiment to the MENNO-
thorn. From the 'Northern Antiquities' it appears NITES (which see), though they formed a separate
that the creators of the first human pair are all body. They seem to have been noted for strictness
sons of Bör; that the oldest of them, Odin, conferred of religious deportment, approaching even to aus-
upon the man and woman life and souls; the second, terity. They held the notion that religion, being
Vili, motion and knowledge; and the third, Ve, spiritual in its nature, all outward ordinances of any
speech, beauty, sight, and hearing, with the addition kind were unnecessary, and indeed inconsistent with
of raiment. The mode of man's creation was, accord- true acceptable worship. They maintained also that
ing to this system, very peculiar. One day as the the Word of God ought to be read without note or
sons of Bör, or the gods, were taking a walk on the comment, and that all human expositions only cor-
sea-shore, they found two pieces of wood floating upon rupted the purity of the inspired volume. In many
the water ;-these they took, and out of them made a points this sect resembled the Society of Friends.
man and woman.
BORYSTHENES, or DNIEPER, universally re-
BORAC. See ALBORAC.
vered among the Russians in ancient times as a holy
BORAS, a remarkable race found in all the larger river, and in the holy city Kiev, or Kiew, situated
towns in the province of Gujerat in Hindustan, who, on its right bank, nearly all the gods of the Slavic
though Mohammedans in religion, are Jews in fea- race were at one time assembled. In an island, at
tures, manners, and genius.
the distance of four days' journey from its mouth,
BORDJ, or, with the article prefixed, ALBORDJ, the inhabitants of Kiew in their annual voyages tó
the mythic world-mountain of the ancient Persians the Black sea, in the month of June, offered their
From this mountain, situated in Persia, all mundane sacrifices under a sacred oak.
existence took its rise, and the stars leapt into their BOSCI (Gr. grazers), a sort of monks in the re-
orbicular paths. Cosmically considered, it is the gions of Syria and Mesopotamia in early times.
symbol of creation, and its genetic connection with They derived their name from their peculiar manner
the Infinite Supreme Essence. The Bordj is affirmed of living, as they never dwelt in any house, eat no
to be the navel of the world, and the mountain of flesh or bread, nor drank wine, but fed only upon the
mountains. It towers far above the most elevated herbs of the field. This class of monks is mentioned
parts of the earth, and, overtopping the clouds, by Sozomen.
372
BOTANOMANCY-BO-TREE.
BOTANOMANCY (Gr. divination by herbs), a a wall around it of the seven gems. As it had
species of divination practised by the ancient Greeks. been procured by means of Ananda, it was called
It was done by writing one's name on herbs and by his name. Budha was requested to honour
leaves, which were then exposed to the winds, and it by sitting at its foot as he had sat at the foot
as many of the letters as remained in their proper of the tree in the forest of Uruwela; but he said
places being joined together, contained an answer to that when he had sat at the foot of the tree in
their question. See DIVINATION.
the forest he became Budha, and that it was not
BO-TREE (WORSHIP OF THE). It was under meet he should sit in the same manner near any
the bo-tree that Gotama Budha attained the Budha- other tree.
ship. The worship of this tree in Ceylon is of very " The vastness of the ruins near Budha Gaya is
ancient origin. The city of Budha Gaya, which, from also an evidence that the original bó-tree must have
the extent of its ruins, appears to have been large been visited by great numbers of pilgrims, and have
and populous, was erected near the bo-tree, and on been regarded with peculiar veneration. It is said
the very spot on which this town once stood a bo- that not long after the death of Gótama a number of
tree still flourishes, which is regarded by the Bud- priests went to worship this tree, among whom was
hists as the same tree under which Gotama sat more one who, in passing through a village, was accosted
than two thousand years ago. European travellers, by a woman as he sat in the hall of reflection ; and
however, do not regard it as more than a century when she learnt whither he was bound, and the ad-
old. In the court-yard of nearly every monastery or vantages to be gained by making an offering to this
temple in Ceylon, there is a bo-tree, which is said to sacred object, she listened with much pleasure, but
be taken from the tree at Anuradhapura, brought regretted that as she was poor, working in the house
over to the island in the beginning of the fourth of another for hire, and had not so much as a mea-
century before Christ. It is generally thought by sure of rice for the next day, it was not in her power
the Budhists that the place where the bo-tree stands to make any offering besides the cloth she wore;
is the centre of the world. Mr. Spence Hardy, in and this cloth, after washing it, she presented to the
his work on Eastern Monachism, gives the following priest, requesting him to offer it in her name to the
account of the origin of the worship of this tree. bó-tree, that she might receive the merit resulting
" At the time when the usual residence of Gótama therefrom. The priest acceded to her request, and
was near the city of Sewet, the people brought offered the cloth as a banner. At midnight the wo-
flowers and perfumes to present to him as offerings; man died, but was born in a déwa-lóka, where she
but as he was absent, they threw them down near lived in the greatest splendour, arrayed in the most
the wall, and went away. When Anépidu and the beautiful garments. The day after the priest visited
other upásikas saw what had occurred, they were the tree he retired to the forest, and fell asleep;
grieved, and wished that some permanent object of when a female appeared to him, with many attend-
worship were appointed, at which they might pre- ants, singing sweetly, and playing the most enchant-
sent their offerings during the absence of the sage. ing music. The priest asked her who she was, and
As the same disappointment occurred several times, she said, 'Do you not know me? I am the female
they made known their wishes to Ananda, who in- in whose name you presented the cloth. Yester day
formed Budha on his return. In consequence of this I was mean and filthy, but to-day I am clean and
intimation, Budha said to Ananda, “The objects that beautiful; and this I have gained through the merit
are proper to receive worship are of three kinds, of the offering at the bó-tree,”
serírika, uddésika, and paribhógika. In the last di- In the Bo-tree, or ficus religiosa, is observed the
vision is the tree at the foot of which I became same shaking of its leaves, as is seen in the aspen
of
Budha. Therefore send to obtain a branch of that Syria ; and the Budhists allege, that the leaves thus
tree, and set it in the court of this wihára. He who constantly move out of respect for the great sage.
worships it will receive the same reward as if he It is customary to plant a bo-tree on the mound un-
worshipped me in person. When a place had been der which repose the ashes of the Kandian chiefs
prepared by the king for its reception, Mugalan and priests. An interesting ceremony connected with
went through the air to the spot in the forest where this tree, is quoted by Mr. Hardy, from “Knox's
the bo-tree stood, and brought away a fruit that had Captivity in Ceylon :
Captivity in Ceylon :' “ Under the tree, at some
begun to germinate, which he delivered to Ananda, convenient distance, about ten or twelve feet at the
from whom it passed to the king, and from the king outmost edge of the platform, they usually build
to Anépidu, who received it in a golden vessel. No booths or tents; some are made slight, only with
sooner was it placed in the spot it was intended to leaves, for the present use ; but others are built
occupy in the court, than it at once began to grow; substantial, with hewn timber and clay walls, which
and as the people looked on in wonder it became a stand many years. These buildings are divided into
tree, large as a tree of the forest, being 50 cubits small tenements for each particular family. The
high, with five branches extending in the five whole town joins, and each man builds his own apart-
directions, each 50 cubits in length. The people ment, so that the building goes quite round, like a
presented to it many costly offerings, and built circle; only one gap is left, which is to pass through
BOURAITS-BOURIGNONISTS.
373
to them."
the bó-tree, and this gap is built over with a kind of deed she was successful in rousing individual Chris-
portal. The use of these buildings is for the enter- tians in Holland and Germany, France and Switzer-
tainment of the women, who take great delight to land and England also, to a more earnest devotional
come and see these ceremonies, clad in their richest spirit, mingled it might be with partial enthusiasm,
and best apparel. They employ themselves in see- but still containing no small portion of true Chris-
ing the dancers, and the jugglers do their tricks, tian vitality. The Bourignonists became a numerous
who afterwards by their importunity get money from body, and among them persons of some note. Swam-
them, or a ring off their fingers, or some such mat- merdam, the naturalist, held their opinions.
ter. Here also they spend their time in eating Madame Bourignon diffused her peculiar views
betle, and in talking with their consorts, and shows not only by conversation, but also by her writings,
ing their fine clothes. These solemnities are always which extend to eighteen volumes. The most im-
in the night; the booths all set round with lamps ; | portant of her productions, and those which are most
nor are they ended in one night, but last three or highly valued, are, ' Light in Darkness,' «The Testi-
four, until the full moon, which always puts a period mony of Truth,' and · The Renovation of the Gospel
Spirit.' The hostile attitude which she assumed to-
BOURAITS (RELIGION OF THE). This is a wards the different churches roused against her a
people of Mongol origin, who reside in the western storm of persecution, which drove her from one hid-
part of Siberia, and on the frontiers of China in the ing place to another, throughout Schleswig and Hol-
government of Irkutzk. Their religion is a mixture stein. She died at last in 1680, impoverished and
of Lamaism and Shamaism. In their huts they deserted, concealed in a miserable lodging at Am.
have wooden idols, naked or clothed: others are of sterdam. Her opinions, however, long survived her,
felt, tin, or lamb's skin ; and others again rude daub- and the Quietist and Mystic pietism which she in-
ings with soot by the Shamans, or priests, who give culcated, has many admirers even in our own day.
them arbitrary names. The women are not allowed The substance of her system is, that religion con-
to approach or to pass before them. The Bourait, sists in internal emotion or feeling, and not in either
when he goes out or returns to his hut, bows to his knowledge or practice.
idols, and this is almost the only daily mark of re- The most distinguished supporter of the Bourigno-
spect that he pays them. He annually celebrates nist principles was Peter Poiret, a Calvinistic minis-
two festivals in honour of them, and at these men ter, who relinquished his office, and gave himself up
only have a right to be present.
to the development through the press of the mysti-
BOURIGNONISTS, the followers of Madame cal theology which he had embraced. He published
Antoinette Bourignon de la Ponte, a native of Flan- a system of divinity, under the title of "The Divine
ders, born at Lisle in A. D. 1616. Even in very Economy,' in which he lays it down as a funda-
early life she was characterized by a strong imagina- mental principle, that the understanding or intellect
tion, a lively enthusiastic temperament, combined of man being made for God, is in a manner infinite,
with a warm devotional spirit. From her natural so as to be able to exert infinite acts, that is, to raise
temperament, therefore, and the peculiar qualities of itself up to the contemplation of God as incompre-
her mental constitution, she was quite prepared to hensible, infinite, and above all particular forms of
enter into the spirit and imbibe the doctrines of the conceiving him. Poiret inculcates, therefore, a pas-
Mystics. She conceived herself to be divinely in- sive implicit faith, surrendering the understanding
spired, and to be set apart by God for the important to God, and yielding ourselves up to his teaching,
work of reviving the spirit of Christianity, which she and in this way, according to his view, we acknow-
alleged to have been extinguished by the theological ledge that “God is infinite, and incomprehensible;
disputes which had so long agitated the different that he is a Light, a Good, a Wisdom, a Power, a
churches. Madame Bourignon had no desire to Justice, in a word, a Being above all comprehension
found a sect, believing, as she did, that the variety of and thought.” Thus, on the principles of this sys-
sects was one of the greatest evils which had befallen | tem, in all matters of religion the understanding is
the Christian church. Both Roman Catholics and to be utterly inert, and man is reduced to a merely
Protestants were in her view alike to be blamed in passive machine, without action, and without respon-
this matter. She protested equally against both, and sibility. In a quotation which Mr. Vaughan gives
wished to retire from the world with a few asso- in his Hours with the Mystics,' Poiret endeavours
ciates, and there, bound by no vow, distinguished by to meet the objections which naturally occur in look-
no peculiar dress, to give themselves up to a life of ing at the matter in this light. His reply is as fol-
calm meditation and prayer. The fame of her ascet- lows:-" It will be objected, may be, to what has been
icism and devotional life soon spread, and many re- said, that this second condition required here of the
sorted to her as their spiritual guide. She believed intellect that means to be enlightened by Faith, is a
that she enjoyed the high privilege of knowing the state of idleness—time lost; and that it is an absurd
true spiritual meaning of Scripture, and that it was thing not to make use of the understanding and fa-
her special vocation to recall the church from formal- culties God has given us, nor so much as endeavour
ism to spirituality of worship. To some extent in- to excite in our minds good and bright thoughts.
374
BOWDYANGA-BRAHM.
Here are several things tacked together, and most of BOWING. See ADORATION.
them beside the purpose. For at present I am not BOYLE'S LECTURES, a series of eight lectures
treating of the means by which one may be intro- delivered annually in one of the churches in London,
duced, or rather brought, as it were, to the threshold according to an arrangement made by the celebrated
of faith, as I may say; nor of that imperfect and be- | Robert Boyle, who, by his will in 1691, bequeathed
ginning faith, by me styled active. Nor yet do I a large portion of his estate for religious purposes,
say, that when one has been enlightened by the light the income to be annually paid over to acute and
of God, one is not to fix one's mind to the considera- | eloquent men, who should oppose the progress of
tion of the lights held out by God: but what I say impiety, and demonstrate and confirm the truth of
is this : I suppose a man has already had some natural and revealed religion. For the support of
glimpse of the divine light by the call of preventing this Lecture, Mr. Boyle assigned the rent of his
grace, and that he has actively co-operated with it, house in Crooked Lane, London, to some learned
by turning his understanding towards it, with parti- divine within the bills of mortality, to be elected for
cular desires of such and such lights; and moreover, a term not exceeding three years. In course of
that to confirm himself therein, he has deduced in time, however, the fund was found to be inadequate,
his reason and his other inferior faculties, notions, and Archbishop Tennison procured a salary of £50,
ratiocinations, images, and words, and other particu- charged on a farm in the 'parish of Brill, in the
lar exercises wherein he has been exercised long county of Bucks. Thus the foundation is settled in
enough to be capable of ascending to the state of perpetuity, and the Boyle Lectureship continues to
pure and altogether divine faith. Upon this suppo- be a valuable institution, for the defence of Chris-
sition, the question is, whether one whose faith has tianity against infidel objections of every kind.
as yet been but weak, and the small light he has had BRAGI, the god of eloquence and poetry among
clouded and mixed with great darkness, prejudices, the ancient Scandinavians. Bragi is accordingly the
and errors, designing to clear the principles of the Norse name for the poetic art, and also employed to
light he has from the aforesaid mixture, and desiring denote a distinguished poet or poetess.
to see this divine light in its purity and more fully, BRAHM, the incommunicable appellation among
-whether, I say, to this end he ought to apply the Hindus of the Supreme, eternal Spirit, viewed in
thereto the activity of his understanding, of his me- its own abstract impersonal essence. This Supreme
ditations, reflections, and reasonings; or else whe- Being, considered as unrevealed, is known by differ-
ther, all this apart, he ought to offer his understand- ent names, such as Brahm, Parabrahma, Paratma,
ing in vacuity and silence to the Son of God, the Ram, or Bhagavat. He is represented as without
Sun of Righteousness, and the true Light of Souls ? beginning or end, eternal; that which is, and must
And this last is what we affirm, and against which remain, unchangeable; without dimensions, infinite;
the objections alleged are of no force.”
without parts, immaterial, invisible; omnipotent,
After the death of Madame Bourignon, the pecu- omniscient, omnipresent; enjoying ineffable felicity.
liar principles of mysticism which she and her coad- And yet, notwithstanding this description, he is
jutor Poiret had so sedulously taught, continued to often said to be without qualities or attributes. The
attract many followers in the close of the seventeenth two statements appear contradictory, and yet they
and the opening of the eighteenth century. Some are explained by the Hindu as states of being not
shut themselves up in seclusion and solitude, devot- contemporaneous, in which case they would be con-
ing their whole time and thoughts to religious exer- tradictory, but successive, each of them being as-
cises ; others refused to hold communion with any sumed alternately, after immense intervals of time.
Christian society whatever, and therefore renounced On these two successive states, Dr. Duff makes the
public worship, engaging only in private devotion. following remarks in his 'India and India Mis-
Pietist and mystical writers were eagerly read. sions:'
Thomas à Kempis, Madame Guyon, Arndt, and “The primary and proper state of Brahm's being,
Spener, and especially the voluminous works of is that in which he exists wholly without qualities or
Madame Bourignon, infused into many Christians a attributes. When he thus exists, there is no visible
relish for an abstract spiritualism, which lavished external universe. He is then denoted emphatically
all its regard upon inward frames and feelings to the THE ONE—without a second. Not merely one,
almost total neglect of the active duties of the generically, as being truly possessed of a divine na-
outward Christian life. See MYSTICS.
ture ;—not merely one, hypostatically, as being sim-
BOURNEANS. See ANNIHILATIONISTS. ple, uncompounded, and, therefore, without parts;-
BOWDYANGA, the seven sections of wisdom not merely one, numerically, as being, in point of
among the Budhists, including, 1. The ascertainment fact, the only actually existing deity. No.
He is
of truth by mental application. 2. The investigation simply, absolutely, and by necessity of nature, one;
of causes. 3. Persevering exertion. 4. Joy. 5. -and not only so, but he is one in the sense of ex-
Tranquillity. 6. Tranquillity in a higher degree, cluding the very possibility of the existence of any
including freedom from all that disturbs either body other god. Thus far a Christian might accord in the
or mind. 7. Equanimity.
definition of the divine unity. It is, in words, the
BRAHMA.
375
arms.
very
definition which the Bible gives of the unity of The Hindu Brahm has no temple dedicated to his
the only living and true God.' But the Hindu ad-
But the Hindu ad- worship, nor is a single act of adoration ever offered
vances a step farther. He conceives, that when to him. This may appear strange, but the reason
Brahm exists in his proper and characteristic state, which is given by the admirers of Hinduism for the
he is one; not merely in the sense of excluding other denial of all worship to Brahm is, that the “repre-
gods, but in the sense of excluding the possibility of senting the Supreme being by images, or the honour-
the existence of any other being whatever. He is ing him by the institution of sacred rites, and the erec-
thus not merely one, but the one,—the single and sole tion of temples must be perfectly incompatible with
entity in the universe,-yea more, the only possible every conceivable notion of an all-pervading, imma-
entity, whether created or uncreated. His oneness terial, incorporeal spirit.” In Brahm, there was ori-
is so absolute, that it not only excludes the possibil-ginally existent Swada or the golden womb, the re-
ity of any other god, co-ordinate, or subordinate, but ceptacle of all the types of things when he produced
excludes the possibility of the existence of any other Maya, matter or illusion, the source of all pheno-
being, human or angelic, material or immaterial. mena, and by means of which individual existences
« The Hindu theologist does not stop even here. made their appearance. From the bosom of Brahm
His Brahm, as already stated, exists without quali- came forth the Trimurti or Triad of the Hindus, con-
ties or attributes.' What !-literally and absolute- sisting of Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver
ly without qualities or attributes ? Yes, literally and of forms, and Shiva the Destroyer of forms, who by
absolutely so. The possession of qualities or attri- this very destruction causes the return of beings to
butes implies multiplicity and diversity of some kind. unity, and their re-entrance into Brahm. The Hin-
But Brahm's unity is so perfectly pure, so essen- dus are taught to look forward to absorption into the
tially simple, that it must exclude multiplicity or divine essence, or Brahm, as the ultimate reward, as
diversity of any kind. Consequently, he is repre-
final beatitude. See next article.
sented as existing without intellect, without intelli- BRAHMA, the Creator, the first member of the
gence, without even the consciousness of his own Hindu Triad or Trimurti. He is represented as a
existence! Surely this is the very transcendentalism golden-coloured figure, with four heads and four
of unity.
The origin of Brahma is variously stated by
“No wonder though the Hindu often exclaims Hindu writers. Some inform us, that, when BRAHM
that his Supreme Brahm is nothing.' In any sense, | (see preceding article) awoke to consciousness and
within the reach of human understanding, he is activity, Brahma and the other two Persons of the
'nothing.' For the mind of man can form no notion Triad sprung from his essence. Others allege that
of matter or spirit apart from its properties or attri- creation sprung from a seed deposited in the waters,
butes. Let Brahm, therefore, be represented as ut- which became an egg, from which Brahma the Crea-
terly devoid of attributes, and, to human apprehen-
tes, and, to human apprehen- tor was born. Brahma's first attempts at the pro-
sion, he must be actually as nothing,-a mere abstract duction of the forms of animated beings are reported
negation more absolute than daricness, of which it to have been numerous, and far from successful.
has been remarked, that it is endowed with the "At one time," says Dr. Duff, “ he is said to have
property of at any time admitting light; or than performed a long and severe course of ascetic devo-
silence, which has the quality of admitting sound; or tions to enable him to accomplish his wish, but in
than
space, which has the capacity of admitting exten- vain ; at another, inflamed with anger and passion at
sion. No wonder though the Hindu confess, with a his repeated failures, he sat down and wept,—and
peculiar emphasis of meaning, that his Supreme from the streaming tear-drops sprang into being, as
Brahm is 'incomprehensible.'
his first-born, a progeny of ghosts and goblins of an
Thus stripped of all attributes, Brahm is wholly aspect so loathsome and dreadful, that he was ready
inactive, existing in a state of unbroken sleep, undis- to faint away. At one time, after profound medita-
turbed repose. This profound slumber, however, is tion, different beings spring forth, one from his
not everlasting in its duration. After unnumbered | thumb, a second from his breath, a third from his
ages, he suddenly awakes, and starting to a con- ear, a fourth from his side, and others from different
sciousness of his own existence, he exclaims, “ Brahm members of his body; at another, he assumes sundry
is," or "I am.” From that moment he begins to ex- strange qualities to effectuate his purpose, or he mul-
hibit active qualities and attributes. A desire for tiplies himself into the forms of different creatures,
duality arises in his mind. In obedience to this de- rational and irrational. As the result of all his toil-
sire, the archetype or ideal form of the universe pre- some labours and experiments, there did proceed
sents itself before him. This is succeeded by an act from Brahma, directly or indirectly, a countless pro-
of volition, which calls the universe into actual exist- geny of animated beings that people the fourte
This done Brahm relapses into his former worlds which constitute the universe.”
state of quiescent repose, renouncing all his active Having peopled the heavens above, and the worlds
qualities and attributes. Such is the idea of the below, stored the earth with all stationary and move-
Supreme Being among the Hindus, one Brahm with- able bodies, destined to be occupied by terrestrial
out a second as he is usually described.
spirits, from the substance of his body emanated
91
ence.
376
BRAHMANS.
the human race, consisting originally of four classes Brahma himself, and deriving their name from him
or castes. From his mouth came the Brahmans ; as being his visible representatives in human form.
from his arms the Kshattrya or military caste; from They have been constituted the sole depositaries,
his breast the Vaishya or caste of productive capi- the sole interpreters, the sole teachers of the Vedas
talists; from his foot the Shudra or servile caste. or sacred books of the Hindus, and in emblem of
According to the Hindu Scriptures, the continued this, the Brahmans are said to have sprung from the
manifestation of the universe is co-extensive with mouth of Brahma. A graphic account is given by
the life of Brahma, which, according to Hindu com- Dr. Duff, of the ordinary daily religious observances
putation, extends to upwards of three hundred bil- prescribed to a Brahman, which are as follows, be-
lions of our years. A day of Brahma is termed a ing chiefly drawn from a paper by Mr. Colebrooke,
kalpa, consisting of four thousand three hundred and in the Asiatic Researches : " When a Brahman
twenty millions of solar years. At the close of each rises from sleep in the morning, his first religious
kalpa commences his night of repose, which is of duty is to clean his teeth. This is a duty so sacred,
equal length with his day. During this long night, that the omission of it would incur the penalty of
sun, moon, and stars are shrouded in gloom. Clouds losing the benefit of all other rites performed by him.
from above pour down torrents of rain; and the It consists in rubbing his teeth with a proper withe
waves of the ocean, agitated with mighty tempests, or twig of the racemiferous fig-tree, pronouncing
rise to a prodigious height. The seven lower worlds to himself this prayer,— Attend, Lord of the forest;
are at once submerged, as well as the earth which Soma, king of herbs and plants, has approached
we inhabit, and even the two worlds next in the or- thee: mayest thou and he cleanse my mouth with
der of ascent above the earth. In the midst of this glory and good auspices, that I may eat abundant
tremendous abyss, Brahma reclines on the serpent food. Lord of the forest !grant me life, strength,
Ananta or eternity with closed eyes, and reposes in glory, splendour, offspring, cattle, abundant wealth,
mysterious slumber. During the long night of virtue, knowledge, and intelligence. On certain
Brahma, the wicked inhabitants of all worlds utterly days, when the use of the withe is forbidden,-that
perish. When he awakes, the darkness is instantly is, on the day of the conjunction, and on the first,
dispelled, and the universe returns to its pristine sixth, and ninth days of each lunar fortnight, he
order and beauty. A partial disorganization of the must, as a substitute, rinse his mouth twelve times
ten lower worlds takes place at the close of every with water.
kalpa or day of Brahma; and a similar renovation “ His second duty is carefully to throw away the
at the succession of every night. And there being twig which has been used. It must, on no account,
thirty-six thousand days and as many nights in his be deposited in any place tainted with any of those
life, there must be thirty-six thousand partial de- multiplied impurities or religious stains enumerated
structions or disorganizations of the larger half of in the sacred writings.
the universe, and as many restorations or recon- “His third duty is religious ablution. This is a
structions of it during the full period of its duration. duty, the strict observance of which is fraught with
When the life of Brahma shall come to a final ter- efficacy in removing not only corporeal but spiritual
mination, there will be no longer a partial destruc- defilements. He may bathe with water drawn from
tion, but an utter annihilation. This is called a a well, from a fountain, or from the basin of a ca-
Maha Pralaya, or great destruction of the entire taract; but he should prefer water which lies above
universe, with all that it contains, when the whole ground, ---choosing a stream rather than stagnant
shall be reduced into nonentity, or re-absorbed into water; a river in preference to a small brook; a
the essence of Brahm. After this mighty catas- holy stream before a vulgar river; and, above all,
trophe, Brahm, who had fallen asleep after the the water of the Ganges. And, if the Ganges be
manifestation of the universe, and had continued to beyond his reach, he should invoke that holy river,
repose during the whole duration of its existence, saying, "O Ganga, hear my prayers ;
awakes again, and another manifestation of the uni- be included in this small quantity of water, with the
verse takes place, all things being reproduced as be- other sacred streams.' Then, standing in the river,
fore, and Brahma the Creator commencing a new ex- or in other water, he must hallow his intended per-
istence. Thus, according to the Hindu sacred books, formance by the inaudible recitation of certain sa-
there has been, during the past eternity, and will cred texts. Next sipping water, which is a grand
continue to be during the eternity that is to come, preparatory to any act of religion, and sprinkling
an alternating succession of manifestations and an- some before him, the worshipper throws water eight
nihilations of the universe at intervals of incon- times on the crown of his head, on the earth, to-
ceivable length, stretching throughout each life of wards the sky; again towards the sky, on the earth,
Brahma, extending to three hundred billions of our on the crown of his head; once more on the earth,
years.
on the crown of his head; and, lastly, on the ground,
BRAHMANS, in the Hindu system, accounted to destroy the demons who wage war with the gods.
the highest and noblest caste in the scale of human | During the performance of this sacred act of ablu-
existence, the nearest in kindred and in likeness to | tion, he must be reciting these prayers : 0 waters !
BRAHMANS.
377
since ye afford delight, grant us present happiness, the waters preserve me.' He then meditates with
and the rapturous sight of the Supreme Being. Like intense thought, and in the deepest silence. Medi-
tender mothers, make us here partakers of your most tates on what ?—on something peculiarly sacred and
auspicious essence. We become contented with sublime, and correspondent with the awful solemnity
your essence, with which ye satisfy the universe. of the occasion ? Let the hearers judge when they
Waters! grant it to us.' Immediately after this learn, that during this moment of intense devotion,
first ablution, he should sip water without swallow- he is striving to realize the fond imagination, that
ing it, silently praying in these words,Lord of Brahma, with four faces, and a red complexion, l'e-
sacrifice! thy heart is in the midst of the waters of sides in his bosom ; Vishnu, with four arms, and a
the ocean. May salutary herbs and waters pervade black complexion, in his heart; and Shiva, with five
thee. With sacrificial hymns and humble saluta- faces, and a white complexion, in his forehead !' To
tion we invite thy presence. May this ablution be this sublime meditation succeeds a suppression of
efficacious.' These ceremonies and prayers being the breath, which is thus performed : Closing the
concluded, he plunges thrice into the water, each time left nostril with the two longest fingers of his right
repeating the prescribed expiatory texts. Last of hand, he draws his breath through the right nostril ;
all
, he, in due form, washes his mantle; and, rising and then closing that nostril likewise with his thumb,
out of the waters, thus terminates his morning ab- he holds his breath, while he internally repeats to
lution.
himself the Gayatri, the mysterious names of the
“Besides the prayers and texts from the Vedas three worlds, the triliteral monosyllable, and the sa-
and other sacred books, specifically intended for the cred text of Brahma; last of all, he raises both
different parts of all religious observances, there are fingers off the left nostril, and emits the breath he
certain recitations of peculiar efficacy which are con- had suppressed through the right. This process
stantly to be rehearsed throughout all the parts of | being repeated three several times, he must next
all observances. Amongst those of most frequent make three ablutions, with the following prayer :
occurrence, may be noticed the utterance of the As the tired man leaves drops of sweat at the foot
names of the seven superior worlds; the triliteral of a tree; as he who bathes is cleansed from all foul-
monosyllable AUM, contracted OM, the symbol of the ness; as an oblation is sanctified by holy grass,--so
Triad; and the Gayatri, or holiest text of the Vedas, | may this water purify me from sin.' To this suc-
which, in one of its forms, has been thus translated, ceed other ablutions, with various expiatory texts.
-We meditate on the adorable light of the re- He must next fill the palm of his hand with water,
splendent Generator, which governs our intellects.' and presenting it to his nose, inhale the fluid by one
“The fourth morning duty in immediate succes- nostril, and, retaining it for a while, exhale it through
sion, in which the Bralıman is called on to engage, the other, and throw away the water to the north-
is the important one of worshipping the rising sun. east quarter. This is considered as an internal ab-
For discharging this duty aright, he must prepare lution which washes away sin. He then concludes
himself by due ceremony and prayer. He begins by sipping water with the following prayer :
-Wa-
by tying the lock of hair on the crown of his head, ter! thou dost penetrate all beings; thou dost reach
holding much cusu grass in his left, and three blades the deep recesses of the mountains; thou art the
of the same grass in his right hand; or wearing a mouth of the universe; thou art sacrifice; thou art
ring of grass on the third finger of the same hand. the mystic word vasha; thou art light, taste, and
During this ceremony he must recite the Gayatri. the immortal Auid.'
The sipping of water next occupies his attention; as “ All the preparatory acts being thus concluded,
this is a requisite introduction of all rites, since he is now qualified to engage in the direct worship
without it all acts of religion are pronounced to be of the rising sun. To this most sacred and solemn
vain. Accordingly, he sips water three times, duty he thus proceeds: Standing on one foot, and
each time repeating the mysterious names of the resting the other on his ankle or heel; looking to-
seven worlds and the Gayatri,—each time, also, rub- wards the east, and holding his hands open before
bing his hands as if washing them; and finally, touch- him in a hollow form, he pronounces to himself the
ing with his wet hand his feet, head, breast, eyes, following prayers :— The rays of light announce
ears, nose, and shoulders. After this, he must again the splendid fiery sun, beautifully rising to illumine
sip water thrice, pronouncing to himself the pre- the universe. He rises, wonderful, the eye of the
scribed expiatory texts. If, however, he happen to sun, of water, and of fire, collective power of gods.
sneeze or spit, he must not immediately sip water, He fills heaven, earth, and sky with his luminous
but first touch his right ear, in compliance with the net; he is the soul of all which is fixed or locomo-
maxim_after sneezing, spitting, blowing his nose, tive. That eye, supremely beneficial, rises purely
sleeping, putting on apparel
, or dropping tears, a from the east; may we see him a hundred years ;
man should not immediately sip water, but first may we live a hundred years; may we hear a hun-
touch his right ear.' The business of sipping being dred years. May we, preserved by the divine power,
finished, he next passes his hand, filled with water, contemplating heaven above the region of darkness,
briskly round his neck, reciting this prayer,— May approach the deity, most splendid of luminaries.
378
BRAHMANS.
Thou art self-existent; thou art the most excellent | detailed,—differing only somewhat in the words and
ray; thou givest effulgence; grant it unto me.' | forms,—every day in the year."
These prayers being ended, the oblation or offering From childhood the life of a Brahman is one con-
is next presented. It consists of tila, flowers, barley, tinued series of superstitious observances. One of
water, and red sandal wood, in a clean copper ves- the most important occasions in his early life is the
sel, made in the shape of a boat. This the worship- investing him with the sacred or triple thread which
per places on his head, presenting it with the fol- constitutes him one of the twice-born or perfect
lowing holy texts :—He who travels the appointed Brahmans. When he becomes a student of theo-
path (viz. the sun), is present in that pure orb of logy he must provide himself with a mantle, girdle,
fire, and in the etherial region. He is the sacrificer staff, and other personal apparatus. The legal staff,
at religious rites; and he sits in the sacred close, "made of the canonical wood, must be of such a
never remaining a single day in the same spot, yet length as to reach the student's hair; straight;
present in every house, in the heart of every human without fracture ; of a handsome appearance; not
being, in the most holy mansion, in subtile ether likely to terrify men; with its bark perfect and un-
produced in water, in earth, in the abode of truth, | hurt by fire.” The most minute arrangements are
and in the stony mountains; he is that which is both made as to his marriage, his household affairs, the
minute and vast.' The oblation is then concluded manner in which he is to study the Vedas, the ordi-
by worshipping the sun with the subjoined text :- nary routine of life, his purification and diet. The
His rays, the efficient causes of knowledge, irra- directions as to this last point are very curious :
diating worlds, appear like sacrificial fires. After “ After washing his hands and feet, and sipping wa-
the oblation follows the invocation of the Gayatri, ter without swallowing it, he sits down on a stool or
in these words :- Thou art light; thou art seed; cushion, but not on a couch nor on a bed, before his
thou art immortal life; thou art effulgent; beloved plate, which must be placed on a clean spot of
by the gods, defamed by none; thou art the holiest ground, that has been wiped and smoothed in a
sacrifice.' It is afterwards recited measure by mea- quadrangular form. When the food is first brought
sure; then the two first measures as one hemistich, in he is required to bow to it, raising both hands in
and the third measure as the other; and lastly, the the form of humble salutation to his forehead; and
three measures without interruption. The same he should add, - May this be always ours ; ' that is,
text is then invoked in these words :— Divine text, may food never be deficient. When he has sat
who dost grant our best wishes, whose name is tri- down, he should lift the plate with his left hand, and
syllable, whose import is the power of the supreme bless the food, saying, "Thou art invigorating.' He
being; come thou mother of the Vedas, who didst sets it down, naming the three worlds ; or, if the
spring from Brahma, be constant here. After this food be handed to him, he says, ' May heaven give
address, the Gayatri itself is pronounced inaudibly, thee;' and then accepts it with these words, 'Th
along with the triliteral monosyllable, and the names earth accepts thee.' Before he begins eating, he
of the three lower worlds, a hundred or a thousand must move his hand round the plate, to insulate it;
times; or as often as may be practicable.--counting he must also, with his hand, trace a line all around,
the repetitions on a rosary of gems set in gold, or of and consecrate the circle by appropriate texts ;—for
wild grains. "To these repetitions are subjoined the what purpose ?—to insulate his person during the
following prayers to the sun : “Salutation to the meal, lest it should be contaminated by the touch of
sun : to that luminary, 0 Brahma, who is the light some undetected sinner who may be present, or who
of the pervader, the true generator of the universe, might intrude! He next consummates the conse-
the cause of efficacious rites. I bow to the great cration of the food, by making five oblations out of
cause of day, the mighty luminary, the foe of dark- it to Brahma and other gods—dropping each obla-
ness, the destroyer of every sin.' Last of all, the
Last of all
, the tion on fire, or on water, or on the ground, with the
worshipper walks towards the south, rehearsing a usual addition, May this oblation be efficacious.'
short text: 'I follow the course of the sun.' He sips and swallows water; he makes five obla-
the sun in its course moves through the world by tions to breath by its five distinct names ;—and
the way of the south, so do I, following that lumi- lastly, he wets both eyes. These important and in-
pary, obtain the benefit arising from a journey round dispensable preliminaries being ended, he may now
the earth, by the way of the south.'
proceed to partake of his repast; but he must pro-
“ With the rehearsal of this text terminates the ceed in solemn silence, lifting the food with the
daily morning ablution and worship of the sun. fingers of his right hand. After the eating is
“One might suppose that such ablutions and cere- finished, he again sips water; and concludes the
monial observances were enough for one day. But
But whole by saying, 'Ambrosial fluid, thou art the
By one order of Brahmans, similar ablutions couch of Vishnu, and of food.""
and worship of the sun must be renewed at noon; Among the Brahmans there are several degrees
and by a higher order, both at noon and in the even- or orders. Formerly they were employed in aus-
ing. In these cases the accompanying ceremonies tere devotion and abstinence, their business being
are the same in spirit and substance as those already | the worship of the gods; at that time they were
As
no.
BRAHMA-BRAZEN SEA.
379
supported by kings and princes, and they seem not BRANDENBURG CONFESSION. A formu-
to have employed themselves in worldly labour. lary or confession of faith, drawn up in the city of
At present only a few are supported by such means, Brandenburg, by order of the Elector, with a view
most of them being obliged to enter into all kinds of to reconcile the tenets of Luther with those of Cal-
worldly employment for support, and many of them vin, and to put an end to the disputes occasioned by
deriving a scanty subsistence by begging. But the AUGSBURGH CONFESSION (which see).
however poor they may be, the Brahmans are held BRAURONIA, a surname of Artemis, under
in great respect, and any want of reverence to them, which she was worshipped in a temple on the Acro-
especially by the lowest or Sudra class, is accounted polis of Athens. There was an image of her also at
one of the most atrocious crimes. They are ex- Brauron in Attica, which was of great antiquity.
empted from taxation, and from the sanguinary laws See next article.
which affect the other classes. Neither the life nor BRAURONIA, the name of a festival celebrated
property of a Brahman can be touched, even though in honour of the goddess Artemis, at Brauron in At-
he should be guilty of the heaviest crimes. The tica, where Orestes and Iphigenia left the statue of
duties which properly belong to this high and hon- | the Taurian goddess. The festival was held every
ourable order are to meditate on divine things, to fifth year, when a number of young females, about
read the Vedas carefully and diligently, to instruct ten years of age, dressed in crocus-coloured garments,
the young Brahmans, and to perform sacrifices and walked in solemn procession to the temple of the
other religious acts. The most abandoned Brahman goddess, where they were consecrated to her service.
retains his rank notwithstanding his crimes; but he The priests sacrificed a goat, and the girls went
will entirely forfeit it by touching impure food, or through a ceremony in which they imitated bears,
by some such petty delinquency. No one can be probably because the bear was sacred to Artemis,
come a Brahman but by birth, and the Institutes of especially in Arcadia. Another festival bearing the
Manu declare, that "if a Brahman have not begot- same name, was celebrated every five years at Brau-
ten a son, yet shall aim at final beatitude, he shall ron, in honour of Dionysus. Both men and women
sink to a place of degradation."
took part in this festival.
BRAHMA, in the Budhist system, an inhabitant BRAZEN SEA, a brass laver, which in the first
of a Brahma-lóka. See next article.
temple stood in the court of the priests. It was an
BRAHMA-LOKA, the highest of the celestial immense vessel of metal, nine feet deep, and more
worlds, reckoned by the Budhists as sixteen in num- than fifty in circumference. Its precise shape is not
ber. It is the abode of those beings who in their known, but it contained somewhere about fifteen or
different states of existence have attained a superior twenty thousand gallons of water. It was made to
degree of merit.
rest upon twelve oxen, three looking every way,
BRAHMA SAMPRADAYIS. See MADHWA.
which were supposed by some Jewish writers to
have been made by Solomon, in contempt of the
BRAHMANISM. See HINDUISM.
golden calf worshipped by the Israelites in the wil-
BRANCH. An idolatrous practice is referred to in derness. Josephus thinks, but without the slightest
Ezek. viii. 17, under the expression “putting the foundation, that God was offended with Solomon for
branch to the nose.” Learned men have differed having made these images. The brazen sea is thus
as to the custom which the prophet thus describes. described by Lewis in his · Hebrew Antiquities :
It
may have been that the worshipper with a branch “ It was placed at the east end of the court of the
in his hand touched the idol, and then applied the priests, towards the north-east corner. Its extent
branch to his nose and mouth, in token of worship and dimensions are thus expressed: it was ten cu-
and adoration. Some writers think that it refers to bits from the one brim to the other, five cubits in
the worship of Adonis.
height, and thirty cubits in circumference, and con-
BRANCHUS, a son of Apollo, by whom he was tained, say the Jews, of liquid two thousand baths;
endowed with prophetic power, which he received | but of dry things that would lie heaped above the
at Didyrcus near Miletus. At that place he founded brim, it would hold three. In the brim of it it was
an oracle, of which his descendants, the Branchidæ, perfectly round, and so it continued in the two up-
were the priests, and which was held in great esteem, | per cubits; but below the brim, in the three lower
especially by the Ionians and Æolians. See next cubits, it was square. It was a hand-breadth thick,
article.
and the brim was wrought like the brim of a cup,
BRANCHIDÆ, priests of the temple of Apollo, with flowers of lilies. About the body of this huge
at Didymus in Ionia. They opened their temple to vessel there were two borders of engravings, the
Xerxes, who plundered it of all its riches. After work of which are called oxen, not in their full pro-
this they fled to Sogdiana, where they built a city portion, but the heads only, and the rest in an oval
called by their own name. Alexander the Great, instead of the body; and it is conceived by some,
after he had conquered Darius, destroyed their city, that out of these heads, or out of some of them, the
and put them all to the sword. Oracles were given water issued forth, they being made as cocks and
by the Branchidæ, in the temple at Didymus. conveyances for that purpose. This molten sea was
CHARIS.
380
BRAZEN SERPENT-BREAD.
designed for the priests washing themselves before they rael burnt incense to it," this species of idolatry
went about the service. Their washing was twofold, would appear to have been of long standing. Heze-
either of their hands and feet, or of their whole bodies; kiah, however, in righteous indignation, broke the
and this vessel served for both uses, but in a differ- serpent in pieces, calling it in derision Nehushtan, a
ent manner. Their hands and feet they washed in mere piece of brass. It seems strange, that if the
the water that ran out by some cocks and spouts of brazen serpent had been worshipped long before the
it; but to wash or bathe their bodies they went down time of Hezekiah, such kings as Asa and Jehosha-
into the vessel itself. Now had it been always full phat, who were zealous for the purity of Divine wor-
of water to the brim, it would have been too deep ship, should have permitted such gross idolatry.
for them to stand in, and they would have been in Rabbi David Kimchi attempts to explain the matter,
danger of drowning; therefore there was such a by alleging that Asa and Jehoshaphat did not de-
gage set by cocks or pipes running out continually, stroy the brazen serpent when they abolished idola-
that the water was kept at such a height as should try, because they did not perceive that it was wor-
serve for their purpose abundantly, and yet should shipped, or that incense was burnt to it in their
not endanger their persons; and it may properly time. This explanation, however, is by no means sa-
enough be said, that the water it had constantly in tisfactory, and it is far more probable that Asa and
it was two thousand baths, which served for wash- Jehoshaphat, while they strongly disapproved of the
ing; and that it would hold three thousand baths, idolatry into which the people had fallen, contented
were it filled up to the brim. The supply of water themselves with a simple prohibition, but that Heze-
into this vessel was through a pipe out of the well kiah, perceiving the utter inadequacy of such lenient
Etam; though some are of opinion that it was con- measures to arrest the progress of idolatry among
stantly supplied with water by the Gibeonites." his people, came to the resolution of boldly sup-
The Jewish priests were bound to wash their pressing the heinous crime by the total destruction
hands and feet. every day on pain of death. This of the object of their idolatry. The Nehushtan
ceremony was performed at their entrance on their was ground to powder, and yet the Romanists pre-
ministration for the day; but on the great day of tend to show at Milan a brazen serpent which they
atonement, the washing was to be renewed before allege was the identical serpent constructed by
five of the various duties then to be discharged. A Moses.
similar vessel, though by no means so magnificent, BREAD (BLESSED). See ANTIDORON.
stood, according to the Talinudists, at the entrance BREAD (DAY OF), a name given sometimes, in
of the tabernacle, but a little on the south side, so the early ages of the Christian Church, to the Lord's
that the priests coming into the court went imme- day, because the breaking of bread in the Lord's
diately to the laver, and having washed, ascended to Supper was so general a custom in the Church on
the altar. This sea was made of the finest brass, that day. See LORD'S DAY.
obtained from the brazen mirrors of the Israelitish BREAD (EUCHARISTIC), the bread used in the
These they brought voluntarily to Moses, Lord's Supper. In the early ages of the Christian
who constructed with them lavers for the service of church it was customary for the faithful at the sea-
the priests.
sons for celebrating the Lord's Supper, to bring with
BRAZEN SERPENT. To punish the Israelites them a free-will-offering, each according to his abil-
for their sinful murmuring and repining in the wilder- ity, to the treasury of the church. In the case of
ness, God sent great swarms of fiery serpents among the more wealthy Christians, these oblations con-
them. In great alarm the people cried to the Lord sisted partly of bread and wine, from which the sa-
for deliverance from this fearful calamity, and in an- cramental elements were taken, the bread being that
swer to their prayers God commanded Moses to which was commonly used in the country, and the
construct a serpent of brass, and to raise it upon a wine being mixed with water, according to the inva-
pole in the sight of the wounded Israelites, that as riable custom of the ancients. These oblations were
many as looked upon it might be healed. The re- not allowed to be presented by any but communi-
sult was as God had promised; multitudes were cants, and to be prevented from making them was
cured, and the brazen serpent was kept as a memo- accounted as a sort of lesser excommunication. That
rial of so remarkable a deliverance. It continued to the bread which was used in the primitive church, in
be preserved with great care for upwards of seven the Lord's Supper, was common leavened bread, is
hundred years; but, in course of time, it became an plain from the very circumstance, that it was taken
object of idolatrous worship, and we are told concern- from the oblations contributed by the people. And,
ing Hezekiah, king of Judah, 2 Kings xviii. 4, “ He besides, Epiphanius mentions it as one of the pecu-
removed the high places, and brake the images, and liar observances of the Ebionite heretics, that they
cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen used unleavened bread in the Eucharist, which he
serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days would not have noted as a peculiarity had it been
the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he
the regular practice of the Christian church. The
called it Nehushtan.” From the expression used in ancient writers never refer to the employment of un-
this passage, “ Unto those days the children of Is-- leavened bread in the communion, but they often
women.
BREAD (UNLEAVENED).
381
speak of leavened bread, and even call the Lord's up out of Jordan, and that these were intrusted to
Supper fermentum, or leaven, on this account. It is the care of John the son of Zebedee; that the latter
somewhat remarkable, that no Greek writer before John received from Christ at the supper a double
Cerularius, whatever complaint he may make against portion of bread, and having eaten the one, he pre-
the Roman church, ever hints at their being charge- served the other; that he also being present at the
able with the use of unleavened bread—a strong crucifixion preserved some of the blood and water
proof that such a practice was utterly unknown even that flowed from the Saviour's side, gathering the
among them before the eleventh century.
former upon the bread, and adding the other to the
What may have led to the change from leavened baptismal water; and that the water being mixed
to unleavened bread it is difficult with any certainty with oil, and the bread ground down to powder, they
to say. The conjecture of Bona upon this point, were divided and distributed among the twelve, each
which Bingham thinks probable, is, that the custom of whom went forth to distant nations, provided with
was introduced when the people ceased to bring their holy water for baptism, and leaven for the sacramental
oblations, and it became necessary for the clergy to bread. In accordance with this tradition, the Nesto-
provide the elements. The duty thus devolving rians mix oil, the Jacobites oil and salt with the
upon them, it was judged more respectful and solemn | flour in making the eucharistic bread. The loaf
to use unleavened instead of leavened bread, and at which is used by the Greeks in the communion is
the same time, probably, they changed from a loaf of round, with a square projection in the middle called
common bread that might be broken, to a thip deli- the Holy Lamb, or the Holy Bread, and on this pro-
cate wafer, formed in the figure of a denarius or jection there is a motto implying “Jesus Christ
penny, to represent the pence, as some think, for conquers." The motto stamped on the bread among
which our Saviour was betrayed. But whether the Copts is, " Holy, holy, holy; Lord of Sabaoth."
Bona's conjecture be well-founded or otherwise, one See EUCHARIST.
thing seem to be clearly established, that for more BREAD OF THE PRESENCE. See SHEW-
than a thousand years the use of unleavened bread BREAD.
in the sacrament of the supper was altogether un- BREAD (UNLEAVENED), unfermented bread.
known.
Among the Jews, the passover has always been
A keen controversy arose in the eleventh century celebrated with unleavened bread, the paschal lamb
between the Greek and Latin churches, on the ques- | being commanded to be eaten with this kind of
tion whether leavened or unleavened bread ought to bread, on pain of being cut off from Israel, or excom-
be used in the Eucharist. The former contended municated. The reason of this strict injunction
for the use of leavened, the latter for the use of un- seems to have been partly to remind them of the
leavened bread. The Greeks accordingly called the hardships they had endured in Egypt, and hence it
Latins, AZYMITES (which see), while the Latins re- is called Deut. xvi. 3. the bread of affliction; and
torted upon the Greeks the charge of being Fermen- partly in commemoration of the haste with which
tati or Prozymites. Both parties claim our Lord's they had fled from Egypt, not having had time to
example as in their favour, the one party alleging leaven their dough, and hence the command was
that he made use of the unleavened bread of the given, “Thou shalt eat unleavened bread, even the
passover, and the other asserting with equal vehe- bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of
mence that he employed only common bread. On Egypt in haste." The Jews are even yet so atten-
this point it is impossible to arrive at anything ap- tive to the observance of this ceremony, that the
proaching to certainty. But the early Christian greatest care is taken in the preparation of the pas-
writers are completely silent as to the bread being chal bread. By the Rabbinical precepts on the
any other than the fermented bread, which was com- point, it was either made of wheat or barley, but it
monly in use. Protestants consider the quality of was necessary that it should be of the very best
the bread as of no importance. At the Reformation quality. They separated all the moist grains, exa-
the greater number of them discontinued the use of mined every sack, lest any remainder of old meal
unleavened bread. The Lutherans, however, still should be found in it, and conveyed it to the mill on
continue it. The eucharistic bread among the Ro- the backs of horses, and uncovered, lest it should
manists is made of meal and water, and formed into become heated. It was neither to be mingled with
thin, small circular cakes like wafers, which receive oil, nor salt, nor butter. Neither a child, nor a fool,
the name of the Host (which see). The Armenian nor a deaf man, nor a Gentile, nor a Christian, was
church follows the Roman in employing unleavened allowed to touch it. Only a Jew was permitted to
bread. The Nestorians lay peculiar stress on the prepare it, and the Rabbis deemed it a peculiar hon-
annual renewal of the holy leaven, a rite which they our to be so employed.
observe on the same Thursday that is set apart in The modern Jews, before commencing the feast of
the other Eastern churches for the sanctification of the passover, are quite alarmed lest the slightest por-
the chrism. They have a curious tradition that tion of leaven should be found in their houses. On
John the Baptist preserved a few drops of water the thirteenth day of the month Nisan, correspond-
which dripped from our Lord's garment as he came ing nearly to our March, all the houses and surround-
382
BREAST-PLATE-BRETHREN.
ing premises are examined with the most sedulous ment of stripes was decreed against any one who
care; a candle being lighted, and every hole and should attempt to divide the one from the other.
corner searched. Before entering upon the search, The breast-plate was set with twelve precious stones
the master of the house utters the following ejacula- in four rows, three in each row. These stones were
tion, “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, the King called URIM and THUMMIM (which see), by means of
everlasting, who hast sanctified us by thy command- which God was consulted and answers received.
ment, and hast enjoined us the taking away of leaven.” Under the second temple there was a breast-plate
Not a sentence is uttered between this and the search, made, and stones set in it, but these were never used
and if any leaven is found, it is pronounced useless, to ascertain the will of God. Upon each stone was
and the master of the house repeats this wish, “ All engraven the name of one of the sons of Jacob. The
the leaven that is in my possession, which I have seen, high-priest was not allowed to enter the holy place
or which I have not seen; be it null, be it as the dust without being clothed in the sacred breast-plate, ex-
of the earth, or entirely perish." All the leaven that cept on the great day of atonement, when he wor
can be found is collected together in a vessel, care- not his pontifical garments, but a dress of white
fully preserved during the night, and along with the linen.
vessel in which it is deposited, is solemnly burnt a The stones of the breast-plate were in some way
little before noon the next day. No vessels are to used as a medium of the oracular responses which
be used that have had any leaven in them, and, the high-priest obtained from Jehovah by consultation
therefore, the ordinary kitchen utensils are removed, in behalf of the Jewish people. Some writers, among
and others put in their place. Sometimes vessels whom are Josephus and Philo, suppose them to have
are kept for special use on passover occasions, and been identical with the Urin and Thummim; others
employed at no other times. The whole kitchen fur- regard the two as entirely distinct from one another.
niture also is carefully washed first with hot water Sir Gardner Wilkinson, in his work on the · Man-
and then with cold.
ners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians,' refers
After the leaven has been burnt, the unleavened to a pectoral ornament worn by the Egyptian judges,
cakes are prepared as many as will be wanted during which seems exactly to correspond to the breast-
the feast, to supply the place of common bread. The plate of the Jewish priests. “When a case," he
cakes are usually round, thin, and full of little holes. says, was brought for trial, it was customary for
In general they consist only of flour and water, the arch-judge to put a golden chain around his
but the more wealthy Jews enrich them with eggs neck, to which was suspended a small figure of
and sugar, taking care, however, to use only the truth ornamented with precious stones. This was,
simple cakes on the first day of the festival. The in fact, a representation of the goddess, who was
injunction of the use of unleavened bread during the worshipped under the double character of truth and
feast of the passover has been supposed by some to justice, and whose name Thmei appears to have been
have had a moral design, calling upon the Israelites the origin of the Hebrew Thummim, a word, accord-
to cleanse out the old leaven of malice and wicked-ing to the Septuagint translation, implying truth, and
ness, and to cultivate the simple, pure qualities of bearing a further analogy in its plural termination.
sincerity and truth.
And what makes it more remarkable is, that the chief
BREAD (FEAST of UNLEAVENED!! See PASS- priest of the Jews, who, before the election of a
king, was also the judge of the nation, was alone
BREAST-PLATE, one of the official garments of entitled to wear this honorary badge, and the Thum-
the Jewish high-priest in ancient times. It was mim of the Hebrews, like the Egyptian figure, was
called the breast-plate of judgment, probably be studded with precious stones." See HIGH-PRIEST.
cause it was worn on those solemn occasions when BREIDABLIK, one of the mansions of the celes-
the high-priest went into the most holy place, to tial regions, according to the ancient Scandinavian
consult God in reference to such judicial matters as mythology. It was the region of ample vision.
were too difficult for decision by the inferior judges, BRETHREN, a class of Christians, in England,
and referred to the more important civil and reli- who assume to themselves this name to indicate their
gious concerns of the nation. The breast - plate individual state as Christians or brethren in Christ,
was formed of the same rich brocade as the EPHOD while they refuse to consider themselves as a distinct
(which see), of two spans in length, and one in religious sect. They arose about 1830, and as their
breadth. It was doubled, and thus became a span, first church was formed in Plymouth, they are gen-
or eighteen inches square. At each corner was a erally known by the name of Plymouth Brethren.
golden ring. To the two upper rings were attached The peculiar idea which they entertain of a Christian
two golden chains of wreathen work, by means of church, is, not that it is a definite ecclesiastical or-
which it was suspended on the breast. Through the ganization, but a recognized union of all who are
two lower rings were passed ribbons of blue, which true believers. They protest against all sects and
were also connected with two corresponding rings of separate denominations, both Established and Dis-
the ephod. Thus were the breast-plate and the senting. They see no reason why the body of
ephod inseparably joined together, and the punish- Christ, which is really one, should not be also visi-
OVER.
BRETHREN OF THE COMMON LOT
383
bly united, having as its sole bond of union the re- are now a much larger body. In America, also,
cognition of the same vital truths and fellowship the “ Brethren” are making rapid progress.
with the same living Head. Separation on account BRETHREN OF ALEXIUS. See CELLITES.
of differences of opinion on minor and non-essential BRETHREN OF THE COMMON LOT, a
points they regard as sinful and unwarranted by the Christian institute or association which sprung up
Word of God. All articles, creeds, and confessions in the Netherlands in the fourteenth century, and
they view as a denial of the sufficiency of Scripture; proved itself one of the means under God of
and the appointment of a regular ministry, and the paving the way for the Reformation. The ori-
observance of ritual ceremonies, as a virtual refusal | ginator of this important institution was Gerhard
to acknowledge the Holy Spirit as the all-sufficient Groot, a native of Deventer, born in 1340. Hav-
guide of his people. They disclaim, therefore, all ing been educated for the church at the university
human forms and systems, and profess to submit of Paris, he became canon of Utrecht and of
only to the direction of the Spirit. They disavow Aix. Being a person of rank and fortune, and as
all distinction between the clergy and the laity in yet a total stranger to the influence of divine grace,
the Church of God. Any one of the Brethren he gave himself up to worldly pleasure and amuse-
who possesses the gift, not only may, but is morally ment without regard to his clerical office and its deep
bound to use it for the edification of the Church; responsibilities.
responsibilities. But this was only for a time. It
all believers under the New Testament being a pleased God to awaken Groot to more serious
spiritual priesthood, subject to the guidance of the and deeper thought. He now became a changed
Holy Ghost.
In their meetings, accordingly, any man. Renouncing the vanities of the world, he're-
one who believes himself to be led by the Spirit to solved to devote himself to the spiritual good of his
speak for edification may address the assembly. fellowmen. To prepare himself for a life of active
Should any, however, conceive themselves to be pos- usefulness, he retired to a Carthusian monastery,
sessed of such peculiar gifts as to warrant them in de- | where he spent three years in earnest study of the
voting themselves to the work of preaching and Holy Scriptures, serious meditation, and prayer. He
expounding, they must do so solely on their own in- now returned to active duty, as a private individual,
dividual responsibility to the Lord, without any ap- however, not as a priest. "I would not for all the
pointment or ordination from the brethren. A gold of Arabia,” said this devout thoughtful man,
ministry ordained by man they disclaim, and in the "undertake the care of souls even for a single night."
case of the special ordinances of baptism and the With such elevated views of the sacred ministry, he
Lord's Supper, the latter of which they celebrate refused to be ordained to any higher office than a dea-
weekly, it is in the power of any one of the Brethren con—an office which conferred on him the right of
to officiate.
instructing the people.
In doctrine the Brethren avow principles which Thus, invested with the power of preaching, Groot
seem to be Antinomian in their character and ten- set out to do the work of an evangelist, travelling
dency. Any man in whom the Holy Spirit dwells through towns and villages everywhere, calling upon
is a member of the Church Catholic throughout the the people, like another John the Baptist, to repent
world; and having received gifts from the Spirit, and turn to the Lord. Nor did he preach like the
who divides to every man severally as he will, he priests of his time, in the Latin language, but in their
may lawfully preach without any authority received own vernacular tongue, and with an eloquence and a
from man. Being in a state of grace already, a power which attracted crowds to hear him. Wher-
Christian, in their view, has no need to ask for bless- ever he went, he was unwearied in proclaiming the
ings which he has already received, but simply for gospel, frequently preaching twice a-day, and for
increase of them. He is no longer under the law in three hours at a time. The result was, that num-
any sense, having been entirely delivered from it by bers, attracted by curiosity to hear the wonderful
Christ. To preach the law, therefore, to true be- preacher, were brought by his instrumentality to the
lievers, is distinct legalism, and a denial of the com- saving knowledge of the truth. The clergy, whose
pleteness of Christ's work. Many of the “Brethren" corrupt manners he denounced with unsparing se-
believe in the second advent of Christ as a personal verity, were indignant at the uncompromising fidelity
advent, and in his millennial reign upon the earth. with which their vices were exposed. They complain-
This is by no means, however, the universal opinioned to the bishop of Utrecht, and prevailed upon that
prelate to withdraw from Groot his license to preach.
By the last census in 1851, the returns gave 132 The good man meekly submitted to the orders of his
places of worship as belonging to the “ Brethren.” ecclesiastical superior, and now confined himself to a
This
, however
, is probably below the actual number, quiet and circumscribed sphere of labour, in which he
in consequence of their unwillingness, in many felt peculiar enjoyment. He settled at Deventer,
cases, to be recognized under any sectarian appel- and loving the society of young men, he gathered
lation. The number of adherents at that period did around him a number of active zealous youths, whom
not exceed 6,000 or 7,000; but for several years he employed in copying the Scriptures and other de-
past they have obtained considerable accessions, and votional books. This led to the institution of the
of the body.
384
BRETHREN OF THE COMMON LOT.
was
Brotherhood of the Common Lot. The nature and tific. They were at the same time financial enter-
objects of the society are thus described by Ullmann prises of the towns. The right to set up a school
in his Reformers before the Reformation :'-" In ased. The consequence was that wages were
their mode of life and pursuits they constituted a exacted from the scholars, such as only the more
union of brethren, conformed as far as the circum- wealthy could pay; while the whole style of the in-
stances of the times would permit to the apostolical stitutions was very defective. Nor was the instruc-
pattern. Combined for the cultivation of genuine tion imparted by the monks in the conventual schools
piety, they procured for themselves the means of a more satisfactory. It was too superficial, and being
simple livelihood, partly like the apostle Paul by universally mingled with coarse and superstitious
manual labour, and partly by receiving voluntary ingredients, was in many ways at variance with true
donations, which, however, no one was permitted to enlightenment. The Brethren of the Common Lot,
solicit, except in a case of urgent necessity. To in- on the contrary, not merely gave instruction gra-
sure their common subsistence, and in token of their tuitously, and thereby rendered the arts of reading
fraternal affection, they had introduced among them and writing attainable by all, both rich and poor,
the principle of a community of goods. In most and not merely promoted in every way the progress
cases each inember surrendered what property he of the more indigent class of students; but what was
possessed for the use of the society. There seems, of most consequence, they imbued education with
however, to have been, at least in the infancy of the quite a new life and a purer and nobler spirit.'
institution, no strict and general law upon the sub- The system of instruction followed by the Brethren
ject, such as obtained in the societies of the Pytha- of the Common Lot was thoroughly religious. It
goreans and Essenes. All was to proceed from free
was founded upon the Word of God, and while the
dom and love. Imitating the Church at Jerusalem, | best of the Church Fathers were used in the schools, as
and prompted by brotherly affection, they mutually well as useful selections from the heathen moralists, all
shared with each other their earnings and property, was directed to the inculcation of a spirit of vital
or consecrated also their fortune, if they possessed godliness. Nor were these institutions long in com-
any, to the service of the community. From this mending themselves to public favour. In a short
source, and from donations and legacies made to space of time, and at different places in Holland,
them, arose the Brother-houses, in each of which a Guelders, and Brabant, in Friesland, Westphalia, and
certain number of members lived together, subjected, even as far as Saxony, Brother-houses were erected.
it is true, in dress, diet, and general way of life, to Though professing himself a rigid and zealous ad-
an appointed rule, but yet not conventually seques-herent of the Romish church, Groot was perhaps
tered from the world, with which they maintained unconsciously hastening forward the Reformation.
constant intercourse, and in such a way as, in oppo- He insisted with the greatest earnestness upon the
sition to monachism, to preserve the principle of in- use of the holy Scriptures, and the multiplication and
dividual liberty. Their whole rule was to be ob- diffusion of copies of them. Christ was to him the
served, not from constraint, but from the sole motive | beginning and end of the Bible, the root and stem of
of good-will constantly renewed, and all obedience, life, the sole foundation of the church. The anxiety
even the most unconditional, was to be paid freely of this excellent man was to bring back the clergy to
and affectionately, and for God's sake.
the model of apostolic life and doctrine. 66 Whoever
“The grand object of the societies, was the estab- wishes,” says he,“ to undertake the cure of souls in
lishment, exemplification and spread of practical a worthy manner, ought above all things to have a
Christianity. This they endeavoured to accom- pure intention. A pure intention, however, requires
plish, in the first instance, among themselves, by of him that he seek the glory of God, and the salva-
the whole style of their association, by the moral tion of souls, as his chief object, and it will be a test
rigour and simplicity of their manner of living, of this if he undertake the pastoral office even when
by religious conversations, mutual confessions, ad-
no temporal advantage is connected with it, and
monitions, lectures, and social exercises of devotion. solely for the work's own sake; provided he have
For the promotion of the same object outwardly, sufficient means from other sources to support him-
they laboured by transcribing and propagating sacred self and those dependent upon him."
Scripture and proper religious treatises, but most of Groot intended, had his life been prolonged, to
all by the instruction of the common people in Chris- have founded a convent of regular canons, with the
tianity, and the revival and improvement of the edu- view of exemplifying the mode of life which he
cation of youth. In this last department they form judged to be the most profitable. But death pre-
an epoch. It is true that at a much earlier date
vented the accomplishment of his scheme. He was
schools had been instituted in the chief cities of the cut off by the plague, and his death was calm, peace-
Netherlands, as for example at Gravesande in 1322, ful, and resigned.
at Leyden in 1324, at Rotterdam in 1328, at Schie- After the decease of Groot, his disciple Florentius
dam in 1336, at Delft in 1342, at Hoorn in 1358, Radewins completed the work that he had begun,
at Haarlem in 1389, and at Alkmaar in 1390. But by founding in 1386 at Windesheim, in Zwoll, a
for the most part these schools were not purely scien- chapter of regular canons, and afterwards granted to
BRETHREN OF THE COMMON LOT.
385
the society a Brother-house in Deventer, in which, | mates of their houses. Usually there were four
under the superintendence of priests, young men priests or even more in a house, and about twice as
were prepared for the sacred office, and pious laymen many so called clerici, with whom were classed the
who plied their different trades, lived together as bre- novices and such laymen as were desirous of prac-
thren in community of goods, but without a perpe- tising for a while the brethren's method of life. Re-
tual vow, endeavoured to promote Christian piety ception into a fraternity, usually accorded only after
among themselves and others by regular devotional repeated and urgent solicitation (for the brethren
exercises, to which every one had free access. These were above courting proselytes like the mendicant
brethren spread themselves quickly in the Nether- monks), was preceded by a year of probation, during
lands, and also in Northern Germany. From their which the novices were subjected to very rigorous
resemblance to the BEGHARDS (which see) they treatment. Nor was it thought desirable during this
quickly fell under the suspicion of the inquisitors, interval for the probationer to return home, lest he
and suffered much persecution.
might again become entangled with family affairs
At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the Bre- and worldly connections. The candidate, on his ad-
thren of the Common Lot in the Netherlands were mission into the Society, was expected to resign his
attacked by Matthew Grabo, lector of the Domini- patrimony for the common use. Among the sayings
can monastery at Groningen, who declared their of Florentius we find the following, Woe to him
whole method of life unlawful and heretical. The who, while living in a community, seeks his own
reformed canons of the Windesheim congregation things, or says that anything is his own !' Whoever
interposed in defence of the Brethren. Grabo was passed the trial, and was still desirous of permanent-
accused before the bishop of Utrecht, and appealed ly joining the Society, became a clerk. This state
to the Pope. The question was brought before the corresponded with that of an ordinary monk, except-
council of Constance, when the principal authorities ing that no vow binding for life was exacted. Any
pronounced at once in favour of the Brethren, and clerk was at liberty to leave the Society without in-
Grabo was sentenced to renounce his errors. From curring canonical penalties; though he required to
this time the institution of the Common Lot made settle accounts with the brethren, and leave behind
rapid progress. Many of the Brethren were engaged him a certain sum of money. The freedom in re-
in schools, and others were employed in different spect of dress and mode of living, was also greater
trades to earn a livelihood. It was a leading object than in monasteries. The customary dress was a
of the association to forward the religious education grey cloak, coat, and breeches, without ornament.
of the people, and in particular to train up a pious A cowl of the same colour covered the head, whence
clergy. Thus it soon became a fruitful training school they were called cucullati, pupils had the hair shaved
for the monasteries. The jealousy of the Mendi- from their crowns. The life of the brethren in
cant monks was aroused, and they stretched forth the every house was very methodical. They had fixed
hand of persecution ; but Eugene IV. took the hours for devotional exercises, writing, and manual
Brethren under his protection, and many of them labour. During meals some book was read, the
found it necessary to unite with the Tertiaries of the brethren taking duty in turn. On such occasions
Franciscans, in order to obtain peace. The hosti- | one of them was also appointed to censure the im-
lity of the Mendicants to the Brethren, however, in proprieties that might take place at table. In
process of time began to abate, when they saw that general an equality, like that between the members
the training given to the young brought them also of a family, prevailed in the societies, though, for the
many novices. In Upper Germany and Switzer- sake of order, it was requisite that there should be
land, the Brethren of the Common Lot could find no distinct offices. Over every house presided a rector,
footing; and there the societies of the Beghards re- prior, or præpositus, elected from among the breth-
mained continually addicted to mendicancy, and be- ren and assisted by a vice-rector.”
came nurseries of heresy.
About the same time as that which saw the com-
The Brethren of the Common Lot were associated mencement of the Brother-houses, female Societies
together in separate communities, under the name of of the Common Lot also arose. Groot had formed a
Brother-houses, which are thus described by Ull-community of women, who lived a simple and re-
mann :—“About twenty of them lived together in tired life, chiefly employing themselves in sewing
a domicile, possessing a common fund, and taking and weaving, devotional exercises, and the instruc-
their food at a common table. They were again tion of female children. The sisterhood once begun,
divided into priests, clergy, and laymen. The num- rapidly extended. At the head of each house was
ber of priests was at first very small
, because the placed a directress, called Martha, with an under-
first brethren, after the example of Gerhard, viewed Martha as her assistant. The chief Martha in
the spiritual office in all its magnitude and responsi- Utrecht superintended all the female societies of the
bility. Subsequently, however, more of them re- district, and visited them once a-year. The houses
ceived ordination as priests, and of these several ac- were formed on the principle of a community of
cepted spiritual offices, and ceased cohabiting with goods.
the brethren, whereas others still continued as in- The Brethren of the Common Lot continued to
I.
2 B
386
BRETHREN OF THE COMMUNITY-BRETHREN OF THE FREE SPIRIT.
operate with the most beneficial influence upon so- while the Spirituals wore short, narrow, mean dresses,
ciety wherever their institutions were planted, until with small hoods. The Brethren of the Community
they were absorbed in the men of the Reformation. also, in the seasons of harvest and vintage, laid up
Luther acknowledged that they had faithfully kept corn in their granaries and wine in their cellars; but
the pure Word, and first introduced the gospel. the Spirituals contended that such a practice was in-
They were the pioneers, indeed, of the Reformation, consistent with true mendicity. The two parties
and by the encouragement which they gave to the were bitterly opposed to each other. The Pope,
cultivation of polite literature, as well as by the John XXII., however, persecuted the Spirituals with
pious, though somewhat mystical spirit which they | the most unsparing severity, committing numbers of
diffused all around them, they contributed mainly them to the flames without mercy. This persecu-
to the hastening of that glorious era when multi- tion raged for a long period, and, from A. D. 1318 to
tudes threw off the yoke of Rome, and claimed for the time of Innocent VI., A. D. 1352, no fewer than
themselves complete liberty of thought and action. one hundred and thirteen persons of both sexes were
BRETHREN OF THE COMMUNITY, one of cruelly put to death in France and Italy. “To
the two parties into which the Franciscan order of these,” says Mosheim, so many others might be
monks was divided in the beginning of the four- added from the historians and documents, printed
teenth century. They, in opposition to the Spirit- and manuscript, that I suppose a catalogue of two
vals, were strongly in favour of relaxing the strict thousand such martyrs might be made out." See
vow of poverty enjoined by their founder, St. Fran-
FRANCISCANS.
cis. In A. D. 1310, Pope Clement V. summoned BRETHREN OF THE FREE SPIRIT, a sect
the leaders of both parties to his court, and made which arose in the thirteenth century. It seems to
great efforts to bring about a reconciliation. After have originated in the Pantheistic system, introduced
various conferences, the Pope, in the general coun- by Amalric of Bena (See AMALRICIANS), which,
cil of Vienne, A. D. 1312, published a bull, in which after the persecution it underwent in Paris, in A. D.
he endeavoured to terminate the dispute, by adopt- 1210, only spread more widely than before. The sect
ing a middle course. To please the Spirituals, he of the Brethren of the Free Spirit made its appear-
commanded the Franciscans to adhere strictly to ance first under the name of Ortlibenses, or Ortli-
their rule, enjoining poverty, while to please the barii, in Strasburg, in A. D. 1212. This name was
Brethren of the Community, he allowed the Francis- probably derived from a person called Ortlieb, who
cans, where they had no opportunity of procuring made known the doctrines of Amalric in that part of
a subsistence by begging, to provide themselves with Germany.
Germany. From Strasburg the sect spread into
granaries, and to collect and lay up in them what the rest of Alsace and the Thurgau. In A. D. 1230,
they could procure by begging, while the officers and they had crept in among the Waldenses in Lyons;
overseers of the order were to judge when and where in A. D. 1250 they appeared at Cologne, and a few
such granaries were necessary. This decision quiet- years later they were so numerous among the BEG-
ed the contention for a time; but unhappily it burst HARDS (which see) on the Rhine, that they were of-
forth in France with increased vehemence on the . ten confounded with them. In the beginning of the
death of Clement V., and, in A. D. 1314, the Spiri- fourteenth century, they made their appearance
tuals drove the Brethren of the Community out of also in Italy, where Mosheim erroneously alleges
the monasteries of Narbonne and Beziers, appointed them to have had their origin. The peculiar name
new presiding officers, cast off their former garments, of Brethren and Sisters of the Free Spirit, seems to
and put on a short, narrow, ill-shaped dress. John have been taken from the words of the Apostle Paul,
XXII., on his elevation to the popedom, directed all Rom. viii. 2, 14,“For the law of the Spirit of life
his efforts towards a settlement of the dispute, sum- in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of
moning the French Spirituals before him at Avignon, sin and death. For as many as are led by the Spirit
and exhorting them to lay aside the obnoxious dress of God, they are the sons of God.” Founding on
they had assumed. Some of them complied, but a this passage, they alleged themselves to be the true
few refused to submit to the requisition. Indignant sons of God, brought into the most perfect freedom
at this attempted resistance to his authority, John from the law. The mystic theology which they
called in the aid of the Inquisitors, who burned seve- taught is thus described by Mosheim.
“They held
ral of the rebels at the stake for no other crime than that all things emanated from God and would revert
setting the rule of their founder, St. Francis, above back to him ; that rational souls were parts of the
the power of the pontiffs.
Supreme Being, and that the whole universe was
The points thus keenly contested were of very in- God; that a man, by turning his thoughts inward,
ferior importance, referring exclusively to the form and withdrawing his attention from all sensible ob-
of the garments which Franciscans were allowed to jects, may become united in an inexplicable manner
wear, and their right to have granaries and cellars in with the Parent and First Cause of all things, and
which to store their provisions. The Brethren of be one with him; that persons thus immersed in the
the Community wore long, loose, somewhat elegant vortex of the Deity by long contemplation attain to
habits, with ample hoods or coverings for their heads, I perfect freedom, and become divested not only of all
BRETHREN OF THE HOLY TRINITY-BREVIARY.
387
NITY.
MEN.
their lusts, but of the instincts of nature. From directed their energies, the redemption of the Chris-
these and similar principles they inferred that a pe tian captives from the hands of the Mohammedans,
son thus raised up to God, and absorbed as it were a purpose to which they devoted one-third of their
in the divine nature, is himself God, and such a son revenues. By some ancient writers, Mosheim in-
of God as Christ was, and therefore is raised above forms us, this order is called the Order of Asses, be-
all laws, human and divine. And they maintained, cause their rule forbids the brethren to ride on
consequently, that all external worship of God, horses, and requires them to ride on asses. An order
prayer, fasting, baptism, the sacred supper, &c., are similar to the Brethren of the Holy Trinity was in-
mere elements for children, which a man no longer | stituted in Spain, A. D. 1228, by Paul Nolasco, and
needs when converted into God himself, and detach- called the Order of St. Mary for the Ransoming of
ed from this visible universe.
Captives.
Some of the adherents of this sect limited their BRETHREN OF THE HOSPITAL. See
notion of the liberty to which the apostle referred, to HOSPITALLERS.
a freedom from outward worship and ecclesiastical BRETHREN OF THE OBSERVATION. See
law; thus making religion consist solely in the in- OBSERVANTINES.
ternal worship of the heart. Others, again, carried BRETHREN OF THE REDEMPTION OF
the idea of liberty so far as to maintain that it in- CAPTIVES. See BRETHREN OF THE HOLY TRI-
volved a complete exemption from even the possi-
bility of sinning, the believer being so closely united BRETHREN OF THE SACK, an order of
to God that his whole actions and operations must be monks instituted in the thirteenth century.
viewed as done by God himself. That such opinions BRETHREN OF THE SWORD, an order of
were maintained by a portion of the brethren is evi- ecclesiastical knights founded by Albert, bishop of
dent from their own writings. “ If God wills,” says Livonia, in A. D. 1202, against the so-called infidel
one of their favourite works, “that I should sin, I Livonians.
ought by no means to will that I may not have sin- BRETHREN (THE TWELVE). See MARROW-
ned. This is true contrition. And if a man have
committed a thousand mortal sins, and the man is BRETHREN (UNITED). See MORAVIANS.
well regulated and united to God, he ought not to BRETHREN (WHITE). See ALBATI.
wish that he had not done those sins, and he ought BREVIARY (Lat., Brevis, Short), the private
to prefer suffering a thousand deaths rather than to liturgy of the priests of the Church of Rome, com-
have omitted one of those mortal sins."
posed, as has been usually alleged, in the eleventh
The teachers of the sect of the Free Spirit wan- century. It contains for each day of the year appro-
dered from place to place in imitation of the apostles. priate prayers, psalms, and hymns, Scripture lessons
They were also called apostles by their followers, for daily reading, with accompanying comments from
and laboured by teaching and writing for the exten- the fathers and doctors of the church, and the le-
sion of their sect. It was owing to the activity of gends of its saints and martyrs. Such books for
this sect, indeed, that the Inquisition, after a long the special instruction and guidance of the priest-
interval, was revived in Germany in the fourteenth hood, existed long before the Reformation in almost
century with fresh energy. Two Dominicans were all the national churches of Europe.
The name
appointed, about A. D. 1367, to be Inquisitors for Breviary is obviously intended to convey the idea of
Germany. Charles IV., in A. D. 1369, lent the In- a compendium, but the Roman Breviary is the larg-
quisitors the most powerful support, by the publica est of the books of devotion in use in the Church
tion of three edicts in their favour. Gregory XI. of Rome; so that, in all probability, the name
increased the number of the Inquisitors for Germany was applied at an early period, to some short col-
to five, and Boniface IX. appointed six for North lection of prayers and Scripture lessons for the use
Germany alone. The Brethren of the Free Spirit of the priesthood. Such an epitome was prepared in
did not wholly disappear before the fifteenth cen- the time of Pope Damasus for the use of the monks
tury.
in Palestine, and was afterwards enlarged by Gre-
BRETHREN OF THE HOLY TRINITY, gory the Great. During the sittings of the Council
order of monks which arose in the end of the twelfth of Trent, various attempts were made to obtain an
century, in consequence of the holy wars of the authorized version of the Breviary. The council,
Christians in Palestine, in which many Christians | however, delayed the matter, and at length gave it.
became captives among the Mohammedans. It ori- over into the hands of the reigning pontiff. Three
ginated with John de Mattia and Felix de Valois, divines, accordingly, were selected, A. D. 1568, by
two pious Frenchmen, who led a solitary life at Cer- Pius V., to undertake the difficult and delicate task.
froy, in the diocese of Meaux. The name, Brethren After the lapse of many years it was still incomplete.
of the Holy Trinity, was given to the order, because It was not indeed until the pontificate of Urban
all their churches were dedicated to the Holy Tri- VIII. that, in his own name and the name of his two
nity. They were also called Brethren of the Redemp- predecessors, the reformed Breviary appeared as it
tion of Captives, because of the work to which they now stands, with the exception of some additions
an
388
BREVIARY.
made since that period, including the new festivals, versicles, and the hymn Te Deum, any one of the
and new saints, with their offices and legends. An nocturns forms a good night's work of recitation.
edition of the Breviary, with considerable amend- If he prefer the lauds, then he recites seven psalms,
ments, was prepared by Cardinal Quignonius at with the song of the three children of Babylon, taken
the suggestion of Clement VII., with the consent from the apocryphal book of Daniel, with the song
of Paul III.It omitted the office of the Vir- of Mary (Luke i.); if the prime, that is the hour
gin, and was so arranged as to “revive the cus- that is usually in the south of Europe six o'clock in
tom of reading through all Scripture every year, the morning, after the Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary,
and all the Psalms every week.” This new edition
This new edition and the creed, he says or sings one of the hymns of
of the Romish priest's book of devotion, however, the Breviary, reads the creed of Athanasius, along
though realizing the theory of the Breviary more with certain prayers very suitable to morning devo-
completely than the edition actually in use, failed to | tions. Having completed the office of the Psalter,
meet with acceptance in the church generally, being he has still before him those of the festival, or saint's
considered as savouring of heresy, being too Protes-day, if he is called by duty or inclination to its ob-
tant and too little Popish in its whole aspect. servance, which includes a Scripture lesson, a homily
The following is a condensed view of the con- from a father or doctor, and, if a saint's day, also a
tents of the Romish Breviary : « The Roman church legend, besides prayers and hymns."
Breviary is divided much in the same manner as Instead of the whole Word of God being perused
the Missal, as to its parts. The Psalms are so by the priest in the course of the year, as the true
distributed, that in the weekly office (if the fes- ideal of the Breviary implies, only mutilated ex-
tivals of saints do not interfere), the whole Psalter tracts are given in the Breviary, and portions which
would be gone over, though several psalms, viz., contain the vital doctrines of Christianity are care-
the 118th (alias 119th), &c., are said every day. fully omitted. Thus the Epistle to the Romans,
On the festivals of saints, suitable psalms are adopt- which so clearly unfolds the fundamental doctrine of
ed. The lessons are taken partly out of the old and justification by faith, contains in all 433 verses,
New Testament, and partly out of the acts of the of which 259 are omitted. Of the Epistle to the
saints and writings of the holy fathers. The Lord's | Hebrews more than one-half is not to be found in
Prayer, the Hail Mary, or angelical salutation, the the Breviary. The other books, both of the Old
apostles' creed, and the confiteor, are frequently said. and New Testaments, meet with similar treatment
This last is a prayer by which they acknowledge at the hands of Rome. The Psalter, however, is
themselves sinners, beg pardon of God, and the in- | given in its entire form.
tercession, in their behalf, of the angels, of the saints, Besides the quotations from Scripture, the Bre-
and of their brethren upon earth. No prayers are viary contains numerous passages from the Fathers,
more frequently in the mouth of Roman Catholics amounting to no fewer than 449 quotations or les-
than these four, to which we may add the doxology, sons from twenty-eight different Fathers and Doc-
repeated in the office at the end of every psalm, and tors of the Church. Of these, 113 lessons are from
in other places. In every canonical hour a hymn is the writings of Augustine, the most scriptural in his
also said, often composed by Prudentius, or some opinions of all the Fathers. The passages extracted
other ancient father. The Roman Breviary contains for the perusal of the priests, though many of them
also a small office in honour of the blessed Virgin, professing to be expositions of Sacred Scripture, ar'e
and likewise what is called the office of the dead. far from being in accordance with the Word of God.
We there find, besides, the penitential and the gra- Many of the portions selected, particularly from the
dual psalms, as they are called, together with the lit- writings of Jerome, are evidently introduced to give
anies of the saints and of the Virgin Mary of Lo- sanction to the erroneous doctrines and superstitious
retto, which are the only two that have the sanction practices of Rome.
of the church."
The Breviary contains, however, not only por-
That the reader may form an idea of the extent of tions of Scripture and quotations from the Fathers,
a priest's daily employment in the use of the Breviary, but also numerous legends of the saints, including
we may quote Mr. Lewis's account of the first Sun- narratives, in many cases, incredible and absurd, of
day in Advent, as given in his · Bible, Missal, and the miracles which they performed, and the strange
Breviary. “He turns to the beginning of the Bre- events which befell them. The sufferings of various
viary, and recites the Lord's Prayer, a Hail Mary, a martyrs are also related in the most exaggerated
short prayer to Mary, consisting of a single sentence, style.
the apostles' creed, a halleluiah, and a verse called Such is the Romish priest's book of devotion
the Invitatorium, or invitation to praise; Ps. xcv., which he is bound diligently and with unvarying
“Come let us sing to the Lord,” &c., is then said or punctuality to peruse every day on pain of mortal sin.
sung; if fe observe the first nocturn, he recites the Dens, in his Theology,' considers it as a sufficient
first fifteen psalms ; if the second nocturn, he recites excuse for the omission of his daily task, if the priest
three psalms, Ps. xvi., xvii., and xviii.; if the third engaged in a work of necessity or charity, if he
nocturn, three psalms, Ps. xix., XX., xxi., also some has no Breviary, or even if he has accidentally for-
BRIAREUS-BRITISH CHURCH.
389
gotten his duty. Though the Roman Breviary is blessed which was called Okolni, and abounded in
most generally in use in the Roman Catholic Church, the richest wines of every kind.
there are several dioceses, and several religious bo- BRIMO, the angry, a surname of several divini-
dies, even in that church, which have their particu- ties of ancient Greece, such as Hecate, Demeter,
lar breviaries.
and Cybele.
BRIAREUS, one of the Uranids of ancient Greek BRISÆUS, a surname of the Grecian deity Dio-
mythology, who are described as having been huge nysus, derived probably from Mount Brisa in Lesbos.
monsters, with fifty heads and a hundred arms. BRITISH CHURCH. It is difficult to ascer-
Homer says, that among men he was called Ægeon, tain with certainty the precise period at which Chris-
but among the gods Briareus, and that he came on tianity was first introduced into Britain ; but from
one occasion to the rescue of Zeus, when he was occasional remarks which occur in some ancient
threatened to be put in chains by the Olympian writers, it is believed to have been before the end,
gods. Briareus and his brothers conquered the Ti- and perhaps even the middle, of the first century,
tans when they rebelled against Zeus, by hurling at somewhere between A. D. 43 and A. D. 61. Ter-
their heads three hundred rocks, which so com- tullian, in his book against the Jews, which was
pletely defeated them, that they were cast down to written A. D. 209, affirms, that those parts of Britain
Tartarus or the infernal regions. By some writers into which the Romans had never penetrated, had
Briareus is regarded as a sea god, while most authors become subject to Christ, and from this statement, it
look upon him as having been one of the giants who has been conjectured, that Christianity had then been,
stormed Olympus. Theocritus represents him as for some time, known in the Roman provinces in the
one of the Cyclops who resided under Mount south. Eusebius, who flourished in the beginning of
Ætna. The most probable opinion, as to the na- the fourth century, mentions the British Islands
ture and origin of this fabulous monster, is, that he among the remote countries in which the apostles
was a personification of volcanoes or earthquakes, had preached ; and Theodoret, who flourished a cen-
or some of the more violent powers of nature. See tury later than Eusebius, states, that fishermen,
URANIDS.
tentmakers, and publicans, had persuaded many na-
BRIDGE (THE SHARP). See AL-SIRAT. tions to embrace the gospel of Christ, and among
BRIDGET, ST., (ORDER OF), a religious order these he includes the Britons. Gildas, also, when
established about 1363, by St. Bridget, a Swedish speaking of the revolt and defence of the Britons
lady. It was confirmed by Urban V. in A. D. 1370, under Boadicea, A. D. 61, appears to fix the intro-
and united nuns and monks in a peculiar manner in duction of Christianity into the British islands to
the same houses. Each cloister, by the arrange- that period. Another argument in favour of the
ments made by their founder, was to hold sixty gospel having thus early reached Britain, is drawn
sisters, and thirteen priests for their service, along from the circumstance, that in A. D. 43, a Roman
with four deacons, and eight lay brothers. These province having been established in the south-east
male persons, though dwelling under the same roof parts of the island, Pomponia Græcina, the wife of
with the sisters, were completely separated from Aulus Plautius, the first governor, was accused of
them. The rule of St. Bridget is nearly the same having embraced a strange and foreign superstition,
with that of St. Augustine. The religious profess which has been interpreted as meaning that she was
great mortification, poverty, and self-denial ; and a Christian, and probably one of the first who intro-
they are bound not to possess any thing they duced the new religion into Britain. It has also
can call their own, and on no account to touch been thought that Claudia, mentioned along with
money. This order spread extensively through Swe- Pudens in 2 Tim. iv. 21, that Epistle having been
den, Germany, and the Netherlands. There appears written, as is supposed, A. D. 66, was the same Bri-
to have been one monastery of this order in Eng- tish lady who is celebrated by Martial, in his Epi-
land. It was built by Henry V. in 1415, opposite grams, iv. 13, xi. 54, for her beauty and virtues.
to Richmond on the Thames, now called Sion The question has given rise to no small difference
House. On the dissolution of the monastery at the of opinion among the learned, who first preached the
Reformation, the inmates settled at Lisbon.
gospel in Britain ? Many have contended that the
BRIDE. See MARRIAGE.
conversion of the Britons is to be traced to the la-
BRIEFS, letters patent, in England, giving li- bours of the Apostle James, who preached the gos-
cense for public collections in churches. They are pel in Spain, Britain, and other countries of the
no longer in use.
West. The early martyrdom of this apostle, how-
BRIEFS (APOSTOLICAL).
See APOSTOLICAL ever, as related in the Acts of the Apostles xii. 1, 2,
BRIEFS.
renders such a supposition very improbable. Others
BRIHAT-KATHA, the great story, a collection have mentioned Simon Zelotes as having preached
of the popular legends of India.
in the West, and particularly in Britain, where they
BRIMIR, one of the balls of VALHALLA (which allege him to have suffered martyrdom and been
see), or heaven of the ancient Scandinavians. It
It buried. Neither is this supposition likely, as the
was situated in that region of the abodes of the sphere of this apostle's labours has usually been ad-
390
BRITISH CHURCH.
mitted to have been the East Indies. One writer, British Church an offspring of Rome. But the pe-
who belongs to so late a period as the tenth century, culiarities of the later British Church completely mi-
contends keenly in behalf of the Apostle Peter as litate against the idea of its having had its origin
having founded the British Church. He alleges from Rome; for in many parts of its rites and cere-
that this apostle spent twenty-three years in Bri- | monies it differed from the usages of the Romish
tain, where he established several churches, ordained Church, and approached much more nearly to the
bishops, priests, and deacons, and having thus planted practices of the churches of Asia Minor. It is well
Christianity in the country, he returned to Rome | known besides, that during a great part of its early
A. D. 65. In opposition, however, to this idea, it history, while the ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH (which
is sufficient to bear in mind, that Peter was the see) submitted to the Papal power, the British
apostle of the circumcision, and, therefore, that he Church continued to withstand the authority of the
fulfilled his mission by preaching, as is generally be- Romish see.
lieved, in those countries where the Jews chiefly But although the period of the first entrance of
abounded. If the introduction of Christianity into Christianity into Britain is far from having been
Britain must of necessity be ascribed to an apostle, fully ascertained, the British Christians, at all events,
the evidence greatly preponderates, we conceive, in appear to have been a numerous body so early as
favour of the Apostle Paul, who is alleged by many the third century, and the British Church at that pe-
ancient writers to have passed the latter years of riod was an organized community. Towards the
his life in the western provinces of Rome, of which end of the third or the beginning of the fourth cen-
Britain was one. There is a popular legend, de- tury, the Christians in the Roman province of Bri-
vised by the monks of Glastonbury, which alleges tain were exposed to persecution for their religion,
Joseph of Arimathea to have been sent into Bri- and St. Alban, a native of Verulamium, was the first
tain by Philip, about A. D. 63. The effect of this British martyr in that city, which is now named
mission is thus described by Mr. Thomson, in his after him, St. Albans. His martyrdom took place
· Illustrations of British History :' “ Though they about A. D. 286, and at the same time, Aaron and
preached with great zeal, they could not induce any Julius, two citizens of Caerleon, and several other
of the Britons to forsake their ancient superstition; persons of both sexes, were put to death in different
but the king being informed that they had come parts of the country. This persecution of the
from far, and behaved modestly, appointed them a British Christians was stopped by Constantius Chlo-
residence in an island called Iniswitrin, on the bor- rus, when he was declared emperor, A. D. 305; and
ders of his kingdom, to which two other Pagan | peace was fully restored to the Church by the ac-
princes afterwards added twelve hides of land more. cession of his son, Constantine the Great, in the fol-
In this wilderness, the angel Gabriel admonished lowing year. “Then,” says Gildas, “the British
them to build a church to the honour of the blessed Christians came out of the lurking-places, to which
Virgin; and they accordingly constructed the first they had retired, rebuilt their ruined churches, and
Christian church at Glastonbury. It consisted, how-kept their sacred sclemnities with pure and joyful
ever, only of a small oratory, having walls of barked | hearts.”
alders, or wicker-wands twisted together, and its roof About this period the Arian controversy (see
thatched with straw or rushes. It was sixty feet ARIANS) which had broken out at Alexandria, and
long, and twenty-six feet broad; the door reached
for a long period continued to agitate the whole Chris-
to the eaves of the roof; there was a window over tian church, spread even to the remote shores of the
the altar in the east, and it was surrounded by a British Islands, where, we learn on the authority of
churchyard capacious enough to hold a thousand Gildas, this pernicious heresy made alarming progress.
graves. An imaginary representation of this church It is pleasing, however, to be able to state, in opposi-
has been engraven by Sammes and Hearne; but an- tion to the monkish historian, that both Jerome and
other ancient Christian church, erected at Greensted Chrysostom in their writings frequently speak in
in Essex, by the Saxons, about the eleventh cen- strong terms of the constancy of the British church.
tury, partook of nearly the same architectural char- Christianity having obtained a firm footing in this
acter. The walls consisted of the upright trunks of remote island, continued to flourish until the Romans
large oaks placed close together, roughly hewn on left Britain, in A. D. 422, when the nation became
both sides, let into a sill beneath, and a plate above, exposed to the incursions of the Picts and Scots.
where they were, fastened by wooden nails. The At this time sprung up the noxious heresy of Pela-
original fabric was twenty-nine feet nine inches gius, a British monk, whose real name was Morgan.
long, fourteen feet wide, and five feet six inches Being a native of the country, his opinions (see PE-
high on the sides supporting the ancient roof.”
LAGIANS) spread rapidly throughout the British
Bede, a monkish historian of the eighth century, Church. The clergy, alarmed at the prevalence of this
reports that Lucius, a British king, requested the fatal heresy among their flocks, applied for assistance
Roman bishop, Eleutherus, in the latter part of the in suppressing it to the church in Gaul, which forth-
second century, to send him some missionaries. with despatched two orthodox prelates to Britain.
The evident design of this tradition is to make the These prelates, Germanus bishop of Auxerre, and
BRITOMARTIS_BROWNISTS.
391
Lupus bishop of Troyes, in their voyage to the Bri- was worshipped also at Ægina under the name of
tish shores, are said to have been exposed to a vio- Aphæa, or goddess of the moon. She was called
lent storm, from which they miraculously escaped. Dictymna, from being concealed by fishermen under
Having at length reached their destination in safety, their nets. Her temples, like those of ARTEMIS
they directed their most strenuous efforts to expose (which see), were usually built on the banks of rivers
the erroneous character of the doctrines of Pelagius. or on the sea-coast.
Their preaching aroused the attention and interest of BRITTINNIANS, a congregation of Augustinian
the people, when, taking advantage of the excite- monks, so called from their having been first estab-
ment which their coming had occasioned, they sum- lished at a place named Brittinin, near Ancona in
moned the Pelagians to a public disputation, in the Italy. They were very austere, eat no animal food,
course of which their arguments were felt to be so fasted from the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy
convincing, that the Pelagian champions could Cross till Easter, and at other times, every Wednes-
scarcely be defended from popular fury. Having day, Friday, and Saturday, besides the fasts enjoined
remained some time in Britain, the prelates returned by the Church. This congregation refused to submit
to Gaul, though Germanus afterwards made a second to the bull of Pope Gregory IX., which enjoined the
visit to Britain, with similar success, in consequence | Augustinian monks to lay aside their grey habits,
of the Pelagian heresy having again broken out. and to put on the black. At length Gregory issued
After this the British church maintained its ortho- a bull in their favour, in A. D. 1241, allowing them to
doxy for a long period, until the arrival of the Saxons wear the grey habit, but without the surcingle or
in A. D. 449, when the nation was almost reduced belt to distinguish them from the Friars Minor.
a second time to Paganism.
They joined the general congregation of AUGUS-
The Saxons treacherously made themselves mas- TINIAN MONKS (which see), which was formed by
ters of the land which they had come professedly | Alexander IV. in A. D. 1256.
to relieve, and leaving the western division of BRIZO (Gr., to fall asleep), a goddess worship-
the island only to its ancient possessors, they found ped anciently in the island of Delos, as presiding
ed the kingdom of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. over dreams, regulating their nature, and interpreting
They had now almost overrun the country, and the their meaning. She was worshipped by women, who
Saxons, not contented with having driven the Bri- brought sacrifices to her in vessels constructed in the
tons into a narrow district, evinced their violent shape of boats, and she was invoked more especially
hatred towards the British church by the mur- to give protection against shipwrecks.
der of its ecclesiastics and the destruction of its BROCKEN, the mountain of altars, the Olympus
churches. As Christianity came to be introduced of the ancient Saxons.
among the Anglo-Saxons, and a Christian church BRONTES, one of the three CYCLOPES (which
to be formed, this fierce animosity gradually sub- see).
sided, or at least changed its character. Having BROTHERS (LAY), attendants on the monks in
itself submitted to the Papal power, it was desirous Romish monasteries, who, not being in sacred orders,
that the ancient British church should also own the received the name of Lay Brothers.
domination of the bishop of Rome. This they posi- BROTHERHOOD, a name given to a congrega-
tively refused to do. Having received Christianity tion of monks residing in a monastery.
at first, not from Rome, but from the East, and ne- BROTHERHOOD OF GOD, a Christian sect
ver having been accustomed, like the Anglo-Saxon which arose in the twelfth century, having for its
church, to acknowledge the Roman church as their chief object to restrain and abolish the right and ex-
mother, they looked upon themselves as a completely ercise of private war. It was founded by a carpen-
independent church of Christ. In various points of ter at Guienne, who pretended to have had special
their ecclesiastical arrangements they differed widely communication with Jesus Christ and the Virgin
from Rome. Among these may be mentioned the Mary. He was received as an inspired messenger of
time of keeping the festival of Easter, the form of God. Many prelates and barons assembled at Puy,
the tonsure, and several of the rites practised at bap- and took an oath, not only to make peace with all
tism. Rome was indignant at the resistance made their own enemies, but to attack such as refused to
by the British church to her power, and the Anglo- lay down their arms and to be reconciled to their
Saxon church, unwilling to tolerate an independent enemies.
church in her immediate neighbourhood, discou- BROWNISTS, a sect which arose in England im-
raged as far as possible the ancient church of Bri- mediately after the Reformation in the sixteenth
tain, which, limited to the mountainous districts of century, and which violently opposed the Church of
Wales, gradually diminished and died away. See England, affirming it to be Popish and Antichristian.
ENGLAND (CHURCH OF).
It derived its name from its originator, Robert
BRITOMARTIS, an ancient Cretan deity who Brown, a clergyman who had early imbibed the
presided over hunters and fishermen. At a later principles of the Puritans, and, although holding the
period this goddess became identified with Artemis, office of chaplain to the lord-treasurer, Burghley, he
the favourite female divinity of Crete. Britomartis | avowed openly so strong a hatred of the national
392
BROWNISTS.
church, that, in A. D. 1571, he was summoned to ap- | parish constable. He died in jail at Northampton in
pear before Archbishop Parker at Lambeth Palace ; ) 1630, “ boasting," as Fuller asserts, “that he had
and on that occasion he was only rescued from con- been committed to two-and-thirty prisons, in some of
dign punishment by the kind interference of his pa- which he could not see his hand at noon-day.”
tron and relative Burghley, who claimed for Brown, Though forsaken by their leader, the Brownists in
as his chaplain, exemption from the authority of the Holland still continued to maintain their existence
court. The opinions of this Puritan divine were as a separate community, as it appears that they had
equally opposed to Episcopacy and Presbyterianism. a chapel at Middleburg in 1592, called the Visch-
He and his followers maintained, according to Neal, markt kerk. A few years after, the sect received
in his . History of the Puritans,' " that the form of considerable accessions in Holland by the arrival of a
church government should be democratical; that number of their brethren from England, who had been
every distinct society was a body corporate, having compelled to emigrate in consequence of the severe
full
power
within itself to admit or exclude members, persecutions to which they were exposed. The con-
to choose and ordain officers, and when the good of gregation at Middleburg, for a number of years, flou-
the society required it, to depose them, without being rished under the ministry of Mr. Henry Jacob, and
accountable to any other jurisdiction. They did not
They did not from the press of that town issued various works in de-
allow the priesthood to be a distinct order ; any lay fence of the Brownist principles, particularly maintain-
brother had the liberty of prophesying, or giving a ing the congregational or independent form of church
word of exhortation in their church assemblies; it government (see CONGREGATIONALISTS), in which
was usual after sermon for some of the members to each congregation is recognized as independent of
propose questions, and confer with each other, upon all other churches. It is not known how long the
the doctrines that had been delivered. They declared Brownists existed in Middleburg as a separate com-
against all prescribed fornis of prayer; and as for munity, but Dr. Stevens, to whom we are indebted
church censures, they were for an entire separation for much of our information on the history of this
of the ecclesiastical and civil sword. Some of their sect in Holland, conjectures that it became extinct
reasons for withdrawing from the church are not in the end of the seventeenth century.
easily answered. They alleged that the laws of the Meanwhile the Brownists in England were sub-
realm and the queen's injunctions had made several jected to the most arbitrary treatment. An act of
unwarrantable additions to the institutions of Christ: | parliament was passed in 1580, which punished ab-
that there were several gross errors in the church sence from the parish church with a penalty of £20
service : and these additions and errors were imposed a-month, and imprisonment till the fine was paid;
and made necessary to communion : that, if persecu- absence for a year, not only exposed the delinquent
tion for conscience' sake was the mark of a false to a fine, but two sureties were required for £200
church, they could not believe the Church of Eng- | till he should conform. The result of this oppres-
land to be a true one. They apprehended, further, sive enactment was, that great numbers of the Brown-
that the constitution of the hierarchy was too bad to ists were sent to prison, where not a few of them
be mended, that the very pillars of it were rotten, died; others were tried by the court of High Com-
and that the structure should be raised anew. Since, mission which had recently been appointed, and
therefore, all Christians are obliged to preserve the condemned to death for no other crime than that
ordinances of Christ pure and undefiled, they resolv. they held the opinions and read the writings of
ed to lay a new foundation, and keep as near as they Brown. As usually happens when exposed to per-
could to the primitive pattern, though it were at the secution, the obnoxious sect rapidly increased, and in
hazard of all that was dear to them in the world." 1590, they had become so large and important a
Mr. Brown exercised the ministry for several body, that still more stringent measures were de-
years at Norwich, but was on different occasions ar- vised by government to arrest their progress. An-
rested and imprisoned for the intemperate language other act was passed for the avowed object of punish-
in which he spoke of the Church of England. At ing persons obstinately refusing to come to church.
length, accompanied by a number of his adherents, | And the punishment was sufficiently severe, indi-
he took refuge in Holland, where they were permit- cating that the rights of conscience, at that period,
ted to open a place of worship at Middleburg, in the met with no respect. By the act to which we now
year 1588. This congregation, however, being dis- refer, all persons who were convicted of attending a
tracted by internal dissensions, was speedily dissolv- conventicle, or meeting for religious worship, were
ed, and their pastor, unable to reconcile the contend- to be imprisoned until they should conform; if they
ing parties, returned to England in 1589, where, continued obstinate, they were to be banished for
having renounced his principles, he obtained through life; and if they returned home, they were to be
the interest of his former patron, Lord Burghley, a punished with death. The effects of this intolerant
rectory in Northamptonshire. His violent temper, enactment, in so far as the Brownists were concerned,
however, still continued to involve him in many are thus described by Mr. Marsden, in his · History
troubles, and even when upwards of eighty years of of Christian Churches and Sects :'" Hiding them-
age, he was carried to prison for an assault upon the selves from the bishop's officers and pursuivants,
BRUGGLENIANS BRUMALIA.
393
as any
those in London met at a retired place in the fields | Brownists in England were treated with great se-
at Islington, where a Protestant congregation had verity. The opinions which they held on the point
formerly assembled, under similar circumstances, in of spiritual independence, denying, as they did, the
the reign of Mary. About fifty-six were appre- supremacy of the queen in ecclesiastical matters,
hended on the Lord's-day, while singing hymns, rendered them particularly obnoxious to the ruling
and sent, two by two, to different prisons in Lon- powers of the time. Greenwood and Barrow, two
don. They suffered a long, miserable confinement, of the leaders of the sect, were publicly hanged at
and many died under their barbarous usage; amongst Tyburn; Dr. Reynolds, who attended them in their
whom was Roger Rippon. He expired a prisoner last moments, having the courage to assure the
in Newgate ; and his fellow-prisoners placed the
queen, “that had they lived they would have been
following inscription upon his coffin :- This is the two as worthy instruments for the Church of God,
corpse of Roger Ripron, a servant of Christ, and that had been raised up in that age.” About
her majesty's faithful subject; who is the last of the same time two other Brownist ministers were
sixteen or seventeen which that great enemy of God, sentenced to death. One of them was executed, and
the archbishop of Canterbury, with his high com- the other died in prison. The queen seems now to
missioners, have murdered in Newgate, within these have repented of such cruelty being practised to-
five years, manifestly for the testimony of Jesus wards men whose characters were blameless, and
Christ. His soul is now with the Lord, and his whose lives were admitted to have been useful.
blood crieth for speedy vengeance against that great In 1604, John Robinson, a minister in Norfolk,
enemy of the saints.'
who held Brownist sentiments and had suffered
Among those whom persecution compelled to much on that account, emigrated to Leyden, and es-
seek an asylum in foreign parts was Francis John- | tablished a congregation in that town. This indi-
son, who had been imprisoned and expelled from vidual is generally thought to be the father of the
the University of Cambridge in 1588, for avowing Independents, in whom the Brownists finally merged.
Brownist principles. This eminent minister of From the Brownist congregation at Leyden num-
Christ fled to Holland, and in 1600 the Brownists, bers emigrated, along with their minister, to Amer-
who had settled at Amsterdam, chose him as their pas- ica, being among the first of the pilgrim fathers who
tor, and Henry Ainsworth as their doctor or teacher. founded the colony of New England. The Brown-
A few were expelled from the congregation for hold- ists maintained their footing in England, though
ing doctrines similar to those which were afterwards they made no great progress, during the reigns of
promulgated by Arminius (see ARMINIANS). An- James I. and Charles I., but during the Common-
other schism took place in the Amsterdam congre- wealth they were absorbed into the Independents,
gation on the subject of church discipline. Francis and the existence of the sect cannot be traced after
Johnson maintained, that the government of the
the Restoration. See PURITANS.
church was vested solely in the eldership, while BRUGGLENIANS, a small party of enthusiasts
Ainsworth held that it was vested in the church in Switzerland, which sprung up in 1746 at a small
generally, of which the elders are only a part. The village in the canton of Brugglen, whence they de-
controversy was conducted with considerable keen- | rived their name. Two brothers, Christian and
ness, and at length a separation took place; both Jerome Robler, pretended to be the two witnesses
parties building separate places of worship, and as- mentioned in the Apocalypse, and collected a num-
suming respectively the names of their leaders, the ber of followers, who gave credit to their preten-
Franciscan and Ainsworthian Brownists. Soon after sions. One day Christian Robler promised to raise
Johnson left Amsterdam, and retired to Emden in himself to heaven, and take his followers along with
East Friesland, and his small congregation being him ; but when the day came he declined the jour-
forsaken by their pastor, speedily dispersed or ney. Both the brothers were arrested, tried, and
joined the other congregation which continued un- executed in 1753, and the sect soon after became
der the pastoral care of Ainsworth till 1622. He extinct.
was succeeded by John Canne, whose marginal re- BRUMALIA, heathen festivals among the an-
ferences to the Bible have made his name familiar, cient Romans, alleged to have been instituted by
and who ministered to the Brownist congregation Romulus in honour of BACCHUS (which see). They
till his death in 1667. After this sect had existed were celebrated twice a year, on the 12th day of the
for more than a century in Amsterdam, the congre- Kalends of March, and the eighteenth of the Ka-.
gation was broken up, and its last representatives, lends of November. Tertullian mentions the Bru-
six in number, applied and were admitted in 1701 as malia among the heathen festivals, which some-
members of the British Reformed or Presbyterian Christians were inclined to observe, and he pro-
Church in Amsterdam. Before taking this step, duces it as a matter of reproach to Christians that
they conveyed over their chapel to the Dutch dea- they were not so true to their religion as the hea-
cons, on the understanding that it should only be then were to theirs; for the heathen would never
used by those of the Reformed religion.
engage in any Christian solemnity, nor join with
Towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth, the Christians in such observances, lest they should be
ܪ
394
BRYANITES BUCHANITES.
thought Christians; but “we," says he, " are not which sprung up in Scotland in 1783, deriving their
afraid of being thought heathens." By the Bruma- | origin and name from a female of the name of Bu-
lia, to which Tertullian refers, some learned men chan. This remarkable person was born in Banff.
suppose are meant not the feasts of Bacchus, but shire in 1738, of humble parentage. Her mother
the festivals of the winter solstice, so called from having died while she was yet in infancy, and her
bruma, winter, and from which they were accus- father having soon after married again, Elspeth
tomed to form a conjecture as to their good or bad Simpson, for such was her maiden name, was much
fortune during the rest of the winter. This super- neglected in early life, and was indebted to the kind-
stitious observance seems to have continued among ness of a distant relative of her mother for any little
the early Christians till the end of the seventh cen- knowledge she possessed of reading and sewing.
tury, for we find the council of Trullo, A. D. 692, Being a young woman of lax religious principles, she
prohibiting the attendance of Christians on the fell into dissolute habits, and is said to have trepanned
Brumalia under pain of excommunication.
a working potter at Ayr, by name Robert Buchan, to
BRYANITES. See BIBLE CHRISTIANS.
become her husband, though it has been doubted
BUABIN, a household god of the natives of Ton- whether they were ever legally married. Elspeth
quin in China. He is regarded as presiding over and her partner now removed to Banffshire, where
buildings of every kind, and protecting them from they commenced a manufactory of earthenware, and
fire, lightning, or any other evil to which they are this scheme not having succeeded, Buchan set out for
exposed. On the decease of the owner of a house, Glasgow, leaving his wife behind, who, to provide
the priests burn papers and perfumes in honour of for herself and her family—then three in number-
this idol.
commenced a school. It was about this period that
BUAKUN, a sacred pond at Cape Coast town in Mrs. Buchan began to entertain and actively promul-
Western Africa.
gate opinions on religious matters of the most wild
BUBASTIS, a female deity worshipped among and visionary kind. She was a regular attendant on
the ancient Egyptians. She was a daughter of Osi- fellowship meetings, where she broached some of the
ris and Isis, and the sister of Florus. The chief seat strange views, hinting not obscurely that she had re-
of her worship was at a town bearing her name, ceived them directly from heaven. She now became
where there was a temple erected, and a festival held a noted disputant on knotty theological points ; her
in honour of this deity. The animal consecrated to school was neglected, and the pupils rapidly dimin-
her was the cat, and she herself was usually repre- ished in numbers. By the advice of her friends,
sented with the head of a cat; and Herodotus tells Mrs. Buchan and family removed to Glasgow,
us that when cats died, they were embalmed and where she joined her husband, who had found em-
carried to Bubastis. This goddess corresponds to ployment in a pottery in that city.
ARTEMIS (which see) of the Greeks, who is at once In the end of 1782, the Rev. Hugh White, a minis-
the moon and Lucina. The cat is here the symbol | ter in connection with the Relief body in Irvine,
of the night of chaos, of the moon which is the happened to be assisting at a communion in the
piercing eye of night, and also the symbol of fer- | neighbourhood of Glasgow. This clergyman was
tility, because, like Lucina, this deity presides over possessed of great popular gifts, and attracted crowds
accouchements. The Bubastis of the Scandinavians to hear him wherever he preached. Mrs. Buchan
is FREYA (which see), whose chariot is drawn by availed herself of the opportunity which occurred of
two cats. In all probability, Bubastis was the god hearing Mr. White, and being delighted with his elo-
dess of the moon, and this completely accords with quence, as well as impressed with the views which
the statement of Plutarch, that the cat was a symbol he set forth of divine truth, she wrote him in the
of the moon. Josephus, in his 'Antiquities of the most flattering terms, and so much pleased was he
Jews,' mentions that Onias, the high-priest, request- with the communication, that he invited her to Ir-
ed permission from Ptolemy and Cleopatra to purge vine, whither she went in 1783, and lived in his
a temple of Bubastis which had fallen into decay at house. Her conversation, her visits from house to
Leontopolis, in the nomos of Heliopolis. This house, her ready solution of difficulties, but, above
statement shows, that even so late as the reign of all, her expositions of Scripture, raised her very high
Ptolemy Philometor, the worship of this goddess in the estimation of the religious people of the place.
existed in Egypt. It is very probable that Bubastis, She was listened to as an oracle, and although her
being sprung from Osiris the sun, and Isis the moon, sentiments were given forth with the utmost dogma-
represented the new moon.
tism and ill-concealed vanity, numbers flocked to
BUBONA, a goddess, among the ancient Romans, converse with her, and to become acquainted with
of oxen and cows. Small figures of this deity were her solution of the mysteries of the Bible. Plausible
placed in the walls of the stables, or pictures of her and insinuating in her general deportment, Mrs. Bu-
painted over the manger. By these devices, the chan completely succeeded in gaining over Mr.
animals were supposed to be protected from injury White to her own views, and while some of the
or disease.
shrewder members of his congregation were not long
BUCHANITES, a sect of visionary enthusiasts in discovering the true character of her opinions, as
BUCHANITES.
395
man,
both erroneous and dangerous, he himself became and all her person covered with blood, yet she was
the thorough dupe of this artful and designing wo- cheerful and said, “I suffer all this freely for the
The heresy, and even blasphemy, which he sake of those I love !'"
now uttered from the pulpit, shocked the great ma- Next day a crowd again assembled in the streets
jority of his hearers. He was summoned before the of Irvine opposite Mr. White's house, and the magis-
Relief Presbytery of Glasgow to answer for preach-trates, apprehending a riot, ordered Mrs. Buchan to
ing heretical doctrine, and the charge being fully es- leave the town without delay. She was accordingly
tablished, he was suspended from the ministry, to carted off to Glasgow, followed by a number of the
the deep regret of a large circle of friends, who ad- townspeople, who threatened to take her life if she
mired his talents and loved him as a man, while returned. Her next visit was to Muthill, in Perth-
they wondered at, and heartily pitied, his credulity. shire, where Andrew Innes, one of the earliest and
The errors which, through the influence of Mrs. Bu- staunchest Buchanites, resided; but neither she nor
chan, Mr. White had imbibed, as referred to in the Mr. White, who followed her to that place, met with
libel proved before the presbytery, were three in the encouragement which they expected. They
number:-1. That sin does not adhere to the belie- therefore retraced their steps to Irvine, the head-
ver; 2. That Christ tasted death for all men; and quarters of the sect. The populace were enraged at
That whilst the bodies of saints under the New the re-appearance of Mother Buchan in their town.
Testament are the temples of the Holy Ghost, the The magistrates were strongly urged to apprehend
saints. under the Old Testament were not favoured both her and her coadjutor, Mr. White, and to try
with this distinction.
them for blasphemy. This strong step, however,
A minister charged with deviations so serious from they were unwilling to take, and contented them-
the doctrines of the Word of God, could not possibly selves with banishing Mrs. Buchan from the burgh,
be retained in connection with a professedly ortho- | ordering her to remove within two hours beyond the
dox church ; and it was not surprising, therefore, bounds of the royalty. To protect her from insult,
that Mr. White was declared no longer a minister the magistrates accompanied her about a mile out of
of the Relief Church. Though thus ejected, how- town, but, notwithstanding all their efforts, she was
ever, he still continued to exercise all the functions grossly insulted by the mob, thrown into ditches,
of the ministry, and a number of his former congre- and otherwise ill-used by the way.
gation still adhered to him. He preached first in About this period, Mrs. Buchan was legally di-
his own garden, and afterwards, to escape annoy- vorced by her husband, a step to which she was
ance from evil-disposed persons, in a room in his completely reconciled, it being a rule of her so-
own house, which was always crowded to excess. ciety to disregard the marriage union on the ground
Mrs. Buchan statedly attended these meetings, and, of a text of Scripture which they strangely perverted,
whenever appealed to, gave explanations as to her · It remaineth that they who have wives be as
views on various passages of the Bible which hap- though they had none." Thus set free herself from
pened to be under discussion. The populace of Ir- all legal ties, the female leader of the Buchanites en-
vine were strongly impressed with the idea that a forced upon her followers to set aside the bonds of
woman who could exercise so strange an influence matrimony.
matrimony. The community, accordingly, alleging
over an able and long-respected minister, could be that sin in their case was impossible, indulged in the
no other than a witch-wife, to use their own homely most lawless licentiousness.
phrase. They watched every opportunity to lay vio- On leaving Irvine, the Buchanites travelled south-
lent hands on her and her deluded followers. At ward towards Nithsdale. They were forty-six in
length, on one occasion they seized her, and, drag- number, but as they proceeded onward, some of the
ging her through all the streets of the town, conveyed company returned homewards, professing that they
her forcibly as far as Stewarton, a village eight miles wished to settle their affairs and return. The emi-
from Irvine, on the road to Glasgow. On reaching grants found a resting-place for a time in an empty
that place, a crowd assembled to gaze upon the no- barn at New Cample, a farm near Thornhill. Here
torious woman, and, in the confusion which ensued, the Buchanites commenced what they considered as
the night being dark, she escaped from the hands of their apostolic life, "all that believed were together,
her enemies. Some of her adherents went in search and had all things common."
and had all things common.” They were joined by
of their " Friend Mother in the Lord," as they usu- a few of the country people, and as the tenant of the
ally termed her, but were disappointed. They re- farm was quite willing that they should remain, they
turned to Irvine, and, though past midnight, they held built a house for themselves where the whole body,
a meeting in Mr. White's parlour to mourn their loss, now amounting to sixty, were lodged promiscuously
but while they were comforting one another with the together. The founder of the society was now openly
idea that she had ascended to heaven, to their as- proclaimed by Mr. White to be the woman predicted
tonishment, to quote the language of one of her fol- in the book of Revelation, who had come to enlight-
lowers, “in she stepped, in the grey of the morning, en the world, and that she would live until the se-
in a most pitiable plight; she was bareheaded, bare- cond coming of Christ, when she would be translated
footed, with scarcely a rag to cover her nakedness, to heaven to meet the Lord in the air.
396
BUCHANITES.
Crowds of people came from all quarters to see
Buchan assumed herself to be the woman mentioned
the Buchanites, and Mr. White preached daily, the in the Apocalypse, who was to remain one thousand
service being usually closed by a short address from two hundred and threescore days in the wilderness;
Mother Buchan. When curiosity had somewhat while she declared Mr. White to be the man-child
subsided, the country-people of Nithsdale, like the that was to rule the nations with a rod of iron. The
populace of Irvine, became indignant at the encamp- period of her stay in the wilderness commenced, she
ment in the midst of them of a company of lawless alleged, on her first visit to Irvine, when Mr. White
fanatics. They resolved, accordingly, to expel them was converted and joined her in the great mission
from the country, and, having fixed upon a particular which she was destined to fulfil. The days spoken
day, multitudes of people assembled and made an of in Rev. xii. 1, she declared to be literal, not pro-
assault upon them, destroying the doors and win- phetic, days, and, therefore, when the period of 1260
dows of their house, and breaking in pieces the little literal days had nearly expired, her followers were
furniture they had. The mob sought for "Lucky Bu- on the tiptoe of expectation, fully expecting that they
chan," as they called her, and the "Man-child White," would then ascend along with her to heaven, being
wishing to wreak their vengeance upon these origina- translated to glory without tasting of death.
The
tors of the fanatical movement; but arrangements had near approach of this expected consummation brought
been previously made for the safety of the leaders, considerable accessions to the ranks of the Buchan-
by removing them to Closeburn Castle until the tu- ites from all quarters. Every day, as it passed,
mult should have passed away. A number of the they were looking for the full realization of all their
rioters were apprehended, and, although the Buchan- hopes, and the utmost excitement prevailed in the
ites refused to prosecute, and could scarce'y even be society. The following scene, graphically described
prevailed upon to bear evidence as to the injury they by one of themselves, is quoted from a most inter-
had sustained, upwards of twenty of the most con- esting history of the sect, entitled . The Buchanites
spicuous and active in the assault were tried at from First to Last,' by Joseph Train.
Dumfries before the sheriff of the county and fined. “One evening when we were as usual all eni-
The enemies of the Buchanites were now more ployed, some in the garret, and many below, Friend
determined than ever to crush them. A prosecution | Mother was in the kitchen surrounded by children,
was instituted in the presbytery of the bounds on the when, on a sudden, a loud voice was heard, as if
ground of blasphemy, but speedily abandoned. An from the clouds. The children, assisted by our
attempt was then made to raise an action against the great luminary, struck up the following hymn :-
leaders in the civil courts, but this also failed. The
Oh! hasten translation, and come resurrection!
sect waxed more and more bold every day in the Oh! hasten the coming of Christ in the air!'
promulgation of their absurd doctrines, and Friend | All the members below instantly started to their
Mother announced openly that she was the Holy feet, and those in the garret hurried down as fast as
Spirit of God, the Third Person of the blessed Tri- they possibly could through the trap-door; but it
nity, and that she had the power, by breathing being about midnight, and there being no light in
upon any person, to communicate the Holy Spirit. the house, Mr. Hunter, in the agitation of the mo-
Mr. White set himself to the task of preparing a ment, and being a feeble old man, tumbled headlong
work which might afford a clear exposition of the down the trap-ladder, while striving to descend from
faith and practice of the community. This curious
This curious the cockloft. In an instant, however, he bounded
book was published in 1785, under the following from the ground, and, with a voice as loud as a
lengthy title, “The Divine Dictionary, or a treatise in- trumpet, joined in the general chorus of · Hasten
dited by holy inspiration, containing the faith and prac- translation,' which every one in the house sung most
tice of the people (by the world) called Buchanites, vehemently. The bodily agitation became so great,
who are actually waiting for the second coming of our with the clapping of hands and singing, that it is
Lord, and who believe that they alone shall be trans- out of my power to convey a just idea on paper of
lated into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and the scene which it occasioned: every one thought
so shall be ever with the Lord. “ There appeared a the blessed moment was arrived; and every one
great wonder in heaven—a woman. Rev. chap. xii. singing, leaping, and clapping his hands, pressed
verse 1. Written by that society. To the morti- forward to the kitchen, where Friend Mother sat
fication of the new sect, which sought nothing more with great composure, whilst her face shone so white
earnestly than notoriety, this exposition of their dog-with the glory of God, as to dazzle the sight of
mas, though given forth to the world in the most those who beheld it; and her raiment was as white
authentic form, as revised and approved by Mother
Buchan herself, excited no sensation whatever, very « The noise was so loud, that the neighbourhood
few copies being purchased, and not a single per be- was alarmed. Thomas Davidson, our landlord, came
ing wielded to controvert its statements. This un- to our door like a man out of his senses; he rapped
expected neglect was sufficiently galling, but it did and called at the door till he obtained admission;
not prevent the two leaders from vaunting their and he, too, squeezed into the kitchen, beseeching
strange pretensions openly before the world. Mrs. her to save him, and the multitude by whom the
as snow.
BUCHANITES.
397
house was surrounded, from the pending destruction with the exception of a tuft, which was left on the
which they apprehended was about to destroy the top of the head, that the angels might thereby draw
world. She told them to be of good cheer, for nei- them up to heaven. White was in full canonicals,
ther he nor any of his friends would suffer any da- and walked about gazing upwards. The momen-
mage that night, for she now saw her people were tous hour came when the ascension was to take
not sufficiently prepared for the mighty change which place; the whole sect stood on their platforms with
she intended them to undergo.
their faces towards the rising sun, and their arms
“ As the light passed from her countenance, she extended upwards, each individual expecting every
called for a tobacco-pipe, and took a smoke; and, moment to be wafted to the paradise above. As
as the extraordinary agitation diminished, the people might have been anticipated, they were doomed to
without dispersed quietly. How long the tumult disappointment, and Mrs. Buchan attributing the
lasted, I was not in a state of mind to recollect; but I failure of the attempt to their want of faith, led them
remember, when daylight appeared, of having seen back to New Cample, enforcing upon them the ne-
the floor strewed with watches, gold rings, and a cessity of repentance, and a more lively confidence
great number of trinkets, which had been, in the mo- in the fulfilment of the Divine promises.
ment of expected translation, thrown away by the Many of the Buchanites began from this period to
possessors, as useless in our expected country. We doubt the reality of her pretensions—a change of feel-
did so, because Elijah threw away his mantle, when ing which she ascribed to their being possessed with an
he was, in like manner, about to ascend to heaven. unclean spirit, which she professed to remove by va-
My own watch was of the number. I never saw it rious ceremonies. All her skill, however, failed to
more; but I afterwards learned that John Gibson, check the growing discontent of her followers. One
our treasurer, had collected all the watches and after another left the body, and among the fugitives
jewellery then thrown away, and sold them in Dum- was John Gibson, who, from the beginning, had
fries."
acted as treasurer. This man laid a claim against
The Buchanites were now firmly established in Mrs. Buchan and Mr. White for the sum of £85,
the belief that their Friend Mother was a divine which they refused to pay. On this the quondam
person, after the midnight manifestation which they treasurer applied for a fugie warrant against them,
had just witnessed. She announced to them that to and they were thereupon apprehended, and lodged
prepare for their approaching translation to heaven in Dumfries jail. An individual offered bail for
without tasting death, it was necessary that they both the leaders, which was accepted, and they were
should hold a complete fast, or total abstinence from set at liberty. When Gibson's claim came into
all food for forty days. This was accordingly agreed court, his case was dismissed on the ground that he
upon, and shutting themselves up in their house, had voluntarily joined the Buchanites, and lodged
they bolted all the doors, nailed down and screened his funds in the treasury of the body for general
the windows, spent the time in reading and singing purposes. Disappointed at the result of his law-
hymns composed for the occasion; all the while suit, Gibson laid a charge against Mrs. Buchan and
longing for, and expecting the final conflagration, Mr. White before the kirk-session of Closeburn, of
and the second coming of Christ. One of the sect having carried on an improper intercourse. The
testified that, during the first four weeks of the fast, case was referred by the kirk-session to the presby-
there was not as much solid food consumed by all tery of the bounds; but the pursuers failing to ap-
the members of the society as he had seen one indi- pear, the case was dismissed.
vidual take at a single meal. The suspicion rose in In January 1787, Mr. White was summoned to
the neighbourhood, that some of the Buchanites attend a court of county magistrates at Brownhill to
had died of starvation; but on inquiry, by order of give security that none of the society would become
the magistrates, no evidence could be obtained of a burden on the rarish. He was unable, however,
such an event having occurred. And yet the report to procure the requisite security, and the magistrates
ran through the whole surrounding country that in- decreed that the whole body of the Buchanites
fanticide was practised at Buchan Ha', as their do- should leave Dumfries-shire on or before the 10th of
micile was termed, and this, combined with what March following. This was a sore discouragement
was known as to their repudiation of the marriage to Friend Mother and her followers; but, through
tie, and the permission among them of the promis- the kind intervention of Thomas Davidson, their
cuous intercourse of the sexes, led the religious peo- landlord, they obtained the lease of a moorland farm
ple of Nithsdale to view the sect with the utmost at Auchengibbert, in the parish of Urr and stewartry
aversion, and even horror.
of Kirkcudbright. When the sect removed to their
Before the forty days' fast had expired, Mrs. Buchan new residence, their funds were nearly exhausted,
led out her followers to Templand hill, from which and every member was obliged to work for hire,
she flattered them they were to ascend bodily to though such a step was in complete opposition to
heaven. Platforms were erected on which they the principle which they had all along maintained,
stood, Friend Mother's platform being higher than that it was sinful for God's people to be indebted
the rest. Each of the company had the hair cut short, | for support to the ungodly world. But necessity
398
BUDHA.
has no law, and to get subsistence for themselves and mitted that she might exhibit the appearance of be-
their fellow-members, the Buchanites hired them- ing dead, but if they would only believe, she would
selves out to any one who would employ them. return in six days to take them with her to heaven;
Dr. Muirhead, the minister of the parish in which they and if they did not believe, she would not return for
now resided, engaged a number of them as reapers ten years, or if even then they were unprepared, she
during the first harvest after their arrival. A scene would not re-appear for fifty years, when she would
which occurred on the harvest-field is thus described assuredly come to bring judgment upon the earth.
by Mr. Train : “A few days after the commence- Shortly after uttering these words, Mrs. Buchan,
ment of their labour, Mother Buchan went, as she with the utmost composure, breathed her last. Mr.
said, 'to see how her bairns were getting on with White, finding that Friend Mother was really dead,
their work.' The moment she entered the field tried to persuade her mourning adherents, that she
where they were employed, they threw down their was only in a trance, and when that pretence could
sickles, and, after embracing each other, moved to- no longer avail him, he caused the body to be secretly
wards her in a body, with their heads uncovered, and buried in Kirkgunzeon churchyard, alleging, as is
their hands in a supplicating attitude. They also said, that he had seen her taken up to heaven. Her
struck up, with a loud voice, to their favourite tune, daughters, however, who had left the sect two years
· Beds of sweet roses,' their hymn beginning, '0 before, and resided in the neighbourhood, made ap-
hasten translation.' As soon as the music met the plication to the magistrates, and to his great morti-
ear of the Lady of Light,” she stopped, and, raising fication, Mr. White was compelled to produce the
her hands and eyes towards heaven, stood in that body.
position till they had formed a circle round her ; The death of their leader could not fail to prove
then, uttering a short benediction, she placed the disastrous to the sect. Mr. White now attempted
palm of her right hand on the head of a young man, to take the entire management of their affairs into
who instantly fell prostrate on the ground as if de- his own hands; but the harsh manner in which he
prived of life, with his face downward, and, in like had treated Mrs. Buchan, for a considerable time
manner, she laid her hand on the brow of every other previous to her decease, and the conviction which he
individual in the circle with similar effect. Then, openly expressed, that she was an impostor, ren-
extending her arms and saying a few words, which dered him no favourite, with some at least of the
every ear was raised a little from the ground to party. Finding his position by no means com-
hear, and kneeling down, she again touched with fortable, he renounced the Buchanite tenets, and
the palm of her hand the forehead of each individual along with a party who adhered to him, emi-
in succession, who immediately started up like an grated to the United States of America in 1792,
automaton figure, raised by the pressure of an inter- where they separated from one another, and all trace
nal spring. As soon as these singular devotees had of their former opinions was lost. A small remnant
attained an upright position, they embraced each of the sect still continued after Mr. White's depar.
other again. She moved slowly away in the midst ture to cleave to their former principles, and though
of them, while they sung with great vehemence, to only fourteen in number, they took up their abode
the amazement of the remaining reapers, a popular at Larghill
, in the parish of Urr, where the men em-
hymn."
ployed themselves in working their moorland farm,
The disappointment on Templand hill caused no and the women in spinning. Gradually their dis-
slight discontent among the Buchanites generally, tinctive peculiarities disappeared, and they became
which went on daily increasing. Mr. White him- assimilated to the people by whom they were sur-
self, though he had all along been the most active in rounded. The few who survived in 1800 pur-
the movement, was observed from that time to be- chased five acres of ground for houses and gardens
come more distant and reserved in his communica- at Crocketford, near Castle-Douglas, to which, how-
tions with the members, and to treat Mrs. Buchan ever, they did not remove till 1808, and there they
with great coolness approaching almost to contempt. continued to maintain their religious opinions, until
The Friend Mother felt deeply this marked change one after another they passed away from the earth,
in the deportment of her coadjutor, which was ag- leaving behind them not a single heir to lay claim
gravated by the information, that both he and his to the singular enthusiastic opinions of the followers
wife spoke frequently of her in private as a deceiver. of Mother Buchan.
All this preyed upon her mind, and it was soon BUDHA, a very ancient generic word having a
plain to the whole sect that their leader was in a double root in the Sanscrit language. The one sig.
declining state of health. She sunk rapidly, and in nifies being, existence, and the other wisdom, supe-
a few weeks was stretched on a dying bed, when rior intelligence. It is applied in various Oriental
summoning her followers around her, she exhorted countries to denote a being, partly historical and
them to remain steadfast in their adherence to the partly mythical, who, though not regarded as God,
doctrines she had taught them, and assuring them, "is arranged in all the attributes of Deity. It is also
as with her latest breath, that she was the Holy applied to those who seek to be absorbed in Deity.
Spirit of God, and could not possibly die. She ad- | The Budhas are beings who appear after intervals of
BUDHA (GOTAMA).
399
time inconceivably vast. Before they enter upon entitled · Eastern Monachism:' " Whilst under the
their Budhaship, they must pass through countless bo-tree he was attacked by a formidable host of de-
phases of being, as BODHISATWAS (which see), at mons; but he remained tranquil, like the star in the
one time existing as a divine being, at another as a midst of the storm, and the demons, when they had
frog; but all the while accumulating more and more exerted their utmost power without effect, passed
merit
, thus becoming all the better fitted for the away like the thunder-cloud retiring from the orb of
distinguished honour which is yet awaiting them. the moon causing it to appear in greater beauty.
In the last stage of their existence, when they are At the tenth hour of the same night, he attained the
about to become Budhas, they must be born as other | wisdom by which he knew the exact circumstances
human beings are, must pass through infancy, child- of all the beings that have ever existed in the infi-
hood, and youth, until at a certain age they abandon nite worlds ; at the twentieth hour he received the
the world, and retire to a desert, where, at the foot divine eyes by which he had the power to see all
of a sacred tree, they receive the office towards | things within the space of the infinite systems of
which their ambition has been directed for countless
worlds as clearly as if they were close at hand; and
ages. In the exercise of the high and honourable at the tenth hour of the following morning, or the
duties of Budhas, they obtain supernatural wisdom, close of the third watch of the night, he attained the
whereby they are enabled to direct sentient beings knowledge by which he was enabled to understand
in the path that leads to NIRWANA (which see) or the sequence of existence, the cause of all sorrow
annihilation. At his death a Budha ceases to ex- and of its cessation. The object of his protracted
ist ; he enters upon no further state of being. The toils and numerous sacrifices, carried on incessantly
Budhas are looked upon by their adherents as the through myriads of ages, was now accomplished.
greatest of beings, and the most extravagant praises By having become a Budha, he had received a
are lavished upon them.
power by which he could perform any act whatever,
BUDHA (GOTAMA), a historical personage wor- and a wisdom by which he could see perfectly any
shipped in Thibet, Tartary, the Indo-Chinese coun- object, or understand any truth, to which he chose
tries, and China, as a divine incarnation, a god-man, to direct his attention."
who came into the world to enlighten men, to redeem From this time Gotama commenced his ministry,
them, and point out to them the way to eternal declaring himself to be the teacher of the three
bliss. This remarkable person, who commenced his worlds, wiser than the wisest, and higher than the
career as a mendicant in the East, has given origin highest. Twenty-four Budhas are mentioned by
to a system of religion which is professed by no name as having proceded him at immense inter-
fewer than 369,000,000 of human beings, and which, vals, all of them having been Kshatryas with the
to use the language of Mr. Spence Hardy, to whom exception of the three last, who were Brahmans;
we are indebted for a more full and authentic ac- but innumerable Budhas have existed of whom
count of Budhism than to any other author, “has nothing is known, not even their names.
But
exercised a mightier influence upon the world than the Budhists are particularly desirous to exalt
the doctrines of any other uninspired author in any Gotama above all the Budhas that have ever
age or country.”
existed. Their historians pretend to trace his
Gotama Budha was born, B. C. 624, at Kapila- ancestry as far back as to Maha Sammata, whom
wastu, on the borders of Nepaul. At his very birth they account the first monarch of the world, who is
he started into full consciousness of the greatness of himself reckoned to have been of the race of the
his mission, and, looking around him, he exclaimed, Sun. Little is known of the doings of Gotama af-
“I am the most exalted in the world ; I am chief in ter he entered on his Budhaship. He travelled
the world; I am the most excellent in the world; through many parts of India, and went as far as
this is my last birth ; hereafter there is to me no Ceylon, where the mark of his foot is said to be still
other existence.” In previous states of existence, as pointed out on a rock, called the Peak of Adam,
his followers believe, he had been gradually prepar- from the circumstance, that the Mussulmans allege
ing for the office of a Budha. A very short time the foot-mark to have been that of our first father.
after his appearance in this world, he showed him- But the wanderings of Gotama were not limited to
self to be possessed of superior power, for when this lower world; he is also affirmed to have visited
five months old, as we are informed, he sat in the occasionally the celestial regions. On his return to
air without any support at a ploughing festival. Benares, where he chiefly resided, he disclosed his
When he had reached his twenty-ninth year, he re- system of doctrine in the presence of an innumera-
tired from the world, and passed six years in the ble multitude of hearers of all classes. His in-
forest of Uruwela, where he went through a course of structions are contained in a collection of one hun-
ascetic discipline. At length, in this same forest dred and eight large volumes, known under the
and under a Bo-TREE (which see), he was exalted generic name of Gandjour or verbal instruction.
to the honour of the supreme Budhaship. The en- This voluminous work, as M. Huc informs us, in
larged experience which he obtained at this time is his 'L'Empire Chinois,' is found in all the libraries
thus described by Mr. Hardy in his valuable work | of the great Budhist convents. The finest edition
400
BUDHA-(LIVING).
is that published at Peking at the imperial press. when forth with all the gods and Brahmas of the
It is in four languages, Thibetan, Mongolian, Mant- universe came and ministered unto him. From that
chou, and Chinese. According to the Singhalese chro- moment Gotama became a perfect Budha, and dur-
nology, Budha died B. C. 543, in the eightieth year ing the forty-five years which he held the office, he
of his age. Before his death, this eminent sage pre- is alleged to have spoken 84,000 discourses, which
dicted that his doctrine would be taught upon the are contained in the BANA (which see), or Sacred
earth for five thousand years; but at the end of Books. They were not committed to writing, either
that time, another Budha, another God-man, would by himself or his immediate disciples, but they are
appear, who was destined to be for ages the teacher said to have been preserved in the memory of his
of the human race. 6 Onward to that era," he
" he followers during the space of 450 years, after which
added, “my religion will be exposed to persecution, they were reduced to writing in the island of Cey-
my followers will be obliged to quit India, and take lon. It can be easily conceived how little confidence
shelter in the mountainous regions of Thibet, which can be put in traditions committed to writing after
will thenceforth become the palace, the sanctuary, so long an interval of time. It is not improbable, that
the metropolis of the true faith.” Great difference
Great difference the discourses and miracles, and even common in-
of opinion has existed as to the age in which Go- cidents of the life of Gotama Budha, are little more
tama Budha lived. Various Oriental authorities fix than a mass of fables. See BUDHISM.
it at B. C. 1000, and a few above B. C. 800. We BUDHA (LIVING), a saint among the Mongol
have preferred following the calculation of the Sing- Tartars in Thibet, who, being believed to have passed
halese writers, which is generally regarded as ap- through various stages of being, is supposed to be
proaching nearest to the truth.
fitted for presiding over a LAMASERY (which see).
It is somewhat doubtful what is the precise posi- He is also called a Chaberon, and such superiors are
tion which Gotama holds in the estimation of his in large numbers, and placed at the head of the
numerous followers. That he was a real historical | most important religious establishments. Some-
personage all admit. Some view him as simply an times one of these sacred personages commences his
ordinary mortal, whose wisdom was so superior to career, with only a very few disciples ; but as his
that of his fellow-mortals, not of his own age only, but reputation grows, the number of his followers in-
of every age, that he is entitled to the highest venera- creases, and his temple becomes the resort of many
tion. Others regard him as a personification of the pilgrims and devout persons. The following inter-
Divine attribute of wisdom in human shape; others | esting account of the election and enthronization of
as a Divine incarnation, a God-man, possessed at a living Budha is given by M. Huc, in his Travels
once of a Divine and a human nature; and others in Tartary, Thibet, and China :' “ When a Grand
still, as though once a man, yet, in virtue of his Lama has gone, that is to say, is dead, the circum-
Budhaship, having had his humanity so completely stance is no occasion of mourning in the Lamasery.
lost in his Divinity, that he is in reality God, a man- There are no tears, no lamentations, for everybody
god.
knows the Chaberon will very soon reappear. This
The great mission which Gotama Budha had apparent death is but the beginning of a new ex-
marked out for himself, seems to have been to over- istence, as it were, one ring more added to the un-
turn Brahmanism, the ancient religion of the Hin- limited, uninterrupted chain of successive lives—à
dus. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that he regular palingenesis. While the saint is in a state
met with keen opposition from the Brahmans; but of chrysalis, his disciples are in the greatest anxiety ;
his followers boast, that, in a discussion which he for it is their most important affair to discover the
held with the most learned of those priests of the place where their master will resume life. A rain-
old faith, he so completely triumphed, that the prin- bow appearing in the air is considered a signal sent
cipal disputant who had opposed him, threw him- to them by their old Great Lama to aid them in their
self prostrate before him, and owned himself van- research. Every one thereupon says his prayers,
quished. In memory of this victory a festival was and while the Lamasery which has lost its Buddha
instituted which lasts during the first fifteen days of redoubles its fastings and prayers, a troop of elect
the first month. One of the Budhist legends, pro- proceeds to consult the Tchurtchun or augur, famous
bably founded on the contentions of Budha with the for the knowledge of things hidden from the com-
Brahmans, represents him as no sooner having been mon herd. He is informed that on such a day of
invested with the Budhaship, than he was attacked such a moon, the rainbow of the Chaberon has mani-
by his adversary, Maraya, who came with a great fested itself on the sky; it made its appearance in
army to prevent him, if possible, from becoming such a place; it was more or less luminous, and it
lord of the world. Maraya then brought on a thick was visible so long; then it disappeared amid such
darkness, but the body of Budha shone as a thou- and such circumstances. When the Tchurtchun
sand suns. In further testimony of his Divine au- has received all the necessary indications, he recites
thority, the earth shook 100,000 times, and began some prayers, opens his books of divination, and
to turn round. By this miracle, Maraya was fright- | pronounces at last his oracle, while the Tartars, who
ened, and acknowledged the superiority of Budha, have come to consult him, listen, kneeling and full
BUDHA-VISHNU-BUDHISTS.
401
of unction. Your Great Lama,' says he, “has re- is; what is the number of the Lamas residing in it
appeared in Thibet, at such a distance from your He is interrogated respecting the habits and customs
Lamasery. You will find him in such a family.' of the defunct Great Lama, and the principal cir-
When these poor Mongols have heard this oracle, cumstances attending his death After all these
they return full of joy to announce the glad tidings questions, there are placed before him different
to their Lainasery.
prayer-books, articles of furniture, teapots, cups,
"It often happens that the disciples of the de- , &c., and amongst all these things, he has to point
funct have no occasion to trouble themselves at all out those which belonged to his former life.
in order to discover the new birth-place of their Great “Generally this child, at most but five or six years
Lama. He himself takes the trouble to initiate old, comes forth victorious out of all these trials.
them into the secret of his transformation. As soon He answers accurately all the questions that are put
as he has effected his metamorphosis in Thibet, he | to him, and makes,
to him, and makes, without any embarrassment, the
reveals himself at an age when common children | inventory of his goods. “Here,' he says, “are the
cannot yet articulate a single word. 'It is I,' he prayer-books I used; there is the japanned porrin-
says with the accent of authority; 'it is I who am ger out of which I drank my tea.'
And so on.
the Great Lama, the living Buddha of such a tem- When this ceremony has come to a close, the
ple; conduct me to my ancient Lamasery. I am Chaberon or living Budha
Chaberon or living Budha is conducted in triumph,
its immortal superior.' The wonderful baby having amid great excitement on the part of the spectators,
thus spoken, it is speedily communicated to the to the Lamasery of which he is to be the Grand*
Lamas of the Soumé indicated, that their Chaberon Lama. As the procession moves along, the Tartars
is born in such a place, and they are summoned to prostrate themselves, and present offerings. On
attend and invite him home.
reaching the Lamasery, the child takes his place
"In whatever manner the Tartars discover the
upon the altar, and men of all ranks, from the high-
residence of their Great Lama, whether by the ap- est to the lowest, bow their heads before him. From
pearance of the rainbow, or by the spontaneous re- that time he resides in the temple, receiving the
velation of the Chaberon himself, they are always adorations of the devout, and bestowing blessings
full of intense joy on the occasion. Soon all is upon them. It is his duty specially to superintend
movement in the tents, and the thousand prepara-all that relates to prayers and sacred ceremonies.
tions for a long journey are made with enthusiasm, BUDHA-VISHNU, one of the AVATARS (which
for it is almost always in Thibet that they have to see) or incarnations of Vishnu, the preserver of the
seek their living Buddha, who seldom fails to play world. This Budha is the manifestation of the eter-
them the trick of transmigrating in some remote and nal wisdom, and the ninth of the Avatars. This
almost inaccessible country. Every one
Every one contri- | Budha is to be carefully distinguished from Gotama
butes his share to the organization of the holy Budha, the originator of the Budhist system of re-
journey. If the king of the country does not place ligion.
himself at the head of the caravan, he sends either BUDHISTS, those who adhere to the system of
his own son, or one of the most illustrious members of belief alleged to have been promulgated by GOTAMA
the royal family. The great Mandarins, or ministers BUDHA, who is said to have lived in the sixth cen-
of the king, consider it their duty and an honour to tury before Christ. The nations professing their
join the party. When everything is at last pre- adherence to the doctrines of Budhism, are the Bur-
pared, an auspicious day is chosen, and the caravan mans, Singhalese, Siamese, Nepaulese, Chinese, and
starts.
Thibetans, amounting to a greater number than arv
"Sometimes these poor Mongols, after having known to profess any other single form of religion
endured incredible fatigues in horrible deserts, fall on the face of the earth.
into the hands of the brigands of the Blue Sea, wlio The Budhist system teaches that there are num-
strip them from head to foot. If they do not die of berless systems of worlds called sakwalas, each hav-
hunger and cold in those dreadful solitudes—if they | ing its own earth, sun, and moon, as well as a series
succeed in returning to the place whence they came of hells and heavens. The sakwalas are scattered
_they commence the preparations for a new jour- throughout space in sections of three and three, each
There is nothing capable of discouraging of them being surrounded by a circular wall of rock.
them. At last, when, by dint of energy and per- The earth inhabited by men is subject alternately to
severance, they have contrived to reach the eternal destruction and renovation, in a series of revolutions
sanctuary, they prostrate themselves before the child to which neither beginning nor end can be discover-
who has been indicated to them. The young Cha- ed. There are three modes of destruction. The
beron, however, is not saluted and proclaimed Great sakwalas are destroyed seven times by fire, and the
Lama without a previous examination. There is eighth time by water. Every sixty-fourth destruc-
held a solemn sitting, at which the new living Buddha tion is by wind. All the systems of worlds are ho-
is examined publicly, with a scrupulous attention. mogeneous, and so also are the orders of beings which
He is asked the name of the Lamasery of which he inhabit them. “With the exception,” says Mr.
assumes to be the Great Lama; at what distance it Hardy,
Hardy, "of those beings who have entered into one
ney.
L.
2c
402
BUDHISTS.
of the four paths leading to nirwana, there may be on account of desire, sensation (of pleasure or pain);
an interchange of condition between the highest and on account of sensation, cleaving (or clinging to
lowest. He who is now the most degraded of the existing objects); on account of clinging to existing
demons, may one day rule the highest of the bea- objects, renewed existence (or reproduction after
vens; he who is at present seated upon the most death); on account of reproduction of existence
,
honourable of the celestial thrones. may one day birth ; on account of birth, decay, death, sorrow,
writhe amidst the agonies of a place of torment; and crying, pain, disgust, and passionate discontent.
the worm that we crush under our feet may; in the Thus is produced the complete body of sorrow.
course of ages, become a supreme Budha. When
When From the complete separation from, and cessation
any of the four paths are entered, there is a certainty of ignorance, is the cessation of merit and demerit ;
that in a definite period, more or less remote, nir-
from the cessation of merit and demerit is the cessa-
wana will be obtained; and they who have entered tion of consciousness; from the cessation of con-
into the paths are regarded as the noblest of all the sciousness is the cessation of (the existence of) body
intelligences in the universe. Hence our earth in and mind; from the cessation of the existence of)
the time of a supreme Budha, or when the sacred body and mind is the cessation of the production of
dharmma is rightly understood and faithfully ob- the six organs; from the cessation of (the production
served, is the most favoured of all worlds; the of) the six organs is the cessation of touch; from the
priests, or those who observe the precepts, assume a cessation of touch is the cessation of desire ; from
higher rank than any other order of being whatever; the cessation of desire is the sensation of (pleasur-
and there is an immeasurable distance between even able or painful) sensation; from the cessation of sen-
the most exalted of the dewas or brahmas and the sation is the cessation of cleaving to existing objects ;
teacher of the three worlds,' who is supreme."
from the cessation of cleaving to existing objects is
Budhism does not, like HINDUISM (which see), | the cessation of a reproduction of existence; from a
acknowledge a creator, a preserver, or a destroyer. cessation of a reproduction of existence is the cessa-
The power that controls the world is Karma, literally tion of birth; from a cessation of birth is the cessa-
action consisting of merit and demerit. This Kar- tion of decay.
This Kar- tion of decay. Thus this whole body of sorrow
ma still exists after the elements of being have been ceases to exist."
dissipated. There is no such thing as an immaterial The first term of this series, then, is awidyah, or
spirit, but the moment that a human being expires, ignorance, which may be a subjective mode of ex-
his merit and demerit in its totality is transferred to pressing chaos or night, which is found to be the
some other being, the new being originating in the first step in almost all the ancient cosmogonies.
Karma of the previous being, which regulates also | Nearly the same account of the origin of all things
all the circumstances of his existence, whether fit. given in the Vishnu Purana of the Brahmans.
ted to produce happiness or misery.
There we are informed that whilst Brahma was me-
On one point the Budhists have always been com- ditating on creation in the beginning of the present
pletely at variance with the Brahmans the subject Kalpa, there appeared a creation, beginning with
of caste. According to Budhism, there was origi- | ignorance, and consisting of darkness. From that
nally no distinction among the inhabitants of the great being appeared fivefold ignorance, consisting
earth, all being of one race; and although there are of obscurity, illusion, extreme illusion, gloom, and
actually existing differences among men, arising from utter darkness.
the merit or demerit of former births, there is no es- The Budhist system is essentially atheistical. It
sential difference between the four tribes, but all are recognizes no Creator; it speaks of no self-existent,
entitled to the same treatment, and an individual eternal being; not even such an infinite nihilism as
from any one of them may aspire to the priesthood. the Brahm of the Hindus. It is a system also of
According to Gotama, the pure unmixed truth is thorough materialism, the individual being viewed
not to be found anywhere, except in his own BANA as possessed of all that goes to form a sentient being
(which see) ; hence in Ceylon, as well as in other which ceases to exist at death, but he has no soul dis-
countries where this system prevails, the sacred tinct from the body, or that will survive the death of
books are literally worshipped, and whenever Bud- the body. A Budhist may say, and that rightly, I
hist writers speak of them, it is in strains of the exist as a sentient being in the world. But he has
most extravagant laudation. As a specimen of the existed also in many previous states of existence in
nianner in which the sacred books enlighten their the same way, and will continue to exist in many
readers, we may quote the following strange expla- more, until he attains nirwana, or a final cessation
nation, not of existence, but of continued existence. of existence (see ANNIHILATIONISTS), which is the
“On account of ignorance, merit and demerit are highest object to be aimed at.. But it has been
produced; on account of merit and demerit, con- often objected to such views, that they are totally
sciousness; on account of consciousness, body and destructive of the moral responsibility of individuals.
mind; on account of body and mind, the six organs The mode of argument by which this objection is
of sense; on account of the six organs of sense, met in one of the native works, is thus stated by
touch (or contact); on account of contact, desire ; Mr. Hardy in his admirable · Manual of Budliisin.'
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A Hullarlon Jondor & Idinburgh.
BUDHISTS.
403
A man plants a mango, and that fruit produces a all these buildings is that at Pegu, called the temple
tree, which tree belongs to the man, though that of the Golden Supreme. It is raised on two succes-
which he planted was not a tree, but a fruit. A sive terraces, the lower of which is ten feet above
man betrothes a girl, who, when she is grown into a the ground, and the upper twenty feet above the
woman, is claimed by the man, though that which lower. The building is pyramidal, composed of brick
he betrothed was not a woman but a girl. A man or mortar, and rises to the height of 361 feet, with-
sets fire to the village, and is punished for it, thoughout excavation or aperture of any kind; but it dimi-
it was not he who burned the village but the fire. nishes very rapidly as it ascends, so that its form
The tree came by means of the fruit; the woman has been compared to that of a large speaking-trum-
came by means of the girl ; and the fire came by pet.
pet. The whole is covered with a tee or umbrella
means of the man; and this ' by means of,' in all the fifty-six feet in circumference, the placing of which
cases, is the only nexus between the parties, whe- forms a high religious ceremony, and gives to the
ther it be the fruit and the man, the girl and the temple its sacred character.
temple its sacred character. The framing of images
woman, or the fire and he who kindled it. In like of Gotama Budha is the principal of the few fine
manner, when the elements of existence are dissolved, manufactures carried on in the Indo-Chinese coun-
as another being comes into existence by means of tries. Some of these images, designed for the great
the karma of that existence, inheriting all its respon- | temples, are of gigantic dimensions. That of old
sibilities, there is still no escape from the conse- Ava has a head eight feet in diameter, and measures
quences of sin. To this we might reply, that by ten feet across the breast; the hands are upwards of
this process the crime is punished; but it is in an- five feet long, and the entire height is twenty-four
other person ; and the agent of that crime is less feet; yet the whole is described as consisting of a
connected with that person than the father is with single block of marble. An image in the great
the child. The parent may see the child and know temple of Siam is said to be still more stupendous.
him; but the criminal has no knowledge whatever M. Huc describes the Budhist temples in Tartary
of the being who is punished in his stead, nor has and the worship conducted in them in these words
that being any knowledge whatever of the criminal." They are always fantastical constructions of
The doctrine of TRANSMIGRATION (which see) is monstrous colonnades, peristyles, with twisted co-
encompassed with so many difficulties, besides de- lumns, and endless ascents.
lumns, and endless ascents. Opposite the great gate
stroying individual responsibility, that it is repu- is a kind of altar of wood or stone, usually in the
diated by many modern Budhist writers; but that it form of a cone reversed; on this the idols are placed,
is a dogma intimately interwoven with the whole mostly seated cross-legged.
mostly seated cross-legged. These idols are of co-
system, as laid down in their sacred books, it is irn- lossal stature, but their faces are fine and regular, ex-
possible to deny. Among the Nepaulese and Chi- cept in the preposterous length of the ears ; they
nese as well as Singhalese adherents of Budha, there belong to the Caucasian type, and are wholly dis-
is a complete harmony as to this leading point of tinct from the monstrous, diabolical physiognomies
of the Chinese Pou-Ssa.
Budhism is essentially idolatrous. The worship “ Before the great idol, and on the same level
of images, indeed, was unknown in China before the with it, is a gilt seat where the living Fo, the Grand
introduction of Budhism into that country about the Lama of the Lamasery, is seated. All around the
Christian era.
Gotama Budha, the founder of the temple are long tables almost level with the ground,
system, is an object of worship, and temples are a sort of ottomans covered with carpet; and between
erected to his honour throughout all the countries in each row there is a vacant space, so that the Lamas
which his religious system is adopted, although it is may move about freely.
difficult to explain how that exalted personage can
“When the hour for prayer is come, a Lama,
give any aid to his worshippers, or hear their prayers, whose office it is to summon the guests of the con-
since, according to the teaching of their sacred books, | vent, proceeds to the great gate of the temple, and
he has ceased to exist. The construction of temples blows, as loud as he can, a sea-conch, successively
and images of Gotama Budha, indeed, forms the towards the four cardinal points. Upon hearing
chief employment to which the industry and taste of this powerful instrument, audible for a league round,
the inhabitants of Eastern Asia are mainly directed. the Lamas put on the mantle and cap of ceremony,
In this work neither labour nor cost is spared. and assemble in the great inner court. When the
Monarchs, indeed, are proud to lavish their treasures time is come, the sea-conch sounds again, the great
on these sacred edifices. The temples, which serve gate is opened, and the living Fo enters the temple.
also as monasteries, contain a large space for wor- As soon as he is seated upon the altar all the Lamas
ship, a depository for the images of Gotama, a li- lay their red boots at the vestibule, and advance
brary, and residences for the clergy. The principal | barefoot and in silence. As they pass him, they
temple in Ava is about six hundred feet in length, worship the living Fo by three prostrations, and then
and the interior
adorned with upwards of two hun- place themselves upon the divan, each according to
dred pillars fifty or sixty feet high, and entirely co- his dignity. They sit cross-legged; always in a
vered with gold leaf. But the most remarkable of circle.
their system.
404
BUDHISTS.
“ As soon as the master of the ceremonies has hist pilgrims. One of the titles of the king of Siain
given the signal, by tinkling a little bell, each mur- is, the pre-eminently merciful and munificent, the
murs in a low voice a preliminary prayer, whilst he soles of whose feet resemble those of Budha.
unrolls, upon his knees, the prayers directed by the Besides the Budhist temples, there are also found
rubric. After this short recitation, follows a mo- throughout the countries of Eastern Asia temporary
ment of profound silence; the bell is again rung, and erections, in great numbers, in the form of pagodas,
then commences a psalm in double chorus, grave which are used by the Budhist priests for reading
and melodious. The Thibetian prayers, ordinarily the BANA (which see), or Sacred Books, to the people.
in verse, and written in a metrical and well-cadenced The Maduwa, as this building is called, is constructed
style, are marvellously adapted for harmony. At of rough materials, no part of which, however, is
certain pauses, indicated by the rubric, the Lama seen, the pillars and roof being covered with white
musicians execute a piece of music, little in concert cloth, on which mosses, flowers, and the leaves of
with the melodious gravity of the psalmody. It is the cocoa-nut are worked into various devices. In
a confused and deafening noise of bells, cymbals, the centre of the interior is an elevated platform for
tambourines, sea-conchs, trumpets, pipes, &c., each the convenience of the priests, and the people sit
musician playing on his instrument with a kind of around it upon mats spread upon the ground.
ecstatic fury, trying with his brethren who shall Lamps and lanterns are suspended throughout the
make the greatest noise.
building in great profusion and variety. The time
“The interior of the temple is usually filled with appointed by Budha for reading Bana to the people
ornaments, statues, and pictures, illustrating the life is during the three months of the rainy season.
of Budha, and the various transmigrations of the The scene is striking and beautiful. The females
more illustrious Lamas. Vases in copper, shining
Vases in copper, shining are arrayed in the gayest attire, and flags, and
like gold, of the size and form of tea-cups, are placed streamers, and figured handkerchiefs float from every
in great numbers on a succession of steps in the convenient point. At intervals tomtoms are beat,
form of an amphitheatre, before the idols. It is in trumpets blown, and muskets fired, all which, with
these vases that the people deposit their offerings of the glare of many lamps, the display of richest
milk, butter, Mongol wine, and meal. The extre- flowers and acclamations of the people, produce a
mities of each step consist of censers, in which are most exciting and bewildering effect.
ever burning aromatic plants, gathered on the sacred The copies of the Sacred Books used on these oc-
mountains of Thibet. Rich silk stuffs, covered with casions are written in large characters on talipot
tinsel and gold embroidery, form, on the heads of leaves, in the Pali language, which is not under-
the idols, canopies from which hang pennants and stood by the people; and as the Bana is seldom in-
lanterns of painted paper or transparent horn. terpreted in the vernacular tongue, the knowledge
"The Lamas are the only artists who contribute of Budhist principles, possessed by the great mass
to the ornament and decoration of the temples. The of the community, is very imperfect. A class of
paintings are quite distinct from the taste and the benevolent persons, however, called Upasakas, en-
principles of art as understood in Europe. The deavour to diffuse information among the people by
fantastical and the grotesque predominate inside and going from house to house, reading books in the
out, both in carvings and statuary, and the person- vernacular language, accompanied with familiar ex-
ages represented, with the exception of Budha, have positions.
generally a monstrous and satanic aspect. The Budhism varies somewhat in the different coun-
clothes seem never to have been made for the per- tries in which it is professed. The system taught
sons upon whom they are placed. The idea given in Ceylon is considered the most ancient, if not the
is that of broken limbs concealed beneath awkward original form, in which it came from the mouth of
garments."
Gotama. The Singhalese priests, amounting to the
The shape of the images of Gotama differs in dif- large number of 2,500, being nearly 1 in 400 of the
ferent countries, according to the peculiar taste of population, boast of the remote antiquity of their
the people. In Ceylon, they resemble a handsome, order, Budhism having been professed in the island for
well-shaped native; but in Siam they are of a more 2,000 years. They are of a thoroughly mendicant
slender figure, and in Nepaul they have often three description, being wholly indebted for their support
heads, and six or ten arms. The BO-TREE (which to the use of the ALMS-BOWL (which see). Accord-
see), or ficus religiosa, under which Gotama sat when ing to a legend, which is credited by the natives.
he received the Budhaship, is still an object of Gotama Budha, driven from the continent of India
worship. The Kandians are in possession of the by the persecution of the Brahmans, took refuge in
left canine tooth of their sage, and it is preserved by their island, and he ascended into heaven from
them with the utmost care, being regarded as the the summit of Adam's Peak, leaving the impression
very palladium of their country. The impressions of his foot on the mountain. It appears to have
of Gotama's foot are also worshipped. One which been towards the sixth century of our era that
is seen on the top of Adam's Peak, 7,240 feet above Brahmanism obtained a decisive victory over the par-
the level of the sea, is the frequent resort of Bud- tizans of Budhism, compelling them to flee from
BUDHISTS.
405
Hindostan, and to cross the Himalaya, spreading | alms-bowl; a razor; a needle; and a water-strainer.
themselves over Thibet, Mongolia, China, the Bur- These are the only things which a priest can be
man empire, Japan, and Ceylon. The new religion allowed to possess in his own individual right. But
obtained complete possession of these countries, and whatever may have been the original design of Go-
is now the prevailing religion of the Indo-Chinese tama Budha in regard to the priesthood, their real
territories and entire East of Asia. M. Huc says, situation in Ceylon is very different from that of
that among all the Budhist nations which he visited, mendicants who renounce all property. The fact is,
the Mongols were the most devotedly attached to that the possessions of the temples constitute a large
their religion; then came the Thibetans, next the proportion of the cultivated lands in the Kandyan
Singhalese of Ceylon, and last of all, the Chinese, provinces, and yet, with all this wealth, a priest is
who have fallen into scepticism.
not allowed to take into his mouth a morsel of food
The priests of Budha are all of them monks, re- which has not been given in alms, unless it be wa-
siding in the temples, and living in a state of celi- ter, or some substance used for the purpose of clean-
bacy. In the Burman empire they are very nu- ing the teeth. Many of the Budhists consider it
merous, much more so, indeed, than in Ceylon; and most meritorious to make a vow never to partake of
in Siam, where they are called Talapoins, their food without giving a portion to the priests. The
number is larger still. In Thibet, the superior | tonsure or shaving of the head is required of every
priests are called Lamas, and are regarded as incar- | priest. The hair must not grow longer than two
nations of Budha ; hence they are called Living inches, and, therefore, it is the usual custom to shave
Budhas or Chaberons. See BUDHAS (LIVING). once every fortnight. They walk out uncovered
Priests of this kind are peculiar to the Budhists of with their bald crown exposed to the fiercest rays of
Thibet and Japan. The Budhism of China is known a tropical sun. Their entire wardrobe is confined to
by the name of the religion of Fo, and in Japan of three robes, which are worn in the simplest manner.
that of Budsdo. In Nepaul, the priests are called The Chinese Budhist priest prefers garments which
BANDAYA (which see), whence the Chinese BONZE are torn and tattered, and have been rejected by
(which see), which in Sanscrit signifies a person en- others. In Burmah, they tear the cloth into a great
titled to reverence. They are divided into four or- number of pieces, but take care that it shall be of
ders, Bhikshu or Mendicants, Srawala or Readers, the finest quality. The garment worn by the priests
Chailaka or Scantily-robed, and Arhanta or Adepts. in Ceylon is entirely of a yellow colour, though oc-
“In some countries where Budhism is professed,” | casionally differing in shade. The Thibetan priests
we learn from Mr. Hardy, “it is usual for all per- wear silken vests adorned with images, and have a
sons to take upon themselves, during some period lettered border of sacred texts woven into the scarf.
of their lives, the obligations of the priest; but this The residences of the priests in Ceylon are usually
is probably only an entrance into the noviciate.
mean erections, being built of wattle filled up with
In Ceylon it is less common for any one thus to as- mud, whilst the roof is covered with straw, or the
sume the yellow robe who does not intend to devote platted leaves of the cocoa-nut tree. Their resi-
his whole life to the profession. Nearly every male dences in Burmah appear to be of the same descrip-
inhabitant of Siam enters the priesthood once in his tion, but those in Siam are much superior, having
life
. The monarch of this country every year, in richly carved entrances and ornamented roofs. The
the month of Asárha, throws off his regal robes, | priests in Ceylon are seldom - seen with any thing
shaves his head, adopts the yellow sackcloth of a in the hand unless it be the alms-bowl or the fan,
novice, and does penance in one of the wiháras, which, like a hand-screen, is carried to prevent the
along with all his court. At the same time slaves eyes from beholding vanity. They are usually fol-
are brought to be shaved and initiated, as an act of lowed by an attendant called the Abittaya. Clean-
merit in their converter.
The same practice pre- liness is strictly inculcated upon them ; but they are
vails in Ava. Among the Burmans, instead of the not allowed to bathe oftener than once a-fortnight, un-
expensive mode of putting away a husband or wife, less in six weeks of summer, and the first month of
which the common law furnishes, a much easier is the rainy season. The priest must use a tooth-cleaner
often resorted to with complete success. The par- | regularly in the morning. It is generally made of
ties aggrieved merely turn priests or nuns, and the some fibrous substance.
matrimonial bond is at once dissolved. They may The Budhas, the Sacred Books, and the Priest-
return to secular life at any time, and marry an- hood, are the triad or sacred three of the Budhists,
other ; but, for the sake of appearance, their return in which they put all their confidence. The assist-
to the world is usually deferred some months. It is ance derived from these three gems is called sarana,
the custom in China to serve three years as abbot, protection, which amounts to a removal of the fear
and after this period to retire into privacy."
of reproduction or successive existence, and also a
The Budhist priests are under a strict vow of po- removal of the fear of the niind, the pain of the
At their ordination they must possess only body, and the misery of the four hells. By re-
eight articles, which consist of three robes of differ- flecting on the three gems, scepticism, doubt, and
ent descriptions; a girdle for the lains ; a pátara or reasoning will be driven away, and the mind become
verty
406
BUDNÆANS-BUKTE.
clear and calm. The Budhists are particularly at- | legs bound together; his head is also secured and
tached to relics, which they hold in great reverence,
turned in the direction of the KIBLAH (which see),
more especially the remains of Gotama. The most and water then poured over it. The BILAL (which
celebrated relic now in existence is the DALADA see) now advances with the sacrificial knife, and
(which see), or left canine tooth of the sage. The turning himself towards the Kiblah, recites a short
DAGOBA (which see) or Budhist monument, is also prayer four times successively, and then divides the
honoured, from the consideration that such buildings wind-pipe and large blood-vessel of the neck of the
contain relics. Among the Nepaulese, to walk round animal. It is flayed after death, and cut up into
the dagoba is regarded as one of the most pious acts two equal parts. One half is distributed among the
of Budhist devotion. Mental prayers are repeated inhabitants of the Mukim or parish, which consists
during the process, and a small cylinder, fixed upon of forty-four houses ; the other half is distributed
the upper end of a short staff or handle, is held in among the officials of the mosque. The first half
the right hand, and kept in perpetual revolution. is generally cooked and eaten on the spot. On re-
The great object of the devout Budhist is to at-ligious occasions, buffaloes are always sacrificed on
tain Nirwana or cessation of existence. He directs one of these three days, Friday, Monday, or Thurs-
his whole efforts, not towards ABSORPTION (which day. They are also sacrificed at weddings, births,
see), like the Brahman, but annihilation. He longs and circumcisions of wealthy persons; at the Chu-
and strives to enter into a state of non-existence, kur Anak, or the ceremony of shaving the heads of
and to become a nonentity. There is much in the children ; and finally, when going to war. On these
moral precepts of Budhism that is pure and excel- occasions the buffalo need not be without blemish,
lent; but in its great fundamental principles, it is a and is killed according to the usual Mohammedan
gigantic system of atheism, infidelity, and supersti- custom of the Zabbah.
rion, spreading like an upas-tree over immense re- BUG, or Bog, a river flowing into the Black
gions of Eastern Asia, shedding a withering, a de- Sea, which was once an object of devotion among the
structive blight over all that dwell under its shadow. Russians, and one of the consecrated localities of
BUDNÆANS, a sect of SOCINIANS (which see), their worship.
which arose in Poland in the sixteenth century, BUGRI. See CATHARI,
headed by Simon Budny, from whom they derived BUKTE', the name applied to a Lama or Budhist
their name.
He and his followers were not con- priest in Tartary, who professes to work miracles,
tented, like other Socinians, with denying the divi- particularly to cut himself open, take out his en-
nity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and affirming him to trails, and place them before him, and then resume
be a mere man, but they denied the inspiration of his former condition as if nothing had happened.
the Sacred Scriptures. Budny, who had many fol. This spectacle, so revolting to the spectators, is very
lowers in Lithuania and Russian Poland, was de- common in the Lamaseries of Tartary. The Buktè
posed from the ministerial office in 1584, and along who is to manifest his power, as it is termed by the
with his adherents was excommunicated from the Mongols, prepares himself by previous fasting and
Minor Reformed Church of Poland, as the Socinian prayer for a considerable period, during which he
body in that country termed themselves. It is a lives in complete retirement, and observes total si-
remarkable fact, that Budny's translation of the Old | lence. The disgusting scene is thus described by
Testament Scriptures is considered as the best that | M. Huc: “When the appointed day is come, the
has ever been made, while his Commentaries on multitude of pilgrims assemble in the great court of
these Scriptures, as well as on the New Testament, the Lamasery, where an altar is raised in front of
stamped him as an infidel. He is said to have the Temple-gate. At length the Buktè appears.
afterwards renounced his infidel principles, and to He advances gravely, amid the acclamations of the
have been received again into communion with the crowd, seats himself upon the altar, and takes from
Socinians.
his girdle a large knife, which he places upon his
BUDSDO, the name given in Japan to Gotama knees. At his feet, numerous Lamas, ranged in a
Budha, who is worshipped also in that island. See
See circle, commence the terrible invocations of this
BUDHA, GOTAMA.
frightful ceremony. As the recitation of the prayers
BUDSDOISTS, the worshippers in Japan of proceeds, you see the Buktè trembling in every
Budsdo or Gotama Budha. See BUDHISTS.
limb, and gradually working himself up into phre-
BUFFALO (SACRIFICE OF THE), a sacred rite netic convulsions. The Lamas themselves become
which seems to be peculiar to the Malayan Moham- excited: their voices are raised; their song observes
medans in the Straits of Malacca. The buffalo se- no order, and at last becomes a mere confusion of
lected for the offering must be without blemish or yelling and outcry. Then the Buktè suddenly throws
disease ; its fore and hind leg bones, and also its aside the scarf which envelopes him, unfastens his
spine, must not be broken after death; neither are girdle, and seizing the sacred knife, slits open his
the horns to be used for common purposes. The stomach, in one long cut. While the blood flows in
animal to be sacrificed is thrown down in a conve- every direction, the multitude prostrate themselves
uient place near the mosque, with his hind and fore before the terrible spectacle, and the enthusiast F
BULGARIANS--BULL UNAM SANCTAM.
407
Y
interrogated about all sorts of hidden things, as to on the other with the name of the Pope by whom
future events, as to the destiny of certain person- the bull is issued, and the year of his pontificate
ages. The replies of the Buktè to all these ques- in which it appears. If the bull refers to a matter
tions are regarded, by everybody, as oracles. of justice, the leaden seal is suspended by a hempen
“When the devout curiosity of the numerous pil- cord; but if it refers to a matter of grace, by a silken
grims is satisfied, the Lamas resume, but now calmly thread. The Papal bulls form a very large and
and gravely, the recitation of their prayers. The important part of ecclesiastical law in use in all Ro-
Buktè takes, in his right hand, blood from his wound, mish countries; but great doubt has often been felt
raises it to his mouth, breathes thrice upon it, and as to the precise bulls which properly form a part
then throws it into the air, with loud cries. He of canon law many forged bulls having been palmed
next passes his hand rapidly over his wound, closes upon the world. In the twelfth century many bulls
it, and everything after a while resumes its pristine were interpolated under the name of the Popes to
condition, no trace remaining of the diabolical opera- subserve particular interests. People returning froin
tion, except extreme prostration. The Buktè once a pilgrimage to Rome brought with them interpolated
more rolls his scarf round him, recites in a low bulls, and put them in circulation. A forger of this
voice a short prayer; then all is over, and the mul- sort appeared in Sweden in the time of Innocent III.
titude disperse, with the exception of a few of the in the character of a papal legate. Some ecclesiastics
especially devout, who remain to contemplate and were particularly skilful in imitating Papal bulls,
to adore the blood-stained altar which the saint has and realized considerable sums by the practice. In
quitted.”
England, near the close of the twelfth century, such
Such painful ceremonies frequently take place in attempts at imposture were publicly condemned, and
the great Lamaseries of Tartary and Thibet, and so Innocent III. enacted laws subjecting criminals of
skilfully is the operation conducted, that even the this kind to severe punishment, and at the same
most intelligent Budhists believe in the reality of time laid down special marks by which genuine
the pretended miracle. Certain days of the year are might be distinguished from spurious bulls. Iu
set apart on which such scenes are exhibited, when these circumstances it was felt to be necessary that
great numbers of people assemble, bringing with a new and properly accredited collection of genuine
them offerings of various kinds, which go to enrich bulls should be prepared. After many attempts to
the Lamasery.
The regular Lamas disclaim all supply this felt desideratum, Pope Gregory IX., in
connection with spectacles of this sort, and they are A. D. 1234, caused such a digest to be formed by
only enacted by lay Lamas of indifferent character the general of the Dominicans, Raymund a Penne-
and of little esteem among their brethren.
forte. The Decretals of Raymund formed a very
The so-called miracle, which we have just de- | important addition to Popish ecclesiastical law, and
scribed, is always performed in public, with great were appointed to be read in all schools, and to be
pomp and parade. There are others, however, which taken for law in all ecclesiastical courts. A second
are practised by a Buktè in private houses. Among volume of Decretals was collected and arranged by
these may be mentioned the heating irons red-hot, Pope Boniface VIII. and published about A. D.
and then licking them with impunity, and making 1298. A third volume was collected by Pope Cle-
incisions in different parts of the body, which the ment V. and published in A. D. 1308. This last
instant after leave no trace behind. On these occa- collection is commonly known by the name of Cle-
sions the operations are preceded by the recitation mentines. These three volumes of Decretals or
of a prayer addressed to a demon, and if the appeal Papal bulls are acknowledged as carrying legal au-
is without effect, then the being invoked is assailed thority in all Popish states, and are called by can-
with insults and imprecations.
onists Patrice Obedientice. A commentary on the
BUL, the eighth month in the ancient Hebrew Decretals was published under the title of Novellce
calendar, afterwards called Marchesvan, and corre- by John Andreas, a famous canonist in the four-
sponding to our October. It was the second month teenth century. The Papal bulls issued after the
of the civil, and the eighth of the ecclesiastical year, Clementines are usually known by the name of Ex-
and consisted of twenty-nine days. The sixth day of travagants. The first series of these are by Pope
the month Bul was kept as a fast, because on that John XXIII., who was the immediate successor of
day Nebuchadnezzar slew the children of Zedekiah in Clement V., and they received the strange name of
the presence of their father, whose eyes, after he had Extravagants probably because, in their earliest
witnessed the melancholy spectacle, he caused to be state, they were not digested nor ranged with the
put out.
other Papal constitutions, though at an after period
BULGARIANS, a name given to the CATHARI they were inserted into the body of the canon law.
(which see).
The collection of Decretals in 1483 was called the
BULL, a brief or mandate of the Pope, which de- common Extravagants. See CANONS.
rives its name from the seal (bulla) of lead, or some- BULL IN CENA DOMINI. See ANA-
times of gold attached to it. The lead is stamped
on one side with the heads of Peter and Paul, and BULL UYAM SANCTAM, a celebrated Papal
THEMA.
-408
BULL UNIGENITUS-BULL-WORSHIP.
decree issued by Pope Boniface VIII., in the com- animal being a type or representation of creativo
mencement of the fourteenth century, and designed power and energy, was an appropriate form in which
to assert the temporal as well as spiritual authority to exhibit the god of the sun, the source of fertility
of the Pope. Philip, the then reigning king of and productive energy in the earth. Mylitta, the
France, along with his nobility and commons, pub- goddess of matter and of nature, is usually seen
licly disclaimed the Papal authority, in so far as standing upon a bull, but at Hierapolis she is borne
temporal matters were concerned; and, accordingly, upon lions, while Jupiter has bulls under his feet.
Boniface, to assert his double power, issued this The bull, when it is alone, indicates matter and
famous bull, in which he declares that the church is the world. India and Egypt have represented the
one body and has one head, the Pope; that under its history of the world and its four ages by a bull which
command are two swords, the one temporal and the is supported successively upon four feet, then three,
other spiritual. “ Either sword,” the bull goes on two, and one. Among the Persians, the world-pro-
to say, "is in the power of the church, that is the ducing egg contains, instead of the world, the bull
spiritual and material. The former is to be used by Aboudad, which includes the germs of all beings.
the church, the latter for the church. The one in the In India the bull is the creating god Brahma; but in
hand of the priest, the other in the hand of kings and the worship of Mithras, which is derived from that
soldiers, but at the will and pleasure of the priest. of Ormuzd, under the influence of the doctrines
It is right that the temporal sword and authority be which have produced in the Christian Church the
subject to the spiritual power. Moreover, we de- Gnostic sects, the world-producing bull is regarded
clare, say, define, and pronounce, that it is a neces- by M. Rougemont, the learned and able author of
sary article of faith that every human being should · Le Peuple Primitif,' as moist, chaotic, dark, and
be subject to the Roman pontiff.” This was the | impure matter, which its adversary, Mithras, the
first open assertion in a formal document of the invincible sun, sacrifices, and its death he considers
Papal authority being of a twofold character, both. as the emblem of that which the solar and igneous
temporal and spiritual.
spirit must inflict upon the material and impure body.
BULL UNIGENITUS, a decree issued by Pope But not only is the bull found occupying a con-
Clement XI., in A.D. 1713, against the French trans- spicuous part in that department of mythology
lation of the New Testament with notes by the cele- which refers to the sun, it is also seen in emblematic
brated Jansenist, Pasquier Quesnel. The publica- representations of the moon. In a number of monu-
tion of this work had occasioned considerable dispute ments, Diana and Artemis, the one the Roman, and
between the two parties in the Church of Rome, the the other the Grecian goddess of the moon, are
Jesuits and Jansenists; and although Clement had figured with the horns of a bull, or seated on a bull.
privately lauded the work, he proceeded, at the insti- In the cosmogony of various nations, the bull is
gation of the Jesuits, to condemn, in the noted Bull seen in the very foreground of the picture. At
Unigenitus, one hundred and one propositions ex- Miaco in Japan there is a pagoda in honour of a
tracted from the notes of Quesnel. The publication | bull, which is considered as the brother of Aboudad.
of this bull occasioned the greatest commotions in It is represented upon a broad square altar of mas-
France. It was accepted by forty Gallican bishops, sive gold. It wears upon its neck a very rich collar,
but opposed by many others, especially by Noailles, but the object which principally attracts attention is
archbishop of Paris. A violent persecution arose, an egg which it holds between its feet and strikes with
and many of the Jansenists were compelled to flee its horns. The bull is seen standing upon a piece
from France to escape the resentment of the Jesuits. of rock, while the egg swims in water, which is in.
BULL-WORSHIP. This is a far from infrequent cluded in a hollow part of the rock. The egg re-
form of idolatry in many parts of the world, and it presents chaos. The entire world at the time of
is one of the most natural species of ANIMAL-WOR- chaos was enclosed in that egg, which swam upon
SHIP (which see), when we consider that the bull the surface of the waters. The moon, by the power
has been generally regarded as an emblem of the of its light and its influence, drew from the bottom
creative power of God. Among the Persians, bulls of the waters an earthy matter, which was converted
were anciently consecrated, according to Xenophon, insensibly into rock, and there the egg rested. The
to their Jupiter, that is, to Ormuzd. The horns of the bull finding this egg, broke its shell with its horns,
bull were viewed in Judea, Persia, and China, as an and from this shell burst forth the world. The
emblem of power. Moloch, the great god of the breath of the bull produced man. Such is the ex-
Ammonites, is represented as having a bull's head; | planation of the mythical representation given by the
so also is the Cretan Moloch, or Minotaur; while the Japanese doctors.
Sicilian god Hebon has the body of a bull. The The recent excavations of Mr. Layard and M.
bull Mnevis in Egypt was consecrated to the sun; Botta on the site of the ancient Nineveh have
and the great bull Apis, which was set up at Mem- brought to light many figures which show plainly
phis, was dedicated both to the sun and moon. The that bull-worship had been practised among the an-
bull was one of the forms under which the god Osi- cient Assyrians, who had probably derived it from
ris received universal adoration in Egypt; and this | Egypt. In the latter country, the three sacred
a
BULOTU-BURA-PENNOU.
409
me.
bulls, Mnevis, Onuphis, and Apis, were regarded as Geographical and Statistical Society, mentions that
of the highest hieroglyphical importance. The first the Orang Kooboos, both male and female, have
was symbolically adored at Heliopolis ; it was of a been observed to sit round a Buluh-Batang and
black colour, had bristly hair, and symbolised the to strike their heads repeatedly against the trunk
sun. Onuphis was likewise black, had shaggy, re- of the tree, and utter some rude, grunting eja-
curved hair, and is supposed to have been the em- culations. This was done whenever any one or
blem of the retroceding sun. Apis was the offspring all of the band got hurt, or received any special
of a cow, asserted and believed to have been impreg- gratification, but mostly when injured. The natives
nated by a ray of light from heaven. It was neces- are wont to speak in the most ecstatic language of
sary that he should be of a black colour, with the the good wood-nymphs of the Bulah-Batang.
exception of two white spots, one of a triangular BUNÆA, a surname of the Grecian goddess
shape upon the forehead, and another, in the form of HERA (which see).
a half-moon, upon the right side. Taurus, or the BURAICUS, a surname of the ancient god HE-
bull, is the second of the signs of the zodiac, and in the RACLES (which see), derived from the Achean town
Egyptian mythology, Osiris is the sun in Taurus, or of Bura, in the neighbourhood of which there was a
the second stage of the vernal sun, whereas the sun statue erected in honour of him, and there was also
in Aries is not Osiris but Ammon, the first light or an oracle in a cave, which was consulted by throw-
solar phasis of commencing spring. The Gauls wor- ing dice marked with peculiar characters.
shipped a brazen bull, and the temple of Juggernaut BURA - PENNOU, an earth - god among the
in Hindostan has in the middle of it an ox cut in one Khonds of the districts of Ganjam and Cuttack in
entire stone, larger than life. In Guzerat the bulls Hindostan. According to the views of this singular
consecrated to Shiva are of wonderful beauty. They race, the earth was originally a crude and unstable
are perfectly white, with black horns, a skin deli- mass, unfit for cultivation or human residence. The
cately soft, and eyes rivalling those of the antelope earth-god said, “ Let human blood be spilt before
in beautiful lustre. Never was Apis regarded in an-
The command was obeyed, and, in conse-
cient Egypt with more veneration than is now paid quence, the soil became firm and productive. From
to the bull of Shiva in Hindustan. Besides the liv- that time the deity Bura-Pennou appointed that
ing animals, there is in most temples a representa- human sacrifices should be regularly offered. This
tion of one or more of the race sculptured in marble principle accordingly, the sacrifice of human victims,
or stone.
is a fundamental principle of the religion of the
BULOTU, a word used to denote the invisible Khonds. Whenever a field is sown with grain, it
world among the inhabitants of the Tonga islands. must be enriched with the blood of a human victim.
It was supposed to be peopled with the spirits of de- At every little interval as crop advances, the same
parted chiefs and great persons of both sexes; and bloody rite is repeated. Should either national or
it was to these chiefly that worship was paid and individual calamities occur, the wrath of the earth-
sacrifices were offered. These spirits in Bulotu god must be appeased with the blood of a man.
were thought to act as intercessors with the superior The victims, which are called merias, are usually
gods, who were too highly exalted to be approached | Hindus who have been purchased to be used in
by men except in this way. An idea prevailed sacrifice. The unhappy meria is brought to the
among the people, as we learn from Mr. Mariner in village with his eyes blindfolded, and he is lodged in
his description of the Tonga islands, that the spirits the house of the abbaya or patriarch. He is considered
of men were in the habit of revisiting the earth. as a consecrated being until it comes to his turn to be
They would come in birds or in fish as their shrines. sacrificed. We extract an account of one of these
The tropic-bird, king-fisher, and sea-gull, the sea-eel, revolting sacrifices of human beings to Bura-Pennou
shark, whale, and many other living creatures, were from a report made on the subject to the British
considered as sacred because they were favourite government a few years ago, as contained in the
shrines of those spirit-gods.
The natives never
Friend of India.'
killed any of these creatures. To some the cuttle- « From these festivals of sacrifice no one is ex-
fish and the lizard were gods; while others would cluded, and during their celebration all feuds are
lay offerings at the foot of certain trees, under an forgotten.
impression that spirits from Bulotu came to inhabit They are generally attended by a large concourse
them. The souls of chiefs were all supposed to go of people of both sexes, and continue for three days,
straight to Bulotu after death ; but there was no cer- which are passed in the indulgence of every form
tainty as to the fate of the common people, who, in- of gross excess in more than Saturnalian license.
deed, were scarcely thought to have souls.
“The first day and night are spent exclusively
BULUH-BATANG, a species of bamboo which in drinking, feasting, and obscene riot. Upon the
grows in Sumatra, and which is supposed by many second morning, the victim, who has fasted from
of the natives to be the habitation of numberless the preceding evening, is carefully washed, dressed
good and evil supernatural beings. Captain Gibson, in a new garment, and led forth from the village in
in an interesting paper read before the American I solemn procession with music and dancing.
the
1
410
BURCHAN—BURNT-OFFERINGS.
NOD.
“ The meria-grove, a clump of deep and shadowy | cating with each other only by signs, and remaining
forest trees, in which the mango, the bur, the saul, unvisited by strangers. At the end of this time, a buf-
and the peepul generally prevail, usually stands at a falo is slaughtered at the place of sacrifice, when
short distance from the hamlet, by a rivulet which is tongues are loosened.”
called the meria-stream. It is kept sacred from the It is not usual to find the earth represented as a
axe, and is avoided by the Khond as haunted ground: god, but as a goddess. It seems more probable that
my followers were always warned to abstain from the sacrifices thus offered were made not to Bura-
seeking shelter within its awful shades. In its cen- Pennou, who is supposed by some to be a solar god,
tre, upon the day of sacrifice, an upright stake is but to Tari-Pennou, his companion, who was a god-
fixed, and generally between two plants of the sun- dess of the earth.
kissar or buzzur-dauti shrub, the victim is seated at BURCHAN, the name of the idols of the Cal-
its foot, bound back to it by the priest. He is then muck Tartars. Most of their gods are supposed to
anointed with oil, ghee, and turmeric, and adorned have been spiritual beings, who, after passing through
with flowers, and a species of reverence, which is not all the different degrees of transmigration, have at
easy to distinguish from adoration, is paid to him last raised themselves to the dignity of divine be-
throughout the day. And there is now eager con- ings by great deeds and extreme sufferings.
tention to obtain the slightest relic of his person ; a
BURGHERS. See AssociATE (BURGHER) SY.
particle of the turmeric paste with which he is
smeared, or a drop of his spittle, being esteemed, BURIAL RITES. See FUNERAL RITES.
especially by the women, of supreme virtue. In BURNT-OFFERINGS, sacrifices consumed by
some districts, instead of being thus bound in a fire. These are the most ancient sacrifices in the
grove, the victim is exposed in or near the village, world. They are often mentioned in heathen all-
upon a couch, after being led in procession around thors. Xenophon says, that in early times they
the place of sacrifice.
sacrificed whole burnt-offerings of oxen to Jupiter,
Upon the third morning, the victim is refreshed and of horses to the sun. The sacrifices of animals
with a little milk and palm sago, while the licen- were the most common among the Greeks and Ro-
tious feast, which has scarcely been intermitted dur- mans. (See SacrIFICES.) But the sacrifice which
ing the night, is loudly renewed. About noon, these was known by the name of the burnt-offering was
orgies terminate, and the assemblage issues forth specially a Jewish service. Of sacrifices, in which
with stunning shouts, and pealing music, to con- the animals were either wholly or in part consumed by
summate the sacrifice.
fire, there were four kinds—the whole burnt-offerings,
" As the victim must not suffer bound, nor, on the sin-offerings, the trespass-offerings, and the
the other hand, exhibit any show of resistance, the peace-offerings. The first of these was all con-
bones of his arms, and if necessary, those of his sumed except the skin. Of the second some part
legs are now broken in several places.
was burnt, the rest being given to the priests, who
“ The acceptable place of sacrifice has been dis- were to eat it in the courts of the tabernacle. The
covered the previous night, by persons sent out for trespass-offerings, which formed the third kind of
this purpose, into the fields of the village, or of the burnt-offerings, were also partly consumed by fire,
private oblator. The ground is probed in the dark
probed in the dark and partly eaten by the priests. In regard to the
with long sticks, and the first deep chink that is peace-offering, a different arrangement took place,
pierced is considered the spot indicated by the earth- soine part of it being burnt, while the breast and
god. The rod is left standing in the earth, and in the shoulder were given to the priest, and the remain-
the morning four large posts are set up around it. der was eaten by the person who brought the offering
“The priest, assisted by the abbaya, and by one along with his friends. It was the first, in which the
or two of the elders of the village, now takes the whole animal was consumed by fire, that properly
branch of a green tree, which is cleft a distance of received the name of the burnt-offering. In early
several feet down the centre. They insert the vic- times burnt-offerings were sacrificed by every head
tiin within the rift, fitting it in some districts to his of a family in his own dwelling; but afterwards, pro-
chest, in others, to his throat. Cords are then bably to prevent idolatry, special regulations were
twisted round the open extremity of the stake, which laid down as to the manner in which the rites were
the priest, aided by his assistants, strives with his to be performed.
whole force to close. He then wounds the victim In the case of a burnt-offering, every individual
slightly with his axe, when the crowd, throwing was bound to bring his sacrificial victim to the door
themselves upon the sacrifice, and exclaiming, “We of the tabernacle, for the purpose of being offered
bought you with a price, and no sin rests on us,' upon the ALTAR OF BURNT-OFFERING (which see),
strip the flesh from the bones.
which stood in the centre of the outer court. When
" Each man bears his bloody shred to his fields, the animal was thus brought, it was said to be offerti
and from thence returns straight home; and for up to God. The time appointed for sacrificing was
three days after the sacrifice, the inhabitants of the | in the day. The animals used were bullocks, sheep,
village, which afforded it, remain dumb, communi- | and goats, and, in cases of extreme poverty, turtle.
1
BURNT-OFFERINGS.
411
16 The
doves and pigeons might be offered. No beast could was then stripped of its skin, and divided into pieces.
be sacrificed before it was seven days old, and spe- Wood was now brought to the altar, and the priests,
cial care was taken that it should be without blemish. carrying the portions of the divided sacrifice, went
The rites of the burnt-offering are thus described by to the ascent of the altar, and there laid them down
Mr. Lewis, in his 'Hebrew Antiquities :
and salted them. This salt, which was called the
man that brought a sacrifice led him up into the salt of the covenant, was indispensable to the effi-
court of the tabernacle, and afterwards into the in- cacy of the offering. (See SALT.) The parts of
per court of the temple, and stood with him before the sacrifice being salted, the priest that was to offer
the altar with his face to the west, as in the sight of them carried them up the ascent of the altar, and
God. The most holy sacrifices were led through threw them into the fire along with the fat. This
the gate of the court upon the north, called the gate | fat the Jews say was laid upon the head of the sa-
of offering; the less holy were led through the crifice when it was cast into the fire, and the whole
southern gate ; and the victims that were young aniinal was thus consumed, except the skin, which
and tender had their feet tied, and were carried in was given to the priest.
by the persons that owned them.
Besides the burnt-offerings sacrificed on special
“Then was he to lay his two hands, pressing with occasions, there were two regular burnt-offerings
all his force, upon the head of the victim between called the daily sacrifice, one of them being offered
his two horns, though some conceive that the laying every morning at nine o'clock, and the other at
on of one hand was sufficient; yet the practice of three o'clock in the afternoon. Each consisted of
Aaron, who laid his two hands upon the goat on the a lamb of the first year without blemish. Some
day of expiation, became a general canon, and two burnt-offerings were positively enjoined by the law;
hands were commonly laid on. This imposition of others were voluntarily presented for a vow or a
hands was followed by a confession of sin in this freewill-offering. The constant burnt-offerings are
form: I have sinned, O God, I have transgressed thus enumerated by Lewis : “ The daily sacrifice or
and rebelled, I have done this or that (naming the two lambs, which were burnt together with their
particular offence), but now I repent, and let this meat-offering and drink-offering upon the altar.
victim be my expiation ; that is, let the punishment Upon every seventh day or Sabbath four lambs.
which I have deserved fall upon the head of this my Upon every new moon distinctly for itself as a new
sacrifice. And this confession of sin was thought moon, or first day of the month, two bullocks, one
so necessary, that without it the sacrifice was at-
ram, and seven lambs. Upon the fifteenth day
tended with no cleansing quality, and was wholly of the first or passover month, being the first of the
ineffectual.
seven days of that great festivity after the passover,
“In the same place where hands were laid upon two bullocks, one ram, and (seven lambs; and so for
the victim was he slain, and that instantly and with- seven days continually. In the sheaf of the first
out delay. The sacrifice was tied down to the fruits one he-lamb. In the feast of first fruits, if
rings at the slaughtering place upon the north side we consult the Levitical book, we find seven lambs,
of the altar, if it was one of the most holy; but if one bullock, and two rams; but in the book of Num-
not, it might be killed in any part of the court, but | bers, seven lambs, one ram, and two bullocks. In
generally towards the east. The victiin to be slain
The victiin to be slain the first day of the seventh month, or the feast of
was bound, his fore legs and hinder legs together, trumpets, one bullock, one ram, and seven lambs.
and laid thus bound with his head towards the Upon the tenth day of the seventh month, or the
south, and his face towards the west; and he that day of expiation, one bullock, one ram, and seven
killed him stood upon the east side of him, with his | lambs.
lambs. Besides this offering, there was a ram for
face westward, and then cut through the throat and the high-priest himself, and another for all the peo-
the wind-pipe at one stroke : the blood was then ple. Upon the fifteenth day of the seventh month,
caught in a bason by another person, who continually being the beginning of the feast of tabernacles,
stirred it about, lest it should coagulate before it thirteen bullocks, two rams, fourteen lainbs, and so
was sprinkled. But the blood of the red cow was constantly for seven days; only every day there
always received by the priest in his left hand. The decreased one bullock from the offerings, till at the
killing of the sacrifice was regularly and ordinarily | seventh day there were but seven bullocks. Upon
the office of the priests; yet it might upon occasion the eighth and last day there was offered but one of
be done by another, by a woman, a servant, or un-
each."
clean person, who, though he could not come into Burnt-offerings are sometimes called Holocausts,
the court, yet was allowed to stand without, and by from the circumstance that the offerings were wholly
stretching his hand within to slay the sacrifice. But burnt upon the altar. Such sacrifices were those
this rite could not be discharged by a person that most commonly in use before the time of Moses. An
was deaf, or a fool, or a minor, who were not qua- account of the manner in which they were to be
lified to attend to the sacred action they were about." | offered is laid down in Lev. i. They were remark-
The sacrifice having been slain, the blood was ably emblematic of a sense of sin on the part of thu
sprinkled by the priest. (See BLOOD.) The animal | worshipper, and of a recognition of the great princi-
1
A
412
BURRIBURRI-CABBALA.
would say,
ple laid down by God himself, that " without shed- in honour of the goddess Manipa, who is imagined
ding of blood there is no reinission,” the whole ani- to take peculiar delight in the shedding of blood.
mal being consumed by fire as an offering of a sweet- BUTO, a goddess among the ancient Egyptians,
smelling savour unto the Lord.
who, as some think, represented the full moon, and
BURRIBURRI, the name given among the Ne- was worshipped along with Horus and Bubastis at the
groes of New Guinea to God, the Creator.
town of Buto. She is identified by the Greeks with
BUSTAMI, a Mohammedan mystic in the ninth the goddess Leto. She was accounted by Herodotus
century of our era, who taught that the recognition one of the eight principal Egyptian divinities. By
of our personal existence was idolatry, which is the the Greeks generally she was thought to be the god-
worst of crimes. He held that man is absorbed in dess of night, and in accordance with this view, the
God, and when he adores God he adores himself. shrew-mouse and the hawk were sacred to her.
He considered himself as identified with the power, BYTHOS (Gr. the abyss), the primal essence,
the wisdom, and the goodness of the universe. He among the Valentinian Gnostics, where the spirit is
“I am a sea without bottom, without lost in contemplation. According to this system, all
beginning, without end. I am the throne of God, existence has its ground in the self-limitation of the
the word of God. I am Gabriel, Michael, Israfil; | Bythos, which has in it a fulness of divine life which
I am Abraham, Moses, Jesus.” Such language in- flows out in the complete series of Æons (which
dicates Bustami to have been a Pantheist of the see). The first self-manifestation of the Hidden One,
worst description. Similar doctrines have been re- the Monogenes, is called distinctively the invisible
vived in our own day by an American writer of name of the Bythos, or that wherein the Bythos has
great popularity. See INTUITIONISTS.
conceived himself. Irenæus speaks of a class of
BUSTUM, a place appointed for burning the bo- Valentinians who considered the Bythos to be some-
dies of the dead among the ancient Romans. The thing exalted above all opposition, of which even
Bustum was in the immediate neighbourhood of the existence could not be predicated; the Absolute
place of sepulture, that when the body was con- identical with Nothing.
sumed the ashes might be interred.
BYZANTINE CHURCH, those who acknow-
BUSUM, or SUMAN (sacredness), the native name ledge subjection to the patriarch of Constantinople,
used by the Ashantees and Fantees, for the deities who is the head of the Oriental or GREEK CHURCH
worshipped by the Negroes, and which are called by (which see).
the Europeans FETISHES (which see).
BYZANTINE RECENSION, the name usually
BUSUMPRAH (sacred river), a divinity among applied to the text of the Greek New Testament
the Ashantees. This river issues from a large rock used in Constantinople after that city became the
about half-way up the side of a mountain, near a metropolis of the Eastern empire. In the opinion
little crevice called Samtasu. There the special pre- of Michaelis, most of the manuscripts found in the
sence of the god is supposed to abide, and sacrifices convent on Mount Athos are of the Byzantine edi-
are consequently offered. On the northern bank of tion. Griesbach reckons upwards of one hundred
the river is a fetish-house or temple, where Ashan manuscripts of this class.
tee travellers make oblations to the deity of the BYZAS, the founder of Byzantium, now called
river before they venture to plunge into the Constantinople. He was said to be sprung from the
stream.
gods, being a son of Poseidon and Ceroessa, the
BUTH, an individual who is said to run furiously daughter of Zeus and Io. But Byzas was the name
on certain days of the year through the city of Lha- of the leader of the Megarians, who, B. C. 658, found-
Ssa in Thibet, killing recklessly all whom he meets, ed Byzantium
C
CAABA. See KAABA.
sometimes used in an enlarged sense to denote all
CABARNUS, the ancient name given in the is- the traditions which the Jews have received from
land of Paros to a priest of DEMETER (which see). their fathers; but more frequently applied to denote
It was also the name of a mythical personage from those mystical interpretations of Scripture and those
whom Demeter learned that her daughter had been metaphysical speculations concerning the nature and
carried off.
perfections of God which are said to have been
CABBALA (Heb. tradition or reception), a terin handed down by a secret tradition from the earliest
+
CABBALA.
413
ages. This mysterious system of theological science mystery, and well does it deserve the name, from the
has been held in the highest esteem by many Jews, mysterious doctrines which it teaches, all of them
conducting the mind, as they allege it does, by an supported by passages extracted from the Old Testa-
easy process to the knowledge of the sublimest ment, and explained in a very peculiar way. It
truths. The Cabbalists regarded the Mishna as the mentions the Microprosopon, or the little face, and
soul of the law, and preferred it to the revealed or the Macroprosopon, or long face, with his spouse,
written word, while they deemed their own Cabbala with the different dispositions of his beard, and other
as the soul of the soul of the law. It is with them a circumstances equally trifling and absurd. The second
mystery concealed from the uninitiated, chiefly con- part is called the Great Synod, and enters more into
sisting in viewing the words of the sacred Scriptures particulars, explaining the dew of the brain of the old
as involving abstruse meanings, which may be ascer- man, and of the great face. He afterwards examined
tained by combining the letters of which they are his skull, and his hair, his forehead, eyes and nose,
composed in different forms. To maintain the and every part of the great face, but particularly his
antiquity of this system of teaching, it has been al- beard, which is represented as "transcending all en-
leged that Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai comium. Neither prophet nor saint ever came near
on three different occasions; that during the first of it. It is white as snow, and reaches even to the
these periods he received the written law; that dur- middle. It is the ornament of ornaments, and the
ing the second he was instructed in the Mishna; truth of truths ; wo unto him that toucheth it."
while the last forty days were spent in the study of This marvellous beard consists of no fewer than
the Cabbala. The great Jewish legislator is ima- thirteen parts, which none but the initiated can com-
gined to have explained the principles of this mys- prehend. The third part of the Zohar is called the
terious science in the first four books of the Penta- Little Synod, and contains the last farewell which
teuch, which treat of the existence and attributes of Simeon Ben Jochai took of his disciples. His last
God, wliile, in the book of Deuteronomy, the Cab- words were written by Rabbi Abba, and contain fur-
bala is not to be found. Some Jewish writers, how- ther explanations in reference to the old man who
ever, plead for a still more remote antiquity as be- had formed the subject of the two former parts.
longing to their favourite traditional science, it having “His head," said he, “is concealed in a superior
been taught, they say, by God to angels immediately place where it is not seen ; but it expands its fore-
after the fall of man, and the angel Raziel having head, which is beautiful and agreeable. It is the
been despatched from heaven on very purpose to complacency of delights, and therefore it has there
instruct Adam in the mysteries of religion by means the figure of a forehead, which appears with the
of the Cabbala. Different angels also were employed brightest light, and when it appears, the complacency
to initiate the succeeding patriarchs in this difficult is manifest in all the worlds. The prayers are heard,
science, Tophiel having been the teacher of Shem, the face of the little visage is'enlightened, the eyes
Raphael of Isaac, Metatron of Moses, and Michael of are as admirable as the forehead. They always be-
David,
hold, and never sleep, for the Psalmist says, 'He
No Cabbalistic writings are to be found, however, that keepeth Israel never sleeps,' and, therefore, he
which are not evidently of a date posterior to that of has neither eyelids nor eyebrows." Simeon speaks
the destruction of the second temple. The most with the same obscurity of all the other parts of the
celebrated of them are the Sepher Jetsira, or book of little face.
the creation, and the Sepher Zohar, the book of But the question naturally arises in the mind,
splendour. The former is ascribed by some Jews to What can be the meaning of all this? It is a mys-
the patriarch Abraham, buí others, with greater pro- terious allegorical representation of some important
bability, attribute it to the famous Rabbi AKIBA truths. The following brief explanation may suffice.
(which see). The author of the Zohar is believed to “ The Cabbalists distinguish three kinds of worlds,
have been a disciple of Akiba, named Simeon Ben and represent them under the figures of three men,
Jochai, whom the Jews consider as the prince of called the celestial man, the terrestrial rnan, and the
Cabbalists, and to whose authority they implicitly archetype, or original and model of the other. To
bow on every point not contradicted in the Talmud. each of these men they appropriate a woman, and all
Simeon is supposed to have lived some years after the parts of the human body, pretending that these
the destruction of Jerusalem. The emperor Titus parts are so many significant symbols, representing
Vespasian is said to have condemned him to death, the operations and effects of the Deity. They inia-
but having escaped, he concealed himself along with gine also a long and a little face, to which they, in
his son in a cave, where, with the assistance of Elias, the first place, assign some wives, because the pro-
who occasionally descended from heaven to instruct duction of all things is effected by union. They, in
them, they prepared the Zohar, a production of great the second place, ascribe to them a brain, which is
fame, as containing the Cabbalistic mysteries, ex- concealed, by wliich they insinuate that God com-
pounded with greater fulness than in any other prehends all things in his secret council. They, in
work. A brief view of this noted book may be of the third place, assert that the skull is full of a white
some interest to the reader. The first part is called dew as clear as crystal,' by which they mean that all
414
CABBALA.
אגלא
אגלא
אגלא
אגלא
אגלא
אגלא
אגלא
colours have a very subtile principle, and that every
thing is white. They teach, in the fourth place, that
the little face has two arms, which are expressive of
his bounty and severity. They further describe his
body as beauty, his right thigh as power, and his left
as glory. They, in the fifth place, attribute to him
abundance of hair, which overshadows a part of that
radiance and effulgence that would dazzle and con-
found the saints, who, in their present imperfect
state, are incapable of beholding that lustre which
surrounds divine perfection." From this imperfect
exposition it is plain, that under the figure of the old
man, with the different parts of his body, are veiled
divine truths of no ordinary importance.
We are informed that in the very act of expound-
ing these mystical allegories, Rabbi Simeon expired.
While he had been engaged in teaching his disciples,
a bright light filled the house, which so dazzled those The Cabbala is commonly divided into two
present that they could not look steadfastly upon the branches. The one treats of the perfections of God
face of their instructor. A fire also was seen to and of the celestial intelligences, and receives the
burn at the door of the house, which effectually pre- name of the chariot, or Mercava, because they sup-
vented the entrance of all except Simeon's more im- pose that Ezekiel has explained the chief mysteries
mediate disciples; and when both the fire and the in the chariot which he mentions in the beginning of
dazzling brightness disappeared, they perceived that his visions. The other is called Bereschit, or the be-
the lamp of Israel was extinguished. The burial of ginning, and includes the study of the material uni-
this eminent Rahbi was strictly private, and it was verse, taking its name from the Hebrew word with
reported that while the last sad ceremony was being which the Mosaic account of the creation opens in the
performed, and the body was about to be let down into book of Genesis. In the Cabbalistic system are includ-
the grave, a voice was suddenly heard from heaven ed ten sephiroths or splendours, ten names of God, ten
exclaiming, “ Come to the marriage of Simeon; he orders of angels, ten planets, and ten members of the
shall enter into peace, and rest in his chamber." human body, and these corresponding to the ten com-
And when the coffin was actually deposited in the mandments. The ten splendours are denominated the
tomb, a voice was again heard saying, “This is he crown, wisdom, understanding, mag nificence, might,
who caused the earth to quake and the kingdoms to beauty, victory, glory, the foundation, and the king-
shake.” Such legends strikingly indicate the high dom. The ten names of God corresponding to these
estimation in which Rabbi Simeon is held among the ten splendours are “I am that I am," Jah or the
Jews.
Essence, Jehovah, God the Creator, the Mighty God,
The Cabbala has been usually divided into three the Strong God, God of Hosts, the Lord God of
kinds (1.) The Gematria, which consists in taking Hosts, the Omnipotent, and the Lord Adonai. The
the letters of a Hebrew word for arithmetical num- ten orders of angels are the seraphim, cherubim,
bers, and explaining every word by the arithmetical thrones, dominions, virtues, powers, principalities,
value of its letters. (2.) The Noturicon, which con- archangels, angels, and souls. The ten planets are
sists in taking every particular letter of a word for the empyreal heaven, the primum mobile, the firma-
an entire diction. (3.) The Themurah, which con- ment, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mer-
sists in transposing or changing the letters. Cabba-
cury, and the Nioon. The ten members of the hu-
listic science was a favourite study of the Jews in man body are the brain, the lungs, the heart, the
the middle ages. At that dark period, diagrams stomach, the liver, the gall, the spleen, the reins, the
were frequently drawn in particular forms and in- vitals, and the womb.
scribed with mystical Hebrew words, or rather spe- The greatest secret of the Cabbala is found in the
cial combinations of Hebrew letters, which were sephiroths or splendours, and to obtain an acquaint-
supposed to act as amulets or charms, healing dis- ance with these requires much earnest and indus-
eases, averting calamities, and otherwise exerting trious application. A greater excellence is attribut-
magical influence. The following figure, called the ed to the first three of these splendours than to any
Shield of David, may give the reader some idea of of the rest. They approach nearer to the infinite.
these talismanic diagrams. We are indebted for it and constitute the chariot Mercava, which it is un
to Allen's Modern Judaism,' and the Hebrew in- lawful to explain to any except the initiated. Some
scription, dgla, is composed of the initial letters of Christian writers imagine that in these three special
four Hebrew words, which may be rendered, “ Thou sephiroths is involved the idea thus plainly seen to
art strong for ever, O Lord,” or “ Thou art strong in exist among the Cabbalistic Jews, of a Trinity of
the eternal God."
Persons in the Godhead. It is most probable. how-
CABBALISTS-CABEIRI.
415
ever, that these sephiroths were, like the other, only | peculiar value and importance to the letters of the
attributes of God, not Persons of the Godhead. Hebrew alphabet, but even the accents are considered
Hence we find the Cabbalists representing these to have in them an inherent virtue.
Words are
splendours as united to the divine essence, and as also twisted into a thousand extravagant and fan-
flowing from it like colours from the flame.
tastic meanings, and when words do not signify what
" In order to provide for the communication and they wish, they change them by certain rules so as
subordination of the splendours," says an intelligent to extort from them the desired signification. The
writer, “ they have also supposed numerous canals word Jehovah, in particular, they hold in the ut-
through which these influences are communicated. must veneration, asserting it to be an inexhaustible
Corresponding to the number of the Hebrew let- | fountain of wonders and mysteries. It serves as a
ters, they have formed twenty-two canals, to convey bond of union to all the splendours, and forms the
the influence of the superior to all the inferiors. pillar upon which they all rest. Every letter of
From the crown issues three, one terminating in which this ineffable name consists is fraught with
wisdom, a second in understanding, and a third in mysteries, which only the initiated can comprehend.
beauty. From wisdom proceeds a fourth emptying | It includes all things, and he who pronounces it
itself into understanding, a fifth into beauty, a sixth | takes the whole universe into his mouth.
into magnificence. In this manner the whole is The Cabbalists apply their mysterious science to
conducted, and each one performs a particular oper- five different purposes; to the investigation of na-
ation. Each canal has also a particular seal, con- ture, hence called the “Natural Cabbala ;" to the
sisting of three letters. The first is that letter which discovery of the beautiful connection which exists
denotes the number of the canal, and denotes one of among the works of God, therefore denominated
the perfections of God, and the other two letters are “Connecting Cabbala ;" to the contemplation of
taken from the name of God, Jah. Two examples celestial subjects, which is designated the “Con-
will illustrate this matter. The letter L is the num- templative Cabbala ;” to the purposes of astrology,
ber of the twelfth canal, issuing from might, and ter- or the “ Astrological Cabbala;” and to miraculous
minating in beauty. To this letter is united Ja, and or healing purposes, which constitutes the "Magical
these constitute the God of the thirty ways of wis- Cabbala."
dom. The letter T is the number of the twenty-
CABBALISTS, those Jewish doctors who pro-
second canal, to which being added the letters Ja, fess to believe in the doctrines of the Sabbala, or
we obtain the God who is the end of all things.' | oral tradition of the Jews. The Cabbalistic opi-
To each canal is annexed some appellation of the nions have been revived in modern times, and openly
Deity, and the letters of the name Jehovah, in a si- taught by Fabre D'Olivet, who maintains that there
milar manner, as one of the names of God, are an- is a mystery involved in every letter of the Hebrew
nexed to each of the splendours."
alphabet.
Carrying out their mystical system, these fanciful CABEIRI, obscure divinities in ancient Greek
writers described thirty-two ways and fifty gates mythology of whom little is known, and concerning
which lead men to the knowledge of all that is se- whom there has been much dispute among the
cret and mysterious, whether in nature or religion. | learned. They were worshipped chiefly in Samo-
All the ways proceed from wisdom, as Solomon thrace, Lemnos, and Imbros. It has been supposed
says, “Wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness, by some that they were originally worshipped in
and all her paths are peace.” The fifty gates are Phrygia, and that the name of Cabeiri, which has
degrees of knowledge, which have never heen wholly puzzled many philologists, was derived from Mount
attained, no man having ever entered the fiftieth Cabeirus in that country. The earlier Greek writers
gate. Moses passed through the forty-ninth, but speak of these mysterious deities as descended from
could proceed no farther, as God had said to him, inferior gods, Proteus and Hephæsi us. In Samo-
“ Thou shalt not see my face;" and the fiftieth gate thrace they are represented as having formed a sort
fornis the entrance to the residence of the Almighty of triad, consisting of AXIEROS, AXIOCERSUS, and
whom no man hath seen or can see.
AXIOCERSA (which see), thought to be identical with
In their love of mystery, the Cabbalistic divines Demeter, Persephone, and Hades. Later writers, such
discover mysteries in every letter of the Hebrew as Strabo, regard the Cabeiri not as regular divini-
language, each letter having a relation to the splen- ties, but like the Corybantes and Curetes, mere
dours or to the works of creation. The universe, in attendants on the gods. Some authors consider
their view, was formed with an analogy to the them as identical with the Roman Penates or house-
Hebrew letters, and hence they imagined that a cer- hold gods. In addition to the Samothracian there
tain combination of letters constitutes the beauty seem to have been also Boeotian Cabeiri. That they
and excellence of the universe. Thus it is, that by were worshipped among the Macedonians is certain,
the assistance of a letter, one may attain the know.. from the circumstance that Alexander, at the close
ledge of many things connected with it. The num- of his Eastern expedition, set up altars to the Ca-
ber seven is with them the perfect number by which beiri. Herodotus speaks of them as having been
all things were formed. Not only do they attach worshipped even at Memphis in Egypt. They are
416
CABEIRIA-CADMUS.
the cry,
sometimes identified with the Dioscuri, or Castor and CADIZADELITES, a modern Mohammedan sect
Pollux. See next article.
who bear some resemblance in their general deport-
CABEIRIA, festivals of the nature of mysteries, ment to the ancient Greek. Stoics, affecting peculiar
celebrated in all the different places in Greece where gravity and austerity of manner, and avoiding all
the worship of the Cabeiri was observed. (See pre- feasts and amusements. They have introduced some
ceding article.) Inviolable secrecy being required of innovations into the Mohammedan system, in so far
all the initiated, little is known of the rites practised as practice is concerned. Thus they have invented
in the Cabeiria. Those of Samothrace were held some new ceremonies, in praying at funerals for the
every year, and continued for nine days. The ini- souls of the departed. This sect causes their Imam
tiated, on admission, passed through various purifica- to cry aloud in the ears of the dead man, calling
tions, which were understood to cleanse them from upon him to remember that there is but one God,
all crimes, even of the most atrocious description; and his prophet is one. They read the Bible in the
and in token of their admission they were presented Sclavonian tongue, and the Koran in Arabic. They
with a purple ribbon, which was worn around the drink wine during the great Mohammedan fast of
body as a charm against evils of different kinds. The Ramadan ; but they neither put cinnamon nor other
Cabeiria of Lemnos, which were less famous than spices in it. In public and private they are con-
those of Samothrace, were celebrated by night, and stantly speaking of God, and incessantly repeating
protracted throughout nine nights, during which all
“ There is but one God only.” Some of
fires in the island were extinguished as being im- them spend whole nights in this way, sitting and in-
pure. Sacrifices offered to the dead, and a sacred clining their bodies towards the ground. This sect
vessel, which the Cabeiri were supposed to accom- loves and protects the Christians from all insults on
pany, was sent to Delos to bring new fire, which the part of other Mohammedans. They believe that
was distributed among the people. Authors are Mohammed is the Paraclete or Comforter promised
silent about the manner in which the Cabeiria were by Christ to be sent from the Father after he him-
observed in other places where the Cabeiri were self should leave the world. They hate images and
worshipped. (See MYSTERIES).
the sign of the cross. They are circumcised, and
CACA, a Roman goddess, who received divine justify their adherence to this custom by the exam-
honours in return for having revealed the place ple of Christ. In short, the Cadizadelites seem to
where the cattle were concealed which her brother have adopted a system of faith and practice which is
Cacus had stolen from Hercules. A perpetual fire little else than a confused mixture of Mohammed-
was kept burning in her temple.
anism, Christianity, and Judaism.
CACUS, in the Roman mythology, a giant, the CADMILLUS, a deity generally spoken of in con-
son of Vulcan or fire, represented by Ovid in his nection with the Cabeiri of the ancient Greeks, and
• Fasti' as vomiting fire and whirlwinds of smoke supposed to be identical with HERMES (which see),
against Hercules. He is said to have stolen a por- the messenger of the gods.
tion of the cattle which belonged to Hercules, and CADMUS, a divinity worshipped in ancient times
to have hid them in a cave. Cacus was betrayed by , in various parts of Greece. He is reckoned by some
his sister Caca, and he was accordingly slain by a Pelasgian, and by others a Phoenician god. Ile is
Hercules. He is generally considered as some evil said to have been a son of Agenor and Telephassa.
demon personified, but Rougemont suggests, in his Having been sent out by his father in search of his
· Le Peuple Primitif,' that the whole story of Cacus sister Europa, whom Zeus had carried off to Crete,
may have a reference to the volcanic districts of he failed to find her, and settled along with his mo-
Italy, which were often fabled as being the scene of ther in Thrace. On consulting the oracle at Delphi
contests between the giants and the gods.
as to the hiding-place of Europa, he was told to de-
CADHARIANS, a Mohammedan sect who deny sist from the search, and to follow a cow of a parti-
predestination, and hold that human actions are cular kind until he reached a spot where the ani-
solely regulated by the free-will of man himself. mal would fall down from fatigue, and that on that
One of the Mohammedan doctors terms them the spot he should build a town. He obeyed the com-
Manicheans of the Mussulman faith, because they mand of the oracle, and built Thebes in Boeotia. As
maintain the existence of two original co-ordinate he resolved to sacrifice the cow to Athena, he des-
principles, the one Divine and the other human.
patched messengers to a neighbouring well to fetch
CADIR, an order of Mohammedan monks founded water for the sacrifice. The well, however, was
by Abdu'l-cadir-Gilani, who died at Bagdad in A. D. guarded by a dragon which killed the messengers,
1165. Once a-week they spend a great part of the and the monster was in turn destroyed by Cadmus,
night in turning round, holding one another by the who, at the suggestion of Athena, sowed the teeth
hand, and incessantly exclaiming Hai, Living, one of the dragon, in consequence of which a troop of
ut the attributes of God. They never cut their hair armed men sprung up who slew one another, with
nor cover their heads, and go always barefooted. the exception of five, who were the ancestors of the
They may leave their convents at pleasure, and are Thebans. Having been invested with the govern-
under no vow of celibacy.
ment of the city which he had built, he received
CAFUR-CALF-WORSHIP.
417
froin Zeus. Harmonia for his wife, by whom he had | in the very fundamental principles of their system,
several children. Afterwards removing from Thebes, to both the person and the work of Christ.
Cadmus became king of the Cenchelians, and finally CALABAR (RELIG. OF). See FETISH-WORSHIP.
he and his wife were changed into dragons, and re- CALENDARS, books in which were recorded, in
moved by Zeus to Elysium.
ancient times, the memorials of the days on which
Cadmus is said, by some writers, to have been the Christian martyrs suffered. At first only those
a worshipper of Dionysus, who married his daughter who actually died for the cause of the Redeemer had
Semele, and to have introduced the worship of that the honour of being mentioned in the registers; but
deity into Greece along with civilization. To, afterwards eminent confessors were also included.
Cadmus the Greeks are said to owe the original | These calendars were usually kept in the churches,
alphabet of their language, which consisted of six- and are sometimes confounded with the diptychs.
teen letters, and which appears to have come to CALENDERS. See KALENDERS.
chem from Phænicia. The whole story of Cadmus, CALF-WORSHIP. The worship of this animal
indeed, told in several different ways, seems to be a seems to have had its origin in Egypt, which was the
mythical representation of the immigration of a co- chief seat of Animal-Worship of almost every kind.
lony at a very early period from Phoenicia into
The great ox-god Mnevis was worshipped at He-
Greece, bringing with them the use of a written | liopolis in Lower Egypt, while the ox-god Apis
alphabet and various important arts, which formed was worshipped at Memphis in Upper Egypt. The
the groundwork of that high civilization and refine- former object of idolatry, that of Mnevis, is supposed
ment by which the Greeks were afterwards charac- by Sir Gardner Wilkinson to have given origin to
terized.
the worship of the golden calf, which is minutely
CAF. See KAF.
described in Exod. xxxii. as having been engaged in
CAFRES (RELIGION OF). See KAFIRS (RELI- | by the Israelites in their journey through the wil-
GION OF).
derness. After speaking of the worship of the
CAFUR, the name of a fountain in the Moham- sacred animals in general, Wilkinson remarks, “The
medan paradise, thus referred to in the Koran,“ The Hebrew legislator felt the necessity of preventing
just shall drink of a cup of wine, mixed with the the Jews from falling into this, the most gross prac-
water of Cafur, a fountain whereof the servants of tice of which idolatry was guilty. The worship of
God shall drink; and they shall convey the same the golden calf, a representation of the Mnevis of
by channels whithersoever they please." See PARA-
See PARA- Heliopolis, was a proof how their minds had become
imbued with the superstitions they had beheld
CAIANIANS, a Christian sect mentioned by Ter- in Egypt, which the mixed multitude had prac-
tullian, in his work, ' De Baptismo,' as denying the tised there.” The Israelites, when employed in wor-
necessity of outward baptism. They have some- shipping the calf which Aaron had made, held a fes-
times been confounded with the CAINITES (which tival on the occasion; for it is said, “ the people sat
see), from which, however, they were altogether | down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play."
distinct.
And Moses is further said to have seen the calf
CAINITES, a Gnostic sect of the second century, and the dancing." The most ancient popular rites
whom Neander considers as belonging to the great of the Egyptians, according to Creuzer, were of the
stock of the Ophites or Serpentians. They derive nature of orgies, and the fundamental character of
their name from the very high estimation in which their religion was Bacchanalian.
they held Cain. Such was their hatred of the De- were sung, with the accompaniment of noisy instru-
miurge or the god of the Jews, and also their dislike ments. This accounts for the remark, Exod. xxxii,
of the Old Testament, that they regarded the worst 17, " And when Joshua heard the noise of the people
characters recorded in that ancient Jewish record, as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise
such as Cain, Korah, Dathan, Abiram, the inhabit- of war in the camp.
ants of Sodom, and even Judas the traitor, as en- The gold from which the calf was made by Aaron
titled to veneration, as having rebelled against the was obtained from the Israelites in the form of ear-
Demiurge, who was in their view an enemy of the rings; and, in reference to this the observation of
true God. These men, usually accounted wicked, | Wilkinson is valuable, “ The golden ornaments found
were, according to the system of the Cainites, the in Egypt consist of rings, bracelets, armlets, neck-
sons of the Sophia, and the instruments which she laces, ear-rings, and numerous trinkets belonging 10
employed in opposing the Demiurge's kingdom. the toilet ; many of these are of the times of Osir.
They were fervent admirers of Judas Iscariot, whoin tasen I. and Thothmes III., contemporaries of Jo-
they looked upon as alone of all the apostles pos- seph and Moses.” The same author shows that ear-
sessed of the true Gnosis, and as having procured rings were commonly worn in Egypt. Rings of
the death of Christ from the laudable motive of there- gold were so common in Egypt, according te Rosel-
by destroying the kingdom of the Demiurge. Ori- lini
, that they took, to a certain extent, the place of
gen, therefore, was fully justified in denying to such coin, and many times were used in trade. Besides
a sect the title of Christian, opposed, as they were, the calf worshipped in the wilderness, we find, at a
DISE.
Sensual songs
9
1.
2D
418
CALIGÆ-CALIXTINES.
much later period, king Jeroboam setting up calves | Friday, and also to deliver the sermon. Afterwards
to be worshipped by the people in different parts of the sermon was preached by an assistant, while the
Palestine, particularly at Dan and Bethel. Both devotional exercises continued to be conducted by
Aaron's and Jeroboam's calves were constructed of the caliph in person. He headed the pilgrims in
gold, which was the very metal used by the Egyp- their journey to Mecca, and led the armies of the
tians in making the statues of their gods. In imita- empire to battle. The caliphs usually rode to the
tion of the Egyptians, also, Jeroboam had no sooner mosque on mules. At one of the windows of the
set up his idol-calves than, as Aaron had done, he caliph's palace there always hung a piece of black
ordained a feast or festival in honour of them. It is velvet, twenty cubits long, which reached to the
worthy of notice that Jeroboam does not select ground and was called the caliph's sleeve, which the
Shechem, the capital of his kingdom, as the seat of grandees of the court were wont to kiss every day
the calf-worship, but, as the Egyptians worshipped with great respect. When Bagdad was taken by
one ox-god at Memphis and the other at Heliopolis, the Tartars and the caliphate destroyed, the Moham
so he set the one calf-god in Bethel and the other in medan princes appointed each in his own dominions
Dan, at the two extremities of his kingdom.
a special officer to discharge the spiritual functions
Throughout the whole of the Sacred Scripture of the caliph. The name of this officer in Turkey is
this species of idolatry is spoken of in terms of re- MUFTI (which see), and in Persia he is called Sudue,
proach. The idol-calves are termed devils in 2 being both of them officers vested with high spiri-
Chron. xi. 15; and Hosea, on account of this idola- tual authority. See next article.
trous worship, calls Bethel—in chap. x. 5, 8—which CALIPHATE, the office of a caliph in Moham-
means the House of God, by the name of Bethaven, medan countries. It continued from the death of Mo-
that is, the house of vanity or wickedness. That the hammed till the taking of Bagdad by the Tartars in
divine wrath was kindled against the Israelites for wor- the 655th year of the Hegira. Even after this period,
shipping the golden calf is plain, from the fact that the title was claimed by individuals in Egypt, who
by the command of Moses the Levites put three thou- assumed to be of the family of the Abassides, and the
sand of them to death; and a pestilence was com- successors of the Arabian prophet. Their authority,
missioned to destroy those who escaped the sword. however, though to a certain extent acknowledged,
The withered hand of Jeroboam was an evidence was very limited in its nature, being entirely restrict-
that his idolatry did not pass unpunished; anded to religious matters. The honour of being the
though he and many of his successors still adhered true caliphs and successors of Mohammed is asserted
to calf-worship, the crime was not unavenged, for at present by the emperors of Morocco to belong ex-
calamities the most severe and protracted were clusively to them. The title, however, which they
brought upon the whole nation.
take, is that of grand-scheriffs.
Bryant, in his 'Mythology,' regards this form of CALISTA, a nymph of Diana in ancient Roman
idolatry as having originated in the Ark (See ARK- mythology, who, having been detected in an intrigue
WORSHIP), which he regards as identical with the with Jupiter, is said to have been turned along with
ox or calf. This, however, though maintained with her child into bears.
her child into bears. Both of them were afterwards
much learning and acuteness, we cannot but regard transferred by Jupiter to the heavens as constella-
as more ingenious than well-founded.
tions, under the names of Ursa Major and Ursa
CALIGÆ, boots, or rather half-boots, which in an- Minor, the Greater and the Lesser Bears.
cient Roman warfare were worn by soldiers as a part CALIXTINES (Lat. Calyx, a cup), a party of the
of their military equipment, and in the early Chris- | Hussites, or followers of John Huss, in Bohemia, in
tian church were worn by bishops as emblematical of the fifteenth century, who separated from their bre-
that spiritual warfare in which they were engaged.thren on the question as to the use of the chalice or
The use of common shoes was censured as unbe-
cup in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The
coming. In A. D. 789, the priests were required to council of Constance, A. D. 1418, had passed a decree,
wear shoes made after the fashion prevailing at which was afterwards confirmed by the council of
Rome. In the middle ages the priests wore in the Trent, denying the cup to the laity, and limiting
summer a lighter kind of boots called aestivalia.
the communion, in both bread and wine, to the offi-
CALIPH, or KHALIF (Arab. Successor), the high- ciating priests alone. The fathers of the council
est ecclesiastical dignitary among the Saracens, or found the utmost difficulty in reconciling the people,
rather the supren.e dignitary among the Mohamme-particularly of Bohemia, to this prohibition, the ver-
dans, vested with absolute authority both in religious sion of Wycliffe's New Testament, and probably
and political matters. The caliphs are regarded as the other versions in other languages, having been at this
vicars or representatives of Mohammed. It is one of time widely circulated. One of the most learned
the titles of the Grand Signior of Turkey, as the suc- Romish divines of the period wrote an elaborate
cessor of Mohammed, and it is also a title of the Sufi of treatise against · Double Communion,' in which he
Persia, as the successor of Ali. Being the imâm, or sets it forth as one ground of his fears, that the de-
chief priest of islamism, it was the duty of the caliph nial of the cup to the laity would be unacceptable
to begin the public prayers in the principal mosque on to the community generally, that “there are many
CALIXTINES.
415
laymėn ainong the heretics who have a version of the who dwelt at Tabor and the neighbourhood, were the
Bible in the vulgar tongue, to the great prejudice | principal supporters of the other party. They were
and offence of the Catholic faith."
both united in their opposition to Rome and to the
Before the decree of the council of Constance had | greater number of her unscriptural dogmas, but the
passed, which declared the lawfulness of commu- effectiveness of their assaults against the common
nion in one kind only—a practice which had crept enemy was much diminished by their ecclesiastical
into the church before it was ecclesiastically sanc- separation from one another.
tioned-an active and zealous minister of the re- The Emperor Sigismund, successor to Wences-
forming party in Bohemia, Jacobel de Mise, began | laus, king of Bohemia, had declared himself de-
to preach publicly on the subject, proving incontest- cidedly in favour of Rome, and against the Hussites.
ably from Scripture that all communicants were en- Three political parties at that time divided Bohemia :
titled to receive the eucharist in both kinds. This the Roman Catholics and the majority of the no-
opinion was adopted and publicly supported by John | bles, even those of them who adhered to the Calix-
Huss himself, and by a number of priests, with the tines, wished to retain Sigismund in the government;
full approbation of the people generally. The com- the party of Prague, supported by a large body of the
munion was dispensed in both kinds, accordingly, in Calixtines, were in favour of elevating another king
several churches in Prague. The practice spread ex- to the throne; and the whole faction of the Tabor-
tensively throughout the kingdom, and several cu- ites, with Ziska at their head, wished to have no
rates and vicars who disapproved of the use of the king at all. The party of Prague proposed to offer
cup by the laity, found it necessary to excommuni- the crown of their country to the king of Poland;
cate those of their people who adhered to the prac- and both the Calixtines and Taborites were at one
tice of the reforming party. The result was that a in sanctioning and carrying out this proposal. Em-
large party was formed, who, in A. D. 1419, repaired bassies were repeatedly despatched to Poland on the
to a mountain, where they erected a tent in the form subject. The sovereign, who then occupied the
of a chapel, in which they performed divine service, throne of Poland, was Vladislav Jaguellon, grand
and administered the communion to the people in duke of Lithuania, who had become a Christian on
both elements. From this interesting service, the his marriage with Hedvige, queen of Poland, in A. D.
Hussites termed the mountain Tabor, which, in the 1386. When the offer of the crown of Bohemia
Bohemian language, means a tent, and hence the was made to him, he was advanced in years, and
followers of Huss came to be called TABORITES being naturally of a somewhat irresolute character,
(which see). The mountain where they had thus some time elapsed before he came to a decision. At
been privileged to assemble and partake of the com- length he made up his mind to reject the offer, more
munion in the precise manner which was in accord- especially as his acceptance of it was violently op-
ance with its original institution, became a favourite posed by the Roman Catholic clergy of Poland, by
place of meeting. Large crowds assembled there for whom the Hussites were regarded as dangerous
divine worship and the observance of the Lord's heretics; but, in combination with his cousin, the
Supper. Dr. M'Crie mentions, in a short notice of grand duke of Lithuania, Jaguellon agreed to assist
the Taborites, that on one day there were present on the Bohemians in their struggle against their own
Mount Tabor, as they called their meeting-place, sovereign, who wished to hand them over to the
above forty-two thousand people.
tender mercies of Rome. Coributt, a nephew of the
Notwithstanding this great movement in favour of king of Poland, was despatched to the aid of the
Scriptural doctrine and practice among the reformed Hussites with five thousand cavalry and a sum of
party in Bohemia, there were still, even among them, money. The arrival of Coributt with his Polish
not a few who were unwilling to surrender some of horsemen in Prague was a source of joy to the re-
those tenets and observances which the Romish Church forming party, but a cause of alarm to the adherents
had introduced. The dogma of transubstantiation, of the Emperor Sigismund. Having been educated
the celebration of the mass, and the practice of auricu- in the Greek church, the gallant stranger was in no
lar confession, were retained by some of the Hussites, small favour with the Hussites, as he could con-
while they were discarded by others. The conse- scientiously partake of the communion in both kinds,
quence was that a great schism took place among while the royal party industriously circulated the
them, which, commencing in a diversity of opinion most infavourable reports concerning him, as, for
and practice, ended in an open rupture. The one instance, that he was not baptized in the name of
party took the name of Calixtines, from their distin- the Trinity, because he was a Russian, and an ene-
guishing tenet, that the cup ought not to be withheld my to the Christian name. A strong party wished
from the laity in the sacrament of the supper; while to elect Coributt king of Bohemia, but at length
the other party retained the name of Taborites, matters were so far compromised that he was consti-
which had previously belonged to the whole united tuted regent of the kingdom.
body. The old city of Prague, the capital of Bohe- Meantime, the two parties into which the Hus-
mia, with the principal nobility, adhered to the Ca- sites were divided, the Calixtines and the Taborites,
lixtines ; the inhabitants of New Prague, with those came to an open disagreement. The nobles and
420
CALIXTINS.
magistrates of Prague formed the resolution, in a view to edification ; that the communion shuulil
1419, of treating with the Emperor. Ziska, the be dispensed in both kinds; that the clergy shouli
leader of the Taborites, declined to take a part in devote themselves exclusively to their ministerial
this treaty, and left Prague indignant at the conduct work, and strive to exhibit a holy and consistent ex-
of the nobility. When Sigismund, however, at- ample to their flocks, and that should any of them
tacked the city with a powerful army, Ziska re- be guilty of violating the laws, they should be
turned to its defence. The circumstances which led punished accordingly. They taught that the cir-
to the separation of the two parties of the reforrring cumstantials of divine institutions were, in
many
faction are thus described by Dr. M‘Crie: “While cases, left to be regulated by human arrangement,
the Taborites resided in Prague on this occasion, and that the opinions of the fathers were only to be
they performed divine service according to the mode regarded when not contrary to Scripture.
which appeared to them most scriptural. Their Various conferences were held between the Ca-
ministers wore their beards like other men, they | lixtines and the Taborites, with a view, if possible,
had not the shaven crowns of the Popish priests, to come to a common understanding upon the dis-
and they were dressed in clothes of a grey or brown | puted points. But all such meetings were ineffec-
colour. They did not repeat the canonical hours. tual. They differed on several, even of the essen-
They performed worship sometimes in the open air, tial, doctrines of Christianity, but more especially on
sometimes in private houses, avoiding the churches, the eucharist. The Calixtines agreed with the Ro-
either because they were dedicated to saints, or be- man church on transubstantiation, and various other
cause they were profaned by images. They observed matters connected with the Lord's Supper, and only
none of the ceremonies of the mass. Before com- dissented from them on two points ; they adminis-
municating, the whole assembly, kneeling, repeated tered it under both elements, and they gave it to
the Lord's Prayer. After this, the minister who infants, justifying the practice by the statement of
was to officiate, approached a table covered with our blessed Lord, John vi. 53, “Then Jesus said
white linen, upon which stood the bread and wine. unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except
The bread was cut or broken, for they did not use ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his
wafers. The wine was not in cups of gold or silver blood, ye have no life in you.” The Calixtines con-
which had been consecrated, but in vessels of pew- tinued for several years to maintain their pecu-
ter, wood, or stone. The minister pronounced, with liar tenets, but joined with the Taborites in op-
a loud voice, and in the vulgar tongue, the words of posing the encroachments of Rome. War had
consecration. This being finished, he caused the raged in Bohemia for a long period, and in 1433
other ministers present and the people to communi- the council of Basil, desirous of putting an end
cate. They did not elevate the eucharist after con- to the civil distractions of the country, invited
secration, and consequently did not adore it ; nor the Bohemians to attend the council. They ap-
did they keep any of it till next day.
peared at Constance to the number of three hundred
“ This service, so simple, so novel, shocked the men, and in name of their countrymen proposed the
university and a great many of the priests in the city four following articles : (1.) Whoever would be
of Prague. They had banished the costly and su- saved must receive the eucharist in both kinds.
perfluous ornaments of the service, but they re- (2.) Temporal authority is forbidden to the clergy
tained all the other rites, and in particular used the by the Divine law. (3.) The preaching of the Word
canon of the mass. Zealous for the old ritual, they of God should be free to every man. (4.) Public
could not refrain from publicly exclaiming against crimes must by no means go unpunished. On these
the Taborites for their neglect of it. These, in points four Bohemian divines and four members of
their turn, blamed the Popish service as totally des- the council disputed for fifty days. The council
titute of Scripture authority, and stigmatized those answered their demands in so equivocal a manner
who stickled for it as Pharisees. The people min- that they abruptly broke off the negotiation and re-
gled in the quarrel of their priests; one party ap- turned home. The Calixtines were disposed to close
proved the Calixtine rite, another preferred the Ta- the war, but the Taborites sternly refused to yield.
borite. Some of the inhabitants refused to receive Afterwards Æneas Sylvius, who was sent into Bo-
the communion from the hands of their priests, un- hemia by the council, succeeded in reconciling the
less they laid aside their sacerdotal vestments; and Calixtines to the Roman see, by simply acceding to
the women, at the instigation of their husbands, hin- their wish on what they regarded as their grand
dered them from performing the service with their distinctive point, the granting the use of the cup
ornaments. It was in this manner that, in the year to the laity. See HUSSITES, TABORITES.
1420, the sad division originated."
CALIXTINS, the followers of George Calixtus,
The principles of the Calixtines were perhaps more a distinguished Lutheran theologian of the seven-
obviously opposed to those of the Romish church teenth century. He was born in 1586 at Melby in
than might have been expected at that period. Holstein, and after a brilliant career as a divine and
They required that the Word of God should be ex- professor, he died in 1656. His treatises on the va-
pounded to the people with all simplicity, and with rious points of controversy between Protestants and
CALIZA-CALOYERS.
421
Romanists were considered as among the most acute, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed."
learned, and conclusive polemical writings of the This form of words she repeats thrice, and thrice the
ime. He gave rise to a class of Christians who re- witnesses reply, “His shoe is loosed.” The Rabbi
ceived the name of Syncretists, and who alleged that now informs the widow that she is at liberty to
the points of difference between the Calvinists and marry whom she pleases, and if she requires a cer-
Lutherans were of less importance than the doc- tificate to that effect, it is immediately granted.
trines in which they were agreed, and that the doc- The permission to marry is called by the Jews Ca-
trine of the Trinity was less distinctly declared in liza. In ancient times a man was held in great re-
the Old Testament than in the New. By the asser- spect who complied with the injunction to marry his
tion of these opinions he exposed himself to the per- brother's widow; but the custom is seldom followed
secution of the Lutheran theologians, from whom, among the modern Jews, who, when they marry
however, he was protected by the elector George I. their daughters to one of several brothers, are in the
of Saxony, at the diet of Ratisbon in 1655. The habit of requiring a previous contract to be drawn
Calixtins endeavoured to unite the Romish, Calvin- up, engaging that, in case of the husband's decease,
ist, and Lutheran churches in the bonds of charity | the widow shall be set at liberty without relinquish-
and mutual kindness, alleging that the fundamental | ing any of her pretensions. Some will oblige the
doctrines of Christianity were preserved pure in all husband if he happens to become dangerously ill, to
the three communions, and that the opinions of the grant his wife a divorce that her brother-in-law, after
first five centuries were to be held as of equal truth his decease, may have no claims upon her.
and authority with Scripture itself.
CALLIGENEIA, a surname of DEMETER or of
CALIZA, the ceremony among the Jews called GÆA (which see).
"the loosing of the shoe,” which is performed when CALLIOPE, one of the nine muses in the ancient
an individual refuses to marry his brother's widow, mythology of the Greeks and Romans. Calliope
and to raise up seed unto his brother. In such a was the muse of epic poetry, and is usually repre-
case, it is decreed in Deut. xxv. 9, 10, " Then shall sented with a tablet and stylus, and sometimes with
his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of a roll of paper. See MUSES.
the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and CALLIPHANA, a priestess of Velia, who was
spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it made a Roman citizen B.C. 98, preparatory to the
be done unto that man that will not build up his Velienses obtaining the Roman franchise.
brother's house. And his name shall be called in CALLIPYGOS, a surname of APHRODITE (which
[srael, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed." see).
The ceremony is gone through in the following man- CALLISTE, a surname of Artemis, under which
ner. Three Rabbis, accompanied by two witnesses, she was worshipped at Athens.
go out on the preceding evening, and agree upon a CALLISTEIA, a festival celebrated at Lesbos, at
proper spot where the transaction is to take place. which females assembled in the temple of Hera,
Next day, at the close of the morning service, the when the fairest received the prize of beauty. A
congregation repair to the locality fixed on, where contest of the same kind took place in Arcadia, and
the Rabbis call the widow and the brother-in-law another among the Eleans, but in this last men only
before them, who, in the presence of the assembly, were permitted to contend for the prize of beauty.
make a public declaration that the object of their CALOYERS, the general name applied to the
appearance is to procure their freedom and discharge. monks of the Greek church. The word is taken
The principal Rabbi examines the man, argues with
from a Greek word kcalogeroi, good old men. They
him, and endeavours to prevail upon him to marry follow universally the order of St. BASIL (which
this his brother's widow. If he refuses to comply see). They have among them three ranks or de-
with the request, he is again subjected to an exa- grees : the Novices or Probationers, termed Archari;
mination upon the point, and if still determined, he the Proficient, called Microchemi; and the Perfect,
puts on a shoe which is too large for him, and the named Megalochemi. Such of them as read mass are
woman, attended by one of the Rabbis, repeats Deut. properly named regular priests, who become in
xxv. 7,“ And if the man like not to take his brother's course of time Hieromonachi, sacred monks, and
wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate never officiate but on solemn festivals. The Ca-
linto the elders, and say, My husband's brother re- loyers are likewise divided into Coenobites, An-
fuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he chorets, and Recluses.
will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.' An applicant for the privilege of becoming a Ca
Then the brother-in-law immediately replies, “I loyer makes known his wish, in the first instance,
like not to take her;" and upon this, the woman to the Hieromonachus. In former times, the Supe-
looses the shoe and takes it off, throwing it upon the rior or Archimandrite, always examined the novice,
ground with the utmost anger and disdain, repeat- and obliged him, by way of probation, to reside for
ing with the assistance of the Rabbi, “So shall it be three years in the convent, at the close of which
done unto the man that will not build up his bro- period, his head was shaved in the form of a crown.
ther's house, and his name shall be called in Israel, | This custom was established in the reign and by
}
422
CALOYERS.
the appointment of the Emperor Justinian. After- Dr. Henderson, in his valuable edition of Buck's
wards the year's probation was reduced to six Theological Dictionary,' gives the most recent ac-
months; the novice, however, was bound, though in count of the monasteries in which the Greek monks
a layman's habit, to practise for a considerable time reside: “ The most considerable monastery of the
the laws and constitutions of a monastic life. If, at Greek Caloyers in Asia, is that of Mount Sinai,
the termination of the probationary period, he was which was founded by the Emperor Justinian, and
deterinined to persevere in his original purpose, the endowed with sixty thousand crowns revenue. The
superior accompanied him to church, where, after abbot of this monastery, who is also an archbishop,
making solemn inquiry into the motives by which has under him two hundred religious. This convent
he was actuated in proposing to become a monk, he is a large square building, surrounded with walls
gave him the dress of his order, and, after reciting fifty feet high, and with but one gate, which is
several prayers suited to the occasion, he cut off a blocked up to prevent the entrance of the Arabs.
lock of his hair, which he affixed with a piece of On the eastern side there is a window, through which
wax to the church wall close to the altar.
those within draw up the pilgrims in a basket, which
The Coenobites were formerly under very strict dis- | they let down by a pulley. Not many miles beyond
cipline, which, however, is now much relaxed. Their this, they have another, dedicated to St. Catharine.
chief employment from midnight to sunset is recit- It is situated in the place where Moses made the
ing their sacred office. The Anchorets reside in bitter waters sweet. It has a garden, with a planta-
private dwellings near the monasteries, spending tion of more than ten thousand palm trees, from
their time through the week in cultivating a little whence the monks draw a considerable revenue,
spot of ground, and mingling their manual labours There is another in Palestine, four or five leagues
with frequent devotional exercises. The Recluses from Jerusalem, situated in the most barren place
again, shut themselves up in grottos and caverns on imaginable. The gate of the convent is covered with
the tops of mountains, and subsist wholly upon alms the skins of crocodiles, to prevent the Arabs setting
sent them from the neighbouring monasteries. fire to it, or breaking it to pieces with stones. It
Those of the Caloyers who reside in monasteries has a large tower, in which there is always a monk,
are engaged in the almost incessant repetition of who gives notice by a bell of the approach of the
prayers. They commence at midnight by reciting Arabs, or any wild beasts.
an office two hours in length, which from the time “The Caloyers, or Greek monks, have a great
at which it is repeated is called the Mesonyction or number of monasteries in Europe; among which
midnight office. They then retire to their cells that of Penteli, a mountain of Attica, near Athens,
till five in the morning, when they repeat the is remarkable for its beautiful situation, and a very
terce, sext, and mass, after which they repair to the good library. That of Callimachus, a principal
refectory, where a lecture is read till dinner. At town of the island of Chios, is remarkable for the
four o'clock in the afternoon they say vespers ; and occasion of its foundation. It is called Niamog-
at six go to supper, after which they recite an office ni, i. e. the sole Virgin, its church having been built
called the Apodipho; and at eight each monk retires in memory of an image of the holy virgin, miracu-
to his chamber for repose till midnight. Every day lously found on a tree, being the only one left of
after matins they confess their faults on their knees several which had been consumed by fire. Con-
to their superior.
stantine Monomachus, emperor of Constantinople,
The dress of the Caloyers is black, or at least dark being informed of this miracle, made a vow to build
brown, being a kind of cassock girt round about a church in that place, if he recovered his throne,
them with a surcingle or belt of the saine colour. from which he had been driven ; which he executed
They wear also black, flat-crowned caps, with a in the year 1050. The convent is large, and built
piece of black cloth sewed to the lining, and hang- in the manner of a castle. It consists of about two
ing down upon the shoulders. The dress some- hundred religious, and its revenues amount to sixty
what varies in the different classes of monks. The thousand piastres, of which they pay five hundred
Achari, probationers or monks of the lowest order, yearly to the grand seignior. There is in Amourga,
wear nothing but a plain dark tunic made of coarse one of the islands of the Archipelago, called Spor-
cloth. The professed monks, or Microchemi, ades, a monastery of Greek Caloyers, dedicated to
wear a larger and much handsomer dress. The the Virgin ; it is a large and deep cavern, on the
Perfect again, or Megalochemi, wear a full-sleeved top of a very high hill, and is entered by a ladder of
gown and scapulary, and when they die are buried fifteen or twenty steps. The church, refectory, and
in these robes as the badges of their profession. In cells of the religious who inhabit this grotto, are dug
addition to the usual monastic dress, the Caloyers out of the sides of the rock with admirable artifice.
wear over their shoulders a square piece of stuff, on But the most celebrated monasteries of Greek Ca-
which are represented the cross, and the other marks loyers are those of Mount Athos, in Macedonia.
of the passion of our Saviour, with these contracted They are twenty-three in number; and the religious
words, JC. XC. NC., that is, Jesus Christus vincit, live in them so regularly, that the Turks themselves
Jesus Christ conqucrs.
hare a great esteem for them, and often recuinmend
CALUMET.
423
92
theinselves to their prayers. Every thing in them considerable enterprise. Father Hennepin gives us a
s magnificent; and, notwithstanding they have been much more accurate description of this instrument:
under the Turk for so long a time, they have lost no- "The Calumet,' says he is a great smoking-pipe, of
thing of their grandeur. The principal of these red, white, or black marble. It is pretty much like
monasteries are De la Panagia and Anna Laura. à poll-axe; has a very smooth head, and the tube,
The religious, who aspire to the highest dignities, which is about two feet and a half long, is made of a
come from all parts of the East to perform here pretty strong reed or cane, set off with feathers of
their noviciate, and, after a stay of some years, are all sorts of colours, with several mats made of wo-
received, upon their return into their own country, man's hair, variously interwoven. To this they fix
as apostles. The Caloyers of Mount Athos have a two wings, which makes it something like Mercury's
great aversion to the Pope, and relate that a Roman caduceus, or the wand which ambassadors of peace
pontiff, having visited their monasteries, had plun- held formerly in their hands. They thrust this reed
dered and burned some of them, because they would through the necks of huars, which are birds speckled
not adore him.'
with black and white, and about the bigness of our
In addition to the Caloyers or monks properly so geese, or through the necks of the above-mentioned
called, there are also attached to each monastery a ducks. These ducks are of three or four different
number of lay-brothers, who devote themselves to colours. Every nation adorns the Calumet, as custom,
the cultivation of the ground that the regular monks or their own fancy shall suggest. The Calumet is a
may be undisturbed in their devotional exercises. passport to all who go to the allies of such nations as
Over all the Caloyers there are visitors or exarchs, send it. It is a symbol of peace, and they are uni-
who visit the convents under their inspection, with versally of opinion, that some great misfortune would
the principal, if not sole, design of collecting the befall any person who should violate the faith of it.
taxes paid by the different monasteries to the pa- It is the seal of all undertakings, of all important
triarch. The Greek monasteries are in general very affairs, and public ceremonies.' La Hontan relates,
rich, particularly some of those on Mount Athos. that the tube of the Calumet is four or five feet
There are also mendicant friars, who wander up and long, and the body of this pipe is about eight inches
down the country receiving contributions for the (in diameter I suppose) and the bowl in which the
support of their respective convents.
tobacco is laid, three.""
Besides the monasteries, various nunneries are The North American Indians looked upon the
found in which female Caloyers reside, and who, sun as the lord of the universe, and they were wont
in the intervals of their devotional exercises, employ to offer him tobacco, which they called smoking the
themselves in sewing and knitting useful articles of sun. A religious ceremony of this nature is thus
dress, which they sell to the Turks, who have free briefly noted by Picart : “The chiefs of the families
admission at particular periods for the purchase of assemble by day-break at the house of one of their
the articles wrought by the nuns. These female Ca- principal men. The latter lights the Calumet, offers
loyers are many of them widows. They make no it thrice to the rising-sun, and waving it with both
vow, and are not confined to the convent, which his hands according to its course, till he comes to
they may leave at any time. The abbot of the the point from whence he first began, he addresses
monastery to which the numery is attached, sends his prayers at the same time to the Sun, implores bis
one of his most venerable monks to visit the nuns protection, beseeches him to direct him in his under-
every day, and officiates for them as their priest and takings, and recommends all the families of the can-
father confessor; but all other priests are forbidden ton or province to his care. After which the chief
under severe penalties to enter the nunneries. See smokes in the Calumet, and presents it to the as-
ATIOS, MOUNT (MONKS OF).
sembly, in order that every member of it may smoke
CALUMET, supposed to be derived from the the Sun in his turn." This ceremony is never per-
French word chalumeriu, a pipe, regarded by the formed but on important occasions.
North American Indians with the utmost venera-
Travellers tell us that the North American In-
tion, viewed by them as a mystery, and as a pre- dians have their Calumet of war, and their Calumet
sent made by the Sun to mankind. The Calumet is of peace, which are known from each other by the
thus described by La Potherie, who resided in
difference of the feathers. Whenever a people,
Canada about the end of the seventeenth century.
whose herald has left the Calumet with another peo-
" It is a kind of very long pipe made of red stones, ple, is attacked by an enemy, that which received it
adorned with the heads of woodpeckers, and of a
is bound to stand by the invaded nation. In case a
kind of ducks that perch upon trees. The head of mediator, in the heat of the battle, presents the
those birds is of the finest scarlet in the world, and Calumet, there immediately follows a suspension of
is beautified with fine feathers. In the middle of hostilities; and if both sides accept of it, and smoke
the tube or body of the Calumet, they hang or fix out of the Calumet, a peace is immediately con-
certain feathers, taken from the wings of a bird, cluded. La Potherie informs us, that by red fea-
which they call Kibou, a kind of eagle. They al- thers on the Calumet assistance is denoted; white
ways dance the Calumet before they undertake any and grey mixed signify a solid peace and an offer of
424
+
CALVIN (JOHN).
care-
assistance, not only to those to whom the Calumet is till the whole asseinbly have performed the same ce-
presented, but also to their allies. A Calumet that remony. If the Calumet is danced upon account of
is red on one side, and white and grey mingled to- an alliance, the president concludes the ceremony, by
gether on the other, has a double meaning, either presenting the Calumet to the deputies of the na-
for war or peace, according to the side which is tion with whom the alliance is made.” When the
turned. The Calumet dance is often called the In- Calumet of peace is brought to an Indian village, all
dian war-dance. The following account of it as the villagers, especially the young persons, dance
given by an old traveller, may be interesting: round the person bringing it. In short, whenever
They surround the ball-room with branches of anything of importance is to be performed, the Ca-
trees, and spread a great mat made of bulrushes, lumet occupies a prominent place in the matter.
painted with several colours, and place on this mat, CALVIN (JOHN), the celebrated French reform-
which serves for a carpet, the manitou, or tutelary er, was born 10th July 1509, at Noyon in Picardy.
deity, of the person who gives the dance. They Born of respectable parents, he received a some-
place the Calumet to the right hand of this god; for what liberal education in early life, and enjoyed
this festival is celebrated in his honour, or it is he the privilege of studying several years at the Col-
at least that présides at the ceremony; and they lege-de-la-Marche in Paris under the tuition of Ma-
raise round the Calumet a trophy of bows, arrows, turin Cordier, one of the distinguished scholars of
clubs, and axes. After having thus disposed things his day. Reared from infancy in the Romish
in their order, and a little before the dance begins, faith, he entertained a warm attachment to its ritual,
that is to say, as the assembly grows more and more and a natural aversion to those heretical opinions
pumerous, they go and salute the deity. This hom- which had already given rise to a bitter persecu-
age consists in perfuming him with tobacco. The tion. But while young Calvin was at heart a
finest voices are allowed the best seats, and the rest keen Romanist, he gave early symptoms of being
range themselves in a ring under the trees, all of influenced by firm conscientiousness and
them in a sitting posture. One of the chief in the as- ful attention to the most scrupulous morality.
sembly takes up the Calumet, in a very respectful Among his fellow-students, indeed, he was conspi-
manner, and holding it in both his hands, dances in cuous for assiduous devotion to study, and for a
cadence, himself dancing at the same time, observing rare combination of acuteness and profundity of
always to keep time with his fingers. All the mo- genius. He was afterwards sent to the college of
tions of the Calumet are odd and whimsical, and the Capettes, founded in the city of Noyon. Here
have perhaps their meaning. They sometimes show he spent his whole time in study, and having shown
it to the assembly, then present it to the sun, and from infancy'a peculiar inclination towards sa-
often hold it towards the ground; they extend its cred pursuits, his father early destined him for the
wings, as if they were going to set it a flying ; lastly, church. At that period it was a common practice
they bring it near the mouths of those present, as if to confer ecclesiastical titles and revenues on chil-
they were going to give them the Calumet to kiss. dren. Accordingly, when only about twelve years
This is the first act of that rejoicing, which we may of age, John Calvin was invested with the chap-
call a religious festival. They afterwards have a laincy of La Gesine. On the eve of Corpus Christi
combat, to which they are animated by the sound day, the bishop solemnly cut off the child's hair,
of drums, or a kind of kettle-drum ; and the voices and by this ceremony of the tonsure, Calvin was
sometimes sing in chorus with the warlike instru- admitted into the number of the clergy, and became
ment. Then the savage, who has the Calumet incapable of entering into holy orders, and of holding
his hand, invites some young champion to take up a benefice without residing on the spot. Two years
the weapons that are hid under the mat, and chal- after this the city of Noyon was visited with a se-
lenges him to fight with him; when the young war- vere pestilence, which cut off many of the citizens.
rior taking his bow, his arrows, and axe, attacks The father of the young chaplain, desirous to remove
him who has the Calumet in his hand. The combat his son from the scene of danger and death, sought
is fought in cadence, when the Calumet, which at leave of absence for him during the plague, and,
first seemed to quit the field, is declared to be vic- having obtained it, Calvin was sent to Paris to piu-
torious. They were certain that fate would declare secute his studies still farther. While resident
in its favour. The third act of the ceremony re- in the capital, he found a home in the house of an
lates entirely to the conqueror of the young warrior. uncle, Richard Cauvin, where he applied himself to
He relates his military achievement to the assembly, his studies with the utmost assiduity, and made
striking with a club upon a post that is fixed in the great progress in the Latin language and literature.
centre of the circle, at the conclusion of every inci- The friends of the Reformation had already become
dent, as La Hontan assures us; and when he has no numerous in France as well as in Germany, and the
more to say, the president of the assembly makes fires of persecution were burning with fearful inten-
him a present of a fine robe of beaver skin; after sity. It was not likely that the thoughtful and
which the Calumet is given into the hands of an- penetrating mind of the young student could fail to
other savage, and from thence to a third, and so on reflect on the points of controversy between the Ro-

WHO
John Calvin
on a scarce print do 5 Punkeris
OF
ECHO
3
A Tullanton London - Kabarely
CALVIN (John).
425
manists and the Reformed. But whatever may have | mirable view of Scriptural truth he dedicated to
been his internal struggles, he still tenaciously ad- Francis I., as an indignant reproof of his persecuting
hered to his early faith, and at the age of twenty spirit towards the warm and consistent friends of
he obtained, through the influence of his father, the Christian truth.
rectory of Pont L'Eveque at Noyon, and a benefice About this period the light of the Reformation
in the cathedral church. For a short time he held began to dawn in Italy, and Calvin, hearing the glad
this double appointment, and officiated as a Romish news, hastened to that country that he might urge
priest in his native town. He was not long, how- on the glorious work; and, assisted by the Duchess
ever, in resigning his sacred office, with the consent, of Ferrara, who had embraced the Protestant faith,
and, as it would appear, by the advice of his father. he was instrumental in diffusing the knowledge of
He now applied his mind to the study of the civil the Gospel. From Italy he passed to France,
law at Orleans, under a lawyer of great eminence, where, after settling some domestic matters, he set
Pierre de l'Etoile. This sudden change of pursuit out with the intention of travelling to Basle or Stras-
might have appeared strange, had we not reason to burg; but, in consequence of the war which was then
believe that the mind of the young French curé had raging along his proposed route, his steps were
been gradually undergoing an important revolution providentially directed to Geneva, the city which
By the careful study of the Scriptures, accompanied was destined to be the scene of his useful and ener-
with deep meditation and earnest prayer, he had be- getic labours in the cause of Christ throughout the
come convinced of the erroneous character of many whole of his future life.
of the Romish dogmas, and feeling that he could no The great French reformer reached Geneva in the
longer conscientiously minister at the altars of a autumn of 1536. It was an interesting period. The
church which he believed to be resting on an un- gospel had already found its way into the city, hav-
scriptural foundation, he renounced all connection ing been faithfully preached for a short time by
with it, and devoted himself meanwhile to secular William Farel and Peter Viret. “In 1532," says
studies. In the interesting department of law he D'Aubigne, “Geneva became the focus of the light,
made rapid proficiency; but still more rapid was his and the Reformation, which was here essentially
progress in Scriptural knowledge. He made no se- French, was established on the shores of the Leman
cret in his letters to his friends of the change which lake, and gained strength in every quarter.” The
had taken place in his religious views. Many of the arrival of such a man at such a time lent new energy
reformed resorted to him for advice and instruction. and life to the reformed movement. Farel insisted
He passed to Paris, and there he distinguished him- that he should take up his abode in the city, and
self in literature by publishing, at the early age of help forward the good cause. Calvin yielded to ear-
twenty-four, a commentary on Seneca's celebrated nest solicitation, and immediately he commenced the
treatise on clemency. The reformed cause had se- duties of an active and laborious ministry which
cured for itself numerous warm friends in the French was remarkably owned of God. The lax morality
capital, and Calvin identified himself with the most which prevailed around him was rebuked by the
zealous and active among them. Nicholas Cop, in strictness and consistency of his whole conversation
particular, who was summoned before the autho- and conduct. In conjunction with Farel and Viret
rities to answer for having exposed the errors he opposed the re-establishment of superstitious
of the national religion, was his intimate friend ceremonies and feasts. The Romanists were enraged
and associate. This naturally awakened the sus- at the zeal and success of the reformed pastors,
picions of the Roman Catholic clergy, who were and compelled them to quit Geneva, when Calvin
preparing to apprehend him, when he fled from Paris, found refuge in Strasburg, where he was appointed a
and threw himself upon the protection of the Queen professor of theology, and pastor of a French church.
of Navarre, at whose intercession with the French His labours in the city he had left, brief though
government the storm of persecution was quelled. they had been, were attended with marked success.
Calvin had not yet formally renounced his connec- He had published a formulary of doctrine and a cate-
tion with the Church of Rome; but the fierce and chism, and at his instigation, the citizens of Geneva
bloody persecutions by which Francis I. sought to had, on the 20th July 1539, openly abjured the errors
extirpate the reformed party in France, revolted the of Popery, and declared their formal adherence to the
mind of the young and pious partisan of the reformed Reformed faith. After he had gone to Strasburg,
opinions to such an extent, that he resolved to aban- Calvin still continued to maintain a regular corres-
don a church which could sanction the torture and pondence by letter with his former friends. The re-
even the death of many of the most eminent and formed churches, both in Switzerland and Germany,
pious in the land. Quitting France, Calvin pro- felt the banishment of the Genevan pastors to be a
ceeded to Basle in Switzerland, where he publish- sore discouragement. Urgent remonstrances were
ed his Christian Institutes,' which has occupied made against this arbitrary exercise of power on the
down to the present day a pre-eminent place in part of the authorities of the city, but to no effect.
theological literature, as a standard work on the They obstinately refused to recall the sentence of
leading doctrines of the Christian system. This ad- banishment which they had passed.
1.
2 E
426
CALVINISTS.
1
Meanwhile Calvin was diligently and zealously completely at rest. M. Albert Rilliet, a Unitarian
prosecuting his work both as a professor and minis- | clergyman of Geneva, has discovered the original
ter in Strasburg. His fame as a theologian was records of the trial of Servetus before the “ Little
every day on the increase. His labours were much Council of Geneva," and published, in 1844, a small
appreciated, and the civil authorities of the place treatise on the subject, which has been recently
lent him encouragement and support. While resi- translated from the French, with notes and additions.
dent there, he republished his Christian Institutes' by Dr. Tweedie.
by Dr. Tweedie. In this seasonable production,
in an enlarged form, a Commentary on the Epistle | sufficient evidence is adduced to free Calvin from the
to the Romans,' and a treatise on the Lord's Supper. slanderous imputation under which he has so long
About the same time, at the suggestion of Bucer, laboured, of being, to no small extent, instrumental
he married Idolette de Bure, the widow of a leader in procuring the condemnation to capital punishment
among the Anabaptists. In 1540 he was invited to re- of this arch-heretic. After a careful and detailed
turn to Geneva, but it was not until September of the examination of the whole circumstances as given
following year, that he yielded to the repeated and in the original records, Rilliet arrives at the conclu-
pressing invitations of the citizens and council; and, sion that Servetus was “ condemned by the majority
quitting Strasburg with reluctance, where his labours of his judges, not at all as the opponent of Calvin,
had been so remarkably blessed, he took up his abode scarcely as a heretic, but essentially as seditious."
again in Geneva, and there oficiated with great per- His sentiments, as appears from the evidence brought
severance, zeal, prudence, and disinterestedness, till forward, particularly towards the close of the trial
,
his death in 1564. Before consenting to return, he were not only of an infidel and blasphemous charac-
laid it down as a necessary condition that the Pres- ter, but seditious and revolutionary. It was the lat-
byterian form of church government should be for. ter aspect of his sentiments that chiefly, if not ex-
mally adopted by the Genevan churches. In accord-clusively, led to his being burnt at the stake. The
ance with his wish, therefore, the senate passed a court which tried the case was a civil, not an ecclesi-
decree to that effect. All week-day fasts and festi- astical tribunal; and Calvin, besides not being a mem-
vals were now abolished. The pastors were required ber of the council, was even excluded from political
by the consistory not only to preach the gospel, but rights along with the other clergy, by being denied a
to visit and catechise their flocks with diligence and seat in the “council-general.” Moreover, Servetus
regularity. Calvin himself was abundant in useful was not condemned by Calvin's adherents in the
labours, far beyond what the physical constitution of “ Little Council," they themselves being a small mi-
most men could have endured. He preached one nority, and wholly unable to control the decision of
whole week in every two, lectured three times every the body. The stain, therefore, which has long
week, presided every Thursday at the meeting of the unjustly attached to one of the ablest and most es-
consistory, of which he was the perpetual president teemed of the leaders of the Reformation, must be
or moderator, and on every Friday he expounded a considered as now wholly removed, by the publica-
portion of sacred Scripture to his congregation. tion, at the late period, of the authentic documents
Besides, he wrote commentaries on many of the which Rilliet has providentially brought to light.
books of Scripture, published various polemical Through the fame and the influence of this dis-
works of great ability, and conducted a most exten- tinguished theologian, the Genevan church rapidly
sive private correspondence. His house was the increased in numbers, and was looked upon as the
frequent resort of men of learning and piety from all centre-point of the reformed cause.
quarters; and such was the affability and kindness gestion a college was established by the senate
of this great and good man, that his counsel and ad- 1558, in which he and Theodore Beza, along with
vice were never sought in vain. To those in parti- others of great erudition and high talents, were the
cular who were persecuted for conscience' sake, he was teachers. This seat of learning soon acquired so
ever ready to tender his assistance. In Geneva they great fame that students resorted to it from England,
found an asylum, and in the house of Calvin a home. Scotland, France, Italy, and Germany, in pursuit of
On one point have the enemies of Calvin fixed, sacred as well as secular learning. By this means
as detracting not a little from the high and other- the principles of the Reformation spread widely over
wise unsullied reputation of the great Reformer. the various countries of Europe. To John Calvin
We refer to the connection which he is alleged to the Protestant churches must ever owe a deep debt
have had with the persecution and death of Michael of gratitude, and, among Presbyterians in particular,
Servetus. For more than a century and a half have his memory will be embalmed, as having given to their
both Romish and Protestant writers laid the death system of church polity the weight of his influence
of the heretic at the door of Calvin ; and so much and great name. .
See next article.
mystery has hung over the whole transaction, that CALVINISTS, those who have adopted the pecu-
even the most ardent admirers of the Reformer liar theological sentiments of the illustrious French
have found it difficult satisfactorily to exculpate him. reformer. The opinions of John Calvin were first
Recently, however, documents have come to light promulgated by him in the city of Geneva, and
which have happily set the long-disputed question thence they were carried into Germany, France, the
At his sug-
CALVINISTS.
427
United Provinces, and Britain, and have since been “That some, in time, have faith given them by
adopted by almost all evangelical Christian churches God, and others have it not given, proceeds from his
throughout the world. In opposition to the doctrines eternal decree ; for known unto God are all his
laid down by Calvin in a systematic form in his 'In- works from the beginning,' &c. (Acts xv. 18; Eph.
stitutes,' ARMINIUS (which see), a Dutch divine of i. 11.) According to which decree he graciously
eminence, taught a system of theology which is softens the hearts of the elect, however hard, and he
known by the name of its originator (See ARMI- bends them to believe ; but the non-elect he leaves,
NIANS), and which denied the main points of the Cal- in just judgment, to their own perversity and hard-
vinistic theology. The contention which thus arose ness. And here, especially, a deep discrimination,
between the two opposite systems of doctrine, led to at the same time both merciful and just, a discrimi-
the Synod of Dort being convened in 1618, and at this nation of men equally lost, opens itself to us; or
celebrated ecclesiastical convention, the theological that decree of election and reprobation which is re-
tenets of Calvin were approved, digested, and syste- vealed in the Word of God; which, as perverse, im-
matized, thus establishing Calvinism as a regular form pure, and unstable persons do wrest to their own de-
of theological belief, the substance of which is to be struction, so it affords ineffable consolation to holy
found in the writings of the great Reformer. Calvin- and pious souls.
ists, however, maintain that their opinions, instead “But election is the immutable purpose of God,
of originating with Calvin, were long before set forth by which, before the foundations of the earth were
in the writings of Augustine, and are in fact to be laid, hie chose out of the whole human race—fallen by
found embodied in the Word of God.
their own fault from their primeval integrity in-
Calvinists have been usually considered as divided to sin and destruction—according to the most free
into three parties, which are known by the name of good pleasure of his own will, and of mere grace, a
Hyper - Calvinists, Strict Calvinists, and Moderate certain number of men, neither better nor worthier
Calvinists. The first, or Hyper - Calvinists, are than others, but lying in the same misery with the
nearly identical with ANTINOMIANS (which see). rest, to salvation in Christ, whom he had even from
The Strict Calvinists follow the sentiments of Calvin eternity constituted Mediator and Head of all the
himself and of the Synod of Dort. The Moderate
The Moderate elect, and the foundation of salvation ; and, therefore,
or modern Calvinists, again, differ both from Calvin he decreed to give them unto him to be saved, and
and the Synod of Dort on two points—the doctrine effectually to call and draw them into communion
of reprobation, and the extent of the death of Christ. with him by his word and Spirit; or he decreed him-
The Strict Calvinists, then, are the true represen- self to give unto them true faith, to justify, to sanc-
tatives in opinion of the great Reformer on the lead- | tify, and at length powerfully to glorify them, &c.
ing points of Christian doctrine. To commence with Eph. i. 446; Rom. viii. 30.
the first of the five points, we would call the atten- “ This same election is not made from any foreseen
tion of the reader to the much-disputed doctrine of faith, obedience of faith, holiness, or any other good
predestination, or the eternal purpose of God, accord-quality or disposition, as a pre-requisite cause or con-
ing to which he fore-ordains whatsoever comes to pass. dition in the man who should be elected, &c. “He
The word, however, is often limited to those purposes hath chosen us (not because we were) but that we
of which the spiritual and eternal state of man is the might be holy,' &c. Eph. i. 4; Rom. ix. 11–13;
object, or, in other words, it includes the doctrines Acts xiii. 48.
of election and reprobation.
“Predestination,” says
Moreover, holy Scripture doth illustrate and
Calvin, “we call the eternal decree of God, by which commend to us this eternal and free grace of our
he hath determined in himself what he would have election, in this more especially, that it doth testify
to become of every individual of mankind. For all men not to be elected; but that some are non-
they are not all created with a similar destiny, but elect or passed by in the eternal election of God,
eternal life is fore-ordained for some, and eternal whom truly God, from most free, just, irreprehen-
damnation for others. Every man therefore
, being sible, and immutable good pleasure, decreed to leave
created for one or the other of these ends, we say he in the common misery, into which they had, by their
is predestinated either to life or to death."
own fault, cast themselves; and not to bestow on
The same doctrine is thus exhibited in a more ex- them living faith and the grace of conversion ; but
panded and detailed form in the articles of the Synod | having been left in their own ways, and under just
judgment, at length, not only on account of their un-
“ As all men have sinned in Adam, and have be- belief
, but also of all their other sins, to condemni
come exposed to the curse and eternal death, God and eternally punish them, to the manifestation of
would have done no injustice to any one, if he had his own justice. And this is the decree of reproba-
determined to leave the whole human race under sin tion, which determines that God is in no wise the
and the curse, and to condemn them on account of author of sin (which, to be thought of, is blasphemy),
sin; according to those words of the apostle, All the but a tremendous, incomprehensible, just Judge and
world is become guilty before God.' Rom. iii. 19, Avenger.”
23; vi. 23. . .
In opposition to all this, Arminians deny absolute
of Dort.
428
CALVINISTS.
} q
cree.
and unconditional decrees, and maintain that the de- purpose of God in regard to his elect people cannot
crees of God respecting men have been founded be reversed, being immutable. On this point, also,
upon the foresight of their conduct. They hold that the Word of God utters no uncertain sound. Our
God, having foreseen, without any decree, that Saviour, in his intercessory prayer, declares concern-
Adam would involve himself and his posterity in sining his followers, John xvii. 6, 12, “I have mani-
and its consequences, purposed to send his Son to die fested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me
for the whole fallen race of mankind, and to give out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest
them sufficient grace to improve the means of salva- them me; and they have kept thy word. While I
tion; and knowing beforehand who would believe was with them in the world, I kept them in thy
and persevere to the end and who would not, he name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and
chose the former to eternal life, and left the latter in none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that
a state of condemnation.
the scripture might be fulfilled." And the intimate
Calvinists differ from Arminians in so far as elec- and indissoluble connection which exists between
tion is concerned, mainly on the point as to the election and final salvation is set forth in these ex-
ground on which election proceeds in the divine de- plicit words, Rom. viii. 30, “ Moreover, whom he did
The former believe the choice of certain per- predestinate, them he also called : and whom he
sons from all eternity to everlasting life, to be an act called, them he also justified: and whom he justi-
of pure sovereignty on the part of God; while the fied, them he also glorified.”
latter as firmly believe that it proceeds upon the Another distinctive article of the Calvinistic creed
ground of their foreseen qualifications. In other is the doctrine of reprobation, or that act of God by
words, the Calvinists assert the decree to be uncon- which, while, from all eternity he elected some, he
ditional, and the Arminians, on the other hand, main- rejected others. This mysterious doctrine is not
tain that it was conditional. On this important only denied by Arminians, but also by some who are
question Scripture is explicit. It ascribes election known by the name of Moderate or Modern Calvin
wholly to grace, to the exclusion of works, and ists. On this point Calvin himself says, referring
these two grounds of election are represented as to the apostle's reasoning upon the case of Jacob
incompatible and mutually destructive. Thus, Rom. and Esau: “Now, with respect to the reprobate
xi. 5, 6, “Even so then, at this present time also whom the apostle introduces in the same place :-
there is a remnant according to the election of grace. as Jacob, without any merit yet acquired by good
And if by grace, then it is no more of works: other- works, is made an object of grace, so Esau, while
wise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, 1 yet unpolluted by any crime, is accounted an object
then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more of hatred, Rom. ix. 13. If we turn our attention to
work.” Besides, it is worthy of special notice that works, we insult the apostle, as though he saw not
faith and holiness, which the Arminians make the that which is clear to us: now that he saw none is
ground of election, are expressly declared in Scrip- evident, because he expressly asserts the one to have
ture to be its effects. This is plainly taught in Eph. been elected, and the other rejected, while they had
i. 4, “ According as he hath chosen us in him before not yet done any good or evil,
not yet done any good or evil, to prove the founda-
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy |tion of Divine predestination not to be in works.
and without blame before him in love." And in Secondly, when he raises the question, whether God
Rom. ix. 10–13, the apostle Paul produces the case is unjust, he never urges, what would have been the
of Jacob and Esau as an illustration of the truth that most absolute and obvious defence of his justice,
the election of individuals, whether to happiness or that God rewarded Esau according to his wicked-
misery, is to be traced to divine sovereignty, alto- ness; but contents himself with a different solution,
gether irrespective of their works : “And not only that the reprobate are raised up for this purpose,
this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, that the glory of God may be displayed by their
even by our father Isaac; (for the children being not means.-Lastly, he subjoins a concluding observa-
yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that tion, that God hath mercy on whom he will have
the purpose of God according to election might mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.' You see
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth ;) it was how he attributes both to the mere will of God. If,
said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. therefore, we can assign 110 reason why he grants
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have mercy to his people, because such is his pleasure,
I hated.”
neither shall we find any other cause but his will for
Another point in reference to election on which the reprobation of others : for when God is said to
Calvinists are at variance with Arminians, regards harden, or show mercy to whom he pleases, men are
the immutability of the divine decree. The doctrine taught by this declaration to seek no cause besides
of Arminius and his followers was, that the purposes his will.”
of God are subject to change, so that an individual The doctrine of reprobation necessarily follows
who is one of the elect to-day may become one of the from that of election. The two words are cor-
reprobate to-morrow. Calvin, and all who adopt his relative terms, so that it is impossible for any man
system of theology, believe, on the contrary, that the intelligently to believe in election and yet deny
CALVINISTS.
429
If we
we
reprobation. When of a number of individuals some and withholds his favour according to his pleasure :
are chosen, it follows of course that the rest are · He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and
rejected. But we are not left to mere deduction on whom he will he hardeneth.'"
the subject. The Calvinist confidently appeals to Such, then, is a rapid view of the first of the five
Scripture. If the names of soine are said in the Word points distinctively held by Calvinists-election and
of God to be “written in the book of life," we read its correlative reprobation.
also of others whose names are “not written.'
The second essential doctrine maintained by Cal-
find an apostle speaking of “ vessels of mercy, vinists is what is known by the name of particular
find him also speaking in the same passage of "ves- redemption, implying that the death of Christ, as
sels of wrath, fitted to destruction." And reproba- an atonement for the guilty, had not a mere general
tion, as well as election, is traced by the Calvinists efficacy, as the Arminians allege, but a special and
to the sovereign will of God. On this point, the particular application to the elect alone. In other
following judicious remarks are made by Dr. Dick, words, Christ died not for all men, but for those
in his · Lectures on Theology:' “ If we inquire into alone who were given to him by the Father. This
the reason why God passed over some in his eternal point is thus explained by the synod of Dort : “God
decree, while he extended mercy to others, we must willed that Christ, through the blood of the cross,
content ourselves with the words of our Lord, which should, out of every people, tribe, nation, and lan-
were spoken in reference to the execution of his guage, efficaciously redeem all those, and those only,
purpose :— Even so, Father, for so it seemed good who were from eternity chosen to salvation, and
in thy sight. It may be supposed, indeed, that we given to him by the Father.” And the same doc-
need not resolve the decree of reprobation into the trine is taught in numerous passages of the Sa-
sovereignty of God, as a sufficient reason, for it may cred Scriptures. Jesus himself alleges, in his in-
be found in the moral character of its objects, tercessory prayer, that he has received power over
who, being considered as fallen and guilty creatures, all flesh for this end, “that he miglit give eternal
may be presumed to have been rejected on this ac- life to as many as” the Father “had given him.”
count. But although this may seem at first sight | And again, John xvii. 6, “I have manifested thy
to have been the cause of their reprobation, yet name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the
upon closer attention we shall see reason to change world ; thine they were, and thou gavest them me;
our opinion. It is obvious that, if they had not and they have kept thy word.” Still further limit-
been considered as fallen, they would not have been ing the efficacy of his intercession to a certain class,
rejected, unless we adopt the Supralapsarian hypo- and thus declaring his atonement on which his in-
thesis, which affirms that they were viewed only as tercession was founded to be equally limited, he
creatures, and that, by that uncontrolled power which says, ver. 9, 10,“ I pray for them; I pray not for
may make one vessel to dishonour, and another to the world, but for them which thou hast given me;
honour, their appointment to perdition, for the glory for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and
of Divine justice, was prior to the purpose to permit thine are mine; and I am glorified in them."
them to fall. There is something in this system re- Jesus also expressly calls himself the "good Shep-
pugnant to our ideas of the character of God, whom herd, who giveth his life for the sheep," and that we
it
represents rather as a despot, than the Father of may be at no loss as to the character of his sheep as
the universe. But, although their fall is pre-sup- a limited class, he adds, John X. 27, 28, “My sheep
posed to their reprobation, it will appear that the hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
former was not the reason of the latter, if we recol- me; and I give unto them eternal life; and they
lect that those, who were chosen to salvation, were shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them
exactly in the same situation. Both classes ap- out of my hand.”
peared in the eyes of God to be guilty, polluted, and It is not to be denied that there are some passages
worthy of death. Their sinfulness, therefore, could in the New Testament which seem to militate against
not be the reason of rejection in the one case, since the doctrine of a limited atonement, and a particu-
it did not cause rejection in the other. If it was the lar redemption, which Calvinists so strenuously
reason why some were passed by, it would have been maintain. But it is equally undeniable, that there are
a reason why all should be passed by. As, then, it other passages which represent the design of Christ's
did not hinder the election of some, it could not be death as limited.
death as limited. Both classes of passages are, how-
the cause which hindered the election of others.
ever, quite capable of being harmonized, as has been
You ought not to think that there is too much re- already shown in another article. (See ATONEMENT
finement and subtlety in this reasoning. If you pay CONTROVERSY.) It must never be forgotten that
due attention to the subject, you will perceive that, the sacred writers must not be always understood as
as the moral state of all was the same, it could not using universal terms in the strict unqualified sense;
be the cause of the difference in their destination. thus the world sometimes signifies a part of the
If there was sin in the reprobate, there was sin also world, and all is put frequently for many. It is not
in the elect; and we must therefore resolve their by such terms, therefore, that we are to determine
opposite allotment into the will of God, who gives | the extent of the atonement, but by a careful consi-
430
CALVINISTS.
deration of the whole case in its entire aspect and i jections on the part of Arminians, Socinians, and
bearings.
others. For instance, the question has been often
The third leading point of the Calvinistic system asked, Does not this doctrine make the Creator the
asserts the moral inability of man to do what is good author of sin in the creature? The reply to this
and acceptable in the sight of God; or, as it is ex- question may be given in the words of President
pressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith, Edwards, as quoted from his work on the 'Freedom
“Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly of the Will:' “ They who object that this doctrine
lost all ability to any spiritual good accompanying makes God the author of sin, ought distinctly to ex-
salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether plain what they mean by that phrase, the author of
averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by sin. I know the phrase, as it is commonly used, sig-
his own strength, to convert himself, or prepare him- nifies something very ill. If by the author of sin be
self thereunto.” This doctrine is thus stated by the meant, the sinner, the agent, or actor of sin, or the
synod of Dort: “All men are conceived in sin and doer of a wicked thing ; so it would be a reproach
born the children of wrath, unfit for (inepti) all sav- or blasphemy to suppose God to be the author of
ing good, inclined to evil, dead in sin, and the slaves sin. In this sense I utterly deny God to be the au-
of sin; and without the regenerating grace of the thor of sin ; rejecting such an imputation on the
Holy Spirit they neither are willing nor able to re- Most High, as what is infinitely to be abhorred;
turn to God, to correct their depraved nature, or to and deny any such thing to be the consequence of
dispose themselves to the correction of it.” In sup- what I have laid down. But if, by the author of sin
port of the doctrine of moral inability, Calvinists is meant the permitter, or not a hinderer of sin;
adduce many passages of the Word of God. They and, at the same time, a disposer of the state of
point to the description given in the Mosaic records events, in such a manner, for wise, holy, and most
of the actual state of mankind before the flood, excellent ends and purposes, that sin, if it be per-
Gen. vi. 5, “ And God saw that the wickedness of mitted or not hindered, will most certainly and in-
man was great in the earth, and that every imagina- fallibly follow; I say, if this be all that is meant,
tion of the thoughts of his heart was only evil con- by being the author of sin, I do not deny that God
tinually.” And again, immediately after the flood, ) is the author of sin, (though I dislike and reject
Gen. viii. 21, “ The imagination of man's heart is the phrase, as that which by use and custom is apt
evil from his youth.” The language of David con- to carry another sense) it is no reproach for the
cerning himself is equally explicit, Psalm li. 5, “Be- Most High to be thus the author of sin. This
hold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mo- is not to be the actor of sin; but, on the contrary,
ther conceive me.” Job also, speaking of the frailty of holiness.” And, pursuing this line of argu-
and misery of man, says, xiv. 4, “ Who can bring a ment, the same profound writer continues,—“That
clean thing out of an unclean ? not one." How there is a great difference between God's being
often do we find the necessity of regeneration urged concerned thus, by his permission, in an event and
in the Sacred Writings : “Marvel not," says our act, which, in the inherent subject and agent of it,
Lord to Nicodemus," that I said unto you, you must is sin (though the event will certainly follow on his
be born again.” We are called upon by an apostle permission), and his being concerned in it by pro-
put off the old man, and put on the new.” We ducing it and exerting the act of sin : or between
are said to be “ saved not by works of righteousness this being the order of its certain existence by not
which we have done, but according to his mercy he hindering it, under certain circumstances, and his
saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and re- being the proper actor or author of it, by a positive
newing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us arjency or efficiency. As there is a vast difference
abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.” And between the sun's being the cause of the lightsome-
the very apostle who thus testifies to the necessity | ness and warmth of the atmosphere, and brightness
of a radical change in the whole nature of man if he is of gold and diamonds, by its presence and positive
ever to obtain eternal salvation, adds his own per- | influence, and its being the occasion of darkness and
sonal testimony to his utter inability to think even one frost in the night by its motion, whereby it descends.
good thought as of himself, Rom. vii. 18—21, "For below the horizon. The motion of the sun is the
I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no occasion of the latter kind of events, but it is not the
good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to proper cause efficient or producer of them, though
perform that which is good I find not. For the good they are necessarily consequent on that motion, un-
that I would I do not: but the evil which I would der such circumstances; no more is any action of the
not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is divine Being the cause of the evil of men's wills. If
no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. the sun were the proper cause of cold and darkness,
I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil it would be the fountain of these things, as it is the
is present with me."
fountain of light and heat, and then something might
The Calvinistic doctrine of man's moral inability be argued from the nature of cold and darkness, to
to do of himself, and without Divine assistance, what a likeness of nature in the sun ; and it might bo
is good in God's sight, has given rise to many ob- l justly inferred, that the sun itself is dark and cold,
to
CALVINISTS.
431
rence.
and that his beams are black and frosty. But from complete harmony with them; leading us to act
its being the cause no otherwise than by its depart- not against our wills, but with their entire concur-
ure, no such thing can be inferred, but the contrary ;
“ True liberty," as Dr. Dick remarks, when
it may justly be argued, that the sun is a bright and speaking on this subject, “consists in doing what
hot body, if cold and darkness are found to be the we do, with knowledge and from choice ; and such
consequence of its withdrawment; and the more liberty is not only consistent with conversion, but
constantly and necessarily these effects are con- essential to it; for if a man turn to God at all, he
nected with, and confined to its absence, the more must turn with his heart. God does not lead
strongly does it argue the sun to be the fountain of us to salvation without consciousness, like stones
light and heat. So, inasmuch as sin is not the fruit transported from one place to another ; nor with-
of any positive agency or influence of the Most out our consent, like slaves who are driven to their
High, but, on the contrary, arises from the withhold- task by the terror of punishment. He conducts
ing of his action and energy, and under certain cir- us in a manner suitable to our rational and moral
cumstances, necessarily follows on the want of his nature. He so illuminates our minds, that we
influence ; this is no argument that he is sinful ; or most cordially concur with his design. His power,
his operation evil, or has any thing of the nature of although able to subdue opposition, is of the mild-
evil ; but, on the contrary, that He, and his agency, est and most gentle kind. While he commands,
are altogether good and holy, and that He is the he persuades; while he draws, the sinner comes
fountain of all holiness. It would be strange argu- without reluctance; and never in his life is there !
ing, indeed, because men never commit sin, but freer act of volition than when he believes in Christ,
only when God leaves them to themselves, and ne- and accepts of his salvation.” The regeneration of
cessarily sin, when he does so, and, therefore, their the soul, or the infusion of spiritual life, is wholly the
sin is not from themselves, but from God; and so, work of Divine grace, but no sooner is that new
that God must be a sinful being; as strange as it life imparted than it operates actively in conjunc-
would be to argue, because it is always dark when tion with the Holy Spirit in the work of conver-
the sun is gone, and never dark when the sun is sion. The renewed soul acts because it has been
present, that therefore all darkness is from the sun, acted upon. It moves willingly and readily towards
and that his disc and beams must needs be black." God, because it is gently drawn by the effectual
The fourth characteristic point of Calvinism is the agency of the Spirit.
doctrine of irresistible, or rather invincible, grace, The fifth and last point of the Calvinistic system
which implies that although for a time grace oper-
is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, or
ating in the soul may be resisted and opposed, it their continuance in a state of grace, until they
cannot finally be resisted, but will ultimately render reach the kingdom of glory. The following state-
the sinner willing in the day of Jehovah's power. ment of this important article is given by the synod
This doctrine, indeed, necessarily follows from that of of Dort: “God, who is rich in mercy, from his im-
the omnipotence of God. His power none can effec- mutable purpose of election, does not wholly take
tually withstand. He can not only subdue the most away his Holy Spirit from his own, even in lamenta-
refractory and disobedient, but he can take away ble falls; nor does he so permit them to decline
the spirit of opposition, and so influence the hearts (prolabi), that they should fall from the grace of
of men, that their submission shall become volun- | adoption, and the state of justification; or commit
tary. To assert otherwise would be to take the the sin unto death, or against the Holy Spirit; that,
work of conversion out of the hand of God, and being deserted by him, they should cast themselves
commit it to man himself, thus contradicting the headlong into eternal destruction.
So that
statement of the Redeemer, “No man cometh unto not by their own merits or strength, but by the gra-
me except the Father which hath sent me draw tuitous mercy of God, they obtain it, that they nei-
God is expressly said to work in us not only ther totally fall from faith and grace, nor finally con-
to do, but“ to will," as well as “to do according to his tinue in their falls and perish.
good pleasure ;” and, accordingly, “ He worketh in Arminians, on the other hand, maintain, to use
us the work of faith with power. are saved their own language, “that true believers may aposta-
by faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of tize from the true faith, and fall into such sins as are
God."
inconsistent with true and justifying faith; nay, it is
The chief objection urged against irresistible not only possible for them to do so, but it frequently
grace, as maintained by Calvinists, is, that such a comes to pass. True believers," it is added, “ may,
doctrine goes to destroy man's free agency, convert- by their own fault, become guilty of great and abomi-
ing him into a mere machine. An objection of this nable crimes, and may continue and die in the same,
kind might have some force were man compelled by and consequently may finally fall into perdition.”
an external force to do something against his will. The Arminian view is also held by Romanists, and
But the power of grace is of a totally different de- is found embodied in the decrees of the council of
scription. It operates not externally, but internally; Trent. It is to be observed, that on one point both
pot in opposition to our mental constitutions, but in Calvinists and Arminians are agreed, that believers
.
him."
We 56
432
CALVINISTS.
unto
may be, and occasionally are, guilty of heinous in their behalf, that they may be preserved from evil
transgressions. It is enough to refer simply to the and conducted safely to heaven. (5.) The Holy
cases of David in the Old Testament, and Peter in Spirit is promised to dwell in his people, not for a
the New; both of them, it must be admitted, emi- time only, but for ever.
Thus Jesus declares to his
nent saints, and yet both chargeable with the most disciples, John xiv. 16, " And I will pray the Father
aggravated crimes.
These prominent cases are and he shall give you another Comforter, that he
eagerly laid hold of by the adversaries of the doc- | may abide with you for ever.” And again, he pro-
trine of perseverance, as favouring their views of the mises, John iv. 14, “Whosoever drinketh of the
doctrine. But however striking these cases were, water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but
as proving the apparent falling from grace, they have the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well
no bearing upon the possibility of the final apos- of water springing up into everlasting life.” The
tacy of believers, seeing both of them are well known Holy Spirit is said also to “seal” believers “
to have been effectually recovered from their back- the day of redemption," and to be in them “the
sliding, and restored to the friendship and favour of earnest of the heavenly inheritance.” Now an ear-
their God.
nest is a part given as a pledge or security for the
Numerous passages of Scripture are quoted by future possession of the whole.
Calvinists in proof of the perseverance of the saints Such are the five articles of the Calvinistic sys-
in a state of grace, and the impossibility of their tem, as maintained by the Reformer himself, and
final apostasy from the faith. Thus Jesus says of afterwards set forth by the synod of Dort, in oppo-
his sheep, John x. 28, 29, “I give unto them eter- sition to the Arminians or Remonstrants in Hol-
nal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall land. The first Calvinistic church, properly so
any pluck them out of my hand. My Father, called, was that which Calvin planted at Strasburg;
which gave them me, is greater than all; and but the first regularly constituted Calvinistic church
none is able to pluck them out of my Father's | recognized by civil authority was formed at Geneva
hand.” The Apostle Paul plainly teaches the per- | in 1541. It was established on strictly Presbyte-
severance of the saints, when he says, Rom. viii. 35, rian principles, and the ecclesiastical framework
37, “ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? which was then set up, served as a model to other
shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or fa- | reformed churches, some of which assumed the Cal-
mine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all vinistic, and others the Lutheran type. The Calvin-
these things we are more than conquerors through ists maintained the real though spiritual presence
him that loved us." And to the same effect we find of Christ in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and
it stated in Isa. liv. 9, 10, “For this is as the waters rejected alike the Romish transubstantiation, the
of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the wa- Lutheran consubstantiation, and the Helvetian no-
ters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so tion introduced by Zwingli, that the eucharist was
have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nothing more than a commemorative rite. On the
nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, relation which the church bore to the civil power,
and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not Calvin was remarkably decided, holding the church
depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my to be a separate and independent institution having
peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy the power of legislation within itself, and subject
on thee.'
only to the authority of Christ, its sole head and
This doctrine, so consolatory to the Christian, ruler. He asserted strongly the principle of a com-
Calvinists are wont to argue on various grounds. plete parity among the ministers of Christ, all of
(1.) On the Divine decree concerning believers as them being possessed of equal rank and power. He
being from its very nature immutable and ever- rejected prelatic bishops, and established a con-
lasting. (2.) From the covenant which Jehovah sistory or presbytery consisting of pastors and lay
hath made with his people, which warrants them elders, who regulated at stated meetings the affairs
confidently to rest assured, that “ He who hath be- of individual churches, subject only to the revision
gun a good work in them will perfect it until the of a synod, or combination of different presbyteries,
day of Jesus Christ.” His covenant is expressed in which also statedly assembled for this purpose.
these explicit words, Jer. xxxii. 40, “ And I will The Swiss reformed churches were at first opposed
make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will to the Calvinists of Geneva on the subject of the eu-
not turn away from them, to do them good; but I charist, and that of predestination. In a short time,
will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not however, Calvin succeeded in effecting a completely
depart from me.” (3.) Jesus Christ hath purchased | harmonious union between the two churches; and
his people with his own blood, and to maintain that no long period elapsed before the reformed church
they could fall away finally from grace would be to had spread over a great part of Europe, framed in its
maintain that the deed of purchase could become inva- doctrine and discipline after the model church of
lid and without effect. (4.) The people of Christ must Geneva. The Prussian reformed church has, since
finally be saved, for his intercession, founded on his the Reformation, oscillated between the Calvinistic
atoning death, is ever being made with the Father and Lutheran systems. The Protestants of France
CALVINISTIC CHURCHES-CAMBRAY (A SECT IN).
433
established a close alliance with Geneva, and under | from the stock of the dukes of Ravenna, seems to
John Knox, a disciple of Calvin, the Church of Scot- have been a person of stern, austere disposition, who
land was originally founded, and has continued down made even emperors tremble before him. He at-
to the present day to rest on the principles, both in tracted around him many disciples, but his assem-
doctrine and discipline and ecclesiastical government, blage of hermitages at Camaldoli, in the Florentine
of the church of Geneva. But in process of time, province, was the most renowned of the establish-
that church, which was the mother and the mistress ments which he formed. Romualdus died in A. D.
of all the churches of the Reformation, fell from its | 1027, at the advanced age, as is alleged, of one
proud elevation. Arianism, Socinianism, and latterly hundred and twenty. This order consists of Cono.
Rationalism, have robbed Geneva of its ancient bites and Eremites, both subjected to rigorous and se..
glory, and reduced it to a condition so humiliating, vere regulations. The dress of the Camaldulensians
that its citizens have scarcely even the semblance of is white, and consists of a cassock, a long scapulary,
religion. But within the last thirty or forty years, and a hood. They wear also a gown or cloak with
in the first instance through the labours of Mr. | large sleeves. The hermits of the order wear only a
Robert Haldane, and latterly of Dr. Malan, Dr. short dress, consisting of a cassock, a scapulary, and
Merle D'Aubigné, Dr. Gaussen, and others, a goodly a hood.
band of faithful devoted Christians have arisen in CAMBRAY (A SECT IN). In the earlier part of
Geneva, who, by exerting a beneficial influence upon the eleventh century, a Christian sect was discovered
all around them, bid fair, with the blessing of God, to in the diocese of Cambray and Arras, which was
revive the work of Christ in that city.
supposed to have had its origin in the teaching of
CALVINISTIC CHURCHES. When, through Gundulf, an Italian, and which, by the strangeness
the commanding influence of Calvin, the doctrines of some of its tenets, seems to have had connection
and polity which that great Reformer had established with some of the Oriental sects. They rejected mar-
in the Church of Geneva were embraced by a large riage, and held a state of celibacy to be indispensable
number of the Protestant churches, not only through to a participation in the kingdom of heaven. They
out Germany, but in France, the United Provinces, alleged the marriage intercourse between Adam and
and Great Britain, these caine to be distinguished as Eve to have been the first sin into which the apostate
Calvinistic, in opposition to the Lutheran churches. spirit Satanael enticed mankind. The disciples of
Such churches on the Continent of Europe are Christ, they maintained, both male and female, ought
known by the name of Reformed instead of Calvin- to live together only in spiritual fellowship. From
istic, and the latter epithet has come to be applied to Luke xx. 34, 35, they inferred that only the children
those Christian communities or churches which have of this world entered into the married state, but that
adopted the doctrines of Calvin, in opposition to those it is the duty of believers to lead a life wholly
of Arminius. The term is now used in a strictly estranged from sense, and like that of the angels.
theological, rather than an ecclesiastical sense; and But along with these extravagant notions, this name-
applies to individuals rather than churches, with the less sect combined some opinions which indicated
exception, perhaps, of the Whitefield or Calvinistic that they had risen above the prevailing errors of
Methodists
, who profess to adhere to Calvinistic doc- their time. They held, for instance, the utter ineffi-
trine, and thus to differ from the Wesleyan or Armi- cacy of mere outward sacraments to purify the heart.
nian Methodists. The distinction, however, no longer | The following summary of their creed is given by
holds to the same extent as it did during the lifetime Neander :-“It consisted in this, to forsake the
of the respective leaders. Nor are those churches world, to overcome the flesh, to support one's self by
which are mainly Calvinistic in their doctrine, so far the labour of one's own hands, to injure no one, to
as their standards are concerned, necessarily Calvin- show love to all the brethren. Whoever practised
istic in their teaching from their pulpits. Many in- this needed no baptism ; where it failed, baptism
stances to the contrary are to be found in all Chris- could not supply its place. From these doctrines
tian churches, even in those whose symbolic books we might be led to suppose that these people had
are strictly Calvinistic.
imbibed thoroughly Pelagian principles, and opposed
CALVINISTIC METHODISTS. See Metho- | legal morality and moral self-sufficiency to the Au-
DISTS (CALVINISTIC).
gustinian doctrine of the church. The bishop so
CALYBE, a priestess of JUNO (which see). understood them, and hence unfolded to them, in op-
CALYDONIUS, a surname of DIONYSUS (which position to these tenets, Augustin's doctrine of grace.
see).
But the theory of Augustin is directly at variance
CAMALDULENSIANS, an order of monks with the doctrine of that whole race of sectarians
founded at Camaldoli in the Apennines near Arezzo, touching redemption as a communication of divine
by Romualdus, an Italian, in the early part of the life to the spirits held bound in the corporeal world,
eleventh century. The leading idea of the foun- touching the consolamentum, and all that is connect-
der of this order, was completely to reform the mo- ed therewith. Even here, then, we find the practi-
nastic system, by introducing the simple habits of cal consequences alone avowed by them, separated
the Eastern monks. Romuald's, who was sprung from the dogmatic grounds from which they wero
434
CAMBRIAN CHURCH-CAMIS.
derived. They were also opposed to the worship of poets, even at an early period, apply the name of Ca-
saints and of relics, and ridiculed the stories told mence to the MUSES (which see).
about the wonders performed by them. But it is CAMERONIANS, a name applied by some wri
singular to observe that they at the same time held ters to the Scotch COVENANTERS (which see) from
to the worship of the apostles and martyrs, which Richard Cameron, one of the leading ministers of
in 'all probability they interpreted in accordance that body, who fell at the battle of Airsmoss in
with their other doctrines, and in a different manner Ayrshire, in 1680, fighting against Prelacy. See
from what was customary in the church. They REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
were opposed, like the Paulicians, to the worship of CAMERONITES, the followers of John Cameron,
the cross and of images, they spoke against the effi- who was born at Glasgow in 1580, and after having
cacy of the priestly consecration, the value of a con- studied theology in his native land, emigrated to
secrated altar, and of a consecrated church. The France, where he became a distinguished professor,
church,' said they, “is nothing but a pile of stones successively at Bordeaux, Sedan, and Saumur. He
heaped together ; the church has no advantage what- was recognized as the leader of a party of Calvinists
ever over any hut where the Divine Being is wor- in France, who held that the will of mari is only de-
shipped.' They, like the older Euchites, denounced termined by the practical judgment of the mind:
church psalmody as a superstitious practice.” that the cause of men's doing good or evil proceeds
The doctrines of this sect were first broached in from the knowledge which God infuses into them,
the neighbourhood of Liege, and soon spread to and that God does not move the will physically
Cambray and Arras, where the archbishop assembled but only morally, in virtue of its dependence on the
a council at the last mentioned town, in A. D. 1025, judgment. The synod of Dort, which was convened
before which several members of the sect who had in 1618, to consider the points of difference between
been arrested were summoned to appear. Their Calvinism and Arminianism, expressed themselves
doctrines having been examined, the archbishop ad strongly against the views of Cameron, which differed
dressed to them a discourse in refutation of their tenets rather nominally than really from the views of the
and in vindication of the Romish faith. They pro- synod; the latter laying down the principle that God
fessed to be convinced by the prelate's arguments, not only enlightens the understanding, but moves the
and subscribed a recantation with the cross, thus ob- will, whereas the former taught that God enlight-
taining absolution for their heresy. The sect, in- ened the understanding, which thus moved and
stead of being by this means suppressed, continued directed the will. It
directed the will. It is not surprising, therefore,
to maintain its ground for a long period. Towards
Towards that Cameron considered his own doctrines as quite
the end of the eleventh century, a sect of this kind in harmony with those of the Synod of Dort.
once more made its appearance in the diocese of CAMIS, the honoured dead among the Japanese
Cambray and Arras. The most conspicuous person whom they worship as ranking among the gods.
belonging to it was a man of the name of Ramihed, When they burn a dead body, they consider the
who was summoned before the archbishop on the deceased person to whom the body belonged as en-
charge of heresy. On examination, it was found titled to veneration, as having now entered into the
impossible to convict him, and, as a test of his inno- immediate fellowship of the gods, and they believe
cence, he was requested to receive the eucharist. that the souls of all the departed have a direct rela-
This, however, he refused, alleging the clergy of all tion with the living. Very good souls whom the
ranks to be guilty of simony, or of covetousness un- high priest canonizes become Camis or protecting
der some form or other. A charge of this nature geniuses of men. They are believed to attend at
could not fail to rouse the indignation of the clergy, the festivals of the dead; but lest they should prefer
who, without further hesitation, declared Ramihed a to remain in their dwellings, they pretend to compel
heretic, and stirred up against him the fury of an their attendance by throwing stones. The souls of
ignorant and fanatical populace, by whom he was the wicked are imagined to wander through the air
rudely seized and thrust into a small hut, where, writhing in pain and anguish. The souls of very
while he was prostrate on the ground in prayer, they bad men are said to enter into the bodies of foxes, or
applied a torch to the building, and consumed him into those of men whom they render sick and utterly
in the flames. The cruel persecution to which the destroy. According to this strange system of belief
leader of the sect was subjected tended greatly to in- life is mingled with death, Hades with the earth, and
crease its numbers, and to give it such importance the principal ground of fear is that the spirits of the
and permanence, that in the twelfth century the sect dead may return and do injury to the living. It is
was still found in many towns of the district. among the SINTOISTS (which see) that this worship
CAMBRIAN CHURCH. See WALES (CHRIS- of the dead prevails in Japan, and hence the system
TIANITY IN).
has sometimes received the name of the religion of
CAMENÆ, four female divinities belonging to the Camis. To these deified heroes they build tem-
the religion of ancient Italy. They were prophetic ples or MIAS (which see), and offer sacrifices; swear
lymphs, bearing the names respectively of Antevorta, by them, and implore their patronage and assistance
Postvorta, Carmenta, and Ægeria. The Roman | in all important undertakings, hoping to receive
&
CAMISARDS.
435
for
benefit from them in this life, though they have no imbrued their hands in the blood of the peasantry.
such expectation as to the world to come.
But with all this, the Camisards were successful in
CAMISARDS, the name given to the French many engagements, and instead of being destroyed
Protestants in the mountainous district of the Ce- because they resisted, their resistance procured them
vennes, who took up arms in defence of their civil better terms of peace than they would otherwise
and religious liberties in the commencement of the have enjoyed. Indeed, there is reason to think, that
eighteenth century. The struggle which ensued at had they started earlier, and conducted a wise and
that time between the Huguenots and their persecu- vigorous opposition throughout, they might have
tors is generally known by the name of the Cami- procured a favourable pacification, not only for them-
sard war, from the white frocks which the peasants selves, but for the Protestants of France generally.
who were the chief actors wore. Many of the Pro-| Even as it was, they were not overcome. They
testants both in France and other countries were op- gave in, but it was at the persuasions of a Protestant
posed to this military rising on the part of the noble. Their leading chief, Cavallier, though young
Huguenot peasantry. A Synod of the Swiss Church and plebeian, received an important command in the
made a public and solemn remonstrance on the sub- French army, and died holding an honoured place in
ject. But so severe and galling had been the per- the British service; and, at least for a season, which
secution to which the Protestants had been subjected only bad faith interrupted, the Camisards obtained
many years previous, that their long forbearance the great object for which they toiled and sacrificed
is more to be admired than their ultimate resistance freedom of religious worship-a freedom which
to be blamed. The following description of the filled them with joy, and made the country resound
struggle is given by Dr. Lorimer in his . Historical with the voice of psalms. Doubtless, their struggle
Sketch of the Protestant Church of France.'
was not unstained with bloody revenge--but this is
“ The Camisards numbered from 6,000 to 10,000 justly attributable to the dire persecution which they
persons able to carry arms. They were distributed suffered. The oppressor, in the
The oppressor, in the eye of reason, is re-
over the country, in parties of a few hundreds, fami-sponsible for the aroused passion of the oppressed.
liarly acquainted with mountain passes and retreats, | What could be expected of men who knew that cer-
and able, at a small risk to themselves, to inflict tain death awaited them the moment they fell into
serious injury upon their persecutors. They were the hands of their Popish enemies ?—that, in all the
headed, not by captains or pastors regularly edu- considerable towns and villages of the district, the
cated, but by bold untaught young men, who joined gibbet was ever standing ready, and the executioner
the soldier and the preacher in the same person. within call ? What could be expected of men who
Fired with the warmest enthusiasm, some of them knew that their very psalm singing inspired with
guided by prophetic impulse, and accounting them-deadly hatred, and, to use the language of a Roman
selves the commissioned messengers of heaven, the Catholic general employed against then, blistered,
deepest religious feeling mingled with the struggle. not only the ears, but the skins of the (Popish)
'The enemy was repeatedly paralysed before their re- clergy?'-or what peace or toleration could be
ligious fervour; and their moral character corres- looked for from men animated by such a spirit ?
ponded with their religious profession. We are in- What prospect of safety but in resistance? It may
formed that there were no quarrels nor slanderings be added, that so righteous did both England and
among them, that oaths and obscenity were un- Holland account the struggle of the Camisards, that
known, that goods were held in common, and that steps were taken to assist them, though the good in-
they addressed their chief as brother. In short, they tention was not rendered effectual.”
discovered high moral propriety and the greatest The name of Camisards has also been given to a
brotherly love. So deep and general was the enthu- number of fanatical enthusiasts who arose among
the
siasm, that women-wives and daughters-gladly Protestants of Dauphiny towards the end of the
bore a part in the warfare, and astonished even their seventeenth century. They are said to have made
enemies with deeds of surpassing valour; and se- their appearance in A. D. 1688, to the amount of
verely were they tried. This civil war of the moun- five or six hundred of both sexes, who gave them-
tains lasted for four successive years, by day and by selves out to be prophets, inspired as they declared
night, in summer and amid the snows and storms of by the Holy Ghost. The most exaggerated accounts
winter. Large districts of many square miles were of these pretended prophets have been given by M.
laid waste with fire and sword by the Popish troops. Gregoire and other Romish writers. About 1709 a
In one case 166, in another 466, hamlets and vil body of these men came over to England, where
lages were devastated at once, and the horrors of they succeeded in collecting around them a consi-
winter were added to those of conflagration. The derable number of followers. They proclaimed the
worst banditti were let loose against the peasants. near approach of the kingdom of God, the happy
Proved felons were preferred to them, and the Court times of the church, and the millennial state. They
and Popish Bishop, instead of showing any commis- are actually said to have predicted, but on what
eration, applauded the most atrocious proceedings; grounds we are not told, that these glorious events
nay, the Pope granted the pardon of sin to all who would take place within three years of the time of
436
CAMPANA CANDLEMAS-DAY.
ed;
their prediction. They are alleged to have pretended bell-ringers in churches from the seventh century and
to possess the gift of tongues, the power of working onwards. The usual business of these officers was to
miracles, and even of raising the dead. The French ring the bell for public worship.
Protestant ministers in London endeavoured to ex- CAMPITÆ (Lat. Campus, a plaiu), one of the
pose their delusions. One of the most noted of these names applied to the DONATISTS (which see), be-
enthusiasts was a member of the congregation of cause they held their meetings on the plains.
Dr. Calamy, who in consequence preached a series of CANCELLI. See BEMA.
sermons on the subject. This eminent divine, one of CANDIDATI (Lat. Candidus, white), the CATE-
the most distinguished of the nonconforming minis- CHUMENS (which see) of the early Christian church,
ters of his day, witnessed an individual in one of so called because they were accustomed to appear
these fits of so-called inspiration which he thus de- dressed in white on their admission into the church
scribes :-"I went into the room where he sat, by baptism.
walked up to him, and asked him how he did; and, CANDLEMAS-DAY, a festival instituted in
taking him by the hand, lifted it up, when it fell flat | the reign of Justinian in the sixth century. It takes
upon his knees, as it lay before. He took no notice place annually on the 2d of February. The Greeks
of me, nor made me any answer; but I observed the called it Hypantè or Hypapantè, meeting, because
humming noise grow louder and louder by degrees, then Simeon and Anna met the Saviour in the tem-
and the heaving in his breast increased, till it came ple. The Latins call it the feast of St. Simeon, the
up to his throat, as if it would have suffocated him; Presentation of the Lord, and usually Candlemas,
and then he at last began to speak, or, as he would because many candles were then lighted up as had
have it taken, the Spirit spake in him. The speech been done on the Lupercalia, the festival, among
was syllabical, and there was a distinct heave and the ancient Romans, of the ravishment of Proser-
breath between each syllable; but it required atten- pine, whom her mother Ceres searched for with
tion to distinguish the words. When the speech candles. It reminds one also of the feast of Lights
was over, the humming and heaving gradually abat- among the ancient Egyptians, and of the feast of
and I again took him by the hand, and felt his Lanterns among the modern Chinese.
pulse, which moved pretty quick; but I could not Candlemas-day in Rome is one of the most gor-
perceive by his hands any thing like sweating, or geous festivals throughout the year. Sitting in his
more than common heat."
chair of state, the Pope is borne on the shoulders of
Both from the pulpit and the press many warn- eight men into St. Peter's Church, accompanied by
ings were given against these unhappy fanatics, but cardinals, bishops, prelates, and priests. Candles are
they still continued to increase in numbers both in brought to him in immense numbers. They are in-
England and in Scotland for several years. Gra- censed, sprinkled with holy water, and blessed. Then
dually, however, as uniformly happens in all such they are distributed. Each cardinal approaches, re-
cases of public enthusiasm and excitement, the fer- ceives a candle, kisses the Pope's hand, and retires.
vour of both leaders and followers died away, and Each bishop approaches, receives a candle, kisses the
the Camisards disappeared. “ There can be little Pope's knees, and retires. Each inferior functionary
doubt," as Dr. Lorimer judiciously remarks, “ that, on the occasion approaches, receives a candle, kisses
in France, they were one of the spurious fruits of the Pope's foot, and retires. On a sudden an im-
protracted persecution. In such circumstances, mense number of candles are lighted, in the blaze of
many minds get unhinged and excited, and men be- which the Pope is carried round the church, and re-
take themselves to the prophecies of the future as a tires, granting an indulgence of thirty years to all
refuge from the misery of the present. Hence mys- the faithful present. Such is Candlemas at Rome.
ticism, and claims to inspiration, and extravagant The candles are blessed on this festival in the fol-
proceedings of a religious kind, frequently appear in lowing manner in the Romish church. Terce being
persecuting times. The persecutor may justly be ended, the priest, vested in a violet-coloured pluvial,
held responsible for these evils.” In these observa- or without the casule, with ministering attendants si-
tions we fully concur, as affording a satisfactory ex.. milarly dressed, proceeds to bless the candles placed
planation of what Romish writers have often brought before the altar at the Epistle side of it; and there
as a reproach against Protestantism, alleging that standing with his face to the altar, offers up several
such displays of extravagance are its natural fruits. prayers to the effect that the Lord would“ bless and
See FRANCE (PROTESTANT CHURCH OF), HUGUE- sanctify these candles for the uses of men, and the
health of their bodies and souls, whether on land 01
CAMPANÆ, a name used first by Bede in the sea;” and that he would pour forth his “ benediction
seventh century, and employed generally afterwards upon these waxen tapers, and sanctify them with the
to denote the bells used in churches to summon the light of his grace.” “ At the close of the hallowing
people to public worship. The word is supposed to
prayers, the celebrant puts incense into the thurible,
be derived from Campania, a province in Italy, where then sprinkles the candles thrice with holy water, and
bells were first invented. (See next article.)
fumes them thrice with the incense. Then one of
CAMPANARII and CAMPANATORES, the the higher clergy comes up to the altar, and noin
NOTS.
!
CANDLESTICK (GOLDEN).
437
hin the celebrant receives a candle; after which the a part of the prescribed furniture of the tabernacle
celebrant, standing before the altar with his face to of Moses, Solomon, as we are informed, 2 Chron. iv.
the people, distributes the candles ; first to the more 7, made ten, probably after the same pattern, which
dignified ecclesiastic from whom he had himself re- he placed in the Temple, five on the right side of the
ceived it; next to the deacon and subdeacon; then sanctuary, and five on the left. No account is given
to the rest of the clergy one by one in succession; of their height, or of the extent of their branches.
and last of all to the laity. All kneel and kiss the Besides, there is mention made of silver candlesticks
candle and the hand of the celebrant except prelates, designed by David, but how large they were, and
if present. When the celebrant begins the distribu- where they were placed, is nowhere recorded. Ac-
tion of the candles, the choir sing the following An-cording to Josephus, when the second temple was
tiphon, “For a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to destroyed, A. D. 70, its vessels and articles of furni-
be the glory of thy people Israel.” Then follows ture were carried in triumph to Rome, and among
the Canticle, " Now lettest thou thy servant depart these the candlesticks, which were lodged in the
in peace, according to thy word.” Here the Anti- temple built by Vespasian. On the arch of Titus,
phon is repeated, and so on, after each verse of the accordingly, there is represented the form of the
Canticle, to the end. A procession now commences
A procession now commences golden candlestick, as it was carried in triumphal
round the church. The singers walk in front, and procession into the city.
the incense-bearer follows. The taper-bearers, with That the Jewish candlestick, as a part of the fur-
the cross-bearer between them, come next; and then niture both of the tabernacle and temple, had a typi-
the clergy. Those who are on the right side carry cal signification, admits not of a doubt; and, indeed,
their tapers in their right hands, and those who are it is adduced both in the Old Testament and in the
on the left, in their left hands. Then follows the New, with an obviously symbolical meaning. Thus
bishop between two assistant deacons, with a taper we find it presented in the vision of Zechariah, which
in his left hand, and with his right bestowing his is thus described iv. 1—3, " And the angel that
benediction on his flock. They all carry lighted tapers, talked with me came again, and waked me, as a
and the reason assigned for it is, that they represent man that is wakened out of his sleep, and said unto
Jesus Christ, who is the light of the world. During me, What seest thou ? And I said, I have looked,
the procession antiphons are sung, such as the fol- and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl
lowing, “ Make ready thy bed-chamber, O Sion; re- upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and
ceive Christ thy King; embrace Mary who is the seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the
gate of heaven; for she it is that carries the King of top thereof; and two olive trees by it, one upon the
Glory, of new light.” When the procession is fin- right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left
ished, the celebrant and his ministers having taken side thereof." On this vision Professor Bush offers
off the violet-coloured vestments, put on white ones
es the following valuable observations: “ The candle-
The candles are held lighted in their stick seen by the prophet differed from that made
hands during the reading of the Gospel, and at the by Moses by being surmounted by a bowl, out of
elevation of the sacrament to the communion; but if which, as from a reservoir, the oil was conducted
the mass be on a Sunday the candles are not lighted. through golden pipes to each of the lamps; and this
CANDLESTICK (GOLDEN), a part of the furni- bowl was moreover supplied by oil that flowed in a
ture of the Jewish tabernacle. It was placed in the peculiar manner through two branches of two olive-
first apartment over against the table of show-bread trees standing on either side of the candlestick, v.
on the south side. According to the Rabbins, it 11-14. This part of the vision especially attracted
stood five feet from the ground, on a base from which the curiosity and interest of the prophet. “Then
the principal stem rose perpendicularly. On both answered I, and said unto him, What are these
sides of the stem there projected upwards, in a curved two olive-trees upon the right side of the candle-
line, three branches at equal distances, and of the stick and upon the left side thereof? And I an-
same height. These branches were adorned with swered again, and said unto him, What be these two
six flowers like lilies, with as many knobs like olive branches which through the two golden pipes
apples, and little bowls like half almond shells, empty the golden oil out of themselves ? And he an-
placed alternately; and upon each of these branches, swered me and said, Knowest thou not what these
as well as at the top of the stem, there was a golden be? And I said, No, my lord. Then said he, These
lamp, which was lighted every evening, and extin- are the two anointed ones (Heb. sons of oil'), that
guished every morning. Josephus says that only stand by the Lord of the whole earth.' These va-
three of them were kept lighted in the day-time. riations from the Mosaic model are certainly very
The lamps were fed with pure olive-oil, and the care remarkable; still in general significancy we have no
of them was committed to the priests. Not only the doubt the symbol in each case is the same. The
candlestick itself, but the tongs and snuff-dishes, candlestick with its branches and its lighted lamps,
were of pure gold; and the whole apparatus weighed represents the church in its multiplied unity, as a
a talent or 113 lbs. troy weight.
medium for shedding abroad the beams of revealed
In place of one golden candlestick which formed | truth amidst the darkness of a benighted world. But
for mass.
438
CANEPHOROS-CANNIBALS.
is
as the natural liglit of lamps is sustained by oil, so light diffused among all the nations of the world,
spiritual light is sustained by truth. Truth is its illuminating its dark corners with the knowledge of
appropriate and genuine pabulum; and in the ima- truth and salvation.” The light of the candlestick,
gery of the vision before us, the obvious design is then, symbolically denoted the spiritual illumination
to represent the manner in which the churches are which God communicates to his people through his
furnished with the nourishment of truth." That word and ordinances by the effectual operation of
this typical explanation is the true one, we can- the Holy Spirit.
not doubt, since we find the prophetic seer in the CANEPHOROS (Gr. kaneon, a basket, and phero,
Apocalypse using these words, Rev. i. 19, 20,“ Write to carry), the individual among the ancient Greeks,
the things which thou hast seen, and the things particularly at Athens, who carried, in a circular
which are, and the things which shall be hereafter ; | basket, the apparatus used in the act of sacrificing.
the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in It was accounted a highly honourable employment,
my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. and was generally assigned to a virgin, who carried
The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches : the basket on her head to the altar. In the case of
and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are a private individual who wished to offer sacrifice,
the seven churches.” Accordingly, Professor Bush the duty of Canephoros was discharged by his
continues, “Since then a candlestick in general is daughter, or an unmarried female relative. In the
the scriptural symbol of a church, a candlestick with public festivals, on the other hand, such as the Dio-
seven branches must be the symbol of the universal nysia, the office was intrusted to two virgins of the
church, spread abroad through all its numerous par- first Athenian families.
ticular congregations, each one in its allotted sta- CANNIBALS, those who feed on human flesh.
tion, shining through both its members and mini- There are undoubted proofs of such a barbarous and
sters, and giving light to the world. For the number revolting practice having existed among some na-
seven being used by the sacred writers to denote not tions in almost all ages. Homer, Herodotus, Strabo,
merely an indefinite multitude, but totulity and per- Pliny, and various other ancient authors, refer to
fection, the seven branches are doubtless to be under- actual cases in which cannibalism was found to pre-
stood as denoting all the various and dispersed con- vail among nations and tribes of men, which they
gregations of the great spiritual body; while their expressly name. Homer mentions the Cyclops and
all proceeding from one shaft plainly implies, that Lestrygones, and Herodotus the Scythians and the
all those congregations are united in the one body Massagetæ, as having indulged in the practice of
of the universal church. “In this character,' says eating human flesh. The ancient Britons are even
Stonard, 'the church began to show itself, when the said to have drunk the blood of their enemies, and
children of Israel, grown into a numerous people, made drinking-cups of their skulls. Among the
were first collected and incorporated into a regularly aborigines of America, cannibalism seems to have
formed body of believers in the true God, obeying, been connected with superstitious observances, it
serving, and worshipping him according to his known being accounted pleasing to the Great Spirit that
will ; and yet more conspicuously, when they were they should devour the bodies and drink the blood
planted in the land of Canaan and spread over it, of those whom they had taken captive in war. The
presenting to view many congregations of religious custom is said to have prevailed in the South Sea
persons, spiritually united in one general community. islands, in New Zealand, and New Caledonia, when
The unity thereof was sufficiently guarded by the these islands were first discovered. The Romish
unity of the tabernacle, and afterwards of the tem- missionaries allege, that cannibals are to be found
ple in the place which God had chosen to put his in the interior of Africa, and even some parts of
name there.' At the same time, there were doubt- Asia. The Battas, a tribe of people in the island of
less many synagogues scattered over the whole Sumatra, are said by Mr. Marsden to practise this
country, somewhat in the nature of our parish horrible custom “as a species of ceremony; as a
churches, wherein the several congregations met to mode of showing their detestation of crimes by an
celebrate Divine worship and receive religious in- ignominious punishment, and as a horrid indication
struction. The Jewish church still more completely of revenge and insult to their unfortunate enemies.
answered to this symbol, on the return from the Ba- The objects of this barbarous repast are the prisoners
bylonian captivity, when in almost all cities, towns, taken in war, and offenders convicted and condemned
and populous villages, synagogues were erected, and for capital crimes.” The same barbarous practice is
numerous congregations assembled, professing the mentioned by the Wesleyan missionaries as recently
belief, service, and worship of the true God, read- followed in the Feejee islands. In a work entitledi
ing, teaching, preaching, and hearing his holy word; • Modern India,' published a few years ago, the all,
and that not within the narrow bounds of Palestine thor, Dr. Spry, who was connected with the Bengal
only, but through almost every part of the civilized medical staff, describes a tribe of cannibals found in
world. But doubtless the real, proper, perfect an- the neighbourhood of Chittagong, which is the grand
titype of the candlestick is to be found in the Chris-depot established for the purpose of taming and rear-
tian church, when the gospel was published, and its | ing the Company's elephants. The narrative of Dr.
CANON.
439
man.
1
Spry is as follows: “The pursuit of wild elephants not fewer than parties of ten. One poor man they
in these regions has brought us acquainted with a unfortunately caught while off his guard, and de-
race of cannibals scarcely to be distinguished from | voured him almost before his life blood had con-
the monkeys with which they herd. Were not the gealed in his veins. Attempts have been made to
information relative to these people so strongly au- subdue and civilize these people, and one of their
thenticated as to leave no doubt upon the minds of head men was won over, and employed by Major
those who desire to make inquiries upon the subject, Gairdner at the elephant depôt, but he could not be
the reader might justly refuse to credit the existence | induced to relinquish his old habits. In a short
of a set of savages, scarcely worthy of the name of time he was detected in the commission of a murder,
The Kookees, as these brutal wretches and was executed by the civil authorities of Chit-
are called, have, according to the account afforded tagong. When the tidings of this man's fate reached
me by Major Gairdner, protuberant bellies : they the ears of his former associates, they became
are low in stature, with set features, and muscular greatly incensed, and for a long time afterwards ex-
limbs. They speak a dialect peculiar to themselves, erted themselves, happily in vain, to obtain posses-
and build their villages on the boughs of the forest sion of the person of the superintendent, who had
trees. They do not appear to have any settled frequently occasion to cross their path in the execu-
abiding place, but wander in hierds from one wilder- tion of liis duty. These people, strange as it may
ness to another. When a site favourable to their appear, are living within 150 miles of Calcutta, the
purpose has been found, the whole community im- metropolis of British India and the seat of govern-
mediately set to work to collect bamboos and ment, and yet their existence even is scarcely known
branches of trees, which are afterwards fashioned by the people who are not in authority—compara-
into platforms, and placed across the lofty boughs of tively little information from the woods and jungles
the different trees. On this foundation the rude of the savage portions of Bengal finding its way to
grass superstructure is raised which forms the hut. the Calcutta newspapers. The existence of canni-
When these sheds are completed, and every family bals in India is a fact only recently established, and
provided with a habitation, the women and children many were of opinion that the races were extinct; it
are taken into their aerial abodes. The men then has now, however, been proved beyond all question,
lop off all the branches within reach of the ground, that the Kookees, who infest the blue mountains of
and having constructed for themselves a rough lad-Chittagong, and the Goands, inhabiting the hill
der of bamboos, they ascend the trees by means of forests of Nagpore, both feed upon human flesh.
this rude staircase, drawing it up after them to pre- There is this distinction in favour of the latter, that
vent the intrusion of strangers, and a necessary pre- they partake of it only occasionally, and in compliance
caution against the encroachments of their four-footed with a religious custom-while the Kookees delight
companions of the forest. In this manner they re- and banquet on the horrid repast.”
pose, floating in the branches, and cradled by the Many exaggerated accounts have no doubt been
wind, partaking more of the savage ferocity of brutes given by various travellers on the subject of canni-
than the milder charities of man.
balism ; and stories of the most disgusting character
"To persons who have travelled much in India, have been told of the ferocity of savage tribes, who
the mere circumstance of a wliole tribe of natives are in the habit of killing and eating their enemies,
choosing to take up their permanent habitations in from no other feeling than a voracious desire for
the trees would not excite much surprise, since the human flesh. Lopez and Merolla, who visited Congo,
watchmen, who are employed in the charge of mango on the west coast of Africa, in the sixteenth century,
groves, or other valuable fruit cultivations, often actually report, that among the savage tribes in that
form a sort of nest on the branches of some neigh- quarter, human flesh was not only eaten but openly
bouring trees, a small hut, or rather shed, just suffi- sold in the markets, and that the subjects offered
cient to shield the body from the inclemency of the themselves to the sovereign for the gratification of
weather, being raised upon a platform resting on his palate.
the boughs. The Kookees, therefore, in this par- CANON, a deity worshipped in Japan, said by
ticular only, differ from more civilized natives, forced some to be the son of AMIDAS (which see), and to
by necessity upon expedients of the kind, by living preside over the waters and the fish. He is the
constantly in trees; in other respects there is for- creator of the sun and the moon. This idol is re-
tunately no similarity, even to the most degraded presented with four arms like his father, is swallowed
beings of the human race. They openly boast of up by a fish as far as his middle, and is crowned
their feats of cannibalism, showing, with the strongest with flowers
. He has a sceptre in one hand, a flower
expressions of satisfaction, the bones and residue of in another, a ring in a third, while the fourth is
their fellow-creatures who have fallen a prey to closed, and the arm extended. Canon is sometimes
their horrible appetites. So intent are they in their represented, as for example in the temple of a thou-
search after human flesh, that the superintendent sand idols, with seven heads upon his breast, and
was always obliged to send out the men employed in thirty hands all armed with arrows.
There are
hunting the elephants armed with muskets, and in thirty-three principal pagodas, which are peculiarly
440
CANON-CANONESSES.
consecrated to the god Quamwon or Canon. It is · Bible, Missal, and Breviary,' “The name secrei
regarded by some of the Japanese as a solemn reli- given to certain prayers in every mass, whispers that
gious duty to go on pilgrimage to each of these pa- there was a time when the church did not wrap up
godas in succession. These devotees, as they pass all her service in the secrecy of a dead language-
along from temple to temple, sing a hymn in honour when secrecy was the exception, not the rule. In
of their god. They are dressed in white, and wear the ordinary of the mass the priest is directed to turn
about their necks a list of the several temples of to the people, and, in a voice slightly raised, to say
Canon which they are still to visit.
to them, Pray, brethren, that mine and your sacri-
CANON (Gr. a rule), a catalogue in the early fice may be acceptable to God the Father Almighty,'
Christian Church of the ecclesiastical office-bearers indicating the time when Divine service was equally
of any particular church.
intelligible to all. In the Canon of the Mass we
CANON OF THE MASS, the fixed and inva- have a prayer offered up after consecration, when
riable part of the mass of the Roman church, in the elements are supposed to have become Christ
which consecration is made. It is sometimes called himself, beseeching Almighty God to command that
the action or secret, that part of the mass-prayers the elements be carried up by the hands of angels to
which Romanists call “ the very sum and heart, as heaven; the idea of angels conveying Christ to hea-
it were, of the Divine sacrifice." It is what Trac- ven betraying its antiquity, at least, that it preceded
tarians call the Liturgy of St. Peter. But we learn the present sacramental theory of Rome, and stand-
from Roman Catholic authors themselves, that the ing in curious contradiction to the prayer in the same
Canon of the Mass is the work not of one, but of Canon, said to have been inserted by Pope Inno-
several persons. Pope Innocent III. and Durandus cent III., entreating that it may 'adhere to his
after him, say, “That the secret which, according to bowels.' These, and many such internal evidences
others, is called the Canon, and the action, was not discover the successive growths of the mass from
composed all at once by one person, but gradually times and sentiments the most pure, to superstitions
by many persons, is evident from this among other the most gross.
the most gross. From Bishop Ambrose have been
proofs, that the commemoration of the saints is re- borrowed prayers and hymns which the Church of
peated thrice in it, for in the second commemoration Christ may use with edification. Then was added
those primitive saints are supplied who seemed want- the Nicene Creed to declare the orthodox faith as to
ing in the first.” The revisal and enlargement of the person of Christ. In the sixth century, Gre-
the Canon, however, is chiefly the work of Gre- gory the Great added the Lord's Prayer to the mass
gory the Great, and some authors, for example, as a fixed part of it, and seems to have first con-
Mosheim, go so far as to term him its author. ceived the idea of giving the churches a common
Notwithstanding, however, the alterations which liturgy. This he may have done to correct abuses
were introduced into the Canon by Gregory, all the which had crept in, as well as from a desire to ex-
Ritualists testify that it has received many other tend the influence of the Roman See, whose supre-
additions and interpolations since Gregory's time. macy was yet unacknowledged. To Gregory are
By the arrangements of the Romish Rubric, the ascribed many little versicles, such as repetitions of
whole of the Canon must be muttered, with the ex- 'Lord, have mercy'Christ, have mercy'—and the
ception of a word or two, here and there, which are insertion of the Litany which the English Church
to be said aloud. The reasons alleged for this se- has so well reformed, and which, as adopted into her
crecy are various. Thus Innocent III. explains the church service, forms perhaps the most beautiful
matter : “The Canon is celebrated in a secret voice, part of her public devotions. To Gregory, also, are
lest the holy words should become common ; for it is ascribed the composition and arrangements of those
reported, that when of old the Canon used to be re- chaunts that still bear his name. But whatever ef-
cited publicly, and in a loud voice, almost all came to forts this energetic pontiff made for establishing
know it by means of that usage, and used to chant it liturgical uniformity, it is certain he never attained
in the public places and streets; whence, when cer- it, even in Italy. The liturgy, called the Ambrosian,
tain shepherds were once reciting it in the field, and was used in the diocese of Milan down to a recent
liad placed their loaf upon a stone, the bread, at the period, if not occasionally still used in its celebrated
utterance of the words, was turned into flesh, and cathedral. The French Church had its Gallican,
they themselves, by a Divine judgment, were struck and in Spain the Gothic liturgy was received as
with fire from heaven. On which account the holy canonical until the eleventh century. It was not
Fathers agreed that those words should be uttered until after the Council of Trent that the liturgy of
in silence, forbidding, under anathema, that they St. Peter' was imposed even on all the Roman ec-
should be uttered by any but priests over the altar, clesiastical world, and that council was the first
and in the mass, and in their sacred vestments." that declared, that if any one should say that the
From internal evidence alone we are forced to the mass should be celebrated in the vulgar tongue, let
conclusion, that the Canon of the Mass is the work him be accursed.'”
not only of various hands, but of various ages. On CANON OF SCRIPTURE. See BIBLE.
this subject, Mr. Lewis judiciously remarks, in his CANONESSES, an order of religious females, dis-
:
CANONICÆ-CANONICAL LIFE.
441
i
tinct from nuns, which was established by Lewis the of the Eastern churches they had come to be already
Meek in the ninth century, and placed on the same observed. The hours of prayer came to be seven,
footing and under the same rule as the order of after the example of the Psalmist David, “Seven
CANONS (which see). In the twelfth century they
In the twelfth century they times a-day do I praise thee," and to afford direction
embraced the rule of St. Augustine, and were accord in the various services of the day, a regular form of
ingly called Regular Canonesses of St. Augustine. devotion was drawn up. See next article.
CANONICÆ, virgins in the early Christian CANONICAL HOURS, one of the offices of the
church who dedicated themselves to Christ, and Church of Rome contained in the BREVIARY (which
were called Canonical Virgins, from being enrolled see), and called, by way of distinction, the church
in the CANON (which see), or books of the church. office. It is a form of prayer and instruction com-
CANONICAL, that which is done in accordance bined, consisting, for the special guidance of the
with the canons of the church. See CANONS (ECCLE- | clergy and the religious of both sexes, of the psalms,
SIASTICAL).
lessons, hymns, prayers, anthems, and versicles, se-
CANONICAL HOURS. These, in the Church parated into different portions, and to be said at the
of Rome, begin with vespers or evening prayer, different hours of the day, which are held to be ca-
about six o'clock or sunset. Then succeeds com- nanical hours. (See preceding article.) The church
pline, and at midnight the three nocturns or matins. expressly obliges every clergyman in higher orders,
Lauds are appointed for cock-crowing, or before break and every one who possesses an ecclesiastical bene-
of day; at six o'clock or sunrise, prime should be re- fice, as well as the religious of both sexes, to recite
cited, and terce, sext, and none, every third hour after- it every day, in private, at least, if they cannot at-
wards. Under the Jewish economy, the only cano- tend the choir, or are not obliged to do so. The
nical hours we read of are those of the morning and the canonical hours of prayer are still regularly observed
evening sacrifice, at the third and the ninth hour, or by many religious orders, but not so regularly by the
nine o'clock in the morning and three o'clock in the secular clergy, even in the choir. When the office
afternoon of our time. The prophet Daniel speaks is recited in private, it is often held to be quite suffi-
of praying to God at morning, noon, and night. In cient if the whole be gone through in the course of
apparent accordance with the example of the pro- the twenty-four hours. The omission is held as a
phet, Tertullian mentions the third, sixth, and ninth mortal sin, unless for good and sufficient cause. Be-
hours of prayer; and these hours are recommended sides, all who are in possession of benefices, forfeit
to Christians by Cyprian, as suitable hours for them by omission of this duty in reciting the ca-
prayer, without the slightest hint that the church nonical hours. It is related of Luther, that having,
had laid down any rule upon the subject. Cassian while a monk, for many days through study neglect-
informs us that the monks of Egypt, with whom the ed the recitation of the canonical hours, in compli-
monastic life commenced, never observed any other ance with the Pope's decree, and, to satisfy his own
canonical hours for public devotion, but only morn- conscience, he actually shut himself up in his closet,
ing and evening early before day. Not long after, and recited what he had omitted with such puncti-
the monks of Mesopotamia and Palestine began to lious exactness and with such severe attention and
meet publicly at the third, sixth, and ninth hours abstinence, as brought on a total want of sleep for
for psalm-singing and devotion. The compline, or five weeks, and almost produced symptoms of a wea-
bed-time service, was not known in the ancient kened intellect.
church as distinct from the evening service. Those CANONICAL LETTERS. These, also called
additional canonical hours, which are now observed Letters Dimissory, were granted in the early Christian
by the Roman Catholic Church, were gradually in- church to the country clergy who wished to remove
troduced from the practices of the Eastern monks, from one diocese to another. The council of An-
there being in the three first centuries no other tioch forbade country presbyters granting such let-
hours of public prayer but the morning and evening. ters, but the chorepiscopi were allowed to give them.
Chrysostom also frequently mentions the daily ser- No clergyman was allowed to remove from his own
vice in the church morning and evening. When the church or diocese, without canonical letters from the
writers of the fourth century speak of six or seveni bishop of the diocese to which he belonged. These
hours of prayer, their remarks exclusively apply to canonical or dimissory letters might be either granted
the practice of the monks, not of the whole body of or refused at the will of the bishop.
the church. Thus Chrysostom, while he never ad- CANONICAL LIFE, the mode of life pursued
verts to more than three public assemblies in the by those of the ancient clergy of the Christian
church, tells us, in describing the monks, that they church who lived in community. It held a kind of
had their midnight hymns, their morning prayers, intermediate place between the monastic and the
their third, and sixth, and ninth hours, and, last of clerical style of living. The canonical life of the
all
, their evening prayers. As the author of the clergy seems to have owed its origin to Chrodegang,
Constitutions, however, who lived in the beginning of bishop of Mentz, about the middle of the eighth cen-
the fourth century, gives directions as to these vari- tury." He directed that the Benedictine rule should
ous hours of prayer, it is not unlikely that in some be the model after which the union among them
T.
2 p *
1
442
CANONICAL OBEDIENCE (OATH OF)–CANONIZATION.
should be formed. The chief point in which they | person, with the view of testing his qualifications for
differed from the mendicant orders was the posses- the higher rank which is claimed for him. A secret
sion of property. “They lived together," says Ne- consistory is accordingly, in the first instance, sum-
ander, “ in one house; sat together at one table ; a moned, at which the petition in favour of the pro-
portion of meat and drink was measured to each, ac- posed saint is taken into consideration, and appoint-
cording to a prescribed rule; at the canonical hours ed to be examined by three auditors of the Rota,
they assembled to join in prayer and song; meetings and the cardinals are directed to revise all the instru-
of all the members were held at fixed times; and, in ments relating thereto. A second private meeting
these assemblies, passages of Scripture, with the rule is held, at which the cardinals make their report.
of the order, were read, and those who had broken it If the report be favourable, a public meeting of the
were rebuked.” This new mode of living was much consistory is held, at which the cardinals pay their
admired, and was received, with some few alterations, adoration to his 'Holiness, and, immediately there-
at the council of Aix-la-Chapelle, A. D. 816, as the after, a long eulogium is pronounced upon the virtues,
general rule of the French church. This alteration miracles, and high qualifications of the proposed
in the life of the clergy, as long as it continued to be saint. A semi-public consistory is now held, at
observed, exercised a most beneficial influence; but, which the Pope attends in his mitre and pluvial.
as the rule came to be relaxed, corruption crept in, The votes of the prelates are taken for or against the
and at length it fell into disuse. See CANONS (OR- canonization, and, as soon as it is resolved upon by
DER OF).
a plurality of voices, the Pope intimates the day ap-
CANONICAL OBEDIENCE (OATH OF), an pointed for the ceremony.
oath which is administered to every clergyman of the On the canonization day, the Pope officiates in a
Church of England on being licensed to a curacy or white dress, and the cardinals are habited in the
instituted to a benefice, in which he swears to give same colour. St. Peter's church at Rome is hung
obedience to the bishop of the diocese in which his with rich tapestry, on which appear, embroidered
cure or benefice is situated.
with gold or silver, the arms of his Holiness, or the
CANONICAL PENSIONS, annuities granted arms of that prince or state which may have made
in the ancient Christian church to those who had application for the canonization. The church is
spent the greatest part of their lives in the service of splendidly illuminated with wax tapers, and a mag-
the church, and desired to be disburdened of their nificent throne erected for the Pope. A gorgeous
office on account of age and infirmity. It was procession marches to St. Peter's with colours flying.
granted out of the revenues of the church, but not The ceremony, as it took place at the canonization
without the authority or approbation of the synod. of four Italian saints in May 1712, is thus detailed
CANONIZATION, a ceremony in the Romish by Picart: "As soon as his Holiness had quitted
Church by which persons deceased are canonized, or his taper and mitre, he went and prostrated himself
raised to the rank of saints. It follows upon the before the holy sacrament, in the chapel of the holy
process of BEATIFICATION (which see). The earli- Trinity. The ecclesiastical senate followed his pious
est canonization by the Popes of which we have au- example. His Holiness then taking back the taper
thentic records, is that of Ulrich, bishop of Augsburg, and mitre, returned to his chair, and was carried to
by John XV. in A. D. 995. Yet bishops, metropo- the altar of the apostles. There he gave the taper
litans, and provincial councils were concerned in to his cup-bearer (who held it in his hand during the
such acts for more than a century after this. And whole ceremony), knelt upon his seat, and prayed for
it was not till the pontificate of Alexander III. in the some considerable time ; after which he bestowed
twelfth century, that the Popes claimed the exclusive new benedictions on the congregation, went up to his
power of adding new saints to the calendar. This
throne to perform the function of the vicar of Jesus
was effected in a council held at Rome, A. D. 1179, Christ, and there received the adoration of the sa-
and, ever since, the power of canonization has been cred college. After this the most ancient of the
considered as vested solely in His Holiness.
cardinal-bishops went up to the pontifical throne,
The process of canonization is carried forward and placed himself on the right, but so that his facə
with great deliberation. " As soon after the beatifi- was towards the left. The cardinal, who was de-
cation,” to use the words of Cardinal Wiseman, " as puted to demand the canonization, moved forwards
there is reason to believe that additional miracles to the steps of the throne, having the cardinal-legate
have been wrought by the servant of God, the postu- of Bologna on his left-hand, and a consistorial-advo-
lators humbly petition the Congregation of Rites to cate on his right; the master of the ceremonies,
obtain the signing of the commission for resuming who attended the cardinal-postulant, being on the
the cause, and the expediting of fresh remissorials to legate's left. They first bowed to the altar and
the same or other delegates, instructing them to re- his Holiness; then the cardinal-postulant rose, and
ceive evidence of the miracles reported to have taken the advocate, addressing himself in his eminency's
place.” Two miracles are required before beatifica- name to the holy Father, begged that he would be
lion, and two more before canonization. The Pope, graciously pleased to order the four Beati to be en-
on being applied to, resumes the case of the beatified | rolled amongst the saints of the Lord. No sooner
CANONRY_CANONS (BOOK OF)..
443
had he spoken, but one of the gentlemen of the matin service in monasteries, but not often in parish
Pope's bed-chamber, secretary of his briefs, stand- churches.
ing up, resumed the discourse, and made a short CANONRY, the office held by the CANONS OF A
eulogium on the merit and virtues of the four Beati, CATHEDRAL (which see) in England. By the Ac
who were all natives of Italy, and had immortalized 3d and 4th Vict., the canonries are reduced to one
themselves by their religious achievements.
hundred and thirty-four.
“The gentleman of the bed-chamber closed his CANONS, a name given to the clergy in the pri-
harangue with an exhortation to the assembly to beg mitive Christian church, for which two reasons are
the light of God's Spirit upon so delicate an occa- assigned ; one, that they were subject to the CANONS
sion. Then his Holiness rose off his throne, and all ECCLESIASTICAL (which see), or general rules of the
the clergy knelt; two musicians of the chapel, church; the other, that they were usually registered
dressed in their surplices, and kneeling, sung the in the canon, or list of the authorized office-bearers.
litanies of the saints, after which the cardinal-pos- Whatever may be its origin, the appellation is often
tulant for the canonization repeated his instances; found in the ancient councils. At an after period, it
and this was succeeded by a prayer to Almighty came to be applied to all who were entitled to re-
God to implore the assistance of his Holy Spirit, ceive maintenance from the church, such as monks,
and then the holy Father sung the Veni Creator virgins, and widows, all of whom were enrolled as
Spiritus, which is a hymn addressed to the third Per- canonici, or canons. Sometimes the word was used
son in the Sacred Trinity. The two musicians sung to denote a tax raised for ecclesiastical, and even for
the verse which begins with Emitte Spiritum, and the civil purposes. Thus Athanasius, when he com-
Pontiff called upon the Holy Ghost, whilst they plains of having been unjustly accused of imposing a
continued standing with tapers in their hands before tax upon Egypt for the support of the church of
the steps of the throne. A third and last request, | Alexandria, calls the tax a canon ; and in the Theo-
made in the same manner as the former, succeeded dosian code, the word is employed to denote the
this invocation. Then the secretary of the briefs | tribute of corn that was exacted from the African
resumed the discourse, and declared it was time to provinces for the use of the city of Rome. The
acquiesce with God's commands. "His Holiness,! | APOSTLES' CREED (which see) was also called canon,
continued he, 'is going to make a decree for raising the rule, as being the recognized standard or rule of
Pius V., Andrew D'Avellino, Felix de Cantalice, faith..
and Catharin de Bologna to the rank of saints, to CANONS (APOSTOLIC). See APOSTOLICAL CA-
the glory of God, and the honour of the Catholic
Church, in order that their names may be called up- CANONS (BOOK OF), rules framed for the govern-
on for ages to come. After these words, the secre- ment of the Scottish Church, by order of Charles
tary withdrawing, the cardinals stood up, and I., and designed to establish Episcopacy, and sub-
Christ's vicar, by the assistance of the Holy Ghost, vert the Presbyterian constitution of the church. In
pronounced the decree of canonization, thereby 1634 it was agreed upon, that a Book of Canons and
commanding, that from thenceforth those Beati a Liturgy should be framed in Scotland, and com-
should be looked upon as saints by the Catholic municated to Laud, Juxon, and Wren for their re-
Church, and their festival be solemnized upon their vision and approval. In April of the following year,
respective birth-days. The apostolic prothonotaries a meeting of the prelates was held in Edinburgh, to
and notaries immediately drew up an act of this see what progress had been made in the framing of the
canonization, and Te Deum was sung by way of Book of Canons. After the Scottish prelates had
thanksgiving."
prepared the document, it was sent to Laud, by whom
The idea of canonization is evidently borrowed it was revised and amended. This Book of Canons
from the ancient heathens, who deified heroes and was confirmed under the great seal, by letters patent
great men after their death. (See APOTHEOSIS.) | bearing date 230 May 1635. Dr. Hetherington, in
It was a ceremony unknown before the end of the his · History of the Church of Scotland,' gives the
tenth century, even in the Romish Church. The following brief digest of the canons : 6 The first de-
power of canonization in the Greek Church is vested crees excommunication against all who should deny
in the patriarchs and bishops in convocation, who, the King's supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs ; the
while they are cautious in conferring the honour next pronounces the same penalty against all who
only upon those who have been distinguished for should dare to say that the worship contained in the
their virtues and piety, havé, nevertheless
, so swelled Book of Common Prayer (a book not yet published,
the calendar of saints, that they are more numerous nor even written) was superstitious or contrary to
than the days of the year. On each of their festi- the Scriptures. The same penalty was decreed against
val days, and from their number, two of them are all who should assert that the prelatic form of
sometimes assigned one day, masses are said in church government was unscriptural. Every minis-
honour of them, and the history of their life and ter was enjoined to adhere to the forms prescribed
miracles is publicly read. The lives of the saints in the Liturgy, on pain of deposition; which Li-
are in four volumes folio. They are read at the turgy, as before stated, was not yet in existence. It
NONS.
444
CANONS OF A CATHEDRAL.
was decreed also, that no General Assembly should scriptions of the Gospel were obligatory only upon
be called, but by the King; that no ecclesiastical monks and clergymen, is confuted; and then the dis-
business should even be discussed, except in the pre- tinction between monks and canons is defined. The
latic courts; that no private meetings, which were latter may wear linen, eat flesh, hold private property,
termed conventicles, and included Presbyteries and and enjoy that of the church; the former cannot.
Kirk-Sessions, should be held by the ministers for Yet equally with the monks they should avoid all
expounding the Scriptures; and that on no occasion vices and practise virtue. They should live in well
in public should a minister pour out the fulness of secured cloisters containing dormitories, refectories,
his heart to God in extemporary prayer. Many mi-, and other necessary apartments. The number of canons
nute arrangements were also decreed respecting the in each cloister should be proportioned to the exigen-
ceremonial parts of worship, as fonts for baptism, cies of the church to which it belonged. In their dress
communion-altars, ornaments in church, modes of they should avoid the extravagances of ornament and
dispensing the communion elements, the vestments finery, and likewise uncleanliness and negligence,
of the clerical order, and all such other idle mum- &c. The second part of the rule relates to canon-
meries as the busy brain of Laud could devise, or the esses, and contains twenty-eight articles. The first
fantastic fooleries of Rome suggest.” Such were six are extracts from the fathers, and relate to the
some of the principal regulations framed for the duties of ladies who consecrate themselves to God.
guidance of the Scottish clergy by the royal fiat. They may have private property, yet must commit
The utmost excitement prevailed throughout the the management of it to some kinsman or friend by
country, when the character of the Book of Canons a public act or assignment. They may also have
came to be known. It was looked upon by the waiting-maids, and eat in the refectory and sleep in
people generally as decidedly Popish in its tendency, the dormitory. They are to be veiled and to dress
and designed to pave the way for the introduction, in black. Their business must be prayer, reading,
not of Prelacy only, but ultimately of Popery itself. and labouring with their hands; and especially they
Though Episcopacy had been established in Scot- must fabricate their own clothing from the flax and
land for thirty years, the publication of the Book of wool given to them.”
Canons, instead of reconciling the Scottish nation to From this time numerous convents of canons and
that mode of ecclesiastical government, only tended canonesses were founded in every part of Europe,
to increase the antipathy with which it was regarded and endowed with ample revenues by pious indivi-
CANONS (ORDER OF). In the eighth century duals. This order, however, in process of time de-
the great corruption of the whole sacred order gave generated like the others. The same dissoluteness
rise to a new kind of priests, who held an interme- of morals, which in the eleventh century pervaded
diate place between the monks or regular clergy, the whole sacred order, infected also the monastic
and the secular priests. These followed partly the establishments of the canons. It was deemed neces-
discipline and mode of life of monks; that is, they sary by Pope Nicolaus II., in the council at Rome
dwelt together, dined at a common table, and joined A. D. 1059, to repeal the old rule for canons adopted
together in united prayer at certain hours; yet they in the council of Aix-la-Chapelle, and to substitute
took no vows upon them like the monks, and they another in its room, establishing a better and stricter
performed ministerial functions in certain churches. system of discipline. By this means nearly all these
They were at first called by the name of the Lord's associations underwent a considerable reform. Some
Brethren; but afterwards took the name of Canons. of them, however, did not consent to adopt the new
The institution of this order is commonly attributed rule in all its extent. Hence arose the distinction
to Chrodegang, bishop of Metz, who about A. D. 750 between regular and secular canons; the former
subjected the priests of his church to a somewhat name being applied to those who had all things in
monastic mode of living, requiring them to live in common, without any exception whatever, while the
community, to sing hymns to God at certain hours, latter was given to those who had nothing in com-
and also to observe other rites, and by his exam- mon but their dwelling and table.
ple, first the Franks, and then the Italians, the Eng- CANONS OF A CATHEDRAL, also called PRE-
lish, and the Germans were led to found convents of BENDARIES, the former being a name of office and
In the ninth century, Lewis the Meek ministry, and the latter having reference to a pre-
cherished this order with great partiality, and ex- benda, which denoted an endowment or revenue.
tended it through all the provinces of his empire. At the period of the Conquest, there were in Eug-
He also added to it an order of Canonesses, which land nineteen bishoprics, not including the bishopric
had been unknown in the Christian world before that of the Isle of Man, which has no Cathedral Chapter,
time. He summoned a council at Aix-la-Chapelle and all of these were associated with bodies of secu-
A. D. 817, at which the rule of Chrodegang was lar canons, except two, Winchester and Worcester,
altered, and new rules were framed, which were Where Benedictine monks had been substituted in
issued by Lewis as his own ordinance. The follow- their places. The same substitution appears to
ing abstract by Schlegel contains its most essential have been gradually effected in other churches,
features: "First the prevailing error, that the pre-namely Canterbury, Durham, and Rochester, but the
canons.
CANONS ECCLESIASTICAL.
445
secular clergy recovered their ground, and kept it striction as to distance or value. The residence of
till the time of Archbishop Lanfranc after the Con- every Canon is fixed at three months at least. The
quest. From the Conquest to the Reformation the incomes of the suspended canonries in the new ca-
canons consisted of presbyters, deacons, and sub- thedrals are directed to be paid over to the Ecclesi-
deacons, each prebendal stall being annexed to one of astical Commissioners. Two canonries at West-
these three orders of ministry; and a certain num- minster are annexed to the two parishes of St. Mar-
ber of each order, as the services of the church then garet's and St. John's. The Canons of the Old
required, were enjoined to be always resident toge- Foundation are to be appointed generally by the
ther. It appears to have been a general rule, that a bishops, and no person can take the office of a Canon
certain part of the whole body of canons should be until he has been six years complete in priest's or-
always in residence. The canons had each a pre- ders, except in the case of professorships. Power is
bend, the endowment of which generally consisted given to remove the suspension of a canonry if an
of the tithes of some parish. There was besides a endowment of £200 per annum be provided. The
common property of the church called communa, canonries in the gift of the Crown are confined to
from the revenues of which the several menibers re- the cathedrals of Canterbury, London, Oxford, Wor-
ceived a daily distribution when resident and taking cester, and the collegiate churches of Westminster
their part in the daily offices. The duty of resi- and Windsor; those in the gift of the Lord Chan-
dence, and the emoluments attached to it, were in cellor, to Gloucester, Bristol, Norwich, and Roches-
process of time confined to a portion of the whole ter. The whole number of residentiary canonries,
body of Canons; and the non-residents were com- according to the provisions of 3d and 4th Vict. C.
pelled by statute to pay, each a certain portion, one- 113, is one hundred and thirty-four. The collegiate
fifth, one-sixth, or one-seventh, of the income of his churches of Ripon and Manchester are now made
prebend to the common fund of the church for the Cathedral churches, annexed to newly founded bish-
benefit of the resident Canons. Hence arose the oprics, and to each of them are attached a dean and
title of Canons Residentiary. The Chapter, however, four canons. In the case of Manchester, to each of
was still considered to comprehend all the Canons; the four canonries is annexed one of four rectories
the right of being summoned to Chapter meetings and parishes in Manchester and Salford. A cathe-
and of voting, still remaining as before. But it dral commission was appointed in 1852, which is-
appears that by degrees the small body of resi- sued its report in 1854, and from that report we
dents acquired the chief management of the com- have received much of the information which is
mon property, and enjoyment of the privileges and embodied in this article. See CATHEDRAL, DEAN
revenues of the church. During the period which and CHAPTER.
elapsed between the Reformation in England, and CANONS ECCLESIASTICAL, the rules or laws
the reign of Charles II., the alterations in the rule of laid down by the councils of the Christian church,
residence for Deans and Canons were so extensive and possessing the force of ecclesiastical law. From
as almost to amount to a new constitution. What the time of Constantine, the first Christian Emperor,
had been the exception before, became now the rule. councils began to be convened which drew up
rules
The term of obligatory residence was reduced to and regulations, not only in regard to the doctrine,
ninety, sixty, and even so little as fifty days, and but also the discipline and government of the church.
in many cases the provision for the constant pre- These decrees, as they were called, of the councils
sence of one-third, or one-fourth part of the Canons were collected into three volumes by Ivo, bishop of
appears to have been abandoned. These changes are Chartres in France, about A. D. 1114. This collec-
believed to have been due to Archbishop Laud, who tion of the Decrees was corrected about thirty-five
was appointed to revise the Cathedral statutes. years afterwards by Gratian, a Benedictine monk,
In 1835 William IV. issued a commission for the and published in England in the reign of King Ste-
examination of Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches phen. These Decrees were received by the clergy
in England and Wales, which has led, among other of the Western or Latin Church, but never by those
changes
, to the suspension of a certain number of of the Eastern or Greek church.
canonries, so as to leave generally four in each ca- But the body of canon law includes not only the
thedral, although a few cathedrals retain five or six, Decrees; it also embodies the Decretals or letters of
one or two being attached to archdeaconries or pro- the Popes (see BULL), which have also been collected
fessorships; and Christ Church, Oxford, retains its into three volumes, and commented upon by John
whole number of eight, one attached to an archdea- Andreas, a distinguished canonist in the fourteenth
conry, and four to professorships. The non-resi-
The non-resi- century, in a work well known by the name of the
dentiary canonries in the old foundations are re- Novellæ. These Decrees and Decretals constituted
tained, but without emolument. The bishops of the at one period the whole body of the canon law, but
new cathedrals are authorised to appoint a certain afterwards the decretals collected by Pope John
number of Honorary Canons, to take rank next after XXIII., and commonly called the Extravagants,
the Canons, but without emoluments. The Canons were admitted and placed on a footing with the rest
are allowed to hold each one benefice, without re-
of the canons.
The canon law was introduced into
$46
CANONS MINOR-CANUSIS.
1
civil power.
England, though its authority was never recognized somewhat problematical. Rougemont thinks, that it
to the same extent as in other countries. Some of is highly probable that Canopus, or the jar-god, was
the canons were admitted by the English sovereigns an image of the Spirit of God, producing and pene-
and people, while others were rejected. For a time
For a time trating the world. In the opinion of Jomard, based
the Pope claimed an ecclesiastical jurisdiction inde- upon his researches among the antiquities of Egypt,
pendent of the king, but at the Reformation the the image of Canopus is supposed to represent the
Papal power was completely disowned, and no Bull spherical Nile-cup, and is emblematical of the fact
,
or decree of the Pope could from that time be even that this cup is the mysterious mundane cup, con-
published in England without the permission of the taining the primordial elements of fire and water,
and that being offered to the great god of nature, he
Besides the foreign canons, there were a number is to determine the just proportion of the mixture.
of provincial constitutions passed for the government In reference to Egypt, Heracles is surnamed Cano-
of the English church, which derived their force only | pus or Canobus, the god of the waters; and the
from the royal assent, for from the time of William Canobian and the Heraclean mouths of the Nile are
I. to the Reformation, no canons or constitutions synonymous phrases.
passed by any synod were permitted to be acted CANOPY. See CIBORIUM.
upon without the royal assent. The provincial ca- CANTABRARII, officers among the ancient hea-
nons were collected and arranged by Lyndwood, thens who carried the ensigns and banners of their
Dean of the Arches in the reign of Henry VI. gods in their processions, and games, and festivals.
A general revision of the canons was proposed at CANTHARUS, à cistern of water, which, in the
the Reformation, and the important task was in- ancient Christian churches, was placed in the atrium
trusted to Archbishop Cranmer. The work was or court before the church, that the people might
finished, but as the king died before it was confirmed, wash their hands and face before they entered the
the old canons continued in force till the reign of place of worship. While, by some authors, this cis-
James I., when the clergy being assembled in con- tern is called cantharus, by others it is termed phiala.
vocation A. D. 1603, the king gave them leave by his Among the ancient Romans, the cantharus was a
letters patent to treat, consult, and agree on canons. kind of drinking-cup with handles. This was also
A revised collection of canons was accordingly pre- the name of a cup sacred to BACCHUS (which see).
pared, and being authorized by the king's commis- CANUSIS, an order of monks or secular priests
sion, they were confirmed by act of parliament, and in Japan, who officiate in the mias or temples. They
became part of the law of the land, and continue so are either maintained by the money which had been
to this day, though some of them regulating matters originally, given to found the mia to which they may
of inferior moment, such as the dress of the clergy, happen to belong, or by a pension from the Dairi,
have been allowed to become obsolete.
but their principal support is derived from the vo-
CANONS MINOR, also called VICARS, clergy- | luntary contributions of the devotees. The Canusis
men in England attached to a cathedral under the wear, as a badge of their office, either a white or
dean and chapter. During the period from the yellow robe over their ordinary dress. Their cap,
Conquest to the Reformation, each Canon was bound which is made in the shape of a boat, is tied under
to maintain a vicar skilled in music, to supply his the chin with silken strings. Upon this cap are tas-
place when absent, in the ministrations of the sels with fringes to them, which are longer or shorter
church. This seems to be the origin of the Minor according to the rank of the person who wears them.
Canons. Before the Reformation they were enjoined | Their beards are close shaven, but their hair is very
to keep perpetual residence, and never to be absent long. The superiors, however, wear it curled up
without leave from the dean. In 1835, power was under a piece of black gauze. At each ear is a
given by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, with the large piece of silk, which comes forward over the
sanction of an order in council, to reduce the num- lower part of the face. The order of the Canusis
ber of Minor Canons; in no case more than six, nor depends, with respect to spiritual concerns, on the
less than two; each to have an income of £150; decision of the Dairi, and with regard to temporal
each may hold one benefice, but within six miles of matters, they are subject, like all other ecclesiastics
,
the cathedral. The Minor Canons are in general to the authority of a judge, who bears the title of
constantly resident, and divide the services of the spiritual judge of the temple, and is appointed by
cathedral church between them.
the secular monarch. The superiors of the Canusis
CANONS (WHITE). See PRÆMONSTRATEN- are remarkable for their pride and contempt of the
common people. They are to be seen scattered
CANOPUS, one of the divinities of the ancient throughout all the provinces and cities of the em-
Egyptians, supposed to be the god of water, and re- pire. The leading monks reside at Miaco, but,
presented, as some allege, in the shape of a jar with though invested with great authority and influence
small feet, a thin neck, a swollen body, and round over the people, they are always subject to the im-
back. Jars are frequently seen on the Egyptian perial authority, which punishes ecclesinstical de-
monuments ; but the existence of a jar-god is at best | linquents with death.
SIANS.
i
CAPEROLANS-CAPUCHINS.
447
The Canusis, in their discourses to the people, in former times to regulate the proceedings of the
dwell chiefly on points of morality. They preach clergy of their dioceses.
from a rostrum or pulpit, and alongside of them is CAPITULARIES, the imperial ordinances of the
placed the tutelar idol of the sect, or order to which Franks, which, after the extension of their empire,
they belong, and to this idol the devotees present were distinguished from the national laws. All
their freewill-offerings. On each side of the pulpit royal enactments, particularly in later times, were
there is a lighted lamp suspended from the canopy; called Capitularia or. Capitula, perhaps from their
and a little below it is a desk or pew for the younger consisting of different heads (capita) or chapters.
priests, where some of them sit and others stand. From the intimate connection, or rather confusion,
The preacher wears a hat upon his head, shaped like of the church with the state, these Capitularies fre-
an umbrella, and holds a fan in his hand. Before quently referred to ecclesiastical matters, and were
commencing his sermon, he appears to meditate for passed at assemblies in which bishops took a part.
a little, then rings a small bell by way of enjoining The first collection of Capitularies, which was pub-
silence upon his audience; and on silence being ob- lished in 1545, was edited by Vitus Amerpachius,
tained, he opens a book which lies upon the cushion and was limited to the principal Capitularies issued
before him, containing the moral precepts and fun- by Charlemagne on ecclesiastical and civil affairs.
damental principles of the religion of his sect. Hav- A great collection of the Capitularies of the Frank
ing chosen his text, he delivers his discourse, which kings was afterwards prepared with notes, by Ste-
is usually clear and vigorous in its language, and phen Baluze, and published in two volumes folio, at
strictly methodical in its arrangement. The perora- Paris in 1677, and reprinted at Venice in 1771, and
tion very often consists of a high-flown eulogium a new edition appeared at Paris in 1780.
upon the order to which the preacher belongs. The CAPITULUM, in ecclesiastical writers was em-
audience are called upon by the ringing of the little ployed to denote part of a chapter of the Bible read
bell, to kneel down and say their prayers, sometimes and explained, and afterwards the place where such
before, and sometimes after the sermon. On certain exercises were performed received the name of do-
days set apart for praying for the dead, the Japanese mus capituli, the house of the Capitulum.
priests, as well as monks, sing the Namanda to the CAPNOMANCY (Gr. capnos, smoke, and man-
sound of little bells, for the repose of their deceased teia, divination), a species of divination employed by
friends.
the ancient heathens in their sacrifices. If the
CAPELLÆ. See CHAPELS.
smoke was thin and light, and went straight upwards,
CAPELLANI. See CHAPLAINS.
the omen was favourable; but if the smoke was
CAPEROLANS, a congregation of monks in thick and dark, not rising upwards, but resting like
Italy, in the fifteenth century, who derived their a cloud over the fire, the omen was unfavourable.
name from Pietro Caperole, their founder. The See DIVINATION.
monasteries of this order are found at Brescia, Ber- CAPTA, a surname of MINERVA (which see),
gamo, and Cremona.
worshipped on the Colian hill at Rome.
CAPITOLINS, a term of reproach applied by the CAPUCHE, a cap or hood worn by a particular
NOVATIANS (which see) to the Catholics for re- order of Franciscan friars, hence called CAPUCHINS
ceiving such as went to sacrifice at the Capitol at (see next article). It is sewed to the dress, and
Rome.
hangs usually down the back.
CAPITOLIUM, a small temple which is said to CAPUCHINS, a religious institution of the order
have been erected by Numa on the Esquiline hill, of St. Francis, derived from the capuche which they
and dedicated to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. This wore. It originated with Matthew Bassi, a minor
was the original or old Capitolium, but the appella- Observantine friar of the duchy of Spoleto in Italy,
tion was afterwards given to the temple of Jupiter who asserted, in 1525, that he had a divine call to
Optimus Maximus, which stood on the Tarpeian observe a stricter rule of poverty. He retired, ac-
rock, and was said to have derived its name from a cordingly, to a solitary place, accompanied by other
human head (caput) being found on digging the twelve monks, forming, with the permission of the
foundations of the building. It was begun to be built Pope, Clement VII., a new congregation. They
by Tarquinius Priscus, continued by Servius Tul- were allowed by the Pope the privilege of wearing
lius, and completed by Tarquinius Superbus. It the square capuche, and admitted among them all
was three times burnt down, and as often rebuilt at who would consent to wear the appointed habit.
the public expense. The Capitolium contained three The vows of this order were of the strictest and most
emples within the same peristyle, and under the austere character; and so great was its success, that
same roof; the middle being dedicated to Jupiter the other Franciscans looked upon the Capuchins
Optimus Maximus, with the temple of Minerva on with the bitterest envy and malignity. Thus the
the right, and that of Juno on the left. The term order of the Capuchins commenced A. D. 1527. The
Capitolium was also used to denote other temples rules drawn up for their government by Bassi en-
besides those of Rome.
joined, among other things, that the monks should
CAPITULA, instructions given by the prelates perform divine-service without singing, and that they
448
CAPUT EXTORUM-CARAITES.
should say but one mass a day in their convents. before Christ, because they rejected the traditions of
Hours were arranged for mental prayer morning and the elders, which were believed by the school of Hil-
evening; days of discipline were appointed, and also lel and the Pharisees. · They disowned also the fan-
days of silence. They forbade the monks to hear ciful interpretations of the Cabbala (which see). The
the confessions of seculars, and enjoined them al- Caraites themselves claim a very high antiquity,
ways to travel on foot; they recommended poverty alleging that the genuine succession of the Jewish
in the ornaments of their church, and prohibited church is to be found only with them; and, accord-
in them the use of gold, silver, and silk; the pavi- ingly, they produce a long list of doctors reaching in
lions of the altars were to be of stuff, and the an uninterrupted series as far back as Ezra the
chalices of tin.
scribe. Whether this claim be well-founded or not,
The order of the Capuchins soon spread all over it cannot be denied that the sect has existed for
Italy, and was introduced also into Sicily. It was many centuries. The Rabbinists have been accus-
established in France in 1573, with the consent of tomed to regard them as Sadducees, but their doc-
Pope Gregory XIII. In the course of the following trines are in no sense the same with the tenets of that
century it passed into Spain, and so rapidly has it infidel sect. They believe in the inspiration of the
been diffused over the whole world, that it is one of Scriptures, the resurrection of the dead, and the final
the largest and most widely spread orders in the judgment. They deny the Messiah to be already
Romish church; and besides, it is the order which is come, and reject all calculations as to the time of his
the most respected, and held in the highest repute appearance; yet they say that it is proper that“ even
among the whole of the monastic institutions. Fa-
every day they should receive their salvation by
ther Paul observes, that “the Capuchins preserve Messiah the Son of David.” They differ from the
their reputation in consequence of their poverty; Rabbinists in various ceremonies, in the observance
and that if they should suffer the least change in of their festivals, and are much more strict in their
their institution, they would acquire no immovable observance of the Jewish Sabbath. Their opinions
estates by it, but would lose the alms they now re- differ from the Rabbis as to the sacredness and in-
ceive." There is an order of Capuchin nuns, as dissoluble character of the marriage tie. The prin-
well as monks. These, following the rules of St. cipal difference between the Caraites and the rest of
CLARA (which see), were first established at Naples the Jews is, that they adhere closely to the text of
in 1538, by a pious and devout lady, belonging to a the Scripture, and reject all paraphrases, additions,
noble family of Catalonia in Spain. The monastery
The monastery and glosses of the Rabbis.
was put by the Pope under the government of the The ten fundamental articles of the Caraite creed
Capuchins, and, accordingly, the nuns having adopted are as follows:
the dress of that order, were called Capuchines, and “1. That all material existences, the worlds and
on account of their austerity they received the name all that are in them, are created.
also of “ Nuns of the Passion.” Monasteries of the “2. That the creator of these things is himself
same kind were formed in various places.
uncreated.
CAPUT EXTORUM, the convex upper portion “3. That there is no similitude of him, but that
of the liver in animals, from the appearance of he is in every respect one alone.
which, in the victims slain in sacrifice, the ancient " 4. That Moses our master (peace to his memory)
Roman soothsayers drew their auguries. If that was sent by him.
portion of the animal was sound and healthy, the “5. That with and by Moses he sent us his per-
omen was favourable ; but if unhealthy, the omen fect law.
was unfavourable. If this portion of the liver was “6. That the faithful are bound to know the lari-
wanting, it was a bad sign, but if it was well marked
guage of our law and its exposition, that is, the
and double, it was a good sign. See DIVINATION. scripture and its interpretation.
CAPUTIATI, a semi-political denomination which “7. That the blessed God guided the other pro-
appeared in the twelfth century, deriving their name phets by the prophetic spirit.
from a singular kind of cap which distinguished their “8. That the blessed God will restore the chil-
party. They wore upon their caps a leaden image dren of men to life at the day of judgment.
of the Virgin Mary. Their avowed object was to “9. That the blessed God will render to every
level all distinctions, to abolish magistracy, and to man according to his ways and the fruit of his
remove all subordination among mankind, restoring deeds.
what they considered as primitive liberty and natu- “10. That the blessed God has not rejected his
ral equality. This sect soon disappeared.
people in captivity, even while under his chastise-
CÁRAITES (Heb. Karaim, textualists), a smallments; but it is proper that even every day they
modern sect of the Jews, who avow their attachment should receive their salvation by Messiah the son of
to the text of the Scriptures. They are chiefly found | David."
in the Crimea, Lithuania, and Persia ; at Damascus, One of the most eminent doctors of the Caraite
Constantinople
, and Cairo. The name was originally sect, Caleb Aba, who flourished towards the end of
given to the school of Schammai, about thirty years the fifteenth century, has given a very distinct ac-
.
CARBONARI-CARDINAL.
449
count of the schism between the Caraites and the ference with these sons of Israel, and with their
Rabbinists. He alleges it to have rested on three neighbours, as well as from what is recorded con-
grounds which he thus states :
cerning them, it appears that they hold the Jewish
« First.–The Rabbinists think that many things faith in much purity and simplicity; adhering so
were delivered orally to Moses on mount Sinai, strictly to the letter of the Law, that, as their rabbi
which are not comprehended in the written law; informed us, they allow no fire to be seen in their
that these things were delivered by Moses to Joshua town on the Sabbath, neither for light, warmth, culi-
his disciple, by Joshua to the elders, and by them to nary purposes, nor even for smoking; though it is
their successors from generation to generation : so well known the Talmudists find little difficulty in
that all these things were never written by the hand evading the Levitical prohibition. Their morals are
of Moses, but were transmitted by oral tradition unusually blameless. At Odessa,. where several
only, till a period arrived in which, when the oral | hundreds of them are established as merchants, they
law was in danger of being wholly forgotten, it was enjoy a high character for honesty and general pro-
thought expedient by the men of that age to comınit bity-forming a striking contrast to the Jews of
to writing whatever each individual had received other denominations. In Poland, the records of the
from his predecessor.—But we Caraites believe none police prove that no Karaite has been punished for
of these things; but only those which the blessed an offence against the laws for four centuries; and in
God commanded to him who was faithful in his Gallicia, the Government has exempted them, on ac-
house, even all things that are found written in the count of their good conduct, from the imposts levied
law.
on other Hebrews, conferring on them, at the same
“Secondly.-- The Rabbinists maintain, that those time, all the privileges enjoyed by their Christian
things which are written in the law require exposi- fellow-subjects.
tions to be derived from the Cabbala, which they There is some evidence that the Caraites, though
fabricate according to their own fancy. But we, on opposed to tradition, adopted the use of the Hebrew
the contrary, believe that all scripture brings with it points at a very early period, thus seeming to con-
its own interpretation: and that if in some places it tradict the opinion of those who maintain the com-
is very concise, there are others in which its sense is paratively recent origin of the vowel points.
more fully stated, and that the scripture is to be CARBONARI (Lat. charcoal-men), a modern
considered as addressed to beings endued with under- politico-religious sect in Italy, supposed either to
standing.
have originated from the Freemasons, or to have
“Thirdly. They assert that the law has given been formed in imitation of that institution, meeting
them the power of adding or diminishing, in those in secret societies, and observing certain mystical
things which pertain to the precepts and exhorat- rites and signs. Like the Freemasons they pretended
tions of the law, according as shall appear right to to derive their first principles from the Scriptures,
the wise men of each generation ; eren, they say, applying them, however, chiefly to political purposes.
if those wise men should decree the right hand to be In 1820 the Pope issued a bull of great length
the left, or the left hand to be the right. But this against these Carbonari, containing numerous pas-
we altogether deny."
sages of Sacred Scripture, in which obedience to the
The Caraites differ from the Rabbis also in regard constituted authorities is recommended as a precept
to several of the leading Jewish feasts. They reject of the Divine Law. His Holiness afterwards ob-
the Rabbinical calendar, and celebrate the feast of serves, that Clement XII. in 1738, and Benedict
new moon only when they can observe that lumi- | XIV. in 1751, had condemned and proscribed the
nary. They make use of Talleth ; but have no Me- secret society of Freemasons, of which that of the
zuzzoth or Tephillin, alleging that the passages in Carbonari is only a ramification. Following the
which these things are believed by the Rabbis to be example of these popes, the sovereign pontiff pro-
enjoined, are to be understood not in a literal, but in nounces the same condemnation of these new sec-
a figurative meaning. They have no printed copies taries, fulminating the pains of excommunication
of the Scriptures, and therefore they prize highly the against all who shall become affiliated members of
manuscripts
, and every member of their synagogue the Carbonari, or who shall not immediately with-
is expected to transcribe the whole or the greater draw from the association. Such secret societies,
part of the Law at least once in the course of his however, notwithstanding the anathema of the Pope
life
. Mr. Elliot, in his Travels in the Three Great are still in active operation in various parts of Italy.
Empires of Austria, Russia, and Turkey,' mentions CARDEA (Lat. Cardo, a hinge), a female deity
that they are in possession of Tartar Targums, or among the ancient Romans, who presided over and
versions of the Old Testament in that language. protected the hinges of doors, preventing the en-
This traveller gives the most gratifying account of trance of evil spirits into houses.
this small sect of the modern Israelites, having met CARDINAL (Lat. Cardo, a hinge), one of the
with various members of the body in the course of highest officers of the Church of Rome. The word
has been long in use as an ecclesiastical term, and
"I'roin all we could ascertain, in personal con- was applied originally to the regular clergy of the
his journeys.
2G
450
CARDINAL.
metropolitan churches. In Italy, Gaul, and other Priests of illustrious name in other provinces and
countries, these churches received the name of car- countries have been elevated to the dignity of cardi-
dinal churches; and their ministers were called car- nals. Of this Alexander III. gave the first example
dinals. Cardinalis sacerdos was the title of a bish- in the year 1165, by conferring the honour upon
op; cardinales presbyteri or diaconi were names Galdinus Sala, archbishop of Milan, and upon Con-
given to those who held an office in the church, not rad, archbishop of Mentz. But, to the injury of the
temporarily, but as a fixed appointment. In the tenth church, the greater part have ever been restricted to
century, the canons of the cathedral churches, in the limits of Rome and Italy.
contradistinction from the clergy of the parochial " The formal classification of the cardinals into
churches, were denominated cardinals. In the three distinct orders—1. Cardinal bishops; 2. Car
eleventh century, however, the tern became re- dinal presbyters ; 3. Cardinal deacons—was made by
stricted to the Romish church, and was used to denote Paul II. in the fifteenth century. He also gave
the seven suffragan bishops in the immediate vicinity | them, instead of the scarlet robe, which they had
of Rome. These were the bishops of Ostia, Porta, St. worn since the year 1244, a purple robe, from whence
Rufina, St. Sabina, Palestrina, Frescati, and Albano, they derived the name of the purple-a title indica-
and although, from their neighbourhood to the city of tive not merely of their superiority to bishops and
Rome, they were well adapted to aid the Pope with archbishops, but of their regal honours and rights.
their counsel, they seem at first to have possessed Boniface VIII. gave them the title of eminentissimi,
no rights superior to those of the other clergy. But most eminent; and Pius V., in 1567, decreed that no
Nicholas II., at the Lateran council in A. D. 1059, 1 other should have the name of cardinal.
enacted a special law on the subject of papal elec- “The number of cardinals was at first not less than
tions, by which it was provided that the Pope should seven, and, after having ranged from seven to fifty-
be chosen by the cardinal bishops and priests, with three, it was reduced again, in the year 1277, to the
the concurrence of the rest of the Roman clergy, and minimum above mentioned. The General Assem-
of the Roman people, and with a certain participa- bly of the church of Basil limited the number to
tion of the emperor, and that none other than a per- | twenty-four ; but the popes from this time increased
son so chosen should be considered as pope. Thus them at their pleasure. Under Leo X. there were
was laid the foundation of the college of cardinals, sixty-five cardinals ; Paul IV. and Pius V. decreed?
which forms the ecclesiastical council of the Pope. that the maximum should be seventy-equal in num-
To these seven bishops, which, by the union of Porta | ber to the disciples of Jesus. These were arranged
with St. Rufina, have since been reduced to six, was under the following grades :1. Six cardinal bishops
given the name of cardinal bishops of the church of , with the following titles: the bishops of Ostia, Porta,
Rome, or cardinals of the Lateran church, implying Albano, Frescati, Sabina, and Palæstrina. 2. Fifty
that they form the hinge on which the church turns. cardinal priests, who were named after the parochial
The election of the Pope being thus taken out of and cathedral churches of Rome. 3. Fourteen car-
the hands of the emperors, and vested in a small dinal deacons, who were named after the chapels.
body of the clergy, the hierarchy of the church was This number was seldom full; but since 1814 they
rendered in a great measure independent both of have again become quite numerous.”
the great body of the clergy and of the secular The chief cardinal-bishop, cardinal-priest, and
power. This bold encroachment of the ecclesiastical cardinal-deacon, are called chiefs of the order. In
upon the civil authorities was afterwards contested this quality they possess the prerogative in the con-
by the princes of the German States, especially by clave of receiving the visits of ambassadors, and
those of Saxony and the house of Hohenstaufen. | giving audience to magistrates. All cardinals, on
But these conflicts uniformly issued in favour of the their promotion to the dignity, lose all the benefices,
Pope. In the year A. D. 1179, Alexander III., pensions, and offices they may have hitherto held.
through the canons of the Lateran, succeeded in From the moment of their investment with the car-
carrying the encroachment a step, by rendering the dinalate, these places are held to be vacant, and it
election of the Pope by the college of cardinals ab- rests with the Pope to restore their benefices to them,
solutely valid in itself, without the ratification of the and to bestow others upon them that they may have
emperor. Similar decrees were issued by Innocent it in their power to live suitably to their princely dig.
III. A. D. 1215, and Innocent IV. A.D. 1254. At nity. They are now supposed to be entitled to dispute
length Gregory X. in A. D. 1274, finally established precedency with the nearest relatives of so
sovereigus,
the conclave of cardinals for the election of the Pope, and with all princes who are not actually invested
which exists to this day. The further history of with royal authority. The red caps which cardinals
this important body is thus briefly sketched by Mr. wear, were bestowed upon them by Innocent IV. in
Coleman in his Christian Antiquities :'
the council of Lyons held in A. D. 1243; while the
“ The college of cardinals, which, until the twelfth red gown was appointed by Paul II. in A. D. 1464.
century, had been restricted to Rome and its vici- Gregory XIV. bestowed the red cap upon the regu-
nity, has since been greatly enlarged, so as to be- lar cardinals, who wore only a hat before. At one
come the supreme court of the church universal. time the title “most illustrious” was that which was
CARDINAL.
451
usually applied to cardinals, but Urban VIII. gave "All the cardinals return afterwards into the
them the still higher title of “Eminence." When chamber of the consistory, in the same order as they
they are sent to the courts of princes, it is in the came out from thence. The newly elected cardinal
quality of legates a latere; and when they are sent goes thither also, walking on the right hand of that
to any town, their government is called a legation. senior cardinal who accompanied him to the chapel.
The office of a cardinal is that of a spiritual prince, He then kneels down before the Pope; one of the
to govern the church in all parts of the world, and masters of the ceremonies draws the capuche over
hence the Romish clergy from different countries are his head, and his Holiness puts the red velvet hat
allowed to aspire to the dignity. When the cardi- over the cape, repeating certain prayers at the same
oal goes to Rome to receive his hat from the Pope time.
in person, he must be dressed in a rural habit, that "Then the Pope withdraws, and the cardinals, as
is, a short purple dress. The moment he reaches the they go out of the consistory, stop in the hall, where
city he must pay his respects to the Holy Father, they make a ring; whereupon the newly elected
but must put on long vestments when he goes to cardinal comes and salutes them in the middle of it,
audience; and on returning to his house he must re- and thanks them one after the other, for the honour
inain there until a public consistory is held. The they have done him in receiving him as one of their
ceremony of receiving the red hat from the Pope's brethren. His compliment being ended, the senior
hands is thus described by Picart :
cardinals come one after another, and congratulate
"On the day of the public consistory, the new him on his promotion.”
cardinal goes thither in his coach of state, attended The red hat, which has with such pomp and cere-
by his friends, in order to receive the red hat. In mony been bestowed upon the cardinal, is carried to
case the candidate be an archbishop or a bishop, he his palace in a large silver gilt basin. In the first
must wear the black pontifical hat. The eldest car- secret consistory which is held after his election, the
dinals walk two and two into the hall of the consis- cardinal attends, when the Pope performs the cere-
tory; when after having paid obeisance, or kissed mony of shutting his mouth; that is, his Holiness lays
the Pope's hand, two cardinal-deacons advance for- his hand upon the mouth of the newly elected cardi-
ward toward the cardinal elect, and lead him to the nal, with the view of reminding him that he is now
Pope, to whom he makes three very low bows; the bound to exercise the utmost prudence and circum-
first at the entrance of his Holiness's apartment, the spection in his speech. In the second or third con-
second in the middle of it, and the third at the foot sistory, another ceremony is gone through of open-
of the throne. He then goes up the steps, kissesing his mouth, on which occasion the Pope addresses
his Holiness's feet, who also admits him ad osculum an exhortation to the new cardinal, gives him his
oris, or to kiss his mouth: this being done, the car- title, and puts on the ring-finger of his right hand a
dinal elect performs the osculum pacis
, which is done gold ring set with a sapphire, to show, according to
by embracing all the senior cardinals, and giving a bull of Gregory XV., that“ the church is now his
-them the kiss of peace.
spouse, and that he must never abandon her.” The
“ This first ceremony being ended, the choir formal address of the Pope to the cardinal in opening
chaunt the Te Deum, when the cardinals walk two his mouth is couched in these words, " In the name
and two to the papal chapel, then march round the of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, we open your
altar, with the cardinal elect, accompanied by one of mouth that you may give your opinion in our con
the seniors, who gives him the upper hand for that ferences and councils, in all necessary cases, or in
time only. This being done, the cardinal elect such as relate to the cardinals or their functions; in
kneels on the steps of the altar, when the chief mas- our consistory, out of the consistory, or at the elec-
ter of the ceremonies puts the cape or capuche on tion of a sovereign pontiff.”
his head, which hangs behind his cope; and whilst When the Pope is pleased by special favour to
they are chaunting the Te Ergo of the Te Deum, he send the hat to an absent cardinal, the following
falls prostrate on his belly, and continues in this
ceremony takes place :-“The hat, in this case, is
posture; not only till this hymn is ended, but also carried by an honorary chamberlain, or a gentleman
till the cardinal-deacon, who is then standing at the of the Pope's household, together with a brief, direct.
altar on the epistle-side, has read certain prayers ed to the nuncio, or the bishop of the place where
inserted in the Pontifical,
the cardinal elect resides. As soon as the latter
“These prayers being ended, the new cardinal hears of the approach of the chamberlain who brings
rises up: his cape is lowered ; after which the car- the hat, he sends his household to meet him, and as
dinal-deacon, in presence of two heads of orders, and many of his friends as he can get together for that
the cardinal camerlingo, presents him the bull of the purpose, to do him the greater honour, when they all
oath he is to take. Having read it, he swears · He make their entry together in cavalcade, if allowed by
is ready to shed his blood for the holy Romish the custom of the place. Then the Pope's chamber-
Church, and for the maintenance of the privileges of lain holds the red hat aloft on the mace, in order
the apostolic clergy, among whom he is incor- that it may be seen by all the spectators.
porated.
“ The Pope's envoy, and the prelate who is :)
452
CARGILLITES—CARMATHIANS
perform the ceremony, meet on a Sunday, or some are performed on the most solemn festivals in their
high festival, at the newly elected cardinal's with churches, where they bless the people in a solemn
their domestics and as many friends as they can get manner, and are seated under a canopy on a kind of
together, and go in cavalcade to the principal church throne. Their testimony is to be taken in a court of
of the place in the following order :
justice without the formality of an oath, and their
“The march is opened by the drums and trum- single testimony is considered in Romish countries
pets; then come the livery-servants. The soldiers as equal to that of two witnesses. They have it in
upon guard, in case there be any, or the inhabitants their power to grant an hundred days indulgence to
of the town under arms, march before the gentlemen, any one, and they acknowledge no judge or superior
and afterwards the Pope's chamberlain appears in a but the Pope alone, particularly in criminal matters;
purple habit, holding the red hat aloft and uncovered. for, as to civil matters they are always heard before
Immediately after follows the newly elected cardinal, the auditors of the apostolic chanılor.
with his cope on, his capuche on his head, and over When a cardinal dies, his body is embalmed
all a black hat. On the right hand the prelate as soon as possible after death, and the corpse
marches who is to perform the ceremony, and on his is carried into the church where his obsequies
left some other person of quality, such as the chief are to be solemnized. The church is hung inside
nobleman of the place; and behind him the coaches with black velvet and adorned with escutcheons,
of the cardinal, and of all such persons as are proud on which are represented the arms of the deceased.
of doing him honour, with a great train. When this A great number of tapers are lighted up on both
ceremony is performed in any place where a king or sides of the nave. The body of the deceased car-
prince resides, their guards always attend on the dinal, dressed in pontifical vestments, with a mitre
newly elected cardinal.
on his head, is laid on a bed of state in the mid-
" When the cavalcade is come to the church, mass dle of the church, with his feet towards the great
is
sung in it, and it is usual for the king or prince of gate, and his head towards the high altar. The
the place, as also the chief lords and ladies of the office of the dead is performed by several monks and
court, to be present at it. Mass being ended, the priests in presence of the cardinals with great solem-
prelate who is to perform the ceremony puts on his nity. At night the body is stripped and laid in a
cope and mitre; then, being seated in an easy chair | leaden coffin, which
leaden coffin, which is put in another of cypress-
which stands on the steps of the altar, with his back wood, covered with black cloth. The interment
turned to it, the person who brought the hat lays it usually takes place with great pomp, a solemn pro-
on the altar, and presents the Pope's brief to the cession conducting the body to its place of burial.
prelate, who gives it to his secretary, and this latter | A devotion of nine days is observed for deceased
reads it with an audible voice, so as to be heard by cardinals, on the first and last days of which a hun-
the whole congregation. Immediately after, the
Immediately after, the dred and fifty masses must be said, when a small
prelate makes an oration in praise of the newly piece of money and two small candles are given to
elected cardinal, and, at the conclusion, declares that each officiating priest. On each of the other seven
he is ready to deliver the hat to him, according to days a hundred masses are said.
His Holiness' order.
CARGILLITES, a name sometimes given to the
“ Then the cardinal elect advances towards the COVENANTERS (which see) of Scotland, from Mr.
altar, and, kneeling down, takes the same oath before Donald Cargill
, one of their leading ministers.
the prelate which the newly created cardinals take CARIUS, a surname of ZEUS (which see), under
at Rome before the Pope. Then the prelate which he was worshipped at Mylassa in Caria, and
rises from his seat, and, taking off his mitre, says also in Thessaly and Boeotia.
some prayers over the new cardinal, whose head is CARMATHIANS, a heretical sect of Mohamme-
covered with the capuche; after which the prelate dans, so called from their founder, Carmath, who
puts his hat on, and at the same time repeats a promulgated his doctrines in the end of the ninth
prayer out of the Roman Pontifical. He afterwards century. Himself a man of an austere life, he alleged
gives him the kiss of peace, upon which the Te Deum that it was the duty of every inan to pray, not five
and some prayers are sung, which conclude the cere- times, throughout the day, but fifty times. And
mony. The newly created cardinal returns in caval- this practice he established among his followers, who
cade, with the red liat on his head.”
found it necessary to neglect their worldly avocations
Another ceremony of considerable length, and and to apply themselves to a life of almost incessant
which it is unnecessary to describe in detail, takes devotion. They ate many things forbidden by
place when a cardinal enters upon formal possession Mohammed, and believed that the angels were the
of his title. On that occasion all the congregation guides of all their actions.
They alleged the
come and kiss his hand, with the exception of the Koran to be an allegory, and prayer to be a sym.
officiating priest, to whom he gives the kiss of peace bol of obedience paid to the Imam, or chief of
on his right cheek. He enjoys all episcopal rights in their sect. Instead of giving the tenth of their
his own church, but is not obliged to residence. Car- | goods, which the Mohammedans are enjoined to give
dinals assist, with their rochet on, in such offices as to the poor, the Carmathians laid aside one-fifth part
1
CARMELITES-CARMELITES (BAREFOOTED).
45:3
.
---
of their substance for the Imam. Their founder in- from vespers till the terce of the next day. This
culcated upon them an inviolable secrecy as to the rule was mitigated to a considerable extent by Inno-
doctrines which he taught, revealing them to none cent IV., and by Honorius III. the Carmelites were
except the members of their own sect; and, as a placed among the approved orders of the Roinishi
symbolical representation of this enforced silence, he Church, and he gave them the name of Brothers
established a system of fasts. The strange doctrine of the Virgin Mary. On the conclusion of the
was laid down, that fidelity to the Imam was denoted peace with the Saracens, A. D. 1229, the Carme-
by that command which forbids fornication. This lites left Syria, and dispersed, some of them to Cy:-
sect somewhat resembled the ASSASSINS (which see), prus, others to Sicily, and others to France. In
if it was not a branch of that denomination. The A. D. 1240, they came to England, and at one time
Carmathians at first increased rapidly in numbers by they had about forty religious houses in that coun-
the zeal and professed sanctity of their founder, who, try. In the sixteenth century, St. Theresa, a Spa-
anxious to propagate extensively the new opinions, nish lady, undertook to reform the order. They
chose twelve of his chief followers, whom he called were now divided into two classes. The Carmelites
apostles, and to whom he gave special authority over of the ancient observance were called the mitigated,
the members of the sect. The civil authorities, or moderate; the reformed, or those of the strict ob-
however, considering the new doctrine as opposed to servance, were called BAREFOOTED CARMELITES (see
the Koran, seized Carmath and imprisoned him ; but next article), because they went with their feet bare.
having escaped from prison, his followers zealously The former were distributed into forty provinces,
spread the report that he had been delivered miracu- under one general. The latter quarrelled among
lously, and was taken up to heaven. In a short time themselves, and became divided into the congregation
he made his appearance in another part of the coun- of Spain, containing six provinces, and the congre-
try, and, being hotly pursued by his enemies, he fled gation of Italy, embracing all the rest.
There were
into Syria and was never more heard of. After the nine or ten religious houses of the Carmelites in
disappearance of Carmath, however, the sect which Scotland. It is one of the most celebrated of
he had formed still continued to exist, and, in order the mendicant orders in the Romish Church, and
to enhance the fame of their founder, they sedulously is often known by the name of the order of St.
taught that he was a divinely commissioned prophet, Mary of Mount Carmel. By Pope John XXIII.
who had been sent into the world to publish a new Carmelite monks were exempted from episcopal
law to mankind, to suppress the legal ceremonies of jurisdiction, and secured against the pains of pur-
Mohammedanism, and to inculcate the true nature gatory. Urban IV. gave
three years of indul-
and duty of prayer, in opposition to the erroneous gence to those who should call the Carmelites, Bro-
creed of the Mussulmans. The existence of this thers of Mary. That part of their rule which for-
sect was but temporary.
It flourished for some bade them to eat flesh was repealed by Eugene VI.,
years, but in process of time died away.
in reward for having burnt alive one of their own
CARMELITES, an order of monks established order who had declared that the Church of Rome
in the twelfth century on Mount Carmel in Palestine. had become so corrupt as to require a reformation.
It was founded by Berthold, a Calabrian, who pre The Carmelite order wear a cassock, a scapulary,
tended to have been guided by a vision of the pro- a patience, a hood of a brown colour, a white plaited
phet Elijah, to choose this spot as the seat of a cloak, and a black hat. According to a tradition of
tower and a small church, which he occupied with the Carmelites, Simon Stock, the prior-general, A. D.
only ten companions. From this small beginning 1251, received the scapulary from the Virgin. “The
arose the important order of the Carmelites, which Virgin appeared to me," Stock is made to say," with
some writers have attempted to trace back as far a great retinue, and, holding up the habit of the or-
as the time of Elijah, who they allege was called | der, exclaimed, “This shall be a privilege to thee,
"bald - head” because he had adopted the ion- and to the whole body of the Carmelites; whosoever
sure. By some writers it was argued that there had shall die in it will be preserved from the eternal
been a regular succession of hermits upon Mount flames.'
Carmel from the sons of the prophets to the time of CARMELITES (BAREFOOTED), a branch of the
Christ, and that these hermits had from an early Carmelite order which was originated by a lady of
period continued the succession to the twelfth cen- the name of Theresa, who was born of noble parents
tury. In A. D. 1205, this order obtained a rule from at Avila in Spain, A. D. 1515. At the age of twenty
the Latin patriarch, Albert of Jerusalem, which con- she entered a convent of Carmelite nuns; and being
sisted of sixteen articles, requiring them, among other impressed with the necessity of a reformation of the
things, to confine themselves to their cells, except order, she built a small convent at Avila, under the
when at work, and to spend their time in prayer; to name of St. Joseph, and in the congregation of nuns
possess no individual property; to fast from the fes- which she thus formed, began those improvements
tival of the Holy Cross till Easter, except on Sun- which were rapidly adopted by others. Seventeen
dlays; to abstain from eating flesh altogether; to monastic establishments were constituted on the
liibyour with their hands, and to observe total silence same model, and, in A. D. 1562, Pius IV. confirmed
457
CARMENIA-CARNIVAL.
and approved her rule. Theresg, died in 1582, and adorned with garlands. Sacrifices were offered dur-
was canonized by Gregory XV., in 1622. The or- ing the Carneia by a priest called Agetes, to whom
der now under consideration wear the same dress as were allotted, as his attendants, five men chosen from
the other Carmelites, but of a very coarse cloth, and each of the Spartan tribes, who continued in office
go barefooted, hence their name.
for four years, during which they were doomed to
CARMENTA, one of the CAMCNÆ (which see) celibacy. Musical contests took place as a part of
or prophetic nymphs of the ancient Roman mytho- | the Carneia.
logy. A temple was reared to her in Rome at the CARNIVAL, a Ron ish festival, celebrated at
foot of the Capitoline hill, and a festival celebrated Rome and Venice with the most unbounded mirth
in her honour, called CARMENTALIA (see next ar- and revelry. It is held from Twelfth Day till Lent,
ticle). She is said to have been the mother of Evan- and in the south of Germany is called Faschings.
der the Arcadian by Hermes, and having persuaded The word carnival seems to be derived from the La-
her son to kill his father, she fled with him to Italy, tin words carne and vale, because at that festival
where she gave oracles to the people and to Hera- Romanists took leave of flesh; but Ducange consi-
cles. She was put to death by her son at the ad- ders it to have had its origin in the Latin name
vanced age of one hundred and ten, and then was given to the feast in the middle ages, carne-levamen.
ranked among the gods. The Greek name was As the long fast of Lent was to commence imme-
Themis
, and the Latin Carmenta was probably de- diately after the carnival, it was thought to be a suit-
rived from carmen, a verse, prophecies being usually able employment to devote themselves, during the
delivered in verse.
festival, to all kinds of enjoyment, spending the sea-
CARMENTALIA, a Roman festival in honour of son in such excess of pleasure and riot as to resemble,
CARMENTA (see preceding article). Plutarch alleges if it was not an intended imitation of, the pagan
it to be as ancient as the time of Romulus, the foun-Saturnalia of the ancient Romans. The carnival
der of Rome. The Carmentalia were celebrated an- lasts for eight days, and, during the latter days of
nually on the 11th January.
the festival more especially, Rome exhibits a scene
CARNA, a Roman goddess who was thought to of the most unbridled folly, mummery, and absurdity
preside over the vital organs of the human body, of every kind. Mr. Whiteside, in his “Italy in the
such as the heart, the lungs, and the liver. She had Nineteenth Century,' declares the carnival, from his
a sanctuary on the Colian hill at Rome, and a festi- own personal observation, to be “a scene of buffoon-
val was celebrated in her honour on the 1st of June, ery, jollity, extravagance, and caricature, which has
and, on that occasion, beans and bacon were offered no parallel in the world; ” and the same interesting
to her.
and faithful traveller goes on to remark : “ The car-
CARNEI (Lat. Caro, flesh), an opprobrious name nival in Naples is contemptible compared with that
applied by the ORIGENIANS (which see) to the early in Rome, and yet the Neapolitans are naturally more
Christians, because of their maintenance of ti doc- excitable than the Romans. I bear willing testi-
trine that the bodies of men after the resurrection mony, however, to the invincible good humour of
should be composed of flesh and bones as they are the Italian people. The most entertaining of their
now, only altered in quality, not in substance. caricatures consisted in their grotesque delineations
CARNEIUS, a surname of Apollo, under which, of real life in all its varieties. There was an impu-
from very ancient times, he was worshipped in dent mountebank who imitated a lawyer, and ridi-
various parts of Greece, but especially in the Pelo- culed the learned profession; he was dressed in
ponnesus. Some derive the epithet from Carnus, a black, with wig and peruke, a false nose, spectacles,
soothsayer whom Hippotes killed, and, in conse- and band; carried a law book under his arm, which
quence of this deed of slaughter, Apollo sent a plague he occasionally opened; wrangled with the passen-
upon the army of Hippotes as he was marching to gers, threatened, abused, would put the folk in his
Peloponnesus. To propitiate the god, the worship of process, and bring them to condign punishment. I
Carneius Apollo is said to have been instituted. By almost considered the impostor as personal in liis
others, the surname is derived from Carnus or Car- behaviour towards me, but I remained dumb in the
neius, a son of Zeus and Europa, who was a special presence of a master spirit. All professions are ridi-
favourite of Aprllo. A festival was regularly kept culed except the priesthood; no allusion is inade to
in Greece to Carneius Apollo. (See next article.) monks, nuns, friars, or priests. Every other business
CARNEIA, a great national festival among the in life is ludicrously mimicked, down to the carrying
ancient Spartans in honour of Apollo CARNEIUS (see of sick men to the hospital. A patient is brought
preceding article). It commenced on the seventh out on an open litter, wrapped in a blanket, and
day of the Grecian month Carneios, and continued carried along with apparent tenderness and most
for the space of nine days, during which nine tents diverting attention, to the house of reception. The
were pitched in the neighbourhood of the city, and very physic is administered to the protended patient,
in each of these tents nine men lived as in the time who swallows the dose of wine more willingly than
A boat is also said to have been carried if it were the doctor's drugs. The serious affairs of
round, on which was a statue of Apollo Carneius | life are made to exhibit a ludicrous aspect; every:
of war.
CAROLOSTADIANS.
456
hing is travestied, and yet is there nothing attempt-, comprehended a denial of the real presence and of
ad which is offensive or indecent."
the actual enjoyment of the body of Christ in the
It is a remarkable proof of the strange inconsis- sacrament. This he accomplished by the harsh and
tency which pervades the whole system of Romanism, somewhat forced assumption, that Christ had spoken
that, at the very time when the madness of the car- these words, not with reference to the bread, but in-
nival is at its height, the cardinal-vicar issues spiri- dicating his own body. This view appeared to Lu-
tual invitations to the faithful, beseeching them to ther as a profanation and violation of the sacrament,
shun the dissipation of the season, and to visit the and he declared his opposition to it in the most un-
churches and stations, where religious services ap- measured terms. In a pamphlet which he published
propriated to the time are being performed.
against these prophets, 1525, he says, 'Dr. Carlstadt
At Venice, the carnival is conducted with peculiar las fallen away from us, and has become our bitterest
mirth and gaiety. Shows, masquerades, theatrical foe. Although I deeply regret this scandal, I still
exhibitions of various kinds, form the leading diver- rejoice that Satan has shown the cloven foot, and
sions of this joyous season ; and occasionally a boat- will be put to shame by these his heavenly prophets,
race adds to the hilarity of the period.
who have long been peeping and muttering in con-
CAROLOSTADIANS, the followers of Andrew cealment, but never would come fairly out until I en-
Bodenstein, better known by the name of Carolo- ticed them with a guilder: that, by the grace of God,
stadt, from the place of his birth. This able and has been too well laid out for me to rue it. But still
leained man was one of Luther's earliest and warm- the whole infamy of the plot is not yet brought for-
est friends and adherents. Decidedly devoted to the ward, for still more lies concealed which I have long
cause of the Reformation, Carolostadt, in the ardency suspected. This will also be brought out when it is
and impetuosity. of his zeal, would have all the rites of the will of God, for ever praised be his name that
Popery abolished at once. Putting himself at the head the good cause has so far prospered that my inter-
of a body which was animated by the same enthusi- | ference is not absolutely necessary; there are men
astic and headstrong feelings with himself
, he strove enough to cope with such a spirit. I know, also,
with tumultuous violence to effect a change in the that Dr. Carlstadt has long been brewing this heresy
public service and ritual of the church, and espe- in his mind, though till now he has not found cour-
cially to establish a novel and irregular mode of age to spread it abroad.'
celebrating the Lord's Supper. Luther took imme- “To the greatest astonishment and vexation of
diate steps to put an end to these violent proceedings, Luther, other learned and pious men took up the.
and by his prudent and energetic measures, he suc- views of Carlstadt, only adopting another mode of
ceeded in setting to rest the agitation which prevail- interpretation, and either explaining that in the ex-
ed
among many of the friends of the reformed cause. pression “This is my body,' the word is was equiva-
But Carolostadt, though silenced for a time, was not lent to represents ; or my body, was the same as the
convinced; and resigning, accordingly, the profes- symbol of my body. However various the modes of
sorship which he held at Wittemberg, he repaired explanation, they all agreed in teaching the spirituai
to Orlamunde, where he was invited to officiate as presence and influence of Christ instead of his bodily
pastor, and proceeded to propagate, by means of the presence in the sacrament. Luther saw the exten-
press, the extreme views which he entertained, be- sion of these sentiments with inexpressible grief and
sides encouraging his followers in the destruction of anger. Very many of those of whom he had enter-
images. The chief point on which he differed from tained the highest opinion, adopted the new views,
Luther was his rejection of the real presence of or, what was enough to excite the gall of such a
Christ in the bread and wine of the holy sacrament, man as Luther, did not find them so abominable and
a doctrine to which Luther still adhered, though not worthy of reprobation as he did, who saw in them
in the form of transubstantiation, yet, at least, in that nothing less than the dishonour and degradation of
of consubstantiation. The actual state of the ques- the sacrament. In his letters and writings, he ex-
tion as between the two learned divines, is thus pressed himself in most unmeasured terms; he calls
stated by Pfizer in his Life of Luther:' " The doc- them lis Absalom's sacrament-conjurors,' compared
trine established in the Catholic Church since the to whose madness he feels compelled to call the Pa-
first Lateran council in 1215, that the bread and pists mild and tame, and who were to him satanic
the wine were transformed into the body and blood of instruments of temptation. The sacramental pest,'
Christ by the priestly consecration of the elements says he again, 'continues to rage and to increase in
during the supper, (or during mass), was only in so strength and virulence.'»
far changed by Luther, that he avoided the expres- The views of Carolostadt were held !y many of
sion; but he taught that in the bread and wine, the the reformed, particularly in Switzerland, and ably
body and blood of Christ, in the strict sense of the defended by Zwingli and Ecolampadius. The sacra-
terms, were received and enjoyed, according to the mental question, in consequence, occupied much of
words of the institution, "This is my body,' &c. the attention of Luther, and besides giving it a large
Carlstadt believed this to savour too much of the place in his sermons, he published, in 1528, a trea-
Papal doctrine, and his explanation of these words tise specially devoted to the subject, under the title.
456
CAROLS-CARPOCRATIANS.
Confession of Christ's Supper, against the fanatics.' | flight of contemplation, break free from the narrow
The contest between the two opposing parties was laws of the God of the Jews, and overturn the reli-
keen and protracted, and, after several fruitless at- gion which had proceeded from him, although edu-
tempts on the part of individuals, the Landgrave cated in it himself. By virtue of his union with the
Philip of Hesse, actuated chiefly by political motives, Monad, he was armed with a divine power which en-
endeavoured, in 1529, to bring about a reconciliation. abled him to overcome the spirits of this world and
With this view he recommended a religious confer- the laws by which they govern the operations of na-
ence at Marburg. Neither Luther nor Zuinglius ture, to work miracles, and to preserve the utmost
discovered much eagerness for the interview, but at composure under sufferings. By the same divine
length both yielded to the persuasion of friends. power, he was afterwards enabled to ascend in free-
The result was, that a list of articles was drawn up dom above all the powers of these spirits of the
and published, in which the Swiss churches con- world to the highest unity-the ascension from the
formed generally to the Lutheran views, excepting world of appearance to Nirwana, according to the
on the point of the sacrament. The articles were system of Budha.
This sect, accordingly, made no
signed by ten divines of each party. It was also distinction between Christ and the wise and good men
agreed that the controversy, which had for some time among every people. They taught that any other
been carried on with such unseemly violence on both soul which could soar to the same height of contempla-
sides, should henceforth cease.
tion, might be regarded as standing on an equality with
CAROLS, hymns sung by the people at Christ- Christ. In the controversy against converting the
mas, in memory of the song of the angels which the religious life into a mere outward inatter, they took
shepherds heard at the birth of the Redeemer. sides with St. Paul, but on a directly opposite princi-
CARPOCRATIANS, a Gnostic sect of the se- ple; not on the principle of faith, in the apostle's
cond century, named from Carpocrates of Alexandria, sense, but on that of an Antinomian pantheism,
with whom it originated. His doctrinal system,
His doctrinal system, which looked down upon morality of life with a sort
which passed into the hands of his son Epiphanes, of contempt. Hence they foisted a meaning wholly
was founded on a combination of Platonism with alien from their true import, upon those fundamental
Christianity. The ideas of Plato as to the pre-positions of St. Paul respecting the vanity of the
existence of the soul, and that higher species of merit of good works, and respecting justification, not
knowledge which comes to a man in the form of a by works, but by faith alone. What they under-
reminiscence from an earlier state of being, pervade stood by faith was a mystical brooding of the mind
the whole gnosis of Carpocrates, which is thus de- absorbed in the original unity. 'Faith and love,'
scribed by Neander, with his usual philosophical dis- said they, 'constitute tlie essential thing; externals
crimination and accuracy: “The Gnosis consisted in are of no importance. He who ascribes moiaworth
the knowledge of one supreme original being, the to these, makes himself their slave; subjects himself
highest unity, from whom all existence has flowed, to those spirits of the world from whom all religious
and back to whom it strives to return. The finite and political ordinances have proceeded. He cannot
spirits ruling over the several portions of the earth, advance after death beyond the circle of the Metemp-
seek to counteract this universal striving after unity; sychosis; but he who can abandon himself to every
and from their influence, their laws, and arrange- lust, without being affected by any, who can thus bid
ments, proceeds all that checks, disturbs, or limits defiance to the laws of those mundane spirits, will
the original communion lying at the root of nature, after death rise to the unity of that original Monad,
which is the outward manifestation of that highest by union with which he was enabled, here in the pre-
unity. These spirits seek to retain under their do- sent life, to break loose from every fetter that had
minion the souls which, emanating from the highest cramped his being.""
unity, and still partaking of its nature, have sunk The Caipocratians appear to have made use of
down into the corporeal world, and there become im- | magical incantations. They believed that the ordi-
prisoned in bodies; so that after death they must mi- nary laws of nature were framed by the inferior
grate into other bodies, unless they are capable of spirits, and that whoever was united to the Mo-
rising with freedom to their original source. From | nad, and could rise above the subordinate gods,
these finite spirits the different popular religions had was invested with the power of working miracles.
derived their origin. But the souls which, led on by In this way they explained the miracles of our bless-
the reminiscences of their former condition, soar up- ed Lord. They paid divine honours to an image of
ward to the contemplation of that higher unity, reach Christ, which, as they alleged, came originally from
a state of perfect freedom and repose, which nothing Pilate. They also worshipped the images of Pagan
afterwards is able to disturb. As examples of this philosophers, and, on the testimony of Clement of
sort, they named Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, among Alexandria, we learn, that at Sama in Cephalene, an
the heathens, and Jesus among the Jews. To the island in the Ionian sea, a temple, a museum, and
latter they attributed only great strength and purity altars were built in honour of Epiphanes, the son of
of soul, which enabled him, through the reminis- Carpocrates, who, though he died at the early age
of
cences of his earlier existence, to attain the highest | seventeen, wrote a work in which his father's system
CARTHUSIANS-CASTE.
457
period.
was fully unfolded.
Two inscriptions have been a church, as, for example, Candida casa, White-
lately discovered at Cyrene in Africa, which have church.
given rise to a conjecture that the sect of the Carpo- CASSOCK, the undress of all orders of the clergy.
cratians continued till the sixth century, but consi- In the Church of Rome, it varies in colour accord-
derable doubts exist among the learned as to the ing to the dignity of the wearer. Priests have black
genuineness of these inscriptions. It is not unlikely cassocks; bishops, purple ; cardinals, scarlet ; and
that the sect disappeared at a somewhat earlier popes, white.
CASTE, a name used to denote the hereditary dis-
CARTHUSIANS, a religious order which was in- tinctions of classes in Hindostan. The number of castes
stituted in the eleventh century. The name is de- or tribes is four, namely, the Brahmans, the Ksha-
rived from Chartreux (Cartusium), not far from Gre- triyas, the Vaishyas, and the Shudras. It is not impro-
noble in France, a valley where Bruno of Cologne, a bable that the practice of observing caste may have
very learned man, and founder of the order, settled, been derived by the Hindus fro
been derived by the Hindus from the ancient Egyp-
about A. D. 1084, with twelve companions. On this tians; for it is a curious fact noticed by Maurice in his
spot a monastery was erected, but the Carthusians, Indian Antiquities, that the sons of Mizraim, a name
instead of taking up their residence within its walls, by which the Egyptians are frequently mentioned in
lived in separate cells, by the side of it, where each the Bible, were divided, according to Herodotus, into
individual spent the whole day by himself in silence, seven, but, according to Diodorus Siculus, into tive
occupied in devotional exercises, spiritual studies, great tribes, hardly, if at all, different, in regard to
or corporeal labour, They maintained throughout the occupations assigned to them, from those of Hin-
the utmost simplicity and austerity, refusing to keep dostan. The first of these was the sacred or sacerdo-
in their possession a single vessel of gold or silver tal tribe, who were supported at the public expense,
except the communion cup. Their time was spent a third part of the produce of tlie lands of Egypt
chiefly in transcribing books, particularly the Bible being allotted for their maintenance, and the ex-
and old theological works. They prized their library penses of public worship. The second tribe, like that
above all their other possessions. The Carthusians are of India, was composed of soldiers. The third, Hero-
perhaps the strictest and the most severe in their dotus speaks of as shepherds, but Diodorus calls
discipline of all the monastic institutions of Rome; them traders. The fourth tribe consists of husband-
and, in consequence of this, there have always been men; and the fifth of artificers.
very few nuns in connection with the order. Car- The origin and nature of the system of caste is
chusians wear haircloth next the skin; they are not thus described by Dr. Duff in his valuable work,
permitted to eat animal food, must prepare their own · India and India Missions :'_“ By a species of eina-
victuals, and eat alone, not in common.
nation or successive eduction from the substance of
petual silence is enforced. They are not allowed to his own body, Brahma gave origin to the human
go out of the monastery under any pretence whatever. race, consisting originally of four distinct genera,
They are all clothed in white, except their plaited classes, or castes. From his mouth, first of all, pro-
cloak, which is black. The superiors of the order ceeded the Brahman caste--so designated after ſhe
never took the name of abbots, but have always been name of the great progenitor, as being the highest
called priors. Monasteries belonging to them are and noblest in the scale of earthly existence, the
found in France, Italy, Germany, and other Roman nearest in kindred and in likeness to Bralıma liimself,
Catholic countries, where rich Carthusian charter- his visible representatives in human form. At the same
houses are often found. . At an early period after the time there flowed from his mouth, in finished and
institution of the order, they passed into England, substantial form, the four Vedas, for the instruction
where the order amassed considerable wealth, but of mankind in all needful knowledge. Of these, the
their monasteries, with their ample revenues, shared Brahmans were constituted the sole depositaries, the
the fate of the other monastic institutiɔns at the sole interpreters, the sole teachers. To all the rest
period of the Reformation.
of their fellow-creatures they were to give out such
CARTULARIES, documents in which were portions and fragments, and in such manner and
contained the contracts, sales, exchanges, privileges, mode, as they might deem most expedient. Hence
immunities, and other transactions connected with their emanation from the mouth of Brahma became
the churches and monasteries. The design of these an emblem of their future characteristic function or
papers was to preserve the ancient deeds, being much office, as the sole divinely appointed preceptors of
later than the facts mentioned in them.
the human race. From Brahma's arm, the protect-
CARYATIS, a surname of ARTEMIS (which see), ing member of the body, next emanated the Kshat-
under which she was worshipped at Caryæ in La- trya, or military caste, the source of emanation being
conia, and a festival was held in honour of her every emblematic of their future off ce, which is to wield
year, accompanied with national dances, which were martial weapons for the defence of the rest of their
con lucted by Lacedemonian women. Hymns were
fellows from internal yiolence, and external aggres-
also sung upon the occasion.
sion. From Brahma's breast, the seat of life, origi-
CASA, one of the names anciently used to denote nated the Vaishya, or caste of productive capitalists
,
Almost per-
458
CASTRENSIS.
1
whether pastoral, agricultural, or mercantile, the the words of the poet, beneath the lowest depth a
source of their origination being emblematic ºf their lower still’-a class composed of outcasts from the
future function, which is to raise or provide for four privileged orders—the residuum of the refuse
themselves and the rest, all the necessaries, comforts, and offscourings of all the rest—held in the utmost
and luxuries, which serve to support or exhilarate detestation and abhorrence-compelled to resort to
human life. From Brahma's foot, the member of in- the least reputable, and often to the most loathsome
feriority and degradation, sprung the Shudra, or ser- occupation for subsistence—doomed to be subjected
vile caste, placed on the base of society, the source to all the pains, and penalties, and indignities of ex-
of their production being emblematic of their future communication and outlawry in this life, and to irre-
calling, which is to perform for the other castes all parable disadvantages as regards all preparation for
manner of menial duties, either as serfs or manual | the life to come.”
cultivators of the soil, domestic attendants, artizans, The institution of caste keeps the Hindus in a sys-
and handicraftsmen of every respectable description. | tem of complete bondage, preventing the introduc-
According to this rigid and unmodified account of tion of improvements among the people, and ob-
the origin of man, it must at once appear that caste is structing, to a lamentable extent, the progress of
not a civil but a sacred institution, not an ordinance Christianity. No individual can rise from a lower
of human but of divine appointment. The distinction caste to a higher, but must remain contentedly in the
which it establishes between one family or tribe of man same caste in which he was born, and must follow
and another, is not of accident, but of essence, not of ar- the profession of his ancestors, however alien it may
bitrary human will, but of eternal decree and necessity be to his capacity or inclinations. The higher castes
of nature. The difference which the various sources of look down with the utmost contempt upon the lower,
derivation tend to originate and perpetuate, is not spe- and will not condescend even to eat with them. The
cific but generic. It is a difference of kind as complete Shudras, or lowest caste, are kept in a state of
as if the races had sprung from absolutely different pri- most painful degradation, being compelled to per-
meval stocks. Hence, according to the strict spirit of form the most menial offices for a Brahman, while
the system, a man of one genus or caste can no more they are positively prohibited from anassing pro-
be transformed into the member of another genus or perty of any kind, while they are excluded from re-
caste—whether from a higher to a lower or from a ligious privileges, the Vedas never being read iv
lower to a higher--no more than a lion can be their hearing. The indignities, insults, and even in-
changed into a mole, or a mole into a lion; a whale juries which they endure at the hands of the higher
into a flying-fish, or a flying-fish into a whale; a castes, are often of the most painful descriptiou.
banyan tree into a thorn, or a thorn into a banyan | The labour performed by one caste will not be done
tree; a rose into a thistle, or a thistle into a rose. by those of any other caste, there being a special de-
Each caste has, by divine ordination, its own pecu- scription of labour for each class of men. The evil
liar laws and institutions, its own duties and profes- effects of the system of caste upon the operations of
sions, its own rites and customs, its own liberties and the Christian missionaries, is a universal source of com-
immunities. The violation of any fundamental prin- plaint among these devoted men; and, so deeply im-
ciple, such as the eating of some strictly prohibited pressed has the present excellent bishop of Calcutta
article of food, entails a forfeiture of caste with all become with the utter inconsistency of caste with
its rights and prerogatives. This implies something Christianity, that he has addressed two charges to
more than mere degradation from a higher to a lower the missionaries of the Church of England, requiring
order within the pale of caste. Should a Brahman, them no longer to tolerate distinction of caste in the
for instance, violate the rules of his caste, he has it native churches. In descanting on the unseemly as-
not in his power to enfranchise himself in the special pect which those churches presented in which the
privileges of any of the three lower. No: he sinks heathen usage of caste was retained, he remarks,
beneath the platform of caste altogether—he becomes “ The different castes sat on different mats, on differ-
an absolute outcast. His own genus is completely ent sides of the church, to which they entered by
changed, and he cannot be transformed into any different doors. They approached the Lord's table
other existing genus. He must henceforward form a at different times, and had once different cups, 01"
new genus of his own. Just as if we deprived the managed to get the catechists to change the сир
be.
lion of his shaggy mane and brawny paws, and fore the lower castes began to communicate; they
changed his carnivorous into a graminivorous pro- would allow no persons at baptism of an inferior
pensity, he would at once become an outcast from caste, and they had separate divisions in the buria)
the present leonine genus, and incapable of being ad- grounds." Such a state of matters is plainly at utter
mitted into the genus of tigers, or bears, or any other; variance with the whole spirit and precepts of the
and, if the mutilated transformed creature should religion of Christ, and cannot be retained without
perpetuate its kind, there would arise an entirely palpable sin in any churches calling themselves
new genus of animals. Hence it follows, that be- Christian. See HINDUISM.
neath the fourth, or lowest caste, there may be a CASTOR. See DIOSCURI.
class of beings belonging to no caste, as if realizing 'CASTRENSIS, a name sometimes given to the
CASUISTS.
453
Thuriferary or incense-bearer, an assistant of the vilest and most execrable character, can by no means
patriarch in the Greek Church, who, besides the be charged to his account in the judgment of God,
duty implied in his name, that of carrying the in- because such a man is like a madman. That it is
cense, covers also the consecrated ressels or imple- right for a man, when taking an oath or forming a
ments with a veil, during the anthem to the sacred contract, in order to deceive the judge and subvert
Trinity, and assists the celebrant in putting on his the validity of the covenant or oath, tacitly to add
sacerdotal vestments.
something to the words of the compact or the oath ;
CASUISTS, those who study and endeavour to and other sentiments of the like nature."
explain the intricate problems connected with cases In their practice the Jesuits were quite as lax as
of conscience. Casuistry, with its difficult and sub- in their principles. Thus Pascal tells us, in his Pro-
tile distinctions, was a favourite subject of inquiry vincial Letters, " that when they happen to be in any
among the schoolmen in the middle ages. Their part of the world where the doctrine of a crucified
object was, not so much to ascertain the various God is accounted foolishness, they suppress the of-
points of moral science, as to raise a series of per- fence of the cross, and preach only a glorious and
plexing questions, the settlement of which could be not a suffering Jesus Christ. This plan they follow-
productive of no practical advantage whatever. In ed in the Indies and in China, where they permitted
the course of these unprofitable discussions, they Christians to practise idolatry itself, with the aid of
frequently confounded the natural principles of right the following ingenious contrivance: they made their
and wrong, and so palliated the delinquencies, both of converts conceal under their clothes an image of
themselves and others, that vice was encouraged and Jesus Christ, to which they taught them to transfer
virtue discountenanced by their inquiries. The mentally those adorations which they rendered os-
text-book of this science for a long period during the tensibly to the idol Cachinchoam and Keum-fucuin.
dark ages, was the Summa Raymundiana, to which This charge is brought against them by Gravina, a
were added in the fourteenth century, Summa Aste- Dominican, and is fully established by the Spanish
sana and Summa Bartholina, Pisanella, or Magis- memorial presented to Philip IV., king of Spain, by
truccia. The work, in particular, of the Minorite the Cordeliers of the Philippine Islands, quoted by
Astesanus was so popular, that it was printed nine Thomas Hurtado in his Martyrdom of the Faith,'
times in the course of the fifteenth century. In its page 427. To such a length did this practice go,
original form, the science of casuistry simply con- that the Congregation De Propaganda were obliged
sisted in the application of the principles of sacred expressly to forbid the Jesuits, on pain of excommui-
Scripture to particular cases. But, in process of nication, to permit the worship of idols on any pre-
time, this useful department of knowledge had dege- text whatever, or to conceal the mystery of the cross
nerated into what M. Feore, the preceptor of Louis from their catechumens; strictly enjoining them to
XIII., termed“ the art of quibbling with God." The admit none to baptism who were not thus instructed,
character of "a subtle casuist " came to be preferred and ordering them to expose the image of the cruci-
to that of “a lover of truth.” The Jesuits of the fix in their churches, all which is amply detailed in
Romish Church, by virtue of the wire-drawn distinc- the decree of that congregation, dated the 9th of
tions of the old casuists, succeeded in corrupting July 1640, and signed by Cardinal Capponi.”
morality in nearly all its departments. A few of the Both the doctrines and practices of the Jesuits
perverted moral principles which some of these men were pointedly condemned in the seventeenth cen-
taught are thus mentioned by Mosheim: “That a tury by the Dominicans and Jansenists, and, at
bad man who is an entire stranger to the love of length, so violent did the opposition to the Casuista
God, provided he feels some fear of the divine wrath, become, that Pope Alexander VII. found it neces-
and, from dread of punishment, avoids grosser crimes, sary to issue a bull in 1659, condemning them to a
is a fit candidate for eternal salvation. That men certain extent, and, in 1690, Alexander VIII, con-
may sin with safety, provided they have a probable demned particularly the philosophical sin of the Jo-
reason for the sin, i. e. some argument or authority in suits. .
favour of it. That actions in themselves wrong and The Casuists are sometimes divided into Probabi
contrary to the Divine law are allowable, provided a lists and Probabiliorists. The first, which includes
person can control his own mind, and in his thoughts the Jesuits, maintain that a certain degree of proba-
connect a good end with the criminal deed ; or, as bility as to the lawfulness of an action is enough to
they express it, knows how to direct his intention secure against sin. The second, supported by the
right. That philosophical sins, that is, actions which Dominicans and the Jansenists, insist on always tak-
are contrary to the law of nature and to right reason, ing the safest or the most probable side. The writ-
in a person ignorant of the written law of God, or ings of the Casuists are very numerous. Escobar
dubious as to its true meaning, are light offences, and the Jesuit made a collection of the opinions of the
do not deserve the punishments of hell. That the Casuists before him; and Mayer has published a li-
deeds a man commits when wholly blinded by his brary of Casuists, containing an account of all the
lusts and the paroxysms of passion, and when desti- writers on cases of conscience, ranged under three
tute of all sense of religion, though they le of the heads, the first comprehending the Lutheran, the se-
460
CAT-WOKSIIIP-CATACOMBS
cond the Calvinist, and the third the Romish casuists. several rows of niches pierced in the wall, serving as
CASULA. See CHASIBLE.
catacombs, and filled with coffins. The chainber's
CAT-WORSHIP. This form of idolatry, the were painted, for the most part, like the churches,
precise origin of which it is difficult to ascertain, with passages of history from the Old and New
seems to have chiefly prevailed in Egypt. In that Testaments. In the centre of the large street was
country anciently, Bubastis, one of the goddesses, an open square, large and commodious as a market-
was represented with the head of a cat; and as the place, in which those who took refuge there in those
cat, from the peculiar structure of its visual appara- troublous times, were wont to congregate for wor-
tus, possesses the power of seeing objects distinctly ship, and the comfort of which, as a place of abode,
in the dark, it has been supposed by some authors to was greatly promoted by the liberal use which the
have been, among the Egyptians, a symbol of the Christians made of spices and perfumes on their dead.
night of chaos, and of the moon, which is the bril- In the more distant of these cemeteries, whose re-
liant eye of our nights. The cat seems also to have moteness rendered them less liable to be disturbed,
been used as an emblem of fertility, Bubastis, the there were small apertures left in the surface of the
cat-goddess, being regarded as presiding over the de- ground, through which a dim twilight was admitted ;
livery of pregnant women. The Cadmeans are said but the others, where these were closed, were abso
to have carried with them into Greece the worship lutely dark, and, except by the aid of lights, impass-
of the Egyptian Bubastis, as a cat-goddess is found able; so that, on any sudden surprise, the refugees
among the ancient divinities of Boeotia, under the had only to extinguish their lamps to insure their
name of Galinthius. Among the ancient Scandina- safety from the invasion of their enemies. The
vians, Freya was revered as a cat-goddess, her car depth of these vaults was sometimes so great, that
being drawn by two cats. Even in modern times, all two or three storeys were ranged one above another,
traces of this peculiar species of idolatry have not en- and the whole aspect of the place conveyed the im-
tirely disappeared. Among the Mohammedans, the pression of a city under ground.”
most marked attention and kindness are shown to this Nor did the Christians inhabit these tombs for
animal, particularly in Egypt. The cat also plays an only a brief space of time when persecution was at
important part in the magical practices of the Lap the hottest. For years they were often doomed to
landers, and in the superstitious legends and popular live in the unbroken silence of the catacombs. On
tales of the Germans.
this subject Dr, Jamieson goes on to remark : " In
CATABAPTISTS. See ANTIBAPTISTS.
these retreats multitudes lived for weeks and months,
CATACOMBS, subterranean tombs, in which the without seeing sun, moon, or stars. The aged and
early Christians were wont to be buried, more parti- | the poor were maintained by the muniticent libera-
cularly in times of severe persecution. Even in days | lity of those whose affection to their cause had
of outward tranquillity, the usual sepulchres of con- provided the sanctuary, or by the contributions
verts to the Christian faith were situated in lonely and of the young and vigorous, who poured the fruits of
sequestered spots, where there was less probability of their industry into the common fund, as they l'e-
their remains being exposed to violation and insult. turned, under the friendly protection of night, to
For a resting-place to their dead, Christians, like their the company of the proscribed believers. In these
Master, were frequently indebted to some kind and profound and spacious caverns, whose gloom and
compassionate stranger who supplied them with some solitude were but ill relieved by the glimmer of a
unoccupied piece of ground, where they might be safe hundred tapers, and whose walls were lined with im-
from the rude indignities of their heathen foes. By far mense rows of catacombs, in which reposed the au.
the greater number, however, of the primitive Chris- gust remains of their fathers and brethren, who had
tians were buried in catacombs, or under-ground se- died in the faith, they spent their midnight vigils
pulchres. As the result of laborious excavations, in edifying one another with the things pertaining
these interesting abodes of the dead, which so often to the common salvation ; and while the storeyed
afforded a refuge to the faithful living, have been vaults echoed with the notes of praise, piety was
fully examined. In these gloomy caverns, lying be- fanned into a holier fervour, faith awakened tlie
neath the city of Rome, the early Christians were sublimest emotions, and the close contact of the
often accustomed to conduct their worship as well as living with the venerable dead, whose spirits were
to bury their dead. The following brief description, still in communion with their survivors on eartlı
,
from the pen of Dr. Jamieson, in his Manners and gave to the hope of immortality all the strength and
Trials of the Primitive Christians,' may afford the vividness of a present reality, filling the hearts of
reader some idea of these interesting subterranean all with a 'joy unspeakable and full of glory,' far
churches : “ The descent was made by a ladder, the more than compensating for their banishment from
foot of which stood in a broad and spacious pathway, the cheerful haunts of men. Long after their meet-
which extended like a street along the whole length ings had ceased to be clandestine, the cemeteries
of the place. This principal entrance opened, at in- continued to be the favourite haunts of the Chris-
tervals, into smaller passages, which again led into a tians; and it was the more convenient to use them
variety of chambers; and on either side of them were for the offices of devotion as well as of burial, that
CATÆBATES-CATECHETICAL SCHOOLS
461
6
the followers of Jesus required no consecrated tem- the Trinity is neither viewed in the Jewish light of
ple, no gorgeous altar, no outward pomp, or em- a temporal Messiah, nor degraded to the Socinian
blems of religion."
estimate of a mere example, but is invested with all
In the sixteenth century the extensive catacombs the honours of a Redeemer. On this subject there
underneath the city of Rome were submitted to is no reserve. On stones innumerable appears the
careful examination, and a large collection of the Good Shepherd, bearing on his shoulder's the re-
monuments discovered there are now removed, and covered sheep, by which many an illiterate believer
arranged chiefly at the entrance to the Vatican mu- expressed his sense of personal salvation. One
seum, the long corridors of which are completely sleeps in Christ;' another is buried with a prayer
lined with inscriptions plastered into the wall, that "she may live in the Lord Jesus.' But most of
amounting to more than three thousand. A few all, the cross in its simplest form is employed to
years ago, Dr. Maitland published a work of great testify the faith of the deceased; and whatever ig-
interest, entitled “The Church in the Catacombs,' norance may have prevailed regarding the letter of
which contains a general survey of the inscriptions the Holy Writ, or the more mysterious doctrines
thus rescued from oblivion, and preserved from de- contained in it, there seems to have been 110 want of
molition and decay on the walls of the Vatican. apprehension of that sacrifice, whereby alone we
One of these we select as a specimen of the simple, obtain remission of our sins,' and are made par-
earnest, living Christianity of these early times : “In
takers of the kingdom of God.' The elements of a
Christ, Alexander is not dead, but lives beyond the pure faith were written with an iron pen, in the
stars, and his body rests in this tomb. He lived rock, for ever ;' and if the Church of after times
under the Emperor Antonine, who, foreseeing that liad looked back to her subterranean home, 'to the
great benefit would result from his services, returned hole of the pit whence she was digged,' she would
evil for good. For while on his knees, about to have sought in vain for traces of forced celibacy, the
sacrifice to the true God, he was led away to exe- invocation of saints, and the representation of Deity
cution. Osad times ! in which sacred rites and in painting or sculpture.”
prayers, even in caverns, afford no protection to us. These monuments throw considerable light upon
What can be more wretched than such a life? and the customs and institutions of Christians in early
what than such a death? when they could not be times. Thus the original AGAPÆ (which see) or
buried by their friends and relations. At length love-feasts, are distinctly referred to, and actually
they sparkle in heaven. He has scarcely lived who represented on several of the monuments. The
has lived in Christian times."
feast, as held in the catacombs, is exhibited in a pic-
The ornaments accompanying these inscriptions ture found in a subterranean chapel, in the ceme-
are of great simplicity, consisting chiefly of palm tery of Marcellinus and Peter. In this painting
leaves, or olive branches, or the figure of a cross tlie three guests are seen seated, and a page supplies
rudely scratched on the stone. The following is them with food from the small round table in front,
the monogram or figure which is frequently used in containing a lamb and a cup. The two matrons who
these inscriptions for the words “In Christ,” as preside, personifying Peace and Love, have theii
Dr. Maitland, with great probability of truth, inter- names written above their heads according to the
prets it :
Etruscan practice. See CRYPTS.
CATÆBATES (Gr. kata, down, and baino, to
go), a surname among the ancient heathens of ser-
eral gods. Thus it was applied to Zeus, as coming
down in thunder and lightning; to Apollo as protect-
ing those who were journeying abroad; and to
Hermes as conducting the shades down to Hades.
From the general brevity of these inscriptions lit- CATAPHRYGIANS, a name given to the sect
tle information is afforded on the subject of the doc- of the MONTANISTS (which see), from the country
trines of Christianity ; but some highly important (Phrygia) to which Montanus belonged.
inferences may be drawn from the silence which they CATECHETICAL SCHOOLS, seminaries which
maintain on errors and superstitions which prevailed seem to have commenced so early as the second
in the Church of Rome in later times, and are still century, having as their object to educate teachers
firmly held by the adherents of Romanism. On this for the Christian Church. A school of this kind
point Dr. Maitland remarks : “In general, in the existed at an early period in Alexandria in Egypt,
inscriptions contained in the Lapidarian gallery, and the first catechist, to whorn the charge of
selected and arranged under Papal superintendence, it was committed, was Pantænus, a man of learn-
there are no prayers for the dead, no addresses to ing, who had himself been conducted to Christianity
the Virgin Mary, nor to the apostles or earlier saints. by the way of philosophical inquiry. The instruc-
The distinctive character of these remains is essen- tions of this eminent man were attended partly by
tially Christian ; the name of Christ is repeated in educated Pagans who, after having been converted
an endless variety of forms; the second person of to Christianity, were seized with the desire of de-
*
462
CATECHISMS. .
voting themselves to its service; and partly by posed to each other in their mode of theological
young men who, born and reared within the pale teaching. The Antiochian adhered closely to the
of the Christian Church, were desirous of being literal, while the Alexandrian school adhered with
farther instructed with the view of preparing them- equal tenacity to the allegorical, system of Bible
selves for the olice of the ministry. Thus in Alex- interpretation. The views of the school of An-
andria arose the first theological school, the first tioch were thus more sober and safe; those of the
Christian seminary in which theology was taught as school of Alexandria were more fanciful and dan-
a science, and defended equally against the assaults | gerous. And yet both owed their ruin to the out-
of Greek philosophers and Gnostic heretics. Pan- break of fatal heresies ; for the Nestorian and Euty-
tænus was succeeded in his catechetical office bychian heresies proved the destruction of the schools
his disciple Clement, who was distinguished for the at Antioch, just as the Arian heresy proved the de-
mildness and moderation with which he met the struction of the schools at Alexandria. Of a char-
opponents of the truth,
But the second great acter similar to those at Antioch and Alexandria
teacher of the Alexandrian school was Origen, who, were the schools instituted at Edessa, in the third
from the peculiar character of his mind, preferred century, and that established at Nisibis by the Nes-
speculation to practice, and the speculative ten- torians in the end of the fafth century. At a still
dency he carried so far as to reduce the most plain later date the catechetical schools of the Eastern
and obvious truths of Scripture to mere figurative church were succeeded by the cathedral and mon
representations. He almost entirely lost sight of astic schools of the Western church, which even so
the letter, in his anxiety to ascertain the spirit of late as the sixth century had never established ca-
the Bible. True, he admitted in so many words techetical schools even at Rome.
that both the spirit and the letter ought to be ad- CATECHISMS, systems of instruction drawn up
hered to, and that it was never right to give up the in the form of question and answer. The cateche-
letter unless after the inost careful examination. tical mode of teaching was employed even among
Yet in the face of this admission, he explained the | the ancient heathen philosophers as the readiest and
simple historical facts both of the Old Testament and the most effective method of communicating infor-
the New, by treating them, in most cases, as figures mation, and exercising the minds of those who were
and emblems of some fanciful and imaginary con- under instruction. It was the favourite plan adopted
ceptions.
by Socrates in training his hearers to a knowledge
Though the school of Alexandria was the earliest and belief of philosophical truth. From an early
and the most distinguished of the Christian cateche- period it was found to be the best mode of convey.
tical schools, there arose many similar institutions in ing to the ignorant an acquaintance with the ele-
the Eastern church between the second and the ments of Christian doctrine. A long time was con-
fifth centuries. They have sometimes been con- sidered to be necessary to train catechumens or
founded with another class of schools which also candidates for baptism. Bingham, in his Christian
abounded in the early Christian Church,—those Antiquities,' gives the following rapid summary by
namely which were intended to instruct catechumens the author of the Apostolical Constitutions, of the
in the simple doctrines of Christianity. The one chief points of doctrine in which catechumens were
class, or the catechumenal schools, were of a sim- to be instructed in the early Church : " Let the ca-
pler, while the other class, or the catechetical schools, techumen be taught before baptism the knowledge
were of a more advanced description. The Alex- of the Father unbegotten, the knowledge of his
andrian catechetical school, in particular, assumed a only-begotten Son, and Holy Spirit; let him learn
very high position, both as a theological and a liter- the order of the world's creation, and series of Di-
ary institution.
For a long period it was the vine providence, and the different sorts of legisla-
favourite resort of students from all quarters. of tion ; let him be taught, why the world, and man,
Europe, as well as from the numerous African the citizen of the world, were made; let him be in-
churches. But, in the course of time, when Alex- structed about his own nature, to understand for
andria became the chief seat of the keen contentions what end he himself was made ; let him be informed
between the heretical Arians and the orthodox how God punished the wicked with water and fire,
Athanasians, the schools of the city were broken up, and crowned his saints with glory in every genera-
and in the middle of the fourth century those once tion, viz. Seth, Enos, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and
famous seminaries of theological learning no longer his posterity, Melchisedec, Job, Moses, Joshua,
existed. The catechetical school which was next Caleb, and Phineas the priest, and the saints of
in fame to the Alexandrian, was that of Antioch, every age; let him also be taught, how the provi
,
which seems to have been in active operation in an dence of God never forsook mankind, but called
early period of the third century, though it can them at sundry times, from error and vanity to the
scarcely be said to have reached the zenith of its knowledge of the truth, reducing them from slavery
renown until the latter part of the fourth century, and impiety to liberty and godliness, from iniquity
before which time the rival school of Alexandria had
to righteousness, and from everlasting death to eter,
lisappeared. The two schools were entirely op- nal life. After these, he must learn the doctrine of
CATECHISMS.
463
Christ's incarnation, his passion, his resurrection, and the catechism. And all fathers and mothers, masters
assumption; and what it is to renounce the devil, and dames, shall cause their children, servants, and
and enter into covenant with Clirist."
apprentices, (who have not learned their catechism)
These were the chief points of the catechetical to come to the church at the time appointed, and
instruction given before baptism, not to the cate-obediently to hear, and be ordered by the curate,
chumens indiscriminately, but as arranged into until such time as they have learned all that therein
different classes, who were taught those doctrines is appointed for them to learn." The fifty-ninth ca-
which were considered suitable to their capacity non also declares: “Every parson, vicar, or curate,
and extent of progress. Some departments of Chris- upon every Sunday and holyday before evening
tian truth, as for example that which referred to the prayer, shall
, for half an hour or more, examine and
eucharist, were reserved for a later stage, when the instruct the youth and ignorant persons of his par-
catechumen had been washed with the water of ish, in the ten commandments, the articles of the
baptism. But before they were admitted to bap- | belief, and in the Lord's prayer; and shall diligently
tisin, these catechumens were subjected to a very hear, instruct, and teach them the catechism set forth
careful and searching examination as to their pro- in the Book of Common Prayer. And all fathers,
ficiency in the knowledge of Christianity, and if mothers, masters, and mistresses, shall cause their
approved they were sometimes called electi or cho children, servants, and apprentices, which have not
sen. At their last examination before the adminis- learned the catechism, to come to the church at the
tration of the rite, they were required to repeat the time appointed, obediently to hear, and to be ordered
Creed and the Lord's Prayer. In all ages of the by the minister until they have learned the same.
Church, catechetical instruction has been much in And if any minister neglect his duty herein, let him
use, suited to different capacities and different stages be sharply reproved upon the first complaint, and true
of knowledge. And at a very early period after the notice thereof given to the Bishop or Ordinary of
Reformation, catechisms were drawn up by all, or the place. If after submitting himself he shall will-
nearly all, the Reformed churches of Europe. It ingly offend therein again, let him be suspended. If
being the essential characteristic of Protestantism so the third time, there being little hope that he will
to diffuse sound scriptural knowledge among all be therein reformed; then excommunicated, and so
classes of the people, catechisms were found to be- remain until he be reformed. And likewise if any
invaluable for the accomplishment of this important of the said fathers, mothers, masters, or mistresses,
end. Nor have orthodox churches only availed children, servants, or apprentices, shall neglect their
themselves of this iinportant engine of diffusing the duties, as the one sort in not causing them to come,
knowledge of their principles; heretical churches, and the other in refusing to learn, as aforesaid ;
also, have seen the necessity of framing catechisms them be suspended by their Ordinaries, (if they be
for the diffusion of their peculiar tenets, more espe- not children,) and if they so persist by the space oi
cially among the young.
month, then let them be excommunicated.” Be-
CATECHISM (CHURCH OF ENGLAND), a small sides these strict regulations, parents are charged in
manual
, containing a simple explanation of the doc. the office of Public Baptism to have their children
trines held by the church in the form of question carefully instructed in the Church catechism before
and answer. In its original forin it consisted of no they are brought to the bishop for confirmation.
more than a repetition of the baptismal vow, the CATECHISMS (ASSEMBLY'S LARGER and
Creed, and the Lord's Prayer. Afterwards, how- SHORTER), brief manuals of Scripture truth, drawn
ever, by order of King James I., an addition of a up originally by the General Assembly of Divines
short and plain exhibition of the doctrine of the sa- at Westminster in 1647. So early as 1592, a
craments, was drawn up by Bishop Overall, and ap- short Catechism or “Form of Examination," was
proved by the other bishops. This catechism is em- prepared by Mr. John Craig, one of the ministers of
bodied in the Book of Common Prayer, and is now Edinburgh, and approved by the General Assembly
enjoined to be taught on Sundays and holidays, al- of the Church of Scotland, who gave also the follow-
though in the first
book of King Edward VI. it was ing directions as to the use of this manual, “ There-
not required to be taught oftener than once in six fore it is thought needful, that every pastor travel
weeks. At the instigation of Bucer, a more fre- with his fiock, that they may buy the samen buick
quent performance of this important duty was en- and read it in their families, whereby they may be
joined, though the precise periods of catechising the better instructed; and that the samen be read
were still left indefinite in the Rubric. Both the and learnit in lector's (reading) schools, in place of
Rubric and the Canous, however, are now explicit and the little catechism." The catechism which was
imperative on this point. Thus the Rubric enjoins : thus intended to be superseded by Craig's Catechism,
" The curate of every parish shall diligently upon was drawn up by Calvin, and for a long period in
Sundays and holydays, after the second lesson at general use throughout the Reformed Churches.
evening prayer, öperily in the church instruct and For a considerable period the Scotch Assembly,
examine so many children of his parish sent unto urged on more especially by Henderson, had under
bin, as he shall think convenient, in some part of their consideration the propriety of drawing up,
let
464
CATECHISMS.
among other documents, such a Catechism as might | is a work published by this divine, entitled, “The
be used generally in the three kingdoms. This Principles of the Christian Religion made Plain and
work, however, was never accomplished until the Easy,' in which a considerable similarity to the
meeting of the Westminster Assembly in 1643. This Shorter Catechism may be traced. Palmer was con-
Assembly, which sat for upwards of five years, was stituted Master of King's College, Cambridge, and
convened by authority of the English Parliament, at showed the greatest solicitude to promote religion
the instance of the Scottish church. It was com- and learning, maintained several poor scholars at his
posed of 121 divines, with 30 lay assessors and com- own 'expense in the college, and when he died, left
missioners from the Church of Scotland, consisting a considerable benefaction for the same purpose.
of 4 ministers and 3 elders. It was in 1647 that the "In running over Wodrow's MSS.,' says Dr.
Assembly, while engaged in considering the different M‘Crie in his communication, “I recollect noticing a
heads of a Confession of Faith, appointed Commit- statement that he had received information from
tees also for the important purpose of drawing up some person, that the Catechism was composed by
two Catechisms, a Larger and a Shorter. Dr. Bel- Dr. Wallis. This was the celebrated mathemati.
frage, in his Exposition of the Shorter Catechism, cian of that name, who was one of the secretaries
gives the following details as to its preparation : to the Westminster Assembly. Perhaps the state-
“While the Confession of Faith was under discus- ment may have arisen from his official situation,
sion in the Assembly, committees were appointed to and his name having been seen appended to the
reduce it into the form of catechisms, one Larger, for printed copy of that work. It would be a feather in
the service of a public exposition in the pulpit, ac- the cap of our little formulary, and no real disparage-
cording to the custom of foreign churches; the other ment to the philosopher, that its draughtsman was
Smaller, for the instruction of families. It has been Dr. Wallis. In one of his works he avows that he
generally thought, that a draught or sketch was pre- obtained much insight from the discussion of so
pared by some individual of the Shorter Catechism, many learned divines, in composing the Confession
and laid before the Committee for their revisal. It
It and Catechisms, but says nothing of his having any
is not certainly known who this individual was. I hand directly in its compilation.'
have heard it said by a theologian of great research, " There was another member of the Assembly,
and now with God, it was his conviction that it was Dr. Gouge, who may be thought to have some claim
Dr. Arrowsmith. Brooke, in his history of the to the honour, from his learning and activity, and
Puritans, says that he united with several of his bre- also from an excellent and comprehensive scheme of
thren in drawing up the Assembly's Catechism; and divinity, in the form of question and answer, which
Baillie, in his Letters, says that the Catechism was
bears his name. He was minister of Black Friar's,
composed by a committee, of whom Dr. Arrowsmith | London, was appointed a member of the Assembly,
None of the Assembly was more compe- and was in such reputation, that he often filled the
tent to the task. He officiated for some time as one Moderator's chair in luis absence. Amidst claims so
of the university preachers at Cambridge, where varied, I am inclined to think, with all duc venera-
his education had been completed. It was while tion for the memory of the rest, that the weightiest
officiating as a preacher at St. Martin's, Ironmonger's is that of Dr. Arrowsmith. Baillie says, We have
Lane, London, that he was called to sit in the As- nearly agreed in private on a draught of Catechism,
sembly of Divines. Baillie mentions a circumstance on which, when it comes in public, we may lave
which shows the high estimation in which he was little debate.' From the MSS. of Mr. George Gilles-
held in that council. He calls him a learned divine, pie, it appears, that after the report had been given
on whom the Assembly had put the writing against in and considered, the Catechism was recommitted,
the Antinomians. He was promoted to be Master that improvements suggested by the wisdom of the
of John's College, Cambridge, where he discharged Assembly might be made. I find in the letters of
the duties of his office with exemplary diligence. Baillie various hints respecting the progress of the
“ The excellent Dr. M'Crie, whose researches have Catechism. We made long ago,' says he, 'a pretty
shed so much light on the character, doctrines, and progress in the Catechism, but falling on rule and
conduct of our Reformers, states, in a communica- long debates, it was laid aside; till the Confession
tion with which he has favoured me, that from a cir- was ended, with the resolution to have no matter in
cumstance mentioned by Baillie, he is inclined to it but what was expressed in the Confession, which
think that Mr. Palmer was concerned in the first should not be debated again in the Catechism. In
draught of the Catechism. In volume first of the another letter of later date, he says, “We have passed
Letters, page 431, he says, “It was laid on Mr.
a quarter of the Catechism, and thought to have
Palmer to draw up a directory for catechising. The made a short work with the rest, but we have faller
directory contains no article on this point. In the into such endless janglings about the method and
same volume, page 440, he says, “Mr. Palmer's part the matter, that all think it will be a long work: the
about catechising was given in, and though the best increase of all heresies is very great.'”
catechist in England, did not suit, but was left in When the Committee had accomplished their
our hands to frame according to our mind.' There task, the Shorter. Catechism was sulmitted to the
was one.
CATECHISTS__CATECHUMENS.
466
eve.
Assembly and approved of, first in separate parts, by the bishop or pastor himself. On Palm-Sunday
and then as a whole It was then laid before Par- it was customary for the bishop to catechize such of.
liament, by whom it was sanctioned. Circumstances, the catechumens as were to be baptized on Easter-
however, intervened which prevented it from being The duty in course of time came to be per-
licensed by the King. In 1648 the General Assem- formed not by the bishop only, but also by presby-
bly of the Church of Scotland had it under consi- ters and deacons. At length the office of catechist
deration, when, after deliberation, they adopted the was conferred, as in the church of Carthage, on some
following deliverance:- “The General Assembly | individual who happened to distinguish himself
having seriously considered the Shorter Catechism, among the church readers. At Alexandria, how-
agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines sitting at ever, it was necessary that those who held this office
Westminster, with the assistance of commissioners should be men both of ability and learning, and in
from this Kirk, do find, upon due examination thereof, consequence of the high character of those who were
that the said Catechism is agreeable to the Word of chosen as catechists, the school of Alexandria, in..
God, and in nothing contrary to the received doc- stead of being an elementary school for catechumens,
trine, worship, discipline, and government of the Kirk, became a CATECHETICAL SCHOOL (which see) for in-
and therefore approve the said Shorter Catechism, as struction in the more difficult points of theology.
a part of the intended uniformity, to be a Directory The proper duty of the catechist was to point out
for catechising such as are of weaker capacity.” The to catechumens, not publicly in the church, but gen-
following year it was also ratified by the Scottish erally in some private place, as for instance, the BAP-
Parliament. From that time down to the present, TISTERY (which see), the special obligations under
the Shorter Catechism has been used not only among which they would come in entering the Christian
Presbyterians in Scotland, but extensively among church, and the duties they were bound to discharge
other denominations throughout the three kingdoms, as members of the church. Deaconesses were also
and in the United States of America, besides being employed as catechists to teach the female catechu-
translated into many different languages, and highly mens. An officer bearing the name of catechist is
valued as one of the most precious of uninspired com- still found in the Greek church, whose duty it is to in-
positions. On this subject Dr. James Brewster thus struct and prepare for baptism, all such as renounce
remarks: “In the Reformed Protestant Churches of heretical tenets, and desire to be admitted into the
Holland, the Shorter Catechism is divided into fifty- pale of the church. In modern times the name of
two sections, one of which is prescribed as the regu- catechists has been applied to a class of godly men,
lar subject of discourse during the afternoon service who, though not invested with the clerical office, are
every Lord's Day, so that all the parts of the Cate-employed frequently in places where the means of
chism may be successively explained in the course grace are scanty, in reading and familiarly expound-
of every year. All the Presbyterian denominations in ing the Word of God from house to house among the
Scotland, who have separated from the Established humbler classes.
Church, not only retain this Shorter Catechism as a CATECHUMENIA, a word used to designate
part of their standards, but hold it in the highest esti- the place in which the catechumens were instructed,
mation, as an instrument of religious instruction among whether the baptistery, or a place set apart for the
their people. The Presbyterian Dissenters in Eng- special purpose. It was besides, a name given to the
land were accustomed to testify the greatest regard upper galleries in the early Christian churches,
for this little summary of Christian doctrine; and where the women sat, and which were situated above
their provincial Synod in London, at one time pub- the porticos of the men, upon pillars. They were
lished several directions for its being employed in also called hyperoa or upper rooms, and in one of
catechising children and servants on the Lord's Day these the empress commonly sat when hearing Di-
in the afternoon before sermon, to the end that the vine service performed. These apartments were
whole congregation may receive benefit thereby.' sometimes used as places where councils were held.
The Independents also, especially in England, have Thus the council of Constantinople is said to have
borne the strongest testimonies to its excellence; met in the right hand galleries of the church of Alex-
and the Wesleyan Methodists have embodied a con- ius, and some others are mentioned as having been
siderable portion of its contents in one of their sum.
held in the same place.
maries of Scripture truth. Throughout the vast ex- CATECHUMENS (Gr. learners), candidates for
tent of the Christian Church in the United States of baptism in the ancient Christian church. Great im-
America, it is not only held in great estimation, but portance was justly attached to this order, as is evident
brought into general use in their schools, their pul- from the fact, that schools were specially instituted
pits, and their theological seminaries.”
for their instruction, over which CATECHISTS (which
CATECHISTS, officers in the early Christian see) were appointed. One part of the church ser-
church, whose duty it was to instruct the CATECHU- vice was designed for their particular benefit, and
MENS (which see) in the first principles of religion, when it was concluded they were dismissed. The
and thereby prepare them for the reception of bap- circumstances in which the order of Catechumens
tism. This office was at first discharged apparently had its origin are thus described by Dr. Jamieson in
T.
2 11 *
466
CATECHUMENS.
mens.
man.
nis "Manners and Trials of the Primitive Chris- that the order of the catechumens arose an order
tians:' “ While those who were entitled to partake of which, though unknown to the age of Peter and
the Lord's Supper were exclusively denominated the Paul, boasts of a very early introduction into the
faithful, and considered as occupying the rank of primitive church; and at whatever period its date
perfect or approved Christians, there were several may be fixed, its origin is to be traced to the laud-
other classes of persons, who, though connected with able desire of more fully instructing young converts
the church, and forming constituent parts of it, were in the doctrines of the Christian faith, and at the
yet separated from and inferior to the former
, being same time affording them opportunities to give evi-
in various stages of advancement towards a qualifi-dence of the sincerity of their profession, by the
cation for the holy rites of the gospel. These or- change of their lives and the holiness of their con-
ders, known by the name of catechumens, were dis- versation."
tinguished from each other by lines of demarcation, Some of the early Father's speak of certain mys-
beyond which none was allowed to pass without a teries more especially connected with the eucharist,
long and gradual preparation; and between a newly- which were carefully concealed from the catechu-
made catechumen and a Christian in the rank of the
These were usually known by the name of
faithful, there was as wide a difference in the eye of ARCANI DISCIPLINA (which see). There was no
the primitive church as between an infant of a day specific rule as to the precise age at which Jewish
and one who has attained the stature of a full-grown and heathen converts were admitted into the list of
. In the records of apostolic times we shall in catechumens. At such a period most of them were,
vain look for any traces of this distinction ; for then of course, adults, and sometimes, as in the case of
a heathen no sooner made an avowal of his faith in Constantine the Great, they delayed the reception
Christ than he received the initiatory rite of Chris- of baptism till they found themselves on a dying
tianity. His conversion was immediately followed bed. They were not bound to remain among the
by his baptism, and whatever shades of difference catechumens for any fixed period, but much de-
there might be in the knowledge of the new con- pended on their proficiency. By the council.of Il-
verts, all were considered as equally entitled to the liberis, A. D. 673, the time of instruction was named
outward sign as they were to the inward and spi- as two years; and by that of Agatha, A. D. 506, it
ritual benefits of the ordinance. But in process of was limited to eight months. Cyril of Jerusalem
time, when the church was enlarged by a daily in- and Jerome required catechumens to observe a sea-
creasing influx of members from heathenism, and son of fasting and prayer for forty days.
when her purity was no longer guarded by the pre- The catechumens were early divided into separate
siding care of those who possessed the miraculous classes according to their advancement in Christian
gift of discerning spirits, the pious solicitude of her knowledge. The most general and the simplest clas-
rulers in after-times gave rise to the custom of de- sification was into the imperfect and the perfect,
ferring the admission of converts into the fellowship or the beginners and the proficients. On the enrol-
of the church, till clear and satisfactory evidence ment of any individual in the list of catechumens,
was obtained of their fitness, in point of knowledge he was admitted by the imposition of hands. The
and sincerity, to be enrolled in the ranks of the dis- discipline to which he was thereafter subjected, in
ciples. The dear-bought experience of the primitive preparation for baptism, is thus rapidly summed up
Christians had convinced them that the gross habits by Dr. Jamieson: “ The moment that a heathen
of idolaters were not easily, and all at once, in many announced his resolution to abandon the religion of
instances, relinquished for the pure and spiritual | his fathers, and to embrace that of Jesus, he was
principles of the gospel, and that multitudes of pro- introduced to the pastor of the place, who, having
fessed believers held their faith by so slender a tie laid his hand upon his head, (a ceremony of very
that the slightest temptation plunged them anew frequent use in all the offices of the ancient church,)
into their former sensuality, and the first alarm drove and prayed that he might become a partaker of the
them back into the enemies' camp. To diminish, grace of the gospel, consigned him to the care of
and if possible, to prevent the occurrence of such some missionaries, whose duty it was from time to
melancholy apostasies, which interrupted the peace time to wait upon him privately, and in his own
and prosperity of the Christian society, and brought house, to instruct him in the elementary principles
a stain on the Christian name, was a consummation of the Christian faith. At an appointed time, and
devoutly wished for by the pious fathers of the pri- when he had satisfied his private instructors of his
mitive age; and accordingly, animated by a spirit of capacity to profit by the services of the church, he
holy jealousy, they adopted the rule, which soon was permitted to come into the congregation, where
came into universal practice, of instituting a severe he stood in a particular place appropriated to the
and protracted inquiry into the character and views hearers—those who were admitted to hear the
of candidates for admission to the communion of the scriptures read, and the plain and simple discourses
church, of not suddenly advancing them to that on the fundamental articles of faith and points of
honourable degree, but of continuing them for a lim- duty, which always formed the subject of the preli-
ited period in a state of probation. It was thus i minary exhortations of the church. If the profi-
i
!
,
CATECHUMENS.
467
ciency and conduct of the catechumen during his The catechumens in the ancient church were al-
continuance in this lower rank were approved of. lowed to be present at, and take part in, one portion
was, at a certain period, advanced to a higher of the public prayers, which followed immed ately
order, which was privileged not only to be present after the sermon; but they were excluded from those
at the reading of the scriptures, and the delivery of prayers which were peculiar to the faithful or com-
the sermons, but also at the prayers, which were de-
scribed as concluding the first service. After re- any of the prayers began in the service of the cate-
maining the appointed time in this more advanced chumens, a deacon called generally upon all Jews
stage of his progress, he was successively privileged and infidels, and such of the catechumens and peni-
to be present at the public prayers of the church, to tents as were simply. in the stage of audientes, or
hear the discourses addressed to the faithful on the hearers, to withdraw. Prayers were then offered
higher and more abtruse doctrines of Christianity, specially on behalf of the catechumens, commencing
and even to witness, at a humble distance, the dis- with a BIDDING PRAYER (which see), which was an
pensation of the Lord's Supper. He was then con- exhortation and direction how the congregation were
sidered ripe for baptism, and immediately put upon to pray for them; and to every petition, the people,
a new course of discipline, preparatory to partaking and especially the children, were accustomed to sub-
of the holy mysteries at the next celebration of the join, "Lord, have mercy upon them.” After the
solemnity. Hitherto he had been trained, by a re- bidding-prayer, the deacon called upon them to bow
gular course of catechetical instructions in private, down and receive the bishop's benediction. Chry-
to a knowledge of the leading doctrines and duties of sostom mentions that the catechumens were invited
the gospel, and now he was subjected to frequent | also to pray for the protection and guidance of the
and minute examinations in public on every branch | ANGEL OF PEACE (which see), for peace upon all
of his religious education. If approved, he was that awaited them, peace in the present, and peace
forthwith instructed in some of the sublimer points in the future, and for a Christian end. In conse-
of Christianity, which had been hitherto withheld quence of bowing the knee before the bishop, the
from him, such as the doctrine of the Trinity, the catechumens at this stage were sometimes called
union of the Divine and human natures in Christ, genuflectentes, kneelers. On leaving this class, they
the influences of the Spirit, and the way in which a were considered regular candidates for baptism, and,
participation of the symbols of a Saviour's love gives as such, their names were registered in the diptychs,
spiritual nourishment to the soul. He was allowed or church books. To this custom Gregory of Nyssa
to employ the Lord's Prayer, the use of which was alludes, when he says, in his treatise on Baptism,
considered as the exclusive privilege of his adopted " that as he inscribed the names with ink in the
children ; and was enjoined to commit to memory earthly roll, so might the finger of God write them
the creed, as a formula which embodied in a small down in his imperishable book.” In the North-
compass all the grand articles of revealed truth African church, the bishop gave to those whom he
which it had been the object of his protracted disci- received as competentes
, or prepared for baptism,
pline to teach him. For twenty successive days he while signing the cross over them as a symbol of
continued a course of partial fasting, during which consecration, a portion of salt, over which a blessing
he had daily interviews with his minister, who, in had been pronounced. This was intended to signify
private, and secluded from the presence of every the divine word imparted to the candidates, as the
other observer, endeavoured, by serious discourse, to true salt for human nature.
impress his mind with a sense of the important step It would appear, from various early writers, that
he was about to take, and more especially prayed catechumens were exorcised for twenty days before
with him in the usual solemn form, by imposition of receiving baptism. (See EXORCISM.) By the cere-
hands, that he might be delivered from any evil monies followed on this occasion, which consisted of
spirit that had possession of his heart, and be ena- prayer, insufflation, imposition of hands, and the
bled to consecrate himself a living sacrifice to God sign of the cross, evil spirits were expelled from the
and the Saviour. Such was the discipline of the heart; and during the same period the catechumens
catechumens—a discipline to which all ranks and were exercised with abstinence and fasting. At
descriptions of men, who were desirous of being ad- this time they were taught to repeat the words of
mitted into the bosom of the church, were in primi- | the Creed, and then of the Lord's Prayer, besides
tive times indiscriminately subjected. None,' to
None,' to being fully instructed in the responses which they
use the words of Lord King, “were permitted to were required to make in baptism. When pre-
enjoy the privileges of the faithful till they had in a pared for the ordinance, they went veiled, or with
manner merited them ; which was, when they had, their faces covered for some days before its adminis-
a considerable time of trial, manifested the tration. Another ceremony which may be men-
sincerity of their hearts by the sanctity and purity tioned, was the custom of touching the
ears of the
of their lives. When they had changed their man- catechumens, and saying unto them, “ Ephphatha,"
ners, and rectified their former habits, then they were “Be opened," denoting the opening of the under-
washed with the waters of baptism, and not before.'” standing to receive the truth of God. Ambrose
through
468
!
CATENA PATRUM-CATHARISTS.
mentions, also, another practice which was followed wounds, though they were imperceptible to all eyes
in the case of catechumens, that of anointing the but her own. She travelled throughout all Italy,
eyes with clay, in imitation of the manner in which teaching, warning, exhorting, and proclaiming to
our Lord opened the eyes of the blind man as re- crowded audiences, the wonders which she had seen
corded in John ix. 6,“ When he had thus spoken, in heaven and hell during the trance in which all
he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, thought her dead. She bore five years of privation,
and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the and was tormented by devils. It was partly in con-
clay." In the African church, a lighted taper was sequence of the pretended revelations of Catharine,
put into the hands of catechumens during the cere- that Gregory XI., the last of the Avignon popes,
mony of exorcism. It is also said, that though was persuaded to remove his court to Rome, in A. D.
catechumens were not permitted to partake of the 1374, where he died in 1378.
eucharist, yet they had something like it which they CATHARISTS, or CATHARI (Gr. katharos, pure),
called consecrated bread, taken out of the same ob- a term applied in different ages to those who professed
lations which supplied the elements of the eucharist. to maintain peculiar purity, both in doctrine and
This practice may be the foundation of the ANTI- | life. The Novatians received this name in the fourth
DORON (which see) of the Greek Church. Augus- century. It was especially applied to the PAULI-
tine makes a reference to what has been called the CIANS (which see) of the seventh and following cen-
sacrament of the catechumens, which Bingham sup- turies, by way of reproach, as differing from the
poses not to have been the consecrated bread, but tenets of the dominant church. The sects which
only a little taste of salt; for, in a passage of Augus- bore the appellation of Catharists were scattered in
tine's writings, where he is speaking of himself as a different countries, and under different names. The
catechumen, he says, that at that time he was often peculiar opinions which they seem to have held, par-
signed with the cross of Christ and seasoned with his ticularly in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,
salt.
from their similarity to the Gnostic sects, bear evi-
The punishment usually inflicted upon catechu- dently an oriental impress, although elaborated into a
mens when, during the course of their training, they thoroughly independent system. One party assum-
fell into gross and scandalous offences, was to pro- ed the existence of two original and opposite princi-
tract the period of their probationary instruction. ples, and of two creations corresponding to these two
While the ordinary time was two years, transgressors principles; while the other party held only a relative
were sometimes obliged to continue three, and, at Dualism, and regarded the evil principle as a spirit
other times, five years; but, in the case of very ag- fallen from God, and as having given origin to a re-
gravated sins, till the hour of their death. In case volution in the universe. These may be considered
catechumens died without baptism by neglect or as the distinctive doctrines which separated the two
their own default, they were doomed to be buried in divisions of Catharists from one another, although
silence, and no mention was ever after made of them they were knit by a firm bond in their common op-
among others in the prayers of the church. But if position to the Church of Rome.
they were suddenly cut off while preparing for bap- The more rigid Catharists set out in their theolo-
tism, they were considered as on the same footing gical system from an absolute Dualism. They be-
with martyrs, quite prepared for death.
lieved in the existence, from all eternity, of two
CATENA PATRUM, a collection of passages principles and two creations. The good God gave
from the old church fathers, arranged according to origin to all imperishable existence, but to the evil
the books of the Bible, which they were designed to deity must be traced all perishable existence. This
illustrate.
lower world, as being perishable, is the work of the
CATHARINE (St.), FESTIVAL OF, held in the evil principle, and the higher world, as being imper.
Romish Church in honour of Catharine of Sienna, ishable, is the work of the good principle. In ac-
who lived towards the close of the fourteenth cen- cordance with this system, they explained numerous
tury. She appears to have been a mystic, whose passages, both of the Old and New Testaments, in
whole life was spent amid the most extravagant which an opposition is asserted between the world
delusions. Her visions commenced at six years of and God, between the flesh and the Spirit. And,
age. She pretended that on one occasion she had not contented with appealing to Scripture in sup-
been blessed by a vision in which the Saviour ap- port of their doctrines, they claimed Aristotle also
peared to her, accompanied by the Holy Mother, and as favourable to their views. Satan, they alleged,
numerous saints, in whose presence he solemnly had intruded into the heaven of the good, and
espoused her, placing on her finger a golden ring led a third part of the heavenly souls into apostacy.
adorned with four pearls and a diamond. After the These heavenly souls were middle beings between a
vision had vanished the ring still remained, visible higher and a lower class. To each soul correspond-
only to herself. She boasted also that she had suck- ed a spirit and a heavenly body. In punishment of
ed the blood from the wound in the Redeemer's side, their apostacy, they were driven from heaven along
that she had received his heart in exchange for her with Satan their leader, and separated both froin
own, and that she bore on her body the marks of his their spirits and the heavenly bodies. Hence they
CATHARISTS.
469
are ever appearing under the veil of some human | proceeded from God, and the form given to it from
body, in which Satan has confined them. They be- Satan. The sun, moon, and stars, they looked upon
lieved in different gradations of heavenly souls, ac- as intelligences which had fallen. From the one
cording as they belonged to different princes of hea- heavenly soul of Adam, all other souls were believed
ven, the highest being composed of those who were to have been derived. They denied original sin,
described as the spiritual Israel, and for whose salva- considering it as impossible, seeing that men were
tion more especially Christ came into the world.
sprung from Adam only by bodily descent. Satan
The Catharists believed Christ to be the highest was with them the god of the Old Testament who
spirit after God, yet differing from him in essence, revealed himself to Abraham, and brought the flood
and subordinate to him; and they viewed the Holy upon the world, while from God proceeded the deli-
Spirit as in like manner different from the Son, and verance of Noah. Moses and the prophets were, in
subordinate to him. “ The Son of God," to use the their view, servants of Satan, and they looked upon
language of Neander, “united himself to a spirit, soul, the Old Testament and the New as opposed each
and body, in that heavenly world, and so descended, other. They denied the lawfulness of war, objected
with the annunciation of the angel, into Mary, and to capital punishment, and would admit of no other
again went forth from her. Herself
, however, they testimony than a simple yea or nay. They agreed
regarded as a higher spirit, who appeared on earth with the stricter Catharists on the subject of the
for the purpose of becoming the instrument or chan- Trinity. They held that Mary was not really the
nel for the appearance of the Son of God in humanity. | mother of Christ, but only the channel through
They taught, like the Valentinians, that the heavenly which he passed into the world. They denied the
body of Christ was, by a special act of divine power, resurrection of the body, contended against infant
80 modified, that it seemed like an earthly one, and baptism, and even regarded water-baptism generally
could be perceived by the senses. Yet they must as a device of Satan in order to suppress the true bap-
explain all sensuous acts and affections to which tism of the Spirit, which, they maintained, should be
Christ subjected himself as unreal, mere appearances. | performed by the imposition of hands in connection
They maintained, likewise, that all the accounts of with prayer. This rite they termed CONSOLAMEN-
the miracles wrought by Christ, were to be under- TUM (which see), and maintained that the Holy
stood only in a spiritual sense, as symbols of the Spirit was therein communicated, not by the visible,
spiritual miracles wrought by him.' A party among but by an invisible hand contained under the visible.
the Catharists regarded the apostle John, whom they In regard to the Lord's Supper they were of opinion
especially reverenced, as an angel, who, being des- that Christ, when he uttered the words, “ This is,"
tined to remain till the second coming of Christ, pointed to his own body; or they explained the
was still on the earth. Another party, called Ordi- words of the institution in a symbolical sense,
BARII (which see), taught that a Trinity first began is " being equivalent to "this signifies.” They be-
to exist at the birth of Christ. The man Jesus be- | lieved in transubstantiation, or the conversion of the
came Son of God by his reception of the Word an- bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.
nounced to him, and he was the son of Mary, not in | In their love-feasts, which they also observed, the
a corporeal, but in a spiritual sense, being born of presiding officer of the sect imparted the blessing by
her by the annunciation of the Word ; and when by reciting the Lord's Prayer.
the preaching of Jesus others were attracted, the The Catharists openly dissented from some of the
Holy Ghost began to exist. The new birth was, in leading doctrines of the dominant church. They
the view of the stricter Catharists, a restoration of objected to the sacrament of penance, and denied
the relation between the soul and its corresponding the necessity of a satisfaction for sins committed
spirit, from which it had been separated by the apos- after baptism. In confessing their sins to the
tasy. They believed in a threefold judgment; first, bishop, the members of the sect prostrated them-
the expulsion of apostate souls from heaven; second, selves before him in Eastern fashion, praying in
that which began with the appearance of Christ; these words : "Have mercy upon us, O Lord. I
third, when Christ shall raise his redeemed to the never must die, but inherit thee on high, that I may
higher condition, or, in other words, when the souls have a good end." The bishop then bestowed on
shall rejoin the spirits and the heavenly bodies they each the consolamentum, with the imposition of
had left behind them in heaven. It is said that the hands, while he thrice repeated, “ And that thou
strict Catharists rejected the whole Old Testament, mayest be a good man. Rainer, in his treatise
with the exception of Isaiah. They are also alleged against the Catharists, says that they did not receive
to have set a high value on an apocryphal book the writings of the fathers. The four evangelists
called the Ascension of Isaiah, which gives counte- they readily acknowledged, alleging that they had
dance to some of their most prominent doctrines. written in a saving way, because they had written
The milder Catharists did not maintain the exist- upon the heart, while the other four-namely, Je-
ence from all eternity of an evil spirit, but held, on rome, Augustin, Ambrose, and Bernard, had written
the contrary, that all evil had its origin in the apos- unprofitably, because they only wrote on the lifeless
tasy of a good spirit. Matter they supposed to have parchment. They rejected the authority of church
16 this
470
CATHEDRA-CATHEDRAL.
1
tradition, the hierarchy, the worship of saints and offending Catharists to the stake. Thus it was that
images, the value of pilgrimage, thus maintaining at in the countries on the Rhine and in France, many
that early period, some of those very principles of these so-called heretics were doomed to suffer the
which formed the groundwork, at a later period, of most cruel and unjust treatment, and persecuted even
the Protestant Reformation. On one important point, to death. This was more especially the case to-
however, they were entirely at variance with the wards the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of
tenets which afterwards made up the Protestant doc- the fourteenth centuries. In vain did the amiable
trine as opposed to the Church of Rome. We refer Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, interpose in behalf
to the high position which the Catharists assigned to what he considered a class of well meaning though
good works in the matter of salvation. The per- mistaken sectaries. His representations were at-
fects, as they were called, or stricter Catharists were tended with but partial success in stemming the tide
expected to practise a morality of the most rigidly of persecution. The ruthless persecutor's were
ascetic description. They were required to abstain struck with amazement at the calmness and intre-
from meat, eggs, and cheese. Marriage was dis- pidity with which the Catharists met an excruciating
countenanced, as leading, in their view, to sin. death, but they endeavoured to explain away the
The sect was divided into two classes, the one strange anomaly by ascribing it to the power of
consisting of the Perfect, or good men, and the other | Satan. The blood of the martyrs was in their case,
of believers. The former class corresponded to the as in that of every other sect of Christians, the seed
elect in the sect of the Manicheans. They repre- of the church. Like the Israelites of old, the more
sented themselves as wandering about, exposed to they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and
persecution, and without a settled home, living like increased. Though multitudes of them were com-
the Saviour, who knew not where to lay his head. pelled to take refuge in dens and caves of the earth,
From the number of the Perfect were chosen the the sect daily received accessions to its numbers,
presiding officers of the sect; first, a bishop; then, both in Italy and France, and thus the Catharists
under him, a greater and a lesser son; and, finally, continued, under various different names, but with
a deacon. Several were set apart from their child- the same principles, at least in substance, to hold
hood for the office of bishop, and educated for that their ground in the face of all opposition, until the
purpose. One important part of their training con- glorious reformation of the sixteenth century ren-
sisted of the regulation of their food, which consisted dered their leading principles extensively predomi-
of no other milk but the milk of almonds, and no nant throughout various countries of Europe.
flesh, but fish; and, in other respects, they were ob- CATHEDRA, a seat among the ancients, but
liged to observe the rigid diet of the Perfect. more especially applied among the Romans to a soft
The Catharists were zealous in disseminating their seat used by women. Afterwards it came to be
principles everywhere, travelling about from village to used as signifying the chair or pulpit from which
village and from house to house, embracing every op- lectures were read. It was also employed to de-
portunity of expounding the Scriptures, and teaching note the raised chair in which the bishop or pre-
their peculiar doctrines to the uninitiated. Wherever siding pastor sat. Cathedra is also the name of an
they went, they were almost certain of meeting with Episcopal see.
a kind and cordial reception from individuals who The bishop's throne, as well as the place in which
sympathized with their principles. In particular, it was situated, was frequently called BEMA (which
the Perfect were received into the houses of believers see). Gregory Nazianzen speaks of himself as bishop
with great respect. The inmates thrice bowed the sitting upon the high throne, and the presbyters on
knee to receive their blessing. The members of the lower benches on both sides about him. This ar.
sect who might happen to reside in the neighbour- rangement has sometimes been supposed to have
hood quickly assembled, to whom a sermon was been adopted in imitation of the Jewish synagogues,
preached, pointing out not only the truth of God in which, according to Maimonides, the law was
as set forth in the Scriptures, but its opposition placed in the wall at the upper end, and on each
to the regular teaching of the dominant church. side the elders were seated in a semicircle.
Still further to propagate their peculiar tenets, CATHEDRAL, the chief church of a diocese, or
they took in the daughters of indigent noblemen, a church in which is a bishop's see, so called from
and educated them gratuitously, at the same time the episcopal cathedra or chair. Cathedrals had
instilling into their minds an acquaintance with the their origin in England in the early Missionary col-
Word of God.
leges, each consisting of a bishop, with his asso-
The avowed opposition of the Catharists to the ciated clergy, living together, and maintained by
doctrine and hierarchy of the Church of Rome na- common funds, and from these colleges went forth
turally excited the jealousy and indignation of the preachers of the gospel into all parts of the bishop's
clergy. The most absurd reports were raised as to diocese or parish. In this original form the Cathe-
the practices of this obnoxious sect; and the igno-dral church was called Episcopium.
After the
rant populace, goaded to fury by the calumnious re- Conquest, Cathedral institutions assumed a some-
presentations of the clergy, hurried many of the un- what altered form more completely adapted to the
CATHOLIC CHURCH.
471
particular circumstances of the times. Each Ca- | maintained, and the Holy Gospel assiduously and
thedral church, with its bishop, appears as the purely preached; and besides this, that to the ad-
spiritual metropolis of a diocese, divided into a vancement of the Christian faith and piety, the
number of different parishes, each having its own youth of our realm may be trained up in sound
minister and its separate endowment. The Cathe- learning, and the poor for ever maintained.”
dral body now became of an administrative rather In 1835, William IV. issued a commission to
than a missionary character. The regular, organized consider the several cathedral and collegiate churches
system, however, of Cathedral churches was intro- of England and Wales, with a view to the sugges-
duced by the Norman bishops on their promotion to tion of such measures as may render them condu-
English sees, and continues to this day with some cive to the efficiency of the Established church.
modifications, in the nine English cathedrals of the Several important improvements have been made in
old foundation, viz. York, St. Paul's, London, Chi- the cathedral system as the result of the inquiries of
chester, Exeter, Hereford, Lichfield, Lincoln's, Salis- this commission. As examples of these may be
bury, Wilts. On the same footing there are four ca- mentioned, the reduction of the number of canonries
thedrals in Wales, St. Asaph, Bangor, Llandaff, and to four attached to each cathedral, with the excep-
St. David's. Besides these cathedrals of the old tion of Christ church, Oxford, which is allowed to
foundation, there are eight Conventual cathedrals, retain eight; the retaining of the non-residentiary
which were constituted with deans and chapters by canons in the old foundations, but without emolu-
King Henry VIII. These are Canterbury, Durham, ment; the reduction of the number of minor can-
Carlisle, Ely, Norwich, Rochester, Winchester, and ons, and the reduction of the incomes of future deans
Worcester. There were also five cathedrals founded, and canons.
together with new bishoprics, by Henry VIII. viz. Another commission was issued for the same pur-
Bristol, Peterborough, Oxford, Gloucester, and pose by Queen Victoria in 1852, and the report
Chester.
There are
two additional cathedrals, which contains the result of their inquiries was pub-
Ripon and Manchester, which may be considered lished by authority of Parliament in 1854. Many
rather as collegiate churches.
valuable suggestions, as appears from the Report,
The members of each cathedral are as follows: have been made to the commissioners, which, if
the bishop, presiding over the whole body, the dean, adopted, will undoubtedly render the cathedral sys-
precentor, chancellor, treasurer, archdeacons, canons, tem more efficient than it has been since its first in-
vicars, and other officers. The four cathedrals in stitution. One of the main purposes for which
Wales were less perfect in their constitution than cathedrals were founded was to impart Christian
the English cathedrals. Thus the dean was want- instruction, especially to those who were under
ing at St. David's and Llandaff. The dean and training for holy orders in the church. By an edict
chapter regulate the affairs of cathedrals, and are of Charlemagne, schools were attached to every ca-
only amenable to the bishop's jurisdiction as a body thedral in his dominions; and till about the end of
in chapter assembled. All offences of individual the tenth century almost the only seminaries were
members are corrected by the authority of the dean, found in cathedral and conventual institutions. On
according to the capitular statutes. During the pe- inquiry the commissioners have found, that the ca-
riod which elapsed between the Conquest and the thedrals of England have never wholly lost this fea-
Reformation, a remarkable feature in the adminis- ture of their original constitution, but of late years
tration of cathedrals was the chapter council, in various steps have been taken towards carrying out
which the bishop presided over the whole capitular this important object of cathedrals still more exten-
body, and with their advice and assistance framed sively. And it must be admitted, that the tendency
regulations for the cathedral church, and other of legislative enactments, in recent years, has been
parts of diocesan government. The chapter coun- to render, in some degree, the revenues of cathedrals
cil of Salisbury has been assembled several times more conducive to the improvement of clerical train-
since the Reformation, under the name of the Pen- ing in connection with university education. In this
has originated, only a few years ago, the establish-
In the early part of the sixteenth century, several ment of the university of Durham, and the endow-
changes were made in the cathedrals of the old foun- ment still more recently of several professorships in
dation, not however materially affecting their constitu- the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. See
tion. In some of the old cathedrals, however, the sta- CANONS of a CATHEDRAL, CHAPTER.
tutes have not been remodelled, and are, therefore, CATHOLIC CHURCH (Gr. catholicos, univer-
now in many respects inapplicable to the English sal), a name applied to the Christian church, which
Liturgy. The eight Conventual cathedrals were is almost as ancient as the church itself. It was
changed after the suppression of the monasteries used in early times to distinguish the church froin
into eight chapters of dean and canons. The de- heretical sects, which were usually confined to parti-
sign of the thirteen new chapters founded by Hen- cular districts, or a limited party of men, and, there-
ry VIII., is thus set forth in the preamble of the fore, could not be considered as catholics; but the
statutes : “That the pure worship of God may be
Church of Christ was well entitled to the name, be-
tecostal chapter.
472
CATHOLIC CHURCH.
cause it was universally diffused over the whole unity has arisen." At a much earlier period than
world. Nor was any one in the first ages of Chris- the days of Cyprian, we find an evident tendency
tianity acknowledged to be a Christian unless he | in the Roman bishops to lord it over the churches.
professed himself to belong to the catholic church, | Thus about A.D. 190, Victor, bishop of Rome, went
which from the beginning recognized a living, out- so far in this direction as to excommunicate the
ward union among all its members, however far churches of Asia Minor on account of an unimpor-
they might be separated from one another. In many tant dispute about the time of celebrating Easter.
districts, Christianity very early made progress in In the writings of Tertullian may be found traces
the open country, and as soon as a sufficient number of the same spirit, as having been exhibited in his
of converts were gathered together, a regular congre- time by the Roman bishops, who issued peremptory
gation was formed, with its presiding officers, presby- edicts on ecclesiastical matters, and endeavoured
ters, or bishops, who were quite as independent as the even to make themselves be regarded as bishops of
presiding officers of the city churches. These rural bishops. These arrogant and presumptuous claims
bishops or CHOREPISCOPI (which see), as they were were met on the part of the whole Eastern and
afterwards called, probably existed in the earliest many of the Western churches with determined re-
periods of the church, though we do not find them sistance. Even Cyprian, who, looked upon the Ro.
mentioned by name before the fourth century. In man church as Peter's chair, maintained with the ut-
all probability Christianity was first extended from most firmness and energy the independent right of in-
the cities into the rural districts, so that both con- dividual bishops to manage the affairs of the churches
gregations, and their presiding officers in the coun- according to their own principles, and he openly
try, would be subordinate to the city bishop. In denied the right which was claimed by the Church
the same way Christianity would spread from the of Rome to determine all matters of church contro-
principal cities to the other provincial towns. As | versy. About this time, the middle of the third
converts multiplied, the churches of a province con- century, two Spanish bishops had been deposed by
stituted a whole, at the head of which stood the a synod for certain grave offences. They appealed
church of the metropolis, whose bishop became, in to Stephanus, bishop of Rome, who, asserting a su-
relation to the other bishops of the province, chief preme judicatory power, reversed the sentence of
among his equals. In course of time the churches, the Spanish ecclesiastical court, and restored the de.
which had been founded by apostles, and to whom posed bishops to office. This gave rise immediately
they had addressed their epistles, came to be held in to a question in Spain, whether the one sentence or
peculiar veneration, and whenever there was any con- the other was to be respected, and held as valid, and
troversy, whether in regard to doctrine or practice, the Christian churches of North Africa were applied
these apostolic churches, as they were sometimes to for their opinion. A synod, accordingly, was
called, were consulted in the first instance. Such convened upon the point at Carthage, and Cyprian
were especially Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, Ephe- was commissioned by the Synod to reply, that in
sus, and Corinth.
their opinion, the decision of the Roman bishop was
The superiority thus assigned to particular without force and void, and that the two deposed
churches over the others did not rest here. The bishops should on no account be permitted to hold
Church of Rome, the great capital of the world, and office.
the city where it was very anciently reported that The first ecclesiastical decree, which was passed
both Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom, naturally in favour of the usurped authority of the Roman
arose into pre-eminence above the other sedes apos- church, was that of an obscure council held at Sar-
tolicce, or churches which had been privileged to dis during the Arian controversy in A. D. 347.
enjoy the presence and preaching of the apostles. Among other things this council declared, that " in
From the church at Rome, indeed, had originated the event of any bishop considering himself aggrieved
many of the churches of the West, and Irenæus by the sentence of the bishops of his province, he
speaks of this church in such terms as clearly might apply to the bishops of Rome, who should
shows, if we may believe the ancient Latin transla- write to the bishops in the neighbourhood of the
tion of the writings of that early father, the original province of the aggrieved bishop, to rehear the
Greek text being unfortunately lost, at how early a cause; and should also, if it seemed desirable to do
period the church of Rome asserted a pre-eminence so, send some presbyters of his own church to assist
over the other churches. Both Irenæus and Tertul- at the rehearing." A second step towards the supre-
lian speak of Peter and Paul as the founders of that macy of the bishop of Rome, was a law enacted A.D.
church, but neither of them held that the Roman 372 by the emperor Valentinian, which empowered
Church was entitled to be called the cathedra Petri, the bishops of Rome to examine and judge other
Peter's chair, or to exercise rule and authority over bishops. Towards the close of the fourth century,
all other apostolic churches. But this idea seems to the custom became somewhat extensive of referring
have gradually arisen and gained ground, for we to the decision of the Roman bishops all questions
find Cyprian styling the Roman Church “ the chair concerning the apostolic customs and doctrines
.
of Peter, the principal church from which sacerdotal This gave them occasion to issue a number of de-
CATHOLIC EPISTLES CATHOLICOS.
473
cretuls, as they were called, which soon assumed a nounced in the strongest terms the assumption of
tone of apostolic authority, and were received with the title of “universal bishop" as vain, blasphe-
high respect in the West.
"From this time forth,' mous, antichristian, and execrable.
The remon-
says Gieseler, “there was no controversy in the strances of the Roman bishop were utterly unavail-
East, in which each party did not seek to win the ing. The patriarch John continued to use the
bishop of Rome, and through him the Western obnoxious title, and after his decease, his successor
church, to its cause, vying with each other in flattery Cynacus adopted the same pompous appellation.
and servility. At the councils, his legates were But the very title, the use of which by the patri-
always treated with the greatest deference, and at arch of Constantinople had roused the indignation
the council of Chalcedon they for the first time pre- of Gregory the Great, was, at the earnest entreaty of
sided." The council of Chalcedon here referred to, his successor Boniface III., conferred upon him by
was convened A. D. 451, and to the no small annoy- the emperor Phocas, a cruel and bloodthirsty ty-
ance of Leo the Great, the then bishop of Rome, a rant, who had made his way to the throne of Greece
canon was passed, which declared the same rights, by the murder of his predecessor. From that im-
honours, and privileges, to be due to the bishop of portant era, A. D. 606, the bishop of Rome took to
Constantinople as had hitherto been conceded to the himself the title of “ Universal Bishop,” thus show-
bishop of Rome, and the same council confirmed the ing himself to be the ANTICHRIST (which see), or
bishop of Constantinople in the spiritual govern- man of sin predicted in the Word of God, and froin
ment of those provinces over which he had claiined that time the church of Rome claimed to be the
superiority.
CATHOLIC or universal church, to the exclusion of
From this period coinmenced the contest for sui- all from the pale of the church and the salvation of
periority between Constantinople and Rome, the Christ who refuse to acknowledge subjection to the
Eastern and the Western capitals. Various circum-
Various circum- Pope of Rome. The epithet Catholic, however, ap-
stances combined, however, to augment the influ- plies in no sense to the church of Rome, which can-
ence and authority of the Roman See, not the least not with truth pretend to be universal, seeing that a
of which was the readiness with which the claims to larger portion of the Christian world itself repudi-
superiority, put forth by the bishops of Rome, were ates the clairn, including not only the immense body
submitted to by the heathen tribes, which now over- of Protestants, but the whole Greek or Eastern
ran the Roman Empire. The ancient capital fell church, which has a far stronger claim to antiquity
into the hands of the invading barbarians, and thus and lineal descent froin the apostolic church thai
was suddenly deprived of its political importance, Rome with all her boasting can venture to assert.
and the Romish bishops found it necessary, there- CATHOLIC CHURCH (ROMAN). See ROME
fore, if they would maintain the authority which they (CHURCH OF).
had gained, to assert their spiritual claims with CATHOLIC EPISTLES, a title given to certain
greater boldness than ever. They put forth, accord- books of the New Testament. These are seven epis-
ingly, a divine right of supreinacy, alleging that tles in nunber, namely, one of James, two of Peter,
they were the regular lineal successors of the apos- three of John, and one of Judc. The appellation
tle Peter, who, they asserted, without either scrip- Catholic is bestowed upon them, because, instead of
tural or historical proof, was the first bishop of being addressed, like the other Apostolic Epistles, to
Rome, and appointed by Christ to be the supremne particular churches, they are directed to Christians
head of the church upon earth. It was felt to be all generally. The term Catholic, as applied to these
the more necessary to urge these claims to spiritual Epistles, was first used by Eusebius, as a common
supremacy, as Rome had now lost its political in- appellation in the fourth century; but at an earlier
portance, and the rival city of Constantinople was period, John's first epistle is repeatedly called a Ca-
fast rising into the first rank of influence and dig- tlolic epistle by Origen, and by Dionysius, bis op
nity. During the fifth century, this contest for su- of Alexandria. Dr. Hammond, followed by Mac-
premacy was carried on with the utmost keemness knight, supposes that the epistles in question ob-
between the bishop of Roine and the patriarch of tained the name of Catholic, as being universally
Constantinople, and towards the close of the same acknowledged and therefore canonical.
century, John the faster, bishop of Constantinople, CATHOLICOS, a name given to the licads or
assumed the title of universal bishop. This arro- patriarchs of the ARMENIAN CHURCH (which see),
gant claim on the part of the Eastern patriarch of which there are at present three, although origi-
roused the jealousy of his Western rival, and Gre- nally there was only one, who usually held his seat
gory the Great, who was at that period bishop of at the imperial residence. The highest dignitary is
Rome, to establish the more firmly his own autho- the catholicos of Etchmiadzin, who has under his
rity, invented the fiction of the power of the keys jurisdiction the whole of Turcomania or Armenia
as committed to the successor of the apostle Peter, Major. He has been appointed by the Czar since
rather than to the body of the bishops as had been 1828, Armenia having been subject to Russia from
hitherto supposed. Besides this bold attempt to that time, a.id he has under him a synod and
outbid the pretensions of his rival, Gregory de- an imperial procurator. The next in rank is the
2 1 *
I
474
CATHOLIKIN-CELIBACY.
their songs.
ence.
catholicos of Sis, a city in Cilicia, who has a limited CEIMELIARCHIUM, the repository of the vest-
province in Syria and the south of Anatolia. The ments, vessels, and utensils in ancient Christian
third catholicos, that of Aghtamar, án island in Lake churches, which were committed to the charge of the
Van, rules over Koordistan, but his authority is CEIMELIARCH (see preceding article), as overseer of
somewhat doubtful. This functionary assumed the the deacons in this department at least of their duty.
title of catholicos in A. D. 1114, and although not CELEDONES, goddesses among the ancient
recognized for two centuries, it was at length ad- Greeks, who were believed to possess, like the Si-
mitted ; but to this day his authority is looked rens, the most attractive and winning influence by
upon with no very favourable feelings. The catholi-
cos alone can ordain bishops, and consecrate the CELESTIAL DEITIES, those of the superior
sacred oil which is used in various ceremonies of the gods of the Roman mythology who were supposed
church. Both the Georgian and Mingrelian Chris- to have their abode in heaven. They possessed pe-
tians have a pontiff at their head, who bears the title culiar authority, and were held in the highest rever
of catholicos, but who pays tribute to the patriarch of As the celestial above all the other gods were
Constantinople.
imagined to be pre-eminently employed in the go-
CATHOLIKIN, two officers in the ancient Jew- vernment of the world, and, therefore, to have the
ish temple, who were head treasurers, and were only greatest influence over the affairs of men, the wor-
inferior in authority to the high-priest and the Sa- | ship awarded to them was of the highest kind. The
gan. Maimonides says of the catholikin, that " they names of these illustrious divinities among the Ro-
were to be to the sagan as the sagan was to the mans were Jupiter, Apollo, Mercury, Bacchus, and
high-priest, substitutes and assistants, and next in Mars ; Juno, Minerva, Venus, Latona, and Aurora.
place and honour.' The business of the temple more CELESTIAL NYMPHS, those genii among tho
especially consisted of its service and the man- ancient heathens who guided the spheres of the hea-
agement of its revenues. Now, as there were infe- vens, and dispensed the influences of the stars among
rior priests that performed the daily service, and as the inhabitants of the earth.
there were treasurers of a lower order that received
CELESTINES, an order of Romish monks insti-
the oblations, and whatever was brought into the tuted by Peter de Meudon, a monk in the thirteenth
common stock; so the high priest, the sagan, and century, who was elected Pope in A. D. 1294, under
the two catholikin were overseers both of the one the name of Celestin V. The order was confirmed
and the other, that the treasury might be properly at the second general council of Lyons by Pope
arranged for the use of the temple, and that the sa- Gregory X. in A. D. 1273. The Celestines soon
cred service might be performed as it ought to be. increased to a great extent in Italy, and were intro-
CATIUS, a god among the ancient Romans, who duced into France by Philip the Fair. Some allege
was looked upon as developing the minds of chil- this order to have been instituted by Peter Damien,
dren when beginning to think.
so far back as A. D. 1078, and that the dress of
CATOPTROMANCY (Gr. catoptron, a looking those monks was of a blue or celestial colour, whence
glass, and manteia, divination), a species of divina- they received the name of Celestines. There are
tion by which objects or persons are alleged to ap- thirty-nine monasteries of this order in Italy, and
pear to the eyes of a spectator in a mirror. See twenty-one in France.
twenty-one in France. The monks wear a white
DIVINATION.
cassock with a patience, scapulary, hood, and cowl,
CAUCON, the most ancient god of the Messe- all black.
nians.
CELIBACY, the unmarried state. “Forbidding
CAUSIUS, a surname of ÆSCULAPIUS (which to marry" is laid down in Sacred Scripture as one of
see), derived from Caus in Arcadia, where he was the marks of the great apostasy predicted by the
worshipped.
Apostle Paul, 1 Tim. iv. 3. Keeping this passage
CAVEAT, a caution entered in the spiritual in view, it is somewhat remarkable that the Romish
courts in England to stop probates, licenses, adminis- church alone is characterized by the denunciation of
trations, &c. from being granted without the know- marriage as in particular circumstances unlawful and
ledge of the party that enters it.
sinful. Thus the council of Trent declares, “ Who-
CEBRON, a river-god in Troas.
soever shall affirm that persons in holy orders or
CECILIA (ST.) FESTIVAL OF, a festival of the regulars who have made a solemn profession of chas-
Romish church, ceiebrated on the 22d November, in tity may marry, let him be accursed.” Again, the
honour of St. Cecilia, virgin and martyr.
same council decrees,“Whosoever shall affirm that the
CEIMELIARCHS (Gr. ceimelia, sacred vessels, conjugal state is to be preferred to a life of virginity
and archo, to rule), subordinate officers in the early or celibacy, and that it is not better and more coni-
Christian church, whose duty it was to take charge ducive to happiness to remain in virginity or celi-
of the sacred vessels, utensils, and such precious bacy than to be married, let him be accursed.” This
things as were laid up in the sacred repository of the attempt to throw discredit on the married state is at
church. The office was usually assigned to some utter variance with the express statements of the
presbyter who had deacons under him.
Divine Word. The institution of marriage, while
CELIBACY.
475
man was yet in a state of innocence, untarnished , of an intention to marry, as being in their case un-
by the evil effects of the fall
, shows that, in its ori- avoidable. Clergymen who were in this position re
ginal essential character, this appointment must be ceived a license to marry, and were declared free
sinless. Besides, the most eminent of the ancient from all censure for so doing. If a candidate for or
saints were married; for instance, Enoch, Noah, Abra- dination was already married, he was not called upon
ham, and Moses. By the express arrangement of to put away his wife, unless he had married a wi.
God, the high-priest under the Mosaic law was to be dow, or a divorced person, or a harlot, or a slave, or
married, as we find in Lev. xxi. 12–14. The Apos- an actress. An attempt was made at the council of
tle Peter and the Evangelist Philip, were both mar- Nice, A, D. 325, bụt without success, to procure an
ried, and our blessed Lord, while on earth, graced enactment that all clergymen, who had married be-
a marriage-feast with his presence, and performed fore their ordination, should withdraw from their
his first miracle on the occasion. “ That the clergy wives. The utmost, however, that the favourers of
may not marry" is the doctrine of the Church of celibacy could obtain from the council was a fresh
Rome, “and that marriage is to them a pollution.” sanction to the established rule or tradition, that none
“A bishop must be the husband of one wife" is the should marry after ordination. It is plain, from the
doctrine of the Bible, "one that ruleth well his own writings of even the most eminent of the Nicene
house, having his children in subjection with all gra- fathers, that the most extravagant notions prevailed
vity.” Aaron the high-priest was married, Exod. vi. in the fourth century as to the sanctity and merit of
23. Caiaphas the high-priest was married, John the celibate life. At length, Siricius, who occupied
xviii. 13. Paul asserts his liberty to marry if he the Papal chair from A. D. 385 to 398, issued his de-
chose, 1 Cor. ix. 5.
crees strictly enjoining celibacy on the clergy ;
While both the Old and New Testaments unite which decrees, however, while they were readily
in discountenancing celibacy, and speaking favoura- admitted and re-echoed by several western synods,
bly of the married state, it is strange that unscrip- were rejected with the utinost firmness by the sy-
tural notions on this subject should have begun at nods of the east. And it was not, indeed, for several
so early a period to prevail in the Christian church. centuries after this period that the doctrine of celi-
Even in the commencement of the third century we bacy, as enforced by Siricius and his successors, was
learn, from the writings of Tertullian, that celibacy submitted to by the great mass of the French, Ger-
had already come to be regarded as highly merito- man, Spanish, and English clergy.
rious, and marriage as to some extent a dishonour In the theology of Rome, the bishop, the priest,
and a discredit to Christians of both sexes. Thus and the deacon are forbidden to marry ; but Romish
this earliest of the Latin fathers, when dissuading writers are far from being agreed on the question,
from second marriages, says, “May it not suffice whether celibacy be of divine or human appoint-
thee to have fallen from that high rank of imrnacu- ment. One party considers it as being commanded
late virginity by once marrying, and so descend- by God, and, therefore, a matter of faith and moral
ing to a second stage of honour." Mosheim repre- obligation, which neither the pope nor the universal
sents the notion as being prevalent at a very early church can alter or modify. Of this opinion were
period, that the married were more exposed to the Jerome, Epiphanius, Siricius, and Innocent. An-
influence of wicked demons than the unmarried. other party reckons the celibacy of the clergy a
This absurd idea led, as a natural consequence, to the matter of merely human appointment, and, therefore,
opinion being extensively spread, that unmarried a point not of faith, but of discipline, capable of being
men were far more suitable for the sacred office than altered or even repealed by human authority. This
such as had contracted the defilement of matrimony is the view of the subject which is most generally
In the time of Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who recognized in the Romish church. A third party exists
suffered martyrdom A. D. 258, many young women among Romanists which strongly disapproves of the
had been prevailed upon to take the vow of perpe-
doctrine of the celibacy of the clergy, regarding it as
tual celibacy, and the language in which this Chris- not only useless, but hurtful. The opposition to the
tian writer addresses them shows in what estimation prohibition of marriage, which has been manifested
these vows were held. 6 Great are the wages," says even in the bosom of the Romish communion, has in
he, "which await you; the high reward of virtue, every age been persevering and powerful. The
the great recompense to be conferred upon chastity. celibacy of the clergy, says Pius II., is supported by
Not only shall your lot and portion be equal to that strong reasons. but opposed by stronger. The Ger-
of the other sex, but ye shall be equal to the angels man empor and clergy supplicated Pius IV. to
of God.”
repeal the enactments on this subject. Augustine,
The first decree which formally prohibited clergy- the Bavarian ambassador at Trent, petitioned tlie
men from marrying after ordination, was passed at a council against clerical celibacy, which he declared
council held at Ancyra in Galatia, A. D. 314. Even was not of divine right, nor commanded by God,
this decree, however, was not absolute and universal The French king and clergy presented a similar pe-
in its application ; for it excepted those who at the tition to the pope in 1561. No doctrine, indeed
time of their ordination made an explicit profession | maintained by the Church of Rome has been pro
}
476
CELL-CEMETERY,
ductive of more wide-spread discontent and greater | in front of the central cross. In the morning, the
mischief within her pale than the doctrine of clerical pontiff, dressed in pontifical robes, proceeds to the
celibacy.
ground with the ministers, whereupon the fifteen can.
CELL, the private apartment of a monk in a Ro- dles are lighted, and the pontiff, taking off his mi.
mish monastery. In its primary sense, the word tre, and standing before the central cross and can-
means a store-room of any kind. The interior of a dies, says the first prayer : “That at our entrance
temple among the ancient heathens was also called here, this cemetery be purged, hal + lowed, sanc-
cella ; and as there was sometimes more than one ti + fied, and conse + crated." The ceremony pro-
cella under the same roof, each of them received the ceeds thus : “ Then the pontiff having put on his mi-
name of the deity whose statue it contained. The tre, lies before the cross on the faldstool, and the litany
inner parts of the porticos of the ancient Christian is chanted with the usual thrice repeated additions,
churches were sometimes divided into little cells or suited to the occasion. The litany ended, the pon-
places of retirement on the walls of the church, tiff rises in his mitre, and blesses the salt and water,
where any one might privately employ himself in This done, he goes to the cross in the extremity, op-
reading, meditation, or prayer. The cell of a Ro-posite to the central one, and there begins, his mitre
mish monk is a small apartment, and some idea of off, the Antiphon, Sprinkle me, O Lord,' with
its furniture may be formed from the following brief Psalm 1, 'Have mercy upon me, O God.' During
extract from Cardinal Wiseman's "Lives of the Five this chant he goes round and peranıbulates the whole
Saints.' Describing the cell which was occupied by ground of the cemetery, moving to the right, and
St. Joseph of the cross, he says, “ A rough seat and sprinkling the holy water everywhere. This finished,
a table, a bed, consisting of two narrow planks with he returns to the cross in the centre; and there put-
two sheepskins, and a wretched woollen overlet, a ting off his mitre, and looking to the cross itself, he
stool to rest his wounded legs upon ;-these, with his says another prayer, that God would'vouchsafe to
Breviary, formed the whole furniture of his cell.” pu + rge, hal + low, and sanc + tify this cemetery.'
CELLITES, a sect which arose at Antwerp in After this he censes the same cross; and fixes on its
the fourteenth century. Its members were also summit one of the three lighted candles, and in like
called Alexians, or brethren and sisters of Alexius, manner the other two, on the two arms of the same.
because they had Alexius for their patron saint. The Which done, he puts on his mitre, and goes to the
name Cellites was derived from the cells in whichi cross behind the central one; still sprinkling as he
they resided. They spent their time chiefly in visit- goes, and saying with the ministers the following
ing and comforting the sick, conversing and praying Psalms, viz. vi. and xxxi. Which concluded, the
with the dying, attending to the burial of the dead, pontiff standing before that same cross, having put
more particularly of those who had died of the off his mitre, says, a third 'hal + lowing and sancti.
plague, and following their remains to the grave with + fying' prayer, 'that the bodies entering into this
funeral dirges. Froin the slow solemn strains in cemetery may have here a seat of rest and protec-
which they sang these dirges, they were spoken of tion from all incursion of evil spirits.' The Collect
by the common people under the familiar appellation concluded, he censes the cross itself, and puts the
of LOLLARDS (which see). They were laymen who three candles on it exactly as on the preceding one.
- devoted themselves to works of mercy, thus supply- Then putting on his mitre, he proceeds to the cross
ing the lack of service among the clergy who at that on the right of that in the centre, always sprinkling
period neglected their duty to a melancholy extent. the cemetery with the holy water as he goes, and
CELLULARI, a name sometimes given to monks, saying with the ministers, Psalm xxxvii. The
as in the writings of Sidonius Apollinarius, from Psalm ended, the pontiff standing before that cross,
their living in cells. See MONASTERY.
and putting off his mitre, says:
CELTS (RELIGION OF THE). See DRUIDS.
"O Lord God, shepherd of eternal glory
CEMETERY (Gr. place of repose), a place of in- vouchsafe, we most humbly beseech thee, to keep
terment. For the importance attached to the abodes this cemetery of thy servants from all filthy defile-
of the dead, and the purposes to which they were ment, and the snares of unclean spirits, to cleanse and
applied among the early Christians, see CATACOMBS. hal + low it; and cease not to grant to the human
In the Romish church great importance is attached bodies coming into this place perpetual purity; that
to the consecration of a cemetery. On the day pre-
On the day pre- whosoever shall have received the sacrament of bap-
ceding the ceremony five wooden crosses are placed tism, and persevered to the end of life in the Catho-
throughout the cemetery, a higher one in the centre, | lic faith, and at their departure out of this world,
and four others, each the height of a man, at the dif- commended their bodies to repose in this cemetery ;
ferent extremities. In front of each of the crosses a the souls of the same, together with their bodies, may,
wooden post is fixed in the earth, and on its top at the sounding of the angelic trumpets, receive the
are placed three candles of three ounces weight everlasting rewards of the heavenly joys. Through
each : also ladders by which the pontiff may ascend Christ our Lord. Amen.
so as to reach the summits of the crosses ; a large “Next he censes the cross itself, and fixes the
vessel full of water, a vessel of salt, and a faldstool candles on its summit and arms, &c., as before. Then
܂
CENÆUS-CENOBITES.
477
YARD.
he goes to the cross on the left hand, still sprink- ( in the ordinary monkish avocations; such as weav-
ling, &c., and singing with the ministers, Psalm ci. ing baskets, for which they made use of the rushes
There he performs the same ceremonies; and then of the Nile, fabricating mats or coverings, not ne-
returns to the cross in the centre, sprinkling on, and ( glecting, however, other kinds of business, such as
chanting Psalms cxxix. and cxlii
. When standing agriculture, and ship-building. At the end of the
before the cross itself, and taking of his mitre, he fourth century, each cloister possessed a vessel of its
again · beseeches God to vouchsafe to hal +low, own, built by the monks themselves. Palladius,
sancti + fy, and conse +crate this cemetery,' &c. who visited the Egyptian cloisters about this time,
Then, with his hands stretched before his breast, he found, in the cloister of Panopolis - which also be-
says the Preface ; after which he repeats all the longed to this association of monks, and contained
same rites as at the other crosses; and then offers within it three hundred members,- fifteen tailors,
another hal + lowing Collect. The consecration is seven smiths, four carpenters, twelve camel-drivers,
concluded with a mass in the church."
and fifteen tanners. Each cloister had its steward
Burial places in early times received the name of ce- who provided for the bodily wants of all, and with
meteries, sleeping-places, not only from the belief that whom the fabrics, when finished, were deposited;
the dead rest from their earthly labours and sorrows, and all these stewards were placed under a general
but as pointing out the hope of a future resurrec- steward of the whole association, who was stationed
tion. In early times churches were often erected at the principal cloister. The latter had the over-
over the graves of martyrs, and in the places where sight of the income and expenditure of the entire
the cemeteries were, and accordingly a cemetery coenobium; to him were given over all the products
came to be used for the name of a church. Gregory of monkish labour. He shipped them to Alexan-
of Tours, who lived about A. D. 570, is the first dria, where they were sold, to provide means for
writer who makes any mention of the consecration purchasing such stores as the cloisters needed; and
of cemeteries. The heathens were accustomed, in whatever remained after these wants were supplied,
ancient times, to reckon these places sacred, and the was distributed among the poor, the sick, and the
violation of them a kind of sacrilege. See CHURCII-decrepit, of this populous, though impoverished coun-
try. A part also was sent to the prisons. Twice in
CENÆUS, a surname of Zeus, derived from the year, on the feast of Easter, and in the month
Cape Cenæum in Euboea, where he had a temple. Mesori, (about the season of our August,) all the
CENOBITES, a name given to monks who lived superiors of the single cloisters met together in the
in communities, as distinguished from hermits or principal cloister. At the last meeting, they brought
ANCHORETS (which see), who lived alone. The in reports of the administration of their office. It
founder of the Cenobite system was Pachomius, was at this time, the reconciliation of all with God
who, in the beginning of the fourth century, estab- and with each other was celebrated.
lished a society of monks .on Tabennæ, an island of “No person who wished to be taken into the
the Nile in Upper Egypt; and so popular did the society of the monks was admitted at once; but he
new and freer mode of ascetic life become, that dur- was first asked, whether he had not committed a
ing the lifetime of Pachomius himself, his adherents crime, and was not seeking refuge, among the nionks,
numbered 3,000, and afterwards 7,000 members. from civil penalties; whether he was his own mas-
So rapidly did it go on increasing, that in the first ter, and therefore warranted to decide on his mode
half of the fifth century the Cenobites numbered of life; whether he deemed himself capable of re-
no fewer than 50,000. The whole association was nouncing his property, and everything he called liis
called a cænobium, a term which afterwards came own. He must, in the next place, submit to a period
to be applied to single cloisters. Pachomius was of probation, before he could be received into the
originally at the head of the whole institution, and number of regular monks. He was adopted on
afterwards his successors the abbots of the cloister, in pledging himself to live according to the monastic
which the institution had its origin, continued to be rules. Pachomius also founded, at this early period,
regarded as the superiors of the whole coenobium. cloisters of nuns, which received the means of sup-
The title which the superior received was abbot or port from the cloisters of the monks."
abbas-general, or as he was styled in Greek, the The circumstances which suggested to Pachomius
ARCHIMANDRITE (which see). The original ar-
the formation of the first conventual establishment
rangements of a cænobium are thus described by for females were these :—“During his seclusion on
the island of Tabenna, he was visited by liis only
“The entire monkish society was distributed, ac- sister, anxious to behold a brother from whom she
cording to the various degrees of progress which its had been so long divided. But the stern recluse, in
members had attained in the spiritual life, into sev- conformity with a vow he had made never to speak
eral classes, twenty-four in all
, after the number of to woman, refused, notwithstanding her repeated
letters in the alphabet ; and each of these classes had solicitations, to admit her to an interview. Fie sent
its own presiding officer, as to each also was assigned her, however, an injunction to imitate his example,
its particular labours. They employed themselves by withdrawing herself from the world, and to form
Neander :
478
CENONES–CENSURES (ECCLESIASTICAL).
an institution for those of her own sex, similar to the regions of Abyssinia and Ethiopia. Thus in an
that which he had himself founded. With these in- incredibly short space of time, had this novel and
structions she complied, and, under the superinten- singular institution firmly established itself through-
dence of Pachomius, a place of retreat for female re- out the whole of Christianized Africa, and in every
cluses, over which she presided, was in a short time part of that vast and populous region which stretches
formed on the neighbouring island of Tismene. As from the Nile and the Euphrates to the Euxine and
Pachomius died in A. D. 348, the erection of this, the Archipelago. See MONACHISM, MONASTERY,
the first Christian convent, may be dated somewhere CENONES, an order of ecclesiastical functiona
between the years 340 and 350. The conventual ries among the Montanists of the second century
profession does not, however, appear to have been which were superior to bishops and distinct froni
so popular, at this period, as the monastic. In A. D. them.
420, the nunnery of Tismene contained only four CENOTAPHS, empty monuments erected in
hundred inmates, whereas the monastery of Tabenna, honour of the dead, who were either buried else-
even in the lifetime of its founder, numbered more where, or whose bodies could not be found. Such
than twice as many thousands. Indeed, the pro- buildings were usual among the Greeks and Romans,
gress of the conventual institution, compared with and were accounted religious structures. After
the monastic, was for long very tardy; and it was these erections were completed, the souls of the de-
not till the commencement of the eighth century, as ceased, for whom they were intended, were three
we learn from Hospinian, that the erection of nun- times called upon by name to occupy the habita-
neries became in any measure general.
tions prepared for them.
“The date now assigned to the first foundation of CENRAWATH, a sect of the BANIANS (which
conventual institutions is somewhat later than that see) in Hindostan, who hold the transmigration of
generally claimed by the writers of the Church of souls so strictly, that they will not kill the smallest
Rome. According to the learned men of that per- insect. Their Brahmans or priests wear a piece of
suasion, two female saints, Syncletica and Basilissa, linen on their mouth that no flies may enter. The
who both lived nearly half a century before the sister | members of this sect drink no water without pre
of Pachomius, contest the honour which we have as- viously boiling it, lest they should happen to swal-
signed to the latter. It does not, however, appear, low some insects. They have no belief in either a
from any evidence to which we have had access, heaven or a hell, but believe in the immortality of
that either of these ladies, although eminent recluses the soul, which, they alleged, passed from one body
of their day, attempted the formation of what may of man or beast into another, according to its deserts.
be considered as a conventual establishment. It is, They burn the bodies of the old, but bury those of
besides, extremely improbable that the convent, the children under three years of age. Their widows
less popular institution of the two, should, in point are not obliged to bury themselves along with their
of time, have preceded the monastery. The title, husbands, but they take upon themselves the vow of
therefore, to the honour in question must, we con- perpetual widowhood. Women as well as men may
ceive, be awarded to the nameless sister of the ab- enter into the priesthood, but the women must be
bot of Tabenna; for, to the disappointment, doubt above twenty years of age, while the men are re-
less, of the fair sisterhood of modern days, the de- ceived into the sacred office so early as nine years
signation of their illustrious foundress has, unhap- old. Any one who becomes a priest must assume
pily, been engulphed in the oblivious stream of the priestly dress, take the vow of chastity, and
time.'
practise great austerities, sometimes to such a degree.
Numerous similar communities to those established that for nine days in succession they take nothing
by Pachomius, rapidly sprung up in all parts of but water with a certain bitter wood grated into it.
Egypt, adopting his rule, which indeed seems to This sect is held in great contempt by all the other
have been in very general repute in the East, until sects of the Banians.
it was superseded by that of Basil. Even after that CENSURES (ECCLESIASTICAL), the various pun.
period it was still followed by some monastic com- ishments inflicted by the Christian church upon
munities, for as late as the middle of the eleventh delinquent members of her communion, in virtue of
century, Anselm, bishop of Havelberg, relates that that authority which has been committed to her by
he saw in the neighbourhood of Constantinople, a Christ, the great King and Head of the church.
monastery of this ancient order, containing a frater- The power of inflicting censures was originally a
nity of five hundred monks. From Egypt the Ce- mere spiritual power, extending not to the bodies,
nobite system passed into Syria, and thence into nor even to the worldly property of men, except in
Persia, where under the sanction of Mohammedanism so far as that property was ecclesiastical, and be-
it still continues to exist. Before the close of the stowed by the church, in which case she asserted her
fourth century, the system had spread extensively right to resume that which she herself had given
along the southern shores of the Mediterranean, and The better to enforce her censures, and carry them
flourishing monasteries were formed in the provinces out into actual effect, it was sometimes necessary
of Carthage, Thagaste, and Hippo, and southward in even in early times to call for the assistance of the
CENSURES (ECCLESIASTICAL).
479
secular power, both under heathen and Christian communion in holy offices with her, the offender
magistrates. In various councils canons were passed being not only debarred from the eucharist, but from
authorising such appeals to the civil authority, that the prayers, and hearing the Scriptures read or ex-
the censures of the church might have their due pounded in any assembly of the church. Nor was
force upon contumacious and obstinate offenders. It this exclusion limited to the particular church with
was not contemplated, however, that ecclesiasti- which the excommunicated person had been con-
cal offences should be visited with those severe nected, but as soon as the sentence was pronounced,
punishments which were afterwards introduced by notice was given to other churches, and sometimes
civil magistrates. Thus in the Theodosian Code by circular letters to all eminent churches through-
are to be found some laws which doom heretics to
out the world, that all churches might confirm and
death. But such severe enactments were very rarely ratify this act of discipline by refusing to admit such
carried into execution. The ancient discipline of a one to their communion. This solemn ecclesias-
the church, while it excluded offenders from spiri- | tical censure extended beyond the public communion
tual privileges, left all their natural or civil rights of the church, even to the private intercourse of life,
unaffected. A master did not lose his natural autho- for Christians were forbidden to receive excommu-
rity over his servants, nor a parent over his children, nicated persons into their houses, or to eat at the
by losing the privileges of Christian communion.
same table with them; they were not to converse
Such an unwarranted extension of ecclesiastical au- with them familiarly, while living; nor perform the
thority was reserved for the Church of Rome in the funeral obsequies for them when dead, according to
tine of Pope Gregory VII., commonly known by the usual rites of Christian burial. Such directions
the name of Hildebrand, who claimed the right as as these were drawn up on the model of the rules
head of the church on earth, to lay princes under laid down by the apostle Paul, in regard to notorious
the highest excommunication or anathema, and then, offenders, who continued impenitent. Thus in writ-
in virtue of this sentence, to depose them from their ing to the church at Corinth, he says, 1 Cor. v. 11,
thrones, absolve the subjects from their allegiance, “But now I have written unto you not to keep com-
and to dispose of their kingdoms at pleasure.
pany,
if
any man that is called a brother be a forni-
The discipline of the ancient Christian church cator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a
being limited to the exercise of a mere spiritual drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no
power, its ecclesiastical censures were of a strictly not to eat.” And in the saine spirit le charges the
moral character, intended to bear upon the minds Christians at Thessalonica, 2 Thess. iii
. 14, “If
and the consciences of the erring members of the any man obey nnt our word by this epistle, note
church. The first and most lenient of these cen- that man, and have no company with him, that he
sures consisted in a simple ADMONITION (which see) may be ashamed." The apostle John also is equally
of the offender, which was solemnly repeated once explicit on this subject in his Second Epistle, ver.
or twice before proceeding to a more severe punish- 10, 11, “ If there come any unto you, and bring not
ment, according to the apostolic arrangement, “A this doctrine, receive him not into your house, nei-
man that is an heretic, after the first and second ad- ther bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him
monition, reject.” The space thus afforded for re- God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.'
pentance after solemn admonition, usually extended to Such was the abhorrence in which the ancient
the period of ten days; at the close of which, if the church held those who were under censure, that she
offender remained obstinate and refractory, the church allowed no gifts or oblations to be received from them,
went on to pronounce the still heavier sentence of and even refused to retain in her possession those
EXCOMMUNICATION (which see), or exclusion from the gifts which any such persons had freely offered while
privileges of the Christian society. This form of they were in communion with her. The council of
ecclesiastical censure was of a twofold character, Laodicea forbade all men to frequent their cemeteries,
which was called, according to the extent of its se- and meetings held at the monuments of their pre-
verity, the lesser or the greater excommunication. tended martyrs, or anywhere to pray with them. The
The lesser excommunication was usually termed sepa- same council also forbids all members of the church
ration or suspension, and consisted in exclusion from to intermarry with heretics, unless they promise to
the participation of the eucharist and the prayers of become Christians. Some authors allege that in ex-
the faithful, the offender being obliged to leave the treme cases, to the heaviest censures of the church
church when the service of the catechumens was was added execration, or devoting the offender to
ended. The council of Eliberis orders this species of temporal destruction. This seems to have been re-
ecclesiastical punishment to be inflicted for the space
sorted to in the case of Julian the Apostate. It was
of three weeks, on those who, without necessary the anathema maranatha of the apostle Paul, by which
cause, were absent from church for three successive prayer was made unto God that he would remove
Sabbaths
. The greater excommunication is usually the malefactor out of the world. An instance of this
called in the ancient canons the total separation and is to be found in Gal. v. 12, when the apostle says,
the ANATHEMA (which see). It consisted in a total “I would that they were even cut off which trouble
expulsion from the church, and separation from all ) you."
480
CENSURES (ECCLESIASTICAL).
+
The objects of ecclesiastical censure included, in sures, the ancient church laid down several useful
the ancient Christian church, those members of the rules to be observed in the exercise of discipline.
church who fell into great and scandalous crimes af- | Thus, besides the salutary regulation that no one
ter baptism. Infidels and unbelievers were not was to be subjected to ecclesiastical censure without
liable to church discipline; neither, indeed, were receiving a previous admonition, it was also ordered
catechumens, who held a middle position between that no man should be condemned in his absence,
heathens and Christians, and could only be punished, without being allowed liberty to answer for himself
,
therefore, by being degraded to a lower rank in the unless he contumaciously refused to appear. Ari-
list of catechumens. In the infliction of censures, other important regulation was, that censures should
the church made no distinction of sex or quality, for only be inflicted in case of legal conviction, which
women were subjected to discipline as well as men, might be reached either by the confession of the of-
not, however, in their case—at least in the early ages fender himself, by the credible evidence of trustwor-
--of a public character, but they wept, and fasted, thy witnesses, or by the fact being so notorious as
and did other works of repentance in private. In to preclude all necessity of a regular proof. If any
the punishment of flagrant offences, no regard was man had been exposed to church censure unjustly,
had to difference of rank, the rich and the poor be- whether living or dead, and the injustice was disco-
ing viewed in the eye of the church as equally ob- vered after his decease, then the mode which was
liged to submit to the laws of discipline, and even followed in order to restore hiin to the communion
civil magistrates and princes were not exempted froin of the church, was to insert his name in the dip-
ecclesiastical censures. But in early times, the ex- tychs from which it had been expunged.
communication of princes never went beyond the But the question still remains to be considered,
suspension of them froin the privileges of the church, what were the particular crimes which subjected of-
in no case interfering with the exercise of their tein- fenders in the early church to ecclesiastical censures.
poral authority, or tampering in the slightest degree The distinction which has long been recognized in
with the tie which connected them with their sub- the Romish Church between mortal and venial sins
jects. To prevent the possibility of this, they was then unknown, at least in the sense in which
avoided laying upon princes the anathema, or greater Romanists understand the distinction. All sins were
excommunication. The first supreme prince, indeed, viewed as mortal, that is, deserving of death in the
that ever underwent this highest kind of church cen- sight of God, the principle being recognized which is
sure, was the emperor Henry, by Pope Hildebrand. stated by the apostle Paul, Rom. vi. 23, " The wages
When the early church found it necessary and for of sin is death.” But, at the same time, it was l'ea-
edification, to administer ecclesiastical discipline, the dily admitted that some sins were more heinous and
utmost caution was exercised not to involve the in- aggravated than others. A threefold distinction is
nocent in the same condemnation with the guilty. laid down by Augustine in liis book on faith and
In no case, therefore, was a son made to suffer for works. Thus some sins are so great as to deserve
the offences of his parent, nor a wife for those of her to be punished with excommunication, as the apostle
husband; and on the same principle, the practice says, " To deliver such an one unto Satan for the
which has been so common aniong the popes of later destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved
times, of laying whole churches and nations under in- in the day of the Lord.” Again, there are other of-
terdict, was unknowi among the ancient Christians. fences which are simply to be visited with admoni-
Some date the original of interdicts from the time of tion, such as those to which our Lord refers when he
Alexander III., about A. D. 1160. The most gene- says,
" Tell him of his fault between him and thee
ral opinion, however, is, that they must be traced alone ; if he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother."
still further back to the time of Hildebrand, who | Lastly, there are other offences which are to be met
was the first to take it upon him to depose princes. by forgiveness, as our Lord teaches in his own
So afraid was the early church of condemning the prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive
guiltless, that an unjust sentence of that kind was them that trespass against us.” The last species of
believed to recoil upon the head of him that pro- offences here referred to by Augustine, cannot be
nounced it. Thus Augustine declares, “ That a man considered as exposing the offender to the public
had needs be very careful whom he binds on earth, censures of the church ; and, accordingly, that dis-
for unjust bonds will be loosed by the justice of Hea- tinguished Christian writer speaks in other places of
ven; and not only so, but turn to the condemnation only two kinds of ecclesiastical crimes, which he
of him that imposes them; for though rash judg-terms inortal and venial, the former not being par-
ment often hurts not him who is raslıly judged, yet doned without a public expression of repentance.
the raslıness of him that judges rashly will turn to Tertullian mentions among lesser sins, which did not
his own disadvantage. In the ineantime it is no de- bring men under the censure of excommunication, all
triment to a man to have his name struck out of the infirinities of the flesh to which mankind universally
diptychs of the church by human ignorance, if an evil were more or less exposed. Among these he reck-
conscience do not blot him out of the book of life." ons anger, unjust or unduly prolonged, quarrelling,
To avoid this misapplication of ecclesiastical cen- evil-speaking, a rash or vain oath, à failure in our
CENSER--CENTURIES (MAGDEBUR *).
481
promise, a lie extorted by modesty or necessity, | authorized version. The first, mechateh, is used to
and sins which are the result of peculiar temptations, describe the censers of Aaron, and of Korah and his
incidental to the avocations or circumstances of indi- company. They appear to have been composed of
viduals. The more heinous sins, which involved ex- brass or copper. The same word is also applied to
communication, the same author enumerates as the censers of gold afterwards made by Solomon.
murder, idolatry, fraud, apostacy, blasphemy, and But the censer which king Uzziah held in his hand
fornication. Of these, idolatry is called by Cyprian while he attempted to burn incense in the house of
the summum delictum, the highest of all crimes, the the Lord, as we find recorded in 2 Chron. xxvi. 19,
blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Augustine men- is described by an entirely different word from the
tions that there were some in his time who limited former, being mekatheret, which appears to have been
the greater sins to three only-adultery, idolatry, and an implement used by idolaters, as the prophet Eze-
murder. These alone demanded public penance, but kiel says (viii. 11) that the seventy apostate Jews
all others, they alleged, might be easily compensated engaged in idolatrous worship had each of them
for by giving of alms. In inflicting the censures of his censer (mekatheret) in his hand. This might be
the church, due care was uniformly taken that the perhaps an inferior kind of censer appropriate to the
crimes charged were overt acts, and not sins which priests, and common to them all. It is not, however,
were merely cherished in the heart, without being certain that the mechateh was peculiar to the high-
carried into outward act.
priest, as we find it used by the sons of Aaron (Lev.
· Ecclesiastical censures were usually inflicted upon X. 1), and also by 250 companions of Korah.
offending clergymen in the ancient church with CENTENARIUS (Lat. centum, a hundred), an
greater severity than upon others. For, while all officer in ancient monasteries, who presided over a
other offenders might, by submitting to public pen-
hundred monks.
ance, recover the privileges which they had lost, it was CENTEOTL, the great or primitive goddess of
otherwise with the clergy, who, when they had fall- the Mexican mythology, who was destined to put an
en into crimes which were a scandal to their profes- end to the human sacrifices which were offered at
sion, were straightway deposed from the sacred office. Mexitli, and to re-establish the simple offerings of the
In some very flagrant cases, they were also excom- first-fruits of harvest. She was the originator of
municated, but with this peculiarity, that though by agriculture, and taught the art to mortals.
repentance they might be restored to the communion CENTIMANES (Lat. centum, a hundred, and
of the church, they were not thereby restored to the manus, a hand), a name given to Briareus, Gyges,
office of the ministry, but could only communicate and Cottus, three giants in ancient Roman mytho-
as laymen. Some canons did not require them to do logy, who were possessed each of a hundred hands.
public penance in the church; others obliged them They assisted Jupiter in overthrowing the Titans.
to submit to that part of discipline also. The crimes CENTURIES (MAGDEBURG), a celebrated ecele-
which were considered as inferring degradation from siastical history, compiled by a society of Lutheran
the clerical office, appear to have been theft, murder, divines, known by the name of the Magdeburg Cen-
perjury, fraud, sacrilege, fornication, adultery, and turiators. It was published between the years 1559
such like gross and scandalous offences. Another and 1574, in thirteen volumes folio, each volume
offence which was viewed as calling for deposition containing one century. The name of the entire
from the ministry, was that of falling away in time work was derived from the city where the first part
of persecution, and, so careful was the early church of their history was finished, and from the chronolo-
in watching over the purity of its clergymen, that gical mode in which they conducted their undertak-
drinking and gaming of every kind were prohibited ing. The individual who chiefly presided over the
under the same penalty of deprivation. The taking preparation of the work was the learned Flacius
of
usury, also, was punished with deposition. Illyricus. The history is divided into periods of
CENSER, a vessel employed in offering incense centuries, in which the authors undertake to give a
in the service of the Jewish tabernacle and temple. complete view of the aspect which the church pre-
The censers of the Jews were generally of brass, but sented, in a series of chapters, amounting to sixteen,
sometimes of gold, and their precise form can only with numerous subdivisions. Everything connected
be guessed at from the appearance of the censers re- with the propagation and persecutions of Christianity,
presented on the Egyptian monuments, which are is set forth century by century in three distinct
simply small cups with lids such as could be carried chapters. This is followed by a statement of the
in the hand. À censer was used by the ancient articles of doctrine taught by ecclesiastical writers,
Greeks and Romans in their sacred rites under the with extracts from their works upon forty heads of
name of ACERRA (which see). The censer is used doctrine, constituting a whole body of divinity. The
both in the Greek and Romish Churches in their succeeding chapters are devoted to a description of
sacred services, but the form of it
, and its suspension heresies, the rites and ceremonies of religion, schisms,
by chains, suggests rather the heathen than the councils, the lives of eminent persons,
miracles and
Jewish censer. Two words are found in the Hebrew prodigies
, the affairs of the Jews, religions foreign to
Bible which are both of them rendered censer in the the church, and finally, the political condition of the
2 K
482
CEPHALONOMANCY_CEREMONIES.
world.
“ The learning and industry of the Centuria- with an ass's head, which they broiled upon coals,
tors,” says Dr. Welsh in his · Elements of Church and, after muttering a few prayers, mentioned the
History,' ;" have never been disputed. Their work person's name whom they suspected of the crime in
has been considered as a storehouse by Protestant question. If the jaws moved and the teeth chat-
divines in succeeding times. In Germany it super- tered, they thought the guilt was sufficiently disco-
seded all farther inquiry into church history for up- vered.
wards of a century, and its influence in determining CEPHISSUS, the divinity of the river Cephissus.
the mode in which historians direct their inquiries, CERBERUS, the many-headed dog of ancient
has been more or less felt even to our own days. mythology which guarded the entrance of Hades.
Very serious objections, however, may be made to According to Hesiod, he had fifty heads, but later
this great undertaking. Notwithstanding the multi- writers assign him only three heads, while some
tude of subjects which the authors proposed to illus- poets call him hundred-headed, and many-headed.
trate, some of the most interesting in the field of The employment of this fabulous mon er was to ad-
historical investigation are wholly omitted ; and by mit the shades into the infernal regions, while he
the mode of division, all interest in the work as a prevented their return to the abodes of the living.
continued narrative is necessarily destroyed. The CERDONIANS, a Gnostic sect of the second cen-
natural relations which connect different subjects are tury, who derived their name from Cerdo, a teacher
wholly disregarded, and, it must be added, that the from Antioch in Syria, who held to the purely Dua-
prejudices of the authors sometimes misled them in- listic Gnosis. According to Irenæus, he taught at
to error.” It cannot be denied that the arrangement Rome that the God of the Jews is to be carefully
followed by the Magdeburg Centuriators is objec- distinguished from the God of the Christians. Epi-
tionable, but Mosheim having constructed his church phanius alleges that Cerdo affirmed that Christ was
history on the same plan, has done more than any not born, but had only the appearance of a body,
other author to render the division into centuries that he denied the resurrection of the dead, and re-
popular in Britain and even on the continent. Dr. jected the Old Testament. He seems to have been
Welsh, who disapproves of the plan in the strongest one of the first who recommended the celibate life.
manner, says, “ It is as if we were to study the geo- Marcion, one of the most noted leaders of the Gnos-
logy of a country, not by examining continuously the tics, is universally believed to have borrowed a con-
natural position of the strata, but by deterinining the siderable number of the peculiar doctrines of his
spaces for observation by concentric circles at the system from the instructions of Cerdo. See Mar-
distance of mile-stones. A new edition of the
* Magdeburg Centuriators' was commenced in 1757 CEREMONIES, outward acts employed in Di-
at Nuremburg, but was carried only to the sixth vo- vine service to impress the mind of the worshipper,
lume in 4to. An edition, somewhat abridged, was and, by an appeal to the outward senses, to convey
published by Lucius at Basil, 1624, thirteen volumes | important truths to the intellect and the heart.
in three, large folio. This edition is most current From the intimate connection which subsists be-
among the Reformed, though disapproved by the tween the physical constitution of man and his intel-
Lutherans. Cæsar Baronius, a father of the oratory, | lectual and moral nature, ceremonies have ever
at the instigation of Philip Neri, founder of the So- formed a necessary part of religious worship in all
ciety of the oratory, undertook to confute this history, ages and countries. From the earliest period, while
in a work of twelve volumes folio, each volume like the promise of a Mediator was given to restore man
wise embracing one century.
His work is entitled to the favour and friendship of God, we find at the
Annales Ecclesiastici,' and was published at Rome same time the ceremony of sacrifice instituted, in
between the years 1588 and 1607, and afterwards at which was embodied the great principle, that with-
Mentz, with the approbation of the author. The out shedding of blood there is no remission. In the
latest, most splendid, and most complete edition, was whole of the varied and interesting observances of
published with the corrections of Antony Pagi, a the Jewish ritual, were embodied the grand abstrac-
French Franciscan, and the continuation of Odoric tions of the Christian system, which were thus
Raynald, at Lucca, 1738—1756, in thirty-eight vo- brought to bear with peculiar force on the minds of
lumes folio. Raynald's continuation reaches to the the people. Visible symbols or signs, in fact, through
year 1565. James de Laderchi, likewise a father of the whole course of the Jewish history, were the
the oratory, extended the anuals to the year 1572. medium of communication between heaven and earth.
Henry de Sponde, or Spondanus, bishop of Pamiers, Even posterior to the advent of our Lord, we find
likewise composed a continuation of Baronius to the that the same mode of instruction appears to have
year 1640, in three volumes folio. Abraham Bzo- been adopted : and the condition of the Jews at that
vius, also a Polish Dominican, continued Baronius time rendered its adoption the more expedient. So
to the year 1572, in eight volumes folio.
rude and upcultivated were they ; to such a degree
CEPHALONOMANCY (Gr. Icephale, the head, had they lost sight of the spirituality of the moral,
and manteia, divination), a species of divination and the great end of the ceremonial law, that simple
practised occasionally among the ancient Greeks external signs were absolutely necessary to convey
CIONITES.
CEREMONIES.
483
gotten.
any religious ideas to their minds. They, at least been often proposed, whether the church is authorized
the great mass of them, trusted to their sacrifices in instituting ceremonies which were not originally
and external offerings for the pardon of sin, thus either enjoined or practised by our Lord and his
substituting the letter for the spirit, the type for the apostles. One thing is certain, that the conduct of
antitype. In these circumstances, our Lord resorted the Jews, in this respect, in the days of our Lord,
to a mode of instruction admirably adapted to the met with his explicit and decided disapproval. Thus,
exigencies of the case—we refer to the employment he plainly declares, in reference to all ceremonies of
of parables. Accustomed as the Jews of those days merely human invention, Matth. xv. 9, “But in vain
were to think of religion as consisting merely of ex- they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the com-
ternal observances, and employed as they were in mandments of men.” By the word “doctrines" in
sedulously tithing mint, and anise, and cummin, to this passage, Jesus points to certain significant cere-
the neglect of the weightier matters of the law, para- monies, such as the Pharisaical washing of hands,
bolic instruction was the simplest and easiest mode cups, tables, and other outward emblems by which it
of leading their minds away from such a false view was designed to teach and signify holiness. All
of divine truth, to the spiritual perception of it. sacred ceremonies of man's devising, then, are plainly
Their ceremonies were originally intended to point to be condemned as an addition to the Word of God,
their thoughts to a higher and nobler economy. | which is forbidden no less than a taking away from
When our Lord, therefore, appeared upon earth, with it. In the Old Testament church there was an al-
the express design of introducing a new dispensa- | most complete uniformity in the ritual observed in
tion, there was a beautiful propriety in his adopting the worship and service of God. And in the early
a mode of teaching, which combined somewhat of Christian church, although there was not an uni-
the material nature of the old with the spirituality formity in all particulars among all the churches, for
of the new scheme. Under a plain and possible instance in the point of fasting, some fasting on the
story, finely wrought in all its details, the Divine Sabbath, others not; some taking the Lord's Supper
teacher revealed some sublime doctrine, or enforced fasting, others not; although likewise there was a
some necessary duty; and many, no doubt, who lis- great difference between the custom of one church
tened with interest, would remember with advantage and another in the time and manner of celebrating the
the doctrine in the one case, and the duty in the Lord's Supper, and in other particulars, still there
other, long after the narratives themselves were for- was a remarkable uniformity in the primitive church,
even in inany things belonging to church govern-
This adaptation of the truth to our physical na- ment and form of worship. The danger attendant
ture appears to have been carefully kept in view in on the introduction of unscriptural and unwarranted
the institution of the standing ordinances of the ceremonies into the church is strikingly seen in the
church. In the sacramental symbols an impressive history of the Church of Rome, which has originated
exhibition is made to our bodily senses of some of many innovations, not only indifferent in themselves,
the most important and interesting truths of the but very absurd and injurious to religion. Dr. Mid-
Christian system, and not only are these truths signi- dleton, in his ' Letters from Roine,' has very strik-
ficantly represented, they are also impressively sealed ingly pointed out the conformity between the Pa-
upon the believing children of God. In other words, gan and Romish ceremonies, exemplifying it in the
by the sensible display given in the solemn ordi- use of incense, holy water, the placing of lamps and
nances of baptism and the supper, ample provision candles before the shrines of saints, votive gifts
is made for the emblematic exhibition of the truths round the shrines of the deceased, and other similar
as well as the actings of God in reference to His ceremonies. In 1646, a history of ancient ceremo-
people. Both were held forth under a figure in the nies was published by M. Ponce, tracing the rise,
ancient economy; all that referred to the plan of re- growth, and introduction of each rite into the church,
conciliation was sensibly taught in the mission and and its gradual abuses as they appeared. Many of
mediation of the God-man, Christ Jesus. The full them he traces to Judaism, but still more to hea-
development of the plan, however, in its application thenism.
to individual believers, was yet to be made known. It may be interesting to the reader to notice the
The general principles, if we may so speak, of the gradual progress of innovation in the ceremonies of
scheme of salvation were fully taught in the Bible, Christian worship.
Christian worship. We learn from Eusebius that
but the application of these principles to believers even so late as the third and fourth centuries there
separately could only be represented by some stand- was considerable variety in the mode of conduct-
ing memorial. Hence the institution of the sacra- ing religious worship among Christians. Some dif-
mental ordinances in which, by external symbols, ference of opinion, indeed, seems to have existed as
the leading truths of the gospel were set forth, both to the precise manner in which certain rites had been
in their abstract meaning and in their practical bear- observed in apostolic times; for when a contest
ing upon individual Christians.
arose in the second century between the Eastern
But while certain standing ceremonies have been and Western Christians respecting the aay on which
instituted in the Christian church, the question has Easter should be observed, Eusebius informs us that
484
CEREMONIES.
the former maintained that John was the author of | introduced at an early period into the Christian
their custom, and the latter that Peter and Paul were church, was the Pentecost or Whitsunday, observed
the authors of theirs. Again, the Greek and Latin in conmemoration of the descent of the Holy Spirit
churches, at a later period, disputed whether lea- on the apostles. The period which elapsed between
vened or unleavened bread should be used in the Easter and Whitsuntide was also regarded as in
Lord's Supper; and both of them contended, that some sense sacred. There was no fasting during
their respective opinions were warranted by the this interval ; prayers were made in the standing,
practice of the apostles. From the peculiar aspect and not in the kneeling posture; and in many of the
which the Christian church presented in its primi- churches there seems to have been a daily service,
tive state, the converts being drawn partly from the at which the communion was celebrated. The days
Jews, and partly from the heathens, it is quite plain on which martyrs died (see BIRTH-DAYS) were also
that the apostles permitted some diversity in the held sacred from an early period. In the second
outward ceremonies, according as the Jewish or the century they were everywhere observed ; and they
Pagan converts predominated in particular churches. are often mentioned by Tertullian and Cyprian.
Various writers contend, that, in the earliest ages Twice a-year, namely, at Easter and Whitsuntide,
of Christianity, both the Jewish and the Christian baptism was publicly administered in the ancient
Sabbaths were held sacred ; and it is not improba- | Christian church. The candidates for it were im-
ble that this may have been the case in those mersed wholly in water, with invocation of the Sa-
churches which were composed chiefly of converts cred Trinity, after having repeated the creed and
from Judaism. Besides, Thursday and Friday, but renounced their sins and transgressions. The bap-
especially the latter, were observed as days of fast- tized were signed with the cross, anointed, com-
ing and prayer, consecrated to the remembrance of mended to God ljy prayer and imposition of hands,
the sufferings of Christ, and of what preceded them. and finally directed to taste some milk and honey.
On these days, meetings were held for prayer and The eucharist was celebrated chiefly on the Lord's
fasting till three o'clock in the afternoon. These ar- Day with a portion of bread and wine consecrated
rangements, however, were not obligatory upon any with prayer. The wine was mixed with water, and
one, but observed by each member of the church ac- the bread was divided into small pieces. Portions
cording to his special necessities and inclinations. of the consecrated bread and wine were usually sent
In the Eastern Church the Jewish and the Christian to the sick and absent. It is even affirmed, that in
Sabbaths were distinguished from the Station days, very early times the eucharist was given to infants.
as Thursday and Friday were termed, by the exclu- AGAPÆ (which see) or love-feasts were also par-
sion of fasts, and by the standing position in prayer. taken of by the primitive Christians.
But in the Western, and especially in the Roman Public worship was observed originally in the room
church, the Jewish Sabbath was held as a fast-day. of some private member of the church. Gradually,
The opposition which was early manifested be- as circumstances required, the place was fitted up in
tween the coinmunities composed of Jewish, and à manner suited to the object. An elevated seat was
those composed of Gentile Christians, had an im- constructed for the reading of the Scriptures and the
portant influence in modifying the ceremonies of delivering of the sermon; a table was set for the
religious worship. The churches in which Jewish distribution of the Lord's Supper, which so early as
converts prevailed retained, along with the whole the time of Tertullian received the name of altar.
Jewish ceremonial law, all the Jewish festivals, As the communities increased in numbers and wealth,
though they gradually assigned to them a Christian buildings were erected specially for Divine service.
import. On the contrary, among the churches of This appears to have been the case even in the third
Gentile Christians there were probably from the century. In the time of the outward prosperity of
first no yearly festivals whatever. Controversies the church, under the reign of Diocletian, many
very early arose between the Church of Asia Minor splendid churches had already arisen in the large
and the Church of Rome, as to the time of keeping cities,
Easter, the former alleging that the fourteenth day The introduction of images was opposed to the
of the month Nisan ought to be regarded as the day whole spirit of the Christian system, but the con-
of Christ's passion on whatever day of the week it verts from paganism who had been accustomed to
might occur; the latter maintaining that a Friday such modes of worship, were the first to make
should always be consecrated to the memory of images of Christ; as for example, the Gnostic sect
Christ's passion, a Sunday to the memory of Christ's of the Carpocratians, who placed images of the Re-
resurrection. The dispute was carried on for a long deemer beside the busts of Plato and Aristotle. It
period with the utmost bitterness on both sides. In was not in the first instance in the church, but in the
the end of the third century, so sharp did the contest family, that religious images came into use among
become, that Victor, bishop of Rome, published a the Christians. Accustomed to observe everywhere
sentence of excommunication against the churches of around them the objects of the Pagan mythology,
Asia Minor on account of this trifling point of dis- they were naturally anxious to substitute other em-
pute. Another annual religious festival, which was blems more agreeable to their religious and moral
CEREMONIES.
485
sentiments, as for example, a shepherd carrying a the public hymns the Psalms of David were now
lamb on his shoulder, to represent our Redeemer res- received. The public discourses among the Greeks
cuing the repentant sinner; a dove the symbol of especially were formed according to the rules for
the Holy Spirit, or an anchor the token of Christian civil eloquence, and were better adapted to call forth
hope. Religious emblems passed from domestic the admiration of the rude multitude who love dis-
use into the churches, as early probably as the third play than to amend the heart. And that no foolish
century; for the council of Elvira in A. D. 303 for- and senseless custom might be omitted in their pub-
bade “the objects of worship and adoration to be lic assemblies, the people were allowed to applaud
painted on the walls." The visible representation of their orators as had been practised in the forum and
the cross must have early found its way among the in the theatres ; nay, they were instructed both to
Christians, both in their domestic and ecclesiastical applaud and to clap their preachers. Who could
life. This token was used by them on almost every suppose that men professing to despise vain glory,
occasion. It was the sign of blessing when they and who were appointed to show to others the
rose in the morning, and when they retired at night, emptiness of all human things, would become so
when they went out, and when they caine in. Such senseless?
is the tendency of our fallen nature to confound the “ The first day of the week, on which Christians
symbol with the idea which it represents, that we were accustomed to meet for the worship of God,
can scarcely be surprised that even so early as the Constantine required by a special law to be observed
third century the sign of the cross should have been more sacredly than before. In most congregations
abused to purposes of superstition. The use of in- of Christians five annual festivals were observed, in
cense was introduced about the same time into many remembrance namely of the Saviour's birth, of his suf-
Christian churches, probably in imitation of a pre- ferings and death for the sins of men, of his resurrec-
vailing custom of the heathens in their religious tion, of his ascension to heaven, and of the descent
worship. From the same source seem to have arisen of the Holy Ghost upon his ministers. Of these
exorcisms, the multiplication of fasts, and the aver- festivals that of the fourteen days sacred to the
sion to matrimony. After the manner of the pagan memory of Christ's return to life was observed with
mysteries, the eucharist was so far dispensed in se. much more ceremony than the rest. The Oriental
cret, that neither penitents nor catechumens were Christians kept the memorial of the Saviour's birth
allowed to be present at its dispensation. This holy and of his baptism on one and the same day, namely,
ordinance was commonly adıninistered every Lord's the sixth day of January, and this day they called
Day, as well as on other festival days; and in times | Epiphany; but the western Christianis seem always
of persecution daily.
to have consecrated the twenty-fifth day of Decem-
In the course of the third century some innova- | ber to the memory of the Saviour's birth; for what
tions were introduced in the ceremonies attendant on is reported of the Roman bishop, Julian I. that he
the sacrament of baptism. Exorcism came to be transferred the memorial of Christ's birth from the
practised as a necessary part of the ordinance, that sixth of January to the twenty-fifth of December,
the soul of the candidate for baptism might be deli- appears to me very questionable. The untoward
vered from the bondage of Satan, and introduced into success of the age in finding the dead bodies of certain
the service of God. Another ceremony, also hitherto holy men increased immensely the commemorations
unknown to the church, was added to the baptismal of the martyrs. Devout men would have readily
rite. The persons baptized returned home decorated consented to the multiplication of festivals, if the
with a crown and a white robe. Great importance | time that Christians consumed in them had been
was now attached to the practice of fasting. The employed to advance them in true holiness; but the
Latins kept every seventh day as a fast, but the majority spent the time rather in idleness and dissi-
Greek and Oriental Christians refused to imitate pation and other vices than in the worship of God.
them in this point.
It is well known among other things what opportu-
No sooner had Constantine the Great renounced nities of sinning were offered to the licentious by the
paganism, and recognized Christianity as the estab- Vigils, as they were called, of Easter and Whitsun-
lished religion of the Roman Empire, than he hast- tide.
ened to erect gorgeous churches which he adorned “ It was believed that nothing was more effectual
with pictures and images. These buildings for to repel the assaults of evil spirits and to propitiate
Christian worship were consecrated with great pomp the Deity than fasting. Hence it is easy to discover
and imposing rites, borrowed in great measure from why the rulers of the church ordained fasts by ex-
the ancient pontifical code of the Romans. The ce- press laws, and commanded as a necessary duty what
remonies which were introduced at this time into was before left at discretion. The Quadragesimal or
the ordinary service of the church, and which tended Lent fast, as it was called, was considered more sa-
to approximate it to the heathen worship, are thus cred than all the rest, though it was not as yet fixed
briefly noticed by Mosheim :-" The prayers had de- to a determinate number of days. But it should be
clined very much from their primitive simplicity and remembered that the fasts of this age differed much
solemnity, and became turgid and bombastic. Among / from those observed by Christians in preceding ages.
Į
1
486
CEREMONIES.
Anciently those who undertook to observe a fast tion of the canon of the mass, or at least he must be
abstained altogether from food and drink; in this age accorded the honour of having wholly remodelled
many deemed it sufficient merely to omit the use of the old canon. He discriminated also the different
flesh and wine, and this sentiment afterwards became times, occasions, and places of public worship, and
universal among the Latins.
framed a service for each. Hence the vast multi-
" For the more convenient administration of bap- plications of liturgical formulas in the Roman
tism sacred fonts or baptisteria were erected in the Church.
Church. It was in the time of Gregory too, that
porches of the temples. This sacred rite was al- churches both in the East and West were erected
ways administered, except in cases of necessity, on in great numbers, in memory, and to the honour, of
the vigils of Easter and Whitsuntide, with lighted | the saints. The number of festivals and saints' days
wax candles and by the bishop, or by the presbyters were almost as numerous as the churches. At the
whom he commissioned for that purpose. In some period at which we have now arrived, the festival
places salt, a symbol of purity and wisdom, was put | began to be celebrated of the Purification of the
into the mouth of the baptized; and everywhere a Virgin Mary.
double anointing was used, the first before and the The ceremonies of the Greek church were not a
other after the baptism. After being baptized the little increased in number by the enactments of the
persons appeared clad in white gowns during seven Trullan council, which was held at Constantinople
days."
A. D. 692, and which, as being supplemental to the
From the days of Constantine a marked change fifth and sixth general councils, is commonly called
was observed in the whole aspect of Christian wor- Concilium Quinisextum. Nor were the Roman pon-
ship. A pompous ceremonial took the place of the tiffs of the seventh century behind in making addi-
ancient simplicity. Various ornaments were added tions to the ceremonies of the church. Pope Hono-
to the sacerdotal garments, in order to increase the rius instituted a festival in honour of the wood of
veneration in which the clergy were held. The the cross on which our Lord was crucified; and
temples were fitted up with unbounded magnificence, Pope Boniface also consecrated the Feast of All
adorned with images of the apostles and saints, but Saints. The churches were now adored in a more
more especially with an image of the Virgin Mary luxurious and magnificent style than they had been
holding the infant Jesus in her arms. Altars and even in the time of Constantine. The confessional
reliquaries of solid silver were procured in various of St. Peter at Rome was covered with pure silver,
places, and no expense was spared to supply the and the great doors at the entrance of the church
churches with sacred utensils of the most costly were overlaid with the same precious metal.
description.
Christianity thus gradually lost the simplicity
This obvious departure from primitive simplicity, which had characterized it in apostolic times, and
however, was not limited to the external ceremonies dwindled down into a system of external ceremonies.
of the church, but extended also to its worship and The multiplication and regulation of these became
discipline. Thus the agapæ or love-feasts, which the chief object of solicitude, and to effect this,
had formed in early times one of the most striking both the doctrines and duties of religion were
evidences of the harmony and mutual kindness which almost wholly neglected. The mass of the Roman-
prevailed among Christians, were found in the fourth | ists was now looked upon as the principal part of
century to have so far degenerated in their charac- divine worship. One addition after another was
ter, that it was necessary to prevent them from being made to its already cumbrous ceremonial, and Pope
held in churches. The strictness of the ancient dis-Gregory III. seems to have converted the whole into
cipline towards ecclesiastical offenders was a series of superstitious observances. Charlemagne
greatly relaxed. The more heinous delinquents, it directed his efforts to the abolition of various super-
is true, were still liable to public censures. But the stitious rites, abolishing the worship of images,
practice of voluntary confession before the church limiting the number of holidays, rejecting the con-
of private offences and secret sins, had for some time secration of bells with holy water, and introducing
fallen into desuetude; and in most places, both of several other useful and important regulations. But
the East and West, private confessions before a while thus endeavouring to effect some improve-
priest had been substituted in place of public con- ments in the observances of the church,—this enn-
fessions before the church.
peror remained devotedly attached to the Roman
In the sixth century, the differences chiefly arose pontiffs, and exerted liis influence in inducing all tlie
in respect of rites and ceremonies between the Greek churches of the Latin Christians to adopt the entire
and Latin churches. The Nestorian and Eutychian ritual of the Romish worship.
heresies in particular, gave origin to various forms So complicated at length did the public rites of
which were designed to characterize the contending religion become, that in the ninth century works be-
sects. In the Western Church, Gregory the Great, gan to be published, having for their sole object the
signalized his pontificate by the introduction of a explanation of divine offices, as religious ceremonies .
number of ceremonies which were altogether new. were in that age termed. The minuteness with
To him is generally admitted to be due the inven- which these treatises detailed the various particulars
10W
CEREMONIES.
487
1
of the cumbrous ritual, shows the exaggerated im- | ministered in both kinds, but Clement III. decreed
portance attached to the mere externals of religion. that only unleavened bread should be used, and that
Churchmen were chiefly employed in regulating the the wine should be mixed with water. The doctrine
cumbrous forms of worship. Hence the splendid of transubstantiation having now become a received
furniture of the temples, the numerous wax-candles dogma of the Latin church, the adoration of the host
burning at noon-day, the multitudes of pictures and followed as a natural consequence. This practice
statues, the decorations of the altars, the frequent seems to have been first introduced by Guido, a Cis-
processions, the splendid dresses of the priests, and tercian monk, whom the Pope had created a cardi-
masses appropriate to the honour of saints. Every nal, and despatched as his legate to Cologne. It
new saint which was added to the calendar, called was naturally succeeded by other rites designed to
for the appointment not only of a new feast-day, but do honour to the consecrated bread. Splendid
of new forins of worship, and new religious rites. caskets were constructed in which God, in the form
But while the worship of the saints thus rose into of bread, might reside, and be carried from one place
prominence, that of the Virgin Mary came every to another. Processions were formed to convey the
day to occupy a more conspicuous place in the ritual host to the houses of the sick. In addition to these
of the Romish church. Masses were celebrated, and numerous rites connected with the transubstantiated
flesh abstained from on Saturdays in honour of bread, a new festival was instituted in honour of the
Mary; the daily office of St. Mary was introducerl, body of Christ as present in the holy supper. This
which was afterwards confirmed by Urban II. ; the festival was imposed by Urban IV. upon the whole
l'osary now came into use, consisting of fifteen repe- church in A. D. 1264, but in consequence of the death
titions of the Lord's Prayer, and one hundred and of that pontiff soon after signing the decree, it was
fifty Ave Marias; the crown of St. Mary also was not universally observed by the Latin churches until
invented, which consisted of six or seven repetitions Clement V. in A. D. 1311 confirmed the edict of
of the Lord's Prayer, and sixty or seventy Ave | Urban.
Marias, according to the age, ascribed by different A very important addition was made to the public
authors to the Holy Virgin.
ceremonies of the church towards the close of the thir-
Although Rome had thus for centuries been add-teenth century, by the institution of the year of jubilee
ing to the number of the rites of Christian worship, by Boniface VIII., who decided that every hundredth
the innovations which she had introduced were very year all who should confess and lament their sins,
slow in being adopted in many parts of the Latin and devoutly visit the church of St. Peter and St.
world. Spain, in particular, showed itself for a long Paul at Rome, should receive plenary remission of
period most reluctant to part with its ancient liturgy, their sins. Finding that this new festival brought
called the Mozarabic or Gothic, and to adopt that of both honour and gain to the church of Rome, some
Rome. Gregory VII., however, in the eleventh cen- future pontiffs limited it to shorter periods than a
tury, succeeded in persuading the Spaniards to lay century. Thus Clement VI. repeated the jubilee in
aside their long-cherished prejudices, and to fall in 4. D. 1350, and both Gregory XI. and Urban VI.
with the arrangements of the Romish ritual. The wished to reduce the interval to thirty-three years,
Greek church was at this period as completely over- the supposed years of our Lord's age at his cruci-
run with superstition as the Latin, and, accordingly, fixion ; but were prevented by death from accom-
both its public and private worship received various plishing their design. Boniface IX. first attained
additions to its outward rites and ceremonies, not only the object. Paul II. ordered that the festival should
by decrees of councils, but by the mere personal re- be kept every twenty-five years. Yet death, in his
commendations of individual patriarchs. Among the case, also compelled him to resign the benefit of the
Latins a new festival was instituted A. D. 1138, in alteration to his successor, Sixtus IV. One pope
honour of the immaculate conception of the Virgin, after another seems, as darkness gradually covered
a doctrine which, though opposed by Bernard and the church, to have been anxious to signalize his
others, was now extensively believed in the Romish reign by some addition to the ceremonies of reli-
church. Pictures and ornaments of various kinds | gion. Innocent V. instituted festival days in com-
were found in almost all the churches. Even the
memoration of the spear which pierced the Saviour's
floors were covered over with paintings of saints side, of the nails which fastened him to the cross,
and angels. New churches were consecrated with and of the crown of thorns which he wore in the
sprinkling of holy water and other superstitious cer- judgment-hall. Among many other superstitious
emonies. More than one altar was now found in rites, Jolin XXII. added the angel's salutation to
the same church, for in the twelfth century we find Mary to the prayers in common use.
mention made of the high altar. In many churches True spiritual religion had now almost wholly dis-
the altars were ornamented with gold, silver, pre- appeared, and given place to a gorgeous system of
cious stones, and costly pictures. Expensive lamps external worship calculated only by parade and glit-
and candles were kept burning before the images of ter to gratify the senses of an ignorant multitude.
saints, which were only to be extinguished for three The worship of the Virgin was substituted for that
days preceding Easter. The eucharist was still ad- of Jesus, and legends were framed to enhance the
488
CEREMONIES.
estimation in which she was held. Indulgences were violently opposed to the Puritans during the whole
openly sold to enrich the coffers of an avaricious of her reign, but several persons belonging to her
priesthood. Mimic shows were got up; trifling cer- court, and even some of her most eminent ecclesias-
emonies were devised ; incense and holy water were tics, were favourable to them, and approved of their
used in profusion, and the worship of the professing opposition to the Romish ceremonies. Accordingly,
Christian church was nothing more than a raree show. some continued to wear the prescribed clerical vest-
The discourses of the few priests who were capable ments, and others laid them aside; some adminis-
of preaching, consisted of an account of pretended tered the sacrament kneeling, and others standing, or
miracles, ridiculous fables, and silly legends strung even sitting; some baptized in a font with the sign
together without method and without skill. The of the cross, and others in a basin without it. This
authority of holy mother church was loudly pro- unseemly and unsettled state of things continued for
claimed, the influence of the saints with God, the some years, whilst the Puritan party was increasing
dignity, glory, and all-prevailing efficacy of the in numbers and in influence. The queen at length
prayers of the Virgin Mary, the surpassing value of interfered, and in 1565 directed her ecclesiastical
relics, the indescribable utility of indulgences, the commissioners to devise some means of bringing
awful torments of purgatory, such were the principal | about an exact uniformity. Upon this, a book called
themes on which the clergy descanted in their ad- · Advertisements,' was set forth by Archbishop Par-
dresses to the people. No wonder that in these ker, containing orders for preaching, administering the
circumstances a deplorable ignorance of divine things sacraments, and the dress of ecclesiastical persons ;
everywhere prevailed, and superstition, united with to which were added certain protestations, to be
gross corruption of morals, characterized the great made, promised, and subscribed by all for the future
inass of the population of so-called Christendom. admitted into the church. The queen did not give
It was when matters had reached this crisis that, her authority to these Advertisements till some years
in the sixteenth century, the Reformation took place after ; but she issued a proclamation requiring con-
in Germany, which speedily extended itself over the formity in the use of the vestments, under penalty
other countries of Europe, leading to a change in of prohibition from preaching, and deprivation, which
the rites and ceremonies of the church, as well as in the archbishop in several instances carried into effect.
many points of doctrine. The Protestant party The London ministers were cited before him, and
held, that all the innovations which the Romanists, thirty-seven out of ninety-eight refused to promise
in the course of time, had introduced into the compliance with the ordained ceremonies; whilst the
church, ought to be rejected as of merely human younger students at Cambridge were so infected with
invention. Many of these rites, however, were the Puritan doctrines, that the famous Thomas Cart-
retained by the Reformed Church, chiefly on the wright, and 300 more, threw off their suzplices in
ground that they were matters of comparative in- one day, within the walls of one college.
difference, not affecting the character of the church The suspended clergymen, finding that renewed
as a Christian body. In England, accordingly, when applications to the queen and her ministers were
the Reformed religion had been adopted as the estab- | ineffectual, in 1566 published a treatise in their own
lished religion of the country, the Puritans com- vindication; in which they alleged, that neither the
plained that so much of the leaven of Antichrist prophets of the Old Testament, nor the apostles of
should still be permitted to remain in the Church of the New, were distinguished by their garments;
Christ. For example, they wished the abolition of that such a distinction was not introduced into the
all saints' days, and the prohibition of the sign of the Christian Church until long after the appearance of
cross, more especially in the sacrament of baptism. Antichrist; that the habits to which they objected
They were opposed to the employment of sponsors had been connected with idolatry and sorcery, were
in baptism while the parents were still living. They an offence to weak Christians, and an encourage-
disapproved of the Apocrypha being read or ex- ment to papists; that they were only human appoint-
pounded in public worship. They called for the ments, and even if they had been indifferent, the
abolition of various rites and customs, which they imposition of them was an infringement of Christian
regarded as unscriptural, such as kneeling at the liberty. And, finally, the suffrage of foreign divines
sacrament of the Lord's Supper, bowing at the name was cited, who all condemned them, though they
of Jesus, giving the ring in marriage, the prohibition were not willing to hazard the dawning Reformation
of marriage during certain times of the year, and the solely on their account.
licensing it for money, as also the confirmation of As none of the points were conceded to the Puri-
children by episcopal imposition of hands. The tans, in 1566 they came to the resolution of separat-
Puritans, while they objected to these and other ing from the parish churches, and assembling in
rites belonging to the Romish system, held also that private houses, or wherever they could enjoy their
all human traditions are superfluous and sinful; that own form of worship. They debated, however, as to
only the laws of Christ are to be practised and whether they should retain any of the Common
taught, and that mystical and significant ceremonies Prayer; or, since they were parted from the Eng-
in religion are unlawful. Queen Elizabeth was herself | lish Church, whether they should not set up a new
to wait upon him.
CEREMONIES (MASTERS (F THE)—CERINTHIANS.
489
order of service more conformable to the Scriptures | who, moved with compassion, allowed Proserpine to
and the practice of foreign divines. The latter was live half the year with her mother in the heavens,
decided upon, and the established liturgy was en- and the other half with her husband in the regions
tirely laid aside. The ceremonies of the Church of below. The worship of Ceres seems to have reached
England have continued, down to the present day, the Romans through Sicily. The first temple to this
in much the same condition as they were in the reign goddess was dedicated at Rome in B. C. 496, and a
of Elizabeth, and the controversy between that festival (see next article) was instituted with games
church and Dissenters tuins upon the single point in honour of her, over which a Greek priestess pre-
of the twentieth article, “That the church hath sided, to indicate that the worship of Ceres was bor-
power to decree rites and ceremonies,”—a point rowed from the Greeks. Ceres, though a foreign
which is strenuously denied by all Dissenters, though divinity, soon rose to great importance among the
the same article guards this power claimed for the Romans, the decrees of the senate being deposited in
church against abuse, by asserting, " Yet it is not her temple, which was committed to the special care
lawful for the church to ordain anything that is con-
of the ædiles. In his work on the Nature of the
trary to God's Word written; neither may it so Gods,' Cicero defines the name of Ceres as given
expound one place of Scripture that it be repugnant from her power of bearing fruits, thus showing that
to another.” The caution thus introduced is with-by this goddess was represented the earth. The
out avail, since the church herself is to be the judge greater Eleusinian mysteries, which were observed
of what is or is not opposed to the Word of God. in the autumn, were dedicated to Ceres, and the
The great safety of any church is simply to adhere lesser to her daughter Proserpine. (See ELEUSINIAN
to the arrangements of Christ and his apostles in MYSTERIES.) Bulls were sacrificed to Ceres on
the Scriptures, and thus to trench in nothing upon those festal occasions; libations were made to her of
the simplicity of primitive Christianity.
their blood, which they poured upon the earth, the
CEREMONIES (MASTERS OF THC), attendants | prolific lap of the patron goddess, and their flesh was
on the Pope, usually six in number, two of them be- burnt upon her numerous altars. In the AMBAR-
ing called assistants, and the other four supernumer- VALIA (which see), a sow, a sheep, and a bull, were
aries. Their duty is to regulate all pontifical func- sacrificed to Ceres, and hymns sung in her honour.
tions, acquaint the cardinals with their duties, and Ceres was lionoured at Catania in Sicily, as she was
issue orders to all persons belonging to the court. at Rome.
They have admission into the conclave, and likewise CEREALIA, a festival anciently celebrated at
into the congregation of rites, but only one goes to Rome in honour of CERES (see preceding article),
the ceremonial congregation. Whenever the Pope generally on the ides of April
, though some think a
sends any cardinal à latere out of Rome, he deputes few days earlier. To represent Ceres wandering in
one of the supernumerary masters of the ceremonies search of Proserpine, women clothed in white
These officials are generally dresses ran up and down with lighted torches in
clothed in purple cassocks, with black buttons and their hands. During the festival games were cele-
facings, and sleeves trailing on the ground, but in brated in the Circus Maximus, to which none were
the papal chapel they wear a red cassock like the rest admitted unless clothed in white.
of the cardinals, and rochets like the prelates. When CERIDWEN, a goddess of the ancient Cymri,
they appear in this ceremonial habit, they do not corresponding to the Ceres of the Romans, or De-
give precedency to any of the Pope's officers or do- meter of the Greeks.
mestics, with the exception of the major-domo, the CERINTHIANS, one of the earliest of the Gnos-
master or first gentleman of the bedchamber, and the tic sects, which derived its name from its founder
chief cup-bearer.
Cerinthus, who is said to have been a contemporary
of
· CERES, one of the principal female divinities of the apostle John. He was the first who taught that
the ancient Romans, which they derived from the system of Judaizing Christianity, which gradually
Greeks, by whom she was termed DEMETER (which ripened into Gnosticism. Epiphanius represents him
see). She was the daughter of Saturn and Vesta, as by birth a Jew, and according to Theodoret, he
and the mother of Proserpine. Ceres was accounted received his training in the school of Alexandria.
the goddess of fruits, who first taught men the art | Early writers inform us, that he resided at Ephesus
of husbandry, and is usually represented as a tall / while John was in that city, and Irenæus tells a
majestic woman with yellow hair, crowned with ears story of John having met Cerinthus in a public bath
of corn, bearing in her right hand poppies and wheat, at Ephesus, and that on seeing the heretic, he in-
and in her left a lighted torch. The reason of this stantly fled out, saying that he was afraid the bath
last emblem is to be found in the legend, that when would fall upon so noted an enemy of the truth and
her daughter Proserpine was stolen by Pluto, she kill him.
sought her with lighted torches through the whole The most varied accounts have been given of the
world, until she learned from Arethusa that she had doctrines of Cerinthus, according as the writers are
been carried by Pluto to the infernal regions. The disposed to attach more prominence to the Gnostic,
distressed mother made her complaint to Jupiter, or to the Judaizing element. Irenæus inclines chiefly
1
490
CEROFERARII-CESTUS.
to the former view, and Caius, a presbyter at Rome, his Gospel mainly with a view to refute Cerinthus,
and Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, incline to the but many theological critics are opposed to the idea.
latter. Neander regards Cerinthus as best entitled Epiphanius says, that Cerinthus was head of the fac-
to be considered as the intermediate link between tion which rose at Jerusalem against the apostle
the Judaizing and the Gnostic sects. He was in Peter, on account of some uncircuincised persons
fact one of the first who framed a regular system of with whom that apostle had eaten; and also that he
heresy after the apostolic times. Being himself a was one of the leaders in the disturbance raised at
Jew, it was natural that his starting point should be Antioch in Syria, contending for the necessity of
decidedly Jewish. Accordingly, he sets out with the circumcision. He is said to have been endowed
doctrine that between God and the world there exists with a prophetic spirit, and to have published many
a countless number of intermediate angels or spirits, prophecies and revelations throughout Phrygia and
of various ranks and degrees. By their instrumen- Pisidia. He began to propagate his heresy towards
tality the world was originally created, and all its the close of the first century.
concerns were arranged and presided over by one CEROFERARII (Lat. cera, wax, fero, to carry),
who was placed at the head of the angels, and who, taper-bearers in the Church of Rome, whose office
though himself ignorant of the character of God, re- it is to walk before the deacons with a lighted taper
presented him in the superintendence of this lower in their hands. (See ACCENSORII.) Similar officers
world, and more especially as the ruler of the Jewish are found in the Greek church.
people, and the being through whom the Supreme CEROMANCY, a species of divination practised
God revealed himself to them. The view which among the ancient Greeks by means of wax, which
Cerinthus gave of the constitution of the Person of they melted and let drop into water within three de-
Christ, approached somewhat to the sentiments of finite spaces, and by observing the figure, distance,
the Ebionites, at least in so far as concerned the situation, and connection of the drops, foretold future
denial of the supernatural conception of Christ. He events, or answered any question proposed. See
believed Jesus Christ to be simply a Jewish man,
DIVINATION.
sprung of Joseph and Mary, and so reinarkable for CESARINS, a religious order which arose in the
his piety and purity that he was selected to be the thirteenth century, in consequence of various abuses
Messiah. The commencement of his higher destiny, having crept into the order of St. Francis. The
when he becaine invested with Divine attributes, was, abuses complained of, however, having been re-
according to the Cerinthian system, to be dated from formed, the order of the Cesarins ceased to exist.
the hour of his baptism by John the Baptist, when CESSATION, an act of discipline in the Church
the Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove. of Rome, styled technically cessatio a divinis, when
The Spirit of the Messiah, which now entered into for any notorious injury or disobedience to the
Jesus, was the true heavenly Christ himself, by church, a stop is put to all divine oir ces and the ad-
whom he was miraculously endowed with the know- ministration of sacraments, and Christians are de-
ledge of the Supreme God, and invested with the prived of church burial. An interdict differs from a
supernatural power of working miracles. The man cessation, in that during the former divine service
Jesus was the organ through whom the heavenly may be performed in such churches of any place in-
Christ manifested himself to men, but being superior | terdicted, the doors being shut, as are not expressly
to all suffering, no sooner was the man Jesus given under the interdict, and even may be celebrated
into the hands of men to be crucified and slain, solemnly on certain high festivals, but in a cessation,
than the Christ or the Logos left him, and returned no religious service can be performed solemnly; the
to the Father. Epiphanius alleges that Cerinthus only liberty allowed is in order that the consecrated
denied the resurrection of Jesus, but this assertion host may be rene
host may be renewed, to repeat every week a private
is supported by no other writer. Cerinthus held mass in the parish churches, the doors being shut;
that the Jewish Law was in a certain sense binding taking care also not to ring the bell, or to admit
upon Christians. He taught also that there would more than two persons to administer in it. More-
be a resurrection of the body, and that the righteous over, it is lawful during the cessation to administer
would enjoy a millennium of happiness in Palestine, baptism, confirmation, and penance, to such persons
where the man Jesus having conquered all his ene- as desire it, provided they are not excommunicated,
mies, through the power of the heavenly Christ or under an interdict. The viaticum or extreme
united to him, would reign in the glorified Jerusalem unction may also be administered, but then the
over all his saints. Caius and Dionysius attribute | prayers which are said before and after that admin-
carnal views on this subject to Cerinthus, which it is istration must not be repeated. Cessation may be
very unlikely that he ever held. Epiphanius charges incurred by a whole diocese, a city, a village, or one
him with rejecting Paul because of that apostle's or more churches.
renunciation of circumcision, but it is far from pro- CESSION, a terin used in the Church of England,
bable that he rejected the whole of the Epistles of wlien a church is void in consequence of the incun-
Paul, though he may have objected to some of them. bent of any living being promoted to a bishopric.
It is an ancient opinion, that the apostle John wrote CESTUS, the girdle of Venus, the goddess of
CHACAM-CHAKIA-MOUNI.
491
Love among the ancient Romans. It was said to upon his childhood, he was committed at the age
have this property, that whatever female wore it of ten to the care of an eminent sage under whose
would become lovely in the eyes of him whom she instruction he acquired a knowledge of poetry,
wished to please. Venus used it to win the affec- music, drawing, the mathematics and medicine. He
tions of Mars, and Juno borrowed it from her when made such rapid progress in knowledge that he puz-
she wished to attract the regards of Jupiter.
zled his teacher with various perplexing questions.
CHACAM, the name given in some countries to Without the slightest assistance he acquired the
the chief or presiding rabbi among the modern Jews, knowledge of fifty different languages with their
who holds a spiritual, and to some extent a civil, au- peculiar characters, and thus he was supernaturally
thority over a country or large district. He has the fitted to fulfil his great mission, the enlightenment
power of inflicting ecclesiastical censures, excommu- of the world, and the diffusion of the knowledge of
nications, and anathemas, the consequences of which religion among all nations. At the age of twenty
are believed to extend beyond the present life. He he married a virgin of the race of Chakia, by whom
takes cognizance of all violations of the Sabbath, all he had a son named Bakholi, and a daughter. Soon
disregard of the fasts or festivals, all marriages, after he left his wife and family, and resolved to
divorces, and commercial contracts, and all cases of give himself to a life of contemplation. Having
adultery or incest. He hears and determines ap- mounted a horse accordingly, which was brought
peals against decisions of inferior rabbis within his him by an angel from heaven, he fled to the king-
district, and decides all difficult questions of the dom of Oudipa on the banks of the Naracara. There
law. The chacam preaches three or four sermons he assumed the priestly office, cut off his hair, and
in a year. The name chacam, or wise man, or doc- took the dress of a penitent, and exchanged his
tor, is usually applied to the chief rabbi among the name for Gotama, that is, one who obscures the
Spanish and Portuguese Jews.
senses. After having spent six years in the desert,
CHAITYA, the name applied among the Bud- far from the abodes of men, and accompanied only
hists to all objects proper to be worshipped. Such by five favourite disciples, he set out to exercise his
objects Gotama Budha declared to be of three kinds. apostleship. Having reached BENARES (which see),
The first class includes the relics of his body, which the holy city, he mounted the throne, taking the
were collected after his cremation. The second in-
name of CHAKIA-MOUNI, or the penitent of Chakia.
cludes those things which have been erected on his Having given himself up for a time to preparatory
account or for his sake, which the commentators meditations, the great sage made public proclama-
say, mean the images of his person. And the third | tion at Benares of the new system of doctrine. His
includes the articles he possessed, such as his girdle, instructions are contained in a collection of 108 large
his alms-bowl, the robe he put on when he bathed, volumes, known by the generic name of Gandjour
the vessel from which he drank water, and his seat or verbal teaching. They treat chiefly of the meta-
or throne. All these are called Chaityas, on account physics of creation, and the frail and perishable na-
of the satisfaction or pleasure they produce in the ture of man. The best edition of this great work is
mind of those by whom they are properly regarded. that of Pekin, being in four languages, Thibetan, Mon-
CHAKIA-MOUNI, a name adopted by Budha golian, Mantchoo, and Chinese. No sooner were the
according to the legendary accounts given by the new doctrines made public, than Chakia-Mouni
Mongol books, which are only translations from the met with the keenest and most determined opposi-
Thibetan or Sanscrit. The narrative differs consi- tion from the priests of the ancient religious creeds
derably from the Singhalese version of the story of India, but challenging them to open controversy,
which has been already noticed under the article he obtained a complete triumph over them, in hon-
BUDHA (GOTAMA). The Mongolian legend is as fol- our of which a festival was instituted, which is held
lows. Soutadanna, a chief man of the house of į during the first fifteen days of the first month.
Chakia, of the caste of the Brahmins, reigned in Chakia-Mouni laid down as the foundation of his
India over the powerful empire of Magadha. He religious system certain established principles of
married Mahamaya, the great illusion, but did not morality. These he reduced to four: 1. The power
consummate his marriage with her. While still a of pity resting upon immoveable bases. 2. The
virgin, she conceived by divine influence, and on the avoidance of all cruelty. 3. An unlimited compas-
fifteenth day of the second month of spring she gave sion towards all creatures.
4. An inflexible con-
birth to a son, whom she had carried three hundred science. Then follows the decalogue or ten special
days in her womb. A king, an incarnation of Indra, prescriptions and prohibitions. 1. Not to kill. 2.
baptized the young god in a divine water.
ng god in a divine water. The Not to rob. 3. To be chaste. 4. Not to bear false
child received the name of Arddha-Chiddi, and was witness. 5. Not to lie. 6. Not to swear. 7. To
instantly recognized as a divine being, while it was avoid all impure words. 8. To be disinterested. 9.
predicted that he would surpass in holiness all pre- Not to avenge one's self. 10. Not to be supersti-
ceding incarnations. Every one adored him as the tious. The new prophet pretended to have received
god of gods, a title which in Mongolian is Tingri-in- these precepts by revelation from heaven; and when
Tingri. The utmost care having been lavished he died at the age of eighty, they began to spread
1
492
CHALASSA-CHALDEE PARAPHRASES.
throughout all Asia, as a divine code of morality de- | countrymen, as much if not more than to them.
signed to regulate the actions of men. Before bid- The books of the Chaldean Catholic Church are
ding a last farewell to his disciples, the sage pre- written in the ancient Syriac language, and are the
dicted that his doctrine would prevail for five thou- same with those of the Nestorians, with the excep-
sand years; that at the expiry of that period there tion of such modifications as have been introduced
would appear another Budha, another man-god, pre- to render them conformable to the creed of Rome.
destined to be the teacher of the human race. Till | All the clergy except the metropolitan bishop and
that time, he added, my religion will be exposed to the patriarch are allowed to marry before ordination,
constant persecution, my followers will be obliged to but not after it. The American missionaries at Mo-
quit India, and to retire to the highest mountains of sul, and among the Nestorians, have succeeded in
Thibet, a country which will become the palace, the gaining several converts from the Chaldean Catho.
sanctuary, and the metropolis of the true faith. lics, and although Papal influence has been used
Such is the Mongolian legend of the history of with the Pasha to interrupt, and if possible, defeat
the famous founder of BUDHISM (which see), a sys- the labours of these devoted heralds of the cross,
tem which, being first devised in Hindustan, crossed they still persevere in propagating the truth, and in
the Himalaya, and became the predominant religion building up a Protestant church amid all the oppo-
of Thibet, Bokhara, Mongolia, Burmah, Japan, Cey- sition and even persecution to which they are ex-
lon, and to a great extent even of the vast empire of posed.
China. The Brahmans regard Budha as an avatar CHALDEE PARAPHRASES, or TARGUMS,
or incarnation of Vishnu.
a name given to translations of the Old Testament
CHALASSA, an idol worshipped by the ancient into the Chaldee tongue. When the Jews were car-
Arabians. It was destroyed in the tenth year of ried captive into Babylon, they naturally lost some
the Hegira.
part of their own language, and acquired a know-
CHALCIECUS, a surname given to Athena at ledge of the Chaldee which was spoken in the land
Sparta, as the goddess of the brazen house, her of their exile. Thus there appear to have been three
temple in that city being built of brass, and contain- dialects of the Chaldee. 1. The language spoken in
ing also her statue of brass. A festival was insti- the Babylonish empire. 2. The Syriac, spoken by
tuted in honour of Athena under this surname. See the people of Syria. 3. The Jewish dialect, ap-
next article.
proaching more to the original Hebrew. Hence the
CHALCIECIA, a festival celebrated every year necessity for Chaldee Paraphrases, on account both
at Sparta, in honour of Athena, as the goddess of of the Jews in Chaldea, and also of those in Judea,
the brazen house. A procession of young men in many of whom had lost all knowledge of the original
full armour repaired to her temple, where sacrifices Hebrew. Accordingly, in the service of the syna-
were offered.
gogue, a passage was first read in the Hebrew Scrip
CHALDEANS (RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT). | tures, and then translated to the people into the
See BABYLONIANS (RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT). Chaldee dialect. In this way numbers of transla-
CHALDEANS. See NESTORIANS.
tions were formed, which in course of time yielded
CHALDEAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. This to a few of acknowledged superiority, which were
church, which acknowledges subjection to the Papal generally adopted both for public and private use.
See, comprehends, according to the 'Annals of the The most celebrated of these are the Targums or
Propagation of the Faith,' the Patriarchate of Baby- | Paraphrases of Onkelos, and of Jonathan Ben Uz-
lon, the Archbishoprics of Diarbekr, Jizeirah, Morab, ziel; the former being a version of the five books of
Aderbijan, and the Bishoprics of Mardin, Sirid, Moses, and the latter a version of Joshua, Judges,
Amadia, Salmas, and Karkut, with ten bishops, and the two books of Samuel, the two books of Kings,
one hundred and one priests. The number of the Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve minor
Chaldean Catholics is said to be reduced to 15,000. Prophets. The Targum of Onkelos is undoubtedly
For a long period the Romanists have been making the most ancient now extant. It is rather a version
great efforts to gain converts, more especially among than a paraphrase, being rendered from the Hebrew
the Nestorians on the banks of the Euphrates and word for word, and with great exactness. It has
the Tigris. So far back as 1681, a patriarch was always been preferred by the Jews to all other Tar-
ordained by Pope Innocent XI., over such of the gums, and being set to the same musical notes with
Nestorians as had seceded to Rome, under the title the Hebrew Text, it is thus fitted to be read in the
of Mar Yoosuf or Joseph, Patriarch of the Chal- same tone with it in the public assemblies. The
deans. The seat of this functionary was at Diar- Targum of Jonathan resembles that of Onkelos in
bekr until the year 1778, when this line of patriarchs purity of style, but is much more of the nature of
was discontinued on the submission of Mar Elias of
a paraphrase, particularly his version of the later
Elkosh, one of the two regular patriarchs of the Prophets. The Jews allege that he was the favour-
Nestorians to the papal jurisdiction. The Chaldean ite disciple of Hillel, and lived before the time of
Catholics are usually styled by the Pope Chaldean our Lord. They hold him in so high estimation, that
Christians, a title which belongs to the rest of their they consider him as equal even to Moses himself.
CHALICE.
493
" It is
Besides these two celebrated Targums, there is people.
people.” These authorities, extending through the
another Targum on the Law, which is called that of four first centuries, might be corroborated by the evi-
Jerusalem. It is not a continued paraphrase as the dence of many others.
rest are, but only a commentary on some passages The first who practised half-communion were the
here and there as the author thought the text re- Manicheans, who abhorred wine, and it is worth
quired an explanation, and sometimes whole chap- | noticing that Pope Leo in A. D. 443 commanded
ters are passed over. It is written by an unknown this heretical sect to be excommunicated, on ac-
hand, and the time when it was composed is uncer- count of the denial of the cup,-a practice which
tain, but it is conjectured to have been written after his Holiness accounted sacrilege. Pope Gela-
the third century. There are also Targums on all sius in A. D. 495 spoke in the strongest and most
the other books of the Old Testament, excepting | condemnatory terms of this Manichean practice.
Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemialı, which may possibly Pope Urban in A. D. 1095, presiding in the council
have been lost.
of Clermont, which consisted of two hundred and
CHALICE, the cup in which the wine used in thirty-eight bishops, declared that “no person, ex-
the eucharist is administered. In the early ages of cept in cases of necessity, is to communicate at the
the church it was generally composed of the most altar, but must partake separately of the bread and
simple materials, for example, of glass or wood. Ac- wine.” Pope Paschal, so late as A. D. 1118, issued
cording to Irenæus, supported by Epiphanius, the enactments to the same effect. “Our Lord himself,"
impostor Marcus, of the second century, used a glass says he, “ dispensed the bread and the wine, each by
cup in the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and the itself; and this usage we teach and command the
custom seems to have continued for several cen- holy church always to observe." By the confession
turies. But when the simplicity of primitive Chris- of Bellarmine, Baronius, and Lyra, the ancient
tianity gave way before a carnal system of ceremo- church celebrated this institution in both kinds.
mies, more costly materials came to be employed in And even the council of Trent declares, that “ both
the dispensation of the Supper. Hence we find elements were often used from the beginning of the
gold and silver cups mentioned in the inventory of Christian religion ; but in process of time this usage
churches in the sixth and seventh centuries.
was changed for just and weighty reasons.
The use of the chalice, or communicating in both an important fact, that in denying the cup to the
kinds, is denied by the Church of Rome to the laity, laity, the Church of Rome differs from all other
who are allowed to communicate only in one kind; the Christian churches, Eastern and Western, at the
right of communicating in both kinds being reserved present day. The only sect of antiquity who are
only for the officiating priest. This practice has not known to have practised half-communion were the
the slightest sanction from the Word of God. Our | Manicheans, from whom the Latin church seem to
blessed Lord, when first instituting the sacrament of have adopted it. The former held wine in abhor-
the supper, administered both the bread and the
rence, accounting it the gall of the Dragon; the lat-
wine to all his disciples, using these remarkable ter held, and still hold, the sacramental wine in such
words in reference to the cup, “ Drink ye all of it.” | veneration, as to account it unfit to be used by any
He neither dispensed the sacrament nor authorized its other than a priest, and that too only when engaged
dispensation under one form only. This indeed has in sacred service.
been generally conceded by Romish doctors and Nor was the use of the chalice withheld all at
councils, and even by the council of Trent itself, once from the laity. The practice was introduced
which acknowledges our Lord's administration of gradually and by slow successive steps. At so early
each species in the original institution. And yet a date as the end of the sixth century, the custom
these theologians and councils urge the propriety of seems to have found its way into some churches, of
half-communion, alleging that all to whom the cup dipping the bread in the wine before presenting it to
at the time of institution was presented were not lay- the communicant. This erroneous practice had be-
inen but priests; and the use of the wine by the come frequent in the eleventh century; and the
clergy affords no example for its distribution to the council of Clermont condemned it as an unscriptural
laity. But unfortunately for this argument, it ap- mode of communion. A second step in the same
plies to the bread equally with the wine, so that if it direction was taken by the introduction of the
be valid, both ought to be denied to the laity. / strange device of suction. Pipes or quills, generally
Half-communion seems to have been utterly unknown of silver, were annexed to the chalice, through which
in the first ages of the church. “One bread," says the communicant was required to suck the wine, or
Ignatius, “is broken, and one cup distributed to as it was imagined, the blood of the Redeemer. The
all." “ The deacons," says Justin Martyr, "give to design of this absurd process was to prevent the
every one present to partake of the blessed bread spilling of the sacred fluid, which by the words of
and wine." Chrysostom too is equally explicit, consecration was thought to become possessed of a
"One body and one cup is presented to all.” AC- | Divine character,
cording to Jerome, “the priests who administer the So late as the twelfth century, the denial of the
communion, divide the Lord's blood among the chalice to the laity is admitted, even by Romish
494
CHALINITIS-CHANCELLOR.
authors, to have been unknown. In the following | chariots of the sun which Josiah is said to have
century, however, the practice begins to make its burnt, and may be the same with the fire-temples
appearance. Father Bonaventura, who died in 1274, of the ancient Persians, “in the midst of which,"
mentions its introduction into some churches, and says Strabo, “is an altar upon which the magi
his testimony is supported by that of Aquinas. It keep an immortal fire, upon a heap of ashes.”
was first enacted into a law two hundred years later Maundrell, in his journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem,
by the council of Constance, and this enactment was mentions that he saw the remains of several of these
renewed and confirmed by the council of Basil in enclosures in Syria.
1437. The matter was discussed at great length in CHAMSI, called also Solares, a small sect men-
the council of Trent in 1562 amid great variety of tioned by Hyde, in his · History of the Ancient Re-
opinion. Twenty-nine voted for the restoration of ligion of the Persians,' as inhabiting a certain
the cup, and thirty-eight against it. Fourteen were district of Mesopotamia. He describes them as
for deferring the decision, and ten for sending a de- amounting to not more than a thousand souls, having
legation to Germany to investigate the subject. no priests nor doctors, and no places of meeting, ex-
Twenty-four were in favour of referring the ques- cept caves, where they perform their religious wor-
tion to the Pope, and thirty-one to the prelates. ship, the mysteries of which are kept so secret, that
At length the dispute terminated in the production they have not been discovered even by those who
of canons, which approved in the strongest manner have been converted to the Christian religion. Be-
of half-communion, and a discretionary power of ing compelled by the Mohammedans to declare
granting or refusing the cup to the laity was vested themselves members of some Christian communion,
,
in the Roman pontiff. The utmost difference of they chose the Jacobite sect, baptizing their chil-
opinion now manifested itself throughout the whole dren, and burying their dead according to the cus-
of Europe. The Spaniards and Italians were vio- toms of these Christians. They believe in the pro-
lently opposed to the restoration of the sacramental pitiatory death of Christ. Some have supposed the
cup, and France, Germany, Bohemia, Poland, and Chamsi to have been a branch of the ELCESAITES
Hungary contended as keenly in its favour. The (which see), a heretical sect of Christians in the
Trentine decree is now universally admitted to be second century.
the rule of the church throughout the Roman Catho- CHAMYNE, a surname of DEMETER (which see),
lic world.
in Elis.
CHALINITIS (Gr. chalinos, a bridle), a surname
CHANCEL. See BEMA.
of ATHENA (which see), derived, it is supposed, from CHANCELLORS, laymen deputed to hear certain
that goddess having tamed Pegasus, the winged secular causes in name of the bishops. In ancient
horse, and given him to Bellerophontes.
times the clergy were allowed even by emperors and
CHALKEIA ( Gr. chalx-kos, brass), a festival of kings to exercise jurisdiction in certain civil matters,
great antiquity, celebrated at Athens at first in hon- such as marriages, adultery, wills, &c., which were
our of Athena, when it received the name of Athe-decided by them in their consistory courts. In pro-
naia. Afterwards it was kept in honour of Hephæs- cess of time individuals were selected to act as as-
tus, and being celebrated only by artizans, especially sistants or substitutes of the bishops in this depart-
smiths, it was called Chalkeia.
ment of their duty. The first mention of chancellor
CHAMMANIM, temples in honour of the sun, by name occurs in the Novel of Heraclius in the
which the ancient Hebrews erected in imitation of seventh century, where twelve chancellors are stated
the Syrians and Phænicians. These buildings are to be allowed in the great church of Constantinople.
frequently referred to in the Old Testament; but the The cancellarii or chancellors in the civil courts were
authorized version translates the Hebrew word by not judges, but officers attending the judge in an in-
the general term " images.” The word chammanim
The word chammanim | ferior station, and called cancellarii, because they
thus rendered, is found in Lev. xxvi. 30; 2 Chron. stood ad cancellos, at the rails or barriers, which se-
xxxiv. 4; Is. xvii. 8; xxvii. 9; Ezek. vi. 4.
parated the secretum from the rest of the court. The
Considerable variety of opinion prevails as to the ecclesiastical chancellors, however, occupied the po-
precise object to which the chammanim refers. Rab- sition of assistants or advisers in giving judgment,
bi Solomon Jarchi says, that they were idols which and were generally experienced in civil and canon
they set upon towers, and he alleges that the law. There appear to have been no chancellors in
name chammanim was given to them because they England until the reign of Henry II. At length
were exposed to the sun. Jurieu argues that the a chancellor became an indispensable officer to a
word being generally joined in the Old Testament bishop, who was bound to elect one, and if he re-
with groves and altars, must be understood as referring fused, the archbishop could appoint one. When
not to images, but places appropriated for the idola- chosen, a chancellor derives his authority not from
trous worship of the sun. He agrees accordingly in the bishop, but from the law, and his jurisdiction
opinion with Aben-Ezra, that they were “arched extends throughout the whole diocese, and to all
houses, built in honour of the sun, and in the form of ecclesiastical matters.
a chariot.” These, therefore, may have been the CHANCELLOR (THE POPE'S). This func-
CHANCERY-CHAOS.
495
vionary, who claims for his office an antiquity as far set in quires and places where they sing. In the
back as the time of Jerome, wrote formerly, in the chant, when properly and fully performed, both the
Pope's name, all the rescripts, doubts, and scruples minister and the choir bear their respective parts.
with respect to faith, which bishops and others pro- The minister recites the prayers, and all the parts
posed to him.
Till the pontificate of Gregory VIII., of the service which he is enjoined to say alone, (ex-
in A. D. 1187, this office had always been conferred cept the lessons,) in one sustained note, occasionally
on a bishop or cardinal ; but this Pope, who had varied at the close of a cadence: and the choir makes
himself filled the office of chancellor, conferred it the responses in harmony, sometimes in unison. But
upon a canon of St. John of Lateran, who assumed in the Psalms and Canticles both the minister and
the title of the Pope's vice-chancellor, as did also choir join together in the chant, without distinction;
five or six other canons of the same church, who each verse being sung in full harmony. ” In the
exercised it after him. But Boniface VIII. restored principal cathedrals the prayers have always been
it to the college of cardinals, still retaining the sub-chanted, and down to a recent period the same prac-
ordinate title of vice-chancellor, though the duties tice has been uniformly followed, wherever choral
were undoubtedly those of a chancellor. This dig- foundations existed. From Ambrose of Milan was
nity is purchased, and is held for life. The juris- derived a chant called the Ambrosian chant. From
diction of the cardinal vice-chancellor, as he is called, Gregory the Great, who was the great patron of
extends to the issuing out of all apostolical letters sacred music in the sixth century, originated the
and bulls, and also to all petitions signed by the famous Gregorian chant, a plain system of church
Pope, except those expedited by brief, under the music, which the choir and the people sung in
fisherman's ring.
unison. There are two modes of chanting in pre-
CHANCERY (THE POPE's), a court at Rome, sent use in the Church of England, the single and
which is sometimes styled the apostolic chancery, the double chant. The former, which is the more
and which consists of thirteen prelates, being a re- ancient of the two, is an air consisting of two
gent and twelve referendaries, who are called regis- parts; the first part terminating with the point
ters of the High Court, and are clothed each in a or colon (:) which uniformly divides each verse
long purple robe. The court at which the Pope is of the Psalms or Canticles in the English Prayer
understood to preside assembles thrice a-week, viz. Book ; the second part terminating with the verse
on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, in the vice- itself. The double chant is an air consisting of four
chancellor's palace. The registers of this court draw strains, and consequently extending to two verses, a
up the minutes of all bulls from the petitions signed species of chanting which does not appear to be
by the Pope, and collate thein after they are written older than the time of Charles II. The chanting of
in parchment. Those bulls which collate to bene- the Psalms is said to have been derived from the
fices are issued only on the payinent of certain fees practice of the Jewish church.
proportionable to the value of the benefices. John CHANTRY, a little chapel or particular altar in
XXII., though he did not invent the regulations and a cathedral church, built and endowed for the main-
fees of the apostolic chancery, is admitted, by Ro- tenance of a priest to sing masses, in order to release
mish writers, to have enlarged them, and reduced the soul of the donor out of purgatory. These
them to a more convenient form.
prayers being chanted, the place was called a chan-
CHANDRA, the goddess of the moon among the try, and the priest a chanter. There were many
Hindus. She is also called Somvar, and presides over chantries in England before the Reformation, and
Monday.
any man might build a chantry without the leave of
CHANG-KO, a goddess worshipped by the Chi- the bishop. The doctrine of purgatory does not
seem to have been admitted in England before the
CHANT, a word which, in its most extended thirteenth century, and, accordingly, the erection of
meaning, is used to denote the musical performance chantries cannot be traced farther back than that
of all those parts of the liturgy of the Church of period. In the last year of the reign of Henry VIII.
England which are permitted by the rubric to be the chantries were given over into the hands of the
sung Dr. Hook draws the following distinction king, who had power to issue commissions to seize
between singing and chanting : “Chanting does not those endowments. Those which escaped this ar-
apply to the performance of those metrical versions rangement were given to his successor, Edward VI.,
of the Psalms, the use of which in parish churches, in whom they became vested, and from that time
though legitimate, as sanctioned by authority, is not none could build a chantry in England without the
contemplated by the rubric. Neither does it apply royal license.
to those musical arrangements of the Canticles and CHANTERS. See CHORISTERS.
of the Nicene Creed, used in collegiate churches, and CHAOS, the oldest of the gods, according to He-
technically called "services. The chant properly siod, and from him sprang the earth ; Tartarus, that
signifies that plain tune, to which the prayers, the is, the inner abyss in or under the earth; and Amor,
litany, the versicles and responses, and the Psalms, or the lovely order and beauty of the world. The
and where services are not in use, the canticles, are same author informs us, that Chaos brought forth
K
nese.
496
CHAPEL-CHAPLAIN.
Erebus, or gloominess, and Nox, or night, and from means a certain kind of hood, and refers to an an-
these two sprang air and day, that is, when light was cient custom of the kings of France, who, when they
divided from the darkness, and both together formed took the field against their enemies, carried with
one day; which corresponds very closely with the them St. Martin's capella or hood, which was kept
Mosaic description in the Book of Genesis. The in a tent as a precious relic, the place in which it
Chaos of Hesiod is unformed matter, “without form was deposited being termed capella, and the priests,
and void," as Moses terms it. Some Pagan nations to whose charge it was committed, capellani. In the
consider it to have been the result of the ruin of a fifth century, the name of capellæ or chapels was
former world, which had perished by fire. The very applied to oratories or private churches, which were
term chaos, which has come to us from Greece built about that time in France, and afterwards be-
through the Romans, is thought by M. Rougemont to came common in the West. Constantine the Great
be of Semitic origin, and to be derived from cahah, seems to have been the first who introduced this
which signifies to be extinguished. This derivation kind of private worsluip. Eusebius merely says,
proceeds upon the idea, that the chaotic state pre- that he converted his palace, as it were, into a
ceded the formation of the earth in its present church, being accustomed to hold meetings in it for
aspect, and was itself the ruined condition of a for-
prayer and reading the Scriptures. Sozomen, how-
iner world destroyed by fire. On this subject Pro- ever, affirins still more plainly, that Constantine had
fessor Sedgwick remarks: “The Bible instructs us erected a chapel in his palace; and that it was also
that man and other living things have been placed his custom to set apart in war a particular tent for
but a few years upon the earth; and the physical Divine worship, which certain of the clergy were
monuments of the world bear witness to the same appointed to conduct. It appears also that several
truth. If the astronomer tells us of myriads of persons of note followed the example of the emperor,
worlds not spoken of in the sacred records, the geo- and had chaplains in their houses. Hence the decree
logist in like manner proves (not by arguments from of the second Trullian council, that no clergyman
analogy, but by the incontrovertible evidence of should baptize or celebrate the Lord's Supper in a
physical phenomena) that there were former condi- private chapel without the consent of the bishop.
tions of our planet, separated from each other by After the Crusades, many places where sacred relics
vast intervals of time, during which man and the were preserved received the name of chapels. In
other creatures of his own date had not been called England there are various kinds of chapels ; 1. Do-
into being. Periods such as these belong not, there- mestic chapels built by noblemen, that their families
fore, to the moral history of our race, and come and households may engage together in private wor-
neither within the letter nor the spirit of revelation. | ship. 2. College chapels connected with the differ-
Between the first creation of the earth, and that day ent universities. 3. Chapels of Ease for the accom-
in which it pleased God to place man upon it, who modation of parishioners who may reside at an in-
shall dare to define the interval ? On this question convenient distance from the parish church. 4.
Scripture is silent, but that silence destroys not the Parochial chapels, which, though Chapels of Ease,
meaning of those physical monuments of his power have a permanent minister or incumbent. 5. Free
that God has put before our eyes, giving us at the chapels, such as were founded by kings of England,
same time faculties whereby we may interpret them, and made exempt from episcopal jurisdiction. 6. The
and comprehend their meaning." Chaos, according burial places of people of rank, which are attached
to the ancient cosmogonies, denoted the empty, in- to churches, are sometimes termed chapels. 7. The
finite space which existed before the creation of the places of worship built by Methodists and Protest-
world, and out of which gods, men, and the whole ant Dissenters generally in England, are usually
universe arose. Ovid, however,
Ovid, however, describes it as the
describes it as the termed chapels, though the name is denied to them
confused mass out of which all things arose. Thus, by the Anglo-Catholics of the Church of England.
in the beginning of his · Metamorphoses,' he says: CHAPELS (Union), a name given to those places
of worship in which the service of the Church of
“ Before the appearance of the earth and sky England is performed in the morning, and the ser-
Which covereth all things, Nature
vice of Dissenters in the evening. Such buildings
Throughout the universe had but one form,
Which men have named Chaos—'Twas a
were intended to unite both parties.
Raw and sliapeless mass-a heap of Nature's
CHAPELLE ARDENTE, or castrum doloris,
Discordant seeds wildly huddled together."
a form sometimes followed in the Romish church in
the case of masses for the dead, when the deceased
What was the precise state of the chaotic mass happens to be a person remarkable for his rank or
before the fiat of the Creator it is impossible to say. virtues. A representation of the deceased is set up
But no sooner did the Spirit of God brood upon the with branches and tapers of yellow wax, either in
face of the waters than a world of beauty and order | the middle of the church, or near the tomb of the
straightway sprang into existence.
deceased, where the priest pronounces a solemn ab-
CHAPEL, a building erected for Divine worship. / solution of the dead.
The name is derived from capella, which primarily CHAPLAIN, the minister or incumbent of a
CHAPLET.
497
men.
CHAPEL (which see). Although, in the days of Con- retained by letters testimonial under hand and seal,
stantine, the emperor himself and a few of his nobles for it is not sufficient that he serve as chaplain in the
may have had private chaplains, the practice seems family. The name of chaplain is given also to min-
not to have been generally followed for a long period. isters who officiate in the army and navy, in jails, pub-
At length, however, in the Byzantine empire, the lic hospitals, and workhouses.
emperor and empress were permitted to have private CHAPLET, an instrument of devotion used by
chaplains in their palace. Hence the origin of court Roman Catholics, Greeks, Armenians, and other
preachers. “Whether tenipted,” says Neander, " by Eastern communions. It consists of a string of beads
this example, or induced by the necessity arising by which they count the number of their prayers.
from the migratory character of their court, the Ecclesiastical antiquaries are considerably divided as
Frankish princes selected certain clergymen to ac- to the origin of chaplets. They seem to have had
company them, and perform the service of the no existence, however, earlier than the twelfth cen-
church. At the head of these ministers was an arch- tury, when they are said to have been introduced by
chaplain, and this body of clergy exercised, by their the Dominicans, who claim the merit of inventing this
constant and close intercourse with the prince, an supposed aid to devotion as belonging to their founder,
important influence on the affairs of the church. The St. Dominic, to whom also is traced the honour of ori-
example of the prince was followed by other great ginating the Inquisition. The Mohammedans are
Nobles and knights appointed private chap- allowed to have borrowed the use of chaplets from
lains, and placed particular priests in their castles. the Hindus, and the Spaniards, among whom St. Do-
This practice was attended with very injurious con- minic laboured, may have received them from the
sequences. The clergy thus employed and pro-
Moors. These bead-strings were in common use in
tected, threatened to make themselves independent the thirteenth century, and then, as now, they con-
of the bishop's inspection. The result was that the sisted of fifteen decades of smaller beads for the
proper services of the parish church lost their dig- Hail Mary, with a large one between each ten for the
nity: they were attended only by the peasantry; Paternoster. It was not, however, till the fifteenth
the rich and poor had now their distinct worship of century that the rosary, as chaplets came to be
God. The knights, moreover, often selected for called, started into very high estimation in the Ro-
their chaplains worthless men, mere ramblers, who man Catholic world. Alain de la Roche, a Dominican
contented themselves with the most mechanical re- friar, pretended to have had an interview with the
petition of the liturgy, and were ready to become the Virgin Mary, in the course of which she communi-
instruments of any vice or folly. Even serfs were cated the peculiar virtues of this implement of devo-
sometimes appointed by their masters to this office, tion. The story is thus related by Southey, in his
and though chaplains were still expected to perform Vindiciæ Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ :' "The prodigious
the most menial duties. Both religion and the cleri- virtues of the rosary were manifested at Carcassone,
cal character were disgraced by these abuses. Nu- where there dwelt so active and pertinacious a here-
merous regulations were introduced to oppose them, tic, that Dominic, not being able to convert him by
and secure the respect due to the public service of reasoning, (and as it appears, not having at that time
the church.”
the efficacious means of fire and faggot at command,)
In England the Queen has forty-eight chaplains, complained to the Virgin what mischief this mon-
four of whom are in attendance each month, preach ster was doing to the cause of the faith ; upon
in the royal chapel, read service in the family and whole host of devils was sent into the heretic to punish
to the Queen in her private oratory, and say grace in his obstinacy, and give the saint an opportunity of
the absence of the clerk of the closet. In Scotland, displaying his power. The energumen was in a
the Queen has six chaplains, whose only duty at dreadful state; and well he might be; for when, in
present is to pray at the election of peers for Scot- the presence of the people, he was brought before
land to sit in parliament.
Dominic for help, and the saint throwing a rosary
According to a statute of Henry VIII. the per- round his neck, commanded the foul fiends, by vir-
sons vested with the power of retaining chaplains, tue of that rosary, to declare how many they were,
together with the number each is allowed to qualify, it appeared that they were not less than fifteen thou-
are as follow :—an archbishop, eight; a duke or sand in number: the heretic had blasphemed the
bishop, six; marquis or earl, five; viscount, four; rosary, and for every decade of that sacred bead-
baron, knight of the garter, or lord chancellor, three ; string, a whole legion had entered him. Grie-
a duchess, marchioness, countess, baroness, the trea- | vously, however, as he was tormented, the devils
surer or comptroller of the king's house, clerk of the themselves were not less so, when being thus put
closet, the king's secretary, dean of the chapel, al- to the question, they were compelled to answer all
moner, and master of the rolls, each of them two ; that the saint asked. Was what he preached of the
chief justice of the king's bench, and warden of the rosary false, or was it true? They howled in agony
cinque ports, each one.
All these chaplains may
at this, and cursed the tremendous power which they
purchase a license or dispensation, and take two confessed.
Whom did they hate most?
benefices, with cure of souls. A chaplain must be
Whom but Dominic himself, who was their
which a
I.
2 L
498
CHAPLETS—CHAPTER.
same manner.
worst enemy on earth! . Which saint in upon a chaplet or rosary. Each sect has one pecu-
heaven did they fear most, and to which might liar to itself. The chaplet of one sect consists of
prayers with most confidence be addressed, and two circles, one over the other. The first or upper-
ought the most reverence to be paid ? So reluctant most consists of forty beads, and the lowest of thirty.
were they to utter the truth in this case, that they The Budsdoists in Japan are obliged to repeat their
entreated he would be pleased to let them reply in prayers one hundred and eight times over, because
private; and when he insisted upon a public answer, the Bonzes assure them that there are as many dif-
they struggled with such violence, that fire issued ferent sins which render a man polluted and unclean,
from the eyes, mouth, and nostrils of the miserable and each devotee ought to be provided with a prayer
demoniac. Touched with compassion at the sight, for his spiritual defence.
Dominic adjured the Virgin by her own rosary to
CHAPLETS (MARRIAGE). The crowning of the
have mercy upon him. Immediately heaven opened, married pair with garlands, was a marriage rite pe-
the blessed Virgin herself, surrounded with angels, culiar to many nations professing different forms of
descended, touched the possessed with a golden wand, religion. Tertullian inveighs against it with all the
and bade the fiends make answer. Bitterly com- zeal of a gloomy Montanist; but it is spoken of with
plaining of the force which was put upon them, approbation by the fathers of the fourth and fifth
they exclaimed at last,– Hear, o ye Christians ! | centuries, from whom it appears that the friends and
this Mary, the mother of God, is able to deli- attendants of the bridal pair were adorned in the
liver her servants from hell: one supplication of
These chaplets were usually made of
hers is worth more than all the prayers of all the olive, myrtle, amaranth, rosemary, and evergreens,
saints; and many have had their sins, unjustly so intermingled with cypress and vervain. Chaplets were
we think, forgiven them, for invoking her at the not worn by the parties in the case of a second mar-
point of death. If she had not interposed we should riage, nor by those who had been guilty of impro-
ere this have destroyed Christianity; and we confess priety before marriage. In the Greek church the
and proclaim that no one who perseveres in her ser- chaplets were imposed by the officiating minister at
vice and in the use of the rosary can perish.'"
the altar. In the Western church it was customary
The same Dominican monk was favoured with for the parties to present themselves thus attired.
another visit from the Virgin, complaining of the CHAPTER. See BIBLE.
neglect into which her rosary had fallen : “By CHAPTER (CATHEDRAL), the governing body
the Ave Marias it was, she said, that this world had of a cathedral. It consists of the dean with a certain
been renovated, hell emptied, and heaven replen- | number of canons or prebendaries, heads of the
ished; and by the rosary, which was composed of church. This body corresponds to the ancient se-
Ave Marias, it was that in these latter times the nate of the early presbyters, who assisted the bishop
world must be reformed. She had chosen him as in his ecclesiastical government. During the life-
her dearest and most beloved servant, to proclaim time, and still more on the death, of the bishop,
this, and exhort his brethren to proclaim it, and she the cathedral chapter formerly took a part in the
promised to approve their preaching by miracles. administration of affairs in the diocese. The most
With that, in proof of her favour, she hung round important concerns, according to the canon law,
his neck a rosary, the string whereof was composed shall not be undertaken by the bishop without
of her own heavenly hair ; and with a ring made of consultation with the chapter. From this govern-
that same blessed hair, she espoused him, and she | ing body certain members were chosen to examine
blessed him with her virgin lips, and she fed him at the candidates for ordination, and the priests as to
her holy bosom."
their care for the souls under their charge. The
The historians of the Crusades allege, that Peter chapter is styled by the canon law concilium and
the Hermit first taught the soldiers the use of chap- senatus episcopi. As they formed a corporation,
lets, which he himself had invented. But the greater they acquired property, and became independent of
number of Romish writers attribute the discovery to the bishop, whom they had also in England, as else-
St. Dominic, who appears, at all events, to have where, the power of choosing. The old English
been the originator of the ROSARY (which see), a cathedrals had, generally speaking, a common pro-
large chaplet consisting of one hundred and fifty perty, from which the expenses of the fabric and
beads. Chaplets are in use in China among the other necessary outgoings were defrayed, and from
worshippers of Fo or Budha. The devotees of this which also the dean and resident officers and canons
sect wear a chaplet about their necks or round their received a daily portion according to their time of
arms, consisting of one hundred middle-sized beads, residence, the dean's share being double that of a
and eight considerably larger. At the top, where
The new cathedrals have a corporate pro-
Roman Catholics fix their crucifix, they have one perty from which are paid the stipends and expenses.
very large bead made in the fashion of a gourd. The revenues of twenty-six cathedrals and two col-
The Chinese probably were in the habit of using legiate churches in 1852 amounted to £313,005 2s.
these bead-strings long before they were known in 9d. Out of this sum the amount divided between
Christendom. The Japanese, also, say their prayers
the members of the chapters in the same year was
canon.
CHAPTERS (THE THREE)-CHARAK PUJAH.
499
£160,713, and about one-sixth part of the revenue is form of Maha Kali. In course of time, accordingly,
now paid to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The the goddess Kali has come to occupy a most con-
greater part of the revenues of the chapters is de- , spicuous place in the annual festival of the Charak
rived from fines paid on the granting or renewal of Pujah. She is of all the Hindu deities the most
leases.
cruel and revengeful. Dr. Duff informs us that, ac-
The chapters, as has been already noticed, at a for- cording to some of the sacred legends, she “actually
mer period possessed the power of electing bishops. cut her own throat, that the blood issuing thence
Henry VIII., however, assumed this right as a pre- might spout into her mouth;" and images of this
rogative of the crown. Their authority no longer | horrid spectacle are to be seen this day in some dis-
extends over the diocese during the life of the tricts of Bengal. This blood-thirsty divinity is the
bishop, but in them is vested the whole episcopal protectress and special guardian of the Thugs, who
authority during the vacancy of the see.
profess to plan and to execute their sanguinary de-
CHAPTERS (THE THREE), (Lat. capitula, predations under her auspices. The festival of
heads), three subjects condemned by a decree of Charak Pujah also, though held in honour of her
Justinian passed A. D. 544, commonly called Justi- lord, as the great destroyer, is embraced as an occa-
nian's creed. The obnoxious points were (1.) The per- sion of adoring Kali as his destructive energy. It is
son and writings of Theodorus, bishop of Mopsuestia, described in the following graphic and glowing style
whom the decree pronounced a heretic and a Nesto- by Dr. Duff in his · India and India Missions :
rian. (2.) The writings of Theodoret, bishop of Cy- 66 The festival itself derives its name of Charak
ricus, in so far as they favoured Nestorianism, or | Pujah from chakra, a discus or wheel; in allusion to
opposed Cyril of Alexandria and his twelve ana- the circle performed in the rite of swinging, which
themas. (3.) An epistle said to have been written constitutes so very prominent a part of the anniver-
by Ibas, bishop of Edessa, to one Maris a Persian, sary observances. An upright pole, twenty or thirty
which censured Cyril and the first council of Ephe- feet in height, is planted in the ground. Across the
sus, and favoured the cause of Nestorius. To under- top of it, moving freely on a pin or pivot, is placed
stand the dispute about the Three Chapters, it must | horizontally another long pole. From one end of
be remembered that the orthodox doctrine on the this transverse beam is a rope suspended, with two
person of Christ was opposed to the Nestorians on hooks affixed to it. To the other extremity is fas-
the one hand, who dissevered the two natures of tened another rope, which hangs loosely towards the
Christ, and the Eutychians or Monophysites on the ground. The devotee comes forward, and prostrates
other hand, who confounded them together. In op-
himself in the dust. The hooks are then run
posing these two extremes, the orthodox were some- through the fleshy parts of his back, near the shoul-
what divided, some leaning to the one party, and ders. A party, holding the rope at the other side,
others to the other party. Those who, in their zeal immediately begins to run round with considerable
against the Nestorians, approached near to the velocity. By this means the wretched dupe of su-
Monophysites, were ready to condemn the Three perstition is hoisted aloft into the air, and violently
Chapters, while they were defended by those who whirled round and round. The torture he may con-
were inclined to favour the Nestorians. To this lat- tinue to endure for a longer or shorter period, ac-
ter party belonged Theodorus, Theodoret, and Ibas. cording to his own free-will. Only, this being
In this controversy the Oriental church took a very reckoned one of the holiest of acts, the longer he
lively interest, but in the Western church where can endure the torture, the greater the pleasure con-
both the Nestorian and Eutychian controversies had veyed to the deity whom he serves; the greater the
prevailed to no great extent, the Three Cliapters portion of merit accruing to himself; and, conse-
were felt to be of little consequence. It was a bold quently, the brighter the prospect of future reward.
step in Justinian, on the ground simply of his civil The time usually occupied averages from ten minutes
authority as emperor, to issue a decree condemning to half an hour. And as soon as one has ended,
the Three Chapters, but having rashly taken the another candidate is ready, -aspiring to earn the
step he resolved to persevere in it. The church like merit and distinction. And thus on one tree
was agitated long and severely on the subject, and from five to ten or fifteen may be swung in the
at length the opinions held forth in the Creed of Jus- course of a day. Of these swinging posts there are
tinian having received ecclesiastical sanction, the hundreds and thousands simultaneously in operation
doctrine on the person of Christ, as consisting of two in the province of Bengal. They are always erected
natures in one person, became the settled opinion of on the most conspicuous parts of the towns and vil-
the Catholic Christian church, and has continued so lages, and are surrounded by vast crowds of noisy
to this day. See JUSTINIAN'S CREED.
spectators. On the very streets of the native city
CHARAK PUJAH, one of the most popular fes- of Calcutta, many of these horrid swings are annu-
tivals in Eastern India. It is held in honour of ally to be seen, and scores around the suburbs. It not
Shiva, in his character of Maha Kali; or time, the unfrequently happens that, from the extreme rapi-
great destroyer of all things. The consort of Shiva dity of the motion, the ligaments of the back give
is Parvati, under the distinction, and appropriate way, in which case the poor devotee is tossed to a
500
CHARAN DASIS.
an-
distance, and dashed to pieces. A loud wail of mustard-seed. They then stretch themselves flat on
commiseration, you now suppose, will be raised in their backs,-exposed to the dripping dews of night,
behalf of the unhappy man who has thus fallen a and the blazing sun by day. And their vow is, that
martyr to his religious enthusiasm. No such thing! froin that fixed position they will not stir, will nei-
Idolatry is cruel as the grave. Instead of sympathy ther move, nor turn, nor eat, nor drink,—till the
or compassion, a feeling of detestation and abhor- seeds planted on the lips begin to sprout or germi-
rence is excited towards him. By the principles of nate. This vegetable process usually takes place on
their faith he is adjudged to have been a desperate the third or fourth day; after which, being released
criminal in a former state of being; and he has now from the vow, they arise, as they doatingly imagine
met with this violent death, in the present birth, as and believe, laden with a vast accession of holiness
a righteous retribution, on account of egregious sins and supererogatory merit.”
committed in a former !
Such scenes as these form a most impressive
“The evening of the same day is devoted though painful commentary on the declaration of
other practice almost equally cruel. It consists in Sacred Scripture,
Sacred Scripture, “ The dark places of the earth
the devotees throwing themselves down from the are full of the habitations of horrid cruelty." What
top of a high wall, the second storey of a house, or a a contrast to the spirit which the gospel everywhere
temporary scaffolding, often twenty or thirty feet in inculcates! See HINDUISM, KALI, SHIVA.
height, upon iron spikes or knives that are thickly CHARAN DASIS, one of the Vaishnava sects
stuck in a large bag or mattress of straw. But these
among the Hindus. It was instituted by Charan
sharp instruments being fixed rather loosely, and in Das, a merchant of the Dhusar tribe, who resided at
a position sloping forward, the greater part of the Delhi in the reign of the second Alemgir. Their
thousands that fall upon them dexterously contrive doctrines of emanation are much the same as those
to escape without serious damage. Many, however,
Many, however, of the Vedanta school, though they correspond with
are often cruelly mangled and lacerated; and in the the Vaishnava sects in maintaining Brahm, or the
case of some, the issue proves speedily fatal.
great source of all things, to be Krishna. They re-
" At night, numbers of the devotees sit down in nounce the Guru, and assert the pre-eminence of
the open air, and pierce the skin of their foreheads; faith above every other distinction. They differ
and in it, as a socket, place a small rod of iron, to from the other Vaishnava sects, in requiring no par-
which is suspended a lamp, that is kept burning till ticular qualification of caste, order, or even sex for
the dawn of day, while the lampbearers rehearse the their teachers; and they affirm that they origi-
praises of their favourite deity.
nally differed from them also in worshipping no sen-
" Again, before the temple, bundles of thorns and sible representations of the deity, and in excluding
other fire-wood are accumulated, among which the even the Tulasi plant and the Sálagrám stone from
devotees roll themselves uncovered. The materials
their devotions; though they admit that they have
are next raised into a pile, and set on fire. Then recently adopted them, in order to maintain a friendly
the devotees briskly dance over the blazing embers, intercourse with the followers of Rámánand. An-
and fliug them into the air with their naked hands, other peculiarity in their system is, the importance
or toss them at one another.
they attach to morality, while they do not acknow-
"Some have their breasts, arms, and other parts, ledge faith to be independent of works. They
stuck entirely full of pins, about the 'thickness of maintain that actions invariably meet with punish-
small nails, or packing needles.' Others betake ment or reward. Their Decalogue is as follows:
themselves to a vertical wheel, twenty or thirty feet (1.) Not to lie. (2.) Not to revile. (3.) Not to
in diameter, and raised considerably above the speak harshly. (4.) Not to discourse idly. (5.) Not
ground. They bind themselves to the outer rim, in to steal. (6.) Not to commit adultery. (7.) Not to
a sitting posture, so that, when the wheel rolls
offer violence to any created thing. (8.) Not to ima-
round, their heads point alternately to the zenith and gine evil. (9.) Not to cherish hatred. (10.) Not to
the nadir.
indulge in conceit or pride. These precepts, however,
“But it were endless to pursue the diversity of do not exhaust their system of morality. They en-
these self-inflicted cruelties into all their details. join upon their followers also to discharge the duties
There is one, however, of so very singular a charac- of the profession or caste to which they belong, to
ter, that it must not be left unnoticed. If the pro- associate with pious men, to put implicit faith in
blem were proposed to any member of our own com- the Guru or spiritual preceptor, and to adore Hari
munity to contrive some other distinct species of as the original and indefinable cause of all, and who,
torture,--amid the boundless variety which the most through the operation of Máyá, created the uni-
fertile imagination might figure to itself, probably verse, and has appeared in it occasionally in a mor-
the one now to be described would not be found. tal form, and particularly as Krishna.
Some of these deluded votaries enter into a vow. The followers of Charan Dás consist of two
With one hand they cover their under lips with a classes, the clerical and the secular. The latter
layer of wet earth or mud; on this, with the other are chiefly of the mercantile order; but the former
hand, they deposit some small grains usually of | lead a mendicant and ascetic life, and are distin-
1
CHARENTON (THE DECREE OF)-CHARISTIA.
501
guished by wearing yellow garments, and a single applied to believers in the early Christian church,
streak of sandal down the forehead, a necklace because their prayers and intercessions were power-
and rosary of Tulasi beads, and a small pointed | ful with God to obtain freedom for others as well as
cap, round the lower part of which they wear a for themselves. Accordingly, that eminent father
yellow turban.
exhorts penitents to fall down at the feet of these
The authorities of the sect are the Sri Bhagavat favourites of heaven, and to implore them to make
and Gítá. Their chief seat is at Delhi, where intercession with God for them.
there is a monument to the memory of the founder. CHARILA, a heathen festival, anciently ob-
This establishment consists of about twenty resi- served among the inhabitants of Delphi, once in
dent members. There are also five or six similar every nine years. The circumstances which led to
Maths at Dehli, and others in the upper part of its institution at first, are related by Plutarch to the
the Doab, and their numbers are said to be rapidly following effect. The Delphians having been visited
increasing.
with a famine, they proceeded with their wives and
CHARENTON (THE DECREE OF), a celebrated children to the gate of the king, entreating his as-
decree of the Reformed Church of France, passed sistance. Being unable to supply the wants of the
in the second synod of Charenton A. D. 1631, by whole of the inhabitants, he distributed meal and
which a way was opened up for the professors of the pulse only to the better sort. Among the appli-
Lutheran religion to hold sacred and civil commu- cants was a little orphan girl, who earnestly en-
nion with the Reformed. The words of the decree, treated a share of the royal bounty, but instead of
as given in Quick's Synodicon in Gallia Reformata,' granting her relief, the king beat her with his shoe,
were these : “ The province of Burgundy demand- and drove her from his presence with every insult
ing whether the faithful of the Augsburg Confession and indignity. The girl, though a destitute orphan,
might be permitted to contract marriages in our felt the affront deeply, and unable to brook the in-
churches, and to present children in our churches sulting treatment, hastily untied her girdle and
into baptism, without a previous abjuration of those hanged herself with it. After this the famine is said
opinions held by them contrary to the belief of our to have increased, and brought along with it exten-
churches, this Synod declareth, that inasmuch as the sively prevailing disease; whereupon the king con-
churches of the Confession of Augsburg do agree sulted the oracle of Apollo, which declared that the
with the other Reformed churches in the principal death of the virgin Charila must be expiated. After
and fundamental points of the true religion, and that long search as to the meaning of the reply of the
there is neither superstition nor idolatry in their oracle, the Delphians discovered that the virgin
worship, the faithful of the said Confession, who, Charila was the orphan whom the king had beaten
with a spirit of love and peaceableness, do join them- with his shoe, and, therefore, as the oracle directed,
selves to the communion of our churches in this certain expiatory sacrifices were established, which
kingdom, may be, without any abjuration at all were to be performed every nine years. The mode
made by them, admitted unto the Lord's table with of their celebration was in accordance also with the
us, and as sureties may present children unto bap- occasion of their appointment. The king, who pre-
tism, they promising the Consistory that they will sided at the festival, distributed meal and pulse to
never solicit them, either directly or indirectly, to all who applied, whether strangers or citizens.
transgress the doctrine believed and professed in | When all had received their portion, an image of
our churches, but will be content to instruct and the virgin Charila was brought in, when the king
educate them in those points and articles which are smote it with his shoe, and then the chief of the
in common between us and them, and wherein both Thyades conveyed it to a lonesome and desolate
the Lutherans and we are unanimously agreed. place, where a halter being put about its neck, they
Before this attempt in France at a union between buried it in the same spot where Charila was in-
the Lutheran and Reformed churches, the same ob- terred.
ject was sought to be accomplished in England by CHARIS (Gr. grace), the personification of grace
James I., who, in 1615, tried to reconcile the two and beauty among the ancient Greeks. The Char-
parties through the instrumentality of Peter du ites or Graces are said by Hesiod to have been the
Moulin, a celebrated divine among the French Re- daughters of Zeus and Eurynome or Eunomia, one
formed. These well meant efforts, however, both in of the Oceanides ; or as others affirm, of Dionysus
France and England, failed to accomplish the desired and Aphrodite. They were three sisters, named
result.
respectively Aglaia, Thalia, and Euphrosyne. See
CHARGE, an address delivered by a bishop in GRACES.
Episcopal churches at a visitation of the clergy be- CHARISTIA (Gr. charis, grace), a solemn feast
longing to his diocese ; and in Presbyterian churches among the ancient Romans, to which only immediate
an address delivered to the minister on the occasion relatives and members of the same family were in-
of his ordination to the pastoral office.
vited, for the purpose of arranging amicably any dis-
CHARI DEI (Lat. Beloved ones of God), a puted matter, and effecting a reconciliation among
name alleged by Tertullian to have been sometimes friends who might happen to be at variance. This
»
:
1
i
502
CHARITY (CHARTER OF)-CHARMER.
feast was celebrated on the 19th of February, and it | into the great congregation and the little congrega-
is referred to by Ovid in his Fasti.
tion, the former implying that a great company of
CHARITY (CHARTER OF), the name which Pope the larger sort of beasts were assembled together,
Stephen gave to the constitutions which he drew up and the latter an equally great company of the
for the regulation and guidance of the Cistercian smaller sort of beasts, such as serpents, scorpions,
monks, when he united their monasteries into one and the like. Charmers of various kinds have been
body. See CISTERCIANS.
found in many nations, both in ancient and in mo-
CHARITY OF OUR LADY (ORDER OF THE), dern times. Shaw, Bruce, Lane, and others, who have
an order of monks founded towards the end of the been in the Levant, testify to the prevalence parti-
thirteenth century. It originated in the erection of cularly of serpent-charmers. The most famous ser-
an hospital for the sick and poor in the diocese of pent-charmers of antiquity were the Psylli, a people
Chalons in France. The order was confirmed by of Cyrenaica, whose power Pliny ascribes to a pecu-
Boniface VIII. in A. D. 1300, and flourished for a liar odour about their persons, which the serpents
time, but becoming disorderly and corrupt, it gra- abhorred. The most potent form of words used in
dually dwindled away, and soon became extinct. India against serpents, is said by Roberts to be,
CHARITY OF OUR LADY (Nuns HOSPITAL- “Oh! serpent, thou who art coiled in my path, get
LERS OF THE), an order of nuns founded at Paris in out of my way; for around thee are the mongoos,
1624, by Francis de la Croix. The religious of this the porcupine, and the kite in his circles ready to
hospital were obliged by vow to administer to the take thee.” In Egypt, as Mr. Lane informs us, the
necessities of poor and sick females. They were following words are used to attract serpents from
distinguished by a dress of grey serge. The consti- their hiding-places, “I adjure you by God, if ye be
tutions of this order were drawn up by the Arch- above, or if ye be below, that ye come forth : I ad-
bishop of Paris in 1628, and approved by Pope jure you by the most Great name, if ye be obedient,
Urban VIII. in 1633.
that ye come forth; and if ye be disobedient, die !
CHARITY OF ST. HIPPOLYTUS (RELIGI- die! die!” In all heathen nations, but particularly
OUS HOSPITALLERS OF THE), an order founded in in Southern and Western Africa, charmers are found
1585 in Mexico, by Bernardin Alvarez in the ponti- to exercise a remarkable influence over the minds of
ficate of Gregory XIII. This charitable Mexican the people. The FetisII (which see) of many Negro
founded an hospital for the poor, dedicating it to the tribes is regarded with the utmost veneration. The
honour of St. Hippolytus the martyr. Bernardin whole religious history of our race, indeed, in so far
drew up constitutions for the government of the as it is uninfluenced by Divine rerelation, shows a
order, which received the approbation of the Pope. striking tendency to contemplate most of the ob-
Afterwards some others of the same kind were built, jects and phenomena of external nature in the light
and being united, they formed a congregation under of charms, viewing them as possessed of life and
the name of the Charity of St. Hippolytus.
power. On this subject, Mr. Gross remarks, in his
CHARMS. See AMULETS.
ingenious work on the Heathen Religion, “ The wind
CHARMER, one who makes use of charms. The moans or howls ; the stream leaps or runs ; the tree
Jews understand by the word as employed in Deut. nods or beckons; the rains are tears, which heaven,
xviii. 11, a person that practises magic by the use of in sorrow or in anger, sheds upon the earth; and the
certain words and sounds, as well as signs and cere- fantastic cloud-forms are so many ghostly warriors,
monies, which they allege have been appointed by ominously hovering over the human domicile. Be-
the devil to accomplish what is beyond the power of sides, the fire bites : its flames are tongues, which
man; to charm a serpent, for example, so as to pre- i like the serpent-locks of Medusaencircle and de-
vent it from stinging or inflicting any injury. In vour their victim. Hail is the algid missile of some
ancient times they spoke in verse or rhyme, and shaggy or sullen frost king, the Joetun Rime, for
hence the word “charmer" is translated by the Sep- example, in Scandinavian mythology. The earth is
tuagint, "one that sings his song." To this sort of a mother, producing and nourishing an innumerable
superstition the Jews were at one time very much progeny, and hence called Ceres, or Alma Nostra.
addicted, and when they threw away their own Here we find not only impersonation, but also apo-
charms, they substituted for them the words of theosis; and the reason is, that man, more sentient
Scripture. Thus they pretended to cure wounds by than rational, is restricted in the unfolding process of
reading from the Law, Exod. xv. 26. “I will put his inner life, to the intercourse with the objects
none of these diseases upon thee.” A charmer was of sense, unable as yet to rise to abstract ideas.
generally thought to have intercourse with evil spirits You remember,' writes the author On Heroes,
under whose influence he acted. Ludolph translates | Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History, 'that fancy
the word that we interpret "charmer," by the words of Aristotle's, of a man who had grown to maturity
gathering together in company." The allusion is in some dark distance, and was brought, on a sudden,
supposed to be to an ancient kind of enchantment, into the upper air to see the sun rise. What would
by which various kinds of beasts were brought to- his wonder be,' says the philosopher, “his rapt asto-
gether into one place, distinguished by the Rabbins | nishment at the sight we daily witness with indiffer-
CHARON-CHASIDIM.
503
ence! With the free, open sense of a child, yet with CHASIBLE, CHASUBLE, or CASULA, the outer-
the ripe faculty of a man, his whole heart would be most dress which was formerly worn by the priest in
kindled by that sight, he would discern it well to be the service of the altar. It was in a circular form,
godlike, his soul would fall down in worship before with an aperture to admit the head in the centre,
it. Now, just such a childlike greatness was in the while it fell down so as completely to envelope the
primitive nations. The first Pagan Thinker among person of the wearer. In the Romish church it
rude men, the first man that began to think, was pre- cut away at the sides, so as to expose the arms, and
cisely the child-man of Aristotle. Simple, open as a leave only a straight piece before and behind. The
child, yet with the depth and strength of a man. Greek church, which retains it in its primitive shape,
Nature had, as yet, no name to him; he had not yet calls it Phelonion. That which is worn by the
united under a name the infinite variety of sights, Greek Patriarch is embellished all over with trian-
sounds, shapes, and motions, which we now collec-gles and crosses, from which it sometimes received
tively name universe, nature, or the like, and so with the name of Polystaurium. The phælonion or cloak
a name dismiss it from us. To the wild, deep- is supposed to be the garment which Paul left at
hearted man, all was yet new, unvailed under names Troas, and hence, as is alleged, his peculiar anxiety
or formulas ; it stood naked, flashing in on him that it should be brought him, it being an ecclesias-
there, beautiful, awful, unspeakable. Nature was to tical robe.
this man, what to the Thinker and Prophet it for ever CHASCA, the name of the planet Venus, under
is, preternatural. This green, flowery, rock-built which it was worshipped among the ancient Peru-
earth, the trees, the mountains, rivers, many-sound- vians.
ing seas; that great deep sea of azure that swims CHASIDIM (Heb. saints), a modern Jewish sect
overhead; the winds sweeping through it; the black originated in 1740 by a Polish Jew, named Rabbi
cloud fashioning itself together, now pouring out fire, Israel Baal Schem, who taught first in Poland, and
now hail and rain : what it it? Ay, what? At afterwards in Podolia. They recognize the Cab-
bottom we do not yet know; we can never know at bala as the foundation of their doctrines and practices.
all
. It is not by our superior insight that we escape They discipline themselves with fasting and other
the difficulty; it is by our superior levity, our inat- austerities, abstain from animal food, and in gen-
tention, our want of insight. It is by not thinking eral from all earthly enjoyments. Baal Schem was
that we cease to wonder at it. Hardened around us, revered by his followers as the representative of the
incasing wholly every notion we form, is a wrappage Deity upon earth, whose commands they were bound
of traditions, hearsays, inere words. We call that implicitly to obey. He bore the title of Tzadik,
fire of the black thunder-cloud “electricity," and lec- or the righteous, a name which the sect still retain
ture learnedly about it, and grind the like of it out instead of that of Rabbi. The founder died in 1760,
of glass and silk : but what is it? What made it ? and after his death his three principal disciples, who
Whence comes it? Whither goes it ? Science has were also his grandsons, were elected chiefs of three
done much for us; but it is a poor science that divisions of the Chasidim, and its unity being once
would hide from us the great, deep, sacred infinitude broken, the sect was split up into a number of se-
of Nescience, whither we can never penetrate, on parate communities or associations. Meanwhile the
which all science swims as a mere superficial film. number of adherents had increased from ten to forty
This world, after all our science and sciences, is still thousand. Israel Baal Schem is said, in the books
a miracle; wonderful, inscrutable, magical, and more of the Chasidim, to have been taken up into hea-
to whomsoever will thinlc of it.'
ven, there to live in the society of angels, acting as
CHARON, a son of Erebos, regarded among the mediator with God, and reconciling to Him every
heathen nations of antiquity as the ferryman of the Jew who brings up his children in the doctrines of
infernal regions, employed in carrying in his boat the the Chasidiin. “ The dignity of Tzadik," as we are
shades of the dead across the Styx, and other rivers informed by Da Costa, “ continued high in esteem
of the lower world. For this service Charon was long after the death of Israel Baal Schem; not only
supposed to receive from each an obolus, and, accord- was its possessor venerated as holy, but his whole
ingly, it was customary to put a coin of that value family shared in the deference paid to him, and all
into the mouth of every dead body before burial. his relations were looked upon as saints among the
CHAROPS, a surname of Hercules, under which Jews. His books, his clothes, his furniture, and
he had a statue erected to him on the spot where he especially his tomb, were considered as preservatives
was said to have brought forth Cerberus from the from sin, and instrumental in its expiation. To serve
infernal regions.
the Tzadik gave a right to eternal life hereafter,–
CHARTOPHYLACES, officers in the early to converse with him was to be in a state of beati-
Christian church, identical with the CEIMELIARCHS tude here upon earth.”
(which see). The name given also to grand officials The Chasidim have separate synagogues, and use
in the Greek church.
the prayer-book of the Spanish Jews. They rever-
CHARTREUX (ORDER OF).
See CARTHU- ence the Talmud less, and the Sohar more than the
other Jews, and the grand object which they profess
SIANS,
504
CHASSAN-CHEIROTHESIA.
As a
to seek after is a perfect union with God. Much of their authority, and had excommunicated them as a
their time is spent in contemplation and in prayer, heretical sect. See SABBATHAISTS.
during which they use the most extraordinary con- CHASSAN, the reader or chanter in a modern
tortions and gestures, jumping, writhing, howling, Jewish synagogue.
until they work themselves up into a state of in- CHASTE BRETHREN AND SISTERS, a name
tense excitement approaching to madness. which the APOSTOLICI (which see) of the twelfth
preparation for their devotions they are said to make century assumed to themselves, in consequence of
à liberal use of mead, and even of ardent spirits, with their preference of celibacy to marriage.
the view of inducing cheerfulness. Messrs. Bonar CHASTITY, a virtue worshipped among the an-
and M'Cheyne visited a synagogue of the Chasidim cient heathens, two temples being dedicated to the
at Tarnapol, and witnessed a dance in honour of the worship of this deity at Rome; the one entered only
law, which they thus describe: “At first they by ladies of patrician rank, and the other being de-
danced two and two, then three or four all joined signed for ladies of plebeian birth. In both temples
hand in hand; they leaped also as well as danced, no matron was permitted to offer sacrifice unless she
singing at the same time, and occasionally clap- had an unblemished character, and had been but
ping hands in a manner that reminded us of the once married; such matrons being honoured with
Arab dance and song in the East. A few seemed the crown of chastity. This goddess is usually re-
quite in earnest, with a wild fanatical expression in presented under the figure of a Roman matron wear-
their countenances, while others were light and ing a veil, and in the modest attitude of putting it
merry." Dr. M‘Caul, in his "Sketches of Judaism
over her face.
and the Jews,' mentions some of the religious cus- CHAZINZARIANS, a sect which arose in Ar-
toms of the Chasidim. " Their chief means of edifica- menia in the seventh century, deriving their name
tion,” he says, " is the spending the Sabbath-day with from the Armenian word chazus, a cross, because
the Tzadik. On Friday afternoon and evening, be they were accused of worshipping the cross. They
fore the approach of the Jewish Sabbath, waggon- | held an annual feast in honour of the dog of their
loads of Jews and Jewesses, with their children, pour false propbet Sergius.
in from all the neighbourhood from a distance of CHEIMAZOMENI (Gr. tossed as in a tempest),
thirty, forty, or more miles. The rich bring presents a name given sometimes by Greek writers to de-
and their own provisions, of which the poor are per- moniacs or energumens, who were possessed with an
mitted to partake. The chief entertainment is on evil spirit. The modern Greeks also have in their
Saturday afternoon at the meal which the Jews call | Euchologium a prayer for those that are tossed with
the third meal, during which the Tzadik says Torah, unclean spirits. Some learned men, however, think
that is, he extemporises a sort of moral-mystical-cab- that the Cheimazomeni were such penitents as, from
balistical discourse, which his followers receive as the heinousness and aggravation of their crimes, were
the dictates of immediate inspiration. For the bene- not only expelled out of the communion of the
fit of those who are too far removed to come on the church, but cast out of the very atrium or court,
Saturday, the Tzadik makes journeys through his and porch of the church, and put to do penance in
district, when he lodges with some rich member of the open air, where they stood exposed to the in-
the sect, and is treated with all the respect due to clemency of the weather.
one who stands in iminediate communication with CHEIRODOTUS. See DALMATICA.
the Deity. He then imposes penances on those CHEIROMANCY (Gr. cheir, the hand, and man-
whose consciences are burdened with guilt, and dis- teia, divination), foretelling future events in the his-
penses amulets and slips of parchment with cabba- tory of an individual from the appearance of the
listic sentences written on them to those who wish hands. See PALMISTRY.
exemption from sickness and danger, or protection CHEIRON, one of the centaurs of ancient fabu-
against the assaults of evil spirits.” The sect of the lous mythology, to whom the Magnesians, until a
Chasidim seems to have been an offset from the Sab-
very late period, offered sacrifices. He was alleged
bathaists, who also originated in Poland, and like the to have been killed by a poisoned arrow shot by
Chasidim, its doctrines are derived partly from the Heracles, and afterwards placed by Zeus among the
Talmud and partly from the Cabbala. They declare stars.
themselves, indeed, as originally Talmudist Jews, CHEIROSEMANTRA, the wooden board which
and their Liturgy is that of the Sephardim, while | is struck by a mallet among the Greeks to summon
their hymns and poems are of Cabbalistic tendency. | the people to church. This is the usual call to wor
At last the entire discrepancy between the tenets of ship both among the orthodox and heretics in the
the Chasidim and the Talmud became evident, when | East, in consequence of the prohibition of bells by
in 1755, a certain Meschullam, a member of the sect, the Turks, who imagine that their sound drives away
publicly burnt a copy of the Talmud in the midst of good spirits.
the Jewish quarter of a city in Podolia. The Tal- CHEIROTHESIA (Gr. cheir, the hand, and tithe-
mudist rabbins in Poland, however, had before this mi, to put or place), a word used in the original
tine discovered that the Chasidim were opposed to Greek of the New Testament to indicate ordination,
CHEIROTONIA-CHEREM.
505
ON-
though it literally signifies IMPOSITION OF HANDS of the Chemarims with the priests.” Lowth con-
(which see). To the cheirothesia in the ordination of siders the chemarim to have been an order of super-
office-bearers, the Episcopalians attach a very great stitious priests appointed to minister in the service
importance.
of Baal, and who were his peculiar chaplains. In
CHEIROTONIA (Gr. cheir, the hand, and teino, Hosea x. 5, the Hebrew word chemarim is used to
to stretch out), a word used in the original Greek of depote the priests who officiated in the service of the
the New Testament to indicate the election of office- golden calves set up by Jeroboam at Dan and Beth-
bearers in the Christian church. The act of elec- el. The Jews still use the word, and apply it in
tion was performed either by casting lots or by giv- derision to Christian ministers, because they officiate
ing votes, signified by elevating or stretching out in black robes.
the hands. To the latter mode of election, the word CHEMOSH, an idol of the Moabites sometimes
cheirotonia refers. It is sometimes translated " confounded with Baal-Peor or Balphegor. It is
dain” in the authorized version. Thus Acts xiv. 23,
Thus Acts xiv. 23, supposed to be derived from an Arabic word signi-
“ And when they had ordained them elders in every | fying swift, and hence Chemosh has been thought,
church, and had prayed with fasting, they com- like Baal, to be an emblem of the sun. According to
mended them to the Lord, on whom they believed." Strabo and Ammianus Marcellinus, this god is con-
Hence the two words cheirothesia and cheirotonia be- sidered as identical with Apollo, to whom they give
ing both translated ordination, in one instance at the name of Chomeus, and who is also considered as
least, the Congregationalists found an argument | representing the sun. It is very probable, there-
thereupon in favour of both election and ordination fore, that Chemosh was the great solar god of the
being vested in the Christian people. Presbyte- Moabites. Solomon, as we are informed 1 Kings
rians, on the other hand, allege that the two words xi. 7, erected an altar to this deity on the Mount of
are essentially distinct, and that the cheirotonia by Olives. No information
Olives. No information is given in Scripture as to
the Christian people ought not to hinder the cheiro- | the precise form of the idol Chemosh, but if it re-
thesia or laying on of hands by the Presbytery. See sembled Baal, it must have been of the ox species,
ORDINATION.
and the rites of worship of a riotous and immoral
CHEL, one of the courts of the second temple of character. So much do the Moabites appear to have
Jerusalem. The Hebrew expositors define it to be been identified with the worship of this national
a space of ten cubits broad, encompassed with a wall, god, that they are described in Num. xxi. 29, as the
between the mountain of the house and the courts, sons and daughters of Chemosh. Jerome says, the
so that it may justly enough be called the enclo- | image of Chemosh was placed in a temple upon
sure or outer verge of the courts. The ascent from Mount Nebo. Jurieu regards him as a representa-
the mountain of the house into the Chel was by tion of Noah, who is also identical with Comus, the
twelve steps, or six cubits, every step being half a god of feasts.
cubit in elevation; and the Chel being ten cubits CHERA, a surname of HERA (which see).
broad, it was level with the wall of the court of the CHEREM, the second degree of excommunica-
women. The wall by which the Chel was enclosed tion among the Jews, and commonly called the
was not so high as the other walls about the temple, greater excommunication. The offence was pub-
and there were many passages through this wall lished in the synagogue, and at the time of the pub-
into the Chel, one before every gate that led into lication of the curse, candles were lighted, but when
either of the courts; and on each side of the passage it was ended they were extinguished to denote that
was a pillar on which was a notice written in Greek the excommunicated person was deprived of the light
and Latin, warning strangers not to enter into that of heaven. His goods were confiscated; his male
place, but to beware of treading upon holy ground. children were not admitted to be circumcised; and
When the Jews were subject to the Syro-Grecian | if he died without repentance, by the sentence of the
kings, this bar against strangers was scornfully bro- judge a stone was cast upon his coffin or bier, to
ken through in thirteen places; but the Jews re-
sliow that he deserved to be stoned. He was not
paired the breaches, and ordered that thirteen prayers mourned for with any solemn lamentation, nor fol-
should be offered against the heathen kingdoms, if a lowed to the grave nor buried with common burial.
stranger presumed to approach to any of the places The sentence of cherem was to be pronounced by
where the breaches had been made.
ten persons, or in the presence at least of ten per-
CHEMARIM (Heb. the black ones), an order of But the excommunicated person might be ab-
priests of Baal, who probably derived their name solved by three judges, or even by one, if he should
from the black garments which they wore when sa- happen to be a doctor of the law. The vow called
crificing, or as others think, because they painted cherem among the Hebrews, or the accursed thing, is
their faces black. The word only appears once in nowhere enjoined by Moses, nor does he mention in
the English translation, viz. Zeph. i. 4, “I will what respects it was distinguished from other vows,
also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon but takes it for granted that this was well known.
all the inhabitants of Jerusalemn; and I will cut off The species of cherem with which we are most fan.i-
the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name liar was the previous devoting to God of hostile
sons.
506
CHERUBIM.
cities against which the Israelites intended to proceed cherubim may have held in the primitive worship of
with the utmost severity. The intention of pro- Eden, is alleged by Dr. Fairbairn, in his instructive
nouncing the cherem was to excite the people to war. work on the Typology of Scripture, to have been as
In such cases all the inhabitants were doomed to follows: “ Their occupation of Eden must have af-
death, and it was not allowed to take any portion of forded a perpetual sign and witness of the absolute
plunder. The beasts were slain ; all other things holiness of God, and that as connected with the ever-
were ordered to be consumed with fire, and what | lasting life, of which the tree in the midst of the
could not be burned, as for example, gold, silver, and garden was the appropriate food. This life had be-
other metals, were deposited in the treasury of the come for the present a lost privilege and inheritance
sanctuary. When the city was destroyed, a curse to man, because sin had entered and defiled his na-
was pronounced, as in the case of Jericho, upon any ture; and other instruments must take his place to
man who should attempt to rebuild it.
keep up the testimony of God, which he was no
CHERUBIM, mysterious representations fre- longer fitted to maintain.
quently mentioned in Sacred Scripture. Much dis- “But while in this respect the cherubim in Eden
cussion has taken place among the learned as to the served to keep up the remembrance of man's guilt,
real nature of these creatures, and a great variety of as opposed to the righteousness of God, the chief
opinion still exists upon the subject. The very ety- purpose of their appointment was evidently of a
mological meaning and derivation of the word Cherub friendly nature—a sign and emblem of hope. They
is at this day a matter of doubtful disputation. The would not of themselves, perhaps, have been suffi-
most prevalent opinion for a long period, and that cient to awaken in the bosom of man the hope of
which has been revived of late years by Mr. Elliott, inmortality, yet, when that hope had been brought
in his Horce Apocalypticæ, regards them as simply in by other means, as we have seen it was, they
angelic natures, but whether it is the name of a dis- came to confirm and establish it. For why should
tinct class of celestial beings, or is intended to desig- the keeping of the tree of life have been committed
nate the same order as the Seraphim, cannot be with to them? They were not its natural and proper
certainty determined. Michaelis held that they were a guardians ; neither was it planted to nourish the
sort of thunder-horses of Jehovah, somewhat similar principle of an undying life in them; they were but
to the horses of Zeus in the ancient heathen mytho- temporary occupants of the region where it grew,
logy of the Greeks; while Herder, and several other and being ideal creatures, whatever they kept, must
German writers of more recent times, maintained obviously have been kept for others, not for them-
them to have been merely fabulous monsters, like selves. Their presence, therefore, around the tree
the dragons of ancient story, who were supposed to of life, with visible manifestations of divine glory,
guard certain treasures. It was a kindred idea of bespoke a purpose of mercy toward the fallen. It
Spencer in his erudite work, · De Legibus Hebræ- told, that the ground lost by the cunning of the
orum,' thạt the cherubim were of Egyptian origin, tempter, was not finally abandoned to his power and
and designed to be an imitation of the monster- malice, but was yet to be re-occupied by the beings
shapes which so much abounded in the ancient reli- for whom it was originally prepared; and that in the
gion of Egypt, and which were thence transferred to meantime, and as a sure pledge of the coming resto-
Assyria and Babylon. It is unfortunate, however, ration, Heaven kept possession of it by means spe-
for this theory, that figures having the precise form cially appointed for the purpose. Eden thus had the
of the Hebrew cherubim are not to be found in the appearance of an abode, though for the present lost,
representations on the Egyptian monuments, and so yet reserved in safe and faithful keeping for its pro-
general is the occurrence of compound figures in the
per owners, against the time when they should be
mythology of all the nations of antiquity, that there provided with a righteousness qualifying them for a
is no special reason for assigning their origin to return to its pure and blessed privileges; and there
Egypt exclusively, rather than to India, or Persia, was set before the family of man a standing pledge,
or China. Other men of great erudition, aniong that the now forfeited condition of immortality would
whom may be mentioned Philo, Grotius, and Bochart, ( be restored.
followed in more recent times by Rosenmuller and “It would not be difficult, we conceive, for the
De Wette, regard the cherubim as having been first race of worshippers, with the aptness they pos-
symbols of the Divine perfections, or representations sessed for symbolical instruction, to go a step farther
of the attributes of the Godhead.
than this, and derive one lesson more from the ap-
The cherubim in Eden, referred to in Gen. iii. 29, pearance of the cherubim in Eden. While these
seem to have differed from those in the hidden sanc- could not fail to be regarded as witnesses for God's
tuary of the temple; the former, like the cherubim in holiness, in opposition to man's sin, and signs of
Ezekiel and Revelation, having the appearance of God's purpose to rescue from the power and malice
life in the highest state of activity, and therefore of the tempter what had been lost; they would also
well termed “the living ones," while the latter were very naturally suggest the thought, that the fulfil-
fixed inanimate objects represented with wings over- ment of that purpose would even more than recover
shadowing the mercy-seat. The place which the what was lost. These ideal creatures, which were
CHERUBIM.
507
placed for a season in paradise in man's room, united | of the ark, to show that they were keepers of the
in their compound structure powers and faculties Law, which was deposited under the mercy-seat.
super-additional to those which were now possessed Their wings were stretched on high, to indicate that
by man, or had ever been his-combining with man's they were ready to fly to execute the Divine com-
intelligence, the capacity for productive labour and mands. Their wings were expanded over the ark, so
usefulness peculiar to the ox, the might and dominion as to form a seat, which was called the throne of God.
of the lion, the winged speed and far-seeing penetra- One of the most difficult points in theological
tion of the eagle. The garden of God, and the tree literature is to ascertain the symbolical meaning and
of life, as emblems of hope to the church, being now design of the cherubim, whether as found in Eden,
in the keeping of creatures possessed of such a sin- or as represented in the tabernacle and temple.
gular combination of qualities, was surely fitted to Bähr, whom Dr. Fairbairn has chiefly followed in
awaken the conviction, that a higher place and des- his discussion on this subject, declares the cherub to
tiny was to be won for man in the new creation ; | be “a creature, which, standing on the highest grade
and that when the lost inheritance should be recov. of created existence, and containing in itself the most
ered, and the restitution of all things should take perfect created life, is the best manifestation of God
place, the nature of man should be endowed with and the divine life. It is,” he continues, "a repre-
other gifts and faculties for the service of God, than sentative of creation in its highest grade, an ideal
it originally possessed. Eden was not only main-
Eden was not only main- creature. The vital powers communicated to the
tained in its primeval honour after the fall, but it most elevated existences in the visible creation, are
seemed rather to have gained by that unhappy collected and individualized in it.” Hengstenberg
event; higher beings kept possession of its treasures, has attempted to establish a similarity between the
brighter manifestations of divine glory hung around | Hebrew cherubim and the Eygptian sphinxes, alleg-
its approach; clearly indicating to the eye of faith, ing the only difference to be, that in the cherubim
that the tempter should be more than foiled, and that the divine properties were only indirectly symbo-
what tended in the first instance to defeat the pur- lized, so far as they came into view in the works of
pose, and deface the blessed workmanship of God, creation, whilst in the sphinx they were directly
should be ultimately overruled in his providence, symbolized. No small discussion has taken place on
for ennobling and beautifying this territory of crea- the point, whether the cherubim adumbrated a hu-
tion."
man or an angelic order of beings. Dr. Fairbairn,
The cherubim in the most holy place of the Jew- following in the steps of Bähr, says on this point:
ish tabernacle and temple, are thus described in the 5. Its essential character consists in its being a crea-
Mosaic Law, Exod. xxv. 18, 19. “And thou shalt ture; it is the image of the creature in its highest
make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt stage, an ideal creature. The powers of life, which
thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.
in the actual creation are distributed among the crea-
And make one cherub on the one end, and the other tures of the first class, are collected and concentrated
cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat | in it. All creation is a witness of the powers of
shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends there- life that are in God, and consequently the cherub,
of.” Nothing more is known of these figures than in which the highest powers of life appear as an in-
that they were winged creatures. Grotius supposes dividual property, by means of its four component
them to have resembled a calf in figure, while Spen- parts, is a witness, in the highest sense, of the crea-
cer and Bochart imagine them to have borne the tive power which belongs to the invisible God of
image of an ox. Others again allege them to have the majesty, (or power to rule and judge,) the omni-
been compound figures like those in Ezekiel and presence and omniscience, and finally the absolute
Revelation, having each of them the figure of a man, wisdom of God. As such a witness, it serves for
a lion, an ox, and an eagle. The attitude, however, the glorification and honour of God, nay, it is the
in which they are represented, as looking down upon personified living praise of God himself; and on this
the mercy-seat, is scarcely consistent with the idea account the object of the ceaseless activity of the
of a four-faced creature. From the account given of four living creatures in the Apocalypse is made to
the cherubim by Moses, we learn, that they were consist in the perpetual praise and adoration of God:
two in number, stationed one at each end of the “They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy,
mercy-seat or propitiatory which covered the ark. holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is
The Shechinah, or visible manifestation of the Di- to come. And when those beasts (living creatures)
vine glory, was revealed from between the cherubim, give glory, and honour, and thanks to him that sat
and on this account they are termed “cherubim of on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four
glory." Those in the tabernacle were of beaten and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on
gold, but those in the temple of Solomon, which were the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and
much larger, were composed of the wood of the olive- ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, say-
The faces of these cherubim looked one to ing, Thou art wurthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and
another, to signify, as the Jews allege, their mutual honour, and power; for thou hast created all things,
harmony and love, and both looked toward the cover and for thy pleasure they are, and were created.'”
tree.
.
1
508
CHERUBICAL HYMN.
displayed in creation, view them rather as symboliza | " Dr. Candish, in his Contributions towards an Ex-
that condition of regenerate, redeemed, risen, and
Other writers, however, instead of regarding the divine commands, and elevating the soul to the
cherubim as testifying to the attributes of God as things that are above."
ing the Divine glory as displayed in redemption. position of the Book of Genesis, advances a some-
Thus Mr. Holden remarks: “In attempting to ex- what similar view of the cherubim to that which
plain the hieroglyphic meaning of the cherubim, it is has been advanced by Professor Bush, and which
easy for a luxuriant imagination to transgress the seems to be more ingenious than correct. His
bounds of sobriety and reason; but some spiritual view is stated in these words : “They are not an-
instruction they were doubtless meant to convey; gelic, but human symbols, in some way associated
and the proto-evangelical promise, that the seed of with the church, especially viewed as redeemed, and
the woman should bruise the head of the serpent, significant of its glorious power and beauty, as pre-
combined with the reflected light from subsequent sented before the throne of God and of the Lamb.
revelations, points out the mystery of redemption as The very same character may be ascribed to the
the leading object of the celestial vision. The free living creatures of Ezekiel's visions, and to the
communication with the tree of life was forbidden to cherubim, wherever they are mentioned in the Old
the fallen, rebellious creature, and the only access to Testament. They typify and shadow the complete
it that now remained was through the mediatorial church, gathered out of all times and nations, and
office of a Redeemer, who has remedied the evil ori- from the four corners of the world, in attendance on
ginating from the fall. This was typically discov- her Lord and Saviour, in his redeeming glory. In
ered in the glorious and cherubic appearance at the the holy place of the tabernacle and the temple, the
entrance of the garden of Eden, an appearance not mercy-seat sprinkled with atoning blood—the cheru-
intended to drive our first parents from the tree of bim bending over and looking upon it—the glory of
life in terror, but to inspire them with hope, to de- the Lord, the bright Shechinah light, resting in the
monstrate to them that the Divine mercy was still midst,-fitly express in symbol the redemption, the
vouchsafed to man, though now fallen, and to be an redeemed, and the Redeemer; believers, with stead-
emblematical representation of the covenant of fast eye fixed on the propitiation, whereby God is
grace."
brought once more to dwell among them; Jehovah
Parkhurst and the Hutchinsonian school hold a meeting, in infinite complacency, with the church
kindred opinion, declaring the cherubim to be of
em-
which blood has bought, and blood has cleansed.
blematical of the ever-blessed Trinity in covenant to So also, when faith beholds God as the God of sal-
redeem man.” Professor Bush again considers then | vation, he appears in state with the same retinue.
as a symbol of holy men, and in his view the cheru- Angels, indeed, are in waiting; but it is upon or
bic symbol in its ultimate scope, pointed forward to over the cherubim that He rides forth. It is be-
tween the cherubim that He dwells. The church
glorified men, when they shall have assumed an an- ever contemplates Him as her own, and sees Him
gelic nature. Following out this idea, he goes on rejoicing over her in love."
to observe: "Were the cherubim men—men stand- It is impossible to enumerate the great variety of
ing in covenant relation with God-men possessed opinions which have been entertained in reference
of renewed spiritual life, and thus enjoying the divine to the symbolical meaning of the cherubim. Philo
favour—then may we not conclude, that this unique imagined that they were emblems of the two hemi-
combination of forms represents some marked and spheres, and Athanasius of the visible heavens.
definable attributes in the character of those whom Both ancient and modern writers, indeed, have dif-
the symbol adumbrates ? What then are the distin- fered so widely in their views on this subject, that,
guishing traits in the character of the people of Gock after all that has been written upon it, even by men
which may be fitly represented by emblems so of the most extensive erudition, we must be con-
unique? How shall the hieroglyphic be read? The tented to regard the mattersas still involved in mys-
face of the ox reminds us of the qualities of the ox, tery and doubt.
and these, it is well known, are patient endurance, CHERUBICAL HYMN, a sacred ode, held in
unwearied service, and meek submission to the yoke. high estimation in the ancient Christian church, and
What claims has he to the title of a man of God who still embodied in the liturgy of the Church of Eng-
is not distinguished by these ox-like attributes ? land. Its original form was in these words, "Holy,
The lion is the proper symbol of undaunted courage, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts; heaven and earth
glowing zeal, triumph over enemies, united with in- are full of thy glory, who art blessed for ever.
nate nobleness, and magnanimity of spirit. The Amen." Ambrose of Milan refers to this hymn
man, as a symbol, we may well conceive as indicat- | under the name of Trisagion, telling us, that in most
ing intelligence, meditation, wisdom, sympathy, phi- of the Eastern and Western churches, when the eu-
lanthropy, and every generous and tender emotion. charistic sacrifice had been offered, the priest and
And, finally, in the eagle we recognise the impersona- people sung it with one voice. Jerome also speaks
tion of an active, vigilant, fervent, soaring spirit, of it as having been sung as a confession of the Holy
prompting the readiest and swiftest execution of the Trinity.
Trinity. Towards the middle of the fifth century,
CHIBBUT HAKKETER-CHIPPU'R.
509
the form used by the church was in these words, | assembled in convocation, the bishops wear a scarlet
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have chimere over the rochet, which was indeed the usual
mercy upon us;" the three expressions of adoration dress of bishops until the time of Elizabeth, when it
being intended to apply to the Three Persons of the was changed for black satin, as being more befitting
Trinity. This form is sometimes ascribed to Pro-
sometimes ascribed to Pro- | the episcopal dignity and gravity.
clus, bishop of Constantinople, and Theodosius the CHIMHOAM, the guardian deity, among the
Younger; and it continued to be used until the time Chinese, of their provinces, cities, and courts of
of Anastasius the emperor, who, or as some say, judicature. There are temples erected to his honour
Peter Gnapheus, bishop of Antioch, caused the throughout the whole empire. The mandarins, when
words to be added, " that was crucified for us;" the they enter upon any important office, are obliged in
design of this addition being to introduce the heresy the first place to do homage to the Chimhoam of the
of the Theopaschites, who maintained that the Di- | particular city or province which is committed to
vine nature itself suffered upon the cross. To avoid their care, and having taken a formal oath that they
this error, the hymn was afterwards amended in the will faithfully discharge the trust reposed in them,
time of the emperor Zeno, and made to read thus :- they consult the guardian deity about the most ef-
“ Holy God, holy Mighty, holy Immortal, Christ fectual mode of executing the duties of their office.
our King, that wast crucified for us, have mercy This act of homage must be repeated twice a-year.
upon us." These additions introduced great confu- CHINA (RELIGION OF). See BUDHISTS, CON-
sion into the Eastern churches, while the Western FUCIANS, TAUISTS.
churches refused to receive them, and some of the CHINA, a deity worshipped on the coast of Gui-
European provinces that they might apply it, as of old, nea, in Western Africa. An annual procession in
to the entire Trinity, expressly used the words, “ Holy honour of this god takes place about the latter end
Trinity, have mercy on us." The cherubical hymn of November, when the rice is sown.
The people
was regarded as forming a necessary part of all com- having assembled at midnight, at the place where the
munion services. It occurs in the English Prayer idol is kept, they take it up with great humility and
Book, a little before the prayer of consecration in reverence, and walk in procession to the appointed
the Communion Office. Dr. Hook supposes it to station where sacrifice is to be offered. The chief
be derived from the apostolic age, if not from the priest marches at the head of the assembly, and be-
apostles themselves.
fore the idol, bearing in his hand a long pole with a
CHIBBUT HAKKEFER, the beating of the banner of silk fastened to it. He carries also several
dead, which, the Jewish Rabbis allege, is performed human bones, and some rice. When the procession
in the grave by the angel Duma and his attendants, has reached the appointed place, a quantity of honey
who hold in their hands three fiery rods, and judge is burnt before the idol; after which each one pre-
at once the body and the soul. This is alleged to sents his offering. The whole assembly then offer
be the fourth of the seven judgments which are in- up earnest prayer for a prosperous harvest; at the
flicted upon men after death, and which are said to close of which they carry back the idol in solemn
be referred to in the threatening, Lev. xxvi. 28, silence to its ordinary place of residence. This deity
“Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; | is represented by a bullock's or a ram's head carved
and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your in wood; and sometimes it is formed of paste, com-
sins."
posed of the flour of millet, kneaded with blood, and
CHICOCKA, a deity among the natives of Loando mixed with hair and feathers.
in Western Africa, who is believed to be the guar- CHINES, idols formerly worshipped by the Chi-
dian of their dead. His statue, composed of wood,
They were constructed in the form of a
is erected in the neighbourhood of their burying pyramid, and curiously wrought. Some allege that
grounds, and he is believed to prevent the bodies they contained a kind of white ants, that lie hid in
from being clandestinely removed, or the dead from their small apartments. So much did the Pagan
being insulted, or compelled to work, hunt, or fish. Chinese stand in awe of these idols, that they were
CHILD-BIRTH. See BIRTH.
accustomed when they purchased a slave, to carry
CHILIASTS. See MILLENARIANS.
him before one of the Chines, and after presenting
CHIMÆRA, a monster in ancient Greek my- an offering of rice, and other kinds of food, they
thology, which breathed out fire, and was said to prayed to the idol, that if the slave should run away,
have been sprung from the gods. Her body exhib- he might be destroyed by lions or tigers. This
ited in front the appearance of a lion, behind that of ceremony so alarmed the poor slaves, that they sel-
a dragon, and in the middle parts that of a goat. dom ventured to abscond from their masters, even
Hesiod represents her as having three heads, and although subjected to the most cruel treatment. One
Virgil places her at the entrance to the infernal re- of these pyramidal temples is said to exist outside
gions. The fable of the Chimæra is probably founded the walls of Foncheou, the capital of the province of
on a volcano of that name, near Phaselis in Lycia. Folkien.
CHIMERE, the upper robe worn by a bishop, to CHIPPUR (Heb. pardon), a name given by the
which the lawn sleeves are generally attached. When Hebrews to the great day of atoneinent, because on
nese.
510
CHISLEU-CHOREPISCOPI.
that day the sins of the whole people were under- | blooming verdure began to appear, and amid much
stood to be expiated or pardoned. See ATONEMENT | rejoicing a ram was sacrificed to the goddess.
(DAY OF).
LORIS, the spouse of Zephyrus, and the god-
CHISLEU, or Kislev, the third month of the dess of flowers among the ancient Greeks, identical
civil, and the ninth of the ecclesiastical year, ac- with Flora among the Romans.
cording to the Jewish calendar. It contains CHOIR, a name given to the BEMA (which see)
thirty days, and corresponds to part of our Novem- of primitive Christian churches, from the singing of
ber and December. It is during this month that the service by the clergy. The Bema is now usually
the winter prayer for rain commences. Various Jew- | termed chancel, in speaking of parish churches, and
ish festivals occur in the course of it. Thus, besides choir when speaking of cathedrals or collegiate
the feast of new moon, on the first day of the month, churches. Congregations usually assemble in the
there is a feast on the third in memory of the idols choirs of cathedrals, while the clergy occupy the
which the Asmoneans cast out of the temple. On
On stalls on each side.
the seventh is held a fast which was instituted be- The word choir is also used to signify a body of
cause Jehoiakim burned the prophecy of Jeremiah men set apart to perform all the services of the
which Baruch had written. Dr. Prideaux places Church in England. The whole body corporate of
this fast on the twenty-ninth day of the month, but a cathedral, forın, properly speaking, the choir. But
Calmet supposes it to have been on the sixth, and the term is more commonly restricted to denote the
that on the following day a festival was celebrated | body of men and boys who perform the service to
in memory of the death of Herod the Great, the music. The choir is usually divided into two parts,
cruel murderer of the children of Bethlehem. On stationed on each side of the chancel, in order to
the twenty-fifth day of Chisleu commenced the feast sing alternately the verses of the psalms and hymns,
of dedication, which was kept for eight days as a each side answering to the other.
minor festival in commemoration of the dedication of CHOREPISCOPI, or CHOR-BISHOPS, a name
the altar after the cleansing of the temple from the given in ancient times to country bishops, the word
pollution of Antiochus by Judas Maccabeus.
being probably derived from chora, which in Greek
CHITONE, a surname of ARTEMIS (which see). signifies the country. The existence of these church
CHITONIA, a festival celebrated in ancient times officers must be traced back to a very remote period,
in honour of Artemis, under the surname of CHITONE as there can be little doubt that, in many districts,
(which see), and in an Attic town of the same name. Christianity very early made progress in the open
The same festival was also celebrated among the country; and wherever Christians were found in
Syracusans.
sufficient numbers to form separate ecclesiastical
CHIUN, the name of an idol among the Canaan- communities, they would naturally choose their own
ites and Moabites. It is referred to in only one pas- pastors or bishops, who were, of course, quite as inde-
sage of Sacred Scripture, viz. Amos v. 26, “ But ye
“But ye pendent as the presiding officers in the city churches.
have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun In the fourth century they seem to have begun to be
your images, the star of your god, which ye made to spoken of by a distinct name, that of chor-bishops,
yourselves.” This passage is quoted by the martyr as separate from and in conflict with the city bishops.
Stephen, with a somewhat different reading, evi- The chor-bishop presided over the church of a prin-
dently derived from the Septuagint, which makes no cipal village, and to him a certain number of village
mention of Chiun, Acts rii. 43, “ Yea, ye took up churches, which had their own pastors, were subject.
the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god It is not improbable that some of these clerical dig-
Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them : nitaries had abused their authority, as we find, in the
and I will carry you away beyond Babylon." Dr. fourth century, synods decreeing that the chor-bishops
Clarke supposes Chiun to be a literal corruption of should only have power to nominate and ordain ec-
Rephan, a change, however, which is not sanctioned clesiastics of the lower grade without consulting the
by a single MS. or version of the Old Testament. city bishop.
city bishop. The council of Sardica and the council
It has been thought, with some degree of probabi- of Laodicea at length wholly forbade the appoint-
lity, that the translators of the Septuagint, writing in ment of chor-bishops, and the latter council ordained
Egypt, had rendered the word Chiun by Rephan or that, in place of the country-bishops, visitors should
Remphan, which in Coptic is used to denote the be appointed who should take the general oversight
planet Saturn. Vossius supposes both Remphan of the country churches. But at a later period chor-
and Chiun to signify the moon. See REMPHAN. bishops were still to be found in the churches of
CHLOE, a surname of DEMETER (which see), as Syria and in the West. No small discussion has
presiding over the green fields. Under this surname taken place among ecclesiastical writers as to the
she was worshipped at Athens in a temple near the precise nature of the authority possessed by the
Acropolis.
chor-bishops, some maintaining that they were sim-
CHLOIA, a festival celebrated at Athens in an- ply presbyters dependent on the city bishops, others
cient times in honour of DEMETER CHLOE (see pre- that they held an intermediate place between pres-
ceding article). It was held in spring when the byters and bishops, and others still, that they exer-
CHOREUT E-CHRISM.
511
cised the full episcopal authority. The last opinion | been used first in confirmation, and at a later period in
is most probably the correct one; and in the inde- | baptism. The author of the Constitutions speaks of
pendent exercise of their office, they came into col- two kinds of oil. The one is called mystical oil, and
lision with the city bishops, who, of course, were the other mystical chrism, and he gives a distinct
not long in seeking and finding an excuse, for, in the form of consecration for each of them. The one was
first instance, curtailing, and afterwards altogether applied before the party went into the water, and
abolishing the office.
might be performed by a deacon, and the other after
CHOREUTÆ, a heretical sect who maintained the party had come out of it again, and could only
that the Christian Sabbath ought to be kept as a fast. be performed by a bishop. According to Bishop
CHORISTERS, singers in a CHOIR (which see). | Pearson, the use of chrism came into the church
Those attached to cathedrals in England are pro- shortly after the time of the apostles. No mention of
vided with education free of cost. They have an- it is made, however, until the third century, when it
nual stipends varying between £27 per annum at is referred to by Origen and Tertullian, in speaking
Durham, and £3 6s. 8d. in the least wealthy cathe- of confirmation. From a very remote period chrism
drals, with other small allowances; and in many has been used at baptism both by the Greek and
cases an apprentice fee on quitting the choir of £10, Latin churches, with this difference however, that
£20, or £30. In the case of the old cathedrals, the the Greeks anoint the body all over, the Latins only
precentor, or one of the canons, was charged by the the top of the head. Confirmation is termed chrism
old statutes with the care of their education; but in by the Greek church, when they anoint the forehead,
the new cathedrals, the musical teaching of the eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears, breast, hands, and feet,
choristers is assigned to the organist or one of the signing them with the cross, the priest saying each
lay clerks, who are, in many cases, scholars of the time, “ The seal of the gift of the Holy Ghost." The
Grammar School, while we do not find any provision preparing and sanctifying of the chrism in the East-
for their superintendence by a canon, as in the case ern church is an annual work, occupying several
of the old cathedrals.
days, and the ceremony can only be performed dur-
CHORKAM, the most exalted of celestial regions, ing Passion week. The Nestorians condemn the
according to the doctrines of HINDUISM (which see), use of chrism, and substitute in its place olive-oil
and at which, if a soul of a higher caste arrives, it alone, alleging that the latter is peculiarly suitable,
shall undergo no farther transmigrations.
not only because the olive is an emblem of peace,
CHOUBRET, a festival among the Mohamme- but also because, as the leaves of this tree do not
dans in India, which begins with fear and sorrow, wither and fall off, so those anointed with the holy
and ends with hope and joy. On this occasion they olive-oil shall not wither in the day of judgment,
commemorate the examination of departed souls by nor fall away into hell. The following is the usual
good angels, who write down all the good actions mode of preparing and consecrating chrism in the
which they have done in this life, while the evil an- Greek church, “ The ingredients are no less than
gels record with equal minuteness all their bad deeds. twenty in number; and each of them has previously
(See DEAD, EXAMINATION Or). This record they received a separate episcopal benediction. On the
believe is perused by God, and accordingly they are Monday they are sprinkled with holy water, and put
afraid, and utter a few prayers, examine themselves, into a large cauldron. The priests pour in wine and
and give alms. But flattering themselves that their oil, in such quantity that the mixture may continue
accounts will be settled in their favour, and that their boiling for three days, and in such proportion that
names will be written in the Book of Life, they con- there may be always a certain fixed depth of the
clude the solemnities of the choubret with illumina- wine below the oil. During the entire process, dea-
tions, and bonfires, and rejoicings of various kinds. cons stand by stirring the mixture with long rods ;
CHOURIA VANKCHAM, the order of the sim, while a number of priests are in attendance, who in
a name given to one of the two principal orders of succession keep up the reading of the Gospels, re-
the rajahs among the Hindus. They are regarded as commencing at Matthew should they reach the con-
the offspring of the sun, or, in other words, their clusion of John. On the Wednesday, the perfumed
souls are believed to have formerly dwelt in the very oils are added ; and on the Thursday the bishop
body of that luminary, or to have been in the opinion consecrates the whole with the sign of the cross;
of some of them, a luminous portion of it.
after which it is deposited in urns and distri-
CHRISM, oil consecrated by the bishop, and used buted throughout the cities of the patriarchate.
in the Romislı and Greek churches in the administra- This ceremony can be performed only in one place
tion of baptism, confirmation, ordination, and extreme for any one branch of the church. Thus, for the
unction. There are two kinds of chrism ; the one a Russo-Greek church it always takes place in the
composition of oil and balsam, which is used in bap- Patriarchal Hall at Moscow. In describing this
tism, confirmation, and orders; the other is plain oil roomi and the curiosities which it contains, Dr. Hen-
consecrated by the bishop, and used in anointing cate- derson says: "The most remarkable object in this
chumens and in extreme unction. The use of chrism is splendid exhibition of sacred utensils was a large
referred to by very ancient Christian writers as liaving flagon, made of mother-of-pearl, which still contains
512
CHRISM.
some of the oil brought from Constantinople on the the imprinting of the heavenly banner; that whoso
introduction of Christianity into Russia in the tenth ever, being born again of holy baptism, shall be
century. It is preserved with great care, so that anointed with this liquor, may obtain the most
when only a few drops are taken from it, as on the plenary benediction of their bodies and souls, and be
present occasion, their place is supplied by some of aggrandized for ever by the conferred reward of
that which had been prepared at a former period, beatified faith.
by which means its perpetual virtue is supposed to be “ Then taking his mitre, and yet standing, he
secured."
blends, on the paten, the balsam with a small portion
The ceremony of preparing and consecrating chrism of the chrismal oil, taken out of the jar, saying:
in the Romish church takes place with the utmost “Let us pray our Lord God Almighty, who by a
pomp on holy Thursday. On the morning of that wonderful economy hath inseparably united to true
day, three jars, full of the purest oil, are placed in manhood the incomprehensible Godhead of his only-
the Sacrarium, and there carefully kept; one for the begotten and co-eternal Son, and by the co-operating
oil of the sick; another for the oil of catechumens; and grace of the Holy Ghost, anointed him above his
the third, a larger one, for the chrism; and this last fellows with the oil of gladness; that man, composed
must be covered with white cere-cloth, but the other of a two-fold and singular substance, though de-
two with cere-cloth of a different colour. At the stroyed by the fraud of the devil, might be restored
office for the consecration of the chrism there ought to the everlasting inheritance from which he had
to be present, besides the pontiff and his assistants, fallen : to this end, that he hal+low, with the per-
twelve priests, seven deacons, seven subdeacons, | fection of the Holy Trinity, these created liquors of
acolyths, and others, all in white vestments. A pro- diverse species of creatures, and by hallowing,
cession is formed, which marches to the altar, an sanc+tify them, and grant, that blended together,
incense-bearer first, and next to him two taper- they become one; and that whosoever shall be out-
bearers. On reaching the altar the mass is pro- wardly anointed of the same, be so inwardly anoint-
ceeded with. Then follows the making of the holy ed, as to be freed from all soil of corporal matter,
oils, commencing with the oil for the sick. This and joyfully made partaker of the heavenly king-
process being finished, the officiating priests and dom.
deacons go in procession to bring forth the chrismal “This ended, the Pontiff sits, retaining his mitre,
oil, and the oil of catechumens. For the rest of the and breathes fully three times in the form of a cross
ceremony we avail ourselves of the description of over the mouth of the chrismal jar, still wrapt in the
Foye, in his · Romish Rites, Offices, and Legends.' napkin. Next, the twelve vested priests come up in
They return with the jars in the following order : order, making a reverence to the sacrament on the
first, an incense-fumer, fumigating; then a subdea altar, and to the Pontiff; and standing before the
con, bearing the cross between two acolythes, carry- table, one by one, they successively breathe, in the
ing blazing tapers; next two chanters singing: 0 same way as the Pontiff had done, over the mouth
Redeemer, accept the song of those hymning thy of the jar, in the form of a cross. Then, making a
self. After whom, are the subdeacons and deacons, reverence again as before, they return to their places
two and two; then a deacon, carrying a vessel full -Which being done, the Pontiff rises, and standing
of balsam; next, two deacons carrying the two jars, in mitre, reads the chrismal exorcism, saying:
having clean napkins hanging down from their necks “I exorcise thee, thou creature of oil, by God the
before their breasts, and holding the jars embraced Father Almighty, who made heaven and earth, the
with the left arm, and wrapped in the extremities of sea, and all that therein is ; that all the might of the
their napkins,—yet so as that they inay be seen adversary, all the host of the devil, and all the in-
from the middle upward; the deacon, carrying the cursion, and all the spectral power of Satan be rooted
oil for the holy chrism, being on the right; next fol- out, and put to flight from thee; so that thou be to
low the twelve priests, two and two.
all that shall be anointed of thee, for the adoption of
Having arrived in this order within the presby- sons by the Holy Ghost. In the name of God the
tery, the Pontiff, taking off his mitre, rises : and, Fa+ther Almighty, and of Jesus + Christ his Son
having the jar of chrismal oil before him on the our Lord, who with him liveth and reigneth (as) God,
table, and the balsam, first of all hallows the balsam, in the unity of the same Holy + Ghost.
praying thus :
“Then putting off his mitre, and holding his hands
"O Lord, the progenitor of all creatures, who by stretched out before his breast, he says the Preface.
thy servant Moses didst command the sanctifying of The second, or petitionary part, is as follows:
ointinent, to be made of mixed aromatic herbs, we “ Therefore, we beseech thee, O holy Lord, &c.
most humbly beseech thy mercy; that, by a large that thou vouchsafe to sancti+fy with thy bene-
bestowment of spiritual grace, thou infuse the pleni- | +diction the fatness of this creature, and blend there-
tude of thy sancti+fication into this ointment, the with the might of the Holy + Ghost, the power of
produce of the rooted trunk. Be it spiced unto us, Christ thy Son co-operating, from whose holy name
O Lord, with the joyousness of faith; be it a perpe- it has received the name chrism
that thou
tual chrism of priestly unguent; be it most meet for stablish this creature of chrism for a sacrament of
CHRISMA-CHRISTIANS.
513
perfect salvation and life to those that are to be re- fellows," an expression which implies that he was
newed by the baptism of spiritual laver; that the cor- anointed above those who possessed a fellowship
ruption of their first birth being absorbed by the infu- with him in the exercise of similar offices, as types
sion of this hallowed unction, the holy temple of every of himself. Thus Aaron was anointed high priest;
one of them be redolent with the odour of the accept- Saul was anointed king; Elisha was anointed pro-
able life of innocence; that, according to the sacra- phet; Melchisedec, king and priest; Moses, priest
ment of thy appointing, being indued with Royal and prophet; David, king and prophet. Yet none
and Priestly, and Prophetic dignity, they be clothed was ever anointed to the exercise of all these toge-
in the robe of an undefiled gift; that it (the chrism) ther, in one comprehensive union, except the Christ
be to those that shall be born again of water and the of God. In him alone were combined the offices of
Holy Ghost, the chrism of salvation, and make them a prophet, a priest, and a king, in their highest and
partakers of eternal life, and crowned with heavenly holiest exercise, and to these he was anointed with
glory.
the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. At his
“This preface ended, the Pontiff puts back into baptism the Spirit descended upon him like a dove,
the chrismal jar the mixture of balsam and oil, blend- and in one of the Jewish synagogues we find that he
ing it with the same, and saying:
declared, applying the language of Isaiah to himself,
“Be this mixture of liquors atonement to all that “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he
shall be anointed of the same, and the safeguard of hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor;
salvation for ever and ever. R. Amen.
he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach
“ Then the deacon having taken away from the deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
jar the napkin and silk-cover, the Pontiff taking off to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."
his mitre, and bowing his head, salutes the chrisin, | He became Jesus as the Saviour for the sake of his
saying : HAIL, HOLY CHrism.
people, and as the Saviour he was anointed, or be-
“ This he does a second, and a third time, raising came Christ, that he might accomplish their salva-
his voice each time higher and higher : after which tion. The copious anointing with the Holy Ghost
he kisses the lip of the jar. Which being done, each | became apparent in every word that he spoke, and
one of the twelve priests advances successively to in
every action that he did. Whatever was conse-
the table, and having made a reverence to the sacra- crated with oil under the Jewish economy was l'e-
ment that is on the altar, and to the Pontiff sitting garded as holy, and being thus consecrated to God,
in mitre, kneels before the jar three times, each time whatever touched it was also holy. And so it is
at a different distance, saying at each kneeling, in a with the Christ, the Holy One of God. He is not
higher and higher tone, Hail, holy Chrism. And only holy in himself, but he communicates of his
then reverently kisses the lip of the jar.”
Holy Spirit to all his people. He is their glorious
If
any of the old chrism remains when the new is and exalted Head, and the anointing wherewith he is
made, it is put into the church lamps to be burned anointed, flows down to the very humblest and mean-
before the sacrament; and whatever remains in the est of his members. The Apostle Paul speaks of
pyxes or capsules is consumed in fire with its silk, believers as the anointed of God, and in this respect
and then the pyxes are replenished with the new Christ and his people are one. They have an unc-
chrism.
tion from the Holy One, and they know all things.
CHRISMA (Gr. unction), a name sometimes given (See next article.)
in the ancient Christian church to the ordinance of CHRISTIANS, a name given to the followers of
baptism, as denoting the unction or anointing of the Christ, as being, like himself, anointed ones. They
Holy Spirit. Gregory Nazianzen makes reference were first called by this name at Antioch in A. D. 44.
to this title.
It has been often supposed that to the designation
CHRISOME, a white garment, which in ancient of Christians an allusion is made in Is. lxv. 15,
times was used in the office of baptism, the priest where it is declared, that they shall “leave their name,”
putting it upon the child while he uttered these that of Jews, " for a curse unto my chosen : for the
words, " Take this white vesture for a token of in- Lord God shall slay thee, and call his servants by
nocence."
another name.” The corresponding name of Anoint-
CHRIST (Gr. christos, anointed), one of the names ed, however, was early applied to God's believing
or titles applied in Sacred Scripture to the Son of people. Thus Psalm cv.
Thus Psalm cv. 15, “ Touch not mine
God, the second Person of the blessed Trinity, as anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” They were
the Anointed One, consecrated by Jehovah to be the Christians, or anointed, through faith in their Sa-
Saviour of His people. The term is equivalent in viour, by the unction of the Holy One. The name
meaning to the MESSIAH (which see) of the old of Christians is applied to all who profess their be-
Testament, and has an obvious reference to the holy lief in Christ, and subjection to his authority. But
anointing under the Law, by which certain persons the Christian in reality is alone anointed with the
were consecrated or set apart to particular offices. Holy Ghost, who sets the soul apart for the ser-
(See ANOINTING.) Jesus is said, Ps. xlv. 7, to have vice of God, brings the soul by faith into the pre-
been “anointed with the oil of gladness above his sence of God, enjoins him to walk continually as
I.
2 M
514
CHRISTIANS.
I was
in that presence, admits him to communion and and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of
love with the Father and Son, enables him to live Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up
under a habitual feeling of the gracious privileges with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.' Is it to be sup-
conferred upon him, renews the mind after the image posed that they would assume a new appellation
of Christ, causes it to rejoice in the holy and righ- without recourse to the prophets for that direction;
teous will of Jehovah, and inspires a gracious long- or that, supposing it to have had no other than a
ing and waiting for the purity as well as peace of the human origin, it would have been so soon and so
kingdom of glory.
unanimously adopted by every part of the Christian
The name Christian appears to have been un- church? This opinion receives some countenance
known except by remote allusion before its introduc- from the word here used, and the disciples were
tion at Antioch. The various names by which the called (chrematisai) Christians first in Antioch,' a
followers of Christ were distinguished previous to terin which is not in any other instance applied
that time are thus referred to by Mr. Hall of Lei- to the giving a name by human authority. In
cester. “ Among themselves the most usual deno- its genuine import, it bears some relation to an
mination was, Brethren. Acts xxviii. 13, 14, 'And oracle. Names, as they are calculated to give
we came the next day to Puteoli, where we found just or false representations of the nature of
brethren.' “If any man,' saith St. Paul, that is things, are of considerable importance; so that the
called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an affixing one to discriminate the followers of Christ,
idolater, with such an one no not to eat.' They in every period of time, seems to have been not un-
were styled believers :' Acts v. 14, “And be worthy of divine interposition.” Neander, however,
lievers were the more added to the Lord, both of men accounts for its application to believers in a very
and women.' They were denominated disciples :: | different way. « As the term Christ," he says,
Acts xxi. 16, There went with us also certain of held to be a proper name, the adherents of the
the disciples of Cæsarea, and brought with them new religious teacher were distinguished by a word
Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we formed from it, as the adherents of any school of
should lodge.' Their enemies, by way of contempt, philosophy were wont to be named after its founder.”
styled them Nazarenes : thus, Tertullus accuses Paul | Once introduced, the term Christian soon came into
of being 'a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.' | general use. When Peter wrote his first epistle, it
Of similar import to this was the appellation of seems to have been a familiar name; for he thus
Galileans, and the terms heresy, or sect, meaning by speaks, 1 Pet. iv, 16, “Yet if any man suffer as a
that a body of men who had embraced a religion of Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glo-
their own, in opposition to that established by the rify God on this behalf;" and James refers to it as
law. And this appellation of Galileans was con- a highly honourable appellation, Jam. ii. 7, "Do not
tinued to be employed by the enemies of Christ as a they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye
term of reproach as late as the time of Julian, who are called ?” In the times of persecution it was ac-
reigned about the middle of the fourth century, and counted enough to put the question, Art thou a
used it incessantly in his invectives against Chris-Christian ? and if it was answered in the affirmative,
tians. The followers of Christ were also styled the severest tortures were considered to be justly in-
'inen of this way:'-' And I persecuted this way ficted, while the martyr gloried even at the stake in
unto the death.'
the confession, “I am a Christian."
The question has been raised, Whether the appel- Christians form the society of the faithful, or the
lation Christian was of human or of divine origin. subjects of that spiritual kingdom which God hath
The Scriptures are silent on the point, so that it is established in the earth, under the administration of
impossible to speak with certainty on the subject. his Son Jesus Christ. All who belong to this spiri-
Benson, Doddridge, and others, incline to the opinion tual community, commonly known by the name of
that it was assumed by a divine direction. Mr. Hall the church, are agreed in maintaining the funda-
follows in the same track, arguing the matter thus: mental doctrines of the Bible.
. “ The essential ele-
“ It is not at all probable an appellation so inoffen- ment, however, of true and saving faith," as Dr.
sive, and even so honourable, originated with their | Welsh well observes, “inay appear in a great diver-
enemies; they would have invented one that was sity of forms, and be mixed up in various combina-
more opprobrious. But supposing it to have been tions with other conditions of the religious character.
assumed first by the disciples themselves, we can The perception of what is of vital moment, may be
scarcely suppose they would have ventured to take a connected with apprehensions more or less clear and
step so important as that of assuming an appellation consistent of other truths. A prominence may be
by which the church was to be distinguished in given to one class of subordinate truths to the com-
all ages, without divine direction; especially at a parative neglect of others.
parative neglect of others. In some instances, the
time when the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit were truths of revelation may find their way at once to
so common, and in a church where prophets abound- the belief and practice, with little or no acquaintance
ed. For there were in the church that was at An- on the part of those who receive them with the phi-
tioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, | losophy of the evidence by which they are supported,
CHRISTEMPORIA-CHRISTIANS.
515
and with scarcely any attempt to trace their mutual CHRISTEN, a word often used as denoting “ to
connections, or their relations to the truths of other | baptize," from the belief which prevails in the Ro-
systems. In other instances, where they may ope- mish church, and even among many Protestants,
rate with equal power, their character and the that every baptized person is thereby constituted a
theory of their energy may be made the subject of member of Christ,
speculative consideration. And not being delivered CHRISTENDOM, a general term used to denote
in the Scriptures in a systematic manner, and the all those parts of the world which profess Christian-
language in which they are conveyed often admitting ity. It is calculated that the entire population of
of different interpretations, they may be moulded the earth amounts to 800,000,000 souls, of which
into various scientific forms. They may be progres- the inhabitants of Christendorn are not supposed to
sively developed in the advancement of true science, exceed one-fourth or 200,000,000. This includes
or they may be distorted by partial exhibition, or Roman Catholics, Protestants, the Greek and
they may be vitiated by an admixture of the errors Eastern churches,
of a false philosophy. Accordingly, the views of CHRISTI, an appellation given by St. Ambrose
Divine truth vary from age to age, whether consi- to believers in Christ, founded on Ps. cv. 15, “ Touch
dered in the faith of individuals, in the symbols of not mine anointed," or my Christs, as it is rendered
churches, or in the systems of philosophical theolo- according to the Vulgate.
gians. Alterations are sometimes made in the creeds CHRISTIANS (BIBLE). See BIBLE CHRISTIANS.
and confessions of churches. And even in cases CHRISTIANS, or CHRISTIAN CONNEXION, a de-
where profession of adherence continues to be made nomination of Christians in the United States of
to the same ecclesiastical standards, there are often North America. It originated about the commence-
fluctuations in the living mind of the spiritual com- ment of the present century, by a simultaneous
munity. New principles of exegesis,—the attempt movement in different parts of the country. The
to accommodate the coclesiastical system to the leading idea was to acknowledge no earthly leader,
newly discovered truths of philosophy,—the experi- such as Luther, or Calvin, or Wesley, to shake off
ence of influential individuals bringing into greater all human creeds and prescribed forms of worship,
prominence views that had not been recognised as to take the Bible as their only guide, leaving every
essential,—the progress of error demanding a dogma- individual to be his own expositor of the Sacred
tical declaration of what had previously been left Word, and without bowing to the decisions of sy-
undefined,—these, and other causes, lead continually nods or churches, to judge for himself on his own
to alterations or modifications of the internal charac- responsibility. Following out this principle, they
ter of the church."
held diversity of sentiment to be no bar to church
The diversities to which Dr. Welsh here refers, fellowship. The sect first attracted attention in
though all of them quite consistent with a firm ad- New England, where it was composed chiefly of in-
herence to the fundamental principles of the gospel, dividuals who had separated from the CALVINISTIC
have given rise to numerous sects and communities BAPTISTS. (See BAPTISTS, AMERICAN.) Soon
which form branches of the catholic Christian Church. after the first formation of the denomination, they
The divisions which thus prevail in the great Chris- were joined by several large churches belonging to the
tian community have sometimes been adduced as an Calvinistic Baptists, who seceded from the Baptist
argument against the truth of that system of Chris-body, and united with them. The Freewill Bap-
tianity which they all of them profess to believe. tists showed themselves somewhat favourable to the
This objection has been current among the oppo- new sect for a time, but afterwards renounced all
nents of Divine truth, both in ancient and in modern fellowship with them. In the Southern States,
times. It is sufficient, however, to reply, that in again, the first associations of Christians consisted
the great fundamental doctrines of the religion of the chiefly of seceders from the Methodists, and in
Bible, all sects professing Christianity are found to the Western States from the Presbyterians. With
be generally agreed. The differences which exist such a mixed body of inembers, their cardinal prin-
are chiefly on minor and unimportant points; and ciple was universal toleration. At their first out-
these differences are not more than the well-known set as a separate sect, they were almost unani-
differences in the mental constitutions of individuals mously Trinitarian in sentiment; but after a time
warrant us to expect. Perfect uniformity in doc- they ceased to hold the doctrine of the Trinity,
trine and practice would have been inconsistent with and professed to deny the divinity of Christ. The
that free agency which belongs to every member of principles upon which their churches were at first
the human family. The very diversity of senti- constituted are thus stated by the Rev. Joshua
ment, therefore, which is found among professing V. Himes, a minister of the connexion: “The Scrip-
and even real Christians, is an argument for, and not tures,” he says, are taken to be the only rule of
against, the Divine origin of our holy faith.
faith and practice, each individual being at liberty to
CHRISTEMPORIA (Gr. selling of Christ), a determine for himself, in relation to these matters,
name sometimes given in the ancient Christian what they enjoin. No member is subject to the loss
church to SIMONY (which see).
of church fellowship on account of his sincere and
516
CHRISTIANS-CHRISTIANITY.
conscientious belief, so long as he manifestly lives a | both in its principles and precepts in the Scriptures of
pious and devout life. No member is subject to dis- the Old and New Testaments, which all denominations
cipline and church censure but for disorderly and im- of Chi
of Christians believe to be a Divine revelation, and
moral conduct. The name Christian is to be adopted the only rule of faith and obedience. It is no doubt
to the exclusion of all sectarian names, as the most true, that there is a natural as well as a revealed re-
appropriate designation of the body and its members. ligion, and both of them beautifully correspond to
The only condition or test of admission as a mem- each other. There is nothing indeed more obvious
ber of a church is a personal profession of the Chris- and striking to a reflective mind than the adap-
tian religion, accompanied with satisfactory evidence | tation of our moral constitution to that extensive
of sincerity and piety, and a determination to live system of moral truth which is contained in the
according to the Divine rule, or the gospel of Christ. Bible. Whether we reflect upon those primary re-
Each church is considered an independent body pos- | ligious principles which are inherent in the breast
sessing exclusive authority to regulate and govern of every man, or those principles which, though
its own affairs."
essential to our nature, are never fully developed
From the latter part of this extract it appears until their counterpart is made known to us by reve-
that the Christian Connexion adopt the Congrega-lation, we are struck with amazement at the strange-
tionalist mode of church government; and in ac- ness of the position which we occupy, as at once the
cordance with the usual arrangements of that body, inherent possessors of important, though somewhat
they have also associations which they term con- mysterious truths, and the expectants of still clearer,
ferences. Ministers and churches represented by and, to us at least, more deeply interesting discover-
delegates formed themselves in each state into one ies. In the one case we may be viewed as already
or more conferences, called State Conferences, and possessed of an important class of religious senti-
delegates from the conferences formed the United ments to which the name of natural religion has
States' General Christian Conference, which, how- usually been given ; while in the other, we must be
ever, only existed for a short time, when it was considered as prepared, by our knowledge of these
given up. The State Conferences, though useful in elementary truths, for the reception of still higher
the way of consultation and advice, are understood and more enlarged information. Hence it is, that
to have no authoritative control over individual
we are wont to argue for the necessity of a Divine
churches. The body boasts of having no founder, revelation from the demand which is made on the
and having sprung up as by magic about 1803, in part of our moral nature for the filling up of a sys-
three different localities at once, New England, tem of knowledge which has been already imparted
Ohio, and Kentucky, in opposition to the bondage of to us in dark and indefinite outline. The informa-
creeds and sectarian distinctions. It has now dif- tion, in regard to spiritual and divine objects, which
fused itself over almost every one of the states, and we have received from nature, is necessarily scanty
extended into Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova and imperfect, and yet it is enough to convince us
Scotia. They have a book association in full opera- that, in our destitute and helpless condition, it is far
tion for the publication and sale of books and pe- from being unworthy of the kind and merciful
riodicals designed to promulgate the peculiar opi- Father, “in whoin we live, and move, and have our
nions of the sect, thereby incrcasing its nuinbers, being," to make known to us such a revelation as
and in every way promoting its interests.
would satisfy the cravings of our moral constitution,
CHRISTIANS. According to the Report of the and relieve us from a state of darkness and doubt.
last census of Great Britain in 1851, no fewer than A revelation, then, is necessary to man, and not
ninety-six congregations in England and Wales unworthy of God, and, accordingly, it has been be-
returned themselves under this general appellation, stowed. The revelation thus imparted is Chris-
unwilling probably to identify themselves with any tianity. The question, however, may be, as indeed
sectarian designation. One congregation takes the it has often been, put, How shall it be known whe-
name of Orthodox Christians; one of New Chris- ther this alleged revelation be of human or of Divine
tians; one of Primitive Christians; two of New | origin? The reply to this question, fraught with
Testament Christians; one of Original Christians; importance to every human being, involves the ex-
and one of United Christians.
tensive subject of the evidences of Christianity, both
CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. Eight congre- external and internal. The peculiar aspect and bear-
gations appear in the returns of the last census of ing of the argument in behalf of Christianity must
Great Britain under this designation, acknowledging obviously depend, in no slight degrec, on the creed
simply an adherence to the great principles of Chris- of the individuals for whom it is intended. Some
tianity.
writers, accordingly, have judged it proper to com-
CHRISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. See MENDEANS.
.
mence by establishing the principles of pure Theism
CHRISTIANS OF ST. THOMAS. See SYRIAN but the greater number of objectors to the truth of
CHRISTIANS.
Christianity, far from being Atheistical in their sen-
CHRISTIANITY, the religion promulgated by timents, admit
, not merely the existence of God, but
Christ, and professed by Christians. It is embodied all the other principles of natural religion, and may
CHRISTIANITY.
517
thus be considered as in a condition not unfavourable
guages. Harmonies, and collations, and commenta-
for entering with candour into the examination of ries, and catalogues, were carefully made and pub-
the Christian evidences. Approaching the subject, lished. Thus universal notoriety, among friends and
then, in such a spirit, we remark, that the first point enemies, was given to every book. How, in such
involved in the EXTERNAL or HISTORICAL evidence circumstances, could material alterations be made
in favour of Christianity, concerns the authenticity without exposure ? If made in one copy, they
of the New Testament, or the question, whether the must have been made universally ; or else some
books which it contains were written by the persons unaltered copies would have descended to us, or
whose names they bear.
would have been taken notice of and quoted in
Now, in determining the authenticity of the New ecclesiastical history, and the writings of ancient
Testament, precisely the same method of proof may be times. If made universally, the work must have
adopted as in the case of any other literary production been done either by friends, or by heretics, or by
of a past age. “Weknow," says Augustine, “the writ- open enemies. Is it supposable that open enemies,
ings of the apostles as we know the works of Plato, unnoticed by Christians, could have altered all or a
Aristotle, Cicero, Varro, and others, and as we hundredth part of the copies, when they were so
know the writings of divers ecclesiastical authors; continually read, and so affectionately protected ?
forasmuch as they have the testimony of contempo- | Could the sects of heretics have done such a work,
raries, and of those who have lived in succeeding when they were ever watching one another, as jea-
ages. An unbroken chain of testimony of unques- | lously as all their doings were continually watched
tionable veracity may be traced upwards to the very by the churches ? Could true Christians have accom-
age of the apostles, which goes to establish beyond plished such a task, even if any motive could have
a doubt that the writers of the New Testament were led them to desire it, while heretics on the one hand,
the very persons to whom the composition of its and innumerable enemies on the other, were always
several parts is ascribed. Besides, contemporary awake and watchful, with the Scriptures in their
writers can be adduced, Heathen and Jewish, as well hands, to lay hold of the least pretext against the
as Christian, who bear unanimous testimony to the defenders of the faith? It was at least as unlikely
same fact. The language of the writings is charac- that material alterations in the New Testament
teristic of the age, nation, and circumstances of their should pass unnoticed and become universal, in the
authors; and the style and genius of the produc- early centuries and in all succeeding ones, as that an
tions harmonize with the peculiarities of mind and important change in a copy of the constitution of the
disposition which belonged to their respective writers. | United States should creep into all the copies scat-
An additional confirmation of the argument may
be
tered over the country, and be handed down as part
derived from the admitted fact, that amid all the of the original document, unnoticed by the various
bitter opposition to which the apostles were exposed, parties and jealousies by which that instrument is so
and notwithstanding the numerous and keen con- closely watched, and so constantly referred to. Such
troversies of their age, nowhere in the writings of was the precise assertion of a writer of the fourth
even their most virulent enemies, whether Heathen century, on this very subject. The integrity,' says
or Jewish, is to be found even the remotest insinua- | Augustine, "of the books of any one bishop, however
tion that the New Testament did not contain the eminent, cannot be so completely kept as that of the
genuine productions of the men to whom they are canonical Scripture, translated into so many lan-
attributed.
guages, and kept by the people of every age; and
Intimately connected with the question as to the yet some there have been, who have forged writings
authenticity of the New Testament, is that of its with the names of apostles. In vain, indeed, since
integrity, or whether it may not have undergone Scripture has been so esteemed, so celebrated, so
some material alteration since the period at which it known.' Reasoning with a heretic, he says: 'If any
was written. On the impossibility of any such alter- one should charge you with having interpolated some
ation having taken place, Bishop M'Ilvaine makes texts alleged by you, would you not immediately
the following judicious observations.
“ The Scrip-
answer that it is impossible for you to do such a
tures, as soon as written, were published. Chris- | thing in books read by all Christians ? And that if
tians eagerly sought for them; copies were multi- any such attempt had been made by you, it would
plied; carried into distant countries; esteemed a have been presently discerned and defeated by com..
sacred treasure, for which disciples were willing to paring the ancient copies? Well, then, for the same
die. They were daily read in families, and ex- reason that the Scriptures cannot be corrupted by
pounded in churches; writers quoted them; enemies you, neither could they be corrupted by any other
attacked them; heretics endeavoured to elude their people.'
decisions; and the orthodox were vigilant, lest the Not less important than the authenticity and integ-
former, in their efforts to escape the interpretation, rity is the credibility of the New Testament, for it is
should change the text. In a short time, copies quite possible that a book may be quite authentic
were scattered over the whole inhabited portion of and yet not credible; or in other words, that it may
the earth. Versions were made into different lan- have been written by the author whose name it bears,
518
CHRISTIANITY.
.
!
|
and yet its statements may not be worthy of confi- their self-devotion and sacrifices, they gave the
dence. Suppose, then, for a moment," says the strongest possible evidence of having published what
author we have just quoted, “that they were not they solemnly believed was true.”
honest in their statements—that they knew they If then the authenticity and credibility of the
were endeavouring to pass off a downright imposi- New Testament be satisfactorily established, the
tion upon the world. We will not speak of their authenticity and credibility of the Old Testament
intellect in such a case, but of their motive. Now, writings may be considered as resting on nearly the
it would be difficult to suppose that any man could same foundation. The Christian and Jewish Scrip-
devote himself to the diligent promotion of such an tures are indeed intimately and essentially connected
imposture without some very particular motive. with each other. The former proceeds upon, and uni-
Much more that, without such motive, the eight va- formly takes for granted, the truth and divine autho-
rious writers concerned in the New Testament rity of the writings of Moses; frequent quotations
should have united in the plan. What motive and references are made, in the writings of the apos-
could they have had ? If impostors, they were tles, to the law and the prophets as divinely in-
bad men; their motive, therefore, must have spired; the arguments in behalf of the New are
been bad. It must have been to advance them- completely parallel to those in favour of the Old
selves, either in wealth, honour, or power. Take Testament; the objections made by infidels and ca-
either, or all of these objects, and here, then, is the villers to the one, are just in substance the objections
case you have. Four historians, with four other inade to the other; and thus the two portions of the
writers of the New Testament–all, but one of them, Bible stand upon the same footing both as to their
poor unlearned men—undertake to persuade the authenticity and credibility.
world that certain great events took place before the Such are the evidences in support of Christianity
eyes of thousands in Judea and Galilee, which none as a simple statement of facts; it is necessary, how-
in those regions ever saw or heard of, and they know ever, in order to vindicate the Christian faith, that a
perfectly well did never occur. They see before-conspicuous place be assigned in the argument to the
hand that the attempt to make Jews and Heathens more powerful and direct evidences of miracles and
believe these things will occasion to themselves all prophecy. “In what way," asks Paley, “can a re-
manner of disgrace and persecution. Nevertheless, velation be made but by miracles ?” “In none," he
so fond are they of their contrivance, that though it answers, “ which we can possibly conceive." But it
is bitterly opposed by all the habits, prejudices, dis- is important to remark, that the proof derived from
positions, and philosophy—all the powers and insti- miracles goes to establish, in the first instance, not
tutions of all people—they submit cheerfully to the truth of any statements whatever, but simply
misery and contempt—they take joyfully the spoil the Divine authority of Him by whom the miracles
ing of their goods—they willingly endure to be are wrought; and from this an almost immediate
counted as fools and the offscouring of all things, transition may be made to the truth of Christianity
yea, they march thankfully to death, out of a mere itself. Had no miracles been performed by our
desire to propagate a story which they all know is a blessed Lord, we would have had no proper evidence
downright fabrication. At every step of their pro- that he came from God, nor could the Christian
gress they see and feel, that instead of any worldly scheme have asserted any valid claim to a Divine
advantage, they are daily loading themselves with origin. To the gospel of Christ, however, no such
ruin. At any moment they can turn about and re- objection can be offered. Miracles are alleged to
nounce their effort, and retrieve their losses; and have been wrought; water was changed into wine;
yet, with perfect unanimity, these eight, with thou- the blind received their sight, the dumb spoke, the
sands of others equally aware of the deception, per- deaf heard, the lame walked, and the dead were re-
sist most resolutely in their career of ignominy and stored to life. And the principle on which Christ
suffering. Not the slightest confession, even under perforined those miracles is obvious from his own
torture and the strong allurements of reward, escapes declaration, “ The works that I do in my Father's
the lips of any. Not the least hesitation is shown when name, they bear witness of me." The distinction is
to each is offered the choice of recantation or death. palpable even to the most uncultivated mind, be-
He that can believe such a case of fraud and folly as tween events which are truly miraculous, and even
this, can believe any thing. He believes a miracle | the most surprising of the ordinary phenomena of
infinitely more difficult of credit than any in the gos- nature, or the most wonderful discoveries of science;
pel history. I charge him with the most supersti- and hence the peculiar value of miracles as evidences
tious and besotted credulity. In getting to such a and proofs of a system which addresses itself to the
belief, he has to trample over all the laws of nature illiterate as well as to the learned.
and of reasoning. Then on what an unassailable Another and powerful class of evidences in favour
rock does the honesty of the writers of the New of Christianity is usually drawn from prophecy.
Testament stand, if it can be attacked only at such The evidence of prophecy and that of miracles are
sacrifices. How evident it is, not only that they to some extent identical; the one being a miracle of
could have had no motive to deceive, but that, in all / knowledge, while the other is a miracle of power.
CHRISTIANITY.
519
The mode of investigation, however, is somewhat the third century, we cannot but regard this species
different. In examining the alleged prophecies, it of evidence as remaining, and ceteris paribus, destined
is necessary previously to inquire, whether the to remain essentially the same in point of validity,
writings in which they are contained were really now that we have got beyond the sphere of the im-
penned before the events which constitute the fulfil-mediate friends and companions of the apostles, and
ment of the prophecies took place. This, to be sure, their immediate descendants. While we readily ad-
is no very difficult matter in the case of the Old mit that the evidence of miracles cannot possibly re-
Testament, as the Hebrew Scriptures were notori- ceive additional force, we do not see, on the other
ously written long before the advent of our Lord. hand, how it can be in the slightest degree deterior-
Another preliminary step also is necessary in our
ated simply by the flight of time. Ages may elapse,
inquiries into the evidence drawn from fulfilled pro- but the proof of the reality and truth of our Lord's
phecy, viz., whether the event be in its nature such miracles must, we conceive, remain undiminished in
as to l'equire for its prediction more than human | its power as long as the volume of inspiration shall
prescience. Of this point we have satisfactory evi- continue to unfold its pages to the sinful and suffer-
dence in the peculiar nature of Christ's character ing children of men.
and offices, as far transcending all that could enter While, however, the argument drawn from miracles
into the conception of men. Some analogy, it may
cannot possibly lose a single iota of its power as time
be said, is discoverable here between prophecy and flows onward, it is readily admitted that neither does it
miracles. The one demands a previous inquiry, | gather the slightest addition to its force. The ut-
whether the prediction can be considered as amount- most that can be said is, that it remains stationary.
ing to a miracle of knowledge; and surely the other But it is undoubtedly otherwise with the argument
demands a scrutiny as strict to ascertain whether the from prophecy, which receives with the progress of
facts narrated amount, supposing them true, to a advancing time a continually growing force. As the
miracle of power.
history of the world gradually developes itself, one
It has sometimes been alleged by writers on the prediction after another comes to be fulfilled, and
Christian evidences, that the argument drawn from with this additional advantage, that evidence of this
fulfilled prophecy possesses a peculiar advantage kind presents itself before our eyes.
« The sublime
over that drawn from miracles, inasmuch as the appeal of men," as has been eloquently remarked,
former is gathering strength as time advances, while “professing to be commissioned of God, to the
the latter is becoming gradually weaker the further events of thousands of years thereafter, as witnesses of
we recede from the period when the miracles were their truth; the moral grandeur of that appeal which
actually performed. Thus Dr. Inglis, in his “Vindi- --after having deposited in the hands of nations a
cation of the Christian Faith,' remarks, “ The infidel prediction of minute transactions which the innumer-
who plearls, in justification of his unbelief, that he able contingencies of a long retinue of centuries are
would have believed in Christ if he had seen the to bring out-stakes its whole cause upon a perfect
miracles which are ascribed to him, can offer no cor- fulfilment, thus resting itself singly upon the omni-
responding vindication of himself for resisting that science and omnipotence of God, and separating to
evidence which results from the fulfillment of pro- an infinite distance all possibility of human support;
phecy, in the appearance and work of Christ upon this is a dignity to which nothing but the inspiration
earth. For, even at the present day, we have very of the Scriptures can pretend—a noble daring on
nearly, if not altogether, the same advantage that which nothing else was ever known to venture."
was enjoyed by any who have gone before us, for Nor does this evidence limit itself to one period of
deliberately judging and ascertaining whether those the world's history. It commences at the remotest
events, which the prophets foretold, could be fore period of the past, and stretches onward through a
seen or anticipated by human sagacity, and whether course of more than four thousand years, only end-
the things foretold have been in their time and order | ing its predictions with the very close and con-
fulfilled.” To the observation here made we decid- summation of all things. It is unnecessary to enter
edly object, it being impossible for us to concede for into minute details in order to point out the fulfil-
a moment that the evidence of miracles can ever lose ment of the long series of Bible prophecies, opening
aught of its force, even by the lapse of ages. Had at the fall of man in Eden, and closing with his final
the proof been drawn from mere human tradition, recovery in the heavenly Paradise. Babylon, Tyre,
this might, and in all probability, would have been Egypt, Edom, and Judea, all attest as with one voice
the case; but when we reflect that the miraculous the truth of ancient prophecy. But the clearest and
facts were recorded by eye-witnesses, soon after the the most important of Scripture predictions are those
period of their performance, who thus exposed them- which refer to the character, condition, and work of
selves to contradiction from their countrymen, if it the promised Messiah, and those which relate to the
had been possible to contradict them; when we con- subsequent fortunes of the Christian church, and of
sider, besides, that the credibility of these writers, and the Jewish nation. On the last mentioned subject,
the genuineness and authenticity of their writings, is
the conversion and ultimate restoration of the Jewish
as capable of proof at this day as it was at least in people to their national glory, Dr. M'Ilvaine offers
520
CHRISTIANITY.
the following powerful observations: “There is -a distinct people—a numerous people—unassimi-
nothing in the history of nations so unaccountable, lated with any nation, though mixed up with all na-
on human principles, as the destruction and the pre- tions. Their peculiarities are undiminished. Their
servation of the Jews. "Scattered among all na- national identity is unbroken. Though scattered
tions:—where are they not? Citizens of the world, upon all winds, they are perfectly capable of being
and yet citizens of no country in the world—in what again gathered into one mass. Though divided into
habitable part of the world is not the Jew familiarly the smallest particles by numerous solvents, they
known? He has wandered every where, and is still have resisted all affinities, and may be traced, un-
every where a wanderex One characteristic of this changed, in the most confused mixtures of human
wonderful race is written over all their history, from beings. The laws of nature have been suspended in
their dispersion to the present time. Among the their case. It is not merely that a stream has held
nations, they have found no case, nor rest to the soles of | on its way through the waters of a lake, without los-
their feet. Banished from city to city, and from country ing the colour and characteristic marks of its own
to country; always insecure in their dwelling-places, current; but that a mighty river, having plunged
and liable to be suddenly driven away, whenever from a mountain height into the depth of the ocean,
the bigotry, or avarice, or cruelty of rulers demanded and been separated into its component drops, and
a sacrifice-a late decree of the Russian empire has thus scattered to the ends of the world, and blown
proclaimed to the world that their banishments have about by all winds, during almost eighteen centuries,
not yet ceased. Never certain of permission to re- is still capable of being disunited from the waters of
main, it is the notorious peculiarity of this people, as the ocean; its minutest drops, having never been
a body, that they live in habitual readiness to re- assimilated to any other, are still distinct, unchanged,
move. In this condition of universal affliction, how and ready to be gathered, waiting the Voice that
singular it is that among all people the Jew is 'an shall call again the outcasts of Israel and the dis-
astonishment, a proverb, a by-word.' Such is not the persed of Judah. Meanwhile, where are the nations
case with any other people. Among Christians, among whom the Jews were scattered ? Has not the
Heathens, and Mohammedans, from England to Lord, according to his word, made a full end of
China, and thence to America, the cunning, the ava-
them? While Israel has stood unconsumed in the
rice, the riches of the Jew are proverbial. And how fiery furnace, where are the nations that kindled its
wonderful have been their plagues! The heart flames? Where the Assyrians and the Chaldeans ?
sickens at the history of their persecutions, and mas- Their name is almost forgotten. Their existence is
sacres, and imprisonments, and slavery. All nations known only to history. Where is the empire of
have united to oppress them. All means have been the Egyptians ? The Macedonians destroyed it, and
employed to exterminate them. Robbed of pro- a descendant of its ancient race cannot be distin-
perty; bereaved of children; buried in the dungeons guished among the strangers that have ever since
of the inquisition, or burned at the stake of deplor- possessed its territory. Where are they of Mace-
able bigotry—no people ever suffered the hundredth don? The Roman sword subdued their kingdom,
part of their calamities, and still they live! It was and their posterity are mingled inseparably among
prophesied that, as a nation, they should be restored; the confused population of Greece and Turkey.
consequently, they were not only to be kept alive, Where is the nation of ancient Rome, the last con-
but unmingled with the nations, every where a dis- querors of the Jews, and the proud destroyers of
tinct
race, and capable of being selected and gathered | Jerusalem ? The Goths rolled their flood over its
out of all the world, when the time for their restora- pride. Another nation inhabits the ancient city.
tion should arrive. The fulfilment of this forms the Even the language of her former people is dead
most astonishing part of the whole prophecy. For The Goths !—where are they? The Jews !—where
nearly eighteen hundred years, they have been scat- are they not? They witnessed the glory of Egypt,
tered and mixed up among all people; they have and of Babylon, and of Nineveh; they were in ma-
had no temple, no sacrifice, no prince, no genealo-ture age at the birth of Macedon and of Rome;
gies, no certain dwelling-places. Forbidden to be mighty kingdoms have risen and perished since they
governed by their own laws, to choose their own began to be scattered and enslaved; and now they
magistrates, to maintain any common policy-every traverse the ruins of all, the same people as when
ordinary bond of national union and preservation has they left Judea, preserving in themselves a monu-
been wanting; whatever influences of local attach- ment of the days of Moses and the Pharaohs, as un-
ment, or of language, or manners, or government, changed as the pyramids of Memphis, which they
have been found necessary to the preservation of are reputed to have built. You may call upon the
other nations, have been denied to them; all the in- ends of the earth, and will call in vain for one living
fluences of internal depression and outward violence representative of those powerful nations of antiquity,
which have ever destroyed and blotted out the na- by whom the people of Israel were successively op-
tions of the earth, have been at work with unprece- pressed; but should the Voice which is hereafter to
dented strength, for nearly eighteen centuries, upon gather that people out of all lands be now heard
the nation of Israel ; and still the Jews are a people | from Mount Zion, calling for the children of Abra-
1
CHRISTIANITY.
521
ham, no less than four millions would instantly an- palace, and even mounted the imperial throne of the
swer to the name, each bearing in himself unques- mighty Cæsars. To what other than to a divine
tionable proofs of that noble lineage."
power is the success of Christian truth in the first
In addition to the leading arguments in favour of ages of its propagation to be attributed ? It is this,
Christianity drawn from miracles and prophecy, and this alone, which could sustain the Christian
that which is deduced from the rapid propagation of convert in the view of those trials and persecutions
the Christian religion in the early ages, in spite of to which for the truth's sake he was doomed, and
the numberless obstacles which it was destined to which could enable him amid them all to bear up
encounter, may be considered as one of the most with a heroic firmness and fortitude which no terrors
powerful secondary proofs. That the extent of its could shake and no opposition appal. It is this, and
diffusion in the days of the apostles was remarkable, this alone, which could urge forward the Christian
no reflecting man can possibly doubt. Paul, for ex- cause in a career of unexampled rapidity, which even
ample, declares that from Jerusalem, round about the malignity that would willingly frustrate was
unto Illyricum, he himself had not failed to declare forced to promote, and before which the towering
the unsearchable riches of Christ. At Jerusalem imaginations of even the proudest hearts were effec-
and Antioch, at Ephesus, Athens, Corinth, Thessa- tually subdued.
lonica, and even in imperial Rome, the mistress of As naturally flowing out of the argument to which
the world, churches had been planted, and the truths we have now adverted, another striking proof of the
of Christianity were openly promulgated. Thus ex- truth of Christianity may be found in its holy and
tensively diffused throughout almost every part of purifying influence on the minds of those, whether
the Roman empire, the same apostle felt himself | individuals or communities, who sincerely embrace
warranted in addressing his Colossian brethren, to it. Without this, indeed, the unbeliever would have
speak of the truth of the gospel, “ which,” says he, just reason to complain of the practical inutility of
“is come unto you as it is in all the world;" and the system, the truth of which we had been labour-
again in the course of the same chapter he admon- ing to demonstrate. Of the effect of Christianity,
ishes them “not to be moved away from the hope of however, upon the minds and hearts of all who truly
the gospel, which," he adds, “was preached to every believe it, the Christian advocate may well boast.
creature under heaven." But the remarkable suc- It enlarges the mind, refines the taste, and purifies
cess of the first promulgators of Christianity rests the heart. No man can be sincerely a Christian
not simply on their own statements, but is fully at- without being in every sense the better for it. Select
tested by contemporary writers. Had it been pos- an individual from the humblest walks of life, whose
sible to account for the fact by a reference to mere soul has undergone a spiritual and saving change.
secondary causes, the acuteness and genius of Gib- | See how his furrowed and care-worn countenance is
bon would surely have been able to accomplish the lighted up with the smile of a holy and placid content-
task. It is unnecessary to say, however, that even ment. He enjoys a peace that passeth all under-
he has failed, and all that cold sneering infidelity standing, and a hope that is full of immortality; and
could effect has utterly failed. The circumstances though doomed daily to earn his bread by the sweat
of the case are sufficient to show that on any other of his brow, his soul is often cheered amid his hours
supposition than that of its truth, the success of the of toil by the hopes and consolations of the gospel.
gospel is wholly unaccountable. In what was pro- A purer, a loftier, a more powerful principle of holy
bably the most illustrious period of Roman literature, living has begun to animate his whole mind and
some individuals of high reputation for learning and heart than has hitherto stirred within his bosom.
character adopted the tenets of Christianity, and Impelled by this holy, this ennobling principle, he
openly professed their belief in them—and that too engages in his daily avocations with a mind elevated
without the slightest hope of deriving any worldly to the contemplation of objects the purest and the
advantage—nay, even under the certain impression most sublime, with a heart no longer debased by
that they would thereby expose themselves to the earthly and grovelling desires, and with his whole
ridicule, persecution, and reproach of their fellow- soul devoted to the service and the glory of his re-
countrymen. And if such was the conduct of en- deeming God. The hallowing influence of Chris-
lightened men in regard to what was strictly a ques- tianity bears with equal efficacy upon the hours of
tion of facts, on which every individual around them his active engagements, and upon the calmer and
was capable of deciding, and therefore might have more retired seasons of private meditation and prayer.
disproved them if it had been possible to do so, to He seeks first the kingdom of God and his righteous-
what other conclusion can we possibly come than ness, and he engages also with the utmost activity in
that the gospel is true? By the pure force of truth the duties of his station, in obedience to the com-
alone it overcame the deadliest opposition, and in mand of God, and in compliance with his providen-
full confirmation of the proverbial adage that “the tial arrangements. The beneficial influence of Chris-
blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church," it tianity is not merely discernible in the life and con-
flourished amid persecution, and trampling down versation of an individual believer, but in the
every obstacle, it made its way to the gates of the improved moral standing of nations who have simply
2
I.
522
CHRISTIANITY.
1
1
professed to embrace it. Their laws, their institu- frail erring man ; nay, he is sometimes held forth as
tions, their manners, have alike experienced the degraded in vice below the most depraved of mor-
ameliorating effects of the gospel of Christ; and tals. How different is the God of the Christiani
though the process of reformation in these respects system! He is not only the greatest and most ex-
may have been tardy, it has nevertheless become so alted being in the universe, but characterized by ab-
obvious and well-marked, as to render it an argu-solute, essential holiness, and unsullied purity. Seated
ment of considerable weight in favour of the truth on the throne of the universe, He rules his creatures
and divine authority of the Christian system. with impartial sway, yet looking down with compla-
Having thus briefly sketched the EXTERNAL or cent satisfaction upon all that seek to love him and
HISTORICAL EVIDENCES of Christianity, it is neces- obey his commands. His unsearchable greatness
sary, in order to complete the vindication of the and ineffable majesty are beautifully blended with
religion of the Bible, that a short view be presented compassion for the weakness of his erring creatures.
of the INTERNAL EVIDENCES, which are founded on He is slow to anger, plenteous in mercy; holy, and
a survey of Christianity itself, as it is set forth in yet full of love; a just God, and yet a Saviour;
the revealed Word. Is there anything in the very just, and yet the justifier of the ungodly who believe
doctrines of our Christian faith which claim for them in Jesus. What more sublime than the brief but
a supernatural origin? Do they commend them- emphatic declarations of Scripture, "God is light,"
selves to our reason, our heart, our conscience, as 6 God is love !"
irrefragably true, and not only as truths, but such It is no doubtful proof besides of the Divine ori-
truths as are completely suited to our condition, both gin of Christianity, that it gives a satisfactory expla-
as creatures and sinful creatures? Should these nation of the difficulties which surround the present
questions be clearly shown to admit of only one an- state of things. Wherever we cast our eyes, we be-
swer, and that an affirmative one, then does the con- hold numberless proofs of wisdom and goodness, but
clusion necessarily follow, that the Christian revela- at the same time there are apparent discrepancies
tion is not unworthy of God, but, on the contrary, and anomalies which frequently puzzle and perplex
that there is in its very doctrines strong presumptive the thoughtful mind. Both the works of creation,
evidence of its Divine origin. Take, for example, and the arrangements of providence, present us with
the view which Christianity gives of the Divine na- a state of things wlich it is difficult to reconcile with
ture and character. It tells us that "God is a Spi- perfect order and unmixed benevolence. Christian-
rit,” and thus sweeps away the complicated and ity, however, fully and satisfactorily accounts for the
elaborate theories of ancient and moderni materialists. introduction and continued existence of both physi-
On this point the Bible is throughout plain and ex- cal and moral evil in the world. God is shown to be
plicit. It announces from first to last, One Living, just and true in all his ways, as well as holy in all
Personal God, the Maker and moral Governor of the his works. In the moral government of our race,
universe. How dark, vague, and unsatisfactory the his justice is exercised as well as his goodness, the
views on this subject of the most distinguished guilty being punished, while the righteous are re-
heathen writers of antiquity! All the philosophers, warded. Thus it appears plain why man, the crea-
except those who discarded altogether the idea of a ture of God, is treated as an alien and an enemy.
deity from their creed, agreed in admitting a plural- He has sinned, and therefore justice and righteousness
ity of gods. Even Socrates and Plato, though on alike require that he should endure the punishment
various occasions they speak of one supreme and consequent upon sin. Hence it is that man is born
omniscient Being, too often evince by other remarks to trouble as the sparks fly upward. Sin and suffer-
of a very different tone, that their belief in the unity ing are in the lot of the human being intimately and
of God was not the result of permanent and satisfied inseparably connected, and death being the wages of
conviction. Nor were the writings of the ancients sin, it liath passed upon all men because all have
less erroneous on the subject of the Divine attri- sinned. Thus it is that by the introduction of this
butes. Not only were their deities uncertain and one element,—the justice of the Divine Being,-
variable in their individual character, but divided Christianity unlocks the mystery of the present
into factions at once opposed to each other, and to the aspect of matters both in the natural and moral
welfare of mankind. Every nation had both its pa- | world,
trons and its foes in the synod of Olympus, and its Another question which Christianity completely
prosperity or decline was less to be attributed to its own solves, and thus shows itself to be Divine, is the mo-
virtues or vices than to the favour of the gods on the mentous inquiry, How a sinful man can obtain par-
one hand, or their enmity on the other. These deities, don, justification, and acceptance before God. A
besides, were not more human in their discord than | deep-felt consciousness of guilt is an inherent prin-
in their wants, their desires, and their enjoyments.ciple in the heart of every man, and hence even
Even the Zeus of the Greeks, and the Jupiter of the from the earliest times it has been an object of
Latins, exalted though he was in the ranks of the eager anxiety to find some mode of propitiating the
celestial hierarchy, is often set forth as a being pos- Divine favour. The solemn inquiry has been pro-
sessing many of the imperfections and weaknesses of posed by multitudes in their inmost souls: “Where-
CHRISTIANITY.
523
with shall I come before the Lord, and bow | Christian system, while various points have thus
myself before the high God? shall I come before been usually adduced which cannot fail to recom-
him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old ? | mend the system to the reflecting mind, as of super-
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or natural origin, it is on the peculiar doctrines of Chris.
with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? shall I give my tianity that we would be disposed chiefly to rest the
firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body argument for its divinity. By pursuing a different
for the sin of my soul ?" These questions Chris- method of reasoning, no little injury has frequently
tianity most satisfactorily answers. It points to a been done to the cause of true religion. Under the
sacrifice of infinite value, which has been offered as delusive idea, that by depriving Christianity of all
an atonement for the sins of men. « Behold the that was peculiar, and by endeavouring to reduce it
Lamb of God," it says, “ which taketh away the sins to a level with natural religion, they were thereby
of the world.” By this one sacrifice the demands of serving the cause of truth, some well-meaning but
the law and justice of God are fully satisfied, and injudicious defenders of the religion of the Bible
God is seen to be at once a just God and yet a Sa- | have unwittingly furnished the infidel with powerful
viour.
weapons wherewith to assail the Christian system,
And how can Christianity be other than divine, The result, accordingly, has been such as might have
seeing that through it life and immortality have been been anticipated. Bolingbroke, Tindal, Collins, and
brought so clearly to light! Men in all ages indeed, many others of the same school, have directed their
and by the unaided operations of their own reason, utmost efforts to show that nothing is revealed to us
have formed to themselves faint, shadowy, impal- in the Bible which was not previously revealed to
pable conceptions of a world beyond the grave. But us in the religion of nature, or if there be any mys-
nowhere, unless in the Bible, is the doctrine of im- teries of which mankind were before ignorant, they
mortality set forth as a subject of well-grounded are merely resolvable into the figurative phraseology
practical belief. There it is exhibited in connection in which the authors wrote, or into subsequent cor-
with the grand peculiarities of the Christian system, ruption and interpolations of the record itself. Thus
the doctrines of atonement and justification. It is it is that, under the guise of affected friendship, the
set forth so closely connected with these peculiar deadliest blows have been aimed at all that is vital in
and essential articles of the Christian system, that it the Christianity of the Bible; and that, too, arising
cannot be separated from them. The heaven of the from no other cause than the injudicious conduct of
Bible, unlike the Elysium of the ancient Heathens, its real friends. It is not in Germany alone that this
or the paradise of Mohammed, is a place of happi- spirit of rationalism has been diffusing its withering
ness consisting of purely spiritual enjoyments, and influence; in Britain also has such a spirit been gra-
designed only for the morally good. If such be the dually gaining ground. The consistency of revela-
future state described in the Scriptures,—not reserved, tion with reason, is, no doubt, when properly con-
as among the Greeks and Ronians, for poets, states- ducted, a powerful and effective branch of the Inter-
men, and philosophers, whose only qualifications nal Evidences, but it ought never to be forgotten,
were of an intellectual kind, but belonging simply to that there is a point in the argument beyond which
the pure in heart and holy in life,—we cannot rid we dare not go, a point where reason ends, and im-
ourselves of the conviction that the sacred writers plicit faith in revelation must begin. The human
have supplied no ordinary evidence of their inspira- mind is not capable of discovering by its own unas-
tion, in the very place which they assign to a future sisted efforts all that the Bible unfolds to us, other-
state in the view of Christianity which they unfold. wise what necessity for the Bible at all? If, then,
Among the heathen authors of antiquity, their place there be truths peculiar to the Christian system,
of punishment was peopled by persons who had been there is no necessity for the slightest anxiety on the
guilty of flagrant violations of the admitted laws of part of the defenders of Christianity to reconcile any
morality; but the abodes of happiness were assigned apparent inconsistency between these peculiar Chris-
without the slightest regard to moral character. It tian truths and the principles of reason.
is the peculiar merit, however, of the Christian presumptive argument, it is true, may be founded on
scheme, that while it plainly declares that “without the fact which in most instances can be shown by
holiness no man shall see the Lord,” it also reveals analogy, that what is peculiar to Christianity is not
an effectual method by which sinful man may recover contrary to reason. Such an argument, however,
the heaven he has lost, and at the same time acquire can never amount to more than a presumption in its
a meetness for its pure and blessed mansions. The favour; and though it may be powerful enough to
doctrine of immortality is thus made to occupy a silence the cavils of objectors, it adds little to the
conspicuous place in the religious system, and also direct force of the Christian evidence. The essential
to subserve in the highest degree the interests of and primary elements of all religious truth may be
Christian morality and piety; perfect consistency learned by the pure efforts of reason unaided by re-
and harmony is preserved in the whole scheme, and velation, and all revealed religion in fact proceeds on
Christianity shows itself to be divine.
the existence of that class of truths which is included
But in discussing the Internal Evidences of the under the term Natural Religion. But to assert this,
A strong
624
CHRISTIANITY.
is just tantamount to the assertion that the Scrip- | God? No such plea, we reply, is for a moinent ad-
tures are accommodated to the nature of the beings, nitted even in an earthly court of law; what reason
to whom they are addressed. This is not all, how- then have we for indulging the expectation that in
ever, that may be said in reference to their value. the far higher and holier jurisprudence of heaven,
They state, no doubt, what is addressed to our rea- repentance can be viewed as an expiation for sin ?
son, and what proceeds on the supposition that there Christianity, however, provides a full and complete
are some truths which unassisted reason has discov- atonement in the sufferings and death of Jesus
ered, but they do more, for they state, and in this Christ, the Son of God, who "suffered the just for,"
their peculiar excellence consists, many truths which or in the room of, “the unjust, that he might bring
the reason of man hath not discovered, and by its us unto God,"--words which plainly set before us the
most strenuous and sustained exertions never could idea of substitution. He who was the Holy and the
discover. And the danger is, that in deference to Just One, suffered in the place of us who were un-
a certain class of sceptics and unbelievers, these pecu- just or unrighteous.
“ He was wounded for our
liarities of the Christian system should either be en- transgressions," says the prophet Isaialı, “he was
tirely overlooked, or attempted to be so modified as to bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our
suit the caprice of those who, while they profess an peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are
adherence to the doctrines of revelation, are all the healed." "He bore our sins in his own body on the
while still more devoted admirers of human reason. tree." “ The Lord laid upon him the iniquities of
All systems of religion, even the most degrading, are us all.” The sufferings of Christ then were strictly
founded to some extent on natural religion, or, in penal, that is, they bore the character of a punish-
other words, on those religious sentiments and feel- ment, not, however, for his own sins, he being abso-
ings which are inherent in the constitution of every lutely sinless, but for the sins of others.
mind. But from these Christianity stands separate Christ the propitiation for sin is a peculiarity in
and apart; and the exhibition of its peculiarities, as the Christian system, which of itself is sufficient to
contradistinguished from every other system of re- stamp it as of heavenly origin. True, infidels have
ligious doctrine, forms a most important branch of sometimes quarrelled with the doctrine of substitu-
the Christian evidences.
tion, it being inconsistent, as they imagine, with ab-
The peculiar doctrines of Christianity, those which solute justice, that the innocent should suffer for the
mark it out as separate and distinct from all the other guilty. To compel the innocent, we admit, to suffer
systems of religion, that either are, or have been against their will, in place of the guilty, would
prevalent in the world, may be resolved into three : be both cruel and unjust. Christ, however, volun-
The doctrine of atonement by the blood of Christ; tarily and readily undertook his people's cause.
that of justification by the imputed righteousness of " He offered himself up a sacrifice for sin.” And
Christ; and that of sanctification by the indwelling besides, there was a grand peculiarity in the case of
operation of the Holy Spirit. These form the grand our gracious substitute, which marked him out as
distinguishing characteristics of the gospel system, separate from, and infinitely superior to, all other
and the revelation of these doctrines, which could substitutes, inasmuch as no one can be permitted by
never have been discovered by mere human reason, an earthly ruler to suffer in room of another, for the
imparts to Christianity a valid title, to be regarded plain and obvious reason, that the generous substi-
as supernatural in its character, and evidently sprung tute las no right voluntarily to give away his own
from God.
life, neither has the magistrate any right to accept it.
Man, as a moral being, must be viewed in a twofold Far different, lowever, was the case with our great
aspect—as subject to the Divine law, and as having Redeemer. IIe could declare with truth his abso-
transgressed that law. In the one view he is a re- late and inalienable right over his own life. “No
sponsible agent, and in the other he is a rebel man taketh my life from me; I lay it down of my-
against the government of God, and therefore, liable self, and I take it up again." It is plain then that
to the punishment due to sin. He has sinned, and no obstacle to the legal substitution of Christ exist-
therefore he inust die, for it is an established prin- ed, in so far as the sufferer was concerned. He
ciple of the Divine government, that “the soul that suffered willingly, and he had a right to lay down
sinneth, it shall die.” How then can sinful man his own life if he chose. But the question may still
escape the righteous indignation of an offended God? | be asked, How could the crimes of any one be
Not surely by a departure on the part of Jehovah charged upon another? To this question the reply
from the strict demands of justice, and by the procla- is simple. It is never asserted that Christ actually,
mation of an arbitrary act of indiscriminate pardon. and in person became a sinner, but the doctrine of
Such a mode of acting would be plainly inconsistent Scripture is, that he was made sin, or judicially, and
with the spotless perfection of the nature of God, in law, treated as a sinner. He was the representa-
and with the maintenance of his authority as the tive, the substitute of sinners; and does not even
Moral Governor of the universe. But it may be human law recognise the principle of substitution ?
asked, Might not the repentance of the sinner be re- Does not the law account an individual free from the
garded as an adequate satisfaction to the justice of consequences of a debt if it has been already paid by
CHRISTIANITY.
525
his surety? And yet, though the same principle penalty due to sin, and on that account the sinner is
meets us in many different forms; though we often pardoned, but he is not entitled to a single benefit
see in the ordinary course of events, children suffer- beyond the privilege of pardon. The culprit is dis-
ing for the sins of their parents, wives for the crimes missed from the bar, but that is the full amount of
of their husbands, and friends for the vices of their his privilege. As far as we have yet viewed the
friends, it is strange that Christianity should be matter, we have seen the sinner by his surety satis-
taunted with injustice in representing the righteous fying the penal, but we have not yet seen him satis-
Governor of the universe as passing by the guilty, and fying the preceptive part of the law. The alterna-
making the innocent Jesus suffer in their room. tive in earthly courts is simply punishment, or ac-
This objection obviously proceeds upon a very erro- quittal from punishment, but the alternative in the
neous view of the true design of punishment. In a court of heaven is punishment, or reward. It was
well-regulated state, punishment is not inflicted with necessary, therefore, that Christ, in order to com-
the view of wreaking vengeance upon the criminal, but plete his work as Mediator, should not only atone
solely and exclusively for fulfilling the ends of good for sin, but that he should so perfectly obey the
government; and if in any case it were consistent Divine law which we had broken, as to earn for us,
with the maintenance of the authority of law and and in our name, a title to that reward which we had
the well-being of the commonwealth that mercy should forfeited. That perfect obedience, accordingly, he
be exercised, its exercise in such a case would not yielded, an obedience both active and passive, that
be considered as inconsistent with the demands of is, he both performed the duties which the law re-
justice. If the principles thus laid down be correct, quired, and he suffered the punishment which
it follows that full satisfaction having been made to the broken law demanded. The sufferings of Christ,
the Divine law and justice by the voluntary suffer- then, may be viewed in a twofold aspect, as propi-
ings of Christ in the room of his people, and the tiatory, and as meritorious ; propitiatory, inasmuch
rectitude of the Divine government having been fully as they averted from us the threatened punishment,
maintained in the transaction, mercy and truth may and meritorious, inasmuch as they procured for us
meet together, and righteousness and peace embrace the forfeited reward. Man, by his disobedience to
each other, while God is seen to be just, even when the Divine law, at one and the same time forfeited
he justifies the ungodly who believe in Jesus. Ad- the reward of everlasting happiness, and incurred
mitting then that neither the law nor the justice of the punishment of everlasting woe. When Christ,
God was compromised by the substitution of Christ therefore, stood in our room, it behoved him both to
in room of guilty man, the question still offers itself, discharge us from the penalty, and to earn for us the
Did the sufferings of Christ completely fulfil the reward. The former he accomplished by his pro-
purpose required? Had he been a mere man, no pitiatory sufferings and death; the latter he accom-
sufferings, however painful or protracted, which he plished by his meritorious sufferings, even unto death.
could have endured, would have been available as an He became the willing servant of the Father, and
atonement for others, just because, as it is impossible he was made under the law, that he might redeem us
for a creature to do more than his duty to his Crea- who were under the law. As God, he was above
tor, it is impossible for a sinful creature to sufier all law, being the Supreme Lawgiver and Judge, but
more than his iniquities deserve. All is due even he condescended to yield obedience to the law, which
to the utmost extent of his powers, whether of doing he himself had given, and by his active as well as
or sufering, and, therefore, both reason and Scrip- suffering obedience, he obtained eternal glory for
ture agree in declaring, that “no man can redeem his himself, and eternal blessedness for all his people.
brother, or give to God a ransom for him." But it He hath taken possession of heaven in their name;
was a peculiar excellence of our Substitute, that he he hath entered it as their forerunner, and “ he will
was not simply man, but God as well as man, Ema- come again to receive them to himself, that where
nuel, God with us, or in our nature. His humanity he is they may be also.”
suffered, and his divinity lent infinite value and efti- The obedience to the law which Christ wrought
cacy to his sufferings. “ He gave himself for us, an out for his people, is imputed to them or put down
offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet-smelling to their account, as a justifying righteousness, in
savour.” Justice was satisfied, mercy triumphed, virtue of which they have a valid claim to the pos-
sinful man was pardoned.
session of the heavenly inheritance. This is the
The substitution of Christ, however, in his peo- spotless robe, clothed in which believers stand ac-
ple's room, is a strong evidence of the divine origin cepted in the Beloved. They receive it in the exer-
of Christianity, not only because He has thereby cise of a lively faith, and thus to them Christ becomes
procured pardon for all who believe on him, but also the end of the law for righteousness, and they are
because He has thereby procured for them a valid “ found in him, not having their own righteousness,
title to the possession of heaven. The sufferings of which is of the law, but the righteousness which is
Christ, as we have already seen, were an adequate of God by faith.” This is the “righteousness which,
atonement for sin, and thus obtained the deliverance without the law, is manifested, being witnessed by
of the sinner from punishment. Christ suffered the the law and the prophets." This is the righteous-
526
CHRISTIANITY.
ness of God, which is by faith in Jesus Christ, unto of sinful mortals, cannot have sprung from any other
all, and upon all, them that believe;" and upon the than a Divine origin. But while the most effective
footing of this righteousness alone can guilty man line of argument, in so far as the internal evidences of
expect to find acceptance in the sight of a holy God. Christianity are concerned, appears to be that which is
By the revelation of such a righteousness, Chris- founded on the peculiar doctrines of the system, a col-
tianity shows itself in the clearest and the most lateral line of proof may also be drawn from the pecu-
convincing manner to be of supernatural and hea- 1 liar precepts which it inculcates. Morality addresses
venly origin.
itself not so much to the understandings as to the
But while ample provision has thus been made in hearts and the consciences of men. And in this re-
the Christian scheme for our deliverance from hell, ) spect the morality of the Bible is singularly effec-
and our admission to heaven, the argument in fa- tive. Not content with tracing all overt acts of
vour of the Divine origin of our religion acquires | crime to the inward workings of the naturally de-
additional strength from the fact, that provision has | praved heart, it directs all its efforts towards apply-
also been made for our preparation for heaven. If by | ing a remedy to the very source of the evil. It
the righteousness of Christ his people are justified, puts in the very foreground love of the Redeemer, a
it is no less a scriptural truth, that, by the Spirit of principle which, more than any other, is fitted to
Christ, his people are sanctified. In virtue of his lay hold of the affections of the human being, and
perfect obedience, Jesus, on his ascension to the to rnould him into a conformity to the image of Him
Father, obtained gifts for men, the greatest of which, who hath loved his people with an everlasting love,
and that which includes all the others, was the gift and in mercy hath redeemed them. This is the most
of the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to commence, | powerfully constraining influence which could pos-
to carry forward, and to perfect the work of sancti- sibly operate upon the mind of a Christian. The work
fication in the soul of the believer. The gift of the of Christ is to him all his salvation, and, therefore, the
Spirit was consequent upon the work of Christ, and glory of Christ becomes all his desire. His heart
it was not before the ascension and glorification glows with gratitude to his gracious Redeemer, and
of the Lord Jesus that the Spirit was fully given. as he thinks of all the love and the mercy which he
But no sooner had Jesus gone to the Father than hath experienced at the hands of Jesus, his heart
the Spirit came with Pentecostal power, and three overflows with love, and he longs with ever-increasing
thousand souls were converted in a day. There is earnestness to be like his Lord.
no doubt a fullness of holiness in Jesus to purify The moral precepts of Christianity are the purest,
the most polluted sinner. But though the fountain | the noblest, the most sublime, evidently deriving
of holiness be full, not one drop can flow into the their origin from the Fountain of all purity and
believer's soul, unless by the effectual operation of truth. Its fundamental, its all-pervading principle
Jehovah's grace. He must " work in us both to will is love, love to God, and love to man. In this hea-
and to do of his own good pleasure.” The initial ven-born religion, love is the fulfilling of the law.
step of the work of sanctification is the arousing of | And in laying this truth at the foundation of its
the sinner to a consciousness of his true condition in moral system, Christianity proclaims the absolute
the sight of God. The eyes of his understanding necessity of a renewal of the whole nature, a new
are opened to see his sinful state, and with anxious birth to holiness and God. Without this radical,
heart he exclaims, What shall I do to be saved ? vital change, there can be nothing in man that is
The Spirit now takes of the things that are Christ's, | truly good or acceptable in the sight of the heart-
and shows them to the convinced sinner, making searching God. What stronger evidence could be
known to him the soul-refreshing truth, that Christ adduced of the divine origin of the religion of Christ,
is a Saviour. The first step, or that of conviction, than that which may be derived from the nature,
is accomplished by the instrumentality of the law, bearing, and connection of its moral precepts ! The
and the second step, or that of conversion, by the morality and the doctrines of the Bible are closely
instrumentality of the gospel. But both are the and indissolubly joined; they form one compact and
work of the Spirit of God. The soul is now gra- consistent whole.
dually purified through the indwelling operation of In a sketch of the Evidences of Christianity, the
the Spirit ; remaining corruption is daily and hourly subject admits of being pursued in various directions,
mortified, and at length the work of sanctification all of them leading to the same satisfactory conclu-
being perfected, the believer will be presented by sion. Thus an important argument may be drawn
Christ to the Father, holy and unblameable, and un- in favour of the truth and divinity of the Christian
reproveable in his sight.
system, by comparing, or rather contrasting it with
Such is a rapid view of the peculiar doctrines of all merely human systems of religion, whether of an-
the Christian scheme, those which are specially cient or of modern times. There is a gorgeous
adapted to meet the character and condition of man splendour thrown by classical writers over the my-
as a guilty ruined sinner, and surely we may well thology of Greece and Rome, which is apt at first
draw the inference, that a religion, so admirably view to dazzle and mislead the superficial inquirer.
fitted to supply the wants and relieve the anxieties Bat such a delusion is only for a time. A closer
CHRISTIANITY.
527
ven.
examination speedily lays open to us the absurd, de- this world towards the attainment of a state of utter
grading, and immoral character of the entire system. and eternal unconsciousness. What a god to wor-
Essentially idolatrous and polytheistic, it lavished | ship, what a heaven to seek! No wonder if the be-
divine attributes on the most insignificant or worth- lievers of such a creed should be degraded almost to
less objects. Natural causes and material forms the level of the beasts of the earth. Equally inju-
were converted into gods, and so rapidly was their rious upon the minds of all within the reach of their
Olympus peopled, that twenty thousand deities were influence must be the absorption of the Hindu, and
scarcely deemed sufficient for the hierarchy of hea- the annihilation of the Budhist religion. How strik-
And not only were these deities so numerous, ing the contrast which such doctrines exhibit to the
that, as one of the ancient authors confesses, it was heaven of Christianity, where all is active happiness
easier to find a god than a man, but the morality and love and joy! How can we venture to compare
which these divinities both inculcated and practised, the Hindu Triad with the Christian Trinity, or the
was of the most polluted and impure description. Avatars of Vishnu with the incarnation of Jesus ?
The result was, that in nations the most distinguished Krishna may be adorned by Oriental poetry with all
for learning and taste, profligacy prevailed among all the graces of loveliness and elegance, but his attrac-
classes of society to the most deplorable extent. tiveness is that of the effeminate voluptuary. What
Their “elegant mythology," as Gibbon terms it, was a contrast to the character of the holy, the meek, the
unable to control the fierceness of their passions, or lovely Jesus! How degrading the worship of the
to prevent them from sinking into the lowest state of Hindu pagodas! In these temples of pretended
moral degradation. On the contrary, their religion worship, no fewer than three hundred and thirty mil-
too often gave countenance to vice both in public lions of deities are adored. Prayers, tortures, alms-
and private.
deeds, ablutions, a thousand expedients are resorted to
Nor, if we pass from the examination of ancient to by these poor benighted idolaters to recommend them-
that of modern systems of religion, do we find any selves to the favour of their gods, while the Chris-
reason to congratulate ourselves on the transition. tian, being justified by faith, has peace with God
It was the boast of Zoroaster that he abolished ido- | through his Lord Jesus Christ. The Hindu seeks
latry among the Persians, of Mohammed that he moral purity by bathing in the waters of an earthly
accomplished the same work among the Arabians, river, but the Christian gladly resorts by faith to the
and of Gotama Budha that he had reformed the Brah- all-cleansing fountain of Immanuel's blood. Nor are
manism of India ; but wliether we contemplate Par- the future prospects of the Hindu less dismal than
seeism, Islamism, Ilinduism, or Budhism, we cannot his present degraded condition. One can only look
fail to be struck with the striking contrast which forward to an incessant migration through millions
they afford to Christianity in every aspect in which of successive births; another to a temporary abode
they can be viewed. Hinduism is a gigantic system
Hinduism is a gigantic system in a region of unbounded sensual indulgences; and
of polytheism, exceeding in the number of its gods | a third as the highest enjoyment to a literal absorp-
even the most idolatrous systems of antiquity. All tion in the Deity, and a consequent loss of all per-
nature, the meads, the groves, the streams, the sonal identity. What a contrast to the blessed
mountains, the skies are peopled by the Hindu with prospects of the Christian, as he looks forward to the
appropriate demons, genii and demigods. True, it ineffable happiness of being for ever with the Lord,
has its Brahm, one Great Spirit, the Supreme Being, and enjoying the ever-during pleasures which are at
infinitely exalted above every other being in the God's right hand !
universe, but then he is not, like the Christian's God, Christianity, however, can not only afford to be
possessed of every possible perfection both natural compared with the complicated idolatrous systems
and moral; on the contrary, although all natural | both of ancient and of modern times ; may
admit
attributes are ascribed to him, his primary and pro- of a comparison with those systems of religion which
per state of being is that in which he exists wholly have been the most violently opposed to idolatry.
without qualities or attributes of any kind; and Of these the ancient Zoroastrians, and the modern
when in another state of being he is represented as Mohammedans are perhaps the most conspicuous.
possessed of active qualities, these in no respect par- The Zoroastrians, or Parsees as they are now termed,
take of the nature of moral attributes. The supreme have ever held all kinds of idolatry or image worship
god of the Hindus is represented, it is true, of inef- in the most intense abhorrence. The only material
fable felicity, to a participation in which all his vota objects to which in their view adoration ought to be
ries are taught to aspire as being final beatitude. paid, are the natural elements, especially the fire,
But instead of the felicity of Brahm resembling in which they regard as the purest and most appro-
the least degree the ineffable felicity of the Chris- priate symbol of the Supreme Being. Hence the
tian's God, which consists in the ever-active contem- altar fires they have come to regard as sacred, and
plation of his own glory, and the communication of they are, and have ever been, guilty, notwith-
happiness to all his creatures, it is represented as standing their boasted hatred of idolatry, of wor-
consisting only of idle slumber and utter inactivity, shipping and serving the creature more than the
while men are taught to direct all their energies in Creator. But if there is one characteristic of Chris-
528
CHRISTIANITY.
1
come.
not."
tianity which more than another elevates it above all | Divine Being. On this subject he speaks in terms
human systems of philosophy and religion, it is the
is the of remarkable beauty and power. “ God! There is
prominence which it gives to the spirituality of the no God but he, the living and self-subsisting. Nei-
Divine nature. That God is a spirit, it lays down ther slumber nor sleep seizeth him.
. To him be-
as a doctrine not only to be believed, but to be habi- longeth whatsoever is in heaven and on earth. He
tually present to our minds, that we may be led with | knoweth that which is past and that which is to
our whole souls to “worship Him in spirit and in
His throne is extended over the universe.
truth.” The God of the Christian is a living, per- He is the high, the mighty.” The gods of Pagan-
sonal, immaterial Being, to whom no material ob- ism are rejected by Mohammed with the utmost
ject, whether in heaven or on earth, can be compared; contempt and abhorrence. But while he attempts
and, therefore, it is written as the imperative com- to convey to the readers of the Koran the most
mand of Jehovah, “ Thou shalt have no other gods sublime conceptions of the Divine Being, in the same
before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any breath he impiously dares to exalt himself to a
graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in level with the Deity. " There is no God but God,
heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that and Mohammed is his Prophet.” Thus was the one
is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow true God, whom he had professed to exalt, placed on
down thyself to them, nor serve them.”
a footing with a sinful man, and made to sanction
And while the Parsee religion strenuously main- the vices, to subserve the passions, and to abet the
tains the unity of the Great First Source of all foulest crimes of his pretended messenger. The god of
things, it attempts feebly to resolve the problem of Islam is the patron of licentiousness and corruption ;
the existence and introduction of evil in the world, an inconsistent and contradictory Being, making or
by alleging that creation presents an antagonism unmaking laws, announcing, confirming or repealing
throughout all its departments (see ABESTA), a per- decrees according to the capricious dictates of a
petual strife which is carrying onward both in the scheming and ambitious mortal. What a contrast
physical and moral worlds, and which, in the view of does the God of Christianity present! “The High
Zoroaster, admits of no satisfactory explanation, un- and the Holy One.” " Just and true in all his
less by the supposition of two living. opposing be- ways, and holy in all his works." " Without vari-
ings, which are ever exerting a powerful, counteract- ableness or shadow of turning, the same yesterday,
ing influence. The only legitimate inferences from to-day, and for ever.” “I am the Lord, I change
such a dualistic system is, that God is the au-
thor of imperfection and evil. How infinitely pre-
The religion of the Koran exhibits throughout prin-
ferable is the simple explanation of the difficulty ciples completely the reverse of those which we could
which Christianity gives ! It represents the Creator believe to have come from a righteous and merciful
as pure and holy, while all creation, when it first is- God. It estimates the piety of the faithful by their
sues from his hands, is absolutely good, both physi- | cold bloodedness, and promises glory, honour, and in-
cally and morally good. It is at an after period that mortality to those who are the most zealous in the per-
sin is introduced through the influence of the secution and murder of the infidels. And not only
Tempter; and physical evil is unknown until moral were the immediate followers of the prophet command-
evil has entered into the world. Such a solution of ed to go forth on a war of extermination; the same
the problem is at once plain and satisfactory. It pro- ruthless precepts were bequeathed to the Moham-
poses no such impossible hypothesis as that of the medans of every future age. Islamism was thus
Abesta, that there are two powerful ever-operative destined by the prophet to subjugate the world to its
agencies at work, equally strong and mutually de- sway by devastation and blood. How different the
structive. Christianity on the contrary represents spirit which marks the Christian system! “ Verily, I
good to be the rule of God's works, and evil the say unto you,” was the declaration of its Author,
exception, the latter destined to be extirpated by the “Love your enemies; bless them that curse you, do
mighty power of Him who, when He had formed all good to them that hate you, and pray for them that
things, pronounced them " very good."
despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Christian-
One more system still remains to be noticed, ity is essentially the religion of peace, its Author is
which also lays claims to a divine origin—the reli- the Prince of Peace, who hath made peace by the
gion of Mohammed, the great Eastern impostor, blood of his cross; and with a voice re-echoing
which for more than twelve centuries has exercised throughout the whole habitable world, it proclaims
a powerful influence over a large portion of the peace upon earth, and good will to the children of
world. Preceded by Judaism and Christianity it has
men." It is destined to advance, and even to
borrowed from both, and it is impossible to read the cover the earth ;” but its progress is marked at
pages of the Koran without being struck with the every step by civilization and happiness. Imper-
extent to which its author has been indebted to the fectly though this blessed system has yet been
Law, the Prophets, and the Gospels. One truth | brought to bear upon nations, it is impossible to
above all others, the Prophet of Arabia sought to deny that the moral and political condition of those
inculcate upon all his followers,—the unity of the countries who have embraced it has undergone a
CHRISTMAS.
529
most decided improvement. Their laws, their insti- some of the Greek churches such confusion existed
tutions, their manners, all exhibit the ameliorating on the subject of the two festivals, that the name
influence of the gospel of Christ, thus affording a Epiphany or Theophany was actually given to the
strong additional evidence of the divinity of the least which others termed Christmas.
Christian system.
Neander gives a very interesting and satisfactory
What has been the result indeed of all the sys- account of the manner in which the Christmas festi-
teins, whether of philosophy or religion, which have val came to be observed first in the Roman church,
ever been invented by the wisdom of men? Has | from which it passed to the other churches. The
the world been one whit the better for them? Have explanation is as follows: “Precisely in this season
they improved the condition of the human family of the year, a series of heathen festivals occurred, the
Have they made men better acquainted either with celebration of which among the Romans was, in
the nature of God, or their own nature ? Have they many ways, closely interwoven with the whole civil
diffused a pure morality, promoted the true welfare and social life. The Christians, on this very ac-
of man, and effected a marked iinprovement on the count, were often exposed to be led astray into many
social and political aspect of nations ? Alas! the of the customs and solemnities peculiar to these fes-
contrary has been the case. But of Christianity, tivals. Besides, these festivals had an import which
and Christianity alone, can it be said, that the doc- easily admitted of being spiritualized, and with some
trines which it teaches, the morality which it incul- slight change transformed into a Christian sense.
cates, the spirit which it breathes, and the hallowed First came the saturnalia, which represented the
influence which it exercises both upon communities peaceful times of the golden age, and abolished for a
and individuals, are such as to extort from every un- while the distinction of ranks, the distance between
prejudiced mind the prompt and unqualified admis- servants and free men. This admitted of being
sion, that the hand that constructed such a systeni is, easily tranferred to Christianity, which, through the
and must be, Divine. See RELIGION.
reconciliation of man with God, through the restora-
CHRISTMAS, a festival celebrated in honour of tion of the fellowship between God and man, had
our Lord's nativity. It begins with the Advent on introduced the true golden age, representing the
the last day of November, and continues until Epi- equality of all men in the sight of God, and brought
phany, on the 6th of January; and is more particu- the like true liberty as well to the freeman as to the
larly observed on the 25th of December. This fes- slave. Then came the custom, peculiar to this sea-
tival seems to have first made its appearance in the son, of making presents (the strenæ), which after-
Roman church, under the Roman bishop Liberius, wards passed over to the Christmas festival; next,
after the middle of the fourth century. At a period the festival of infants, with which the saturnalia con-
somewhat later, it spread into Eastern Asia. Chry- cluded,—the sigillaria, where the children were pre-
sostom, in a discourse delivered at Antioch A. D. 386, sented with images; just as Christmas was the true
mentions that it had first become known there less festival of the children. Next came a festival still
than ten years before. The crowded churches at more analogous to the Christmas, that of the short-
this period on Christmas-day showed the interest est day, the winter solstice; the birth-day of the new
which the people generally took in this new festival. sun about to return once more towards the earth (dies
Some, however, were dissatisfied at the institution of natalis invicti solis). In the case of this last-named
such a festival, and a controversy arose upon the feast, a transition to the Christian point of view na-
subject; one party denouncing it as an innovation, turally presented itself, when Christ, the sun of the
while others affirmed that it had been known of old spiritual world, was compared with that of the mate-
from Thrace to Cadiz. Not that any difference of rial. But the comparison was carried still further ;
opinion existed in the church as to its object, but for, as
for, as in the material world, it is after the darkness
many doubted, and justly, whether the time of its has reached its highest point that the end of its
observance was founded on any other than a mere dominion is already near, and the light begins to ac-
arbitrary arrangement. Chrysostom, in his homilies, quire fresh power; so, too, in the spiritual world,
enters into an elaborate defence of the day usually after the darkness had reached its highest height,
observed as Christmas. The festival thus introduced Christ, the spiritual sun, must appear, to make an
was not received with equal readiness by all the end of the kingdom of darkness. In fact, many al-
churches; those of Jerusalem and Alexandria reject-lusions of this kind are to be found in the discourses
ing it as an innovation, and resolving, in preference, of the church fathers on the festival of Christmas.
to unite the commemoration of Christ's nativity “That Christian festival which could be so easily
with the ancient feast of the Epiphany—a combina- connected with the feelings and presentiments lying
tion which they attempted to justify by quoting at the ground of the whole series of pagan festivals
Luke iii. 23, from which passage they inferred, that belonging to this season, was now, therefore, to be
the baptism of Christ took place on the very day of opposed to these latter; and hence the celebration of
his nativity. It is not long, however, before we Christmas was transferred to the 25th of December,
find the Alexandrian church observing the feast of for the purpose of drawing away the Christian people
Christ's nativity as a separate festival by itself. In from all participation in the heathen festivals, and of
530
CHRISTOLYTES-CHRONOS.
ness.
gradually drawing over the Pagans themselves from also is given. In many Greek churches a similar
their heathen customs to the Christian celebration. representation is to be seen on Christmas eve. In
This view of the matter seems to be particularly fa. the Church of England, and all Lutheran churches,
voured in a New Year's discourse by Maximius, the feast of the nativity is observed as a very solemn
bishop of Turin, near the close of the fourth century, festival, and at the close of divine service and the
where he recognises a special divine providence in dispensation of the eucharist, the day is looked upon
appointing the birth of Christ to take place in the as an occasion of rejoicing and congratulation. The
midst of the pagan festivals; so that men might be Church of Scotland, and all Presbyterian as well as
led to feel ashamed of pagan superstition and Congregational churches, decline to celebrate this
pagan excesses."
festival, regarding it as of human appointment, and
Augustine candidly admits that Christmas was unwarranted either by Scripture or the practice of
neither derived from apostolic usage, nor sanctioned apostolic times.
by any general council. And this view is confirmed CHRISTOLYTES (Gr. Christos, Christ, and
by the fact, that the ante-Nicene fathers are all of Luo, to loose),
Luo, to loose), a Christian sect which arose in the
them silent on the subject of such a festival, even sixth century, in consequence of the keen disputes
while enumerating the other festivals of the church. which took place at that time, in reference to the
Some writers have derived it from the Jewish En- nature of the body of Christ. The Christolytes
cænia or Feast of the Dedication, while others agree maintained that, on the descent of Christ into hell,
with Neander in tracing it to the Heathen Saturna- he left both his body and soul there, and only rose
lia. Whatever may have been its origin, it is some.. with his Divine nature to heaven.
what important to observe, that from its first insti- CHRISTOPHORI (Gr. Christos, Christ, and
tution many of the western nations transferred to it Phero, to carry), one of the names sometimes as-
some of the foolish customs which prevailed in the cribed to Christians by the early Fathers, probably
pagan festivals observed at the same season, such from the circumstance that believers may be sup-
as adorning fantastically the churches, mingling pup- posed to carry Christ in their hearts, and hold habi-
pet-shows and dramas with worship, universal feast- | tual communion with him, as it is written, “I will
ing and merry-making, visits and salutations, pre- dwell in them, and walk in them." See CHRISTIANS.
sents and jocularity, and even revelry and drunken- CHRISTO SACRUM, a sect or society formed
For some time after the introduction of the at Delft in Holland in 1801, by Onder de Wingaard,
festival in commemoration of the nativity of Christ, an aged burgomaster of that city. The object of
the Eastern and Western churches differed as to the founder was to unite, if possible, all denomi-
the day on which it ought to be celebrated; the nations who held the divinity of Christ, and re-
former keeping it on Epiphany or the 6th of Jan- demption through his blood; and, accordingly, all
uary, the latter on the 25th of December. It are admitted into fellowship who maintain these car-
was not until the sixth century that anything like dinal doctrines, on whatever other points tliey may
unanimity prevailed as to the day for observing differ. The sect, which had one place of worship at
Christmas. In the Roman church Christmas is ac- Delft, is quite extinct, though, while it existed, va-
counted a very high festival. Three masses are per- rious works were published in defence of its doc-
formed, one at midnight, one at daybreak, and one trines.
in the morning. In the church of Santa-Maria May- CHRODO, a god of the ancient Germans, repre-
giore at Rome, they profess to have the cradle in sented under the figure of an old man, on a pedestal,
which the Saviour was laid at his birth, and on the with his head bare, and a large fish under his feet.
feast of the nativity they bring out the cradle before He is dressed in a tunic, which is girt around him
daybreak, and amid processions of priests, monks, with a sash, the ends of which hang flowing to the
nuns, preceded by incense-bearers, accompanied by right and left. In his left hand he holds a wheel,
singers, and guarded by soldiers, it is placed on the and in his right a large basket with fruits and
high altar to be seen and worshipped by the faithful. flowers. He is supposed by some to have been iden-
On Christmas day, and for eight days after, a Prese- tical with the Roman god Saturn.
pio is exhibited in almost every church in Italy, and CHRONITÆ (Gr. chronos, time), a reproachful
sometimes even in private houses. The word Prese- name applied by the Arians of the fourth century to
pio means a stable or manger, and it is now applied the orthodox Christians of the period, by which they
to the representation of the nativity, in which men designed to intimate that their religion was only
and animals are fantastically arranged in the interior temporary, and would speedily have an end.
of a room. The Saviour is generally exhibited lying CHRONOLOGY. See ÆRA.
on the ground, or on the Virgin's knee, between an CHRONOS (Gr. time), a name which the an-
ox and an ass. Joseph is also present, and several cients give to SATURN (which see), as the god of
angels, and sometimes the three kings of the east time. Accordingly, the fable of Saturn devouring
presenting their offerings. Flowers and fruit, apples his children, is explained by supposing time to de-
and oranges, are frequently strewed on the Hoor of vour days, months, and years, which are produced
the Presepio by the visitors, and sometimes money | by him. “ The father of Zeus," writes Kaiser,
CHRYSOSTOM (ST.)-CHURCHES.
531
was defined as time or Chronos, according to a ple as distinguished from the clergy or ecclesiastics.
more recent system of Theogony, because he reigned (7.) It very frequently denotes the building within
prior to his great son, though, as regards rank, he is which a particular congregation or society of Chris-
inferior to him.” Zeus, however, considered as tians assembles for the celebration of divine service.
demiurgos and governor of the world, is Chronos or CHURCHES. The places in which Christians as-
time realized in cosmos.
semble for worship have received different names at
CHRYSOSTOM (ST.), FESTIVAL OF, celebrated different periods. The primitive appellation of such
by the Greek church on the 13th of November. a building seems to have been the Greek word eccle-
CHRYSOSTOM (ST.), LITURGY OF, one of the sia, as we find in 1 Cor. xi. 18, 20 and 22. In the
numerous liturgies used in the Greek church. It is early writers it is sometimes called the Lord's house,
in ordinary use all the year round, with the excep- the house of prayer, a temple, all which names were
tion of certain appointed days, on which the liturgy familiarly used in the third and fourth centuries.
of St. Basil is substituted for it.
The first place of meeting among the primitive
CHTHONIA AND CHTHONIUS, surnames appli- Christians seems to have been a room in the house
ed to the shades or gods of the infernal regions among
of some member of the church. As the congrega-
the ancient Greeks, such as Hecate, Nyx, and espe- tions became larger, particularly in towns, it became
cial Demeter, in whose honour a festival was insti- necessary to select a more suitable place of assem-
tuted bearing the name of Chthonia.
bly. The church at Ephesus held their meetings
CHTHONIA, a festival celebrated at Hermione, in for a time in the house of Aquila and Priscilla where
honour of DEMETER, surnamed CHTHONIA (see pre- Paul preached to them. Gradually these private
ceding article). Pausanias represents it as celebrated apartments would be fitted up in a style better
every year in summer by a procession, at the head of adapted for public worship. An elevated seat would
which marched the priests and magistrates. Those be introduced for the speaker, and a table set for the
who joined the procession wore white garments, with celebration of the Lord's Supper. Separate build-
chaplets of flowers on their heads, on which was an ings for the special purpose of divine service were
inscription recording the premature death of Hya- erected so early as the third century, at which time
cinthus. In the rear of the procession was led a | they are expressly mentioned in the edict of Gallien.
heifer, which was conducted into the temple of De- The Chronicle of Edessa speaks of a Christian church
meter, and there sacrificed by four old women with as standing there even in A. D. 202. In the time of
shut doors. Thereafter the temple was thrown open, Diocletian, many splendid churches had already
and another heifer was led in, which was also sacri- been built in the large cities, and more than forty
ficed. The same operation was performed on four then existed in Rome. Mr. Coleman, in his Christian
different animals in succession, all of which were Antiquities,' gives the following sketch of the pro-
made to fall on the same side on which the first fell. gress made in the erection of edifices for Christian
Ælian says, that the heifers were sacrificed not by worship onward to the Reformation : “After the
the matrons mentioned by Pausanias, but by the persecution of Diocletian, under Constantine and his
priestess of the goddess. The Lacedæmonians are successors, the demolished churches were rebuilt,
said to have celebrated the same or a similar fes- and such as had been closed were again opened.
tival.
Pagan temples were, in some instances, converted
CHURCH (German, Kirche, a kirk, from Gr. | into Christian churches; but they were usually de-
Kuriakon, belonging to the Lord), a word used in a stroyed, as not suited for public worship. Churches
variety of different signification. (1.) It is employed in great numbers were erected in a style of magnifi-
to denote the whole body of Christians, or all who cence before unknown in Constantinople, in Jerusa-
profess to believe in Christ, and vow subjection to lem, and throughout the cities of Palestine, and
his authority. This is usually termed the CATHO- solemnly dedicated to the worship of God. This
LIC CHURCH (which see). (2.) Any particular body religious rite was first introduced by Constantine.
of Christians, who belong to one particular locality, “In his zeal for building churches, Justinian I.
and are wont to hold communion with one another far surpassed all others, and throughout his long
in the same ordinances. Thus we read of the church reign, from A. D. 527 to 565, made this the great
at Ephesus, the church at Antioch, the church at business of his life. But his chief care he expended
Colosse. (3.) A particular sect or denomination of in building the magnificent and colossal church of
Christians, distinguished by adherence to certain St. Sophia, at Constantinople. Such was the splen-
doctrines, or the observance of certain ceremonies. dour of this work, that at the consecration of it
Thus the Greek church, the Romish church, the he exclaimed, “I have surpassed thee, O Solo-
Church of England, the Abyssinian church, the Ar- mon.' The perpendicular height, from the summit
menian church. (4.) The term church is sometimes of the grand arch to the pavement of this edifice,
applied to a single congregation of Christians. (5.) was one hundred and eighty feet. Some idea of
Sometimes the word denotes the clergy in contradis- this great work may be obtained from the number
tinction to the laity; and vice versa. (6.) It is occa- of ministers and attendants who were appointed
sionally employed in early writers to denote the peo- | by the decree of the emperor for the service of
532
CHURCHES.
-
this church. They were as follows: sixty pres- | ginated in this quarter. Others refer the design to
byters, one hundred deacons, forty deaconesses, the talent and invention of one or two great masters
ninety subdeacons, one hundred and ten readers, whom they supposed to have flourished in the early
twenty-five singers, one hundred door-keepers ; mak- part of the century, but without being able to say
ing a retinue of five hundred and twenty-five minis- who they were ; while others again consider that we
ters and attendants! The value of 40,000 pounds of are indebted for the improvement to the societies of
silver was expended in ornamenting the altar and the masons, which existed from a very early period, and
parts adjacent. The entire cost was nearly 5,000,000 were greatly encouraged by popes and emperor's
dollars.
during the middle ages. They had lodges in Eng-
“ After the death of Justinian, the zeal for build- land and on the continent. Some place their begin-
ing churches greatly declined, and few of any noto- ning in Germany, others in France, and others in
riety were erected from the fifth to the eighth cen- England under the Saxon kings. These architec-
tury. The arts of architecture, sculpture, and paint- tural corporations must not be confounded with the
ing, had fallen into disrepute, and the churches modern freemasons.
which were erected were of an inferior character, Early in the eleventh century began the system
devoid, in a great degree, of ornament and taste. of raising money for ecclesiastical buildings by the
“ The Byzantine, or ancient Gothic style of archi- sale of indulgences. The example of this practice
tecture was introduced under Theodoric, in the be was set by Pontius, bishop of Arles, in the year
ginning of the sixth century; and in this and the 1016. According to Morinus, (De Sacram. Ponit.
following centuries many churches of this order were lib. vii. c. 14, 20,) the French bishops professed,
built in Italy, Spain, France, England, and Ger- during the twelfth century, to remit a third or fourth
many. From the seventh to the twelfth century the part of penance to persons who should contribute a
resources of the Christian church were expended certain sum of money towards the building or re-
chiefly on cloisters, monasteries, and other establish- storing of a place of worship. In this way, Mauri-
ments suited to the ascetic life to which Christians tius, bishop of Paris, built the splendid cathedral of
of those ages generally addicted themselves. Notre Dame, and four abbeys; for which, however,
“ The vast cathedrals of Europe, in the style of he incurred the censure of some of his contempora-
modern Gothic, are the product of the middle ages, ries. In later times the example was frequently
and some of them date back even to the thirteenth followed at Rome ; and it is well known that the
century. About this time ecclesiastical architecture collection of Peter's pence, and the sale of indul-
attained to the height of its perfection. After the gences in raising money for the building of St. Pe-
introduction of the pointed arch, at the beginning of ter's, was one of the proximate causes of the German
this period, buildings were erected which exceeded, reformation."
in size and architectural beauty, all which had The original form of Christian churches appears to
hitherto been dedicated to the services of the church. have been oblong, sometimes with parallel sides, but
The style of architecture which obtained at this time inore frequently of an elliptical figure like a ship,
has been usually denominated Gothic, or new Gothic; and, accordingly, the building was sometimes termed
but it may more properly claim the title of German, a ship, and at other times the ark of Noah, and the
or English. It prevailed in Germany, the Nether- boat of Peter. For several centuries after the time
lands, England, and Denmark; and from those coun- of Constantine the Great, churches were most fre-
tries it was introduced into Italy, France, and Spain. quently erected in the form of a cross. The circu-
Some suppose that Saxony is the country to which lar form being generally adopted in building heathen
its origin may be traced.
temples, was sedulously avoided by the Christians
“Some antiquaries regard the beautiful architec- in building their churches. “The spot chosen for
ture of this period as a sudden effect produced by the site of a new church,” says Dr. Jamieson, “was
the invention of the pointed arch, while others con- generally an elevated piece of ground, consecrated
tend that it was the result of a gradual improve by being the burying-place of a martyr,—the primi-
ment in the art during the course of the eleventh tive Christians deeming a church built over the re-
and twelfth centuries. Certain, however, it is, that mains of those who were faithful unto death, a more
this style of building, after having attained its per- suitable memorial of their excellencies, than a monu-
fection more or less rapidly in the thirteenth cen- mental pillar erected to their honour. It accord-
tury, prevailed almost exclusively during the four- ingly received their name, which was inscribed on
teenth and fifteenth.
the front of the edifice. The church was approached
Opinions are divided also upon a question relat- through a spacious area, in the middle of which was
ing to the quarter from which this style was origi- a fountain, in which every one, as he entered, washed
nally derived. Some persons suppose that it was his handsman act intended for a significant memo-
brought from the Arabians or Saracens at the time rial of the purity of heart that alone can constitute
of the Crusades, or from the same people in Spain an acceptable worshipper. The entrance was formed
and Sicily at a still earlier date. And it seems by a longitudinal porch, within which kings laid down
likely that some of its forms, at least, may have ori- their crowns, soldiers their arms, and magistrates or
CHURCHES.
533
use,
judges the insignia of their office. At one end of it scenes and characters of sacred history. Adam and
stood poor strangers, or such of that destitute or- Eve eating the forbidden fruit,--Joseph sold by his
der as, from their distress being recent and sudden, brethren,-David encountering Goliath,Solomon
were allowed to make known their wants by asking dedicating his temple,-Mary and the infant Jesus,
alms of their brethren,-while on the opposite side -the Saviour expiring on the cross, were delineated
were stationed gross offenders, who, being excom- to the eye,-intended, like historical paintings, to
municated, and deprived of the privilege of entering keep in remembrance the persons and events they
the church, implored, on their bended knees, and were meant to represent, and especially to enable the
with all the agony of remorse and the deepest illiterate to read that in the picture which they had
affliction, the prayers and sympathies of the faith- not education enough to do in the book. It was to-
ful. The interior of the building—which was often wards the end of the third century when this innova-
in the form of a cross, or an eight-sided figure, but tion crept into the Church; and although, doubtless,
most generally of an oblong shape, resembling that it
sprang from a pious and well-meaning zeal for the
of a ship,-was divided into different compartments, instruction of the ignorant, yet it was an imprudent
corresponding to the different classes of hearers that measure, productive of the worst consequences, and
composed the primitive Church. The penitents, tending to accelerate the superstition which was then
under which term were included all offenders who advancing with gigantic strides over the whole
had made some progress in their course of discipline, Christian world.”
-occupied the first place on passing from the porch. It does not appear that, for the first three centu-
Next to them were those new converts who were pre- ries at least, any particular arrangement was adhered
paring for baptism, while the body of the church to in fitting up the interior of churches; but about
was filled by the congregation of the faithful,— the fourth century a definite plan came into general
widows and young women by themselves, and the The body of the church was divided into three
young men by themselves,—the men with their sons, parts, corresponding to the three classes in which
the women with their daughters, sitting apart from Christians were arranged—the clergy, the believers,
each other, either on opposite sides of the church, or, and the catechumens. This division corresponded
as was frequently the case, the male part of the au- also to the different parts of the Jewish temple, the
dience remained on the ground floor, while the fe- holy of holies, the sanctuary or holy place, and the
males had a gallery appropriated for their use. At court. The three divisions of Christian churches were:
the further end, opposite the main entrance, was the (1.) The BEMA (which see) or sanctuary, a sacred en-
pulpit, or elevated bench, from which the minister closure round the altar, railed off from the rest of
read the Scriptures and exhorted the people; and the church, and appropriated to the clergy. (2.) The
immediately behind this was the place set apart for Naos or Nave (which see), occupied by the faithful
celebrating the communion, the consecrated ele- or lay members of the church. (3.) The NARTHEX
ments of which were deposited on a plain moveable (which see) or ante-temple, the place appropriated
table, covered with a white cloth. Here and there for penitents and catechumens, and which was some-
were niches in the walls, sufficiently large to hold times divided into the outer and inner. Besides
one or two persons, each of which was furnished with these three separate divisions of the interior of
a copy of the Scriptures, for the use of those who churches, there were outer buildings of different
might choose to retire in the intervals of public wor- kinds, which usually bore the name of Excedræ, the
ship, to read and to meditate in these little recesses. most important of which was the BAPTISTERY
Besides this provision, invaluable in those days, ' (which see), which were erected close by cathedral
when books were all in manuscript and costly in churches. Libraries were at a very early period col-
price, texts of Scripture appropriate to each class of lected and kept in connexion with the churches.
hearers were inscribed on that part of the wall that These were sometimes very extensive, as seems to
lay immediately contiguous to the place they occu- have been the case with the library of the church
pied in the church, and were so selected, as to be of St. Sophia at Constantinople, which contained
perpetual remembrancers of the temptations incident | 120,000 volumes. Schools also, particularly for the
to their age, of the duties belonging to their condi- instruction of catechumens, were very early estab-
tion, and the motives and encouragements to sted- lished in connexion with the churches. The bishops
fastness in faith and virtue. Thus, to let one exam- and clergy had houses allotted to them, adjacent to
ple suffice, over the space assigned to the young the church. Bathing houses and public rooms for
women, was engraven in large characters this pas- rest and refreshment, are also mentioned, as well as
sage of Paul, 1 Cor. vii. 34: "There is difference
difference | hospitals for the poor and sick, which were erected
between a wife and a virgin; the unmarried woman in the immediate vicinity of churches. Bells (which
careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be see) were not in use earlier than the seventh century.
holy in body and in spirit.' For the benefit of those Organs do not occur as a part of the furniture of
who could not profit by such means of Christian in- churches, until the time of Charlemagne, who re-
struction, the custom was latterly introduced of de- ceived one as a present from Constantine Michael,
corating the walls of churches with pictures of the which was set up in the church at Aix-la-Chapelle.
534
CHURCHES.
The early Christians exercised peculiar care in the and disorders, so that Honorius decreed, A. D. 398,
construction of the doors of their churches, from their the sentence of scourging and banishment upon any
anxiety to preserve secrecy in celebrating the myste- one who should enter the church and disturb the
ries of their religion, that not only the profane, but minister in the discharge of his duties; and if he
even their own penitents and catechumens, might:be interrupted the religious services, he was to be sen-
prevented from intruding into the sacred edifices. To tenced to death by any court civil or military. It
guard the entrance, accordingly, a special class of was an ancient and very general custom to kiss the
men were set apart by the solemn rites of ordination. threshold of the doors, and the altars of the churches,
These officials were termed Ostiariä or door-keepers. | in token of reverence. Afterwards it became usual
There were generally three main entrances to the to kiss the paintings and utensils. In early times
churches, each of them provided with outer and in- churches were carefully guarded from secular and
ner doors. The different sexes entered by different sacrilegious uses. The ceremony of dedicating or
doors, as they occupied different parts of the consecration of churches commenced in the reign of
churches. The doors were made of the choicest and Constantine, when they were rebuilt, after having
most durable wood, richly ornamented, and some- been destroyed in the Diocletian persecution; and in
times constructed of solid brass or bronze. In- the fourth and fifth centuries, anniversary feasts, called
scriptions of various kinds, and the date of the build- ENCÆNIA (which see), were introduced, which were
ing or dedication of the church, were usually written kept in memory of the dedication of churches. (See
on the doors. The appearance of the pavements DEDICATION OF CHURCHES.) By the laws of Jus-
and walls of the early Christian churches is thus tinian, no man was allowed to begin to build a church
briefly described by Mr. Coleman : “ The floor of before he had given security to the bishop of a main-
the church consisted of pavement carefully laid, or tenance for the ministry, and the repairs of the church,
smooth marble. In large churches the narthex had and whatever else might be necessary to uphold Di-
a pavement of plaster; the flooring of the nave was vine service in it. Churches were sometimes used as
plastering or boards; whilst the choir was adorned places of refuge for criminals (see ASYLUMS), and
with mosaic. Not unfrequently there was a tessel- | they were also employed as the safest repository for
lated pavement of particoloured and polished mar- things of value, as well as the best security and re-
ble, constituting a rich mosaic work. A curious treat in times of common calamity and distress.
specimen of this ancient mosaic was found in 1805, When Alaric the Goth took and sacked Rome, he
near Salzburg, delineating the story of Theseus and gave orders that all the churches should be inviolable,
Ariadne. Such decorations, in imitation of the Jew and whoever fled to them should be spared, in con-
ish temple, (1 Kings vi. 15—30,) were used in the sequence of which numbers of the heathens as well
churches so early as the fourth century. From the as the Christians escaped.
seventh to the tenth century it became customary to In England, churches cannot be erected without
encumber and disfigure the nave and choir with the the consent of the bishop, and they are not recog-
graves of the dead, and from that period the floors nised in law until they have been consecrated by the
were occupied with pallisades, monuments, and epi- bishop, though the canon law supposes that that ec-
taphs; and all unity and symmetry was destroyed. clesiastical dignitary has the power to permit divine
“ The walls and the canopy were also ornamented service, including the administration of the sacra-
with inscriptions, mosaics, paintings, and bas-reliefs. | ments, to be performed in churches and chapels
The paintings were executed on wood, metals, and which have not been consecrated. The repairs of
The bas-relief was executed in gypsum, the church must be executed by the CHURCHWAR-
mortar, stone, or metal, in imitation of the orna- DENS (which see), and the expenses defrayed from
ments of the temple. Votive offerings of shields, the CHURCH RATES (which see) raised by assessment
arms, standards, and the like, were also hung upon on the parishioners. If any addition is proposed to
the walls. To these the lights were attached and be made to the church, the consent of the parish
suspended from the canopy. Vaulted roofs are of must be previously obtained; and if the addition be
later origin."
inside the church, the license of the ordinary is ne-
Churches were held in great veneration among the cessary. When the repairs are of an ordinary and
primitive Christians. They entered the building | obviously necessary kind, the church wardens are not
with the utmost reverence and respect, having pre- obliged to consult the parishioners, the parish being
viously washed at least their hands, and sometimes understood to have constituted them their trustees.
also their faces. In Eastern churches, particularly The rector of the parish is bound to keep the
those of Abyssinia, they put off their shoes. The CHANCEL (which see) of the parish church in good
emperors, when they attended divine service, laid condition.
down their arms at the church door, left their usual In Scotland, the expenses incurred in building,
body guard behind them, and put off their crowns. enlarging, and repairing parish churches, are wholly
In the fourth and fifth centuries, during the heat of defrayed by the heritors or proprietors, who are as-
the Arian controversy, churches were sometimes sessed in purely landward parishes, according to the
made the scene of the most unseemly contentions | valued rents of their estates; and in parishes partly
canvas.
CHURCH.
535
CA.
RICA.
rural, partly burghal, according to the actual rent of CHURCH (APOSTOLIC CATHOLIC). See APOS-
their properties. Should the heritors fail to discharge TOLIC CATHOLIC CHURCH.
their legal obligation in repairing an old or building CHURCH (ARMENIAN). See ARMENIAN
a new church, the matter comes under the cognizance Church,
of the presbytery of the bounds, who have power, on CHURCH (ARMENIAN CATHOLIC). See ARME-
the report of competent tradesmen, to order the ne- VIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
cessary repairs, or if the case require it, the erection CHURCH (CAMBRIAN). See WALES (CHRIS-
of a new church. The size of a parish church has TIANITY IN).
been fixed by statute to be such as shall accommo- CHURCH (CHALDEAN CATHOLIC). See CHAL-
date two-thirds of the examinable population, a DEAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
phrase which is understood as including all the pa- CHURCH (COPTIC). See COPTIC CHURCH.
rishioners above twelve years of age. The precise CHURCH (DUTCH REFORMED). See DUTCH
extent of the presbytery's power, in the question of REFORMED CHURCH.
building or repairing churches, is well explained by CHURCH (ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN). See Pres-
Dr. Jamieson in his article on the Church of Scot- BYTERIAN (ENGLISH) CHURCH.
land, in the Cyclopædia of Religious Denomina- CHURCH (EPISCOPAL) OF AMERICA. See EPIS-
tions :' “It is not the province of the ecclesiastical COPAL (PROTESTAN'T) CHURCH OF AMERICA.
court to interfere with the proposed site of the CHURCH (EpisCOPAL METHODIST) OF AMERI-
church, with the style of its architecture, or with the See METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF AME-
amount of expenditure. They have to determine
only whether it be sufficient for the wants of the CHƯRCH (EPISCOPAL) OF SCOTLAND. See
population; and even should it be contemplated to SCOTLAND (EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF).
remove the church from one part of the parish to CHURCH (FRENCH PROTESTANT). See FRANCE
another, to the inconvenience of the minister and (PROTESTANT CHURCH OF).
some of the people, the right of deciding in such a CHURCH (GALLICAN). See GALLICAN CHURCH.
case belongs not to the presbytery, but to the lords CHURCH (GEORGIAN). See GEORGIAN CHURCH.
of session, who act as commissioners, and by whom CHURCH (GERMAN LUTHERAN). See GERMAN
a purpose of removal, if backed by three-fourths of LUTHERAN CHURCH.
the heritors, and the general voice of the inhabitants, CHURCH (GREEK). See GREEK CHURCH.
may be sanctioned. The church sittings are distri- CHURCH (IRISH PRESBYTERIAN). See IRISH
buted according to the same rules which determine PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
the proportion of expense each heritor has to pay in CHURCH (JACOBITE). See JACOBITE CHURCH.
the erection or repair of the building. The heritors CHURCH (LATIN). See LATIN CHURCH.
first of all choose their family seats. After the pa- CHURCH (MORAVIAN). See MORAVIAN CHURCH.
tron, the chief heritor has the right of choice, and CHURCH (NESTORIAN).
See NesTORIAN
all the rest according to the relative amount of CHURCH.
their valued rents. Then the area of the church is CHURCH (NEW). See SWEDENBORGIANS.
divided in conformity with the same rules; different CHURCH OF DENMARK. See DENMARK
parts are appropriated to different heritors, and as (CHURCH OF).
the sittings are intended for the accommodation of CHURCH OF ENGLAND. See ENGLAND
their respective tenantry, it is not competent for any (CHURCH OF).
proprietor to lease them, or to bestow them on CHURCH OF GENEVA. See GENEVA (CH. OF).
strangers. Should he sell his estate, or portions of CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. See SCOTLAND
his estate, the sittings in the church are transferable (Church OF).
along with the property, either in whole or in part. CHURCH OF SCOTLAND (FREE). See Scot-
This division of the area of a church is sometimes LAND (FREE CHURCII or).
made by the kirk-session or by the presbytery; but CHURCH OF SWEDEN. See SWEDEN (CH. OF).
as disputes may arise, and a single proprietor has it CHURCH (PROTESTANT) or HUNGARY. See
in his power to dispute their arrangement, it is usual HUNGARY (PROTESTANT Church or).
to invite the services of the sheriff, whose judicial CHURCH (REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN). See
distribution carries the force of a legal enactment. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (REFORMED).
In landward parishes the church accommodation is CHURCH (RELIEF). See RELIEF CHURCH.
free, but in towns magistrates are entitled to let the CHURCH (ROMAN CATHOLIC). See ROMAN
sittings in churches,-only, however, for the purpose CATHOLIC CHURCH.
of levying rent sufficient to keep the edifice in pro- CHURCH (Russio - GREEK'. See Russio.
per repair, and defray the expense of ordinances." GREEK CHURCH.
CHURCH (ABYSSINIAN).
See ABYSSINIAN CHURCH (SECESSION UNITED). See SECES-
CHURCH.
SION (UNITED) CHURCH.
CHURCH (AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN.) See CHURCH (UNITED PRESBYTERIAN). See UNIT-
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF AMERICA.
ED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
536
CHURCH--CHURCHYARD.
CHURCH (WALDENSIAN). See WALDENSIAN sued in law. It is their duty to repair the church,
CHURCH.
imposing a rate upon the inhabitants for that object,
CHURCH DISCIPLINE. See CENSURES (EC- ot, however, without their full consent giver at
CLESIASTICAL).
a public meeting regularly called. Originally the
CHURCHES (CONGREGATIONALIST). See Con- churchwardens formed a sort of jury, for the pur-
GREGATIONALIST CHURCHES.
pose of inquiring into, and attesting any irregularity
CHURCHES (EASTERN). See EASTERN of conduct, either on the part of clergy or people.
CHURCHES.
Hence they were called synods-men, by corruption
CHURCHES (HELVETIC REFORMED). See sidesmen, and they are also sometimes termed quest-
HELVETIC REFORMED CHURCHES.
men, as making inquiry into offences. The church-
CHURCHES (REFORMED).
See REFORMED wardens or questmen are chosen the first week after
CHURCHES.
Easter, or some week following, according to the
CHURCHING OF WOMEN, a service of the direction of the Ordinary. The minister and parish-
Church of England, used when women are desirous ioners, in the first instance, endeavour to agree upon
of returning thanks to Almighty God for deliverance the individuals who may be invited to accept the
from the pains and perils of childbirth. It may have office, but should they find themselves unable to
had its origin possibly in the Jewish ceremony of come to an agreement in the matter, then the law
purification enjoined in Lev. xii. The Rubric, at the ordains that the minister shall choose one, and the
end of the service, appoints that the woman who parishioners another. If, however, the parish is en-
comes to give thanks, must offer accustomed offer- titled by custom to choose both churchwardens, then
ings, and if there be a communion it is becoming in the minister cannot insist upon his right. They con-
her to partake of it.
tinue only one year in office, unless re-elected. It
CHURCH LAWS. See CANONS (ECCLESIASTI- is also provided by canon 89, that “all churchwar-
CAL).
dens at the end of their year, or within a month
CHURCH-RATES, an assessment made upon after at the most, shall, before the minister and par-
the inhabitants of any parish in England for meet- ishioners, give up a just account of such money as
ing the expenses of repairing the parish church. they have received, and also what particularly they
The rate must be agreed upon at a meeting of the have bestowed in reparations, and otherwise for the
churchwardens and parishioners, regularly called by use of the church. And last of all, going out of
public intimation in the church; and the law provides, their office, they shall truly deliver up to the parish-
that “the major part of them that appear shall bind ioners whatsoever money or other things of right be-
the parish, or if none appear, the churchwardens longing to the church or parish, which remaineth in
alone may make the rate, because they, and not the their hands, that it may be delivered over by them
parishioners are to be cited, and punished in defect of to the next churchwardens, by bill indented.” The
repairs." Church-rates have for a long time been usual practice is for the rector of the parish to choose
very unpopular in England. No rate can be raised one, who is commonly called the rector's church-
at the mere instance of the bishop without the con- warden, and the parishioners assembled in the vestry
sent of the parishioners. Houses as well as lands choose another.
are chargeable with rates, and in some places, as in CHURCHYARD, ground set apart for the burial
cities and large towns, houses alone may be charged. of the dead, and which derives its name from being
A rate for repairing the fabric of the church is to be usually situated in the immediate vicinity of a
charged upon the land, and not the person, but a church. It does not appear before the sixth century
rate for providing omaments is personal, upon the to have been customary to have burial-places adjoin-
goods, and not upon the land. If a person reside ing to the church, and even then it was contrary to
in one parish, and has land in another, which he all laws, both ecclesiastical and civil, to bury in the
himself occupies there, he shall be charged for the church. About A. D. 563, as Bingham informs us,
land to repair the church in which the land lies; and the council of Braga in Spain gave permission to
if the lands are let in farm, not the landlord, but the bury, if necessary, in the churchyard under the walls
tenant must pay. The rector of a parish being at of the church, but forbade any to be buried within
the whole charge of repairing the chancel, is not the church. The same privilege allowed in Spain
liable to be charged for repairing the body of the extended, in the course of the same century, to
church, unless he happens to have lands in the par- | France, and the custom of burial in churchyards was
ish which do not form part of the rectory.
gradually adopted in other countries. The conse-
CHURCH REVENUES. See REVENUES (Ec- cration of such places of interment is referred to by
CLESIASTICAL).
no writer before Gregory of Tours, A. D. 570, who
CHURCHWARDENS, officers of great anti- mentions that the burial-places in his time were
quity in the Church of England, whose special usually consecrated by sacerdotal benediction. The
charge it is to take care of the goods of the heathens were accustomed to reckon such places
church, and to act as trustees for the parish. | sacred, and to regard the violation of them in any
ioners. They form a lay-corporation, and may be way as a sort of sacrilege, and Justinian in his Code
CHUYCHU-CIRCASSIANS.
537
applies to such an offence both the name and the CIRCASSIANS (THE RELIGION OF THE). This
punishment of sacrilege. From the sacredness at- people inhabit the mountain valleys in the northern
tached to burial-places, valuable ornaments and trea- declivities of the Caucasus. They are chiefly Mo-
sures were frequently deposited in these abodes of hammedans, but there are still remains of a system
the dead. The sacred purposes to which bury- of Paganism, which seems formerly to have been the
ing grounds were often put among the early Chris- universal religion of the country. At one time, it
tians, may be seen in the article CATACOMBS. The is true, through the zeal of the Georgian queen,
consecration of churchyards is treated of under arti- Thamar, an attempt was made to spread the light of
ticle CEMETERIES. In England, the churchwar- Christianity on these shores, which, however, attained
dens of each parish are bound by law to take care no fartlier success than the erection of a few wooden
that the churchyards be well and sufficiently re- crosses on the acclivities here and there. On pass-
paired, fenced, and maintained with walls, rails, or ing these mouldering remains of the outward em-
pales, according to the custom in each place. In blems of the Christian faith, the people make a hasty
some cases, this duty devolves upon a proprietor, obeisance, the reason of which they are unable to
whose lands may happen to be adjoining to the explain in any other way than that their fathers had
churchyard. Though maintained at the expense of done so before them. Islamism has supplanted the
the parishioners, the churchyard is the freehold of ancient Paganism of Circassia, and has diffused a
the parson, who, however, is not allowed to cut spirit of equality among the people, which has tended
down trees growing there except for the necessary to limit the hereditary power of the nobles, and to
repairs of the chancel.
raise the condition of the serf. Besides, it has con-
CHUYCHU, the name given to the rainbow, stituted from sea to sea a rampart against the en-
which was worshipped by the ancient inhabitants of croachments of the Russians, and by introducing a
Peru, in South America.
strong religious element into their minds, has pre-
CIAM, one of the principal deities in the most vented them from yielding to the sway of the czar.
ancient religion of China. He was considered as the “The bonds by which Circassia, notwithstanding her
king of heaven, having dethroned Leu, a former independence," as an intelligent traveller well re-
king, and seized the kingdom. Leu having been marks,
Leu having been marks, "an independence guaranteed by the distinc-
forcibly excluded from heaven, is said still to rule in tions of race, customs, and language, is united to
a mountain on earth, while Ciam exercises supreme Turkey, are those of a common faith; and the
authority in the heavenly world. His representative strength of these bonds must depend on that of the
on earth is regarded by the sect of Li-Laokun, as religious zeal which is so peculiarly powerful with
their high-priest or pontiff
, a dignity which has been Mussulmans, binding every heart in which it burns
hereditary in one family for a thousand years. This in an electric chain of sympathy, an element of ad-
viceroy of the heavenly king resides usually in Pe- hesion, strong as it is subtle, and upon which the
kin, and is a great favourite at court, being regarded sword makes no more impression than it would on
as a master in the art of exorcism, and therefore held fire itself.” Strong, however, as is the partiality of
in high estimation.
the Circassians for the Moslem faith, there are still
CIBORIUM, a small temple or tabernacle placed numerous traces of the ancient Pagan system which
upon the altar of Roman Catholic churches, and forined the religion of the country. As an example,
containing the host or consecrated wafer. The Ci- we quote from 'A Year among the Circassians,' by Mr.
borium is also termed the Pyx. In some of the Longworth, a description of a Pagan festival which
more magnificent churches in ancient times, as in is still observed : “The wooden representative of
that of Sancta Sophia, the altar was overshadowed the deity Seoseres, consisting of a post, with a stick
with a sort of canopy, which, among the Greeks, placed crosswise towards the top, had been planted
was usually termed Ciborium. This canopy was in the centre of the grove, and the lads and lasses
raised in the form of a little turret upon four pil- had danced about it in a ring. The oldest of the
lars at each corner of the altar. The heads of patriarchs present, who officiated as priest, had then
the pillars were adorned with silver bowls. The come forward and delivered a thanksgiving for the
top of the canopy was in the form of a sphere success of the harvest. Offerings, in the shape of
adorned with graven flowers, and above the sphere bread, honey, and triangular cheesecakes, and, lastly,
stood the cross, while the several arches between the an ample bowl of boza, were duly presented to the
pillars were hung with veils or curtains, which idol ; but he showing no stomach for them, they were
served also to conceal the whole altar. The term handed to his votaries, who had apparently much
Ciborium was anciently applied to denote this keener appetites. To crown the whole, a bull was
canopy, and it is only in modern times that it came led to the foot of the wooden deity, and there sacri-
to denote the Pyx.
ficed, having his throat cut with a cama.
The car-
CIDARIA, a surname of the Eleusinian DEMETER cass was taken away, roasted, and afterwards distri-
(wlich see), under which she was worshipped at buted to the multitude, that they might eat and be
Pheneus in Arcadia.
merry. This, in fact, seemed to be the principal
CILICIUM. See SACKCLOTH.
object that had brought them together; and till Is-
20
1
538
CIRCASSIANS.
lamism can furnish an apology for feasting and good led, however, with these remains of a corrupt Chris-
fellowship as satisfactorily, it seems improbable that tianity, which had once been introduced by Romish
the joyous old Pagan rites will be hastily aban- missionaries, the relics of ancient Pagan superstition
doned.” But although the Mussulman creed has are still to be found in various parts of the country.
failed in abolishing some of the old Pagan customs, Thus Tschiblé, the god of thunder, war, and justice, is
it has notwithstanding obtained for itself a strong regarded as entitled to the best sheep of the flock when
footing in the country, and exercises an influence over a victory is gained, and this deity confers sanctity
the people so powerful as to be almost incredible to on every object which he condescends to smite with
those who have not been intimately conversant with lightning. As an instance of this, Mr. Bell, in his
the habits of this singular nation. Thus the travel- | Journal of a Residence in Circassia,' relates the fol-
ler, from whom we have already quoted, narrates lowing incident; “On the evening of the 19th, in
the effect which the ceremony of taking the national ascending the small valley of Kwaff to seek quarters
oath administered upon the Koran had upon the for the night, I saw parties of people diverging from
minds of the people: “The ceremony of taking it for their homes.
it for their homes. We then came to a lofty pole,
the oath, which was curious to us as spectators, had which was firmly planted in the ground. On the up-
a deep and thrilling interest for those who were en- per end was transfixed the head of a goat, whose skin
gaged in it. We perceived, on first attending it, stretched by sticks waved from the pole like a ban-
what was meant by hanging the Koran. Two copies ner in the breeze,close at hand were a sort of
of that book were suspended by cords to a wooden canopy formed by four poles, with a flat roof of
frame erected in the snow. It had, to our eyes, much branches and leaves thickly intertwined, and a small
the look of a gibbet, but was regarded with feel- circular inclosure of stout wicker-work. The latter
ings of the profoundest veneration by the supersti- I found to be the sacred spot on which the goat had
tious multitude. Even those who were engaged at received his blessed death by a thunderbolt, while
mark-firing in a neighbouring field, cast ever and his mortal remains—saving the head and skin afore-
anon expressive glances at it; for on this simple ap- mentioned—were inclosed in the roof of the canopy.
paratus was enthroned the tremendous majesty of Immediately adjoining these trophies, a large circu-
the oath, and around it were marshalled the chief- lar space of the grass trodden and withered, showed
tains, elders, and judges of the land; while, one by where the males and females of the neighbourhood
one, the humbled population of that district pre- had danced and feasted during the three preceding
sented themselves before it, and having abjured all days, in commemoration of the honour conferred on
traffic and communication with the Russians, all ra- this valley by Tschiblé, the spirit of thunder.”
pine and violence among themselves, made a public The same writer, who spent three years in Cir-
confession of all their former transgressions. These cassia, and had thus ample opportunity of becoming
practices, as I have before had occasion to observe, acquainted with the manners and customs of this
inferred of themselves no degree of infamy, unless singular people, gives the following remarkable in-
they had been previously renounced by oath, so that stance of the strange combination of Christianity
there was nothing very humiliating in the acknow- with Paganism, which forms a marked peculiarity
ledgment of them. That which was felt more se- of their religion : “Luca has just been attending
verely was the payınent of fines; but, however heavy a celebration at one of the numerous crosses in
their amount, none sought to evade them by per- this part of the country, each of which it appears
jury; and it was a truly affecting spectacle to see has its special day. The rites appear to be a mix-
the gray-headed warrior, whose scars proclaimed ture of those of Christianity and of some other faith.
him a stranger to fear of every other description, On this occasion only about fifty persons were pre.
thus powerfully agitated before the dread volume of sent, each of whom who is head of a family brought
the Mussulman law, and depositing his rifle, his bow, with him a table or tables for refreshments. Besides
or his pistol, in proof of his sincerity.”
these two or three goats were sacrificed, lighted
A further relic of that period in the history of Cir- tapers being placed at their heads at the time, while
cassia, when Christianity had at least some footing others were placed on the cross. Ata short distance
in the country, is to be found in a very ancient an- from the latter the tables were arranged, and each
nual festival called Merem, which is still observed for person on passing thein took off his bonnet; but no
about a fortnight in the month of October. Troops one approached the cross excepting some three or
of
young folks on this occasion go from house to four individuals who said aloud a short prayer—an
house in succession, and spend the night in dancing, invocation to the Deity for the averting from them
singing, and mirth of every kind. Part of the cere- of war, pestilence, and every other evil, and sending
mony consists in some of the company holding cakes them plenteous harvest and happiness. On approach-
with chcese in them, which they wave about, while ing the cross and saying the prayer, one of these in-
all shout out an invocation to Merem, begging her dividuals held in one hand some of the eatables taken
always to send them health, plenty, and happiness. from the tables, and in the other a bowl of the na-
The Circassians allege that this festival was anciently tional drink, shuat, which were then distributed
instituted in honour of the mother of Jesus. Ming- among the congregation."
CIRCE-CIRCLE.
539
Upon the race of the Adighé in Circassia, Pa- were celebrated in honour of the god Consus, the
ganism seems to have a firiner hold than upon other god of counsel, and hence they were at first termed
tribes of the Caucasus. Besides the spirit of thun- Consuales. When the Circus Maximus was after-
der, who is held in great veneration, there are other wards erected by Tarquinius Priscus, and the games
deities which are also worshipped. Among these were held in that magnificent building, they re-
may be mentioned Tleps, the god of fire, who appearsceived the name of Circenses, in honour of the unri-
to have been a legacy from the ancient Persians; valled structure. The games commenced with a
and Iso scrisch, the god of wind and water, who is procession, in which the statues of the gods were
supposed to have the elements under his control. carried upon wooden platforms, which were borne
This latter deity is more especially honoured by upon the shoulders of men. The heavy statues were
those who have relatives at sea. The mode of drawn along upon wheeled cars. There were six
worship in this case is curious. The offerings to different kinds of games practised on the occasion.
the god are placed on a stream communicating 1. Chariot races. 2. An equestrian battle, which
with the ocean, and his answers as to the fate of was simply a mock fight by young men of rank. 3. A
the absent about whom he is consulted, are heard in representation of a battle, with a regular camp, in
the rustling of the wind, or seen in the passage of the circus. 4. Wrestling. 5. Hunting. 6. A re-
the clouds. The other principal deities adored by presentation of a sea-fight. Part of the games were
the Circassians are Mesitcha, the god of the forests, abolished by Constantine the Great, and another
under whose sacred oaks, after the manner of the an- part by the Goths; but the chariot races continued at
cient Scandinavians, the nation holds its councils ; Constantinople till the thirteenth century. The
Selcutcha, the god of travellers, who rewards hospita- Circensian games were held in great estimation, and
lity, reminding the Hellenist of Zeus Xenios ; Pe- hence received the name of Ludi Magni, great
koasch, a sort of nymph or naiad; and Achin, the games. The celebration continued four days, be-
god of horned cattle, in honour of whom the cow is ginning on the 15th of September. They were vo-
said voluntarily to leave the herd, and to march tive offerings, which were gifts conditionally pro-
readily to the place of sacrifice, a willing victim tomised to the gods, under the solemn obligation of a
a venerated deity.
vow. Kennet, accordingly, when speaking of vo-
Thus among the tribes of the Caucasus does the tive games, says: “Such particularly were the Ludi
strange phenomenon present itself of a religion com- Magni, often mentioned in historians, especially by
pounded of two elements the most heterogeneous, | Livy. Thus, he informs us, that in the year of the
Christianity and Paganism, the latter, however, so city' five hundred and thirty-six, Fabius Maximus,
completely preponderating, that it is now difficult to the dictator, to appease the anger of the gods, and
discover among the people any distinct traces of the to obtain success against the Carthaginian power,
Christian faith.
upon the direction of the Sibylline oracles, vowed
The Circassians are a brave, warlike, independent the great games to Jupiter, with a prodigious sum
people, who have defied for many years all the armies to be expended at them ; besides three hundred oxen
sent by Russia to subdue them. The Russians have to be sacrificed to Jupiter, and several others to the
been obliged to erect' a line of fortresses along the rest of the deities. M. Acilius, the consul, did the
banks of the Kuban and Terek, in order to check same thing in the war against Antiochus. And we
their invasions. The largest tribe dwells in the dis- have some examples of these games being made quin-
strict of Daghestan, on the banks of the Caspian, quennial, or to return every five years. They were
where, under the command of Schamyl, their indo- celebrated with Circensian sports four days together.'
mitable chief, they have often set the Russians at CIRCLE, the symbol of eternity among the an-
defiance. Their form of government is strictly feu- cient Egyptians, Persians, and Hindus. The year,
dal, their habits of life loose and predatory, and their in performing its revolution, forms a circle or ring,
moral character deeply degraded by the custom which without beginning or end, and thus analogous to
has long prevailed of selling their daughters as eternity. Sanchoniathon tells us, that the Egyp-
slaves, the Circassian women having been always in tians represented the world under the figure of a
great request as wives by the rich Turks. The fiery circle, in the midst of which was Kneph, under
number of their chiefs or uzdens is reckoned at 1,500, the form of a serpent. Pythagoras placed fire in
and that of the whole population amounts to above the centre of the celestial sphere, which was sup-
200,000.
posed to be circular. Among the ancient Celtic
CIRCE, a famous sorceress of antiquity. She remains, several stones are frequently found placed
was a daughter of Hyperion by Aërope, according in a circle, with a large stone in the centre. The
to some, and a daughter of Æëtes by Hecate, accord- solar year among the Egyptians was symbolized by
ing to others. She had her residence on the island the golden circle of King Osymandyas. It played a
of Ææa, where she was visited by Odysseus, who re- conspicuous part among the architectural decorations
mained with her a whole year.
of the Egyptians, and was divided into three hun-
CIRCENSIAN GAMES, a festival instituted by dred and sixty-five segments. Among the ancient
Romulus, the founder of the city of Rome. They Britons and Gauls, the Druids performed circular
540
CIRCUMCELLIONS.
dances around the sacred oak-tree, in honour at once ter the matter, all civil order must be turned into
of the tree, and the deity who was supposed to confusion. They took the part of all debtors against
dwell in it.
their creditors : their chiefs, Fasir and Axid, who
CIRCUMCELLIONS, a sect of Donatists which styled themselves the leaders of the sons of the Holy
arose in North Africa in the fourth century. They One, sent threatening letters to all creditors, in
received their name, which signifies vagrants, from which they were ordered to give up the obliga-
the celle, or cottages of the peasants around which tions of their debtors. Whoever refused to obey
(circum) they hovered, having no certain dwelling- was attacked on his own estate by the furious com-
place. They styled themselves AGONISTICI (which pany, and might congratulate himself if he could pur-
see), or combatants, pretending that they were com- chase back his life by the remission of the debt.
bating and vanquishing the devil. They are repre- Whenever they met a master with his slave, they
sented as having despised labour, and subsisted en- obliged the former to take the place of the latter.
tirely upon alıns, having evidently sprung from the They compelled venerable heads of families to per-
ancient Ascetics. Whilst the Pagans were still in form the most menial services. Al slaves who com-
power, parties of these Circumcellions had often de- plained of their masters, whether justly or unjustly,
molished the idols on their estates, and thus exposed were sure of finding with them assistance and the
themselves to martyrdom for their zeal. In A. D. means of revenge. Several of the Donatist bishops,
317, Constantine addressed a rescript to the North desirous of clearing their party from the reproach of
African bishops and communities, calling upon them being the abettors or advocates of such atrocities,
to exercise forbearance towards these ardent icono- when they found themselves unable to produce any
clasts. Nor was this toleration only temporary, but dur- effect by their representations on the fanatics, are
ing the whole of the emperor's life they experienced said to have besought themselves the interposition
the utmost tenderness at his hands. On one occa- of the civil power against men who refused to be
sion, when they had demolished a church which he governed and set right by the church ; and thus gave
had caused to be erected for the Catholics in the town the first occasion for resorting to force for the pur-
of Constantina, he ordered it to be rebuilt at his own pose of checking the outrages of the Circumcellions.
expense, without demanding indemnification from Now came in those exhortations of Donatus, and
the Donatists. The death of Constantine produced a other like-minded bishops, to excite the Circumcel-
complete change in the imperial policy. The West- lions to revolt. Their ferocious deeds furnished a
ern Emperor Constans, to whom North Africa fell welcome pretext for resorting to other persecuting
after the deatli of his father, set himself to attempt measures. It was determined that the unity of the
the union of the Donatists once more to the domi- church should be forcibly restored; the Donatists
nant church. At first he endeavoured, by the distribu- were to be deprived of their churches, and compelled
tion of money under the name of alms, to win over to worship with the Catholics. It cannot be exactly
the Donatist churches. These means, however, determined how much, in all that was done, pro-
having proved unavailing, more forcible measures ceeded from imperial edicts, and how much from the
were resorted to. The Donatists were ordered to despotism, the passion, or the cruelty, of individual
be deprived of their churches, and to be attacked by commanders. Force continually excited the fanatic
aimed troops while assembled for · divine worship. spirit still more; the report spread that the emperor's
Bribery and persecution were alike ineffectual. | image was set up after the Pagan manner in the
“What has the emperor to do with the church ?” churches, and the worship paid to it which is due
was the scornful language with which Donatus, only to God. Many Donatist bishops and clergy-
bishop of Carthage, repelled the advances of the men, many Circumcellions, fell victims to the perse-
emissaries of the court. The Donatists now became cution. It is natural to suppose that the reporters
still more enraged with the dominant church, and of the facts on the Catholic side would seek to cur-
began openly to avow their decided opposition to tail, and those on the other side to exaggerate, the
any union, of whatever kind, between the Church and truth; hence an accurate statement is out of the
the State. This doctrine was quite in unison with question. Certain it is, that many Circumcellions
the views and feelings of the Circumcellions. The sought only the glory of martyrdom. Finally it
extravagant steps to which they now resorted, and came to that pass, that they threw themselves from
the hot persecution which ensued, are thus described precipices, cast themselves into the fire, and hired
by Neander : “ They roved about the country, pre- others to kill them. The most eminent bishops of
tending to be the protectors of the oppressed and the Donatist party, such as Donatus of Carthage,
suffering a sacred band who were fighting for the were exiled ; and thus it was imagined a final check
rights of God. Perhaps they rightly perceived that had been given to the resistance of the Donatists.
there was a great deal in the relation between the So much the more violent was the reaction when a
proprietors and their oftentimes heavily oppressed change of political relations took place, and the party
boors, between masters and slaves, that was at va- hitherto oppressed thereby recovered once more its
riance with the spirit and doctrines of Christianity. freedom. This came about under the reign of the
But in the way in which they were disposed to bet- | Emperor Julian, in the year 361. The Donatists,
CIRCUMCISION.
541
re-
in conformity with their peculiar principles, were formed expressly, that Abraham circumcised the
quite satisfied that Christianity should cease, under men-servants whom he had brought with him out of
the Pagan ruler, to be the dominant religion of the Egypt. Jeremiah and Ezekiel, also, both of them
state. Their bishops transmitted to him a petition, rank the Egyptians among the uncircumcised. Thus
in which they besought a ruler who regarded only Ezek. xxxi. 18, “To whoin art thou thus like in
justice, to rescind the unjust decrees that had been glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden?
issued against them. There could be no difficulty in yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of
obtaining a favourable answer, since the petition | Eden unto the nether parts of the earth : thou shalt
perfectly agreed with the principles of this emperor. lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that
He therefore issued an edict by which everything | be slain by the sword. This
be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his
which under the preceding reign had been unlawfully multitude, saith the Lord God.” Jer. ix. 25, 26,
urdertaken against them, was to be annulled. As “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will
they were now reinstated in possession of the churches punish all them which are circumcised with the un-
which had been taken from them, their separatist circumcised; Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the
fanaticism displayed itself in the wildest freaks. children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in
They regarded those churches, and the church furni- the utinost corners, that dwell in the wilderness : for
ture, as having been stained and polluted by the use all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house
which the profane had made of them while they were of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.” It ap-
in their possession; they dashed the utensils of the pears to be far more probable, therefore, that the
church to pieces; they painted over the walls of the Egyptians had borrowed the rite from the Israelites.
churches; they polished down the altars, or The question naturally arises, what were the objects
moved them entirely from the churches."
to be served by the institution of the rite of circum-
The Circumcellions were the most zealous party | cision? It may be viewed in a twofold aspect, as a
of the DONATISTS (which see), and in their doc sign and a seal. The first and most obvious design
trinal views agreed with that sect. They counted of this rite, was to be a sign or token of the cove-
it their duty to take the sword in defence of their nant which God entered into with the Jews in the
religious principles, and thus multitudes of them person of their father Abraham. It was a distin-
perished by the sword, though the sect was not to-guishing mark upon every male Israelite, separat-
tally suppressed before the seventh century.
ing the nation from the rest of the world, and denot-
CIRCUMCISION, a solemn rite practised by the ing their peculiar relation to the true God as his own
Jews and various other nations from very early chosen, covenanted people. And still further, this
times. Considerable discussion has been raised as expressive rite was a memorial to Abraham and his
to the period at which it was first instituted, but the posterity of their engagement to be the Lord's people,
earliest authentic record of its appointment is found dedicated to his service. Bearing about in his body
in Gen. xvii. 10, 11, “This is my covenant, which this distinguishing mark, the Israelite was continually
ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed reminded that he was under the most solemn obliga-
after thee; Every man child among you shall be cir- tions to be devoted to the glory of his covenant God.
cumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your Circumcision seems also, from various passages of
foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant Scripture, to have been designed to convey, as in a
betwixt me and you.” From this passage it plainly figure, some very important moral truths. Thus it
appears, that the rite was appointed to be observed pointed out the necessity of “putting off the whole
by Abraham and his male descendants in all genera- body of sin," « crucifying the flesh with its affections
tions, as the sign or token of a covenant which God and lusts," " circumcising the heart, to love the Lord
made with the Jews. Herodotus, who lived more with all the heart, and all the soul.” And Jeremiah
than a thousand years after the days of Moses, is the expresses the figurative bearing of the ordinance still
most ancient profane writer who adverts to the cus- more strongly, iv. 4, “ Circumcise yourselves to the
tom, and he declares it to have existed long before Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye
his time among several nations, particularly the men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem : lest my
Egyptians and Ethiopians. Some have earnestly fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can
contended that the practice was first known among quench it, because of the evil of your doings." The
the Egyptians, but it must be remembered, that we apostle Paul, in Rom. iv. 9—13, teaches us still farther,
learn from the narrative of Moses, that the Israelites that circumcision is “a seal of the righteousness of
were circumcised before they went down into Egypt, | faith," or in other words, a figurative representation
and, therefore, could not have learned the rite in that of that circumcision of the heart which is an inward
country. Besides, from the writings of Moses, which, seal of justification by faith. Such were some of the
not to speak of their inspiration, are admitted on all designs which Jehovah seems to have had in view in
hands to be the most ancient historical records in enjoining the observance of this rite upon Abraham
existence, there is no evidence that the Egyptians and his posterity. The Jews are frequently terined
had ever practised that rite previous to its first in- in Scripture “the circumcision,” while the Gentiles
stitution in the case of Abraham. Nay, we are iri- are called “the uncircumcision." Jesus Christ him-
542
CIRCUMCISION.
self, being a Jew, was circumcised that He might be sion. The instrument employed in operating may
made under the law, and thus fitted to redeem them be of any material used for cutting, as stone, glass,
that were under the law. No uncircumcised persons or wood, but a very sharp steel knife is generally
were reckoned members of the Jewish church, or used. Among the richer Jews the haft is some-
could partake of the great festivals, particularly the times cased with silver, and embellished with jewels,
Passover.
Along with the circumciser there is associated in
The Jewish nation, without exception, continued the ceremony another individual, usually termed
tenaciously to practise circumcision throughout their the Bual-Berith or master of the covenant. The
whole history, until the formation of the Christian | proper time for performing the operation is between
church, when a Judaizing party arose among the con- the rising and the setting of the sun, usually in the
verts from Judaism to Christianity, who maintained morning when the child is fasting. It may either be
the perpetual obligation of the Law of Moses. For a performed in the synagogue or in some room of the
time they not a little disturbed the church, and en- father's dwelling-house. The ceremony itself is thus
deavoured to force Paul to yield to their views in described in a Modern History of the Jews : “The
circumcising Titus, a Gentile convert, who had ac-morning of the eighth day being arrived, and all
companied him to Jerusalem.
Jerusalem. Paul successfully re- things prepared, two seats covered with rich carpets
sisted their pretensions, but soon afterwards he was are placed, and, when in the synagogue, near the holy
followed to Antioch by some of the party, who ark. Then comes the master of the covenant,' and
raised a controversy, which threatened to produce a sits down in one of the seats, while the Mohel or cir-
schism in the church. The matter was referred to a cumciser, stands by him. Then several Jews follow,
council of the apostles and elders, which was sun- one of whom cries with a loud voice, to bring all
moned to meet at Jerusalem. After a full consider- | things which are necessary for the solemn operation.
ation of the subject, the council decided that circum- Several boys follow. One carrying a large torch,
cision was not to be regarded as binding upon the in which are placed twelve candles, to represent the
Gentiles, and nothing farther was exacted from them twelve tribes of the children of Israel. Next two
than “the abstaining from meats offered to idols, and more, carrying cups full of red wine, another carry-
from blood, and from things strangled, and from for- ing the circumcising knife, which is formed of stone,
nication.” This decree, which was characterized by glass, iron, or conimonly similar to a razor, and
the most consummate wisdom, was obviously de- among the opulent, set in silver, or adorned with
signed for a transition period of the church's history, precious stones. And another boy brings a dish of
and to last only for a time, as appears from the very sand, while the last boy brings a dish of oil, in which
nature of the case, as referring to a mere temporary are clean rags to be applied to the wound. Before
difficulty, and also from the conduct of Paul, who, in the infant is circumcised, he is carefully washed, and
the latter part of his apostleship, as we learn from laid in clean clothes, because no prayers can be of-
Rom xiv. 2, and 1 Cor. viii., does not seem to have fered for him while he is defiled. All things being
insisted upon its uniform observance in every parti- thus prepared, the boys and all present stand in a
cular.
circle, and the circumciser in the centre. Some of
Circumcision was appointed to be performed on whom generally bring spices, cloves, cinnamon, and
the eighth day, and so strict are the Jews in observ- wine, to give to any person if he should faint during
ing this, that even when that day happens to be the the operation.
Sabbath, they perform the operation notwithstand- “ The god-father then sits down upon one of these
ing, according to the common proverb, that "the seats, and the circumciser before him, who sings the
Sabbath gives place to circumcision.” The parents song of Moses after Israel had passed through the
wlio neglected this ordinance were commanded to be Red sea. The women then bring the child to the
cut off from among the people, and the Beth-Din, or door of the synagogue, but they are not permitted to
House of Judgment, was to see it performed. The enter; but the god-father goes and takes the child,
father of a child may perform the operation of cir- and sits down with him in his seat, and cries with a
cumcision if he chooses, but in every synagogue loud voice, saying, “ Blessed be he that cometh,' by
there is an individual to whom the office is generally whom is understood Elias, who they suppose
committed, and who must be a Jew, a man of expe- comes to occupy the empty seat, because the Jews
rience, vigilance, and industry. Women not being | have a tradition among them, that he is always
circumcised themselves, cannot assume the office of present at the baptizing of every child, and for him
circumcisers, unless it be absolutely necessary, no man the empty seat is placed; therefore when that seat
being at hand. It is not lawful for a Christian to is prepared, they say "This seat is for the prophet
circumcise, but if at any time the rite has been per- Elias.' They also suppose that unless he is invited
formed by a Christian, some of the blood must be he will not come.
afterwards drawn from the circumcised part by an “ The child is then laid upon the knees of the god-
Israelite before the sacrament can be considered as father, and the circumciser takes the knife from the
valid. A circumciser may be known by his long boy, and with a loud voice says, ' Blessed be thou, O
and sharp nails, which are the badge of his profes- | God, our Lord, King of the world, who hast sanc:
ration is performed upon the dead body in the burial
CIRCUMCISION_CIRCUMCISED.
543
tified us with thy commandments, and given us the given to the child, in order that at the resurrection,
covenant of circumcision.' Meanwhile he performs when he shall be raised with the rest of the Jews,
the operation, throws the cut off part among the and every individual shall know his own father,
sand, and restores the knife to the boy. From an- mother, and family, this infant also may by his name
other boy he takes the cup of red wine, drinks a be recognized by his parents. Spurious children are
mouthful, and squirts some of it upon the infant, circumcised in the same manner as legitimate chil-
and with it washes away the blood, and binds up the dren, but some parts of the usual benediction are
wound, having anointed it with oil. The ceremony omitted. In the case of two sons at a birth, there
being ended, the father of the child says, 'Blessed are two circumcisers, and the preparations are all
be thou, O God, our Lord, King of the world, who doubled.
. The ceremony of circumcision, in every
hast sanctified us in thy commandments, and hast | Jewish family which can afford the expense, is con:
commanded us to succeed into the covenant of our
cluded with a sumptuous entertainment, to which
father Abraham.' To this, all the congregation re- numerous friends and acquaintances are invited.
ply, ' As this infant has happily succeeded into the Circumcision has not been practised among the
covenant of our father Abraham, so happily shall he Jews alone, but among different nations which make
succeed into the possession of the law of Moses, into no pretensions to be of Jewish origin. Thus the
marriage also, and other good works.' Then the Abyssinians (see ABYSSINIAN CHURCH) practise
circumciser washes himself, and the god-father ris- circumcision upon children of both sexes, between the
ing, and standing opposite to the circumciser, takes third and the eighth day after their birth. The ex-
the other cup of wine, and prays over the infant, | istence of this strange peculiarity among the Abys-
saying, “O our God, God of our fathers, strengthen sinians may possibly arise from the circumstance
and preserve this infant to his father and mother, and that some of the Ethiopians, who first embraced
grant that his name among the people of Israel may Christianity, may have previously been Jewish pro-
be called Isaac, (here he names the child,) who was the selytes. That Jews at one time abounded in that
son of Abraham. Let the father rejoice in him that country, is plain from the fact, that their descend-
came out of his loins. Let the mother rejoice in the ants, estimated by Dr. Wolff at 200,000, are still in
fruit of her womb, as it is written, 'thy father and Abyssinia known by the name of Felashas. The
thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall | Copts also observe the rite of circumcision; but
rejoice.' And God says by the prophet, 'when I Dr. Wilson states, that he had been informed by the
passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own patriarch, that it was practised more as a civil than
blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, a religious custom. They circumcise privately, with-
Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy out any fixed age for its performance. It is a curi-
blood, Live.' Here the circumciser puts his finger ous fact, that although circumcision is not even once
into the other cup, in which he had spilt the blood, referred to in the Koran, the Mohammedans, never-
and moistens the lips of the child three times with theless, hold it to be an ancient Divine institution,
that wine, supposing that he shall live longer, be- and though they do not regard it as in all cases ab-
cause of the blood of his circumcision. Then stand-solutely indispensable, they yet practise the cere-
ing near to the ark, he prays for the whole congre- mony as proper and expedient. They do not imi-
gation, and particularly for long life to the parents tate the Jews, howerer, in circumcising on the eighth
and to the boy. The cut off part is cast into the day, but defer it until the child is able distinctly to
sand, in allusion to that promise, ' I will make thy pronounce the two leading articles of their faith.
seed as the sand of the sea,' and that of Balaam, “There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his
Who can number the dust of Jacob?' that is, his prophet,” or until some convenient time between the
posterity, whose foreskin is cast into the dust. By age of six and sixteen. Circumcision is practised
this also, they say that the curse upon the serpent is among all the tribes in Western Africa, with the ex-
fulfilled, ' Dust shalt thou eat, that is this skin inception of those on the Grain Coast, and the neglect
the dust, so that the serpent can have no more power of it exposes a man to much ridicule.
There are
over them. The child being thus made a Jew, they other traces of Judaism which are also found among
return home, and restore him to his mother's arms.' these tribes. Thus they follow the Jewish practice
When a Jewish child is sick on the eighth day, of sprinkling the blood of animals upon the door-
circumcision is postponed. In a case of acute dis- posts of their houses, and about the places where
ease affecting the whole body, it is deferred seven their fetishes are kept; and in the house of their
days after the child is perfectly recovered, but if the chief priest there is an altar with two horns, to which
disease be slight or partial, the ceremony is per- criminals fly, and lay hold of these horns, as the
formed immediately on recovery. If the child die Jews did of old, and no man can remore them but
before the eighth day, being uncircumcised, the ope- the high-priest himself.
CIRCUMCISED (THE), a sect of Judaizing
ground, that the reproach of uncircumcision may be Christians, which arose in Lombardy in the twelfth
taken away, and not be buried with him. No
century, deriving their name from the circumstance
prayers are said on such an occasion, but a name is that along with other Jewish customs they practised
544
CIRCUMCISION—CITFES OF RFFUGE.
on
circumcision. They were also called PASAGINI | Benedict, which they professed rigidly to observe.
(which see).
Under the pontificate of Innocent II., their monas-
CIRCUMCISION (THE GREAT), a name some- teries became very wealthy by the great donations
times applied by early Christian writers to the ordi- | bestowed upon them. From their reforme: tley
nance of baptism, because it succeeds in the room of were sometimes called Bernardines. At their out-
circumcision, and is the seal of the Christian cove- set they had no possessions, and lived only by alms
nant, as that was the seal of the covenant made with and by the labour of their hands. This self-denying
Abraham. Thus Ephiphanius says, The carnal spirit, however, was not of long duration; as dona-
circumcision served for a time till the great circum- tions poured in upon them, the fatal thirst for gold
cision came, that is baptism; which circumcises us was awakened, and their chief efforts were directed
from our sins, and seals us in the name of God. to the amassing of wealth. Under the pernicious
CIRCUMCISION (FESTIVAL OF THE), celebrated influence of luxurious habits, the order gradually
the 1st of January, in commemoration of the lost its reputation, and became as degraded as the
circumcision of Christ. It did not receive that other monastic orders had been. The dress of the
name, however, till the eleventh century, having Cistercians is a white cassock with a narrow pa-
been previously called the Octave of the Nativity, be- tience or scapulary, and when they go abroad, a black
ing the eighth day from that event. The day was gown with long sleeves. They allege that St. Ber-
not observed as a festival of any kind before the nard was commarıded by the Virgin Mary to wear a
sixth century. It was anciently kept as a fast by white dress for her sake.
Christians in opposition to the Pagans, who held a CITATION, a summons formally served upon a
feast on that day in honour of the god JANUS (which person charged with an offence, at the instance of
see).
an ecclesiastical judge or court, requiring him to
CISTÆ, small chests or boxes, which among the appear on a certain day, at a certain place, to an-
ancient Greeks were carried in procession in the fes- swer the complaint made against him.
tivals of Demeter and Dionysus. These boxes con- CITIES OF REFUGE, six cities appointed by
tained sacred things connected with the worslıip of Moses as places to which the Hebrew man-slayer
these deities. In the worship of Dionysus, or the might resort, and have time to prepare his defence
Indian Bacchus, who has been sometimes identified before the judges, and that the kinsmen of the de-
with Noah, the cista mystica, the mystic chest or ark, ceased might not pursue and kill him. Three of
occupied a conspicuous place. See ARK-Worship. the cities were situated on one side of the Jordan,
CISTERCIANS, a monastic order originated in and three on the other. Those on the eastern side
the end of the eleventh century by Robert, abbot of were Bezer in the tribe of Reuben; Ramoth-Gilead
Molesme in Burgundy, and reformed by BERNARD in the tribe of Gad; and Galan in the half tribe of
(which see) of Citeaux or Cistercium, in the diocese Manasseh. Those on the western side were He-
of Chalons in France. The fame which the reformer | bron in the tribe of Judah ; Shechem in that of
acquired for piety and strictness of discipline ex- Ephraim; and Kadesh-Naphtali in that of Naphtali.
tended itself to the order which he had reformed. Every proper arrangement was made for the com-
After spending only three years at Citeaux, Bernard fort and protection of the offender during his resi-
was appointed abbot of a new monastery at Clair- dence in these cities. Although an individual, who
vaux, and here, such was the remarkable efficiency might be accused of manslaughter, found shelter in
of the system pursued, that monasticism attained in one of the cities of refuge, he was not thereby be-
consequence fresh vigour and impulse, convents be- yond the reach of law. He was still liable to be
ing everywhere formed after the model of Clair- summoned before the judges and the people, that he
In the short space of thirty-seven years, the might prove that the crime with which he was
convents of this order had increased to the number charged was accidental and involuntary, not deli-
of sixty-seven, and at the death of Bernard, in A. D. berate and intentional. If found guilty not of ca-
1153, no fewer than one hundred and sixty Cister- sual manslaughter, but of murder, he was sentenced
cian monasteries had been formed in all parts of Eu- to suffer death. If proved to be innocent of inten-
rope. The high reputation which the order rapidly tional shedding of blood, he was allowed to remain
reached excited the envy and jealousy of the older | undisturbed in the city to which he had fled, during
inonasteries, particularly those of the Cluniacen- the lifetime of the high-priest ; after which he
sians. The two rival fraternities were distinguished might go at large.
might go at large. Should the AVENGER (which
by their head-dress, the new order wearing a white see) pursue him into the city of refuge and kill him,
cowl, and the old, a black one. Earnestly did he himself was condemned to die. The roads which
nard endeavour to bring about a good understanding led to the cities of refuge were kept carefully in a
between the two parties, but though the tract which good state of repair, that there might be no obstacle
he published on the subject contains some valuable in the way of any man who sought to flee thither,
exhortations, it failed entirely to accomplish the be- and at every little interval sign-posts were set up,
nevolent end with which it had been written. The pointing out the way. Thus the escape of the unin-
Cistercian order were regulated by the rule of St. tentional manslayer was in every way facilitated,
1
vaux.
CLANCULARII-CLARENDON.
545
LUM.
that no one might become the victim of blind re- to forfeit the privilege of his character, and be pro-
venge. The same principle has been recognized tected by the Church no longer.
in both heathen and Christian countries. See Asy- “IV. No archbishops, bishops, or parsons, are
allowed to depart the kingdom without a licence
CLANCULARII, a Christian sect which arose from the crown, and provided they have leave to
after the Reformation in the sixteenth century. They travel, they shall give security not to act or solicit
alleged that if religion was seated in the heart, there any thing during their passage, stay, or return, to
was no need of any outward expression of it. Like the prejudice of the king or kingdom.
many of the Anabaptists who appeared about the “ V. When any of the laity are prosecuted in the
same time, both in Germany and Holland, they de- | ecclesiastical courts, the charge ought to be proved
nied the necessity of public ordinances and social before the bishop by legal and reputable witnesses :
meetings for worship. Their opinions in these mat- and the course of the process is to be so managed,
ters somewhat approached to those of the FRIENDS that the archdeacon may not lose any part of his
(which see), attributing all to the operation of the right, or the profits accruing to his office; and if any
Holy Spirit, and nothing to the outward means of offenders appear screened from prosecution upon the
grace.
score either of favour or quality, the sheriff, at the
CLARA'S (ST.) DAY. A festival of the Ro- bishop's instance, shall order twelve sufficient nien
mish church observed on the 12th of August. of the vicinage to make oath before the bishop, that
CLARENDON (CONSTITUTIONS OF), sixteen ar- they will discover the truth according to the best of
ticles drawn up in the council of Clarendon in Eng- their knowledge.
land, A. D. 1164, with the view of more accurately “ VI. Excommunicated persons shall not be
defining the regal power in respect to the clergy, obliged to make oath, or give security to continue
and circumscribing within narrower limits the prero- upon the place where they live: but only to abide
gatives of the bishops and clergy. These constitu- by the judgment of the Church in order to their ab-
tions, as they were called, were drawn up by the solution.
king, Henry II., and ratified in a full assembly of “ VII. No person that holds in chief of the king,
the great lords, barons, and prelates of the nation. or any of his barons, shall be excommunicated, or
But Thomas à Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, any of their estates put under an interdict, before ap-
for a long time refused to subscribe to them, and it plication made to the king, provided he is in the
was not without the greatest reluctance that he was kingdom: and in case his highness is out of England,
at length prevailed upon to do so. This haughty then the justiciary must be acquainted with the dis-
prelate afterwards repented of having adhibited his pute, in order to make satisfaction: and thus that
name to the document, and sought and obtained ab- which belongs to the cognizance of the king's court
solution from the Pope, who, at the same time, dis-
ne, dis- must be tried there; and that which belongs to the
approved of most of the articles, and pronounced court Christian, must be remitted to that jurisdiction.
them null and void. (See BECKET, THOMAS A, “VIII. In case of appeals in ecclesiastical causes,
FESTIVAL OF). The passing of the Constitutions of the first step is to be made from the archdeacon to
Clarendon being an important era in the history of the bishop: and from the bishop to the arch-
the Church of England, inasmuch as it formed one bishop: and if the archbishop fails to do justice, a
of the first attempts made to assert and to establish farther recourse may be had to the king; by whose
the authority of the state over the church, it may be order the controversy is to be finally decided in the
well to put the reader in possession of the articles in archbishop's court. Neither shall it be lawful for
detail.
either of the parties to move for any farther remedy
“1. When any difference relating to the right of without leave from the crown.
patronage arises between the laity; or between the “IX. If a difference happens to arise between any
laity and clergy, the controversy is to be tried and clergyman and layman concerning any tenement;
ended in the king's courts.
and that the clerk pretends it held by frank-almoine,
“II. Those churches which are fees of the crown and the layman pleads it a lay-fee: in this case the
cannot be granted away in perpetuity without the tenure shall be tried by the enquiry and verdict of
king's consent.
twelve sufficient men of the neighbourhood, sum-
“III. When the clergy are charged with any mis- moned according to the custom of the realm. And if
demeanour, and summoned by the justiciary, they the tenement, or thing in controversy, shall be found
shall be obliged to make their appearance in his frank-almoine, the dispute concerning it shall be
court, and plead to such parts of the indictmeut as tried in the ecclesiastical court: but if it is brought
shall be put to them. And likewise to answer such in a lay-fee, the suit shall be followed in the king's
articles in the ecclesiastical court as they shall be courts, unless both the plaintiff and defendant hold
prosecuted for by that jurisdiction : always provided the tenement in question of the same bishop : in
that the king's justiciary shall send an officer to in- which case, the cause shall be tried in the court of
spect the proceedings of the court Christian. And such bishop or baron; with this farther proviso,
in case any clerk is convicted, or pleads guilty, he is that he who is seized of the thing in controversy
I.
2 P
546
CLARENINS_CLARISSINES.
shall not be disscized pending the suit, upon the so solemn in the circumstances of the contract, shall
score of the verdict above-mentioned.
be tried in the king's courts.
“X. He who holds of the king, in any city, castle, “XVI. The sons of copyholders are not to be
or borough, or resides upon any of the demesne ordained without the consent of the lord of the
lands of the crown, in case he is cited by the arch- manor where they were born."
deacon or bishop to answer to any misbehaviour be- These articles were no doubt effectual to some ex-
longing to their cognizance; if he refuses to obey tent in checking the growing power of the clergy,
their summons, and stand to the sentence of the but at the same time they tended to establish the
court, it shall be lawful for the Ordinary to put him doctrine that the sovereign is governor over the
under an interdict; but not to excommunicate him church, which has come to be a recognized prin-
till the king's principal officer of the town shall be ciple in English church polity.
pre-acquainted with the case, in order to enjoin him CLARENINS, an order of religious founded by
to make satisfaction to the Church. And if such Angelus, a Celestine hermit, in the thirteenth cen-
officer or magistrate shall fail in his duty, he shall be tury, who, upon the persecution raised against the
fined by the king's judges. And then the bishop Celestines, retired with some companions into Italy,
may exert his discipline on the refractory person as and founded this new congregation. After the death
he thinks fit.
of their founder, this order diffused itself over dif-
“XI. All archbishops, bishops, and other eccle- ferent parts of Italy, and established also several
siastical persons, who hold of the king in chief, and convents of nuns, who were under the same rule with
the tenure of a barony, are for that reason obliged to themselves. Pope Sixtus IV. issued a Bull in fa-
appear before the king's justices and ministers, to vour of the Clarenins, granting them permission to
answer the duties of their tenure, and to observe all put themselves under the authority of the general of
the usages and customs of the realm; and, like other the Franciscans, and to assume the habit of that or-
barons, are bound to be present at trials in the king's der. This occasioned a division among them, some
court, till sentence is to be pronounced for the losing adhering to the old observances, and others adopt-
of life or limbs.
ing the rule, and submitting to the general of the
“XII. When any archbishopric, bishopric, abbey, Order of St. Francis. At length, in A. D. 1566,
or priory of royal foundation, becomes vacant, the Pius V. abolished the order of the Clarenins as a
king is to make seizure : from which time all the separate and distinct order, incorporating them with
profits and issues are to be paid into the exchequer, the FRANCISCANS (which see).
as if they were the demesne lands of the crown. CLARISSINES, an order of nuns originated by
And when it is determined the vacancy shall be Clara of Assisi in Italy, the first abbess of the Fran-
filled
up, the king is to summon the most consider- ciscans. This enthusiastic female had gone on a pil-
able persons of the chapter to the court, and the grimage to Rome and the holy sepulchre at Jerusa-
election is to be made in the Chapel Royal, with the lemn. Having become acquainted with Francis of
consent of our sovereign lord the king, and by the Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan order, she was
advice of such persons of the government as his persuaded to leave her family and friends, to cast in
highness shall think fit to make use of. At which her lot with the followers of St. Francis, and having
time, the person elected, before his consecration, shaved her head, to take a vow of submission to his
shall be obliged to do homage and fealty to the king, direction. By the advice of her spiritual guide,
as his liege lord: which homage shall be performed Clara founded, in A. D. 1212, the order of Poor
in the usual form, with a clause for the saving the Maids, which was afterwards named from her the
privilege of his order.
order of St. Clara, she herself being its first superin-
“XIII. If any of the temporal barons, or great tendent. In A. D. 1224, it received its rule from
men, shall encroach upon the rights or property of Francis, and Clara obtained the title of the great-
any archbishop, bishop, or archdeacon, and refuse est poverty for her order from Innocent III., or
to make satisfaction for wrong done by themselves as some say, Honorius III. From the church in
or their tenants, the king shall do justice to the which the order was instituted, the sisters were
party aggrieved. And if any person shall disseize sometimes called the nuns of St. Damien. In the
the king of any part of his lands, or trespass upon neighbourhood of that church, Clara lived forty and
his prerogative, the archbishops, bishops, and two years, mortifying her body with fasting, watch-
archdeacons shall call him to an account, and oblige ings, and all kinds of austerities. Next her flesh she
him to make the crown restitution.
wore the skin of a bristly boar, lay on hard wooden
“XIV. The goods and chattels of those who lie boards, and went barefooted. In Lent, and at other
under forfeitures of felony or treason, are not to be fasting times, she lived only on bread and water; and
detained in any church or churchyard, to secure tasted wine only on Sundays. Her reputation for piety
them against seizure and justice; because such goods and austerity having rapidly spread, her followers so
are the king's property, whether they are lodged multiplied, that many monasteries of this order were
within the precincts of a church, or without it. formed in different parts of Italy. In 1219, the
“XV. All actions and pleas of debt, though never order passed into Spain, and thence into France.
CLEMENTIA-CLERGY.
547
By the rule of St. Francis which they followed, the Moses; and in the present form of Judaism, have
sisters were allowed to retain no worldly possessions been utterly perverted. In general, the truth has
whatever, and they were enjoined silence from the been constantly maintained in its purity only by a
compline to the tierce of the following day. For few by means of secret tradition. Man is free, and
dress they were permitted to have three tunics and must expect after death a spiritual continuation of
a mantle. After the death of its founder, the order life with rewards and punishments. The conditions
made even greater progress than it had done of happiness are love to God and man, and strug-
during her life, and at this day it is one of the most gling against the demons which draw away to evil
flourishing orders of nuns in Europe. After the through sensuality. For this purpose these secta-
conquest of Mexico by Cortez, some nuns of this ries prescribed abstinence from animal food, frequent
order were dispatched to that country, where they fastings and washings, recommended early marriage
formed settlements at different places, devoting them- and voluntary poverty, but rejected all sacrifice."
selves to the instruction of young Indian females. Though the doctrines which the Clementines
These religious communities continue still to flourish. | taught were received only by a few persons in Rome
CLASSIS, in the Dutch Reformed Church, both and Cyprus, yet the book attracted no small notice,
in Holland and America, corresponds to the Pres- and was generally regarded rather as the corruption
BYTERY (which see) of other Presbyterian churches. of a genuine writing by heretics, than as a forgery.
CLEMENTIA, a heathen goddess worshipped Accordingly, not long after a work appeared pro-
among the ancient Romans, being a personification fessing to purify the Clementines from heresy, and
of the virtue of clemency. Temples and altars were altering it entirely that it might be conformed to the
reared in honour of this deity in the time of the Em- standard of the orthodoxy of the day. This expur-
perors, and she is still seen represented on the coins gated edition of the Clementines exists now only in
of Tiberius and Vitellius, with a patera in her right, the Latin translation of Rufinus, under the title Re-
and a lance in her left hand. Claudian describes cognitiones Clementis. Neander considers the Cle-
her as the guardian of the world. Plutarch and mentines as a sort of romance, partly philosophical
Cicero tell us, that the Romans dedicated a temple and partly religious, and though he admits it to be a
to her by order of the senate, after the death of Ju- fiction, it appears to him to be clearly a fiction drawn
lius Cæsar.
from real life.
CLEMENTINES, a remarkable apocryphal book, CLEMENTINES, a sect which arose in the pre-
belonging to the second or third century. It sent century in the south of France, particularly in
called the Clementines or the eighteen Homilies, in the neighbourhood of the Pyrenees, deriving their
which, as it is pretended, Clement, descended from a name from a priest of the name of Clement, who is
noble family in Rome, and afterwards bishop of the said to have been their founder. They dissent from
church in that city, gives an account of his conver-
the Church of Rome on various points, expressing a
sion, and of the discourses and disputes of the apos- strong dislike to several Popish ceremonies, while
lle Peter. The author seems to have adopted the doc- they retain the mass, and practise confession. They
trines of the Elcesaites, and he sets himself to com- reject the use of images in churches, and some of
bat the Gnostics in the person of Simon Magus. He their priests use the French language instead of the
opposes also the Montanist prophesying, the hypos- Latin in their prayers. The adherents of this sect
tatic doctrine of the Trinity, and millenarianism. The are generally favourable to Augustinian doctrines,
doctrines directly inculcated in this strange produc- and are characterized by a serious and devout de-
tion are thus briefly sketched by Gieseler in his portment, irreproachable purity of morals, and strict
able Compendium of Ecclesiastical History: “God, observance of the Lord's day.
a pure, simple being of light, has allowed the world CLERESTORY, the name applied to denote the
to be formed in contrasts, and so also the history of upper tier or story of windows in churches, above
the world and of men runs off in contrasts, corre- the roof of the aisle on the outside, and above the
sponding by way of pairs, in which the lower con- pier arches on the inside.
stantly precedes the higher. From the beginning CLERGY, a term by which those invested with
onward God has revealed himself to men, while his the ministerial office came to be distinguished from
Holy Spirit, from time to time in the form of indivi- the laity or ordinary members of the church. Such
dual men, (Adam, Enoch, Abraliam, Isaac, Jacob, a distinction seems to have been wholly unknown in
Moses, Jesus), as the true prophet constantly an- the early ages of Christianity. In Sacred Scripture
nounced the very same truth, and in Jesus, caused it all believers are termed God's heritage, or cleri,
also to be communicated to the heathen. According or clergy. Thus 1 Pet. v. 3, “Neither as being
to the law of contrasts, false prophets also are al- lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to
ways produced in addition to the true, who corrupt the flock.” The same apostle speaks of all be-
the truth. Thus the original doctrines of Mosaism lievers also as, without distinction, “a royal priest-
are perfectly identical with Christianity; though hood.” As long as the church was viewed in this
they have not been preserved in their purity in the purely spiritual aspect, deriving its whole life in all
Pentateuch, which was not composed till long after its members from union to Christ, no distinction
548
CLERGY
V
was for a moment recognised among different classes of whatever kind. Another motive which had a
within its pale. But when the church came to be powerful influence in accomplishing the separation
viewed chiefly in its outward aspect, the universal of the spiritual from the secular in the Christian
priestly character of its members was gradually lost ministry, is thus noticed by Neander: “When the
sight of, and the idea was formed of the necessity of idea of the universal Christian priesthood retired to
a particular mediatory priesthood attached to a dis- the back-ground, that of the priestly consecration
tinct order. The change which thus took place in which all Christians should make of their entire life
the views of many Christians is seen as early as the went along with it. As men had distinguished, in a
time of Tertullian, who calls the bishop a high priest.way contradictory to the original Christian conscious-
Such a mode of expression shows that Jewish modes ness, a particular priesthood from the universal and
of thinking had begun to insinuate themselves into ordinary calling of all Christians ; so now they set
the minds of Christians, and a false comparison was over against each other a spiritual and a secular pro-
instituted between the Christian priesthood and the vince of life and action, notwithstanding Christ had
Jewish. We find Cyprian in his writings completely raised the entire earthly life to the dignity of a spi-
imbued with such erroneous notions, and attaching ritual life. And from this view of the matter it was
to the terms clerus and clerici the unauthorized mean- deemed necessary to forbid the priestly, consecrated
ing of a class of persons pre-eminently consecrated clergy, all contact with the world and the things of
to God, like the Levites of the Old Testament, who the world. Thus we have here the germ out of
received no particular allotment in the division of which sprang at length the whole medieval priest-
the lands, but were to have God alone for their in- hood and the laws of celibacy. But by this outward
heritance, and to receive tithes from the rest for the holding at a distance of secular things, the worldly
administration of the public functions of religion. It sense could not be charmed away from the clergy,
is quite possible, however, that when the term clergy nor the sense for divine things awakened in them.
was first adopted, the full extent of the comparison This external renunciation of the world might be the
with the Levites might not be perceived. This may means of introducing into the heart a spiritual pride,
have been reserved for a later period in the history hiding the worldly sense under this mask. Cy-
of the church. The Greek word cleros, as Neander | prian quotes 2 Tim. ii. 14, as warranting the prohi-
thinks, signified originally the place which had been bition of worldly employments. But he could not
allotted to each one in the community by God's pro- remain ignorant of what, at this particular time,
vidence, or the choice of the people directed by that when the universal Christian calling was commonly
providence; hence the church offices were particu- regarded as a militia Christi or Christian warfare,
larly denominated cleroi, and the persons chosen to must have immediately suggested itself to every one,
them clericoi.
that these words applied to all Christians, who, as
But while an order thus arose in the church deno- soldiers of Christ, were bound to perform their duty
minated clergy, and to whom the office of teaching faithfully, and to guard against every foreign and
began to be exclusively confined, it was long before worldly thing which might hinder them in their war-
the universal priesthood of Christians lost its hold fare. Acknowledging and presupposing this him-
upon the great body of the faithful. Even in the self, he concludes, “Since this is said of all Chris-
third century, so unwilling were many to drop this tians, how much more should they keep themselves
idea, that many bishops of the East were accustomed clear of being involved in worldly matters, who, en-
occasionally to invite competent laymen to preach grossed with divine and spiritual things, ought never
the word. And in the Apostolical Constitutions, to turn aside from the Church, nor have time for
there is an ordinance under the name of the apostle earthly and secular employments. The clergy, then,
Paul, decreeing, “ If any man, though a layman, bewere, in following that apostolic rule, only to shine
skilful in expounding doctrine, and of venerable man- forth as patterns for all others, by avoiding what was
ners, he may be allowed to teach, for all should be foreign to their vocation, what might turn them from
taught of God." In very early times, when the great the faithful discharge of it. But still that false op-
body of Christians were drawn from the poorer position between the worldly and the spiritual, found
classes, it is not unlikely that the presbyters and here also a point of attachment."
deacons who taught in the church, continued to exer- The clergy seem to have been chosen to their office
cise their former trades and occupations for the sup- in the primitive Christian church according to no defi-
port of themselves and families. As the Christian nite and fixed rule, but probably in a variety of
communities, however, became larger, and the spiri- different ways according to circumstances.
tual duties of the teachers were in consequence more have full information in the New Testament as to
multiplied, the task of maintaining the presbyters on the mode pursued in the election of deacons, the
whom the spiritual calling now devolved, was felt to choice being in their case vested in the whole church.
belong to the whole members of the church. The It is not unlikely, as we might argue from analogy,
clergy were now gradually withdrawn from all that the same mode of election would be generally
worldly occupations, and in the third century they were followed in regard to other church officers. On
strictly forbidden to undertake any secularemployment | this point, Clemens Romanus cites a rule as having
We
CLERGY.
549
1
been handed down from the days of the apostles, to were regular members of all imperial diets. At a
the effect that church offices « should be filled ac- later period bishops, archbishops, and abbots, were
cording to the judgment of approved men, with the by statute laws made princes of the empire, and
consent of the whole community.” This rule, if au- electors.
thentic, would seem to indicate that the apostles From the fourth century, when the clergy were
themselves had, in the first instance, nominated to duly acknowledged by the civil authorities as a dis-
offices in the church ; and this idea is in complete tinct body, they were invested with peculiar privi-
accordance with the charge which Paul gives to leges. Even previous to his conversion, Constan-
Titus, to ordain presbyters or elders in every city. tine conferred upon the clergy of the Christian
Cyprian held that the whole Christian community church privileges equal to those enjoyed by the
had the power of choosing worthy, or rejecting un- Jewish and Pagan priests. Those of the early em-
worthy bishops. Nor was this a mere form, but an perors who favoured Christianity, added to these
undoubted privilege, which the members of the privileges from time to time, until they became both
church were not slow to claim. Sometimes it hap- | numerous and valuable. The most important of
pened that a bishop was proclaimed by the voice of these special advantages are thus noticed by Mr.
the community, even before arrangements had been Coleman in his Christian Antiquities :
fully made for his regular election.
“1. Exemption from all civil offices, and secular
There appears no evidence of any difference of duties to the state. Such exemption was granted by
rank among the clergy, either in the age of the Constantine A. D. 312; and in 319 and 330 it was
apostles or of their immediate successors, nor indeed extended to the inferior order; and the reason as..
.
until the establishment of Christianity under Con- signed for conferring this privilege was, that the
stantine. Before that period a distinction had pro- | clergy might not for any unworthy pretence be
bably existed among the clergy themselves, some of called off from their religious duties,' or, as Euse-
them being recognized as superior, and others as bius expresses it, that they might have no false pre-
inferior. But it was a long time before even these tence or excuse for being diverted from their sacred
relations became so distinct as they have been since calling, but rather might rightfully prosecute it with-
the establishment of the Eastern and Western hierar- out molestation.' By this right they were excused
chy in the eighth century. The primitive presby- from bearing burdensome and expensive municipal
ters first found it necessary to contend against the offices. The Jewish patriarchs and pagan priests
pretensions of the bishops to superiority; and after- enjoyed a similar exemption.
wards against the deacons, but especially the arch- “2. Exemption from all sordid offices, both predial
deacons, who took the side of the bishops. On the and personal. This right was also granted by Con-
other hand, bishops themselves had to inaintain an stantine and confirmed by Theodosius the Great and
arduous and protracted struggle with the archbishops, Honorius. The right relieved them from the neces-
primates, and patriarchs. The contest with the sity of furnishing post-horses, &c. for public officers,
patriarchs in particular, resulted in the popish supre- and sometimes from that of constructing and repair-
macy. It was Constantine the Great, who first in- | ing public highways and bridges.
vested the Christian priesthood with peculiar honours. “3. Exemption from certain taxes and imposts, such
The Christian bishops, it was supposed, ought at as the census capitum, analogous to poll-tax; but the
least to be equal in rank to the Jewish priesthood, learned are not agreed respecting the precise nature
who, besides, being distinguished from those who of it; the aurum tironium, an assessment for military
were not anointed with the sacred oil, were consi-
purposes, a bounty paid as a substitute for serving
dered as entitled to the highest respect in virtue of in the army; the cquus canonicus, the furnishing and
their office. Constantine himself claimed a sacred equipping of horses for military service; chrysargy-
character. Eusebius terms him a bishop duly con- rum, commerce-money, duties on articles of trade
stituted by God. Gratian was the last emperor who assessed every five years, and paid in silver and gold;
took upon himself this title. The clergy, in virtue the metatum, a tax levied for the entertainment of
of their office, were viewed as the appointed guar- the emperor and his court as he travelled, or for
dians of the morals of the community, and even the judges and soldiers in their journeys; the collatio
highest magistrates and princes submitted to the cen- superindicta et extraordinaria, a direct tax levied on
sures of the church. But while their spiritual au- special emergencies. Certain taxes on real estate
thority was thus readily respected, we can gather no they were required to pay.
proof that for a long period they were considered as " 4. Exemption from military duty. This right is
holding any peculiar elevation of rank in civil life.
not expressly stated, but fairly inferred from many
On the re-establishment of the Western empire, considerations.
however, their civil and political relations were " 5. Exemption in certain civil and criminal prose-
clearly defined; and under the Carlovingian dynasty cutions. They were not required to give testimony
the bishops obtained the rank of barons and counts, under oath. Neither were they required to make
yand thus invested with civil dignity, they took part oath to affidavits, but instead thereof they attested
in all political, as well as ecclesiastical matters, and the truth of them on the Bible at home.
550
CLERGY.
66. No ecclesiastical matters were to be tried before seventh and eighth centuries, red, blue, and green
secular courts. Of this nature were all questions of was worn in clerical vestments as well as black and
faith and practice which came appropriately under white. Innocent III. prescribed white as the em-
the cognizance of presbyteries, bishops, or synods, blem of purity, to be worn by confessors and young
together with all such acts of discipline as belonged persons, red as a suitable memorial of the apostles
to individual churches, in which the clergy were al. and martyrs, green for Sundays and feast-days, and
lowed a controlling influence.
black for fasts, funerals, and Lent. Violet was worn
“ The primitive church had originally no other at first, only twice a-year, but afterwards became
authority than that of deposing from office, excom- common in some churches. The clerical tonsure
municating, and pronouncing their solemn anathema; was introduced between the sixth and eighth cen-
but after the church became dependent upon the turies, and continued to be an essential requisite of
civil authority, that power was often exercised to the clergy, while the other ornaments of the head
redress the offences of the church. Heretics espe- were endlessly varied both in the Eastern and
cially were thus brought before courts of justice. Western churches. The use of the wig was of a
For it is undeniably evident that heresy was regarded date still later, and was universally adopted, and
as an actionable offence, deserving severe punish- continued in use for a long time, after which it was
ment.
Offences of a graver character were at all laid aside. It was introduced in the Protestant
times punishable, not in ecclesiastical, but in secular churches in the seventeenth and eighteenth centu-
courts of justice.
ries. Sandals, and a kind of half-boot called calige,
“7. Bishops, like the Jewish patriarchs, were were at first in common use among the clergy, and
often requested to settle disputes and act as arbitra- the use of ordinary shoes was regarded as unclerical.
tors and umpires in civil matters. They were also In A. D. 789, the priests were required to wear shoes
common intercessors in behalf of criminals for their made after the fashion at Rome. In the middle
reprieve or pardon when condemned to death." ages, they wore a kind of boot in summer, called
In regard to the costume of the clergy, to which æstivalia.
so much importance is attached in the Romish On the mode in which the clergy have been main-
church, it is generally admitted that during the three tained, see articles REVENUES (CHURCH), TITIES.
first centuries their dress differed in no respect from CLERGY (BENEFIT or), a privilege enjoyed by
that of the laity. But although this was undoubt- persons in holy orders, which had its origin in the
edly the case with their ordinary dress, it is not un- claim asserted by the clergy in Romish countries, to
likely that when engaged in official duty they might be wholly, or at least to a certain extent, exempt
wear some peculiar clerical dress. Tradition ascribes from lay jurisdiction. In England, it was at first
even to the apostles themselves certain insignia of confined to cases of felony, when committed by
office. Hegesippus, as mentioned by Lusebius, as- clergymen; but although such was the original de-
signs to John, James, and Mark, a golden head sign of the privilege, it came at length to extend to
band, and to Bartholomew a splendid mantle. The
The almost every man, the word cleric being applied in
Koran also speaks of the apostles under the name of the laws of England to every man who was able to
Albati, in allusion, as it would seem, to the traditional read. The privilege was accorded to peers, whether
notion that they wore white robes. But whatever they could read or not, and by statutes passed in the
may be said of these unauthorized suppositions, it is reign of William and Mary, women also became en-
not until the fourth century that we find councils be- titled to claim the privilege. A clergyman sought
ginning to regulate the costume of the clergy. The
The benefit of clergy, when he asserted his right to be
council of Laodicea gave orders that the Orarium or delivered to his ordinary to purge himself of felony.
robe of an officiating minister should not be worn by The right was extended to the laity by an act passed
the subordinate attendants, readers or singers. The in the reign of Elizabeth, whereby every man to
fourth council of Carthage forbade the deacons to whom the benefit of clergy was granted, though not in
use the white surplice, unless when engaged in the orders, was put to read at the bar after he was found
discharge of the ministerial office. The monks ap-
The monks ap- guilty, and convicted of felony, and so burnt in the
pear to have been the first who assumed the eccle- hand, and set free for the first time, if the ordinary
siastical garb in ordinary life, and the practice is or deputy standing by should say, "He reads as a
condemned by Jerome in strong language. Bellar- clerk;" otherwise he was to suffer death. This pri-
mine has traced the clerical costume through eight vilege, while it existed in England, was attended with
or nine hundred years. It would appear to have great abuses, but by the statute of 7th and 8th
been originally white. The bishops of Constanti- Geo. IV. c. 28, it was entirely abolished, so that no
nople, and the higher order of clergy in the fourth felon, whether clerical or lay, can claim exemption
century, assumed the black robe, while the Nova- from trial by the ordinary civil tribunals of the land. .
tians retained the white. But since the tenth cen- The benefit of clergy is still retained in one or two
tury the modern Greek church have changed the of the States of North America, while it has been
colour of their costume. On festivals in honour of formally abolished in all the others. By an act of
saints, they usually wear a purple robe. In the Congress of April 30, 1790, it is enacted, that benefit
CLERGY-CLERK.
551
.
of clergy shall not be used or allowed upon convic- virate of Augustus, Anthony, and Lepidus, some
tion of any crimes, for which by any statute of the have supposed the clerk, writer, or scribe, referred
United States the punishment is or shall be declared to in Acts xix. 35, and translated in our version
to be death.
“town-clerk,” to have been a sacred officer, who offi-
CLERGY (BLACK). See BLACK CLERGY. ciated under the presidency of the Asiarchs, when
CLERGY (REGULAR), those monks or religious the Ephesians solemnized games in honour of Diana.
in the Church of Rome who have taken upon them- The word “clerk" was formerly used in our lan-
selves holy orders, and perform the offices of the priest-guage simply to denote any learned man, and in the
hood in their several monasteries. In the Greek statute law of England, implied any individual who
church, their dress is a long cloth robe of a brown could read, but now it is the common appellation by
colour, and confined with a girdle. Their monastic which clergymen distinguish themselves when sign-
life is of a very austere description; they never eat ing any deed or instrument.
meat, and during the fasts only bread and fruits. CLERK (PARISH), an ecclesiastical officer in the
Some of them live always upon bread and water, and Church of England, who conducts or leads the re-
spend their time almost entirely in their devotions. sponses in a congregation, and otherwise assists in
CLERGY (SECULAR), those of the Romish clergy the services of the church. In cathedrals and colle-
who are not of any religious order, and have the giate churches there are several of these lay clerks;
care and direction of parishes. In the Greek in parish churches generally there is but one who is
church, the secular are not so highly honoured as styled the parish clerk. In some of the old cathe-
the regular clergy, and are generally of a humbler drals, the lay vicars or clerks form a corporation
station in life, as well as very illiterate. The secu- either jointly with the priest vicars or by themselves,
lar Greek priests who are married, are distinguished and have a common estate. In the new cathedrals
by a white muslin band round their bonnet of black | they do not form a corporation, but in some cases
felt.
have a common estate given to them subsequently
CLERGY (WHITE). See PROTOIRES.
to the foundation, besides their statutable payments
CLERICI ACEPHALI, a name given to vagrant from the chapter. The annual income of each lay
clergymen in the Romish church, or such ecclesias- clerk varies from £114 12s. at Durham, to £40 at
tics and monks as wandered about from one district Peterborough, and about £30 at Christ Church, Ox-
to another. The council of Pavia, in A. D. 850, is- ford. They have not, in general, houses of residence.
sued an edict against these clergy, declaring that | They are expected commonly to attend the cathe-
while it was a praise worthy thing that the laity dral services twice every day throughout the year.
should be desirous of having the mass continually Before the Reformation, and for some time after, the
celebrated in their houses, they should be on their parish clerks were all clergymen, and the duties
guard against employing for this purpose any but which they were called upon to discharge included
ecclesiastics duly approved by the bishops.
the ordinary functions of a curate. They assisted
CLERICIS LAICOS, a bull issued by Boniface the incumbent in performing divine service, reading
VIII. in A. D. 1296, and aimed against Philip the the Scripture lessons of the day, and leading the sacred
Fair, king of France. In this bull all princes and music.
music. At present, in some places, the parish clerk
nobles were pronounced under ban who demanded is in holy orders, but in such cases he generally has
tribute under any form from the church and the a deputy clerk to perform the ordinary duties. The
clergy; and all who paid such tribute were involved general practice, however, is for the minister, in
in the same condemnation and penalty. The cir- whom the right of election is by statute vested, to
cumstance which led to the publication of this bull, confer the office upon a layman. The regular duties
was the demand made by Philip that the spiritual of the parish clerk are to lead the responses, to give
order, in common with all other classes, should con- out the psalms or hymns which are to be sung dur-
tribute money towards defraying the expenses of his ing service, to announce notices of vestry or parish
Boniface looked upon such a demand as an meetings, to attend on the officiating minister at
encroachment upon the liberties of the church, but | baptisms, marriages, and funerals, and to assist in
the king, in a declaration which he issued in answer keeping a careful register of such proceedings. By
to the bull, argued that the church of Christ consists the canons, the clerk must be at least twenty years
not of the clergy alone, but also of laymen, and, of age, known to the parson, vicar, or minister, to
therefore, that the clergy have no right to appro- be of honest conversation, and sufficient for his read-
priate to themselves exclusively the ecclesiastical | ing, writing, and also for his competent skill in sing-
freedom which belongs to all, understanding thereby ing. When chosen, and appointed to the office,
the freedom obtained for us by the grace of Christ. he is generally licensed by the Ordinary, after
The king further reminded the Pope, that Christ which he takes oath to obey the minister. The
had enjoined the priests of the temple both to ren- clerk may be deprived of office by the incumbent
der to God the things that are God's, and to Cæsar | from whom he received his appointment, and if un-
the things that are Cæsar's.
justly deprived, the churchwardens may restore hiin.
CLERK. From a coin struck during the trium- CLERKS (APOSTOLICAL). See JESUATES.
wars.
.
552
CLERKS-CLIO.
NABITES.
CLERKS (MINOR). See MINORS.
tainty the sanction of auspices." Among the an-
CLERKS (REGULAR), a name given to various cient Romans, the lots were often little tablets or coun-
religious orders or societies which sprung up in the ters, which were usually thrown into a sitella or
Church of Rome at the period of the Reformation in urn having a neck so narrow that only one lot at a
the sixteenth century. The object of these institu- time could come to the top of the water when it was
tions was to aim at imitating and restoring the an- shaken. Sometimes the names of the parties using
cient virtue and sanctity of the clergy, which had to them were inscribed upon the lots, and in later times
a great extent declined.
verses from illustrious poets were written upon little
CLERKS OF THE COMMON LIFE. See BRE- tablets. After the introduction of Christianity, the
THREN OF THE COMMON LOT,
practice became common among the early Christians
CLERKS (REGULAR) OF ST. MAJOLI, a religious of using the lot as the heathens had done, but instead
order which arose in Italy in the sixteenth century. of the writings of the poets, they substituted the
They were also called the Fathers of Somasquo, Bible, which they opened at random, regarding the
from the name of the town where their first general passage which first met the eye as the answer to
resided. The founder of the order was Jerome their inquiry, or the solution of their difficulty.
Æmilianus. It was approved by Paul III. in This superstitious custoin was condemned by various
1540, and then by Pius IV. in 1543. Its members | councils. See BIBLIOMANCY, DIVINATION.
took upon themselves the office of carefully instruct- CLETA, one of the two Charites or GRACES
ing the ignorant, and especially the young in the (which see), which the Spartans anciently worship-
precepts of Christianity.
ped, the other being Phäenna.
CLERKS (REGULAR) OF St. Paul. See BAR- CLIDOMENI, a term used in one of Cyprian's
epistles, to denote DEMONIACS (which see).
CLERKS (THEATINS), an order of religious which CLINIC BAPTISM, the name given in the an-
arose in the Church of Rome in the sixteenth cen- cient Christian church to baptism, when adminis-
tury. It took its name from Theate or Chieti in the tered to a person in sickness or on his death-bed.
Neapolitan territory, whose bishop at that time was The practice of administering the ordinance in these
John Peter Caraffa, afterwards Pope Paul IV., who circumstances often led to great abuse, as many per-
founded this society in 1524. The brethren of this sons, though professing Christianity, delayed submit-
order were bound to keep a vow of voluntary pover- ting to baptism in the expectation that they would re-
ty, and to live upon the bounty of the pious. They ceive it wlien they came to a sick or dying bed.
were required to succour decaying piety, to improve Constantine the Great, though openly avowing his
the style of preaching, to attend upon the sick and belief in the Christian system, was not baptized
dying, and to oppose all heretics manfully and until a short time before his death. If an individual
vigorously.
recovered health after having received clinic bap-
CLEROMANCY (Gr. cleros, a lot, and manteia, tism, he was subjected to several disabilities, and in
divination), a method of divination by lot, which particular, he was not permitted to enter into holy
was in use among the ancient Greeks and Romans. orders. This mode of dispensing baptism could
It was generally performed by casting black and only be done by sprinkling, and not by immersion,
white beans, small clods of earth, pebbles, dice, or or washing the body all over. A question, there-
other things, into an urn or other vessel. After
urn or other vessel. After fore, arose in the time of Cyprian, whether persons
making supplication to the gods, they drew them thus baptized were to be looked upon as complete
out, and according to the characters or marks by Christians; and that eminent father resolves it in
which they were previously distinguished, conjec- the affirmative, at the same time leaving it to others
tures were formed of what should happen. The
ld happen. The who had doubts as to the validity of clinic baptism,
practice of divining by lot, according to Tacitus, pre- to repeat the ordinance by immersion if they thought
vailed also among the ancient Germans. * Their right. Although it was undoubtedly the practice,
mode of proceeding by lots," says he, “is wonderfully and even the law of the early church, to deny ordi..
simple. The branch of a fruit-tree is cut into small nation to those who had undergone clinic baptism,
pieces, which being distinctly marked, are thrown at the council of Neocæsarea permitted them in time of
random on a white garment. If a question of public great exigence, or in case of great merit, to be or-
interest be pending, the priest of the canton per- dained. Thus Novatian, as we are informed by
forms the ceremony; if it be nothing more than a Eusebius, was ordained on account of his pregnant
private concern, the master of the family officiates. parts, and the hopes which the church entertained of
With fervent prayers offered up to the gods, his him, although he had been admitted into the church
eyes devoutly raised to heaven, he holds up three by clinic baptism. In cases of extreme sickness, this
times each segment of a twig, and as the marks rise kind of baptism was considered as valid, even when
in succession interprets the decree of fate. If ap- administered to an individual in a state of utter un-
pearances prove unfavourable, there ends all cori- consciousness. See BAPTISM.
sultation for that day; if, on the other hand, the CLIO, one of the nine Muses (which see) wor-
chances are propitious, they require for greater cer- shipped by the ancient Greeks and Romans. She
}
CLOACA-CLUNIACENSIANS.
553
was the Muse of history, and is usually represented | dictine rule, but also to impose additional rites and
in a sitting attitude, with an open roll of paper, or obligations. He evidently attached a high value to
an open chest of books.
the moral power of Christianity, and sought to in-
CLOACA, a name applied by Gregory the Great fuse into the monks under his care a greater regard
to the baptismal font. See BAPTISTERY,
to the real spirit of the Christian system, than to its
CLOACINA, a surname of Venus among the mere external forms. To show that it was possible
ancient Romans, said to be applied to that goddess even for a layman to lead a holy and pious life, he
from an old Latin verb cloare or cluere, to purify, composed a biographical account of Count Gerald of
because Romulus and Tatius had caused their armies | Aurilly, a man distinguished above those of his own
to purify themselves with sacred myrtle branches, order by his diligent and faithful study of the Scrip-
on the spot which was afterwards occupied by the tures, by his devotional habits, his lively sympathy
temple of Venus Cloacina.
in all Christian objects, his beneficence and his gentle
CLOISTERS, a covered walk usually occupying treatment of his tenants. The mode of living which
the four sides of a quadrangle, which is generally an Odo prescribed to the Benedictine monks, procured
appendage to a monastery. The term is used some- for its author great fame and popularity, and at
times to denote the monastery itself. In the early length the salutary regulations were adopted by
Christian churches the porticos about the area were numerous monasteries throughout Europe, which
called also cloisters, which formed the exterior united in a kind of association under the abbot of
narthex of tlie church.
Cluny. Many of the ancient monasteries in France,
CLOTH (PURCHASE OF THE), a ceremony fol- Germany, Italy, Britain, and Spain, embraced the
lowed by the modern Jews in forming contracts. new and stricter rule thus introduced; and the new
All bargains, sales or agreements, are reckoned duly monasteries which were founded carne under the
executed, and in full force, when both parties have same discipline. Thus was formed that congeries of
touched the clothes or the handkerchief of the wit- associations, which, under the name of Cluniacen-
nesses, which is a kind of oath called the Purchase sians, rapidly rose into wealth, fame, and power.
of the Cloth.
The convent of Cluny was originally founded in A.D.
CLOTHES (RENDING OF THE) a very ancient 910, by Duke William of Aquitania ; but it was
inode of expressing sorrow in the East. Immedi- under Odo that its fame became general. From this
ately on the death of any person, his relations rent time lay abbots gradually disappeared in France.
their garments from the neck downwards in front to Under the immediate successors of Odo the order
the girdle, and a cry of lamentation filled the room. continued to flourish. In course of time, however,
This practice was never omitted by the Hebrews in its original strictness of discipline became gradually
case of any sorrowful event. It was forbidden, how- relaxed, and its popularity in consequence declined.
ever, to the high priest, .who never tore his robe ex- In the twelfth century, an individual was appoint-
cept when he heard blasphemy. The modern Jews ed to the office of abbot of Cluny, who was one of
only faintly imitate this.custom, cutting a small por- the most distinguished men of the church in his
tion of their garments to show that they are afflicted. times, and to whom even his contemporaries gave
On the decease of a brother or sister, wife, daugh- the title of Venerable. This man, Peter Mauritius,
ter, or son, they take a knife, and holding the blade | infused new life and vigour into the Cluniacensian
downwards, give the coat or other upper garment a order. Of this remarkable person, and the benefi-
cut on the right side, and then rend it about a hand- cial influence which he exercised, Neander gives the
breadth in length. On the decease of a father or following interesting sketch: "He was descended
mother, the rent is made in the same manner on the from a family of consideration in Auvergne, and is
left side in all the garments. See MOURNING. to be reckoned among the many great men of the
CLOTHO, one of the three FATES (which see) of church on whose development the influence of Chris-
the ancient heathens. Clotho was regarded as the tian training, by pious mothers, had a lasting effect.
spinning fate, and hence her symbol was a spindle The character of his mother, who later in life became
with which she spun the thread of man's destiny. a nun, was delineated by his own pen with filial af-
She is generally represented as a grave maiden with fection, soon after her death. Under him the order
a spindle or a roll, which denotes the book of fate. took a different direction from that in which it had
CLUNIACENSIANS, a congregation of Bene. originated. As this man, distinguished for his ami-
dictine monks which arose in the tenth century, able and gentle spirit, strongly sympathized with
having Odo, abbot of Cluny or Clugni in France, at everything purely human, so, under his guidance,
their head. It happened that the rule of St. Bene- the monastery, before consecrated alone to rigid
dict had been so far departed from by many monks asceticism, became a seat also of the arts and
of the Latin church, that a reform in this respect sciences. A Christian delicacy of feeling, far l'e-
seemed to be imperatively called for. This was af- moved from the sternness and excess which we else-
forded by Odo, a French nobleman, who, from his where find in monasticism, forms a characteristic
position as abbot of a monastery, took occasion not trait in the character of this individual. To a prior,
only to restore the original strictness of the Bene- who was not disposed to relax in the least from the
1
554
CNEPH-COAT.
zeal of an over-rigid asceticism, he wrote: 'God ac- CNEPH, or CNUPHIS, an ancient Egyptian divi-
cepts no sacrifices which are offered to him contrary nity, corresponding to the Greek AGATHODÆMON
to his own appointed order.' He held up to him (which see), a name which was also applied to this
the example of Christ : "The devil invited Christ to deity by the Phænicians. Both Strabo and Euse-
cast himself down from the pinnacle of the temple; bius represent him as having been worshipped in the
but he who came to give his life for the salvation of form of a serpent; and in the amulets of later times
the world, refused to end it by a suicidal act,- he is seen as a serpent or dragon raising itself on its
thereby setting an example, which admonishes us tail, having rays about its head, and surrounded
that we are not to push the mortification of the body to with stars. Plutarch regards him as having been
self-destruction. With great boldness, he told even a spiritual divinity. According to Eusebius, he
the popes their faults. Thus he wrote to Eugene the was the creator and ruler of the world, in the
Third: “Though you have been set by God over the Egyptian mythology, and represented as a man with
nations, in order to root out and to pull down, to dark complexion, having a girdle, and a sceptre in
build and to plant (Jer. i. 10); still, because you are his hand. He was said to have produced an egg,
neither God nor the prophet to whom this was said, the symbol of the world, from which sprung Ptha, or,
you may be deceived, betrayed, by those who seek as he is called by the Greeks, Hephaestus. Cneph
only their own. For this reason, a faithful son, who then was among the Egyptians the first emanation
would put you on your guard against such dangers, of the Supreme Being, the efficient reason of things,
is bound to make known to you what has been the creator, the demiurgus.
made known to him, and what you perhaps may still CNIDIA, a surname of APHRODITE (which see),
remain ignorant of.''
derived from the town of Cnidus in Caria, for which
About this time a new order, the CISTERCIANS Praxiteles made his celebrated statue of the goddess.
(which see), attracted so much notice in consequence COADJUTOR, one ordained to assist the incum-
of the strict discipline enforced by Bernard of Clair- bent of a parish who may happen to be disabled by
vaux, that the envy of the older monkish societies infirmity or old age. In the early church, bishops
was naturally excited. The Cluniacensians and the chosen in these circumstances were called bishops
Cistercians now passed into a state of mutual hostil-coadjutor. They were subordinate to the bishop,
ity. Bernard composed a tract upon the subject, in whom they were appointed to assist during his life,
which he exhorted both parties to mutual forbear- and succeeded him when he died.
ance and love. But these benevolent efforts were COAT, the innermost garment worn by the Jew-
unavailing. The controversy waxed warm on both ish high-priest in ancient times. It was made of
sides. The Cluniacensians accused the Cistercians fine linen, and therefore white. It fitted close to
of too great austerity; the Cistercians, on the other the body, and was provided with sleeves coming
hand, taxed the Cluniacensians with having aban- down to the wrist, while the coat itself was so long
doned their former sanctity and regular discipline. as to reach down to the heels. The Hebrew doctors
To this contest was added another respecting tithes. say, that if the high-priest happened to have a plas-
In A. D. 1132, Innocent II. issued a decree exempt- ter upon a sore between the inward garment and his
ing the Cistercians from the payment of tithes on skin; or if his garments had a rent in them, or were
their lands; and as many of these lands had paid stained with dirt, or any pollution, his ministration
tithes to the Cluniacensians, that order was greatly was invalid and of no effect. The coat was woven
offended at this indulgence shown to their rivals by of chequer or diced work like diaper, and was
the pontiff, and, accordingly, they engaged in a warm worn by all the priests in their ministrations with-
controversy both with the Cistercians and the pon- out any difference. The coat or robe of the ephod
tiff himself. This dispute terminated in some kind which was worn by the high-priest, in addition to
of adjustment which was brought about in A. D. the robes worn by the other priests, was made of
1155. The monks of Cluny were addicted to osten- blue wool, and worn immediately under the ErrioD
tation and display in their places of worship. Hence (which see). Its Hebrew name is mëil, an under
they were reproached by the Cistercians with hav- garment reaching down to the feet. It was a distin-
ing churches “immensely high, immoderately long, guishing priestly vestment, and therefore Christ ap-
superfluously broad, sumptuously furnished, and pears, Rev. i. 13, "clothed with a garment down to
curiously painted.” So that men were led to admire the feet,” thus showing himself not only to be in-
that which was beautiful more than that which was vested with the priestly office, but to be the great
sacred. At one time such was the pride of this order, | High-Priest of his church. This coat or robe was
that the head of their monastery actually claimed a long linen gown of sky blue colour. It was all
the title of abbot of abbots. The matter was re- of one piece, and so formed as to be put on, not
ferred to a council held at Rome in A. D. 1117, in the like other garments which are open in front, but
pontificate of Paschal XI., when the title was decid- like a surplice, over the head, having a hole in
ed rightfully to belong to the abbot of Monte Cas- the top through which the head could pass, which
sino, that being considered as the most ancient of all was strongly hemmed round with a binding to pre-
the monasteries.
vent it from rending, and provided with openings
COAT (HOLY), OF TREVES.
555
or arin-holes in the sides in place of sleeves. others for the possession of the Coat without Seams,
Round its lower border were tassels made of blue, &c.' Other proofs are also given in regard to its
purple, and scarlet, in the form of pomegranates, alleged locality, which was at length put beyond
interspersed with small gold bells, in order to make doubt in the year 1196, by the discovery of the relic
a noise when the high-priest went into or came out in the adytum of the Cathedral, when Archbishop
from the holy place. We are not informed what John the First embellished and restored the build-
was the exact number of the pomegranates and bells. ing. It was for the first time shown publicly on the
The Rabbinical writers are nearly unanimous in al- 1st of May, 1196, amidst the acclamations of the
leging the entire number of bells to have been se- whole people, after which it was again shut up in the
venty-two, placed alternately with as many pome-high altar. Another interval of 316 years occurred
granates of embroidered work. While the body of before the relic was again seen, when it was brought
the coat was of a blue colour, the hem or border forward, at the instance of the Emperor Maximilian,
was richly dyed of variegated hues. Josephus says, who had assembled a diet in Treves. The opening
that about eight years before the destruction of the of the altar took place on the 14th of April, 1512,
temple, the Levites obtained permission to wear a before all the dignitaries of Treves, and a wooden
linen coat or tunic, which gave considerable offence box, inlaid with ivory, of very beautiful workman-
to the priests.
ship, was found. It was sealed, and when opened the
COAT (HOLY), OF TREVES, a Roman Catholic robe was discovered with a written inscription,
relic, which for the last fifteen hundred years has This is the coat without seam of our Lord and Sa-
been regarded as the peculiar glory of the city in viour Jesus Christ.' On the 12th of May following,
which it is preserved. It is confidently believed by the relic was once more displayed to an immense
many of the votaries of Romanism to be the iden-
concourse of people, with no less effect than on the
tical seamless coat which was worn by our blessed first occasion ; an effect which suggested to Leo X.
Lord, and for which the Roman soldiers cast lots at the idea of turning it prominently to account, in the
his crucifixion. The tradition respecting this relic sale of indulgences. Ilis bull
, dated 15th of Janu-
is thus related in an article which appeared a few ary, 1514, granted a plenary indulgence to all who
years ago in the pages of the Athenæum, from the came to Treves to confess their sins before the sacred
pen of an intelligent correspondent, who gives also Tunic.—and, that opportunity might not be wanting,
an account of the exhibition of the Holy Coat, he he ordered that it should be publicly exhibited every
himself having been an eye-witness on the occasion : seven years. The Reformation however intervened
“ Its origin, as a received object of veneration, re- before the first term prescribed by the Pope, and it
mounts to the early part of the fourth century, when was not till 1531 that the exhibition again took
the Empress Helena undertook her memorable jour-place. During the remainder of the 16th century,
ney to Palestine.
According to the tradition of the relic was exposed at four different periods, in
Treves, it was then and there that the Holy Tunic 1545, 1553, 1585, and 1594,-but the Thirty Years
was discovered. Helena's selection of Treves as the War occupied the attention of Germany too closely
place of deposit, arose not only from her predilection to admit of much religious ceremonial, especially
for the city where she had so long dwelt, and where when the opposing armies were under such strong
some accounts say she was born; but from the re- religious influence: it was therefore not until after
putation which it enjoyed of being a second Rome the peace of Westphalia, 20th of February, 1655,
and the capital of the Empire beyond the Alps. An that it was again shown. The dread of the arms of
interval of more than 800 years ensued, during which Louis XIV. induced the electors of Treves to trans-
no mention is made of the Holy Tunic. Towards port the relic to the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein; nor
the close of the 9th century, Treves was sacked and was it again made visible till 1725, when it was
burned by the Normans, and nothing is said to have shown to the Archbishop of Cologne. Other public
been saved from their ravages but the holy relics, exhibitions subsequently took place at Ehrenbreit-
which a constant sense of danger had caused the stein in the 18th century; but when the French ar-
clergy to preserve in crypts constructed expressly mies approached the Rhine in 1794, it was no time
for their security. The traditional existence of the for trusting the security of the Holy Tunic even to a
Holy Tunic only remained, for that which fear ori- fortress. It was then conveyed away and deposited
ginated, custom retained, and even in times of safety in a place, the secret of which was known only to a
the altar in or beneath which the relic was presumed very few persons, whose interest it was not to divulge
to lie was alone indicated; the relic itself was never it. It became afterwards known that that place was
shown. In the quarrel between Adrian and the Bamberg, where it remained till 1803, and was then
Emperor in 1157, Frederic, when he assembled a sy- removed by the electors to Augsburg. A dispute
nod at Treves, alluded to the existence of the Tunic afterwards arose for its possession between the Duke
there, for in his letter to Archbishop Hillinus, he of Nassau and the Church of Treves; and the King
says :- Since then you are the primate beyond the of Bavaria also put in his claim for it—but it was
Alps and the centre of the whole Empire, and that finally decided by Napoleon, the arbiter at that time
your cathedral, that of Treves, is renowned above all of all things spiritual as well as mundane, that resti-
556
COAT (HOLY), OF TREVES.
one-
tution should be made to Treves, and in 1810, it was of the relic itself, and the mode of visiting it. The
once more brought to its accustomed resting-place. Tunic is a robe of a reddish-brown colour, stretched
The exhibition in that year was one remarkable for out flat upon a piece of white silk in a glass frame
its display, and for the number of the pious who placed upright upon the high altar. The sleeves are
flocked to the electoral city to behold the relic,—no displayed; and it measures 5 feet each way from
less than 227,000 people! So much for history and one extremity to the other. In its texture it is diffi-
tradition, which I have given at some length, that a cult to say how it has been wrought, so that Brower's
reason might be more satisfactorily rendered for the description holds perfectly good. He says, in his
enthusiasm which has attended the exhibition of Annals of Treves' (tom. ii. p. 91), "The threads
1844, which I have just arrived in time to witness. are so fine and so closely united, that the eye cannot
“It may seem strange, that at a period when the discover whether the vestment is woven or wrought
minds of the great masses in Germany are directed with a needle.
The colour is reddish, and
towards utilizing objects, an effort—and a successful in the light of the sun resembles unprepared cinna-
-should have been made to compete with the bar.' At a short distance it resembles the stamped
advancing world, and that too with weapons from the leather now manufactured to imitate oak wainscoting,
old armoury of Papal Rome; but such is the case, but on a closer examination one sees that the material
for a greater concourse of people has assembled this is evidently of flax. The folds are apparent, and the
year in Treves than was ever known before. The surface of the cloth appears to shale, or rather crack,
number of those who have already visited the shrine -the result of age. It has no collar,—merely a hole
since the 18th of August exceeds a million! and that for the liead to pass through, and must have reached
number will be considerably augmented before the to the ancles. The case in which it is contained, is
exhibition is finally closed. Six weeks was the of the same form as the tunic,—like the letter T,--
period originally prescribed, but as every day brought and at the base on either side is an aperture through
pilgrims in thousands from every country, far and which the officiating priests introduce the medals,
near, an additional week was granted, and the term pictures, books, and other objects to be blessed by
extended to Sunday the 6th of October. But how- contact with the sacred vestment. The manner in
ever vast the enumeration of the faithful (to say no- which it is inspected is in procession formed in a double
thing of the curious), however great the accumulation line, marshalled by the Prussian gendarmerie outside
of money offered before the altar of St. Peter, the the doors of the cathedral. The procession advances
object of the Romish church would have failed, com- slowly until the steps of the high altar are passed, and
paratively speaking,—but for more important results. a momentary pause is made before the relic, to gaze
Adopting for device, the text of St. Mark (ch. 6. v. upon it and deposit an offering. The amount col-
56), "and all who touched it were cured,' the young lected in this manner must have been very great, for
Countess Jeanne de Droste-Vischering, of Munster, each day produces an enormous heap, in which,
niece of the present Archbishop of Cologne, was the though copper predominates, a great deal of silver
first whose malady was submitted for cure by touch- appears, and now and then gold pieces and scheine or
ing the holy robe. The success was triumphant! paper-money. When I state that this procession
the young lady who had, it is said, tried all the baths begins to form at an early hour in the morning, and
in Germany for the last three years to remove her continues to stream into the cathedral until midnight,
lameness, no sooner bent before the relic and touched with no other intermission than the occasional clos-
the sacred cloth than her limbs were straightened, ing of the doors to prevent too dense a crowd, some
her figure became once more erect,--and she quitted idea may be formed of the numbers that are daily
the cathedral, leaving her crutches behind her in admitted. To facilitate the approach to strangers
memory of her miraculous cure. There the crutches and foreigners, certain hours are set apart, when, by
remain, beside the high altar, and there I have this applying at a different door, admission to the cathe-
day seen them, when, one amongst many thousands, I dral is given, and the line of the procession inter-
passed before the relic. But the Countess is not the cepted, thus obviating the necessity of waiting for
only instance of the efficacy of the Holy Tunic in some hours bareheaded in the streets. The mass of
similar cases.
It is positively affirmed that no less people endure the delay without an impatient look ;
than thirteen cures have been performed by the same they keep close file, it is true, but are chiefly engag-
means : -a boy who had been blind from childhood; ed in chaunting the Ave Maria,—the women first
a girl who was deaf and dumb; and several others and then the men, in a clear ringing tone. Where
affected with permanent maladies, subjected to the all the crowds come froin, seems a wonder,—but the
test, have all been sent away restored! My valet de stream is continuous, and its component parts are
place told me he had himself known one subject, a always changing. In point of costume it is curious,
complete cripple, who was now as straight as an the head-dresses of the women being of such various
arrow: I inquired where all these people lived, and form and colour, and the physiognomy and expres-
was told “in distant villages,'—inaccessible of course sion so different. The finest effect of the procession
to the casual inquirer.
is witnessed at night, when the cathedral is lit up
“After this, you may be curious to know something and the deep tones of the vesper bell peal through
COCCEIANS.
557
the aisles like the diapason notes of an organ. The perverted explanations of multitudes of passages in
body of the church is but feebly illuminated in com- the Word of God. The following brief view of the
parison with the altar, where a blaze of light sur- leading opinions of Cocceius is given by Mosheim :
rounds the shrine, but this comparative dimness adds" Theology itself, in the opinion of Cocceius, ought
to the effect, as the pilgrims slowly advance along to be freed from the trammels of philosophy, and to
the centre aisle, between rows of banners above the be expounded only in Scriptural phraseology. Hence,
tombs of the Electors, whose heavy folds sweep the perceiving that the sacred writers denominate the
marble floor. It is impossible for any building to be method of salvation which God has prescribed, a
better adapted for the purpose of a procession than covenant of God with men, he concluded that there
this old Byzantine cathedral, as the floor continues could be no more suitable and pertinent analogy, ac-
to rise by successive flights of steps from the nave cording to which to adjust and arrange an entire
to the choir, from thence to the lower altar, and system of theology. But while intent solely on ac-
from thence again on the south side by a very high commodating and applying the principles of human
flight leading to the altar of St. Peter; which is thus covenants to divine subjects, he incautiously fell into
elevated at least 20 feet above the western entrance, some opinions which it is not easy to approve. For
and enables the spectator to catch a glimpse of the instance, he asserted that the covenant which God
upper part of the relic the instant he enters the made with the Hebrew nation through the medium
aisle.
of Moses, did not differ in its nature from the new
". The streets of Treves are at this moment scarcely covenant procured by Jesus Christ. He supposed
less attractive to the stranger than the cathedral, that God caused the ten commandments to be pro-
from daylight till dusk, and from dusk till daylight | mulgated by Moses, not as a law which was to be
again, with but a short interval for sleep,—there is obeyed, but as one form of the covenant of grace.
one continuous movement and hum of people all But when the Hebrews had offended him by various
having the same object in view, to join the proces- sins, and especially by the worship of the golden
sions. The sight witnessed, they spread over the calf, God, being moved with just indignation, super-
city for a few hours, and then disappear to make added to that moral law the yoke of the ceremonial
way for fresh comers.'
law, to serve as a punishment. This yoke was in
COCCEIANS, a denomination which arose in the itself very burdensome, but it became much more
seventeenth century, deriving its name from its painful in consequence of its import. For it con-
founder, John Cocceius, in German Koch, Professor tinually admonished the Hebrews of their very im-
of Divinity at Leyden in Holland. Cocceius and perfect, doubtful, and anxious state, and was a kind
Voetius were two of the most eminent expositors of of perpetual memento that they merited the wrath
Scripture among the Reformed at the period in which of God, and that they could not anticipate a full ex-
they lived. The latter adhered only to the literal piation and remission of their sins till the Messiah
sense in both the Old and the New Testaments, and should come. Holy men indeed under the Old Tes-
considered the predictions of the ancient prophets as tament enjoyed eternal salvation after death ; but
being all fulfilled in events anterior to the coming of while they lived, they were far from having that as-
Christ, and, therefore, not at all applicable to the surance of salvation which is so comforting to us
Messiah. He supposed, however, that those prophe- under the New Testament. For no sins were then
cies which are applied in the New Testament to actually forgiven, but only suffered to remain unpun-
Christ, have, besides their literal sense, a secret and ished, because Christ had not yet offered up himself
mystical meaning which relates to Christ, to his his- as a sacrifice to God, and therefore could not be re-
tory and mediation. Cocceius proceeded on very garded, before the divine tribunal, as one who has
different principles in interpreting the Sacred vol actually assumed our debt, but only as our surety.”
He supposed that the whole Old Testament The Dutch churches were agitated for many years
represented, as in a mirror, the history of Christ and with the keen controversies which were maintained
of the Christian church, and that the predictions of between the Cocceians and their opponents, the
the ancient prophets were to be literally understood | Voetians, with varied success. At length the Coc-
as applying to Christ. He held also that the entire ceian came to be absorbed in the Cartesian contro-
history of the Christian church down to the end of versy. At first, and for a considerable time, Coc-
time was prefigured in the Old Testament. The ceius was opposed to Des Cartes, but at length both
Cocceian mode of interpretation was followed by came to be so far identified, that the most violent
many Dutch, Swiss, and German divines, but stren- combatants of the one were equally violent comba-
uously opposed by the VOETIANS (which see). The tants of the other. Not that the Cocceian theology
strange extravagance of the leading principle laid and the Cartesian philosophy have any natural con-
down by Cocceius, could scarcely be defended even nection with each other. Yet it so happened, by
by his warmest friends—that the language of the a strange coincidence, that those who took Cocceius
Bible must signify all that it can be made to signify. as their guide in theology, took Des Cartes as their
Such a hermeneutic principle as this would lead in mas! er in philosophy. Thus the Cartesians and the
the lands of ingenious and subtle men to the most Cocceians became one united band, contending
ume.
558
COCYTUS-CODEX ARGENTEUS.
against. the Voetians with the utmost earvestness been the property of Alaric, King of Toulouse, whose
and vigour. Throughout the remainder of the seven- kingdom and palace was destroyed by Chlodovic or
teenth century, the two parties were engaged in Clovis, in or about A. D. 507. Others again say,
keen controversy. Other sects arose in Holland, that it belonged to Amalric, who had been conquered
which pushed the principles of the Cartesian philo- by Childebert in A. D. 531. For many centuries
sophy beyond their legitimate boundaries into abso- this book had been subsequently preserved in the
lute atheism. Thus the Verschorists and the Hatte- Benedictine monastery of Werden, on the river
mists, combining the doctrines of Spinosa with those Ruhr, in the county of Mark, in Westphalia, where
of Cocceius, produced in 1680 a new system of reli- it was discovered in 1597 by Anthony Marillon, who
gion, which was at once absurd and impious. See extracted a few passages, which he inserted in a work
DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH,
entitled, 'A Commentary on the Gothic Alphabet.'
COCYTUS, one of the four rivers which were Some time after, Arnoldus Mercator observed it in
said in the ancient heathen mythology to be passed the same place, and having translated some verses of
over by the dead on their entrance into the infernal | it, Gruter gave them to the world in his Inscrip-
regions. The Cocytus is represented as sending tiones Antiquæ.' From Werden it was carried to
forth a hollow melancholy sound. See TARTARUS. Prague, where in 1648, when that city was stormed
CODEX ARGENTEUS (Lat. silver copy), a | by the Swedes under the command of Count Königs-
celebrated manuscript of the four gospels in the mark, it was found by that nobleman, who presented
Moso-Gothic language, deriving its name from its it along with other treasures to his sovereign, Queen
being written on vellum in letters of silver. The Christina. After remaining for some time in the
people for whom this version was intended are not royal library, it disappeared during the confusion
to be confounded with the Goths of Sweden. They which preceded the abdication of the queen, having
came from the east of the Borysthenes, and gra- been taken, as is supposed, by Isaac Vossius to the
dually moving westward, settled in Wallachia. Netherlands, where it was discovered again in 1655.
Here the celebrated Ulphilas invented a Gothic al- While the Codex Argenteus was in the Netherlands,
phabet of twenty-five letters, “ four of which," Gib- it was copied by Francis Junius, a learned antiqua-
bon informs us, “ he invented to express the pecu- rian, and for the first time given to the world. Some
liar sounds that were unknown to the Greek and La- | writers assert that it was purchased back again by
tin pronunciation.” This indefatigable benefactor of Charles XII. King of Sweden, but whether such be
a barbarous people was himself by birth a Cappa- the fact or not, this valuable manuscript is at pre-
docian, was a bishop of the Mäso-Goths, and a sent in the University of Upsala, carefully bound
member of the council of Constantinople in A. D
or covered over with silver, embossed with the like-
349.
ness of Ulphilas engraved upon it. The present
For a long period it was thought that the labours state of the manuscript is thus described by Dr.
of Ulphilas had been limited to the translation of Loewe, in a learned article in the 'Journal of Sacred
the four Gospels, but from the discoveries which Literature :' “ This codex, of which there are 188
have been made in the course of the present century, pages of a quarto size, is written on very thin and
it is now regarded as an undoubted fact that he must smoothly-polished vellum, which is for the greater
have translated the entire Bible. This work, which part of a purple colour. On this ground the letters,
has earned for him an immortal name, he accom- which are all uncial, i. e. capitals, were afterwards
plished in the reign of the Emperor Valens. In his printed in silver, the initials, and some other pas-
version of the New Testament, he has followed the sages excepted, which are in gold. To the latter
original Greek; while in that of the Old Testament belong the three first lines of the Gospels of St.
he has adhered to the Septuagint. From its anti-
the Septuagint. From its anti- Luke and St. Mark, which are impressed with golden.
quity, as well as its general fidelity, the Gothic ver- foil, as were most probably those of St. Matthew and
sion of Ulphilas occupies a high place in the esti- St. John. At the commencement of a section, or
mation of biblical critics. Philostorgius alleges that chapter, the whole is distinguished by golden char-
he designedly omitted the Books of Samuel and the acters, and so it is with the beginning of the Lord's
Kings, from an apprehension that the warlike spirit | Prayer, and the titles of the Evangelists, which are
of his nation might be roused by the relation of the all illuminated in gold. From the deep impression
Jewish wars.
of the strokes, the celebrated Michaelis has conjec-
A variety of opinion exists as to the age of the tured that the letters were either imprinted with a
Codex Argenteus, which is limited to the four Gos- warm iron or cut with a graver, and afterwards
pels, and these in an imperfect state. Some go so far coloured, a circumstance, which is said to have led to
as to imagine that it is the very copy which Ulphilas | the discovery of those letters, the colour of which
wrote with his own hand; while others suppose it to had faded. But it has been recently proved that
have been completed by a bishop of Thrace, towards each letter was painted, and not formed in the man-
the latter end of the fourth century. The history of ner supposed by Michaelis. Most of the silver let-
the silver manuscript is somewhat interesting and cu- ters have become green in the course of time,
rious. At a very remote period, it would seem to have whereas the golden ones are as yet in a superior
I
CODEX CAROLINUS.
559
state of preservation. This covering of the letters mence, and are pretty readable. Of the other Epis-
with gold and silver is a characteristic feature in tles, there are considerable fragments only. The
some ancient and modern Asiatic writings, and in whole seems to have been written by two different
most of the Canticles, Missals, Breviaries, etc. of the writers or copyists, as there exists a marked differ-
Middle Ages. The adjective argenteus, therefore, as ence in the writing, the one being more finished and
used in connection with the codex' in question, re- pleasing than the other. Some savans have traced
fers solely to this circumstance. Some parts of this various readings in some of the margins, which are
codex, which is said to have amounted formerly in said to be written in a very small hand.
all to 320 pages, have a pale violet hue.” The Co- “The second manuscript consists of 156 quarto
dex Argenteus is undoubtedly the most ancient spe- pages, on much thinner vellum. It contains St.
cimen extant of the Teutonic or German language. Jerome's Exposition of Isaiah, written in Latin be-
CODEX CAROLINUS, a name given to a manu- longing to the eighth or ninth century. Under this
script containing some fragments of the Gothic ver- Exposition may be seen the Gothic Version of St.
sion of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, which is Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians, Galatians, Ephe..
preserved in the library of the Duke of Brunswick | sians, Philippians, Colossians, the two Epistles to
at Wolfenbüttel. It was discovered in 1756 by the Thessalonians, and to Titus. What is wanting
Francis Anton Knittel, in a Codex Rescriptus be-
Codex Rescriptus be in the former MS. is found in this, which has some
longing to the ducal library. This MS., which is on various readings peculiar to itself.
vellum, contains the version of Ulphilas in one col- “In the third manuscript, which is a Latin vol-
umn, and a Latin translation in the other. It is ume of a quarto size, are contained the plays of
supposed to belong to the sixth century, and was so Plautus, and part of Seneca's Tragedies of Medea
defaced by another work written over it, that it was and Edipus. In this volume Cardinal Majo discov-
with great difficulty decyphered and restored. It is ered fragments of the Books of Kings, Ezra and
written in the character of the Codex Argenteus, but | Nehemiah.
the Codex Argenteus, but | Nehemiah. This discovery is of the utmost impor-
neither so beautiful nor so interesting as that manu- tance, as being among the few fragments of Ulphi-
script. Both of them, however, have received great las' Version of the Old Testament extant. This
improvement from the discoveries made in the Am- | fact, moreover, furnishes a refutation of the asser-
brosian Library in Milan in 1817 by Cardinal Majo, tion that Ulphilas designedly omitted the Books of
the late learned librarian of the Vatican. Dr. Kings for the reasons already alluded to. The date
Loewe, in the article from which we have already of the Latin writing of this MS. is supposed to be
quoted, gives the following account of these disco- the eighth or ninth century.
veries: “While examining two Codices Rescripti, “ The fourth and last manuscript which we shall
Majo discovered in one of them some Gothic writ-notice, consists of a single sheet in small quarto, and
ing, which, ere long, proved to be fragments of the contains four pages of the Gospel according to St.
Book of Kings, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Thus encour- John in Latin, under which are found the very frag-
aged, he continued his inquiries, and had the satis- ments of chaps. xxv. xxvi. and xxvii. of the Gospel
faction to find four other Codices Rescripti, contain- of St. Matthew, which are wanting in the Codex
ing in like manner portions of Ulphilas' Gothic ver- Argenteus.
sion. Having communicated his discoveries to Count “ All these manuscripts are written in broad and
Carlo Ottavio Castiglioni, the latter joined Majo in thin characters, without any division of words or of
his inquiries, so that we are indebted to both these chapters, but with contractions of proper names, not
savans for whatever we know concerning some con- unlike those we find in ancient Greek MSS. Some
siderable portions of this interesting production. sections have been discovered which are indicated
Availing ourselves of the labours of these distin- by numeral marks or larger spaces, and sometimes
guished men, we shall notice a few of the MSS. they | by large letters. The Gothic writing is said to be-
discovered.
long to the sixth century."
“ The first of them consists of 204 quarto pages; The whole of Ulphilas's version, as it now exists,
it is on vellum, and contains the Homilies of Gre-comprising the Codex Argenteus, the Codex Caroli-
gory the Great on the Prophecies of Ezekiel, which, nus, and the Ambrosian MSS., include very large
judging from their appearance or character, must portions of the four Gospels, the Epistles of St. Paul,
have been produced about the eighth century. Be- the Books of Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, the Macca.
neath this are contained the Epistles of St. Paul to bees, and some parts of the Psalms. The latest and
the Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, 1 and 2 of Timo- most finished critical edition of the entire remains of
thy, Titus, and Philemon, as also a portion of the Ulphilas is that of Gabelenz and Loebe, published
Gothic Calendar, all of which is written in a more at Leipzig 1836–1847. Still another work sup-
ancient Gothic handwriting. The Epistles to the posed to be from the pen of Ulphilas, has been
Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, and to Timothy, discovered by H. F. Massmann, who found it
constitute the main part of this interesting MS., and among some manuscripts belonging to the libraries
are almost entire. The titles of the Epistles are of Rome and Milan. It is an exposition of the Gos-
given at the heads of the pages on which they com- pel according to John, and has been published along
560
CELICOLÆ—COLLEGE OF AUGURS.
with a Latin version, explanatory notes, an histori- in thy saints, (or holy places, that art without ori-
çal inquiry, and à Gothic-Latin Dictionary. See ginal, the great Monarch of the world; who by thy
BIBLE.
Christ hast caused thy knowledge to be preached
CELESTIANS. See PELAGIANS.
unto us, to the acknowledgment of thy glory and
CELESTINES. See CELESTINES.
name, which he hath manifested to our understand-
CELICOLÆ (Lat. Cælum, heaven, colo, to wor- ings: look down now by him upon this thy flock,
ship), heaven-worshippers, a heretical sect which | and deliver
and deliver it from all ignorance and wicked works.
arose in the end of the fourth century in Africa. Grant that it may fear thee, and love thee, and
They are condemned by two different rescripts of tremble before the face of thy glory. Be merciful
the Emperor Honorius, but the precise nature of and propitious unto them, and hearken to their
their opinions is not known. In the Theodosian | prayers; and keep them unchangeable, unblameable,
code they are ranked as Jews, and hence some have and without rebuke: that they may be holy both in
considered them as apostates from the Christian to body and soul, not having spot or wrinkle or any
the Jewish faith, but this is far from being certain such thing; but that they may be perfect, and none
or even probable. This name was sometimes applied among them deficient or wanting in any respect. 0
by Pagans to the early Christians by way of derision thou their Defender, thou Almighty, that regardest
and reproach.
not persons, be thou the help of this thy people,
CELUS. See URANUS.
whom thou hast redeemed with the precious blood
COEMPTIO, one of the methods of contracting of thy Christ. Be thou their defence and succour,
marriages among the ancient Romans, according to their refuge and keeper, their impregnable wall,
which the parties solemnly bound themselves to each their bulwark and safety. For no one can pluck
other by the ceremony of giving and receiving a them out of thy hand. There is no other God like
piece of money. See MARRIAGE.
thee: in thee is our hope and strong consolation.
CENOBITES. See CENOBITES.
anctify them by thy truth; for thy word is truth.
COLÆNIS, a surname of ARTEMIS (which see), Thou that dost nothing out of partiality and favour,
derived from a mythical king called Colænus. thou that canst not be deceived, deliver them from
COLARBASIANS, a sect of Gnostics which sickness and infirmity, from sin, from all injury and
arose in the middle of the second century. They fraud, and from the fear of the enemy, from the ar-
were originated by Colarbasus, a scholar of Valentine row that flieth by day, and the danger that walketh
(see VALENTINIANS). They held that Christ sprang in darkness; and vouchsafe to bring them to eternal
from the thirty Æons (which see); that Jesus and life, which is in Christ thy only begotten Son, our
Christ were two distinct persons; and that the life God and Saviour; by whom be glory and worship
and generations of all men, with all human affairs, unto thee in the Holy Ghost, now and for ever,
depended on the seven 'planets. Their views were, world without end. Amen."
therefore, a strange compound of Christianity, Ju- The collects among the Latins then were the
daism, and Paganism.
same sort of prayers which the Greeks called invo-
COLIAS, a surname of APHRODITE (which see), cations and commendations, with which the bishop
derived from the Attic promontory of Colias, on concluded the prayers of the deacon and people in
which the goddess had a statue.
each distinct part of Divine service. The custom of
COLLATINES, an order of monks in Italy, repeating collects at the end of the service is of great
called also Oblates, the members of which reside in antiquity in the Church of England, being known to
a monastery, but make no vows except a promise of have prevailed before the Norman Conquest, and the
obedience. They can go abroad freely, inherit pro- | very collects now in use formed part of the devo-
perty, and are placed under few restrictions. Some tional services of the church long before the Refor-
abbeys of this description are said to be filled with mation.
ladies of rank.
COLLEGE, a union of persons for a common pur-
COLLATION, a term used where a bishop gives pose, a community. Among the ancient Romans, a
a benefice, which either he had as patron, or which college must, in order to be legal, consist at least of
came to him by lapse.
three persons, who were considered as forming a cor-
COLLATION, the name given in the Romish porate body, entitled to privileges somewhat similar to
church to the spare meal taken on days of abstinence, corporations among ourselves, such as holding com-
consisting chiefly of bread, vegetables, or fruits, but mon property, having a common purse, and being
without animal food.
treated in law as a legal unity. A collegium was
COLLECT, the name applied in the early Chris- sometimes called also a universitas. The phrase is
tian church to the invocation, which was called col- sometimes used, "a college of bishops," which is re-
lecta or collect, because it was a collection or repe- garded in England as necessary to the consecration
tition of all the prayers of the people. Bingham of a new bishop, and the college must, as in Roman
gives it as the form runs in the Constitutions, thus : law, consist of not less than three prelates.
“ O Lord Almighty and most High, thou that COLLEGE OF AUGURS, the institution of
dwellest in the highest
, thou Holy One that restest soothsayers among the ancient heathens. It is
COLLEGE DE PROPAGANDA FIDE-COLLEGIANTS.
561
DRIM.
traced as far back as the very commencement of the been established by Gregory XV. See CONGREGA-
Roman history, Romulus having appointed a college TION DE PROPAGANDA FIDE.
of three, to which he afterwards added two. By the COLLEGE OF THE SEVENTY. See SANHE-
Ogulnian law passed B. C. 300, the number of augurs
was increased to nine, of whom five were chosen by COLLEGES OF PIETY, a name given to meet-
the plebs. The dictator Sulla increased them to ings for the revival of religion in Germany, which
fifteen, a number which continued till the time of were set up by Philip James Spener at Frankfort in
Augustus, when the power of electing augurs being 1670, first in his own house, and afterwards also in the
vested in the Emperor himself, the number of the church. The special object of these meetings was
college was regulated solely by the imperial will. to bring about more cordial friendship among those
The college of augurs possessed far greater power in who were seeking to edify their souls, and at the same
the earlier than in the later period of the Roman his time to render the public preaching of God's word
tory. Thus, though the election of the college was more profitable, by explaining the sermons delivered,
at first intrusted to the comitia curiata, or assembly by catechising, by lectures on the Holy Scriptures,
of the patricians, the augurs themselves were regu- with prayer and singing. The appellation Colleges
larly consulted before the election was considered of Piety was derived from Holland, where there was
complete. At length, as their influence became a party who, from their meetings for worship which
greater, they obtained the power of self-election, they called collegia, were denominated collegiants.
which they continued to exercise until B.C. 103, The Frankfort meetings, though originated from the
when, by the Domitian law, it was decreed that any best of motives, and attended with benefit to many,
vacancy in the college of augurs should be filled up were not long in being imitated by others, who, want-
by the voter of a minority of the tribes chosen by ing the prudence of Spener, conducted matters so
lot. This law underwent various changes, having | unwisely as to lead to great abuses. On some occa-
been repealed by Sulla, and restored during the con- sions no minister was present to regulate the pro-
sulship of Cicero, B.C. 63; repealed a second time ceedings, and, accordingly, the utmost irregularity
by Antony, and again revived at an after period. prevailed. At other times every one was allowed to
The introduction of Christianity proved in the high-speak, and, as a natural consequence, heretical opi.
est degree unfavourable to the art of divination, and nions were often broached, and enthusiasm took the
though the utmost efforts were made by the augurs place of sobriety and sincere devotion. In small vil-
themselves to maintain their influence, the college lages the meetings were generally conducted with
was finally abolished by the Emperor Theodosius. great propriety, but in large towns, as in Hamburg
See AUGURS.
for example, there were frequent commotions. The
COLLEGE DE PROPAGANDA FIDE, a col- most unseemly disturbances also took place at Erfurth,
lege instituted at Rome by Pope Urban VIII. in Dantzic, Wolfenbüttel, Gotha, and even at Halle in
1627. In this seminary young men from all nations Saxony. Finding that unexpected results had followed
are educated as Romish missionaries, with the view from the institution of his Colleges of Piety, Spener
of diffusing the doctrines of the Roman Church in suppressed those which he himself had set up.
foreign nations. The college owed its institution to Others followed his example, but in some cases the
John Baptist Viles, or as some allege, Vives, a Spa- meetings were continued, and people began to fre-
niard residing at Rome. He surrendered all his pos- quent them to the entire neglect of public worship,
sessions and property, including his very elegant and thus the good which Spener sought to do was
mansion, into the hands of the pontiff, and by this evil spoken of, and his benevolent attempts to intro-
munificent gift he founded the College de Propa- duce a higher tone of piety among his countrymen
ganda Fide, establishing as the commencement of the were perverted into means of injuring the holy cause
undertaking ten scholarships for youth from foreign which he had so warmly at heart. See PIETISTIC
lands. Cardinal Barberini, the Pope's brother, in CONTROVERSY.
1637 and 1638, added thirty-one more scholarships COLLEGIANTS, a Christian sect which arose in
for Georgians, Persians, Nestorians, Jacobites, Mel- | Holland in 1619, when the Arminian dispute was at
chites, Copts, Abyssinians, and Indians; and in de- its height. It was originated by three brothers, John
fect of these, for Armenians from Poland, Russia, and James, Hadrian, and Gisbert Koddeus or Van der
Constantinople. The condition on which Barberini | Kodde, humble, but pious men, holding Arminian
gave this splendid endowment was, that the scholars principles. Joined by one Anthony Cornelius, they
who should partake of his bounty, should pledge held meetings which they called collegia, and hence
themselves to become missionaries among their own the sect acquired the name of Collegiants. The
countrymen, or to go wherever the Congregation de only test of admission to the society was a belief in
Propaganda Fide should order them. The College the Bible as inspired of God, and an earnest desire
was at first placed under the authority of three can- and endeavour to live conformably to its precepts,
ons of the three patriarchal churches at Rome, but whatever might be their opinions on the various doc-
since the year 1641 it has been under the con- trines of the Christian religion. The brethren are
trol to which we have just referred, and which had | accustomed to assemble twice a-week, on Sabbath
I.
2
1
562
COLLEGIUM ÆSCULAPII ET HYGEIÆ-COLLOCATIO.
and Wednesday, for religious exercises. On these | Christianity, they maintained that reason opposed
occasions they commence the service with singing a to religion, but that we ought, nevertheless, to be-
hymn and offering up a prayer, after which a pas- ) lieve in the religion contained in the New Testa-
sage of Scripture is read and explained, two persons ment Scriptures against the most evident and the
having been appointed to expound it, and then any most conclusive mathematical demonstrations. It is
male person in the assembly is freely permitted to plain, then, that the brothers Bredenburg must have
offer his thoughts to the brethren. Thus a contro- held, that what is false in theology may be true in
versy often arises at their meetings. They have philosophy, and vice versa, what is a religious truth
printed lists of the texts which are to be discussed at may be a philosophical error, and even a mathema-
their meetings, so that the brethren have it in their tical absurdity. This strange, contradictory system
power to give their opinions after careful previous of opinion was opposed by Francis Cuiper, a book-
preparation. At Rheinsberg they have large build- seller of Amsterdam, in a work entitled " Arcana
ings destined for the education of orphan children, Atheismi Detecta,' or the Secrets of Atheism De-
and for the reception of strangers, and in that place tected. The controversy waxed warm on both sides;
the brethren assemble twice a-year, spending four other minor contests arose about the same time ; and
days successively in meetings for mutual encourage- the result of the whole was, that the Collegiants, in
ment and edification, as well as for the celebration 1686, were divided into two opposing sects, which
of the Lord's Supper. On these occasions, also, the held their assemblies in separate buildings at Rheins-
ordinance of baptism is administered to those who berg. In the beginning, however, of the eighteenth
wish it; but the ceremony is invariably performed century, when the heads of the opposing factions
by total immersion. The Collegiants in Friesland had disappeared from the scene, the schism began
assemble once a-year at Leeuwarden for the same to heal, and the Collegiants returned to their former
purposes as their brethren who meet at Rheinsberg. harmony. They continue to this day to observe the
From the lax terms of admission among the Colle- same modes of worship, and though far from being
giants, they are drawn from all sects, and consist of
so numerous as they once were, still hold their meet-
men of the most widely opposite opinions. They ings without any fixed pastors, and practise bap-
account no man a heretic on account of his opinions, | tism by immersion.
but solely on account of vicious and immoral con- COLLEGIATI. See COPIATÆ.
duct.
COLLEGIUM ÆSCULAPII ET HYGEIÆ.
When the sect of Collegiants was first instituted | The college of Æsculapius and of Hygeia was among
Arminianism was at a low ebb in Holland, having the ancient Romans a congregation of sixty persons,
been formally condemned by the synod of Dort, and who, at certain days in the year, met at an appointed
the ministers who held its tenets being prohibited place to offer sacrifices in behalf of those who were
from promulgating them. The brothers Van der willing to implore the help of the god and goddess of
Kodde, accordingly, opened private meetings or clubs health.
called collegia. The first was held at the village of COLLEGIUM DENDROPHORIUM, the col-
Warmand, where one of the brothers lived, and after lege of the Dendrophori. It is difficult to ascertain
a short time the meetings were transferred to Rheins- with certainty who these people were. The word is
berg, a small village near Leyden, from which the derived from two Greek words, dendron, a tree, and
Collegiants received the name of Rheinsbergers. Si- | phero, to carry. Hence Salmasius thinks, that, by
milar meetings were instituted at other places in Hol- the Dendrophori were meant those men who, in the
land, and the sect rapidly increased until it became processions made in honour of the gods, carried
a large body. They professed to tolerate all opi- branches of trees. From the following passage in
nions, however extravagant and openly opposed the Theodosian code, however, it would appear that
to the plainest declarations of Scripture. Yet, they were a class of heathens : “It is just that all
notwithstanding the tolerant spirit by which they the places which the Dendrophori and other hea-
were avowedly actuated, a controversy arose in thens have possessed, and were appointed for keep-
1672 in the sect of the Collegiants, which raged ing of feasts and distribution of money, be applied to
with the utmost bitterness for a considerable time.
the revenues of our house, having beforehand ban-
The parties were on the one side, John and Paul ished the error which had first given birth to them.”
Bredenburg, merchants of Rotterdam, and on the COLLOCATIO, a custom which existed among
other side, Abraham Lemmermann and Francis the ancient Greeks and Romans, on the death of any
Cuiper, merchants of Amsterdam. The brothers individual, of laying out the corpse on a bed with a
Bredenburg openly taught the doctrine of Spinosa, pillow for supporting the head and back. It was
and demonstrated its accordance with reason ma- placed at one time outside the house, but afterwards
thematically. With strange inconsistency they at the threshold, the design being, as Plato alleged,
avowed their belief in Christianity as being of Di- to give ocular proof that the person was really dead,
vine origin, recommending and defending it in the or, as is more likely to have been the reason, to show
meetings of the Collegiants. To reconcile such | that the death had been natural, not caused by vio-
opposite and contradictory systems as Spinosism and lence. By the side of the corpse was laid a honey-
COLLUTHIANS-COLLYVA.
563
l'us.
cake, which was said to be meant as a gift to Cerbe- | Israelites kneading their dough “ to make cakes to
Beside the bed were arranged painted earthen the queen of heaven," which appears to have been
vessels, which were buried with the corpse. The from early times an idolatrous practice. The Col-
collocatio continued for two days, and on the third lyrides of the Pagans having been transferred, in the
it was carried out for burial. See FUNERAL RITES. fourth century, to the worship of the Virgin Mary,
COLLUTHIANS, a heretical sect which arose in gave name to a small sect in Arabia. See next Ar-
the fourth century, founded by Colluthus, a presby- ticle.
ter of Alexandria. He seems to have approached in COLLYRIDIANS, a sect which arose towards
his opinions to the tenets of the Manicheans, hold- the end of the fourth century, maintaining that the
ing that God did not create the wicked, and that he | Virgin Mary ought to be worshipped and appeased
was not the author of the evils that befall men. Col- with libations, sacrifices, and offerings of collyrides
luthus was deposed by the council of Alexandria, or cakes. They appear to have been a sect of wo-
A. D. 324, and died before A. D. 340. The sect ex.. men, who came from Thrace and settled in Arabia,
isted but for a short time.
looking upon themselves as priestesses of Mary. On
COLLOBIUM (Gr. kolobos, short), a garment a set day, consecrated to her as a festival, they car-
which some ancient authors affirm was worn by | ried about in chariots, similar to those which the
bishops and presbyters in the primitive ages of the Pagans used in their religious processions, cakes or
Christian church. It was a short tunic or coat with- wafers dedicated to Mary, which they first presented
out long sleeves, thus differing from the dalmatica, to her as sacred offerings, and then ate them.
which was the long coat with sleeves. Both these vest- Neander considers this ceremony to have been de-
ments were used by the Romans, though the collobium | rived from the Pagan worship of Ceres, and that the
was the more common, ancient and honourable gar- customary bread-offerings at the Thesmophoria or
ment, which was afterwards permitted, by the laws heathen feast of the harvest, in honour of Ceres, had
of Theodosius the Great, to be worn by senators been changed for such offerings in honour of Mary.
within the walls of Constantinople. It is probable, Mosheim, also, supposes the Collyridians to have been
therefore, that when a bishop or a presbyter is said heathen converts, who, while they were mere Pagans, ,
to wear a collobiuin, it means nothing more than had been accustomed to bake, and present to the god-
that he wore a common Roman garment.
dess Venus or Astarte, certain cakes which were called
COLLYRIDES (Gr. cakes), a species of cakes collyrides, and now that they had become Christians
of kneaded dough, which, from very ancient times, they thought this honour might be best shown to
were offered to the gods as sacred gifts from the no- Mary. The Collyridians were opposed by the AN-
tion which the heathen in all ages have entertained, TIDICOMARIANITES (which see), who, instead of re-
that what was gratifying to the sons of men, must be garding Mary as a goddess, held that she was not
pleasing and acceptable to the gods. Besides, it has always virgin, but had other children after the birth
been imagined, by the ignorant in every age, that the of Jesus. See Mary (Virgin).
inhabitants of heaven stood in need of food and drink COLLYVA, an oblation used in the Greek church
like those of earth. The Hebrews offered cakes in in commemoration of the resurrection of the dead.
the temple made with wheat or barley, kneaded with It forms a portion of the funeral solemnities of the
oil, and sometimes with honey. The Egyptians modern Greeks. The latest account of the Collyva
made offerings of cakes to their deities in behalf of has been given by Mr. Henry M. Baird, an intelli-
deceased relatives. Cecrops directed cakes to be gent traveller, in his recent work, entitled Modern
offered to Zeus at Athens. Herodotus informs us, Greece.' We quote the passage.
66 In modern Greece
that the Persians offered consecrated cakes to their several successive Fridays are set apart as especially
gods. The immolation or consecration of a victim devoted to the dead. The bell of the little church of
among the ancient Romans consisted partly in cast- St. Nicholas Rangaves, situated at the very base of
ing of corn and frankincense, together with the the Acropolis, attracted my attention on one of these
salsa mola made with bran or meal mixed with occasions.
occasions. Upon entering the church-a small edi-
salt, upon the head of the beast. Cakes were spe- fice scarce exceeding in size an ordinary room—I
cially used in the worship of certain deities, as in found a few persons waiting for the commencement
that of Apollo. They were either simple cakes of of the services; the men and boys standing near the
flour, sometimes also of wax, or they were made in altar, while the women as usual remained somewhat
the shape of some animal, and were then offered as further off. Ever and anon soine person would come
symbolical sacrifices in the place of real animals, in carrying a small dish covered with a napkin, and,
either because they could not easily be procured, or after devoutly crossing himself, placed the dish upon
were too expensive for the sacrifices. On the second the floor in front of the screen of the hieron or holy
day of the festival called Thesmophoria, celebrated place. These plates contained a peculiar sort of
in various parts of Greece in honour of Demeter, the cake, which is called Collyva. It is, in fact, an offer-
womer sat on the ground around the statue of the ing made to the manes of the dead, and can certainly
goddess, and took no other food than cakes made of claim a Pagan rather than a Christian origin. It is
sesame and honey. In Jer. vii. 17, we read of the carefully made, the principal ingredients being boiled
564
COLORITES—COMMENDATORY LETTERS.
DAY.
wheat and currants. The surface of the top is or- COMBAT (JUDICIAL). See BATTLE (TRIAL BY).
namented with various degrees of neatness, by means COMFORTED (THE), one of the two classes, the
of the eatable red grains of the pomegranates or al- consolati or comforted, and the fæderati or confederat-
monds, or anything of the kind. These cakes were ed, into which the Manichean congregations were an-
sent by the relatives of those who had died within a ciently divided. The ALBIGENSES (which see) clas-
year or two, and if handsome, were allowed to remain sified their people in precisely the same way, and
before the chancel. If more commonly prepared, the" comforted” in the Albigensian church led a life
the contents were thrown together into a basket. In of
every plate of collyva, and in every basket, were
e COMMANDRIES, the name given to the houses
stuck a number of little lighted waxen tapers, which of the knights hospitallers, an order of ecclesiastical
burned during the service. The notion of the com- knighthood which was instituted in the twelfth cen-
mon people respecting this usage, was expressed to tury.
me by a person whom I asked to explain its pur- COMMATRES (Lat. con, together, and mater, a
port. "The soul of the deceased,' said he, 'for mother), a term sometimes used in ancient writers to
whom the collyva is offered, comes down during the denote sponsors in baptism.
service, and eats a single grain of the wheat.'” This COMMEMORATION OF THE DEAD. See
observance of the Greeks is probably of Pagan ori- DEAD (COMMEMORATION OF THE).
gin. It is well known that among the ancient Ro.. COMMEMORATIONS, a word used in the
mans there was a festival called Feralia, which was church of Rome to denote the combination of the
held in the latter end of the month of February, | service of some holyday of lesser note with the ser-
when food was wont to be carried to the sepulchres vice of some Sunday or greater holyday on which
for the use of the dead. The Inferiæ and Parenta- the lesser holyday happens to fall. In all such cases
lia were of the same description, showing that among the Breviary enjoins that the hymns, verses, and
the ancient heathens, as among several modern na: some other parts of the service of the lesser holyday
tions, the manes of the dead are thought to be able should be added to those of the greater. See HOLY-
to partake of the enjoyments of the living. The
Chinese (See Ancestors, WORSHIP OF), present COMMENDAM, an ecclesiastical term used in
offerings to the dead, and hold imaginary intercourse England to denote a living commended by the crown
with them. See FUNERAL RITES.
to the care of a clergyman until a proper pastor has
COLORITES, a congregation of Augustinian | been appointed to it. Such interim appointments
monks, founded in the sixteenth century by Bernard have for some time been seldom or never granted to
of Rogliano in Calabria. The name of this order is any but bishops, who, when their bishoprics were of
said to have been drawn from Colorito, a hill in the small value, have, on some occasions, been allowed
Neapolitan territory on which there is a church de- | by special dispensation to hold their benefices, which,
dicated to the holy Virgin. The order was not fully on their promotion, passed into the hands of the
established till 1591, and a few years after they sovereign.
avowed submission to the general of the Augustin
COMMENDATIONS, one of the names given in
hermits. Their habit consisted of a dark-coloured the Latin church to COLLECTS (which see).
gown, and a mantle which reached only to their knees. COMMENDATORY LETTERS. In the early
COLPIA, in the cosmogony of the ancient Phoe- Christian church no Christian would venture to tra-
nicians, as explained by Sanchoniathon, the name of vel without taking with him letters of credence from
the wind, from which, as well as from his wife, his own bishop, if he meant to communicate with
Baau or Night, arose Life or Æon, and the First the Christian church in a foreign country. The let-
Bera or creation. The meaning of this myth, ac- ters, which were called commendatory, were such as
cording to Rougemont, is, that the voice or Spirit of were only granted to persons of quality, or else per-
God (Colpia), in moving over the formless and empty sons whose reputation had been called in question, or
earth (Baau), has given rise, in the first place, to life clergymen who had occasion to travel into foreign
in material things.
countries. Persons travelling without these letters
COMBADAXUS, a deity worshipped in Japan. might partake of the charity of the church in a foreign
He was a bonze or priest, of whom the following country, but were refused permission to sit down at
strange story is told. When he was about eighty the Lord's table. Dr. Sherlock says, in his treatise
years old, he ordered a magnificent temple to be on Church Unity, “The ancient discipline was very
built, and pretending to be weary of life, he gave out severe in admitting strangers who were unknown to
that he would retire into a cavern and sleep for ten them, to the communion, lest they should admit here-
thousand millions of years; after which he would tics or schisinatics, or excommunicated persons; and,
come to life again. Accordingly, he went into the therefore, if any such came who could not produce
cavern, the mouth of which was immediately sealed their recommendatory letters, but pretended to have
up. The Japanese believe that he is still alive, and lost them by the way, they were neither admitted to
therefore celebrate a festival in his honour, and in- communion nor wholly refused, but, if occasion were,
voke him as a god.
maintained by the church till such letters could be
.
COMMENDATORY PRAYER/COMMON PRAYER.
565
procured from the church from whence they came, and partly of some of a later original accommodated
which was called the communio peregrina.” In the to the Romish church. Compiled at Rome, where
apostolical canons it was expressly provided, that if the Latin tongue was spoken, the prayers had re-
any strange bishops, presbyters, or deacoris, travelled mained untranslated, even though the Latin had be-
without commendatory letters, they should neither come a dead language. In 1547 the Convocation,
be allowed to preach nor be received to communion, and afterwards the Parliament, took into their con-
but only have what was necessary to answer their sideration the subject of the communion, the Roman-
present wants, that is, a charitable subsistence. ists having withheld the cup from the laity ever
COMMENDATORY PRAYER, a name given to since the council of Constance in 1414, on pretence
the morning thanksgiving, as it is called in the con- that part of the transubstantiated wine was in danger
stitutions, which was offered by the bishop or pas- of being spilt. A change, however, on this point,
tor in the early Christian church towards the close had come over the minds of Christian men in Eng-
of the morning service. The prayer, as given by land, and an authoritative act was passed, first by the
Bingham in his Christian Antiquities,' is as fol- | clergy, and then by the Legislature, enjoining all
lows: “O God, the God of spirits and of all flesh, persons to receive the sacrament in both kinds. The
with whom no one can compare, whom no one can reformation of the communion led immediately to
approach, that givest the sun to govern the day, and other improvements. Among these, one of the most
the moon and stars to govern the night; look down important was the appointment of a committee of
upon us with the eyes of thy favour, and receive our
the clergy to prepare
an uniform order for the com-
morning thanksgivings, and have mercy on us. For munion according to the rules of Scripture, and the
we have not spread forth our hands to any strange use of the primitive church." This having been
god. For there is not any new god among us, but accomplished to the satisfaction of the public gen-
thou, our eternal and immortal God, who hast given erally, the same persons were empowered in 1548
us our being through Christ, and our well-being by another commission to compose a new Liturgy,
through him also. Vouchsafe by him to bring us to which was completed in a few months, and included
everlasting life; with whom unto thee be glory, the new office for the communion. The committee
honour, and adoration, in the Holy Ghost, world to whom this task had been intrustéd, was presided
without end. Amen.' The African councils speak over by Archbishop Cranmer, and included eleven of
of prayers used at the funerals of the dead, which the most eminent clergymen of the period, including
were also called conimendatory prayers, being such Ridley the martyr. Drawn up by a body of men so
as were offered when the body was committed to the highly qualified for the task, the Liturgy was ap-
ground.
proved, confirmed, and published by the King and
COMMINATION, a public denunciation or threat- Parliament, and is called “The First Book of Ed-
ening of God's vengeance upon sinners. There is an ward VI.'
ancient office, called the Commination, in the Church In the course of three years after its preparation,
of England, which is appointed to be read on the first Cranmer proposed to revise the Liturgy, and having
day of Lent or Ash-Wednesday, and at other times called to his aid Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr, two
as the ordinary shall appoint.
eminent Continental divines, he produced a new edi-
COMMINISTRI, the presbyters in the early tion, with considerable alterations, consisting chiefly of
Christian church who assisted in the administration the addition of the sentences, exhortation, confession,
of the sacraments. Subsequently they regularly and absolution at the beginning of the morning and
administered the ordinances themselves. See PRES- evening services; which in the first Common Prayer
Book began with the Lord's Prayer. The other
COMMISSARY, an officer in the Church of Eng- changes were the removing of some ceremonies con-
land who exercises ecclesiastical jurisdiction in tained in the former book; as the use of oil in bap-
places of the diocese so far distant from the chief tism; the unction of the sick; prayers for souls de-
city, that the chancellor cannot summon the people parted; omitting the order for mixing water with the
to the bishop's principal consistory court without wine, and several others. The vestments also pre-
great inconvenience to them.
scribed by the former book were directed to be dis-
COMMON PRAYER (BOOK OF), the liturgy of used, and the practice of kneeling at the sacrament
the Church of England, to the use of which in public was explained. In this improved form the Liturgy
worship, every clergyman is bound by the Act of V'ni- was again confirmed by Parliament in 1552, and thus
formity to adhere; and, besides, he subscribes a de- amended, it is frequently called The Second Book
claration to the effect, “That he himself will use the of Edward VI. In the following year both this and
form in the said Book prescribed, in public prayer and the former act were repealed, Queen Mary, who had
administration of the sacraments, and none other.” now succeeded to the throne, being resolved to re-
Previous to the reign of Edward VI., when the Liturgy store Romanism in England. This state of matters,
was first performed in English, the ritual had con- however, was but of short duration, for in 1559, soon
sisted of a collection of Latin prayers, made up partly after the accession of Elizabeth, a statute passed the
of some ancient forms used in the primitive church, Legislature restoring the English service; and an-
BYTERS.
566
COMMUNION.
other committee of learned divines was appointed to The strictest adherence to this prescribed formulary
review King Edward's Liturgies, and to frame from of the Church of England is enjoined by the canons on
them a Book of Common Prayer for the use of the all the clergy. Thus it is expressly declared in the
Church of England. In the list of commissioners on fourth canon : “Whosoever shall affirm, that the form
this important occasion, occurs the name of Matthew of God's worship in the Church of England, establish-
Parker, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury; but ed by law, and contained in the Book of Common
the chief management of the undertaking is supposed Prayer and administration of the sacraments, is a
to have devolved upon Mr. Edward Guest, a very corrupt, superstitious, or unlawful worship of God, or
learned man, and subsequently almoner to the Queen containeth any thing in it that is repugnant to the
and Bishop of Salisbury. At the outset the diffi- Scriptures; let him be excommunicated ipso facto,
culty arose, which of the two former Liturgies ought and not restored but by the bishop of the place, or
to be received. This point occasioned considerable archbishop, after his repentance and public revoca-
discussion; but at length King Edward's Second tion of such his wicked errors.” And again, “If any
Book was adopted, and its use was accordingly au- ininister, after he has subscribed to the Book of
thorized by Parliament; with the addition of certain Common Prayer, shall omit to use the form of
Lessons to be read on every Sunday in the year, the prayer, or any of the orders or ceremonies prescribed
form of the Litany altered and revised, and two sen- in the Communion Book, let him be suspended; and
tences added in delivering the sacrament. The al-
The al- | if after a month he does not reform and submit him-
teration in the Litany consisted in omitting the self, let him be excommunicated; and then, if he
words, "From the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome shall not submit himself within the space of another
and all his detestable enormities,” which occurred in month, let him be deposed from the ministry.”
both the books of King Edward : and the adding The Scotch Episcopal Church, since the days of
these words to the first petition for the Queen, Queen Anne, have adopted the Book of Common
Strengthen in the true worshipping of thee in righ- | Prayer, and use it not only in the Morning and
teousness and holiness of life.” The sentences insert- Evening services, but also in the occasional offices,
ed at the delivery of the sacrament consisted of “the except when celebrating the eucharist, on which oc-
body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for casion the Scotch communion office is generally
thee;" and “The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ read.
which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul The Protestant Episcopal Church of America
to everlasting life." These were adopted out of adopted in 1789 a somewhat modified form of the
King Edward's first book, and were the whole forms Book of Common Prayer, differing in several parti-
then in use; though they were omitted in the second, culars from the service book of the Church of Eng-
the form of which was also adopted. A few other land. 1. A shorter form of absolution is allowed to
variations from this second book were also made. be used instead of the English one, which, however,
Thus an alteration was introduced into the direction is retained, and is most generally recited in divine
concerning the chancels and proper places for read-service. 2. The Athanasian Creed is omitted, while
ing divine service; the vestments ordered in the the Nicene Creed is retained. 3. In the office of
first book were restored; two prayers for the Queen baptism, the sign of the cross may be dispensed with
and clergy were added to the end of the Litany; and if requested. 4. The marriage service has been con-
a note at the end of the communion service explana- siderably abridged. 5. In the funeral service some
tory of the presence was omitted. The design of expressions in the English Prayer Book, which have
this last alteration was to promote uniformity, in ac- been considered liable to misconstruction, are altered
cordance with the Queen's wishes, and, therefore, the or omitted. In addition to these alterations, a
question as to the real presence of Christ in the sa- change was of course introduced into the prayers for
crament was left as an indeterminate point. The rulers, in consequence of the peculiar form of gov-
Book of Common Prayer thus completed, continued ernment in the United States. There may be also a
in use until the first year of James I., when some few other verbal changes of minor importance which
forms of thanksgiving were added, and the Cate- it is unnecessary to mention.
chism was enlarged on the subject of the sacraments.
COMMUNION. This word in its strict accepta-
In the reign of Charles II., the Liturgy was again tion implies the sharing of something along with an-
slightly altered, and unanimously subscribed by both other, and in a more general sense, agreement, fel-
Houses of Convocation of both provinces, on the lowship or friendly intercourse. Hence the word
20th December, 1661. And in the same year, the communion is used by a very natural transition to
Parliament passed the Act of Uniformity in Public denote the Lord's Supper, which is a fellowship or
Worship, which is binding upon all ministers of the participation on the part of believers in the great
Church of England; and although various proposals benefits aceruing from the broken body and shed
have been made from time to time to revise the Book blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In its wider and
of Common Prayer, it remains to this day in precisely more extended signification, conimunion is held by
the same state in which it was left by the Second the believer when at the Lord's table with the whole
Charles.
body of Christ's people, who are all equally inter-
COMMUNION.
567
sent age.
ested in his death; but in its narrower and more That a reception to church fellowship of all such as
restricted meaning, it denotes fellowship with a par- God has received, notwithstanding a diversity of
ticular congregation or community of Christians. opinion and practice in matters not essential to sal-
Accordingly the term communion is sometimes used vation, is expressly enjoined in the New Testament.
to signify any limited sect or denomination of Chris. Rom. xiv. 1–5; xv. 1,5—7.
Rom. xiv. 14-5; xv. 1, 5—7. 6. That to withhold
tians. So strong, however, was the impression of the Lord's supper from those with whom we unite
the early Christians, that the Lord's Supper was a in other acts of Christian worship, is a palpable in-
feast of communion with the whole of Christ's peo- consistency. And lastly, That it is as impolitic as
ple, that they held it might be celebrated by the it is illiberal; being calculated to awaken a powerful
absent as well as the present; and, accordingly, they prejudice, and place beyond the reach of conviction
were in the habit of sending by the hands of the our Pedobaptist brethren, and to engender among
deacons portions of the sacred elements to their bre- the Baptists themselves a narrow and sectarian feel-
thren, who from sickness or imprisonment were un- ing, wholly opposed to the enlarged spirit of the pre-
able to attend.
COMMUNION (CLERICAL), an expression which COMMUNION (INFANT). The custom prevailed
sometimes occurs in early Christian writers, and is for many ages in the Christian church of administer-
intended in opposition to Lay Communion (see ing the communion to infants; and as persons at so
COMMUNION, LAY), to denote the full exercise of all early an age were incapable of eating the bread, the
the duties of the clerical office. Hence, when a practice was early adopted of dipping it in wine, and
clergyman was for any offence deprived of clerical pressing a drop or two into the mouth of the babe.
communion, he was excluded from those special | The reason which Cyprian assigned for this custom
honours and privileges which belong to the sacred was, “ that the grace of God bestowed upon the sub-
function. This was called also ecclesiastical com-jects of baptism was given without measure, and
munion. See LORD'S SUPPER.
without any limitation as to age.” Augustine
COMMUNION (FREE). The churches and Chris strongly advocates this practice, and in its favour he
tian communities which adhere to the practice of adduces John vi. 53, “Except ye eat the flesh of the
free, catholic, open or mixed communion, are such as Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life' in
hold that the evidence of Christian character is the you," a passage which was afterwards quoted with
only indispensable prerequisite to admission to the the same application by Paschasius Radbert in the
Lord's Table. About forty years since, an earnest ninth century. From the period of the general in-
discussion arose in England between the Baptists troduction of infant baptism, the Lord's Supper con-
and Pædobaptists as to what are usually described tinued to be administered to all who had been bap-
as the terms of communion, or the special conditions tized, whether infants or adults. The custom of in-
of admission to the Lord's Supper. The controversy fant communion prevailed for several centuries. It
chiefly turned upon the point whether or not bap- is mentioned in the third council of Tours, A. D. 813,
tism was an essential prerequisite. The doctrine of and even the council of Trent, A. D. 1545, instead of
free communion was advocated by Mr. Robert Hall, discountenancing it, only declared that it should not
while Mr. Fuller entered the lists as the champion be considered essential to salvation. It is still
of strict, close, primitive, or church communion. scrupulously observed by the Greek church.
The argument was conducted with great ability on COMMUNION (LAY). It was accounted in the
both sides. The positions which Mr. Hall maintained primitive Christian church the highest privilege of a
in support of his view of the subject were briefly layman to partake of the communion ; but it was a
these : “1. The baptism of John was a separate insti- severe rebuke for any one who held the clerical office
tution from that appointed by Christ after his resur- to be again degraded to the condition of a layman,
rection; from which it follows that the Lord's sup- and to be required to communicate as a layman at
per was anterior to Christian baptism, and that the the table of the Lord. This was regarded as a kind
original communicants consisted entirely of such as of mitigated excommunication. The man on whom
had not received that ordinance. 2. That there is the church inflicted this punishment for any offence,
no such connexion, either in the nature of things, or was excluded from the body of the clergy, and re-
by the divine institution, between baptism and the duced to the condition of a layman, and his partak-
eucharist, as renders it, under all circumstances, in- | ing of the Lord's Supper was termed a lay commu-
dispensable that the former should precede the lat- nion. Bellarmine alleges, that such a communion
ter. 3. That admitting this to be the prescribed was only in one kind, such being the meaning at
order, and to be sanctioned by the uniform practice present attached to the expression lay communion
of the apostles, the case of pious Pedobaptists is a in the Church of Rome. But this is taking for
new case, calling for some peculiar treatment, in granted that the practice of denying the cup to the
which we ought to regard rather the spirit than the laity existed in the early Christian church, while
letter of apostolic precedent. 4. That a schism in there is not the slightest trace of it to be found in
the church, the mystical body of Christ, is deprecat- the ancient writers. Other authors again limit the
ed in the New Testament as the greatest evil. 5. meaning of lay communion to the punishment of
568
COMMUNION.
being compelled to communicate among laymen walk and conversation were scriptural and indispen-
outside the rails of a chancel. Such a restriction of sable terms of communion. In the keen controversy
its signification, however, is wholly unwarranted, and which took place a number of years ago in the Bap-
the only adequate idea of what is involved in reduc-tist churches of England, the doctrine of Strict Com-
ing a clergyman to lay communion, is the totally munion was ably supported by Mr. J. G. Fuller, in
degrading him, and depriving him of his orders, that his Conversations on Strict and Mixed Communion.'
is, of his clerical office and function, and reducing The chief positions which he seeks to establish, in
him to the simple condition of a layman. In this conducting the argument against Mr. Hall, are
case they were not only deprived of the order and briefly these : “1. That all the arguments which are
office, the power and authority, but even of the used to destroy the identity of baptism as practised
name and title of clergymen. They were accord-by John and the apostles before the death of Christ,
ingly, after such a sentence, reputed and treated as with that practised afterwards, amount only to proof
private Christians, wholly divested of all their former of a circumstantial not an essential difference, and
dignity and clerical powers and privileges. Very cannot therefore warrant the inferences of Mr. Hall
few instances are on record of clergymen thus de- in any one point.--2. That the commission of our
graded being recalled to the clerical office again, Lord (Matth. xxviii. 19, 20), furnishes the same evi-
which indeed was never done but upon some great dence that baptism is an indispensable prerequisite
emergency or very pressing reason.
to external church fellowship, as that faith is an in-
COMMUNION SERVICE, the office in the dispensable prerequisite to baptism.-3. That the
liturgy of the Church of England, for the adıninis- uniform example of the apostles is an inspired ex-
tration of the eucharist or sacrament of the Lord's planation of the commission under which they acted,
Supper. It was extracted out of several ancient lit- and a pattern intended for the instruction of the
urgies, as those of St. Basil, St. Ambrose, and St. church in all succeeding ages.—4. That strict confor--
Gregory, but considerably modified by Martin Bu- mity to the commission of Christ, thus explained, is
cer, who was brought over from Germany to assist not schism, but the only possible mode of restoring
in revising the Liturgy. At one time the commu- and perpetuating Christian union.—5. That the mu-
nion service was used in a distinct form, and at a dif- tual forbearance enjoined on Christians in the New
ferent time from the morning prayer, and Bishop Testament related to matters of real indifference, not
Overall attributes it to the negligence of the minis involving the surrender of any positive institution of
ters and carelessness of the people, that they have Christ; and is therefore inapplicable to the present
been combined into one office. It is appointed by case.—6. That to unite with Pædobaptist brethren in
the rubric to be read, in part at least, on every Sun- all such acts of worship and benevolent effort as do
day and holiday.
not imply an abandonment of the commission, is not
The communion office of the Scottish Episcopal an inconsistency, but the dictate of Christian charity.
Church differs from the communion office of the -And, lastly, That to whatever imputations a strict
Prayer Book of the Church of England. It main- adherence to the commission of Christ may subject
tains the doctrine of the commemorative sacrifice of the Baptist churches, it is better to suffer them than
the holy eucharist, and asserts that Christ is verily to sin ; and that a deviation in deference to modern
and indeed present in the Lord's Supper, and taken error, however conscientiously maintained, is neither
and received by the faithful. The Book of Common charity nor Christian wisdom, since whatever is right
Prayer has been universally adopted among the is wise.' Christians may cordially unite in the evan-
Scotch Episcopalians since 1712, and has been uni- gelization of the world, but they do not, nor can they
formly used not only in the morning and evening without a change of sentiments, unite in the consti-
services, but also in all the occasional offices except- tution of their churches."
ing the celebration of the eucharist, when the Scotch COMMUNION (TERMS Or). Our Lord, in in-
communion office is generally adopted. This office, stituting the ordinance of the Supper, showed clearly
the use of which is entirely limited to the body for for whom it was intended by administering it to
which it was composed, was authorized by Charles his disciples. If we examine the corresponding
I., and is formed on the model of the office in the ordinance under the Old Testament, which is
first Liturgy of Edward VI.
well known to have been the Passover, we shall
COMMUNION (STRICT). The general opinion find that its administration was limited to the Is-
and practice of all ages have gone to favour the prin- raelites, and those who had joined themselves to
ciple now held in almost all Christian churches, that them by submitting to circumcision. Thus, in re-
to entitle any person to admission to the Lord's table gard to strangers, the law was explicit, Exod. xii.
something more is necessary than evidence of con- 48, “ And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee,
version or Christian character, which is the only pre- and will keep the passover to the Lord, let all his
requisite according to the adherents of Free Commu- males be circumcised, and then let him come near
nion. Hence the advocates of Strict Communion and keep it ; and he shall be as one that is born in
have always inaintained that not only baptism, but the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat
soundness in the faith, and a regular, consistent thereof." It is plain, therefore, that circumcision was
COMMUNION.
569
1
an indispensable qualification for partaking of the it is their duty to humble themselves in unfeigned
passover, and from this it is argued by analogy that repentance before engaging in this solemn ordinance.
baptism, which has come in the place of circumcision, Hence the necessity of the apostolic exhortation,
is equally necessary to entitle a person to sit down at “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of
the table of the Lord. On this point, as to which, up to this bread and drink of this cup.” The duty to
within the last half century, there had never been a which the apostle thus calls all who would partake
doubt, a controversy raged for some time among the worthily of the Lord's Supper, involves a serious and
English Baptists; the one party, headed by Mr. Hall, searching inquiry both as to their habitual character
contending for FREE COMMUNION (which see), or and their present spiritual state.
the open admission of Pædobaptists to the commu- COMMUNION OF STRANGERS. Travellers
nion with Baptists; the other party, headed by Mr. and strangers, in the early ages of the Christian church,
Fuller, contending for Strict COMMUNION (which unless they had testimonials certifying to their regular
see), and, therefore, arguing in favour of baptism as standing as recognized members of the church, were
an indispensable qualification for partaking of the treated as if they were under censure, not being al-
Lord's Supper. The latter opinion is that which has lowed the privileges of full communion, though per-
alınost universally been maintained in Christian mitted to receive maintenance from the funds of the
churches, and, accordingly, in case of an unbaptized church if they required it. Clergymen under cen-
person applying for admission to the eucharist, it is sure were sometimes treated in this way. They
the invariable practice to dispense the ordinance of were placed in the same relation as strangers, which
baptism previously to the individual being allowed was denoted by the Latin phrase communio peregrina.
to take his place at the Lord's table. Baptism, how- In these circumstances they could neither officiate
ever, is not the only term of communion. It is nor be present at the celebration of the Lord's Sup.
generally demanded of candidates for the Lord's ta- per until they had given the prescribed satisfaction.
ble, in addition to the qualification of previous bap- COMMUNION TABLE, on which the elements
tism, that they show a competent measure of know- are laid in celebrating the Lord's Supper. It was
ledge, profess their faith in Christ, and possess a at first a plain moveable table made of wood, and
character in accordance with their profession. The covered with a white cloth. Altars, as the com-
English Church Catechism, in reply to the question, munion tables came to be called, were wrought
" What is required of them who come to the Lord's from stone in the time of Constantine, and in the
Supper?” answers, “ To examine themselves whether Western church were required by ecclesiastical au-
they repent them truly of their former sins, stead-thority in the beginning of the sixth century. The
fastly purposing to lead a new life; have a lively stone altars were no longer moveable, but fixed, and
faith in God's mercy through Christ, with a thank- decorated with crimson cloth. This change in the
ful remembrance of his death ; and be in charity construction of the communion table, and the appli-
with all men.” To the same effect, the 29th article cation to it of the term altar, did not take place
of the same church declares, “ The wicked, and such before Christianity had been corrupted from its ori-
as be void of a lively faith, although they do carnally ginal simplicity, and men began to consider the
and visibly press with their teeth, as St. Augustine Lord's Supper in the light of a sacrifice. The cus-
saith, the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, tom of covering the table with white linen is of great
yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ, but ra- antiquity. It is first mentioned by Optatus, and
ther to their condemnation do eat and drink the several other authors allude to the practice. There
sign or sacrament of so great a thing.” The West- is no doubt that, at its first institution, the eucharist
minster Confession of Faith, also, which is the sym- was celebrated by our Lord and his disciples seated
bol or authoritative standard of the Presbyterian around a table, and the Apostle Paul contrasts “the
churches, is equally explicit on this point, asserting Lord's table" with “ the table of devils.” In regard
"All ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are un- to the use of a table in this ordinance, there has long
fit to enjoy communion with him (Christ), so are been a difference of opinion between the Presbyte-
they unworthy of the Lord's table, and cannot, with- rians and others. “ In the Westminster Assembly,"
out great sin against Christ, while they remain such, says Baillie, “ the Independents occupied them no
partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted less than three weeks in debating the point of sit-
thereunto.” Such then are the individuals who, in ting at a communion table. The unhappy Inde-
the judgment of the church, are entitled to admis- pendents would mangle that sacrament. No cate-
sion to the table of the Lord. If it be asked, chizing nor preparation before; no thanksgiving after ;
however, who they are that, in the sight of God, no sacramental doctrine nor chapters in the day of
are qualified to partake of this holy ordinance, the celebration; no coming up to any table, but a car-
reply is, that believers alone have a right to this rying of the elements to all in their seats athwart
privilege. Yet even believers themselves are not the church." The distribution of the elements to
always in a state of preparedness for the Lord's communicants not seated at a table, but in their ordi-
Supper. Their graces may be in a very low state, nary pews, has more recently been adopted both in
and their consciences wounded by sin, and, therefore, | Britain and America, by many Presbyterian as well
I.
2 R
.
570
COMMUNICANT-COMPETENTES.
as Congregationalist churches. Episcopalians of members supplied. In this view of the subject,
every order avoid a table altogether, and partake Heumann, Mosheim, and Neander fully agree.
of the elements kneeling before the altar, while the COMMUTATION OF PENANCE. See Pen-
Romish church, believing in the transubstantiation of ANCE (COMMUTATION OF).
the bread and wine into the body, blood, soul, and COMPASS. Father Le Comte, in describing the
divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, consider the mass, superstitious practices of the Chinese, says, they paid
as they term the eucharist, to be a sacrifice for the divine adoration to the compass, burnt little odorif-
quick and the dead.
erous balls to its honour, and offered meats and
COMMUNICANT, one who is admitted by a sacrifices to it. They threw gilded paper punctually
Christian church to partake of the elements of bread twice a-day into the sea to attract its favour, and
and wine at the Lord's table. For the principles win it to be propitious.
on which the admission proceeds, see COMMUNION COMPASSIVITY, a term used in Romanist
(Terms or).
writers to express the feelings of a saint on behold-
COMMUNICATIVE LIFE, that form of monas- ing in a vision the sufferings of Christ, whereby his
ticism in which the individual professing to be a soul is transpierced with the sword of a compassive
religious retains possession of his worldly property, pain; thus literally enduring the passion of Christ.
and uses the proceeds of it for the advantage of Such a vision is set before him, " that he may
the brethren. It is opposed to the RENUNCIATIVE be premonished that he is about to be transformed
LIFE (which see).
entirely, not by the martyrdom of the flesh, but by
COMMUNITY OF GOODS. It is asserted by the burning of the soul into the express similitude of
Luke concerning the first converts to Christianity, Jesus Christ crucified.”
Acts iv. 32, “ And the multitude of them that be- COMPETENTES, the name given to an order of
lieved were of one heart and of one soul: neither catechumens in the early Christian church, denoting
said any of them that ought of the things which he the immediate candidates of baptism, or such as
possessed was his own; but they had all things com- gave in their names, expressing their desire to be
mon." The precise nature of this community of baptized at the next approaching festival. In the
property has given rise to no small dispute among act of petitioning for this favour, they received the
ecclesiastical writers. An opinion prevailed in an- name of competentes. When their names were given
cient times, though not before the fourth century, | in, and their petition accepted, then both they
that in the church of Jerusalem, of which the sacred and their sponsors were registered in the books of
historian is directly speaking, there was a similar the church, or diptychs, as they were called. The
community of possessions to that which existed examination of the proficiency they had made in the
among the ancient Essenes, and still professedly preceding stages of their course as catechumens,
exists among modern monks. This idea, however, followed immediately upon the enrolment of their
is altogether unwarranted by the whole tenior of the . Those who, on examination, were approved,
sacred narrative. The apostle Peter is introduced received the name of electi or chosen. For twenty
reproving Ananias for withholding a portion of his days before baptism they were exorcised (see Exor-
property from the common fund, but in Acts v. 4, CISM), and required to practise abstinence and fast-
he reminds the guilty man that it was in his own ing. Accordingly, the fourth council of Carthage
power either to sell or to retain his property, and enjoins, “Let such as give in their names to be bap-
that even after the sale he might contribute to the tized be exercised a long time with abstinence from
common stock what he thought proper. The crime wine and flesh, and with imposition of hands, and
lay, as is evident from the terms of the narrative, frequent examination, and so let them receive their
in his falsehood. Proceeding a little farther on in baptism.” At this time also the competentes were
the history, we find, Acts vi., assistance given to the taught the words of the Creed, which they were
widows, but by no means from a common store col- obliged to repeat at their last examination before
lected for the support of the whole community. baptism. Along with the Creed, they were taught
Mosheim, accordingly, may be considered as having how to make the proper responses as to their renun-
put the matter on a proper footing when he asserts ciation of the devil, and their engagement to serve
that " the declaration of Luke should not be under- Christ. They were required to go veiled, or with
stood as it generally has been of their possessing in their faces covered for some days before baptism,
common, but only of their using in common." Their that their minds might be fully at liberty to ponder
minds were so completely pervaded by brotherly the responsibility of their position, and that their
love, that they were led to consider their property solemn meditations might not be interrupted by the
to be at the service of their Christian brethren as wandering of the eyes. Ancient authors inform us,
they might require it. Under the influence of this that they were also subjected to the double cere-
spirit a common fund was established, which was at mony of touching the ears, and anointing the eyes
first placed under the management of the apostles, with clay, implying the opening of the ears to receive
and out of which the common and necessary ex- the truth, and of the eyes to behold it in its true
penses were defrayed, and the wants of the poorer spiritual meaning. See CATECHUMENS.
names.
COMPITALIA-CONCEPTION (IMMACULATE).
571
COMPITALES (LARES). See LARES.
lethal stream, corrupting and paralyzing her whole
COMPITALIA, a festival celebrated annually by frarne. It sowed the noxious seed, which gradually
the ancient Romans, at the places where two ways sprung up and expanded into the deadly upas-tree of
met, in honour of the Lares Compitales. This fes- Moderatism, shedding a mortal blight over the whole
tival is said to have been first instituted by Tar- of her once fair and fruitful vineyard, till it withered
quinius Priscis, and having fallen into disuse, it was into a lifeless wilderness." In 1692, William, being
restored by Tarquinius Superbus. In the time of resolved to carry out his plans as far as he possibly
Augustus it was again revived, after having been could, conveyed to the General Assembly his plea-
lost sight of for a time. The compitalia were ob- sure, that those of the Episcopalian persuasion who
served generally in winter, in the month of Jan- were willing to sign the Confession of Faith should
uary.
not only retain their churches and benefices, but also
COMPLETORIUM, the last of the seven CAN- be admitted to sit and act in church judicatories;
ONICAL HOURS (which see), or fixed times of prayer and that the Commission of Assembly should be
in the ancient Christian church. The completorium composed one half of Presbyterians, and the other
was at bed-time, when the day was completed, and half of these admitted prelatists. The church, how-
hence the name.
ever, firmly refused to accede to the wishes of the
COMPLINE, another name for the last of the king. Another act was passed on the 12th of June
canonical hours. See preceding article.
of the following year, having the principle of "com-
COMPLUTENSIAN VERSION, an edition of prehension” as its object, with the proviso, that if
the New Testament in the original Greek, which was the General Assembly should refuse to admit to a
printed at Complutum or Alcala in Spain, in A. D. share in the government of the church those of the
1514, but was not published till some years after. It prelatists who might apply for it, his Majesty would
was prepared and published under the patronage of not attempt to compel the Assembly to admit them,
Cardinal Ximenes. Though the manuscripts which but would secure to them the possession of their
the editors used are lost, they are generally believed churches, manses, and stipends. For a time this act
to have belonged to the thirteenth, fourteenth, and was not carried into actual operation, but in the
fifteenth centuries, and, therefore, could not have course of a series of years its consequences became
been of great value. In the preparation of this edi- but too apparent, in the numbers of irreligious and
tiori, some changes are generally believed to have unprincipled men who sought and found admission
been introduced in conformity with the Vulgate. into the church. The combination of the indulged
See BIBLE.
ministers and the prelatic incumbents, which was
COMPREHENSION BILL, a measure which brought about by the “comprehension scheme" of
was introduced into the English Parliament in the King William, may be considered as the main source
reign of King Charles II. in 1667. It was designed of the calamities which have so frequently overtaken
by Sir Orlando Bridgman, to pave the way for the the National Church of Scotland.
admission of Protestant Dissenters into the commu- COMPROMISE (ELECTION BY), one of the
nion of the Established church. With this view it modes in which a Pope is elected. It sometimes
proposed to relax the rigid terms of the Act of Uni- happens when the cardinals fail to agree as to one
formity, and to dispense with the practice of kncel particular individual, that they engage by mutual
ing at the sacrament, and also with the practice of compromise to refer the matter to some cardinals in
making the sign of the cross in baptism. This Bill whom they have confidence, binding themselves to
passed the House of Lords, but was lost in the Com- nominate the person as Pope on whom the arbiters
Another attempt to accomplish the same
shall fix. This mode of election seldom requires to
object was made by Tillotson and Stillingfleet in be resorted to. See POPE (ELECTION OF A).
1674, but although the terms proposed met the COMUS, in ancient Pagan mythology, the god of
wishes of the Non-conformists, the bishops refused mirth and hilarity. He is represented as a young
their assent to the measure, and thus it dropped. man full of wine, and with every appearance of being
The scheme was again revived after the Revolution under its intoxicating influence.
in 1688, in accordance with the earnest wishes of CONCEPTION (IMMACULATE), a doctrine main-
William and Mary, but to no purpose, and the Act tained both in the Romish and Greek churches, that
of Toleration was obtained. The comprehension the Virgin Mary was conceived in the womb of her
scheme which these royal personages had so much at mother without the slightest stain of sin, and in the
heart, was extended to Scotland, where, through a same state of purity in which Christ was conceived
pliant General Assembly, the Episcopal clergy were in her womb. On this subject a public controversy
admitted in considerable numbers into the national arose about A. D. 1140. Long before this, Mary had
Presbyterian Church.
“Their admission," to use been considered as sinless, but not as conceived
the language of Dr. Hetherington, “ was the most
without sin. It was reserved for the canons of
fatal event which ever occurred in the strange event- Lyons in France to project this doctrine, and to in-
ful history of that church. It infused baneful poison stitute a festival in commemoration of it. The novel
into her very heart, whence ere long flowed forth a tenet was no sooner propounded than it met with
mons.
572
CONCEPTION (IMMACULATE).
stout resistance from St. Bernard, and other theolo- sor, had drawn from him at his confessions. Jetzer
gians of the twelfth century. The festival sought was completely duped. St. Barbara promised that
to be introduced was pronounced an unwarranted inno- the Virgin Mary should appear to him. She, on the
vation, and while it gained ground in the thirteenth sub-prior personating her, did so; and assured him
century, it is not unworthy of notice, that whenever that she was not conceived free from original sin,
the writers of that time speak of the feast, it is de though she was delivered from it three hours after
scribed as the feast of the conception, not of the her birth; that it was a grievous thing to her to see
immaculate conception. Thomas Aquinas attacked that erroneous opinion spread abroad. She blamed
the doctrine with so much logical acuteness and the Franciscans much as being the chief cause of
power, that he had almost silenced its founders, when this false belief. She also announced the destruction
Duns Scotus, opposing the Dominican on this as of the city of Berne because the people did not ex-
well as on other points, entered the field in defence pel the Franciscans, and cease from receiving a pen-
of the original sinlessness of Mary. Thus the Im- sion from the French king. She appeared repeat-
maculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, in the edly, gave Jetzer much instruction, and promised to
course of the fourteenth century, was adopted as one impress on him the five wounds of Christ, which she
of the most prominent doctrines of the Franciscans, declared were never impressed on St. Francis or any
in their keen and protracted disputes with the Domi- other person. She accordingly seized his right hand
nicans. For centuries they continued to argue upon and thrust a nail through it. This so pained him
the conception of Mary as a favourite dogma, and to that he became restive under the operation, and she
perceive how far the opposing parties carried the bit- | promised to impress the other wounds without giv-
terness of their hostility, we may simply notice the ing him pain. The conspirators now gave him
well-known tragedy of Berne, in the beginning of the medicated drugs which stupified him, and then made
sixteenth century, the details of which are as follows: the other wounds upon him while senseless. Hitherto
“ A Dominican monk nained Wigand Wirt, preach- | the sub-prior had been the principal actor; but now
ing at Frankfort A. D. 1507, so violently assailed the the preacher undertook to personate St. Mary, and
doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Jetzer knew his voice, and from this time began to
Mary (the favourite doctrine of the Franciscans), suspect the whole to be an imposition. All attempts
that he was summoned to Rome to answer for his to hoodwink him became fruitless; he was com-
conduct. His brethren of the Dominican order in | pletely undeceived. They next endeavoured to bring
their convention at Wimpfen formed a plan to aid him to join voluntarily in the plot. He was per-
him, and to convince the world that the Franciscan suaded to do so. But they imposed upon him such
doctrine of the immaculate conception was false. intolerable austerities, and were detected by him in
Berne was selected for the scene of their operations. | such impious and immoral conduct, that he wished
The prior, sub-prior, preacher, and steward of the to leave the monastery. They would not let him
Dominican cloister at Berne undertook to get up | go, and were so fearful of his betraying their secret,
miracles and revelations for the occasion. A simple which was now drawing crowds to their monastery
honest rustic, by the name of John Jetzer, who had and promising them great advantage, that they de-
just entered upon his novitiate in the monastery, termined to destroy him by poison. Jetzer, by listen-
was selected as their tool. The sub-prior appeared ing at their door got knowledge of the fact, and was
to him one night dressed in white, and pretending to so on his guard that they could not succeed, though
be the ghost of a friar who had been a hundred and they used a consecrated host as the medium of the
sixty years in purgatory, he wailed and entreated poison. He eloped from the monastery and divulged
of Jetzer to afford him aid. Jetzer promised to do the whole transaction. The four conspirators were
it as far as he was able, and the next morning re-apprehended, tried for blasphemy and profaning holy
ported his vision to his superiors. They encouraged ordinances, delivered over to the civil power, burned
him to go on and to confer freely with the ghost if at the stake in 1509, and their ashes cast into the
he appeared again. A few nights after the ghost river near Berne.”
made his appearance, attended by two devils, his The council of Trent, in its decree on original sin,
tormentors, and thanked Jetzer for the relaxation of declared, that the conception of all men in a state of
his sufferings, in consequence of Jetzer's prayers, sin does not include the Virgin Mary. The contro-
fasting, &c. He also instructed Jetzer respecting | versy broke out anew in the university of Paris to-
the views entertained in the other world concerning wards the close of the sixteenth century. In 1708,
the immaculate conception, and the detention of Clement XI. appointed a festival to be celebrated
some pontiffs and others in purgatory for having per- throughout the church, in honour of the immacu-
secuted the deniers of that doctrine; and promised | late conception. From that period until recently,
Jetzer that St. Barbara should appear to him and the doctrine of Mary's original sinlessness was held
give him farther instruction. Accordingly the sub- as an opinion, not as an article of faith. In 1854,
prior assumed a female garb on a succeeding night, and however, Pius IX., the present Pope, declared this
appeared to Jetzer. She revealed to him some parts tenet to be henceforth an article of faith, binding
of his secret history, which the preacher, his confes- upon the consciences of all faithful Romanists, and
|
.
CONCEPTION OF ST. ANNE-CONCLAVE.
573
which dare not be disbelieved or denied under pain | 1274, during the pontificate of Gregory X., that a
of final condemnation. See Mare (VIRGIN). decree was passed relative to the election of a new
CONCEPTION OF ST. ANNE, a festival cele- pope, by which the cardinals were required to be
brated by the Greek church on the ninth day of shut up in conclave during the election. The doors
December. This is one of those festivals the ob- were to be carefully watched and guarded, so as to
servance of which is obligatory on none but the prevent all improper ingress or egress, and every
monks, though it is understood to be in commemo- thing examined that was carried in, lest it should be
ration of the immaculate conception of the Virgin calculated to influence the election. If the election
Mary. See preceding article.
should not be completed in three days, the cardinals
CONCEPTION OF ST. JOHN THE BAP- were to be allowed only one dish for dinner ; and if
TIST, a festival held by the Greek church on the protracted a fortnight longer, they were to be limited
23d of September.
to bread, wine, and water. A majority of two-thirds
CONCEPTION OF OUR LADY (THE ORDER of the cardinals was required to make a lawful elec-
OF THE), a religious order founded in the fifteenth tion. This celebrated decree, though with some
century by Beatrix de Sylva in Spain. This lady modifications, has been continued in force till the
declared that the Virgin Mary had twice appeared present day.
to her, inspiring her with the design of founding an The cardinals are obliged to enter the conclave
order in honour of the immaculate conception. The ten days after the death of the pope, but they pre-
order was constituted in 1484, and confirmed by viously assemble in the Gregorian chapel, where
Pope Innocent VIII. in 1489, who granted them they hear the mass of the Holy Ghost, after which
permission to follow the rule of the Cistercians. The a bishop addresses them in a Latin discourse, exhort-
habit of the nuns consisted of a white gown and ing them to make choice of a person who is worthy
scapulary, with a blue mantle. On their scapulary to fill the chair of the Prince of the Apostles. At
they wore the image of the blessed Virgin. After the close of the service the cardinals walk in pro-
the death of their foundress, Cardinal Ximenes put cession to the conclave arranged according to their
them under the charge of the Franciscans, as being rank, attended by soldiers, and a vast crowd of peo-
the most zealous defenders of the doctrine of the im- ple, the chorus all the while singing the Veni Creator.
maculate conception. It was not until 1507 that The conclave is usually held in the Vatican, as be-
another convent of this order was formed in Spain, ing every way the most convenient for the purpose.
and seven more specdily sprung up, one of them The conclave, for the name is applied to the place
being at Madrid. The order soon passed into Italy, in which the cardinals meet, as well as to the assem-
and got footing both at Milan and Rome. In the bly itself, is a row of small cells said to be only ten
reign of Louis XIV. of France, we find a convent of feet square, made of wainscot, in which the cardinals
thie Clarisses embracing the order of the conception. are shut up during the election of a pope. Every
The nuns of this order are accustomed, besides the cell has some small portion partitioned off for the
grand office of the Franciscans, to recite on Sundays conclavists, and it is numbered and drawn for by lot.
and holidays an office of the conception of the Holy The cells are all ranged in one line along the galler-
Virgin.
ies and the hall of the Vatican, but with a small in-
CONCHULA BEMATIS. See BEMA.
terval or space between them. Over each cell is
CONCILIA (Lat. councils), a word which in ail- placed the arms of the cardinal to whom it belongs.
cient Christian writers often, or rather commonly, | A long corridor runs between the cells and the win-
signifies ecclesiastical synods. (See COUNCILS.) dows to admit the light, which shines into the cells
Sometimes, however, it denotes other assemblies, and through small glass windows placed towards the cor-
particularly the ordinary assemblies of the church ridor. The entrance to the Vatican is carefully
for Divine service, and from the assembly, the word guarded by soldiers while the cardinals are in con-
came also to be applied to the church or building in clave, and neither they, nor those who are shut up
which the assembly was convened.
along with them, can be spoken to, unless at particu-
CONCLAMATIO, the cry or lamentation which lar hours, and with a loud voice, either in the Ita-
the ancient Romans made over their dead. As soon lian or the Latin language. The scrutiny is taken
as the eyes were closed in death, the relatives of twice every day, morning and afternoon, when each
the deceased who happened to be present, called cardinal passes from his cell to the chapel of the
upon him by name several times at intervals, re- scrutiny attended by his conclavists. In the chapel
peating Ave, hail, or vale, Farewell. Hence when each of the cardinals is dressed in a crimson cloak
any affair was desperate, the phrase was frequently with a long train. They are provided with printed
used in reference to this practice, conclamatum est, schedules, folded beforehand in a particular manner,
all is over. See DEAD (RITES CONNECTED WITH with blanks to be filled up by each cardinal with his
THE).
own name, and that of the person for whom he votes.
CONCLAVE, the assembly of CARDINALS (which Ten small tables are prepared in the chapel, at which
see) convened for the election of a pope. It was in they fill up the blanks in the schedule in the pre-
the fourteenth general council, held at Lyons in A. D. sence of the rest, so that they each see the others
i
?
574
CONCLAVISTS -CONCOMITANCE.
write, but without seeing what they write. A de- it is conveyed to those on the other side of the wall,
putation is sent to the cells of those who are unwell, without the possibility of either party seeing or hav-
and who fill up the schedules in the presence of the ing any intercourse with the other.
deputation. Each cardinal, on having completed, “ In the middle of the room is a long table, on
folded, and sealed his schedule, carries it in view of all which the servants place the various dishes contained
the rest, and deposits it in a large chalice placed on in the baskets. The guardians of the conclave exa-
the altar of the chapel
. As soon as all the schedules mine each dish separately, and finding in it nothing
are filled up and put into the chalice, three cardinals but food, it is placed in one of the ruote, which is
are chosen by lot to act as scrutineers, who count the then turned round, and the dishes taken out by the
schedules, in the first instance, to ascertain whether servants inside the conclave, and conveyed to their
the number exactly corresponds with that of the car- respective owners.
dinals in the conclave. The schedules are then each “I was repeatedly present at this ceremony; the
of them opened, and the names of the persons voted examination is no farce, for every dish was carefully
for proclaimed aloud, after which the number of inspected, though I never saw any actually cut in
votes for each is declared. If two-thirds of the votes pieces as is said to be sometimes done.”
are in favour of any particular individual, he is de- When the provisions are carried into the conclave,
clared to be duly elected; but if not, the cardinals one of the pope's footmen, who stands by in his pur-
proceed to a second vote by Accessus (which see). / ple robe, and with a silver mace in his hand, shuts
The last part of the process is to burn the whole of the door, when the assistant prelate takes care that
the schedules in the presence of the cardinals, and all is fast, and seals the lock with his coat-of-arms.
the smoke made by burning is eagerly watched by The masters of the ceremonies do the same within.
the populace outside, who, as soon as it is seen is- CONCLAVISTS, the attendants on cardinals
suing froin the chimney, disperse to their homes, when met in conclave for the election of a Pope.
satisfied that the election is not yet completed. The They are seldom more in number than two to each
schedules are burned also when the pope is elected, cardinal, one of thein being an ecclesiastic.
If the
but in that case so much time is spent in verifying cardinals be princes, or old or infirm, they are some-
the votes, and obtaining the consent of the newly times allowed to have three. They are shut up as
elected pope, that before the papers are burned, the strictly as the cardinals themselves, and though the
guns from the castle of St. Angelo have given notice situation of a conclavist is far from being comfortable,
of the election.
it is much coveted. A conclavist may assign the
The ceremony of conveying provisions to the car- pensions which he has out of benefices for a parti-
dinals in conclave is thus described by an eye-wit- cular sum, which is determined by the privilege
ness: “ While the conclave sat, I went repeatedly to which the Pope elect grants to him who makes the
see the dinners conveyed to the cardinals, which assignment. This office also gives a man the privi.
takes place every day about noon. Each cardinal's | lege of being a citizen in any town within the eccle-
dimmer is attended by eight or ten servants, and two siastical jurisdiction; besides which, he receives a
or three carriages. First come two servants bearing sum of money from the Pope after his election.
maces, then two carrying the dinner in a wicker bas- Each conclavist, before entering upon his office,
ket, suspended betwixt two poles, like a sedan chair. takes an oath that he will not reveal the secrets of
The basket is covered with cloth, having the car- the conclave. These attendants on the cardinals are
dinal's arms emblazoned on it. Two or three ser- sometimes the hired tools of foreign governments, to
vants sometimes follow on foot, and then come the procure the election of a particular individual to the
carriages containing the Dapiferus and his attendants, Papal chair. The author of the 'Idea of the Con-
with two or more servants behind each.
clave,' a work published in 1676, thus describes the
“ Each party on arriving enters the court of the special duties of a conclavist : “He must be shut up
palace, the Dapiferus and his attendants alight, and | in a little corner of his master's cell, and do every
the dinner is carried forward to a room prepared for menial office for him. He must fetch him his vic.
tuals and drink, which that cardinal's officers give
“Here is stationed a party of the guardians of the him in from without, through an inlet that communi-
conclave, both ecclesiastical and military. The room cates to all his quarter,—twice every day. He is to
on one side opens to the court of the palace, and on wait on his master at table, to keep every thing very
the other communicates with the conclave by means clean, and when he lias done, to serve himself; not
of the Ruote. The • Ruota’ is composed of two up- to mention the other inconveniences of a very severe
right cylinders. The outer is fixed, and built into confinement, where no light is received but at win-
the wall, forming part of it, having an opening to dows half walled up; and where the air, when it is
each side. The inner revolves within it, nearly fill- hot weather, may at length break the strongest con-
ing it, and has only one opening, extending from top stitutions."
to bottom, perhaps one-eighth part of its circumfer- CONCOMITANCE, a doctrine which was first
ence in width, so that by placing anything on the employed by the schoolmen of the thirteenth cen-
shelves of the inner cylinder, and turning it round, | tury, in defence of the withdrawal of the cup from
the purpose.
575
CONCORD (FORM OF)—CONCORDAT.
the laity in the Lord's Supper—the doctrine that grace and imprisonment of the doctors who had been
under each species the whole of Christ was contain- concerned in the unsuccessful project of reform,
ed by concomitance, therefore, under the body, the while Crellius, their chief patron, suffered death in 1601,
blood; so that he who partook of but one species as the punishment of his temerity. The Bergensic
lost nothing. See CUP (DENIAL OF THE).
formula might with more propriety be denominated
CONCORD (FORM OF), a famous document drawn the Form of Discord. It has never been universally
up in 1579, with a view to heal the divisions of the received by the Lutheran churches, although it is
Lutheran church, and as a preservative against the still ranked by some among the standards of the or-
opinions of the Reformed churches. This treatise | thodox faith.”
was prepared by Andreas, professor at Tubingen, The doctrines to which this Confession wished to
and his associates at Torgau, hence it is frequently bind the churches, respected chiefly the majesty
called the Book of Torgau. It was sent by the and omnipresence of Christ's body, and the real
Elector of Saxony to almost all the Lutheran princes, manducation of his flesh and blood in the eucharist.
that it might be approved by the doctors of the Another controversy on the subject of the Form of
church, and authoritatively enforced by the secular Concord arose in Switzerland in 1718, when the
power. So many objections, however, were started magistrates of Berne published an edict enjoining the
against the book, that its compilers felt it to be adoption of this Confession as a rule of faith. A
necessary to revise and amend it. Thus corrected, keen dispute was carried on for some time arising
it was submitted to a convocation of six divines, who out of this edict, and the result was in the highest
rnet at Berz, a Benedictine monastery near Magde-degree injurious to the authority and influence of
burg, where was produced a work of no small note the Book of Torgali.
in ecclesiastical history--the Form of Concord. CONCORDAT, a convention or treaty between
This document consists of two parts, the first con- the Pope of Rome in his spiritual character as head
sisting of the dogmas propounded by Andreas and of the Roman Catholic Church, and any secular gov-
his colleagues ; and the second ruthlessly excommu- ernment with a view to arrange ecclesiastical rela-
nicating all who should refuse to subscribe to these tions. The term concordat is never applied to those
dogmas, and declaring them to be heretics deserving treaties into which the Pope enters as a temporal
of the vengeance of the secular arm. The manner
sovereign. Among the earliest of those conventions
in which this document was received by the different which are entitled to the name of concordats, may
churches, both Lutheran and Reforined, is thus de- be mentioned that which closed the long and bitter
scribed by Mr. Conder:
controversy on the subject of investiture.
Thie
“ The authority of the Elector secured the adop- treaty to which we now refer was brought about
tion of this new Confession by the Saxon churches ; after repeated negotiations in A.D. 1122, between
and their example was slowly followed in other parts Pope Calixtus II. and the Emperor Henry V., which
of Germany. By several of the most eminent being concluded at Worms, and confirmed at the
churches of the Lutheran communion, it was, how- Lateran council in 1123, was designated by the title
ever, firmly and indignantly rejected; among others, of the Concordat of Worms. By the arrangement
by those of Nuremberg, Brunswick, Hesse, Pomerania, thus effected, the conflict between church and state,
Silesia, Holstein, and Denmark. Frederic II. of Den- which had lasted for more than forty years, was
mark, on receiving a copy of this formula, threw it brought to an end; the Pope conceding to the Ern-
in the fire. A warm and affectionate veneration for peror the right to bestow on bishops and abbots
the memory of Melancthon contributed to produce chosen in his presence, without violence or simony,
this general dissatisfaction with a document in which the investiture with regalia. This concordat was
his opinions were so rudely and intolerantly de- received with universal joy, and is held to this day
nounced. Its uncharitable exclusion of the Calvin- as regulating to a great extent the relations between
ists from the communion of the Lutheran church, the See of Rome and the civil powers in Germany.
naturally excited still warmer indignation against its In the history of concordats it is found, that most of
authors on the part of the Reformed churches. The them, especially those which tend even in the slight-
Helvetic doctors, with Hospinian at their head, the est degree to curtail the power of the clergy, have
Belgic divines, those of the Palatinate, together with been reluctantly extorted from the Popes by the
the principalities of Anhalt and Baden, declared sovereigns of different countries. In very many
open war against this misnamed Form of Concord. cases, however, the Popes have contrived so to
Even in Saxony, many who were compelled to sub- fraine concordats as to advance the interests of the
scribe to it, held it in aversion; and on the death of church at the expense of the civil power. One of
Augustus, the moderate Lutherans and secret Calvin- the most remarkable instances of this kind occurred
ists, favoured by Crellius, the prime-minister of the in 1516, when a concordat was formed between
new Elector, resumed their courage and their influ- Francis I. of France, and Pope Leo X., to abolish
ence.
Their designs were, however, suddenly frus- the pragmatic sanction, which had existed for nearly
trated by the unexpected death of the Elector a century, and whereby part of the clergy, without
Christian I. in 1591, which was followed by the dis-, consulting with the people or the archbishops, or
576
CONCORDIA-CONFARREATIO.
DURE.
1
other bishops of provinces, chose their bishops, leav- man four principal wives, and an unrestricted num-
ing the king the privilege of consenting to and con- ber of slaves. Should a female slave become an in-
firming the election if he chose. This arrangement ferior wife of her master, she still retains her condi-
by no means met the views of Leo X., and, accord- tion as a slave, just as Hagar continued to be a bond-
ingly, a concordat was framed, whereby it was re- woman after she had borne Ishmael to Abraham,
pealed, and the king was granted the power of and she still recognized Sarah as her mistress.
nominating such as he thought fit for bishops, This appears to have been the case also with the
while the Pope had the power of accepting or ancient Greeks, a female slave acquiring no im-
rejecting them at his pleasure. One of the most provement of her social position by being the con-
celebrated of concordats was that which Buona- cubine of her master. Among the Greeks the legality
parte, when first consul of the French republic, of a marriage depended entirely on the circumstance,
concluded with Pope Pius VII. in 1801. By this whether or not a dowry had been given. If no
agreement the Roman Catholic church was re-estab- dowry had been given, the woman could lay no claim
lished in France, the government received the power to conjugal rights, and the child of such an union
of appointing the clergy, the metropolitan and epis- was illegitimate.
copal sees were reduced to sixty, the Pope resigned CONDEMNATION. See JUDICIAL PROCE-
the right of restoring the spiritual orders, but re-
tained the privilege of the canonical investiture of CONDIGNITY, a term used by the schoolmen in
bishops, and the revenues connected with it. In the middle ages, to convey their views of human
1817, however, Louis XVIII. concluded with the merit. The followers of Thomas Aquinas, commonly
same Pope another concordat, abolishing that of called the THOMISTS (which see), speak frequently
1801, and restoring the arrangements agreed upon in their writings of the merit of condignity, by which
in 1516, while the nation was subjected to an enor- they mean that by the assistance of God, man is
mous tax for the endowment of forty-two new me- capable of so living as to prove himself worthy (con.
tropolitan and episcopal sees, with their chapters dignus) of eternal life in the sight of God,-a doctrine
and seminaries. This concordat was received with completely opposed to the plainest statements of the
so much disapprobation and discontent by the people Word of God.
of France, that the ministry withdrew their proposi- CONDITORIUM, a burial-place among the an-
tion. In Naples, Bavaria, and recently in Austria, cient Greeks and Romans, in which dead bodies
the Romish church has obtained a firm footing by were deposited in their entire state, as distinguished
means of concordats, and has succeeded in rendering from those sepulchres which contained only the
the ecclesiastical to a great extent independent of bones and ashes. The word conditorium is also used
the civil power in these countries.
to denote the coffin in which a dead body was placed
CONCORDIA, an ancient Roman divinity, being when consigned to the to:r b.
the personification of the virtue of concord or har- CONFALON, a confraternity of seculars in the
mony. Several temples to this goddess were built Church of Rome, called penitents, established first of
at Rome. She is generally represented as a matron all by a body of Roman citizens. Henry III. com-
either sitting or standing, and holding in her left menced one at Paris in 1583, and assumed himself
hand a cornucopia, and in her right an olive branch the habit of a penitent at a religious procession.
or a patera.
CONFARREATIO, one of the modes in which a
CONCUBINE, a word which is understood to legal marriage among the ancient Romans was ef-
signify a woman who, although she may not have fected. This, which was the most solemn form of
been married to a man, yet lives with him as his marriage, was accomplished when the parties were
wife. Among the ancient Hebrews, however, the joined in marriage by the Pontifex Maximus or Fla-
word was applied to a secondary wife, or one of an men Dialis, in presence of at least ten witnesses, by
inferior grade. Such wives were customary in the a set form of words, and by tasting a cake made of salt,
patriarchal and subsequent ages. They were re- water, and flour, called Far or Panis Farreus ; which
garded as real wives, the connection being sanctioned was offered with a sheep in sacrifice to the gods. A
by law, and the inferiority was marked by the absence marriage effected in this way brought the woman
of certain solemnities and contracts of dowry. The | into the possession or power of her husband by the
children of such wives were not entitled to inherit sacred laws. She thus became partner of all his
the property of their father, which both by law and substance and sacred rites, those of the penates as
usage belonged to the children of the principal wife well as of the lares. If he died intestate and with-
or wives. But the offspring of the secondary wives out children, she inherited his whole fortune. If he
were usually provided for during the father's life- died leaving children, she had an equal share with
time. Thus we find Abraham providing for the them. If she committed any fault, the husband
children of Hagar and Keturah. Matters are still judged of it along with her relations, and punished
conducted in the East much in the same way, and her at pleasure. The children of this kind of mar-
besides being sanctioned by long usage, they are riage were called patrimi and matrimi. Certain
also legalized by Mohammedan law, which allows a priests were chosen only from among them; as the
1
CONFERENCE.
577
Flamen of Jupiter and the Vestal virgins. If only conference, take part in its deliberations, and even
the father was alive, the children were called patri- tender their votes while the legal “ hundred” con-
mi; if only the mother, matrimi. This mode of firm the decisions thus arrived at. The conference is
celebrating marriage in later times fell much into allowed to sit not less than five days, nor more than
disuse. See MARRIAGE.
three weeks, and their deliberations involve such
CONFERENCE (HAMPTON Court), a confer- points as are of the greatest importance to the in-
ence appointed by James I. of England, to be held terests of the body. Every preacher's character un-
in January 1604, between the Episcopalians and the dergoes on these occasions the strictest investiga-
Puritans, with a view to settle their controversies. tion, and if any thing injurious to his fair reputation
The Episcopalians were represented by nine bishops, | is proved against him, he is dealt with accordingly.
and about as many deans of the church; the Puui- The conference appoints the stations which the
tans by four English divines, and one from Scotland, preachers are to occupy, reviews the proceedings of
all of whom were selected by the king himself. On the subordinate meetings, and takes into considera-
the first day of the conference the Episcopalians tion the state of the body generally. This being the
alone were admitted into the presenre of the sov- supreme court of the whole connexion, it is also the
ereign, who proposed several objections to the ritual court of ultimate resort, from whose decisions there
and discipline of the Church of England, some of is no appeal. The discussions of the conference are
which the bishops attempted to defend, and others strictly and exclusively confined to the spiritual in-
they consented to modify. The Puritans were per- terests of the body; its financial and secular affairs
mitted on the second day to have an audience of the being managed by wholly different parties, over
king, but they were treated in the harshest and most whose actings the conference exercises no control.
uncivil manner. By this one-sided mode of con- Disputes have from time to time arisen, and seces-
ducting the controversy, the Episcopalians were al- sions have occurred, on the ground of the non-ad-
lowed to triumph over their opponents, and Bishop mission of laymen into the conference. This peculiar
Bancroft, falling on his knees, said, “I protest my constitution of the supreme court of the body, how-
heart melteth for joy that Almighty God of his sin- ever, is vindicated by some of the leading ministers
gular mercy has given us such a king, as since as being on the whole the best adapted to exercise
Christ's time has not been." On the third day the strict discipline, and thus secure the purity of the
bishops and deans were first called in, that an agree- ministerial office. During the interval between one
ment might be come to with the king as to the al meeting of conference and another, the president and
terations which should be made in the regulations of secretary remain in office, and the former possesses
the church. After this the Puritans were admitted, to a great extent a discretionary power. He sup-
not to discuss the matters in dispute, but simply to plies any vacancies which may occur from the death
hear what arrangements had been made by the king of preachers, by appointing individuals from a list of
with the bishops. Thus ended this strange confer- reserve with which he is furnished by the confer-
ence, which only showed the decided preference ence. Any change of preachers, also, which it may
which James entertained for the Episcopal Church, be necessary to make, he must sanction. He is em-
now that he was seated on the throne of England. powered, if requested, to visit any district, and in-
The next month, accordingly, a proclamation was quire into its religious condition, in so far as the in-
issued, giving an account of the Conference, and terest of Methodism is concerned, with a view to
requiring conformity to the liturgy and ceremonies. devise such measures as may appear to himn, on con-
See PuritANS.
sulting with the district committee, to be most likely
CONFERENCE (WESLEYAN METHODIST), the to advance the good cause. It rests chiefly with
supreme ecclesiastical court of the Wesleyan Metho- the president to name the place where the next con-
dist body. It was formally constituted by a Deed ference is to be held, and during the sittings he has
of Declaration, dated the 28th of February 1784, the power and the privilege of two members in vir-
and enrolled in the Court of Chancery. This “Con- tue of his office.
ference of the people called Methodists,” is therefore The appointment of ministers to officiate in all
a body duly recognized in law. It is generally held the chapels of the connexion, and to remove them, if
in London, Leeds, Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool, they see cause, is vested absolutely in the confer-
and Sheffield in rotation, every year, about the latter ence; but the term of appointment can in no case
end of July. The constitution of this court, which extend beyond three years successively. The ad-
was devised by John Wesley, the founder of Me- mission of preachers into the body, and their expul-
thodism, is of a peculiar kind, being purely minis- sion from it, rests also with the conference, by abso-
terial, without the slightest infusion of the lay ele- lute and unqualified right. And yet the rights of an
ment. By the original deed of appointment it accused party are defended with the utmost jealousy.
consists only of a hundred of the senior travelling The charges preferred against him must be made
preachers.
This is its distinct legal constitution, known to him verbally or in writing. These must
which, however, has been so widely departed from, be carefully examined in a district meeting, and then
that all ministers, in full connexion, may attend the the case is heard and deliberately decided on in con-
578
CONFERENCE.
ference. Should the accused, however, venture to of course, without authority to administer the ordi-
seek redress in a civil court for any injury which he nances. Accordingly, the members of the societies
may imagine himself to have sustained by a district had been dependent upon other ministers for the or-
meeting, or any inferior court, he forfeits all right of dinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. This was
appeal to the conference, and is regarded as having felt to be so serious an inconvenience, and so calcu-
violated the laws of the society, as well as the laws of lated to injure the Methodist cause, that some of the
Christ. The strictest authority is maintained by the preachers in the Southern States had actually or-
conference over every minister of the Wesleyan con- dained each other, and begun to form a party to
nexion, and an annual examination is instituted with whom they administered the ordinances. Mr. Wes-
the utmost impartiality into the ministerial qualifi- ley had always been unwilling to disturb the estab-
cations, character, and fidelity of all among them lished order of things in the Church of England, and,
who are invested with the sacred office.
therefore, had declined to ordain preachers over his
The Wesleyan Methodist New Connexion, which own societies; but feeling that the Church of Eng-
is the oldest of a number of independent Methodist | land had now no jurisdiction in America, he thought
churches in England, is founded on the principle that | himself called upon to ordain persons, who might
the conference ought to be composed partly of laymen. lawfully administer the ordinances to the Transat-
The nature of the change which this body has intro- lantic Methodists. This was accordingly done, and
duced is thus stated by Mr. Marsden, in his · History of Dr. Thomas Coke arrived in the United States as an
the Christian Churches and Sects:' “ Their conference ordained presbyter in the Church of England, and a
is constituted upon the representative system. Each superintendent of the Methodist societies, with au-
circuit elects at the previous quarterly meeting one thority to forin the whole into a separate and inde-
preacher and one layman, its representatives ; or, pendent church. Hence arose the METHODIST EPIS-
should the circuit be too poor to bear the expenses COPAL CHURCH (which see) of America, which, as
of two representatives, then a preacher and a lay- has been already noticed, held its first general con-
man alternately. Connexional office-bearers are ference in 1792. The body went on gradually in-
also members of conference; namely, the treasurers creasing, and at length, such was the increase of
of the various funds, the secretary and treasurer of members and preachers, that it was found quite in-
the missions, and the steward and treasurer of the convenient for even all the elders to assemble in
book-room. The trustees of chapels are allowed a general conference quadrennially ; and, therefore, in
representative when their legal rights are concerned. 1808, measures were adopted to form a delegated
From the representatives thus chosen the conference general conference, to be composed of not less than
appoints its guardian representatives; of whom the one for every seven of the members of the annual
presence of six is necessary to render the constitu- conferences, nor more than one for every five, to be
tion legally complete. Thus the conference consists chosen either by ballot or by seniority; at the same
of ministers, lay representatives, and guardian re- time, the power of this delegated conference was
presentatives. The last conference, held at Sheffield limited by constitutional restrictions. The first de-
in 1855, consisted of sixty-nine representatives, lay legated conference met in New York in the year
and clerical, five treasurers and secretaries, ten guar-
1812.
dian representatives, and two delegates from the The following are the regulations and restrictions
Irish conference.”
under which the general conference of the Methodist
In the United States of North America, where Episcopal church of North America is empowered to
the Methodists have become a very strong and in- act:
“ The general conference assembles quadren-
fluential body, the first general conference was held nially, and is composed of a certain number of dele-
in 1792. It is appointed to be held once in four gates elected by the annual conferences. It has
years, to be composed of all the travelling elders in power to revise any part of the Discipline, or to in-
full connexion, to whom should be committed the troduce any new regulation, not prohibited by the
entire authority of making rules for the regulation following limitations and restrictions :
of the church. Methodism had first been transplanted “ The general conference shall not revoke, alter,
to America in 1766, and it was not till 1768 that or change our articles of religion, nor establish any
the small band of Wesley's followers were able to new standards or rules of doctrine contrary to our
build a meeting-house in New York. During the present existing and established standards of doc-
revolutionary contest, the Methodist niissionaries trine.
were exposed to great persecution ; but, in 1784, They shall not allow of more than one repre-
after the independence of the United States had been sentative for every fourteen members of the annual
achieved, Mr. Wesley, who had, from the beginning, conference, nor allow of a less number than one
watched with the most tender and anxious care the for every thirty : provided, nevertheless, that when
growth of the infant society in America, set himself there shall be in any annual conference a fraction of
to remedy the grievances of the body in that remote two-thirds the number which shall be fixed for the
part of the world. Hitherto the Methodist preach- ratio of representation, such annual conference shall
ers had been considered merely as lay-preachers, and, / be entitled to an additional delegate for such frac-
1
1
4
1
CONFERENTIE PARTY.
579
tion : and provided also, that no annual conference of the itinerant ministers and preachers, and the al-
shall be denied the privilege of two delegates. lowance of their wives, widows, and children ; to
They shall not change nor alter any part or devise ways and means for raising funds, and to de-
rule of our government, so as to do away episco- fine and regulate the boundaries of the respective
pacy, or destroy the plan of our itinerant general annual conference districts. Besides the general
superintendency.
quadrennial conference, there are annual and even
“They shall not revoke or change the General quarterly conferences.
Rules of the United Societies.
Another secession from the Methodist Episco-
“ They shall not do away the privileges of our pal Church of America arose in 1814, founded on
ministers or preachers of trial by a committee, and an objection to the Episcopal mode of church goin
of an appeal; neither shall they do away the privi- ernment. Thus originated the Reforined Method-
leges of our members of trial before the society, or ist Church, who have adopted a system of church
by a committee, and of an appeal.
government essentially congregational in its cha-
“ They shall not appropriate the produce of the racter, all power being in the churches, and de-
Book Concern, nor of the Charter Fund, to any pur- legated from time to time with a rigid accountabi-
pose other than for the benefit of the travelling, su: lity to the bodies by whom it is conferred. Like
pernumerary, superannuated, and worn-out preachers, the other Methodist churches they have annual con-
their wives, widows, and children. Provided, never- ferences in the different districts. The general con-
theless, that upon the concurrent recommendation ference is composed of delegates from the annual
of three-fourths of all the members of the several conferences proportioned in numbers to the respec-
annual conferences, who shall be present and vote tive numbers of their church members. Its duties
on such recommendation, then a majority of two- are thus defined: “The general conference has power
thirds of the general conference succeeding shall to revise the Discipline under certain limitations.
suffice to alter any of the above restrictions, except | It can pass no rule giving to preachers power over
the first article ; and also, whenever such alteration the people, except such as belongs to them as min-
or alterations shall have been recommended by two- isters of the word. The alterations in Discipline
thirds of the general conference, as soon as three- must, before they go into effect, first be recommended
fourths of the members of all the annual conferences by three-fourths of the annual conferences, or after
shall have concurred as aforesaid, such alteration or the general conference has passed upon them, receive
alterations shall take place.
their ratification. General conferences are held at
“ Under these limitations, the general conference the call of annual conferences, not periodically, and
has full power to alter or modify any part of the dis- the delegates to them are chosen at the session of
cipline, or to introduce any new regulation which the annual conferences next preceding the general
the exigencies of the times may require ; to elect conference.”
the book-stewards, editors, corresponding secretar Still another secession, styling itself the True Wes-
or secretaries of the Missionary Society of the Me- leyan Methodist Church, took place in 1828, from
thodist Episcopal Church, and also the bishops ; to the Methodist Episcopal Church in America. The
hear and decide on appeals of preachers from the fundamental principles on which this body is consti-
decisions of annual conferences; to review the acts tuted, are opposition to the Episcopal form of church
of those conferences generally; to examine into the government as it exists in America among the Me-
general adıninistration of the bishops for the four thodists, a determined opposition to slavery as it
preceding years; and, if accused, to try, censure, ac- is found in America, and also to intemperanee. In
quit, or condemn a bishop. The general conference 1844, this church had six annual conferences, but no
is the highest judicatory of the church."
general conference.
A very important secession from the Methodist Conferences, however, are found in other branches
Episcopal Church of America took place in 1830, of the Christian Church in America besides the
grounded on the two great principles of lay repre- Methodists. Thus, among others, the Mennonites
sentation and a parity in the ministry. These, ac- have regular annual conferences for the arrangement
cordingly, constitute the leading characteristics of of their ecclesiastical affairs.
the seceding body under the name of the Methodist It is a remarkable fact, that every secession which
Protestant Church. The general conference of this has taken place from Wesleyan Methodism has or-
section of the Wesleyan body assembles every ganized a system of lay representation in its confer-
fourth year, and consists of an equal number of ence.
And this remark applies not less to the se-
ministers and laymen. The ratio of representation cessions in Europe than to those in America.
from each annual conference district is one minister CONFERENTIE PARTY, an important party
and one layman for every thousand persons in full in the Dutch Reformed Church in the United States
comrnunion. This body, when assembled, possesses of North America, in the early period of its history
power under certain restrictions to make such rules in that country. The party arose out of the peculiar
and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the circumstances of the time. It so happened that the
laws of Christ; to fix the compensation and duties | Dutch West India Company were the first who car-
!
580
CONFERENTIE PARTY.
1
1
ried the ministers of the gospel from Holland to projected coetus which did, in fact, l'eally curtail any
America. The members of that company being of the power of that classis. Yet it was not until
citizens of Amsterdam, the classis or presbytery of ten years after this that they received an answer, by
that city chiefly undertook the duty of supplying the Rev. Mr. Van Sinderin, from Holland; for it was
and ordaining ministers for the people belonging to in the month of May, 1747, that the convention was
their communion who had settled in America. The summoned to receive the answer of the classis, which,
ministers thus provided were sent out by that classis though after a long delay, gave its entire approba-
with the consent and approbation of the synod of tion and concurrence. On the appointed day only six
North Holland. In course of time the American ministers were present. These having received the
churches increased in number and importance, but act of the classis, did nothing more than issue their
the classís and synod, to which we have now refer- call of the first meeting of the cætus, on the second
red, claimed the exclusive right of selecting, ordain- Tuesday of September, 1747, in the city of New
ing, and sending ministers to these churches. They | York.
went further, they claimed the exclusive power of “On the day appointed the representatives of the
deciding all ecclesiastical controversies and difficul- churches met in coetus; and, although the plan had
ties which might arise in all the Dutch churches in received the full approbation of the mother church,
the provinces. The Conferentie party, in the Ameri- still there was a most decided opposition to it. This
can churches, were the strong supporters of this opposition was made by Dominie Boel, of the church
claiin. Being themselves natives of Holland, they of New York, and by Mr. Mancius of Kingston, Mr.
were in favour of this dependence on Holland, and Freyenmoet, and Mr. Martselius. Mr. Frelinghuy-
of the vassalage of the churches to the classis of sen could not prevail with his church to accede to
Amsterdam. These men carried their principles to the coetus; but it received his own decided support.
the most extravagant length, maintaining almost the And it was soon ascertained that those who opposed
infallibility of the fathers in Amsterdam. Some of the whole of this narrow and inefficient scheme, were
them even ventured to maintain, that they were the correct; whatever
whatever may have been their avowed mo-
only legitimate source of ministerial power and au- tives. It effected no good purpose which could not
thority, and insinuated that no ordination was valid have been done without it. It was a meeting merely
unless it had been performed by the classis of Amster- for fraternal intercourse and advice. This could
dain, or had at least its solemn approval and sanc-
have been attained without a formal coctus. It gave
tion. Such were the strong views of the Conferentie the pastors no powers: they could not meet as
party, and they were maintained by them in the face | bishops, who had each their church; they had no
of but a very feeble opposition till 1737. The op- power to ordain ministers; they could try no cases
ponents of these sentiments, who afterwards received | requiring ecclesiastical investigation; they could not
the name of the Cotus party, advocated the neces- even settle ecclesiastical disputes, without the usu :)
sity of a home education, a home license, and a home
consent of the classis of Amsterdam. Its utter un-
ordination, which they held were equally good for fitness to promote the interests of the church be ame
them, and equally valid for every purpose as those apparent to all, except those in the slavish interests
in fatherland. The quarrel which ensued is thus de- of fatherland. Nothing but an independent classis
scribed by Dr. Brownlee of the Dutch Reformed could do this. They must have power to ordain ;
Church in America:
they must have their own court to try cases. The
“In 1737, the first movement was made by five pro- church was suffering exceedingly, said those who had
minent ministers, Messrs. G. Dubois, Haeghoort, B. got a cætus, but wished a cætus clothed with the
Freeman, Van Santford, and Curtenius. They did power of a classis. But this met with a renewed,
not venture to adopt the bold measure of renounc- fierce opposition. "Shall we throw off the care and
ing the abject dependence on the parent classis. paternal supervision of the classis of Amsterdam ?
They merely proposed to form an assembly for Shall we venture to ordain ministers ? Shall we set
counsel and free internal intercourse, and any eccle- up ourselves as judges? Where can we get such
siastical business, not inconsistent with this depen- learned ministers as those from Holland ? And can
dence on Holland. This they called a cætus. A
This they called a catus. Aany of us judge of their fitness, and learning, and
plan was adopted, and rules formed for its regula- piety ?' Such was the feeling and declamation of the
tion; and it was sent down to the churches for their Conferentie party.
On the 27th of April, 1738, the day “On the contrary, the cætus party appealed to
appointed by the five ministers to receive the re- their brethren on the necessity of having youth
ports from the churches, a convocation of ministers trained here for the ministry. “We must have aca-
and elders met in New York,
demies and a college. The English language is ad-
“The several reports of the churches induced the vancing on us : we must have a ministry to preach
convention to adopt the plan without opposition ; | in English, or our youth will abandon us in a body.
and it was sent to the classis of Amsterdam for their And the expense of sending for ministers is becom-
ratification. This, they presumed they should ing oppressive; not to speak of the great expense
promptly obtain. For there was nothing in the and privation sustained by us who are parents, in
concurrence.
CONFERENTIE PARTY.
581
sending our sons to Holland to be educated, so as to of the preceding year a motion had been entertained
be able to preach in Dutch. And you all know,' to amend the plan of the coetus, by converting it
they added, “how many years have sometimes elapsed into a regular classis, with all its proper powers. A
between the time of a call sent to fatherland, and plan was drafted for this purpose; adopted with
the coming of a pastor; and sometimes churches great unanimity by those present; and formally
have been disappointed entirely. None have re- transmitted to the churches for their concurrence.
sponded to their call. And even, in certain cases, Upon this there commenced a scene of animo-
some ministers have come out who were not only sity, division, and actual violence, compared to which,
unpopular, but absolutely disagreeable. Is it not all the former wranglings were utterly nothing. It
unendurable, that the churches should have no choice was the beginning of a war waged for fifteen years
of their pastor? Men, accustomed to a national with unmitigated fury! The Conferentie party met
church and its high-handed measures, have come and organized themselves into a firm body of oppo-
among us, who have, of course, views and habits en- sition in 1755. They were the following :-Domi-
tirely different from those of our fellow-citizens and nies Ritzma and Deronde, of the church of New
Christians in Holland. Need we remind you of the York ; Curtenius, Haeghoort, Vanderlinde, Van
distractions and divisions caused by these obstinate Sinderin, Schuyler, Rubel, Kock, Kerr, Rysdyck, and
men, who, instead of harmonizing with the people, Freyenmoet. The Cætus party embraced all the rest.
and winning their confidence, have imprudently op- These formed two hostile bodies resolutely pitted
posed them, and rendered their ministry odious and against each other, and apparently resolved never to
unsuccessful?. Besides, is it not humiliating and de- yield. The peace of neighbourhoods was disturbed ;
grading to these churches, and to us all, that we families were divided; churches torn by factions.
should be deprived of the power of ordaining minis- Houses of worship were locked up by one faction
ters? And we must send abroad for ministers, as if against the other. Tumults and disgraceful scenes
none here were fit to minister in holy things ! It | frequently occurred on the holy Sabbath, and at the
is an imputation on our sons; it is an imputation on doors of churches. Ministers were occasionally as-
us, in the ministry here; as if they were unfit for the saulted in the very pulpit; and sometimes the sol-
holy work, and as if we had only half of the minis- emn worship of God was disturbed and actually
terial office! We declare this bondage to be no terminated by mob-violence. In these scenes the
longer tolerable, and it ought no longer to be endured. Conferentie party were usually noted as the most
“Such was the bold language now used by the violent and outrageous. But, on both sides, a furious
coetus party, both ministers and laymen. And as a zeal prompted many to shameful excesses, and a
goodly nunber had, by the permission of the classis most painful disgrace of the Christian name."
of Amsterdam, been ordained, by special favour, all The Conferentie party now sought the assistance
these, to a man, took a bold stand against this de- of the parent church in Holland. They addressed a
pendence on Holland. They never felt that attach- letter on the subject to the classis of Amsterdam in
ment to the classis, which bound down, in slavish | 1755, following it up by a similar communication in
attachment, those whom it had sent out hither. They each of the three immediately succeeding years.
had no prejudices; they saw the painful grievances The replies to these appeals were by no means cal-
under which their fathers smarted; and they felt the culated to promote conciliation and concord. The
power of the arguments and appeals, so urgently two parties were at this time nearly equal in nun-
pressed by all, to seek an independent ecclesiastical bers. The Catus party had formed the project of
jurisdiction of their own. They spoke out with establishing a seminary for the education of the
warmth on the subject. They even ventured to future ministry in America, so as to be independent
charge the church of their forefathers with injustice of the parent church. They had even communicated
to the ministry here, and actual tyranny over them. their intention to the classis of Amsterdam. Dr.
They withheld what Christ, the King of Zion, never Livingston, who was then studying at Holland,
authorized them to withhold from the true ministry. directed his attention to the plan of an independent
They demanded of her to do them and herself jus ecclesiastical constitution for the church in America.
tice, by conveying to them all the powers of the He returned home in 1770, and the following year
ministry, which she had received, as it respected having summoned a convention, he procured the
doctrine, and sacraments, and discipline.
appointinent of a committee, before which he laid a
“ All these appeals made a most powerful impres- plan which he had brought with him from Holland.
sion on the people. Many churches came over to The scheine embraced three important objects : 1.
their measures; and even a few of the European The internal arrangements, church government, and
ininisters candidly acceded. And they no longer all the usual powers of a classis. 2. The measures
concealed their fixed determination to commence a best calculated to heal all animosities and divisions.
system of measures to withdraw these American | 3. The conducting of a correspondence with the pa-
churches from this abject subordination to the clas- rent church of Holland. The plan was cordially
sis of Amsterdam and the synod of North Holland. accepted by the committee, and afterwards by the
“This plan was matured in 1754. In the cætus convention. It was next subinitted to the classis of
582
CONFEDERATED—CONFESSION (AURICULAR).
Amsterdam, which gave its most perfect approbation The duty of confession is admitted both by Pro-
of the union, and of all the measures adopted. The testants and Roman Catholics, but they differ widely
convention having thus received the consent of the as to the party to whom confession ought to be
parent church, adopted the plan, and it was signed | made; Romanists confessing to the priest, while
with the utmost cordiality by every member of the Protestants confess to God. The latter support their
meeting. Thus happily came to an end, one of those views by adducing numerous passages from both the
melancholy contentions which are so often found to Old and New Testaments, in which confession of sin
disturb the peace of almost all the sections of the is made to God only. Thus Josh. vii. 19, “ And
church of Christ in this fallen world. See Dutch Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee,
REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA.
glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confes-
CONFEDERATED, one of the two classes into sion unto him; and tell me now what thou hast
which the congregations of the CATHARI (which done; hide it not from me.” Ezra x. 10, 11, “And
see) were divided. The confederated or associated, Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye
as they were also called, except observing a few have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to
rules, lived in the manner of other people; but they increase the trespass of Israel. Now therefore
entered into a covenant (hence their name federati make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers,
or confederated) by which they bound themselves, and do his pleasure : and separate yourselves from the
that before they died, or at least in their last sick- people of the land, and from the strange wives.” Ps.
ness, they would enter farther into the church, and | xxxii. 5, “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine
receive the consolation which was their terın for ini- | iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my
tiation. The congregations of the MANICHEANS transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest
(which see) were divided in the same way.
the iniquity of my sin.” 1 John i. 8, 9, “ If we say
CONFESSIO, a name sometimes applied in the that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
early ages of Christianity to a church which was truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faith-
built over the grave of any martyr, or called by his ful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us
name, to preserve the memory of him.
from all unrighteousness." The passage which Ro-
CONFESSION (AUGSBURG). See AUGSBURG manists adduce from Jam. v. 16, “Confess your
CONFESSION.
faults one to another," is explained by Protestants as
CONFESSION (AURICULAR), the practice of referring not to auricular confession, but to the mutual
private and secret confession of sin into the ear of confession of faults on the part of Christians. Two
a priest, with the view of receiving absolution. This other passages are sometimes quoted in vindication
is enforced by the Church of Rome as a solemn of the practice of confession to a priest, viz. Mat. iii.
duty, which every man ought to perform, and, ac- 18, * They were baptized of him (John the Baptist)
cordingly, the council of Trent decreed on this point, in Jordan, confessing their sins," and Acts xix. 18,
“Whosoever shall deny that sacramental confession Many that believed came and confessed their sins."
was instituted by Divine command, or that it is But these passages Protestants regard as referring
necessary to salvation, or shall affirm that the prac- not to secret confession to a priest, an office which
tice of secretly confessing to the priest alone, as it was never held at all events by John the Baptist,
has been ever observed from the beginning by the who was neither a Jewish nor a Christian priest, but
Catholic church, and is still observed, is foreign to to an open and public acknowledgment of the sins of
the institution and command of Christ, and is a hu- their past lives. In the writings of Roman Catholic
man invention; let him be accursed." The duty of authors, it is often argued, that even although no
auricular confession is regarded by the Romish direct passage bearing upon the subject of auricular
church as so important, that it is ranked by Dr. confession may be found in the Bible, still the
Butler, in his Roman Catholic Catechism, as one of doctrine must be regarded as founded on Scripture,
the six cominandments of the church, binding upon
inasmuch as it is a natural and necessary accompa-
all her children, “To confess their sins at least once niment of the power of forgiving sins, which they
a-year.” The mode in which a Romish penitent suppose to have been vested in the apostles, Mat.
confesses is as follows: He must kneel down at the xviii. 18; xvi. 19. John xx. 23.
.
side of his ghostly father, and make the sign of the Though Romish controversialists are accustomed
cross, saying, In the name of the Father, and of the frequently to adduce the authority of the fathers in
Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. He then re- favour of auricular confession, the more candid
peats the CONFITEOR (which see), embodying in the among them readily acknowledge that the confession
heart of it his own special sins. After confession of which the fathers speak, is to be made only to
the penitent is directed to say, “ For these, and all God, and not by any means to man, whether the
other my sins, which I cannot at this present call whole church or individual ministers. It is true,
to my remembrance, I am heartily sorry, purpose that at an early period, as we are informed by So-
amendment for the future, and most humbly ask crates and Sozomen, penitentiary presbyters, as they
pardon of God, and penance and absolution of you, were called, were appointed to hear confessions pre-
my ghostly father."
paratory to public penance. The private or auricu-
583
CONFESSION (PSALM OF)-CONFIRMATION.
lar confession of later centuries, however, is quite as occupying the position at once of a judge and a
different from the confession made to those peniten- physician. And, therefore, he ought to acquire as
tiary presbyters. Confession was not made to them great knowledge and prudence as possible, as well by
with a view of obtaining forgiveness from God, but constant prayer to God, as from approved authors,
in order to procure restoration to the former privi- especially the Roman Catechism, that is, as we
leges of the offended church.
understand it, the Catechism of the council of Trent.
The regular establishment of the system of private In the exercise of his office, the confessor is bound to
confession and absolution is usually ascribed to Leo be minute and circumstantial in his interrogatories.
the Great. That pontiff, however, left the confes- Finally, the Rubric regards it as indispensable that
sion of sins to every man's private conscience, nor he keep the seal of secret confession under an exact
was the priest declared to possess in himself the and perpetual silence; and, therefore, he shall never
power either inherent or delegated of forgiving sins. say or do anything which may directly or indirectly
Even long subsequent to the time of Leo, it was still tend to reveal any sin or defect known to him by
optional with every man either to make confession confession alone. Every Romish priest is not a
to a priest or to God alone. Nor was it till the confessor, but in addition to the power of orders, the
thirteenth century that any definite law was laid priest who confesses must have a spiritual jurisdic-
down by the church on the subject of private confes- tion over the persons who apply to him in this
sion. In the year 1215, however, under the pontifi- sacrament. The duty of confession, at least once
cate of Innocent III., the practice of auricular con- a-year, being binding, as we have already found
fession was authoritatively enjoined by the fourth (see Confession), on every faithful Romanist, it is
council of Lateran, upon the faithful of both sexes,
incalculable what an extent of influence over her vo-
at least once a-year. Fleury the Romish historian taries Rome thus acquires.
says, “ This is the first canon, so far as I know, CONFITEOR (Lat. I confess), the form of con-
which imposes the general obligation of sacramental fession prescribed by the Romish church to be used
confession.” From that time down to the present by every penitent at the confessional. It runs thus,
day, it has been considered a positive divine ordi “I confess to Almighty God, to the blessed Mary
nance, that every one should enumerate and confess ever Virgin, to blessed Michael the Archangel, to
liis sins to a priest; and few if any dogmas of the blessed John Baptist, to the holy apostles Peter and
Church of Rome have tended more to increase the Paul, to all the saints, and to you, father, that I have
power and influence of the priesthood on the one sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deel,
hand, and to injure the morality of the people on the through my fault, through my fault
, through my
other. Confession is practised also in the Greek and most grievous fault. (At this point the person
Coptic churches. The former church indeed pre- specifies his several sins in their details, and thus
scribes it to all her members four times a-year; but concludes.) Therefore, I beseech the blessed Mary
the laity commonly confess only once in the year, to ever Virgin, the blessed Michael the Archangel,
which in Russia they are obliged by the laws of the blessed John Baptist, the holy apostles, Peter and
land; and it is usual in that country to confess in Paul, and all the saints; and you, father, to pray to
the great fast before Easter.
our Lord God for me.” When the confession is
CONFESSION (PSALM OF), a name applied in made in this form, it is said to be under the seal of
the ancient Christian church to the fifty-first psalm, confession, and must not be disclosed by the priest;
as being peculiarly appropriate to the case of an in- but if made without this form, the priest is not bound
dividual who is confessing his sins. This title is to keep it secret. Every Romanist, therefore, is
given to it by Athanasius.
taught from his earliest days to repeat the confiteor,
CONFESSION (WESTMINSTER). See WEST- and thus, as many suppose, they secure the perpetual
MINSTER CONFESSION.
secrecy of their confession.
CONFESSIONAL, a seat or cell in Roman Ca. CONFIRMATION (Lat. confirmare, to strength-
tholic churches, in which the priest sits to hear con- en), a rite in Episcopal churches, whereby a young
fessions. It usually a small wooden erection person, when arrived at years of understanding, takes
within the church, and divided into three cells or upon himself the vows which had been taken for
niches, the centre one being for the priest, and the him at his baptism by his godfather and godmother.
side ones for penitents. There is a small grated | The Roman Catholic church regards it as one of the
aperture in each of the partitions, between the priest seven sacraments which they hold. Among the
and the side cells, through which the penitent makes
Oriental churches it is also a sacrament under the
his confession to the priest or confessor.
name of CIRISM (which see). A controversy has
CONFESSIONS OF FAITH. See Creeds. been carried on between Romnish and Protestant
CONFESSOR, a priest in the Romish church, writers as to the origin of confirmation, the point
who has power to hear the confession of penitents in in dispute being whether such a rite existed in
the sacrament of penance, and to give them absolu- the time of the apostles, or whether it belongs
tion. The Rubric is very particular as to the duties to a later date. The fact is admitted on both
of the confessor. He is enjoined to regard himself | sides, that imposition of hands was practised by
584
CONFIRMATION.
the apostles only upon baptized persons, as in the of hands, the whole act of baptism ; (hence this rite
case of the converted Samaritans, Acts viii. 12 was called signaculum, a seal.) It was supposed
-17, and the disciples of Ephesus, Acts xix. 5 and that a good and valid reason for this rite could be
6. On examining these passages, however, it ap-
drawn from the fact that the Samaritans, baptized
pears plain, that, by the laying on of hands, was by a deacon, were first endowed with spiritual gifts
understood to be cominunicated the gifts of the by the imposition of the hands of the apostles, which
Holy Ghost.
But various cases of baptism are was added afterwards (Acts xix.), as this passage was
recorded in Scripture, such as the baptism of the then understood. So now the presbyters, and in case
three thousand on the day of Pentecost, of Lydia, of necessity, even the deacons, were empowered to
of the jailor of Philippi and others, in not one of baptize, but the bishops only were authorised to con-
which is there the slightest reference to the laying on suinmate that second holy act. This notion had been
of hands. No authentic reference, besides, to the rite formed so early as the middle of the third century.
of confirmation is to be found in the earliest ecclesias- The bishops were under the necessity, therefore, of
tical writers. Some of them, as for example, Euse- occasionally going through their dioceses, in order to
bius, speak of “the seal of the Lord," an expression, administer to those who had been baptized by their
however, which refers to baptism rather than to con- subordinates, the country presbyters, the rite which
firmation. The first who mentions the custom of was afterwards denominated confirmation. In ordi-
anvinting with oil the newly baptized, is Tertullian, nary cases, where the bishop himself administered
and in the time of Cyprian it appears already to the baptisın, both were still united together as one
have constituted an essential part of the rite of bap- whole, and thus constituted the complete act of bap-
tism. There is no doubt that at a still earlier period tism." After the general introduction of infant bap-
the laying on of hands with prayer formed a part of | tism, confirmation immediately succeeded the dis-
the baptismal ceremony.
pensation of the ordinance. In the Oriental churches,
The origin of the rite of confirmation in the an- baptism, confirmation, and the Lord's Supper are
cient church, and the circumstances which led to its administered in immediate succession, and this, in
introduction, are thus sketched by Neander : “The | all probability, was the ancient custom. It was not
sign of the imposition of hands was the common to- probably before the thirteenth century that confir-
ken of religious consecration, borrowed from the mation came to be regarded as an entirely separate
Jews, and employed on various occasions, either to ordinance from that of baptism. The council of
denote consecration to the Christian calling in gen- Trent pronounces a solemn anathema upon all who
eral, or to the particular branches of it. The apos- | deny confirmation to be “
deny confirmation to be " a true and proper sacra-
tles, or presiding officers of the church, laying their ment."
hands on the head of the baptized individual, called So much importance and solemnity were attached,
upon the Lord to bestow his blessing on the holy in the ancient Christian church, to the rite of confir-
transaction now completed, to cause to be fulfilled in ration, that the privilege of performing it was limited
him whatever was implied in it, to consecrate him to the bishop, on the ground, as both Chrysostom and
with his Spirit for the Christian calling, and to pour Augustine argue, that the Samaritan converts, though
out his Spirit upon him. This closing rite was in-baptized by Philip the evangelist, received the im-
separably connected with the whole act of baptisın. position of hands from an apostle. Though, in the
All, indeed, liad reference here to the same princi- ancient Christian church, as in the Greek and
pal thing, without which no one could be a Chris- African churches, confirmation immediately fol-
tian,—the birth to a new life from God, the baptism | lowed baptism, seven years are allowed to pass after
of the Spirit, which was symbolically represented by | infant baptism, before a party is confirmed in the
the baptism of water. Tertullian still considers this Western churches at present, and in the English
transaction and baptism as one whole, combined to- church young people are not usually confirmed until
gether; although he distinguishes in it the two se- they are fifteen or sixteen years old. Since 1660, it
parate moments, the negative and the positive, the has been customary for the English bishops to re-
forgiveness of sin and cleansing from sin which was quire at confirmation a renewal of the covenant made
mediated by baptism in the name of the Father, Son, in infant baptism.
and Holy Ghost, and the importation of the Holy In administering confirmation four principal ce-
Spirit following thereupon, upon the individual now remonies were employed in former times, imposition
restored to the original state of innocence, to which of hands, unction with the chrism, the sign of the
importation the imposition of hands refers.
cross, and prayer. Other formalities were the salu-
“But now, since the idea had sprung up of a tation, “ Peace be with you ;" a slight blow upon
spiritual character belonging exclusively to the the cheek; unbinding of the band upon the forehead;
bishops, or successors of the apostles, and communi- prayer and singing; the benediction of the bishop,
cated to them by ordination ; on which character together with a short exhortation from him. In the
the propagation of the Holy Spirit in the church Roman Pontifical the arrangements to be made, and
was dependent; it was considered as their preroga- the ceremonies performed in the sacrament of confir--
tive to seal, by this consecration of the imposition | mation, are thus minutely laid down : “ The pontiff
CONFIRMATION.
585
about to confirm infants, children, or other baptized | remission of all their sins ; send forth into them the
persons, having put on his vestments, goes to a fald-sevenfold Spirit thy holy paraclete from heaven. R.
stool prepared for him in front of the altar, and sit- Amen.
ting thereon, with his pastoral staff in his left hand, “The Spirit of wisdom and of understanding. R.
and his mitre on, admonishes the people, who stand
Amen.
up in his presence :
“ The Spirit of counsel and of fortitude. R.
“ That no one but a bishop only, is the ordinary Amen.
ininister of confirmation.
“ The Spirit of knowledge and of piety. R. Amen.
“ That no one that has been confirn.ed, ought to • Fill them with the Spirit of thy fear and seal
be confirmed again.
them with the sign of the Cro+ss of Christ, being
“ That no one that has not been confirmed can be made propitious (to them) unto life eternal. Through
a sponsor in confirmation; neither can a father, nor the same our Lord, &c.
inother, nor husband, nor wife.
“ Then the pontiff sitting on the aforesaid fald-
“ That no one that is excommunicate, or under an stool, or, if the multitude of those that are to be con-
interdict, or convicted of any of the more grievous firmed requires it, standing, with his mitre on, con-
offences; or not well instructed in the rudiments of firms them row after row. And he inquires the
the Christian faith, thrust himself forward to receive name of each one individually, as the godfather or
this sacrament, or to be sponsor for one about to be godinother, on bended knees, presents each to him ;
confirmed.
and, having dipped the extremity of his right hand
“ That adults are bound first to confess their sins; thumb in the chrism, he says:
or at least to be grieved for the sins which they have “N. I sign thee with the sign of the + cross. While
committed, and then to be confirmed.
he says this he draws with his thumb the sign of the
By this sacrament is contracted a spiritual kin- cross on the forehead of that one : and proceeds-
ship, hindering the contracting of matrimony, and " And confirin thee with the chrism of salvation.
breaking it off if already contracted; which kinship in the name of the Fa+ther, and of the + Son, and
takes place between the confirmer and the confirmed, of the Holy + Ghost.
and between the father and mother, and the sponsor “ Then he gives hin a gentle slap (box) on the
of the same, but goes no further.
cheek, saying, 'Peace be with thee.'
“Let no sponsor present more than one or two.
“All being confirmed, the pontiik wipes his thumb
“Those that are about to be confirmed, must le and hand with a bit of bread, and washes them over
keeping fast.
a basin. Which done, let the water of ablution be
“The forehead of every one that is confirmed poured into the piscina of the sacrarium.
must be tied up, and remain so, until the chrism be “ Afterwards, joining his hands, and all the con-
dried up, or wiped off.
firmed devoutly kneeling, he says:
"Wherefore let every one going to be confirmed "O God, who didst give the Holy Ghost to thy
carry a clean linen fillet, wherewith to tie up his apostles, and didst will that by them and their suc.
head.
cessors the same should be delivered to the rest of
“Let infants be held by the sponsors on their the faithful: look propitiously upon the service of
right arms, before the pontiff confirming them. But our humility; and grant, that the same Holy Ghost,
adults and other more grown persons, must lay each coming down upon those whose foreheads we have
his foot on the right foot of his sponsor, and there.. anointed with the sacred chrism, and signed with
fore neither ought males to be godfathers to females, the sign of the cross, may make the hearts of the
nor females godmothers to males.
same a perfect temple of his own glory, by vouch-
“All being arranged in order before him, the pon- safing to dwell therein.
safing to dwell therein. Who with the Father and
tiff still sitting, washes his hands; then having put the same Holy Ghost, livest, &c.
off his mitre, he rises, and, with his face turned to
the persons to be confirmed, kneeling before him, “Lo! thus shall every one be blessed who feareth
with their hands before their breast, he says:
the Lord.
“ The Holy Ghost come down into you, and the “And turning to the confirmed, and making the
power of the Most High keep you from sin. R. sign of the cross upon them, he says:
Amen.
“The Lord bl+ess you out of Sion, that you may
“Then signing himself with the sign of the cross see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of your
from the forehead to the breast with his right hand, life, and have eternal life. R. Amen. .
he says : V. Our help is in the name of the Lord, "The confirmation concluded, the pontifl, taking
&c.
his mitre, sits down, and admonishes the godfathers
And then, with his hands stretched out towards and godmothers to instruct their children in good
those to be confirmed, he says:
manners, to eschew evil, and to do good, and to teach
“Almighty and everlasting God, who didst vouch- then the Creed, the Pater Noster, and the Ave Maria,
safe to regenerate these thy servants of water and since to this they are obliged.”
the Holy Ghost, and who hast given them the The chrisia of the Eastern church, which corre-
2 s
" Next he says:
I.
586
CONFIRMATION-CONFUCIUS.
ever.
sponds to the confirmation of the Western, is prac-
isters of the Church of England were on that day
tised as an appendix to baptism, following imme- thrown into the ranks of dissent, the Act of Uni-
liately after it, and considered as forming, in one formity having come into operation. The terms of
sense, a part of it. The ceremony is performed with conformity were, 1. Re-ordination, if they had not
sacred ointment or CHRISM (which see), by which been episcopally ordained, Presbyterian orders hav..
the forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears, breast, ing thus been declared invalid. 2. A declaration of
hands, and feet are signed with the cross, the priest unfeigned assent and consent to all and everything
saying each time, “The seal of the gift of the Holy prescribed and contained in the Book of Common
Ghost.”
In the Constantinopolitan and Antiochian Prayer and administration of the sacraments. 3.
forms, this is unaccompanied by any imposition of The oath of canonical obedience. 4. Abjuration of
hands. The entire ceremony is not complete till the the Solemn League and Covenant. 5. Abjuration
child is brought again, after the lapse of seven days, of the lawfulness of taking arms against the king, or
to the priest, who, having washed it, cuts off some of any commissioned by him, on any pretence whatso-
its hair crosswise, that is, in four places on the crown The term Conformists is still in use as applied
of the head.
to those who adhere to the doctrine, worship, and
In Lutheran churches confirmation is universally discipline of the Established Church of England, in
practised, though not considered as being an ordi- contrast to the Non-CoNFORMISTS (which see), who
nance of divine institution. It is not confined to the dissent from it. See UNIFORMITY (ACT OF).
bishops, but performed by every pastor of a congre-
CONFORMITY (DECLARATION OF). Every
gation, who, after instructing the young in the great | clergyman belonging to the Church of England, on
leading doctrines of Christianity, confirms them when being either licensed to a curacy, or instituted to a
they have reached the age of fourteen or fifteen, by bencfice, signs what is termed the Declaration of
the imposition of hands, after which they are admit-Conformnity, which is in these words, “I, A. B., do
ted to the Lord's Supper.
declare, that I will conform to the Liturgy of the
Many Protestant churches deny the practice of United Church of England and Ireland, as it is now
confirmation to have any scriptural warrant, or to by law established.” This is subscribed in the pre-
have been at all known in apostolic times, and, sence of the bishop, or of some other person appointed
therefore, decline to observe it.
by the bishop as his commissary. See ENGLAND
CONFIRMATION OF A BISHOP. On the (CHURCII or).
death, removal, or resignation of a bishop in the CONFUCIUS, an eminent Chinese philosopher,
Church of England, the dean and chapter of the ca- whose writings have exercised so powerful an influ-
thedral in which the vacant diocese is situated, make ence over the minds of his countrymen, that his
application for the royal license to elect a successor. religious, or rather moral system is adopted at this
The crown then issues a license, and along with it day by the literary men of China. He was born
sends letters-missive containing the name of the in- B. C. 551, in the principality of Loo, which is now
dividual recommended to fill the vacant bishopric, the province of Shan-tung. He was descended froin
who is thereupon elected, and the crown issues let- a very respectable family, which traced its pedigree
ters-patent to the archbishop of the province, re- to the ancient emperors. At a very early age he
quiring him to proceed with the confirmation and lost his father, but through the kind indulgence of
consecration. On the day being fixed for the confir- his mother, he enjoyed every advantage in the at-
mation, notice is publicly given, and all who object tainment of as liberal an education as the time could
to the election of the party proposed, are invited to command. Being naturally of a studious tuin of
appear. One or more persons delegated by the dean mind, he spent his days and nights in reading and
and chapter present the bishop-elect to the arch- meditation, and formed to himself the high design
bishop, or to his representative, the vicar-general. of accomplishing a reform in the opinions and man-
Proof is now given of the election of the bishop, and ners of his countrymen. Gradually he attracted
of the royal assent; after which the bishop takes around him a goodly number of admiring disciples,
the usual oaths of allegiance, of supremacy, of si- whom he carefully instructed in the art of good
mony, and of obedience to the archbishop. Then government; thus raising up virtuous, impartial, and
follows “ The definitive sentence, or the act of confir- equitable rulers, who, recommending themselves by
mation, by which the judge commits to the bishop their wisdom and efficiency to the Emperor, suc-
elected the care, government, and administration of ceeded in obtaining high offices in the state, which
the spiritual affairs of said bishopric, and then de- they filled with honour to themselves, and the great-
crees him to be installed and enthronized.”
est benefit to their country. Confucius himself
CONFORMISTS, the name given to those per- entertained the idea that he had discovered the in-
sons in England who conformed to the Liturgy or fallible mode of rendering a nation at once virtuous,
Common Prayer-Book in the reign of Charles II. peaceful, and happy. Travelling from one part of
On the 24th August 1662, all that did not conform the vast Chinese empire to another, he endeavoured
were deprived of all ecclesiastical benefices. The to diffuse his moral and political principles, obtaining
consequence was, that nearly two thousand min- office for the sole purpose of exhibiting his theory in
A
CONFUCIANS.
587
practical operation. Throughout a long life he con- The sect venerate the memory of the man, and im-
tinued to wander from place to place, visiting courtsplicitly adopt his opinions. His system was more
and palaces with a numerous train of disciples, until properly a theory of ethical and political philoso-
disgusted with the small success which attended his phy than a religion.
phy than a religion. The Confucians, accordingly,
labours as a moral and political reforıner, he retired are chiefly the learned men of China, who, in the
into private life, resolved to devote the remainder of spirit of their master, seem to abjure all things
his days to the perfecting of his philosophical sys. spiritual and divine. The political system of the
tem. He remodelled the book of rites-Le-ke, one Chinese sage is of a very peculiar character, and
of the Woo-king or classics; completed the Pa-kwa well fitted to uphold the despotic government of the
or symbols of Tuh-he; and thus produced the Yih- Celestial Empire. The law of the family is, accord-
king, a work which is said to have been composed ing to this theory, the universal law. Filial piety
by the most celebrated philosophers of antiquity, is the root of all the virtues, and the source of all
but finished by Confucius. His disciples, after his instruction. This supremely important virtue is
death, prepared the Sze-shoo, four books on classics, divided into three vast spheres. (1.) The care and
which Gutzlaff, the learned Chinese missionary, de- respect due to parents. (2.) All that relates to the
clares to be “the most popular work in the world, service of prince and country. (3.) The acquisition
and read by greater numbers of people than any of the virtues, and of that which constitutes our per-
other human production.” The closing work of fection. The five cardinal virtues, according to this
Confucius was a history of his own tiines, in which school, are benevolence, righteousness, politeness or
he descanted with the utmost freedom on the rulers propriety, wisdom, and truth, and at the foundation
of his time, denouncing the oppression and injus- of these lies filial piety. Not only in youth are pa-
tice of their government with so unsparing a l'ents to be reverenced, but even at the latest period
hand, that he made sycophants and tyrants tremble. they are to be treated with honour, and after death
This was the last production of his powerful pen, to be raised to the rank of gods. The relations of
for shortly after its completion, his countrymen are father and son give the first idea of prince and sub-
said to have discovered an unicorn in the woods, ject. It is filial piety which inclines to obedience to
which Confucius declared to be an indication that our superiors, and those who hold authority in the
his death was at hand, and wiping away the tears, he state. But while Confucius thus inculcated rever-
exclaimed, “My teaching is at an end." His pre- ence to parents and obedience to rulers, he strangely
diction was too soon fulfilled, for almost immediately overlooked the subjection due to the Father of our
after he expired, B. C. 479, in the seventy-third year spirits. Not that he is altogether silent as to the
of his age. Thus died one of those few illustrious existence of a Supreme Being, but no such principle,
men who have left beliind them traces of their exist:- however obviously adapted to operate upon the hu-
ence, which, while the world lasts, can never be man mind, is to be found pervading this extraordi-
effaced. Held in the highest admiration while he lived, nary system. On this theory of political govern-
Confucius was venerated as a god after his death, and ment, Mr. Gutzlaff remarks : “The endearing idea
at this day his principles are held as axioms by the of the father of a family, under which he represents
most intelligent and learned among the Chinese, not the sovereign of a country, has something very pleas-
in one district of the country only, but throughout | ing in it. But the rights he allots to a father over
the whole empire. No philosopher of any nation, his child, are far greater than those which we should
not even Aristotle himself, has exercised for so long be inclined to acknowledge as due. The theory,
a time a cominanding influence over the opinions and however, is as excellent as the practice is difficult.
manners of such countless multitudes of men. Huc, It is the most perfect despotism that has ever been
the Roinish missionary, informs us that a tablet to established. As it suited the interests of the rulers,
his memory is found in every school; that both the to enforce these principles, and to honour their au-
masters and the pupils prostrate themselves before thor, they have been upheld with a strong arm.
the venerated name of Confucius, at the beginning The works of Confucius have become the primers of
and end of each class; that his image is found in all schools, and the text-books of academies during
academies, places of literary resort, and examination many ages. The school-boy learns them by heart,
halls. All the towns have temples erected to his the literati make them the theme of their writings,
honour, and more than 300,000,000 of men with one and the doctor seeks his highest glory in publishing
voice proclaim him saint. The descendants of Con- an elegant commentary on them. It is, therefore,
fucius, who still exist in great numbers, share in the no wonder, that all the public institutions, and the
extraordinary lionours which the whole Chinese na- national spirit of the Chinese, are deeply tinged
tion pays to their illustrious ancestor, for these con- with the Confucian doctrines. The stability of the
stitute the sole hereditary nobility of the empire, Chinese empire has thus been insured, and as long
and enjoy certain privileges which belong to them as the government can maintain the same spiritual
alone. See next article.
control, its power will not be shaken. One despo-
CONFUCIANS, the followers of Confucius, whom tism may succeed another; but there will be no
the Chinese regard as the most eminent of sages. | change of measures, the country as well as the
588
CONFUCIANS.
people will remain stationary. To retain the people In this square every odd number represents hea-
in a state of civilization, equally remote from bar- ven or the superior principle, and every even num-
barism and enlightened principles, is the most im- ber, earth or the inferior principle. The odd num-
portant secret of Chinese despotism ; and no theory bers, when summed up, amount to 25, and the even
like the Confucian is so well calculated to promote numbers with the decade amount to 30, and by these
this great end; it teaches the people their duties, 55 numbers the Confucians believe that all trans-
but never mentions their rights."
formations are perfected, and the spirits act.
The theory of Confucius, as to tlie origin of the Another portion of the Confucian theory of the
world, admits an universal chaos to have existed be- structure of the universe is equally curious. Ilea-
fore the separation of the heaven from the earth ; and ven, earth, and man are considered as the primary
that the two energies of nature were gradually distin agents, each of them being described by three lines,
guished, and the yin and yang, or the male and fe- some of which are entire, others broken, so that they
male principles, established. The purer influences can form eight different combinations. This multi-
ascended and formed the heavens, while the grosser plied by itself gives 64; and increased to twenty-
particles subsided, constituting the subjacent carth. four lines placed over each other, they make
The combination of these two gave origin to nature, 16,777,216 changes. By these numbers they ima--
heaven being the father, and earth the mother of all gire that the properties of every being, its motion,
things. Mr. Medhurst, who, from his long resi- rest, and reciprocal operation are described. Hence
dence in China, had ample opportunities of becoming the belief of the Confucians in “intelligible num-
acquainted with this curious systein of cosmogony,
bers” as the foundation of their cosmogony; and the
thus describes it: “The principle of the Chinese use of these numbers by Chinese fortune-tellers to
cosmogony seems to be founded on a sexual system calculate the destinies of men. The whole is evi-
of the universe. That which Linnæus found to ex- dently a system of materialism, and its origin, as well
ist in plants, the Chinese conceive, pervades univer. as its continued operation, is to be resolved in their
sal nature. Heaven and earth, being the grandest | view into a principle of order. They believe in a
objects cognizable to human senses, have been con- sort of material trinity, called heaven, earth, and
sidered by thern as the parents of all things, or the man; by man in this case being meant the sages
superior and inferior principles of being. These only. Heaven and earth, they say, produced human
they trace to an extreme limit, which possessed in beings, and the sages, by giving instruction, assist
itself the two powers combined. They say, that nature in the management of the world. Of these
one produced two, two begat four, and four increased sages the most exalted is Confucius himself, who is
to eight; and thus, by spontaneous multiplication, placed on a level with the powers of nature, and in
the production of all things followed. To all these fact converted into a god. They even pay him
existences, whether animate or inanimate, they at- divine honours, there being upwards of 1,560 tem-
tach the idea of sex; thus everything superior pre- ples dedicated to his worship; and at the spring and
siding, luminous, hard, and unyielding, is of the mas- autumnal sacrifices there are offered to him six bul-
culine ; while everything of an opposite quality is locks, 27,000 pigs, 5,800 sheep, 2,800 deer, and
ascribed to the feminine gender. Numerals are thus 27,000 rabbits; ' making a total of 62,606 animals,
divided, and every odd number is arranged under the immolated every year to the manes of Confucius,
former, and every even number under the latter sex. besides 27,600 pieces of silk; all provided by the
This theory of the sexes was adopted by the ancient government. This of course is exclusive of the nu-
Egyptians, and appears in some of the fragments merous offerings of private individuals.
ascribed to Orpheus; while the doctrine of numbers The followers of Confucius in China believe in
taught by the Confucian school, resembles in some demons and spirits, to each of which is assigned the
degree the monad and duad of Pythagoras, of care and guardianship of some particular dynasty or
which some have spoken as the archetype of the kingdom, some particular element or province of
world."
nature; while the four corners of the house, with the
The Confucian cosmogony is intimately connected shop, parlour, and kitchen, are thought to be under
with their scheme of diagrams. These diagrams the influence of some tutelary divinity. And in re-
consist of a magic square, in which the figures are ference to the doctrine of retribution, they hold that
so arranged that the sums of cach row, both dia- virtue meets with its reward, and vice with its pun-
gonally and laterally, shall be equal. The form may ishment, only in the present world, and if not re-
be thus represented:
ceived during life, the good or evil consequences will
result to a man's children or grandchildren. In this
way they evade altogether the necessity of a future
4 9 2
state of retribution. Two great elements are thus
found to be awanting in the moral system of the
3 5 7
Chinese sage, the existence of a God, and the doc-
trine of a future life beyond the grave.
8 1 6
The teaching of Confucius being thoroughly eartlıly
CONGE D'ELIRE-CONGREGATION.
589
1
in its character, it was so framed as to attach the congregation of saints praise Him." But the word
highest importance to a series of external regula- more frequently implies an association of professing
tions, which were deemed necessary to secure the Christians, who regularly assemble for divine wor-
decorum and good order of society. To carry out ship in one place under a stated pastor. In order to
this object, Confucius composed or compiled the constitute a congregation in this latter sense of the
Le-ke, a work on rites in six volumes. It is the term, among the Jews at least ten men are required,
most extensive work he has bequeathed to posterity, who have passed the thirteenth year of their age.
and points out etiquette, rites and ceremonies under In every place in which this number of Jews can
all circumstances, and for all stations of life. In so be statedly assembled, they procure a synagogue.
high estimation was this production held, that forty- Among Christians, on the other hand, no such pre-
three celebrated writers published commentaries and cise regulation is found, our Lord himself having
explanatory treatises on the Le-ke; and that no rites declared, “Wherever two or three are met together
might be omitted, the Chow-le, another work on the in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
same subject, consisting of thirty volumes, was added. Guided by such intimations of the will of Christ,
“From all the books," says Gutzlaff, “ which treat Christian sects of all kinds are in the habit of orga-
of rites, one might collect a very large library, and nising congregations though the number composing
thus acquire the invaluable knowledge of eating, | them may be much smaller than that fixed by the
drinking, sleeping, mourning, standing, weeping, and Jewish Rabbies.
laughing, according to rule, and thus become a per: CONGREGATIONS (ROMISH), assemblies of
fect Confucian automaton."
cardinals appointed to arrange some one department
Shortly after its promulgation, the politico-moral of the affairs of the Church of Rome. Each congre-
system of the Chinese philosopher, though warmly gation has its chief or president, and also its secre-
supported by those who had embraced it, was pro- tary, who records the proceedings and conducts the
ductive of so little bene it to the community, that it correspondence. The instruments which are de-
was in danger of completely losing its credit. In the spatched, and the letters which are written in the
course of two centuries, however, after the death of name of the congregation, must be signed by the
its founder, Confucianism rose into renewed vigour president, and have his seal stamped upon it.
through the active exertions of Mang-tsze or Mencius, CONGREGATION (CONSISTORIAL), instituted
who travelled from one end of the empire to the other, | by Pope Sixtus V., for the preparation of the more
preaching the doctrines of his revered master. Nor difficult beneficiary matters which are afterwards to
was he without considerable success. He was followed be discussed in the CONSISTORY (which see), in the
by a numerous host of disciples, and though he added | Pope's presence. The cardinal-deacon, when he re-
little to the doctrines of Confucius, he placed them sides at Rome, is president of this congregation, and
in a new light, and explained and applied them with in his absence the Pope may appoint any member of
ability and power. The system defective, though it the Apostolical College to act as interim president.
undoubtedly is in some most essential particulars, This congregation is composed of several cardinals,
whether viewed as a system of ethical or of political and of some prelates and divines elected by the
philosophy, has kept its ground in China to this Pope; and the affairs which usually come before
day. Its adherents are generally regarded as mate- them, regard such matters as the erection of new
rialists and atheists, yet the greater number of them archbishoprics and cathedral churches, reunions, sup-
are found to conform: to the popular idolatry. pressions, and resignations of bishoprics, coadjutor-
CONGE D'ELIRE (Fr. leave to choose), the writ ships, and the taxes and annates of all benefices to
or license given by the Sovereign in England to the which the Pope collates.
dean and chapter of the cathedral of a vacant dio- CONGREGATION OF THE APOSTOLICAL
cese, authorizing them to elect a bishop. Along | VISITATION. The pope, besides laying claim to
with the congè d'elire are sent letters missive con- the office of universal bishop, is invested also with
taining the name of the individual recommended by the special office of archbishop of the city of Rome,
the Crown to fill the vacant office, and from the time and in that quality is bound to make the pastoral
of Henry VIII, it has been the law, that the dean | visitation of six bishoprics, which are suffragans to
and chapter are liable to the penalties of a pre- this metropolis of his patrimony. But in conse-
munire if they refuse to elect the person nominated quence of his manifold engagements
, this congrega-
by the Crown. See BISHOP.
tion has been instituted to relieve him from some of
CONGO (RELIGION OF). See Fetisi-WOR- | his more special duties, by nominating commission-
ers to visit churches and monasteries both in city
CONGREGATION. This word, like the term and country, and report the state of matters to the
CHURCH (which see), is sometimes used in a more congregation. This congregation is composed of
extended and at other times in a more restricted the same cardinals and prelates which constitute the
In its widest acceptation, it includes the congregation for suppressing monasteries, but in ad-
whole body of the Christian people. It is thus em- dition to these, it contains also the Pope's vicar-
ployed by the Psalmist when he says, “Let the general and the cardinal vicegerent, whose consent
SHIP.
sense.
590
CONGREGATION.
1
1
is indispensable to the appointment of commission- take cognizance of all bishops and abbots in Italy,
ers for visiting either churches or monasteries. in the matter of residence, either compelling or dis-
CONGREGATION OF BISHOPS AND RE- rensing with their residence in their several dioceses
GULARS. Sixtus V., in the beginning of his pon- or communities as circumstances may seem to re-
tificate, united two congregations under this name. quire. In this congregation there are three car-
It is composed of a certain number of cardinals fixed dinals, three prelates, and a secretary. They as-
by the Pope, and of a prelate who acts as secretary, semble at the palace of the vicar-general on the few
and has six writers under him. This congregation occasions on which meetings are necessary. Every
has authority to settle all. disputes that may arise bishop or abbot, who wishes to obtain leave of ab-
among bishops and the regulars of all monastic or- sence for any cause whatever, must apply to this
ders. The cardinals of this assembly are bound to congregation. If any bishop or abbot infringes their
give their opinion when necessary to all bishops, order he is deprived of all his benefices as long as
abbots, prelates, and superiors of churches or monas- he absents himself ; and if he refuse to return on the
teries, who make application to them. The writers order of this congregation, they have it in their power
and secretary of this congregation are maintained at to suspend him from all his functions, when he can
the expense of the apostolical chamber, the counsel only be restored by his holiness or vicar-general,
and opinion being afforded in all cases without fee. with the consent of the deputies of this congrega-
CONGREGATION FOR THE EXAMINA- tion.
TION OF BISHOPS, instituted by Gregory XIV., CONGREGATION FOR BUILDING OF
for the purpose of examining those churchmen who CHURCHES, instituted by Clement VIII., princi-
were nominated to bishoprics. It is composed of pally to superintend the building of St. Peter's
eight cardinals, six prelates, ten divines of different church at Rome. They have often, however, em-
orders, both secular and regular, some of whom must ployed themselves in building other churches in
be doctors of the canon law. These examiners are Rome. This congregation consists of eight cardi-
chosen by the Pope, who assembles them in his pa- nals and four prelates, assisted by the auditor and
lace when occasion requires. All Italian bishops treasurer of the apostolic chamber, an auditor of the
are obliged to submit to this examination before róta, a steward, a fiscal, a secretary, and some at-
they are consecrated, and for this purpose they pre- torneys. Meetings are held twice every inonth at the
sent themselves before his holiness kneeling on a palace of the senior cardinal of the congregation.
cushion at his feet, while the exaininers stand round Besides superintending repairs or improvements on
proposing such questions as they think proper, on St. Peter's, they have the power of inquiring into
theology and the canon law, to all of which the can- the wills of those who have bequeathed sums for
didates are expected to give suitable answers. If the pious uses.
examination has proved satisfactory, the Pope au-
CONGREGATION OF THE HOLY OFFICE,
thorises their names to be given in to the secretary, | instituted by Pope Paul III. for the purpose of tak-
who inserts them in a register, and an extract is ing cognizance of heresies, and such new opinions
handed to each of the candidates that he may make as might be contrary to the doctrines of the Romisli
use of it in case of his translation to another see, or church; as also of apostasy, witchcraft, magic, and
his elevation to a higher dignity in the church, no other kinds of incantation, the abuse of the sacra-
further examination being ever after required from ments, and the condemnation of pernicious books.
him. Such as are raised to the cardinalate before Paul IV. enlarged the privileges of this congregation,
they are created bishops, are exempted from this ex- and Sixtus V. passed various statutes, which rendered
amination to qualify them for taking possession of a the holy office so powerful and formidable, that the
bishop's see or patriarchate, or even to be raised to Italians of the time declared "Pope Sixtus would not
the pontificate. All cardinal-nephews are likewise pardon Christ himself.” This congregation consists of
exempt.
twelve or more cardinals, along with a considerable
CONGREGATION ON THE MORALS OF number of prelates and divines of various orders, both
BISHOPS, instituted by Innocent XI. to secure that secular and regular, who are called consulters of the
churchmen, who are raised to the episcopal or any holy office. There is, besides, a fiscal with his assessor,
other dignity in the church, should be men of vir- whose business it is to make a report of the cases
tuous and regular lives. This congregation is com- which come before the congregation. A meeting is
posed of three cardinals, two bishops, four prelates, held once, and sometimes twice a week, the Pope
and a secretary, who is the pope's auditor. Their being generally present and presiding, while the
province is to examine very carefully the certificates senior cardinal of the holy office acts as secretary,
of the life and manners of every candidate for a and keeps the seal of the congregation in his cus-
bishop's see, and to take care that his whole deport- tody. The whole proceedings of this body are con-
ment be without reproach.
ducted in private, and a seal of secresy is imposed
CONGREGATION FOR THE RESIDENCE on all its members. All persons accused or sus-
OF BISHOPS. This congregation, of which the pected of heresy or other crimes of which this
Pope's vicar-general is president, is empowered to tribunal takes cognizance, are imprisoned in the
CONGREGATION.
591
palace of the holy office until the prosecution is thirteen cardinals, two priests, and one monk, toge-
ended. If found not guilty, they are set at liberty, ther with a secretary. The number of cardinals
but if proved to be guilty, they are delivered over to which compose it was afterwards increased to eigh-
the secular authorities to be punished accordingly. teen, to which were added a few other officers, in-
See INQUISITION.
cluding one papal secretary, one apostolical protho-
CONGREGATION OF IMMUNITIES, insti- notary, one referendary, and one of the assessors or
tuted by Urban VIII., with the design of preventing scribes of the holy office. This congregation meets
the disputes which frequently arose between the in the presence of the Pope, the first Monday of
civil and ecclesiastical powers in regard to the trial every month, besides holding several ordinary meet-.
of churchmen for delinquencies. This congregation ings every week, for the purpose of consulting as to
is composed of several cardinals nominated by the the best modes of advancing the cause of Romanism
Pope. They have also an auditor of the rota, a throughout the whole world. See COLLEGE De
clerk of the chamber, and several prelates, referenda- PROPAGANDA FIDE.
ries, one of which is the secretary of the congrega- CONGREGATION OF RELICS, instituted for
tion. This court takes cognizance of all ecclesiasti- the superintendence of relics of ancient martyrs,
cal immunities and exemptions. It is held at the which are frequently found in catacombs and other
palace of the cardinal-dean once a-week. Before subterraneous places in and around Rome. This
Urban VIII. instituted this congregation, the cogni-congregation is composed of six cardinals and four
zance of ecclesiastical immunities belonged to the prelates, among whom are the cardinal-vicar and the
CONGREGATION OF BISHOPS AND REGULARS (which prefect of the Pope's sacristy. There are certain
see).
marks by which real are said to be distinguished
CONGREGATION OF THE INDEX, insti- from spurious relics, and after careful deliberation on
tuted by Pope Pius V., for the purpose of examining all the circumstances of the case, the votes of the
and prohibiting the perusal of all such books as con- congregation are taken, and if the marks of the re-
tain in their view pernicious doctrines. The council lics are, by a majority, declared to be genuine, the
of Trent, in the pontificate of Pius IV., pronounced president declares the relic in question to be worthy
anathema upon all who should read prohibited books, of the veneration of the faithful, and gives it such a
or read them without leave asked and given. Το name as he thinks right; handing over the relic to
carry out this decree of the council, this congrega- | the vicar and the Pope's sacristan, who distributes
tion was formed, and their deputies have the power portions of the precious treasure 10 those of the
to grant permission to read prohibited books to all faithful who may wish to be possessed of them. See
members of the Romish church in any part of the Relics.
world. Their power differs from that of the holy
CONGREGATION OF RITES OR CEREMO-
office, which prohibits only books written against NIES, instituted by Sixtus V., to regulate the ce-
the faith, whereas this congregation has power to remonies and rites of the new offices of saints, which
condemn any books which they may regard as ob- are added from time to time to the Roman calendar.
jectionable, of whatever kind they may be. Hence This congregation has authority to explain the ru-
it frequently happens, that works which have not the brics of the Mass-Book and Breviary when any diffi-
remotest bearing on religious doctrine or practice, culties are started, or any one desires information on
are to be found in the Index Prolibitus, to which such topics. It has also the power of pronouncing
additions are made from time to time as the congre- sentence, from which there is no appeal, on all dis-
gation may see fit. In addition to the cardinals and putes relating to the precedency of churches. It is
secretary which compose the congregation, there are composed of eight cardinals and a secretary, who is
several divines attached to it under the name of one of the college of the prelates referendaries.
consulters, whose office it is to examine books and Two masters of the ceremonies in the Pope's house-
report, while they have no voice in the meetings of hold are also admitted into the congregation. Its
the congregation, which are only held as often as incetings are held once a.month, or oftener as occa-
occasion requires.
sion requires. When a saint is about to be canon-
CONGREGATION OF INDULGENCES, in- ized, the three senior auditors of the rota are present
stituted for the purpose of dispensing indulgences in in this assembly as persons supposed to be versed
the Pope's name to all whom the congregation, with in the canon law, along with an assistant apostolical
the full consent of his holiness, regard as worthy of prothonotary, and the proctor of the faith, who is
such favours. The number of the cardinals and generally the fiscal advocate of the apostolical cham-
prelates, composing this congregation, is not fixed, ber. Several consulters also are admitted, who are
but dependent entirely on the pleasure of the Pope. divines and monks professed of different orders,
See INDULGENCES.
among whom is the master of the sacred palace, and
CONGREGATION DE PROPAGANDA FI. the prefect of the Pope's sacristy. All these judges'
DE, instituted by Gregory XV. in 1622, for the assistants, together with the deputies in ordinary of
support and propagation of the Romish religion in this congregation, examine the claims to canoniza-
all parts of the world. It consisted originally of | tion, which are alleged in favour of an individual
592
CONGREGATION—CONGREGATIONALISTS.
0
I
These proofs are martyrdom, undisputed miracles, tisfy the church, not simply of a credible profession
testimonies of a virtuous life, and heroic virtues. of Christianity, as in Episcopal and Presbyterian
See BEATIFICATION, CANONIZATION.
churches, but of a saving operation of Divine grace
CONGREGATION FOR SUPPRESSING MO- | in the soul. Every church thus constituted has the
NASTERIES, instituted by Innocent X. for the power to choose its own office-bearers, to admit, re-
purpose of inquiring into the state of monasteries,ject, or excommunicate its own members, and to
and either suppressing altogether those which are raise and administer its own funds. In all matters
likely to prove burdensome to the public, or uniting which come under the consideration of the church,
them to other monasteries which inight happen to every member has a voice, that is, every male mem-
have more wealth than they required. This con- ber, although in some Congregationalist churches,
gregation is composed of eight cardinals and a num- feinale members are regarded as on an equal footing
ber of friars belonging to all the orders. The re- with males in this respect. All authority is vested
building, as well as the suppression, of monasteries in the entire membership of the church, the office-
comes within the cognizance of this congregation. bearers and members being on an equality in right of
CONGREGATION ON THE TRIDENTINE government; and from the decisiou of each indivi-
DECREES. At the close of the proceedings of the dual church there is no appeal.
council of Trent in the sixteenth century, Pope Pius The Congregationalists inaintain, that Scripture
IV. appointed certain cardinals, who had been pre- warrants no more than two kinds of church office-
sent and assisted in its deliberations, to superintend bearers, bishops or pastors, to care for the spiritual,
the execution of its decrees, strictly enjoining that and deacons to manage the temporal affairs of the
these decrees should be observed in their literal church. It is left wholly to the discretion of each
sense, and prohibiting all glosses by way of inter- church to elect one or more pastors, no fixed rule
preting them. Sixtus V. established this congreya- being laid down, as they conceive, in the New Tes-
tion, empowering it to interpret all points of disci- tament, to regulate the number of pastors. All that
pline, but not of doctrine. It meets once a-week at is required, in their view, to constitute a valid call
the palace of the senior cardinal, under the presi- | to the ministry, is simply an invitation issued by any
dency of a cardinal appointed by the Pope, and who | individual church to take the pastorate over them,
along with the office receives a large pension. To and the mere acceptance of such an invitation gives
be a member of this congregation is regarded as a full authority to preach and administer the sacra-
high honour, and therefore eagerly coveted.
ments,
But after this election and invitation given
CONGREGATIONALISTS, a large and flour- and accepted, an ordination of the newly chosen
ishing body of professing Christians in Britain and pastor takes place, conducted by the ministers of the
America, whose great distinctive principle concerns neighbouring churches. The precise nature of this
the scriptural constitution of a Christian church. service among the Congregationalists is thus laid
This denomination, also termed Independents, ob- down in a tract issued by the Congregational Union
ject equally to the Episcopal and Presbyterian of England : " In the ordination of a Congregational
forms of church government. In their view every pastor, there is no assumption of anything resein-
particular society of visible professors, who agree bling hierarchical authority. By this proceeding it
to walk together in the faith and order of the gos- is not professed that office is conferred, character
pel, is a complete church, having the power of imparted, gifts bestowed, or authority conveyed. It
government and discipline within itself, and inde- is an affair of order and no more. It declares and
pendent of all other congregations, being responsible assures the due observance of godly order in all the
for all its actings only to the great Head of the preceding steps by which the ordained pastor has
church. Another distinctive principle, which may entered on his work. It completes and solemnizes
be considered as arising out of that which we have his actual entrance on all pastoral engagements. Or-
just noticed, is, that the whole power of government dination among Congregationalists stands in the saine
is vested in the assembly of the faithful. On these relation to the sacred office tliat inaugural solemni-
two principles, if indeed they can be considered as ties hold in respect to civil offices. Coronation does
distinct from each other, rests the whole system of not make a king. It solemnizes the entrance on
Congregationalism or Independency. The terms kingly dignities and functions of him who is already
Church and Congregation, then, this body of Chris- | king, by laws and rights which coronation does not
tians consider as synonymous. Accordingly, Church, impart, or even confirm, but only recognizes, cele-
when used in Scripture, is regarded by Congrega- | brates, and publishes." From this statement, which
tionalists as in no case applicable to an aggregate of may be regarded as authoritative, it is plain that the
individual assemblies, but that whenever more than authority of a pastor flows exclusively from the elec-
one such assembly is referred to, the plural“ churches" | tion by a church, and that election is not restricted
is invariably employed. The church they believe to any particular class of men; any person being
to be composed of true believers, hence the utmost eligible to the office of pastor whom the particular
strictness is exercised in the adınission of church church thinks fitted to edify them by his gifts and
members, evidence being required sufficient to sa- qualifications. While such is the abstract theory of
CONGREGATIONALISTS:
593
Congregationalism, an educated ministry is viewed these objects in view in its formation, is properly a
by this body as of high importance, and, according- Christian church.
ly, almost all their ministers have been trained at “II. They believe that the New Testament con-
the Theological Academies and Colleges which have tains, either in the form of express statute, or in
been founded specially for this purpose. And yet the example and practice of apostles and apostolic
while they believe in the scriptural authority of the churches, all the articles of faith necessary to be be-
pastoral office, they maintain that not the pastors lieved, and all the principles of order and discipline
only, but any others of the church-members, who requisite for constitutivg and governing Christian
may be possessed of the requisite gifts, may, with societies; and that human traditions, fathers and
the utmost propriety, be allowed to exhort the councils, canons and creeds, possess no authority over
brethren.
the faith and practice of Christians.
From the very nature of the theory of Congrega- “III. They acknowledge Christ as the only Head
tionalism, it is obvious that the existence of Estab- of the church, and the officers of each church under
lished churches is inconsistent with it, as interfering Him, as ordained to administer His laws impartially
with the self-government of churches, and supersed to all; and their only appeal, in all questions touch-
ing, by the endowments of the state, the spontaneous ing their religious faith and practice, is to the Sacred
exertions of Christians to maintain and propagate Scriptures.
the truth. On the members of each individual church “IV. They believe that the New Testament autho-
rests the responsibility not only of supporting ordinan- rizes every Christian church to elect its own officers, to
ces among themselves, but of doing their uttermost manage all its own affairs, and to stand independent
for the propagation of Christianity throughout the of, and irresponsible to, all authority, saving that only
world. At first sight it might appear likely that of the Supreme and Divine Head of the church, the
the independency of the churches might prevent them Lord Jesus Christ.
from co-operating with each other in the advance- “ V. They believe that the only officers placed by
ment of the Redeemer's kingdom both at home the apostles over individual churches, are the bish-
and abroad. Practically, however, it is far other.. ops or pastors, and the deacons; the number of these
wise. The power of self-control rests in each indi- being dependent upon the numbers of the church ;
vidual church; neither are the churches connected and that to these, as the officers of the church, is
together by subscription to any human creeds, articles, committed respectively the administration of its spi-
or confessions, and yet the most pleasing uniformity ritual and temporal concerns, subject, however, to the
is observed among Congregationalist churches, both approbation of the church.
in doctrine and practice. This may possibly have “ VI. They believe that no persons should be re-
arisen from the voluntary associations for brotherly ceived as members of Christian churches, but such as
intercourse and advice, which are held among the make a credible profession of Christianity, are living
pastors of the churches usually of each county. according to its precepts, and attest a willingness to
Such associations, synods, or assemblies, the Con- | be subject to its discipline; and that none should be
gregationalists do not consider unlawful, if they be excluded from the fellowship of the church, but such
not “intrusted,” to use the language of the Savoy as deny the faith of Christ, violate his laws, or re-
Conference, “ with any church power properly so fuse to submit themselves to the discipline which the
called, or with any jurisdiction over the churches word of God enforces.
themselves, to exercise any censures, or to impose " VII. The power of admission into any Christian
their determination on the churches or officers.” Such church, and rejection from it, they believe to be
was the principle held by the Independents so far vested in the church itself, and to be exercised only
back as 1658; and in the same spirit the Congrega- through the medium of its own officers.
tional Union of England and Wales was established “VIII. They believe that Christian churches
in 1831. Thus Christian sympathy and co-opera- should statedly meet for the celebration of public
tion among the churches are secured, they believe, worship, for the observance of the Lord's Supper,
without the evils and disadvantages arising from and for the sanctification of the first day of the week.
à forced conformity. The following principles of “IX. They believe that the power of a Christian
church order and discipline are maintained by the church is purely spiritual, and should in no way be
Congregationalists of England and Wales, as set corrupted by union with temporal or civil power.
forth in a Declaration of Faith, Order, and Disci- “X. They believe that it is the duty of Christian
pline' issued by the Congregational Union in 1833 : churches to hold communion with each other, to en-
“I. The Congregational churches hold it to be the tertain an enlarged affection for each other, as mem-
will of Christ that true believers should voluntarily bers of the same body, and to co-operate for the pro-
assemble together to observe religious ordinances, to motion of the Christian cause; but that no church,
promote mutual edification and holiness, to perpe- nor union of churches, has any right or power to in-
tuate and propagate the Gospel in the world, and to terfere with the faith or discipline of any other
advance the glory and worship of God through Jesus church, further than to separate from such as,
in
Christ; and that each society of believers, having faith or practice, depart from the Gospel of Christ.
1.
2 T
594
CONGREGATIONALISTS.
“XI. They believe that it is the privilege and bers of the Presbyterians, and were obliged, there-
duty of every church to call forth such of its mem- fore, to content themselves with drawing up a protest
bers as may appear to be qualified, by the Holy under the name of Apologetic Narration,' which
Spirit, to sustain the office of the ministry; and that was presented to the House of Commons in 1644.
Christian churches unitedly ought to consider the The tide of opinion ran strong against them, both in
maintenance of the Christian ministry in an adequate the Assembly and in Parliament. The divine au-
degree of learning, as one of its especial cares; that thority of the Presbyterian form of church govern-
the cause of the Gospel may be both honourably ment was maintained with such keenness and deter-
sustained and constantly promoted.
mination, that the Independents were contented to
“XII. They believe that church officers, whether | plead for simple toleration and indulgence. It was
bishops or deacons, should be chosen by the free at this period that Milton produced his · Areopagi-
voice of the church; but that their dedication to the tica,' which was principally instrumental in changing
duties of their office should take place with special the whole course of public opinion. The Presbyte-
prayer, and by solemn designation, to which most of rian party now rapidly declined in influence and fa-
the churches add the imposition of hands by those vour. The plan which had been formed of estab-
already in office.
lishing Presbytery all over England was defeated.
“XIII. They believe that the fellowship of every Through the influence of Cromwell, who favoured the
Christian church should be so liberal as to admit to Independents, that party rose into favour with all
coinmunion in the Lord's Supper all whose faith, and classes of the people, and with John Owen at their
godliness are, on the whole, undoubted, though con- head, they rapidly gained the confidence of the coun-
scientiously differing in points of minor importance; try, rising to the highest places in the government,
and that this outward sign of fraternity in Christ and becoming a strong political faction.
should be co-extensive with the fraternity itself, Nor were the Independents less influential as a re-
though without involving any compliances which ligious body in England. They were both numerous
conscience would deem to be sinful."
and powerful, but, notwithstanding the advantages
The originator of the Congregationalist body is which they now possessed, they felt their influence
generally said to be Robert Brown, the founder of over the commu
over the community to be not a little diminished
the sect of BROWNISTS (which see), who organized in consequence of the indefinite character of their
a church in England in 1583. It is not unlikely, doctrinal opinions. A regularly drawn up confes-
however, that at a still earlier period churches on the sion of faith seemed in these circumstances to be
Congregationalist principles existed in England, and imperatively called for, and in order to prepare and
it is worthy of note that in Cranmer's Bible, the word publish such a document, a conference or synod of
ecclesia, which now translated "church,” is uni- the body was held in 1658 at the Savoy, in the
formly rendered "congregation," Brown, along with Strand, London. This memorable assembly con-
the other Congregationalist principles which he held, sisted of ministers and lay delegates, representing the
denied the supremacy of the Queen over the church, various Independent churches throughout England,
and declared the Establishment to be an unscriptural and after careful examination, they sent forth a
church. With the view of propagating his opinions " Declaration of the Faith and Order owned and
the more extensively, he published a series of tracts practised in the Congregational Churches in Eng-
explanatory of his principles. These were scattered | land,” which was simply a republication of the
far and wide to the great annoyance of the govern- Westminster Confession, with the omission of such
ment, who put to death several individuals, for what passages as favoured Presbyterianism, and the addi-
was in their eyes an unpardonable crime, denying the tion of an entire chapter supporting Independency.
Queen's supremacy. Persecuted in England, a number The decline of the Congregationalists in political
who held Independent principles took refuge in Hol- importance commenced with the Restoration in 1660,
land, where they planted Congregationalist churches and when the Act of Uniformity passed in 1662,
in Amsterdam, Leyden, and other cities, which con- they, in common with other Non-conformists, were
tinued to flourish for more than a hundred years. subjected to much suffering. But amid all the per-
Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1592, estimated the number of secution to which they were exposed, they increased
Brownists in England at twenty thousand. In the in numbers to such an extent, that they seem to have
time of the Commonwealth they took the name of actually outnumbered the Presbyterians. The pass-
Independents, probably from the peculiarity which ing of the Act of Toleration in 1689, brought relief
distinguished their churches from all Established to the Independents as well as other Dissenters.
churches, that they were independent of all external They now began to be more reconciled to the Pres-
interference or control. The Assembly of Divines, | byterians, and at length, in 1691, heads of agreement
which met at Westminster in 1643, numbered five were drawn up with a view to bring about an accom-
leading Independent ministers among its members. modation between the two parties. The great dis-
Though men of weight and influence in their own senting bodies now made common cause with one
body, these five “dissenting brethren," as they were another, and the Baptists, Presbyterians, and Inde-
called, were unable to resist the overwhelming num- pendents, first in 1696, and afterwards in 1730,
CONGREGATIONALISTS (AMERICAN).
595
formed themselves into a united body under the companions to the ship, a company of horsemen
name of the Three Denominations, who still enjoy appeared in pursuit, and apprehended a number
the privilege of approaching the throne as one body, of the weeping women and children. After some
and consult together from time to time for the gen- little delay, however, they were set at liberty, and
eral interest of Dissenters. From the reign of Queen the whole company of emigrants, with Robinson at
Anne, in the first part of the eighteenth century, | their head, set sail for the shores of Holland. Oni
Presbyterianism gradually lost footing in England, their arrival they joined the church at Amsterdam,
while the Congregationalists were yearly growing in but in the course of a year, owing to the dissensions
numbers and importance. This progressive improve- which had broken out among its members, they re-
ment of the latter denomination has been sustained moved to Leyden, where they founded a church on
down to the present day, when, of all the various Independent principles. Their numbers were speed-
bodies of Dissenters in England, they are beyond ily increased by the arrival of additional immigrants
all doubt the most numerous and influential. What- from England, and in a short time the church num-
ever opinions may be entertained as to the scriptural bered three hundred communicants. For ten years
authority of the Congregational system, its success Mr. Robinson continued to labour in Leyden, where
in England cannot for a moment be questioned. his talents were so highly appreciated, that, at the
Some of the brightest names in theological literature, request of the Calvinistic professors in the university
such as Watts, and Henry, and Doddridge, adorn the of that place, he engaged in a public dispute with
pages of its history. From its academies, under the Episcopius, the champion of the Arminians, whom
tutorship of such men as Pye Smith, Burder, and Har- | he signally vanquished. The principles of the
ris, have come forth a host of men of ability, piety, church at Leyden were of a strictly Congregational-
scholarship, and zeal, such as would do honour to any ist character, as appears from the following sum-
church in any country under heaven. The London mary of them contained in Belknap's Life of
Missionary Society, which was mainly founded, and Robinson :
continues to be mainly supported, by Congregation- “1. That no church ought to consist of more mem-
alist ministers and laymen, forms a standing evidence | bers than can conveniently meet together for wor-
of the Christian energy, and efficiency, and zeal of ship and discipline.
this highly respected and respectable denomination “2. That any church of Christ is to consist only
of English Dissenters. By the last census in 1851, of such as appear to believe in, and obey him.
the number of Congregationalist churches in Eng- “3. That any competent number of such have a
land and Wales was reported as amounting to 3,244, right, when conscience obliges them, to form them-
with accommodation for 1,063,136 persons.
selves into a distinct church.
CONGREGATIONALISTS (AMERICAN). The “4. That this incorporation is by some contract
father of Congregationalism in America seems to or covenant, express or implied.
have been a worthy Non-conformist minister named "5. That, being thus incorporated, they have a
John Robinson. Little is known of the early his right to choose their own officers.
tory of this individual. We first hear of him as pas-
“6. That these officers are pastors or teaching
tor of a dissenting church in the north of England, elders, ruling elders, and deacons.
somewhere about the commencement of the seven- “7. That elders being chosen, and ordained, have
teenth century. His congregation was formed in no power to rule the church, but by consent of the
troublous times, and both he and they were sub- brethren.
jected to so much annoyance in consequence of their “8. That all elders, and all churches, are equal in
Non-conformist principles, that they formed the re- respect of powers and privileges.
solution of leaving England in a body, and taking “9. With respect to ordinances, they hold that
refuge in Holland, which at that period was the baptism is to be administered to visible believers
asylum of the persecuted. It was not so easy to and their infant children; but they admitted only
accomplish their object, however, as they had at first the children of communicants to baptism. That the
anticipated. Their first attempt to escape was de- Lord's Supper is to be received sitting at the table.
feated, and the whole company were lodged in pri- (Whilst they were in Holland they received it every
son. A second attempt was more successful, for a Lord's day.) That ecclesiastical censures were
part of the church reached Amsterdam in safety. wholly spiritual, and not to be accompanied with
Mr. Robinson and the remainder of the church, in temporal penalties.
the spring of 1608, made another effort to escape “10. They admitted no holy days but the Chris-
and join their friends in Holland. Their plans tian Sabbath, though they had occasionally days of
were laid in the utmost secresy. The company fasting and thanksgiving; and finally, they renounced
assernbled on a barren heath in Lincolnshire, and all right of human invention or imposition in reli-
enbarked on board a vessel under cloud of dark- | gious matters."
The night was stormy, and while some of In the year 1617, Mr. Robinson and his church
the party were still waiting on the shore the re- began to think of emigrating to America, partly
turn of a boat which had conveyed some of their | from a wish that their children might be preserved
ness.
596
CONGREGATIONALISTS (AMERICAN).
from the immorality and licentiousness which at that ' infallible with the Scriptures.' These opinions soon
time unhappily prevailed in Holland, and partly from became the absorbing topics of discussion, and di-
a desire to found on the far distant Transatlantic vided the whole colony into two parties, such as
shores a purely Christian colony. Having fully con- were for a covenant of works, and such as were for
sidered the matter, they fixed upon Virginia as the a covenant of grace. As the quarrel continued to
place of their settlement, and having sent two of rage with constantly increasing violence, a synod
their number to make all necessary arrangements, was called, which met at Newtown. This was the
they succeeded in 1619 in procuring a patent, and by first synod convened in New England. It was com-
a contract with some merchants in London, they ob posed of the ministers and messengers or delegates of
tained sufficient money to enable the entire church the several churches. There were also present certain
to cross the Atlantic. The vessels provided, how-
The vessels provided, how- magistrates who were allowed not only to hear, but to
ever, were found not to be large enough to contain the speak if they had a mind.' The synod unanimously
whole company, and, accordingly, a portion set sail condemned Mrs. Hutchinson's opinions. But she
headed by Elder Brewster, leaving Mr. Robinson and her followers, not being satisfied with this deci-
and the majority of the church still at Leyden. On sion, and continuing to promulgate, with new zeal,
reaching America the exiles settled at Plymouth in their sentiments, recourse was had to the civil power,
New England, where the first Congregationalist and she was banished to Rhode Island. She subse-
church ever formed in America, was organized in quently retired to the territory of New Amsterdam,
1620. For ten years it stood alone, the new settlers where she perished by the hands of the Indians. Mr.
being called to encounter many difficulties, and to Wheelwright, a clergyman of Boston who had em-
endure many privations, but persevering with un- braced her opinions, subsequently renounced them,
flinching courage in maintaining their principles, and her party, at least in name, became extinct.”
amid all opposition. In 1629, a new settlement was The churches had now become numerous and
formed at Salem, consisting chiefly of Puritans, who strong, and the importance of a native educated
had emigrated from England, but the church was ministry began to be felt. Harvard College was,
organized on a strictly Congregational footing. For therefore, founded in 1638. Much attention began
several years Elder Brewster officiated as pastor of to be directed to the education of the young, and, as
the church at Plymouth, with the single exception of early as 1646, common schools were established by
administering the sacraments. In 1625, Mr. Robin- law, and provision was made for their support in all
son, who had remained at Leyden, died there, and the towns within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts.
the church after his death was broken up, a part of
part of No public provision was made for schools in Ply-
the members going to Amsterdam, and a part after- mouth till some years after, but the children were
wards joining their friends across the Atlantic. taught by teachers employed by the parents. Each
Churches now began to be formed in various parts church being, according to the principles of Congre-
of New England on the model of that at Plymouth. gationalism, independent of every other, the question
It was not, however, till 1633, that, on the arrival of arose, what were the duties which churches owed to
Mr. Colton, some general plans were introduced em- one another. The matter was discussed in a synod
bracing all the churches which from that time took held about this time for mutual consultation and ad-
the name of Congregational. As colonies were vice, and the duties of churches to one another were
planted by the pilgrims, churches were organized, but thus laid down in what was called the Cambridge
religious and political institutions were strangely Platform, adopted in 1648, and again sanctioned in
blended in one confused mass. The principles of the synod held at Boston in 1662 :-
enlightened toleration seem to have been as yet nei- 1. Hearty care and prayer one for another. 2. By
ther known nor recognized. Thus we find Roger | way of relief in case of want, either temporal or
Williams banished beyond the jurisdiction of Mas- spiritual
. 3. By giving an account one to another of
sachusetts for asserting the principle of unlimited to their public actions when it is orderly desired, and
leration of all distinctions and shades of religious in upholding each other, in inflicting censure and
opinions.
other acts of church government. 4. Seeking and
In 1637 commenced the famous controversy re- giving help to each other in case of divisions, con-
specting Antinomianism. (See ANTINOMIANS.) The tentions, difficult questions, errors and scandals, and
facts were shortly these : “Mrs. Hutchinson, the also in ordination, translation, and deposition of min-
promulgator and chief defender of Antinomian tenets, isters. 5. Giving aid to another church in cases of
seems to have maintained, according to the summary error, scandal, &c., even though they should so far
of her opinions in Neal,' that believers in Christ are neglect their duty as not to seek such aid. 6. Ad-
personally united with the Spirit of God; that com- monishing one another when there is need and cause
mands to work out salvation with fear and trembling for it, and after due means with patience used, with-
belong to none but such as are under the covenant drawing from a church or peccant party therein,
of works; that sanctification is not sufficient evi- which obstinately persists in error or scandal. These
dence of a good state; and that immediate revela- rules are carried into effect by means of either tem-
tions about future events are to be believed as equally porary or standing councils of the churches.
.
CONGREGATIONALISTS (SCOTTISII).
597
than ever.
Previous to this synod the churches of New Eng- 1 years elapsed, however, before an open separation
land had never agreed upon any uniform scheme of took place between the Trinitarian and Unitarian
discipline. Soon after the dissolution of this synod, churches. At length, in 1785, several churches in
the Anabaptists appeared in Massachusetts, followed Boston formally declared their renunciation of the
by the Quakers, but both were treated with the Confessions of Faith, and their example was fol-
utmost barbarity, many of them being banished be- lowed by many others, all of which, however, still
yond the bounds of the state, some whipped, some retained the Congregational form of church govern-
fined and imprisoned, and a few even put to death. ment. Harvard College became decidedly Unitarian.
About the same time a controversy arose among
The American Revolution put an end to the con-
the churches as to the proper subjects of baptism, nection which existed between the Congregational
and, in particular, whether the grandchildren of system of church polity and the civil power. In
church members had a right to the ordinance. The none of the new constitutions was there any provi-
point was discussed in a council called in 1657, by sion made for the support of a particular form of
the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut con- worship by law. Though no longer supported, or even
trary to the advice of the colony of New Haven. countenanced, by the law, Congregationalism con-
By this council it was decided that those who, being tinued to make rapid progress in the United States.
grown up to years of discretion, and who being of In 1801, a plan of union was adopted between the
blameless life, understanding the grounds of religion, General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church and
should own the covenant made with their parents, the General Association of Connecticut, with a view
by entering thereinto in their proper persons, should to promote union and harmony in those new settle-
have the ordinance of baptism administered to their ments which were composed of inhabitants from
children. This decision was not regarded as sa- those bodies. By this plan a Congregational church,
tisfactory, and the controversy raged more keenly if they settled a Presbyterian minister, might still
Another council, therefore, was sum-
conduct their discipline according to Congregational
moned at Boston, and the decision was in substance principles ; and, on the other hand, a Presbyterian
the same, that all baptized persons were to be con- Church, with a Congregational minister, retained its
sidered members of the church, and if not openly peculiar discipline. Under these regulations, many
dissolute, admitted to all its privileges, except par- new churches were formed, which, after a time, came
taking of the Lord's Supper. This decision, which under the jurisdiction of the General Assembly. In
went by the name of the Half-way Covenant, was 1837 this plan of union was abrogated by that body
violently opposed by Increase Mather of Boston, and as unconstitutional, and several synods, which had
several of the most distinguished ministers in the been attached to it in consequence of the plan, were
colonies. The Half-way Covenant system continued declared to be out of the ecclesiastical connexion.
in operation for many years, and, as the natural con- In the following year (1838) a General Assembly
sequence, the churches came to consist, in many was formed under the name of the Constitutional
places, of unregenerate persons, of those who re- Presbyterian Church, which recognizes this compro-
garded themselves, and were regarded by others, as mise between the Presbyterian and Congregationalist
unregenerate. Finding that such was the almost principles. Congregationalism," Dr. Schaff tells
invariable result of the system, it was laid aside after us, " is the ruling sect of the six North-eastern States,
some years' painful experience in all the orthodox and has exerted, and still exerts, a powerful influence
Congregational churches,
upon the religious, social, and political life of the
The Savoy Confession of Faith, which, as was whole nation.” By the most recent accounts, there
mentioned in the preceding article, was adopted in are 2,449 churches in the different States, consisting
1658 by the English Congregational churches, and of 207,608 members.
which was in effect the same as the Westminster CONGREGATIONALISTS (SCOTTISH). The
Confession of Faith, was approved by a synod con- first appearance of Congregationalist principles in
vened at Boston in 1680, and is to this day consi- Scotland is probably to be traced as far back as the
dered in America as a correct exposition of the opi- time of the Commonwealth. At that stirring period,
nions of the Congregationalists. New articles of when Independency had obtained favour and influence
discipline were adopted by the churches of Connec- among multitudes of all classes in England, the soldiers
ticut at an assembly of ministers and delegates held of Oliver Cromwell carried with them into Scotland
at Saybrook in 1708. The “Saybrook Platform," their peculiar religious opinions, and are said to have
as it is generally called, was evidently a compromise formed a Congregationalist Church in the metropolis,
between the Presbyterian and the Congregational which, after their return to England, gradually dwin-
principle. It differs from the “Cambridge Plat- dled away, and in a short time was dissolved. With this
form" chiefly in the provision that it makes respect- exception the sentiments of the Congregationalists,
ing councils and associations.
though they had taken deep root south of the Tweed,
In course of time, towards 1750, Unitarian prin- seem to have been altogether unrecognized in Scot-
ciples became extensively diffused in the Congre- land for a long period. At length, in 1729, Mr. John
gational churches of the United States. Some | Glas, a minister of the Church of Scotland, separated
598
CONGREGATIONALISTS (SCOTTISH).
from the communion of that church, and published a officiate on the first Sabbath evening, Mr. Haldane
work entitled "The Testimony of the King of Mar- would engage to do so upon the following one. This
tyrs concerning his kingdom,' in which he openly offer touched the right chord in Mr. Aikman's warm
avowed opinions in common with the English Inde- heart, and constrained him to comply. Mr. Haldane
pendents, more especially as developed in the writ- accordingly preached on the Sabbath evening there-
ings of Dr. John Owen. In consequence of his after. They continued to supply the village regu-
numerous publications in explanation and defence of larly in rotation for several Sabbath evenings, as well
his views, Mr. Glas succeeded in gaining over as on a week-day evening; and after the return of
many converts, and several churches were orga- Mr. Rate to town, the three took their regular turns
nized in different parts of Scotland on strictly in preaching at the village. By and by Messrs. Hal-
Independent principles, of which a few still exist dane and Aikman began to think of extending the r
under the name of GLASSITES (which see). About sphere of usefulness, and undertook a preaching tour
the year 1755, Mr. Robert Sandeman published to the north. These brethren were laymen; and
a series of letters addressed to Mr. Hervey on the laymen preaching like ministers was a novel thing
appearance of his “ Theron and Aspasio,' and in in those days. More marvellous still, they were
the course of his animadversions, the author main- members of the Church of Scotland, visiting every
tains the principles of Scottish Independency. In parish that lay in their way, and preaching in the
consequence of the prominent part which Mr. San-market-place or on the streets. The correctness of
deman took in the diffusion of Congregationalist their views of the plan of salvation, and the earnest-
views, in connexion, however, with peculiar opinions ness of their addresses, gained for them attention,
on the subject of saving faith, his followers received and secured to them large audiences. They had
the name of SANDEMANIANS (which see). In ad- been taught by the religious discussions excited by
dition to the Glassites and Sandemanians, various several publications, and particularly by the • Mis-
Baptist churches were formed in different parts of sionary Magazine,'—then conducted by Mr. Ewing,
Scotland, all of them arranged on the footing of Con- while a minister of the Church of Scotland,—the pro-
gregationalism. (See BAPTISTS, SCOTTISH). About priety of engaging in itinerating labours, and preach-
the same period, Mr. David Dale of New Lanark, ing the Gospel as they might have opportunity. In
and his friends, zealous in the cause of Indepen- that miscellany the opinion was ably maintained,
dency, established several churches, which have been that it was the right, nay the duty, of every Chris-
often termed The Old Scots Independents. (See tian man, who knew the Gospel and felt its power,
DALEITES.) These churches, though differing from and who could state it with perspicuity, to declare it
each other on various points, were all of them Con- to his fellow sinners; an assertion which, notwith-
gregational.
standing the opposition it met with, has never yet
It is from the end of last century, however, that received a satisfactory confutation. The discussion
the denomination of Scottish Congregationalists pro- of this question created a very great sensation at the
perly takes its origin. Religion, as a spiritual, liv- time."
ing, energetic principle, had for many years been The labours of these godly men constituted a new
palpably on the decline in Scotland. Coldness, indif- era in the religious history of Scotland. Symptoms
ference, and even infidelity prevailed to a lamentable of revival began to manifest themselves in various
extent. It pleased God, however, at length to raise parts of the country; a spirit of earnest inquiry de-
up a few godly men, who, not contented with sighing veloped itself in many minds; dead souls were quick-
and praying in secret over the darkness which cov.. ened, and not a few, who had all their lives been
ered the land, resolved to bestir themselves to active strangers to God and godliness, gladly heard the
exertion in arousing the careless, and turning some word, and even received it in the love of it. In the
at least from the bondage of Satan to the service of autumn of 1797, Messrs. James Haldane and Aik-
the true God. “ It was at this juncture," says Mr. man set out on a preaching tour to the northern
Kinniburgh in his Historical Survey of Congrega-counties, and travelling as far as the Orkney Islands,
tionalism in Scotland, " that village preaching and they proclaimed their Master's message with such
extensive itinerancies were entered upon by Messrs. simplicity and power, that it pleased God, by the
James Haldane and John Aikman. Their first foolishness of preaching, to bring great numbers to
attempt was made at the collier village of Gilmerton. the saving knowledge of the truth. The report
Mr. Rate, a preacher from Dr. Bogue's academy at which the brethren brought of the low state of re-
Gosport, at the request of Mr. John Campbell, ligion in the Highlands and Islands, turned the
preached at the village for two Sabbath evenings; thoughts of many zealous Christians towards devising
but he being obliged to leave Edinburgh for a time, plans for the supply of the religious destitution
there was no one to supply Gilmerton on the third which prevailed so extensively in the northern coun-
Sabbath evening. In this dilemma Mr. James Hal- ties. Mr. Robert Haldane, in particular, who had
dane urged Mr. Aikman to preach. At first he would recently been converted to the faith of Christ, hav-
not consent. However, he was afterwards gained ing been disappointed in his anxious wish to found
over by Mr. Haldane telling him, that, if he would an establishment in the East Indies for propagating
CONGREGATIONALISTS (SCOTTISH).
599
the gospel, turned his attention to the state of reli- | obviously levelled against the itinerant preachers,
gion in his native land, and resolved to employ his and it is to be regretted, that, for a number of years,
fortune, which was large, in diffusing the gospel this decision remained in force until, as Dr. Struthers
through the benighted districts of Scotland. By remarks, “this illiberal act was, in 1811, allowed to
means of his zealous endeavours, and those of some drop out of their code of regulations as something of
pious individuals, a society was formed, having for which they were ashamed.”
which they were ashamed.” In the same spirit the
its object the dissemination of religious knowledge General Associate or Antiburgher synod, "agreed
at home. To accomplish this truly benevolent de- unanimously in declaring, that as lay preaching has
sign, pious young men were employed as catechists, no warrant in the Word of God, and as the synod
whose duty it was to plant and superintend evening | has always considered it their duty to testify against
schools in villages, for the instruction of the young promiscuous communion, no person, under the in-
in the elements of religious truth; while several spection of the synod, can consistently with their
ministers of known character in England joined with principles attend upon, or give countenance to, pub-
their like-minded Scottish brethren in itinerating | lic preaching by any who are not of our communion.
throughout the towns and villages, carrying the glad | And if any do so, they ought to be dealt with by the
news of salvation through the blood of the Lamb to judicatories of the church, to bring them to a sense
multitudes who, though in a professedly Christian of their offensive conduct."
of their offensive conduct." These violent denun-
country, were, nevertheless, sitting in darkness, and ciations, on the part of the Dissenting bodies, were
in the region of the shadow of death.
even surpassed by those which were given forth by
The centre point of this zealous Christian move- the Established Church of Scotland, which, in the
ment was Edinburgh, and while pious men were thus famous Pastoral Admonition of the General Assem-
devising plans for the extension of the gospel in the bly of 1799, accused the itinerant preachers of be-
benighted portions of the land, they were not unmind- | ing
ing "artful and designing men, disaffected to the
ful of the religious destitution of the metropolis it- civil constitution of the country, holding secret
self. It was resolved to open an additional place of meetings, and abusing the name of liberty as a cover
worship in the city, where preaching should be kept for secret democracy and anarchy.” Such unwar-
up by a succession of devoted evangelical ministers ranted attacks upon men who were undeniably zeal-
of all denominations. Accordingly, in the summer ously affected in a good cause, only aroused public
of 1798, the Circus was opened by Mr. Rowland sympathy all the more in their favour. It was a
Hill. The experiment was so successful, that it was quaint but just remark which fell from Rowland Hill
determined to erect a large place of worship, to be at the time : “ We will shine all the brighter for the
called “The Tabernacle." A suitable site was ob- scrubbing we have got from the General Assembly."
tained at the head of Leith Walk, where a church In the midst of this desperate and determined
was built capable of containing upwards of three opposition, which on all hands assailed the promoters
thousand persons, which, for several years, was of itinerant preaching, the first Congregational church
nearly filled every Sabbath with a most attentive was formed, a small number of pious persons,
congregation, and was very often densely crowded. amounting to no more than twelve or fourteen, hav-
The whole expense of this large structure, all the ing met in a private house in George Street, Edin-
sittings of which were free, was defrayed by Mr. burgh, in December 1798, and constituted themselves
Robert Haldane. Thus the utmost energy and ac- into a church for Christian fellowship. This was
tivity characterized the movements of these disinter- the commencement of the Circus church, of which
ested Christian philanthropists, who, both in the Mr. James Haldane was chosen the pastor. Mr.
city and throughout the country, were unwearied Aikman, who was one of the small number present on
in their endeavours to win souls to Christ. It that occasion, gave the following account some years
was not to be expected, however, that their efforts afterwards of the principles on which that church
should pass without reproach on the part of such was founded: “The chief principle which influenced
as were unable to appreciate the pure and lofty the minds of the brethren, who I believe constituted
motives by which they were actuated. But how the majority of the small company first associated
painful was it for them to find, that not a few, both of for observing divine ordinances in the Circus, was
the Presbyterian Dissenters and Established clergy, the indispensable necessity of the people of God
were loud in denouncing them. Nor was this oppo- being separated in religious fellowship from all such
sition manifested by individuals alone, but even by societies as permitted visible unbelievers to continue
entire bodies of professing Christians. Thus the in their communion. This was a yoke under which
Relief synod, at their meeting in 1798, passed a de- we had long groaned; and we hailed with gratitude
cree to the effect, “That no minister belonging to to God, the arrival of that happy day when we first
this body shall give or allow his pulpit to be given enjoyed the so much wished for privilege of separat-
to any person who has not attended a regular course ing from an impure communion, and of uniting ex-
of philosophy and divinity in some of the universi- | clusively with those whom it was meet and fit that
ties of the nation ; and who has not been regularly we should judge to be all the children of God. Some
licensed to preach the gospel.” This decree was of our dearest brethren, however, did not unite with
600
CONGREGATIONALISTS (SCOTTISH).
1
- The new
recom-
us on this principle. They were attached indeed to formed, and had pastors ordained over them. And
the fellowship of the saints, and would by no means it was a pleasing feature in the character of these
consent to the admission of any amongst us who did churches, that from their very commencement they
not appear to be such; yet they were not then con- appear to have been actuated by a missionary spirit,
vinced of the absolute unlawfulness of their continu- not only seeking to advance the cause of Christ among
ing in connexion with societies confessedly impure. their own countrymen at home, but also among the
Our brethren were well aware of our decided differ- heathen abroad. This zeal, however, in behalf of
ence of sentiment, not only respecting the great foreign missions, received a check in 1807, and from
inconsistency, but also unlawfulness of any persons that year till 1812 the exertions of the churches in
connected with us continuing to go back to the fel- the same good cause were feeble, and since this lat-
lowship of those societies from which they had pro- ter period the Scottish Congregationalists have con-
fessed to separate, and they knew that our forbear- fined their labours in this department to an active
ance did not imply any approbation of this conduct. support of Missionary Societies. For nine years
Persuaded, however, that they did not intend by this from the date of the first formation of a Congrega-
to countenance any thing they judged to be contrary tionalist church in Scotland, the cause made the most
to the mind of Christ, we deemed it our duty to for- rapid and satisfactory progress. But in 1807, seeds
bear, in the hope that that Saviour whom we trusted of dissension were unhappily sown in some of the
it was their supreme desire to serve and to please, churches, which gave rise to the keenest controversy
would grant us the happiness of being like min led on church principles, rights, and privileges. The
in this, as in our other views of promoting the honour circumstance which thus led to a state of things so
of his adored name."
much to be deplored, was the circulation among the
The Circus church, thus constituted, observed the churches of Ballantyne's Treatise on the Elder's
Lord's Supper regularly once a month, until the year | Office. The churches, though still in their infancy,
1802, when it adopted weekly communion. Churches were now embarrassed and weakened.
on the same footing were about that time formed in order of things," says Mr. Kinniburgh,
Glasgow, Paisley, and Aberdeen. It is an interest- mended for the adoption of the churches, spread
ing fact, that a number of the Congregational churches rapidly among them. Bitter contentions, strife of
which arose in different parts of the country had / words, jealousies, and divisions followed, of which
their origin in prayer and fellowship meetings; while none but such as passed through the painful scenes
others were chiefly composed of those who had been of those days can have an adequate idea. Inexpe-
brought to the knowledge of the truth by the labours rienced rashness adopted the new views. Anarchy
of itinerant preachers. Before the close of the year prevailed in the churches, and in some cases a beau-
1800, nine other churches had been formed in differ- teous fabric became a shattered ruin. The pious of
ent parts of the country, making in all fourteen. other bodies, who were inclined to favour our sys-
The Society, from which under God all this tem, shrank with sorrow and alarm, from what ap-
Christian activity and zeal had originated, continued peared to them so disastrous an experiment of Con-
to prosecute its useful labours until 1807, when, hav.. gregational principles. Thus many stumbling-blocks
ing accomplished to a large extent the object of its were laid in the way, both of Christians and unbe-
formation, it dissolved. While it existed, this asso- lievers."
ciation was instrumental in doing much to promote The consequences of this unhappy commotion, at
the cause of God in Scotland. No means were left so early a stage in the history of Scottish Congrega-
untried by which God might be glorified, and his tionalism, could not fail seriously to damage the
kingdom advanced. Village preaching was actively cause. Many of the churches were poor, and had
prosecuted by the Society; those individuals in the no small difficulty in supporting their pastors, but
larger churches whose piety and gifts were likely to now that the members were divided in sentiment,
render them useful, were encouraged to go on Sab- their pecuniary resources were thereby so much
bath evenings to the neighbouring villages and diminished, that some of the pastors were under
preach the gospel to the people. Ministers were the necessity of retiring from the work, while others
sent out to itinerate in all directions, and there being who remained were subjected to the most distress-
some difficulty in procuring a sufficient number of ing privations. The seminary which had been
labourers in this department, seminaries were estab- established for the supply of preachers was broken
lished for educating pious young men to do the work up. This loss, however, was in course of time
of evangelists. It was in the early days of Congre- repaired, by the formation in 1811 of the Glas-
gationalism that Sabbath evening schools began in gow Theological Academy, which has done much to
Scotland, and their most active and zealous promot advance the prosperity of the body to which it belongs.
ers were Congregationalists. Animated by the most To assist the churches in supporting their pastors,
disinterested motives, and by an earnest love to the the Congregational Union was formed in 1812,
souls of men, the labours of the itinerants were so which has sustained and invigorated to no small ex-
successful, that in the interval between 1798 and tent the energies of churches which might otherwise
1807, no fewer than eighty-five churches were have dwindled and died away. The Congregational
1
>
CONGREGATIONAL UNION.
601
1
concerns.
Union is in fact a Home Missionary Society. The decisions. As the judgments of impartial, wise, and
churches of the body have now increased to nearly good men, they will deservedly liave great influence
two hundred, but of these a large number require with all who are unprejudiced; but they are merely
and receive aid from the Union. The number of recommendations, not laws.” Among the Congre-
sittings in the churches of the Congregationalist gational churches in the United States, councils are
body in Scotland, amount, according to the returns of different kinds, sometimes mutual, sometimes ex
of the last census in 1851, to 76,342, and the number parte, and sometimes standing or permanent. А.
of churches to 192.
mutual council, as the term denotes, is one called by
CONGREGATIONAL UNION, a delegated con- the consent of both parties, while an ex parte council
ference of ministers and members of Congregational is one which either party in the dispute may call with-
churches in England and Wales, formed in 1831, which out the concurrence of the other. These councils are
meets twice a-year for consultation on the state and usually composed of the pastor, and a lay delegate
prospects of the body, and for such measures of co-ope- from each of the neighbouring churches; the dis-
ration as can be safely adopted without violating the puting parties, by letters missive, designating the
principles of Independency. In its very constitu- churches whose counsel they desire, and each of the
tion, indeed, provision is expressly made that the churches thus addressed electing its own delegate.
Union “shall not in any case assume a legislative Standing or permanent councils are almost entirely
authority, or become a court of appeal." The ob-confined to Connecticut. By the “Saybrook Plat-
jects of this Union are fully set forth in its constitu- form,” agreed to in 1708, all the churches are conso-
tion, as revised by the twenty-second Annual As- ciated for mutual assistance in their ecclesiastical
sembly 1852, and are described in these terms:
The pastors and churches of a county
“1. To promote evangelical religion in connexion usually meet in an association; and all cases requir-
with the Congregational Denomination.
ing counsel and advice are brought before this body.
“2. To cultivate brotherly affection and sincere | Though a question has sometimes been started as to
co-operation in everything relating to the interests the finality of the decisions of these associations on
of the associated Churches.
unions, the American churches practically regard
“3. To establish fraternal correspondence with them as such. If a church should refuse to follow
Congregational Churches, and other bodies of Chris- the advice of a council thus convened, and the state
tians, throughout the world.
of the church should be such as to warrant it, the
“4. To address, as occasion may require, a letter other churches would withdraw their fellowship from
to the associated Churches, accompanied with such it. A step so strong, however, is only taken when
information as may be deemed necessary.
the offences of a church are so aggravated as to
“5. To obtain accurate statistical information re- prevent it from being any longer recognized as a
lative to the Congregational churches throughout Christian church. So recently as 1854, a Congrega-
the kingdom, and the world at large.
tional Union for the whole body of Congregational-
“6. To inquire into the present methods of col- ist churches in the United States of America has
lecting funds for the erection of places of worship, been formed, which is rapidly acquiring the confi-
and to consider the practicability of introducing any dence of the churches, and is likely greatly to ad-
improved plan.
vance the interests of Congregationalism in the land
“7. To assist in maintaining and enlarging the of the Pilgrim Fathers.
civil rights of Protestant Dissenters."
The Evangelical churches of France, which are
Among the Scottish Congregationalists, a Union formed on independent and voluntary principles,
was formed so far back as 1812, which directs its efforts formed a Synod or Union in 1849, which con-
chiefly to the support of weak churches, aiding them sists already of twenty-five associated churches,
with its funds, as well as encouraging with its advice consisting of upwards of 1,800 members. It is a
when required. But in Scotland, as in England, the fundamental article of their constitution, that no
Union conducts its operations in such a way as to in-
church shall be received into the Union that receives
fringe in no respect on the principle of Independency, State pay or control. The objects of the Union are
which forms the characteristic feature of the Congre- to promote mutual encouragement and co-operation
gationalist body. All such Unions, both in Britain in all matters relating to the interests of their
and America, are merely advisory bodies, composed churches, the promotion of religious liberty, and the
of delegates from the various churches within certain extension of religion throughout the empire. The
local limits. As an American writer remarks, Union raises funds for assisting the poorer churches
They are, so to speak, a kind of congress, where to support their pastors, and has besides a specific
the representatives of independent churches meet to Committee of Evangelization for the purpose of dis-
consult with each other respecting matters of gen- seminating the gospel in districts where ministers
eral interest. But they become parties to no arti- cannot be sustained. In all, there are believed to
cles of union which make the decisions of their be about one hundred churches in France, with as
representatives thus convened of binding authority. many pastors that repudiate in principle or in prac-
Each church is at liberty to accept or reject their | tice all dependence on the State, and hence are
I.
2 U
602
CONGRUITY_CONSISTORIES.
called Independent churches. The Union of the thren, the Lutherans, and the Swiss. The town of
Evangelical Churches of France resembles more Sandomir was chosen for the assembly of a synod,
nearly in principle and object the Congregational destined to accomplish the great work of the union ;
Union of Scotland than that of England and Wales. it met accordingly in 1570. This synod was composed
CONGRUITY, a term used to express the opinion of several influential noblemen belonging to the dif-
of the Scorists (which see), or followers of Duns ferent Protestant confessions, and the leading ministers
Scotus, one of the most eminent of the schoolmen, of those confessions. After much debate, the union was
on the subject of human merit. They held that it is finally concluded and signed on the 14th April 1570.
possible for man in his natural state so to live as to The terms of the confederation were comprehended
deserve the grace of God, by which he may be ena- in a confession, which is usually called the Agree-
bled to obtain salvation ; this natural fitness for grace, ment of Sandomir. This compromise, which was
or congruity, as they were wont to term it, being such expressed in intentionally vague language, was not
as to oblige the Deity to grant it. Thus the Scotists long after opposed by many of the Lutherans, and
were wont to speak of the merit of congruity in op- in the next century was entirely abrogated.
position to the Thomists, who spoke of the merit of CONSENTES DII, the twelve Etruscan divini-
CONDIGNITY (which see).
ties, who were said to form the council of Jupiter.
CONISALUS, an ancient Pagan deity adored by Six of them were male, and six female. The Etrus-
the Athenians. He seems to have been of an infe- can mythology recognized them as governing the
rior order of demons in the train of Priapus, with world and time, but destined only to be of temporary
which god he is sometimes confounded.
duration. They received also the name of Complices,
CONIUS, a surname of Zeus, as the god who and were called Consentientes, because they had the
raises dust, under which name he had an uncovered privilege of giving their consent to the deliberations
temple in the citadel of Megara.
of the gods. They were regarded as presiding each
CONONITES, a Christian sect of the sixth cen- of them over a separate month of the year. It is
tury, deriving its name from its leader, Conon, not likely that these deities were identical with the
bishop of Tarsus. It was properly an offshoot from twelve Dii Majores, or great gods of the ancient
the sect of the PHILOPONISTS (which see), with Romans.
which it agreed in regard to the constitution of the CONSESSUS CLERI, a name given by Cyprian
Godhead, but differed from it respecting the expla- to the altar-part of the ancient Christian churches
nation of the doctrine concerning the resurrection of within the rails, where none but the clergy were al-
the body. The Cononites on this latter point held lowed to enter. See BEMA.
that the matter only, and not the form, of bodies was
s ] CONSESSUS PRESBYTERORUM, the scats of
corruptible, and to be resuscitated.
the presbyters in the ancient Christian churches,
CONSECRATION, the act of solemnly dedicat- which were ranged in a semicircle on either side of
ing or setting apart any person or thing for a reli- the bishop. See CHURCHES.
gious purpose.
CONSISTENTES (Lat. co-standers), an order of
CONSECRATION OF A BISHOP. See Bish- penitents in the early Christian church, who derived
their name from being allowed to stay and hear the
CONSECRATION OF CHURCIIES. See DE- prayers of the church after the catechumens and
DICATION OF CHURCHES.
other penitents were dismissed, but they were not
CONSECRATION OF CHURCHYARDS. See allowed to make their oblations, nor partake of the
CEMETERY.
eucharist with them. It is uncertain whether they
CONSECRATION OF CHRISM. See CHRISM. were permitted to remain as spectators of the sacra-
CONSECRATION OF ELEMENTS. See mental service. Penitents remained in this class for
Lord's SUPPER.
the space of two years. See PENITENTS.
CONSECRATION
JEWISH HIGH CONSISTORIES, civil courts of judicature among
PRIEST. See HIGH PRIEST.
the ancient Jews, inferior to the SANHEDRIM (which
CONSECRATION OF PAGAN PONTIFEX see). There was a consistory of twenty-three judges
MAXIMUS. See PONTIFEX MAXIMUS.
appointed in almost every city of any note, who sat
CONSECRATION OF THE TABERNACLE. in judgment upon the lives and fortunes of the peo-
See TABERNACLE.
ple, and decided causes of nearly all kinds. There
CONSECRATION OF THE TEMPLE. See were two of these lesser courts in Jerusalem, the one
TEMPLE.
in the gate of Shushan, and the other in the gate of
CONSENSUS OF SANDOMIR, a union of the Nicanor. A consistory of twenty-three was ap-
three great Protestant bodies in Poland in the six- pointed wherever there were a hundred and twenty
teenth century. Many both of the nobles and com- men in the city qualified to bear office. The mem-
mon people wishing to remove the scandal caused bers of the sanhedrim were taken from these inferior
by the dissensions among the Protestants, which
These consistories always sat in the gates
were very injurious to their cause, proposed a meet- of the cities. Their sessions began after morning
ing of the principal churches, the Bohemian Bre- prayers, and continued till the end of the sixth hour,
OP.
OF
courts.
CONSISTORY-CONSUBSTANTIAL.
603
that is, till twelve o'clock of our time. The authority | cardinals, or the pope's senate and council, before
of these courts was exerted in many towns of Pales- whom judiciary causes are pleaded, and all political
tine after Jerusalem was destroyed. Josephus affairs of importance, the election of bishops, arch-
speaks of a court of judicature in every city, con- bishops, &c. are transacted. There is the ordinary
sisting of seven judges, each of whom had two of consistory, which the pope assembles every week in
the tribe of Levi to assist him; who, with a presi- the papal palace, and the extraordinary, or secret con-
dent and deputy, made up the number of twenty-sistories, called together on special and important
three. There was a still lower consistory, consisting | occasions.
of three judges, set up in small villages which did CONSOLAMENTUM, a term used by the CA-
not contain a hundred and twenty householders. THARISTS (which see) in the twelfth century, to
Their office was to determine about matters which designate the spiritual baptism by which a believer
concerned money, rights of inheritance, and division entered into fellowship with the Spirit. This bap-
of lands, borrowing, stealing, damages, restitution, tism of the Spirit, or true baptism, they held should
and other matters of lesser importance. They had be performed by the imposition of hands in connec-
no authority in capital cases, but they had the power tion with prayer. The consolamentum appears to
of scourging, and inflicting other penalties as the have been twofold, (1.) The rite of initiation, by
case required. All Jews were under the jurisdic- which an individual was received into the commu-
tion of these courts, and the proselytes of righteous- nion of the sect, and adopted into the number of be-
ness had the privilege of being judged by them. lievers. (2.) The rite by which he was received into
CONSISTORY, an ecclesiastical court in many the circle of the fully initiated. The term consola-
Protestant churches, identical with a KirK-SESSION mentum was also applied to the rite among the
(which see), and comprising the minister or minis-Catharists, by which a man who had hitherto be-
ters and elders, in some cases also the deacons. It longed to the believers, was on his death-bed re-
has the charge of all that relates to public worship, ceived into the more limited circle of the sect, so as
Christian instruction, and the superintendence of the to be prepared to enter at death into the heavenly
members of the congregation. In the Lutheran world. The consolamentum is said by Neander to
churches in Germany, there is a court called a con- have been performed in the following manner :
sistory, which consists of the general superintendent “They assembled in a room dark and closed on all
or inspecting clergyman, several other clergymen, sides, but illuminated by a large number of lights
and one or more laymen. One of the laymen usually affixed to the walls. Then the new candidate was
presides, who represents the sovereign, and who is placed in the centre, where the presiding officer of
versed in the knowledge both of civil and ecclesias- the sect laid a book, probably the Gospel of St.
tical law, as appointed by the statutes of the realm John, on his head, and gave him the imposition of
to govern and direct the affairs of the church. If | hands, at the same time reciting the Lord's Prayer."
the district be so large that one consistory is not They ascribed a magical efficacy to the consolamen-
sufficient for the direction of its ecclesiastical affairs, tum, and viewed it as absolutely indispensable to a
there are several established in different parts of the due preparation for the fellowship of heaven.
country, either immediately under the control of the CONSOLATI, a name applied among the Cathari,
sovereign, or dependent on the supreme consistory in the twelfth century, to those who had received
of the capital. All important decrees of every con- the CONSOLAMENTUM (which see), and who, being
sistory must be communicated to the sovereign, to admitted among the fully initiated, were considered
be ratified by him, and to be issued under his rfame. as perfect.
In Sweden there are twelve regular diocesan consis- CONSTANTINE (FESTIVAL OF St.), held by the
tories, a court consistory, a consistory for each of the Greek church in honour of Constantine the Great
two universities, and another, which is a privilege and the Empress Helena, on the 20th May.
of the city of Holin. In the Reformed church of CONSTITUTION, a decree of the Pope in mat-
Geneva, the consistory is coinposed of all the pastors ters of doctrine. In France this name has been ap-
of the republic and twelve laymen. The pastors are
The pastors are plied by way of eminence to the famous bull UNI-
perpetual members of this court, but the laymen are GENITUS (which see).
chosen only for six years. In the Church of Eng- CONSTITUTIONAL ASSOCIATE PRESBY-
land every bishop has his consistory court, which is TERY. See ORIGINAL ANTIBURGHERS.
held before his chancellor or commissary in his cathe- CONSTITUTIONS OF CLARENDON. See
dral church, or other convenient place in his diocese CLARENDON (CONSTITUTIONS OF).
for ecclesiastical causes. Tie bishop's chancellor is CONSUBSTANTIAL (Lat. con, together, and
the judge of this court, supposed to be skilled in the substantia, substance), a word denoting of the same
civil and canon law; and in places of the diocese essence or substance with another. It answers to
far remote from the bishop's consistory, the bishop the Greek word Homoousion, which was so fre-
appoints a commissary to judge in all causes within quently used in the Arian controversy, and which so
a certain district, and a register to enter his decrees, long and so keenly agitated the Christian church in
&c. Consistory at Rome, denotes the college of the fourth century. The word, both in its Greek
1
604
CONSUBSTANTIATION.
In first pro-
and Latin form, was employed to signify that the Son Dr. Dick, in his Theological Lectures, remarks:
was of the same substance or essence with the Fa- “ Consubstantiation is liable to many of the same
ther. See ARIANS, HOMOOUSION.
objections which may be advanced against transub-
CONSUBSTANTIATION, a term used to sig- stantiation. It supposes the body of Christ to be at
nify the doctrine held by the Lutheran churclı, that the same time in heaven and on earth, in Europe
the substance of the body and blood of Christ is and in America ; it supposes it to be in a state of
present in, with, or under the substance of the ele- glory, and in a state of humiliation; it supposes it to
ments in the Lord's Supper. It differs widely from be present, and yet to be imperceptible to any of
the doctrine of the Church of Rome, known by the our senses, and therefore to be present after the
name of transubstantiation. Romanists allege that manner of a spirit; it supposes it to be taken into
when the officiating priest utters the words, “This the mouths of the communicants, and chewed, and
is my body," at that moment the substance of the swallowed, and digested; it supposes that at the
bread and wine is annihilated, and only the acci- last supper, Christ sat at table with his disciples, and
dents remain. Lutherans, on the other hand, declare was at the same time in the bread; that he held
that the nature of the elements remains unchanged, himself in his hand, and then transferred himself
but that in some mysterious way the human nature from his own hand into the hands of the Apostles;
of Christ is conjoined with them.
and that while they saw him at soine distance from
pounding this doctrine, Luther endeavoured to sup. | them, he was in their mouths. How strong is the
port it by referring to the Scriptural statement, that power of prejudice, which can make any man believe,
Christ is at the right hand of God, and he argued or imagine that he believes such absurdities! After
that the right hand of God being everywhere, the this, there is nothing so monstrous and incredible
human nature of Christ might readily be believed to which he might not be prevailed upon to acknow-
be present in and with the consecrated elements in ledye, if he were first persuaded that it is taught in
the eucharist. This argument the Reformer after- the Scriptures.
wards abandoned as untenable. Some of Luther's " That consubstantiation is not taught in the
followers, however, maintained the ubiquity of the Scriptures, might be proved by all the arguments
human nature of Christ, supporting it by an appeal which have been adduced to show, that the literal
to the Almighty power of God, which, as it could interpretation of the words, “This is my body,'
accomplish anything, could of course impart omni- This is my blood,' is false. It deserves attention,
presence to the body of the Redeemer. But the an- that the interpretation of the Lutheran church is
swer to such an appeal is obvious. It is no deroga- more forced and unnatural than that of the Romish
tion from the fulness and completeness of the Divine church. The Papist, suspecting no figure in the
power to say that it cannot do what is in itself a con- case, with childish simplicity takes the words as they
tradiction. It is of the very nature of body to stand, this bread is my body,' and believes that the
occupy a definite limited space, and if God therefore one is miraculously changed into the other. The Lu-
were to make the body of Christ omnipresent, its theran employs some thought, and exercises a little
very essential nature would be destroyed; it would ingenuity, and finds that the words signify, not « This
cease to be a body. Some of the Lutherans feeling bread is my body,' but "This bread contains my
that this objection to their doctrine is insuperable, body.' By what law does he deviate from the strict
endeavour to escape from the difficulty by assigning interpretation? Where does he find, that the verb
to the body of Christ a double presence, the one cir- of existence is, signifies in, with, or under? Not in
cumscribed and local, the other heavenly, superna- any of the canons of criticism, but in the necessity of
tural, and divine. But no such distinction is war- his system, which cannot be supported without this
ranted by the Word of God, and has been obviously explanation. Hence it is evident, that the Papist
devised merely to serve a purpose. If the human has the advantage of the Lutheran; and that, if the
nature of Christ lave a local presence, it cannot be words are to be literally understood, they favour
ubiquitous, and if it lave ubiquity, it cannot be con- transubstantiation, and consubstantiation is founded
fined to a place. The two are contradictory and on a perversion of them. Both doctrines are con-
mutually destructive. The doctrine which Scrip- trary to Scripture, as well as to reason and common
ture teaches on this mysterious subject obviously is, sense; but that of Lutherans offers more direct vio-
that the two natures of Christ, though hypostatically | lence to the words of inspiration."
united, continue distinct; that each of the natures The doctrine of consubstantiation was held by
retains its peculiar qualities or attributes ; that om- some divines long before the time of Luther. Thus
uipresence, as well as omnipotence and omniscience, in the eleventh century, it seems to have been main
belong to him only as God, and are attributes of his tained by Berengarius and his followers (see Beren-
Divine nature exclusively, no Divine attributes GARIANS). But wlien Luther assailed the corrup-
being predicable of the human nature, without con- tions of the Romish church in the sixteenth century,
founding the Creator with the creature, God with while he had no hesitation in declaring the doctrine
of transubstantiation to be unscriptural and absurd,
On this distinctive tenet of the Lutheran church, he could not rid himself altogether of the idea of a
man.
CONSUS-CONTRACTS.
605
real bodily presence in the euchari it. The tenth have prevailed for a long period, as we find a Pytho-
article of the Augsburg Confession, accordingly, ness spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles.
which was adopted as a standard of faith by the CONTACIUM, a name given to the ritual of the
whole body of Lutheran Protestants, was made to Greek church.
run in these terms: “That the real body and blood CONTINENTES, equivalent to ASCETICS (which
of Christ are truly present in the eucharist, under see).
the elements of the bread and wine, and are distri- CONTRACTS. The mode of ratifying bargains
buted and received." These words mildly, yet expli- and contracts differs among different nations.
citly, declared the doctrine of consubstantiation, and Among the ancient Hebrews the simple form was
accordingly, the Zuinglians or Reformed found them- followed of joining hands. Thus the prophet Eze-
selves unable to subscribe the Augsburg Confession. kiel, xvii. 18, speaking of Pharaoh king of Egypt,
Hence the imperial cities of Strasburg, Constance, says, “Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the
Lindau, and Memmingen, substituted for it a sepa- covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and hath
rate confession, known by the name of the Confe:sio done all these things, he shall not escape.” A simi-
Tetrapolitana, or Confession of the Four Cities, lar custom still prevails in some parts of the East.
which differed from the Augsburg Confession only Thus the Hindus confirm an engagement by one
on the point of the presence of Christ in the sacra- person laying his right hand upon that of the other.
ment, which they maintained to be spiritual, not in the Old Testament, we find it recorded, that in
corporeal. This confession of the Four Cities was early times a contract was established by erecting a
drawn up by Martin Bucer, but the adherence to it heap of stones, to which a particular name was given.
was only temporary, for the Four Cities, after a time, Sometimes this was done, as in the case of the cove-
subscribed the Augsburg Confession, and became a nant between Abraham and · Abimelech, king of
part of the Lutheran church.
Gerar, by the oath of both parties. On the same
CONSUS, an ancient Roman deity, often alleged occasion also a gift was presented by Abraham to the
to belong to the infernal gods. Romulus is said to king, and a name was given to the well which had
have found an altar of Consus buried in the earth, occasioned the transaction. We are informed besides
and in his anxiety to obtain wives for his subjects, that Isaac and Abimelech celebrated festivities on
to have vowed that he would establish a festival in concluding their covenant.
concluding their covenant. A practice of this kind
honour of this unknown divinity, and that he would appears to have been followed in some heathen na-
offer sacrifices to him if he should succeed in obtain- tions. The Scythians are said to have first poured
ing wives. Hence the consualia (see next article) wine into an earthen vessel, and then the contracting
was established.
parties cutting their arms with a knife, let some of
CONSUALIA, a festival with games, celebrated the blood run into the wine, with which they stained
by the ancient Romans, in honour of Consus, the their armour; after which the parties, along with the
god of secret deliberations. It was observed an- other persons present, drank of the mixture, uttering
nually, and on the occasion a symbolical ceremony the most dreadful curses upon the person who should
was gone through in the circus, in which an altar violate the treaty. Another mode of ratifying a
buried in the earth, was uncovered. The festival of contract is referred to in 1 Sam. xviii. 4, “ And Jona-
the consualia was kept on the 21st April, with horse than stripped himself of the robe that was upon him,
and chariot races, and libations poured into the flames and
gave it to David, and his garments, even to his
which consumed the sacrifices. It was during the sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.” In Num.
first celebration of this festival that the Sabine xviii. 19, a covenant or engagement is mentioned by
women are said to have been carried off. Virgil the name of a “covenant of salt.” Now salt being a
alleges that this event took place during the Circen- symbol of perpetuity, the expression obviously de-
sian games, which may possibly have superseded the notes an enduring, a perpetual covenant, being bor-
ancient consualia.
rowed from the practice of ratifying federal engage-
CONSULTER WITH FAMILIAR SPIRITS, ments by salt. It is well known, that at this day,
a kind of soothsayers among the ancient Hebrews. the Asiatics consider eating together as a symbol of
It is rendered by the Septuagint one who speaks out perpetual friendship, and salt being a common article
of his belly, or as it is termed in modern times, a ven- with them at all meals, it is not improbable that from
triloquist. Such a person was imagined to have this circumstance may be derived the expression “a
immediate and direct communication with the devil. covenant of salt,” the contracting parties, by eating
The word used in the original Hebrew signifies a in company, being thus bound together in a league of
bottle, or hollow vessel, sorcerers and wizards being solemn and indissoluble friendship.
accustomed to speak as if from within a hollow From very ancient times contracts have been
space. So the witch of Endor is called literally in usually made, and all bargains of importance effected,
1 Sam. xxviii. 7, the mistress of the bottle. In one at the gate of the city, as the chief place of public
passage indeed, the Septuagint translate the word by concourse, and in some mercantile transactions it
the phrase "speaking out of the earth," still refer- was customary to pluck off the shoe at the gate of
ring to the hollow sound. This practice seems to the city, in the presence of the elders and other wit-
606
CONTRITION—CONVENTUAL BRETHREN.
nesses, and to hand it over to the purchaser. A followed by another of the same kind in 1670, led to
case of the disposal and transfer of property in re- severe persecution of the Non-conformists in both
mote antiquity occurs in Jer, xxxii. 10–15, “And I ends of the island.
subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took wit- CONVENTION (GENERAL), an assembly of
nesses, and weighed him the money in the balances. | clerical and lay deputies belonging to the Protestant
So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that Episcopal Church of America, which meets regularly
which was sealed according to the law and custom, for the discussion of its ecclesiastical concerns. The
and that which was open: and I gave the evidence first meeting of this body was held in Philadelphia
of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the in 1785. It met in the following year, but after that
son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine triennially. In 1789, the convention was distributed
uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses that into two houses, the house of bishops, and the house
subscribed the book of the purchase, before all the of clerical and lay deputies, who were to vote by
Jews that sat in the court of the prison. And I orders when required. It was at this meeting that
charged Baruch before them, saying, Thus saith the constitution of the Protestant Episcopal Church
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel ; Take these was arranged. Besides the general convention,
evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both every state or diocese has a convention of its own to
which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; regulate its local concerns. The house of bishops
and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may has a right to originate measures for the concurrence
continue many days. For thus saith the Lord of the house of delegates, composed of clergy and
of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and laity; and when any proposed act passes the house
vineyards shall be possessed again in this land." of delegates, it is transmitted to the house of bishops,
From these words it is evident that the documents who have a negative on the same. The church is
were buried in an earthen vessel, that they might be governed by canons framed by this assembly, regu-
kept in safe preservation, to be produced at any fu- lating the election of bishops, declaring the qualifi-
ture time as an evidence of purchase. We have no cations necessary for obtaining the orders of deacon
precise information as to the manner in which writ- or priest, appointing the studies to be previously
ten engagements were cancelled. It has sometimes pursued, the examinations which are to be made, and
been alleged, that this was effected by blotting them the age which it is necessary for candidates to attain
out, or by drawing a line across thein, or by striking before they can be admitted to the three grades of
them through with a nail.
the ministry, bishops, priests, and deacons. The
CONTRA-REMONSTRANTS. See CALVIN- triennial meetings of the general convention are held
in one of the larger cities of the Union, for the most
CONTRITION, a necessary part of true repen- part in New York and Philadelphia, alternately.
tance. It consists of a deep conviction of, and hu- The house of bishops numbers rather more than
miliation for, sin, a pungent sorrow for sin, an inge- thirty. It sits with closed doors, and is presided
nuous confession of it, and earnest prayer for over by the senior bishop. The house of clerical
deliverance from it. Among the Roman Catholics and lay deputies is composed of an equal number of
it constitutes one of the three parts of PENANCE presbyters and lay delegates from all the dioceses,
(which see) in the matter of the sacrament.
none being allowed to send more than four of each
CONVENT. See ABBEY, MONASTERY.
order. This house holds its deliberations in open
CONVENTICLE, a private assembly or meeting church, the public being freely admitted. The con-
for religious purposes. It is used by some ancient currence of both houses is necessary to the enact-
Christian writers, for example, Lactantius and Arno- ment of a law. The vote is counted by dioceses, and
bius, to signify a church. It was first applied as a the house of bishops has a veto upon the acts of
term of reproach to the assemblies held by the fol- the lower house. See EPISCOPAL (PROTESTANT)
lowers of Wycliffe in England, and afterwards to the CHURCII OF AMERICA.
meetings of the Non-conformists generally.
CONVENTUAL BRETHREN, one of the two
CONVENTICLE ACT, an act which passed the large divisions into which the Franciscan order of the
Parliament of England in 1663, according to which Romish church was split in the fourteenth century.
any meeting for religious worship in a private house, It includes those who have deviated most from the
at which five persons beside the family were present, literal sense of the rule of the founder, and who adopt
was declared a conventicle, and every person above the interpretation of it by the pontiff's. Clement
sixteen years of age who was present, was pro-
who was present, was pro- | XIV., in his bull for suppressing the order of Je-
nounced liable to a fine of five pounds, or three suits, mentions the congregation of the Reformed
months' imprisonment for the first offence; six Conventual Brethren, which Sixtus V. approved,
months, or twenty pounds for the second ; and for but which Urban VIII, abolished in 1626, because
the third, transportation for life to any plantation they did not yield spiritual fruits to the church of
except New England, or to pay a hundred pounds. God.” Constant quarrels had arisen between the
The same act was also carried through the Scottish Reformed and the Unreformed Conventual Bre-
Parliament by a large majority. This act, which was thren ; and the Pope allowed them to go over to the
ISTS.

M
TCH
OF
3
LINE
Upper Honse of Convocation, Province of Canterbury.
fleeting Tempoma Jacobi Briani - Abbott, Archb? Priems - www, 137 Clericus.
CONVOCATION.
607
MONTANS,
moi
Capuchin Brethren of St. Francis, or to the Obser- would be liable to a præmunire, and the proceedings
vant Franciscans.
of the assembly thus illegally summoned would be
CONVERTED BRETHREN. See GRANDI- completely void. An enactment to this effect, com-
only called the Act of Submission, was passed in
CONVOCATION, an assembly of the bishops | the reign of Henry VIII. It runs in these terms :
and clergy of the Church of England, to consult “Whereas the king's humble and obedient subjects,
upon matters ecclesiastical. It consists of two se- the clergy of this realm of England, have not only
parate houses, the upper house composed of the acknowledged according to the truth, that the convo-
archbishops and bishops, and the lower house in cation of the same clergy is, always hath been, and
which all the other clergy are represented by their ought to be assembled only by the king's writ; but
deputies. At the meeting of Parliament the Crown also submitting themselves to the king's majesty,
issues a writ summoning the convocation to assemble have promised in verbo sacerdotiż that they will never
in the provinces of Canterbury and York. The from henceforth presume to attempt, allege, claim, or
clergymen composing the lower house, who are put in use, enact, promulge, or execute any new
usually called proctors, are chosen by the votes of canons, constitutions, ordinances, provincial, or other,
the parochial clergy, to represent them in the deli- or by whatsoever name they shall be called, in the
berations of this ecclesiastical parliament. The pro- | convocation, unless the king's most royal assent
ceedings of convocation are opened by the archbishop and license may to them be had, to make, pro-
of the province, after which a prolocutor is chosen mulge, and execute the same, and that his majesty
to act as president. The convocation in the province do give his most royal assent and authority in
of York assembles in York cathedral, while that of that behalf: it is therefore enacted, according to
the province of Canterbury meets in St. Paul's ca- the said submission, that they, nor any of them,
thedral, or in the Jerusalem chamber adjoining West- | shall presume to attempt, allege, claim, or put in
minster Abbey. The two convocations are quite use any constitutious or ordinances provincial, by
independent of one another, though they have some- whatsoever name or names they may be called, in
times been found to act in concert. Since the Re- their convocations in time coming (which shall always
formation, the most important ecclesiastical matters be assembled by authority of the king's writ); unless
have been left in the hands of the convocation of the same clergy may have the king's most royal as-
Canterbury, while that of York has very rarely ori- sent and license, to make, promulge, and execute
ginated any measure of importance.
such canons, constitutions and ordinances provincial
The mode of electing the proctors of the clergy to or synodal; upon pain of every one of the said
attend the meetings of convocation varies in different clergy doing contrary to this act, and being thereof
places throughout England. Only rectors, vicars, convict, to suffer imprisonment, and make fine at the
and perpetual curates are allowed to vote for them. king's will."
A few of the varieties which prevail in the election Upon this statute various regulations followed,
of these representatives of the clergy, are thus no- which were designed to restrict the operations of
ticed by Mr. Marsden: "In the diocese of London, convocation within certain limits. These, as stated
each archdeaconry chooses two, and from the whole by Dr. Hook, were as follows: “1. That a convoca-
number so chosen, the bishop selects two to attend tion cannot assemble at their convocation, without
the convocation. In Sarum, the three archdeacous, the assent of the king. 2. That after their assembly
choose six, and the six make a selection of two of they camot confer, to constitute any canons without
their own number; and the same method is adopted | licence of the king. 3. When they upon conference
in the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry. In Bath
In Bath | conclude any canons, yet they cannot execute any of
and Wells, all the incumbents choose their proctors their canons without the royal assent. 4. That they
jointly. In Lincoln, the clergy of the six archdeacon- cannot execute any after the royal assent, but with
ries send commissioners to Stamford, who make the these four limitations :-(1.) that they be not against
necessary choice of two persons. In Norwich, the the prerogative of the king; nor (2.) against the
two archdeaconries of Norwich and Norfolk meet common law; nor (3.) against the statute law; nor
and choose one, and the archdeaconries of Suffolk (4.) against any custom of the realm.”
and Sudbury choose the other. The same is the The powers of convocation are extensive. They
case in Chichester. In ancient times the clergy were may correct and depose offenders; examine and cen-
represented in convocation by the archdeacons. Such sure heretical works; and with the royal license
is the mode of choosing proctors in the province of they can make and publish canons, alter the liturgy,
Canterbury. In the province of York two proctors and in short, their powers extend to all ecclesiastical
are returned by each archdeaconry. Were it not so, matters whatever. While convocation is sitting its
the nunbers would be too small for the transaction members are protected from arrest. This clerical
of business."
assembly has ceased since 1717 to possess the powers
The royal license is indispensable to the meeting of a synod, in consequence of the royal license
of convocation. Were the archbishop to summon an being withheld. Though an ecclesiastical court, it
assembly without the command of the sovereign, he is so completely under the control of the sovereign,
608
CONVULSIONISTS-COPTIC CHURCH.
crown.
that it cannot hold its meetings without a writ from to be thrown into convulsive fits, from which, as
the crown, it cannot decree canons without a license they alleged, they were miraculously cured at the
from the crown, nor publish them until they receive tomb of the Abbe Paris, a
tomb of the Abbe Paris, a celebrated zealot among
the royal confirmation. The writ is regularly issued
The writ is regularly issued the Jansenists in the early part of the eighteenth
along with the writ for the summoning of parlia- century. The name came to be applied to those
ment, but the royal license not being given, the who among the French Romanists wrought them-
meetings of convocation are little more than an selves up to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, their
empty form. But while it cannot pass canons with bodies becoming agitated and convulsed, throwing
out the license of the sovereign, it has the power of themselves into the most violent contortions of body,
refusing its assent to measures proposed by the rolling about on the ground, and at length falling
The Act of Submission passed in the reign into a swoon, during which they received visions
of Henry VIII., was repealed in the reign of Philip and revelations of the most wonderful kind. Such
and Mary, and restored by the parliament of Eliza- scenes occasionally present themselves at this day in
beth, since which time it has continued in force down the rural districts of France, where they are too
to the present day. While, therefore, the convocation often rendered subservient to the interests of a blind
assembles in both provinces regularly at the same superstition.
time with the meeting of parliament, its business is COPE, a clerical vestment. It was at first a
limited to the voting an address to the crown, with- common dress, being a coat without sleeves, but was
out having the power of passing a single act, how afterwards used as an ecclesiastical habit. It reaches
ever beneficial to the church which it represents.
represents. from the neck nearly to the feet, and is open in
Nay, so completely fettered is this ecclesiastical as- front, except at the top where it is united by a band
sembly, that they have not even the power of ad- or clasp. According to the canons of the Church of
journment, so that should their deliberations be England, the clergy ought to wear this garment at
protracted beyond the first day, the archbishop not the communion service or other great solemnities,
being able to adjourn the meeting, prorogues it. but it has gradually fallen into disuse, being scarcely
The question has even been started, whether the ever worn unless on very special occasions. The
law sanctions the archbishop in proroguing the con- Greeks pretend it was first used in memory of the
vocation, or whether such an authority does not be- mock robe put upon our Saviour.
long legally to the bishops of the province. But COPIATÆ, inferior officers of the ancient Chris-
whatever doubts some may entertain upon the sub- tian church, who performed the duties of undertakers,
ject, the archbishops continue to claim and exercise grave-diggers, sextons. These were intrusted with
the right on receiving a writ from the crown, which the care of funerals, and the burial of the dead. They
is regularly issued at the prorogation of parliament; are said to have been first instituted at Constanti-
and during its deliberations, the archbishop, by his nople by Constantine the Great, and to have been
own authority, prorogues the convocation from time further organized and established by the Emperor
to time, until the address to the crown has been Anastasius. They have sometimes been termed
adopted by both houses. Motions may be made, fossarii
, from digging of graves, and in Justinian's
committees may be appointed for the consideration Novels they are called Lecticarii, from carrying the
of special points, but all such steps are of no force corpse or bier at funerals. They are frequently
so long as the Crown withholds its license. The mentioned by ancient authors as ecclesiastical office-
High Church party of the Church of England have bearers. When Constantine first instituted the
for some time past been earnest in their endeavours to office, he incorporated a body of men to the number
procure from the Crown the restoration of the power of eleven hundred in Constantinople, to whom he
of synodical action to the convocation, but it appears gave the name of Copiate, and who, besides seeing
highly probable that this power will remain in that all persons had a decent and honourable inter-
abeyance for a long time to come. If ever restored, ment, were especially required gratuitously to per-
the introduction of the lay element will be absolutely form this last office to the poor. This class of offi-
necessary, and even the clerical franchise, if we may cers was partly supported out of the common stock
so speak, must be extended, that the proctors may of the church.
represent the whole body of the clergy. But even COPINISTS, a sect of UNIVERSALISTS (which
with these amendments in the constitution of the see) who denied the resurrection of the body.
convocation, the danger of reviving its dormant COPTIC CHURCH, the ancient Christian church
powers would be, that in the course of legislation of Egypt. They hold the Monophysite doctrine,
occasional collisions of a very serious kind with the that Christ was not possessed of two distinct natures,
civil government of the country would be almost in- but of only one, the human nature being amalga-
evitable, leading to results the most disastrous both mated with, and absorbed in, the Divine. A contro-
to the church and to the commonwealth. See ENG- versy on this subject violently distracted the Chris-
LAND (CHURCH OF).
tian church in Egypt during the fifth and sixth
CONVULSIONISTS, a party of fanatics belong-centuries, and at that period the Eutychian or
ing to the Romish church in France, who professed | Monophysite tenets, which were condemned by the
COPTIC CHURCH.
609
general council of Chalcedon, were embraced by the is a heterogeneous mass of false doctrines, idolatrous
whole Coptic nation, as well as by the Abyssinians rites, and superstitious ceremonies. They practise
and Nubians, the sect receiving the general appel- both circumcision and baptism; they believe in bap-
lation of Jacobites. So keen was the enmity which tismal regeneration, in justification by the observance
arose between those who adhered to the Monophy of the eucharist and other pious deeds, especially
site tenets, and the Christians of the Greek ortho- | fastings and pilgrimages, in transubstantiation, con-
dox church, that they never intermarried, and to ridfession to a priest, absolution, the invocation of
themselves of their opponents, the Copts favoured saints, extreme unction, and prayers for the dead.
the invasion of Egypt by the Moslem Arabs, and Besides the Bible, which they still regard as the
united with them in expelling the Greeks. The standard of faith and practice, they hold in high esti-
change of rulers, however, far from delivering them mation The Sayings of the Fathers,' The Liturgy
from persecution, only brought upon them still more of Basil,' The Liturgy of Gregory,' The Liturgy of
severe and protracted troubles. Worn out with Cyril,' and “The Apostolical Constitutions.' All
harassing oppressions of various kinds, they rose at these liturgies are found in the Coptic language.
length against their Moslem tyrants, but were speed- The Copts hold seven sacraments, baptism, the eu-
ily subdued, and many of them slain. For many charist, confirmation, confession, ordination, matri-
successive centuries the Copts were treated with the mony, and extreme unction. Their clergy are sup-
utmost cruelty, and subjected to the most painful de- ported by voluntary contributions and presents,
gradation. In the ninth century, they were com- besides fees on the occasion of births, marriages, and
pelled to wear garments and turbans of a deep colour, | deaths. The ordinance of baptism is dispensed to
and to carry a wooden cross of the weight of five boys at the age of forty days, and to girls at the age
pounds suspended from the neck. In the thirteenth of eighty days, unless in case of dangerous sickness,
century, another severe persecution took place, in when it may be administered sooner. This rite is
which all their principal churches throughout Egypt performed by dipping the body three times in water,
were destroyed, and they were ordered to wear a to which the sacred oil has been added, and over
blue turban, as they generally do at present. Ground which the sign of the cross has been made. Confir-
to the dust by cruel oppression, many of them apos- mation follows immediately after baptism, and is
tatized from the Christian faith, and embraced the performed with meirún or the holy oil. The sacra-
religion of the Koran, their churches being converted ment of confession is followed immediately by abso-
into mosques. The consequence is, that the num- lution, and sometimes penance is prescribed. Ex-
bers of the Copts are now greatly reduced, for while treme unction is administered not only to the sick
the Arabic historian Makrizis estimates their num- and dying, but also to the healthy after the commis-
ber at about two millions at the time of the invasion sion of great sins. Circumcision, as we have already
of Egypt by the Arabs, Dr. Bowring inentions that mentioned, is practised, but Dr. Wilson mentions
a few
years ago the Patriarch informed him, that he that he was informed by the patriarch, it was more
calculated the number of the Copts at 150,000, and a civil than a religious custom. It is done privately,
although this is probably below the mark, they can- without any fixed age for its performance. The
not be said to amount to more than 200,000. That religious fasts of the Copts are numerous and severe,
they were at one period much more numerous than and the patriarch, in particular, is remarkable for the
they are at present, is evident from the fact, that a austerities which he practises. It is said that he is
vast number of ruined Coptic churches and convents awaked from his sleep every quarter of an hour
are still to be found in various parts of the country. during the night that he may call on the name of
Ever since the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs, the God. Dr. Wilson, in his · Lands of the Bible,' gives
Coptic language has been gradually falling into dis- a minute and very interesting account of a visit
use, until it has almost become a dead language, which he paid while in Cairo to a Coptic church,
understood by very few. It is not, however, entirely and of the various ceremonies which he witnessed on
lost, being still used in their liturgy, and several of that occasion. The lively picture which the Doctor
their religious books; and as the litany and liturgy gives of the public worship of the Copts cannot fail
are repeated without a book, many even of the priests to interest the reader:
can neither read, write, speak, nor understand it, " It commenced as soon as it was light on the
while few or none of the hearers are able to compre- Lord's-day morning; and it was well attended both
hend a single word of the service. Accordingly, to by young and old, who, on account of the smallness
use the language of Dr. Duff, “In all heathenism of the church, the largest, however, belonging to
there is not a form more absolutely profitless and the Copts of the place,—were much crowded together,
meaningless. Of all real life it is as destitute as any to their great discomfort, increased by the want of
of the mouldering mummies of the catacombs.” To ventilation, and the burning of numerous candles.
such a melancholy state of degradation is the once The construction of the church much resembled a
flourishing and far-famed church of Alexandria and Jewish synagogue. It was divided into four com-
Egypt reduced.
partments. The heikel, or chancel, forms the chief
The present religious system of the Coptic church compartment at the eastern end; and it is separated
1
610
COPTIC CHURCH.
1
successor'.
from the rest of the church by wooden panel-work. | ing benedictions. Except in so far as his part of the
Before it is suspended a curtain with a large cross business was concerned, the whole seemed rather a
wrought upon it, having a door in the centre as an mockery of sacred things, than the worship of the
entrance. The compartment adjoining to this, sepa- | omnipresent and omniscient God.”
rated by a fence of lattice-work from the other parts The Copts believe St. Mark to be the apostle of
of the church, was occupied by the officiating priests Egypt and the founder of their church, while the
and their assistants, by the patriarch, who was sit- patriarch of Alexandria, whom they recognize as
ting on an antique seat called the chair of St. Mark, their supreme head, invested with the power of an
and by the more respectable portions of the congre- absolute Pope, is regarded by them as Mark's lineal
gation. Into this compartment we were allowed to
Not that they attach much importance
enter. The inferior members of the congregation to the idea of apostolical succession, but they be-
occupied the next apartment; and the most remote lieve that apostolic gifts and graces are conveyed
was appropriated to the women, who were nearly through the meirun or holy oil, which, as they al-
completely screened from our view by another parti- lege, was blessed by St. Mark, still preserves the
tion of lattice-work. I observed no images; but a properties imparted to it, a new stock of oil being
few glaring pictures were here and there suspended always added to the old before it is exhausted. A
from the walls. The worshipper, on entering the patriarch is sometimes chosen by his predecessor,
church, laid aside his shoes, but agreeably to the but generally appointed by lot, and always from
universal custoin of the Eastern Churches, kept on among the monks of the convent of St. Anthony.
his turban. His first act of devotion was that of | Under the patriarch are the bishops titular and real,
prostrating himself before the chancel immediately in the presbyters who administer the mass to the peo-
front of the suspended cross, kissing the hem of the ple, but never preach, the archdeacons, deacons, sub-
curtain, and then before the patriarch, who extended deacons, lectors, cantors, and exorcists, who are mere
to him his blessing on his rising, and lastly before boyish assistants in church ceremonies. The mode
some of the pictures of the saints. The entrance of of electing both priests and patriarch is thus noticed
great numbers after the service had begun, who went by Dr. Duff: “When a priest is to be chosen (one
through these ceremonies, added much to the con- of whose indispensable qualifications always is, that
fusion, which was now and then increased by the he be not unmarried), some of the former occupants
tinkling of bells and cymbals, and some of the priests of the sacred office fix on a friend, without asking
moving up and down and waving censers with in- his consent. He may be, and usually is, some illi-
cense rising from them, and making demands on the terate artizan. Voluntary humility' having now
patriarch for a new supply of combustibles when their become the established rule and hereditary custom,
stock was exhausted. Many of the older men were he is expected, and therefore must, in the first in-
leaning on crutches, about four or five feet high, stance, decline the intended honour, and expatiate on
during most of the time of the service, evidently ob- his utter unworthiness. To the entreaties of his
taining some relief from the use of them, in the lack friends he must continue deaf as an adder; and
of all pews, during the three or four lengthened hours must, in consequence, resist, till, after being dragged
of their meeting. They were frequently talking to by main force into the presence of the patriarch, his
one another and exchanging jokes. Some of the benediction has been pronounced, amid protesta-
priests were hunting after the boys, who were seek- tions and remonstrances. The doom of the reclaim-
ing their amusement, evidently anxious to improve ing and intruded man is now sealed. He is then
their behaviour in our presence. Their prayers hurried away from the patriarchal presence into a
were almost all in the dead Coptic, and, of course, church, for a month or two, to be initiated into the
were perfectly unintelligible by the people, who ceremonial part of the priestly functions ; and to
seemed to take little interest in them, though, led by learn, by rote, those portions of the litany which he
others, they gave the responses. The reading of the may have publicly to recite. Such is usually the
gospels and epistles was in Arabic; but it was per- entire course of scholastic and theological training
formed in a most irreverent and unimpressive man- that is deemed requisite for a Coptic priest! From
ner by mere boys, who seemed to be highly amused the body of the priesthood the bishops are chosen.
with their occupation. The bread and wine used in Their attainments, except in the addition of years
the Lord's Supper were particularly inspected by to their span of life, generally do not rise higher
the patriarch and priests before their consecration. than the dead flat mass whence they have been se-
The bread was in the form of small round cakes, vered. Nor need the qualifications of the patriarch
with the figure of the cross, I believe, stamped upon himself be of a much higher order. Contrary to the
tliem; and the wine was contained in a small glass essential prerequisite for the ordinary priesthood and
vessel. The bread was dipped in the wine before it episcopate, he must be an unmarried man. For this
was given to the people, only a small portion of end, the bishops and priests apply to the most an-
whom partook of it; and the priests alone drunk of cient of all convents (that founded by the famous St.
the cup. The patriarch concluded the service by Anthony, in the desert of the Red Sea) for a genuine
reading some exhortations in Arabic, and pronounc- monk to fill the patriarchal chair. The superior's
CÓPTIC CHURCH.
611
duty then is, to nominate nine or ten of the brother- | keep the Passion Week at Jerusalem, and then pro-
hood of celibacy. Of these, one is chosen by lot, ceed to bathe in the Jordan. Circumcision is very
to occupy a see which is believed to have been generally practised at the ages of two, seven, or
founded by St. Mark, transmitted by Athanasius eight years, and sometimes twenty or more; it is
and other eminent fathers, and perpetuated in un- considered rather a civil than a religious custom.
broken succession to the present occupant. The “ The Copt women, as well as those of the other
patriarch-elect is always expected, like the ordinary Christian sects, veil their faces in public, in imita-
priest, to express an unconquerable reluctancy to as- tion of the Moslem women; and they never uncover
sume an office of such dignity and responsibility. their faces in the house in the presence of men, ex-
The usual remedy is, to apply to the acting gover- cepting that of their near relations. The Copts
nor of Egypt, even though a Turk, to coerce the re- pursue, also, the same course as the Moslems in con-
cusant into compliance by the strong arm of civil | tracting marriages : viz. women are employed as
and military authority. The present patriarch, who professional match-makers, who bring a description
exults in being accounted the lineal successor of St. of the personal appearance of each party to the
Mark, as much as the present Pope in being re- other, and negotiate all the private conditions of the
garded the lineal successor of St. Peter, was actually union, the man having scarcely ever obtained a
conveyed from the convent to the chair of the evan- sight of the face of his intended wife, until after the
gelist by the soldiery of Mohammed Ali !"
wedding. The choice is sometimes made by the fe-
When the eucharist is administered, each man male relatives. Girls marry as young as twelve or
comes to receive it at the door of the chancel ; the thirteen, sometimes even at ten, and few remain un-
bread, which is in the form of small cakes, is mois married after sixteen years of age; they are often
tened with the wine, the priests alone being permit- betrothed much younger. The marriage festivities,
ted to drink the wine. The priests administer the among the middle and higher classes, usually last
eucharist separately to the women in their compart- seven or eight days. On the evening of the last
ment of the church. The chancel is in general bril- day, the bride is accompanied by her relations and
liantly lighted by lamps during the performance of friends in a procession, followed by musicians and
Divine worship. There is seldom any preaching ex- persons carrying lights, to the house of the bride-
cept during Lent. The people are enjoined by their groom. They proceed from thence to church, in
church to pray in private seven times in the twenty. two separate parties, and return after the cere-
four hours. They recite in their prayers portions of mony, to partake of a concluding festivity. The
the Psalms in Arabic, and of a chapter of one of the following part of the marriage ceremony, adopt-
gospels; after which they say in Coptic or Arabic, ed also by some of the other oriental Christian
“O my Lord, have mercy,” forty-one times, some Churches, is deserving of notice. After having
using a string of forty-one beads, others counting blessed and returned the wedding rings, the priest
by their fingers. At the close they add a short places a crown of gold upon the heads of the bride
prayer in Coptic, or repeat the Lord's Prayer. But and bridegroom, and a sash over the shoulder of the
while the Coptic church thus enjoins the faithful latter, which ceremony is called the crowning; the
performance of private devotion, many of the people crowns belong to the church, and are taken off when
may be seen repeating their prayers when walking, the parties leave, but the bridegroom wears the sash
riding, or engaged in their ordinary business, mut until his return home, where it is taken off by the
tering them rapidly over without the slightest ap- priest. The bestowal of a 'crown of life,'' of right-
pearance of inward feeling. Some of the stricter eousness,' and 'of glory' upon the believer, is fre-
classes wash their hands and feet before public wor- quently alluded to in the Scriptures, as forming a
ship, and pray with their faces to the east.
part of the final completion in heaven of the spirit-
The following rapid sketch of some of the most ual union or espousal of his soul with his Saviour at
important manners and customs of the Copts is ex- the marriage supper of the Lamb. New-married
tracted from the 'Journal of a Deputation to the couples among the Jews wore crowns upon their
East:' “ They fast every Wednesday and Friday, wedding-day, and in Cantic. iii. 11, the spouse in-
eating only fish, vegetables, and oil. They keep | vites her companions to see King Solomon with the
also four long and strict fasts in the year; one of crown wherewith his mother crowned him on the
which, at Easter, lasts fifty-five days. They abstain day of his espousals.
during these fasts from every kind of animal food, “ The funeral ceremonies of the Copts have like-
such as flesh, meat, eggs, milk, butter, and cheese. wise much resemblance to those of the Moslems.
Each fast is followed by a festival, and the festivals The corpse is carried in a coffin, followed by wail-
exceed the fasts by three. Besides attending church | ing.women; and these are hired for three days, to
services on these occasions, they feast and give alms. continue their lamentations in the house of the de-
They abstain from eating swine's flesh, on account, ceased. The Copts of both sexes visit the tombs of
they say, of the filthiness of the animal. The Copts their relatives three times a-year. They pass the
consider a pilgrimage to Jerusalem incumbent upon night in houses in the burying-ground, the women
all. They join in large caravans for the journey, / in the upper, and the men in the lower rooms; and
612
COPTIC MONKS CORD.
sen.
in the morning, they kill a buffalo or a sheep, and from starvation. Our Lord, accordingly, Mark vii.
give its flesh with bread to the poor. This has all 9; x. 13, reproaches them with setting at nought
the appearance of an expiatory sacrifice, perpetuated, the Divine law by their traditions. The express
probably, from heathen times; but they do not dis- form of the Corban is to be found in the Talmud.
tinctly admit this interpretation of the ceremony." See PHARISEES.
The ABYSSINIAN CHURCH (which see) is a branch CORD (INVESTITURE WITH THE). In the se-
of the ancient Coptic church in Egypt, their ABUNA | venth or ninth year of his age a Hindu Brahman is
(which see) or patriarch being consecrated by the introduced into the sacred caste by a special cere-
patriarch of Alexandria, and in a certain sense sub- mony, which is usually termed his investiture with
ject to him.
the cord. Before this time he is regarded as no
COPTIC MONKS. Monasticism had its origin in better than a Sudra; he has no privilege, no rank.
Egypt, and it continues to be held in estimation in By the laws of Menu, a Brahman is to be distin-
that country. The Copts who follow this mode of life | guished from individuals of the secular classes by a
practise great austerities, living in deserts, sleeping in cord, termed in Bengali paita, which is worn hang-
their clothes on the ground, and every evening pros-ing from the left shoulder, and resting on the right
trating themselves one hundred and fifty times with side, below the loins. It consists of three thick
their face and breast on the earth. These monks twists of cotton, each formed of numerous smaller
are sprung from the lowest class of the people, and threads. These three separate twists, which on mar-
live on alins. The regular convents are reduced to riage are increased to three times three, are consi-
seven ; two, those of St. Anthony and St. Paul, in dered as emblematical of the three Persons in the
the eastern desert near the Red Sea ; four, including Hindu Trinity, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. The
that of St. Macarius, in the Natron valley; and one cotton from which the cord is made must be gathered
at Jebel Koskam in Upper Egypt. In these insti- from the plant by the hands of Brahmans only, and
tutions a rigid system of discipline is in force. The the thread must be spun and twisted by persons of the
Copts have also a number of secondary monasteries, same caste. When the cord has been properly manu-
into which, the priests being seculars, women are factured, the father of the young candidate for sacred
admitted as well as men. From among the monks honours endeavours to discover by the rules of astro-
residing at one or other of these convents, the pa- logy, the month, the week, the day, the hour, the
triarch or Batrik, as he is called, is uniformly cho- minute which will be most favourable for his son's
A period of severe probation is required of investiture with the cord. The ceremony and the
all persons applying for admission into the monastic entertainment occupy four days, and at the close of
order. Besides making a vow of celibacy, they each, the guests are presented with numerous gifts.
must perform, in some sequestered convent in the The sacred ceremonies observed on the occasion are
desert, such menial services as fetching wood and thus described, chiefly founded on the narrative of
water, sweeping the rooms, or waiting upon the Dubois, in an interesting work published some years
monks. The number of monks and nuns is consi- ago under the title of The Hindoos :' “ The guest
derable. They subsist chiefly on lentils, and eat first invited is the Purohita, or priest. On the day
meat only on feast-days. They are in general very appointed he comes, bringing along with him the
poor, superstitious, and ignorant.
paita, or cord, with a quantity of mango leaves, the
COPTIC VERSION, a very ancient version of sacred herb darbha, or kusa, and an antelope's skin
the New Testament in the Coptic, which is said to to sit upon. The guests being all assembled, the
be a mixture of the Old Egyptian and the Greek. Purohita begins by invoking the household god; the
This version was used from time immemorial by the house itself having been previously purified, by the
Egyptians; and though, since the conquest of Egypt foor and interior of the walls being rubbed with
by the Saracens, the Arabic has been generally spo- cow-dung diluted with water, while the exterior is
ken, and the Coptic little understood, yet this ver- decorated, like the old houses of France and Italy,
sion is still read among the Copts, in the public ser- with broad perpendicular stripes in red earth. Most
vice, in connexion with an Arabic translation. of the rites are performed under a temporary shed,
CORBAN, a gift or oblation among the ancient erected with many ceremonies in the court before
Ilebrews, something devoted to God. Whatever the house. While the priest is chaunting his man-
became the subject of this vow, whether money, tras, or prayers, the statue of Vighnêswara, the
lands, or houses, became the property of the taber-'God of Obstacles,' is placed under the shed. In-
nacle or temple. The Pharisees, who had the stead of the image they in many cases merely set up
charge of the sacred treasury, were wont to inculcate a small cone of cow-dung, or mud, which the charms
upon the people, that as soon as any person had of the priest are supposed to transform into a god.
pronounced to his father or mother this form of con- To propitiate this deity, whose wrath is peculiarly
secration, “Be it Corban, whatever of mine shall dreaded, a sacrifice of incense, burning lamps, and
profit thee;" from that moment all that he had spo- grains of rice tinged with red, is then offered up be-
ken of in his vow became consecrated to God, and fore the statue or cone.
could not be given to his parents even to save them “Next all the married women present, widows
CORD (INVESTITURE WITH THE).
613
black.
being excluded from all scenes of this kind, as their “ The women now come again upon the scene :-
presence would be ominous of misfortune, remove · Having procured a large copper vessel, well whit-
from the assembly, and purify themselves with bath-ened over with lime, they go with it to draw water,
ing. Some then proceed to prepare the feast, while accompanied with instruments of music. Having
others return to the pandal, where, having caused the filled the vessel, they place in it perpendicularly
young Brahmachâri to sit down on a small stool, and some leaves of mango, and fasten a new cloth round
anointed him with oil, they bathe and dress him in the whole, made yellow with saffron water. On the
a new garinent. They next adorn him with several neck of the vessel, which is narrow, they put a cocoa-
trinkets, put round his neck a string of coral beads, nut stained with the same colour as the cloth. In
and bracelets of the same material on his arins. this trim they carry it into the interior of the house,
Lastly, they stain the edges of his eyelids with and set it on the floor upon a little heap of rice.
There it is still farther ornamented with women's
“The novice's father and mother now cause him trinkets, after which the necessary ceremonies are
to sit down between them, in the midst of the assem- performed to invite the god, and to fix him there.
bly, and the women perform on him the ceremony This perhaps is not the same as the god of the
of the ARATI (which see). They then chaunt in house, or rather it is the apotheosis of the vessel
chorus the praises of the gods, with prayers for the itself that is made in this case, for it actually be-
young man's happiness. A sacrifice, consisting of comes a divinity, receiving offerings of incense, ,
betel, rice, and other kinds of food, is next offered up flowers, betel, and other articles used in the sacrifices
to the household god. The feast now commences. of the Brahmins. Upon this occasion only, women
All the guests being seated in several rows, the act and perform the deification; and it appears that
women apart, and with their backs turned towards the divinity resident in the vessel is female. But
the men, the ladies of the house wait themselves | however this may be, the mother of the Brahmachâri,
upon the guests, and with their delicate fingers, taking up in her hands this new divinity, goes out
spoons and forks being unknown, serve out the rice of the house, accompanied by the other Brahmin
and other dishes. The plates are nothing but leaves women, visits the festival, preceded by musical in-
of the banana or other trees, seved together, and struments, and makes the circuit of the village,
never used a second time.
walking under a sort of canopy which is supported
“ Next day the invitations are renewed, and the over the head. Upon returning home she sets the
company assembles as before. The father of the vessel god, which she has in her hands, where it was
youth waits in person on each of his guests, bearing formerly stationed under the shed, and with the as-
in his hand a cup filled with alcshata, or stained rice, sistance of some of the other women, she fixes in
of which they take up a few of the grains, and stick honour of the god two new cloths on the pillars of
them on their foreheads as an ornament. The assem- the alcove near which it is placed.'
bly being formed, the Brahmachâri with his father “ Having accomplished this ceremony, the women,
and mother all ascend the pile of earth thrown up who are fully employed and highly amused on those
beneath the shed, and seat themselves on three little occasions, once more leave the house in search of
stools. In the mean time the young man is bathed mould from a nest of karias, or white ants.' With
in the same manner as on the former day; they deck this they fill five small earthen vases, in which they
his brows with sandal and akshata, and gird his loins sow nine sorts of grain, and moisten the whole with
with a pure cloth, that is to say a cloth not handled milk and water. These five vases are then converted
since it was washed. All these ceremonies are ac- by the mantras of the Brahmins into so many gods.
companied with the songs of the women, the same as The Pantheon being thus enriched with five new
on the preceding day.'
divinities, sacrifices of incense, rice, and betel are
“These ceremonies concluded, the priest enters, made to them, and the whole assembly bow down
bearing fire in an earthen vase, which he places upon before the vases in adoration. The manes of their
the pile. Several mantras are then recited. After ancestors are then invoked to be present at the feast.
which the father of the novice advances, and offers Then turning to the Brahmachâri, they bind on his
up a sacrifice to Fire and the Nine Planets. The arm a piece of bastard saffron with a yellow cord,
former, which is called the homa, the Brahmins alone the barber shaves his head, he is bathed, his brows
have the privilege of performing. It is simply a are crowned with a wreath of sandal leaves, and his
fire, kindled with a kind of consecrated wood, into | loins are girt with a pure cloth.
the flames of which they cast a little boiled rice, “ A feast is now given to the young Brahmins,
sprinkled with melted butter. The fire, thus con- which is immediately succeeded by the most impos-
secrated, is afterwards carried into a particular ing ceremony which takes place during the investi-
apartment of the house, and kept up day and night ture. The father of the new Brahmin, having made
with great care until the ceremony is ended. It the company retire to some distance, whilst he and
would be considered a very inauspicious event, if his son are concealed behind a curtain, sits down
for want of attention, or by any accident, it should upon the ground with his face turned towards the
happen to go out.'
west, and making his son sit down beside him with
1
614
CORDACA-CORPUS CHRISTI.
his face towards the east, he whispers a deep secret cles. He maintained, also, that a man might be a
in his ear, out of the mantras, and gives him other good Christian without attaching himself to any sect
instructions analogous to his present situation. The whatever.
whole is in a style which probably is little compre- CORNELIANS, a name given to the ancient or-
hended by the listener. Among other precepts, I thodox Christians by the Novatian party, because
am informed the father on one occasion delivered the they held communion with Cornelius, bishop of
following: 'Be mindful, my son, that there is one Rome, rather than with Novatian his antagonist.
God only, the master; sovereign, and origin of all See NOVATIANS.
things. Him ought every Brahmin in secret to CORONA CLERICALIS, the clerical crown, a
adore. But remember also, that this is one of the name given to the ancient tonsure, which was made
truths that must never be revealed to the vulgar | in a circular figure, by cutting away the hair a little
herd. If thou dost reveal it, great evil will befall from the crown of the head, and leaving a l'ound or
thee.'
circle hanging downwards. This practice, from
“In the evening, the sacred fire which had been which the clergy were sometimes called coronati or
kindled on the first day, and preserved with super crowned, was strongly condemned by many of the
stitious care, is brought forth from the house, and Fathers as being forbidden in the law of God, and
placed beside the youth under the pandal, with a heathenish ceremony derived from the Egyptian
songs and rejoicing. Mantras are recited, the women priests of Isis and Serapis. The corona was first
chaunt new songs, and the discordant sound of adopted by the Donatists and other heretics,
various instruments rends the air. Betel and pre.. from whom it gradually passed into the Christian
sents are then distributed, and the rites are con- Church, like several other profane and heathenish
cluded, though the entertainments usually continue usages. Isidore, who died A. D. 636, says, that
during two days more.”
“all clerks wore the tonsure, and had the crown of
CORDACA, a surname of ARTEMIS (which see) | their head all shaved, having only a little circle of
in Elis, derived from an indecent dance, called cor- hair round about the crown." Hence the name corona.
dax, which the companions of Pelops are said to This was one of the points of contention between
have performed in honour of the goddess after a vic- Austin and the old British clergy who refused to
tory which they had gained.
wear the tonsure. Bingham supposes that the term
CORDELIERS, monks of the order of St. Fran- coronati may have been applied to the clergy in an-
cis. They wear a coarse grey cloak, with a lit- cient tiines, not from the tonsure, but from respect
tle cowl, and a rope girdle with three knots. It is to their office and character, the word being often
from this girdle that they derive their name. They used to denote honour and dignity in a figurative
are identical with the MINORITES (which see).
See Crown.
CORDICOLES (Lat. cor, the heart, and colo, to CORONIS, a heathen goddess mentioned by Pau-
worship), a sect of Romish devotees which arose in sanias as having been worshipped at Sicyonia. She
France about the middle of the eighteenth century. had no temple erected to her, but sacrifices were of-
They professed to worship the sacred heart of Jesus fered to her in the temple of ATHENA (which see).
and the heart of Mary his virgin mother. Various CORPORAL, a fair linen cloth appointed by the
works appeared on the subject in French and Ita- canons of the Church of England to be thrown over
lian, and the sect spread rapidly in Naples, Sardinia, the consecrated elements at the celebration of the
and Spain. Hymns were composed in honour of eucharist. In the Greek church it is a square veil,
the sacred heart of Jesus, and Cordicoles abound in which the celebrant spreads over the elements, after
all Roman Catholic countries.
the reading of the gospel. On this corporal the Greeks
CORNARISTS, the followers of Theodore Coorn- lay not only the sacred elements, but also the relics
hart, an enthusiastic secretary of the states of Hol- of their saints.
land, in the end of the sixteenth and beginning of CORPUS CHRISTI (Lat. body of Christ), Fes-
the seventeenth centuries, who wrote at the same TIVAL OF, a feast held in the Romish church on the
time against Romanists, Lutherans, and Calvinists. Thursday after Trinity-Sunday, in which the conse-
He published a number of tracts in Dutch, in which crated wafer is carried about in procession in all
he assailed the doctrine of absolute decrees. AR- popish countries, for the adoration of the multitude,
MINIUS (which see), while a minister in Amsterdam, This festival was established in A. D. 1264, by Pope
being directed by the consistory to refute the writ- Urban IV., and afterwards coniirmed in A. D. 1311,
ings of Coornhart, was converted to his doctrines by by Clement V. The cause of its first establishment
the perusal of his writings, and, accordingly, de- is thus stated by Mr. Dowling, in his · History of
fended them against the reformed. Coornhart had Romanism :' “A certain fanatical woman named Ju-
some strange views, more especially in regard to the liana, declared that as often as she addressed herself
different sects into which Christians were divided. to God, or to the saints in prayer, she saw the full
He held that they were all of them deeply defective, moon with a small defect or breach in it; and that,
and that no one had a right to reform them unless having long studied to find out the signification of
he could attest the authority of his mission by mira- this strange appearance, she was inwardly informed
sense.
CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN.
615
by the Spirit, that the moon signified the church, and | tions, which having delivered, he resumed his place
that the defect or breaeh was the want of an annual in the guard of honour, by the side of the officiating
festival in honour of the holy sacrament. Few gave cardinal.” See Host (ADORATION OF THE).
attention or credit to this pretended vision, whose
CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN, a ceremony
circumstances were extremely equivocal and absurd, performed annually at Rome, in which the Pope
and which would have come to nothing, had it not himself takes a conspicuous part. An image of the
been supported by Robert, bishop of Liege, who, in Virgin Mary is arrayed in velvet or satin, adorned
the year 1246, published an order for the celebration with silver and gold, and trimmed with the most
of this festival throughout the whole province, not- costly lace. It is gorgeously decked with necklaces
withstanding the opposition he knew would be made and earrings, and bracelets of precious stones. This
to a proposal founded only on an idle dream. After image is placed at an appointed time on the altar, in
the death of Juliana, one of her friends and com- a church hung round with tapestry, and brilliantly
panions, whose name was Eve, took up her name lighted up with hundreds of candles. Immense crowds
with uncommon zeal, and had credit enough with flock to witness the cereinony, when a service is per-
Urban IV. to engage him to publish, in the year formed, after which the priests approach the image
1267, a solemn edict, by which the festival in ques- and crown it. In the course of these ceremonies the
tion was imposed upon all the Christian churches, priests burn incense before the image, bow down
without exception. Diestemus, a prior of the Bene-
Diestemus, a prior of the Bene- before it, and mutter prayers to the Virgin. Mr.
dictine monks, relates a miracle, as one cause of the Seymour, in his · Pilgrimage to Rome,'translates the
establishment of this senseless, idolatrous festival. following account of this ceremony from an Italian
He tells us that a certain priest having some doubts work published a few years ago.
of the real presence of Christ in the sacrament, “Clement VIII. gave a crown of gems to the
blood flowed from the consecrated wafer into | miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which
the cup or chalice, and also upon the corporal or they venerate in the church and patriarchal Basilica
linen cloth upon which the host and the chalice are of S. Mary the greater, (Maria Maggiore) that is, in
placed. The corporal, having been brought, all the sumptuous chapel Borghese. But the crown
bloody as it was, to Urban, the prior tells us that with which Clement VIII. crowned the fore-men-
the Pope was convinced of the miracle, and there- tioned image, and also the crowns with which it was
upon appointed the solemnity of Corpus Christi, to afterwards crowned by other Popes, liave been lost
be annually celebrated.”
through the wickedness of the times, and since then
This well-known festival is observed with great two crowns of silver adorn her image and that of her
solemnity and pomp in all Roman Catholic coun- clivine child.
tries. An American gentleman thus describes the “ The present Pope Gregory XVI. grateful for the
procession as he himself witnessed it at Rome: “I powerful patronage of the Blessed Virgin expe-
was a stranger in Rome, and recovering from the rienced in 1837, during the destructive Asiatic dis-
debility of a slight fever ; I was walking for air and ease called the cholera, resolved to present with his
gentle exercise in the Corso, on the day of the cele- own hands a geinmed crown of gold to the Most
bration of the Corpus Domini. From the houses on Holy Virgin, and also her divine infant, on that day
each side of the street were hung rich tapestries and on which paradise beheld her crowned the queen of
gold-embroidered damasks, and toward me slowly angels and of saints. To this purpose he directed
advanced a long procession, decked out with all the that, wholly at his expence, two crowns should be
heathenish paraphernalia of this self-styled church. executed in gold rich with gems, in order to offer
In a part of the procession a lofty baldichino, or them on the morning of the feast of the Assumption,
canopy, borne by men, was held above the idol, the Aug. 15, at the accustomed papal chapel.
host, before which, as it passed, all heads were un- “The pontifical altar of the said free Patriarchal
covered, and every knee bent but mine. Ignorant Basilica was prepared with pomp for so sacred an
of the customs of heathenism, I turned my back to office. The sacred picture taken from the Pauline
the procession, and close to the side of the houses in or Borghese chapel, was placed on high under the
the crowd (as I supposed unobserved), I was noting tribune. Two flights of steps handsomely adorned,
in my tablets the order of the assemblage. I was rendered on both sides the approach to the upper
suddenly aroused from iny occupation, and staggered | platform commodious, when the august ceremony
by a blow upon the head from the gun and bayonet was to be performed. Not only the whole tribune
of a soldier, which struck off my hat far into the itself, but also the apsis and a portion of the princi..
crowd. Upon recovering from the shock, the soldier, pal nave of the church, was resplendent with lights
with the expression of a demon, and his mouth pour arranged in beautiful symmetry. The chief Pontiff,
ing forth a torrent of Italian oaths, in which il dia- about the hour of 8, A.M. went with his usual train
volo had a prominent place, stood with his bayonet to the church, and celebrated privately the first
against my breast. I could make no resistance; I mass, and with his own hand distributed the eucha-
could only ask him why he struck me, and receive ristic bread to the faithful, among whom were found
in answer his fresh volley of unintelligible impreca- | persons of the highest rank. After mass he went to
:
1
616
CORRESPONDENCES (DOCTRINE OF)-CORSNED-BREAD.
97
« Let us pray.
· Let us pray:
the apartment of Cardinal Odescalchi, arch-priest, stairs at the side of the gospel, lays aside the mitre,
and gathering together the sacred college and the blesses the incense, places it in the censer, and in-
various colleges of prelates in the Society, the Holy censing three times the sacred pictures, said,
Father assumed the pontifical robes, and directed the Pope—“A golden crown upon her head.
Sedia Gestatoria with the usual procession to the Response—“The express sign of sanctity, the
chapel of St. Catherine, where he adored the most glory of honour, and the work of might.
holy sacrament exposed there. From thence he Pope—“Thou hast crowned her, O Lord.
went before the high altar, and after kneeling and Response—"And made her have dominion over
venerating the sacred picture, ascends the throne and the works of thine hands."
is seated. Then, taking off the mitre, he rises and
blesses with the prescribed rite the two crowns, “Grant, O merciful Lord, by the crowning of the
which two salvers support, borne by two clergymen mother, &c."
of the chamber, saying,
This detail cannot fail to remind the classical read-
"Under thy protection we fly, &c.
er of the ceremonies followed by the ancient Romans
“Pope-Our help is in the name of the Lord. when crowning the images of their heathen gods.
“Response— Who made heaven and earth.
See MARIOLATRY.
Pope—The Lord be with you.
CORRESPONDENCES (DOCTRINE OF), one of
“Response And with thy Spirit.
the important points which SWEDENBORG (which
see) believed himself commissioned to reveal, namely,
"Omnipotent and eternal God, by whose most that there are certain links of harmony and corre-
beneficent arrangement all things were created of spondence between the seen and the unseen worlds,
nothing, we suppliants pray thy Majesty to deign to so that every object ought to suggest to the mind of
bless, t and to sanctify + these crowns, made to man its own appropriate divine truth. The grand
adorn the sacred pictures of thy only begotten Son idea which this imaginative enthusiast appeared to
our Lord Jesus Christ, and his Mother the Most regard as the fundamental truth of his system was,
Blessed Virgin Mary, through the same Christ, &c. that matter and spirit are associated together, and .
Amen.'
connected by an eternal law. Wherever an analogy
“Then the Pope turned to his seat, placed the in- seemed to present itself, it was converted in the mind
cense in the censer, and after blessing it, arose, of Swedenborg into a predetermined correspondence.
sprinkled the crowns with holy water and incensed Thus, Mr. Vaughan, in his · Hours with the Mystics,'
them. Afterwards he descends from the throne and well describes this doctrine : “ The Divine Humanity
kneels before the altar at the kneeling-stool, chant- is at once the Lord and pattern of all creation. The
ing the Antifona, 'Queen of Heaven !' which the innumerable worlds of space are arranged after the
singers follow out with modulated voices.' The human form. The universe is a kind of constella-
chant being ended, the crowns were committed to tion Homo. Every spirit belongs to some province
the Prelates Pentini and Macioti, canons of the in Swedenborg's 'Grand Man,' and affects the cor-
church, robed in the cotta and rochetta, and acting respondent part of the human body. A spirit dwell-
as deacon and subdeacon to the Pope. Then the ing in those parts of the universe which answer to
Pontiff
, rising, took his mitre, and preceded by the the heart or the liver, makes his influx felt in the
two canons, and accompanied by two cardinal dea- cardiac or hepatic regions of Swedenborg's frame
cons assisting in Cappe rosse, and by two auditors before he becomes visible to the eye. Evil spirits,
of the Rota, also in Cappa, ascends by the stairs at again, produced their correspondent maladies on his
the Epistle side to the upper level where the sacred system, during the time of his intercourse with them.
picture was placed. They remove the mitre, and Hypocrites gave him a pain in the teeth, because
then the Pope taking the crown which was designed hypocrisy is spiritual toothache. The inhabitants
for the head of the picture of Jesus, said in the act of Mercury correspond to a province of memory in
of placing it there-
the grand man:' the Lunarians to the ensiform car-
“ As by our hands Thou art crowned on earth, so tilage at the bottom of the breast-bone. With Swe-
may we deserve to be crowned by Thee with glory denborg likeness is proximity : space and time are
and honour in the heavens.'
states of love and thought. Hence his journeys
Having then taken the other crown, he placed it from world to world ;-—-passing through states being
on the head of the picture of the Blessed Virgin, equivalent to travelling over spaces. Thus it took
and said
him ten hours to reach one planet, while at another
“As by our hands Thou art crowned on earth, he arrived in two, because a longer time was re-
so may we deserve to be crowned through Thee, by quired to approximate the state of his mind to that
Jesus Christ thy Son, with glory and honour in the of the inhabitants of the former."
heavens.'
CORRUPTICOLÆ. See APHTHARTODOCITES,
“ After the solemn crowning of the sacred images, | AGNOETÆ.
amidst the rejoicing and universal commotion of the CORSNED-BREAD, or morsel of execration, a
iinmense assemblage, the Pope descends the other species of ordeal among the Saxons. It consisted of
:
CORYBANTES-COUNCIL.
617
a piece of bread weighing about an ounce, being see), at Sparta, where a festival in her honour was
given to the accused person, after a form of exe- held. See TITHONIDIA.
cration to this effect, “We beseech thee, O Lord, COSMOGONY. See CREATION.
that whoever is guilty of this theft, when the exe- COSMUS. See ANARGYRES.
crated bread is offered to him, in order to discover COTBAT, the discourse with which the Innâm
the truth, his jaws may be shut, his throat so nar- among the Saracens was wont to commence the pub-
row that he cannot swallow, and that he may cast it lic prayers on Friday. It consisted of expressions
out of his mouth, and not eat it.” It is supposed of praise to God and to Mohammed. In ancient
that this ceremony was invented in the early ages of times the caliph, dressed in white, used to pronounce
Christianity, from a presumptuous use of the con- the Cotbat in person, a ceremony which was con-
secrated elements of communion, and that the Saxonsidered as a mark of sovereignty. This ceremony,
corsned was actually the sacramental bread. This which was generally concluded with a prayer for
species of ordeal has been asserted to be specially the caliph, fell into disuse on the extinction of the
limited to the clergy; but the sudden and fatal ap- caliphate. Mohammed was the first who introduced
peal to it by Godwin, Earl of Kent, in A. D. 1053, the custom of delivering the Cotbat.
when accused of the murder of Ælfred, the brother COTYS, or COTYTTO, a Thracian goddess who
of Edward the Confessor, is well known as one of presided over all wantonness and indecency. She
the most remarkable traditions of English history. was worshipped first among the Greeks, and after-
“ This custom,” says Sir William Blackstone, " has wards among the Romans. (See next article.)
been long since gradually abolished, though the re- COTYTTIA, a festival celebrated originally in
membrance of it still exists in certain phrases of ab- Thrace in honour of Cotys or Cotytto, the goddess
juration retained among the humbler classes of of wantonness. From Thrace it passed to Corinth
society, such as 'I will take the sacrament upon it.' and Athens, as well as other cities of Greece. It
. May this morsel be my last. ' See ORDEAL. was celebrated during the night amid dissoluteness
CORYBANTES, priests of the goddess CYBELE and debauchery of the most revolting description.
(which see) who danced at the sacrifices and beat A festival bearing the same name was celebrated in
time on cymbals. They had their residence on Sicily, but there is no evidence that it was disgraced
Mount Ida in the island of Crete, where they nour- by the observance of the licentious practices which
ished the infant Zeus. Some think that the Cory- prevailed in the Thracian festival. The priests of
bantes were the sons of CHRONOS (which see), others the goddess who presided at the festival were an-
that they were the sons of Zeus and Calliope, that ciently called BAPTÆ (which see).
they went to Samothrace, where they are said 10 COUNCIL, a term used in several passages of the
have dwelt, and to have been the same beings as New Testament, for example, Matt. v. 22; Luke
were there called CABEIRI (which see). The Cory- xxii. 66; Acts vi. 12, to denote the SANHEDRIM
bantes are alleged by some to have been nine in (which see), or supreme civil court over which the
number.
high priest presided, and which took cognizance of
CORYBANTICA, a festival and mysteries cele- | all offences which were of a somewhat important and
brated anciently at Cnossus in Crete in commemora- aggravated description. Besides the Sanhedrim, the
tion, as some say, of one Corybas, who brought up Zeus, Talmudists assert, that there were two other smaller
concealing him from his father Chronos, who wished councils, each consisting of twenty-three persons, to
to kill him. Others suppose that this festival was hear and determine in the case of minor offences.
held in honour of the CorYRANTES (see preceding These petty courts were established in every town
article), who performed the same friendly offices to or village where there were one hundred and twenty
Zeus. When any one was to be initiated into inhabitants; and if the population was smaller, a
the mysteries, he was placed upon a throne, and tribunal was set up of three judges, one chosen by
those who engaged in the ceremony formed a circle the accuser, another by the accused, and a third by
and danced around him.
both parties.
CORYDUS, a surname of APOLLO (which see), COUNCIL (ECCLESIASTICAL), an assembly of ec-
under which he was worshipped at Corone, where clesiastical persons met for the purpose of consulta-
there was a temple erected in his honour.
tion on ecclesiastical matters. The first council of
CORYPHÆA, a surname of ARTEMIS (which this kind is supposed by many writers, Protestant as
see), as the goddess who inhabited the tops of the well as Romanist, to have been that which was com-
mountains. Under this name she was worshipped posed of the apostles and elders of Jerusalem, and of
on Mount Coryphæon, near Epidaurus in Greece. which we have an account in Acts xv. From such
Zeus sometimes receives the epithet of Cory- a narrative being contained in Scripture, it has been
phæus.
sometimes argued that councils, according to this
CORYPHASIA, a surname of ATHENA (whihc model, are of Divine authority. Hence arose the
see), under which she was worshipped, and had a Romish idea of infallible councils, who accordingly
temple at Coryphasion.
adopted the prefatory language of the decree of the
CORYTHALLA, a surname of ARTEMIS (which council of Jerusalem, “ It seemed good to the Holy
I.
2x
618
COUNCILS.
Ghost and to us. But such pretensions were alto- cide disputes concerning doctrines, and to determine
gether unwarranted, and only tended to foster the the constitution, the forms of worship and the disci-
pride and arrogance of an ambitious priesthood. pline of the church; to which latter, the canons of
Such an extravagant idea as that of the divine au- these assemblies had reference."
thority of the ecclesiastical councils, which have The number of general or ecumenical councils is
from time to time met and issued decrees which reckoned variously by different churches. The or-
claimed obedience from the whole Christian world, thodox Greek church enumerates only seven, and
is opposed alike by the testimony of antiquity and refuses to acknowledge the authority of those which
the opinions of the earliest writers who refer to the followed. The first seven now referred to are as fol-
councils of the church. Tertullian speaks of the lows: The first council of Nice, A. D. 325. The first
ecclesiastical assemblies of the Greeks as purely a council of Constantinople, A. D. 381. The council
human institution; and Firmilian, bishop of Cæsa- of Ephesus, A. D. 431. The council of Chalcedon,
rea, in a letter to Cyprian, written about the middle A. D. 451. The second council of Constantinople,
of the third century, refers to such assemblies as A. D. 553. The third council of Constantinople, A. D.
nothing more than a convenient arrangement. Ec- 680. The second council of Nice, A. D. 787.
clesiastical councils had their origin among the Most of the writers of the church of Rome hold that
Greeks, who had been accustomed from the very na- there have been eighteen oecumenical and infallible
ture of their civil government to attach the utmost councils, but they differ among themselves as to what
importance to public assemblies in matters of legis- particular councils are entitled to this character.
lation in the state; and it was natural for them, | Sixtus V. caused a list of the eighteen generally re-
when the circumstances of the church required it, to cognized councils to be put up in the Vatican.
resort to such assemblies for legislation in matters These, in addition to the first seven already enumer-
which concerned the church. The first ecclesiasti-ated, consist of the following: The fourth council of
cal councils were held against the MONTANISTS Constantinople, A. D. 869. The first Lateran coun-
(which see), towards the middle of the second century, cil, A. D. 1122. The second Lateran council, A. D.
in Asia Minor and Thrace.
1139. The third Lateran council, A. D. 1179. The
COUNCILS (CONSISTORIAL), meetings of the fourth Lateran council, A. D. 1215.
The first coun-
presbyters or elders in consistory with the bishop, cil of Lyons, A.D. 1245.
cil of Lyons, A.D. 1245. The second council of
thus forming a court for ecclesiastical purposes Lyons, A. D. 1274. The council of Vienne, A. D.
corresponding to the Kirk - SESSION (which see) 1311. The council of Florence, A.D. 1439. The
of modern times. These courts belonged to in- fifth Lateran council, A.D. 1512. The council of
dividual churches. Thus when Synesius, bishop of Trent, A. D. 1545
Ptolemais, proceeded against Andronicus, the impious The French divines in general maintain that the
and blaspheming prefect of Pentapolis, he summoned councils of Pisa A. D. 1400, Constance A. D. 1414,
a meeting of the consistory of his own church, which and Basle A. D. 1431, were also æcumenical, while
solemnly excommunicated Andronicus, and in his the Italian clergy deny this, and ascribe, instead of
account of the matter, Synesius says, “The church | these, infallibility to the councils of Lyons, Flor-
of Ptolemais gave notice of this excommunication ence, and the fifth Lateran. The Popes have
to all her sister churches throughout the world, re- never given any formal decision on this disputed
quiring them to hold Andronicus excommunicated, point; so that it is still doubtful whether the
and not to despise her act as being only that of a Church of Rome acknowledges the eighteen in-
poor church in a small city."
fallible councils according to the French or the Ita-
COUNCILS (GENERAL), or ECUMENICAL, as- lian list. The Protestant churches are unanimous in
semblies which have been supposed to represent the rejecting the authority of all these councils, and the
whole body of the Christian church. “ Men being twenty-first article of the Church of England declares
accustomed already," says Neander, “to regard the that such councils may err, and sometimes have
provincial synods as the highest legislative and judi-erred, and that things ordained by them as necessary
cial tribunals for the churches of the several pro- to salvation, “have neither strength nor authority
vinces, it was natural, when disputes arose which unless it may be declared that they be taken out of
occupied the largest portion of the Christendom of Holy Scripture.”
the Roman empire, that the thought should occur of The eighteen general or æcumenical councils may
forming, after some analogous manner, a like tribu- be divided into two classes, the Eastern and the
nal for the Christendom of the whole Roman em- Western, the former consisting of eight, all of which
pire; and this was soon transferred, generally, to were called by the Emperors, and the latter consist-
the entire church universal. The provincial synods ing of ten, all of which were called by the Popes.
then being customarily regarded as organs of the The history of the whole of these councils, both
Holy Spirit for the guidance of the churches of a Eastern and Western, reveals scenes of carnal strife
certain district, this idea was applied to the rela- and party passion, which have too often been unfa-
tion of universal councils to the whole church. / vourable, rather than otherwise, to the cause of true
These universal councils had a two-fold aim; to de- | Christianity. Gregory Nazianzen expresses him-
COUNCILS—COURT OF HIGH COMMISSION.
619
war,
self with great plainness in speaking of his own ex- bances on account of the Albigenses; a crusade was
perience of all such councils. “I am so constituted,” formed on this account, and an army sent to extir-
he says, “that, to speak the truth, I dread every as- pate them. Innocent III. spirited up this barbarous
sembly of bishops; for I have never yet seen a good Dominic was the apostle, the count of Tou-
end of any one,-never been at a synod which did louse the victim, and Simon, count of Montfort, the
more for the suppression than it did for the increase conductor or chief. The council of Paris in 1210, in
of evils;
for an indescribable thirst for contention which Aristotle's metaphysics was condemned to
and for rule prevails in them, and a man will be far the flames, lest the refinements of that philosopher
more likely to draw upon himself the reproach of should have a bad tendency on men's minds, by ap-
wishing to set hiniself up as a judge of other men's plying those subjects to religion. The council of
wickedness, than he will be to succeed in any at-Pisa, begun March the 20, 1409, in which Benedict
tempts of his to remove it.” Some of them, accord- XIII. and Gregory XII. were deposed. Another
ing to the testimony of eye-witnesses, resembled a council, sometimes called general, held at Pisa, in
disorderly rabble, more than an assembly of grave
1505. Louis XII. of France, assembled a national
and learned divines. At best they were a collection council at Tours (being highly disgusted with the
of frail, fallible mortals, whose passions were often Pope,) 1510, where was present the cardinal De
stronger than their judgment, and therefore their Gurce, deputed by the emperor; and it was then
decisions must be received with the utmost caution, agreed to convene a general council at Pisa.
and only adopted in so far as they are in accordance COUNCILS (PROVINCIAL), assemblies of the
with the Word of God, which by every enlightened bishops and presbyters of all the churches in a pro-
Protestant is regarded as the only infallible rule of vince, corresponding to the PRESBYTERY (which
faith and obedience. See INFALLIBILITY (Doc- see) of modern times. Several Romish writers deny
TRINE OF).
that presbyters were allowed a seat in these councils.
COUNCILS (OCCASIONAL), ecclesiastical assem- Bellarmine only goes so far as to deny them a deci-
blies convened for special purposes in a particular sive voice in such assemblies. But all unprejudiced
locality or district, but making no pretensions to re- writers, both Protestant and Romish, agree, that even
present the whole Christian church. Such councils from the first origin of such councils presbyters had
have been very numerous. A few of the most impor- liberty to sit and deliberate with bishops in all ec-
tant may be noticed. At Aix-la-Chapelle, A. D. 816, a
clesiastical matters referring to the province.
council was held for regulating the canons of cathe- COUNSELS (EVANGELICAL). See EVANGELI-
dral churches. The council of Savonnieries, in 859, CAL COUNSELS.
was the first which gave the title of Most Christian COUNTRY BISHOPS. See CHOREPISCOPI.
King to the king of France; but it did not become COURSES OF PRIESTS. See PRIESTS.
the peculiar appellation of that sovereign till 1469. COURT OF THE TABERNACLE. See TA-
The council of Troyes, in 887, decides the disputes
about the imperial dignity. The second council of COURTS OF THE TEMPLE. See TEMPLE.
Troyes, 1107, restrains the clergy from marrying. COURTS (ROMISH).
See CONGREGATIONS
The council of Clermont, in 1095. The first cru- (ROMISH).
sade was determined in this council. The bishops COURT OF HIGH COMMISSION. This court
had yet the precedency of cardinals. In this assem-
took its rise from a remarkable clause in the Act of
bly the name of Pope was for the first time given to Supremacy, passed in 1558-59, by which Queen
the head of the church, exclusively of the bishops, Elizabeth and her successors were “empowered to
who used to assume that title. Here, also, Hugh, choose persons to exercise under her all manner of
archbishop of Lyons, obtained of the Pope a confir- jurisdiction, privileges, and pre-eminences, touching
mation of the primacy of his see over that of Sens. | any spiritual or ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the
The council of Rheims, summoned by Eugenius III. realms of England and Ireland; as also to visit, reform,
in 1148, in which patrons of churches are prohibited redress, order, correct, and amend all errors, heresies,
from taking more than ancient fees, upon pain of de- schisms, abuses, contempts, offences, enormities,
privation and ecclesiastical burial. Bishops, deacons, whatsoever; provided, that they have no power to
sub-deacons, monks, and nuns, are restrained from determine anything to be heresy but what has been
marrying. In this council the doctrine of the Tri- | adjudged to be so by the authority of the canonical
nity was decided; but upon separation the Pope Scripture, or by the first four general councils,
called a congregation, in which the cardinals pre- or any of them, or by any other general council,
tended they had no right to judge of doctrinal points; wherein the same was declared heresy by the ex-
that this was the privilege peculiar to the Pope. The press and plain words of canonical Scripture, or such
council of Sutrium, in 1046, wherein three Popes as shall hereafter be declared to be heresy by the
who had assumed the chair were deposed. The
The High Court of Parliament, with the assent of the
| council of Clarendon in England, against Becket, clergy in convocation.” In conformity with this
held in 1164. The council of Lombez, in the coun- clause, the Queen appointed a certain number of
try of Albigeois, in 1200, occasioned by some distur- commissioners for ecclesiastical causes. The court
BERNACLE.
620
COURTS (CHURCH).
thus formed was called the High Commission Court, | cles, all who kept meetings at fasts, and the sacra-
because it claimed a more extensive jurisdiction and ment of the Lord's Supper, and all who write, speak,
higher powers than the ordinary Courts of the preach or print against Prelacy. They were em-
Bishops. Its jurisdiction, in fact, reached over the powered to inflict censures of suspension and depo-
whole kingdom. These commissioners were em- sition; to levy fines and imprison; to employ magis-
powered to make inquiry, not only by the legal me- trates and military force for the apprehension of their
thods of juries and witnesses, but by all other ways victims; and finally, to do and execute what they
and means which they could devise, that is, by rack, shall find necessary and convenient for his Majesty's
torture, inquisition, and imprisonment. They were service. “The proceedings of the Court of High
vested with a right to examine such persons as they Commission," says Dr. Hetherington, “were such as
suspected, by administering to them an oath, by were to be expected from its spirit and construction.
which they were obliged to answer all questions, and It at once assumed the power of both the swords,
thereby might be obliged to accuse themselves or and acted equally as an ecclesiastical and as a civil
their most intimate friends. The fines they imposed court. Holding the most intimate intercourse with
were merely discretionary; the imprisonment to the curates, who formed an organized espionage co-
which they condemned was limited by no rule but extensive with the nation, the Court of High Com-
their own pleasure; they imposed when they thought mission obtained information respecting every sincere
proper new articles of faith on the clergy, and prac- Presbyterian throughout the kingdom, summoned
tised all the iniquities and cruelties of a real inqui- every one whom it was their pleasure to oppress,
sition. This court suspended and deprived minis- and, without the formalities of citing witnesses and
ters of their livings, by the canon law, on the solemn hearing evidence, either passed sentence upon the
determination of three commissioners.
bare accusation, or required the oath of supremacy
The appointment of Courts of High Commission to be taken, and, upon its being refused, inflicted
was not limited to the reign of Elizabeth; we find whatever sentence they thought proper, short of
James instituting such courts in Scotland when he death. Some were reduced to utter poverty by
was endeavouring to introduce Prelacy into that part fines; some were imprisoned till they contracted fatal
of his kingdom. In 1610 a commission was given diseases; some were banished to the remotest and
under the great seal to the two archbishops of St. most unhealthy and inhospitable parts of the king-
Andrews and Glasgow, to hold two Courts of High dom; and some were actually sold for slaves. Of
Commission, which were afterwards united in 1615. the great numbers summoned to appear before this
Dr. Hetherington, in his History of the Church of terrible court of inquisition, not one is recorded to
Scotland, thus describes the nature of courts of this have escaped without suffering punishment, and often
kind: “Never was a more tyrannical court instituted to an extreme degree of severity."
than that of High Commission. It was regulated COURTS (CHURCH), a term used in Presbyterian
by no fixed laws or forms of justice, and was armed churches to denote the various ecclesiastical courts
with the united 'terrors of civil and ecclesiastical composed of ministers and elders, in which all mat-
despotism. It had the power of receiving appeals ters affecting the doctrines, government, and disci-
from
any ecclesiastical judicatory; of calling before pline of the church are duly considered. These
it all persons accused of immorality, heresy, sedition, courts consist of kirk-sessions, presbyteries, synods,
or any imaginary offence; of finding them guilty and the General Assembly, which form a regular
upon evidence which no court of justice would have gradation from the inferior up to the supreme court,
sustained ; and of inflicting any punishment, either where all matters purely ecclesiastical take end.
civil or ecclesiastical, or both, which it thought pro- The lowest court or kirk-session takes cognizance of
per.
· As it exalted the bishops far above any pre- persons and matters within its bounds; but there is
late that ever was in Scotland, so it put the King in a right of appeal from its decision to the next higher
possession of what he had long desired, namely, the court, the presbytery, then to the synod, and last of
royal prerogative and absolute power to use the all to the General Assembly, from whose decisions,
bodies and goods of his subjects at his pleasure, unless affecting temporal interests, there is no ap-
without form or process of law: so that our bishops peal. The Church of Scotland,
The Church of Scotland, in common with all
were fit instruments of the overthrow of the freedom Presbyterian churches, claims the right of meeting in
and liberty both of the Church and realm of Scot- all its courts, by its own appointment; but it also
land.'
recognizes the right of the supreme magistrate to
A High Commission Court was re-erected in Scot- call synods, and to be present at them. This latter
land on the 16th January 1664, and was, if possible, right is denied by those Presbyterian bodies who
more arbitrary in its proceedings than its predecessor hold the Voluntary principle. Only two instances
had been. This court consisted of nine prelates and are on record in which the Lord High Commissioner,
thirty-five laymen, five being a quorum, of which one in opposition to the mind of the judicatory, dissolved
must be a prelate. They were empowered to summon the Assembly without fixing a time for the meeting
before them, and to punish, all the deposed ministers of another; and on both these occasions the Assem-
who presumed to preach, all who attended conventi- | bly continued its sittings, and by its own intrinsic
COURTS-COVENANTS.
621
power appointed the day when the next Assembly | ham are recorded in the xii. and xiii. chapters of the
should be held.
book of Genesis, they are not termed a covenant, till
COURTS (SPIRITUAL), those courts belonging an account is given in chap. xv. of their being rati-
to the Church of England to which the considera- fied by sacrifices. This solemn mode of confirmation
tion of ecclesiastical matters belongs. For a long prefigured the great sacrifice of the Son of God, in
period the court for ecclesiastical and temporal mat- | right of whom Abraham and his seed were to inherit
ters was one and the same. It was called the county the blessing. It is easy to see how promises made
court, where the bishop and the earl, or, in his ab- in behalf of sinful and polluted men, came to be con-
sence, the sheriffs or their representatives, sat jointly | firmed by means of a sacrifice ; for as it is by means of
for the administration of justice—the first in matters an atonement that guilt is purged away, and that
ecclesiastical by the laws of the church—the second sinners, as thus purified from it, have access into
in matters temporal by the laws of the state. In the presence and family of God; so it was proper,
the days of William the Conqueror, however, a se- that whatever promises of blessing were made to
paration took place between the temporal and the such, should be ratified in a way which should ex-
spiritual jurisdictions, and ecclesiastical courts were hibit the great means by which purification from sin
set up, to which all ecclesiastical matters were re- and reconciliation to God should be effected. To
ferred. These courts have continued down to the this mode of confirming the covenant there is a re-
present day, and are six in number, namely, the ference in Jer. xxxiv. 18, 19, where God denounces
Archdeacon's Court, the Consistory courts, the Pre- a curse on the different classes in Judah and Jeru-
rogative and the Arches Court; the Court of Pecu- salem ; who, on a particular occasion, had made a
liars, and the Court of Delegates. For an account of covenant before him, in regard to their servants, by
the different courts, see articles under the words cutting a calf in twain, and passing between the
here marked in italics. But though still in exis- parts of it, as a ratification of the promised liberty of
tence, these courts are far from having the ex- their enslaved brethren. In allusion to this charac-
tent of authority which they could formerly claim, ter of our Lord as a purifier, the redeemed are re-
the law of Henry VII. for the punishment of presented as arrayed in robes made white in the
priests having been superseded by an “ Act for bet- blood of the Lamb, Rev. vii. 14. Now, garments
ter enforcing church discipline," passed in the reign cannot literally be made white by being washed in
of the present Queen.
blood; but sins being represented as the pollution
COVENANTS, a term which in ordinary lan- of the soul, and so excluding men as spiritually de-
guage is identical with CONTRACTS (which see), and filed from the presence of God, it is easy to see how
which have been wont to be ratified in a variety of that state of acceptance into which men are brought,
different ways. The word occurs very frequently in through the application of the atonement of Christ,
Sacred Scripture, both in the Old and New Testa- is signified by their appearing in robes made white
ments. Dr. Russell, in his able work on the Old | by being washed in his blood.
and New Covenants,' makes some judicious remarks “When men saw that God confirmed his promise
on the original meaning of the term: “The word, by a sacrifice, they learned to confirm their own
which in the Old Testament Scriptures is rendered engagements by the same means, though not with
covenant, is accordingly derived from a root, which the same views. The custom appears to have arisen
signifies to purify, and hence it is sometimes used to from regard to the great sacrifice, which was to re-
signify soap, Jer. ii. 22; Mal. iii. 2. The word it-deem mankind ; and those who in this way symboli-
self, which is rendered covenant, signifies a purifier, cally confirmed their engagements, would be consi-
a purification, or a purification sacrifice; and the dered as having staked their hope of salvation,
phrase for making a covenant, literally signifies to through the great sacrifice, on their faithful fulfil-
cut a purifier, or to cut off a purifying victim. The ment. Now, as the engagements of men were gen-
ancient manner of confirming a covenant, was by erally mutual stipulations between the parties con-
the slaying of an animal in sacrifice, and then di- cerned, the word covenant came to denote a mutual
viding it into pieces, between which the party mak-compact so ratified, and, at last, whether thus rati.
ing the engagement or promise, solemnly passed. fied or not. But when applied to God, it denotes
After Abraham had divided certain victims, God, nothing of this kind, but, as has just been stated,
under the syinbol of a burning lamp, passed between his own free and gracious promises iu behalf of the
the pieces; and thus, ' In that same day, the Lord guilty and unworthy, ratified by a sacrifice; or else
made a covenant with Abraham, saying, unto thy a gracious constitution of things, or an institution,
seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt or a system of institutions, founded upon and illus-
unto the great river, the river Euphrates.' Gen. xv. trative of his promises."
7–18. This was by no means a covenant of mutual In accordance with this extensive view of the word
stipulation, but of free promise on the part of the covenant, it may be applied to all the various dispen-
Almighty alone ; and, therefore, the Divine glory sations under which, in the course of ages, God was
alone passed between the pieces. It deserves our pleased to reveal to men his plan of mercy through
attention, that though many of the promises to Abra- à Redeemer. In this view we can with propriety
622
COVENANT.
speak of the covenant as revealed to our first parents, the evangel of Christ and his congregation, ought,
and then to Noah; of the covenant established with according to our bounden duty, to strive in our Mas-
Abraham, and afterwards with Israel at Sinai; last ter's cause, even unto the death, being certain of the
of all we can speak of the covenant ratified by victory in Him: the which, our duty being well con-
Christ. But the Bible sets before us two primary sidered, we do promise before the Majesty of God
covenants or dispensations, which it terms the first and his congregation, That we, by his grace, shall
and the second, or the Old and the New. The one with all diligence continually apply our whole power,
had a reference to the Jewish nation only; the other substance, and our very lives, to maintain, set for-
to believers of all ages and nations. The one was ward, and establish the most blessed Word of God,
a typical, the other an antitypical covenant. The and his congregation ; and shall labour at our possi-
one was temporary, the other eternal.
The one
bility to have faithful ministers, purely and truly to
could only secure an earthly, the other a heavenly minister Christ's evangel and sacraments to his peo-
inheritance.
ple. We shall maintain them, nourish them, and
Systematic divines are accustomed to speak of defend them, the whole congregation of Christ, and
two covenants as referred to in the Word of God, every member thereof, at our whole powers and
the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. wairing [expending] of our lives against Satan and
The former denotes the federal transaction between all wicked power that does intend tyranny and trou-
God and Adam, in which he promised eternal life ble against the foresaid congregation. Unto the
to our first parents upon the condition of obedience, which holy word and congregation we do join us;
not only to the moral law written on their heart, but and also do renounce and forsake the congregation
to the positive precept respecting the tree of of Satan, with all the superstitions, abominations,
knowledge. This agreement is also termed the and idolatry thereof. And moreover shall declare
covenant of nature, because it was entered into with ourselves manifestly enemies thereto, by this our
man while he was in his natural state of innocence; faithful promise before God, testified to his congre-
and also the covenant of life, because life was pro- gation, by our subscription at these presents. At
mised as the reward of obedience. The covenant of Edinburgh the third day of December 1557 years.
grace, on the other hand, which is fitly so termed, God called to witness. ? » This bond or covenant
as bestowing its reward not upon him who works, was soleinnly sworn to and subscribed by the lords
but upon him who believes, denotes the agreement and chief gentry who were devoted to the reformed
relative to the salvation of sinners into which God interests, and who, from the frequent recurrence of
the Father entered with Christ the Son, from all the word congregation in the document, received the
eternity, in behalf of his elect people. The condi- name of the Lords of the Congregation, and their
tions of the covenant were fulfilled by Christ, and followers were called the Congregation.
all the promises and blessings of the covenant are COVENANT (THE SECOND), another bond sub-
imparted in the first instance to Christ, and then to scribed by the Lords of the Congregation in Scot-
his people in Him.
land a short time after the above. It was sub-
The covenant of grace has been administered by scribed on the 31st of May 1559, in the name of the
Christ under two distinct economies, the one before, whole congregation, pledging them to mutual sup-
and the other after, the coming of Christ. The great port and defence in the cause of religion, or any
design in both cases is to impart its benefits to those cause dependent thereupon, by whatsoever pretext it
for whom they were intended; and this design is ac- might be concealed.
complished by the preaching of the gospel, in which COVENANT (THE FIRST NATIONAL, or Scot-
salvation is offered to sinners; and by the power of the LAND), the name given to a Confession of Faith
Spirit, who works faith in the hearts of those who were drawn up by John Craig, one of the ministers of
chosen in Christ to eternal life. It is only by faith Edinburgh at the Reformation. It forms the first
that we can obtain an interest in the covenant, and part of every subsequent national covenant entered
hence the solemn declaration, “He that believeth into by the Church and people of Scotland. The
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be occasion of its being framed and subscribed at this
damned." All that were descended from Adam are time, was the jealousy entertained by the nation of
involved in the covenant made with him; and all the Duke of Lennox and other nobles, who either
who are born in Christ are involved in the covenant openly avowed their adherence to the Church of
made with Him.
Rome, or were suspected of attachment to the Rom-
COVENANT (THE FIrst), subscribed at Edin- ish creed. This covenant was subscribed by the
burgh on the 3d of December 1557, by the ad- king himself, his household, and the greater part of
herents of the Reformation in Scotland, binding the nobility and gentry throughout the kingdom. It
them to mutual support of each other and of the was ratified by the General Assembly, and the sign-
gospel. This covenant, which we give in its entire ing of it zealously promoted by the ministers in
form, runs in these words : “We, perceiving how every part of the country. The National Covenant
Satan, in his members the antichrists of our time, was renewed in 1638, with an addition drawn up by
cruelly doth rage, seeking to downthrow and destroy | Johnston of Warriston, which contained the Acts of
COVENANT (THE SOLEMN LEAGUE AND).
623
Parliament condemning Popery, and confirming and I whom they were about to vow allegiance; and
ratifying the acts of the General Assembly. The bowed their souls before Him, in the breathless awe
latter part of the document, which was the produc-of silent spiritual adoration.
tion of Henderson, contained a special application of “Rothes at length, with subdued tone, broke the
the whole to present circumstances. From the silence, stating, that if any had still objections to
subscription of this covenant arose the name of Cove- offer, they should repair, if from the south or west
nanters.
parts of the kingdom to the west door of the church,
The following graphic account of the subscrib- where their doubts would be heard and resolved by
ing of this covenant is given by Dr. Hethering- | Loudon and Dickson; if from the north and east, to
ton in his History of the Church of Scotland: “At the east door, where the same would be done by
length the important day, the 28th of February, | Henderson and himself.
Henderson and himself. “Few came, proposed but
dawned, in which Scotland was to resume her solemn few doubts, and these were soon resolved.' Again a
covenant union with her God. All were fully aware, deep and solemn pause ensued; not the pause of ir-
that on the great transaction of this day, and on the resolution, but of modest diffidence, each thinking
blessing of God upon it, would depend the welfare or every other more worthy than himself to place the
the wo of the Church and kingdom for generations first name upon this sacred bond. An aged noble-
to come. By daybreak all the commissioners were man, the venerable Earl of Sutherland, at last step-
met; and the Covenant being now written out, it ped slowly and reverentially forward, and with
was read over, and its leading propositions deliber- throbbing heart and trembling hand subscribed Scot-
ately examined, all being invited to express their land's Covenant with God. All hesitation in a mo-
opinions freely, and every objection patiently heard ment disappeared.
ment disappeared. Name followed name in swift
and answered. From time to time there appeared succession, till all within the Church had given their
some slightly-doubtful symptoms, indicative of pos- signatures. It was then removed into the church-
sible disunion; but these gradually gave way before the yard, and spread out on a level grave-stone, to obtain
rising tide of sacred emotion with which almost every the subscription of the assembled multitude. Here
heart was heaving. Finally, it was agreed that all the scene became, if possible, still more impressive.
the commissioners who were in town, with as many The intense emotions of many became irrepressible.
of their friends as could attend, should meet at the Some wept aloud; some burst into a shout of exulta-
Greyfriars Church in the afternoon, to sign the bond tion; some after their names added the words till
of union with each other, and of covenant with God. death; and some, opening a vein, subscribed with
“As the hour drew near", people from all quarters | their own warm blood. As the space became filled,
flocked to the spot; and before the commissioners they wrote their names in a contracted form, limit-
appeared, the church and churchyard were densely ing them at last to the initial letters, till not a spot
filled with the gravest, the wisest, and the best of remained on which another letter could be inscribed.
Scotland's pious sons and daughters. With the hour There was another pause. The nation had framed a
approached the men : Rothes, Loudon, Henderson, Covenant in former days, and had violated its en-
Dickson, and Johnston appeared, bearing a copy of gagements : hence the calamities in which it had
the Covenant ready for signature. The meeting was been and was involved. If they too should break
then constituted by Henderson, in a prayer of very this sacred bond, how deep would be their guilt !
remarkable power, earnestness, and spirituality of Such seem to have been their thoughts during this
tone and feeling. The dense multitude listened with period of silent communing with their own hearts ;
breathless reverence and awe, as if each man felt for, as if moved by one spirit,---and doubtless they
himself alone in the presence of the Hearer of prayer. were moved by the One Eternal Spirit,—with low
When he concluded, the Earl of Loudon stood forth, heart-wrung groans, and faces bathed in tears, they
addressed the meeting, and stated, explained, and lifted up their right hands to heaven, avowing, by
vindicated the object for which they were assembled. this sublime appeal, that they had now 'joined them-
He very judiciously directed their attention to the selves to the Lord in an everlasting Covenant, that
covenants of other days, when their venerated fathers shall not be forgotten.'” This covenant was re-
had publicly joined themselves to the Lord, and had | newed by the COVENANTERS (which see) at Lanark
obtained support under their trials, and deliverance in 1666.
from every danger; pointed out the similarity of COVENANT (THE SOLEMN LEAGUE AND), one
their position, and the consequent propriety and duty of the most important documents connected with the
of fleeing to the same high tower of Almighty religious history of Scotland. It was framed as a
strength; and concluded by an appeal to the Searcher bond of union between England, Ireland, and Scot-
of hearts, that nothing disloyal or treasonable was land. The first intention of some of the English at
meant. Johnston then unrolled the vast sheet of | least was to form a civil league between the two
parchment, and in a clear and steady voice read the kingdoms of England and Scotland, but after due
Covenant aloud. He finished, and stood silent. A consideration it was resolved that there should be
solemn stillness followed, deep, unbroken, sacred. , also a religious union between the three kingdoms,
Men felt the near presence of that drcad Majesty to | cemented by their entering into a Solemn League
624
COVENANT (THE SOLEMN LEAGUE AND).
and Covenant. A draught of the document was posterity in obligations of a moral character addi
drawn up by Alexander Henderson, one of the most tional to those which God hath imposed upon ali
eminent ministers of the time, which, after a few Christians of all ages and nations. Dr. M‘Crie,
unimportant amendments, was adopted by all parties however, who seems to hold the perpetual obliga-
concerned, at a meeting in the Scottish capital. On tion of the covenants, alleges, in opposition to such
the 25th of September 1643, both Houses of Parlia- scruples as we have now referred to, that “the Sol-
ment, with the Assembly of Divines, and the Scot- emn League, as well as the National Covenant of
tish Commissioners, assembled in St. Margaret's Scotland, were properly national and public deeds,
Church, Westminster, to take this important Cove- binding, indeed, to the external support of a certain
nant into serious consideration. Divine service profession of religion, but not necessarily implying
having been performed, the Solemn League was read, spiritual qualifications in those who entered into
article by article, from a parchment roll
, the whole them. Vowing is, in its own nature, not a religious
assembly standing uncovered, and swearing to it with but a moral duty, competent to nations as well as in-
their hands lifted up to heaven. The document dividuals; and our covenants may be vindicated on
being thus adopted by the English Parliament, was the same principle as the oaths which Britain still
retransmitted to Scotland, with orders that it should considers herself entitled to exact from those who
be subscribed throughout the kingdom.
hold the highest official stations in the country.”
The Solemn League and Covenant was framed To all this it is usually replied, that the vows or
with the view of accomplishing several most import- covenants into which nations may enter, are quite
ant objects affecting deeply the interests of the competent for them in the existing circumstances, but
church and the nation. These objects are thus no possible state of circumstances can be of so uni-
briefly summed up by Dr. M'Crie : “ In this versal a character as to require a covenant which
Covenant our fathers bound themselves and their would be of universal obligation. Should the cove-
posterity, first, To endeavour the preservation of the nant be of so general a nature as to apply to the na-
Reformed religion in the Church of Scotland, the tion in every succeeding age, and under every variety
reformation of religion in England and Ireland, 'ac- of circumstances, even then its obligation does not
cording to the Word of God and the example of the arise from the fact of its being the covenant of this
best
. Reformed Churches, and the bringing of the nation, but because it embodies principles which are
three Churches to the nearest possible conjunction binding upon all nations and in all circumstances.
and uniformity in religion ; secondly, To the extirpa- Charles I. was earnestly pressed by the Scottish
tion of Popery and Prelacy; thirdly, To the preser- commissioners to subscribe the Solemn League, but
vation of the rights of Parliament, of the liberties of to all their entreaties, even on their bended knees,
the kingdoms, and of his majesty's person and au- he lent a deaf ear, alleging that he was bound by his
thority; and, lastly, they pledge themselves to per- coronation oath to defend the prelacy and the cere-
sonal reformation, and a holy life.”
monies of the English church, and that rather than
The great body of the people of all ranks entered wrong his conscience by violating that oath, he
with their whole heart into this solemn pledge, and would forfeit his crown and his life. In 1650, how-
thus the three kingdoms bound themselves to main- ever, Charles II. declared his approbat on both of
tain the holy cause of the Reformation against all this and the National Covenant by a solemn oath ;
who might oppose it: “There can be no doubt," says and in the course of the same year he made a fur-
Dr. Hetherington, “in the mind of any intelligent ther declaration to the same purpose at Dunferm-
and thoughtful man, that on it mainly rests under line, renewing it in the following year at Scone.
Providence the noble structure of the British Con- Throughout the whole of these transactions Charles
stitution. But for it, so far as man may judge, these was wholly hypocritical and insincere, being actuated
kingdoms would have been placed beneath the dead by no other motive than a desire to secure at all
ening bondage of absolute despotism; and in the fate hazards the support of the Scottish Presbyterians.
of Britain the liberty and civilization of the world Accordingly, before this unprincipled monarch landed
would have sustained a fatal paralyzing shock." from Holland, he agreed to swear and subscribe the
Whatever may be thought of this strong view of the Covenant, and yet the discovery was afterwards
subject, there can be little diversity of opinion as to made that while on the Continent he had embraced
the peculiar importance and suitableness of such a Popery, the only religion in which he could be said
transaction at the critical period in which it took to have continued till his death. Profligate and
place. Great principles were embodied in the Sol- faithless, he had no regard for obligations of any
emn League and Covenant, which no nation nor kind, but much less those which were connected
even a single individual could subscribe without in- with sacred things. When he had succeeded in
volving himself in very solemn responsibilities. But 1662 in thrusting Episcopacy upon the Scottish peo-
it is a question on which serious doubts are enter- ple, the Parliament of Scotland passed a declaration
tained by many sincere Christians, whether in any which was ordered to be subscribed by all persons in
human transaction the generation existing at any public trust, and which was to the following effect :
period of a nation's history can possibly involve their “ I do sincerely affirm and declare that I judge it
COVENANTERS.
625
unlawful for subjects, under pretext of reformation, received the name of “the King's Confession."
or any other pretext whatsoever, to enter into | Having thus been signed by the king, it was cheer-
Leagues and Covenants, or to take up arms against fully and extensively subscribed by persons of all
the king, or those commissioned by him, and all those ranks throughout the kingdom. Those who ap-
gatherings, petitions, &c., that were used in the be- pended their subscriptions to this important deed
ginning, and carrying on of the late troubles, were swore to adhere to and defend the Reformed doc-
unlawful and seditious. And particularly, that these trine and discipline of the Reformed Church of Scot-
oaths, whereof the one was commonly called the land. .
National Covenant (as it was sworn and subscribed In consequence of a visible and lamentable declen-
in the year 1638, and thereafter), and the other en- sion of piety in the church and country, it was
titled a Solemn League and Covenant, were and are agreed to in the General Assembly, that there should
in themselves unlawful oaths, and that there lieth no be a public renewal of the National Covenant. This
obligation upon me, or any of the subjects, from the accordingly took place at Edinburgh, on Tuesday,
said oaths, to endeavour any alteration of the gov- 30th March, 1596. The transaction is thus briefly
ernment in Church or State, as it is now established described by Dr. M'Crie: “On this solemn occasion
by the laws of the kingdom. Not only were the Davidson, who was chosen to preside, preached so
Covenants thus required to be formally renounced, much to the conviction of his hearers, and, in their
but they were torn in pieces at the Cross of Edin- name, offered up a confession of their sins to heaven
burgh by the public hangman. Some other provin- with such sincere and fervent emotion, that the
cial towns exceeded the capital in showing indignity whole assembled ministers melted into tears before
to these sacred bonds. Thus in the town of Linlith- him; and rising from their seats at his desire, and
gow, on the 29th May 1662, being the anniversary lifting up their right hands, they renewed their cove-
of the king's restoration, and ordered to be kept as nant with God, 'protesting to walk more warily in
a public holiday, the following event occurred which their ways, and to be more diligent in their charges.'
we narrate in the graphic language of the younger This scene, which continued during three hours, was
M'Crie: “After divine service the streets were filled deeply affecting beyond any thing that the oldest
with bonfires, and the fountain in the centre of the person present had ever witnessed. As the greater
town was made to flow with wine. At the Cross part of the ministers were not present to join in the
was erected an arch upon four pillars, on one side of sacred action, the Assembly ordained that it should
which appeared the figure of an old hag with the be repeated in the different synods and presbyteries,
Covenant in her hand, and the inscription, "A glori- and afterwards extended to congregations; and the
ous Reformation. On the top was another figure ordinance was obeyed with an alacrity and fervour
representing the devil, with this label in his mouth, which spread from presbytery to presbytery, and
Stard to the cause.' On the king's health being from parish to parish, till all Scotland, like Judah of
drunk, fire was applied to the frame, and the whole old, rejoiced at the oath.'"
was reduced to ashes, amidst the shouts of a mob It was quite plain, that, however plausibly the
inflamed with liquor. This solemn burning of the king had acted for some time, his principles were
Covenants was got up by the provost and minister widely opposed to those of the conscientious Presby-
of the place, both of whom had been Covenanters. terians of Scotland. At heart he was a warm Epis-
By the more respectable class of the inhabitants it copalian, and resolved to embrace the earliest oppor-
was witnessed with grief and horror, as a profane tunity of supplanting Presbytery by Prelacy. And
and daring affront offered to the God of heaven." yet strenuously though he aimed at the accomplish-
COVENANTERS, a term used to describe those ment of his favourite design, his plans were for a
who adhered to the National Covenant of Scotland, long time incessantly thwarted. At length having
which was framed in 1581. This solemn deed was succeeded to the throne of England, on the death of
an abjuration of Popery, and a solemn engagement Elizabeth in 1603, he set himself with redoubled
to support the Protestant religion. It originated in ardour to the task of reducing the Church of Scot-
a very general, and not altogether unfounded impres- land to the model of the English church. Before
sion which prevailed at the time, and for a consi- leaving his northem dominions, he had succeeded in
derable period afterwards, that Popery might be again establishing bishops, but he had found a difficulty
introduced into the country. Attempts were well in reconciling the church to these dignitaries, and he
known to have been made to persuade the then had not even procured a recognition of them by the
reigning monarch, James VI., to embrace the Roman Supreme Ecclesiastical Court. Enraged at the con-
Catholic faith. This was an object which the Pope stant opposition to his royal will, he had prorogued
had all the more warmly at heart, as the young king and altered the time of Assemblies at his pleasure,
was nearest heir to the throne of England. It was and waxing more confident in consequence of his
at the suggestion of the king, therefore, that John elevation to the English throne, he caused the As-
Craig drew up the National Covenant, which James sembly, which should have met at Aberdeen in 1605,
and his household were the first to swear and sub- to be prorogued without fixing any time for its next
scribe on the 28th January 1581, and which at first meeting. This was felt to be an arbitrary and high-
626
COVENANTERS.
assume.
handed attempt to interfere with the ecclesiastical | posal. The king, however, was delighted with the
liberties of the Presbyterian church. It was resolved, success of his schemes ; and the Scottish bishops,
accordingly, to assert and maintain the right of the quite cognizant of the royal purposes, hastened to
church to convene and constitute her own assem- avail themselves of the advantage they had gained.
blies. A few faithful and zealous ministers therefore Three of them immediately set out for London, and
assembled at Aberdeen, determined at least to con- having obtained episcopal ordination, returned to
stitute the Assembly, and appoint another meet. confer consecration upon the rest, without obtain-
ing. The king, meanwhile, had received early intel- ing, or even asking, the sanction of Presbytery,
ligence of the project, and had given orders to Synod, or Assembly. This, in their view, was
Straiton of Laurieston, the royal commissioner, to enough to give them full and independent authority
dissolve the meeting, simply because it had not been over their brethren. Without hesitation they took
called by royal authority. The brethren met on the the chair at all meetings of church courts, and pre-
day agreed upon, and having been constituted, the tended to exercise the uncontrolled power of dio-
king's letter was in course of being read, when a cesan bishops. The people, however, treated the
messenger-at-arms arrived, and in the king's name king's bishops with the utmost contempt, and the
commanded them to dissolve on pain of rebellion. ministers preached from the pulpit against them as
The Assembly expressed their willingness to dis-intruders, while they refused to acknowledge their
solve, provided the royal commissioner would, in the usurped authority. The king, finding that his pre-
regular way, appoint a time and place for the next lates were held in little estimation, endeavoured to
meeting. This proposal was rejected by the coin- give them a factitious importance by constituting
missioner, whereupon the Moderator, at the request High Commission Courts, which were designed to
of the brethren, appointed the Assembly to meet at enable them to rule independently altogether of the
the same place, on the last Tuesday of September, regular Presbyterian ecclesiastical courts. But the
and dissolved the meeting.
bishops, knowing the temper of the people among
The ministers who composed the Assembly at whom they dwelt, forbore from exercising the au.
Aberdeen were forth with put on trial for high trea- thority which it was the royal pleasure they should
son, and banished from the kingdom. Shortly be-
Thus matters went on quietly for a time,
fore, a few of the more zealous brethren had been and, notwithstanding the existence of prelates in the
invited to London on pretence of holding consulta- Scottish church, its usual presbyterial machinery
tion with the king, and once there they were pre-
continued in undisturbed operation.
vented from returning to Scotland. The king now The apparent calmness and contentment which
finding himself in more favourable circumstances, prevailed throughout Scotland deceived King James
proceeded to carry forward his design of establish- as to the real state of popular feeling towards the
ing prelacy in his native country. With this view bishops. Persuading himself that the ministers and
he took another step in advance, by appointing the their people were quite submissive to his wishes on
bishops to be constant moderators, or, in other the point of church order, he resolved to try still
words, that they should have power, in virtue of further whether they would submit with equal
their office, constantly to preside in all meetings of readiness to the ceremonies of the English church.
Presbyteries, Synods, and General Assemblies. The innovations, however, which he introduced met
This act of royal aggression on the liberties of the with the most determined resistance from all classes.
church met with violent resistance on the part of But the king succeeded in overcoming opposition so
the church courts, giving rise to many unseemly far as to get a majority of the General Assembly to
and disgraceful scenes. But the king was not to be agree to the five articles of conformity to the Eng-
deterred from the attainment of his favourite object. lish church, well known by the name of the Five
In an Assembly held at Glasgow in 1610, he suc- ARTICLES OF PERTH (which see). These obnoxious
ceeded, by bribery and intimidation, in obtaining the ceremonies which James sought to thrust upon his
consent of the church to receive the bishops as mo- Scottish subjects had no sooner passed the Assem-
derators of diocesan synods, and to confer on them bly, which was packed for the purpose, than they
“the power of excommunicating and absolving of- were ratified by the privy council, and in July 1621
fenders, of ordaining and deposing ministers, and they received the sanction of Parliament. But
visiting the churches within their respective dio- though the new rites had become the law of the
ceses.” The Assembly which thus sanctioned Epis- land, they were far from being generally adopted by
copacy in a Presbyterian church and country, has the Scottish Presbyterians. During the remainder
been uniformly regarded by Scottish ecclesiastical of his reign, James took no further steps to inter-
historians as neither a free nor legal Assembly, and fere with the church and people of Scotland. He
hence all its acts were pronounced by the Assembly had effected what he had long wished, the establish-
of 1638 to be null and void. A number of the ment of prelacy. But the bishops were detested by
ministers who voted in favour of the bishops being the people, and their churches were almost wholly
coristant moderators did so unwittingly, and with- deserted. Vital godliness, however, was not yet
out being fully aware of the real design of the pro- | utterly a stranger in the land. Many faithful min-
COVENANTERS.
627
isters, notwithstanding the discouragement which | conspicuous, rushed to the desk in wild disorder.
they received from the bishops, continued to preach | The dean threw off his surplice and fled, to avoid
the gospel with earnestness and power. Nor were being torn in pieces. The bishop of Edinburgh
they left without visible tokens of the approval of then ascended the pulpit, and endeavoured to allay
their heavenly Master ; for amid the spiritual dark- the ferment; but his address only inflamed them
ness which so extensively covered the land, the the more. He was answered by a volley of sticks,
hearts of God's people were cheered by the occur- stones, and other missiles, with cries of A Pope! a
rence of two remarkable revivals of religion, the one Pope !.-Antichrist !-pull him down !-stone him!'
at Stewarton in 1625, and the other at the Kirk of and on returning in his coach, had he not been pro-
Shotts in 1630.
tected by the magistrates, he might have fallen a
Meanwhile James had been succeeded by his son victim to the fury of the mob—a martyr to the new
Charles I., who, naturally of a haughty and impe- liturgy!”
rious temper, and strongly attached to prelacy, and Alarmed at the critical aspect which affairs had
even popery, set himself from the commencement of assumed, not only in the metropolis, but throughout
his reign to enforce the observance in Scotland of the whole of Scotland, a number of noblemen and
the whole ritual and ceremonies of the English gentlemen hastily forwarded an earnest supplication
church. Though more than one attempt had been to the king for the suppression of the service-book.
made to introduce the English liturgy into use among This, however, he positively refused, and issued a
the Presbyterians north of the Tweed, it had hitherto new proclamation commanding implicit submission
been rejected. Now, however, Laud, the semi-po- to the canons, and immediate reception of the ser-
pish Archbishop of Canterbury, had drawn up a vice-book. The suppliants, as they called them-
liturgy of his own, which nearly resembled the Ro- selves, finding that all their entreaties and remon-
mish breviary, and, particularly in the communion strances were treated with disdain, proceeded in a
service, was wholly founded on the mass-book. This body to Stirling, and there lodged a solemn protest
most objectionable service-book Charles commanded against the royal proclamation, with the Scottish
to be used in all the Scottish churches. Every min- privy council, which met at Stirling. The utmost
ister was enjoined to procure two copies under pain distraction prevailed, and it was extensively felt that
of deprivation, and an order was issued by the king in the present state of the church and country, the
in council that it should be read in all the churches. time was peculiarly appropriate for a renewal of the
The day on which this Anglo-popish liturgy was National Covenant, with such additions and modifi-
first to be brought into use was the 230 July 1637, cations as the circumstances seemed to require. The
a day long to be remembered as the first outbreak of solemn transaction, accordingly, took place in the
a religious commotion which agitated Scotland for a Greyfriars' church at Edinburgh, on the 1st of March
long period. The scene which took place in Edin- 1638. Charles and his Scottish subjects were now
burgh on that fatal day is thus described by Dr. completely at variance. The Covenant became the
M'Crie: “On the morning of this Sabbath, one watchword. Men of all classes applied for permis-
Henderson, a reader in the High Church of St. sion to subscribe their names to the holy bond, and
Giles, who was a great favourite with the people, though threats and intimidations were used in many
read the usual prayers about eight o'clock; and cases to deter the people from signing, some wrote
when he had ended, he said, with tears in his eyes, their names to the document with their own blood.
Adieu, good people, for I think this is the last time Some of the most eminent of the Scottish nobles en-
of my reading prayers in this place.' The dean of thusiastically espoused the cause of the Covenant,
Edinburgh was appointed to perform the service, and the Covenanters, as they came to be called, be-
after the form of the obnoxious liturgy. An im- came a powerful body, animated with holy zeal in
mense crowd, attracted by curiosity, had assembled. | defence of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of
At the stated hour, the dean was seen issuing out of Scotland. Charles now saw that he had roused a
the vestry, clad in his surplice, and passed through spirit which it would be difficult for him to lay. At
the crowd to the reading-desk, the people gazing as first he craftily assumed an apparently conciliatory
they would at a show. No sooner, however, had aspect, sending the Marquis of Hamilton as his Com-
he begun to read, than his voice was drowned in a missioner to Scotland, with strict injunctions, by
tumultuous shout, chiefly from persons of the lower kindness and courtesy, to endeavour to prevail upon
classes, denouncing the innovation.
An old wo- the Scots to renounce the Covenant which they had
man, named Janet Geddes, who kept a green-stall so solemnly sworn. Such measures were of course
in the High Street, no longer able to conceal her in- utterly fruitless. But with that duplicity which
dignation, cried out · Villain, dost thou say mass at formed a prominent feature of his character, Charles
my lug!' and, with these words, launched at the was in the meantime secretly planning and making
dean's head the stool on which she had been sitting. preparations for an invasion of Scotland. Finding
Others followed her example, and the confusion soon that Hamilton, though aided by the bishops, could
became universal. The service was interrupted, and neither weaken nor divide the firm phalanx of
the women, whose zeal on this occasion was most the Covenanters, the king saw that it was abso-
628
COVENANTERS.
lutely necessary to make some concessions to the The threatened invasion at length took place.
wishes of the Scottish people. He summoned, ac- A fleet of twenty-eight ships of war, carrying from
cordingly, a free General Assembly, to meet at five to six thousand English troops, made its appear-
Glasgow, and appointed the Marquis of Hamilton to ance in the Firth of Forth. Not a soldier, how-
attend as the royal commissioner. This remarkable ever, was allowed to land, but Hamilton, who ac-
Assembly met on the 21st November 1638, with companied the fleet, judged it most expedient that
Alexander Henderson in the Moderator's chair. The it should retire as quickly as possible. Part of
instructions of the king to his commissioner were, the English forces had been routed at Kelso,
that he should use all his endeavours to excite jea- with the loss of three hundred men. Baillie, who
lousy between the clerical and lay members, and fail- was with the Scots army when encamped at Dunse
ing in this, he was to protest against the whole pro- Law, gives the following lively description of a re-
ceedings, and by no means to allow the bishops to giment of the Covenanters : “Our regiment lay
be censured. The conduct of this memorable As- on the sides of the hill almost round about.
sembly was characterized by the utmost decorum Every company had, fleeing at the captain's tent
and dignity. Hamilton exerted himself to accom- door, a brave new colour, stamped with the Scottish
plish the royal will, and to prevent the censure of arms, and this motto, For Christ's Crown and Cove-
the bishops. All his efforts were unavailing, and nant, in golden letters. Our soldiers were all lusty
perceiving that the members were determined to and full of courage; the most of them stout young
proceed to the business for which they had met, he plowmen; great cheerfulness in the face of all. They
rose, and in the name of the king, as the head of the were clothed in olive or grey plaiden, with bonnets
church, dissolved the Assembly. Such an event having knots of blue ribands. The captains, who
as this had been anticipated, and a solemn protesta. were barons or country gentlemen, were distinguished
tion had been previously drawn up, which was read as by blue ribands worn scarf-wise across the body.
the commissioner was in the act of retiring, and after None of our gentlemen were any thing the worse of
a suitable address from the Moderator, followed by lying some weeks together in their cloaks and boots
similar addresses from some of the other members, on the ground. Our meanest soldiers were always
the Assembly proceeded to business. Their first act served in wheat bread, and a groat would have got
was to declare null and void the six so-called Assem- them a lamb-leg, which was a dainty world to the
blies, which had been held from the time that James most of them. We were much obliged to the town
ascended the throne of England, including the As of Edinburgh for money : Mr. Harry Pollok, by his
semblies from 1606 to 1618. This part of the pro- sermons, moved them to shake out their purses.
ceedings was followed by another equally important, Every one encouraged another. The sight of the
the censure of the Scottish bishops, whom they nobles and their beloved pastors daily raised their
charged with various delinquencies. On that occa- hearts. The good sermons and prayers, morning
sion the Moderator, in the name of the Lord Jesus and evening, under the roof of heaven, to which their
Christ, pronounced sentence of excommunication drums did call them instead of bells, also Leslie's
upon two archbishops and six bishops, of deposition skill, prudence, and fortune, made them as resolute
upon four, and of suspension upon two. Thus was for battle as could be wished. We feared that emu-
Episcopacy abolished in Scotland, and the national | lation among our nobles might have done harm ;
Presbyterian Church once more set free from the but such was the wisdom and authority of that old
thraldom in which for many years it had been held. little crooked soldier (General Leslie), that all, with
Well may the Assembly of 1638 be regarded, to use an incredible submission, gave over themselves to be
the language of Dr. M'Crie, “as one of the noblest guided by him, as if he had been the great Solyman.
efforts ever made by the church to assert her intrin- Had you lent your ear in the morning, and especially
sic independence, and the sole headship of our Lord at even, and heard in the tents the sound of some
Jesus Christ."
singing psalms, some praying, and some reading the
The determination with which the Glasgow As-Scripture, ye would have been refreshed. True,
sembly had acted, roused the indignation of Charles, there was swearing and cursing and brawling in some
and sensitively jealous of the royal prerogative, he quarters, whereat we were grieved; but we hoped,
resolved to commence hostilities without delay. if our camp had been a little settled, to have gotten
Scotland rose as one man, and preparations were some way for these misorders. For myself I never
immediately made to encounter the king's army, found myself in better temper than I was all that
which was on its way to attempt the subjugation of time till my head was again homeward; for I was as
the rebellious Scots. A large force was levied, a man who had taken my leave from the world, and
which was put under the command of General Leslie, was resolved to die in that service, without return."
and all the fortified places in Scotland were occupied Though Charles was at great pains to represent
by the Covenanters, wlio, to show that this war was the Covenanters as a set of lawless rebels, they felt
forced upon them, and not engaged in from choice, and constantly proclaimed that the war in which they
published a vindication of their conduct in taking up were engaged was essentially a religious war. Avi-
mated by a noble zeal in behalf of the rights of
alins.
COVENANTERS.
629
1
conscience and of truth, they made a determined more gained led to the formation of another
stand against the English invaders, and Charles, treaty.
discouraged by the ill success of his owu forces, was A civil war now broke out in England, Charles
compelled to propose a negotiation for peace, having quarrelled with the parliament. The Scots
whereupon a treaty was signed on both sides, though used every effort to reconcile the two contending
somewhat general and vague in its nature. The parties to each other, but all their attempts having
fact seemed to be that the king had no intention at proved ineffectual, they joined the parliament in de-
heart to abide by his engagements. Some suspicion fending the liberties of the country against a rash
of this kind seems to have been entertained by the and hot-headed monarch. In 1643 the Solemn
Covenanters, who, while they disbanded their soldiers, League and Covenant was formed, uniting in a bond
still kept their officers in pay, and ready for actual of peace and amity the three kingdoms of England,
service. Carrying on his crafty schemes, Charles Scotland, and Ireland. (See COVENANT, SOLEMN
sanctioned a meeting of the General Assembly to be LEAGUE AND). The same year was convened the
held at Edinburgh in August 1639. The Earl of famous WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY (which see), in
Traquair was appointed to attend as King's Commis- which, after a debate of thirty days, the divine right
sioner, and in obedience to his master's instructions, of Presbytery was carried by an overwhelming ma-
he endeavoured to prevail upon the members to de- jority. Several commissioners from Scotland at-
clare all that was done against the bishops at the tended, and took an active part in the deliberations
Glasgow Assembly null and void. Finding that of this body. To the labours of the Westminster
the Assembly remained firm, he changed his tactics, Assembly are due the Confession of Faith, and the
and professed to concede all the demands of the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, which form the re-
Covenanters, assuring them that he would do his cognized standards of all the Presbyterian Churches,
utmost to get the parliament to ratify the abolition both in Britain and America. From the sitting of
of Episcopacy in Scotland, and of all the innovations that body, indeed, onward until the Restoration,
which had been condemned by the Glasgow Assem- Presbytery was the established form of religion, not
bly. The artifice was but too successful. The Cove- only in Scotland, but also in England and Ireland.
nanters imagined in their simplicity that the king In the course of the civil war, sects of different kinds,
had relented, and was now about to restore peace to and bearing a variety of names, arose in England,
their troubled church and people. Still further to and the whole country was distracted with religious
quiet the suspicions of the Presbyterians, both the contentions in a thousand different forms. But amid
Commissioner and the Scottish privy council gave all this endless variety of sentiment, it was only with
their sanction with apparent readiness to the Na- the Papists and the Prelatists that the Scots Pres-
tional Covenant, in the form in which it had been byterians were called to contend. The sectaries,
signed the preceding year, and on this understand however, joined with the Independents in opposing
ing it was ordered to be subscribed by all classes the Presbyterians, chiefly on the question of tolera-
throughout the land.
tion, and ultimately the covenanted cause was en-
Charles professed to feel indignant at the conduct tirely overthrown in England.
of his Commissioner, who, he alleged, had exceeded One of the most violent opponents of the Cove.
his instructions in agreeing to the abolition of Pre- nanters in Scotland was Montrose, who, though at
lacy, and the renewal of the Covenant. The expec- an earlier period one of the keenest supporters of the
tations of the Covenanters were accordingly dooined Covenant, deserted the standard of the Scottish Pres-
to bitter disappointment, and when the Scottish | byterians, and became an active and enthusiastic
Parliament met to ratify the acts of the recent As- leader of the Royalist army. Taking advantage of
sembly, it was prorogued by royal mandate, till June the absence of the main body of the Covenanters'
of the following year. And when the members of forces, which were engaged in England under Gen-
parliament sent the Earl of Loudoun, with other de- eral Leslie, Montrose attacked a detachment in the
puties, to London, to remonstrate with the king on neighbourhood of Perth, and gained an easy vic-
such an arbitrary proceeding, Loudoun was sent to tory. He now advanced northward, taking pos-
the Tower, accused of high treason, and it is said, session first of Perth, then of Aberdeen, giving up
would have been privately murdered had not the the inhabitants to cruelty, rapine, and the sword.
Marquis of Hamilton pointed out the danger of such He now penetrated into Argyleshire, carrying de-
a step.
The infatuated monarch, undeterred by the struction and devastation before him, burning the
misfortunes which had attended his former attempted houses and the corn, killing the cattle, and massa-
invasion of Scotland, planned another expedition of cring in cold blood all the males that were fit to
a similar kind. The Covenanters, however, no sooner
bear arms.
received intelligence of the royal design, than, with Scotland was at this period in a most miserable
out waiting for the approach of the English army, condition. To war were added its frequent attend-
they crossed the borders, and entered England, en- ants, famine and pestilence. The whole country was
countering and defeating the enemy in a decisive in a state of alarm, almost bordering on despair. The
engagement. The success which they had once Covenanters gave themselves to prayer and fasting,
630
COVENANTERS.
and their hearts were speedily released from painful , sion not only of the Presbyterian, but even of the
anxiety, by the welcome intelligence that the king's | Protestant faith and worship.
forces had been defeated by General Leslie and his The arrival of the new monarch was hailed by all
troops at Naseby in England. The regular body of classes of the Scottish people, but their joy was
the Covenanters' army being now set free, returned suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Cromwell
to Scotland, and succeeded in routing the Marquis of with a large army, who defeated the Covenanters at
Montrose at Philiphaugh, near Selkirk.
Dunbar, when no fewer than three thousand of the
In the spring of 1646, an event occurred which Scots fell on the field of battle. Charles, who at
perplexed the Covenanters not a little. They had heart hated the adherents of the Covenant, was by
taken part with the English Parliament against no means dissatisfied with the defeat which they had
Charles, but to their astonishment the king, after his sustained. In the midst of the distractions which
defeat by Cromwell, made his appearance in the agitated the country, the monarch was crowned at
midst of the Scots army, throwing himself upon their Scone on the 1st January 1651, and at the close of
sympathy and protection. They were thrown into Divine service the National Covenant and the So-
complete embarrassment. They treated the mo- lemn League and Covenant were produced and read,
narch with the respect which was due to his rank, and the king solemnly swore them. He also took
and readily engaged to support him, provided he would oath to support and defend the Church of Scotland.
dismiss his evil counsellors, and sign the Solemn The imposing ceremonial, however, did not succeed
League. These conditions they implored him to ac- in removing the suspicion which many of the Cove-
cept, but in vain. The king declared that he would nanters entertained, that Charles was simply acting
rather die than break his coronation oath, which, as a part to deceive his Scottish subjects. One of his
he alleged, bound him to support the English Church first steps, and one which showed his insincerity,
and all its ceremonies. He professed his willingness was to get himself surrounded in his court by the
to consent to the establishment of Presbytery in enemies of the Reformation. By their advice he
Scotland, but the Scots knew well that he was se- took an expedition into England, and his army be-
cretly bent on destroying the cause of the Reforma- ing defeated at Worcester, he left his kingdom to
tion in England. What then was to be done with the mercy of Cromwell, and took refuge in France.
Charles now that he was in the hands of the Cove. The restoration of Charles to his throne, which
nanters ? Were they to give him up unconditionally took place in 1660, was a calamitous event for the
into the hands of the Parliament party, as the Eng- Scottish Covenanters. No sooner did he find him-
lish wished, or were they to stipulate as the condi- self once more in the seat of government than he
tion of his being surrendered, that he should be directed his efforts towards the subversion of the
allowed to return to some one of his royal palaces civil and religious liberties of Scotland. To accom-
with honour, safety, and freedom ? Months were plish this object his first step was to get the Parliament
spent in negotiations on the subject, and at length to pass an act recognizing the royal supremacy in
the person of the king was confided to the hands of all matters temporal and spiritual, a principle which
the English, on the express understanding that there he caused to be formally embodied in the Oath of
should be no harm, prejudice, injury, or violence | Allegiance. This act was opposed to the conscientious
done to his royal person.” Yet in three years from views of a large body of the ministers and members
the date of his surrender he was tried, condemned, of the Church of Scotland, who had always contended
and beheaded.
for the sole headship of Christ.
" At last,"
On the day after the execution of Charles I. was says Dr. M'Crie, “ tired of annulling acts of Parlia-
known at Edinburgh, his son, Charles II., was pro- ment passed during the previous period of refor-
claimed king at the public Cross by the Committee | mation, the Scottish counsellors of Charles, in the
of Estates, with this proviso, however, that “before same year, passed a sweeping measure, annulling
being admitted to the exercise of his royal power, he the Parliaments themselves. By this measure, which
shall give satisfaction to this kingdom in the was called the Act Rescissory, all the proceed-
things that concern the security of religion, accordings for reformation between 1638 and 1650 were
ing to the National Covenant, and the Solemn League declared rebellious and treasonable; the National
and Covenant.” This stipulation was laid before Covenant and Solemn League were condemned as
Charles at the Hague. But at first he refused to unlawful oaths; the Glasgow Assembly of 1638 de-
accede to it. In the following year, however, the nounced as an unlawful and seditious meeting; and
Covenanters were more successful, and setting the ordering of the government of the church was
sail along with the commissioners, he reached the declared to be an inherent right of the Crown. In
shores of Scotland on the 23d of June 1650. Be- short, all that had been done for the reformation of
fore landing, he consented to subscribe the Cove- the church, during the second reforming period, was
nant, and accordingly the test was administered. On by this act completely annulled.”
the August following, this profligate monarch re- Not contented with procuring legal enactments
peated an engagement to support the Covenant. hostile to the cause of God and the Covenants,
All the while he was secretly plotting the subver- Charles entered upon the work of persecution, put-
COVENANTERS.
631
ting to death some of the leading noblemen who had tings or conventicles, as they were called by their
cast in their lot with the Covenanters. The first vic enemies, at which, in some solitary sequestered spot,
tim was the Marquis of Argyle, one of the most dis- they secretly but eagerly received the Word of Life
tinguished Christian and patriotic noblemen of whom from the mouths of their beloved pastors. On these
Scotland can boast. He had long taken a leading part occasions multitudes assembled from all quarters to
in supporting the cause of the Covenants; and by worship God as their consciences dictated, while
the sagacity of his counsels, as well as by the purity of the churches of the curates were almost wholly de-
his principles and the ardour of his zeal, he was one serted. This enraged the bishops, who forthwith
of the most effective agents in carrying forward the procured an act declaring that all who preached
work of the second Reformation. Argyle was fol- without their permission should be punished as se-
lowed to the scaffold by James Guthrie of Stirling, ditious persons, and at the same time enforcing the
one of the most active high-principled and devoted attendance of the people on their parish churches
ministers of his time. These acts of cruelty, which under heavy penalties. This was the commence-
were perpetrated with the royal sanction, were de- ment of a series of oppressive measures which set
signed to intimidate the friends of the Covenants, all Scotland once more in a flame. The military
and thus to facilitate the re-establishment of Epis- were employed in hunting down the Covenanters
copacy in Scotland. This was forth with done on with the most fierce and unrelenting cruelty. The
the simple fiat of Charles. A royal proclamation soldiers scoured the country, particularly in the
was issued restoring the bishops, prohibiting all west and south, subjecting the unoffending peasantry
meetings of synods and assemblies, and forbidding to the most intolerable oppressions. Long and pa-
the ministers to preach against the change on pain tiently was this cruel treatment endured. At length,
of imprisonment." To this despotic act of the king however, the Covenanters rose in the west, and re-
the country submitted with far more readiness than newing the covenant, solemnly pledged themselves
was anticipated. Prelacy was re-introduced into the to its defence. Now commenced a bloody and pro-
Scottish church ; diocesan courts were established, tracted war, in which the followers of Cargill fought
in which the bishops ruled with a high hand; the manfully in defence of their country's civil and re-
covenants were declared to be illegal, and not only ligious liberties. Few in number though they were,
renounced by many, but in some places publicly and feeble in physical power compared with their ene-
burnt. Nay, to secure the authority of the bishops, mies, they fought and fell in the cause of truth and
which not a few of the ministers were disposed to righteousness. The firmness and unflinching deter-
disown, an act of Parliament was passed depriving all mination of the persecuted remnant exasperated
those ministers of their charges who had been admitted their enemies beyond all measure; and while the
since 1649, when patronage was abolished, unless emissaries of Charles inflicted cruel tortures on the
they obtained a presentation from the lawful patron most, obscure individuals who were bold enough to
and collation from the bishop of the diocese before the avow their attachment to the covenant, nobles even
1st of November. The consequence was, that nearly of the highest rank did not escape their resentment.
four hundred ministers chose rather to be ejected Severity seemed to have no effect in diminishing
from their parishes than to comply with the severe
the zeal of the Covenanters. The king perceiving
requirements of the act. Thus, in one day, were this, tried conciliatory measures, issuing in 1669 an
almost the whole of the west, and a great part of Act of Indulgence granting relief on certain condi-
the south, of Scotland, deprived of their pastors. tions to those who could not conscientiously conform
This measure was one of the most efectual which to Episcopacy. This had the effect of dividing the
could have been devised to rouse the indignation of ranks of the Presbyterian ministers, some being per-
the people against the bishops, and excite a rooted suaded to avail themselves of this opportunity of
hatred of prelacy. Nor were these feelings abated, resuming their pastoral labours, a step which only led
but, on the contrary, they were rendered much more to a more bitter persecution of those brethren who re-
intense by the careless manner in which the vacant fused to accept of the Indulgence. Attempts were
charges were filled, the new ministers being weak also made, in which Archbishop Leighton took an
and worthless.
active part, to unite the Presbyterians and Episco-
The iron heel of the oppressor was now fairly palians, but these were wholly unsuccessful. The
planted upon the neck of enslaved and degraded Scot- field meetings were now more numerously attended
land. Darkness covered the land, and the hearts of than ever, and the Lord's Supper was often adminis..
the godly began to fail and be discouraged. Buttered in the open air.
tered in the open air. Mr. Blackader mentions that
still there were some faithful men who boldly lifted on one occasion of this kind there were sixteen tables
their voices against the defections of the times, and in all, so that about 3,200 communicated that day.
the tyranny of the ruling powers. Persecution was These field-meetings the enemy were anxious to put
again commenced against these friends of the co- down, and to oppress still more those who attended
venant. Many of the ministers were thrown into them, all such persons were not only subjected to
prison, and others could only find safety in flight. severe penalties, but a heavy tax, called the cess,
In 1663 the people commenced holding field-meet- was imposed upon them expressly for the purpose
632
COVENANTERS.
+
of maintaining the army which was employed in certed according to the ancient plea of the Scottish
hunting them down. Yet the greater part of the Covenanters, in defence of our reformation expressly
Covenanters submitted to pay, contenting them- according to our Covenants, National and Solemn
selves with protesting against the use to which the League.” The persecuted remnant in Scotland still
money was put. Such oppressive exactions only continued to maintain their ground on their own
increased the number of those who attended the principles, and in their own way. Instead of di-
field-conventicles. Charles and the enemies of the minishing, they were every day on the increase; and
covenants became all the more enraged. Claver- it soon became apparent to the Council, that unless
house and his dragoons were despatched to the west decisive steps were taken, they would become a very
of Scotland, and the battles of Drumclog and Both- powerful body. The most strenuous efforts, accord-
well Bridge showed the courage and unfinching de- ingly, were made to crush the good cause, and, as
termination which the Covenanters maintained one of the most effectual means of doing so, the
against those whom they conscientiously regarded military not merely dragged to prison, or cruelly
as the enemies of Christ and his cause in Scotland. murdered, all the Covenanters who fell in their way,
One party of the Covenanters, headed by Cargill but they redoubled their exertions to secure the per-
and Cameron, adopted extreme opinions, which se- son of Mr. Renwick, whom they considered as the
parated them from their brethren. They main- leader of the party. Still he and his followers as-
tained that Charles had forfeited all right to the sembled, as often as they conveniently could, for
civi] obedience of his subjects by violating the oath the worship of the God of their fathers. And
which he had taken at his coronation; and that all not only so, but they held stated meetings to con-
the friends of true religion, and the supporters of cert measures for their own defence. At one of
the covenanted work of reformation, were fully war- these meetings a paper was drawn up, entitled the
l'anted in taking up arms against a royal traitor and Informatory Vindication, which having been re-
persecutor. These principles were openly avowed vised by Mr. Renwick, was printed in Holland, and
by the Society people or Cameronians, as they were circulated throughout the kingdom. In that paper
called after Richard Cameron, one of their leaders, they avowed it to be their determination to main-
and the profession of such sentiments roused the tain and contend for the principles of the Reforma-
government to acts of greater cruelty and oppres- tion. A declaration of this nature only enraged
sion. Though the great mass of the Covenanters the government the more against them. Jaines,
vindicated their appearance in arms on very differ- accordingly, under the mask of tolerating “moder-
ent grounds, and entertained no design to overturn ate” Presbyterians, issued three different proclama-
the throne, but only to reduce its prerogatives with- tions, threatening vengeance against the more reso-
in reasonable limits, yet their determined resistance lute of the party. Some individuals, not being
to the Erastian interference of the king with the aware of the hidden purpose which the crafty mon-
sole Headship of Christ over his church, brought arch had in view, to support Popery, accepted the
down upon them the merciless vengeance of a ty- indulgence held out to them. Mr. Renwick and his
rannical government. Many of the best and bravest adherents, however, decidedly refused to avail them-
of the Covenanters were persecuted even to the selves of the offer made, declaring that “nothing can
death, calmly yielding their lives in the cause of be more vile than when the true religion is tolerated
Christ and the covenants.
under the notion of a crime, and when the exercise
At length, in the beginning of the year 1685, of it is allowed only under heavy restrictions.” At
Charles II. died, and the Covenanters might now have the early age of twenty-six, this faithful servant of
expected to enjoy a respite from the fierce persecu- God, one of the most upright and consistent min-
tions with which for a long time they had been isters of the period, was apprehended, tried for
visited. A few months, however, had only elapsed, treason, and sentenced to be executed in the
when James VII., who succeeded his brother Grassmarket, Edinburgh. “I am this day to lay
Charles, declared it to be his determination to extir- down my life," he said at the place of execution,
pate Presbyterianism from the land. Against this “for these three things : First, For disowning the
popish and arbitrary monarch, the extreme or Ca- usurpation and tyranny of James, Duke of York.
meronian party issued a solemn declaration. A few Second, For preaching that it was unlawful to pay
days before the publication of this document, the the cess expressly exacted for bearing down the
Earl of Argyle, with the consent of a number of gospel. Third, For teaching that it was lawful for
exiled noblemen, set sail for Scotland with an expe- people to carry arms in defence of their meetings
dition, intending, if possible, to overturn the govern- for their persecuted gospel ordinances. I think a
ment of James. It was fully expected by the earl testimony for these is worth many lives; and if I had
and his adherents, that their enterprise would be ten thousand I would think it little enough to lay
gladly hailed by the Covenanters. In this, how them all down for the same." Renwick met death at
ever, they were disappointed. Mr. Renwick, in the the hands of his persecutors with a heroism and un-
name of the party, declined all interference, chiefly flinching fortitude worthy of the last of that noble
on the ground that the expedition “was not con- band of martyrs who sealed with their blood their
COW-WORSHIP-CREATICOLÆ.
633
devoted attachment to the covenanted work of Re- a cow giving suck to its calf, is seen in the Egyptian
formation in Scotland.
monuments, in the Assyrian sculptures taken from
The reign of James was destined to be short. the ruins of Nineveh, in the Lycian bas-reliefs, and
He had been an ill-concealed papist from the com-
on an Etrurian vase. There is a remarkable symbo-
mencement of his reign, and all his efforts had | lical representation among the Hindus, consisting of
been secretly directed to the establishment of po- a serpent with a lion's head and a bull's horns, and
pery in the land. For a time his object was not in its open throat is a cow from which a large clus-
apparent, but at length the eyes of the clergy of ter of bees are issuing. Müller thus explains the
England were opened, and the alarm was given symbol. The serpent signifies the Eternal, who has
from a thousand pulpits, that if immediate steps | made light, indicated by the lion; while by his pro-
were not taken to avert the threatened danger, ductive power, denoted by the bull, he has given ori-
popery would ere long become the established re- gin to the earth, figured as usual by a cow; and the
ligion of England. In vain did James endeavour to earth has undergone a destruction, and a re-construc-
intimidate the clergy by imprisoning some of the tion, indicated by the bees. Kæmpfer tells us, that
bishops in the Tower. This only hastened matters in Japan there is seen in a cavern an idol which is
to a crisis. The infatuated monarch was driven called by the Japanese the great representation of
from his throne, and compelled to seek a refuge on the sun, and which is seated upon a cow denoting
a foreign shore. William, Prince of Orange, at the the earth. In the Hindu Rig Vedas, clouds are
invitation of the people of England, ascended the sometimes symbolized by cows. One of the Asou-
throne, and after having patiently endured the most ras is said to have stolen the heavenly cows. It
intolerable oppression and sufferings for twenty was Pani the merchant, or among the Greeks Hermes,
eight long years, the Covenanters found in the peace- who took away the cows of the sun. This robbery
ful Revolution of 1688, the sword of persecution of the cow-clouds is one of the favourite myths of
finally sheathed, Presbytery restored to their long- the Greeks. It is found in the history of the son of
tried but beloved church, and both their civil and re- Mercury, Autolycus, of Bias and Melampus, of Piri-
ligious privileges secured on a firm and satisfactory thous and Theseus, and in the story of Cacus. In
basis. See SCOTLAND (CHURCH Or).
the Rig Veda, the serpent Ahi has stolen the cows
COW (SACRIFICE OF). See HEIFER (SACRIFICE or clouds of Indra, and shut them up in a cavern.
OF).
Mercury, the god of the harmonies of the world, dis-
COW-WORSHIP. The vast utility of the cow,
covers and delivers these cows. The cow-cloud is
as affording valuable nourishment to man, has made the wife, or at least the concubine of Indra, and in
that animal be accounted among many heathen nations this capacity Indra is called Vrichabha, which sig-
as a fit emblem of the earth. In Egypt, in Syria, and nifies, “he who gives rain," and also “the bull.”
in Greece, Isis, the Egyptian goddess, is represented When Ahi then, or the serpent, causes the clouds to
as bearing the head of a cow; Astarte, the Syrian disappear from the sky, he has stolen from the great
goddess, as wearing the horns of the cow; and the god Indra, his spouse, and the cows were pregnant
Grecian Juno as having a cow's eyes. Venus is by Ahi, when the lord of thunder delivered them.
sometimes figured as a cow giving milk to her calf. Among the Hindus the cow is held in the greatest
Io changed into a cow is also an emblem of the earth. veneration, but particularly the species called the
The cow of Minos, which on each day was white, Brahman or sacred cow, and by many families a cow
red, and black, has been explained as referring to is kept for the mere purpose of worshipping it. See
the three different aspects which the earth presents
ANIMAL-WORSHIP.
in the bright blaze of noon, in the purple tinge of the COWL, a kind of monkish habit worn by the
evening or morning, and in the dark shades of night. Bernardines and Bencdictines. Some have distin.
In the fables of Brahmanism, the earth takes the guished two forms of cow's, the one a gown reach-
form of a cow named Kamadhouka, which gives its | ing to the feet, having sleeves and a capuche used
worshippers all that they desire. In the festival | in ceremonies ; the other a kind of hood to work in,
which is observed in China in honour of the cul- called also a scapular, because it only covers the
tivation of the soil, (see AGRICULTURE, FESTIVAL
head and shoulders.
OF,) a cow is marched in procession through the CRANÆA, a surname of ARTEMIS (which see), ,
streets of Pekin, to denote the fertility of the supposed to have been derived from a temple on the
earth. Among the Adighe, a race of Circassians, | summit of a hill in Phocis, in which young men offi-
a cow is offered in sacrifice to ACHIN (which ciated as priests, who enjoyed the office for the space
see), the god of horned cattle. According to the
cosmogony of the Scandinavian Edda, before the CRATOS (Gr. strength), the son of Uranus and
heavens and the earth were created, the cow Aud- | Ge, one of the ancient Pagan deities of an inferior
humbla was produced in the place where the southern order.
fires of the Muspelheim melted the ice of the Nif- CREATICOLÆ (Lat. creature worshippers), a
lheim. This cow denotes the cosmogonic earth, the Christian sect which arose in the sixth century,
earth without form and void. The representation of headed by Severus of Antioch, who maintained that
of five years.
I.
2 Y
634
CREATION
the body of Christ was corruptible, but in conse- separated from chaos was light, not in its present
quence of the Godhead dwelling in it was never cor- form, concentrated in a common. receptacle, but dif-
rupted. The controversy in reference to the body fused throughout the universe. The next event in
of Christ was keenly agitated in the reign of Justi- this great work of creation was the formation of the
nian, who favoured the party of the APHTHARTO- firmament, and a division of the chaotic mass into
DOCITES (which see).
two great parts, one beneath, and one above the
CREATION. The systems of cosmogony or firmainent. This was followed by the separation of
theories in reference to the creation of the world the land from the waters; then by the creation of
have been numerous and varied. It may be inter- grass and herbs, of shrubs and trees; after which
esting, and not uninstructive to describe some of the were formed the lights of heaven, particularly the
most important views which have been entertained sun and moon, in the former of which the light
on this subject.
hitherto diffused was collected into a receptacle.
In ancient times, the opinion was held by some The earth being thus prepared to be the habita.
philosophers in Greece, that the world is eternal both tion of living creatures, God said, “Let the waters
in form and duration. Among the most eminent of bring forth abundantly the moving creature that
the advocates of this theory, Aristotle may be ranked. hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth
He taught that the universe having been the offspring in the open firmament of heaven.” The earth
of an eternal cause, must have been itself eternal. It was next replenished with fourfooted beasts and
was not so much in his view a creation, as an ema- creeping things. Last of all man was created, and
nation of the Deity. The universe, according to the language in which this crowning act of creating
Plato, is the eternal representation of the unchange- power is described, shows that the highest import-
able idea which was from eternity united with ance was attached to it by the Deity himself:
changeable matter. The Neo-Platonists of Alexan- “ And God said, Let us make man in our image,
dria in the sixth century, maintained that God and after our likeness: and let them have dominion over
the universe were co-eternal. Xenophanes, Parme- the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and
nides, and some other philosophers of ancient Greece, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over
held that God and the universe was the same. This
every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Pantheistic system has been revived in Germany in So God created man in his own image, in the image
modern times.
of God created he him; male and female created he
The greater number of the ancient Pagan philoso- them. Man, the highest in the scale of created
phers, however, taught that the matter or substance being, appears last, and it is not a little remarkable
of the universe was eternal, while in its present fornı that no species or family of existences is created
it had its origin in time. The materia prima, or after him. On this subject the late lamented Mr.
original condition of the universe, was a state of Hugh Miller forcibly remarks: “With the intro-
chaos. The chaos of Hesiod was the parent of Ere- duction of man into the scene of existence, crea-
bus and Night, and from the union of these sprung tion seems to have ceased. What is it that now
Air and Day. The Epicurean system of creation takes its place, and performs its work ? During
was an atomic theory, according to which a fortuitous the previous dynasties, all elevation in the scale
concourse of atoms gave rise to the present organi- was an effect simply of creation. Nature lay dead
zation of bodies. In the opinion of the Stoics there in a waste theatre of rock, vapour, and sea, in
were two original principles, God and Matter,—the which the insensate laws, chemical, mechanical,
first active, and the second passive, and from the and electric, carried on their blind, unintelligent
operation of the one upon the other the universe
processes: the creative fiat went forth; and, amid
was created.
waters that straightway teemed with life in its
The Scripture doctrine of creation is to be found lower forms, vegetable and animal, the dynasty of
in the book of Genesis, from which it appears that the fish was introduced. Many ages passed, during
God created all things out of nothing, by the word which there took place no farther elevation : on the
of his power. “He spake, and it was done; he com.. contrary, in not a few of the newly introduced spe-
manded, and it stood fast.” The universe was not cies of the reigning class there occurred for the first
constructed out of an elementary matter, which ex- time examples of an asymmetrical misplacement of
isted previously to the work of creation, but matter parts, and, in at least one family of fishes, instances
itself was created or called into existence by the fiat of defect of parts: there was the manifestation of a
of the Almighty. To assure us of this important downward tendency towards the degradation of mon-
truth, Moses expressly tells us, Gen. ii. 3, that strosity, when the elevatory fiat again went forth,
“God rested from all his works which he created and, through an act of creation, the dynasty of the
and made," or as it is in the original, “ created to reptile began. Again many ages passed by, marked,
make.” The materials from which the heavens and apparently, by the introduction of a warm-blooded
the earth were made, were in a state of chaotic con- oviparous animal, the bird, and of a few marsupial
fusion, or as it is expressed in the Mosaic record, quadrupeds, but in which the prevailing class reigned
were “ without form and void.” The first element / undeposed, though at least unelevated. Yet agair,
CREATION
635
however, the elevatory fiat went forth, and through the name of Sarza was actually burnt alive through
an act of creation the dynasty of the mammiferous the influence of the Rabbies of Spain, for no other
quadruped began. And after the further lapse of crime than maintaining that the world was not pro-
ages, the elevatory fiat went forth yet once more induced out of nothing, but that it was created by a
an act of creation; and with the human, heaven- successive generation of several days. The doctrine
aspiring dynasty, the moral government of God, in was maintained by a celebrated Rabbi, that God
its connection with at least the world which we in- created seven things before the universe,—the throne
habit, 'took beginning. And then creation ceased. of God—the sanctuary—the name of the Messiah-
Why? Simply because God's moral government paradise—hell—the law—and repentance. Without
had begun,-because in necessary conformity with these he alleged the world could not be supported.
the institution of that government, there was to be a He also taught that the heavens were created by the
thorough identity maintained between the glorified light of the garment of God, as it is written in Scrip-
and immortal beings of the terninal dynasty, and the ture, “He covereth himself with light as with a gar-
dying magnates of the dynasty which now is; and ment, and stretcheth out the heavens like a curtain.”
because, in consequence of the maintenance of this The same writer broached the strange idea that the
identity as an essential condition of this moral
gov.
earth was formed out of the snow which was under
ernment, mere acts of creation could no longer carry the throne of the glory of God. On the subject of
on the elevatory process. The work analogous in creation a dispute arose between two celebrated
its end and object to those acts of creation which | Jewish schools, which is thus noticed by a writer on
gave to our planet its successive dynasties of higher | the history of the Modern Jews : “ The one con-
and yet higher existences, is the work of Redemp- tended that the heavens were created before the
tion. It is the elevatory process of the present earth, because it was necessary that the throne
time,—the only possible provision for that final act should be made before the footstool
. These sup-
of recreation 'to everlasting life,' which shall usher / ported their opinion by these words, “The heaven
in the terminal dynasty.'
is his throne and the earth is his footstool.' The
The doctrine, that all things were created by God other maintained that the earth was first created,
out of nothing, was a stone of stumbling to the because . The floor must be laid before the roof can
Gnostics in the early Christian church, and to all be put on.' In addition to these opinions, the learn-
who still cleaved to the cosmoplastic theories of an- ed Maimonides, the great oracle of the modern Jews,
tiquity. Accordingly we find Hermogenes, who taught that · All things were created at once, and
lived near the close of the second and the beginning were afterwards successively separated and arranged
of the third century, reviving the doctrine of the in the order related by Moses.' He illustrates his
Greek philosophy concerning the Hyle, and he ac- meaning, by comparing the process of creation to
counted for the existence of the imperfection and that of a husbandman who sows various seeds into
evil which are found in the world, by maintaining the ground at once : some of which are to spring out
that “God's creation is conditioned by an inorganic of the soil in one day, others after two, and others
matter which has existed from eternity.” Origen, on not until three or more days. Thus God made all
the other hand, denied the doctrine of a pre-existent things in a moment; but in the space of six days
matter, and declared his belief in the existing world formed and arranged them in order.”
as having had a specific beginning, but he maintained The doctrine of the Jewish Cabbala in regard to
the idea, to use the language of Neander, “ of a con- creation is, that the whole universe is an emanation
tinual becoming of this spiritual creation—a relation from God, and thus that the universe is God mani-
of cause and effect without temporal beginning—the fested, or an evolution and expansion of the Deity,
Platonic idea of an endless becoming, symbolizing who is concealed in his own essence, but revealed
the eternity of the divine existence.
and visible in the universe. According to the near-
Among the modern Jews, there has been a consi- ness of the different worlds to the Great First Cause,
derable diversity of opinion regarding the creation of is the degree of splendour with which the revelation
the world. Some of them, entertaining the idea that of Divinity takes place. The last and remotest pro-
every world must continue seven thousand years, duction of emanative energy is matter, which is rather
corresponding to the seven days of the week, believe a privation of perfection than a distinct essence.
and maintain that there was a world previous to the The first emanation, called in the Cabbalistic philoso-
creation of the present. Others suppose that the phy ADAM KADMON (which see), was a great foun-
world existed from all eternity, and others still, that tain or channel through which all other emanations
all creation is an emanation from God. In the might be produced. From this firstborn of the In-
twelfth century a dispute arose concerning the anti- finite went forth ten luminous streams termed Sephi-
quity of the universe, and it was argued by a Jewish roth. “Through these luminous channels,” says Mr.
writer, that “God never existed without matter, as Allen in his Modern Judaism,' "all things have
matter never existed without God," an absurd idea, proceeded from the first emanation of Deity ;-things
which was ably refuted by Maimonides, who framed celestial and immanent in emanation ; spiritual, and
the modern Jewish Confession of Faith. A Jew of produced without pre-existent matter; angelic, and
!
636
CREATION.
created in substance and subject; and material, “ All the primary atoms, qualities, and principles
which depend on matter for their being, subsistence, -the seeds of future worlds—that had been evolved
powers, and operations. — These constitute four from the substance of Brahm, were now collected
worlds. Aziluth, or the world of emanation; pro- | together, and deposited in the newly produced egg.
ceeding from the primordial light, through the me- And into it, along with them, entered the self-ex-
dium of the firstborn of Infinity; and comprehend- istent himself, under the assumed form of Brahma ;
ing all the excellencies of the inferior worlds, without and there sat, vivifying, expanding, and combining
any of their imperfections. Bria, or the world of the elements, a whole year of the creation—a thou-
creation; containing those spiritual beings which sand yugs-or four thousand three hundred millions
derive their existence immediately from the Azilu- of solar years ! During this amazing period, the
thic world. Jetsira, or the formative world ; con- wondrous egg floated like a bubble on an abyss'
taining those spiritual substances which derive their of primeval waters-rather, perhaps, chaos of the
immediate origin from the Briatic world. Ashia, or grosser elements, in a state of fusion and commix-
the material and visible world; including all those ion,-increasing in size, and blazing refulgent as a
substances which are capable of composition, mo-
thousand suns.
At length, the Supreme, who dwelt
tion, division, generation, and corruption: this world therein, burst the shell of the stupendous egg, and
consists of the very dregs of emanation, and is the issued forth under a new form, with a thousand
residence of evil spirits."
heads, a thousand eyes, and a thousand arms !
The theory of the creation, as laid down by the Along with him there sprang forth another form,
ancient Egyptians, was, that an illimitable darkness, | huge and measureless
huge and measureless! What could that be? All
called Athor or mother-night, and regarded as the the elementary principles having now been matured,
primeval element of mundane existence, covered and disposed into an endless variety of orderly collo-
the abyss; while water and a subtile spirit resided | cations, and combined into one harmonious whole,
through divine power in chaos. A holy light now they darted into visible manifestation, under the
shone, the elements condensed, or were precipitated form of the present glorious universe ;—a universe
beneath the sand from the humid parts of rudimentary now finished and ready made, with its entire apparatus
creation, and nature thus fecundated, the gods dif- of earth, sun, moon, and stars! What, then, is this
fused through space all the objects animated and multiformn universe ? It is but an harmoniously
inanimate which are found in the universe.
arranged expansion of primordial principles and
According to the cosmogony of the Hindus, as qualities. And whence are these?- Educed or
given by M. Polier, in his · Mythologie des Indous,' evolved from the divine substance of Brahm. Hence
we learn that "In the primordial state of the crea- it is, that the universe is so constantly spoken of,
tion, the rudimental universe submerged in water even by the mythologists, as a manifested form of
reposed in the bosom of the Eternal. Brahm, the Brahm himself, the supreme invisible spirit. Hence,
architect of the world, poised on a lotus-leaf, floated too, under the notion that it is the manifestation of a
upon the waters, and all that he was able to discern being who may assume every variety of corporeal
was water and darkness.” Such was the original form, is the universe often personified; or described
condition of things when Brahm resolved to pro- as if its different parts were only the different mem-
duce a huge seed or egg which should contain within bers of a person of prodigious magnitude, in human
itself the elementary principles of universal nature. form. In reference to this more than gigantic be-
This the mundane egg of the Hindus, thus de- ing, viewed as a personification of the universe, it is
scribed by Dr. Duff: “ The producing of such an egg
declared that the hairs of his body are the plants
implies a new exercise of divine power. But even and trees of the forest; of his head, the clouds ; of
divine power, according to the mythologist, cannot his beard, the lightning ;—that his breath is the cir-
be immediately exercised—directly manifested—by cling atmosphere; his voice, the thunder ; his eyes,
pure immaterial spirit. For action, corporeal form the sun and moon; his veins, the rivers ; his nails,
is absolutely indispensable. Hence it is that, for the rocks ; his bones, the lofty mountains !"
the production of the intended egg, Brahm is repre- In the ancient Scandinavian poem, 'The Völuspa
sented as having assumed a new and peculiar forın ; or Song of the Prophetess,' the primeval state if the
and, in that form, is usually named Purush or the material creation is described as having been a vast
primevul male. His divine energy, already separated void abyss, called Ginnunga-Gup, the cup or gulf of
from his essence, is also supposed to be personified | delusion.
delusion. The northern nebulous and dark region
under a female form, Prakriti or Nature. On Pu- of this abyss was called Nilfheim or Mist-Home, a
rush and Prakriti was devolved the task of giving dismal place of night, and mist, and ice, where is
existence to the celebrated Mundane egg. Having situated Huergelmir or the spring of hot water,
once finished their task, these peculiar and specific from which issue twelve rivers. The southern part
manifestations of Brahm and his energy seem to of the abyss was illuminated by rays emanating
have evanished from the stage of action, to give way from the sphere or abode of light, named Muspel-
afterwards to other distinct manifestations for the heim. From this torrid zone of the infant universe
accomplishment of purposes alike specific.
blew a scorching wind which melted the frozen wa-
bla, the alder; and from this first pair have spring
CREDENCE TABLE_CREED.
637
ters of the Elivâgar, from which was produced the cannot fail to be struck with the distinct traces which
giant Ymir in the likeness of man.
At the same are to be found in them of the Mosaic narrative
time was created the cow Audhumbla, from whose having been the original foundation of the whole.
capacious udder flowed four streams of milk which Tradition, in this as in almost every other case, is
gave healthful nourishment to Ymir. By licking the truth perverted from its original purity, and so dis-
stones which were covered with salt and hoar-frost, torted in the course of generations as to bear only
she produced in three days a superior being called a faint resemblance to the statements of the ancient
Bur or Buri, in the shape of a man. Bör, the son inspired record. See CHAOS, EGG (MUNDANE).
of Buri, married a Joten or giant-woman, from which CREDENCE TABLE, a table near the altar on
union sprang the three gods, Odin, Vili
, and Ve, which, in some churches, the bread and wine to be
who combined in killing Ymir, and dragging his used in the eucharist are placed before being con-
remains into the midst of Ginnunga-Gap. At this secrated. In various Episcopalian churches in Eng-
point begins the work of creation. “Of the flesh of land, such tables are found, though not perhaps
Ymir," as we are ld, “they made the earth ; of his sanctioned by the ecclesiastical canons.
blood, the ocean and the rivers ; of his huge bones, CREED, a condensed view of Christian doctrine
the mountains ; of his teeth, his jaw-bones, and the adopted by many churches as the subordinate stand-
splinters of some of his broken bones, the rocks and ard or test by which the right of admission into
the cliffs; of his hair, the trees; of his brain, the their communion is tried. The main standard of all
clouds; and of his eye-brows, Midgard—the abode Protestant churches is the Word of God, but the
of man. Besides, of his ample skull
, they constructed great majority of them have adopted, besides the
the vault of heaven, and poised it upon the four re- Sacred Scriptures, what have been called subordi-
motest pillars of the earth, placing under each pillar nate standards-creeds, articles, and confessions. It
a dwarf, the name of each respectively correspond- has sometimes been argued by those churches, for
ing to one of the cardinal points of the horizon. example, the Congregationalist, which disown all
The sparks and cinders, which were wafted into the subordinate standards, that creeds and confessions of
abyss from the tropical region of Muspelheim, they all kinds, being mere human compositions, are un-
fixed in the centre of the celestial concave, above | warrantable additions to the Divine Word, and pro
and below Ginnunga-Gap, to supply it and the earth ceed upon a virtual denial of the perfection and per-
with light and heat.” The Scandinavian account of manent authority of that Word. The usual reply,
the creation of man, as given in the 'Völuspa,' is however, to such objections is, that the creeds used
curious. Three mighty and beneficent Aesir or by the churches of Christendom, but especially the
gods, while walking on the sea-shore, found two Protestant churches, profess to contain only Scrip-
trees, or, as some assert, two sticks, floating upon tural doctrines, not the opinions of men.
the water, powerless and without destiny. Odin it may be said, what is the necessity for creeds at all,
gave them breath and life; Hönir, souls and motion; since all the truths which they contain are already
and Lodur, speech, beauty, sight, and hearing. They to be found in the Bible? To this objection the
named the man Aslr, the ash, and the woman, En- reply is obvious. It may sometimes be necessary to
set forth particular scriptural truths, with special
mankind destined to reside in Midgard, the habitable prominence, in consequence of heresies and errors
globe.
which have arisen in the Christian church. Both
According to the doctrine of the early Persian or the heretic and the orthodox profess high respect for
Iranite Magi, the first living being was the ox Abu- the Bible, and both alike appeal to it in support of
dad, which was slain by Ahriman ; but Ormuzd their respective opinions, which may be even diame-
formed from its body the different species of beasts, trically opposed to each other. To distinguish,
birds, fishes, trees, plants, and other productions. , therefore, the orthodox from the heretic, a test must
When the ox died, a being called Kajomorz sprang be applied, and what other test is called for in the
from its right leg, and this being having been killed circumstances, but the plain statement in human
by the Devs, the elementary particles which entered language of the disputed doctrine, expressed so as
into the composition of his body were purified by to exclude the opposite error. Hence the origin of
being exposed to the light of the sun during forty creeds and confessions. They are found to be spe-
years, and became the germ of the Ribas tree, out of cially called for, in consequence of a diversity of
which Ormuzd made the first man and woman, opinion existing among Christians in reference to
Meshia and Meshiana, infusing into them the breath soine doctrine or statement of the Divine Word.
of life. He thus completed the work of creation in The churches who use creeds do not allege that
six periods, holding the festival Gahanbar at the end these creeds have any authority in themselves, or
of each of them.
that they ought to be considered as in the least de-
Thus have we endeavoured to exhibit some of gree infringing upon the supreme authority of the
the most important traditions which have prevailed Bible; but all that such churches affirm is, that
in heathen nations on the subject of the creation of creeds contain in a simple and condensed formn what
the world, and in taking a review of the whole, we they believe to be the teaching of the Bible on cer-
But if so,
638
CRES CRITHOMANCY.
tain points which happen to be disputed. In this represent Christ praying upon the cross, and invit-
way harmony and uniformity are obtained, not only ing all nations to embrace his doctrine. Wooden
in the public ministrations of the clergy, but in the instruments of the same kind are still in use both
general belief of the private members of the church. | among the orthodox and heretics in the Turkish
Accordingly, such symbols were introduced at an dominions, in consequence of the strong prejudices
early period of the church, when her orthodoxy, which the Turks entertain against the sound of bells.
peace, and unity were seriously threatened to be CREUSA, a Naiad among the ancient Greeks, the
disturbed by the propagation of heresy and error. daughter of Oceanus and Ge.
Hence the APOSTLES' CREED (which see), as it CRINITI FRATRES (Lat. Long-haired Breth-
is termed; the NICENE CREED (which see); the ren), a name under which Augustine censures the
ATHANASIAN CREED (which see); the Jewish Mesopotamian monks for wearing long hair against
CREED; and among Roman Catholics, the Creed the rule of the Roman Catholic church.
of Pope Pius IV. (see Pius IV. CREED OF POPE). CRISPITES, the followers of Dr. Tobias Crisp,
In the same way, and for similar reasons, mo- who taught a species of Antinomian doctrine in the
dern churches have given fuller and more expand seventeenth century in England. Messrs. Bogue
ed views of their belief in the form of Confessions. and Bennett, in their · History of Dissenters,' call
Hence we have the AUGSBURG CONFESSION | him “ one of the first patrons of Calvinism run mad."
(which see), and the WESTMINSTER CONFESSION The writings of Crisp were ably answered by Dr.
(which see), and several others which have been Daniel Williams, in a work entitled Gospel Truth
adopted in virtue of the dogmatic power which the Stated and Vindicated,' who plainly shows that his
church claims as the depositary of the Scriptures, views, on some of the most important and peculiar doc-
and appointed to interpret them. But if creeds and trines of Christianity, were extreme and erroneous in
confessions are to be maintained, it is of the utmost their character. Thus, for instance, he taught that the
importance that the precise position which they occu- sins of the elect were so imputed to Christ as to be
py be fully understood. Their whole authority, it must actually his ; and the righteousness of Christ was so
never be forgotten, is derived solely from the Bible. imputed to them as that they are no longer sinners,
To that test every individual member of the church but righteous as Christ was righteous. According
has a right to bring them, and they are binding upon to the scheme of the Crispites, God sees no sin in
the conscience of no man, except in so far as it can believers, nor does he punish them because of sin.
be shown that their statements are in conformity He is not displeased with the believer on account of
with Bible truth. If not agreeable to the supreme his sin, nor pleased with him on account of his obe-
standard, the Word of God, they ought to be re- dience, so that the child of God is neither the worse
jected without the slightest hesitation or reserve. The for his sins, nor the better for his obedience. Sin
Bible, and the Bible alone, as Chillingworth re- does the believer no hurt, and righteousne
ness does
marks, is the religion of Protestants.
him no good, nor must he pursue it to this end. Re-
CRES, a son of Zeus, born to him by a nymph of pentance and confession of sin, in the view of Dr.
Mount Ida. From Cres is believed to have been de- Crisp, are not necessary to forgiveness, but a be-
rived the name of the island of Crete.
liever may certainly conclude before confession, yea,
CRESCENT, the sign of the Mohammedans, by as soon as he hath committed sin, his interest in
which they distinguish themselves from Christians Christ, and the love of Christ embracing him. In
or followers of the cross. Some Mohammedan doc | regard to the time of justification, Dr. Crisp says,
tors allege that the crescent was adopted as a dis- “ He did it from eternity in respect of obligation; but
tinctive mark by the Moslems, in consequence of the in respect of execution, he did it when Christ was
Hegira, or flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina on the cross; and, in respect of application, he doth it
having taken place at the time of the new moon, when while children are yet unborn.” Crisp was the
it appears in the form of a crescent. Other writers, great Antinomian opponent of Baxter, Bates, and
however, allege that the use of the crescent arose Howe, and when his works were reprinted in 1692,
from the circumstance, that the ancient Arabians such was the ability and power with which they
worshipped the moon.
were exposed by Bishop Bull and Dr. Williams,
CRESIUS, a surname of Dionysus (which see), that the Antinomians were reduced in England to a
under which he was worshipped at Argos.
very small number. The controversy, however,
CRESSELLE, a wooden instrument used instead was again revived by Dr. Gill, who republished Dr.
of bells among the Romanists, in various parts, to Crisp's sermons in 1745, with notes, in which he
summon the people to Divine service during Passion justified some of his peculiar expressions, and apo-
week. Such a mode of summoning to worship is logized for others. The Antinomian doctrines then
said to have been derived from the primitive Chris-promulgated were diffused to a great extent among
tians, who are by some writers said to have used the Particular Baptists in England. See ANTINO-
an instrument of this kind before bells were in-
vented, to call the brethren secretly to prayer in CRITHOMANCY (Gr. crithos, barley, and man-
times of persecution. The Cresselle is supposed to teia, divination), a species of divination, founded on
MIANS,
1
CRIUS-CROCOTA.
-
639
the appearance which the dough of the barley- | reverently by the priest, and was received as rever-
meal cakes, which were used in sacrifice, assumed, ently by the bishop, the priest announcing-
when it was kneaded into cakes.
«The tablet with the inscription over the cross
CRIUS, one of the Titans of the ancient Greeks, of our Lord Jesus Christ.'
a son of Uranus and Ge, and the father of Astræus, “The bishop exhibited this relic as the others;
Pallas and Perses.
the characters in Greek and Hebrew and Latin,
CROCEATAS, a surname of Zeus, derived from though very dark and large, were very far from
Croceæ in Laconia.
being easily legible, and the tablet itself seemed
CROCEFISSO SANTISSIMO (Ital. most holy rather small for the occasion. It was about nine or
crucifix), a wooden crucifix at Naples, which is re.. ten inches in length, and about five in depth ;—the
markable for having thanked Thomas Aquinas for | bishop also kissed this relic and returned it to the
his beautiful and salutary writings. It belonged to priest.
the church of St. Dominic the Great.
“A fourth relic was next placed in the hands of
CROCE, SANTA DI GERUSALEMME (Ital. | the bishop, and as he exhibited it, the priest ex-
the holy cross of Jerusalem), one of the seven great claimed-
Basilicas of Rome. It is particularly remarkable
""One of the nails that fastened to the cross our
for the immense number of relics which it contains, Lord Jesus Christ.'
all of which are exhibited on a particular day “This relic was a very shewy affair, being enclosed
for the reverence and adoration of the devotees in a very pretty glass and gold case. In the centre
of the Romish church. The fourth Sunday in Lent was a black thing said to be the nail, with two
is the most remarkable day in the year at the Basi angels made of gold, kneeling and worshipping it!
lica of Santa Croce di Gerusalemme. All who attend | It was exhibited, kissed, and then returned to the
the services at that church on that day are entitled priest.
to certain indulgences; and all who have share in the “Another relic was produced—the fifth and last.
masses celebrated are entitled to the release of one As the priest presented it to the bishop, the bishop
soul from purgatory. The great attraction of the seemed to start under a sense of awe, and to gaze
festival is the exhibition of the relics of this church, on it with devout wonder. Before he would touch
which are noted among the wonders of Rome. The the holy thing he must uncover. His mitre, which
scene is thus described by Mr. Seymour, who was had been worn while exhibiting the other relics, was
himself an eye-witness of it. “At one end of the immediately removed. He could not with covered
church there is a small gallery, capable of holding head look upon the sacred thing, he bowed pro-
three or four persons. In this appeared the bishop
In this appeared the bishop foundly to it, and then taking a large glass cross
in full canonicals, with mitre and alb. On either from the priest, the priest announced--
hand stood a priest; on these three every eye in the "Three pieces of the most holy wood of the cross
vast assembly was fixed; one priest rung a bell, then of our Lord Jesus Christ.'
the other handed one of the relics to the bishop; " In an instant the whole assembly as if by magic
and he, reverently receiving it, exhibited it to the was prostrate, even the monks removed their little
assembled multitude, the priest announcing with a skull-caps, and every individual present except the
loud voice-
few English there, prostrated himself as in the act of
«. The finger of St. Thomas, the Apostle and the highest adoration, in precisely the same way as
Martyr of our Lord Jesus Christ.'
when adoring at the elevation of the host. The
“The bishop then presented the relic, said to be silence was deep and profound throughout that vast
the very finger with which the unbelieving Thomas assembly: some seemed to hold their breath im-
touched our Lord's side! He held it, according to pressed with awe; some seemed in deep devotion to
the invariable custom in exhibiting relics, right before breathe prayer in secret; some gazed intently on the
him, then turning it to those on the right, then to relic, and moved their lips as if addressing it, while
those on the left, then again to those immediately the bishop held it before them. It was a cross of
before him. He then kissed the glass case which glass, set at the ends in rich chased gold; it was
contained the finger, and returned it to the priest. hollow, and there appeared within it three small
“Another relic was then produced and placed in pieces of wood; they varied from two to four inches
the hands of the bishop, and the priest as before an- in length, and were about half or three quarters of
nounced
au inch in breadth. After the bishop had duly ex-
666Two thorns from the crown of thorns of our libited this—after the people had worshipped it-
Lord Jesus Christ.'
after he had returned it to the priest, the bishop and
“ The bishop exhibited this as before, and it was priest retired, and the congregation dispersed.”
easy to see in the glass case the two thorns set and CROCIARY. See CROSS--BEARER.
standing erect, each thorn being about three inches CROCOTA, a dress worn by women among the
long. He then kissed the case and returned it to
ancient Greeks and Romans. It was more espe-
the priest.
cially worn at the festival of the Dionysia, and also
“A third relic was next produced, it was presented by the priestesses of Cybele.
640
CROMCRUACH-CROSIER.
CROMCRUACH, the principal god of the ancient Goari, it was curved upwards in this form I. Dr.
Irish. The image was carved of gold and silver, and Murdoch alleges that the crosier or bishop's staff
surrounded by twelve other smaller images, all of was exactly of the form of the lituus, the chief en-
brass. According to a legend, on the arrival of St. sign of the ancient Augurs. The crosier of an arch-
Patrick, the idol Cromcruach fell to the ground, like bishop is to be distinguished from the pastoral staff
Dagon of old before the ark, and the lesser brazen of a bishop, the former always terminating in a cross,
images sunk into the ground, up to the neck. while the latter terminated in an ornamented crook.
CROMLECH (Celt. crom, crooked or bent, and CROSS. Our blessed Lord having suffered cruci-
leach, a stone), an ancient Druidical altar, of which fixion, the figure of the cross, as being the instrument of
there are many specimens still found in different the Redeemer's death, came to be held in high respect
parts of Britain and Ireland. The cromlechs are at a very early period in the history of the Christian
formed of rude stones, set in different forms and church. Nay, it even came to be regarded as the
situations, supposed to have been dedicated to par- mark of a Christian, the sign of the cross being used
ticular deities. The most usual form is that of an in baptism. Towards the middle of the fourth cen-
immense mass of stone of an oblong shape, with one tury, however, veneration for the cross was carried
end resting on the ground, and the other extremity still farther.
still farther. During the reign of Constantine the
supported by two large upright stones. Sometimes Great, his mother Helena having set out on a pil-
smaller cromlechs are seen of a triangular shape, and grimage to the Holy Land, pretended that she had
like the larger supported by two upright stones in found there the real cross on which our Lord was
an inclined position. It is supposed that the lesser suspended. On her return Constantine, who pro-
may have been used for the purposes of ordinary fessed a warm attachment to the Christian cause,
sacrifice, while the greater may have been reserved caused the figure of the cross to be stamped upon
for occasions of extraordinary solemnity. The in- his coins, displayed upon his standards, and painted
cumbent stone or slab of the cromlechs is sustained on his shields, helmets, and crown. Christians
in some cases by rows of upright pillars; in other seem to have soon after begun to wear the cross as
instances the table is supported by two or more large an official badge or token of their adherence to the
cone-shaped rocks, but on none of the stones used faith. It was specially worn by Christian bishops
in the construction of these altars can the mark of or pastors on the neck or breast, and carried in pub-
any tool be discovered. A variety of opinion exists lic processions. The cross worn upon the person
as to the origin of the name cromlech. Some sup- was made of wood or gold, or some sacred relic,
pose the term to have been applied to these rude which was called by the Greeks periamma, and was
altars from their inclining position; others from the regarded as an amulet or phylactery. The cross
respect paid by the Druidical worshippers to these was used not only in the Greek, but in the Latin
stones by bowing before them; while by others still church. The cross which was carried before the
the idea has been broached, that they derived their bishops in processions, received the name of crux
name from being the stones on wlich sacrifices were gestatoriu or carrying cross. For a long time the
offered to a god called Crom. An ingenious conjec- bishops of Rome claimed the right of having the
ture has been advanced, that they were placed in an cross carried before them as exclusively their own.
inclined position to allow the blood of the victims In the twelfth century it was granted to metropoli-
slain upon them to run off freely.
tans and patriarchs, and in the time of Gregory IX.
CRONIA, a festival celebrated among the ancient to archbishops. The patriarchs of the Greek church
Greeks at Athens, in honour of CHRONOS (which did not so frequently carry the cross, but instead of
see), whom Cecrops had introduced as an object of it they substituted lamps and lighted candles. To.
worship into Attica. The name Cronia is given by wards the end of the seventh century, the council of
the Greek writers to the Roman Saturnalia. A festi-Constantinople decreed that Jesus Christ should be
val in-honour of Chronos was also observed among | painted in a human form, hanging upon the cross,
the people of Rhodes, at which human sacrifices are that Christians might bear in mind their obligations
said to have been offered.
to the sufferings and death of Christ. In the sixth
CRONUS. See ChroNOS, SATURN.
century, a festival was instituted by Pope Gregory
CROSIER, the pastoral staff, so called from its the Great in commemoration of the Empress Helena
likeness to a cross, which the archbishops formerly having found what was alleged to be the true cross.
bore as the common ensign of their office. When This festival is observed in all Roman Catholic coun-
an archbishop was invested with the episcopal dig- tries on the 3d of May. Another festival in honour
nity, he was forinally installed by the delivery of a of the cross is observed by the Romish church on
crosier into his hands. Sometimes a straight staff the 14th of September. The circumstances which
was presented instead of a crosier or crook. The led to the institution of this latter festival, are briefly
staff of the archbishop had usually a single, and that these, as stated by Hurd in his History of Religious
of the patriarch a double cross piece. According to Rites and Ceremonies : “In the reign of Heraclitus
Montfaucon, the staff of the Greek archbishop had the Greek emperor, Chosroes, king of Persia, plun-
a cross-piece reseinbling the letter T. According to
| dered Jerusalem, and took away that part of the
CROSS (ADORATION OF THE—CROSS-ALPHABETS.
641
cross which Helena had left there, but which Hera- | stripped off his splendid robes, they removed his
clitus having recovered, it was carried by him in glittering mitre, they took off his embroidered shoes,
great solemnity to Mount Calvary, whence it had | they laid aside his spangled gloves, till he stood be-
been taken. Many miracles were said to have been fore his throne without one emblem of his royal or
wrought on this occasion; and the festival in me- papal office. There stood the old man, bareheaded
mory of it is called the Exaltation of the Cross." and barefooted, and stripped till he seemed to retain
Both in the Greek and Roman churches, crosses are little else than a loose white dressing-gown, the
used both in public and in private, as the insignia in dress of a monk of Camaldoli. There he stood, not
their view of the Christiari faith. Among the Greeks alone, as if the act were a voluntary humiliation,
the cross is equi-limbed, but among the Romanists it but in the hands of the cardinals, who, intending to
is elongated. A Romish prelate wears a single cross, help him and uphold him, seemed to be his guards
a patriarch a double cross, and the Pope a triple to force and compel him. There the old man, no
cross on his arms.
longer looking like a Pope, descended from the
CROSS (ADORATION OF THL), a ceremony of the throne and seemed like one led away to be punished,
Roinish church observed on Good Friday. It is or to do penance. I could not help thinking that
termed the Unveiling and Adoration of the Cross, | the old man was, in a great measure, an unwill-
and is conducted with great pomp. Mr. Seymour, ing actor in this scene; there was much uneasiness
in his Pilgrimage to Rome, describes it from actual in his manner; there was dissatisfaction in his face;
observation : "A cross made of wood stands upon and his whole appearance was that of a man who
the altar. It is enveloped in a black veil. The was obliged to act against his conscience, in comply-
deacon hands it to the officiating cardinal. He, standing with a custom of the church.
ing with his back to the altar and his face to the “ Having conducted the Pope to the end of the
people, holds the cross before the eyes of the con- chapel, they turned and faced the cross, which lay
regation. Then loosening the black veil which en- on the floor near the step of the altar. There they
velopes it, he uncovers one arm of the cross-pauses made him kneel and adore it. They raised him, and
-holds it conspicuously before the congregation, conducting him some two or three paces nearer, they
and exclaims with a loud voice-
again made him kneel a second time and adore the
«« Behold the wood of the cross !'
cross. Then again they raised him, and leading him
“And the response bursts from the choir- nearer still, they again the third time made him kneel
“Come, let us adore it !
and adore the cross. Here at the cross they raised
“And immediately the Pope, the cardinals, and him, and then again he knelt, then rose again and then
all present kneel and adore it, and then resume their knelt again. Prostrate before it-on knees and
seats.
hands, he kissed it, and, according to custom, left an
Again the officiating cardinal uncovers the sec- hundred scudi of gold as an offering beside it. He
ond arm of the cross-pauses-exclaims as before was afterwards conducted to his throne and robed,
66Behold the wood of the cross !
while the most exquisite music from the choir ac-
“ And the response again bursts from the choir companied the whole ceremony.
"Come, let us adore it!'
“When this is completed by the Pope, the same
“ And as before, the Pope, the cardinals, and all act is performed by each of the cardinals, all with-
present kneel and adore it, and then resume their out shoes, adoring and kissing the cross.
These are
seats.
followed by the bishops, heads of orders, &c., all
“ Again, the officiating cardinal uncovers the adoring it in like manner, and all making to it an
whole cross-pauses—and exclaims as before-
bio Behold the wood of the cross !
“The deacons then spread the cloth on the altar,
“ And the response again bursts from the choir- light the candles, and reverently place the cross, no
"Come, let us adore it !
longer on the floor, but on the altar amidst the can-
“And immediately the Pope, the cardinals, and dlesticks.
all present kneel and adore it a third time.
"Such is the adoration of the cross :An act of
“All this was painful enough to me, yet it proved worship that moved me intensely, infinitely more
only the beginning of sorrows. There was a solem- than anything I had witnessed at Rome. It was an
nity—a silence, a stillness in all, which, combined act the most solemn and impressive, that bore every
with the appearance of the chapel, made it very im- characteristic of idolatry." The doctrine of the
pressive; and this very impressiveness it was that church of Rome is, that the cross is to be worshipped
made all so painful.
with the same supreme adoration (Latria) as that
“ The cardinal with his assistants left the altar, which is due to Christ himself.
and placed the cross on a cushion, on the floor of CROSS-ALPHABETS. In the ceremony ob-
the chapel, a few paces from the steps of the altar, served in the Romish church in the DEDICATION
and retired.
OF CHURCHIES (which see), according to the arrange-
“ And here the ceremony commenced indeed. ments laid down in the Roman Pontifical, a pot of
Two or three cardinals approached the Pope, they ashes is provided, which, in the course of the cere-
offer of money
I.
22
642
CROSS-BEARER-CROSS (SIGN OF THE).
mony, is strewed in two broad lines in the form of a event which is at once the most ignominious and the
cross, transversely from angle to angle of the church; most glorious part of Christianity. It was used by
each line about a span in breadth. While the Bene- them at all times, and to consecrate the most com-
dictus is being chanted, the Pontiff scores with the mon actions of life-when rising out of bed, or re-
point of his pastoral staff on one of the broad lines tiring to rest—when sitting at table, lighting a lamp,
of ashes, the Greek alphabet, and then on the other, or dressing themselves—on every occasion, as they
the Latin alphabet. These are called Cross-Alpha- wished the influence of religion to pervade the whole
bets.
course of their life, they made the sign of the cross
CROSS-BEARER, an officer in the Roman Ca- the visible emblem of their faith. The mode in
tholic church, who bears a cross before an archbishop which this was done was various: the most common
or primate in processions or special solemnities. was by drawing the hand rapidly across the fore-
This office is usually conferred upon the chaplain of head, or by merely tracing the sign in air; in some
the dignitary. The Pope has the cross borne before cases, it was worn close to the bosom, in gold, silver,
him everywhere; a patriarch anywhere out of Rome; or bronze medals, suspended by a concealed chain
and primates, metropolitans, and archbishops through- from the neck; in others, it was engraven on the
out their respective jurisdictions. Gregory XI. for- arms or some other part of the body by a coloured
bade all patriarchs and prelates to have the cross drawing, made by pricking the skin with a needle,
before them in the presence of cardinals.
and borne as a perpetual memorial of the love of
CROSS (INCENSING THE). All crosses intended Christ. In times of persecution, it served as the
to be erected in Roman Catholic countries, in the watchword of the Christian party. Hastily described
public places, high roads, and cross-ways, as well as by the finger, it was the secret but well-known sig-
on the tops of Romish chapels, undergo the process nal by which Christians recognized each other in the
of consecrating by incense, which is conducted with presence of their heathen enemies ; by which the
much ceremony. Candles are first lighted at the persecuted sought an asylum, or strangers threw
foot of the cross, after which the celebrant, having themselves on the hospitality of their brethren ; and
dressed himself in his pontifical robes, sits down be- nothing appeared to the Pagan observer more strange
fore the cross and delivers a discourse to the peopleand inexplicable, than the ready and open-hearted
upon its manifold virtues and excellences. Then he manner in which, by this concerted means, foreign
sprinkles the cross with holy water, and afterwards Christians were received by those whom they had
with incense, and at the close of this ceremony can- never previously seen or heard of,—were welcomed
dles are set upon the top of each arm of the cross. into their homes, and entertained with the kindness
CROSS (ORDEAL OF THE), a mode of trial which usually bestowed only on relations and friends.
was practised among the Anglo-Saxons, probably the Moreover, to the sacred form of the cross were
most ancient, and the soonest laid aside. The forin ascribed peculiar powers of protecting from evil;
of it was intimately connected with the wager of and hence it was frequently resorted to as a secret
law; for the accused person having brought eleven talisman, to disarm the vengeance of a frowning
compurgators to swear to his innocence, chose one magistrate, or counteract the odious presence and
of two pieces of covered wood, on one of which the example of an offerer of sacrifice. It was the only
cross was delineated : when, if he selected that which outward means of defending themselves, which the
had the emblem upon it, he was acquitted, and if martyrs were wont to employ, when summoned to
otherwise, condemned. This species of ordeal was the Roman tribunals on account of their faith. It
abolished by the Emperor Louis the Devout, about was by signing himself with the cross, that Origen,
A. D. 820, as too commonly exposing the sacred sym- when compelled to stand at the threshold of the tem-
bol.
ple of Serapis, and give palm-branches, as the Egypt-
CROSS (SIGN OF THE), a practice which arose in ian priests were in the habit of doing, to them that
the early ages of the Christian church from the went to perform the sacred rites of the idol, fortified
lively faith of Christians in the great doctrine of his courage, and stood uncontaminated amid the
salvation through the cross of Christ. Nowhere in concourse of profane idolaters. But, perhaps, the
the Saored Writings do we find the slightest allu- most remarkable instance on record of the use of
sion to such a custom, but the most ancient of the this sign by the primitive Christians, and of the
fathers speak of it as having been a venerable prac- sense they entertained of its potent virtues, occurs
tice in their days, and, indeed, the frequent use of in the reign of Diocletian, when that timorous and
the sign of the cross is declared to have been a superstitious prince, in his anxiety to ascertain the
characteristic feature of the manners of the primitive events of his Eastern campaign, slew a number of
Christians. On this subject Dr. Jamieson gives victims, that, from their livers, the augurs might
some valuable information : "The cross was used by prognosticate the fortunes of the war. During the
the primitive Christians as an epitome of all that is course of the sacrifice, some Christian officers, who
interesting and important in their faith ; and its were officially present, put the immortal sign on their
sign, where the word could not be conveniently nor foreheads, and forthwith, as the historian relates, the
safely uttered, represented their reliance on that rites were disturbed. The priests, ignorant of the
1
CROUCHED FRIARS—CROWN (NATAL).
643
Crowns.
cause, searched in vain for the usual marks on the tember, the Eastern church commenced to calculate
entrails of the beasts. Once and again the sacrifice its ecclesiastical year.
was repeated with a similar result, when, at length, CROWN, an ornament frequently mentioned in
the chief of the soothsayers observing a Christian Sacred Scripture, and commonly used among the
signing himself with the cross, exclaimed, 'It is the Hebrews. We find the holy crown in Exod. xxix,
presence of profane persons that has interrupted the 6, directed to be put upon the mitre of the high-
rites.' Thus common was the use, and thus high priest. The word in the Hebrew is nezer, separa-
the reputed efficacy of this sign among the primitive tion, probably because it was a badge of the wearer
Christians. But it was not in the outward forin, but being separated from his brethren. It is difficult,
solely in the divine qualities of Him whose name and however, to say what was the precise nature of the
merits it symbolized, that the believers of the first crown. Perhaps, as Professor Jahn thinks, it was
ages conceived its charm and its virtues to reside. simply a fillet two inches broad, bound round the
It was used by them merely as a mode of express- ) head, so as to press the forehead and temples, and
ing, by means perceptible to the senses, the purely tied behind.
tied behind. The crown was not improbably worn
Christian idea, that all the actions of Christians, as even by private priests, for we learn that the pro-
well as the whole course of their life, must be sancti- | phet Ezekiel (xxiv. 17, 23) was commanded by God
fied by faith in the crucified Redeemer, and by de- not to take off his crown, nor to assume the marks
pendence upon him, and that this faith is the most of mourning. Newly married couples from early
powerful means of conquering all evil, and preserv- times were accustomed to wear
(See
ing oneself against it. It was not till after times, Crowns, NUPTIAL). Crowns of flowers were often
that men began to confound the idea and the token worn also on festive occasions. The crown was
which represented it, and that they attributed the given among ancient nations as a token of victory
effects of faith in the crucified Redeemer, to the out- or triumph. Thus, in the Grecian games, chaplets
ward signs to which they ascribed a supernatural and or crowns of olive, myrtle, parsley, and similar ma-
preservative power.""
terials, were wreathed round the brow of the suc-
To make the sign of the cross is regarded in Rocessful competitors. Crowns of different kinds were
mish countries as a charm against evil spirits or evil bestowed upon gods, kings, and princes, as ensigns
influences of any kind. The bishops, archbishops, of dignity and authority. Pausanias says that the
abbots, and abbesses of the Roman Catholic church Magi wore a species of tiara when they entered into
wear a small golden cross. When a benediction is a temple. Among the Romans crowns were often
pronounced upon anything whatever, it is done by given as revvards, and the highest honour which a
making the sign of the cross over it. Among the soldier could receive was the civic crown composed
adherents of the Greek church, it not only forms a of oak leaves, which was conferred upon any one
frequently repeated practice in the course of the ser- who had saved the life of a Roman citizen in battle.
vices of the church, but it occurs almost constantly When a Roman army was shut up within a besieged
in the ordinary transactions of life. The servant city, the general who succeeded in raising the siege
asking directions from her mistress, or the beggar received from the liberated soldiers a crown of hon-
humbly asking alms, devoutly makes the sign of the our, which was composed of grass or weeds or wild
cross, and that too in the truly orthodox manner, flowers. It was customary among the Romans to
with the thumb, first and middle fingers bent to- present a golden crown to any soldier who had spe..
gether, first on the forehead, then on the breast, / cially distinguished himself on the field of battle.
then on the right shoulder, and then on the left. The same practice prevailed also among the ancient
In Russia the population are in the habit of using Greeks.
the sign of the cross on occasions of almost every CROWN (FUNERAL), a crown of leaves and flow-
kind.
ers, and among the Greeks generally, of parsley,
CROUCHED FRIARS, an order of religious, , which was usually wreathed around the head of a
called also Croisiers or Cross-Bearers, founded in dead person before interment. Floral wreaths were
honour of the invention or discovery of the cross often placed upon the bier, or scattered on the road
by the Empress Helena, in the fourth century. along whicle the funeral procession was to pass, or
Matthew Paris says this order came into England twisted round the urn in which the ashes were con-
A. D. 1244, and that they carried in their hand a tained, or the tomb in which the remains were laid.
staff, on the top of which was a cross. Dugdale CROWN (MURAL), a golden crown, adorned with
mentions two of their monasteries, one in London, turrets, which was anciently bestowed by the Ro-
and the other at Ryegate. They had likewise a mans on the soldier who first succeeded in scaling
monastery at Oxford, where they were received in the wall of a besieged city. The goddess CYBELE
A. D. 1349. This order was dispersed throughout (which see) is always represented with a mural crown
various countries of Europe.
CROUCHED-MAS-DAY, the festival in the CROWN (NATAL). It was customary in ancient
Greek church in honour of the erection of the cross. times, both at Athens and at Rome, to suspend a
From this feast, which occurred on the 14th Sep- crown at the threshold of a house in which a child
upon her head.
644
CROWN (NUPTIAL)—CRUCIFIX.
It was
was born. The natal crown used at Athens when CROWN (RADIATED), a crown made with rays
the child was a boy, was composed of olive; when a apparently emanating from it. A crown of this kind
girl, of wool. Crowns of laurel, ivy, or parsley were was put by the ancient Romans upon the images of
used on such occasions at Rome.
gods or deified heroes.
CROWN (NUPTIAL). Newly married persons of CROWN (SACERDOTAL), wom by the priests or
both sexes aniong the Hebrews wore crowns upon their Sacerdotes among the ancient Romans when engaged
wedding-day, Cant. iii. 11, and it is probably in allu- in offering sacrifice. Neither the high-priest nor his
sion to this custom that God is said, when he entered attendant, however, bore this ornament.
into à covenant with the Jewish nation, to have put formed of different materials, sometimes of olive, and
a beautiful crown upon their head, Ezek. xvi. 12. at other times of gold. The most ancient sacrificial
Among the Greeks, also, bridal wreaths were worn garland used by the Romans was made of ears of
made of flowers plucked by the bride herself; but the corn. The victim was also wont to be adorned
crowns of Roman brides were made of verbena. The with a fillet or wreath of flowers when it was led to
bridegroom also wore a chaplet, and on the occasion the altar.
of a marriage, the entrance to the house, as well as CROWN (SUTILE), a crown made of any kind of
the nuptial couch, was ornamented with wreaths of flowers sewed together, and used by the SALII (which
flowers. Among the early Christians the act of see) at their festivals.
crowning the parties was the commencing part of CROWNS, a name, in Hebrew Thagin, given to
the marriage ceremony. After the 128th Psalm had points or horns with which certain letters in the
been sung, with the responses and doxologies, and an manuscripts used in the Jewish synagogues are de-
appropriate discourse had been delivered, and after corated, and which distinguish them from the manu-
some preliminary rites, the priest lifted the nuptial scripts in ordinary use. The Rabbins affirm that
crowns which had been laid upon the altar, and plac- God gave them to Moses on Mount Sinai, and that
ing one upon the head of the bridegroom, and the he taught him how to make them. In the Talmud
other upon the head of the bride, he pronounced these mysteries are alleged to be attached to these marks.
words, “This servant of the Lord hereby crowns CRUCIFIX, a figure of the cross with a carved
this handmaid of the Lord in the name of the Fa- | image of Christ fastened upon it. It is much used
ther, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, world in the devotions of Roman Catholics, both in public
without end. Amen." This ceremony was followed and in private. The origin of crucifixes is generally
by prayers, doxologies, and the reading of the Scrip- traced to the council held at Constantinople towards
tures, particularly Eph. v. 20—33, and John ii. 1–11, the close of the seventh century, which decreed that
at the close of which the Assembly repeated the Jesus Christ should be painted in a human form upon
Lord's Prayer, with the customary responses, and the cross, in order to represent, in the most lively man-
the usual form of benediction. On the eighth day the ner, the death and sufferings of our blessed Saviour.
married pair presented themselves again in the From that period down to the present day crucifixes
church, when the minister, after an appropriate form an essential part of Romish worship. On all sa-
prayer, took off the nuptial crown, and dismissed them cred solemnities the Pope has a crucifix carried before
with his solemn benediction. This ceremony, how- him, a practice which some Romish writers allege
ever, was not uniformly observed. The ceremonies of was introduced by Clement, Bishop of Rome, about
coronation and dissolving of the crowns, are still ob- seventy years after the time of the Apostle Peter.
served in the Greek church. The crowns used in The most probable opinion, however, which has been
Greece are of olive branches twined with white and stated, as to the origin of this custom, is, that it com-
purple ribbon. In Russia they are of gold and sil- menced at the period when the Popes became ambi-
ver, or in country places, of tin, and are preserved as tious to display their supreme authority, and that it
the property of the church. At this part of the ser- was meant to be a mark of pontifical dignity, as the
vice the couple are made to join hands, and to drink Roman fasces carried before consuls or magistrates
wine out of a common cup. The ceremony of dis- of any kind showed their power and authority. An
solving the crowns takes place, as among the primi- old Italian writer, Father Bonanni, thus describes
tive Christians, on the eighth day, after which the the custom; “The cross is carried on the end of a
bride is conducted to the bridegroom's house, and pike about ten palms or spans long. The image of
enters upon the duties of the household.
our Saviour is turned towards the Pope, and the
The custom of nuptial coronation continued among chaplain who carries it walks bareheaded when his
the Jews for many centuries, and, indeed, we learn Holiness goes in public, or is carried on men's
from the Mishna, that it was not until the commence- shoulders; but when he goes in a coach or a chair,
ment of the war under Vespasian that the practice the chairman carries the crucifix on horseback, bare-
of crowning the bridegroom was abolished, and that headed, with a glove on his right hand, and with the
it was not until Jerusalem was besieged by Titus left he manages his horse. In all solemn and reli-
that the practice of crowning the bride was discon-gious ceremonies at which the Pope assists in his
tinued. Crowns of roses, myrtle, and ivy are still sacred robes, an auditor of the Rota carries the cru-
used in Jewish marriages in many places.
cifix at the solemn procession on horseback, dressed
CRUSADE.
645
in a rochet or capuche, purple-coloured ; but there rope, bareheaded and barefooted, for the purpose of
are three days in Passion-week on which he and the exhorting princes to join in a holy war against the
Sacred College go to chapel in mourning without the Mohammedan possessors of the sacred places. Yield-
cross being borne before him."
ing to the persuasions of this wild enthusiast, Pope
The ceremony of kissing the crucifix is observed at Urban II. summoned two councils in A. D. 1095,
Rome on the Thursday of Passion-week, usually called the one at Placentia, and the other at Clermont, and
Maundy Thursday. It is thus described by an eye- laid before them the magnificent project of arming
witness : “On the evening a wooden crucifix of about all Christendom in one holy war against the infi-
two feet and a half in length was placed upon the steps dels. This was a design which the Popes had long
of the altar. This devout people immediately began entertained, and now that they had obtained a suita-
to welcome it by kissing its feet and forehead. The ble instrument for its accomplishment in Peter the
next day, Good Friday, a crucifix of four feet was Hermit, an immense army was raised, and headed by
offered to the fervency of the multitude, and the this remarkable monk. They set out on their march
kisses were redoubled. But the day after there was towards the East, but having been met, in the plain
a crucifix of nearly six feet; then the pious frenzy of Nicea, by Solyman the Turkish Sultan of Iconium,
of the women was carried to its greatest height; | the army of the Hermit was cut to pieces. A new
from every part of this immense church, they rushed host in the meantime appeared, led by several dis-
towards this image, rudely carved and more rudely tinguished Christian princes and nobles, and amount-
painted; they threw themselves on this piece of ing, as it did, to hundreds of thousands, the Turks
wood, as though they would have devoured it; they were twice defeated. The crusaders now advanced
kissed it with the most furious ardour from head to to Jerusalem, and after a siege of six weeks made
foot. They succeeded each other four at a time in themselves masters of the holy city, putting to death
this pious exercise : those who were waiting for without mercy the whole of its Mohammedan and
their turn showed as much impatience as a pack of Jewish inhabitants. Godfrey of Bouillon, one of
hungry hounds would, if they were withheld from the commanders of the crusading army, was pro-
the prey in their sight. There was near the crucifix claimed king of Jerusalem, but soon afterwards he
a small porringer to receive the offerings. The was obliged to surrender his authority into the hands
greater part of them preferred giving kisses to money; of the Pope's legate. Syria and Palestine being
but those who left their mite thought they had a just now won from the infidels, were divided by the cru-
claim to redouble their caresses. Although I re- saders into four states, a step far from conducive to
mained more than an hour in the church, I did not the strengthening of their power.
see the end of this fantastical exhibition, and I left Soon after the successful termination of the first
these devout kissers in full activity."
crusade, the Turks began to rally and recover some-
CRUSADE, a holy war, or an expedition against what of their former vigour. The Asiatic Chris-
infidels and heretics; but more particularly ap-tians, accordingly, found it necessary to apply to the
plied to the holy wars of the eleventh and twelfth princes of Europe for assistance, and the second cru
centuries. The Crusades were eight in number. sade was commenced in A. D. 1146, with an army of
The feelings which actuated the first originators 200,000 men, composed chiefly of French, Germans,
of these expeditions were a superstitious venera- and Italians. This enorinous host, led by Hugh,
tion for those places which were the scene of brother of Philip I. of France, was equally unsuc-
our Lord's ministry while on earth, and an earnest cessful with the army of Peter the Hermit, having
desire to rescue them from the infidel Mohamme- either been destroyed by the enemy, or perished by
dans, into whose hands they had fallen. Multitudes the treachery of the Greek emperor. The garrison
of pilgrims had been accustomed to flock to Jerusa- of Jerusalem, though held by the Christians, was so
lem, and account it their highest privilege to per- feebly defended that it became necessary to institute
form their devotions at the Holy Sepulchre. But the Knights Templars and Hospitallers as an en-
ever since Jerusalem had been taken, and Palestine rolled military corps to protect the Holy City. The
conquered by the Saracen Omar, the Christian pil-crusading army having been almost wholly cut off, the
grims had been prevented from the accomplishment Pope, Eugenius III., chiefly through the exertions of
of what they considered a pious design, unless they St. Bernard, raised another army of 300,000 men,
purchased the privilege by paying a small tribute to which, however, was totally defeated and dispersed
the Saracen caliphs. In A. D. 1064 the Turks took by the Turks, while its commanders, Louis VII. of
Jerusalem from the Saracens, and from that time France and Conrad III. of Germany, were compelled
pilgrims were exposed to persecution, and while they to return home humbled and disgraced. Not con-
had begun largely to increase in numbers, the ill- tented with these successes, the infidels were re-
treatment which they experienced at the hands of solved to retake Jerusalem from the Christians, and
the Turks roused a spirit of indignation throughout Saladin, nephew of the Sultan of Egypt, pushing
the Christian world. One man in particular, Peter forward his army to the walls of the Holy City, be-
the Hermit, fired withi fanatical zeal for the exter- sieged it and took its monarch prisoner.
mination of the infidel Turks, travelled through Eu- The conquest of Jerusalem by the infidels excited
646
CRUSADE.
the strongest indignation and alarm throughout all | These hordes of powerful barbarians overran Judea,
Christendom. A third crusade was planned by Pope and compelled the Christians to surrender Jerusalem
Clement III., and armies marched towards the East | into their hands.
in A. D. 1188, from France, England, and Ger- The two last crusades, the seventh and eighth,
many, headed by the sovereigns of these countries. were headed by Louis XI., King of France, who is
The German forces which Frederick Barbarossa commonly known by the name of St. Louis. This
commanded, were defeated in several engagements, enthusiastic prince believed that he was summoned
and still more discouraged by the death of their by heaven to undertake the recovery of the Holy
leader, gradually melted away. The other two ar- Land. After four years' preparation, accordingly,
mies, the English and French, besieged and took he set out on this expedition in 1249, accompanied
Ptolernais, but the two sovereigns having quarrelled, by his queen, his three brothers, and all the knights
Philip Augustus returned to his country, leaving the of France. He commenced the enterprize by an
English monarch to carry on the war. Richard, attack on Egypt, and took Damietta, but after a
though left alone, prosecuted the contest with the few more successes was at length defeated, and along
utmost energy. Nor was he unsuccessful, having with two of his brothers fell into the hands of the
defeated Saladin near Ascalon. But his army, re- enemy. He purchased his liberty at a large ran-
duced by famine and fatigue, was unable to follow som, and having obtained a truce for ten years, he
up the success they had gained, and accordingly, returned to France. For many years Louis con-
having concluded a peace, he was glad to retire from timued to be haunted with the idea that it was still
Palestine, though with only a single ship. A few his duty to make another effort for the fulfilment of
years subsequent to this somewhat unfortunate cru- the great mission with which he believed himself to
sade, Saladin died in A. D. 1195.
have been intrusted by heaven. At length, in A. D.
The fourth crusade, which had in view, not so 1270, he entered upon the eighth crusade against
much the deliverance of the Holy Land from the the Moors in Africa. But no sooner had he landed
dominion of the infidels, as the destruction of the his army, and encamped in the neighbourhood of
empire of the East, was fitted out by the Emperor Carthage, than his army was almost wholly destroy-
Henry VI. the same year on which Saladin died. ed by a pestilence, and he himself fell a victim to
This expedition was attended with considerable suc- the same disease in the fifty-fifth year of his age.
cess, several battles having been gained by the cru- Not many years after this the Christians were driven
saders, and a number of towns having been taken. entirely out of Syria, and these holy wars, in which
In the midst of these successes, however, the Em- no fewer than two millions of Europeans perished,
peror died, and the army was under the necessity of came to a final termination. “
came to a final termination. “This," as has been well
quitting Palestine, and returning to Germany. remarked, “the only common enterprise in which
The fifth crusade commenced in A. D. 1198, only the European nations ever engaged, and which they
three years after the preceding. It was planned by all undertook with equal ardour, remains a singular
Pope Innocent III., and although several years were monument of human folly."
spent in unsuccessful attempts to wrest the Holy The feeling in which these crusades had their
Land out of the hands of the infidels, a new impulse origin, was, as we have said, a superstitious ven-
was given to the crusading army by the formationeration for the sacred places in the East, com-
of an additional force in A. D. 1202, under Baldwin, bined, no doubt, with a bitter hatred of the Mo-
Count of Flanders. This new expedition, which was hammedans, and a high admiration for that spirit
directed against the Mohammedans, was crowned of chivalry which prevailed so extensively in the
with remarkable success, the crusading army hav- tenth and eleventh centuries. But the wars which
ing taken possession of Constantinople, and put their originated in these causes were afterwards en-
chief, Baldwin, upon the throne—a position, how- couraged by the Popes, who found by experience
ever, which he had only occupied a few months, the advantages which attended them. The Popes
when he was dethroned and murdered. The impe- claimed the privilege of disposing of kingdoms, and
rial dominions were now shared among the crusad- exempted both the persons and the estates of the
ing leaders, and at this time Alexius Comnenus crusaders from all civil jurisdiction. By the sole
founded a new empire in Asia, that of Trebizond. authority of the Holy See, money was raised for
Another crusade, the sixth, was proclaimed in carrying on these holy wars, tenths were exacted
A. D. 1228, when the Christians succeeded in taking from the clergy, kings were commanded to take up
the town of Damietta, which, however, they were the cross, and thus the foundation was laid for that
unable to retain. Peace was concluded with the unlimited power which the Popes afterwards exer-
Sultan of Egypt, and by treaty the Holy City was cised over the princes of Europe.
given over to the emperor Frederick. About this But whatever may have been the evils which ac-
time a great revolution took place in Asia. The crued from the holy wars, it is undeniable that these
Tartars, under Zinghis-Khan, had poured down from were to a great extent counterbalanced by numerous
the north into the countries of Persia and Syria, and advantages. By means of the crusades a pathway
ruthlessly massacred Turks, Jews, and Christians. l of commerce and correspondence was opened be-
CRYPTS—CULDEES.
647
at
tween the countries of the East and those of the CUCULLE, or COUCULLE, a long robe with
West; arts and manufactures were transplanted into sleeves worn by Greek monks.
Europe, as well as comforts and conveniences un- CUCULLUS, a cowl worn in ancient times by
known there before. The Europeans, on the other Roman shepherds. It was a sort of cape or hood
hand, taught the Asiatics their industry and com- connected with the dress, and has both in ancient
merce, though it must be confessed, that along with and modern times formed a portion of the habit of
these were communicated many of their vices and monks. See Cowl.
cruelties. “It was not possible,” says Dr. Robert- CUCUMELLUM, a flagon or bowl, according to
son,
“ for the crusaders to travel through so Bingham, which was used in the early Christian
many countries, and to behold their various cus- churches, probably for containing the communion
toms and institutions, without acquiring information wine.
and improvement. Their views enlarged; their pre- CULDEES, the members of a very ancient reli-
judices wore off; new ideas crowded into their gious fraternity in Scotland, whose principal
minds; and they must have been sensible, on many was Iona, one of the Western Islands. Some pro-
occasions, of the rusticity of their own manners, fess to trace back the Culdee system to the primitive
when compared with those of a more polished peo- ages of Christianity, while others ascribe its insti-
ple. These impressions were not so slight as to be | tution to Columba, about the middle of the sixth
effaced upon their return to their native countries. century. The truth appears to be, that, while indi-
A close intercourse subsisted between the East and viduals were no doubt found who preserved the
West during two centuries ; new armies were con apostolic doctrine uncontaminated amid prevailing
tinually marching from Europe to Asia, while former | ignorance and superstition, there was no distinct
adventurers returned home and imported many of body, associated together as one society, holding
the customs to which they had been familiarized by doctrines, and adhering to the simple worship and
a long residence abroad. Accordingly, we discover, practices of the Culdees, before the time of Colum-
soon after the commencement of the crusades, ba. The origin of the Culdee fraternity, therefo e,
greater splendour in the courts of princes, greater is in all probability due to this eminent Christian
pomp in public ceremonies, a more refined taste in missionary, who had come over from Ireland for the
pleasure and amusements, together with a more ro- purpose of proclaiming the pure doctrines of the
mantic spirit of enterprise spreading gradually over gospel in Scotland. The religion of Rome, with all
Europe ; and to these wild expeditions, the effect of its gross superstition and idolatrous rites, had ob-
superstition or folly, we owe the first gleams of light tained at this period a firm footing in almost all the
which tended to dispel barbarism and ignorance.” | countries of Europe, but its ascendency in Scotland
But however strong the opinion which the learned was for a long time checked by the firm intrepidity
historian had formed of the advantages arising from of the Culdees. The followers of Columba, accord-
the crusades, authors since the time of Dr. Robert- ingly, were exposed to the hatred and persecution of
son have been much divided in sentiment on the the emissaries of Rome.
subject. And yet those who have made the most Before Columba, the “ Apostle of the Highlands,"
careful and minute investigations on the point, have as he has been termed, first landed on the western
been the most ready to admit that the liberty, civi- shores of Scotland, only a few faint and feeble efforts
lization, and literature of Europe are not a little in- had been made to disseminate the truth of Christian-
debted to the influence of the crusades.
ity among the inhabitants of that bleak northern
CRYPTO-CALVINISTS. See PHILIPPISTS. country, plunged in heathen darkness and idolatry.
CRYPTS, the vaults under cathedrals and some The spot on which the devoted Irish missionary first
churches, and which are commonly used as places set his foot, was the island of Iona, on the west of
of burial. See CATACOMBS, CEMETERIES.
Mull, midway between the territories of the Picts
CRYSTALLOMANCY (Gr. crystallon, a mirror, and the Caledonians. On this small sequestered
and manteia, divination), å species of divination islet, Columba planted his religious establishment of
practised among the Greeks, which was performed Culdees or Colidei, worshippers of God, as the name
by ineans of a mirror or enchanted glass, in which is sometimes explained; and from this highly fa-
future events were said to be represented or signified voured spot, the missionaries of a pure gospel issued
by certain marks and figures.
forth to convey living spiritual religion throughout
CUBA, one of the Roman genii, worshipped as the whole of the northern districts of Scotland. The
the protectors of infants sleeping in their cradles. enterprise in which Columba was engaged was beset
Libations of milk were offered to them. See CUNI- with difficulties. The rulers, the priests, and the
NA, RUMINA.
people were alike opposed to Christianity, and the
CUBICULA, small chambers connected with the wild savage character of the country was not more
Christian churches in early times, into which people | unfavourable to the progress of the missionary from
were wont to retire when they wished to spend a district to district, than were the fierce, barbarous
short season in reading, meditation, or private prayer. manners of the people unfavourable to the reception
See CHURCHES.
of the message which he brought. Undiscouraged
648
CULDEES.
1
by the difficulties, however, and undismayed by the inquire,” we are told, “if the mother who had the
dangers of his noble undertaking, the devoted ser- first moulding of the soul in the cradle was herself
vant of Christ went forward in faith, praying that, if religious and holy.” Such a statement is of itself
it were his Master's will, he might be permitted to enough to show how earnest this man was, that only
live and labour for thirty years in this apparently holy men should minister in holy things.
barren and unpropitious part of the vineyard.
The prayer of Columba, to which we have already
And not only was Columba faithful and zealous in referred, was granted; he was privileged to labour
his missionary life, but the singular purity of his in Scotland for upwards of thirty years, and the fruit
Christian character formed a most impressive con- of his prayerful and painstaking exertions in the
mentary upon the doctrines which he preached. He cause of Christ was seen after his death, in the rising
not only taught, but he lived Christianity, and thus up of a band of faithful and holy men, who main-
was the truth commended to the hearts and the con- tained the truth of God in purity amid all the cor-
sciences of many, whom mere oral teaching would ruptions in doctrine and practice of the Church of
have failed to convince. Besides, having acquired Rome. The Culdees were the lights of Scotland in
some knowledge of the medical art, he succeeded a dark and superstitious age. They held fast by
in effecting cures in the most simple and unos- the Word of God as the only infallible directory and
tentatious way, thus earning among the ignorant guide. Even Bede, the monkish historian, in can-
people a reputation for working miracles, which led dour admits that “ Columba and his disciples would
them to regard him with superstitious veneration. receive those things only which are contained in the
His sagacity also in foreseeing what was likely to writings of the prophets, evangelists, and apostles ;
happen, clothed him in their eyes with the garb of a diligently observing the works of piety and virtue.”
prophet, In short, the vast superiority which this The false unscriptural doctrines of Rome they openly
man possessed, both in intellectual power and in rejected, refusing to acknowledge such innovations
moral purity, when compared with all around him, as the doctrine of the real presence, the idolatrous
impressed the people with feelings of awe and venera- worship of saints, prayers for the dead, the doctrine
tion, as if in the presence of some supernatural being. of the merit of good works as opposed to gratuitous
Thus it was that the labours of Columba were, by justification by faith, the infallibility of the Pope,
the blessing of God, attended with the most marked and other Romish tenets. And not only did the
success. His sermons were listened to by the hea- Culdees differ with Rome in doctrinal points, but
then with profound respect, and came home to their also in matters of discipline. The
discipline. The supremacy of the
hearts and consciences with the most thrilling effect. Pope they spurned from them as a groundless and
The consequence was, that this eminent apostle of absurd pretension. They were united in one com-
the truth had not laboured long in Scotland before mon brotherhood, not however for the purpose of
Paganism began to give way, and multitudes both of yielding obedience to a monastic rule, and selfishly
the Picts and Caledonians openly embraced the reli- confining their regards within the walls of a monas-
gion of Christ, while monasteries founded on the tery, but that they might go forth proclaiming the
Culdee system were established by him throughout gospel of Christ, animated by one common spirit, and
almost every district of the country.
prompted by one common aim. Theirs were mis-
If Columba was not himself the founder of the sionary rather than monastic institutions, making
Culdee establishments, he must be considered at all no vows but to serve God and advance his cause in
events as having matured both their doctrine and the world.
discipline. The first and parent institution of the The question has often been discussed, what precise
Culdees was at Iona, and on it as a model were mode of ecclesiastical government prevailed among
founded the religious establishments which were the Culdees. Both the Episcopalians and the Pres-
formed at Dunkeld, Abernethy, St. Andrews, Aber- byterians alike claim them as supporting their re-
corn, Govan, and other places, both on the mainland spective systems. It cannot be denied that the
and the Western Islands of Scotland. Over all the term bishop is often applied to the heads of the Cul-
monasteries, numerous and widely scattered, which dee colleges, but that they were not diocesan bishops,
Columba had erected, amounting, it is said, to no limited in their jurisdiction to a particular district, is
fewer than three hundred, he maintained order and manifest from the circumstance that the head of the
discipline, extending to each of them the most college of Iona was always a presbyter-abbot, who
anxious and careful superintendence. These insti- exercised ecclesiastical jurisdiction over all the Cul-
tutions partook more of the character of religious dee churches throughout Scotland, and even the Cul-
seminaries than of monastic foundations. The edu- dee colleges in England acknowledged the autho-
cation of the young, and their careful training, were rity of the parent institution in Iona, receiving
objects which this worthy missionary of the cross their directions, not however from the Presbyter-
kept mainly in view, and more especially was he | Abbot as an individual head, but as representing the
strict in examining into the character and habits, the whole council of the college, consisting of the pres-
talents and acquirements of those who looked for- byters, with the abbot as their president. The right
ward to the sacred profession.
" He would even of ordination, also, was vested not in the Presbyter-
CULTER-CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIANS.
649
Abbot alone, but in the council, and, accordingly, we from their monasteries, putting in their place eccle-
find one of their number stating, that the principles siastics favourable to Rome. To such an extent,
which he held were “received from his elders, who | indeed, was this policy pursued, that great numbers
sent him thither as a bishop."
of the Culdee clergy not only resigned their charges,
For centuries the Culdees continued to maintain but retired altogether from the clerical profession.
their ground in Scotland, notwithstanding all the But although the efforts of the Papacy to acquire
efforts put forth by the Church of Rome to crush, ascendency in Scotland were earnest and persevering,
and if possible exterminate them. Monasteries un- the Culdees, for a long period, had influence enough
der their direction were built in every part of the to prevent the authority of Rome being acknow-
country, and not contented with diffusing the light ledged, or her interference being asked, even where
of the gospel throughout their own land, we find disputes arose among the clergy themselves. No
them, in the beginning of the seventh century, de- | instance, indeed, of an appeal from the clergy of
spatching a mission into England. About this time | Scotland to the see of Rome seems to have occurred
the celebrated abbey of Lindisfarne was first estab.. | until the question arose as to the claim of the Arch-
lished under the auspices of Oswald, king of North- | bishop of York to be metropolitan of Scotland.
umbria, who had been himself educated by the Cul- Even then it was with the greatest reluctance that
dees, and, therefore, applied for, and obtained, for his the Pope was selected as arbiter. But from that
new monastery, a superior from the establishment at time appeals to Rome became more frequent, and at
Iona. From that time Lindisfarne became a valua- length the Culdees themselves are found referring
ble training institution for the purpose of rearing the settlement of a dispute to the same quarter.
missionaries for the Christianization of England. This, however, in the case of the Culdees, was only
The marked success, however, of the Culdees in
too sure a symptom of approaching dissolution.
England was not long in attracting the notice and Weakened in energies, and diminished in numbers,
awakening the jealousy of the Romish church. | they gradually lost their own spiritual life and
Every effort was now put forth to bring the native their salutary influence on those around them.
clergy under subjection to the see of Rome, but with Their struggles against the oppression, and their
the most inflexible determination the Culdees re- protest against the errors of Rome, daily became
sisted the encroachments of Papal supremacy. Ra- more and more feeble, until, about the close of the
ther than surrender their independence, almost all thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth cen-
the Culdee clergy in England resigned their livings turies, they entirely disappear from the scene. But
and returned to Scotland. Some of them were after- | though the Culdees as a body cease to be mentioned
wards excommunicated by the Papal power, and in the page of history, there were, doubtless, a
some even committed to the flames.
goodly number of faithful men in Scotland, even
Not contented with banishing the Culdees from then, who professed the doctrines of the Culdees with-
England, the Romish church pursued them with its out their name, and who were ready, when occasion
bitter hatred even into Scotland. At first an attempt offered, to testify publicly against the corruptions of
was made to seduce some of them from the primitive Romanism. Accordingly, when, after a short pe-
faith. In this, however, they were only very par-riod, the Reformation came, and its light began
tially successful, the only conspicuous instance of to dawn on the land of the Culdees, the spirit which
perversion from the Culdee church being that of had animated these early missionaries of the faith
Adomna, who was at one time abbot of Iona, but revived in all its strength, and a noble band of
who, having paid a visit to England A. D. 702, was heroes and martyrs arose, avowing the same scrip-
won over to the faith of Rome. This ecclesiastic, tural principles which Columba and his disciples had
on his return to Iona, used all his influence with his held, and protesting like them against the errors and
brethren to induce them to follow his example, but abominations of the apostate Church of Rome.
without success.
A few rare cases afterwards oc- CULTER, a knife used by the ancient Pagans in
curred of leading Culdee ecclesiastics who joined the slaughtering victims at the altars of the gods. It
Church of Rome, but such was the rooted attach- was usually provided with one edge, a sharp point
ment of the native clergy to the pure faith of the and a curved back.
gospel, that David I., who was a keen supporter of CULTRARIUS (from Lat. culter, a knife), the
the Papacy, found it necessary to fill up the vacant person who killed the victims which were sacrificed
benefices with foreigners. The leading object of to the gods by the heathens of ancient times. The
David, indeed, from the day that he ascended the priest who presided at a sacrifice never slaughtered
throne of Scotland, was to abolish the Culdee form the victim with his own hand, but appointed one of
of worship, and to substitute Romanism as the reli- his ministers or attendants to perform that duty in-
gion of the country. To accomplish this cherished stead of him.
design, he favoured the Popish ecclesiastics in every CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIANS, a deno-
possible way, and enriched the Popish monasteries mination of Christians which arose near the end of
with immense tracts of land in the most fertile dis- the last century in the western part of the United
tricts; he gradually dislodged the Culdee abbots States of North America. It sprung out of a re-
650
CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN".
1
vival of religion which took place in Kentucky in ordain them. They were authorized, however, to
1797 in Gaspar River congregation, under the minis- | catechize and exhort meanwhile in the vacant con-
try of the Rev. James M'Gready. Soon after the
les M'Gready. Soon after the gregations. At a subsequent meeting one was ad-
commencement of his pastoral labours in that part of mitted as a candidate for the ministry, and the other
the country, he was deeply impressed with the low two were, for the present, rejected, but continued in
state of vital religion among his people, and being the office of catechists and exhorters. In the fall of
anxious that the work of God should prosper among 1802 they were all licensed as probationers for the
them, he set before them a preamble and covenant, holy ministry, declaring their adherence to all the
in which they bound themselves to observe the third doctrines of the Confession of the Presbyterian
Saturday of each month for a year as a day of fasting Church of America, with the exception of the doc-
and prayer for the conversion of sinners in Logantrines of election and reprobation.
county and throughout the world. They pledged The Kentucky synod, which met in October 1802,
themselves also to spend half an hour every Satur- agreed to a division of the Transylvania presbytery,
day evening, and half an hour every Sabbath morn- and the formation of the Cumberland presbytery,
ing at the rising of the sun, in pleading with God to including the Green river and Cumberland countries.
revive his work.
It was this latter presbytery which was considered
This document was signed, accordingly, by the as having chiefly violated the rules of Presbyterian
pastor and the chief members of his congregation, Church order, by admitting laymen without a regu-
and having engaged in this solemn transaction, they lar education into the office of the holy ministry.
gave themselves to earnest prayer that the Lord | A complaint against them on this ground was laid
would revive his work in the midst of them. Their before the Kentucky synod in 1804. No action was
prayers were heard, for in a few months symp- taken in the matter until the following year, when it
toms of a revival began to manifest themselves. was resolved “that the commission of synod do pro-
In the following year the work went forward with ceed to examine those persons irregularly licensed, and
increasing interest and power, and extending itself those irregularly ordained by the Cumberland Pres-
throughout the surrounding neighbourhood, it ap- | bytery, and judge of their qualifications for the
peared in 1800, in what was then called the Cum- gospel ministry.” To this decision the presbytery
berland country, particularly in Shiloh congregation, refused to submit, alleging, “that they had the ex-
under the pastoral care of the Rev. William Hodge.clusive right to examine and license their own can:
So ardently desirous were the people now to hear didates, and that the synod had no right to take
the Word preached, that large meetings were held them out of their hands." In vain did the synod
in different parts of the district. On these occa- assert their authority and jurisdiction as a superior
sions multitudes attended who had come from great court over all the doings of the inferior judicatory ;
distances, and for greater convenience, families, in the members of presbytery still refused to yield.
many cases, came in waggons bringing provisions The young men, also, whom the synod proposed to
with them, and encamped on the spot where the ser- examine, declined to submit to a re-examination,
vices were conducted. This, it is generally supposed, laying before them as their reasons for such a step,
was the origin of camp meetings, which are so fre- “ That they considered the Cumberland Presbytery
quently mentioned in the accounts of American re- a regular church judicatory, and competent to judge
vivals.
of the faith and ability of its candidates; that they
The revival of religion which had thus taken place themselves had not been charged with heresy or im-
in Kentucky and Tennessee had originated with, and morality, and if they had, the presbytery would have
been chiefly fostered by, Presbyterians, and the in- been the proper judicature to call them to account.”
creased thirst for ordinances which had arisen led to Finding that the young men thus joined with the
a demand for a greater number of Presbyterian min- presbytery in resisting their authority, the synod
isters. The calls for ministerial labour were con- passed a resolution prohibiting them from exercising
stant and multiplying, far beyond, indeed, what any of the functions of the ministry until they sub-
could be met by a supply of regularly ordained pas- mitted to the jurisdiction of the commission of synod,
tors. In these circumstances it was suggested that and underwent the requisite examination. This re-
men of piety and promise might be selected from the solution was considered unconstitutional, and there-
lay members of the congregations, who might be en-
fore null and void.
couraged to prepare for immediate ministerial work, The members of the Cumberland Presbytery still
without passing through a lengthened college curri- continued to discharge all their pastoral duties as
culum. Three men, accordingly, who were regarded | formerly, and held occasional meetings for confer-
as well fitted to be invested without delay with ence, but transacted no presbyterial business. Year
the pastoral office, were requested to prepare writ- after year proposals were made in the synod to com-
ten discourses, and to read them before the next promise the matter, but in vain. At length in 1810,
meeting of presbytery. The individuals thus in- three ministers, who had always been favourable to
vited came forward, but strong opposition was the revival, and to the so-called irregular steps which
made to the proposal, in present circumstances, to had followed upon it, formed themselves into a pres-
CUNINA-CUP (EUCHARISTIC).
651
bytery, under the designation of the Cumberland, creed the existence of sin, because it is neither for
Presbytery, from which has gradually grown the his glory nor the good of his creatures ; that man
large and increasing denomination now known in was created upright, in the image of God; but, that
the United States, as the Cumberland Presbyterian | by the transgression of the federal head, he has be.
Church. The record of their constitution was in come totally depraved, so much so that he can do no
these terms: “In Dickson county, state of Tennes- good thing without the aid of Divine grace. That
see, at the Rev. Samuel M'Adam's, this 4th day of Jesus Christ is the Mediator between God and man;
February, 1810:
and that he is both God and man in one person;
We, Samuel M'Adam, Finis Ewing, and Samuel that he obeyed the law perfectly, and died on the
King, regularly ordained ministers of the Presbyterian cross to make satisfaction for sin ; and that, in the
Church, against whom no charge either of immorality expressive language of the apostle, he tasted death for
or heresy
esy has ever been exhibited before any judica- every man. That the Holy Spirit is the efficient
ture of the church, having waited in vain more than agent in our conviction, regeneration, and sanctifica-
four years, in the meantime petitioning the General tion ; that repentance and faith are necessary in
Assembly, for a redress of grievances, and a restora- order to acceptance, and that both are inseparable
tion of our violated rights, have and do hereby agree from a change of heart; that justification is by faith
and determine, to constitute ourselves into a presby- | alone; that sanctification is a progressive work, and
tery, known by the name of the Cumberland Pres- not completed till death; that those who believe in
bytery, on the following conditions:
Christ, and are regenerated by his Spirit, will never
“ All candidates for the ministry, who may here- | fall away and be lost ; that there will be a general
after be licensed by this presbytery, and all the resurrection and judgment; and that the righteous
licentiates or probationers who may hereafter be or- will be received to everlasting happiness, and the
dained by this presbytery, shall be required, before wicked consigned to everlasting misery."
such licensure and ordination, to receive and accept This church admits of infant baptism, and admin-
the Confession of Faith and Discipline of the Pres- isters the ordinance by affusion, and, when preferred,
byterian Church, except the idea of fatality that by immersion. The form of church government is
seems to be taught under the mysterious doctrine of strictly Presbyterian, including kirk-sessions, pres-
predestination. It is to be understood, however, that byteries, synods, and since 1829 a General Assem-
such as can clearly receive the Confession of Faith | bly. At the annual meeting of the Assembly in
without an exception, will not be required to make 1853, a resolution was formed to establish two For-
any. Moreover, all licentiates, before they are set eign Missions. The people attached to this denomi-
apart to the whole work of the ministry, or ordained, nation are, a large number of them at least, wealthy;
shall be required to undergo an examination in Eng- a new Theological Seminary has been instituted, and
lish Grammar, Geography, Astronomy, Natural and they have six colleges in active operation. The
Moral Philosophy, and Church History. It will not body has grown much of late, and, according to the
be understood that examinations in Experimental | most recent accounts, consists of about 900 ministers,
Religion and 'Theology will be omitted. The pres- | 1,250 churches, and nearly 100,000 members.
bytery may also require an examination on any part, CUNINA (Lat. cuna, a cradle), one of the three
or all, of the above branches of knowledge before genii of the ancient Romans, who presided over in-
licensure, if they deem it expedient.”
fant children sleeping in their cradles. See CUBA.
In the course of three years from the date of its CUP (EUCHARISTIC), the vessel which is handed
first constitution, the number of the ministers and round to communicants in the distribution of the ele.
congregations of this church had increased to such an ments in the Lord's Supper. No description is given
extent, that it was necessary to divide the body into in the New Testament of the cup which our blessed
three presbyteries, and a synod was formed which Lord used at the institution of the ordinance, but in
held its first meeting in October 1813. At this first all probability it was simply the ordinary cup used
meeting of the Cumberland Synod, a committee was by the Jews on festive occasions. Among the pri-
appointed to prepare a Confession of Faith, Cate- mitive Christians, the eucharistic cup was of no uni-
chism, and Formn of church government. The Con- form shape or material. It was made of wood, horn,
fession of Faith is a modification of the Westminster glass or marble, according to circumstances. In
Confession. Dr. Beard, the president of Cumber- course of time, as external show and splendour came
land College, Princeton, Kentucky, gives the follow- to be prized in the church, the cup which was in-
ing summary of the doctrines of this denomination of tended to contain the sacramental wine, was wrought
Christians : “ That the scriptures are the only infalli- with the greatest care, and of costly materials, such
ble rule of faith and practice; that God is an infi- as silver and gold, set with precious stones, and
nite, eternal, and unchangeable Spirit, existing mys- sometimes adorned with inscriptions and pictorial
teriously in three persons, the three being equal in representations. In the seventh century, it was laid
power and glory; that God is the Creator and Pre- down as imperative upon each church to have at
server of all things; that the decrees of God extend | least one cup and plate of silver. Two cups with
only to what is for his glory; that he has not de- / handles came at length to be in general use; one for
652
CUP OF BLESSING-CURE.
LICE,
the clergy alone; and the other, larger in size, for the Franks under every kind of pretence to spy out the
laity. When the doctrine of the real presence came land. They will bring hither with them a great mul
to be believed, a superstitious dread began to be felt titude of their countrymen to conquer the country
lest a single drop of the wine should be spilt, and in and destroy the people.” This mode of divination
consequence the cups were made in some cases with is still in use even in this country. In the rural dis-
a pipe attached to them, like the spout of a tea-pot, tricts, both of England and Scotland, the humbler
and the wine was drawn from the cup not by drink- classes are not unfrequently found to follow the su-
ing, but by suction. Some Lutheran churches still perstitious practice of "reading cups," pretending
retain cups of this description. In England, as thereby to foretell what is to happen. Instead of
Bingham informs us, the synod of Calcuth, A. D. 787, cupellomancy, another mode of divination has been
forbade the use of horn cups in the celebration of the sometimes practised, in which, after certain cere-
eucharist,-a decree which shows that such vessels monies, the required information was obtained by
had been commonly employed before that time. inspecting a consecrated beryl. This is termed
CUP (DENIAL OF, TO THE LAITY). See CHA- beryllomancy. A similar mode of predicting the
future is still occasionally in use in the north of
CUP OF BLESSING, a cup which was blessed England. See DIVINATION.
among the Jews in entertainments of ceremony, or CUPID, the god of love among the ancient Ro-
on solemn occasions. The expression is employed mans, corresponding to the EROS (which see) of the
by the apostle Paul, 1 Cor. x. 16, to describe the Greeks.
wine used in the Lord's Supper.
CURATES, the name given to unbeneficed
CUP OF SALVATION. In 2 Macc. vi. 27, we clergymen in the Church of England, who are en-
are informed that the Jews of Egypt, in their festi-gaged by the rector or vicar of a parish, or by the
vals for deliverance, offered cups of salvation. Some incumbent of a church or chapel, either to assist him
think that the “ cup of salvation" was a libation of in his duties if too laborious for him, or to undertake
wine poured on the victim sacrificed on thanksgiv- the charge of the parish in case of his absence. A
ing occasions, according to the law of Moses. The curate then has no permanent charge, in which case
modern Jews have cups of thanksgiving, which are he is called a stipendiary curate, and is liable to lose
blessed on the occasion of marriage feasts, and feasts | his curacy when his services are no longer needed.
which are held at the circumcision of children. By law, however, he has it in his power to demand
CUPELLOMANCY, divination by cups. The six months' notice before being dismissed, while he,
use of cups seems to have been resorted to in very on the other hand, must give three months' notice to
early times for purposes of divination or soothsaying the bishop before he can leave a curacy to which he
Thus we find the question asked in regard to the has been licensed. All curates in England are not
cup of Joseph which he had commanded to be put
handed to be put in this uncertain and insecure position, there being a
in the mouth of Benjamin's sack, Gen. xliv. 5, “ Is number of what are called perpetual curates, who
not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby cannot be dismissed at the pleasure of the patron,
indeed he divineth ? ye have done evil in so doing," but are as much incumbents as any other beneficed
It is not at all probable that Joseph made the least clergymen. This occurs where there is in a parish
pretence to divination, but this imputation is ignor- neither rector nor vicar, but a clergyman is employed
antly put upon him by the Egyptian steward, per- to officiate there by the impropriator, who is bound
haps on account of his superior wisdom. At all to maintain him. By the canons of the church, "no
events, it is clear, that the custom of divining by cups curate can be permitted to serve in any place with-
is of great antiquity in the East, and accordingly, in out examination and admission of the bishop of the
early Persian authors, we find mention made of the diocese, or ordinary of the place, having episcopal
cup of JEMSHID (which see), which was believed to jurisdiction, under his hand and seal.” A curate
display all that happened on the face of the globe. who has not received a license can be removed at
Jamblichus also, in his work on Egyptian mysteries, pleasure, but should he be licensed, the consent of
speaks of the practice of divining by cups. That the bishop is necessary to his removal. Bishops
this superstitious custom is still known in Egypt, is may either refuse or withdraw a license from a
evident from a remarkable passage in Norden's Tra- curate at their own pleasure.
vels. When the author with his companions had CURCHUS, a false god worshipped among the
arrived at the most remote extremity of Egypt, where ancient Prussians, as presiding over eating and
they were exposed to great danger in consequence of drinking. The people offered to him the first-fruits
their being taken for spies, they sent one of their of their harvest. They also kept a fire continually
company to a malicious and powerful Arab, to burning in honour of him, and built a new statue to
threaten him if he should attempt to do them injury. him every year, breaking the former one in pieces.
He answered them in these words, “I know what CURE (Lat. cura, care), the care of souls, a terni
sort of people you are.
I have consulted my cup,
used in the Church of England to denote the spiri-
and found in it that you are from a people of whom tual charge of a parish, and sometimes used for the
one of our prophets has said: There will come parish itself. The cure is given to a presentee on
CUREOTIS–CUTTINGS IN THE FLESH.
653
being instituted by the bishop, when he says, “I in- the records), identical with the CEIMELIARCHS
stitute or appoint thee rector of such a church with (which see).
the cure of souls.” He is not, however, complete CUSTOS ECCLESIÆ (Lat. keeper of the
incumbent of the benefice until he has been inducted, church), a name sometimes given in the fourth and
or has received what the canon law terms “corporal fifth centuries to the OSTIARIUS (which see), or
possession," on which he is entitled to the tithes and doorkeeper in Christian churches.
other ecclesiastical profits arising within that parish,
CUTHEANS. See SAMARITANS.
and has the cure of souls living and residing there. CUTTINGS IN THE FLESH, a mode of ex-
CUREOTIS, the third day of the festival APA- | pressing intense sorrow for the loss by death of dear
TURIA (which see), celebrated at Athens. On this relatives, which obviously must have been frequently
day the children of both sexes were admitted into practised in very ancient times. Hence we find
their phratriæ or tribes. The ceremony consisted distinct prohibition of such a custom in the law of
in offering the sacrifice of a sheep or goat for each Moses. Thus Lev. xix. 28, “ Ye shall not make
child, and if any one opposed the reception of the any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any
child into the phratria, he stated the case, and at marks upon you." The very existence of such a
the same time led away the victim from the altar. command is an irrefragable proof that this practice,
If no objections were offered, the father or guardian absurd and revolting though it be, must have been
was bound to show on oath that the child was the known among the Israelites, and in all probability,
offspring of free-born parents, who were themselves therefore, among the Egyptians also, with whom
citizens of Athens. The reception or rejection of they had so long dwelt. It was customary among
the child was decided by the votes of the phratores. ancient idolaters to inflict such cuttings upon their
If the result was favourable, the names of both the own bodies. Thus it is said of the priests of Baal,
father and the child were entered in the register of | 1 Kings xviii. 28, “And they cried aloud, and cut
the phratria. At the close of the ceremony the themselves after their manner with knives and lan-
wine and the flesh of the victim were distributed, cets, till the blood gushed out upon them.” The
every phrator receiving his share.
prophet Jeremiah also refers to the same custom,
CURETES, priests of Rhea (which see). They xlviii
. 37, “For every head shall be bald, and every
are connected with the story of the birth and con- beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings,
cealment of the infant ZEUS (which see), who was and upon the loins sackcloth ;" and xvi. 6, “Both
intrusted to their care. They are sometimes consid- the great and the small shall die in this land: they
ered as identical with the CORYBANTES (which see). shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for
CURIA (ROMISH), a collective appellation of all them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald
the authorities in Rome which exercise the rights for them.” Among the ancient Romans these cut-
and privileges enjoyed by the Pope as first bishop, \ tings appear to have been practised. Thus, as Plu-
superintendent, and pastor of the Roman Catholic tarch informs us, the BELLONARII (which see) offered
church. See CONGREGATIONS (ROMISH).
sacrifices to the goddess of war, mingling them with
CURIÆ. In the early ages of the history of their own blood. Nor is the barbarous custom yet
Rome, it would appear that the citizens proper were abolished, for we find idolatrous nations, for exam-
divided into three tribes, each of which consisted of ple, the Hindus, inflicting voluntary self-mutilations,
ten curiæ or wards, thus rendering the whole num- imagining thereby to appease their bloodthirsty
ber of the curiæ thirty. Each of these curiæ had a deities. Morier, in his travels in Persia, tells us,
president called a Curio, whose office it was to offi- that when the anniversary of the death of Hossein
ciate as a priest. The thirty curiones or priests were is celebrated, the most violent of the followers of
presided over by a Curio Maximus or chief priest. Ali
, the father of Hossein, walk about the streets
CURSE. See ANATHEMA.
almost naked, with only their loins covered, and their
CURSORES ECCLESIÆ (Lat. couriers of the bodies streaming with blood, by the voluntary cuts
church), messengers, as Baronius supposes, employed which they have given themselves, either as acts of
in the early Christian church, to give private notice love, anguish, or mortification. Mrs. Meer Hassan
to every member, when and where meetings for | Ali, in her description of Mohammedanism in India,
Divine worship were to be held. Ignatius uses the referring to the same fast of the Mohurrum, says, “I
term, but in a very different meaning, to denote have even witnessed blood issuing from the breasts
messengers sent from one country to another upon of sturdy men, who beat themselves simultaneously
the important affairs of the church.
as they ejaculated the names “Hassan!' Hossein1
CURSUS (Lat. courses), the original name of the for ten minutes, and occasionally for a longer period
BREVIARY (which see) in the Romish church, and in that part of the service called Mortem.”
the same term was used to denote the Gallican Li- The same barbarous custom is found among the
turgy, which was used in the British churches for a aborigines of Australia. A correspondent of the
long period, until the Roman Liturgy came to be Melbourne Argus thus describes a scene of this kind
employed.
which he himself recently witnessed in the case of a
CUSTODES ARCHIVORUM (Lat. keepers of dying man : “ His wife, the bereaved one, gave evi-
654
CYAMITES—CYRENAICS.
dence of uncontrollable and maddening grief. With other mythical personage of this name is mentioned
her nails she tore the skin off her cheeks from the in the ancient classical writers, as having been the
eyes downwards. This action she continued on the son of Poseidon or Neptune, and a third as the son
lacerated flesh until it became horrible to witness. of Ares or Mars, and Pelopia.
Anon she would seize a tomahawk and dash it with CYDONIA, a surname of Athena, under which
both hands against her legs. At last she threw her- she was worshipped at Phrixa in Elis.
self forward as if to catch the last breath of her dy- CYLLENIUS, a surname of Hermes, derived from
ing husband. The frantic excitement of every one Mount Cyllene in Arcadia, where he was worshipped
increases; the self-inflicted. wounds are redoubled. and had a temple.
The man is dead. The body is stretched out before CYNICS, a school of ancient philosophy among
the fire. Instantaneously each man ran to where he the Greeks. It was founded by Antisthenes about the
had been placed, and began stabbing himself in the year B. C. 380. The characteristic principle held by
legs. The howlings, the yellings, and wailings of the Cynics was, that virtue consisted of a proud in-
agonizing grief, which accompanied this display, dependence of all outward things. Diogenes was a
formed certainly the most imposing death-dirge that fit representative of this principle. Worldly plea-
fancy could ever have imagined. Throughout the sures and honours of every kind were utterly de-
whole of three nights the entire bush resounded with spised, and even the ordinary civilities of life were
their wailings." See MOURNING.
set at nought. Hence, probably, the name Cynics,
CYAMITES, a mysterious being mentioned by from the Greek cyon, cynos, a dog, as their rude, un-
Pausanias, who was considered by the ancient Greeks civil deportment was fitted to remind one of the
as the hero of beans, and was worshipped in a small snarling of a dog. The views inculcated by this
temple on the road between Athens and Eleusis. school were a caricature of the ethical opinions of So-
CYANE, a nymph of Sicily in ancient times, who crates, who taught that the end of man was to live vir-
was believed to have been changed through grief into tuously, while the Cynics, carrying out the principle
a well, and on the spot an annual festival was held by to the most absurd extravagance, wished that man
the Syracusans, in the course of which a bull was should set nothing else before him but naked virtue,
sunk into the well as a sacrifice.
trampling under foot all the subordinate feelings and
CYBELE. See RHEA.
proprieties which go to form the essential drapery, if
CYCLOPES (Gr. cyclos, a circle, and ops, an eye), | not the essence, of virtue.
fabulous in ancient Greek mythology. They were
CYNOCEPHALUS (Gr. cyon, a dog, and cepha-
three in number, Arges, Steropes, and Brontes, each los, a head), a name sometimes given to the ancient
of them having only one eye in his forehead. They Egyptian deity ANUBIS (which see), as being repre-
were sons of Uranus and Ge, and were ranked among sented in the shape of a man with a dog's head.
the Titans who were cast down into Tartarus by CYNOSURA, a nymph of Mount Ida, and one of
their father Zeus, in his war with Cronus, and the the nurses of the infant Zeus, who afterwards re-
Titans delivered the Cyclopes from Tartarus, who, warded her services by placing her among the stars.
in return for his kindness, became the ministers CYNTHIA, a surname of Artemis, derived from
of Zeus, and supplied him with thunderbolts and Mount Cynthus, in the island of Delos, where she
lightning, but were afterwards killed by Apollo.
was born.
The Cyclopes, as mentioned in the Odyssey of Ho- CYNTHIUS, a surname of Apollo, from Cyn-
mer, were shepherds of gigantic stature, and of can- thus in Delos, which was his birth-place.
nibal propensities, who inhabited caves in Sicily, CYRENAICS, one of the schools of ancient Greek
the chief of them being Polyphemus, who had only philosophy. It was founded by Aristippus of Cy.
one eye situated on his forehead. According to the rene, who flourished about B. c. 380. The Socratic
later writers, the Cyclopes were assistants of Hephaes.. doctrine, which formed the starting point of this
tus or Vulcan, who dwelt under Mount Ætna in school, was, that all philosophy is of a practical
Sicily, where they employed themselves in busily character, and has as its ultimate object the happi-
forging armour for gods and heroes. Some accounts ness of man. It rejected all idea of duty, or what
treat them as skilful architects, and accordingly, we ought to be done from its abstract rightness, and re-
find Cyclopean walls spoken of to describe various garded virtue as enjoyment, or what ought to be
gigantic mural structures, which are still found in done because it contributes to our immediate satis-
several parts of Greece and Italy. It is difficult to faction or happiness. Virtue, therefore, was to be
ascertain what is the precise mythical meaning of valued, in the estimation of Aristippus and his school,
the Cyclopes. Plato regards them as intended to as being productive of pleasure, which was the chief
represent men in their savage uncultivated state, but object at which man ought to aim. Happiness is with
it is far more likely that they were types of certain him not different froin pleasure, but is merely the
powers or energies of nature, indicated by volcanoes sum of pleasures, past, present, and future. Every
and earthquakes.
thing was to be prized according to the amount of
CYCNUS, a son of Apollo by Thyria, who was enjoyment which it gives. The basest pleasures,
along with his mother changed into a swan. An- therefore, were, in the view of the Cyrenaics, on a
CYRENE-DADU PANT'HIS.
655
footing with the most honourable, provided they im- CYRIL (ST., LITURGY OF), one of the twelve Li-
parted an equal amount of enjoyment. Such doc- turgies contained in the Missal of the MARONITES
trines were felt even among Pagans to be dangerous. (which see), printed at Rome in 1592.
One of the most noted teachers of this school, He- CYRILLIANS, a name applied by the Nesto-
gesias, was prohibited from lecturing, lest imbibing | RIANS (which see), in the fifth century, to the ortho-
his sentiments they should put an end to their ex- dox Christians, in consequence of Cyril, bishop of
istence by their own hands, in order to escape from Alexandria, being the chief opponent of the doc-
the pleasures of a life so greatly overbalanced by trines of Nestorius.
pains.
CYTHERA, a surname of Aphrodite, derived from
CYRENE, a mythical person beloved by Apollo, | the town of Cythera in Crete, or from the island of
who carried her from Mount Pelion to Libya, where Cythera in the Ægean Sea, where she had a cele-
she gave name to Cyrene.
brated temple.
D
DABAIBA, an idol formerly worshipped at Pan- to hang, when joined together, gave the answer. We
ama in South America, to which slaves were sac- read also in ancient story of Gyges, whose enchanted
rificed. This goddess was considered as having at ring, when he turned it towards the palm of his
one time been a native of earth, who, on account of land, possessed the power of rendering him invisi-
her virtues, was exalted to heaven at her death, and ble. See DIVINATION,
received the name of the mother of God. Thunder DADU PANTHIS, one of the Vaishnava sects
and lightning were regarded as an expression of her in Hindustan. It had its origin from Dadu, a cot-
anger.
ton-cleaner by profession, who, having been admon-
DABIS, a deity among the Japanese, of whom ished by a voice from heaven to devote himself to a
there is an immense statue, made of brass, to religious life, retired with that view to Baherana
whom they offer licentious and indecent worship once mountain, where, after some time, he disappeared,
every month. He is thought to be the same with and no traces of him could be found. His followers
DAIBOTH (which see).
believed him to have been absorbed into the Deity.
DACTYLI IDÆI, fabulous beings who dwelt He is supposed to have flourished about A. D. 1600. .
on Mount Ida in Phrygia, who were concerned in The followers of Dadu wear no peculiar mark on
the worship of Rhea. Sometimes they are confounded the forehead, but carry a rosary, and are further
with the Cabeiri, Curetes, and Corybantes. They distinguished by a round white cap according to
were believed to have discovered iron and the art of some, but, according to others, one with four cor-
working it. The utmost difference of opinion ex- ners, and a flap hanging down behind. This cap each
isted as to their number, some reckoning them three, man is required to manufacture for himself.
others five, ten, and even as high as a hundred. The Dadu Panthis are divided into three classes :
Their name is supposed by some to have been de- 1. the Viralctas, religious characters who go bare-
rived from dalctulos, a finger, there being ten of them, headed, and have but one garment and one water-
corresponding to the number of fingers on the hand. pot. 2. The Nagus, who carry arms, which they are
Their habitation is placed by some writers on Ida in ready to use for hire; and amongst the Hindu
Crete, and they are even regarded as the earliest in- princes they have been considered as good soldiers.
habitants of that island, where they discovered iron 3. The Bister Dharis, who follow the usual occupa-
on Mount Berecynthus. The Dactyls seem, indeed, tions of ordinary life. This last class is further sub-
to be mythical representatives of the first discoverers divided, and the chief branches form fifty-two divi-
of iron, and of the art of smelting it by means of fire. sions, the peculiarities of which have not been ascer-
DACTYLOMANCY (Gr. dactulon, a ring, and tained. The Dadu Pant'his are accustomed to burn
manteia, divination), a kind of divination which had their dead at early dawn, but in some cases the bo-
its origin among the ancient Greeks, and was after- dies are exposed in an open field or desert place, to
wards adopted by the Romans. It was performed be devoured by beasts and birds of prey, lest insect
by suspending a ring from a fine thread over a round life might be destroyed, which is liable to happen
table, on the edge of which were marked the letters when the body is laid on a funeral pile. This sect,
of the alphabet. When the vibration of the ring in its three above-noted classes, is said to be very
had ceased, the letters over which the ring happened numerous in Marwar and Ajnieer. Their chief
1
656
DADUCHI-DAEIRA.
nares.
place of worship is at Naraiva, where the bed of | The people of more limited means contented them-
Dadu and the collection of the texts of the sect are selves with sacrificing sheep. . Wine and incense in
preserved and worshipped, while a small building great abundance were placed upon the altar along
on the hill Baherana marks the place of his disap- with the victims, and twelve wooden statues were,
pearance. A mela or fair is held annually from at the same time, laid upon the smoking pile, which
the day of new moon to that of full moon, in Feb- was allowed to burn until both victims and altar were
ruary and March, at Naraina. The sect maintain a wholly consumed. It is difficult to give a satisfac-
friendly intercourse with the KABIR PANT'HIS (which tory explanation of these Grecian festivals, but Plu-
see), and are frequent visitors at the Chaura at Be- tarch, who wrote a work upon the subject, considers
the whole ceremonies as a mythical representation of
DADUCHI, the torch-bearers in the Eleusi- physical disturbances in the elements to which Bæo-
niun mysteries, whose duty it was, in conjunction tia had at one time been subject, although, in course
with the Hierophant, to offer prayers and sing hymns of time, it had been delivered from them.
to Ceres and Proserpine. They wore diadems, and DÆDALUS, a mythical person among the an-
are considered generally to represent mythically the cient Greeks, said by some to be of Athenian, by
sun. They passed the lighted torch from hand to others of Cretan, origin. He seems to have excelled in
hand, in commemoration of Ceres searching for her sculpture, and his sister's son, Perdix, to whom he
daughter Proserpine by the light of a torch, which had given lessons in the art, having risen to higher
she had kindled at the fires of Etna.
reputation than himself, he killed him through envy.
DÆDALA, two festivals in honour of Hera, ce- For this crime Dædalus was sentenced to death by
lebrated in Baotia. Pausanias describes their ori- the Areiopagus, and to escape punishment he fled to
gin as having been derived from the following cir- Crete. Here he soon acquired great fame as a sculp-
cumstances. A quarrel having arisen between Zeus tor, having constructed a wooden cow for Pasiphäe,
and a, the latter fled to Eubea, whence she could and the labyrinth at Cnossus in which the Minotaur
not be persuaded to return, until her husband adopted was kept. Minos, the king of Crete, being displeased
the expedient of procuring a wooden statue, which with the conduct of Dædalus, imprisoned him; but
he dressed and placed in a chariot, pretending that he was set at liberty by Pasiphäe, and finding no
it was a young virgin whom he was about to marry. other means of escaping from Crete, he procured
The scheme was successful, for Hera's jealousy be- wings for himself and his son Icarus, which were
ing excited, she hastily found her way to the home fastened on their bodies with wax. By this means
of her husband, and on learning the nature and de- Dædalus succeeded in crossing the Ægean Sea, but
sign of the device, she became reconciled to Zeus. | Icarus, having taken a loftier flight than his father,
The Platæans, accordingly, instituted a greater and went so near the sun that the wax melted, and he
à lesser festival, both of which were called Dædala, fell into that part of the Ægean which, from this cir-
a name given in ancient times to statues and other cumstance, received the name of the Icarian Sea.
works of human ingenuity and skill. The lesser | Meanwhile Dædalus took refuge in Sicily, where,
festival was celebrated by the Platæans alone at Alal- under the protection of Cocalus, king of the Sicani,
comene, the largest oak-grove in Bæotia. In this he prosecuted his favourite art with remarkable suc-
forest they exposed to the air pieces of boiled meat, He seeins afterwards to have resided in Sar-
which attracted crows, and the people watching on dinia, and Diodorus Siculus mentions him as having
what trees the birds perched, these were forthwith executed works in Egypt, and acquired so great re-
cut down, and converted into wooden statues or da- nown that he was worshipped in that country as a
dala. The greater festival, on the other hand, which god. The mythical meaning of this strange story is
was by far the more important of the two, and probably to be found in the invention and progress
brought together a larger number of people, was of the fine arts, particularly the arts of sculpture and
celebrated every sixty years. The ceremony was architecture, and the order in which they passed from
not observed by the inhabitants of Platea alone, or one country to another. The material of which
even of Baotia, but by people drawn from all the Daedalus wrought the greater part, if not the whole,
cities of Greece. On this occasion, also, the festi- of his works, was not stone but wood. It is some-
val was of a peculiarly popular description. The what remarkable, that the earliest works of art which
ceremony commenced with the erection of an altar were attributed to the gods, received the name of
on Mount Cithæron, constructed of square pieces of dodala, and it is probable that the earliest carved
wood. A statue of a female, designed to represent images would be of wood wrought into some shape
Hera, was then mounted on a chariot, and led for- or other designed to represent a god.
ward in procession, a young woman leading the way, DAEIRA (Gr. the knowing), a female divinity
who was attired like a bride, and the Baotians follow- connected with the ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES (which
ing in an order regulated by lot. On their arrival at see). She is described by Pausanias as the daugh-
the sacred spot, a quantity of wood was piled upon ter of Oceanus, and mother of Eleusis. Some have
the altar, and each city, as well as wealthy indivi- regarded her as identical with Aphrodite, Demeter, or
duals, offered a heifer to Hera, and a bull to Zeus. Hera.
cess.
DA'GOBA.
657
DÆMONS. See DEMONS.
holding in his right hand a small cylinder fixed upon
DA'GOBA, a conical erection surmounting re- the upper end of a short staff or handle, which he
lics among the Budhists. The name is said by Mr. | keeps in perpetual revolution. The reverence in
Hardy to be derived from dá, dátu, or dhátu, an osse- which these structures are held is thus noticed by
ous relic, and geba or garbha, the womb. These build- Mr. Hardy, in his deeply interesting and valuable
ings are sometimes of immense height, of circular work, entitled · Eastern Monachism :' “Any mark
form, and composed of stone or brick, faced with of disrespect to the dágoba is regarded as being highly
stone or stucco. They are built upon a platform, criminal, whilst a contrary course is equally deserv-
which again rests upon a natural or artificial eleva- | ing of reward. When Elaro, one of the Malabar
tion, which is usually reached by a flight of steps. sovereigns, who reigned in Ceylon B. C. 205, was one
The utmost respect is felt for dagobas among the day riding in his chariot, the yoke-bar accidentally
Budhists, chiefly because they contain relics of differ- struck one of these edifices, and displaced some of
ent kinds. Professor Wilson, in his ' Ariana Anti- the stones. The priests in attendance reproached
qua,' thus describes the ordinary contents of a dágoba: him for the act; but the monarch immediately de-
“ The most conspicuous objects are, in general, ves- scended to the ground, and prostrating himself in the
sels of stone or metal; they are of various shapes street, said that they might take off his head with
and sizes ; some of them have been fabricated on a the wheel of his carriage. But the priests replied,
lathe. They commonly contain a silver box or cas- • Great king ! our divine teacher delights not in tor-
ket, and within that, or sometimes by itself, a casket ture; repair thic dágoba.' For the purpose of re-
of gold. This is sometimes curiously wrought. One placing the fifteen stones that had been dislodged,
found by Mr. Masson at Deh Bimaran is chased with Elaro bestowed 15,000 of the silver coins called ka-
a double series of four figures, representing Gautama hapana. Two women who had worked for hire at
in the act of preaching; a mendicant is on his right, the erection of the great dágoba by Dutugamini were
a lay-follower on his left, and behind the latter a for this meritorious act born in Tawutisa. The le-
female disciple; they stand under arched niches rest- gend informs us that on a subsequent occasion they
ing on pillars, and between the arches is a bird ; a went to worship at the same place, when the radiance
row of rubies is set round the upper and lower edge emanating from their persons was so great that it
of the vessel, and the bottom is also chased with the filled the whole of Ceylon.”
leaves of the lotus: the vase had no cover. Within The ground on which a dágoba is held in so high
these vessels, or sometimes in the cell in which they estimation is simply because it contains relics which
are placed, are found small pearls, gold buttons, gold have from remote times been worshipped by the
ornaments and rings, beads, pieces of white and col- Budhists. As far back as the fourth century, Fa
oured glass and crystal, pieces of clay or stone with Hian, a Chinese traveller, mentions such a practice
impressions of figures, bits of bone, and teeth of ani - as then prevailing. “ The bones of Gotama, the
mals of the ass and goat species, pieces of cloth, and garments he used, the utensils he used, and the lad-
folds of the Tuz or Bhurj leaf, or rather the bark of der by which he visited heaven, were worshipped by
a kind of birch on which the Hindus formerly wrote; numbers of devout pilgrims; and happy did the
and these pieces bear sometimes characters which country consider itself that retained one of these
may be termed Bactrian ; but they are in too fragile precious remains.” The most celebrated relic which
and decayed a state to admit of being unfolded or is still to be found among the worshippers of Gotama
read. Similar characters are also found superficially Budha is the DALADA' (which see). To make a
scratched upon the stone, or dotted upon the metal present or offering to a dágoba is viewed as an act
vessels. In one instance they were found traced of the highest virtue, which will be rewarded both
upon the stone with ink. Within some of the ves-- in this world and the next, and will lead to the at-
sels was also found a liquid, which upon exposure tainment of Nirwana or annihilation. Budha himself
rapidly evaporated, leaving a brown sediment, which declared while on earth, “ Though neither towers
was analysed by Mr. Prinsep, and offered soine traces nor anything else should be offered, yet if any one
of animal and vegetable matters."
will look with a pleasant mind at a dágoba or the
The principal dágobas in Ceylon, as we learn from court of the b6-tree, he will undoubtedly be born in
Mr. Hardy, are at Anuradhapura, and it would ap- a DE'WA-LOKA (which see); it is unnecessary to say
pear that it was accounted a ceremony of great im- that he who sweeps these sacred places, or makes
portance among the ancient ascetics to walk round offerings to them, will have an equal reward ; fur-
one of these sacred structures. It is regarded by thermore, should any one die on his way to make an
the Hindu Bralımans as a most meritorious walk to offering to a dágoba, he also will receive the blessed-
circumambulate a temple, raising the person who ness of the Déwa-lokas.” Some dágobas are alleged
performs this pious act to a place in the heaven of to have the power of working miracles, but this privi-
the god or goddess to whom the temple belongs. The lege is almost exclusively confined to those which
Nepaulese also account it one of the most devout have been built in honour of the rahats, or beings who
employments in which a Budhist can be engaged to are free from all evil desire, and possess supernatural
march round a dágoba, repeating mental prayers, and powers.
I.
3 A
658
DAGON-DAHOMEY (RELIGION OF).
women.
DAGON, a great god of the Philistines mention- them is no wonder. In short, as it is rational to
ed in the Bible. He is represented in 1 Sam. v. 4, presume that the Phoenicians liad a Neptune, as well
as having the face and arms of a man, and the body as a Saturn, Jupiter, and Pluto, so we can find him
of a fish. The temple of Dagon at Gaza is described by no other name than that of Dagon. It is true,
in Judg. xvi. 27, as having been so magnificent and there were other marine gods, which might be re-
large that on the roof of it stood about 3,000 men and presented in the same manner.
But this Dagon
This deity must have had worship offered seems to be the king of them all; for we find by the
him till a late period, as we find a Beth-Dagon, or history of Samson, that he was looked upon by the
temple of Dagon, mentioned in the First Book of Philistines as the great god, who had delivered up
Maccabees. Sanchoniathon interprets the word to Samson unto them. Accordingly, in the history of
mean bread-corn, and alleges him to have been the the ark and Dagon, he is absolutely called the god
son of Uranus, and the inventor of bread-corn and of the Philistines, ‘ Dagon our god.' Had he been of
the plough. Some regard Noah, who was a husband- the inferior gods, it is not like they would have done
man, as represented by Dagon. Great difference of so much homage to him." Bochart supposes Dagon
opinion has existed among authors as to the god, or, to have been Japhet, the son of Noah, and that the
the word being also feminine, the goddess indicated government of the sea was bestowed upon him, be-
by the Philistine idol. Sometimes it received the cause his allotment and that of his posterity was in
name of Derceto, and at other times of Atergatis. the islands, peninsulas, and lands beyond the sea,
Herodotus compares Dagon to the goddess Venus. that is, in Europe.
It is not unlikely that the Jews, from their vicinity DAHOMEY (RELIGION OF). The country whose
to the country of the Philistines, may have fallen religion falls to be sketched in this article, forms a
into the worship of this idol. Selden conjectures kingdom of considerable extent in the interior of
that the god Oannes worshipped by the Babylonians Western Africa, behind the Slave Coast. One grand
was identical with the Dagon of the Phoenicians. point which may be regarded as the centre of the
Berosus, quoted by Eusebius, says, that this oannes whole religious, and indeed political system of the
had the body of a fish, and below the head placed people of Dahomey is superstitious veneration for
upon the body, another head of a man which came the person of their monarch, whom they look upon
out from under the head of the fish. He had like- as a superior being, nay, almost a divinity. So much
wise a man's feet coming from under the tail of the is this idolatrous feeling encouraged by the govern-
fish, and a huinan voice. This monster, the same ment, that it is accounted criminal to believe that
ancient author says, came every morning out of the the king of Dahomey eats, drinks, and sleeps like
sea, went to Babylon, and taught men arts and ordinary mortals. His meals are always taken to a
sciences, returning every evening to its ocean-home. secret place, and any man that has the misfortune or
It has been supposed that Dagon was a male god the temerity to cast his eyes upon him in the act, is
at Ashdod, but a female at Ascalon, where she had a put to death. If the king drinks in public, which is
magnificent temple, and was called Derceto or Dirce, done on some extraordinary occasions, his person is
being identical also with Atergatis the Syrian goddess. concealed by having a curtain held up before him,
The Jewish writers generally agree in deriving the during which time the people prostrate themselves,
word Dagon from day, the Hebrew word for a fish, and afterwards shout and cheer at the very top of
and that, like the Tritons, the idol was half man, their voices. The consequence is, that the orders of
half fish. Abarbanel and Jarchi, however, seem to the sovereign, however tyrannical and unjust, are
hint that the whole statue of Dagon was the figure obeyed with the most implicit submission, no one
of a fish, except his hands and feet, which had a daring to resist the will of a ruler whom they believe
human shape. It is remarkable that Layard, in his to be invested with almost Divine attributes.
recent researches in the ruins of Nineveh, discovered In this, as in all the other parts of Western Africa,
in the course of his excavations a statue evidently of Fetish WORSHIP (which see) prevails, the fetish or
a deity, the upper portion being in human shape, imaginary god of Dahomey being the leopard, which
and the lower in the shape of a fish, thus confirming is accounted so sacred, that if any person should kill
the idea that the same gods were worshipped among one of these animals, he is instantly offered up in sacri..
the Assyrians and Chaldeans as among the Phæni- fice to the offended deity. The leopard is regarded as
cians. Jurieu, in his ingenious and learned · His representing the Supreme, invisible god “Seh," and
tory of the Doctrines and Worships of the Church,' worshipped with great reverence by the people.
endeavours to prove that Dagon was no other than Another object of worship is “Soh," the deity of
the Phænician Neptune. The arguments in support thunder and lightning. Sacrifices are offered of dif-
of this opinion he thus briefly states: “His shape ferent kinds. The ceremonies practised in the sacri-
of a fish is a demonstration of it; for I see no reason fice of a bullock, are thus detailed by Mr. Forbes in
why they should give the figure of a fish to a celes- his · Dahomey and the Dahomans :' “ The priests
tial god. The name of Dagon, that signifies a fish, and priestesses (the highest of the land, for the Da-
is another proof of it; for fishes are the chief sub- homan proverb has it that the poor are never priests)
jects of Neptune, and his borrowing his name from assemble within a ring, in a public square; a band
DAHOMEY (RELIGION OF).
659
of discordant music attends; and after arranging the tense heathenism; and to mention no other feature
emblems of their religion, and the articles carried in in their superstitious practices, the worship of snakes
religious processions, such as banners, spears, tripods, at this place fully illustrates this remark. A house
and vessels holding bones, skulls, congealed blood, in the middle of the town is provided for the exclu-
and other barbarous trophies, they dance, sing, and sive use of these reptiles, and they may be seen here
drink until sufficiently excited. The animals are at any time in very great numbers. They are fed,
next produced, and decapitated by the male priests, and more care is taken of them than of the human
with large chopper-knives. The altars are waslied inhabitants of the place. If they are seen straying
with the blood caught in basins; the rest is taken away they must be brought back; and at the sight
round by the priests and priestesses, who, as Moses of them the people prostrate themselves on the
commanded the elders of Israel (B. C. 1491), “strike ground, and do them all possible reverence. To kill
the lintel and two side posts' of all the houses of the or injure one of them is to incur the penalty of death.
devotees, with the blood that is in the basin.' The On certain occasions they are taken out by the
turkey buzzards swarm in the neighbourhood, and priests or doctors, and paraded about the streets, the
with the familiarity of their nature gorge on the bearers allowing them to coil themselves around their
mangled carcase as it is cut in pieces. The meat is arms, necks, and bodies. They are also employed
next cooked, and distributed among the priests ; por- to detect persons who have been guilty of witch-
tions being set aside to feed the spirits of the de- craft. If in the hands of the priest they bite the
parted and the fetishes. After the sacrifice the suspected person, it is sure evidence of his guilt, and
priesthood again commence dancing, singing, and no doubt the serpent is trained to do the will of his
drinking; men, women, and children, grovelling in keeper in all such cases. Images, usually called
the dirt, every now and then receiving the touch and greegrees, of the most uncouth shape and form, may
blessing of these enthusiasts.'
be seen in all parts of the town, and are worshipped
As appears from this quotation, the Dahoman by all classes of persons. Perhaps there is no place
priesthood is taken chiefly from the higher classes, where idolatry is more openly practised, or where
and indeed in the sacred order are to be found some the people have sunk into deeper pagan darkness.”
of the royal wives and children. To reveal the sa- (See ASHANTEE, RELIGION OF.)
cred mysteries and incantations, the knowledge of Circumcision is practised among the natives of
which is limited to the priestly office, is visited with Dahomey, as among many other tribes throughout the
capital punishment. Private sacrifices of fowls,
Private sacrifices of fowls, / whole African continent, with the exception of those
ducks, and even goats, are common, and are per-
on the Grain Coast, and the neglect of this ceremony
formed with ceremonies similar to those observed in exposes a man to the heaviest reproach and ridicule.
the public sacrifices. In cases of sickness, for in- Nor is this the only case in which the Dahomans
stance, it is customary to endeavour to propitiate the have adopted Jewish practices. The door-posts, for
gods with sacrifices of different kinds, commencing example, of their houses are sprinkled with the
with the simple offering of palm-oil food, and if this blood of animals offered in sacrifice; they have also
fail, owls, ducks, goats, and bullocks are sacrificed. their stated oblations and purifications, and as an ex-
Should the sick man be wealthy or of high rank, he pression of mourning they shave their heads, and
asks the king to allow him to sacrifice one or more
dress themselves in the meanest and most abject
slaves, for each of whom he pays a certain sum into garments. But far more nearly does this supersti-
the royal treasury. If he recovers from his sick- tious people approach in their religious rites to the
ness, he expresses his gratitude by liberating one or idolatry of Paganism. They venerate all large ani-
more slaves, bullocks, goats, fowls, or other objects mals, such as the elephant, and hold them in a spe-
which had been destined for sacrifice, but which are cies of religious awe. Should a lion be killed, the
now given up to the fetish, and therefore cared for skull and bones are a welcome offering to the fetish,
by the fetishmen. If, on the other hand, he dies, and gain for the donor some special privileges. So
the latest and most earnest request of the dying man highly do they venerate their own fetish, the leo-
is that his principal wives should consent to accom- pard, that should a man fall a victim to this sacred
pany him into the next world—a request which is animal, he is gone in the belief of the Dahoman to
almost invariably granted. At the burial, accord- the land of good spirits; and instead of revenging
ingly, of a Dahoman chief, a number of his wives and his death by the murder of his devourer, his rela-
favourite slaves are sacrificed on the tomb, as has tions will even feed the animal. The temples in
been already noticed in the case of another of the Dahomey are very numerous, and in each of them
tribes of Western Africa. Nay, even it is not un- there is an altar of clay. No worship, however,
common for his wives to fall upon each other with seems to be conducted in these temples, but small
knives, and lacerate themselves in the most cruel offerings are daily given by the devotees, and re-
and barbarous manner; and this work of butchery moved by the priests. There is no recognition of
is continued until they are forcibly restrained. the Divine Being by any stated form of worship.
“There is no place,” says Mr. Leighton Wilson The only approach to it is that which is offered to the
in his Western Africa,'" where there is more in-
more in- , spirits of the dead, and usually denominated DEMON-
660
DAI-BOTH.
WORSHIP (which see). The presence of some spi- the third victim had thus been sacrificed, the king
rits is courted eagerly, while that of others is much retired, and the chiefs and slave-dealers completed
dreaded. Demoniacal possession is thought to be the deed which the monarch blushed to finish.
not unfrequent among the people of Dahomey, and As we descended the ladder, we came on another
certain ceremonies are gone through by the priests scene of this tragedy. Each in the basket in
to effect the expulsion of the demons.
which the victim had sat a few moments before, lay
The "customs," as they are called, in honour | the grizzly bleeding heads, five on one side, six on
of the dead, are observed at Dahomey, as well as the other." How impressively may such a narrative
at Ashantee. Human beings are sacrificed on show, that “the dark places of the earth are full of
these occasions to the manes of the dead, under the habitations of horrid cruelty.” With the excep-
an idea that those who have passed away from tion of a short visit of a Wesleyan Missionary to the
this world are still capable of being gratified by a country, the natives have never had till recently an
large train of slaves and attendants, such as af- opportunity of listening to the Word of Life. A
forded them pleasure when on earth. At these mission station, however, has been established by
customs for the dead, not only are human beings | the Wesleyans at Badagry, and there is a prospect
offered up in sacrifice, but music, dancing, and mirth of two more being commenced, one at Whydah, and
of every kind accompany the horrid rites. Twice
another at Abomey, the capital of Dahomey, but the
every year these “customs” are repeated, receiving population of that kingdom, amounting to 200,000
the name of the great and little customs. Mr. Forbes souls, are at this hour sitting in darkness and in the
was present on one of these occasions, on the last region of the shadow of death.
day of May 1849, when the king of Dahomey offered DAI-BOTH, one of the principal deities of Ja-
human sacrifices as gifts to his people. The de .
pan. The word is said to mean the Great God, and
scription is painfully interesting : “In the centre of therefore it is not improbable that he may be the
the marketplace, a platform was erected twelve feet
same with AMIDAS (which see), considered under
in height, enclosed by a parapet breast high. The some of his peculiar attributes, or rather it may be
whole was covered with cloths of all colours, and the Great Budha himself.
the Great Budha himself. But whether this be
surmounted by tents, gaudy umbrellas, and banners the case or not, a splendid temple exists at Miaco,
of varied hues and devices, among which, as usual, which is dedicated to the worship of Dai-Both. A
were several union jacks. On the west front of the lively description of this temple is given by an old
Ah-toh, which must have been at least 100 feet | Dutch writer : "Before you come to the temple it.
square, was a barrier of the prickly acacia, and within self,” says he, “you pass through a kind of a gate, on
this the victims for the day's sacrifice lashed in bas- each side whereof are erected two monstrous figures,
kets and canoes. A dense naked mob occupied the with several arms, fraught with arrows, swords,
area, whilst a guard of soldiers prevented them from and other offensive weapons. These two monsters
bearing down the barrier. Beyond in all directions stand in a posture of defence, and seem prepared to
were groups of people collected round the banners combat each other. From this gate you proceed to
and umbrellas of the different ministers and caboo- a large quadrangle, with galleries on each side of it,
ceers. The king insisted on our viewing the place of which are supported by pillars of freestone.
. After
sacrifice. Immediately under the royal stand, within you have crossed this square, you come to another
the brake of acacia bushes, stood seven or eight gate, embellished with two large lions made of stone,
fell ruffians, some armed with clubs, others with and then you go directly into the pagod, in the cen-
scimitars, grinning horribly. As we approached tre whereof the idol Dai-Both is seated, after the
the mob yelled fearfully, and called upon the king Oriental fashion, on an altar-table, which is raised
to 'feed them, they were hungry.' The victims some small matter above the ground. This idol, not-
were held high above the heads of their bearers, withstanding you see him seated like the great Jove
and the naked ruffians thus acknowledged the of old, is of a monstrous height; for his head touches
munificence of their prince. Silence again ruled, the very roof of his temple. The attitude of Jupiter
and the king made a speech, stating that of his was justified by the symbolical intention of it, which
prisoners he gave a portion to his soldiers, as his intimated, says a celebrated ancient author, that the
father and grandfather had done before. Having
Having power of the deity was firm and unalterable. The
called their names, the one nearest was divested of Japanese and Indians, in all probability, entertain
his clothes, the foot of the basket placed on the the very same idea. The colossus of Dai-Both,
parapet, when the king gave the upper part an in- though composed of wood, is plastered and covered
petus, and the victim fell at once into the pit be- over that with gilded brass. This idol has the breast
neath. A fall of upwards of twelve feet might have and face of a woman; his black locks are woolly, and
stunned hiin, and before sense could return the head curled like a negro's. One may form some idea of
was cut off, and the body thrown to the mob, who, the prodigious bulk of this colossus by his hands,
now armed with clubs and branches, brutally muti- which are bigger than the whole body of any man of
lated, and dragged it to a distant pit, where it was a moderate stature. He is encircled on all sides
left as food for the beasts and birds of prey. After with gilded rays, in which there are placed abun-
1
DAIKOKU-DAIRI.
661
dance of images, representing some of the CAMIS | dignity and splendour which he regards as befitting
(which see) and demi-gods of Japan. There are his office. The descendants of the royal family, who
several others in a standing posture, both on his now amount to a large number, all of them belong
right hand and on his left, all crowned with rays, to the court of the Dairi, and the sacred treasury be-
like our Christian saints. The table of the altar, ing quite inadequate to the support of so many de-
whereon the idol is sitting, is furnished with a large pendents, they are compelled to employ themselves
quantity of lighted lamps."
in the most humble occupations to keep up their out-
Kaempfer declares the temple of Dai-Both to be ward dignity. The utmost exertions are put forth
the most magnificent building in the whole kingdom by all connected with the Dairi to enable the court
of Japan, and much more lofty than any other edifice to present the most imposing aspect of magnificence.
in Miaco. The idol itself, which is seated in the The supreme pontiff himself is raised, in the estima-
heart of flowers, is gilt all over. Its ears are very
tion of the Sintos, above all mortal in perfection, be-
large, and its hair is curled. There is a crown upon ing viewed as invested with almost superhuman at-
its head, and a large speck or stain upon its forehead. tributes. His foot is never to be profaned by touch-
The arms and breast are naked. The right hand is ing the ground, and he is never to be moved from
extended, and points to the hollow of the left, which one place to another unless upon men's shoulders.
rests upon the belly. A circle of rays is placed be- It is considered unlawful for him to cut his hair or
hind the idol, and is so large that it takes up the nails ; and such processes, accordingly, being some-
circumference of four pillars. The pillars are at a times necessary, are performed when he is asleep.
considerable distance from one another, and the sta- On his death the next heir succeeds, whether male
tue of Dai-Both, which is of great size, touches only or female, at whatever age. In fact, he is regarded
two of them with its shoulders. Within the oval as a god on earth who never dies, but who, from time
which contains the statue, and all round it, are small to time, renovates his soul. An illustration of this
idols in human forms, and seated on flowers. See truth has recently occurred. On the 1st July 1856,
JAPAN (RELIGION OF).
the Dairi was taken ill; on the 3d he became worse,
DAIKOKU, a Japanese deity, to whom the in- and immediately the priests spread abroad the re-
habitants of that island consider themselves as in port, that the Dairi had placed himself in communi-
debted for all the riches they enjoy. This idol, cation with the great god of heaven, and was about
which is in fact the Plutus of Japan, is represented to renew his soul in the bosom of Ten-Sio Dai-Tsin,
sitting on a bale or sack of rice, and with an up- the highest of all their divinities. The crowd has-
lifted hammer, which he is wielding above his head tened to the palace, where the Dairi was lying on an
ready to strike any object, and wherever the stroke immense bed of state with his robes on, and the
falls it carries with it universal plenty. A bag of gauze veil covering his face. The priests remained
rice is, in the estimation of this singular people, an praying in turns in the midst of burning perfumes
emblem of wealth.
and performing various ceremonies of their religion.
DAIRI, the spiritual head or supreme pontiff of On the 5th July the Dairi expired, and immediately
the religion of the Sintos (which see), the native after the supreme pontiff had breathed his last, the
religion of Japan. At one time he combined in his chief priest announced that the soul had gone to pay
own person the offices of secular and ecclesiastical a visit to the gods, and would speedily return. A
ruler of the country. His temporal, however, was dead silence followed this announcement, and in the
separated from his spiritual, power about the mid- space of about ten minutes the chief priest, surround-
dle of the twelfth century, but it was not until 1585 ed by the whole sacred college, threw a large linen
that the Cubo or temporal sovereign of the island be- cloth over the dead body, and the moment after,
gan to rule with an unlimited authority. The Dairi withdrawing the cloth, discovered to the eyes of the
is thus considerably restricted in both wealth and wondering multitude another form altogether similar
influence, but he is recognized as the pope, or high- to that of the late Dairi, but full of life and health.
est spiritual governor to whom all veneration and This new head of the church at once sat up in bed,
respect is due.
He resides at Miaco, and appro- then rose altogether, proceeded to an altar placed at
priates to himself the whole revenue of that city and one side of the apartment, ascended it, and gave his
its rich adjoining territory. To enable him to main- / benediction to the multitude, at the close of which
tain suitable rank a liberal allowance is due to him shouts of joy hailed the appearance of the new Dairi.
out of the public treasury, besides large sums which The explanation of this transaction is not difficult to
he receives from the privilege he enjoys of confer- discover. By a stratagem easily managed, the priests
ring titles of honour. The grant which ought to
had substituted for the deceased Dairi the person of
be paid out of the imperial funds for the support of his son, his natural heir. A trap-door had let down
the Dairi is far from being regularly paid, the Cubo the dead body, and raised the living, without the
for one excuse or another frequently withholding it. people being able to perceive the deception practised
In consequence of this, the attendants of the pontiff | upon them, amid the numberless prostrations and
are many of them obliged to work for their own other ceremonies called for by their peculiar form of
maintenance, and he finds it difficult to sustain the worship.
662
DAJAL.
Formerly, when the Dairi, along with his spiritual | tial abodes, is called “the month without a god ;'
office, combined that of Emperor of Japan, he was and, accordingly, no one thinks it necessary to adore
accustomed to present himself every morning to them. There are certain qualifications necessary for
public view for hours together. On these occasions
On these occasions obtaining canonization, such as the power of working
he appeared seated upon his throne, with his crown miracles, the enjoyment of a communication with
upon his head, and his whole body remaining fixed the saints above, and even of familiar intercourse
and immoveable like a statue. The slightest mo- with the gods themselves. The strange idea is
tion, the least cast of his eye to the right hand or to entertained that there are some souls which occa-
the left, portended some fatal disaster, and if he sionally return frorn the other world, and this re-
looked steadily on one particular side, it infallibly turn secures their investiture with divine rank. Ali
prognósticated war, fire, or famine. But ever since the honours due to their exalted position are by de-
he was divested of his temporal authority, the Dairi grees paid to them. First of all, an illustrious title
has been entirely exempted from passing through so is conferred upon thern by the Dairi; then a mia or
painful a ceremony. He is uniformly treated with temple is built in honour of them by the voluntary
the most superstitious veneration. Every dish or contributions of their devotees, and this being accom-
vessel presented to his table must be new, and no plished, supplications, prayers, and vows are made
sooner has it been once used by his Holiness than it is to them. If any of his worshippers should happen
forthwith destroyed, lest some unhappy person mak- to meet with sudden good fortune, or to escape from
ing use of it, should be visited with sickness in pun- some impending calainity, the reputation of the new
ishment of his sacrilege. The Dairi has twelve saint is immediately established, crowds of additional
wives. She who is the mother of the heir apparent | devotees flock to him from all quarters, and new
is regarded as superior to all the rest.
temples are built for his worship. Before an act of
The Dairi is distinguished both from his own canonization, however, can be valid, even though
court and from the rest of the community, by the pe- formally passed by the Dairi, it must be confirmed
culiar dress which he wears, being usually attired in by the Cubo or secular monarch; and till this takes
a black tunic under a scarlet robe, with a large veil | place, no one can freely or safely pay the new saint
over it, the fringes of which are made to fall over an act of worship).
his hands. Upon his head he wears a cap embel- So sacred is the person of the Dairi, in the esti-
lished with various tufts and tassels. The whole mation of the Japanese, that the gods are supposed
sacred order may be known by their dress from the to keep watch around his bed by night, and if his
laity, and differing as they do among themselves in sleep happen from any cause to be disturbed, an
rank and office, this difference is chiefly marked by | idol is subjected to the bastinado for neglect of duty,
the fashion of their cap, some wearing it with a and it is banished from the court for a hundred days.
crape band either twisted or hanging loosely down; | The very water in which the Dairi washes his feet
others with a piece of silk, which hangs over their is looked upon as sacred. It is stored up with the
eyes. They likewise wear a scarf over their shoulders, utmost care, and no person is allowed to profane it
which is either longer or shorter according to their by using it for any purpose whatever.
rank.
DAJAL, the name which Mohammed gave to the
All titles of honour are conferred by the Dairi. Antichrist or false Christ, whose appearance he re-
Of these there are six classes or degrees, the most garded as one of the ten signs which should precede
honourable of which conveys a more than common the resurrection. The Arabian prophet thus de-
sanctity and grandeur. The soul of the man who scribes the personal appearance of Dajal : “Verily,
has received this high distinction, whenever it takes he is of low stature, although bulky ; and has splay
its flight, is infallibly transformed, in the opinion of feet, and is blind, with his flesh even on one side of
the Japanese, into some illustrious Cami (which see). | his face, without the mark of an eye, and his other
A title corresponding to the expression “celestial eye is neither full nor sunk into his head. Then,
people,” is conferred upon the chief persons of the if you should have a doubt about Dajal, know that
ecclesiastical body; and the emperor, with the con- your cherisher (God) is not blind.” The manner in
sent of the Dairi, bestows titles of honour on the which the Antichrist will conduct himself after his
princes and ministers of his court.
appearance is also explained by Mohammed.
It is the special province of the Dairi to canonize jal,” says he,“ will come to a tribe, and call them to
the saints, or, in other words, to raise persons who him, and they will believe in him; and Dajal will
have distinguished themselves on earth to the enjoy- | order the sky, and rain will fall; and he will order
ment of divine honours after death. He himself is the earth, and it will produce verdure ; and in the
considered to be of such exalted spiritual rank in evening their cattle will come to them with higher
virtue of his sacred office, that it is a received opin- lumps upon their backs than they went out in the
ion among the Japanese that all the gods conde morning, and their udders will be large, and their
scend to pay him a formal visit once a-year, namely; flanks, shall be full. After that Dajal will go to another
in their tenth month, which, as the whole divine tribe, and call them, and they will refuse, and he
hierarchy are supposed to be absent from their celes- will withhold rain from their verdure and cultiva-
- Da-
1
DAKSHINAS-DALAI-LAMA.
663
tion; and they will suffer a famine, and possess no- Brahmans informed Pándu, the lord paramount of
thing.
And whilst Dajal will be about India, who resided at Pátaliputra, that his vassal,
these things, on a sudden God will send Jesus, son Gúhasiwa worshipped a piece of bone. The monarch,
of Mary, and he will come down on a white tower, on enraged at this intelligence, sent an army to arrest
the east of Damascus ; clothed in robes coloured with the king of Kálinga, and secure the bone he wor-
red flowers, resting the palms of his hands upon the shipped. This commission was executed, but the
wings of two angels; and every infidel will die, who general and all his army were converted to the faith
shall be breathed upon by the Messiah, and the of Budhism. Pándu commanded the relic to be
breath of Jesus will reach as far as eye can see. thrown into a furnace of burning charcoal, but a lotus
And Jesus will seek for Dajal until he finds him at a arose from the flame, and the tooth appeared on the
door in a village called Lúd (in Palestine), and will surface of the flower. An attempt was then made to
kill him. Then a tribe will come to Jesus whom crush it upon an anvil, but it remained embedded in
God shall have preserved from the evils of Dajal, the iron, resisting all the means employed to take it
and he will comfort them, and will inform them of therefrom, until Subaddha, a Budhist, succeeded in
the degrees of eminence they will meet with in Para- | its extraction. It was next thrown into the common
dise."
sewer; but in an instant this receptacle of filth be-
DAKSHINAS, or right hand form of worship came sweet as a celestial garden, and was mantled
among the Hindus, that is, when the worship of any with flowers. Other wonders were performed, by
goddess is performed in a public manner, and agree- which Pándu also became a convert to Budhism.
ably to the Vedas or Puranas. The only ceremony The relic was returned to Dantapura ; but an attempt
which can be supposed to form an exception to the being made by the princes of Sewet to take it away
general character of this mode is the Bali, an offer- | by force, it was brought to Ceylon, and deposited in
ing of blood, in which rite a number of animals, the city of Anuradhapura. In the fourteenth cen-
usually kids, are annually decapitated. In some tury it was again taken to the continent, but was
cases life is offered without shedding blood, when rescued by Prákrama Báhu IV. The Portuguese
the more barbarous practice is adopted of pum- say that it was captured by Constantine de Bra-
melling the poor animal to death with the fists; ganza, in 1560, and destroyed; but the native autho-
at other times, blood only is offered without injury rities assert that it was concealed at this time at a
to life. These practices, however, are not considered | village in Saffragam. In 1815, it came into the pos-
as orthodox. Animal victims are also offered to session of the British government; and although
Devi, in her terrific forms only as Kali or Durga. surreptitiously taken away in the rebellion of 1818,
The worship is almost confined to a few districts, it was subsequently found in the possession of a
and perhaps is carried to no great extent.
priest, and restored to its former sanctuary. From
DALADA, the left canine tooth of Budha, the this time the keys of the shrine in which it was de-
most highly venerated relic among the Budhists, par- posited were kept in the custody of the British
ticularly in Ceylon. To preserve this, the only por-agent for the Kandian provinces, and at night a sol-
tion which remains of the body of the holy sage, a dier belonging to the Ceylon Rifle Regiment mount-
temple has been erected, in which it is deposited, be- ed guard in the temple, there being from time to time
ing placed in a small chamber, enshrined in six public exhibitions of the pretended tooth, under the
cases, the largest of them being upwards of five feet sanction of the British authorities, by which the
in height and formed of silver. All the cases are cause of heathenism was greatly strengthened and
constructed in the conical shape of a dágoba, and the minds of sincere Christians were much grieved ;
two of them are inlaid with rubies and precious but in 1839 a pamphlet was published, entitled,
stones. The outer case is ornainented with gold and · The British Government and Idolatry,' in which
jewels, which have been offered by devotees. Mr. these untoward proceedings were exposed, and the
Hardy describes the relic itself as “ a piece of dis-relic has since been returned to the native chiefs and
coloured ivory or bone, slightly curved, nearly two priests, by a decree from the Secretary of State for
inches in length, and one in diameter at the base; the colonies."
and from thence to the other extremity, which is The Daladá is worshipped with great reverence
rounded and blunt, it considerably decreases in size." by all Budhists, but the inhabitants of Kandy more
The wihára or temple which contains the sanctuary especially attach the highest importance to the pos-
of this relic, is attached to the palace of the former session of this sacred relic, regarding it as in fact
kings of Kandy. From a work composed on the the very glory and security of their country.
subject of Budha's tooth, dating as far back as A. D. DALAI-LAMA, the great high-priest of the in-
310, it is said that one of the disciples of the sage habitants of Tartary and Thibet. He is venerated
procured his left canine tooth when his relics were as immaculate, immortal, and omnipresent, the vice-
distributed. This much valued treasure he conveyed gerent of God upon earth, and the mediator between
to Dantapura, the chief city of Kalinga, where it mortals and the Supreme Being. He resides at Lha-
remained for 800 years. Its subsequent history we Ssa, or the land of spirits, and presides over the
quote from Mr. Hardy's · Eastern Monachism :' “The whole Lamas or priests, who amount to an immense
664
DALEITES.
number. He is supposed to be wholly absorbed in template, at the great solemnities, his innumerable
spiritual matters, and to take no concern in temporal adorers advancing along the plain or prostrate at the
affairs, unless to employ himself in deeds of charity foot of the divine
foot of the divine mountain. The secondary palaces,
and benevolence. He is the head not only of the grouped round the great temple, serve as residences
Lamas, but of the whole gradations of the priesthood, for numerous Lamas, of every order, whose continual
including the gylongs, tobha, and tuppa; and he is occupation it is to serve and do honour to the Living
also the source and the centre of all civil power. He Buddha. Two fine avenues of magnificent trees lead
very seldom goes abroad, but is closely confined to a from Lha-Ssa to the Buddha-La, and there you al-
temple, where he is waited upon with the most pro- ways find crowds of foreign pilgrims, telling the
found veneration by a large number of Lamas. AU beads of their long Buddhist chaplets, and Lamas of
possible means are adopted to impress the minds of the court, attired in rich costume, and mounted on
the people with solemn awe and reverence for the horses splendidly caparisoned. Around the Buddha-
person of this Supreme Pontiff. He is believed to La there is constant motion ; but there is, at the
be incapable of suffering death like ordinary mor- same time, almost uninterrupted silence, religious
tals, and accordingly, whenever he is overtaken by meditations appearing to occupy all men's minds."
death, the priesthood substitute another Lama with- The Dalai-Lama is the religious and political
out delay, taking care to select one who shall re- sovereign of the Thibetians, and also their visible
semble the former Grand Lama as much as possible. deity. As a token of the high respect in which he
To find access to the presence of the Dalai-Lama is is held, they call him Kian-Ngan-Remboutchi, which
eagerly courted by devotees, who crowd accordingly in their language denotes the expressive designation
to the Great Lamasery that they may receive his of " sovereign treasure.
benediction, and be permitted to pay their adorations DALEITES, a small Christian sect which arose
to him. He is supposed to have descended by trans- in Scotland last century, deriving its name from its
migration from Budha himself. All the eastern re- founder, Mr. David Dale, an excellent and devout
gions of Tartary acknowledge the supremacy of the man, who, while he followed the occupation of a
Grand Lama, and hold the doctrines of SHAMANISM manufacturer, was also pastor of a Congregationalist
(which see), or in other words, a modified species of church in Glasgow. Born of pious parents, he had
Budhism. The worshippers of the Grand Lama are been carefully trained in the fear of the Lord, and his
divided into two sects, which though formerly enter- character throughout life was that of a godly, consis-
taining the utmost hatred of one another, now live, tent man. For a time he continued to worship in the
according to the testimony of M. Huc, in perfect communion of the Established Church, but happen-
harmony. The priests of the one sect are dressed ing to peruse the treatise written by Mr. Glas of
in long yellow robes, with high conical caps, which Tealing, entitled, “The Testimony of the King of
are also yellow. The priests of the other sect are Martyrs,' he was so convinced by the reasonings of
dressed in red; and the tribes are known as belong- the author, that he resolved to leave the Establisli-
ing to the red or the yellow cap. The latter is the ment, and to join the recently formed body of the
more orthodox and influential, numbering among its Glasites. His connection with that sect, however,
votaries the Emperor of China. The Dalai-Lama is was but of very short duration, if it was ever fully
called by M. Huc, in his Travels in Tartary, Thibet, formed ; as his views on some points differed
and China,' by the name of Talé-Lama, and he thus slightly from those of Mr. Glas and his adherents.
describes the residence of that august personage as Mr. Dale therefore worshipped along with a few
he himself had seen it: “ The palace of the Talé- friends of kindred sentiments, who formed them-
Lama merits, in every respect, the celebrity which selves after a short time into a congregation under
it enjoys throughout the world. North of the town, his pastoral superintendence. Small churches hold-
at the distance of about a mile, there rises a rugged ing the same principles were soon formed in different
mountain, of slight elevation and of conical form, parts of the country, particularly at Edinburgh,
which, amid the plain, resembles an islet on the bo- | Perth, and Kirkcaldy.
som of a lake. This mountain is entitled Buddha- In their general opinions on doctrinal points the
La (mountain of Buddha, divine mountain), and upon Daleites differed little from the GLASITES (which
this grand pedestal, the work of nature, the adorers see). Both in preaching and prayer, while the doc-
of the Talé-Lama have raised the magnificent palace trines of free grace were prominently held forth by
wherein their Living Divinity resides in the flesh. both sects, they were generally regarded as being
This palace is an aggregation of several temples, of exhibited in a more limited aspect among the Dale-
various size and decoration; that which occupies the ites, the menibers of the church being addressed and
centre is four stories high, and overlooks all the rest; prayed for as believers who had already passed from
it terminates in a dome, entirely covered with plates death unto life, and not as still to be invited to enter
of gold, and surrounded with a peristyle, the columns within the fold of Christ. In some of their practices
of which are, in like manner, all covered with gold. also the two sects differed from each other. The
It is here that the Tale-Lama has set up his abode. Daleites did not consider a plurality of elders essen-
From the summit of this lofty sanctuary lie can con- tial to the right dispensation of the Lord's Supper as
DALMATICA-DANCERS.
665
the Glasites did. Mr. Dale and his followers held | sons, and what was common to them they called God,
that the apostolic expression, “the husband of one substance or nature. It is not improbable that by
wife," was to be understood as simply prohibiting the such a mode of explanation they intended to reject
having of two wives at one time; whereas Mr. Glas | the Athanasian doctrines of the eternal generation of
and those who adhered to him, maintained that the the Son, and the procession of the Holy Ghost.
doctrine which the apostle meant to teach was, that Their opinions, indeed, somewhat resembled those
if an elder married a second time, even although his of the ANGELITES (which see).
first wife was dead, he thereby became disqualified DAMIANUS. See ANARGYRES.
for office. The Daleites did not refuse to hold ordi- DAMIEN (ST.), HERMITS OF. See CELESTINES.
nary social intercourse with excommunicated per- DANA, a gift, the term used by the Budhists of
sons by sitting with them at meat. The Glassites Ceylon to denote alms.
Ceylon to denote alms. They attach great import-
considered such conduct as inconsistent with true ance to the duty of almsgiving, which is, according
Christian character and conduct.
to their system of belief, highly meritorious. But to
The sect of the Daleites has long since disappear- | the right performance of this cardinal virtue they
ed, not a single congregation of the body being regard it as absolutely indispensable that the inten-
known to exist in Scotland. See INGHAMITES, tion of the giver be pure, that he be perfectly will-
GLASITES, SANDEMANIANS.
ing to part with the gift before bestowing it, and
DALMATICA, a long coat with sleeves down to that he have no feeling of regret after it has been
the hands, which was occasionally, though but sel- | bestowed. Alms given to priests are restricted to
dom, worn by the ancient Romans. It has been some- four articles only-robes, food, a pallet to lie upon,
times alleged that this piece of dress was worn in the and medicine or sick diet.
and medicine or sick diet. Almsgiving is the first
early Christian church, both by bishops and deacons, of virtues among the Budhists, and superior to the
but the evidence on which such a statement rests is observance of all the precepts. It brings a greatly
by no means conclusive. The dalmatica was worn increased reward in a future birth, including, if the
formerly by the deacon in the Church of England in duty be properly discharged, both wealth and at-
the administration of the eucharist. It is a robe tendants.
reaching down to the knees, and open on each side. DANACE, a name given to the obolos or coin
In the Roman Catholic church the dalmatica is which the ancient Greeks were wont to place in the
marked on the back with two narrow stripes. This mouth of the dead to pay Charon, for carrying them
garment is called in the Greek church COLLOBIUM in his boat across the Styx to Hades. It seems to
(which see), and is covered with a multitude of small have received the name of danace, either from being
crosses. The name dalmatica is derived from its given tois danois, to the dead, or from danos, a price.
being the royal vest of Dalmatia. Pope Sylvester DANAIDES, the fifty daughters of Danaus, who
is said to have been the first who ordered it to be were betrothed to the fifty sons of Ægyptus, whom
worn by deacons. Pope Eutychianus decreed that they killed by the persuasion of their father, and
the bodies of the martyrs should be wrapped up in having committed the dead bodies to the tomb, were
this robe.
purified from the guilt of their bloody deed by
DAMASCENUS (ST. JOHN), FESTIVAL OF, a Hermes and Athena, with the sanction of Zeus.
festival celebrated by both the Greek and Roman Ovid, Horace, however, and other later poets, state
churches in memory of John of Damascus, a distin- that the Danaides were punished for their crime in
guished theological writer in the first half of the Hades by being doomed to pour water eternally into
eighth century. The Greek church holds the festi- a vessel full of holes. Hypermnestra was the only
val on the 4th of December, and the Latin church one of the Danaides who is said to have saved her
on the 6th of May.
husband Lynceus alive, and hence Pausanias says,
DAMIANISTS, a sect of Christians which arose that he saw at Delphi three statues dedicated to
in the sixth century, deriving their name from Da- | Danaus, Hypermnestra, and Lynceus.
mianus, the Monophysite patriarch of Alexandria. DANCERS, a sect which arose in the Low Coun-
The Damianists rejected the idea of a mere specific tries in the fourteenth century. They originated in
unity in God, and not a numerical unity. Approach- A. D. 1373 at Aix-la-Chapelle, from which they
ing the views of the Sabellians, they maintained spread through other parts of Belgium. They were
that the Three Persons in the Trinity had a common accustomed, both in public and in their private
nature in the same sense that any two human beings houses, all of a sudden to fall a-dancing; and hold-
may be said to have a common nature. Thus this ing each other by the hand, they continued in this,
sect tried to discriminate between the Divine essence which they considered a sacred exercise, until, being
and the Three Persons of the Godhead. They de- | almost worn out with the extraordinary violence of
nied that each Person by himself and in nature was their employment, they fell down breathless and ex-
God, but maintained that the Three Persons had a hausted. During these intervals of vehement agita-
common Godhead or divinity by an undivided par- tion, they alleged that they were favoured with won-
ticipation of which each one was God. The Father, derful visions. Like the Flagellants, they roved
Son, and Holy Spirit, they called Hypostases or Per- from place to place, begging their victuals, holding
3 B
666
DANCING (RELIGIOUS)—DANDIS.
their secret assemblies, and treating the priesthood | blazing altar, by a chorus of fifty men or boys. Cir..
and worship of the church with the utmost con- cular dances were performed by the Druids in the
tempt. The ignorant priests of that age believed oak-groves and forests of the ancient Gauls and
these enthusiasts to be possessed with the devil; and Britons, in honour of the sacred oak and its indwell-
they went so far as to pretend to cast him out by ing deity. To this day, in almost all heathen na-
the singing of hymns, and the application of fumiga- tions, instrumental music and the dance are consi-
tions of incense.
dered necessary parts of religious worship.
DANCING (RELIGIOUS). From an early period In ancient Rome the priests of Mars received
the custom of dancing as a part of religious worship their name of Salii (Lat. salio, to leap), from the
seems to have existed. The dance seems to have leaping dance which they performed, as they carried
formed a part of the most ancient popular rites of the sacred shields in joyful procession through the
the Egyptians. Herodotus accordingly, in describ- city. In such respect did the ancient heathens hold
ing their annual journey to Bubastis, says, “ 'Through- this sacred employment, that not only did they dance
out the whole journey, some of the women strike the round the statues and the altars of their gods, but
cymbal, whilst men play the flute, and the rest of the their poets have no hesitation in making the gods
women and men sing and clap their hands; and themselves sometimes engage in the dance. Pan, in
when in their journey they come near a town, they particular, excels all the gods in dancing. And among
bring the boat near the shore, and conduct them- modern heathens, the principal part of divine wor-
selves thus : some of the women do as I have already ship, particularly in savage tribes, consists in dances.
described, and some dance.” In the Egyptian mo. Among the Mohammedans there is a special class of
numents also there are frequent representations of monks, who, from the peculiarity of their mode of
choral dances and festal processions. In all proba- worship, as consisting in rapid circular motions, are
bility, therefore, the Israelites had brought from Egypt called Dancing Dervishes. Among the North Amer-
the custom of religious dances, such as that which | ican Indians there is a sacred exercise which is
formed a part of the worship of the golden calf, in the called the Calumet Dance. See CALUMET.
account of which Moses tells us in Exod. xxxii. 19, All promiscuous and immodest dancing of men
that “he saw the calf and the dancing.” These sa- and women together was forbidden among the early
cred dances among the Hebrews were accompanied Christians. The council of Laodicea expressly pro-
with instrumental music. Thus David says, Ps. cl. hibits it, having in view, as is generally believed,
4, “ Praise Him with the timbrel and dance." The wanton dancing at marriage feasts, against which
Hebrew word used to denote this dance means pro- there are several other canons of the ancient coun-
perly a circular dance, which would seem to indicate cils, and severe invectives of the Fathers. Chrysos-
the form or figure in which it was conducted. Both tom declaims against promiscuous dancing as one of
men and women appear to have joined in these re- those pomps of Satan which men renounced in their
ligious festivals, for we find in Ps. lxviii. 25, a dis- baptism. Among some modern sects of Christians,
tinct reference to this fact : “The singers went be- all dancing of men and wonien in company, even
fore, the players on instruments followed after ; though neither immodest nor lascivious in its char-
among them were the damsels playing with timbrels." acter, is declared to be improper and unbecoming the
Men of rank did not count it beneath their dignity gravity and decorum which ought to belong to the
to engage in religious dancing. Hence David, true Christian.
though a king, is not ashamed to express his feelings DANDIS, one of the Vaishnava sects among the
of holy gratitude and joy in a sacred dance; and Hindus, and a legitimate representative of the fourth
while Michal his wife reproaches him for it, the Asrama or mendicant life, into which the Hindu is
ground of her ridicule is to be found not in his actu- believed to enter after passing through the previous
ally employing himself in the sacred exercise, but stages of student, householder, and hermit. A Brah-
in his dancing in company with the rest of the peo- man, however, does not require to pass through the
ple, thus putting himself on a level with the meanest previous stages, but is allowed to enter at once into
of his subjects.
the fourth order. The Dandi is distinguished by
The sacred circular dance was not confined to the carrying a small dand or wand, with several projec-
worshippers of the true God, but was practised also tions from it, and a piece of cloth dyed with red
by the heathen, as in the case of the Amalekites ochre, in which the Brahmanical cord is supposed to
after they had spoiled Ziklag, as recorded in 1 Sam. be enshrined, attached to it; he shaves his hair and
xxx. 16. When the heathen worship the demon beard, wears only a cloth around the loins, and sub-
gods, they dance in circles round the sacrifices, and sists upon food obtained ready-dressed from the
throw themselves into the most violent contor- | houses of the Brahmans once a-day only, which he
tions, so that the arms, hands, and legs appear as if deposits in the small clay pot that he always carries
they were in convulsions. They throw themselves with him. He should live alone. and near to, but
suddenly on the ground, then jump up, and again join not within a city; but this rule is rarely observed,
in the circular dance. The dithyramb or old Bac- and, in general, the Dandis are found in cities, col-
chic song of the ancient Greeks, was danced round a | lected like other mendicants in Maths. The Dandi
DANIEL-DASA-BALA.
667
has no particular time or mode of worship, but em- rived its name from the circumstance, that laurel
ploys himself chiefly in meditation and in the study | branches were carried in the procession. The festival
of the Vedanta works. He reverences Shiva and his was kept every ninth year. The mode of observance
incarnations in preference to the other members of was as follows: A piece of olive-wood was ornamented
the Hindu Triad, and hence the Dandis are reck- with garlands of laurel and other flowers, and on its
oned among the Vaishnavas. They bear the Shiva top was a globe of brass representing the sun, with an-
mark upon the forehead, smearing it with the Tri- other globe under it which denoted the moon, with
pundra, that is, a triple transverse line formed with smaller globes hanging from it indicating the stars.
the ashes of fire made with burnt cow-dung. This
This The middle part of the wood was festooned with pur-
mark, beginning between the eye-brows and carry- | ple garlands, while the lower part was surrounded with
ing it to their extremity, is made with the thumb a crocus-coloured covering. The whole number of the
reverted between the middle and third fingers. The garlands was three hundred and sixty-five, being the
genuiue Dandi, however, is not necessarily of the number of days in the year. The olive-bough thus
Shiva or any other sect, and in their establishments adorned, was carried in procession by a youth of
they are usually found to adore Nirguna or Niran- great beauty and of noble descent, splendidly dressed,
jana, the deity devoid of attribute or passion. The with his hair dishevelled, and on his head a crown of
Dandis have usually great influence and authority gold. He was invested with the office of a priest, and
among the Shiva Brahmans of the North of India, bore the title of DAPHNEPHOROS (which see), or
and they are the Sanyasis or monastic portion of the laurel-bearer. Before him walked one of his near-
Smartal sect of Brahmaus in the South.
est relations carrying a rod festooned with gar-
It is not so much the speculative as the practical lands, and immediately after himn followed a train of
Dandis that are worshippers of Shiva, and the form virgins with branches in their hands. In this order
in which they adore him is that of BHAIRAV (which they marched to the temple of Apollo, surnamed
see), or Lord of terror. In the case of those who Ismenius or Galaxius, where they sang supplicatory
thus worship Shiva, part of the ceremony of initia- hymns to the god.
tion consists in inflicting a small incision on the The Delphians also observed a solemnity of a
inner part of the knee, and drawing the blood of the similar kind, in which they sent every ninth year a
novice as an acceptable offering to the god. The sacred youth to Tempe, who, going along the sacred
Dandis of every description differ from the great road, returned home as laurel-bearer ainid songs and
mass of Hindus in their treatment of the dead, as rejoicings. This ceremony is said to have been in-
they put them into coffins and bury them, or when tended to commemorate the purification of Apollo
practicable cast them into some sacred stream. Hin- at the altar in Tempe, to which he had fled on kill-
dus of all castes are occasionally found assuming the ing the Python. A festival of somewhat the same
life and emblems of the order of Dandis. There are description was celebrated by the Athenians, who
even Brahmans who, without connecting themselves dedicated every seventh day to the worship of Apollo,
with any community, take upon them the character carrying laurel-boughs in their hands, adorning the
of this class of mendicants. There is, however, a sacred basket with garlands, and singing hymns in
sect of Dandis termed DASNAMIS (which see), which honour of the god.
adınit none but Brahmans into their order.
DAPHNEPHOROS, a priest of Apollo, who, ac-
DANIEL (FESTIVAL OF), a festival celebrated | cording to Pausanias, was chosen to the office every
by the Greek church on the 17th December, in me- year. He required to be young, handsome, and vi-
mory of the prophet Daniel, and the three young gorous. This priest was taken from one of the most
Hebrews who were cast into the fiery furnace. distinguished families of Thebes. The same name
DAOLO, the god worshipped by the TONQUINESE | Daphnephoros was given to the laurel-bearer in a
(which see) as being the guardian of travellers. similar rite observed by the inhabitants of Del-
DAPHNÆA, a surname of ARTEMIS (which phi.
see), derived from Gr. daphne, a laurel, perhaps be- DARANIANS, a heretical sect among the Mo-
cause her statue was made of laurel-wood.
hammedans, who derived their name from Darani
DAPHNÆUS, a surname of APOLLO (which their founder. This impostor, who had come from
see), because the laurel was sacred to this god. Persia into Egypt, endeavoured to persuade the peo-
DAPHNE, said by Pausanias to have been an an- ple that HAKEM (which see), in whose caliphate he
cient priestess of the Delphic oracle, to which office lived, was God; but although Darani was a favourite
she had been appointed by Ge. There is an ancient with the caliph, the people, indignant at his blas-
tradition that having been remarkably beautiful, phemy, put him to death. This sect prevailed niuch
Daphne was loved by Apollo, who pursued after her, on the sea-coast of Syria, and in the district of Le-
and when she attempted to flee from him, the god banon.
changed her into a laurel-tree, which accordingly DASA-BALA, ten powers or modes of wisdom
was called by her name.
possessed by BUDHA (which see). Mr. Spence
DAPHNEPHORIA, & festival celebrated at Hardy, to whose excellent works we are indebted
Thebes in honour of Apollo, which seems to have de- | for our information on the principles and rites of the
668
DASA-DANDU_DATTA.
BUDHISTS (which see), thus enumerates the Dasa- will observe the precept, or ordinance, that forbids
Bala, in his . Manual of Budhism :' “1. The wisdom
“1. The wisdom the receiving of gold or silver."
that understands what knowledge is necessary. for DASNAMI DANDIS, the primitive members
the right fulfilment of any particular duty, in what- of the order of DANDIS (which see). They are said
soever situation. 2. That which knows the result to refer their origin to SANKARA ACHA'RYA (which
or consequences of karma, or moral action. 2. That see), an individual who acted a conspicuous part in
which knows the way to the attainment of nirwana | the religious history of Hindustan. The word Das-
or annihilation. 4. That which sees the various sak- nami means ten-named, there being ten classes of
walas or systems of worlds. 5. That which knows mendicants descended from this remarkable man,
the thoughts of other beings. 6. That which knows only three of them, however, having so far retained
that the organs of sense are not the self. 7. That their purity as to entitle them to be called Sankara's
which knows the purity produced by the exercise of Dandis. These are numerous, especially in and
the dhyanas or abstract meditation. 8. That which about Benares. The chief Vedanti writers belong
knows where any one was born in all his former to this sect. The most sturdy beggars, as we learn
births. 9. That which knows where any one will be from Professor Horace Wilson, are members of this
born in all future births. 10. That which knows order, although their contributions are levied parti-
how the results proceeding from karma, or moral cularly upon the Brahmanical class, as whenever a
action, may be overcome.”
feast is given to the Brahmans, the Dandis of this de-
DASA-DANDU, ten prohibitions which are en- scription present themselves, though unbidden guests,
joined upon the Budhist monks to be studied during and can only be got rid of by bestowing upon them
their noviciate. Mr. Hardy, in his ' Eastern Mona- a share of the viands. Many of them practise the
chism,' thus describes them : “1. The eating of food YOGA (which see), and profess to work miracles.
after mid-day. 2. The seeing of dances or the hear- The author of the Dabistan' speaks of one who
ing of music or singing. 3. The use of ornaments or could keep his breath suspended for three hours,
perfumes. 4. The use of a seat or couch more than bring milk from his veins, cut bones with hair, and
a cubit high. 5. The receiving of gold, silver, or put eggs into a narrow-mouthed bottle without break-
money. 6. Practising some deception to prevent ing them.
another priest from receiving that to which he The remaining members of the Dasnami class,
is entitled. 7. Practising some deception to in- though they have degenerated from the purity
jure another priest, or bring liim into danger. 8. of the practice necessary to the original Dandis, ,
Practising some deception in order to cause another are still religious characters, only they have given
priest to be expelled from the community. 9. Speak- up the staff or wand, the use of clothes, money, and
ing evil of another priest. 10. Uttering slanders, in ornaments; they prepare their own food, and admit
order to excite dissension among the priests of the members from any order of Hindus. These Atits,
same community. The first five of these crimes may as they are often called, are frequently collected in
be forgiven, if the priest bring sand and sprinkle it Maths, as well as the Dandis, but they mix freely
in the court-yard of the wihara, and the second five in the business of the world; they carry on trade,
may be forgiven after temporary expulsion." and often accumulate property, and some of them
DASAHARA. See DURGA PUJAH.
even enter into the married state, when they receive
DASA-SIL, ten obligations which must be repeat- | the name of Samyogi.
ed and meditated upon by the Budhist priest in his DATARY, an officer in the courts of the Pope,
noviciate for three hours every day. They are as whose duty it is to receive petitions presented to
follows : “1. I will observe the precept, or ordinance, him in regard to the provision of benefices. He is
that forbids the taking of life. 2. I will observe the always a prelate, and sometimes a cardinal. In vir-
precept, or ordinance, that forbids the taking of that tue of his office, the Datary, without consulting his
which has not been given. 3. I will observe the Holiness, may grant at pleasure all benefices which
precept, or ordinance, that forbids sexual intercourse. do not yield more than twenty-four ducats of yearly
4. I will observe the precept, or ordinance, that for- income. When the benefices are of more value, the
bids the saying of that which is not true. 5. I will written approbation and signature of the Pope must
observe the precept, or ordinance, that forbids the be obtained. The salary attached to the office is
use of intoxicating drinks, that leads to indifference two thousand crowns, exclusive of perquisites; and
towards religion. 6. I will observe the precept, or he has a sub-datary to assist him in his duties, who
ordinance, that forbids the eating of food after mid- receives a yearly allowance of a thousand crowns.
day. 7. I will observe the precept, or ordinance, The Pope's bull granting a benefice is despatched by
that forbids attendance upon dancing, singing, music, the datary, and passes through the officials of fifteen
and masks. 8. I will observe the precept, or ordi- different offices, who have all of them their stated
fees.
. will
,
observe the precept, or ordinance, that forbids the portion of Vishnu, and therefore venerated by the
use of high or honourable seats or couches. 10. I Vaishnavas. He was also eminent for his practice
DAUGHTER OF THE VOICE-DEACONS.
669
of the Yoga, and hence he is held in high estima- one after the other, each in twelve hours' time round
tion by the Yogis (which see.)
the world. Night rides first on her horse called
DAUGHTER OF THE VOICE. See BATH- | Hrimfaxi, that every morn, as he ends his course,
KOL.
bedews the earth with the foam that falls from his
DAVIDISTS, a name given to the AMALRICIANS bit. The horse made use of by Day is named Skin-
(which see), from David of Dinanto, who was a pu- faxi, from whose mane is shed light over the earth
pil of Amalric of Bena, and afterwards an able ex- and the heavens."
positor of his system.
DAY OF ATONEMENT. See ATONEMENT,
DAY, a regular portion of time equal to twenty- | (Day oF).
four hours. There have been different computations of DAYS (HOLY). See FESTIVALS.
their days among different nations. The Hebrews DAYS (LUCKY AND UNLUCKY). The ancient
reckoned their day from evening to evening, and in heathens entertained the idea that there were parti-
the Mosaic account of the creation, the evening is cular days which were fortunate, and others unfor-
mentioned as preceding the morning. Tacitus says, tunate ; that, according to their astrological notions,
that the ancient Germans counted their times not some days were certainly connected with success, while
by the number of days, but of nights. Such was also others were attended with an almost sure fatality.
the mode of calculation adopted by the ancient Gauls, This superstitious notion may be traced as far back as
and there are still remnants of the same mode in the poet Hesiod. Neither was it confined to the ig-
some of the expressions still in use in our own coun- norant multitude. Suetonius tells us, that the Em-
try, such as
" a fortnight ago." The ancient Baby- peror Augustus Cæsar never went abroad upon the
lonians commenced the day at sunrise.
day after the Nundinæ, nor began any serious un-
The ancient Hebrews, as well as the Greeks, di- dertaking on the Nones. St. Ambrose says that
vided the day into morning, noon, and night. These the first converts from heathenism to Christianity
are the only parts of a day mentioned in the Old were much addicted to such superstitious ideas
Testament. They began their day at sunset, and and practices. Lucian gives a minute account of
ended it at the same time on the following day. When an unlucky day. “On which," says he, “neither
the Jews came under the dominion of the Romans, do the magistrates meet to consult about public
they learned from their conquerors a new mode of affairs, neither are lawsuits decided in the hall, nor
calculating. The day was thenceforth divided into sacrifices offered, nor, in fine, any sort of business
four parts, thus, from six o'clock till nine in the undertaken wherein a man would wish himself for-
morning, which was the hour of the morning sacri- tunate. Such sorts of days as he goes on have been
from nine till twelve; from twelve till three, instituted by different nations on different accounts.”
and from three o'clock, which was the time of the And in another place the same author informs us,
evening sacrifice, till six, which concluded the one that Lycurgus, the Lacedemonian lawgiver, had
day, and commenced another.
inade it a fundamental institution of government
The Hebrews, besides their natural day, had also never to enter upon any warlike expedition but when
an artificial day, consisting of twelve hours, which the moon was at the full. It is probably to the no-
began in the morning at sun-rising, and ended at tion of lucky and unlucky days, that Moses alludes
sun-setting. Still another kind of day existed among in the prohibition laid upon the ancient Hebrews in
them, called prophetical, because it is only men- Lev. xix. 26, against observing times. Manasseh is
tioned by the prophets. This kind of day is taken also accused of being an observer of times. The
for a year in the Scriptures. They had likewise pro- Hebrew word is Leonenu, which seems to be de-
pletical weeks, which consisted of seven years ; pro- rived from onah, denoting time.
phetical months, which make thirty years; and Throughout modern heathendom, the notion of
prophetical years, which they reckoned for three lucky and unlucky days extensively prevails. Thus
hundred and sixty years.
Kämpfer says, in his ' Account of the Japanese cus-
A curious account of day and night is given in toms,' “ It may not be amiss to observe, that it is
the Prose Edda of the ancient Scandinavians : not an indifferent matter to travellers in this country
“A giant called Njörvi, who dwelt in Jötunheim, what day they set out on their journey; for they
had a daughter called Night (Nött) who, like all must choose for their departure a fortunate day, for
her race, was of a dark and swarthy complexion. which purpose they make use of a particular table
She was first wedded to a man called Naglfari, printed in all their road-books, which they say hath
and had by him a son named Aud, and afterwards been observed to hold true by a continued experience
to another man called Annar, by whom she had a of many ages, and wherein are set down all the un-
daughter called Earth (Jörd). She then espoused fortunate days of every month.”
Delling, of the Æsir race, and their son was Day DEACONS, a class of office-bearers in the Chris-
(Dagr) a child light and beauteous like his father. tian church. That there existed officers bearing
Then took All-father, Night, and Day, her son, and this name from the earliest period in the history of
gave them two horses and two cars, and set them up the New Testament church is admitted universally.
in the heavens that they might drive successively | They are explicitly mentioned in various passages of
tice;
1
1
!
1
670
DEACONS.
the epistles of Paul, and in the writings of the Chris- mentioned by Luke were deacons, holding an office
tian Fathers. They are frequently associated in identical with that referred to by.Paul. And the num-
Scripture with other recognized office-bearers of the ber of writers who assert the contrary form a small
church. Thus Phil. i. 1, “Paul and Timotheus, the minority of those who have discussed the subject.
servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ On this point Dr. Miller, in his work on the Office of
Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and the Ruling Elder,' observes, “The current opinion
deacons." The character and qualifications of a of all the most learned and judicious Christian di-
deacon are plainly laid down in 1 Tim. iii. 8—13, vines of all denominations, for several centuries past,
“ Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double- is decisively in favour of considering the passage in
tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of Acts vi. as recording the first appointment of the
filthy lucre; holding the mystery of the faith in a pure | New Testament deacons. Among all classes of
conscience. And let these also first be proved; then theologians, Catholic and Protestant, Lutheran and
let them use the office of a deacon, being found | Calvinistic, Presbyterian and Episcopal, this con-
blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not currence of opinion approaches su near to unanimity,
slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the dea- that we may, without injustice to any other opinion,
cons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their chil- consider it as the deliberate and harmonious judg-
dren and their own houses well. For they that have ment of the Christian church.'
used the office of a deacon well purchase to them- The Church of Rome and the Church of England
selves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith agree in regarding the deaconship as the lowest or-
which is in Jesus Christ."
der in the priesthood, while some of the Congrega-
But while the existence of this class of office- tionalists consider the term deacon as synonymous
bearers is denied by no portion of the Christian with presbyter; and, therefore, so far spiritual in its
Church, considerable diversity of opinion exists as nature. Presbyterians, on the other hand, view the
to the precise duties which belonged to their office. office of a deacon as exclusively connected with the
The Greek word diakonos, a deacon, and its corre- ecclesiastico-secular interests of the Christian church.
sponding verb, have an extensive general application, | In England deacons are permitted to baptize, to read
denoting every kind of service. But in its more re- in the church, and to assist in the celebration of the
stricted signification, as relating to an office in the eucharist; but their duty in this matter is limited
church, the word deacon implies one whose duty it to the administration of the wine. They are not
is to receive the charities of the church, and to dis- eligible to ecclesiastical promotion, but they may be
tribute their alms. In this view of the meaning of chaplains to families, curates to beneficed clergymen,
the name, the origin of the office is by many sup- or lecturers to parish churches. The oversight of the
posed to be described in Acts vi. 146, “And in | poor
poor is no longer committed to them, but to church-
those days, when the number of the clisciples was wardens chosen by the vestry for that purpose
multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Gre. every year. Besides deacons, the Church of England
cians against the Hebrews, because their widows has ARCIIDEACONS (which see), and SUB-DEACONS
were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the (which see). In the German Protestant churches
twelve called the rnultitude of the disciples into the assistant ministers are generally called deacons.
them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave | Among Roman Catholics, the deacons are removed as
the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, far as possible from the original design of their in-
brethren, look ye out among you seven men of hon- stitution. The deacon with them is an officer whose
est report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom duty it is to perfume with incense the officiating
we may appoint over this business. But we will clergyman and the choir; to lay the corporal or
give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the min- white cloth on the altar ; to transfer the patten or
istry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole cup from the sub-deacon to the officiating prelate;
multitude : and they chose Stephen, a man full of and the pix from the officiating prelate to the sub-
faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Pro- deacon; and to perform various other duties of a
chorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and similar kind. In the Church of Scotland, at one
Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch : whom they set be- time, deacons were recognized as standing office-
fore the apostles; and when they had prayed, they bearers in the church, but for many years they have
laid their hands on thern." This passage, however, fallen into abeyance. The Second Book of Disci-
by no means universally believed to refer to the pline, however, declares the office of deacon to be
deacons of whom Paul speaks, but some suppose that an ordinary and perpetual function in the Kirk of
the office which Luke describes, in the passage now Christ." The Free Church of Scotland has revived
quoted, was of a local and temporary character, aris- this order of office-bearers, probably in consequence
ing out of a peculiar emergency which had arisen in of the peculiar position of that church as no longer
the church of Jerusalem. But besides that the pas- endowed by the State, and deriving its whole emolu-
sage is so expressed as rather to point to a perma- ments from the voluntary contributions of the people.
nent than a mere temporary office, the whole early In almost every other Presbyterian church, whether
church is unanimous in believing that the seven in Britain or America, deacons are dispensed with,
66
DEACONS' COURTS.
671
and their office merged in that of elders. Congrega- , thus given in the Pontifical : “ Dearly beloved sons,
tionalist churches have deacons, but their duties about to be promoted to the order of Levites, think
are both of a temporal and spiritual character. Ac- seriously to how great a degree you ascend. For it
cordingly, Dr. Henderson, when speaking of these offi- behoveth a deacon to minister at the altar; to bap-
cers, says that “the deacons, besides attending to the
the tize; to preach. Now in the old law, of the twelve
temporal concerns of the church, assist the minister tribes one was chosen ; that of Levi, that by special
with their advice; take the lead at prayer-meetings consecration it might serve perpetually the taber-
when he is absent; and preach occasionally to small nacle, and its sacrifices; and vi so great a dignity
congregations in the contiguous villages."
was it, that none could rise to that divine ministry
Thus has the office of deacon been either modified and office, but of that stock. Insomuch that by a
or lost sight of in almost all sections of the church | certain high prerogative of heritage, it deserved both
of Christ. The most ancient authorities, indeed, to be, and to be called, the tribe of the Lord. Of
speak of them as assisting the bishops and presby- these you, my dearly beloved sons, hold this day the
ters in their religious services and other official name and the office, because you are set apart in the
duties. Thus the Apostolical Constitutions say, Levitical office for the service of the tabernacle of
“Let the deacon be the ear, the eye, the mouth, testimony, that is, the church of God: the which
the heart, the soul of the bishop.” It devolved on ever with her armour on, fights against her enemies
this class of office-bearers to recite the prayers of in incessant combat. Hence, says the apostle : We
the church, and to give the signal for the com- wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against prin-
mencement of each of the different portions of di- cipalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
vine service. In the Western churches, the gos- darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
pels, as containing the words spoken more imme- | in high places. This church of God you ought to
diately by our Lord himself, were appointed to be bear, as they did the tabernacle, and fortify with a
read, not like the other portions of Scripture by holy garniture, with divine preaching, and a perfect
the prelector, but by the deacon. For a time it example. For Levi signifies, added or adopted: and
was thought necessary that the number of deacons you, dearly beloved sons, who receive your name
in any single church should be seven, in order to from the paternal inheritance, be ye adopted from
correspond with the number belonging to the church carnal desires, from earthly concupiscences which
of Jerusalem, as mentioned in the Acts of the Apos- war against the soul; be ye comely, clean, pure,
tles. At a later period the original number was chaste, as becomes the ministers of Christ, and the
greatly exceeded, and in the sixth century the prin- stewards of the mysteries of God. And, because
cipal church in Constantinople had no fewer than a you are the co-ministers and co-makers of the Lord's
hundred deacons.
body and blood, be ye strangers to all allurements
From their intimate connection with the bishops of the flesh, as Scripture saith : 'Be ye clean who
as their assistants and confidential agents, the deacons carry the vessels of the Lord.' Think of blessed
began gradually to assume an authority in the church | Stephen elected to this office by the apostles for the
to which their office did not entitle them. Arrogat- merit of his pre-eminent chastity.—Take care that
ing to themselves a superiority to the preshyters, it to whom you announce the gospel with the mouth,
became necessary for the synod to admonish them you expound it to the same by your living we
works,
on this subject. Thus the council of Nice enjoins, that of you it may be said: Blessed are the feet of
“Let the deacons observe their proper place, know- them that preach the gospel of peace, that bring
ing that they are indeed the assistants of the bishops, glad tidings of good.' Have your feet shod with
but that they are inferior to the presbyters.” The the examples of the saints in the preparation of the
presumption, which was in such plain terms corrected gospel of peace. The which the Lord grant you
by the councils, was particularly chargeable upon through his grace."
the archdeacons, who stood at the head of the order, There was another class of persons which arose in
and from their position obtained a predominating the ancient church under the name of SUBDEACONS
influence which in some cases they abused.
(which see). These officers are still continued in
In the Romish church, deacons are often called the Roman Catholic church, and after serving for a
Levites, a naine which in some of the councils of the time in this subordinate capacity, they are promoted
Western church is applied to presbyters and dea- to the more honourable degree of deacons.
cons indiscriminately. Minute directions are given DEACONS' COURTS, courts instituted by the
in the Roman Pontifical for the ordination of this
Free Church of Scotland for the management of the
class of ecclesiastical office-bearers, and in token of ecclesiastical funds and temporal concerns generally
investiture with their office, they receive the book of of each congregation. Each deacons' court consists
the Gospels, which they touch with their right hand, of the elders and deacons of the congregation, pre-
while the officiating Pontiff says, “ Receive ye power sided over by the pastor, and meets generally once
to read the gospel in God's church, as well for the a-month, or as often as occasion requires. In
living as for the dead." The ordination address, most of the other Scottish dissenting churches
which compares their office to that of Levi of old, is secular matters are under the charge of the elders,
672
DEACONESSES_DEAD (BEATING THE).
manner.
and a secular body chosen by the members of the Creator of man and of woman; thou who didst fill
congregation under the name of managers.
with thy Spirit, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, and
DEACONESSES, a class of female officebearers Huldah; thou who didst vouchsafe to a woman the
in the early Christian church, who were helpers and birth of thy only begotten Son; thou who didst in
assistants in the performance of various services, the tabernacle and the temple place female keepers
particularly in reference to the female portion of the of thy holy gates ;-look down now also upon this
communities. The term deaconess does not occur in thy handmaid, and bestow on her the Holy Ghost,
the Sacred Scriptures, but the office appears to be dis- that she may worthily perform the work committed
tinctly referred to in Rom, xvi. 1, “I commend unto to her, to thy honour, and to the glory of Christ."
you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the The Nicene council seems to have recognized and
church which is at Cenchrea.” The precise origin approved the employment of deaconesses in the usual
of this class of ecclesiastical persons has never been
“But when exaggerated notions," says
satisfactorily explained, but their existence is men- Neander, “about the magical effects of ordination
tioned both by the ancient Fathers, and by several and the dignity of the clerical order became conti-
Pagan writers, particularly Pliny, Lucian of Samo- | nually more predominant, men began to conceive
sata, and Libanius. Grotius thinks that, as in Ju. something offensive in the practice of ordaining dea-
dea, the deacons could administer freely to the fe- conesses, and associating them with the clerus—which
male sex, the office of a deaconess must have been practice was, perhaps, already forbidden by the
unknown to the Jews. He therefore supposes that council of Laodicea in their eleventh canon. The
deaconesses were first appointed in the churches Western church, in particular, declared very strongly
of the Gentile Christians. From the second to against this custom. Western synods of the fifth
the fourth century, the office was known in many
and sixth centuries forbade generally the appoint-
churches in various countries, though it was never ment of deaconesses. Where ordained deaconesses
universally adopted. By means of deaconesses were still to be found, it was ordered that they should
the gospel could be introduced into the bosom of receive in future the blessing of the bishop along
families where, owing to the customs of the East, with the laity ;-another proof that before this they
no man could find admittance. They were also were reckoned as belonging to the clergy. Those
bound, as Christian wives and mothers of tried ex- prohibitions came, however, only from French syn-
perience in all the relations of their sex, to assist ods; and it cannot be inferred from them that the
the younger women of the communities with their appointment of deaconesses in the Western church
counsel and encouragements, besides fulfilling the ceascd at once, and in all the districts alike. In the
office of private catechists to female catechumens. East, the deaconesses maintained a certain kind of
It has been argued by some that those females autliority for a longer period. We find among them
were deaconesses of whom Paul speaks in 1 Tim. v. widows possessed of property, who devoted their sub-
3—10, as having been maintained by the church. stance to pious works and institutions, like Olympias,
This opinion is objected to by Neander, and with no known on account of her connection with Chrysostom.
small reason, when we take into account the ad- They there had it in charge also, by private instruc-
vanced age, sixty years and upwards, on which the tion, to prepare the women in the country for bap-
apostle fixes as the proper time of entering into the tism, and to be present at their baptism. It was
number of approved Christian widows—an age alto- considered the privilege of the wives of bishops,
gether incompatible with the active duties which be- who, by common understanding, separated from their
longed to the office of deaconesses. Some ancient | husbands after the latter had bound themselves to a
Fathers, however, believed that the apostle had dea- life of celibacy, that, if found worthy, they might be
conesses in view. According to some councils, the consecrated as deaconesses; and thus the female
age at which females were eligible to this office was church-office continued to be preserved in the East
forty, and even some were chosen at the early age of down into the twelfth century.”
twenty. Their age probably varied, as Coleman DEAD (ABSOLUTION OF THE). See ABSO1.C-
thinks, with the particular duties to which they were
appointed, matrons venerable for age and piety DEAD (ANNIVERSARIES OF TIE). See ANNI-
being selected for religious teachers, and young
women for almsgiving, the care of the sick and other DEAD (BEATING THE). The modern Jews be.
similar duties.
Widows were generally preferred | lieve that when one of their number is buried, an
for deaconesses, and Tertullian directs that each angel immediately comes and knocks upon the cof:.
should be the widow of one man, having children. fin, saying in Hebrew, Wicked! wicked! what is thy
The mode of ordaining deaconesses was, as in the Pasuk? This question refers to a custom which
case of other church officers, by prayer and imposi- prevails of naming every Jew after a fanciful allu-
tion of hands. This is plainly asserted in the Apos- sion to some passage of Scripture; such as, if a child
tolical Constitutions, and the ordinary prayer of the is named Abraham, his Pasuk is, “Thou art the
bishop on such occasions is declared to run thus : | Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, and brought-
“ Eternal God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, est him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest
TION.
VERSARIES.
DEAD (BURNING OF THE)—DEAD (DRIVING THE DEVIL FROM THE).
673
him the name of Abraham.” This Pasul, in He- makes a distinction between the age of burning and
brew, is taught the child as soon as he can speak, the age of burial.
and he is to repeat it every morning and evening, In modern times the practice of burning the bodies
that he may be able to answer the angel when he of the dead is still found in various heathen countries.
comes to the grave. If he is not able to repeat his In India, the Hindu sects generally prefer burning
Pasuk after his burial, the angel, it is said, beats him to burial, and until lately the widows were allowed,
with a hot iron until he breaks his bones. See and even encouraged, to undergo voluntary crema-
CHIBBUT HAKKEFER.
tions on the funeral piles of their husbands. The
DEAD (BURIAL OF THE). See FUNERAL RITES. wives of Brahmans were compelled formerly by
DEAD (BURNING OF THE). Though the burial Hindu law to give themselves up to be burned alive
of the dead is in all probability the most ancient along with the dead bodies of their husbands. This
practice, it cannot be denied that the custom of practice, called the SUTTEE (which see), has been
burning the dead can be traced back to a remote an- prohibited by the British government, and if cases
tiquity. Lucian tells us, that the Greeks burned, of the kind still occur, the utmost privacy is main-
and the Persians buried their dead, but this state- tained. It is one peculiarity indeed which distin-
ment in reference to the Greeks is by no means borne guishes the later Hindu or Aryan races from the
out by the records of antiquity, which seem rather earlier or non-Aryan races, that the former burn
to show that both burning and burial were practised their dead, while the latter bury them. Among the
among that people. In the former case the body | Budhists also in different countries, the cremation of
was placed on the top of a pile of wood, and fire their dead is frequently preferred.
being applied, it was consumed to ashes. From DEAD (BURNINGS FOR THE). It was a custom
Homer it would appear that animals, and even cap among the ancient Hebrews to make burnings for
tives or slaves, were buried along with their dead | their kings on the occasion of their death; kindling
bodies in some instances, where honour was designed a large fire in which were collected all kinds of aro-
to be shown to the deceased. When the pile was
When the pile was matics, along with the clothes, armour, and other
burnt down, the fire was quenched by throwing wine things which belonged to the deceased. Thus it is
upon it, after which the bones were carefully col- said of king Asa, whose dead body they laid in his
lected by the relatives, washed with wine and oil, own sepulchre, that, 2 Chron. xvi. 14, they made a
and deposited in urns, which were sometimes made very great burning for him. At the funeral of Zede-
of gold, but most generally of marble, alabaster, or kiah, as we find in Jer. xxxiv. 5, spices were burnt
baked clay. Among the Romans it was customary over him. The Rabbis allege that a custom was
to burn the bodies of the dead before burying them. handed down to them from their ancestors, of burn-
When the place appointed for burning the body ing the beds and other articles of furniture belong-
happened to be very near the place of burial, it was ing to the dead.
called BUSTUM (which see). The bustum of the DEAD (DRIVING THE DEVIL FROM THE). Among
family of Augustus was discovered last century at some heathen nations the notion is entertained that
Rome, bearing the inscription hic crematus est, here the dead bodies of their relatives are liable to fall
he was burned. If the body was burnt at a distance into the hands of the Devil, and various ceremonies
from the place of interinent, it was called ustrinum. are gone through with the view of expelling the evil
When a general or emperor's body was burnt, the spirits. A very interesting instance of this has been
soldiers marched three times round the funeral pile. furnished to us in a private letter from a correspond-
The practice of burning does not appear to have been ent in Nepaul, who was himself an eye-witness of
adopted generally among the Romans, until the later the ceremony he describes, which is practised by the
times of the republic, but under the empire it was Hill.men of that country, who seem to be part-
the universal mode of disposing of the dead. The ly Budhists, partly Hindus. The communication,
introduction of Christianity led to its speedy disap- which is dated 10th June 1856, we insert entire:
pearance, so that in the fourth century it had fallen Figure to yourself a large hill, about 8,000 feet
into complete disuse.
above the level of the sea, and on its summit a few
In ancient Scandinavia, Odin is said to have in- houses similar to our own cottages. On a small plot
troduced the custom of burning the dead, but who- outside one of them, and immediately behind an
ever was the first to propose it, we know with cer- abrupt rise in the ground, some matting was erected
tainty that burning the dead on funeral piles seems on poles, within which the friends and priest were to
to have prevailed in the North at a very early period, sit.
sit. Exactly in front of them was placed a stage,
and to have been superseded by burial, which may which struck me as exactly resembling a perambu-
perhaps have been but the revival of a former cus- lating Punch's opera. Inside of these were placed
tom. Be this as it may, when the body was burnt, some trifles made of pastry, and a brass image of
the ashes were generally collected in an urn or small Budha-the sides of the stage being likewise covered
stone chest, over which a low mound not above a with paintings of Budha-Demons, &c. Beneath, and
yard high was raised. The Ynglinga Saga, on which, on the ground, was a flooring of sand, on the top of
however, antiquarians place no great confidence, which a few coppers were placed. The performers
674
DEAD (EXAMINATION OF THE).
were a priest and his two sons. The old man had a | ing the night, for its head and hind quarters were
heavy, stolid, yet not unpleasant face; the two young lying before the stage. The ceremonies last for 24
men had high cheek-bones, and flat Mongolian fea- hours. The priest gets for his work the clothes of
tures. They were all clad in white cloth gowns tied the deceased, and a coin worth 10d. After it was
at the waist.
over, I was told that a lad had gone up to the priest
“The performances commenced by the old priest to ask him to worship me, as it was likely I could
sitting down in front of the stage, with some books raise the deud!”
before him. These books had all separate leaves con- DEAD (EXAMINATION OF THE). When a dead
fined by two loose wooden boards, and painted by body is laid in the grave, the Mohammedans believe
hand in the Sanscrit character. He then blew a shrill that an angel gives notice of it to the two examiners,
blast from a trumpet, made of—what? why, a man's Monker and Nakir, terrific angels of livid and gloomy
thigh-bone, and called by them the trumpet bone; appearance, whose duty it is to inquire into the life
they cut off the head of the bone by the trochanter, and actions of the deceased. They order the dead
and perforate the condyles.
person to sit upright, and if he obeys not instantly,
“A little boy also beside him commenced blowing they drag him up with an iron hook ; and as these
into a huge shell with a hole in it. The two sons examiners are not supposed to be very patient, the
then commenced operations, the one playing on a Mohammedans have their graves made hollow, that
pair of cymbals, the other on a tambourine. The lat- they may be able to sit up without difficulty. The
ter also put on a head-dress of Chinese paper, with angels rigidly question the dead person respecting
hieroglyphics upon it. He then commenced dancing | his faith; if he answers satisfactorily, they suffer
round the stage very gracefully, always whirling him to be refreshed with the breezes of Parad se ;
round about, giving a hop and thumping his drum but if not, they beat him on the temples with maces
which he carried in his hand, the drumstick being made of iron, and pull him about with the iron hook or
of a piece of bamboo twisted in this manner, S. After scythe, until he roars so loud as to be heard by the
a while the old man took up his book, and recited a whole universe, except men and genii. They then
verse or two, then the three went to the front of the thrust him back into the grave, giving him as com-
stage, singing each in parts most beautifully, and panions ninety-nine dragons, with seven heads each,
bowing occasionally to the image. The dancing again who gnaw his carcase until the day of judgment.
commenced as before. At last the crowning scene Mr. Lane, in his · Manners and Customs of the
approached, two baskets were brought containing the Modern Egyptians,' thus notices this singular arti-
clothes of the deceased and his kukrie, a kind of cle of faith : “It is a part of the Moslems' creed,
dagger worn by every body here. Two little faded that the soul remains with the body the first night
flags were put in each basket. The ceremony now after the burial, and that two angels are sent by God to
consisted, it was said, in driving the devil away. visit and examine it, and perhaps torture the body;
The three now sat down before the baskets, the old à Fackeé is consequently hired to sit before the
fellow blowing away on his trumpet and another on tomb, and perform the office of instructor of the
the shell. They then commenced a very sweet and dead; he repeats generally such sentences as follow :
plaintive melody, one of the sons having a bell, and Answer the angels, God is my Lord in truth ;'
a piece of brass consisting of two crowns joined to-Mohammed is the apostle of God with veracity; ?
gether, and called a thunderbolt. This he kept mov- · El-Isla'm is my religion ;' • The Koran is my
book
ing to and fro over his left shoulder, while with his of direction, and the Moslems are my brothers,' &c.
other hand he kept ringing the bell. The old man He concludes by saying, 'Sleep, O servant of God,
then took the deceased's kukrie, and danced several in the protection of God.' A buffalo is sometimes
times round the stage, flourishing it about. Now slaughtered, and the flesh given to the poor; this is
sounds of wailing are heard at a distance, and two supposed to expiate some of the minor sins, but not
females presently appear sobbing bitterly, and each the great sins. At the end of the first night after
carrying in her hand a bowl of spirits made from the burial, the soul is believed to depart either to
rice. They then seat themselves before the clothes the place of residence allotted to good souls until
of the deceased. One was an old crone, the step- the last day, or to the prison appointed for wicked
mother of the deceased, the other a girl of fifteen, souls.”
his daughter.
The Examination of the Dead, which may have
“The singing recommences, and the two baskets been a notion derived from John xx. 12, is not
are attached to each other by the priest's beads, and directly mentioned in the Koran, and therefore re-
carried round the stage, the women following the jected by those Mohammedans who strictly adhere
priest. Here I left the motley group. I assure you, to the text, but as the doctrine is distinctly alluded
seen by torchlight, it was a most impressive scene. to, it is received by the majority of Mussulmans.
The singing after we left went on at intervals during The idea is probably borrowed from the religion of
the night, and in the morning we discovered the the ancient Persians, where the examination of the
priest and sons singing before the stage by the book, dead is taught, though it is believed to take place
and looking very seedy. They had killed a kid dur- at a later period; and the examiners, Mithra and
DEAD (PRAYERS FOR THE).
675
Rashneé-râst, wait until the souls present themselves | mentions that after the consecration of the elements
on the bridge (see Al-SIRAT) that separates earth in the Lord's Supper, Christians prayed for pardon
from heaven.
and peace on behalf of the living and the dead. Cy
In the ‘Book of Traditions concerning the Ac- ril of Jerusalem, who lived in the same century, re-
tions and Sayings of Mohammed, Abù-Horeira, a cords one of these prayers, which was to this effect :
companion of the prophet, reports on the subject of “ We offer this sacrifice in memory of all those who
the examination of the dead : “ The prophet said, have fallen asleep before us; first, patriarchs, pro-
Verily, a dead body sits up in its grave without fear phets, apostles, and martyrs, that God, by their
or noise, after which it is asked its religion in the prayers and intercessions, may receive our supplica-
world; it will reply, 'I was in Islám.'—' And what | tions; and then we pray for our holy fathers and
dost thou say concerning Mohammed ?' It will say, bishops, and all that have fallen asleep before us, be-
• He is the messenger of God, who brought wonders lieving that it is a great advantage to their souls to
to us from God, and I consider him a teller of truth.' be prayed for whilst the holy and tremendous sacri-
And didst thou see God?'—It will say, 'It is not fice lies upon the altar.” It is impossible to trace
possible for any man to see God.' Then an open- the practice farther back than the end of the second
ing will be made for it towards hell, to see some century. About that time we find that immediately
tearing others to pieces in flames; then it will be before the communion was celebrated, which was
told, Look towards that from which God hath done on every occasion of public worship, a roll or
guarded thee :' after which an opening will be made catalogue, usually called the Diptychs, was read, con-
for it towards Paradise, and it will see its beauties | taining the names of all the worthies who had be-
and pleasures, and it will be told, “This is the place longed to the church. Then prayers were offered
of thy abode, because thou livedst in the truth, and in behalf of the departed, after which the commu-
diedst in it, and God will raise thee up in it! And nion was dispensed. If any thing was proved incon-
a bad man will sit in his grave in lamentation and sistent with Christian faith or practice, in the char-
wailing. Then he will be asked, 'What he did ?' acter of an individual thus registered and prayed for,
he will say, 'I know not.'-' But what dost thou say his name was forth with erased.
concerning Mohammed ?'-He will say, "I heard The first person who publicly protested against
something about him. For him then will be opened the practice of praying for the dead appears to
a crevice towards Paradise, and he will look at its have been Aërius, who denied that such prayers
beauties, and will be told, “ Look at those things could be of any advantage to those who were the
which are withheld from thee;' then a hole will be subjects of them. This objection was eagerly com-
opened for him towards hell, and he will see its wail. bated by Epiphanius, who argued the usefulness of
ing and gnashing of teeth, and will be told, “This is the practice as testifying the faith and hope of
thy abode, because thou livedst in doubt, and will be the living, inasmuch as it showed their belief that
raised up in doubt, God willing.' The Egyptians the departed were still in being, and living with the
had a similar custom of examining the dead, particu- Lord. Thus it was that the erroneous opinion crept
larly their kings. It was not, however, believed to be into the church, that prayers and oblations ought to
done by angels, but actually done by the living. As be made for the dead, while it was still a question on
soon as a inan was dead he was brought to trial. which Christians differed in opinion, whether the dead
The public accuser was heard ; if he proved that the received any profit from such prayers. The Romish
deceased had led a bad life, his memory was con- church perpetuated the practice by stamping it with
demned, and he was deprived of the honours of se- the official authority of the Council of Trent, which,
pulture; but if his life had been honourable and use- in its decree respecting the mass, declares it to be a
ful, he was buried with great solemnity and respect. propitiatory sacrifice “properly offered not only for
DEAD (PRAYERS FOR THE). The practice of the sins, punishments, satisfactions, and other neces-
praying for the dead, which is maintained by the sities of living believers, but also for the dead in
Church of Rome, meets with no countenance from Christ, who are not yet thoroughly purified.” And
the Word of God. Neither do the early Fathers of the third canon of the same council denounces any
the Christian Church ever hint at the existence of one wlio denies this doctrine in reference to the mass
such a custoin. Tertullian, who died A. D. 220, is as accursed. Accordingly, a solemn office for the
the first who speaks of prayer for the dead, as a dead fornis part of the service of that church, and is
custom of the church in his day. " We make usually recited once a month, and in Lent once a-
anniversary oblations for the dead,” he says, " for week. On the Festival of All Souls' day extraordi-
their birthdays," which was the usual term em- nary masses are said for the relief of departed souls.
ployed to indicate the days of their death. Both The Romish church appeal, in support of this doc-
Origen and Cyprian, who also flourished in the third trine, chiefly to a passage in the Second Book of
century, affirm that prayers were wont to be offered by Maccabees, which runs thus, xii. 46,
, “ It is therefore
the church in behalf of its departed members. Ar- a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead,
nobius, in his “Treatise against the Heathens,' writ- that they may be loosed from sins." This citation
ten probably in the beginning of the fourth century, from the Apocrypha is the only express warrant ,
676
DEAD (RITES OF THE).
SHIP.
which Romanism can discover for a practice, which, dead. The daily service is full of such prayers,
in connection with the doctrine of purgatory, has which are frequently repeated, and incense burned
been a source of ample revenue to the clergy of that over the graves of the deceased, particularly on
system. Other passages from the canonical Scrip- Saturday evening, which is the special season for
tures are no doubt pressed into the service, such as remembering the dead in prayers and alms. Mass
1 Cor. xv. 29; 1 John v. 16; Matth. v. 26 ; xii. 32. is said for the souls of the departed on the day of
But these portions of the Sacred Writings, when burial, on the seventh, the fifteenth, and the fortieth
carefully examined, will be found, in no sense, today, and at the end of the first year after death.
support the custom of praying for the dead. No Alms are also given by the surviving relatives to the
explicit instance of the practice is to be found in poor in the name of the deceased, under the idea
the Scripture. On the contrary, the doctrine of that the merit of these deeds of charity will procure
the Bible evidently is, that at death the doom of pardon for both the living and the dead.
every man is irrevocably fixed, either for weal or woe. DEAD (PRAYERS TO THE). See ANCESTOR-Wor-
Thus Rev. xiv. 13, “And I heard a voice from hea-
SAINTS (PRAYER TO THE).
ven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead DEAD (RITES OF THE). Among the ancient
which die in the Lord from thenceforth: Yea, saith Hebrews nearly the same rites were practised in the
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours ; case of the dead, which are found at this day to pre-
and their works do follow them." John v. 24, vail in the East. No sooner had the breath de-
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hear- parted than the nearest relative hastened to close
eth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, the eyes of the deceased, and to salute the lifeless
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into con- body with a parting kiss. The corpse was then
demnation ; but is passed from death unto life.” washed with water, and if not interred immediately,
2 Cor. v. 1, "For we know that if our earthly house was laid out in an upper chamber. They then wrap-
of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building ped the body round with many folds of linen, and
of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in placed the head in a napkin. Sometimes after wash-
the heavens.” Phil. i. 21, “ For to me to live is ing, the Hebrews proceeded to embalm the body.
Christ, and to die is gain.”
(See EMBALMMENT).
It is a curious circumstance that, although in the The modern Jews, however, have departed widely
canonical books of the Old Testament not the slight- from the customs of their fathers in their treatment
est reference is made to praying for the dead, as of the dead. On this subject the following account
having been practised by the ancient Hebrews, the will be found interesting : “Under the conviction
modern Jews observe the custom. Thus, among that as the soul was about to leave the body, she be-
the Jews in some countries, it is customary, after the came more elevated, and experienced a degree of
coffin has been nailed up, for ten men to walk in so- inspiration, the children and relatives of the dying
lemn procession round it seven times, repeating, at person surrounded his bed, in order to listen to his
the same time, prayers for the soul of the deceased. parting instructions, and to receive his dying bless-
Such a ceremony, however, is by no means universal. ing. The practice among the modern Jews, is to
But it is a prevailing custom, that after the funeral of send a Rabbi with ten men, to receive his confession,
an Israelite ten Jews, who have passed the age of his sins being arranged in the order of the alphabet.
thirteen, repeat prayers for the dead, morning and But the more intelligent act in the same manner as
evening; and at the close of these prayers, the a Christian upon such an occasion. He prays that
sons of the deceased, or his nearest male relatives, God would either restore him to health, or take care
repeat the KODESII (which see), a prayer which is of his soul, and particularly that the pain of dying
considered of sufficient efficacy to deliver the de may prove the expiation of his guilt. Meanwhile
ceased from hell.
his friends repair to the synagogue, and pray for ! im
The Greek church determines nothing dogma- | under another name, to indicate his repentance and
tically about the state of the departed, and yet interchange of conduct.
cessions are made for them that they may have “But some with devout and solemn attention re-
enjoyment in the state into which they have pass- main in the chamber to see him depart, and to re-
ed, a joyful resurrection, and a final acquittal at ceive his last embrace, which they denominate the
the day of judgment, but not a word is uttered soul of the dying.' Similar to the Greeks and the
about purgatory. In the Russian church, services Romans, the nearest relation of the deceased closed
are performed over the graves in behalf of the de- his eyes. Then they rent their clothes, or beat their
parted on the third, ninth, and fortieth days after breasts, or tore their hair, or threw dustor ashes upon
burial. The dead are also commemorated in the their heads; but in modern times, they content them-
eucharist, but no money is paid for masses as in the selves with rending any small part of their garments.
Romish church to effect the deliverance of their It is related that there was another custoin that ob-
souls. In the ARMENIAN CHURCH (which see), the tained, even that of throwing out into the street all
doctrine of purgatory is not acknowledged by name, the water that was found in the house or neighbour-
but prayers and masses are said continually for the hood, that so the information of his death might
1
DEAD (RITES OF THE).
677
commence.
speedily be conveyed, and the general lainentation | When the last breath was about to depart, the
It was one of the direful punishments nearest relative endeavoured to catch it with his
threatened upon King Jehoiakim, that none should mouth. The ring was then taken from the hand of
mourn or lament over him, saying, 'Ah, my brother, the lifeless corpse, and the eyes and mouth were
ah, Lord, or ah, his glory, he shall be buried with closed by the nearest of kin, who called upon the
the burial of an ass.'
deceased by name, exclaiming vale, farewell. The
“ The corpse was then placed upon a cloth on the corpse was then washed and anointed with perfumes
ground, and the face covered, it being no longer law- and oil by slaves. When the body was thus pre-
ful to behold the human countenance. Moved with pared, a small coin was placed in the mouth to pay
a superstitious principle, they also bend the thumb Charon for conducting the deceased to Hades. The
into the hand, and bind it with the strings of the corpse was now dressed in the best garment usually
Thaled, assigning as a reason that the thumb having worn by the deceased when alive; and having been
the figure of the name of God, the devil dares not stretched on a couch, was laid at the threshold of the
approach it. The remainder of the hand remains house with the feet towards the door, at the en-
open to indicate that the deceased has abandoned all trance of which hung a branch of cypress, while the
the concerns of this world, as children come into the couch on which the body was placed was sometimes
world closehanded, to indicate that God has put all covered with leaves and flowers. The object of this
the riches of the earth into their hands. The body exposure of the corpse, which was practised also by
was then bathed with water, say some, that it might the ancient Greeks, from whom it had probably been
appear clean before God; but others, with greater borrowed, was, that the evidence of real death might
rationality, that the ointments and perfumes might be complete. In some points the Greeks differed from
more easily enter into the pores, which were opened the Romans in this exposure of the dead. Thus, be-
with warm water.
side the bed on which the corpse lay, were placed
“It was sometimes also customary to burn wood painted earthen vessels, which were buried along
and sweet spices over the corpse. Of Asa, king of with the deceased. A honey-cake was also placed
Judah, it is said, 'they laid him on a bed, which was near the body, which is thought to have been in-
filled with sweet odours, and divers kinds of spices tended to soothe Cerberus, the guardian of the infer-
prepared by the apothecaries' art, and they made a nal regions. At the door of the house was placed a
very great burning for him. It is probable that this vessel of water that those who entered might purify
was originally intended to remove the offensive | themselves by. sprinkling water on their persons.
smell of the dead bodies, but the vanity of particular | The relatives surrounded the bed on which the dead
persons carried this far beyond what was necessary. lay, uttering loud lamentations, the females rending
In the East, where perfumes are plenty, this prac- their garments and tearing their hair. No persons
tice is still continued; but in Italy, the Jews only were permitted to be present on these occasions who
mingle the water with which they wash the corpse, were under sixty years of age.
with dried roses and chamomile.
Among the Mohammedans considerable importance
“When the body is washed it is shrouded, but in is attached to the bodies of their dead. As soon as
many places they only put on a pair of drawers and a pious Moslem feels that his end is drawing near,
a white shift. Others say that it was usual to dress | he hastens, as far as strength permits, to perform the
the dead in so sumptuous a manner, that the ex- ordinary ablutions, that he may die in a state of
penses exceeded all due bounds, and that Gamaliel bodily purification. When going on a protracted jour-
the old corrected this abuse, by enjoining his disci- ney, it is not unusual for Mohammedans to carry
ples, without distinction of rank, to cover the dead | their grave-clothes with them; and cases have been
body with a linen cloth. It was also deemed an act known of persons who, when taken ill in the desert,
of devotion to bury a person in the clothes he was have made a trench in the loose sand, and laid them-
accustomed to wear. Some add a kind of rocket, selves down to die, after putting on their grave-
over which they place the Kaled, and cover the clothes, leaving only the face uncovered. When a
head with a white cap.
Moslem is at the point of death, one of the family or
“The body was exposed for some time previous to attendants turns round the body to place the head in
its interment, and a lighted candle was placed at the the direction of Mecca, and then closes the eyes of
head. Some assert that this light was intended to the expiring man, on which the male attendants ex-
enlighten the soul, and to facilitate her entrance, claim, “ Allah ! there is no strength nor power but
when she returns to visit the body; but the Jews in God! to God we belong, and to him we must re-
reject this opinion, and say that this ancient custom turn; God have mercy on him!” The corpse is al-
was established only to ridicule the sorcerers, who ways buried the same day, or about twelve hours
maintained that the lighting of a wax candle near after death: it is carefully washed, wrapped in grave-
the dead body, was sufficient to occasion violent pain clothes, and placed in a bier covered over with a
to the separate spirit."
shawl, but it is not buried in a coffin.
Among the ancient Romans some peculiar cus- The ancient Egyptians, entertaining a firm belief
toms existed in their tren: ment of the dead. I in the transmigration of souls (see METEMPSYCHOSIS),
678
DEAD (RITES OF THE).
1
and that after the soul had performed a certain cycle when a relative dies, to enclose the remains in air-tight
in the animal kingdom, it would re-enter and re-ani. coffins, and to retain them for seven days in the house,
mate its own original body, if preserved free from every fourth day being devoted to special rites for
corruption and entire, naturally sought to preserve the dead. Food is presented before the coffin, the
the bodies in an entire state, by embalming them, essence of which the dead are supposed to eat, and
and by depositing them in well-constructed cata- prayers are offered by Budhist and Tauist priests, for
combs, tumuli, and mausoleums. (See EMBALM- the happiness of their spirits. The Laplanders to
MENT). This desire to preserve the bodies of their this day provide their dead with a flint and every-
dead was not confined to the Egyptians, but ex- thing necessary for lighting them along the dark pas-
tended also to the Hebrews, and has even been found sage they have to traverse after death. But while
among some heathen nations. Some savages, particu- the same general idea of pleasing the spirits of the
larly North American Indians, deck the bodies of the departed may be observed in many of the customs
dead in the richest dresses, and paint their faces and which prevail both in Asiatic and African nations,
bodies with different colours. Nay, they even set there are cases, as in South Africa, in which as much
apart provisions for them after death, imagining that | horror is felt at touching the dead body even of the
they are able to eat and drink as during life. An nearest relative as would have been felt by an an-
old traveller gives a curious account of the manner cient Jew through dread of ceremonial pollution.
in which some of the aboriginal Americans preserved A curious customi is related by Mr. Moffat in refer-
the bodies of their sovereigns. “The Virginiansence to the dying. When they see any indications
preserve religiously the bodies of their kings and of of approaching dissolution, in fainting fits or convul-
their chiefs in the following manner. They first cut sive throes, they throw a net over the body, and hold
the skin all down the back, and take it off whole, if it in a sitting posture with the knees brought in con-
possible: they afterwards take the flesh from the tact with the chin till life is extinct. Sometimes the
bones, without hurting the nerves, to prevent the RAIN-MAKERS (which see), give orders that none of
joints from disuniting: they then dry the bones in the dead are to be buried, but dragged at a distance
the sun, which they afterwards set again in the skin, from the town to be devoured by the hyenas and
having first taken care to moisten it with oil or fat, jackals.
which keeps it from rotting. After the bones are The present mode of treating the dead among the
fixed in the skin in their proper places, they fill up Chinese is curious, as stated by the Abbe Huc in his
the hollows very dexterously with very fine sand, recent work, “The Chinese Empire :' “It is the cus-
and sew it up in such a manner, that the body ap- tom in China to keep the dead a very long time in
pears as entire as if they had not taken the flesh the house, sometimes even to the anniversary of
from it. After the corpse has been prepared in this their decease. In the meanwhile the body is placed
manner, they carry it into a place made for that pur- in a coffin of extraordinary thickness, and covered
pose, and lay it upon a great piece of wood matted with quick-lime, so that it does not occasion any in-
over, that is raised a little from the ground, which convenience in the house. The object of this prac-
they cover over with a mat to keep it from the dust. tice is to do honour to the dead, and give time for
They expose the flesh which they have taken from preparation for the funeral. His burial is the most
the body to the sun, by laying it on a hurdle ; and important affair, one may say, in the life of a Chinese,
when it is thoroughly dried, they put it up into a the object of his most anxious solicitude. Death is
basket sewed up very close, and set it at the feet of a mere trifle; no one troubles himself much about
the corpse. They place an idol of Kiwasa in these that, but the quality of the coffin, the ceremonies of
sepulchres, which they say looks after those bodies.” the funeral, the choice of a burial-place, and the spot
Among the ancient Mexicans, as soon as an em- where the grave is to be dug, all that is matter of
peror died, guards were set round the body during serious consideration. When the death takes place
the first four nights after his death. The attendants these cares of course are left as a legacy to his rela..
then washed the corpse, and a tuft of hair was taken tions. Vanity and ostentation certainly have much
from the head, which was carefully preserved as a to do with these things ; every one wishes to per-
relic, that tuft, as they imagined, representing the form the ceremony in grand style, so as to create a
soul. They put an emerald into the dead emperor's sensation in the country, and outdo his neighbours.
mouth, wrapped him in seventeen inourning mantles To obtain the funds necessary for such a display
very richly wrought, on the outermost one of which some management is often necessary, but people are
was painted an image of the idol which the deceased not alarmed at the most extravagant expenses; they
chiefly worshipped. They then covered his face do not shrink from the most enormous sacrifices,
with a mask, and carried him into the temple of they will even sell their property, and occasionally
his favourite idol, where, after a few preliminary ruin the family outright, rather than not have a fine
ceremonies, they burned the body, and afterwards funeral. Confucius did not enjoin all. these foolish
buried the ashes.
excesses, in the fulfilment of an imaginary duty of
The Chinese, among whom ANCESTOR-Worship filial piety, but he did advise people to devote as
(which see), extensively prerails, are accustomed, much as the half of their worldly property to the in-
1
!
:
DEAD (SACRIFICES FOR THE)—DEAD (WORSHIP OF THE).
679
tennent of their parents. The reigning dynasty has | any great personage, and which are repeated at stated
endeavoured to check these exorbitant and useless periods afterwards, are intended to be servants or
expenses, but the laws made concerning them ap- escorts to such persons in another world. They
pear to affect only the Mantchoos; the Chinese con- suppose that their deceased friends have all the
tinue to follow their ancient customs.
bodily wants which they had in this world, and that
“ After the body has been placed in the coffin, the they are gratified by the same kind of attentions
relations and friends assemble at certain appointed which pleased them while on earth. The only in-
hours, to weep together, and express their sorrow. stance of this practice which is to be found, as far
We have often been present at these funeral cere- as we can ascertain, in professedly Christian commu-
monies, in which the Chinese display with marvel-nities, occurs among the Armenians, who offer in
lous facility their really astonishing talents for dissi-connection with the dead an animal of one kind or
mulation. The men and women assemble in separate another. The nature and origin of this peculiar ce-
apartments, and until the time comes at which it is remony are thus detailed by the American mission-
settled they are to grieve, they smoke, drink tea, aries, Messrs. Smith and Dwight: “The priests,
gossip, laugh, all with such an air of careless enjoyment having brought it to the door of the church, and
that you can hardly persuade yourself that they are placed salt before the altar, read the Scripture les-
really supposed to be a company of mourners. But sons for such occasions, and pray, mentioning the
when the ceremony is about to begin, the nearest re- name of the person deceased, and entreating the for-
lation informs the assembly that the time has come, giveness of his sins. Then they give the salt to the
and they go and place themselves in a circle round | animal, and slay it. A portion belongs to the priest;
the coffin. On this signal the noisy conversation other portions are distributed to the poor; and of
that has been going on suddenly ceases, the lamenta- the remainder, a feast is made for the friends. None
tions begin, and the faces but now so gay and good may remain till the morrow. These sacrifices are
humoured instantly assume the most doleful and not regarded as propitiatory, like those of the Jews,
lugubrious expression.
(for the Armenians hold that they were abolished by
“ The most pathetic speeches are addressed to the the death of Christ,) but as a meritorious charity to
dead; every one speaks his own monologue on the the needy. They have always, at least in modern
subject, interrupted by groans and sobs, and, what is times, a special reference to the dead, and are gener-
most extraordinary, inconceivable indeed, by tears, ally, though not necessarily, made on the day that a
--yes, actually real true tears, and plenty of them. mass is said for the same object. The other most
“One would suppose they were inconsolable in common occasions are the great festivals of the
their grief--and yet they are nothing more than skil-saints, and what are called the Lord's festivals. At
ful actors and all this sorrow and lamentation is Easter especially, one or more is always sacrificed,
only a display of histrionic talent. At a given sig- the whole congregation frequently contributing to
nal the whole scene changes abruptly, the tears dry the expense, and then dividing the victim or victims
up, the performers do not even stop to finish a sob among them. But even this is in memory of the
or a groan, but they take their pipes, and lo, there dead. Its origin, we are told, on the authority of
are again these incomparable Chinese, laughing, gos- the Catholicos Isaac the Great, was as follows.
sipping, and drinking tea. Certainly no one could When the nation emb:aced Christianity under the
guess that, instead of drinking hot tea, they had but preaching of St. Gregory Loosavorich, the converted
a moment before been shedding hot tears.
pagan priests came to him, and begged that he would
“When the time comes for the women to range provide for them some means of support, as the
themselves round the coffin, the dramatic piece is, if sacrifices on which they formerly lived were now
possible, played with still greater perfection. The abolished. He accordingly ordered, that a tenth of
grief has such an appearance of sincerity, the sighs the produce of the fields should be theirs, and that
are so agonising, the tears so abundant, the voice so the people, instead of their former offerings to idols,
broken by sobs, that actually, in spite of your cer-
should now make sacrifices to God in the name of
tainty that the whole affair is a purely fictitious re- the dead as a charity to the hungry."
presentation, you can hardly help being affected DEAD (WORSHIP OF THE), one of the early
at it." See FUNERAL RITES.
forms of idolatry. When men distinguished them-
DEAD (SACRIFICES FOR THE). Among the an- selves during their lives by deeds of heroism or of
cient Greeks a sacrifice was offered for the dead on usefulness, not only were they respected while on
the second day after the funeral, but the principal earth, but their memories were held in honour after
sacrifice of this kind was offered on the ninth day. their death. To such an extent was this feeling
But among some modern Pagans the practice pre- sometimes carried, that great and good men were in-
vails of sacrificing for the dead, not irrational animals, vested with divine attributes, and came to be wor-
but reasonable beings. This practice of sacrificing shipped as gods. The Arabian writers, as Dr. Po.
men to the dead is more common in Ashantee and cocke informs us, trace the idolatry of their own
Dahomey than anywhere else. The victims offered nation to this origin. Diodorus Siculus says of
at the death of any member of the royal family, or of the Egyptians, that “ besides the celestial gods, they
!
1
680
DEAN_DEANS (RURAL).
say there are others which are terrestrial, who were remote period by Sanchoniathon, in a fragment quoted
begotten by them, and were originally mortal men, by Eusebius. Not only, however, did the souls of
but by reason of their wisdom and beneficence have the departed come to take their place among the
obtained immortality, of whom some have been kings gods, but the principle, once introduced, was carried
of Egypt.” Cicero and Pliny assure us, that deifica- still further, for in process of time they were exalted to
tion was the ancient manner of rewarding those who a higher rank in the scale of the celestial deities. As
had deserved well of their country and their kind, time rolled on, and the true authentic history of the
and Lactantius actually informs us, that Cicero lived heroes thus honoured began to be lost, it was no dif-
to see divine honours paid to his own daughter Tul- ficult matter to persuade the great mass of the peo-
liola. No wonder that this eminent man declared in ple, that he whom they had long worshipped was in
the beginning of his Tusculan Questions, “ Those who reality possessed of divine attributes. Thus it was,
are initiated must know that they worship the souls that not only in Egypt, but in Greece and Rome, in
of men departed from their bodies, and that the Dii Persia, in India, and in Scandinavia, much of their
Majorum Gentium were such." Maximus Tyrius idolatry may be traced to the deification of departed
says the same thing of the Greeks. Herodotus heroes, and the worship of the dead.
actually charges Hesiod and Homer with having been DEAN (Lat. decanus, the ruler of a body of ten
the first who introduced a Theogony among the men), an ecclesiastical officer in the Church of Eng.
Greeks. He tells us plainly that these two early land, not known, as is supposed, before the eleventh
writers invented the genealogy of the gods; "im- or twelfth century. The office was given originally to
posed names upon each; assigned them functions a presbyter, thereby investing him with authority over
and honours, and clothed them in their several ten other presbyters, connected with a cathedral or
forms,” whereas " before that time,” he adds, “they collegiate church. He was, and still is, a dignitary of
sacrificed and prayed to the gods in general without some importance, receiving the title of Very Rever-
attributing either name or surname to any deity, end, and presiding over the whole CHAPTER (which
which in those days they had never heard of.” And see), or governing body of the cathedral, which re-
in regard to the Theogony of Egypt, Syncellus reck- ceives the name of dean and chapter. This office
ons seven of the gods, and nine of the demi-gods, ranks next to that of a bishop, and he receives his
who reigned in Egypt, and assigns to every one of appointment by letters patent from the crown.
His
them a certain number of years for his reign. The duty, generally speaking, is to superintend the whole
Egyptians, however, were by no means willing to establishment of the cathedral church. It has been
admit their gods to be of human origin. Their laws proposed of late to unite the offices of bishop and dean
inflicted death upon any one who should say Serapis in some cases at least. This, however, has been keenly
had once been a man.
resisted by the chief dignitaries, chiefly on the ground
That the deification of eminent men was one of the that the bishops are already overburdened with many
sources of polytheistic idolatry, is clearly laid down and various duties, which engross all their time, and
by Bishop Warburton in his Divine Legation of besides, it is alleged to be absolutely necessary that
Moses.' “Gratitude and admiration," says he, “the the cathedral chapter have a head constantly resi-
warmest and most active affections of our nature, con- dent. Before the act of 1840 there was no dean
curred to enlarge the object of religious worship, and either at St. David's or Llandaff. In the former
to make man regard the inventors of arts and the case the precentor, and in the latter the bishop, exer-
founders of society as having in them more than a cised the functions of dean. Although the dean
common ray of the divinity. So that godlike benefits now receives his appointment direct from the crown,
bespeaking, as it were, a godlike mind, the deceased it was not always so; for at the period between the
parent of a people was easily advanced into the rank Norman Conquest and the Reformation, the dean
of a demon. When the religious bias was in so good was elected by the chapter summoned for that pur-
a train, natural affection would have its share in pro- | pose. In some cases also a sub-dean was chosen to
moting this new mode of adoration. Piety to parents act in his absence. By the enactments of late
would naturally take the lead, as it was supported years, the residence of a dean is fixed at eight
by gratitude and aclmiration, the primum mobile of the months, and he is restricted from holding a benefice
whole system; and in those early ages the natural fa- except in the cathedral city, and not above £500 per
ther of the tribe often happened to be the political fa. annum in value. No person can be appointed dean
ther of the people, and the founder of the state. Fond- until he shall have been six years complete in priest's
ness for the offspring would next have its turn; and orders, except in case of professorships. By the law
a disconsolate father at the head of a people, would of England a dean is a sole corporation, that is, he
contrive to soothe his grief for the untimely death represents a whole succession, and is capable of tak-
of a favourite child, and to gratify his pride under the ing an estate as dean, and conveying it to his suc-
want of succession, by paying divine honours to its
meinory.” The theory thus advanced by Warbur- DEAN AND CHAPTER. See CHAPTER.
ton, as to the origin and progress of the worship of DEANS (RURAL), inferior officers in the Church
the dead, was in substance brought forward at a very of England, who existed long before the Reforma-
cessors,
DEASUIL-DECRETISTS.
681
1
tion, acting as itinerant visitors of churches, subject | then duly inflicted, and that there might be no diffi-
to the authority of the ARCHDEACON (which see). / culty in this administration of punishment, the offi-
Besides their own parochial labours, they have the cers of government were bound, in case of necessity,
inspection of a certain number of parishes, the name to assist the bishops with their authority.”
being probably derived from the circumstance that The officers appointed in the fourth century to
ten parishes, and these chiefly rural, were usu undertake the conduct of funerals (see COPIATÆ),
assigned to their superintendence. The proper office were sometimes called Decani, but for what reason
of a rural dean was the inspection of the lives and does not appear. In the arrangement of monasteries
manners of the clergy and people within their dis- also, those monks who presided over ten religious
trict, in order to be reported to the bishop. Of late, were called Decani.
accordingly, several bishops have been very anxious DECANICA, places of custody or restraint con-
to revive the office, as affording in their view a bet- nected with ancient Christian churches, in which ec-
ter security for the efficiency of the clergy.
clesiastical delinquents were wont to be shut up.
DEASUIL (Celt. deas, the south, and suil, a way), | Such places of confinement are expressly referred to
a Druidical ceremony which consisted in pacing in Justinian's Novels.
thrice round an earthen walk, which externally en- DECEMVIRI SACRORUM (Lat. the ten men
compassed the temple, and which is still visible at of sacred things), the members of a college of priests
Stonehenge. The route represented the course of appointed among the ancient Romans to take charge
the sun, being from the east southward to the west; of the Sibylline books, and to inspect them when re-
and a contrary progress was called cartua-suil, pro- quired by the senate. It was about B.C. 365 that
bably from the Celtic car, a turn, and tuathal, the the college was appointed to consist of ten priests,
left hand, which constituted a most bitter impreca- one half of the number being chosen from the patri-
tion. This custom as a religious rite is of great an- cians, and one half from the plebeians. The same
tiquity, and most extensive; and it has been sup- number appears to have continued for a long time to
posed to be an imitation of the Jewish ceremony of form the college, as we find them existing in the
blessing the altar of burnt-offering, or of the march time of Cicero. Their office was for life, and it seems
of the Israelites round the walls of Jericho. The to have been their duty to act as priests of Apollo
benediction of the Deasuil was long used in Ireland, in celebrating his gaines, and each of them kept a
Wales, and the Scottish Highlands; and even at bronze tripod dedicated to that god in his house.
present it is said not to be entirely extinct. See DECATEPHORUS (Gr. decate, the tenth, and
DRUIDS.
phero, to carry), the surname of Apollo at Megara,
DEATH THE BROTHERS OF), a name usually as being the god to whom the tenth part of the spoils
given to the religious of the order of St. Paul the was dedicated.
hermit of Thebais. They are said to have received DECENNALIA (Lat. decem, ten, and annus, a
this strange designation from the practice which year), festivals which were celebrated by the Roman
they followed of keeping the figure of a death's head emperors every tenth year of their reigns. They
always before them, that they might never lose sight were first instituted by Augustus Cæsar to impress
of their latter end. This order was probably sup- the people with a high respect and veneration for the
pressed by Pope Urban VIII.
imperial authority. On these occasions games were
DECANI, or DEANS, an order of inen instituted / held, sacrifices offered, gifts distributed among the
in the French church in the ninth century, to assist people, and prayers offered in behalf of the emperor
the bishops in the inspection of their dioceses. Se- and the prosperity of the empire.
ven of the most enlightened men in each congrega- DECIMA (Lat. the tenth), a name given among
tion were appointed under the name of decani to the ancient Romans to LACHESIS (which see), one of
take special charge of the rest. When the bishop the Fates, from the practice of decimation in the
arrived in any part of his diocese to hold his spiritual Roman army, when for any offence committed by
court, which he was bound to do once every year, he any number, lots were drawn, which out of every
commenced with receiving the oath of the Deans, tenth man should be put to death. The word is,
who thereby solemnly promised not to allow them accordingly, used to denote the fortune or lot of man.
selves to be actuated by any respect of persons, so DECIMÆ, the tenth of the spoils taken from the
as to conceal any offence against the Divine Law. enemy, which both by the Greeks and Romans was
“ He then questioned them,” says Neander, “parti- | dedicated to the gods. The Jews were also wont to
cularly and distinctly in reference to the observance devote to the Lord a portion of the booty obtained
of heathen customs, and whether every father taught in war.
his children the creed and the Lord's prayer. He DECREES OF COUNCILS. See CANONS EC-
also made enquiry as to the continued practice of
those crimes which had been prevalent among the DECRETALS. See BULL, CANONS ECCLESIAS-
people in former times, and the enormity of which
was then altogether disregarded. The appointed DECRETISTS, one of the two parties into which
punishments, some of which were corporal, were the students of Canon Law in the twelfth century
CLESIASTICAL.
TICAL.
I.
3 C
682
DECURSIO–DEDICATION (FEAST OF).
came to be divided in consequence of the general re- law was pursued had, however, this injurious effect,
cognition at that period of the supreme authority of that the clergy were thereby drawn away from the
the Pope. The origin of the rise of the Legists and study of the Bible, and from the higher, directly
Decretists is thus clearly stated by Neander. “The theological, interest, and their whole life devoted
change which had taken place in the supreme go- solely to these pursuits.”
vernment of the church, necessarily brought along DECURSIO, a ceremony performed by the Greeks
with it a change also in many things connected with
and Romans at the funeral of generals and emperors,
legislation, in all parts of the church ; and hence, the in which the soldiers and the whole company present
old collections of ecclesiastical laws no longer met the made a solemn procession three times round the
existing wants. Ever since the pseudo-Isidorian de- | funeral pile as soon as it was lighted, in token of
cretals began to be received as valid, men would respect for the deceased. On this occasion the pro-
already come to be sensible of this. The collision cession moved to the left to indicate sorrow, mo-
between the old and the new church legislation would tion to the right being the usual expression of joy.
occasion considerable embarrassment. Since the Homer alludes to this ceremony, which went by the
establishment of the validity of those decretals, sev- name of Peridrome among the Greeks.
eral new collections of ecclesiastical laws had, it is DEDICATION, the devotion or CONSECRATION
true, been formed; as, for example, that of Regino, (which see) of any person or thing to the Lord, or to
abbot of Prüm, in the tenth, and that of Burkhard, sacred purposes. See ANATHEMATA.
bishop of Worms, and that of Yves, bishop of Char- DEDICATION (FEAST OF), a Jewish feast in-
tres, in the eleventh century ; but still, these collec- stituted by Judas Maccabæus, in remeinbrance of the
tions did not prove adequate to do away that con- cleansing of the second temple and altar, after they had
trariety. Add to this, that the new papal church been profaned by Antiochus Epiphanes. It began
system needed some counterpoise against a tendency on the 25th of the month Chisleu, corresponding
which threatened to become dangerous to it. In the to our December, and lasted during eight days. The
twelfth century great enthusiasm was excited for Jews on this occasion illuminated their houses as an
the renewed study of the Roman law, by the fa- | expression of their joy and gladness. Hence it was
mous Irnerius (Guarnerius), at the university of also called the Feast of Lights, and is termed by
Bologna; and this study led to investigations and Josephus phota, lights. As long as the festival
doctrines which were quite unfavourable to the in- lasted, hymns were sung, and sacrifices offered. This
terests of the papacy. Even Irnerius stood forth as festival is minutely described in 1 Mac. iv. 52–59,
an ally of the imperial power, in the contest with in these words, “ Now, on the five and twentieth day
the papacy, and it was, in fact, the famous teachers of the ninth month, which is called the month Cas-
of law at that university, who were employed by the leu, in the hundred forty and eighth year, they rose
emperor Frederic the First, to investigate and de- up betimes in the morning, and offered sacrifice, ac-
fend his rights at the diet of Roncala. The more cording to the law, upon the new altar of burnt-
eager, therefore, would be the hierarchical party to offerings which they had made. Look at what time,
oppose that hostile tendency, by setting up another, and what day, the heathen had profaned it, even in
in defence of their own interests and principles, that was it dedicated with songs, and citherns, and
through the study of ecclesiastical law, from an op- | harps, and cymbals. Then all the people fell upon
posite point of view. Thus it came about that--at their faces, worshipping and praising the God of
the famous seat itself of the study of the Roman law leaven, who had given them good success. And so
at Bologna, about the year 1151, a Benedictine, they kept the dedication of the altar eight days, and
or according to another account, a Camaldulensian offered burnt-offerings with gladness, and sacrificed
monk, Gratian, arranged a new collection of eccle- the sacrifice of deliverance and praise. They decked
siastical laws, better suited to the wants of the also the forefront of the temple with crowns of gold,
church, and to the scientific taste of these times. and with shields; and the gates and the chambers
As the title itself indicates, Concordia discorılan- | they renewed, and hanged doors upon them. Thus
tium canonum,' the Harmony of discordant canons, was there very great gladness among the people, for
old and new ecclesiastical laws were here brought that the reproach of the heathen was put away.
together, their differences discussed, and their recon- Moreover, Judas and his brethren, with the whole
ciliation attempted, -- a method similar to that em- congregation of Israel, ordained that the days of the
ployed by Peter Lombard in handling the doctrines dedication of the altar should be kept in their season
of faith. This logical arrangement and method of | from year to year, by the space of eight days, from
reconciliation supplied a welcome nutriinent to the the five and twentieth day of the month Casleu, with
prevailing scientific spirit. From that time the mirth and gladness." The same feast is generally
study also of canon law was pursued with great zeal, supposed to be alluded to in John x. 22, “ And it
and the two parties called the Legists and the De- was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it
cretists arose,Gratian's collections of laws being was winter.” The reason why it is celebrated with
denominated simply the Decretum Gratiani.' The lighted lamps is curiously explained by the Rabbies.
zeal with which the study of civil and ecclesiastical / They say that when the sanctuary had been cleansed
t
DEDICATION OF CHURCHES-DEFENDER OF THE FAITH.
683
and dedicated in the time of the Maccabees, and the this place, be always accepted of thy Divine mercy.
priests came to light the lamp which was to burn | Let every sacrifice that is offered in this temple with
continually before the Lord, there was no more oil a pure faith and a pious zeal, be unto thee a sweet-
found than what would burn for one night, all the smelling savour of sanctification. And when thou
rest being polluted; and seven days' purification be lookest upon that sacrifice of salvation, which taketh
ing necessary, with an additional day to gather olives away the sins of the world, have respect to these
and express the oil, eight days would be required be- oblations of chastity, and defend them by thy con-
fore they could procure a fresh supply. But they tinual help, that they may be sweet and acceptable
tell us that the Almighty wrought so great a mira- offerings unto thee, and pleasing unto Christ the
cle that that small portion of oil burned eight days Lord: vouchsafe to keep their whole spirit, soul, and
and nights, till they had time to obtain more. On body, without blame, unto the day of thy Son Jesus
this legendary story they found the present mode of Christ our Lord. Amen."
celebrating the feast, which is essentially a feast of It was the exclusive province of a bishop in these
lights. On the first night they light one light in the times to preside in the service of dedication, presby-
synagogue; on the second night, two; on the third ters being prohibited from the performance of this
night, three; adding one every night, until the last, solemn act. Thus the first council of Bracara, A. D.
when they light up eight. These lamps ought to be 563, declares any presbyter to be liable to depriva-
lighted with oil of olive, but when that species of tion who shall consecrate an altar or a church, and
oil cannot be obtained, they use was. Labour is refers to former canons as having also forbidden any
not required to be suspended during this festival, such act on the part of a presbyter. By the laws of
but besides the lighting of lamps, and some addi- Justinian the building of no church could be com-
tions being made to the ordinary prayers and lessons menced before the bishop had first made a solemn
of the synagogue, the whole time is spent in mirth prayer, and fixed the sign of the cross in the place
and feasting.
where the building was to be erected. The day of
DEDICATION OF ALTARS. See ALTAR. dedication of a church was usually kept as one of
DEDICATION OF CHURCHES. It does not the anniversary festivals to which the name of
appear that, in the earliest ages of Christianity, any ENCÆNIA (which see) was given, and which are still
special ceremony was observed in consecrating or observed in some parts of England under the name
dedicating churches as buildings set apart for sacred of Vigils or Wakes.
purposes. There may possibly, on such occasions, The ceremony to be observed in dedicating a Ro-
have been solemn prayer and thanksgiving to God, mish church is laid down with great minuteness in
but no evidence can be found on the subject, in so the Romish Pontifical.
far as the three first centuries are concerned.
DEDICATION OF PAGAN TEMPLES. See
the reign of Constantine the Great, however, when TEMPLES (PAGAN).
numerous churches were built throughout the whole DEDICATION OF THE TABERNACLE. See
Roman Empire, it was customary to dedicate them TABERNACLE.
with great solemnity, an appropriate sermon being de- DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE. See Tea-
livered by one of the large body of bishops who were
usually present. Eusebius informs us, that when DEFENDER OF THE FAITH (Lat. Fidei
Constantine built the church of Jerusalem over our Defensor), a peculiar title which is claimed by the
Saviour's sepulchre, the dedication was attended by sovereign of England. It was first conferred in 1521
a full synod of all the bishops of the East, some of by Pope Leo on King Henry VIII. in approval of
whom, says the historian, made speeches by way of his treatise, entitled ' A Vindication of the Seven
panegyric upon the emperor and the magnificence of Sacraments,' written against Martin Luther. “ The
his building; others handled a common place in divi- Pope, to whom it was presented,” says Robertson
nity suited to the occasion ; while others discoursed the historian, “with the greatest formality in full
upon the lessons of Scripture that were read, ex- consistory, spoke of the treatise in such terms as if
pounding the mystical sense of them. At the close it had been dictated by immediate inspiration; and
of these numerous addresses, the assembly partook as a testimony of the gratitude of the church for his
of the Lord's Supper, when prayers were offered for extraordinary zeal, conferred on him the title of De-
the peace of the world, the prosperity of the church, fender of the Faith, an appellation which Henry soon
and a blessing upon the emperor and his children. In forfeited in the opinion of those from whom he de-
the course of the service a special dedication prayer rived it, and which is still retained by his successors,
seems to have been offered, a specimen of which is though the avowed enemies of those opinions, by
given by Ambrose in these words : “I beseech thee contending for which he merited that honourable
now, O Lord, let thine eye be continually upon this distinction.” This production of Henry, which was
house, upon this altar, which is now dedicated unto written in Latin, was dedicated to the Pope, and re-
thee, upon these spiritual stones, in every one of which ceived by his Holiness with such satisfaction that
a sensible temple is consecrated unto thee : let the he granted an indulgence to every person who should
prayers of thy servants, which are poured out in peruse the book. The proposal to confer the title of
PLE.
I
684
DEFENSORS OF THE CHURCH-DEGRADATION.
Defender of the Faith upon the royal controversialist | Emperor. From the laws of Justinian it appears
did not meet with immediate assent from the con- that the defensors were appointed to exercise a kind
sistory, for Roscoe, in his · Life of Leo X.' lets us of superintendence over the COPIATA (which see).
a little farther into the secret of the matter. “ This They were likewise expected to make inquiry whe-
proposition,” he informs us, “gave rise to more de- ther every clerk belonging to the church carefully
liberation, and occasioned greater difficulty in the attended the celebration of morning and evening ser-
sacred college than perhaps the Pope had foreseen. vice in the church, and to inform the bishop of those
Several of the cardinals suggested other titles, and it who neglected their duty in this respect, that they
was for a long time debated whether, instead of the might be subjected to ecclesiastical censures. Au-
appellation of the Defender of the Faith, the sove- thors are by no means agreed whether these officers
reigns of England should not in all future times be were clergymen or laymen, but although it is not un-
denominated the Apostolic, the Orthodox, the Faithful, | likely that at first they might be taken from the
or, the Angelic. The proposition of the Pope, who had clerical order, it was afterwards found more suitable
been previously informed of the sentiments of Wol- to have advocates possessed of legal qualifications.
sey on this subject, at length, however, prevailed, This change was made in the case of the African
and a bull was accordingly issued, conferring this churches, about A. D. 407, by a decree issued by the
title on Henry and his posterity : a title retained by emperor Honorius. From this time the office was
his successors till the present day, notwithstanding | frequently, though by no means universally, intrusted
their separation from the Roman church; which has into the hands of laymen. The officers whom the
given occasion to some orthodox writers to remark, Latins called Defensores, the Greeks called Ecdici or
that the kings of this country should either maintain Ecclesiecdici. Justinian decreed that to avoid clan-
that course of conduct in reward for which the dis- destine marriages, parties of middle rank should be
tinction was conferred, or relinquish the title.” The married in presence of the Defensor of the church.
title, which Leo had thus conferred upon Henry, DEFENSORS OF THE POOR (Lat. Defensores
was afterwards confirmed by Clement VII. ; but Pauperum), officers in the early Christian church
when Henry vigorously espoused the cause of the whose business it was, if any of the poor, or virgins,
Reformation, and authorized the suppression of re- or widows belonging to the church were injured or
ligious houses in England, the title of Defender of oppressed by the rich, to take steps without delay
the Faith was withdrawn by the Pope, and Henry for maintaining their rights by all legal means. Ac-
was excommunicated and deposed. The Parliament cordingly, by a decree passed by the fifth council of
of England, however, in virtue of its own authority, Carthage, A. D. 401, which is also inserted in the
confirmed the title which Henry had received, and, African code, it was enacted, that “forasmuch as the
accordingly, the title Defender of the Faith has been church was incessantly wearied with the complaints
used by Henry's successors on the English throne and afflictions of the poor, it was unanimously agreed
down to the present time. It is well worth notice, upon by them in council, that the emperors should
that although Leo X. is generally regarded by his- be petitioned to allow defensors to be chosen for
torians as originating the title in question, he is far them by the procurement and approbation of the
from having any valid claim to such an honour. The | bishops, that they might defend them from the power
fact is, that long before that Pope's pretended gift of and tyranny of the rich."
the title to Henry VIII., we find Richard II., in all his DÉGRADATION, a punishment inflicted upon
acts against the Lollards, uniformly taking the title of clergymen in the ancient Christian church. It con-
Defender of the Faith. It appears, therefore, to have sisted, as its name implies, in removing the offender
been an ancient right of the sovereigns of England, from a higher to a lower grade of office. The sen-
and in further proof of this, Chamberlayne appeals to tence of degradation appears to have been final and
several charters granted at different periods long an- irrevocable. Bishops were in this way sometimes
terior to the time of Henry VIII.
transferred from a larger to a smaller or less im-
DEFENSORS OF THE CHURCH (Lat. De- portant charge. Presbyters were often thus degraded
fensores Ecclesiæ), officers employed in the early ages to the order of deacons, and deacons to that of sub-
of Christianity to plead the cause of the church, or deacons. This species of punishment was also in-
any single ecclesiastic who happened to have been flicted upon bishops in Africa, by superseding them
injured or oppressed, and had occasion for redress in in their expected succession to the office of arch-
a civil court; or if remedy was not found there, they bishop or metropolitan. In its full meaning, how-
were to address the emperors themselves in the name ever, the term degradation implied deprivation of
of the church, to procure a particular precept in her orders, and reduction to the state and condition of a
favour. It was the business of this important class | layman. Thus, in the third council of Orleans there
of public functio:iaries to see that the rights of the is a canon which appoints, that if any clergyman was
church settled by law were maintained; and if any convicted of theft or fraud, because these were capi.
encroachments were made upon these rights, they tal crimes, he should be degraded from his order, and
were bound to prosecute the aggressors before the only allowed lay communion. (See COMMUNION,
magistrates, and, even if necessary, to appeal to the | Lay.) If after the infliction of such a sentence
DEIMA-DEISTS.
685
he persisted in exercising clerical functions, he re- difference is, that the Deist derives his conviction on
ceived in addition a formal excommunication, and the subject from the principles of natural religion; the
was denied even the communion of laymen. See Unitarian from the fact of Christ's resurrection. Both
CENSURES (ECCLESIASTICAL), DEPOSITION.
arrive at the same point, though they reach it by
DEIMA, the personification of fear among the different routes. Both maintain the same creed,
ancient Greeks.
though on different grounds: so that, allowing the
DEISTS, a name given to those who believe in Deist to be fully settled and confirmed in his persua-
the existence of a Supreme Being, but deny the sion of a future world, it is not easy to perceive what
divine authority and inspiration of the Bible. Such advantage the Unitarian possesses over him. If the
persons are generally strenuous advocates for a proofs of a future state, upon Christian principles, be
natural, as opposed to a revealed religion. They acknowledged more clear and convincing than is
are termed Deists, from the Latin word Deus, God, attainable merely by the light of nature, yet as the
a belief in God being the chief article of their operation of opinion is measured by the strength of
creed. The word Theists would seem at first sight the persuasion with which it is embraced, and not
to bear the same meaning, being derived from the by the intrinsic force of evidence, the Deist, who
Greek word Theos, God. But the appellations | cherishes a firm expectation of a life to come, has
Deists and Theists belong to two essentially differ-- the same motives for resisting temptation, and pa-
ent classes of people; the former being used to tiently continuing in well doing, as the Unitarian.
denote those who believe in God, in a future state He has learned the same lesson, though under a
of rewards and punishments, and in all those doc- different master, and is substantially of the same re-
trines contained in what is usually called the reli- ligion.
gion of Nature, but refuse to acknowledge any writ- “The points in which they coincide are much
ten revelation of the will of God; the latter being more numerous, and more important, than those in
employed to denote those who believe in the exist- which they differ. In their ideas of human nature,
ence of God, in opposition to Atheists who deny his as being what it always was, in opposition to te
existence altogether. Deists, from their unbelief in doctrine of the fall; in their rejection of the Trinity,
Divine revelation, sometimes receive the name of and of all supernatural mysteries ; in their belief of
Infidels or Unbelievers. The name Deists, as ap- the intrinsic efficacy of repentance, and the super-
plied in its present signification, is said to have been fluity of an atonement; in their denial of spiritual
first assumed about the middle of the sixteenth cen- aids, or internal grace, in their notions of the person
tury, by some persons on the continent, who, while of Christ; and finally, in that lofty confidence in the
they rejected the Bible as an inspired book, were sufficiency of reason as a guide in the affairs of reli-
nevertheless most unwilling to be regarded as athe-gion, and its authority to reject doctrines on the
ists. They therefore adopted an appellation, which ground of antecedent improbability ;-in all these
set forth as their distinguishing character their belief momentous articles they concur. If the Deist boldly
in the existence of a God. Peter Viret, a French rejects the claims of revelation in toto, the Unitarian,
reformed divine of the period, is said to have been by denying its plenary inspiration, by assuming the
the first who mentions Deists as a separate class. fallibility of the apostles, and even of Christ himself,
Lord Herbert of Cherbury, however, was the first and by resolving its most sublime and mysterious
English writer who reduced Deisin to a system ; truths into metaphors and allegory, treads close in
declaring the sufficiency of reason and natural reli- his steps. It is the same soul which aniniates the
gion to guide man to a knowledge of the Divine two systems though residing in different bodies; it is
will, and rejecting the Bible as superfluous and un- the same metal transfused into distinct moulds."
necessary. His creed may be expressed in five arti- Dr. Samuel Clarke, in his Evidence of Natural
cles, 1. That there is a God; 2. That he ought to and Revealed Religion, ranges Deists under four
be worshipped; 3. That piety and moral virtue are different classes, 1. " Those who would be thought
the chief parts of worship; 4. That God will pardon to be Deists because they pretend to believe in the
our faults on repentance; and 5. That there is a fu- existence of an eternal, intinite, independent, intel-
ture state of rewards and punishments.
ligent Being, and to avoid the name of Epicurean
That there is a close and intimate connection be- Atheists, teach also that this Supreme Being made
tween Deism and Unitarianism in its modern form the world, though at the same time they agree with
it is impossible to deny. At numerous points they the Epicureans in this, that they fancy God does
unite and coalesce into one harmonious system. On not concern himself in the government of the world,
this subject Mr. Robert Hall offers some valuable nor has any regard to, or care of, what is done
remarks by way of instituting a comparison between therein.
the two: “Deism, as distinguished from atheism, 2. “Some others there are that call themselves
“embraces almost every thing which the | Deists, because they believe not only the being, but
Unitarians profess to believe. The Deist professes the providence of God; that is, that every natural
to believe in a future state of rewards and punish- thing that is done in the world is produced by the
ments,-the Unitarian does no more. The chief power, appointed by the wisdom, and directed by the
he says,
686
DEISTS.
government of God; though not allowing any differ- upon it consistently, must finally recur to absolute
ence between moral good and evil, they suppose that ) atheism.
God takes no notice of the morally good or evil ac- 4. “The last sort of Deists are those who, if they
tions of men; these things depending, as they ima- | did indeed believe what they pretend, have just and
gine, merely on the arbitrary constitution of human right notions of God, and of all the Divine attributes
laws."
in every respect; who declare they believe that there
The opinions of these two sorts of Deists, Dr. is one, eternal, infinite, intelligent, all-powerful and
Clarke believes, can terminate consistently in nothing wise Being; the creator, preserver, and governor of
but downright atheisin, and their practice and beha- all things; that this supreme cause is a Being of
viour, he asserts, is exactly agreeable to that of the infinite justice, goodness, and truth, and all other
most openly professed Atheists. They not only op- moral as well as natural perfections; that he made
pose the revelation of Christianity, and reject all the the world for the manifestation of his power and
moral obligations of natural religion as such; but wisdom, and to communicate his goodness and hap-
generally they despise also the wisdom of all human piness to his creatures; that he preserves it by his
constitutions made for the order and benefit of man- continual all-wise providence, and governs it accord-
kind, and are as much contemners of common de- ing to the eternal rules of infinite justice, equity,
cency as they are of religion.
goodness, mercy and truth; that all created rational
3. “Another sort of Deists there are, who having beings, depending continually upon him, are bound
right apprehensions concerning the natural attri
to adore, worship and obey him ; to praise him for
butes of God, and his all-governing providence; | all things they enjoy, and to pray to hiin for every
seem also to have some notion of his moral perfec. | thing they want; that they are all obliged to pro-
tions also : that is, as they believe him to be a being mote, in their proportion, and according to the ex-
infinitely knowing, powerful and wise; so they be- tent of their several powers and abilities, the general
lieve him to be also in some sense a being of infinite good and welfare of those parts of the world wherein
justice, goodness and truth; and that he governs the they are placed; in like mamer as the divine good-
universe by these perfections, and expects suitable ness is continually promoting the universal benefit
obedience from all his rational creatures. But then, of the whole; that men in particular, are every one
having a prejudice against the notion of the immor- obliged to make it their business, by an universal
tality of human souls, they believe that men perish benevolence, to promote the happiness of all others;
entirely at death, and that one generation shall per- that in order to this, every man is bound always to
petually succeed another, without any thing remain-behave himself so towards others, as in reason he
ing of men after their departure out of this life, and would desire they should in like circumstances deal
without
any future restoration or renovation of things. with him; that therefore, he is obliged to obey and
And imagining that justice and goodness in God are submit to his superiors in all just and right things,
not the same as in the ideas we frame of these per- for the preservation of society, and the peace and
fections when we consider them in mnen, or when we benefit of the public; to be just and honest, equ -
reason about them abstractly in themselves; but table and sincere, in all his dealings with his equals,
that in the Supreme Governor of the world they are for the keeping inviolable the everlasting rule of
something transcendent, and of which we cannot righteousness, and maintaining an universal trust and
make any true judgment, nor argue with any cer- confidence, friendship and affection amongst men ;
tainty about them; they fancy, though there does and, towards his inferiors, to be gentle and kind,
not indeed seem to us to be any equity or propor- easy and atřable, charitable and willing to assist as
tion in the distribution of rewards and punishments many as stand in need of his help, for the preserva-
in this present life, yet that we are not sufficient tion of universal love and benevolence amongst
judges concerning the attributes of God, to argue mankind, and in iinitation of the goodness of God,
from thence with any assurance for the certainty of a who preserves and does good to all creatures, which
future state. But neither does this opinion stand on depend entirely upon him for their very being and
any consistent principles. For if justice and good | all that they enjoy; that, in respect of himself, every
ness be not the same in God, as in our ideas; then man is bound to preserve, as much as in him lies, his
we mean nothing, when we say that God is necessa- own being and the right use of all his faculties, so
rily just and good; and for the same reason it may long as it shall please God, who appointed him his
as well be said, that we know not what we mean, station in this world, to continue him therein; that
when we affirm that he is an intelligent and wise therefore he is bound to have an exact government
being; and there will be no foundation at all left, on of his passions, and carefully to abstain from all de-
which we can fix any thing. Thus the moral attri. baucheries and abuses of himself, which tend either
butes of God, however they be acknowledged in to the destruction of his own being, or to the disor-
words, yet in reality they are by these men entirely dering his faculties, and disabling him from perform-
taken away; and, upon the same grounds, the na- ing his duty, or hurrying him into the practice of
tural attributes may also be denied. And, so upon unreasonable and unjust things ; lastly, that accord-
the whole, this opinion likewise, if we argue ingly as men regard or neglect these obligations, so
DELEGATES (COURT OF)-DELPHI (ORACLE OF).
687
they are proportionably acceptable or displeasing as it was by Frederic the Great, King of Prussia,
unto God; who being supreme governor of the world, also contributed to the spread of deistical tendencies,
cannot but testify his favour or displeasure at some especially among the higher classes. The works of
time or other; and consequently, since this is not Wieland had no small effect in ditlusing these mis-
done in the present state, therefore there must be a chievous principles. Some attempts were also made
future state of rewards and punishments in a life to to form societies on the basis of Deism, such as the
come. But all this, the men we are now speaking Illuminators founded by Weishaupt in 1777, and the
of, pretend to believe only so far as it is discover- Friends of Enlightenment at Berlin in 1783. Several
able by the light of nature alone; without believing theological writers, froin whom better things might
any Divine revelation. These, I say, are the only
These, I say, are the only have been expected, contributed to the spread of
true Deists; and indeed the only persons who ought deistic principles. The most conspicuous of these
in reason to be argued with, in order to convince professed theologians was Bahrdt, who, though he set
them of the reasonableness, truth, and certainty of out apparently on the side of orthodoxy, yet in his
the Christian revelation,"
writings composed in the latter part of his life, en-
Deism in the seventeenth and eighteenth centu- deavoured to undermine all positive religion.
ries prevailed to a great extent in England, being DEIFICATION. See APOTHEOSIS.
openly avowed by several men of note, both in the DEITY. See GOD.
political and literary world. Gibbon, Hume, Priest- DELEGATES (COURT OF), a court in Eng-
ley, Bolingbroke, Shaftesbury, and Hobbes, com- land, deriving its name from these delegates being
manded no small share of attention and even respect appointed by the royal commission, under the great
from their fellow-countrymen, and leading the way seal, and issuing out of Chancery, to represent the
in the rejection of revealed religion, they were fol- sovereign, and all appeals in three causes: 1. When
lowed by no inconsiderable number of hasty superfi- a sentence is given in any ecclesiastical cause by the
cial thinkers, such as are found invariably to follow archbishop or his official. 2. When any sentence is
in the wake of those who are superior to them | given in any ecclesiastical cause, in places exempt.
whether in rank or talent. It was for the express 3. When a sentence is given in the admiralty
purpose of opposing the English Deists that Robert courts, in suits civil or marine, by the civil law.
Boyle founded those celebrated Lectures which bear DELIA, a surname of ARTEMIS (which see), De-
his name, and which have done so much to uphold los having been supposed to be her birth-place. The
the theological reputation of England. For a time same name is also applied sometimes to Demeter,
indeed the advocates of a Natural, as opposed to a Aphrodite
Revealed religion, occupied no mean place in the DELIA, ancient Pagan festivals and games cele
ranks of British literature, and their writings were brated in the island of Delos, in honour of Apollo
read by a large and not uninterested public. The and Artemis. They were observed every fifth year
Deists have had their day, and they are now scarcely with games, choruses, and dances, but in process of
to be found except among the lowest and least time they were suspended. The Athenians, how-
influential classes of the community; and even ever, revived the festival, adding to it horse-races.
among these classes Deism has passed by an easy Besides these greater games, there were also lesser
course into infidelity and atheism. Whether in the Delia, which were held every year in honour of De-
form of Socialists or Secularists, the Deists of the lian Apollo, when the Athenians sent to Delos the
present day can no longer claim the standing and sacred vessel, which the priest of Apollo adorned
reputation of their predecessors of the last century.with laurel branches. Theseus is said to have been
They are at once inferior in intellect, in position, and the founder of the lesser Delia, but they are alleged
in influence.
by some authors to have been of much greater anti-
The form which Deism assumed in France during quity.
the last century, was not that of Naturalism as in DELIUS, a surname of APOLLO (which see) aris-
England, but a gross and sensuous Materialism as ing from his having been born at Delos, an island in
set forth in the writings of Condillac, Diderot, Hel- the Ægean sea.
vetius, Voltaire, and those of the so-called Encyclo- DELIVERERS, a Christian sect mentioned by
pedists. But while Deists assumed a powerful front Augustine as having arisen about A. D. 280, and who
both in France and England, they were not long in derived their name from the doctrine which they
making their appearance in Germany also. During maintained that upon Christ's descent into hell, inti-
the second half of the last century the most power. dels believed, and all were delivered from thence.
ful attacks upon positive Christianity were made by DELIVERING TO SATAN. See ExcoMMU-
the anonymous author of the Wolfenbuttel Frag-
ments, which gave rise to a series of controversies in DELPHI (ORACLE OF), the most celebrated of
regard to the position which ought to be assigned to all the oracles of Apollo. The ancient name of the
reason in matters of faith. It is somewhat remark- place was Pytho, and hence Apollo was sometimes
able that even some of the German mystics adopted known by the surname of Pythius, and the priestess
deistic principles. The mind of the age, influenced | who pronounced the oracular responses received the
e
NICATION.
688
DELPHINIUS-DELUGE.
name of Pythia or Pythonessa. Delphi being one fluence upon Greece, especially in the earlier periods
of the places at which Apollo was particularly wor- of its civilization, often guiding public opinion, and
shipped, there was a temple dedicated to him in urging on the spirit of national enterprise. But
that town, in the innermost sanctuary of which his above all the other oracles, that of Delphi en-
statue was placed, while before it stood an altar on joyed a world-wide renown. Its responses revealed
which burned a perpetual fire, fed only with fir- many a tyrant, and foretold his fate. Through its
wood. The inner roof of the temple was wreathed means many an unhappy being was saved from
with laurel garlands, and on the altar, laurel was destruction, and many a perplexed mortal guided
burnt as incense. Fumes of vapour incessantly as-
in the right way.
It encouraged useful institu-
cended from the crevices of a profound cavern within tions, and promoted the progress of useful dis-
the temple, over which the priestess sat on a three- coveries. Its moral influence was on the side of
legged stool known as the tripod. These vapours virtue, and its political influence in favour of the
powerfully affected the brain of the Pythia, and were advancement of civil liberty. The time at length
deemed to be the sure and hallowed media of divine came, however, when the fame of the Delphian ora-
inspiration. Dr. Gillies, the historian of ancient cle began to diminish. Protracted struggles between
Greece, speaking of the Delphian oracle, which was Athens and Sparta for domination in Greece tended
honoured by the protection and superintendence of more than anything else to diminish the estimation
the Amphictyonic council, says, " The inhabitants in which the oracle was held. Its prestige was
of Delphi, who, if we inay use the expression, were almost entirely gone in the days of Cicero and Plu-
the original proprietors of the oracle, always con- tarch, but it was still occasionally consulted down to
tinued to direct the religious ceremonies, and to con- the time of the Roman Emperor Julian, and only
duct the important business of prophecy. It was finally prohibited by Theodosius. See ORACLES.
their province alone to determine at what time and DELPHINIUS, a surname of Apollo, derived
on what occasion, the Pythia should mount the sa- from Delphi, one of the chief seats of his worship.
cred tripod, to receive the prophetic steams, by DELPHINIA, a festival celebrated in various
which she communicated with Apollo. When over- towns of Greece in honour of Apollo, on which oc-
flowing with the heavenly inspiration, she uttered casion a procession of boys and girls took place, each
the confused words, or rather frantic sounds, irregu- carrying an olive branch bound with white wool.
larly suggested by the impulse of the god; the Del- This at least was the customary mode of observance
phians collected these sounds, reduced them into at Athens, but in some other places, as at Ægina, it
order, animated them with sense, and adorned them was celebrated with contests.
with harmony."
DELUBRUM. See TEMPLES (PAGAN).
At first oracles were only given forth once every DELUGE (TRADITIONS OF THE). It does not lie
seventh year on the birth-day of Apollo; but as the within the scope of the present work to consider the
fame of the Delphian oracle spread throughout actual facts connected with the Deluge, as they are
Greece, it became necessary to set apart several days detailed in the Scriptures, or to examine the much
every month for the purpose. Those who came to disputed question, whether the inundation on that
consult the oracle were admitted by lot, unless when occasion was universal or partial in its extent; but
the magistrates of Delphi assigned to any one a we confine ourselves to the exhibition of a few of the
right of preference. A fee was demanded from those most important traditions on the subject which are
who availed themselves of the oracle. Before the to be found in almost all the nations of the earth,
Pythia mounted the tripod, she spent three days in and which present throughout so remarkable a uni-
previous preparation, which consisted in fasting and formity of aspect as to afford a striking evidence of
bathing in the Castalian well. She is also said to the truth of the Mosaic narrative. « These ancient
have burnt laurel leaves and flour of barley upon the traditions of the human race," says Humboldt, “which
altar of the god. The consulters of the oracle, be.. we find dispersed over the surface of the globe, like
fore they could approach the shrine, must previously the fragments of a vast shipwreck, present among all
sacrifice an ox, a sheep, or a goat, in honour of nations a resemblance that fills us with astonishment;
Apollo. Five priests were attached to the temple, there are so many languages belonging to branches
all of whom were chosen from families descended | which appear to have no connection with each other,
from DEUCALION (which see), and held office for which all transmit to us the same fact. The sub-
life.
stance of the traditions respecting the destroyed
The oracles of Greece were usually delivered in races and the renovation of nature is almost every-
hexameter verse, and as the origin of this poetic where the same, although each nation gives it a local
measure was ascribed to the Delphian Apollo, it was colouring. On the great continents, as on the small
also called the Pythian metre. At the later periods | islands of the Pacific, it is always on the highest and
of Grecian history, however, when the oracle ceased nearest mountains that the remains of the human
to be consulted on great occasions, the oracular an- race were saved."
swers were given in prose. It is an undoubted fact, Bryant, in his System of Ancient Mythology,
that the oracles exercised a highly important in- followed more recently by Faber, enters into an ela-
1
DELUGE (TRADITIONS OF THE)."
689
borate and erudite argument to prove, that Noah was by pairs of all -brute animals, thou shalt enter the
worshipped in conjunction with the sun, and the ark spacious ark, and continue in it, secure from the
in conjunction with the moon, and that these were flood, on one immense ocean, without light, except
the principal deities among the ancient heathens. the radiance of thy holy companions. When the
He labours to prove, with an extent of erudition sel ship shall be agitated by an impetuous wind, thou
dom surpassed, that the primitive Egyptian gods shalt fasten it with a large sea-serpent on my horn;
were eight in number, that they represented the eight for I will be near thee : drawing the vessel with
persons saved in the ark, and that almost all the hea- thee and thy attendants, I will remain on the ocean,
then deities had a reference in some way to Noah and | 0 chief of men, until a night of Brahmá shall be
the deluge.
completely ended. Thou shalt then know my true
Both in the East and West, traditions in reference greatness, rightly named the supreme godhead. By
to the world having been destroyed by a great flood my favour all thy questions shall be answered, and
of waters have been found mingled with the beliefs | thy mind abundantly instructed.' Hari, having thus
of almost every country. Among the ancient Baby- directed the monarch, disappeared ; and Satyavrata
lonians, such an event was related as having occurred humbly waited for the time, which the ruler of our
in the time of Xisuthrus, the tenth of their line of senses had appointed. The pious king, having scat-
kings, counting from the first created man, just as tered towards the east the pointed blades of the grass
Noah was the tenth from Adam. The account of darbha, and turning his face towards the north, sat
Berosus is interesting from its remarkable coinci- meditating on the feet of the god who had borne
dence in many points with the narrative of the de- the form of a fish. The sea, overwhelming its
luge given by Moses. “Warned in a dream by | shores, deluged the whole earth; and it was soon
Chronus and Saturn of the approaching calamity, he perceived to be augmented by showers from immense
was commanded to build an immense ship, and em- clouds. He, still meditating on the command of
bark in it with his wife, his children, and his friends ; | Bhagavat, saw the vessel advancing, and entered it
having first furnished it with provisions, and put into with the chiefs of Brámans, having carried into it
it a number both of birds and four-footed animals. the medicinal creepers and conformed to the direc-
As soon as these preparations were completed, the tions of Hari. The saints thus addressed him: 0
flood commenced, and the whole world perished be- | king, meditate on Kés'ava ; who will surely deliver
neath its waters. After it began to abate, Xisuthrus us from this danger, and grant us prosperity.' The
sent out some of the birds, which, finding neither god, being invoked by the monarch, appeared again
food nor resting-place, returned immediately to the distinctly on the vast ocean in the form of a fish,
ship. In the course of a few days he again let out | blazing like gold, extending a million of leagues, with
the birds, but they came back to him, having their one stupendous horn : on which the king, as he had
feet covered with mud. The third time of his send- been before commanded by Hari, tied the ship with
ing them, they returned no more. • Concluding from a cable made of a vast serpent, and happy in his
this that the flood was decreasing, and the earth preservation, stood praising the destroyer of Madhu.
again appearing, he made an aperture in the side of When the monarch liad finished his hymn, the prime-
the vessel, and perceived that it was approaching a val male, Bliagavat, who watched for his safety on
mountain, on which it soon after rested, when he de- the great expanse of water, spoke aloud to his own
scended with his family, adored the earth, built an divine essence, pronouncing a sacred Purána, which
altar, and sacrificed to the gods. Xisuthrus having contained the rules of the Sankhya philosophy: but
suddenly disappeared, his family heard a voice in the it was an infinite mystery to be concealed within the
air which informed them that the country was Ar- breast of Satyavrata ; who, sitting in the vessel with
menia, and directed them to return to Babylon.' the saints, heard the principle of the soul, the Eternal
On the subject of the deluge the Hindu traditions Being, proclaimed by the preserving power. Then
also correspond in a remarkable degree with the Hari, rising together with Brahmá from the destruc-
principal facts of revelation. The popular view as tive deluge which was abated, slew the demon Hay-
given in the Puranas, amid all its Oriental luxuriance agriva, and recovered the sacred books. Satyavrata,
and exaggeration, approaches at many points to the instructed in all divine and human knowledge, was
Mosaic narrative. “The lord of the universe, lov- | appointed in the present Kalpa, by the favour of
ing the pious man who thus implored him, and in- Vishnu, the seventh Manu, surnamed Vaivaswata :
tending to preserve him from the sea of destruction but the appearance of a horned fish to the religious
caused by the depravity of the age, thus told him monarch was Máyá or delusion; and he, who shall
how he was to act. In seven days from the pre- devoutly hear this important allegorical narrative,
sent time, O thou tamer of enemies, the three worlds will be delivered from the bondage of sin.”
will be plunged in an ocean of death ; but, in the Thus plainly in the closing sentence of this ex-
midst of the destroying waters, a large vessel, sent tract do the Puranas admit that the description here
by me for thy use, shall stand before thee. Then given of the deluge is an allegory. A different ver-
shalt thou take all medicinal herbs, all the variety of sion of the legend is found in the Mahabharata,
seeds; and, accompanied by seven saints, encircled ( which Professor Wilson thinks is more ancient than
1.
3D
690
DELUGE (TRADITIONS OF THE).
thrown by Deucalion sprung men, and from those
that of the Puranas, but still in their main features approached her and asked • Who art thou ?' She
there is a close resemblance, so close indeed as to answered, “The daughter of Manu.' Wilt thou be
show plainly that both are derived from the same our daughter ?' 'No:' the answer was, 'My owner
original source. Another version of the same Hindu is the author of my being.' Their solicitations were
legend has been recently brought to light by the all vain ; for she moved directly onward till she came
publication of the Yajur-Veda, to which there is ap- to Manu. On seeing her, he also asked her, “Who
pended the Satapat'ha-Brahmana, containing an ac- art thou ?' And she answered, “Thine own daugh-
count of the deluge much simpler than that which ter.' "How so, beloved, art thou really my daugh-
has been already given from the Puránas. We quote ter ?' 'Yes; the offerings thou hast made to the
from Mr. Charles Hardwick's able work, at present Waters, the clarified butter, the cream, the whey,
in course of publication, entitled Christ and other and the curdled milk have brought me into being.
Masters,' a work which is likely to throw much light I am the completion of thy vows. Approach me
on the points of coincidence, as well as of divergence during the sacrifice. If so, thou shalt be rich in
between Christianity and other systems of religion. | posterity and in flocks. The desire which thou art
“One morning the servants of Manu brought him cherishing shall be entirely accomplished.' Thus
water for ablutions, as the.custom is to bring it in our was Manu wedded to her in the midst of the sacri-
day when men's hands have to be washed. As he pro- | fice, that is, between the ceremonies that denote the
ceeded to wash himself he found a fish in the water, opening and the close of it. With her he lived in
which spoke to him, saying, “Protect me and I will prayer and fasting, ever-anxious to obtain posterity :
be thy Saviour.' •From what wilt thou save me?' and she became the mother of the present race of
'A deluge will ere long destroy all living creatures, men which even now is called the race of Manu.
but I can save thee from it.' "What protection, The vows which he had breathed in concert with
then, dost thou ask of me?' ' So long as we are lit- her were all perfectly accomplished."
tle,' replied the Fish, ' a great danger threatens us, Quitting the East, and proceeding to the Western
for one fish will not scruple to devour another. At . nations, our attention is naturally called to the well-
first, then, thou canst protect me by keeping me in a known legend of Deucalion's flood, as found in the
When I grow bigger, and the vase will 110 writers of ancient Greece. The details are simply
longer hold me, dig a pond, and protect me by keep- these. Deucalion, the hero of the legend, was a
ing me in it; and when I shall have become too large king in Phthia, whose wife was Pyrrha. Zeus hav-
for the pond, then throw me into the sea ; for hence- / ing resolved, in consequence of the treatment he had
forward I shall be strong enough to protect myself | received from Lycaon, to destroy the whole race of
against all evils.' The Fish ere long became enor- men from the face of the earth, Deucalion, following
mous (jhasha), for it grew very fast, and one day it the advice of his father Prometheus, built a ship,
said to Manu, 'In such a year will come the deluge; which he stored with all manner of provisions, and in
call to mind the counsel I have given thee; build a this vessel, when Zeus sent a flood all over Hellas,
ship, and when the deluge comes, embark on the Deucalion and Pyrrha were alone saved. Their ship
vessel thou hast built, and I will preserve thee.' | floated on the waters for nine days, at the end of
Manu after feeding and watching the Fish, at last which it rested on a mountain which was generally
threw it into the sea, and in the very year the Fish reputed to have been Mount Parnassus. When the
had indicated, he prepared a ship and had recourse waters had subsided, Deucalion offered up a sacrifice
(in spirit] to his benefactor. When the flood came, to Zeus Phyxius, who, in return for this pious act,
Manu went on board the ship. The Fish then re- sent his messenger Hermes to offer Deucalion what-
appeared and swam up to him, and Manu passed the ever he should wish. Thereupon Deucalion implor-
cable of his vessel round its horn, by means of which ed of the god that mankind should be restored. It
he was transferred across yon Northern Mountain. has sometimes been said that he and his wife repaired
'I have saved thee, said the Fish, now lash thy together to the shrine of Themis, and prayed for this
vessel to a tree, else the water may still carry thee boon. At all events their prayer was granted, and
away, though thy vessel be moored upon the moun- they were told to cover their heads, and throw the
tain. When the water has receded, then also mayest bones of their mother behind them as they walked
thou disembark.' Manu implicitly obeyed the order, from the temple. The rescued pair had some diffi-
and hence that northern mountain still bears the culty as to the meaning of the command, but at
name of 'Manu's descent.' The deluge swept away length coming to the conclusion that the bones of
all living creatures; Manu alone survived it. His their mother could only mean the stones of the earth,
life was then devoted to prayer and fasting in order they proceeded to execute the order of the deity
to obtain posterity. He made the Páka-sacrifice; by throwing stones behind them, when from those
he offered to the Waters the clarified butter, cream,
whey, and curdled milk. His offerings were con- thrown by Pyrrha sprung women.
Thus was the
tinued, and at the end of a year he thereby fashioned earth once more peopled.
for himself a wife: she came dripping out of the but- A curious tradition of the deluge is mentioned by
ter; it trickled on her footsteps. Mitra and Varun'a
Mitra and Varun'a Dr. Richardson, who accompanied Franklin in one
vase.
i
DELUGE (TRADITIONS OF THE).
691
H
of his Arctic Voyages : “ The Crees," he says, “ spoke had similar records of it, and depict the mountain on
of a universal deluge, caused by an attempt of the which the navigating pair who escaped were saved.
fish to drown Woesachoolchacht, a kind of demigod, | It is still more interesting to us to find, that the na-
with whom they had quarrelled. Having constructed tives of the province of Mechoacan had their own
a raft, he embarked with his family, and all kinds of distinct account of it, which contained the incident
birds and beasts. After the flood had continued of the birds that were let out from the ark, to enable
some time, he ordained several waterfowls to dive to Noah to judge of the habitable condition of the earth.
the bottom; they were all drowned; but à musk rat These people had also applied another name to the
having been dispatched on the same errand was more preserved individual, Tezpi, which implies a different
successful, and returned with a mouthful of mud.' source of information from what they narrated. The
In the article ARK-WORSHIP, we have noticed belief of a flood lias also been found to exist in the
various customs existing in ancient Egypt and other province of Guatimala. It was also in Peru and
countries, which seem plainly to have originated in Brazil.
traditions of the universal deluge. None of these “We learn from Humboldt, to whom we owe so
traditional practices indeed is more remarkable than much knowledge of all sorts, of the natives of South
that of carrying in their religious processions, as in America, that the belief prevailed among all the
Egypt and elsewhere, the figure of an ark. And it tribes of the Upper Oroonoko, that at the time of
is remarkable that in examining the traditions of what they call the Great Waters,' their fathers
different nations, the farther back we go even into were forced to have recourse to their boats to escape
the most remote antiquity, the clearer become the the general inundation. The Tamanaiks add to their
traces which present themselves of the great cata- notions of this period, their peculiar ideas of the
clysm. Some writers have even made the Egyp- | manner in which the earth was re-peopled. Upon
tians worship Noah and his three sons, but the re. the rocks of Encaramada figures of stars, of the sun,
cent l'esearches of Wilkinson, Lepsius, and Bunsen of tigers, and of crocodiles, are traced, which the
have satisfactorily disproved this idea, and pointed | natives connected with the period of this deluge.
out a still deeper source of such deities, as Osiris, Humboldt appropriately remarks, that similar tradi-
Thoth, Isis, and other Egyptian gods, as being em- tions exist among all the nations of the earth, and,
bodiments of certain cosmological notions and reli- like the relics of a vast shipwreck, are highly inter-
gious conceptions, having no reference whatever to esting in the philosophical study of our species.
the deluge. In the literature of China are to be “ Ideas of the same sort existed in the Island of
found several notices of this awful catastrophe. In | Cuba, and Kotzebue found them among the rude
a history of China, said to be written by Confucius, Pagans of Kamschatka, at the extremity of the
the country is said to be still under the effect of the Asian continent. The Peruvians preserved the me-
waters. The opposite sect of the Tauists make mory of a general destruction, as far as their own
mention also of the deluge, as having taken place country was concerned, which their neighbours, the
under Niu-hoa whom they consider as a female. On Guancas and others, also entertained. In Brazil,
that occasion they allege, the seasons were changed, there were also various traditions of the diluvian
day and night were confounded, the world was over- catastrophe, which, though agreeing in fact, differed
whelmed with a flood, and men were reduced to the in the circumstances attending it. In Terra Firma
state of fishes. The same event is noticed by other it was also floating in the popular memory, and
Chinese writers.
equally so among the Iroquois in Canada, and at the
Mohammed has preserved the traditions of the old mouth of St. Lawrence.
Arabians in reference to the deluge, and recorded "The Arrawak Indians near the Essequibo and
them in several chapters of the Koran. Several | Mazaworry rivers, have preserved still traditions
of the African tribes are found also to maintain the both of the separate creation of the first male and
memory of a deluge. Both in North and South female, and also of the deluge; and describe it as
Ainerica traces have been discovered of the same caused by the demoralization of mankind.
tradition, which are thus sketched by Sharon Tur- "In North America we find in the various Indian
ner in "The Sacred History of the World :' “ The tribes of nations, who spread over it, some memorial
ancient inhabitants of Chili, the Araucanians, make intimations of this great event. Captain Beechey
the flood a part of their historical remembrances. found that the natives of California had a tradition
The Cholulans, who were in the equinoctial regions of the deluge. The Koliouges, on the north-west
of New Spain before the Mexicans arrived there, coast of America, have also peculiar notions upon it.
preserved the idea of it in a fantastic form in their Sir Alexander Mackenzie heard it from the Chippe-
hieroglyphical pictures. The Indians of Chiapa, a wyams. The idea prevailed, but with fantastic ad-
region in those parts, had a simpler narrative about ditions, among the Cree Indians. Mr. West heard
it. The Mexicans, in their peculiar paintings, which a similar account from the natives who attended his
constituted their books and written literature, had an school on the Red River. In Western or New Cale-
expressive representation of the catastrophe. The donia, which was an unexplored country beyond the
nations contiguous to them, or connected with thein, rocky mountains in these parts, till Jr. IIarmon
692
DEMETRIA-DEMIURGE.
visited them, he found a vague and wild tradition of reference to the mortality of the body, and the im-
the same catastrophe, with the singular tradition of mortality of the soul. The worship of Demeter was
a fiery destruction."
carried on in Crete, Delos, Argolis, Attica, the
Humboldt, when among the Red Indians of the western coast of Asia, and in Sicily and Italy. The
Orinoco, was surprised and delighted at the glowing principal festivals in honour of this goddess were the
descriptions of the deluge given by this people in Thesmophoria and the Eleusinian mysteries. Swine
connection with the most absurd legends regarding were sacrificed to Demeter, and also bulls, cows, and
the origin and distribution of mankind. Ellis, in his various species of fruits. Her temples were known
·Polynesian Researches,' takes notice of a similar by the name of Megara, and were chiefly built in
tradition among the barbarous tribes of the islands
groves near towns.
in the Pacific.
The Romans, who worshipped Demeter under the
In short, among nations the most remote from one name of Ceres, instituted a festival with games in her
another in space, and in periods the most remote honour, called Cerealia, which were uniformly con-
from one another in time, traditions of the deluge | ducted by a Greek priestess, who, on receiving office,
have been discovered, which agree in so many parti- was invested with the privileges of a Roman citizen.
culars with the simple narrative of the Sacred pen- The worship of Ceres held a high place in the esti.
man, that it is impossible for a moment to believe mation of the Romans, and the forfeited property of
that they are anything more than accounts more or traitors was given over to her temple, in which
less distorted of the same great fact.
were deposited the decrees of the senate, and it was
DEMETER, one of the principal divinities of an- the special business of the ædiles to superintend
cient Greece, the daughter of Chronus and Rhea. this sacred place. See CERES.
By her brother Zeus, she was the mother of Perse- DEMETRIA, a yearly festival instituted at Athens
phone or Proserpine, who was carried off by Pluto B. C. 307, in honour of Demetrius Poliorcetes, who,
into the infernal regions. Demeter forthwith set out along with his father Antigonus, were consecrated
in search of her daughter, and on the tenth day she as saviour gods. A procession was held, and sacri-
met with Hecate, who went along with her to Helios, fices and games were celebrated, while the name of
from whom they learned that Pluto had stolen Per- the festival of the Dionysia was changed into that oť
sephone with the consent of Zeus. Enraged at the Demetria.
tidings she had heard, Demeter refused to return to DEMIURGE, the world-former of the early
Olympus, but remained upon earth visiting it with Gnostics of the Christian church, a being of a kin-
the curse of barrenness. Zeus, unwilling that the dred nature with the universe, formed and governed
human race should perish, sent Iris to prevail upon by him, and far inferior to the higher world of ema-
Demeter to return to the abode of the gods. Iris, | nation, and the Father of it. But at this point arose
however, was unsuccessful in her errand, and though a difference among the various Gnostic sects. They
all the gods in a body endeavoured to persuade De- all admitted the subordination of the Demiurge to
meter to revisit Olympus, she remained inexorable, the Supreme God, but they did not agree as to the
declaring her determined resolution to remain on particular mode of the subordination. The varieties
earth- until she had seen her daughter again. Hermes of opinion are well detailed by Neander.
accordingly was despatched by Zeus to the realms of taking their departure from ideas which had long
Pluto, to demand back Persephone, and having ob- prevailed among certain Jews of Alexandria (as ap-
tained her, he carried her to Eleusis, and restored pears from comparing the Alexandrian version of the
her to the arms of her mother Demeter. Here Per-Old Testament, and from Philo), supposed that the
sephone was joined by Hecate, who from that time Supreme God created and governed the world by
became her constant attendant and companion. Zeus ministering spirits, by the angels. At the head of
Ilow sent Rhea to prevail upon Demeter to return to these angels stood one, who had the direction and
Olympus, and allowed Persephone to spend the win- control of all; hence called the opificer and governor
ter of every year in the shades below, and tlie rest of of the world. This Demiurge they compared with
the year on earth in the company of her mother. the plastic, animating, mundane spirit of Plato and
Demeter was now won over, and consented to re- the Platonicians, which, too, according to the Timæus
sume her place in the celestial abodes, but before of Plato, strives to represent the ideas of the Divine
quitting earth she gave instructions as to her wor- Reason, in that which is becoming and temporal.
ship and mysteries.
This angel is a representative of the Supreme God
Demeter was the goddess of the earth and of agri- on this lower stage of existence. He acts not inde-
culture. She presided also over marriage, and was pendently, but merely according to the ideas inspired
worshipped especially by women. The myth of in him by the Supreme God; just as the plastic,
Demeter and her daughter seems to have been de- mundane soul of the Platonists creates all things
signed to represent the fertility of the earth as con- after the pattern of the ideas communicated by the
cealed during winter, reviving in spring, and en- Supreme Reason. But these ideas transcend the
joying the light and heat of the sun during a portion powers of his own limited nature ; he cannot under-
of the year. Some have explained the myth by a stand them ; le is merely their unconscious organ,
6 Some
DEMON-WORSHIP.
693
and hence is unable himself to comprehend the whole were naturally led to look upon the world, not with
scope and meaning of the work which he performs. benevolence, but with bitter hatred. The Gnostics
As an organ under the guidance of a higher inspira- of this last class, either encouraged celibacy, or pro-
tion, he reveals what exceeds his own power of con- claimed open hostility to marriage as an impure and
ception. And here also they fall in with the cur- profane connection. Regarding all that was human
rent ideas of the Jews, in supposing that the Supreme as necessarily unholy, they denied the humanity of
God had revealed himself to their Fathers through Christ; and all that belonged to Christ's human ap-
the angels, who served as ministers of his will. From pearance they represented as not a reality, but a
them proceeded the giving of the law by Moses. In mere vision. The opinions which were held, indeed,
the following respect, also, they considered the De- | by the different classes of Gnostics in regard to the
miurge to be a representative of the Supreme God; | Demiurge, may be regarded as a characteristic mark
as the other nations of the earth are portioned out of distinction between the two great classes.
under the guidance of the other angels, so the Jew- DEMONS. See ANGELS (EVIL).
ish people, considered as the peculiar people of God, DEMON-WORSHIP. In all ages and in all
are committed to the especial care of the Demiurge, countries there has existed in the popular mind a
as his representative. He revealed also among them, dread of spiritual beings, and an inclination to some
in their religious polity, as in the creation of the extent to pay them homage. Among the ancient
world, those higher ideas, which himself could not Greeks the Genii of the Romans were called demons,
understand in their true significancy. The Old Tes- and every individual was supposed to have a good
tament, like the whole creation, was the veiled symbol and an evil genius, the one prompting him to the
of a higher mundane system, the veiled type of Chris- practice of virtue and piety, the other to the practice
tianity.
of vice and wickedness. But it is in less cultivated
“ The other party of the Gnostics consisted mainly tribes of men that the necessity of propitiating spi-
of such as, before their coming over to Christianity, rits by offering worship is more especially felt. Thus
had not been followers of the Mosaic religion, but in Southern Guinea a firm belief is entertained that
had already, at an earlier period, framed to them- there are demons or spirits who control the affairs of
selves an Oriental Gnosis, opposed as well to Judaism men, and who are themselves possessed of great
as to all popular religions, like that of which we find diversity of character. Some of them are viewed as
the remains in the books of the Sabæans, and of good spirits, and their kind offices are eagerly sought.
which examples may still be found in the East, Ilouses are built for their accommodation, and fre-
among the Persians and the Hindoos. They re- quent offerings are made to them of food, drink,
garded the Demiurge with his angels, not simply clothing, and furniture. Native priests pretend to
like the foriner class, as a subordinate, limited be- hold intercourse with them, and to act as channels of
ing, but as one absolutely hostile to the Supreme communication between mankind and these demons.
God. The Demiurge and his angels are for estab- There are other spirits, however, whose presence is
lishing their independence within their limited sphere. feared, and all kinds of means are employed to expel
They would tolerate no foreign dominion within them from their houses and villages: “On the Gold
their province. Whatever higher existence has de Coast,” Mr. Wilson informs us, “there are stated
scended into their kingdom, they seek to hold im- occasions, when the people turn out en masse (gener-
prisoned there, so that it may not ascend again above ally at night) with clubs and torches, to drive away
their narrow precincts. Probably, in this system, the evil spirits from their towns. At a given signal,
the kingdom of the world-forming angels coincided, the whole community start up, commence a most
for the most part, with the kingdom of the deceitful hideous howling, beat about in every nook and cor-
star-spirits, who seek to rob man of his freedom, to ner of their dwellings, then rush into the streets, with
beguile him by various arts of deception,—and who their torches and clubs, like so many frantic maniacs,
exercise a tyrannical sway over the things of this beat the air, and scream at the top of their voices,
world. The Demiurge is a limited and limiting be- until some one announces the departure of the spirits
ing; proud, jealous, revengeful; and this his charac- through some gate of the town, when they are pur-
ter expresses itself in the Old Testainent, which pro- sued several miles into the woods, and warned not to
ceeded from him."
come back. After this the people breathe easier,
The difference which thus existed between the sleep more quietly, have better health, and the town
Gnostic systems, in regard to the Demiurge, was one is once more cheered by an abundance of food.”
of no small importance. The one class, who held These spirits are also supposed to take
ир
their
the Demiurge to be the organ and representative of abodes in certain animals, which on that account are
the Supreme God, could see a divine manifesta regarded as sacred. Thus monkeys found near a
tion in nature, and the earth itself pervaded by grave-yard are supposed to be animated by the spi-
an influence which would tend to purify and ex- rits of the dead. On some parts of the Gold Coast
alt it. But the other class, which believed the De the crocodile is sacred; a certain class of snakes on
miurge, or Creator of the world, to be essentially | the Slave Coast, and the shark at Bonny, are all re-
opposed to the Supreme God and his higher system, | garded as sacred, and are worshipped not on their
1
694
DEMONIANISTS.
men.
own account, but because they are regarded as the being peculiar to it. The earth, the water, the fire,
temples or dwelling-places of spirits. In Western the air, the sun, moon, and stars, had each their re-
Africa also the practice of offering human sacrifices spective divinity. The trees, forests, rivers, moun-
to appease the anger of evil spirits is common, but tains, rocks, winds, thunder, and tempests, had the
nowhere more frequent or on a larger scale than in same; and merited on that score a religious worship,
the kingdoms of Ashantee and Dahomey, and on the
which at first could not be directed to the visible
Bonny river. A striking illustration of the dread of object, but to the intelligence with which it was ani-
evil spirits as likely to prove injurious even to the mated.”
dead, may be seen in the article Dead (DRIVING Plutarch's doctrine in reference to demons was,
AWAY THE DEVIL TROM THE).
that they were half related to the gods and half to
Even the ancient Jews are alleged by some to But he supposed that among these interme.
have offered sacrifice to demons of a particular kind, diate beings there was a graduated subordination
which appeared especially in desert places in the form according to the predominance of the divine or the
of goats, which in Scripture are called seirim, a word sensuous element. When the latter prevailed the
properly signifying goats. It appears more likely, demons were malicious, revengeful, and cruel, re-
however, that the Hebrews worshipped the demons quiring in order to conciliate them the offering up in
adored by the ancient Tsabians, who appeared in the many instances of even human sacrifices. Into this
shape of goats. It is a fact well known to all who idea Porphyry entered, representing these demons as
have carefully studied the mythology of antiquity, impure beings related to matter, from which the
that the Chaldeans, Egyptians, and all the nations of Platonists derived all evil. Such explanations af-
the East, who believed in a superintending provi- forded the Christians a powerful weapon for assail-
dence, were of opinion that the government of the ing Paganism.
world was committed by the heavenly intelligences DEMONIANISTS, those who believe in the
to an intermediate class of beings called demons, reality of demoniacal possession. The question has
who acted as subordinate ministers to fulfil the de- often been keenly agitated among learned men,
signs of the higher powers to whoin it properly be whether or not the demoniacs of the New Testa-
longed to govern the universe. The noblest enjoy- ment were actually possessed by the Devil, and in .
ment which the Oriental mind could conceive to be Auenced by him both mentally and corporeally. The
experienced by the Supreme Being, was a state of en- neological school of theologians contend that the
tire and undisturbed repose; and accordingly the idea demoniacs of Scripture were either madmen or per-
came naturally to arise, that the cares and anxieties of sons afflicted with epilepsy or some other cerebral
the active management of the universe were devolved disease; and in support of this opinion they adduce
upon inferior deputies or ministers, who received the medical cases in which similar symptoms have been
name of demons. Plato arranged these beings into exhibited. But the great mass of theological writers
three classes, all of which were possessed of both a entertain very different and much sounder views of
body and a soul, the latter being an emanation from the subject, alleging that from the statements of the
the Divine essence, and the former being composed | Evangelical historians, as well as from the whole
of the particular element in which the particular facts of the cases brought forward, the demoniacs
class of demons had its residence. « Those of the must have been clearly possessed by an evil spirit.
first and highest order," he tells us, are composed | The Demonianists, who hold firmly the doctrine of
of
pure ether; those of the second order consist of devil-possession, support their opinion by various
grosser air; and demons of the third or lowest rank arguments of a very conclusive character.
have vehicles extracted from the element of water. 1. They refer to the whole sayings and doings of the
Demons of the first and second order are invisible demoniacs of Scripture, which are plainly inconsistent
* to mankind. The aquatic demons being invested with the supposition that they were merely labour-
with vehicles of grosser materials, are sometimes ing under bodily disease. Thus in Mat. viii. 29,
visible, and sometimes invisible. When they do ap- They cried out, saying, What have we to do with
pear, though faintly observable by the human eye, thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither
they strike the beholder with terror and astonish- to torment us before the time?" The evil spirits are
ment." Demons were supposed to be possessed said on one occasion to have left the demoniac and
with similar affections and feelings to those which passed into a herd of swine. Such a transition can-
actuate the human family, and therefore, while they not possibly be reconciled with any species of in-
filled the universe, they occupied each his own spe- sanity, and can only be explained by adınitting that
cial locality. Every individual object in the visible the persons were really possessed by devils, which
creatiou had thus its presiding genius or deinon; and by Divine perinission entered into the swine and
in this way the religion of the heathen in its more drove them headlong into the sea.
primitive forin was rather Pantheistic than Poly- 2. Various cases of demoniacs occur in the New
theistic. Hence Mallet, in his · Northern Antiqui- | Testament, in which not the slightest symptoms of
ties,' remarks, “ Each element was, according to the mental derangement could be discerned. Thus in
faith of primeval man, under the guidance of some the dumb deinoniac mentioned in Mat. ix. 32, and
(6
DEMONIANISTS.
695
!
Luke xi. 14, and in the dumb and blind demoniac 7. An additional argument in favour of the reality
referred to in Mat. xii. 22, we have no evidence that of the devil-possessions of Scripture, may be drawn
the intellect was in the least degree impaired or from the fact, that wherever circumstances are
affected.
brought forward in reference to the demoniacs, they
3. It is well worthy of being noticed as confirm - are generally such as serve to show that there was
ing the reality of the demon-possession, that even in something extraordinary and preternatural in their
those cases, as in Mat. xvii. 15, where the symp- case; for we find them doing homage to Christ and
toms might be regarded as allied to those of epilepsy, his apostles, and what is peculiarly striking, they
an express statement is made attributing the morbid all knew him, and united in confessing his divinity.
influences and effects to the agency of the devil. Thus Mark i. 23, 24, " And there was in their syna-
4. The art of divination, the exercise of which gogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried
requires no small ingenuity and skill, and which could out, saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with
only be practised by persons in sound possession of thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth ? art thou come to de-
their mental powers, is alleged in Acts xvi. 16, to stroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy
have been practised by a demoniac damsel at Phi. One of God;" Luke iv. 41, “ And devils also came
lippi.
out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art
5. Testimony from various quarters can be ad- | Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them, suf-
duced in proof of the demoniacs of Scripture being fered them not to speak : for they knew that he was
actually possessed by the devil. Thus we have the Christ.”
plain statement of the Evangelists in various passages, Nor is the opinion of the Demonianists a modern
but more especially in Mat. iv. 24, in which it is ex.. theory, unrecognized by the ancient Christian church.
pressly declared concerning Jesus, “And his fame On the contrary, the Fathers of the church are una-
went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him nimous in maintaining that the persons of whom we
all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and have been speaking were really possessed with de-
torments, and those which were possessed with devils, mons, and the church itself, in accordance with this
and those which were lunatick, and those that had opinion, instituted a separate order of persons called
the palsy; and he healed them.” We have the tes- EXORCISTS (which see), whose office it was to cast
timony of the very enemies of Christ, who would out evil spirits.
have willingly denied the reality of such possessioni The doctrine of spiritual influence on the minds of
if they could possibly have done it, but they are men has been held in all ages and among almost all
compelled, however unwillingly, to admit his power nations. The gods who watched over the heroes of
over unclean spirits, Mat. ix. 34, “But the Pharisees the Iliad, the demon who assiduously tracked the
said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the steps of Socrates, the genii of the Eastern mythology,
devils." And last and greatest of all, we have the the fairies and witches of the Northern nations, the
testimony of our blessed Lord himself, as in Mark dreaded phantoms which are supposed to rule over
ix. 25, “When Jesus saw that the people came run- the Southern hemisphere, proclaim the universal be.
ning together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto lief in an invisible spiritual agency, exerted for good
him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, 1 charge thee, come or for evil, wherever the human race has been found.
out of him, and enter no more into him ;” and Luke “At the present day," as Roberts informs us, “The
xi. 19, “ And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by universal opinion in the East is, that devils have the
whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall power to enter into and take possession of men, in
they be your judges."
the same sense as we understand it to have been the
6. That demoniacs were not persons labouring case, as described by the sacred writers. I have
under disease, is plain from the circumstance that often seen the poor objects who were believed to be
the sacred writers make an express distinction be- under demoniacal influence, and certainly, in some
tween demoniacs and diseased persons; and likewise instances, I found it no easy matter to account for
between the casting out of demons and the healing their conduct on natural principles ; I have seen
of the sick. Thus Mark i. 32, “ And at even, when them writhe and tear themselves in the inost frantic
the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were manner; they burst asunder the cords with which
diseased, and them that were possessed with devils." they were bound, and fell on the ground as if dead.
Luke vi. 17, 18, “And he came down with them, At one time they are silent, and again most voci-
and stood in the plain, and the company of his dis- ferous ; they dash with fury among the people, and
ciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Ju- loudly pronounce their imprecations. But no sooner
dea and Jerusalem, and from the sea-coast of Tyre does the exorcist come forward, than the victim be-
and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed comes the subject of new emotions; he stares, talks
of their diseases; and they that were vexed with incoherently, sighs and falls on the ground; and in
unclean spirits: and they were healed;" Luke xiii. the course of an hour, is as calm as any who are
32, “ And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, around him. Those men who profess to eject devils
Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to-day and are frightful-looking creatures, and are seldom asso-
te-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.” ciated with, except in the discharge of their official
696
DENDRITES-DENMARK (CHURCH OF).
ness.
duties. It is a fact, that they affect to eject the evil tribes, is involved in mystery and legendary dark-
spirits by their prince of devils. Females are much It is not improbable that Denmark was ori-
more subject to these affections than men; and Fri- ginally peopled by a colony of Scythians, from the
day is the day of all others on which they are most north of the Euxine sea, and who, bearing the name
liable to be attacked. I am fully of opinion that of Cimmerians, gave rise to the appellation Cimbri,
nearly all their possessions would be removed by which this people bore so long before they assumed the
medicine, or by arguments of a more tangible nature. name of Danes. Little is known of this early colony,
Not long ago a young female was said to be under except that they formed a portion of the barbarians
the influence of an evil spirit, but the father, being from the North who overran the Roman Empire
an unbeliever, took a large broom and began to beat rather more than a century before the birth of Christ.
his daughter in the most unmerciful manner. After Their own historical monuments, however, go no
some time the spirit cried aloud, "Do not beat me! farther back than the arrival of Odin, which is usually
do not beat me l' and took its departure. There is dated B. c. 70. Saxo Grammaticus, who wrote about
a fiend called Poothani, which is said to take great the iniddle of the twelfth century, supposes that the
delight in entering little children ; but the herb called Danish monarchy was founded by a person of the
pa-maruta is then administered with great success." name of Dan, from whom the country was called Den-
In Western Africa supposed demoniacal posses- mark; that he lived in the year of the world 2910, and
sions are very common, and the appearances which that the country has ever since been governed by his
these cases exhibit, somewhat resemble those de- posterity. Sweno, a contemporary of Saxo, who
scribed in the Sacred Scriptures. Frantic ges- also wrote a history of Denmark, traces the founda-
tures, convulsions, foaming at the mouth, feats of tion of the mou
tion of the monarchy to Skjöld, the son of Odin,
supernatural strength, furious ravings, lacerations of thus following the statements of the Icelandic
the body, gnashing of the teeth, and other affections chronicles.
of a similar kind, characterize those who are believed The existence of a powerful sovereign in the north
to be under the influence of the Evil One. In some of Europe, called Odin, is not merely borne out by
of these cases, Mr. Wilson says, that the symptoms the traditions prevalent throughout the Scandinavian
exhibited were, as he discovered, the effects of the territories, but by the ancient poems and chronicles,
exhibition of powerful narcotics, and in others they as well as by the institutions and customs of these
appeared to him to be plainly the result of an excited northern nations. From the various records which
state of the nerves. On the Pongo coast there are profess to detail the history of this remarkable per-
four or five classes of spirits which, it is believed, may sonage, we learn that he ceinmanded the Æsir, a
enter into a man, and when any one is supposed to people inhabiting the country situated between the
be possessed, he passes through the hands of the Euxine and the Caspian seas. The principal city
priests of these different orders, till some one declares was named Asgard. Having collected a numerous
it to be a case with which he is acquainted, and army, Odin marched towards the north and west of
which he can cure. A temporary house is built, Europe, subduing all the nations through which he
dancing' cominences, various ceremonies are per- passed, and giving them to one or other of his sons
formed, medicines are administered, and after a fort- for subjects. From these princes various noble fa-
night spent in this way, night and day, during which milies of the North claim their descent. Having
the performers are amply supplied with food and distributed the new governments among his sons, he
run, the cure is pronounced complete. A house is proceeded towards Scandinavia, where Denmark
then built near the residence of the cured demoniac, having submitted to his arms, he appointed his son
which is intended to accommodate the ejected devil, | Skjöld king over that country, the first who is al-
who is henceforth to become his tutelar god, to leged to have borne that title.
whom he must pay all due respect, and whose com- It is not easy to determine what was the precise
mands he must implicitly obey, if he would not in- nature of the religion anciently professed in the north
cur the penalty of a return of the demoniacal pos- of Europe. As far as it can be ascertained from
session.
Latin and Greek authors who have written on the
DENDRITES (Gr. dendron, a tree), the god of a subject, it consisted of various elementary principles,
tree, a surname of DIONYSUS (which see).
which are thus sketched by Mallet in his Northern
DENDRITES, a name given to those Greek Antiquities :' “It taught the being of a supreme
monks in the twelfth century who passed their lives God, master of the universe, to whom all things were
on high trees.
submissive and obedient.' Such, according to Taci-
DENDRITIS, the goddess of the tree, a sur- tus, was the supreine God of the Germans. The
name of Helena, under which she had a sanctuary ancient Icelandic mythology calls him the author
built to her at Rhodes.
of every thing that existeth; the eternal, the an-
DENDROPHORI. See COLLEGIUM DENDRO- cient, the living and awful Being, the searcher into
concealed things, the Being that never changeth.'
DENMARK (CHURCH OF). The early history of This religion attributed to the Supreme Deity an
the Danes, as well as of the other Scandinavian | infinite power, a boundless knowledge, an incorrup-
PHORIUM.
DENMARK (CHURCH OF).
697
tible justice,' and forbade its followers to represent obey Odin, the most ancient of the gods, and the
him under any corporeal form. They were not even great principle of all things. Traces of the worship
to think of confining him within the enclosure of of these Scandinavian gods are to be found at this
walls, but were taught that it was only within woods day in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. In the
and consecrated forests that they could serve him middle of a plain, or upon some little hill, are to be
properly. There he seemed to reign in silence, and seen altars around which the people were wont to
to make himself felt by the respect which he inspired. assemble for sacrifice. These altars generally con-
It was an injurious extravagance to attribute to this sist of three long pieces of rock set upright, which
deity a human figure, to erect statues to him, to serve for a basis to a great flat stone forming the
suppose hiin of any sex, or to represent him by table of the altar. There is commonly found a large
images. From this supreme God were sprung (as it cavity underneath the altar, which might be intended
were emanations of his divinity) an infinite number of to receive the blood of the victims, and stones for
subaltern deities and genii, of which every part of the striking fire are almost invariably found scattered
visible world was the seat and temple. These intel-around it. At length, as the Scandinavians formed
ligences did not barely reside in each part of nature; connections with other countries of Europe, temples
they directed its operations, it was the organ or in- | began to be built, and idols introduced. The parti-
strument of their love or liberality to mankind. cular details of the ancient worship of these northern
Each element was under the guidance of some being countries will be found in another article. (See
peculiar to it. The earth, the water, the fire, the SCANDINAVIANS, RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT.)
air, the sun, moon, and stars had each their respec- The first efforts to Christianize Denmark were
tive divinity. The trees, forests, rivers, mountains, made by Anglo-Saxon missionaries in the seventh
rocks, winds, thunder and tempests had the same; century. An English presbyter named Willibrord,
and merited on that score a religious worship, which, who in A. D. 696 was consecrated archbishop of the
at first, could not be directed to the visible object, Frisias, passed into Jutland. His mission to that
but to the intelligence with which it was animated. region failed, but he purchased thirty children of
The motive of this worship was the fear of a deity the natives, whom he instructed in the knowledge of
irritated by the sins of men, but who, at the same Christianity, and when he landed on Heligoland, the
time, was merciful, and capable of being appeased by island dedicated to the old German idol Fosite, he
prayer and repentance. They looked up to him as wished to establish his abode there in order to bap-
to the active principle, which, by uniting with the tize them. But to disturb anything dedicated on
earth or passive principle, had produced men, ani- the holy island to the Deity was regarded as a heavy
mals, plants, and all visible beings; they even be. offence. When Willibrord, therefore, ventured to
lieved that he was the only agent in nature, who baptize the children in the sacred fountain, and his
preserves the several beings, and disposes of all companions slew some of the consecrated animals,
events. To serve this divinity with sacrifices and the rage of the people was so violently excited, that
prayers, to do no wrong to others, and to be brave they made the intruders cast lots which of them
and intrepid in themselves, were all the moral con- should be slain as an offering to the idols. The
sequences they derived from these doctrines. Lastly, individual on whom the lot fell was sacrificed ac-
the belief of a future state cemented and completed cordingly, and the rest of the party were dismissed
the whole building. Cruel tortures were there re- into the Frankish territory.
served for such as despised these three fundamental It was only, however, in the ninth century, that
precepts of morality, and joys without number and Christianity can be said to have found a footing in
without end awaited every religious, just, and valiant Denmark. The circumstances which in the course
man."
of Providence led to this important event, are thus
This primitive religion of the Northern nations stated by Neander : “In Denmark certain feuds had
lost much of its original purity, and underwent re- arisen, touching the right of succession to the
markable changes in the course of the seven or eight crown; and, on this occasion, the interference of
centuries which intervened between the time of Lewis the Pious, Emperor of Germany, was solicited
Odin and the conversion of Denmark to the Chris- by one of the princes, Harald Krag, who ruled in
tian faith. The most striking alteration which took Jutland. In answer to this application, he sent, in
place during that period was in the number of the 822, an ambassador to Denmark; and, with the ne-
gods who were to be worshipped. The Supreme gotiations which ensued, was introduced a proposi-
Being, instead of presiding over and regulating uni- tion for the establishment, or at least to prepare the
versal nature, came to be restricted to one province, way for the establishment, of a mission among the
and passed among the great mass of the people for. Danes. The primate of France, Ebbo, archbishop
ilie God of War. The Danes seem to have paid the of Rheims, a man educated at the imperial court, and
highest honours to Odin. The prose Edda reckons for a time the emperor's favourite minister, was se-
up twelve gods, and as many goddesses, to whom lected by him for the management of this business.
divine honours were due, and who, though they had Ebbo, who at the court of his sovereign had often
all a certain power, were nevertheless obliged to seen ambassadors from the pagan Danes, had for a
698
DENMARK (CHURCH OF).
long time before felt desirous of consecrating himself | tize all who desired it. Having selected Schleswig:
to the work of converting that people. Practised in a town situated on the borders of the two kingdoms,
the affairs of the world, and ardently devoted to the lie planted a church there, which was instrumental.
spread of Christianity, as well as confident of its | in turning many from the worship of idols to the
triumphant progress, he was peculiarly qualified to adoption of the Christian faith.
unite the office of ambassador with that of a teacher The prospects of the mission in Denmark were in
among the heathen. Halitgar, bishop of Cambray, a short time clouded by the death of Horick, who
author of the Liber Penitentialis, was for a while was killed in battle, and the succession of Horick II.,
associated with him; and the emperor made him the
who was unfavourable to the Christian cause. The
grant of a place called Welanao or Welna, probably doors of the Christian church at Schleswig were
the present Munsterdorf, near Itzehoe, as a secure closed, Christian worship was forbidden, and the priest
retreat, as well as a means of support during his la-obliged to flee. The check, however, was only tem-
bours in the north. He succeeded in gaining over porary. Anschar was invited to send back the priest,
king Harald himself, and those inmediately about his the church at Schleswig was re-opened, and what the
person, to Christianity; though political reasons may Pagans would not suffer through fear of enchant-
no doubt have contributed somewhat to this success. ment, it was provided with a bell. Liberty was also
In the year 826, the king, with his wife and a nu- given to form a second church at Ripen in Jutland.
merous train of followers, made a visit to the em- Anschar was unwearied in his efforts to carry forward
peror at Ingelheim, where the rite of baptisin was the good work, and even on his dying bed the sal-
with great solemnity administered to him and to vation of the Danes and Swedes occupied his mind.
several others. The emperor himself stood god- In a letter written during his last illness, he recom-
father to the king, and the empress Judith, god-mo-mended to the German bishops and to King Lewis
ther to the queen."
to use all their exertions for the continuance of these
When king Harald proposed to return to his missions.
country, a monk of great zeal and piety, named Rimbert, the successor of Anschar, strove to fol-.
Anschar or Ansgar, was selected to accompany him, low in his steps. He made several journeys, not with-
with the view of endeavouring to convert the Danes out great danger, to Denmark and Sweden. But the
from Paganism to Christianity. On reaching the circumstances of the times were far from favourable
scene of his missionary labours, Anschar commenced to the progress of Christianity among the Scandina-
his work by purchasing native boys, whom, with vian tribes, engaged as they were in predatory and
others presented to him by the king, lie took under piratical incursions into Germany, England, and
his own care to educate and train as teachers for France. Yet the Danes, by their settlements in
their countrymen. This missionary institution com- England, were brought more nearly within the range
menced with twelve pupils. The unsettled condition of Christian influences. During the first half of the
of the country prevented him from doing more. tenth century, a violent persecution of the Chris-
The king had alienated his people from him by em- tians in Denmark took place under the authority of
bracing Christianity, and forming connections with King Gurm, who had usurped the throne of that
the Franks, and in A. D. 828 he was driven from the country. At length, however, the German emperor,
country and compelled to seek refuge in a Frankish Henry I., in A. D. 934, interposed, and compelled the
feof, which he had received as a present from the Danish sovereign not only to sheathe the sword of
emperor. In consequence of the flight of Harald, persecution, but to surrender the province of Schles-
Anschar was discouraged, and feeling that it was wig to the German empire. This province afforded
unsafe and inexpedient to continue his labours in for the first time a stable and secure seat for
Denmark, he availed himself of an invitation to pass the Christian church. It was now occupied by a
over to Sweden, where some seeds of Christianity colony of Christians, thus affording a convenient
had already been scattered.
point from which Christianity might bear upon Den-
After the departure of Anschar, the Danish mis- mark. The archbishop Unni taking advantage of
sion passed into the hands of a monk called Gislema, this happy change, again made a missionary tour to
who, however, felt himself not a little crippled in his the North. The king Gurm was as bitterly opposed
exertions by the determined opposition of Horick, as ever to the Christian faith; but it was otherwise
king of Jutland, hitherto a violent enemy to Chris- with his son Harald, who had been trained up in a
tianity. Anschar, in the course of a short time, hav- knowledge of Christianity by his mother Thyra, a
ing been compelled to quit his missionary sphere in daughter of the first Christian prince Harald. The
Sweden, was elevated by the emperor of Germany to young prince had not been baptized, but he openly
the rank of an archbishop, and taking advantage of avowed his favour for the Christians, and through
his improved position, he entered into correspon- the whole period of his reign of fifty years, he en-
dence with Horick, and so won his confidence, that couraged as far as possible the spread of Christianity
he was permitted to lay the foundation of a Chris- in his dominions. A war between this prince and the
tian church, and to establish Christian worship | emperor Otho I. terminated in A. D. 972 by a treaty
wherever he chose, as well as to instruct and bap- of peace, which tended in no small degree to bring
DENMARK (CHURCH OF).
699
about the first establishment of the Christian church | gates of the cathedral. The bishop was in the midst
in Denmark. Harald, with his wife Gunild, received of the service ; the Kyrie Eleison had been chaunted,
baptism in the presence of the emperor, and the and the Gloria about to commence, when he was in-
latter stood god-father at the baptism of the young formed that the royal penitent was outside the gates.
Prince Sueno. It was in the reign of Harald that | Leaving the altar, he repaired to the spot, raised the
Adaldag, archbishop of Hamburg and Bremen, was suppliant monarch, and greeted him with the kiss of
enabled to conceive and carry out the plan of conse- peace. Bringing him into the church, he heard his
crating several bishops for Denmark.
confession, removed the excommunication, and al-
A keen contest now ensued between the Pagan | lowed him to join in the service. Soon afterwards,
and Christian parties among the Danes, the former in the same cathedral, the king made a public con-
being aided and abetted by Sueno, the king's son. fession of his crime, asked pardon alike of God and
In A. D. 991, Harald perished in battle, and Sueno, | man, was allowed to resune his royal apparel, and
on mounting the throne, banished the Christian solemnly absolved. But he had yet to make satis-
priests, and re-established the old religion. It was faction to the kindred of the deceased in conformity
under this inonarch that the Danes conquered Eng- with the law; and to mitigate the canonical penance,
land, and on establishing himself in a Christian land, he presented one of his domains to the church. The
Sueno gave up his opposition to Christianity, and even name of this prelate (no unworthy rival of St. Am-
professed anew to embrace it. His son, Canute the brose) should be ernbalmed in history. He was an
Great, was won over to Christianity by the influence Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastic, William, whom the arch-
of the Christian Church in England, and on succeed bishop of Bremen had nominated to that dignity,
ing to the government, he applied himself with great and who had previously been the secretary of Canute
zeal to the work of giving a firin foundation to the the Great. During the long period that he had
Christian church in Denmark. To reclaim the Pa- governed the diocese of Roskild, he had won the
gans, who were still very numerous, churches were esteem of all men alike by his talents and his vir-
built and Anglo-Saxon missionaries appointed. tues. For the latter he had the reputation of a saint
In the eleventh century, the church in Denmark (and he deserved the distinction better than nine-
was treated with much favour by Sweyn II. This tenths of the semi-deities whose names disgrace the
monarch erected and liberally endowed a number of calendar), and for the former, that of a wizard. It
places of worship, besides founding four new bish- is no disparagement to the honour of this apostolic
oprics, two in Scania, and two in Jutland. But churchman, that he had previously been the intimate
though thus zealous in advancing the spiritual good friend of the monarch ; nor any to that of Sweyn,
of his subjects, his own private character was more that after this event he honoured this bishop more
than questionable. By his licentious conduct he ex- than he had done before."
posed himself to ecclesiastical censures. The fol- From this time till his death Sweyn continued an
lowing incident, showing the stern authority which obedient son of the Roman Catholic church. He
the church could exercise even over a royal delin- spent large sums in supporting missions in Sweden,
quent, is related by Dr. Dunham, in his · History of Norway, and the isles. In his reign the Pagans of
Scandinavia :' “Sweyn was a man of strong pas-
Bernholm were converted to Christianity, destroying
sions, and of irritable temperament. In a festival
In a festival with contempt the idol Frigga, which they had so
which he gave to his chief nobles in the city of Roskild, long been accustomed to worship. Towards the end
some of the guests, heated by wine, indulged them of the eleventh century, the church in Denmark re-
selves in imprudent, though perhaps true, remarks ceived considerable increase of power through the
on his conduct. The following morning, some offi- favour of Canute IV. surnamed the saint. He ex-
cious tale-bearers acquainted him with the circum- empted ecclesiastics from all dependence on the
stance; and in the rage of the moment he ordered secular authority; he raised bishops to a level with
them to be put to death, though they were then at dukes and princes; he brought the clergy into his
mass in the cathedral—that very cathedral which had council, and endeavoured to give them a voice in the
been the scene of his own father's murder. When, assembly of the states. A line of proceeding so un-
on the day following this tragical event, he proceeded popular with all parties, except churchmen them-
to the church, he was inet by the bishop, who, ele-selves, could not fail to be followed with unhappy
vating the crosier, commanded him to retire, and not consequences. The people rose in revolt, and Ca-
to pollute by his presence the house of God—that nute fell a victim to the indignation of the mob.
house which he had already desecrated by blood. / The unfortunate king was succeeded by his brother
His attendants drew their swords, but he forbade Eric III., surnamed the Good, one of the best
thein to exercise any degree of violence towards a princes that ever occupied the Danish throne. To
man who, in the discharge of his duty, defied even check the extravagant power of the archbishop of
kings. Retiring mournfully to his palace, he as- Bremen, whose jurisdiction extended over the whole
sumed the garb of penance, wept and prayed, and North, this wary prince prevailed upon the Pope to
lamented his crime during three days. He then pre- erect an additional archbishopric at Lund. He made
sented himself, in the same mean apparel, before the a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and visited Rome in
700
DENMARK (CHURCII Or).
person, that he might secure the favour and support was the amazeinent of the spectators to witness this
of the Pontift. He made large donations to the tameness on the part of so potent a god; and they
church in his own dominions, and gave a settlement could only account for it by inferring that Christ was
to the Cistercian order anong his people, besides still more powerful. The temple was next burnt ;
founding at Lucca a cloister for the accommodation and so were three others, all with idols. The numer-
of Danish palmers. In short, such was his devotion ous garrisons of the island were made to capitulate;
to the interests of mother church, that he is styled a the victors returned to Denmark in triumph; and
saint by more than one writer of his times.
missionaries were sent to instruct the inhabitants in
Denmark was now to a great extent a professedly the doctrines and duties of Christianity. At the in-
Christian country, but the population on the coasts stance of Bishop Absalom, the island was annexed
were much molested by the incursions of Pagan to the diocese of Roskild.
to the diocese of Roskild. This was a glorious and it
pirates. At length Valdemar I., surnamed the Great, was an enduring conquest; a fierce people were con-
resolved to destroy the strongholds of these lawless verted into harmonised subjects, and piracy lost its
rovers, to cut their gods in pieces, and convert them great support."
to Christianity. With these intentions he led an But while Valdemar was thus zealous in attacking
arinament against the isle of Rugen, which was in- the idolaters on the coast of the Baltic, he yielded
habited by a race of fierce and cruel idolaters. The so much to the influence of the clergy of his own
account of the expedition is interesting, as given by kingdom, that he was persuaded to collect the tithes
Dunham : “To their gigantic idol, Svantovit, they even by the sword. The impost was unpopular,
offered human sacrifices, and believed a Christian to more especially among the Scanians, who were also
be the most acceptable of all. The high-priest had unfriendly to bishops, and still more to clerical celi-
unbounded power over them. He was the inter-bacy. Neither mild nor severe measures were effec-
preter of the idol's will; he was the great augur; he tual in inducing them to pay the obnoxious tax, and
prophesied ; nobody but him could approach the at length Valdemar, dreading greater evils, suspended
deity. The treasures laid at the idol's feet from most the collection until the people should be more acces-
parts of the Slavonic world were immense. Then sible to reason. In the thirteenth century, so un-
there was a fine white horse, which the high-priest | bounded had the power of the Danish clergy become,
only could approach; and in it the spirit of the deity that Christopher I., in consequence of a supposed
often resided. The animal was believed to under. encroachment on the privileges of the church, was
take immense journeys every night, while sleep op- excommunicated, and his kingdom put under an in-
pressed mortals. Three hundred chosen warriors terdict. This bold step roused the resentment of the
formed a guard of honour to the idol; they too king and his nobles, and in revenge a royal decree
brought all which they took in war to the sanctuary. was issued revoking the concessions of privileges,
There was a prestige connected with the temple; it immunities, and even domains made by his ancestors
was regarded as the palladiumn not of the island to the cathedral of Lund. A contest thus commenced
merely, but of Slavonic freedoin; and all approach to between the king and the church, which must have
it was carefully guarded. Valdemar was not dis- led to the most disastrous results to the kingdom at
mayed. He pushed with vigour the siege of Ar- large, had it not been abruptly terminated by the
cona ; and was about to carry it by assault, when his sudden death of the monarch ; but the interdict con-
two military churchmen, Absalom, bishop of Ros- tinued for a number of years, until, by a general
kild, and Eskil, archbishop of Lund, advised him to council held at Lyons A. D. 1274, it was removed,
spare the idolaters upon the following conditions: , and the following year, the king, Eric VII. was recon-
that they would deliver him their idol with all the ciled to the church, though even after that time he
treasure ; that they would release, without ransom, frequently seized the church tithes, and applied to
all their Christian slaves; that all would embrace, his own use the produce arising from the monastic
and with constancy, the gospel of Christ; that the domains. Nor was his son and successor, Eric VIII.,
lands now belonging to their priests should be trans- less involved in quarrels with the church. Again
ferred to the support of Christian churches; that, was the kingdom placed under interdict on account
whenever required, they would serve in the armies of indignities offered to the archbishop of Lund; the
of the king; and that they would pay him an annual king was condemned by the Pope and a commission
tribute. Hostages being given for the performance of cardinals to pay a large fine, and in default of pay-
of these stipulations, the invaders entered the tem- inent, not only was the kingdom to reinain under in-
ple, and proceeded to destroy Svantovit, under the terdict, but the royal offender was to be excommuni.
eyes of a multitude of Pagans, who expected every cated along with his brother Christopher, who had
moment to see a dreadful miracle. The idol was so been the main instrument in arresting the archbishop.
large, that they could not at once hurl it to the Matters, however, were compromised, the fine was
ground, lest it should fall on some one, and the Pa- reduced to a comparatively small sum, and the quar-
gans be enabled to boast of its having revenged rel caine to an end. From this time onward till the
itself. They broke it in pieces; and the wood was Reforination in the sixteenth century, the church
cut up into logs for the tires of the camp. Great continued to maintain its authority and power
DENMARK (CHURCH OF).
701
unresisted by the people and unopposed by the power ; that bequests to the church might be law-
state.
fully made and peacefully enjoyed; that the church
From the contiguity of Denmark to the Protest- should be supported in her actual rights and pos-
ant states of Germany the new opinions found their sessions. These concessions, however, were all of
way into that country almost immediately after their | them withdrawn by Christian III. on his accession
promulgation by Luther. Christian, the heir of the to the throne. His first step was to exclude the
thrones of Denmark and Norway, so far favoured the bishops from the senate, and to interdict them from
Protestant cause, that he sent for missionaries to all authority in temporal concerns. Having accom-
preach it openly; but in a short time he withdrew plished this object, he called a private meeting of
his countenance from the movement, and even dis- | his senators, at which a resolution was passed, to
avowed what he had previously sanctioned. Fre- confiscate the revenues of the bishops for the use of
deric I., the then reigning sovereign, not only toler- the state, to destroy their jurisdiction in the church,
ated the new doctrines, but secretly encouraged their as well as in the state, and not to restore them if
diffusion. At the diet of Odensay in 1527, he went even a general council should decree their restora-
much farther, and exhorted the bishops to enforce, tion, unless the king, the senate, and the states of
in their respective dioceses, the preaching of the the realm should revoke the present resolution. It
pure word of God, divested of the corruptions was also agreed to adhere in future to the Protestant
which had been associated with it. The leaning to religion, and to defend and advance its interests. An
the Lutheran doctrines, which the king evidently act, embodying these resolutions, was signed by each
showed, had its effect notwithstanding the opposition member, who promised to keep them secret. Hav-
of the bishops. The assembled states decreed that ing thus secured the support of his senators, Chris-
there should be perfect liberty of conscience; that tian proceeded to take some bold steps for the ac-
priests, monks, and nuns might lawfully marry ; that complishment of his design. All the bishops of the
the pallium should no longer be solicited from the kingdom were seized and put in close custody. To
Pope; that bishops should be elected by the chap- justify this extraordinary step in the eyes of the na-
ters, and confirmed by the crown without Papal tion and of Europe, Christian assembled the states
bulls. These were decided steps towards the intro- at Copenhagen, when, after a violent denunciation
duction of the reformed principles into Denmark. of the Romish clergy by the king, their domina-
The improvement went forward. Many of the reli- tion was formally declared at an end, and the Ro-
gious establishments were forsaken by their inmates, man Catholic worship abolished. The church
and their revenues were seized by the crown, some of revenues were adjudged to state purposes, to the
the domains being given up to the secular nobles. support of the Protestant ministers, to the mainte-
No bishop was now elected without the recommen nance of the poor, to the foundation of hospitals, and
dation of the crown. Lutheran missionaries began to the sustentation of the university and the schools.
everywhere to make their appearance, exciting a Thus was the Protestant Church established in
great sensation among the people by their zeal and Denmark on the firm and solid footing on which it
the novelty of their manner, In the cities where has rested down to the present day. It was not, how-
intelligence more abounded, the new doctrines ra- ever, till the reign of Christian V. that the consti-
pidly spread, and even in the rural districts not a tution of the Danish Lutheran Church was fully
few were found holding keenly Protestant views. settled, when, in 1683, the code of Danish laws,
The ancient church at this time received a blow from civil and ecclesiastical, which are still in force, was
which it could not afterwards recover. The Romish drawn up, confirmed, and sanctioned by the king.
clergy had now lost their hold of the people, and | In this code, the religion of the Danish dominions is
their system was plainly destined to fall. One of restricted to the faith of the Lutheran Church. The
the last acts of Frederic I., who had been mainly Danish ritual was first prepared, sanctioned, and
instruinental in bringing about this important change, published in 1685, and a Latin translation of it was
was to receive the Confession of Augsburg, which published in 1706.
he imposed on his Protestant subjects, leaving those In Denmark, as well as in Sweden and Norway,
who still adhered to Romanism to follow their own no person is permitted to fill any office, civil or mili-
conscientious convictions.
tary, unless he belongs to the Lutheran church.
An interregnum followed the death of Frederic, Hence the great importance attached in these, and
and, taking advantage of the unsettled state of the indeed in all Lutheran countries, to the rite of con-
country, the Romish clergy made great efforts to re- firmation by the bishop or dean. “It is not only
cover the privileges which they had lost during the considered," says Mr. Samuel Laing, “as a religious,
late reign. Nor were they altogether unsuccessful. but also as a civil act, and one of the greatest import-
At a meeting of the states-general, held in A. D. ance to the individual in every station, from the
1533, a decree was passed that bishops alone should highest to the lowest. It is the proof of having at-
have the power of conferring holy orders ; that the tained majority in years, and competency for offices,
tithes should be duly paid, and whoever should not duties, and legal acts. The certificate of confirma-
pay should have no protection froin the civil tion is required in all engagements, as regularly as
702
DENMARK (CHURCH or).
|
a certificate of character from the last employer.” | valid. Five sponsors or witnesses, of both sexes, are
The manner in which an individual is trained before usually present at the administration of baptism, but
the administration of this important ceremony is they bear no responsibility in regard to the child
thus detailed by the same shrewd and intelligent during the life of the parents. The Lord's Supper
writer: “There is a long previous educational pre- is celebrated in towns weekly, but in rural parishes
paration, often of six or even twelve months, in monthly, or even more rarely. On these occasions
which each individual is instructed by the parish
instructed by the parish wafers are used instead of bread, one of them being
minister. He is answerable, and his professional put into the mouth of each communicant by the offi-
character is at stake, that each individual whom he ciating clergyman. In placing the wafer in the
presents for examination to the bishop or dean can mouth, the minister says, Hoc est verum Jesu corpus,
read, understands the Scriptures, the catechism, the This is the true body of Jesus; and in giving the
prayer-book, according to the means and opportuni- cup, he adds, Hic est verus Jesu sanguis, This is the
ties of the parents to give, and the capacity of the true blood of Jesus. Sometimes the organ plays
young person to receive, education. The examina- during the whole administration of the ordinance.
tion by the bishop, or dean, is strict; and to be | Lighted wax candles are usually, in Denmark at
turned back from ignorance would be a serious loss least, though not in Sweden, nor in many of the
of character, affecting the material interests both of Lutheran churches of Germany, placed upon the
the clergyman who had brought forward the young altar during the dispensation of the eucharist. Even
person unprepared, and of the parents of the young in administering the ordinance to the sick, one or
person, whose state of minority is prolonged, and two lighted candles are enjoined by the ritual to be
who, unless he is confirmed, can find no employer. | used. In receiving the sacrament the communicants
In those purely Lutheran countries there is very kneel, the males on the right side of the altar, and
little dissent from the established Church, in conse- the females on the left. In this point also the Lu-
quence, perhaps, of the educational preparation given theran church of Denmark differs from the Lutheran
to each individual for this rite, and of the importance church in Germany, where in general the communi-
attached to it; and the few dissenters, Mennonites cants do not kneel, but approach the altar singly,
or Herrenhuters, or Moravians, live together, in gen- and after receiving the bread and wine retire. In
eral, in distinct colonies, or towns, and are not scat- the Danish church the minister neither kneels during
tered through the population. The individual not any part of the service, nor does he partake of the
passing through the education preparatory to con- elements himself, but is required by the ritual to
firmation would stand alone in his neighbourhood, communicate outside the altar rails, as the congrega-
without employment or countenance from any other tion do, using the ministry of another.
body of his own persuasion. One evil attends this The three great festivals of Christmas, Easter, and
strict examination preparatory to receiving confirma- Pentecost, are celebrated each of them for two suc-
tion. It unquestionably promotes, or rather enforces cessive days, three services being prescribed for each
indirectly, the education of the youth by the interests day, and the communion being appointed to be ob*
of the parents, the youth himself, and the minister, se
served on the first morning of each festival, at the
and by the immediate advantage it presents of en- first of the three services. Lent is the only fast ob-
abling the young person to enter into his future trade served in this church. Various other festivals are
or profession as a man who has attained majority; celebrated in the course of the year, besides the
but it is too liable to be considered as taking a final three already mentioned.
degree in religion and religious knowledge. Taking a The funeral ceremony in Denmark is simple, but
degree in medical, legal, or theological science is very exceedingly impressive, consisting merely in the re-
often the ultimate effort of the students, that at petition by the clergyman of these three sentences
which they stand still all their lives. This is ob- in Danish, “ From the earth thou didst spring;” “To
servable in the state of religion, in Lutheran coun- the earth thou shalt return;" “From the earth thou
tries. The mind may be saturated too early with shalt rise again ;" and at the repetition of each of
the knowledge required for attaining a certain end, these sentences, the minister throws a quantity of
and the end being attained, the knowledge is thrown earth on the body when it is let down into the
aside, or perhaps only remembered and referred to grave. Occasionally a funeral oration is delivered.
with disgust."
In Denmark, as indeed in all the Scandinavian
Confirmation in the case of the young, and confes- countries, there is a peculiarity in reference to mar-
sion in all cases, must in the Church of Denmark | riage, which recalls the Oriental customs—that the
precede admission to the Lord's Supper, and the lat- parties before being united by the marriage tie, have
ter ordinance must have been received by both par- generally for some time been betrothed to each other.
ties before marriage. In dispensing baptism, exorcism No
No small importance is attached to the latter cere-
practised, and the trine aspersion with the sign of mony, as we learn from the description of Mr. Laing
the cross on the head and breast, accompanied with in his Denmark and the Duchies :' “The betrothal
the imposition of hands. Lay baptism, even though is a solemn act much more imposing and binding than
performed by females, is in some cases considered as our simple engagement to marry. The betrothal is
1
1
met
DENMARK (CHURCH OF).
703
regularly a ceremonial in which rings are exchanged, Divine worship is by no means so general among
and mutual acceptance before witnesses of the family the Danes as among the Norwegians. The service
friends of both parties, takes place, although the is usually commenced, as well as closed, by a short
actual marriage is postponed for one, and even for prayer offered up by the catechist, standing on the
several years. I have heard of parties having been steps leading up to the chancel with his face towards
betrothed above twenty years before they could af- the congregation. A great part of the service con-
ford to marry. In real life, there is both evil and sists of praise or rather chanting, for the passages
good in this custom. Boys and girls engage them- selected from the Prayer-Book to be sung are not
selves, exchange rings and love tokens, and conceive / in metre but in prose. Though the churches are
themselves bound together for life before they know almost all of them provided with excellent organs,
their own minds, or circumstances, and, at a maturer the people join in praise with scarcely a single
age, inclination, as well as prudence, may forbid the exception. That the congregation may be fully
banns. But they are betrothed; and although it aware what passages are to be sung, they are
may have been privately, and clandestinely, the be- marked on boards which are hung up in different
trothal is, in their own minds, as sacred as marriage. parts of the church. The collect and the epistle
The betrothal is in Denmark, from the custom of are read at the altar, or chanted at the pleasure of
the country, a kind of public solemn act, has a kind the officiating minister, and while so engaged he
of sanctity attached to it, more than the simple pri- wears a surplice above his gown, and before com-
vate engagement, understanding, or promise, between mencing to read, he puts on, in the presence of the
the parties. People may be engaged to be betrothed, congregation, a hunerale, that is, a cloak of crimson
although the betrothal itself is only an engagement velvet hanging down before and behind, rounded at
to be married. It always precedes the marriage by the bottom, and shorter than the surplice, edged all
a few weeks, or months, even where there is no rea- round with gold lace, with a large cross, also of gold
son to delay the ceremony, and the betrothed lady | lace, on the back. In the pulpit a black gown of a
has her status in society, different from that of the peculiar make is worn with a ruff round the neck
bride whose marriage day is fixed, or from that of the and without a band. Before commencing the ser-
woman already married, but it is conventionally ac- mon an extempore prayer is offered. During almost
knowledged. Parties may and do recede from it by the whole service the people sit, being only required
mutual agreement, from prudential or other causes, by the rubric to stand when the Epistle and Gospel
without the censure, and éclat, of a dissolution of a are read, and when the blessing, which is always
marriage. They renounce their mutual obligations, AARON's BLESSING (which see), is pronounced.
return their rings, and quietly cease those exclusive While the sermon is being delivered, it is customary
attentions which showed they were betrothed. It is to carry the collecting boxes round the congregation
to the effect of betrothal, that the actual dissolution that they may have an opportunity of contributing
of the marriage tie is so much less frequent than we
This practice is enjoined by the
might expect from the facility with which, in most ritual.
Lutheran countries, a divorce may be obtained. In- The government of the Church of Denmark is
compatibility of temper, confirmed disease, insanity, episcopal, there being in the whole country, includ-
conviction of crime, extravagance, habits of drunken- ing Iceland and its dependencies, nine bishops and
ness, of gaming, of neglect, and even a mutual agree-one superintendent-general, who are all appointed by
ment to be divorced persevered in after an interval the king. The metropolitan is the bishop of Zea-
of two years from the formal notice by the parties to | land, who resides in Copenhagen. By him all the
the Consistory of the district, are grounds upon which other bishops are consecrated, while he himself is
divorce will be pronounced in the ecclesiastical court consecrated by the bishop of Fyhn, as the bishop
of the district, and the parties released altogether whose residence is nearest to Copenhagen. The
from the marriage tie, and set free to marry again. metropolitan anoints the king on his accession to the
The opportunity, which the betrothal affords, of par- throne. He wears the insignia of the highest order
ties knowing cach other, and of getting rid of each of knighthood, and is consulted in all matters eccle-
other before marriage, if any such causes as would siastical. The clergy are to some extent civil as
have led to dissolution of the marriage are discovered well as ecclesiastical officers, being employed by the
in either party, render divorces more rare, and the government in collectiny certain taxes within their
great facility of divorce less nocuous in society than respective parishes. Their salaries are very limited,
we might suppose.”
and even the bishops and dignitaries of the church
The oldest churches in Denmark are built in the are far from being overpaid. Only one-third of the
form of a cross. In some of the churches crucifixes | tithes has since the Reformation been appropriated
are placed upon the altar, and paintings may be seen to ecclesiastical purposes, the other two-thirds hav-
upon the walls, but not painted glass. The ceilings ing become the property of the king and the nobles.
or roofs are occasionally ornamented with gilded The church patronage is mostly in the hands of the
stars, and the ceiling of the chancel with represen- sovereign, who nominates the bishops, and while the
tations of the sun and moon. The attendance on feudal proprietors have the privilege of nominating
for the pool.
i
i
704
DEODAND-DENOMINATIONS (THE THREE).
three candidates for church livings on their own Protestant Dissenting ministers of London and West-
estates, it belongs to the king to choose one of the minster.' The Three Denominations sprung from
three who receives the appointment. No minister the original Nonconformists to the prelatical gov-
can be ordained until he has reached the age of ernment of the Church of England, as established
twenty-five, though he is permitted to preach as soon by Queen Elizabeth and the Stuart dynasty. It was
as he has passed the regular theological examination, in their behalf that the Toleration Act was originally
and may wear a peculiar short gown, but cannot ap- passed, and the association thus formed among the
pear in full canonical dress until he has been or- principal bodies of English Dissenters in and near
dained. The bishops are bound to send an annual London, enjoys the privilege, along with the Estab-
report to the king of the state of the churches and lished clergy of London and the two Universities,
schools of their dioceses, and the condition of affairs of approaching the sovereign on the throne. The
spiritual and ecclesiastical among the people. The ministers of the several dissenting denominations in
Synod of Zealand meets twice a-year; but the other London addressed the throne in the reigu of William
diocesan synods meet only once, namely, during the and Mary as separate bodies. We learn from Dr.
eight days which follow St. John the Baptist's day. Calamy, that in 1702 “ they made an address to her
On these occasions the bishop and chief civil func- Majesty (Queen Anne), in a large body made up of
tionary of the district preside, and the ecclesiastical the three denominations of Presbyterians, Indepen-
affairs of the diocese are carefully considered, and dents, and Antipædobaptists; and this being the
any new royal rescripts which may have been issued first time of their joining together in an address at
are read.
court, it was much taken notice of, and several were
In the Danish German provinces the church gov- surprised and commended their prudence.” From the
ernment approaches more to that of the German passing of the Toleration Act in 1688, the Presbyte-
Lutherans. They have no bishops, but one super- rians and Independents had been gradually approach-
intendent-general, who alone has the right to ordain, ing nearer to each other, laying aside somewhat of
and twenty-one provosts.
their natural prejudices, and from their common hos-
DEODAND (Lat. Deo, to God, dandus, to be tility to Prelacy, becoming every day more prepared
given), a thing given- or forfeited to God in conse- to coalesce. In 1691, accordingly, these two deno-
quence of its having caused the death of a human minations of Dissenters agreed to merge their mutual
being. Thus, if a man, when driving a cart, acciden- differences, and to reduce," as they themselves ex-
tally falls, and one of the cart-wheels crushes him to pressed it, “all distinguishing names to that of
death, the cart becomes a deodand, or given to God, United Brethren." This union led to the drawing
that is, it becomes the property of the sovereign to up of a declaration of faith in the same year, entitled
be distributed to the poor by the royal almoner, by “Heads of Agreement assented to by the United
way of expiation or atonement for the death which it Ministers in and about London, formerly called
has caused. The origin of this custom is probably Presbyterians and Congregational." When this
to be found in Exod. xxi. 28, “If an ox gore a man document was printed, it had been subscribed by
or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be above eighty ministers. Similar associations were
surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but formed in all parts of the country, and throughout
the owner of the ox shall be quit.”
both denominations the union was very generally
DEPOSITION, a term used in Presbyterian recognized. Two years thereafter a theological con-
churches to indicate the sentence of a church court, troversy having arisen on the subject of the mode
whereby a minister is denuded of the office of the and terms of justification, in consequence of the re-
holy ministry, and solemnly prohibited from exercis- publication of the Works of Dr. Tobias Crisp (see
ing any of its functions. The act of deposing is al- CRISPITES), the United Ministers of London pub-
ways preceded by prayer. The church of the de-
The church of the de- lished a tract entitled, “The Agreement in Doctrine
posed minister is declared vacant from the day and among the Dissenting Ministers in London, sub-
date of the sentence of deposition, and the usual scribed Dec. 16, 1692. The propositions contained
steps upon occasion of a vacancy are taken. In the in this tract were arranged under nine distinct heads,
Church of Scotland the sentence of deposition cannot directed chiefly against the Arminian, Antinomian,
be pronounced by a presbytery in absence of the Socinian, and Popish errors. Similar declarations
minister to be deposed, unless by authority of the were given forth by the United Ministers in the
General Assembly. A minister deposed for immo course of the Antinomian controversy, which raged
rality cannot be restored to his former charge under | in England between 1691 and 1699. And Dr.
any circumstances whatsoever, without the special Calamy informs us, in his “Brief but true Account
authority of the General Assembly appointing it. of the Protestant Dissenters in England, published
DENOMINATIONS (THE THREE), an appella- in 1717, that "they generally agree in the doctrinal
tion given to an association of Dissenting ministers articles of the Church of England, which they sub-
in and about London, belonging to the Presbyterian, scribe, the Confession of Faith, and Larger and
Congregationalist, and Baptist denominations, and Smaller Catechisms compiled by the Assembly of
bearing the formal title of “The General Body of | Divines at Westminster, and the judgment of the

W.Forrest
ON
TO
EU
Pacar
The Dance of Dervishes
DEPRIVATION_DERVISHES.
705
British Divines at the Synod of Dort, about the ates no fewer than thirty-two, while Von Hammer
Quinquarticular controversy.” The united body
The united body estimates them at thirty-six. It is remarkable what
termed “ The Three Denominations," was organized a powerful influence they exercise upon the social
in 1727, and so harmonious was the association, that condition of the whole Turkish empire. They are
for some time they were able to join together in acts said to have existed in Persia long before the pro-
of Christian worship. At length, Socinianism hav- mulgation of Islamism, and indeed their system of
ing been embraced and openly taught by some of the doctrine may be traced back to the remotest periods
Presbyterian and of the General Baptist ministers, in the history of all the regions of Central Asia.
it was found necessary to limit the proceedings of Mohammed, endeavouring to accommodate his sys-
the united body to general points, connected with tem of religious belief to the peculiarities of the
the political rights and privileges of Dissenters. The Oriental character, rendered Islamism so sensual and
Unitarian ministers, however, have seceded from the materialistic in its representations of God, that it
general body of the Three Denominations, so that suited the Pantheistic Sofis. or Dervishes, who be-
their proceedings are now conducted with greater lieved every man to be an incarnation of Deity.
harmony of deliberation and unity of purpose. See This class of religious fanatics soon caine to combine
DEPUTIES.
with their belief of the Koran much of the contem-
DEPRIVATION, a term used in England to de- plative mysticism of the Hindu Fakirs. Some of
note an ecclesiastical censure, whereby a minister them, as for example, the Nachshbendies, without
for some competent reason is deprived of his living. quitting the world for a monastic seclusion, bind
The sentence of deprivation, according to the canons themselves to the strict observance of certain forms
of the Church of England, must be pronounced by of devotion. Other orders of Dervishes are still more
the bishop only, with the assistance of his chan- rigid. Most of them impose a noviciate, the length
cellor and dean, and some of the prebendaries, if the of which is made to correspond with the progress
court be kept near the cathedral church, or of the which the candidate has already made. He is taught
archdeacon if he may be had conveniently, and two to repeat the list of the Divine attributes, seven of
other at least grave ministers and preachers to be them only being communicated at a time. He is
called by the bishop when the court is kept in other bound to tell all his dreams to his superior, who pre-
places.
tends thereby to be able to discover the advancement
DEPUTATI. See CEROFERARII.
which the candidate is making in Divine knowledge.
DEPUTIES (DISSENTING), a committee of gen- Some of the orders approach nearer to, and others are
tlemen chosen annually by the congregations belong- farther removed from, the doctrines of the Koran.
ing to the Three DENOMINATIONS (which see) of Twelve of the orders are alleged by Von Hammer to
London and its vicinity, for the purpose of watching have existed before the foundation of the Ottoman
over and defending the rights and privileges of Pro- Empire, while the rest were formed between the
testant Dissenters in England. A few years after fourteenth and eighteenth centuries. In Persia, how-
the union of the three bodies had been effected in ever, the Dervishes have always been most flourish-
1727, the system of deputies was adopted. Each ing, and they have even ranked among their number
congregation belonging to the Three Denominations some of the most celebrated Persian poets. Such
of Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists, in and was the popularity indeed of the Dervishes at one
within twelve miles of London, appoints two depu- | time in Persia, that one of them actually reached the
ties annually to represent them at the General Com- throne, and founded the dynasty of the Sophis. In
mittee. The election has taken place regularly since Turkey again, when the Janissaries were first orga-
1737, and the Committee thus formed watch over nised in 1328, the Sultan prevailed upon a noted
any bills which may be introduced into Parliament Dervish, named Bactasch, and the founder of the BAC-
affecting the interests of Dissenters, as well as the TASCHITES (which see), to bless them formally in
cause of religious liberty generally.
order to inspire them with religious zeal. This the
DERCETO. See ATERGATIS, DAGON.
Dervish did by holding the sleeve of his robe over
DERRHIATIS, a surname of ARTEMIS (which the head of each of the officers. In commemoration
see), derived from Derrhion, a town on the road of this ceremony, the Janissaries ever after wore
from Sparta to Arcadia.
a piece of cloth hanging down from behind the
DERVISHES, Mohammedan monks who belong turban.
to the Schiite or Persian sect of Moslems, and who The Dervishes make no open opposition to the
lay claim to special revelations from heaven, and to Koran, but they pretend to be delivered by special
immediate supernatural intercourse with the Deity. Divine inspiration from the necessity of submitting
The name is said to be derived from the Persian to any law human or divine. This doctrine they
word der, " the threshold of the house," and meta- never openly avow even to candidates seeking ad-
phorically “humility.” In Persia they obtained also mission into their society. They craftily teach the
the name of Sofis from Sof, which signifies a coarse initiated that the Koran contains only an allegory
woollen dress worn by devotees. The orders of of precepts and maxims purely political; and that as
these Dervishes are numerous.
D'Olsson enumer- soon as habits of mental devotion have been acquired,
1.
3 E
706
DERVISHES,
the worship of God becomes a purely spiritual act, in their house, like the confessor in rich Roman
which entirely supersedes all outward forms and Catholic families; believing that his presence will
ceremonies, and all human interpretation of the bring down upon them the blessing of heaven. The
written word. In this way outward authority and Dervish is consulted on all occasions as one believed
law are made to yield to inward impulses. They to be possessed of supernatural wisdom.
insist also upon implicit submission to the sheikh of The mode in which the Dervishes in Turkey con-
their order. “Whatever you do, whatever you duct religious services will be best described by
think, let your sheikh be ever present to your mind,” | quoting the statement of an eye-witness of one of
is the mental ejaculation of every Dervish.
-their festivals: “The ceremony commenced by a
This class of superstitious devotees has succeeded procession, consisting of the Sheikh, Imams, Der..
in acquiring a strong hold over the minds and hearts vises, and people, along the street, many of them
of the lower class of Moslems. This influence they carrying long poles, having several lamps attached
strive by all means to maintain and increase. They at the upper end, or else wooden lanterns. After
persuade the people that the descent of the Der- they had entered the mosque, the Dervises, about
vishes is to be traced to Ali, and even to Abubekr, fifteen-in number, sat down cross-legged on matting,
the first of the four immediate successors of Moham- in an elliptic circle, and the people stood or sat
med. They profess to work miracles, and have re- closely round them. At one end of the mosque
course to all kinds of juggleries and impositions, with were the Sheikh, Imám, and moon-'shids (or singers
the view of exalting themselves in popular estima- of poetry), and near the circle sat a player on a kind
tion. Though some of them are far from being of small flute.
correct in their moral conduct, yet the ignorant and “The service commenced by the recital of a
superstitious among the people actually believe that prayer called 'El-Fa'thhah,' in a slow, solemn chant,
the souls of these pretended saints are already puri- | in which the whole assembly joined. After a few
fied and united with God, and therefore are in.no minutes' silence the Dervises began their special
way contaminated by the deeds of the body. The exercises, termed the Zikr, by chanting, in a slow
Sultans and Ulemas have more than once had occa- measure and very low tone, the words, 'La' ila'ha,
sion to dread the dangerous power of the Dervishes il'la-llah' (there is no deity but God), bowing the
over the common people, which has actually led on head and body twice in each repetition of the words ;
some occasions to open rebellion against the rulers after continuing this for about a quarter of an hour,
of the country. The Ulemas, who belong to the they repeated the same words to the same air for
Sonnite sect of the Mohammedans, have always been about an equal space of time, but in a quicker mea-
at enmity with the Dervishes, and striving in every sure and with corresponding quickened motions ;
way to lessen their power, but hitherto with little during this the moon-shids and Imám sometimes
One order, the Bactaschites, was aroused sung to a variation of the same air portions of
to fury in consequence of the destruction of the
an ode in praise generally of the Prophet ;-the
Janissaries by order of Sultan Mahmoud, and were effect of the soft melody of this ode, contrasted with
the chief instruments in raising revolts in various the hoarser voices of the Dervises, was at times
quarters; but the Sultan, with the advice of the pleasing.
Grand Mufti and.chief Uleinas, had the three chiefs “ The Dervises then repeated the same words to
of the order publicly executed, banishing most of its a different air, beginning, as before, in a slow whis-
members.
per, raised gradually to louder tones, with very rapid
Most of the orders of Dervishes have convents. motions of the head and body. They next rose on
Only one order, that of the Bactaschites, can properly their feet in a circle, repeating the same words in
be called mendicant; many of these profess to live very hoarse tones, laying the emphasis chiefly upon
on alms alone, after the example of their founder. the word · La'' and the first syllable of Allah,
'
They are not very importunate beggars, rarely ad- which were uttered with great vehemence; each
dressing private individuals, but for the most part turned his head alternately to the right and to the
they are found in crowded streets, crying, “Relief left, bending also the body at the repetition of these
for the love of God” Others of this order become syllables. The rapidity of their motions and ejacu-
hermits, and profess to support themselves by manual lations was gradually increased until they became
labour. Though Dervishes are quite at liberty to quit apparently frantic with excitement; several of them
their order and return to the world, should they feel so jumping and throwing about their bodies in all direc-
disposed, very few cases of the kind have been ever tions; others, overcome with their intense exertions,
known to : occur. They generally live and die in were panting and gasping for breath, uttering the
connection with the order they have joined. "Were most unearthly and horrible sounds, and sinking
the Dervishes of Turkey," says, Dr: Taylor, “to lay down from exhaustion, bathed in perspiration. The
aside their distinctive dress, they would still be re- quickness of their motions and vehemence of their
cognized by their modest gait and submissive coon- ejaculations seemed to be regulated in some measure
tenance." Wherever a Dervish appears he is warmly by the chant of the moon-'shids and Imám, who
welcomed. Many wealthy persons keep a Dervish | lowered their voices when the Dervises began to
success.

Ricart
R.Young
An Abdal, Santon, or Kalender,
MOHAMMEDAN SECT OF DEVOTEES.
OF
A Fularton & Cº London & Famburgh
MICH
DESIGNATOR-DEUTERO-CANONICAL.
707
appear exhausted, and urged them on again by rais-deserved it. Lactantius says, 6. Those who set a
ing their notes after they were somewhat rested. value upon their faith, and will not deny their God,
" During these performances, one of the spectators | they first torment, and butcher them with all their
who had joined the circle became highly excited, might, and then call them desperadoes, because they
throwing about his arms and body, looking very will not spare their own bodies; as if any thing could
wildly upwards, and ejaculating the words, ' Al’lah! | be more desperate than to torture and tear in pieces
Al'lah ! la'la' la' lah !' with extreme vehemence. In those whom you cannot but know to be innocent.”
a short time his voice became extinct, his strength DESPENA, a surname of Aphrodite, Demeter,
exliausted, and he sank down on the floor violently and Persephone.
convulsed and foaming at the mouth; it was a fit of DESTINIES (THE THREE), female divinities
epilepsy, and he was considered by the assembly to among the ancient Scandinavians, bearing the names
be possessed, or melboo's, like the demoniacs men- respectively of Urd, the Past, Verdandi, the Pre-
tioned in the New Testament. Such occurrences sent, and Skuld, the Future. They are represented
are very frequent during these services.
as three virgins, who are continually drawing from
"When these performances had lasted about two a spring precious water, with which they water the
hours, they were completely suspended for some Ash-Tree, so celebrated in Northern Mythology un-
time, the actors taking coffee, and smoking; and the der the name of YGGDRASIL (which see). This wa-
suddenness with which they subsided from the high- ter preserves the beauty of the ash-tree's foliage, and
est pitch of excitement into their ordinary dignified after having refreshed its leaves falls back again to
gravity of manner was very remarkable. After a the earth, where it forms the dew of which the bees
short rest they resumed the Zikr, and continued the make their honey. These three virgins always re-
same frantic performances till day-break. They are main under the ash; and it is they who dispense the
enabled by habit to persevere in these exercises a days and ages of men. Every man has a destiny
surprising length of time without intermission. We appropriated to himself, who determines the dura-
were kept sitting up nearly all night, for it was im- tion and events of his life. In the prose Edda the
,possible to sleep in the hearing of their wild groan- Destinies are termed Norns.
ings and howlings."
DESTRUCTIONISTS. See ANNIHILATIONISTS.
There is an extraordinary order of Dervishes call-· DEUCALION, a son of Prometheus and Cly-
ed MEVLEVI (which see), or dancing Dervishes,
mene.
He was king in Phthia, and in his days a
whose religious ceremonies are of a truly singular flood is said to have happened, which destroyed the
kind, consisting of a series of rotatory motions, which whole human race except himself and his wife
are said to symbolize the eternal existence of the Pyrrha.
Pyrrha. Ovid gives a detailed account of this uni-
Divine Being. The members of this order belong | versal deluge, alleging it to have been a manifesta-
chiefly to the higher class of Turks. Another class tion of the wrath of Jupiter on account of the wick-
of Dervishes, called Rufalies, practise ceremonies of edness of man. Deucalion and his wife, embarking
the most surprising kind, in the course of which they in a small vessel, were saved, and when the flood
lick red-hot swords, cut and wound themselves with abated, they landed on Mount Parnassus, and in obe-
knives, and lacerate their bodies until they sink ex- dience to the orders of the oracle of Themis they
hausted. There is a degraded class of Dervishes, threw stones behind their backs; those which were
called Kalenders, or wandering Dervishes, who are thrown by Deucalion being changed into men, and
l'ecognized only by the lowest ranks of society, and those which were thrown by Pyrrha becoming wo-
disowned by the members of the regular confrater- In this way the earth is said to have been
nities.
once more peopled. See DELUGE (TRADITIONS OF
DESIGNATOR, the master of ceremonies at THE).
funerals among the ancient Romans, who regulated DEUTEREUOS, one of the assistants to the
the order of procession, and made all proper arrange- PATRIARCH (which see) of the Greek church.
ments. He was considered as the minister of the DEUTERO-CANONICAL (Gr. deuteros, second,
goddess Libitina, who presided over funerals. and canonicos, canonical), an epithet applied to cer-
DESK, the name usually given to the pulpit in tain books of Sacred Scripture, which were added to
which morning and evening prayers are read in the the canon after the rest, either because they were not
Church of England. Formerly this part of the ser- written till after the compilation of the canon, or be-
vice was performed in the upper part of the choir or cause of some doubt whether they were canonical or
chancel near the altar, and it does not appear to
not. The deutero-canonical books in the modern
have been till the reign of James I. that the convo- canon are, the book of Esther, either the whole, or
cation ordered a desk to be provided in every church, at least the seven last chapters; the epistle to the
in which the minister might read the service. Hebrews; that of James, and that of Jude; the
DESPERATI (Lat. desperate men), a name given second epistle of Peter; the second and third epis-
to the early Christians by their enemies, as a term of tles of John, and the Book of Revelation. The deu-
reproach. This name they rejected as a calumny, tero-canonical parts of books are, the Hymn of the
throwing it back upon their enemies, who more justly Three Children; the prayer of Azariah; the his-
men.
708
DEUTEROPOTMI_DEVIL-WORSHIP.
tories of Susannah, of Bel and the Dragon; the last were once men but are now reaping the reward of
chapter of Mark; the narrative of the bloody sweat; their prowess or virtue. They reside in a place of
the appearance of the angel in Luke xxii., and the happiness; but do not possess the higher attributes
history of the adulterous woinan in John viii. See of divinity. They receive birth by the apparitional
BIBLE.
form, are subject to various passions, and in size are
DEUTEROPOTMI, a name given by the Athe- more than colossal. Their number must be incal-
nians to such as had been thought dead, but reco- culable by the numeration of mortals; as many
vered after the funeral rites. These persons were myriads of myriads are represented as being present
not allowed to enter the temple of the Eumenides, when Gótama delivered the discourse called Maha Sa-
or any sacred place, until they had been emblema- maya, in the hall of Kútágára, near his native city of
tically born again.
Kapilawastu. When the acquisition of merit in pre-
DEUTEROSIS. See MISHNA.
vious births has been small, the déwas become
DEVAS, the generic name for gods among the subject to fear as they approach the period in which
Hindus. Throughout the Vaidic period they were they are to pass into some other mode of existence.
mere shapeless and colourless abstractions. Human Thus Sekra himself, the ruler of Tawutisá, previous
properties, it is true, were frequently ascribed to to the occasion upon which he heard the sacred bara
them; it was believed that even gods are ultimately froin the lips of Gótama (by which he received merit,
mortal, and can only purchase an exemption from and thereby a prolongation of the period of his
the common lot by drinking of the potent amrita, reign), became greatly sorrowful when he reflected
the draught of immortality, that is, the soma or that he was about to leave the pleasures he had so
milky juice of the moon-plant, the asclepias ačida of long enjoyed. But the-déwas who possess a greater
botanists. But in the later period, when Brahman- share of merit are free from fear, as they know that
ism had been introduced, the Dévas became more when they are re-born it will be in some superior
completely humanised, assumed a definite shape in state of existence.
the imagination of the worshipper, and exhibited all " The functions of the déwas are of varied charac-
the ordinary signs of individuality. But while they ter, and in some instances inconsistent with the
were acknowledged and worshipped as gods, the powers attributed to the three gems.' They endea-
Dévas are regarded, in the ancient Hindu sacred vour to prevent the acquirement of merit by those
books, as inferior to the One Great Spirit, who is the who they fear will supplant them in the possession
primal source of being, and of whom the Dévas wor- of the various pleasures and dignities they respec-
shipped by the undiscerning multitude are no more tively enjoy. They take cognizance of the actions
than scintillations of his majesty; they emanate of men, as we learn from the legend of the guardian
from him who, when the worlds were brought into deities. They sympathize with those who act aright,
existence, had proceeded to create the "guardians of as in the case of the nobleman Wisákha ; and punish
the worlds.” Accordingly, in the Isa - Upanishad, a those by whom they themselves are injured, or those
kind of pendant to the second Véda, it is said, “ This who insult and persecute the faithful." See DEWA-
primal mover the Dévas even cannot overtake." | LOKAS.
But Dévas are worshipped, though inferior to Brahm, DEVATAS, gods worshipped by ordinary Hin-
the Supreme Being, in order, as a Hindu writer al- dus, such as Rama, Krishna, Shiva, Kali, and others.
leges, that men's minds may be composed and con- DEVERRA, one of the three female divinities
ducted by degrees to the essential Unity. The whose interposition was believed by the ancient Ro-
Múrtti, or one person, is distributed in three Dévas, mans to defend the mother, at the birth of a child,
or, in other words, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. from Sylvanus, the goddess of forests and fields, who
The Dévas have their dwelling place in Meru, the was thought on such occasions to be ever meditating
local heaven of the Hindus. They are of different injury. The ceremonies observed in honour of De-
degrees of rank, some of them being superior, and verra were curious. The night after a child was
others inferior. The Vedas themselves distinguish born, three men walked round the house; the first
between the great gods and the less, between the struck the threshold with an axe, the second gave
it
young gods and the old. Devas or Dewas are also a blow with a pestle, and the third swept it with a
the deities of the Budhists, whether denoting the broom. The other two goddesses concerned in pro-
divine persons on the earth, or in the celestial re- tecting women against Sylvanus were Pilumnus and
gions above. There are numberless dwellings of the Intercidona.
Dewas in the lókas or spheres above the earth. The DEVIL. See ANGELS (EVIL).
following account of the Budhist Dewas is given by DEVIL-WORSHIP. In addition to what has
Mr. Hardy in his Manual of Budhism :' “ The been already said on this species of idolatry under
déwas of Budhisni do not inhabit the déwa-16kas ex- article DEMON-WORSHIP, it may be remarked, that
clusively, as in the world of men there are also déwas the ancient Hebrews are distinctly charged with this
of trees, rocks, and the elements. They resemble sin in Deut. xxxii. 17, " They sacrificed unto devils
,
the saints of the Romanists, or the kindred dië mi- not to God.” In later times they spoke of all false
nores of a more ancient faith, as they are beings who gods as devils, in consequence of the hatred which
DEVIL-WORSHIP.
709
they bore to all kinds of idolatry, and we find them accompanied by musicians beating tom-toms, or na-
calling the chief deity of the Phoenicians BEELZE- tive drums, commences his operations with groans,
BUB (which see), the Prince of Devils.
sighs, and mutterings, followed by low moanings.
Among the aboriginal races of Hindustan, rem- He gradually raises his voice, and utters with rapi-
nants of which are still to be found in what are dity, and in a peculiar unearthly tone of voice, cer-
called the Hill-Tribes inhabiting the forests and tain charms, trembling violently all the while, and
mountain-fastnesses, Devil-Worship has always been moving his body backwards and forwards. The
widely prevalent. The evil spirits among these drum-beaters act in harmony with the motions of the
people are propitiated by means of bloody sacrifices exorcist, beating more loudly and rapidly as his ex-
and frantic dances. In Ceylon this kind of wor- citement increases. In consequence of the supposed
ship is mixed up with Budhism. It is a curious fact, power of sorcery in the slaves, they frequently in-
and shows how wide-spread this kind of superstition spire the superior castes with terror; and it is a sin-
has once been, that it is found to characterize the gular retribution, that these degraded beings thus
SHAMANISM (which see) which prevails among the enthral, by the terrors of superstition, those who hold
Ugrian races of Siberia, and the Hill-Tribes on the their persons in bondage. A case of great atrocity
south-western frontier of China, the chief objects of occurred a few years ago in the district of Malabar,
Shamanite worship being demons, which are sup- in which some Nairs, who are the landowners and
posed to be cruel, revengeful, and capricious, and are gentry of that country, conspired and murdered a
worshipped by bloody sacrifices and wild dances. number of slaves, whom they suspected of sorcery.
The officiating magician or priest excites himself to After much laborious investigation, the crime was
frenzy, and then pretends, or supposes himself, to be brought home to them, and they were tried and con-
possessed by the demon to which worship is being victed.
offered ; and after the rites are concluded, he com- “ The evil spirits are worshipped under the form
municates to those who consult him the informa- | of, and the idols represent, sometimes the simple
tion he has received. The demonolatry practised figure of a man or woman clothed in coloured gar-
in India, by the more primitive Drávidian tribes, ments; at others, under the horrible looking form of
is not only similar to this but the same. Nothing a man, from whose mouth issue two large tusks,
strikes the Christian mind more deeply in surveying whose head is covered with snakes instead of hair,
the superstitions of India than the worship so gen- and who holds a sword in his hand; at others, under
erally, and on the coast of Malabar, universally paid the form of a hog or a bullock, or a man with a bul-
by all the lower castes of Hindus, to evil spirits. lock's head.
The following affecting description of the state of “Such are the demons to whom, in that unhappy
matters in this respect in Southern India is from the country, is given the worship and honour due to the
pen of an intelligent gentleman long resident in that Eternal. The district of Malabar was ceded to the
quarter : “ In the district of Canara, on the coast of British government by Tippoo Sultan in 1792. Since
Malabar, these evil spirits are worshipped by all then many years have passed, and no attempt
classes of Hindoos except the Brahmins. Some of has yet been made to dispel the moral darkness in
the Soodras make offerings also to the temples of which it is involved. A generation of men born
the Hindoo godis, but their worship is chiefly directed since that time, under a Christian government and
to the evil spirits, those called Sultis, which are to dominion, have already advanced far on the road to
be found in every village, nay, almost in every field. eternity, and yet no voice is to be heard proclaiming
To the caste of slaves, which, in the estimation of to them the glad tidings of great joy, and calling
their countrymen, is the lowest and most degraded of them to repentance. In every place the cry.of
castes, is attributed the power of causing an evil Rama, Rama!' Nairain, Nairain !' is openly and
spirit to enter into a man, or, as it is expressed in loudly repeated; but no where is to be heard the
the language of the country, to · let loose an evil glorious name of JESUS, the only name given unto
spirit' upon him. On the occurrence of any misfor- men whereby we must be saved.
tune, they frequently attribute it to this, and sup- “The offerings made by the people to the evil
pose that it has been at the instigation of some ene- spirits, consist of boiled rice, plantains and cocoa
my that the evil spirit has visited them, to preserve nuts. The management of the devil temples is gen-
their houses and persons from which, charms are in erally vested in the head of the principal Soodra
Petitions are frequently lodged before family in the village. The jewels of the idol are
the magistrates, soliciting them to issue orders for the kept in his possession, and he arranges and directs
withdrawing of these evil spirits, and to punish the the performance of the feasts, which are held on stated
persons charged with having instigated and procured occasions. The temple is considered village pro-
their visitation. The ordinary method used to re- perty; each family claims an interest in it, and five
move the active cause of their calamities, is to em-
or six of the chief families have a hereditary right in
ploy an exorcist, who also generally belongs to the superintending its concerns.
slave caste. The exorcist having come to the house “On the feast days cocoa-nuts, betel-nut, and
from which he is employed to expel the evil spirit
, flowers taken from before the idol, and which are
all
general use.
710
DEVOUT-DHARMMA.
therefore considered to be consecrated, are presented DEWALAS, the name given to temples in Cey-
by the officiating priest to the heads of those fami- lon in which the Brahmanical deities are worshipped.
lies in succession, according to their rank, and on The officiating priests in the Dewalas are called
these occasions their family pride is exhibited in a Kapuwas, who wear no particular costume, and are
remarkable manner, by the frequent disputes that permitted to marry. They use the Sanskrit lan-
occur regarding their rank. Actions of damage are guage in their service, though they themselves do
often filed in the courts of law on account of alleged not understand the meaning of the words, but repeat
injuries on this head. There is a hereditary office them from memory. Entrance to the Dewalas is
of priest attached to these temples, the holder of forbidden to Europeans. Mr. Hardy says, " that in
which is supposed to be possessed by the evil spirit the sanctum are the armlets or foot-rings of Pattiné,
on the day of the feast. On these occasions he holds or the weapons of the other deities, with a painted
in his hand a drawn sword, which he waves about in screen before them; but there are no images, or
all directions; his hair is long and loose ; he be- none that are permanently placed; in some of the
comes convulsed, trembles and shakes, and jumps ceremonies temporary images are made of rice, or of
about, and at times is held by the bystanders by a some other material equally perishable.”
rope like an infuriated wild beast.
DEWA-LOKAS, the six celestial worlds which
“ The temples generally consist of an inclosed the Budhists believe to be situated between the earth
room in which the idol is placed, surrounded on three and the Brahma-Lokas. In these worlds, where
sides by verandahs, the walls of which are made of there are numberless mansions inhabited by the
planks of wood, with open spaces between the DEVAS (which see), perfect happiness is enjoyed.
planks; the whole is covered with a thatched or The Hindu Paranas teach that there are seven Lokas
tiled pent-roof, and sometimes surrounded by an or spheres above the earth.
outer wall inclosing a piece of ground round the DEWI, the female of a Budhist DEVA (which
temple. Attached to some of the larger temples is see).
a painted wooden figure of the demon, riding on a DHARMA, virtue in the ancient Vedanta sys-
horse, or on a royal tiger, mounted on a platform tem of the Sanskrit philosophy. The Purva Mi-
cart with wheels, which is drawn a short distance by mansa, or first division of the Vedanta, is strong in
the villagers on the principal feast days. These are praise of dharma.
honoured as the chiefs of evil spirits, and are repre- DHARMMA, the teachings of Gotama Budha,
sented with a higher royal tiara on their head, and or the system of truth among the Budhists. It is one
a sword in their hand.
of the three gems or great treasures which they prize
“ Around the temples there are generally some above all other objects. Mr. Spence Hardy, in his
old spreading banian trees, which, to the natural eye, Eastern Monachism,' thus describes the Dharmma,
gives a pleasing and picturesque appearance to the “ The different portions of the Dharmma, when
spot, but, in beholding them a contemplative Chris- collected together, were divided into two principal
tian mind is pained by the reflection, that their ap- classes, called Suttáni and Abhidhammáni. These
pearance, which denotes their antiquity, declares, at two classes are again divided into three collections,
the same time, the length of time Jehovah has been called respectively in Singhalese :- 1. Winaya,
dishonoured, and the firm hold idolatry has over or discipline. 2. Sútra, or discourses. 3. Abhid-
those who practise it there. The evil spirits are harmma, or pre-eminent truths. The three collec-
frequently worshipped on the top of hills and in tions are called in Pali, Pitakattayan, from pitakan,
dense groves, the trees in which are so high and so a chest or basket, and tayo, three; or in Singhalese,
closely planted together as to cause a darkness and | Tunpitaka.
Tunpitaka. A Glossary and a Commentary on the
deep gloom, which creates in the beholder a feeling whole of the Pitakas were written by Budhagósha,
of awe.
There are in the district of Canara alto- about the year A. D. 420. They are called in Pali,
gether four thousand and forty-one temples dedicated Atthakathá, or in Singhalese, Atuwawa. The Rev.
to evil spirits, and three thousand six hundred and D. J. Gogerly has in his possession a copy of the
eighty-two other places of Hindoo worship." whole of the sacred text, and the principal of the
The YEZIDI (which see), a people which are found ancient comments, which, however, form but a small
in the countries lying between Persia and the north portion of the comments that may exist. As this
of Syria, as well as throughout various parts of Sy- gentleman resided in 1835, and some subsequent
ria, have been accused by some writers of adoring years, at Dondra, near which place the most learned
the devil. This, however, is denied by others; but of the priests in the maritime provinces in Ceylon
one thing is certain, that they cannot bear to speak are found, he had admirable facilities for securing a
of Satan, nor even to hear his name mentioned.
correct copy of the Pitakas. Mr. Turnour states
DEVOTED THINGS. See ANATHEMATA, that the Pali version of the three Pitakas consists of
CORBAN.
about 4,500 leaves, which would constitute seven 01
DEVOUT, a name given by the Jews to Prose-eight volumes of the ordinary size, though the various
LYTES OF THE GATE (which see). Under this desig- sections are bound up in different forms for the con-
nation they are mentioned in Acts x, 2 and xvii. 14. venience of reference.” The Dharmma is literally
DHYANA_DIANA.
71]
woman.
worshipped, and the books are usually kept wrapped DIACONISSÆ. See DEACONESSES.
ир
with the utmost care in cloth. Whenever the DIACONOFTSCHINS, a sect of RASKOLNIKS
Budhists speak of these sacred books, they add an (which see), or Dissenters from the Russo-Greek
epithet of honour.
Sometimes they are placed upon Church. They derived their name from the diaconos
a kind of rude altar by the road-side, that those who or deacon Alexander their founder. He belonged
pass by may put money upon it in order to obtain to the church at Veska, but separated from it in
merit. The Dharmma is considered as perfect, hav- 1706, in consequence of a dispute which had arisen
ing nothing superfluous and nothing wanting. See relative to some ecclesiastical ceremonies.
BANA.
DIADEM. See CROWN.
DHYANA, a state of abstract meditation incul- DIAH, the law of retaliation among the Moham-
cated upon Budhist ascetics, and which they believe medans. . When a murder has been committed, the
leads to the entire destruction of all cleaving to nearest relative of the murdered person may claim
existefice.
the price of blood from the murderer-an evident
DIABATHERIA, a sacrifice which the kings of imitation of the law of Moses. The words of the
Sparta offered to Zeus and Athena, when they had Koran on the subject of Diah are these : “Retalia-
led their army beyond the frontiers of Lacedemon. tion is commanded you in cases of murder, a freeman
If the victims were unfavourable, they disbanded the for a freeman, a slave for a slave, and a woman for a
army and returned home.
But he who shall pardon a murderer shall
DIACÆNISMUS (Gr. Dia, through, and Kainos, obtain mercy from God; and when a man shall have
new), a name formerly given by the Greek church pardoned a murderer, he shall no longer have it in
to the week after Easter, as being the Renovation or his power to exact retaliation from him.”
first week of the festival of our Saviour's resurrec- DIAMASTIGOSIS (Gr. dia, through, and mas-
tion or restoration to life. On the fifth day of that tix, a scourge), a solemnity anciently observed at
week, the patriarch of Constantinople, along with Sparta during the festival held in honour of Artemis
the bishops and principal clergy, were wont to re- Orthia. On this occasion Spartan youths were
pair to the palace, where the Emperor received them scourged at the altar of the goddess, until the blood
seated on his throne. The Patriarch commenced gushed from the wounds made by the scourge and
the ceremony of the day by perfuming the Emperor covered the altar. Pausanias explains the origin of
with incense, then blessed him, and saluted him with this custom to have been that Artemis demanded
a kiss on the mouth. The bishops and other eccle- human sacrifices in expiation of the pollution which
siastics then kissed the Emperor's hand and cheek. her altar liad sustained by the shedding of blood in
This ceremony has long since been discontinued. her temple, and that Lycurgus afterwards substi-
DIACONATE (Gr. Diaconos, a deacon), the of- tuted the diamastigosis for human sacrifices, with the
fice or order of a DEACON (which see).
additional design of training the Spartan youth to
DIACONI (Gr. ministers), the teachers or priests the habit of patiently enduring pain and suffering..
among the CATHARISTS (which see) of the twelfth It was accordingly regarded as a highly honourable
century. All of them were held in great veneration. death to fall under the lash at the festival of Arte-
DIACONI REGIONARII (Lat. district deacons). mis.
The cardinals, who now compose the ecclesiastical DIANA, an ancient Italian goddess, identical with
synod at Rome, were originally nothing more than the ARTEMIS (which see) of the Greeks, and re-
deacons to whom the care of distributing alms to the garded as representing the moon.
She was the
poor of the several districts of Rome was intrusted. daughter of Jupiter and Latona, and the sister of
Hence the name of Diaconi Regionarii, which was Apollo. Her birth-place was the island of Delos in
afterwards exchanged for that of CARDINALS (which the Ægean sea; hence she received the name of
see).
Delia. She was called Diana on earth, Luna in
DIACONICON, the sanctuary or BEMA (which heaven, and Hecate in the infernal regions. Hesiod,
see), of Christian churches in early times.
however, describes these as three distinct goddesses.
DIACONICUM MAGNUM. See CEIMELIAR- The Roman goddess Diana seems to have been first
worshipped on the Aventine hill, in the time of Ser-
DIACONICUM MINUS, the inner vestry of vius Tullius, and as she was the guardian of slaves,
early Christian churches, to which the deacons the day on which the temple was dedicated was held
brought the vestments and utensils belonging to the as a festival by slaves of both sexes, and was usually
altar, out of the Diaconicum Magnum, to be ready termed the day of the slaves. Diana seems to have
for Divine service. Here the priests put on their been worshipped at Rome chiefly by the lower class
robes in which they used to officiate, and to this of the community, who were wont to assemble every
apartment they returned when the public service year on the Aventine, and offer sacrifices in her
was ended, that they might engage in private devo- honour. According to Varro, she was originally a
tion. The charge of this place was committed to Sabine goddess. The goddess bearing the name of
the deacons. It received also the name of SCEUO- Diana, who was worshipped at Ephesus, differed
PHYLACIUM (which see).
from the goddess who was worshipped at Rome, and
CHIUM.
712
DIAPSALMA-DIGAMY.
J
corresponded rather to the Cybele than to the Arte- the Estiatores." In Acts xix. 24, silver shrines for
mis of the Greeks. She is generally represented Diana are spoken of. These are said by Chrysos-
with a great number of breasts, thus evidently sym- tom to have been small boxes or chests wrought into
bolizing the principle of fertility, the fruitful mother the form of models of the temple, with an image of
of all things. The Ephesian.temple of Diana was the goddess within. This explanation is shown to
one of the wonders of the world, but its great glory be correct by the representations on the Ephesian
was the image which fell down from Jupiter, as we coins.
find noticed in Acts xix. 35. This image, which is DIAPSALMA, a mode of singing adopted occa-
supposed to have been a black conical stone, pro-sionally in the Christian churches in early times.
bably of meteoric origin, was worshipped by the in- The priests according to this practice led the psal-
habitants of Ephesus. The following description mody, and the people sung responses.
will give some idea of the magnificent Ephesian DIASIA, a festival in honour of Zeus, surnamed
temple.
Meilichius, celebrated at Athens outside the city.
“The temple of Diana at Ephesus was, as has It was observed by all classes, the wealthy sacrific-
been already remarked, considered one of the seven ing animals, while the poor offered such gifts as
wonders of the world. This magnificent edifice, of their means allowed. This festival, which was ob-
which accounts have been handed down to us in the served with feastings and rejoicings, was held in the
writings of Pliny and Vitruvius, occupied 220 years
latter half of the month Anthesterion.
in building. It was erected on the site of that which DIATAXEIS (Gr. ordinances), the word used by
had been destroyed by Eratosthenes on the day of the author of the APOSTOLICAL CONSTITUTIONS
Alexander's birth, and surpassed its predecessor in (which see), to denote the forms and orders of wor-
splendour; the cost of the work was defrayed by the ship in the early Christian church.
contributions of all the Asiatic states, and so im- DICAIOPHYLAX (Gr. dicaios, just, and phylax,
mense was the quantity of stone ụsed in the build- a keeper), an officer in the Greek church who takes
ing, that the quarries of the country are said to have care of the church's title and her charters.
been nearly exhausted by it. It was of the Ionic DICE (Gr. justice), a goddess ainong the ancient
order, and surrounded by a double range of columns Greeks, the daughter of Zeus and Themis. She was
sisty feet high, thirty-six of which were adorned regarded as one of the HORÆ (which see); and He-
with sculpture, by Scopas, one of the most eminent siod represented her as approaching the throne of
artists of antiquity. The architect of the first tem- Zeus with tears and lamentations whenever a jud_e
ple was Ctesiphon; of the second, Denocrates or was guilty of injustice.
Cheremocrates. Twenty-seven kings contributed DICTÆUS, à surname of Zeus, derived from
sculptured pillars to this magnificent edifice, and the Mount Dicte in Crete, where he had a temple.
altar was one of the master-pieces of Praxiteles. DICTATES OF HILDEBRAND. See ROME
The length of this temple was 425 feet, and its (CHURCH OF).
breadth 220 feet; so that there are many cathedrals DICTYNNA (Gr. dictyon, a net), a surname of
in England superior in dimensions to this famous Artenis, as being the goddess of hunting.
building. Till the time of Tiberius it had enjoyed DICTYNNIA, a festival celebrated in honour of
the privilege of an asylum, which had gradually in-Artemis at Cydonia in Crete. Little is known con-
creased till it took in the greater part of the city, cerning it, except that it was accompanied with sa-
but that prince finding the privilege abused rescinded crifices.
it, and declared that even the altar should not serve DIDYMÆUS, a surname of Apollo, from the
as a sanctuary to criminals.
double light which he imparted to mankind; the one
“The priests of the Ephesian Diana were held in directly and immediately from himself, considered as
great esteem, but their condition was far from envi- the sun, the other by reflection, as the moon.
able, for they were not only mutilated in honour of DIESPITER. See JUPITER.
their goddess, (another proof identifying the Artemis DIFFAREATIO (Lat. dis, asunder, and far,
of Ephesus with Cybele,) but they were restricted to wheat), a religious ceremony among the ancient Ro-
a severe diet and prohibited from entering any pri- mans, by which alone a marriage could be dissolved
vate house; they were called Estiatores, and must which had been contracted by CONFARREATIO
have been a wealthy body, for they sent a statue of (which see), the most solemn marriage ceremony in
gold to Artemidorus, who pleaded their cause at the earlier periods of the Romau history. See Di-
Rome, and rescued their property out of the hands
of the farmers of the public revenues, who had seized DIGAMY (Gr. dis, twice, and gameo, to marry).
upon them. Once in the year was there a public | The point was much disputed in the ancient Chris-
festival held in honour of the goddess in the city of tian Church, whether second marriages were lawful
Ephesus, and to this festival all the Ionians who or otherwise, particularly in consequence of the
could do so, made a point of repairing with their strong opinions held by the Novatians and Monta-
wives and children, bringing with them not only nists, who denounced such marriages as unlawful.
costly offerings to Diana, but also rich presents for This opinion was also maintained by several councils.
VORCE.
<
DIGGERS—DINA CHARIYAWA.
713
The laity were afterwards permitted to contract sec- torture in order thereby to force them to complete
ond marriages, while the prohibition still rested upon their confessions, and thereby save their lives. This
the clergy. The introduction of the law of celibacy, second kind of diminutos were allowed time to an-
however, rendered this restriction, in so far as the swer what was required of them till the Friday im-
clergy were concerned, altogether useless.
mediately preceding the Auto da Fe. (3.) Those
DIGGERS, a term of reproach applied to the who did not make a confession until they were given
WALDENSES (which see) because in consequence of up to the confessors. These were never afterwards
the severe persecution to which they were exposed, put to the torture, and could only be delivered from
they were under the necessity of digging for them- death by naming all their accomplices without a
selves caverns in which they might safely worship single exception. See INQUISITION.
God.
DIMISSORY LETTERS, also called CANONICAL
DIGNITARY, a term used in England to denote LETTERS (which see). In the Church of England
one who holds cathedral or other preferment to which Dimissory Letters are those which are given by a
jurisdiction is annexed.
bishop to a candidate for holy orders, having a title
DII (Lat. gods). See GODS (PAGAN).
in his diocese, directed to some other bishop, and
DIIPOLEIA, a festival of great antiquity, cele- authorizing the bearer to be ordained by him.
brated annually in honour of Zeus on the Acropolis | When a person produces letters of ordination con-
of Athens. An ox was sacrificed on this occasion, ferred by any other than his own diocesan, he must
but in a peculiar manner. Barley mixed with wheat at the same time produce the letters dimissory given
was laid upon the altar of Zeus, and the ox which by his own bishop.
was destined to be sacrificed was allowed to eat a DIMOERITES. See APOLLINARIANS.
portion of it; but while the animal was thus en- DIN (Arab. practice), the second of the two parts
gaged, one of the priests, who received the title of into which Islamism or the Mohammedan system is
Bouphonos, or ox-murderer, seized an axe, killed the divided, faith and practice. The din or practice
ox, and ran away. The other priests, pretending to consists of, 1. Prayers and purifications. 2. Alms.
be ignorant who had committed the fatal act, sum- 3. Fasting; and 4. The Pilgrimage to Mecca.
moned the axe with which the deed had been done, DINA CHARIYAWA, a manual of Daily Ob-
and declared it guilty of murder. This strange cere- servances to be attended to by the Budhist priests in
mony is said to have arisen from an ox having on Ceylon. Mr. Hardy, in his Eastern Monachism,'
one occasion devoured the cakes offered at the cele- gives a translation of this production, and to give
bration of the DIONYSIA (which see), thus carrying the reader an idea of its contents, we extract a pas-
us back for the origin of the Diipoleia to a time sage containing the principal duties incumbent uponi
when the fruits of the ground were offered instead the priest : “He who, with a firm faith, believes in
of aniinal sacrifices. Porphyry informs us, that the religion of truth, rising before day-light, shall clean
three Athenian families claimed the privilege of tak- his teeth, and shall then sweep all the places that
ing a part in this ancient festival, one by leading the are proper to be swept, such as the court-yard, the
ox to the altar, a second by knocking it down, and a platform near the bó-tree, and the approaches to the
third by killing it, all of which functions were reck- wihara ; after which he shall fetch the water that is
oned peculiarly honourable.
required for drinking, filter it, and place it ready for
DIMESSES, an order of nuns, consisting of young
When this is done he shall retire to a solitary
maids and widows, founded in the state of Venice in place, and for the space of three hours (there are
the sixteenth century. The originator of this order sixty hours in one day) meditate on the obligations,
was Dejanata Valmarana, the wife of a civilian of considering whether he has kept them or not. The
Verona; and the rules for their direction were laid bell will then ring, and he must reflect that greater
down in 1584 by Anthony Pagani, a Franciscan. than the gift of 100 elephants, 100 horses, and 100
Three years' probation was required before entrance chariots, is the reward of him who takes one step
could be obtained into the order. The habit which towards the place where worship is offered. Thus
the nuns wore was either of black or brown woollen, reflecting he shall approach the dágoba (a conical
as they chose,
erection under which some relic is placed) or the bo-
DIMINUTOS, a name used to denote those per- tree, and perform that which is appointed; he shall
sons whose confessions before the Inquisition were offer flowers, just as if Budha were present in per-
defective and imperfect. There are three kinds of son, if flowers can be procured ; meditate on the
Diminutos, who as such were condemned to die. nine virtues of Budha, with a fixed and determined
(1.) Those who having accused themselves after mind; and having worshipped, seek absolution for
being imprisoned, or at least before sentence of his negligences and faults, just as if the sacred things
condemnation had passed upon them, had conse- (before which he worships) had life. Having risen
quently sufficient time to examine themselves and from this act of reverence, he shall proceed to the
make a complete declaration. (2.) Those who did other places where worship is offered, and spread-
not confess till after sentence of condemnation ing the cloth or skin that he is accustomed to place
had passed upon them. These were put to the under him, he shall again worship (with his forehead
use.
t
T.
3 F
714
DIOCESE_DIOCESAN SYNODS.
to the ground, and touching the ground with his term is used in Lutheran churches to denote all the
knees and toes). The next act that he is required parishies, usually from twenty to thirty, that are
to perform is to look at his lita, or calendar, in order under the inspection of one superintendent. In
that he may learn the awach’háwa (the length of the Russia, the dioceses are called EPARCHIES (which
shadow, by which according to rules regularly laid see), and are thirty-six in number. In England and
down, varying with the time of the year, the hour of Wales there are twenty-eight dioceses or bishopric:
the day may be known), the age of the moon, and namely, Canterbury, York, London, Durham, Win
the years that have elapsed since the death of Bud-chester, Bangor, Bath and Wells, Carlisle, Chester, ,
ha ; and then meditate on the advantages to be de- Chichester, Ely, Exeter, Gloucester and Bristol,
rived from the keeping of the obligations, carrying Hereford, Lichfield, Lincoln, Llandaff, Manchester
,
the alms-bowl, and putting on the yellow robe. It Norwich, Oxford, Peterborough, Ripon, Rochester,
will now be time for him to take the alms-bowl, and Salisbury, St. Asaph, St. David's, Worcester, Sodor
when going his round, he is to bear in mind the four and Man. It is the duty of the BISHOP (which see)
karmasthánas, not to go too near, nor to keep at too to exercise a careful oversight of all the members of
great a distance from, his upádya or preceptor; at a his diocese, both clerical and lay, in regard to spiri-
convenient distance from the village, having swept a tual and ecclesiastical matters. In matters of disci-
small place clean, he is properly to adjust his robe. pline an appeal is open from the clergy to the bishop
If going with his upádya or preceptor, he is to give of the diocese.
the bowl into his hands, and accompany him to the .The average population in March 1851, when the
village, carefully avoiding the sight of women, men, last census was taken of each diocese in England
elephants, horses, chariots or soldiers. According and Wales, was 645,383. This appears to be a
to the rules contained in the Sékhiya, he is to pro- higher average than is to be found in any other
ceed along the road; and after the alms have been country of Europe. From a Report of a recent
received he is to retire from the village in the manner Commission in France, on the subject of Episcopal
previously declared. Taking the bowl and outer robe Sees, we learn the following facts as to the average
of his superior, he shall then proceed to the wihára. / population of each diocese in various Roman Catho-
If there be a place appointed for the robe, he shall lic and other countries in Europe.' France reckons
put it there after folding it; then place a seat, wash a bishop or archbishop for about 400,000 souls of
his feet, enquire if he is thirsty, place before him Roman Catholic population. Bavaria has eight dio-
the tooth-cleaner, and bring the alms-bowl, or if ceses for 3,000,000 souls, or in other words, the
this be refused, a small portion of rice. The stanzas average amount of a single diocese is 375,000.
must be repeated that are appointed to be said be- Austria has seventy-eight bishops or archbishops for
fore eating, after eating, and when the things are 28,000,000. souls, that is, one diocese for 358,000.
received that may be used as sick diet; and the food Ireland has twenty-nine dioceses for 6,500,000 Ro-
is to be eaten in the manner laid down in the Sék- man Catholics, which makes about 224,000 in each
hiyá. Then taking the bowl of his superior he shall diocese. Spain has fifty-nine dioceses for 12,000,000
wash it, put it in the sunshine to dry, and deposit it souls, that is, a diocese for 203,000 souls. The dio-
afterwards in its proper place. This being done he ceses in Spain have recently undergone a sliglit re-
is to wash his own face, and putting on his robe, he duction to fifty-six. Portugal has twenty-two epis-
is first to worship his superior, and then Budha. copal or metropolitan dioceses for 2,500,000 souls,
The next act is to go again to some solitary place, that is, a diocese for 113,000 souls. The two Sici-
and there repeat the appointed stanzas, considering lies have eighty dioceses for 8,500,000 souls
, or
whether he has omitted the practice of any obliga- one diocese for 106,000 souls. Sweden, with about
tion, or in any way acted contrary to them, after 3,000,000 souls, has thirteen dioceses. Greece, with
which he must exercise maitri-bháwaná, or the me- a population of less that 1,000,000, has twenty-four
ditation of kindness and affection. About an hour | Episcopal dioceses. The Protestant Episcopal
afterwards, when his weariness is gone, he is to read Church in the United States of America has about
one of the sacred books, or write out a portion of 1,800 clergy, and thirty-two Episcopal dioceses.
one; and if he has anything to ask from his precep- DIOCESAN, a word frequently used to denote a
tor, or to tell him, this is the time at which it should | bishop in relation to his diocese.
be done. In some convenient place the bana is to DIOCESAN CHURCH, a term anciently used
be read; and when this is concluded, if there be for à parish church. Thus the council of Tarraco
time before the setting of the sun, he is again to decreed that bishops must visit their dioceses once
sweep the court-yard, &c. as before."
a-year, and see that no diocesan church was out of
DIOCESE (Gr. dioikesis, administration), the dis- repair.
trict of country.over
. which, according to ecclesiasti- DIOCESAN EPISCOPACY.
cal arrangement, the jurisdiction of a bishop extends.
The division of a country into dioceses probably DIOCESAN SYNODS, ecclesiastical conventions
commenced in the time of Constantine, when the which the patriarchs of the ancient Christian church
church first became connected with the state. The had the privilege of summoning whenever occasion
=
See EPISCO
PACY.
".
DIOCLEIA-DIOSCURIA.
715
required.
These synods consisted of the metropoli- | his mother Semele out of Hades, and ascended with
tans and all the provincial bishops.
her to Olympus. As the cultivation of the vine
DIOCLEIA, a festival celebrated at Megara in came to be more extensively cultivated in Greece,
ancient Greece, in honour of Diocles, an Athenian, the worship of Dionysus was more widely diffused.
who, when banished from his native city, fled to This god was the mythical representative of some
Megara, and there having formed an attachment to power of nature, which leads man away from his na
a youth, fell in battle while protecting his favourite | tural mode of living. He was considered as reveal-
with his shield. The Megarians, in admiration of ing future events, and was even said to be as inti
this hero, instituted the diocleia, at which the young mately connected with the oracle at Delphi as Apollo
inen engaged in gymnastic and other exercises. himself. He had oracles of his own in different
DIOMEDES, the name of one of the inferior dei- parts, particularly in Thrace and in Phocis. In the
ties of the ancient Greeks. It is not improbable former province his worship was first accompanied
that he may have been a Pelasgian deity who came with Bacchanalian orgies. In the earliest times
afterwards to be confounded with Diomedes, who human sacrifices were offered to him, but this bar
next to Achilles was the most distinguished of the barous custom was afterwards discontinued, and ani-
heroes of Greece.
mals were sacrificed in place of men. The rani was
DIONÆA, a surname of APHRODITE (which the animal which was most frequently offered to
see).
Dionysus. The plants sacred to this god were the
DIONYSIA, festivals celebrated in ancient times vine, the ivy, the laurel, and the asphodel, while
in different parts of Greece, in honour of DIONYSUS among living creatures the magpie and the panther
(which see). They were known under a variety of | illustrated his divinity.
different names, but were uniformly marked by one DIOSCURI, the name given to Castor and Pol
feature, that of enthusiastic mérriment and joviality, lux, sons of Zeus and Leda, who were ranked among
such as were likely to characterize festivals sacred to the deities of ancient Greece. Homer, in the Odys-
the god of wine. The Attic festivals of Dionysus sey, makes them sons of Leda and Tyndareus,
were four in number; the rural Dionysia, the Le- king of Lacedæmon, and hence they are often called
næa, the Anthesteria, and the city Dionysia. On Tyndaridæ. Each of the brothers was famed for his
all these occasions processions took placé, in which skill in a particular accomplishment, Castor in man-
both men and women joined, bearing the thyrsus in aging horses, and Pollux in boxing. Various fabu-
their hands, and singing dithyrambic odes and lous stories are related concerning these' famed
hymns in honour of the god. The phallus, the sym- brothers. Thus they are said to have received divine
bol of fertility, was also carried in these processions, honours from the Athenians, in consequence of the
and this was followed by men disguised as women. valour which they displayed in an expedition under-
In some places it was counted as a dishonour done taken against Athens, in order to rescue their sister
to the god to appear at the Dionysia without being Helen who had been carried off from Sparta. They
intoxicated. The Greeks both in Asia and in Eu- are also alleged to have had a part in the Argonautic
rope observed these festivals, but in Bæotia with expedition, and to have distinguished themselves in
more unrestrained joviality than anywhere else. In a battle with the sons of Aphareus. Zeus, in token
very early times, however, human sacrifices were of his approbation, gave the brothers a place among
offered on these occasions. When introduced among the stars, under the name of Gemini, the Twins.
the Romans, the Dionysia received the name of Müller considers the worship of the Dioscuri to have
BACCHANALIA (which see).
had its origin in some ancient Peloponnesian gods,
DIONYSUS, the god of wine among the ancient who were in course of time confounded with the
Greeks, worshipped also among the Romans under human Tyndaridæ, who had performed such exploits
the name of BACCHUS (which see). He is usually as to raise them to divine honours. Their worship
described as the son of Zeus and Semele, but a tra- spread from Peloponnesus, where it seems to have
dition is given by Diodorus, that he was a' son of commenced, over Greece, Sicily, and Italy. They
Ammon and Amaltheia. Great difference of opinion were considered as exercising a watchful care over
exists as to the birthplace of the god, which is gen- all travellers, but more especially travellers by sea.
erally said to be Thebes, while others allege it to Statues of the Dioscuri were placed at the end of the
have been India, Libya, and other places. Tradi- race-course at Sparta. The worship of Castor and
tions are so various as to the parentage, birthplace, Pollux was early introduced among the Romans,
and other circumstances connected with this god, and a temple in their honour stood in the Forum at
that Cicero distinguishes five Dionysi, and Diodorus Rome. Two other temples dedicated to the Castores
Siculus speaks of three.
were afterwards built in the city, one in the Circus
The education of Dionysus is said to have been Maximus, and the other in the Circus Flaminius.
intrusted by Zeus to the nymphs of Mount Nisa in From that time the Castores were regarded as the
Thrace, and when he had reached the age of man- patrons of the Roman equites, who held a grand pro-
hood, he travelled throughout many countries of the
cession in their honour every year.
earth displaying his divine power, after which he led DIOSCURIA, festivals celebrated annually in
11
716
DIPAVALI-DIRECTORY.
ancient Greece in honour of the DIOSCURI (which | vines at Westminster in 1644. It was by express
see). Different ceremonies were observed on these order from both Houses of Parliament that the Di-
occasions in different places. At Sparta sacrifices rectory was composed, and with a view to supply the
and rejoicings took place. The festival at Athens place of the Liturgy or Book of Common Prayer
was called ANACEA (which see). Throughout many which had been abolished. Dr. Hetherington, in his
parts of Greece the worship of the Dioscuri prevail- | History of the Westminster Assembly,' gives the
ed, and their festivals were held..
following brief account of the proceedings of the
DIPAVALI, a Hindu festival in honour of Assembly on the subject of the Directory: “On the
VISHNU (which see), the second person of the Hindu 21st of May 1644, Mr. Rutherford moved for the
Triad or Trimurtti. It was instituted in memory of speeding of the directory for public worship, to
an exploit which the god performed in the form of which no attention had hitherto been paid. In con-
KRISHNA (which see). A certain Ratjasja had taken sequence of this motion, Mr. Palmer, chairman of
captive sixteen thousand .virgins, but Krishna slew the committee appointed for that purpose, gave in a
him, and set the maidens at liberty. Hence origi- report on the 24th, which brought the subject fairly
nated the Dipavali, when the Hindu holds a festival | before the Assembly. Some little difference of opi-
during the day, and the houses are illuminated at nion arose, whether any other person, except the
night. The children also go up and down the minister, might read the Scriptures in the time of
streets with lighted candles.
public worship, which terminated in the occasional
DIPPERS. See DUNKERS.
permission of probationers. But when the subject
DIPTYCHS, two writing tablets among the an- of the dispensation of the Lord's Supper came under
cient Greeks which could be folded together. This discussion, it gave rise to a sharp and protracted de-
name was also given to the registers kept in the bate, chiefly between the Independents and the Scot-
early Christian churches, in which were recorded the tish Commissioners. The Independents opposed the
names of those who offered and presented themselves arrangement of the communicants, as seated at the
for baptism. They had several sorts of diptychs, communion table, it being the custom among them
some for the dead, and some for the living. It was for the people to remain in their pews; while the
usual in the ancient church, before making oblation Scottish members urgently defended the proposed
for the dead, that the deacon read aloud the names method of seating themselves at the same table.
of those eminent bishops, or saints, or martyrs, who | Another disputed point was, with regard to the power
were particularly to be mentioned in this part of the of the minister to exclude ignorant or scandalous
service. The diptychs seem to have been read before persons from communion. The debates on these
the consecration prayer, immediately after the kiss points occupied the Assembly from the 10th of June
of peace. Cardinal Bona mentions three sorts of to the 10th of July. The directory for the sacra-
diptychs, which are thus described by Bingham: ment of baptism was also the subject of considerable
“One, wherein the names of bishops only were debate, continued from the 11th of July to the 8th
written, and more particularly such bishops as had of August. The directory for the sanctification of
been
governors of that particular church: a second, the Sabbath was readily received; and a committee
wherein the names of the living were written, who was appointed to prepare a preface for the completed
were eminent and conspicuous either for any office directory for public worship. This committee con-
and dignity, or some benefaction and good work, sisted of Messrs. Goodwin, Nye, Bridge, Burgess,
whereby they had deserved well of the church; in Reynolds, Vines, Marshall, and Dr. Temple, toge-
this rank were the patriarchs and bishops of great ther with the Scottish ministers. The appointment
sees, and the bishop and clergy of that particular of so many of the Independents was for the purpose
church; together with the emperors and magistrates, of avoiding any renewal of the protracted conten-
and others most conspicuous among the people: the tions in which they had so long held the Assembly,
third was, the book containing the names of such as as we learn from Baillie. This part of the Assem-
were deceased in catholic communion.” The diptychs bly's labours received the ratification of Parliament
were read from the AMBO (which see), or reading- on the 22d of November 1644; with the exception
desk. To erase any person's name from these eccle- of the directions for marriage and burial, which were
siastical registers, was to declare them anathema- finished on the 27th of the saine month, and soon
tized, and cast out of the communion of the church. afterwards the whole received the full ratification of
When any one who had been excommunicated was Parliament."
restored, his name was inserted anew in the diptyche. Among other directions in reference to the mode
When this was done, the penitent was absolved, and of conducting public worship, the use of the Lord's
he was once more admitted to the communion and Prayer is enjoined as the most perfect model of
fellowship of the faithful. See CENSURES (ECCLE- devotion. Private or lay persons are forbidden to
SIASTICAL).
dispense the ordinance of baptism, and injunctions
DIRÆ. See EUMENIDES.
are given to baptize publicly in face of the congre-
DIRECTORY, regulations for the performance of gation. Anything in the shape of a burial service
public worship, drawn up by the Assembly of Di- | for the dead is forbidden. In the observance of thé
DIS–DISCIPLES OF CHRIST.
717
Lord's Supper, the communion table is ordered to be sinner's acceptance with God ?” and upon express-
so placed that the communicants may sit about it. | ing an entire reliance upon the merits of Christ alone
The use of the Directory having been enforced by for justification, and evincing a conduct becoming
an ordinance of the Parliament, which was repeated the Christian profession, he was received into the
on 3d August 1645, King Charles. II., in opposition fellowship of the church.
to this injunction, issued a proclamation at Oxford This infaut community enjoyed for a time the ut-
on the 13th November of the same year, restoring most harmony and peace. Most of the members
the use of the Book of Common Prayer, which had being poor, they were unable to finish the interior
been discontinued. The Directory was adopted by of the church which they had built for the worship
the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and of God, and they were accordingly accustomed to
published under their sanction.
assemble in the unfinished building without fire even
DIS, a name given to PLUTO (which see), and, in the depth of winter. They were also in the habit
therefore, sometimes applied to the infernal regions of visiting often at each other's houses, and spend-
over which that god reigned.
ing whole nights in social prayer; searching the Sciip-
DISCALCEATI (Lat. barefooted), a brotherliood tures, asking and answering questions, and singing
of monks in Spain, connected with the Franciscan hymns. The sunshine of peace which rested upon
order. They received the privileges of a separate this small body of Christian disciples was ere long
association in A. D. 1532, by authority of Clement destined to be overclouded. A controversy arose on
VII. They differed from others by adhering more the much-disputed point of infant baptism, which
strictly to the rules of St. Francis. They receive distracted the minds both of pastors and people.
the name of Recollets in France, and Reformati in The question was agitated with much keenness by
Italy.
parties on both sides, and at length, on the 12th
DISCIPLE (Lat. discipulus, a scholar), the fol- June 1812, Thomas Campbell, his son Alexander,
. ,
lower of any leader of a sect, or head of a school of and the whole family, along with several members of
religion or philosophy.
the church, were immersed in the waters of adult.
DISCIPLES OF CHRIST, a Christian denomi- baptism on a simple profession of their faith. This
a
nation in the United States of America, which, event, of course, aflected, in no small degree, the
though known by a variety of names, such as “ Bap- church which had been formed. Those who adhered
tists,” “Reformed Baptists," "Reformers,” or “Camp- to the doctrines of the Pædobaptists left the commu-
bellites," have themselves chosen the unsectarian nity, while those who remained were, in consequence
appellation which leads the present article. The of the change in their views, brought into immediate
originator of the sect, as hias already been noticed in connection with the Baptists. Accordingly, in the
the article BAPTISTS (AMERICAN), was Mr. Thomas fall of 1813, they were received into the Redstone
Campbell, who was long a minister of the Secession Baptist Association, stipulating, however, expressly
branch of the Presbyterian Church of the North of in writing, that "no terms of union or commu-
Ireland, and who, having emigrated to America, set- nion other than the Holy Scriptures should be re-
tled in Washington county, Pennsylvania. Being quired."
soon after joined by his son Alexander, who had The views which Alexander Campbell urged upon
studied under Greville Ewing in Glasgow, they be the Baptist churches, with which he and his father
gan to entertain and promulgate the idea, that a had now become connected, excited no small stir in
public effort should be made to restore the original that body, some entering readily into the new opi-
unity of the church of Christ. With this view they nions, while others as firmly and resolutely opposed
urged it as a grand fundamental point, in order to them. At length the church of Brush Run and its
Christian unity, that all human creeds, confessions of pastors came to be looked upon with jealousy and
faith, and formularies of doctrine and church govern- distrust by the other churches of the Redstone As-
ment, should be laid aside, and the Bible alone should sociation, and it became necessary, after a consider-
be taken as the authorized bond of union and the in- able time spent in the most unpleasant contentions,
fallible rule of faith and practice. A considerable that about thirty of the members of Brush Run, in-
number of individuals responded to this appeal, and cluding Alexander Campbell, should leave the church.
& congregation was immediately organized upon This small body, accordingly, emigrated to Wells-
Brush Run in Washington county, on the 7th of burg, Virginia, where they were constituted as a
September 1810, where a place of worship was new church, and admitted into the Mahoning Asso-
erected, and over this congregation Thomas Camp- ciation of Ohio. Here they found a much more
bell and his son Alexander presided as joint pastors. ready adoption of their sentiments, and so rapidly
Each applicant for admission to this body of Chris- did they succeed in promulgating their peculiar opi-
tians was required to give satisfactory evidence that nions, that in 1828 the Mahoning Association re-
he fully understood the relation he assumed, and jected all human formularies of religion, and relin-
the true scriptural ground of salvation. Accord- quished all claim to jurisdiction over the churches ;
ingly, he was requested to give an answer to the resolving itself into a simple annual meeting for the
question, “ What is the meritorious cause of the purpose of receiving reports of the progress of the
718
DISCIPLES OF CHRIST.
churches, and for worship and mutual co-operation munion in all the parties which have sprung from
in the spread of the gospel. The bold step thus the Lutheran reformation. The effects of these sy-
taken by so large a number of churches, embrac- nodical covenants, conventional articles of belief, and
ing a considerable portion of the Western Reserve, rules of ecclesiastical polity, has been the introduc-
excited the utmost alarm throughout the Baptist | tion of a new nomenclature, a human vocabulary of
churches generally. The adjoining churches con- religious words, phrases and technicalities, which has
nected with the Beaver Association proceeded with- displaced the style of the living oracles, and affixed
out delay to denounce as heretical, and to exclude to the sacred diction ideas wholly unknown to the
from their communion, all who had adopted the views apostles of Christ.
of the Disciples, as the followers of Campbell were e “ To remedy and obviate these aberrations, they
termed. The schism thus commenced extended to propose to ascertain from the holy Scriptures, accord-
Kentucky, to Eastern Virginia, and, in short, to all ing to the commonly-received and well-established
the Baptist churches and associations into which the rules of interpretation, the ideas attached to the
new views had been introduced.
leading terms and sentences found in the holy Scrip-
The Disciples, finding themselves thus cut off from tures, and then to use the words of the Holy Spirit
communion with the Baptist churches, formed them- in the apostolic acceptation of them.
selves everywhere into distinct churches on Congre- "By thus expressing the ideas communicated by
gationalist or Independent principles, co-operating the Holy Spirit in the terms and phrases learned
together, as Thomas Campbell himself expressed it, from the apostles, and by avoiding the artificial and
for “ the restoration of pure primitive apostolic technical language of scholastic theology, they propose
Christianity in letter and spirit; in principle and to restore a pure speech to the household of faith;
practice.” No sooner had the separation of the Dis- and by accustoming the family of God to use the lan-
ciples from the Baptist body been effected than their guage and dialect of the heavenly Father, they ex:
number rapidly increased. They were joined by pect to promote the sanctification of one another
many Baptists who had been led to embrace their through the truth, and to terminate those discords
principles. The prejudices which had been for- and debates which have always originated from the
merly entertained against them gradually disappeared, words which man's wisdom teaches, and from a re-
and the most friendly feelings arose between the verential regard and esteem for the style of the great
Disciples and the Baptists. The very points, in- masters of polemic divinity ; believing that speak.
deed, for which the Disciples contended, the rejec ing the same things in the same style, is the only
tion of creeds and baptism for the remission of sins, certain way to thinking the same things.
have been adopted by some of the most able minis- They make a very marked difference between
ters of the Baptist body. Many have come over to faith and opinion; between the testimony of God
them from almost all the leading denominations in and the reasonings of men; the words of the Spirit
the States, and what is more pleasing, they have and human inferences. Faith in the testimony of
been successful in gaining numerous converts from God and obedience to the commandments of Jesus
the ranks of indifference and infidelity. The prin- are their bond of union ; and not an agreement in
ciples of the Disciples have found their way into Eng- any abstract views or opinions upon what is writ-
land and Wales, by the diffusion of the writings of Mr. ten or spoken by divine authority. Hence all the
Campbell and his fellow-labourers, and the census speculations, questions, i ebates of words, and ab-
of 1851 contains a return of three congregations or stract reasonings found in human creeds, have 110
churches calling themselves by the name of Disci- place in their religious fellowship.
Regarding Cal-
ples of Christ. In the United States they are most vinism and Arminianism, Trinitarianism and Unita-
numerous in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Mis- rianism, and all the opposing theories of religious
souri, and Virginia. There are a few churches hold-sectaries, as extremes begotten by each other, they
ing the principles of the Disciples in the British cautiously avoid them, as equi-distant from the sim-
Provinces of North America.
plicity and practical tendency of the promises and
The doctrines of this large and rapidly extending precepts, of the doctrine and facts, of the exhorta-
body of American Christians will be best stated in tions and precedents of the Christian institution.
the language of Mr. Campbell himself as communi- “They look for unity of spirit and the bonds of
cated to the 'Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge:' | peace in the practical acknowledgment of one faith,
“They regard all the sects and parties of the Chris- one Lord, one immersion, one hope, one body, one
tian world as having, in greater or less degrees, Spirit, one God and Father of all.; not in unity of
departed froin the siniplicity of faith and manners of opinions, nor in unity of forms, ceremonies, or modes
the first Christians, and as forming what the apostle of worship.
Paul calls the apostacy.' This defection they attri- “The holy Scriptures of both Testaments they re-
bute to the great varieties of speculation and meta- gard as containing revelations from God, and as all
physical dogmatism of the countless creeds, formu-
necessary to make the man of God perfect, and ac-
laries, liturgies, and books of discipline adopted and complished for every good word and work; the New
inculcated as bonds of union and platforms of com- Testament, or the living oracles of Jesus Christ, they
2
DISCIPLES OF CHRIST.
719
understand as containing the Christian religion ; the “ The immersed believers are congregated into só-
testimonies of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they cieties according to their propinquity to each other,
view as illustrating and proving the great proposi- and taught to meet every first day of the week in
tion on which our religion rests, viz. that Jesus of honour and commemoration of the resurrection of
Nazareth is the Messiah, the only-begotten and well- Jesus, and to break the loaf which commemorates
beloved Son of God, and the only Saviour of the the death of the Son of God, to read and hear the
world ; the Acts of the Apostles, as a divinely au- living oracles, to teach and admonish one another,
thorized narrative of the beginning and progress of to unite in all prayer and praise, to contribute to the
the reign or kingdom of Jesus Christ, recording the necessities of saints, and to perfect holiness in the
full development of the gospel by the Holy Spirit | fear of the Lord.
sent down from heaven, and the procedure of the Every congregation chooses its own overseers
apostles in setting up the church of Christ on earth ;and deacons, who preside over and administer the
the Epistles as carrying out and applying the doc- affairs of the congregations; and every church,
trine of the apostles to the practice of individuals either from itself or in co-operation with others, sends
and congregations, and as developing the tendencies out, as opportunity offers, one or more evangelists,
of the gospel in the behaviour of its professors; and or proclaimers of the word, to preach the word and
all as forming a complete standard of Christian faith to immerse those who believe, to gather congrega-
and morals, adapted to the interval between the tions, and to extend the knowledge of salvation where
ascension of Christ and his return with the kingdom it is necessary, as far as their means extend. But
which he has received from God; the Apocalypse, every church regards these evangelists as its ser-
or Revelation of Jesus Christ to John in Patmos, as vants, and therefore they have no control over any
a figurative and prospective view of all the fortunes congregation, each congregation being subject to its
of Christianity, from its date to the return of the own choice of presidents or elders whom they have
Saviour.
appointed. Perseverance in all the work of faith,
Every one who sincerely believes the testimony labour of love, and patience of hope, is inculcated by
which God gave of Jesus of Nazareth, saying, “ This all the disciples as essential to admission into the
is my Son, the beloved, in whom I delight,' or, in other heavenly kingdom.
words, believes what the evangelists and apostles “Such are the prominent outlines of the faith and
have testified concerning him, from his conception to practices of those who wish to be known as the Dis-
his coronation in heaven as Lord of all, and who is ciples of Christ : but no society among them would
willing to obey him in everything, they regard as a agree to make the preceding items either a confes-
proper subject of immersion, and no one else. They sion of faith or a standard of practice; but, for the
consider immersion into the name of the Father, information of those who wish an acquaintance with
Son, and Holy Spirit, after a public, sincere, and in- | them, are willing to give at any time a reason for
telligent confession of the faith in Jesus, as neces- their faith, hope, and practice.”
sary to admission to the privileges of the kingdom It is somewhat remarkable that in this statement
of the Messiah, and as a solemn pledge on the part of doctrine and discipline, drawn up by one of the
of heaven, of the actual remission of all past sins and originators of the sect of Disciples of Christ, one of
of adoption into the family of God.
their leading doctrines, that of baptismal regenera-
“The Holy Spirit is promised only to those who tion, is scarcely made to occupy its due prominence.
believe and obey the Saviour. No one is taught to The Rev. R. Richardson of Virginia, however, him-
expect the reception of that heavenly Monitor and self a minister in connection with the body, is more
Comforter as a resident in his heart till he obeys the explicit on the subject : “ It was the unity of the
gospel.
church which first struck the attention: the subse-
"Thus while they proclaim faith and repentance, quent submission to immersion is only one example,
or faith and a change of heart, as preparatory to im- among others, of that progression which consistency
mersion, remission, and the Holy Spirit, they say to with their own principles required. Thus, it was not
all penitents, or all those who believe and repent of until about ten years after this, that the definite object
their sins, as Peter said to the first audience ad- of immersion was fully understood, when it was recog-
dressed after the Holy Spirit was bestowed after the nised as the remittingi ordinance of the gospel, or the
glorification of Jesus, ' Be immersed every one of appointed means through which the penitent sinner
you, in the name of the Lord Jesus, for the remis- obtained an assurance of that pardon, or remission of
sion of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the sins, procured for him by the sufferings and death
Holy Spirit.' They teach sinners that God com- of Christ. Nor was it until a still later period, that
mands all men everywhere to reform or to turn to this doctrine was practically applied, in calling upon
God, that the Holy Spirit strives with them so to believing penitents to be baptized for the purpose
do by the apostles and prophets
, that God beseeches specified. This view of baptism gave great impor-
them to be reconciled through Jesus Christ, and that tance to the institution, and has become one of the
it is the duty of all men to believe the gospel and to prominent features of this reformation." Dr. Schaft
turn to God.
also in his “America ; Social, Political, and Reli-
·
720 •
DISCIPLINE (ECCLESIASTICAL).
that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that
gious,' when speaking of this sect, says of them, that tion in which every subject of the state was also a
“they identify baptism, that is immersion, with member of the church, that nation would still be
regeneration.” Dr. Baird, who seems to entertain governed by two distinct sets of office-bearers, the
strong prejudices against this sect, says, that “ Evan- one belonging to the church, the other to the com-
gelical Christians in America, Baptists, as well as monwealth."
Pædobaptists, have many fears about Mr. Campbell It is impossible to peruse the New Testament
and his followers." But the Disciples are gathering even in the most cursory manner, without being con-
strength every day, and becoming a numerous and vinced that the primitive church asserted for itself
energetic body.
the right of exercising discipline over its members.
DISCIPLINA ARCANI. See ARCANI DISCI- The case of the incestuous man is a case completely
PLINA..
in point. This man had been guilty of a flagrant
DISCIPLINANTS. See FLAGELLANTS.
'violation of the Divine law, and had brought serious
DISCIPLINE (ECCLESIASTICAL), the exercise of discredit upon the Christian profession. Paul there-
a judicial power which is claimed by the Christian fore enjoins the church of Corinth, to which this per-
church over her own members, in virtue of which son had belonged, “in the name of our Lord Jesus
she inflicts censures of various kinds and degrees on Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spi-
those of them who have transgressed the laws of rit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to de-
Christ. For the nature of these censures, and the liver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of
principles on which they rest, see CENSURES (EC- the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of
CLESIASTICAL). The right of the church to exer- the Lord Jesus.” The discipline to be exercised
cise discipline, or to exclude any from her commu- upon a heretic the apostle lays down in Titus iii. 10,
nion, was keenly controverted by Erastus and his “ A man that is an heretick, after the first and sec-
followers, on the ground that it belongs to the civil | ond admonition reject;" and in regard to an immoral
magistrate alone to punish the guilty. Such a view person he says, in 2 Thes. iii. 6, “Now we command
was in complete consistency with the principles of you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Erastus, who confounded the provinces of the church
and the state with each other. The two, however, walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which
are essentially distinct and separate. The chief | he received of us. Some of the seven churches of
points of difference are thus briefly noticed by Dr. Asia Minor are reproved for their neglect of the ex-
James Buchanan: “They differ in their origin—the ercise of discipline in various cases, and for in this
civil governor holding primarily of God, as the uni- way permitting unworthy persons to remain within
versal sovereign ; the church holding of Christ as the Christian church.
mediator; and this difference is of some importance, The discipline of the Christian church is in its na-
notwithstanding the great truth which is clearly ture strictly spiritual and moral, not civil. It is a
affirmed in Scripture, viz., that both are now placed gross perversion of its design, therefore, to connect it
under Christ, who is not only the Head of the with civil pains, confiscation of goods, imprison-
church,' but Head over all things to the church.” | ment, bodily torture, banishment or death. Neither
They differ in their extent; civil government being is it consistent with the true character of the church
an ordinance of God in all nations, the church being / of Christ, to deliver up an excommunicated person, as
limited to those countries where the gospel is preach- the Church of Rome does, to the secular arm, to endure
ed. They differ in respect to some of their ends ; civil penalties, or even death. The church has l'e-
certain secular purposes being served by the state, ceived power, not for destruction, but for edification,
which are not directly contemplated by the church and all her censures, therefore, ought to have as their
as a spiritual body, however much she may be fitted | ultimate design the reformation and restoration of
to aid in their attainment; and certain spiritual pur- the offenders.
poses, again, being served by the church, which the The theory of ecclesiastical discipline in the
state, considered as such, cannot effect. They differ Church of England is to be found in the canons
in respect to some of the means by which these ends adopted by convocation in 1603, which having been
are to be promoted; the civil magistrate having the authorized by the King's Commission, are held to be
power of the sword, which is withheld from the binding on the clergy; but not having been confirmed
church, and the prerogative of making war on just by Parliament, they are not binding on the laity
and needful occasions, which is not competent to a except where they are explanatory of the ancient
spiritual kingdom; while the church again has war- canon law. The principles on which discipline ought
rant to use the sword of ecclesiastical discipline with to proceed according to the constitution and canons
which the magistrate may not interfere. They differ of the church are thus laid down by Mr. Conder in
in respect to their officers, the civil magistrate hav- his “View of All Religions :' “ According to the
ing no power, as such, to preach or to administer the theory of the church, every parish is committed to
sacraments of religion; and the officers of the church, the government of the minister, with the assistance
as such, having no power to exercise any function of the churchwardens, (generally two) who are
of the magistracy; so that, even were there a na- chosen annually, in Easter week, from the body of
DISCIPLINE (ECCLESIASTICAL).
721
the parishioners, and who are the guardians of pub- | variety in their modes of discipline, and in many in-
lic morals and ecclesiastical discipline within their stances the civil magistrate arrogates to himself the
precincts. These lay officers of the church are bound functions which ought to belong to the office-bearers
by their oath to return the names of all loose and of the church. Thus in the Protestant church of
scandalous livers into the ecclesiastical court of the Prussia, though the consistories exercise nominally
11. diocese, at least once a-year ; and they may present ecclesiastical power, yet their proceedings are not a
at any other time for gross crimes. And if the little controlled by government. In Russia, also, all
churchwardens neglect their duty, and no voluntary is still more manifestly under the management of the
promoter appears, the 113th canon then empowers sovereign. The Holy Legislative Synod is dependent
the minister to take the business of prosecuting of- entirely for the choice of its members on the will of
fenders into his own hands. If the party accused the Czar. It is presided over by a layman, who is
be convicted of the crime upon the testimony of at considered as sitting on the part of the crown, and
least two witnesses, before the judge of the ecclesias- has a negative on all its resolutions till they are laid
tical court, he may be excommunicated, and not ad- before the emperor; and the members of the synod,
mitted to the sacrament or any communion in divine in the words of their oath, acknowledge the emperor
offices, and be condemned in the costs of the suit. as "the supreme judge of this spiritual college."
There is also what is termed the Greater Excommuni- In the Society of FRIENDS (which see), commonly
cation, whereby the offender is cut off from all com- called Quakers, a peculiar arrangement is made for
merce with Christians, even in temporal affairs. This the exercise of discipline. Monthly meetings are held,
must be pronounced by the bishop; and if the ex- composed of several congregations situated within a
communicated person persist, for forty days, in con- convenient distance from each other. Each monthly
tumacious disobedience, he may be committed to meeting is required to appoint certain persons under
prison by virtue of the writ de excommunicato capien- the name of overseers, whose business it is to take
do, to lie there till he shall have made satisfaction care that the rules of discipline be put in practice,
to the church. But, if the judge of any spiritual and when any case of complaint or disorderly con-
court excommunicate a man for a cause of which he duct comes to their knowledge, they are bound to
has not the legal cognizance, the party may have an see that private admonition agreeably to the gospel
action against him at common law, and he is also rule, Mat. xviii. 15–17, be given before the case is
liable to be indicted at the suit of the king." Such reported to the monthly meeting. The quarterly
is the mode of discipline which is sanctioned by the meeting, which is composed of several monthly
canon law of the Church of England, but the exer- meetings, inquires into the conduct of the members
cise of discipline in that church has almost fallen connected with each, and the mode in which disci-
into desuetude.
pline has been exercised. The accounts thus re-
In the Church of Scotland, and other Presbyterian ceived are digested into one, which is presented to
churches, the exercise of discipline devolves in the the yearly meeting. In the case of any member
first instance upon the kirk-sessions, which consist who feels himself aggrieved, an appeal lies from the
of the minister and elders of each congregation. monthly to the quarterly, and finally to the yearly
From the kirk-session an appeal lies to the presby- meeting, where the case takes end. There is a pe-
tery of the bounds, which consists of all the minis- culiarity, however, in the exercise of discipline
ters within a certain district, along with one ruling aniong the Friends, which it may be well to notice.
elder chosen from each parish. From the judgment They believe that women may be rightly called to
and authority of the presbytery, there lies an appeal the work of the ministry, and that to them also be-
to the provincial synod, which usually meets twice longs a share in the support of Christian discipline;
in the year, and comprises all the presbytories within and that where their own sex is concerned, its exer-
a certain large district of country. Last of all, the cise devolves on them with peculiar propriety. AC-
judgment of the synod may be appealed from to the cordingly they have monthly, quarterly, and yearly
highest ecclesiastical court, the General Assembly, meetings of their own sex, held at the same time
which is composed of a certain number of ministers with those of the men; but separately, and without
and ruling elders delegated from each presbytery, the power of making rules.
along with, in the case of the Established Church of Among the United Brethren or Moravians, the
Scotland, conmissioners from the royal burghs. In mode of discipline followed is what is termed among
questions purely religious, and not affecting tempo- them congregation-discipline, which is thus described
ralities, no appeal is admissible from the decisions of in one of their authoritative documents :
this court. But the ecclesiastical courts of Scotland ably to the direction of our Saviour, Matt. xviii. 15
have no such temporal authority over persons and -17, the congregation - discipline has various de-
property as belongs to the ecclesiastical courts of grees, and consists in admonitions, warnings, and re-
England ; having no power either to fine or to im- proofs given to those who transgress ; first
, by his
prison the offender, but simply enforcing their deci- fellow-brother; next, by one of the elders of the
sions by religious considerations and motives. congregation; and, lastly, by the committee of over-
The Reformed churches on the Continent have great seers; in exclusion from the holy communion, and,
2
“ Agree-
I.
3 G
722
DISCIPLINE (FIRST BOOK OF).
according to the nature of the case, also from other were only twelve reformed ministers to preach the gos-
private meetings of the congregation : and this con- pel throughout the whole kingdom; and to accom-
tinues until genuine repentance and a real conversion plish the utmost possible amount of duty by so small
become evident in the person falling under discipline; a number, seven were placed in the chief towns, and
when he is either re-admitted to the holy commu- large country districts were assigned to each of the
nion, or reconciled to the congregation, after a de- remaining five. These five were called superinten-.
precatory letter has been read, expressing the dents; and their duty was to travel from place to
offender's sorrow for his transgression, and asking place throughout their districts, for the purpose of
forgiveness. In case of great and public offence preaching, planting churches, and inspecting the
given, such persons are also absolved with laying on conduct of the country ministers where there were
of hands in the presence of the congregation. It is, any, and of another temporary class of men termed
however, to be observed, that no privation of tem- exhorters and readers. The latter class consisted of
poral honour, dignity, or substance is connected with the most pious persons that could be found, who,
this church or congregation-discipline; neither can having received a common education, were able to
this ever be the case, as it never interferes with any read to their more ignorant neighbours, though not
merely civil regulations, which fall under the cog- | qualified for the ministry. When the readers were
nizance of the laws of the land."
found to have discharged their duty well, and to
The Congregational or Independent churches have increased in their own knowledge, they were
maintain that the right of exercising discipline is encouraged to add a few plain exhortations to the
vested in the church or body of Christians, who alone reading of the Scriptures; and then they were termed
have the power of determining who shall be admitted exhorters. If they still continued to improve, they
into communion, and also of excluding from fellow- might finally be admitted to the ministry. To search
ship those who may prove themselves unworthy out, employ, and watch over the conduct of such
members of the church.
men, giving them instruction from time to time, was
DISCIPLINE (FIRST BOOK OF), an important the chief duty of the superintendent, from which,
document drawn up by the Scottish Reformers in indeed, he derived his name, so naturally expressive
1560, containing a plan of order, government, and of his duty,a duty the very nature of which shows
discipline of the Church of Scotland. The commis- it to have been temporary, and intended to expire
sion appointed to prepare this volume consisted of whenever the necessities which called it into being
John Knox, along with Messrs. Winram, Spotswood, should have been removed by a sufficiency of quali-
Row, and Douglas. When completed, it was cor-
fied ministers.
dially approved of by the General Assembly, but “No person was allowed to preach, or to adminis-
when submitted to the privy council, it was so warmly ter the sacraments, till he was regularly called to
opposed that it never received a formal ratification. this employment. Ordinary vocation [calling] con-
Notwithstanding this, however, the church looked sisteth in election, examination, and admission. 'It
upon it as a standard book for the regulation of her appertaineth to the people, and to every several con-
practice and the guidance of her decisions. And be- gregation, to elect their minister.' 'For altogether
sides, it is worthy of being noted, that though the this is to be avoided, that any man be violently in-
First Book of Discipline was not ratified by the truded or thrust in upon any congregation; but this
privy council as a body, it was subscribed by the liberty, with all care, must be reserved to every sev-
greater number of the nobility and barons who were eral church, to have their votes and suffrages in
inenbers of the council.
election of their ministers.' The examination was
As this valuable document contains the funda- appointed to take place in open assembly, and be-
mental principles on which the Scottish reformers fore the congregation,' to satisfy the church as to his
sought to establish the Church of Scotland, we give soundness in the faith, his "gifts, utterance, and
an abstract of these principles drawn from Dr. knowledge,' his willingness to undertake the charge,
Hetherington's History of that Church: “The ordi- the purity of his motives, and his resolution to dis-
nary and permanent office-bearers of the church charge the duties of the office with diligence and
were of four kinds: the minister or pastor, to whom fidelity. Admission then took place by the person
the preaching of the gospel and administration of being solemnly set apart by prayer, at first without
the sacraments belonged, the doctor or teacher, whose imposition of hands, which, however, was afterwards
province it was to interpret Scripture and confute appointed to be done. Superintendents were ad-
errors, including those who taught theology in schools mitted in the same way as other ministers, were tried
and universities; the ruling elder, who assisted the by the same church courts, liable to the same cen-
minister in exercising ecclesiastical discipline and gov- sures, and might be deposed for the same crimes.
ernment; and the deacon, who had the special charge “The affairs of each congregation were managed
of the revenues of the church and the poor. To these by the minister, elders, and deacons, who constituted
perinanent office-bearers there were added two others the kirk-session, which met regularly once a-week,
of a temporary character. In the arrangement entered and oftener if business required. There was also a
into previous to the first General Assembly, there meeting, called the weekly exercise, or prophesying,
DISCIPLINE (SECOND BOOK OF).
723
held in every considerable town, consisting of the are concerned. The following summary of its lead-
ministers, exhorters, and educated men in the vici- ing propositions is given by Dr. Hetherington : " It
nity, for expounding the Scriptures. This was after- | begins by stating the essential line of distinction be-
wards converted into the presbytery, or classical as- tween civil and ecclesiastical power. This it does
sembly. The superintendent met with the ministers by declaring, that Jesus Christ has appointed a
and delegated elders of his district twice a-year, in government in his Church, distinct from civil govern-
the provincial synod, which took cognizance of ec- ment, which is to be exercised by such office-bearers
clesiastical affairs within its bounds. And the Gen- as He has authorized, and not by civil magistrates,
eral Assembly, which was composed of ministers or under their direction. Civil authority has for its
and elders coinmissioned from the different parts of direct and proper object the promoting of external
the kingdom, met twice, sometimes thrice, in a peace and quietness among the subjects; ecclesiasti-
year,
and attended to the interests of the National cal authority, the direction of men in matters of re-
Church.
ligion, and which pertain to conscience. The former
" Public worship was attended to in such a man- enforces obedience by external means, the latter by
ner as to show the estimation in which it was held spiritual means; yet, as they be both of God, and
by our reformers. On Sabbath days the people tend to one end, if they be rightly used, to wit, to
assembled twice for public worship; and, the better advance the glory of God, and to have good and
to instruct the ignorant, catechising was substituted godly subjects,' they ought to co-operate within their
for preaching in the afternoon. In towns a sermon respective spheres, and fortify each other. (As min-
was regularly preached on one day of the week be- isters are subject to the judgment and punishment of
sides the Sabbath; and on almost every day the the magistrate in external matters, if they offend, so
people had an opportunity of hearing public prayers ought the magistrates to submit themselves to the
and the reading of the Scriptures. Baptism was discipline of the Church, if they transgress in mat-
never dispensed unless it was accompanied with ters of conscience and religion. The government
preaching or catechising. The Lord's Supper was of the Church consists in three things,—doctrine,
administered four times a-year in towns; the sign discipline, and distribution. Corresponding to this
of the cross in baptizing, and kneeling at the Lord's division, there are three kinds of church officers,—
table, were forbidden; and anniversary holydays were ministers, who are preachers as well as rulers ; eld-
wholly abolished.
ers, who are merely rulers; and deacons, who act
“Education was very justly regarded as of the as distributors of alms and managers of the funds of
utmost importance, and deserving every possible en- the church. The name bishop is of the same mean-
couragement. It was stated as imperatively neces- ing as that of pastor or minister: it is not expressive
sary, that there should be a school in every parish, of superiority or lordship; and the Scriptures do not
for the instruction of youth in the principles of reli- allow of a pastor of pastors, or a pastor of many
gion, grammar, and the Latin tongue; and it was flocks. There should be elders, who do not labour in
farther proposed, that a college should be erected in word and doctrine. The eldership is a spiritual func-
every “notable town,' in which logic and rhetoric tion, as is the ministry. He ought to assist the pas-
should be taught, along with the learned languages. tor in examining those who come to the Lord's
It was even suggested that parents should not be table, and in visiting the sick ; but their principal
permitted to neglect the education of their children; office is to hold assemblies with the pastors and doc-
but that the nobility and gentry should be obliged to tors, who are also of their number, for establishing
do so at their own expense; and that a fund should good order and execution of discipline. The office-
be provided for the education of the children of the bearers of the Church are to be admitted by election
poor, who discovered talents and aptitude for learn- and ordination. None are to be intruded into any
ing.
ecclesiastical office contrary to the will of the con-
From the view thus given of the First Book of gregation to which they are appointed.' Eccle-
Discipline, it is plain that the constitution of the siastical assemblies are either particular (consisting
Reformed Church of Scotland was purely Presbyte- of the office-bearers of one congregation or of a num-
rian, and framed, as they believed, on the model of ber of neighbouring congregations), provincial, na-
the primitive churches exhibited in the New Testa- tional or ecumenical, and general. The Presbytery,
or eldership as it is called, has the inspection of a
DISCIPLINE (SECOND BOOK OF), a system of number of adjoining congregations in every thing re-
ecclesiastical government drawn up by a committee lating to religion and manners, and has the power of
of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, ordaining, suspending, and deposing ministers, and
and sanctioned by the Assembly in 1578. In the of exercising discipline within its bounds. The pro-
preparation of this work, Andrew Melville took a vincial Synod possesses the power of all the Pres-
leading part. It was never ratified by Parliament, byteries within a province. The General Assembly
but it has continued down to the present day to be is composed of commissioners, ministers, and elders,
regarded as the authorized standard of the Church from the whole churches in the realm, and takes
Scotland, in so far as government and discipline cognizance of every thing connected with the wel.
"
ment.
724
DISPENSATIONS-DISSENTERS (ENGLISH).
fare of the National Church. Appeals for redress notes a power vested in the archbishops, of dis-
of grievances may be taken from every subordinate pensing, on certain emergencies, with some minor
court to its next superior one, till they reach the regulations of the church, more particularly in her
General Assembly, whose decision in all matters ec- character as an establishment.
clesiastical is final. All the ecclesiastical assem- DISPUTATIONS, a name sometimes given to
blies have lawful power to convene for transacting SERMONS (which see), in the ancient Christian
business, and to appoint the times and places of church, from the controversial character which they
their meeting. The patrimony of the Church in- often of necessity assumed.
cludes whatever has been appropriated to her use, DISSENTERS, those denominations and sects
whether by donations from individuals, or by law which have separated from, and refuse to have fel-
and custom. To take any part of this by unlawful lowship with, the established church of a country.
means, and apply it to the particular and profane As distinguished from SECEDERS (which see), the
use of individuals, is simony. It belongs to the word Dissenters is now generally employed to de-
deacons to receive the ecclesiastical goods, and to note those who have left communion with an estab-
distribute them according to the appointment of lished church from their conscientious disapproval of
Presbyteries. The purposes to which they are to all connection between the church and the state.
be applied are the four following: the support of See VOLUNTARY CHURCHMEN.
ministers; the support of elders where that is neces- DISSENTERS (ENGLISH), a term usually applied
sary, and of a national system of education ; the to the Three DENOMINATIONS (which see), the Pres-
maintenance of the poor and of hospitals; and the byterians, Congregationalists, and Baptists. The
reparation of places of Worship, and other extraor- original Nonconformists were the great bulk of them
dinary charges of the Church or commonwealth. of Presbyterian principles, and the Westminster As-
Among the remaining abuses which ought to be re- sembly was composed chiefly of Presbyterian divines
,
moved, the following are particularly specified : the not more than ten or twelve of them being of the
titles of abbots, and others connected with monastic Independent denomination, and the great anxiety of
institutions, with the places which they held, as that Assembly evidently was to establish Presbyte-
churchmen, in the legislative and judicial courts ; rian uniformity throughout both England and Scot-
the usurped superiority of bishops, and their acting land. It was only, indeed, through the determined
in parliament and council in the name of the Church, resistance of the small body of Independents that
without her commission; the exercise of criminal this object was defeated. During the reign of Eliza-
jurisdiction and the pastoral office by the same indi- beth most of the Puritans had objected to separation
viduals ; the mixed jurisdiction of commissaries; the from the Church of England, on the ground of doc-
holding of pluralities; and patronages and presenta- | trine, though they sought a reformation of her dis-
tions to benefices, whether by the prince or any in- cipline and worship, the greater number of them
ferior person, which lead to intrusion, and are incom- being Presbyterians. But there were among the
patible with “lawful election and the assent of the Puritans some Independents and some Baptists,
people over whom the person is placed, as the prac- whose objections were of a more serious character,
tice of the apostolical and primitive Kirk, and good disapproving as they did of all national churches.
order, crave.''
The statute of 1593, commanding the attendance of
The Second Book of Discipline has ever occupied every person above sixteen at some church, bore
a high place in the estimation of all Scottish Pres- hardly against the Independents. Many of them
byterians; and “the principal secessions," as Dr. were imprisoned, and not a few were compelled to
M'Crie well remarks, " which have been made from seek refuge in a foreign land. Brown, the origina-
the National Church in this part of the kingdom, tor of the sect of the BROWNISTS (which see), found
have been stated, not in the way of dissent from its a home, along with a number of his followers, in
constitution as in England, but in opposition to Holland. Towards the Puritans, Queen Elizabeth
departures, real or alleged, from its original and exercised the utmost severity during the whole of
genuine principles.” See SCOTLAND (CHURCH OF). her reign, and numerous churches of exiled Dissent-
DISPENSATIONS, special modes of providential ers sprung up at Leyden, Middleburgh, Rotterdam,
dealing with individuals or communities; thus we and other Dutch towns, not only separated from the
speak of the Adamic Dispensation, the Abrahamic Church of England, but animated with a bitter hos-
Dispensation, the Jewish Dispensation, and so forth. tility to the principle of established churches. This,
-The term is also used in an ecclesiastical as well indeed, came to be a settled doctrine of the body of
as a theological sense. Thus, in the Church of Rome, English Independents. The keen discussion which
a dispensation means a permission from the Pope to took place at this time gave origin to Richard Hook-
do what may have been prohibited. Thus before any | ers · Ecclesiastical Polity,' one of the ablest pieces
one in communion with that church can contract a of controversial theology which England has ever
marriage within the forbidden degrees, he must have produced. The first four books appeared in 1594,
previously received a dispensation from the Pope.- and the fifth in 1597. “They have in them," said
În the Church of England the word dispensation de Pope Clement VIII., on hearing only a small part
:
character. All the return he made them for the re-
DISSENTERS (ENGLISH).
725
of them translated into Latin, “such seeds of eter- | thousand of their ministers, and involving the whole
nity, that if the rest be like this they shall remain body in a persecution, by which not less than ten
till the last fire shall consume all learning."
thousand are supposed to have perished in imprison-
The death of Elizabeth and the accession of ment and want. But their patriotism was not to be
James I. to the throne of England, naturally revived shaken by these injuries. When, towards the latter
the hopes of the Puritan Dissenters. The king had end of Charles the Second's reign, the character of
been educated in Presbyterian principles, and had his successor inspired a dread of the establishment
openly avowed a warm attachment to what he of popery, to avert that evil they cheerfully ac-
termed "the purest kirk in the world;" but no quiesced in an exclusion from all places of emolu-
sooner did he plant his foot on English ground, thai ment and trust; an extraordinary instance of mag-
he straightway abjured his former views, and be- nanimity. When James the Second began to dis-
came a warm advocate for Episcopacy, alleging that play arbitrary views, dissenters were among the first
“ where there was no bishop, there would shortly bė to take the alarm, regarding with jealousy even an
no king.” The Dissenters, however, had become indulgence when it flowed from a dispensing power.
too powerful a party to be treated with contempt, or The zeal with which they co-operated in bringing
even neglect. James, therefore, to conciliate them about the revolution, the ardour with which they
if possible, summoned a conference at Hampton have always espoused its principles, are too well
Court between four of their principal leaders and a known to need any proof, and can only be rendered
select number of bishops and divines of the Estab.. more striking by a contrast with the conduct of the
lished Church, himself being president. The debate, high church party. The latter maintained, in its
which was earnest on both sides, occupied three utmost extent, the doctrine of passive obedience and
days, and the result was, that a few unimportant non-resistance; were incessantly engaged in intrigues
alterations were made in the English Liturgy, which to overturn the revolution; and affirmed the doctrine
were published by the king's authority, and univer- of divine right to be an ancient and indisputable
sally adopted, though they were never ratified by tenet of the English Church. Whoever wishes to
parliament. One great and, indeed, inestimable ascertain the existence of those arts, by which they
benefit which occurred from the Hampton Court embroiled the reign of King William, may see them
coriference, was the suggestion which the king car- displayed at large in Burnet's History of his own
ried out to procure a new and revised translation of Times.'
the Bible. This delicate task was most satisfactorily " The attachment of dissenters to the house of
accomplished by the preparation and publication of the Hanover was signalized in a manner too remarkable
admirable authorized version of the Holy Scriptures. to be soon forgotten. In the rebellions of fifteen
Under James I. the Puritan Dissenters were still and forty-five, they ventured on a breach of the law,
treated with great severity, and many of them fled by raising and officering regiments out of their own
to Holland, whence considerable numbers emigrated body; for which the parliament were reduced to the
to America in 1620. Another party followed in awkward expedient of passing an act of indemnity.
1629, and a third in 1636, and when prevented from This short sketch of their political conduct, as it is
transporting themselves to New England, many of sufficient to establish their loyalty beyond suspicion,
them removed with their families to the Nether- so may it well augment our surprise at the extreme
lands. In 1637, the laws of uniformity were en- obloquy and reproach with which they are treated.
forced against Dissenters; but, in 1640, the parlia- Mr. Hume, a competent judge, if ever there was
ment checked these severities. It has been often one, of political principles, and who was far from
brought forward as a charge against the English being partial to dissenters, candidly confesses that to
Dissenters that they were zealous and active in their them we are indebted for the preservation of liberty."
opposition to Charles I., but it is a well-known fact that In 1688 the Toleration Act was passed, placing
the execution of the monarch was the deed of a fac- the assemblies of Dissenters under the protection of
tion, and condemned by the Puritans generally, as an the state, but by the provisions of this very act all
act of criminal severity.
“But whatever blame," Dissenting ministers were required to qualify for the
says Mr. Robert Hall, “ they may be supposed to exercise of their ministerial functions, by subscrib-
have incurred on account of their conduct to Charles, ing the thirty-nine Articles, with certain exceptions.
the merit of restoring monarchy in his son was all This continued to be the state of the law till 1779;
The entire force of the empire was in when, by an act passed in that year, any Dissenting
their hands ; Monk himself of their party ; the par- minister, who had scruples in declaring and sub-
liament, the army, all puritans ; yet were they dis- scribing his assent to any of the articles, was allowed
interested enough to call the heir to the throne, and to make and subscribe instead thereof the declara-
yield the reins into his hands, with no other stipulation of Protestant belief, and was thereby entitled
tion than that of liberty of conscience, which he vio- to similar exemptions. A subsequent statute ren-
lated with a baseness and ingratitude peculiar to his ders qualifying for the exercise of ministerial func-
tions unnecessary except in obedience to a legal re-
covery of his power, consisted in depriving two | quisition.
their own.
1
-
726
DISSENTERS (SCOTTISH).
In the aggregate, according to the last census in Christian people. The four brethren, when cut off
1851, the Protestant Dissenting churches of Eng- from the communion of the Established Church,
land are reported as providing accommodation for read at the bar, and laid upon the table of the
4,657,422 persons, or for 26 per cent. of the popula- | Assembly, a solemn protest, which they conclud-
tion, and 45.6 per cent. of the aggregate provision of ed in these words, “And we hereby appeal unto
the country. This statement includes the Wesley- the first free faithful and reforming General Assem-
an Methodists, many of whom object to be called bly of the Church of Scotland.” It was plain, there-
Dissenters.
fore, that the brethren in no sense dissented from the
DISSENTERS (SCOTTISH). For a very long pe- constitution and standards of the church, as Mr.
riod, in the ecclesiastical history of Scotland, dissent Glas had done, but simply seceded or separated
was utterly unknown. From 1560, when the Re- themselves from it, as they hoped only for a time,
formed Church of Scotland was founded, onward to looking forward to the possibility of the period ar-
the commencement of the eighteenth century, not riving when they and all who adhered to them would
only did the Established Church possess an undi- | be able conscientiously to rejoin the communion of
vided hold of the affections of the people, but the the church from which they had been reluctantly dis-
principle of an establishment seems never to have severed. The Secession, which thus arose rapidly,
been doubted. The old Dissenters, it is true, or increased in numbers, but in 1747 the body became
Reformed Presbyterians, who had been all along op- separated into two distinct Christian communities,
posed to the Revolution settlement of Church and the one being the ASSOCIATE BURGHER SYNOD
State in 1688, and who are the remains of the Co- | (which see), and the other the AssOCIATE ANTI
VENANTERS (which see), are of longer standing than BURGHER SYNOD (which see). The rupture which
any other denomination of separatists from the Na- thus took place in the Secession Church at so early
tional Church. They are strenuous advocates, how- a period of its history, arose simply from a differ-
ever, for the obligation of the National Covenant, ence of opinion as to the lawfulness of taking the
and of the Solemn League and Covenant, both of Burgess oath then exacted in several of the royal
which, as well as the Westminster Confession of burghs of Scotland.
burghs of Scotland. For seventy-three years this
Faith, which they acknowledge as the confession of division was maintained, both parties in their se-
their own faith, maintain, in the most decided terms, parate capacity extending and multiplying through-
the principle of a national ecclesiastical establish- out the whole country, and at length the Burgess
ment. The question, however, of the lawfulness of oath having been abolished, and the original ground
a National Church was first formally started by Mr. of quarrel being thus removed, the two synods, in
John Glas of Tealing, about 1728. Though minis- 1820, were reunited under the name of the United
ter of a parish, he began to promulgate views incon Associate Synod of the Secession Church.
sistent with the acknowledged standards of the From an early period of their history, so early in-
church. In the course of his examination before the deed as 1743, the Seceders had evidently to some
Synod of Angus and Mearns, to which he belonged, extent begun' to entertain doubts as to the extent of
the question was put to him, “Is it your opinion power alleged by the Westminster Confession to be-
that there is no warrant for a National Church under long to the civil magistrate in matters of religion.
the New Testament ?” to which he replied, "It is In an official document issued by the Associate
my opinion, for I can see no churches instituted by Presbytery in that year, they distinctly declare that
Christ in the New Testament, besides the universal, “the public good of outward and common order in
but congregational churches : neither do I see that a all reasonable society to the glory of God is the
nation can be a church unless it could be made a great and only end which those invested with magis-
gation, as was the nation of Israel.” A long tracy can propose in a sole respect to that office. "
controversy ensued which for some time agitated | And, further, they go on to say, that, as in prose-
both the Church and the country. Mr. Glas was at cuting this end civilly, according to their office, it is
length deposed, but he still continued the exercise only over men's good and evil work that they can
of his ministry, and his followers, under the name of have any inspection, so it is only over those which
GLASITES (which see), formed congregations, or ra they must needs take cognizance of, for the said
ther churches, on Independent principles throughout public good; while at the same time their doing so
various towns and parishes of Scotland. The next must be in such a manner, and proceed so far allen-
secession from the Church of Scotland was that arly as is requisite for that end, without assuming
which originated in the resistance and protest of four any lordship immediately over men's consciences, or
ministers against the decision of the General Assem- making any encroachment upon the special privi-
bly in 1732, and who, being joined by others, formed leges or business of the church.” These words
,
themselves into the ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERY (which though capable of being interpreted so as to involve
see). The ground of their secession was the arbi- no dissent from the principle of an established
trary enforcement, by the majority of the General church, admit undoubtedly of being understood in a
Assembly, of the law of patronage, and the settle- sense opposed to that principle. And, accordingly,
ment of ministers contrary to the wishes of the we learn from Dr. M-Kerrow, in his " History of the
DISSENTERS (SCOTTISH).
727
CC
Secession Church,' that when any of their preachers and has left it free from the doctrines and command-
or ministers, or elders, entertained doubts upon the ments of men, which are in any thing contrary to
subject, they were uniformly told that they were his word, or beside it, in matters of faith or worship;
to understand the two doubtful paragraphs of the so that to believe such doctrines, or obey such com-
Confession of Faith on the power of the civil magis- | mands out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of
trate, in matters of religion, only in such a sense as conscience and reason also.
corresponded with the explanation given in the Pres- --- Nor do the synod mean the smallest reflection
bytery's answers to Mr. Nairn.
on the venerable compilers of the Confession, whose
It was not, however, until the year 1796 that the degrees of light on these matters, and peculiar cir-
point which converted secession into dissent was cumstances, seem to have led them to use some ex-
brought publicly before the courts of the Secession pressions that have been understood by many, and
Church. Two young candidates for the ministry, one may be construed as investing civil rulers with a
of whom was the afterwards celebrated Dr. Thomas lordship over the consciences of men, and inconsis-
M‘Crie, declared their doubts concerning the doctrine terit with the spirituality, freedom, and independence
taught in the Confession of Faith regarding the of the kingdom of Christ.
of the kingdom of Christ. And the synod hereby
power of the magistrate in matters of religion, and renew their adherence to the doctrine on this point,
requested that the moderator of the Associate Anti- in the Declaration and Defence of the Associate
burgher Presbytery of Edinburgh, in proposing the Presbytery's principles concerning the present civil
questions of the formula to them previous to their government.
ordination, should be allowed to intimate that they The Antiburgher Synod accordingly, after this
were not to be understood as giving their sentiments important preamble, and inserting the passages
on that point. In these circumstances the Presby- which we have already quoted from the Associate
tery felt themselves in a position in which it was Presbytery's answer to Mr. Nairn, enacted that in
impossible for them to take any further steps to- the second question of the formula, after the words,
wards the ordination of the two young men without as the said Confession was received and approved
the express sanction of the Supreme Court. The by an Act of Assembly, 1647, session 23,” there shall
matter was accordingly carried up by reference to be added, “and according to the declaration of the
the Synod, and a declaratory act was prepared by a General Associate Synod, 1796.” This declaratory
committee which, after being read and amended, was Act satisfied the scruples of the two young men,
unanimously adopted. The views of the body were who thereupon submitted to ordination. But in the
fully brought out in this document, which ran as fol- course of a few years the views of Dr. M‘Crie on the
lows : “The synod finding that they cannot at pre- power of the civil magistrate in matters of religion
sent enter on a particular consideration of the over- underwent a change. This change he formally an-
ture, respecting the power of the civil magistrate in nounced in a sermon which he preached at the open-
matters of religion, but convinced of the urgent ing of the General Associate Synod in 1800; and
necessity of doing something in the meantime to ob- the adherence of the synod to the sentiments ex-
viate the scruples which young men at license, pressed in the above act, led to his renunciation of
preachers and elders at ordination, private persons at all connection with the body. In their new Testi-
their accession and baptism of their children, have mony which they issued in 1804, the connexion be-
offered to the courts about the doctrine or manner of tween Church and State was plainly and explicitly
expression, used on that subject, in the Confession of condemned.
condemned. Thus from the original position of Se.
Faith, chap. xxiii., sect. 3d, and chap. xx., sect. 4th. ceders the General Associate (Antiburgher) Synod
“Declare, That as the Confession of Faith was at passed into the position of Dissenters. The Asso-
first received by the Church of Scotland with some ciate (Burgher) Synod were called to enter into a
exception, as to the power of the civil magistrate re- discussion on the same controverted point, which
lative to spiritual matters, so the synod, for the was followed as in the other case by a breach in the
satisfaction of all who desire to know their mind on Synod, some of the members forming themselves into
this subject, extend that exception to every thing in a separate society. The discussion which arose is
the Confession which, taken by itself, seems to allow usually known by the name of the FORMULA CON.
the punishment of good and peaceable subjects on TROVERSY (which see). In the course of the dis-
account of their religious opinions and observances : cussions, which were keen and protracted, a pro-
That they approve of no other means of bringing posal was made that the article as to the magistrate's
men into the church, or retaining them in it, than power in the concerns of religion should be made a
such as are spiritual, and were used by the apostles matter of forbearance. The Synod, however, refused
and other ministers of the word in the first ages of to agree to this proposal, and they prefixed to the
the Christian church, persuasion not force, the power Formula a declaration explanatory of the sense in
of the gospel not the sword of the civil magistrate, which preachers and ministers were understood to
agreeably to that most certain and important doc- give their assent to the doctrine of the Confession of
trine laid down in the Confession itself, chap. XX., Faith on this point. The declaration, which was
sect. 2d. 'God alone is the Lord of the conscience, / usually called the preamble, in so far as it bore
728
DISSENTERS (SCOTTISH).
upon this point, ran in these words: “That whereas | settled. It still remains a matter of forbearance;
some parts of the standard-books of this synod and while a number both of the ministers and people
have been interpreted as favouring compulsory mea- maintain with the utmost tenacity the principle of
sures in religion, the synod hereby declare, that voluntary churches, such a principle has never been
they do not require an approbation of any such converted into a term of communion or fellowship
principle from any candidate for licence or ordina- with the body.
tion."
The subject of civil establishments of religion,
By the expression which occurs in the preamble, which had agitated both the Burgher and Antibur.
compulsory measures in religion," the Associate gher sections of the Secession Church while in their
Synod obviously meant nothing more than a declara-separate capacity, was far from being settled and set
tion against all persecution for conscience' sake. at rest by their union. No sooner had the United
Though no opinion was given by the Synod on the Secession Church been formed, than a controversy
subject of the magistrate's power in religious mat- on this very subject arose, and was carried on with a
ters, the simple occurrence of an expression which | bitterness and acrimony of spirit, which was credit-
had a remote reference to the subject, gave rise to a able neither to the one party in the dispute, nor to
bitter controversy both in sessions and congrega- the other. The Voluntary Controversy, as it was
tions. The press also teemed with pamphlets on the called, raged for several years with the most un-
subject. The Synod was accused of abandoning the bridled fury on both sides, and numbers both of the
avowed principles of the Secession. To repel this
To repel this ministers and members of the United Secession
accusation, a synodical address was printed and cir- Church now assumed towards the Established Church
culated declaring their adherence to the doctrine, of Scotland the attitude of firm and uncompromising
worship, discipline, and government of the Church dissent.
of Scotland. Notwithstanding this avowal, they The new position which the great mass of the Se-
continued to be misunderstood and misrepresented, ceders now occupied in relation to the National
and therefore, they found it necessary at their meet- | Church, tended to attract the favourable attention
ing in September 1800, to insert in their minutes a and regard of another body, which had been also an
statement explanatory of their views with regard to offshoot from the Established Church of the land,
the power of the civil magistrate. The statement though at a much later period than that at which the
was to this effect, "That it is the duty of the Chris- elder branch of the Secession had occurred. The
tian magistrate to be a praise to them that do well, | Relief Body, to which we now refer, was founded by
and a terror to evil-doers, such as contemptuous the Rev. Thomas Gillespie, minister of Carnock, who
profaners of the holy name and Sabbath of the Lord, was deposed in 1752, for refusing to take part in the
and perjured persons, as disturbers of the peace settlement of a minister at Inverkeithing, in the face
and good order of society.” The general language of the remonstrances of the Christian people." He
adopted in this statement, as well as in all that the had joined the church,” says Dr. Struthers, " testify-
Associate Synod had given forth on the vexed point ing against the power of the civil magistrate in reli-
of the magistrate's power, renders it impossible to gious matters, as laid down in the Confession of
regard them as having set forth an explicit avowal Faith. His obedience to church courts hé considered
of what have since been called voluntary principles, las limited by the word of God and his own con-
such as emanated from the other branch of the Se science. He considered patronage as 'antichristian,
cession Church.
- all persecution as sinful,' and the kingdom of
When the two Synods, the Burgher and Anti- Christ as totally distinct from the kingdoms of this
burgher, coalesced into one in 1820, the second article world. Nay, the party in the church with whom
of the Basis of Union ran in these words: “ We re- he acted, went even so far as to consider a civil Es-
tain the Westminster Confession of Faith, with the tablishment, and the annexing to it of civil emolu-
Larger and Shorter Catechisms, as the confession of ments, a mere State arrangement, no way essentially
our faith, expressive of the sense in which we under- connected with a gospel church, and that to inflict
stand the Holy Scriptures,-it being always under- ecclesiastical censures upon ministers who would not
stood, however, that we do not approve or require carry out a mere State arrangement, was stamping
an approbation of any thing in those books, or in with the image of Christ what should bear the image
any other, which teaches, or may be thought to teach, and superscription of Cæsar.'” The next who left the
compulsory or persecuting and intolerant principles Church of Scotland on the same grounds with Mr.
of religion.” In a note appended to this article, the Gillespie, was the Rev. Thomas Boston, son of the
United Secession Church refers for an explanation of distinguished author of the 'Fourfold State,' and the
its views to the statement made by the Associate congregation which he formed at Jedburgh was
Presbytery on the subject in 1743, and which we founded on the principles of the Presbyterian Dis-
have already quoted. Soon after a new Testimony
Soon after a new Testimony senters in England. He declared his dissent from
was issued, which was drawn up with great ability, the National Church, on the footing of her departure
but the question of the magistrate's power in matters from the ancient policy and discipline, with respect
of religion was not attempted to be dogmatically | to planting vacant parishes with gospel ministers.
DISSENTERS (SCOTTISH).
729
Soon after, another congregation having been formed | lished, or can they establish, that is, enforce by their
on the same principles at Colinsburgh in Fife, in authority? Not the original plan of that grace
consequence of a forced settlement in the parish of which hath appeared unto men bringing salvation ;
Kilconquhar, a Presbytery was formed, called the that must stand on the basis of divine institution,
Presbytery of Relief, evidently from the idea that the and its own intrinsic excellence; and it is calculated
formation of this body afforded a relief- to oppressed to be the religion of every man for himself volun-
consciences, who were groaning under the yoke of tarily chosen and voluntarily professed, on which its
patronage, and the tyrannical conduct of the courts whole value and efficacy depend; not to be the reli-
of the Establishment. The principles of the Relief gion of civil communities, as such, and enforced by
body, on the power of the civil magistrate, are thus their authority, for they are not capable of it. But
laid down by Mr. Hutchison, one of their ministers : on examination it will be found that the civil powers
“Every civil magistrate ought to have a power of (while they pretended to establish Christianity) have
judging, in matters of religion, for himself, for this only established peculiar forms of profession, and
belongs to him as a man and a Christian, and there- particular sects of professing Christians, giving them
fore he ought not to be deprived of it by becoming a an outward sanction, and granting them certain ex-
magistrate. But as, by becoming the supreme ma- clusive civil privileges, and when thus embodied
gistrate, he does not lose the unalienable right of nick-naming them the church. The church by law
judging for himself in religious matters : so, by being established! What a pompous title! What a glori-
raised to supremacy in the state, he acquires no right ous privilege! How secure are they who are within
over his subjects, to prescribe to them in matters of her consecrated pale! High is their dignity. They
religion, or to interfere with the sacred rights of are the best citizens, and the only Christians! Wor-
Christians, to regulate their faith, conscience, and thy therefore of the civil patronage they receive.
religious worship, according to the information and Their creed, their ritual, their understandings, their
conviction of truth and duty, which they have re- wills, their consciences, are all stamped with the
ceived from the word of God. In these things the great seal of civil authority! They have surely rea-
conscience is sacred to God, the alone Lord of the son to rejoice that they are authorized to be Chris-.
conscience : and Christians, in these matters, are ac- tians, and that they have received a patent which
countable only to Christ, as their Master and Lord, warrants them to worship their Maker! Oh the
and must stand or fall by his judgment. As the blasphemy! On the daring impiety !”
civil magistrate is a member of the church, he is not Throughout the whole of her history as a dis-
a ruler, but a subject of Christ's kingdom; and, if he tinct religious denomination, the Relief Church hold
a good man, he will account this a higher honour ing the principles of Free Communion, admitted to
and privilege, than to be the head of the civil state. the Lord's Supper members of the Established as
As he is a member of the church, he is upon the well as Secession churches. Still, however, she
same footing with other Christians. The meanest maintained her character as essentially a Dissent-
subject of Christ's kingdom has as good a right to all ing body. And as soon as the Voluntary contro-
the privileges of it, as the greatest prince on earth; versy arose, and the United Secession Church took
for here is no respect of persons, and no man is so determined a stand against all state churches,
known after the flesh.” A few years after another the Relief Church began to fraternise with her more
Relief minister still more explicitly speaks of the cordially than she had ever done before. 6. Similar
alliance between Church and State: “The church in their origin,” says Dr. Andrew Thomson, “and
is catholic, composed of all the faithful in Christ not unlike in their history, beholding the Established
Jesus scattered abroad over the face of the earth ; of Church from the same standing point, it was not to
the redeemed out of every kindred, tribe, and nation ; be wondered at, that when the Voluntary contro-
of all who in every place call on the name of the versy arose, the two bodies should be found thinking
Lord Jesus out of a pure heart, and love him in sin- alike on this question, and launching their mutual
cerity and truth. These, and these only, are the protestations both against the corruptions of the
children of the kingdom, and are all brethren, how- Established Church and against the system from
ever they may be distinguished from one another by which those corruptions rose. Both denominations
birth, language, complexion, education, station, local now began to think of union. Overtures upon the
situation, or other accidental circumstances. This is subject were laid upon the tables of both Synods,
the church of Christ; and its catholic nature shows friendly deputations passed from the one Synod to
at first view that it cannot be thrown into any na- the other, and committees of both Synods held ineet-
tional or provincial mould. Yet in nations where the ings to consider the proposed union. At length, on
Christian religion has been generally professed, the 13th of May 1847, the two churches became one
princes and states have thought proper to interpose under the designation of the United Presbyterian
their authority, by attempting to give it a civil es- Church; which, though not avowedly in its stand-
tablishment, which it is not capable of receiving.ards, is nevertheless, in fact, a Voluntary church,
For what in effect have these boasted guardians of opposed on the strongest grounds to an alliance be-
religion, and affectionate nurses of the church, estab- tween the church and the state.
730
DISSIDENTS.
a Our
BYTERIANS.
The Free Church of Scotland, the latest and larg- tus III. was elected king, till 1764, when Catherine
est of those religious bodies which have left the Na- of Russia interfered in their favour, was melancholy
tional Establishment, have never thus far in their in the extreme, as is evident from the memorial
history taken the position of Dissenters. On the which they presented to King Stanislaus Poniatow-
contrary, they disown all hostility to Established ski, and to the diet of 1766, in which they state a
Churches as such, and freely admit the authority of few of their grievances in these terms:
the civil magistrate, circa sacra, about sacred things, churches have been partly taken from us, under va-
though not in sacris, in sacred things.
rious pretences, and are partly falling into ruins, as
Among the Scottish Dissenters we must necessa- their reparation is prohibited, and a permission for
rily class all Congregationalists and Baptists, who doing it cannot be obtained without much difficulty
disapprove of national churches, and Episcopalians, and cost. Our youths are obliged to grow up in
Wesleyan Methodists, and Roman Catholics, who ignorance, and without the knowledge of God, as
disapprove of the church order and government of schools are forbidden to us in many places. Many
the Church of Scotland, though they may hold in all difficulties are frequently opposed to the vocation of
its strictness the principle of a civil establishment of ministers to our churches; and their visits to the
religion. The Scottish Dissenters, strictly so called, sick and dying are exposed to much danger. We
including only those who object to state churches must dearly pay for permission to perform the rites
in general, or to the constitution and government of of baptism, marriage, and burial, because the price
the Church of Scotland in particular, are calculated, for it is arbitrarily fixed by those who give this per-
according to the last census in 1851, to possess in mission. The burying of our dead even at night is
round numbers 1,300 places of worship.
exposed to great danger; and we are obliged, in or-
DISSENTERS (OLD). See REFORMED PRES- der to baptize children, to carry them out of the
country. The jus patronatus in our estates is dis-
DISSENTERS (VOLUNTARY). See VOLUNTARY puted to us; and our churches are subject to the
CHURCHMEN.
visitation of Roman Catholic bishops; our church
DISSIDENTS, the official name given to the discipline, maintained according to the ancient order,
anti - Romanists of Poland. From the period of is subject to great impediments. In many towns,
the first introduction of the principles of the Refor- | people belonging to our confession are compelled to
mation into that country, the Dissidents, as they follow Roman Catholic. processions. The ecclesias-
were called, were subjected to much injustice and tical laws, or jura canonica, are imposed upon us.
oppression on the part of the dominant church as Not only are children proceeding from mixed mar-
well as of the government. In the course of the riages obliged to be educated in the Roman Catholic
eighteenth century a favourable re-action com- religion, but children of a Protestant widow who
menced. The Empress Catherine of Russia de- marries a Roman Catholic are obliged to follow the
clared for the Polish Dissidents, and was joined religion of their stepfather. We are called heretics,
by Frederic the Second of Prussia. These two although the laws of the country accord to us the
monarchs supported the claims of the Dissidents name of Dissidents. Our oppression becomes the
with such determination and even violence, that many, more grievous, as we have no patron either in the
who were disposed to agree with them on religious senate, or at the diets, the tribunals, or any jurisdic-
grounds, felt their national pride deeply wounded. tion whatever. Even at the elections we dare not
The influence of Russia led these Dissidents to form
appear without exposing ourselves to an evident
two confederations for the recovery of their rights, danger; and for some time we have been cruelly
one at Thorn in Polish Prussia, and another at used, in opposition to the ancient laws of the coun-
Slutzk in Lithuania. These two confederations, com- try.'
posed of Protestants, including Lutherans, Calvin- The Polish Dissidents have often been reproached
ists, Greeks, and Armenians, supported also by the for having recourse to foreign influence and interven-
Greek bishop of Mohiloff, reckoned only five hun- tion to recover their rights, but who could blame
dred and seventy-three members. Many of the
them for hailing a friendly hand stretched out from
Protestants loudly disapproved of these violent mea- any quarter, to obtain deliverance from wrongs which
sures, and many bitterly regretted that they had al- were almost past human endurance? In the last
lowed themselves to become the tools of foreign struggle for their country in 1794, the Polish Pro-
influence. But it was too late to retrace their steps, testants signalized themselves by their valour and
and great numbers, under the pressure of external heroism. · The most recent account of the state of
force, joined the confederations. At length, in 1767, the Dissidents or Protestants of Poland, is given by
the Dissidents of Poland were re-admitted to equal the late Count Krasinski, in his Sketch of the Reli-
rights with the Roman Catholics, after a long nego- | gious History of the Slavonic Nations :' “ With re-
tiation, in which not only the Russian ambassador gard to the present condition of Protestantism in
and the Prussian minister, but also those of England, Poland,” says he, “it is by no means such as the
Denmark, and Sweden took a part. The condition friends of the Reformation would desire. Szafarik,
of the Dissidents in Poland from 1733, when Augus- | in his Slavonic ethnography, computes the number
DISSISOO_DIVAN.
731
of Protestant Poles in round numbers at four hun- thousand three hundred and ninety-nine, there were
dred and forty-two thousand, the great majority of four hundred and sixteen thousand six hundred and
whom are in Prussia proper and Silesia. There is a forty-eight Protestants. Amongst these Protestants
considerable number of Protestants in Poland, but there are Poles, but unfortunately their number, in-
they are German settlers, of whom many, however, stead of increasing, daily decreases, owing to the
have become Polanized, and are Poles by language efforts of the government to Germanize, by all means,
and feeling. According to the statistical account its Slavonic subjects. The worship in almost all the
published in 1845, there were in the kingdom of Protestant churches is in German; and the service
Poland, i. e., that part of the Polish territory which in Polish, instead of being encouraged, is discouraged.
was annexed to Russia by the treaty of Vienna, in a The continual efforts of the Prussian government to
population of four millions eight hundred and fifty- Germanize the Slavonic population of its Polish pro-
seven thousand two hundred and fifty; two hundred | vince, gave to Romanism in that province the great
and fifty-two thousand and nine Lutherans, three advantage of being considered, and not without jus-
thousand seven hundred and ninety reformed, and tice, the bulwark of the Polish nationality, and in-
five hundred and forty-six Moravians. I have no flicted a great injury upon Protestantism. The bulk
statistical data regarding the Protestant population of the population call Protestantism the German re-
in other Polish provinces under the Russian domi- ligion, and consider the Church of Rome as the na-
nion. I can therefore only say, froin personal know- tional one. Owing to this cause, many patriots who
ledge, that about twenty years ago there were be- would have been otherwise much more inclined to
tween twenty and thirty churches of the Genevese Protestantism than to the Church of Rome, have
Confession. Their congregations, consisting princi- rallied under the banner of the latter, as the only
pally of the gentry, are far from being numerous, means of preserving their nationality from the en-
with the exception of two, whose congregations, croachment of Germanism. It is on this account
composed of peasantry, amount to about three or that the German press accuses the Poles of Posen
four thousand souls.
of being bigoted Romanists, and under the dominion
“The Protestant clergy of the Genevese Confes of the priesthood. This I may emphatically deny.
sion in Lithuania derive their support from estates, The Polish League, or the National Association of
as well as from other kinds of property, belonging Prussian Poland, which had been formed in 1848 for
to their churches, and with which they have been the preservation of its nationality by legal and con-
endowed by their founders. The advantages of a stitutional means, but particularly by the promotion
permanent endowment over the voluntary principle of education, the national language and literature, and
has been strikingly illustrated by the Protestant which comprehended almost every respectable Pole
churches and schools in Poland, because, whilst of that province, had for its honorary president the
almost all those which were supported by the last- Archbishop of Posen, whilst the chairman of its
named means fell to the ground as soon as their directing committee was a Protestant nobleman,
patrons or congregations, by whom they had been Count Gustavus Potworowski:”
supported, became unfaithful to their religion, were The name of Dissidents is also sometimes applied
dispersed or impoverished by persecution, or other to the new religious denomination which has recently
causes, all those churches and schools which had been formed in France by the secession of several
the advantage of a permanent endowment with pastors and congregations from the Reformed churches
stood almost every kind of adversity, and greatly at the new Assembly, which met on the 11th Sep-
contributed to maintain in their faith the Protestant tember 1848. Long and serious discussions took
inhabitants of the place where they were situated place in that assembly regarding the Confessions of
In speaking of this subject, I cannot refrain from Faith. The members were divided on points of
observing, with no little gratification to my national doctrine, but the majority agreed to wave these
feelings, that, notwithstanding the immense influence points, and to draw up an address expressing their
which the Jesuits exercised over my country, it common belief. Some of the members protested
never was able to obliterate the sense of justice and against this decision and withdrew. They have since
legality from the national mind so much as to obtain formed with the Independent congregations then
a confiscation of the property belonging to the Pro- existing a new religious body under the name of the
testant churches and schools, though these fathers Union of the Evangelical Churches of France. The
have given abundant proofs that there would be no first meeting of their synod was held on the 20th of
lack of intention on their part to do so if they could. August 1849, and drew up a profession of faith and
“In Prussian Poland there were, according to the an ecclesiastical constitution for the flocks which it
census of 1846, in the provinces of western Prussia, represented. See FRANCE (EVANGELICAL CHURCHES
or ancient Polish Prussia, in a population of one mil- oF).
lion nineteen thousand one hundred and five, five DISSISOO, the deity among the Japanese who
hundred and two thousand one hundred and forty- presided over the purgatory of children.
eight Protestants; and in that of Posen, in a popu- DIVAN, the Sacred Book of the Christians of St.
lation of one million three hundred and sixty-four | John or MENDÆANS (which see).
732
DIVI.--DIVINATION.
!
1
DIVI (Lat. gods). See GODS (PAGAN).
communications were believed to be made in special
DIVI, the demons of the ancient Persians. They cases, particularly to seers and prophets.
believed them to be male and female, the former was considered as generally the source from which
called Neri and the latter Peri. They supposed that supernatural knowledge of this kind was derived.
before the creation of man the world was governed Hence of all the ancient oracles, that of Apollo at
for seven thousand years by the male Divi, and then | Delphi was the most celebrated. The art of di-
for two thousand years more by the female Divi. But vination is said by Herodotus to have been de-
both of these classes of beings having fallen into rived from Egypt; at least the Egyptians were the
sin, God set over them Eblis, who was formed out first who introduced the sacred festivals, processions,
of the element of fire, and who having come from and supplications, and by them the Greeks were in-
heaven to earth, made war upon the rebellious Divi structed in these things. At length there arose in
and overcame them, taking possession of this lower Greece a separate class of individuals who possessed
world, which had before this been inhabited by the character of seers or manteis, who, under the in-
demons. Eblis was elated with pride, and God, fluence of the gods, made known the future. These
being provoked to anger at his presumption, resolved prophets enjoyed the protection, and even the sanc-
to humble him. With this view he created man, and tion, of the government of Athens, and in the case
commanded Eblis and the rest of the angels to worship of the SYBILLÆ (which see), who were also possessed
him. But Eblis having refused to humble himself, of predictive power, the sacred books were intrusted
was deprived of his sovereignty over this world, and by the government to special officers appointed for
subjected to the curse of God.
the purpose. But besides the male and female di-
DIVINATION, the art of foretelling future events viners of a higher grade, there were others who held
from certain previously understood signs. The first an inferior position, and carrying on their operations
and fundamental conception which seems to have chiefly among the lower classes, employed themselves
given rise to the art appears to have been the sup- | in telling fortunes, and other humble modes of sooth-
position that there were some persons who enjoyed saying. This last description of diviners, however,
the peculiar privilege of learning the secrets of the belongs to a later period in the history of Greece.
future by immediate personal intercourse with the One prevalent species of divination practised both
Divine Being. That there were individuals, in very in Greece and Rome, was that which was followed
early times, who made pretensions to such inter- | by augurs and aruspices, and which drew its signs
course is highly probable. Nay, there is a Rabbini- from the flight of a bird, the cackling of a hen, or
cal tradition that as the tempter promised to Eve as the entrails of a slain animal. "If a thundergust
an inducement to partake of the forbidden fruit, | arose," says Mr. Gross, in his ingenious work on
“Behold ye shall be as gods, knowing good and Heathen Religion,'" the augur took notice whether
evil,” divination was one branch of the knowledge it came from the right or the left hand, according to
which had been forbidden to man, but which he ob- the four templa or quarters into which the heavens
tained by the fall. The Rabbis further allege in the were 'divided for the use of this art; whether the
Talmud, that although Adam made no use of the art number of strokes were even or odd, etc. So im-
of divination, it was extensively used by Cain and portant was this species of augury deemed to be,
his wicked descendants.
that only the master of the augurial college could
The Jews were not absolutely prohibited from in- take it. When beasts, either wild or tame, consti-
quiring into the future. On the contrary, they were tuted the subject of augury, it was of importance to
expressly provided with prophets or seers, who re- observe whether they appeared in a strange place,
vealed by Divine inspiration what was yet to come. crossed the road, or ran to the right or to the left
They had also the privilege of the Urim and Thum- side of their line of progression. The omens taken
mim, sacred oracles, on consulting which they might from the flight or the notes of birds, decided nothing
learn events which were as yet hidden in the womb unless they were confirmed by a repetition of the
of futurity. From all other modes, however, of prying token. Besides, the sneezing or stumbling of a per-
into the secrets of the future, the Jews were forbid- son; the hearing of mysterious voices or seeing of
den under the heavy penalty of death by stoning. And apparitions by him; the falling of salt upon the table
yet notwithstanding the Divine prohibition, many or the spilling of wine upon one's clothes, etc., were
different kinds of divination are mentioned in Scrip- serious subjects for augurial prognostication, even
ture as having been in use among the ancient Jews. among a people whose senators clothed in their robes
And in Deut. xviii. 10, 11, we find this command of state, and sitting in silent majesty in the forum,
given by God: “There shall not be found among the ancient Gauls took to be gods! Domestic fowls
you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to were especially kept for the benefit of this important
pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an profession, and the manner in which they took or
observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a refused their food, determined the prosperous or ad-
charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a verse character of the omen, and might hasten or
wizard, or a necromancer.”
suspend the downfall of an empire.”
Amony. the heathen nations of antiquity direct | It was the duty of the aruspices, who were also
DIVINATION.
733
diviners, to draw their omens from the appearance as the solemn answer of heaven. The other, and
of the sacrificial victims, both before and after they simpler method was, for the inquirer to repair, on a
were cut in pieces; the aspect of the smoke and set day to the church, and by the first words of the
flame of the fire over which they were consumed, as Psalm which was singing at the moment of his en-
well as the taste, smell, colour, and quantity of the trance, to decide what he was to do, or what was to
flour, frankincense, wine, and water used in the sa- befall him. It is impossible to determine at what
crifices. Birds, more especially among the Romans, precise period this superstition was introduced into
were of use in divination. Some furnished omens the Christian Church; but it appears to have been
from their chattering, such as crows and owls; others a common practice in the days of Augustine; and,
from the direction of their flight, as eagles, vultures, indeed, that celebrated man himself seems to have
and hawks. A bird appearing on the right was a been at one time a firm believer in its efficacy,-
favourable, but one appearing on the left, an unfa- for when walking in his garden, in the utmost agony
vourable sign, the observer being always supposed of mind, produced by remorse for his sinful and pro-
to have his face turned towards the north.
fligate conduct, and impelled by a voice which seemed
The phenomena of the heavens were also carefully once and again to say to him, " Take the book and
watched among the ancient heathens as fertile sour- read'-he took up a copy of the Scriptures that was
ces of divination. No more unlucky event of this lying on the table before him, and, having resolved
kind could happen than a storm of thunder and light- to rest his case on the first sentence that struck his
ning, an eclipse of the sun or moon, an earthquake, eye, he found that well-known passage, which being
a fall of a ineteoric stone, or any unusual aspect of brought home to him by demonstration of the Spirit
the sky. Remarkable incidents occurring in the or- and with power, afterwards led to his remarkable
dinary intercourse of life were regarded as ominous, conversion.
conversion. At a subsequent period, when he had
and the most common kind of divination was that acquired more just and scriptural views, he publicly
which was derived from the interpretation of dreams. declared his disapproval of this - use of Scripture.
The introduction of Christianity tended gradually to But even the great influence and authority of Au-
bring all such superstitious practices into complete dis- gustine was not sufficient to put a stop to a practice,
credit. From that time they came to be regarded as to which the growing ignorance and superstition of
sinful, ministering to the idle curiosity of the ignorant, the times made the minds of men extremely prone;
and trenching impiously upon the province of Him and though it may appear to us a mode of determin-
who alone knows the secrets of futurity. It is an un- ing dark and difficult matters, equally absurd and
doubted fact, however, that among the early Christians impious, it continued to be followed by all classes of
themselves there were not a few who still retained society, from the third to the fourteenth century, as
some remnants of the old superstitions in their hearts. a tried and certain plan of ascertaining the will of
Unwilling to abandon altogether their former prac- Providence.”
tices, they endeavoured to give them a Christian In the early ages of the Christian Church stren-
direction. “Whenever," says Dr. Jamieson, “they uous efforts were made to restrain the practice of
felt anxious to know what course to pursue in parti- | the art of divination. The council of Eliberis made
cular circumstances,—whether the result of any un- the renunciation of the art a condition of baptism in
dertaking was to be prosperous or the reverse, or to the case of a professed augur, and should he resume
learn the character and conduct of those who were the practice of it after baptism, he was to be forthwith
about to be placed over them, they resorted to this excommunicated. The Apostolical Constitutions lay
method of settling all doubts, and obtaining omens down the same rule, and various councils are equally
by which they might be guided in their proceedings. severe. By the council of Ancyra it was decreed that
Homer and Virgil
, indeed, were discarded for the those that follow after such diviners, or harbour them
Psalms of David, and the preliminary rites observed in their houses, were to be excluded from commu-
were more accordant than before with the usages of nion, and do five years' penance. By a law of Con-
a Christian profession ; but excepting these, there stantius inserted in the Theodosian code, diviners,
was little difference between the heathen and such and those that consult them, were condemned to
Christians as praetised this kind of divination, either death, as being guilty of a capital crime and offence
in the manner or the views with which these augur against religion. This severe law was passed in
ies were consulted. There were two ways of tak- consequence of the encouragement which Constan-
ing them ; one was, when the person who was anxious tine had given to the heathen in his reign, by per-
to have some intimation in his favour, prepared him- mitting them to consult their augurs, provided they
self by a previous course of prayer, and fasting- did so in public, and refrained from putting ques-
longer or shorter according to his distress of mind, 1 tions concerning the state of the commonwealth, or
or the importance of the occasion ; and then he set the life of the prince. Thus was divination brought
himself to open the Psalms—to which, to make as- into comparative disuse, being punished with ex-
surance doubly sure, they sometimes added the Gos- communication by the church, and death by the
pels and the Epistles of Paul—the first passage, in state.
any of which, that caught his attention, was received The practice of divination has been adopted in
734
DIVINATION.
almost all ages and nations. Thus the Scandinavian highly esteemed. To the neighing of his horse,
tribes had diviners, both male and female, whom Darius owed his elevation to the Persian throne.
they held in the highest honour and respect. Some Herodotus mentions another mode of divinat re-
of them, as Mallet informis us, were said to have fa- sorted to by the ancient Scythians. They were wont
miliar spirits who never left them, and whom they to take large bundles of willow twigs, and having
consulted under the form of little idols; others drag- united them together, they arranged them one by one
ged the ghosts of the departed from their tombs, on the ground, each bundle at a distance from the
and forced the dead to tell them what would hap- rest. Having done this, they pretended to foretell
pen. In this way the skalds or bards of the North- the future, during which they took up the bundles
ern nations often pretended by their songs to extract separately and tied them again together.
secrets from the dead. The letters or Runic char-- But passing from ancient to modern nations, we
acters, which were at that time used only by the few may remark, that in all countries which are not
who were able to read and write, were supposed by largely pervaded by Christian influence, divination
the ignorant to have in them certain mysterious is practised very extensively. In Mohammedan
and magical properties. “Impostors,” says Mallet, countries, this is found to be particularly the case.
easily persuaded a credulous people that these let- The Egyptians firmly believe in charms, magic, and
ters, disposed and combined after a certain manner, astrology; amulets are manufactured and sold, and
were able to work wonders, and, in particular, to various arts are employed by professional diviners,
presage future events. There were letters, or Runes, who are generally schoolmasters and dervishes, to
to procure victory—to preserve from poison—to re- play upon the credulity of the ignorant and super-
lieve women in labour-to cure bodily diseases-to stitious. To preserve themselves, their cattle, and
dispel evil thoughts from the mind—to dissipate other property from enchantment, the great mass of
melancholy--and to soften the severity of a cruel the people are in the habit of using charms, composed
mistress. They employed pretty nearly the same of passages of the Koran, with the names of God, or
characters for all these different purposes, but they of favourite saints inscribed upon them, along with
varied the order and combination of the letters ; mystical diagrams and combinations of numbers.
they wrote them either from right to left, or from Over the shops of tradesmen may sometimes be ob-
top to bottom, or in form of a circle, or contrary to served papers with the name of God, or Mohammed,
the course of the sun. In this principally consisted or an extract from the Koran written upon them;
that puerile and ridiculous art, as little understood, and inscriptions of a similar kind are often carved
probably, by those who professed it, as it was dis- over the doors of private houses. It is also a custom
trusted by those who had recourse to it.”
to hang an aloe plant over the door of a house to se-
In Teutonic heathenism, as it once existed in Bri- cure a long duration to the house, or a long life to
tain, no slight importance was attached to divination. its inmates : “ The Moslems," we are told, “when
Deliberations on matters of consequence were de- in doubt respecting any action, have recourse to va-
cided by lot, which was done by cutting a branch of rious superstitious devices to determine whether or
a fruit-tree in pieces, marking them, and scattering not they shall do it. Sometimes they apply for an
them on a white vest. The priest, if it were a pub- answer to a magic table, divided into an hundred
lic council, or the father, if it were a private one, squares, in each of which an Arabic letter is written:
prayed, looked towards the heavens, and drawing after repeating such passages of the Koran as, ' With
each thrice, interpreted according to its inscription ; | Him are the keys of the secret things,' he places the
and if it were adverse, the matter was deferred. Ac- finger upon one of the letters, without looking at
cording to Tacitus the same mode of divination was the table, and then writes it down, and repeats the
practised among the ancient Germans, and after same with every fifth letter, until he comes again to
minutely describing it, he adverts to a strange cus- the first he wrote; all these letters compose the an-
tom which prevailed among them of receiving inti- The table has been so constructed, as to give
mation of future events from horses. “ For this four negative answers for one affirmative, on the be-
purpose,” he says, “a number of milk-white steeds, lief that men much more frequently wish to do what
unprofaned by mortal labour, is constantly main- is wrong than right."
tained at public expense, and placed to pasture The Mohammedans in the East attach no small
in the religious groves. When occasion requires, importance to lucky or unlucky days. They regard
they are harnessed to a sacred chariot, and the priest, Sunday as unfortunate, because the Prophet died on
accompanied by the king, or chief of the State, at- a Sunday night, and Tuesday also, because several
tends to watch the motions and the neighing of the martyrs died on that day, but Friday being the Mos-
horses. No other mode of augury is received with lem Sabbath, they look upon as peculiarly lucky.
such implicit faith by the people, the nobility, and Fortune-tellers, astrologers, magicians, and diviners
,
the priesthood. The horses, upon these solemn oc- abound among them, and are sure to be consulted
casions, are supposed to be the organs of the gods, in ditficult circumstances of any kind. In Oriental
and the priests their favourite interpreters.” Among countries, a superstitious dread prevails of what is
the Persians omens of this description were also called the Evil-eye, or a glance from some
swer.
imagi-
any one.
DIVINATION. .
735
nary evil spirit, or some human being gifted with the smoke which results is generally made to ascend
power of exercising a secret injurious influence upon upon the supposed sufferer.' The Mey’ah is sold only
From this source are believed to arise during the first ten days of the month Mohharram,
many accidents, diseases, and calamities of every de- or first month of the year.”
scription. From the recent Journal of a Deputa- Among the modern Jews, in many parts of the
tion to the East, we learn some interesting facts as world, the art of divination may be considered as so
to the practices resorted to for the purpose of obvi- intimately mixed up with their whole system of be-
ating the misfortunes supposed to be connected with lief and practice, as to be with great difficulty sepa-
the Evil-eye: “A great many charms are employed rated from it. The CABBALA (which see), indeed is
to avert the dangerous influences of the Evil-eye, nothing more than an intricate system of supersti-
which are especially dreaded by mothers for their | tion. Giving way to an unlicensed range of fancy,
children. This is the reason of so many of the chil- and exercising an unbounded fertility of invention,
dren of the higher classes being seen with besmeared the Cabbalists have devised thirty-two ways, and
faces and dirty clothes, when taken out for exercise fifty gates, which lead men to the knowledge of all
in public. Whenever a person expresses strong ad- that is secret and mysterious either in nature or in
miration of a child, or indeed of any other object, he religion. The phrases, the words, the letters, and
is dreaded as being envious and ill-intentioned, and even the very accents of the Hebrew Scriptures are
he is reproved by the parents or owners, and re- converted into instruments as it were of divination.
quested to say, 'O God, favour him:' by his ready But independently altogether of the Cabbalistic art,
compliance with this, he removes all fear of evil con- the modern Jews are to a lamentable extent addicted
sequences. It is customary, therefore, when ex- to the grossest superstition. Some of them are in
pressing approbation of any person or object, to the habit of wearing a charm about them, composed
accompany such remarks with various pious excla- of a few Cabbalistic words, written on a small piece
mations, the one most generally used being, Mashal- of parchment by some of their Rabbis. Others carry
lah,' or 'God's will.' Many other fanciful charms and about in their pockets a small piece of their passover
superstitious practices are resorted to for the same cake to avert misfortune. Many Jews put great faith
purpose. They sometimes cut off a piece of the in dreams, and believe that the mode of fulfilment
skirt of the clothes of the child imagined to have depends on the interpretation given by the person to
been looked upon with envy, burn it with salt, cori- whom they tell their dreams, and hence they are par..
ander-seed, or alum, and sprinkle the child with the ticularly careful only to reveal them to those whom
ashes, besides fumigating it with the smoke. Burn- they consider their friends.
ing alum upon live coals until it has ceased to bubble, The religion of modern heathendom very much
is a very favourite custom. Great use is also made consists of the observance of superstitious rites, and
of a mixture of storax, frankincense, wormwood, cori- the priests are simply a species of diviners. Thus in
ander-seed, fennel-seed, and salt dyed of different Western Africa, the Fetishmen, who are accounted
colours, called "blessed storax,' or Mey'ah. The
The | the ministers of religion, chiefly carry on their sacred
ingredients are carried about the streets, and mixed rites by means of charms and amulets, or grisgris, or
when purchased, the vendor chanting all the time a greegrees, as they are termed in the common par-
long spell; the following specimen of which is ex- lance of the country. 6. There are several classes of
tracted from Mr. Lane's work :-'In the name of fetiches,” says Mr. Wilson, " for each of which there
God!' and ' by God!' "There is no conqueror that is a separate name. One of these classes embraces
conquereth God! his unity is an illustrious attribute.' such as are worn about the person, and are intended
After some words on the proportions of the ingre to shield the wearer from witchcraft and all the or-
dients
, he adds, “I charm thee from the eye of a girl, | dinary ills of human life. They are expected to
sharper than a spike; and from the eye of a woman, bring him good luck, inspire him with courage and
sharper than a pruning-knife; and from the eye of a wisdom. Another class are such as are kept in their
boy, more painful than a whip; and from the eye of dwellings, having a particular place assigned them,
a man, sharper than a chopping knife,' and so on. and correspond in the offices they perform to the
"Then,' continues Mr. Lane," he relates how Solomon penates of the old Romans. They have also national
deprived the Evil-eye of its influence, and afterwards fetiches to protect their towns from fire, pestilence,
enumerates every article of property that the house and from surprise by enemies. They have others
is likely to contain, and that the person who pur- to procure rain, to make fruitful seasons, and to
chases his wonderful mixture may be conjectured to cause abundance of game in their woods, and fish in
possess; all of which he charms against the influence their waters. Some of these are suspended along
of the eye. a
The Mey'ah, a handful of which may be the highways, a larger number are kept under rude
purchased for a little more than a farthing, is trea- shanties at the entrance of their villages; but the
sured up by the purchaser during the ensuing year; most important and sacred are kept in a house in the
and whenever it is feared that a child or other per- centre of the village, where the Bodeh or high priest
son is affected by the Evil-eye, a little of it is thrown lives and takes care of them. Most of these, and
upon some burning coals in a chafing-dish, and the especially those at the entrances of their villages, are
736
DIVINERS-DIVORCE.
of the most uncouth forms—representing the heads DIVINERS, those who practise the art of Divi-
of animals or human beings, and almost always with NATION (which see).
a formidable pair of horns. Large earthen pots filled DIVORCE, the dissolution of the marriage bond.
with bees are frequently found among these fetiches The law of Moses on the subject of divorce is found
—the bees being regarded somewhat as a city in Deut. xxiv. 1–5, which was interpreted by many
guard.” In Southern Africa also, a great part of of the Jews, particularly of the school of Hillel, as
their religious ceremonies are invented and regulated authorising a man to put away his wife for the most
by sorcerers or diviners, who are held in the utmost trifling reason. There can be no doubt, that because
veneration. Thus Mr. Moffat remarks: "i One will of the hardness of their hearts, and to prevent still
try to coax the sickness out of a chieftain by setting greater evils, God was pleased for a time to extend
him astride an ox, with its feet and legs tied; and the law of divorce beyond the narrow limits within
then smothering the animal by holding its nose in a which it is restricted by our Lord. Such a tempo-
large bowl of water. A feast follows, and the ox is rary arrangement was eagerly laid hold of by the
devoured, sickness and all. A sorcerer will pretend
A sorcerer will pretend Jewish teachers, and perverted as an encouragement
he cannot find out the guilty person, or where the of the most lax views as to the obligation of the
malady of another lies, till he has got him to kill an marriage vow. They inculcated the doctrine, that
ox, on which he manoeuvres, by cutting out certain on whatever grounds a man might think fit to part
parts. Another doctor will require a goat, which he with his wife, he was quite warranted in doing so, if
kills over the sick person, allowing the blood to run only he strictly adhered to the various legal forms by
down the body; another will require the fat of the which the divorce was effected. If a written instru-
kidney of a fresh slaughtered goat, saying, that any ment had been procured from the proper quarter,
old fat will not do; and thus he comes in for his and was signed and attested by the competent autho-
chop. These slaughterings are prescribed accord- rities, the divorce was regarded by the Scribes as per-
ing to the wealth of the individual, so that a stout ox fectly valid, in the eye both of God and man. The
might be a cure for a slight cold in a chieftain, while cause of the divorce was with them of little conse-
a kid would be a remedy for a fever among the poor, quence, provided the regular formalities attendant on
among whom there was no chance of obtaining any the act of separation were scrupulously observed.
thing greater."
Our Lord, however, brings back the law of marriage
Of all the heathen nations of modern times, none to an accordance with the original design of this
are more superstitious than the Hindus. The Brah- benevolent and gracious institution, and he absolutely
mans are avowedly sorcerers and diviners, the grand prohibits divorce, except on the ground of unfaith-
charm which they use being what is called the num- fulness to the marriage vow.
In such a case the
tra, a mystic verse or incantation, the repetition of marriage oath is broken, and our Lord declares that
which is supposed to effect wonders. This verse a divorce or a legal disruption of the union in these
occupies a very prominent place in the Hindu reli- circumstances, is in complete harmony with the Word
gion. It can only be used by the Brahmans and and the Law of God. On this subject we find Jesus
higher castes, being positively forbidden to be even expressing himself at considerable length in Mat.
uttered by the lower castes. All things are subject xix. 3—9, “ The Pharisees, also came unto him,
to the numtra, and even the gods are unable to re- tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a
sist its influence. It is the very essence of the Vedas, man to put away his wife for every cause ? And he
and the united power of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that
“ By its magic power," as has been said, “it confers he which made them at the beginning, made them
all sanctity; pardons all sin; secures all good tem- male and female; and said, For this cause shall a
poral and spiritual, and procures everlasting blessed- man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his
ness in the world to come. It possesses the wonder- wife: and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore
ful charm of interchanging good for evil, truth for they are no more twain, but one flesh. What,
falsehood, light for darkness, and of confirming such therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put
perversions by the most holy sanctions. There asunder. They say unto him, Why did Moses then
is nothing so difficult, so silly, or so absurd, that it command to give a writing of divorcement, and to
may not be achieved by this extraordinary numtra." put her away? He saith unto them, Moses, because
It were easy, in short, to illustrate the subject of of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put
divination by adverting to the manners and customs away your wives: but from the beginning it was not.
of almost every nation on the face of the earth, but so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away
enough has been said to show that the practice of his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry
this superstitious art forms a conspicuous feature of another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth
every false religion, originating in the natural desire her which is put away doth commit adultery."
inherent in the mind of man to pry into the secrets of Among the modern Jews a man is at liberty to
futurity, and to push his inquiries beyond the legi- divorce his wife at any time, for any cause, or for no
timate boundaries which the Almighty hath as- substantial cause at all, except that such is his wish.
signed.
No doubt various processes are required by the sy-
}
DIVORCE.
737
1
nagogue to be gone through, so that a considerable | in rare cases, and with the utmost difficulty, requir-
delay necessarily takes place, and thus an opportu- ing for the purpose a private Act of Parliament,
nity is afforded of carefully considering the proposed which could only be obtained at a very great ex-
step before it is finally taken. A regular bill of pense. Such a state of matters has been productive
divorce must be drawn out by one of their notaries, of much vice and suffering throughout all ranks, but
with the concurrence of three Rabbis, on ruled vel- more especially the middling and poorer classes of
lum, and containing neither more nor fewer than society. Of late years, accordingly, the subject has
twelve lines.
In this document the husband de- been frequently brought under the consideration of the
clares, “I put thee away, dismiss, and divorce thee; | legislature. Various attempts have been made to pro-
so that from this time thou art in thine own power, cure an amendment of the law of divorce in England,
and art at thine own disposal, and may be married to but without effect. A new Act, however, has at
any other man whom thou pleasest: and let no man length been passed, which came into operation on the
hinder thee in my name, from this day forward and first day of the present year (1858), and which it is
for ever; and lo! thou art free to any man. Let
to be hoped may be useful. This Act of Parlia-
this be to thee from me a bill of divorce, an instrui- ment abolishes the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical
ment of dismission, and a letter of separation accord- courts in the matter of divorce, and establishes a
ing to the law of Moses and Israel.” Ten witnesses separate court for divorce and matrimonial causes.
are present when this document is read and signed | The court consists of the Lord Chancellor, the Lord
by the parties; and before appending their subscrip- | Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench, the
tion, a Rabbi inquires of the husband whether he is Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas,
acting willingly, and of his own free unconstrained the Lord Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer,
choice. If the husband's answer is satisfactory, and the senior Puisne Judge for the time being in each
the deed is executed in the presence of the witnesses, of the three last-mentioned Courts, and the Judge
the man is then directed by the Rabbi to deliver the of the new Court of Probate. The latter is to be
document to the woman, and on dropping it into her called the Judge Ordinary of the Court, and will be
hand he makes a declaration to this effect : “Behold empowered to dispose alone of all matrimonial
this is thy bill of divorce, and thou art herewith causes, except petitions for a divorce, or for annul-
divorced from me, and art free to any other man.” | ling a marriage, applications for a new trial of any
The Rabbi then warns the woman that she is not questions of fact heard before a jury, bills of excep-
allowed to marry again within ninety days. After tions, special verdicts, or special cases. The court
the divorce has thus been formally executed, the will sit in London or Middlesex unless her Majesty
parties are forbidden to be married to each other should appoint another place. The conduct of ma-
again, or even to meet together unless in the pre- trimonial causes is thrown open to every branch of
sence of witnesses. If the woman has been divorced the legal profession. Divorce from bed and board is
for adultery, she is prohibited from marrying her abolished, but instead of it the court may decree a
paramour. With these exceptions the parties are judicial separation, which will have the same force
free to marry whomsoever they please.
and consequences. The business of the new Court
In Mohammedan countries divorce is permitted | will therefore consist in granting divorces, in decree-
without any cause whatever. The husband may sim- ing judicial separation, in protecting the wife's pro-
ply say, “Thou art divorced,” and straightway the perty when deserted by her husband, and in enter-
wife is under the necessity of leaving his house, and taining all suits in reference to marriage, except those
surrendering all the privileges of a married person. with regard to the granting of marriage licences.
This he may do twice and receive her back again, Any husband may present a petition to the court
but if he sends her away a third time he is not al- praying for a divorce on the ground of his wife's
lowed to take her back unless she has been married adultery. But the wife who seeks a divorce must
to another man, and has been compelled to leave him. allege, and be prepared to prove one or more of these
Marriage being accounted among the Roman five acts on his part : “1. That he has been guilty
Catholics a sacrament, the indissolubility of the mar- of incestuous adultery; that is, of adultery commit-
riage tie is a recognized principle in the law of ted by him with a woman with whom, if his wife
And until very recently the were dead, he could not lawfully contract marriage, by
whole genius of British law seemed to presume that reason of her being within the prohibited degrees of
the marriage tie cannot be broken. No doubt a se- consanguinity or affinity. 2. That he has committed
paration from bed and board could be obtained in a bigarny with adultery; i. e. that he has not merely
court of law, in which case the wife was entitled to contracted, but consummated a bigamous marriage. 3.
a suitable maintenance out of her husband's effects, That he has committed rape, sodomy, or bestiality. 4.
but the marriage of either party was prohibited, and That he has committed adultery, coupled with such
the rights of the husband over his wife's property cruelty as, without adultery, would, under the old
were left untouched. Divorce, however, in the full law, have entitled her to a divorce à mensâ et thoro
meaning of the word, a vinculo matrimoni, or from (equivalent to what will in future be termed judicial
the marriage tie
, has been hitherto in England effected separation); or, 5. That he has committed adultery,
Romish countries.
1.
3 H
739
DOCETÆ-DOCTORS (JEWISH).
coupled with desertion, without reasonable cause, rent to men was merely subjective. This was the
for two years or upwards." Along with the charges only possible way in which men, under the dominion
an affidavit must be lodged stating that there is no of sense, could come into any contact with a nature
collusion or connivance between the deponent and so divine. A mode of apprehension turned exclu-
the other party to the marriage. The same course
The same course sively in the direction of supranaturalism, might
of proof will be admitted as has hitherto been usual lead in this case to a total denial of the reality of
in Ecclesiastical Courts. There is an appeal allowed the natural element in Christ. But under this form
from the sentence of the court to the House of of Docetism might be lurking, also, a tendency which
Lords. If the decree of divorce be fully passed, would have resulted in an entire evaporation of
both parties have liberty to enter into marriage, and Christianity, in turning the life of Christ into a mere
even the guilty party is allowed to marry his or her symbol of a spiritual communication from God; n
paramour. On the question of remarriage in such substituting the idea of God's redeeming power in
cases, a large party of the clergy of the Established place of the historical Redeemer ; in a word, there
Church have conscientious scruples, and, accordingly, might eventually spring out of a tendency of this
the Act declares that they cannot be compelled to sort, an opposition to historical Christianity."
solemnize such marriages, but they are bound to The Docetæ believed only in a glorified Christ,
allow the use of their churches or chapels to any and refused to admit him in the form of a servant.
other minister of the Church who may consent to Under a most erroneous impression that they were
officiate on such occasions. In the case of judicial honouring the Redeemer, they were in reality rob-
separation, a petition may be entertained, and a de bing him of that which constituted one of the most
cree passed by an ordinary judge of assize, whose interesting features of his Mediatorial character, that
judgment, however, may be appealed against to the he was Emmanuel, God incarnate, that wearing the
Court of Divorce and Matrimonial Causes. The nature of men he might suffer and die in their room.
grounds on which such a sentence may be procured “How is it," said Tertullian, addressing the Docetæ,
are three: 1. Adultery. 2. Cruelty. 3. Desertion “that you make the half of Christ a lie? He was
continued for two years or upwards without reason- all truth.” And what, we might still further ask,
able excuse. This last is a new and additional cause what would have availed the true divinity of Christ
of separation admitted by the New Act. The law unless it had been combined with a true humanity ?
in regard to Alimony and the Custody of Children It was this blessed union which rendered him a true
remains as before.
Christ, both glorifying the Father, and saving his
The changes which are thus effected by the bill, own believing people. Similar sentiments to those
whose provisions we have slightly sketched, will held by the Docetce in the second, were afterwards
place the law of divorce on a much more satisfactory taught by Priscillian and his followers in the begin-
footing than it has ever occupied in this country. ning of the fifth century.
DOCETÆ (Gr. dokein, to appear or seem), a he- DOCTORS (JEWISH), a class of superior teachers
retical Christian sect which arose towards the close of who were accounted the preservers of tradition. .
the second century, denying the humanity of Christ, | This was in accordance with a belief which prevailed
and representing all that referred to his human appear- among the Jews, that the law delivered on Mount
ance as a mere vision. Julius Cassian, a disciple of Sinai was of a twofold nature, the one conveyed by writ-
Valentinius and Tatian, is said to have been the ing, and the other by tradition from one generation to
founder of this heretical sect, which formed one of another. The succession of Fathers, by whom the lat-
the branches of the GNOSTICS (which see). The ter class of laws was transmitted to posterity, received
peculiar character of mind which led to the rejection the name of doctors or teachers. They were also cal-
of the human nature of Christ as a delusive phan- | led Mishnaics, because the Mishna was said to be com-
tom, is thus ably sketched by Neander : “Docetism posed by thern. Esdras is usually placed by Jewish
may be the result of very different tendencies of Rabbis at the head of the doctors, and so highly have
mind—a tendency to supranaturalism, or a tendency they been wont to extol this man, that the Koran
to rationalism. There might be united with it, an charges them with making him a son of God. Es-
interest at bottom to give all possible prominence to dras is said to have received the traditions from
this supernatural and real element in Christ's ap- Baruch in Babylon. Besides many other important
pearance. Docetism, at this point, supposed a real, works which he is alleged to have executed, the
though not sensible Christ; and a real impartation Jews attribute to him the appointment of a great
of Christ to humanity. Christ gave himself, accord- council composed of one hundred and twenty men,
ing to this view, to humanity, as a source of divine who assisted him in restoring the Sacred Writings to
life. He presented himself sensibly to the eyes of their ancient purity and simplicity.
men, not in his true, divine nature, but only so as to The immediate successor of Esdras, in the line of
be perceived by them, yet without coming himself doctors, according to Jewish historians, was Simeon
into any contact with matter, in an unreal veil of the Just, who is regarded as the last of the great
.
His appearance was something truly objec- synagogue, who survived all the rest, and received
tive; but the sensible form in which this was appa- from them the whole system of the traditions. The
1
sense.
DOCTORS (JEWISH).
739
doctors or Tanaites are held by the Jews in as great | them as belonging to the list of doctors, lest they
veneration as if the honour of their church and na- should reflect disgrace upon that honourable frater-
tion depended upon these preservers of their tradi- nity. The Saburean sect was founded by Rabbi
tions. They were assisted, it is alleged, by the Josi, but met with so much discouragement that it
BATH-KOL (which see); they had the privilege of became extinct about seventy-four years after its
conversing with angels, the power of restraining sor- establishment.
cerers and of commanding devils. Each doctor was The fall of the Sabureans was followed by the rise
permitted to add his own comments to the tradi- of another class of Jewish doctors, called Geonim or
tions which had been handed down to him from Excellents, because of their extensive learning and
Ezra and the men of the great synagogue. Thus their remarkable virtue. These men were esteemed
the traditions went on increasing from one genera- interpreters of the law; they were consulted upon all
tion to another. At length, in the middle of the important or difficult matters, and their decisions
second century after the coming of Christ, when were received with the utmost confidence and re-
Antoninus Pius was Emperor of Rome, it was thought spect. This sect originated with Chanan Meischka,
necessary for their better preservation, to collect to- in the beginning of the sixth century, and continued
gether the cumlous mass of traditions, and commit to maintain considerable credit with the Jews till
them carefully to writing. This difficult task was the commencement of the eleventh century, when
undertaken by the Rabbi Judah, the son of Simeon, it came to an end in the person of Rabbi Hai Bar
who, from his reputed sanctity, was called Hakka- Rab Scherira. About that time the academies of
dosh, the Holy. This learned and industrious Jew, Babylon, which had long been presided over by the
devoting himself to his arduous work, compiled the Excellents, were destroyed, and the remains of the
Mishna, or Collection of Traditions, in six books, devoted nation were driven into Spain and France,
each consisting of several tracts, which altogether where they formed new establishments, and ex-
amount to sixty-three. The work, when completed, changed the title of doctors for that of RABBANIM
was received by the Jews with great veneration, and (which see), among whom are found the celebrated
has ever since been held in high regard. They be- names of Aben Ezra and Maimonides. Another class
lieve that the contents of the Mishna were dictated of Jewish doctors distinguished themselves as gram-
by God to Moses on Mount Sinai along with the marians, and published a well-known work of tradi-
written law, and that both consequently are pos- tions called the Masorah, which has undoubtedly ren-
sessed of the same authority. The first idea of such dered great service to the cause of Hebrew litera-
an undertaking as the Mishna is said by some to ture in the preservation and critical knowledge of
have originated with Rabbi AKIBA (which see), but the Old Testament, by its vowels, accents, and
tradition attributes both the plan and its accomplish- notes. By the laborious industry of these men, each
ment to Judah, who is often called, for distinction's verse, word, and even letter of the Hebrew Scrip-
sake, the Rabbi. The later Rabbins have exhausted tures has been carefully numbered, while, with mar-
their ingenuity in making commentaries upon, and vellous but unprofitable ingenuity, they have de-
additions to, this work. The whole collection of duced the most strange and absurd meanings from
these commentaries is named Gemara or complete the insertion of a larger or smaller letter in the text,
ness, which, along with the Mishna, forms the Tal- or the intervention of a greater or less space between
muds. Of these the Jerusalem Talmud is the prior the chapters. Some authors maintain that Esdras
in date, having been compiled towards the end of the was the father of this order of doctors, and they tell us
third century in Palestine; while the Babylonian that he was under the necessity, at the return from
Talmud, compiled in the schools of Babylon and the Babylonian captivity, of inventing the vowel
Persia, takes its date from A. D. 500. So highly points to prevent the study of the sacred language
do the Jews prize their traditions, that there is from being neglected amid the national calamities,
among them a familiar Rabbinical adage,“ Holy Scrip- imagining that by this invention, correct copies of
ture may be compared to fresh water, but the Mishna the Scriptures would be provided, which could admit
is wine, and the Gemara refined wine;” or, in an- of no variation. Others, however, are of opinion,
other form, “The law is the salt, the Mishna the and with greater probability, that the Masoretic
pepper, and the Talmud the precious spices." He doctors were coeval with the authors of the Tal-
who sins against Moses, they say, may be forgiven, mud, and Capellus still more definitely fixes the date
but he who contradicts the doctors deserves death. at the end of the fifth century, while many writers
After the publication of the Talmud, arose another trace the origin of the Masorah to a period so late as
class of doctors which lessened its authority by their the beginning of the eleventh century, when a very
doubts and conjectures. These were termed Sa- keen dispute took place in the academies of Babylon
bureans or Doubters, because they disputed the state- about many words of the law. The precise date of
ments of the Talmud, and called in question the this contention between the children of Asher and
opinions of the ancient doctors. The popularity of the children of Naphtali was A. D. 1039, and so vio-
the Talmud rendered this sect peculiarly odious to lent did both parties become, that Ezechias, the
the Jews, many of whom have refused to recognise Prince of the Captivity, was slain, and the academies
740
DOCTORS (CHRISTIAN).
laid in ruins. The birth-place of the Masorah is maxims is, that if a child by the law is bound to fear
generally believed to have been the academy of Ti. and honour his father, he is yet more obliged to re-
berias, which was held in such respect that its ap- spect his masters: a child that sees his father and
proval of the points led to their ready reception by master overloaded with a burden, or groaning in
all the synagogues of the West.
bondage, ought to unload his master, and redeem him
The last order of Jewish doctors to which it is from slavery before his father. The doctors often
necessary to advert, are those which bore the name
equal their power to that of God himself; for they
of Cabbalists, because they taught the science of tell their disciples, that he who contradicts and
the CABBALA (which see), a species of Oriental fights against his master's opinion, in some measure
mysticism, by which, as we have seen, all kinds of opposes and fights against the Deity; and that he
strange fancies, and even magical powers, were de- who murmurs against a doctor, murmurs against
duced from the words, letters, and accents of the God; that he who traduces his master's reputation,
Hebrew Scriptures. There were five different de- | is the cause of God's withdrawal from Israel. Scho-
partments included in the Cabbalistic science, to the lars are not allowed to salute their master as other
study of which the doctors of this order were accus- men, but they must bend their knee before him. It
tomed to devote themselves. Those who cultivated the is a crime to pray to God, either bhis side, or be-
natural Cabbala, endeavoured to discover the nature hind his back. It is an enormous sin for a scholar
and qualities of external objects, which lay: hid, as to set up a school near to that of his master's; and
they believed, in the Hebrew words and letters. he that spits in his face, deserves to be punished with
Those, again, who studied the connecting Cabbala, | death. The doctors taught in a sitting posture, but
sought in the same fertile field to find the harmonies it is not easy to guess what was the posture of the
and connecting links of universal nature. The stu-- scholars. There is a tradition, that from the time of
dents of the contemplative Cabbala, however, took a Moses to that of Gamaliel they stood; and that after
wider and a loftier range, holding it to be their duty this doctor's death, they were permitted to sit, by
to abstract themselves from all sensible objects, and to reason of a sickness which then reigned, and that it
elevate their bodily powers by holding converse with was at that time that the glory of the law decayed,
angels, contemplating God and the divine splendours, because this posture was less respectful. Many
and thus rendering themselves partakers of the Di- doctors have believed, that Jacob had this custom in
vine nature, acquiring the power of working miracles, his view, when he foretold, that the lawgiver should
or of receiving Divine illumination. Those who ap- not depart from Judah's feet until Shiloh come; and
plied their minds to the astrological Cabbala, inves- that he would thereby show, that some disciples
tigated the influences of the stars, and particularly should always learn the law at their master's feet."
of the moon, as being the storehouse of the other DOCTORS (CHRISTIAN). In the enumeration
planets, and the inquiries of these celestial doctors which the apostle Paul gives in Eph. iv. 11, of the
were not a little quickened by the idea that when office-bearers of the primitive Christian church, he
every man is born, God sends him a guardian from expressly mentions doctors or teachers, along with
that constellation under which his nativity took pastors, and in 1 Cor. xii. 28, he speaks of them se-
place; and, therefore, if parents wish to make their parately, “first, apostles; secondarily, prophets;
children prosperous and happy, they ought to pacify thirdly, teachers."
thirdly, teachers.” Although in the first-cited pas-
and caress the angel of the planet. There have been sage doctors are combined with pastors so closely,
Jewish doctors, in fine, whose special studies have that by some they have been considered as one
been directed to the magical Cabbala, from which class of office-bearers, it is probable, on a careful
they are led to attach a miraculous virtue to num- comparison of both passages, that a distinct and se-
bers, pretending by these to cure diseases and to parate class is pointed out. In accordance with
ward off misfortunes, while, by the arrangement of this view, we find in the form of church government
words in a certain order, they profess to produce re- drawn up by the Westminster Assembly, a chapter
markable effects, more especially if these words ex- headed, “ The Teacher or Doctor," and commencing
press the name of God, his perfections or emana- with these words, “ The Scripture doth hold out the
tions.
name and title of teacher as well as of the pastor."
The duties of the Jewish doctors have always been The concluding passage shows what the Assembly
to instruct the people both in the written law of considered to be the special duty of the doctor as
Moses, and in the oral law or tradition. They de- distinct from the pastor. “A teacher or doctor,"
cide what is clean, and what unclean, what meats are they say, "is of most excellent use in schools and
lawful to be eaten, and what are prohibited. The universities, as of old in the schools of the prophets,
extent of their influence is thus noticed by Mr. and at Jerusalem, where Gamaliel and others taught
Lewis, in his Hebrew Antiquities :' “ The power of as doctors." The duties of the doctors in the early
the doctors is great among the Jews, and they omit Christian church seem to have been chiefly to in-
nothing that may draw the veneration of the people. struct the young in the elements of Christian truth,
They represent themselves as men inspired by God, to prepare candidates for baptism, and to give fur-
or like the angels of the ministry. One of their ther instruction to those who, though baptized, were
DOCTOR AUDIENTIUM-DOG-WORSHIP.
741
women.
still deficient in their religious knowledge. Accord- mentioned by Homer as having submitted to great
ingly schools were attached to certain churches in austerities, such as sleeping on the bare ground. In
early times, in which doctors or teachers exercised later ages the oracles were pronounced by three old
their gifts. Thus Origen taught for a time in the
, Near the temple of Dodona was a sacred
school of Alexandria. No such office-bearer exists grove, which was said to be inhabited by nymphs
now in the Christian church, unless professors of and satyrs.
theology may be considered as holding a position DODONIDES, a name given to the seven daugh-
analogous to that of doctor in the primitive church. ters of Atlas, who delivered the oracles in the temple
In the course of the sittings of the Westminster at Dodona, before the Selli were appointed to dis-
Assembly, the question was discussed at considerable charge that office.
length, whether the pastoral office was identical with DOG-WORSHIP. Among the ancient Hebrews
that of doctor or teacher. The Independents main- the dog was accounted an unclean animal, and looked
tained that in every congregation there ought to be upon with the utmost contempt. But among some
two such office-bearers distinct and separate from one ancient nations this sagacious and useful animal ap-
another. Accordingly, in Congregationalist churches pears to have been an object of worship. Thus in
there exists a doctor or teacher, subordinate to the 2 Kings xvii. 31, an idol of the Avites is mentioned
pastor, but forming a connecting link between the under the name of Nibhaz, which the Hebrew com-
pastor and the people. The Independents, however, mentators interpret as a barker, and they assert that
forming a small minority in the Assembly, their this idol was made in the form of a dog. Traces of
opinions were overruled, and the views which are the ancient worship of an idol of the same kind have
found embodied in the Form of Church Government been discovered in Syria, even in modern times.
were adopted by the Assembly, namely, that he who The ancient Egyptian deity ANUBIS (which see),
excels in the exposition of Scripture may be termed was represented by a figure with a dog's head, and
a doctor, and that such a person may be of great use his worship was so celebrated that a city was built
in universities.
in Egypt, which was named after him, Cynopolis, or
DOCTOR AUDIENTIUM (Lat. teacher of the the City of the Dog. Sir Gardner Wilkinson, in his
hearers), the Christian instructor of the AUDIENTES Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians,'
(which see), or lowest order of catechumens in the says, “ The Egyptians had several breeds of dogs,
early Christian church. The name therefore was some solely used for the chase, others admitted into
equivalent to CATECHISTS (which see).
the parlour, or selected as the companions of their
DOCTRINE, the principles of a religious system walks; and some, as at the present day, selected for
as contradistinguished from its practical precepts. their peculiar ugliness. All were looked upon with
DOCTRINE (SECRET). See ARCANI DISCI- veneration, and the death of a dog was not only la-
mented as a misfortune, but was mourned by every
DODONÆUS, a surname of JUPITER (which member of the house in which it occurred." The
see), derived from his temple at Dodona, a city of dog was probably held in all the greater veneration
Epirus, where he had a temple dedicated to his wor- in Egypt as being the emblem of Sirius, or the dog-
ship. One of the earliest of the ancient oracles star, which, as soon as it has ascended above the
seems to have existed there, of which Herodotus horizon, proclaims the approaching flood of the
gives two different accounts. One account, he tells Nile.
us, he had received from an Egyptian source.
It Among the Hyperborean tribes, with whom the
was to the following effect. The Phænicians had dog is reckoned a very valuable animal
, it occupies a
carried away two priestesses from that place, one of conspicuous place in their traditions, being consi-
whom they sold into Libya, the other into Greece, dered, as for instance among the Esquimaux, accord-
and each of these had erected the first oracle in ing to the accounts given by Franklin and Parry,
those nations, the one of Jupiter Ammon, the other and other Arctic navigators, as the father of the hu-
of Jupiter Dodonæus. The other account of the man family. The Chippewyan Indians had a tradi-
origin of the oracle at Dodona, Herodotus had re- tion that they were sprung from a dog; and hence
ceived from the priestesses of that oracle. The story they neither ate the flesh of that animal themselves,
ran as follows: Two black pigeons taking their flight nor could they look with any other feeling than hor..
from Thebes in Egypt, one of them came to Libya, ror upon those nations who fed upon it. In all these
where she ordered an oracle to be erected to Jupiter cases probably the dog is the symbol of the sun.
Ammon, the other came to Dodona, where she sat A strange notion prevails among the Greenlanders,
upon an oak, and thence gave orders that an oracle that an eclipse is caused by the sun being pursued
should be erected in that place to Jupiter Dodonæus. by his brother the moon. Accordingly, when this.
Servius attempts to reconcile these two accounts phenomenon takes place, the women take the dogs
with one another
, by alleging that the same Greek by the ears, believing that as these animals existed
word peleia, signifies both a prophetess or priestess, before man was created, they must have a more cer-
and a pigeon. The priests, who delivered the oracles tain presentiment of the future than he has, and,
were called SELLI (which see), and are therefore, if they do not cry when their ears are
PLINA,
at Dodona,
742
DOGMA-DOMINICAL LETTER.
6
66 In the
pulled, it is an infallible sign that the world is about DOMIDUCA, a surname of Juno among the an-
to be destroyed.
cient Romans, and
The inhabitants of Japan have a superstitious re- DOMIDUCUS, a surname of Jupiter, both these
gard for dogs. Thus we learn from Picart, in his deities being so called from Lat. domus, a house, and
Religious Ceremonies of all Nations :' “The Em- duco, to lead, because they were believed to conduct
peror who sat on the throne when Kaempfer resided the bride to the house of the bridegroom on the occa-
in Japan, was so extravagantly “fond of them,' that sion of a marriage.
there has been a greater number of them in that DOMINICA GAUDII (Lat., the Lord's day of
kingdom ever since his reign, if we may depend on joy), a name given by some of the ancient Christian
the veracity of this traveller, than in any other nation writers to Easter Sunday. In token of joy, the Ro-
in the whole world. Every street is obliged to main- man Emperors were accustomed to grant a release
tain a fixed and determinate number of them. They to prisoners on that day, with the exception of those
are quartered upon the inhabitants, and, in case of who had committed great crimes.
sickness, they are obliged to nurse and attend them. DOMINICA IN ALBIS (Lat., the Lord's day in
When they die, they are obliged to inter them in a white garments), a name given by the Roman Catho-
decent manner, in the mountains and hills peculiarly lic Church to the first Sunday after Easter. Some
appropriated for the interment of the people. It is Latin ritualists term it Dominica post albas, the Lord's
looked upon as a capital crime not only to kill them, day after the white garments, because on this day
but barely to insult and treat them ill; and no one those who had been baptized on Easter day laid
but the legal proprietor is allowed so much as to cor- aside the white robe or CHRISOME (which see), in
rect any of them. All this reverence and respect is | which they had been baptized, carefully depositing it
owing to a celestial constellation, which the Japanese in the church, that it might be produced as an evi-
call the Dog, under the influence whereof the afore-- dence against them, if they should afterwards throw
said Emperor of Japan was born.'
discredit upon the faith which they had professed in
An old traveller gives an account of a peculiar | baptism.
custom which existed among the ancient Guebres or DOMINICAL LETTER. The following account
Fire-Worshippers of Persia, and which shows that of the Sunday letter, as it is sometimes called, is given
they held dogs in high religious estimation : “Before by Dr. Hook, in his Church Dictionary
they expose a dead corpse to the birds of prey, they calendar the first seven letters of the alphabet are
lay him decently on the ground, whilst some parti- | applied to the days of the week, the letter A being
cular friend of his beats the hoof all round about the always given to the 1st of January, whatsoever that
neighbouring villages, in hopes to meet with a dog; day may be, and the others in succession to the fol-
and as soon as he is so fortunate, he endeavours to lowing days. If the year consisted of 364 days
,
allure and bribe him with some crusts of bread, making an exact number of weeks, it is evident that
and to bring him as near to the corpse as possibly he no change would ever take place in these letters ;
The nearer the dog approaches it, the nearer, thus supposing the 1st of January in any given year
they imagine, the soul of the deceased must be to to be Sunday, all the Sundays would be represented
the mansions of eternal bliss. If he jumps upon
If he jumps upon by A not only in that year, but in all succeeding.
him, and seizes the bit of bread, which for that pur- There being however 365 days in the year, the first
pose is put into his mouth, it is an incontestable
an incontestable letter is again repeated on the 31st of December,
mark, or presage of his future felicity: but if the and, consequently, the Sunday letter for the following
dog, on the other hand, cannot be tempted to ap- year will be G. This retrocession of the letters will,
proach it, but keeps at a distance, ... it is a me- from the same cause, continue every year, so as to
lancholy, unpropitious sign, and they almost despair make F the dominical letter of the third, &c. If
of his happy state. When the dog has performed every year were common, the process would continue
his part of the ceremony, two Daroos stand in regularly, and a cycle of seven years would suffice
a devout posture, with their hands joined close toge- to restore the same letters to the same days as be-
ther, at about one hundred feet distance from the fore. But the intercalation of a day, every bissex-
bier whereon the corpse is laid, and repeat, with an tile or fourth year, has occasioned a variation in this
audible voice, a form of prayer of half an hour long respect.
respect. The bissextile year, containing 366, in-
but with such hurry and precipitation, that stead of 365 days, will throw the dominical letter of
they scarce give themselves sufficient time to the following year back two letters, so that if the do-
breathe."
minical letter at the beginning of the year be C, the
DOGMA, the doctrine of a particular party or dominical letter of the next year will be, not B, but A.
sect in religion.
This alteration is not effected by dropping a letter
DOKANA, an ancient emblematic representation altogether, but by changing the dominical letter at
of the Dioscuri at Sparta, consisting of two upright the end of February, where the intercalation
of a
beams, with others placed transversely. Dokana is day takes place. În consequence of this change
said by some writers to have been the name of the every fourth year, twenty-eight years niust elapse,
graves of the DiOSCURI (which see).
before a complete revolution can take place in the
can.
DOMINICALE-DOMINICANS.
743
dominical letter, and it is on this circumstance that | despotism under the name of charity. He found a
the period of the solar cycle is founded.”
few still remaining here like-minded with himself,
DOMINICALE, a word which occurs in the canons who joined with birn in forming a society conse-
of the council of Auxerre in France A. D. 590, which crated to the defence of the church. Several pious
decree that no woman should receive the eucharist in men in Toulouse entered heart and hand into his
her bare hand, but should wear a dominicale when scheme, and placed their property in his hands, to
she communicates. Considerable doubt exists among purchase books for the society, and provide them
ecclesiastical writers as to the precise meaning of with what they needed.-Fulco himself, the bishop
this word.
Most authors interpret it to mean a of Toulouse, favoured the undertaking, and, in the
linen cloth, which was to be worn upon the hand by year 1215, went in company with Dominick to
women when partaking of the sacramental elements. Rome, for the purpose of obtaining the sanction of
Baluze, however, says, that it signities only the Pope Innocent the Third, to a spiritual society de-
women's veil, which they were obliged to wear upon voted to the office of preaching. True, the canon
their heads, by ancient canons, conformable to the enacted this very year by the Lateran council, for-
rule of the apostle. See ELEMENTS (EUCHARISTIC). bidding the institution of any new order of monks,
DOMINIC (ST.), the founder of the Romish or- stood in the way of a compliance with this demand;
der of DOMINICANS (which see). He was born in but, at the same council, it had also been expressed
A, D. 1170, in Calarugna, a village in the diocese of as an urgent need of the church, that the bishops
Osma in Castile. Endowed with the ardent temper- should procure able men to assist them in the office
ament which characterizes the Spanish nation, he of preaching, and in their pastoral labours. Now,
early displayed a violent hostility to all heretics, and the supply of this want -a want so sensibly felt on
a readiness, if he had it in his power, to persecute account of the great number of ignorant and worldly-
and oppress them. He was educated at the univer- minded clergymen—was the very purpose and aim of
sity of Palenza in his native country, and while pro- the scheme submitted by Dominick to the Pope.
secuting his studies, a famine having broken out, he Innocent, therefore, accepted the proposition, mak-
generously sold his books and his furniture that he ing only one condition, that Dominick should attach
might relieve the distresses of the poor, and in this himself to some one of the orders of monks already
way he led many by his example to deeds of charity existing. Dominick selected the so-called rule of
and kindness. Naturally of an austere and self-de- | Augustin, with a few modifications aiming at greater
nying disposition, he became a favourite with Dida- strictness. The order was to accept of no property that
cus, bishop of Osma, who was a man of a kindred needed to be managed, but only the incomes from
spirit, and, therefore, gladly received him into the the same ; lest it might be diverted by the cares of
number of his clergy. No sooner was Dominic in- secular business from its spiritual vocation. Pope
vested with the sacred office, than burning with zeal | Honorius the Third confirmed the establishment of
for the destruction of heretics, he proceeded to the the order in 1216; and it was styled, in accordance
south of France with the view of attacking the AL- with the object to which it was especially conse-
BIGENSES (which see). His superior Didacus had crated, Ordo predicatorum, the Order of preachers.
gone from place to place, travelling on foot in volun- In the first chapter of its articles, it was settled
tary poverty, preaching to, and disputing with, the that it should hold neither property in funds nor
heretics. Full of the expectation of converting the income. It is evident from many examples, that
heretical sects, he resolved to suspend his labours in great efforts were made to enlarge and extend the
France for a time, and set out for Rome to ask as-. society by energetic preachers amongst its earliest
sistance in his arduous undertaking from the Pope; members. Many young men at the universities and
but before doing so he gave the conduct of the in other cities were carried away by the fervent ap-
spiritual work to Dominic. While on his journey | peals of the preaching friars, and finally devoted
to Italy, Didacus died, leaving the fulfilment of his themselves to this foundation.”
plan to his zealous
friend
, who had succeeded to Dominic continued to prosecute his work, as the
his duties among the Albigenses. The demise of superior of the order which he had formed, with
the bishop, however, led to a complete alteration in great zeal and efficiency until his death in A. D. 1221.
the whole character of the movement, which was This Romish saint has acquired no small renown
now directed, not to the conversion but the extirpa- from having been the inventor, or at least the first
tion of the heretics.
“When armed troops,” says inquisitor-general, of the Holy Inquisition. He is
Neander, “ were called in to follow up the work of said also to have performed many miracles, as well
preaching and disputing, and, in the year 1209, the as to have sanctioned many cruel tortures inflicted
horrible crusade against the Albigenses was com- upon heretics, and thus he has acquired a conspicuous
menced, Dominick still went on with his labours, place in the Romish calendar.
and the cruelties resorted to for the extirpation of DOMINICANS, a celebrated order of mendicant
heresy were approved and promoted by him,-a bad monks, which was instituted in the thirteenth cen-
precedent, foretokening already the history of an tury. Its founder was St. DOMINIC (see preceding
order which in after times was to exercise such cruel | article), who established the first monastery of the
744
DOMINICANS.
order at Toulouse. The monks connected, with it was denied, one of the chairs was taken from them,
were put under the rule of St. Augustine. By means and a decree passed by the university that no order
of the papal sanction obtained from Honorius III., of monks should be entitled to have two theological
in 1216, it was raised to a separate order under the chairs. The Dominicans were firm in asserting their
name of Fratres Prædicatores, preaching brothers. claim to a second chair, and the university, with
At length, in the first general-chapter held at Bo- the view of putting an end to the controversy, de-
logna in A. D. 1220, the Dominicans, though they prived the monks of all connection with them.
This
resisted the decree at first, were compelled to submit strong step, however, instead of terminating the dis-
to the maxim of evangelical poverty. To this order pute, only rendered matters worse.
The Domini-
specially belongs the Rosary, which seems to have cans appealed to Rome, and the Pope, Alexander IV.,
been adopted by them so early as A. D. 1270, under decided so completely in their favour, that after a
the technical name of Paternoster. The Dominicans | bold and fruitless struggle, carried on by the univer-
were the first standing inquisitors at the time of the sity for several years, they were compelled to con-
exterminating crusade waged against the Albigenses. | cede all that the Mendicant orders wished. Hence
It was the council of Toulouse which, in A. D. 1229, arose the hostility which the university of Paris
achieved the organization of the tribunal of the Holy | has ever since maintained to the Dominicans.
Inquisition, St. Dominic being appointed the first In the course of this memorable contest between
Inquisitor-General, and from that time he and his the Sorbonne and the Mendicants, many writings ap.
order began the cruel work of bitter persecution in peared on both sides, but the ablest production to
the countries tainted with heresy ; and to save the which the controversy gave rise, was a treatise en:
church from the odious charge of blood-shedding, titled "The Perils of the Latter Times,' the author
the secular princes were called in to serve the office of which was William of St. Amour, a doctor of the
of executioner.
Sorbonne. The appearance of this work, written by
From the thirteenth century onward to the period a man of remarkable genius and argumentation, pro-
of the Reformation, the Dominicans, and their ri- duced a great sensation, and so enraged were the
vals the Franciscans, held the chief power and in- Dominicans against both the book and its author,
fluence both in church and state. They occupied that through their influence with the see of Rome,
the highest offices, both ecclesiastical and civil; Alexander IV., in A. D. 1256, ordered the book to
they taught with almost absolute authority both in be publicly burned, and the author to be banished
churches and schools, and maintained the supreme from France. The mandate of the Pope was obeyed,
majesty of the Roman pontiffs against kings, bishops, but under his successor, Clement IV., William of
and heretics, with remarkable zeal and success. To St. Amour returned to Paris, wrote a larger work in
distinguish them from the Franciscans, who were the same strain as the former, and at last died amid
called Minor Friars, the Dominicans occasionally the esteem and regret of his cotemporaries.
received the name of Major Friars. In France the The two rival orders, the Dominicans and Fran-
latter order were often styled Jacobins or Jacobites, ciscans, not contented with embroiling all Europe in
while in England the name of Black Friars was discord and angry strife, began, soon after the de-
given them from the colour of their dress; and the cease of their respective founders, to contend with
part of London where they first had their residence each other for precedence. Attempts were frequently
is still styled Blackfriars. In Edinburgh, also, there made to put an end to these unseemly disputes, but
is a locality which bears the same name, there hav- all such attempts were utterly fruitless, and they
ing been at one time on that spot a monastery of continued for many a long year to hurl at each other
Dominicans. The Roman pontiffs soon discovered the most bitter invectives and recriminations. But
that the two powerful orders which had thus arisen notwithstanding this keen rivalry between the two
might easily be rendered of eminent service to the great orders of Mendicants, the Dominicans gra-
cause of the church. They were invested, accord- dually rose to great power and influence, both through
ingly, with special privileges above all the other their connection with the Inquisition and the high
orders of monks, permitted to preach publicly every- position which they occupied as confessors at the
where without license from the bishops, to act as courts of all the kings and princes of Europe. Elated
confessors whenever required, and to grant absolu- with the extraordinary power which they had thus
tions, and even indulgences. The peculiar favour acquired, the Dominican monks carried their pride
thus shown to the two rival mendicant orders excited and insolence so far that they alienated many of the
the jealousy and bitter hatred of the bishops and most intelligent and honest from the church, and by
priests. Commotions arose, and violent contentions their violent measures drove them to join the ranks
broke out in every country of Europe, and even in the of the open opponents of the Roman pontiffs. The
city of Rome itself. One of the most noted of these tragedy at Berne (see CONCEPTION, IMMACULATE)
disputes was that which was carried on for thirty years did much to weaken their influence, but the deadliest
between the Dominican monks and the university of | blow which they unwittingly aimed at the authority
Paris. The monks claimed the privilege of having of the Church of Rome, was the independent step
two theological chairs in the university. The claim which they took of prompting Leo X. to issue a
!
0
DOMINICANS.
745
public condemnation of Luther.
Thus were the remainder of this century in hearing the arguments
Dominican friars unconsciously the instruments of of the parties. The Dominicans most strenuously
bringing about the Reformation in the sixteenth defended the opinions of their Thomas as being the
century.
only true opinions. The Jesuits, although they re-
One of the most prominent points in the contro- fused to adopt the sentiments of Molina as their own, ,
versy which so long raged between the Dominicans yet felt that the reputation and the honour of their
and Franciscans was the doctrine of the Immaculate order required that Molina should be pronounced
Conception of the Virgin Mary. For centuries the free from any gross error, and untainted with Pela-
dispute was conducted with the utmost bitterness on gianism."
(See MOLINIST CONTROVERSY.) The
both sides. Thomas Aquinas (see THOMISTS) ar- contest which had thus continued for some time be-
gued against the Immaculate Conception and the tween the Dominicans and the Jesuits respecting the
festival which had been recently instituted in hon- nature of Divine grace and its necessity to salvation,
our of it with the most consummate ability, so that was under the careful consideration, for several years,
tře Dominicans, whose champion he was, were ap- of certain select divines, to whose examination it
parently about to drive their enemies from the field, had been committed by Clement VIII. At length
when Duns Scotus (see · SCOTISTS), taking up the the committee of theologians gave their verdict in
Franciscan view of the doctrine, entered the arena of favour of the opinions of the Dominicans, and against
debate in favour of the original sinlessness of Mary. those of Molina and the Jesuits. Accordingly, in
The Dominicans and Franciscans have continued A. D. 1601, the Pope was about to declare against the
down to the present day to arrange themselves on Jesuits, but learning that their cause was in imminent
different sides of this vexed question, and although danger, they exerted all their influence with Clement
the present Pope, Pius IX., has pronounced the to prevent him from adopting a step so likely to
dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin prove injurious to their order. Clement yielded to
to be henceforth an article of faith in the Romish their earnest entreaties, and resolved to hear both
church, there are not wanting members of the Do- parties anew. The trial continued for three years,
minican fraternity who are unwilling to admit, though the Pope acting as presiding judge, with fifteen car-
they may not openly oppose, a doctrine which their dinals, nine theologians, and five bishops as assessors.
order has long declared to be contrary both to the This court held seventy-eight sessions or congrega-
Scriptures and the opinions of the majority of the tions, as they are styled by the Roman Catholic
Fathers.
church, at which both parties pleaded in favour of
Thomas Aquinas has always been a favourite au- their respective opinions, but before Clement could
thor with the Dominicans, and their partiality for come to a decision, he was cut off by death on the
the writings of this celebrated medieval philosopher | 4th March 1605. In September following, Paul V.,
led to a sharp controversy with the Jesuits in the who succeeded to the papal chair, ordered the judges
sixteenth century. Molina, a Spanish monk of the to resume their examination of the disputed theolo-
Society of Jesus, published a book in 1588 on the gical points. After several months' discussion, in
union of grace and free-will. The Dominicans were which the committee were divided in opinion, the
deeply offended at the doctrines of that book, more matter terminated in no formal conclusion being
especially as being in declared opposition to the come to, but both parties being permitted to retain
teachings of Aquinas. All Spain was in commo- their own sentiments. It would appear that after
tion, and the Jesuits were charged with reviving the this unsatisfactory termination of the controversy,
errors of PELAGIUS (which see). Anxious to sup- the Dominicans gradually modified their opinions so
press the rising controversy, the Pope, Clement VIII., as to avoid further collision with the Jesuits. Ac-
enjoined silence upon both parties, and undertook cordingly, we learn from the Provincial Letters of
himself to decide the controverted points. The
The Pascal,' that the two parties were brought to some-
pontiff adopted this plan in the hope that time would | thing like an agreement in words, if not in opinions.
subdue the animosities of both parties. But finding “The Society," says Pascal, “is content with hav-
that no such effect was produced by delay, he was at ing prevailed on them so far as to admit the name of
length prevailed upon to call an assembly at Rome sufficient grace, though they understand it in another
to discuss the disputed subjects.
“ Thus, in the be- sense; by which manoeuvre they gain this advan-
ginning of the year 1598," to quote the language of tage, that they will make their opinion appear un-
Mosheim, “commenced those celebrated consulta- tenable, as soon as they judge it proper to do so.
tions on the contests between the Dominicans and And this will be no difficult matter; for, let it le
the Jesuits, which, from the principal topic of contro- once granted that all men have the sufficient grace,
versy, were called Congregations on the Aids, that is, nothing can be more natural than to conclude, that
of Grace. The president of them was Lewis Ma- the efficacious grace is not necessary to action—the
a cardinal of the Romish court and bishop sufficiency of the general grace precluding the ne-
of Trent, with whom there were ten assessors or cessity of all others. By saying sufficient we express
judges-namely, three bishops and seven theolo- all that is necessary for action; and it will serve lit-
gians of different fraternities. These occupied the tle purpose for the Dominicans to exclaim that they
drucci,
746
—
DOMINICUM-DONATISTS.
attach another sense to the expression; the people, , Christians who had suffered in the late persecution.
accustomed to the common acceptation of that term, These charges were too serious to be passed over in
would not even listen to their explanation.' Thus silence, and accordingly, they were submitted to the
the Society gains a sufficient advantage from the ex- judgment of seventy Numidian bishops, who were so
pression which has been adopted by the Dominicans, fully satisfied of the truth of the allegations made by
without pressing them any further ; and were you | Donatus, that they refused to recognize the appoint-
but acquainted with what passed under Popes Cle- ment of Cæcilian, and elected Majorinus to the
ment VIII. and Paul V., and knew how the So- bishopric of Carthage. The matter was brought be-
ciety was thwarted by the Dominicans in the estab-fore the Emperor, and the two rival prelates set out
lishment of the sufficient grace, you would not be for Rome, each accompanied by ten ecclesiastics
surprised to find that it avoids embroiling itself in favourable to his claim. A convention was summoned
quarrels with them, and allows them to hold their on the occasion, consisting of three Gallic and fifteen
own opinion, provided that of the Society is left un- Italian bishops, who decided in favour of Cæcilian
touched; and more especially, when the Dominicans and against Majorinus. The defeated party appealed
countenance its doctrine, by agreeing to employ, on to Constantine, who agreed to summon another and
all public occasions, the term sufficient grace.” a larger convention, which was held at Arles in A. D.
Though peace might seem to be restored to the 314, when the decision of the former assembly was
Romish church by the compromise which the Domi- confirmed. Again an appeal was made to the judg-
cans had effected with the Jesuits on the subject of ment of the Emperor in person, but the decision of
sufficient grace, the cessation of hostilities was only | Constantine, who heard the delegates of the two
temporary. Throughout the whole of the last cen- parties at Milan in A. D. 316, was also in favour of
tury, and down to the present day, the Dominicans Cæcilian. From this time the party of Majorinus
have been incessantly at variance with the Jesuits was treated with the utmost severity; they were de-
on the one hand, and the Franciscans on the other, prived of their churches, and laws were passed by
exhibiting the most violent intestine discord in a the state expressly directed against them. But as
church which boasts of its unity and peace.
usually happens, persecution only increased their
DOMINICUM, or Domus DEI, a name given by number and influence, and although Majorinus him-
the Latins in ancient times to a church, as being the self died in A. D. 315, the party still continued to
Lord's house, or a place set apart for the worship of maintain its ground, being headed by Donatus, a
God. The word Dominicum signifies three things man of eloquence, firmness, and energy, whom his
in ancient writers: 1. The Lord's day. 2. The Lord's followers regarded with such veneration that they
supper. 3. The Lord's house.
gave him the title of the Great.
DOMUS BASILICÆ, a name applied anciently
The Donatists were now called to encounter the
to the houses of the clergy adjoining the church. hostility both of the dominant church and of the
DOMUS COLUMBÆ (Lat. house of the dove), state. Constantine, however, had learned from his
a name once used by Tertullian for a church. own experience the disastrous consequences of per-
DOMUS SYNAXEOS (Lat. house of assembly), secution, and therefore, in a rescript addressed to
a name which sometimes occurs in the rescripts the Vicar Verinus in North Africa, he granted to
of ancient heathen emperors to denote Christian the Donatists full liberty to act according to their
churches.
own convictions, declaring that this was a matter
DONARIA. See ANATHEMATA.
which belonged to the judgment of God. And in
DONATISTS, a Christian sect which arose in the this tolerant spirit did Constantine continue to act
North African Church in the early part of the fourth during the rest of his life. It would have been well
century, deriving its name from Donatus, a bishop if his successors had been animated by the same pru-
of Casa Nigra in Numidia. It was the first important dent and conciliatory dispositions. But when, on the
schism which divided the Christian church, and for a death of Constantine, North Africa fell into the
long period, extending indeed over nearly three cen- hands of Constans, matters assumed a very different
turies, it caused the fiercest contentions and disasters. aspect. At first he tried to bribe the Donatist
The circumstances which gave rise to this unhappy churches to join themselves to the dominant church.
schism were shortly these: Cæcilian, a deacon of | At the same time he issued an edict calling upon
the church at Carthage, was elected, on the death of them to return back to the unity of the church.
Mensurius, to the bishopric of that see in A. D. 311. These measures were only precursors to more forcible
The validity of this appointment was disputed by means of accomplishing his wishes. The Donatists
Donatus on several grounds, but particularly, 1. Be- were driven from their churches, and dispersed by
cause the election had been irregular. 2. The ordi- armed soldiers when peaceably engaged in the wor,
nation had been invalid, having been performed by a ship of God. This led to scenes of violence and
Traditor, that is, one who had obeyed the edicts of bloodshed, which only excited public sympathy all
Diocletian by delivering up the sacred vessels, and the more in their favour.
even the Holy Scriptures; and 3. Because Cæcilian In A. D. 347, a still more violent persecution broke
had shown the most unbecoming hostility to the out against the Donatists. It was preceded by an
DONATISTS.
747
attempt, as before, to bribe, by means of presents, the imperial letters missive, Marcellinus demanded
several communities belonging to the sect to pass that each of the two contending parties should
over to the dominant church. The object of these choose seven deputies to advocate their peculiar
presents was clearly seen by Donatus, who, in reply views. This arrangement was for a time resisted by
to the flattering advances of the imperial officer, ut- the Donatists, but at length they were compelled to
tered the indignant remark, “What has the emperor yield. The ablest speaker on the Catholic side was
to do with the church?” The Voluntary principle, as Augustin, while that on the other was Petilianus.
it has since been called, so evidently embodied in this Before commencing the debate, Marcellinus requested
remark, had begun to prevail extensively among the the deputies on both sides to be seated, as he him-
Donatists. Their preachers openly in their sermons self was, but the Donatists declined, chiefly because
attributed the corruption of the Church to its con- the Divine Law forbade them in Ps. xxvi. 4, to sit
nection with the State. The fact that they held down with such adversaries. The imperial commis-
such opinions rendered them all the more odious to sioner, on hearing this, declared that respect for the
the civil authorities, so that under several succeeding character of the bishops prevented him from remain-
emperors the sect was treated with the utmost | ing seated, if they chose to stand, and accordingly he
harshness and cruelty.
ordered his chair to be removed.
The deplorable effects of the long-continued Dona- The points in dispute were simply two in number,
tist schism on the prosperity and progress of the North- the one of a mere temporary interest, and referring
African church, combined with the notion which only to a matter of fact, namely, whether Felix of
many held even at that early date, that there was no Aptunga and Cæcilian were TRADITORS (which see);
salvation out of the Catholic church, roused several the other an important question of doctrine, whether
bishops to put forth all their efforts to heal the un- the church, by having in its communion unworthy
happy division. One of the most zealous in this members, thereby forfeited its title to be considered
work was Augustin, a presbyter, and subsequently the genuine Christian Catholic church.
The source
a bishop of Hipporegius in Numidia. This distin- of the error into which both parties had fallen in
guished polemic sought, but without effect, to bring reference to the point, What constitutes the essence
about a private discussion between the two parties. of the Catholic church? is to be found in confound-
At last at a general African council held at Car- ing the invisible and the visible church with each
thage A. D. 403, an invitation was resolved to be other. “Proceeding on this fundamental error,” says
given to the Donatist bishops to make arrangements Neander, " the Catholic fathers maintained that, se-
for a public discussion with their opponents on the parate from the communion of the one visible Catho-
disputed points. The invitation, however, was de- lic church, derived, through the succession of the
clined, and a convention of the clergy of the Catholic bishops, from the apostles, there is no way of parti-
church, summoned in the following year, actually cipating in the influences of the Holy Spirit and of
discussed the question, whether it was not their duty obtaining salvation; and hence it could not seem
to request the Emperor to pass new penal laws otherwise than a matter of the highest importance
against the Donatists, whereby many might be com- to those of them who were actuated by a pure zeal
pelled to return back to the Catholic church. This of Christian charity, to bring the Donatists to ac-
proposal, breathing, as it did, an intolerant and perse- knowledge this universal visible church, although
cuting spirit, was resisted by Augustin and some of they were not separated from them by any difference
the younger bishops, who succeeded in modifying, of creed. On the other hand, the Donatists, owing
and to some extent restraining, the intemperate zeal to this same confusion of notions, held that every
of the council. The government were not disposed church which tolerated unworthy members in its
to relax, but on the contrary, they increased their bosom was itself polluted by the communion with
them; it thus ceased to deserve the predicates of
Augustin and the North-African bishops gener- | purity and holiness, and consequently ceased to be a
ally, were urgent with the Donatists to agree to a true Christian church, since such a church could not
religious conference, in the hope that they might subsist without these predicates."
convince them by argument that they had departed The Donatists maintained that it was the duty of
from the true faith. It was vain. The Donatists the church to thrust out all unworthy members from
were unwilling to engage in so useless an experi- her communion, supporting their opinion by the
ment. An order, however, was obtained from the charge given by the apostle Paul to the church at
Emperor Honorius, that a conference should be held Corinth, in the case of the incestuous man, as well
between the two parties at Carthage A. D. 411. The as to various other passages in the New Testament.
meeting was numerously attended, there being pre-Augustin, on the other hand, while he admitted that
sent no fewer than 286 bishops of the Catholic, and church discipline ought to be maintained with the
279 of the Donatist party. Flavius Marcellinus, as greatest strictness, nevertheless contended that such a
imperial commissioner, presided on the occasion. The complete separation as the Donatists required between
proceedings were far from being so quiet and orderly the righteous and the wicked in the existing state of
as befitted a religious assembly. In obedience to
the church was impracticable; appealing, in support
former severity.
748
DONATION OF CONSTANTINE.
of his view, to those parables of our Lord which the good sense, all who believe and have hope of
speak of the separation between the good and bad as eternal life among all nations.' But are not the last
l'eserved for the final judgment. To this the Dona- mentioned precisely the members of the genuine
tists replied, that these passages either referred to church of Christ, of the invisible church among all
the mixing together of the good and bad in the the nations where the gospel has found its way,–
world, and not in the church; or that they referred among all the different earthly forms of appearance
to the mixing up of secret sinners with the saints. of the visible church ?”
Thus a difference of opinion arose as to the meaning At the conference between the Donatists and their
of the term “world” in the parables in question, opponents, the important question came up in the
such as those of the tares and the wheat, and the course of the discussion, Whether it was lawful to
net containing both good and bad fishes. One party employ force in matters of religion? The Donatist
pointed to the explanation of our Lord himself, party argued with the utmost strenuousness against
“'The field is the world,” understanding the term intolerance and persecution of every kind as being
“world” in its literal sense as opposed to the church; unscriptural, and opposed to the whole genius of the
while the other party regarded the “world,” in the Christian system. Augustin, on the other hand, as
parables referred to, as used instead of the church. the champion of the Catholic church, found himself
But still the question arises, What notion of the under the necessity of attempting to prove that it
church is meant ? On the proper answer to this was right and proper to compel men to enter into
question, Neander offers some very judicious obser- communion with the outward visible church, out of
vations : " That portion of the visible church," he whose pale no man can be saved. On the great
says, “which belongs at the same time to the in- | principle of toleration, therefore, the two parties
visible, could only form an antithesis to that portion were diametrically opposed to each other, and while
which the New Testament calls, in a peculiar sense, the Donatists vindicated religious freedom, Augus-
the world. But of the external, visible church, in so tin laid down a theory which, although he never
far as it is not one with the invisible, it may with dreamt probably of the extent to which it would
propriety be said, that it belongs to the world in the be carried, led afterwards to a system of spiritual
sense of the Bible. Precisely because the Donatist | despotism, the most intolerant and enslaving ever
bishop Emeritus failed to mark this distinction of devised by man.
ideas, he uttered—as Augustin expressed it—that After a keen and animated controversy of three
petulant exclamation. He then proceeded directly days, conducted on both sides with no small ability
to quote those passages from John, where the world and argumentative power, the conference came to an
expresses that which is opposed to the kingdom of end, and the imperial commissioner, as was antici-
God; and demanded, whether that could be said of pated, gave his decision against the Donatists. A
the church ?—for example, the world knows not God, hot persecution ensued at the instance of the em-
therefore the church knows not God. But of one peror and the government. The Donatist clergy
portion of the visible church all this
pro-
were banished from their country, and the laity
priety be said; and the Donatist himself could have mulcted in heavy fines. Scattered and oppressed,
no hesitation in applying all this to the secret un- the party continued to maintain their views, and even
worthy members who yet belonged to the visible down to the sixth century, they still survived as a
church. Pity that he had not made himself dis- distinct sect or denomination of the Christian church,
tinctly conscious of this ! Augustin answered, that but it is nowhere mentioned after the days of Gre-
the holy scriptures used the term 'world,' sometimes gory the Great, although Witsius, in his History of
in a good, and sometimes in a bad sense.
In the
the Donatists,' conjectures that the conquests of the
former, for example, when it is said, the world be- Saracens in Africa, in the seventh century, put an
lieves in Christ, is redeemed by him; but he ought end to the Donatist sect. See CIRCUMCELLIONES.
to have considered, that the invisible church receives DONATION OF CONSTANTINE, a forged do-
its members out of the world ; that they, who once cument which appeared near the close of the eighth
belonged to the world, in that biblical sense, do, by century, purporting to be a formal donation from the
becoming incorporated, by faith and participation in Roman emperor Constantine the Great, in A. D. 324,
the redemption, into the invisible church, cease be- of the city of Rome and all Italy, to Sylvester, then
longing to it any longer. Augustin says, one need | bishop of Rome. This remarkable document con-
only distinguish the different senses of the term tains the following passage: “We give as a free
'world,' and one would no longer find any contradic- gift to the Holy Pontiff the city of Rome, and all the
tion here in the scriptures. But he would have ad- western cities of Italy, as well as the western cities
vanced farther, and been still more free from preju- of the other countries. To make room for him we
dice, in his interpretation of the Bible, if he had duly abdicate our sovereignty over all these provinces ;
distinguished the different significations of the word and we withdraw from Rome, transferring the seat of
church.' He says: “Behold the world in the bad our empire to Byzantium, since it is not just that a
sense, all who cleave to earthly things among all the terrestrial emperor should retain any power where
nations :—behold, on the other hand, the world in God has placed the head of religion.” The first
may with
DONATIVE-DOSITHEANS.
749
magne.
mention of this donation occurs in an epistle which | anciently the only way of conferring ecclesiastical
Pope Adrian I. addressed to the Emperor Charle- benefices in England, the method of institution by
According to the legend,” says Gibbon in the bishop not having been established before the
his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,' “ the time of Thomas à Becket in the reign of Henry II.
first of the Christian emperors was healed of the le- Others again allege, that institution by bishops has
prosy, and purified in the waters of baptism, by St. existed even from the first introduction of Chris-
Sylvester, the Roman bishop; and never was phy- tianity into England.
sician more gloriously recompensed.
His royal
DOORKEEPERS. See OSTIARII.
proselyte withdrew from his seat and patrimony of DORMITIO DEIPARÆ (Lat. the sleeping of
St. Peter; declared his resolution of founding a new the Mother of God), the name given by the Greek
capital in the east; and resigned to the popes the free church to the festival of the AssUMPTION (which
and perpetual sovereignty of Rome, Italy, and the see) of the Virgin Mary.
provinces of the West. This fiction was productive DORMITORY, the sleeping apartment of a mo-
of the most beneficial effects. The Greek princes nastery.
were convicted of the guilt of usurpation; and the DORON (Gr. a gift), a name sometimes given to
revolt of Pope Gregory was the claim of his lawful baptism in the early Christian church, because it is
inheritance. The popes were delivered from their the gift of Christ.
the gift of Christ. We call it the gift, says Gregory
debt of gratitude : and the nominal gifts of the Car- Nazianzen, because it is given to those who offer no-
lovingians were no more than the just and irrevoca- | thing for it. The eucharist also, both before and
ble restitution of a scanty portion of the ecclesias- after consecration, was sometimes called by the name
tical state. The sovereignty of Rome no longer of gifts or mystical gifts.
depended on the choice of a fickle people ; and the DORRELLITES, a class of religionists who were
successors of St. Peter and Constantine were invested followers of one Dorrell, a person who appeared in
with the purple and prerogatives of the Cæsars. So the end of the last century at Leyden, in Massa-
deep was the ignorance and credulity of the times, chusetts, North America, pretending to be a prophet
that this most absurd of fables was received with sent to supersede the Christian dispensation, and to
equal reverence, in Greece and in France, and is introduce a new one, of which he claimed to be the
still enrolled among the decrees of the canon law. head. His opinions were of the most peculiar and
The emperors and the Romans were incapable of extravagant description. According to his own state-
discerning a forgery that subverted their rights and ment they were as follows: “ Jesus Christ, as to
freedom; and the only opposition proceeded from a substance, is a Spirit, and is God. He took a body,
Sabine monastery, which, in the beginning of the died, and never rose from the dead. None of the
twelfth century, disputed the truth and validity of human race will ever rise from their graves. The
the donation of Constantine. In the revival of let- resurrection spoken of in Scripture is only one from
ters and liberty this fictitious deed was transpierced sin to spiritual life, which consists in perfect obe-
by the pen of Laurentius Valla, an eloquent critic dience to God. Written revelation is a type of the
and a Roman patriot. His contemporaries of the substance of the true revelation which God makes
fifteenth century were astonished at his sacrilegious to those whom he raises from spiritual death. The
boldness; yet such is the silent and irresistible pro-
substance is God revealed in the soul. Those who
gress of reason, that before the end of the next age, have it are perfect, are incapable of sinning, and
the fable was rejected by the contempt of historians; have nothing to do with the Bible. Neither prayer
though, by the same fortune which has attended the nor any other worship is necessary. There is no
decretals and the Sibylline oracles, the edifice has law but that of nature. There is no future judgment.
subsisted after the foundations have been under- God has no fore-thought, no knowledge of what
mined."
passes in the dark world, which is hell, nor any know-
Of this pretended donation of Constantine, there ledge of what has taken place, or will take place in
are four texts in Greek, and only one in Latin, which this world."
is found in the Pseudo-Isidorian Collection. Otho III. DORT (SYNOD OF). See ARMINIANS.
acknowledges candidly, A. D. 999, that Constantine DOSITHEANS, a heretical sect of the first cen-
never made any such grant. The document is now tury, which derived its name from Dositheus, a
universally given up as spurious, though the dona- Samaritan, who pretended to be the Messiah foretold
tion is defended by Baronius, and several writers by the prophets. According to Origen he was a
among the Jesuits. Yet this forged document was rigorous observer of the law of Moses; and, in parti-
the first step from which the papacy endeavoured to cular, he allowed no one to move from the spot where
raise itself above the state.
the Sabbath overtook him. According to Epipha-
a term used to express the fact, that nius, he was an apostate Jew, whose ambition being
a church or chapel
, in connection with the Church of disappointed, he retired among the Samaritans, lived
England, is given and fully possessed by the single do- in a cave, and fasted so rigorously as to occasion his
nation of the patron in writing without presentation, death. It is said that though at first he gave him-
or induction. This is said to have been self out as being the Messiah, he afterwards retracted
DONATIVE,
rinstitution,
750
DOUAY BIBLE-DOVE-WORSHIP.
in the presence of his pupil Simon Magus. The In various towns of Syria, the dove was formerly
followers of Dositheus maintained that he was raised worshipped as a divinity, and, therefore, prohibited
from the dead, and that if he did not appear visibly from being eaten, and consecrated dove--cots were
to the multitude, it was because he was to remain used in which these birds were carefully reared.
concealed during some years in a cave.
In the se-
Venus was worshipped as the principal deity of the
venth century, Eulogius, bishop of Alexandria, wrote ancient Arabians, under the name of ALILAT (which
against the Dositheans, and besides his pretended see), whose sacred day was Friday, and even yet a gold-
Messiahship, he attributed to Dositheus various errors, en dove is seen at Mecca, in the Ka'aba, and such is the
all of them resembling the Sadducean or Samaritan veneration for doves, that they are allowed to nestle
opinions, and alleges, also, that he corrupted the in the city of Mecca wherever they choose, without
Samaritan copy of the Pentateuch.
the slightest chance of molestation. Burnes, the tra-
DOUAY BIBLE, a Roman Catholic version of | veller, tells us that at Bokhara the inhabitants have
the Old Testament translated from the Vulgate into such a respect for pigeons, that if any one should be
English at Douay, whence it derives its name. It ap-
It ap- found killing one of these sacred birds, he would be
peared originally in two vols. 4to, the first of which instantly mounted upon a camel and paraded through
was published in 1609, and the second in 1610. The the streets with a dead pigeon hung round his neck.
translators were William, afterwards Cardinal Allen, The dove may be considered in its symbolic
Gregory Martin, and Richard Bristow. This trans- character as twofold, having a relation either to the
lation, with the Rhemish version of the New Testa- creation or to the deluge. In the first aspect we
ment, forms the only English Bible used by the Ro- find several instances of its occurrence as a symbol
manists of Great Britain and Ireland.
among the nations of antiquity. Thus the Syrian
DOVE-WORSHIP. The dove is reckoned by
The dove is reckoned by Venus sprung from an egg, which having fallen from
Moses among the clean birds, and from sacred as heaven into the Euphrates, was rolled upon the
well as other writers, we learn that this bird was bank by fishes, and hatched by doves. The Aphro-
held in high estimation among the Eastern nations. dite of the Greeks, or Venus of the Romans, who
The dove was worshipped by the Assyrians and Sa- was strictly a personification of the generative powers
maritans, as Lucian informs us when he says, “ Of of nature, and the mother of all living beings, reck-
birds the dove appears to them the most sacred, and oned the dove among the creatures specially conse-
they think it unlawful even to touch it.” Some writ- crated to her.
ers suppose that this bird was worshipped by the In the Mosaic account of the deluge, the dove was
Assyrians in honour of Semiramis, while others al- | despatched by Noah from the ark to ascertain
lege it to have been an emblem of the air. Doves whether the waters were abated. Twice she return-
have been uniformly celebrated for their conjugal ed, not having found a spot of dry ground on which
fidelity. Accordingly, among the Egyptians, a black to rest her foot, but on going forth the third time
pigeon was the symbol of a widow who declined to she returned no more. Hence the dove is often used
marry a second time. In Sacred Scripture, the dove emblematically in relation to the deluge. 6. The dove
is often an emblem of purity and innocence. It was is diluvian," says Rougemont, in his · Le Peuple
appointed as an offering under the Old Testament, Primitif,'" when she feeds Semiramis exposed upon
Lev, xii. 6, 8, and also recognized as such in various the shore, or Jupiter, who is the god of the times
passages of the New Testament, particularly in the posterior to the flood; when she is represented at
case of those who were unable to be at the charge of Hierapolis upon the head of Deucalion or Semira-
more expensive victims. At one period the dove mis; when the Argonauts let her loose from their
seems to have been a symbol of kings, for Lightfoot, ship at the moment when they cross the Symplé-
quoting from some Jewish writers, tells us that when gades.
gades. At Eryx, in that ancient town of Sicily
Solomon sat on his throne, there was appended to it whose medals have a dove on the obverse, the doves,
a sceptre, on whose top was a dove and a golden which throughout the rest of the year fluttered in
crown in the mouth of the dove. In the account great numbers around the temple of Venus, disap-
given in the New Testament of the baptism of our peared on the very day on which they advanced in
blessed Lord, we find the Holy Spirit descending procession towards the sea, as if to accompany the
upon him from heaven in the form of a dove. From goddess, who was thought to have set out for Libya ;
that time, therefore, this bird was frequently used to returning to the temple on the ninth day with great
represent the Holy Spirit, more especially as brood- rejoicings.”
ing upon the face of the waters in the act of creation.
The Jewish writers say that the dove was wor-
Hence, in the Jewish Commentaries, the creative shipped on Mount Gerizzim by the Cuthites, whom
energy of the Spirit is familiarly represented under the Shalmaneser had carried thither from the Euphrates,
figure of a dove hatching its eggs. Thus the Semitic and it is highly probable that the Babylonians, as
nations generally came to entertain a high veneration well as the Assyrians, also worshipped this bird.
for the dove, and all the more that, besides being con- The dove was anciently held in great estimation as a
nected with the creation, the same bird occupies a prophetic bird, especially by mariners. It was a
prominent place in the narrative of the Deluge. dove which, setting out from Thebes, founded the
DOWRY.
751
moon.
oracle of Dodona, on the spot where Deucalion set- DOUBLE PROCESSION OF THE HOLY
tled after the flood.
GHOST. See PROCESSION (DOUBLE) OF THE HOLY
Several heathen nations of modern times are ac- GHOST.
customed to venerate the dove. Schoolcraft informs DOWRY, a marriage portion. The custom in
us, that the Red Indians of North America recog- Britain and other European countries differs widely
nize in this bird the symbol of the earth, and address in this matter from the invariable practice of the
it as a mother. The Dacotas also, he says, venerate East. With us the father usually gives a dowry to
the dove, as well as the wolf and the bear. Accord- his daughter on her marriage, which becomes the
ing to a legend of the New Zealanders, it was a dove property of her husband. But in Eastern countries,
which raised the earth to the surface of the sea, and the bridegroom from the earliest times has always
that dove, which they believe to be animated by the bestowed the dowry or marriage portion, which has
spirit of the god Mawi, they suppose to appear at been uniformly understood to belong to the wife, and
distant intervals, and if heard to coo during the to remain hers after her husband's death. In the
night, it is regarded as the sure sign of an approach- Old Testament, we find reference to a gift, as well as
ing storm. The celebrated voyager, Captain Cook, a dowry, and by the word “gift” in such cases, is
mentions a singular tradition as prevailing in the probably meant a present made at the time of the
South Sea Islands. Tahiti, they say, was at a very betrothing, as a pledge of plighted faith. Of this
remote period covered with certain trees, which were nature were probably the jewels of silver and gold
destroyed by some catastrophe, but a number of which Abraham's servant brought to Rebekah, Gen.
doves carrying off the seeds conveyed them to the xxiv. 53, " And the servant brought forth jewels of
These seeds have been brought back from silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave
that planet, and have given origin to the numerous them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and
luxuriant groves and forests which adorn these islands to her mother precious things.". The principle on
of the South. The Mandans of North America also which a dowry is given among Orientals is clearly
venerate the dove, on the idea that it came to the laid down in the following passage from the Pictorial
Red Indians on the retirement of the waters of the Bible: “ Among all savage and barbarous people-
deluge, carrying in its beak a branch of willow. and therefore in the early history of every nation
Accordingly, when the willow is in flower, they ob- which afterwards became civilized the father of a
serve a yearly festival called the retreat of the wa- girl, in relinquishing her to a husband, conceives he
ters, evidently in commemoration of the deluge. has a right to receive a compensation for losing the
But while we thus dwell upon the dove as an em- benefit of her services, as well as for the trouble and
blem among heathen nations, we must not omit its expense of bringing up and providing for her wants.
use in the early Christian church as representing the The principle is still the same, whether, as among
Holy Ghost. It was considered, for instance, that at the Bedouins, the sum exacted be called the 'price'
an election to any sacred office, if a dove lighted of the woman, or is merely described as a 'gift' or
upon the head of any one of the candidates, he was present' to the father. The antiquity of this usage
thereby marked out from the others by a Divine will appear from various passages in the book of
omen in his favour. He was therefore chosen in Genesis ; although the only instance in which a pro-
preference to all the rest, as having been pointed out vision for the female is overlooked, is that of Jacob's
by the Spirit himself for the office. Eusebius says,
Eusebius says, engagement with Laban. The classical scholar is
that an incident of this kind led to the election of a aware of numerous allusions to this custom. In one
bishop of Rome, though he was a stranger. At first passage of the Iliad an accomplished lady is valued
no one thought of choosing him, but when a dove at four oxen; in another place, Agamemnon is made
was observed by the people to settle on his head, they to say, that he would give one of his daughters to
took it for an emblem of the Holy Spirit, and with Achilles without exacting the least present in return.
one voice they cried out, that he was worthy, which Homer never mentions anything as given to the
was the usual way of signifying their consent. In bride, but always the presents which the bridegroom.
the same way was decided the election of Severus, makes to the lady's father. It is also related by
bishop of Ravenna, and that of Euortius, bishop of Pausanias, that when Danaus found himself unable
Orleans. At a later period, when images and pic- to get his daughters married, he caused it to be made
tures began to be allowed in Christian churches, the known that he would not demand any presents from
Holy Ghost was sometimes represented by a silver those who would espouse them. It may suffice to
dove hovering over the altar. This was found also state generally, that, under sundry modifications,
not unfrequently in the baptisteries, as a memorial the principle of paying the father for his daughter
of the dove lighting upon Jesus at his baptism. Ac- is distinctly recognised throughout Asia, even where
cordingly, when the custom became more common of the father actually receives nothing. We shall
having golden or silver doves suspended over the confine our instances to the Bedouins. Usages
altar
, the place where they hung received the name differ considerably in this and other points among
of peristerion, froin peristera, the Greek word for a the Arabian tribes; and travellers have too hastily
concluded that the customs of one tribe repre-
dove.
1
752
DOWRY. .
Once a-year, he
sented those of the entire nation. The principle which would scarcely exceed twenty dollars. The
of payment is, indeed, known to all the tribes, but goat and the smaller articles go to the mother's
its operation varies very considerably. Among some family, and the cows belong to the family of the fa-
very important tribes it is considered disgraceful for ther, which pass out of their hands without much
the father to demand the daughter's price,' (hakk el delay in payment for a wife for some other member
bint), nor is it thought creditable to receive even of the family. Bullocks may be seen passing from
voluntary presents; among other tribes, the price village to village, almost every day, in fulfilment of
is received by the parent, but is made over to the these matrimonial arrangements. It is a very incon-
daughter, constituting her dower. Among other venient medium of exchange, but the only one they
tribes, however, the price is rigidly exacted. The have, and habit of long standing has reconciled them
price is generally paid in cattle, and is sometimes so to it. If a man pays down the whole dowry at the
considerable as to render it an advantageous circum- | time, he may take the child home at once, and place
stance when there are many daughters in a family. | her under the care of his head wife or some favourite
Five or six camels are a very ordinary payment for a sister. If he is not able to do this, she remains with
person in tolerable circumstances, and if the man can her own mother until the payment is completed,
afford it, and the bride is much admired or well con- which may not be until she has attained to woman-
nected, fifty sheep and a mare or foal are added.” hood. In cases, however, where the negotiation has
The marriage dowry of a Hebrew bride was at been completed, the husband-expectant places a string
one time fixed at a certain price, but afterwards it of beads on the neck of the child as evidence of her
varied according to circumstances. The average betrothment.”
amount in the time of Moses was thirty shekels, and A curious custom is mentioned by Herodotus as
the highest fifty. The wife who was freely given up having existed among the ancient Babylonians by
by her father, without receiving any pecuniary com- which dowries were obtained for those females who
pensation, was all the more highly esteemed on that more particularly needed them.
account. Sometimes, as in the case of Michal the informs us, all the young marriageable women were
daughter of Saul, a wife is given by her father as a collected together in a certain spot, where they were
reward of bravery, and sometimes, though rarely, surrounded by the bachelors of all classes who chose
the bride, instead of being purchased by the bride- to be present. The whole of the females were then
groom, received a dowry from the father. Similar put up to auction and sold to the highest bidder, the
customs are found at this day in Eastern countries. auctioneer commencing the sale with the handsomest
Mr.Buckingham mentions that in Arabia young women and most agreeable of the party. For these, of
of the higher classes are given in marriage for certain course, the wealthiest bachelors offered high prices,
sums of money, varying from 500 to 1,000 piastres, and thus a considerable sum of money was collected.
though among the lower orders the dowry descends When the beautiful women were sold off, the money
as low as 100 or even 50 piastres. In all Moham- which had been obtained was divided among those of
medan countries the giving of a dowry by the bride- the young women who were not possessed of great
groom is indispensable.
personal attractions, the plainest and least beautiful
The custom of the bridegroom paying a dowry for obtaining the largest dowry. Thus all the young
his wife prevails in many other nations besides the women were sure of meeting with a partner, if not
Oriental. Thus Mr. Wilson, in describing the cus- for their beauty, at least for their wealth.
toms of the nations of the Grain Coast in Western With the modern Jews the dowry was a matter
Africa, says: “ The wife is always purchased; and as of regular contract, by which the husband granted
this is done, in the great majority of cases, when she her a sum of money which the law fixed at sixty
is but a child, her wishes, as a matter of course, are crowns, but which could not be demanded until his
never consulted in this most important affair of her death, when the wife had it in her power to claim it
whole life. The first overture must be made to the from her husband's estate. The rich and poor gave
·mother. Her consent is to be won by small presents, the same sum, and the contract was delivered to the
such as beads, plates, dried fish, or a few leaves of bride upon the day of marriage. The following
tobacco. When this is accomplished the way is pre- copy of a dowry contract is found in the Babylonian
pared for opening negotiations with the father and Talmud : “Upon the sixth day of the week, in the
his family, who are the real owners of the child. fourth of the month Sivan, in the year five thousand
The main question to be settled, and indeed the only two hundred and fifty-four of the creation of the
ore about which there is much negotiation, is whether world, according to the computation which we use
the applicant is able to pay the dowry, and will be here at Massilia, a city situated near the sea-shore;
likely to do so without giving mạch trouble. The the bridegroom Rabbi Moses, the son of Rabbi Je-
character of the man, his position in society, his huda, said unto the bride-wife Clarona, the daughter
family connections, or circumstances in life, are of Rabbi Moses, a citizen of Lisbon, be unto me a
seldom taken into the account. The price of a wife" wife, according to the law of Moses, and of Israel;
is usually three cows, a goat or a sheep, and a few and I, according to the word of God, will worship,
articles of crockery-ware or brass rods, the whole of honour, maintain, and govern thee, according to the
?
DOXOLOGY-DRABICIANS.
753
This'n
filanner of the husbands among the Jews, which do was not in the beginning, and that there was a time
honour, worship, maintain, and govern their wives when the Son was not.
faithfully. I also do bestow upon thee the dowry of After the rise of the Arian heresy in the fourth
thy virginity, two hundred deniers of silver, which century, a considerable difference of opinion began
belong unto thee by law; and moreover thy food, to manifest itself as to the precise words in which
thy apparel, and sufficient necessaries, as likewise this ancient doxology should be expressed. Before
the knowledge of thee, according to the custom of that time the words had varied considerably, some
all the earth. Thus Clarona the virgin rested and saying, “ Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
became a wife to Rabbi Moses, the son of Jehuda, and to the Holy Ghost;" others, “ Glory be to the
the bridegroom."
Father, and to the Son, with the Holy Ghost," and
DOXOLOGY (Gr. doxa, glory, and logos, a dis- others still, “ Glory be to the Father, in” or “ by the
course), an ascription of glory to God. The ancient | Son, and by the Holy Ghost.” No sooner, however,
liturgies of the Greek church append to the Lord's had Arius broached his peculiar opinions on the
Prayer a doxology which has been ascribed to Basil subject of the Trinity, than all his followers refused
and Chrysostom, and which runs in these words, ob- to employ the lesser doxology in any other form than
viously designed to recognize the Trinity, “ Thine is the third of those just noticed; thereby intending to
the kingdom, power, and glory, Father, Son, and indicate their belief, that the Son and the Holy
Holy Spirit, both now and for ever, world without Ghost were inferior to the Father, and different in
end." The doctrine revealed in this doxology, none nature from him. The use of this doxology, there-
but the faithful were permitted to know. The doxo- | fore, with the peculiar phraseology “in” or “by the
logy appended to the Lord's Prayer in Matth. vi. 13, Son and by the Holy Ghost,” became a distinctive
is couched in these words, " For thine is the king- mark by which the Arians were known from the
dom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” orthodox. The lesser doxology appears to have been
passage, beautiful and appropriate as it is in the used in the ancient church at the close of every so-
close of the prayer, was unknown to Tertullian, Cy- | lemn office. The Western church repeated it at the
prian, Origen, and Cyril of Jerusalem. But it was end of every Psalm, and the Eastern church at the
extant as early as the middle of the fourth century. end of the last Psalm. Many of their prayers were
| Neither this doxology, nor that in the Greek litur- also concluded with it, particularly the consecration
gies, is supposed by ecclesiastical writers generally prayer at the eucharist. The sermons in the ancient
to belong to the text.
church always closed with a doxology to the Holy
In the ancient Christian church, two doxologies or Trinity. The Greek church uses the doxology several
brief hymns of praise were much in use.
These were
times in the course of the marriage ceremony.
called the greater and the lesser doxology. The for- DRABICIANS, the followers of Nicholas Dra-
mer was more generally known by the name of the bik, or Drabicius, a pretended prophet who appeared
ANGELICAL HYMN (which see). The latter con- in Hungary about A. D. 1630. He had been born
sisted simply of these words, “Glory be to the Father, and educated in Moravia, but in consequence of
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost," and was the severe edicts issued against the Protestants
one of the most common and ancient hymns used in that country, he had been compelled, in 1629, to
in Divine service. It is repeated at the end of seek an asylum in Hungary. In 1638 he began
every Psalm in the service of the Church of Eng- to assume the functions of a prophet, declaring that
land, but in a more expanded forın, having these he had been favoured with a vision from heaven an-
words added to it, “as it was in the beginning, is nouncing that great armies would come from the
now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen." north and east, which should overthrow the house of
The most ancient form of the lesser doxology, as Austria. He was ordered to commit to writing the
used both in the Greek and Latin churches, has no revelation he had received, and to preface it like the
such clause appended to it. The fourth council of ancient prophets, with the statement, “ The word of
Toledo, A. D. 633, reads it thus, “ Glory and honour the Lord came unto me.” He belonged to the Mo-
be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy ravian brethren, and had with difficulty supported
Ghost, world without end. Amen. It occurs in the himself by dealing in a small way in woollen wares.
same form in the Mosarabic liturgy, which was used Entirely destitute of learning, and knowing no other
in Spain not long after. The Greek church read it than the Bohemian language, he imagined himself
in the same way, only omitting the word “ honour,” | enlightened by the Spirit of God to pierce into the
which seems to have been peculiar to the Spanish secrets of futurity. Under this delusion he wrote a
church. Athanasius repeats it thus, “Glory be to book entitled, 'Light out of Darkness,' in the course
the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, of which he spoke with the utmost severity of the
world without end. Amen.” Strabo says, that the Austrian government, calling the two Ferdinands
Greeks omitted the words “ as it was in the begin- and Leopold covenant-breakers; the house of Aus-
ning,” which were supposed by some to have been tria, the house of Ahab, a cruel perjured house,
which ought to be rooted out. To the Roman Ca-
oppose the Arian tenet, which asserted that the Son
| tholics he predicted a speedy and utter desolation.
I
3 1
754
DRACONARIIDRAGON-WORSHIP.
This work, which, though rudely written, excited no never to have been able to establish themselves as a
slight sensation on its publication, was translated separate sect.
out of Bohemian into Latin, by an ardent follower of DRACONARII, soldiers who were wont to ac-
Drabik, named John Amos Comenius, and was company the Pope in his public functions.
printed at Amsterdam in 1665. The appearance of DRACONTIA, dragon-temples which were found
a book containing such violent and unscrupulous in Asia Minor, Epirus, North-Africa, Gaul, and Bri-
attacks upon the house of Austria, exposed the au- tain. They were formed of immense stones, set
thor to the hostility of the government. He was upright in rows. They had probably a reference to
forthwith arrested and conveyed in a cart to be tried the deluge, and destructive agents under the form of
before the court at Presburg. The trial took place monster serpents. Hence we find a myth prevailing
on the 4th of July 1671. Being eighty-four years in many countries of the dragon of the deluge at-
of age, he was very infirm, but with a bold and un- tacking the ark, and in Asia a dragon attacking the
daunted spirit he appeared before his judges, taking moon has by many tribes been regarded as the cause
his seat near Count Rottel, who understood Bohemian. of an eclipse.
In a short time he was compelled to sit on the
DRAGON-WORSHIP. The word translated
ground. On being interrogated by the archbishop, dragon in the Sacred Scriptures is Than, or as it
whether he were the false prophet, he replied, that more frequently occurs in the plural, Thaniin, or
such an epithet could not be properly applied to Thanin. It is differently rendered by different writ-
him. He admitted having written the obnoxious ers, sometimes crocodiles, at other times whales, and
book enlitled, 'Light out of Darkness;' and when frequently serpents of a large species. The crocodile
the archbishop put the question by whose orders was worshipped by the ancient Egyptians, which
and for what purpose he had written the book, he Diodorus Siculus accounts for by remarking, that for
answered, without the slightest hesitation, “ At the fear of this creature their enemies dust not cross the
command of the Holy Spirit.” “ You lie," said the Nile to attack them. At Tachompso in particular,
archbishop, “the book is from the devil." "In this the crocodiles, called in the Coptic language champsæ ,
you lie," said old Drabik, with the utmost firmness, were served with religious zeal and solemn rites. In
utterly regardless of the consequences. The examin- some parts of Egypt their flesh was used as an arti-
ers then asked him what his belief was, when he cle of food, but in others it was detested as the em-
repeated the whole Athanasian Creed, asking the blem of Typhon the deity of evil. According to
bishop at the close, “ And what do you believe?" Plutarch, both the crocodile and the hippopotamus
The prelate replied, “I believe all that and a great are symbols of the wicked and mischievous god.
deal more, which is also necessary."
" You do not One genealogy traces the descent of Typhon to Tar-
believe any such thing,” said Drabik,“
tarus and Terra ; decorates the upper part of his
in your cows, and horses, and your estates."
person with a hundred heads like those of a serpent
In a few days the old man was led forth to execu- or dragon; and furnishes him with a mouth and eyes,
tion. His right hand was first cut off; then he was from which dart fames of devouring fire. Having
beheaded. The tongue was torn out, and nailed stated that the lurid god was the most eminent of
to a post, some say while he was yet alive; and his those giants that presumed to wage war against hea-
writings burned in the market-place along with his ven, Tooke thus proceeds: "Typhoeus, or Typhon,
body.
the son of Juno, had no father. So vast was his
The Jesuits boast that they succeeded in convert- magnitude, that he touched the east with one hand
ing Drabik before his death, but the real state of the and the west with the other, and the heavens with
case is given in a recently published · History of the the crown of his head. A hundred dragons' heads
Protestant Church in Hungary :'“ After many at- grew from his shoulders ; his body was covered with
tempts had been made in vain to shake the old man's feathers, scales, rugged hair, and adders; from the
faith, at length the Jesuit Peter Kubey or Kubmey ends of his fingers snakes issued, and his two feet
succeeded in gaining his confidence so far, that in a had the shape and fold of a serpent's body; his eyes
moment of weakness he yielded, and on the 4th of sparked with fire, and his mouth belched out flames.
July did actually join the Popish Church. What He was at last overcome, and thrown down—from
prevailed with him seems to have been the promise heaven; and lest he should rise again, the whole
of liberty; he should be set completely at liberty, said | island of Sicily was laid upon him."
the Jesuit pater, and should have a conveyance to take From the notion which prevailed in some parts
him back to his native land to die there in peace. So of Egypt, that the crocodile represented TYPHON
soon as he discovered that he had been deceived, the (which see), its destruction was regarded as a sacred
vile deed that he had committed stood in all its hor- duty. In the Egyptian mythology, this creature was
ror before him, he was deeply ashamed of his cow- sacred to the god Savak. Ælian informs us, that in
ardice, and exclaimed, that he would die in the faith places where crocodiles were worshipped, their num-
in which he had lived, and which he had only for a bers increased to such an extent that it was not safe
few moments forsaken." The death of their founder
for any one to wash his feet or draw water at
put an end to the hopes of his followers, who seem the river; and no one could walk near the edge
you believe
of
DRAWERS (LINEN)-DRINK-OFFERINGS.
755
the stream either in the vicinity of Ombos, Coptos, tions the dragon was an emblem of industry. Thus the
or Arsinoë, without extreme caution. From the Athenians represented Minerva, the goddess of wis-
great veneration in which the crocodile was held dom, as always attended by a dragon. A painted or
at Arsinoë, it was formerly called Crocodilopolis. sculptured dragon was often placed at the gates of
Strabo says, that one which was regarded as peculiarly their temples, and of those places where they were
sacred was kept at that town, in a lake set apart for wont to receive the answers of their gods. These
the purpose, and so tame was the creature, that it monstrous creatures occupy a conspicuous place in the
allowed itself to be touched by the priests. It was fabulous legends of China and Japan. They speak
fed with bread, meat, and wine, which were brought of a dragon which resides at the bottom of the sea.
by strangers who came to see it.
The Japanese tell us of a dragon which had its abode
Sir John Gardner Wilkinson states that, among in a certain lake, and destroyed a monstrous serpent
the Egyptians, “The crocodile was supposed by that frightened the inhabitants of the country. A
some to be an emblem of the sun; and Clemens tells temple was erected in honour of this animal, which
us the sun was sometimes placed in a boat, at others had been so great a benefactor of the people. The
on a crocodile. On the subject of the crocodile M. Chinese and Japanese, and even the Mohammedans
Pauw makes a very judicious remark, 'that on his in Arabia and Persia, frequently paint in front of
examining the topography of Egypt, he observed their houses, and over their doors, dragons' heads,
Coptos, Arsinoë, and Crocodilopolis (Athribis), the with wide open mouths, large teeth and fiery eyes,
towns most remarkable for the adoration of croco- to prevent the peace of their families from being dis-
diles, to be all situated on canals at some distance turbed by the envious, or those who wish to do them
from the Nile. Thus by the least negligence in al- harm.
lowing the ditches to be filled up, those animals, In the cosmogony of various heathen nations, a
from being incapable of going far on dry land, could monstrous dragon plays an active part, descending
never have arrived at the very places where they from heaven with its immense form, its eyes flashing
were considered as the symbols of pure water. For, lightning, and its wings flapping with the noise of
as we learn from Ælian, and more particularly from thunder. This mighty creature touches the ocean,
a passage in Eusebius, the crocodile signified water and straightway the earth rises from beneath its wa-
fit for drinking and irrigating the lands. As long as ters, and takes its place as a solid mass, distinct from
their worship was in vogue, the government felt the fluid heap. It
the fluid heap. It is thus that various tribes of
assured that the superstitious would not neglect North American Indians account for the origin of
to repair the canals with the greatest exactness.' the world. The Chinese and the Kalmuck Tartars
Thus was their object gained by this religious allege that the thunder arises from a dragon which
artifice. Herodotus speaks of a method of catch- flies in the air. Comets have been called dragon-
ing the crocodile with a hook to which a piece stars, and the representation of a dragon has formed
of pork was attached as a bait ; but I ought not to the ensign of many nations. Harold, the last of the
omit another mode practised at the present day. | Anglo-Saxon monarchs, fell fighting between dragon
They fasten a dog upon a log of wood, to the middle standards; and the Norman sovereigns used a stand-
of which is tied a rope of sufficient length, protected ard of this kind down to the reign of Henry VIII.
by iron wire, or other substance, to prevent its be- If the dragon be understood to be a snake, even
ing bitten through; and having put this into the in that sense we can speak of Dragon-Worship. An
stream, or on a sand-bank at the edge of the water, animal of this kind is well known to be venerated
they lie concealed near the spot, and await the arri- in Cutch, in Hindostan, and in the eastern provinces
val of the crocodile. As soon as it has swallowed
has swallowed of Persia. In Western Africa both crocodiles and
the dog, they pull the rope, which brings the stick snakes are held in veneration, the crocodile being
across the animal's throat. It endeavours to plunge accounted sacred on the Gold Coast, and a certain
into deep water, but is soon fatigued by its exertions, kind of snake on the Slave Coast. See SERPENT-
and is drawn ashore; when, receiving several blows WORSHIP.
on the head with long poles and hatchets, it is easily DRAWERS (LINEN), a part of the official dress
killed. It is now seldom eaten, the flesh being bad; of the Jewish high-priest, as described in Exod. xxviii.
but its hide is used, especially by the Ethiopians, for and Lev. viii. They were bound about the loins
shields and other purposes: the glands are taken with strings, and reached down to the knees. See
from beneath the arm or fore leg, for the musk they HIGH-PRIEST.
contain ; and some parts are occasionally dried and DREAMS (DIVINATION BY). See DivinATION,
used as philters. In former times it seems rather to ONEIROMANCY.
have been eaten as a mark of hatred to the Evil Be- DRINK-OFFERINGS, an appointed part of the
ing, of whom it was the emblem, than as an article of ancient ritual law of the Hebrews. These offerings
always consisted of wine, and were never performed
In the New Testament, Satan is termed, Rev. xii. 9, alone, but always accompanied other sacrifices.
the dragon, and in the Old Testament it is the symbol Burnt-offerings and peace-offerings had meat-offer.
of a king, that is an enemy. Among some ancient na- ings and drink-offerings combined with them. Sin
food."
756
DROPS (FESTIVAL OF THE-DROTTES.
2
offerings, however, had no such accompaniment. In water has risen in the course of the night. As soon
every sacrifice in which a bullock was slain, the as it is daybreak they take off the seal, open the
quantity of the drink-offering was half a hin of wine; well, and discover by the number of knots which are
for a ram, the third part of a hin ; for a lamb or kid, wet how many fathoms the Nile would rise that
the fourth part of a hin. The wine was not mingled, year above sixteen, reckoning a fathom for every
nor any of it thrown into the fire as the meat-offer- knot." The same traveller adds, “ The Mohamme-
ing was, but it was poured out like the blood of the dans, though professed enemies of the Copts, observe
sacrifice, at the bottom of the altar. See OFFERINGS, upon the same occasion several customs at this day
SACRIFICES.
which bear a near affinity with those of the Copts at
DROPS (FESTIVAL OF THE), a festival observed the time when their priests measured the Nile. This
by the Copts, or original inhabitants of Egypt, on the ceremony is never performed but at vespers, that is
12th day of June yearly, because on that day the to say, at three o'clock in the afternoon. Such as
drops of dew fall which are believed to lead to the undertake this office must be cadi or judges, which,
rise of the Nile. These drops the natives believe to amongst the Mohammedans, is an ecclesiastical func-
be the mercies and blessings sent from heaven. As tion. Before they enter upon it they must be puri-
soon as this dew is fallen, the water begins to be fied, and must have finished their evening prayers
corrupt, and assumes a greenish colour, which in- or vespers, which bear some relation to the mass
creases more and more till the river appears as a lake amongst the Copts."
covered all over with moss. This colour is to be seen The practice is still observed annually in Egypt,
not only in its great channel, but also in all the ponds of holding a festival on the opening of the Kalidgi,
and branches that come from it; only the cisterns or cutting down the embankment of the canal at
keep the water pure. Some years this green colour
green colour Cairo, in order to admit the waters of the Nile when
continues about twenty days, and sometimes more, they have reached a certain height, which is ascer-
but never above forty. At this time the Egyptians tained by an instrument adapted for the purpose,
suffer much, because the water is corrupt, tasteless, called a Nilometer, or measurer of the Nile. This
and unwholesome, and good water is very rare.
As is placed between Gizeh and Cairo, on the point of
soon as the green colour is gone, the river Nile be- an island in the middle of the river, and consists of a
comes red and very muddy. The Copts were wont round tower with an apartment having a cistern in
to call the drops of dew the benediction of heaven, the middle of it, which is lined with marble. The
and believed that the Almighty sent down Michael | bottom of the cistern reaches to the bottom of the
the archangel to infuse these sacred drops into the river, and there is a large opening by which the
Nile, that it might begin to rise, and at length irri- water of the Nile is admitted into the cistern. The
gate and fertilize their country.
rise of the water is indicated by an octagonal col-
Sir John Gardner Wilkinson tells us that “the umn of blue and white marble, on which are marked
deity, or presiding genius of the river, was propitiated twenty cubits of twenty-two inches each. The two
by the ancient Egyptians by suitable oblations, both lowermost of these have no subdivisions; but each
during the inundation, and about the period when it of the rest is divided into twenty-four parts called
was expected; and Seneca tells us that on a par- digits; and the whole height of the pillar is thirty-
ticular fete, the priests threw presents and offerings six feet eight inches. When the river has attained
of gold into the river near Philæ, at a place called its proper height, all the canals are opened, and the
the veins of the Nile, when they first perceived the whole country is laid under water. The utmost im-
rise of the inundation. Indeed we may reasonably portance is attached by the inhabitants to the rise of
suppose that the grand and wonderful spectacle of the Nile, Egypt being wholly dependent for its fer-
the inundation excited in them feelings of the deep- tility upon that noble river, and accordingly, when
est awe for the Divine power to which they were in- the medium height has been reached, and the canals
debted for so great a blessing.
are thrown open, sounds of festive rejoicing are heard
One of the principal festivals of the Egyptians in on all sides, intermingled with music, songs, and
ancient times, according to Heliodorus, was the NILOA cries of “ Allah illah Allah.” A general festival is
(which see), or invocation of the blessings of the in- held at this time, during which the people indulge in
undation, offered to the tutelary deity of the Nile. all kinds of amusement and hilarity. Joy is pictured
Vansleb says, that on the first night of the drops, “a on every countenance, and happiness reigns in every
cadi (judge) and the oldest person of the town repairto house. Each man congratulates his neighbour that
church, carrying with them a small line with eight the river-god is pouring forth productiveness and
knots in it at the distance of an inch from one another. | plenty over the land.
At the end of this line is fastened a leaden plummet, DROTTES, the priests of Teutonic heathenism in
which is let down the mouth of the well in the presence ancient Germany and Britain. It has been supposed
of a vast concourse of people, till it touch the surface that they had some analogy with the Celtic Druids,
of the water, after which they lock up the well, and though Cæsar declares that no such persons were
put their signet upon it, remaining in the church till found among the Germans. Bishop Percy says,
next morning, in order to discover how high the that although the Teutonic nations had priests, they
DRUIDS.
757
war.
bore no more resemblance to the Druids than the swords and became calm and peaceful.” In these
pontiffs of the Greeks and Romans, or of any other early times the privileges and immunities of this sacred
Pagan people. It is related that in a celebrated class were many and valuable. Their persons were
temple of Odin, there were twelve superior Drottes, sacred and inviolable; they were exempted from all
who presided over all ecclesiastical affairs, and gov- taxes, and they were free from liability to serve in
ered the other priests; and one was called the chief The estimation in which both the men and
priest of Northumberland. Their office was confined their privileges were held, tended greatly to increase
to certain families, and was hereditary in its trans- their numbers. Nobles, and even princes, eagerly
mission ; but they appear to have been far inferior sought admission into the priestly order, and the
hoth in wealth and power to the Druids. They en- more numerous the Druids were, the people super-
joyed peculiar privileges in virtue of their sacred stitiously imagined the country would be the more
calling; being exempted from war, prohibited from prosperous and wealthy.
appearing in arms, and even from mounting a horse. The whole Druidical priesthood was divided into
The Teutonic Pagans had also an order of priestesses | different ranks, which were distinguished from one
who served in the temples of their female deities; another by their peculiar dress, and over the entire
and Friga, their chief goddess, was attended by kings' society were placed the ARCH-DRUIDS (which see),
daughters, and ladies of the highest rank of nobility. of whom there were two in Britain, the one residing
Some of these consecrated females were consulted as in the isle of Anglesea, and the other in the isle of
infallible oracles, and held in the greatest veneration, Man. The office of the priesthood was hereditary,
as if in fact they had themselves been divinities. passing from father to son, but the Arch-Druids were
DRUIDS, the priests of the most ancient religion elected from the most eminent of the priestly order
of Great Britain. Druidism is generally supposed by a plurality of votes. Such was the anxiety to
to have been one of the primitive forms of religion, obtain this exalted and influential dignity, and so
the people among whom it prevailed, the Gauls, keen was the contention among rival candidates, that,
Britons, and other Celtic nations, being descended as Cæsar inforins us, the election of an Arch-Druid
from Gomer, the son of Japhet, and grandson of sometimes occasioned a civil war.
Noah. So completely perverted did the true religion A considerable difference of opinion exists among
become, as it passed by tradition throughout a long antiquaries as to the precise number of orders into
course of ages, that when we are first made acquaint- which Druids were divided. The most usual divi-
ed with the religion of the Druids, it is presented to sion is into Bards, Eubages, Vates, and Druids pro-
us as an absurd and cruel superstition. The original perly so called. The Bards were the progenitors of
seat of the system appears to have been Britain, for the heroic, historical and genealogical poets of Gaul,
when Julius Cæsar invaded this country, B. C. 56, we Germany, and Britain. The Triades, which were
find him stating that "such of the Gauls as were de- generally regarded as genuine remains of the Druidi-
sirous of being thoroughly instructed in the princi- cal ages, declare the duties of the Bards to be,“ to
ples of their religion, usually took a journey into reform morals and customs, to secure peace, and to
Britain for that purpose.'
celebrate the praises of all that is good and excel-
The priests of the Pagan religion to which Cæsar | lent." Their office was in no sense ecclesiastical,
refers, received collectively the name of Druids, an their simple vocation being to sing to the lyre or
appellation to which numerous derivations have been harp, the actions of illustrious men, and there is no
assigned. Some have deduced it from the Teutonic evidence that they ever introduced into their poems
Druthiw, a servant of Truth, others from the Welsh the slightest allusion to religious subjects. Yet such
Dar-Gwydd, a superior priest, while a still more was the influence which the Muses exercised over the
numerous class of writers trace it to the Greek word people of that barbarous age, that the power which
drus, an oak, that tree occupying a conspicuous place they wielded over the public mind can scarcely be
in their religious ceremonies. The Druidical priests exaggerated. The second order of the ministers of
appear to have exercised great influence both in civil religion, who are termed the Eubages, are frequently
and ecclesiastical affairs. Thus Cæsar informs us, confounded by antiquarian writers with the Vates,
that two classes of men were held in the highest but it is more probable that they were the men of
veneration ; Druids and nobles. “No sacred rite," science such as then existed, little better than jug-
says Diodorus Siculus, “ was ever performed without glers and sorcerers, who drew after them crowds of
a 'Druid ; by them, as being the favourites of the wondering, awe-struck followers, by their superior
gods, and depositories of their counsels, the people knowledge of the powers of nature. The Vates were
offered all their sacrifices, thanksgivings, and prayers, regarded by the Celtic nations as sacred persons, and
and were perfectly submissive and obedient to their were generally called Faids or prophets. There is
commands. Nay, so great was the veneration in no doubt but this class is rightly reckoned an order
which they were held, that when two hostile armies, of priests, since they were employed in offering sac-
inflamed with warlike rage, with swords drawn and rifices
, as well as in composing hymns in honour of
spears extended, were on the point of engaging in the gods, which they sang at the sacred solemnities
battle, at their intervention they sheathed their to the music of their harps. In the Vates was com-
758
DRUIDS.
bined the threefold character of musician, poet, and effectual mode of securing payment of their yearly
prophet, and they sang their poetical vaticinations dues. Every family was bound, under pain of the
to a superstitious people, who believed them to be highest ecclesiastical censures, to extinguish every
divinely inspired.
fire in their dwelling on the evening of the last day of
The Druids, however, were strictly and properly October, the day of the annual payment; and on the
the ministers of religion who professed to instruct following day, being the first of November, they
the people in divine things, and presided in the sacred were obliged to attend at the temple and receive
ceremonies which belonged to their peculiar faith. from the altar a portion of the sacred fire wherewith
With their sacred were also combined important secu- to rekindle the fires of their houses. By this inge-
lar duties, for while they educated the young in reli- nious contrivance every family was under the neces-
gious truth, they interpreted the laws, and officiated sity of making payment of their dues, otherwise they
as judges both in civil and in criminal matters. Their were deprived of the use of fire at the approach of
mode of living is thus described by Dr. Henry : winter, when it was most needed. Nor were neigh-
Many of the Druids seem to have lived a kind of bouring families allowed to lend their friendly inter-
collegiate or monastic life, united together in fra- position on such occasions, if they would not them.
ternities, as Marcellinus expresses it. The service of selves incur the awful sentence of excommunication,
each temple required a considerable number of them, which shut them out not only from the privileges of
and all these lived together near the temple where the church, but from the society of their fellows, and
they served. The Arch-druid of Britain is thought from all the benefits of law and justice.
to have had his ordinary residence in the isle of The Druidical priests could only attain the high-
Anglesey, where he lived in great splendour and est dignity of their office by passing through six
magnificence for those times, surrounded by a great different gradations, each of them distinguished by a
number of the most eminent persons of his order. peculiar costume. The first or plainest dress was
In this isle, it is pretended, the vestiges of the Arch- entirely destitute of ornament, and could only be
druid's palaces, and of the houses of the other Druids, known from that of the laity by its shape, colour,
who attended him, are still visible. But not a few
But not a few and cassock-girdle. The second rank of priests wore
of the Druids led a more secular and public way of a sash passing from the right shoulder across the
life, in the courts of princes and families of great body to the lower edge of the garment. The third
men, to perform the duties of their function. For no and fourth ranks, which seem scarcely to have been
sacred rite or act of religion could be performed with distinguishable from each other, wore a kind of broad
out a Druid, either in temples or in private houses. scarf reaching round the neck, and hanging loose
Nor does it seem improbable, that some of these down the front without a girdle, and crossed with
ancient priests retired from the world, and from the horizontal stripes. The fifth rank wore a large sash
societies of their brethren, and lived as hermits, in suspended over the right shoulder across the body,
order to acquire a greater reputation of sanctity. In the back and front being joined together. The
the most unfrequented places of some of the Western highest rank or Arch-Druids were completely covered
Islands of Scotland, there are still remaining the foun- with a long mantle and flowing robes, while they
dations of small circular houses, capable of containing wore on their heads an oaken crown, and carried a
only one person, which are called by the people of the sceptre in their hands. All the six orders, when
country Druids' houses. None of these ways of life engaged in religious ceremonies, were dressed in
seem to be very suitable to a married state, and it is white, and wore an oaken wreath. The younger
therefore probable that the far greater part of the Druids had no beards, and were decorated with col-
Druids lived in celibacy, and were waited upon by a lars, bracelets, and armlets of brass; while the older
set of female devotees." The females here referred men among them had a venerable appearanee, hav-
to formed another order of priesthood called DRUID- | ing long beards, their necks decorated with gold
ESSES (which see).
chains, and round their neck a garment enchased with
There is no doubt that the ancient British Druids gold.
received ample support from the people among whom The doctrines of the Druids were of a twofold
they laboured. In many cases they possessed lands character, secret and public. The secret or esoteric
in the neighbourhood of their temples, and the offer- doctrines were reserved exclusively for the initiated,
ings which the worshippers presented to the gods who were bound by a solemn oath to keep them con-
fell to the share of the priests. Besides the emolu- cealed from all men, and had themselves been taught
ments which may have accrued to them from the a knowledge of them in caves of the earth and the
discharge of their manifold duties, both sacred and recesses of forests. The exoteric or public doc-
secular, certain annual dues were exacted from every trines were freely expounded to the people gener-
family by the priests of that temple within whose dis- . ally. The following interesting and accurate sketch
trict the family dwelt. To refuse payment of these of the Druidical Theology is given by Mr. Thomson,
dues was to incur excommunication. A tradition in his · Illustrations of British History: “It has
exists, which is mentioned by several writers, that the been supposed that the principal secret of Druidism
Druidical priesthood were accustomed to adopt a most was the great doctrine of one God, the Creator
DRUIDS.
759
and Governor of the universe, which was in reality spirit dismissed to the circle of felicity. Such is a
retained by them long after the commencement of summary of the complex Theological Triades; and
their idolatries : and is also one of those tenets only one more of the Druidical doctrines deserves to
which the Brahmans of India—who are often assimi- be mentioned, which has been preserved in its ori-
lated to the British Druids-vow to keep sacred. ginal form by Diogenes Laertius: it simply com-
Cæsar states only, that the Druids taught many | mands, "To worship the gods; to do no evil; and to
things concerning the power and prerogatives of the exercise fortitude. The principles of this theological
immortal gods; but it has also been believed that system having increased these hymns to about 20,000
they recounted to their disciples a great part of the verses, their study frequently occupied twenty years ;
Mosaical history of the creation of the world, the and they were preserved only in the memories of the
formation and fall of man, the revolt and expulsion Druids and their disciples, since it was held unlawful
of the angels, the deluge, and the final destruction of to cornmit them to writing. When they were taught
the universe by fire. Their principal public doctrine to the nation, they were delivered from little emi-
appears to have been the immortality of the soul, nences, of which many are yet remaining, though
which was taught to the common people to excite their signification was never given, excepting with
that bravery and contempt of death evinced by all the greatest reserve ; but the Druidical students
the ancient nations; and the Triad containing it bids were instructed in the most private manner, in ca-
them remember "To act bravely in war; that souls verns or recesses of thick forests, that their lessons
are immortal; and there is another life after death.' | might not be overheard. Even after the establish-
But even this divine principle is frequently viewed ment of Christianity, something of this plan of in-
only as a system of transmigration ; though it has also struction was still followed ; since a collection of its
been asserted, that such a change with the Druids doctrines was formed in the Druid measure, adapted
related solely to other human bodies of the same for Bardic recitation, and entitled the Triades of
sex, whence the arms, &c. which were valued in life | Paul.
were also deposited in the tomb. It has likewise “ The purer parts of the Druidical theology are
been imagined, that their doctrine of immortality was considerably more ancient than the introduction of
represented under the metaphor of the soul passing those numerous false deities with which it was cor-
into another body, only as being more easily com- rupted in its late ages; since some of its professors
prehended; and that the Druids themselves held the interdicted the worship of idols, or any other form
belief of a distinct future state, in a kind of Elysian intended to represent the Godhead. These were
fields, called Flath-Innis, or the island of the brave probably the followers of the first Druids, and those
and virtuous, to which the soul immediately ascended; / who fixed upon the Sun, as the great reviver of Na-
and in a place of darkness, named Ifurin, or the isle ture, and the chief emblem of Him who is the life of
of the cold land, infested with hurtful animals, where all things. The later Druids were probably those
serpents hissed and stung, lions roared, and wolves who united the most conspicuous parts of an animal
devoured. The Druids and their followers, also, in an image, to express the several perfections of
both in Gaul and Britain, exemplified their assurance the Deity, since it was contrary to the principles of
of a future existence, by going fearlessly to battle to the Celtic religion to represent Gods in the human
encourage the armies ; leaving the settlement of form. Such were probably the effigies alluded to by
their accounts until they met in another world; cast- Gildas, when he notices the monstrous idols of our
ing letters on the funeral piles of their friends to be country, almost surpassing in number the very devil-
read in the next life ; burying the accounts of the ish devices of Egypt, of the which we behold as yet
departed, and lending money to be repaid there; and some, both within and without the walls of their for-
by voluntarily embracing death at the immolation of saken temples, now mouldering away, with deformed
some esteemed person, to enjoy their society in an portraitures, and terrible countenances, after the ac-
eternal state. The writings of the bards contain customed manner.' It has been argued that idolatry
their dark and uncertain notions of moral virtue, and was not introduced in Britain until after the invasion
the retributions of a future existence. Man is placed, of the Romans; but subsequent to that event, the
according to their doctrine, in the circle of courses, British deities were principally the same as those of
good and evil being set before him for his selection; Rome and Greece, adored under Celtic names. The
and upon his making choice of the former, death Supreme Being was worshipped under the form of
transmits him from the earth into the circle of feli- an oak, and called Hæsus, or Mighty. In their re-
city. If, however, he become vicious, death returns presentation of this Divinity, the Druids, with the
him into the circle of courses, wherein he is made to consent of the whole order and neighbourhood, fixed
penance in the body of an animal, and then per-- upon the most beautiful tree they could discover, and
mitted to reassume his human form. The length having cut off its side branches, they joined two of
and repetition of this probation, is determined by the them to the highest part of the trunk, so that they
vice or virtue of the individual; but after a certain extended like the arms of a man. Near this transverse
number of transmigrations, his offences were sup- piece was inscribed the word Thau, for the name of
posed to be expiated, his passions subdued, and his God; whilst upon the right arm was written Hæsus,
do
760
DRUIDS.
on the left Belenus, and, on the centre of the trunk, | favourite son of Jupiter by Maia, and received from
Tharanis. Towards the decline of Druidism, how- his father the government of the West of Europe,
,
ever, when a belief in the unity of God was lost in where he procured his Celtic name, composed of the
Polytheism, Hæsus is sometimes said to have been words Merc, merchandise, and Wr, a man. There
identified with Mars, who presided over wars and were also many other imaginary deities, anciently
arinies, though it is also believed that he was adored adored in Britain, and also female divinities; these
under another name, in the form of a naked sword. were Andraste, supposed to have been Venus or
To him were presented all the spoils of battle; and Diana ; Minerva, Ceres, Porserpine, &c. It has also
if, says Cæsar, 'they prove victorious, they offer up been believed, that the British worshipped the ser-
all the cattle taken, and set apart the rest of the pent and the bull; and that there was scarcely a
plunder in a place appointed for that purpose : and river, lake, mountain, or wood, which was not sup-
it is common in many provinces to see these monu- posed to have some genii residing within it, in
ments of offerings piled up in consecrated places. | honour of whom treasures were presented, and gold,
Nay, it rarely happens that any one shows so great food, and garments, cast into the waters.”
a disregard of religion, as either to conceal the plun- The places of worship among the Druids of an-
der, or pillage the public oblations; and the severest cient Britain were dense groves of oak, which were
punishments are inflicted upon such offenders.' The found in great numbers throughout different parts of
divine attribute of universal paternity, furnished the country. A Druidical temple consisted of a
another Druidical Deity, adored under the name of spacious circular area in the midst of one of these
Teutates, composed of the British words Deu-Tatt, shady thickets, which, though surrounded with oak-
or God the Father. He was at length transformed
He was at length transformed trees, was open at the top. Within the area stood
into the Sovereign of the infernal world, and consi- a single and sometimes a double line of large stones
dered as Dis, or Plato, with the Greeks and Ro- erected perpendicularly, and occasionally crossed by
mans; though some suppose him to have been adored a line of horizontal stones forming a circle above;
as Mercury. Nor did the Britons omit to worship there were also several erections of rude stones, sup-
the heavenly bodies, since they had many temples posed to have been dedicated to particular deities.
erected to the Sun, which was known under the The Druidical altar, which was also contained within
names of Bel, Belinus, Belatucardus, Apollo, Gran- the enclosure, was sometimes made of turf or a large
nius, &c., expressive of its properties. The adora- flat rock, for receiving an extensive burnt-offering,
tions paid to the Moon appear to have been equally and sometimes only a pile of stones raised in the
great; and the temples dedicated to it were generally centre of the area.
near and similar to the former. With these principal Much obscurity hangs over the rites and ceremo-
splendours of the skies, the Britons also worshipped nies of the Druidical worship. One of their favourite
the Thunder, under the name of Taranis, but a great sacred customs was, what is called the DEASUIL
number of the Gods of Great Britain were deifica-(which see), which was probably connected with the
tions of men, who had been victorious princes, wise worship of the Sun. On this peculiar ceremony,
legislators, or inventors of useful arts. They were, Dr. Lindsay Alexander remarks in his small treatise
in general, the very same as those adored by the on Iona, “There is reason to believe that they at-
Greeks and Romans, and it is even probable that tached much importance to the ceremony of going
they were of greater antiquity in Gaul and Britain ; thrice round their sacred circle from east to west,
since they were Celtes by birth, princes of Celtic following the course of the Sun, by which it is sup-
tribes, and were originally known by names signifi-posed that they intended to express their entire con-
cant in the Celtic language. Added to which, the formity to the will and order of the Supreme Being, and
Greeks and Romans discovered a great propensity to their desire that all might go well with them according
adopt the deities of other nations, whilst the more to that order.” The same intelligent writer remarks,
barbarous people were tenacious of the faith and as an instance of the tenacity with which ancient
customs of their ancestors. One of the greatest of religious rites are kept up among a people, “that even
these demi-gods was Saturn, the first of the Titan to the present day certain movements are considered
race, whose name signities Martial, or Warlike. The of good omen only when they follow the course of
original name of Jupiter is Jow, a Celtic word, mean- the sun; and that in some of the remote parts of the
ing Young, because he was the youngest son of Sa- country, the practice is still retained of seeking good
turn, whom he dethroned; whilst his elder brothers, fortune by going thrice round some supposed sacred
Neptune and Pluto, acted only as subordinate princes object from east to west.” Another rite punctually
in his einpire. The Romans afterwards extended his observed was the cutting of the MISLETOE (which
name by the addition of Pater, Father. Mercury was see), solemnly performed on the 10th of March, or
acored in Britain under the form of a cube, and Cæsar the commencement of the year. The sixth day of
calls him 'the chief deity with the Gauls, of whom the moon, and the new and full changes of the
they have many images, accounting him the inventor sanie planet, were also considered by the Druids
of all arts, their guide and conductor in their journeys, as sacred seasons. There were two festivals cele-
and the patron of merchandise and gain' He was the brated with sacred fires, namely, on the first of
DRUIDESSES.
761
" The
May and the first of November. (See FIRES, | issued a warning to the Roman citizens against the
SACRED).
practice of any of its rites. Tiberius banished such
The religious assemblies of the Druids were at- ceremonies from Rome and the adjoining provinces,
tended by both men and women, and so rigidly was while Claudius destroyed the Druids in Gaul. A
silence enforced during sacred service, that those persecution about the same time arose against them in
who were found talking were thrice admonished, Britain, compelling numbers to seek refuge in the isle
then exposed by a small piece being cut from their of Anglesey. Suetonius Paulinus, governor of Bri-
robes, and ultimately proceeded against with the ut- tain under Nero, cut down the sacred groves of the
most severity. Cæsar tells us, that to be prohibited Druids, destroyed their teinples, overthrew their
from coming to the public sacrifices was the greatest altars, and burned many of the priests. Successive
punishment known to the Gauls. Animals were of. seasons of persecution rapidly diminished the vota-
fered to the gods, and especially white bulls. There ries of the Druidical superstition. But traces of the
is no doubt, however, that the Druids were also ad- system seem to have remained in Britain until A, D.
dicted to the cruel and barbarous practice of offering 177, when king Lucius embraced Christianity. Even
human sacrifices. “Sometimes,” says Mr. Thomson, for a century after that period, the worship of the
“these victims were destroyed by arrows, and cruci- Druids was still practised in the island of Mona.
fied in the sacred groves ; and at others they were Gradually, however, this idolatrous system disap-
despatched in a more extensive way of slaughter, by peared as Christianity made its way throughout all
an immense statue of straw, or twisted osiers, which parts of the country, and before the zealous exertions
was filled entirely with wood, cattle, and human be- of Columba and the Culdees (which see), the bar-
ings, which were indiscriminately consumed in one barous rites and superstitions of the Druids passed
entire burnt-offering. The victims are said to have utterly and for ever away.
been brought into the temples naked, and stained DRUIDESSES, priestesses of the ancient Pagan
with the juice of herbs; and such sacrifices were Britons. The name was usually applied to the
even publicly established, though on extraordinary wives of the Druids, some of whom devoted them-
occasions they were sometimes anticipated for the selves almost exclusively to religious duties.
purpose of divination. They take a man,' says most sacred and important rank, however," to use
Diodorus Siculus, ' who is to be sacrificed, and kill the language of Mr. Richard Thomson, whose anti-
him with one stroke of a sword above the diaphragm; quarian knowledge was of the most extensive and
and by observing the posture in which he falls, his accurate kind," was composed of such as were vowed
different convulsions, and the direction in which the to perpetual virginity, and resided together in se-
blood flows from his body, they form their predic- | questered sisterhoods. About A. D. 45, these ves-
tions, according to certain rules which have been left tals were nine in number, their dwelling being an
them by their ancestors.' The fragments of the island inhabited by the Corisoptii, situated in the
sacrifice, or feast, as some have supposed it, were British Sea, on the coast of the Osismii; which place
consumed by the last fire upon the altar; which was is now supposed to be the Isle de Sein, about four
then consecrated anew by strewing it with oak leagues from Finisterre on the coast of Bretagne,
leaves. It is only candid to state, however, that since it was anciently named Sena, and its inhabit-
these human sacrifices have not only been denied, ants Sehanes or Sence, venerable women. Their
but it has been supposed that they were seldom even principal characteristic was divination, but they also
of the animal kind, and then only of the more hurt- professed the working of miracles, prophecy, curing
ful, such as the boar. The Gaelic language is said the most inveterate diseases, raising of storms, and
to contain no traces of such ceremonies; and the converting themselves into all kinds of animals ;
word expressive of sacrifice actually means "the of- though they disclosed none of their predictions but
fering of the Cake.'”
to mariners, and such as visited their island purpose-
If the charge made against the Druids of sacrific- | ly to consult their oracle. They had white hair, and
ing human victims be in reality well-founded, they like the Druids, their habit on certain public occa-
were not alone in the practice of such superstitious sions was a white tunic and linen cloak with clasps,
barbarities, it being established beyond all doubt a broad girdle of brass-work, their feet uncovered,
that the Egyptians, Carthaginians, and Phænicians, and a magic staff in their hands. When Suetonius
were guilty of the same crime. So closely indeed Paulinus in A. D. 61, invaded the Isle of Anglesey,
does the Druidical approach to the Phoenician wor- which was then the residence of the Arch-Druid, his
ship, that some writers have alleged them to be army was struck with consternation at finding a con-
actually identical. The points of resemblance, how- derable number of these Druidesses, in funeral habits
ever, are too remote to entitle us to draw such a with disordered hair, carrying torches, and running up
conclusion.
and down the ranks of the British army, imprecating
For ages Druidism reigned with urquestioned the wrath of heaven upon the invaders of their coun-
supremacy both in Britain and Gaul. The Roman try. Their sacrificial duties towards captives, how-
iu vasion, however, of the former country gave the ever, were still more ferocious; since they first
first blow to the system, Augustus Cæsar having rushed upon them with drawn swords, and having
I.
3 K
762
DRUM (SACRED).
ers.
cut them down, dragged them to a capacious labrum, | mises, and was only conveyed to its new quarters
or cistern, on which stood the officiating Druidess, after the whole family had quitted the house. Nor
who plunged a long knife into each of the victims. was any one allowed to lay his hands upon the sa-
The bodies were then opened and examined by her cred instrument but the master of the house himself,
assistants, who, from the appearance of the entrails, and in carrying it away to his new abode, he must
pronounced their divinations, which were immedi- needs select the most private and unfrequented roads,
ately communicated to the army or the council. for the Laplanders believed that if any female, whe-
Every year it was their custom to unroof their tem- ther married or unmarried, should happen within
ple, and, by their united labours, to recover it again three days to pass along the same road, she would
before sun-set; during which ceremony, if any one either die upon the spot, or some fatal disaster would
lost or dropped her burthen, she was torn to pieces | befall her, unless it were averted by the gift, on her
by the rest, and her limbs carried round the sacred part, of a brass ring presented in the most solemn
place in Bacchanalian procession."
manner, for the service of the sacred drum.
DRUM (SACRED), an instrument of magical in- In his magical consultations with the drum, the
cantation formerly in use among the native Lapland- Laplander and all who joined him assumed a kneeling
It was made of the body or trunk of a pine or posture, which they regarded as only decent and be-
hollow birch-tree, which could be found only in par- coming in the presence of the sacred utensil. The
ticular spots, and every part of which, both trunk ordinary mode in which they used this venerated arti-
and branches, had the remarkable peculiarity of be- cle is thus described by Picart, in his Religious Cer-
ing inflected naturally from the right to the left. The emnonies of all Nations :' “In order to know, for
drum was constructed of one entire piece of wood, instance, the transactions of any foreign country, one
hollowed out in the middle. The upper part, which of the operators beats the drum, in the following
was flat, was covered with skin, and the lower part, manner : “He first lays a large quantity of brass rings
which was convex, was so constructed, that, after they linked together, with several small brass chains, upon
made two long openings in it, the solid wood between that particular place where the sun is delineated. Then
served as a handle. The rims which kept the skin he beats the drum, in such a manner with his horn
tight in a kind of circular form, were not absolutely hammer, or stick, that the rings are put in mo-
round, but rather oval. Upon this skin thus stretched | tion. During this action, he sings very distinctly
on the head of the drum, the Laplanders painted a song, which in the language of Lapland is called
various figures in red, which seemed to be of a some- Jonke, and all the natives that are present, both men
what hieroglyphical character. These drums were and women, add their respective songs, which are
not all made of the same pattern. In order to ren- distinguished by the name of Deuvra. The words
der them complete and adapted for magical purposes, which they utter are so distinct, that they nominate
there was appended to them a large copper ring, to the very place of which they want some secret intel-
which they fastened several others of a smaller size.ligence. After he has beat the drum for some con-
These rings, also, varied in construction, sometimes siderable time, he raises it to his head, and then
consisting of a very thick plate of copper, with a drops instantly down upon the ground, like one fallen
square hole in the middle, and with small brass fast asleep, or into a trance. His senses are all
chains, which hung down instead of rings, and met lost, his pulse ceases to beat, and he is, in short, a
together in a circle ; at other times consisting of a dead man to all outward appearance; from whence
brass ring, with a small round plate of brass sus- it has been thought that the soul of the magi-
pended to it by several small chains. The hammer cian actually abandons his body for a time, and,
with which the drum was beaten was made from the through the assistance of some invisible spirits, is
horn of a rein-deer.
conveyed to those very countries, of which they
The sacred drum was held in extraordinary vener- want such intelligence as before-mentioned. Whilst
ation by the Laplanders in former times, though such the officiating Laplander is in this situation, this
an instrument is no longer in use. By it they dis- state of insensibility, he is notwithstanding, we
covered secrets, cured diseases, and performed many are told, in such extremity of pain, that the sweat
wonderful deeds. Its efficacy was with them cer- runs down his face and all over his body. Mean-
tain and undoubted. It was not, however, by the while the whole assembly continue singing, till he
noise of the drum when beaten, but by the motion returns from his reverie to his perfect senses.
For
which was thereby caused in the rings, and the pe- should they cease, or endeavour to awake him by
culiar positions which, in consequence of the vibra- the least touch imaginable, the magician, as we are
tion, the rings assumed, that they professed to inter- further told, vould inevitably die. And, in all
pret the secrets of futurity. So great was the
So great was the probability, that is the reason, why they take a
importance which they attached to the drum, that more than ordinary care at such a time, to prevent
no family accounted its household equipment com · flies, or insects of any other kind, from settling near
plete without this necessary article of furniture, and him. When he is perfectly awake, and come to him-
if at any tirne the family changed their residence, self, he gives a full account of the information he has
the drum was the last thing removed from the pre- received, and answers all the interrogatories of the
DRUZES.
763
whole assembly.' The duration of this ecstatic slum- tenets of this singular sect, but of late years tolera-
ber is very uncertain ; but it never lasts, at the most; bly correct information has been obtained from
as we are informed, above four and twenty hours : | several authors, who have made careful investiga-
the conjuror, however, should he recover his senses tions into this somewhat mysterious subject. De
sooner or later, always produces some token of the Sacy, in his "Exposé de la Religion des Druzes,'
thing or country inquired after, as an undeniable tes- gives the following summary of this singular sect :
timony of his supernatural abilities.”
“To acknowledge only one God, without seeking to
One of the most frequent occasions on which the penetrate the nature of his being and of his attributes ;
drum was consulted was to ascertain the nature and to confess that he can neither be comprehended by
seat of a disease, and how the gods might be most the senses, nor defined by words; to believe that the
readily induced to effect its removal. If the rings Divinity has shown itself to men at different epochs,
turned from the left to the right when the drum was under a human form, without participating in any of
beaten, the omen was regarded as favourable, being the weaknesses and imperfections of humanity; that
in accordance with the sun's course in the heavens ; it has shown itself at last, at the commencement of
but if, on the contrary, the motion of the rings was the fifth age of the Hejira, under the figure of Hakim
from right to left, the omen was looked upon as un- Biamı-Allah; that that was the last of his manifes-
favourable, and portending calamities or misfortunes tations, after which there is none other to be expected;
of one kind or another. Even on the most ordinary that Hakim disappeared in the year 411 of the He-
occasions, the Laplander was wont to consult the jira, to try the faith of his servants, to give room for
drum, were it only to ascertain whether the day was the apostacy of hypocrites, and of those who had
to be lucky or unlucky, whether the chase was to be only embraced the true religion from the hope of
successful or otherwise, or whether the journey on worldly rewards ; that in a short time he would ap-
which he was about to start was to be prosperous or pear again, full of glory and of majesty, to triumph
disastrous. The superstitious practices which we over all his enemies, to extend his empire over all
have thus sketched are no longer to be found in the earth, and to make his faithful worshippers happy
Lapland, having disappeared before the light of Chris- for ever; to believe that Universal Intelligence is
tianity and advancing civilization. See LAPLAND the first of God's creatures, the only direct produc-
(RELIGION OF).
tion of his omnipotence; that it has appeared upon
DRUZES, a heretical Mohammedan sect which the earth at the epoch of each of the manifestations
arose about the beginning of the eleventh century, of the Divinity, and has finally appeared since the
in the mountains of Syria. They are chiefly found time of Hakim under the figure of Hamza, son of
in the districts of Lebanon, north of the METAWI- Ahmed ; that it is by his ministry that all the other
LAH (which see), and south of the MARONITES (which creatures have been produced; that Hamza only
see), with whom, however, to a certain extent, they possesses the knowledge of all truth, that he is the
have become commingled. Dr. Wilson alleges that prime minister of the true religion, and that he com-
they are also to be found in considerable nunibers in municates, directly or indirectly, with the other minis-
Wadi-et-Teim, in Jebel-Haurán, and in the neigh- ters and with the faithful, but in different proportions,
bourhood of Damascus. As a sect they are descend- the knowledge and the grace which he receives
ed from the CARMATHIANS (which see), and their directly from the Divinity, and of which he is the
origin is to be traced to the propagation of the ex- sole channel ; that he only has immediate access to
travagant doctrines of the fanatical Caliph El-Hakim God, and acts as a mediator to the other worship-
of the Fatimite race. This tyrannical ruler was pers of the Supreme Being; acknowledging that
alarmed by an insurrection of the orthodox Mussul- Hamza is he to whom Hakim will confide his sword,
mans of Egypt, headed by an obscure water-carrier to make his religion triumph, to conquer all his
of Cairo, who pretended to be sprung froin the Om- rivals, and to distribute rewards and punishments
miade family. After a long and severe contest, the according to the merits of each one; to know the
impostor was conquered, and was made prisoner. other ministers of religion, and the rank which be-
The caliph devised a new and singular mode of put- | longs to each of them ; to give to each the obedience
ting him to death ; he ordered hiin to be bound hand and the submission which is their due; to confess
and foot to a camel, and led through the streets of that every soul las been created by the Universal
Cairo, while an ape, trained for the purpose, beat his Intelligence; that the number of men is always the
lead with a stone until life was extinct. From this same, and that souls pass successively into diferent
time El-Hakim became a bitter persecutor of the bodies; that they are raised by their attachment to
orthodox Mohammedans, and a vigorous opponent truth to a superior degree of excellence, or are de-
of the caliphs of Bagdad. He was assisted by two graded by neglecting or giving up religious medita-
Persian disciples equally zealous with himself, Ham- tion; to practise the seven commandments which
zah and Ed-Derazi, from the latter of whom comes the the religion of Hamza imposes upon its followers,
name Deruz, their proper Arabic appellation, whence and which principally exacts from them the obser-
the term Druzes is said to have been derived. For vance of truth, charity towards their brethren, the
a long time considerable obscurity hung over the renunciation of their former religion, the most entire
764
DRUZES.
resignation and submission to the will of God; to All the ceremonies of their religion are studiously
confess that all preceding religions have only been enveloped in mystery; their mosques are isolated,
types more or less perfect of true religion, that all built usually on the tops of hills, and none but the
their ceremonial observances are only allegories, initiated are allowed to be present at their worship.
and that the manifestation of true religion requires In their sanctuaries the veiled figure of a calf is reli.
the abrogation of every other creed. Such is the giously kept, which they regard as the symbol of
abridgment of the religious system taught in the the invisible Imám; this is rarely uncovered, and
books of the Druzes, of which Hamza is the author, never but to those who have obtained the higher de-
and whose followers are called Unitarians."
grees in the faith. The initiated are bound to main-
Mohammed ben Ishmael Ed-Derazin was an ar- tain the most inviolable secrecy in reference to reli-
dent apostle of the fanatic Hakim, who, in addition gious matters, more especially as to their master El
to his other absurdities, had actually claimed to be Hakim. The strict rule which they have laid down
regarded as a divinity. This impious pretension on this point is, that “whosoever shall betray the
was supported by Ed-Derazin, who asserted that least of those secrets shall be s'ain without mercy
Hakim was an incarnation of the invisible Imam. in the public assembly of the Druzes as an apos-
Hamza was the most active missionary of the new tate."
creed; he declared that Mohammed knew nothing The ecclesiastical arrangements of the Druzes are
but the literal interpretation of what was revealed, briefly described by Niebuhr in his Travels in Ara-
while El Hakim was acquainted with the allegorical bia,' &c. “The Druzes," he says, "are divided into
sense, which was perfect and true wisdom. The
The | Akals, that is to say, Ecclesiastics; and Djahels or
principal points in which the Druzes differ from the Seculars. The Ecclesiastics are dependent upon
other Mohammedan sects, are the authority they three Akals, who are Sheiks among them; of whom
attribute to El Hakim, and their reverence for a one dwells in the district Arkub, the second in the
charter of faith which he is said to have bequeathed district Tschuf el Heite, and the third in the district
to his followers. This charter was found suspended Hasbeia. The Akals are distinguished from the Se-
in one of the mosques after the death of El llakim, culars by their white dress. They have generally
and it is held in greater veneration among the Druzes good louses on the hills; and, judging by those few
than the Koran. It is a curious fact, that though which I saw on the road from Saide to Damascus, it
this singular people profess to be Mohammedans, seems to me that they have not chosen the worst
and to believe in the Koran, so far are they from situations. On Thursday evening, which among the
reverencing Mohammed as a prophet, that they never Orientals is called the night of Friday, they assemble
pronounce his name without cursing his memory. in the house of one or other of their fraternity, to
“We are those," say they, “who have been put in perform their worship and pray for the whole nation :
possession of the faith, after the religion of Moham- the wives of Ecclesiastics may be present, but they
med, the son Abdallah : may the malediction of do not admit Seculars, not even a Sheik or an Emir,
the Lord be upon him.” They are partial to the They despise all employments of honour in the world
riame of Unitarians, asserting that they alone rightly but perhaps in this they make a virtue of neces-
understand the doctrine of the Divine Unity. In sity—for, on the return of Hakim, they hope to be
regard to El Hakim, whom they chiefly venerate, kings, viziers, and pachas. They do not marry the
they expect his return in a short time, if it so pleases daughters of Seculars; and they everi carry their
him, and that he will reign with his followers upon aversion to the property of the great so far, as not
the earth througlı ages of ages, when those who now to eat with the Sheiks and Emirs of their own na-
refuse to own him shall be subjected to his sway, tion. Akals eat only with Akals; and with the
cast into chains, compelled to pay an annual tribute, peasants and other poor people, who they are certain
and forced to wear distinctive marks upon their dress. earn their bread by labour.” Burckhardt also throws
By the zeal of Hamza, the new doctrines were rapid- further light upon the subject in his “Travels in Sy-
ly spread in Egypt, Palestine, and along the coast of ria. “It seems to be a maxim with them," he teils
Syria, but in consequence of the persecution raised 118, to adopt the religious practices of the country
against them by the orthodox Mohammedans, the in which they reside, and to profess the creed of the
Druzes took refuge in the mountains of Lebanon, strongest; hence, they all profess Islamism in Syria ;
where on the range of the Anti-Libanus there are and even those who have been baptized, on account
found, by the most recent accounts, fully 200,000 of of their alliance with the Shehab family, still
prac-
them.
tise the exterior forms of the Mohammedan faith.
The religion of the Druzes, as far as it has yet There is no truth in the assertion that the Druzes go
been discovered, is a system of Deism mingled with one day to the mosque, and the next to the church;
occasional traces of Judaism, Christianity, and Mo- they all profess Islamism: and whenever they mix
hammedanism. They practise neither circumcision, with Mohammedans, they perform the rites prescrib-
prayer, nor fasting; they drink wine, eat swine's ed by their religion. In private, hovever, they
Hesh, and marry within the prohibited degrees. break the fast of Ramadan, curse Mohammed, in-
They wear a white turban as an emblem of purity. | dulge in wine, and eat food forbidden by the Kéran.
DRYADS-DUALISM.
765
They bear an inveterate hatred to all religions ex- theory, as was manifested in the Manichean sect,
cept their own, but more particularly to that of the assumed the existence of an active, turbulent king-
Franks, chiefly in consequence of a tradition current dom of darkness, which was constantly making
among them, that the Europeans will one day over- inroads on the kingdom of light, and thus mixing
throw their coinmonwealth.'
the light with the darkness, or the evil with the
Dr. Wilson, in his · Lands of the Bible,' gives the good. This system of Dualisin was found also among
substance of a catechism used among the Druzes in the Platonists in the hyle or substance of the corpo-
the education of the young, and the doctrines which real world as opposed to the mundane soul animating
it contains are in complete conformity with the views the universe. “The most essential difference," says
which we have given of their system of religion—a Neander, “ between the Gnostic systems, and the one
system which simply substitutes El Hakim for Mo- which is best suited also to be made the basis of
hammed, and a vagnie unsatisfactory Deism for all their distribution, is that which arises from their dif-
that the Koran contains of Christianity.
ferent degrees of divergence, in respect to what cou-
Before closing this article, we may notice a pecui- stitutes the peculiarity of the Gnostic view of the
liarity of dress among the female Druzes, mentioned universe, from the purely Christian view. It is the
by various travellers in Palestine. Messrs. Bonar | Dualistic element carried out ;-by virtue of which
and I'Cheyne thus describe it: “In the streets of those oppositions,—which Christianity exhibits as
Beyrout, it is common to meet Druse women wear- conflicting with the original unity in creation, as
ing the tantour or “horn' of silver, with the white having first originated in the fall of the creature, and
veil thrown over it. It is far from being a graceful only to be removed by the redemption,—these oppo-
ornament, and is adopted only by the women of Le- sitions are considered as original, grounded in the
banon. It is likely that this fashion was borrowed very principles of existence ;--hence, also, as being
originally from the language of Scripture, and not of such a kind that they could not be overcome by
that any such fashion existed long ago, to which the redemption itself ;-the oppositions between a
Scripture refers. Probably the truth in regard to temporal, earthly, and a higher, invisible order of
this custom, is the same as in regard to several prac- | things; between the natural, the purely human, and
tices in use among the Abyssinians; they have the divine. This opposition, so apprehended, must
grafted customs on a literal application of Scripture be extended moreover to the relation of Christianity
expressions. Such passages as I have defiled my to the creation, to nature, and history. Where this
horn in the dust,' may have suggested this singular opposition generally was seized in its most sharp and
head-dress to the people of Lebanon. The horn to decided form, nothing less could be supposed than
which the words of Scripture refer, was simply, as an absolute opposition also between Christianity and
among the Greeks, the horn of animals, that being the creation—between nature and history. Chris-
their principal weapon of defence, and therefore the tianity must make its appearance as an altogether
natural symbol of power."
sudden thing, as a fragment disconnected from every-
DRYADS (Gr. drus, an oak), inferior female thing else, as something coming in wholly without
divinities among the ancient Greeks and Romans, expectation. According to this view, no gradual
who presided over trees.
development of the Theocracy, as an organically con-
DRYOPS, a king of the Dryopes, who were nected whole, could be admitted. The connection,
named from him. After his death he was worship- also, must be broken between Christianity and Ju-
ped by the Asinæans in Messenia, as an ancestral daism. And all this becomes concentrated in the
hero, and as a son of Apollo. A festival was ob- form of relation in which the Demiurge was con-
served in honour of this deity every second year. ceived to stand to the Supreme, perfect God, and the
DUALISM, that system of doctrine which main- world of Eons. Everything depends, then, on the
tains that there are two essential, self-subsisting, in- circumstance, whether an absolute opposition was
dependent principles, a good and an evil principle. made to exist here, or room was still left for some
Evil is thus put beyond the Divine control, having sort of mediation. It is manifest, how deeply this
an independent existence out of God. This was one difference must affect everything that pertains to
of the fundamental principles of the Gnostic here- the province of morals and religion.”
sies. They were essentially dualistic. They endea- Dualism lay at the foundation of the system of the
voured to explain the present state of things in a BASILIDIANS (which see), which ascribed the mix-
moral point of view, by alleging it to be the product
ture of the Divine element with matter to an en-
of two opposite principles, the result of the commix- croachment of the kingdom of darkness on the king-
ture of tivo hostile kingdoms. This peculiar notion dom of light. But not only did Dualism prevail in
characterized the Syrian as distinguished from the various Gnostic systems, it also occupies a proini-
Alexandrian Gnosis, and was evidently borrowed nent place in the principal Oriental systems of reli-
from the Parsic or ancient Persian system of Zo- gion. Thus both Budha and Brahm are represented
roaster, which maintained Ahriman and his king- as under the necessity of passing out of themselves
dom to be equally original and self-subsisting with | into manifestation. Thus springs into existence the
Ormuzd and his kingdom. (See ABESTA.) This world of phenomena or appearances, the Maia or
766
DUCHOBORTZI.
1
illusion. In man the spirit or soul returns back fell in the spiritual world, in the world above; there-
through various stages into the pure being of the fore, the fall of Adam and Eve, which is described in
Spirit, the Nirwana of the Budhists, or absorption | the Scripture, must not be taken in its usual sense ;
into Brahm the eternal spirit, the supreme felicity | but this part of the Scripture is an image, wherein is
of the Brahmanists. The Manichean dualism was an represented, firstly, the fall of the human soul from a
evident combination of the Zoroastrian and the Bud- state of exalted purity in the spiritual world, and
hist systems.
before it came into the world; secondly, the fall
DUCHOBORTZI (Slav. Duch, a spirit, and bor- which was repeated by Adam, in the beginning of
etz, a wrestler), or combatants in spirit, a sect of dis- the days of this world, and which is adapted to our
senters from the Russian (Greek) church. The
The understanding; thirdly, the fall which, since Adam,
origin of this sect has never been fully ascertained. is spiritually and carnally repeated by all of us men,
They themselves allege, when interrogated on the and which will be repeated till the destruction of the
subject, that the first persons who held their princi- world. Originally the fall of the soul was brought
ples were the three Hebrew youths mentioned in Dan. about by its contemplating itself, and beginning to
iii., who were cast by Nebuchadnezzar into a burning | love only itself, so that it turned away from the
fiery furnace, because they refused to worship the conternplation and love of God; and by a voluntary
idolatrous image which the king set up. No re- pride. When the soul was, for its punishment,
cords exist as to the history of the Duchobortzi ; enclosed in the prison of the body, it fell for the sec-
none, at least, have been made public. The late ond time in the person of Adam, through the guilt
Count Krasinski, whose knowledge of the religions of the seductive serpent; that is to say, through
of the Slavonic nations was very extensive and mi- the evil corrupted will of the flesh. At present, the
nute, was of opinion that they are a continuation fall of all of us is caused by the seduction of the
of the sect of the PATARENES (which see), who same serpent, which has entered into us through
maintained exactly the same doctrine about the fall | Adam, through the use of the forbidden fruit, i. e.
of the soul before the creation of the world as the through the pride and vain-gloriousness of the spirit,
Duchobortzi hold, and who were very numerous in the and the lasciviousness of the flesh. The consequence
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in Servia, Bosnia, of the first fall of the soul in the world above was
and Dalmatia, but of whom no mention is made the loss of the divine image, and its imprisonment in
since the latter part of the fifteenth century. Wlie- the matter. The memory of man was weakened,
ther this conjecture be well founded or not, the and he forgot what he had formerly been. His rea-
Duchobortzi were only discovered towards the mid- son becaine darkened, and his will corrupted. It
dle of the last century in different parts of Russia. was thus that A dain appeared in this world with a
The attention of the government was particularly faint recollection of the fornier higher world, without
attracted towards them by the conscientious refu- a clear reason and just will. His sin, which lay in
sal of the members of the sect to serve in the army. his fall repeated on the earth, does not, however, de-
This resolution, firmly adhered to, drew down upon scend to his posterity ; but every one sins, and is
them the persecution of the civil authorities during saved for himself. Although it is not the fall of
the reigns both of Catharine and Paul. Complete Adam, but the wilfulness of each individual, which is
toleration, however, was afforded them on the suc- the root of the sin, no man is, however, exempt from
cession of Alexander I. to the throne of the Czars, ) fall and sin, because every one who comes into this
and they were freely permitted to form settlements world had already formerly fallen, and brings with
in the south of Russia on the right bank of the Mo- him the inclination to a new fall. After the fall of
lochna, where Dr. Henderson found them in 1822 the soul in the world above, God created for it this
occupying eight villages, besides an island called the world, and precipitated it, according to his justicu,
Isle of Wolves.
from the world of spiritual purity into this world, as
The most distinct account of the faith of the into a prison, for the punishment of sin ; and now
Duchobortzi is contained in a memorial which, in our spirit, imprisoned in this world, is sinking and
the time of their persecution under Catharine, they | burying itself in this cauldron of elements which
presented to Kochowski, governor of Ekaterinoslav. ferment in it. On the other side, the soul is let
It runs thus : “God is only one, but he is one in down into the present life as into a place of purifica-
the Trinity. This holy Trinity is an inscrutable tion, in order that, being clothed with flesh, and fol-
Being. The Father is the Light, the Son is the lowing its own reason and will, it should be grounded
Life, the Holy Ghost is the Peace. In man the either in good or evil, and thus either obtain the
Father is manifested as the memory, the Son as the forgiveness of its former guilt, or become subject to
reason, the Holy Ghost as the will. The human everlasting punishment. When the flesh is formed
soul is the image of God; but this image in us is for us in this world, our spirit flows down upon it
nothing else than the memory, the reason, and the from above, and man is called into existence. Our
will. The soul had existed before the creation of flesh is the storehouse into which our soul is re-
the visible world. The soul fell before the creation ceived, and in which it loses the recollection and the
of the world, together with many spirits, who then | feeling of what we had once been before our incar-
DUCHOBORTZI.
767
nation : it is the thin water of the elements in the The whole of religion they place in mystic exercises
boiling cauldron of this world,-—in this world of the to the exclusion of all external rites and ceremonies.
Lord, in which our souls must be refined into a pure “On our urging upon them,” says Dr. Henderson,
eternal spirit, which is better than the former one ; “the importance of being well supplied with the
it is the cherub with the fiery sword, who bars to us Scriptures, they told us we were much mistaken if
the way to the tree of life, to God, to the absorption we imagined they had not the Bible
among them
in his Godhead ; and here is fulfilled on man that they had it in their hearts; the light thus imparted
divine destination, 'And now, lest he put forth his was sufficient, and they needed nothing more. Every
hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and thing with them is spiritual. They speak indeed of
live for ever.'
Christ, and his death; but they explain both his per-
“As God foresaw from all eternity the fall of the son and sufferings mystically, and build entirely upon
soul in the flesh, and knew that man could not by his a different foundation than the atonement. They
own strength rise from this fall
, the Eternal Love make no distinction of days and meats; and mar-
decided to descend on the earth, to become man, and riage, so far from being a sacrament with them, as in
to satisfy by its sufferings the eternal justice. the Greek church, is scarcely viewed as a civil rite."
“ Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and God himself. Preferring the inward to the outward light, this sect
It must be, however, observed, that when He is con- have always been ready to embrace any opinions
sidered in the Old Testament, He is nothing else which a zealous and enthusiastic mind might suggest
than the Heavenly Wisdom of God, the All-preser to them. At one time they were called by the gov-
ver, which in the beginning was clothed in the nature ernment Ikonobortsi, because they rejected the use of
of the world, and afterwards in the letters and writ- pictures in their worship. But they assume to them-
ings of the revealed Word. Christ is the Word of selves the name of Christians, and all other people they
God, which speaks to us in the book of nature and denominate men of the world. They never enter the
in the Scriptures; the power which, through the national churches, or bow before the pictures in the
sun, miraculously shines upon the creation and in time of prayer; they neither cross themselves, nor
living creatures,—which moves every thing, animates observe the appointed fasts; they neither obserre
every thing, and is every where, in number, weight, the ordinance of baptism, nor that of the Lord's
and measure. He is the power of God which, in our Supper. They have no stated place for worship,
ancestors, as well as now in ourselves, acted and acts nor do they observe any particular day as more sacred
in different manners. When He is, however, con- than another. Their meetings are often held in the
sidered in the New Testament, He is nothing else open air, in two circles, the one of men, and the
than the Incarnate Spirit of the highest wisdom, other of women. Dr. Pinkerton, whose long resi-
knowledge of God, and truth,—the Spirit of love, dence in Russia renders his testimony peculiarly
the Spirit coming from above, incarnate, inexpressi- valuable, gives the following interesting account of
ble, holiest joy, the Spirit of comfort, of peace in their meetings : “Each of them is at liberty to hold
fulness, of every pulsation of the heart, the Spirit of a meeting in his own house, and to invite such of
chastity, sobriety, moderation.
his brethren as are near him to attend. In such
“ Christ was also man, because he was, like our- meetings, they always sup together; and should the
selves, born in the flesh. But he also descends into brother in whose house the meeting is held not be
every one of us, through the annunciation of Ga- able to provide food sufficient to entertain his guests,
briel, and is spiritually received, as in Mary; He is in that case they either send themselves, beforehand,
born in the spirit of every believer; He goes into provisions for this purpose, or bring them along with
the desert,-namely, into the flesh of the same,—is them.
tempted by the devil in every man, through the cares Being assembled, they salute one another; the
of life, lasciviousness, and worldly honours. When men salute the men, and the females the females, by
He waxes strong in us, He speaks words of instruc- taking each other by the right hand, and thrice bow-
tion; He is persecuted, and suffers death on the ing and kissing one another; at the same time every
cross; is laid into the grave of the flesh; He rises one pronounces a short prayer. These three bows
in the light of glory, in the soul of those who suffer and three embraces, they perform in the name of the
affliction to the tenth hour; He lives in them forty three-one God, to the purifying of the flesh, and to
days, influences all love in their hearts, and leads the rooting out of pride. They take each other by
them accordingly towards heaven, and brings them the hand as a mark of their union in love, in calling,
upon the altar of glory, as a holy, true, and lovely in knowledge of judgment, and of the unseen God,
sacrifice.”
who is witlrin thein.
The Duchobortzi acknowledge the Scriptures of the
" In the course of the meeting, they pray one
Old and New Testament to be the Word of God, but, after another, sing psalms, and explain the word of
like the Swedenborgians, they maintain that even God; but as the greater part of them are unable to
the plainest historical statements of the Bible have read, most of this is performed in their assemblies
a mysterious, allegorical meaning, which it is the ex- extemporaneously. They have no appointed priests,
clusive privilege of their sect fully to understand. but confess Jesus Christ alone to be the only just,
768
DUH’LHAJJA-DUL-KAFFAIN.
holy, pure, undefiled priest, separated from sinners, in obedience to his command, they forth with fell
and exalted above the heavens; he also is their only down at his feet and worshipped him.
Teacher. In their assemblies they instruct each Kapustin thus claimed to be recognized as the head
other from the Scriptures ; every one speaks accord- of the sect, at least that portion of it which was set-
ing to the grace given hiin, to the admonishing and tled in Taurida. Having confirmed his authority, he
comforting of his brethren. Even women are not established a perfect community of goods amongst
excluded from this privilege; for they say, Have not liis followers, and for a time, by the introduction of
women enlightened understandings as well as men ? manufactures, and the diligent cultivation of the soil,
They pray standing or sitting, just as it happens. the colony was remarkably fourishing. In 1814,
At the end of the meeting they again embrace Kapustin was imprisoned on the charge of making
each other thrice, as at the beginning, and then se- proselytes from the national church, but in a short
parate."
time he was liberated on bail. He established a
The readiness with which the Duchobortzi em. council of thirty persons for the government of the
brace any novel opinions was remarkably exemplified body, twelve of whom received the name of apostles.
about the beginning of the present century. An indi- On the death of Kapustin, the council elected his son
vidual named Kapustin, a discharged non-commission- as his successor, a youth of only fifteen years of age,
ed officer of the guards, joined the sect at their settle- and withal weak-minded, and incapable of ruling.
ment on the banks of the Molochna. By his talents, | The result of this arrangement was, that the govern-
eloquence, and insinuating manners, this man obtained ment of the community rested with the council, who
such an influence over the minds of these sectarians, formed amongst themselves a secret tribunal, which
that they regarded him as a prophet, and blindly | in some way or other dispatched all who were either
submitted to all his dictates. He led them to be guilty, or supposed to have been guilty of resisting
lieve in the doctrine of transmigration of souls, and their authority. In this way about four hundred indi-
other strange Oriental notions, such as that "the viduals unaccountably disappeared. The government
soul of every believer was an emanation of the God- were informed of it, and an inquiry was commenced
head, the Word made flesh, and would remain upon in 1834, which was concluded in 1839. A great
carth, but change its body, as long as the created number of dead bodies were found, some of which were
world was to exist; that God has manifested him- mutilated, whilst the appearance of others but too
self as Christ in the body of Jesus, who was the plainly indicated that they had been buried alive.
wisest and most perfect of men that ever lived; and In consequence of the horrid disclosures which took
that, therefore, the soul of Jesus was the most per- | place at this time, a proclamation was issued by the
fect and purest of all souls; that since the time einperor Nicholas in 1841, ordering that all the
when God manifested himself in Jesus, He always Duchobortzi belonging to the colony on the right
remains with mankind, living and manifesting him- bank of the Molochna, should be sent into the Trans-
self in every believer; but the individual soul of Caucasian provinces, and there divided into separate
Jesus, according to what he declared himself, saying, settlements, and placed under a strict surveillance.
'I shall remain with you to the end of the days,'- In consequence of this order, nearly 2,500 indivi-
continues to dwell in this world, changing its body duals were transported to the Trans-Caucasian pro-
from generation to generation, but retaining, by a vinces, while the remainder of the sect conformed,
particular dispensation of God, the memory of its outwardly at least, to the established church of
former existence; therefore every man in whom the Russia.
soul of Jesus is dwelling knows it. During the first DUH'LHAJJA, the last of the four sacred
ages of Christianity this fact was universally acknow- months of the Mohammedans, and the month on
ledged, and the new Jesus was known to all. He which the pilgrimage to Mecca is performed. See
governed the church, and decided all the controver- MECCA (PilgrIMAGE TO).
sies about religion. He was called the pope; but DULCINISTS. See APOSTOLICALS.
false popes soon usurped the throne of Jesus, who DULIA, an inferior kind of worship, which, ac-
has retained only a small number of faithful followers cording to Roman Catholic divines, may lawfully be
and true believers, according to what he has predict given to saints and angels. They distinguish it
ed himself, that many are called, but few are chosen. from Latria on the one hand, which must be given
These true believers are the Duchobortzi ; Jesus is exclusively to God, and from Hyperdulia, the hom-
constantly amongst them, and the soul aniinates one age higher than Dulia, which is due, as they believe,
of them. Thus Sylvan Kolesnikof (a leader of their to the Virgin Mary as the mother of our Lord. See
sect), whom many of your old people have known, ADORATION.
was a real Jesus; but now I am he, as true as hea- DU'LKAADA, one of the four months accounted
ven is over my head, and the earth under my feet, sacred by the Mohammedans. This month is sacred
I am the true Jesus Christ, your Lord. Therefore as being devoted to preparation for the pilgirmage
fall down upon your knees and worship me!'” Such to Mecca.
was the credulity with which these simple enthu- DUL-KAFFAIN, an idol worshipped by the an.
siasts listened to the teaching of Kapustin, that | cient Arabians.
DULKEPHEL-DUNKERS.
76,9
one.'
DULKEPHEL, a prophet who, according to the society by donation, or by the labour of the single
Arabic legends, existed before Christ, and who, they brethren and sisters, was common stock. The reli-
allege, restored 20,000 persons to life at one time. gious principles of this body are thus stated by Dr.
DUNKERS, a sect of German Baptists, or Breth- Fahnestock of Bordentown, New Jersey.
ren as they prefer to be called, who emigrated from “1. They receive the Bible as the only rule of
Germany to the United States of North America faith, covenant, and code of laws for church govern-
between the years 1718 and 1730. Their first ap- ment. They do not admit the least license with the
pearance in America was in 1719, when about twenty | letter and spirit of the Scriptures, and especially the
families landed in Philadelphia, but as they scattered New Testament—do not allow one jot or tittle to be
over a wide range of country, they were unable to added or rejected in the administration of the ordi-
meet together for public worship, and would have nances, but practise them precisely as they are in-
fallen into a state of indifference as to religious mat- stituted and set forth by Jesus Christ in his
ters, had not some of the more zealous of them word.
formed a church at Germantown, Pennsylvania, in “2. They believe in the divinity of our Lord Je-
1723, under the ministry of Peter Becker. This sus Christ, and the trinity of the Godhead; having
church grew rapidly in numbers, and in a short time unfurled this distinctive banner on the first page of
others were formed on the same principles. Hitherto a hymn book which they had printed for the Society
they had been First Day German Baptists, that is, as early as 1739, viz. : There are three that bear
they held the first day of the week to be the Chris-record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the
tian Sabbath. The sect had sprung out of the Pie- | Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there
tistic controversy, which arose in the Protestant are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and
churches of Germany and Holland in the end of the the water, and the blood; and these three agree in
seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centu-
ries. In 1708, the society afterwards called Dunkers “3. They believe that salvation is of grace, and
was first formed in Germany. Driven by persecu- not of works; and they rely solely on the merits
tion from their country, some took refuge in Hol- and atonement of Christ. They believe, also, that
land, and others in the duchy of Cleves, while the that atonement is sufficient for every creature-that
mother church removed to Friesland, and thence to Christ died for all who will call upon his name, and
America.
offer fruits meet for repentance; and that all who
Soon after the sect of the Dunkers had established come unto Clirist are drawn of the Father.
themselves in the United States, a church connected “4. They contend for the observance of the ori-
with the body was formed at Mill Creek, in Lancas-ginal Sabbath, believing that it requires an authority
ter county. To this community belonged Conrad | equal to the Great Institutor to change any of his
Beissel, a native of Germany, who, on studying the decrees. They maintain that, as he blessed and
subject of the Sabbath, came to the conclusion that sanctified that day for ever, which has never been
the seventh day, not the first, ought to be observed abrogated in his word, nor any Scripture to be found
as sacred to the Lord. In 1725 he published a tract to warrant that construction, it is still as binding as
in support of his opinions, which excited no small it was when it was reiterated amid the thunders of
sensation among the brethren of the Mill Creek Mount Sinai. To alter so positive and hallowed a
church. Beissel thereupon quitted the settlement, commandment of the Almighty, they consider would
and retired to a solitary place in the same county, and require an explicit edict froin the Great Jehovah.
being joined by a number of the brethren who had | It was not foretold by any of the prophets, that with
enibraced his opinions on the Sabbath, a community the new dispensation there would be any change in
was formed, which adopted the seventh day or Jew- the sabbath, or any of the commandments. Christ,
ish Sabbath as the day set apart for religious exer- who declared himself the Lord of the Sabbath, ob-
cises. Hence the sect is often termed the German served the seventh day, and made it the day of his
Scventh Day Baptists.
especial ministrations; nor did he authorize any
In 1733 a kind of monastic society was established change. The Apostles have not assumed to do away
by Beissel and his followers, who formed a small the original sabbath, or give any command to sub-
colony in a sequestered district called Ephrata.stitute the first for the seventh day. The circum-
The members of this singular body adopted the dress stance of the disciples meeting together to break
of White Friars, consisting of a long white robe bread on the first day, which is sometimes used as a
reaching down to the heels, with a sash or girdle pretext for observing that day, is simply what the
round the waist, and a capuche or cowl hanging down seventh day people do at this day. The sacrament
over the neck. All who entered the cloister received was not administered by Christ nor by the Apostles
nionastic names, though no monastic vows were on the sabbath, but on the first day, counting as the
taken, neither were they under a superior, all the people of Ephrata still do, the evening and the morn-
brethren and sisters being on a perfect equality. Oning to make the day.
joining the society no one was required to surrender “5. They hold to the apostolic baptism-believ-
his property, but the property which belonged to the ers' baptism—and administer trine immersion, with
770
DURGA.
the laying on of hands and prayer, while the recipient | the Holy Scriptures as the only rule of faith and
yet remains kneeling in the water.
practice. They keep the seventh day of the week
“6. They celebrate the Lord's Supper at night, in as the Sabbath, alleging that the Sabbath instituted
imitation of our Saviour ;-washing at the same time in paradise has never been abolished, either by God
each other's feet, agreeably to his command and ex- himself, or by Him who declares himself the Lord of
ample, as is expressly stated in the 13th chapter of the Sabbath. They administer baptism by trine
the Evangelist John, 14th and 15th verses. This is immersion. When the person is kneeling in the
attended to on the evening after the close of the sab.water, he is plunged three times forward under water,
bath-the sabbath terminating at sunset of the se- “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
venth day; thus making the supper an imitation of the Holy Ghost." The ordinance is accompanied
that instituted by Christ, and resembling also the with the laying on of hands and with prayer, while
meeting of the Apostles on the first day to break the person is yet in the water. None but adults are
bread, which has produced much confusion in some baptized, though children of believing parents are
minds in regard to the proper day to be observed." received into the church by the laying on of hands
The Dunker's hold that celibacy is not binding on and prayer, for a blessing upon them after the ex-
any member of their community, but that it is to be ample of Christ, Matth. X. 16. They practise the
commended as a virtue, and as peculiarly conducive washing of feet before the Lord's Supper, which they
to a holy life. They do not approve of a salaried celebrate in the evening, as being the time at which
ministry, as they are of opinion that the gospel hav- it was observed by our blessed Lord. Open com-
ing been sent without money and without price, munion is the rule of the church, no person being
every one who is called to preach the word should refused admission to the Lord's Supper who ex-
do it purely from love to the cause. But although presses a desire to partake of it; and this practice
these are their avowed opinions as to the support of they support by appealing to the Apostle Paul,
the ministry, they are liberal in their presents, both who throws the responsibility on the individual par-
of money and goods, to those who are over them in taker, when he says, 1 Cor. xi. 28, “But let a man
the Lord. Their public worship is conducted in this examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread,
manner. They commence with a hyinn; then fol- and drink of that cup.” In every thing this sect
lows prayer, the congregation kneeling; after a sec- endeavour to approach as nearly as possible to a
ond hymn the minister requests one of the brethren literal observance of the ordinances of Christ, pre-
to read a chapter from any part of the Old or Newcisely in accordance with the time, manner, and cir
Testament; the minister now expounds the chapter cumstantial details of their original institution.
which has been read, and he is followed by the ex- DURGA, one of the principal forms in which the
horters who enforce the practical lessons contained consort of Shiva, the destroying power of the Hin-
m it; any of the brethren or single sisters may thendus, has been manifested. This goddess is believed
deliver their sentiments on the points which have to be possessed of tremendous power, having been
come under notice; after which the service is closed endowed with the distinctive attributes of all the
with prayer, singing, and the reading of a psalm in- gods. She is usually represented with ten arms,
stead of the benediction.
each of them supplied with a warlike weapon, and
The followers of Beissel, like the good man himn- | thus equipped, she stands forth as the champion and
self, have been much misrepresented. They studied defender of her fellow immortals. It was by an act
the strictest simplicity and economy in all their al- of prowess, the conquest of a giant who had dispos-
rangements, and they lived together in social com- sessed the gods of their dominion, that she obtained
munity, in the utmost harmony and love. Governor the name of Durga. The details of this mighty
Penn was in the habit of visiting Ephrata, and such feat are thus described by Dr. Duff in his · India and
was the high respect in which he held the society, India Missions :' “In remote ages, a giant named
that he kindly offered thein a grant of five thousand Durga, having performed religious austerities of
acres of land, which he pressed upon their acceptance transcendent merit, in honour of Brahma, obtained
as a Seventh Day Baptist manor. The gift, however, his blessing, and became a great oppressor. He
was politely declined on the ground that large pos- conquered the three worlds ; dethroned all the gods,
sessions might interfere with the harmony of the except the sacred Triad; banished them from their
society, and besides, they felt that it was unbecom- | respective heavens to live in forests; and compelled
ing strangers and pilgrims to be absorbed in the them at his nod to come and bow down and worship
gains of this world and the accumulation of property. | before him, and celebrate his praise. He abolished
Beissel, the founder of the Seventh Day Baptists, all religious ceremonies. The Brahmins, through
at least in America, died in 1768, and was succeeded | fear of him, forsook the reading of the Vedas. The
by Peter Miller, under whom, though undoubtedly rivers changed their courses.
Fire lost its energy.
lie was a man of energy and perseverance, the so- The terrified stars retired from his sight. He as-
ciety began to decline. The sect still exists, though sumed the forms of the clouds, and gave rain when-
in small and scattered fragments, which are chiefly ever he pleased; the earth, through fear, gave an
found throughout Pennsylvania. They acknowledye a' undant increase; and the trees yielded flowers
DURGA PUJAH.
771
arrows.
and fruits out of season. The gods at length ap- | her ;-Ganesa, the god of wisdom, represented with
plied to Shiva. One said, he has dethroned me; the head of an elephant; and Kartikeya, the god of
another, he has taken my kingdom, - and thus war, riding on a peacock. Around the image of
all the gods related their misfortunes. Shiva, Durga are usually represented a multitude of demi-
pitying their case, desired his wife, Parvati, to go goddesses, the companions of Durga in her wars.
und destroy the giant. She willingly accepted the This female divinity is regarded as the patroness of
commission. Durga prepared to meet her with thieves and robbers, who held her in great veneration.
an arıny of thirty thousand giants, who were such Hence she is sedulously worshipped by the Dakoits,
monsters in size, that they covered the surface of the or bandits of Bengal, who were accustomed, before
earth,--ten millions of swift-footed horses,-a hun- setting out on their marauding excursions, to propi-
dred millions of chariots,—a hundred and twenty tiate Durga by the promise of a portion of their spoil
.
thousand millions of elephants,—and soldiers beyond One of the most celebrated of the annual festivals of
the power of arithmetic to number. Parvati, having Bengal is held in honour of this goddess. See next
assumed a thousand arms, sat down upon a moun-
article.
tain, coolly awaiting the approach of her forinidable DURGA PUJAH, a festival celebrated yearly in
foes. The troops of the giant poured their arrows September among the natives of Eastern India, in
at her, thick as the drops of rain in a storm; they honour of the goddess DURGA (see preceding arti-
even tore up the trees and the mountains, and hurled cle). It extends altogether over fifteen days, twelve
them at the goddess :—she turned them all away; of them being spent in preparation for the last three
and caused inillions of strange beings to issue from great days of worship. In the view of this festival
her body, which devoured all her enemies except multitudes of images are made of a composition of
their great leader. He then hurled a flaming dart hay, wood, clay, or other light and cheap materials.
at the goddess; she easily turned it aside. He dis- They may be made of any size, from a few inches to
charged another ; this she resisted by a hundred ten, twelve, or even twenty feet in height, but most
He levelled at her a club and pike; these, commonly they are of the size of the human sta-
too, she repelled. He broke off the peak of a moun- ture. These images are either made by the wor-
tain and threw it at her; she cut it into seven pieces shippers themselves, or purchased from professional
by her spear. He now assumed the shape of an ele- | image-makers. As the great days of the festival
phant, as large as a mountain, and approached the approach, all secular business is suspended both in
goddess; but she tied his legs, and with her nails, town and country, by land and by water.
At length
which were like scimitars, tore him to pieces. He the sacred festival commences. The first part of the
then arose in the form of a buffalo, and with his ceremony consists in consecrating the images, which
horns cast stones and mountains at the goddess-- is done by one or more Brahmans, whose services
tearing up the trees with the breath of his nostrils ; are inuch in demand on this important occasion.
she pierced him with a trident, when he reeled to Having provided himself with the leaves of a sacred
and fro. Renouncing the form of a buffalo, he re. tree, and other necessary articles for the service, he
assumed his original body as a giant, with a thou- | approaches the image of the goddess, and with the
sand arms, and weapons in each ; she seized him by two forefingers of his right hand, he touches the
his thousand arms and carried him into the air, from breast, the two cheeks, the eyes, and the forehead of
whence she threw him down with a dreadful force. the image, at each successive touch giving auditle
Perceiving, however, that this had no effect, she utterance to the prayer, “Let the spirit of Durga
pierced him in the breast with an arrow; when the descend and take possession of this image." He
blood issued in streams from his mouth, and he ex- then performs various ceremonies, and repeats the
pired. The gods, filled with joy, immediately re- muntras or mystical verses, at the repetition of which,
ascended their thrones, and were reinstated in their as is firmly and universally believed, the goddess
foriner splendour. The Bralınans recommenced the coines down from heaven to take bodily possession
study of the Vedas. Sacrifices were again regularly of the image. Immediately after the consecration of
performed. Everything resumed its pristine state. the images, the worship commences, and is continued
The heavens rang with the praises of Parvati. And with nuinberless rites throughout the day. In the
the gods, in return for so signal a deliverance, iin | evening, about eight o'clock, the principal pujah or
mortalized the victory by transferring to the heroine worship is renewed with redoubled ardour. This,
the name of Durga."
however, will be best described in the graphic lan-
This goddess is extensively and most enthusias- giiage of Dr. Duff. “He (the devotee) enters the
tically worshipped throughout Eastern India. The hall; he approaches the image ; and prostrates him-
wealthy natives have images of Durga in their houses self before it. After the usual ablutions, and other
made of gold, silver, brass, copper, crystal, stone, or preparatory rites, he next twists himself into a va-
mixed metal, which are daily worshipped. Her ten- riety of grotesque postures; sometimes sitting on
armed image is approached with the most profound the floor, sometimes standing ; sometimes looking in
veneration. On either side are usually placed images one direction and sometimes in another. Then fol-
of her two sons, which are worshipped along with lows the ordinary routine of observances ;-sprink-
772
DUSCHARA.
lings of the idol with holy water; rinsings of its with his broad heavy axe. And woe be to him if he
mouth; washings of its feet; wipings of it with a fail in severing the head at one stroke! Such failure
dry cloth; throwings of flowers and green leaves would betide ruin and disgrace to himself, and entail
over it; adornings of it with gaudy ornaments; ex- the most frightful disaster on his employer and fa-
halings of perfume ; alternate tinklings and plaster- mily.
ings of the sacred bell with the ashes of sandal wood; " Each animal is duly consecrated by the officiat-
mutterings of invocation for temporal blessings ; and ing Brahman, who marks its horns and forehead
a winding up of the whole with the lowliest act of with red lead, -sprinkles it, for the sake of purify-
prostration, in which the worshipper stretches him- | ing with Ganges water,--adors its neck with a
self at full length, disposing his body in such a man- necklace of leaves, and its brow with a garland of
ner as at once to touch the ground with the eight flowers,
flowers,—and reads various incantations in its ears,
principal parts of his body, viz.—the feet, the thighs, adding, 'O Durga, I sacrifice this animal to thee,
the hands, the breast, the mouth, the nose, the eyes, that I may dwell in thy heaven for so many years.'
and the forehead.
With similar ceremonies, each sacrificial victim,
"After numbers have thus performed their wor- whether goat, sheep, or buffalo, is dedicated and
ship, there succeeds a round of carousals and festi- slain amid the din and hubbub of human voices. The
vity. The spectators are entertained with fruits and heads and part of the blood are then carried in suc-
sweetmeats. Guests of distinction have atar, or cession to the hall within, and ranged before the
the essence of roses, and rich conserves, abundantly image,-each head being there surmounted with a
administered. Musicians, with various hand and | lighted lamp. Over them the officiating Brahman
wind instruments, are introduced into the hall. repeats certain prayers,—utters appropriate incanta-
Numbers of abandoned females, gaily attired, and tions,—and formally presents them as an acceptable
glittering with jewels, are hired for the occasion to feast to the goddess. Other meat-offerings and drink-
exhibit their wanton dances, and rehearse their inde- offerings are also presented with a repetition of the
cent songs in praise of the idol, amid the plaudits of proper formulas. And last of all, on a small square
surrounding worshippers.
altar made of clean dry sand, burnt-offerings of
“ Another essential part of the worship consists | flowers, or grass, or leaves, or rice, or clarified but-
in the presentation of different kinds of offerings to ter, are deposited—with prayers, that all remaining
the idol. These offerings, after being presented with sins may be destroyed by the sacrificial fire. This
due form and ceremony, are eventually distributed naturally leads us to answer a question that is often
among the attendant priests. No share of them is asked, namely, What becomes of the flesh meat of
expected to be returned to the worshipper; so that, so many animals? Part of it is offered on the altar
on his part, it is a real sacrifice. Whatever articles as a burnt-sacrifice. But the larger part of it always,
are once offered, become consecrated; and are sup- and not unfrequently the whole, is devoured as food.
posed to have some new and valuable qualities there- The Brahmans, of course, have their choice ; and
by imparted to them. Hence the inore ignorant the remainder is distributed in large quantities among
natives often come craving for a small portion of the the inferior castes. As it lias been consecrated by
sacred food, to be carried home to cure diseases." being offered to the goddess, it is lawful for all who
The sums expended on the celebration of the Dur- choose to partake of it."
ga Pujah festival are enormous, and almost incredi- The same round of worship, and ceremonies, and
ble.. At the lowest and inost moderate estimate, as sacrifices is continued for two days and two nights
Dr. Duff informs us, it has been calculated that half
more.
On the morning of the fourth day, the grand
a million, at least, is spent every year on this object ceremony is performed of unconsecrating the images.
in Calcutta alone. This festival is also remarkable This is accomplished by the officiating Brahman,
for the number of bloody sacrifices which are pre- who dismisses the goddess from her earthly habita-
sented to it. Hundreds of families in Calcutta offer tion by means of various rites, and sprinklings, and
scores of such sacrifices, many of them hundreds, and | incantations, at the end of which he pronounces a
some of them even thousands. The scene which en- farewell address to Durga, when all present unite in
sues on these occasions is thus described by Dr. Duff: bidding her a sorrowful adieu, some being affected
“ After the worship, and the offerings and the dan- even to tears. The images, no longer the abode of
cings in honour of the goddess have been concluded, the goddess, are now carried forth in solemn proces-
the votaries proceed after midnight to the presenta- sion to the banks of the Ganges, where, after various
tion of animals in sacrifice. It is in the central roof- rites and ceremonies, the image-carriers suddenly
less court or area of the house that the process of make an assault upon their images, violently break
slaughter is usually carried on.
There a strong up-
them in pieces, casting the broken fragments into
right post is fastened in the ground, excavated at the the depths of the rolling river. Thus terminates one
top somewhat like a double pronged fork. In this of the most popular festivals of the superstitious
excavation the neck of the victim is inserted, and Hindus.
inade fast by a transverse pin above. Close at land DUSCHARA, an inferior divinity of the ancient
stands tlie hired executioner, usually a blacksmith, Arabians.
DUST (CASTING)--DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH.
773
DUST (CASTING). In ancient times the Jews under an independent inonarch. King Radbod pro-
were accustomed in time of mourning to cast dust fessed himself to receive baptism at the hands of
upon their heads, and one of the most expressive | Wulfrain, but before the rite was administered, he
modes which existed among them, of indicating ex- put the question to the bishop, whether, when he
treme affliction, was sitting or lying in the dust. In himself entered heaven, he should find his predeces-
Sacred Scripture there are two remarkable instances sors there, those who were kings before him. The
of casting dust. The first is, that of Shimei, who, ecclesiastic replied, that those who had died without
when David fled before his rebellious son, showed | baptism must have perished; when the monarch in-
his hatred of, and contempt for, him, by throwing stantly exclaimed, “What could I do with some few
stones and casting dust at him. Thus we read in poor people in heaven ? I shall abide by the reli-
2 Sam. xvi. 13, “And as David and his men went by gion of my fathers.” The efforts of Willibrord with
the way, Shimei went along on the hill's side over the Frankish king proved equally vain.
against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones Radbod, however, who had thrown every obstacle
at him, and cast dust." Another instance of the in the way of the conversion of his people to the
same kind occurs in the case of the Apostle Paul. Christian faith, died in 719, and the Frisians be-
The Jews, we are told, seized him in the temple, and came more and more independent of the Franks.
had nearly put him to death, and they cried out, One of the warınest. supporters of Willibrord in his
Acts xxii. 23, " and cast off their clothes, and threw missionary work was a man of rank and a Christian,
dust into the air." This behaviour of the Jews was Wursing, whose surname was Ado. This zealous
in complete accordance with a custom which pre- friend of the good cause was so persecuted by Rad-
vails in almost every part of Asia of throwing dust bod and his ministers, that he was compelled to flee
upon a criminal, signifying that he deserves to lose with his family into the neighbouring territory of
his life, and to be cast into the grave.
the Franks. After the death of Radbod, Charles
DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH, or, as it is Martell, the mayor of the palace, presented Wur-
termed in a wider and more general sense, the sing with a fief on the borders of Friesland, and sent
“ Netherlands Reformed Church." The first in- him back to his native province that he might have
troduction of Christianity into the Low Countries an opportunity of advancing the Christian cause
dates no further back than the seventh century, among his people. He settled in the neighbourhood
when a presbyter nained Willibrord, an Englishman of Utrecht, and laboured with the utmost zeal and
by birth, commenced a mission with the sanction of activity in the work of his heavenly Master. Willi-
the Pope in the Frankislı districts of Friesland. This brord continued to carry on his work as bishop of
earliest missionary among the Frisians was accom- the new church for forty years, and died in 739 at
panied by twelve companions, and others joined the age of eighty.
them soon after. Among these may be men- The Frisians, after the death of Radbod, had ein-
tioned, Lambert or Landebert, who was born of noble braced Christianity in considerable numbers, and the
parents at Maestricht, and afterwards became bishop impulse which the cause then received was not a little
of that town, and who is said to have done much for aided by the efficient assistance which Willibrord ob-
the spread of Christianity in these quarters in con- tained from the devoted Boniface, afterwards the apos-
nection with Willibrord, and to have suffered mar- tle of the Gerinaris; and so anxious was the aged
tyrdom in 708 or 709. Another individual to whose bishop to secure a continuance of the services of this
labours the Netherlands owe much in the infancy of laborious missionary, that he proposed to name him as
their Christian history, was the holy Romuld, who his successor. The proposal, however, was declined,
was either a Scotchman, or, as is more probable, an and Boniface, urged forward by a strong feeling of
Anglo-Saxon. Animated by ardent missionary zeal | duty, transferred his labours to the Germans, among
he settled in Lower Germany, took a share in the la- whom he was eminently successful. But throughout
bours of Willibrord, and was consecrated a bishop, the whole course of his earnest self-denying exertions
but without a fixed see. Romuld is regarded as the for the conversion of the heathen Germans, Boniface
founder of the church of Mechlin and its patron seems never to have wholly lost sight of the people
saint. To give a firm foundation to the Christian among whom he had first laboured as a missionary, and
church which had now been commenced in the Low accordingly, when he had so far accomplished his
Countries, a bishopric was established in the ancient work that he had established a Christian church in
city of Wilten, now called Utrecht, to which Willi- Germany, and rendered it independent of his personal
brord was ordained at Rome. The fame of Willi- support, he resolved, though now advanced in life, to
brord's success in these regions was soon spread return to the mission in Friesland. His wishes in
abroad, and a warm interest excited. Among others
Among others this respect, however, were for a time in danger of
Bishop Wulfram of Sens resolved to visit this pro- being frustrated by the opposition of Hildegar, the
mising scene of missionary labour. He set out newly appointed bishop of Cologne, who urged cei-
accordingly, accompanied by numerous followers, for tain obsolete pretensions by which he sought to ren-
Friesland, where he baptized many of the people. der the diocese of Utrecht dependent on his autho-
The Frisians were not subject to the Franks, but rity. These objections were easily answered, Utrecht
774
DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH.
having been constituted originally by Pope Sergius was more than seventy years of age, and laboured as
as a metropolitan see, holding directly from the a faithful teacher to the end. He died in A. D. 781,
Pope, and established for the conversion of the hea- and was succeeded by Aldrich, who was consecrated
then. The controversy on this point being speedily bishop in Cologne. This new superintendent of the
settled, Boniface set out for Friesland, with the ex- mission in Friesland received much valuable assist-
pectation of ending his days among the Frisians, and ance in his work from Liudger, a pious pupil of the
with this view he carried his shroud along with Abbot Gregory, and who had also been taught in the
him. His anticipations were soon destined to be school of the great Alcuin at York. For seven years
realized. But the remainder of the history of Boni- did Liudger labour as a presbyter, more particularly
face we give in the language of Neander : “ With a for the conversion of the heathen Frisians. His
little company of followers, some priests and some missionary work, however, was suddenly interrupted
monks, and others servants, he proceeded along by the rise of the Saxon leader Wittekind against
the banks of the Rhine, and landed on the shore of the Frankish government. The Saxon was success-
the Zuydersee, being joined in Friesland, by his ful in his enterprise, and heathenism once more got
scholar, Bishop Eoban. They traversed the dis- a footing in the country. The Christian churches
trict; and in many cases, found a favourable recep- were now reduced to ashes, and idol-temples rose
tion, baptizing thousands of converts, and building upon their ruins. The prospects of the mission be-
new churches. Boniface sent many of those whom ing thus unexpectedly blighted, Liudger set out for
he had instructed and baptized back to their homes, Rome, and took up his residence in the abbey of
with the injunction, that they should meet him again Monte Cassino. In two years and a-half he returned
on a certain day, to receive confirmation. In the to Friesland, and found matters entirely changed.
meantime he pitched his tents, and encamped with Peace was restored, and the Saxon Wittekind had
his companions on the banks of the river Burda, not submitted to baptism. Liudger now renewed his
far from Dockingen. It was on the fifth of June, labours with the express sanction of the Emperor
in the year 755, that he expected the return of his Charles, who assigned him a sphere of missionary
spiritual children. Early in the morning he heard work around Gröningen and Norden. This young
the distant sound of the approaching multitudes. man continued for many years to instruct the Fri-
Full of joy, he hastened to the door of his tent. But sians in the knowledge of Christian truth, and with
he soon found he was grievously deceived. The such success that many publicly renounced heathen-
clang of weapons indicated that the crowd was rush- | ism and embraced Christianity.
ing on with a far other than friendly disposition. Another active and efficient labourer in the con-
Many of the heathens, in fact, enraged at the success version of the inhabitants of the Low Countries
of Boniface in turning their countrymen from the was Willebad, a native of Northumberland, the
worship of idols, conspired to consecrate this day, on sphere of whose missionary work was the district of
which so many were to be received into the bosom Dockum, where Boniface had shed his blood as a
of the Christian church, as a day of vengeance to martyr. There his labours were attended with much
their gods. The lay attendants on Boniface wished success, but when he entered the district of Grönin-
to defend him with their weapons; but he forbade gen, where idolatry still prevailed, the people were
them. Bearing relics in his hand, he quietly awaited so excited by his discourses, that they proposed
what might happen. In this attitude he exhorted his to put him to death. It was suggested, however,
companions not to fear those who could hurt the by the more moderate among them, that they should
body only, and were unable to harm the soul, but first consult the gods respecting him by casting lots.
rather to think upon the unerring promises of their This was done, and the decision being in his favour,
Lord, and to trust in him who would soon enrich the life of the missionary was spared. Willebad
their souls with the reward of eternal glory. Thus next proceeded to the province of Drenthe, where
he died a martyr's death in the seventy-fifth year of his discourses were listened to with attention and
his age; and with him fell many of his followers, respect, but some of his followers, in their zeal
among whom was Bishop Eoban.
against idolatry, began to destroy the temples of the
The death of Boniface at such a time was a heavy idols—an act which so enraged the heathen that they
blow to the missionary cause in the Low Countries, attacked the missionaries, and even Willebad him-
but he left behind him a number of zealous men who self, wlio would have been killed by a blow aimed at
had imbibed somewhat of his earnest spirit. Con- him by a sword, had he not been providentially pro-
spicuous among these was the Abbot Gregory, on tected by the leathern thong of a relic-bag which
whom the entire management of the mission nowhung round his neck. The heathen were struck
devolved. A seminary was established for the with the incident, and regarded Willebad as under
education of youth, and a missionary school, from the protection of some superior power. Soon after
which missionaries were afterwards sent to all parts he was appointed by the Emperor Charles to pre-
of the country. Gregory was abundant in labours, and side over the newly formed diocese of Bremen. He
through his instrumentality Christianity was widely exercised the episcopal office for only two years,
diffused throughout the Netherlands. He lived till he when he was cut off by a violent fever with which
DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH.
775
he was suddenly seized in the course of one of his although severity was practised to some extent be-
visitations of his diocese. He died on the eighth | fore his abdication, it was only under the reign of
of November A. D. 789.
Philip, his son and successor, that those violent and
Christianity had now obtained a footing in the oppressive measures were devised and carried into
Netherlands, and the church had assumed a standing execution by the Duke of Alva, which so exasper-
as an organized body in the country, under theated the people of the Low Countries, that they
authority and obedient to the behests of the Pope of threw off the Spanish yoke and asserted their an-
Rome; and although Charlemagne, in the exten- cient liberties and laws. These they defended with
sive possessions which he won by conquest, asserted such energy and perseverance that they gave em-
firmly the supreme authority of civil government in ployment to the arms of Spain for half a century,
,
religious matters, yet in the Low Countries, the and at length compelled their former masters to treat
clergy, in process of time, became a powerful and with them on the footing of a free and independent
independent body. During the tenth, eleventh, state. And no sooner was peace and security re..
twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, the whole of Bel- stored to these long-distracted provinces, than the
gium and Batavia was divided into several small kingdom which was formed by the United Provinces,
dominions, some of them called dukedoms and others “rose," to use the language of Principal Robertson,
countships, owning subjection, part of them to the “to be one of the most respectable as well as enter-
German empire, and part to the Frankish kings.prising powers of Europe.”
Utrecht was still a bishopric, but the ecclesiastic Long before the Lutheran Reformation in Ger-
who held the office exercised civil authority not only many, there had for several centuries existed in the
in the city, which was the seat of his spiritual office, Netherlands a spirit of religious inquiry, and calm
bilt also in Overyssel and Gröningen. Towards the but firm resistance to the domination of the Romish
end of the fourteenth century, the whole of what after- church. Tlvough the greater part of the middle ages
wards became the seventeen provinces of the Nether- we can trace a succession of free spiritual associa-
lands, passed into the hands of the house of Burgundy; tions, which were often oppressed and persecuted by
and under the government of the dukes of that house the hierarchy, but which steadily aimed at the culti-
t!rese provinces rose into high commercial importance vation and diffusion of a pure practical Christianity.
among the states of Europe. Charles the Bold, the As early as the eleventh century, there arose in the
last of the dukes of Burgundy, in his anxiety to Netherlands the female societies of the BEGUINES
enlarge his dominions, rashly attempted the conquest (which see). About the thirteenth they were joined
of Switzerland, but was defeated and killed in battle, by the male communities of the Beghards, whose
and as he died without leaving male issue, Louis XI. oldest establishment, so far as is knowrs, was founded
of France took possession of Burgundy in 1477. A. D. 1220 at Louvain; and then about the com-
The duke's eldest daughter, Maria, married Maxi- mencement of the following century, and at first
milian, son of the Emperor Frederick III., who around Antwerp, appeared the fellowships of the
thereby acquired the sovereignty of the Netherlands ; | Lollards. All of them rapidly spread and became
and thus the grandson of Maria, who was afterwards very numerous. None of these fellowships was more
Charles V., emperor of Germany, became sovereign effective in awakening a Reformation spirit than the
of the Low Countries, and of the kingdom of Spain, establishments and schools of the Brethren of the
from the moment of his birth,
Common Lot in Holland and Germany. The waim
It was during the reign of Charles V. that the re- piety of Gerhard Groot, Florentius Radewins, and
ligious Reformation which had commenced in Ger- Thomas à Kempis, founded the institutions which
many was introduced into the Netherlands, and sent forth the most influential precursors of the Re-
secured for itself multitudes of adherents, especially formation, men who, not only like Erasmus exercised
in the large trading cities. These provinces were at a powerful influence over the higher classes of so-
this period both wealthy and prosperous, and Charles, ciety, but also laboured among the cominon people,
afraid of diminishing the ample revenues which and laid the foundations of ecclesiastical reform in
flowed from thence into the imperial treasury, was the very heart and centre of the general community.
unwilling to resort to severe measures with a view Thus the Reformation in Holland, independently al-
to check the progress of the new opinions. To- together of the Lutheran movement in Germany,
wards the close of his life he formed the resolution, had a firm and solid basis of its own. From time to
that as soon as he should conclude his wars in Ger- time, for centuries before, men had been spring-
many, he would take decisive steps to compel hising up, who, like John of Goch, John Wessel, and
subjects in the Netherlands to submit to the Romish Cornelius Grapheus, were propagating widely
faith, and with that view he had determined to in- throughout the Netherlands the principles of a pure
troduce the Inquisition. Tidings of the royal de gospel. The invention of printing at this transition
signs had no sooner reached the country than com- | period was of singular benefit in promoting the pro-
inerce was suspended, money disappeared, and no gress of the new opinions. Printing offices were set
taxes could be collected. This put a stop to the up, and the press was actively worked in various
compulsory and persecuting designs of Charles, and parts of Holland as well as in Germany. Copies of
776
DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH.
1
the Sacred Scriptures, of works on theology, and CHURCH (which see), and differs from the Augs-
school.books were issued in great numbers. Schools burg Confession in several respects, but especially
and academies were established for the education of the in the doctrine of the eucharist. From this period
young. A new impulse was communicated from Italy the Belgians publicly called themselves by the name
in favour of classical, and particularly of Grecian lite- of Reformed instead of Lutherans. So long, how-
rature. Men illustrious throughout Europe for their ever, as they were under the dominion of the Spa-
talents and learning, such as Dringenberg, Agricola, niards, they avoided using the term Reformed, tak-
and more especially Erasmus, besides giving origin ing the name of Associates of the Augsburg Confes-
to a new, liberal, and truly classic system of instruc- sion, because of the hatred which the Spaniards bore
tion, spread extensively a spirit of inquiry among the to the Reformed, and the decided preference which
higher and more intelligent members of society. they showed for the Lutherans. About the same
The door was thus opened wide for the ready access time also the Belgians adopted the Heidelberg Cate-
into Holland of reformed opinions. Nevertheless, that chism, which was prepared by order of Frederick
country was on the whole faithfully devoted to the III., Elector Palatine, who had removed from their
Romish church and its head, and in the last ten years offices the Lutheran clergy, and filled their places
of the fifteenth century, and the commencement of the with Calvinistic teachers.
sixteenth, the Dutch were kept in submission by the In assuming the name of the Dutch Reformed
zeal of their political governors. No doubt, like all the Church, the Belgian Protestants evidently declared
branches of the Teutonic race, they resisted, and not that, on the great points in which the Reformed dif-
without success, the introduction of the Inquisition, fered from the Lutherans, they coincided in opinion
though they allowed the preaching of indulgences with the former. The most prominent points of dis-
As soon, however, as Luther commenced his attacks tinction between these two classes of Protestants are
upon that abuse, his papers and works, which had thus briefly described by Mosheim : "1. The doctrine
been condemned so early as the 19th Nov. 1519 by of the Holy Supper, in which the Lutherans say that
the divines of Louvain, were eagerly read in the the body and blood of Christ are truly, though in an
Netherlands. Shortly afterward the diet at Worms inexplicable manner, presented to both the pious and
was held, and there Charles V. passed a severe penal | the ungodly; while the Reformed suppose that the
law against all who adhered to the doctrines of human nature of Christ is present only by the sym-
Luther, and at the same time and place he issued an bols of it. Yet they do not all explain their doctrine
edict against heresy in the Netherlands. Under his in the same manner. II. The doctrine of the eter-
government it has been calculated that, on a moder- nal decrees of God in regard to the salvation of men,
ate reckoning, 50,000 men suffered violent death in the ground of which the Lutherans suppose to be,
various forms on account of their faith. Yet the the faith or unbelief of men in Christ foreseen by
number of the Reformed continually increased; and God from eternity; but the Reformed suppose it to
when at last seven of these provinces revolted and be the free and sovereign good pleasure of God.
became an independent state, they adopted the Pro- III. Certain rites and institutions, which the Re-
testant religion. In Holland, no doubt, the extrava- formed think have a tendency to superstition, but
gant opinions of the Anabaptists found a large body which the Lutherans think are partly tolerable and
of supporters, and the cause of the Reformation partly useful to Christians. Such are images in
sustained, in conseqnence, no small injury. But churches, sacred garments for the clergy, the private
amid these outbursts of ill-regulated zeal, there confession of sins, the use of small circular pieces of
existed a calm but firm determination to uphold the bread (wafers] such as were anciently distributed in
truth of God.
the Holy Supper, the formula of exorcism as it is
Although the Netherlands early embraced the called in the sacrament of baptisrn, and some others.
doctrines of the Reformation, it was for a long time These the Reformed would have to be abrogated,
doubtful whether those who left the church of Rome because they think religious worship should be re-
would join the party of the Lutheran or that of the stored to its primitive simplicity, and the additions
Swiss Reformers, for both had numerous and zeal-made to it be wholly struck off.” On all these points
ous supporters. But at length the preference was the Reformed at length adopted the opinions of the
publicly given to the Swiss. The Belgic Confession, great Swiss or rather French Reformer CALVIN
or thirty-seven articles, as it was called, was com- (which see), although it is an undoubted fact that
posed in the Walloon language in 1563, by Guido de the Reformed doctrine was first established in Hol-
Bres, a French teacher at Valenciennes, a place land by disciples of Zuinglius, and it was not till
which at that time belonged to the Netherlands. after a long struggle that the views of Calvin in some
This Confession was approved by the synod at Ant- degree superseded those of Zuinglius. The church
werp in 1566, and two years later by another synod, government still remains Zuinglian, not Calvinistic.
and from that time it has continued down to this / The formularies are still the old Zuinglian documents,
day to be the standard confession of the Reformed as well as the Liturgical offices used in the dispensa-
Dutch Church. It agrees in most points with the tion of the sacraments, ordinations, &c. Hence
confession adopted by the FRENCH REFORMED Dermont, a Dutch ecclesiastical historian, contends
DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH.
777
that the Netherlands church is fundamentally Zuin- | Arminius were formally condemned, and a series of
glian, with an infusion of Calvinism. It is Zuinglian, canons or decrees framed in opposition to them,
at least as regards church government and the doc- | which to this day form a part of the symbols or
trine of the sacraments. Hence the leaven of Eras- standards of the Dutch Reformed church. The Ar-
tianism, not only now, but always characterizing the minian or Remonstrant communion, which is now
Netherlands church.
reduced to a very small body, has, since the synod of
But while the Church of the Netherlands had | Dort, formed a separate ecclesiastical denomination.
thus chosen and publicly avowed its creed, the pre- The seventeenth century was marked by an almost
cise form of its ecclesiastical government still re- incessant succession of theological disputes in the
mained to be settled. Accordingly, a national synod | Dutch churches. Even after the Arminian contro-
was held at Dort in 1578, which laid down the basis. versy had been settled by the synod of Dort, several
of the church government in these words, “ To es- provinces of Holland, more especially Friesland,
tablish good and legitimate order in the church, it is Zealand, Utrecht, Groningen, and Guelderland, re-
resolved that four sorts of ecclesiastical councils fused to acknowledge the decrees of that synod.
shall be instituted: (1) The consistory in each con- For a number of years they continued their resist-
gregation : (2) The classis : (3) The provincial sy- ance, and it was not till 1651, that they were pre-
nod: (4) The general or national synod. In these vailed upon to give in their adhesion to the canons of
assemblies only ecclesiastical affairs shall be trans- the national council. But though the protracted Ar-
acted. As regards matters that are partly eccle- minian controversy at length came to an end, Holland
siastical and partly political, these shall be settled by continued during nearly the whole century to be the
consultation between the civil and the ecclesiastical scene of fierce religious contention and strife. Points
authorities."
of doctrine and of discipline were eagerly discussed
Thus early in the history of the Dutch Reformed by divines of the most opposite opinions. Questions
Church was the Presbyterian form of church gov- of casuistry of the most subtile kind gave rise to
ernment plainly and distinctly established, the four angry disputation. But the topic which more than
gradations of which were the consistory or kirk- any other ranged learned divines in the most violent
session, the classis or presbytery, the provincial, and hostility to one another was that which referred to
the general or national synods. The first arrange- the power of the magistrate in matters of religion.
ment was, that general synods should meet every On this subject numerous pamphlets and treatises
three years, and the first met at Emden in Hano- appeared, some arguing in favour of the magistrate's
ver, where, though held beyond the confines of the power in sacris, in sacred things, and others contend-
Provinces for safety's sake, the Netherlands church ing that he had no power unless circa sacra, about
was originally constituted. A second was held sacred things. But amid the various disputes which at
at Middleburg in 1581. The next took place at this period agitated the churches of Holland, there arose
the Hague in 1586, the interval from some cause two powerful parties, the Cocceians and the Voetians,
or other being longer than three years. Thirty so named from their respective leaders, who were di-
years elapsed before a national synod again assem- vided partly on theological and partly on philosophi-
bled, being the famous synod of Dort in 1618, after cal grounds. The Aristotelian system of philosophy
which no national synod was held for nearly two had for many centuries held undisputed sway over the
hundred years. Only a few years had passed away minds of thinking men in Eiurope. In the univer-
after the Reformed Church had been thoroughly sity, in the school, in the closet of the student, the
organized, when internal controversies on the most Stagyrite reigned supreme. It was a bold step there-
important and vital points of theological doctrine fore in Des Cartes to set forth a system of philoso-
agitated the minds of both ministers and people phy which in many points ran counter to the views of
for many years. The church itself had publicly Aristotle. No sooner, accordingly, was the Cartesian
embraced the Calvinistic systent, but ARMINIUS philosophy promulgated, than the learned were di-
(which see), a respected minister, and afterwards vided in opinion as to its truth. Voet raised the
professor of theology, inculcated both from the pul- | standard in Holland against the new philosopher, as
pit and the academic chair, opinions completely teaching not merely error in science, but heresy in
subversive of the doctrines maintained in the recog- religion. In 1639, this philosophico-religious warfare
nised standards of the church. A sect thus arose began. The most eminent Dutch theologians entered
within the church (see ARMINIANS), avowing a the field, some in favour of Aristotle, and others of
heresy of the most dangerous kind. Gomarus headed | Des Cartes. The controversy waxed fiercer every
the Calvinistic party. Thus commenced a theological day, and the classes or presbyteries of the Dutch
controversy, which was conducted on both sides with Reformed Church found it necessary at length to
the utmost bitterness. At length a national synod was interfere, and to forbid the clergy from carrying mat-
summoned, which met at Dort in 1618, attended by ters of philosophy to the pulpit. The States of Hol-
deputies from all the Reformed churches in Europe, land also in 1656 publicly prohibited the writings of
and after protracted sittings, extending from Novem- Des Cartes from being expounded to the young, or
ber till April of the following year, the doctrines of the Scrii tures from being explained according to the
1.
3 L
778
DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH.
dictates of philosophy. These strong measures, ISTS (which see), and PAIONIANS (which see), or of
however, adopted on the part both of the church the anxiety with which they watched the controver-
and the state, did not prevent the works of Des sies which were agitating the English Church, and
Cartes from being extensively studied, and their which, by causing the Brownists to emigrate, gave
merits or demerits from being widely and keenly rise to the Independents in Holland; not to speak,
canvassed. And the controversy was not a little we say, of these religious disputes imported from
complicated by the strange and heterogeneous com- other countries, the Dutch Reformed Church itself,
binations of the errors of Cocceius with those of Des during that eventful period, suffered long and deeply
Cartes, it having happened by a curious coincidence, from the most violent internal dissensions. Sects
that those who adopted the theology of Cocceius, sprung up entertaining the wildest and most extra-
adopted also the philosophy of Des Cartes. Hence, vagant opinions, such as the Collegiants, the Bourig-
though not in the remotest degree connected with nonists, the Verschorists, the Hattemites, and others.
each other, they came to be confounded in the minds But amid all the commotions which prevailed in the
of many. (See COCCEIANS.)
Protestant church in Holland, and the numerous
But while it is difficult to see how the Cartesian controversies which arose among its people, Chris-
system of philosophy could have led to the errors of tianity owes that church a deep debt of gratitude for
Cocceius, other controversies which arose at this its vigorous defence of the gospel against vital err-
period in Holland had their origin evidently in the ors, and also for affording a refuge to the persecuted
new speculative opinions. Among these may be Puritans, when driven for conscience' sake from their
mentioned the dispute commenced by Roël in 1689, native shores. Nor ought we to forget that the
in regard to the title, "Son of God," applied to French or Walloon branch of the Netherlands Re-
Christ in the New Testament, which that divine formed Church exercised very great influence in set-
alleged to refer only to his human nature, and to the tling the doctrine of the church. The English and
supernatural conception, and to have no bearing Scotch churches in Holland also were of no small
upon his divinity. Vitringa, and many of the Dutch importance in the same light, and the remaining con-
divines, opposed this view of the subject with great gregations of both are still influential and very in-
ability, and in 1691 the states of Friesland enjoined teresting.
Roël not to teach or preach his peculiar sentiinents, During the eighteenth century, Holland main-
and at the same time also enjoined his opponents to tained a high place among the nations of Europe by
keep silence on the contested points. This order the rapid progress of her manufactures, and the
issuing from the civil authorities was strictly obeyed, flourishing extent of her commerce. But in the
in so far as the province of Friesland was concerned. midst of all this material prosperity, the country
But in the other Dutch provinces the government was visited in the providence of God with one severe
not having interfered, the ecclesiastical synods passed calamity after another. The effect of these trials
decrees condemning the obnoxious opinions, and upon the minds of the Dutch Protestants was the re-
ordering that candidates for the ministry should be verse of what night have been expected. The zeal
required to renounce them before receiving license. for the truth which had marked their history now pal-
To the Cartesian system also may be traced the pably declined. The war which preceded the peace
erroneous opinions of Balthazar Becker, a minister of 1784 had proved deeply disastrous to the country,
at Amsterdam, who, arguing from the principles laid and the restoration of security from outward assaults
down by Des Cartes, that the essence of spirit con- was followed immediately by internal divisions. Hol-
sists in thinking, and as there is no connection be. land lost the high place it had once held among the
tween thought and extension, mind cannot act upon nations, and after experiencing a continued succes-
body unless united with it, maintained that those sion of disgraces and disasters for nearly thirty years
passages of Scripture which speak of an influence longer, this interesting country was blotted out from
as exerted by good or evil spirits upon man, must the map of Europe, and made a dependent province
be understood figuratively, or in an allegorical as it were of the French Empire. During the twelve
sense. The views of Becker were given to the public years of French ascendency, the Presbyterian sys-
in a work bearing the name of The World Be- tem of church government in Holland fell into total
witched,' which gave rise to much discussion. Beck- disorder, and a most melancholy decline of vital re-
er was deposed and silenced by the synods of Edam | ligion took place. The three universities, Leyden,
and Alkmaar in 1692, but such was the personal esti- Groningen, and Utrecht, became hotbeds of Liberal-
mation in which he was held, that the senate of | ism and Neology. Still there was a Dort orthodox
Amsterdain continued his salary till his death in party, who firmly maintained the truth amid all op-
1718.
position. The low state of vital religion through-
Not to speak of the deep interest which the Dutch out the Dutch churches in the end of the last
Protestants took during the seventeenth century in century, is thus briefly sketched by Dr. Wyn-
the theological controversies which were carried on persse, at that time an eminent professor at Ley-
among their neighbours of the French Reformed “The diligent and daily use of God's word,
Church, those for example raised by the AMYRALD- | both in the family and the closet, so much in
den :
DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH.
779
esteem among the Protestants immediately after the Royal family belong, though it can scarcely be said
Reformation, is exceedingly rare. A torrent of new to have special privileges different from other deno-
writings, less adapted to convey instruction than to minations, enjoys at all events a double share of
afford amusement, to gratify an idle curiosity, and pecuniary support from the State treasury. In 1816,
to encourage a frivolous waste of precious time, has when the House of Orange recovered the sovereign-
banished the Bible.-Children, after a short and de- | ty, the Presbyterian forın of government, which had
fective education, and such as they are apt to de becoine completely disarranged, was remodelled by a
spise, are allowed to make a public profession of the synod which met at the Hague under the sanction of
religion to which they have been accustomed, by William I. The four graduated ecclesiastical courts-
joining in the holy communion : but this is done in consistories, classes, provincial synods, and general
so slight and superficial a manner, that the least synods—were restored. The classes were permitted to
banter in a libertine company is sufficient to unhinge meet only once a-year, and their business was limited
every good principle, and efface every good impress to the management of their ministers' widows' fund,
sion. Such professors, as also people of rank, the election of deputies to attend the provincial
though in other matters ingenious and learned, con- synods, and the nomination of a small commit-
tinue in the same old track, attend the church, and tee called moderators, in whom are vested all the
adhere to the doctrines which are taught there : but | functions of the ancient classes. The provincial
as they never examine the foundation of their faith, and general synods were permitted to meet at re-
they remain unsettled, and fall before the assaults of gular intervals, and, accordingly, since 1816, there
infidelity.—When the principles of the English deists has been a meeting of the general synod at the
(for the most part shrewd philosophers, but whose | Hague regularly every year. Its meetings are usually
style of writing was dry and unpopular,) made less continued for fourteen days, and all the affairs of the
progress on the continent, a number of libertine entire Dutch Reformed church, all that concerns its
Frenchmen attacked the Holy Scriptures and the worship, government, and discipline is under the
doctrines of Christianity, not by solid argument and regulation of this supreme ecclesiastical court, and in
sound reason, but by giving way to a sportful fancy ; | it alone is vested the power of deposing ministers or
by artful insinuations, witty allusions, Judicrous re- excommunicating members. “There is a regular
presentations, banter, and ridicule; and this mode of establishment at the Hague,” as we learn from Dr.
åttack made a great impression, especially on such Steven, “solely for the general direction of the affairs
as had received a more polished education. Their of the Reformed Church, at the head of which is the
profane scoffs and ill-applied wit, infused into the minister of state. This ecclesiastical minister has
unguarded the poison of scepticism, to extract which under him a secretary and adviser,—besides five
a deeper investigation was necessary than that to commissioners, two adjunct clerks, and an agent
for
which they were either able or willing to submit." the church. This establislıment, though standing
It is refreshing, however, to note, that amid the in immediate connection with all the church courts,
deplorable decay of godliness which thus extensively possesses no legislative power and government, and
prevailed, the Dutch Reformed Church was not un- takes no management of church matters, without
mindful of the great work which was assigned her. consulting those ecclesiastical judicatories, to whose
In 1803, 1804, and 1805, we find her engaged in department such affairs belong.
preparing a collection of Evangelical Songs to be The manner in which Divine service is conducted
used along with their metrical version of the Psalms in the Dutch Reformed church on ordinary Sabbaths,
in public worship. This treasury of sacred melody, ) and on sacramental occasions, is thus described in a
when completed, was approved by all the Synods, valuable tract, published some years ago by Dr. Ste-
as being agreeable to “the received doctrine con- ven, on the Dutch Ecclesiastical Establishment, and
tained according to the Word of God in the Heidel- inserted as an appendix to his · History of the Scot-
berg Catechism, Confession of Faith, and canons of tish Church at Rotterdain.' “ In Holland, clergymen
the National Synod held at Dordrecht in the years are familiarly, but as a term of respect, called Dominies.
1618 and 1619.” This collection of sacred hymns | Few of the clergy preach from memory. They gen-
has been loudly complained of as containing errone- erally read their discourses; and sometimes, though
ous sentiments, but nevertheless continues to be rarely, their prayers. They are held in the greatest re-
used in the public services of the Reformed churches spect by the Dutch. In general they are certainly ex-
in Holland.
emplary, and zealous in the discharge of their sacred
Previous to 1795, the Reformed church was the functions. And, like the people at large, are dis-
predominant church in the Netherlands, but in that tinguished for loyalty and strong attachment to their
year the church was separated from the State, and Fatherland. Accompanied by an elder, they regu-
ever since, all religious opinions are tolerated and larly make a professional visit to their members,
enjoy the same protection. Salaries are now paid from from house to house, twice a-year, immediately be-
the public treasury to ministers of different churches, fore the season of communion. They are also par-
and even to the Jewish Rabbis. But still the Reform- ticularly careful whom they admit to the Lord's Ta-
ed church, being the church to which the King and ble. Young people attend them, for years together,
780
DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH.
for catechetical instruction. As auxiliaries, inde- of the church. At his invitation the members
pendent of the ministers, there are also subordinate promptly and decently approach the Lord's Table,
licensed male and female teachers of religion, who and sit down promiscuously without distinction of
keep private preparatory classes, and receive a small age or rank, the king being seated, perhaps, next
gratuity from their pupils.
to the poorest of his subjects. The generally pre-
“ In all the Reformed churches in the Netherlands, vailing practice, of the men communicating first,
the sacrament of the Supper is administered once a and then the women separately, is not enjoined by
quarter ; though formerly, as in some districts still, law, but established by custom.
six times a-year. The celebration of that ordinance “ After a few prefatory sentences, left to his own
is announced a fortnight beforehand; and in the discretion, the minister distributes, in the words of
course of the week immediately preceding the Sab- institution, the bread and wine to those who are
bath on which it is celebrated, there is a preparation nearest to him. He then pauses, and sitting down,
service, towards the conclusion of which, all the in- partakes of the same himself; and while the sacred
tending communicants stand up and answer in the symbols are being handed from one member to an-
affirmative, in presence of the congregation, a few other along the table, a solemn and impressive silence
questions put from the pulpit, comprehending a de- prevails in the assembly. When all at the table
claration, That they believe, with all their heart, the have communicated, the minister stands up again,
doctrine which they have confessed; that they re- and addresses to them words of comfort and exhorta-
solve, through Divine grace, to adhere to that doc- tion; after which, they return to their pews. A
trine, and to lead a Christian life; and that they will small portion of Scripture, such as the 53d chapter
submit to the superintendence and the discipline of of Isaiah, or a similarly appropriate passage, is then
the church. All candidates for membership in the read by the clerk or precentor, or a few verses of a
New Reformed Communion, receive a regular course psalm or hymn are sung. This process is repeated
of religious instruction from the ministers or the till all intending communicants have so received the
catechists of that church, in Christian doctrine and Holy Supper. The same clergyman, who has deli-
morality, according to the Confession of Faith and vered the sacramental discourse, or what in Scotland
to the Heidelberg Catechism ; and also in the know- is called the action sermon, conducts the whole of
Jedge of Bible history, and the origin and progress of the sacred service; and in large communities, he is
the Reformation in the Christian church. Upon sometimes called to address thirty tables consecu-
these subjects they are examined, an elder being pre- tively. His address, of necessity, is very short. Re-
sent; and when found qualified, they are solemnly verting again to the form for the communion service,
and publicly admitted or confirmed; making in a the minister next reads the invitation to thanksgiv-
standing posture in church, satisfactory replies to the ing and praise, and offers up the concluding prayer
queries above enumerated. Within the pale of the with the Lord's Prayer. Finally, a psalm or hymn
Reformed church, very few adults are to be found is sung, and the benediction is pronounced. In the
who had not been duly enrolled as members ere they afternoon or evening of the same Lord's day there is
attained the age of twenty. Before the celebra- a thanksgiving service. The frequency of the cele-
bration of the Lord's Supper', a meeting of the Con- bration of this holy ordinance, we reckon to be pro-
sistory of each church is always held, in direct ductive of the happiest effects upon the Dutch com-
reference to the moral and religious character of the munity. The preparatory and thanksgiving services
communicants. Members of other Protestant con- are neither injudiciously numerous, nor unnecessarily
gregations in the Netherlands are admissible to com- prolonged.
munion with the Reformed Church, provided that “As it is impossible, especially in large towns,
their moral character is unobjectionable. The prac- that every member of a family can attend on the
tice is unknown in Holland, which is universal among same day, the sacrament is dispensed in one or more
Scottish Presbyterians, of distributing tokens. of the churches on the succeeding Sabbath, to give
“When the Apostolical benediction, after the or- to all an opportunity of communicating.
dinary service in the morning of the sacramental “The officiating elders and deacons are, like the
Sabbath, is pronounced, the officiating minister directs minister, distinguished by a band. The precentor or
the attention of the members to the prescribed and reader is also dressed precisely as a clergyman.” It
printed Form for the Communion Service. That may be mentioned that the Dutch clergy, till within
Form commences with a plain statement of the na- a few years back, wore a court-looking dress and a
ture and design of the Lord's Supper, and of the cocked hat. This practice has been discontinued.
character of those who ought to abstain from it, and Formerly also, in the pulpit, instead of a gown, they
of those who worthily partake it. Then follows an used a long mantel, consisting of black cloth only
appropriate prayer, with the Lord's Prayer and the six inches broad, edged with silk, with a hook to the
Apostle's Creed. A psalm or hymn is next sung, collar of the coat. Now, however, they wear a
and the minister takes then, if not before, his station gown of ample dimensions.
at the Communion Table, which is placed in the The changes introduced by William I. into the
middle, or most convenient and conspicuous part l government of the church, though designed to main-
DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH.
781
tain order and due subordination to the civil autho- synod was appointed to consist of nineteen members
rity, have never been regarded throughout the church commissioned by the provincial synods. In A. D.
with entire satisfaction. The decisions of the higher
The decisions of the higher 1852, a new fundamental law of the church was
administrations of the church, particularly in cases of adopted by the synod, and accepted by the king.
discipline, have often given rise to murmuring among It is a great improvement on that which preceded
those who were concerned for the purity of the ) it. The powers of the classis are much extended,
church, and the constant observation of the head of while those of the select commission are abridged.
the state, although he asserted no right of positive The elections to church offices and to membership of
interference, was by many regarded as inconsistent courts are allowed to be made without state inter-
with religious liberty. The result was, that in 1834 ference. The general synod consists now of 34
a secession took place from the national church of a clerical members chosen by provincial synods, and an
number of ministers and congregations, who formed equal number of secundi to take the places of those
themselves into a separate religious body. No sooner who may be prevented from attending. In addi-
had they taken this important step than they were tion to the 34 now mentioned, one clerical mem-
subjected to severe hardships and privations, both in ber is present to represent the Walloon synod, one
their property and in their persons. Heavy fines to represent the presbytery of Limburg, and one to
were imposed upon them, various restrictions were represent the churches in the colonies. Three elders
put upon their meetings, and they were even subjected are chosen by the Dutch synods, and one by the Wal-
to a vexatious and harassing system of military op- loon synod. There are also present a secretary, a
pression. In vindication of these harsh measures, quæstor-general, and three professors, one from each
which in some cases the Seceders may have brought university, who have a right to sit and deliberate,
upon themselves by their indiscretion, it was argued but not to vote. The synod meets annually at the
that the constitution of 1813, when Holland regained Hague.
her independence, while it afforded full toleration and The preponderance of crown influence in the deli-
protection to the sects then known, made no provision berations and decisions of the church courts, according
for the toleration of any new sects that might arise ; to the fundamental law of the church passed in 1816,
and in the penal code had been embodied a clause gave rise to a spirit of discontent and dissatisfaction,
forbidding more than nineteen persons to assemble which was every year evidently on the increase.
unless authorized to do so by the state.
This, however, was not the only, nor perhaps even
The grounds on which the secession of 1834 took the chief, cause of the alienation from the National
place are to be found, to some extent at least, in church of many of its members. From the period of
the modifications which were introduced in 1816 the French Revolution, there had been gradually im-
into the ecclesiastical constitution and government ported into Holland much of the infidelity of France,
of the Reformed church. In the Old Republic of and the false theology of Germany. These and
the Seven United Provinces, the church was as other influences led, in process of time, to the diffu-
Erastian as it well could be, the ultimate appeal be- sion, among both the pastors and people of the Dutch
ing in all cases to the civil authorities. During the
During the church, of a spirit of indifference, and even of unbe-
French regime, when the church was disestablished, the lief, which saddened the hearts of the godly in the
stipends withdrawn, and the whole was in utter confu- land. And in addition to the departure from sound-
sion, the church was left to herself, and her assemblies ness of doctrine and decay of vital godliness which
were freely chosen, and debated and acted freely. | rapidly spread throughout the church, the National
The consistory consisted of the minister or ministers synod of 1816 had modified the form of subscription
of the congregation, with the elders, and in most to the articles of the synod of Dort thus, “ that
cases the deacons. The classis consisted of all the we truly receive and heartily believe the doctrine
ministers and several of the elders within the bounds. which, in accordance with God's Holy Word, is
The provincial synod consisted of deputies from each contained in the recognized formularies of unity of
classis, and the general synod of deputies from each the Netherlands Reformed Church." This modifi-
provincial synod. Such was the constitution of the cation was considered by many as calculated to throw
church courts between 1795 and 1816, but in the lat- open the door to those who, entertaining Arminian,
ter year a considerable change took place under the Arian, or Socinian principles, could not conscien-
sanction of the king. The consistory underwent no tiously declare that they believed the articles of the
alteration, but in the classis was established a com- synod of Dort to be agreeable to Scripture. A
mission or classical direction, which managed most change so important was not accomplished with-
of the business of the classis, and in the selection of out considerable resistance. Many were the at-
those who were to be members of the classical direc- | tempts made through the press to expose the equivo..
tion, as it came to be called, the king obtained an in- cation supposed to be involved in the new forin of
fluential voice. The provincial synod or direction was subscription, but the most successful in awakening a
still more thoroughly under the control of the sov- deep interest on the subject, was a small pamphlet
ereign, the members being chosen by liim out of a published in April 1827, under the title of An Ad-
leet prepared by the inferior courts. The general | dress to my Reformed Fellow-Believers.' The re-
1
782
DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH.
sult of the wide circulation of this · Address' was, the Professor believes and teaches that there will be
that the spirit of murmuring and discontent, which a final restoration of all things, and that the whole
had for several years been gaining ground in the human race will ultimately be saved. Such are the
church, came at length to a height, and the secession heretical sentiments openly set forth in Leyden, as
of 1834 drew off from her communion a large body we learn from a treatise just published by D. Mo-
of the people, who, in the face of all opposition, | lenaar, an excellent Dutch Reformed minister at the
still maintain those principles, which rendered Hague; and thus both at Leyden and Groningen are
their continuance in the church difficult, if not the minds of the Dutch students of theology poisoned
impossible.
by the most erroneous and unscriptural teaching.
The twenty-four years which have elapsed since Utrecht is the only one of the three theological
the Secession took place, has by no means improved schools of Holland which is to any extent free from
the state of the Dutch church in so far as purity of fatal heresy.
doctrine is concerned. The pernicious effects, on the The present state of the Dutch Reformed Church
contrary, of the modification of the form of subscrip- is far from affording a favourable prospect for the
tion which was introduced in 1816, are every day more future, but there is one redeeming feature of the
and more apparent. Within the pale of the church case, that amid all the heresies which are springing
has arisen a class of ministers known by the name of up throughout the church, its standards are still pre-
the Groningen school, who openly teacli Arianism or served in their original purity and Scriptural ortho-
semi-Arianism from the pulpit, and from the professor's doxy, and amid the severe shock which it sustained by
chair, alleging that Christ is not the everlasting Son the secession, it is calculated that while the Seceders
of the Father, born of God, and therefore very God, amount to somewhere about 40,000, there are 1,700,000
as all Scripture teaches, but merely the most exalted persons who still adhere to the Reformed Church, and
of the creatures of God, trained in heaven to wisdom the pastors number 1,637, not including 25 minis-
and holiness, that coming as a man into the world, ters and 8 emeriti pastors of the Walloon Synod,
le might reveal God in manhood for the purpose of which is also represented in the General Synod of
bringing man back to the image of God. They deny the Dutch church. In the classes of the Dutch
also the personality and Godhead of the Holy Spirit, church are also included 4 ministers of the Scotch
and believe him to be simply an attribute of God, church, 1 English Presbyterian, and several German
a manifestation of the Divine power and wisdom. Protestants. There are 92 licentiates or candidates
Their views of the inspiration of the Scriptures are for the ministry.
equally unsound, for they declare that the Bible is Pope Pius IX, issued a bull on 4th March 1853,
not the Word of God, but that the Word of God is dividing Holland into regular dioceses, over which
in the Bible; in other words, that some portions of Romish bishops in ordinary were appointed. This
the Bible are inspired, but others not.
movement on the part of the Roman Catholic church
Besides the Groningen school, the Dutch Re- excited no small sensation among the Dutch Protes
formed Church has another form of heresy taught in tants. The government, however, refused to sanc-
one of its universities, which is rapidly undermining tion any such arrangement, unless on certain condi-
the principles of the students of theology. We re- tions involving a modification of the oath taken by
fer to the theological views inculcated at Leyden by Romish bishops at their consecration, a demand that
Professor Scholten, which differ in several particu- every bishop should obtain a royal license before
lars from the errors just noticed. This learned divine exercising his office, and should take an oath of
teaches from the chair that a difference ought to be allegiance to the government. The bishops also
maintained between the Scriptures and the Word of were not allowed to reside in the places from which
God. What Jesus teaches he regards as alone in they derived their titles, but in such places as the
fallible, but that the writings of the Evangelists and king should appoint, and accordingly, he has located
Apostles stand on a different footing from the dis- them in North Brabant and Limbourg, which are
courses of Christ, and are not to be regarded as a chiefly Roman Catholic districts.
standard for the belief of the church. The Professor From the Dutch Reformed Church there is a vi-
alleges also that the promise of the Holy Spirit given gorous offshoot at the Cape of Good Hope, where,
to the Apostles belonged not to them alone, but to as the colony formerly belonged to Holland, the
the church also in all ages, that they might more population largely consists of Dutch emigrants and
and more seek and find all the truth, the testimony their descendants. The church is supported by the
of the Spirit within a man being nothing else but government of the colony. Each congregation has
the man's cordial reception of the truth. This its consistory, which meets as often as occasion re-
teacher of theology denies original sin, declares that quires, and the classes or presbyteries, five in number,
there is no direct prophecy of the Messiah in the meet once a-year, while the synod meets every five
Old Testament, and asserts that the Son before his years. There are twenty-one students connected
coming into the world was not a person, but merely with this branch of the Dutch Reformed Church, who
the world-thought of God, and the Holy Spirit no- are attending the universities in Holland, chiefly
thing else but the almighty power of God. Finally, | Utrecht, in preparation for the office of the ministry.
DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA.
782
DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH IN AMER- Reforined church is confined to the States of New
ICA, the oldest Presbyterian denomination in the York and New Jersey, and the city of Philadelphia.
United States. It is a branch of the national church Its congregations are prosperous and wealthy, espe-
of Holland, and dates as far back as 1614, when a cially the collegiate churches in the city of New
colony of Dutch emigrants began to settle on the York. This denomination has also at Brunswick, New
banks of the Hudson, and laid the foundation of Jersey, a theological seminary and also a college, called
New Amsterdam, which was afterwards called New Rutger's college, which, though the number of their
York, and became the commercial metropolis of the students is small, are among the best endowed lite-
New World. The Dutch West India Company rary institutions in the country. In the absence of
were the first who carried the ministers of the gos- an original field of home missionary labour, we are
pel from Holland to North America, and as the informed by Dr. Schaff, that this church has lately
members of that Company chiefly belonged to Am- made an effort to enlarge its territory and influence
sterdam, the ministers of that city were naturally by establishing congregations out of foreign German,
applied to for aid in selecting suitable and efficient and German Reformed material, and published a new
pastors for the rising colony. Thus it happened | German hymn-book.
that the Dutch Reformed Church in America formed In doctrine this denomination holds to the same
for more than a century only a branch of the inother standards as the parent church in Holland, but be-
church in Europe, and was under the immediate | ing now completely separated from that church, they
jurisdiction of the classis in Amsterdam, which to have liappily escaped the influx of Neologian senti-
this day has the charge of the churches in the Dutch ments which have so extensively corrupted the Re-
colonies. But this dependence, at first natural and formed church of Holland, more particularly the
beneficial, came to be attended with much inconve- universities of Groningen and Leyden, to the almost
nience on account of the intervening distance. At complete setting aside of the articles of the synod of
length, after a good deal of violent controversy be- Dort. The Heidelberg Catechism, which is one of
tween the old Dutch and the young Dutch parties, the symbolical books of the church, is now practi-
which led even to a formal though but temporary cally very little used. This church has a liturgy
schism, the church assumed an independent organi- | containing prayers suited to persons in different cir-
zation, with the consent of the classis of Amsterdam cumstances, public and private ; but the only part
and the synod of North Holland, in 1771, chiefly which is enjoined to be read is the Form of Baptism,
in consequence of the prudent and conciliatory in- in order to preserve the uniformity of vows; to-
tervention of the venerable Dr. Livingston. (See gether with the short prayer before the vows taken
CONFERENTIE PARTY.)
by the parents; and also the Formula of the Holy
From this period nearly all communication with Communion of the Lord's Supper. These the min-
the parent church in Holland ceased, and even the ister reads while all the members carefully and
Dutch language rapidly passed away from the pul- devoutly follow him, with the form open before
pit and the school. Many of the Dutch settlers re- them. This is all the use that is made in public of
sisted for a time the introduction of the English lan-
the Liturgy
guage into the regular serrices of the church, but In its form of government this church is strictly
those born in the colony having no such partiality Presbyterian, and in almost all respects in conforunity
for the language of the fathers, preferred to worship with the ecclesiastical arrangements of Presbyte-
in the prevailing language of their adopted country.
rian churches on both sides of the Atlantic. The
And no sooner was the church placed on an indepen-only difference respects the eldership, which in other
dent footing than it increased quickly in numbers churches is an office conferred for life; but in the
and in influence. At the commencement of the war
Dutch Reformed church in America the elders are
of the revolution, there were about eighty churches chosen to serve for two years in succession, and
in the state of New York, which were divided into after remaining out of office one year, they are again
three classes or presbyteries ; and in New Jersey eligible should the congregation see fit to re-elect
there were forty churches, which were divided into two thein.
classes. The particular synod, as it was called, was The mode of conducting Divine service is thus de-
a delegated body, which met once a-year, and which scribed by Dr. Brownlee : “ With us, the ancient
consisted of two pastors and two elders from each and time-honoured custom and mode is this : the
classis. A general synod was held for the first time ministes and people, who are members, upon enter-
in 1792. It consisted at first of all the ministers of ing the church, bow down, and in secret worship the
the church, with an elder from each congregation, King of Zion. In the morning, the pastor begins
and it met every third year. Some years afterwards, the solemnity of the day by reading the ten com-
when the number of churches was greatly multiplied, mandments : and in the other services of the day,
the general synod was made a delegated body, each by reading a chapter of the Holy Scriptures. The
classis nominating three pastors and three elders as assembly then sing; then there is the solemnı bene.
their representatives. It was arranged that this diction; then a brief address, called the exordium re-
general synod should meet annually. The Dutch | motum, containing an outline of the subject to be
784
DUUMVIRI-EAGLE-WORSHIP.
discussed; then prayer; then singing; then the ser- DYOTHELITES, a name given to those ortho-
mon; then a prayer; then a collection of alms for dox Christians, in the seventh century, who held
the poor; then singing, and the benediction.
that there were two wills in Christ, a Divine and
“Our psalmody is that which has been carefully a human, in opposition to the MONOTHELITES
prepared by a committee of our General Synod. It (which see), who contended that the human will
consists of the psalms of Watts, greatly improved was so absorbed in the Divine, that Christ could
and enlarged, and two books of hymns. It is a rule only be said to have one will. The sixth general
of our church that each pastor shall lecture on a sec- council called by the Emperor Constantine Pogo-
tion of our Heidelberg Catechism, in the afternoon of natus in A. D. 680, asserted unanimously the doc-
the Sabbath, so as to go through the whole in a de- trine of two wills in Christ, and two kinds of vo-
finite time. These lectures exhibit an entire sys- luntary acts. This council, therefore, was strictly
tem of pure and holy doctrine to the people, in a Dyothelite, and, accordingly, declared the Mono-
regular course. And to this admirable system do thelites to be heretics. This was the third Con-
we humbly and prayerfully ascribe the uniformity stantinopolitan council, and from the vaulted cham-
and strictness of adherence to pure doctrine in our ber in which it held its meetings, was called the
churches. The design is to secure doctrinal preach- Trullian council. By means of this council the
ing, and that of the entire system, to our people, in a doctrine of two wills and two modes of operation
regular course, from year to year.” Since 1764, the in Christ obtained a victory throughout the Eastern
worship has ceased to be conducted in the Dutch church. It was now made part of a new Confes-
language. The body is of limited extent, number- sion; "Two wills and two natural modes of opera-
ing in 1853 only 324 churches.
tion united with each other, without opposition, and
DUUMVIRI, the name of various magistrates without confusion or change, so that no antagonisin
and functionaries, in ancient times, at Rome. Thus can be found to exist between them, but a constant
those officers, to whom was committed the original subjection of the human will to the Divine;" this
charge of the Sibylline books, were called Duumviri was the foundation of the creed. An anathema was
Sacrorum. Officers bearing the name of Duumviri also pronounced by the council upon the champions
were also appointed for the purpose of building or of Monothelitism, upon the patriarchs of Constanti-
dedicating a temple.
nople, and upon the pontiff Honorius. But in A. D.
DUZAKH, a place often referred to in the ancient 711, an emperor mounted the throne of the Greek
Persian religion, where Ahriman, and the Devs, and empire who was a zealous champion of the Mono-
the souls of the wicked are thoroughly cleansed and thelite party. Under his presidency a council was held
purified by fire. It somewhat resembles the purga- at Constantinople, which overthrew the decisions of
tory of the Romish church. The Persians, however, the sixth general council, and proposed a new sym-
had a purgatory without a hell, being of opinion that bol of faith in favour of the Monothelite doctrine.
there was no eternal punishment, but that men would The reign of this emperor, however, lasted only two
be purified, and then restored to the Divine favour. years, and liis successor, Anastasius II., by whom
DWARFS, diminutive creatures, which, accord- he was dethroned, asserted Dyothelite doctrine to
ing to the ancient Scandinavian mythology, were be that which he alone could favour, and the Mono-
bred in the body of the giant Ymir, and were at first thelites, fleeing from the country, took refuge among
orily maggots, but by the will of the gods they at the mountains of Lebanon, where they came to be
last assumed the form and understanding of man. known under the name of MARONITES (which see).
They always dwell in rocks and caverns.
DZOHARA, the name given by the ancient Ara-
DWIJA (twice born), an appellation given to a bians to the planet Venus, whom they worshipped.
Hindu Brahman, after his investiture with the sacred DZOHL, the name given by the ancient Ara-
cord. See CORD (INVESTITURE WITH THE). bians to the planet Saturn, whom they worshipped.
E
EAGLE-WORSHIP. The eagle has always been 'Thus Priam, when he had formed the design of go-
regarded as the king of birds. It was the bird of ing forth to redeem Hector, begs of Jupiter to as-
Jove among the ancient Greeks and Romans; and sure him of his protection by the flight of an eagle.
the appearance of an eagle clapping her wings and Xenophon, and other ancient historians, inform us,
sporting in the air was esteemed a lucky omen. that the golden eagle with extended wings was the
EAST (WORSHIPPING TOWARDS THE).
785
ensign of the Persian monarchs long before it was and paradisaical island of 'Tyre was alleged to be
adopted by the Romans; and it is very probable that guarded by an eagle, which must be killed before.
the Persians borrowed the symbol from the ancient man could gain access to the happy land. In a le-
Assyrians. In the representations of the Roman gendary epic of the Finns, the Supreme God is said
Jupiter, the eagle is usually pictured at his feet, but in to come under the form of an eagle in aid of the god
a statue of Zeus at Olympia, presented by the Meta- of agriculture, Wäinämöinen, and to set fire to the
pontines as a votive offering to the god, he is repre- | forests which covered the soil. Thus almost every-
sented with the face averted towards the east, with where is the eagle found to be the symbol of God,
an eagle perched upon one hand, and a thunder-bolt | the Supreme God, the sovereign God who formed
grasped in the other, while agarland of flowers decorat- and fashioned the world over which he reigns. It
ed his brow. Not only, however, was the eagle looked was also a bird of good omen both among the Greeks
upon as an emblem in connection with the heathen and Romans, and it is still looked upon as a suitable
gods of antiquity, but there is reason to believe that ornament to the sceptre of kings, and the proud
it was ranked among the birds that were accounted standard of warlike nations.
sacred among the Egyptians. Diodorus Siculus and EARTH. See CREATION.
Strabo tell us, that the people of Thebes in Egypt EAST (WORSHIPPING TOWARDS THE). This
worshipped the eagle, looking upon it as a royal bird custom is of very remote antiquity, having probably
worthy of divine honours. The Roman eagle, also been derived from the habit prevailing among those
borne as their military standard, was sometimes who worshipped the sun, of turning towards the east
actually worshipped.
where he is seen to rise. Vitruvius, the Roman
In the cosmogony of various nations, we find the writer on architecture, lays it down as a fixed prin-
eagle occupying a conspicuous place, the Holy Spi- ciple, that a temple should be so built that those who
rit brooding upon the surface of the waters being sacrifice at the altar may in doing so have their faces
often symbolized by an eagle or other large bird turned towards the east. The altar itself also, he
hovering over chaos. Among the Aztecs the eagle affirms, ought to be situated in that direction. Au-
was the emblem of their supreme divinity, and with gustine traces the practice of turning towards the
the eagle as their standard, they marched to battle east, which early appeared in the Christian church,
under the protection and in the name of God. In to the custom observed by the heathens. The an-
the monuments of ancient Mexico, is seen a figure of cient Jews, on the contrary, turned towards the
an eagle holding in its talons a serpent whose head west, that they might not appear to imitate the ido-
it is tearing off. To the north of Mexico the Indians latrous heathen. From the period of the second
of California hold this bird in great veneration, be- century, it was customary both in the Eastern and
cause, according to one of their legends, which may Western church to pray facing towards the east.
possibly have an allusion to the deluge, a man who The altars of the Christian churches were situated in
had fallen into a well was rescued by an eagle. the same way, and the dead were buried so that the
Among several nations, the eagle is an attribute eye might be turned in the same direction. In the
of the Supreme God or King of the universe. | baptismal ceremony it was customary first to turn
Thus, as we have already seen, among the Greeks towards the west as the region of darkness, where
and Romans it was consecrated to Jupiter ; among the prince of darkness might be supposed to dwell,
the Sabines, to Sangus or Sancus, who is, they tell and to renounce with great solemnity the devil and
us, the heaven; among the Cymri, to Hu; among his works, and then to turn about to the east and
the Scandinavians, to Odin, who bears, among other enter into covenant with Christ. “The eye of the
surnames, that of eagle-headed; to the supreme god Christian," it has been said, “ turned with peculiar
of the ancient Arabs of Yemen, who is called Nasr, interest to the east, whence the day-spring from on
the eagle; to that of the Assyrians, called Nisroch, high had visited him. There the morning-star of his
who is represented at Khorsabad, according to Lay- hope fixed his admiring gaze. Thence arose the Sun
ard, by a man with an eagle's head. In the Zenda- of Righteousness, with all his heavenly influences.
vesta of the ancient Persians, the eagle is the guar- Thither in prayer his soul turned with kindling
dian of the two gates of the world. In India, Vishnu emotions to the altar of his God. And even in his
is sometimes represented under the form of an eagle, grave, thither still he directed his slumbering eye, in
with a thunderbolt in its claws, but Garouda, as quiet expectation of awaking to behold in the same
Vishnu is called under this form, has only the body direction the second appearing of his Lord, when he
of a bird, his head being that of a man. The Scan- shall come in the clouds of heaven to gather his
dinavians represented organic existence by the ash- saints." This practice is carefully observed in the
tree, Yggdrasil, at the top of which is seen Odin, Roman Catholic church, although it has not met with
under the forın of an eagle, while the serpent Nid- uniform approbation from the Roman Pontiffs, for
högg gnaws the root of the ash-tree. The squirrel Pope Leo I. pronounced it to be a superstitious cus-
Ratolsk runs up and down the ash-tree, seeking to tom which ought not to be tolerated. The author of
cause strife between the bird of heaven and Nidhögg, the Apostolical Constitutions gives directions for
the huge mundane snake. In Phænicia, the mythic building churches towards the east, but the practice
1
3 M
786
EASTER.
has been departed from in multitudes of instances in position, not in nature. And Lactantius, without
every age of the church. Bingham, in his Christian taking any particular notice of this custom, makes
Antiquities, gives a very full account of the reasons this general observation, That the east was more
which have been assigned for the introduction and peculiarly ascribed to God, because he was the
continued observance of the custom of worshipping fountain of light, and illuminator of all things, and
towards the east. “Some say, the east was the sym- because he makes us rise to eternal life. But the
bol of Christ, who was called the Orient, and Light, west was ascribed to that wicked and depraved spirit
and Sun of righteousness, in Scripture: and therefore, the devil, because he hides the light, and induces
since they must worship toward some quarter of the darkness always upon men, and makes them fall and
world, they chose that which led them to Christ by perish in their sins. Now, this is a reason that
symbolical representation. As Tertullian tells us in equally holds for turning to the east in baptism, as
one place, that in fact they worshipped toward the well as their daily devotion.
east, which made the heathen suspect that they wor- “ There is one reason more assigned for it, which
shipped the rising sun; so in another place he says, is, that Christ made his appearance on earth in the
The east was the figure of Christ, and therefore both East, and there ascended into heaven, and there will
their churches and their prayers were directed that appear again at the last day. This is one of the
way. Clemens Alexandrinus says, They worshipped three answers, which the author of the Questions
toward the east, because the east is the image of our to Antiochus, under the name of Athanasius, orders
spiritual nativity, and from thence the light first to be given to this question : If a Christian ask the
arises and shines out of darkness, and the day of question, he is to be told, They looked toward para-
true knowledge, after the manner of the sun, arises dise, beseeching God to restore them to their ancient
upon those who lie buried in ignorance. And St. country and region, from whence they were expelled.
Austin, When we stand at our prayers, we turn to If a heathen put the question, the answer should be,
the east, whence the heavens, or the light of heaven Because God is the true Light, for which reason,
arises : not as if God was only there, and had for when they looked upon the created light, they did
saken all other parts of the world, but to put our- not worship it, but the Creator of it. If the question
selves in mind of turning to a more excellent nature, was proposed by a Jew, he should be told, They did
that is, to the Lord. This reason exactly falls in it because the Holy Ghost had said by David, “We
with that which is given for turning to the east, will worship toward the place where thy feet stood,
when they covenanted with Christ in the solemnities O Lord,' Psal. cxxxii. 7, meaning the place where
of baptism.
Christ was born, and lived, and was crucified, and
“Another reason given for it by some, is, that the rose again, and ascended into heaven. Which seems
east was the place of paradise, our ancient habitation also to be intimated by St. Hilary on those words of
and country, which we lost in the first Adam by the the 67th Psalm, according to the translation of the
fall, and whither we hope to be restored again, as to Septuagint, 'Sing unto God, who ascended above the
our native abode and rest, in the Second Adam, heaven of heavens' in the east. The honour of God,
Christ our Saviour. This reason is given by Gre- says he, who ascended above the heaven of heavens
gory Nyssen and St. Basil, and by the author of the in the east, is now reasonably required : and for that
Constitutions, and the author of the Questions and reason toward the east, because he, according to the
Answers to Antiochus among the works of Athana- prophet, is the East or Morning from on high; that
sius, together with Chrysostom, (as he is cited by he, returning to the place whence he descended,
Cotelerius and Gregentius,) and many others. Now, might be known to be the Orient Light, who shall
this is the very reason assigned by St. Cyril for hereafter be the Author of men's rising to the same
turning to the east, when they covenanted with ascent of a celestial habitation."
Christ, and celebrated the mysteries of baptism. So EASTER, a festival observed in the Christian
that hitherto we find a clear relation of these cere- church from early times in memory of the resurrec-
monies one to the other, and a perfect agreement tion of Jesus Christ from the dead. It corresponds
between them.
to the PASSOVER (which see) of the Jews, which is
" Another reason assigned for this custom, was, called only once by the name of Easter in our au-
that the east was the most honourable part of the thorized version, namely in Acts xii. 4, “And when
creation, as being the seat of light and brightness. he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and
The author of the Questions and Answers to the delivered him to four quarternions of soldiers to keep
Orthodox gives this reason for it: We set apart, says him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to
he, the most honourable things to the honour of the people.” The term Easter is said by the Vener-
God: and the east, in the opinion of men, is the able Bede to have been first used when Christianity was
most honourable part of the creation : we therefore introduced among the Saxons in Britain, and this old
in time of prayer turn our faces to the east; as we historian traces it to Eostre, a Saxon goddess, whose
sign those in the name of Christ, that need consigna- festival was celebrated annually at the season in
tion, with the right hand, because it is deemed more which Easter is now held; and when the worship of
honourable than the left, though it differ only in the heathen deity was abolished, the name was still
EASTER.
787
retained in connection with the Christian festival to other day of the week than Friday, and the memo-
which it gave place. According to other writers, | rial of Christ's resurrection on another day than Sab-
however, it is derived from a Saxon word signifying bath. When, however, in the course of the second
rising, and thus Easter-day is the day of the rising century annual festivals came to be introduced also
or resurrection of Christ.
in the Western churches, they held it necessary that
The precise time at which this festival ought to a Friday should always be consecrated to the me-
be celebrated was the subject of a keen and pro-mory of Christ's passion, and a Sabbath to the me .
tracted controversy, which commenced at an early mory of Christ's resurrection.
period in the history of the Christian church, arising The bishop of Rome, unconvinced by the letter of
out of the twofold elements of which that church Polycrates, published sentence of excommunication
was composed—Jewish and Gentile converts. The against the churches of Asia Minor for refusing to
former class of Christians brought over with them to conform to the general practice, but this anathema of
their new profession strong prepossessions in favour Victor was met by a decided spirit of opposition.
of the whole Jewish ceremonial law, including of Irenæus, in the name of the churches at Lyons and
course all the Jewish festivals; while the latter class Vienna, addressed a letter of strong remonstrance
of Christians, encumbered by no such prejudices, cor- and sharp reproof to the Roman bishop, which had
dially assented from the first to Christianity, apart the effect of putting an end to the controversy in
altogether from the ceremonies and the festivals of the meantime. The Quarto-decimans of the
the procon-
Judaism. The marked difference which thus existed sulate of Asia came to an end about A. D. 276, and
among the Christian churches, according as they up to that date the Antiochian provinces kept their
were composed of members drawn from Judaism or Easter feast in conformity with the Catholic custom.
from heathenism, was in no respect more manifest | The council of Arles, in A. D. 314, decreed that the
than in their views as to the time when the festival paschal feast should be celebrated on the same day
of Easter was to be held. The churches of Asia throughout the world ; but the Asiatic practice still
Minor, or Proconsular Asia and its neighbourhood, continued to be maintained by various churches, parti-
kept their Easter on the same day on which the cularly in Syria. The emperor Constantine the Great,
Jews observed their passover, that is, upon the four- as he is usually called, endeavoured to bring about uni-
teenth day of the first month—which always began formity in the church as to the time of keeping Eas-
with the appearance of the moon—mostly corre- ter. He first tried to accomplish this object by the
sponding to our March. Hence those who followed negotiations of Hosius, bishop of Cordova. In this,
the Jewish chronology in this matter were Quarto- | however, he was unsuccessful, and, therefore, he
decimans, because they kept Easter on the fourteenth summoned the general council of Nice, in A. D. 325,
day after the appearance of the moon. At the close partly for this object. The point was discussed in
of the second century a controversy arose between the council, and it was resolved that the old Jewish
Victor, bishop of Rome, and Polycrates, bishop of custom should be abandoned, and that the remem-
Ephesus, concerning the proper time for celebrating brance of Christ's passion should be celebrated always
the Easter festival, or rather for terminating the on Friday, and the remembrance of his resurrection
ante-paschal fast. The whole of Christendom at on Sabbath. Notwithstanding this decree, a num-
that time, with the exception of the churches of ber of churches, as well as individuals, still adhered
Asia Minor, continued the fast onwards to the Sab- to the ancient usage, and being in consequence ex-
bath after the Jewish passover, which they kept as cluded from the church, they took the position of a
the festival, so as to make the weekly and yearly separate sect under the name of Quarto-decimans,
commemorations of the resurrection to coincide. because they insisted on celebrating Easter on the
Victor was anxious to persuade the Asiatic Quarto- | fourteenth day of the month Nisan. They accused
decimans to conform in this matter to the general the Nicene council of being guided in their decision
practice, but Polycrates, who was primate of the by the will of the emperor, and although exposed
Quartodeciman churches, defended their peculiar to much persecution, they tenaciously maintained the
custom on the ground that they had received it from
ancient usage.
the apostles John and Philip, Polycarp of Smyrna, The council of Nice had given a decision that
Melito of Sardis, and others; and that they felt it to Easter should be held by all the Christian churches
be their duty to hand down to others the custom on one and the same day, but they had failed to lay
which they had themselves received. But from the down any rule for securing uniformity in the reck-
letter of Polycrates, which has been preserved by oning of time, and thus to a great extent the pur-
Eusebius, it would appear that the churches of Asia pose of the council was defeated. The Eastern
Minor, in adhering to their time of keeping Easter, churches found little difficulty in coming to an agree-
went on the supposition that the fourteenth day of ment as to the time, astronomical and mathematical
the month Nisan ought to be regarded as the day of knowledge being much diffused among the churches
our Lord's passion. In this view of the matter, it of Alexandria, by which the most accurate calcula-
must often have happened, that the memorial of tions were instituted, and the result made known
Christ's passion would fall to be celebrated on an- throughout the whole of the East. The bishop of
788
EASTER.
Alexandria, indeed, made known every year, at the did the moment arrive than suddenly the joyful
feast of Epiphany, throughout his whole diocese, the acclamation burst forth amid the stillness of the
day on which the next Easter festival would fall. But midnight vigils, “ The Lord is risen! The Lord is
as the Roman church was not so exact, differences risen! The Lord is risen indeed!”
arose in the time of keeping Easter between the The ceremonies of the Easter festival are observed
Eastern and Western churches, amounting some- in the Romish church with great strictness. As
times to a week, and occasionally even to a month, conducted at Rome, the Pope takes part in them.
until at length, particularly by the exertions of Dio- | Early in the morning the officiating cardinal performs
nysius Exiguus, a Roman abbot, in the sixth cen- in the sacristy the ceremony of blessing the fire and
tury, the Alexandrian mode of reckoning was intro- five grains of incense. Thrice he censes, and thrice
duced also into the Roman church.
he sprinkles with holy water both the fire and the
In the end of the sixth century, a controversy incense. The fire is kindled, according to the rubric
broke out in Britain concerning the time of keeping of the missal, by sparks struck from a stone in re-
Easter, which lasted for two hundred years, the op- membrance of Christ as the great corner stone.
posing parties being the old Christians of Britain After this ceremony, which takes place in the Sis-
and Ireland, and the new Christians who were con- tine chapel, they proceed to the Pauline chapel,
verted by Augustin and the other emissaries of the where they find a rod with three wax candles on the
Romish church. The difference consisted in two top of it, with which they return to the Sistine.
particulars : (1.) While the Romanists, according to The rest of the ceremony we shall leave an intelli-
the rule of Dionysius Exiguus, fixed the time of gent eye-witness to describe : "On approaching the
Easter by the nineteen years' cycle of the moon, and railing which divides the chapel, the cardinal dea-
the twenty-eight years' cycle of the sun, the British con who carries the rod, bends it down, and an as-
and Irish Christians adhered to the old cycle of sistant lights one of the three candles, by means of a
eighty-four years. (2.) While the Romanists ob- taper kindled at the new sacred fire; all kneel, a
served the beginning of the festival from the 15th sub-deacon exclaims, ' Lumen Christi,''the light of
day of the first vernal moon to the 21st inclusive, Christ,' all rise, and the choir sing, ' Deo Gratias, '
the British and the Irish Christians observed it from Thanks be to God. When they enter the inclo-
the 14th to the 20th. After a long protracted con- sure of the chapel, the second candle is lighted with
troversy on the subject, the old mode of reckoning the same ceremonies, and the third in like manner
by eighty-four years was abandoned, and both the on arriving at the Pope's throne. All the lights on
Britons and the Irish consented to adopt the Roman the altar and in the chapel are previously extin-
inode of computation which had been originally pro- guished, that at the proper time they may be re-
posed by the Alexandrian church.
kindled with the new fire. They now chant the
The festival of Easter was uniformly preceded, i hymn, 'Now let the angelic host of heaven rejoice.'
even from early times, by a season of fasting, which The hymn is long, and towards the middle of it, a
lasted for forty hours, corresponding to the time pause is made, when the officiating deacon takes
during which our Saviour lay in the grave. At first five grains of incense, and fixes them, in the form of
the fast was strictly voluntary in its character, but a cross, into a very large ornamental wax candle.
at length it becaine a prescribed and necessary duty, ; The chanting proceeds, and soon the same deacon
not only for penitents and catechumens, but for all lights this candle at one of the three candles men--
believers, to observe this fast for their own spiritual tioned above. This is the ceremony—the following
improvement. In the fifth and sixth centuries, the is the explanation of it. The grains are of incense,
fast was extended to thirty-six days. The four which is the proper odour of the altar and of the
additional days which complete the season of Lent, sacrifice, and signify the perfumes wherewith was
were added either in the sixth century by Gregory embalmed the sacred body of Jesus, of which this
the Great, or in the eighth century by Gregory II. wax candle is a symbol. This wax light, after having,
This fast began with Ash Wednesday, and ended when extinguished, represented the death of Jesus
with the Saturday before Easter, which was observed Christ, when kindled, represents his resurrection ;
with great solemnity, and was denominated the Great or, after having represented, in a mystic sense, be-
Sabbath. The whole week before Easter beginning fore being lighted, the pillar of cloud, when lighted,
with Palm Sunday, was kept as holy time, but the represents the pillar of fire, which guides the cate-
fifth, sixth, and seventh were regarded as peculiarly chumens in their passage through the Red sea of
sacred above the other days of this week. The baptism, to the land of promise, that is, the state of
week was called the Great Week and Passion Week.
grace.
The fifth day was Maunday Thursday, the sixth, “ After this are read twelve long passages from the
Good Friday, and the seventh was the Great Sabbatlı, Scriptures, during which, the various lights on the
which was observed as a day of rigorous fasting. altar and in the chapel are lighted from the three first
Religious worship was celebrated by night, and pro- mentioned, and the purple, or mourning, with which
tracted until cock-crowing, the time when our Lord the altar and papal throne were covered, is removed,
is supposed to have risen from the grave. No sooner and the servants of the cardinals enter, take off their
I
EASTER:
789
purple and put on their scarlet robes, all in token | scribable joy and triumph, 'Christ is risen !' Christ
that the mourning of their church is at an end, and is risen !' At the same moment the oppressive dark-
its rejoicing for the resurrection of our Saviour about ness was succeeded by a blaze of light from thou-
to begin.
sands of tapers, which, communicating one from an-
“The Pope is sometimes present at the prelimi- other, seemed to send streams of fire in all directions,
nary ceremonies, but if not, he now comes in and rendering the minutest objects distinctly visible, and
takes his place on his throne, to be present at the casting the most vivid glow on the expressive faces,
celebration of mass. During the mass, the Pope full of exultation, of the rejoicing crowd; bands of
censes the altar once, and is himself censed thrice. music struck up their gayest strains; the roll of the
At the conclusion of the hymn. Gloria in excelsis drums through the town, and further on the pealing
Deo,'— Glory be to God on high,' the veil which of the canzon, announced far and near these "glad
covered the altar-piece is drawn aside, and the pic- tidings of great joy;' while from hill and plain, from
ture, which is a representation of the resurrection in the sea-shore and the far olive-grove, rocket after
tapestry, is displayed to view in honour of that event, rocket ascending to the clear sky, answered back
the trumpeters of the papal cavalry blow their trum- with mute eloquence that Christ is risen indeed, and
pets, the guns of St. Angelo are fired, and all the told of other tongues that were repeating those
church bells in Rome are set a ringing.
words, and other hearts that leaped for joy; every-
“An ecclesiastic, kneeling before the Pope's throne, where men clasped each other's hands, and congra-
says with a loud voice in Latin :-
tulated one another, and embraced with countenances
Holy father, I announce to you a great joy, / beaming with delight, as though to each one sepa-
which is hallelujah,' and the service is concluded by rately some wonderful happiness had been proclaim-
the chanting of vespers."
ed; and all the while, rising above the mingling of
Easter is accounted by the Greek church as the many sounds, each one of which was a sound of
most solemn festival in all the year. Mr. Neale, in gladness, the aged priests were distinctly heard
his · History of the Holy Eastern Church,' gives the chanting forth a glorious old hymn of victory, in
following description of the midnight scene at Easter tones so loud and clear, that they seemed to have
eve as witnessed at Athens : " There was not a light | regained their youth and strength to tell the world
-not a sound; each individual of that immense mul- | how Christ hath risen from the dead, having tram-
titude, filling even all the adjoining streets, remained pled down death by death, and having bestowed on
still and motionless, so that even the most distant them that are in the tombs eternal life.' It is im-
might catch the murmuring voices of the priests who | possible to give any adequate idea of the effect of
were reciting the service within the church; troops this scene. The sudden change from silent sorrow
lined the streets to see that perfect quiet was and darkness to an almost delirious joy, and a start-
maintained, but assuredly it was a needless pre- ling blaze of light spreading its unwonted brilliance
caution, for there was not one present who did not through the night, was really like magic." These
seem to share in a general feeling of gloom and Easter ceremonies are not confined to midnight;
depression, as though a heavy cloud were hanging on the following day the people congratulate one
over all things; and so complete was the reali- another with the words, “Jesus Christ is risen
zation of all that these ceremonies are intended from the dead," to which the reply is given, “The
to convey, that I am certain the power of death, so Lord is risen indeed," and festivities and rejoicings
awfully manifest in these last tedious hours, was of different kinds take place.
present with each one of them. As midnight ap- The Moravians have a peculiar mode of celebrat-
proached, the archbishop with his priests, accom- | ing this sacred festival. On Easter Sunday a liturgy
panied by the king and queen, left the church, and is read specially suited to the occasion, and the
tationed themselves on the platform which was names of all their members who died in the course
raised considerably from the ground, so that they of the preceding year are called over. Every morn-
were distinctly seen by the people. Every one now ing also in Easter week they meet at seven o'clock
remained in breathless expectation, holding their un- to read the harinonies of the Gospel on the crucifix-
lighted tapers in readiness when the glad moment ion, and other kindred topics.
should arrive, while the priests still continued mur- The Easter festival has from early times been held
muring their melancholy chant in a low half whisper. in high honour in the Christian church. Gregory
Suddenly a single report of a cannon announced that Nazianzen calls it the Queen of Festivals, and de-
twelve o'clock had struck, and that Easter-day had clares it to excel all the others, as far as the sun ex-
begun; then the old archbishop, elevating the cross, cels the rest of the heavenly bodies. Some ancient
exclaimed in a loud exulting tone, ' Christos anesti !' writers term Easter Sunday Dominica (sc. dies)
Christ is risen !' and instantly every single indivi- | Gaudii, the Lord's day of joy, and in token of glad-
dual of all that host took up the cry, and the vast ness, the Christian Emperors of Rome were accus-
multitude broke through and dispelled for ever the tomed to release prisoners on that day, with the ex-
intense and mournful silence which they had main- ception of those who had committed great crimes.
tained so long, with one spontaneous shout of inde- Private persons also frequently gave expression to
790
EASTERN CHURCH.
their joyful feelings at this festive season by manu- Latin church, thus being properly Papal Eastern
mitting their slaves. But the festival was not lim- churches. These last include the Maronite church,
ited to Easter Sunday alone; Christians were wont the Eastern Latin church, the Greek Catholic or
to keep the whole week as part of the festival; hold- Melchite church, the Armenian Catholic church, the
ing religious assemblies every day for prayer, preach- Syrian Catholic church, the Chaldean Catholic
ing, and partaking of the Lord's Supper. Nay, the church, and the Coptic Catholic church.
ancient Christian Pasch included the week before From very early times there was a marked dis-
Easter Sunday, as well as the week following it, the tinction between the Eastern and the Western
one being called the Pasch of the cross, and the other church, which manifested itself on various points
the Pasch of the resurrection. The author of the both of doctrine and worship. The first great dis-
Apostolic Constitutions requires servants to rest from pute which arose between them, commenced towards
their work during the whole week. Christians also the end of the second century, in regard to the pre-
signalized the season by special liberality to the cise time at which Easter (which see) should be
poor. Baptisms were usually celebrated at the time observed. In this controversy the Eastern church,
of Easter, as well as at the other annual festivals. or that of Asia Minor, seems to have been regulated
Easter Eve was celebrated in the ancient Christian by a regard to the Jewish chronology, while the
church with solemn watchings, and the carrying of Western church, or that of Rome, was under no such
lighted torches both in the churches and in private influence. The point, however, which in this case
houses, by which they meant to represent the usher- formed the subject of contention, had reference to a
ing in of the light of the Sun of Righteousness. festival of mere human institution. Another source
The Sunday after Easter also, which was the con- of difference arose out of a spirit of jealousy between
clusion of the Paschal feast, was usually observed the bishop of Rome and the bishop of Constantinople.
with great solemnity. For on this day the neophytes In the second general council, the latter dignitary
or newly baptized were wont to lay aside their white was permitted to sit next to the occupant of the See
garments, and to commit them to the repository of of Rome, and by the council of Chalcedon, the two
the church. Hence it was usually known by the rival bishops were declared to be of equal rank.
name of the Dominica (sc. dies) in Albis (sc. vesti- This decision, however, did not succeed in crushing
bus), the Lord's day in white garinents. The Greek the ambitious spirit of either party. On the con-
writers give it the name of the New Lord's day, trary, a spirit of mutual antipathy reigned between
under which name it is mentioned in a decree of the
the two competing bishops, which broke forth on
council of Trullo thus: “From the day of the Lord's every fitting occasion. In the sixth century, as we
resurrection to the New Lord's Day, men shall at.. learn from Mosheim, “The bishop of Constantinople
tend at church to singing, reading the Scriptures, not only claimed an unrivalled sovereignty over the
and participating of the holy mysteries.”
Eastern churches, but also maintained that his church
The law which regulates Easter in Great Britain, was in point of dignity no way inferior to that of
declares that whenever the full moon on or next Rome.” At length in A. D.588, the bishop of Con-
after March 21st falls on a Sunday, that Sunday is stantinople assumed to himself the lordly title of
not Easter Sunday, but the next; it also prescribes oecumenical or universal bishop; whereupon Gre-
rules for determining Easter. Thus, there is a fixed gry the Great, who at that time occupied the See of
rule which prevails throughout the Roman, English, Rome, indignant at the presumption of his rival,
and Scottish Episcopal churches, and from which declared that whoever should take upon himself the
the remaining Protestant churches who are in the title of Universal Bishop, was entitled to be consi-
habit of observing Easter vary but little. Presby-
Presby- dered as the Antichrist of Scripture. And yet only
terian and Congregationalist churches reject the fes- two years after the death of Gregory, his successor
tival of Easter altogether, as being an institution of Boniface III. sought, and obtained the title of Uni-
merely human appointment.
versal Bishop in A. D. 606 from the Greek Emperor
EASTERN CHURCH. This name is usually Phocas.
given to one great division of Christendom, in con- The use of images in Christian churches formed
tradistinction from the Western or Latin Church. another topic of keen contention between the
The term Eastern Church includes various commu- Eastern and Western churches, the former being
nions, in particular the Orthodox Greek church, as iconoclastic in their views, that is, opposed to image-
it is termed, the Russian-Greek church, tlie Mono- worship, while the latter were as keen in defending
physite churches, which are subdivided into the it. The contention which began in the eighth cen-
Jacobite church, the Coptic church, the Abyssiniantury continued to rage for years with ever-increasing
church, the Nestorian church, the Christians of St. fury, and the distinction between the two churches
Thomas, and the Armenian church. Besides these, now became settled and confirmed. The last occa-
the term Eastern church is sometimes considered as sion on which they met in united session was at the
embracing also those of the Greek and other Orien- second council of Nice in A. D. 787, called by the
tal Christians who acknowledge the supremacy of empress Irene in favour of image-worship. From
the Pope of Rome, and are in communion with the that time the bitterest mutual hostility existed be-
EBIONITES.
791
**
tween the Eastern and the Western churches, and but wholly disclaimed by the Eastern church. In
although a fruitless attempt was made in the thir- addition to these differences in doctrine and practice
teenth century to promote the re-union of the two between the churches of the East and of the West,
churches, and the council of Florence in 1442 en- it may be mentioned that the Greeks regard the
deavoured to heal the breach, they continue divided | Septuagint as the authentic version of the Old Tes-
down to the present day.
tament, and reverence it as highly as the Latin
The churches of the East and the West are at church does the Vulgate, while they receive as can-
variance on various points, the most important of onical all the apocryphal books comprised in the
which may be briefly noticed. The first great point Greek canon. They also attach a high authority
of distinction refers to the constitution of the Person to the eighty-five Apostolical Constitutions. The
of the Holy Ghost, in regard to which the Eastern Greeks commence their ecclesiastical year on the
Church adheres literally to the Scriptural expression, 1st of September, and they differ from the Western
John xv. 26, “Which proceedeth from the Father ; church in their sacred chronology, reckoning 5,500
while the Western or Latin church follows the ad- years from the creation to the birth of Christ.
dition made in the Nicene Creed, filioque, "and from But while we thus rapidly sketch the points of
the Son." On this point the Protestant churches distinction between the Eastern and the Western
agree with the latter view. Another ground of dif-
Another ground of dif- churches, we may also notice that there are several
ference between the two churches is the authority of doctrines and practices in which they agree with one
the later General Councils. In reference to the au- another, but differ from Protestant churches. The
thority of the first seven General Councils they are most prominent of these are the invocation and
both agreed, but the eighth, which is that of Constan- adoration of saints, the worship of the Virgin Mary,
tinople held in A. D. 869, is the last council of the the homage paid to relics, the sacrifice of the mass,
East that is recognized by the Western or Roman prayers for the dead, absolution and indulgences.
Church. This, however, and the subsequent West- EBIONITES, a name applied to those who, in the
ern Councils are rejected by the Greek Church. early ages of Christianity, while they professed the
The two churches are divided also on the subject of religion of Christ, agreed in observing also the Mo-
the sacraments, at least nominally. Both hold that saic law. These Judaizing Christians are first men-
there are seven sacraments, but the Greek church tioned under the name of Ebionites by Irenæus, but
hold a distinction between their four sacraments and considerable doubt rests upon the origin of the appel-
the three lesser mysteries. The Eastern churches lation. Tertullian, whose opinion has been adopted
reject purgatory, though the Greeks pray for the by Epiphanius and many other writers, traces it to a
dead. By the Eastern church both elements in the person of the name of Ebion, who has been regarded
eucharist are administered, but by the Western or as the founder of the sect. Neander thinks it very
Roman church the cup is withheld from the laity. | improbable that a party embracing so many different
In the eucharist also the Greeks use leavened bread shades of opinion had its origin from any single indi-
forined into a loaf. The Latins eat unleavened vidual, and the more especially as no well authenti-
bread in the form of a wafer. The time of keeping cated tradition exists respecting the founder of a sect
Easter is still a cause of dispute between the two called Ebion. “ The more accurately informed au-
churches, the Eastern church always observing it on thorities," says the historian, “such as Irenæus and
the day on which the Jews kept the passover, while Origen, nowhere mention such a person; and all
the Western churches celebrate it on the eve of the that we find anywhere said respecting the pretended
anniversary of the resurrection. The subject of Ebion, is of that vague and indefinite character which
image-worship is still a subject of contention be- sounds suspicious. Origen was the first to give the
tween the two churches. The Greek church allows correct derivation of this name, from the Hebrew
only the use of paintings in churches, while the Ro- word denoting poor. These Jewish Christians, then,
man church does not forbid statues. A difference were called the poor; but the question now arises, in
also exists between the Eastern and the Westerii what sense was this appellation originally applied to
churches in the mode of making the sign of the them? And with this is connected another,— by
In the former they move the hand from the whom first was this appellation given them? Upon
right shoulder to the left while repeating the words, the resolution of these questions it must depend,
“ And of the Holy Ghost;" in the latter, the hand whether the appellation is to be understood as a
is moved from the breast to the left shoulder, and term of reproach or of praise. Now it appears evi-
then to the right. In the Western church celibacy dent, from an explanation which Epiphanius cites
is enjoined upon all persons in holy orders, but in from the mouths of the very people in question, that,
the Eastern church the higher clergy are alone pro- in his time, the Ebionites regarded it as an epithet
hibited from entering into the married state. The which they had bestowed on themselves. But al-
reading of the Scriptures by the laity is permitted by though the Ebionites did actually appropriate and
the Eastern, but discountenanced by the Western sanction the name, it might nevertheless be true and
church. The supremacy and infallibility of the wholly consistent with this fact, that the epithet was
Pope of Rome are firmly maintained by the Westem, | originally bestowed on them by their adversaries;
cross.
792
EBIONITES.
while they might afterwards apply it to themselves, appeal was made to the apostles and elders in coun-
either in the same or a different sense; since wliat cil assembled in Jerusalem, who decided in favour of
was considered by their opponents a term of re- the Gentiles. Notwithstanding the apostolic decree
proach, might be regarded, from their own point of which was then issued, the Judaizers gradually in-
view, as an honourable title.
creased in numbers, and at length formed a powerful
“ Origen, who, as we have said, first presented the party in the church, so as to disturb the peace, and
correct explanation of the word, applies the designa- eren to endanger the safety of the apostle of the
tion, 'poor,' to the meagre religious system, the Gentiles. Such were the Ebionites of the first cen-
poverty of faith that characterized this party. In tury, who, indignant at the unflinching support which
this sense, the term may have been applied to them Paul gave to the claims of the Gentiles, attempted
by pagan Christians; but it cannot be supposed that to weaken the force of his advocacy by representing
pagan Christians would have chosen a Hebrew word his abandonment of Judaism as originating in un-
to express this character. It is far more natural to worthy motives. It was in the second century, how-
suppose that the inventors of this name were Jews; ever, that this Judaizing party received the name of
and at the particular position of these Jews, it might Ebionites. Their principles were now more fully
be used and understood to denote a poor, meagre way developed and carried out to their legitimate conclu-
of thinking, especially if this notion be defined ac- sions. They looked upon Christianity solely from a
cording to the acute and ingenious suggestion of a Jewish point of view. Jesus they regarded as sim-
distinguished modern inquirer in this department of ply a man remarkable for his piety, and chosen on
learning; namely, that in the mouth of those Jews that account to be the Messiah, but altogether igno-
who were expecting a Messiah in visible glory, it rant of any special Divine call to such an office until
would designate such as could believe in a poor, ab. it was revealed to him by the reappearance of the
ject, crucified Messiah, like Jesus. Yet even this prophet Elijah, and thereupon he received power
explanation, taken by itself, seems not the most from on high to exercise his Messiahship, and to at-
simple and natural; and, indeed, the author of it test his authority by the performance of miraculous
himself joins it with the other, about to be men- deeds. It was at his baptism, they alleged, by John
tioned. What objection is there to understand this the Baptist, who, in this case represented Elijah,
word in the literal and obvious sense, as a designa- that Jesus was first made aware of the high office
tion of the poorer class among the people of the na- with which he was invested. To support their
tion? We know, in fact, what reproach was cast | views, the Ebionites set forth a revision of the Gos-
upon the Christian faith by the hierarchical party | pel history, under the name of the Gospel of the
among the Jews, because none but those belonging Hebrews, fragments of which have been preserved
to the ignorant and poorer class of the people would by Epiphanius and Justin. In this work they re-
openly profess it, (John vii. 49 ;) and the like objec- presented the baptism of Christ as simply the out-
tion was made to Christianity by the pagans.
Thus ward visible descent of the Holy Spirit, to impart to
it may be explained, how the Christians among the Jesus the consciousness of his Divine call to the
Jews came to be designated as the poor; and this Messiahship, and to make known the fact to John.
name, which was employed by them to designate the That the event might be painted in the most impres-
Christians generally, would afterwards naturally be sive aspect, accordingly, light was represented as
employed by the pagan Christians, without any shining round about the place, and fire bursting forth
knowledge of the meaning of the name, to designate from the Jordan. Irenæus says, that they reverenced
that portion of believers who were distinguished Jerusalem as if it were the house of God. They
from the rest by their observance of their Mosaic lived in constant expectation of the second coming
law. When we observe that the same thing hap- of Christ, believing that he would return to Jerusa-
pened in the case of another name which was origi- lem and re-establish the Theocracy there.
nally a common appellation for all Christians among Origen speaks of two classes of Ebionites, those
the Jews, the name Nazarenes,' it may serve to
who denied the miraculous conception of our Lord,
confirm the above supposition."
and those who admitted it, the former party believ-
The Ebionite doctrine, it may be remarked gen- ing that the operation of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus
erally, was simply the engrafting of the Jewish upon commenced at his baptism ; the latter party believ-
the Christian system. We find the Judaizing party ing that it commenced at his conception in the
beginning to develope itself in the days of the apos- womb of the Virgin Mary. The CLEMENTINES
tles, when some persons, who evidently maintained (which see), an apocryphal production of the second
the perpetual obligation of the law of Moses, wished century, contains the same Judaizing views which
to compel Paul to yield to their views in circumcis. were professed by the Ebionites. Jerome describes
ing Titus, a Gentile convert. The apostle success- a sect of the same kind as having been seen by him
fully resisted their pretensions, but shortly after in- at Bercea in Syria, near the close of the fourth
dividuals belonging to the same party followed him century, passing, however, not under the name of
to Antioch, where they stirred up a controversy that Ebionites, but under that of NAZARENES (which
threatened to produce a schism in the church. An see).
-
EBLIS-ECLIPSE.
793
EBLIS, the name by which the Mohammedans ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. See POLITY
describe the Devil (see ANGELS, EVIL).
(ECCLESIASTICAL).
EBRBUHARITES, an order of monks among ECCLESIECDICI (Gr. church lawyers), the
the Mohammedans, who derived their name from their CHANCELLORS (which see) of bishops.
founder, Ebrbuhar, the scholar of Nacshbendi, who ECDICES, officers who, as lateral judges, attend
came from Persia to Europe in the fourteenth cen- a Greek patriarch in the exercise of his official func-
tury, to propagate their faith. The sect professed tions.
to surrender all care about worldly concerns, and ECHETLÆUS, (Gr. echetle, a ploughshare), a
to give themselves wholly up to the contemplation hero whom the Athenians were commanded by the
of eternal objects. They were wont to tell foolish oracle to worship, because he had mysteriously ap-
stories of their founder, such as that he was nourished peared during the battle of Marathon, and slain
with barley bread, oil of olives, honey and grapes, many of the barbarians with his plough; yet àfter
yet that he took food only three times a-year. The the battle, when sought for, he could nowhere be
Ebrbuharites fasted on Mondays and Thursdays, but | found.
notwithstanding their profession of superior sanc- ECLECTIC PHILOSOPHY. See ALEXAN-
tity, they were esteemed heretics by the Moham- DRIAN SCHOOL.
medans generally, because they refused to go on ECLIPSE. This striking natural phenomenon
pilgrimage to Mecca, alleging that the journey was has in all ages given rise, among those who are un-
unnecessary, as they were permitted in secret vi- acquainted with its true nature and cause, to feel-
sion, while sitting in their cells, to behold the holy ings of anxiety, and even awe.
There appears to be
city.
a conflict between the sun and the moon, and the
ECALESIA, a festival held by the ancient Ro- world on which we live and move seems to be
mans in honour of Jupiter.
threatened with immediate and final destruction.
ECATESIA, a festival celebrated among the an- The consequence has been, that, in almost all hea.
cient Greeks in honour of Hecate.
then nations, an eclipse has been viewed with the
ECCLESIA. See CHURCH.
utmost anxiety and alarm. Livy tells us that among
ECCLESIA APOSTOLICA (Lat. the Apostolic the ancient Romans, when an eclipse of the moon
church), a name applied by Irenæus, in the second occurred, the people rent the air with shouts mingled
century, to the Church of Rome, the great capital of with the beating of iron pots and vessels. The
the world. The name probably originated from the Egyptians struck their musical instruments with un-
universally diffused belief that both Paul and Peter usual force, imagining thereby to frighten away
had taught in the Roman church, and honoured it by Typhon, the genius of evil, who, they thought, was
their martyrdom. To this church, from its position in engaged in mortal conflict with the sun.
The same
the metropolis of the Roman Empire, the greater por- practice is said to be followed in several parts of
tion of the Western churches could appeal as to their | Western and Central Africa under the impression
common mother. Thus it came gradually to assume that the sun is dragging the moon across the hea-
an authority over the other churches, which, com- vens, and that the world is approaching its end.
bining with other circumstances, led at length to the | Among the Peruvians, it was firmly believed that
primacy of the Roman bishop. See Pope.
the world would be destroyed by the fall of one of
ECCLESIA MATRIX (Lat. the Mother church), the heavenly bodies, and that the moon, if totally
a term applied in ancient times to the cathedral eclipsed, would perish and fall from the sky to the
church, to which all the clergy of a city or diocese earth. Accordingly, they set their dogs a-howling
belonged.
under an impression that these animals were the spe.
ECCLESIÆ CAUSIDICI (Lat. church-lawyers), cial favourites of the moon. Among several tribes
the name applied in ancient times to ecclesiastical of the South American Indians, there is an impres-
CHANCELLORS (which see).
sion that when the moon is eclipsed, she is in the
ECCLESIASTERION, a term sometimes used in agonies of death, and, therefore, they utter loud cries
early times to denote the church-building as distin- and lamentations, and the women, drowned in tears,
guished from the ecclesia, or members of the Chris- run to hide each a burning brand in the earth from
tian church.
the fear that should the moon die every fire will
ECCLESIASTICS, a term applied to Christians expire also, except what is hidden from view. Some
by Eusebius, Origen, Epiphanius, and Cyril of Je- of the tribes scourge the young people during the
rusalem, who sought thus to distinguish them from eclipse, as if by their follies they had brought about
Jews, Gentiles, and heretics. The name, however, this calamity. Many nations have, like the Egyp-
was even in the most remote antiquity used more tians, believed that the phenomenon was caused by
frequently to denote the clergy as distinguished from a malevolent being who was wishing to swallow up
the laity or ordinary members of the churches. In the moon. According to the Scandinavian Edda
the middle ages it was customary to give the name
there are two wolves; the one called Sköll, pursues
of ecclesiastics to the subordinate officers of the the sun, and shall one day overtake and devour her;
church.
the other called Hati, runs before her, and as eagerly
794
ECRAR-ECTHESIS.
the sun.
sun Or moon.
pursues the moon, which will on the last day be were violently opposed to the opinions of Paul,
caught by him. Among the Creek Indians of Ala- and actually made an application to the Pope to
bama, it is a large dog which is threatening to devour excommunicate him along with all who held Mono-
Some of the South American Indians shoot thelite opinions. The Catholic doctrine, which
arrows in the air during an eclipse, with the view of was Dyothelite, was strongly maintained by a monk
killing the dogs or boars which they suppose are named Maximus, who conducted a public discussion
gnawing at the moon, and causing it to bleed. In on the controverted point, and with such success,
China and the Philippine islands, it is a dragon that Pyrrhus, his opponent in the debate, declared
which they believe causes an eclipse, whether of the himself a convert to the Dyothelite views, and in
The Hindus ascribe it to a demon company with Maximus set out for Rome, where he
called Rahores. Both the Chinese and Hindus, when publicly abjured the Monothelite heresy, joined the
an eclipse occurs, raise loud cries, and beat on all Roman church, and was appointed patriarch of Con-
manner of musical instruments as long as the fright- stantinople.
stantinople. On leaving Rome after this public dis-
ful phenomenon lasts.
play, Pyrrhus proceeded to Ravenna, and there so-
ECRAR (Arab. confession of sins). The duty of
The duty of lemnly withdrew his recent recantation, and placed
confession of sins is reckoned by Mohammedans to himself at the head of the Monothelite party in that
be the fifth capital and fundamental article of the city. On hearing intelligence of the strange conduct
Christian religion. It is the doctrine of the Koran of Pyrrhus, Pope Theodore was almost frantic with
that God will pardon those who confess their sins. indignation. He immediately convened an assem-
ECSTATICI, a kind of diviners among the an- bly of the clergy, excommunicated Pyrrhus with the
cient Greeks, who were wont to fall into a trance, in most fearful anathemas, and calling for the conse-
which they continued a considerable time deprived crated wine of the sacrament, mingled a portion of it
of all sense and motion, and on their recovery they with the ink, and with the mixture signed the sen-
gave marvellous accounts of what they had seen and tence of excommunication, which was to consign the
heard. In Roman Catholic countries, also, in mo. treacherous apostate to the regions of despair.
dern times, stories have frequently been told of in- Meanwhile, to appease the wrath of the Pope, and
dividuals who have been in a state of ecstasis or conciliate if possible the Western bishops, the patri-
trance, in the course of which they saw and con- arch Paul caused the Ecthesis to be removed from
versed with the Virgin Mary and other saints. the gates of the church of Constantinople, and an-
ECTHESIS (Gr. exposition), a formulary drawn up other document, called the Type or formulary, to be
A. D. 639, by order of the Greek emperor Heraclius, substituted in its place, the object of the Type being
with the view of accomplishing the re-union of the to forbid, under severe penalties, all disputes what-
MONOPHYSITES (which see) with the dominant ever, on the subject of the will or wills of Christ,
church. The document was prepared after consulta- and the mode of its or their operation. Before the
tion on the subject with the patriarch Sergius of suppression of the Ecthesis, however, had become
Constantinople, and was so artfully composed, that, known at Rome, the Pope, by the advice of the
while it professed to be an exposition of faith, it con- African bishops, had excommunicated Paul with
cealed the difference which existed between the Eu- great solemnity, and declared him divested of all
tychians and the orthodox in regard to their views ecclesiastical power and dignity. This rash act, on
of the constitution of the Person of Christ. The the part of the Pope, was wholly disregarded by the
heresy of Eutychius had been condemned by the emperor and the great mass of the Eastern clergy,
council of Chalcedon, and the Emperor hoped, by while the patriarch himself was so enraged that he
issuing the Ecthesis, to induce the bishops to submit imprisoned the apocrisarië, or Pope's ambassadors,
to the decrees of the council. Heraclius seems to who brought him the sentence, and even whipped
have had no wish to make this formulary universal some of their retinue. On the death of Pope Theo-
in the church, but simply to introduce it into those dore, A. D. 649, his successor Martin, as soon as he
provinces where the Monophysite party chiefly pre- ascended the papal chair, summoned a council at
vailed, and where he hoped it might lead to their Rome, and condemned not only the Monothelite
union with the Catholic church. It was remarkably doctrine, and “the impious Ecthesis," as he termed
successful among the Monophysites in Egypt and it, but also “ the most wicked Type lately published
the surrounding provinces, thousands of whom joined against the Catholic church, by the most serene Em-
the dominant church. The patriarchs of Alexandria peror Constantine, at the instigation of Paul, the
and Antioch embraced the Monothelite doctrine pretended bishop of Constantinople.” The insult
which was taught in the Ecthesis. Others, however, conveyed in this decree was instantly resented by
opposed both the doctrine and the document. The the emperor. The Pope was taken prisoner, and
controversy, instead of being assuaged by the concil-conveyed to Naxos, a small island in the Grecian
iatory formula, became more violent than ever. Paul | Archipelago ; thence he was carried to the imperial
of Constantinople warmly espoused the Monothelite court, and after a mock form of trial, accompanied
doctrine, and favoured the Ecthesis, while many of with cruel insult and abuse, he was stripped of his
the Eastern and the whole of the Western bishops sacerdotal garments, condemned, degraded, and sent
ECTYPOMATA-EDHEMI.
795
into exile, on the inhospitable shores of the Taurica | the works of their predecessors, and more especially
Chersonesus, where he died A. D. 656. See Euty- ) in the odes of the Edda we have just described. It
CHIANS, MONOTHELITES,
begins with a most absurd and ridiculous preface,
ECTYPOMATA (Gr. effigies or figures), gifts of which has evidently been prefixed to the work by
a peculiar kind, which began to be made to churches some transcriber, tracing the connection of the north-
probably about the middle of the fifth century. ern nations with those of antiquity, and carrying back
They are first mentioned by Theodoret, who tells us their genealogical relations to the original families
that when any one obtained the benefit of a signal | enumerated in the book of Genesis. Then follow what
cure from God in any member of his body, such as are called the Dæmisögur, or · Dialogues,' explana
his eyes, hands, or feet, he then brought his ectypoma, tory of the origin of the gods, the creation of the
the image or figure of the part cured, in silver or world, the principal events which are to fill up the
gold, to be hung up in the church to God, as a me- period of the duration of the world, the final confla-
morial of his favour. Such a practice prevailed gration, the destruction of the gods, &c. The second
among the ancient Greeks and Romans, and also division of the work comprehends the Kenningar,
among the Egyptians. To this custom there is an or Instructions ;' a digest of poetical phraseology,
evident allusion in 1 Sam. vi. 4, where we find the founded on, and illustrated by, quotations from the
Philistines sending their golden emerods and mice, principal Skalds. We here find not fewer than one hun-
figures of the objects by which they had suffered, as dred and thirty-seven synonymes of Odin; twenty-
an offering to the God of Israel. In Roman Catho- | four of a bear; sixty-four of fire; sixty-five of gold,
lic countries, figures of parts of the body healed are &c. The third treatise is called Slcâlda, or The
often seen suspended upon the walls of the churches. | Poetics ;' and consists of a dissertation on the Ice-
See ANATHEMATA.
landic alphabet, and a number of rules respecting the
EDDA, a celebrated production of northern an- use of rhetorical and poetical figures. To this is
tiquity, to which we are principally indebted for our appended Snorri's Hâttalyk
appended Snorri's Hâttalykil, or "The Key of Ver-
knowledge of the Scandinavian mythology. The sification ;' giving a view of the structure and mea-
learned have been much divided in opinion as to the sure of the different sorts of verse in use among the
original derivation of the term Edda, but the most northern poets."
probable explanation of the word is that which is
It seems quite plain that the Edda, instead of being
given by Olafsen, who derives it from the obsolete the production of any single individual, is the result
verb ædla, to teach. There are two works which are of the separate labours of different individuals at dif-
known by the name of Edda, the one in verse, the ferent periods of time. The persons most probably
other in prose. The Poetic or Elder Edda, as it is concerned in reducing the Edda to its present form
often called, consists of thirty-nine poems, which were Sæmund Sigfusson, Snorri Sturlason, and Olaf
were collected by Sæmund Sigfusson, surnamed the Thordarsen, the nephew of Snorri. The Edda of
Learned, towards the latter end of the eleventh or be- Sæmund was first sent from Iceland by the learned
ginning of the twelfth century. The oldest and the Bishop Svenson, about the middle of the seventeenth
most interesting of the whole of this collection of century. It is beautifully written on parchment,
poems is the Völuspá, or Song of the Prophetess, and is still preserved in the Royal Library of Copen-
which is supposed to have been publicly recited at hagen. There exists also a number of paper codices
the religious festival of the summer solstice. It containing various readings, many of which greatly
contains the whole system of Scandinavian mytho- elucidate the original text. Of Snorri's Edda, there
logy. The only one of these poems which is of a exist two principal codices written on parchment;
practical character, is the Hávamál, the discourse of viz., the Wormian MS. in the University Library of
the sublime, which contains a tolerably complete Copenhagen, and the Upsala MS. preserved in the
code of morality.
Library of that University, besides a number of
The Prosaic or Younger Edda is generally ascribed manuscripts on paper to be met with in different
to Snorri Sturlason, who was born of a distinguished | libraries on the Continent. There is a copy of the
Icelandic family in A. D. 1178, and was killed A. D. Upsala Codex preserved among the Marshall MSS.
1241. This production, which in its present form | in Oxford. The first edition of the Edda was pub-
dates from the thirteenth century, forms, irrespec- lished by Resenius, along with a Latin and Danish
tive of the Prologue and Epilogue, which were pro- | version, at Copenhagen in 1665, but it contains only
bably written by Snorri himself, a complete synopsis the part composed by Snorri, with the addition of the
of Scandinavian mythology derived principally from Völuspá and Hávamál. The latest and most correct
the Poetical Edda. Dr. Henderson, in the Appendix edition is that which was published by the learned
to his Iceland,' gives the following sketch of the Professor Rask in 1818. See SCANDINAVIA (RE-
different parts of the Prose Edda : “ The prosaic
“ The prosaic LIGION OF).
Edda is a collection of various treatises, which are EDHEMI, a monastic order among the Moham-
designed to elucidate the mythology of the ancient medans. It was founded by Ibrahim ebn-Edhem,
Scandinavians, and render more intelligible to younger
who died at Damascus A. D. 777. His disciples say
poets the number of obscure and difficult passages in that he was a slave, an Abyssinian by birth, that he
796
EDOMITES (RELIGION OF THE) —EGBO YOUNG.
always desired to please God, regularly read the cient Romans, who was believed to watch over chil-
Koran in the mosques, prayed day and night with dren and to bless their food.
his face to the ground, and often repeated these EED-EL-KORBAN (Pers., festival of the sacri-
words, “O Lord, thou hast given me so much wis- fice), a festival celebrated among the Persian Mo-
dom as that I clearly know I am under thy direction, hammedans, in honour of the patriarch Abraham.
and therefore scorning all power and dominion, I re- The day before the feast about four hundred camels
sign myself to the speculation of philosophy and a are collected from the neighbouring country, and
holy life.” Edhem established a strictly ascetic the first that rises after resting is chosen as the vic-
order, who gave themselves much to prayer and fast- tim, shot and speared. This feast is distinct from
ing; their food being of barley bread, and their cloth- the Behul Bairam, which is also kept in memory of
ing of a thick coarse cloth, with a woollen cap upon Abraham. See ABRAHAM'S SACRIFICE (FEAST OF).
their heads, surrounded by a turban, and a white EFFRONTES (Lat. ex, from, frons, the forehead),
linen cloth striped with red, round their necks. They a heretical sect which arose in Transylvania in the
professed to discourse with Enoch in the wilderness. sixteenth century. They derived their name from a
EDICT OF NANTES. See NANTES (EDICT OF). strange custom which they are said to have had, of
EDOMITES (RELIGION OF THE). Little is known shaving their foreheads till they bled, and then
concerning the religion of this ancient people. anointing them with oil. This was their mode of
Though in the first stage of their history they ap- baptism and initiation into the sect. They denied
pear, from the message which Moses sent them, the existence of the Holy Ghost, believing the ex-
Num. xx. 14—17, to have been worshippers of the pression to denote nothing more than the operation
true God, they lapsed in course of time into gross of God upon the mind.
idolatry. On this account a perpetual enmity ex- EGBO YOUNG, an idol worshipped by the na-
isted between them and the Israelites. That they tives of Old Calabar in Western Africa. It is a
were idolaters is plain from Josephus, who mentions human skull stuck upon the top of a stick with a few
one of their idols named Koze, which they wor- feathers tied to it. One of these idols is found in
shipped before Hyrcanus compelled them to conform almost every house where the inmates still adhere
to the rites and observances of the Jewish law. In to their former idolatry. Mr. Waddell, a missionary
consequence of their submission to circumcision, in that district, gives the following account of an
Josephus thinks that they became proselytes of the Egbo procession and dance. “Ere long two Egbo
gate, or wholly Jews. Yet when Herod was raised runners, in their usual harlequin costume, entered the
to the throne of Judea, Antigonus upbraided him town to clear the streets. The bells at their waists
with being an Idumean or a half-Jew, whereas the gave notice of their approach, and their long whips
kingdom ought to have been given to one of the made common folk keep at a distance. They cleared
royal family according to ancient custom. Josephus only the middle of the street-the main street is
always speaks of Herod the Great as an Edomite, wide-while the sides were thronged with unmo-
though he admits Herod's father, Antipater, to have | lested spectators. Another person, also curiously
been of the same people with the Jews. In the first dressed and painted, but of a different character, ad-
century after Christ, the name of Idumean was lost vanced with slow and solemn pace into the area be-
and quite disused.
fore the palaver-house, holding a long staff, and with
EDRIS (Arab. the student), one of the appella- bowed head, and muttering to himself
, marched pen-
tions of the prophet Enoch among the Mohamme- sively round and round unobservant of all about him,
dans. He was the third of the prophets, and the like some hermit from the wilds in a fit of abstrac-
greatest, according to the Arabians, that flourished tion. Soon two others, enveloped in gay cloths and
in the antediluvian world. They represent him as crowned with flowers, appeared, and paraded the
having been commissioned to preach to the Cainites, town as proud as peacocks. These characters served
but they rejected his doctrine, and in consequence to entertain the crowd, and keep alive expectation
he waged war upon them, and made them servants of what more novel and imposing was coming.
and slaves of the true believers. He is also said to They were greeted with shouts by the populace.
have ordered the faithful to treat all future infidels “At length the procession came into view, the
in a similar manner, being thus the originator of king at its head in robes of office, and carrying the
religious wars, and the first who inculcated the duty mace or grand baton, silvered all over and orna-
of persecuting infidels. To Edris is attributed the mented with ribbons. These things make a show,
invention of the pen, the needle, the sciences of and, when the heads of a country can get up shows,
astronomy and arithmetic, and the arts of magic and the lower members are expected to be in ecstasies.
divination. He is alleged to have written thirty Wiser men, in wiser countries, can get up shows for
treatises, of which, however, only one has escaped public admiration; and this here was something like
the ravages of time, and is called by his name, being a Lord Mayor's show in little. The procession ar-
styled the Book of Enoch, an apocryphal work, ranged before the palaver-house. In the midst of
which is held in great estimation by the Orientals.
the
space
stood an immense flag-staff recently erected,
EDULICA, or Edusa, a goddess among the an- a single mangrove tree not less than seventy to
EGG (MUNDANE).
797
eighty feet high; and fast to that above hung a EGG (MUNDANE). In the cosmogonies of many
magnificent British ensign of yellow and red. There heathen nations, both of ancient and of modern times,
was not wind enough to spread it, and it hung in the egg occupies a very prominent place, as repre-
vast folds on the ground many fathoms down. I senting the world in its transition from its primitive
should like to have seen it flying in the wind from chaotic state to its fully organized and orderly con-
such a mast-head.
dition. In the Rig-Véda of ancient Hinduism, the
“The king made proclamation, which at short in- Supreme Spirit is represented as producing an egg,
tervals was responded to by the deep tones of the and from the egg is evolved a world. At a later
Egbo drum. This done, six men dressed in the period Brahma is set forth as depositing in the pri-
highest style of Egbo fashion, began to dance before mordial waters an egg shining like gold. In ancient
the king—and such a dance! hornpipes, jigs, strath- Egypt we find CNEPH (which see), the Creator or
speys, and reels were nothing. They ran and leaped, Demiurgus, producing an egg, the symbol of the
pranced and capered up and down, round and round, | world. In the Sandwich Islands, an eagle is repre-
now fast, now slow, stopping suddenly to bow and sented as depositing an egg in the primordial waters ;
scrape, then flinging away in surpassing style. It and among the Finns it is an aquatic bird. In the
was inimitable. I wish the advocates and practi-old Celtic legends, the mundane egg was produced
tioners of that ball-room exercise had witnessed it. by a serpent, which liad no sooner brought it forth
It would put them out of countenance. That done, than it hastened to devour it. The ancient Lace-
the procession advanced towards the palaver-house, demonians spoke of Jupiter as having visited Leda
and enclosed the entrance to it in a sinall circle.
in the disguise of a swan, in consequence of which
Young Eyo came to me where I stood, and smiling, she produced two eggs, from the one of which issued
said, “This be very fine.' "Well tell me wliat Egbo Helena, and from the other the twin Dioscuri. Elis
be?' "When you buy Egbo you saby,' was his re- also had its two heroes sprung from a silver egg,
ply. “I buy Egbo!' “Yes,' he responded, 'you be called the Molionides, Molione their mother being
Calabar gentleman now. Next year I think my the goddess of labour. A legend of the Peruvians
father make you buy Egbo.' 'Well, suppose I buy speaks of a virgin seduced by a god, and giving birth
it, tell me what good it will do me?' 'O, plenty to two eggs, the one containing Apo-catéquil, the
good,' he answered ; any thing you like to do, you prince of evil, an idol reverently worshipped in the
can do it.' 'But I do not want to be able to do every country; the other containing Piguerao-catéquil,
thing I like; lest by and by I might do something bad. who raised up his inother from the dead. The one
I want to do only what God likes.' He ejaculated, being in this case represented evil, and the other
Oh!' significantly, and perhaps would have ex- good; the one death, and the other life. The Ton-
pressed his ideas of my objections more fully, had quinese have a legend, as we learn from Marini, that
not his name been called by his father, and repeated the princess Au-leo produced a hundred eggs, from
by a number of other voices, and answered by him- which came forth as many male children. To pre-
self with an alacrity that soon carried him through vent quarrels among this numerous progeny, the
the crowd to his father's side. Soon after the sound father and mother agreed to separate, and to retire.
of Egbo was heard inside the palaver-house, when each with the half of their offspring, the one to the
all the privileged instantly rushed in, and I returned sea-coast, and the other to the mountains. Accord-
to my domicile.
ing to Father Martini, the Chinese acknowledge the
“ The noises were continued all Saturday evening; | creation of a first man, whom they call Puoncu.
and as Sabbath was grandbrass Egbo day, when nei- | This man derived his being from an egg, the shell of
ther man, woman, nor child, with the exception of a which was snatched up to heaven, the white ex-
few great gentlemen, is allowed to walk about, the panded through the air, and the yolk remained upon
usual religious services could not be held. The town the earth.
was perfectly still, but soon after the darkening, the But while the mundane egg represents the world
horrid bawling and drumming was resumed, and con- in its first creation, it is often found also as emble-
tinued all night, to be relieved in the morning only matic of its renovation, after having been purified by
by numerous volleys of musketry. The crying is fire. Herodotus relates, accordingly, that the Phoe-
performed by a band of women, who follow it profes- nix buried the body of its father in a mass of myrrh
sionally, accompanied usually by many others, who of the form of an egg. The modern Jews in several
chime in from time to time as feeling or fashion dic- places make use of eggs in funeral feasts, probably
tates. They vary their cries, and some ingenuity is in token of the resurrection.
in token of the resurrection. In Russia also the
required in devising the different systems of cries. eggs used at the Paschal season are understood to
But no taste or music is discoverable in them, no have the same emblematic signification.
pathos is expressed; they do not approach within The following system of Japanese cosmogony,
any calculable distance of a tuneful dirge, or sad and which includes the mundane egg, is given by Kla-
wild koinah, the old Irish funeral cry which in my proth, as contained in an imperfect volume of
boyhood I so often heard."
Chinese and Japanese chronology, printed in Japan,
EGERIA. See ÆGERIA.
in Chinese characters, without date, but which for
798
EGYPTIANS (RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT).
more than a hundred years past has been in the glyphical signs and emblems to denote abstract con-
Royal Library of Paris : “ At first the heaven and ceptions and the attributes of the Deity; and, as is
the earth were not separated, the perfect principle believed by Le Pluche and other writers, these figu-
and the imperfect principle were not disjoined; rative representations were afterwards made instru-
chaos, under the form of an egg, contained the breath ments of superstition and idolatry. Thus they looked
[of life], self-produced, including the germs of all | upon the sun as an emblem of the Almighty, as
things. Then what was pure and perfect ascended being the grandest object in creation, and therefore
upwards, and formed the heavens (or sky), while best fitted to denote the Creator; and besides, they
what was dense and impure coagulated, was precipi- employed the figure of a circle at once as an image
tated and produced the earth. The pure and excel- of the sun and an emblem of eternity; at length
lent principles formed whatever was light, whilst what calling both the sun and its symbol, the Eternal, and
ever was dense and impure descended by its own directing their devotions through these outward
gravity ; consequently the sky was formed prior to visible emblems, in process of time they lost sight of
the earth. After their completion, a divine being the great and glorious Being who is alone entitled
(Cami) was born in the midst of them. Hence, it to the homage and adoration of the whole intellec-
has been said, that at the reduction of chaos, an tual creation. Religion, instead of being a series of
island of soft earth emerged, as a fish swims upon all-important abstract principles addressed to the
the water. At this period a thing resembling a mind and the heart of man, passed into the attractive
shoot of the plant [assi Eryanthus Japonicus) was form, attractive at least to the outward eye, of a
produced between the heavens and the earth. This series of pictorial representations, which were only
shoot was metamorphosed and became the god [first revealed to the initiated in their true nature and sig-
of the seven superior gods] who bears the honoritic nification. Thus, according to the secret teaching of
title of Kami toko kontsi-no mikoto, that is to say, the the Egyptian priesthood, Osiris is the Supreme Be-
venerable one who constantly supports the empire.” | ing, the God of gods; but being possessed of a va-
There is a pazoda at Miaco in Japan, consecrated riety of attributes, each of which is Divine, these are
to a hieroglyphic bull, on a large square altar, and individually represented under different names, and
composed of solid gold. His neck is adorned with a by different eniblems, as themselves gods. Thus
very costly collar, but what particularly attracts at- Osiris, as evolving the material universe, is Ammon
tention is an egg, which he pushes with his horns, or Jupiter-Ammon, and aptly symbolized by the
while he seizes it between his fore-feet. This bull sun, who evolves by his light and heat the flowers
is placed on the summit of a rock, and the egg floats and fruits of the earth. Osiris, as wisdom, exercis-
in water, which is enclosed within a hollow space. ing the perfection of his creative energy, and realiz-
The egg represents the chaos. The whole world, ing in outward creation the inward ideas of the
say the Japanese, was enclosed at the time of chaos Divine mind, is another deity called Ptha. As good-
within this egg, which swam upon the surface of the ness, and the beneficent author of all good, life, and
waters. The bull observing this egg, broke the happiness, Osiris is still another deity, though bear-
shell of it by goring it with his horns, and so created ing the same name of Osiris. On the Supreme
the world, and by his breath formed the human spe- | Being of the Egyptian mythology, Sir John G. Wil-
cies. Among the ancient Persians, AHRIMAN kinson observes: “Osiris, in his mysterious charac-
(which see), the evil principle, created twenty-four ter, was the greatest of the Egyptian deities ; but
genii, which he enclosed in an egg, while Ormuzd, the little is known of those undivulged secrets, which the
good principle, created the same number of genii, ancients took so much care in concealing; so cau-
which he also enclosed in an egg. By the break- tious indeed were the initiated, that they made a
ing of these eggs, the Persians accounted for the mix- scruple even of mentioning his name. His principal
ture of good and evil in the present state of things. office, as an Egyptian deity, was to judge the dead,
Thus in some systems of cosmogony the egg is used and rule over that kingdom where the souls of good
as an emblem of the world emerging from the chao.. men were admitted to eternal felicity. Seated on his
tic mass, and in others it denotes chaos itself. The throne, accompanied by Isis and Nephthys, with the
Phoenicians are said indeed to have worshipped an four genii of Amenti, who stand on a lotus growing
egg
from the waters, in the centre of the divine abode, he
EGOTHEISTS. See MysticS, PANTHEISTS. receives the account of the actions of the deceased
EGYPTIANS (RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT). It recorded by Thoth. Horus, his son, introduces the
is surprising how early Egypt, which was the cradle deceased into his presence, bringing with him the
of the arts and sciences, must have fallen into the tablet of Thoth, after his actions have been weighed
grossest idolatry. Nay, mythologists are generally by Anubis and Horus ; (though Anubis had the
agreed that this was the first country in which origi- office and title of director of the weights, Horus fre-
nated the worship of false gods. By what gradual quently assisted him in this duty ;) in the balance
steps the Egyptians came to adore the creature in are placed, on one side the feather or the figure of
preference to the Creator it is difficult to trace. At Truth or Justice, on the other a vase, supposed to
a very remote period, they seem to have used hiero- | contain, or represent, the just actions of the deceased,
EGYPTIANS (RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT).
799
a COW.
the deficiency or the approximation of which is noted earth. Every one of these zodiacal pyramids has its
down by Thoth. A cynocephalus, the emblem of presiding demon, just as the twelve great mundane
the ibis-headed god, sits on the upper part of the gods are governed by the supreme divinity, recog-
balance; and Cerberus, the guardian of the palace of nized as Ammon or Kneph. These deities regulate
Osiris, is present; sometimes also Harpocrates, the the seasons and the cycles of time of our planetary
symbol of silence, is seated on a couch of Osiris, system; and hence the ancient division of annual
before the god of letters. Some of the figures of the time into hebdomads, or weeks of seven days, and
dead are represented wearing round their necks the years of twelve months. We here perceive a vast,
same emblem, a vase, which appears in the scale, theocosmic system, whose apex terminates in unity,
after they have passed their ordeal, and are deemed and which proclaims the interesting and important
worthy of admittance into the presence of Osiris. truth, that all the gods are essentially but one god,
This vase will therefore signify judged or justified, as all the suns and planets are but one world.
and the person wearing it has perhaps been mistaken “ The entire heaven, or the world considered as
for a judge.
supernal, is marked out into numerous compartments
Osiris and Isis were the two principal deities or and distributed among the celestial rulers, while the
deified personifications among the ancient Egyptians. uppermost regions, extending downwards from the
Osiris symbolized the sun and the Nile, the latter | pyramidal zenith of the universe to the moon, apper-
being as essential to the fertilizing of Egypt as the tain pre-eminently to the gods, according to their
sun is to the fertilizing of the earth. Isis represented several ranks and orders. The first and highest
the moon and Egypt. Both are considered as denot- among them are the twelve supercelestial gods, with
ing the solar year. Osiris was worshipped under the their subordinate demons. After these follow the
form of an ox called Apis, and Isis under the form of intercosmic gods, of whom each also presides over a
In speaking of the origin of Egyptian ido- number of demons, to whom he imparts his power,
latry, Diodorus Siculus says, “Contemplating the and who rejoice to bear his name. Within the am-
arch of heaven raised above their heads, and admir- ple limits of these demons, gravitates the centre of
ing the marvellous order which reigned in the uni- all things. The demons, receiving their power and
verse, they regarded the sun and moon as eternal influence from the gods, whose subalterns they are,
gods, and worshipped them with a particular wor- produce the plants and animals, infusing into them
ship.” The whole mythological system of this an- their own energies, thus replenishing the world, and
cient people has been considered by those who have uniting into one stupendous whole the four spheres
most carefully investigated it as an astro-theology, of the universe : the supercelestial, the celestial,
using animals as symbols of the heavenly bodies, and the super and sublunar spheres.
and if this view be correct, it affords a not altogether « There are six orders of demons. The first is sui
unsatisfactory explanation of the origin of animal | generis, and has a truly divine nature. These high-
worship. If the signs of the zodiac and the constel- est demons link the souls to the bodies: the effluxes
lations were worshipped, so also were the animals of the Father, to the gods. The second order, still
which represented them. The vulgar adored the remarkable for high intellectual attributes, has the
symbol, while they were totally ignorant of that supervision of the souls as they enter or leave the
which it symbolized.
bodies : they make creation manifest. The third
A most ingenious view of the intricate mythology imparts to the divine souls who enter into bodies for
of Egypt, in so far as it bears on their cosmogony, is the benefit of common souls, the second degree of
thus given by Mr. Gross in his · Heathen Religion : creative power, while it sheds upon them the higher
According to Proclus, the Egyptians postulated influences. The fourth bestows upon the individual-
three orders or emanations of gods: a fact which the ized natures, or distinct forms of being, the active
beginning of the present century still attested in the powers, or principles of synthetic or concrete exist-
extant zodiacs in the small town of Tentyra on the ence; as life, order, ideas, and the means of perfec-
Nile. Directing our vision towards the upper part | tability which are at the disposal of the gods. The
of the cupola, in which this ancient specimen of the fifth order of demons, possessing bodily similitude-
astronomical theology of the Egyptians is perpe- hold together, sustain, and preserve all the elements
tuated, we discover quite at the top the twelve great of the terrestrial body, after the sample of the eter-
or calendarian gods, symbolized in the twelve signs nal body : the ideal body and type and source of all
of the zodiac. Each of these twelve gods has his bodies. As to the demons of the sixth and last
three satellites called Decani, and also known as the order, they are charged with the care of matter,
demons or ethereal gods of Hermes, the personifica- and it is their business to superintend the powers
tion of the soul or intelligent principle of the universe. which descend from the heavenly hylé into the ter-
Each of the Decani, likewise, has two adjuncts, and restial hylé, and to preserve the outlines—of the ideas
thus divinity is divided and subdivided until the cir- in matter.
cumference of the pneumatological zodiac, compris- “As the upper celestial sphere has its subdivisions
ing three hundred and sixty degrees, extends in of beings, so has the lower; and according to a fixed
twelve homo-centric pyramids to the centre of the law of pneumatology, the inferior beings always act
800
EGYTPIANS (RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT).
+
in subserviency to the superior. The sphere of the Hence the practice of embalming the bodies of the
moon, the air, the fire, and the water, etc., are all dead, and the attention bestowed upon the prepara-
filled with demons, who are of an elastic, ethereal tion of mummies.
nature, and who officiate as intermediate agents be- Among the offerings presented to the Egyptian
tween the gods and mankind. They preside over deities, libations and incense held the first place,
the elements and organic life. Upon them depend accompanied with fruit, flowers, and other produc-
the growth, the inflorescence, the virtue, and the tions of the soil; but animals of different kinds, par-
perfection of plants; and hence all plants which ticularly oxen and birds of various descriptions, were
bloom in any given month or under a particular zo- also set before them. Herodotus gives an account
diacal sign, are decidedly influenced by the god to of a sacrifice to Isis, the greatest of the Egyptian
whom such sign or month is sacred! Behold the goddesses. “ After the previous ceremony of pray-
origin of sacred plants.
ers,” says he, “they sacrifice an ox: they then strip
In no part of the world has ANIMAL-WORSHIP off the skin, and take out the intestines, leaving the
(which see) been carried to such an extent as in an- fat and the paunch ; they afterwards cut off the legs,
cient Egypt. Every small town or district had its. the shoulders, the neck, and the extremities of the
sacred animal, and a temple consecrated to its wor- loin; the rest of the body is stuffed with fine bread,
ship, with a whole retinue of priests or priestesses to honey, raisins, figs, frankincense, myrrh, and various
conduct the service. At Thebes, the sun-city of aromatics; after this process they burn it, pouring
Ammon, the ram was worshipped ; at Mendes, the on the flame a large quantity of oil: while the vic-
goat; at Cynopolis, the dog; at Lycopolis, the tim is burning, the spectators flagellate themselves,
wolf; at Bubastis, the cat ; and at Tachompso, the having fasted before the ceremony; the whole
crocodile. A few of the sacred animals were wor- completed by their feasting on the residue of the
shipped with far more reverence than all the others. sacrifice." The same author tells us that in Egypt
This was more especially the case with the three it was accounted a capital offence to sacrifice a beast
sacred bulls, Mnevis, Onuphis, and Apis. Herodo- that had not been stamped with the seal of the super-
tus gives animal-worship a colouring, which could intending priest, and thus legally attested as being
only apply to it as practised by the more intelligent fit for sacrifice.
and thoughtful of the Egyptian people. “In the The priesthood, including both the chief priests or
presence of these animals,” says he, “the inhabitants pontiffs, and the minor priests, held the first rank in
of the cities perform their vows. They address Egypt next to the king. They were divided into
themselves as supplicants to the divinity who is different colleges according to the deity in whose
supposed to be represented by the animal in whose service they were employed. And besides the priests
presence they are. The great mass of the commu- there were also priestesses of the gods, or of the
nity were not likely to entertain any other idea thankings and queens, each of whom bore a title indicat-
that the animals themselves were divinities, and, ing her peculiar office. Herodotus asserts that wo-
therefore, to be worshipped as such. These sacred men were not eligible to the priesthood, but the
animals, accordingly, were feasted in the most sump- historian probably refers to the office of pontiff or
tuous manner, had gorgeous couches prepared for the higher sacerdotal orders, as in another place he
them, and when they happened to die, their vo- himself speaks of women devoted to the service of
taries went into mourning, buried them with great Ammon. The office of the priesthood usually de-
pomp, and erected magnificent tombs over their scended from father to son, and all who held the
place of interment. So far did the Egyptians carry office enjoyed important privileges, which extended
this species of idolatry, that, as Pomponius Mela in- also to the whole family. They were exempt from
forms us, they worshipped the images of many beasts, public taxes, and were provided for from the public
as well as the beasts themselves. And Strabo says, ores. When Pharaoh, by the advice of Joseph,
that the Egyptians had no images of men in their bought up all the land of the Egyptians, the land of
temples, but only of beasts. It is quite possible the priests was excepted, nor was the tax of the fifth
that the extraordinary veneration in which they held part of the produce entailed upon it as on that of the
certain animals may have been connected with their other part of the people. We learn from Diodorus
belief in transmigration. Herodotus says, “The an- Siculus, that the land was divided into three por-
cient Egyptians believed that when the body is dis- tions, one of which belonged to the king, a second
solved, the soul enters into some other animal which is to the priests, and a third to the soldiers.
born at the same time, and that after going the round The priesthood in Egypt was of various orders.
of all the animals that inhabit the land, the waters, and The chief or high priest occupied the most honour-
the air, it again enters the body of a man which is able station. He superintended the immolating of
then born. This circuit, they say, is performed by the victims, the processions of the sacred boats or
the soul in three thousand years." While the Egyp- arks, the presentation of the offerings at the altar
tians believed in the continued existence of the soul or at funerals, and the anointing of the king. On
after death, they considered it of the utmost im- these occasions he was covered with a sort of man-
portance that the body should be carefully preserved. tle made of an entire leopard skin. “ Various in.
EGYPTIANS (RELIGION OF TIIE ANCIENT).
801
signia,” says Sir John G. Wilkinson, “ were worn by | wings on the head as a peculiarity of the sacred
them, acoording to their rank or the ceremony in scribes, while Clemens Alexandrinus uses the expres-
which they were engaged; and necklaces, bracelets, sion, “having wings upon the head” as synonymous
garlands, and other ornaments were put on during with the expression, “sacred scribe.” This order
the religious ceremonies in the temples. Their dresses was particularly skilled in divination, and we find
were made of linen, which, as Plutarch observes, is Moses making a distinction between the prophets
perfectly consistent with the customs of men anxious and the diviners in Deut, xiii. 3,“ Thou shalt not
to rid themselves of all natural impurities ; for cer- hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that
tainly, he adds, it would be absurd for those who dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth
take so much pains to remove hair and all other you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God
superfluities from the body, to wear clothes made of with all your heart and with all your soul.” The
the wool or hair of animals. Their prejudice, how- costume of the sacred scribe consisted of a large
ever, against woollen garments was confined to the apron, either tied in front, or wound round the lower
under robes, it being lawful for them to put on a wool- part of the body; and the loose upper robe, with full
len upper garment for the purpose of a cloak; and sleeves, which in all cases was of the finest linen ;
cotton dresses were sometimes worn by the priests, to he is also described as occasionally wearing feathers
whom, if we may believe Pliny, they were particularly on his head.
agreeable. But no one was allowed to be buried in The whole order of the priesthood was treated in
a woollen robe, from its engendering worms, which Egypt with the utmost respect, and they were thus
would injure the body ; nor could any priest enter a enabled to exercise great influence over the people.
temple without previously taking off this part of his The chief cause of the ascendency which they pos-
dress. Their sandals were made of the papyrus and sessed is to be attributed to the mysteries of their
palm leaves, and the simplicity of their habits ex- religion, which were carefully concealed from the
tended even to the bed on which they slept. It was great mass of the community, and revealed only to
sometimes a simple skin extended upon the bare the favoured few. These mysteries of the Egyptians,
ground; sometimes it consisted of a sort of wicker | like the Eleusinian mysteries among the Greeks, con-
work made of palm branches, on which they spread sisted of two degrees, usually termed the greater and
a mat or skin; and their head, says Porphyry, was the less. The privilege of initiation into the greater
supported by a half cylinder of wood, in lieu of a mysteries was reserved for the priesthood alone,
pillow.”
and, accordingly, even the heir apparent to the
Of the ordinary priests, those who served the throne was not instructed in these mysteries until
great gods were looked upon as of higher rank than he came into full possession of the kingdom, when,
those who belonged to the minor deities. In many in virtue of his kingly office, he became a member of
provinces and towns, those who were connected with the priesthood, and the head of the religion of the
particular temples were in greater repute than others. country,
Thus the priests of Ammon held the first rank at The fundamental principle which lay at the foun-
Thebes, those of Pthah at Memphis, those of Re at dation of the ancient religion of Egypt, in its esoteric
Heliopolis. The dresses of the priests were similar or hidden forin, was the existence of one Supreme
to those of the nobility, and consisted of an under | Being, the Self-Existent, Independent God. So vast
garment like an apron, and a loose upper robe with and varied was the Egyptian Pantheon, that this
full sleeves, secured by a girdle round the loins, or great truth was completely concealed from public
of the apron and a shirt with short tight sleeves, over view. The first and highest manifestation of the
which was thrown a loose robe, leaving the right | Supreme God is in Cneph, the Creator, and the
arm exposed. Sometimes when engaged in sacred next Ptha, the organizer of the world; the one deity
duty the priest threw aside the upper garment, and giving birth to matter, and the other shaping it into
wore only an ample robe bound round the waist, form.
form. Osiris presents himself as the sun, the active
which descended over the apron to his ancles; and principle in nature ; Isis as the moon, the passive,
on some occasions he was dressed in a long full gar- dark, material principle. From the union of these
ment, reaching from below the arms to the feet, and two, the whole creation assumes fertility and life.
supported over the neck with straps.
Besides these great beings who give rise only to
Distinct from the priesthood the ancient Egyp- good, there is a dark principle of chaos, called Buto
tians had also a class of prophets or sacred scribes. or Athyr, who gives birth to Typhon, the great origi-
Accordingly, the sixth line of the Rosetta stone thus nator and representative of evil, who, marrying Nep-
enumerates the members of the Egyptian hierarchy: thys or perfection, originates that mixture of good
“ The chief priests and prophets, and those who have and evil which both the physical and moral aspect
access to the shrines to clothe the gods, and the of the world presents.
wing-bearers, and the sacred scribes, and all the But besides the metaphysical view of the ancient
other sacred persons.” The wing-bearers appear to Egyptian religion, it has also been considered by
have been a higher order of the sacred scribes; for many writers, as conveying to the initiated a splen-
Diodorus Siculus expressly mentions the wearing of | did chart of astronomical and chronological science;
i
1.
3 N
802
EICETÆ_ELDERS (JEWISH).
while all the while to the uninstructed vulgar it was ELATIO, the name given among the ancient Ro-
a system of the grossest and most debasing idolatry. mans to the ceremony of carrying out the dead body
The most ancient popular rites of the Egyptians on the day of burial, with the feet towards the gate,
were, according to Creuzer, of the nature of orgies, to intimate that the deceased was taking his final de-
and the fundamental character of their religion was parture from his foriner home. The ancient Greeks
Bacchanalian. Sensual songs were sung accompanied also adopted the same custom.
with noisy instruments. The people bowed downı ELCESAITES, a Christian sect which appeared
with reverence before the very beasts of the field, in the second century. It derived its name from
and worshipped the creature, to the exclusion of "the Elcesai or Elxai, a Jew by whom it was founded.
Creator, who is God over all, blessed for evermore." Epiphanius, who gives an account of this sect, ex-
EICETÆ, an order of Syrian monks in the ninth presses his doubts whether it ought to be ranked
century, who held dancing to be an essential part of among Christian or Jewish sects. The Elcesaites
Divine worship, and, accordingly, in their sacred as- rejected both the eating of flesh and the offering of
semblies they danced and sung praises to God. This animals, explaining the entire sacrificial worship as
practice they defended, by appealing to the example not a part of Judaism, but a corruption of it. They
of Miriam, the sister of Moses, who led the dance held in great veneration an apocryphal book called
of the Israelites after the passage over the Red sea; 'Steps of Jacob,' in which the patriarch is introduced
and also to the example of David, who danced before discoursing against the sacrificial and temple wor-
the ark. Though these Eicetæ met with few imita- ship. They reckoned the renunciation of all worldly
tors, John Damascenus thought it necessary to ex- goods as an essential part of religious perfection.
pose their error.
The members of this sect were willing to take the
EIKTHYRNIR, a stag in the ancient Scandina- name of Ebionites, as the poor in spirit, glorying in
vian mythology, which stands over Valhalla, the the name as inherited by them from the first founders
final abode of the righteous, and feeds upon the of the church at Jerusalem, who renounced all tem-
leaves of the famous tree, called Lærath, and while poral possessions, and enjoyed an unconditional com-
he is feeding, so many drops fall from his antlers munity of goods. This sect were decidedly opposed
down into Hvergelmir, that they furnish sufficient to the feeling which was arising at that early period
water for the rivers that, issuing thence, flow through in favour of celibacy; and in opposition to such a
the celestial abodes.
notion, they expressed their partiality for early mar-
EILEITHYIA, the goddess of birth among the riages, which, according to the custom of the Jews,
ancient Greeks, who assisted women in labour, either they urged upon all their followers.
hastening or protracting it at her pleasure. At an ELDERS (Jewisi). The Hebrew word in the
earlier period there were two goddesses bearing this Old Testament, which is translated elders, literally
name, the one favourable, the other unfavourable, signifies seniors, or persons advanced in life; and
both of them daughters of Hera, the goddess of mar- buch alone were selected to occupy stations of dig,
riage. The worship of Eileithyia was first practised nity and authority. Hence elder became an estab-
among the Dorians in Crete, from whence it passed lished title of office. Even while the Israelites were
into Attica, where she was worshipped by the Athe- in Egypt, they seem to have had elders. Hence the
nians. In many different parts of Greece there were command of God to Moses, Exod. iii. 16, “ Go, and
temples built in honour of this goddess.
gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto
EIRENE, the goddess of peace, worshipped by them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of
the ancient Greeks and Romans. At Athens altars Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me,
were erected, where sacrifices were offered to propi- saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which
tiate her favour. There was also a splendid temple is done to you in Egypt.” During the journeyings
built to her at Rome by the Emperor Vespasian, of the Israelites in the wilderness, the elders of Israel
under her Latin name Pax.
are frequently referred to. The Jews gave this title
EISITERIA, sacrifices which the senate at Athens of elder to most of their officers, civil as well as ec-
were accustomed to offer to Zeus and Athena before clesiastical, long before synagogues were established.
they commenced the public deliberations of each From the time of Moses they had elders over the
session. Libations were offered, and a festival was nation, as well as over every city and smaller com-
held on the occasion.
munity. In the wilderness Moses established a coun-
ELAPHEBOLIA, an ancient Grecian festival
, cil of seventy to assist him in governing the people.
celebrated in honour of ARTEMIS (which see) at Hy- These were appointed from the urgent necessity of
ampolis in Phocis. It was instituted in commemo- the case, and accordingly, their office appears to have
ration of a victory gained over the Thessalians. The been only temporary, and not to have survived the
name of the festival is probably derived from a pecu- days of Moses. Indeed, after that time, no mention
liar kind of cake, made in the form of a stag (Gl. is made of it by any one of the Old Testament his-
elaphos), which was oflered to the goddess on the oc- torians, prophets, and poets. Elders do not occur
casion. This sacred festival was celebrated not only until the introduction of the synagogue worship,
in Phocis, but in other parts of Greece.
when they are found as rulers of the synagogue.
ELDERS (CHRISTIAN).
803
On some occasions there was only one elder, when | ing, exhorting, and giving, or, in other words, from
we find the expression, “the ruler of the synagogue." the peculiar work of the pastor, the doctor, and the
But most frequently there was more than one elder, deacon. A second passage, which is generally ad-
as in Acts xiii. 15. And Jewishi writers affirm that duced in support of the Presbyterian opinion is,
three was the proper number. In certain matters | 1 Cor. xii. 28, “And God hath set some in the
of judgment three appear to have been necessary. | church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly
These sat in judgment on matters of discipline and teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings,
worship, but they did so also on a variety of offences, helps, governments, diversities of tongues." Here
both civil and criminal. They judged in pecuniary the apostle enumerates office-bearers both of an ex-
matters, in matters of theft, of losses, of restitution, | traordinary and ordinary description. Among the
of the admission of proselytes, and of the laying on latter occur what are called governments or governors,
of hands.
the abstract being used for the concrete. These
Great variety of opinion has existed among the governors are mentioned as a distinct class from
learned on various points in reference to these elders apostles, prophets, and teachers, as well as from
of the synagogue, but all writers of weight, whether helps or helpers. Being governors they cannot be
Jewish or Christian, unite in maintaining that there deacons, who, even by the adrnission of Congrega-
was in every synagogue such a bench of elders who tionalists, have no rule over the church. There is
conducted its discipline and managed its affairs. Vi. then, Presbyterians allege, no other class of office-
tringa, who has written a very elaborate work on the bearers to whom the name governors in this passage
ancient synagogue, alleges that the greater number can be applied except to the ruling elders whose spe-
of the Jewish elders did not usually preach, but cial duty is government or rule over the congrega-
simply acted as rulers in ecclesiastical matters. tion. The only other passage which is commonly
When the congregation were met, the elders occur- quoted in proof of the Divine authority of the office
pied a semicircular bench, in the middle of which sat of ruling elders is 1 Tim. v. 17, “Let the elders that
the chief ruler, and his colleagues on each side of him. rule well be counted worthy of double honour, espe-
ELDERS (CHRISTIAN), office-bearers in the Chris- cially they who labour in the word and doctrine."
tian church frequently mentioned in the New Testa- Various explanations have been given of this much-
ment. The name of elders or seniors is probably disputed passage. To quote from Di. Dick, “Some
given in this case, because of the knowledge, gifts, say that the elders who rule well are diocesan
and experience which they ought to have. The bishops, and that those who labour in word and doc-
elders mentioned in the New Testament were of dif- trine are preaching presbyters; but besides that,
ferent kinds, preaching elders or ministers, who contrary to their own system, they thus assign
labour in word and doctrine, teaching elders or Doc- greater lionour to presbyters than to bishops, there
Tors (which see), and ruling or governing elders. were no such bishops in the apostolic church ; and
The term “elders," however, is usually limited in this hypothesis must be abandoned. Others tell us
Presbyterian churches, at least in ordinary parlance, that the former are ordinary bishops and presbyters,
to the last-mentioned class, those whose sole office and the latter evangelists; as if it had been the
it is to rule or govern in the church, individuals business of bishops and presbyters in the primitive
being chosen from the ordinary membership of the church to rule, and of evangelists to preach, without
church expressly to join with the pastor in the exer- having any concern in the government of the church.
cise of government or rule in the congregation. Such Again, it has been supposed that the rulers here
lay elders, as they are often termed, are denied by mentioned are deacons; and the labourers in word
Episcopalians to be of Divine institution, while the and doctrine, the ministers of the word; but deacons
Congregationalists maintain that the Scriptures make bave nothing to do with the government of the
mention of no other office-bearers in the Christian church. Some have fancied two kinds of elders, of
church besides pastors and deacons.
whom some preached the word, and administered the
Presbyterians maintain that the office of ruling sacraments; while others were employed in reading
elder is not a human, but a Divine institution, and the Scriptures to the people, and performing other in-
in proof of this assertion, they are wont to refer to ferior offices.” But the Presbyterian argument found-
various passages in the Word of God. The first ed on this passage, as briefly but effectively stated by
which may be mentioned is Rom. xii. 6, 7, 8, “ Hav- Dr. Dick, is, “ There are elders, who, although
ing then gifts differing according to the grace that is they rule well, are not worthy of double lionour, unless
given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy ac- they labour in word and doctrine. But there are
cording to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let elders who are counted worthy of double honour, be-
us wait on our ministering : or he that teacheth, on cause they rule well, although they do not labour in
teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation : he the word and doctrine. Therefore, there are elders
that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that who are not teaching or preaching elders, that is,
ruleth, with diligence; he that shewetha mercy, with they are ruling elders only. The premises are clearly
cheerfulness.” In this passage it is argued the office laid down in the passage, and the conclusion is there-
of ruling is plainly distinguished from those of teach- fore legitimate."
804
ELDERS (CHRISTIAN).
i
It is a fundamental principle of Episcopacy, as and that the deacons commonly stood in front of this
distinguished from Presbytery, that bishops are of a bench. The whole of this arrangement was evidently
different order from presbyters or elders, while Pres- drawn from that of the Jewish synagogue. It is re-
byterians allege that they are of the same order, and markable that the Syrian Christians in Malabar, whom
on the same level as to rank or authority. This Dr. Claudius Buchanan visited, and whom he consi-
question, however, has been discussed under the ar- ders as having settled in the East within the first
ticle BISHOP, and will again fall to be noticed under three centuries after Christ, had three ruling elders
EPISCOPACY. Meanwhile we limit our remarks in the belonging to the church.
present article to the ruling elder in the Presbyterian It has been often asserted by Episcopalians and
churches. Not only do these churches appeal to Congregationalists, that lay-elders were unknown
Scripture as sanctioning such an office in the church to the church before the days of Calvin in the six-
of God, but they are in the habit of adducing quota- teenth century, when that eminent reformer intro--
tions both from the early and later Fathers, as a sub- duced Presbyterian order into the church of Genera.
sidiary argument in its favour. Clemens Romanus, But the most satisfactory evidence exists that the
who lived towards the close of the first century, ad- office of elder, as distinguished from that of pastor,
dresses the Corinthian Christians thus, “It is a was recognized among the Waldenses, a Christian
shanie, my beloved, yca, a very great shame to hear, sect which traces its origin almost to apostolic times.
that the most firm and ancient church of the Corin- In the Confession of Faith of this very ancient body
thians should be led by one or two persons to rise of Christians, it is explicitly declared, that "it is ne-
up against their elders.” Ignatius, who lived at the cessary for the church to have pastors to preach
close of the first and the beginning of the second cen- God's word, to administer the sacraments, and to
tury, speaks often in his epistles, of elders as office- watch over the sheep of Jesus Christ, and also elders
bearers in the church. Thus he says to the Ephe- and deacons, according to the rules of good and holy
sians, “I exhort you, that you study to do all things church discipline and the practice of the primitive
in a divine concord: your bishop presiding in the church." The Bohemian Brethren also, who drew
place of God, your elders in the place of the council up a 'Plan of Government and Discipline' in 1616,
of the apostles, and your deacons, most dear to me, mention elders as acknowledged office-bearers in
being entrusted with the ministry of Jesus Christ.” their church, and at the close of the document they
And again, to the Magnesians, “ Do nothing without say, that “this is the ecclesiastical order which they
your bishop and elders.” This Father calls the and their forefathers had had established among them
presbyters or elders of each church which he ad- for two hundred years." The description which
dresses, the sanhedriin or council of God. Hippo- this church gives of the office of elders plainly iden-
lytus, also, often in his writings speaks of these tifies it with the same office which still exists in all
elders as existing and exercising authority in his day. Presbyterian churches. “Elders (Presbyteri, seu Cen-
Thus, in his tract against the heresy of Nætus, he sores morum) are honest, grave, pious men, chosen
tells us, that “the elders cited Nætus to appear, and out of the whole congregation, that they may act as
examined him in the presence of the church;" and guardians of all the rest. To them authority is
again, “the elders summoned him a second time, given (either alone or in connection with the pas-
condemned him, and cast him out of the church.” | tor) to admonish and rebuke those who transgress
Origen too, who flourished little more than two hun- the prescribed rules, also to reconcile those who are
dred years after Christ, says, “ There are some rulers at variance, and to restore to order whatever irregu-
appointed, whose duty it is to inquire concerning larity they may have noticed. Likewise in secular
the manners and conversation of those who are ad- matters, relating to domestic concerns, the younger
mitted, that they may debar from the congregation men and youths are in the habit of asking their
such as commit filthiness." This passage is believed counsel, and of being faithfully advised by them.
by Presbyterians clearly to prove, that in the days From the example and practice of the ancient church,
of Origen the governinent and discipline were not we believe that this ought always to be done; see
conducted as Congregationalists would have it, by Exodus xviii. 21.—Deut. i. 13.-1 Cor. vi. 2, 4,
the entire body of communicants, but by a bench of 5.—1 Tim. v. 17.” Comenius the historian says,
separate rulers or governors. The description also in speaking of elders in the Bohemian church,“ They
which the Fathers give of the manner in which the are styled judges of the congregation, or censors of
bishop or pastor and his elders were seated during the people, and also ruling elders.” It seems plain,
divine service, throws considerable light on this therefore, that long before the period of the Refor-
subject. Several of the early Fathers tell us, that mation, office-bearers bearing the name, and dis-
when the church was assembled for public worship, charging the duties of elders, were known in several
the bishop or pastor was commonly seated on the sections of the Christian church. And nowhere more
middle of a raised bench or semi-circular seat at strongly than in the writings of the Reformers them-
one end of the church; that his elders were seated selves do we find testimony borne to the apostolical
on each side of him, on the same seat, or on seats warrant of the office of the eldership, and its actual
immediately adjoining, and commonly a little lower; l existence in the early ages of the ancient church.
ELDERS (CHRISTIAN).
805
cers.
The great body of the Protestant churches, indeed, But they contend that these presbyters or elders
when they had separated from the Church of Rome, ought all to be of the teaching class; that there is
and proceeded to set up distinct organizations of no ground for the distinction between teaching and
their own, were almost unanimous in adopting and ruling elders; that every church ought to be fur-
maintaining the office of ruling elder. At this day nished with three or more ministers, all equally
all the Protestant churches on the continent of Eu- authorized to preach, to administer the sacraments,
rope, both Lutheran and Calvinistic, agree with the and to bear rule. It requires little discernment to
Presbyterian churches, both in Britain and America, see that this plan is wholly impracticable; and that
in this particular point of ecclesiastical government if attempted to be carried into execution, the effect
and administration, their consistories being univer- must be, either to destroy the church, or to degrade,
sally composed of both ministers and laymen. and ultimately to prostrate the ministry. It is with
The office of the eldership is regarded by Presbyte- no small difficulty that most churches are enabled to
rians as not only useful, but absolutely essential, to the procure and support one qualified and acceptable
due discharge of discipline and rule in the Church of minister. Very few would be able to afford a suita-
God. According to the canons by which the Church ble support to two; and none but those of extraor-
of England is regulated, the exercise of discipline | dinary wealtli could think seriously of undertaking
rests with the minister, assisted by the churchwar- to sustain three or more. If, therefore, the princi-
dens, although there is confessedly no warrant in ple of a plurality of teaching elders in each church
Scripture for the existence of the latter class of offi- were deemed indispensable, and if a regular and
But instead of intrusting the responsibility, adequate training for the sacred office were also, as
as such an arrangement virtually does, to the pastor now, insisted on; and if it were, at the same time,
alone, Presbyterians allege that there is no example considered as necessary that every minister should
in Scripture of a church being intrusted to the gove receive a competent pecuniary support, the conse-
ernment of a single individual. Such a thing was quence, as is perfectly manifest, would be, that nine-
unknown in the Jewish synagogue. It was im- teen out of twenty of our churches would be utterly
known in the apostolic age. In all the primitive unable to maintain the requisite organization, and
churches we find a plurality of elders, and while must of course become extinct. Nay, the regular
some were employed in preaching and exhorting, establishment of gospel ordinances, in pastoral
others were wholly restricted to the duty of ruling churches, would be physically possible only in a very
in the church.
few great cities or wealthy neighbourhoods." The
The Congregationalists, however, while they ad- allusion in this passage is evidently to the Sande-
mit that it is neither in accordance with Scripture manians, and a few other sects, whose churches have
nor reason that the pastor should stand alone in the a plurality of teaching elders, who, instead of giving
inspection and government of the church, maintain themselves wholly to the work of the ministry, de-
that it is competent for the whole body of the vote their chief time and attention to secular pur-
church members to aid him in this important and suits.
arduous work. In reply to this, Presbyterians are It is important to bear in mind that, although for
wont to argue that the great majority of members of the purpose of preserving the distinction between
the church are altogether unqualified for rendering teaching and ruling elders, the term lay-elders is
the aid contemplated, and even though qualified, often used, the office of the eldership is, neverthe-
could scarcely be expected regularly to give their less, essentially spiritual. It is spiritual in its war-
services in this difficult and often delicate work. rant, in its nature, and in its design. Hence the
Accordingly, in Congregationalist churches it is not objection is altogether fallacious, which Dr. David-
unusual for the pastors to have a committee of the son brings forward against the office of the eldership,
most pious, intelligent, and prudent of the church- in so far as it is argued from 1 Tim. v. 17, and other
members, who consider cach case of discipline in passages in the writings of the apostles, that it
private, and prepare it for decision in the public implies that a distinction between the laity and
assembly of the church ; thus virtually admitting clergy was made in the apostolic period.” No
the necessity of a body of ruling elders.
such inference is legitimately deducible from the
Another class of objections to the office of ruling office, as it exists in Presbyterian churches, which
elders, as it exists in Presbyterian churches, is thus Dr. Davidson well knows is strictly and exclusively
noticed by Dr. Miller of America: “There are some, spiritual. In reality it implies nothing more than
however, who acknowledge that there ought to be, that in apostolic times the ordinary unofficial mem-
and must be, in every church, in order to the effi-| bership of the church was distinguished from the
cient maintenance of discipline, a plurality of elders. spiritual office-bearers. The whole arguments, in-
They confess that such a body or bench of elders deed, of this writer, who is well known to have aban-
was found in the Jewish synagogue; that a similar doned Presbyterianism for Independency, are strange-
eldership existed in the primitive church; and that ly irrelevant. He reasons, for example, thus, on
the scriptural government of a Christian congrega- | 1 Tim, v. 17, which is decidedly the strongest pas-
tion cannot be conducted to advantage without it. sage in the New Testament in favour of the ruling
806
ELDERS (CHRISTIAN).
11
66
elder: “Elder is the appropriate appellation of completely Dr. Wardlaw, in his anxiety to avoid the
bishop in other places of the New Testament. It is, inference being drawn from the verse, that it gives
therefore, agreeable to usage to understand it of countenance to the notion of two distinct classes of
bishops alone in the present text.” Unfortunately for office-bearers in the Christian church, preaching elders
this argument, it so happens that all bishops were eld- and ruling elders, has nevertheless, by the admission
ers, the word “ elders” being the more comprehensive that while all are ruling elders, there is “a still more
term, but it was not true that all elders were bishops, select description, who labour in word and doctrine,'
as it is admitted even by Dr. Davidson himself, that actually interpreted the passage precisely as the
some elders ruled while others preached.” An- staunchest Presbyterian could have wished. All the
other argument founded on the same passage of eldership rule, but some are worthy of double hon-
Scripture is thus expressed, “Stated and ordinary our, inasmuch as they add to the exercise of rule or
bishops are elsewhere said to rule.” This is admit- government in the church, an excellence superadded
ted on all hands, but in no respect does it affect the to their ruling power, that, namely, of labouring in
question whether there are not other office-bearers word and doctrine. Or to express the same idea
whose sole function it is to rule. Again, reasoning somewhat more briefly; all elders rule, but some
on the same passage, Dr. Davidson says, “ Double preach as well as rule, and therefore deserve double
honour, of which the elders who rule well are counted honour.
worthy, must mean double maintenance, as the suc- The chief duty of the office of the eldership is
ceeding context shows. But in no passage of Scrip- to rule, to exercise government and discipline in the
ture do we find the least intimation or command churcli of God. See DISCIPLINE (ECCLESIASTICAL.)
towards contributing to the temporal support of an The elder, however, is not a civil but an ecclesiastical
order of men who do not teach or preach in public. ruler, having no other than moral power, which he
Such contributions are due to pastors and bishops exercises only under the authority of Christ. This
to speaking, not to silent elders.” To which Dr. is the only claim which is put forth by the ruling
King well replies, “ This is saying and unsaying to elder of the Presbyterian church. The duties of this
perfection. Of the elders for whom double honour officer are of a twofold character, those which regard
or pay is claimed, Dr. Davidson admits that some the personal qualifications which he is bound to cul-
ruled, while others preached;' and yet he declares tivate, and those which concern the official duties
now that double honour was demanded for speaking which he is bound to discharge. His qualifications
elders only. We have Dr. Davidson's admission, are clearly laid down in the Sacred Writings. Thus,
that some elders had not aptitude for teaching, and Tit. i. 5—9, “For this cause left I thee in Crete,
were wise enough not to attempt things too high that thou shouldest set in order the things that are
for them. Were these elders, if they ruled faith-wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had
fully, to be denied compensation ? No, says Paul, appointed thee: if any be blameless, the husband of
as Dr. Davidson understands him, let those elders one wife, having faithful children, not accused of
ruling well be amply recompensed." The fact is, riot, or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as
that making the simple admission, that “ the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry,
elders ruled, while others preached,” Dr. David- not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy
son concedes the whole point in dispute. Dr. lucre; but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men,
Wardlaw, who reasons much more effectively than sober, just, holy, temperate; holding fast the faith-
the author we have now referred to, endeavours ful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able
to evade the force of the passage in Timothy, by by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince
alleging that the word “
especially” is not meant the gainsayers.” On this plain and explicit state-
to inply that two different classes of office-bearers ment it is unnecessary to enlarge. As selected to
were in the view of the apostle, but simply that there rule in the church of God, it becomes him to be an
were some who were more laborious in word and example to the brethren, "in word, in conversation,
doctrine than others, all, however, being of the same ir charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." His offi-
class— ruling elders. « On no other principle," says cial duties are of a strictly spiritual character. It
Dr. Wardlaw, “ can that adverb ' especially' have its is his duty to assist the pastor in the inspection,
legitimate signification--the signification which the guidance, and government of the special congrega-
idiomatic use of it in the original language has fixed tion to which they belong. In particular, an eller
as its appropriate import, except on the principle ought to strive in every way to promote the edifica-
that the elders who rule well,' in the beginning of tion of all classes of the people, by aiding in the re-
the verse, are the same order of office-bearers of which | ligious catechising of the young, aiding the pastor
those in the end of it, who labour in word and doc- in preparing candidates for admission to the Lord's
trine,' are a still more select description, adding to table, visiting as far as possible from house to house
the distinguishing excellence of the former, a farther among the members of the congregation, warning the
distinguishing excellence of their own—those elders, careless, instructing the ignorant, encouraging the
namely, who to eminence in ruling joined laborious- timid, endeavouring to solve the doubts of the per-
ness in teaching.” It is ivteresting to observe, how | plexed, to comfort the sick and the bereaved, and to
some
ELDERS (CHRISTIAN).
807
strengthen and build up the believer in the faith and choice was made without the previous nomination of
hope of the gospel. One very important class of the session, by the communicants at large. In some
official duties of the elders refers to the exercise of churches the session appointed electors; and in others
discipline and government, in which duties they are they acted as electors themselves. According to the
conjoined with the pastor in a recognized court of laws of the Established Church of Scotland, new
Presbyterian churches called the kirk-session, or as elders are chosen by the voice of the kirk-session.
on the Continent, the consistory. The number of The mode of election is thus stated in Hill's Insti-
elders in any congregation is entirely regulated by | tutes : “ After their election has been agreed upon,
the extent and other circumstances of the congrega- their names are read from the pulpit in a paper called
tion; two elders at least being necessary to form an edict, appointing a day, at the distance of not less
along with the minister a quorum of the kirk-ses- than ten days, for their ordination. If no member of
sion. From the First Book of Discipline, it ap- the congregation offer any objection upon that day,
pears, that in Scotland at one period there was a or if the session find the objections that are offered
change in the eldership every year. But the Second frivolous, or unsupported by evidence, the minister
Book of Discipline declares, that“eldaris anis lawfully proceeds, in the face of the congregation, to ordain
callit to the office, and having gifts of God, meit to the new elders.” In the other Presbyterian churches
exercise the same, may not leave it again." In the in Scotland, England, and Ireland, the election of
Acts of Assembly of the Established Church of elders is vested in the whole communicants. In the
Scotland, an elder is required to have attained the Reformed Dutch Church in the United States, the
age of twenty-one, to be a communicant, an inhab- elders and deacons remain only two years in office,
itant of the parish, residing therein at least six weeks and at the end of that time they retire, and others
annually, or an heritor in the parish, liable to pay are chosen in their places. But such individuals as
stipend and other parochial burdens, or the apparent have once held the office are still considered as hav-
heir of an heritor of that description in the parish. | ing a claim upon it, and hence the following article
By the act 1722, “ the General Assembly appoints appears in the Constitution of that Church : “When
the judicatories of this church to take good heed that matters of peculiar importance occur, particularly in
none be admitted to, or continued in, the office of an calling a minister, building of churches, or whatever
elder, but such as are tender and circumspect in their relates immediately to the peace and welfare of the
walk, and punctual in their attending upon ordi- whole congregation, it is usual (and it is strongly
nances, and strict in their observation of the Lord's recommended upon such occasions, always) for the
day, and in regularly keeping up the worship of God consistory to call together all those who have ever
in their families.” This Act of Assembly has been served as elders or deacons, that by their advice and
repeatedly renewed and pressed upon presbyteries, council they may assist the members of the consis-
but has been too often practically disregarded. tory. These when assembled constitute what is called
The duties of the elder in the Presbyterian church the 'Great Consistory.' From the object or design
are by no means limited to the single congregation of their assembling, the respective powers of each
of which he has been appointed one of the rulers. are easily ascertained. Those who are out of office,
It is his duty, as often as the laws and constitution of have only an advisory or counselling voice; and, as
the church require, to take his seat in the higher they are not actual members of the board or corpo-
judicatories, and there to take his share in the deli- ration, cannot have a decisive vote.
a After obtaining
berations and decisions of the court, striving in all their advice, it rests with the members of the consis-
things to act for the glory of God, and the best in- tory to follow the counsel given them or not as they
terests of Christ's church and people. Every Pres- shall judge proper."
bytery, Synod, and General Assembly of Presbyte- In almost all the Protestant churches on the Conti-
rian churches, is composed of both ministers and nent of Europe, both Lutheran and Reformed, the civil
elders. Each congregation is represented by one government either directly or indirectly exercises an
ruling elder, in all meetings of the presbytery and influence in the election of elders. The consequence
synod. The General Assembly consists of ministers is, that the number of ruling elders in their church
and elders representing the different presbyteries of judicatories is frequently restricted, and the State, as
the church, in such proportions as the church ap- | in the Dutch Reformed Church, has a representative
points. In these several judicatories the ruling elder at every meeting of Synod to watch over their de-
in all respects on an equal footing with the pastor. liberations. The elders are chosen from the male
Some difference of opinion has existed among communicants in all Protestant churches, with the
Presbyterians as to the parties in whom the right of exception of the Moravians and the Society of
electing elders ought to be vested. In the infancy
In the infancy | Friends, whose system of church order admits of
of the Reformed church in Scotland, the mode of female elders. The usual mode of ordination in the
electing elders was by no means uniform. In some case of elders and deacons is simply by prayer,
churches the existing session nominated a certain though no satisfactory reason can be given why they
number of eligible persons, out of whom the church should not, like pastors, be ordained by the imposi-
members made their choice. In other churches the tion of hands as well as prayer.
808
ELEATICS—ELEPHANT-WORSHIP.
ELEATICS, a sect of ancient Greek philosophers, ELEPHANT: WORSHIP. This animal, remark-
who derived their name from Elea in Magna Græcia, able for its sagacity and bodily strength, has for ages
where Xenophanes, the founder of the school, first been held in high veneration in various Oriental na-
taught its peculiar doctrines, somewhere about the tions. Among the Hindus, Ganesa, the son of
middle of the sixth century before Christ. The Shiva and Parvati,
Shiva and Parvati, is represented with the head of
three principal representatives of the Eleatic sect an elephant to indicate his wisdom, and indeed this
were Xenophanes, Parmenides, and Zeno; and the animal is usually regarded by that people as the
result of their researches was the development of a symbol of Divine wisdom. In some of the ancient
system of absolute Pantheism. The infinite all-pro- ruins of temples in India is seen the figure of a lion
ducing One of Pythagoras, became in the philosophy throwing down an elephant, denoting, as Rougemont
of the school of Elea the one sole Being, eternal, in-explains it in his · Le Peuple Primitif,' God in his just
finite, immutable. Xenophanes, the originator of wrath destroying the wise laws which are the foundation
the sect, believed in the existence of finite beings, of the world, and by his power consuming the earth.
who were simply modifications of the one infinite In the Hindu cosmography, upon a serpent rests a
Being, but his disciple and successor Parinenides de- tortoise which in turn carries four or eight elephants,
nied the reality even of these modifications, and on whose back the universe is supported. This myth
taught that nothing existed but pure and absolute is supposed to signify that the world is founded upon
unity. Zeno, adopting this Pantheistic doctrine of the Eternal symbolized by the serpent, that all its laws
Parmenides, attempted to defend it against all objec- are characterized by divine harmony, represented by
tions by showing that ideas derived from the general | the tortoise, and that it is maintained in all its parts
idea of the finite are contradictory, and that we are by the intelligence of an all-powerful being, indicated
shut up therefore to the belief of one, sole infinite by the elephants. In another Brahmanical myth
Being, who contains all within himself, or rather is the elephant seems to have a different symbolical
all that exists. This was a decided step in the pro- meaning. From the sacred mountain of Meru a
gress of error beyond the school of Pythagoras, celestial river is said to descend, which, after having
which preceded the Eleatic school. The infinite
The infinite | flowed around the city of Brahma, discharges its
Being had been believed to be a producer of all things waters into a lake called Mansarovara. Four rivers
by emanation from hiinself, but the existence of these issue from it by four rocks, pierced with an opening
emanations was now alleged to be impossible and resernbling the mouth of an animal. The four ani-
contradictory. The world was demonstrated to be mals thus represented are the cow or the earth, from
as complete an illusion as the Maya of the Ilindus. which the Ganges flows; the elephant, another Hin-
The argument of Zeno against the existence of a du symbol of the earth, which vomits forth the
multitude of things may be stated thus. There is Hoangho; the horse or the water, which is the source
but one being existing who is necessarily indivisible of the Oxus; and, finally, the tiger, the emblem of
and infinite. To suppose that The One is divisible, evil, whence the Yenisei flows towards its frozen
is to suppose it finite. If divisible, it must be infi- deserts. This Brahmanic myth of Meru forms a
nitely divisible. But suppose two things to exist, part of the Budhist legends which have become the
then there must necessarily be an interval between religion of a great part of the Chinese.
those two, something separating and limiting them. Not only, however, does the elephant occupy a
What is that something? It is some other thing. conspicuous place in Oriental legends; the living
But then if not the same thing, it also must be sera- animal is held in great veneration in some parts of
rated and limited; and so on ad infinitum. Thus the East, particularly in the kingdom of Siam, where
only One thing can exist as the substratum for all the white elephant is reckoned an indispensable part
manifold appearances. By such a train of reasoning of the regalia of sovereignty. The lower orders
did this Pantheistic school reduce the whole uni- perform the shiko, or obeisance of submission to the
verse to an unmeaning shadow, the One infinite Be- white elephant. The establishment of this venerated
ing alone possessing real existence. See PAN- | animal, as we learn from Mr. Crawfurd, is very
large ; he has his Wun or minister; his Wun-dauk
ELECTI. See COMPETENTES.
or deputy to that office; his Sarégyi or secretary,
ELECTI, a name sometimes applied to Christians with a considerable endowment of land for his
in the early ages of the Christian church.
maintenance. Formerly one of the finest districts
ELEMENTS. See LORD'S SUPPER.
of the kingdom was the estate of the white elephant.
ELENCHUS, an ancient Roman deity, who is Mr. Crawfurd, who was ambassador from Britain
supposed to have presided over liberty and truth. to the court of Siam, makes the following remarks
He is mentioned in Menander's Comedies,
on the white elephants : “The rareness of the white
ELEOS, the god of pity and compassion among elephant is, no doubt, the origin of the consideration
the ancient Greeks. There was an altar reared to in which it is held. The countries in which it is
his worship in the market-place of Athens. Pausa- | found, and in which, indeed, the elephant in general
nias says, that the Athenians alone of all the Greeks exists in greatest perfection, and is most regarded,
worshipped this deity.
are those in which the worship of Buddh and the
}
TIIEISTS.
ELEUSINA-ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES.
809
doctrine of the metempsychosis prevail. It was phone; in both of them Dionysus also occupied a
natural, therefore, to imagine that the body of so conspicuous place, but especially in the lesser. And
rare an object as the white elephant must be the it is plain that an affinity was recognized as existing
temporary habitation of the soul of some mighty between these three divinities among the Romans at
personage in its progress to perfection. This is least, for they had a temple in common at Rome
the current belief, and accordingly every white near the circus maximus. The lesser mysteries were
elephant has the rank and title of a king, with an celebrated at Agræ in Attica, a place on the Ilissus.
appropriate name expressing this dignity-such as In preparation for the festival a season of fasting
the 'pure king,' the 'wonderful king,' and so forth. was observed, and it was closed by a series of
One of the Jesuits, writing upon this subject, in- purifications in the Ilissus, which were superintended
forms us with some naïveté, that his majesty of by a priest called Hydranos, assisted by a torch-
Siam does not ride the white elephant, because he, bearer or Daduchus. As an essential part of the
the white elephant, is as great a king as himself ! festival, it was customary to sacrifice a sow, or
Eac of those which we saw had a separate sta- a bull, or both, and after the performance of the lus-
ble, and no less than ten keepers to wait upon it. tral ceremonies in the river, a candidate for initiation
The tusks of the males, for there were some of both into the mysteries was required to place his feet upon
sexes, were ornamented with gold rings. On the the skins of the victims which had been sacrificed,
head they had all a gold chain net, and on the back and in this position an oath was administered to him
a small embroidered velvet cushion."
by the Mystagogue, binding him to preserve invio-
When Sir John Bowring visited the court of Siam lable secrecy on all subjects connected with the mys-
in 1855, he was presented with a lock of the sacred teries. The novice then pronounced the sacred for-
hair of the white elephant. The Siamese indeed mula, which De Sacy thinks was the watchword of
regard all animals of a white colour as invested with the mystä or initiated. It was couched in these
peculiar sanctity. If a Talapoin or a Bonze meets a terms, “ I have drunk the kukēon ; I have taken the
white cock, he salutes him-an honour which he will goblet from the shrine, and according to custom
not pay to a prince. The white monkey also is held put it into the flask, and thence back again into the
in special reverence, though yielding precedence to shrine." During all these solemnities the candidates
the elephant. “ The monkey is a man,” say the for initiation were not allowed to enter the temple
Siamese, “not very handsome to be sure, but not less of Demeter, but remained in the vestibule. Some
a brother.” Extravagant honours are paid to the time elapsed before they could be admitted to the
white elephant. He is supposed to be the incarna- | greater mysteries, when instead of Mystoe they were
tion of some future Budha. He takes rank imme- called Epopto and Ephyri. There appear to have
diately after princes of the blood, and a tuft of his been five degrees of rank among the initiated, of
hair was one of the choicest presents lately made by which the two first were limited to purifications; the
the King of Siam to her majesty Queen Victoria. third to the preparatory ceremonies ; the fourth ad-
ELEUSINA, a surname of DEMETER (which see), mitted into the lesser mysteries, and conferred tl.e
and also of PERSEPHONE (which see), derived from title of Mystæ; and the fifth gave admission to the
Eleusis in Attica, where these divinities were chiefly greater mysteries, and conferred the title of Epoptæ.
worshipped, and where one of the greatest festivals The ancients held all mysteries, but especially the
of ancient Greece was celebrated. See next article. Eleusinian, in the highest estimation. Isocrates
ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES, one of the most speaks of Demeter as having introduced the myste-
celebrated festivals observed by the ancient Greeks. | ries, “which,” says he, "fill the souls of those who
The name was derived from Eleusis, a town of participate in them with the sweetest hopes, both as
Attica, where the mysteries were first introduced to this and the future world.” Hence it was a com-
in honour of Demeter, and her daughter Perse- mon proverbial saying, that in the mysteries no one
phone. Considerable difference of opinion exists is sad. Different opinions have been entertained as
among the learned as to the origin of these noted to the time which was allowed to pass before those
mysteries, but it is generally believed that they were initiated in the lesser mysteries could be admitted
instituted by Erechthonius, and remodelled by Eu- into the greater. Plutarch says it was a year, and
molpus, the king of Thrace, about fourteen centuries | Scaliger allegeś five years. The greater mysteries
before the birth of Christ. They were divided into of Eleusis commenced on the fifteenth day of the
the greater and the lesser mysteries; the former Greek month Böedromion. They were celebrated
were observed, some authors say, annually, others both at Athens and Eleusis, and lasted during nine
every five years in autumn, and the latter in early days. The ceremonies of each of these days are
spring, the interval between the two being at least thus described by Mr. Gross: “On the first day of
six months. Both the autumnal and vernal myste- the festival, the initiates of the lesser mysteries as-
ries appear to have had a reference to the various sembled and took the necessary measures for their
processes of agriculture as practised at these two admission into the greater: it was the day of prepa-
different seasons of the year. The greater mysteries ration. The second day borrowed its name from the
were dedicated to Demeter, and the lesser to Perse- hortatory phrase Alade Mystai—to the sea, ye ini-
I.
30
810
ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES.
tiated; for on this day the initiated or Mystai | jocosity and alternate play of wit was denominated
marched in procession to the Saronic gulf, or at least Gephurismos—the teazing at the bridge.
to one of its inlets. On account of its saline proper- "The eighth day bore the appellation of Epidau-
ties, sea-water was deemed among the ancients to ria; which appears to have been sacred to Æscula-
be especially efficacious in the cure of physical mala- | pius, the god of medicine and the symbol of the.
dies, and the washing and bathing in it from reli- mature autumnal harvest, and to have borrowed its
gious motives was therefore typical of moral purity. name from Epidaurus, a town in the north of Argolis,
The third day was fast-day, and it was spent in a in Peloponnesus, chiefly dedicated to the hygienic
total abstinence from all sensual enjoyments. It god, who had a famous temple there. If mythic
was observed in commemoration of the sorrow of the record can be relied upon, it once happened on this
goddess Ceres, on account of the abduction of her day that Æsculapius came too late to the festival,
daughter, fondly denominated Korē, the maiden, but and had therefore to be initiated by a posteal or
commonly known as Proserpine, by the enamoured after-consecration. From this precedent, so encour-
and inexorable Pluto. As an offering was made to aging to the dilatory, all late comers were permitted
Ceres and Proserpine during the festival, the pre- to enjoy the same unënviable privilege. In his Eleu-
sumption is that the fourth day of the celebration sinian connections with Ceres, Æsculapius is the
was dedicated to this solemnity. The fifth day was same as Erisichthon: a fact which sufficiently ac-
called the Lampadōn Hemera, the day of torches ; counts for his presence at the solemnities of the
thus distinguished because on it the initiated went goddess.
two and two in procession, each bearing a torch in “ Plēmochoē was the term which distinguished the
his hand, into the temple of Ceres at Eleusis, the ninth and last day of the Eleusinian solemnities.
Daduch, with a torch the size of which corresponded It owed its distinctive appellation to a tureen or flat-
to his superior dignity, leading the way. The torches bottomed earthen vessel ; for on this day two vessels
were passed from hand to hand, and the smoke and answering to this description were filled with wine,
flames which issued from them were considered to when the contents of the one was poured out to-
possess a purifying virtue. Their introduction intowards the rising, and that of the other towards the
the mysteries is ascribed by mythology to the cir- | setting sun. While the libation was offered, the
cumstance that Ceres, while perambulating the whole initiated—as it appears from Proclus on Plato-
earth in search of her lost child, illumined her weari- looked alternately towards heaven and earth, as if
some path with torchlight. Iacchus, the son and they were there recognizing and adoring the father
ward of Ceres, and one of the surnames of Bacchus, and mother of all things, pronouncing as they did so,
gave appellative distinction to the sixth and most the words Uie Tolcuie."
solemn day of the festival. On this emphatically The most impressive ceremony of the whole festi-
jubilant day, young Iacchus, thus named from iachein val season was the Epopteia, which was said to have
—the same as clamare in Latin, in allusion to the taken place at midnight of the sixth day of the fes-
shouts which the votaries of Bacchus raised at the tival. It was performed in the vestibule of the tem-
festival of their god, being crowned with a myrtle-ple of Demeter, all the uninitiated being commanded
wreath, was carried from the Ceramicus, a public to withdraw. The initiated commenced by again
walk at Athens, to Eleusis. The initiated, likewise taking the oath which they had already taken in the
crowned with myrtle and displaying the usual Bac- lesser mysteries, and repeating the sacred formula,
chus symbols the thyrsus, ivy leaves, etc., followed after which they clothed themselves in a new dress,
the youthful deity in solemn procession. The fre- over which they threw a fawn skin. Thus equipped,
quent exclamations of Iacchus, or rather Iacchos, they were saluted with the words, “May you be
and the chanting of pæans, still farther distinguished happy,” “May the good demon attend you.” At
this procession from that of the torches, at once so this point in the ceremony, the assembly was sud-
stately and so taciturn. Iacchus had a temple at denly enveloped in darkness, lightning flashed, thun-
Athens, which bore his name, and was called Iac- der rolled, and unearthly noises resounded through
cheion; he was worshipped as the mediator between the apartment, while monstrous forms appeared on
Ceres and her votaries, and hence his frequent invo- | all sides, filling the mystä with horror and conster-
cation by the initiated on this occasion. On the nation. This scene of darkness and confusion has
seventh day the initiated returned to Athens by the been supposed to symbolize the chaotic state of
sacred road, a distance of ten miles, stopping at va- primitive matter before the work of creation intro-
rious places rendered sacred by tradition, or signifi- duced order and beauty into this lower world.
cant from their connection with religion; as, at the The scene now suddenly changed, and the Mystæ,
site where the first fig-tree grew, and hence called led by the Hierophant or Mystagogus, were ad-
the holy fig-tree; at the bridge which spanned the mitted into the inner temple or sanctuary of Deme-
river Cephissus, etc. At the latter place they were ter, which was most brilliantly, lighted up for the
met by many of the people of the neighbourhood, occasion, and where stood the statue of the goddess
when both parties indulged towards each other in splendidly adorned. Here the initiated was dazzled
good-humoured jests and railleries, and this mutual with the brightness of the light which shone every-
ELEUTHEREUS-ELIAS.
811
where around him, and his ears were saluted with stituted after the battle of Platææ, in honour of Zeus
the sweetest and most harmonious sounds; a myrtle | Eleutheros or the Deliverer. It was celebrated an-
crown was placed upon his head, and under the nually, when delegates assembled at Platææ from all
magical influence of what was termed a state of Autop- | parts of Greece, to offer sacrifices in grateful remem-
sia, he beheld the fairest and most enchanting scenes, brance of the deliverance of their country from the
while a thrill of indescribable enjoyment passed power of barbarians. Every fifth year games were
through his soul—the foretaste of future and eternal celebrated, and the successful competitors were
bliss. In the midst of this delirious ecstasy, the crowned with chaplets. Plutarch gives a minute
initiated was startled by a voice exclaiming Conx account of the annual festival of Eleutheria, which
Ompax, cabalistic and unintelligible words, which existed even in his time. On the sixteenth day of the
brought the imposing ceremony to a close.
month Maimacterion, the solemnity commenced with
Besides vocal and instrumental music, the greater | a procession which marched at early dawn through
Eleusinian mysteries were also celebrated with pub- | the town, preceded by a trumpeter, who blew the
lic shows and games, which lasted for several days, signal for battle, and followed by waggons loaded
but the most noted of these spectacles was the Taurilia with branches of myrtle and chaplets of flowers.
or bull-fights, with which the whole festival termi. After these came a black bull and a number of youths
nated. In no way could the Athenians more signi- | carrying libations for the dead. In the rear of the
ficantly express their obligations to the goddess who whole procession walked the archon or chief ma-
taught them the art of agriculture, than by sacrificing gistrate of Platææ, dressed in a purple robe, with a
to her bulls, and making libations of the blood of sword in his hand, and bearing an um, which was
these animals, which were so eminently useful to kept specially for the occasion. When the proces-
every tiller of the ground.
sion reached the spot where lay buried the brave
From the date of their initiation the mysta were Greeks who had fallen at the battle of Platææ, the
under the strongest vows of secrecy, and the gar- archon first washed and anointed the tombstones of
ment they had worn upon the occasion of their first the dead, after which he sacrificed the black bull,
admission to the mysteries was not to be laid aside offered up prayers to Zeus Eleuthereus and Hermes
as long as its fragments would hang together, and the Chthonius, and invited the buried warriors to par-
shreds of it were to be dedicated at some shrine as a take of a feast which had been prepared for them.
memorial of their due performance of the mysteries of ELEUTHERIA, an ancient festival celebrated at
Demeter or Ceres. The privilege of initiation was Samos in honour of Eros (which see).
eagerly coveted, as ensuring greater happiness on ELEVATION OF THE HOST. See HOST.
earth, and a higher place among the blessed in a ELIAS, or ELIJAH. The Mohammedan writers
future life. So great was the respect, indeed, in allege that this illustrious Hebrew prophet is the
which the mysteries were held, that it was considered destined precursor of the Messiah, and will announce
no small cause of reproach against Socrates, that he the second advent of Jesus to judge both the quick
had neglected endeavouring to obtain his initiation. and the dead. The modern Jews have the same be-
The Eleusinian mysteries retained such a firm hold | lief in regard to Elijah, and, accordingly, in the con-
of the minds of the Greeks, that they survived all cluding service for the Sabbath, one of their prayer-
the changes which befell their country, and continued books has a poem commencing with the following
till the reign of the elder Theodosius. De Sacy | passage : “O may Elijah, the prophet, come to us
thinks that Egypt was the cradle of these secret speedily, with Messiah, the son of David. He was
rites, and that they were intended to symbolize the the man who was zealous for the name of God; to
principal operations of nature. Thirlwall, however, whom tidings of peace were delivered by the hand
in his · History of Greece,' represents them as “the of Jekuthiel; he was the man who drew near, and
remains of a worship which preceded the rise of the made expiation for the children of Israel. He was
Hellenic mythology and its attendant rites, grounded the man whose eyes saw twelve generations; who
on a view of nature less fanciful, more earnest, and was known and called an hairy man, girt with a girdle
better fitted to awaken both philosophical thought of leather about his loins; Elijah the prophet." He
and religious feeling. What secrets were revealed is believed also to be frequently employed in mis-
to the initiated in the greater mysteries, it is impos- sions of peace and happiness to men. Hence the
sible to do more than conjecture. But it is more same poem, from which we have just quoted, says,
likely that they were of a moral than a physical “Happy is he who hath seen him in dreams; happy
character, and, indeed, the ancients generally seemed | is he who saluted him with peace, and to whom he
to entertain the idea, that the main secret commu-
returned the salutation of peace.” Elijah is sup-
nicated was the assurance of a future state of happi- | posed by the Jews to be present on every occasion
ness beyond death and the grave.
on which the rite of CircuMCISION (which see) is
ELEUTHEREUS (Gr. eleutheros, free), a sur- performed. Mr. Allen, in his 'Modern Judaism,'
name of Dionysus or Bacchus, and also of Zeus or thus states the belief of the Jews on this point:
Jupiter. It corresponds to the Latin name Liber. “ The Jews suppose that the prophet Elijah enters
ELEUTHERIA, an ancient Grecian festival in the room with the infant, and sits in the vacant chair,
812
ELICIUS-ELLOTIA.
or in the vacant seat of the double chair, to observe | Elion produced by his wife Berouth, the heaven and
whether the covenant of circumcision be duly admin- the earth-a legend which approaches very near to
istered. Hence this other seat is called the seat of the Scriptural statement, that “God created (Heb.
Elias. They say that on a certain occasion, when bara) the heaven and the earth.”
circumcision was interdicted to the Israelites, Elijah ELIONIA. See EILEITHYIA.
was so grieved in his mind, that he determined to ELIVAGAR, celebrated rivers which occupy a
end his life in a cave :that when God asked him, conspicuous place in the cosmogony of the ancient
What dost thou here, Elijah ? He answered, I have Scandinavians. They are thus noticed in the Prose
been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the Edda: «Tell me," said Gangler, “what was the state
children of Israel have forsaken thy, covenant, mean- of things ere the races mingled, and nations came
ing the covenant of circumcision :-upon which they into being."
add, God immediately promised the prophet, that he “ When the rivers that are called Elivagar had
should always, in future, be present at that cere- flowed far from their sources," replied Har, “ the
mony, that the children of Israel might never more venom which they rolled along hardened, as does
forsake this covenant, but thenceforth might duly dross that runs from a furnace, and became ice.
and rightly administer it. When they prepare the When the rivers flowed no longer, and the ice stood
seat for Elijah, they are required to say with a loud still, the vapour arising from the venom gathered
· voice, and in express words, This is the seat of the over it, and froze to rime, and in this manner were
prophet Elijah. Unless this be expressly declared, formed, in Ginnungagap, many layers of congealed
they say, he comes not to the circumcision, as not vapour, piled one over the other.”
having been invited :-and this loudness of voice “That part of Ginnungagap," added Jafnhar,
they believe to be necessary on account of his dull- 66 that lies towards the north was thus filled with
ness of hearing, which is the consequence of his ex- heavy masses of gelid vapour and ice, whilst every-
treme old age. That he may wait with patience to where within were whirlwinds and fleeting mists.
the end of the circumcision, his chair is not removed But the southern part of Ginnungagap was lighted
from its place for three days." Abarbinel, the by the sparks and fakes that flew into it from Mus-
Jewish writer, alleges that Elijah was translated, pellheim.”
both body and soul, into heaven, that he might be “ Thus," continued Thridi," whilst freezing cold
ready to return to earth frequently on messages of and gathering gloom proceeded from Niflheim, that
kindness, and that he ascended in a fiery chariot part of Ginnungagap looking towards Muspellheim
that his moisture might be dried up, and his body was filled with glowing radiancy, the intervening
thus rendered light and swift to pass readily and ra- space remaining calm and light as wind-still air.
pidly to all parts of the earth. The Greek church And when the heated blast met the gelid vapour it
observes a festival in commemoration of the prophet melted it into drops, and, by the might of him who
Elias on the 20th July.. The Mingrelians sacrifice sent the heat, these drops quickened into life, and
goats in honour of this prophet, whose favour they took a human semblance. The being thus formed
invoke in order to obtain a plentiful harvest. was named Ymir, but the Frost-giants call him Or-
ELICIUS, a surname of Jupiter at Rome, under gelmir. From him descend the race of the Frost-
which Numa erected an altar to him on the Aven- giants (Hrimthursar), as it is said in the Völuspá,
tine hill, and was also said to have instituted secret From Vidolf come all witches; from Vilmeith all
rites to be observed in his honour. This name is wizards ; from Svarthöfdi all poison-seethers; and
supposed to be derived from Lat. elicio, to entice or all giants from Ymir.' And the giant Vathrúdnir,
invite, because the ancient Romans were accustomed when Gangrad asked, "Whence came Orgelmir the
on particular occasions to invite Jupiter Elicius to first of the sons of giants;' answered, “The Elivagar
send down lightning from heaven. Some modern cast out drops of venom that quickened into a giant.
writers have even deduced from this the conclusion From him spring all our race, and hence are we so
that the Romans were acquainted with the art of strong and mighty This symbolical representa-
conducting lightning, which has been found so useful tion may perhaps be designed to indicate that heat
in nodern times.
is the active, and cold the passive principle of gen-
ELION (Heb. the Most High), a name given to eration.
God by Melchizedek, Gen. xiv. 18, 19, 20, showing ELLERIANS, a sect mentioned only by the Abbé
that at that period the knowledge of the true God, Gregoire, in his ' Histoire des Sectes Religieuses,
though it had been lost throughout a great part of and represented by him as deriving its name from
the then known world, still lingered here and there. one Eller of Ronsdorff, its founder. This person,
Though the religion of the Phoenicians had become who died in 1750, asserted that God dwelt in him,
a nature-religion, or deification of nature, we learn and had commissioned him to form a new church.
from a fragment of Sanchoniathon preserved by Eu- Hence he was called the father of Sion, and his wife
sebius, that Elion was the name of one of their prin- the mother. He is charged with being ambitious
cipal divinities, and, in describing one of their sys- and luxurious.
tems of cosmogony, he represents it as teaching that ELLOTIA, an ancient Grecian festival. It was
ELOHIM-ELVES.
813
celebrated at Corinth in honour of Athena. A festi- and the terrestrial or black elves. The former were
val bearing the same name was celebrated at Crete. believed to be of a friendly disposition towards men,
ELOHIM, one of the Hebrew names applied fre- the latter the reverse. The prose Edda alleges the
quently in Scripture to GOD (which see). This is a white elves to be whiter than the sun, the black to
very remarkable word, occurring most frequently in be darker than pitch. Mr. Keightley, in his · Fairy
the plural, and yet usually connected with a singular Mythology,' thus describes the elves : “The Alfar
verb. An argument has been often drawn from this still live in the memory and traditions of the pea-
peculiarity, in favour of a plurality of persons in the santry of Scandinavia. They also, to a certain ex-
Godhead, but many theologians object to the use of tent, retain their distinction into white and black.
such an argument, on the ground that a similar He- The former, or the good elves, dwell in the air, dance
brew idiom is met with in various passages of Scrip- on the grass, or sit in the leaves of trees; the latter,
ture, for example, Exod. xxi. 4; Is. xix. 4; Mal. i. 6; or evil elves, are regarded as an underground people,
Ps. lviii. 11, where it is used in respect to words de- who frequently inflict sickness or injury on mankind;
noting rank, authority, eminence, and majesty. In for which there is a particular kind of doctors, called
such cases the plural is supposed to be employed to Kloka, to be met in all parts of the country.
give intensity and force to the word. The term - The Elves are believed to have their kings, to
Elohim sometimes denotes angels, as in Ps. viii. 5, celebrate their weddings and banquets, just the same
and at other times it signifies magistrates or persons as the dwellers above ground. There is an interest-
in authority, as in Exod. xxi. 6, where, in our ver- ing intermediate class of them in popular tradition,
sion, it is rendered “judges." This name of God called the Hill-people (Högfolk), who are believed
differs essentially from the incommunicable name to dwell in caves and small hills: when they show
JEHOVAH (which - see), the latter implying self-ex- themselves they have a handsome human form. The
istence, and denoting God therefore in his essential common people seem to connect with them a deep
being, while the former seems to mean God as the feeling of melancholy, as if bewailing a half-quenched
All-powerful Being, and used therefore in such acts hope of redemption. .
of the Divinity--for example, the act of creation- “ There are only a few old persons who now can
as imply the exercise of power. The author of the tell any thing more about them than of the sweet
article “God” in Dr. Kitto’s Bible Cyclopedia, takes singing that may occasionally on summer nights be
a different view of the matter, and alleges the word heard out of their hills, when one stands still and
Elohim to be the abstract word for God considered listens, or, as it is expressed in the ballads, lays his
apart from his attributes, being a general term like ear to the Elve-hill (lägger sitt öra till Elfvehögg):
our word Deity. This explanation of the word, but no one must be so cruel as, by the slightest word,
however, seems to be scarcely borne out by a refer- to destroy their hopes of salvation, for then the
ence to the passages of Scripture in which it occurs. sprightly music will be turned into weeping and
See JEHOVAH.
lamentation.
ELUL, the twelfth month of the Jewish civil year, "The Norwegians called the Elves, Huldrafolk,
and the sixth month of the Jewish ecclesiastical and their music, Huldraslaat: it is in the minor key,
year. It corresponds with parts of our August and and of a dull and mournful sound. The mountain-
September. During this month various festivals eers sometimes play it, and pretend they have learned
occur, for instance, the New Moon, on the first; the it by listening to the underground people among the
festival of the dedication of the walls of Jerusalem hills and rocks. There is also a tune called the
by Nehemiah on the seventh; and the festival of Elf-king's tune, which several of the good fiddlers
xylophoria or wood-offering on the twenty-first. know right well
, but never venture to play; for as
There were two fasts, also, in the course of Elul; soon as it begins, both old and young, and even in
thus, on the seventeenth a fast was kept because of animate objects, are impelled to dance, and the
the death of the spies, who brought up the evil re- player cannot stop unless he can play the air back-
port concerning the Promised Land; and on the wards, or that some one comes behind him and cuts
twenty-second, a fast in memory of the punishment the strings of his fiddle.
of the wicked, unbelieving Israelites. The twenty- - The little underground elves, who are believed
ninth was the last day of the month on which the to dwell under the houses of mankind, are described
Jews reckoned up the beasts that had been born, the as sportive and mischievous, and as imitating all the
tithe of which belonged to God. The beasts were actions of men. They are said to love cleanliness
counted on this day, because the first day of the about the house and place, and to reward such ser-
month 'Tisri was a festival, and therefore, a flock vants as are neat and cleanly.
could not be tithed on that day.
“The Elves are extremely fond of dancing in the
ELVES, spirits of various kinds, in the mytho- meadows, where they form those circles of a livelier
logy of the ancient Scandinavians, to whom they green which from them are called Elfdans (Elfdance):
ascribed in general the same nature and properties when the country people see in the morning stripes
as the Greeks did to their demons. They were along the dewy grass in the woods and meadows,
divided into two classes, the celestial or white elves, they say the Elves have been dancing there. If any
814
ELYSIUM.
one should at midnight get within their circle, they the yellow-haired Rhadamanthus exercised supreme
become visible to him, and they may then illude him. authority, and the inhabitants were gifted with im-
It is not every one that can see the Elves; and one mortal felicity. “No snows,” says the poet, “are
person may see them dancing, while another perceives there, no driving showers, and no stormy winter;
nothing. Sunday children, as they are called, i. e., but soft gales perpetually blowing from the ocean,
those born on Sunday, are remarkable for possessing cool and purify the air, and refresh the land.” Ho-
this property of seeing Elves and similar beings. mer speaks of the happiness of Elysium only briefly
The Elves, however, have the power to bestow this and feebly, but he expatiates at length upon the tor-
gift on whomsoever they please. They also used to ments which await the wicked in Tartarus. It is to
speak of Elf-books, which they gave to those whom Virgil that we are indebted for a fuller description
they loved, and which enabled them to foretell future of the Elysian fields. He paints in the most glowing
events.
colours the gorgeous scenery of that land of beauty
" The Elves often sit on little stones that are of a and of bliss. All that is fitted to please the imagi-
circular form, and are called Elf-mills (Elf-quarnor); nation, to regale the senses, or to gratify the desires
the sound of their voice is said to be sweet and soft, of the most voluptuous and sensual is concentred
like the air.
there. Unlike the heaven of the Christian, it has
“The Danish peasantry give the following ac- no delights save those to which men are wont to be
count of their Ellefolk or Elve-people:
attached on earth, no employments save those in
“The Elle-people live in the Elle-moors. The which the worldly habitually engage. Shadowy
appearance of the man is that of an old man, with a horses, chariots and arms are provided for the war-
low-crowned hat on his head: the Elle-woman is riors who have fallen in defence of their country.
young, and of a fair and attractive countenance, but Wrestling, music, dancing, feasting, revelry, make
behind she is hollow like a dough-trough. Young up the chief pleasures of the inhabitants of these
men should be especially on their guard against her, celestial regions of the poets of antiquity. But what
for it is very difficult to resist her; and she has, is the precise locality of Elysium ? “The ancients,"
moreover, a stringed instrument, which, when she says Mr. Gross: “The ancients were far from being
plays on it, quite ravishes their hearts. The man unanimous as to the precise locality of the Elysian
may be often seen near the Elle-moors, bathing him- fields. Some taught that they were to be sought
self in the sunbeams; but if any one comes too near
near the African coast, in the Atlantic ocean, among
him, he opens his mouth wide and breathes upon a cluster of islands which they designated as the
them, and his breath produces sickness and pesti- Fortunate; others placed them in the island of
lence. But the women are most frequently to be Leuce, in the Euxine sea; and Virgil, as a good
seen by moonshine; then they dance their rounds in Roman, hesitated not to point out Italy as the fittest
the high grass so lightly and so gracefully, that they country that could overlie so felicitous a spot. The
seldom meet a denial when they offer their hand to poet Lucian assigned to them a situation near the
a rash young man. It is also necessary to watch moon, but Plutarch, more orthodox as well as true
cattle, that they may not graze in any place where to prescription, was content to find his paradise in
the Elle-people have been; for if any animal come the centre of the earth. In one thing, however, all
to a place where the Elle-people have spit, or done agreed, that it was a most enchanting region, with
what is worse, it is attacked by some grievous dis- bowers for ever green, delightful meadows, and plea-
ease, which can only be cured by giving it to eat a sant streams; with a balmy air, a serene sky, and a
handfull of St. John's wort, which had been pulled salubrious climate; with birds continually warbling
at twelve o'clock on St. John's night. It might also in the groves, and a heaven illustrated by a more
happen that they might sustain some injury by mix- glorious sun and brighter stars than the similar orbs
ing with the Elle-people's cattle, which are very which illumine the path of mortals."
large, and of a blue colour, and which may sometimes Virgil has mingled with his details of Elysian en-
be seen in the fields licking up the dew on which joyment, doctrines which were partly derived from
they live. But the farmer has an easy remedy the schools of Pythagoras and Plato. The shades
against this evil; for he has only to go to the Elle- are unearthly forms with earthly organs and appe-
hill when he is turning out his cattle, and to say, tites, displaying the same character, and under the
"Thou little Trold! may I graze my cows on thy influence of the same affections, which had governed
hill?' And if he is not prohibited, he may set his them on earth. Though admitted to the joys of
mind at rest."
Elysium, it is only for a time. When a thousand
ELYSIUM, the future abode of the blessed, ac- years have passed away, the inhabitants of these
cording to the mythology of the ancient poets of delightful regions, Virgil informs us, will be con-
Greece and Rome. Homer has only once used the ducted to the stream of Lethe, and having drank of
term Elysium. In the fourth book of the Odyssey, | the oblivious river, they shall return to earth to com-
Menelaus is told by Proteus that he was not destined mence a long series of successive transmigrations
to finish his days at Argos, for the gods should send through various forms of corporeal being.
Such
him to Elysium, at the extremity of the earth, where | the Elysiurn of the ancient heathen, as described by
EMANATIONS (DOCTRINE OF).
815
the great Roman poet, and so completely does that ble, sunk in the abyss or dark night, equivalent to
master of language and of imagery exhaust the sub- the Brahm of Hindu mythology. The emanations
ject, that it is unnecessary to occupy further space which compose the superior world are the Æons
by noticing the Elysium of Pindar, of Claudian, or of (which see), the manifestations of the Divine attri.
Catullus. Bochart and others are of opinion that butes, and which, along with the Infinite Being him-
the fable of Elysium is of Phoenician extraction. self, constitute the Pleroma, the plenitude of intelli-
EMANATIONS (DOCTRINE OF). This princi- | gences. This inferior world is the last link in the
ple, which is found in several both of the Oriental chain of emanations. The Demiurgus is the last
and Occidental systems of philosophy, implies that emanation of the Pleroma, and the first power of the
all things, instead of being created by the power of inferior world, thus forming the connecting link be-
God, are an emanation from, or a development of, tween the two worlds.
the Divine essence. The whole universe in this The Gnostic sects derived many of their doctrines,
view exists originally in God, and emanates from and among others that of emanations, from the school
God. There is one infinite eternal substance from of the Neo-Platonists. But the grand error into
which flows that collective whole of phenomena which these heretics in religion fell was that of subor-
called the universe. In the various systems of dinating their faith to their philosophy. In the writ-
Hindu philosophy, creation is accounted for by a ings of the Pseudo-Dionysius may be seen the
series of successive emanations from the Divine extent to which the philosophical doctrine of emana-
substance or essence, and as soon as this gradual tions was carried in the Eastern or Greek church.
process of creation is completed, there commences In proof of this remark, we quote from Vaughan's
an analogous system of destructive evolutions, by Hours with the Mystics,' the following abstract of
means of which the process of emanation is reversed, the views of Dionysius on this subject : “ All things
and the whole universe is once more absorbed into have emanated from God, and the end of all is re-
the Divine substance. Then begins anew the divine turn to God. Such return--deification, he calls it-
sleep of Brahm, or the total inaction of creative is the consummation of the creature, that God may
pover. Thus Hinduism is decidedly Pantheistic in finally be all in all. A process of evolutiori, a cen-
its character, viewing, as it does, all finite beings as trifugal movement in the Divine Nature, is substi-
simply forms, modifications, or emanations of the tuted in reality for creation. The antithesis of this
One Infinite Substance. In the Vedanta school, is the centripetal process, or movement of involution,
however, of Hindu philosophy, Pantheism is carried which draws all existence towards the point of the
to its utmost extent, matter being no longer an ema- Divine centre. The degree of real existence pos-
nation from, or a modification of, the Divine essence, sessed by any being is the amount of God in that
but a mere illusion, its existence being lost in that being—for God is the existence in all things. Yet
of the One Infinite Being, of whom alone existence He himself cannot be said to exist, for he is above
can be predicated. The Vedantist, then, is in reality existence. The more or less of God which the va-
a pure idealist, as well as a spiritual Pantheist. rious creatures possess is determined by the proxi-
The Egyptian philosophy, or rather the Egyptian mity of their order to the centre.
theology, viewed philosophically, appears to have " The chain of being in the upper and invisible
comprised a system of emanations, not only in so far world, through which the Divine Power diffuses itself
as the external universe is concerned, but even the in successive gradations, he calls the Celestial Hier-
celestial hierarchy, which consisted of gods innu- archy. The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy is a corre-
merable, all deriving their origin by way of emana- sponding series in the visible world. The orders of
tion from the one invisible source of light and life. Angelic natures and of priestly functionaries cor-
All the primitive divine powers are represented by respond to each other. The highest rank of the
a double emanation, Osiris and Isis, the one active, former receive illumination immediately from God.
the other passive. After these come other subordi- The lowest of the heavenly imparts divine light to
nate emanations corresponding to the great pheno- the highest of the earthly hierarchy. Each order
mena of nature. Pythagoras, and most other Greek strives perpetually to approximate to that immediate-
philosophers, believed human souls to be emana- ly above itself, from which it receives the transmitted
tions of the ether to which they returned at death. influence; so that all, as Dante describes it, draw
The founder of the Eleatic school, Xenophanes, held and are drawn, and tend in common towards the
that all finite beings were emanations from the In- centre-God."
finite Being. But the doctrine of emanations never But at no time has the doctrine of emanations been
formed a very conspicuous feature of Greek philoso- held in greater vigour than in modern times among
phy. It only presented itself in all its strength and the Sufis or Mystics of Persia. Every man is with
fulness as a fundamental principle of that combina- them an emanation from God, a particle of the Divine
tion of Oriental, Greek, and Jewish doctrines which essence. Deity is manifested in humanity, the In-
gave rise to the Gnosticism of the second and third finite in the Finite. This tenet pervades the whole
centuries after the Christian era. In all the Gnos- writings of the Sufis, both in prose and verse. Hence
tic systems, the Infinite Being is something invisi- | they look upon every human being as representing
816
EMBALMING_EMBER DAYS.
the Deity. Some of them inculcate the importance with myrrh, cinnamon, and other sorts of spices.
of endeavouring, by abstracting the soul from worldly The body was then put into salt of nitre for about
objects, and absorbing it in Divine contemplation, to forty days, at the end of which it was swathed in
aim at re-uniting ourselves to the Divine essence, fine linen bandages, glued together with a species of
from which we have sprung.
gum. The whole was now covered with the richest
EMBALMING, a process which has been follow- perfume. The process being thus completed, the
ed from very early times for the preservation of dead body was delivered to the relations entire in all the
bodies from passing into corruption. It is frequently features, and even the very hair of the eyelids pre-
referred to in Sacred Scripture. Thus in Gen. I. 2, 3, served. It has been uniformly alleged that in em-
it is stated, “ And Joseph commanded his servants balming among the Egyptians, the bowels or viscera
the physicians to embalm his father : and the phy- were removed, but this, though commonly, seems not
sicians embalmed Israel. And forty days were ful- to have been universally a part of the process, as Mr.
filled for him ; for so are fulfilled the days of those Pettigrew mentions in his account of a mummy
which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned which he lately unrolled, that he had in some in-
for him threescore and ten days. The custom of stances found the viscera embalmed, and placed
embalming seems to have prevailed in Egypt from among the bandages, and he adds, " they were within
à very remote period, as is plain from the practice the body in the greater number of mummies I have
which Herodotus notes, of cutting the bodies with an unrolled, and always in four portions.” That disem-
Ethiopian stone. Some mummies also bear the date bowelling, however, was often adopted, is plain from
of the oldest kings. The office of embalming, which the circumstance that both Herodotus and Diodorus
was handed down from father to son, belonged to a expressly mention it, and Porphyry records a prayer,
regularly organized class of men in Egypt, of whom, which he alleges was uttered by the embalmers in
according to Diodorus Siculus, the Taricheutæ were the name of the deceased, entreating the gods to re-
the most distinguished. In the time of Joseph, the ceive the soul into the region of the good, and cast-
duty was committed to physicians, and Sir J. G. Wil- ing into the river Nile the organs which he supposes
kinson thinks that the whole order were physicians. may have offended the gods, and injured the soul by
The process seems to have consisted in filling the dead eating and drinking improperly, plainly referring to
bodies with spices. It is thus briefly described by the stomach and other viscera.
Diodorus : “ They prepare the body first with cedar EMBATES. See CANTHARUS.
oil, and various other substances, more than thirty (or EMBER DAYS, a name given to certain fast-
according to another reading, forty) days; then after days observed in the Church of Rome, and some other
they have added myrrh and cinnamon, and other churches, that is, the Wednesday, Friday, and Satur-
drugs, which have not only the power of preserving day after the first Sunday in Lent; after Whitsun-
the body for a long time, but of imparting to it a day; after the 14th of September; and after the
pleasant odour, they commit it to the relatives of the 13th of December, the Sundays following these days
deceased." The practice of embalming was not being the stated times of ordination in the church,
limited to the Egyptians, but appears to have been According to some writers, ember comes from the
adopted by the Jews, Persians, Arabs, and Ethio- Greek word hemera, a day; according to others, from
pians. In the New Testament we find Nicodemus the ancient custom of eating nothing on these days
bringing spices to embalm the body of our Lord. till night, and then only a cake, baked under the
Thus John xix. 39, 40, " And there came also Nico- embers, called ember-bread. The appointment of
demus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, these days of fasting is probably not to be dated
and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an earlier than the fourth century, as stated times for
hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of ordination do not appear to have been fixed before
Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, that time. Pope Leo, who wrote about A. D. 450,
as the manner of the Jews is to bury.” As practised asserts that the Ember-days are derived from apos-
in Egypt, the work of embalming was discharged by tolical tradition, an idea which cannot be sustained,
different professional officers, each of whom had his as no author previous to Leo makes mention of any
particular department assigned to him in the pro- such fasts. They are usually called in old writers
One began by pointing out the precise man- jejunia quatuor temporum, the fasts of the four sea-
ner in which the incision was to be made in the sons, the months on which they occur, March, June,
left flank, while another acted as officiating opera- September, and December, being the beginning of
tor, and having inflicted the incision on the dead the four several seasons of the year, and in the first
body, instantly fled from the spot as if he had com- notice of them which is found in the writings of
mitted a crime. Now commenced the process of Leo, they are not referred to as fasts, with a view to
embalming, strictly so called, which was performed the ordination of the clergy, but simply as fasts in
by the hereditary caste to which we have already connection with the different seasons of the year.
referred. The parts of the body most liable to pass For several centuries, indeed, no fixed times were
settled for ordination, but persons were ordained to
washed with palm-wine, and the inside was filled all offices in the church as occasion required, without
cess.
EMBER WEEKS—ENCHANTMENTS:
817
any regard to time. When Leo spoke of the fasts med. Abubekr, the immediate successor of the
of the four seasons, therefore, he could have no re- prophet, was both Emir-al-mominin, prince of the
ference to ordinations, there being at the time wher true believers, and also Imám-al-moslimin, head of
he wrote only one season, December, on which ordi- the faithful, thus uniting in himself the authority of
nations took place in the Church of Rome. This a monarch and of a pontiff. Several sovereigns of
continued to be the practice till the time of Simpli- different races, who reigned under the authority of
cius, who in A. D. 467 added February to December, the Caliphs, were at first called Emir, a title which
as another time for ordination. Gregory VII. is in process of time was changed into that of Sultan,
supposed to have been the first who connected the while Emir came to be applied, as it still is, exclu-
fasts of the four seasons, which had long existed in sively to those who are of the race of Mohammed.
the church, with ordinations. Since that time these EMMANUEL. See IMMANUEL.
fasts have been observed with this view alone, and EMPANDA, an ancient Roman goddess, called
the original design of their appointment has been also PANDANA, from Lat. pando, to open, who had
completely lost sight of. For a long period these a temple in Rome, which was always open, and the
fasts were observed by different churches, with con- worshippers were supplied with food from the funds
siderable variety, but they were at last settled, as of the temple.
they are now observed, by the council of Placentia, EMPYREAN (Gr. en, in, and pur, fire), a name
A. D. 1095. In the Rubric of the Church of Eng- sometimes given to heaven, the more peculiar resi
land, her members are invited to solemn prayer and dence of Deity, from the burning splendour with
fasting on the Ember Days, to implore the Divine which it is supposed to be invested.
assistance and blessing in the choice and commission ENCÆNIA, anniversary festivals anciently ob-
of ministers of the gospel.
served in commemoration of the dedication of Chris-
EMBER WEEKS, those, weeks in which the tian churches. Sozomen mentions a festival of this
Ember Days (see previous article) occur.
kind which was wont to be held in memory of the
EMBLA, the first created woman in the ancient dedication of the church which Constantine built in
Scandinavian cosmogony. The account of the crea-
Jerusalem in honour of our Saviour. On that occa-
tion of the first human pair is thus related in the sion, he tells us, Divine service was performed for
Prose Edda: “One day as the sons of Bör were eight successive days. From that time, Encania
walking along the sea-beach, they found two stems continued to be kept very generally throughout dif-
of wood, out of which they shaped a man and a ferent parts of Christendom. According to Bede,
Odin infused into them life and spirit; the first Saxon bishops in England were ordered by
Vili endowed them with reason and the power of Gregory the Great to allow the people liberty on
motion; Ve gave them speech and features, hearing their annual feasts of the dedication of their churches,
and vision. The man they called Askur, and the wo- to build for themselves booths round about the
man, Embla. From these two descend the whole church, and there feast and entertain themselves with
human race, whose assigned dwelling was within eating and drinking, instead of their ancient sacri-
Midgard." The name Askur means the ash, and fices while they were heathens. Remains of these
Embla the alder, in allusion to their dendronic ori- ancient festivals are still preserved in England in the
gin, and their allotted habitation Midgard, or the church wakes or vigils, which are still kept up in
middle sphere, denotes obviously the habitable globe. | different parts of the country. The name Encænia
EMBOLUS, the side aisles of the early Christian is also given to ceremonies observed at regular in-
churches, from which the nave was entered by doors tervals, as at Oxford and Cambridge, in honour of
on the north and south. See CHURCHES.
benefactors and founders, See DEDICATION OF
EMERSONIANS. See INTUITIONISTS.
CHURCHES.
EMIR, the descendants of Mohammed, or rather ENCELADUS, one of the giants in ancient Greek
of his sister Fatima. They are usually termed Sons and Roman mythology, who made war upon the
of the Prophet, and are looked upon with great ven- gods. He is represented as having been the son of
eration by all Mohammedans. They wear a green
Tartarus and Gė, and was killed, according to Virgil,
turban as a badge of distinction, and no one is al- | by Jupiter, and buried under Mount Ætna.
lowed to beat them, or to do them any injury, under ENCHANTMENTS, a word frequently used in
pain of losing his hand. The chief Emir has guards the Old Testament, but in different significations.
and officers under him, and has the power of life and When Moses cast his rod on the ground before Pha-
death over the whole body which he rules. There is raoh, and it became a serpent, we find that “the
an officer of some distinction amongst the Emirs, magicians did so also with their enchantments."
called the Alemdar, whose office it is to carry the green The word here translated" enchantments," properly
standard of Mohammed before the Sultan on public means “burnings.” A prohibition against enchant-
ments is found in Lev. xix. 26, “ Ye shall not eat
The word Emir itself signifies commander, chief, any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use en-
or prince. It was assumed as a title by the Caliphs, chantment, nor observe times.” The word in this
who reigned in the East after the death of Moham- \ passage is in Hebrew menachesh, the precise mean-
woman.
e-
occasions.
818
ENCRATITES-ENDOVELLICUS.
He failed
ing of which it is difficult to ascertain. Some sup- thence. Assuming this, he wrote a work in which
pose it to denote those who draw omens from the he endeavoured to show how true perfection might
examination of the entrails of victims, while others be attained by the imitation of Christ.
regard it as signifying diviners in general. Those only in one respect; that he did not seize the
who follow the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, life of Christ in its completeness, and in its relation
regard the word as referring to augury from the to his mission as the Redeemer of mankind, and the
flight, feeding, chirping, and other actions of birds. author of the new creation of divine life, which was
But the root of the word menachesh seems more pro-, designed to embrace and pervade all human relations
perly to denote a serpent, so that it points rather to only in the further course of its development from
divination by serpents, the asp of the ancient Egyp- him. Paying no regard to this, he held the life of
tians being considered sacred throughout the whole celibacy and the renunciation of all worldly posses-
country, and worshipped, according to Plutarch, "on sions, after the pattern of Christ, to be the distinc-
account of a certain resemblance between it and the tive mark of Christian perfection. But to such as
operations of the Divine power." The Psylli, or mo- appealed to the life of Christ considered in this
dern serpent-charmers of Egypt, are still looked upon light, Clement of Alexandria replied, " The specific
with wonder. Minutoli, in his Travels, says, “The nature of Christ's being, as distinguished from all
people consider them as holy. At certain festivals, other men, left no room for the marriage relation.
for example, on the day before the departure of the That necessity of something to complete the human
great caravan to the Holy Kaaba, they go forth in nature, which is grounded in the mutual relation of
procession with live snakes around their necks and the sexes, found no place in him. The only analogon
arms, having their faces in contortions like an insane to the marriage state was, in his case, the relation he
person, until foam falls from the mouth. They some- bears to the church, which is bound to him as his
times also tear the serpents with their teeth. When bride. Nothing could issue from him, as the Son of
they are in this condition, the people press around God, but a spiritual posterity. The strong bias of
them, especially the women, in order, if it is pos- Tatian in this particular direction led him to under-
sible, to touch their foaming mouths with their stand the Apostle Paul, in 1 Cor. vii. 5, as teaching
hands." Maimonides regards the word menachesh as that marriage and unchastity were one and the same
denoting the art of the ancient heathen Aruspices, thing—both equally the service of Satan. It may
that of drawing omens from incidental events, such be too, that besides the canonical gospels, he made
as the chattering of crows, the unexpected appear- use of apocryphal histories, in which the image of
ance of a hare in passing along a road, and such Christ had already become modified under the in-
things. Others again consider it as pointing to fluence of theosophical-ascetic habits of contempla-
divination by lots. But amid so great diversity of tion. As the tendency to a theosophical asceticism of
opinion, it is difficult to decide what is the precise this kind, which sprung up in the East, had now be-
meaning of the word.
come widely spread, it can be no wonder that there
ENCRATITES (Gr. engkratito, abstinents), a were different kinds of these abstinents, who had no
heretical Christian sect which arose in the second special connection with Tatian, and who belonged in
century. It owed its origin to Tatian of Assyria, part to the Jewish and partly to the anti-Jewish
who, while residing at Rome as a rhetorician, was party."
converted to Christianity by the instrumentality of In following out his ascetic views, Tatian taught
Justin Martyr. Having imbibed the philosophical that it was necessary to abstain from wine and ani-
doctrines of the school of Plato, he commenced his mal food, and that water ought to be used instead of
deviation from orthodox doctrine by engrafting upon wine in the Lord's Supper. Hence they were some-
the Christian system the Platonic doctrine concern- times called Hydroparastatce or water-drinkers, and
ing matter, and from this he passed to the belief Apotactatæ or renouncers. The name Encratites
that the human soul, like every thing connected with was often used as a general term, and applied to all
matter, is by its own nature mortal, and that the sects practising austerity, so that it was not always
image of God in which man was originally created, limited to the followers of Tatian, who sometimes
and by virtue of which he became immortal, was a received the name of Tatianists. The Manicheans,
principle of divine life exalted above the nature of in the fourth century, assumed to themselves the
this soul which had been derived from matter. Hav. name of Encratites, from their abstaining from and
ing lost this living principle by sin, man became condemning marriage, a doctrine which had been
wholly subject to matter and to mortality. Irenæus previously taught by the followers of Tatian, who
says, that Tatian taught a doctrine of Æons (which would admit no married person into their society,
see) similar to that of the Valentinians. Clement whether male or female.
of Alexandria classes him with the anti-Jewish Gnos- ENDOVELLICUS, a Pagan divinity anciently
tics. His practical doctrines are thus rapidly sketched worshipped in Spain. Gruter gives twelve or thir-
by Neander ; " Tatian was aware that the system of teen inscriptions found in Spain at a place called
Christian morals must be derived from the contem- Villavitiosa, all of them referring to this deity. No-
plation of the life of Christ, and take its laws from thing is known as to the nature of this god.
ENERGICI-ENGLAND (CHURCH OF).
819
ENERGICI, one of the numerous sects which | by some Mohammedan writers that the Gospel which
arose in the sixteenth century, deriving their name | begins with Bismilab, that is, in the name of the
from the peculiar views which they held on the sub- Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, is not the
ject of the Lord's Supper, alleging that the conse- Gospel which God sent to Jesus Christ; and which
crated bread was neither the real body of Christ, nor they say begins with Bismillah, that is, in the name
a symbol of it, but simply his energy and virtue. of God, clement and merciful. The latter Gospel,
ENERGUMENS, a name given in the early Chris- which they allege is the only true one, contains pre-
tian church to demoniacs, or those who were be- cious instructions; whereas the former Gospel, or
lieved to be possessed of the devil. Various regu- that which Christians now possess, contains only a
lations were laid down by the church in regard to history of the life of Christ, written by four of his
them. They were treated as a distinct class, bear- disciples.
ing some relation both to the catechumens and the ENGLAND (CHURCH OF). The ANGLO-SAXON
faithful, but differing from both in this, that they were CHURCH (which see), as has already been mentioned,
committed to the special care of EXORCISTS (which yielded implicit submission to the see of Rome, and
see), while they were permitted to take part in some persecuted the ancient BRITISH CHURCH (which see),
of the religious exercises of the church. If cate- for resolutely maintaining its complete independence
chumens, while under probationary instruction, be.. of the Pope. The invasion of England by William of
came demoniacs, they were in no case allowed to be Normandy in A. D. 1066, was not likely to make any
baptized until they were thoroughly healed, unless material change in the relations of the English church
they were labouring under seemingly fatal sickness. to Rome, as the Norman monks themselves had
Believers who became demoniacs in the worst stages been accustomed, in their own country, to own the
of their disease, like the weeping penitents, were not supreme authority and infallibility of the Roman
permitted to enter the church, but were retained un- bishop. No sooner, however, did William seat him-
der close inspection in the outer porch. When par- self on the English throne than he commenced a
tially recovered they joined along with the AUDIEN- contest with the papacy which lasted till the Refor-
TES (which see) in public worship, but could not mation. At the instigation of the Roman pontiff,
partake of the sacrament until they were completely the English bishops were deprived of their sees, and
restored, except in the immediate prospect of death. their places were occupied with successors imported
In general the energumens were subject to the same from Normandy. Having filled their dioceses with
rules as the penitents, and Bingham thinks that bishops of his own nomination, William took upon
they ought to be ranked among the catechumens, himself the authority which the Pope had hitherto
being treated in the same manner as they were. claimed,—that of nominating directly to all vacant
Prayers were offered up for them in the public as- ecclesiastical offices, required all the priests to swear
semblies of the church, and in the Apostolical Con- obedience to him, and demanded that all the decrees
stitutions certain forms of prayer are mentioned as of synods should be countersigned by himself. This
suitable for such persons. At other times the exor- was a bold attitude for the Conqueror to assume
cists were obliged to pray over then, to keep them when the chair of St. Peter was occupied by the
employed in some harmless exercise, such as sweep haughty and unbending Hildebrand. But the Pope
ing the church, and to take care that they were re- felt that while all the other monarchs in Europe
gularly supplied with food while they resided in the bowed before him, William must not be rashly inter-
church, which was their usual place of abode. See fered with, and although he made several attempts
DEMONIANISTS.
indirectly to assert his pontifical authority over the
ENGASTRIMYTHI (Gr. en, in, gaster, belly, and English clergy, every effort of the kind was instantly
muo, to mutter), a name given to the priestesses of repelled. William forbade the clergy to recognize
Apollo
, from a species of ventriloquism which they the Pope, or to publish a single bull which issued
practised, speaking from within, while not the slight- from Rome without the royal approbation. He was
est motion of the lips could be observed. The resolved that the church, instead of ruling, should
voice was supposed to proceed from a spirit within serve the king. All church-lands, therefore, he
the body of the PYTHIA (which see).
made liable to military services, which the Anglo-
ENGIL, a word which very often occurs in the Saxon priests had been exempted from; and in
Koran, and which denotes the Gospel or the New many cases he seized upon the sacred vessels and
Testament, as distinguished from the Taourat, the
Law or the Old Testament.
The Mohammedan The reign of a line of Norman monarchs led of
doctors generally do not understand by Engil, in the course to a complete change in the customs of the
Koran, the Gospel such as Christians have in their country. The French language came extensively
hands, and which the Mohammedans look upon as into use, and the manners of the people rapidly as-
corrupted; but an imaginary gospel, which they say sumed a Continental aspect. In no department,
was sent from heaven by God to Jesus Christ, and however, was the change more obviously apparent
of which nothing remains but what is cited from it than in the ecclesiastical architecture of England.
in the Koran. A curious fancy has been entertained | Stone structures were everywhere seen rising instead
820
ENGLAND (CHURCH OF).
of the simple wooden churches of the Anglo-Saxons ; | ber of the more wealthy and powerful among the
and both the workmen and stone employed to re- clergy sought to withdraw their benefices from Epis-
build St. Paul's Cathedral A. D. 1187 were brought
edral A. D. 1187 were brought copal jurisdiction. But one dignitary of the church,
from Normandy. But the outward improvements Thomas à Becket, surpassed all his brethren in arro-
which William the Norman introduced, were of little gance and ambition. In his own person he com-
importance compared with the spirit of independence bined the two characters of an ecclesiastic and a
which was infused into the English clergy through politician, of a priest and a soldier, chancellor of
his influence. Nor was William Rufus any more England and archbishop of Canterbury. His story
submissive than his father to the Roman pontiff. is soon told. We give it in the words of D'Aubigné :
Taking advantage of the great Papal schism which “The judges having represented to Henry that dur-
took place during his reign, he refused to fill up ec- ing the first eight years of his reign a hundred mur-
clesiastical benefices as they became vacant, making ders had been committed by ecclesiastics, the king in
use of the revenues for his own purposes. The 1164 summoned a council at Clarendon, in which
archbishopric of Canterbury itself was thus left un- certain regulations or constitutions were drawn up,
filled up for several years. At length the monarch with the object of preventing the encroachments of
changing his mind, appointed to the see of Canter- the hierarchy. Becket at first refused to sign them,
bury A. D. 1093, Anselm, a firm supporter of the but at length consented, and then withdrew into
Papal see. The nomination of this remarkable man solitary retirement to mourn over his fault. Pope
led once more to the entire subjugation of the Eng- Alexander III. released him from his oath; and
lish church to the will and authority of the Pope. then began a fierce and long struggle between the
Immediately on his arrival in England, Anselm took king and the primate. Four knights of the court,
firm ground, resolved to maintain the rights of the catching up a hasty expression of their master's,
church against what he considered the unwarranted | barbarously murdered the archbishop at the foot of
encroachments of the sovereign. He commenced with the altar in his own cathedral church (A. D. 1170).
an open avowal of the supreme authority of the then The people looked upon Becket as a saint: immense
reigning Pope, Urban II., at the same time demanding crowds came to pray at his tomb, at which many
the immediate restitution of the ecclesiastical revenues miracles were worked. •Even from his grave,' said
which Williarn II. had seized. Henry I., who suc- Becket's partisans, 'he renders his testimony in be-
ceeded to the throne, yielded so far to the require- | half of the papacy.'
ments of the new primate of Canterbury, but on one “ Henry now passed from one extreme to the other.
point the monarch was inexorable—the right of in- He entered Canterbury barefooted, and prostrated
vestiture. An appeal was made to Rome, and the himself before the martyr's tomb: the bishops,
Pope decided in favour of Anselm, to the no small priests, and monks, to the number of eighty, passed
umbrage of the disappointed monarch. A reconci- before him, each bearing a scourge, and struck three
liation, however, took place, through the interposi- or five blows according to their rank on the naked
tion of Adela, the sister of Henry; when the right shoulders of the king. In former ages, so the priestly
of investiture-giving the pastoral staff and ring— fable ran, Saint Peter had scourged an archbishop of
was yielded to the church, and that of homage re- Canterbury : now Rome in sober reality scourges
tained for the temporal lord. Anselm had now ob- the back of royalty, and nothing can henceforward
tained his utmost desires, in so far as the subjection check her victorious career. A Plantagenet sur-
of the English church to Rome was concerned, and rendered England to the Pope, and the Pope gave
he proceeded accordingly to destroy every remnant him authority to subdue Ireland.'
of independence for which the clergy had been in- England was now to a large extent under the au-
debted to the two Williams. With this view he thority of Rome, and the reign of King John com-
forbade all ecclesiastics to take the feudal oath, and pleted the domination. Innocent III, having ille-
ordered them forthwith to put away their wives. | gally nominated an archbishop of Canterbury, John
The consequence of all this was, that in the close was unwilling to acknowledge the prelate, where-
of the eleventh century, the clergy of England were upon the Pope laid the kingdom under an interdict;
in high favour at the court of Rome, and the Pope, and such effect did this bold act of the Roman pon-
to show his favour to Henry, submitted to him the tiff produce upon the mind of the monarch, that he
choice of a bishop of St. David's, and at his request laid his crown at the feet of the Pope's legate, de-
nominated to the see one of the queen's chaplains. clared that he surrendered his kingdom to the papal
Amidst the confusion and disorder which King see, and made oath to him as to his lord paramount.
Stephen caused by his attempts to reduce the power These concessions to the Pope, and the great im-
of the barons, the see of Rome took advantage of portance which, during the minority of Henry III.,
the divided state of the country to seize upon sev- attached to the Pope's legate, gave to the court of
eral privileges, especially the power of deciding on Rome no small influence in England. The submis-
ecclesiastical causes. Nor were the clergy without sion, however, of the sovereign to the domination of
their own ambitious contendings at this time, for at Rome, was by no means universally participated
the commencement of the reign of Henry II. a num- by the people, an association having been formed,
ENGLAND (CHURCH OF).
821
including some of the nobility, to oppose and expel clergyman convicted of felony should be burned in
the foreign priests whom the Pope had instituted to the hand ; and, in 1513, a law was passed which
the best English benefices. But this popular move- both alarmed and enraged the ecclesiastics, benefit of
ment was unavailing, for while Cardinal Otho was clergy being taken from robbers and murderers, though
legate at Henry's court, three hundred additional
an exemption was still made for priests, deacons,
Italian monks received benefices in England between and subdeacons. The enactment of this law was re-
A. D. 1236 and A. D. 1240. In process of time the sisted by the bishops, but without effect, the king
papal power and influence in England gathered expressing his determination to keep the power of the
strength, but suddenly it received a violent check by church within due bounds. Yet the reign of Henry
the appearance of Wickliffe, the morning star of the VII. and the earlier part of the reign of Henry VIII.
Reformation. This excellent and intrepid man, in was a period during which submission to the pon-
the face of the most bitter persecution, set himself to tifical authority was as firm and apparently as deep-
expose the papal tyranny. His followers, who were ly-rooted as in any country of Europe. The latter
called Lollards, increased so much in numbers, that sovereign in particular entertained a profound rever-
they amounted to nearly one-half of the population ence for mother church and her earthly head, while
of England. By Henry IV. they were treated with he had a warm regard for monastic learning. But
great severity, but the death of their most virulent the same principles and events which led to the Re-
enemy, Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canter- formation in Germany were at work in England. The
bury, in 1413, deprived the penal statutes of their revival of learning and the teaching of the Greek and
violence, and left the Lollards for a time unmolested. Latin classics had introduced a more elevated style
It is true that the following year witnessed the exe- of education among the higher and even the mid-
cution of Lord Cobham, who openly avowed the dling classes of society. The invention of the art
opinions of these early reformers, but it is well of printing led to the wide diffusion of the best writ-
known that his death rested as much on political as ings of the ancients. But the circumstance which
on religious grounds.
more than any other prepared the way for the Refor-
In the course of the fifteenth century the influence mation among the more intelligent classes of the popu-
of the papacy in England underwent a gradual dimi- lation, was the translation of the Bible by Wickliffe
nution. This is apparent from unsuccessful attempts into the English language. A lapse of several centu-
which on two different occasions were made to raise ries had intervened since the production of the last
supplies from the clergy. Thus Nicholas V. sent to Anglo-Saxon version of the Scriptures, and the appear-
King Henry VI. a blessed and perfumed rose, ac- ance, therefore, in A. D. 1380, of a version of the Bible
companied with a request that the ecclesiastics should in the ordinary English of the time, was hailed as an
be called upon to pay a large sum into the pontifical event of the greatest interest and importance. This
treasury, but while the gift was accepted, the de- translation was completed before the invention of
mand was firmly refused. Again, in A. D. 1463, printing, and for a time manuscript copies of it were so
when Pius II. undertook a crusade against the infi- rare that, in A.D. 1429, one of Wickliffe's Testaments
dels, he endeavoured to raise the necessary funds by could not be procured under £40 of our present
taxing the clergy of Europe in a tenth of their reve. money. Yet so violent was the opposition of both the
nues, but the result, in so far as England was con- clergy and the laity to the appearance of the Sacred
cerned, miserably disappointed the expectations of Scriptures in the vernacular language, that in A. D.
1390, a bill was actually introduced into the House of
Reformed principles had been slowly and insensi- | Lords for the suppression of Wickliffe's Bible, and the
bly making way among the English people from measure was rejected only through the influence of
the days of Wickliffe, and independently altogether the Duke of Lancaster. In A. D. 1408, in a convo-
of those, and they were not a few who had embraced cation at Oxford, this version of the Scriptures was
these principles from conviction, there were multi- openly condemned, and an order issued that no
titudes who were dissatisfied with the rapacity, ig- translation of the Bible should be made in future.
• norance, and religious indifference of the clergy. | All attempts, however, to check the circulation of
But what more, perhaps, than anything else, roused God's word among the people of England were in-
the indignation of the people against the ecclesias- effectual. It was rapidly and extensively diffused,
tics, was the claim which they boldly maintained, to and in consequence the community of England was
be exempt from civil judgment for crime. This prepared to hail the Reformation, which by God's
claim was so far modified by Henry VI., under whom providence was about to be introduced. One of the
a statute was enacted, that the privilege should be warmest supporters of reformed principles was Anne
pleaded not at the outset, so as to prevent arrest- of Bohemia, the youthful spouse of Richard II.
ment on a criminal charge, but at the arraignment Having imbibed in the land of Huss the principles
after conviction. The change thus introduced only of a pure Bible Christianity, she brought with her to
rendered the claim the more obnoxious, and the diffi- the shores of Britain a determined attachment to the
culty of asserting it on the part of the clergy all the Word of God, and a holy delight in those who ad-
greater. Under Henry VII. it was provided that a hered to the truth as it is in Jesus. Aided and en-
the Pope.
822
ENGLAND (CHURCH OF).
..
a source.
couraged, accordingly, by the Queen-mother, Joan, evil passions of a wicked prince, did the Almighty
she threw the shield of her powerful protection over Disposer of events rescue England from the
supre-
Wickliffe and the Lollards. The advantage of such macy of the Papal power—thus affording a striking
patronage was soon felt. The truth made silent and illustration of the important Bible truth, that Jeho-
rapid progress among all classes of the people; the vah “maketh the wrath of man,” or even human
hand of the persecutor was stayed; and the influ- wickedness of any kind, “to praise him, and the re-
ence of Anne's high example, in studying the Word mainder of that wrath," or wickedness, “he doth -
of God with a prayerful desire to learn the truth, restrain.” As might have been expected, Popish
speedily diffused itself far and wide to the no small writers have attempted to disparage the English
annoyance and chagrin of the ghostly emissaries of Reformation as having had its origin in so unworthy
Rome. This pious queen had never formally sepa-
The occasion of an action, however, does
rated herself from the Romish Church. But though not necessarily stamp its real character. The evil
remaining nominally within its pale, she made no passions of men led to the crucifixion of our blessed
secret of her renunciation of all that was supersti- | Redeemer, and were thus the unintentional occasion
tious and erroneous in its tenets. Hers was the re- of the most glorious event of which our world has
ligion of the Bible, and hence, though outwardly a ever been the theatre—the redemption of the human
Papist, she was in reality and at heart a warm ad family. On the same principle, Henry, though bent
herent of the doctrines of Wickliffe. While that only on evil, was unintentionally made the instru-
reformer lived, indeed, he was indebted for protec- ment of carrying out that blessed Reformation from
tion from the violence of his enemies to the exer- Popery which is the glory of England. Before that
tions in his behalf of Anne and her mother-in-law, period multitudes had renounced the errors and
assisted by John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who idolatry of Romanism, but it was then that the na-
has been sometimes styled “the political father of tion in its national capacity was dissevered from and
the Lollards." Anne survived Wickliffe several rendered wholly independent of the Romish See.
years; and although, in the inscrutable providence Meanwhile attempts had been made to limit the
of God, she was cut off at the early age of twenty- power of the clergy, and the bishops especially had
seven, she had done much during the twelve years of been censured in the House of Commons. An act
her married life to promote the cause of truth and was also passed to limit the clerical fees on probates
righteousness. Richard was prevented from perse- of wills, which had been increased by Wolsey, and
cuting the Lollards as long as she lived, and even heavily complained of. In A.D. 1531, the clergy
after her death, though he unhappily yielded so far were likewise adjudged to have incurred forfeitures
to the influence of the clergy as to persecute in va- and imprisonment for having admitted that Wolsey
rious forms, not a single Lollard was put to death possessed papal and legative jurisdiction; and they
during his reign.
only procured the king's mercy by submitting to a
Henry VIII., during the first nineteen years of his fine of £100,000. A petition presented to Henry by
reign, was one of the most faithful and devoted sons the convocation on this occasion, addressed him as
of the Romish church; and so bigoted an adherent “ Protector and Supreme Head of the Church and
of the Papacy was this wicked monarch, that while Clergy of England," qualifying it by the additional
Reformation principles were held by many of his clause, “ so far as is permitted by the law of Christ."
subjects, there seemed to be not the remotest proba- Another step towards the diminution of clerical power
bility that they would ever be embraced by the and influence was the taking away of the ANNATES
sovereign. But unexpectedly a series of events oc- (which see), or first-fruits of benefices, which had
curred, which separated England at once and for been a continual source of discord between the Pope
ever from the domination of the Papal power. The and the countries which owned his supreme autho-
circumstances were briefly these. The licentious rity. In A. D. 1534, an act was passed forbidding
monarch who at that time occupied the throne of appeals to Rome from ecclesiastical courts, and pro-
England, attracted by the charms of Anne Boleyn, tecting the king's marriage with Anne Boleyn from
was anxious to obtain her as his wife. Being al-being annulled by the Pope. The last act, probably,
ready married to Catharine of Arragon, it was im- of Papal supremacy in England under Henry VIII.,
possible that his wishes could be gratified without a was in the course of the same year, when the usual
divorce from his present queen. To effect this, ac- bulls were granted for establishing Cranmer as arch-
cordingly, he demanded the sanction of the Pope, | bishop of Canterbury; for in the next session, a
which, however, in the face of repeated and urgent statute passed that bishops elected by their chapters
entreaties, was sternly refused. Finding that his on a Royal recommendation should be consecrated,
Holiness was inexorable, the haughty monarch, and archbishops receive the pall without soliciting
rather than be disappointed of his object, threw off for the Pope's interference in any way. All dis-
the yoke of Rome, claiming for himself within his pensations and licenses hitherto granted by the Pope
own dominions that ecclesiastical supremacy which were transferred to the archbishop of Canterbury.
had been up to that period the admitted prerogative The king was formally acknowledged to be the
of the Pope. Thus, by the instrumentality of the Supreme Head of the English Church, as had been
ENGLAND (CHURCH OF).
823
two years before admitted by the convocation. The sion, vows of chastity, and private masses. Under
headship of the sovereign was not, however, univer- this statute many suffered, both Romanists and Pro-
sally held, and three priors, Fisher, bishop of Rochestestants.
ter, and Sir Thomas More, were condemned and That Henry, even to the end of his days, was a
executed in 1534 for denying it, the crime being re- devoted son of the Romish church, is plain from the
garded as high treason.
fact, that one of the latest actions of his life was the
The next great step in the English Reformation founding of a convent, and by will he bequeathed
was the dissolution of the religious houses, amount- large sums to be spent in saying masses for the re-
ing in number to 645, while their possessions were pose of his soul. Though Henry is often credited
valued at one-fifth of the kingdom. Being exempt with being the author of the English Reformation,
from episcopal visitation, they had gradually become that great event had a deeper and a holier source
perverted, and at different periods previous to that than the actions of a profligate libertine. It was ob-
at which we have arrived, several monasteries had viously, and throughout, the work of God. For a
been suppressed by bulls obtained from the Pope, long course of years the reformed doctrines had been
and their funds had been devoted to endowing col- diffusing themselves widely among all classes of the
leges, first at Ipswich and Oxford, then at Cambridge community. The works of the reformed divines
and Eton. But now that Clement had issued his were eagerly read. English books were printed in
decree from the Vatican that Henry must abandon the German or Flemish provinces, and no sooner
Anne and receive back Catharine, the enraged mon- were they imported into England, than they were
arch resolved to make an end of the whole monas- received and read with such avidity, that in A. D.
teries of the kingdom. Commissioners were imme. 1533 an act was passed, prohibiting the purchase of
diately despatched to visit and examine all the reli- foreign books. The production, however, which met
gious foundations. An act was passed in A. D. 1536 with the most eageracceptance, was the English Testa-
giving to the crown all the smaller monasteries, ment by William Tyndale, published at Antwerp in
amounting to 276, and in July 1539 the suppression A. D.
A. D. 1526. Several copies of this book were pub-
was completed by the famous act which confirmed licly burned at St. Paul's Cross, and the bishop of
the seizure and surrender of abbots, when there fell London bought up the remainder of the edition and
to the crown a clear yearly revenue of £161,607. committed the whole to the flames. With the sup-
Besides taking possession of all the monasteries and ply of funds which the zeal of the bishop thus af-
their revenues, Henry seized the rich shrine of forded to him, Tyndale published a new and improved
Thomas à Becket at Canterbury, and his name as a edition, which was also transmitted to England,
saint was ordered to be erased from the calendar. A where it made many converts to the principles of
few of the abbots were pensioned for life. Some of the Reformation. The translator was burned as a
the wealth thus obtained by the Crown was bestowed heretic in A. D. 1536, but he had lived long enough
on the universities in the institution of colleges and to advance mightily the good work of God in Eng-
professorships; and six new bishoprics were created. land. The whole Bible in the English language,
The abbots of Colchester, Reading, and Gloucester, translated by Miles Coverdale, appeared in A. D. 1535,
having resisted to the last the forcible seizure of dedicated to the king, being the first edition of the
their houses, were executed for treason.
Scriptures published by royal authority. Henry
Amid these acts of violence, Henry seems to have had before this time professed to favour the reformed
had little or no desire to promote the cause of the party, and from hostility to Rome, rather than love
Reformation in England, for at the very time that to the Bible, he had ordered a copy of the Scrip-
he was dealing thus with the Romanists, the laws tures in Latin and English to be provided for every
against heretics were rigorously enforced, and sev- parish church in the realm, and chained to a pillar,
eral Protestants burned at the stake. In A. D. 1535, or a desk in the choir, that any mian might have ac-
it is true, he wrote to Germany wishing to have a cess to it, and read it. Another injunction to the
conference with the Reformed divines, particularly same effect appeared in A. D. 1538, along with a
Melancthon and Bucer, but the reply which he re- royal permission to read the Scriptures. Mr. Richard
ceived was, that “whilst he burned reformed preach- Thomson, in his Illustrations of British History,
ers, he could not be treated as a friend to reforma- gives a rapid sketch of the various steps taken with
tion.” And even after he had suppressed the mo- the approbation of Henry to disperse the Bible
nasteries, and set up the English Bible in churches, throughout England. “ An impression," he tells us,
Henry was still so much a Romanist at heart, that " of 1,500 copies was printed by Richard Grafton, of
in A. D. 1539, at the instigation of Bishop Gardiner, which every curate was directed to have one, and
one of the most bigoted Papists that ever wore the every abbey six. A proclamation, issued in May
Episcopal mitre, he procured the enactment of the 1540, ordered this under a penalty of forty shillings
Bloody Statute,” as it has been called, which con- a-month; and the price of the Bibles was fixed at
demned to death all who supported the marriage of ten shillings unbound, or twelve shillings well bound
priests, and the giving of the cup to the laity, and and clasped.
and clasped. When Bonnar was made bishop of
all who opposed transubstantiation, auricular confes- London in this year, he set up six Bibles in certain
:
824
ENGLAND (CHURCH OF).
i
convenient places in his cathedral, with an admo- tion January 22, 1542, the popish party was most
nition to the readers, fastened on the pillars to which prevailing, and passed' an act for the advancement
the books were chained. This admonition directed, of true religion,' &c., which mentioned the people
that whosoever came to read, should prepare himself having abused the liberty of reading the Scriptures
,
to be edified and made better, joining his readiness and then condemned Tindall's translation as crafty,
to the king's injunctions; that he should bring with false, and untrue ; and ordered the copies of it to be
him discretion, honest intent, charity, reverence, and suppressed. The other versions not being by him,
quiet behaviour; that there should no such number were allowed to be used, so that all annotations were
meet together as to make a multitude; that no ex- defaced under penalty of forty shillings. The read-
position be made thereupon but what is declared in ing of the Bible was also restricted to persons ap-
the book itself; and, that it be not read with noise pointed, or those accustomed to teach ; and to noble-
in time of divine service, nor any contention or dis- men, gentlemen, and merchants, being householders.
putation used at it.
But no women, except noblewomen and gentlewo-
“ The most famous translation of this period, how- men, who might read to themselves alone, and not
ever, was that promoted by Archbishop Cranmer in to others,—nor artificers, prentices, journeymen,
1534, after the Papal power was abolished in Eng- servingmen of the degrees of yeomen and under
;
land, and the king's supremacy settled by Act of husbandmen and labourers, might read the English
Parliament. It appeared in April 1539, being Scriptures privately or openly, under penalty of a
printed by Grafton and Whitechurch, and called month’s imprisonment. It is said, that the repeated
'the Great Bible;' but during the whole reign of complaints of the ill use which the people made of
Henry VIII. the friends of the Reformation were the Scriptures, in disputing and quarrelling about
actively engaged in improving and introducing Eng. what they read, induced Henry to suppress all edi-
lish versions of the Scriptures, which were eagerly tions but that permitted by parliament, which, in
received by the people, though they had many diffi- fact, could not be ascertained."
culties to encounter from the inveterate prejudices of Henry VIII., at his death in A. D. 1547, was suc-
a strong Romish party, and the inconstancy of an ceeded by Edward VI., during whose brief reign every
absolute sovereign. The holy books were generally encouragement was given to the diffusion of the
received with joy throughout the realm ; some aged English Bible; and the bishops were ordered in
persons even learned to read purposely to study it; their synods and visitations to examine the clergy as
and two apprentices, who had procured a copy, hid to their knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. Though
it under the straw of their bed, from fear of their the reign of this pious and youthful monarch ex-
master, who was a rigid Papist. The possession of tended to no more than seven and a-half years, such
the Scriptures, however, was by no means secure; was the activity manifested in the circulation of
since the king declared, in his proclamation, that his God's Word in the vernacular language, that there
allowing them in English was not his duty, but his were published in this brief space of time no fewer
goodness and liberality to the people, of which he than eleven printed editions of the English Bible,
exhorted them to make no ill use. The Popish and six of the New Testament. Various improve-
clergy, also, knowing that the reformed faith would ments were also introduced in the mode of conduct-
be most effectually promoted by this privilege, did | ing Divine service. The Epistle and Gospel of the
all in their power to discredit the translations. mass were appointed to be read in English ; and it
Bishop Tunstall affirmed, in a sermon at St. Paul's was enjoined that on every Sunday and holiday, a
Cross, that there were 2,000 errors in Tindall's ver- chapter of the New Testament in English should be
and Gardiner made a list of about 100 words read at matins, and a chapter of the Old Testament
in Coverdale's, which he thought unfit to be trans-
at vespers.
This order was exchanged in A. D.
lated. These, in case of an authorized version, of 1549 for the reading of two lessons from the Old and
which the clergy reluctantly admitted the expediency, New Testament respectively immediately after the
he advised should still be left in Latin. The curates, Psalms at morning and evening prayer.
also, were very cold in promulgating the Scriptures, The Reformation was carried forward with the
and read the king's ordinances in such a manner, most encouraging alacrity under Edward VI. All
that few persons knew what they uttered. They images were ordered to be removed from the churches;
also read the Bible carelessly to their parishioners, prayers were appointed to be 'no longer offered for
and bade them do as they did in times past, and live the dead; auricular confession and transubstantia-
as their fathers, the old fashion being the best.' In a tion were declared to be unscriptural; and the clergy
little tract, entitled 'The Supplication of the poor Com- were permitted to marry. These important changes
mons,' complaint was made to the king, that after his in the public creed and practice of the nation re-
order for placing Bibles in churches, many would pluck ceived the cordial assent of both clergy and people ;
it either into the quire, or else into some pew where and the refractory prelates, Gardiner and Bonnar,
poor men durst not presume to come: yea, there was were committed to the Tower. It was thought ne-
no small number of churches that had no Bible at all.' cessary that steps should be taken to prepare a series
At length, in the parliament which met by proroga- of articles of belief which might form the creed of
sion;
ENGLAND (CHURCH OF).
825
the now Reformed Church of England. Accord- | in both kinds. This change led to the appointment
ingly, in A. D. 1549, the king was empowered to of a committee of the clergy to prepare a uniform
name a committee of sixteen bishops and clergy. order for the communion, according to the rules of
men, and sixteen laymen, for this important object; Scripture and the use of the primitive church. The
and in A. D. 1552, a series of articles, amounting in same committee was charged -in the following year
number to forty-two, were drawn up in a convocation to compose a new Liturgy, which was prepared in a
held at London, and published by authority. These few months, including the new communion office.
articles, upon which the Thirty-Nine articles now The clergy, to whom this important task was in-
in use are founded, are said to have been chietly trusted, were men of note, both for character and
drawn up by Cranmer and Ridley; but in all pro- | learning, who were afterwards raised to distinction
bability they were the production of a much larger in the church, and the Liturgy thus formed was ra-
number of bishops and divines, by whom they were tified by the king and parliament. It is generally
carefully examined and matured. (See ARTICLES, known by the name of The First Book of Ed-
THIRTY-NINE.)
ward VI,'
In no country in Europe did the great Reforma- The new Liturgy was afterwards revised by Cran-
tion of the sixteenth century work its way with more mer, aided by two eminent reformers, Martin Bucer
steadiness and caution than in England. Both in and Peter Martyr; and the alterations then made,
doctrines and ceremonies the English church under-chiefly consisted in the addition of the sentences, ex-
went a slow but efficient improvement by the re- hortation, confession, and absolution, with which the
moval of those corruptions which had gradually morning and evening services commence. Various
defiled and almost completely defaced the pure and ceremonies contained in the former book were omit-
holy institution of the Christian church. At the ted in this ; for example, the use of oil in baptism;
instigation of Cranmer a committee of the convoca- the anointing of the sick; prayers for souls de-
tion had prepared two works, which were published parted; the order for mixing water with the wine;
by authority for the guidance of the devotions of the and several others. The habits of the clergy also
people. The first of these books, which was en- prescribed by the former book were ordered to be
titled. The Godly and Pious Institution of a Chris- disused, and the practice of kneeling at the sacra-
tian Man,' was published in A. D. 1537; and the ment was explained so as to prevent it from being
second, which was called ' A Doctrine and Erudition confounded with the idolatrous worship of the wa-
for any Christian Man,' was simply an improved edi- fer. This improved Liturgy, which was again rati-
tion of the former, published in 1540 and 1543. fied by parliament, frequently receives the name of
These works contained a few of the more important | The Second Book of Edward VI.'
religious forms, such as the Lord's Prayer, the Ave The premature death of Edward, and the succes-
Maria, and the Ten Commandments.
In conse-
sion of Mary, went far to undo all that had been
quence of a petition from the convocation, Henry already done in the work of Reformation. One of
VIII. appointed a committee of the higher clergy to the first acts of the new queen, on her accession to
reform the rituals and offices of the church, and the the throne in A. D. 1553, was to repeal the acts of
proceedings of this committee having been carefully her predecessor ratifying the Liturgy, as being in-
considered by the convocation, led to the introduc- consistent with the Romish ritual, which she was
tion of various improvements. The prayers for pro- resolved to restore. The work of persecution now
cessions and litanies were translated into English, commenced, and many of the chief supporters of re-
and brought into public use. A short time before formed principles were compelled to seek an asylum
Henry's death, the King's Primer was published, on a foreign shore. At Geneva they published in
containing the prayers from the former books, the A. D. 1557 an English New Testament, the first in
hymus called Venite, and Te Deum, along with sev. which the verses were distinguished by numbers,
eral collects, all in English.
The unhappy reign of the bloody Mary, as she is
In the reign of Edward VI. the Liturgy was or- often termed, was soon at an end, and Elizabeth, who
dered to be performed in English. This was a most succeeded her, was as keen a Protestant as Mary had
important alteration, as hitherto the whole ritual been a bigoted Papist. As soon as she ascended
having been compiled at Rome, where the Latin the throne, a new act was passed establishing the
tongue was spoken, consisted of a collection of pray-queen's supremacy, and repealing all the laws which
the Latin language, with which the English had been passed in the reign of Mary for the restora-
people generally were entirely unacquainted. A tion of popery. The English service was again
great change was at this time introduced into the brought into use. A commission of learned divines,
mode of administering the communion. Since the among whom was Matthew Parker, afterwards Arch-
council of Constance, in A. D. 1414, it had been the bishop of Canterbury, was appointed to make an-
invariable practice of the Romish church to deny the other revision of King Edward's Liturgies, and to
cup to the laity. In A. D. 1547, however, the English frame from them a Prayer-Book for the use of the
convocation first, and afterwards the parliament, de- | Church of England.
Church of England. After considerable delibera-
creed, that all persons should receive the sacrament | tion, the Second Book of King Edward was adopted
ers
I.
3P
826
ENGLAND (CHURCH OF).
by the commission, and ratified by parliament, with design, the whole translation was executed under the
the addition of certain lessons to be used on every direction and revision of the Archbishop himself, to
Sunday in the year, a few changes in the form of the whose laborious care and skill the work owes much
Litany, and the addition of two sentences in deliver- of the celebrity which it obtained.
ing the sacrament to communicants. One of the With the Reformation in England revived the
alterations in the Litany consisted in the omission practice of preaching discourses to the people ex-
of the words “ From the tyranny of the Bishop of pository of the Bible. This ancient custom, which
Rome, and all his detestable enormities,” which had almost fallen into disuse, began now to be
formed a part of the last deprecation in both the adopted by the most eminent prelates of the Eng-
First and Second Books of King Edward. To the lish church. In the reign of Edward VI. there was
first petition for the queen were added the words, only a quarterly sermon, which Elizabeth in A. D.
Strengthen in the true worshipping of thee in 1559 ordered to be exchanged for a regular monthly
righteousness and holiness of life.” The two sen- discourse, while James I. in 1603 commanded the
tences, which were inserted at the delivery of the clergy to deliver a sermon or homily every Sunday.
sacrament, consisted of these words taken from King Multitudes of the clergy, however, were quite in-
Edward's First Book, but omitted in the Second, competent to discharge this part of their duty, and to
“the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was such an extent did this deficiency prevail in the close of
given for thee,” and “the blood of our Lord Jesus Elizabeth's reign, that no fewer than 8,000 parishes
Christ which was shed for thee, preserve thy body were occupied by ministers who were unfit to com-
and soul to everlasting life.” Some alterations were pose pulpit discourses. To remedy this defect, two
made also in regard to the chancel and proper place books of homilies, or short sermons, were prepared and
for reading divine service. The habits mentioned issued, with the injunction that one of the sermons
in the First Book, but ordered to be disused in the should be read every Sunday and holiday, when no
Second, were restored. Two prayers for the queen sermon was preached. The first volume was pub-
and clergy were added to the end of the Litany, and lished in A. D. 1547, and consists of brief discourses,
a note, which had been inserted at the end of the com- beautifully blending the doctrinal and the practical
,
munion service explanatory of the sense in which which are supposed to have been written by Cranmer,
Christ was present in the sacrament, was omitted, Ridley, and Latimer. The second volume, which did
that, in consequence of the difference of opinion which not appear till A. D. 1563, is wholly attributed to
existed, the point might be left quite undetermined. Bishop Jewel.
The English Liturgy thus completed, was published Edward VI., in his diary, laments that the pre-
at first in Latin only, and in A. D. 1571, an English judices of some of the bishops prevented him from
version appeared under the auspices of convocation, carrying out to the utmost of his wishes a reform in
and with some slight alterations. The new ritual the outward ceremonies of the church. The Protes-
was protected by the “ Act of Uniformity of Com- tants of England were by no means satisfied with
mon Prayer and Service in the Church,” when a num- the limited extent to which Luther went in the im-
ber of the clergy, including fourteen bishops, refused provement of the ritual, and although they were
to conform. This Liturgy, however, was estab- scarcely prepared to go so far as Calvin, they were
lished for forty-four years, when various objections still earnestly desirous that some of the more obnox-
were offered to it by the Puritans.
ious rites and practices which Luther tolerated,
During the reign of Elizabeth, the English Bible should be removed from the reformed Church of
was very extensively circulated among all classes of England. This was particularly the case with
the people. The Geneva Bible, which was dedi- priestly vestments, tapers, the Latin missal, images,
cated to the queen, appeared soon after her acces- crucifixes, and the elevation of the host. It is far
sion, and no fewer than thirty editions of it were from being improbable, that had the valuable life of
printed in England within sixty years—a fact which
a fact which Edward VI. been protracted a few years longer, the
strikingly evinces the thirst for the Word of God Church of England would have approached nearer
which at this time prevailed among the English peo- than it does to the theory of Calvin in its forms,
ple. The most celebrated version of the Bible, how- doctrine, and discipline.
doctrine, and discipline. The limited extent to
ever, which Elizabeth's reign produced, was that which the reform of its ritual proceeded, compared
which is commonly known by the name of The with the ritual of many of the Protestant churches
Bishop's Bible,' having been prepared under the on the Continent, gave rise to the dissenters called
superintendence of Parker, Archbishop of Canter- Puritans, and to that separation from the church of
bury. It is said to have been undertaken by com- a large body of conscientious Protestants, which has
mand of the queen herself, and the most careful ar- continued down to the present day.
rangements were made that the work might be as Though Queen Elizabeth outwardly favoured the
complete as possible. The Scriptures were divided cause of the Reformation, and even persecuted in
into about fifteen parts, which were distributed some cases the adherents of Popery, she was person-
among eight of the English bishops, with a select ally inclined to some of the tenets of the Roman
number of learned laymen. To give unity to the Church, and some of the gorgeous ceremonies of its
+
ENGLAND (CHURCH OF).
827
ritual.
She is said to have used prayers to the Vir- residence, on pain of forfeiting their goods, and the
gin, and to have retained for a long time in her own profits of their lands for life.
private chapel the crucifix, and lighted tapers, even The accession of James I. to the throne of Eng-
when these were ordered to be removed from all land, on the death of Elizabeth, seemed to hold out
other churches throughout the kingdom. And it is prospects more favourable to the Puritans, though
worthy of remark, that during her whole reign, the not to the Papists. Having been reared in connec-
act which had been passed by Mary against the mar- tion with the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, it
riages of the clergy continued unrepealed, and it was was surely to be expected that his sympathies would
not until A. D. 1603, under James I., that the repeal be with the Puritans rather than the Prelatists; but
of this statute took place, thus enabling ecclesiastics no sooner did he find himself securely seated on the
to marry without license, or any restriction whatever. English throne, than he straightway declared himself
But notwithstanding Elizabeth's secret attachment favourable to an Episcopal church, asserting his con-
to some parts of the Romish ritual, she had given viction, that “where there was no bishop, there
sufficient encouragement to the reformed cause to would shortly be no king.” But, notwithstanding
incur the wrath of the Pope, and in A. D. 1569 she this rapid abandonment of his former sentiments,
was visited with a sentence of excommunication, fol- the new monarch yielded so far to a petition pre-
lowed up by a bull deposing her from her throne, sented by the Dissenters in A. D. 1603, that he re-
absolving her subjects from their allegiance, and formed some of the abuşes of which they complained,
threatening them with a curse if they ventured ordered a revisal and improvement of the Liturgy,
to obey her. This assault on the part of Rome and procured an admirable translation of the Scrip-
severed the last link which bound the queen to the tures into the English tongue, which continues to
Papacy.
hold its place as the only authorized version of the
Elizabeth now found herself engaged in a twofold Bible down to the present day. The alterations made
contest, with the Romanists on the one hand, and in the English Liturgy at the Hampton Court Confer-
the Puritans on the other. She declared her deter- ence, which was called by James, were few and unim-
mination to uphold the reformed Church of England, portant, consisting chiefly of the addition of a petition
of which she was by law the supreme earthly head. in the Litany, and a Collect in the Morning and Even-
Subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles was made ing Prayer, on behalf of the Royal Family, with the
imperative. Both the Papists and the Puritans, Forms of Thanksgivings on several occasions. These
who had outwardly conformed to the church during changes were published by the king's authority, and
the twelve first years of Elizabeth's reign, now aban- universally adopted, though they were never ratified
doned their parish churches, and formally separated by Parliament. No particular alterations were made
from the establishment. Meanwhile, both in the in the English Liturgy, either during the reign of
Church and the Parliament, there was a party of Charles I., or during the Commonwealth, but on the
tolerable strength and influence who sought to re- restoration of Charles II., the Presbyterian clergy
move the grounds of dissent, by proposing extensive were urgent with the king to call a conference on
alterations in the rites and ceremonies of the church; the subject. This was accordingly done, but to no
but the queen was inexorable, and by acts of cruelty effect, except that some alterations were proposed by
and intolerance disgraceful to her character and reign, the Episcopal divines, which were soon after recon-
she strove to silence the scruples and suppress the sidered and agreed to by the whole clergy in convo-
objections of a large and respectable body of her cation.
cation. The principal of these were the adoption of
subjects. Nor was Elizabeth less lenient towards more appropriate lessons for certain days; the sepa-
her former friends the Romanists. Against them, as ration of occasional prayers from the Litany; alter-
well as against the Puritans, she put forth the strong ations in the Collects, the Epistles and Gospels,
arm of violence, persecuting them in many different which were now taken from the new version of the
ways. The universities were shut against them, and Scriptures; and additions of the Offices for Adult
all means of educating their priests in England were Baptism, the Sea, the King's Martyrdom, and the
taken out of their hands. In consequence of these Restoration. Several other trifling changes were
harsh, intolerant measures, the first Popish college made, and the Preface was composed by Dr. San-
was established at Douay in A. 1). 1568, which was derson, bishop of Lincoln. The Common Prayer
ten years after removed to Rheims. Another college Book, in its revised form, was subscribed by the
was also founded at Rome by Gregory XIII., for the whole clergy in convocation on the 20th of Decem-
education and training of English priests. Several ber 1661, and in March following it was formally
passed from these foreign seminaries to propagate ratified by the English Parliament. The only addi-
the Romish faith in England, but it was declared tion which has subsequently been made to the Book
treason to harbour them. One act was passed after of Common Prayer, is the Form of Prayer and
another, bearing with the utmost cruelty upon the Thanksgiving used on the anniversary of the Sov.
adherents of the Romish church, and they were even ereign's accession to the Throne. The office now
prohibited from proceeding on any pretence what- in use is that which was prepared on the acces-
ever to the distance of five miles from their ordinary sion of Queen Anne in 1702, and which was part-
828
ENGLAND (CHURCH OF").
ly new, and partly composed of that prepared for The ecclesiastical establishinent of England sunk
James II.
every day during the Commonwealth in public esti-
In the reign of James I. both the Puritans and the mation. In A. D. 1644, Christmas day was ordered
Roman Catholics were treated with great severity, to be observed as a fast instead of a festival. The
many of the former being compelled to leave the Liturgy was forbidden to be used in public; and the
country for Holland, whence considerable numbers of parish-churches were occupied chiefly by Presbyte-
them afterwards emigrated to America. Under this | rians or Independents. To such an extent were
monarch the doctrines afterwards taught by Armi- matters carried by Cromwell, that he issued a pro-
nius in Holland began to be embraced and promul. clamation prohibiting any minister of the Church of
gated by a considerable number of the Episcopalian England from preaching, administering the sacra-
clergy in England. Thus not only was the English ments, or teaching schools, on pain of imprisonment
church assailed by Puritans and Romanists from or exile. The Liturgy was still read only in a few
without, but she contained within her own pale two private families, and the established clergy were now
parties differing widely from one another in their almost wholly silenced, the religious world of Eng.
doctrinal sentiments, the one party holding Armi- land being divided between Independency and Pres-
nian, and the other Calvinistic principles. These bytery.
internal dissensions were carried on with great acri. The restoration of Charles II., however, brought
mony, and the debated points were at length publicly back matters to their former state. The Liturgy
discussed in two conferences of the clergy held in was restored in A. D. 1660, and in a short time
A. D. 1625. Charles I. was keenly opposed to the the Act of Uniformity passed, by which all who
Puritans both within and without the church, and refused to observe the rites and subscribe to the
the high-handed policy of Laud, Archbishop of Can- doctrines of the Church of England were excluded
terbury, led to the laws of uniformity being enforced from its communion, and if ecclesiastics, they were
against the Dissenters. This prelate was with good | deprived of their offices. This act came into oper-
reason suspected of intending to introduce the Ro- ation on the 24th August 1662, when about 2,000
mish religion again into England. Both the people conscientious ministers were thrust from their bene-
and the parliament were soon aroused to a sense of | fices, being unable to conform. The death of
the danger to which the country was exposed from Charles II. and the succession of James II, ex-
an arbitrary monarch and a semi-popish primate. cited at first some hopes of an improvement in the
Steps were taken in A. D. 1640 to check the innova- | position of the Non-conformists, as the crafty prince
tions of Laud, and the severities by which they were commenced his reign by a declaration, allowing
supported. The right of the bishops to sit in parlia- | liberty of conscience to all his subjects, suspend-
ment now began to be openly discussed, and numer- | ing and dispensing with the penal laws and tests,
ous petitions were laid on the table of the House of and even with the oaths of supremacy and allegiance.
Commons, praying for the abolition of the Episcopal | This apparent liberality to the Dissenters was coup-
form of church government.
led with the most discouraging treatment of the
The Puritan party had now obtained an ascen- Church of England, an ecclesiastical commission bav-
dency in the country, and the Commons, yielding to ing been issued by which seven persons were in-
the popular wishes, passed an act declaring that no vested with a full and unlimited power over the whole
bishop should have a vote in parliament, judicial establishment. Beneath all these movements of the
power in the star-chamber, or bear any authority king lay a secret design of restoring Popery to the
whatever in temporal matters. Under the same in- place which it had formerly held in England as the
fluence a bill was brought into parliament for abol-established religion of the country. This fondly
ishing the practice of making the sign of the cross cherished purpose, instead of being accomplished,
in baptism, of wearing the surplice in divine service, led to that strong revulsion of feeling which accom-
and bowing at the name of Jesus. The rails about plished the revolution of 1688, and finally estab-
the communion tables were ordered to be removed, lished the Protestant Reformed Church of England.
and the parliamentary soldiers, in their zeal against The reign of William III. who, after the expulsion
Episcopacy, committed the most outrageous acts of of James, was placed upon the throne, was decidedly
spoliation upon the churches and cathedrals, break- favourable to the Dissenters, the Toleration Act
ing the organs, defiling the fonts, tearing in pieces having been passed, which delivered the Protestant
the Bibles and Prayer-Books. A bold attempt was Non-conformists of all kinds, except Socinians, from
now made to establish Presbytery on the ruins of the penal effects of the Act of Uniformity. The
Episcopacy. In the Westminster Assembly which abolition of Episcopacy in Scotland, however, and
met in A. D. 1643, the Presbyterians formed a de- the restoration of Presbytery as the established reli-
cided majority, but the bold stand which a small but gion of that country, excited some fear, groundless
able and learned knot of Independents made, pre- as it proved, in the minds of many of the English
vented
any effective steps being taken to convert the clergy, lest William might interfere with their
English church from an Episcopalian into a Pres- church. The only remarkable feature, however, in
byterian body.
this period of the history of the Church of England.
ENGLAND (CHURCH OF).
829
was the dispute which arose within the church in
THODISTS.) These earnest men, with apostolic zeal,
1689 between the Non-Jurors and Jurors, or High travelled from place to place, throughout the length
Churchmen, and Low Churchmen. The Non-Juring and breadth of England, preaching the truth as it is
partly refused to acknowledge the title of William in Jesus. Admiring crowds waited on their ministry,
III. to the crown of Great Britain, under the belief while many of the parish churches were literally de-
that James II., though excluded, was still their serted. The consequence was, that a spirit of bit-
rightful sovereign. They maintained the doctrine of ter persecution against the Methodists arose among
passive obedience, or that it is not lawful for the not a few of the English clergy. This active hos-
people, in any circumstances, to resist the sovereign. tility, however, was to a great extent limited to the
They held that the hereditary succession to the subordinate orders of the clergy, while the bishops
throne is of divine right, and cannot be altered ; that acted with greater caution and reserve.. Whitfield
the church is subject only to God; that the bishops having adopted Calvinistic opinions, and the Wes-
deposed by William III. continued bishops, notwith-leys being partial to Arminian tenets, the Methodists
standing this deposition, during the whole of their split into two parties, which have formed separate
natural lives, those who were substituted in their communions ever since under the respective names
places being usurpers, rebels in the state, and schis- of Wesleyan Methodists and Calvinistic Methodists.
matics in the church, as were all who held commu- Though the Church of England had been strongly
nion with them; and that this schism would fall upon Arminian since the Restoration of the Second Charles,
the heads of those who did not repent and return to they persecuted the Wesleys and their followers with
the church.
the bitterest rancour and animosity.
The eighteenth century opened with bitter con- During the latter half of the eighteenth century
tentions between the High and the Low Church the Church of England made little progress in sound
parties, not on points of theological doctrine, but on theological learning, or in earnest efforts for the
points of political and party strife. Both religion and propagation of the truth. A spirit of coldness and
learning were then at a low ebb in the Church of indifference to vital religion prevailed extensively
England, and yet to this dark period is due the for- among the clergy, and still more so among the
mation of two religious societies, which have been laity. A large association was formed at this time,
instruments of incalculable good from that day down called, from their place of meeting, the Feathers
to the present. We refer to the Society for the Tavern Clergy, which petitioned the Legislature
Promotion of Christian Knowledge, which was in- for the removal of the damnatory clauses from the
stituted in 1698, and the Society for the Propagation Athanasian Creed, and the repeal of the Act of
of the Gospel in Foreign parts, which received a Elizabeth, which required subscription of the Thirty-
royal charter in 1704. A few years after, the BAN- Nine Articles from every ordained minister of the
GORIAN CONTROVERSY (which see) arose, which is church. These lax views, though entertained by
chiefly remarkable as having led to the final dissolu- a large body of the clergy, and adopted by a few
tion of convocation in 1717, in so far as the dispatch members of the Commons House of Parliament, led
of public business is concerned. Both houses meet,
, to no such changes as they desired. A keen war of
it is true, regularly at the commencement of each pamphlets ensued on the subject of subscription to
session of parliament, but though the members may the Articles, but the Feathers Tavern Association
deliberate and discuss, they have no power to decide was so overborne by the force of public opinion that
single point. (See Convocation.) Of late va- it soon ceased to exist, and down to the present day
rious attempts have been made by a party in the the subscription ex animo of the Thirty-Nine Arti-
Church of England to procure a revival of convoca- cles is imperatively demanded, by the laws of the
tion, but hitherto without effect. It assembles by church, from every candidate for holy orders. To-
royal writ, but the royal license is withheld, and, wards the end of the last century and the first half
therefore, it is destitute of the powers of a provincial of the present, the Church of England has been evi-
synod.
dently growing in vitality and vigour. Evangelical
At first the suppression of convocation was felt by truth is more generally taught in her pulpits, and
many of the English clergy to be a great hardship, though since 1833 the ANGLO-CATHOLICS (which
but it appears, by withdrawing them from the harass- see), have been growing in numbers and influence,
ing anxieties of public affairs, to have led them to never probably at any time since the Reformation
devote their time and attention more exclusively to
has the church had a firmer hold on the affections of
their strictly professional studies and pursuits. There the English people. The numerous efficient institu-
was in consequence a decided improvement at this tions which have been formed within her pale for
period in the character of English theological litera- the diffusion of the Gospel, strikingly manifest the
ture. It assumed a more vigorous, massy aspect living power which animates her as a great section
than it had done for a long time previous. The
of the Church of Christ. Dissent is strong at pre-
piety of the Church of England also received no sent in England, but the Church of England has
slight impulse from the labours of John and Charles an immeasurably stronger influence over the public
Wesley, Whitfield, and their followers. (See ME- mind than all the forms of dissent combined together
a
830
ENIPEUS-ENTHRONISTIC LETTERS.
seven.
can possibly boast. Since the present century be- cluding Archbishops, Deans and Chapters, Archdea-
gan the greatest activity has been, from time to time, cons, and Rural Deans. All these orders and digni-
manifested on the part of the church in overtaking, ties have certain territorial jurisdictions assigned to
as far as possible, the spiritual destitution which pre- them. The population of the archbishopric of Can
vails chiefly in London and other large towns. In terbury in 1851, the year when the last census was
this important work no fewer than between two and taken, was 12,785,048; and that of York 5,285,687.
three thousand additional churches have been built. At the same period the number of rural deaneries
The funds for these numerous erections have been was 463, and the number of archdeaconries was 71.
supplied partly by private benefactions, and partly England is divided into two archbishoprics or pro-
by parliamentary grants.
vinces, Canterbury and York, the former including
The Church of England though united in adher- | twenty-one bishoprics or dioceses, and the latter
ence to one common creed, as contained in the
The average population in March 1851 of
Thirty-Nine Articles, is nevertheless divided into each diocese of England and Wales was 645,383,
three different parties, commonly known by the ap- which is a higher average than is to be found in any
pellations of the High Church, the Low Church, and other country of Europe. The benefices in England
the Broad Church. The High Church party have and Wales are 11,728.
and Wales are 11,728. The clergy amount in num-
always entertained strong views of the authority ber to about 1,800. All the archbishops, bishops,
of the church, the apostolical dignity of the clergy, and deans, and a considerable number of the clergy,
and the efficacy of the sacraments. On these are appointed by the crown. Of the 11,728 bene-
points their opinions resemble those of the Tracta- | fices, 1,144 are in the gift of the crown; 1,853 in
rian or Anglo-Catholic party, with whom accord- that of the bishops; 938 in that of cathedral chap-
ingly they have become almost completely iden- ters and other dignitaries ; 770 in that of the uni-
tified. The Low Church again, or the Evangelical versities of Oxford and Cambridge, and the colleges
party, have no such Romanizing tendencies, but of Eton, Winchester, &c.; 931 in that of the minis-
avow the pure Scriptural doctrines of the best ters of mother-churches; and the residue, amounting
writers among the Reformers. They have no sym- to 6,092, in that of private persons. By the last
pathy with the views of the Anglo-Catholics, and census there were 14,077 existing churches, chapels,
though in some instances they can scarcely be said and other buildings belonging to the church. There
to be thoroughly Calvinistic in their doctrinal senti- are three kinds of incumbents in the English church;
ments, they are far from entertaining the low Armi- rectors, vicars, and perpetual curates. Rectors re-
nian views which are but too prevalent among the ceive all the tithes of the parish ; vicars and perpe-
High Churchmen. On the contrary, they profess tual curates are the delegates of the tithe impropria-
to hold the doctrine of justification by free grace, tors, and receive a portion only of the tithes. These
through faith alone. The Broad Church party is of appointments are for life. The ordinary curates are
comparatively recent date, having been originated by appointed by the incumbent whom they assist.
Dr. Arnold of Rugby. It occupies a middle place The income of the Church of England is derived
between the High Church and the Low Church par- from the following sources; lands, tithes, church-
ties, and is founded on the principle that every doc- rates, pew-rents, Easter offerings, and surplice fees,
trine must be subjected to the investigation of human that is, fees for burials, baptisms, &c. To increase
It may be considered, therefore, as ration- the stipends of incumbents of the smaller livings, the
alist in its views, though by no means running into Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty annually receive
the extreme sentiments promulgated by the Ration- the sum of £14,000, the produce of First-Fruits and
alists of Germany. Some of the party, it is true, Tenths (see ANNATES), and the Ecclesiastical Com-
are alleged to have imbibed views approaching to missioners apply to the same object a portion of the
Socinianism, but they are unwilling to acknowledge surplus proceeds of episcopal and capitular estates.
themselves chargeable with so serious a departure The whole revenues of the church are supposed to
from sound doctrine.
amount to. not less than £5,000,000 a-year, distri-
The doctrines of the Church of England are em- buted in the most unequal manner among the various
bodied in her Articles and Liturgy; her mode of orders of clergy, so that while the dignitaries have
worship is prescribed in her Book of Common enormous incomes, the hard-working curates receive
Prayer; and her discipline is regulated by the Can- often a mere paltry pittance seldom exceeding £80
ons of A. D. 1603. There are three Courts of disci-a-year.
pline in England, that of the Bishop, that of the ENIPEUS, a river-god worshipped anciently in
Archbishop, and highest of all, that of the Sovereign, Thessaly, and another river-god of the same name
which is terned the Privy Council, and which hears was worshipped in Elis.
and finally decides all appeals from inferior ecclesias- ENOCH. See EDRIS.
tical courts.
ENOLMI, a name sometimes given to the priest-
There are three orders of clergy in the Church of ess of Apollo at Delphi, because she sat on the tri-
England, BISHOPS, PRIESTS, and DEACONS (which pod called Olmos.
see), and besides these there are several dignities, in- ENTHRONISTIC LETTERS, letters anciently
reason.
ENTHRONIZATION-EOSTRE.
831
addressed by Christian bishops immediately after | EUCHITES (which see), because they pretended to
their instalment to foreign bishops, announcing their be inspired, and to hold converse with the Holy
promotion to the episcopal office, and giving an ac- Spirit.
count of their faith and orthodoxy, that they might ENYALIUS, a surname frequently applied in
receive in return letters of peace and Christian com- Homer's Iliad to ARES (which see), the god of war;
munion. If any newly ordained bishop failed to send and the Spartan youths are said to have sacrificed
these communications, the omission was regarded as young dogs to Ares under this name. At a later
tantamount to a refusal to hold communion with the period Enyalius was regarded as a separate god of
l'est of the Christian world.
war, the son of Ares and Enyo. The epithet Enya-
ENTHRONIZATION, the form or ceremony of lius was sometimes applied also to DIONYSUS (which
conducting a newly ordained and consecrated BISHOP see.)
(which see), to his chair or throne in his cathedral. ENYO, the goddess of war among the ancient
This practice is of very ancient standing, and was Greeks, who accompanied Ares or Mars when he
usually performed by the other bishops present, and went forth to battle. A statue of this goddess ac-
on placing him in his episcopal chair, they all sa- cordingly stood in the temple of Ares at Athens.
luted him with a holy kiss. A portion of Scripture | Among the Romans the goddess of war was called
was then read, after which the new bishop delivered BELLONA (which see).
a discourse, which, from the occasion on which it EONIANS, the followers of Eon d'Etoile, a weal-
was spoken, received the name of the Enthronistic thy nobleman of Bretagne in the twelfth century.
Sermon.
Being a person of a highly excitable temperament,
ENTHUSIASM, that state of mind in a religious and an ill-regulated imagination, he happened one
person in which the imagination is unduly heated,
unduly heated, day, on hearing the common formula used among
and the passions outrun the understanding. In the Romanists for exorcising evil spirits, “ Per Eum
minds which have been but imperfectly cultivated, qui venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos," that is,
some degree of enthusiasm perhaps generally accom- “By Him who will come to judge the quick and the
panies religious impressions at their commence- dead," to conceive the idea, that, from the similarity
ment. “It is not uncommon, however," as Mr. of the word Eum to his own name Eon, he must be the
Robert Hall judiciously remarks, “ to find those who, person who is to come to judge the quick and the dead.
at the commencement of their religious course, have | Being of a pleasing address, and generally attractive
betrayed symptoms of enthusiasm, become in the manners, this extravagant enthusiast drew great
issue the most amiable characters. With the in- crowds of people after him. He travelled through
crease of knowledge, the intemperate ardour of their the country, causing so much excitement among the
zeal has subsided into a steady faith and fervent people, that he was arrested by the authorities, and
charity, so as to exemplify the promise of scripture, committed to prison, where he died. Even after
that the path of the just’ shall be 'as the shining the death of their leader, his followers continued to
light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect hold him in great reverence, and persisted in declar-
day. As the energy of the religious principle is ing that he would come again, as he had said, to sum-
exerted in overcoming the world; so that variety of mon the world to general judgment. A number of
action and enlarged experience which the business of the most obstinate of his adherents were burned at
life supplies, serves to correct its excesses and re- the stake. So great importance was attached to the
strain its aberrations.
reveries of this fanatic, that he was formally con-
" There are some who, proscribing the exercise of demned at the council of Rheims, A. D. 1148, at
the affections entirely in religion, would reduce which Pope Eugene III. presided.
Christianity to a mere rule of life; but as such per- EONS. See Æons.
sons betray an extreme ignorance of human nature, EOQUINIANS, a sect which arose in the six-
as well as of the Scriptures, I shall content myself teenth century, deriving their name from their leader,
with remarking, that the apostles, had they lived in Eoquinus, who taught that Christ did not die for the
the days of these men, would have been as little wicked in any sense whatever, but only for the faith-
exempt from their ridicule as any other itinerants. ful. They seem to have held the Calvinistic doc-
If the supreme love of God, a solicitude to advance trine of a particular atonement.
his honour, ardent desires after happiness, together EOS, the Greek name for the goddess AURORA
with a comparative deadness to the present state, (which see).
be enthusiasm, it is that enthusiasm which animated EOSTRE, an ancient Saxon goddess, who was
the Saviour, and breathes throughout the Scrip- worshipped in the spring about the time of the Jew-
tures."
ish passover. She is generally supposed to have
ENTHUSIASTICS, a name given by the ancient | been identical with ASTARTE (which see). From
Greeks to the VATES (which see), who pretended to the name of this goddess, Eostre, it has been sup-
utter prophecies by the perpetual influence of an in- posed by various writers that the Christian festival,
dwelling demon.
held in many churches in honour of the resurrection
ENTHUSIASTS, a name given to the sect of the of Christ, has received the name of Easter.
832
EPACT-EPHOD.
EPACT, a number which indicates, in general cording to their birth. With the work of an engra:
chronology and in the tables for calculating Easter, ver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt
the excess of the solar above the lunar year. The thou engrave the two stones with the names of the
solar year consists in round numbers of 365 days, children of Israel: thou shalt make them to be set
and the lunar year of 354 days, so that there is an in ouches of gold. And thou shalt put the two
excess of 11 days in the solar above the lunar year. stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of
This excess is called the Epact.
memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron
EPACTÆUS, a surname of Poseidon, and also shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two
of APOLLO (which see).
shoulders for a memorial.” In this passage, it may
EPAINE, a surname of PERSEPHONE (which be observed, that the materials of the ephod are
see).
described rather than the form, which, indeed, it is
EPAPHUS, the name given by the Greeks to the difficult precisely to ascertain. Commentators have
Egyptian divinity APIS (which see).
generally agreed in considering it as approaching
EPARCH, an archbishop in the modern GREEK to the form of a short double apron, having the
CHURCH (which see).
two parts connected by two wide straps united on
EPARCHY, a term corresponding in the RUSSIAN the shoulders. The point of union seems to have
GREEK CHURCH (which see), to the word diocese been under the two onyx stones, where they l'est-
among us.
The number of eparchies in Russia is ed on the shoulders. Josephus calls the ephod a
discretionary, and entirely at the will of the sover- short coat with sleeves, a description of it which is
eign. They are superintended by metropolitans, given by no other writer. Jerome speaks of it as
archbishops, and bishops. The eparchies are gen- resembling the Roman cloak called caracalla, but
erally named after the place where the prelate re-
without the hood. Calmet describes it as a sort of
sides, and not after the province. Catharine II., by sash. Bähr attaches chief importance to the shoul-
an ukase of the 24th February 1764, divided all the der-pieces, which he thinks were intended to denote
eparchies, as well as the monasteries and nunneries, dignity, authority, and command. To each of the
into three classes. In the two first she placed arch-shoulder-straps was affixed a precious stone, on
bishops and archimandrites over the monasteries and which were engraven the names of the twelve tribes
nunneries, and in the third class bishops and hegou- of Israel. The two main pieces of the ephod hung
meni. At present the whole of Russia is divided | down, the one in front, and the other behind, Jose-
into thirty-six eparchies, which in extent are nearly phus says to the extent of a cubit, which would bring
the same with the civil divisions into provinces and their lower extremity nearly to the loins. It is not
governments.
improbable, however, that the hinder portion reached
EPEFANOFTSCHINS, a sect of dissenters from almost to the feet. Two distinct bands issuing from
the Russian Greek church. It takes its name from the sides of either the anterior or posterior portion
a monk, who, in 1724, by forged letters and recom- of the ephod formed, what is termed in Scripture,
mendations, got himself ordained bishop, and was in " the curious girdle of the ephod,” which passed
consequence arrested by government, and put in round the body just under the arins, so as to bind it
prison, where he died. Some persons hold him to have closely round the region of the heart. From Pro-
been a legal bishop, and, looking upon him as a mar- fessor Bush we learn, that Gussetius, one of the
tyr, make frequent visits to his tomb at Kief. The ablest of the Hebrew lexicographers, is disposed to
Epefanofschins are not numerous, and though they give to the whole ephod the form of a belt or girdle
have some peculiarities, they are nearly the same fitting close to the body.
with the Old Ceremonialists or STARADUBOFSKI As to the materials of which the ephod was made,
(which see).
it appears to have been a kind of brocade formed of
EPHOD, a portion of the dress of the high-priest fine linen, and gold thread interwoven, and adorned
of the Hebrews. It was a vest which was fastened | with scarlet, purple, and blue. Maimonides professes
on the shoulders, and of very rich and splendid con- to give a minute account of the mode of its construc-
struction. The ephod is thus described by Moses, tion. He says that the workmen took one thread of
Exod. xxviii. 6–12, “ And they shall make the pure gold, and joining it with six threads of blue
, ,
ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and twisted the whole into one. He did the same with
fine twined linen, with cunning work. It shall have the one thread of gold and six of purple, and with one
two shoulder-pieces thereof joined at the two edges of gold and six of scarlet, and with one of gold and
thereof; and so it shall be joined together. And six of fine linen. Thus in twenty-eight threads
the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, there were four of them of gold. This description
shall be of the same, according to the work thereof is probably incorrect, as so small a quantity of gold
even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and could scarcely convey to the ephod the brilliant ap,
fine twined linen. And thou shalt take two onyx pearance which it is said to have possessed, and
stones, and grave on them the names of the children which has led it to be spoken of in Rev. i. 13, as“ a
of Israel: six of their names on one stone, and the golden girdle.”
other six names of the rest on the other stone, ac- Though the ephod formed properly a part of the
EPHOD-EPICUREANS.
833
---
dress exclusively worn by the Hebrew high-priest, a catechumens. It consisted in touching their ears,
plainer vestment of the same kind came to be worn and saying to them, Ephphata, Be opened, denot-
also by the ordinary priests. Samuel, who was only a ing the opening of the understanding to receive the
Levite, seems to have worn an ephod, and David, who instructions of faith. St. Ambrose derives this cus-
was not even a Levite, had a garment of this kind tom from our Saviour's example, when he uttered
when he danced before the ark. We learn from Ephphata, as he cured the deaf and the blind. Few
1 Sam. xxviii. 6, that on one occasion Saul consulted
writers make any reference to this practice, which
the Lord by Urim, and therefore must have used the seems not to have been followed very extensively in
ephod of the high-priest; and on another occasion, the church. See CATECHUMENS.
1 Sam. xxx. 7, David is said to have done the same. EPICLESEIS. See COLLECTS.
These latter instances, however, of Saul and David, EPICUREANS, a sect of ancient Greek philoso-
are explained by some writers as simply implying | phers, the disciples and adherents of Epicurus, who
not that they themselves used the ephod, but em- flourished in the fourth century before Christ. Hav-
ployed the priests to use it,
ing studied the systems of Plato and Democritus, he
On the two precious stones of the ephod were showed a decided preference for the latter; but
engraven, as has been already mentioned, the names without keeping strictly to the opinions of any other
of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, six on school, he formed a school of his own. The funda-
the one shoulder, and six on the other. The Rabbins mental principle of the Epicurean philosophy is,
say, that the letters on these two inscriptions were that happiness or complete enjoyment is the chief
so equally divided, that Joseph's name was written good of man, towards which his efforts ought to
Jehoseph,” in order to make just twenty-five let- be mainly directed. The gratification of one's own
ters in each stone. See HIGH-PRIEST.
desire of happiness is, therefore, according to this
EPHOD (ROBE OF THE), a mantle of sky-blue selfish system of philosophy, the grand end of all
wool, which was worn by the Jewish high-priest | human action. There is here no abstract goodness,
over the inner tunic or shirt. It was worn imme- righteousness, or truth, no motive which has its cen-
diately under the ephod, and hence its name. To | tral point anywhere else than in the individual man.
this part of the high-priest's garments there is an The system of Epicurus was essentially material-
evident allusion in Rev. i. 13, where our blessed istic in its character, strictly following up the atomic
Lord is said to have been “ clothed with a garment hypothesis of Democritus. It viewed man as con-
down to the feet.” The robe of the ephod is thus nected with the external world by a series of ema-
described by Professor Bush : “It was a long linen nations issuing from outward objects, and combining
gown of sky blue colour, reaching to the middle of with the human organization. The sensations or
the leg. It was all of one piece, and so formed as impressions to which the outward world thus gives
to be put on, not like other garments which are rise in the Epicurean philosophy, are combined in
open in front, but like a surplice, over the head, hav- man with a power of generalizing these sensations,
ing a hole at the top for the head to pass through, and thus forming abstract notions, which, as antici-
which was strongly hemmed round with a binding or pations or presumptions, form the foundation of all
welt to prevent it from rending, and with openings reasoning.
or arm-holes in the sides in place of sleeves. Round Epicurus thus reached two principles, one origi-
its lower border were tassels made of blue, purple, nating from without, and the other from within the
and scarlet, in the form of pomegranates, inter- human being, and the result of these two principles
spersed with small gold bells, in order to make a is the reason of man, The great employment of
noise when the high priest went into or came out reason is, to secure pleasure and avoid pain, and
from the holy place. We are not informed of the thus to attain happiness. Pleasure and happiness
exact number of the pomegranates and bells. The then are identical.
Rabbinical writers are mostly unanimous in saying, But besides the metaphysical and moral opinions
there were seventy-two in all, which is doubtless as of Epicurus, he taught also a peculiar system of
probable as any other conjecture on the subject. It cosmology. He believed with Democritus that in-
will be observed, that while the body of the robe divisible, eternal, and indestructible atoms are the
was entirely of blue, this ornamental appendage in principles of all things; but he somewhat improved
the skirts was richly dyed of variegated hues, and upon the system of his master as to the motion of
must have rendered the whole a vestment of exqui- these atoms. Democritus taught that the atoms
site beauty." The Hebrew name of this robe is mërl, moved in a straight line in the infinite void. This
which is translated by the Septuagint, “ an under hypothesis did not appear to Epicurus sufficient to
garment reaching down to the feet.”
explain the mechanical structure of the universe,
EPHODION. See VIATICUM.
and therefore, he endowed them with a second mo-
EPHOROI (Gr. inspectors), a name which some tion, in an oblique line, by which, being borne along
of the ancient Christian writers give to bishops. in different directions, he imagined they might give
EPHPHATA (Gr. be opened), a ceremony prac- rise to the various phenomena of the universe. In
tised in the ancient Christian church in the case of his view, not only was the production of material
I.
3Q
834
EPIDOTES-EPIPHANY.
1
objects thus accounted for, but also that of the soul | honour of the manifestation of Christ as the Messiah,
of man, which he regarded as composed of matter or his consecration to the office of Messiah at his
more refined and ethereal in its nature than the body, baptism by Johnı, and the beginning of his public
but equally subject with it to mortality. A system ministry. It is mentioned by Chrysostom as an an-
of philosophy so completely material in its character cient principal feast of the church in Eastern Asia,
amounted to Atheism, or the denial of a creating and and in another passage the same writer calls it the
superintending God. The whole movements of the first among the principal feasts, and the only one
universe, both in its origin and continued action, which had reference to the appearance of Christ
were the movements of an automaton or self-acting among men. From the Eastern, this festival spread
machine. Not that Epicurus denied the existence to the Western church, and accordingly, we find
of the gods, but adhering still to his materialistic Ammianus Marcellinus relating, that in A. D. 360
views, he invested these celestial beings with mate- the Emperor Julian, residing at Vienna in the month
rial bodies like those of men, but more perfect and of January, celebrated the feast of Epiphany in the
ethereal in their nature; and these gods, clothed Christian church. The Donatists, who had separated
human bodies, were represented as wrapped up in from the dominant church at a time when no such
their own unchanging felicity, and utterly indifferent festival was known in the West, refused to adopt it,
to the affairs of sublunary mortals. Thus did the as being in their view an innovation coming from the
Atheism of Epicurus deny both creating power and Eastern church. Clement of Alexandria says, that the
providential government.
Gnostic sect of the Basilidians kept Epiphany in his
EPIDAURIA. See ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES. time at Alexandria. Neander thinks that this festi-
EPIDOTES, a god worshipped at Lacedemon. | val in all probability originated with Jewish Chris-
It was also a surname of Zeus and some other gods. tian churches in Palestine or Syria. At an early
EPIGONATON, a portion of the sacerdotal habit, period the festival of Epiphany was adopted as a
used in both the Greek and Roman churches, con- special season for administering baptism, in addition
sisting of an appendage somewhat resembling a to the seasons of Easter and Whitsuntide. Gregory
small maniple, worn on the right side hanging from Nazianzen appears to have been acquainted with the
the girdle. It has been supposed to refer to the custom of baptizing on Epiphany. It was also ob-
towel or napkin with which our blessed Lord girded served in the churches of Jerusalem and Africa.
himself when he washed the disciples' feet. Others When the Christmas festival was introduced from
regard it as an allusion to the words, “ Gird thy | the Western into the Eastern churches, many
sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty.” This piece churches in the East, such as the churches of Jeru-
of dress, which has generally a cross upon it, is used salem and of Alexandria, instead of keeping two
in the Romish church, only by the Pope. In the separate festivals, preferred combining the two into
Greek church it is worn by all bishops, and consists A separation of the two festivals, however, in
of a square of brocade, velvet or some stiff material, a the Alexandrian church took place in the fifth cen-
foot in dimension, with a cross wrought upon it, and tury. The union of Christmas with Epiphany was
tassels hanging from the three lower corners. This attempted to be defended by a reference to Luke iïi.
article of dress forms no part of the sacerdotal vest- 23, from which passage, it was inferred, that the
ments worn in the English church.
baptism of Christ took place on the very day of his
EPILENÆA, sacred games celebrated among nativity. In many of the Greek churches the festi-
the ancient Greeks in the time of vintage, before the val of Christmas received the name of Epiphany or
press for squeezing the grapes was invented. They Theophany. In course of time the Epiphany came
contended with one another in treading the grapes, to denote the day on which the wise men came from
who should soonest press out the must; and in the the East to worship the infant Jesus, that being the
meantime they sung the praises of Dionysus, begging day on which Christ was first specially manifested
that the must might be sweet and good.
as a light to lighten the Gentiles. In Germany this
EPIMANICIA, the maniples or hand-pieces of feast is called the day of the holy three kings. Some
the priests of the Greek church. They are provided have alleged that it was also observed in commemo-
with epimanicia for both arms, whereas the MANIPLE ration of the first miracle wrought by our Saviour in
(which see) of the Romish priesthood is worn on the Cana of Galilee, and that other miracle by which he
left hand alone. The patriarch wears both the epi- fed five thousand men with five loaves and two small
manicia at one time. They are supposed to repre- fishes. It was called often in ancient times, as
sent the bonds of our Lord Jesus Christ.
it is still called in the Greek church, the feast of
EPIMEDES, one of the CURETES (which see). Lights, as having its origin from the baptism of
EPINICION, a triumphal hymn used in the com- Christ, “the true Light that lighteth every man
munion service of the ancient Christian church. It that cometh into the world." Chrysostom says,
consisted of the words, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God that in this solemnity, in memory of our Sa-
of Hosts.". It has sometimes been confounded with viour's baptism, by which he sanctified the nature
the TRISAGION (which see).
of water, they were accustomed to carry home
EPIPHANY, a Christian festival instituted in water. at midnight from the church, and lay it up,
one.
EPIPHANY.
835
CrOSS.
where it would remain as fresh and uncorrupt, for officer who carries the oil, and a calabash or bowl,
one, two, or three years, as if it were immediately in which there are five wax-tapers
, made in the form
drawn out of any fountain. By the laws of Justi-
of a cross, and another attendant, who carries the
nian both Christmas and Epiphany were ordered sacred fire and the frankincense, repairs to the
to be held with great veneration, the courts of law river which is nearest to him, and reads, upon the
and the theatres being shut on these days. Epi- bank-side, some prayers adapted to the soleinn
phany was the time at which notice was appointed occasion; after that, he thurifies: or incenses the
to be given when Easter, Lent, and all the moveable waters, pours oil into them, and then lights the
solemnities were to be kept during the ensuing year. wax-tapers in the calabash or bowl, which he sets
Epiphany or Twelfth Day is observed with pecu- afloat upon the surface. In the next place, he puts
liar solemnity in the Greek church. On that day the a cross and his holy-water stick into the river, and
ceremony takes place which is termed the Greater | besprinkles the assistants, who wash themselves in
Benediction of the Waters. Dr. King, in his “Rites the consecrated waters, and carry away with them a
and Ceremonies of the Greek Church in Russia,' greater or less quantity of it, in proportion to their
gives the following description of the manner in zeal and ardency for devotion."
which this rite is celebrated in St. Petersburg: The Copts also have their Epiphany, on which
"On the river, upon the ice, a kind of wooden the following rites are practised as described by an
church is raised, painted and richly gilt, and hung old writer : “ As soon as the midnight office was
round with pictures, especially of St. John Baptist; over, which was read at the conservatory of water,
this is called the Jordan, a name used to signify the wherein they were to plunge, the patriarch withdrew
baptistery or font. The Jordan is surrounded by a to the vestry, from whence he returned in a short
temporary hedge of the boughs of fir-trees; and in time, dressed in all his pontifical vestments, attended
the middle of it a hole is cut through the ice into | by a priest and a deacon with his cope on. The
the water ; a platform of boards, covered with red
boards, covered with red former officiated in his alb, and the latter bore a steel
cloth, is laid down for the procession to pass upon, As soon as they were got to the conserva-
also guarded with a fence of fir- boughs. After the tory, the patriarch began his benediction of the wa-
liturgy is finished in the chapel of the imperial pa- ter, by reading several lessons, some in the Coptic
lace, the clerks, the deacons, the priests, the archi- language, and others in the Arabic, out of the Old
mandrites, and the bishops, vested in their richest and New Testainent. Afterwards he thurified the
robes, and carrying in their hands lighted tapers, the water, and stirred it several times crosswise with his
censer, the Gospel, and the sacred pictures and ban- | pastoral-staff
. The priests who were present re-
ners, proceed from the chapel to the Jordan, sing- peated the same ceremony after him. During this
ing the hymns appointed for the office ; followed by benediction there was a large iron sconce with three
the emperor and the whole court. All the troops of branches, about six feet high, and in each of them a
the city are drawn up round the place, the standards wax-candle burning. After the benediction was
of the regiments are also planted upon it, and all the over
, the congregation were allowed to plunge them-
artillery. The artillery and soldiers fire as soon as selves, or were plunged into the conservatory: and
the service is finished, and then are sprinkled with as the three who could get there first had the hap-
the sanctified water. The water is held in such piness of being plunged by the patriarch himself,
estimation by the common people, that they look on it is easy to imagine what hurry and confusion this
it as a preservative from, as well as cure of, not only imaginary act of devotion must create, where there
spiritual but natural infirmities. The aged, the sick, was no regard had to common decency or modest
and especially children, are brought in numbers to behaviour. After the men were all plunged in this
receive the benefit of these waters, by drinking holy water, they withdrew into the choir, and the
them, or by aspersion or immersion. Vast quan- women moved afterwards with the same irregula-
tities are carried home by them in bottles to be rity, to bear a part in this immodest, religious ordi-
kept in their houses for the use of their families dur- nance, which may justly be compared to the lewd
ing the ensuing year. It is considered as having and dissolute festivals of the Pagans. ” The Arme.
great efficacy to drive away evil spirits; therefore, nians also observe the ceremony of blessing the wa-
they have a singular custom in the evening, when ters on Epiphany, but in a somewhat different man-
this service is performed in the church, of marking ner: “In the first place, a large bason of water is
a cross upon their window-shutters and doors, in order placed at the door of the sanctuary, all the clergy
to hinder those spirits, when chased from the water, march in procession out of the vestry, and ascending
as they are believed to be by the consecration, from the steps of the sanctuary, continue their proces-
entering into their houses."
sion round the bason. The celebrant, who has said
The Mingrelians observe the practice of blessing mass just before, reads several prayers over the wa-
the waters on Epiphany, but in a manner somewhat ter in the bason, dips his cross into it, and afterwards
different from that which has just been described. makes the sign of the cross in the water with it, and
Picart describes it thus: “A priest preceded by a at last pours some chrism into it. After that the
trumpet, accompanied by a standard-bearer, the faithful wash themselves in it, and carry some of the
836
EPISCOPÆ-EPISCOPAL (PROTESTANT) CHURCH OF AMERICA.
water home with them, where they make the same lian and those which are Calvinian, are not Episcopa-
use of it as the Latins do of their holy water." lian, but Presbyterian in their form of government,
A peculiar custom has been long observed by the The church of the United Brethren or Moravians is
monarchs of Spain on the festival of Epiphany, that also Episcopal, though they allow their bishops no
of offering three chalices or communion-cups, one pre-eminent authority.
containing a piece of gold, another a portion of in- The Church of England is strictly Episcopalian in
cense, and the third a portion of myrrh. For a its ecclesiastical constitution, and differs both from
long period, also, the kings of England offered gold, the Lutheran and Reformed churches, with which it
frankincense and myrrh. In this custom there is evi- holds no ecclesiastical communion. Professing to
dently an allusion to the Eastern magi presenting derive its episcopal succession from the Church of
to the young child Jesus offerings of gold, frankin- Rome, it recognises the validity of Romish orders
,
cense, and myrrh.
while Presbyterian ordination is rejected as null and
EPIPHANIANS, a branch of the CARPOCRA- void. Before the Act of Uniformity was passed in
TIANS (which see).
1662, the orders of Presbyterian churches were ad-
EPISCOPA, a name sometimes given in the an- mitted by the Church of England, and it was not
cient Christian church to the wife of a bishop. The until the time of Laud that the slightest doubt came
word is used in this sense in the second council of to be entertained as to their validity. In the reign of
Tours, where it is said, that if a bishop hath not a Elizabeth, the ministers of foreign churches, even
wife, there shall no train of women follow him. although ordained in the Presbyterian formi, were
EPISCOPÆ, a name given to the DEACONESSES by express enactment declared to be admissible to
(which see) of the ancient Christian church.
English benefices, simply on obtaining the license of
EPISCOPACY, that form of church government the bishop. Accordingly, many presbyterially or-
which recognises a distinction of ranks among the dained ministers were found occupying pastoral
ministers of religion, having as its fundamental charges within the pale of the Episcopalian church.
article that a bishop is superior to a presbyter. The question, however, of the validity of the ordi-
The Presbyterians, on the other hand, assert a com- nation of Presbyterian ministers was brought under
plete parity, in respect of office and authority, of public discussion in England in the beginning of the
those who preach and administer the sacraments, seventeenth century. Episcopacy had been thrust
whatever difference there may be among them in age, upon the Scottish people by James I. after his suc-
talents, and learning. A full view of the arguments on cession to the English throne, and that the new bish-
both sides has been given under the article BISHOP. ops might be consecrated with due Episcopal form,
EPISCOPALIANS, a name given to those who three of them were despatched to London for ordi-
hold that peculiar form of church government which nation, though they had previously been regularly
is called EPISCOPACY. (See preceding article.) The ordained Presbyterian ministers. Andrews, Bishop
Church of Rome is Episcopalian in its constitu- of Ely, raised the difficulty, whether these three Scot-
tion, and acknowledges the Pope as Universal tish ministers ought not to be ordained priests before
Bishop, to whom all the various orders of clergy, being consecrated as bishops. In reply to this dif-
cardinals, primates, and patriarchs, archbishops and ficulty, Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, main-
bishops are subordinate. In the class of Episco- tained that Presbyterian orders were quite valid,
palian churches, also, must be ranked the Greek | otherwise there would be no lawful ministry through-
church, which, besides the Patriarch of Constan- out the foreign Reformed churches. This last opi-
tinople, who is (Ecumenical or Universal Bishop, nion prevailed, and the proposal to re-ordain the
has other subordinate patriarchs, archbishops, and | bishops-elect from Scotland fell to the ground. The
bishops, along with various orders of inferior clergy. Act of Uniformity produced a complete change in
The Russian church, which is an independent branch the practice of the church in this matter, no miuis-
of the Greek church, maintains a strictly episcopa- ter, not episcopally ordained, being allowed to enter
lian form of government under the Holy Legislative the pulpits of the English clergy. Accordingly,
Synod, the superior clergy consisting of metropoli- | when Charles II. re-established Episcopacy in Scot-
tans, archbishops, and bishops. The Armenian land, Leighton, Sharp, and others, who had only
church is similar in government to the Greek church, received Presbyterian ordination, were ordained
their Catholicos being equivalent in rank and autlio- priests before being consecrated to the Episcopate.
rity to the Greek patriarch. All the ancient East. In 1689, Episcopacy was abolished in the Church of
ern churches, including the Copts, Abyssinians, and Scotland, and “all superiority of any office of the
others, are Episcopalian. The government of several church in this kingdom above Presbyters." From
of the Lutheran churches appears to be a mixture of that day, down to the present, while Episcopacy has
Episcopacy, Presbyterianism, and Independency, but been the established form of religion in England,
especially of the two former. This is the case with that of Scotland has been Presbyterian.
the German Lutheran church. The churches of Swe- EPISCOPAL (PROTESTANT) CHURCH OF
den and Denmark, however, are wholly Episcopal. AMERICA. This large and respectable body of
The Reformed churches, both those which are Zuing- | Christians had its origin in the scattered congregations
-----
support of bishops in America. At length steps clergymen could only be ordained in
EPISCOPAL (PROTESTANT) CHURCH OF AMERICA.
837
which sprung up in North America in the beginning | despatched the Rev. Samuel Seabury for England to
of the seventeenth century, composed chiefly of Eng- receive episcopal consecration, but unfortunately in-
lish emigrants, who had been reared in the doctrine, superable obstacles presented themselves. It was
worship, and discipline of the Church of England. found that the bishops could not consecrate a bishop
From 1607 to the close of the American Revolution in for an independent country without a special act of
1783, all the Episcopal clergy in all the English co- parliament authorizing them to do so, which per-
lonies were under the supervision of the Bishop of mission parliament would not grant. Dr. Seabury,
London. The consequence was, that for more than therefore, after spending ten months in London, with
one hundred and seventy years, the Protestant Epis- no prospect of obtaining the fulfilment of his wishes,
copal Church of America enjoyed no proper epis- repaired to Scotland, where, without hesitation, the
copal supervision, there being no bishop in the coun- non-juring bishops of that country consecrated him
try invested with the power of conferring holy orders to the Episcopal office as Bishop of Connecticut.
or admitting to the communion by confirmation. This act of the Scottish Episcopalians was imme-
Such a state of things was far from favourable to diately followed by a change in the views of the
the progress of the church in America. Attempts | English government, and no difficulty was now ex-
were made at various periods to remedy the evil. perienced in obtaining full permission for the Eng-
In the reign of Charles I. a project was devised | lish bishops to consecrate other bishops for the
of sending a bishop to New England, but it was American Episcopal Church. An act of parlia-
not carried into effect. After the restoration of ment was passed in 1787 empowering the Archbishop
Charles II. a similar proposal was made by Lord of Canterbury and the Bishop of London to conse-
Clarendon, and a patent was actually made out for crate three bishops for the dioceses of Pennsylva-
the consecration of a bishop of Virginia, but this nia, New York, and Virginia.
plan also was defeated. The subject was again and The Protestant Episcopal church is the oldest
again mooted, but to no practical purpose. The Protestant church in the United States. The first
Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, congregation of the body was formed at Jamestown
which was chartered in 1701, took up the matter, in Virginia, in 1607, and enjoyed under the English
but the death of Queen Anne prevented them from government all the privileges of an established
accomplishing their purpose. Some of the dignita- church. The number of congregations gradually in-
ries of the Church of England felt a deep interest in creased, not only in the new colony of Virginia, but
the Transatlantic branch of their church, and in in the colony of Maryland, and also in New York,
1715, Archbishop Tenison bequeathed £1,000, for the since 1693. But till the American Revolution, its
England, and
were taken in Scotland among the non-juring bishops were mostly chosen, as well as partially supported, by
for carrying out the long-desired project. Two the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign
bishops consecrated for the American church, the Parts. Since the Revolution this church has made
Rev. Robert Welton and the Rev. John Talbot, sailed steady, but by no means rapid progress. Its present
across the Atlantic ip 1723. But the British gov- position is thus sketched by Dr. Schaff: “It does
ernment would neither allow colonial bishops to be not properly correspond so well as the Puritan and
ordained in England, nor would they permit bishops Presbyterian churches to republican institutions;
to officiate in the colonies who had been ordained and on account of the English sympathies, which a
elsewhere. Mr. Welton, accordingly, had scarcely large number of its clergy cherished for very obvious
set foot on the shores of America when he received reasons, during the Revolutionary war, it incurred
orders immediately to return to England, and the suspicion of a want of patriotism, and was, therefore,
other bishop, Mr. Talbot, having died soon after his for a long time unpopular. Yet, it has in its favour
arrival, this scheme also failed.
staunch old English traditions, an important theologi-
The subject of the appointment of bishops for the cal and practical religious literature, and a name of
American church was once more taken up in England, renown even in the history of America—for Wash-
and the Bishop of London resolved to consecrate the ington, for instance, and most of the great statesmen
Rev. Mr. Colebatch, his suffragan, to officiate in the of Virginia, belonged to it—and by its compact,
colonies, but the new bishop was prohibited by gov- imposing, and personally responsible form of
govern-
ernment from leaving the kingdom. Still the So- ment, and its liturgical worship, without any special
ciety for Propagating the Gospel earnestly pressed missionary efforts, it has a strong attraction for the
the matter, and their efforts were seconded by nearly higher classes and the polite, yet would-be religious
the whole Episcopal branch at the time; but all was world. It may be called, in a certain sense, the aris-
to no purpose, the Dissenters, both in England and tocratic and fashionable church of the United States,
the colonies, giving the most strenuous opposition to which, however, involves at the same time a serious
the consecration of bishops for the American church. defect, since in the church of Christ all distinctions
And it was not until the Americans had asserted their of society ought to disappear in the feeling of com-
political independence of Britain, that they were able mon guilt and common salvation, and before the av-
to obtain bishops for themselves. In 1783 they ful realities of the eternal world. From its clergy
!:
838
EPISCOPAL (PROTESTANT) CHURCH OF AMERICA.
the President chooses most of the chaplains for the ated in a republican country, is free from the eccle-
army and navy. In the country, in the lower orders siastical supremacy of the crown, which is an essen-
of society, and in the west, it has very feeble hold; tial feature of the English church; and accordingly,
but in the great cities of the east it is wealthy and all the passages in the Thirty-Nine Articles, the
strong. In New York, for example, it possesses, not Liturgy, and the Canons which bear upon the head-
by any means the most intelligence and piety-in ship of the Sovereign, have been either struck out
these it must yield to the Presbyterian—but the or modified. The Protestant Episcopal Church in
greatest outward splendour, the most imposing and America enjoys full freedom of action, and has the
costly churches, and the fattest livings. With a mass privilege of self-government. It has also full lay re-
of high-flying men of the world, who attend its wor- presentation. The organization of the church is
ship merely for fashion's sake, and perhaps also for thus described by Dr. Schaff: “It is divided into
the music, but never think of such a thing as dioceses according to the political divisions of the
thorough conversion, it numbers among its members country, the names of the dioceses corresponding to
many truly pious persons, whose religious life is the number and names of the States; while the Ro-
more evenly and harmoniously formed, than that of man Catholics name their sees after the larger cities.
most Puritans. The large accession which the Epis- Only the great State of New York has two dioceses
copal Church continually receives from other deno- can eastern and a western. At the head of each
minations, is, by no means, to be referred entirely to diocese stands a bishop, who is usually at the same
outward considerations, but, in many cases, to deeper time rector of one of the more important congrega-
inward grounds. Many laymen, and even Puritani- tions, and is in part supported by it, or draws his
cally or Methodistically educated clergymen, pass salary from the interest of a special fund, or, if there
over to it, because they see in it the true mean be- is no such fund, or if it is not sufficient, from the
tween the extremnes of Puritanism and Romanism, annual collections made by his Presbyters. Every
and because they think, that it alone equally meets spring he assembles all the Presbyters of his district
,
both the evangelical Protestant and the Catholic in- with as many lay delegates as there are parishes, in
terests. Yet many such Episcopal clergymen, who a diocesan convention. He, as president, opens the
have come from other Protestant denominations, convention with a charge, consisting of a statistical
have been driven by the same desire for a fixed ob- report of his official labours during the past year,
jective ecclesiasticism and a liturgical altar-service, with appropriate exhortations, and sometimes theo-
beyond this via media into the Roman camp." logical expositions. Here all the affairs of the dio-
In the American Episcopal Church, as well as in cese are attended to. To this body belongs also the
the English Church, there have always been two power of electing the bishop of the diocese, of choos-
parties; the High Church party, which takes its ing a standing committee as his council, and of pre-
stand on the episcopal constitution and the theory senting him for trial. Every three years the Gen-
of apostolic succession, and, more than all, on the eral Convention, as it is called, assembles in one of
Book of Common Prayer; and the Low Church the larger cities of the Union, for the most part in
party, which takes its stand with equal right on the New York and Philadelphia alternately. Agreeably
Thirty-Nine Articles, being Calvinistic in the doc- to the arrangement of the old English convocations
trine of election, and Zuinglian in the doctrine of the and of the British Parliament and the American
sacraments. There is also, as in England, a consider-Congress, this convention consists of two houses, an
able and daily increasing party, corresponding to the upper, or the house of Bishops (now numbering
Broad Church school, of which Dr. Arnold was the thirty-one or two), which sits with closed doors, and
founder. The ANGLO-CATHOLICS (which see), also, is presided over by the oldest or senior bishop-for
are rapidly making way in America. We learn from there are no archbishops as in England—and a lower,
Dr. Schaff, that “almost half the Episcopal ministers or the house of clerical and lay deputies, which is
there are more or less Puseyistic, and several among composed of an equal number of Presbyters and lay
them, including Bishop Ives of North Carolina, have delegates from all the dioceses, none being allowed to
passed over to the Romish church; while most con- send more than four of each order, and which holds its
tent themselves with the idea of an Anglo-Catholi- deliberations in open church. This triennial General
cism, in hope of a future, closer union with the Convention is the supreme judicatory of the Episco-
Eastern churches, and the Roman bishop as patri- pal Church in all matters of doctrine, worship and
arch of the West."
discipline. The concurrence of both houses is neces-
In several points the American Episcopal Church sary to the enactment of a law. The vote is counted
differs from the mother-church in England. Her
Her by dioceses. The house of Bishops has a veto upon
liturgy omits the Athanasian Creed, the prayers for
the acts of the lower house. This power may pre-
the Royal family, the services which relate to the vent many useful reforms but also many useless
death of Charles T., to the restitution of the Stuarts changes or dangerous innovations, especially in an
in 1660, and to the Gunpowder plot under James I. age and country, which has a morbid passion for
But besides these comparatively trifling peculiarities, law-making."
the American church, from its position as being situ- There were thirty-five bishops in the United
EPISCOPATE-EPISTLES.
839
see).
States in 1854, belonging to the Protestant Episco- | III. sought for and obtained the title of UNIVERSAL
pal church. The salaries of the clergy are regulated BISHOP from the Greek Emperor, and the date of
by an agreement between them and their people. this event A. D. 606 is generally considered by Pro-
The number of clergy amount to 1,700, the churches testant writers as the date of the full revelation of
to 1,500, the communicants to 105,000, and the ad- ANTICHRIST.
herents to 1,000,000. Of all the Protestant deno- EPISCOPUS REGIONARIUS, a bishop in for-
minations in the United States, this has perhaps the mer times, whose labours were confined to no particu-
fairest prospects of success.
There is at present a lar place, but who wandered about from one district
movement on foot, in which, however, the bishops to another.
do not sympathize, for rendering this church increas- EPISOZOMENE, a name given by the Cappado-
ingly efficient and popular. What is to be the re- cian Christians to ASCENSION-DAY (which see), pro-
sult of the movement, time alone can determine, bably because on that day our salyation was per-
but with the self-accommodating power which it fected.
possesses, and the advantage of lay representation, EPISTEMONARCH (Gr. epistemai to know, and
this church may yet be honoured to do much to- archo to rule), an officer in the Greek church, whose
wards advancing the cause of Christianity in Amer- office it is to watch over the doctrines of the church,
ica.
and to examine all matters relating to faith.
EPISCOPATE, the office of a Bishop (which EPISTLE, the first lesson in the Communion
Service of the Church of England, deriving its name
EPISCOPI EPISCOPORUM (Lat. bishops of from the circumstance that it is generally taken from
bishops), a name sometimes applied to bishops in the the Apostolic Epistles; though sometimes it is taken
ancient Christian church, because, as Epiphanius from the Acts, and occasionally from the writings of
says, they make bishops by ordination.
the Old Testament Prophets. The Epistles occur
EPISCOPI SENATUS (Lat. bishops of the not only in the Liturgy in its present form, but also
senate), a name given in the Canon Law to the in both the First and Second Books of King Edward
CHAPTER OF A CATHEDRAL (which see).
VI. Dr. Hook thinks that they are as old as the
EPISCOPISSÆ, a name sometimes given to the time of Augustine in the sixth century. Bishop
DEACONESSES (which see) of the ancient Christian Stillingfleet says, that for four hundred years till the
church.
time of Pope Celestine, the Romish church had
EPISCOPUS JUDÆORUM (Lat. bishop of neither psalms nor lessons from the Old Testament
the Jews). The Jews in England under the first read before the Communion, but only Epistle and
Norman kings, had over them an officer under this Gospel. In other churches, they had lessons out of
name, licensed by the crown, who judged and ruled the Old Testament as well as the New.
them according to their own law.
EPISTLER, an ecclesiastical officer mentioned in
EPISCOPUS ECUMENICUS, universal bishop, the Canons of the Church of England, and in the in-
a title which the Greek bishops of the larger sees junctions of Queen Elizabeth, whose duty it was to
and chief cities of the East were sometimes arrogant read the Epistle in collegiate churches. He was ap-
enough to assume. When this title was adopted by pointed to be dressed in a cope. The office is now
John the Faster, patriarch of Constantinople, in a obsolete, but it is mentioned in the original con-
council held in A. D. 588, Gregory the Great opposed stitution of Norwich cathedral, founded by charter
his pretensions with the utmost vehemence, and in King Edward VI.
order to establish more firmly his own authority as
EPISTLES. This term is usually applied spe-
bishop of Rome, and, therefore, sitting in the chair cially to those letters contained in the New Testa-
of Peter, he invented the fiction of the power of the ment, which were addressed by the apostles on vari-
keys as committed to the successor of St. Peter, ous occasions to different Christian churches. They
rather than to the body of the bishops, which had amount in number to twenty-one, and are divided
been the recognized opinion up to that time. In into two classes, the Pauline Epistles, or those which
one of his letters, he says, “I am bold to say that were penned by the Apostle Paul, and the CATHO-
whoever adopts or affects the title of UNIVERSAL LIC EPISTLES (which see), or those which were ad-
BISHOP has the pride and character of antichrist, dressed not to particular individuals or churches, but
and is
some manner his forerunner in this haughty to Christians generally. Fourteen of these Aposto-
quality of elevating himself above the rest of his lic Letters were written by the great apostle of the
order. And indeed both the one and the other Gentiles. They are arranged in the New Testament
seem to split upon the same rock; for as pride not chronologically, or in the order of time, but ac-
makes antichrist, strains his pretensions up to God-cording to the rank or importance of the societies or
head, so whoever is ambitious to be called the only persons to whom they were addressed. The present
or universal prelate, arrogates to himself a distin- arrangement is that which was followed in the time
guished superiority, and rises as it were upon the of Eusebius, who flourished in the beginning of the
ruins of the rest." Only two years after the death fourth century, and also probably of Irenæus, who
of Gregory, who penned these words, Pope Boniface lived in the second century. The Catholic Epistles
!
840
EPISTOLÆ SYNODICÆERASTIANS.
The ephia
are seven in number, and contain the letters of the lius Cæsar added three more; but in a short time
Apostles James, Peter, Jolin, and Jude.
the number was again reduced to seven.
The Apostolic Epistles afford abundant confirma- lones formed a college or religious corporation recog-
tion of the truth and authority of Christianity. nized by the state.
nized by the state. “They had their naine," says
They strikingly establish the most important facts Kennet in his Roman Antiquities," from a custom
mentioned in the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles. which obtained among the Romans in time of public
The chief particulars of our Lord's life and death are danger, of making a sumptuous feast in their temples,
referred to in such a way as to show that the writers to which they did as it were invite the deities them-
were familiarly acquainted with them, as having selves; for their statues were brought on rich beds
themselves been eye-witnesses of the same; nor do with their pulvinaria or pillows, and placed at the
they rest their claim to be believed on the mere or- most honourable part of the table as the principal
dinary footing of human testimony, but they appeal guests. These regalia they called epulæ or lectis-
to the possession of miraculous gifts with which as ternia; the care of which belonged to the epulones."
apostles they were endowed, and which fully estab. EPULUM JOVIS (Lat. the feast of Jupiter), óne
lished their divine mission. The Epistles are in of the festivals of the ancient Romans held in hon-
fact inspired commentaries on the doctrines of the our of the father of the gods. At these heathen
Gospel, giving a fuller, more systematic, and clearer feasts, in commemoration of their deities, splendid
display of evangelical truth than is to be found in couches were prepared, on which were laid images
any other portion of the Sacred Volume. See of the gods, and rich entertainments set before them.
BIBLE.
On these occasions the Epulones presided. See pre-
EPISTOLÆ CANONICÆ. See CANONICAL ceding article.
LETTERS.
EQUIRIA (Lat. equus, a horse), two festivals,
EPISTOLÆ COMMENDATORIÆ. See COM- celebrated the one in February, and the other in
MENDATORY LETTERS.
March, by the ancient Romans, in honour of Mars
,
EPISTOLÆ DIMISSORIÆ. See DIMISSORY the god of war. Horse races were the principal
LETTERS.
amusement on these occasions, and hence the name.
EPISTOLÆ SYNODICÆ, a name sometimes
,
ERA. See ÆRA.
given to ENTHRONISTIC LETTERS (which see), but ERASTIANS, those who adhere to the opinions
more generally used to indicate the circular letters first publicly avowed by Thomas Erastus, a doctor
by which a primate summoned a synod of the an- of medicine at Heidelberg in Germany, in the six-
cient Christian church.
teenth century. A public dispute took place in
EPITHALAMIUM (Gr. epi, upon, and thalamos, A. D. 1568, on certain theses concerning the neces-
a marriage), a marriage song. It was customary sity of church government, and the power of pres-
among the Jews in ancient times to sing a song ac- byteries to excommunicate unworthy persons. The
companied by musical instruments, in praise of the debate was conducted on the one side by Mr. George
bridegroom and bride. See MARRIAGE.
Withers, who had left England in consequence of
EPITRACHELION (Gr. epi, over, and trachelion, the controversy concerning church ceremonies ; and
a neck-piece), a vestment of the Greek ecclesiastics, on the other side by Erastus, who, although at an
which, instead of being put roủnd the neck like a earlier period he had held the opinion that excom-
scarf, is joined at the centre, and has an orifice left munication is warranted by the Word of God, nov
at its upper end that it may be passed over the came forward openly to defend the doctrine that
head. It is usually of rich brocade, and ornamented the church has no power to exercise discipline of
with gold and costly gems.
any kind, but is entirely subordinate to the autho-
EPOCH. See ÆRA.
rity of the civil magistrate. Erastus, however, did
EPONA, the Divine protectress of horses among not proceed so far, in his published writings,
the ancient Greeks. Images of her, whether in deny wholly, and in all cases, the right of the church
painting or sculpture, were frequently found in to excommunicate, but, on the contrary, he admit-
stables.
ted that profane, scandalous persons ought to be
EPONAMON, a name given by the natives of suspended from the sacrament, and if they still per-
Chili in South America to the Devil, as being strong sisted in their offences, they ought to be excommu-
and powerful. See DEVIL-WORSHIP.
nicated. He enumerates, in his writings, seven differ-
EPOPSIUS, a surname of ZEUS, APOLLO, and ent classes of persons, who ought not to be regarded
POSEIDON (which see).
as members of the visible church, and if found in
EPOPTÆ. See ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES. it ought to be cast out. The classes to which he
EPULONES, a special order of priests among the refers are these, “1. Idolaters. 2. Apostates. 3. Such
ancient Romans. They were originally three in as do not understand the true doctrine; that is, ig-
number, and were first appointed B. C. 198 to pre- norant persons.
4. Such as do not approve and
side at the EPULUM Jovis (which see), and the embrace the true doctrine; that is, heretics and sec-
festivals held in honour of the other gods. Their taries. 5. Such as desire to receive the sacrament
number was afterwards increased to seven, and Ju- otherwise than in the right manner, and according to
as to
ERASTIANS.
841
them."
Christ's institution. 6. Such as defend or justify be; and when they are, they are to manage their office
their wickedness. 7. Such as do not confess and under and for Christ. Christ hath placed govern-
acknowledge their sins, and profess sorrow and re- ments in his church. Of other governments be-
pentance for them, and a hatred or detestation of sides magistracy I find no institution ; of them I
do. I find all government given to Christ, and to
Others, however, went far beyond Erastus in their Christ as Mediator; and Christ, as head of these,
views on this subject, confounding completely the given to the church. To rob the kingdom of Christ
civil and ecclesiastical authorities, denying the sy- of the magistrate and his governing power, I cannot
nodical power of censures, holding that both the
excuse, no, not from a kind of sacrilege, if the ma-
power of making laws, and the corrective power of gistrate be His.”
censuring transgressors, belong exclusively to the The Erastian principles put forth by Coleman
civil magistrate. No such sentiments had ever been were ably refuted by Mr. George Gillespie, in a
broached by the divines of the Reformation, not short pamphlet appended to a sermon which he
even by Zuinglius himself, and although most of preached in August of the same year before the
them had passed away from this earthly scene before House of Lords. To this Coleman replied, but Gil-
the theory of Erastus had been set forth in all its lespie, in a short rejoinder, exposed his opponent in
grossness, yet Beza, in advanced years, entered the a most masterly way. Various pamphlets were pub-
field against Erastus with a vigour almost equal to lished on the disputed points in the year 1646; but
that of his early years.
towards the close of the year appeared Gillespie's
From Germany the Erastian controversy was powerful treatise, entitled "Aaron's Rod Blossom-
transferred to England, and the important topics con- ing; or the Divine Ordinance of Church Govern-
nected with it occupied a prominent place in the de- ment Vindicated,' which was published almost simul-
bates of the Assembly of divines held at Westmin- taneously with a very learned and elaborate work by
ster in A. D. 1643. The chief defenders of Eras- Samuel Rutherford, another Scotch divine, under the
tianism in the Assembly, were Selden, Whitelocke, | title, “The Divine Right of Church Government and
Lightfoot, and Coleman ; and the principal ground Excommunication. These works against the Eras-
on which they rested their defence, was an alleged | tians, along with another from the pen of the famous
analogy between the Mosaic and the Christian dis- | Apollonius of Middleburg, established on a firm and
pensations. “They held," says Dr. Hetherington, irrefragable basis the grand truth, so clearly and ex-
in his History of the Westminster Assembly,' | plicitly laid down in the Westminster Confession,
" that the Christian system ought to resemble, or that “ Christ hath appointed a government in the
rather to be identical with, the system of the Mosaic church, in the hands of church officers, distinct from
dispensation ; and they attempted to prove, that there the civil government."
were not two distinct and co-ordinate courts, one The Erastian theory, when followed out to its
civil and the other ecclesiastical, among the He- legitimate issue, makes the church dependent for its
brews, but that there was a mixed jurisdiction, of authority upon the will of the magistrate. Both,
which the king was the supreme and ultimate head however, are Divine institutions, but though sprung
and ruler, and that, consequently, the civil courts from the same source, the appointment of God,
determined all matters, both civil and ecclesiastical, they have a separate existence, an independent
and inflicted all punishments, both such as affected will, and a co-ordinate authority. They have, it is
person and property, and such as affected a man's true some ends in common, and they have also some
religious privileges, properly termed church cen- common means for the accomplishment of these ends.
sures. From this they concluded, that the civil But there are various essential points of difference
magistrate, in countries avowedly Christian, ought between the church and the civil government, which
to possess an equal, or identical authority, and ought render the attempts of the Erastians to confound the
consequently to be the supreme and ultimate judge | two, alike contrary to reason and Scripture. They
in all matters, both civil and ecclesiastical, inflict differ in their origin, civil government having been
ing or removing the penalties of church censure appointed by God as the governor of the universe,
equally with those affecting person and property. and the church having been appointed by Christ in
The arguments on which they most relied were his capacity of Mediator. They differ in their ex-
drawn from rabbinical lore, rather than from the tent, civil government being an ordinance extending
Bible itself, although they were very willing to ob- to all nations, and the church embracing those only
tain the appearance of its support, by ingenious ver- wlio have been brought within range of the Gospel.
sions, or perversions of peculiar passages of Scrip- | They differ in regard to some of the purposes which
The argument of Coleman, in a sermon which they serve, civil government being fitted to attain
he preached before the House of Commons on the various secular ends, which the church, from its
30th of July 1645, was thus plausibly stated, “A strictly spiritual character, could never accomplish;
Christian magistrate, as a Christian magistrate, is a and the church, on the other hand, being adapted to
governor in the church. All magistrates, it is true,
the fulfilment of several spiritual purposes, which the
are not Christians ; but that is their fault: all should civil government, from its strictly secular character,
ture."
I.
3 R
842
ERATO-ESCHRAKITES.
ncea.
could never reach. They differ in the weapons | Poseidon and Hephæstus. Erectheus is said to
which they respectively wield, the civil government | have introduced into Athens the worship of Athena,
having the power of the sword, from which the and to have instituted the festival of the Panathe
church is excluded, while the church has the power He was the first who drove a chariot with
of ecclesiastical discipline from which civil govern- four horses, and, accordingly, he received a place
ment is excluded. They differ finally in their offi- among the constellations under the name of Aurija
cers, the civil government having no authority to or the charioteer.
preach or administer the sacraments,, while the EREMITES. See ANCHORETS.
church has no authority to intrude into the office of ERGANA, or ERGATIS (Gr. ergon, a work), a
the magistrate.
surname of Athena, as having taught mankind all
It is important to observe, that the church and the kinds of arts.
civil government not only differ in various points ERIDANUS, a river-god among the ancient
from one another, but each is in its own proper Greeks, the son of Oceanus and Tethys. The first
sphere independent of the other. They have each who mentions him is Hesiod, but Herodotus regards
of them a distinct and independent jurisdiction, so this divinity as a mere poetical invention.
that neither does the state derive its authority from ERINNES, a surname of Hermes.
the church, as the Romanist alleges, nor does the ERINNYES. See EUMENIDES.
church derive its authority from the state, as the
ERIS (Gr. contention), the goddess of discord
Erastian alleges. Both these opinions are equally among the ancient Greeks. It was she who threr
wide of the truth.
the apple of discord among the gods. She was said
But the question naturally arises, Can these two to be the sister of Ares and the daughter of Nyc.
societies thus distinct from, and independent of, each ERMENSUL, a god, supposed to have been iden-
other, form an alliance so as to act in harmony for tical with Mars, which was worshipped by the an-
the national good? To many it appears impossible cient Saxons in Westphalia. This idol was destroyed
that such an alliance can be effected without either by Charlemagne in A. D. 799, and its temple con-
the one party or the other suffering an abridgment verted into a Christian church.
of its independence; and, accordingly, those who EROS, the god of love among the ancient Greeks,
entertain conscientiously this opinion consider such corresponding to the Roman god Amor. Hesiod is
an alliance as inexpedient and unlawful. To many the first who mentions him in connection with the
others, again, it appears quite possible that the creation of the world, Eros being the connecting
church may form an alliance with the state, which power of love which introduced harmony among the
will, nevertheless, leave entire the just prerogatives conflicting elements of chaos. Some of the older
of each, and at the same time promote the common Greek poets describe him as the first of the gods
ends of both. Hence the VOLUNTARY CONTRO- who sprang from the mundane egg. There is an-
VERSY (which see).
other Eros, however, who is spoken of by the later
ERATO, one of the MUSES (which see), and also poets as a son of Aphrodite, a youth of handsome
one of the NEREIDS (which see).
figure and lovely countenance, who rules both gods
ERDAVIRAPH, an eminent impostor who arose
and men.
He is often represented as a winged
in Persia in the third century, and was considered as youth, blindfolded, carrying a bow and quiver full of
the true and real restorer of the doctrines of the arrows, which he discharges at the hearts of mortals.
Magi. Being ambitious to support the character He was chiefly worshipped at Thespiæ in Bæotia
,
which he bore of a man of God, he pretended to be where a rude stone was his symbol, and a festival
cast into a profound sleep, during which he assured was observed regularly in honour of this god. See
his admirers that his soul was released from her next article.
earthly tabernacle, in order to take her flight to hea- EROTIA, a festival celebrated every five years at
His soul was seven entire days in her passage Thespiæ in Baotia, in honour of Eros, the god of
to realms of light and bliss ; during which time his love. Little is known regarding this festival, except
body was constantly attended by six Magi, and the that it was conducted with music and wrestling.
king in person, all of them jointly praying and fast- ERYCINA, a surname of Aphrodite, who was so
ing till his return.
named from Mount Eryx in Sicily, where a temple
EREBUS, a son of Chaos, and father of Æther was erected in her honour. About the beginning of
and Hemera, by his sister Night. The term, which the second Punic war, her worship was introduced
signifies darkness, is also used to signify the dark at Rome under the name of Venus Erycina, and a
and gloomy space through which, according to the temple built for her worship.
ancient heathens, souls pass on their way to HADES ESCHRAKITES (Arab. enlightened), a Moham-
(which see).
medan sect, who, like the Platonists of old, give
ERECTHEUS, a king of Athens, in whose hon- themselves to contemplation. They meditate chiefly
our after his death a temple was erected to his wor- upon God, and differ from other Mohammedans in
ship on the Acropolis, which was known by the believing a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead. This
name of the Erechtheium, in which were statues of | they explain by three folds in a handkerchief. They
ven.
ESSENES.
843
have no great respect for the Koran, which, except which proceeds from their making their own fancy
in so far as it proves their own doctrines, they con- their guide, is to be observed among the Essenes.
sider as abrogated. Being convinced that the su- Sacrifices were offered—but not in the Jewish tem-
preme happiness of man consists in the contempla- ple; oaths were prohibited—except that by which
tion of the Divine majesty, the gross notions of they were, after a noviciate of three years, bound to
Mohammed concerning the pleasures of paradise they their order ; the Sabbath rest was observed with a
look upon as mere idle fancies, and hold them in scrupulosity that cannot be recorded ; and they not
contempt
. This is one of the most respectable and only avoided all intercourse with the heathen, but
most highly esteemed of all the Mohammedan sects, even with other Jews, and with the inferior classes
and their doctrines, as well as whole deportment, ap-
of their own sect. Their numbers were compara-
proach most nearly to those of Christians.
tively small. The peaceful tenor of their lives seems
ESPOUSALS. See BETROTHMENT.
to have preserved them, amidst the storms that
ESSENES, one of the three ancient sects of the shook Judea, in the respect of all parties. They ex-
Jews. There has been considerable diversity of erted, however, little influence upon the general char-
opinion as to their origin. Their name is supposed acter."
by some to be derived from a Syriac word asa, to It is a somewhat remarkable circumstance, that
heal, and in confirmation of this derivation, it may while our blessed Lord during his public ministry
be remarked, that they are often called Therapeutce openly censured the other Jewish sects, he never
or healers. Some suppose them to have originated even once mentions the sect of the Essenes, nor does
in the time of the Maccabees, about B. C. 150, and their name occur throughout the whole of the New
they have even been considered as identified with Testament. This is generally accounted for by the
the AssIDEANS (which see), while others trace them supposition that from their preference of a retired
back to the Rechabites. The Essenes were divided and secluded mode of life, they never probably came
into two classes :—the Practical Essenes, who lived in contact with our Lord and his apostles as the
in society, and were not opposed to the married life; Pharisees and Sadducees did. Though not directly
--and the Contemplative Essenes, who lived chiefly mentioned, however, they are supposed to be alluded
in retirement, and devoted themselves to meditation. to by Christ under the term eunuchs in Mat. xix. 12.
On the sect of the Essenes generally Dr. Welsh The apostle Paul also, in his Epistle to the Colos-
remarks: “The servile hypocrisy of the Pharisees sians, seems to refer to them. Thus Col. ii. 18, 23,
and the cold reasonings of the Sadducees being “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a volun-
equally distasteful to them, they had recourse to a tary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding
mystic devotion and an ascetic life. They fixed into those things which he hath not seen, vainly
their residence in the desolate tracts on the western puffed up by his fleshly mind. Which things have
shores of the Dead Sea, where they were joined from indeed a slew of wisdom in will-worship, and hu-
time to time by men of views similar to their own. mility, and neglecting of the body; not in any hon-
Though receiving the Old Testament Scriptures as our to the satisfying of the flesh."
of Divine authority-like most mystics, they were The Essenes believed in the immortality of the
ready to set aside alike the authority of written reve- soul, the existence of angels, and a future state of
lation and the dictates of reason, upon the sugges- rewards and punishments, but they seem scarcely to
tions of their own imagination. They were chiefly have believed in the resurrection of the body. All
devoted to the pastoral and agricultural life, and to that is known either of the opinions or practices of
some of the simpler mechanical arts, the proceeds of the sect is derived from the writings of Josephus,
their industry being conveyed occasionally to cities, Philo, and Pliny. The two first-mentioned authors
in several of which they had communities established. being themselves Jews, give a somewhat highly
Medicine occupied a considerable portion of their at- coloured description of the Essenes. Josephus gives
tention, which seems to have been connected with us a detailed view of their mode of life. “They are
inquiries into the hidden powers of nature. In re- the strictest people towards God of all men living:
gard to their moral and religious views, our informa- they make a conscience of not speaking one word of
tion is not wholly to be depended on, as Josephus common business before the sun rises; but they
and Philo seem both to have been animated with the have certain traditional forms of prayer for that oc-
wish of impressing their Greek and Roman readers casion, imploring particularly from God, that the
with an idea of romantic or philosophic purity. There sun might shine upon them. After this act of devo-
seems no reason to doubt, however, that they led tion they are all dismissed to their several tasks and
harmless lives, supporting themselves by manual employments; and when they have studied and
labour, showing great kindness to the members of wrought hard till eleven at noon, they meet again
their community, and seeking in their religious ex- with linen clothes thrown over them, and so wash
ercises to realize something more than a compliance themselves all over with cold water. Upon this
with outward forms. The mixture of freedom from purification they retire to their cells, where no mor-
regard to ceremonies, and a servile attachment to tal of any other profession is allowed so much as to
them, which has always distinguished mystics, and breathe upon them; from thence they enter into the
844
ESSENES.
refectory, or dining-room, which they account little commanded; to declare himself an enemy to all
less holy than the temple itself. When they have wicked men, to join with all the lovers of right and
staid there awhile without a word speaking, the baker equity, to keep faith with all men, but with princes
brings up every man his loaf, and the cook every especially, as they are of God's appointment, and his
man his plate or mess of soup of the same sort, and ministers. He is likewise to declare, that if ever he
sets it before him. The priest then blesses the comes to be advanced above his companions, he will
meat, and not a creature dares so much as touch it never abuse that power to the injury of his subjects
,
till the grace be over: and so after dinner another nor distinguish himself from his inferiors by any
grace again; for they never fail to give God thanks ornament of dress or apparel; but that he will love
both before and after meat, as the author of the and embrace the truth, and bring false speakers to
blessing. This duty being over they quit their justice. He binds himself likewise to keep his hands
habits, as in some measure sacred, and so to their | clear from theft and fraudulent dealing, and his soul
ordinary work till evening. They go next to sup- as untainted with the desire of unjust gain; that he
per, as before, where they sit together, guests and will not conceal from his fellow professors any of the
all, if they have any, at the same table. There is no mysteries of his religion, nor communicate any of
manner of noise or disorder in those houses: they them to the profane, though it should be to save his
speak by turns; and this way of gravity and silence life. And then for the matter of his doctrine, that
gives strangers a great veneration for them. This is he shall deliver nothing but what he hath received;
the effect of a constant course of sobriety, in their that he will endeavour to preserve the doctrine itself
moderation of eating and drinking only to suffice that he professes, the books that are written of it,
nature.
and the names of those from whom he had it. These
“ In the administration of justice they are the protestations are made use of as a test for new
most regular and exact people alive; they determine comers, and as a security to keep them fast to their
nothing but what is carried by a hundred voices at duty.”
least; and when the judgment is once past, there is This sect arose in the country lying on the west
no recalling it. Next to the supreme authority of side of the Dead Sea, and thence they spread over
God himself they reckon that of their legislators, other parts of Palestine. Josephus says, there were
making it death to speak ill of them, or to blaspheme many of them dwelling in every town, and he men-
them. They ascribe great honour to their elders, tions four different orders of them, all of which,
and to the majority of the people, and think it very however, are resolvable into the two classes already
reasonable to obey the one and hearken to the other. mentioned, Practical and Contemplative Essenes ;
When there are ten together in council, no particu- some characterized by the one feature, and others by
lar person is to speak, if the other nine be against the other, while not a few might prefer to adopt a
it. They make it a matter of immorality to spit to- combination of both. It was a curious peculiarity
ward the middle of the company, or upon the right of the sect, that they sent gifts to the temple at Jeru-
hand. They are the strictest observers of the Sab- salem, while they themselves declined to attend.
bath of all sorts of Jews; for they do not only make Neander thus most judiciously accounts for this
ready the Sabbath-day's meal the night before, to practice.
practice. "If we may trust the words of Josephus,
avoid kindling a fire upon that day; but they dare they did indeed send gifts to the temple, and thus
not so much as remove a pot or a dish from one expressed their reverence for the original establish-
place to another."
ment; discharging in this manner the common duty
Simple, plain, and unostentatious, both in their of all Jews, as it was their principle to fulfil every
dress and manners, they are represented as having obligation that bound them; yet they did not visit
wandered about from place to place without any the temple themselves, perhaps because they looked
fixed residence, carrying nothing with them except upon it as polluted by the vicious customs of the
arms for their protection. They held a kind of com- Jews. They thought that the holy rites could be
munity of goods, so that what one wanted another performed in a worthier and more acceptable manner
was bound to supply. A candidate for admission into within the precincts of their own thoroughly pure
the society was kept on trial for an entire year, and and holy community. In like manner, also, they
when his probation was finished, he was received performed their sacrificial offerings, for the presenta-
into the body, being presented with a pick-axe, a tion of which, within the pale of their own society,
girdle, and a white garment. But even then he was they believed themselves best prepared by their as-
not permitted to eat at the common table till he had cetic lustrations. The authority of Moses standing
given evidence by a probation of one year longer, so high with them, there is not the least reason
that he was a fit person to associate with the com- supposing they would wholly set aside the sacrificial
munity. Before being fully united to the Essene worship appointed by him, unless it were true, per-
society, Josephus says, that “he is first to bind him- haps, that they looked upon the original Mosaic
self by solemn execrations and professions to love religion as having been corrupted by later additions,
and worship God, to do justice towards men, to and among these additions reckoned also the sacrifi-
wrong no creature willingly, no, nor to do it, though cial worship, as we find inserted in the Clementines ;
for
ESTABLISHED CHURCHES.
845
17
which, however, so far as it regards the Essenes at | part with one of these fundamental obligations which
least, admits not the shadow of a proof. Now it is | lay upon him as a creature of God. He was origi-
singular, it must be admitted, how, as Jews, they nally and necessarily bound, by the primary laws of
could entertain the opinion, that they might be al- his being, to promote the diffusion of divine truth to
lowed to offer sacrifices away from Jerusalem. But the utmost extent of his ability. This is not de-
caprice in the treatment of whatever belongs to the nied, so long as we speak
nied, so long as we speak of man in his natural re-
positive in religion, forms, indeed, one of the charac-lations, but the point at which this responsibility
teristic marks of such mystic sects. And it might stops is affirmed by the opponents of civil es-
well accord with the spirit of such a sect, that in blishments, to be that at which, to man's natural
proportion as they looked upon the sacrificial wor- were superadded civil relations. Now, though in
ship, instituted by Moses, as a holy service, they all his former situations the obligation in question
should be so much the less disposed to take any part is admitted, the circumstances of man in society
in its celebration, amidst all the wickedness in the are viewed, and in many respects we are far from
desecrated temple at Jerusalem; and should main- denying it, as essentially different. The laws by
tain that only among the really sanctified, the mem- which society is regulated are strictly convention-
bers of their own sect, was the truly spiritual temple, al, and in the very terms of its formation are in-
where sacrifices could be offered with the proper cluded the exchange of individual for social privi..
consecration."
leges. No man, however, can barter a' moral obli-
ESTABLISHED CHURCHES, those churches gation for any consideration whatever. The exist-
which are explicitly recognized and supported by the ence of the obligation is admitted to extend over
state. The question has been often agitated, particu- all the circumstances in which man is placed up
larly in Britain, within the present century, whether to that point where the social compact is formed;
civil establishments of religion are lawful, and even and, therefore, upon the opponents of Ecclesiastical
supposing them to be lawful, whether they are expe- Establishments lies the burden of proving, that the
dient. This formed with the Puritans, at least with circumstances of man in civil society are such as
a large party of them, a fundamental ground of oppo- to preclude the existence or operation of this fun-
sition to the Church of England, and from the rise of damental obligation. It seems impossible to con-
the Brownists, or first Independents, may be dated ceive of any possible, much less of any actually ex-
the commencement of the VOLUNTARY CONTRO-isting circumstances, in which man could be free
VERSY (which see), as it is called, which has at dif- from such an obligation, so long as the relation ex-
ferent periods been agitated with more or less keen- ists between the Creator and the creature. For the
ness, both in England and Scotland, down to the pre- enjoyment of the invaluable privileges connected
sent day.
with a state of society, man, no doubt, readily parts
The argument in favour of established churches with not a few of his individual and natural rights.
may be thus stated : It is admitted on all hands, His moral obligations, however, must necessarily re-
that, in his natural relations, as opposed to his civil main entire; and it is in the nature of things abso-
and political relations, man is imperatively bound to lutely impossible, that, by any mere conventional
promote the interests of true religion. As an indi- arrangements, he can be denuded of these without
vidual, or even as a brother, a parent, a friend or a violence being done to the primary laws of his ex-
neighbour, he is responsible for the faithful discharge istence upon earth.
of this paramount duty. But when we trace the man But it may perhaps be said, that, in entering into
into his civil or conventional relations as a citizen, a society, all his original obligations are maintained in
subject, or a magistrate, he is alleged to be altogether full operation, only, there is a general understand-
free from this responsibility, of advancing the inter- ing, that, to the civil relations on which he has now
ests of truth. This is, in plain language, to assert, entered, the obligations in question do not extend.
that, in all his natural relations, a man is bound to be Instead, however, of this allegation having been ever
a Christian, and to act like a Christian ; but, in his admitted to any extent, there never has existed, as
strictly civil duties, he not only may, but must, be Bishop Warburton has well remarked, a nation upon
an unbeliever, and act, in so far as he does act, in the face of the earth, where a civil establishment of
the capacity of a citizen, a subject, or a magistrate, religion has not occupied a prominent place among
as a decided unbeliever. It is undoubtedly true, her political institutions. The United States of
that at the original formation of the social compact America form, no doubt, an exception to this re-
-a phrase which we may be permitted to use with mark; but as the plan is still in process of experi-
out being supposed to found civil government up- ment, it can scarcely, we should think, be adduced
on the social compact-every individual has, no as weakening, even in the slightest degree, the force
doubt
, surrendered à portion of his natural liberty of the argument drawn from all past history and ex-
in exchange for what he considers an equivalent, perience. If the voluntary principle had been neces-
if not a greater good. But it cannot be admit- sarily involved in the original structure and arrange-
ted, that, for the attainment of social privileges, ments of civil society, it would surely have assumed
however great, any individual either did or could a conspicuous place in the common or the statute-
846
ESTABLISHED CHURCHES.
law of some, at least, of the ancient or modern na- reason, surely, which could stand the test of a judg-
tions. Far from this being the case, however, ment-day, that we had failed to discharge either of
religion has, without a single exception, uniformly these duties, because men differed in opinion as to the
received the sanction and authority of the State; and nature of truth. The law of God is not dependent
it is not till very lately, that the propriety of such for the maintenance of its obligations and authority
an arrangement has been at all disputed; and, there- on the fitful fancies of degenerate man.
fore, we are authorized in inferring, that the alleged The conclusion, then, of this part of the argument
inconsistency of the obligation to promote the in- is, that upon all the members of a social community,
terests of truth, with the existence of civil society, both separately and conjointly, lies the obligation of
has never been admitted, in the past history of the maintaining an open profession of the true religion,
world, up to a very recent period. And the state- whatever varieties of sentiment may exist among
ment itself is by no means axiomatic. Supposing, them. It is no objection, be it observed, to this
for the sake of argument, that, at the original forma conclusion, that where men differ widely in opinion,
tion of the social compact, it had been demanded of it cannot be carried into practical operation. We
any individuals, whether subjects or rulers, to sus- are not speaking of what is, but of what ought to be;
pend the exercise of the obligation which lies upon and if, from any cause whatever, men have put them-
them to maintain and extend the interests of truth, selves in such circumstances that they cannot pos-
would not this have been an obvious infringement sibly fulfil the commands of God, these commands
on the liberty of conscience? They are imperatively are by no means, on that account, relaxed, but, on
bound to promote religion, whatever may be the the contrary, still maintain their authority unaltered
civil advantages derived from their ceasing to do so; and unalterable.
and unalterable. If the duty be impracticable, the
and “whether they ought to obey God rather than responsibility lies upon those who have rendered it
man, judge ye."
so. Hence we would argue, that if either at the ori-
It is alleged, however, that the variety of opinions ginal formation, or in the progress of society, any
which exist among the members of a civil commu- nation has either denied or failed to fulfil the duty
nity in reference to the subject of religion, precludes of advancing the interests of religion as a commu-
the possibility of any individual, in a purely civil nity, they are chargeable in all its extent with na-
capacity, promoting its diffusion, unless by a direct tional infidelity.
encroachment on the liberties of others. Were The principle of an Ecclesiastical Establishment
truth at all dependent upon the erring judgments is founded, it is affirmed, on those moral obligations
of men, this objection would have possessed no from which no possible circumstances can free us,
little force. But the fact is, the very admission of and which form the very foundation of our moral
the moral obligation, even though limited to strict- constitution. It may wear the aspect of an infringe-
ly natural relations, involves an admission, that ment upon the rights of those who deny the truth of
religion is an actual reality, not a matter of mere that system of religion which is established; but it
opinion. An objection precisely similar, is often would not only arpear, but actually be a serious de-
urged by superficial infidels against the very truth reliction of duty on the part of the whole commu-
of Christianity itself. The opinions of men differ nity, were the national profession neglected. The
widely, say they, as to what religious truth con- matter then resolves itself into a question of incon-
sists in; and are we not authorized in thinking, venience to some, as Paley has termed it, on the one
that let a man's opinions be what they may, if he is hand, and a question of duty imperative upon all, on
only sincere and consistent in maintaining them, he the other; and which of the terms of the alternative
will find acceptance in the sight of God? Now, our ought to be adopted, cannot possibly admit of a
reply both to the infidel and to the opponent of doubt.
Church Establishments, would be precisely the same. Passing, however, to the argument drawn from
Men may differ in sentiment, and it may often be Scripture, we remark, that in the course of the patri-
difficult to discover truth from error; but truth archal dispensation the principles of an ecclesiastical
nevertheless does actually exist, and if any man fails establishment were obviously acknowledged and
to find it, the responsibility lies upon his own head.
From the peculiar circumstances of the
Now, in reference to a civil community, the obligation age, as well perhaps as from the want of union
to receive and to propagate the truth lies upon each, among the scattered pastoral tribes, the paternal and
and consequently, upon all its members. The volun- the magistratical authority appear to have been uni-
tary churchman admits the obligation upon each indi- formly combined in the same individual; and with
vidual, but denies it in reference to the whole mass in a these was also combined, as is well known, the sacer-
social state, as infringing upon the right of individual dotal office. So that by one and the same person
opinion. This right, however, it is impossible to con- were executed the functions of a father, a king and
cede, so long as we are speaking of moral obligation. a priest; and that too, be it observed, not in conse-
Every man is bound to accept for himself, and use quence of any express appointment of God, as in the
all possible means of diffusing throughout the com- case of the Mosaic ritual, but arising, as far at least
munity the truth, and the truth only: and it is no as can be discovered, from the peculiar state
acted on.
ESTABLISHED CHURCHES.
847
society at the time. The history of Abraham might | equal truth may it be asserted that the typical na-
be adduced in illustration of these remarks. The ture of the Mosaic dispensation is far from preclud-
civil were only beginning as it were to emerge from ing any appeal to it on general principles, inasmuch
the natural relations of man; and yet no such'incon- as types, whether referring to persons or things, in-
gruity seems to have existed as to have led to the involve in their very meaning and design many moral
convenience and injustice and oppression which are and spiritual principles which are more clearly un-
alleged necessarily to arise from the union of these folded in the antitype. Whatever is matter of maral
two separate elements. It must not be alleged that obligation, is, in its nature and design, under what-
we are pleading for a combination of the paternal ever form it may be represented to us, matter of
with the magistratical functions; they are essentially universal interest and universal application. It is
distinct from each other. But the existence of the not to be imagined, surely, for a moment, that a
principle of a national religion, at the period to which principle thus clearly developed both in the patri-
we now refer, is in our view peculiarly interesting, archal and Mosaic dispensations, would be unknown
as being a remarkable era in the history of man when in the Christian.
the social compact was in the course of being formed, The importance of the principle of Establishments,
and the laws of a civil polity were as yet scarcely and the foundation on which it rests, render it very
distinct from the original law of nature.
improbable, a priori, that the New Testament would
In passing from the Patriarchal to the Jewish dis- contain the slightest hints of its abrogation; and the
pensation, an objection is raised by the opponents of result of a candid examination of the whole Christian
Establishments to the validity of any appeal to that dispensation is quite in accordance with what might
quarter. The circumstances and whole genius of the have been anticipated. Some passages have no
Jewish, are alleged to have differed so widely from doubt been adduced which at first sight may seem
those of the Christian economy, as entirely to pre- opposed to all interposition of the civil power in be-
clude any legitimate deductions being drawn, even half of the church; these however are brought for-
analogically, from the one to the other. Now, it is ward in an isolated form, detached entirely from the
no more than justice to admit that the Jewish sys- context with which they are connected, and by which
tem was in many respects peculiar, and, indeed, alto- their meaning is necessarily modified. It is by the
gether singular in its nature, and on those peculiari- neglect of this simple and obvious rule of Scripture
ties we do not feel ourselves authorized to found any interpretation that heresies of every kind in theology
general conclusions whatever. But we are far from are propped up by separate sentences from the Sa-
consenting on that account to keep out of view the cred Writings, which, if read along with the preced-
Mosaic economy, as bearing strictly and immediately ing or succeeding context, would be found to bear no
on the point before us. It was a system, we readily such meaning as that which is attached to them.
allow, containing many peculiarities which were only Independently altogether of the principle we are now
intended to serve a special and temporary purpose, considering being founded on moral obligation, the
but neither of the Jewish, nor of any dispensation, evident sanction which it is admitted to have received
whether appointed or sanctioned of God, can it be from God under the ancient economy, called for an
affirmed that it embraces no general fundamental explicit declaration that such was the Divine will ere
principles which are independent of all mere circum- its abolition could have been accomplished.
stantial details. It detracts not in the slightest degree It has been alleged, however, in opposition to the
from the argument for establishments drawn from the argument for establishments drawn from Scripture,
Jewish system, that in itself that system was typical, that the New Testament is silent on the subject, at
and connected with a pure theocracy. In so far as it least in so far as a direct précept is concerned. Now
was so, no general reasoning can be founded upon it; we must decidedly demur to the principle on which
but the opponents of Established churches forget, that this objection is founded—that nothing is obligatory
whether viewed as a civil polity, or as an ecclesiastical on us save what is expressly commanded in Scrip-
community, or as both simultaneously, there lie at ture. Innumerable general principles pervade the
the
basis of its structure as a society, principles sacred volume, the application of which, in particular
which are equally applicable in every age and in instances, is left to the exercise of a sound discretion
every country. These are, of course, the funda- and an enlightened judgment. The principle in
mental principles of moral obligation which belong question is one of this nature. It is capable of ap-
to man both in his individual and social capacity. plication under a great variety of modifications, each
And does not the very fact that the Jewish govern- one of which would require to have been specified
ment existed under the form of a theocracy, render in any law which had been laid down in Scripture.
it the more certain that it would be based on the This, however, was quite unnecessary in the peculiar
eternal and immutable principles of rectitude and circumstances of the case. The principle itself had
truth? In these circumstances, no valid objections its origin in the moral constitution of man; and
can be raised, on the ground of its being a theocracy, while examples of its practical operation were ex-
to an argument founded on these principles, as ex- hibited in the Patriarchal and Mosaic dispensa-
hibited in the government of the Jews. And with tions, we cannot allow that any distinct precept
very
1.
848
ESTABLISHED CHURCHES.
was to be expected in the New Testament church. ) gation of paying tribute to Cæsar, or from their
The Gospel economy was strictly universal in its allegiance in any respect to him as their earthly
design, and no law is recorded which was liable sovereign? The religion of Christ, so far from ab-
to be modified in the mode of its application by solving subjects from their allegiance to the poten-
peculiar, perhaps local circumstances. But though tates of this world, was to lay them under a new
no precept was recorded expressly on the subject, obligation to such allegiance, as they desired to
might not an exemplification of it have been given maintain a good conscience towards Christ himself as
in the early Christian church such as had been their spiritual king. It was therefore impossible
already given in the Jewish church? To this we that the charge brought against him should not be
can only reply, that to have done so would have repelled in the way which we have seen; nor can it
been to have changed the whole course of ordinary be regarded as reasonable, in the circumstances of
events at the time, or in other words, would have the case, to attach any other meaning to his words
amounted to a miracle, and we know that the usual than what has been already stated as applicable to
mode of acting on the part of Deity has been to the charge in question.”
allow the responsibilities of man to influence his con- And taking the statement in its absolute sense,
duct with as little miraculous interposition as pos- who that is at all acquainted with Christian truth,
sible. It is not ours to dictate to the All-wise at doubts it for a moment? The church of Christ is a
what time a miracle might be expected. We must body separate and distinct from the world, having
judge of what God ought to have done by what he independent laws and office-bearers of its own. No
actually does. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth man save an Erastian would so confound the Church
do right?"
with the State as to allege that the magistrate had
One grand objection which is urged against the any, even the slightest authority in regulating the
principle of Establishments is its alleged inconsis- internal affairs of the church. These must be left
tency with the whole spirit and genius of Christian- | entirely to her own office-bearers, under the guid-
ity. It is surely a priori very improbable that what ance of the Great Head. Though we thus deny the
is capable of being demonstrated to be a fundamental power of the civil ruler, in sacris, we nevertheless
law of moral obligation, and what has been expressly concede to him a most interesting and extensive
sanctioned by Divine authority from the fall of man sphere of exertion when we assert his right to govern
down to the advent of Christ, should be after all and legislate in regard to the church, or in other
opposed to the principles of the Christian scheme. words, circa sacra. This is his legitimate province
This is of itself, we affirm, a presumptive argument in faithfully discharging the duties of which, he will
so strong as to put us on our guard against any most effectually fulfil the great end of his office as
attempts which may be made to thrust forward an “ ordinance of God;" and in the neglect of which,
isolated passages. There is no doctrine, however he is deeply culpable, inasmuch as independently
absurd and heretical, which has not found support altogether of his moral obligation he is failing to em-
in this mode of interpretation. The utmost cau- ploy one of the most effectual means of becoming a
tion however is necessary, the text adduced must “minister of good" to the people over whom he rules.
be studied in connexion with its context, the scope | The punishment of the criminal is not more neces-
and design of the writer or speaker must be carefully sary than the prevention of crime, which can only be
kept in view, and no clause must be regarded as a successfully accomplished by the infusion of Chris-
general statement, the meaning of which is obviously tian principle into the minds of the people by a rightly
modified by particular circumstances, whether of constituted Ecclesiastical Establishment. In the per-
time or place, at or in which it was written. In op- formance of this part of the magistrate's official duty,
position, however, to these plain and acknowledged as in every other, there is no doubt included the idea
rules of Scripture interpretation, the adversaries of of compulsion, which results from the nature of civil
church Establishments are in the constant habit of goveniment in all cases.
government in all cases. And here it may be of in-
referring us to the well-known declaration of our portance to attend to the real nature of this compul-
Lord, “ My kingdom is not of this world.” The reply sion. It is not ecclesiastical, it is strictly civil; it is
of Dr. Inglis is so excellent that we make no apo- not an interference with any arrangements in the
logy for quoting it.
church, it is an interference with the people concern-
“In the court of Pilate, the Roman governor of ing the church; it is not resorted to with the view
Judea, Jesus was accused of having forbidden his of coercing the consciences of any individuals of
countrymen to give tribute to Cæsar, saying that he whatever opinions, to the exclusion of any others, it
himself was Christ a king. Pilate in consequence is a compulsion used towards every individual in-
asked him, 'Art thou the king of the Jews ?' And discriminately for the benefit of the whole coni-
Jesus answered in the affirmative, but added, My munity.
kingdom is not of this world. Who does not per- It is scarcely necessary to advert to the objection
ceive that the single object of this declaration was which is sometimes urged by the adversaries of
to disavow all pretension to such temporal authority Church Establishments, that it is altogether ultra
as could absolve the Jews either from their obli- vires on the part of the magistrate to decide in mat-
ESTABLISHED CHURCHES.
849
ters of religion, and the very existence of an estab- of right moral principle, no advantaje? Is the pre-
blishment supposes his having done so. Whatever vention of crime in general, and the consequent
may be the opinions of men, truth nevertheless diminution of expenditure for the erection and repair
exists, and it has moreover been revealed, and there- of jails and penitentiaries, and houses of correction,
fore every man is responsible for the reception that no advantage ? Is the diffusion of industry and fru-
he gives it. If the magistrate supports the true re- gality, and kindness of heart, no advantage ? Is an
ligion, he supports those opinions which both he and elevated standard of physical comfort and happiness
his subjects were bound to maintain; but if he sup among the peasantry of the land, no advantage
ports error, the responsibility lies either with himself The civil benefits arising from Ecclesiastical Es,
or with those who have led to the establishment of tablishments are thus forcibly and perspicuously de-
a system which is unscriptural. Be it observed, scribed by Dr. Inglis. “Now, we have already seen,
however, that the criminality does not primarily that an Established Church is of high importance
attach to the establishment, but to the adoption of for an adequate support of these ministrations, by
error; and though his belief in the first instance of which the cause of godliness or true religion is most
heretical doctrines has undoubtedly led to the hein- effectually maintained ; and how, then, shall we ques-
ous crime of establishing a false religion, it is not the tion their utility for promoting the interests of civil
principle of establishments which has led to the sin, society ? Has religion no tendency to make us good
but the adoption of false views, either by the ruler and useful members of society? Its salutary influ-
personally, or by the people by whose influence and ence in this department will scarcely be denied; it
advice he has been guided. But is not, it has been is so obvious, as of itself to account abundantly for
said, the possibility of erring in this point a clear civil governments having, from the beginning, inter-
proof that such a duty was not designed to belong to posed in behalf of religion. Religious principle is at
him? No; otherwise what would become of all the once the cheapest and the most effectual instrument
other duties which, as a civil ruler, he is bound to that can be employed for accomplishing the 'ends and
discharge? He is equally liable to err in all civil purposes of government. It goes far to restrain men
duties as in this, and yet who would argue that from from the commission of those crimes for which the
that very circumstance it was never designed by the magistrate must otherwise visit the defaulter with
Almighty that he should discharge them? Has man, punishment. By its influence in reforming the cor-
by rendering himself incapable of obeying the Divine rupt heart, 'out of which are the issues of life,' this
commandments, brought about the abrogation of the purpose is more effectually served than it can ever
moral law ? Surely not, and yet to this conclusion be by human laws. The laws of men take cogni-
we must come, if we admit the principle on which zance only of the outward conduct, and only of those
the objection proceeds.
parts of the conduct in respect of which crime may
There is no objection which is more frequently be ascertained by evidence. But religion, by its
urged against the establishment of any particular dominion over the heart, strikes at the root of the
system of religion, and none which has apparently evil; and by means of the controlling power of COD-
a stronger effect upon the minds of multitudes, than science, prevents the commission of many crimes, to
the alleged injustice of such a principle. Looking which no human laws could ever reach. Besides,
at the matter abstractly, we do not conceive that punishment is almost the only sanction by which
there is, at all events, any intentional partiality or human laws are enforced; but, when religion would
injustice in a government so acting. They do not deter us from what is criminal, and engage us to
establish a system as professed by one part of the what is praiseworthy, in our capacity as members of
community, to the avowed exclusion of a system society, it does not resort to threatening alone, it
professed by another part of the same community. holds out to us a great reward; it imparts to us a
The question is viewed as a great national benefit promise both of the life that now is, and of that
which will redound to all from this particular act
which is to come.
of legislation; and could it be shown, that there is "It is impossible that enlightened governments
any one class of the community who, instead of can be insensible of the aid which, in these views,
deriving the slightest advantage from this proposed they derive from Ecclesiastical Establishments, só
act, are subjected thereby to unmingled hardship far as such establishments tend to promote true reli-
and oppression, their complaint would deserve to gion. But an Established Church goes farther; it
.
be listened to with respect, and every endeavour tends to consecrate the state itself and the rulers of
made to remedy this defect. But is there a single the state. When men in authority are united to
enlightened Dissenter in this or any other coun- those over whom they rule by a profession of the
try, who can make such an allegation in regard to same faith, and by the same exercises of religious
an Established Church? Are there no advantages worship, it has a tendency to unite their hearts in
which accrue from it to every individual in the ccun- one bond of mutual confidence and mutual love.
try? Waving altogether the religious view of the Even the most exalted of those who are invested
question, is the protection of property, and the in- with authority learn to regard the meanest of their
creased security of personal safety, by the diffusion | subjects as their brethren in Christ, and their equals
!
850
ESTABLISHED CHURCHES.
!
in the sight of God; and to the great body of the tween the civil and the spiritual is often so narrow,
people over whom they rule, the most satisfying and almost impalpable, that the danger at every mo-
pledge is appended for their ruling in the fear of the ment of a collision between the two is imminent in
Lord."
the extreme. And the obvious misfortune of such
But while the advocates of Established churches an alliance is, that if a collision does take place, both
follow such a line of argument as we have now parties assert with equal justice their right to adju-
sketched, those who are opposed to all civil estab- dicate as to the extent of their respective jurisdic-
lishments of religion adopt an entirely different train tions, and whether as well as how far their indepen-
of reasoning. In so far as the argument from natural dence has been trenched upon. In such circumstances
religion is concerned, its force is freely adınitted, in no third party can interfere, and an adjustment is
so far as the obligation of the magistrate to promote impossible. Nothing remains but that the alliance
religion in a country is concerned; but they con- be severed, an alliance, surely, which it were better
tend that this obligation is strictly personal, and in had never been formed.
no respect connected with his official character. But the opponents of established churches feel
The argument drawn from the patriarchs sustain- that their cause rests not upon theoretical argument
ing civil as well as religious offices, appears to alone, but upon practical experience. They point
them utterly inconclusive, since, even though ad- back to the earliest and purest ages of Christianity,
mitted, it fails to prove that religion was incorpor- when the church was not only unsupported, but ac-
ated with the civil government. The case of the tually opposed by the state. If for three centuries
Jews is also completely inapplicable in their view, the church was a stranger to temporal authority, and
the political constitution of that people being not an yet maintained her ground in the face of oppression,
alliance of religion with the state, but a theocracy, and prolonged persecution on the part of the civil
which, from its very nature, implies far more than government; if, in such circumstances, she struck
the friends of establishments contend for, even a coin- her roots deep in the earth, shot upward a goodly
plete amalgamation and identification of religion with tree, flourished and spread her branches far and wide,
the state. The Jewish polity was not a friendly have we not in this a powerful argument, that the
union of religion with the state, it was essentially a church needs not, and can safely dispense with, the
religio-political system. The head of the Jewish state countenance of the civil powers ? She has in herself
was the head of the Jewish church, even Jehovah, a Divine energy and power which bears her onward
the God of Israel. To argue, therefore, from such in her course, independently altogether of the favour
a peculiar system, which besides was typical in and support of the state.
its nature, in favour of religious establishments That the most signal benefits accrue to a country
under the Christian system, would necessarily lead from the existence of an established church, is ad-
to conclusions from which Zuinglius would have re- mitted by the opponents of civil establishments of
volted, and even Erastus himself would have shrunk. religion ; but they argue that equal, if not greater,
The Church of Christ, argue the opponents of Estab- benefits would arise from the same church in a
lished churches, is, in its very nature, spiritual, and disestablished condition, The church may be a
ought not, yea, in fact, cannot be incorporated with blessing in spite of her alliance with the state,
the state, without sustaining material injury. Such but may it not be questioned whether she would not
a union must necessarily be exposed to two serious be a greater blessing were she unfettered by ny
dangers, either from the prevalence of the Popish such alliance? The church operates exclusive-
principle on the one hand, or the Erastian principle ly upon the consciences of men, and what addi-
on the other. In the one case the state is overborne tional strength can her appeals receive from the
by the church, and in the other case the church is sanctions of mere human authority ? None what-
overborne by the state. In vain do the friends of ever, nay, the very fact that she is backed by the state
Establishments allege, that there is a medium course is apt to convey an impression that she believes
which inay possibly be adopted, in which the indepen- the Divine authority with which she is armed, to be
dence of both the church and the state may be fully weak and insufficient of itself. And in the present
preserved. The instant reply of the objector is, that divided condition of the religious world, what in-
such a middle course, if it really exists, has never yet conveniences must arise from the state giving exclu-
been practically followed. All history attests that sive countenance to one section only of the Christian
established churches have either been popish, and church! What jealousies, heartburnings, and con-
the civil government have groaned under the into- tentions arise in consequence !
lerable burden of priestly tyranny, or they have been But, finally, the enemies of establishments go a
Erastian, and the church has been overpowered by step farther, and deny the right of the magistrate to
civil despotism, or she has revolted and thrown off establish any particular form of religion, and thus to
the yoke. To be at all effective, spiritual govern- burden the consciences of all his subjects with the
ment must be independent, and in its own sphere support of that form to which many of them may be
civil government must be independent also. But in conscientiously opposed. This, even with the best
an established church the line of demarcation be- intentions on his part, is at all events doing evil that
ESTHER-ETERNITY OF THE WORLD.
851
good may come. It is making use of his position as of the word, without end as well as without begin-
a magistrate to oppress the consciences of good men ning. Modern infidelity, represented by Mirabaud
simply to maintain a church which he conscientiously and Hume, has attempted to build an argument in
approves, and which many of his subjects just as favour of Atheism, or the non-existence of a Supreme
conscientiously disapprove.
Being, on the eternity not of the matter or substance
Such are the principal arguments for and against or the world, but of the world in its existing arrange-
Religious Establishments.
ments. “ For aught we can know à priori," says
ESTHER (FAST OF), a Jewish fast kept on the Hume,“ matter may contain the source or spring of or-
thirteenth day of the month Adar, in memory of der originally within itself, as well as mind does; and
Esther fasting three days and nights before present- there is no more difficulty in conceiving that the
ing herself to supplicate the king in behalf of the several elements from an internal unknown cause
Jews, who had been marked out for destruction by may fall into the most exquisite arrangement, than to
Hainan. When the thirteenth day of Adar happens conceive that their ideas in the great universal mind,
on the Jewish Sabbath, this fast is kept on the Thurs- from a like internal unknown cause, fall into that ar-
day before ; as the day after being the Feast of rangement. The equal possibility of both these sup-
Purim, and the day before being Friday, they could positions is allowed.” To this atheistical argument
not finish the Fast, on account of the Sabbath be- thus put in a plausible form, Dr. Chalmers makes
ginning before dark, and their being obliged to fast the following satisfactory reply in his Natural Theo-
till night.
logy :' “In the material economy we have the ves-
ETERNAL, an essential attribute of the Divine tiges before our eyes of its having had an origin, or
Being. None but God is strictly and properly eter- in other words of its being a consequent—and we
nal or everlasting. The immortality of other beings have furthermore the experience that in every in-
is entirely derivative, and subsists by Him who only, stance which comes under full observation of a simi-
in respect of his essence, “hath immortality." See lar consequent, that is of a consequent which in-
God.
volved as the mundane order of things does so amply;
ETERNALES, a Christian sect which arose, as is the adaptation of parts to an end, the antecedent was
supposed, about A. D. 260, deriving their name from a purposing mind which desired the end, and devised
their belief in the eternity of the world. They the means for its accomplishment. We might not
inaintained that this world, even after the resurrec- have been called upon to make even a single ascent
tion of the dead, will continue in its present state in the path of causation, had the world stood forth
without any change.
to view in the character or aspect of immutability.
ETERNITY, deified by the ancients, and repre- | But instead of this, both history and observation tell
sented as a goddess on various medals. In a medal of a definite commencement to the present order—or,
of Titus she is represented as a woman holding in in other words, they oblige us to regard tliis order ag
her hands the sun and moon. A circle or ring was an the posterior term of a sequence; and we, in rea-
emblem of eternity among the Egyptians, Persians, soning on the prior term, just follow the lights of
and Hindus. Sometimes the phenix, from the fabu- experience when we move upward from the world to
lous power which it was supposed to possess, of rising an intelligent mind that ordained it. It is this which
from its ashes and thus becoming immortal, was also carries us backward one step from the world to God
used to indicate eternal duration. The Sclavonians --and the reason why we do not continue the retro-
and the Arabians denoted eternity by a white colour, gression beyond God is, that we have not met with
and in the Revelation of St. John, Jesus Christ, the an indication of his having had a commencement.
Ancient of Days, appears, i. 14, with white hair, In the one case there is a beginning of the present,
symbolical of his eternal existence.
material system forced upon our convictions; and
ETERNITY OF THE WORLD. It was a doc. we proceed on the solid ground of experience, when
trine taught by Aristotle, and some of the other we infer that it began in the devisings of an antece-
philosophers of ancient Greece, that the world, or dent mind. In the other case, the case of the ante-
at least the matter of which it is composed, ex- cedent mind, there is no such beginning forced upon
isted from all eternity. Even those of them who our convictions; and none therefore that we are
adınitted the existence of a Supreme Being, believed called upon to account for. It is our part, as far as
in matter as co-existent with him, and viewed the in us lies, to explain an ascertained difficulty ; but
Divinity not as the Creator, but as simply the ar- not surely to explain an imagined one. We must
ranger of atons which had a previous existence. It have some reason for believing in the existence of a
was regarded as an axiom, indeed, by many of the difficulty ere we are called upon to solve it. We
Greek sects, that nothing springs from nothing, and have ample reason for regarding this world as a pos-
hence they considered it as indispensab'e :o the act terior term, and seeking after its antecedent. But we
of creating power that there should be a previously have no such reason for treating this antecedent as a
existing matter. Matter and soul, however, were not posterior term, and seeking for its prior term in a
only reckoned uncreated, but indestructible; their higher antecedent. The one we see to be a change-
existence was imagined to be eternal in every sense able and a recent world. The other for aught we
852
ETHIOPIAN CHURCII-EUCHARISTIA.
know may be an unchangeable and everlasting God. | kill the largest of them as a specimen. We then
So that when the question is put—Why may not the sailed to another island, where a number of heathen
material economy fall into order of itself, as well as fishermen were preparing their nets. Taking my seat
the mental which we affirm to have caused it?-our upon a stone under a tou tree, I desired my people
reply is, that so far from this mental economy falling to bring the reptile, and dry it on the rocks; but as
into order of itself, we have yet to learn that it ever soon as the fishermen saw it, they raised a most ter-
had to fall into order at all. The one order, the ma- rific yell, and, seizing their clubs, rushed upon the
terial, we know, not to have been from everlasting. Christian natives, shouting, “You have killed our
The other, the mental, which by all experience and god, you have killed our god!' I stepped in be-
analogy must have preceded the material, bears no tween them, and with some difficulty stayed their
symptom which we can discover, of its ever having | violence, on the condition that the reptile should be
required any remoter economy to call it into being." immediately carried back to the boat. This inci-
The doctrine of an infinite series has been long dent shows, not only that they worship these things,
since exploded, and notwithstanding the numerous but that they regard them with the most supersti-
and persevering assaults with which men have at- tious veneration."
tempted to throw discredit upon the great act of EUCADIRES, priests of the ancient Carthagi-
creation, it is now all but universally admitted that nian deities called ABADIRES (which see).
no better explanation of the subject can be given EUCHARIST. See LORD'S SUPPER.
than that which is contained in the opening sentence EUCHARISTIA, the Great Thanksgiving which
of the Bible, “In the beginning God created the formed a part of the service of the Eucharist in the
heavens and the earth."
ancient Christian church. It included a grateful ac-
ETHIOPIAN CHURCH. See ABYSSINIAN knowledgment of all the Divine mercies, whether in
CHURCH.
creation, providence, or redemption. An instance
ETHNOPHRONES (Gr. ethnos, a nation, and of it is given in the Apostolic Constitutions, and
phroneo, to think), a name sometimes applied to Justin Martyr says, that as soon as the common
those heretics of the seventh century who sought prayers were ended, and they had saluted one an-
to conjoin Pagan customs and ceremonies with Chris- other with a kiss, bread, and wine, and water were
tianity.
brought to the president, who, receiving them, gave
ETSCHEGA, a dignitary of the ABYSSINIAN glory to the Father of all things by the Son and
CHURCH (which see), next in authority to the ABU- Holy Spirit, and made a long thanksgiving for the
NA (which see).
blessings which he vouchsafed to bestow upon them.
ETU, an object of worship in the South Sea Is- And when he had ended the prayers and than's-
lands, consisting of some bird, or fish, or reptile, in giving, all the people that were present answered
which the natives believed that a spirit resided. with acclamation, Amen. As an example of the
This form of idolatry, which prevailed particularly in Eucharistia, we may quote the Thanksgiving con-
the Samoa islands, is thus described by Mr. Williams tained in St. James's Liturgy which was used in the
in his · Missionary Researches :' “It was by no
church of Jerusalem. It runs thus, “ It is very meet
means uncommon to see an intelligent chief mut- and right, becoming us and our duty, that we should
tering some prayer to a fly, an ant, or a lizard, which praise thee, and celebrate thee with hymns, and give
happened to alight or crawl in his presence. On thanks unto thee, the Maker of all creatures, visible
one occasion a vessel from New South Wales touched and invisible, the Treasure of all good, the Fountain
at the Samoas, the captain of which had on board a of life and immortality, the God and Lord of all
cockatoo that talked. A chief was invited to the things, wliom the heavens and the heavens of hea-
ship, and shortly after he entered the cabin, the cap- vens praise, and all the host of them; the sun, and
tain began a colloquy with the bird. At this he was moon, and the whole company of stars; the earth
struck with amazement, trembled exceedingly, and and sea, and all that are in them; the celestial con-
immediately sprang upon deck, leaped into the gregation of Jerusalem ; the church of the first-born,
sea, and called aloud to the people to follow him, who are written in heaven; the spirits of just men
affirming the captain had his devolo on board, which and prophets, the souls of martyrs and apostles; an-
he had both seen and heard. Every native at once gels and archangels, thrones and dominions, princi-
dashed into the sea, and swam on shore with haste palities and powers, the tremendous hosts and cheru-
and consternation; and it was with much difficulty bims with many eyes, and seraphirns with six wings,
that they could be induced to revisit the ship, as with two whereof they cover their faces, and with
they believed that the bird was the captain's etu, and two their feet, and with two they fly, crying out in-
that the spirit of the devil was in it. While walk- cessantly one to another, and singing with loud voices
ing, on one occasion, across a small uninhabited is- the triumphal song of the magnificence of thy glory,
land, in the vicinity of Tongatabii, I happened to Holy, holy, holy, Lord of hosts, heaven and earth
tread upon a nest of sea-snakes. At first I was are full of thy glory. Hosanna in the highest.
startled at the circumstance, but being assured that Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
they were perfectly barmless, I desired a native to Hosanna in the highest.'” Such was the mode in
6
EUCHARISTIC-EUCHITES.
853
as
which the consecration of the sacrament was intro- called Lampetians, Adelphians, Eustathians, Mar-
duced, and, accordingly, from this important part, cianists, Choreutes, and Enthusiasts. They were de-
the whole service received the name of Eucharist nominated Euchites, from the importance which they
or Thanksgiving.
attached to prayer, as, in their view, supplying the
EUCHARISTIC, belonging to the act of thanks- | place of all other modes of devotion and means of
giving, or to the Eucharist or LORD'S SUPPER (which grace. In all probability the sect originated in a few
see).
monks giving themselves wholly to inward contem-
EUCHELAION(Gr. euche, prayer, and elaion, oil), plation and communion with the Holy Spirit in
the oil of prayer, one of the sacraments of the GREEK prayer. Imagining that they had thereby obtained
CHURCH (which see), and in some degree, though not the victory over outward sense, and had reached a
altogether, corresponding to the extreme unction of species of ascetic perfection, they gave up all ordi-
the Church of Rome. This sacrament is dispensed nary employments, and professed to spend their
in cases of sickness, but not necessarily in anticipa- whole time in inward prayer and contemplation.
tion of death. The Greeks look upon it as an anoint- | They held that every man brings with him into the
ing for recovery, not for dissolution, and appeal in world an evil principle, with which he is called in-
support of the custom to James v. 14, 15, “Is any cessantly to struggle throughout life, and which he
sick among you ? let him call for the elders of the can only overcome by inward prayer. Having ob-
church ; and let them pray over him, anointing him tained this deliverance, there is no farther need of
with oil in the name of the Lord : and the prayer fasting or self-mortification. The man who has re-
of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise ceived Divine illumination may henceforth dispense
him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall with all human instructors and guides. Accordingly,
be forgiven himn.” In accordance with this apostolic though the Euchites still retained outward connec-
injunction, the Greek church dispenses the sacra- tion with the church, by the observance of the Lord's
ment, anointing the sick with oil, and accompanying Supper, they judged it unnecessary to join in out-
the ceremony with earnest prayer for their recovery ward prayer or singing, and sought after superna-
and the forgiveness of their sins. In the Longer Or- tural revelation by means of dreams. They believed
thodox Catechism of the Russian church, it is defined that baptism cleanses us from past sin, but gives no
a mystery in which while the body is anointed, power to withstand sin in future. They boasted that
God's grace is invoked on the sick, to heal him of they had become partakers of the Divine nature.
spiritual and bodily infirmities.” According to the Epiphanius says, that to such an extravagant height
ritual seven priests are required for the Eucheluion, of self-glorification did they reach, that if angel, pa-
though in many cases three are deemed sufficient, triarch, prophet, or even Christ himself were named
but not fewer than three, as the Apostle James to such an one, he would instantly reply in each
speaks of " elders," in the plural number. The ser- case “ That am I myself.” They denied the reality
vice is very long, each of the seven priests reading of our Lord's miracles, alleging them to be simply
in turn a prokeimenon, or short anthem, an Epistle, symbolical of important truths. In regard to the
Psalm, Gospel, and finally a prayer, during which doctrine of the Trinity, they taught that the three
each priest takes one of seven twigs, with cotton lypostases of the Triad are nothing but different
bound round the end of it, and with this rod, which forms of revelation of the one Divine Essence—the
has been dipped in oil, he makes the sign of the Trinity resolves again into Unity." They believed
cross on various parts of the sick man's body. After fire to be the creative principle of the universe.
the anointing, prayer is again offered, and in the Another sect arose in the eleventh century in the
course of it the Gospel is held over the sick man's Greek church who were also called Euchites or Enthu-
head.
siasts, and who held opinions and indulged in practices
EUCHELOGION (Gr. euche, prayer, and logos, almost identical with those of the Euchites of the
a discourse), a liturgical book of the Greek church, fourth century. This sect appeared also in Mesopo-
containing, besides religious offices, everything re- tamia and in the character of monks, like the older
lating to religious ceremonies. An attempt was sect. Their doctrines are thus sketched by Nean-
made in the time of Pope Urban VIII. to pro- der : “Agreeing with the doctrine of Zoroaster, they
cure the consent of some of the most eminent divines believed in one perfect original being, from whom
of the Greek church to such a modification of the they derived two sons, the good and the evil princi-
Euchelogion, as would bring it into conformity with ple. Their doctrine touching the relation of these
the offices and ritual of the Romish church, but the two principles to each other, seems to have consti-
attempt was successfully resisted.
tuted according as it inclined one way or the other
EUCHITES (Gl. euche, prayer), a Christian sect either to an absolute or to a relative Dualism, a main
which had its origin among the monks of Syria, in difference, and indeed the ground of two several par-
the fourth century. In the course of their history, ties, in this sect. And to this same distinction it may
which was somewhat prolonged, they received a va- be remarked is to be referred also the main differ-
riety of names, generally derived from the leading ence between the Bogomiles and the Catharians, and
men of the sect. Thus they were at different times among the Catharians themselves of after times.
857
EUCHOMENOI-EUMENIDES.
They differed, that is, either as they supposed that EUCTAIA. See FREE-WILL OFFERINGS.
the evil principle was a spirit originally evil, or a EUDISTS, a congregation of missionary priests,
spirit originally good, but who by virtue of his free- which arose in France in the seventeenth century,
will had apostatized from God, though he would deriving their name from Eudes their founder. The
finally be recovered again to goodness. According first establishment of the order was formed in 1643,
to the doctrine of this latter class, the spirit, clothed at Caen in Normandy, which was speedily followed
at the beginning with the supreme power, the elder by others of the same description. These societies
of the two sons of the Supreme God, revolted against gradually increasing in number, were united into one
the Father, and produced the visible world with the congregation, which was put under the charge of
intention of founding in it an independent kingdom. Eudes. It was essentially a missionary fraternity,
The younger spirit, Christ, remained loyal to God, designed to labour among the people in the princi-
and took the other's place. Christ will destroy the pal towns of the kingdom. The Eudists made no
kingdom of the evil one, and prosecute his redeem- vows, and wore no peculiar habit, but dressed like
ing work until the general restitution. If we might other priests. They were under the patronage of Jesus
credit the report of Michael Psellus, one party of the and Mary, and were placed under a superior, who de-
Euclites made the evil spirit himself an object of rived his powers from the bishop of the diocese in
worship; but this is altogether unlikely. The char- which they laboured.
acter of such a party we might safely presume would EUDOXIANS, a name given to the ARIANS
be thoroughly immoral as the natural result of their (which see), after the death of Arius. The appella-
principle; and it would be exclusively to this party tion was derived from their leader, Eudoxius, who
we should have to refer what Michael Psellus re- opposed the orthodox views as to the proper divinity
lates concerning the immoral excesses, nightly com- of Christ, with such ability and zeal, that he was
mitted after the extinguishing of the lights, in the appointed Bishop of Germanicia, on the Euphrates,
secret asseinblies of these sects. But as the same whence he was transferred to the episcopal see of
stories are to be met with in every age, concerning Antioch, A. D. 356, and at length, having joined the
the secret meetings of sects stigmatized as heretical, ANOMEANS (which see), he was raised by the Em-
they must ever be considered as extremely liable to peror Constantius, A. D. 360, to the dignity of Pa-
suspicion. It is possible, that the Euchites, by their triarch of Constantinople. As head of the Arian
knowledge of some of the hidden powers of nature, party, he signalised himself by his powerful support
particularly of magnetism, may have been able to of their views, first in the council of Antioch, then
produce effects which excited the wonder of behold- in the Arian councils of Sardica, Sirmium, and Se-
The sect seems to have had a regular constitu- leucia. Such was his influence at court that he
tion; their presiding officers were called apostles. | bound the Emperor Valens by an oath to support
Even at this early period, the sect was threatened the cause of Arianism.
with a persecution from Constantinople
, and an im EUEMERION, a Pagan deity regarded as pre-
perial commissioner was appointed and despatched siding over good fortune, and as being the author of
to carry it into efect."
happiness. He is mentioned by Pausanias as hav-
From the Euchites seems to have originated the ing been worshipped by the Sicyonians. He is sup-
sect of the BOGOMILES (which see), who made their posed to have been identical with TELESPHORUS
appearance in the twelfth century. Schlegel men- (which see).
tions a sect of Pagan Euchites who acknowledged a EUKTEROI OIKOI (Gr. oratories or houses of
plurality of gods, though they worshipped but one, prayer), a name sometimes applied to ancient Chris-
whom they called the Almighty. These were more tian churches.
ancient than the Christian Euchites, built houses for EULOGIA (Gr. blessing or praise), one of the
worship similar to the Christian churches, and assem- appellations given in the ancient Christian church to
bled morning and evening with torches, and em- the LORD'S SUPPER (which see). From the fifth
ployed their time in praising God. Hence they were century this became the name of the consecrated
called EUPHEMITES (which see).
bread, which was set apart for the poor, and for the
EUCHOMENOI (Gr. praying people), a name ministers of the church, who sent such eulogia to one
sometimes given to those of the CATECHUMENS another in token of friendship
(which see), who remained to receive the minister's EU'LOGIUM, the consecrated bread of the Greek
prayers and benedictions. These were also called church. See ANTIDORON.
Genuflectentes or kneelers.
EUMENIDES, the furies of Pagan antiquity,
EUCLEIA, a goddess worshipped at Athens, and goddesses who avenged crime, and heaped their ma-
whose temple was built from the spoils taken at the ledictions upon the criminal. They are also called
battle of Marathon. Eucleia was also used at Athens Erinnye; and Furiæ or Dire. They were supposed
as a surname of Artemis. The Boeotians and Lo- to inhabit ERCBOS (which see), which they only left
crians worshipped Eucleici, persons of both sexes be- when summoned to earth by the crimies of men which
ing accustomed before their marriage to offer sacri- called for punishment. Inexorable to the prayers or
fices to this goddess.
the tears of the sufferers, they inflicted with stern
er's.
EUMENIDEIA-EUNOMIANS.
855
justice the chastisement due to crimes. The ex- | Eusebians, and other portions of the Arian party.
istence of the furies was more ancient than that of Eunomius, as an Anomaan, not only denied the equa-
the gods of Olympus, of whom, accordingly, they lity between the Father and the Son, but also the
were wholly independent. By the poets of ancient similarity. In the earlier part of his history he was
Greece they are described as beings of terrific as- a deacon at Antioch, and chiefly, through the in-
pect, their bodies black, their eyes blood-red, and fluence of Eudoxius in A. D. 360, he was appointed
nunberless serpents twined around their heads. to the bishopric of Cyzicus; but having boldly
The Eumenides, according to later writers, were avowed his opinions, he was deposed in the course
three in number, and bore the names of Tisiphone, of a few months from his office, and to add to his
Alecto, and Megoera. They were worshipped at disgrace, the inhabitants of Cyzicus banished him
Athens, and a festival was celebrated in their honour from the town. His whole life was one perpetual
called EUMENIDEIA (which see). Black sheep were series of sentences of exile, for wherever he went his
offered in sacrifice to them, and libations of a pecu- iinprudent and unaccommodating temper brought
liar drink composed of honey mixed with water. down upon him the vengeance both of the govern-
They were worshipped also at Megalopolis under ment and of the people. After his death, at an
the name of MANIÆ (which see). They were called advanced age, A. D. 394, his works were ordered by
Eumenides, favourable or propitious, from an idea imperial edicts to be destroyed.
that their true names were an unlucky omen.
Besides that portion of the Eunomian system,
EUMENIDEIA, a festival celebrated in honour which declared the nature of the Son to be altogether
of the EUMENIDES (which see) at Athens and in different from, and unlike to, that of the Father,
other parts of ancient Greece. It was kept once there was also contained in it a distinct heresy in
every year with sacrifices and libations of honey and reference to the nature of the Holy Spirit, who is affirm-
water, the worshippers engaged in the festival being ed by this theory to be the first among the created
decked with flowers. Freemen of good character natures, formed according to the command of the
were alone allowed to take part in the solemnities. Father by the agency of the Son. This view, of
EUMOLPID.E, Athenian priests of the goddess course, amounted to a denial of the Divinity of the
Demeter or Ceres, particularly in her worship at the Holy Spirit, and while it admitted the power of the
ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES (which see). They were Spirit to sanctify and enlighten, it proclaimed that
said to be descended from Eumolpus, who reor- power to be neither inherent nor divine. The attack
ganized, if he did not originally institute, these mys- thus made upon the essential divinity of the Third
teries; and the high-priest who principally conducted as well as the Second Person of the Trinity, led to
them uniformly belonged to the family of the Eu- the extension of the Homoousion, or identity of sub-
molpidæ. The whole of this class of priests were stance to the doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit, as
expected to supplicate the gods in behalf of the state, well as to that concerning the Son. To meet this
and if they failed to discharge this important part of peculiar heresy which had arisen, a modification was
their duties they were punished. They were expected introduced into the Nicene creed, through the second
also to take strict cognizance of every case in which general council at Constantinople. The terms in
sacred things were violated, and their judicial func- which the Holy Spirit was described by the Nicene-
tions were regulated, not by any written law, but Constantinopolitan creed ran in these words: “The
simply by tradition. Sometimes, besides punishing Spirit proceeding from the Father; the governing,
the offender in aggravated cases with banishment, quickening Spirit, who is to be worshipped and hon-
the Eumolpidæ added to their sentence, but only oured at the same time with the Father and the Son."
when required by the people, a clause containing a Eunomius was not contented with a mere abstract
formal and solemn curse.
denial of the divinity of the Son and of the Holy
EUNOMIANS, a modification of the Anomcan Spirit; but, in accordance with these views, he aban-
sect of Semi- Arians in the fourth century. Their doned the ancient custom of the trine immersion in
founder, Eunomius, was the most celebrated disci- baptism, and also the practice of baptizing in the
ple of Ætius, froin whom the ÆTIANS (which see) name of the Trinity, and adopted an entirely new
derive their name ; but he was both more subtle in form, that of baptizing only into the death of Christ.
reasoning, and more fierce and uncompromising than Epiphanius tells us, that the Anomoeans, whose sen-
his master. Having embraced the Anomaan form of timents Eunomius defended, adopted still another
the Arian heresy, he contended with the utmost bit-form, baptizing in the name of the uncreated God,
terness against the other forins which it assumed, and the name of the created God, and the name of
and particularly against the Acacianism of Eudoxius the sanctifying Spirit, created by the created Son.
of Antioch. So far, indeed, did the Eunomians carry Gregory Nyssen says, that from the writings of
the violence of their opposition to the other sections Eunomius, it appears that the doctrine which he
of the Arian party, that they even re-baptized their taught on this subject was, that baptism ought to be
Christian converts as if they had been heathens; administered in the name of the Creator and Maker,
and that too not only when the converts were and not Father only, but God of the Only begotten.
brought from the orthodox party, but also from the Eunomius, indeed, seems to have been the first of all
856
EUPHEMITES EUSEBIANS.
the Arians who gave a practical bearing to his opi- , of his leaning to the errors of Sabellius. But the
nions by changing the form of baptism. Accord- most rancorous enmity of the heretics was directed
ingly, both the first general council of Constantino- against Athanasius, the distinguished Patriarch of
ple, and the council of Trullo, ordered the Euno- Alexandria. Charges were produced against him
miaus on their return to the orthodox faith to be before councils successively held at Cæsarea and
r'e-baptized, while converts from all the other forms Tyre, the Meletians being the accusers, and the Eu-
of Arianism were appointed to be received by impo- sebians the judges. The stratagem was but too suc-
sition of hands, without a new baptism. See Ano- cessful. Athanasius was deposed from the see of
MEANS, ÆTIANS, ACACIANS, ARIANS:
Alexandria, and with the sanction of Constantine
EUPHEMITES (Gr.eu, well, and phemi, to speak), banished into Gaul.
one of the appellations given to the EUCHITES (which The death of Constantine, and the division of the
see) of the fourth century, from hymns addressed to Empire among his three sons, changed the whole
the Supreme God, the Almighty, whom alone they state of matters in so far as Athanasius was con-
worshipped. Neander supposes this sect to have cerned. A large party, headed by the Bishop of
arisen from that spiritualized, refined polytheism Rome, who had already obtained great influence in
which was connected with the recognition of one ab- the West, espoused the cause of the exiled prelate,
solute essence. Mosheim regards the Euphemites and the Eusebians found it necessary to take deter-
rather as a Pagan than a Christian sect.
mined steps with the view of confirining the sentence
EUPHROSYNE, one of the ancient Pagan GRACES of deposition against the patriarch of Alexandria,
(which see).
and at the same time of drawing up a confession of
EUROPA, a daughter of Agenor, who was be faith, to allay, if possible, the suspicions which were
lieved by the ancient Greeks to have been carried extensively entertained in the Western churches, of
off from Phoenicia to Crete by Zeus, who had meta- their orthodoxy. A council, accordingly, was sum-
morphosed himself into a bull
, in order to accomplish moned at Antioch A. D. 341, which is well known as
his purpose. From this fabulous person Europe is the Council of the Dedication, at which between
supposed to have received its name.
ninety and one hundred bishops were present, all of
EUROPA, a surname of DEMETER (which see). them Arians or Arianizers. In a council composed
EURYNOME, a daughter of Oceanus, who was of such materials, it was no difficult matter to obtain
said by the Pagans in ancient times, to have once a complete ratification of the sentence pronounced
held rule in Olympus over the Titans, but that hav- by the synods of Cæsarea and Tyre in condemnation
ing been vanquished by Chronos, she was cast down of Athanasius.
into Tartarus. Homer, also, represents Eurynome “But a less easy task," says Dr. Newman, in his
and Thetis as having received Hephaestus when he work entitled, “The Arians of the Fourth Century,
was banished from Olympus by Hera.
“remained behind; viz. the conciliation of the West-
EURYNOME, a surname of ARTEMIS (which ern Church, by an exposition of the articles of their
see), under which sacrifices were offered to her once faith. Four, or even five creeds, more or less re-
every year at Pligalea in Arcadia. She was repre- sembling the orthodox in language, were successively
sented as half woman, half fish.
adopted, with a view of convincing the Latins of
'EURYNOMUS, a demon among the ancient their freedom from doctrinal error. The first was
Greeks, who was reported, by a tradition at Delphi, that ascribed to the martyr Lucian, though doubts
to have devoured human carcases, leaving nothing are entertained concerning its genuineness. It is in
but the bones.
itself almost unexceptionable; and, had there been
EURYSTERNOS (Gr. broad-chested), a surname no controversies on the subjects contained in it,
of Ge (which see).
would have been a satisfactory evidence of the or-
EUSEBIANS, a class of Semi-Arians, who de- | thodoxy of its promulgators. The Son is therein
rived their name from two bishops of the name of styled the exact image of the substance, will, power,
Eusebius, the one of Cæsarea, who is the celebrated and glory of the Father; and the Three Persons of
church historian, the other of Nicomedia, and after- the Holy Trinity are said to be three in substance,
wards of Constantinople, who was intimate with Con- one in will. An evasive condemnation was added of
stantine the Great. The latter prelate made use of his the Arian tenets; sufficient, as it might seem, to
influence with the emperor to persuade him to perse- delude the Latins, who were unskilled in the subtle-
cute the orthodox party. Under the forms of ecclesias- ties of the question. For example, it was denied
tical law, accusations were formally preferred against that our Lord was born 'in time;' but in the here-
the orthodox prelates of the principal sees, and the tical school, time was supposed to commence with
result was, that all the most powerful churches of the creation of the world; and that He was in the
Eastern Christendom were brought under the in- number of the creatures,' it being their doctrine,
Aluence of the Arians. Eustathius of Cæsarea was that He was the sole immediate work of God, and, as
both deposed and banished on charges of heresy and such, altogether distinct from what is commonly
immorality, while Marcellus of Ancyra was deposed, called the creation, of which indeed He was, even
anathematized, and banished on the alleged ground | according to them, the author. Next, for some or
EUSTATHIANS-EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE.
857
other reason, two new creeds were proposed, and under the name of Eustathians, holding peaceful
partially adopted by the Council; the same in char- meetings among themselves for Divine worship. This
acter of doctrine, but shorter. These three were all continued as long as Arius held the see of Antioch,
circulated, and more or less received in the neigh- and even when Meletius was appointed, who after a
bouring churches; but, on consideration, none of time avowed his belief in the Nicene creed, still the
them seemed adequate to the object in view, that of Eustathians refused to acknowledge either the Me-
recommending their authors to the distant churches letians or their bishop, as not pure enough in their
of the West. Accordingly, a fourth formulary was opinion from the Arian heresy. Various attempts
drawn up after a few months' delay by Mark, bishop were made to heal these divisions in the church at
of Arethusa, and others, who were deputed to pre- Antioch, but in vain. In A. D. 362, Lucifer conse-
sent it to Constans; and this proving unsatisfactory, crated a new bishop named Paulinus, but the Eusta-
a fifth confession was composed with considerable | thians alone received him. Meletius returned to
care and ability; but it too failed to quiet the suspi- Antioch, and thus there were two bishops of An-
cions of the Latins."
tioch. Athanasius regarded Paulinus as the most
From the number of creeds thus produced, the orthodox, and, therefore, he and the greater part of
Eusebians were only proclaiming to the world the the west took the side of the Eustathians. The
uncertain and unsatisfactory nature of their opinions. eastern bishops were on the side of Meletius, who,
The Western churches countenanced by Constans, however, suddenly died. This event did not, as
and his brother the Emperor of the East, summoned might have been expected, put a stop to the un-
a general council at Sardica A. D. 347. Upwards | seemly contentions. The Meletians in their turn
of 380 bishops attended, of whom 76 were Arian. now refused to acknowledge Paulinus, and elected
At the very opening of the council, the Arian party Flavianus as successor to Meletius. Paulinus died
objected to Athanasius being allowed a seat while A. D. 389, but before his death he had consecrated
under deposition. Their objection was overruled, on Evagrius as his successor. Soon after Evagrius also
the ground that a later council held at Rome had fully died, but the disunion still continued. At length,
acquitted and restored him. The Arians, however, through the prudent and conciliatory management
retired in a body from the council, and holding a of Chrysostom, the two parties were reconciled, to
separate meeting at Philippopolis, excoinmunicated each other. Flavianus was acknowledged by the
the leaders of the orthodox party, issued a sixth foreign bishops, as bishop of Antioch. Yet there
confession of faith, and confirined the proceedings of remained a small body of Eustathians who did not
the council of Antioch against Athanasius and the unite with the general church till Flavianus was
other exiles. The council of Sardica, on the con- succeeded by other bishops.
trary, unmoved by the retreat of the Arians, pro- EUSTRATES, one of a class of martyrs to whom
ceeded to condemn some of their leaders, reviewed a festival is dedicated in the Greek church on the
the acts of the investigations at Tyre and the Mar- 13th December.
eotis, which the Eusebians had sent to Rome in their EUTERPE, one of the MUSES (which see), of
defence, and confirmed the decree of the council of the ancient Pagan mythology.
Rome in favour of Athanasius. A separation now EUTRESITES, a surname of APOLLO (which
took place between the Eastern and Western see), derived from a place called Eutresis, where he
churches, the Semi-Arians now came forward, who had an oracle. It was situated between Platææ and
had hitherto been concealed among the Eusebians, Thespiæ.
and took a prominent part in the controversy. On EUTUCHITES (Gr. cu, well, and tuche, fortune),
the assassination of the emperor Constans A. D. 350, a heretical sect mentioned by Theodoret, as belong-
the Eusebians won over to their party Constantius, ing to the third century. They held that our souls
who had succeeded to the whole empire, while they were placed in our bodies only to honour the angels
opposed and triumphed over the Semi-Arian creed. who created them ; that we ought to be afflicted at
The stratagem by which they succeeded in blinding nothing, to be equally pleased with vice and virtue,
the Emperor was, that of affecting on principle to for to be otherwise would be to dishonour the angels
liinit confessions of faith to Scripture terins. The who created our souls. They maintained also that
author of this artifice was Acacius of Cæsarea, who Christ was not the son of the Great God, but of an
gave rise to the ACACIANS (which see), in which unknown God.
the Euscbians were from this time absorbed.
EUTYCHIANS. See MONOPHYSITES.
EUSTATHIANS, a party which arose in the EVANEMUS (Gr. eu, well, and anemos, wind), a
church at Antioch in the fourth century, in conse- surname of Zeus, as granting favourable winds.
quence of Eustathius, the bishop of that city, hav- Under this name he was worshipped at Sparta.
ing been deposed A. D. 327 by the Anti-Nicene EVANGEL (Gr. euangelion, good tidings), a name
party, while a majority of the community remained often applied to the Gospel of Christ. Hence what
faithfully attached to him. They refused to acknow- | is in accordance with the Gospel is called Evan-
ledge as their bishops the Arians who were thrust gelical.
upon them, and formed a separate church party EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE, an association
1.
3 s
858
EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE.
of Christians of all denominations, formed with the to maintain and advocate their religious convictions
design of realizing and giving visible expression to with due forbearance and brotherly love.
the unity of the church of God throughout the whole “ That it is not contemplated that this Alliance
world. The Alliance was established in 1846, and the should assume or aim at the character of a new
first meeting of the Conference, with a view to its ecclesiastical organization, claiming and exercising
formation, was held in London in August of that the functions of a Christian Church. Its simple and
year, when leading meinbers of all the orthodox coinprehensive object, it is strongly felt, may be
denominations of Britain were present, along with successfully promoted without interfering with, or
professors of theology, ministers, and elders, from all disturbing the order of, any branch of the Christian
the departments of France, from the cantons of Church to which its members may respectively be-
Switzerland, from the kingdoms, principalities, and long.
universities of Germany, from Holland, from Asia “ That while the formation of this Alliance is re-
Minor, from Hindustan, and from every section of garded as an important step towards the increase of
the United States of America. This was probably Christian union, it is acknowledged as a duty incum-
the nearest approach to an Ecumenical Council that bent on all its members carefully to abstain from
has been held since the days of the apostles. pronouncing any uncharitable judgment upon those
The doctrinal basis on which the Evangelical Al- who do not feel themselves in a condition to give it
liance rests, is as follows:-
their sanction.
“ That the parties composing the Alliance shall “That the members of this Alliance earnestly and
be such persons only as hold and maintain what are affectionately recommend to each other in their own
usually understood to be evangelical views in regard conduct, and particularly in their own use of the
to the matters of doctrine under-stated, viz.: press, carefully to abstain from and put away all
“1. The Divine inspiration, authority, and suffi- bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and
ciency of the Holy Scriptures.
evil-speaking, with all malice; and in all things in
“2. The right and duty of private judgment in which they may yet differ from each other, to be
the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures.
kind, tender-hearted, forbearing one another in love,
“3. The Unity of the Godhead, and the Trinity forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
of persons therein.
sake, hath forgiven them; in everything seeking to
“4. The utter depravity of human nature in con- be followers of God, as dear children, and to walk in
sequence of the fall.
love, as Christ also has loved them."
“5. The incarnation of the Son of God, his work The objects which the Alliance ought to prosecute
of atonement for sinners of mankind, and his media- were thus stated :
torial intercession and reign.
“I. That, inasmuch as this proposal for union
“6. The justification of the sinner by faith alone. originated, in a great degree, in the sense very gen-
“7. The work of the Holy Spirit in the conver- erally entertained among Christians, of their grievous
sion and sanctification of the sinner.
practical neglect of our Lord's new commandment
“8. The immortality of the soul, the resurrection to his disciples, to love one another'-in which
of the body, the judgment of the world by our Lord offence the members of the Alliance desire, with
Jesus Christ, with the eternal blessedness of the godly sorrow, to acknowledge their full participation
righteous, and the eternal punishment of the wicked. —it ought to form one chief object of the Alliance
“9. The Divine institution of the Christian minis- to deepen in the minds of its own members, and
try, and the obligation and the perpetuity of the through their influence, to extend among the disci-
ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. ples of our Lord Jesus Christ generally, that con-
“It is, however, distinctly declared First, That viction of sin and shortcoming in this respect, which
this brief summary is not to be regarded, in any the blessed Spirit of God seems to be awakening
formal or ecclesiastical sense, as a creed or confes throughout his Church; in order that, humbling
sion, nor the adoption of it as involving an assump- themselves more and more before the Lord, they may
tion of the right authoritatively to define the limits be stirred up to make full confession of their guilt
of Christian brotherhood, but simply as an indication at all suitable times, and to implore, through the
of the class of persons whom it is desirable to em- merits and intercession of their merciful Head and
brace within the Alliance : Second, That the selection Saviour, forgiveness of their past offences, and divine
of certain tenets, with the omission of others, is not grace to lead them to the better cultivation of that
to be held as implying that the former constitute the brotherly affection which is enjoined upon all who,
whole body of important truth, or that the latter are loving the Lord Jesus Christ, are bound also to love
unimportant.
one another for the truth's sake which dwelleth in
"That in the prosecution of the present attempt, them.
it is distinctly declared, that no compromise of the “II. That the great object of the Evangelical
views of any member, or sanction of those of others, | Alliance be, to aid in manifesting, as far as practi-
on the points wherein they differ, is either required cable, the unity which exists amongst the true disci-
or expected; but that all are held as free as before ples of Christ; to promote their union by fraterrul
EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION.
859
and devotional intercourse; to discourage all envy- | Christian society, under the name of the Evangelical
ings, strifes, and divisions; to impress upon Chris- Association. In 1803 they assumed a regular orga-
tians a deeper sense of the great duty of obeying our nization, electing Jacob Albrecht as their presiding
Lord's command, to‘love one another;' and to seek elder, and ordaining him by the laying on of the
the full accomplishment of his prayer, “That they all hands of the other preachers. For a time, this zeal-
may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in ous body, composed exclusively of Germans, and
thee; that they also may be one in us; that the conducting their worship exclusively in the German
world may believe that thou hast sent me.
language, were exposed to great opposition, and they
“III. That in furtherance of this object, tlie Alli- were even called to endure much persecution. Yet
ance shall receive such information respecting the they continued to spread more and more, sending out
progress of vital religion in all parts of the world as hundreds of preachers to labour among the German
Christian brethren may be disposed to communicate; population of the United States and the Canadas,
and that a correspondence be opened and maintained and they have been very successful in their mis-
with Christian brethren in different parts of the sions among the German emigrants in the Western
world, especially with those who may be engaged, States, and in several of the principal seaports. For
annidst peculiar difficulties and opposition, in the many years the services of this body were conducted
cause of the Gospel, in order to afford them all suit- wholly in German, but for some years past they
able encouragement and sympathy, and to diffuse an have directed their attention more to English preach-
interest in their welfare.
ing, and in several of their circuits their religious
“IV. That, in subservieney to the same great ob- exercises are almost exclusively conducted in that
ject, the Alliance will endeavour to exert a beneficial language.
influence on the advancement of Evangelical Protes- The church government of this body of Christians
tanti-in, and on the counteraction of Infidelity, of is Episcopal. The bishops are elected every four
Romanism, and of such other forms of superstition, years by the General Conference, to which they are
error, and profaneness, as are most prominently op-responsible for the faithful discharge of their duties.
posed to it, especially the desecration of the Lord's- They are bound to travel in turn through the
day; it being understood that the different branches whole connection, to superintend the temporal and
of the Alliance be left to adopt such methods of pro- spiritual affairs of the church, and to preside in
secuting these great ends as may to them appear | the Annual and General Conferences. Next to the
inost in accordance with their respective circum-bishops, there are presiding elders, whose duty it is,
stances; all at the same time pursuing them in the each of thein, to travel over the whole bounds of his
spirit of tender compassion and love.
district, to hold stated quarterly meetings, preside at
“In promoting these, and similar objects, the local and quarterly conferences, and to superintend all
Alliance contemplates chiefly the stimulating of the churches within his allotted sphere. Preachers
Christians to such efforts as the exigences of the case are appointed in the different circuits and stations,
may demand, by publishing its views in regard to who, besides attending to the duty of preaching, are
them, rather than accomplishing these views by any bound to attend to the formation of classes, to direct
general organization of its own.”
and superintend the elections of leaders and exhorters,
Branches of the Alliance have since 1846 been and finally, to receive, put back on trial, and expel
formed in almost every part of Christendom, and members. The Evangelical Association have a
the result has been, that a spirit of greater harmony Quarterly, an Annual, and a General Conference,
and social brotherhood has been thereby infused into the last of which meets every four years for the ar-
the different sections of the Christian body, who, rangement of the affairs of the whole body. Quar-
while still retaining their denominational peculiari- terly Conferences are held in each of the circuits,
ties, and their separate spheres of action, feel that and consist of all the class-leaders, exhorters, tra-
they are knit together in the unity of the faith, and velling and local preachers of the district. The
in the indissoluble bond of Christian peace and love, members of the Annual Conferences, which meet in
EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION, a denomi- every Conference district, are all the travelling preach-
nation of Christians in the United States of Amer- ers, and such as have formerly travelled, and who are
ica, which arose about the year 1800, in one of the fully ordained ministers. To form the General Con-
middle free States. It was founded as a separate ference, delegates are elected from every Annual Con-
sect by Jacob Albrecht, a Lutheran layman of Penn- ference every fourth year, one for every four mem-
sylvania, from whom they were at first called the bers of their own body. There is besides another
Albrecht Brethren. Having been brought under serious Annual Conference appointed for the local preachers
impressions, this worthy man conceived it to be his on every circuit, chiefly for investigating the charac-
duty to go forth preaching the gospel, more especially ter and conduct of the preachers. The whole society
to the Germans throughout the United States, among is divided into conference districts, which are subdi-
whom at that time true evangelical Christianity was vided into smaller districts, and these into circuits,
at a very low ebb. At length, having gathered and the circuits into classes.
around liim a number of converts, he forined a The doctrines of the Evangelical Association, as
860
EVANGELICAL UNION.
stated by themselves, are in accordance with the scruples, by declaring his readiness to withdraw the
creeds and confessions of other evangelical churches, tract from circulation.
with one solitary exception that they deny the im- Having now obtained the responsible position of
putation of Adam's first sin to his natural posterity. an ordained minister of a congregation, Mr. Morison
The only other peculiarity of the sect which may be conceived it to be his duty to adopt the same style and
noticed, is that they consider war as in all cases in- mode of preaching to his own flock which had been
consistent with the gospel and spirit of Christ. already attended with such marked success in other
This denomination in 1843 had 15,000ʻcommuni- congregations. He accordingly proclaimed what he
cants, but since that time it has made extensive pro- considered the grand gospel message, that Christ
gress both in the States and Canada.
died for all men without exception, and that, there-
EVANGELICAL UNION, a Christian denomi- fore, it was the duty, as well as the privilege of
nation which originated in Scotland in 1840. It took every human being, to apply this truth to his own
its rise from the peculiar theological views which, individual case, and without hesitation to believe and
about that time, began to be entertained and pro- take comfort from the conviction that Christ died
mulgated by Mr. James Morison, son of the Rev. for him. For any man to do otherwise, to refuse
Robert Morison, minister of the United Secession to exercise this assurance of his own personal inter-
church in Bathgate. Hence the name of Morison- est in Christ, he taught was sin, inasmuch as it was a
ians, by which this body is commonly known, although manifest denial of the design of Christ's death as an
they themselves prefer the title which we have pre- universal atonement. That such views were taught
fixed to this article. Mr. James Morison was edu- by Mr. Morison could not be concealed, nor was he
cated for the ministry in connection with that deno- ashamed of them. He proclaimed them publicly
mination to which his father belonged, and after from the pulpit, and from house to house. The no-
having passed through the ordinary course of study, velty of the doctrine, and its obvious inconsistency
both literary and theological, he was licensed to with the Westminster Confession, speedily attracted
preach the gospel. His father was a man of fervent the notice of the neighbouring ministers, and in a
piety and exemplary diligence as a minister, and the short time Mr. Morison was summoned to appear be-
youthful licentiate reared under such favourable aus- fore the Kilmarnock presbytery accused of teaching
pices, besides being possessed naturally of an ardent, false and unscriptural doctrine. The charges were
energetic temperament, and having towards the close arranged under various heads.—1. That he incul-
of his studies, had his sèrious impressions deep-cated the doctrine that the object of saving faith to
ened by a serious illness, entered upon the work of any man was, that Christ made atonement for the
preaching the gospel with an ardent desire to win sins of that person, inasmuch as he made atonement
souls to Christ. The first sphere of his labours as a for the sins of the whole world, and that saving faith
probationer was in the north of Scotland, particu- consisted in seeing this statement to be true. To this
larly Ross-shire, where, by the Divine blessing, he specific charge Mr. Morison replied that the object of
was made instrumental in bringing about a revival | saving faith is the gospel, and that the gospel is sim-
of religion. Crowds flocked to hear him where- ply this, “ Christ died for our sins according to the
ever he preached, and not a few professed to have Scriptures," which, of course, implies that Christ died
received saving impressions from listening to his dis- for all men, since all men are commanded to believe;
that faith cannot be exercised without consciousness
On returning to the south, Mr. Morison continued of its exercise, and, therefore, saving faith must
to take a lively interest in the progress of that good always be accompanied with a consciousness that
work which was still going forward among his former the man is believing the truth as it is in Jesus.
hearers, and besides corresponding with many of 2. That he taught man's ability of himself to be-
them, he published a tract for their benefit, entitled, lieve. To this Mr. Morison replied, that man has
The Question, What must I do to be Saved? answered power to believe, God having given him the requi-
by Philanthropos.' This small pamphlet contained the site ability; were it otherwise man would not be
germs of that peculiar theological system which led responsible for his belief. 3. That he declared that
to the formation of the Evangelical Union. It was ex- no man ought to be called upon to pray for strength
tensively circulated throughout the whole country, to enable him to believe. The reply of Mr. Morison
and excited great sensation, more especially in the de- to this charge was, that prayer was undoubtedly a
nomination of Christians with which its author was duty incumbent upon every man, but it was a prior
connected. In the midst of the ferment caused by duty to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and prayer,
this publication, Mr. Morison was invited to become which did not spring from faith, could not be ac-
the pastor of a Secession congregation at Kilmar- ceptable to God. 4. That he taught repentance in
nock; but on presenting himself before the presby- Scripture to be only a change of mind, and not a
tery of the bounds for ordination, two of the brethren, godly sorrow for sin. To this Mr. Morison made
who had read the obnoxious tract, hesitated about answer, that the Greek word used in the New Tes-
proceeding to set him apart for the work of the min- tament was metanoia, and meant simply change of
istry; but at length he succeeded in removing their mind, while he readily admitted that such a change
Courses.
EVANGELICAL UNION.
861
was uniformly followed by godly sorrow for sin. libelling Dr. Brown, withdrew from the Secession
5. That he declared justification not to be par- body.
don, but that it is implied in pardon. To this The four suspended ministers continued to exer-
Mr. Morison answered, that justification cannot be rcise their ministry, notwithstanding the sentence
considered as identical with pardon, seeing a man of the synod, the majority of the members of their
can be justified only once, but he may be often congregations still adhering to them; and besides
pardoned. 6. That he believed election to come in teaching their peculiar tenets from the pulpit, they
the order of nature after the purpose of atonement. availed themselves of the press to circulate their
The reply of Mr. Morison to this charge was, that opinions far and wide throughout the whole coun-
while he maintained election to be eternal, personal try. The new views, accordingly, found numerous
and unconditional, since the statement of Scripture supporters in most of the large towns, and many
is, that the elect are chosen in Christ, the purpose
of the rural districts of Scotland. It was now thought
election cannot possibly precede, but must follow proper that the congregations which adhered to the
after the purpose of atonement. 7. That his publi- suspended ministers should be united in Christian
cations contained many unwarranted statements in fellowship, and in pursuance of this object, meetings
regard to the atonement. These statements Mr. were held in Glasgow on the 16th, 17th, and 18th
Morison explained or defended. 8. That he taught May 1843, at which the EVANGELICAL UNION was
that men could not merit eternal death on account formed "for the purpose," as they themselves ex-
of Adam's first sin. To this Mr. Morison replied, pressed it in their published statement of principles,
that he held all men to be guilty of Adam's first “of countenancing, counselling, and otherwise aid-
sin, but that no man would suffer eternal death merely ing one another; and also for the purpose of train-
in consequence of that sin.
ing up spiritual and devoted young men to carry on
The result of this trial for heresy was, that in March and to carry forward the work and pleasure of the
1841 Mr. Morison was suspended from the office of Lord."
the holy ministry. Against this sentence he pro- At the time when the Union was established, the
tested, and appealed to the next meeting of the opinions of the brethren as to various important theo-
United Secession synod, which took place in the fol- logical points had undergone considerable modifica-
lowing June. The case occupied the synod for ele- tion. When first separated from the United Seces-
ven successive sederunts, at the close of which it sion church, their views of election and predestination
was decided that the sentence of suspension passed were decidedly Calvinistic, but they had now assumed
by the presbytery of Kilmarnock be confirmed. an Arminian character. Their characteristic pecu-
Against this decision Mr. Morison protested in these liarities had been the universal extent of the atone-
terms : “Seeing the supreme court has given sen- ment, and the ability of men to believe the gospel.
tence against me, even to my suspension from the To these, however, they now added the universality
ministry, on most inadequate grounds, I protest of the grace of God as extended to all men, and not
against the decision, and I shall hold myself at to believers alone, and also the capability of man to
liberty to maintain and preach the same doctrines resist that grace. They no longer believed in abso-
as if no such decision had been come to” Mr. Ro- lute unconditional election, but in conditional elec-
bert Morison of Bathgate, the father of the young tion, arising out of the Divine foreknowledge of the
minister who was thus suspended, was next charged future faith of those who were elected. These tenets
with heresy, chiefly on the subject of the atonement added to those of their former creed, showed that
of Christ, which he maintained secured the salvation the new sect avowed opinions which bore partly a
of no man, but provided salvation for all, and that sal- Pelagian and partly an Arminian character.
vation was secured to individual believers by the gra- The Morisonian doctrines, as they were called, arose
cious influences of the Holy Spirit, which were ordained first within the United Secession Church, but they
in the order of nature subsequent to the purpose of were not long limited to that body; several ministers
atonement. The charge was fully proved, and Mr. of the Scottish Congregationalist or Independent com-
Morison was cast out of the Secession body in 1842. munion began openly to promulgate the same tenets
On precisely similar grounds, the Rev. A. C. Ruther-both from the pulpit and the press. The students,
ford of Falkirk, and Rev. John Guthrie of Kendal also, of the Theological Academy in Glasgow were
were cast out in 1843. Suspicions now began to be en- suspected of having secretly imbibed the new views.
tertained that the Morisonian heresy, as it was called, Considerable uneasiness was excited in consequence,
was taught by Dr. John Brown from the professorial | lest what was considered a fatal heresy should dif-
chair. This eminent divine, accordingly, was sisted fuse itself throughout the Independent body. Steps
at the bar of the Secession synod, accused of heresy, were accordingly taken to test the students with the
but, after a careful and minute inquiry, the charges design of discovering how far the obnoxious opinions
Were wholly disproved, and the worthy Professor prevailed among them. Dr. Wardlaw, under whose
was triumphantly acquitted. Thereupon Dr. Mar- charge they had long been placed, was appointed to
shall of Kirkintilloch, one of the two brethren who draw up three questions, which were presented to
had taken upon themselves the responsibility of cach student, and written answers were required
862
EVANGELIST.
These testing questions were as follows: "1. Are ciples, and contribute to its funds, though they have
your sentiments on the subject of Divine influence not formally joined the Union.
It is probable,
the same now as they were when you were examined therefore, that the ministers of the body actually
by the committee and admitted into this institution ? amount to upwards of forty, and the denomination
2. Do you hold, or do you not, the necessity of a is decidedly on the increase. Nor is the body limited
special influence of the Holy Spirit, in order to the to Scotland; its principles have also been carried
regeneration of the sinner, or his conversion to God, across the Tweed, and are now making rapid pro-
distinct from the influence of the Word or of provi- | gress, particularly in the north of England. By
dential circumstances, but accompanying these means, means of a publishing establishment which was com-
and rendering them efficacious ? 3. Are your sen- menced by private individuals in Glasgow in 1846,
timents settled on the subject of the preceding query, both a weekly newspaper, called the Christian News,
or are you in a state of indecision, and desirous of and a Monthly Magazine, called the Day-Star, are
time for farther consideration and inquiry?” The regularly issued, along with various tracts and trea-
answers produced from ten out of twenty regular tises, all of them designed to circulate widely through-
students were deemed unsatisfactory by the Aca- out both ends of the island, as well as in Ireland, and
demy committee, and nine of them still adhering to even in foreign countries, those views of Divine
the opinions given forth in their printed answers, truth which the Evangelical Union regard as in strict
were expelled from the Academy on the 1st May accordance with the Word of God, but which the
1844. In the following year, five churches in the other Evangelical churches repudiate as erroneous
neighbourhood of Glasgow, and four in the north of and unscriptural.
Scotland, were thrown off from the Congregationalist EVANGELIST (Gr. eu, well, and angelos, a mes-
body, and co-operated with the brethren of the senger), literally, one who brings good tidings, a
Evangelical Union. A minister belonging to the word used in the New Testament to denote an office-
Free Church also, the Rev. William Scott of Free bearer in the early Christian church, who seemed to
St. Mark's, Glasgow, having been led to embrace rank next to the apostles, and whose duty it was to
the Morisonian views, was cut off from that body by preach the gospel not in any stated district, but ‘at
the General Assembly in 1845.
large. It implied, therefore, an itinerant preacher, or
Thus the Evangelical Union came to be com- missionary, who wandered about from place to place
posed of a number of ministers, who, while they held preaching and founding churches. It may have been
substantially the same theological views, were dis- in this sense that Paul calls upon Timothy to “do the
agreed on the subject of church government, some of work of an evangelist.” The word, however, is now
them being Presbyterians, and others Congregation- usually limited in its application to the four inspired
alists. And yet the Congregationalist principle is persons, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, who wrote
admitted by the whole body, inasmuch as they deny the history of the life of our blessed Lord. In later
the right of Presbyteries, Synods, or Assemblies ages of the church, the term Evangelist was applied to
to exercise control over individual churches. But the officer who read or chanted the gospel during divine
though the fundamental principle of presbyterianism service, and in the Greek church the name EVANGE-
is thus abandoned, even by those churches of the LISTA (which see) is still applied to the deacon who
Union which formerly held it, still the Congregation- reads the Gospels. In Eusebius we find an important
alist churches of the body transact all their affairs in passage respecting the office of Evangelist. “They
meetings of the whole church members, while the Pres- extended the preaching of the gospel, and spread the
byterian churches intrust the management of their seed of the kingdom of heaven far and wide. The
affairs to a body of elders chosen from among the greater number of disciples at that time, whose souls
communicants. The Union exercises no authority were inflamed through the Divine word with a zealous
over the internal government of the different churches, love of wisdom, in the first place fulfilled the com-
which are placed on a strictly independent footing, mandment of the Saviour, (see Matth. xix, 21,) and
there being no external body which interferes in distributed their goods among the poor. Then they
the slightest degree with their internal arrangements. travelled into distant parts, and discharged the office
The Annual Conference meets in the beginning of of Evangelists among those who had not yet heard
October, but its object is simply consultation for the anything of the word of faith. They were busily
general good of the whole Union and the advance-employed in preaching Christ, and distributing the
ment of the common cause, attending to the interests books of the holy Gospels
. When they had laid the
of the Theological Academy, and to the Home and foundation of faith in unenlightened places, they ap-
Foreign Missions in connection with the body, but pointed others as pastors, to whom they intrusted
no attempt is ever made to intermeddle with the the care of the new plantation; but they themselves
internal concerns of individual congregations. Ac- went forward to other countries and people, being led
cording to the census reports of 1851, the ministers by the grace and co-operation of God.
The Holy
of the Union are returned as twenty-eight; but it Ghost wrought many miracles by their hands, by
ought to be borne in mind, that several churches and means of which they succeeded in bringing over
ministers co-operate with the body, profess its prin- | large multitudes, at the first hearing, to the worship
EVANGELISTA-EVENING SERVICE.
863
of the universal Creator.” Philip, who had first been pity upon them, and despatched Gabriel to bring
1 deacon at Jerusalem, was afterwards an evangelist, | them together again, near Mount Arafat in Arabia.
preaching the gospel wherever occasion offered. The Budhists having lost all faith in a Creator, re-
Such officers must have been peculiarly useful in the ject the idea of the creation of the first man and
infancy of the Christian church, and from Scripture woman. The ancient Scandinavians give the first
we learn that they were endowed with special spirit- woman the name of EMBLA (which see). The Hin-
ual gifts to qualify them for their work.
dus, according to one view, allege that Brahma, the
EVANGELISTA, the name given in the Greek god of creation, had converted himself into two per-
church to the deacon who reads the Gospels in the sons, the first man or the Manu Swayambhuva, and
course of Divine service. Before he begins to read the first woman or Satarúpá, which denotes the great
he turns to the priest and craves his blessing. universal mother, the one parent of a hundred forms.
EVANGELISTARIUM, an appendix to the EVENING SERVICE. In the primitive Chris-
EVANGELIUM (which see) of the Greek church, tian church the evening service was conducted on
containing thirty-five canons or rules for finding the the same plan as the ANTELUCAN SERVICE (which
Gospels for each Sunday in the year, and also for see), with such variations in the psalmody and
calculating the time of Easter.
prayers as were suited to the time and circumstances.
EVANGELISTS. In the last census, that of The morning service commenced with the sixty-third
1851, four congregations returned themselves as wor- Psalm, whereas the evening service commenced with
shipping in England under this name, probably to the hundred and forty-first Psalm, which the author
avoid being identified with anything which bore the of the Apostolic Constitutions accordingly calls the
aspect of sectarianism.
Evening Psalm; and Chrysostom alleges, that the
EVANGELIUM, a book used in the services of reason of its adoption, as the initial part of the ser-
the Greek church, which contains the Gospels | vice, was as a sort of salutary medicine to cleanse.us
divided into sections, arranged as lessons for each from sin; that whatever defilement we may have
day and festival. Sometimes these lessons are , contracted throughout the whole day, either abroad,
taken from one evangelist, and sometimes from in the market, or at home, or in whatsoever place,
another. But with the exception of the solemn when the evening comes we might put it all off by
festivals, which require a particular gospel, the this spiritual song, which is a medicine to purge
lessons on ordinary Sabbaths go on continuously away all such corruption. After this psalm, followed
throughout the four Evangelists, so that the Sundays the same prayers which were used in the morning
are often called by the name of the particular service, at the close of which the evening bidding
Evangelist which they may be in the course of read- prayer was used, which ran in these words, “Let us
ing. Thus they speak of the first Sunday or the pray to the Lord for his mercies and compassions ;
second Sunday of St. Matthew, and so on.
and entreat him to send us the angel of peace, and
EVE, the first created woman, and the mother of all good things convenient for us, and that he would
all living. The word Eve in the Hebrew language grant us to make a Christian end. Let us pray that
signifies Life. The Jewish Rabbis say that Eve this evening and night may pass in peace and with-
was not the first wife of Adam, but LILITH (which out sin, and all the time of our life unblameable and
see), who contended with him for superiority, and without rebuke. Let us commend ourselves and one
finding that he demanded from her obedience and another to the living God through his Christ." Then
submission, she pronounced the name JEHOVAH, and was offered up the evening thanksgiving in these
instantly flew away through the air. Angels were words: “O God, who art without beginning and
despatched to bring back the fugitive, but she re- without end, the Maker and Governor of all things
fused to return, whereupon Eve was created to be a through Christ, the God and Father of him before
helpmeet for Adam. The Mohammedan doctors all things, the Lord of the Spirit, and King of all
allege, that Eve was produced from Adam's side, things, both intellectual and sensible ; that hast
after the expulsion of Satan from Paradise, for refus- made the day for works of light, and the night to
ing to do homage to the first man, and therefore, give rest to our weakness: for the day is thine, and
the woman being unacquainted with the appearance the night is thine; thou hast prepared the light and
of her adversary, he secretly returned to Eden, and the sun: do thou now, most kind and gracious Lord,
assisted by the serpent and the peacock, persuaded receive this our evening thanksgiving. Thou that
her to eat the forbidden fruit. When our first parents hast led us through the length of the day, and
were banished from Paradise, which the Moslems brought us to the beginning of the night, keep and
suppose to have been placed in the seventh or lowest preserve us by thy Christ; grant that we may pass
heaven, Adam fell in the island of Ceylon, near the this evening in peace, and this night without sin;
mountain which still retains his name, but Eve on and vouchsafe to bring us to eternal life through thy
the coast of the Red Sea, not far from Mecca. Christ; by whom be glory, honour, and adoration
During two hundred years they lived separate from unto thee in the Holy Spirit, world without end.
each other, bewailing their forlorn condition, and Amen." This thanksgiving being ended, the deacon
bitterly repenting of their sin. At length, God took called upon the people to bow down and receive the
864
EVITERNUS-EXARCH.
2
benediction, when the following prayer was offered: carried off fourteen years before. The festival was
"O God of our fathers, and Lord of inercy, that hast established by Pope Honorius, and was introduced
created man by thy wisdom a rational being, and of into the West in the seventh century; for the Ro-
all thy creatures upon earth dearest unto thee, that man Pontiffs were then under the dominion of the
hast given him dominion over the earth, and hast Greek Emperors, and were beginning gradually to
made us by thy pleasure to be kings and priests, the withdraw themselves from their jurisdiction. The
one to secure our lives, and the other to preserve Greek church calls this festival Staurophaneia, mani-
thy lawful worship: be pleased now, O Lord Al- festation of the cross, which, as well as the name
mighty; to bow down and show the light of thy given to it by the Romish church, Exaltation of the
countenance upon thy people, who bow the neck of Cross, is derived from the circumstance that the sup-
their heart before thee; and bless them by Christ, posed true cross, when brought back by Heraclius
by whom thou hast enlightened us with the light of from Persia, was exalted or set up in the great
knowledge, and revealed thyself unto us : with whom church of Constantinople, in order to show it to the
is due unto thee and the Holy Ghost the Comforter, people. The Greeks prepare themselves by a four-
all worthy adoration from every rational and holy teen days' fast for this festival, and during the whole
nature, world without end. Amen." At the close of that time discourses are delivered to the people on
of this prayer the deacon dismissed the people with the subject of our Saviour's sufferings and death.
the usual form, as in the morning service, " Depart The fast, however, is observed only by the monks,
in peace.”
but on the day of the festival the people are obliged
In addition to this regular form of the Evening to kiss the cross fasting. The Copts observe this
Service, an evening hymn is mentioned by several festival by the benediction of a particulai cross,
ancient authors, which was used at the setting up of which is afterwards thrown into the Nile, in order to
lights. “It seemed good,” says St. Basil, “to our make the waters of the river, as they say, retire
forefathers, not to receive the gift of the evening within its banks, which almost always happens on
light altogether with silence, but to give thanks im- the 24th of September, or at least from that day the
mediately upon its appearance.” A hymn of this waters begin to decline. In this, as well as some of
kind occurs in the Alexandrian Manuscript of the the other great festivals, the Armenians offer lambs
Septuagint, which runs as follows: “O Jesus Christ, in sacrifices to God. The victims are slain by the
thou joyful light of the sacred glory of the immortal, priests at the doors of their churches. Each
heavenly, holy, blessed Father! we now, being come householder usually provides a lamb for sacrifice if
to the setting of the sun, and seeing the evening his circumstances are such as to admit of it, and
light, do laud and praise the Father, and Son, and when the animal is slain, he dips his finger in the
Holy Spirit of God (or the Father, Son, and Holy | blood, and makes the sign of the cross with it on
Ghost, that is God). Thou art worthy to have the door of his house. The priest claims half of the
hymns at all times sung unto thee with holy voices; slain victim, and the other half is roasted and eaten
O Son of God that givest life. Therefore the world by the family.
glorifies thee.” The arrangements for evening ser- EXARCH, an officebearer in the Greek church,
vice seem to have varied considerably in different next to the patriarch, and to whom the charge of the
churches, but in all of them a considerable number patriarchal monasteries is committed. It is his spe-
of psalms and hymns were mingled with the prayers. | cial duty to visit these monasteries, to hear the com-
EVENS. See VIGILS.
plaints of inferiors against their superiors, to impose
EVITERNUS, a deity worshipped by the ancient penance, and punish those monks who neglect their
Romans, according to Pliny.
duty. When a superior of a patriarchal monastery
EVOCATIO, a religious ceremony observed by dies, the Exarch sends the individual elected by the
the ancient Romans when besieging a town, in which monks to receive the imposition of hands from the
they solemnly called upon the deities of the place to patriarch. The Exarch is also bound to take an
.forsake it, and come over to their assistance. With- exact account of all the monasteries which are de-
out this ceremony they imagined that the place could pendent on the patriarch, of their revenues, sacred
not be taken, or that it would be sacrilege to take vessels, and ornaments.
the gods prisoners. They generally attempted to When Constantine the Great established Chris:
bribe the deities by promising them temples and fes- tianity as the religion of the Roman empire, he en-
tivals. If the place was taken, they concluded that deavoured to conform the ecclesiastical arrangements
the gods had listened to their prayers, and had de- to the civil administration of the commonwealth.
serted it.
With this view he created Exarchs, corresponding
EXALTATION OF THE CROSS, a festival to the civil officers of that name, and presiding each
observed by both the Greek and Roman churches over several provinces. The Exarchs, however, of
on the 14th of Septembeľ. It was instituted by the the fourth century are in no respect similar to the
Greek Emperor Heraclius A. D. 631, after having | Escarchs of the modern Greek church.
conquered the Persians, and recovered from them the EXCELLENTS. See GAONS.
supposed real cross which Cosroes their king had EXCEPTORS. See NOTARIES.
I
EXCISION-EXORCISM.
865
EXCISION (Lat. cutting off), an ecclesiastical EXOCIONITES, a name applied to the ARIANS
sentence among the Jews, whereby a person was (which see) of the fourth century, who, when expelled
separated or cut off from his people. The Jews enu- from Constantinople by Theodosius the Great, re-
merate thirty-six crimes to which this punishment is tired to a place outside the city. The name fre-
due. The excision might be partial, in which case quently occurs in the Chronicle of Alexandria.
the person on whom it fell was cut off from the Justinian made over to the orthodox all the churches
liberty of free intercourse with every person out of of the heretics, except that of the Exocionites.
his own family, for the space of thirty days, though EXOMOLOGESIS (Gr. confession), a word which
he was still allowed to enter the synagogue, provided frequently occurs in the Christian fathers, and which
he did not approach nearer to any person than four is alleged by Romish writers to mean private or auri-
cubits. This was the lesser excommunication of the cular confession made to a priest. Protestant writers,
Jews. The excision might also be complete, exclud- however, understand it to mean the whole exercise
ing him from all the privileges of the synagogue, of public penance, of which public confession formed
and cutting him off as a heathen man from the wor- an important part. The latter view is that which is
shipping assemblies of his people. This was called given by Tertullian. “The exomologesis," says he,
the greater excommunication. The Rabbis reckon “is the discipline of a man's prostrating and hum-
three kinds of excision: one by an untimely death, bling himself, enjoining him a conversation that
which destroys only the body; another by the utter moves God to mercy and compassion. It obliges a
destruction of the soul; and a third by the destruc- man to change his habit and his diet, to lie in sack-
tion of both soul and body.
cloth and ashes, to defile his body by a neglect of
EXCOMMUNICATION. See ANATHEMA, CEN- dress and ornament, to afflict his soul with sorrow,
SURES (ECCLESIASTICAL).
and to change his former sinful conversation by a
EXECRATION. See ANATHEMA.
quite contrary practice; to use meat and drink, not
EXEDRA, a name sometimes given by St. Au- to please his appetite, but only for preservation of
gustine to the AMBO (which see). It is often used | life; to quicken his prayers and devotions by fre-
in ancient writers as synonymous with the APSIS quent fastings; to groani and weep, and cry unto the
(which see)
Lord God both day and night; to prostrate himself
EXEDRÆ, the outer buildings of ancient Chris- before the presbyters of the church, to kneel before
tian churches, including all the appendages belong the friends of God, and beg of all the brethren that
ing to the churches, such as courts, side-buildings, they would become intercessors for his pardon : all
and wings, along with all those separate buildings this the cxomologesis requires to recommend a true
pertaining to the main edifice, which were situated repentance." See CONFESSION (AURICULAR).
in the enclosure of the churchyard. In the open EXORCISM, a ceremony used from ancient times
space stood the demoniacs and the weeping peni- for dispossessing evil spirits, and still employed for
tents, neither of whom were permitted to enter this purpose, both in the Romish and Greek churches.
within the walls of the church. But the most im- In the early days of Christianity, when many of the
portant of all the Exedræ was the BAPTISTERY converts had come over from heathenism, the prac-
(which see). See CHURCHES.
tice was adopted in baptism, of calling upon the can-
EXEMPTION, a privilege granted by the Pope didate for this sacred ordinance previously to make
to the Romish clergy, and sometimes to the laity, an open renunciation of all fellowship with the king-
whereby he exempts or frees them from the jurisdic- dom of darkness, of which he had before been a sub-
tion of their respective ordinaries.
ject. Giving his hand to the bishop, he solemnly
EXITERIA, sacrifices offered by generals among declared that he renounced the devil and all his
the ancient Greeks before setting out on warlike ex- pomps, referring to the public shows of the heathens.
peditions. The chief use of these sacrifices was to And not only did he renounce the devil, but his
ascertain whether the enterprise was to be success- angels also, an expression which Neander conjectures
ful or disastrous.
to have been based on the notion, that the heathen
EXOCATACELI, a name given to several im- gods were evil spirits who had seduced mankind. This
portant officers in the ancient church of Constanti- | pledge was regarded as the Christian's military oath
nople, who were of great authority, and in public or sacrament. “But this form of renunciation,"con-
assemblies took precedence of the bishops. Origi-tinues Neander, “which we meet with in the second
nally they were of the order of priests, but after- century, should be distinguished from the exorcism,
wards were only deacons. Critics differ much as to which could not have sprung so early out of the
the origin of the name. The most probable opinion prevailing mode of thinking in Christian antiquity.
is that of Du Cange, who derives it from the cir- It is true, the idea of a deliverance from the domi-
cumstance, that those who were high in office were nion of the evil spirit in a moral and spiritual re-
seated, in public assemblies, in high and more hon-spect, of a separation from the kingdom of evil, and
0 :rable seats, erected on either side of the patriarchal of a communication by the new birth of a divine life,
throne. The college of the Exocatacoeli corresponded which should be victorious over the principle of evil,
to the college of cardinals at Rome.
is to be reckoned among the number of original and
866
EXORCISM.
essential Christian ideas; but the whole act of bap- formalities were apparently introduced gradually and
tism was to be in truth precisely a representation of at different times."
this idea ; there was no need, therefore, that any The Jews made great pretensions to the power of
separate act should still be added to denote or to exorcism, and Josephus relates several wonderful-
effectuate that which the whole act of baptism was cures of demoniacs effected by this means. Our
intended to denote, and to the believer truly and Saviour gave his disciples power over unclean spirits.
effectually to represent. The case was different Paul, as we learn from Acts xix. 12—16, possessed
with the form of renunciation. This, like the con- the power of expelling evil spirits. Among the early
fession of faith, had reference to what the candidate | Christians the power of casting out devils in the
was bound, on his part, to do, in order to enjoy the name of Jesus was not confined to the clergy, but
benefit of baptism. As in Christianity faith and life as Origen informs us, was common to all Christians.
are closely conjoined, so the renunciation accom- During the first three centuries, however, exorcism
panied the confession. Hence we find in the second was exclusively practised by bishops and presbyters,
century no trace as yet of any such form of exorcism, and it was not until the end of the third century that
against the evil spirit. But the tendency to con- its duties came to be discharged by a separate class of
found the inward with the outward, the inclination Christian office-bearers. That exorcism formed no
to the magical, the fondness for pomp and display, part of the baptismal ceremony in the second cen-
caused that those forms of exorcism which had been tury is plain from Justin Martyr, in his . Second
employed in the case of the energumens or de- Apology,' and Tertullian, in his De Corona Militis,
moniacally possessed, should be introduced in the having described the ceremonies of baptism, in their
baptism of all heathens. Perhaps the fact also had times, and yet making no mention of exorcism.
some connection with this change, that exorcism, The practice of exorcisin forms an important part
which in earlier times was a free charisma, had be- of the ceremonies of the Church of Rome, the ritual
come generally transformed into a lifeless mechanical of exorcisms extending over no fewer than thirty
act, attached to a distinct office in the church. In pages of the Rituale Romanum. Minute directions
the apostolic constitutions, we find neither the one are given for distinguishing demoniacal possession
nor the other. The first unequivocal trace of exor-
from lunacy. " The marks of those possessed by de-
cism in baptism is found in the acts of the council of mons,” we are informed, “ are, that they speak un-
eighty-five or eighty-seven bishops, which convened known tongries with much copiousness of speech, or
at Carthage in the year 256."
that they understand them when spoken ; that they
Cyril of Jerusalem is the first writer who gives an disclose things distant and secret; that they show a
account of the forın, of exorcism. The principal ce- strength or prematurity beyond their years; and
remonies connected with it were those detailed by when many of these signs concur, the indications are
Coleman, in his Christian Antiquities :-
the greater.” When the exorcist is convinced from
“1. Preliminary fasting, prayers, and genuflections. these symptoms that the individual before him is
These, however, may be regarded as general preli- really possessed with a devil, he is directed by the
minaries to baptism.
ritual to put a crucifix into the hand of the possessed,
“ 2. Imposition of hands upon the head of the or at least within his view. If any relics of saints
candidate, who stood with his head bowed down in a are within reach, they ought to be reverently ap-
submissive posture.
plied to his breast or head. If the possessed be
“3. Putting off the shoes and clothing, with the very loquacious, the exorcist must order him to be
exception of an under garment.
silent, and to reply only to the questions proposed in
“4. Facing the candidate to the west, which was reference to the number and name of the spirits that
the symbol of darkness, as the east was of light. beset him, the time they entered, the cause, and
“In the Eastern church he was required to thrust other similar questions. Should the demoniac allege
out his hand towards the west, as if in the act of himself to be the soul of any saint, or dead person
pushing away an object in that direction. This or good angel, the exorcist is strictly charged to put
was a token of his abhorrence of Satan and his no faith in any such statements. The ceremony
of
works, and his determination to resist and repelexorcism is performed at the lower end of the church
them.
towards the door. The exorcist having first made
“5. A renunciation of Satan and his works ; thus the sign of the cross upon the possessed person,
- I renounce Satan and his works, and his pomps, causes him to kneel, and sprinkles him with holy wa.
and his services, and all things that are his.' This ter. The litanies, psalms, and prayers are then read,
or a similar form was thrice repeated.
after which the exorcist asks the evil spirit bis
“6. The exorcist then breathed upon the candidate name, and adjures him not to afflict the person any
either once or three times, and adjured the unclean more; then laying his hand upon the demoniac's
spirit in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy head he repeats one of the forms of exorcism, such
Ghost, to come out of him.
as the following, which he must pronounce in a tone
“ This form of adjuration seems not to have been of command and authority, in strong faith, and
in use until the fourth century; and these several | humility, and fervour, “I exorcise thee, unclean
EXORCISM.
867
spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ; tremble, O Sa- tered in a low tone, and in the same way there is a
tan, thou enemy of the faith, thou foe of mankind, form of exorcism for making the holy CHRISM (which
who hast brought death into the world; who hast see).
deprived men of life, and hast rebelled against jus- The modern Jews have a prayer which they use
tice; thou seducer of mankind, thou root of all evil, habitually from early childhood, and which they say
thou source of avarice, discord, and envy."
exorcises or drives away evil spirits from them dur-
Should the unclean spirit refuse to yield to this ing the night; but even although this prayer may
form of exorcism, a more pungent one must be em- have been offered, evil spirits will rest upon their
ployed, and if still inexorable, a longer and more hands and faces if they remain in bed beyond a cer-
emphatic adjuration must be used. « Let him also tain time in the morning. The Rabbins teach, that
observe,” says the Ritual," at what words the de- if a man rises early, says his prayers three times, and
mons most tremble, and let him repeat these most performs his appointed rites and ceremonies, he has
frequently; and when he comes to the commination, no cause to dread evil spirits, for although they may
let him return to it again and again, always increasing hover round him they cannot touch him. It is ne-
the punishment; and if he see that he prevails, let cessary, however, that as soon as he gets out of bed,
him persevere in it throughout two, three, four and is partly dressed, he should hasten to wash him-
hours, and more as he is able until he has attained self in order to drive away evil spirits, and that no
the victory.” Houses and other places supposed to be time may be lost, the pious are exhorted to have a
haunted by unclean spirits are also exorcised by the vessel of water close by their bed-side, that on awak-
Romish church, and the ceremony is much the same ing they may have it in their power without delay
as for a person possessed. The frequent repetition to wash their hands. Women are obliged to observe
of the Pater Noster, Ave Maria, and Creed, are en- the same order of washing, that is, to pour water
joined as of great efficacy, and should other means three times over their hands.
fail, the Athanasian Creed is strongly recommended. In the administration of the ordinance of baptism,
The occasions are very numerous in which the the Greek church offer four prayers of exorcism, dur-
Romish church has recourse to exorcism. Besides ing the last of which the priest blows on the infant's
forming an essential part of the ceremony of bap-mouth, forehead, and breast, and commands the
tism, it is also resorted to in laying the foundation | evil spirit to depart, while the sponsor is directed to
stone of a church, salt and water being solemnly ex- confirm his renunciation of the devil by blowing and
orcised. The form of exorcising the salt, as it is spitting upon him. The exorcism of the Coptic
found in the Roman Pontifical, is as follows: “I church is accompanied by the sign of the cross made
exorcise thee, thou creature of salt, by the living + thirty-seven times. The mode in which the Greeks
God, by the true + God, by the holy + God; by exorcise demoniacs is thus related by an old writer :
the God who ordered thee to be cast into water by “The patient was chained down to a post; after
Elijah the prophet, that the unwholesomeness of the which, several priests, dressed in their sacerdotal
water might be healed : that thou be made exorcised vestments, read to him, for six hours together, a
salt, for the salvation of those that believe ; and that considerable part or portion of the four Gospels.
thou be to all that use thee, health of soul and body; | And as in one particular place of St. Matthew it is
and that from the place where thou shalt be sprinkled, said, in express terms, 'that this kind of devil goeth
every spectre, and malice or subtlety of the devil's not out, but by prayer and fasting,' the exorcists
illusions, and every unclean spirit, flee away and took particular care to fast about twenty-four hours
depart, adjured by Him, who is to come to judge the before. The next day they observed the same pen-
quick and the dead, and the world by fire. R. Amen." ance, and continued to read as before. It was three
The form also for exorcising the water runs thus : days at least before these lessons were over.
In the
"I exorcise thee, thou creature of water, in the name meantime the demoniac cursed his Maker, and raved
of God the Fa + ther Almighty, and in the name of against all mankind, swearing, hallooing and hoot-
Jesus Christ his + Son our Lord, and in the might ing, and making a thousand ridiculous grimaces.
of the Holy + Spirit, that thou be conjured water, All his contortions, however, were no impediments
for putting to flight all the power of the enemy: to the priests in the prosecution of their reading;
and that thou avail to root out and banish the enemy | nor did they condescend so far as to make the least
himself, with his apostate angels, through the might reply to the impious blasphemies of Satan. It is
of the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall come observable, that the priests read alternately, without
judge the quick and the dead, and the world by intermission, and that with such care and circum-
fire. R. Amen.” The holy water to be sprinkled spection, that before one had well finished the other
on the inside of the church is exorcised in different was ready to begin. After they had done reading
words from that which is sprinkled outside, and be- | the four Gospels, another priest, remarkable for his
sides, it is mingled not only with salt, but with ashes sanctity of manners, was made choice of for an assist-
and wine, so as to render it still more holy than the His province was to read to the demoniac
other. In making the oil of the sick, also, which is the exorcisms of St. Basil. Though this lecture, it
only done on Maundy Thursday, an exorcism is mut- seems, put the devil into the utmost confusion, yet
ant.
868
EXORCISTS-EXOTERIC AND ESOTERIC.
it did not prevent him from retorting in the most ministry to pour out the water, (holy.) Receive,
opprobrious language imaginable: the priest, how therefore, the power of laying hands on the pos-
ever, so severely rebuked him, and in such a peremp- sessed, that by the imposition of your hands, by the
tory manner enjoined him to come out, that he was grace of the Holy Spirit, and the words of exorcism,
forced to comply. At his departure he showed his unclean spirits may be driven from the bodies pos-
resentment to the utmost of his power, tormented sessed by them. Study, therefore, that as you expel
the miserable wretch as much as possibly he could, demons from the bodies of others, you may cast out
and left him motionless, and like a dead corpse,
uncleanness and wickedness from your own body,
upon the ground.”
lest you fall under the power of those spirits that
EXORCISTS, a class of office-bearers which arose you put to flight from others. Learn from your office
in the Christian church towards the end of the third to restrain your own faults, lest through your evil
century, and whose office it was to expel devils. No manners the enemy prevail, and avenge himself.
distinct order of this kind appears to have existed in Then, truly you will rule over other demons, when
the early ages of Christianity, but during the first three you have first overcome their complicate wickedness
centuries the duties which afterwards devolved upon in yourself; which may the Lord grant you to do,
expellers of demons, were discharged by the bishops through his Holy Spirit.” The Book of Exorcisms
and presbyters, while in a certain sense, by prayer, is then put into his hands, or instead of it a copy of
and by resisting the devil, every one might be his own the Missal or Pontifical, the bishop saying, “ Receive
exorcist. “Nothing is more certain,” says Bingham, and take charge, and take power of laying hands
“than that in the apostolic age, and that next fol- upon the possessed, or the baptized, or catechu-
lowing, the power of exorcising or casting out devils mens."
was a miraculous gift of the Holy Ghost, not con- The power of exorcising evil spirits is recognized
fined to the clergy, much less to any single order in the canons of the Church of England. Thus in
among them, but given to other Christians also, as canon 72, it is declared, “No minister shall, without
many other extraordinary gifts then were.” Exor- the license of the bishop of the diocese, under his
cists were charged with the more special care of the hand and seal, attempt upon any pretence whatso-
ENERGUMENS (which see), or persons possessed with ever, either of possession or obsession, by fasting and
an evil spirit. It was their duty to pray over these prayer, to cast out any devil or devils, under pain of
persons, and to use all proper means for their re- the imputation of imposture or cosenage, and depo-
covery. Accordingly, the fourth council of Carthage sition from the ministry.” In the Form of Baptism
describes the appointment and office of the exorcists also, as contained in the Liturgy of Edward VI., it
in these words, “When an exorcist is ordained, he was thus ordered: “ Then let the priest, looking upon
shall receive at the hands of the bishop a book, the children, say,–I command thee, unclean spirit, in
wherein the forms of exorcising are written, the the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
bishop saying, Receive thou these and commit them Ghost, that thou come out and depart from these
to memory, and have thou power to lay hands on the infants, whom our Lord Jesus Christ hath vouch-
Energumens, whether they be baptized or only cate- safed to call to his holy baptism, to be made mem-
chumens.” It was not, however, until the fourth bers of his body and of his holy congregation;
century, that exorcists came to exercise their office therefore, thou cursed spirit, remember thy sentence,
in connection with Christian baptism, not as being remember thiy judgment, remember the day to be at
absolutely necessary, nor as being enjoined in the hand, wherein thou shalt burn in fire everlasting,
Scriptures, but simply as being highly beneficial, in- prepared for thee and thy angels; and presume not
asmuch as without it children born of Christian hereafter to exercise any tyranny towards these in-
parents would not be free from the influence of evil fants, whom Christ hath bought with his precious
spirits. From this time the exorcists not only offi-| blood; and by this his holy baptism called to be of
ciated in connection with the Energumens or de- his flock." No mention is made of exorcism in the
moniacs, but also with the catechumens as candidates Book of Common Prayer presently in use in the
for baptism.
Church of England, and the practice is unknown
The office of exorcist is still maintained both in among the greater number of Protestant churches.
the Church of Rome and in the Greek Church, and In the Lutheran churches, some of them at least, the
express provision is made in the Roman Pontifical form of exorcism in baptism is still preserved. It is
for the ordination of such an office-bearer, whenever also maintained in the church of Denmark, but was
it is thought expedient that he should be chosen and abolished in the church of Sweden in 1809. In the
consecrated. The exorcist elect kneeling before the Helvetic Reformed churches, exorcism has never
bishop, with candles in his hands, is thus addressed : been practised. See DEMONIANISTS.
“ About to be ordained, most dear son, to the office EXOTERIC AND ESOTERIC, words which
of an exorcist, you ought to know what you under- literally denote External and Internal, and are often
take. It is your part to cast out demons, and to applied to the twofold doctrine of many ancient
teach the prayer, that he who communicates not philosophers, the one intended for the public, and the
gives place to the devil; and it is your part in your other for their own private and initiated followers.
EXOTHOUMENOI-EZRA.
869
passed
OL
The first who adopted this double mode of teaching | diately after the appearance of the Mishna, in the
were the Egyptians, from whom it seems to have end of the second century. The name of Extrava-
the Persians, the Greeks, the Druids, and gants was also given to a collection of Decreto
others. From the schools of Greek philosophy, the letters of the Popes (see CANONS, ECCLESIASTICAL)
practice was introduced among the early Christians, made by Pope John XXII. The last Collection was
and hence in all probability originated the ARCANI brought down to the year 1483, and was called the
DISCIPLINA (which see), or secret doctrine, which Common Extravagants.
was reserved only for those who had obtained full EXTREME UNCTION. See UNCTION (Ex-
admission into the Christian church by baptism. TREME).
EXOTHOUMENOI, the first of the four classes EXUCONTIANS (Gr. ex oukonton, from non-ex-
into which Bingham divides the CATECHUMENS istences), a name given to the class of Arians called
(which see) of the early Christian church. This ÆTIANS (which see) because they affirmed that the
class was instructed privately outside the church, Son of God might, indeed, be called God, and the
and prevented from entering into the church until Word of God, but only in a sense consistent with his
they were more fully enlightened in a knowledge of having been brought forth from non-existence, that
the truth.
is, that he was one of those things which once had
EXPECTATION WEEK, a name given to the no existence, and, of course, that he was properly a
interval between Ascension Day and Whit-Sunday, creature, and was once a non-entity. See ARIANS,
because during that period the Apostles waited in SEMI-ARIANS.
expectation of the fulfilment of the promise in re- EZAN, a hymn used in Mohammedan countries
ference to the coming of the Comforter.
by the Muezzin or public crier, who chants it from
EXPECTATIVES, a term introduced under the the minarets of the mosques in a loud, deep-toned
pontificate of John XXII. in the fourteenth cen- voice, summoning the people to their devotions.
tury, when the French pontiffs residing at Avignon, The proclamation is in these words: “God is great,
assumed to themselves the power of conferring all four times repeated; “I bear witness that there is no
sacred offices, whether high or low, according to God but God," twice repeated; “I bear witness that
their own pleasure, by which means they raised im- Mohammed is the prophet of God," twice repeated;
mense sums of money, calling forth the bitterest “Come to the temple of salvation,” twice repeated;
complaints from all the nations of Europe. In the “God is great, God is most great; there is no God
fifteenth century, in the council of Constance, at its but God, and Mohammed is his prophet. ” The same
session on the 25th of March 1436, the expectatives proclamation is made at the five canonical hours, but
were abolished.
at morning prayer the Muezzin must add, repeating
EXPIATION (DAY OF). See ATONEMENT it twice, “Prayer is better than sleep!” The tone
(DAY OF).
in which the hymn is chanted by the Muezzin has
EXPIATION (WATER OF). See HEIFER (SA- a very solemnizing effect in general upon all within
CRIFICE OF).
reach of the sound.
EXPULSION. See CENSURES ECCLESIASTI- EZRA, an ancient Jewish reformer whose memory
CAL).
has always been held in the highest reverence by the
EXSUFFLATION, a part of the ceremony of Jews, who have generally believed him to have been
baptism in the ancient Christian church, in which the principal author of the canon of the Hebrew
the candidate for baptism stood with his hands Scriptures, and that he gathered together, corrected,
stretched out towards the west, and struck them and arranged the Sacred Books. Having received a
together ; then he proceeded thrice to exsufflate or commission from the king of Persia, he sought to
spit in defiance of Satan. This was the peculiar | reform the Jewish church after the model of the law
mode in which the catechumens were wont to ex- of Moses. · The chief points to which he directed his
press their abhorrence of their great adversary as if attention were the restoration of such a strict obser-
he were present. See BAPTISM.
rance of the Mosaic law as had prevailed before the
EXTISPICES (Lat. exta, entrails, and specio, to Captivity, and to collect and publish a correct edi-
look), a name sometimes given to the ancient ARUSPI- tion of the Holy Scriptures. “To accomplish these
CES (which see), because it was their duty carefully to designs, he had," say the Jews, “the assistance of a
examine the entrails of the victims which were sacri- certain assembly of doctors, who met at that time to
ficed, in order to gather from them lucky or unlucky regulate the affairs of church and state. There is
The Scandinavians were accustomed to sa- nothing more famous in the books of the Rabbins
crifice human victims, for no other purpose than to than this assembly, which they call, by way of ex-
ascertain what was to happen by the inspection of cellency, the great synagogue, to distinguish it from
their entrails, by the effusion of their blood, and by all others
. This they tell us was a convention con-
the greater or less celerity with which they sunk to sisting of one hundred and twenty men, who lived
the bottom of the water.
all at the same time under the presidency of Ezra, and
EXTRAVAGANTS, a collection of Jewish tra- among these they name Daniel, and his three friends,
ditions made by Rabbi Chua, and published imme- | Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, as the first of
omens.
870
FABULINUS-FAITH (CONTROVERSIES ON).
them, and Simon the Just, as the last; though from given by Moses, Ezra was worthy by whom it should
the last mention we have of Daniel in the Holy have been declared.”
Scriptures, to the time of Simon the Just, there had To prepare his edition of the Scriptures, Ezra pro-
passed no less than two hundred and fifty years. cured as many copies as he could find, and carefully
But the truth of the matter seems to have been this; studying and comparing them, he corrected the va-
these hundred and twenty men, it may be supposed, rious mistakes which had crept into them through
were such principal elders as lived in a continued the ignorance or negligence of transcribers, and
succession from the first return of the Jews, after the sought out the true reading of doubtful passages,
Babylonish captivity, to the death of Simon the making the text as accurate as possible. He then
Just; and in their several times employed them- arranged the different books in the order which they
selves in restoring the usage of the Levitical rites; now occupy in the Sacred Canon, which is generally
and in collecting the Books of the Holy Scriptures; called the Canon of Ezra, although it is not impro-
which excellent purposes were finished in the time of bable that some of the Books were inserted after his
Simon the Just. And Ezra, no doubt, had the death. Thus Malachi is believed to have lived after
assistance of such among them as lived in his time; the time of Ezra, and in the Book of Nehemiah men-
but the whole conduct of the work, and the glory of tion is made of Jaddua the high-priest, and Darius
accomplishing it, is ascribed by the Jews to Ezra, Codomannus, king of Persia, who lived at least a
under whose administration, it was done. Upon this hundred years after the period at which Ezra wrote;
account, they look upon him as another Moses : for it is very probable also, that the two Books of Chro-
the law, they say, was given by Moses, but it was nicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, as well as Ma-
revived and re-established by Ezra, after it had been lachi, were afterwards added in the time of Simon
almost extinguished in the Babylonish Captivity. the Just; and that it was not till then that the Jew-
Him, therefore, they call the Second Founder of the ish canon of the Scriptures was fully completed.
law; and it is commonly believed among them, that Ezra wrote his edition of the Scriptures in the Chal-
he was Malachi the prophet; that he was called dee character, which was in common use among the
Ezra as his proper name, and Malachi (which signi- | Jews after the Babylonish Captivity. Some have
fies an angel, or messenger) from his office, because even asserted that to this eminent doctor of the law
he was despatched by God to restore again the Jew- the Jews were indebted for the Hebrew vowel points
ish religion, and to settle it upon the foundation of by which the pronunciation, and in many cases the
the law and the prophets, as it stood before the Cap- meaning, of Hebrew words were fixed; but the more
tivity. This person was of so great esteem and general opinion is, that the invention of the vowel
veneration among the Jews, that it is a common say- points is to be traced to a much later period. See
ing among their writers, that if the law had not been BIBLE,
F
ese.
FABULINUS, an imaginary god among the an- in the very structure of the mind itself. The prin-
cient Romans, to whom they gave thanks when their ciple of faith, however, viewed as a purely intellec-
children first learned to speak.
tual act, is utterly inoperative upon the character,
FACHIMAN, the god of war among the Japan- but viewed as a moral act, or having a reference to
moral truth, it is followed by specific moral results,
FACULTY COURT, a court belonging to the which, however, can only be obtained by a distinct
Archbishop of Canterbury, which grants dispensa- recognition of the truth believed as holding some rela-
tions to marry, to eat flesh on days prohibited, to tion to our condition, either immediate or prospective.
hold two or more benefices, and so forth. The offi- Hence it is that a man might put firm and implicit
cer of this court is called the Master of the Facul- credence in a multitude of abstract truths, while his
ties.
character would be utterly unaffected by them.
FAITH (ARTICLES OF). See CREED.
There are many, for example, who believe in the
FAITH (CONTROVERSIES ON). Faith or belief existence of God, and yet by keeping out of view
is a fundamental principle of the human mind. We his nature and attributes, the principles or rather
are so formed, as in the first instance to believe, and affections of their moral constitution are quite un-
it is not until an after period that we begin to doubt. moved. They neither exercise hope nor fear, sor-
The groundwork of this tendency to believe is laid row nor joy, love nor hatred, in reference to that
FAITH (CONTROVERSIES ON).
871
Being whose existence they nevertheless believe as Gentiles experienced who were given up to believe a
an abstract intellectual truth. God is not in all their lie. The description of the faith of the Gentiles was
thoughts. They may be said to be in a state of regarded by the apostle Paul as sufficient to show that
complete indifference or neutrality in so far as that they were condemned in the sight of God, and that
truth is concerned. The moral result upon their a law which was followed by no better results was
character and deportment is to them the same as if utterly incapable of justifying the sinner. Hence
there had been no God at all. They hope, they fear, the necessity of the propitiatory sacrifice of the Lord
they love, they hate, influenced by innumerable mo- Jesus. The object which has been gained by the
tives of the most diversified kinds, but not one of death of Christ is clearly revealed to us in the sacred
ihem involving the slightest reference to that Being writings. “ He died for our offences, and rose again
who ruleth over all.
for our justification." “ His name shall be called
Thus we are led to an essential characteristic Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.”
of faith in its moral operation—the truths believed “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt
must be such that they shall bear upon the moral be saved.” Being justified freely by his grace
emotions or affections of our nature. Without this, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.'
constituted as we are, it is impossible that we can “God hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.”
ever act as moral agents. No object of faith, there- From these and many other passages, the conclusion
fore, can be admitted as at all effective in purifying plainly is, that Christ's death was directly efficacious
the heart or in rectifying the conduct, which is not in the salvation of man, not by imparting efficacy to
fitted to awaken our moral emotions and feelings. / any indirect instrumentality whatever, but by pro-
And we must inevitably arrive at the same result in curing of itself the free justification of all the elect of
our analysis of fuith, should we view it as significant God. It may be urged, however, against this view
of trust in, or confidence upon, the object believed. of the subject, that we are doing away with the in-
For, it is obvious that no confidence could be placed strumentality of faith altogether. By no means.
by us in any being whose existence we did not know, We admit that we are justified by faith, but we are
or whose claims upon our confidence we had not pre- far from admitting that in any sense we can be said
viously ascertained. And besides, as confidence im- to be justified because of faith. The work of Christ,
plies a feeling of security, no such principle could be not the working of our faith, is the ordinance of God
called into operation so long as the Being in whom appointed for our justification. The fundamental
we are called to trust is viewed by us with feelings and solely efficacious, and therefore solely meritorious
of suspicion or alarm. If our position in reference cause, is the mediation of Christ; and the principle
to Him, in short, is not such as to call forth love as of faith, whether viewed simply, or as an active prin-
well as confidence, we can never be expected to ex- ciple, neither has nor can have any efficacy, either
ercise faith.
self-derived or imparted, to accomplish our justifi-
Had man not been a fallen, a guilty creature in cation.
the sight of God, we could have conceived of him It is of the greatest importance that we clearly
as exercising, under the influence of reason, a simple understand the precise place which faith occupies in
child-like confidence in the presence of his Maker. justification. The Arminian assigns to it a meri-
This, however, is far from being the actual condition torious value in itself, as an abstract principle irre-
of man, he not only is, but, as is evident from the spective altogether of its object. This, however,
manners and customs of unenlightened nations, feels is impossible, faith without regard to its object
that he is a sinner, and instead, therefore, of relying being productive of neither good nor evil. The
upon God, or exercising a sincere desire to know object of justifying faith is Jesus Christ, and re-
and to do His will, every impression of the Divine demption through his blood. Thus, in reply to the
Being which he derives even from the deductions of earnest inquiry of the jailer of Philippi, “What
reason is necessarily fitted to awaken anxiety and must I do to be saved ?" the reply of the apostle
alarm. Adam hid himself from the presence of his “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
Maker, under a feeling of terror, as well as of shame; shalt be saved.” Faith in this case is the be-
and
every descendant of Adam, who has been unac- lief of testimony; not however the testimony of a
quainted with the glad tidings of salvation through frail, fallible man, but of the infallible, faithful Jeho-
the blood of Christ, has uniformly betrayed feelings vah. But this is far from exhausting the Scriptural
towards God, far different from child-like reliance. meaning of faith, it implies reliance, dependence,
To guilty man, the Deity wears no other aspect than implicit trust upon Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
that of an angry Judge, so long as the glad tidings The faith of the gospel then is not a cold heartless
of a gospel salvation are unknown; and should a assent to a statement, however important that state-
feeling of false and delusive confidence arise in hearts ment may be, but a cordial, unhesitating, and withal
unaffected with a sense of unworthiness and guilt, exclusive reliance on a personal Saviour. On the
such faith, if faith it can be called, instead of leading subject of faith the Westminster Confession is clear
to good results either here or hereafter, will only be and explicit : "By this faith a Christian believeth
visited with such consequences as those which the to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word, for
was,
872
FAITH (CONTROVERSIES ON).
the authority of God himself speaking therein; and an explicit assurance of our own personal salvation,
acteth differently upon that which each particular In the former sense it is undoubtedly an essential
passage containeth; yielding obedience to the com- element of saving faith, but not in the latter. “A
mands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing sinner cannot say in the first instance," as Dr. Dick
the promises of God for this life and that which is well remarks, “ Christ is mine in possession; be-
to come.” There is no vital doctrine of the gospel, cause this becomes true only when he has believed,
perhaps, which has given' rise to more varied and and cannot belong to the nature of faith, as it is a
bitter controversies than the doctrine of justifying consequence of it. If the words.mean only, that
faith.
Christ is his in the offer of the Gospel, or is offeréd
In regard to the nature of faith we may notice, to him in particular, we allow it, but have a right to
that the Romish church alleges that it consists in complain, that a fact about which there is no dis-
an assent to the truth of the Scriptures in general. pute, should be expressed in terms which are apt to
This separates the principle of faith from Him who suggest a quite different sense. The sinner cannot
is set forth in Scripture as the special object of it, say till he have believed, that Christ died for him,
and reduces it to a vague assent to the truth of the unless he died for all men without exception; but,
Bible, which can exert no possible influence over the consistently with the doctrine of particular redemp-
mind or heart of a man. But when faith has re- tion, no man can be assured that he was one of the
spect to a specific object, Christ Jesus the Lord; objects of the sacrifice of the cross, unless he have
when it gives credence not only to the existence of first obtained an interest in it by faith. Neither can
that object, and its bearings upon our individual case, every sinner say, in the first moment of faith; that
but yields a personal trust and dependence upon he shall certainly have eternal salvation. He desires
Christ as our Redeemer and Lord, the affections salvation no doubt, and his faith implies an expecta-
cannot fail to be drawn out towards Him who loved tion of it; but how many believers have been har-
us, and gave Himself for us. The heart is then assed with doubts at first, and during the whole
touched, and the life influenced by what Christ hath course of their lives, and have rarely been able to
done, and besides, our love is attracted towards a use the language of confidence! This the advocates
loving Saviour. Thus we are constrained by the of this definition are compelled to admit; and it is
mercies of God, and by the love of Christ, to yield curious to observe how, in attempting to reconcile
our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable it with their system, they shift and shuffle, and al-
unto God, which is our reasonable service.
most retract, and involve themselves in perplexity
Vague and indefinite view.s, however, as to the and contradiction, as those must do who are labour-
nature of saving faith have not been confined to the ing to prove that, although it is a fact that many
be-
Romanists; they have prevailed even among some
lievers are not assured of their salvation, yet assur-
Protestant sects. The Bereans and Sandemanians ance is of the essence of faith. It is manifest that,
considered it to be a mere intellectual act, a belief of if assurance is of the essence of faith, it can never be
abstract truth; and the same opinions were set forth separated from it. The exercise of faith is regulated
by Mr. Thomas Erskine in his 'Essay on Faith,' by the word of God, and its object is there defined.
published in 1822. That faith, as a fundamental But it is nowhere revealed in the Scripture, that
principle of the humán mind, is in itself a purely in- Christ died for any particular person, and that his
tellectual act, is readily admitted. But it is far sins are forgiven. How, then, can an assurance of
otherwise with saving faith, which implies, in addi- these things belong to the nature of faith? How can
tion to the intellectual act, an object of a strictly it be our duty to believe what is not in the testi-
moral kind, towards which the faith is directed. The mony? It is an objection against this definition,
Christian believes, but it is a belief in Jesus Christ. that it makes faith consist rather in the belief of
To speak of faith as nothing more than an intellec- something regarding ourselves, than in the belief of
tual perception of the truth, is to lose sight of Christ, the testimony of God; in the belief of the goodness
the object of faith, who alone gives to faith a justi- of our state, rather than of the all-sufficiency and
fying or saving power. To speak of faith irrespec- | willingness of Christ. It may be farther objected
,
tively of Christ, is to reduce it not only to an act of that it confounds the inferences from faith with faith
pure intellect, but to an utterly inoperative, ineffica- itself; nothing being plainer than that these propo-
cious, and even irreligious principle, having no con- sitions, 'Christ died for me, my sins are forgiven,
nection whatever with the truths of the Bible. are conclusions to which the mind comes, from the
Another point of controversy connected with the previous belief of the doctrines and promises of
nature of faith is that which was involved in the the Gospel. Farther, it is chargeable with this
Row HERESY (which see) :-Whether assurance is error, that it defines faith in its highest and most
of the essence of faith. To decide this point satis- perfect state, and excludes the lower degrees of it
,
factorily, it is necessary to ascertain previously what and thus lays a stumbling-block before thousands of
is meant by assurance.
The word has a twofold the people of God, who, not finding in themselves
meaning, and denotes either a full persuasion of the this assurance, are distressed with the melancholy
truth of the Divine testimony concerning Christ, or thought that they are unbelievers."
FAITH (CONTROVERSIES ON).
873
In complete accordance with this clear statement we are justified by faith alone. This he declared to
on the subject of assurance, the Westminster Con-
be the article of a standing or a falling church. The
fession declares that this infallible assurance doth Romanists, on the other hand, taught, to use the
not so belong to the essence of faith “but that a words of the Council of Trent, that “If any man
true believer may wait long and conflict with many shall say that the ungodly man is justified by faith
difficulties before he be a partaker of it.” Such an only, so as to understand that nothing else is re-
assurance of a personal interest in Christ is so neces- quired that may co-operate to obtain the grace of
sary to the peace and comfort of the believer, that justification, and that it is in no wise necessary for
he ought not to rest until he has attained a reason- him to be prepared and disposed by the motion of
able and well-grounded persuasion of it, but that his own will,—-let him be accursed.” And again,
persuasion cannot be obtained from an examina- If any one shall say that justifying faith is nothing
tion of the statements of the Bible, but from an else than confidence in the Divine mercy, pardoning
examination of the state of the soul. “It is found- | sins for Christ's sake, or that it is that confidence
ed," says the Westminster Confession, “ upon the alone by which we are justified, — let him be accurs-
Divine truth of the promises of salvation, the in- ed.” Still further, “Whosoever shall affirm that the
ward evidence of those graces into which these entire punishment is always remitted by God toge-
promises are made, the testimony of the Spirit of ther with the fault, and therefore, that penitents need
adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the no other satisfaction than faith, whereby they appre-
children of God; which Spirit is the earnest of our hend Christ who has made satisfaction for them, let
inheritance whereby we are sealed unto the day of him be accursed.” Such statements as these, which
redemption.” This assurance having respect to our occur in the acknowledged standards of the Romish
own personal condition, has been often termed the church, are plainly opposed to the statements of the
assurance of sense, and is carefully to be distin- Word of God. The apostle Paul teaches us that “by
guished from that assurance which has respect to the grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
truth of the Divine testimony, and is therefore pro- yourselves : it is the gift of God: not of works, lest
perly styled the assurance of faith.
any man should boast.” The same apostle tells us,
Intimately connected with the questions which | that“ we are justified by faith without the works of the
have been raised as to the nature of faith, is the kin- law.” Faith, however, is not the ground, but the means
dred question-Whether or not man has an inherent of justification. We are justified by means of faith;
capacity of believing unto the saving of the soul. we are not justified because of faith. The sole ground
The Pelagians in former days, who denied, and the of a sinner's justification is the righteousness of Christ
Morisonians (see EVANGELICAL UNION) of our own imputed to him; and the manner in which a sinner
day, who admit original sin, both agree in main- becomes a partaker of that righteousness, is solely
taining that man has in himself a power to believe. | by a believing reception of it. That such is the
It is plainly impossible, however, consistently to doctrine of the Bible may be proved by such pas-
hold the original and total depravity of man, and sages as these, Rom. iii. 20—22, “ Therefore by the
yet to maintain that he can of himself exercise deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in
saving faith. This all-important principle, indeed, | his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
is assumed in Scripture to be so completely op- But now the righteousness of God without the law is
posed to the natural powers of the human mind, manifested, being witnessed by the law and the pro-
that the Spirit is said to work in the soul the work phets; even the righteousness of God which is by
of faith with power. Faith belongs not to the na- faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
tural, but to the renewed man. Were it nothing | believe: for there is no difference.” Gal. ii. 16,
more than a bare assent to certain abstract truths, it “ Knowing that a man is not justified by the works
would be otherwise, but since it involves a cordial of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we
embracing of the truth as it is in Jesus, and an im- have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be jus-
plicit
, exclusive dependence upon Christ for salva- tified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of
tion, we are compelled to acknowledge the truth of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh
our Lord's explicit statement on the subject; John be justified.” Gal. iii. 11, “But that no man is jus-
vi
. 44, “ No man can come to me, except the Father tified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident :
which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him for, The just shall live by faith.” Rom. iii. 24,
up at the last day."
“ Being justified freely by his grace through the re-
The grand controversy, however, on the subject of demption that is in Christ Jesus."
faith, respects the precise place which it holds in the Another view of faith, in connection with justifi-
justiíication of the sinner. This was the chief theo- cation, is that which is held by the Arminians, that
logical point on which the controversy turned be- faith is the ground of our acceptance, being substi-
tween the Reformers and the Romanists in the six- tuted instead of that perfect obedience which formed
teenth century. Luther declared the Scriptural doc- the original ground of justification. In this view of
trine on the subject of the connection between faith the matter, God is considered as departing from that
and the sinner's acceptance before God to be, that perfect obedience which he originally required from
T.
3T
874
FAITH (RULE OF).
man.
, But such a supposition cannot for a mo- ful man might be seen to be simply the recipient of
ment be sustained. The law of God never can pos- a justification wholly gratuitous.
sibly demand less than it has always done, a perfect, FAITH (RULE OF). In all matters of religious
uniform, universal obedience. Faith never can form controversy, nothing can be more important than to
our justifying righteousness, for it is itself a work, ascertain what is the common standard to which the
and in the apostolic view of justification, all works contending parties may lawfully appeal with the
are excluded without a single exception, and we view of settling the truth. On this point Romanists
are justified by faith, not as constituting our righ- and Protestants are completely at variance. The
etousness, but as receiving the righteousness of Protestants confidently assert that the Bible, and
Christ.
the Bible alone, is to every Christian the rule of faith,
It is interesting to observe how well adapted faith being the only revelation of God to the world, and
is to promote the great design of God in our justifi-| containing in itself all that is necessary to salvation.
cation. On this subject, Dr. Dick makes the fol- And in vindication of this opinion, they are wont to
lowing judicious remarks: “Between grace and quote such passages as these ;—2 Tim. iii. 15–17,
works there is an irreconcilable opposition, and the " And that from a child thou hast known the holy
admission of the one involves the exclusion of the scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto
other. If we are justified by works, we are not jus- salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All
tified freely; and the honour of grace, which gives scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is pro-
without money and without price, is impaired. This fitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
would have been the effect if any act of ours had instruction in righteousness: that the man of God
been made the condition of our justification, if we may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good
had been pardoned on account of our repentance and works.
works." Ps. xix. 7, “The law of the Lord is per-
reformation, and restored to the favour of God on ac- fect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord
count of our love to him and sincere obedience to his is sure, making wise the simple.” Rom. xv. 4,
law. But by the appointment of faith, the glory of "? For whatsoever things were written aforetime were
gace is fully displayed. It cannot be supposed, written for our learning, that we through patience
that a poor man has any merit in taking the alms and comfort of the scriptures might have hope."
which are presented to him without his solicitation. Jam. i. 21, “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and
It is not his acceptance which gives him a right to superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meek-
enjoy them, but the offer made by his charitable ness the engrafted word, which is able to save your
neighbour. It cannot be supposed, that there is souls."
any merit in consenting that Christ should perform The Romanists, on the other hand, assert that
for us what we could not perform for ourselves; any Scripture is not the only rule of faith, but that tra-
merit in relying on his obedience and sufferings, and dition must be placed on the same footing, and re-
acknowledging that there is nothing in ourselves ceived with equal reverence as the Bible; the un-
which could recommend us to God. This consent written and the written Word being in their view of
to the suretiship of Christ, this dependence on his equal authority. The creed of Pope Pius IV.
righteousness, is the essence of justifying faith. The divides tradition into two kinds,-apostolical
, which
wisdom of God is manifest in this constitution, which refers to doctrine; and ecclesiastical, which refers to
takes away from man every ground of boasting, ceremonies instituted by the church. Some Rornan
abases his pride, and leads him to give all the praise Catholic writers speak of three kinds of tradition -
to the true Author of salvation. Having saved us divine, apostolical, and ecclesiastical. Divine tra-
by his own arm, he makes it bare, if I may speak so. dition they regard as that which was delivered by
stretches it out openly, to make all men see that by Christ himself; apostolical, as that which the apos-
it alone the mighty work was achieved. To the tles received by inspiration; and ecclesiastical, as
sinner nothing is left but to receive, with profound that which has been taught by the church: Besides
humility and gratitude, the precious gift which God adding tradition to Scripture, the Romish church
most freely bestows. There is an express acknow- adds to both the decrees of the church, and declares
ledgment in the exercise of faith, that there is no such decrees to be infallible.
goodness in himself for which God should be favour- The question in dispute between Romanism and
able to him; and he says, “Surely in the Lord have Protestantism as to the rule: of faith, is not whether
I righteousness and strength.'
the Word of God is the rule, that being admitted on
And besides, the faith which thus glorifies God both sides, but what is to be regarded as the Word
in the sinner's justification is itself a Divine gift, of God. Protestants believe that the Bible which is
wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit. Lest, there admitted to be the Divine Word, is the only certain,
fore, we should boast of this important grace, we are because the only inspired record of what Christ and
taught, that it comes not from ourselves, but from his apostles taught, and therefore the only rule of
God. Salvation is of faith, that it might be, or faith. But Romanists allege that it is capable of
rather might clearly appear to be, of grace.; that all proof, that many things were unwritten, as well as
the glory might be ascribed to God alone, and sin- many things written, which Christ and the apostles

1
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Ficart
Bell
Bindu Fakirs practising their superstitions Rites

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AR
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2
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12
10
10
2
11
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KEY TO PLATE OF HINDU FAKIRS PRACTISING THEIR SU PERSTITIOUS RITES
CICH
OF
1 The great Tree of the Banyans
7 A Fakir sleeping upon a cord
2 A pagoda of the idol Mamaniva, on one side of which Devotees are marked on the forehead 8 Fakirs that remain all their lives in the same auitude, living by the charity of female Devotees
with vermilion; on the other side a Brahman takes their free-will offerings of rice &c. 9 Several Fakirs consulted and invoked as Saints, by the women
3 A pagoda of Ram
10 Various postures that some Fakirs are in several hours a day
4 Another pagoda dedicated to Ram.
11 A Brahman with his nose and mouth muffled up, lest he should swallow the smallest insect in drawing his breath,
5 A pagoda of retirement for the penitential Fakirs.
he likewise sweeps the ground before him as he walks lest he should tread upon any warm or insect.
6 A cavern or close ditch impervious to the least gleam of day, except what passes through 12 Fakirs warming themselves.
a little hole for that purpose, resorted to by a Fakir several times in the year.
13 A Fakir feeding animals out of pure charity.
FAITHFUL-FAKIRS.
875
taught. Thus in regard to our blessed Lord, it is each other, and even themselves. The Fathers of
declared, John xx. 30, “And many other signs the second century held the personal reign of Christ;
truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, those of the fourth century, condemned that doctrine
which are not written in this book.” And in re- as heresy. The Fathers, on several points, are op-
ference to apostolic teaching Paul exhorts the Thes- posed to Romanism. They condemn the use and
salonian Christians, “ Therefore, brethren, stand worship of images, at least the early Fathers. They
fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been deny the canonicity of the Apocrypha. They advo-
taught, whether by word, or our epistle.” In reply cate the reading and free use of Scripture. From
to this argument, it is readily conceded, that both their writings, we learn that the cup was given to
Christ and his apostles taught many things orally, the laity, that private masses are unlawful, and even
but the point in dispute is, as to the sufficiency of Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, (if he can be
what was written. On this subject, John plainly called a Father,) denounced the assumption of uni-
states that while Jesus did many other signs than versal Bishop as antichristian. Where, then, is the
those which were written in his gospel, “ These are universal tradition and unanimous consent of Fathers
written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the to Papal doctrine ?
Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might "3. Observe the difficulties connected with the
have life through his name." It is undoubtedly Romish rule; it is not accessible to all. No Roman
true, that if Christ and his apostles were alive, we Catholic has the rule of his faith, who has not all
would listen with equal reverence to their words the numerous and ponderous volumes written by the
whether given orally or in writing. But the Church Fathers, and all the acts of councils. The careful
of Rome cannot prove that her traditions were really reading of the Fathers occupied, it is said, Archbishop
delivered by Christ and his apostles, and, therefore, Usher twenty years ! No Roman Catholic has exa-
it is impossible to admit them to be possessed of mined his rule of faith, who has not waded through
equal authority with the written Word, which is Patristic theology. In order to make any use of his
capable of being shown by the most undoubted | rule, he must be acquainted with dead languages,
proofs to be the product of inspiration. The Bible and possess a considerable sum of money to purchase
alone contains what Christ and his apostles can be a library of ancient books.
satisfactorily proved to have taught.
“ 4. Tradition is condemned by Christ,—But he
The objections to tradition as along with the answered and said unto them, Why do ye also trans-
Bible the rule of faith, are thus summarily stated gress the commandment of God by your tradition ?
by Dr. Blakeney :
“Thus have ye made the commandments of God of
“1. Tradition, according to the Romish scheme, none effect by your tradition.' 'But in vain they
was first oral, though afterwards committed to writ- do worship me, teaching for doctrines the command-
ing in the works of the Fathers. The early Chris- ments of men,' (Matth. xv. 3, 6, 9.) The Jews had
tians wrote but little, on account of the persecution added certain traditions to the written law; but that
to which they were exposed. And what is found in addition is censured by the Son of God.”
the writings of the Fathers of the second and third Some Romish divines regard tradition as inferior,
centuries, has little reference to doctrines disputed and others as superior, to the written word. Neither
between Protestants and Roman Catholics. Tradi- of these opinions is in accordance with the express
tion, therefore, for hundreds of years, was committed decision of the council of Trent, which only makes
to mere report; and this it is which Rome receives tradition equal to Scripture. Before the sitting of the
with equal reverence as the written Word. So un- Tridentine council in 1545, the authority of tradition
certain is report, that it has become even a proverb, was a matter of mere opinion, but since that time its
'that a story never loses in its carriage;' or, in other equal authority with Scripture has become an article
words, that it seldom retains its original character of faith in the Church of Rome.
without addition. We have a remarkable instance FAITHFUL, a name often used to designate true
in the Bible, in which report or tradition circulated believers, in the early Christian church.
a falsehood, Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he FAKIRS, monks in India. They subject them-
tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou selves to the most severe austerities and mortifica-
me. Then went this saying abroad among the bre-
tions. Some of them vow to preserve a standing
thren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus posture during their whole lives, supported only by
said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will a stick or rope under their armpits. Some mangle
that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?' their bodies with scourges or kvives. Others wander
(John xxi. 22, 23.) Surely we cannot build our faith about in companies, telling fortunes, and in many
on such an insecure foundation as this !
different ways deceiving the people. The word
“2. The Fathers whose writings, and the Councils Fakir is derived from an Arabic term signifying
whose decrees, are supposed to contain such an im- poor people," and belongs rather to those monks
portant universal tradition, far from giving a unani- in India who profess Mohammedanism, than to those
mous consent to Rornish doctrine, scarcely consent who profess Hinduism. These devotees are restrict-
in any doctrine. They have decidedly contradicted | ed to a life of poverty, and they go about asking
66
i
876
FALD STOOL-FALL OF MAN.
alms in the name of God. They allege that their which knowledge and civilization bring along with
mode of life is sanctioned by the saying of Moham- them; or the improper use which too many make of
med,—“Poverty is my glory.” This class of monks knowledge, rendering it an instrument of evil rather
appeared from the time that the faith of the Koran than of good. But on carefully perusing the narra-
was corrupted by the new doctrines introduced after tive which Moses gives of the fall, we find it so in-
the conquest of Persia. They received also the name terwoven with the whole Mosaic history, that it is
of DERVISHES (which see), and in Persia that of impossible to regard the one portion as a myth,
SUFIS (which see).
without attaching the same character to the whole.
FAKONE, a district of country in Japan, in No attempt has ever been made to deny the lit-
which there is situated a lake, at the bottom of eral truth of the Pentateuch generally, and, there-
which the Japanese believe is found a purgatory for fore, we are compelled to regard the fall of our first
children. On the shore of this lake, as an old tra- parents as a narrative of real events. And, besides,
veller tells us, are built five small wooden chapels, the whole of Scripture is evidently founded on the
and in each sits a priest, beating a gong, and howl. fall, as not an allegory, but a real event, which is
ing a nimanda. “ All the Japanese foot-travellers both referred to, and reasoned upon, on this suppo-
of our retinue,” says Kämpfer, “ threw them some sition. If, therefore, the whole of Scripture be not
kasses into the chapel, and in return received each a one vast allegory, we must admit the reality of the
paper, which they carried, bareheaded, with great fall. Both our Lord and his apostles evidently re-
respect, to the shore, in order to throw it into the fer to it as an actual event. Even the infidel Bolin-
lake, having first tied a stone to it, that it might be broke saw clearly the impossibility of treating the
sure to go to the bottom; which they believe is the fall as a parable. “It cannot,” he says, “be admit:
purgatory for children who die before seven years of ted by Christians; for if it was, what would become
age. They are told so by their priests, who, for of that famous text, Gen. ïü. 15, the seed of the
their comfort, assure them that as soon as the water woman shall bruise the head of the serpent, on
washes off the names and characters of the gods and which the doctrine of our redemption is founded ?"
saints, written upon the papers above mentioned, the Traditions of the fall, approaching more or less to
children at the bottom feel great relief, if they do the Mosaic account, are to be found among all the
not obtain a full and effectual redemption."-- Fakone heathen nations both of ancient and of modern times.
is also the name of a temple in Japan, famous for its The Greeks of antiquity had a fable of the garden of
sacred relics. It contains the sabres of the heroic the Hesperides, which contained a tree on which
CAMIS (which see), still stained with the blood of hung golden apples, the possession of which con-
those whom they had slain in battle; the vestments veyed immortality. The tree was guarded by a
which were said to have been worn by an angel, and serpent, who had the power of speechi. A very
which supplied the place of wings; and the comb of frequent mode of solving the problem as to the in-
Joritomo, who was the first secular emperor of the troduction of evil into the world, has been, especially
Japanese.
among Oriental nations, by the doctrine of fallen
FALD STOOL, a small desk sometimes used in spirits, who either sinned spontaneously, or were
the Church of England, at which the Litany is en- tempted into rebellion by others. As examples of
joined to be said or sung. In those churches which
In those churches which this mode of accounting for the fall, we may men-
have a fald stool, it is generally placed in the middle tion Loki among the Scandinavians; Ahriman among
of the choir, sometimes near the steps of the altar. the Persians; Typho among the Egyptians. “Al-
FALDISTORIUM, a portable seat or chair in the most all the nations of Asia," as Von Bohlen, the
Pope's chapel at Rome.
German rationalist, confesses, " assume the serpent
FALL OF MAN, the melancholy event which is to be a wicked being, which has brought evil into the
recorded in Gen. iii., whereby man, through the se- world.” The Hindu serpent is the type and emblem
ductions of the tempter, lost that perfect righteous- of the evil principle in nature; and as such we see
ness which he possessed at his creation, and became it wrestling with the goddess Parvatí, or trampled
at once guilty, polluted, and miserable, exposed to upon by the victorious Krishna. The fall of man
all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the l' is thus described in one of the old traditionary
pains of hell for ever. The narrative of the fall as legends of the Hindus, quoted by Mr. Hardwick,
given by Moses is plain, simple, and touching in his Christ and other Masters.' 6 The Hin-
Various theologians, however, particularly in Ger- dus appear to have identified the first man (Manu
many, have denied the literal sense altogether, and Swayambhuva) with Brahmá himself, of whom, as of
viewed the whole history of the event as detailed by the primary cause, he was the brightest emanation ;
Moses in no other light than as a myth or fable, in- while Satarúpá, the wife and counterpart of Manu,
tended to teach us some important lessons, such as was similarly converted into the bride of the creative
the danger of giving full rein to our appetites, and principle itself. Brahmá, in other words, was 'con-
the necessity of subjecting them to the control of founded with the male half of his individuality,' so
reason; the intimate connection between the intro- that the narratives which in sacred history relate to
duction of vice into society, and the false refinements | Adam and Eve, were not unfrequently transferred to
FAME-FAMILY WORSHIP.
877
Brahmá and to his female counterpart,-Satarúpá, | founded by Henry Nicolai or Nicolas, a native of
or, according to a different form, Saraswatí. Brah- Munster in Germany, who commenced his career in
má thus humanized is said to have become the sub- the Low Countries, whence he passed over to Eng-
ject of temptation. To try him, Siva, who is, in the
To try him, Siva, who is, in the land in the reign of Edward VI., and joined the
present story, identified with the Supreme Being, | Dutch congregation in London. In 1555 he estab-
drops from heaven a blossom of the sacred vat'a, or lished a peculiar sect, to which he gave the name of
Indian fig;-a tree which has been always venerated Familists or the Family of Love, declaring that he
by the natives on account of its gigantic size and
had a direct commission from heaven to teach man-
grateful shadow, and invested alike by Brahman and kind that the whole of religion consists in the exer-
by Buddhist with mysterious significations, as 'the cise of divine love; tliat everything else is of no
tree of knowledge or intelligence' (bódhidruma). | importance, and that it matters not what views any
Captivated by the beauty of this blossom, the first man entertains of the character of God, provided
man (Brahma) is determined to possess it. He ima- only his heart burns with a flame of holy love to the
gines that it will entitle him to occupy the place of Supreme Being. Nicolai published a number of
the Immortal and hold converse with the Infinite: tracts and letters in Dutch for the instruction of his
and on gathering up the blossom, he at once be- followers. In the preface to one of his tracts, he calls
comes intoxicated by this fancy, and believes himself himself “the chosen servant of God, by whom the
immortal and divine. But ere the flush of exulta- heavenly revelation should again be made known to
tion has subsided, God Himself appears to him in the world.” The sect developed their peculiar opi-
terrible majesty, and the astonished culprit, stricken nions in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. In 1575
by the curse of heaven, is banished far from Brah- they laid before parliament a confession of their faith,
mapattana and consigned to an abyss of misery and along with a number of their books, and prayed for
degradation. From this, however, adds the story, toleration. In 1580 the queen and her council under-
an escape is rendered possible on the expiration of took to suppress them, and accordingly, their books
some weary term of suffering and of penance. And were ordered to be publicly burnt, and the society dis-
the parallelism which it presents to sacred history is persed, but they continued to exist in England till the
well-nigh completed when the legend tells us further middle of the following century, when they became
that woman, his own wife, whose being was derived absorbed in other sects.-A sect has existed for some
from his, had instigated the ambitious hopes which years in England bearing the name of Agapemone or
led to their expulsion, and entailed so many ills on Family of Love, which, headed by a person of the
their posterity.” Among the ancient Germans, Faf- name of Prince, who was once a clergyman of the
nir the serpent, which they believed to guard the Church of England, professes to hold all things in
treasure of Eden, is called the serpent of the lime- common, and to live together in love, in one common
tree, because it was under that tree that Siegfrid abode, regulated by their own private arrangements,
caught and slew it. By a thousand different legends, and obeying implicitly the commands of their earthly
in short, and mythical representations, we see the superior.
memory preserved among all nations of that great FAMILY WORSHIP, the worship of God in the
transgression, which brought death into the world family, a practice which has been observed by good
and all our woe.
men in every age. It appears to have formed a pro-
FALLEN ANGELS. See ANGELS (Evil). minent part of the religion of patriarchal times, and
FAME (Lat. Fama), a deity worshipped by the it has subsisted in every period of the Christian
ancient Greeks and Romans. This goddess is men- church. Each family is a separate community, the
tioned by Hesiod, and was worshipped by the Athe- most ancient form of society in existence, all the
nians. Virgil represents her as the last of the members of which are united together by the tender-
gigantic Titans, and as reaching from earth to hea- est and most sacred ties. It is surely incumbent,
ven; a winged monster with a piercing eye, and a therefore, on every family to acknowledge God in
million mouths, in every mouth a tongue. Ovid their domestic relation, and to praise him for the
describes her palace as situated on a lofty tower, numberless blessings which in that relation they are
midway between earth and heaven.
permitted to enjoy. In the family is the closest,
FAMILIARS OF THE INQUISITION, officers the most intimate, the most endearing society; a
of the Holy Tribunal of the INQUISITION (which see), perfect identity of wants and necessities among all
whose office it is to aid and assist in apprehending the members, and a closer union of interests than
all such persons as are impeached, and carrying them can possibly be found in any other situation. What
to prison. These familiars are usually very numer- more natural, therefore, than that they should bow
ous in those countries where the Holy Office is es- together around the family altar, and offer up their
tablished.
united prayers to that gracious Being who expressly
FAMILIAR SPIRITS. See CONSULTER WITH styles himself “the God of the families that call
FAMILIAR SPIRITS.
upon his name.”
FAMILISTS, a Christian sect which originated in Family worship as usually conducted among
the Netherlands in the sixteenth century. It was
Christian families consists of praise, reading a por-
878
FANATICI-FARNOVIANS.
tion of Scripture, and prayer, every morning and impressions on the minds of the young, so that in
evening. Such exercises cannot fail, when accom- after years, and when far separated, perhaps, from
panied with the Divine blessing, to exercise a bene- their early home, such impressions have been the
ficial influence upon the minds and hearts of those means of preserving them in the hour of temptation,
who engage in them in a spirit of true piety. “A and leading them to walk with firmness, confidence,
household,” says the Rev. Robert Hall, in which and comfort in the steps of a godly father or mother,
family prayer is devoutly attended to, conjoined who was wont often and affectionately to commend.
them a God.
of religious instruction. The whole contents of the FANATICI, a name sometimes applied by the
sacred volume are in due course laid open before its Latins to diviners. See DIVINATION.
members. They are continually reminded of their FANATICISM, such an overwhelming impres-
relation to God and the Redeemer, of their sins, and | sion of the ideas relating to the future world as dis-
their wants, and of the method they must take to qualifies for the duties of life. “From the very nature
procure pardon for the one and the relief of the of fanaticism," as has been well remarked, “it is an
other. Every day they are receiving line upon evil of short duration. As it implies an irregular
line, and precept upon precept.' A fresh accession movement, or an inflamed state of the passions, when
is continually making to their stock of knowledge; these return to their natural state it subsides. No-
new truths are gradually opened to their view, and thing that is violent will last long. The vicissitudes
the impressions of old truths revived. A judicious of the world, and the business of life, are admirably
parent will naturally notice the most striking inci- adapted to abate the excesses of religious enthu-
dents in his family in his devotional addresses : such siasm. In a state where there are such incessant
as the sickness, or death, or removal for a longer or calls to activity, where want presses, desire allures,
shorter time, of the members of which it is composed. and ambition inflames, there is little room to dread
His addresses will be varied according to circum- an excessive attention to the objects of an invisible
stances. Has a pleasing event spread joy and cheer- futurity.”
fulness through the household ? it will be noticed FANATICS, a name given by the ancients to
with becoming expressions of fervent gratitude. Has those who passed their time in temples (fana), and
some calamity overwhelmed the domestic circle ? it wrought themselves up into a state of religious
will give occasion to an acknowledgment of the frenzy in their devotions. Hence it is generally ap-
divine equity; the justice of God's proceedings will plied to those who allow their zeal in religious mat-
be vindicated, and grace implored through the blood ters to outrun their judgment. See ENTHUSIASM.
of the Redeemer, to sustain and sanctify the stroke. FANUS, a heathen deity, who protected travel-
“When the most powerful feelings, and the most | lers, and was also considered the god of the year.
interesting circumstances, are thus connected with Macrobius says, that the Phoenicians represented
religion, it is not unreasonable to hope that, through him in the forın of a snake with his tail in his mouth.
divine grace, some lasting and useful impressions FAQUI, a name given to the keepers of idols in
will be made. Is not some part of the good seed the island of Madagascar. See MADAGASCAR (RE-
thus sown, and thus nurtured, likely to take root and LIGION OF).
to become fruitful ? Deeply as we are convinced of FAQUIRS. See FAKIRS.
the deplorable corruption of the human heart, and FARDH, a term by which the Mohammedans
the necessity, consequent on this, of divine agency describe what is clearly declared in the Koran; and
to accomplish a saving purpose, we must not forget they consider any one to be an infidel who rejects it.
that God is accustomed to work by means; and FARNOVIANS, a sect of Socinians which arose
surely none can be conceived more likely to meet in Poland in the sixteenth century. The head of
the end. What can be so likely to impress a child the party was Stanislaus Farnowski, in Latin Far-
with a dread of sin, as to hear his parent constantly novius, who embraced the peculiar antitrinitar an
deprecating the wrath of God as justly due to it; or opinions of Peter Gonesius or Goniondzki, maintain-
to induce him to seek an interest in the mediation ing the existence of three distinct Gods, but that the
and intercession of the Saviour, as to hear him im- true Godhead belonged only to the Father. The
ploring it for him, day by day, with an importunity doctrine of the supremacy of the Father over the
proportioned to the magnitude of the subject? By a Son approached more nearly to the Arian than the
daily attention on such exercises, children and ser- Socinian tenets, but it served as a transition to a
vants are taught most effectually how to pray: complete denial of the mystery of the Trinity, as
suitable topics are suggested to their minds; suitable - well as the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. The
petitions are put into their mouths; while their | Reformed church of Poland suffered much from the
growing acquaintance with the Scriptures furnishes progress of these opinions, and at length it split
the arguments by which they may plead with asunder into two parts. In 1565 the Åntitrinita-
God.'"
rian church, or, as it was called by its members, the
The regular exercise of family worship has been Minor Reformed church of Poland, was constituted.
often found to have left the most durable religious It had its synods, schools, and a complete ecclesias-
1
FASCELIS-FASTS.
879
tical organization. The peculiarities of this body | These Fasti or tables contained a full enumeration
are thus sketched by the late Count Krasinski: of the months and days of the year, the various dates
“ The principal tenets of that church, embodied in belonging to a calendar, and the various festivals
its confession, published in 1574, were as follow : | arranged under their different dates. Several speci-
"God made the Christ, i. e. the most perfect Pro- mens of these Fasti have been discovered, but none
phet, the most sacred Priest, the invincible King, by of them older than the age of Augustus. Before the
whom he created the new world. This new world is practice was adopted of preparing such records, it
the new birth, which Christ has preached, estab- was customary for the pontifices or priests to pro-
lished, and reformed. Christ amended the old claim, for the information of the people, the appear-
order of things, and granted to his elect eternal life, ance of the new moon and the different festivals.
that they might, after God the Most High, believe FASTS, seasons of abstinence from food to a
in him. The Holy Spirit is not God, but a gift, the greater or less extent, intended to denote mourning
fulness of which the Father has granted to his Son.' or sorrow of any kind. It is not improbable that
The same confession prohibited the taking of oaths, even in the earliest ages such a mode of expressing
or suing before tribunals for any injury whatever. grief was frequently adopted, so that when we read
Sinners were to be admonished; but neither penal- of Abraham mourning for Sarah, and Jacob for
ties nor any other kind of persecution were ever to Joseph, we may presume that fasting formed a part
be inflicted. The church reserved to itself only the of the ceremonies observed on such occasions. But
right to exclude refractory members. Baptism was however extensively private fasting may have pre-
to be adıninistered to adults, and considered as the vailed in the first ages of the world, no direct men-
sign of purification, which changes the old Adain tion of public fasts occurs until the days of Moses,
into a heavenly one. The eucharist was to be 11- when we find him instituting the annual fast of the
derstood in the same manner as by the Church of Jews called the Great Day of Atonement. (See
Geneva. Notwithstanding the publication of this ATONEMENT, DAY or.) From that time fasts were
catechism, great differences of doctrine continued to frequently observed on special occasions. Thus
prevail among the Antitrinitarians, who agreed only Joshua and the elders fasted in consequence of the
in one point, i. e. the superiority of the Father over defeat at Ai, and the Israelites generally when op-
the Son ; but whilst some of them inaintained the dog-pressed by the Philistines. When the Jews re-
ma of Arius, others went so far as to deny the divinity turned from the captivity in Babylon, Ezra pro-
of Christ.” Farnovius, followed by a party, separated claimed a fast at the river Ahava, and afterwards
from the Antitrinitarians in 1568, and had many various fasts were instituted which are still observed
adherents, who were distinguished both for influence by the modern Jews. Extraordinary fasts also were
and learning. But on the death of Farnovius in observed by the Jews in seasons of impending cala-
1615, the sect was dispersed and became extinct. mity. Even the heathen Ninevites were called upon
FASCELIS (Lat. fascis, a bundle), a surname | by their king to fast in consequence of the prophetic
given to the ancient heathen goddess DIANA (which message of Jonah, that at the end of forty days, if
see), because Orestes is said to have carried her the people repented not, Nineveh should be de-
image from Tauris in a bundle of sticks.
stroyed; and the extent to which this fast was
FASCINATION. See ENCHANTMENTS, DIvI. carried is thus noticed in Jonah iii. 6, 7, “For
word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose
FASCINUM, a name given by the ancient Ro- from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and
mans to the phallus or symbol of fertility, which was covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And
often hung round the necks of children as an amu- he caused it to be proclaimed and published through
let, to protect them from evil influences. It was also Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles,
placed in gardens, or on hearths for the same purpose. saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock,
FASCINUS, a deity among the ancient Romans taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water."
who was believed to protect from sorcery, witch- Besides these public fasts, the Old Testament Scrip-
craft, and evil spirits. He was adored under the tures record numerous instances of private fasting.
form of a phallus, which was supposed to be spe- Thus, among many others, it may be noticed that
cially effectual in warding off evil influences. Fas- David fasted and prayed during the sickness of
cinus was worshipped in a peculiar manner by wo- his child, as we find mentioned in 2 Sam. xii. 16.
men in childbirth. The vestal virgins had charge of In the days of our Lord this exercise was regarded
the worship of this deity. Pliny tells us that the as a special mark of a devotional spirit. Accord-
symbol of Fascinus was placed under the triumphal ingly, the Pharisees fasted twice every week, on the
cars of generals to protect them from the injurious second and the fifth days, priding themselves on the
scrupulous exactness with which they observed this
FASTI, the sacred books of the ancient Romans, practice. On occasions of private fasting the Jews
in which were recorded the fasti dies, or lawful were clothed in sackcloth, with ashes strewed upon
days, that is, those days on which without impiety their heads, their eyes cast down to the ground, and
legal business might be transacted before the prætor. | their garments rent, while they carefully abstained
NATION.
effects of envy.
880
FASTS.
from food until the evening. The Pharisees at only with the Christian, but even the Pagan in-
such seasons disfigured their faces, and assumed | habitants of Tarracona, of which he was bishop; and
every appearance of negligence that men might while some of the crowd kindly offered him to drink
see and admire their remarkable devoutness. Our from a cup of wine, mixed with spices, he declined,
Lord takes occasion, therefore, in his sermon on saying, 'my fast is not yet ended,'--for it still wanted
two .
spirit of ostentation as entirely opposed to the humi! Our blessed Lord, while he declares his disappro-
lity which ought ever to characterise the true spirit- | bation of the ostentatious fasts of the Pharisees,
nal worshipper. The fast which is acceptable to neither forbids nor even discountenances occasional
God, according to the teaching of Christ, is not an fasts, if observed in a right spirit; on the contrary,
outward display of sorrow, but inward repentance in Matth. ix. 15. and xvii. 21, he indicates very
and godly contrition of heart.
plainly that there are peculiar occasions on which
The early Christians breathed much of the spirit fasting is suitable, and may be profitable to the true
of their Master, and the fasts which they observed Christian. Accordingly, the Saviour himself fasted
were of that simple unostentatious description which on a solemn occasion. Thus it is said, Matth. iv. 2,
marked their whole conduct. They were wont that “he fasted forty days and forty nights." before
from time to time to set apart special and extraor- | being tempted by the devil. The apostles joined
dinary seasons which were entirely dedicated to fast- fasting with prayer, as we are told Acts xiii. 2, 3,
ing and exercises of devotion. The manner in which “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the
these fasts were observed is thus described by Dr. Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul
Jamieson : “ These fasts being entirely private and for the work whereunto I have called them. And
voluntary, were more or less frequent, and of greater when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their
or less duration and austerity, according to the tem- hands on them, they sent them away;" xiv. 23,
per, habit, or outward circumstances of the indivi- “And when they had ordained them elders in every
dual who appointed them. Sometimes they were church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended
observed only on the anniversary of a birth-day; by them to the Lord, on whom they believed.”
some they were practised at the beginning of every In the age immediately succeeding that of the
quarter ; while others, again, found it expedient to apostles, little importance appears to have been at-
renew them as often as once a-month, or even once tached to fasting. Thus in the Shepherd of Hermas
a-week. In observing these fasts, the practice of these words occur in reference to this religious exer-
the great majority was to abridge some of their daily cise : “ Nothing is done, nothing is gained for virtue
comforts only, without subjecting themselves to the by bodily abstinence ; rather so fast that you do no
pain and inconvenience of total abstinence. Soine wrong, and harbour no evil passion in your heart."
refrained only from the use of flesh and wine ; some From Irenæus we learn that, in the second century,
contented themselves with a light diet of vegetables the practice had been introduced of fasting before
or fruit. The Christians in colder latitudes often Easter; and Clement of Alexandria speaks of weekly
limited their want of food to a certain number of fasts. Epiphanius thus notices the custom of the
hours, while those in warmer climates continued church at the end of the fourth century : “In the
their fasting to the close of the day. But whether whole Christian church the following fast days,
the duration of their fasts was longer or shorter, and throughout the year, are regularly observed. On
whether they maintained an entire or merely a par- | Wednesdays and Fridays we fast until the ninth
tial abstinence from food, they considered it à sacred hour, (i. e., three o'clock in the afternoon ;) except
duty inflexibly to adhere to the time and the manner during the interval of fifty days between Easter and
they had resolved on at the commencement. Thus, Whitsuntide, in which it is usual neither to kneel
for example, Fructuosus, an eminent servant of Christ nor fast at all. Besides this, there is no fasting on
in Spain, being, along with two deacons of his church, the Epiphany or Nativity, if those days should fall
apprehended on a Sabbath, because they refused to on a Wednesday or Friday. But those persons who
sacrifice to the gods, lay in prison for several days especially devote themselves to religious exercises
before they were brought to trial; and on the fourth (the monks) fast also at other times when they please,
day, he, together with his companions in distress, except on Sundays and during the fifty days between
agreed to fast. Early in the morning, after they had Easter and Whitsuntide. It is also the practice of
resolved on this religious exercise, they were sum- the church to observe the forty days' fast before the
moned to the presence of the magistrate, and as no- sacred week. But on Sundays there is no fasting
thing would shake their determination not to sacri even during the last-mentioned period.”
fice, they were forth with condemned to be burnt Hitherto fasting had been a strictly voluntary ex-
alive. While the martyrs were on their way to the ercise in the Christian church, and the practice does
amphitheatre, the multitude were loud and universal not appear to have been enjoined by ecclesiastical
in their expressions of sympathy, especially with authority before the sixth century. The council of
Fructuosus, whose conciliatory manners and bene- Orleans, however, A. D. 541, decreed that any one
volent character had won him golden opinions, not who should neglect to observe the stated times of
?
FASTS.
881
fasting, should be treated as an offender against the greater rigidity than any other church in the world.
laws of the church. In the seventh century, again, In many of the Reformed churches on the Continent
the eighth council of Toledo condemns any who Lent is the only fast which is observed, but in Pres-
should eat flesh during the fast before Easter; and byterian churches, more especially those of Britain
in the following century the neglect of fasting at the and America, all fasts and festivals, which are not
stated seasons began to be punished with excommu- enjoined in the Word of God, are discarded as sa-
nication. The diet on fast days was restricted to vouring of will-worship.
bread, salt, and water. At a later period this severe The fast days observed in the Church of England
l'estriction was to some extent relaxed, and permis- are the forty days of Lent, including Ash-Wednes-
sion was given to use all kinds of food, except flesh, day and Good Friday; the Ember-days, the three
eggs, cheese, and wine; and still later the prohibi- Rogation-days, and all the Fridays in the year, ex-
tion was limited exclusively to flesh.
cept Christmas-day, if it fall upon a Friday; and
In the Roman Catholic church a distinction is the vigils of certain festivals.
made between fasting and abstinence, different days Fasting is a religious observance also among the
being appointed for each of these exercises. On Mohammedans, who have a great fast, which is kept
days of fasting one meal only is allowed in the in the month Ramazan, in commemoration of the
twenty-four hours, but on days of abstinence, pro- Koran having been communicated to Mohammed
vided they abstain from flesh and make but a mo- from heaven. In the course of this fast they must
derate meal, a cold collation is allowed in the even- abstain from food every day from daybreak to sun-
ing. Romanists are required to fast on every day set. According to the Moslem creed, the requisites
throughout Lent, except on the Sundays, on Ember- for a lawful fast are three : 1. The person must pro-.
days, on the vigils of the more solemn feasts, and on fess Islámism; 2. he must have attained the age of
all Fridays except those which occur within the puberty, which is fourteen in men, and twelve in
twelve days of Christmas, and between Easter and women; and 3. he must be of a sound mind. The
the Ascension. Abstinence, on the other hand, is Mohammedans enumerate five conditions which must
enjoined on all Sundays during Lent; St. Mark's be observed in fasting, and ten defects which render
Day, if it does not fall in Easter-week; the three it utterly useless. Besides the fast during Ramazan,
Rogation-days, all Saturdays throughout the year, there are some other days on which the more devout
and the Fridays already mentioned as excepted, un- Moslems observe a voluntary fast.
less either happens to be Christmas-day.
Among the Hindus fasting is accounted an impor-
The fasts of the Greek church are very numerous, tant religious duty. The Institutes of Manu enjoin
and kept with remarkable strictness. There are in the Brahman student to beware of eating anything
all 226 days of fasting throughout the year, includ- between morning and evening.
between morning and evening. On the same autho-
ing the Wednesdays and Fridays of each week, rity, we learn, that "he who makes the flesh of an
which are regular fast-days. The Greeks regard animal his food, is a principal in its slaughter; not a
Saturday as a feast-day like the Sabbath, thus differ- mortal exists more sinful than he who, without an
ing entirely from the Romish church, which observes oblation to the manes or gods, desires to enlarge his
it as a day of abstinence. In the Eastern church own flesh with the flesh of another creature: the
Lent is kept with peculiar strictness; the first seven man who performs annually for a hundred years an
days the people abstain from flesh only, and after aswamédha or sacrifice of a horse, and the man who
this is ended, they are forbidden to eat not flesh only, abstains from flesh meat, enjoy for their virtue an
but also fish, cheese, butter, oil, milk, and eggs, ex-
equal reward."
cept on Saturdays and Sundays, which are not fasts The Hindu Brahmans have their days of fasting,
but feasts. The Copts and Nestorians keep with which they observe with the utmost strictness. The
very peculiar strictness the three days' fast “ of the eleventh day after new moon, and the eleventh day
Ninevites," which precedes Lent, some having even after full moon, are observed as seasons of fasting,
abstained from either food or water during the during which they give themselves to reading, medi-
whole seventy-two hours. So scrupulous are the tation, and prayer, carefully abstaining from food
Greeks in observing their fasts, that not even the both day and night. The worshippers of Shiva ob-
patriarch himself can give permission to any one serve a fast every Monday in November, when they
to eat flesh if it be forbidden by the church. Be- eat no food all day.
sides the Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the Even among the ancient heathens fasting was
year, they have four principal fasts ;--forty days practised on particular occasions. Both Pythagoras
before Christmas ; forty days before Easter; the and Empedocles prohibited all their followers from
Lent of St. Peter, which commences at Whitsuntide, eating animal food. Jupiter had his stated fasts at
and ends on the feast of St. Peter; and the Lent of Rome. Various kings and emperors also, for exam-
the Virgin, which begins on the 1st and ends on the ple Numa, Julius Cæsar, Augustus, Vespasian, and
15th August, which is the day of the Assumption. even Julian the Apostate, set apart special days for
The fasts of the Armenian church, which are more the observance of the sacred duty of fasting. A
numerous than those of the Greeks, are kept with general fast was proclaimed in honour of Ceres, which
|
3 U
882
FAST OF THE HOLY APOSTLES-FATALISTS.
one as
was held every fifth year. In the Eleusinian mys- of fatalism are blind, unintelligent acts, which place
teries rigid fasts preceded the solemnities.
evil and good on the same footing, and attribute the
FAST OF THE HOLY APOSTLES, a fast very sins of man to the eternal purpose of his Crea.
observed by the Greek church in imitation of the tor. Fatalism was the favourite tenet of Moham-
apostles, who they suppose prepared themselves by med, which he urged with the utmost earnestness
fasting and prayer for going forth to proclaim the upon his disciples, and clearly taught them in the
gospel of Christ. This fast commences the week Koran. The effect which this doctrine has over the
after Whitsuntide, and continues till the festival of character and conduct of the Moslem is thus deline-
St. Peter and St. Paul.
ated by an intelligent writer : “I can but remark
FASTS OF THE CONGREGATION, seasons how strikingly influential, on national character, the
of fasting appointed by the Jews in ancient times, fatalism of the Koran has ever been. “Allah is great
in consequence of any great calamity, such as a -Allah is good-Allah has unalterably fixed every
siege, pestilence, or famine. They were observed event and circumstance in which his creatures are
upon the second and fifth days of the week, the fast concerned. From his predetermination there is no
commencing an hour before sunset, and continuing appeal-against it there is no help. The chain of
till midnight of the following day. On these occa- fate binds the universe.' Such is the fatalism of
sions they wore sackcloth next their skin, their the Koran; and it presents a melancholy picture of
clothes were rent, and they put on no shoes; they a right principle wrought out in error.
It is an un-
sprinkled ashes upon their heads, and neither washed revealed predestination. It is the natural man's
' '
their hands nor anointed their bodies with oil. They view of the sovereignty of God: a view which re-
flocked to the synagogues in crowds, and offered up solves itself into the notion of a mere despotism.
long prayers. Their countenances were grave and But however erroneous—however opposed to that
dejected, with all the outward signs of mourning and revelation of Himself as the moral governor of the
deep sorrow.
universe, which God has been pleased to bestow
FAST-SYNODS, a name given to Christian sy- upon man, yet it does actually and effectually influ-
nods in ancient times, which met on fast-weeks. ence the followers of the false prophet; and the
FAT. The Hebrews were forbidden to eat the charge which they bring against the professors of the
fat of beasts offered in sacrifice; but they were al- true faith is, that their avowed principles have but
lowed to eat all the rest of the fat. The two kinds little bearing upon their outward conduct. “You
of fat are distinguished by Rabbi Bechai;
profess allegiance,' they say, 'to God as your sover-
being separate from the flesh, and not covered by it eign; but you seek to resist Him by your will. We
as by a rind; the other as not separate from the recognise his will as manifested in his acts, and sub-
flesh, but intermingled with it. The separate fat is mit. Hence, the Turks never commit suicide under
cold and moist, and has something thick and gross distressing affliction or reverses of fortune ; such a
which is ill digested in the stomach; but the fat thing is never heard of. They never mourn for the
which is united with the flesh is warm and moist.” dead; they do not even murmur under the heaviest
The latter every one was at liberty to eat; but any burthens of existence. •Allah is great-Allah is
person who should eat the former was to be cut off good,' say they. An intelligent gentleman, Mr. La
from among the people. Josephus says, that Moses | Fontaine, long resident in Constantinople, and fami-
forbids only the fat of oxen, goats, and sheep. This liarized with everything Turkish, once mentioned to
coincides with the command given in Lev. vii. 23, me a remarkable instance of this. A Pasha, with
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Ye shall whom he had long lived on terms of intimacy, was
eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat.” possessed of an immensea princely revenue, and
The same view is taken by the modern Jews, who was, moreover, the favourite of the Sultan. Under
believe that the fat of the clean animals is allowed to one of those sudden reverses of fortune so commonly
be eaten, even that of beasts which have died of connected with Turkish despotism—the result of
themselves. Michaelis tries to account for the pro-caprice or intrigue—the Pasha was disgraced, and
hibition of fat, by alleging that the design might be despoiled of every piastre. He was no longer the
to encourage the use of olive oil instead of animal favourite of the Sultan–the world was no longer his
fat, and thus to promote agriculture among the He- friend. A few days after his misfortune, instead of
brews. It is far more probable, however, that the flinging himself into the Bosphorus, or blowing out
cause is to be found in the injurious effects of animal his brains with a pistol,--as many a nominal Chris-
fat, as an article of diet in warm climates, where it tian, under similar circumstances, would have done,
is often found to give rise to cutaneous diseases. --he was seen, with an unperturbed countenance,
FATALISTS, those who believe in stern immu- selling a few lemons at the corners of the bazaars of
table fate or destiny. This doctrine is to be care- Constantinople. Mr. La Fontaine saw him so em-
fully distinguished from that of predestination, of ployed, and actually purchased some of his little
which, indeed, it is a complete perversion. The stock. He inquired whether he did not keenly feel
foreordination of God is the eternal purpose of an this sad reverse of fortune. Not at all,' said he.
all-wise, all-merciful Being, but the eternal decrees · Allah is great-Allah is good. He gave me all
FATES-FATHERS OF TIE ORATORY OF THE HOLY JESU'S.
883
plined."
that I once possessed-—he has taken it again ; and | Scriptures) otherwise than according to the unani-
he had a perfect and indisputable right to do so. I mous consent of the Fathers.” The writings of the
am well content.' Mr. La Fontaine assured me that Fathers are thus made to occupy a conspicuous place
this was no singular instance of the powerful activity in that body of tradition, which Rome places on an
of the principles in which the Turkish mind is disci- equal footing in point of authority with holy Scrip-
ture itself. But it unfortunately happens, that a
Under the influence of a blind fatalism, the fol- great diversity of opinion exists among the Fathers
lower of Mohammeil rushes into the thickest of the as to almost every point of Christian doctrine, and
fight, but it robs him of every motive to individual on those topics which are involved in the Romish
or social improvement.
system, unanimity of sentiment does not exist among
FATES, three sister goddesses among the an- the Fathers, but the utmost variety and even opposi-
cient Greeks and Romans, who were supposed to tion of views is everywhere apparent throughout
preside over and to regulate the whole destiny of their writings. The truth of this remark is very
man. They were called by the Greeks, Moirce, and strikingly shown in Isaac Taylor's 'Ancient Chris-
by the Latins, Parcce. They are generally described tianity.'
as the daughters of Jupiter and Themis. Among FATHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE,
the Greeks their names were Clotho, Lachesis, and an order of monks collected in France by Cæsar de
Atropos; among the Latins, Nona, Decima, and Bus in the sixteenth century, which employed itself
Morta. The Fates are sometimes represented as old in instructing the ignorant, and especially the young.
women, one holding a distaff, another a wheel, and a It was enrolled among the legitimate fraternities by
third a pair of scissors, thus indicating their office as Clement VIII. A. D. 1597. Another order bearing
spinning or weaving the thread of human life, and in the same name, and having the same objects in
due time snapping it asunder. They were believed view, was formed in Italy about the same time by
to be inexorable to the prayers and tears of mortals, Marcus Cusanus, a knight of Milan, and was ap-
and their decrees to be immutable. Plato considered proved by the authority of Pius V. and Gregory
the Fates as denoting time past, present, and to XIII.
: come. A similar explanation was given of the DES- FATHERS OF THE ORATORY, an order of
TINIES (which see) of the ancient Scandinavians. monks founded in Italy by Philip Neri, and publicly
FATHER (THE). See GOD, TRINITY.
approved by Gregory XIII. A. D. 1577. They de-
FATHER OF THE HOUSE OF JUDGMENT, / rived their name from the chapel or oratory which
a name given by the Rabbins to the SAGAN (which Neri built for himself at Florence, and occupied for
see), or second priest of the Jews.
many years. It is remarkable that the three most
FATHERS, a term frequently used to denote the listinguished of the Romish writers on Church His-
early writers of the Christian church. Those near- tory belonged to this order, Baronius, Raynald, and
est the age of the apostles are called APOSTOLIC Laderchi. Thie first named writer was an early pupil
FATHERS (which see). Sometimes the Fathers are of Neri, and succeeded him as head of the order.
divided according to the language in which they The exercises of the Oratory were these :- When the
wrote, some being called Greek, and others Latin | associates were assembled, a short time was dedi-
Fathers. Another division is occasionally followed cated to silent prayer; after which Neri addressed
according to the date at which they flourished, those the company. Next, a portion of some religious
who lived before the council of Nice, A. D. 325, being book was read, on which Neri made some remarks.
termed Ante-Nicene, and those who lived after that After an hour occupied in these exercises, three of
council being termed Post-Nicene Fathers. No the associates successively mounted a little rostrum,
writers posterior to the twelfth century receive the and gave each
and gave each a discourse about half-an-hour long,
name of Fathers.
or some point of theology, or on church history, or
Great difference of opinion has for centuries exist- practical religion. The meeting then closed for the
ed, particularly between Romanists and Protestants, day.
as to the importance and value of the writings of the FATHERS OF THE ORATORY OF THE HOLY
Christian Fathers. That they contain much that is JESUS, a French society of monks instituted in
interesting and instructive is undoubted, particularly 1613 by Peter de Berulle, a man of ability, who was
as throwing light upon the state of sentiment and afterwards raised to the dignity of a cardinal. This
feeling in the early ages of Christianity; but that institution was intended to oppose the Jesuits, and,
they possess the slightest authority in fixing either along with the Jansenist authors of the Port-Royal,
the doctrine or practice of the church, a!! Protes- produced several valuable works on science, litera-
tants
, with the exception perhaps of the Tractarians ture, and religion. The founder of the order, Berulle,
of England, confidently deny. The Romish church, was held in such estimation by the Queen of France,
however, assigns to the Fathers a prominent place in that Cardinal Richelieu is thought to have borne him
their complicated rule of faith. Thus in the Creed a grudge on account of it. Hence his death in 1629,
of Pope Pius IV., the Romanist is bound to declare, which was sudden, has sometimes been attributed to
“ Neither will I ever take and interpret them (the poison. They received the name of Fathers of the
884
FATHERS OF SOMASQUO—FEBRUUS.
1
Oratory, because they had no churches in which the Two of these festivals are referred to by Ovid, the
sacraments were administered, but only chapels or one as occurring in F'ebruary, and the other in March.
oratories in which they read prayers and preached. A lively description is given by Horace, of a third
Like the Italian order of the same name (see pre- festival which was held on the Nones of December,
ceding article), they devoted themselves to learning, when lambs and kids were offered in sacrifice to
not however limited to the history of the church, but Faunus.
extending to all branches of literature, both theolo- FAUNI, rural deities among the ancient Romans,
gical and secular.
represented as monsters with bodies like goats,
FATHERS OF SOMASQUO, a name given to sharp-pointed ears, and horns on their heads. They
the CLERKS (REGULAR) OF ST. MAJOLI (which see), inhabited the woods along with the nymphs and
from the town Somasquo, where their first general satyrs.
resided.
FAUNUS, a deity worshipped by the ancient
FATIHAT (Arab. preface or introduction), the Romans as the god of agriculture and cattle. He
title of the first chapter of the Koran, which consists was also believed to give prophetic announcements
only of the following short prayer, “Praise be to of the future. The oracles which he and his wife
God, the Lord of all creatures, the most merciful, Fauna gave forth were uttered, one near Tibur, and
the King of the day of judgment. Thee do we wor- the other on the Aventine hill near Rome. When
ship, and of thee do we beg assistance. Direct us any one wished to consult the oracle, the ceremony
in the right way, in the way of those to whom thou commenced with the sacrifice of a sheep or other
hast been gracious; not of those against whoin thou animal, when the skin of the victim having been
art incensed, nor of those who go astray." This stripped off, was spread out as a couch, on which
chapter is held by the Mohammedans in great vener- the individual lay down to sleep, and the response
ation, and they are accustomed to repeat it fre- of the oracle was given in a dream, or by a superna-
quently in their private devotions.
tural voice. This god is often described as dwelling
FATIMAH, the daughter of Mohammed, born at in woods, and sporting with nymphs and satyrs;
Mecca five years before her father assumed to him- sometiines even various Fauis are mentioned. In
self the office of a reformer of religion. She married course of time this deity came to be identified with
Ali, the cousin of the prophet, who had probably the Arcadian Pan.
the best claim to succeed him, and besides, a large FAUSTITAS. See FELICITAS.
body of Mussulmans believe that Mohammed on his FAVOR, a fabulous deity of the ancient Romans,
deathbed had inade an express declaration in his fa- called sometimes the daughter of Fortuna, and re-
The claims of Ali, however, chiefly through presented with wings, and blind.
the influence of the prophet's widow Ayesha, were FEAR. See Pavor.
set aside in favour of Abubeker, who was succeeded FEASTS. See FESTIVALS.
first by Omar, and then by Othinan, and it was not FEATIIERS TAVERN ASSOCIATION, a so-
until the murder of Othman that Ali succeeded to ciety of clergymen, gentlemen, and a few of the no-
the Caliphate, and from his wife was named the Fati-bility, formed in London towards the end of the last
inite dynasty of Imâms, or that line of princes which century. They met at the l'eathers Tavern, and
claimed to be directly descended from Ali and Fatimah. hence their name. Nearly three hundred clergy-
Of these Imâms there were twelve, of wliom Ali men belonging to the Church of England were mem-
himself is counted the first, and Mehdi the last. The bers of this association. Their object was the refor-
Schiites, including the Mohainmedans of Persia, mation of the Liturgy, and accordingly they signed
hold both Ali and Fatimah, as well as the twelve a petition requesting the excision of the damnatory
Innâms, in the utmost veneration, while they regard clauses in the Athanasian creed, and the relief of
Abubeker, Omar, and Othman, as usurpers of the their consciences in the matter of subscription. A
Caliphate. Fatimah they venerate as a saint, and keen controversy arose on the subject, and the Fea-
thus the system of the Schiites affords the only in- ther's Tavern Association was in a short time put down
stance which occurs in Islamism of giving religious by the force of public opinion.
honour to a woman.
FEBRIS, the goddess ainong the ancient Romans
FAUNA, a female deity among the ancient Ro- who was believed to preserve her votaries from fever.
mans, to whom women offered sacrifice in private, No fewer than three sanctuaries were dedicated to
calling her the good goddess. She was said to be her worship, where amulets were consecrated which
the wife or sister of FAUNUS (which see), and, like had been worn during fever.
him, to have the power of revealing the future. Some FEBRUUS, an ancient Roman deity to whom the
suppose her to have been identical with the Greek month of February was consecrated. The naine of
APHRODITE (which see), others with Cybele. this god is derived from an old Latin word februare,
FAUNALÍA, festivals which were observed by to purify, and in connection with purifications he was
the ancient Romans in honour of FAUNUS (which also regarded as a god of the lower world, and some-
see), as the god of fields and shepherds. They were times identified with Pluto. It was a peculiarity of
kept by the country peasants with mirth and dancing. | the worship of Februus, that on offering sacrifices to
Vour.
FEEJEE ISLANDS (RELIGION OF THE).
885
!
him, the people threw the ashes backwards over the earliest converts. But notwithstanding the oppo-
their heads into the water.
sition thus manifested, the truth made slow. but
FECIALES. See FETIALES.
steady progress, and in the course of a few years,
FEEJEE ISLANDS (RELIGION OF THE). These with the aid of native teachers and preachers, the
islands form a group of what are usually known by missionaries succeeded in introducing the gospel
the name of the South Sea Islands, being situated into various other islands of the Feejee group be-
in the Pacific Ocean, south of the equator. They sides Lakemba. These good men toiled with untir-
were originally discovered by Tasman in 1643. The ing perseverance in their Master's cause, and not
Feejee group comprises 150 islands, about 100 of without the most gratifying success. In 1845, and
which are inhabited by a population estimated to in the following year, a religious movement began
ainount in all to 300,000. The people are divided in Rewa, and speedily extended itself to others of
into a number of tribes, which are quite independent the islands. It is thus described by Mr. Hunt, the
of, and even bitterly opposed to, one another. They biographer of one of the early missionaries : “Busi-
are a fierce and warlike people, addicted in their sa- ness, sleep, and food were alınost entirely laid aside.
vage state to CANNIBALISM (which see), and valuing We were at length obliged almost to force some of
the life of a human being at no higher price than a the new converts to take something for the suste-
whale's tooth. Several instances are on record of nance of the body. Some of the cases were the most
crews of vessels which happened to visit the islands remarkable I have ever heard of; yet only such as
having been murdered, and their bodies eaten by the one might expect the conversion of such dreadful mur-
natives. The heathen deities of this group of the derers and cannibals would be. If such men mani-
Polynesian islands are very numerous. The natives fested nothing more than ordinary feelings when
believe in a Creator, but trace their own origin to they repent, one would suspect they were not fully
different gods, the greater number ascribing it to a convinced of sin. They literally roared for hours,
deity called Ové. A certain female deity is said to through the disquietude of their souls. This fre-
have created the Rewa people; and yet if a child is quently terminated in fainting from exhaustion, which
born in a deformed state, it is attributed to an over- was the only respite some of them had till they found
sight of Ové. Another god called Ndengei is wor- peace. They no sooner recovered their conscious-
shipped in the form of a large serpent, to whom the ness than they prayed themselves first into an agony,
Feejeans believe that the spirit goes immediately and then again into a state of entire insensibility.
after death for purification or to receive sentence. The results of this work of grace have been most
It is not permitted, however, to all spirits to reach happy. The preaching of the word has been at-
the judgment-seat of Ndengei; for upon the road it tended with more power than before the revival.
is supposed that an enormous giant, armed with a Many who were careless and useless have become
large axe, stands constantly on the watch, and ready sincere and devoted to God. The experience of
to wound all who attempt to pass him. No wounded most has been much improved, and many have be-
person can go forward to Ndengei, but is doomed come by adoption and regeneration the sons of God."
to wander about in the mountains. An escape from One of the most remarkable effects of this revival
the blows of the giant's axe is ascribed solely to good was the conversion of Varani, a chief of the most
luck. The natives in their heathen condition were cruel and blood-thirsty character. Through the
addicted to many revolting customs, such as putting blessing of God upon the faithful preaching of the
their parents to death wlien they were advanced in missionaries, this savage warrior became an eminent
years, committing suicide, immolating their wives at trophy of Divine grace, and until he was recently
the funeral of their husbands, and offering up human murdered, he maintained a consistent Christian life,
sacrifices.
recommending the truth as it is in Jesus to all withi-
The first Christian mission to the Feejee islanders in the sphere of his influence. The work of conver-
was undertaken in 1835, by the Rev. W. Cross and sion has been going steadily forward for a number of
Rev. D. Cargill, two Wesleyan missionaries, who years, and although the Christians have suffered
proceeded from Vavau, one of the Friendly Islands, much from their heathen fellow-islanders, they have
to Lakemba, one of the Feejee group, a small island adhered with the most laudable steadfastness to their
about twenty-two miles in circumference, and con- Christian profession. The result on the general ha-
taining not more than a thousand inhabitants. On bits of the people has been of the most pleasing
approaching the shore, the natives appeared to as- description. In proof of this we may cite the testi-
sume a warlike attitude, but the missionaries were mony of Mr. Young, who has lately returned from a
permitted to land, and received by the chiefs in a visit paid to these islands at the instance of the
friendly manner. Having settled with their families Wesleyan Missionary Society: “After visiting La-
on the island, they commenced their labours among kemba and Rewa, I proceeded to Bau, the capital of
the people, and in a short time a number of the the country, and doubtless the deepest hell upon
natives made an open profession of Christianity. earth. Here I was shown six hovels in which 18
The chief, who had at first shown the utmost appa- human beings lad recently been cooked, in order to
rent friendliness to the missionaries, now persecuted | provide a feast for some distinguished stranger, and
}
1
886
FEKI (THE BLIND MEN Or)-FERALIA.
seen.
the remains of that horrid repast were still to be votees in Japan, instituted in A. D. 1150. It boasts
I next went to one of the temples, at the of a legendary founder of the name of Feki, who, at
door of which was a large stone, against which the the time of the civil war, which ended in the destruc-
heads of the victims had been dashed, previous to tion of that family, was taken prisoner by Joritomo.
their being presented in the temple, and that stone Notwithstanding repeated attempts at escape, he
still bore the marks of blood. I saw-but I
pause. was very kindly treated, and was pressed to enter into
There are scenes of wickedness in that country that the service of his captor. But not being able to
cannot be told. There are forms of cannibalism and look upon the destroyer of the Feki without an irre-
developments of depravity that can never be made sistible desire to kill him; not to be outdone in
gen-
known. No traveller, whatever may be his charac- erosity, he plucked out his eyes and presented them
ter, could have the hardihood to put on record what to Joritomo. There is another, more ancient but
he witnessed in that region of the shadow of death. less numerous, order of the blind, claiming as its
I went to see Thakembali
, the king of Feejee. He founder a son of one of the emperors of Japan, who
received me with great politeness, and got up and cried himself blind at the death of his beautiful
handed me a chair ; and his queen knowing I was princess. This last order is composed of none but
from England, at once made me a comfortable cup ecclesiastics. The other order consists of secular
of tea---a thing hardly expected in the palace of a persons of all ranks. Their hair is shaved close to
cannibal king. Before I left, King George (of Va- the head, and, though they wear the usual dress of
vau) arrived at the palace, and I requested him to laymen, they may be easily recognized. They are not
deal faithfully with Thakembau's conscience, and I supported by alms like many other devotees, but
believe he attended to my request, and did it with most of them are mechanics, who earn their liveli-
good effect, and I hope the fruit of that visit will be hood by their own exertions. Such as have once
found after many days. But notwithstanding the been admitted members of this community can never
darkness and impiety, and sin and cannibalism in renounce it. The general or superior of the order
Feejee, a great work is being effected in that coun- resides at Miaco. He is assisted by ten counsellors,
try. The foul birds of night are hastening away, who, along with him, have the power of life and
and the Sun of Righteousness is about to arise with death over the other members of the order, not, low-
majesty and glory in that benighted land. Much ever, without some restrictions.
good has already been accomplished. We have FELICITAS, the goddess of happiness among the
3,000 of the people in church-fellowship ; 4,000 in ancient Romans, identical with the eutychia of the
the schools ; and 6,000 regular attendants on the ancient Greeks. A temple was built to her in Roine,
ministry. We have 50 native teachers, who are B. C. 75, which, lowever, was burnt down in the
valiant for the truth, and who in different parts of reign of Claudius Cæsar.
the land are making known the power of Christ's FERALIA, a festival of the ancient Romans, ob-
salvation."
served annually in honour of the manes of deceased
Through the Divine blessing upon the indefatigable friends and relations. It was instituted by Numa,
labours of the Wesleyan missionaries, the king made and was thus observed during eleven days. The
an open profession of Christianity on the 30th April family and acquaintances of the deceased went to
1854, and the consequence has been, that many of the graves and walked round them, offering up pray-
the people also have joined the Christian church. ers all the while to the gods of the infernal regions
The Church of Rome has made an attempt to obtain in behalf of their dead friends, who they believed
a footing here, as in other parts of Polynesia, but were inhabiting Tartarus. An entertainment was
the Feejeans have resolutely declined hitherto to then prepared, consisting partly of honey, wine, and
receive the Romish priests, and have manifested a milk, which was laid on a great stone, and of which
growing attachment to the Word of God, and to the the dead were supposed to partake. Flowers, also,
faithful and devoted men who labour among them frankincense, and other perfumes were provided ac-
in the simplicity of the gospel. By recent returns cording to the quality of the deceased. While the
there are five stations in this group of islands, and Feralia lasted the spirits of the dead were imagined
fourteen missionaries, assisted by 490 native teachers, to be perinitted to revisit the earth, and to walk
and evangelists are actively employed in diffusing about the tombs, participating in the pleasures of
a knowledge of Divine truth among this recently the festival. In the course of the eleven days of the
barbarous people. Churches have been gathered feast no marriages were allowed to be celebrated
,
which contain nearly 3,000 members. The schools and the worship of the other deities was suspended
,
established on the different islands of the group num- all their temples being shut. It is said that the ob-
ber 120, having upwards of 4,000 scholars. Thus to servance of the Feralia having been neglected for
a great extent, by means of native agency, has this some years, all the graves were seen on fire, and the
interesting cluster of islands been brought within the spirits of the dead were heard during the night
sphere of Christian ordinances, and numbers added moaning and bitterly complaining of having been
to the true church of Christ of such as shall be saved. neglected. But upon the revival of the festival these
FEKI (THE BLIND MEN OF), an order of blind de- | prodigies immediately ceased.
FERETRIUS-FESTIVALS (RELIGIOUS).
887
FERETRIUS, a surname of Jupiter, alleged to be observed by the ancient Romans in seed-time, for
derived from the Latin ferio, to strike, because it the purpose of praying for the blessing of the gods
was customary among the ancient Romans, in tak- upon the seed sown.
ing an oath, to call upon Jupiter to strike them dead FERMENTARIANS. See PROZYMITES.
if they swore falsely.
FERONIA, an ancient female deity worshipped
FERIÆ (Lat. holidays), a name given among the by the Sabines, and afterwards by the Romans.
ancient Romans to all peculiar seasons of rejoicing, Some suppose her to have been the goddess of liber-
including sacred festivals or days consecrated to any ty, others of commerce, and others still of the eartlı
particular god. The Feriæ were usually divided or the lower world.
into two classes, the public and the private, the lat- FESOLI (CONGREGATION OF), an order of monks
ter being observed by individuals or families in com- founded in the fourteenth century by Charles of
memoration of some particular incident or event in Montegranelli. They were also called Mendicant
their history, while the former were observed by the Friars of St. Jerome. The founder lived among the
whole nation, the people generally visiting the tem- mountains of Fesoli, about A. D. 1386, where he in-
ples of the gods, and offering up prayers and sacri- stituted this monastic. order, which was approved
fices. Some of the public festivals were regularly first by Innocent VII., and afterwards confirmed by
observed, and the date of their occurrence was Gregory XII. and Eugene IV.
marked in the FASTI (which see), or public calen- FESSONIA (Lat. Fessus, wearied), an inferior
dars. These were termed Ferice Stativo or stated goddess among the ancient Romans, who assisted
holidays. Other public festivals were held annually, I those who were wearied.
but not on any fixed day, and received the name of FESTIVALS (RELIGIOUS), ceremonies of rejoic-
Ferice Conceptive. Both these kinds of holidays ing and thanksgiving to God. These appear to have
were kept with feastings and rejoicings of different been observed from the earliest times. The Sabbath,
kinds. But the most solemn class of Feriæ were indeed, instituted by God himself before the fall,
those which were appointed by the public authori. may be said to have been the first festival that ever
ties to be observed in consequence of some great existed. Next in antiquity to the Sabbath, though
national emergency or impending public calamity. not of Divine appointment, was the feast of the
These holidays were termed Ferice Imperativce. They new moon, or the beginning of the month. This
were usually kept for several days. When a pro- | festival seems to have existed long before the time
digy occurred of a rain of stones, such as Livy sev- of Moses. It was proclaimed by the sound of trum-
eral times records, Feria were kept for nine succes- pets, and was chiefly observed by sacrifices addi-
sive days. No lawsuits were allowed to be carried tional to those of other days. In the law of Moses,
on during the public Feriæ, and the people were three great festivals were appointed to be observed
strictly enjoined to abstain from work under penalty | annually by the ancient Hebrews. These were the
of a fine. It was frequently a subject of discussion feast of passover, the feast of pentecost, and the
with the old Roman casuists, what kinds of work feast of tabernacles; two of them lasting for seven,
might be lawfully performed on the public Feriæ. and one for eight successive days. At each of
The introduction of Christianity into the Roman these great festivals, all the Jewish males were
Empire, and more especially its adoption as the re- bound to be present; and to remove all apprehension
ligion of the State, led to the abolition of the ancient as to the safety of their property or their families in
Feriæ, and the substitution in their place, of Chris- their absence, God pledged himself so to operate
tian festivals.
upon the minds of their enemies that they should
FERIÆ LATINÆ, a festival instituted by Tar- not even desire to invade their land during those
quinius Superbus, or, as Niebuhr thinks, at a much festal seasons. Though males were thus impera-
earlier period, in honour of the alliance between the tively enjoined to present themselves, females seem
Romans and the Latins. It was held on the Alban not to have been excluded from the feasts, particu-
Mount, and was originally dedicated to the worship larly the passover. Both our Lord and his apostles
of Jupiter Latiaris. When a warlike expedition was regularly attended the great festivals of the Jews, but
to be undertaken, the general was not permitted to nowhere do we find any command in the New Tes-
set out until he had observed the Latinæ. This tament binding Christians in after-times to such
festival continued for several, generally six, days. observances. After the ascension of Christ, and
An ox was usually offered in sacrifice by the even after the outpouring of the Spirit on the day
Roman consul for the time, on the Alban Mount, of Pentecost, the apostles still continued, as long
amid assembled multitudes, who engaged in rejoic- as they were allowed by the Jewish sanhedrim, to
ings of all kinds. On the two days immediately observe the various ecclesiastical as well as civil in-
following the Latinæ, no marriages were allowed to stitutions of their countrynien, and to attend at the
be celebrated, these days being considered as sacred. greater festivals. The same practice was followed
The Feriæ Latinæ seem to have been observed by by many of the earlier converts to the Christian
the Romans until the fourth century.
faith, particularly those of them who had formerly
FERIÆ SEMENTIVÆ, a single festival day | belonged to the Jewish church. The spirit of Chris.
888
FESTIVALS (RELIGIOUS).
tianity, however, more especially as developed in tious veneration for all that belonged to these holy
the writings of the apostle Paul, was completely men, and at length the Festival of the Martyrs was
opposed to all such special times and seasons as had instituted with the imposing ceremonial observances
forined a part of the Jewish system. It claimed the which the Church of Rome has connected with it.
whole life of the believer, and refused to confine its From the early history of the church, we learn,
ordinances either to a particular place or a particular that down to the fourth century, the only festivals
time. And although it is an undoubted fact, that which were observed by the Christians were the
even at this early period Christians did select cer- Lord's Day, Good Friday, Easter, Whitsuntide, and
tain days, which they associated with the great facts several anniversaries of the birthdays of martyrs.
connected with the history of redemption, “it was Augustine mentions all of these as the only festivals
only," as Neander well remarks, "a descent from the which were then regarded as having apostolic usage
elevation of the pure spirit, at which even the Chris- in their favour. But Christmas he considers as of
tian, still partaking of a double nature, cannot always later origin, and less sacred than the others. And
sustain himself, to the position of sensuous weakness, this opinion is borne out by the fact, that the Ante-
descent which must become the more necessary, Nicene fathers are entirely silent as to the existence
in the same proportion as the fire of the first enthu- of such a festival in the church. It is probable,
siasm, the glow of the first love, abated.”
therefore, that the origin of the commemoration of
The festivals which were observed in the primi- the advent of our Lord, which is usually known by
tive church in the age which immediately succeeded the name of Christmas, is to be dated posterior to the
that of the apostles, were limited to the weekly establishment of Christianity by Constantine the
Christian Sabbath, and the festivals of Easter and Great.
Whitsuntide. The origin of these stated feasts is thus From the fourth century the number of Cliristian
noticed by the distinguished German historian just festivals rapidly increased, so that Mosheim in-
quoted : “ The weekly and yearly festivals of the Chris- forms us that the number of feast-days in the sixth
tians originated in the same fundamental idea, which century almost equalled that of the churches. Not-
formed the centre of the whole Christian life,—the withstanding, however, the growing tendency in the
idea of imitating Christ, the crucified and the risen, church to accumulate festivals in memorial of sacred
-imitating him in his death, by appropriating, events, we find Jerome refusing to acknowledge the
through faith and repentance, the effects of his death, authority of such observances, and asserting in plain
by dying to self and to the world, -imitating him in terms, that “considered from the purely Christian
his resurrection, by rising with him, in faith, and point of view, all days are alike; every day is for the
through the power which he imparts, to a new and Christian a Friday, to be consecrated by the remem-
holy life, consecrated to God, commencing here in brance of Christ crucified; every day a Sunday, since
the germ, and unfolding itself to maturity in another on every day he could solemnize in the communion
world. Hence, the jubilee was the festival of the re- the fellowship with Christ though risen." Though
surrection; and the preparation for it, the remem- such views were entertained by some of the more
brance of Christ's sufferings with penitence and cru- intelligent of the teachers of the church, the great
cifixion of the flesh, was the day of fasting and mass of the people looked upon the multiplication of
penitence. Accordingly, in the week, the jubilee or festivals with a favourable eye. Many professing
festival of joy was Sunday; the preparation for it Christians were found, both in the third and fourth
were the days of fasting and prayer consecrated to centuries, manifesting a strong tendency to partake
the remenibrance of the sufferings of Christ, and of in the celebration of heathen festivals and of Jewish
what preceded them, on Thursday and Friday. Ac-observances. Festivals were in process of time
cordingly, the yearly festivals were in remembrance established in great numbers for particular saints,
of the resurrection of Christ, and of his works after and more especially in honour of the Virgin Mary.
his resurrection and ascension ;-the preparation for In the seventh century a festival was instituted in
these, were the remembrance of Christ's sufferings honour of the wood of the cross on which the Saviour
and the fasts."
hung, and another in commemoration, not of one, but
In the beginning of the second century, we find at of all saints. It was at this period that Pope Boni-
the martyrdom of Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, the face IV., having obtained by gift the Pantheon at
first instance of those festivals in commemoration of Rome, consecrated it to the honour of the Virgin
the death of the martyrs, which came to be generally Mary and all the martyrs, as it had before been
observed in the early Christian church. These festi- sacred to all the gods, and particularly to Cybele
.
vals were regularly held on the anniversary of the Then followed, in the tenth century, the annual fes-
day on which the martyr had fallen (see ANNIVER- tival in memory of all departed souls. The original
Saries), and which, in the language of the period, simplicity of Christian worship was now completely
was called his BIRTHDAY (which see). This natural lost sight of, and the Church of Rome, desirous of
expression of homage to the memory of Christian attracting the favour and exciting the astonishment
confessors, which originated in a feeling of ardent of the multitude, so rapidly multiplied the number
devotion to Christ, soon degenerated into a supersti- | of her festivals, that, in course of time, there was
FETES DE DIEL-FETISH-WORSHIP.
889
scarcely a single day which was not dedicated to transactions with other nations, the public faith
one saint or another of her ample calendar. The should be maintained in violate. The first institu-
Roman breviary contains formularies adapted to tion of this order was attributed to Numa. When
these days, and along with a history of each saint, the Romans had sustained a real or imaginary in-
gives the prayer by which, on his own day, and jury at the hands of a neighbouring nation, four fe.
sometimes in his own church, he is to be invoked. tiales were despatched to claim redress, and these
The Greek church has been equally lavish in the ap- four chose one to act as their representative. This
pointment of her sacred seasons. It is said that deputy proceeded to the confines of the offending
there is not a day in the year which is not in that tribes, dressed after a peculiar fashion, having a white
church either a fast or a festival. "Arnong the Moham- woollen garland bound round his head, along with a
medans there are two great festivals in the year, the wreath of sacred herbs, which were required to be
Little Beiram and the Great Beiram. The lesser of gathered within the enclosure of the Capitoline hill.
these two follows immediately upon the expiration Before crossing the border of the land from whose
of the fast of Ramazan, and continues for three days, people redress was to be sought, the ambassador
but the greater takes place on the tenth day of the offered up an earnest prayer to Jupiter for success,
last month of the year, continuing also for three solemnly declaring, at the same time, that he had
days. Among the ancient Scandinavians there were been sent on no unjust or unreasonable errand. He
three great religious festivals in the year; Yule, then crossed the border, and entered the country to
celebrated annually at the winter solstice, in honour which he had been sent. To the first person whom
of Frey or the sun, in order to obtain a propitious he might chance to meet, he uttered the same state-
year and fruitful seasons; another festival instituted ment which he had already addressed to Jupiter,
in honour of Goa or the earth, and held at the first repeating it to the sentinel at the gate of the city,
quarter of the second moon of the year ; and a third and afterwards to the magistrates in the forum, in
instituted in honour of Odin, and celebrated at the the presence of the assembled people. Having de-
beginning of the spring. There were also some feasts livered his message, he waited for thirty days in the
in honour of the other gods, and they were often mul- place to obtain an answer, and if in the course of
tiplied on occasion of particular events.
that time no satisfactory reply was received, the
Numerous and often splendid festivals have formed deputy pronounced a solemn denunciation, and leav-
distinguishing features both of ancient and of modern ing the town he returned to Rome to render an ac-
heathenism. In the Pagan systems of antiquity we count of his proceedings to the senate, who, of
meet with lunar and solar, vernal and autumnal fes- course, regulated their future conduct by his report.
tivals ; festivals commemorative of national bless- On hearing the state of matters, the whole case was
ings; and festivals of many kinds dedicated to the deliberately weighed, and if it was resolved to wage
gods. The Greek festivals bore throughout a cheer- war, the fetial deputy returned forthwith to the
ful aspect, while those of the Egyptians and Romans border of the enemy's country, and throwing a spear,
were characterized by gravity, and even mystery. pointed with iron or smeared with blood, made a so-
In every nation of modern heathendom, festivals, lemn declaration of war in the name of the Roman
both regular and occasional, are observed, which are people upon the inhabitants of that land. Consider-
not unfrequently seasons of the most boisterous able doubt has been entertained as to the precise
mirth and unrestrained enjoyment, accompanied with number of which the college of the Fetiales consisted.
sacrifices to the gods, and religious ceremonies of Some have supposed them to amount to twenty, se-
different kinds.
lected from families of rank, and appointed, not for
FETES DE DIEU (Fr. Feasts of God), a so- a time only, but for life.
lemn festival in the Romish church, instituted for FETISH-WORSHIP. The word fetish, which is
the performing a peculiar kind of worship to our derived from the Portuguese fetisso, an oracle, or
Saviour in the eucharist. It is observed on the revelation of the gods, is applied to the superstitions
Thursday after the octaves of Whitsuntide. This of the Negroes on the Senegal; and fetishism may be
festival is said to have owed its origin to Pope Ur- defined as the worship rendered to objects of art
ban IV., in A. D. 1264, and the office for the solem- or nature, to animate or inanimate bodies, or their
nity is ascribed to Thomas Aquinas. In conse- qualities. The term fetish was first brought into
quence of the political commotions of the time, the use by De Brosses, in his treatise Du Culte des
bull appointing this festival was not universally
not universally Dieux Fetiches,' published in 1760. Fetish wor-
obeyed. It was confirmed, however, in A. D. 1311, ship may be said to be the religion of the va-
by the general council of Vienne under Pope Cle- rious countries of Western Africa, and it is found
ment V.; and in A. D. 1316, Pope John XXII., to also among various Indian tribes of North America.
heighten the solemnity, added an octave to it, and Mr. Wilson, who has long resided as a missionary
ordered the holy sacrament to be carried in proces- on the West Coast of Africa, gives a minute and in-
teresting account of the nature and uses of a fetish.
FETIALES, a college of Roman priests, whose “ A fetish may be made of a piece of wood, the horn
duty it was to take special care that, in all public of a goat, the hoof of an antelope, a piece of metal
sion.
890
FETISH-WORSHIP.
1
or ivory, and needs only to pass through the conse- security for his own safety, but as a guarantee that
crating hands of a native priest to receive all the he does not carry the elements of mischief among
supernatural powers which it is supposed to possess. the people; he finds them suspended along every
It is not always certain that they possess extraordi- path he walks ; at every junction of two or more
nary powers. They must be tried, and give proof roads; at the crossing-place of every stream ; at the
of their efficiency before they can be implicitly base of every large rock or overgrown forest tree;
trusted.
at the gate of every village ; over the door of every
If a man, while wearing one of them, has some house, and around the neck of every human being
wonderful escape from danger, or has had good luck whom he meets. They are set up on their farms,
in trade, it is ascribed to the agency of his fetish, tied around their fruit trees, and are fastened to the
and it is cherished henceforward as a very dear necks of their sheep and goats, to prevent them from
friend, and valued beyond price. On the other hand, being stolen. If a man trespasses upon the property
if he has been disappointed in some of his specula- of his neighbour, in defiance of the fetishes he has
tions, or been overtaken by some sad calamity, his set up to protect it, he is confidently expected to
fetish is thrown away as a worthless thing, without, suffer the penalty of his temerity at some time or
however, impairing his confidence in the efficacy of other. If he is overtaken by formidable malady or
fetishes in general. He has simply been unfortunate | lingering sickness afterward, even should it be after
in having trusted to a bad bone, and with unimpaired | the lapse of twenty, thirty, or forty years, he is
confidence he seeks another that will bring him bet- known to be suffering in consequence of his own
ter luck.
rashness."
“Where a person has experienced a series of good This species of worship has its foundation in the
luck, through the agency of a fetish, he contracts a principles of the human constitution. It is simply
feeling of attachment and gratitude to it; begins to the worship of nature, not in its grandest and most
imagine that its efficiency proceeds from some kind sublime aspect as it is seen in the movements of the
of intelligence in the fetish itself, and ultimately heavenly bodies, but in the common objects that
regards it with idolatrous veneration. Hence it everywhere present themselves around us. The fet-
becomes a common practice to talk familiarly with ish is to be found in some form or other in all su-
it as a dear and faithful friend, pour rum over it as a perstitions, and whether in the sunny regions of the
kind of oblation, and in times of danger call loudly south, or in the cold, barren regions of the north, it
and earnestly upon it, as if to wake up its spirit and invests with the idea of the supernatural the in-
energy.
dividual objects as well as the complex phenomena
“The purposes for which fetishes are used are of nature. Mr. Cruickshank, in his work enti-
almost without number. One guards against sick- tled 'Eighteen Years on the Gold Coast of Africa,'
ness, another against drought, and a third against the thus adverts to the origin and operation of Fet-
disasters of war. One is used to draw down rain, an- ish-worship among the Fantees : “They believe
other secures good crops, and a third fills the sea that the Supreme Being, in compassion to the hu-
and rivers with fishes, and makes them willing to be man race, has bestowed upon a variety of objects,
taken in the fisherman's net. Insanity is cured by animate and inanimate, the attributes of Deity,
fetishes, the sterility of women is removed, and there and that He directs every individual in the choice
is scarcely a single evil incident to human life which of his object of worship. This choice, once made,
may not be overcome by this means; the only con- the object becomes the “Souman,' or idol of the
dition annexed is that the right kind of fetish individual. It may be a block, a stone, a tree, a
be employed. Some are intended to preserve life, river, a lake, a mountain, a snake, an alligator, a
others to destroy it. One inspires a man with cou- bundle of rags or whatever the extravagant imagi-
rage, makes him invulnerable in war, or paralyzes nation of the idolater may pitch upon. From the
the energy of an adversary."
moment that he has made his choice, he has recourse
Fetishes bear different names, being sometimes to this god of his in all his troubles. He makes ob-
called grisgris, and at other times jujus. The latter | lations to it of rum and palm-oil; he lays offerings
is the name applied to them in Old Calabar. There before it of oil and corn; he sacrifices to it fowls and
are various classes of fetishes, personal, house- goats, and sheep, and smears it with their blood;
hold, and national. They are found in a great diver- and as he performs these rites, he prays it to be pro-
sity of forms, but the most usual shape is that of the pitious to him, and to grant him the accomplish-
heads of animals or of human beings, and almost ment of his petition. These rites and supplications
always supplied with a large pair of homs.
are directed exclusively to his idol, without any ul-
The practice of Fetish-worship is universal in terior reference in his mind to the Supreme Being.
Western Africa. “One of the first things," says During their performance the idolater is sometimes
Mr. Wilson, “ which salutes the eyes of a stranger, wrought up to a high pitch of excitement, and, under
after planting his feet upon the shores of Africa, is the influence of his phrenzy, deludes himself with
the symbols of this religion. He steps forth from the idea that his idol has mysteriously communi-
the boat under a canopy of fetishes, not only as a cated with him, and granted an answer to his prayer.
|
FETISH-WORSHIP.
891
swer.
He is thus directed, by an extraordinary self-delu- | fetishmen have failed to give satisfaction, that they
sion, to the adoption of some ceremonious rite; froin are applied to; so that before the appeal is made to
the performance of which he expects to obtain the them, they have enjoyed opportunities of making
object of his wishes. Nothing can exceed the absur- themselves acquainted with the circumstances of
dity of these rites. They have no reference what- each case, and are fully prepared to give their an-
ever to the subject of petition as a means to an end.
But they take care to surround themselves
To restore to health a sick child, to shield from dan- with every concomitant calculated to inspire awe and
ger a friend engaged in some perilous enterprise, or fear in the minds of those who consult them. Their
to draw down destruction upon an enemy, the idolater temple is a deep gloomy recess of the forest, where
may, perhaps, surround his house with a string of the overhanging foliage is so dense, that scarcely a
withes, hang up some filthy rags to the branch of a single ray of light can penetrate it, and where there
tree, or nail a fowl to the ground by means of a stake is no difficulty in concealing the accomplices of their
driven through its body."
artifice. Into this den they convey their dupes
The fetishmen are a regular and numerous order, blindfolded; and amidst strange unearthly noises,
whose whole aim is, by a series of artful contrivances which, to the bewildered senses of the poor terrified
and deceptions, to acquire and preserve a complete idolaters, seem at one time to issue from the bowels
ascendency over the ignorant and superstitious peo- of the earth, and at another time to rush through the
ple. When a young person aspires to this office, he air, they make their sacrificial offerings and in-
is put under the care of some old adept in the art, vocations to their god whom they have come to
and subjected to a system of careful discipline and consult. The confused ubiquity of the dismal
training. Before being selected, however, even as a sounds which assail the ears, and make the hearts
candidate, the youth is tested as to his power of car- of the wretched worshippers quail, is accounted for
rying on the wild, protracted dance, which is consi- by a band of accomplices being stationed around,
dered as a necessary part of the religious rites, and a some in holes underground, and some among the
means of exciting themselves to frantic madness be- the leafy branches of the trees, and all bellowing out
fore giving forth the oracles of their god. Besides the most unearthly cries and groans, which a long
acquiring skill in the use of herbs for the cure of practice in this villanous deception has enabled them
diseases, they make themselves masters of all sorts to utter. When they have sufficiently subdued the
of juggling tricks, and like the fortune-tellers of our minds of their unhappy victims by this discordant
own country, acquire a thorough knowledge of all concert, and when by violent dancing and wild and
the facts connected with the histories of the leading convulsive struggles they have aroused their god to
individuals and their families, and by this means they attention, they propound to him the object of their
excite the wonder of their dupes, and prepare them visit. It is not always, however, upon the first ap-
for yielding a ready belief to all that shall be said. plication that he will deign a response. This inat-
Al this intimate acquaintance with the domestic tention or rather the contemptuous neglect of the
affairs of the people, they pretend to have received | fetish, is interpreted by the priest in the way most
from their god after consulting him with offerings and accordant with his own wishes. The applicants, it
sacrifices, accompanied with a number of ceremonies, may be, are told to wait for a more propitious mo-
which are fitted to impose upon the credulous. To ment, to observe a religious fast, to appease by
lend additional effect to their superstitious rites, offerings the evil spirits, or to bestow a richer gra-
they generally select as the scene of their operations tuity upon the priests. It matters little to those
some dark shady grove apart from the haunts of men. hard-hearted men that they give their dupes long
To give the reader a vivid conception of the and fruitless journeys in vain. They know that
power which these fetishmen exercise over the what is obtained with difficulty, is prized propor-
minds of the ignorant populace, we select the graphic tionally, and they take care that the favours of their
description which Mr. Cruickshank gives of the fetish shall not be lightly esteemed. When every
fetish situated at Mankassim, fornierly the head- penny has been got from their victims, which they
quarters of the Fantee power—a fetish regarded as can, either by cajolery or by threats, extort, an an-
the most powerful deity in the whole country. “No swer to their petition is resolved upon, and delivered
fewer than five priests minister at the altar of this with all those imposing artifices, which they so well
great fetish. Their numbers enable them to bring know how to assume. "
into operation a more complicated and better ar- A few years ago a deeply interesting train of
ranged machinery for carrying on their tricks; and events occurred in the Fantee country, which deserve
their acknowledged superiority over all other fetishes
, notice as having proved the deathblow of fetish wor-
and the consequent estimation in which they are ship in that district of Western Africa. The Wes-
held by the general body of fetishmen in the coun- leyan Methodists having established a mission among
try, give them advantages in procuring information, the Fantees, the Rev. Mr. Freeman was selected as
which individual fetishmen do not always possess. their missionary. In the course of his operations he
They are seldom consulted in the first instance. It established a school, and a small body of Christian
is only when the matter is of moment, or after other converts at a village called Assafa, not far from the
892
FETVA-FIANCELS.
any account.
great fetish of Mankassim to which we have already Fetishmen of conspiracy to poison four persons.
referred. The fetishmen were annoyed at the settle- This was followed by a demand that the chiefs
men of a Christian community in the immediate should bring into court the fetishmen of their
neighbourhood of the sacred grove. But what more several districts. The affair was thoroughly sifted,
especially roused their indignation was, the circum- and the accusation fully proved to the satisfaction
stance of one of the converts having shot a deer even of the chiefs, who were so enraged that they
within the precincts of the sacred grove, and thus wished the guilty priests to be put to death. A
openly and manifestly insulted their deity. Enraged milder sentence, however, was pronounced. The
at this act of the grossest sacrilege, the fetishmen fetishmen were condemned to be publicly flogged,
called upon the Fantee chiefs to protect the religion and to be imprisoned for five years, while the fetish-
of their country. A meeting of the chiefs was ac- women were sentenced to imprisonment for only two
cordingly held, and a resolution taken that they years. The spectacle which was now witnessed by
would mutually support one another in avenging the the people in the market-place of Cape Coast, of thie
next insult which should be offered to their god. once venerated and even dreaded fetishmen being
An opportunity soon occurred of carrying out their subjected to the degradation of public whipping,
resolution. An inferior fetishman openly embraced proved the ruin of fetish worship in the Fantee
Christianity, and joined the Christian settlement. country.
country. The altar of the great fetish who had
Full of zeal, and anxious to show his contempt of been worshipped for ages was now deserted, and the
the idol, he along with two other converts went sacred persons of the fetishmen were no longer of
and cut some sticks in the sacred grove. On-learn-
ing the daring offence which had thus been com- FETVA. No act of the Mohammedan government
mitted, Adoo, the leading Fantee chief, summoned in Turkey is readily obeyed unless declared to be in
his retainers, and attacked the Christian settlement, strict conformity with the Koran, and obligatory
seized and bound the converts, and carried them therefore upon all the faithful. This sanction is
captive to Mankassim. The British authorities im- called Fetva; and for a long period the right of
mediately interposed, demanded the liberation of the granting it has been exclusively exercised by the
prisoners, and summoned Adoo to appear at Cape Sheik-ul-Islam, who usually consults the College of
Coast Castle and answer for his conduct. Adoo Ulemas before coming to a decision upon the mat-
hesitated, but at length agreed to appear, provided ter. This privilege has never been resisted but on
that his trial took place at Anamaboe, and not at one occasion by Mourad IV., who boldly decapitated
Cape Coast Castle. The trial accordingly was gone one of them for opposing his will. They have some-
through, and terminated in a sentence being pro- times used the Fetva to dethrone Sultans, and deli-
nounced adjudging him to pay a sum by way of com- ver them over to the fury of the Janissaries. All
pensation for the injuries done to the Christians and new laws, and even the question of peace and war,
their settlement, while the Christians, on the other must await the sanction of the Sheik-ul-Islam.
hand, were required to pay compensation money for FEUILLANS, a réformed order of Cistertian
the insults done to the fetishmen through their monks, founded by an abbot of a monastery named
fetish. For a considerable time Adoo refused to John de la Barriere, in the end of the fifteenth century.
fulfil his part of the sentence. The chiefs, however, The friars of this order were taught to lead a most aus-
began to dread the consequences of this obstinacy on tere and abstemious life, their diet being restricted to
the part of their chief, and the influence of the fetish- bread, pulse, and water. Pope Gregory XIII.,
men was now so evidently on the decline, that it hearing of the remarkable improvement which Bar-
was deemed necessary to adopt some extraordinary riere had introduced among the Cistertians, sent
measures with the view of retaining their power. him a letter of congratulation, and founded a monas-
Impressed with the urgency of the crisis, a number tery on the same principle at Rome. Sixtus V. and
of fetishmen and fetishwonnen met during the night | Clement VIII. also expressed their approbation of
in a lonely spot near Anamaboe, and laid a plan to the Feuillans, and in consequence the congregation
poison four influential persons, two of them office-gained ground particularly in France. But like
bearers in the Wesleyan church, in order that their monastic orders generally, they gradually declined.
sudden death might be attributed to the wrath of the They considered themselves as under the special
fetish, and might thus strike terror into the minds of protection of the Virgin Mary, and therefore they
all classes. This nefarious project, however, was wore a white habit.
never carried into execution, having been divulged FEUILLANTES, an order of nuns established
to the authorities by one of the parties who was pre- on the same principles, and about the same time as
sent at the midnight meeting. Adoo was at length the order of FEUILLANS. (See preceding article.)
persuaded to obey the summons of the governor, and FIANCELS, a ceremony of BETROTHMENT
the matter in dispute was finally settled by the com- (which see), as practised in the Romish church, after
plete submission of the haughty chief.
which an oath was administered to the man by
sooner was this trial concluded, than a serious charge which he bound himself “ to take the woman to wife
was brought forward by the authorities against the within forty days, if holy church will permit."
But no
1
In the theoretical reason, the Ego affirms itself to be
FICHTE (THE SYSTEM OF)-FIERTE.
893
FICHTE (THE SYSTEM OF). This eminent Ger- FIDIUS, the son of Zeus or Hercules, a Pagan
man philosopher, who was born at Rammenau, a vil- deity worshipped by the ancient Romans and Sa-
lage of Lusatia, in 1762, may be considered as having bines, and regarded as the patron and protector of
given rise to a speculative school of theology in Ger- the good faith which should reign between them.
many. His peculiar doctrines were developed in his A festival in honour of the god was observed an-
Wissenschaftslehre, or doctrine of science, which is nually on the Nones of June. Ovid says that Fi-
dedicated to an examination of the foundation and es- dius was also called Sancus and Semo.
sence of knowledge. This he considers as self-con- FIENDS. See ANGELS (EVIL).
sciousness—the Ego, not viewed as an individual, but FIERTE, a privilege enjoyed formerly by the
as generalized and absolute, in short, as God. In this archbishops of Rouen in Normandy, in consequence
absolute Ego are included Thesis, Antithesis, and of the miraculous deliverance, which, according to
Synthesis. “It is from this principle,” says Dr. an old legend, St. Romanus accomplished from a
Kahnis, “that Fichte endeavours to deduce all facts dragon which infested the neighbourhood. The
of consciousness, and that with mathematical evi.. manner in which he is said to have effected the
dence. The method proceeds thus :-—that out of the miracle was simple enough. The saint stripping
thesis an antithesis is brought forth, which forces to off his stole, put it round the neck of the dragon, and
a synthesis, until out of this synthesis a new anti- gave the monster in charge to a condemned male-
thesis is produced, until all antitheses are produced, factor, whom he had brought along with him for the
until all antitheses are exhausted. This is not, of purpose, and whom he ordered to lead it into the
course, the place for bringing out in detail the results town where it was burned in the presence of the
of the Wissenschaftslehre. Like Kant, Fichte dis- assembled inhabitants. The malefactor obtained his
tinguished between theoretical and practical reason. pardon in reward for the bold feat. And in order to
determined by the Non-Ego; in the practical reason, ance, a custom was long preserved in the district, of
the Non-Ego is itself affirmed and determined by the bestowing pardon every year on Ascension-Day,
Ego. The Ego affirms the Non-Ego opposed to it, | upon a criminal who might happen to have been con-
in order to prove itself to be the absolute deed which demned to death for any crime whatever, provided
again removes the limit which itself had put. Theory only that he should assist to carry in procession the
has thus its foundation in practice. The absolute shrine which was called the Fierte of St. Romanus.
Ego has a logical existence only; it exists only in a The particulars of this ceremony are thus given by
multitude of finite Egos, the aim and end of which is an old author: “St. Owen, Chancellor of France,
to raise themselves legally and morally into a uni- succeeded St. Romanus in the see of Roan, and to
versal Ego. This universal Ego is humanity. The perpetuate the remembrance of this miraculous deli-
history of humanity is pervaded by a progress, in verance from the dragon, and put the faithful in
which the Ego more and more proves itself to be mind yearly to renew their acknowledgments for so
the absolute power. This moral progress Fichte great a benefit, by prayers and thanksgivings, ob-
called God.'” This system is in its nature tho- tained of King Dagobert, in favour of the archbishop,
roughly subjective; all outward objective being en- dean, canons, and chapter of Roan, leave and power
tirely disappears. In this transcendental Idealism, to choose yearly in their chapter, on the day of the
the theology of the ILLUMINISTS (which see) of the ascension of our Lord, what prisoner soever, and for
middle of the last century reached its height. The whatsoever cause he might be detained, and to deli-
whole universe is made the product of the Ego or ver him from gaol, and obtain his being entirely
thinking subject.
acquitted, and never prosecuted for any crime com-
FIDELES (Lat. the faithful), a name applied in mitted before. This privilege has often been con-
the early Christian church to the believing or bap- firmed by the kings of France, and has been enjoyed
tized laity, in contradistinction to the clergy and the by the archbishop, dean, canons, and chapter of
catechumens. In this sense the word frequently | Roan, fully, peaceably, and without any opposition.
occurs in the ancient liturgies and canons. The
The Not one year passed without their delivering a cri-
Romish church considers the whole world as divided minal out of prison, except in cases of high treason:
into two classes, the fideles or faithful, and the infi- and as no prisoner had been delivered by them,
deles or unfaithful; the former term being applied to whilst Richard King of England and Duke of Nor-
those alone who are within the pale of her commu- mandy was himself detained, they got leave to set
nion, and the latter to all who are beyond it.
two at liberty the year following. So inviolably has
FIDES (Lat. faithfulness), a goddess among the that privilege been kept, that no accident whatever
ancient Romans, whom they held in high estimation could interrupt this prerogative of the chapter, not
as a personification particularly of public faith, to even the captivity of a king, who was their duke and
which they attached the utmost importance as a na-
lord. The criminal is always delivered in public;
tional virtue. A temple to this deity stood on the in the presence of all the town, and with great so-
Capitol at Rome, said to have been built by Numa lemnity. Thirteen days before the feast of the
Pompilius. Her priests were clothed in white robes. | Ascension, four canons and four chaplains wearing
894
FIFTH-MONARCHY MEN-FILIOQUE.
their surplices and amisses, their usher, or verger, FIFTH-MONARCHY MEN, a sect of enthu-
going before them, proceed to the great chamber siasts which arose in England in the seventeenth
of the parliament, and to the bailiff's court, and century, soon after the restoration of Charles II.
court of aids, where they summon and charge the They were headed by one Venner, who taught that
king's officers to stop, and cause to be stopped, all | Jesus Christ would personally descend from heaven,
further proceedings against any criminals detained and establish a new and heavenly kingdom, a fifth
in the king's prisons, till their privilege has had its universal monarchy, on the earth. They raised an
full effect. On Rogation Monday two canons in armed insurrection, when Venner, with his small but
priestly orders go to the prisons, accompanied by determined band, proclaimed the fifth monarchy, ,
two chaplains, the verger of the chapter, and a filled London with alarm, and fought with a courage
notary, who is also a priest; they receive there the which has seldom been equalled, and probably never
depositions of those who lay claim to partake in the surpassed. The greater number of this sect perished
privilege; this they are employed in till the day of either by the sword or on the scaffold.
the Ascension; on which the prisoners are re-exa- FIKOOSAU, a mountain in Japan, to which an
mined, and asked whether they persist in their con- order of Jammabos or monks go in pilgrimage once
fessions, or have a mind to add any thing to them: a-year, an extremely difficult task, on account of
this being done, about seven in the inorning of the the precipices with which it abounds. This moun-
same day, all the canons who are priests meet in the tain is believed to be a sort of test by which to
chapter-house, call on the Holy Ghost to direct them | try the character of a man, for if a wicked person
in their choice, and solemnly swear, that they will should venture to undertake the pilgrimage, the
not reveal any part of the depositions of the crimi- devil would enter into him on his first attempt to
nals. The depositions are read, they pitch upon the ascend the sacred hill. See JAMMABOS.
prisoner to be delivered, write his name on a paper FILIOQUE (Lat. and from the Son), an expres-
sealed with the chapter's seal, and send it by a sion which was inserted in the Niceno-Constantino-
chaplain in his surplice and amisse to the parliament, politan creed, at the third council of Toledo, A. D.
which is met to expect their nomination, and having 589, in opposition to those who held that the Holy
received it, forin à decree, which orders, that the Spirit proceeds from the Father only. The council
prisoner chosen by the chapter shall be delivered up, by this addition meant to declare, that the Holy
to enjoy the privilege of St. Romanus's shrine, he Spirit, in the constitution of his Person, proceeds
and his accomplices. They are accordingly set free from both the Father and the Son. The alteration,
and out of prison, the depositions of all the other which was probably intended to show a strong oppo-
criminals are burnt upon an altar in sight of all the sition to the ARIANS (which see), though it com-
people. Then the procession begins, in which the menced in the Spanish church, was soon afterwards
dragon under St. Romanus's feet, is carried on a adopted by the churches of France and Germany.
long pole. The shrine of the saint is also carried. In A. D. 767, the Eastern accused the Western
The prisoner newly delivered, bareheaded, bears the churches of heresy on this point, and not only so, but
first supporter; and those who have been set at they charged them also with sacrilege in co
corrupting
liberty the seven preceding years help to carry it, the creed of the universal church by adding the words
each holding a lighted taper in his hand. The pro- filioque, " and from the Son,” to the article concern-
cession ended, mass begins, during which the pri- ing the Holy Spirit. The controversy on this point
soner kneels before each canon, begs pardon for his became more violent in the ninth century. Some
crime, and is exhorted by them to repentance and French monks residing at Jerusalem as pilgrims,
amendment of life. After mass the delivered crimi- chanted the creed in their worship, with the addi-
nal is brought to the house of the master of St. Ro- tion of filioque. The Greeks were indignant at this
inanus's confraternity, where, though he should be interpolation, as they called it, and the Franks ac-
never so poor, he is feasted with the utmost magni- cordingly despatched one of their number on the
ficence. Next morning he appears before the chap- subject into France, A. D. 809, to claim the protec-
ter, and, kneeling in the presence of the whole con- tion of the Emperor Charlemagne. The matter was
gregation, he is reprimanded according to the in consequence discussed in the council of Aix-la-
heinousness of his crime, by one of the canons de-Chapelle, and also at Rome, in the presence of the
puted for that purpose, and put in mind of giving Pope. Leo III. approved of the doctrine of the pro-
thanks to God, to St. Romanus, and to the Chapter: cession of the Holy Spirit from the Son, as well as
Finally, having engaged himself by a solemn promise, from the Father, but disapproved of the alteration of
to come himself, or send another, each of the seven the Creed by the introduction of the word filioque, and
following years, with a lighted taper, to the proces decided that the obnoxious expression should be gra
sion, he goes to confession to the penitentiary of the dually permitted to fall into disuse. Pope John VIII.,
cathedral, and receives the absolution of his sins." however
, went still further, calling the doctrine in-
The ruling idea of this legend may possibly have volved in the words filioque, blasphemy. The inser-
been derived from a custom of the Jews of having tion of the expression was finally adopted by Pope
a malefactor set free at the feast of the Passover. Nicholas I., and continues to be maintained by the
FILLES-DIEU-FINNS (RELIGION OF THE).
895
Latin churches, while it is as keenly opposed by the ancient complicated mythology did not fully suc-
Greek and all the other Eastern churches.
The cumb to Christianity till the sixteenth. It would
latter adhere to the strict statement as given in John appear that in the earliest ages of the history of
xv. 26, “which proceedeth from the Father;" but | Finland the people worshipped natural objects under
the former, along with all Protestant churches, re- sensible forms. All nature was regarded as ani-
ceive the statement with the addition of the words mated; the sun, the earth, the sea, each was a liv-
filioque, “and from the Son,” justifying themselves ing, sacred being. In course of time, however, a more
not by the express words of Scripture, but by deduc- modified system of things began to prevail. The
tions drawn from the statements of Scripture. It various departments of nature were no longer viewed
is admitted, on all hands, that the procession of the as in themselves gods, but as many of them presided
Spirit is nowhere literally asserted in the Word of over by certain deities or genii, having bodies and
God, but it is alleged by the Western churches that souls like human beings, while many more were
the doctrine, though not asserted, is plainly implied. without form or substantial framework of any kind.
Thus the Spirit is called the Spirit of the Father, and Each of these deities had a special charge over which
he is with equal distinctness called the Spirit of the he exercised an independent rule. With such a mass
Son, as in Gal. iv. 6, “And because ye are sons, of deities independent of each other as this system
God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your of mythology involved, it might appear at first sight
hearts, crying, Abba, Father;" and Rom. viii. 9, “But altogether unlikely that the Finns would ever recog-
ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that nize one Supreme Divinity, to whom all beings, both
the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man in heaven and earth, are subject. But this idea
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." In seems to have, in process of time, fully evolved it-
consequence of proceeding from the Father, the self, and the various steps by which the conception of
Holy Spirit is said in Scripture to be sent by one God was reached may be seen in the word Jumala,
him. But our Lord also speaks of the Holy Spirit which is found in the Finnish runes bearing these
as the Comforter whom he himself would send. Thus
three significations, the material sky, the sky-god,
John xv. 26, " But when the Comforter is come, and the Supreme Being. The word in its derivation
whom I will send unto you from the Father, even is drawn from a root signifying thunder, that pheno-
the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, menon in nature which, above all others, was fitted
he shall testify of me;" and John xvi. 7, "Never- to strike awe into the mind of a northern savage.
theless I tell you the truth ; It is expedient for you When Jumala came at length to be limited in its
that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter signification to the Supreme Deity, the other mean-
will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will sendings were gradually lost sight of, and other words
him unto you.” Such are the arguments by which were devised to denote them. Thus the material
the Western church defends herself for deviating sky was called Taivas, and the god of the sky Ukko,
from the language of the East, and of the ancient an old man, a title originally applied as a term of
creeds—arguments which, it may be observed, are l'espect to any of the gods, but afterwards limited to the
wholly inferential, and rest therefore for their valid- god of the sky, the most eminent of the order of Fin-
ity on the well-known and universally admitted rule nish deities. Ukko is known among the Finns by a
of Scripture interpretation, that legitimate infer- great variety of names and titles, all of them expres-
ences from Scripture are to be held of the same au- sive of the high functions which, as regulating the
thority as Scripture itself. See PROCESSION. great phenomena of nature, he is called to discharge.
FILLES-DIEU (Fr. Daughters of God), an order | He sits enthroned on a cloud in the midst of the
of nuns in France who devote themselves to visiting heavens, bearing the firmament on his shoulders.
the sick. They repeat the penitential Psalms once He wields mighty thunderbolts, and armed like a
a-week. Another religious order bearing this name brave warrior, the lightning is his sword, the many-
was formed in the thirteenth century, which after- coloured arch of heaven is his bow, and like the
wards became merged in the order of FONTEVRAUD Scandinavian Thor, he brandishes a formidable ham-
(which see).
FINGERS OF MOUNT IDA. See DACTYLI Independently of the sky-god Ulko, each of the
IDÆI.
heavenly bodies had its own presiding deity who
FINNS (RELIGION OF THE). The Finns, or in- dwelt in a magnificent palace, and regulated all the
habitants of Finland, are a peculiar race of people movements of the planet over which he ruled. Kört
in the North of Europe. Formerly they belonged presided over the dawn, the goddess Udutar over
to Sweden, but in 1809 their country was ceded to fogs and mists. The water-god, represented as an
Russia, under whose dominion it still continues. old man clothed in a robe of foam, and with a beard
The Finns are a race by themselves, and their lan- of grass, was called Ahti, and his spouse, Vellámo.
guage, as well as some other peculiarities, seem to The venerable pair inhabit their palace at Ahtola, at
indicate that they are of Asiatic origin. It was not the bottom of the sea, while the other water-gods,
till the twelfth century that attempts were made to his companions, are not only found in the sea, but
convert this people to the Christian faith, and their in rivers, fountains, and lakes, generally disposed to
mer',
896
FINNS (RELIGION OF THE).
be friendly to man; but others of them wicked and thology recognized also various Haltiat or spiritual
mischievous. Maan-emo, mother of the earth, was powers as presiding over all objects in nature. Sev-
a powerful goddess, said by some to be the wife of the eral beasts and birds were worshipped by the Finns,
sky-god Ulcko. Many were the deities who had the but they were particularly addicted to the worship of
charge of different kinds of grain, and who were ear- the bear—a species of idolatry which prevailed at one
nestly invoked by the tillers of the soil. But the gods period extensively in the North. This sacred animal
who were inore especially held in veneration were was called Ohto, and received the titles of the Apple
the forest deities, the chief of whom was Tapio, de- of the Forest, and the Pride of the Thicket. Among
scribed as a tall slender old man, wearing a dark birds, the wild-duck, the eagle, and the cuckoo, and
brown beard, a high-crowned hat of fir-leaves, and a among insects, bees and butterflies, were esteemed as
coat of tree-moss." The ambrosial drink of this sacred. Of trees, the oak and the mountain-ash were
wood-god and his spouse Mieliklci, was liquid honey, viewed as particularly holy. Rude stones and rocks
and for a draught of this delightful beverage, the were also worshipped by the more remote Finns and
tired hunter often longed and prayed. But besides | Lapps. The stone idol they termed the Storjunkar or
the forest gods, who were generally mild, gentle, and great ruler; they offered sacrifices upon it, generally
kind-hearted, the Finns had also their forest demons, the rein-deer, and prostrated themselves before it in
who, though few in number, were active in doing certain mountainous districts, far from the ordinary
mischief. The chief of these demons was Hiisi, dwellings of men. This worship, which is even at
who was the Finnish devil, who had his abode in this day prevalent in some parts of Finland, is a relic
the depth of the forest glade, and whose special de- of the idolatry which was once common to the Nor-
light it was to do injury to men. It is said of him wegians, as well as the Finns and Lapps.
by Castren, an able writer on the Mythology of the The complicated system of Pagan worship, which
Finns, "He has only three fingers on each hand; we have thus rapidly sketched, continued to prevail
but his fingers are furnished with sharp nails, where- among the Finns down to so late a period as the twelfth
with he rends those who fall into his power." This century. At length the conversion of this singular
evil spirit sends diseases and calamities of every kind people was undertaken by Eric IX., king of Swe--
throughout the earth.
den, whose zeal for the Church of Rome has given
Like many other Pagan tribes, the Finns seem him a place in the calendar. Believing that more
to have recognized some sort of existence after peaceful means would be unsuccessful, the enthu-
death. On the graves of their dead they laid food and siastic monarch resolved to enter upon a warlike
clothing, axes, knives, and warlike implements of crusade for this purpose. He was accompanied in
various kinds, evidently impressed with the idea that his expedition by Heinrich, bishop of Upsal. A!
such articles might be of use even to those who had singular circumstance concerning Eric, when engaged
quitted this mortal scene. Some supposed the dead to in his religious war against the Finns, is thus noticed
be furnished with new bodies, while others imagined by Neander : “Kneeling down to thank God, after
that they became impalpable spirits, which none but having won a båttle, he was observed to be profusely
the Shamans were privileged to see, though they weeping; and being asked the reason, confessed that
were believed to wander about amid the darkness and it was for pity and commiseration at the fate of so
storms of night. The general impression, however, many who had fallen in the fight without being bap-
was, that the dead were enemies of the living, and, tized, and were consequently lost when they might
therefore, they thought of them with dread, and have been saved by the holy sacrament.” Having ef-
adopted various ceremonies, with the view of propitiat- fected the conquest, the warlike monarch compelled the
ing them, or preventing their return to this world. vanquished nation of the Finns to profess Christian-
It is a curious fact, that, notwithstanding the awe in ity, and they were put under the charge of the bishop
which the Finns of ancient times held the dead, they of Upsal, who had been concerned in the holy war
not unfrequently resorted to them for counsel and against them. But as their new ecclesiastical ruler
assistance. The same practice still prevails among treated the Finnish Christians with the utmost
the SHAMANISTS (which see) of the North, who be- harshness and severity, he was himself massacred,
lieve that when their Shamans or priests fall into a and the pontiff Hadrian IV. enrolled him among the
trance, they are wandering through the realms of the saints. For a long period Paganism and Christianity
dead, and receiving there information which they struggled for pre-eminence in Finland. By the in-
could never have obtained upon the earth. In the fluence of the Swedes the Protestant church, which
most ancient times the dead were believed by the had been established under Gustavus Vasa, A. D.
Finlanders to dwell in their graves for ever.
Áfter- 1526, extended itself in course of time among the
wards, however, the notion came to be entertained, Finns. Still, however, Pagan customs and ceremo-
that they inhabited Tuonela, a sort of subterranean nies maintained their ground. At length when, in
world over which Tuoni reigned, but never does the 1809, Finland was transferred from Sweden to Rus-
idea of a system of rewards and punishments seem sia, an independent Lutheran church was formed in
to have occurred to the Finns in their Pagan state. the country over which the archbishop of Abo pre-
In addition to gods and goddesses, the Finnish my- sides.
r
FIR-TREE-FIRE (HOLY).
897
FIR-TREE, a tree accounted sacred among the the space of more than twenty-four hours, would
Japanese, who regard it as having an influence upon be next to impossible; because it was one con-
their future fortunes. See ARBOROLATRY.
tinuation of shameless madness and rioting, which
FIRE. No symbol is more frequently used in would have been a disgrace to Greenwich and
Sacred Scripture to denote the Divine Being than Smithfield fairs. Only suppose for a moment, the
fire. Thus in Exod. iii. 2, God appeared to Moses mighty edifice crowded to excess with fanatic pil-
on Mount Horeb in the midst of a flame of fire, and grims of all the Eastern churches, who, instead of
again on Mount Sinai, Exod. xix. 18, at the giving of lifting pure hands to God, without wrath and quar-
the law. He guided the Israelites through the de- relling, are led by the petty jealousies about the
sert, going before them in a pillar of cloud by day, precedency which they should maintain in the order
and in a pillar of fire by night. At the second com- of their processions, into tumults and fighting, which
ing of Christ, we are told, 2 Thess. i. 8, that he shall can only be quelled by the scourge and whip of the
manifest himself “in flaming fire.” Daniel, in de-
Daniel, in de- followers of the false prophet. Suppose further,
scribing the Ancient of Days, says, “A fiery stream these thousands of devotees running from one ex-
issued and came forth before him." In ancient times treme to the other, from the extreme of savage irri-
the mode in which Jehovah showed his acceptance tation to that of savage enjoyment, of mutual revel-
of a sacrifice was by the descent of fire from heaven lings and feastings; like Israel of old, who, when
to consume the victim as it lay upon the altar. It they made the golden calf, were eating, and drinking,
is supposed to have been from this circumstance that and rising up to play. Suppose troops of men,
Cain discovered the acceptance of Abel's sacrifice, stripped half-naked to facilitate their actions, run-
and the rejection of his own. Fire is expressly de- ning, trotting, jumping, galloping to and fro, the
clared to have descended from heaven upon the sacri- breadth and length of the church; walking on their
fices offered by Moses, Manoah, Solomon, and Elijah. hands with their feet aloft in the air; mounting on
The fire which came down from God upon the altar one another's shoulders, some in a riding and some
in the Tabernacle, and afterwards upon that in the in a standing position, and by the slightest push are
Temple, was constantly fed and kept alive by the all sent to the ground in one confused heap, which
priests, and was regarded as hallowed fire. In imi- made one fear for their safety. Suppose further,
tation of this Jewish custom, we find the ancient many of the pilgrims dressed in fur-caps, like the
Romans employing the vestal virgins to watch over Polish Jews, whom they feigned to represent, and
the sacred fire that it should not be extinguished. whom the mob met with all manner of contempt and
So strictly were the Hebrew priests required to insult, hurrying them through the church as crimi-
use the hallowed fire in all their sacrifices, that Na- nals who had just been condemned, amid loud exe-
dab and Abihu were actually consumed by fire from crations and shouts of laughter, which indicated that
the Lord for using strange fire in their sacrifices. Israel is still a derision amongst these heathens, by
Some of the Jewish writers allege that the sacred whom they are still counted as sheep for the slaughter.
fire was extinguished in the days of Ahaz, but the " About two o'clock on Saturday afternoon, the
more general opinion is, that it continued to burn preparations for the appearance of the miraculous
till the destruction of the temple by the Chaldeans. fire commenced. The multitude, who had been here-
From that time, according to the great mass of Jew- tofore in a state of frenzy and madness, became a
ish writers, the hallowed fire ceased to exist, and little more quiet; but it proved a quiet that precedes
instead of it, only common fire burned in the second a thunderstorm. Bishops and priests in their full
temple. In 2 Mac. i. 18, 19, a fabulous story is told canonicals, then issued forth from their respective
of the sacred fire having been hidden in a pit by quarters, with flags and banners, crucifixes and
some religious priests, and afterwards taken from crosses, lighted candles and smoking censers, to join
thence and kindled upon the altar in the second or rather to lead a procession, which moved thrice
temple. This apocryphal legend is generally re- round the church, invoking every picture, altar, and
jected by the Jews.
relic, in their way, to aid them in obtaining the
FIRE (HOLY), OF THE GREEK CHURCH. On miraculous fire. The procession then retuned to
the Saturday of the Greek Easter week annually, the place from whence it started, and two greyheaded
the Greek and Armenian monks in Jerusalem pro- bishops, the one of the Greek, the other of the Ar-
fess to perform a miracle, that of kindling the holy menian Church, were hurled by the soldiers through
fire. This is called the Day of Charity, and the the crowd, into the apartment which communicates
ceremony is performed in the church of the Holy with that of the Holy Sepulchre, where they locked
Sepulchre. A most interesting and picturesque ac- themselves in ; there the marvellous fire was to
count of this pretended miracle has been given by make its first appearance, and from thence issue
Mr. Calman, a Jewish convert, who witnessed the through the small circular windows and the door, for
spectacle. The narrative is to be found in Mr. the use of the multitude. The eyes of all men,
Herschell's · Visit to my Fatherland in 1843.' It women, and children, were now directed towards the
is as follows : “To notice all that was passing Holy Sepulchre with an anxious suspense, awaiting
within the church of the Holy Sepulchre during the issue of their expectation.
----------------------------
-------------------------
T
3 x
898
FIRE (PASSING THROUGH THE).
“The mixed multitude, each in his or her own day. Thus closed the lying wonders of the holy
language, were pouring forth their clamorous prayers week of Easter.” Dr. Wolff, in his Missionary Jour-
to the Virgin and the Saints, to intercede for them nal, relates, that the Greek metropolitan, in a letter
on behalf of the object for which they were assem- which he wrote on the subject of this alleged mira-
bled; and the same were tenfold increased by the cle, declared, “The holy fire was known in the time
fanatic gestures and the waving of the garments by of the Greek emperors; it was then seen in the Holy
the priests of the respective communions who were Sepulchre, and also in the time that the Crusaders
interested in the holy fire, and who were watching were in possession of the place. Many of the Latin
by the above-mentioned door and circular windows, historians mention it. From the time of the inva-
with torches in their hands, ready to receive the sion of the Turks till 110w, the holy fire is seen both
virgin flame of the heavenly fire, and convey it to by believers and unbelievers.” The pilgrims to the
their flocks. In about twenty minutes from the time Holy Sepulchre on these occasions are very numer-
the bishops locked themselves in the apartment of ous, consisting chiefly of Greeks, Armenians, and
the Holy Sepulchre, the miraculous fire made its Romanists. The origin of the ceremony has never
appearance through the door and the two small win been traced, and the mode of its accomplishment is
dows, as expected. The priests were the first who carefully concealed. The worshippers believe that
lighted their torches, and they set out on a gallop in the fire comes from above, and that a candle lighted
the direction of their lay brethren; but some of these by it will ensure their entrance into heaven, and,
errandless and profitless messengers had the misfor- therefore, they rush with such frenzy to obtain a
tune to be knocked down by the crowd, and had portion of the holy fire, that some are frequently
their firebrands wrested out of their hands; but some found to suffer serious injury in the attempt. King-
were more fortunate, and safely reached their desti- lake says, that the year before his visit, nearly two
nation, around whom the people flocked like bees, to hundred people were killed in the struggle.
have their candles lighted. Others, however, were FIRE (HOLY), OF THE ROMISH CHURCH. See
not satisfied at having the holy fire second-hand, but EASTER.
rushed furiously towards the Holy Sepulchre, re- FIRE (PASSING THROUGH THE), an ancient hea-
gardless of their own safety, and that of those who then custom referred to in 2 Kings xvii. 17, “And
obstructed their way—though it has frequently hap- they caused their sons and their daughters to pass
pened that persons have been trampled to death on through the fire, and used divination and enchant-
such occasions. Those who were in the galleries let ments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of
down their candles by cords, and drew them up when the Lord, to provoke him to anger.” Moloch, to
they had succeeded in their purpose. In a few whom this cruel sacrifice was made, was a god of the
minutes thousands of flames were ascending, the Ammonites, against whose worship Moses gives the
smoke and the heat of which rendered the church | Hebrews
Hebrews a strong warning in Lev. xx. 1–5. The
like the bottomless pit. To satisfy themselves, as Rabbins, to palliate in some measure this sin, into
well as to convince the Latins, (who grudge so pro- which their ancestors fell, allege that the custom re-
fitable as well as so effectual a piece of machinery ferred to was nothing more than the ancient heathen
being in the hands of the schismatical Greeks and practice of passing between two fires, with the view
Armenians, and one which augments the power of of thereby undergoing purification. This view of
the priests and the revenue of the convents, and who the matter, however, is completely disproved by
therefore exclaim against the miraculous fire,) the various passages of Scripture, but particularly by
pilgrims, women as well as men, shamefully expose Ezek. xvi. 20, 21, where it appears that the children
their bare bosoms to the action of the flame of their were first slain, and then made to pass through the
lighted candles, to make their adversaries believe the fire. Some have explained the custom by referring
miraculous fire differs from an ordinary one, in being to the description which Diodorus Siculus gives of
perfectly harmless. The two bishops, who a little the Carthaginian deity Chronos, as represented under
while before locked themselves in the apartment of the form of a brazen statue heated red hot, in the
the Holy Sepulchre, now sallied forth out of it. arms of which the child was laid, and fell down into
When the whole multitude had their candles lighted, the flaming furnace beneath. That it was a practice
the bishops were caught by the crowd, lifted upon of the ancient heathens to pass through fire as a cere-
their shoulders
, and carried to their chapels amidst mony of initiation, appears evident from what Suidas
loud and triumphant acclamations. They soon, says of the ancient Persians, that those who were to
however, reappeared, at the head of a similar proces- be initiated into the mysteries of Mithras were to
sion as the one before, as a pretended thank-offering undergo this process. Virgil also says, that the
to the Almighty for the miraculous fire vouchsafed, same practice was followed in the worship of Apollo
thus daring to make God a partaker in their lie. An by the Etrurians on Mount Soracte. Chrysostom
express messenger was immediately sent off to Beth- blames, among other heathenish customs remaining
lehem, the birthplace of Christ, to inform the bre- in his time, the lighting two great fires and passing
thren there, and to invite them also to offer up their between them. In India, it is considered as most
tribuite of thanks for the transcendent glory of the acceptable to the cruel goddess Kâli
, that her vota-
FIRE-FIRMAMENT.
899
ries should walk on the fire. If a man is sick, he
If a man is sick, he visible, before the wood of the sacrifice was lighted,
VOWS,
“O Kâli, mother, only cure me, and I will as much as when visible upon the altar. The an-
walk on fire in your holy presence." It is difficult cient Medes and Persians held all kinds of fire in
to come to any definite conclusion as to the precise religious veneration ; for actual, visible fires reminded
mode in which the ancient Hebrews made their them of the primitive fire, Ormuzd, the god of fire
children pass through the fire. Some suppose that and of light. (See ABESTA.) In Cappadocia the
either their parents or the priests led them between Magi kept up a perpetual fire in the temples of An-
two fires; others, that they waved them about in the aitis and Amanus. The Sauromatians or Medes of the
flames, while the worshippers of Moloch danced North worshipped the fire. They have been lost amid
round or leaped through the fire. The fire being the Sclavonians, whose religion partook much of the
an emblem of Moloch or the sun, perhaps this cere- character of Sun-worship, and who maintained sacred
mony might be intended to denote that the children fires in honour of Perun at Kiew, of Znicz at Nov-
were thereby consecrated to that deity.
gorod and in Lithuania, and of Perkunos at Romowe
FIRE PHILOSOPHERS. See THEOSOPHISTS. in Lithuania. Among the Celts virgin priestesses
FIRE (STRANGE). In Lev. x. 1, we are informed had charge of the sacred fire which was annually re-
that Nadab and Abihu "offered strange fire before newed at the winter-solstice.
newed at the winter-solstice. (See DRUIDS.) Sa-
the Lord, which he commanded them not." Consi- cred fires existed also among the ancient Peruvians,
derable difference of opinion has existed as to what the Red Indians, and the Aztecs. In China, at the
is precisely meant by the “strange fire" here men- present day, both the Budhists or worshippers of Fo,
tioned. Some Rabbins, as well as modern critics, and the sect of Lao-Tzé, maintain their ever-burning
have alleged, that the sin of the two youthful priests holy fires.
lay in their offering incense which they had no right Among the ancient heathens fire was held in high
to do. This notion, however, is shown to be ground- veneration. Thus we find that a lamp burned con-
less, by simply noticing the expression, “ their cen- stantly in the Prytaneum at Athens in honour of
sers,"
" which evidently implies that it was part of Minerva. Rome worshipped Vesta under the form
their duty to offer incense. On carefully examining of a perpetual fire. These sacred fires were kept
the whole incident as narrated by the sacred histo- burning in a variety of places, at Delphi, Argos,
rian, it appears plain that “strange fire" is to be Naxos, Rhodes, Tenedos and Ephesus; they were
understood as fire not taken from the altar which looked upon as essential to the prosperity of the city
was there miraculously kindled. Some, however, and of the empire, and the extinction of one of them
while they admit that the fire may have been taken was regarded as a public calamity, betokening some
from the altar of burnt-offering, allege that the incense heavy disaster, or even the overthrow of the nation
was applied to the fire in a manner different from itself.
that which God had appointed. To the general These sacred fires, however, have not in all cases
opinion that the strange fire had not been taken from been kept constantly burning. The ancient Peru-
the altar of burnt-offering, the objection has some- vians annually extinguished their sacred fire for the
times been raised, that it is difficult to conceive from purpose of kindling it anew. In such cases fire is
whát other quarter it could have been obtained. no longer viewed as an emblem of the eternal God,
The Targum of Jonathan alleges, that the offending but of that natural and moral life which requires to
priests received it from the fires at which the priests' be periodically renewed. Thus, in Persia, where
portion of the sacrifices was dressed for food in the fire-worship anciently prevailed, and is not yet en-
court of the tabernacle.
tirely abolished, the sacred fire was wont to be
FIRE TEMPLE. See PRYTANEUM, PYRÆUM. extinguished on the death of the king. Among the
FIRE-WORSHIP. This species of idolatry is Mexicans all their fires were put out at the close of
of very remote antiquity. It is understood to have each cycle of fifty-two years. Among the Guebres,
existed as far back as the time of Abraham, whose the last remnants of the ancient fire-worshippers of
ancestors belonged to Chaldea, where, as is generally Persia, all the fires are extinguished once every year.
believed, Pyrolatry was established by Nimrod, and, The ancient Romans also were accustomed annually
accordingly, Abraham's birth-place, Ur, denotes fire. to renew the sacred fire of Vesta on the first of
The Jews have an old tradition, that Terah and Abra- March. See GUEBRES, PERSIA (RELIGION OF AN-
ham were expelled from Chaldea because they refused CIENT).
to worship the fire. Throughout Syria, the worship of FIRMAMENT, the material expanse or arch of
fire was mixed up with that of the sun. In the reli- heaven, which seems to stretch over our heads, and
gion of ancient India, AGNI (which see), the resplen to rest at all points of the horizon upon the earth.
dent, golden-haired god of fire, occupies a very con- The Hebrews considered it as transparent like a
spicuous place. The first act of a pious Hindu, crystal or sapphire. Over this arch they supposed
when he awoke in the morning, was to invoke Ag- were the waters of heaven. Their firmament, there-
ni. The sacrificial fire was kindled and looked fore, differed from the brazen firmament of the my-
upon as heavenly light come down to dwell with thology of Homer. The ancient Egyptians saw in
man; it was a god conceived as present, though in- | the azure firmament, as it were, a celestial Nile, or
900
FIRST-FRUITS-FLAGELLANTS.
NATES.
among the
rather ocean, which communicated on all sides with day after the great Day of Unleavened Bread; neither
the ocean which surrounds the earth. The vault of were they permitted to bake any bread made of new
heaven was compared by the ancient Greeks to a corn until they had offered the new loaves upon the
round and convex shield.
altar on the Day of Pentecost. The practice of
FIRST-BORN. See BIRTHRIGHT.
offering the first-fruits was not unknown to the an-
FIRST-FRUITS, an offering made to God by the cient heathens. Porphyry says it was appointed by
ancient Hebrews of part of the produce of harvest as the laws both of Triptolemus and Draco. Diodo-
an acknowledgment of the Divine goodness in send- rus Siculus also mentions it as practised by the an-
ing them fruitful seasons. This was agreeable to cient Egyptians.
the command of God as laid down in Exod. xxii. 29, FIRST-FRUITS OF BENEFICES. See AN-
“ Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe
fruits, and of thy liquors: the first-born of thy sons FISH-WORSHIP. The Philistine god DAGON
shalt thou give unto me.” In the verse which im- (which see), was represented partly under the form
mediately follows, the command is made to extend of a fish, and hence Plutarch says,
that
to animals. Thus verse 30, “ Likewise shalt thou Egyptians, Syrians, and Greeks, to abstain from fish
do with thine oxen, and with thy sheep: seven days was accounted a sacred duty. Both Cicero and
it shall be with his dam; on the eighth day thou Xenophon affirin, that the Syrians worshipped fish.
shalt give it me." The name first-fruits was derived Lucian says, that they thought them sacred, and,
from the circumstance, that they were offered in the therefore, never used them as food, and he expressly
temple before any part of the crop was touched. tells us, that " adjacent to the temple at Hierapolis,
There were two kinds of first-fruits. The first kind there was a lake in which many sacred fish were
was offered in the name of the whole people, and kept, some of the largest of which had names given
consisted either of two loaves of bread, or of a sheaf them, and would come to you when called.” Dio-
of barley, gathered on the evening of the 15th of dorus also affirms, “At this very day the Syrians
Nisan, and thrashed in the court of the temple. ' eat no fish, but adore them as gods." And it is not
This was cleansed and winnowed, then three pints a little remarkable, that when God warns the Israel-
of it were roasted and pounded with incense and oil, | ites against following the idolatry of the neighbour-
and waved by the priest before the Lord towards ing nations, he mentions among the graven images
the four winds; the priest then threw a handful into that are to be avoided, Deut. iv, 18, “ the likeness of
the fire, and kept the remainder for linself. When any fish that is in the waters."
this ceremony was concluded, every man was allowed Fish-worship still prevails in some parts of the
to reap and gather in his harvest. The other kind heathen world, though not extensively. In one dis-
of first-fruits is said by the Rabbins to have con- trict of Western Africa, on the Bonny river, the
sisted of a sixtieth part of each man's harvest, which shark is held sacred, not perhaps on its own account,
every private individual was expected to bring to but because it is regarded as the dwelling-place or
the temple. These first-fruits consisted of wheat, bar- temple of evil spirits, to appease whom human
ley, grapes, figs, apricots, olives, and dates. They sacrifices are sometimes offered to the voracious fish.
were carried in procession by twenty-four persons, So tame, in consequence of the indulgence extended
preceded by an ox for sacrifice, with gilded horns, to them, have the sharks on the Bonny become, that,
and crowned with olive. Besides these two species as we learn from Wilson, they come every day to the
of first-fruits offered to the Lord, there was another edge of the river to see if a human victim has been
offering of corn, wine, and oil, along with sheep's provided for their repast. Father Froes, a Jesuit
wool, which was presented for the use of the Levites, missionary in Japan, speaks of sacred fishes in a
according to the command given in Deut. xviii, 4. river in that country, which the Bonzes or priests
No precise arrangement is made as to the extent of are afraid to taste, lest they should immediately be
this gift to the Levitical priesthood; but the Tal- struck with leprosy in punishment for their audacious
mudical writers say, that liberal persons were accus- sacrilege. One of the principal deities of the Ja-
tomed to give a fortieth, or even a thirtieth, while panese is CANON (which see), who presides over the
less generous persons contented themselves with
waters, and is represented as swallowed up by a fish
giving a sixtieth part only of the entire produce. as far as the middle.
The first of these was called an oblation with a good FISHERMAN'S RING, one of the Pope's two
eye, and the second an oblation with an evil eye, seals. The impression on it is St. Peter holding a
and to this tradition our Lord is supposed by some line with bait attached to it in the water. This seal
to allude in Matth. xx. 15, “ Is it not lawful for me is used for those briefs which are sealed with red
to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil,
See BULL.
because I am good ?" The time of offering the FIVE ARTICLES. See ARTICLES OF PERTH.
first-fruits extended from the feast of Pentecost un- FIVE POINTS. See ARMINIANS, CALVINISTS.
til the feast of Dedication. It was unlawful for the FLAGELLANTS (Lat. scourgers), a class of peo-
Jews to gather in the harvest until they had offered to ple who appeared first in Italy in the thirteenth
God the omer or new sheaf, which was presented the century, amid the contests carried on between the
wax.
FLAGELLATION,
901
Guelphs and the Ghibellines, the party friendly to man, we find various remarks, which clearly evince
the pope, and the party friendly to the emperor. In the high importance attached to the practice of fla-
the excitement of the period, large bodies of men, gellation. Thus, in speaking of St. Liguori, it is
girded with ropes, marched in procession through | stated, “Seeing the severity with which he disci-
the cities and villages, singing hymns, and calling plined himself, and the austerity of his fasts and
upon the people to repent. The spectacle which mortifications, it was a source of wonder how he could
thus presented itself as the Flagellants passed live." And, again, concerning the same saint, we
along, produced a great sensation. Such proces- are informed, “His mortifications seemed to in-
sions spread from Italy to other countries. In Ger- crease both in severity and frequency, and one day
many especially, the deep impression produced in his secretary had to burst open his door, and snatch
the minds of the people by the prevalence of the the discipline out of his hands, fearing lest the vio-
black death contributed to call forth demonstrations lence with which he scourged himself might cause his
of that kind. Large bodies, accordingly, of Flagel | death.” Of St. Pacificus, we are informed in the
lants, marched through Flanders, France, and Ger- same treatise, “Besides the regular disciplines pre-
many, singing hymns, and scourging themselves till e scribed by rule three times in the week, he cruelly
the blood flowed freely. To such an extent did the scourged himself thrice each day with chains or
fanatical spirit spread, that both the civil and eccle-cords, so as to fill all those with horror who heard
siastical authorities found it necessary to interfere. the whistlings of the lash, or saw the abundance of
Pope Clement VI. issued a public prohibition of all blood which he shed during the flagellation."
such processions, on pain of the heavy censures of The practice, however, is not limited to private
the church. This only roused the Flagellants to individuals; it is regularly performed at Rome on
oppose the dominant church of the time, and at particular days during the time of Lent. The fol-
length these processions assumed an heretical ten- lowing account of the process is given by an eye-
dency. Those who took part in them complained witness : “Being resolved to satisfy my curiosity on
bitterly of the corruptions of the church, declaring this singular subject, by being present at the cere-
that the sacraments in the hands of a wicked clergy mony, I went one evening, along with several friends,
had lost their validity, and that nothing remained to the church of the Caravita, where it is performed
but to share in the sufferings of Christ, who was so on the Tuesdays and Thursdays of Lent. The ser-
obviously crucified afresh, and put to an open shame. vice commenced about an hour after sunset. The
Many of these enthusiastic opponents of mother church is spacious, and the number of men present
church were visited with the most bitter persecu- was, as nearly as we could judge, about five hundred.
tions, and not a few died at the stake, both in the There were only six or eight small candles, so that
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
from the first we could only see indistinctly. During
The Flagellants held various peculiar opinions, prayers, two or three attendants entered, each hav:
which, to the number of fifty, were condemned by the ing an iron hoop, on which were suspended about a
council of Constance. Their principal tenets were, hundred leathern thongs, which were distributed
that the teaching of the Romish church respecting among the congregation; but some had brought
the efficacy of the sacraments, purgatory, prayers for their whips along with them. We examined the
the dead, and the like, are utterly erroneous; and on thongs and found them exactly like good small
the contrary, whoever believes simply what is con- English dog-whips, hard and well-knotted towards
tained in the Apostles' Creed, frequently repeats the the point, but we did not succeed in obtaining one.
Lord's Prayer and the Ave Maria, and at certain After prayers, we had a sermon of some length, on
periods lacerates his body with scourging, and thus the advantages of punishing the body for the good
punishes himself for the sins he commits, will attain of the soul, and especially that sort of penance which
eternal salvation. It was not so much, however, is inflicted by means of whips. During the sermon
the affirmative opinions of the Flagellants, as their the lights were extinguished one after another, and
negative sentiments, their refusal to receive the chief the concluding part of it was delivered in total dark-
corruptions which had been engrafted on pure Chris-
tianity by the Church of Rome, that drew down the “ After the sermon was concluded a bell rang, and
thunders of the Vatican upon these zealous, though, there was a slight bustle and hustling, as if those
in several points, erring enthusiasts.
present were removing part of their dress; a second
FLAGELLATION (Lat. scourging), a practice bell rang, and the flagellation commenced. It lasted
sanctioned by the Romish church, and which they fully a quarter of an hour; hundreds were certainly
usually term Discipline, whereby an individual, for flogging something, but whether their own bare
the mortifying of the flesh, voluntarily scourges him- backs, or the pavement of the church, we could not
self. Such an exercise of voluntary penance is resort- tell. To judge from the sounds, some used the
ed to in inany monasteries at regular intervals, for in- whips, and others their hands, but the darkness was
stance, three times a-week; but in many cases it is so total, we could see nothing; and besides having
much more frequent. In the 'Lives of the Saints some little fear for our own persons we had got into
Canonized in 1839,' a work edited by Cardinal Wise- a snug corner where we calculated no thongs could
ness,
902
FLAMEN-FLORALIA.
IANS
TISTS.
reach us.
The groaning and crying were horrible. FLAMINICA, the wife of the Flamen Dialis, or
When the flagellation ceased, prayers were read, priest of Jupiter among the ancient Romans. She
during which the penitents put on their clothes and was put under the same restrictions as her husband,
composed their countenances. Lights were brought and if she died he was compelled to resign his office.
in and the congregation dismissed with the usual Her official costume was a dyed robe; her hair was
benediction."
plaited with a purple band in a conical form, and she
The use of the scourge in self-torture was not un- wore a small square cloak with a border, to which
known in the heathen religions of antiquity. Thus there was attached a slip cut from a lucky tree. The
the priests of Cybele pretended to propitiate that flaminica was not allowed to mount a staircase con-
goddess, and at the same time to excite the compas- sisting of more than three steps; and when she went
sion of the multitude by flogging themselves with to the places consecrated to the worship of the gods,
scourges. The Yogis of Hindustan, and the ascetics she neither combed nor dressed her hair. She sacri-
of all heathen systems, are accustomed to make use ficed a ram to Jupiter on each of the NUNDINÆ
of this mode of self-discipline.
(which see).
FLAMEN, a general name applied to any Roman FLANDRIANS. See MENNONITES, ANABAP-
priest who was devoted to the service of any parti-
cular god. The first institution of the order of fla- FLENTES (Lat. Weepers)
, an order of Pen-
mens is generally ascribed to Numa, who is said to TENTS (which see) in the early Christian church.
have appointed three, under the titles of Flamen Their station was in the vestibule or porch of the
Dialis, the priest of Jupiter, Flamen Martialis, the church, where they lay prostrate, begging the
priest of Mars, and Flamen Quirinalis, the priest of prayers of the faithful as they entered, and desiring
Romulus. The number was afterwards increased to to be admitted as AUDIENTES (which see) within the
fifteen, the three original priests, who were chosen church. Basil says, the first year of penitence was
from the patricians, being termed the greater flamens, spent in weeping before the gate of the church.
while the rest who were taken from the plebeians FLINS, an idol of the ancient Vandals, l'epre-
were called the lesser flamens. After being chosen, sented under the figure of a great stone, and hence
as is usually believed, by the people, the flamens the name, which in Saxon signifies a stone. The
were installed in office by the Pontifex Maximus or stone idol was shaped in the form of death, covered
high-priest, to whom the whole sacerdotal order was with a long cloak, holding a stick in its hand with a
subject. The proper robe of these priests was the blown bladder, and a lion's skin upon its left shoul-
læna, a sort of purple cloak, or almost a double der. This idol was imagined to possess the power
gown, fastened about the neck with a buckle or of restoring the dead to life.
clasp. It was interwoven curiously with gold, so as FLORA, the goddess of flowers among the ancient
to appear very splendid. On their heads they wore Romans, and regarded therefore as presiding over
the apex, a stitched cap in the form of a helmet, spring. The worship of this deity was established
with the addition of a little stick fixed on the top, at Rome in the very earliest times. Varro, indeed,
and wound about with white wool. A peculiar cap reckons her among the ancient divinities of the Sa-
called the albo-galerus, which was made of the skin of bines which were adopted by the Romans. Ovid says,
a white beast offered in sacrifice, with the addition of that her Greek name was Chloris
, which the Romans
some twigs taken from a wild olive-tree, belonged changed into Flora. Her temple at Rome was situ-
only to the flamen of Jupiter, who was considered as ated near the Circus Maximus. She was represented
the highest of the order. Besides these special arti- under the figure of a beautiful female, supposed to be
cles of priestly costure, the flamens wore also a blessed with perpetual youth, crowned with flowers,
wreath of laurel. The Flamen Dialis, or priest of and bearing the horn of plenty in her hand. She
Jupiter, was subjected to a great variety of restric- was said to be the spouse of Zephyrus, or the west
tions, the precise object of many of which is not very wind, and an annual festival was celebrated in her
apparent. He was not allowed to be absent from the honour. See next article.
city three days in succession. He was forbidden to FLORALIA, a festival observed every year af
ride, or even touch a horse, but was required to de- Rome in honour of the goddess FLORA (which see).
vote himself assiduously to the duties of his sacred It was kept for five successive days, commencing on
profession. Several superstitious restrictions were the 28th of April and ending on the 2d of May.
laid upon him which it is unnecessary to enumerate. The institution of this festival, which was dated B.C.
The municipal towns had their flamens; and after 238, is attributed to the command of an oracle in the
the emperors were deified, flamens were appointed to Sibylline books. It was celebrated at first with all
conduct their worship.
kinds of innocent mirth and festivity among the
FLAMINIA, the name of a young priestess who rural peasantry of Italy, but afterwards, particularly
assisted the Flaminica in her sacred duties. This in towns, it degenerated into a licentious and im-
was also the name given to the house of the Flamen moral festival. The design of this festive occasion
Dialis, from which no one could carry out fire except was to propitiate Flora, and thus obtain a season
for sacred purposes.
abundant in fruits and flowers..
FLORINIANS-FOCUS.
903
FLORINIANS, a sect which arose in the second waters broken only by palaces of marble, whose
century, professing the opinions of Florinus, a pres- arched piazzas are seen through the foliage of orange
byter, who had in early life been under the teaching groves, plantain, and tamarind; while the vision is
of Polycarp, but afterwards adopted high Monar- bounded by noble mountains, their peaks towering
chian views, or the doctrine of one only Creator of over each other, and composing an immense amphi-
all existence, pushing it to such an extreme as to theatre. Here the deformity of vice intrudes not ;
make God the author of evil. It would appear that no object is degraded by inebriation ; no tumultuous
subsequently Florinus adopted Gnostic opinions, | disorder or deafening c!amour, but all wait patiently,
having imbibed the sentiments of the VALENTINIANS with eyes directed to the Tripolia, the appearance of
(which see), who believed in an independent princi- Gauri. At length the procession is seen winding
ple of evil existing out of God. Florinus was ex- down the steep, and in the midst, borne on a throne
communicated by the Roman bishop Eleutherius. gorgeously arrayed in yellow robes, and blazing with
FLOWERS (FESTIVAL OF), one of the most clas- barbaric pearl and gold,' the goddess appears : on
sical festivals of the Hindus, celebrated by the Raj- either side the two beauties wave the silver châmara
poots during nine days, in honour of Gauri the wife or fan over her liead, while the more favoured dam-
of Mahadeva or Iswara. It takes place at the ver- sels act as harbingers, preceding her with wands of
nal equinox, the ceremonies commencing on the en- silver : the whole chaunting hymns. On her ap-
trance of the sun into Aries, which is the opening of proach, the Rana, his chiefs and ministers, arise, and
the Hindu year. At that period clay images are remain standing until the goddess is seated on her
formed of Bhavani, or Gauri, and Shiva, which are throne, close to the water's edge, when all bow, and
immediately placed together. A small trench is the prince and his court take their seat in the boats.
then opened in the earth, in which barley is sown. The females then form a circle round the goddess,
The ground is irrigated, and artificial heat supplied unite hands, and with a measured step, and various
until the grain begins to germinate, when the ladies graceful inclinations of the body, keeping time by
with joined hands dance round the trench, invoking beating the palms at particular cadences, move round
the blessing of Bhavani on their husbands. After the image singing hymns, some in honour of the
this the young corn is taken up and presented by the goddess of abundance, others on love and chivalry,
ladies to their husbands, who wear it in their tur- and embodying little episodes of national achieve-
bans. Various ceremonies are then performed dur- ments, occasionally sprinkled with double entendres,
ing several days within the houses, at the close of which excite a smile and significant nod from the
which the images are adorned and prepared to be chiefs, and an inclination of the head of the fair
carried in procession. The remaining ceremonies of choristers. The festival being entirely female, not a
the festival are thus described by Colonel Tod in his single male mixed in the immense groups, and even
Annals of Rajasthan:' "At length the hour ar- Iswara himself, the husband of Gauri, attracts no at-
rives, the martial nakaras give the signal 'to the tention, as appears from his ascetic or mendicant
cannonier without,' and speculation is at rest when form begging his dole from the bounteous and uni-
the guns on the suminit of the castle of Ekling-ghur versal mother. It is taken for granted that the
announce that Gauri has commenced her excursion. goddess is occupied in bathing all the time she re-
The cavalcade assembles on the magnificent terrace, mains, and ancient tradition says death was the penal-
and the Rana surrounded by his nobles leads the ty of any male intruding on these solemnities. At
way to the boats, of a form as primitive as that length, the ablutions over, the goddess is taken up
which conveyed the Argonauts to Colchis. The and conveyed to the palace with the same forms and
scenery is admirably adapted for these fêtes, the state. The Rana and his chiefs then unmoor their
ascent being gradual from the margin of the lake, boats, and are rowed round the margin of the lake,
which here forms a fine bay, and gently rising to the to visit in succession the other images of the god-
crest of the ridge on which the palace and dwellings dess, around which female groups are chaunting and
of the chiefs are built. Every turret and balcony is
Every turret and balcony is worshipping, as already described; with which cere-
C-owded with spectators, from the palace to the wa- monies the evening closes, when the whole termi-
ter's edge; and the ample flight of marble steps nates with a grand display of fireworks, the finale of
which intervene from the Tripolia, or triple portal, each of the three days dedicated to Gauri.”
to the boats, is a dense mass of females in variegated FO, the name given by the Chinese to BUDHA
robes, whose scarfs but half conceal their ebon (which see), who is extensively worshipped among
tresses adorned with the rose and the jessamine. A that people.
more imposing or more exhilarating sight cannot be FOCUS (Lat. hearth or fire-place), dedicated
imagined than the entire population of a city thus among the ancient Romans to the LARES (which
assembled for the purpose of rejoicing, the counte- see) of each family. The domestic hearth was looked
nance of every individual, from the prince to the upon with such veneration, that to swear by the
peasant, dressed in smiles. Carry the eye to heaven, royal hearth was accounted the most sacred oath
and it rests on a sky without a cloud;' below is the among the Scythians. On the occasion of religious
maguificent lake, the even surface of the deep blue festivals
, the hearth was adorned with garlands.
90.1
FONT-FORMOSANS (RELIGION OF THE).
FONT. The primitive Christians were accus- when the wells were adorned with garlands and
tomed to wash before entering the church as a sym- flowers thrown into ther.
bol of the purity becoming the house of God. For FONTUS (Lat. fons, a fountain), an ancient Ro-
this
purpose,
in
process of time, the vessel or font of man divinity, supposed to be a son of Janus, and
water which was used for washing was introduced having a temple dedicated to him on the Janiculus.
into the narthex or porch. Formerly it was situated He was the deity who presided over fountains and
outside the church. The baptismal font came into flowing streams.
use for the purpose of infant baptism, as BAP- FOO, a chimæra or dragon, both of China and of
TISTERIES (which see) fell into disuse, and when the Japan. It corresponds to the Phønix of the an-
neglect of stated seasons of baptism had rendered cients. It is said never to appear but at the birth of
the larger baptisteries needless. The font was a person of uncommon merit, or in order to be the
usually placed at the west end of the church, near forerunner of some other extraordinary event.
the south entrance, to indicate that baptisin was the FOQUEQUIO, the name given among the Buds-
ordinance of admission into the Christian church. doists or Budhists of Japan to their sacred writings,
They were at one time large to serve for immersion, which they venerate so highly that they are afraid
but as that practice fell into disuse they were re- to lay them on the ground or treat them with the
duced to a smaller size. Baronius, the Romish his- slightest disrespect.
torian, mentions several miraculous fonts which at FOQUEXUS, a name given to the sect of XACA
Easter were spontaneously filled with a sufficient | (which see) in Japan, from a particular book which
quantity of water to baptize all the catechumens. bears that title.
By the canons of the Church of England, there must FORCULUS, an inferior deity among the ancient
be a stone font for baptism in every church or Greeks, who presided over gates.
chapel. In Presbyterian and Congregational churches FORDICIDIA, a festival celebrated annually ini
no fixed fonts are put up in the erection of churches. the month of March among the ancient Romans. It
The blessing or benediction of the font is minutely was instituted by Numa in consequence of a general
provided for by a regular series of prayers and cere- barrenness which happened to prevail among the
monies laid down in the Roman Missal, all of which cattle. The name was derived from the sacrifice
are so framed as to indicate plainly the belief of the which was offered of a Forda, which means a cow
Romish church in Baptismal Regeneration.
with a calf.
FONTEVRAUD (THE ORDER OF), an order of FORMALISTS, a sect of thinkers, which arose in
Romish monks connected with the BENEDICTINES the twelfth century, amid the keen discussions which
(which see), which sprung up in the beginning of the took place between the NOMINALISTS and REALISTS
twelfth century. It derived its name from the place (which see). The Formalists professed to hold an
where its first monastery was erected, on the confines intermediate place between the two parties, abstract-
of Angers and Tours. The founder of the ordering the forms of things, and assigning to them the
was Robert of Arbriscelles, who prescribed for his place of universals. Scotus, who flourished in the
followers of both sexes the rule of St. Benedict, but thirteenth century, is said by some to be the origi-
with the addition of some singular and very austere nator of Formalism, but the idea that universals are
regulations. Thus he united the monasteries for the indeterminate entities really subsisting out of the
two sexes, and subjected both the men and women mind in beings themselves, is to be found in many
to the government of a female, professedly in accord- philosophers of the Middle Ages anterior to Scotus,
ance with the example of our Lord who commended who, instead of first proposing this solution of the
the apostle John to the care of the Virgin Mary, difficult problem, only modified it. See SCOTISTS,
and would have him to obey her as a mother. The THOMISTS.
monastery of Fontevraud was set up in A. D. 1100, FORMATÆ LITERÆ. See LITERÆ FOR-
and its founder travelled for several years about MATÆ).
France, establishing monasteries till his death, which FORMOSANS (RELIGION OF THE). Formosa is
occurred in A. D. 1117. The first lady abbess of the a large island in the Eastern or China Seas, more
order was Bertrade, formerly queen of France. properly called Tywan. The religion of the islanders
About A. D. 1700 the order was divided into four is polytheistic in its character, there being recognized
provinces, those of France, Aquitaine, Auvergne, among them a plurality of deities, two of whom are
and Bretagne, which collectively contained fifty- regarded as supreme, one of whom resides in the
seven priories. Among the abbesses of Fontevraud, south, and the other in the east. The one is a
it is calculated that there have been fourteen prin- guardian of men, and the other, who is a goddess, is
cesses, five of whom have been of the royal house of the guardian of women. They acknowledge also
Bourbon. A few houses of this order once existed another deity who resides in the north, and is a de-
in England, having been introduced by command of mon or evil spirit. There are two gods of war, a god
Henry II.
of health, a god of forests, and also a god of coin-
FONTINALIA, a festival celebrated annually fields. They have besides household gods and deities,
ainong the ancient Romans on the 13th of October, who preside over the several departinents of nature.
FORMOSANS (RELIGION OF THE).
905
The first in order of these numberless divinities is the coffers, for instance, that they may be filled with
Creator of the universe, to whom they sacrifice a | riches; on their swords and bucklers, that they may
hog, the flesh and bones of which are consumed with be inspired with courage and resolution to vanquish
sandal-wood. Some have affirmed that the Formo- their enemies. As to the priestess, she is always
sans worship the devil, and they are said to hold the handsomely recompensed for her prayers and pains ;
opinion that the souls of the wicked pass at death besides which she is allowed a considerable share of
into demons, who ought to be invoked with prayers, the sacrifice, and always maintains her interest in
and appeased with sacrifices. The chief of these these idolaters, who imagine, after such sacrifices,
malignant demons has places erected for his worship; the devil dares not touch the least thing whatever
and not only beasts, but human victims also are which belongs to them.”
made to bleed upon his altars. The worship of the Their seed-time is introduced by a solemn sacri-
gods, which consists of invocations, sacrifices, and fice to those gods who preside over the products of
libations, is conducted by priestesses called Juibas, the earth. If they happen during that season to
who work themselves up into a frenzy, or fall into a kill a wild beast, its liver and heart are made obla-
trance, during which they pretend to hold familiar tions to the same gods. When the harvest com-
intercourse with the gods. The priestesses profess mences, their first-fruits are solemnly deposited on a
to be possessed of supernatural power, in virtue of heap of earth in honour of their gods, and when it is
which they foretell wet or dry seasons, raise devils, fully gathered in, a hog is sacrificed in token of
and drive them out of their former habitations. thanksgiving to the deities. Before they engage in
The ceremonies among the Formosans attendant war, they consult their dreams, and examine the
upon the laying the first bamboo of a house, and more flight of some particular birds. On their return
especially of a temple, are of a very peculiar kind. home, they offer up sacrifices for several successive
They are thus described by Picart in his Religious nights to the manes of their enemies. The manner
Ceremonies of all Nations: “Upon cutting the first of taking an oath between two persons consists in
bamboo a particular prayer is addressed to the deity breaking asunder a straw. The people follow the
who presides over the building. Before they enter custom of painting their arms, shoulders, breasts, and
upon their work, a considerable quantity of pinang and faces; they wear feathers upon their heads, espe-
rice is presented to the gods, who are formally in- cially on their most solemn festivals, and adorn their
vited to come and take possession of their new tene- arms and legs with small shells. The priestesses
ment, to protect it, &cxAfter this every one present profess to heal diseases by means of magic charms
is obliged to give an account of what dreams he had and various ceremonies, which they uniformly pre-
the preceding night; and he who was the most happy face with offering sacrifice to the gods.
in his slumbers, sets the first hand to the new under- The Formosans acknowledge the immortality of
taking. He presents pinang, and some such liquor the soul. On this subject Picart remarks: “When
as is provided for the purpose, to the gods, and begs any person dies, the Formosans erect a little hut,
of them to incline him to be diligent and industrious. which they dress up with green boughs and other
When the fabric is reared to a certain height, the decorations, for the reception of his soul. Four
proprietor goes in, and makes an oblation for every bandrols, or little streamers, are planted, by way of
one present without exception. When they have ornament, at each corner.
ornament, at each corner. Within there is provided
made such progress as that nothing is wanting but a calabash, or bowl full of fresh water, and a bam-
to raise the roof; before it is covered, there are some boo, that the soul may, without any manner of in-
particular women employed to discover by their art convenience, refresh itself, or wash, whenever it
of divination, whether the edifice will be durable. thinks proper. As to their ideas relating to future
For this purpose they take bamboos, and fill them rewards and punishments, they imagine that the souls
with water, and squirt. it out of their mouths. The of wicked men are tormented, and cast headlong into
manner in which this stream flows down upon the a bottomless pit, full of mire and dirt; and that those
ground, determines the duration of the fabric. The of the virtuous pass with pleasure and safety over it,
ceremony concludes in a long series of excessive upon a narrow bamboo bridge, which leads directly
drinking in honour of the gods, who are invited to to a gay paradise, where they revel in all sensual en-
their revels by a form of prayer, in which they im- joyments. But when the souls of the vicious at-
plore their aid and assistance. The sacrifice of a hoy tempt to get over this bridge, they slip on one side,
is a kind of assurance of good success to the new and fall headlong into the miry abyss. As to the
erection, as well as to the proprietor. The head of doctrine of the resurrection of the body, they have
the victim which is sacrificed, must be turned to- no manner of idea of it."
wards the east, because the god, who resides in that In the seventeenth century the Dutch attempted
quarter, is superior to all the rest. The victim is to introduce Christianity into the island, and al-
cut all to pieces, but in such a manner as that the though they succeeded in gaining converts for a
head is preserved entire : and those sacred relics are time, the persecuting spirit of the Pagans was so
laid upon every thing whereon they are desirous to strong, that the small number of Formosans, who
draw down the benediction of the gods; on their embraced the Christian faith, were either compelled
I,
3Y
906
FORMULA-FOX-WORSHIP.
to renounce their Christian profession, or if they per- ancient Romans in honour of the goddess FORNAX
sisted in maintaining it, were put to death. The (which see). It is said to have been instituted by
island is in possession of the Chinese, and paganism Numa. The time of its celebration was announced
reigns almost undisturbed.
every year by the Curio Maximus. Lactantius
FORMS OF PRAYER. See PRAYER (FORMS mentions this festival as having been observed in his
OF).
day.
FORMULA, a profession of faith.
FORNAX, a goddess among the ancient Romans,
FORMULA OF CONCORD. See CoxCORD who was invoked that she might ripen the grain, and
(FORM OF).
prevent its being burnt in the process of baking in
FORMULA CONSENSUS, a treatise drawn up the oven. She has sometimes been regarded as iden-
in 1675 by John Henry Heidegger, a celebrated tical with Vesta, but at all events she was the god-
divine of Zurich, under the sanction of the principal | dess of furnaces.
divines of Switzerland. The design of its prepara- FORSETI, the god of justice among the ancient
tion and publication was to settle four controversies Scandinavians, who is described in the Edda as the
which had previously disturbed the peace of the son of Baldur and Nanna, the daughter of Nef. He
Reformed churches : 1. It condemned the doctrine possesses the heavenly mansion called Glitnir, and
of Moses Amyraut (see AMYRALDISTS) respecting all disputants at law, who bring their cases before
general grace, and established in opposition to it the him, go away perfectly reconciled. His tribunal is
doctrine of special grace. 2. It condemned the opi- | said to be the best that is to be found among either
nion of Joshua de la Place concerning the imputa- | gods or men.
tion of Adam's first sin. 3. It condemned Piscator's FORTUNA, the goddess of chance both among
doctrine concerning the active obedience of Christ. the ancient Greeks and Romans. Her worship in
4. It condemned Lewis Capell's critical doctrine Rome is traced as far back as Ancus Martius and
concerning the points of the Hebrew text. This Servius Tullius, and she had numerous temples dedi-
profession of faith on these different contested points cated to her under different appellations. This
was annexed by public authority to the common Hel- deity was distinguished by the Romans into male
vetic formulas of religion, and subscription to it was and female. The goddess is usually represented in
rigorously enforced in the Swiss churches. The adop- a female habit, with a bandage before her eyes, to
tion, however, of this formula as one of the recognized show that she acts without discrimination, and she
standards of the Helvetic churches, caused great dis- appears standing on a wheel to denote her incon-
satisfaction in the minds of many both of the clergy stancy. They also gave her in one hand a horn of
and laity. At length Frederick William, Elector of plenty, to show that she distributes riches, and in
Brandenburg, addressed a letter of remonstrance on the other the helm of a ship, and they seat her upon
the subject to the authorities of the canton of Basle, a globe, all indicating that she governs the world.
and the republic of Geneva. Mr. Peter Werenfels, The Greeks worshipped her under the name of
who was at the head of the consistory of Basle, 30 Tyche.
far yielded to the remonstrances of the Elector, that FOSSARII. See COPIATÆ:
he ceased to require a subscription to the Formula FOTOGE, a name given in Japan to CHAKIA-
Consensus from the candidates for the ministry, and MOUNI (which see).
his conduct in this respect was imitated by his suc- FOTOQUES, deities among the Japanese.
The Consistory of Geneva, however, still FOTTEI, a deity worshipped by the natives of
continued to maintain the credit and authority of Japan, as presiding over all their amusements, and to
the Formula till 1706, when, without being abrogat- | whom they consider themselves indebted for health,
ed by any positive act, it gradually fell into disuse. children, and many other blessings.
Even after this time it was still imposed as a rule of FOUNTAIN. See FONT.
faith in several other parts of Switzerland, and was FOX-WORSHIP. This species of idolatry is
often denounced as an obstacle to the union of the found only in Japan, the natives regarding the fox as
Reformed and Lutheran churches. In the canton of a sort of divinity, though, according to Siebold, they
Berne it gave rise to very keen disputes, the autho- appear doubtful whether to reckon it a god or a
rities imperatively requiring all public teachers, and devil
. If a Japanese feels himself in circumstances
particularly those of the university and church of of doubt or difficulty, he sets out a platter of rice
Lausanne, who were suspected of heresy, to sub- and beans as an offering to his fox, and if on the fol-
scribe this formula as the profession of their faith. lowing day some of it has disappeared, this is looked
Several refused to yield obedience to the demand, upon as a favourable omen. Strange stories are told
and were subjected to punishment. The result was, of the doings of these foxes. Titsingh gives the fol-
that the Formula lost much of its credit and autho- lowing by way of specimen : “The grandfather of
rity.
his friend, the imperial treasurer of Nagasaki
, and
FORMULA CONTROVERSY. See ASSOCIATE who had in his time filled the same office, despatched
GENERAL (ANTIBURGHER) SYNOD.
one day a courier to Jedo with very important letters
FORNACALIA, a festival celebrated among the for the councillors of state. A few days after he
cessors,
FRANCE (PROTESTANT CHURCH OF).
907
discovered that one of the most important of the took place into Gaul of those tribes of German ori-
letters had been accidentally left out of the package, gin who had inhabited the districts lying on the
a forgetfulness which exposed him to great disgrace. banks of the Lower Rhine and the Weser. These
In his despair he recurred to his fox and presented to Franks, as they were called, were many of them
him an offering. The next morning he saw, to his converted to the faith by mingling with the Chris-
great satisfaction, that some of it had been eaten; after tian inhabitants among whom their lot was cast.
which, upon going into his cabinet, the letter which The country was for a long time subjected to con-
he had forgotten to send was nowhere to be found. stant political agitation in consequence of the fre-
This caused him great uneasiness, till he received a quent changes of government, and the conflicts be.
message from his agent at Jedo, who informed him tween the Burgundians, East-Goths, West-Goths,
that, upon opening the box which contained the and Franks. But even under such disadvantageous
despatches, the lock of it appeared to have been circumstances, various bishops and abbots so com-
forced by a letter pressed in between the box and its mended the truth by their faithful preaching and
cover from without—the very same letter, as it consistent lives, that they gained the confidence both
proved, left behind at Nagasaki. The more intelli- of the people and their rulers, and prepared them for
gent, says Titsingh, laugh at this superstition, but embracing Christianity. Thus it was that the Bur-
the great body of the people have firm faith in it. gundians were converted soon after their settlement
There are in Japan, according to Siebold, two species in Gaul, but at a later period by their intercourse
of foxes, very much like the ordinary ones of Europe with Arian tribes settled in these provinces, and es-
and America, and, from the immunity which they pecially with the West-Goths, they were led to
enjoy, great nuisances. The white fox, of which the adopt Arian views. Under King Gundobad, how-
skin is much prized, is found only in the Kurule ever, who was zealous in behalf of the orthodox
Islands.” At the feast of Ceres, celebrated annually doctrine, they were convinced of their error, re-
at Rome about the middle of April, burning torches nounced Arianism, and avowed their adherence to
were wont to be fixed to the tails of a number of the Nicene creed.
foxes, which were allowed to run through the circus The circumstance which in the early part of the
till they were burnt to death. This practice may sixth century led to the more rapid progress of
have originated from the story of Samson in the Christianity among the barbarous tribes, was the
Book of Judges.
marriage of Chlotilde, the daughter of Gundobad, to
FRANCE (PROTESTANT CHURCH OF). At a Chlodwig, or Clovis, the king of the Salian Franks.
very early period, so early indeed as the second cen- The rude warrior, though a heathen idolater, was so
tury, Christianity appears to have obtained a footing tolerant to his Christian queen, as to allow her to
in Gaul. Flourishing churches at Lyons and Vienne dedicate their first born son to God in baptism. But
come to our knowledge during a severe persecution the child died, and Clovis from this circumstance
to which the Christians were exposed A. D. 177. drew the conclusion that the Deity of the Christians
The origin of these communities is probably to be could neither be powerful nor benevolent. Yet so
found in the numbers of Christians who passed from great was the influence which Chlotilde exercised
Asia Minor into Gaul in the prosecution of trade. over her husband, that their second son was also al-
A Christian colony thus established in the country, lowed to be baptized. Soon after, this child too was
laboured with success among the natives, and in a seized with sickness, and Clovis felt assured that its
short time we find Irenæus, one of the early Aposto death was certain, but the pious Chlotilde prayed
lic Fathers, exercising the office of bishop over the that her child might be spared for the honour of
church of Lyons, which during his life not only God among the heathen. The child recovered, and
maintained a steadfast adherence to Divine truth, but she pointed to this joyful result as a proof that the
was instrumental in diffusing it all around them. God of the Christians both hears and answers the
The result was, that for a time Christianity flourished | prayers of his people. By her consistent walk and
and made rapid progress in Gaul, but after the death onversation, this excellent woman produced a most
of Irenæus, the cause languished, and in the middle favourable impression on the mind of the idolatrous
of the third century there were only a few small king. An event, however, which occurred in his
churches. At that period seven missionaries, as we own experience, led him to take the decided step of
are informed by Gregory of Tours, made their ap- abandoning heathenism and embracing Christianity.
pearance in the country, having been sent thither by He happened to be engaged in a war with the Ale-
the bishop of Rome to convert the idolaters to the manni, and in a battle which he fought at Zülpich,
Christian faith. Whatever amount of truth there about twelve miles from Cologne, A. D. 496, he had
may be in this statement of Gregory, who wrote near the mortification of seeing his army in the utmost
the end of the sixth century, it is an undoubted fact danger of being defeated. In these critical circum-
that from the middle of the third century the new stances he prayed earnestly, as he had been wont, to
cause made rapid advances. From Gaul Christianity the gods, but to no purpose ; and remembering what
spread into Germany, and even into Britain. During Chlotilde had so often told him of the God of the
the fourth and fifth centuries extensive migrations Christians, he directed his supplications, to liim,
con
908
FRANCE (PROTESTANT CHURCH OF).
Roman calendar, having been canonized in the
promising, if his prayers were heard, that he would | especially of the powerful and licentious Brunehild,
become a Christian. To his astonishment and de- the grandmother of Dietrich II., who, at that time,
light the battle turned in his favour, and he straight ruled the Burgundian kingdom in which Columban's
way ascribed his success to the Christians' God. three monasteries were situated. Having thus, by
Perceiving the effect which this providential inter- his rigid adherence to the principles of a devoted
position produced upon the mind of her husband, she piety and stern morality, rendered himself an object
persuaded him to receive farther instruction in Divine of bitter hatred to both the ecclesiastical and the
truth, and the result was, that at the Christmas civil powers, he was at length, A. D. 610, banished
festival Clovis was publicly baptized. It is said from the Burgundian territory, and ordered to re-
that from this time commenced the practice of ad- turn to Ireland. This command, however, he failed
dressing the French monarchs by the titles of Most to execute, but retired with his monks to a seques-
Christian Majesty, and Eldest Son of the Church. tered spot in the neighbourhood of the Lake of Con-
A great sensation was produced by the unexpected stance, where he laboured for the conversion of the
conversion of Clovis, and more than three thousand surrounding Swiss and Suabian tribes.
of his soldiers are said to have thereafter submitted Notwithstanding the rudeness of the Frankish peo-
to Christian baptism. The progress of the good cause ple, and the worldliness of the clergy, a spirit of liv-
was carried forward by Remigius, bishop of Rheims, | ing Christianity still existed in some, both of the
who has been called the apostle of the Gauls. ministers and inembers of the church. Accordingly
But while multitudes of the Franks were thus led some of the more zealous among the bishops extended
to make an outward profession of Christianity, Pa- their labours beyond their own country to the surround-
gan idolatry still continued to maintain a firm holding tribes. One of the most distinguished of the
of the minds of not a few of the people. Accord- | Frankish bishops engaged in missionary undertak-
ingly, A. D. 554, King Childebert passed a law against ings, was Eligius, who, A.D.641, was consecrated bishop
those who refused to part with their idols. And be- of the extensive diocese of Vermandois, Tournay,
sides the tenacity with which the votaries of Pagan- and Noyon, which bordered on a country occupied by
ism still adhered to the worship of false gods, Chris- heathens, while a large part of the population of the
tianity was much retarded by the internal divisions diocese itself were still Pagan idolaters. This de-
and the numerous wars and revolutions which agi- voted man was honoured to accomplish a good
tated the kingdom of the Franks. For a time idola- work both among his own people and the surround-
try seemed likely to recover the ground it had lost. ing districts.
In the end of the sixth century, however, an Irish In the eighth century the popes, who had for a
monk, by name Columban, appeared in France, ac- long period been seizing every opportunity of exalt-
companied by twelve young men, animated by an ing their own authority, at length succeeded in unit-
earnest desire to preach the gospel among the un- ing the regal crown to the episcopal mitre, and took
converted heathen. Having settled with his com- rank among earthly sovereigns. To the powerful
panions in the ruins of an old castle in the wilderness aid of the kings of France, the bishops of Rome were
of the Vosges, he só won upon the people by his mainly indebted for the worldly aggrandisement and
faith and self-denial, that the sons of people of all honour which they now attained. Pope Stephen,
ranks were sent to him for education. The rule by finding himself in the greatest danger from the threats
which his monks were governed was of an extraor- of the king of the Lombards to push forward the
dinarily severe description, so that Columbani was no conquests which he had obtained over the exarchate
less feared than he was loved by all under his charge. of Ravenna, even to the gatės of Rome itself, made
His piety, his zeal, and the ascetic strictness of his application in this extremity for assistance to Pepin,
monastic arrangements roused the clergy of the king of France. After a feeble resistance to the
Frankish church to a bitter hostility against the man arms of Pepin, the Lombards subrnitted, and their
whose character and conduct were in such striking king Aistulphus was compelled to deliver up the
opposition to their own.
exarchate to the Pope and his successors in the chair
The controversy respecting Easter was about this of St. Peter. The limits of the temporal dominions
time agitating the Frankish church, and for the dis- which the Pope now obtained were much enlarged
cussion of this disputed point a synod was summoned by successive donations from Charlemagne, the illus-
A. D. 602. Columban took advantage of this assembly trious-son and successor of Pepin, in return for which
of the clergy to call their attention to subjects of far he not only obtained the title of Emperor of the Ro-
greater importance than that which was the imme- mans, under the name of Cæsar Augustus, but he
diate occasion of their meeting. Thé epistlè which earned for himself a place among the saints of the
he addressed to the synod containing as it did a re-
proof of the worldly life led by the Frankish bish-- twelfth century by Pope Paschal III.
ops, made the faithful monk only still more obnoxious But while the church was thus rapidly rising in
to the clergy. And the same spirit of unshrinking worldly greatness, it was as rapidly sinking as a ,
faithfulness brought down upon him the determined spiritual institution. The great anxiety of the popes
hostility of the civil authorities of the country, more was to establish and maintain their temporal power.
FRANCE (PROTESTANT CHURCH OF).
909
66 No-
To effect this object the most unscrupulous means have weakened, or it may be, destroyed any other
were resorted to, in proof of which, we need only cause than that which was emphatically the cause of
refer to the forgery of the False Decretals and the God.
Donation of Constantine, both of which surreptitious When the Reformation commenced in Germany
documents appeared about the close of the eighth and Switzerland, many who had imbibed its princi-
century. The next three centuries formed one pro- ples took up their residence in France, attracted by
longed season of spiritual darkness and death, not the favour which the king, Francis I., showed to
in France only, but throughout all Europe. men of learning, and thus the writings of the Reform-
thing,” says Mosheim, “could be more melancholy ers found an entrance into that country, and were
than the darkness that reigned in the Western world extensively and eagerly read. The priests became
during the tenth century, which, with respect to alarnied for the interests of the mother church, and
learning and philosophy at least, may be called the the University of Paris, so early as 1521, issued a
iron age of the Latins.” The clergy shared
The clergy shared in the formal declaration condemnatory of Luther and his
ignorance and corruption of the age. In place of writings. But the new opinions made rapid pro-
religion was substituted a blind superstition, and the gress among all classes of the people. One of the
Church of Christ seemed to have well nigh disap- earliest to avow attachment to the reformed cause,
peared from the earth.
was Margaret, queen of. Navarre, and sister to Fran-
In the ninth and tenth centuries the Normans, a cis I., and such was the influence which that excel-
race of Goths from Scandinavia, invaded France, lent princess possessed at court, that the king, to
and at length took possession of the territory of gratify her wishes, was disposed to invite Melanc-
Neustria, A. D. 912, and embraced Christianity. The thon to take up his residence in France. The first
ceded territory afterwards became the duchy of Nor- movement in favour of the Reformation was at
mandy. In fact, France, which could boast of its Meaux. There, with the express approval of the
large dominions under Charlemagne, had dwindled to bishop, Guillaume Briconet, who, having been am-
a shadow under his feeble successors. At the end bassador to the Holy See, had, like Luther, brought
of the Carlovingian period, France was no longer back from Rome a deep impression of the necessity
possessed of Normandy, Dauphiné, or Provence. But of a reform in the church, two devout and zealous
though deprived of a portion of their territories, the men, Jacques Lefevre and Guillaume Farel, preached
French sovereigns and people still retained much of the pure gospel, and were so eagerly welcomed by
that ardour and buoyancy of spirit which have ever the people, that crowds flocked both from town and
characterized them. No sooner, therefore, was the country to hear them. There was an evident thirst
proposal for a holy war made by the Pope in the for the knowledge of the truth, and to gratify this
council of Clermont in the end of the eleventh cen- laudable anxiety for spiritual instruction, the four
tury, than multitudes from France of all ranks and Gospels were published in French, and widely cir-
ages avowed their readiness to engage in a crusade culated gratuitously among the poor. Every one
to Palestine. (See CRUSADE.) The first armies, began to read them. Light dawned upon their minds,
indeed, which marched in these sacred expeditions and in a short time a remarkable change was appa-
against the Mohammedạns of Asia, were raised | rent, not only in the opinions, but in the manners, of
chiefly among the Franks and Normans. Nay, we the inhabitants of Meaux. The movement spread on
find Robert, duke of Normandy, actually mortgaging every side. Several churches were formed, and
to his brother William, king of England, the entire everything seemed to betoken the greatest prosperity
duchy of Normandy to enable him to perform his to the cause of the Reformation in France.
expedition to Palestine. It is impossible to peruse, The clergy, of course, were no uninterested spec-
however cursorily, the history of the Crusades, with- tators of this great, and to them alarming movement.
out being compelled to acknowledge, that to France They felt that their credit and influence, as well as their
more than any other country of Europe, is the revenues, were daily diminishing, and that it was ab-
Church of Rome indebted for the valuable accessions solutely necessary for them to take some decided step
both of wealth and power which it has obtained from to arrest the advancing progress of the heresy. They
these holy wars.
complained, therefore, in the most earnest manner to
Yet it is an interesting fact, that the very country the theological faculty of the Sorbonne, who lost no
which was thus mainly instrumental in upholding and time in calling upon the parliament of Paris to inter-
strengthening the power of the papacy, was one of fere with a strong hand. The parliament, accord-
the earliest to embrace the doctrines of the Reforma- ingly, in 1533, ordered a rigorous investigation of
tion. No country was longer and better prepared the whole matter. The consequence was, that the
for it, and yet nowhere did its adherents meet with sword of persecution was unsheathed, and one of the
more violent opposition. The history of Protestant-
The history of Protestant- earliest victims, against whom it was directed, was
ism in France is written in blood. From first to last Briçonet, the bishop of the town, who had all along
the church of Luther and Melancthon, of Calvin and avowed his adherence to the Reformation. But in
Knox, has had to struggle for existence amid a com- the hour of danger, the firmness of the prelate gave
plicated mass of adverse influences, which would way; he recanted, and submitting to a fine of two
910
FRANCE (PROTESTANT CHURCH OF)
hundred livres, was allowed to return to his diocese, | Synodicon, “ charmed the ears, hearts, and affections
where, till his death, which happened two years of court and city, town and country. They were
after, he continued to discharge his episcopal du- sung in the Louvre as well as by the Pres des
ties without giving cause to the church again to Clerks, by the ladies, princes, yea, and by Henry
charge him with favouring the reformed doctrines. II. himself. This one ordinance alone contributed
The new converts of Meaux were more resolute than mightily to the downfall of popery, and the propaga-
the bishop, and many of them died martyrs to the tion of the gospel. It took so much with the genius
faith, while others sought refuge in the territories of the nation, that all ranks and degrees of men
of Margaret of Navarre. The Waldensians, more practised it in the temples and in their families. No
especially, who inhabited the mountains of Provence, gentleman professing the Reformed religion would
were the victims of a most cruel persecution. Multi- sit down at his table without praising God by sing-
tudes of them were butchered, some burned alive, and ing. Yea, it was an especial part of their morning
others sent to the galleys. Nor did the blood of the and evening worship in their several houses to sing
Lutherans, as they were called, cease to flow as long God's praises."
as Francis lived. Yet so far were they from being All these means, along with the faithful preaching
exterminated, that their number was continually of the gospel, were crowned with the Divine bless-
on the increase. They were of all ranks, and not a ing; and the Lutheran cause made such rapid pro-
few even of the monks became proselytes to the new gress that persecution was aroused against it in the
religion.
most virulent form. But all attempts to exterminate
Henry II. ascended the throne of France in 1547 the adherents of the Reformation in France were
on the death of Francis, and in so far as the Re- utterly fruitless. The blood of the martyrs proved
formed were concerned, he maintained the same per- in an eminent degree the seed of the church. Two
secuting policy as that which had characterized the princes of the blood, the King of Navarre, and the
reign of his father. The civil courts were called Prince of Condé, besides a great number of the no-
upon to exterminate all heretics: The estates of bility and gentry, were the friends and supporters of
those who fled for the sake of religion were ordered the Protestants. But up to this period the new
to be confiscated. Protestant books were forbidden doctrines were only professed by isolated individuals,
to be imported; and to possess such works was de- a large body doubtless in the aggregate, but acting
clared a penal crime. There was one work which separate and apart from each other, without any
above all others shed a bright halo of glory around distinct organization or uniting principles. A num-
the French Reformation. This was Calvin's Insti- ber of proselytes had been accustomed for some time
tutes of the Christian Religion, one of the ablest and to meet together for worship in the house, of a pri-
most powerful defences of Scriptural, evangelical vate individual in an obscure quarter of the Faubourg
truth which has ever issued from the press. “Spread-St. Germain. It was in 1555 that the first avowed
ing abroad in the schools," says De Felice, “in the French Church on Reformed principles was estab-
castles of the gentry, the houses of the burghers
, lished at Paris. For thirty years no churches had
even the workshops of the people, the Institutes be- existed, but only gatherings of people without fixed
came the most powerful of preachers. Round this pastors, or regular administration of the sacraments.
book the Reformers arrayed themselves as round a No sooner, however, was a congregation formed at
standard. They found in it everything--doctrine, Paris with a minister, elders, and deacons, than the
discipline, ecclesiastical organization; and the apo- example was followed at Poitiers, Angers, Bourges
,
logist of the martyrs became the legislator of their and other places. These churches, however, were
children.” This remarkable book was published by as yet isolated and independent of each other. It
Calvin in 1535, and dedicated to Francis I. It did was resolved that a general synod should be con-
much to call forth the sympathies of thoughtful men voked as soon as possible at Paris, as being the most
in favour of the reformed opinions as grounded no convenient town for holding a secret assembly, com-
less on Scripture than on sound reason; as the views posed of a large number of ministers and elders.
of men, not of weak and wavering intellect, but of Many difficulties lay in the way of such a meeting,
gigantic power and profound reflection. About the which if convened would run the risk of attracting
same time the Reformation in France received an the notice and arousing the vengeance of the perse-
additional impulse by the translation of the Scrip- cuting government. The result was, that only thir-
tures into the French language by Olivitan, the teen churches sent deputies to the first Synod of the
uncle of Calvin. This was hailed as a great boon by French Protestant Church, which assembled pri-
the friends of truth. Soon after the Psalms of David vately on the 25th of May 1559. This was an event-
were turned into verse by one of the popular poets ful day for France, for on this day the foundations
of the day, and sét to music. Thus was the national of the French Reformation were laid.
taste for the first time enlisted on the side of truth At this first national Synod a complete ecclesias-
and righteousness, instead of being perverted as it tical organization was established. What has cost
had hitherto been to superstitious and sinful pur- other churches many a protracted meeting, many a
poses. “This holy ordinance,” says Quick in his stormy debate, was effected silently, and as it were
1
FRANCE (PROTESTANT CHURCH OF').
911
1
at a sitting. The deliberations of this assembly supreme court for all great ecclesiastical matters,
were characterized by a simplicity and moral gran- and every one was bound to render it obedience.
deur, a calmness, a dignity, a firm trust in God, The deliberations commenced by reading the con-
which command respect. In the face of almost cer- fession of faith and of discipline. The members of
tain death, these earnest Christian men adopted a the assembly must adhere to the first, but might
confession of faith, catechism, and directory for wor- propose amendments of the other. The presidency
ship, composed by Calvin, and likewise formed a belonged of right to a pastor. The duration of the
system of church government. The doctrines of sessions was indeterminate. Before the closing of
their confession were strictly Calvinistic, their forms each session, the province in which the following
of worship of the most simple and unostentatious synod would be holden, was designated."
character, and their system of church government This church organization, as well as the Confes-
wholly Presbyterian.
sion of Faith, was the work of Calvin, and bears
The Confession of Faith consisted of forty articles, throughout the genuine stamp of the Geneva model.
embracing all the fundamental doctrines of Chris- | It was Presbyterian in its essential features; and the
tianity; and the Form of Church Government also hitherto disjoined churches were now united in one
contained forty articles, which have since been ex- compact ecclesiastical system, which prepared thein
tended by successive synods, and the Form now for realizing the truth of the saying, that union is
contains no fewer than two hundred and twenty ar- strength. And the time chosen for the adoption of
ticles. The Constitution of the Protestant Church such a form of government was peculiarly season-
of France, as developed in the original draft, is thus able. If before the Protestant church was consti-
sketched by De Felice: “The consistory was elected tuted the Reformed had been exposed to bitter per-
at first by the common voice of the people; it was secution -- matters now became much worse. In
completed afterwards by the suffrages of its own twelve years from the time when the first Synod
members; but the new selections were always to be was held, the martyrologist speaks of not less than
submitted for the approval of the flock, and if there forty towns or cities where persecution prevailed.
were any opposition, the debate was to be settled Yet so rich was the blessing which rested upon this
either at the colloquy or at the provincial synod. suffering section of Christ's church, that at the end
To be eligible for the consistory imposed no condi- of this short period of hot persecution, it was found,
tion of fortune, or of any other kind.
as we learn from Dr. Lorimer in his Historical
“ The election of the pastors was notified to the Sketch of the Protestant Church of France, that “so
people in the same way, after having been made by rapid had been the diffusion of the gospel, under the
the provincial synod on the colloquy. The newly outpouring of the Spirit, that Beza could count 2,150
elected minister preached during three consecutive
churches in connection with the Protestant Church
Sundays. The silence of the people was held to of France; and the churches were not small or in-
signify their consent. If there were any reclama- significant in point of strength. In some there were
tions, these were carried before the bodies charged 10,000 members. The church of Orleans had 7,000
with the choice of pastors. There was no further communicants, and the ministers in such churches
appeal against the voice of the majority.
were proportionally numerous : two ministers to a
"A certain number of churches formed the con- church was common, and that of Orleans had five.
scription of a colloquy. The colloquies assembled At this period there were 305 pastors in the one
twice a-year at least. Each church was represented province of Normandy, and in Provence there were
by a pastor and an elder. The office of these com- 60. All this betokens wonderful growth."
panies was to arrange any difficulties that might The same year in which the Protestant church
arise, and generally to provide for whatever was con- was organized, the death of Henry II. and the suc-
formable to the welfare of their flocks.
cession of Francis II., a youth of sixteen, feeble both
“Beyond the colloquies were the provincial sy. in body and mind, introduced a state of matters far
nods, also composed of a pastor and an elder of each from favourable to the cause of the Reformation.
church. They assembled once in each year at least. Catherine de Medicis, the king's mother, the duke of
They decided
upon
whatever had not been settled in Guise, and his brother, the duke of Lorrain, governed
the colloquies, and upon all the important matters of France during the minority, and being bitterly op-
their province. The number of these synods has posed to the Lutherans or Sacramentarians, as the
varied. Sixteen has been the general number, since Protestants were sometimes called, they put forth
the union of Béarn to France.
the utmost endeavours to crush them. They sent
“ Lastly, at the summit of the hierarchy was placed forth new edicts for exterminating the heretics. A
the national synod. It was, whenever it was pos- vast system of terror now prevailed throughout
sible, to be convoked year by year; which, however, France; nothing was heard of but delations, confis-
scarcely ever took place, owing to the misfortunes of cations, pillages, sentences of death, and bloody exe-
the times.
cutions. Yet amid the violence and carnage of the
"Composed of two pastors, and of two elders of period, the Reformed took a decided step in ad-
each particular synod, the national synod was the vance. They no longer held their secret meetings,
912
FRANCE (PROTESTANT CHURCH OT).
+
which had exposed them to the calumnies of their the Protestants were generally named. Thirty thou-
enemies; they now worshipped in public.
sand, according to De Thou, himself a Romish his-
After a reign of only seventeen months, Fran- torian, and seventy thousand according to Sully, a
cis II. died in 1560, and was succeeded by his bro- Protestant, perished by the hands of assassins under
ther, Charles IX., not yet eleven years old. Cather- the authority of Charles IX. When the intelligence
ine de Medicis, his mother, was regent, and anxious of this wholesale butchery reached Rome, the Pope
to establish her power, she sought the friendship of ordered a jubilee throughout Christendom, and he
the king of Navarre, and of the Protestants, who himself went in procession with his cardinals to offer
were now a large and influential body in the coun- thanksgivings to Almighty God for the murder of
try. Nay, she even feigned herself to be a favourer
so many thousand heretics.
of Reformed doctrines. All things at court assumed This fearful catastrophe, though it inflicted a heavy
a changed aspect. The Protestants seemed at length blow upon Protestantism in France, left a considera-
to have obtained the ascendency. A decree was ble remnant who, though weakened and discouraged,
issued forbidding all disputes on matters of religion ; were not utterly overthrown. For six years after the
the imprisoned Protestants were released, and tolera- massacre the annual meeting of the synod of the Pro-
tion was given to all who would outwardly conform testant church was discontinued. By a singular in-
to the established religion, unless they chose to terposition of Divine Providence, the ministers had
quit the country. This decree was only partially many of them been spared amid the general havoc; and
executed throughout the provinces. The idea was this was the means of keeping the people together, as
started of a possible compromise between Popery well as of sustaining them under the heavy discou-
and Protestantism, and, if possible, to effect this a ragement to which their spirits were liable. And
conference was held at Poissy, between divines of still more to refresh their drooping hearts, a new and
both churches, leading, however, as might have been greatly improved edition of the Protestant version
anticipated, to no favourable result. In January of the Scriptures issued at this time from Geneva.
1562, a national convention was held at St. Germain, Thus, in the day of deep adversity and gloom, when
when it was agreed that the Protestants should be the most arbitrary restrictions were put upon their
allowed to hold private meetings for worship till a meetings for Divine worship, the work of God
general council should decide all religious disputes. was still going forward among this oppressed and
A civil war now broke out. Much blood was shed, persecuted people. In the course of twenty-s s.
and many towns were taken and ravaged.
years only six National Synods were held, in all of
Peace was at length concluded in 1563, in conse- which, however, the church showed herself decided in
quence of which, Protestant worship was, for a time the maintenance of the truth of God against heresy
at least, tolerated in particular places throughout of every kind, but more especially against the cor-
France. The treaty, however, was but imperfectly ruptions of the Church of Rome. During the whole
kept, and the Protestants, finding that the court of this period the history of the French Protestants
was in reality seeking their ruin, commenced the is a series of alternations of war and peace, persecu-
war anew in 1567, under Coligny and the prince | tion and rest, and at the end of it the congregations
of Condé. Hostilities were carried on for several were reduced to one-half of their former number.
months, and, early in 1568, peace was again concluded The year 1598 forms a memorable era in the his-
on nearly the same terms as before. The cessation tory of French Protestantism, as being the year
in
of hostilities was only for a very short time, when the which was published the edict of Nantes, the first
war broke out anew with greater violence than ever. effectual measure in favour of the friends of the Re-
The queen of Navarre now took the field on the side of formation which had ever been passed by the gov-
the Protestants, and, after a considerable loss on both ernment of France. The author of this important
sides, peace was once more concluded in 1570 on edict was Henry IV., who, though educated in the
favourable terms. The court now resorted to va- Protestant faith, had for State purposes shortly be-
rious expedients, with the view of lulling the Pro- fore this time joined the Church of Rome. It was
testants into a false security, and the Admiral Co- scarcely to have been expected that an act of toleration
ligny, the young king of Navarre, and the prince; of should have come from such a quarter. But it was
Condé, were invited to court. All this apparent honourable to Henry, that in the face of the most
friendship was false and deceitful, preparatory only decided opposition from the Romish clergy, he threw
to one of the most fearful tragedies which has ever over his Protestant subjects the ample shield of his
been recorded in the pages of history. We refer to royal protection, and gave them an extent of liberty
the massacre on St. Bartholomew's eve, Aug. 22, which they had never before experienced. They
1572.
were allowed the free exercise of their religion, and
The first victim on that melancholy occasion was declared eligible to all public offices. They received
Admiral Coligny, and with him five hundred noble- equal rights and privileges in all universities and
men and about 6,000 other Protestants were but- public schools. That equal justice might be inea-
chered in Paris alone. Orders were despatched to all sured out to them with their Popish fellow-subjects,
parts of the empire to massacre the Huguenots, as courts were established in the principal cities, which
.
ters.
6 On
FRANCE (PROTESTANT CHURCH OF).
913
were composed of judges half Protestant and half was now broken up, and persecution once more raged
Catholic. They were also permitted to establish with tremendous fury. Romish missionaries were
public worship in particular places, only within cer- sent forth over the country to stir up the populace
tain limits, none within several miles of Paris; but against the Protestants, and books full of calum-
to counterbalance these restrictions, which were felt nies and lies were published with the same design,
to be hardships, they obtained an annual grant of while the authors of these vile slanders were well
about 40,000 crowns for the support of their minis- remunerated by the government for their services.
The Protestants complained to the king of the in-
The edict of Nantes, though encumbered with justice with which they were treated, but their com-
some annoying regulations, was hailed by the poor plaints were unheeded.
persecuted Protestants as a mighty boon. They had And now the preparations which Louis had been
scarcely known a breathing-time from suffering and making for twenty years were complete, and only the
trial during the forty years which had elapsed since last, the crowning act, remained to be consummated
the first National Synod had been held. During -the revocation of the edict of Nantes.
that period they had passed through no fewer than Thursday," says Dr. Lorimer, “the 8th of October
nine civil wars, four pitched battles, and three | 1685, the fatal revocation was signed, and the doom
hundred engagements with their enemies. Several of the Protestant Church sealed. The revocation
cities had been besieged, and from first to last nearly consists of a preface and twelve articles; the preface,
1,000,000 Protestants had lost their lives in the which is meant as an apology for the measure, is, as
cause of God and their religion. Well might the might have been expected, full of notorious false-
church therefore rejoice and give thanks to the Al- hoods. "By the first article, the king suppresses
mighty that the sword of persecution had at length and repeals the protective edicts in all their extent;
returned to its scabbard, and the basis of their reli- and ordains that all the temples which are yet found
gious liberties was laid. Under the protection of this standing in his kingdom shall be immediately de-
edict to which Henry adhered during the remainder molished. By the second, he forbids all sorts of re-
of his life, the ministers who had been scattered by ligious assemblies of what kind soever. The third
persecution returned to their flocks, and the churches, prohibits the exercises of religion to all lords and
like those of the early Christians, “ had rest and were gentlemen of quality, under corporal penalties, and
multiplied." They were in close fellowship with confiscation of their estates. The fourth banishes
the Church of Geneva and the Flemish Protestants. from the kingdom all the ministers, and enjoins
Their doctrine was sound, their discipline strict, and them to depart thence, within fifteen days after the
among their ministers and professors were men emi- | publication of this edict, under the penalty of being
nent alike for their piety, their talents, and their sent to the gallies. In the fifth and sixth, he pro-
learning
mises recompenses and advantages to the ministers
This period of peace and prosperity came to a and their widows who should change their religion ;
close at the death of Henry, who was assassinated in and ordains, " That those who shall be born hence-
1610. Louis XIII., who succeeded to the throne, forward shall be baptized, and brought up in the
was a bigoted Roman Catholic, and the edict of Catholic religion;" enjoining parents to send them to
Nantes, accordingly, which had been so beneficial to the churches, under the penalty of being fined five
the Protestants, was now a dead letter. The new hundred livres. The ninth gives four months' time
monarch began his reign by committing himself and to such persons as have departed already out of the
his kingdom to the care and patronage of the Virgin kingdom to return, otherwise their goods and estates
Mary. In the course of a few years he attacked the to be confiscated. The tenth, with repeated prohi-
Protestants in various places, besieging their strong-bitions, forbids all his subjects of the said religion to
holds, and putting many of them to death, while his depart out of his realm, them, their wives and chil-
prime minister, Richelieu, prevailed upon many of dren, or to convey away their effects, under pain of
the Protestant leaders, by means of bribes, to desert the gallies for the men, and of confiscation of body
the Protestant cause. Amid all these discourage and goods for the women. The eleventh confirms
ments, however, the Reformed Church as a body the declarations heretofore made against those that
suffered no material diminution, but on the contrary, relapse. The twelfth declares, that as to the rest of
seemed to gain in numbers during the thirty-three his subjects of the said religion, they may, till God
years of this reign. At length in 1643 the king enlightens them, remain in the cities of his kingdom,
died, and was succeeded by his son Louis XIV., countries, and lands of his obedience, there continue
who, by a continued series of tyrannical acts, set at their commerce, and enjoy their estates, without
nought the whole provisions of the edict, until at trouble or molestation upon pretence of the said re-
last it was wholly repealed. For fifteen years no ligion, on condition that they have no assemblies
meeting of the National Synod of the Protestant | under pretext of praying, or exercising any religious
Church had been permitted to assemble, and in worship whatever.""
1660 the last meeting of that venerable body was “ Afterwards," says Quick, “they fell upon the
held. The Presbyterian constitution of the church persons of the Protestants, and there was no wicked-
914
FRANCE (PROTESTANT CHURCH OF).
ness, though ever so horrid, which they did not put then the farmers and tenants of these poor persecuted
in practice, that they might force them to change wretches must supply them with new fuels for their
their religion. Amidst a thousand hideous cries and lusts, and bring in more subsistence to them; and
blasphemies, they hung up men and women by the that they might be reimbursed, they did, by autho-
hair or feet upon the roofs of the chambers, or hooks rity of justice, sell unto them the fee-simple estate
of chimneys, and smoked them with wisps of wet of their landlords, and put them into possession of it.
hay till they were no longer able to bear it; and If any, to secure their consciences, and to escape the
when they had taken them down, if they would not tyranny of these enraged cannibals, endeavoured to
sign an abjuration of their pretended heresies, they flee away, they were pursued and hunted in the
then trussed them up again immediately. Some they fields and woods, and shot at as so many wild beasts.
threw into great fires, kindled on purpose, and would | The provosts and their archers course it up and down
not take them out till they were half roasted. They the highways after these poor fugitives; and magis-
tied ropes under their arms, and plunged them to trates in all places have strict orders to stop and de-
and again into deep wells, from whence they would tain them without exception; and being taken, they
not draw them till they had promised to change their are brought back, like prisoners of war, unto those
religion. They bound them as criminals are when places from whence they fled.”
they are put to the rack, and in that posture, putting The view which was taken by the Romish church
a funnel into their mouths, they poured wine down of these acts of treachery, cruelty, and oppression
their throats till its fumes had deprived them of their towards the unoffending Protestants of France, was
reason, and they had in that condition made them quite apparent from the conduct of Innocent XI.,
consent to become Catholics. Some they stripped the then reigning Pope, who wrote a special letter
stark naked, and after they had offered them a thou- to Louis on the occasion, which he concludes in these
sand indignities, they stuck them with pins from remarkable words :
reinarkable words : “ The Catholic Church shall most
head to foot; they cut them with penknives, tore assuredly record in her sacred annals a work of such
them by the noses with red hot pincers, and dragged devotion towards her, and celebrate your name with
them about the rooms till they promised to become never-dying praises, but, above all, you may most
Roman Catholics, or that the doleful cries of these assuredly promise to yourself an ample retribution
poor tormented creatures, calling upon God for from the Divine goodness for this most excellent
mercy, constrained them to let them go. They beat | undertaking, and may rest assured that we shall
them with staves, and dragged them all bruised to never cease to pour forth our most earnest prayers
the Popish churches, where their enforced presence to that Divine goodness for this intent and purpose.”
reputed for an abjuration. They kept them waking And still further in commemoration of this event,
seven or eight days together, relieving one another Louis had three medals struck with different devices,
by turns, that they might not get a wink of sleep or all of them intending emblematically to declare that
rest. In case they began to nod, they threw buck- the French Protestant church was destroyed.
ets of water in their faces, or holding kettles over The consequence of the revocation of that edict,
their heads, they beat on them with such a continual which the Protestants had long regarded as the
noise, that those poor wretches lost their senses. If charter of their liberties, was, that multitudes of them
they found any sick, who kept their beds, men or emigrated to other countries. Great numbers of
women, be it of fevers or other diseases, they were so the Protestant population of France now sought a
cruel as to beat up an alarm with twelve drums about home on other shores, although in taking this step
their beds for a whole week together, without inter- they subjected themselves to almost incredible hard-
mission, till they had promised to change. In some ships. The most vigorous steps were taken by the
places they tied fathers and husbands to the bed- government to stem if possible the torrent of emi-
posts, and ravished their wives and daughters before gration. To avail ourselves of the graphic narrative
their eyes. And in another place rapes were pub- of De Felice: “Guards were placed at the entrance
licly and generally permitted for many hours toge- of the towns, at river-ferries, in the ports, on the
ther. From others they pluck off the nails of their bridges, the highways, at every avenue leading to the
hands and toes, which must needs cause an intoler- | frontiers, and thousands of peasants joined the troops
able pain. They burnt the feet of others. They blew | posted from distance to distance, that they might earn
up men and women with bellows till they were ready the reward promised to those who stopped the fugi-
to burst in pieces. If these horrid usages could not tives. Everything failed. The emigrants purchased
prevail upon them to violate their consciences and passports, which were sold to them by the very secre-
abandon their religion, they did then imprison them taries of the governors, or by the clerks of the min-
in close and noisome dungeons, in which they exer- isters of state. They bought over the sentinels with
cised all kind of inhumanities upon them. They de- money, giving as much as six thousand and even
molish their houses, desolate their hereditary lands, eight thousand livres as the price of escape. Some,
cut down their woods, seize upon their wives and more daring, fought their way across the frontiers,
children, and mew them up in monasteries. When sword in hand.
the soldiers had devoured all the goods of a house, “The majority marched at night, by remote and
FRANCE (PROTESTANT CHURCH OF).
915
solitary paths, concealing themselves in caverns French to flee from France, than the attraction of
during the day. They had itineraries prepared ex- danger, and one day it therefore threw open all the
pressly for this kind of travelling. They went down outlets from the country. The next day, finding
precipices, or climbed mountain-heights, and as- that the emigration had only multiplied, it closed
sumed all sorts of disguises. Shepherds, pilgrims, them."
soldiers, huntsmen, valets, merchants, mendicants : The spectacle of the noblest and best of France's
they were always fugitives. Many, to avoid suspi- sons and daughters fleeing from her shores in the
cion, pretended to sell chaplets and rosaries.
cause of God and his truth, awakened the eager
“The eyewitness Bénoit has given us a minute sympathy of almost all the other nations of Europe.
account:- Women of quality, even sixty and se- Everywhere the Protestant refugees were hospitably
venty years of age, who had, so to speak, never welcomed both by governments and private indivi-
placed a foot upon the ground except to cross their | duals. Their wants were amply supplied; oppor-
apartments, or to stroll in an avenue, travelled a tunities were afforded them of earning an honest
hundred leagues to some village, which had been in- subsistence, and churches were in many places gen-
dicated by a guide. Girls of fifteen, of every rank, | erously erected for them that they might worship
exposed themselves to the same hazard. They drew God according to their own conscientious convic-
wheelbarrows, they bore manure, panniers, and other tions. England, Switzerland, Holland, Prussia, Den-
burdens. They disfigured their faces with dyes, to mark, Sweden, vied with each other in showing
embrown their complexion, with ointments or juices kindness and respect to these persecuted Huguenots,
that blistered their skin, and gave thein a wrinkled and colonies of them were founded even in North
aspect. Women and girls were seen to counterfeit America, and at the Cape of Good Hope.
sickness, dumbness, and even insanity. Some went Nor did the fearful depopulation of the country,
disguised as men; and some, too delicate and small which extended at the lowest calculation to from
to pass as grown men, donned the dress of lackeys, 300,000 to 400,000 souls, in the least diminish the
and followed on foot, through the mud, a guide on ardour of Louis and his ministers in persecuting the
horseback, who assumed the character of a man of heretics. Not more than a million Protestants in
importance. Many of these females reached Rotter- all probability were left behind, but these were sub-
dam in their borrowed garments, and hastening to jected to the most cruel treatment. They were re-
the foot of the pulpit, before they had time to as- quired to send their children to Roman Catholic
sume a more decent garb, published their repentance schools, and to have them taught the Roman Catho-
of their compulsory signature.
lic catechism. Nay, matters were pushed even to a
“The sea facilitated the evasion of a host of the still greater length. The children from five to six
Reformed. They hid themselves in bales of mer- years of those who still adhered to the Protestant
chandise, in casks, under heaps of charcoal. They faith, were ordered to be taken forcibly from the
huddled together in holes in the ship's hold, and parents and consigned to the care of Roman Catholic
there were children who passed whole weeks in these relatives, or failing these, to convents or hospitals.
insupportable hiding-places without uttering a cry Houses were appointed to be searched, suspected
that might betray them. Sometimes the peril of an writings seized, and Bibles committed to the flames.
open boat was hazarded without a mouthful of pro- These violent measures produced an effect the
visions, the preparation of which might have pre- very reverse of that which was intended. The Pro-
vented the flight of the fugitives, who thus put to testants daily multiplied throughout the whole coun-
sea with only a little water or snow, with which try, and holding their religious meetings in secret,
mothers moistened the lips of their babes.
in the depth of the forest, on the mountain top, or in
“ Thousands of emigrants perished of fatigue, cold, the sequestered valley, they vowed to maintain their
hunger, or shipwreck, and by the bullets of the sol- faith in the face of danger or even death. Such de-
diery. Thousands of others were captured, chained termination was more especially manifested by the
to murderers, dragged across the kingdom to inspire Protestants in the provinces of Lower Languedoc,
their brethren with greater fear, and were condemned Vivarais, and Cevennes. In other parts of France
to labour at the oar on board convict vessels. The worship in public was impossible, and for a long time
galleys of Marseilles were filled with these unfortu- religious services were limited to the privacy of the
nates, among whom were ancient magistrates, officers, domestic circle.
people of gentle blood, and old men. The women Learning that in some parts of France the perse-
were crowded into the convents and the tower of cuted brethren were still holding meetings for Di-
Constance, at Aigues-Mortes. But neither threats, vine worship, some of the pastors who had emigrated
nor dangers, nor executions, could prevail against the again returned to their country, with the view of
energy and heroic perseverance of an oppressed con- comforting and encouraging their scattered flocks;
science.
but no sooner were the king and the government in-
“The court became alarmed at the depopulation formed that these good men had once more set foot on
of the country and the ruin of industry. It thought the shores of France, than a proclamation was issued
that it was less a matter of faith that excited the condemning them to death, and threatening the in-
916
FRANCE (PROTESTANT CHURCH OF).
fliction of perpetual confinement in the galleys | toleration in persuading the Camisards to lay down
against those who afforded them a shelter, or tendered their arms, and peace was once more restored.
them the slightest assistance, while a large reward Louis XIV, had now reached advanced years, and
was promised to their captors, and the punishment was living almost alone, having been bereft of his
of death was pronounced against all who should be children and grandchildren. In the exhausted state
found attending the religious meetings. Thus au- of the country, with ruined commerce, and an empty
thorized by law, the soldiers with bloodthirsty cruelty treasury, the aged monarch had no heart now for those,
sought everywhere to discover the Protestants, and
measures of severity and violence which had so long
wherever in the solitude of the mountains could be marked his reign. The word Protestant he neither
heard the sound of prayer or praise, the pious little liked to hear nor ventured to utter.
. He wished to
bands were ruthlessly butchered while in the very bury in oblivion events, the recollection of which
act of worshipping their God.
“The prisons," we only burdened his conscience. Hence it was that
are told, were overflowed; the galleys choked; for a number of years following the war of the Cami-
and as there were no means of lodging so many con- sards, a kind of modified toleration prevailed through-
victs, a great number were transported to America, out France, which would have continued probably
where they nearly all miserably perished.”
undisturbed had not the king's Jesuit confessor, Le-
These scenes of cruelty and blood awakened tellier, extorted from him the declaration of the
feelings of the deepest compassion in the minds of 8th March 1715. This melancholy enactment bore
many of the Romanists themselves. The Jansenists, “that those who shall have declared that they will
in particular, remonstrated strongly with the govern- persist and die in the pretended Reformed religion,
ment, calling upon them to adopt a milder line of whether they have abjured or not, shall be reputed
policy, but the Jesuits and the great body of the as having relapsed.” A law so monstrous the parlia-
clergy persisted in urging measures of extreme seve- ment of Paris delayed to register for a month.
rity. M. de Noailles, who had been promoted to “ The king," said the procurator-general, "has in-
the archbishopric of Paris, and who was an avowed deed abolished the exercise of the pretended Re-
Jansenist, used his influence with the king in favour formed religion by his edicts, but he has not pre-
of lenient measures. This was followed up by a cisely ordained that the religionists should abjure,
faithful memorial breathing the same tone, from and embrace the Catholic religion. It is difficult to
Fénélon, archbishop of Cambray. The unbending understand how a man who does not appear to have
spirit of Louis, however, refused to yield, and the been ever converted, should nevertheless have fallen
fervent pleadings of many, imploring him to spare back into heresy, and that he should be condemned
the Protestants, were only answered by the publication as if the fact were proved."
of the edict of the 13th April 1698, which solemnly A few months after having issued this extraordi-
confirmed the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. nary enactment, Louis XIV. died, declaring to some
Thus the eighteenth century opened upon the of the ghostly fathers who waited upon him at his
Protestants of France in the midst of a reign of last moments, that in his public acts he had been
terror. They persisted in holding their religious guided by their advice, and, therefore, that he threw
meetings, but their ferocious persecutors discover- upon them the responsibility of those acts. Philippe
ing their private retreats, often suddenly surrounded d'Orleans, who was appointed regent on the death of
them and put multitudes to the sword. No won- the king, was a tolerant, though not a religious man;
der that amid the excitement of such scenes, hunted accordingly he declined to act with severity against
like partridges on the mountains, and without an the Protestants, and even entertained the idea of
earthly friend on whom they could rely, these un- repealing the Edict of Revocation, though fear of
happy men should have imagined themselves the the Romish clergy prevented him from carrying his
objects of the special favour of God. No wonder plan into execution.
that they looked upon their leaders as authorized In consequence of the trying situation in which
prophets or inspired men. The blame of such en- the Protestant church of France had long been placed,
thusiastic notions rests only with those who were its internal character could scarcely fail to have been
guilty of deeds of oppression, such as were well seriously injured. The want of regular pastors, the
fitted to drive even wise men mad. (See CAMI- number of uneducated men full of zeal with little
SARDS.) Hence the south of France was the scene discretion, who had taken upon themselves the office
of a bloody war, from 1702 to 1704. The populace of instructors, the prevalent notion both among
almost to a man was in arms against the govern- preachers and people of supernatural inspiration and
ment. Holland and England espoused the cause of ecstasy—each and all of these gave rise to irregulari-
the insurgents, and offered to send them supplies ties in the church, which prevented sober-minded
both of men and arms. The aspect of affairs was and intelligent friends of Protestantism from taking
now sufficiently alarming, Louis and his court began part in its religious exercises. It was most desirable,
to tremble, and Marshal de Villars was despatched therefore, that immediate steps should be taken to put
to Languedoc with orders to adopt a conciliatory an end to these excesses. Providence raised up one,
course. The wary soldier succeeded by promises of who by his character and peculiar gifts was well
FRANCE (PROTESTANT CHURCH OF).
917
qualified to discharge this urgent duty. The name fiscated property were to be appropriated for the re-
of this remarkable man, who earned to himself the lief of the re-united subjects who might be in want."
honourable title of “Restorer of the Protestantism Both the magistrates and the Romish clergy were
of France,” was Antoine Court. He commenced his agreed in using severity towards the Protestants, but
great work by the establishment of prayer meetings the motives by which these two parties were respec-
wherever he could succeed in forming them. To tively actuated were widely different. The one party
check the disorders caused by pretences to inspira- was desirous of promoting civil unity; the other
tion, he called together the preachers of Cevennes, was equally anxious for spiritual unity. The one
joining a few intelligent laymen with them, thus would be quite satisfied with a merely outward con-
forming synods or conferences which met from year formity to the Romish faith; the other would be
to year. The very first of these in 1715, a few contented with no other conformity than that which
days before the king's death, made some most impor- sprung from the heart. The Protestants were not
tant changes, such as reviving the office of elders; slow to perceive this difference of sentiment as to the
forbidding women to speak in the religious assem- grounds of persecution between the civil and ecclesias-
blies; adopting the Bible as the sole rule of faith, tical powers. The stringency with which the priests
and rejecting all individual revelations as unscrip- sought to drive Protestants into the Church of Rome,
tural and dangerous. Every successive synod made only drove them farther from it. Multitudes rallied
some contribution to the re-organization of the Pro- round Antoine Court, and the church of the wilder-
testant church.
ness became a numerous body. The synods rapidly
But while the Reformed communion was recover- increased, and the restorer of French Protestantism,
ing gradually from its depressed condition, a heavy seeing the necessity of a band of faithful pastors be-
blow was inflicted upon it by the appearance of the ing reared, opened a theological school at Lausanne,
last great law against the Reformed, which was pub- over which he presided during the last thirty years
lished on the 14th of May 1724, in the form of a of his life. It was this college which supplied pas-
royal declaration. The provisions of this measure of
tors to the French Protestants until the time of Na-
Louis XV., then fourteen years of age, were eighteen poleon.
articles, being a recapitulation of the most severe From 1730 to 1744 the Reformed churches enjoyed
measures which had been passed during the reign of å season of comparative calm, of which they eagerly
Louis XIV. A summary of this royal proclamation availed themselves to reorganize their churches. The
we give in the words of De Felice: “He declared as religious movement extended, and the pastors being
follows—the punishment of perpetual imprisonment few in number, found it necessary to act the part of
at the galleys for men, and seclusion during life for missionaries. With the view of encouraging one
women, with confiscation of their property, if they another in the laborious work in which they were
attended any other worship than that of the (Roman) | engaged, they convened a national synod, which met
Catholic religion ; punishment of death against all on the 18th August 1744, in a sequestered spot in
the preachers; of the galleys or imprisonment Lower Languedoc. The proceedings commenced
against those who sheltered or assisted them in any with an open declaration of inviolable fidelity to the
way whatever, and against those who omitted to de- king, after which they adopted several measures
nounce them; an order to parents to have their chil- fitted to advance the cause of Protestantism in
dren baptized within twenty-four hours by the curate France. The congregations were enjoined to hold
of the parish, to send them to the (Roman) Catholic their meetings as much as possible in the open air ;
schools and catechisms until the age of fourteen, and and the pastors were forbidden to discuss contro-
to the Sunday and feast-day teachings until the age verted points in the pulpit. Antoine Court camer
of twenty; an order to midwives to report all births from Lausanne to be present at this synod, and he
to the priests, and to physicians, surgeons, and apo- had the satisfaction on the occasion of preaching the
thecaries to give notice of every serious illness of the gospel to an audience of ten thousand persons.
new converts, and authority for the priests to have No sooner did the news reach Paris that a national
interviews with the sick by themselves. If any one synod had been held by the Protestants, and that
refused the sacrament or directed a member of his they were evidently regaining their former strength
family to refuse it, he incurred the penalty of having and courage, than Louis XV. was prevailed upon to
relapsed. There was to be no legitimate marriages, sign two ordinances still more cruel than any which
except such as were celebrated according to the had preceded them. Besides declaring a sentence
canons of the church. Parents were not allowed to of death against all the Protestant pastors, and of
send their children out of the kingdom to be educat- perpetual imprisonment at the galleys against all
ed, nor to marry them there; but on the other hand, who harboured them, the very place in which a pas-
the minors of those parents who were abroad, might tor might happen to be arrested was pronounced lia-
marry without the consent of their relations. The ble to a fine of three thousand livres. To execute
certificates of. Catholicity were declared obligatory such barbarous enactments as these ordinances con-
for all offices, all academic degrees, all admissions to tained was of course impossible; but by issuing
trading corporations. Finally, the mulcts and con- such edicts, the king and the court were plainly in-
918
FRANCE (PROTESTANT CHURCH OF).
1
timating their desire that the persecution of former | ders to arrest the new converts, to watch and dis-
days should be renewed. Children were accordingly perse the meetings, to seize the preachers, and shoot
forcibly abducted from their parents, and a thousand them if they attempted to fly. This unexpected
acts of merciless oppression were perpetrated upon change in the policy of Richelieu excited both as-
the poor Huguenots. A fresh emigration was the tonishment and alarm in the minds of the Protestants
result, and availing themselves of their vicinity to of the south of France. Some meetings were sus-
the sea, no fewer than six hundred families belong-pended, others were attacked by a rude and brutal
ing to Normandy alone fled from the kingdom. soldiery, who hesitated not to perpetrate the most
Numbers were flogged, others were fined in enor- fearful enormities upon the assembled worshippers.
mous sums, some were imprisoned for life, and not This sudden outburst of violence was followed in
a few sentenced to suffer death. In vain did the a short time by a period of toleration, during which
unhappy Huguenots appeal to Louis XV. in these the Reformed were permitted to hold consistories
calm, dignified, respectful words: “We cannot live and synods, as well as meetings for religious wor-
without following our religion, and we are com- ship, without dread of interruption or molestation.
pelled, however unwillingly, to supplicate your ma- Two synods were assembled in the province of Lower
jesty, with the most profound humility and respect, Languedoc in 1760; one of them consisting of twenty
that you may please to allow us to leave the realm | pastors and fifty-four elders; the other of fifteen
with our wives, our children, and our effects, to re- pastors and thirty-eight elders. The meetings for
tire into foreign countries, where we may freely wor- worship became more regular, and were held more
ship God in the form we believe to be indispensable, openly; in some places under the eye of the ma-
and on which depends our eternal happiness or gistrates. The gaols were gradually emptied of pri-
misery.” The king and his council refused to grant soners, whose only crime had been that they were
even this reasonable request, and only treated the present at a desert meeting, or had given shelter to
suppliants with aggravated cruelty. Particularly a Protestant pastor. This improved state of mat-
after the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, the meet- ters, however, was disturbed by the capital execu-
ings were again attacked; the intendant was ordered tion at Toulouse of four persons in one case, and a
to rebaptize the children of the Reformed, and to venerable old man at another. Such cases as these
proceed to a re-benediction of their marriages. occurring at a time when the rest of France was in
Some,” says Antoine Court, as quoted by De Fe- the enjoyment of religious calm, awakened a strong
lice, “ten, twelve, and fourteen years old, absolutely feeling of shame and indignation in the bosoms of
refused to be led to the church, and it was necessary even the most bigoted Romanists. They were un-
to drag them there by main force; some uttered willing to be regarded as sympathizing even in the
piercing shrieks that went to the heart; others slightest degree with the judges and priests of Tou-
threw themselves like young lions upon those who se. On the contrary, they strove by their whole
tried to seize them; others, again, who had no other deportment towards the Protestants to show that
means of showing their despite, turned the ceremony | their hearts revolted from all such acts of intolerance
into ridicule which they were forced to undergo : and barbarity.
when they were covered with a white cloth, and the Thus it was that from 1760 to 1787 each day
water was about to be sprinkled upon their heads, lightened the burden of the long-oppressed Hugue-
they exclaimed : “ Are they going to shave us ?' No doubt, in that long interval, they were sub-
The curate and the garrison of Lussan so greatly tor-jected to many petty vexations and annoyances. They
tured the children of the village in dragging them to were often compelled to pay heavy fines and suffer
the church, where they shut them up under lock and ruinous extortions.
ruinous extortions. In cases which regarded them
key, that some of them told the curate they seemed in courts of law, the sentences of the judges were
to see the devil whenever they looked upon him, and ambiguous and contradictory. Still a partial tolera-
others, still more desperate, spat in his face.” tion was felt to be an unspeakable blessing by men
Notwithstanding the determined resistance of the whose past history had been almost an unbroken
I'rotestants, baptism was administered to the chil- series of calamities and trials of the heaviest kind.
dren by force. This roused the indignation of the As the century rolled on, the spirit of the age
in
Reformed, more especially in the mountains of Lan- France became more decidedly tolerant. The school
guedoc, and had not the zeal of the priests been of Voltaire, the statesmen, and learned men of the
checked by the government, it seemed to be almost time, argued strongly in favour of civil and religious
certain that the war of the Camisards would be fought liberty. Louis XVI. hesitated, but public opinion
over again.
assumed a still higher tone. At length the strong
For a time the Protestants in Languedoc, as well feelings on the subject, which had now become
as in other places, enjoyed comparative tranquillity, almost universal, found expression in the assembly of
but on a sudden, in February 1754, the Marshal de the Notables held in 1787. The king could resist no
Richelieu, who happened to be governor of Langue- longer, and, in November following, the Edict of
doc, and had hitherto exercised rule in a spirit of Toleration received the royal signature. The privi-
mildness, and even kindness, issued imperative or- leges which this important document granted to Non-
nots.
FRANCE (PROTESTANT CHURCH OF).
919
:
Catholics were these : the right of living in France, laborious, and slow. One of the first acts of Napo-
and of exercising a profession or trade in the king- leon Buonaparte, on becoming first consul, was to
dom, without being disturbed on account of religion; sign a concordat with the legate of Pius VII. ; but
the permission to marry legally before the officers of although the Pope had urged strongly the acknow-
justice; the authority to record the births of their ledgment of the Roman Catholic religion as the re-
children before the local judge; and a regulation for ligion of the State, the utmost his holiness could
the interment of those who could not be buried ac- obtain was the insertion in the preamble of the con-
cording to the Roman Catholic ritual.
cordat of these words, “ The government of the Re-
Measured and incomplete though these conces- public recognizes the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman
sions were, the edict which granted them was re- religion as the religion of the great majority of the
ceived by the whole body of the Protestants through-French people.” This was nothing more than the
out France with feelings of joy and thanksgiving to statement of a well-known and admitted fact. In
God. All the churches now proceeded to reconsti- all respects the Protestant pastors and the Romish
tute themselves on the ancient basis. The Consti- clergy were on an equal footing, with the single ex-
·tuent Assembly, in 1789, threw open to Protestants ception of pecuniary support. The Romish bishops
equally with Roman Catholics, all the offices of and priests were paid from the public treasury, but
state, and another decree pronounced them eligible the Protestant pastors received no State pay
what-
to every civil and military office without exception. | ever, and were in one sense separated from the State.
The following year saw Rabaut Saint Etienne, the Napoleon, however, did not relish the idea of Pro-
son of a long-proscribed Protestant pastor, nomi- | testantism being totally independent of his autho-
nated president of the Constituent Assembly. One rity. Hence arose the law of the year X. (1802),
decree after another passed in favour of religious which, while it gave a State endowment to the Re-
liberty. The property formerly confiscated on ac- formed church, took away from it every pretension
count of religion, which was still in the possession of to spiritual independence. The principal changes
the State, was restored to the heirs of the lawful introduced by this law in the constitution of the
proprietors. All the rights of French citizens were church are thus detailed by Dr. Lorimer:
restored to the descendants of the refugees, on the "No doctrine, nor alteration of doctrine, shall be
sole condition that they should return to France, and published or taught, without being first authorised
take the civic oath. To every man was guaranteed by the Government.
the exercise of the religious worship to which he was * The maintenance of ministers shall be provided
attached.
for, wherever the property and oblations of the com-
But the practice of a people is not always thoroughly munities fall short.
consistent with the theory of their government. So “The articles for the liberty of foundations in the
it was with the French during the first Revolution. organic laws of the Catholic worship, shall be com-
The liberties of the Protestants were firmly secured mon to the Protestant Churches,
by law, but they were shamefully violated in fact. " There are to be two seminaries, one in the East
The Protestants were legally eligible to all civil and of France for the instruction of ministers of the Con-
military appointments, but they were nevertheless fession of Augsburg, and the other at Ĝeneva for the
systematically excluded from all municipal councils, Reformed Churches. The professors are to be named
and generally from all elective offices. The consti- by the First Consul, and no minister to be appointed
tution of 1793 professed to guarantee to the whole without a certificate of his having studied in the
French people the free exercise of their worship. seminary of his religion. The rules for the govern-
But in a few short months the Convention substi- ment of these seminaries to be also settled by the
tuted the Decade for the ancient division of the Government.
week, and attempted to compel all to work on the « The Reformed Churches of France shall have
Sabbath, whatever might be their scruples on the pastors, local consistories, and synods. There shall
point.
All religious worship was now abolished, be a consistorial church for every 6,000 souls of the
both Protestant and Roman Catholic. The churches same communion. Five consistorial churches shall
were shut, and the pastors prohibited from discharg- form the district of a synod.
ing the duties of their office. Piety now confined “ The number of the ministers or pastors in the
itself to the family and the closet.
same consistorial church cannot be increased without
Such a state of things could not possibly continue the authority of Government.
long. Public opinion demanded the restoration of “The pastors cannot resign without stating their
religious freedom, and, in 1795, it was decreed that motives to Government, which shall approve or re-
no one shall be prevented from exercising the wor- ject them.
ship he has chosen, provided he conforms to the " The title of election shall be presented to the
laws; no one can be forced to contribute to the ex- First Consul for his approbation.
penses of any creed; the Republic salaries none." " All the pastors now in exercise are provision-
Some of the Reformed churches now sought to re- ally confirmed.
organize themselves, but the process was difficult, « Each synod shall be composed of a pastor and a
920
FRANCE (PROTESTANT CHURCH OF).
>
scene,
notable of each church. The synods shall superin- | ity. To her is due the honour of having been in-
tend the celebration of worship and conduct of eccle- strumental in the formation at first, and in the
siastical affairs, and all their decisions shall be sub- maintenance ever since, of the Bible Society of
mitted for the approbation of Government. The France; the Religious Tract Society, and the Society
synods cannot assemble until they have received the for the Encouragement of Primary Instruction.
permission of Government, and no Synodal Assem- The Revolution of 1830, which called Louis Phil-
bly shall last more than six days.”
ippe to the dignity of King of the French, led the
During the fourteen years of the Consulate and Protestants to expect that their position would be
the Empire, the Protestant church was weak and improved. The Chamber of Deputies, in revising the
inefficient. The forms were preserved, but the life Charter, abrogated the sixth article upon the religion
of religion was well nigh gone. In 1807 there were of the State, and readopted the terms of the concordat
not more than two hundred pastors; there is more as to the Reformed Catholic religion being the religion
than double that number now. The French semi- of the majority of the French. But though the ex-
nary founded by Antoine Court at Lausanne had pectations of the Protestants were disappointed, their
been transferred to Geneva; but as it was found to numbers steadily increased, so that in 1838 the Cal-
be inadequate to the purpose of its formation, the vinist or Reformed church had eighty-nine consisto-
Emperor, in 1808, created a Faculty of Protestant ries, and about four hundred and sixty ministers;
theology at Montauban. The restoration of the Bour- while the Lutheran church had thirty-seven consis-
bons to the throne of France took place in 1814, and tories, and nearly two hundred and sixty ministers.
although equal protection was, at that time, declared In the course of ten years more, during which the
to be given to every form of worship, the people, par- liberties of the Protestant churches were becoming
ticularly in the south, began to threaten the Re- gradually more circumscribed, and the influence
formed with new persecutions. But on the re-entry of the Romish priesthood gathering strength, an-
of Napoleon into Paris, the Protestants felt that they other revolution brought Louis Napoleon upon the
could now.count upon the protection of the laws.
Now a very general hope was entertained
This security, however, was of short duration. Un- that the cause of religious liberty in France would
der the government of Louis XVIII, they were receive a mighty impulse. An assembly of the dele-
assailed in the south by the populace with a savage gates of the Reformed churches was held in Paris in
ferocity which knew no bounds. The Duke d’An- | May 1848. The chief point which came under dis-
goulême was despatched by the king to inquire into cussion was, the relation between the Church and
the state of the southern provinces. He found the the State, when the great majority declared thein-
places of worship at Nismes closed, and a part of selves in favour of the alliance being preserved,
the population compelled to flee for their lives, while without however compromising the independence of
others were in close concealment. After the lapse the church. It was resolved also to call a regular
of six months, the Protestant worship was re-estab- assembly to take into consideration the state and
lished at Nismes, on the 17th of December 1815. prospects of Protestantism. Being only a voluntary
In the other departments of France, with a few ex- meeting, not recognized by the law, only from se-
ceptions, all was quiet, and neither the persons nor venty to eighty members attended. It was proposed
property of the Protestants were exposed to the that a confession of faith should be drawn up, which
least molestation. Under Charles X. the numbers might be acknowledged as the creed of the French
who avowed their adherence to the Protestant faith Protestant churches. This proposal, however, gave
steadily and sensibly increased. From 1817 to rise to a very keen and stormy debate, the majority
1830, while the charter secured equal liberty to being of opinion that doctrinal points should not be
all creeds, the government of the Restoration was taken up by the assembly; the variety of sentiment
by no means strict in its adherence to this great on such subjects which existed among French Pro-
and important principle. Attempts were made to testants being in their view a sufficient reason for
concuss the Protestants into an acknowledgment, avoiding all discussion on matters of the kind. A
of. Popery, so far as to pay some outward act of minority of the members, small in number, but
homage or respect to her religious processions. bearing a high character for piety and zeal, con-
The law of sacrilege allowed profanation of Pro- tended earnestly for a confession of faith, as being
testant worship, without incurring the penalty of im- absolutely necessary to preserve the unity of the
prisonment, while the profanation of Romish wor- churches and their harmony in doctrine; but finding
ship was to be visited with the punishment of death. that the great majority of the meeting was opposed
Charles X., as he advanced in years, gave himself to their views, they protested and withdrew, resolved
up to the guidance of priests, and the consequence to form themselves into a separate body. The majo-
was, that the greatest partiality was shown to Ro- rity continued their sittings, and having revised the
manists in the distribution of public offices. But if constitution of the French Protestant churches, they
not enjoying royal favour, the Protestanit Church of drew up a scheme of ecclesiastical organization which
France was permitted to operate with unfettered they laid before the Minister of Public Instruction,
activity in the great work of propagating Christian- with a view to the recognition of the churches by.
FRANCIS (St.) D'ASSISI.
921
the State. The constitution which was embodied in brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither
the scheme, but which the government has never two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves : for the work-
formally recognized, was the Presbyterian system of man is worthy of his meat;" were impressed deeply
the early Protestant Church of France.
upon his mind, and imagining that he was called to
The minority who had left the assembly, along obey literally this injunction of our Lord, he assumed
with a few congregations who were standing separate the dress referred to, and in a state of literal poverty
from the Protestant churches, formed themselves he wandered about preaching repentance. Thus he
into a new Christian communion under the name of gathered round him a number of followers whom he
the Union of the Evangelical Churches in France, resolved to associate in a religious brotherhood, pro-
The first meeting of the synod of this body took fessing in all its strictness and austerity, evangelical
place on the 20th August 1849, when a profession of poverty. He repaired accordingly to Rome, and laid
faith was drawn up, and a form of church organiza- his rule before Pope Innocent III., from whom he is
tion. Their synod is held not annually, but every said to have received little or no encouragement to
alternate year. Since its original formation, this carry out his project. But a vision at night is said
1. body has been slowly on the increase, and now num- to have led his Holiness to sanction the plan and
bers 26 churches, 22 ministers, and nearly 2,000 rule of Francis.
members.
In A. D. 1210, Francis had only eleven followers,
For three years after the revolution in 1848, con- and in the following year they had so increased in
siderable doubt existed as to the precise relation number, that he sent a large company of them to
between the Church and the State. In December | travel all over Italy, preaching, and, as mendicant
1851, however, when Louis Napoleon became Em- friars, begging their bread. The order rose into high
peror of France, the proclamation of the constitution reputation, and in A. D. 1215 Innocent III. declared
of the empire embodied in it a recognition of the his public approbation of the Franciscan: society,
concordat of 1801, as still regulating the relations in The first general chapter of the order was held in the
Church and State. This was a heavy disappoint- following year, and Cardinal Ugolino, afterwards
ment to the Protestants, who were flattering them- Pope Gregory IX., became its patron,
selves that under Napoleon III, their position would Animated by an ardent missionary spirit, Francis
be greatly improved. The Romish church, however, D'Assisi joined an expedition against the Saracens
maintains a complete ascendency at this moment in in 1219, with no other view than to preach the
France, not only in numbers, Protestants being only a gospel to the soldiers. At the siege of Damietta in
small fractional part of the whole population, but in Egypt, we find him acting as a missionary in the
influence and power. The government nominally Christian army, and not contented with preaching
tolerates all forms of religious worship, but through- repentance among those who professed his own faith,
out the whole country, Protestants are subjected to he resolved in the fervour of his zeal to go over to
numberless annoyances and restrictions, and petty the Mohammedan army with the view of addressing
persecutions at the hands of the local authorities. them also. He was seized accordingly, and dragged
The latest accounts reckon the Protestants of France as a prisoner before the Sultan of Egypt. The
of all denominations at no more than 800,000, while Moslem functionary, contrary to the expecta-
the Roman Catholics number nearly 36,000,000. tions of Francis, received him with respect, invited
FRANCIS (St.) D'ASSISI, a celebrated name in him to preach for several successive days before
the Romish calendar, having been the originator of himself and his officers, sending him back afterwards
the well-known order of FRANCISCANS (which see). to the camp of the Franks with this parting request,
He was the son of a rich merchant at Assisi in Italy, Pray for me, that God may enlighten me, and en-
where he was born in A. D. 1182. His early educa- able me to hold firmly to that religion which is most
tion was directed towards preparation for a mercan- pleasing to him."
tile life, but at the age of twenty-four he was brought Francis founded three different spiritual orders.'
under serious impressions while laid on a sick-bed. The first, which was called by the name of the Mi-
From the date of his recovery he seems to have been NOR BROTHERS or MINORS (which see), was con-
liable to frequent dreams and visions, which he re- firmed by Pope Honorius III. The second was an
garded as loud calls from heaven to enter upon the order of nuns, called after the first superintendent,
life of a monk. Thus on one occasion he saw in the order of St. Clara. The third, which was called
vision a palace filled with weapons, each of them the order of Penitent Brothers, was founded in A. D.
marked with the sign of the cross, and on asking to 1221, and consisted of pious laymen, who would not,
whom they belonged, he was answered, “To thee or could not, renounce the family life, and were per-
and thy soldiers." For a time Francis imagined that mitted to live together in a kind of spiritual union,
his vocation was to rebuild ruined churches, and after one rule, and under one superior.
accordingly he went from place to place collecting Shortly before the death of Francis, it is alleged
money for this purpose. But on one occasion while that, after earnest prayer for conformity to Christ,
attending mass, the words of Christ to his disciples, there appeared wounds in his hands and feet and
Mat. x. 9, 10,"Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor side, like those of our Saviour on the cross. These
I.
37
922
FRANCIS (ST.) DE PAULA-FRANCISCANS.
stigmata of St. Francis, as they are called, were five to the Pope and to the superior of the order. An
in number, and bled continually, but at his death no indispensable condition of admission into the order
wounds could be seen in his body. For two years was, that all applicants must sell their whole posses-
after he resided at Assisi in a state of great weak- sions, of whatever kind, and give the proceeds to the
ness, and at last died on the 14th October A. D. 1226. poor; and it was also required that they should per-
He was buried at Rome, and his name was inserted form a year's noviciate, at the close of which they
in the catalogue of Romish saints.
might be admitted on vowing that they would never
FRANCIS (ST.) DE PAULA, a celebrated Rom- | quit the order on any account. The friars were
ish saint, born in Calabria, who founded the order of bound to make use of the Roman Breviary, and the
MINIMS (which see) in the fifteenth century. He lay brothers to recite every day for their office sev-
was educated in a Franciscan convent at St. Mark, enty-six paternosters. Besides observing Lent, the
in his native province, and in a short time came to members of the order were required to fast from All
surpass all the other monks in strict observance of Saints' day to Christmas. They were forbidden. to.
the rule of St. Francis. At fifteen years of age he ride on horseback unless in cases of urgent neces-
took up his abode in a hole in a rock where he sity; and in travelling from place to place they were
practised many austerities. It was in 1435 that he enjoined to eat whatever was set before them. They
laid the foundations of his order, building several were forbidden in the strictest manner to receive
small cells and a chapel which he dedicated to St. money either directly or indirectly, and while they
Francis d'Assisi. As the number of his disciples in- were to derive their subsistence from the labour of
creased, he erected a monastery and church at Paula. their own hands, they must receive as wages any.
He erected another convent at Spezzano in 1453, a thing except money. They were imperatively l'e-
third at Crotona in 1460, and a fourth at Milazzo in quired to possess nothing of their own, and should the
Sicily. In connection with this last monastery, it is proceeds of their labour be insufficient for their main-
related of Francis, that when some mariners refused tenance, they must go a-begging, and with the alms
to convey him from Italy to Sicily on account of his they collected they must help one another. Their
poverty, the saint calmly spread his cloak upon the habit was appointed to consist of a tunic, a hood, a
sea, and thus was carried safely over as on dry land. cord for a girdle, and a pair of drawers.
The new order set on foot by Francis, made rapid The order of Franciscans were furnished with
progress in Italy; and its founder having been invited power to grant indulgences, and thus, though pro-
by Louis XI. to visit France, he complied with the fessed mendicants, they were in possession of ample
invitation, and succeeded in introducing his order means of support. This privilege rapidly gained
into that country also. Soon after it was established for them a wide-spread popularity, rendering them
in Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella, who built a powerful rivals to the bishops and priests, and also
monastery for the Minims at Malaga. The order
The order to the other monastic orders. The rule of St. Fran-
was admitted into Germany under the Emperor cis, aș has been already mentioned, prescribed abso-
Maximilian about the year 1497. Francis died in lute poverty; but immediately after the death of
1507 at the very advanced age of ninety-one, and he their founder, many of the Minors, as they were
was canonized by Pope Leo X. in the year 1519. called, departed from this rigorous enactment, and
FRANCIS (ST.), FRATERNITY OF THE Gregory IX., A. D. 1231, relaxed the severity of the .
GIRDLE OF, a devotional society in the Church of law. This step on the part of the Pope, however,
Rome. The members dress in a sack of an ash gave rise to a keen controversy among the Francis-
colour; they tie this sack with a thick cord adorned cans, and appeal having again been made to Rome,
with a large chaplet of wood; they wear an escut- Innocent IV., A. D. 1245, decided in favour of those
cheon on which are the arms of the order of St. Fran- who wished a relaxation of the rule, declaring that
cis; in processions they walk barefooted, carrying in Franciscan monks might hold lands, houses, furni-
their hand a large wooden cross.
ture, books, &c., and might use them freely; but
FRANCIS (ST.), HERMITS OF. See MINIMS that the right of property in all such cases belonged
(ORDER OF).
to St. Peter, and to the Church of Rome, without
FRANCISCANS, a celebrated order of mendicant whose consent nothing should be sold, exchanged, or
monks which arose in the thirteenth century, deriv- in any way transferred to others. This decision of
ing its name from St. Francis d'Assisi, its founder. the Pope excited no small discontent in the minds of
It was formally approved by Honorius III. A. D. the Cæsarians or Spirituals of the order, some of
1223; and had become very numerous when Francis whom retired into the deserts to carry out their aus-
died A. D. 1226. By way of displaying his humility, | tere views, while others were banished for their
he called the members of his order Fraterculi or refractory conduct.
Little Brothers, which in Italian is expressed by An entire change, however, took place in the whole
Fratricelli, and in Latin by Minores or Minors. The aspect of affairs as regarded the Franciscans, by the
rule which the Franciscans received from their ori- election of John of Parma to the office of general of
ginator was, to the effect that they were to live in the order, A. D. 1247. Being opposed to the relaxation
common, observe chastity, and yield obedience both l of the rule of St. Francis, he recalled the exiles, and
FRANCISCANS.
923
enjoined a strict observance to the very letter of the reference to the rule of their founder, broke out with
law on which the order was founded. The result as great violence as ever. One party earnestly de-
was, that in the course of two short years he was sired the rule to be abrogated as being beyond the
compelled to resign his office, and several who agreed power of human nature fully to practise ; the other
with him in sentiment were cast into prison. The party were equally desirous that the primitive strict-
general who succeeded was the celebrated Father ness should be observed. In conformity with the
Bonaventura, who wished, in order to prevent a divi- wishes and opinions of the latter, Pope Nicolaus III.
sion of the contending parties, to occupy neutral published, in A. D. 1279, the famous constitution
ground. The controversy, however, continued to be which confirmed the rule of St. Francis in all its
carried on with keenness on both sides, and A. D. original austerity and strictness. In this document
1257, Alexander IV., being invited to decide be- the monks were required to renounce, or, as the
tween them, ratified the interpretation of the rule of papal decree termed it, expropriate all right of pro-
St. Francis given by Innocent IV. But at an as- perty or ownership, and they were allowed merely
sembly of the order held A. D. 1260, the interpreta- the use of things necessary, not of their property,
tion of Innocent was abrogated, so far, at least as it which belonged, as Innocent IV. had decided to the
differed from the interpretation previously given by Church of Rome. The constitution thus given by
Gregory IX.
Nicolaus failed to satisfy the Spiritual party of the
Besides the controversy which raged among the Franciscans, particularly those in the province of
Franciscans in regard to the true meaning of their | Narbonne in France, who were headed by Peter
rule, the order was distracted by a dispute which John Oliva, a man held in great repute for sanctity
arose as to the prophecies of Joachim, an abbot of and learning. Under the guidance of this individual,
Flora in Calabria, who was looked upon by the Ita- whom they regarded as a prophet, the Spirituals
lian populace generally as an inspired man, whose assailed the more lax monks of the order. The con-
predictions of the future were to be viewed as equal tention was carried on with great vehemence on both
in authority with those of the ancient prophets. sides; but at length a general was appointed over
This favourite seer, whose prophecies were contained the order who allowed the ancient discipline to be-
in a work called “The Everlasting Gospel,' and by come prostrate, and even the appearance of poverty
the vulgar, 'The Book of Joachim,' foretold, among to become extinct. In Italy and France, as well as
other things, the destruction of the Romish church, | in other countries, the Spirituals continued to pro-
as being corrupt and offensive to God. He taught test loudly against the prevailing laxity of opinion
that two dispensations had already passed, those of and practice among the members, until at length, un-
the Father and of the Son, and that a third, still der Boniface VIII., they seceded from the rest, open-
more perfect than the other two, was at hand, ly condemning the interpretation which Nicolaus III.
namely, the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. The had given of their rule. In 1294, some of the Ita-
stricter party of the Franciscans, or the Spirituals, as lian Spirituals were allowed by Coelestine V. to form
they were called, maintained that Joachim was a a new and separate community, professing to strip
true prophet, and indeed that he was that angel themselves of all possessions and all property, accord-
whom John in the Revelation saw flying through ing to the original arrangement of St. Francis. This
the heavens.
distinct society, however, was suppressed by Boni-
In the midst of these bitter contentions another face VIII.; but various associations continued to
work appeared bearing to be · An Introduction to exist in Italy in spite of the Pope, and from that
the Everlasting Gospel,' and which contained the country they spread over the greatest part of Eu-
bold statements, that St. Francis was the angel men- rope, contending earnestly against the corruptions
tioned in the Revelation; that the Gospel of Christ of the Church of Rome, down even to the time of
would be abrogated in the year 1260, and that this the Reformation. (See FRATRICELLI.) The Fran-
new Everlasting Gospel of Joachim would take its ciscans, as well as their rivals the Dominicans, pro-
place; and, finally, that this change would be brought bably from the very fact of their being Mendicant
about by itinerant barefooted friars. This book, monks, acquired great reputation and vast influence
which is said to have been the production of a Spirit- | in every country where they were found ; and, accord-
ual Franciscan, named Gerhard, was published at ingly, they were objects of the utmost jealousy, and
Paris A. D. 1254, but instead of exalting the Fran- even hatred, among all ranks of the clergy, as well
ciscans, as was its obvious design, it only roused the as in the universities. The great privileges which
popular indignation all the more against them, so they enjoyed above the other orders of monks, gave
that Alexander IV., A. D. 1255, was compelled to them such power that they were able to undermine
forbid its circulation; and by authority of the uni- the ancient discipline of the church, and to take into
versity of Paris it was publicly burned.
their own hands the management of all religious con-
Under the prudent management of Bonaventura, cerns. Such was the extent of their popularity, that
the Franciscan order maintained comparative tran- they were the favourite preachers and chosen con-
quillity during his life, but, after his death, the dis- fessors of the people in every European country which
sensions, which had formerly been carried on in had embraced the Christian faith.
924
FRATERNITIES-FREETHINKING CHRISTIANS.
“ But the greater the influence," as Neander re- wandered about from place to place, declaiming
marks, "exercised by the mendicant friars, as against the corruptions of the Church of Rome and
preachers and confessors, and as persons who mixed the vices of the clergy, and predicting a time of re-
familiarly with all classes, upon the people—so much formation as at hand. The Franciscans have never
the more pernicious would it prove when it came to been willing to admit that the Fratricelli were at all
be abused by ignorant and badly-disposed men; and connected with the disciples of St. Francis, while
of such there would be no want as the branches of they cannot deny that they professed and practised
these orders extended and multiplied. The causes the rule of St. Francis. They agreed in opinion with
that had introduced corruption amongst the other the BIZOCHI (which see), and BEGUINES or. Beg-
monkish societies, as soon as they attained to emi- HARDS (which see), while they differed from them
nence, were not inactive in the case of these; and in being real monks. St. Francis himself during his
soon, many evils began to intermingle with the bene- life called his disciples by the name of Fratricelli or
fits which flowed from them. As they enjoyed the Little Brothers; and although the word was some-
special favour of the popes, and, through their re- times used in the thirteenth century as a term of re-
spective generals in Rome, stood in close relations proach among the Italians, applied to those who as-
with the popes——they allowed themselves to be em- sumed the appearance of monks, while they did not
ployed by the latter as instruments for exacting belong to any of the monastic orders, yet as applied
money, and for other bad purposes."
to the stricter Franciscans it was coveted as a term
The Franciscans came into England in the reign of honour by those who chose a life of the severest
of King Henry III., while their founder was still | poverty.
alive. The first establishment of the order was at FRATRES ALBATI. See ALBATI.
Canterbury. In the affair of the divorce which FREE CHRISTIAN BRETHREN. In the
Henry VIII. sought, he was violently opposed by published Report of the Census. for 1851, one con-
the Franciscan monks, and accordingly this order was gregation is returned as existing in Scotland under
the first which was banished from the kingdom at
this name.
the time of the Reformation, and above two hundred FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. See Scor-
of them were thrown into prison, and others cruelly
).
treated. See MENDICANT ORDERS. For an ac- FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND (GENERAL
count of the contests which so long raged between ASSEMBLY OF). See ASSEMBLY (GENERAL), OF
the Dominicans and Franciscans, see DOMINICANS. FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.
FRATERCULI. See FRATRICELLI.
FREETHINKERS, a name which was often as-
FRATERNITIES, societies established in Ro- sumed by DEISTS (which see) of the last century,
man Catholic countries for the improvement of de- and is not unfrequently adopted by Infidels of the
votion. They are of different kinds. Some take present day, to express their boasted freedom from
their names from instruments of prayer, as for exam-
prayer, as for exam- religious prejudices, and from connection with any
ple, the Fraternity of the Rosary, and that of the religious system. In the Report of the Census of
Scapulary. The Girdle of St. Francis forms a third | 1851, two congregations in England return them-
society of this kind, and the Girdle of St. Austin a selves as Freethinkers.
fourth. Italy, Spain, and Portugal are the coun- FREETHINKING CHRISTIANS, a sect which
tries where these Fraternities abound, but some of arose in London in the year 1796, professing to be a
them are found also in Britain. Some of them are Christian church founded on the principles of free.
called Arch-FRATERNITIES (which see), as giving inquiry. The originators of this body separated
law to the rest.
from a congregation of Trinitarian Universalists
FRATRICELLI, a class of Franciscan monks with which they had been connected. The new
who professed to observe the rule of St. Francis sect rejected the doctrine of the Trinity, that of
more strictly than the rest of the order, and there- the atonement, and indeed all the peculiar doc-
fore possessed no property either individually or trines of Christianity. Then they took another
collectively, but derived their whole subsistence from step on the road towards infidelity, by dispensing
begging. The Fratricelli have sometimes been con- with the sacraments, and denying the immateriality
founded with the Spiritual party among the Francis- of the soul. At length they declared their disbelief
cans, but although somewhat resembling them, they of the inspiration of the Scriptures, and ended with
were far from being identical; the Spirituals never the abolition of all the forms of public worship, their
having separated from the great community of the meetings, which for convenience sake are still held
Franciscans, while the Fratricelli had so completely on the Sabbath, resembling rather a debating society
disjoined themselves from the order, that they as- than a Christian church. They continue to assem-
sumed to themselves a distinct head or leader, and ble regularly on the Sabbath, and to discuss religious
regarded Pope Cælestine V. as their legal founder, points, intermingling them with debates on social
denying Boniface and all the occupants of the Holy questions. This infidel body has for several years
See who opposed them to be true pontiffs. The past been decidedly on the increase both in England
Fratricelli wore mean and tattered garments, and and Scotland.
FREY-FRIENDS (SOCIETY OF).
925
FREE-WILLERS. See ARMINIANS.
of this day, soine accounting for it by alleging that
FRENCH PROPHETS. See CAMISARDS. on a Friday Mohammed entered into Medina, others
FREY, the tutelar deity of the ancient Swedes, stating it to be in commemoration of the creation of
who, according to the Edda, presided over the sea- man. The most probable reason however is, that the
sons of the year, and bestowed peace, fertility, and ancient Arabians held their solemn assemblies on that
riches. The Scandinavian festival of Jul was cele- day, and Mohammed, in introducing his new religion,
brated in honour of Frey or the Sun, in order to ob- made no change in this particular. But whatever
tain a propitious year and fruitful seasons. In the may have been the ground of its original appoint-
great temple of Upsal, Frey stood at the left hand of ment, it is regarded by the Mohammedans as the
Thor, and was represented of both sexes, and with chief and most excellent of all days, and they ima-
various other attributes which characterized produc- gine that the last general judgment will happen on
tiveness. On the festival in honour of this god, this day. The public services, which occupy only a
sacrifices, feasting, nocturnal assemblies, and all the portion of the day, the rest being devoted to busi-
demonstrations of the most intense joy prevailed. ness and recreation, commence at noon, and besides
Frey is declared in the Edda to be one of the most the usual prayers, there are additional ceremonies
celebrated of the gods.
performed, including the reading or reciting of parts
FREYJA, the sister of FREY. (which see), and of the Koran from the reading-desk, and the delivery
goddess of love among the ancient Scandinavians. of sermons from the pulpit by the Imáms. These
She was invoked to obtain happy marriages, and religious services are performed with the utmost gra-
easy childbirths. She dispensed pleasures, enjoy- vity and decorum. Both in the Greek and Latin
ments, and delights of all kinds. The Edda styles churches Friday has always been regarded as a litany
her the most favourable of the goddesses; but she or humiliation day, in memory of the crucifixion of
went to war as well as Odin, and divided with him Christ which took place on this day. In the early
the souls of the slain. She is generally thought to Christian church, divine worship was celebrated on
have been the same with the Aphrodite of the Wednesdays and Fridays, which received the name of
Greeks, and Venus of the Romans, since the sixth stationary days, because they continued their assem-
day of the week, which was consecrated to her under blies on these days to a great length, till three o'clock
the name of Friday or Freyja's day, was called in in the afternoon. For this reason they were also
Latin Dies Veneris, or the day of Venus. Freyja is called half-fasts, in opposition to the Lent fast which
mentioned in the Edda as the most propitious of the lasted till evening. Tertullian, Clemens, Alexandri-
goddesses; her abode in heaven is called Fólkváng, nus, and Origen, refer to the custom of observing
the folk's mead or dwelling. In the field of battle Wednesdays and Fridays as fast-days; and Tertul-
she asserts her claim to one half of the slain, the lian says that on these days they always celebrated
other half belonging to Odin. 6 Her mansion,” says
the communion.
the Edda, “ called Sessrúmnir, is large and magnifi- FRIENDS (SOCIETY OF), a denomination of pro-
cent; thence she sallies forth in a car drawn by two fessing Christians, commonly called Quakers, which
cats. She lends a very favourable ear to those who arose in England about the middle of the seventeenth
sue to her for assistance. It is from her name that century. Its founder was George Fox, the son of a
women of birth and fortune are called in our lan- weaver, at Drayton in Leicestershire, who in 1646
guage Freyjor. She is very fond of love ditties, and began to promulgate his peculiar sentiments, which
all lovers would do well to invoke her. She is wed- seemed to constitute the last and probably the ex-
ded to a person called Odur, and their daughter, tremest of those protests which the Reformation
named Hrossa, is so very handsome that whatever lodged against the ritualistic religion of the Church of
is beautiful and precious is called by her name Rome. When Luther protested against the errors
(hnosir). But Odur left his wife in order to travel of Rome, Christianity had been reduced to a system
into very remote countries. Since that time Freyja of empty and unmeaning forms; the life of religion had
continually weeps, and her tears are drops of pure almost totally disappeared, and a dead ritualism now
gold. She has a great variety of names, for having occupied its place. In these circumstances the light
gone over many countries in search of her husband, of the Reformation began to dawn, and the first
each people gave her a different name. She is thus feeble forth-puttings of life to manifest themselves.
called Mardöll
, Horn, Gefn, and Syr, and also Vana- With Luther, Melancthon, Zuingle, Calvin, the light
dís. She possesses the necklace Brísíng.” The became gradually clearer, and the life stronger and
learned Icelander, Finn Magnusen, regards Frey and more palpable. At length a living church stood
Freyja as the personifications of the sun and moon. forth amid the darkness which enshrouded the pro..
FRIARS. See MONKS.
fessing Christian church, and asserted its position as
FRIARS MINORS. See FRANCISCANS.
the true Reformed church of Christ. In the strug-
FRIDAY, the day set apart by the Mohamme- gle which then took place between light and dark-
dans as their weekly Sabbath, which like the Jews ness, between life and death, it is not at all surprising
they commence at sunset on the previous evening. that some ardent minds should have rushed into
Various reasons have been assigned for the selection extreme opinions. Of these George Fox must be
926
FRIENDS (SOCIETY OF).
regarded as the representative of a large and respect-rities practised against them, pretexts were drawn
able body. Early impressed with the importance of from supposed violations of the regulations of civil
true spiritual religion, and the utter inefficiency of policy : “A Christian exhortation to an assembly
the mere forms of worship to give life and energy to after the priest had done and the worship was over, was
the soul, he spent much time in retirement, reading, denominated interrupting public worship, and dis-
and meditating upon the Scriptures, and earnestly turbing the priest in his office; an honest testimony
praying for the revelation of inward light by the against wickedness in the streets or market-place,
communication of the Holy Spirit. He speaks of was styled a breach of the peace; and their appear-
himself as “ knowing pureness and righteousness at ing before the magistrates covered, a contempt of
eleven years of age." The Reformation in his view authority; hence proceeded fines, imprisonments,
had done much towards introducing a more spiritual and spoiling of goods. Nay, so hot were some of the
worship, but even after all that had been accom- magistrates for persecution, even in Cromwell's time,
plished, he conceived that too much reliance was that by an unparalleled and most unjust misconstruc-
even yet placed on outward forms and on the agency tion of the law against vagrants, they tortured with
of human means, to the neglect of the Holy Spirit | cruel whippings, and exposed in the stocks, the
of God, the necessity and importance of whose bodies of both men and women of good estate and
agency in the enlightenment, conversion, and sancti- reputation, merely because they went under the de-
fication of the soul, he was disposed to estimate far nomination of Quakers.”
more highly than all subordinate agency whatever. Several obsolete statutes were brought to bear most
Impressed deeply with the strong views which he heavily upon Friends, though originally enacted with
had begun to entertain on this subject, George Fox a view of reaching the Papists, who refused to con-
felt it to be his duty to make known his principles form to the established religion. Among these was
throughout England. He accordingly set out on a an act passed in the 23d year of Henry VIII.'s reign,
preaching tour throughout different counties, travel- | against subtracting or withholding tithes; obliging
ling generally on foot, and everywhere declining to justices to commit obstinate defendants to prison, un-
receive compensation for his labours. His preaching til they should find sufficient security for their com-
was eminently successful in persuading many to pliance. Laws were made in Elizabeth's reign for
adopt his peculiar opinions, and in the course of a enforcing a uniformity of worship, authorizing the
few years he gathered around him a large body, who | levy of a fine of one shilling per week for the use of
conscientiously avowed their firm belief in the doc- the poor, from such as did not resort to some church
trines which he taught.
of the established religion, every Sabbath or holy-
At the period when Fox commenced his ministry, day; and also another establishing a forfeiture of
the minds of the English people were much disturbed | twenty pounds per month for the like default. A
by the civil war which raged throughout the coun- third law empowered the officers to seize all the
try, and their opinions were quite unsettled both as goods, or a third part of the lands, of every such
to political and religious matters. In such a state of offender for the fine of twenty pounds. And, as if
the public mind any new theory, whether it regarded these were not sufficiently severe, another was en-
the church or the State, required only to be pro-acted in the 35th year of Queen Elizabeth, oblig-
pounded to meet with ready acceptance from not a ing offenders in the like case to abjure the realm, on
few. Hence, wherever George Fox promulgated his pain of death. No sect, indeed, suffered more se-
opinions, novel and extravagant though they might verely than Friends from the disgraceful and into-
appear to some, he found crowds of admiring audi- lerant acts against Protestant Dissenters, which were
tors, and a considerable body of ardent believers. passed, from time to time, during the long period
All worship, he taught, which is acceptable to God which elapsed, from the reign of Elizabeth to that of
must be conducted in spirit and in truth, and there William and Mary, when the Toleration Act of 1688
fore all ritual religious services are unnecessary. secured religious liberty to all nonconformists.
On several occasions, we find him accordingly car- Friends, however, were still subject to prosecutions
rying his principles so far as to go into places of for tithes, and for refusing to swear; but, in 1695, a
public worship and address the congregation during bill was carried in Parliament allowing the solemn
the time of service. This liberty seems to have been affirmation of a Friend instead of an oath.
exercised to a greater extent than according to our It is impossible to deny that, in the early history
modern notions was consistent with either prudence of this sect, individuals were sometimes found who
or propriety. But how often do we find cases in the mistook the promptings of their own minds for the
history of every body of Christians in which zeal impulses of the Holy Spirit, exposing the community
outruns discrétion.
to which they belonged to unmerited odium, but it
The ardour and enthusiasm which characterized is equally undeniable, that many of the followers of
some of the adherents of the new sect, exposed them | George Fox were earnest and devout men, who “felt,"
to much misrepresentation and reproach. Cases of in-
discretion are recorded which no doubt were excep- needed to know more the power of Christ Jesus in
to use the language of one of their number, “ that they
tional and rare. To give some colour to the seven their own hearts, making them new creatures, bruis-
FRIENDS (SOCIETY OF).
927
ing Satan, and putting him under their feet, and re- the gift has been conferred by the Holy Spirit,
newing their souls up into the divine image, which from above, as having a call from heaven to preach
was lost in Adam's fall
, and sanctifying them wholly the gospel. Accordingly, there is no paid minis-
in body, soul, and spirit, through the inward opera- try in the Society of Friends; and any brother
tions of the Holy Ghost and fire." By the preach- or sister, who feels a conscious impulse from the
ing of George Fox, such men were led to see that Spirit to address the brethren, is allowed to do
they had been resting contented with a mere histo- so. It not unfrequently happens, accordingly, that
rical belief of the doctrines of the gospel, without meetings are held for public worship, in which the
seeking to experience the living power of the truth whole time is occupied in secret meditation and
in their hearts by the effectual inworking of the prayer, without a single word being uttered by any
Holy Spirit. The rapid spread of the doctrines of one in the assembly. The practice of silent worship
the Friends was surprising, and although attempts is thus defended by Elisha Bates : “When some
were made to represent them to Cromwell as danger- formerly were urging our Lord to go to the feast of
ous, and even seditious persons, the Protector was tabernacles, he said unto them: 'My time is not yet
too sagacious and far-sighted to be prevailed upon to come: but your time is alway ready,' John vii. 6.
treat with intolerance a sect which, whatever might And his disciples can often adopt a similar language,
be thought of their theoretical opinions, were among feeling their utter incapacity, of themselves, for any
the best friends and promoters of peace and good good word or work; and that they know not what
order in the country.
to pray for as they ought, without the helping in-
The infant society was soon joined by persons be- fluence of the Spirit of Truth : and therefore, they
longing even to the most noble fainilies, as well as by cannot presume to set about this solemn engagement,
several ministers of the gospel. In the course of a few without the necessary qualification. For if no man
years meetings were formed in all parts of the United can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost,' how
Kingdom, and although exposed to severe persecu- can any act of devotion be performed without this in-
tion, the body continued to increase in numbers, and fluence? Neither prayer, praise nor thanksgiving,
some zealous members of the Society travelled to can be acceptable, unless it arise from a sensible feel-
foreign countries, believing themselves to be divinely ing in our hearts ; which is produced only by the
called to propagate the truth of God. Some passed operation of grace there. This brings us into a sense
over to the Continent, preaching and establishing of our own condition, and gives access to the Father
meetings in Holland and other countries; while of Mercies. Worship performed without these qua-
others found their way into Asia, and even among lifications, must be will-worship, and as unacceptable
the barbarous tribes of Africa. About the same as those outward pretences of the Jews, while their
period, some members of the Society of Friends ar- hearts were far from God.
rived in America, and so rapid has been the progress “We, therefore, believe it right, when we assemble
of the sect in the United States, that at this day, by for the purpose of Divine worship, to sit down in
far the largest body of the Friends is to be found in reverent silence ; endeavouring to abstract our minds
from all things but the one great object of adora-
In the reign of Charles II. both the doctrine and tion: and in this humble, waiting state of mind, to
discipline of the Friends began to assume a more remain in silence, unless we should be favoured with
definite and fixed character ; a result, for which they
result, for which they the qualification and command for vocal language, in
were chiefly indebted to the wisdom of their founder. preaching, prayer, or praise.
Fox commenced at an early period to establish meet- “God is a Spirit, and can be approached only by
ings for discipline, and the first objects to which spirit. Hence vocal sound is not necessary to con-
the attention of these meetings was directed, were vey to him the desires, which his own Divine in-
the care of the poor and destitute; the manner of fluence has raised in our hearts. Language is only
accomplishing marriages; the registry of births and necessary to convey sentiments from man to man.
deaths; the education and apprenticing of children ; Our Father, who seeth in secret, and who knows what
the granting of suitable certificates of unity and ap- we need before we ask him, and who enables us, by the
probation to ministers who travelled abroad; and help of his own Divine influence, to make interces-
the preservation of an account of the sufferings to sion according to his will—sees, hears, and knows
which the Friends were subjected in maintaining what thus passes in the secret of the heart, without
their religious principles.
the intervention of words.
It must be quite obvious, even to the most " When a number of individuals thus sit down, in
superficial thinker, that the peculiar doctrinal solemn silence, waiting upon God—their minds be-
views of the Friends cannot fail to affect materially ing abstracted from all inferior objects, and their
the whole practical arrangements of the body. spirits engaged in exercise for the arising of the
Thus the all-importance attached to the teaching Word of Life, a spiritual communion is felt, and
of the Holy Spirit leads them to reject a minis- they are mutually helpful to each other. The hea-
try specially trained for the office, and to regard venly virtue and solemnity is felt to flow as from
every one, whether male or female, on whom | vessel to vessel. For when a meeting is thus ga-
that country
928
FRIENDS (SOCIETY OF).
1
thered in the name and power of Christ, he is often their opinions, they are stiongly opposed to the en-
pleased to appear among them in great glory, re- dowment of any religious denomination by the State.
vealed to that perception and quickened understand- The Friends look upon the Sabbath as a day spe-
ing, which is the effect of his own Divine work in cially set apart for religious duties, and inculcate its
their hearts. All this may be effected, though there observance both by public and private worship; and
may not have been a word spoken in the meeting. while they regard every day as alike holy, they gladly
“There is, in silent worship, something so beauti- avail themselves of the opportunity of setting apart
ful, so sublime, so consistent with the relation in one day in seven, in common with other Christians,
which we stand to God, that it appears strange there for the public worship of God. The Pagan names
should exist a single doubt of its propriety." which custom has imposed upon days and months,
In the view of the Friends, outward ceremonies are rejected by the Friends, who substitute “first
are not only useless, in a strictly spiritual religion, day” for Sunday, “second day" for Monday; and in
but they are absolutely injurious, withdrawing the the same way they use “ first month” for January,
mind from that pure abstracted communion with “second month" for February, and so forth.
God which forms the very essence of acceptable de- To administer discipline and arrange the affairs of
votion. Hence they reject baptism in the outward the Society, the Friends have monthly, quarterly,
dispensation of it, admitting only the baptism of the and yearly meetings. The females have a similar
Holy Ghost. They reject also the outward obser- series of meetings, not however to exercise disci-
vance of the Lord's Supper, believing that its true pline, but simply for mutual edification. Every
object is accomplished by the inward communion of child of a member is, in virtue of his descent, entitled
the soul with God. On the same ground, namely, to all the privileges of the Society. Marriage is
that religion is purely spiritual in its character, they regarded as a Divine ordinance, but they view the
reckon it proper to avoid the observance of all fasts interference of a priest in the matter as uncalled
or festivals of a sacred kind, all outward adorning of for, holding a human priesthood to be abrogated
churches, and the use of music in worship, whether under the gospel. The monthly meetings consist
of a vocal or instrumental character.
of all the congregations within a limited circuit, and
From the constancy with which they dwell on the the objects for which they assemble are various,
necessity of the illumination of the Spirit, and their chiefly having a reference to the admission of new
depreciation of the outward means of grace, the members, the granting of certificates to those who
Friends have sometimes been charged with a want of are changing their place of residence, the exercise of
sufficient reverence for the-written Word of God. discipline, and the election of elders to watch over
This, however, they uniformly deny, alleging that the ministry. Attention is also paid at these meet-
they hold the Bible in such veneration, that they obey ings to the making provision for poor members, and
its precepts to the very letter. Thus, in regard to securing education for their children. Quarterly
swearing, they literally "swear not at all,” even in a meetings are composed of several monthly meetings,
court of justice. “ Thou shalt not kill,” they strictly from which they receive regular reports of their pro-
and literally obey by refusing to become soldiers, or ceedings, while it is also their duty to hear appeals
to draw the sword even in self-defence; regarding from their decisions. The yearly meetings, again,
war as opposed to the whole spirit of the gospel. are composed of the quarterly meetings, or repre-
In obedience to the command of Christ, which they sentatives from them. These are the final courts of
interpret literally, they “call no man Master,
man Master,” | appeal, and they have the general superintendence of
and as Jesus said to his disciples, “Be ye not the whole Society in a particular country. Con-
called Rabbi,” they refuse to give or to take titles nected with the yearly meeting there is a meeting
of honour and respect of every kind, addressing every for sufferings, composed of ministers, elders, and
one, man and woman, by their plain Christian name, members chosen by the quarterly meetings. The
or by the simple expression, “Friend;" and they original design of this assembly was to make appli-
always use the singular pronoun," thou” and “thee," cation to government in behalf of those members of
instead of the customary plural “ you.” They re- the Society who were exposed to suffering and per-
main covered in the presence of the sovereign, in secution in the early history of the body. Its ob-
courts of law and in the church. Their dress is ject, however, is now completely changed, and it
simple, their mode of living temperate, their whole forms a standing committee appointed to watch over
deportment grave and sedate. They discountenance the whole concerns of the Society when the yearly
all frivolous amusements, or the reading of trifling meeting is not assembled. There are frequent meet-
productions. As they refuse remuneration for preach- ings, also, of preachers and elders for mutual consul-
ing the gospel among themselves, they decline to tation and advice. The Friends are not allowed to
contribute for the support of the ministers of other carry their disputes into the regular courts of law,
denominations. Hence they refuse to pay tithes or but are bound by the laws of the Society to submit
church-rates, preferring to allow their goods to be the matter to the arbitration of two or more of their
seized and sold by the public authorities for the pay- fellow-members.
ment of the tax. As the natural consequence of From the rise of the Society of Friends till the
belief of the latter, the Spirit unfolds to the under-
FRIENDS (SOCIETY OF).
929
Revolution in 1688 they were exposed to tlie most would seem naturally to follow, did the Friends not
severe and harassing persecutions, ostensibly because plainly assert their belief, that "the Scriptures form
they refused to take oaths, or to pay tithes, but in the only fit outward judge of controversies among
reality because of their nonconformist principles. Christians, and that whatever doctrine is contrary
Since the Revolution they have enjoyed the benefits to their testimony, may, therefore, be justly re-
of the Toleration Act. By enactments passed in the garded as false." The Society of Friends refuse
reign of William IV., their affirmations are accepted to give the Scriptures the title of the Word of
in courts of law instead of oaths, and by the abroga- God, reserving that title for Jesus Christ per-
tion of the Test Acts they have been rendered eligi- sonally, and the Holy Spirit, by which he oper-
ble to public offices. It would appear that since ates on the soul of the believer. They main-
1800, the Friends have been diminishing rather than tain, however, that the Holy Scriptures were
increasing in numbers, a state of matters which they given by inspiration of God, and that they are
themselves account for by the constant emigration of to be "reverently received, diligently read, and their
members to America, where the Friends. exist in commands faithfully obeyed.” Besides, it is true
large numbers. In 1800, the number of their meet- of the Friends that no body of Christians lend a
ing-houses in England amounted to 413, while the more efficient support to Bible Societies, or show
census in 1851 reports only 371, corresponding pro- greater zeal in diffusing the Scriptures all around
bably to not more than 20,000 members. In Scot- them.
land only six meeting-houses are reported, so that in The doctrine of Perceptible Guidance is another of
all likelihood there are not more than 1,000 persons those peculiar tenets maintained by the Friends,
belonging to the Society of Friends in the northern which has been keenly disputed by the seceding
parts of the island. Nearly twenty years ago a small party among them. To understand the precise mean-
secession from the body took place in Manchester, ing of this expression, we may simply quote the
which did not exceed the number of 200 members, statement of William Penn on the subject.
66 When
who assumed to themselves the name of Evangelical neither man,” says he, “nor Scriptures are near us,
Friends. This body was but short-lived, the place yet there continually attends us that Spirit of truth,
of worship which they built for themselves having, that immediately informs us of our thoughts, words,
in the course of a few years, been disposed of to an- and deeds, and gives us true directions what to do,
other Christian body, and the congregation scat- and what to leave undone. Is not this the rule of
tered.
life? If ye are led by the Spirit of God, then are
The controversy which agitated the Society for ye sons of God.” Now, it is an undoubted truth,
some time, and led to a partial secession, is usually that every Christian depends upon the influence of
known by the name of the Beacon controversy, and the Spirit of God for grace to discharge the duties
involved the three points of Immediate Revelation, and endure the trials of life. The only point in dis-
Perceptible Guidance, and Universal Saving Light. pute between the Friends and other Christian deno-
The seceding body argued, that the doctrine of the minations is, whether the grace by which the Chris-
Society of Friends, in regard to Immediate Revela- tian is guided be perceptible or not, and if percep-
tion, as being attested by consciousness alone, was a tible, whether it is capable of being distinguished in
virtual denial of the Inspired Word of God, as being our consciousness from the unassisted operation of
the only test of truth. In a certain sense, undoubt- our own thoughts. Even the Friends themselves,
edly, as Dr. Wardlaw very clearly shows, in his if we may take Mr. Garney as representing the sen-
'Friendly Letters to the Society of Friends, it is timents of his fellow-members, acknowledge that
admitted by Christians generally, that the Holy there is no infallible means of distinguishing between
Spirit imparts spiritual discernment to the soul, and the true guide and the false guide. If so, then
this spiritual discernment may, in a modified sense, how are we to know that the impulses which we
be called the revealing of Christ to the mind. But attribute to the Holy Spirit are not the dictates of
the grand difference between the general doctrine our own imagination. We are compelled to seek a
and that of the Friends is, that, in the belief of test external to ourselves, by which to try the two
the former, the Holy Spirit teaches no competing guides within the soul, and that test is no
than what is contained in the Bible, but in the other than the Holy Scriptures of truth. But it is
due to the Friends to state, that while they hold the
standing of believers, the great principles contain- doctrine of immediate spiritual guidance, they fully
ed in the Holy Scriptures, applying them to the recognize the divine authority of the Holy Scrip-
various exigencies and duties of life. This view tures. Bible classes are in some places held in
the Seceders regard as trenching on the authority which the young are carefully instructed in the doc-
of the inspired word. Such a doctrine, say they, trines and precepts of the Bible, the teachers being
excludes the Holy Scriptures from the place members of the Society of Friends.
which Protestant Christians uniformly assign to The last point which gave rise to the contro-
them, that of being the sole standard and rule of versy between the seceding party and the general
faith and obedience. And, indeed, this consequence Society of Friends was the Universality of Saving
more
I.
4 A
930
FRIENDS (SOCIETY OF) IN AMERICA.
1
7
Light or Grace, or in other words, the Arminian people. The spirit of persecution now burst forth
doctrine that Jesus Christ by his finished work upon in America with even greater virulence than in Eng-
the cross hath brought all men into a salvable state, land. The peaceable Friends were treated with the
so that, to use the words of Dr. Adam Clarke, “every most inhuman cruelty, and several of them were put
human soul may be saved, if it be not his own fault.” to death on the gallows. The New England Puri-
The doctrine held by the Friends on this subject is, tans exhibited a savage cruelty towards the perse-
that “independently of any outward information cuted strangers who had landed on their shores, such
whatever, every individual human creature may in as it is impossible to read without feelings of horror.
himself come to the virtual knowledge of the Sa- Some had their ears cut off, others their tongues
viour.” In some of the earlier writings of Friends, bored through with a hot iron, others were stripped
a few unguarded expressions occur, such as “Saving naked and publicly whipped, many were heavily
Light,” and “the Christ within,” which are seldom fined, many were imprisoned, and many more were
if ever to be found in the writings of Friends at the doomed to perpetual exile.
present day. These, however, have doubtless given Mr. Marsden, in his Christian Churches and Sects,
rise to much misunderstanding on the part of those gives a lively picture of the last hours of some of
who are not intimately acquainted with the doctrines the martyrs of this bloody period in New England:
of the body. And this circumstance alone may ac- “The first victims who sealed their testimony with
count for the controversy on the three peculiar doc- their blood were William Robinson, a merchant of
trines, the maintenance of which by the Friends gave London, and Marmaduke Stephenson of Yorkshire,
rise some years ago to an extensive schism in the who, together with Mary Dyer, the wife of a respec-
body. No change, however, has taken place in either table colonist, were sentenced to the gallows in Oc-
the doctrines or discipline of the Society itself, but on tober, 1659. Robinson and Stephenson had been
the contrary, in the Minute of the London yearly banished under the law of the previous year; they
meeting in 1848, they plainly avow their determina- soon returned, and paid the forfeit of their lives.
tion to “uphold their ancient standard of faith and Mary Dyer was reprieved after the halter had been
practice in all its fulness, spirituality, and simplicity.” put about her neck; for it appears that these cruel-
FRIENDS (SOCIETY OF) IN AMERICA. The ties disgusted many of the colonists, and that Endi-
origin of this sect in America is due to the violent cot, struggling between a sense of shame, and the
persecutions which the Friends were called upon to impulses of fanaticism, was disposed, upon the whole,
endure in England in the early period of their his- to spare her life. She was conveyed on horseback,
tory. About ten years after George Fox had first attended by four guards, to Rhode Island; in the
promulgated his peculiar opinions, so large a band of spring she returned to Boston, and was immediately
followers had gathered round him, that both Church brought before Endicot, and condemned to die the
and State began to dread the new sect which had next day. She was led through the town, guarded
arisen, and was daily growing in numbers and in in- with a troop of soldiers, the drums beating all the
fluence. They were Nonconformists of a peculiar way, to drown her voice, had she attempted to ad-
kind, more stern and unyielding than any that had dress the people. She was again beneath the gal-
yet appeared. They refused to pay tithes, believing lows, when a reprieve was offered if she would pro-
that their doing so would be on their part a virtual mise to return into banishment. “In obedience to
recognition of an unchristian system. No wonder the will of the Lord I came,' she said, “and in his
that in the intolerant reign of the Second Charles, will I abide faithful unto death.' She was told that
these earnest men should call down upon them the she was guilty of her own blood, to which she made
vengeance of Laud and the Star Chamber. In the face answer thus: “Nay; I came to keep bloodguiltiness
of the most cruel persecution, the followers of Fox from you, desiring you to repeal the unrighteous and
were steady and persevering in their proclamation of unjust law of banishment under pain of death, made
what they believed to be the truth of God. The re- against the innocent servants of the Lord; therefore,
sult was, that thousands were imprisoned and their my blood will be required at your hands who wil-
goods confiscated, while some, wearied and worn out fully do it; but for those who do it in the simplicity
with grinding oppression, sought a home on a foreign of their hearts, I desire the Lord to forgive them. I
shore. Of these, two female Friends, Mary Fisher came to do the will of my Father, and in obedience
and Ann Austin, sailed for America. They reached to His will I stand, even to death.' Thus Mary
the port of Boston in July 1656, and their arrival Dyer bore her last testimony to the two great
roused the inhabitants of the town to such fury that Quaker doctrines of implicit submission to the guid-
the poor unoffending women were not suffered to ance of the inward light, and of passive quietude in
land, but compelled to return in the same ship to suffering without wrath and almost without remon-
England. The most stringent enactments were strance.
passed against the introduction of Friends into the “We might give a frightful catalogue of men and
colony. All however was ineffectual, numbers found women whipped from town to town, through the
their way into the town of Boston, and their princi- New England States; but it is enough to show the
ples were embraced by a considerable number of the I discipline through which Quakerism passed in its in-
FRIENDS OF GOD.
931
fancy, and the character of the age in which it was | Happily for the persecuted Quakers, Governor En-
cradled so roughly. The people of England and the dicot died the next year. One of his last acts, in
Parliament were shocked; and Endicot and his defiance of the crown, was the flogging of a Quaker."
friends felt it necessary to send home an apology for It was with such a baptism of blood that the Society
their cruelties, and to vindicate themselves,' as they of Friends in America commenced its career. The
say, “from the clamorous accusations of severity.' principles of the body, however, continued to spread
They advance no extenuation, except the necessity with the most amazing rapidity. In 1682, a large
of providing for their own security against the im- accession was made to their numbers by the arrival
petuous, frantic fury of the Quakers—the impetuous, of William Penn from England, who, having bad an
frantic fury, to wit, of Mary Dyer !
extensive tract of land made over to him by royal char-
“Other martyrs followed. In 1661 William Led- ter, planted the flourishing colony of Pennsylvania.
dra and Wenlock Christison thought fit to return In the first year of its settlement, nearly three thou-
from banishment, and were immediately imprisoned sand colonists arrived, and with various fluctuations,
in chains. When brought to trial, Leddra asked, the colony of Pennsylvania, with its large capital
reasonably enough, What evil have I done ?' The city Philadelphia, which contains about half a mil-
court answered, that his own confession was as good lion of inhabitants, continues to be the chief seat of
as a thousand witnesses; that he maintained the the Friends in America. In Indiana, the number of
innocence of the Quakers who had been put to death; | Friends amounts to about 40,000. The youth of the
and, moreover, that he kept his hat on in court; and New England Friends, Dr. Schaff informs us, desert
that he said thee and thou. Will you put me to | largely either to the Episcopal church or to the in-
death,' said he, 'for speaking English, and for not different world.
taking off my clothes ?' 'A man,' replied the The Friends in America are calculated to amount
court, ‘may speak treason in English.' 'And is it to nearly 200,000. As a body they are orthodox
treason,' he rejoined, 'to say thee and thou to a doctrine, and firmly cleave to the Bible and
single person ?' He received no answer; but ten the original doctrine and discipline of the sect;
days afterwards he was hanged, exclaiming, “I com- but a small party, named from their founder, Elias
mit my righteous cause to thee, O God.' Christison Hicks, HICKSITES (which see), having departed
was asked upon his trial by Endicot the governor, from the truth, separated from the main body in
'What dost thou here?' 'I am come here,' said the 1827. They hold Unitarian and rationalistic opi-
prisoner, 'to warn you that you shed no more inno- nions in reference to the divinity of Christ, and
cent blood, for the blood which you have shed al- identify the inward light with natural reason. The
ready cries to the Lord God for vengeance to come Hicksite Friends are among the most strenuous
upon you.' Whereupon it was said, "Take him
was said, "Take him advocates of abolitionism and female emancipa-
away, gaoler.' He was brought up again, and tried tion. A class of American Quakers, contrary to the
by a jury, for the colonists now began to fear the general views of the Friends, who condemn all war
opinion of the mother-country; he was brought in as unlawful, joined in the Revolutionary War, and
guilty, protesting manfully against the iniquity of hence received the name of “the Fighting Quakers.”
their proceedings. "I appeal,' said he, to the laws At an early period, immediately after the death of
of
my own nation; I never heard or read of any law Fox, which occurred in 1691, George Keith, one
in England to hang Quakers !' His courage saved of the most learned members of the Society, who
his life : in a few days, Wenlock and twenty-seven had settled in Pennsylvania, became involved in a
of his friends were set at liberty. Wenlock treated controversy with his brethren on the human nature
his judges with contempt. What means this ?' of Christ, which terminated in 1695 in his expulsion
said he, “ have you a new law, that I am to be set at from the body with his adherents. This gave rise
liberty?' "Yes,' said they. Then,' he replied,
“Then,' he replied, to a sect called after their founder KEITHIANS
'you have deceived most people. “How so?' said (which see).
they. Because they thought the gallows had been FRIENDS OF GOD, Christian societies which
your last weapon. Two of the company, Peter were formed in the south and west of Germany, as
Pearson and Judith Brown, as some atonement for early as the thirteenth century, and continued on-
the wounded honour of the magistrates, were strip- wards gradually preparing the way for the Reforma-
ped to the waist, fastened to a cart's-tail, and whip- tion in the sixteenth century. These societies had
ped through the town of Boston. Soon afterwards their principal seats in Strasburg, Basle, Cologne,
an order arrived from Charles II., who was now and Nuremberg. The name by which they were
l'estored, dated the 9th of December, 1661, com- known, Friends of God, was not intended to desig..
manding Endicot to desist from further proceed- nate an exclusive party or sect, but simply to denote
ings against the Quakers; whatever their offence, that the members had reached that stage of spiritual
and whether they had been condemned or not, they life at which they were actuated by disinterested
were to be sent over to England, together with the love to God, such as they considered was indicated
respective crimes and offences laid to their charge, by the words of our blessed Lord in "John xv. 15,
and tried according to the laws of the land at home: “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant
932
FRIENDS OF GOD.
knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called and supposed meritoriousness of good works. They
you
friends ; for all things that I have heard of my pointed constantly from external things to the more
Father I have made known unto you.” One of the hidden depths of the religious life. Thus Tauler, in
Friends of God, the Dominican John Tauler, thus a sermon where he compares many prelates of his
comments on this passage, “The "henceforth' was time with blind leaders of the blind, after having
from the time they forsook all and followed him; spoken of the several gradations of spiritual supe-
then they were his friends and no longer servants." | riors, from the pope downwards, remarks : Were
The characteristic features of the Friends of God as they all disposed to treat me ill, to be wolves to me,
they were exhibited in practical life are thus noted and snap at me, I am still to lay myself in true re-
by Neander: “From the number of these Friends of signation and submissiveness humbly at their feet,
God came those monks and ecclesiastics who took and to do it without murmur or gainsaying.' The
the liveliest interest in the spiritual guidance of the same preacher says: 'Behold, for this, have all works
laity, preached in the German language, and laboured been invented and devised, with good exercises of
not merely to educate the laity to orthodox think- virtue, such as prayer, reading, singing, fasting,
ing, to the devotional exercises of the church, to watching, and kneeling, and whatever other virtuous
mortifications, and to various kinds of good works, exercises there may be, that the man may be occu-
but to lead them forward to a deeper experience of pied therewith and kept away from foreign, unsuit-
Christianity, to a truly divine life according to their able, ungodly things. Know, that shouldst thou
own understanding of it. Great and striking was let thyself be stabbed a thousand times a-day, and
the difference between the common preachers who come to life again; shouldst thou let thyself be
were eager to display their own acuteness and learn- strung to a wheel, and eat thorns and stones; with all
ing, who amused the people with tales and legends, this, thou couldst not overcome sin of thyself. But
warned them only against the grosser sins, and re- sink thyself into the deep, unfathomable mercy of
commended almsgiving and donations to the church, God, with a humble, submissive will, under God and
and these preachers belonging to the Friends of all creatures, and know that then alone Christ would
God, who entered profoundly into the internal reli- give it thee, out of his great kindness, and free good-
gious life, and sought to trace sanctification back to
ness, and love, and compassion.””
a hidden life in God as its inmost ground. Great The Friends of God exercised a powerful influence
aud striking the difference between those who had
over the laity, not only by their preaching and at-
no other object in view than to work on the imagi- tention to common pastoral duties, but by acting as
nation by descriptions of hell and of purgatory, and
confessors and guides, urging upon those who sub-
thus to frighten men from sin or drive them to pur- mitted to them the duty of following their instruc-
chase indulgences, and those men who pointed be- tions as if they heard a voice from heaven. It often
yond fear and the hope of reward, to the love of happened, accordingly, that priests adopted as con-
God which could desire no higher portion than Him- fessors laymen whom they might happen to regard
self! From the number of these Friends of God as more advanced than they in the Divine life. Thus
came those priests, who, scorning to be troubled by we find a layman, A. D. 1340, impelled by a thrice-
the common scruples during the time of the papal repeated vision, travelling to Strasburg that he might
interdict and amidst the ravages of the Black Death, further enlighten John Tauler, who at that time was
bestowed the consolations of religion on the forsaken considered one of the most distinguished preachers
,
people. They put forth from Strasburg, a letter ad- and after hearing from him a sermon on Christian
dressed to the collective body of the clergy, arguing perfection, the lay-stranger plainly told him that he
to show the injustice and wrong of leaving the poor considered him a mere man of books and a Pharisee.
ignorant people to die under the ban. Thus Tauler So deeply was the mind of Tauler impressed with
in Strasburg, without fear of the black vomit, which what this layman told him, that he chose him as the
carried off many of the clergy, laboured incessantly Friend of God, who was to be his guide, and sub-
during the interdict for the welfare of the people. mitted himself wholly for a time to his directions.
These Friends of God could pursue their work with The layman, who thus became the confessor of a
the less opposition because they recognized in all the priest, was Nicholas of Basle, a man of great influ-
standing regulations of the church the divine ap-
ence in his day, and who, belonging to the ancient
pointment; because they followed the principle of church of the Waldenses, devoted himself to the
passive obedience, where it did not directly contra- work of introducing a more experimental Christianity.
dict the demands of their own consciences, and And in this respect he had a great advantage over
strictly submitted to their ecclesiastical superiors. the other Friends of God, not being fettered by the
They recommended the conscientious discharge of enslaving tendencies of the ritualism of Rome.
all duties required by the church laws, looked upon Nicholas continued through a long life to propagate
every outward exercise of religion prescribed by the the pure gospel both in Germany and France, but at
church as a preparation for a higher stage of spiritual length in his old age he was arrested at Vienna by
perfection; and yet they knew how to warn men at the Inquisition, and burned as a heretic at the stake.
the same time against all externalization of religion It was scarcely to be expected that in an age when
FRIGGÅ-FUNERAL RITES.
933
1
men were simply groping after the light, there should | ism; or against the Father, forming Pantheistic
have existed no differences of opinion among the Realism; or against the Son, a form of heresy which
members of societies so numerous and wide-spread Ullmann proposes to call Panchristismus; or gener-
as the Friends of God. The fundamental idea of ally against God and the church, constituting. pure
their teaching was, that men ought to long after Nihilism. The first forın of heresy consisted in
union with God, and while the due subordination of their placing themselves above the Holy Spirit, and
the creature to the Creator was kept in view, as well in claining a perfect identity with the absolute
as the infinite distance of sinful man from a holy which reposes in itself, and is without act or opera-
God, there was little danger of such an idea leading | tion. The second form consisted in placing them-
to heresy. But when man began to throw aside his be- selves simply and directly on an equality with God,
coming humility, and to exalt and even deify himself, | considering themselves as by nature God, and hav-
the consequence was, the gradual introduction of a ing come into existence by their own free will. The
fanatical pantheism, opposed to all positive revela- third form consisted in putting themselves upon a
tion, to everything supernatural, to every intimation level with Christ, both according to his divine and
of a God above the world. Thus there arose in these human natures. The last form of heresy consisted
Christian societies, in course of time, two parties in setting themselves on a level with the absolute
widely differing from each other, a Theistic and a nullity, having wholly lost themselves, and having
Pantheistic party, the first considering it necessary | become that, nullity which they believed God to be.
to unite the contemplative with the practical in ac- The spirit of Pantheistic mysticism in the different
tual life, the intuitive absorption in God with active forms thus referred to, in process of time pervaded
love; while the other regarded it as the highest per- extensively the affiliated societies of the Friends of
fection to attain a pantheistic quietism that despised God. But by the strenuous efforts of Ruysbrock a
all active labour. The writings of Eckhart afford more correct mode of thinking began to manifest
examples of the latter teaching; the writings of itself, along with an earnest desire for practical re-
Rúysbrock, and Tauler of the former. The pan- form. These two tendencies were combined in the
theism of Eckhart is displayed in such propositions teaching of Ruysbrock, and by his influence and in-
as these : “We are transformed wholly into God, structions he was the instrument of giving John
and transformed into him in the same way as, in the Tauler to Germany, and Gerhard Groot to the Ne-
sacrament, the bread is transformed into the body of therlands, both of whom originated brotherhoods or
Christ. I become thus transformed into him, be- societies inore pure in doctrine and more practical
cause it is lie himself who brings it about that I am in their spirit than the Friends of God. We re-
his. All that the Father gave to his Son when born fer to the Brethren, of the Common Lot, the Brethren
into human nature, all this he has given to me; I of the Free Spirit, and similar institutions, which
except nothing here, neither unity nor holiness; but tended powerfully to train the public mind to more
he has given all to me as to himself. All that the correct views of Divine truth, and thus operated as
holy Scriptures say of Christ, is true also of every useful forerunners of the Reformation.
good and godlike man. Everything that belongs to FRIGGA, the principal goddess among the an-
the divine essence, belongs also to the godly and cient Scandinavians. She is supposed to have been
righteous man; therefore such a person does all that the Earth, which many ancient nations worshipped,
God does, and with God created the heavens and calling her Mother Earth, and the Mother of the
the earth, and is a begetter of the eternal Word, and Gods. Frigga was the daughter of Fjörgyn, and as
God can do nothing without such a person. The the wife of Odin, the Alfadir or All-Father, they
good man must make his own will so identical with and their offspring form the race that are called the
God's will as to will all that God wills; because | Æsir, a race that dwelt in Asgard the old, and the
God, in a certain sense, wills that I should have regions around it. Frigga was at once the daughter
sinned, I ought not to wish that I had not sinned.” and the wife of Odin. Their firstborn son was Asa-
In the view of these Pantheists the great thing was Thor, who is endowed with strength and valour, and
God in the mind or consciousness of man. They therefore hath power over everything that hath life.
imagined the creatures to be in themselves nothing; Frigga has a magnificent mansion in Asgard called
God the true being, the real substance of all things. Fensalir.
Against such erroneous mystics Ruysbrock earnestly FUNERAL RITES. It seems to have been the
contended. “No doubt they reckon themselves," custom of the Hebrews at a very early period to
şays he, “very wise and holy; but as they have not bury their dead a few days after the vital spark had
been baptized with the Divine Spirit and true love, fled, as it was inconvenient to keep a dead body long
they do not find God and his kingdom, but only unburied, any one who touched it being by the Levi-
their own essence, and a formless repose in which, as tical law ceremonially unclean, and consequently de-
they fancy, they enjoy felicity." Their radical error prived of spiritual privileges, as well as cut off from
Ruysbrock viewed as developing itself in a fourfold all intercourse with friends and neighbours. During
form, either as directed against the Holy Ghost, their sojourn in Egypt the Hebrews deferred burial,
constituting what may be termed Pantheistic Quiet. ) and it was probably in reference to this practice that
934
FUNERAL RITES.
Moses extended the period of uncleanness contracted honour could be shown to any of their monarchs
from a dead body to seven days, that the people than to exclude him from this privileged resting-
might be induced to hasten the interment of their place.
dead. The Jews used no coffin for the burial of the The modern Jews, instead of close coffins use four
dead, but simply a bier or narrow bed, consisting of a plain boards loosely joined together; and the Rab-
plain wooden frame on which the body was placed, bies say that the bottom should only consist of laths,
and thus carried by bearers to the tomb. In 2 Chron. in order that the worms may destroy the body the
xvi. 14, it is said of the bier or bed in which king sooner, for according to Rabbi Isaac, “A worm in a
Asa was laid after his death, “And they buried him dead body is as painful as a needle in a living one.
in his own sepulchres, which he had made for him- When the corpse is laid within the four plain boards,
self in the city of David, and laid him in the bed there is put over the other sepulchral garments the
which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds Talleth or square garment with fringes, which the
of spices prepared by the apothecaries' art: and deceased had been accustomed to wear in the syna-
they made a very great burning for him.' The cof- gogue. The funeral rites are thus described by Mr.
fin was not used except in Babylon or Egypt. Allen in his · Modern Judaism :' “When the body
Funeral processions among the ancient Orientals is carried to the place of interment, the coffin is
were often on a grand scale, more especially when opened; and some earth, supposed to have been
the deceased was a person of high rank. Thus we brought from Jerusalem, is placed under the head in
read an account of the funeral of Jacob in Gen. 1. a small bag, or strewed about the body, as a preser-
749, “ And Joseph went up to bury his father : and vative. The relations and friends of the deceased
with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the then approach the corpse, one after another, holding
elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of one of his great toes in each hand, and imploring
Egypt, and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, him to pardon all the offences they had committed
and his father's house : only their little ones, and against him in his life-time, and not to report evil
their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of against them in the other world : and the nearest
Goshen. And there went up with him both chariots relations have their garments rent.
and horsemen: and it was a very great company." “ Among the Jews in some countries, it is cus-
At the funeral of persons of inferior rank, the corpse tomary, after the coffin has been nailed up, for ten
was followed to the grave by the friends of the de- men to walk in solemn procession round it seven
ceased, and also by mourners hired for the occasion. times; repeating at the same time, prayers for the
It appears to have been customary among many an- soul of the deceased : but this custom is not uni-
cient nations to throw pieces of gold and silver along versal.
with other precious articles into the grave immedi- “When the coffin is placed in the ground, each
ately after the body was deposited there. In very of the relations throws some earth upon it; and as
early times the dead were buried in caverns; afterwards soon as the grave is filled, the persons who have con-
the more humble classes were laid in holes dug in ducted the interment, all run away as fast as possible,
the earth, while the more wealthy were deposited in lest they should hear the knock of the angel
, who is
subterraneous recesses, either natural or artificial. supposed to come and knock upon the coffin, saying
The entrance into these latter burying-places was by in Hebrew: Wicked! wicked! what is thy Pasuk?"
a descent of a number of steps which led to several See DEAD (BEATING THE).
apartments. The bodies were laid in niches in the “When the relations return from the funeral,
walls. The portals of these tombs were kept care- they all sit down upon the floor, and a chair is placed
fully closed, and the doors were painted white on the before them, with eggs boiled hard, a little salt, and
last month of every year, the month Adar, probably a small loaf; a small portion of which is eaten by
in order to prevent those who came to the passover each of them, in order to break the fast which they
from touching them, and thereby being rendered profess to have kept from the moment of the de-
ceremonially unclean. To secure a family burying- cease: and ten Jews who have passed the age of
place was regarded among the Jews as a matter of thirteen, repeat prayers for the dead morning and
great importance, and accordingly, a minute account evening; and at the close of these prayers, the sons
is given in the Book of Genesis of the purchase by of the deceased, or his nearest male relatives, repeat
Abraham of a sepulchre from the sons of Heth. To the Kodesh,-a prayer which is considered as having
be deprived of burial was accounted one of the hea- sufficient efficacy to deliver the deceased from hell."
viest of calamities, and it is denounced against Jeze. It is a current belief among the modern Jews,
bel as a punishment for her crimes. The family that the final resurrection will take place in Canaan,
tombs of the Jews were generally near their houses, and that those who are buried in other countries will
and often in their gardens. Such was the case with be rolled through subterranean caverns till they
the sepulchre belonging to Joseph of Arimathea, in reach that sacred country. One of the greatest ob-
which the body of our blessed Lord was laid. There jects of ambition, therefore, with every Israelite is
,
seems to have existed at Jerusalem a separate bury- that if at all practicable he may draw his last breath in
ing-place for the Jewish kings, and no greater dis- the land of Palestine; and it is not unusual for those
1
FUNERAL RITES.
935
who have it in their power, to resort thither in their of bells the trumpet and wooden clappers were used
old age, with the view of dying on the sacred soil, and for similar purposes.
thus sparing themselves the long journey after death, " Palms and olive branches were carried in funeral
which, as they imagine, they would otherwise be processions for the first time in the fourth century,
compelled to undertake. When the modern Jews, in imitation of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusa-
in the case of a burial, reach the place of interment, lem. The cypress was rejected because it was a
a speech is addressed to the dead in such terms as symbol of mourning. The carrying of burning lamps
these, “Blessed be God, who has formed thee, fed and tapers was earlier and more general. This was
thee, maintained thee, and taken away thy life. O festive representation of the triumph of the de-
Dead! he knows your number, and shall one day re- ceased over death, and of his union with Christ, as
store your life. Blessed be he that takes away life in the festival of the Lamb in the Apocalypse. The
and restores it.'
Christians repudiated the custom of crowning the
At the first introduction of Christianity, the cus- corpse and the coffin with garlands, as savouring of
tom of burning the dead prevailed throughout the idolatry. But it was usual with them to strew flowers
whole Roman Empire, but the early Christians pro- upon the grave.
tested against this custom, and manifested a decided Psalms and hymns were sung while the corpse
preference for the practice of burying the dead after was kept, while it was carried in procession, and
the example of the Jews. They had at first no se- around the grave. Notices of this custom are found
parate burial-places, but laid their dead in the public in several authors. These anthems were altogether
places of interment, which, according to both Jewish of a joyful character. But Bingham has well re-
and Roman laws, were situated outside the cities. It marked, that we cannot expect to find much of this
was not until the fourth century that an open space in the first ages, while the Christians were in a state
around the church was selected by the Christians as of persecution ; but as soon as their peaceable times
a place appropriated for the burial, first of the clergy, were come, we find it in every writer. The author
and afterwards of the members of the church. The of the Apostolical Constitutions gives this direction,
practice of consecrating burying-grounds was not that they should carry forth their dead with singing,
introduced before the sixth century. The dead be- | if they were faithful. "For precious in the sight of
gan to be interred within the walls of churches so the Lord is the death of his saints;" and again it is
late as the ninth century. See CEMETERY. Places said, “ Return to thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord
of interment among the early Christians were often hath rewarded thee. And the memory of the just
styled sleeping places, the death of believers being shall be blessed: and the souls of the just are in the
considered as a falling asleep in the Lord. The church hand of the Lord." These, probably, were some of
did not approve of separate family sepulchres, but the versicles which made up their psalmody on such
preferred that all the brethren should rest together occasions. For Chrysostom, speaking of this matter,
in one common place of interment. In times of per- not only tells us the reason of their psalmody, but
secution the Christians were wont to bury their dead also what particular psalms or portions of them they
by night, and with the utmost secrecy. But in times made use of for this solemnity. 66 What mean our
of peace, as under Constantine and his sons, the hymns ?” says he; “ do we not glorify God and give
funerals of Christians took place by day, and with no him thanks that he hath crowned him that is de-
small pomp and ceremony. Under Julian the Apos- parted, that he hath delivered him from trouble, that
tate, the practice of burying under cloud of night he hath set him free from all fear? Consider what
was restored by law.
thou singest at that time, Turn again unto thy rest,
The following detailed account of the funeral rites O my soul, for the Lord hath rewarded thee. And
of the primitive Christians is given by Mr. Coleman again ; I will fear no evil, because thou art with me.
in his Christian Antiquities :'“The body was borne And again ; Thou art my refuge from the affliction
on a bier in solemn procession to the burial-place, which compasseth me about. Consider what these
and followed by the relatives and friends of the de- psalms mean. If thou believest the things which
ceased as mourners, among whom the clergy and thou sayest to be true, why dost thou weep and la-
some others were reckoned. Besides these, many ment, and make a mere pageantry and mock of thy
others, as spectators, joined in the procession. These singing? If thou believest them not to be true, why
processions were sometimes so thronged as to occa dost thou play the hypocrite so much as to sing ?'
sion serious accidents, and even the loss of life. It He speaks this against those who used excessive
was the duty of the acolyths to conduct the proces- mourning at funerals, showing them the incongruity
sion. The bier was borne sometimes on the shoul- of that with this psalmody of the church.'
der, and sometimes by the hands. The nearest " Funeral prayers also constituted an appropriate
relations, or persons of rank and distinction, were part of the burial service of the dead.
the bearers. Even the bishops and clergy often offi-
6 Funeral orations were also delivered, commemo-
ciated in this capacity.
rative of the deceased. Several of these are still ex-
“The tolling of bells at funerals was introduced in tant, as that of Eusebius at the funeral of Constan-
the eighth and ninth centuries. Previous to the use tine; those of Ambrose on the deaths of Theodosius
936
FUNERAL RITES.
and Valentinian, and of his own brother Satyrus; | leave a jug of water on the top of the grave, and to
those of Gregory, and of Nazianzum upon his father, hang rags of different colours, as votive offerings on
his brother Cæsarius, and his sister Gorgonia. the branches of the trees. The last act of the funeral
“The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was admin- rites of the Moslems is a peculiar ceremony already
istered at funerals, and often at the grave itself. By noticed under the article DEAD (EXAMINATION OF
this rite it was intimated that the communion of THE). The Turks generally believe that the soul is
saints was still perpetuated between the living and in a state of torment after death, until the body has
the dead. It was a favourite idea that both still con- been deposited in the grave, and accordingly, their
tinued members of the same mystical body one and the funeral processions, instead of walking slowly and
same on earth and in heaven. This mode of celebrating solemnly along, march at a quick and lively pace.
the Supper was also an honourable testimony to the It is declared in the Koran, that he who carries a
faith of the deceased, and of his consistent Christian dead body forty paces, procures for himself the ex-
profession in life. The Roman Catholic superstition piation of a great sin.
of offerings and masses for the dead took its rise
Mr. Jowett, in his Christian Researches in Syria,
from this ancient usage of the church. Some time thus describes the funeral rites of the Montenegrins,
previous to the sixth and seventh centuries, it be- which resemble somewhat those of the Oriental na-
came customary to administer the elements to the tions: “The deceased person is laid out for twenty-
dead-to deposit a portion of the elements in the four hours, in the house where he expires, with the
coffin—to give a parting kiss of charity, and to con- face uncovered; and is perfumed with essences, and
clude the funeral solemnities with an entertainment strewed with flowers and aromatic leaves, after the
similar to the agapæ. Of these usages the first men- custom of the ancients. The lamentations are re-
tioned were speedily abolished, and the last was newed every moment, particularly on the arrival of
gradually discontinued. It was universally custom- a fresh person, and especially of the priest. Just
ary with Christians to deposit the corpse in the grave, before the defunct is carried out of the house, his
as in modern times, facing the east, and in the same relations whisper in his ear, and give him commis-
attitude as at the present day."
sions for the other world, to their departed relatives
Among the Mohammedans, the corpse is always or friends. After these singular addresses, a pall or
buried on the day of the decease, or about twelve winding-sheet is thrown over the dead person, whose
hours after it, the body having been previous to in- face continues uncovered, and he is carried to church;
terment carefully washed, wrapped in grave-clothes, while on the road thither, women, hired for the pur-
and placed on a bier covered over with a shawl, but pose, chant his praises amid their tears. Previously
it is not a Moslem custom to bury in coffins. The to depositing him in the ground, the next of kin ties
fumeral procession is headed by six or more poor a piece of cake to his neck, and puts a piece of money
men, generally blind, who march slowly along chant- in his hand, after the manner of the ancient Greeks.
ing in a mournful tone the Mussulman profession, | During this ceremony, as also while they are carry-
“There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his ing him to the burial-ground, a variety of apostro-
prophet.” Then follow the male relations of the de- phes is addressed to the defunct, which are inter-
ceased, along with two or more Dervishes carrying rupted only by mournful sobs, asking him why he
the flags of their order. Next in the procession come quitted them ? why he abandoned his family? he
a number of boys carrying a copy of the Koran, and whose poor wife loved him so tenderly, and provided
chanting aloud parts of a poem in reference to the everything for him to eat; whose children obeyed
events of the judgment day. Immediately after fol- him with such respect, while his friends succoured
lows the bier carried head foremost by the friends of him whenever he wanted assistance; who possessed
the deceased, and behind the bier walk the female such beautiful flocks, and all whose undertakings
mourners and wailing women shrieking loudly. The were blessed by Heaven.”
female relatives and friends have their heads bound
It is the peculiarity of Eastern funerals that me-
round with a strip of linen or muslin, usually blue, ditation and plaintive psalmody is more abundant
tied behind in a knot, and the ends hanging down a than the other services. Touching addresses are
few inches. Among the lower classes the mourning also given as it were from the dead to his surviving
women have frequently their faces, heads, and bosoms relatives, as well as lamentations over him in return,
covered with mud. In the cases of the funerals of as they bestow a parting kiss upon the clay-cold
the wealthy, the procession is sometimes preceded corpse. The custom is very prevalent among Chris-
by several camels carrying provisions which are to tians of the Greek church, of putting into the hands
be distributed to the poor at the tomb.
of the deceased at his interment a written form of
The bier is first taken to the mosque where the absolution, which is understood to be a discharge in
service for the dead is read, at the close of which the full from all the sins which he has committed during
procession is again formed, and marches slowly to life. The funeral rites observed in the Russo-Greek
the burial ground, where the body is taken out and Church are thus described by Dr. Pinkerton: “ As
laid in the vault or grave, with the face turned to- soon as a Russian dies, the corpse is immediately
wards Mecca. It is not an infrequent custom to washed with lukewarm water; the members of the
FUNERAL RITES.
937
body are all placed in their natural position, the eye- | be presented to this warrior god, have been found in
lids and lips carefully closed, his best wearing appa- his tomb. They did in reality firinly believe, and
rel is put on, and the body is placed upon a bier, Odin himself had assured them, that whatever was
in an empty room among the rich, and below the buried or consumed with the dead, accompanied them
sacred pictures in the huts of the poor. The Psalms to his palace. The poorer people, from the same
are read over it night and day, until it is removed to persuasion, carried at least their most necessary
the church on the day of interment, accompanied by utensils and a little money, not to be entirely desti-
the clergy, carrying pictures of the saints in their tute in the other world. From a like motive, the
liands, and by the nearest friends, and a chorus of Greeks and Romans put a piece of silver into the
singers, who chant psalms as the procession moves dead man's mouth, to pay his passage over the Styx.
slowly along the streets. 'It is still the practice The Laplanders to this day provide their dead with
among all ranks, but especially of the lower, to weep a flint and every thing necessary for lighting them
and make loud lamentations over their dead, utter- along the dark passage they have to traverse after
ing unconnected sentences in their praise. During | death."
the funeral procession, their excess of grief frequently Among the Chinese the funeral rites are of a very
discovers itself in this way. But to hire mourners peculiar description. As soon as an individual dies,
for the express purpose of acting a part on such oc- his body is enclosed in an air-tight coffin, and kept
casions, is not usual in Great Russia; and in Little for seven weeks in the house, in the course of which
Russia, this mode of publicly expressing grief is time, every fourth day is devoted to special funeral
nearly done away with.' At the church, the burial- ceremonies. Food is offered to the dead body, the
service (some parts of which are most pathetic and essence of which it is supposed to eat, and prayers are
beautiful) is read over the body, after which the re- put up by Budhist and Tauist priests for the happi-
latives and friends embrace the corpse, and, asking ness of their spirits.
ness of their spirits. Women are the principal
forgiveness, (as they express themselves,) take their
mourners among the Chinese, and it is often a most
last farewell. During the whole ceremony and ser- affecting sight to see them kneeling and howling in
vice, the countenance is uncovered, and the head lonely burial-grounds, by the graves of their hus-
decorated with a crown made of gilt paper, or some bands and children. Their places of burial are in
more costly material, according to the condition of barren hills and mountain sides, but sometimes vaults
the deceased. At the shutting of the coffin, that are preferred: great numbers of dead bodies are
which has been ridiculously styled the passport, after placed in plank coffins, and retained above ground
being read over the corpse by the officiating priest, for many years. The deceased members of the same
is put into the hand of the deceased.”
family may sometimes be seen laid side by side in
The ancient Northern nations were accustomed to open sheds to the amount of fifteen or twenty. The
buin their dead, a practice which was followed also Budhist priests burn the bodies of their dead and
by the ancient Britons, after which the ashes of the place them in common vaults.
deceased were carefully collected and deposited in The Japanese either burn or bury the corpse ac-
hilly mounds, which are called BARROWS (which see). cording to the wish of the person, which is usually ex-
Sometimes, however, the relics were placed in a chest, pressed on his death-bed. Of the funeral ceremonies
and in a later age in a funeral urn; but the custom of observed at Nagasaki, Titsingh, an old writer, gives
burying the dead had begun to be practised by the the following account: “The body, after being care-
Anglo-Saxons when their history was first written by fully washed by a favourite servant, and the head
the Christian clergy, and was never afterwards dis- shaved, is clothed according to the state of the wea-
continued. The ordinary coffins were of wood, and ther, and (if a female, in her best apparel) exactly as
the superior ones of stone. Kings were interred in in life, except that the sash is tied, not in a bow, but
stone coffins, their bodies being wrapped in linen, but strongly fastened with two knots, to indicate that it
the clergy were dressed in their priestly vestments. is never more to be loosed. The body is then cov-
“When a hero or chief,” as Mallet informs us in his ered with a piece of linen, folded in a peculiar man-
Northern Antiquities, "fell gloriously in battle, his ner, and is placed on a mat in the middle of the hall,
funeral obsequies were honoured with all possible the head to the north. Food is offered to it, and all
magnificence. His arms, his gold and silver, his the family lament.
war-horse, and whatever else he held most dear, were “ After being kept for forty-eight hours, the body
placed with him on the pile. His dependants and is placed on its knees in a tub-shaped coffin, which
friends frequently made it a point of honour to die is enclosed in a square, oblong box, or bier, the top
with their leader, in order to attend on his shade in of which is roof-shaped, called quan. Two ifays are
the palace of Odin. Nothing, in fact, seemed to also prepared-wooden tablets of a peculiar shape
them more grand and noble than to enter Valhalla and fashion, containing inscriptions commemorative
with a numerous retinue, all in their finest armour of the deceased, the time of his decease, and the
and richest apparel. The princes and nobles never name given to him since that event.
failed of such attendants. His arms, and the bones “The ifays and quan, followed by the eldest son
of the horse on which Chilperic I. supposed he should | and the family, servants, friends and acquaintances,
938
FUNERAL RITES.
are borne in a procession, with flags, lanterns, &c. to are laid in the coffin, or by its side, to be taken to
one of the neighbouring temples, whence, after cer- the grave. Most of the men are expected to bring
tain ceremonies, in which the priests take a leading with them a good supply of powder, and testify
part, they are carried, by the relatives only, to the their respect for the dead by the number of times
grave, where a priest, while waiting their arrival, they fire their guns in the open square, and the
repeats certain hymns. The moment they are come, amount of ammunition with which they are loaded.
the tub containing the body is taken out of the quan Sometimes fifty or a hundred men are discharging
and deposited in the grave, which is then filled with their muskets at the same time, not only stunning
earth and covered with a flat stone, which again is the ears of all around, but enveloping themselves so
covered with earth, and over the whole is placed the completely with the smoke as not to be seen except
quan and one of the ifays, which is removed at the by the flash from the fire-pan. The only precaution
end of seven weeks, to make room for the sisek, or observed, is merely to elevate the muzzles of their
grave-stone. If the deceased had preferred to be guns above the heads of those in the circus with
burnt, the quan is taken to the summit of one of two themselves.
neighbouring mountains, on the top of each of which “When these ceremonies are concluded, two per-
is a sort of furnace, prepared for this purpose, en- sons take up the coffin (which, among the Grebos, is
closed in a small hut. The coffin is then taken from usually a section of a canoe boxed up at the two
the quan, and, being placed in the furnace, a great ends) to carry it to the graveyard. Sometimes the
fire is kindled. The eldest son is provided with an dead refuses to leave the town, and the bearers are
earthen urn, in which first the bones and then the driven hither and thither by a power which they
ashes are put, after which the mouth of the urn is affect not to be able to withstand. They go for-
sealed up. While the body is burning, a priest re- ward for a few moments, and then are suddenly
cites hymns. The urn is then carried to the grave, whirled around, and carried back at the top of their
and deposited in it, and, the grave being filled up, speed. The head man of the family then approaches
the quan is placed over it.
the bier, and talks plaintively and soothingly to the
“The eldest son and his brothers are dressed in corpse—inquires why he is unwilling to go to the
white, in garments of undyed hempen stuff, as are the grave-yard—reminds him that many of his friends
bearers, and all females attending the funeral, whether | and kindred are already there, and assures him that
relatives or not; the others wear their usual dresses. every attention will be given by his surviving friends
The females are carried in norimons, behind the male to his future wants.
part of the procession, which proceeds on foot, the “ Under the influence of this persuasion, the re-
nearest relatives coming first. The eldest daughter straints which were imposed upon the bearers are
takes precedence of the wife. The eldest son and relaxed, and they set out once more to the place of
heir, whether by blood or adoption, who is the chief burial. They have not gone far, however, when they
mourner, wears also a broad-brimmed hat, of rushes, are thrown violently against some man's house,
which hang about his shoulders, and in this attire which is tantamount to an accusation that the pro-
does not recognize nor salute anybody."
prietor, or some other member of the household, has
In Western Africa funerals are conducted in a been the cause of the death. The suspected person
style of great pomp and magnificence. On this sub- is at once arrested, and must undergo the red-water?
ject Mr. Wilson, who was many years a missionary | ordeal. The corpse, after this, is borne quietly to
in the country, affords minute information. “ The its resting place, when the bearers rush to the water
corpse,” he tells us, “is washed, painted, and decked side, and undergo a thorough ablution before they
in the handsomest clothes, with the greatest profu- are permitted to return to the town. Guns are fired,
sion of beads that can be procured, and is then placed morning and evening, for some weeks afterward, in
in a rude coffin, in some conspicuous place, while the honour of the dead, provided he has been a man of
ordinary funeral ceremonies are performed. The prominence and influence in the community. Food
character and pomp of the ceremonies, of course, is occasionally taken to the place of burial for months
depend upon the age and the standing of the man and years afterward, where a small house is built
before death. If he has been a person of impor- over the grave, furnished with a chair or mat, a jug
tance in the community, his friends and the towns- to hold water, a staff to use when he walks abroad, a
people assemble at an early hour in front of the looking-glass, and almost every other article of fur-
house where the corpse reposes, and form themselves | niture or dress that a living man would need. All
into a circle, enclosing a large open space. A live blood-relations are required to shave their heads,
bullock, tied by the four feet, is placed in the centre and wear none but the poorest and most tattered
of the circle, and is to be slaughtered at the proper | garments for one month. The wives are required
time, nominally for the dead, but really for the visi- to come together every morning and evening, and
tors who come to participate in the ceremonies. spend an hour in bewailing their husband.”
Every body is expected to bring some kind of pre- The funeral ceremonies in Southern Africa are of
sent for the dead, which may be a string of beads, a a very peculiar kind. They are thus described by
knife, a plate, a pipe, or a looking-glass; all of which Mr. Moffat, missionary in that continent: “When
FUNERAL RITES.
939
they see any indications of approaching dissolution Such are a few specimens of the funeral ceremo-
in fainting fits or convulsive throes, they throw a nies of modern heathendom. We pass now to no-
net over the body, and hold it in a sitting posture, tice the peculiar customs in this respect of the an-
with the knees brought in contact with the chin, till cient Pagans. So important was the burial of the
life is gone. The grave, which is frequently made dead accounted among the Greeks of antiquity, that
in the fence surrounding the cattle fold, or in the it was believed a soul could not enter Elysium until
fold itself, if for a man, is about three feet in diame- the body was interred ; and accordingly, if a dead
ter, and six feet deep. The body is not conveyed | body was found lying unburied, any individual who
through the door of the fore-yard or court connected passed that way considered it a sacred duty to throw
with each house, but an opening is made in the fence | earth upon it. To leave a relative unburied was in
for that purpose. It is carried to the grave, hav- the understanding of the Greeks one of the most
ing the head covered with a skin, and is placed in heinous crimes which a man could commit; and the
a sitting posture. Much time is spent in order to fix sooner any one could make arrangements for bury-
the corpse exactly facing the north ; and though | ing his dead so much the greater honour was he con-
they have no compass, they manage, after some con- sidered as paying them. In some places the funeral
sultation, to place it very nearly in the required took place on the day immediately following the
position. Portions of an ant-hill are placed about decease, but the most general custom was that which
the feet, when the net which held the body is gra- was decreed by the laws of Solon, namely, to carry
dually withdrawn; as the grave is filled up, the earth out the body for burial early in the morning of the
is handed in with bowls, while two men stand in the third day, before sunrise. Hired mourners accom-
hole to tread it down round the body, great care panied the funeral procession playing plaintive airs
being taken to pick out every thing like a root or on the flute. The corpse was preceded by the men,
pebble. When the earth reaches the height of the and followed by the women. The practices both of
mouth, a small twig or branch of an acacia is thrown burning and burying the dead seem to have alike
in, and on the top of the head a few roots of grass prevailed in the early period of Grecian history.
are placed; and when the grave is nearly filled, an- The former custom has been already noticed. See
other root of grass is fixed immediately above the DEAD (BURNING THE). If the body was not burnt,
head, part of which stands above ground. When
When it was placed in a coffin, which was usually con-
finished, the men and women stoop, and with their structed of baked clay or earthenware, and borne to
hands scrape the loose soil around on to the little the place of interment outside the town, where some-
mound. A large bowl of water, with an infusion of times a simple mound of earth or stones marked the
bulbs, is then brought, when the men and women place of burial, while in other cases a splendid tomb
wash their hands and the upper part of their feet, was erected over the dead, having a suitable Greek
shouting 'pùla, pula,' rain, rain. An old woman, inscription. At the close of the funeral ceremony, a
probably a relation, will then bring his weapons, feast was held in the house of the nearest relative,
bows, arrows, war axe, and spears, also grain and and on the second day a sacrifice was offered to the
garden seeds of various kinds, and even the bone of dead.
an old pack-ox, with other things, and address the The ancient Romans, even in the earliest times,
grave, saying, 'there are all your articles.' These buried their dead, though from the Twelve Tables it
are then taken away, and bowls of water are poured appears that they practised also burning. At one
on the grave, when all retire, the women wailing, 'yo, time all funerals took place under cloud of night, but
yo, yo,' with some doleful dirge, sorrowing without afterwards this custom was only followed in the case
hope. These ceremonies vary in different localities, of the poor. The interment usually took place on
and according to the rank of the individual, who the eighth day after death. In the case of the
is committed to the dust. It is remarkable that wealthy the funeral procession was arranged by an
they should address the dead; and I have eagerly individual selected for the purpose. In front marched
embraced this season to convince them that if they musicians of different kinds playing melancholy
did not believe in the immortality of the soul, it was strains, and behind these followed hired female
evident from this, to them now unmeaning custom, mourners, who sung the nænia or funeral hymn in
that their ancestors once did. Some would admit praise of the deceased. Then came in some cases
this might possibly have been the case, but doubted buffoons, one of whom imitated the actions and even
whether they could have been so foolish. But with gestures of the deceased. The slaves followed whom
few exceptions among such a people, argument soon the deceased had liberated, each of them wearing the
closes, or is turned into ridicule, and the great diffi- cap of liberty. The corpse was preceded by images
culty presents itself of producing conviction where of the deceased and of his ancestors, along with the
there is n10 reflection. When we would appeal to crowns or military decorations he had won.
the supposed influence of the dead body in neutra- In the funeral processions of the ancient Romans,
lizing the rain-maker's medicines for producing rain, the dead body of a poor man was carried on a bier or
and inquire how such an influence operated, the re- coffin, but when the deceased happened to be wealthy,
ply would be, The rain-maker says so.''
his corpse was placed upon a couch, constructed
940
FUNERAL SERVICE-GABRIEL (St.) CONGREGATION OF.
sometimes of' ivory, covered with gold and purple, and the dead indiscriminately, with the exception of those
carried to the tomb on the shoulders of his nearest who die unbaptized, of self-murderers, and those who
relatives, or in some instances, of his freedmen. The die under sentence of the greater excommunication.
other relations and friends of the deceased followed It has often been objected to the Funeral Service,
immediately behind the body, uttering loud wailings, that it contains language which cannot be used in
and the females beating their breasts. The sons of reference to men generally, being only applicable in
the deceased walked in the procession with their its true signification to those who have died in the
heads veiled, and the daughters with ther heads un- Lord. Thus it declares, " That Almighty God of his
covered and their hair dishevelled. It was an ancient | great mercy hath taken to himself the soul of this
practice to carry the body through the forum, where our dear brother." “We give God hearty thanks
the funeral train halted for a time, and an oration that it hath pleased Him to deliver him out of the
was pronounced in those cases in which the indivi- miseries of this sinful world." “We pray God that
dual who had died was a man of note. At the close when we ourselves depart out of this life, we may
of this public eulogium, the procession moved slowly rest in Christ as our hope is this our brother doth.”
forward to the place of interment outside the city. “We commit his body to the ground, earth to earth,
Roman burial-places were either public or private. ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in sure and certain hope
The former were of two kinds; one for illustrious of the resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord
citizens who were interred as a mark of respect at Jesus Christ.” Such expressions as these occurring
the public expense, usually in the Campus Martius; in an office read over the dead indiscriminately,
the other for poor persons who were unable to pur- cannot fail to offend the consciences of not a few
chase ground for themselves. Private burial-places | both of the ministers and members of the Church of
were generally situated by the sides of the roads England.
leading to Rome. It was not uncommon for the rich FURIES. See EUMENIDES.
to have tombs built of marble, of various sizes and FURINA, an ancient Roman goddess, who had a
forms, according to the wealth and taste of the grove consecrated to her at Rome, She is said to
owner. It was usual for the family to give a feast in have presided over thieves and robbers, but her name
honour of the dead, sometimes on the day of the must have early disappeared from the Roman Pan-
funeral, and at other times at the end of the nine theon, as Varro says, that in his time the name of
days' mourning.
this goddess was almost forgotten.
FUNERAL SERVICE, the office which the FURINALIA, an annual festival celebrated by
Church of England appoints to be read at the the ancient Romans, in honour of the goddess Fu-
burial of the dead. It is said to have been of great RINA (which see). It was observed towards the
antiquity, and to have been used both in the Eastern end of July, and the sacred services were conducted
and Western churches. This service is read over all | by a flamen.
G
GABRES. See GUEBRES.
the throne. This angel is held in far higher estima-
GABRIEL (Heb. God my strength), the name tion among the Mohammedans than the other angels,
of an angel four times mentioned in the Sacred as being in their view the chief ambassador of God,
Scriptures. He is referred to twice in the Book of and the personal friend of their prophet, who brought
Daniel, as sent from God to instruct the prophet, him the revelations from heaven which compose the
and twice in Luke's Gospel, as commissioned to Koran, and who conducted him to heaven mounted
inake known, first to Zacharias, then to the Virgin on his horse ALBORAC (which see). They regard
Mary, the approaching birth of Christ. In Luke i. him besides as decidedly hostile to the Jews, on ac-
19, he thus describes himself, “I am Gabriel that count of their rejection of the Messiah, whom he
stand in the presence of God," and hence we are particularly honours. Both the Talmud and the
warranted in concluding that he occupies a place of Koran abound in fables concerning the angel Ga-
special honour and dignity among the angelic hosts. briel. The Mohammedans allege that Gabriel pos-
A Jewish tradition is mentioned in the Book of To-
sesses the power of descending from heaven to earth
bit, that there are seven spirits who stand continu- in an hour, and of overturning a mountain with one
ally in the presence of God, one of whom is Gabriel, single feather of his wing.
who the Jews believe is stationed on the left hand of GABRIEL (ST.) CONGREGATION OF, a so
GABRIEL (FESTIVAL OF)-GALENISTS.
941
ciety of laymen founded by Cæsar Bianchetti, at man, and a ininister at Amsterdam, who taught that
Boulogne, about A. D. 1646, for improvement in the Christian religion was not so much a system of
Christian knowledge and virtue.
doctrines to be believed, as of precepts to be obeyed;
GABRIEL (FESTIVAL OF), a festival in honour and he considered that all ought to be admitted to
of the archangel Gabriel, celebrated by the Greek the privileges of the Christian church who believed
church, on the 26th of March.
in the inspiration of the Bible, and led pure and
GABRIEL (ST.), and MICHAEL (ST.) (FESTI- blameless lives.
. Galenus Abrahams besides was
VAL OF), a festival held on the 1st of November by accused of leaning towards Socinian sentiments.
the Greek church, in honour of the two archangels The States-General of Holland, however, investi-
Gabriel and Michael.
gated the charge, and acquitted him on the 14th of
GAD, an ancient Syrian god. According to So- September 1663. His chief opponent was Samuel
lomon Jarchi, Gad is the name of an idol represent- Apostool, from whom originated the APOSTOOLIANS
ing the star or constellation that presides over happy (which see), and who strenuously defended not only
births, according to the ancient proverbs, Let Gad the divinity of Christ and the influences of his death,
make him happy, and Let there be no weariness for but also the peculiar sentiments of the Mennonites
him. Gad is supposed to have been the planet respecting the visible church of Christ on earth.
Jupiter, but some think it was Mars, and others al- The consequence of this contest was a schism among
lege it was the Moon, while Jurieu conjectures it to the Flemings in Amsterdam, the two opponents
have been the Sun. In Gen. xxx. 11, occurs a being ministers of the same church in that city.
much-contested passage, which our version translates, Some years afterwards the Waterlander church in
“And Leah said, A troop cometh, and she called his Amsterdam united with the Galenists, who admitted
name Gad.” In Arabic, the planet Jupiter is called all sects of Christians into communion with them,
Gad, and the Targum of Jonathan renders Leah's and were the only Anabaptists in Holland who re-
saying, “A propitious star cometh," while the Sep- fused to be called Mennonites. Galenus, in his Apo-
tuagint and the Vulgate give the meaning of the logy for his sect, recites one hundred and three arti-
phrase simply, "good fortune." The Jews call the cles of their opinions, which are chiefly upon mutual
planet under whose presiding influence any one is toleration and charity. He teaches that the Scrip-
born, good fortune, and at the marriage of their ture, particularly the New Testament, is sufficient for
daughters present them with a ring, on which the salvation. He opposes the doctrine of original sin.
words “good fortune” are engraved, and therefore He thus states the opinions of the sect upon the
Leah's expression has been supposed to mean that, | divinity of Christ: “We believe and profess that
according to astrological superstition, Gad was born Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, bred at Nazareth,
under the propitious influence of the planet Jupiter. and crucified, is truly the Messiah, the Son of God,
GÆA. See Ge.
who was to come into the world, in whom the patri-
GÆEOCHUS (Gr. the holder of the earth), a archs hoped with joy; whom they expected and
surname applied to Poseidon, under which he was earnestly desired; who was represented by many
worshipped near Therapne in Laconia. The same figures in the old law, and foretold by the prophets
surname is also applied to other deities, as to Artemis long before his coming. .
at Thebes.
“We think this profession is sufficient as to the
GAIANISTS, a sect of the MONOPHYSITES person
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that it is not
(which see), which arose in the sixth century, deriv- necessary for salvation to make any further inquiries
ing its name from Gaianus, archdeacon of Alexan- as to his pre-existence, his becoming man, the union
dria, under the patriarch Timotheus III., at whose of what is called the two natures, divine and human,
death, A. D. 543, he was elected patriarch of Alex- and other points so hotly contested amongst Chris-
andria by the monks and the populace in opposition tians; since Christ himself, and his apostles, were
to Theodosius the bishop of the court party. Great satisfied with this plain confession.
disturbances arose in Alexandria, and Gaianus “But to explain our thoughts further on that sub::
was deposed, after which he fled first to Carthage, ject: though we are fully convinced that the fore-
then to Sardinia, when we hear little more about going confession, with true obedience, suffices for
Gaianus and his followers held the opinion of salvation; yet we believe that the Son of God, whom
Julian of Halicarnassus, who maintained that the St. John calls the Word or Speech, did not begin to
divine nature had so insinuated itself into the body exist when born of the blessed Virgin Mary: but
of Christ from the very moment of his conception, that being the splendour of the glory of God his
that his body changed its nature and became incor- Father, and the imprinted image of his person, he
ruptible. Hence the sect' received also the name of has been in God his heavenly Father, before the
APHTHARTODOCITES (which see).
world, this visible world was made. We acknow-
GALENISTS, a name given to a party of the ledge likewise and profess, that Jesus Christ our
MENNONITES (which see) in Holland, in the seven- Lord, the Son of the living God, has been given unto
teenth century. Their name was derived from their us as our great Prophet, as our chief and eternal sa-
first teacher, Galenus Abrahams de Haan, a medical crificing Priest, and as our heavenly King."
him.
942
GALILÆANS–GALLICAN CHURCH.
The Galenists held that the submission of Chris- the enemy. Menahem took upon himself the title
tians was due to Christ alone, and therefore they of king, and, pretending to be actuated by zeal in
refused to obey the decisions of councils, synods, or behalf of the Jewish religion, headed a rebellion
any ecclesiastical assemblies whatever. Christianity against the Romans; but his schemes were obviously
was in their view a mere system of morality. They the result of personal ambition rather than patriotism,
rejected infant baptism, agreeing in this with the and some of his countrymen discovering his design,
Mennonites generally, but they refused to acknow- subjected him to a cruel death. The rebellion did
ledge the practice of washing the feet, as at all de- not end here. Eleazer, the grandson of Judas, rose
signed by Christ to be literally followed by Chris- to eminence among the Galileans or Zealots, and
tians in every age. They denied the power of the called upon all the Jews, under pain of death, to
church to excommunicate its members, or to go be- join the standard of revolt. He at last shut himself
yond brotherly exhortations or remonstrances; and up in the castle of Masula, and, after holding out
if these fail, the erring brother is to be plainly told against the Romans for a long time, persuaded his
in the presence of the brethren that communion and followers rather to massacre one another than sur-
Christian brotherhood cannot be kept with them. render themselves into the hands of their enemies.
Such were the chief peculiarities of this sect of They did so, and only two women and five children
ANABAPTISTS (which see).
survived to relate the dismal story.
GALILÆANS, a term of reproach sometimes ap- GALILEE, a name given to a particular portion
plied to the early Christians. It was most gen- of a church in England, which is separated from the
erally used by Julian the Apostate, whenever he rest of the building. It is generally situated to-
spoke of Christ or Christians. Various ancient wards the west end. Sometimes, as Dr. Hook in-
writers say that he not only used the word himself, forms us, it was a gallery for seeing processions,
but that he forbade any one to call them by any sometimes a porch for penitents, and for placing the
other name, imagining that by such a decree he corpse before burial. The galilee is often found in
would entirely abolish the name of Christians. the oldest churches.
GALILÆUM, the name given to the catechu- GALINTHIAS, a goddess to whom sacrifices
menal oil in the Greek church. It is considered as were offered generally at the festival of Heracles at
sanctified by the drops of MEIRUN or holy CHRISM Thebes. When the Moræ and Eilyithia sought to
(which see), which are mingled with it.
prevent Alcmene from giving birth to Heracles, Ga-
GALILEANS, a sect which arose among the linthias interposed, and by an act of deception frus-
Jews A. D. 12. The circumstances which occasioned trated their purpose; whereupon these goddesses
its rise were rather political than religious. About were so enraged, that they changed her into a cat or
this period Judea became a Roman province, and weasel.
weasel. But Heracles, in return for the kindness of
was annexed to Syria, of which Quirinus was then Galinthias, made her his attendant, and caused her
governor. On obtaining this accession to his rule, to be worshipped at his own festival.
Quirinus appointed a tax to be raised for the purpose GALLI, priests of CYBELE (which see) among
of defraying the expenses of the Roman establish- the ancient Romans, who received the worship of
ments. The imposition of a tax upon them roused this goddess from the Phrygians. They were se-
the indignation of the Jews, and a party was formed to lected from the lowest classes of society, and were
resist the payment of tribute. It was headed by allowed at certain times to ask alms from the people.
Judas the Galilean, from whom it took the name of The chief priest among them was called Archigallus.
Galileans, although it was more frequently known In their fanaticism they mutilated themselves, think-
by the names of Zealots and Gaulonites. The doc- ing thereby to render themselves purer and more
trine which Judas inculcated upon his followers was, acceptable to the deity to whose service they were
that the Jews had no king but God, and that it was attached.
contrary to the law of Moses for a Jew to pay tribute GALLICAN CHURCH, a name used to denote
to a foreign power. In company with one Zadok, a the Romish church in France, which has always
Sadducee, he succeeded in gathering round him a stood on a different footing, in its relations with the
large party, who raised a partial insurrection against see of Rome, from all the other portions of the same
the Roman government, which was, however, speed-church throughout the world. Ever since the wars
ily quelled, and Judas its leader slain. Two of the of the investitures they had been tenacious of their
sons of Judas, James and Simon, attempted, after rights, and the French clergy had claimed, and fre-
the death of their father, to revive the party which quently exercised, an exemption, in particular cases,
had been scattered, but they perished by the hand from that general control in ecclesiastical affairs
of justice. Menahem, the third son, having seized which is uniformly assumed by the holy see; an
a strong fort, with the warlike weapons deposited in exemption which forms the foundation of what have
it armed his followers, and was bold enough to be- been usually termed the rights of the Gallican
siege Jerusalem. He levelled a tower, and had well- church. Pretensions of this kind occur in history
nigh taken the city, but the besieged, erecting a as far back as the time of St. Louis, and it is not
strong wall, succeeded in defeating the assaults of improbable that they are of even earlier date ; but in
GALLICAN CHURCH.
943
A. D. 1438, the council of Basle, in opposition to Euge- concordat, by which the nomination to all ecclesias-
nius IV., who had summoned another council at tical benefices within the French dominions was
Florence, passed several canons for the future regu- granted to the king; with a reservation of the annates
lation of the church, restricting the power of the to the Roman see; and besides, the right of deciding
Pope, and rectifying various abuses in church disci- all ecclesiastical controversies, with some few excep-
pline. Eugenius, enraged at this open rebellion tions, was given over to the judicature of the sov-
against his authority, rejected the new canons, and ereign without appeal. The conduct of both Francis
thereupon the council passed a decree deposing and Leo was viewed by the French clergy with the
him from his papal dignity. His Holiness, however, | utmost indignation. The university of Paris, in par-
triumphed over his opponents, and the regulations ticular, lifted its bold remonstrance against both par-
were not sanctioned by the head of the church; ties; defending the proceedings of the council of
but notwithstanding they met with the approval of Basle in opposition to Eugenius IV.; asserting the
Charles VII., who at that time occupied the throne rights of the Gallican church, and impeaching the
of France. Glad of this opportunity of asserting the character of Leo X. without reserve, whi they
independence of the Gallican church, Charles re- appealed from both king and Pope to a future coun-
commended an assembly of divines, which was then cil. Even the laity were jealous of the authority in
met at Bourges, to adopt the regulations of the coun- ecclesiastical matters which the king had unexpect-
cil of Basle. This assembly, which is known by the edly obtained, thus combining in his own person both
name of the Pragmatic council, in fulfilment of the temporal and spiritual power.
royal suggestion, sanctioned the regulations of Basle In this position matters remained, in so far as
as the general rules of ecclesiastical discipline in the Gallican church was concerned, until the reign
France-a decision which is generally known by the of Louis XIV. when a conspiracy was formed in
name of the PRAGMATIC SANCTION (which see). behalf of that ambitious sovereign, to revive the
The privileges thus secured ręsted on two maxims: empire of Charlemagne, and at the same time
(1.) That the Pope has no right to order any thing to re-establish popery throughout all Europe. Pope
in which the temporalities and civil rights of the Innocent XI., although his election was chiefly
kingdom are concerned. (2.) That while the Pope's due to French influence, was far from favouring the
supremacy in things spiritual is admitted, his power projects of Louis; he made several efforts, on the
in France is limited by the decrees of ancient coun- contrary, to restrain the royal prerogative in the
cils received in that realm.
conferring of benefices; and in attempting to destroy
The canons thus formally adopted by an assem- or limit the liberties of the Gallican church, he had
bly of the French clergy were considered as forming nearly produced a schism in that country. In 1678
the charter, as it were, of their ecclesiastical inde- commenced a keen controversy between Louis XIV.
pendence and liberty. Many and strenuous were the and the Pope on the subject of the “Regale,” the name
attempts of succeeding pontiffs to procure the repeal given to the code which contained the privileges of the
of these obnoxious decrees; but the French clergy Gallican church. The pontiff made use of his ordi-
and people persisted in maintaining their validity, nary weapons, edicts, bulls, and threats of excommuni-
and adhering to them as being essential, in their opi- cation. Louis, on his part, threw contempt upon the
nion, to the peace and prosperity of the kingdom. empty menaces of the Vatican, forbade the admission
The sovereigns of France, too, were far from averse of the papal bulls into France, and declared it to be
to any plan whereby they might be rendered inde- a capital crime in any of his subjects either to pub-
pendent of the papal see, and the Pragmatic Sanction lish or obey them. The contest was conducted on
was all the more agreeable to them, as it made pro- both sides with great violence. At length, in 1682,
vision for the nomination to benefices being submit- the French king summoned a convocation of his
ed to the royal approbation, prohibited the payment | bishops to meet at Paris, for the purpose of formally
of annates to the Pope, and put an end to the sale of and definitively settling once more the precise rela-
ecclesiastical dignities. Accordingly, while the can- tions which existed between the Gallican church and
ons of the council of Basle are said to have been the see of Rome. The assembly consisted of eight
abrogated by successive kings of France, particularly archbishops, twenty-six bishops, and thirty-eight
Louis XI. and Louis XII., the claims of the French other clergymen. The ancient doctrine in reference
clergy, under the Pragmatic Sanction, were still con- to the exclusively spiritual authority of the Pope,
sidered as in full force. But Leo X. succeeded to and its inferiority to the authority of councils, was
the popedom, and keeping in view the aggrandize laid down by the assembly in four propositions as
ment of the church, he persuaded Francis I., king of follows:
France, to allow the abrogation of the Pragmatic “1. That God has given to St. Peter and to his
Sanction, in express terms, by both the Pope and the successors, the vicars of Christ, and to the church
king, and that instead of it should be substituted an itself, power in spiritual things and things pertaining
act investing the king with greater power in the to salvation; but not power in civil and temporal
ecclesiastical concerns of the kingdom than he had things: our Lord having said, “ My kingdom is not
hitherto possessed. Hence originated the celebrated of this world;' and again, Render unto Cæsar the
1
944
GAMAHEA.-GAMES.
things that are Cæsar's, and unto God the things that positions were condemned from the press by Italians,
are God's.' And therefore that injunction of the Spaniards, and Germans, all of whom, however, were
apostle stands firm : “Let every soul be subject successfully met by the celebrated Bossuet, bishop
to the higher powers. There is no power but of of Meaux, who, by order of the king, wrote and pub.
God; and the powers that be are ordained of God.' lished a learned and able defence of the controverted
Therefore, in temporal things kings and princes propositions, establishing, by the most powerful argu-
are subject to no ecclesiastical power of God's ap- ments, the Gallican doctrine as to the exclusively
pointment; neither can they directly or indirectly spiritual authority of the Pope. The liberty and
be deposed by the authority of the keys of the independence of the Gallican church were now se-
church, nor can their subjects be exempted from cured by the complete establishment of the “ Regale,"
fidelity and obedience, nor be absolved from their which continued from this time undisturbed until the
oath of allegiance. And this principle, which is ne- First French Revolution in 1789, when the Galli-
cessary to the public tranquillity, and no less useful can church was utterly overthrown, and religion un-
to the church than to the state, ought by all means der every form was wholly disownied. Napoleon I.,
to be held fast, as being consonant to the Word of in 1801, restored the Romish church in France, and
God, to the tradition of the fathers, and to the ex- entered into a concordat with Pius VII., by which
ample of the saints.
the government received the power of appointing the
“2. That plenary power in spiritual things so ex- clergy, the Pope resigned the right of restoring the
ists in the apostolic see and in the successors of spiritual orders, but retained the privilege of the
Peter, vicars of Christ, that at the same time the canonical investiture of bishops, and claimed the re-
decrees of the holy oecumenical council of Constance, venues which arose from it. This concordat, how-
approved by the apostolic see, and confirmed by the ever, was abolished in 1817, and another concordat
practice of the Roman pontiffs and of the whole entered into between Louis XVIII. and Pius VII.,
church, and observed by the Gallican church with placing the Gallican church on the same footing on
perpetual veneration, respecting the authority of which it stood in the concordat which was framed in
general councils, as contained in the fourth and fifth 1516, between Francis I. and Leo X. This arrange-
sessions, must also be valid and remain immoveable. ment excited the greatest discontent among the
Nor does the Gallican church approve of those who French people. The Jesuits had been restored in
infringe upon the force of these decrees, as if they 1814; and the Gallican church was now placed in a
were of dubious authority or not fully approved; or state of entire dependence on the Romish see. Dur-
who pervert the words of the council by referring ing the reign of Louis Philippe, the papal authority
them solely to a time of schism.
was maintained nominally in France, without mak-
“3. Hence the exercise of the apostolic power is to ing much effort to increase its power. But since the
be tempered by the canons, which the Spirit of God Revolution of 1848, and more especially since Na-
dictated, and which the reverence of the whole world poleon III. assumed the imperial government, Ultra-
has consecrated. The rules, customs, and regula- | montane principles have made rapid and extensive
tions received by the Gallic realm and church are progress, and the once boasted liberties of the Galli-
also valid, and the terms of the fathers remain im- can church are contended for only by a small and
moveable; and it concerns the majesty of the apos- uninfluential minority.
tolic see that statutes and usages confirmed by the GAMAHEA, a word used by the THEOSOPHISTS
consent of so great a see and of such churches should (which see) to express that wisdom which was to ex-
retain their appropriate validity.
plain and facilitate the union of the celestial and ter-
64. In questions of faith likewise, the supreme restrial in the phenomena and processes of nature.
pontiff has a principal part, and his decrees have re- GAMELIA, the name applied to a sacrifice among
ference to all and singular churches ; yet his judg- the ancient Greeks, which the parents of a girl about
ment is not incapable of correction, unless it has the to be married were accustomed to offer to Athena
assent of the church.'
on the day before the marriage. The word came at
These propositions, which so clearly and explicitly length to be applied to marriage solemnities in gen-
stated the old doctrine of the Gallican church, were eral.
unanimously adopted by the convocation, approved GAMELII, ancient Grecian divinities who pre-
by Louis XIV., and registered by the parliament of sided over marriage. Plutarch enumerates five,-
Paris on the 23d March 1682. Thus ratified and con- Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Peitho, and Artemis; but the
firmed, this important document was appointed to be greater number of the gods were considered as in-
publicly read and explained in all the schools of the cluded under the term Gamelië.
kingdom from year to year, and to be subscribed by GAMES.
all clergymen and professors of universities. This nations of antiquity to celebrate games in honour
was a heavy blow aimed at the authority of the Pope of their gods. Sacred games, indeed, formed an im-
over the Gallican church; and feeling the importance portant part of the ritual service of the ancient poly-
of the crisis, Innocent XI. summoned to his aid the theist, while the modern heathen also makes use of
most able writers he could command. The four pro- the same practices on occasion of the festivals of his
GAMES.
945
Crown.
gods. But the most splendid solemnities of this at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider
kind which have been transmitted to us in the re- him that endured such contradiction of sinners against
cords of ancient history are the celebrated games. . himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds."
of Greece. The chief of these were four in num- The following passage in the First Epistle to the
ber, the Olympic and the Pythian games, cele- | Corinthians contains an evident allusion of the same
brated every fifth year; and the Nemean and the kind, 1 Cor. ix. 24–27 : “ Know ye not that they
Isthmian every third year. These games, which which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the
continued for several days, consisted of such exer- prize ? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man
cises as leaping, wrestling, boxing, and throwing that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all
the discus or quoit; also races on foot, on horse-things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible.
back, and with chariots. Multitudes assembled from crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run,
all parts of Greece on these festive occasions, and not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beat-
the most intense interest was manifested by the eth the air : But I keep under my body, and bring
spectators in the result of the contests. Many were it into subjection : lest that by any means, when I
the candidates for victory, and only men of blameless have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-
character were privileged to enter the lists. After away." And again, Phil. iii. 12–14,“ Not as though
months spent in anxious preparation, they appeared I had already attained, either were already perfect :
on an appointed day before the assembled crowd of but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for
onlookers. At the commencement of the festivities which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Breth-
a herald proclaimed the names of the competitors, ren, I count not myself to have apprehended : but
and announced the established rules of the games, this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are
without the due observance of which no one, even behind, and reaching forth unto those things which
though he obtained the victory, could carry off the are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of
The combatants stripped off their garments the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” In the
that they might be wholly unencumbered. As soon same spirit, and with similar allusions, the Apostle
as the signal was given the contest commenced. All Paul, writing to Timothy a little before his martyr-
was activity, energy, and intense anxiety to secure dom, says, 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8, "I have fought a good
the victory, while the crowded spectators gazed with fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the
intense interest upon the exciting scene. In full faith : Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
view was placed the prize which awaited the success- righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge,
ful competitors. On an elevated seat, at the farthest shall give me at that day : and not to me only, but
extremity of the race-course, sat the judges appointed unto all them also that love his appearing."
to decide to whom the reward of victory was due. Among the Romans also, as well as among the
The contest was hazardous, but no exertion was ac- Greeks, games were very frequently celebrated at
counted too great to obtain the conqueror's crown. the festivals of the gods. Thus games were in-
The name of the victor was proclaimed by the herald stituted in honour of Apollo, and the Circensian
with a loud voice, amid the deafening acclamations of games in honour of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva.
the multitude; the wreath of conquest was placed There were games in commemoration of deified he-
upon his brow, and a branch of palm was put into roes, as for instance, the Emperor Augustus. To
his right hand. The prize was worthless in itself- avert calamities also, such festivities were sometimes
a sprig of laurel or wild-olive, or even common pars- resorted to. Thus a plague having broken out in
ley—but as the token of victory, it was held in the the reign of Tarquinius Superbus, the Tarentine
highest estimation, and its happy possessor was an games were instituted for the purpose of propitiating
object of admiration and envy to the whole assem- the infernal deities.
bly. He was lifted into a proud triumphal chariot, Among the important changes which took place
and conducted home with the greatest pomp and in the manners and customs of the Jews after the
ceremony. The city was proud which owned him time of Alexander the Great, may be mentioned the
as her son, and honours of every kind were heaped | introduction of games in imitation of the nations of
upon his head.
Pagan antiquity. Games were first introduced at
To these famous Grecian games there are frequent | Jerusalem in the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, B. C.
allusions in the New Testament. Thus the writer of | 174, by the profligate high-priest Jason. An inno-
the Epistle to the Hebrews compares the life of the vation of this kind gave great offence to the more
Christian to a foot-race, Heb. xii. 1-3, “Where- pious Jews of the time. Emboldened by success,
fore seeing we also are compassed about with so great however, Jason advanced a step further, and in the
a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, . following year, when games were celebrated at Tyre,
and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us in honour of Hercules, he despatched some Jews of
run with patience the race that is set before us, his own party to that city with three hundred talents
looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our as an offering to the god. But the deputies, instead
faith ; who, for the joy that was set before him, en- of devoting the money to purposes of idolatry, spent
dured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down | it in building ships of war.
it in building ships of war. At length the revival
1
4 B
946
GANAPATYAS-GANGA.
of Jewish worship under the. Maccabean princes .put may remove much pollution : daily bathing in it is
an end to the celebration of these Pagan games; but followed with inestimable advantages, both in this
they were renewed by Herod the Great, in order to life, and in that which is to come: immersion in it
ingratiate himself with the Emperor Augustus, to on certain auspicious days of the moon and certain
whom he consecrated them, and ordered them to be conjunctions of the planets, may wipe away the sins
celebrated like the Olympic games every fifth year. of ten births, or even of a thousand : ablution, ac-
The Jews were so indignant at this attempt to involve companied with the prescribed prayers, on particular
them in the practice of heathen customs, that, as we days of high festival, may entitle to a residence in
learn from Josephus, some of them entered into con- one of the heavens of the gods, and insure an amount
spiracy to put Herod to death, and, doubtless, they of blessings which no imagination can conceive."
would have accomplished their purpose had not the Sometimes strangers and friendless persons are left
plot been discovered, and the conspirators sentenced to die upon the banks without being permitted to.
to undergo capital punishment.
drink the waters of the purifying stream. The prac-
GANAPATYAS, the worshippers of Ganesa or tice is almost universal among the higher classes of
Ganapati, a Hindu deity. They can scarcely be
They can scarcely be Hindus to offer their dying relatives as a sacrifice to
considered as a distinct sect, Ganesa being worship-Ganga, and it is actually affirmed that were this bar-
ped by all the Hindus as having power to remove barous custom of exposing the sick on the banks of
all difficulties and impediments. Hence they never this river abolished, thousands would recover from
commence a journey, or engage in any important their diseases, who, in consequence of its prevalence,
work, without invoking his protection. Some, how- are doomed to certain death. Often the poor invalid
ever, pay this god more particular devotion, and, is literally killed by his body being partly immersed in
therefore, may be considered as specially entitled to the Ganges, or by large quantities of the water being
be called Ganapatyas. And yet Ganesa is never ex- poured into his mouth when he is in a state of dan-
clusively venerated, and the worship, when it is paid, gerous weakness. And it is a recognised principle
is addressed to some of his forms.
of HINDUISM (which see), that when once the sick
GANESA, a Hindu deity, the son of Mahadeva, are brought forcibly down to the river's side to die,
or Shiva and Parvati. He is accounted the god of they cannot legally be restored to health. They are
prudence and wisdom, who removes all hindrances from that moment dead according to Hindu law;
out of the way, so that when about to engage in any their property passes to the next heir according to
difficult undertaking, a Hindu uniformly invokes this the terms of the bequest; and should any one who
deity. He is considered as corresponding to the has thus been exposed recover from his disease, he
Hermes of Greece, or the Mercury of Rome, the cannot be received into society, but becomes an out-
great teacher, and presiding deity of authors. The cast, so degraded in the estimation of his friends,
greater number of the temples in the sacred city of that even his own children will not eat with him, nor
Benares are dedicated either to Shiva, or his son give him the slightest accommodation. The conse-
Ganesa. The latter is always addressed as “that quence of this barbarity is, that the wretched survi-
God upon whose glorious forehead the new moon is vor has no alternative left him save to associate
painted with the froth of Ganga." He is generally henceforth with those who are outcasts like himself.
represented sitting cross-legged, with four arms and And accordingly, about fifty miles north of Calcutta
hands, and having the head and proboscis of an ele- there are two villages whose inhabitants are wholly
phant. His temples are frequently ornamented with composed of individuals of this description.
carvings and paintings of the limbs, but most fre- Not only, however, are multitudes of the sick and
quently the head of this animal. Ganesa had for- the dying thus sacrificed to Ganga; there are also
merly six classes of worshippers ; in the present day, many cases of voluntary self sacrifice to the sacred
he cannot boast of any exclusive worship, although river. It is often the last resource of a superstitious
he shares a kind of worship along with all the other Hindu, who has sunk into hopeless poverty, disgrace,
gods.
or disease. Some of the Shastras besides, encourage
GANGA (Sanskrit, the river), a name applied to suicide in the Ganges, holding out to the self-mur-
denote the river Ganges in Bengal, one of the most derer the promise of a temporary residence in the
sacred rivers in Hindustan. It is regarded as a deity; heaven of one of the gods. When a person lias
and washing in its waters is viewed as securing the
viewed as securing the formed the resolution of thus sacrificing himself to
cleansing of the soul from sin in this life, and more the river-god, he goes through the preliminary pro-
especially as a valuable preparative in the prospect cess required by the Sacred Books, of making a pre-
of dissolution. It is one of the four rivers which in sent of gold to the Brahmans, and inviting them to
the cosmogony of the Hindus have their source in a feast. This done, he dresses himself in red gar-
the holy mountain of Meru. In their sacred writ- ments, and adorns himself with garlands of flowers,
ings this holy stream receives the most extravagant marching down to the river accompanied by a band
laudations. “The distant sight of it,” as Dr. Duff of music. On reaching the sacred stream he takes
informs us, “ is declared to be attended with present his seat upon the bank, repeating the name of liis
benefit: the application of a few drops of its water | idol, and declaring that he is now about to renounce
:
GANGA SAGOR-GARLANDS.
947
his life in this place, in order to obtain such or such derable influence with the deities, and hence they
a benefit in the next world. All the preliminary pretend to bring down blessings upon the people, to
rites being now concluded, the formal act of self- avert judgments, to cure diseases, and to undo witch-
sacrifice now commences. “ The devotee,” to use. craft.
the language of Dr. Duff, “ accompanied by one or GANINNANSES, (Singhalese, from gana, an as-
more Brahmans, to officiate on the occasion, and ut- semblage), a name applied in Ceylon to the novices
ter the incantations,-proceeds in a boat into the as well as priests among the BUDHISTS (which see).
middle of the stream, furnished with a supply of cord GANJ BAKSHIS, a division of the SIKHS (which
and water-pans. Then the pans are fastened to the see), in Hindustan, who are said to have derived
neck and shoulders; and, while they remain empty, their name from their founder. They are few in
they keep the victim afloat. These are generally number, and of little note.
filled, sometimes by the friends in the boat, some- GANYMEDES, the son of Tros and Calirrhoe,
times by the devotee himself, as he is carried buoy- accounted by the ancient Greeks the most beautiful
ant along the current ;—but when once they are of men, and said to have been carried off to heaven
surcharged, they sink; and down they drag the vic- by Zeus, that he might act as cupbearer to the gods.
tim to the bottom, amid the incantations of ghostly He was identified with the divinity who was said to
confessors, the rejoicings of friends, and the shouts of preside over the sources of the Nile, and he was
applauding multitudes on the shore. A few gurgling placed by astronomers among the stars, under the
bubbles rise on the surface, and speedily disappear, name of Aquarius or the water-bearer.
--all the monument that is ever raised to perpetuate GAONS, a class of Doctors among the modern
the remembrance of the victim of superstition.' Jews. They were also called Excellents, an appel-
How strikingly do such scenes fulfil the language of | lation indicating either their real or their supposed
Holy Writ, " The dark places of the earth are full of goodness. Their principal men were placed at the
the habitations of horrid cruelty."
heads of the different acaderies. In consequence
GANGA SAGOR, a sacred island among the of their extensive learning, and their high intelli-
Hindus, situated at the point where the great west- gence, they were regarded as the interpreters of the
ern or holiest branch of the Ganges unites its waters law, consulted upon difficult and important matters,
with those of the Indian Ocean. Though dark, flat, and their decisions were received with the utmost
and swampy, it forms one of the most celebrated places veneration. The decisions, however, of each Gaon,
of pilgrimage in India, the waters of the sacred river were only considered to be of force, in that province
being considered as peculiarly purifying at this spot. where he resided, and his authority was acknow-
On the island stands a ruinous temple dedicated to ledged. The first of the order of Gaons was Chanan
Kapila, the distinguished sage who founded the Meischka, who flourished about the beginning of the
Sánkhya system, one of the chief schools of Hindu sixth century, and re-established the academy of
philosophy. The temple is usually occupied by a Pundebita, which had been shut up for fifty years.
few disciples of Kapila, belonging to the class of as- About A. D. 763, one Jehuda, who was blind, be-
cetics, who always keep an arm raised above their longed to this order of learned men. About the end
heads. Crowds: repair to this temple in Ganga Sa- of the tenth century, one Scherira appeared and rose
gor twice every year, at full moon in November and to considerable eminence as a Gaon. Before his
January, to perform obsequies for the benefit of death he had retired from public life, and resigned
their deceased ancestors, and to practise various ab- the employment of a public teacher to his son. This
lutions in the sacred waters. It was calculated that doctor, whose name was Hadi, flourished in the be-
in 1837 no fewer than 300,000 pilgrims resorted ginning of the eleventh century, and was esteemed
thither from all parts of India. At one time the the most excellent of all the Excellents. With him
open and public sacrifice of children on occasion of terminated the order of Gaons, for about this time
the great festival took place on an enormous scale, the academies of Babylon were destroyed, and the
but this inhuman practice is prohibited by the Brit- remains of the Jews were driven into Spain and
ish government, and therefore has become compara- France, where they formed new establishments, and
tively rare.
exchanged the title of DOCTORS for that of RABBINS
GANGAS, the idolatrous priests of the inhabit- | (which see).
ants of Congo, a Portuguese settlement in Western GARLANDS.. Among the ancient heathens it
Africa. While one Supreme Being is acknowledged was customary to adoin the victims intended for
by the Negroes of this district, they worship also a sacrifice with fillets and garlands; and it was also a
number of subordinate deities who preside over the common practice to put garlands on the head of their
different departments of nature, and the Gangas idols. An allusion to the use of garlands by the
employ themselves in teaching the people to wor- heathen occurs in Acts xiv. 13, “Then the priest of
ship by various rites and ceremonies, but more Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen
especially by donations of food and apparel, which and garlands unto the gates, and would have done
they appropriate to themselves as their means of sacrifice with the people.” It is not obvious for
support. These men are supposed to have a consi- | what precise purpose the garlands were brought on
ND
948
GARMANAS-GATES (HOLY) OF ST. PETER'S AT ROME.
this occasion, but it is not unlikely that they were the gates of temples and other buildings used for
meant to be placed on the heads of the apostles. sacred purposes, there was in ancient times a wide
The trees and flowers which were used on such | enclosure within which the people worshipped, and.
occasions, were such as were most pleasing to the which looked toward the entrance of the edifices.
god in whose worship they were employed. The “ This was the Hieron," says Dr. Jamieson, “at the
custom of weaving garlands for the gods is still found gates of holy places-a part of the area or court of
in almost all idolatrous countries. In the Hindu fes- the building that was considered sacred, not only be-
tivals and processions, for example, the images of the cause it was the place where the people stood to
gods are decked out with garlands. The priests, worship, but also because religious rites were fre-
and both the male and female worshippers, also wear | quently performed there ; and hence we find frequent
sweet-scented garlands on festive occasions.
allusions in scripture to the peculiar sanctity with
GARMANAS, Hindu priests mentioned by the which the gates or entrances of those venerable
geographer Strabo, and by which were probably buildings were regarded, and to the homage which
meant Budhist priests. They are represented as was offered there. Thus Ezekiel says, the people of
having been very austere, feeding on fruits and roots, the land shall worship at the door of the gate before
and wearing only a covering made of the bark of the Lord in the Sabbaths, and in the new moons;
trees.
and in the beautiful song of the sons of Korah, the
GARMR, the fabulous dog who, in the ancient gates of the sanctuary at Jerusalem are represented
Scandinavian mythology, was said to guard the en- as of greater value and interest in the sight of God,
trance to the infernal regions. It corresponds to the than all the dwellings of Jacob. The knowledge of
CERBERUS (which see) of the ancient Romans. the peculiar sanctity that was attached to the en-
GARUDA, the sacred bird of Vishnu among the trance of a temple, explains the reason of the thresh-
Hindus, as the eagle was the sacred bird of Jupiter old being chosen for the demolition of Dagon's
among the ancient Romans. Both these deities are
image. The temporary triumph which the Philis-
represented as riding upon their respective birds. tines had gained over the forces of Israel, signalized
Garuda was worshipped by the Vaishnavas in the by the capture of the ark and sacred symbols of its
golden age of Hindu idolatry.
worship, had intoxicated that idolatrous people, and
GASTROMANCY (Gr. gaster, the belly, and led them in the fulness of their enthusiastic rejoic-
manteia, divination), a mode of divination practised ing, to proclaim a festival of thanksgiving to their
among the ancient Greeks, in which they filled cer- national deity, to whose aid they ascribed the suc-
tain round glasses with pure water, placing lighted cess of their arms. It was meet, therefore, upon an
torches round about them. Then they prayed to the occasion when the true God, to punish his people for
deity in a low muttering voice, and proposed the their apostacy, and convince them of their sins, had
question which they wished to be answered. Cer- allowed the ensigns of his presence to fall dishon-
tain images were now observed in the glasses repre-oured into the hands of the enemy, to vindicate his
senting what was to happen.
supremacy, and exhibit a striking proof of his living
GATES. The gates of Oriental cities have al- irresistible power; and no evidence more memorable
ways been accounted places of great resort, markets could have been given of the vanity of his idol anta-
being held there, and also courts of justice. There gonist, than that in the august presence of Israel's
public business of every kind is wont to be trans- God, the statue of Dagon was overthrown and dis-
acted. When Abraham purchased a field from the membered on the threshold of his temple, the very
sons of Heth for a burial-place, the bargain was made spot which, in the estimation of his votaries, his
“at the gate of the city." An instance of a con- rites had invested with more than ordinary sacred-
tract entered into at the gate of the city, is thus
ness."
given in Ruth iv. 1, 2, 9, 11, “Then went Boaz up GATES (HOLY), the name given to the folding
to the gate, and sat him down there : and, behold, gates in the centre of the Iconostasis or screen, which
the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto in the modern Greek churches separates the body of
whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down the church from the holy of holies. The holy gatės
here. And he turned aside, and sat down. And he are opened and shut frequently during the service,
took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit part of the prayers and lessons being recited in front
ye down here. And they sat down. And Boaz said of them, and part within the adytum or most holy
unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are wit- place.
nesses this day, that I have bought all that was GATES (HOLY) OF ST. PETER'S AT ROME.
Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, These gates are never opened except in the solem-
of the hand of Naomi. And all the people that were nity of a jubilee, which now takes place every twen-
in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. ty-five years, when the Pope grants a plenary indul-
The Lord make the woman that is come into thine
gence. On the twenty-fourth day of December
house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did of the jubilee year, all the clergy secular and re-
build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in gular in Rome assemble together at the Aposto-
Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem.” Before lical Palace, and from thence they march in pro-
GAYATRI GEHENNA,
949
:
cession to St. Peter's. When the clergy come into divine sun, that it may illuminate our minds." In
the great square in front of the Basilica, they find the first or Vedic era of the history of India, sun-
the doors of the church shut. Meanwhile the Pope, worship occupied no inconsiderable place in the
the cardinals, and bishops, dressed in white robes, worship of the Hindus. See HINDUISM.
with mitres on their heads, meet in Sixtus's chapel, GAZEL, love songs with which the Mohamme-
where the Pope sings the Veni Creator with a lighted dan dervishes, called BACTASCHITES (which see), sa-
taper in his hand. All the cardinals, having each of lute every one they meet. They are applied by way
them tapers in their hands, proceed to the Swiss of allegory to the Divine love.
portico, where the holy Father nominates three of GAZITH, a place in which the Jewish Sanhe-
them his legates a latere, to open the gates of the drim sat. It was a building erected of hewn stone,
Lateran church, the church of Santa Maria Mag- after the second temple was finished. Half of this
giore, and that of Santo Paolo. It is reserved for fabric was holy and half common; that is, half of it
the Pope himself to open the sacred gate of St. Pe- stood within the court, and half of it within the
ters. A throne is set in front of the gate, on which CHEL (which see). The Gazith was near the altar of
the Pope sits for a short time, when he is presented burnt-offerings, half of it being within the sacred
with a golden hammer, which he takes in his right | court where the altar stood; and being thus near to
hand. Then rising from his throne, the Pope ad- the Divine presence, the Sanhedrim felt their obli-
vances forward and knocks at the sacred gate. His gation all the more to exercise righteous and impar-
clergy follow him with tapers in their hands. The tial judgment. See SANHEDRIM.
pontiff knocking thrice at the gate, says aloud, GAZOPHYLACIUM, the treasury outside the
"Open to me the gates of righteousness,” to which church, in the days of the early Christians, in which
the choir add, “ This is the gate of God, the just the oblations or offerings of the people were kept.
shall enter in," &c. At this moment a temporary The word also denotes the chest in the temple of
wall of stone, which has been loosely set up, is made Jerusalem, in which the rich presents consecrated to
to fall down, and the people eagerly gather the rub- God were kept; and it was sometimes used to im-
bish, portions of which they preserve as sacred re- ply the apartments in the temple in which the pro-
lics. In the midst of the confusion which thus en- visions for sacrifice and those allotted to the priests
sues, the Pope returns to his throne, where he calmly Were stored.
takes his seat. As soon as the rubbish has been re- GE (Gr. the earth), a goddess worshipped among
moved, and the passage to the holy gate cleared, his the ancient Greeks as a personification of the earth.
Holiness leaves his throne, and begins the anthem, She is mentioned in Homer's Iliad as having black
“This is the day which the Lord hath made,” &c., in sheep offered in sacrifice to her, and as being in-
which the choir loudly join. Being arrived at the voked in oaths. Hesiod speaks of Ge as the off-
holy gate, he repeats several prayers, takes the cross, spring of Chaos, and the mother of Uranus and
kneels down before the gate, begins the Te Deun, Pontus. She gave birth also to a variety of differ-
and slowly passes through the holy gate, still sing- ent beings, both divinities and monsters. In early
ing as he goes along. He is followed by his clergy. times she had oracles both at Delphi and Olympia ;
After vespers the cardinals change their white robes she was worshipped as the all-producing parent, and
for their ordinary dress, and accompanying his Holi- was considered as the patroness of marriages. The
ness to the door of his apartment, leave him there, worship of this goddess was universal among the
the ceremony being concluded. See JUBILEE (ROM- Greeks. Among the ancient Romans the earth was
ISH).
worshipped under the name of TELLUS (which see).
GAULONITES. See GALILEANS.
GEDALIAH (FAST OF), a Jewish fast kept on
GAULS (RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT). See the third day of the month T'isri, and said to be the
same that Zechariah calls, viii. 19, “ the fast of the
GAURS. See GUEBRES.
seventh month." It is observed in memorial of the
GAUVRI (FESTIVAL OF). See FLOWERS (Fes- murder of Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam.
GEHENŅA. This word, which is derived from
GA'YATRI', the holiest verse of the Vedas among two Hebrew words, signifying the valley of Hinnom,
the ancient Hindus. It is addressed to the sun, to is applied to a valley near Jerusalem, where it was
which it was daily offered up as a prayer in these customary, in ancient times, for the Hebrews to offer
words, according to the translation of Colebrooke : up children to the god Moloch. It was also called
" Let us meditate on the adorable light of the divine Tophet
, from the Hebrew word Toph, which denoted
sun (Savitri); may it guide our intellects. Desir- the Tympanum or Drum, with the noise of which
ous of food, we solicit the gift of the splendid sun the priests were wont to drown the cries of the
(Savitri), who should be studiously worshipped. children. Nothing is known concerning Hinnom,
Venerable men, guided by the understanding, salute from whom the valley seems to have derived
the divine sun (Savitri) with oblations and praise.” its name. The valley, or rather ravinė, is only
Professor Horace Wilson gives it a more condensed about 150 feet in breadth, and is said to have been
form, “ Let us meditate on the sacred light of that | shaded in ancient times with trees. From the in-
.
Druids.
TIVAL OF).
950
GEMARA-GENEALOGIES.
rial.
human practices followed there, the valley was de- GEMATRIA, the Cabbalistic arithmetic of the
nounced by Jehovah, Jer. xix. 6, “Therefore, be Rabbinical Jews, or a species of Cabbala, which con-
hold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place sisted in taking the letters of a Hebrew word for
shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of arithmetical numbers, and explaining every word by
the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter." It the arithmetical value of the letters. Any two words
was polluted by Josiah, who made it a kind of cess- or phrases occurring in different texts, and contain-
pool for the city. After the captivity the Jews re- ing letters of the same numerical amount, are consi-
garded the place with abhorrence, remembering the dered mutually convertible; and any one or more
cruelties of which it had been the scene, and after the words which, when added together, are of the same
example of Josiah they threw into it the carcases of amount as any particular text, are viewed as giving
animals, the dead bodies of malefactors, and all kinds the latent signification of that text. Thus the let-
of refuse. Constant fires were kept up in the valley ters of the Hebrew words signifying “Shiloh shall
to consume the filth which might otherwise have come,” amount to 358. Now, the Hebrew word
caused a pestilence. Hence it was regarded as a Messiah contains precisely the same number; and
striking type of hell, and Gehenna came to be used hence the Cabbalists conclude, that on the principles
to indicate the place of everlasting torment. The of the Gematria, this is a satisfactory proof that the
Mohammedans, however, do not consider the pains prophecy contained in Gen. xlix. 10, refers to the
of Gehenna as eternal, but temporary and purgato- Messiah. Again, the word Branch in Zech. iii. 8,
is of the same numerical value with the word Com-
GEMARA (Heb. perfect), a commentary on the forter, a name given to the Messiah by the Talmud-
Jewish MISHNA (which see). Two of these com- ists, and hence it is thought to be proved beyond
mentaries were prepared, the one at Jerusalem, and question that the Branch of Zechariah is no other
the other at Babylon. The former is supposed to than the Messiah. See CABBALA.
have been the work of Rabbi Jochonan, who lived GEMS (THE THREE). Among the BUDHISTS
about the middle of the third century, while the lat- (which see), Budha, the sacred books, and the
ter, which is the more highly esteemed of the two, priesthood are accounted the three gems. They
is supposed to have been the work of Rabbi Ashé, form the Triad, in which they place all their confi-
and some of his immediate successors, about the mid- dence and trust, and the worship of the Three Gems
dle of the sixth century. The importance attached is universal among Budhists wherever they are
to the Gemara by the Jews may be seen from the found. The assistance they derive from this Triad
following passage of the Talmud: “They who study is called sarana, protection, which, as we learn from
the Bible do what is neither virtue nor vice; they Mr. Hardy, is said to destroy the fear of reproduc-
who study the Mishna perform something of a vir- tion or successive existence, and to take away the
tue, and on that account receive a reward ; but they fear of the mind, the pain to which the body is sub-
who study the Gemara perform what may be es- ject, and the misery of the four hells. By reflecting
teemed the greatest virtue." The oral law is pre- on the Three Gems the mind is delivered from scep-
ferred by the Jews to the written law, and the Ge- ticism, doubt, and reasoning, and becomes quite
mara to both; thus it is said, “The Bible is like
serene, calm, and unruffed.
water, the Mishna like wine, and the Gemara like GENEALOGIES, the register of the descent of
spiced wine." “ The law is like salt, the Mishna individuals or families, which was accounted so im-
like pepper, and the Gemara like balmy spice.” “At portant among the ancient Hebrews, that a special
five years of age,” says the Mishna, “let the child set of officers called Shoterim were set apart for the
begin to study the Scriptures ; let him continue to purpose of keeping such records. In all nations,
do so till the age of ten, when he may begin to study even from the earliest times, such genealogical writ-
the Mishna. At the age of fifteen let him begin to ings seem to have been carefully preserved. Even
study the Gemara." The Gemara or Jerusalem Tal- in the patriarchal period we find traces of them, as
mud was considered defective, as containing the sen- in Gen, x. 10, “ And the beginning of his kingdom
timents of only a small number of Jewish doctors. was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh,
Besides, it was written in a mixed and impure lan-- in the land of Shinar.” The vast increase of the
guage. Hence the Amorajim or Gemarists, the chief Hebrew population during their residence in Egypt
of whom was Rabbi Asa, produced the Gemara or rendered genealogical records absolutely necessary,
Babylonian Talmud, which contains the traditions, that the tribes might be kept distinct from one
the canons of the Jewish law, and all questions another. The charge of these records was in-
relating to the law. The Talmud consists of the trusted first to the Shoterim or scribes, and after-
Mishna and the Gemara, or commentary upon the wards to the Levites. In later times these docu-
Mishna. The Jerusalem Talmud is printed in one ments were kept in the temple. It is not at all
large folio volume; and the Babylonian extends in unlikely that some confusion may have been intro-
some editions to twelve, and in others to thirteen duced in regard to particular families during the
folio volumes.
Babylonish captivity; but on their return to Pales-
GEMARISTS. See AMORAJIM.
tine the Hebrews seem to have reduced the whole to
GENERATION (ETERNAL).
951
complete order, as is quite evident from the care character, and the fearful ebullitions of human pas-
with which genealogical descents are traced in the sions, and the wide varieties of human situation, and
First Book of Chronicles. And so carefully was the amidst the many millions of human beings that came
purity of lineage maintained in regard to the priest- into the world and fulfilled their little part, and then
hood, that after the captivity those who could not passed away and were forgotten, amidst all this end-
produce their genealogical descent were excluded less diversity of human beings, and human passions,
from the sacred office.' Josephus also informs us, and human plans, the purpose of the Almighty is in-
that the Jews had an uninterrupted succession of variably the same, and it he effects alike by the con-
high-priests preserved in their records for nearly sent, the co-operation, the indifference, the ignorance,
2,000 years. Jerome declares that the Jews knew
the opposition of man. In the king and in the slave,
the genealogies from Adam to Zerubbabel as inti- the palace and in the cottage, in the city and in
mately as they knew their own names. The great the fields, in the mountain and in the valley, in the
importance of this marked attention to the genealogy righteous and in the wicked, we find the operations
of each family among the Jews arose from the ne- of Providence towards the same beneficent, the same
cessity which existed of preserving the line of de- God-like end. The faith of Abraham, the idolatry
scent of the Messiah in unbroken continuance from of Amaziah, the lowliness of Joseph, and the glory
Abraham and David. Hence the minuteness with of Solomon, are all made to work together to one
which this line is traced by the Evangelists Matthew event. In the sheep-cotes of. Mamre, in the prison-
and Luke. And it is not a little remarkable, that houses of Egypt, in the corn-fields of Boaz, on the
the great end for which such genealogical records throne of Judah, among the willows by the rivers of
were kept having been accomplished, and there Babylon, in the temple of Jerusalem, in the work-
being no further necessity for them, the Jews have shops of Galilee, in the manger of Bethlehem,-in
now utterly lost their ancient genealogies, and from all these we see the impress of the finger of God.
the time of their total dispersion under Adrian, not And I cannot but think that in this commencement
a single family is able to produce the record of of the history of the New Testament church, we
their connection with any one of the tribes of Israel. have, in the reference that is made to the former
This is of itself a satisfactory proof that Messiah is dispensation, and in the fact that God never for a
already come, and that he is no other than Jesus of moment forgot the word which he spoke to a thou-
Nazareth, whose lineage has been so fully and accu- sand generations, a pledge that in his own time God
rately traced in each link back to David, to Abra- will not fail to accomplish all that he has spoken re-
ham, and even to Adam. On this subject the late specting his kingdom. In contemplating the gloom-
Dr. Welsh makes the following striking observa- iest periods of the Christian church, we also may de-
tions : "I cannot but remark, that the mere list of rive encouragement in the belief that the Almighty
names by which Matthew connects our Saviour with has never wholly deserted the earth. And when the
Abraham, and by which Luke connects him with circumstances of the church appear most desperate,
Adam, has always appeared to me inexpressibly it should be remembered that it was when the cause
sublime, and calculated to inspire us with a deep of Israel and of mankind seemed lost for ever, when
sense of the superintending providence of God. We the throne of David was levelled in the dust, when
are carried through a period of many thousand years, the royal blood was almost lost amongst the mean-
and amidst the revolutions of the mightiest empires, est of the people, it was then that God raised up a
and the rise and fall of many kingdoms, and the con-
Horn of salvation in the house of his servant David,"
vulsions of external nature, and a long succession of GENERAL ASSEMBLY. See ASSEMBLY
the generations of men,--amidst all these we see the (GENERAL).
hand of God continually exercised in bringing to pass
GENERAL BAPTISTS. See BAPTISTS.
his eternal decrees. We have, as it were, the foun- GENERAL COUNCILS. See COUNCILS (GEN-
tain of a stream, scarcely discernible in its first be- ERAL).
ginning, in danger of being dried up in a scorching GENERATION (ETERNAL), an expression used
desert, then of being confounded amidst kindred by Christian divines in reference to the Second Per-
floods, then of being lost amidst the interminable son of the Trinity, in order to indicate his derivation
swamps of a new region, and finally, swallowed up in from the Father. The idea is involved in the Son-
an opening of the earth and lost apparently to hu- ship of Christ. See Son of God. It is dangerous to
man vision for ever; and after having traced it discuss the matter with too great minuteness, as we
through so many different and distant climes to such are apt to be led away by false analogies, reasoning
a termination, it rushes forth again revealed to view from what is human, to what is purely divine.
with matchless beauty and grandeur. The imagina- Hence the Christian Fathers speak with great cau-
tion of man is bewildered in attempting to form an tion on the point. “Speculate not upon the Divine
idea of the long succession of many nations, and of generation," says Gregory Nazianzen, “for it is not
the changes that took place in society from the times safe. Let the doctrine be honoured silently; it is a
of Adam, and Abraham, and David, to that of great thing for thee to know the fact; the mode we
Christ. But amidst the infinite diversity of human cannot adınit that even angels understand, much less
2
952
GENESIA-GENEVA (CHURCH OF).
G
thou." Athanasius to the same effect declares, of the Son, but the person, is to attempt an exposi-
"Such speculators might as well investigate where tion of that which it transcends the human faculties
God is, and how he is God, and of what nature the fully to comprehend. See TRINITY.
Father is. But as such questions are irreverent and GENESIA, offerings mentioned by Herodotus,
irreligious, so is it also unlawful to venture such and probably consisting of garlands of flowers which
thoughts about the generation of the Son of God.” were wont to be presented by the ancient Greeks,
Chrysostom also states in the same cautious spirit, at the tombs of their deceased relatives on the return
“I know that he begat the Son: the manner how I of each anniversary of their birthdays.
am ignorant of. I know that the Holy Spirit is GENESIUS, a surname of Poseidon, under which
from Him; how from Him I do not understand. I he was anciently worshipped near Lerna in Greece.
eat food; but how this is converted into my flesh and GENETÆUS, a surname of Zeus, from Cape
blood I know not. We know not these things which Genetus on the Euxine Sea, where he had a temple.
we see every day when we eat, yet we meddle with GENETHLIA (Gr. the nativity), the name given
inquiries concerning the substance of God." But
But among the early Christians to the festivals which
while the Fathers thus prudently avoided seeking to they were wont to observe on the anniversary of the
be wise above what is written, or to explain what is death of the martyrs, terming it their BIRTHDAY
and necessarily must be inexplicable, they neverthe (which see), as being the day on which they were
less held the doctrine of the eternal generation of born to a new and nobler state of being.
the Son as the only begotten of the Father, and fully GENETHLIACI, a term which Augustine states
participating in the divinity of the Father. Hence was used to denote soothsayers, who pretended to
we are commanded to honour the Son even as we calculate men's nativities (genethlia) from the stars,
honour the Father.
and thus to predict their good or bad fortune. Such
The doctrine of the derivation of the Son from the individuals were treated with the utmost severity
Father as conveyed in the expression Eternal Gener- under the heathen emperors of Rome, and by the
ation, gave rise at an early period to mistakes and early Christians they were expelled from the church.
misconceptions. The Valentinians and Manichees, GENETHLIUS, a surname of Poseidon, under
for example, in the second century, rushed into the which he was worshipped at Sparta.
heresy of a sort of ditheism, or the asserting of such GENETYLLIDES, a class of goddesses in an-
a separation between the Father and the Son as to cient Greece, who presided over generation and birth.
make two Gods. The Eclectics again, and others GENETYLLIS, a goddess among the ancient
who held the doctrine of Emanations, considered the Greeks, who presided over births. It was a surname
Son to be both individually distinct from the Father, also both of Aphrodite and of Artemis.
and of an inferior nature. The Arians both ancient GENEVA (CHURCH OF). The principles of the
and modern have uniformly denied the eternal gener- Reformation were first introduced into Geneva, not by
ation of the Son, maintaining him to have had a be- | John Calvin, as has generally been believed, but by
ginning of existence, and to be essentially inferior to William Farel, who preached the gospel there with
the Father. See ARIANS. The doctrine of the acceptance in the year 1532, but was driven from the
eternal generation of the Son, however, has not only city by the instigation of the bishop. This zealous
been denied by both Arians and Socinians, but even Reformer was succeeded in Geneva by Anthony
by some in other respects orthodox Trinitarians, who Froment, who, however, experienced the same treat-
believe the Sonship of Christ to be founded not on a ment. A change, however, came over the views of
natural, but an official relation to the First Person the people, and the council, instead of supporting the
in the Godhead. They deny his eternal generation bishop, abandoned him, and he found it necessary to
chiefly from the difficulty which they feel in con- retire from the city in 1533; whereupon the two
ceiving of anything in the Divine nature, analogous banished ministers were recalled, and Reformed prin-
to the process which the term generation denotes in ciples having acquired the ascendency among
all
its application to creatures. But it is altogether in- ! classes, Farel and Froment, along with Peter Viret,
consistent with the nature of the subject to allow the gathered around them a strong body of Protestants
mind to draw any such analogies. There can be no
There can be no in Geneva; and so rapidly did the cause make pro-
likeness between generation as used in a human gress in the city, that in 1535 the council declared
sense, and the same term when applied to one of the themselves on the side of the Reformation. But
Persons of the Godhead. The only intention in though a Reformed church was thus formed in the
using such an expression in reference to the Son of city, having a numerous congregation drawn from
God, is to express at one and the same time a dis- all classes, it was not fully organized and established
tinction of persons, and a mutual relation between until the arrival of John Calvin in 1536. This emi-
the Father and the Son. To go beyond this general nent Reformer, who was a native of France, having
explanation of the matter, and to assert that the been born there in 1509, was led to embrace Re-
generation of the Son consisted in the communica- formed principles, which he sought with diligence
tion of the Divine essence and perfections to him; and zeal to diffuse among his countrymen. His fame
or to assert that the Father did not beget the essence
had reached Switzerland, and having been providen-
GENEVA (CHURCH OF).
953
tially in the course of his travels brought to Geneva, One of the greatest benefits which Calvin con-
he was persuaded to take up his residence in the ferred upon Geneva, and through it upon many of
town, and to devote himself to the building up of the Reformed churches throughout other countries,
the newly formed Protestant church. Farel and was the establishment of the Presbyterian form of
Viret gladly availed themselves of the counsel and church government. In opposition to the views of
assistance of such a man as Calvin. His very pre- Zwingli, he maintained that the church is possessed
sence with them they felt to be a tower of strength. of the power of self-government, independent of the
And no sooner had he commenced his labours in civil magistrate, whose jurisdiction ought to be lim-
conjunction with them, than the church and city of ited exclusively to temporal affairs, and in so far as
Geneva began to be torn with internal dissensions, a the church was concerned, Calvin left to the magis-
party having arisen who sought to restore some of trate the protection of the church, and an outward
the superstitious observances and feasts which the care over it. He held also entire parity by divine
Reformation had happily abolished. The council appointment of all the ministers of Christ. This
joined in this retrograde movement, and the conse- principle lies at the foundation of that form of
quence was, that Calvin and Farel were banished church government
church government which Calvin introduced at
from the republic. The church of Geneva suffered Geneva. And following out this fundamental prin-
severely from the exile of her pastors, but the faith-ciple, he refused to acknowledge a gradation of of-
ful among them were cheered by many a precious fices among the pastors of the church; but estab-
letter of comfort and encouragement. The citizens lished a judicatory or consistory, composed of ruling
had publicly abjured Popery, and avowed their ad- elders and teaching elders, the former being mem-
herence to the Reformation on the 20th July 1539. bers of the church set apart solely to rule in the
Mourning the bereavement they had sustained church, and the latter being set apart both to teach
through the arbitrary conduct of their civil rulers, and to rule. This ecclesiastical body he invested
again and again did they petition the council to recall with a high degree of power and authority. He also
their beloved pastors from exile. For a time their
For a time their convened synods, and restored to its former vigour
entreaties, earnest and urgent though they were, the ancient practice of excommunication. These
passed unheeded; but at length in 1540 a formal in- arrangements were made with the consent of a ma-
vitation was forwarded to Strasburg, both from the jority of the senate.
citizens and council, not only permitting, but im-
The Church of Geneva thus threw off at one
ploring the return of Calvin. It was not, however, and the same time both Popery and Episcopacy,
until September of the following year, that he yielded adopting a system of church government which
to the repeated and pressing invitations of the Gene- bore somewhat of the republican character of
It was a joyful day for the Church of Geneva their civil government. Calvin was principally
when the great French Reformer found his way concerned in the construction of both; and accord-
back to the scene of his former labours. They ingly they bore no slight resemblance in the regular
prized the privilege, and gave thanks to God for it. gradation of courts. The sovereign power of the
From 1541 till 1564, when he was called to rest from state was vested in three councils, the general coun-
his earthly labours, did Calvin continue to build up cil, the council of two hundred, and the council of
the church in Geneva, which he had been chiefly in- twenty-five. The general council was composed of
strumental in founding; and such was the practical those citizens and burgesses who had reached the
wisdom of this distinguished man, that the organiza- age of twenty-five years; and the meetings of this
tion and working of that church rendered it a model council took place twice a-year for the election of
to all the Reformed churches of Europe. Not only magistrates. In this council was vested also the
on account of the purity of its doctrine, but also the power of making laws, and settling as to war and
completeness of its form of church government, the peace, as well as of raising subsidies for the necessi-
church which Calvin had set up in Geneva became ties of the republic. The council of two hundred
one of the most influential churches of the Refor- was composed of two hundred and fifty citizens and
mation. And what tended powerfully to extend burgesses, each of whom must be thirty years of
age.
its usefulness was the college which in 1558 Cal- The members of this council were elected for life,
vin had persuaded the senate to found in Geneva. unless they became bankrupts, or were degraded by
There Calvin and Beza tauglit, and thither accord- the censure which was annually made. This council
ingly students in great numbers repaired from formed the supreme court of justice, and were con-
France, Italy, Germany, England, and Scotland. sulted on all matters of importance. The council of
Geneva thus became a central point whence issued twenty-five or little council, as it was generally
the light of the Reformation in all directions. In called, was chosen from the council of two hundred,
fact, the fame of Calvin and the celebrity of the all the members being elected for life, except in cases
college which he founded, have procured for the of bankruptcy or degradation.
Church of Geneva the distinction of being the mo- The organization of the ecclesiastical bore some
ther of the Reformed churches, as Wittenberg was resemblance to that of the civil courts. The clergy
that of the Lutheran communities.
on all public occasions held the same rank as the
vans.
1
I.
4 C
954
GENEVA (CHURCH OF).
members of the council of twenty-five. The consis- | try of such a master in theology as Calvin, that
tory was composed of all the pastors of the republic, church could not fail to obtain an accurate and even
and twelve lay elders, two of them being members of profound knowledge of Divine truth; and such was
the little council
, a third one of the auditeurs, and the power with which Calvin expounded and en-
the remaining nine taken from the council of two forced both from the pulpit, the professor's chair,
hundred. The pastors were perpetual members of and the press, the grand cardinal points which dis-
the court, but the elders were only chosen for six | tinguished the Calvinistic from the Lutheran and
years. The consistory met every Thursday, and Zwinglian churches, that he succeeded in bringing
Calvin was perpetual moderator during his life, but nearly the whole Reformed church, not in Switzer-
after his death a different arrangement was adopted, land only, but throughout Europe, to embrace his
the moderator being changed every week, each of views. The consequence was, that while the Pres-
the pastors occupying the chair in rotation. It was byterian system of church government which Calvin
the province of the consistory to take cognizance of set up at Geneva was received only to a limited ex-
all public scandals, and to inflict ecclesiastical penal- | tent, as for example, by the French, the Dutch, the
ties, but for civil punishment of delinquents it was Scotch, and some other churches, his theological
necessary to hand them over to the little council.
system, which even now goes by the name of CAL-
Not only, however, did the church of Geneva dif- VINISM, speedily obtained a very wide reception
fer in ecclesiastical organization from the churches throughout the various churches of the Reformation.
holding by Luther, Zwingli, and their coadjutors, To such an extent was this the case, that in the be-
but also in their views as to the Lord's Supper. On ginning of the seventeenth century, no school of
this subject, Mosheim remarks: “The system that Protestant theology enjoyed a higher reputation than
Zuingle had adopted with respect to the eucharist, that of Geneva. Even then, however, there were a
was by no means agreeable to Calvin, who, in order | few divines, who, like Henry Bullinger of Zurich,
to facilitate the desired union with the Lutheran deviated from the doctrines maintained in the Ge-
church, substituted in its place another, which ap- neva school; and even among the Calvinists them-
peared more conformable to the doctrine of that selves there arose keen contentions between the
church, and in reality. differed but little from it. For Supralapsarians and the Sublapsarians, the former
while the doctrine of Zuingle supposed only a symbo- maintaining that God had from all eternity decreed
lical or figurative presence of the body and blood of the fall of man, the latter asserting that he had only
Christ in the eucharist, and represented a pious re- permitted it, but not decreed it. No long time,
membrance of Christ's death, and of the benefits it however, elapsed before these petty divisions in the
procured to mankind, as the only fruits that arose Genevan school were lost sight of, amid the keen and
from the celebration of the Lord's supper, Calvin protracted controversy which arose in Holland be-
explained this critical point in a quite different man- tween the Calvinists and Arminians, leading to the
He acknowledged a real though spiritual pre- Synod of Dort in 1618, where the doctrines of Ge-
sence of Christ in the sacrament; or in other words, neva triumphed. The great reputation, however,
he maintained, that true Christians, who approached which the Genevan academy once enjoyed, began
this holy ordinance with a lively faith, were, in a gradually to decline after the establishment of the
certain manner, united to the man Christ; and that Dutch republic, and the erection of the universities
from this union the spiritual life derived new vigour of Leyden, Franeker, and Utrecht. The Church of
in the soul, and was still carried on, in a progressive Geneva also, in process of time, became deeply im-
inotion, to greater degrees of purity and perfection. bued with the errors of the Dutch Arminians on the
This kind of language had been used in the forms of one hand, and the French Amyraldists on the other.
doctrine drawn up by Luther; and as Calvin ob- Yet sound divines, even in her times of manifest de-
served, among other things, that the divine grace clension, were found in her chairs of theology; and
was conferred upon sinners, and sealed to them by hence in the dispute which arose in reference to the
the celebration of the Lord's supper, this induced opinions of La Place, we find Francis Turretin in-
many to suppose that he adopted the sentiment im- stigating the Genevan church to adopt the doctrine
plied in the barbarous term impanation, and differed of the immediate imputation of Adam's sin as an ar-
but little from the doctrine of the Lutheran church ticle of faith, and thus to declare their belief in an
on this important subject. Be that as it may, his imputation founded on the sovereign decree of God,
sentiments differed considerably from those of Zuin- and not one naturally consequent on the descent of
gle; for while the latter asserted that all Christians men from Adam. Among the associated ministers
without distinction, whether regenerate or unregener- of Geneva, there were some who held and sought to
ate, might be partakers of the body and blood of propagate the errors both of Amyraut and La Place,
Christ, Calvin confined this privilege to the pious and being some of them men of eloquence and learn-
and regenerate believer alone.”
ing, they succeeded in persuading others to embrace
In its early history none of the Reformed churches heretical opinions. Matters began to assume a seri-
was equally privileged with the Church of Geneva
ous aspect, and the principal divines of Switzerland,
in point of theological teaching. Under the minis- | accordingly, in the year 1675, had a book drawn up
ner.
use.
GENEVIEVE (St.), FESTIVAL OF-GENEVIEVE (ST.) NUNS OF.
955
by John Henry Heidegger, a celebrated divine of maintaining, whether by the whole or any part of a
Zurich, in opposition to the French opinions. This sermon directed to that object, our opinion, 1. As to
treatise, which went by the name of the FORMULA the manner in which the Divine nature is united to
CONSENSUS (which see), was appended by public the person of Jesus Christ; 2. As to original sin ;
authority to the common Helvetic formulas of reli- 3. As to the manner in which grace operates, or as
gion. Many felt that they could not conscientiously to efficacious grace; 4. As to predestination.
sign this formula. Hence commotions arose in vari- “We promise, moreover, not to controvert in our
ous parts of Switzerland, and among others, in the public discourses the opinion of any one of the pas-
republic of Geneva, where several attempts were tors on these subjects.
made to procure its abrogation, but without effect, as Finally, we engage, should we have occasion to
the Formula still maintained its credit and authority express our thoughts on any one of these topics, to
until the year 1706, when, without being abrogated do it without insisting upon our particular views, by
by any positive enactment, it gradually fell into dis- avoiding all language foreign to the Holy Scriptures,
and by making use of the phraseology which they
In the early part of the eighteenth century, the employ."
Church of Geneva began rapidly to fall from the The circumstance which led the pastors to draw
high position which it had once occupied among the up this engagement, was the formation of a Protes-
churches of the Reformation. Not only did it cease to tant Evangelical Church at Geneva, which had been
be Calvinistic in its doctrines, but actually assumed set on foot for the purpose of maintaining evangeli-
the lead in the inculcation of Arian and even Socinian cal doctrine to which the company of pastors were
views. In the middle of the century D'Alembert, in the so bitterly opposed. A persecution now commenced
French Encyclopédie, publicly charges its company against the separatists, not only on the part of the
of pastors with denying the divinity of Jesus Christ. pastors, but also of the government. They have
Voltaire, in a letter to D'Alembert in 1763, glories continued to keep their ground, however, in the face
in the departure of the Genevans from the ancient of sore discouragement. It is gratifying to be able
purity of their theological creed. The pastors feebly to state, that a very decided improvement has taken
attempted to set themselves right in the eyes of the place among both the pastors and people of the
Christian public, by a vague statement which they church of Geneva, and the truth of God has begun
sent forth to the world. It was too obvious, however, to be faithfully preached once more in the city where
to be explained away, that while their ecclesiastical Calvin so long lived and laboured in his Divine Mas-
formularies were still strictly orthodox, the pastors ter's cause, and where D'Aubigné, Gaussen, and
were practically promulgating Arian or Socinian Malan have preached and written in defence of the
opinions. Such a discrepancy between the recognized pure Christianity of the New Testament.
standards of the church and the public teaching of GENEVIEVE (St.), FESTIVAL OF, a Romish
its pastors soon became apparent to all. The pas- festival observed at Paris on the 3d of January, in
tors of Geneva saw that the time had come for honour of St. Genevieve, patroness of that city.
modifying the standards, if they would preserve a GENEVIEVE (ST.), CONGREGATION OF. This
character for consistency before the world. They congregation of regular canons originated about the
published, accordingly, a new "Catechism or Instruc- year 1615, and all the monasteries connected with it
tion of the Christian Religion for the use of the are under the abbot of St. Genevieve, who is their
Swiss and French Protestant Churches ;' and by superior-general. Their costume is a white cassock,
maintaining complete silence on the doctrine of the a surplice, and a long fur with a square cap, but in
Trinity, of justification by faith, and other peculiar winter, instead of the fur and the cap, they wear a
doctrines of the Christian system, they taught, in a large black cowl with a hood.
negative form at least, what amounted simply to a GENEVIEVE (ST.) Nuns OF, an order of nuns
system of modern deism. To carry out their views at Paris, called also from their founder, Miramiones,
still farther, they quietly withdrew the Confession who established the community in 1630. Another
of Faith from the Liturgy in use in the Church of order bearing the same name was founded in 1636 by
Geneva, and introduced convenient changes into the a lady named Mademoiselle Blosset. They educated
Liturgy itself, and even into the venerable transla- young children, visited the sick, and employed them-
tion of the Scriptures. Both from the pulpit and selves in deeds of charity and benevolence. The
the professor's chair, an uncertain sound was given as two communities, which were thus called by the
to the vital doctrines of Christianity. Continuing name of St. Genevieve, were united together in 1665,
thus for a long series of years to suppress the truth, Madame de Miramion being chosen superior. For
if not to inculcate error, the company of pastors, in some time the community took the name of Mirami-
May 1817, passed a resolution, that all candidates ones, and was joined in course of time by several other
for the sacred ministry should subscribe the following communities. The rules of the order required a
engagement:
sister to undergo two years probation before being
"We promise to refrain, so long as we reside and admitted into the body, and also to be twenty years
preach in the churches of the canton of Geneva, from of age on her entrance into the order. She made no
956
GENII-GENUFLECTENTES.
vows, but as soon as she became a member of the but the pride with which such glories inspired them,
community, she was bound to repeat the office of the filled their breasts with impiety, and their monstrous
holy virgin every day, and to spend an hour, morn- crimes at length provoked the wrath of the Omni-
ing and evening, in secret prayer. The habit of the potent. Satan, or Eblis, was commissioned to de-
order was of black woollen stuff.
stroy them; he exterminated the greater part of the
GENII, a subordinate class of deities among the an- perfidious race, and compelled the rest to seek refuge
cient Pagans, who were looked upon as the guardians in the vast caves beneath the mighty Káf. Kaf is the
and protectors of men from their cradles to their name of the mountain frame-work which supports the
graves. Both the Greeks and Romans had a firm universe; itincludes both the Caucasian chains, Taurus,
belief in the existence of these tutelary spirits, who | Imäus, and the most lofty peaks in Asia; its founda-
carried the prayers of men to the gods, and brought tions rest on the mysterious Sakhrath, an enormous
down the answers from the gods to men. The emerald, whose reflection gives an azure colour to
Greeks called the Genii by the name of Demons. the sky. It was the confidence with which his vic-
Every person had a good and an evil genius assigned tory filled Satan, that induced him to refuse homage
to him through life; the good genius to incite him to Adam. When the Gins fled to Káf, their leader,
to deeds of virtue and piety, and the evil to prompt Gian-Ibn-Gian, carried with him an enchanted
him to deeds of wickedness and crime. Hesiod, shield, graven with seven mystic signs, the posses-
who speaks of the Genii as numbering 30,000, re- sion of which entitled him to the sovereignty of the
presents them as the souls of the righteous who lived universe. Adam, directed by an angel, pursued the
in the golden age of the world's history. Plato not rebellious Gin to the capital which he possessed be-
only gives one of these Genii to each man during neath the earth, and wrested from him the magic
life; but makes him conduct the soul of the man at buckler. After his death, the buckler remained
death to Hades. Among the ancient Romans the concealed in the island of Serendib, or Ceylon, where
Genii were viewed as not only attending man through it was discovered by Kaiomers, king of Persia, who
life, but as actually producing life, and hence they became, in consequence, sovereign of the East. The
were called often Diï Genitales, and an additional successors of Kaiomers, sustained by the power of
idea which the Romans connected with the Genii this spell, subdued, not only men, but the Genii and
was, that every animal, as well as man, and even Giants of Kaf; and, while they retained the shield,
every place, had a special genius assigned to it. It were lords of the material universe. No account is
was customary at Rome for each man to worship his given of the manner in which it was lost. To the
own genius, especially on his birthday, with libations Persian narrative the Arabians add, that the Genii
of wine, incense, and garlands of flowers. The whole were subjected by Solomon, the son of David, and
Roman people as a nation had a particular genius to forced to aid in building his mighty structures, and
whom sacrifices were offered on special occasions. that, at the period of Mohammed's mission, many of
The Genii are to be carefully distinguished from the them embraced the creed of Islám, since which
Lares, to whom was committed the guardianship of period they have ceased to hold communication with
families, but the Larentalia were celebrated in honour human beings.
of both the Lares and the Genii. In compliment to GENITRIX (Lat. the mother), a surname among
the emperors it was a frequent custom to swear by the ancient Romans of Cybele, but more frequently
their genius, and Suetonius relates that Caligula put of Venus.
several persons to death because they refused to GENTILES, a word generally employed to indi-
swear by his genius. The genius of Socrates, the cate every other nation except the Jews. In the
Greek philosopher, must be familiar to almost every New Testament the Gentiles are often spoken of as
reader. That the modern heathen, in very many Greeks, and the word is used by Paul not only to
instances, believe in the existence oť Genii has been denote the uncircumcised in opposition to the Israel-
abundantly shown in the article DEMONS.
ites, but generally those who are ignorant of the true
A belief in Genii has prevailed in Asia from the God, and devoted to idolatry.
remotest ages, and the Mohammedans assert, that GENTILES (COURT OF). See TEMPLE (JEW-
before the time when the Mosaic narrative com- ISH).
mences, the earth was inhabited by a race of beings GENUAL. See EPIGONATON.
intermediate between men and angels, which they GENUFLECTENTES (Lat. kneelers), a class of
call Gins, Genii, or Deus. Some Mussulman au- CATECHUMENS (which see) in the early Christian
thors say that the dynasty of the Genii lasted seven church, who were so called from their receiving im-
thousand years; and that of the Peris, beings of an position of hands while they knelt upon their knees.
inferior but still a spiritual nature, two thousand They sometimes had the name of catechumens more
years more.
The sovereigns of both were for the especially appropriated to them. Hence that part
most part named Solomon; their number amounted of the Liturgy which referred to them, was particu-
to seventy-two. “ In riches, power, and magnifi- larly called “The prayer of the catechumens," which
cence,” says Dr. Taylor, " these monarchs surpassed was récited at the close of the sermon, along with
every thing that the race of Adam has witnessed; | the prayers of the ENERGUMENS (which see) and
reign of the emperor Constantine, a Christian female, , menian church, the rejected decrees of Chalcedon
GEOMANCY-GERIZIM (MOUNT), TEMPLE ON.
957
penitents. The kneelers had their station within This, at the moment, made no farther impression on
the nave or body, of the church, near the ainbo or him. But some time afterwards, being overtaken,
reading-desk, where they received the bishop's im- while hunting, with gloomy weather, by which he
position of hands and benediction.
was separated from his companions, and finally lost
GENUFLEXION. See KNEELING.
his way, he called to mind what had been told him
GEOMANCY (Gr. Ge, the earth, and manteia, concerning the almighty power of the God of the
divination), one of the four kinds of DIVINATION Christians, and addressed him with a vow that, if he
(which see), mentioned by Varro.
found his way out of the desert, he would devote
GEORGE (ST.), FESTIVAL OF, a festival ob-himself entirely to his worship. Soon after the sky
served by the Greek church on the 23d of April, in cleared up, and the king safely found his way back.
honour of St. George of Cappadocia, one of their His mind was now well disposed to be affected by
most illustrious saints.
the preaching of the Christian female. Afterwards
GEORGE (ST.), FESTIVAL OF, a Romish festival he himself engaged in instructing the men, while his
held on the 23d of April, in honour of St. George, queen instructed the women of his people. Next
the patron saint of England. The order of the they sent in quest of teachers of the gospel and
Knights of the Garter, founded by Edward III., was clergymen from the Roman empire; and this was
put under the protection of this saint. (See KNIGHTS the beginning of Christianity among a people where
OF THE GARTER.) The greatest exploit attributed it has been preserved, though mixed with supersti-
by the Romish legends to St. George is his overcom- tion, down to the present times."
ing the fabulous dragon in Libya.
From their vicinity to the Armenians, the Geor-
GEORGIAN CHURCH. Georgia, anciently gians joined that people in separation from the
called Iberia, is a fertile Asiatic province on the Greek church, but after a lapse of fifty years they
southern declivity of the Caucasus, and now subject returned to the orthodox Eastern church. It is diffi-
to the Russian empire. The prevailing religion in cult to ascertain when they came to be subject to the
the country before its conversion to Christianity was patriarch of Constantinople, but their subjection was
probably some modification of the ancient Persian limited to the mere payment of tribute, as for fifteen
system. They worshipped an image of Ormuzd, centuries they had independent patriarchs of their
though image worship formed no part of the genuine own, who governed their church without interference
Zoroastrian religion. The circumstances which led from any other power. The Georgian church was
to the introduction of Christianity among the Ibe- represented in the synod of Vagharshabad by its
rians in the fourth century, are intensely interesting. catholicos and a number of bishops; but A. D. 580,
They are thus detailed by Neander : “Under the in spite of the remonstrances of the head of the Ar-
perhaps a nun, was carried off captive by the Ibe- were adopted by the Georgian ecclesiastics, who have
rians, and became the slave of one of the natives of ever since formed a part of the orthodox Greek
the country. Here her rigidly ascetic and devotional church. They continued to maintain the doctrines
life attracted the attention of the people, and she ac- and to adhere to the practices of the Greek church,
quired their confidence and respect. It happened so that when Georgia became a Russian province by
that a child who had fallen sick, was, after the man- its conquest from Persia in 1801, there was no diffi-
ner of the tribe, conveyed from house to house, that culty in combining them with the other branches of
any person who knew of a remedy against the dis- the Oriental church. From that time the Georgian
ease might prescribe for it. The child, whom no church has been under the ecclesiastical authority of
one could help, having been brought to the Christian the archbishop of Tiflis, subject of course to the
woman, she said that she knew of no remedy; but sanction of the Holy Legislative Synod of the Rus-
that Christ, her God, could help even where human sian-Greek church.
sian-Greek church. The only peculiarity which
help was found to be unavailing. She prayed for distinguishes it from the other Eastern churches is
the child, and it recovered. The recovery was that it delays the baptism of children till their eighth
ascribed to the prayer; this made a great impres- year.
sion, and the matter finally reached the ear of the In connection with the Georgian church, there
queen. The latter afterwards fell severely sick, and are a number of monasteries, the monks of which
sent for this Christian female. Having no wish to follow the rule of St. Basil. They are habited like
be considered a worker of miracles, she declined the the Greek monks. There are also a number of nun-
call. Upon this, the queen caused herself to be neries, in which the Georgian females are carefully
conveyed to her; and she also recovered from her educated, so that it has been noticed as a remark-
sickness, through prayers of this female. The king, able trait of the Georgians, that the women are bet-
on hearing of the fact
, was about to send her a rich ter instructed in a knowledge of Christianity than
present; but his wife informed him that the Chris- the men, or even than the priests themselves.
tian woman despised all earthly goods, and that the GEORGIAN ISLANDS (RELIGION OF). See
only thing she would consider as her reward was POLYNESIAN ISLANDS (RELIGION OF).
when others joined her in worshipping her God. GERIZIM (MOUNT), TEMPLE ON, à temple
958
GERMAN REFORMED CATHOLICS.
as
erected by Sanballat, who obtained permission from thus, from whom Sanballat received permission to
Darius Nothus for that purpose. The circumstances build a temple for the Samaritans. The temple on
which led to its erection are minutely detailed by Mount Gerizim occupied five years in building. It
Josephus. The substance of his account is as fol- was planned on the model of the temple of Jerusa-
lows:
“ Manasses the brother of Jaddua the high- lem, and stood for nearly two hundred years, when it
priest had married Nicasso the daughter of Sanballat, was destroyed by Hyrcanus, king of the Jews, about
which thing the elders of the Jews resenting as a B. C. 130. It is said to have been rebuilt by the
violation of their laws, and as an introduction to Samaritans, but of this there is no absolute certainty.
strange marriages, they urged that either he should We find, however, in the conversation which our
put away his wife, or be degraded from the priest- | Lord held with the Samaritan woman, as narrated
hood; and accordingly Jaddua his brother drove in John's Gospel, that the question was started
him away from the altar, that he should not sacrifice. one which was commonly debated, whether
Upon this Manasses addressing himself to his father- men ought to worship at Jerusalem or on Mount
in-law Sanballat, tells him, that it was true indeed Gerizim, showing evidently that if the temple was
that he loved his daughter Nicasso mnost dearly, but not rebuilt on Gerizim, the Samaritans at all events
he would not lose his function for her sake, it being regarded it as still a peculiarly sacred place.
hereditary to him by descent, and honourable among | Josephus gives an account of a dispute which arose
his nation. To this Sanballat replied, that he could at an earlier period between the Jews and Samari-
devise such a course, as that he should not only con- tans in reference to their temples. The arguments of
tinue to enjoy his priesthood, but also obtain a high- the Samaritans in behalf of Mount Gerizim were,
priesthood, and be made a primate and metropolitan that on that mountain Abraham, and afterwards
of a whole country, upon condition that he would | Jacob, built an altar unto the Lord, and thus conse-
keep his daughter, and not put her away; for he crated it as a place for worship; and that for this
would build a temple upon Mount Gerizim over Si- reason God appointed it to be the hill of blessing.
chem, like the temple at Jerusalem, and this by the But the Jews could plead a far higher antiquity for
consent of Darius, who was now monarch of the their worship at Jerusalem than for that at Gerizim;
Persian empire. Manasses embraced such hopes
Manasses embraced such hopes and besides, Jerusalem was the place which God
and promises, and remained with his father-in-law, specially chose to place his name there.
thinking to obtain a high-priesthood from the king : GERMAN REFORMED CATHOLICS, a sect
and whereas many of the priests and people at Jeru- which arose in Germany in 1844, arising out of the
salem were involved in the like marriages, they fell famous protest of the Romish priest, John Ronge,
away to Manasses, and Sanballat provided them against the superstitious veneration paid in that year
lands, houses and subsistence: but Darius the king to the seamless coat of Christ at Treves. See
being overthrown by Alexander the Great, Sanbal- | COAT (HOLY) AT TREVES. The protest was obvi-
lat revolted to the conqueror, did him homage, and ously so well founded, and loudly called for by the
submitted himself and his dominions to him; and wild enthusiasm which animated thousands of pil-
having now a proper opportunity he made his peti-grims, that Ronge was looked upon as a second
tion, and obtained it, of building this his temple. Luther sent to rebuke the superstition of the age,
That which forwarded his request was, that Jaddua and to complete the downfall of the Man of Sin.
the high-priest at Jerusalem had incurred Alexan- Multitudes of Roman Catholics from various parts
der's displeasure for denying him help and assistance of Germany flocked to the standard of the new
at the siege of Tyre. Sanballat pleaded, that he had | Reformer, who, however, instead of inculcating upon
a son-in-law, named Manasses, brother to Jaddua, to his followers the principles of a pure Christian-
whom very many of the Jews were well affected, ity, soon showed himself to be only a teacher of
and had recourse; and might he but have liberty to rationalism and infidelity. Some, however, both
build a temple in Mount Gerizim, it would be a great priests and laymen belonging to the Romish church,
weakening to Jaddua, for by that means the people gladly joined the movement, under the impression
would have a fair invitation to revolt from him. that they might possibly obtain a reform of some
Alexander easily condescended to his request, and acknowledged abuses in the church. One of those
so he set about the building with all possible expedi- most desirous of a Reformation in the Church of
tion. When it was finished it made a great apostacy Rome was Czerski, to whom numbers of the new
at Jerusalem, for many that were accused and in- sect looked for guidance in seeking church reform;
dicted for eating forbidden meats, for violating the but they were not long in discovering that Czerski
Sabbath, or for other crimes, fled away from Jerusa- was too weak and vacillating to be the leader of a
lem to Sichem and to Mount Gerizim, and that be- party. The new sect was joined by two eminent
came a common sanctuary for offenders. Thus far scholars, Theiner and Regenbrecht. But the system
the historian."
wanted positive grounds on which to rest; it was
The important historical fact which Josephus purely negative in its character. It was not long
las here placed in the reign of Darius Codoman accordingly in declining even from the position it
nus, belongs properly to the last years of Darius No- | had reached, and at length resolved itself into hu-
GERMAN EBENEZER SOCIETY-GERMANY (CHRISTIANITY IN).
959
manitarianism and worldly politics. The revolution that they might establish their authority in a Chris-
of 1848 was so far favourable to the new sect, that tian country. It is difficult to ascertain how the
they obtained complete liberty even in Bavaria and | Vandals, Suevi, and other tribes were led to embrace
Austria. Ronge, who had now shown himself to be the Christian faith. The Burgundians, who took
at heart an infidel, was elected a member of the possession of a part of the Roman territory on the
Parliament of Frankfort, and joined the extreme radi- banks of the Rhine, voluntarily became Christians
cal party. The true character of the man was soon near the commencement of the century, imagining
after this inade too apparent. He absconded to that by taking such a step they would enlist the God
England with another man's wife, and sank into the of the Christians on their side, and thus be protected
obscurity and contempt which his whole conduct mer- against the incursions of the Huns. Towards the
ited. In a short time, the congregations which had middle of the century they joined the Arian party,
been so rapidly formed, were as rapidly dissolved, to which also the Vandals, Suevi, and Goths be-
either by being absorbed in other sects, or by being longed.
suppressed by the governments. In Vienna they In the end of the sixth century, a number of new
quietly returned to the Roman church; in other churches were founded by zealous missionaries, who,
places they joined the Protestant churches. Thus under Columbanus, an Irish monk, had passed over
terminated a sect which it was at first supposed would to the Continent, and laboured for the conversion of
give rise to a second Reformation of the Roman the Swabians, Bavarians, Franks, and other nations
Catholic church, but being founded not on the revival of Germany. St. Kilian succeeded in planting the
of spiritual life and activity, but on a dead and in- gospel in Franconia, and converting the duke, and a
effective rationalism, very speedily came to nothing. large proportion of his subjects, who had hitherto
GERMAN EBENEZER SOCIETY, a class of been wholly pagan; but in the midst of his benevo-
Christians from Germany, who emigrated to Amer- lent exertions, he fell a martyr to his Christian faith-
ica only a few years ago. They are located six or fulness, about A. D. 696. Such was the respect in
seven miles east of Buffalo, in the State of New which the memory of this indefatigable missionary
York. They number somewhere about a thousand was held, that he became the tutelar saint of Würtz-
souls, and are Prussian Lutheran Dissenters. Their burg. Several of the companions of Willibrord, the
property is held in common. Religion pervades the apostle of the Frieslanders, passed into Germany,
whole arrangements of the community. Each family and spread a knowledge of Christianity among vari-
commences the day with the worship of God, and at ous German nations, as for instance, in Westphalia,
night on returning from labour they assemble by and other neighbouring provinces. But while some
neighbourhoods, and spend an hour in prayer and of the German tribes had thus become Christian,
praise. The afternoon of Wednesday and Saturday | the great mass of them were still involved in the
is devoted to religious improvement; and they are darkness of Paganism. In the eighth century, how-
peculiarly strict in their observance of the Sabbath. ever, the cause of Christianity received a powerful
GERMANY (CHRISTIANITY IN). It has some- | impulse from the labours of Winifrid, an English
times been alleged that Christianity was first intro- Benedictine monk of noble birth, who afterwards
duced into Germany as early as the time of the apos- bore the name of Boniface, and who, by his extraor-
tles. But Irenæus, who was bishop of Lyons in the dinary success as a missionary, earned the honourable
latter half of the second century, is the first who speaks title of the Apostle of Germany, though it is to be
in explicit terms of the spread of Christianity in Ger- feared, he sought rather the advancement of the
many, referring, however, in all probability, exclusively Church of Rome, than the promotion of the cause of
to those districts of Germany which were in subjection Christ. This famous man is said to have been a
to the Roman Empire. The first positive informa- native of Devonshire, born in A. D. 680. His early
tion we obtain respecting churches as established in life was passed in English monasteries, where he was
Germany, is towards the end of the third century, trained for the sacred office, and at the age of thirty
when we read of the Bishops Eucharius, Valerius, he was ordained a presbyter.
and Maternus, who planted and presided over the In the year 715, Winifrid, animated with ardent
churches of Treves, Cologne, Liege, and Mentz. zeal, undertook a voluntary mission to Friesland,
The names of the bishops of these churches are with two monks for companions. King Radbod,
found in the lists of the councils of Rome and Arles however, gave him no encouragement, and he re-
held under the authority of Constantine in the years turned to his convent. Unwilling to remain without
313 and 314. About the same time that we first active employment, he formed the project of a mis-
hear of churches on the Rhine, the flames of perse- sion to Germany, and having obtained a formal com-
cution mark the spread of the gospel towards the mission from Pope Gregory II., he set out for that
Danube. Thus Afra, martyr of Augsburg, was com-country, where he preached in Bavaria and Thurin-
mitted to the flames about A. D. 304. The German gia, and passing into Friesland, spent three years in
nations who invaded the Western Roman Empire in assisting the aged Willibrord, 'bishop of Utrecht.
the fifth century, were either Christians before that Having again set out on a visit to Rome, he was
event, or they became so immediately afterwards, created a bishop by the Pope, and his name changed
960
GERMANY (CHRISTIANITY IN).
from Winifrid to Boniface. He now returned task of converting to Christianity the Saxons who
through France to Germany, where he preached the occupied a large portion of Germany. This he
gospel among the Hessians, fearlessly rebuking their sought to effect partly by threats and actual force of
idolatrous customs, and openly demolishing an oak arms, partly by flattery and promises of rewards.
consecrated to the Scandinavian god Thor. From Such means were successful in gaining over converts
Hesse he proceeded to Thuringia, where he effected in great numbers to a mere nominal adherence to the
a similar reform.
Christian faith. To prevent them from apostatizing,
On the accession, A. D. 731, of Gregory III. however, the whole machinery of the Romish church,
to the Papal chair, Boniface despatched an em bishops, schools, monasteries, and so forth, were set
bassy to Rome, giving an account of his missionary | up in the midst of them. In this way Charlemagne,
labours among the pagan tribes of Germany. His by force or flattery, established an outward and empty
Holiness received the narrative of his successful form of Christianity in the extensive district of Ger-
mission with great satisfaction, and in token of his many inhabited by the Saxons. By the same speedy
approval sent him an additional supply of relics, and process he succeeded in Christianizing the Huns' in-
also raised him to the rank of an archbishop. In habiting Pannonia. The employment of such un-
the year 738 Boniface visited Rome a third time, hallowed means for advancing the Christian cause
attended by a large retinue of priests and monks, were not likely to be productive of any substantial
and was most graciously received by the Pope. On and lasting benefit to the country. In the tenth
his return through Bavaria, in the capacity of Papal century, accordingly, we find remains of pagan super-
legate, he divided that country into four bishoprics. stition still existing in various provinces of Germany,
In A. D. 741, he erected four more bishoprics in Ger- and Christianity but imperfectly established in many
many, and in A, D. 744, he established the famous places. To remedy this state of matters, the Em-
monastery of Fulda. As a reward for his missionary peror, Otto the Great, erected bishoprics in various
labours, and his fidelity to the See of Rome, Boni- towns; built convents for those who preferred a
face was constituted, by Pope Zacharias, archbishop monastic life, and established schools for the instruc-
of Mentz, and Primate of Germany and Belgium. | tion of the young. On the bishops and monks he
Thus exalted to one of the highest official dignities lavished the royal treasures with unsparing hand,
which Rome could confer, he presided in several endeavouring in this way to show his regard for the
councils held in France and Germany, where he sig- ministers of religion, while in reality he was only
nalized himself by the rigid strictness with which he giving scope for that indulgence in luxury and ex-
enforced adherence to the canons of the Church of travagance which ere long came to be regarded as
Rome. In his old age he left his archbishopric, and characteristics of the corrupt clergy of the middle
set out on a mission to Friesland, where with fifty- | ages.
two companions, he was barbarously murdered by a At the commencement of the thirteenth century,
party of pagans, who were enraged at the rapid pro- Prussia was still to a great extent under the power
gress which Christianity was making among their of Pagan superstition, and the efforts which had
fellow-countrymen. It is quite possible besides, that hitherto been made for the conversion of the people
they may have been not a little provoked by the had been almost wholly fruitless. Accordingly, the
military aspect which the journeys of this professed | knights of the Teutonic order of St. Mary undertook
apostle of the Prince of Peace were made to assume, the task of subjugating the Prussians, and convert-
he having marched into Thuringia at the head of an ing them to the Christian faith. The war was of
army, and having a band of soldiers as his body- fifty-three years' duration, and at the end of that
guard at the very moment when he was attacked by long period the conquest was effected, and Chris-
the pagan Frieslanders.
tianity became nominally the religion of Prussia.
There were other monks, however, besides Boni- The remains of the old superstition were extirpated
face, who applied themselves to the conversion of by the Teutonic knights and the Crusaders," not,
the German tribes. Of these may be mentioned | however, by the diffusion of the gospel, but by wars
Corbinian, a French Benedictine monk, who la- and massacres.
boured at Freysingen in Bavaria for six years; Pir- In the course of the fourteenth and fifteenth cen-
min, also, a French monk, who taught Christianity tạries Christianity had not only taken deep root in
amid circumstances of no small difficulty and danger the German states, but the corruptions of the Papal
in Helvetia, Alsace, and Bavaria; Lebwin, an Eng- system had become so strongly developed, that both
lish Benedictine monk, who, with twelve companions, individuals and communities arose from time to time
engaged in a mission to West Friesland, on the bor- complaining loudly of the numerous abuses which had
ders of the pagan Saxons; Willibald, an Anglo- crept into the dominant church. It had become a
Saxon monk of honourable birth, who assisted Boni- hierarchy, or rather a hierarchical state. The priest-
face in his missionary labours, and afterwards was hood had interposed with a claim of divinely or-
appointed bishop of Eichstadt.
dained power and authority between God and his
Towards the end of the eighth century, Charle- people, between the members of the church and the
magne, king of the Franks, undertook the important | Divine Head of the church. The clergy asserted
GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH.
961
their right to be regarded as the exclusive expound-federation. Theologically viewed, however, there
ers of divine revelation, the guardians of tradition, are only three branches of the Protestant church as
and the dispensers of all higher blessings. Out of connected with the state, the Lutheran, the Reformed,
the church it was maintained there is no salvation, and the Evangelical United Church. Each of these
and apart from the priesthood, no church. Thought- we propose to consider in separate articles.
ful men felt that such views were wholly opposed to GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH. The Lu-
the true idea of the church of Christ as set forth in the theran and the Reformed churches are the two
Bible. And not only did her doctrines proclaim the great branches of Evangelical Protestantism. They
Church of Rome to be a heretical church, but her are as old as the Reformation itself. They agree in
practices also. The reflective mind of Germany, as all the essential doctrines of Christianity, but they
represented by Luther, was not long in discerning this, represent two distinct ecclesiastical individualities.
and proclaiming it as with a voice of thunder in the The Lutheran church is not only named from Luther,
ears of the whole of Christendom. The intrepid but pervaded by his genius and influence, and even
German monk raised the standard of Reformation, the Reformed church in Germany is not altogether
and nations flocked around it. Like Dagon before unaffected by Lutheran or rather moderate Me-
the ark of God, the Romish church fell before the lancthonian influences. The origin of the Lutheran
Bible in the hands of Luther. Long had been the church is properly to be dated from A.D. 1520, when
conflict between the Popes and the Emperors of Leo X. expelled Luther and his adherents from the
Germany for preponderance of power and authority Romish church. It acquired form and consistency
over the people, but in the sixteenth century, an when the public confession of its faith was laid be-
obscure monk-such is the invincible force of truth fore the diet at Augsburg.
fore the diet at Augsburg. See AUGSBURG CON-
-effected a complete triumph at one and the same FESSION. But the consolidation of the Lutheran
moment over Rome and Romanism.
church in Germany took place in A.D. 1552, when
From the date of the Reformation, Germany has Maurice, the Elector of Saxony, formed the religious
continued to be, to a large extent, a Protestant pacification with Charles V. at Passau.
country. Ever since the peace of Westphalia in The Lutheran church in Germany, after the ex-
1648, which terminated the thirty years' war, and ample of its illustrious founder, asserts the great
secured full liberty of worship and equality of rights Protestant principle that the Bible and the Bible
to the two contending parties, Germany has been alone is the only and a perfectly sufficient rule of
almost equally divided between Roman Catholicism faith and obedience. Yet it cannot be denied that
and Evangelical Protestantism. The former, as we most of the Lutheran symbols are silent upon the
learn from Dr. Schaff, is numerically stronger, being question as to the supreme and exclusive authority
calculated to amount to 21,092,000 ; but the latter, of the Sacred Scriptures, a principle which is asserted
though numbering only 16,415,000, makes up the as a fundamental one in the symbols of the Reformed
deficiency by a decided intellectual superiority. On churches. The Lutherans accordingly retained
the whole, the south of Germany is predominantly those parts of the ancient system which were not
Roman Catholic, the north predominantly Protes- expressly forbidden by the word of God; while the
tant. “In Austria,” continues Dr. Schaff, “ about | Reformed held that those doctrines and ceremonies
five-sevenths, in Bavaria about two-thirds, of the were alone to be retained which the word of God
population profess the papal creed. Prussia num- sanctioned and commanded, and that all others were
bers ten millions of Protestants and six millions of to be unsparingly rejected. The symbolical books
Catholics, while the kingdom of Saxony, the Saxon of the Lutheran church are the Augsburg Confession,
principalities and Mecklenburg, are almost entirely with the Apology; the Articles of Smalcald and the
Lutheran. In Hanover, Würtemberg, Baden, Hesse catechisms of Luther, the larger and shorter. To
Cassel and Hesse Darmstadt, Nassau, Oldenberg, these may be added the Formula of Concord, which
and the four Free Cities, the Protestant Confession is held in high estimation by the strict old Lutherans.
has likewise the preponderance. But there is hardly The grand vital truth which Lúther proclaimed as
a single state in Germany where the two churches against the Romanists was the doctrine of justifica-
are not mixed, the Catholics being subject to a tion by faith alone, which the great Reformer was
Protestant, or the Protestants to a Catholic monarch. wont to term “the article of a standing or a falling
In Saxony we have the singular anomaly that a church." This was the shibboleth of the Reforma-
Roman Catholic prince rules over an almost entirely tion, and the holding forth of this central doctrine of
Lutheran population.” The Protestant church in Christianity proved the overthrow of the Papal sys-
Germany is divided and cut up into a great number tem. It struck at the very root of Romish theology.
of separate sections. Each little government, or But in some points Luther still held firmly by the
duchy, or principality, has its own church with its ancient faith. Thus it happened in the case of the
separate polity, worship, and administration quite Lutheran dogma of the real presence in and with and
independent of all the others. Territorially con- under the material elements in the Lord's Supper, a
sidered, there are no less than thirty eight Protes- dogma which, while it receives the name of Consub-
tant churches within the limits of the German con- stantiation, may be said to differ little, if at all, from
I.
4 D
962
GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH.
1
Romish Transubstantiation, and is liable indeed to they disown the term,) i. e., the view that Christ's
the same objections, involving, as it does, a belief of body and blood are really present in, with and under
the ubiquity of the body of Christ, and the actual the visible elements, which they make the touch-
material partaking of it by the unworthy as well as stone of true orthodoxy. They conscientiously re-
the worthy communicants.
fuse to commune with those who hold to a merely
So intent was the great German Reformer on a symbolical, or dynamic, or spiritual real presence,
revival of scriptural theology, which Rome had long and who confine the reception of the res sacramenti
obscured and perverted, that he directed little, per- to the believing communicants. Some of them, I am
haps too little, attention to the government and dis- | certain, would at any time rather commune with Ro-
cipline of the church. The consequence was that man Catholics than with Zwinglians or Calvinists.
freedom from the authority of the Roman pontiff “The late excellent Claus Harms, a thoroughly
was only exchanged for subjection to the authority, original and truly pious Lutheran minister, winds up
even in ecclesiastical matters, of temporal princes. his ninety-five theses, which did a very good work in
Hence the Lutheran churches generally, and it is in 1817, with the proposition :— The Catholic Church
an emphatic sense true of the Lutheran church in is a glorious church, for it is built upon the Sacra-
Germany down to the present day, have become inter- ment; the Reformed Church is a glorious church, for
woven with the state, so that spiritual independence it is built upon the Word; but more glorious than
has always, in that country, been a thing unknown. either, is the Lutheran Church, for it is built both
The congregations have not even the right of electing upon the Word and the Sacrament, inseparably
their pastors.
* They are exclusively ruled by their united.' But many of the modern champions of
ministers as these are ruled by their provincial con- Lutheranism would deny even this virtue to the Re-
sistories always presided over by a layman, the pro- formed Church, and charge it with rationalism, false
vincial consistories by a central consistory or Ober- subjectivism and spiritualism. Their excuse is that
kirchenrath, and this again by the minister of wor- their views of the world are confined to certain sec-
ship and public instruction, who is the immediate tions of Germany. Were they properly acquainted
executive organ of the ecclesiastical supremacy of with France, Holland, England, Scotland and the
the crown.”
United States, they would probably form a very dif-
In regard to rites and ceremonies, the Lutheran ferent opinion of the most active and energetic sec-
church, while it has removed the grosser elements of tions of Protestant Christendom. But much as they
the Romish ritual, such as the mass, the adoration dislike the Reformed Church, they hate still more
of saints and relics, and the use of the Latin language heartily the Union, which they regard as the work
instead of the vernacular in conducting divine ser- of religious indifferentism and even downright trea-
vice, adheres much more closely to the stated son to Lutheranismn, tending to poison and to de-
liturgical and sacramental system of Romanism than stroy it.
the Reformed church, which has adopted the utmost “ The most learned and worthy champions of this
simplicity of worship. But in the Lutheran church Lutheran theology are Harless, of Munich; Löhe, of
of Germany down to the time of its union with Anspach; the whole theological faculty of Erlangen,
the Reformed church in 1817, there was a warm (except Herzog,) especially Thomasius, and Delitzsch;
spiritual life which beat with a steady pulsation in Kahnis, of Leipzic; Kliefoth, and Philippi, of
the hearts of both clergy and people, showing it to be Mecklenburg; Vilmar, of Marburg (who was origi-
a living section of the living church of Christ
. A nally Reformed) ; Petri, of Hanover; Rudelbach, a
party of strict Lutherans refused to join the Union. Dane, and Guericke, of Halle.
This party is thus described by Dr. Schaff: “They "Their principal theological organs are the. Zeit-
take no part in the Evangelical Church Diet, and schrift für Protestantismus und Kirche, founded by
still less in the Evangelical Alliance. In this, they Harless, and now issued monthly by the theological
are more consistent than the Hengstenberg-Stahl faculty of Erlangen ; the ' Zeitschrift für die gesammte
party, who still remain in the Union. As the Lutherische Theologie und Kirche,' a quarterly review
Puseyites confine the true church to the Episcopal under the editorial supervision of Rudelbach and
organizations, and what they call the Apostolical Guericke; and the Kirchliche Zeitschrift,' of Klie-
Succession, so these high church Lutherans would foth and Mejer in Mecklenberg.
fain confine it to a certain system of doctrine as em- “As much as these admirers of the Form of Con-
bodied in the unaltered Augsburg Confession, Lu- cord unite in the opposition to the Union and the
ther's Catechisms, and the form of Concord. To Reformed Confession, they are by no means agreed
this, every other department of church-life is made among themselves. Some years ago a heated con-
subordinate, as if religion were identical with ortho- troversy broke out in their ranks concerning the
doxy or correct belief, whilst it is in reality #ife and nature of the ministerial office, which was carried on
power, affecting the heart and will even more than also by two old Lutheran Synods in the United
the head and intellect.
States, (the Synod of Missouri
, and the Synod of
“It is especially the Lutheran tenet of the eucha- Buffalo,) with disgraceful violence and passion. More
rist, commonly called consubstantiation, (although | recently, Philippi, of Rostock, attacked Hofmann, of
GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH.
963
Erlangen, and charges him with denying the true Christ, yet I do not choose to bear the name of any
Lutheran doctrine of justification and of the atone- other than of Christ, who is my only captain, as I
ment. The Lutheran conference which assembled am his soldier. He will assign to me both my duties
at Dresden, in the summer of 1856, resolved to rein- and my reward, according to his good pleasure. I
troduce private confession and absolution, and the trust every one must now see why I do not choose
Consistory of Munich issued an order to the churches to be called a Lutheran; though nevertheless, in
of Bavaria to that effect. But it was answered by a fact, no man living esteems Luther so much as I do.
number of protests from Nuremberg, and other | However, I have not on any occasion written a single
strongholds of Lutheranism, which goes to show, line to him, nor he to me, directly or indirectly. And
that this hierarchical movement meets with no re- why have I thus abstained from all communication
sponse from the heart of the people. In Mecklen- with him ? Certainly not from fear, but to prove
burg, where this party is especially zealous, the how altogether consistent is the Spirit of God, which
churches, I am told, are nearly empty, and the sta- can teach two persons, living asunder at such a dis-
tistics of illegitimate births are so awfully humiliat- | tance, to write on the doctrines of Christ, and to in-
ing, that it would be far more important to revive struct the people in them, in a manner so perfectly
general Christianity and good morals, than to de- harmonious with each other.'
nounce the Union, and to persecute Baptists and At an early period in the history of the Reforma-
Methodists."
tion, a difference in point of doctrine began to ap-
GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH. The pear between Zwingli and Luther. This difference
founder of this church was Ulrich Zwingli, a native related to the presence of Christ in the Lord's Sup-
of Switzerland, born in what is now called the canton per, Luther alleging a material presence in and with
of St. Gall, on the 1st of January 1484. Educated the elements, while Zwingli taught that to eat the
for the church, he early displayed talents of no com- flesh of Christ, and drink his blood, was symbo-
mon order, and when his studies were completed, he | lically to express our faith in the Lord Jesus
was chosen pastor of Glaris, the chief town of the Christ. Zwingli in 1527 wrote an explanation of
canton of that name. There he remained ten years, his doctrine on this subject, and addressed it to
in the course of which he had devoted much of his the German Reformer. To this Luther replied, in
time and attention to the study of theology, not only an elaborate treatise, entitling it, “Defence of the
in the works of Romish divines, but in the writings Words of Jesus Christ against the Fanatical Sacra-
of Wickliffe, John Huss, and Jerome of Prague. mentarians.' The controversy continued till 1529,
The result was, that his mind became imbued with when attempts were made to unite the contending
those principles and views which qualified him to parties. These efforts were chiefly promoted by the
take an active part in the work of the Reformation. | Landgrave of Hesse, who eagerly pressed a confer-
Even while still connected with the Church of Rone, ence between the contending parties at Marburg.
he preached evangelical doctrine, and sought a re- This was at length agreed to, and a public discussion
form of the errors, immoralities, and superstitions | took place between Luther and Melancthon on the
which had overspread the church. His labours in one side, and Zwingli and Ecolampadius on the
the cause of the Reformation in Switzerland were other. The debate, however, led to no satisfactory
contemporaneous with, if not actually prior to, those conclusion, but while both parties agreed to differ
of Luther in Germany. The opinion which Zwingli
The opinion which Zwingli amicably on this one point, the Swiss and German
held of the German Reformer will be best stated in | divines drew up fourteen articles containing the es-
his own words: “Luther," says he, “is a very brave sential doctrines of Christianity, which they signed
soldier of Christ, who examines the Scriptures with a by common consent.
diligence which no person else has used for the last The one grand point of difference between the
I do not care if the papists call me Lutherans and Zwinglians continued to be main-
a heretic as they do Luther: I say this, there has tained with undiminished firmness on both sides, and
not existed any person since the commencement of while the former presented their system of opinions
the Romish pontificate, who has been so constant at the Diet of Augsburg, the latter gave in their
and immoveable as Luther in his attacks on the confession of faith, which agreed in every thing with
Pope. But to whom are we to look as the cause of the other except in the contested article in reference
all this new light and new doctrine ? To God, or to to the doctrine of the presence. Zwingli himself
Luther? Ask Luther himself: I know he will an- also sent to the diet a particular confession of faith,
swer that the work is of God. Luther's interpreta- | containing twelve articles relating to the principal
tions of Scripture are so well founded, that no crea- doctrines of Christianity.
ture can confute them; yet I do not take it well to “ This great man,” says Mosheim, “was for re-
be called by the papists a Lutheran, because I learned moving out of the churches, and abolishing in the cere-
the doctrine of Christ from the Scriptures, and not monies and appendages of public worship, many things
from Luther. If Luther preaches Christ, so do I: | which Luther was disposed to treat with toleration
and though-thanks to God--innumerable people, and indulgence, such as images, altars, wax-tapers, the
by his ministry, and more than by mine, are led to form of exorcism, and private confession. He aimed
thousand years.
964
GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH.
• Ro-
at nothing so much as establishing in his country a be limited to the protection and support of the church
method and form of divine worship, remarkable for in the exercise of the great mission which her Divine
its simplicity, and as far remote as could be from head has assigned her.
every thing that might have the smallest tendency to But while Zwingli and Calvin, by their combined
nourish a spirit of superstition. Nor were these the influence, went far to give origin to the Reformed
only circumstances in which he differed from the church, it was indebted also to several others among
Saxon Reformer; for his sentiments concerning sev- the Reformers for its establishment and constitution.
eral points of theology, and more especially his opi- Of these may be mentioned Ecolampadius, Bullinger,
nions relating to the sacrament of the Lord's supper, Farel, Beza, Ursinus, Olevianus, Cranmer, and Knox.
varied widely from those of Luther. The greater It took its rise in German Switzerland, and found a
part of these sentiments and opinions were adopted home afterwards in the Palatinate, on the Lower
in Switzerland, by those who had joined themselves Rhine, in Friesland, Hesse, Brandenburg, and Prus-
to Zuinglius in promoting the cause of the reforma- sia. In Germany it has always been modified by
tion, and were by them transmitted to all the Helve- Lutheran or rather by Melancthonian influences.
tic churches that threw off the yoke of Rome. From The Reformed church, in her doctrine as well as her
Switzerland these opinions were propagated among practice, draws a strict line of demarcation between
the neighbouring nations, by the ministerial labours scripture and tradition, discarding all that is not
and the theological writings of the friends and disci- warranted by scripture. She separates also in the
ples of Zuinglius; and thus the primitive Reformed clearest manner between the sacramental sign and
church that was founded by this eminent ecclesias- the sacramental grace, never confounding the two,
tic, and whose extent at first was not very consider- nor attempting to allege that they are necessarily
able, gathered strength by degrees, and made daily and inseparably connected together. The doctrine
new acquisitions."
of the universal priesthood of believers is a recog-
The principle which lies at the foundation of the nized principle in the Reformed church, and hence,
Reformed church in Germany was declared by in the organization and outward frame-work of the
Zwingli
, while he was yet pastor of Glaris,—that the church lay-elders and deacons, along with a strict
Bible is above all human authority, and to it alone in discipline, have been introduced, thus creating a con-
all religious matters must appeal be made. Acting gregational and synodical self-government.
on this principle, he swept away from the church's manism,” says Dr. Schaff,
may be called the
ritual, as well as from her creed, all that was not church of priests ; Lutheranism, the church of
authorized by the word of God either by a warrant ministers and theologians; Calvinism, the church of
expressed or implied. The right of private judg. congregations and a free people.” The Reformed
ment in the interpretation of the Scriptures was also church is more simple and primitive in its mode of
laid down as in his view an essential principle of the worship than the Lutheran, and exhibits a practical
Reformation.
energy and activity, liberality and zeal, which show
The influence of the school of Calvin was felt by it to be animated by a living power which fits it for
the German as well as by the other Reformed accomplishing a great work in evangelizing the na-
churches, The spirit which issued froin Geneva tions. « The Reformed divines in Germany," as we
speedily diffused itself far and wide among the learn from Dr. Schaff, “are not strict Calvinists,
churches of the Reformation, so that those of them especially as regards the doctrine of predestination ;
more especially which took the nanie of Reformed but stand in close affinity with the moderate or
in opposition to the Lutheran became rather Calvin- Melancthonian school of the Lutheran church. Hence
ian than Zwinglian, in doctrine at least, though not they fell heartily in with the Union-movement,
perhaps in church polity. The points on which which originated with a Reformed prince, and are
Calvin chiefly differed from Zwingli related to the mostly identified with what we have called the
Lord's Supper and the government of the church. Centre of the Evangelical Union. So Ebrard, for
In reference to the Lord's Supper, Calvin maintained several years Reformed Professor in Zürich, and in
that Christ was really present in the Supper, not Erlangen-now President of the Consistory in the
materially, however, but spiritually; while Zwingli United church of the Bavarian Palatinate; Herzog,
denied the presence of Christ in either sense, and his successor in the Reformed Professorship at Er-
maintained that the elements were only symbols of langen, a native of Basel and formerly member of
that faith by which we receive pardon and eternal the United Faculty of Halle ; Sack, of Magdeburg;
life. On the question of church government Calvin Hundeshagen and Schenkel, who were called from
and Zwingli differed as widely as on the subject of Swiss Universities—the one from Berne, the other
the Supper. Zwingli maintained the principle that from Basel-to Heidelberg in Baden, where the two
in a Christian state the church is subject to the civil denominations are likewise united; Hagenbach, the
magistrate in all her arrangements. Calvin, on the excellent Professor of church history in Basel, and
contrary, claimed for the church an autonomy or editor of the Reformed Church Gazette for German
power of self-government, subject only to Christ her | Switzerland, but not differing in his theological
head, while the duty of the civil magistrate he held to position from the former; Lange, formerly of Zürich,
GERMAN UNITED EVANGELICAL CHURCH.
965
take part.
now labouring in Bonn. These are the most dis- Martin Bucer, who, after various fruitless efforts, suc-
tinguished Reformed divines, who may just as well ceeded at length in 1536 in prevailing upon Luther and
be enumerated under the first subdivision of our first Melancthon to sign the Wittenberg Corcordia, which
class.
proved, however, only a temporary compromise. In
“ Schweizer, of Zürich, on the other side, the able Bohemia a union was effected between the Lu-
but unsound historian of the theology of the Re- therans and Reformed in 1570 by the Consensus of
formed church, sympathizes most with the left or Sendomir, which also was of short duration. Me-
anti-symbolical wing of the school of Schleiermacher, lancthon, in the latter part of his life, had his heart
and contributes to the Protestant Church Gazette, of set upon a union with the Reformed, and, for this
Krause.
purpose, he even proposed an alteration of the Augs-
“ The recent revival of Confessional Lutheranism, burg Confession in 1540, a document which is
and its attacks upon the Reformed church, have usually appended to the Confession under the name
roused the Reformed Confessionalism, especially in of The Apology. The exclusive Lutheran party
Hesse, and called forth a series of controversial gained the complete ascendency in Germany towards
works of Heppe in Marburg, and a denominational the end of the sixteenth and throughout the seven-
Reformed Church Gazette, published by Göbel, in teenth centuries. But even during that period, when
Erlangen.
the prejudices of the Lutheran party against the Re-
“For some years past, an annual Reformed Con- formed were at their height, men of a conciliatory
ference was held in connection with the sessions of disposition from time to time appeared, who, like
the Evangelical Church Diet, in which Hundeshagen, Melancthon, were disposed to make large conces-
Schenkel, Lange, Sack, Ebrard, Sudhoff, Heppe, sions in order to bring about a union of the two op-
Göbel, Herzog, Krummacher, Mallet, Ball, and other posing parties. Such were Calixtus, Leibnitz, Spe-
distinguished Reformed divines and pulpit orators ner, and Zinzendorf, all of whom wished to unite the
The last one was held at Lübeck, in Christian confessions. The Reformed have always
September 1856, and resolved to call a general con- been more disposed to union than the Lutheraps;
ference of German Reformed ministers and laymen and this has been more especially characteristic of
at Bremen, in 1857. It would be desirable to give the German Reformed, who have been all along ani-
these scattered churches of the Reformed communion mated to a large extent by the spirit of the school of
a regular organization and compact unity, which Melancthon.
would increase their efficiency. At present, how- During the latter part of the eighteenth century,
ever, the main forces of the German Reformed the differences among Christian churches were alto-
church are flowing in the channel of the evangelical gether lost sight of in Germany, amid a rising tide
Union. If exclusive Lutheranism should succeed in of indifferentism and infidelity, which threatened
breaking up the Union, it would call forth, as in the
call forth, as in the for a time to sweep away Christianity itself; and
latter part of the sixteenth century, a powerful re- even when the religious spirit began to revive in the
action and revive the spirit of Reformed denomina- opening of the nineteenth century, the minds of
tionalism. But even in this case, the Reformed Christians were almost wholly occupied in attempting
church would hold on to the evangelical Catholic to stem the torrent of infidelity which, taking its rise
theology of Germany, and carry it forward in friend in France, had swept over Germany, and left the
ly co-operation with the moderate section of the Christian churches in that country nothing but a
Lutheran church."
name. Frederick, falsely surnamed the Great, prided
GERMAN UNITED EVANGELICAL himself on being the patron and the friend of French
CHURCH, the name given to the largest of the infidelity, and lending all his influence to its pro-
three branches of the Protestant church in Germany. pagation among his subjects, he rendered Germany
It was formed in 1817 at the instance of King more completely infidel than even infidel France
Frederick William III., by a union of the Lutheran itself.
and the Reformed churches under one government At length, after a keen and protracted struggle,
and worship. This union was effected in connection Christianity resumed its former power over the
with the third centennial celebration of the Refor- | minds of the German people, more especially after
mation. Attempts to unite the Lutheran and Re- they had been emancipated from the French yoke.
formed churches in Germany commenced shortly Such was the time selected by Frederick William
after their separation in the sixteenth century. III. of Prussia for effecting a union of the Lutheran
This was the object which was contemplated by the and the Reformed churches. Chevalier Bunsen, in
Landgrave of Hessė, in the famous conference held | his "Signs of the Times,' says, that the king matured
at Marburg in 1529, where the leaders of the Ger- the idea on his visit to England in 1814, and that he
man and Swiss Reformations agreed upon fourteen made the first arrangement for a union and a new
fundamental articles of faith, while they differed only liturgy in St. James's Palace in London. It was
on the doctrine of the presence of Christ in the Lord's proposed to celebrate in Germany the third centen-
Supper. One of the most zealous among the Reform- nial jubilee of the Reformation, and in anticipation
ers in seeking to promote the union referred to, was of this festival, which was so well fitted to recall the
966
GERMAN UNITED EVANGELICAL CHURCH,
sources.
broad general principles of Protestantism, irrespec- importance of symbolical books in order to the mair.-
tive of the differences among Protestant churches, tenance of the purity and unity of a church, and
he issued, on the 27th September 1817, the memor- more especially he seems to have lost sight of the
able declaration, that it was the royal wish to unite fact, that multitudes would gladly accede to the pro-
the separate Lutheran and Reformed confessions in posed Union from no other wish than to get quit of
his dominions into one Evangelical Christian church, the restrictions of a Confession altogether. Thus the
and would set an example in his own congregation at benevolent aims of the pious monarch might after
Potsdam by joining in a united celebration of the all be frustrated, and such was unhappily the result
Lord's Supper at the approaching festival of the of the royal decree of 1817. A great mass both of
Reformation. The execution of this plan was in- the German clergy and laity embraced the Union
trusted to the provincial consistories, synods, and from feelings of a pure indifferentism or vague lati-
clergy generally. The Synod of Berlin, headed by tudinarianism, which hailed the removal of all those
Schleiermacher and nearly all the clergy and laity restrictions which a creed or confession imposes. .
of Prussia, responded cordially to the royal decree. The Union which the king contemplated was sim-
And not in Prussia only, but in most of the German ply a union of government and worship. He did not
States, with few exceptions, the example of the king advert to the doctrinal differences which existed, and
was followed.
in his proclamation of the Union he made no men-
The proposal for union started by the king was tion whatever of the symbolical books, which indeed
first adopted in Nassau, each clergyman of the had gone almost entirely out of use. To carry out
United Church engaging to “teach the Christian | the Union, it was the design of the monarch gra-
doctrine, according to the principles of the Evangeli- dually to introduce Presbyterian and Synodical gov-
cal Church, in such a manner as he himself after vernment, such as belongs to the Reformed church,
honest inquiry, and according to the best of his con- and to have a liturgy published for the whole king-
victions, draws it from Scripture.” In the Palatinate dom, which should be drawn chiefly from Lutheran
of Rhenish Bavaria the union was effected in 1818,
with an expression of respect for the symbolical In 1821 the new Liturgy was issued by the king,
books used by individual Protestant churches, but who commanded its reception, while the adoption of
acknowledging no other ground of faith or rule of the Union was simply recommended, but not abso-
doctrine except the Scripture. In Baden, the Union lutely ordered. Seven years before, a clerical com-
was recognized in 1821, with an acknowledgment of mission had been appointed for the preparation
both the Augsburg Confession and Heidelberg Cate- of a book of church service, but not having satis-
chism, as much, and in so far, as the right of free in- factorily accomplished the object of their appoint-
quiry was claimed in the Augsburg Confession, and ment, the king took the work into his own hands,
applied in the Heidelberg Catechism. The resolu- and, with the assistance of the court chaplains
tion adopting the Union in Rhenish Hessia was and a pious layman, produced a Liturgy which
passed in 1822, with the declaration that “the sym- was authoritatively enjoined to be used through-
bolical books common to the two separated churches out his whole dominions. It was afterwards sub-
should in future also be the rule of teaching, with mitted to consistories for revision in 1829, and is
the exception of the doctrine on the Lord's Supper reported to be at this moment (1857) again under
contained therein, and on which they had hitherto revision. The introduction of this guide for public
differed.” In Würtemberg also the Union was ac- worship prepared by the sovereign himself
, met with
cepted in 1827. But Saxony, Hanover, Bavaria violent opposition from many both of the friends and
proper, and Mecklenburg, were too exclusively foes of the Union. One of the most eminent divines
Lutheran, while Switzerland was too exclusively which Germany has produced in modern times
Reformed to require any such change as the Union Schleiermacher, disapproved of the step as an unhal-
contemplated, and therefore matters continued as lowed and unlawful interference on the part of the
before. The Protestants of Austria also still exist | king with the internal affairs of the church. The
in two separate branches, the church of the Helve- magistrates of Berlin, and also twelve clergymen of
tic Confession, and the church of the Augsburg Con- that city, rejected the Liturgy. To induce the dis-
-fession.
sentients to acquiesce, a new edition was prepared;
Thus the pious wish of Frederick William III. to in the second part of which many of the old prayers
combine the whole Protestants of Germany into one and formularies were inserted. This change decided
Church organization has not yet been fulfilled. On the majority of the clergy to accept it.
the contrary, it has rendered Germany the battle- On the 25th of June 1830, the third centenary of
field of a theological war, which is raging as keenly the presenting of the Augsburg Confession was
at the present hour as it did thirty years ago. The celebrated. The king embraced this opportunity of
intentions of the king in bringing about the Union completing his object; and, in virtue of his royal
were undoubtedly righteous and benevolent. He authority, he commanded that, on that day, the new
had no wish to set aside the Confessions, as many Liturgy should be read in all the churches. But as
alleged, but he seemed scarcely to be aware of the some of the Lutheran clergy, among whom was Dr.
GERMAN UNITED EVANGELICAL CHURCH.
967
Scheibel, professor in Breslau, refused to read it, ments on the subject with the South Australian Com-
several were suspended from their offices, to the pany. Those arrangements were completed; a large
great grief of their flocks. A great number of Lu- vessel was chartered by the company, to take them out;
theran clergymen were similarly treated the follow and Kavel's flock, to the amount of some hundreds,
ing year; and if they ventured to preach the Gos- had already embarked on the Oder, for the purpose
pel and administer the sacraments in private houses, of joining this vessel at Hamburg, having previously
to their parishioners, they were thrown into prison, settled their affairs, and disposed of their surplus
and compelled, with their families, to quit their re- goods, when a government order was received, com-
spective parishes. And not only were pastors thus manding them to return to their homes, where they
persecuted, many Lutheran families were also fined were kept in suspense for nearly two years, consuin-
or imprisoned. In 1834 an edict was issued, by ing that little property which should have served
authority of the king, declaring all Lutheran worship them for capital in a new country. In the mean-
illegal. This roused the attention of the public time, the South Australian Company had obtained
more than ever to the character of the new Liturgy; other labourers; and it was not to be expected that
and, in the course of a few years, about twenty they should again incur the heavy responsibility of
thousand publicly renounced the New United church, providing the means of emigration for these perse-
and determined to adhere to the tenets and the forms cuted people. The Prussian government having at
of the Lutheran church. They frequently presented | length granted the desired permission, in the year
petitions for toleration, to the king and his ministers, 1836, six hundred individuals were sent out to the
but in vain. The reply was imperative. They colony, through the princely aid of a British mer-
must either belong to the United church or submit chant, who also, with true Christian hospitality,
to the punishment which their obstinacy had en- maintained the distressed pastor during the two
tailed upon them. This disgraceful persecution has years he was kept waiting in this country.
been the most violent in Silesia and the grand- In the beginning of the year 1837, a new Cabinet
duchy of Posen, where most of the inhabitants are order appeared which seemed to promise a speedy
Lutherans.
termination of the unhappy persecution against the
The churches being in many instances deprived of Lutheran church. The ordinance is to the following
their pastors, the ordinance of baptism could no effect:
longer be duly administered ; and when, from a feel- 1st. No new prosecution shall be commenced
ing of duty and necessity, the father of a family per- against the Lutherans, without the consent of the
formed it, he was likewise sent to prison. The ministry of spiritual affairs.
Lord's supper could only be observed during the 2d. The prosecutions now pending shall be closed,
night. The meetings for prayer, which were held and judgment given, but the execution of judgment
in private houses, were broken up by the police. shall be suspended till the king shall have confirmed
At a place in the duchy of Posen, they literally the same.
pulled the people from off their knees by the hair of 3d. The Upper Court of Justice of Breslau shall
their heads. It appears that, besides a number of no longer give judgment in the present prosecutions,
private Christians, eleven ministers were sent to but the judgment already given shall not be reversed.
prison; some of them two or three times, for a The expectations, however, which the Lutherans
quarter of a year together; and if, after, regaining formed in consequence of the appearance of this
their liberty, they again visited their people, they government decree, were soon destined to be dis-
were almost sure of being sent back to their dungeons. / appointed. The civil power still continued to
In this state of circumstances, the persecuted trample on the rights and liberties of the people,
Lutheran communities made a representation to the until the accession of the present king in 1840, who
government; but instead of an answer, the police | no sooner ascended the throne than he put an end
and commissioners were sent to distrain their goods, to the persecutions which had so long disgraced the
and carry off whatever they pleased. From one government of his predecessor. The Old Lutherans,
poor man they took away his whole provision for as they are called, were permitted in 1845 to organ-
cattle, and also his cow; amounting, altogether, to ize themselves into a separate ecclesiastical body, in
one hundred and eighty francs! This cruel treat- the capacity of Dissenters, their legal existence and
ment was borne with the utmost meekness and recognition being secured, though without pecuniary
resignation. Petitions and remonstrances, couched support from the state.
in the most respectful terms, were made to the civil The most eminent theologians of the United
authorities ; but no redress could be obtained, nor church began now to think of carrying through an
any alleviation of the rigorous measures adopted ordination formula, in which the consensus of the two
against them. At length, in 1835, the suffering churches was to be contained without depriving the
Lutherans in Silesia were led to believe that the individual congregation of the right of giving a call
Prussian government would grant them passports for on the ground of the particular confessions. The
emigration ; and one of their ministers, named Au- principal task of the General Synod of 1846 con-
gustus Kavel, was sent to England, to make arrange- ) sisted in carrying through this well-meditated plan,
1
968
GERMAN UNITED EVANGELICAL CHURCH.
but the ordination formula was by itself rendered the laws of marriage. The Conference closed its
impracticable. The revolutionary spirit which per- sessions on the 5th of December last, and its delibera-
vaded the continent in 1848 was by no means fa- tions were found to be more favourable to the cause
vourable to the progress of Christian churches. Soon of the Union than was at first expected, and it holds
after that season of political commotion there arose out a pleasing prospect for the future theology of
within the United Evangelical church itself a strong Germany, that the Conference contained not a single
Lutheran party, headed by Hengstenberg, who en representative of the rationalistic school.
deavoured to make the Union instrumental in ad- The present state of ecclesiastical parties in Prus-
vancing a High Church Lutheranism, by urging the sia is thus described by Dr. Schaff, to whose recent.
necessity of a separate organization of both the work on Germany we readily acknowledge our deep
Lutheran and Reformed churches within the general obligation: "The anti-confessional or latitudinarian
frame-work of the National church. To meet the Unionists, who base themselves on the Bible simply,
views, to a certain extent, of this influential party, without the church symbols, and embrace, besides
the present king of Prussia issued an order, dated the left wing of Schleiermacher's school, a number of
6th March 1852, authorizing the Oberkirchenrath, or liberal divines of different shades of opinions, held.
supreme ecclesiastical court, which he had given to together by the mutual opposition to the reactionary
the United Evangelical church in 1850, to recognize tendencies in religion and politics, are deprived of.
a confessional division among its members. The power and influence in the highest councils ; but
consequence was, that at the meeting of the court, they still live, are numerically strong in the ministry
the members avowedly ranged themselves, some on and laity, and hope for a radical change in their fa-
the side of the Lutheran and others on the side of vour in case of an accession of the Prince of Prussia
the Reformed Confessions, while Nitzsch was the to the throne, who is known to be opposed to high-
only member who declared that he belonged to both church tendencies, and rather loose and indifferent in
churches, admitting the consensus of both. This matters of religion. But, as he is only two years
solitary representative of the principle of the Union younger than the king, his brother, such an event is
in a confessional sense was afterwards joined by neither probable nor desirable.
Hoffman, formerly president of the Evangelical Mis- “The evangelical Unionists, or the consensus
sionary establishment at Basle. Thus, through the party, which takes for its doctrinal basis the Bible,
influence chiefly of Hengstenberg, the Union was and the common dogmas of the Lutheran and Re-
seen to be not an amalgamation of the Lutheran and forrned Confessions, is strongest in the universities,
Reformed churches, but a mere confederation of but in the minority in the Oberkirchenrath.
three parties, the Lutherans, the Reformed, and the “The strict Confessionalists, who regard the Union
Unionists or Evangelicals proper. This discovery as a mere confederation of the two Confessions
called forth violent protests from the Prussian Uni- under a common state-church government, and who
versities, and the king found it necessary to issue an are for the most part strict symbolical Lutherans
explanatory order, dated July 12, 1853, declaring and monarchical absolutists, although comparatively
that the decree of the previous year was intended small in number, have at present the ascendency in
simply to secure to the Confessions all proper guar- the seats of power and influence. It can hardly be
antee and protection within the established church, disputed that the ultimate tendency of their zealous
but by no means to abolish or even to disturb the efforts is the dissolution of the Union altogether. A
Union of the two evangelical denominations founded few of them have a strong leaning to Romanism, and
by his father, and thus to create a schism in the na- would at any time prefer a union with Popery to a
tional church. The truth is, the king has no sym- union with the Reformed confession. Their Lu-
pathy with the exclusive spirit of the New Lutherans, theran brethren of other states have quite recently,
and such is his desire for the union of all true Chris- in a conference at Dresden, resolved upon the rein-
tians, that he has recently invited the Evangelical troduction of auricular confession. Straws show
Alliance to hold its next general conference at Berlin. which way the wind blows.'
Another still more important step on the part of the “In the case of a dissolution of the Prussian
king, is his resolution to call a General Synod during Union, which though not very probable, is by no
the present year (1857), and with this view he sum- means impossible, both the Lutheran and the Re-
moned a preparatory Evangelical Conference, con- formed churches would be reorganized on their sepa-
sisting of fifty-seven delegates, which met in one of rate confessional basis. But the majority of the
the palaces of Berlin in November 1856, to consider people would not be prepared to go back to the old
various important topics which will be submitted for state of things which they regard as for ever sur-
decision to the proposed sypod. The subjects laid mounted by the Union of 1817. The radical Union-
before the Conference were these : the introduction ists would perhaps run into the principle of indepen-
of a Presbyterian form of government into the con- dency. The orthodox Unionists would strive to
gregations of the Eastern provinces, the revival of the build up a United Evangelical Church, on the con-
offices of deacons and deaconesses in the church, the sensus of the two confessions, with a small member-
revision of the present Liturgy, and the reform of ship, perhaps, at the beginning, but—as an intelli-
GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA.
969
gent correspondent of the New York · Independent' | rit, laboured for nearly half-a-century among his
said some time ago— with more theological learn- German brethren in America, and is justly regarded
ing at her command than any other church on the as the father of the Lutheran Church in that coun-
globe.
try. Mühlenberg was soon joined by other labour-
“ None of the three parties is willing to separate ers in the same field, but the increase of pastors was
itself from the connection with the state, each striv- by no means commensurate with the increase of the
ing to obtain the lion's share in the control of the, Lutheran population. When the first synod was
establishment. But all the apparent indications to held in 1748, there were only eleven regular Lu-
the contrary notwithstanding, the principle of free- theran ministers in the United States. Three years
dom of religion and public worship, as already re- after that time the number of congregations was es-
marked, is making slow but sure and steady progress timated at about forty, and the Lutheran population
all over Europe, and the time may not be far distant, at 60,000.
when the present relation of church and state will The Lutheran Church in America, as well as the
undergo a radical change.
other religious denominations of that country, suf-
“ The present state of the Prussian Union is very fered not a little from the disturbing influences of the
excited, confused, unsatisfactory and critical. But Revolution. Its evil effects upon the religion of the
it must not be forgotten, that its very troubles and people were felt for many a long year. Both the
agitations are indications of life and energy, as the ministers and members of the German Lutheran
somewhat similar movements of the low-church, Church, amid the political commotions which agi-
high-church, and broad-church parties in the Angli- tated their adopted country, experienced in conse-
can Communion, and must result at last in good. quence a sensible decline of vital religion. But
For nothing can be considered a failure which essen- with the return of peace, and a more settled state of
tially belongs to the ever progressing historical de-society, came a decided improvement in the spiritual
velopment of Christ's kingdom on earth. The great aspect of the church. The hearts of good men were
merits especially of the German evangelical Union-cheered, and their prospects brightened. But while
divines for the solution of the doctrinal differences the German Lutherans were gradually increasing in
between the two great divisions of Protestantism, and numbers, and their zeal in the cause of Christ sen-
for the promotion of all branches of sacred science sibly reviving, the want of organization was deeply
and literature, are immortal, and have already made felt and lamented, the church having gradually be-
an impression upon the more recent French, Dutch, come divided into five or six different, distant and
English, Scotch and American theology, which can unconnected synods, which had no regular intercourse
never be effaced.”
with each other. This evil, however, was remedied
GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMER- in 1820 by the formation of the General Synod of
ICA. The first emigration of German Lutherans to the American Lutheran Church ; and the result of
America is probably to be traced as far back as this general organization was soon felt in every de-
1680, when the grant of Pennsylvania was given to partment of her interests. Some of the permanent
Penn by Charles II. In twenty years from that benefits which have sprung from it are the formation
date several hundred families emigrated from Ger- of a Scriptural formula of government and discipline;
many to Pennsylvania, the greater proportion of and the institution of a theological seminary and a
whom belonged to the Lutheran church. The tide college.
of German emigration, however, fairly commenced Within the last twenty years the German Luther-
in 1710, when about 3,000 Germans, chiefly Luther- an Church has made the most gratifying progress.
an, who had taken refuge in England from Romish | It stretches over all the Middle and Western States,
intolerance, were sent at the expense of the govern- and some of the Southern. According to its latest
ment of Queen Anne to the United States of Amer- statistical reports, it numbers nearly 900 ministers,
ica. These were followed in 1727 by a large num- and perhaps thrice as many congregations. It has
ber of Germans from the Palatinate, from Wurtem- eight theological seminaries, five colleges, and nine
berg, Darmstadt, and other parts of Germany. This periodicals, four in English, and five in German. Its
colony which settled in Pennsylvania, was long desti- home missionary field is larger than that of any other
tute of a regular ministry, but was partially sup- American denomination, and its missionary spirit
plied with ordinances for twelve years by several and liberality are growing every year. .
ministers who had come from Sweden. At length in Though forming one united body, this church con-
1748, the German Lutheran Church in America was tains within it three different parties, the Old Lu-
organized by Dr. Henry Melchiar Mühlenberg, a theran, the New Lutheran, and the Moderate or
missionary of the Halle Orphan House, who laid the Melancthonian party. The New Lutheran party,
foundation of what was called the United Ministry, which is probably the largest of the three, consists
and of the still existing Pennsylvania Synod of the chiefly of native Americans of German descent, and
Evangelical Lutheran Church. This devoted minis- hence assumes to be the American Lutheran Church.
ter of Christ, who had been educated in the school of The Old Lutheran party consists of a portion of the
Francke, and had imbibed a large portion of his spi- more recent emigrants from Saxony, Prussia, Bava-
!!!!
970
GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA.
ria, and other countries. This division of the Lu- | the new measures, particularly the anxious bench,
theran Church in America is engaged at present in from about the year 1830; while the Old Lutherans,
a keen controversy on the subject of the clerical and also the Pennsylvania Synod, set themselves
office, the two contending parties being the Synod of against all such mere human means of promoting
Missouri, and the Synod of Buffalo; the one holding revivals. The controversy on this subject was car-
the common Protestant view which makes the ried on with great keenness for a considerable time,
clerical office only the organ of the general priest- but has now nearly subsided, and the system of new
hood of believers; the other holding the Romaniz- measures is almost wholly confined to the Western
ing doctrine of a separate clerical office resting on States. It is worthy of remark, however, that amid all
ordination, and specifically different from the general the diversities of opinion which exist among the min-
priesthood of believers. The Melancthonian party isters and members of the German Lutheran Church
occupies a middle position between the New and the in America, it is making rapid progress as a body,
Old Lutherans. It is represented by the oldest and and when we consider that the Germans in the New
largest Synod, that of Pennsylvania, and partly also World, including their English-speaking descendants,
by the United Synod of Ohio. The Old Lutherans are estimated at nearly four millions, and that the
in America, like the strict Lutherans in Germany, number of German emigrants to the United States,
hold the whole Book of Concord, laying particular averagės at present at least 150,000 a-year, we can
stress on the Formula Concordiæ, while the Melanc- scarcely overrate the importance of a church which
thonians content themselves with the Augsburg Con- seems destined to occupy a very conspicuous place
fession and the Catechism of Luther. The New among the numerous Transatlantic denominations of
Lutherans reject the binding authority of all Lu- Christians.
theran symbols, except the Augsburg Confession, GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH IN AMER-
which, however, they receive only as an expression, ICA. As in Germany, the Reformed are not so
“in a manner substantially correct," of the cardinal numerous in the United States as the Lutherans.
doctrines of the Bible, the only infallible rule of faith | Their church was founded by emigrants chiefly from
and practice. This party reject several Lutheran the Palatinate, who crossed the Atlantic in the time
doctrines and practices, such as exorcism, private or of Penn, and hence its principal seat in the early
auricular confession, lax views of the Sabbath, and period of its history was Eastern Pennsylvania. It
the Lutheran doctrine of baptism in its relation to receives accessions from the Rhenish provinces and
regeneration and the Lord's Supper.
other parts of Germany, where the Reformed are
The church government of the German Lutheran found. Its churches are most numerous in Pennsyl-
Church in America is in a somewhat confused and vania, and next to this in Ohio, where of late this
disjointed state, the Synods standing separate and denomination has made great progress. It has also
apart from each other, differing in many cases in several congregations in Maryland and Virginia, but
doctrinal views from one another. It was proposed in the more southern districts, and in the far west, it
to unite them in the triennial General Synod which has done little more than gained a footing. The
was instituted in 1820; but several of the Synods constitution of this church is Presbyterian, and it
refused to take any part in it. The General Synod has two synods, an Eastern and a Western, separated
assumes no legislative power, but only professes to by the Alleghany mountains; and each synod is
give advice, and avoiding discussions on doctrinal subdivided into a number of classes or district sy-
points, it devotes its whole energies to the cause of nods. The ecclesiastical polity of the German
education and that of missions. Besides the Synod, Reformed Church in America, is formed after the
there is a ministerium consisting entirely of clergy- model of the Dutch REFORMED CHURCH (which
men. The congregations are generally quite inde- see), to which she was subordinate until 1792, and
pendent, and under no fixed system. All the chil- it was only in 1819 that she adopted an independent
dren are baptized and confirmed without any regard constitution of her own. According to the most re-
to religious qualifications either in themselves or cent accounts she numbers about 300 ministers, and
nearly 100,000 communicants; three theological
Great differences are also found to exist between seminaries, and as many colleges, two German, and
the Old and New Lutherans in the mode of conduct-
four English popular and scientific periodicals.
ing religious worship. In the Old Lutheran churches The Heidelberg Catechism is the only symbolical
a liturgical altar-service is used, with crucifixes and book of the German Reformed Church in America,
lighted candles; but among the New Lutherans there
the New Lutherans there though the Reformed Church in Germany has sev-
is a rejection of all symbolical rites and ceremonies, eral others besides. Subscription to the Catechism
and a very restricted use of liturgies, of which they is not required from candidates for the ministry at
have several, as well as a number of German and their ordination; a mere verbal profession of the
English hymn-books. An additional point of differ- doctrine of the church being deemed sufficient. A
ence between the chief parties in the American Lu- professor of theology makes the following declara-
theran Church, has a reference to the revival system, tion at his ordination : “You, N. N., professor elect
the New Lutherans making use of what are called of the Theological Seminary of the German Re-
their parents.

W
Os
Rice;
UNIL
Drawn hy 1.C Dil den from a sketch by T Bacon FSA.
Engraved by J. Redaway
The Ghat, Hurdwar.
HINDUS BATHING IN THE GANGES.
A Fullarton & COI ondon & Edinburgh
GERMAN EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION OF THE WEST_GHAT.
971
formed Church in the United States, acknowledge spread of the Evangelical Church in particular, as
sincerely, before God and this assembly, that the well as for the furtherance of all institutions for the
holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament, extension of the kingdom of God. By the Evan-
which are called the canonical scriptures, are genu-gelical Church we understand that communion
ine, authentic, inspired, and therefore divine scrip- which takes the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New
tures; that they contain all things that relate to the Testaments as the Word of God and our only infalli-
faith, the practice, and the hope of the righteous, and ble rule of faith and practice, and commits itself to
are the only rule of faith and practice in the church that exposition of the Scriptures laid down in the
of God; that, consequently, no traditions, as they | symbolical books of the Lutheran and Reformed
are called, and no mere conclusions of reason, that Churches, chiefly the Augsburg Confession, Lu-
are contrary to the clear testimony of these scrip- ther's Catechism, and the Heidelberg. Catechism, so
tures, can be received as rules of faith or of life. l. far as these agree; and where they differ, we hold
You acknowledge, farther, that the doctrine contained alone to the relevant passages of Scripture, and avail
in the Heidelberg Catechism, as to its substance, is ourselves of that freedom of conscience which pre-
the doctrine of the holy scriptures, and must, there-vails on " such points in the Evangelical Church.”
fore, be received as divinely revealed truth. You At its original formation this church was intended
declare sincerely that, in the office you are about to only for the more Western States; but an associa-
assume, you will make the inviolable divine authority tion connected with it, and having the same object
of the holy scriptures, and the truth of the doctrine in view, has been since formed in Ohio. It is not
contained in the Heidelberg Catechism, the basis of improbable that Evangelical Churches may spring
all your instructions.
instructions. You declare, finally, that you up in other parts of the United States, and may
will labour according to the ability which God may prove of signal benefit. to both the German Lutheran
grant you, that, with the divine blessing, the stu- and German Reformed churches in that country.
dents intrusted to your care may become enlight- GERON (Gr. the old.' man), a surname under
ened, pious, faithful, and zealous ministers of the which Nereus was worshipped at Gythium in La-
gospel, who shall be sound in the faith.”
conia.
During the last ten or twelve years, the German GEROWIT, the god of war, and also of the sun
Reformed Church in America has been agitated by among the ancient tribe of the Wends. A colossal
various keen theological controversies. The char- buckler was wont to be suspended in his temple.
acter of its teaching being chiefly that of the Evan- GERSHONITES, one of the three great branches
gelical United Theology of Germany, which is the of the LEVITES (which see), whose office it was to
joint product of both the Augsburg and the Heidel- carry the veils and curtains of the tabernacle on the
berg Confessions, it has been charged by other de- western side of which they encamped. The Ger-
nominations with laxity of doctrine, and a neglect, if shonites were under the conduct and direction of
not a denial, of some of the cardinal truths of Chris- | Ithamar.
tianity. The theological movement is going forward, GHASL, one of the three kinds of Mohammedan
and time alone will develope what is to be the result ablutions or purifications. It is a species of immer-
of it. Meanwhile the body is active and energetic sion in water, and three rules are to be observed in
both in home and foreign missionary work, seeking its performance. 1. Those who do it must resolve
to discharge conscientiously the great work which to please God.' 2. The body must be thoroughly
has been assigned to them as a church, in the midst cleansed. 3. The water must touch the whole skin
of a large and growing German population in Amer- and all the hair of the body. The Sonna, which is
ica.
the oral or traditionary law of the Mohammedans,
GERMAN EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION requires five additional circumstances. 1. That the
OF THE WEST. : This body of Christians corre- BISMILLAH (which see). be recited. 2. That the
sponds in America to the Evangelical United Church palms of the hands be washed before the vessels are
of Prussia, and like its prototype in Europe, it rather emptied into the washing place. 3. That before the
aims at a union of the Lutheran and Reformed con- prayer's some lustration should be made with peculiar
fessions, than boasts of having accomplished it. In ceremonies. 4. That to cleanse the surface of the
this small denomination, which is as yet but in its body the skin should be rubbed with the hand.
infancy, those emigrants from Germany who have 5. That all this be continued to the end of the ab-
been baptized and confirmed in the United Evange- lution.
lical Church may find a home. This church was in- GHAT, a flight of steps leading down from a
stituted on the 4th of May 1841 at St. Louis, Mo- Hindu temple to the waters of GANGA or other
bile, by seven ministers of the United Church of sacred streams. The Ghát is often remarkably
Germany, and at present (1857) it numbers about handsome, and the pious Hindus will often lavish
thirty ministers. The object contemplated by the lahks of rupees upon the construction of this part of
formation of this body is thus stated in the first a building, which is regarded as peculiarly sacred
paragraph of its revised statutes : “The object of from its leading to the sacred river where the Hindu
the Association is, to work for the establishment and performs his ablutions.
972
GHAZI KHAN--GIFTS (SPIRITUAL).
SAR.
GHAZI KHAN, a holy Mussulman, who first | nary stature have been mentioned by many writers
subdued the country of Dinagepore in Hindustan to in modern times.
the Mogul power; and whose humanity and impar- The story of the giants occupies a conspicuous
tial justice have gained for him the worship not only place among the fables of ancient mythology. Ho-
of true Moslems, but even of the Hindus themselves, mer refers to them as a savage race of men, who
who frequently perform long and painful pilgrimages were under the rule of Eurymedon, and because of
to his tomb at Sheraghat.
their insolence towards the gods were utterly extir-
GHAZIPORE, the favourite residence of GHAZI pated. Hesiod, on the other hand, considers them
KHAN (which see). This place is remarkable for a not as human, but divine beings descended from
sect of Brahmans who reside in it, practising reli-Uranus and Ge, having horrific countenances, and
gious ceremonies in great secrecy. They reject the the tails of dragons. They are said to have made an
belief of metempsychosis, which is a leading object attack upon heaven with immense pieces of rock,
of the Hindu faith. They teach that the entire and large trunks of trees. In this contest the giants
universe was created by a Supreme Deity; that the were all of them slain by the gods, and some of
souls of men were before this life pre-existent in the them buried under volcanic islands. This fabulous
Divine Being, into which they will ultimately be war between the giants and the gods has probably
again merged after having been purified from all evil been intended as a mythical description of some of
and earthly propensities. A profound secrecy is im- the more striking phenomena of nature.
posed upon all the adherents of the sect, as to the GIANTS OF THE FROST. See HRIMTHUR-
immediate forms and observances with which their
tenets are bound up; they are subject entirely to the GIBON, the name of a remarkable idol-temple in
Brahmans in the direction of their domestic affairs, Japan. It is surrounded with thirty or forty smaller
and subsist upon a common stock, which is in the temples all arranged in regular order. The temple
liands of the Brahmans. There is a marked resem- itself is a large but narrow building. In the middle
blance in the opinions and observances of this sect room, which is separated from the others by a gal-
to the ancient Pythagoreans.
lery, stands a huge idol surrounded with many others
GHET, a bill of divorce among the Jews. See of smaller dimensions.
DIVORCE.
GICHTELIANS, or GICHTELLITES, a small sect
GHIBELLINES, the faction which favoured the of mystics who appeared in Holland in the begin-
Emperors of Germany during those fierce conten- ning of the eighteenth century. They were also
tions between the Popes and Emperors, .which for called by the name of ANGELIC BROTHERS (which
several ages filled Italy and Germany with discord see).
and bloodshed.
GICKNIAHORES, hermits belonging to the AR-
GHOST (HOLY). See. HOLY GHOST.
IENIAN CHURCH (which see), who pass their lives
GHOSTS. See DEMONS, SPIRITS.
in meditation on the tops of rocks.
GIABARIANS, a Mohammedan sect which de- GIFTS. See PRESENTS.
nied the free agency of man, and taught that God is GIFTS (SPIRITUAL). In the primitive Christian
the Author and Origin of all the good and bad ac- church each individual member was believed to be
tions which man commits.
possessed of certain charismata or spiritual gifts,
GIANTS. The Hebrew word niphilim, translated communicated to him by the Holy Spirit, and he was
giants in Gen. vi. 4, is by several commentators re- expected to co-operate with all the others, according
garded as referring not to bodily stature, but to to the nature and extent of his gifts, for the edifica-
enormity of wickedness; but no such interpretation tion of the whole church, and the advancement of the
can be given of the same word in Num. xiii. 33, common cause. Thus, though there were diversities
which in that passage, at all events, denotes literal of gifts, it was the same Spirit which wrought in
giants. We find the Rephaim spoken of, a race of them all for the increase and prosperity of the body
Canaanitish giants, from whom was descended Og, of Christ. Nor did the Spirit work independently
king of Bashan, who is described in Deut. iii. 11, as of, but by means of, the peculiar natural talents of
a giant. The same word Rephaim is sometimes. un- the individual, elevating his natural gifts into spiritual
derstood in other passages of Scripture, to refer to charismata. The consequence of this was, that some
the spirits of the dead who are in a state of misery, were possessed of the gift of government, others of
and hence it seems to denote hell. It cannot be teaching, and so forth. The church was thus, as
denied, however, that there have been men in ancient Neander describes it, a whole, composed of equal
times of extraordinary stature. Thus Og was so members, all the members being but organs of the
gigantic that his bed was nine cubits long, and four community, as this was the body quickened by the
broad. Goliath of Gath was six cubits and a span in Spirit of Christ. The spiritual gifts of the early
height, which is computed by some to be ten feet Christians may be regarded as of a twofold charac-
seven inches, or according to others, nine feet six | ter, the first belonging to the peculiar operation of
inches. In the time of Joshua and of David giants the Holy Spirit in the apostolic age, and therefore
appear to have been common. Men of extraordi- special and extraordinary, the second belonging to

--
Drawn by CDibdin from a sketch by T Bacon ESA
Engraved by W Findem
Anslit at குர்தப்பாடி, tin.
Aluarton & Cº London & Edinburgh
GILBERTINES-GLASSITES.
973
4
the operation of the Holy Spirit through all succeed- The girdle formed a part of the official dress of
ing ages of the church, and therefore common and the Jewish high-priest, and indeed of the whole
ordinary.
priesthood. It was composed of a mixed mate-
GILBERTINES, a Romish order of religious rial of linen and worsted of different colours, and
founded in England by Gilbert of Sempringham, in was worn throughout the whole year except on
Lincolnshire, in the reign of Henry I., in the twelfth the day of atonement, when he had only a girdle of
century. The men followed the rule of St. Austin, fine linen. Josephus asserts that these girdles were
and the women that of St. Benedict. The monas- thirty-two ells long, and four fingers broad. When
teries of this order were for some time very numer- the priests were not engaged in official work, both
ous in England.
ends of the girdle hung down to their very feet, but
GIMLI, one of the heavens or future abodes of when employed in the exercise of any part of their
the blessed among the ancient Scandinavians. The priestly office, they threw them over their left
word means "the palace covered with gold," and shoulder.
was regarded as the place where, after the renovation When a peculiar costume came to be worn by the
of all things, the just were to enjoy delights for ever. clergy in the Christian church, the girdle was em-
It was also called Vingólf, and is regarded by Finnployed as a cincture binding the alb round the waist.
Magnusen as the heaven for righteous men, while he Informer times it was flat and broad, and some-
holds that there are other heavens for righteous times adorned with jewels; in the Roman Catholic
giants, and for righteous dwarfs.
church it has been exchanged for a long cord with
GINGOSIN, the name under which one of the dependent extremities and tassels.
ancient emperors of Japan was worshipped.
GIRDLE OF ST. AUSTIN (FRATERNITY OF),
GINNUNGA-GAP, the cup or gulf of delusion, a a devotional society of the Church of Rome. The
vast void abyss which the ancient Scandinavians be- girdle which they wear is composed of leather, and
lieved to be the primeval state of material creation, it is alleged by the devotees, that the Blessed Vir-
and the link of connection between its north and gin, who is Empress both of men and angels, wore it.
south poles. Into this capacious cup, light, as im- The law of nature, the written law, and the law of
ponderable ether, flowed from the south, or at least grace, have all derived advantages from the use of
from a torrid region, the envenomed streams of Eli- this girdle. Our first parents, it is argued, wore
vâgar, and the farther they retired from their source, coats of skins, and must therefore have had leathern
the more the heat, considered as the antagonism of girdles, and belonged to this order. Elias is adduced
cold, became reduced in its temperature, and, at last as an instance of its use under the written law, and
the fluid mass congealed in Ginnunga-gap. Into Jolin the Baptist of its use under the law of grace.
this frozen mass flowed heat from Muspelheim, and GIRDLE OF ST. FRANCIS. See FRANCIS
thus was created the giant Ymir in the likeness of (St.), FRATERNITY OF THE GIRDLE OF.
man, from whom descended the race of Frost-Giants GIWON, the domestic or tutelar god of the Ja-
or HRIMTHURSAR (which see).
panese, an image of whom is generally stationed be-
GIPCIERE, a small satchel, wallet, or purse worn
fore the doors of their houses. He is called also
by Romish monks.
God-su-ten-oo, which means “The Prince of the
GIRDLE, an indispensable article of Oriental Heavens, with the head of an ox." The Japanese
dress, used for various purposes, but chiefly to con- ascribe to this deity the power of averting from
fine their loose-flowing robes by which they were
them all kinds of diseases, particularly small-pox.
liable to be impeded in any work requiring activity GIZBARIM, certain officers employed in the ser-
and freedom. Some have alleged that the Jews wore vice of the ancient Jewish temple. They were not
two girdles, an upper and an under, the one worn to be less than three in number, and their office con-
above the tunic for the purpose of girding it; the sisted in being the first receivers and treasurers of
other worn under the shirt and around the loins. all that belonged to the treasury of the temple; for
The upper girdle was sometimes made of leather, as example, the half-shekel contributed by every Israel-
in the case of John the Baptist; but more generally ite, the vessels offered to the service of the temple,
of worsted woven into a variety of figures, and made and things vowed or devoted to it. In the case of
to fold several times round the body. It is often anything that was to be redeemed, they stated the
used as a purse. The dervishes of the present day price, and received the money. In short, they were
wear girdles of the same description as that of the sub-collectors or sub-treasurers under the seven IM-
Baptist. Among Orientals no stronger expression MARCALIM (which see).
of affection and confidence could be shown to any GLASSITES, a Christian sect which arose in
one than the unloosing of the girdle, and presenting Scotland in the eighteenth century, deriving its name
it as a gift. The Hebrews regarded it as a mark of from its founder, Mr. John Glas. In England and
distinction to wear a richly embroidered girdle, and America, it is usually known by the name of Sande-
at this day in the East, people of rank wear very manians, from Mr. Robert Sandeman, a native of
broad silken girdles, ornamented with gold and silver Perth, who became at an early period a convert to
and precious stones.
the doctrines inculcated by Mr. Glas, and ultimately
974
GLASSITES.
became better known in connection with the sect than he maintained that a congregation or church of Jesus
the founder himself. Mr. John Glas was born 5th Christ, with its presbytery or eldership, is in its
October 1695, at Auchtermuchty in Fife, of which discipline subject to no jurisdiction under heaven, but
parish his father had been appointed minister about to Christ alone. He avowed his conviction that
the period of the Revolution. Young Glas was edu- every assembly of believers holding the faith and
cated at the universities of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, hope of the gospel is a Christian church. When
and having passed through the ordinary curriculum of questioned as to the lawfulness of established church-
candidates for the ministry, he was licensed by the es, he openly declared his firm belief that every
presbytery of Perth. Soon after, he was ordained in national church established by the laws of earthly
1719 minister of Tealing, a rural parish, near Dun- | kingdoms is antichristian in its constitution, and per-
dee. From the outset of his ministerial career, Mr. secuting in its spirit.
Glas approved himself to be a faithful and devoted The avowal of opinions so completely opposed to
servant of the Lord Jesus, "a workman that needeth | the standards of the church left the Synod no other
not to be ashamed,” earnest in preaching salvation alternative than to suspend Mr. Glas from his office
by the sovereign grace of God. His fame as a as a parish minister, which they accordingly did in
preacher attracted numbers from the surrounding April 1728. In the face of this decision of the pro-
parishes to wait upon his ministry.
vincial synod, however, he still continued to exercise
Not more than a very few years had elapsed after his ministerial functions, and therefore in October
Mr. Glas commenced his ministry in Tealing, when of the same year, the Synod pronounced a still
he began to entertain, and even openly to promul- stronger sentence, deposing him from the office of the
gate, both from the pulpit and in his ministrations | holy ministry; “prohibiting and discharging him to
from house to house among his people, certain pecu- exercise the same, or any part thereof in all time
liar sentiments on the nature of Christ's kingdom. coming, under the pain of the highest censures of the
It was a favourite topic with the Established clergy church.” This sentence was confirmed by the Com-
of the time, in their pulpit addresses, to inculcate the mission of the General Assembly on the 12th March
binding obligation of the National Covenant and of 1730.
the Solemn League and Covenant. While studying After the deposition of Mr. Glas, a small body of
this subject, Mr. Glas was led to the conclusion that the parishioners of Tealing separated from the
the kingdom of Christ not being of this world, but Church of Scotland, and adhered to him, voluntarily
essentially spiritual and heavenly in its nature, was putting themselves under his ministry. A church
distinct from all earthly kingdoms, and entirely in- was now formed on Congregational principles, and
dependent of the support of worldly governments. the first point to which they directed their at-
Thus he arrived at the notion that all national es- tention was the subject of Christian elders. Deny-
tablishments of religion were unlawful and utterly | ing the lawfulness of a lay-eldership, they held that
inconsistent with the true nature of the church of there ought to be in every Christian assembly a plu-
Christ. This appears to have been the first exhibi- rality of elders, or as they are often called in Scrip-
tion in Scotland of what is now familiarly known as ture, bishops or overseers. Mr. Francis Archibald,
the Voluntary principle. Another opinion natu- accordingly, one of their number, was conjoined with
rally arising out of the views which Mr. Glas had | Mr. Glas in this office, and several members of the
been l'ed to entertain was, that the church of Christ church were appointed as deacons. Thus was con-
being spiritual, ought to consist not of professing stituted the first Glassite church, which existed for
Christians, but of true spiritual Christian men. In some time in Tealing, but in a short time was trans-
this point he approached to the sentiments of the ferred to Dundee. The members were most of them
Independents, or as they are now generally called, the poor, and several who belonged to the wealthier
Congregationalists.
classes finding the burden of contributing to the
These opinions being avowedly opposed to the necessary expenses somewhat heavy, under specious
doctrines set forth in the standards of the Established pretences withdrew themselves from the connection.
Church of Scotland, Mr. Glas was summoned in 1727 At its first formation the Glassite church observed
to appear at the bar of the Presbytery of Dundee, the ordinance of the Lord's Supper monthly, but in
of which he was a member, and afterwards at the bar a short time they came to the conviction that it was
of the provincial synod of Angus and Mearns. In the practice of the primitive church to celebrate the
his examination before the courts of the church, he sacrament of the supper as often as they assembled
made a clear and explicit statement of his peculiar for public worship, and accordingly, they kept the
opinions. He denied the Divine authority of the Pres- ordinance every first day of the week, counting it
byterian form of church government, and declared to be the chief purpose of their meeting on that day
his decided disapproval of those passages in the that they might break bread. The discipline of the
Westminster Confession which treat of the power of church was exercised with remarkable strictness and
the civil magistrate, circa sacra, and of those which fidelity, to preserve as far as possible the purity of
treat of liberty of conscience. In regard to the form communion.
of church government laid down in the Word of God, After his deposition, Mr. Glas removed with his
GLASSITES.
975
family from Tealing to Dundee, where his church, writings, which tended more perhaps than his oral
continued regularly to assemble, and gradually to teaching to diffuse his opinions far and wide. Two
gather members, not only from the town, but from ministers resigned their charges in the National
the surrounding parishes. Other churches holding Church and joined the Glassite body, in consequence
the same principles, and placed on the same footing, of having imbibed their principles. These were
now arose in different parts of the country. The dif- Mr. George Byers, at St. Boswell's in Teviotdale,
ficulty, however, was how to supply these churches and Mr. Robert Ferrier, at Largo in Fife. The for-
with elders. In a short time, however, this difficulty mer officiated for two years as an elder in the Glass-
was overcome. At their meetings on the Lord's day, ite church in Edinburgh, and afterwards for several
they followed the apostolic injunction in Heb. x. 24, years in a church at Hippielaw in Teviotdale; the
25, exhorting one another in brotherly love. By latter, on leaving the Established Church, refrained
attending to the practice of exhortation, those of the for a time from joining the Glassites, under some
brethren who possessed gifts for edifying the church misapprehensions as to Mr. Glas, but at length hav-
soon exhibited their peculiar qualifications in this ing overcome these, he entered so cordially into the
respect. Some were accordingly selected and set views of the body, that he published an edition of
apart by fasting and prayer to the office of the elder- Mr. Glas's Testimony of the King of Martyrs,' with
ship. The appointment of men to the ministerial a Preface, in which he explained his own motives for
office, who had never been trained for it by a pre- leaving the Established Church of Scotland, and
vious university education, was looked upon by the cleaving to Mr. Glas and the churches of Christ in
other Christian denominations as a serious infringe- connection with him.
ment upon the order of Christ's church. The clergy A circumstance which, about this time, tended to
of Dundee inveighed from the pulpit against the fol- give the writings of Mr. Glas a more extended cir-
lowers of Mr. Glas for this anomaly in their ecclesi- culation, was the publication by Mr. Robert Sande-
astical arrangements. Notwithstanding the reproaches man of Perth, of Letters on Mr. Hervey's 'Theron
which were heaped upon them at this time for or- and Aspasio, addressed to the author, who was a
daining unlearned elders, the brethren, firmly believ- pious and much-respected minister of the Church of
ing that their conduct in this matter had a good England. Mr. Sandeman had studied for two years
Scriptural warrant, went forward without hesitation at the university of Edinburgh, but instead of enter-
in setting apart godly men, mighty in the Scriptures, ing into one of the learned professions, as was at first
as elders in the new churches which were formed. | his object, he returned to Perth, and became a linen
The first whom the brethren appointed to the elder- manufacturer. At an early period he was led to
ship was James Cargill, who had been a glover, and embrace the views of Mr. Glas, and married his
whose gifts for edification were of no common kind. daughter Catharine, after having joined the church.
This man officiated as an elder for many years in a In a few years he was called to the office of a Chris-
little church in Dunkeld.
tian elder. This office he exercised not only in the
Mr. Glas removed from Dundee to Edinburgh, church at Perth, but also at Dundee and at Edin-
where he officiated for several years as an elder in a burgh. The publication of Mr. Sandeman's Letters
Glassite church, which was formed in that city. He on Theron and Aspasio excited considerable interest
afterwards settled in Perth, labouring with the most throughout the whole country, and was the means of
exemplary zeal and diligence until 1737, when he re- first making the sect known in England, where it has
turned to his beloved flock in Dundee, among whom ever since been called, not after Mr. Glas as in Scot-
he spent the remainder of his life. Nor were his land, by the name of Glassites, but after Mr. Sande-
labours confined to any one place; he visited the man, by the name of Sandemanians. A discussion
churches which had been founded in various parts of arose fifty years after, south of the Tweed, on the
Scotland, comforting and establishing the brethren subject of justifying faith as explained by Mr. San-
in the truth, and taking a lively interest in all their deman in his Letters. Able pamphlets and treatises
concerns. The churches which held the opinions of were published on both sides of the question, and
Mr. Glas were called Independents, being formed on among others, Mr. John Fuller argued the point with
strictly Congregational or Independent principles, singular acuteness and logical power, in “Strictures on
but they had no connection whatever with the Eng- Sandemanianism in Twelve Letters to a Friend.'
lish Independents, from whom they differed on many This controversy on faith in all its branches, extended,
material points. The peculiar principles on which with some intervals, to a period of more than twenty
the sect of the Glassites was founded, are set forth years. A consideration of the questions involved in
with great fulness, and a constant reference to Scrip- this important and interesting controversy, we reserve
ture, in the work which Mr. Glas published while for the article SANDEMANIANS. In 1760, Mr. San-
his case was pending before the courts of the Church deman went to London on the earnest invitation of
of Scotland. That work is entitled, "The Testimony some who had embraced his opinions, and he assisted
of the King of Martyrs concerning his Kingdom, in founding a church there. Other churches were
John xviii. 36, 37, explained and illustrated in Scrip planted in other towns in England. Having been
ture Light.' This was followed by various other / strongly urged to visit America, Mr. Sandeman
976
GLAUCE-GLOSSA ORDINARIA.
crossed the Atlantic in 1764, accompanied by Mr. in Christ. In addition to the weekly observance of
Cargill. In that country several churches were planted the Lord's Supper, they have also love feasts after
on Glassite principles, particularly in New England. the example of the primitive Christians, and on these
While Mr. Sandeman laboured indefatigably in occasions it is incumbent on every member to be
preaching the gospel, and edifying the Transatlantic present. These love-feasts are held between the
churches, he brought upon himself considerable oppo- morning and afternoon services. It is customary on
sition, particularly in consequence of the political opi- the admission of a new member to the church for
nions which he avowed, and which were, as might each brother and sister to receive him with a holy
have been expected, strongly in favour of the mother kiss. Mutual exhortation is practised at their meet-
country. The obloquy to which he was thus ex- ings on the Lord's day, any member who possesses
posed, and the trials which he was called to endure, the gift of edifying the brethren, being allowed to
bore heavily upon his spirits, but after suffering for a address the church. This denomination of Chris-
time with the most exemplary patience, he finished tians consider it to be their duty to abstain from
his earthly course at Denbury, Connecticut, leaving blood, and from things strangled; considering the
behind him a sweet savour of that truth which he decree of the first council of Jerusalem to be still
delighted to proclaim.
obligatory upon all Christians. The practice of
In the course of a very few years after the depo- washing each other's feet is also observed in obe-
sition of Mr. Glas, and the secession of his adhe- dience to what they consider a literal and express
rents from the Church of Scotland, the secession of injunction given by our Lord to his disciples and
the Four Brethren took place on entirely different followers in all ages. They regard it as unlawful
grounds from those of the Glassites. See AsSOCIATE literally to lay up treasures on earth, and each mem-
PRESBYTERY. The Established Church felt doubt- ber considers his property liable to be called for at
less that it had nothing to fear from Mr. Glas and any time to meet the wants of the poor, and the
his followers, who were never likely to be very necessities of the church. They look upon a lot as
numerous, but it was otherwise with the new seces- sacred, and accordingly they disapprove of all lot-
sion, and the General Assembly therefore resolved teries and games of chance.
teries and games of chance. They make a weekly
to exhibit a spirit of forbearance by mitigating or collection before the Lord's Supper for the support
modifying the censure inflicted on Mr. Glas. Ac- of the poor and defraying other necessary expenses.
cordingly, without any application either from him The Glassites hold no communion or fellowship
or his friends, the Supreme Court of the National | whatever with other churches. The Glassites are
Church in May 1739, “ did take off the sentence of much fewer in number than they formerly were.
deposition passed by the Commission 12th March According to the last census in 1851, their churches
1730, against Mr. John Glas, then minister of Teal- | in Scotland amounted to only six, with a membership
ing, for independent principles; and did restore him probably not exceeding in all 800. In England the
to the character and exercise of a minister of the number of Sandemanian churches reported by the
gospel of Christ; but declaring, notwithstanding, Census officers was six, having in all probability not
that he is not to be esteemed a minister of the Esta- more than 700 members.
blished church of Scotland, or capable to be called GLAUCE, one of the NEREIDES (which see), and
or settled therein, until he should renounce the also one of the DANAIDES (which see).
principles embraced and avowed by him, that are in- GLAUCUS, a sea-god, an attendant on NEP-
consistent with the constitution of this church." TUNE (which see). It was believed in ancient Greece
The peculiarity of the Glassite churches is, that that once every year this deity visited all the coasts
they have a plurality of elders, pastors, or bishops in and islands accompanied by sea-monsters. He was
each church, who are chosen according to the in- | worshipped particularly by fishermen and sailors.
structions given by Paul to Timothy and Titus, GLEBE, church-land, or land belonging to a par-
without regard to previous education for the office, ish church. In the most general sense of the word,
and even although the person so selected should hap- glebe is applicable to any land or ground belonging
per to be actively engaged in secular employment. to any benefice, see, manor, or inheritance. In Scot-
To have been married a second time is a disqualifi. land, the law requires the glebe to extend to four
cation for the office. The elders are ordained by acres of arable land, though it generally, in point
prayer and fasting, imposition of hands, and giving of fact, exceeds that measure. Besides the arable
the right hand of fellowship. The discipline of the glebe, most parish ministers in Scotland have a grass
churches is strict, and they hold it to be unlawful to glebe sufficient for the support of a horse and two
eat or drink with excommunicated members. In all
the proceedings of the church unanimity is considered GLORIA IN EXCELSIS (Lat. glory on high),
as necessary, and if any member therefore differs in
a name sometimes applied to the ANGELICAL HYMN
opinion from the rest, he must either surrender his (which see).
judgment to the church, or be shut out from its com- GLORIA PATRI. See DoxoLOGY,
munion. The Glassites regard it as unlawful to join GLOSS, a comment.
in prayer with any one that is not a brother or sister GLOSSA ORDINARIA, the common exegetical
COWS.
GNOSIMACHI-GNOSTICS.
977
manual of the Middle ages. It consisted of short ern thinker existed only as a conception. The
explanatory remarks, which Walafrid Strabo, abbot image, and what the image represented, were, in the
of Richenau, following for the most part his teacher Gnostic's mode of representation, often confounded
Rabanus Maurus, compiled on the Sacred Scriptures. together; so that the one could not be divided from
GNOSIMACHI (Gr. knowledge-haters), a sect the other. Hurried along, in spite of himself, from
which is said to have sprung up in the fourth cen- intuition to intuition, from image to image, by the
tury, headed by one Rhetorius, who maintained that ideas floating before or filling his mind, he was in no
the essence of Christianity consisted not in specula- condition to evolve these ideas and place them in the
tive doctrines, but in practical conduct. “But it clear light of consciousness. But if we take pains to
may be a question," as Neander well remarks, sift out the fundamental thoughts lying undeveloped
" whether there was ever a regularly constituted sect in their symbols, and to unfold them clearly to our
professing such indifference to doctrines; whether consciousness, we shall see, gleaming through the
the fact ever amounted to anything more than this, surface, many ideas, which, though not understood by
that individuals at different times, and in different their contemporaries, were destined, in far later ages,
places, were led by the same opposition, and the to be seized upon once more, and to be more fully
same tendency of mind to entertain these views :- carried out by a science regenerated through the in-
of which individuals Rhetorius may have been one." fluence of faith. Intuition, anticipating the lapse of
GNOSTICS (Gr. gnosis, knowledge), the general ages, here grasped in an immediate way what the
name applied to various classes of heretics, which process of logical analysis was to master only after
arose at an early period in the Christian church. The long and various wanderings beyond and short of the
word from which their name is derived, had been pre- truth."
viously used in schools of philosophy, to denote a The principal questions to which the speculations
higher and esoteric science, unknown to the vulgar. of the Gnostics were directed had reference to the
As used by the Gnostics themselves, however, it was origin of creation ; such as How the finite could be
designed to express the superiority of their doctrines evolved from the infinite? How creation can be con-
to those of the Pagans and the Jews, as well as to ceived to have a beginning ? and more especially in
the popular views of Christianity. The systems of this department of thought, How a purely spiritual
Gnosticism were various, all of them referable to two Being could originate a material world and a perfect
fixed historical centres, Syria and Egypt. Hence, Being, a world which is characterized by many im-
there was a marked difference between the Syrian perfections ? Whence have arisen the destructive
and the Alexandrian Gnosis, the former being char- powers of nature? What is the origin of moral evil?
acterized by a predominance of Dualism, the latter Such were some of the most important and intricate
by a predominance of Pantheism. The combination of those problems which the Gnostics set themselves
of these two principles gave rise to Manicheism. to solve, and for the satisfactory solution of which all
The rise of the various Gnostic sects at so early a their theories and hypothetical systems were princi-
period in the history of the Christian church, is to be pally framed.
traced to the prevalence of a theoretical spirit which Hence at the foundation of most of the Gnostic
sought to solve all the great problems of religion by systems lies the idea of two different and opposite
mere human speculation. The systems of thought worlds, the one the region of light, the other of dark-
which were thus to account for all difficulties, and to ness; the one the region of purity, the other of sin;
explain all mysteries, were themselves complicated the one the region of happiness, the other of wretch-
in their nature, being composed of elements drawn edness; the one the region of immortality, the other
from the Platonic philosophy, Jewish theology, and of mortality. Now in this duality of worlds so dis-
old Oriental theosophy. It is impossible even cur- tinct, so diametrically opposite in their natures, it
sorily to examine Gnosticism in the diversified as- seems impossible to find a point of harmony so as to
pects which it assumes, without being at almost account for their creation by one Supreme, Perfect
every point reminded of the old religious systems of Being. To bridge over this apparently impassable
Asia, Parsism, Brahmanism, and Budhism. Nean- gulf, the doctrine of EMANATIONS (which see) was
der thinks that the class to which the speculations borrowed from the Neo-Platonists. These emana-
of the Gnostics belong is that of Oriental Theoso- tions from the Divine essence were supposed to form
phists, and that eminent ecclesiastical historian still a series which became less and less perfect in pro-
further remarks: “They differed radically from the portion as it was distant from the original source.
thinkers of the West. They moved rather amidst The primary emanations were nearest in purity and
intuitions and symbols than conceptions. Where the perfection of character to the Divine essence from
Western thinker would have framed to himself an
which they immediately sprung, thus giving rise to
abstract conception, there stood before the soul of the superior world. At a remoter point of the series,
the Gnostic a living appearance, a living personality the diminution of perfection became more and more
in vivid intuition. The conception seemed to him to apparent, thus giving rise to the inferior world. This
be a thing without life. In the eye of the Gnostic hypothesis was obviously framed upon the supposi-
everything becanie hypostatized, which to the West- tion, that from the very first link in the chain im-
4 €
I.
978
GNOSTICS.
perfection began to be dereloped, which went on to the bosom of the Pleroma. This Æon is Christ,
increasing progressively until at length imperfection the open enemy of the Demiurge, and the destroyer
became as it were the rule, and perfection the ex- of his creation. In most of the systems the Divine
ception. But on this theory it is plain that there emanation or Æon who became the Christ, took not
must have been a link in the chain in which perfec- a real, but only a seeming body, it being impossible
tion and imperfection were in equilibrio, neither hav- in their view that a pure Æon should assume a cor-
ing the preponderance. It is at this point that the poreal body, which as being composed of Hylé or
DEMIURGE (which see) of the Gnostics is introduced, matter, was necessarily impure. And following out
being the last emanation of the Pleroma, and the the same line of thought, they alleged the God or
first person of the inferior world. A theory of this Jehovah of the Jews to be the Demiurge, and the
kind was a libel upon creation, which it supposed be- law which he promulgated in the Old Testament to
longed not to the Supreme Being, but to an inferior be inferior and imperfect, whereas the law which
being, who from his very nature was composed of Christ promulgated in the New Testament was the
perfection and imperfection in equal parts or pro- expression of the mind of the Bythos or Unknown
portions.
Father. Before the coming of Christ men were
The primal source of being, according to the chief under the Demiurge of the Jews, an inferior deity,
Gnostic systems, was the BYTHOS (which see), which but since that period men have been under the Great
like the BRAHM (which see) of Hinduism was an in- God, who is essentially holy, and just, and good.
visible, incomprehensible being, enjoying perfect and | Valentinus taught his followers that mankind might
imperturbable quiescence, and from whom all emana- be divided into three classes : (1.) The Hylic, or those
tions proceeded. This Supreme Being, and the ema- who were under the power of matter as their guid-
nations which composed the superior world, together ing principle. This is exemplified in Pagans. (2.)
formed the Pleroma or fulness of intelligences, The Psychical, or those who are subject only to the
which are called Æons (which see). These Æons Demiurge. This is instanced in the Jews. (3.) The
varied in numbers in the different Gnostic systems, Pneumatic or Spiritual, or those who seek to return
those of the Basilidians amounting even to three into the Pleroma. This is manifested in true Chris-
hundred and sixty-five.
tians. Thus we learn, according to this Gnostic sys-
Gnosticism in all its phases contains the element tem, that the grand desire of man ought ever to be to
of a fall, extending not to man merely, but to the rise from the Hylic or Psychical up to the class of
whole inferior world, which as the production of the the Spiritual, who alone shall find bliss in the bosom
Demiurge is, necessarily degraded. This fall is in of the Pleroma.
some of the systems intimately connected with Such is a connected view of Gnosticism in its gen-
Hylé or matter, which was believed to be essentially eral fundamental principles, as it developed itself in
corrupt. This Platonic notion is found to character- the Christian church in the second and the earlier
ize the Alexandrian, as distinguished from the Syrian part of the third century. The practical influence of
Gnosis. The mixture of matter with spirit, the im- this complicated philosophico-religious system is thus
prisonment of souls in material bodies, was regarded sketched by Neänder: “ This difference between the
by this class of Gnostics as sufficiently accounting Gnostic systems was one of great importance, both
for the appearance of moral evil in the world. The in a theoretical and a practical point of view. The
Gnostic sects which originated in Syria, however, Gnostics of the first class, who looked upon the
adopted a different theory, embodying in it the Demiurge as an organ of the supreme God, and his
Dualism of the old Parsic or Zoroastrian system. representative, the fashioner of nature according to
It supposed two original kingdoms, the one of evil, | his ideas, the guiding spring of the historical evolu-
the other of good, which encroaching gradually upon tion of God's kingdom, might, consistently with their
one another, gave rise to a mixture of the two oppo- peculiar principles, expect to find the manifestation
site elements of good and evil. Thus the Alexan- of the divine element in nature and in history. They
drian Gnostics attempted a solution of the difficult were not necessarily driven to an unchristian hatred
question as to the origin of moral evil on a Monoistic of the world. They could admit that the divine ele-
hypothesis ; while the Syrian Gnostics were equally ment might be revealed even in earthly relations ;
confident of having found a solution in the invention that everything of the earth was capable of being re-
of a Dualistic hypothesis.
fined and ennobled by its influence. They could,
Intimately connected with the explanation which therefore, be quite moderate in their ascetic notions,
the Gnostics gave of the fall, was their explanation as we find the case actually to have been with regard
of the recovery or redemption of man. The work of to many of this class; although their notion of the
the Demiurge, we have seen, was to originate evil, hylé, continually tended to the practically mischie-
and therefore it was not possible that he could also vous result of tracing evil exclusively to the world of
be the originator of good. It was necessary that sense; and although their over-valuation of a con-
one of the higher intelligences or Æons should de templative Gnosis might easily prove unfavourable
scend from the superior to the inferior world, in to the spirit of active charity. On the contrary, the
order to teach man how he should find his way back other kind of Gnosis, which represented the Creator
GOD.
979
more.
of the world as a nature directly opposed to the cies which defied all moral obligations—tendencies
supreme God and his higher system, would necessa- that have arisen from speculative or mystical ele-
rily lead to a widely fanatical and morose hatred of ments, or it may be from some subjective caprice
the world, wholly at war with the spirit of Chris- setting itself in opposition to all positive law. In
tianity. This expressed itself in two ways; among the connection of the present period, the false striv-
the nobler, and more sensible class, by an excessively ing of the subjective spirit after emancipation, after
rigid asceticism, by an anxious concern to shun all breaking loose from all the bonds, holy or unholy,
contact with the world—though to fashion and mould whereby the world had been hitherto kept together,
that world constitutes a part of the Christian voca- is quite apparent. And this aim and tendency.
tion. The morality, in this case, to make the best might seem to have found a point of union in that
of it, could be only negative, only a preparatory step unshackling of the spirit, so radically different in its
of purification in order to the contemplative state. character, which Christianity brought along with it."
But the same eccentric hatred of the world, coupled The peculiar opinions of the different Gnostic
with pride and arrogance, might also lead to wild en- sects had of course a marked effect upon their views
thusiasm and a bold contempt for all moral obliga- of Christian worship and ordinances. Some of them
tions. The principle once started upon, that the held that salvation rested simply on knowledge; and
whole of this world is the work of a finite, ungodlike that the man who possessed knowledge needed no
spirit; that it is not susceptible of any revelation of Hence they held that baptism and the Lord's
divine things; that the loftier natures who belong to supper were altogether unnecessary. Others again,
a far higher world, are here held in bondage; these for example, the Marcosians, maintained a twofold
Gnostics easily came to the conclusion, that every- | baptism, the first or psychical baptism being adminis-
thing external is a matter of perfect indifference to tered in the name of Jesus the Messiah of the psy-
the inner man,-nothing of a loftier nature can there chical natures, by which believers obtained the for-
be expressed; the outward man may indulge in giveness of sin, and the hope of eternal life in the
every lust, provided only that the tranquillity of the inferior kingdom of the Demiurge; the second, or
inner man is not thereby disturbed in its meditation. pneumatic baptism, being administered in the name of
The most direct way of showing contempt and defi- the Christ from heaven, united with Jesus, whereby
ance of this wretched, hostile world was, not to allow the spiritual nature attained to self-consciousness
the mind to be affected by it in any situation. Men and to perfection, and entered into fellowship with
should mortify sense by braving every lust, and still the Pleroma. When these two species of baptism
preserving the tranquillity of the mind unruffled. were dispensed two different formula of consecration
We must conquer lust by indulgence, said these were used, and in the case of pneumatic baptism,
bold spirits-for it is no great thing for a man to ab- the person to whom the ordinance was administered
stain from lust who knows nothing about it by ex- was anointed not with oil, but with a costly balsam.
perience. The greatness lies in not being overcome The Marcosians also practised a peculiar ceremony,
by it, when clasped in its embrace. Though the re- anointing the dead with this balsam mingled with
ports of enemies ought not to be used without great water, and pronouncing a form of prayer.
caution and distrust, and we should never forget that The special doctrines and practices of the different
such witnesses were liable, by unfriendly inferences, sects of Gnostics will be found under their separate
or the misconstruction of terms, to impute to such heads, each of them being known by different names.
sects a great deal that was false; yet the character- GOD, the term used in the English language to
istic maxims quoted from their own lips, and the denote the Supreme Being. The corresponding
coincident testimony of such men as Irenæus and word in Latin is Deus, in Greek Theos, and in He-
Epiphanius, and of those still more unprejudiced and brew Elohim. Those who deny the existence of
careful inquirers, the Alexandrians, place it beyond such a Being are called ATHEISTS (which see).
all reasonable doubt, that they not merely expressed, The first question which regards God is that which
but even practised, such principles of conduct. Be- concerns the fact of His existence-a fact which is
sides, that enemy of Christianity, the Neo-Platonic sought to be established by writers on the subject,
philosopher, Porphyry, corroborates this testimony by two different modes of reasoning, the one being
by citing from the mouth of these persons maxims termed a priori, the other a posteriori, the one direct-
of a similar import. “A little standing pool,' said ed to prove that God must be, and the other that
they, 'may be defiled, when some impure substance He is.
He is. These two different tracks of thought have
drops into it; not so the ocean, which, conscious of uniformly been pursued by two different classes of
its own immensity, admits everything. So little thinkers. The argument for the necessary existence
men are overcome by eating; but he who is an ocean of the Divine Being lies strictly within the domain
of strength takes everything and is not defiled.' Not of the abstract reasoner, while the argument from
only in the history of Christian sects of earlier and design to the designer, from the works to the work-
more recent times, but also among the sects of the man, belongs to the popular expositor of Natural
Hindoos, and even among the rude islanders of Theology.
Australia, instances may be found of such tenden- The argument from necessity has been treated by
980
GOD.
.
several writers of great ability and metaphysical, God, whose existence we may comprehend, would be
acumen, of whom may be noticed Mr. Locke, Dr. superior to the one who exists only in imagination,
Cudworth, Dr. Samuel Clarke, and Mr. Gillespie. and consequently would be superior to the highest
The argument as conducted by Mr. Locke occurs in imaginable object, which is absurd; hence it follows,
the tenth chapter of his fourth book of his Essay on that that, beyond which nothing can be conceived to
the Human Understanding, and may be thus briefly exist, really exists.”
stated: “ Man knows that he himself is. He knows In the same category may be classed the argu-
also that nothing cannot produce a being, and some- ment of Des Cartes, which infers from the concep-
thing must therefore be eternal. That eternal being tion of his existence the fact of his existence. It is
must be most powerful. And most knowing. And thus stated by the philosopher himself:
therefore God."
Proposition.—“The existence of God is known
The a priori argument of Dr. Cudworth, as given from the consideration of His nature alone.”
in his Intellectual System, may be thus stated in Demonstration.—" To say that an attribute is con-
his own words: “Whatsoever is, or hath any kind tained in the nature, or in the concept of a thing, is
of entity, doth either subsist by itself, or else is an the same as, to say that this attribute is true of
attribute, affection, or mode of something that doth this thing, and that it may be affirmed to be in it.”
subsist by itself. For it is certain that there can be “But necessary existence is contained in the na-
Ro mode, accident, or affection of nothing; and, con- ture, or in the concept of God.”
sequently, that nothing cannot be extended nor men- “Hence it may with truth be said that necessary
surable. But if space be neither the extension of existence is in God, or that God exists."
body, nor yet of substance incorporeal, then must it The same argument Des Cartes still further ex-
of necessity be the extension of nothing, and the plains by an illustration : "Just as because, for ex-
affection of nothing, and nothing must be measurable ample, the equality of its three angles to two right
by yards and poles. We conclude, therefore, that angles is necessarily comprised in the idea of a tri-
from this very hypothesis of the Democritick and angle, the mind is firmly persuaded that the three
Epicurean atheists, that space is a nature distinct angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles ;
from body, and positively infinite, it follows unde- so, from its perceiving necessary and eternal existence
niably that there must be some incorporeal substance to be comprised in the idea which it has of an all-
whose affection its extension is; and because there perfect Being, it ought manifestly to conclude that
can be nothing infinite but only the Deity, that it is this all-perfect Being exists." Kant, taking up this
the infinite extension of our incorporeal Deity." illustration, thus exposes the fallacy of the Cartesian
Dr. Clarke, whose argument is precisely similar argument: “If I do away with the predicate in an
to that of Dr. Cudworth, sets out in his reasoning identical judgment, and I retain the subject--that is
from the fundamental propositions, That something to say, do away with the equality of the three
must have existed from all eternity, and that this angles to two right angles, and yet retain the triangle,
something must have been a being independent and or do away with necessary existence, and yet retain
self-existent. Space and time, or as he calls it, the idea of an all-perfect Being-—a contradiction
duration, proves, he argues, the existence of some- arises. But if I annul the subject together with the
thing whereof these are qualities, for they are not predicate, then there arises no contradiction, for there
themselves substances, and he concludes the Deity is no more anything which could be contradicted. To
must be the infinite being of whom they are qualities. assume a triangle, and yet to do away with the three
Having, from these propositions, established in his angles of the same, is contradictory; but to do away
view the existence of God, he deduces still further with the triangle together with its three angles is no
from these same propositions the whole qualities or contradiction. It is just the same with the concep-
attributes of God.
tion of an absolutely necessary being. If you do
It is interesting to observe the different phases away with the existence of this, you thus do away
which the a priori argument for the existence of a with the thing itself, together with all its predicates
God assumes, in so far as the element or datum is in which case there can be no contradiction.”
concerned, from which it sets out as admitted on all By far the most philosophical and thoroughly con-
hands to be indisputable. This datum is invari- clusive exhibition of the a priori argument, however,
ably some aspect or other of the notion of infinity. is that which is given by Mr. Gillespie in his work
Proceeding on this fundamental notion, some of the entitled “The Necessary Existence of God.' Our
ablest writers in the scholastic ages sought to estab- limited space compels us to content ourselves with
lish the existence of a God. Thus Anselm of Can- rapidly sketching the various steps of the lucid de-
terbury reasons : “ The fool may say in his heart : monstration of this able author, to whom the modern
There is no God (Ps. xiv. 1.), but he thereby shows philosophical world owe a deep debt of obligation for
himself a fool, because he asserts something which is having placed this difficult part of natural theology in
| contradictory in itself. He has the idea of God in a light so clear and convincing. Mr. Gillespie thus
him, but denies its reality. But if God exists in lays down the successive steps of his argument:
idea, he must also exist in reality. Otherwise the real | Part. 1. Prop. I. Infinity of Extension is necessarily
.
GOD.
981
1
ya
existing. Prop. II. Infinity of Extension is neces- sary texistence being admitted on all hands to belong
sarily indivisible. Corollary from Prop. II. Infinity to the idea of God, therefore, we may with as much
of Extension is necessarily immoveable. Prop. III. truth affirm that God exists, as that all the angles of
There is necessarily a Being of Infinity of Extension. a triangle are equal to two right angles. The en-
Prop. IV. The Being of Infinity of Extension is tire force of this argument obviously rests on the as-
necessarily of Unity and Simplicity. Sub. Prop. The sumption that the strongest evidence which we can
Material Universe is finite in extension. Prop. V. have of the existence of anything, is a clear and dis-
There is necessarily but One Being of Infinity of tinct perception of it in our minds. But the atheist
Expansion.- Part 2. Prop. I. Infinity of Duration will never for a moment admit that our idea of a
is necessarily existing. Prop. II. Infinity of Dura- God is a certain and irrefragable proof of the exist-
tion is necessarily indivisible. Corollary from Prop. ence of a God. We must start in the argument, as
II. Infinity of Duration is necessarily imnioveable. Mr. Gillespie does, from an admitted primary intui-
Prop. III. There is necessarily a Being of Infinity tion or ultimate element of human consciousness,
of Duration. Prop. IV. The Being of Infinity of and such an intuition is found in the twofold notions
Duration is necessarily, of Unity and Simplicity of Space or Expansion, and Time or Duration. But
Sub. Prop. The Material Universe is finite in dura- to reason from our idea of God, to the actual exist-
tion.' Corollary from Sub. Prop. Every succession ence of God, “ seems, to use the language of Dr.
of substances is finite in duration. Prop. V. There Clarke, “to extend only to the nominal idea or mere
is necessarily but one Being of Infinity of Duration. definition of a self-existent Being, and does not with
- Part 3. Prop. I. There is necessarily a Being of a sufficiently evident connection refer and apply that
Infinity of Expansion and Infinity of Duration. general nominal idea, definition or notion, which we
Prop. II. The Being of Infinity of Expansion and frame in our own mind, to any real particular being
Infinity of Duration is necessarily of unity and sim- actually existing without us.
plicity. Prop. III. There is necessarily but one Another argument for the existence of God may
Being of Infinity of Expansion and Infinity of Dura- be thus briefly stated. Something now exists, and
tion.
therefore something must from all eternity have ex-
The second division of Mr. Gillespie's argument isted. The truth of this proposition is indisputable,
goes to establish the attributes of this necessarily but in order to bring it to bear upon the existence of
existing Being. The steps are as follows: Part 1. a God, it will be necessary to prove by a kind of
Prop. The simple, sole Being of Infinity of Expan- exhaustive process, that the something which must
sion and of Duration is necessarily Intelligent and have existed from eternity could be no other than
All-Knowing. Part 2. Prop. The simple, sole Being God. The general proposition has been readily con-
of Infinity of Expansion and of Duration who is All-ceded by atheists both of ancient and of modern
knowing is necessarily All-Powerful. Part 3. Prop. times, and for the indefinite word something they
The simple, sole Being of Infinity of Expansion and have substituted the universe, alleging it to be eter-
of Duration who is All-Knowing and All-Powerful nal. See ETERNITY OF THE WORLD. But that
is necessarily, entirely Free.
matter or the universe is not eternal might be proved
The third division contains the single Prop., The in a variety of ways. Dr. Dick, in his Lectures on
Simple, Sole, Being of Infinity of Expansion and of Theology, presents the proof in the following form :
Duration, who is All-Knowing, All-Powerful, and “ If it has subsisted from eternity, it must have subsist-
entirely Free, is necessarily, completely Happy: ed as it is; there being, on the hypothesis of atheists,
and the Sub. Prop., The Simple, Sole Being of In- no cause to produce a change, and a change being
finity of Expansion and of Duration—who is All-inconsistent with the idea of necessary existence.
Knowing, All-Powerful, entirely Free, and com- Hence we see, by the way, that matter cannot be
pletely Happy, is, necessarily, perfectly Good. that being which has existed from eternity. If it
Thus by a closely connected chain of reasoning does existed from eternity, it exists by necessity of nature.
Mr. Gillespie conclusively establish the Necessary But it is an express contradiction to suppose that
Existence of the Being and Attributes of God, on a which exists necessarily, not to exist; and yet we
basis much firmer than any on which it has ever are all sensible that there is no contradiction in sup-
before been made to rest.
posing the non-existence of matter, for we can all
The a priori argument as stated by the Schoolmen conceive it to be annihilated. It is a contradiction
too often involved vicious reasoning in a circle. As to suppose that which exists necessarily, to exist in
an instance we may adduce the argument as stated any other state or form. But we can conceive mat-
by Wesselius, following in the wake of Anselm : ter to be in motion or at rest; and finding some parts
“ The non-existence of God would involve that some- of it in the one state, and some in the other, we con-
thing did not exist which necessarily must exist.” clude that its existence is not necessary, but contin-
The same objection may with justice be alleged gent. We can conceive it to be differently modified;
against the same argument as stated by Des Cartes, that it might have wanted some of its properties, and
that in the very idea of God are contained such possessed others which do not belong to it; that the
things as necessarily imply his existence, and neces- frame of the universe might have been different; and
í
982
GOD.
that in our system there might have been more or recognize the traces of intelligence when they pre-
fewer planets, and these might have been attended sent themselves. This Mr. Hume readily concedes
with more or fewer satellites. But if the universe is in reference to the works of man, but the singularity
self-existent, it must have always been as it now is. of this effect—the Universe—he holds to preclude
The sun must have always been the centre of this all deduction from it. In many respects, however,
system, and the planets must have always described the singularity of the Universe is of no consequence;
their orbits around him. There must have been eter- it has one thing in common with all other objects,
nal revolutions of Saturn and the Georgium Sidus, | that it bears marks of being an effect; and therefore
and eternal revolutions of the Earth and Mercury. | by an original principle of our constitution we must
Now, as these revolutions are performed in different refer it to a Cause. Though we may not know
times, and, on the supposition of their eternity, are enough to declare what is the Design, the effect be-
all infinite in number, it follows that we have infi- ing singular ; we know enough at all events to re-
nites which as infinites must be equal, but being cognize traces of a Design, and hence we argue a
made up of revolutions performed in unequal times, | Designer. Now such traces are numberless and
are unequal. But this is impossible, and the hypo- | infinitely varied. They appear in the structure
thesis from which it is deduced is absurd.”
of the whole, and in the structure of its particular
The a posteriori argument for the existence of a parts. And if one single evidence of design in a
God is founded on the admitted principle, that where piece of human workmanship shows wisdom and
design is apparent there must have been a designer. skill in the workman, may we not conclude from the
Now it is easy to show, that the world around us innumerable proofs of design which the universe
teems with proofs of intelligent design. Whether presents, that the Being who formed it is wonderful
we look to the beautiful and complicated structure of in counsel, and excellent in working.
the human body, or to the laws which regulate the In addition to the arguments for the existence of
processes of the human mind; whether we contem- a God which we have now noticed, there are several
plate the world of animated or inanimate matter, all others of a strictly subordinate character. Thus we
proclaim the existence of a First Cause, possessed of may infer the existence of such a Being from the
intelligence and wisdom. In the early history of the belief in His existence which has pervaded all ages
human mind, the transition was rapid from the unin- and nations; from the order and regularity which
telligible wonders of nature to the workings of a prevail in the operations of nature, and the beneficial
superior intelligence. All nature was spiritualized; influences which arise from the moral arrangements
not only was there believed to be a soul in man, but of the universe; and finally, we may infer the exist-
in the plants, the animals, the very elements, nay, ence of a Supreme Being from the existence of
the world itself, so that even the abstract idealism of miracles and prophecy, both of which attest the
Fichté and Schelling arrives with all its laborious existence of a Being of omnipotence and omni-
and mysterious efforts at nearly the same conclusions science, who is the Supreme Governor and Lord of
with the earliest exertions of human reason, those the universe.
exertions which were the natural outgoings of man Of the essential nature of God, strictly speaking,
towards that exalted Being, in the knowledge of we can know nothing, and can form no adequate
whom all his future knowledge could only find its conception. “Who can by searching find out God ?"
consummation and its end.
But though we cannot describe or even know the
To disprove, if possible, the doctrine of Final essence of the Divine Being, we may understand the
Causes, Mr. Hume attempted to start a prior ques- kind and qualities of that being which he possesses.
tion as to the validity of such a mode of reasoning. He is a Spirit, an invisible being that understands and
We can only argue from design in his view, when wills, but without material substance or bodily parts.
we previously know something of the alleged De-Very little, however, is said in Scripture of the mode
signer, and what is the nature of the work that we of the Divine existence, and the information which
are to expect at his hands. Thus from what we is conveyed upon the subject is of a merely negative
have learned of the capabilities of mind, we may kind, for while Jesus Christ describes God as a spi-
safely reason from the nature of the work to the rit, he explains the word in these terms, “A spirit
power and skill of the workman. But the universe, hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have.” God
Mr. Hume alleges, is an effect so completely singu- | is made known to us in his revealed word chiefly by
lar, that we can draw no valid conclusion from it as his attributes or perfections, which ought never to
to the wisdom and skill of the great Creator. Now be conceived of as anything distinct from his being,
in this course of reasoning there is an obvious fal- or imagined ever to exist as separate from one an-
lacy. It proceeds upon the assumption that the ar- other. The Divine attributes or excellencies are
gument from Design involves far more than it sometimes divided into communicable or incommu-
actually does. From the limited extent of our men- nicable perfections, the former being such as are
tal constitution, we admit, that it is impossible for capable in some measure of being possessed by his
us to form any proper conception of infinite intelli- creatures, viz., wisdom, power, holiness, justice,
gence, but we can proceed so far at all events as to | goodness, and truth; the latter being such as belong
GOGARD_GOOD FRIDAY.
983
to God alone, viz., infinity, eternity, and immuta- rose is performed with frankincense, holy water,
bility. At other times the Divine attributes are balm, and musk, mixed together. The benediction
divided into natural and moral, the former including being ended, the Pope leaves the room, one of his
his greatness, power, wisdom, spirituality, infinity, privy chamberlains carrying the rose before him and
eternity, and unchangeableness, being such as belong laying it on a candlestick. Then a Cardinal Deacon
essentially and exclusively to the nature of God, presents it to his Holiness, who taking it in his left
constituting his incomprehensible essence; and the hand, proceeds onward to the chapel, blessing the
latter including his holiness, justice, goodness, and faithful with his right hand uplifted along the whole
truth, which together form the law of his nature, line of way. After this the golden rose is returned
according to which he invariably acts and orders all to the Cardinal Deacon, who gives it to a clerk of
things, and present in him a character which de- the chamber by whom it is laid upon the altar. Mass
mands our supreme love and imitation.
being ended, his Holiness gives the rose to any one
To know that God is, and to know, as far as we for whom he wishes to express peculiar favour. It
are capable of ascertaining, what He is, forms the is one of the most signal tokens of regard which is
highest of all knowledge worthy of the earnest and ever bestowed by the Pope in his sacred character.
prayerful examination of every intelligent creature in GOMARISTS, a name sometimes applied to the
the universe.
CALVINISTS (which see) in Holland in the seven-
GOD (FRIENDS OF). See FRIENDS OF GOD. teenth century, after Gomarus, one of the most dis-
GODFATHERS AND GODMOTHERS. See tinguished among the Dutch divines, who opposed
SPONSORS.
the Arminian party at the Synod of Dort.
GODS (FALSE). See IDOLS.
GOOD FRIDAY, the Friday in Passion Week,
GOEL. See AVENGER OF BLOOD.
which probably was called by way of eminence Good
GOGARD, the tree of life in the cosmogonic myth Friday, because on that day our blessed Redeemer
of the ancient Persians. Upon the authority of the was believed to have obtained for his people all good
Bundehesh, Kanne states that this tree resembled | things by his atoning death upon the cross. This
two human bodies placed in juxtaposition.
day was observed in the ancient Christian church as
GOKEI, long strips of white paper, emblems of a strict fast. The customary acclamations and doxo-
the divine presence of the CAMIS (which see) among logies were omitted, and no music was allowed but
the Japanese. These symbols are found in all Ja of the most plaintive description. No bell was rung
panese houses, kept in little portable mias.
for Divine worship on this day. None bowed the
GOLDEN AGE, used to denote, in the ancient knee in prayer, because by this ceremony the Jews
heathen mythology, the reign of SATURN (which reviled Jesus, as we are informed in Mat. xxvii. 29.
see), when justice and innocence were supposed to Neither was the kiss of charity used on this day,
have reigned throughout the earth, and the soil pro- because with a kiss Judas betrayed his Lord. The
duced what was necessary for the subsistence and sacramental elements were not consecrated on Good
enjoyment of mankind. From the circumstance of Friday, the altars were divested of their ornaments,
Saturn being coupled with the age of innocence, and the Gospel of John was read because he was a
some have supposed him to be identical with Adam. faithful and true witness of our Lord's passion. On
GOLDEN IMAGE. See NEBUCHADNEZZAR Good Friday the ceremony is practised in the Church
(IMAGE OF).
of Rome of unveiling and adoring the cross. (See
GOLDEN LEGEND, a collection of the Lives CROSS, ADORATION OF THE.)
of the Saints, composed by John de Voragine, vicar- What follows the ceremony of adoring the cross as
general of the Dominicans, and afterwards arch- practised in the Sistine Chapel at Rome is thus de-
bishop of Genoa, who died in A. D. 1298. For scribed by an eye-witness: “When the adoration
nearly two hundred years it maintained considerable was concluded, the procession set out to the Pauline
reputation in the Romish church, but has since fallen Chapel, to bring the host from the sepulchre in
into discredit.
which it was deposited yesterday.
GOLDEN NUMBER. See METONIC CYCLE. “On arriving in the Pauline the Pope knelt and
GOLDEN ROSE. In 1366, Pope Urban V. prayed, and the officiating Cardinal gave the key
sent a golden rose to Joan, queen of Sicily, at the of the sepulchre to the Sacristan, who unlocked the
same time passing a decree that the Popes should door and took out the box containing the host. He
consecrate one on the fourth Sunday in Lent every then took out the host, and placed it in the vessel
year. This golden rose is set in precious stones, formerly mentioned, and presented it to the Cardinal,
and is often sent as a mark of peculiar affection from who presented it to the Pope, who covered it with a
the Pope of Rome to crowned heads. A gift of this corner of his mantle, and set out with the procession
nature was sent from the reigning Pope, Pius IX., to carry it back to the Sistine Chapel. The choir
to Louis Napoleon III., Emperor of France. His sang during the procession the hymn, Vexilla Regis
Holiness blesses the rose in the apartment where the prodeunt,' The standards of the King come forth;'
ornaments are kept, immediately before going to and on the Pope's entry into the chapel the verse,
hear mass in his own chapel. The blessing of the O crux, ave, spes unica, 'Hail, O cross, our only hope.'
984
GOOD SONS (THE ORDER OF)-GOSPELS.
“The Pope carries the host to the altar, where he mentions three, whose names were Stheino, Euryale,
delivers it to the officiating Cardinal, who transfers it and Medusa. Earlier traditions assign them a resi-
from the chalice to a paten. Wine and water are dence in the Western Ocean, but later give them a
poured into the chalice, and the Cardinal officiating dwelling-place in Libya.
performs the rest of the service of the mass, using GOSAINS, or GOSWAMI, the priests of Eklinga
the host which had been deposited in the sepulchre. in Rajast'han. They all wear the distinguishing
The mass on this occasion, as on several others mark of the faith of Shiva, which is a crescent on
during holy week, is not performed exactly in the the forehead. Their hair is braided, and forms a
usual manner, several of the prayers and benedic species of tiara round the head, which is frequently
tions being omitted; and in taking the sacrament the adorned with a chaplet of the lotus-seed. Like the
Cardinal puts a portion of the host (which he divides other ascetics, they disfigure their bodies with ashes,
into three parts) into the chalice with the wine, and and wear garments of a deep orange colour. They
swallows both together. What became of the other bury their dead in a sitting posture, and the tumuli
two portions I do not know.
which are erected over them are generally of a coni-
" In the afternoon the Tenebræ and Miserere are cal form. It is not uncommon to find Gosains, who
again performed; after which the Pope and Cardi- have made a vow of celibacy, following secular pur-
nals descend to St. Peter's, to adore the three great suits, such as the mercantile and military profes-
relics. The Pope and Cardinals kneel in the great sions. The mercantile Gosains are among the rich-
nave of the church, and the relics are exhibited from est merchants in India. In regard to those who
a balcony above the statue of St. Veronica. The enter the army, Colonel Tod, in his · Annals of Ra-
height at which they are displayed is so great, that, jast'han," tells us, that “the Gosains who profess
though I have been present repeatedly, I could never arms, partake of the character of the Knights of
distinguish anything more than that they were glit- St. John of Jerusalem. They live in monasteries
tering caskets of crystal set in gold or silver, and scattered over the country, possess lands, and beg
sparkling with precious stones. They are said, and or serve for pay when called upon. As defensive
by Roman Catholics believed, to contain the three soldiers they are good."
following treasures :--a part of the true cross, one GOSPELS, the name given to the narratives of
half of the spear which pierced our Saviour's side, the history of our blessed Lord as written by the
and the Volto Santo, or holy countenance.
four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
“The ceremony of the exhibition and adoration of The word Gospel is Saxon, and denotes good saying,
these relics lasted about a quarter of an hour. The probably from the glad news of salvation which the
Pope and the Cardinals appeared to be praying while Gospels contain. The Christian church never ac-
they knelt, but the whole was performed in silence. knowledged any more than the four Gospels as cano-
As soon as each Cardinal was satisfied, he rose from nical; but no sooner were they generally recognized
his knees and retired."
as of Divine authority, than heretics who had devi-
The Saxons were accustomed to call Good Friday ated from the truth of God, began to support their
by the name of Long Friday, probably because of doctrines by resorting to the expedient of forging
the long fastings and services practised on that day. gospels under the name of some of the apostles, or
GOOD SONS (THE ORDER OF), a congregation even of our Lord himself, taking care to embody
of religious of the third order of the Romish monks their own peculiar tenets in these spurious produc-
of St. Francis. It was founded in A.D. 1615 at tions. Irenæus, in the second century, mentions
Armantieres, a small town in Flanders, by five pious that the Gnostics had a large number of such apo-
artisans who formed themselves into a small commu- cryphal writings; and in the following century their
nity, living in common, and wearing a black habit number was greatly increased. Many of these books
peculiar to themselves. In 1626 they embraced the have passed into oblivion, and a collection of those
third rule of St. Francis. The order gradually made which are still extant was embodied by Fabricius in
progress, and in 1670 it consisted of two congrega- the beginning of last century in his Codex Apocry-
tions, that of Lisle being added to that of Arman- phus Novi Testamenti. From these corrupt Gospels
tieres. Shortly after, a third was established in the Mohammed seems to have derived the limited infor-
diocese of St. Omer. Louis XIV. gave them the mation which he possessed concerning the life of
direction of various public hospitals. The order Christ; and the Oriental legends in general concern-
consisted of a number of families, each having a ing our Lord are all drawn from apocryphal sources.
superior, a vicar, and three counsellors. They prac- See APOCRYPHA. That these works are not to be
tised great austerity, and used the discipline of the received as genuine, is plain not only from their vast
scourge three times a-week.
inferiority to the canonical gospels, but still more
GOOD WORKS. See WORKS (GOOD). decidedly from the fact that they were not recognized
GOODS (COMMUNITY OF). See COMMUNITY OF by the Fathers.
Goods.
The Gospels form, along with the Acts of the
GORGONS, fabulous monsters in ancient heathen Apostles, that portion of the New Testament which
mythology. Homer speaks of only one, but Hesiod | is strictly historical. The purpose which the four
GOSPELS.
985
writers of these Gospels seem to have in view is ob- may go far, in every unprejudiced mind, towards
vious from the whole structure of their writings. the reconciliation, which is : Whence do such diver-
There are no marks of an intention on the part of sities arise ? To this important question Mr. Gil-
any of the Evangelists to give to their narratives a lespie has addressed himself with great ability and
regular chronological order, but rather to present to power in his recent work, entitled The Truth of
the reader such a body of well-authenticated facts in the Evangelical History of our Lord Jesus Christ,
reference to the life, ministry, and sufferings of Christ, proved in opposition to Dr. D. F. Strauss.' In the
as might exhibit the nature, and afford sufficient First Part of this Treatise--the only Part yet pub-
proof of the truth of Christianity. Adopting this as lished—and which, treating as it dues of the dis-
the explanation of the purpose of the writers, we get tinctive designs of the Four Evangelists, is com-
rid of the difficulties with which the authors of Har- | plete in itself-Mr. Gillespie alleges, “The de-
monies of the Gospels have had to contend. These sign will throw light on the event recorded: while
Harmonies may be reduced to two classes ; the first at the same time the event will give evidence of,
being that which supposes all the four Evangelists while it illustrates the design.” The special ob-
to have adhered in their narratives to the order of ject of each of the Evangelists is thus stated by Mr.
time; and the second that which adopts one of the Gillespie :
Evangelists as the standard in point of chronological "1. Matthew.—The great special object of Mat-
order to which the order of events in the other Gos- | thew is, to prove the Messiahship of Jesus, or that
pels must be adjusted. It is difficult, however, im- Jesus is the Messiah promised to the Jews: in other
plicitly to accept either of these hypotheses, but the words, to evince from the Old Testament Scriptures,
preferable plan seems to be to fall back upon the or in conformity with them, taken in conjunction
solution of the matter adopted by Bengel and Mi- with the events in the life of Jesus, that this is
chaelis, which, while it does not wholly lose sight of Jesus, the king of the Jews.' As a matter of
the chronological arrangement, keeps chiefly in view course, therefore, Matthew's Gospel is primarily for
the great end or purpose for which the Gospels were Jews : First, for the Jews of that day, and, secondly,
composed. This purpose is very clearly stated by for those of all subsequent times. And as evidence
one at least of the Evangelists. Thus John xx. 30, that those, who would attain to Matthew's end, must
31, asserts in express terms that the purpose of his use Matthew's means, it is to be noted that persons
writing was to make such a selection of facts as seeking to convert Jews, or Jewish-minded persons;
might be good ground of faith in the divine mission of the present day to Christianity, pursue no other
of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. “And many other course than seeking to show, from the Old Scrip-
signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, tures, that they testify of Jesus--the very course
which are not written in this book: but these are pursued by Matthew.
written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the “2. Mark.—The chief special design of Mark is,
Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might to set forth and prove, that Jesus was a divinely
have life through his name."
commissioned teacher; Mark's medium of proof be-
It is well worthy of remark, that while the great ing the miracles wrought, and not the fact of Jesus's
general purpose which the four Evangelists had in Messiahship. Mark's history was, therefore, prima-
view was the same, the execution of this purpose has rily intended for the benefit of Gentile readers, of
in it such variety as might be expected in the works that age, in the first place, and, in the second, of all
of independent writers. Thus, besides the peculiari- subsequent ages. And those who have had to do
ties of style belonging to each of the Evangelists, with Gentiles, since Mark, must begin their method
they have also each of them something peculiar in for conversion to the faith of Jesus where Mark be-
both the selection and statement of the events in the gan, namely, with setting forth and proving the
life of Jesus. The diversities which have thus arisen miracles of Jesus. It is to be noted, that the second
in the Gospel narratives have been eagerly seized Evangelist proved, by setting forth, with all the cir-
upon by modern infidels, more especially by Strauss cumstances of time, and place, and person, the mira-
in his Das Leben Jesu, as constituting discrepancies culous events he records. For he wrote so near the
so serious as to affect, if not entirely to destroy, our times of which he treats, that any, thinking it worth
belief in the genuineness and truth of the Gospels their while, could verify his account on the spot, by
themselves, and thus to uproot our confidence in the an investigation of the fact-basis of the so recent
truth of Christianity. To ward off such assaults as tradition.
those made by Strauss and other infidel writers of "3. Lulce. The great special purpose of Luke can-
the same class, it has been usual either to deny the not be so easily stated in few words : however, Luke's
existence of the diversities alleged, or to make an great purpose has relation to the development of the
attempt at doing away with them by reconciling the humanity, or human nature, of that Jesus who, born
Gospel narratives with each other. That apparent of Mary, had however been conceived by the Holy
diversities exist in the statements of the four Evan- | Ghost. Luke's purpose is, to detail the history of
gelists, we admit, but before endeavouring to recon- Jesus, as the seed of the woman,' with a constant
cile them, a question arises, the solution of which eye to the private or personal aspect of the man.
986
GOSPELLER_GOTHS (CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE).
SORS.
“4. John. - In the last place, John has, for his GOSPELLER, a name applied to the priest in
peculiar object, the exhibition of the nature, or per- the Church of England, who reads the Gospel in the
sonal character, of the Divine Logos, together with Communion Service, standing at the north side of
his character and offices, being incarnate : His na- the altar. In some cathedrals one of the clergy is
ture, as the only begotten, or proper
, Son of God: specially appointed to perform this duty, and accord-
his character and offices, as that true Lamb of God ingly receives the name corresponding to it.
that taketh away the sins of the world.
GOSPELLERS, a term of reproach applied both
“ Thus, if these views be correct, it will be found, before and at the time of the Reformation, to those
that Matthew is to be so far opposed to Mark, and who encouraged the circulation of the Scriptures,
Luke to John; besides other oppositions which I do and adhered strictly to the doctrines of the gospel in
not touch on at present. Matthew's great idea will opposition to the traditions of the church.
be the proof of the Messiahship; Mark's the proof GOSSIP, a word familiarly used in England to de-
of a Divine commission : while Luke, being con- note a sponsor for an infant in baptism. See SPON-
trasted so far with John, will dwell on the develop-
ment of the humanity; as John will delight, and GOTHS (CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE). The
expatiate, in the contemplation of the Divine glory Goths constituted a large portion of the Germanic
of the common Saviour."
family of nations, and occupied a considerable dis-
There can be little doubt that proceeding on the trict of country, first on the coast of the Baltic, and
great principle thus laid down, Mr. Gillespie will afterwards of the Black Sea. Their religion was of
throw much additional light on the differences and a strictly Pagan character, but having been actively
seeming discrepancies which exist in the Evangeli- engaged along with other wild tribes in incursions
cal narratives. This indeed seems to be the right upon the Roman empire, in the course of the third
direction which speculation ought to pursue if it is century they gradually imbibed the Christian faith,
ever to solve the difficulties referred to.
which before this time was extensively received
In the ancient Christian church the utmost respect throughout the whole empire. By Sozomen, in par-
was paid by the audience to the reading of the Gos- ticular, we are informed, that among the captives
pels, which took place at the right hand of the altar, who were carried away by the Goths after an incur-
both the reader and the people standing. Cyprian sion into Thrace and Asia Minor, there were Chris-
represents this as having been the uniform practice tian priests whose holy life and heavenly doctrines
in Africa. The Apostolical Constitutions recommend induced their barbarian masters to relinquish the
both the clergy and the people to stand during the worship of their own gods, and to form themselves
reading of the Gospels. It was a general rule of the into churches under the guidance of the new pastors
ancient church that the hearers sat during the ordi- who had been brought among them. Additional
nary reading of the Scriptures, and rose when the teachers were sent for, and by their diligence and
Gospels were read. If in the course of delivering a zeal Christianity was rapidly diffused among tribes
sermon the preacher introduced a passage from the who, until that time, had been characterized by the
Gospels the assembly immediately stood up--a cus- most barbarous and savage manners. No better evi-
tom which is thus explained by Chrysostom. “If dence could be adduced of the success which attended
the letters of a king are read in the theatre with the labours of these Christian teachers than the fact
great silence, much more ought we to compose our- that among those who subscribed the decrees of the
selves and reverently to arise and listen when the. Nicene Council, A. D. 325, is to be found the name
letters, not of an earthly king, but of the Lord of of Theophilus, bishop of the Goths.
angels, are read to us." Jerome is the first who men- Descended from the Roman captives, to whom under
tions the custom of burning lighted candles in the God the Goths owed their knowledge of Christianity,
Eastern church, though not in the Western, when the was the celebrated Ulphilas, who, by his translation of
Gospels were read. No other ancient writer makes the Scriptures into their native tongue, did much for
reference to this practice. In some churches, on par- the promotion of the Christian cause among the
ticular solemn occasions, as for instance, on the an- Gothic tribes. This illustrious man, who was by
niversary of our Lord's passion, three or four lessons birth a Cappadocian, rose to the dignity of a bishop
were read out of the Gospels on the same day. This of the Moeso-Goths, and took his seat as a member
custom prevailed particularly in the French churches. of the Council of Constantinople A. D. 349. He is
In the time of Justinian oaths were taken with the said to have invented a Gothic alphabet similar to
four Gospels in the hand, and special reference was the Greek, and animated by the spirit as he has been
made to them in the form of the oath. The practice called by the name of the apostle of the Goths, he
was also common in the early Christian church in devoted himself to the benevolent work of translat-
the ordination of a bishop, for two bishops to holding the Scriptures from the Greek into the Gothic
the book of the Gospels over his head. The cere- language. The manuscript of this work still exists
mony of laying the Gospels upon the head of the under the name of the CODEX ARGENTEUS (which
bishop when about to be ordained, seems to have see), from its being written on vellum in letters of
been in use in all churches.
silver. Some doubt exists as to the precise time
GOVIND SINHIS.
987
when Ulphilas lived and laboured. It is probable, to such gentleness of spirit, that they should unite
however, that he exercised the office of a bishop together in one and the same community with the
among the Goths in the time of Constantine, and mildest. And this have you witnessed to-day-the
until near the end of the reign of the Emperor Va- most savage race of men standing together with the
lens. In the course of that lengthened period, he | lambs of the church-one pasture, one fold for allone
conducted on several occasions the most important table set before all.' This may refer either to the
negotiations between the Goths and the Roman Em- common participation in the sacred word, which had
perors; and so beneficial were his services in the been presented first in the Gothic and then in the
capacity of mediator between the contending parties, Greek language, or to the common participation in
that Philostorgius, says Constantine, was accustomed the communion."
to call him the Moses of his time. For a long time, In the fifth century, Christianity was not merely
Ulpliilas adhered to the Nicene doctrines in regard extensively known among the Goths, but their
to the Person of Christ, but at a later period of his clergy made the Christian Scriptures a subject of
life he seems to have been prevailed upon to adopt special study. Hence the learned Jerome, while re-
Arian views.
siding at Bethlehem A. D. 403, was not a little as-
The Goths were divided into two great tribes or tonished at receiving from two Goths a letter in re-
nations, the western or Visigoths, and the eastern or ference to certain discrepancies which they had
Ostrogoths; both of which were often engaged in observed between the vulgar Latin and the Alexan-
mutual hostilities. To the former class Ulphilas drian version of the Psalms. This of itself was a
belonged, and when he sought therefore to diffuse satisfactory proof that both Christianity and Chris-
Christianity among the rival tribes, a spirit of violent tian culture had already made extensive progress
opposition was manifested, and persecution broke among a people who, at a comparatively recent
forth with such severity that many of the Christians, period, had emerged from a state of barbarism.. Nay,
even of those who held Arian opinions, died as mar- even among those Gothic tribes who were still
tyrs in the Christian cause. By this means the gos- blinded by Pagan superstition, such was the civiliz-
pel spread extensively among the Goths.
ing influence of Christianity, that when Alaric, who
One of the most zealous in labouring for the con- commanded the army of the Visigoths, poured down
version of the Gothic tribes was the great Chrysos- with his immense hordes upon the Roman territory,
tom, who, while patriarch of Constantinople, set and took possession even of Rome itself, they re-
apart a particular church in that city for the reli- spected the Christian churches, and spared them
gious worship of the Goths, the Bible being there amid the almost universal devastation. Not a stone
read in the Gothic translation, and discourses preach of the sacred buildings was injured, and those who
ed by Gothic clergymen in the language of their had taken refuge in the churches from the fury of the
country. To promote the conversion of these bar- Pagan invaders, found there a safe and secure asy-
barous tribes, he adopted the wise expedient of hav- lum. The intermixture of the conquerors and the
ing nạtive missionaries trained, who, he very properly conquered was highly beneficial to the Goths in
supposed, would be more successful than others in many respects. Thus we find a Goth, by name Jor-
labouring among their own people. In connection nandes, writing in the Greek language a history of
with this subject, we may quote an interesting inci- his country from the earliest times down to A. D.
dent related by Neander: “On a certain Sunday, in 552. The appearance at so early a period of such
the year 398 or 399, after causing divine worship to a work by the native of a recently barbarous tribe
be celebrated, the Bible to be read, and a discourse shows that the civilizing, if not the converting, in-
to be preached, by Gothic ecclesiastics, in the Gothic fluences of Christianity were deeply and widely felt.
,
Byzantians in the assembly, who looked down upon community in India. They are the professed fol-
the Goths as barbarians, he (Chrysostom) took advan- lowers of Guru Govind, the tenth teacher in succes-
tage of this remarkable scene to point out to them, in sion from Nának, the apostle of the Sikhs, and we
the example before their own eyes, the transforming are told that he flourished at the close of the seven-
and plastic power of Christianity over the entire human teenth and beginning of the eighteenth century.
nature, and to enlist their sympathies in the cause Totally unlike the doctrines of Nának, those of Go-
of the mission. He delivered a discourse, which has vind are of a worldly and warlike spirit. He ordered
come down to us, full of a divine eloquence, on the his adherents to allow their hair and beards to grow,
might of the gospel, and the plan of God in the edu- and to wear blue garments; he permitted them to
cation of mankind. Among other things he remarks, eat all kinds of flesh except that of kine, and he
quoting the passage in Isa. lxv. 25: 66 The wolf and threw open his faith and cause to all of whatsoever
the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat caste, who were willing to abandon Hinduism or Is-
straw like the bullock.” The prophet is not speak- | lamism, and to join an armed fraternity who devoted
ing here of lions and lambs, but predicting to us themselves to a life of plunder. It was then only
that, subdued by the power of the divine doctrine, that the Sikhs became a people, and were separated
the brutal sense of rude men should be transformed from their Indian countrymen in political constitu-
988
GRAAL-GREEK CHURCH.
tion as well as religious tenets. At the same time | lished, was near to Grandmont in the territory of Li-
the Sikhs are still to a certain extent Hindus; they moges. This order was founded by Stephen of Thiers,
worship the deities of the Hindus, and celebrate all a nobleman of Auvergne, who obtained permission
their festivals; they derive their legends and litera- from Gregory VII. in A.D. 1073, to institute a new spe-
ture from the same source, and pay great veneration to cies of monastic discipline. The rule drawn up for their
the Brahmanas. The impress of their origin is still guidance was of a very severe character. It inculcat-
therefore strongly retained, notwithstanding their ed poverty and obedience as first principles; prohibit-
rejection of caste, and their substituting the sacreded the monks from possessing land beyond the bounds
compilation of Guru Govind for the Vedas and Pa- of the monastery; denied the use of animal food even
ranas of the Hindu system.
to the sick, and to remove all temptation prevented
GRAAL, the holy vessel or St. Graal, as it is the keeping of cattle. Silence was enjoined upon
sometimes called, supposed by the Romanists to the inmates of the monastery, and they were strictly
have been the vessel in which the paschal lamb was forbidden to converse with females. The care and
placed at our Saviour's last supper.
management of the temporal affairs of the commu-
GRACE (CONTROVERSIES UPON). See AUGUS- nity were intrusted to the lay brethren, while the
TINIANS, CALVINISTS.
clerical brethren were required exclusively to devote
GRACES, three goddesses among the ancient themselves to spiritual matters. For a time the Or-
Greeks and Romans who were said to be personifica- der maintained a considerable reputation for sanctity
tions of grace and beauty. By some they have been and strictness of discipline; but in consequence of
accounted daughters of Zeus, by others of Apollo, and internal dissensions it at length fell into disrepute.
by others of Dionysus. (See CHARIS.) Their names, GRATIANI DECRETUM. See DECRETISTS.
according to Hesiod, were Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and GRAVE EXAMINATION OF THE). See DEAD
Thalia. They were generally considered as attend- (EXAMINATION OF THE).
ants on other divinities, and as contributing to the GRECIAN MYTHOLOGY. See MYTHOLOGY.
promotion of gracefulness, elegance, sociality, and GREEK CHURCH. This church, which takes
cheerfulness, both among gods and men. The Fine to itself the name of the Catholic and Apostolic Ori-
Arts, Poetry and Music were accounted their special ental Church, is the most ancient of existing Chris-
favourites.
tian churches. It was the special command of
GRADIVUS, a surname of Mars, under which he | Christ to his disciples, that they should“ go into all
had a temple outside the Porta Capena on the Ap- the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,
pian Road. Numa is said to have appointed twelve adding these words, “ beginning at Jerusalem.” The
Salii as priests of this god to attend on his temple. church of Jerusalem then was the mother of Chris-
GRADUAL. The antiphonary which, before the tian churches. There the apostles remained until
Reformation, supplied the anthems or verses for the the promise of the Father had been fulfilled in the
beginning of the Communion, the Offertory, &c. was marvellous outpouring of the Spirit on the day of
often called the Gradual, because some of the an- Pentecost. No sooner had they been fully prepared
thems were chanted on the steps (Lat. gradus), of for their work by the extraordinary communication
the ambo or reading.-desk.
of spiritual gifts, than a persecution having arisen
GRADUAL PSALMS, a name given to the fif- they were scattered abroad, and travelled as far as
teen psalms reaching from the cxx. to cxxxiv., which Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, and it is ex-
are also called Songs of the Steps or Degrees, be- pressly said, that there were some among them who
cause they were sung when the Jews came up either “ spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Je-
to worship in Jerusalem at the annual festivals, or sus." Paul and Barnabas spent a year in Antioch,
perhaps from the Babylonish captivity. Some have and there the disciples were first called Christians.
supposed that the epithet gradual (Lat. gradus, a Thence the apostles passed through Asia Minor into
step), was applied to these Psalms because they were Europe. By the arrangements of Divine Providence,
sung by the Jewish companies in ascending to Jeru- | Paul was carried a prisoner to Rome, where he
salem by a steep rocky ascent, or in ascending the dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and
flight of steps which led to the temple.
received all that came in unto him, preaching the
GRÆÆ (Gr. the old women), daughters of Phor- kingdom of God, and teaching those things which
cys, and believed to have been sea-goddesses in the concern the Lord Jesus Christ. In the meantime
ancient heathen mythology, and personifications of Christianity was making progress in many countries,
the white foam of the sea.
and among other places a church was founded in
GRAMMA (Gr. writing), a name applied by some Alexandria. Flourishing churches were planted both
early Christian writers to the APOSTLES' CREED in the East and in the West; and at as early a
(which see) as being appointed to be committed to period as the second century a dispute arose between
memory by the catechumens,
the Eastern and Western churches in reference to
GRANDIMONTANS (ORDER OF), a community the observance of EASTER (which see). This con-
of Romish monks, which derived its name from the troversy was conducted with considerable warintb
circumstance that Muret, where they were first estab- on both sides, and a difference of opinion as to the

மார்வா
Picart
C. HATI
The Greek Patriarch.
OF
Cof Constantinople
, sport Century)
A. Fuarton & Co London & Edinborgh
GREEK CHURCH.
989
time of the observance of this sacred season forms one In the course of the controversy on image-wor-
of the marks of distinction between the two churches. ship, another question arose which referred to the
In the fourth century another point of controversy abstruse theological point connected with the consti-
was started between the churches of the East and tution of the Person of the Holy Spirit, whether be
the West. The establishment of Christianity as the proceeded from the Father only, or from the Father
recognized religion of the Roman Empire by Con- and the Son. It would appear that either in the
stantine the Great formed an important era in the fifth or sixth century the Spanish church had intro-
history of the Christian church. In A. D. 324, the duced into the Constantinopolitan creed the words
Emperor founded the new capital of his dominions FILIOQUE (which see)," and from the Son.” It is
Byzantium or Constantinople. The bishop of Rome, not improbable that this alteration iri the creed may
the old capital of the empire, and the bishop of Con- have originated in a desire to oppose the Arian doc-
stantinople, the new capital, began to contend for trine, which denied the identity of nature between
precedence. In the second General Council, the the Father and the Son. But:from whatever motive
bishop of Constantinople was assigned a place next it may have arisen, the change was adopted by the
to the bishop of Rome, and by a decree of the Coun- churches of France and Germany. The Greek
cil of Chalcedon, they were both declared to be of churches, however, refused to recognize the addi-
equal rank. At the close of the sixth century the tional filioque, accusing the Western churches of
contest for supremacy raged with greater severity heresy on this point, while they in their turn main-
than at any former period. The bishop of Constan- tained the change to be consistent with strict or-
tinople not only claimed to exercise unrivalled do- thodoxy. This addition to the creed still forms a
minion over the churches of the East, but maintained distinctive ground of separation between the two
his own dignity to be equal to that of the bishop of churches.
Rome. Gregory the Great took an active part in The hostility which thus existed between the East
resisting this claim; and John, the Faster, bishop of and West was much augmented by an event which
Constantinople, having assumed the title of universal took place in the ninth century, the Emperor.Mi-
bishop, Gregory, naturally supposing that his rival chael having deposed Ignatius; patriarch of Constan-
meant to assert supremacy over the whole Christian tinople, and substituted a layman in his room. In
churches, opposed his pretensions with the utmost 861, this step on the part of the Emperor was sanc-
vehemence, denouncing the title as blasphemous and tioned by a large synod of divines, at which the
antichristian. The patriarch John, however, still papal legates were present, and gave their vote in its
continued to urge his claim, and having soon after- favour. Pope Nicholas, however, the following year
wards been removed by death, his successor Cynacus summoned a council at Rome, which excommunicat-
adopted the same pompous title as his predecessor. ed Photius and his adherents, they in their turn ex-
And it is not a little remarkable that the same title communicating the Pope, and accusing him of heresy.
of Universal Bishop, which had been so loudly de- The dispute lasted for a considerable period, widen-
nounced by Gregory when assumed by his rival of | ing the breach still more between the Eastern and
Constantinople, was actually adopted by his own the Western churches.
successor Boniface when conferred upon him by the In the eleventh century Michael Cellularius, patri-
Emperor Phocas.
arch of Constantinople, revived in all their strength
For a long period a spirit of secret animosity pre- the accusations which had been so often made against
vailed between the Eastern and the Western churches. the doctrines and practices of the Romish church,
At length in the eighth century this hostile. feeling complaining more especially that in the celebration
found vent for itself in the keen controversy which of the eucharist the Romanists made use of unlea-
ensued on the subject of image-worship. The Em- vened bread. The Pope, indignant at the conduct of
peror Leo the Isaurian commenced the dispute by Cellularius, forthwith issued against him a sentence
openly denouncing the use of images in Christian of excommunication. Through the influence of the
churches as unlawful and idolatrous. All who sup- Emperor a reconciliation was attempted, but the ne-
ported this view of the question were termed Icono- gotiations were altogether fruitless, and at length, by
clasts or Image-Breakers. Pope Gregory the Second a solemn written anathema which was placed on the
commenced a persecution of those who remonstrated great altar of St. Sophia, Cellularius and all his ad-
against image-worship. From religious differences herents were cut off from the fellowship of Rome.
arose political commotions, which continued to rage The whole Eastern church was thus virtually excom-
for years; and although the Greek Emperor Con- municated; and the Greek and Roman churches
stantine VI. and his mother Irene restored the use continue to this day in a state of complete separa-
of images, the division between the Eastern and the tion from each other.
Western churches on this subject became decisive At various intervals endeavours have been made,
and marked. The last General Council in which the but without success, to effect a reunion of the East-
churches of the East and West were united, was the ern and Western churches. One of the most noted
Second Council of Nice, held A. D. 787, which the of these attempts was that which originated with the
Eastern churches refuse to account cecumenical. Greek Emperor, Michael Palæologus, instigated in
990
GREEK CHURCH.
all probability chiefly by political motives. Under Ostrogski, palatine of Kioff, declared against the
his sanction the representatives of the contending measure, and at a numerous meeting of the nobility
parties met at Lyons A. D. 1274, and a show of har. and clergy adverse. to Rome, the bishops who had
mony was restored, which led only to a temporary brought about the union were excommunicated.
compact between the Pope on the one side, and the The party of the union, however, supported by the
Emperor on the other, without effecting a reconcilia- king and the Jesuits, began an active persecution
tion of the two churches. Again in the fifteenth against its opponents, and a great number of churches
century another effort of a similar kind was made by and convents were taken from them by violence.
John Palæologus, which produced only partial and The result was, that the union divided the Eastern
temporary results, without contributing materially Church of Poland into two opposite and hostile
to accomplish the main object contemplated, though churches. About 3,500,000 Uniates or United
a nominal union was concluded at Florence in 1438. Greeks are still found in the Austrian dominions.
This union was not acceded to by the Lithuanian A few years ago the Uniates of Little Russia, to the
churches, although some prelates had attempted to number of 2,000,000, were received back into the
introduce it. The Jesuits, however, exerted them- | Muscovite branch of the Eastern church, on dis-
selves to the uttermost to subject the Greek church owning solemnly the Pope's supremacy, and ac-
in Poland to the supremacy of Rome. The ground knowledging the sole Headship of the Lord Jesus
having been prepared, “ the archbishop of Kioff, in Christ.
.
1590,” says Count Krasinski, “convened a synod of Various overtures have from time to time been
his clergy at Brest, in Lithuania, to whoin he repre- made by Rome to the orthodox Eastern Church,
sented the necessity of a union with Rome, and the with a view, if possible, to bring about a union of
advantages which would thereby accrue to their the two churches. The most recent official commu-
country and to their church; and, indeed, it was nication on the subject was a letter from the reign-
certainly not only more flattering to the self-love of ing Pope, Pius IX., addressed in 1848 to the Chris-
the clergy, but even more congenial to the feelings tians of the East, urging upon them by various ar-
of the more intelligent of them, to depend upon the guments to return to the bosom of the Church of
head of the Western Church, who was surrounded Rome. To this letter the Greek patriarchs penned
by all the prestige that wealth and power can give, a reply in the form of 'An Encyclic Epistle of the
and whose authority, supported by men of the most One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, to the
eminent talents and learning, was acknowledged by faithful everywhere,' protesting against what they
powerful and civilized nations, than on the patriarch considered heresies on the part of the Romish
of Constantinople, the slave of an infidel sovereign, Church, more particularly the doctrine of the double
by whose appointment he held his dignity, and pre- procession of the Holy Ghost, and the western inno-
siding over a church degraded by gross ignorance vations respecting baptism, holy orders, and the
and superstition. The archbishop's project found communion of the laity in one kind. To this pro-
much favour with the clergy, but met with a strong test the Greek patriarchs, added these remarkable
opposition from the laity. Another synod was con- words, “Of these heresies which have spread over a
vened at the same town in 1594, at which several great part of the world for judgments known to the
Roman Catholic prelates assisted. After some de- | Lord, Arianism was one, and at the present day
liberation, the archbishop and several bishops signed Popery is another. But, like the former, which has
their consent to the union concluded at Florence in altogether vanished, the latter also, though not flou-
1438, by which they admitted the Filioque, or the rishing, shall not endure to the end, but shall pass
procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and and be cast down, and that mighty voice shall be
the Son, purgatory, and the supremacy of the pope; heard from heaven, It is fallen !"
retaining the Slavonic language in the celebration of The rule of faith according to the Greek church
Divine service, and the ritual, as well as the disci- includes the Holy Scriptures and the decrees of the
pline of the Eastern Church. A delegation was sent first seven general councils. They deny infallibility
to announce this event at Rome, where it was re- either to their patriarch or to the church, and yet
ceived with great distinction by Pope Clement the they refuse the right of private judgment to the laity
Eighth. After the return of that delegation, the in matters of religion. One of their distinctive doc-
king, in 1596, ordered the convocation of a synod trines refers to the nature and constitution of the
for the publication and introduction of the union. It | Holy Spirit, who they allege to be consubstantial
assembled again at Brest; and the archbishop of with the Father and the Son, but to proceed from
Kioff
, as well as the other prelates who had sub- the Father only. The Sacred Scripture they hold is
scribed to that union, made a solemn proclamation of to be received “according to the tradition and inter-
this act, addressed thanks to the Almighty for hav- pretation of the Catholic church,” which is believed
ing brought back the stray sheep into the pale of his to have an authority not less than that of Sacred
church, and excommunicated all those who opposed Scripture, being guided by the unerring wisdom of
the union."
the Holy Ghost. Election is maintained as proceed-
The greater part of the laity, headed by Prince | ing on foreseen good works, and not on the sovereign
GROVE-WORSHIP.
991
decree of God. They admit the intercession of that has been dipped in the wine, while a deacon
saints and angels, and above all, of the Virgin Mary, follows to wipe their lips with one of the sacred
" the immaculate Mother of the Divine Word." cloths.
The Greek church has seven sacraments, which it Penance consists among the Greeks of extraordi-
terms mysteries." These are baptism, chrism, the nary fastings or almsdeeds. Wednesday and Friday
eucharist, penance, ordination, marriage, and the in each week are regular fast-days, and throughout
euchelaion or holy oil. In baptism, while both im- the year there are in all two hundred and twenty-
mersion and affusion are allowed, the act of immer.. six appointed fast-days. Ordination is a complicated
sion is the most general, and that too three times process in the Greek church. Marriage consists of
repeated in accordance with the threefold name of three parts; the betrothal, the coronation, and the
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Before dissolving of the crowns.
dissolving of the crowns. Prayer-oil or euchelaion
administering the ordinance, four prayers of exorcism is a sacrament administered in cases of sickness, but
are repeated, towards the close of which the priest not like the extreme unction of the Roman Church
blows on the infant's mouth, forehead, and breast, in the anticipation of death. Seven priests are em-
commanding the evil spirit to depart; while the ployed in this ceremony. Relics are held in great
sponsor also blows and spits upon the child. Among estimation among the Greeks, and in the eucharist
the Copts the exorcism is accompanied by making the cloth on the altar is required to have in its web
the sign of the cross thirty-seven times. In the particles of a martyr's remains. The practice of
Greek church, oil is mixed with the water in baptism, signing with the cross prevails to a very great extent
being poured upon it three times in the form of a among the adherents of this church, the cross of the
cross. The oil is applied also in the figure of a cross Greeks, however, being equi-limbed, while the cross
to the child's forehead, breast, back, ears, feet, and of the Latins is elongated. The saints of the Greek
hands; each application of the oil being accompanied calendar are more numerous than the days of the
with one of the following sentences : "A. B. is bap year. Purgatory has never been fully admitted in
tized with the oil of gladness ;” “ for the healing of the Greek church.
the soul and body;" “ for the hearing of faith,” GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH. See MEL-
“that he may walk in the way of thy command- CHITE CHURCH.
ments,” “thy hands have made me and fashioned GREENLAND (RELIGION OF). See LABRADOR
me."
AND GREENLAND (RELIGION OF).
Corresponding to the Confirmation of the Western GREYFRIARS. See FRANCISCANS.
churches, the Greeks have the sacrament of Chrism, GRIS-GRIS. See FETISH-WORSHIP,
which follows immediately upon the dispensation of GRONINGEN SCHOOL. See DUTCH RE-
baptism. In this mystery, the forehead, eyes, nos- FORMED CHURCH.
trils, mouth, ears, breast, hands, and feet are anoint- GROVE-WORSHIP. At a very early period,
ed with holy ointment in the form of a cross, the even in the patriarchal ages, we find groves men-
priest declaring each time that he applies the oil, tioned in connection with Divine worship. Thus in
“The seal of the gift of the Holy Ghost.” In the Gen. xxi. 33, we are informed that “ Abraham
course of seven days from the celebration of this planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the
ceremony, the child is brought again to the priest, name of the Lord, the everlasting God.” Various
who having washed it, cuts off some of its hair in opinions have been entertained as to the origin of
four places on the crown of its head. This is de- sacred groves.
sacred groves. Some have supposed that such
signed to denote the dedication of the child to God. places were selected as being most agreeable to the
The CHRISM (which see) is prepared and sanctified worshipper, and to this reason the prophet Hosea
by a bishop during Passion Week annually. And seems to allude in his remark, iv. 13, “ They sacrifice
not only is the Chrism used in baptism consecrated upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense
for the purpose, but the ordinance is not considered upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, be-
to be valid unless the water used has been specially cause the shadow thereof is good: therefore your
consecrated and blessed, a service which is termed daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses
the Benediction of the Waters.
shall commit adultery." “We pay a kind of adora-
The eucharist is administered in the Greek church tion," says Pliny, “to the silence of the place;"
both to. laity and clergy in both kinds; and even in-
and Seneca observes to the same purpose, “The
fants are allowed to partake of it. Leavened bread great height of the trees, the retirement of the place,
is uniformly used, and in a particular form. (See and the awe-inspiring shade serve to confirm a belief
ANTIDORON.) The wine is mixed with warm water, in the Divinities.” Strabo affirms that it was so
which Chrysostom explains as denoting the fervour common to erect temples and altars in groves, that
of the saints. The mode of administration of the all sacred places, even those where no trees were to
elements is somewhat peculiar. In general, for the be seen, were called groves. In process of time,
practice varies, the communicants stand with their these groves became the scene of the most impious
hands crossed on their breast, while the priest with and abominable rites. So completely at length did
a spoon puts into their mouth some of the bread the groves become associated with idolatry, that the
992
GUDARAS-GYROVAGI.
linger in Persia
Israelites were commanded by God to cut down and most implicit submission on the part of the man
burn their groves with fire, and to pluck down ut- whose Guru he is.
terly all their high places. It has been alleged also GYMNOSOPHISTS (Gr. gymnos, naked, and so-
that sacred groves originated with the worship of phos, wise), a legendary sect of religionists in India,
demons ov departed spirits. Hence the sacred who were either altogether naked, or but imperfectly
groves being constantly furnished with images of the clothed. Some of these ascetics dwelt in the woods,
heroes or gods that were worshipped in them, a and others lived among men, but passed their lives
grove and an idol came at length to be regarded as in the most extreme austerities and acts of self-de-
almost identical terms. Thus 2 Kings xxiii. 6, “And nial. When Alexander the Great reached Taxila,
he brought out the grove from the house of the he met with some Gymnosophists, and was quite
Lord, without Jerusalem, . unto the brook Kidron, amazed at the patience they exhibited in the endur-
and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it ance of pain. Mr. Spence Hardy tells us, that the
small to powder, and cast the powder thereof Gymnosophists are referred to in the legends of the
upon the graves of the children of the people.” Budhists, and in speaking on the subject he goes on
Hence the use of such groves was strictly forbidden to remark : “In the age of Gótama they appear to
to the Israelites in Deut. xvi. 21, 22, “Thou shalt have been held in high honour, and to have been
not plant thee' a grove of any trees near unto the regarded as possessing a virtue that raised them to
altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make superhuman pre-eminence. They could only perpe-
thee. Neither shalt thou set thee' up any image ; tuate these honours by a strict observance of their
which the Lord thy God hateth."
professions; but at times there were individuals who
GUDARAS, a Hindu sect, deriving their name disregarded the precepts of the community, and
from a pan of metal, which they carry about with emulated the extravagancies of the Gnostics; teach-
them, and in which they have a small fire for the ing, like them, that as everything outward is utterly
purpose of burning scented woods at the houses of and entirely indifferent to the inward man, the out-
the persons from whom they receive alms. In the ward man may give himself up to every kind of ex-
process of begging they only repeat the word Alakh, cess, provided the inward man be not thereby dis-
expressive of the indescribable nature of the deity turbed in the tranquillity of his contemplation; and
They have a peculiar garb, wearing a large round representing themselves as like the ocean, that re-
cap, and a long frock or coát, stained with yellow ceives everything, but is still, from its own greatness,
clay. Some also wear. ear-rings, or a cylinder of free from pollution, whilst' other men are like the
wood passed through' the lobe of the ear, which they small collection of water that is defiled by a single
term the Khechari Mudrá, the seal or symbol of the earth-clod.” Arrian, in speaking of the Indian Gym-
deity, of Him who moves in the heavens.
nosophists, represents them as having been well
GUEBRES, the descendants of the ancient Per- skilled in the art of divination, and in the art of
sians, who retain the old religion. Nearly two healing. There are said to have been ascetics
among
thousand families of these fire-worshippers still the ancient Greeks, as well as among the Egyptians,
chiefly. in Yezd and in other cities resembling, if not actually indentical with, the Gym-
of Kerman, under the name of Guebres; but they are nosophists of India.
found in greater numbers in India, to which their GYROVAGI, a kind of monks mentioned by
ancestors retired; and chiefly about Bombay, under Benedict, always wandering, who committed great
the name of PARŞIS (which see). The Guebres excesses; and of whom he says it is better to be silent
never allow the sacred fire to be extinguished. about them than to speak of their iniquities. Both
; GURU, a teacher among the Hindus," occupying monks:and nuns of this class are spoken of by Augus-
in some degree the place of the Confessor of the mid- tinė as leading an unsettled life, at one time station-
Hle ages. He is looked upon as a representative and ary, at another wandering; some sold the relics of
vehicle of divine power, and therefore entitled to the martyrs, and others led an idle and unprofitable life.
A
END OF VOLUME FIRST.
VULLARTON AND MACNAB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH,

Le Conte
Ricart
High Priest of the Guebres
REMNANTS OF THE ANCIENT FIRE-WORSHIPPERS OF PERSIA)
Recitiong from hisz Ritual before the Sacred line.
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